A composite material comprises: (a) a porous crystalline inorganic oxide material comprising a first framework structure defining a first set of uniformly distributed pores having an average cross-sectional dimension of from 0.3 to less than 2 nanometers and comprising a second framework structure defining a second set of uniformly distributed pores having an average cross-sectional dimension of from 2 to 200 nanometers and (b) a co-catalyst within the second set of pores of the porous crystalline inorganic oxide material (a).

Zeolites and zeolite-like materials are oxides of one or more elements selected from silicon, aluminum, phosphorus, and other metal atoms and contain pores and cavities having a size that may range from a few angstroms to about 2 nanometers. In this application, the terms micropore, microporous and all their derivatives refer collectively to pores having a diameter of less than 2 nanometers.
Zeolites and zeolite-like materials are characterized by their chemical composition (e.g., Si:Al atomic or molar ratios), as well as their crystal framework connectivity, conveniently described by a topological model. For a given chemical composition, an infinite number of theoretical structures is possible. Zeolites with over 130 different topologies have been synthesized, characterized and assigned a three letter code as mentioned in the Atlas of Zeolite Framework Types, 5th edition, Elsevier, London, England (2001).
Zeolites and zeolite-type materials are widely used in separation processes (ion exchange, selective sorption). In their acid form, zeolites and zeolite-like materials are acid catalysts, due to the combination of their strong acidity and molecular size- and shape-selectivity. Such catalytic reactions normally take place in the pores and cavities of zeolites and zeolite-type materials but intra-particle diffusion limitations and pore blocking can prevent accessibility to a large number of catalytic sites. Also, it is often desirable to use a co-catalyst in order to tailor the catalytic activity of zeolites and zeolite-type materials to the particular use. The presence of the co-catalyst in close proximity of the catalytic sites is typically required for optimal performance. However, pore sizes of a few angstroms or even a few nanometers make it very difficult to synthesize materials where co-catalysts are in close proximity to the active sites of zeolites or zeolite-type materials.
One way to increase intra-particle diffusion is to reduce the size of the zeolite or zeolite-type crystals. Various methods have been described to make small crystal size molecular sieves (see, for example, International Patent Publication Nos. WO 00/06492, WO 00/06493, and WO 00/06494). However, the colloidal behavior of very small particles makes them difficult to recover and handle, especially on an industrial scale. Moreover, reducing crystal size does not address the issue that the microporous nature of zeolite or zeolite-like materials makes it difficult to introduce co-catalysts in close proximity to the catalytically active sites.
Another way to increase intra-particle diffusion is to increase the pore and cavity size of the molecular sieve. The synthesis of ordered mesoporous aluminosilicate catalysts; with pores of about 2 nanometers or larger, such as MCM-41, has been reported in the literature (see, for example, Kresge et al., Nature, 1992, 359, 710; Beck et al, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1992, 114, 10834; D. Zhao et al., Science, Vol. 279, pp. 548-552, 1998). In the context of the present invention, "mesopores" refers to pores having a diameter of from 2 to 50 nanometers and "macropores" refers to pores having a diameter of greater than 50 nanometers.
However, while such mesoporous materials offer good diffusion properties, they frequently lack the strong acidity of their microporous analogues, and, of course, the desirable shape selectivity of microporous zeolite and zeolite-like materials is lost. Therefore, various strategies have been developed to modify the physical and chemical properties of mesoporous materials. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,145,816 discloses post-synthesis functionalization of MCM-41 type materials. In addition, it is known to encapsulate metal oxides in the mesopores of MCM-41 materials, see, for example, Dapurkar et al., Catalysis Today, 68 (2001), 63-68.
It is also known to introduce zeolite-type microporous structure in such mesoporous materials (see, for example, International Patent Publication Nos. WO 00/15551, WO 01/17901, WO 2004/026473, and WO 2004/052537). Another method for making crystalline materials with mesopores and zeolite-type micropores is to generate mesopores by steaming or acid-leaching microporous zeolites (see, for example, A. H. Janssen et al., J. Phys. Chem. B (2002) Vol. 106, pp. 11905-11909; S. van Donk et al. Catal. Rev. (2003) Vol. 45, p. 297). Yet another method has been described by growing aluminosilicate crystals in a mesoporous support (US Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0013773 and Y. Tao et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. (2003), Vol. 125, pp. 6044-6045) or by growing zeolite crystals in the presence of nanoscale carbon black particles, followed by carbon combustion (see, for example, M. Hartmann, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. (2004), Vol. 43, 5880-5882).
One of the drawbacks of the above-mentioned methods is that it is quite difficult to control simultaneously the micropore size/shape distribution and the mesopore size/shape distribution in the materials, to achieve optimal catalytic performance and intra-particle diffusion. For this reason, several research groups have been looking for other methods of making crystalline materials having mesopores of uniform size together with zeolite or zeolite-like micropores. One such method involves starting from very small zeolite nuclei (often referred to as "seeds"), having a size in the order of 1 nanometer and assembling them hierarchically around regularly sized and shaped templates, said templates having a size in the range of from about 2 nanometers to about 100 nanometers, preferably from about 2 nanometers to about 50 nanometers. For example, Y. Liu et al. (J. Am. Chem. Soc. (2000), Vol. 122, pp. 8791-8792) disclose the assembly of a hexagonal aluminosilicate structure from seeds that would normally nucleate the crystallization of faujasitic zeolite type Y. The seeds are heated in the presence of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide to form the mesoporous hexagonal structure.
International Patent Publication No. WO 2004/014798 discloses a method of producing a microporous and mesoporous aluminosilicate material having a silica to alumina molar ratio of 2 to 50, preferably 4 to 10, in which a precursor solution of a faujasitic zeolite containing tetramethylammonium cations is formed, the precursor solution is aged and is then mixed with a solution of a cationic surfactant, such as a cetyltrimethylammonium compound. The resultant gel is then crystallized at 20 to 200° C. for between 30 minutes and 7 days.
S. P. B. Kremer et al. (Ph. D. thesis, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, February 2004; Adv. Funct. Mater. (2002) Vol. 12, No. 4, pp. 286-292; Adv. Mater. (2003), Vol. 15, No. 20, pp. 1705-1707) disclose assembling "nanoslabs" to form materials having regular sized mesopores and micropores, referred to as "zeotiles" or "zeogrids". The nanoslabs used in this work are building blocks that would normally generate zeolites having the Silicalite-1 (MFI) framework type. The nanoslabs were formed by hydrolysis of TEOS in a concentrated aqueous TPAOH solution. The nanoslabs were assembled into zeotiles or zeogrids, by precipitation in the presence of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide (DCTAB) or Pluronic P123 triblock copolymer under acidic conditions. After removal of CTAB, DCTAB, or Pluronic P123, an exceptionally open and ordered mesopore network, made of a zeolite-type material, was obtained.

Porous composite materials having micro and meso/macroporosity


A method and apparatus for forming a trench with grates or solid covers, comprising an outer shell which is disposed between opposed frame members at a certain position within a ditch and an inner core that is received within a channel in the shell. The core aids in providing rigidity to the shell while concrete hardens about the outer surface of the shell. Rods are vertically driven through the core and the outer shell into the bottom of the trench to stabilize the forms while the concrete or other setting material is poured into the trench. The rods are removed before the material hardens. After the encasing material sets, the core can be removed from the shell which then enables the shell to be more easily displaced from the formed trench.

The present invention relates to the construction industry and more specifically to the formation of a trench with grates or solid covers.
In the prior art, a single piece pre-shaped form with a frame is used to form a trench with grates or solid covers. To form a relatively long trench, multiple trench form assemblies were laid in contiguous alignment end-to-end. Tape was placed at the adjacent ends so as to prevent upward seepage of concrete when the concrete or other material was poured into the trench and to connect one form to another. However, the use of tape did not provide adequate stabilization to prevent one form from getting out of alignment with another. The lack of adequate stabilization from form to form caused the system to come unconnected during the installation of the forms or to become misaligned during the pouring of the concrete.
In the prior art, the removal of the single piece trench form was very difficult due to the pressure of the surrounding concrete or other material which held the trench form very tightly in place. One would have to take the single piece trench form out in individual, small pieces or, in some instances, by pulling on a wire or wires or re-rod imbedded in the lower surfaces of the mold, thereby tearing through the mold to the top surface. This became a time consuming and frustrating procedure.
It can be seen that the prior system did not allow each trench form to be easily and economically connected to the next in such a way to strengthen the system as a whole so that it may be laid for great distances. It can also be seen that the method for removal of the single pre-formed form was frequently very difficult. The prior art system resulted in less than optimal form stability during the pouring of the concrete or other surrounding material and additional time was frequently required in the removal of the single pre-formed trench mold.
Therefore, there exists a need for an improved method for connecting one form to another form.
There also exists a need for improving stabilization of the entire trench form while in place, so not to get one trench form out of alignment with one another adjacent trench form.
There further exists a need for an improved method for removal of a pre-shaped trench form.

Method and apparatus for stabilizing a trench form during construction


A method for generating an image may include translating a radar system about a target area at a selected angular rate and at a predetermined radius from the target area and transmitting a plurality of radar signals in a predetermined frequency range from the radar system as the radar system is translated about the target area. The method may also include collecting a plurality of backscattered radar signals from the target area resulting from the plurality of transmitted radar signals and forming a plurality of Doppler-based projections from the plurality of backscattered radar signals. The method may further include generating an image of the target area using radar tomography and the Doppler-based projections.

Aspects of the present disclosure relate to generating images using radar (reflection) tomography, and more particularly to a method, system and computer program product for generating images from return or backscattered radar signals and using radar tomography and Doppler-based projections.
Obtaining a high resolution image of a target area is desirable under certain circumstances or situations, such as surveillance, detecting unauthorized entry in an area, monitoring changes, locating a particular object or similar circumstance. Images generated by standard photographic techniques may be inadequate or not possible because environmental conditions or other conditions obscuring the target area. Additionally, only a two dimensional image can be obtained using standard photographic or imaging techniques.
Radar tomography is a technique for generating three-dimensional images using radar signals; however, radar tomography is also not without certain limitations. For example, a three-dimensional image may be generated or reconstructed at low operating frequencies suitable for penetrating intervening dielectric media, such as foliage or other intervening or obstructing material but a well behaved point spread function is required to provide a quality image. By well behaved point spread function, the response needs to have sufficient resolution and a side lobe pattern which minimizes the contribution of the response at other spatial positions. This is analogous to crosstalk or mutual interference. The response should also minimize contributions due to scattering objects that are outside or beyond the scene area to be imaged so that the image reconstruction can best reproduce the imaged object. Standard tomographic techniques or devices may achieve this by radiating or transmitting a waveform with a high bandwidth while collecting backscattered or return signals using a three-dimensional tomographic aperture. High bandwidth in the context of radar bandwidths may be approximately 10%-15% of the carrier frequency, or more. At low frequencies associated with good penetration of intervening dielectric media, there is insufficient (and shrinking) spectrum, limiting the bandwidth available. Additionally, wideband, low frequency antennas are physically large and ill-suited for integration with small airborne platforms, such as an unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), usually used for surveillance and other purposes.

Radar tomography using doppler-based projections


A flip-flop which eliminates a reset wiring to prevent complication of a wiring in an LSI or to increase the number of channels used for a signal wiring, an integrated circuit using the same, and a flip-flop resetting method, are provided. The flip-flop performing a reset operation by detecting a change in a power supply voltage includes a state retaining node that stores a HIGH level voltage or a LOW level voltage, and a reset signal generation circuit that detects a change in a power supply voltage exceeding a predetermined value to generate a reset signal for resetting a data storing state of the state retaining node.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a flip-flop, an integrated circuit using the same, and a flip-flop resetting method capable of resetting a flip-flop (hereinafter referred to as FF) by changing a power supply voltage.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there are known a variety of techniques of resetting an FF. For example, as an integrated circuit capable of initializing an FF included therein, there is known an integrated circuit including: a selection signal sending section that sends a selection signal for a predetermined time period after power-on of the integrated circuit; a first selection section that sends a logic signal of a certain level to a master set terminal when the selection signal is sent, and sends an original logic signal to the master set terminal when the selection signal is not sent; and a second selection section that sends a logic signal having an inverse value of the logic signal of the certain level to the master set terminal when the selection signal is sent, and sends the original logic signal to the master set terminal when the selection signal is not sent. (refer to Patent Document 1: Jpn. Pat. Appln. Laid-Open Publication No. 2-100413).
As described above, the conventional FF is designed to reset its data. As described above, however, to reset the data of the FF, it is necessary to provide a reset terminal in the FF for distributing a reset signal in an integrated circuit (e.g., an LSI), for example. Therefore, a wiring in the LSI is complicated. Further, space for wiring a reset signal line is required, and thus there is a limit in adding other signal wirings. As a result, it becomes difficult to increase the number of channels used for a signal wiring.

Flip-flop, integrated circuit, and flip-flop resetting method


A urinary catheter and method of its use for measuring the internal pressure of a human or other mammal. The catheter includes three lumens, or channels. The first lumen is dedicated to draining urine, the second lumen is dedicated to a retention balloon, and the third lumen is available for connection to a pressure transducer. In use, the catheter is installed in a patient, the third lumen is filled with a pressure transmitting medium, connected to a pressure sensor, and the patient's intra-abdominal pressure is monitored without interruption of the urine flow.

The following statement is a full description of the invention and includes the best method of performing it.
This invention relates medical diagnostic equipment and methods and is particularly concerned measuring intra-abdominal pressure using direct or remote sensing of pressure within the organ in particular Intra-abdominal pressure and related pressure within adjacent organs.
Until the advent of recent publication in relating to renal failure and complication of pressure after surgery few considered intra-abdominal pressure measurement to be important. It is now recognized as an important part of post-operative care.
Currently intra-abdominal pressure is measured using a urinary catheter requiring insertion of an extra T-piece or a needle directly into the urinary catheter to allow the pressure to be measured using a transducer or a manometer.
A wide variety of innovative techniques have been used to measure IAP in nearly every part of the abdominal cavity, including the rectum, stomach, urinary bladder, uterus, liver, inferior vena cava, and free within the intra-peritoneal cavity.
Rectal pressure measurement was experimentally popular in the early part of this century, using a Miller Abbott tube. It would appear generally it is a simple but slightly unreliable technique.
McCarthy in 1982 in a study of 12 patients undergoing urodynamic evaluation and laparoscopic tubal ligation found that there was a good correlation between intra-abdominal and rectal pressures. He expressed concern that reliability of this technique required the catheter to remain 10 cm above the anal verge otherwise the values were greater than the abdominal values. Presumably this was due to the spontaneous activity of the rectal sphincters. Shafik used rectal pressure in many of his experiments in humans on rectal detrusor muscle activity. He used a urinary catheter with an outer diameter of 1.2 mm and found that there was good visual correlation between intravesical and rectal pressures.
Intra-gastric measurement was used in the early part of this century with a Hamilton manometer, which afforded the simplest and most reliable technique at the time.
Simple techniques using nasogastric tubes to measure IAP have been used by Cullen, Fietsam and Collee. Concern has been expressed about simple perfusion techniques using a nasogastric tube, and Lacey in an animal study found that the use of gastric pressure measurement through an irrigational portal of the nasogastric tube is not reproducible. Collee, from London, used an unperfused nasogastric tube to obtain 141 paired measurements in 26 general surgery patients in ICU. He found using appropriate statistical modeling, that gastric pressure may be 2.5 cm of water above or below intra-vesical pressure.
The intra gastric route has two specific advantages. It can be used when there has been trauma to the bladder or where the patient does not have a urinary catheter in place. Gastric pressures are also very useful when there is a tense pelvic haematoma following pelvic trauma, as vesical pressures in this situation may not reflect general IAPs.
Direct cannulation of the peritoneal cavity had been used experimentally, but it is not as accurate as the intravesical technique and is invasive.
Motew used a Verres needle to measure IAP in an experiment on 12 women undergoing tubal ligation. The use of a Verres needle to measure IAP may not be accurate during flow states. It is also dependent on the degree of muscle relaxation required for the laparoscopy. Obeid and colleagues, from Detroit, reported in 1995 a comparison of LAP measurement using four techniques in 28 patients. These included an intra-gastric route via a simple NG, a laparoscopic insufflator rectal pressure via a modified oesophageal stethoscope and a standard intra-vesical method with a urinary catheter. Obeid found that with a standard 6 mmHg rise in IAP, as measured by the insufflator, this was best correlated with the intravesical measurements, with a rise of 5.7 mmHg (±9.8). The gastric and rectal pressures were less reliable with the following changes recorded, −0.7±9.8 mmHg and 3.3±8.8 mmHg respectively. He found the rectal and gastric pressures were more position dependent and less reliable than the intravesical approach. The specific limitation of the laparoscopic technique in Obeid's study is the lack of validation of the Stryker endoscopy high flow insufflator, which was used as the gold standard to compare with the other methods. In clinical practice pressures measured with such laparoscopic insufflators may fluctuate widely during surgery. This can be related to the depth of anaesthesia and port mechanics including blockage with blood or other products.
Because of the fluid dynamics in the abdominal cavity, IAP can also be measured through a central venous line if its tip is in the inferior vena cava. This has been utilized by a number of researchers. Lacey in a study of rabbits, comparing different sites of IAP measurement found an excellent correlation between IVC pressures and vesical LAP readings. It should be remembered that these experiments were performed in rabbits, under general anaesthesia.
In addition Lacey found that there was poor correlation between superior vena cava, rectus abdominus and rectal pressure.
The gold standard for IAP measurement has been the intravesical technique. Unfortunately Kron did not test the reliability of his technique and validation of the intravesical technique was undertaken and published by Iberti and colleagues at Mount Sinai medical centre in 1989. In a study of post-operative patients with closed intra-abdominal drains they compared urinary catheter measurements with those recorded from the abdominal drains. They used the pubis as the zero point which may give rise to slightly reduced as it lies above the mid point of the abdominal cavity.
Iberti's investigations revealed a good correlation between intra-abdominal and intra-vesical pressure. In addition he found that there was little effect of positive end expiratory pressure (PEEP) on IAP. I have modified the technique slightly and the technique used in this project is according to the protocol below;
Other techniques, including installation of saline into the bladder and holding the catheter in the air have also been described. They are cumbersome, do not provide on-line monitoring or are time consuming.
Previously the direct on-line monitoring of urinary catheters has not been reported as a measure of intra-abdominal pressure. Urinary catheters usually contain two lumens, one for the balloon and one for the urine flow.
For patients with haematuria, triple lumen catheters have been used for years. They allow irrigation through the third lumen. They have not been used or reported to measure intra-abdominal pressure.

Intra-abdominal pressure monitoring urinary catheter


A MEMS component including a first substrate having at least one first insulating layer and a first metallic coating on a first side; and including a second substrate having at least one second insulating layer and a second metallic coating on a second side, the second substrate including a micromechanical functional element, which is connected electroconductively to the second metallic layer. The first side and the second side are positioned on each other, the first insulating layer and the second insulating layer being interconnected, and the first metallic coating and the second metallic coating being interconnected. A method for manufacturing a MEMS component is also described.

The present invention relates to a MEMS component including a first substrate having at least one insulating layer and a first metallic coating on a first side; and including a second substrate having at least one second insulating layer and a second metallic coating on a second side, the second substrate including a micromechanical functional element, which is connected electroconductively to the second metallic coating.
A MEMS substrate, for example, is adhesively bonded onto an ASIC substrate. Exposed contact surfaces of the MEMS substrate are connected electroconductively to exposed contact surfaces of the ASIC substrate, using wire bonds.
Conventional micromechanical sensors, such as inertial sensors including capacitive conversion, require a wiring plane for contacting different transducer elements.
In the process sequence, due to the necessity of patterning and exposing the micromechanical structure, the micromechanical functional layer of discrete MEMS sensors is mostly prepared after the wiring plane. The micromechanical functional layers are mostly made of silicon, which is deposited at high 29203775.1 temperatures for economic reasons and is present in unstressed form over temperature. The high temperatures>1000° C. necessary for depositing silicon prevent the use of highly conductive materials, such as Cu, for the wiring layer (outdiffusion, system contamination). Instead, higher-resistance polysilicon layers are used, which results in higher RC constants.
In the area of consumer goods, MEMS sensors are frequently integrated onto or with ASIC's in a hybrid manner. At or below a node size of approximately 180 nm, modern ASIC processes only use metallic Cu coatings. In the related art, several conventional approaches, for example, as described in PCT Application No. WO2006101769A2 and U.S. Pat. No. 8,710,638 B2, integrate a MEMS component directly on a circuit substrate.
However, these approaches have the following disadvantages: (i) They are not compatible with the Cu wiring planes in modern circuit processes and/or require additional processing steps and/or (ii) they possess a vertical electrode distance, which has a large tolerance and/or (iii) for the substrate bonding, they require process temperatures greater than 400° C. and locally high mechanical contact pressure, which is not unproblematic for the modern ASIC layers.

MEMS component having low-resistance wiring and method for manufacturing it


The present invention includes forming an oxide layer, nitride on a substrate. An ion implantation is performed. A LPD-oxide is formed on P well. Subsequently, an ion implantation to dope phosphorus into the substrate to form N well. Then, the LPD-oxide is removed. The oxide layer and the silicon nitride layer are respectively removed. Subsequently, a thin gate oxide is regrown on the surface of the substrate. A polysilicon layers, a second nitride are deposited on the oxide layer. Polysilicon gates are patterned. An ion implantation is carried out to implant arsenic into the P well. A thin LPD-oxide is forged along the surface of the gate, the substrate on the P well. A thermal anneal process is used to condense the LPD-oxide. Simultaneously, an ultra thin silicon oxynitride layer is formed on the surface of N well. Next, BSG side wall spacers are formed on the side walls of the gates. The silicon nitride layer is removed. Self-align silicide (SALICIDE), polycide are respectively formed on the exposed substrate, gates. Then, an ion implantation is performed. Then, another ion implantation is next used. Finally, ultra shallow junction source and drain are formed adjacent to the gates by using a rapid thermal process (RTP).

High performance CMOS technology has been developed for years. In order to achieve high packing density wafer for ultra large scale integrated (ULSI) circuits, the dimensions of devices are scaled down to sub-micron range. The pay for the scaled devices is, for example, the parasitic effect which will degrade the RC delay and source and drain series resistance. Prior art discloses the degradation factor of propagation delay (Tpd) on gate electrode sheet resistance (Rgsh) as function of channel width. Please refer to the article "A Novel 0.15 .mu.m CMOS Technology using W/WN.sub.X /Polysilicon Gate Electrode and Ti Silicided Source/Drain Diffusions, M. T. Takagi et al., 1996, IEDM 96-455". The author suggests that the use of lower Rgsh enlarges the degree of freedom in LSI design. Self-aligned metal silicided process is one of the way to reduce the resistance of the gate, the source and drain. In addition, the self-aligned metal silicided process can increase the operation speed, which is a requirement for ultra-short channel MOSFET. CMOS technology integrating W/WN.sub.X /Polysilicon gate electrode and Ti silicided source and drain has been proposed by Takagi.
For ULSI circuits, the gate oxide is also shrink to a very thin dimension. Therefore, the reliability of the ultra thin oxide is a serious problem to the scaled devices. Typically, the reliability of the gate oxide is influenced by many factors, such as the hot carriers and the radiation hardness. In order to provide MOSFETs with reliable gate oxide, many structure of the gate oxide have been proposed. For example, the oxide containing nitrogen atoms is used to take place of the thermal oxide. Another method is the use of fluorinated gate oxides that are formed by immersing silicon in HF solution or by ion implantation of F atoms into silicon gate. One prior art to approach the purpose is by forming a liquid phase deposition (LPD) oxide followed by a high temperature rapid thermal oxidation in oxygen or N.sub.2 O ambient. The F atoms will be incorporated into the oxides by LPD technique. Please see "Reliable Fluorinated Thin Gate Oxides Prepared by Liquid Phase Deposition Following Rapid Thermal Process, Wei-Shin Lu, 1996, IEEE". In the method, the F and N atoms can be simultaneously incorporated into the oxide.
An article relating to the LPD is the literature "The Physicochemical Properties and Growth Mechanism of Oxide (SiO.sub.2-X F.sub.X) by Liquid Phase Deposition with H.sub.2 O Addition Only, Ching-Fa Yeh, J. Electrochem. Soc., Vol. 141, No. 11, 1994". The oxide can be formed at room temperature by using liquid phase deposition technology, which is referred to the LPD-oxide. The LPD-oxide can be formed by adding H.sub.3 BO.sub.3 or Al to hydrofluosilicic acid (H.sub.2 SiF.sub.6) solution. Equations 1 and 2 below describe the reactions. EQU H.sub.2 SiF.sub.6 +2H.sub.2 O.rarw..fwdarw.6HF+SiO.sub.2 (1) EQU H.sub.3 BO.sub.3 +4HF.rarw..fwdarw.BF.sub.4.sup.- +H.sub.3 O.sup.+ +2H.sub.2 O (2)
To precisely control the impurity distribution is another issue of the scaled devices. Shallow and high concentration p source and drain is a requirement for ULSI PMOS. It is very hard to obtain the aforementioned condition by using ion implantation. A solid phase diffusion (SPD) has been proposed to overcome the issue. More detail, the shallow source and drain of the PMOS are formed by SPD from boron-silicate glass, without affecting the NMOS (See "High Performance Sub-Tenth Micron CMOS Using Advanced Boron Doping and Wsi.sub.2 Dual Gate Process, Takeuchi, 1995 Symposium on VLSI Technology Digest of Technique Papers").
However, the conventional method to form CMOS devices needs a lot of mask. Thus, the present invention provides a method for forming CMOS devices with reducing the number of mask.


An ECU has an enclosure which is contained in the casing of an automatic transmission, which is formed of a material having low heat conductivity, and which provides liquid-tight containment of a substrate. A heat sink is attached to the substrate so as to dissipate heat from an electronic circuit on the substrate. The heat sink is attached in contact with an inner wall surface of the enclosure, so that heat produced by the electronic circuit is dissipated via the heat sink and the enclosure.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automatic transmission electronic control device which is attached within a casing of an automatic transmission.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventionally known automatic transmission electronic control device of the aforementioned type has a substrate which is attached within a casing of an automatic transmission and which includes an electronic circuit for operating the automatic transmission (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2002-12097 (pp. 3-6, and FIGS. 1-8)). The vehicular electronic control device described in this publication has an insulating sheet 24 and, mounted on its upper surface, a control unit 33 that controls the automatic transmission. A protective cover 34 covers the control unit 33 and is supported by bracket 11 which is attached to a control valve 3 contained within an oil pan 2. The bracket 11 is formed by press-working a metal plate or the like. The protective cover 34 is formed of plastic or metal and has a generally box shape opening downward. Thus, the control unit 33 is surrounded by the bracket 11 and the protective cover 34, so as to be protected from the lubricating oil in the automatic transmission. Therefore, short circuit of the control unit 33 due to metal particles formed by wear and the like and present in the lubricating oil is prevented. In some cases, however, immediately after a stop in operation of the automatic transmission, lubricating oil at a temperature raised during operation flows from high-temperature operating mechanisms, such as the torque converter, the oil pump, etc., into the oil pan 2, and therefore rapidly raises the temperature of the electronic control device, resulting in a thermal overshoot. In such a case, the heat is conducted via the bracket 11 having high heat conductivity into the space between the bracket 11 and the protective cover 34 that contains the control unit 33, thus rapidly raising the internal temperature within that space and therefore the temperature of the control unit.
Thus, although the insulating sheet 24 is interposed between the control unit 33 and the bracket 11, the heat of the transmission oil is conducted to the control unit 33, so that the temperature of the control unit 33 may exceed its service condition temperature range, and therefore the electronic control device may fail to operate normally. During operation, the temperature control unit 33 may sometimes become that of the electronic control device. If this situation continues, the temperature of the control unit 33 may exceed its service temperature range, and therefore the electronic control device may fail to operate normally.

Automatic transmission electronic control device


A method and system for organizing nodes within a program tree. The system allows various child node categories to be defined for node types of a program tree. When a child node is added to a parent node, the system identifies the category of the child node. The system then instantiates a category data structure for the identified category. The system stores a reference to the instantiated category data structure in the parent node and stores a reference to the child node in the instantiated category data structure.

Computer programs are generally written in a high-level programming language (e.g., Java or C). Compilers are then used to translate the instructions of the high-level programming language into machine instructions, which can be executed by a computer. The compilation process is generally divided into 6 phases:                1. Lexical analysis        2. Syntactic analysis        3. Semantic analysis        4. Intermediate code generation        5. Code optimization        6. Final code generation
During lexical analysis, the source code of the computer program is scanned and components or tokens of the high-level language are identified. The compiler converts the source code into a series of tokens that are processed during syntactic analysis. For example, during lexical analysis, the compiler would identify the statement                cTable=1.0;as the variable (cTable), the operator (=), the constant (1.0), and a semicolon. A variable, operator, constant, and semicolon are tokens of the high-level language.
During syntactic analysis (also referred to as "parsing"), the compiler processes the tokens and generates a syntax tree to represent the program based on the syntax (also referred to as "grammar") of the programming language. A syntax tree is a tree structure in which operators are represented by non-leaf nodes and their operands are represented by child nodes. In the above example, the operator ("=") has two operands: the variable (cTable) and the constant (1.0). The term "parse tree" and "syntax tree" are used interchangeably in this description to refer to the syntax-based tree generated as a result of syntactic analysis. For example, such a tree may optionally describe the derivation of the syntactic structure of the computer program (e.g., may describe that a certain token is an identifier, which is an expression as defined by the syntax). Syntax-based trees may also be referred to as "concrete syntax trees," when the derivation of the syntactic structure is included, and as "abstract syntax trees," when the derivation is not included.
During semantic analysis, the compiler modifies the syntax tree to ensure semantic correctness. For example, if the variable (cTable) is an integer and the constant (1.0) is floating point, then during semantic analysis a floating point to integer conversion would be added to the syntax tree.
During intermediate code generation, code optimization, and final code generation, the compiler generates machine instructions to implement the program represented by the syntax tree. A computer can then execute the machine instructions.
A system has been described for generating and maintaining a computer program represented as an intentional program tree, which is a type of syntax tree. (For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,790,863 entitled "Method and System for Generating and Displaying a Computer Program" and U.S. Pat. No. 6,097,888 entitled "Method and System for Reducing an Intentional Program Tree Represented by High-Level Computational Constructs," which are hereby incorporated by reference.) The system provides a mechanism for directly manipulating nodes corresponding to syntactic elements by adding, deleting, and moving the nodes within an intentional program tree. An intentional program tree is one type of "program tree." A "program tree" is a tree representation of a computer program that includes operator nodes and operand nodes. A program tree may also include inter-node references (i.e., graph structures linking nodes in the tree), such as a reference from a declaration node of an identifier to the node that defines that identifier's type. An abstract syntax tree and a concrete syntax tree are examples of a program tree. Once a program tree is generated, the system performs the steps of semantic analysis, intermediate code generation, code optimization, and final code generation to effect the transformation of the computer program represented by the program tree into executable code.
That system also provides editing facilities. The programmer can issue commands for selecting a portion of a program tree, for placing an insertion point in the program tree, and for selecting a type of node to insert at the insertion point. The system allows various commands to be performed relative to the currently selected portion and the current insertion point. For example, the currently selected portion can be copied or cut to a clipboard. The contents of the clipboard can then be pasted from the clipboard to the current insertion point using a paste command. Also, the system provides various commands (e.g., "Paste=") to insert a new node (e.g., representing an assignment operator) at the current insertion point.
The system displays the program tree to a programmer by generating a display representation of the program tree. A display representation format specifies the visual representation (e.g., textual) of each type of node that may be inserted in a program tree. The system may support display representation formats for several popular programming languages, such as C, Java, Basic, and Lisp. This permits a programmer to select, and change at any time, the display representation format that the system uses to produce a display representation of a program tree. For example, one programmer can select to view a particular program tree in a C display representation format, and another programmer can select to view the same program tree in a Lisp display representation format. Also, one programmer can switch between a C display representation format and a Lisp display representation format for a program tree.
The system also indicates the currently selected portion of the program tree to a programmer by highlighting the corresponding display representation of the program tree. Similarly, the system indicates the current insertion point to a programmer by displaying an insertion point mark (e.g., "|" or "^") within the displayed representation. The system also allows the programmer to select a new current portion or re-position the insertion point based on the display representation.
The editing facilities of the system allow insertion of new nodes typically only relative to sibling nodes. For example, a node can be added before or after a selected sibling node. The first child node cannot be added this way, since there are no siblings to select. As a result, the system may automatically add a child node whenever a non-leaf parent node is added to the program tree. For example, when a binary operator node is added to the program tree, the system adds at least one child node as an operand. The type of the child node is "to be determined" because the system did not know the type of operand that the programmer wanted. The system then allows the programmer to change the type of the node. Although the automatic adding of a child node allowed for a child node to be added without any sibling nodes, some programmers would have preferred to have a way to add child nodes without using nodes with a "to be determined" type.
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a portion of a program tree corresponding to the definition of a method. The method is defined by the following:
public static int increment (int i){i++; return i;}
Node 101 corresponds to the root of the sub-tree of the program tree representing the "increment" method. Nodes 102-108 are child nodes of the root node. Nodes 109 and 110 are child nodes of node 106, node 111 is a child node of node 107, and node 112 is a child node of node 108. Each node has a reference to another node in the program tree that defines the node type. For example, node 107 references (e.g., "statement") a declaration node that defines a statement, and node 111 references (e.g., indicated by the dashed line) node 106 for the parameter "i." Such referenced nodes are also referred to as declaration definitions.
A node of a certain node type may have a variable number of child nodes. For example, the "increment" method has seven child nodes. The references to child nodes may be stored in an array of references of the parent node. For example, entry 1 of the array may reference the child node of type "name," entries 2 and 3 may reference the child nodes of type "modifier," and so on. To identify the child nodes of a parent node with a certain node type, the system, however, would typically need to access each child node of the parent node. It would be desirable if the types of child nodes could be identified without having to access each child node.
The system also needed to track various groupings of node types. For example, the formal parameters of a method may have node types of input parameter, output parameter, or input/output parameter. The system needed to be programmed with knowledge that these three different node types were formal parameters. Thus, whenever the system needed to identify the child nodes representing the formal parameters, it would check each child node of the method node to see if the node type of the child node matched on these three node types. When the system is embedded with such knowledge, the system needed to be modified whenever such groupings changed, whenever new groupings were added, and whenever new node types were added to a group. It would be desirable to avoid such modifications to the system.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and system for organizing and manipulating nodes by category in a program tree


A power steering system for a vehicle includes a hydraulic pump connected to a power steering gear of the vehicle and a fluid coupling interconnecting a drive shaft of an engine of the vehicle with the hydraulic pump. The power steering system also includes an electronic controller operable to provide a variable control signal based on received input and an amplifier to receive the variable control signal and energize the fluid coupling in response thereto to vary torque transmitted via the fluid coupling.

It is known to provide a power steering system for a vehicle such as a motor vehicle to assist a driver in steering the motor vehicle. Typically, the power steering system is of a hydraulic type. The hydraulic power steering system employs an engine driven hydraulic power steering pump for generating pressurized fluid that is coupled to a hydraulic steering gear of the motor vehicle. Since the power steering pump is driven directly by the engine using a belt, its speed is determined by that of the engine and it operates continuously as long as the engine is running, resulting in continuous losses due to constant circulation of the hydraulic fluid through the steering gear. This results in increased fuel consumption due to continuous operation of the power steering pump at speeds dictated by the engine speed, even when no steering assist is required. In addition, the power steering pump has to provide the required flow and pressure for the worst case engine speed, which could be near idle, under static steering conditions, contributing to significant fuel consumption. This results in much higher pump flow at higher engine speeds further increasing the losses in the hydraulic power steering system, which results ultimately in increased fuel consumption.
More recently, electrohydraulic power steering systems have been used to decouple the power steering pump form the engine and provide an on-demand hydraulic pressure using an electric motor to drive the hydraulic power steering pump. An example of such an electrohydraulic power steering system incorporates a hydraulic power steering pump driven by a brushless direct current electric motor controlled by a pulse width modulated inverter. Also, there are electrically driven steering systems without using any hydraulic fluids. Both of them improve the vehicle fuel economy by providing an on-demand steering power assist and minimizing/eliminating parasitic losses associated with the engine-driven hydraulic pump. However, the electrohydraulic power steering system needs a costly high power electric motor, power electronics for controlling speed of the electric motor, and a reliable electrical power supply (including an engine driven alternator and battery). The overall losses of the conventional electrohydraulic power steering system include losses through the engine alternator, power electronics, electric motor, and power steering pump.
As a result, it is desirable to provide a magneto-rheological hydraulic power steering system for a vehicle that minimizes power losses in a power steering pump and provides variable flow and pressure of the pump independent of engine speed. It is also desirable to provide a magneto-rheological hydraulic power steering system for a vehicle that controls pressure of the steering system using a power steering pump. It is further desirable to provide a magneto-rheological hydraulic power steering system that provides variable power steering assist at a relatively low cost. Therefore, there is a need in the art to provide a magneto-rheological hydraulic power steering system that meets these desires.


A method of reforming a wet-tantalum capacitor includes providing a medical device comprising a wet-tantalum capacitor. The capacitor has a rated voltage and including a hydrated anodic deposit. The method further includes charging the capacitor to a voltage that is less than approximately seventy-five percent of the rated voltage and at least partially discharging the capacitor after the charging step. The charging step is performed at a sufficient voltage to dehydrate the anodic deposit while not significantly decreasing the service life of the capacitor.

The present invention relates generally to the field of capacitors. More specifically, the present invention relates to wet-tantalum capacitors for use in medical devices (e.g., implantable medical devices (IMDs)) or other types of devices.
Since their earliest inception, there has been significant advancement in body-implantable electronic medical devices. Today, these implantable devices include therapeutic and diagnostic devices, such as pacemakers, cardioverters, defibrillators, neural stimulators, drug administering devices, among others for alleviating the adverse effects of various health ailments. Conventional implantable medical devices are also vastly more sophisticated and complex than their predecessors, and are therefore capable of performing considerably more complex tasks for reducing the effects of the health ailments they were designed to treat.
Usually, body-implantable medical devices rely on battery power to perform their therapeutic and/or diagnostic tasks. The battery supplies power to the electrical components of the implantable medical device, and also typically provides power to a capacitor of, for example, a defibrillator device, which stores the energy supplied thereto from the battery. The capacitor typically includes an anode, a cathode, and a fluid electrolyte disposed between the anode and cathode. The various types of materials used for the anode, cathode, and electrolyte may have an impact on the capacitor's ability to store energy from the battery, and the rate at which the energy is stored prior to discharging the capacitor. Importantly, the materials may also affect the volume of the device. Smaller defibrillator devices, which in turn require smaller capacitors, will typically enhance the patient's comfort.
Typically, in an implantable medical device, the capacitor is used to deliver therapeutic electric signals to the patient's heart in response to the device receiving abnormal feedback signals from the heart. The therapeutic electric signals delivered to the patient's heart may vary somewhat in intensity depending on the patients' physiology and the details of the implant. Typically, the therapeutic electric pulse energy delivered to the heart is on the order of 30 J for a single defibrillation pulse. The energy stored in the capacitor has to be somewhat larger due to losses along the delivery path during the release of the energy.
The capacitor, therefore, plays a vital role in the implantable defibrillator device for if the energy supplied from the battery is not stored in a timely manner within the capacitor prior to its therapeutic discharge or if the energy is not released in a timely manner during its therapeutic delivery, the capacitor may not be able to deliver sufficient energy to the patient's heart at a critical point in time when deemed necessary by the implantable medical device. As a result, the performance of the medical device may be adversely affected by the capacitor's inability to adequately and/or quickly store the energy supplied by the battery.
Wet-tantalum capacitors use tantalum and tantalum oxide (Ta2O5) instead of the conventional aluminum and aluminum oxide in aluminum electrolytic capacitors. Wet-tantalum capacitors typically include a tantalum metal anode, a tantalum oxide dielectric combined with a liquid electrolyte that is sandwiched between the anode and a cathode. The cathode may be a tantalum metal using a Ta2O5 dielectric or other material, for example, RuO2.
An exemplary wet-tantalum capacitor may comprise a tantalum metal anode, Ta2O5 dielectric, a liquid electrolyte, and a cathode of material other than tantalum, for example, RuO2. Capacitors of this description are known in the trade as hybrid capacitors, with some versions having tantalum cases and others having polypropylene cases. See also U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,982,609; 5,469,325; 5,737,181; and 5,754,394.
Exemplary specifications for the wet-tantalum capacitors are 185 volts surge, 60 microamp leakage current at 175 volts, 90 microamp leakage current at 185 volts, an AC capacitance of 490 microfarads, and equivalent series resistance (ESR) of 1.2 Ohms. Capacitors meeting these specifications or having similar construction are manufactured by Wilson Greatbatch Technologies of Clarence, N.Y. or Evans Capacitor Company of East Providence, R.I.
A maintenance issue exists for wet-tantalum capacitors, which is that their charging efficiency degrades over long periods of inactivity. The degraded charging efficiency stems from hydration of either the tantalum-oxide dielectric and/or hydration of a sparingly soluble phosphate that is deposited within the interstices of the anode during formation of the anodic oxide. This hydration problem leads to degraded charging efficiency and thereby requires the device battery to expend more energy to charge the capacitor for future use in providing therapy.
Previous attempts at solving the problem of deformation require that the capacitor be charged to a voltage at or near the rated voltage of the capacitor for a period of time and then discharging either through a non-therapeutic load or through leakage currents. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,283,985, Harguth, et al. state they have discovered the need for reforming wet-tantalum capacitors in an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) and describe a method for doing so, albeit contrary to and without the advantages of the methods and apparatuses described herein.
Accordingly, there is a need for an efficient reformation method and apparatus for wet-tantalum capacitors. Further, there is a need for a method and apparatus for reforming wet-tantalum capacitors which require reduced amounts of energy from a power source. Further still, there is a need for wet-tantalum capacitors which provide improved reformation properties when compared with conventional wet-tantalum capacitor reformation techniques. Yet further still, there is a need for a method and apparatus for reforming wet-tantalum capacitors which addresses the underlying mechanisms that lead to the degradation of wet-tantalum capacitor performance.
It would be desirable to provide a system and/or method that provides one or more of these or other advantageous features. Other features and advantages will be made apparent from the present specification. The teachings disclosed extend to those embodiments which fall within the scope of the appended claims, regardless of whether they accomplish one or more of the aforementioned needs.

Wet-tantalum reformation method and apparatus


According to one embodiment, a reading device is a device for obtaining information for identifying a merchandise, and includes a housing, an imaging unit, a main illumination unit, and an auxiliary illumination unit. The housing includes a reading window having a property of transmitting light. The imaging unit is built in the housing and captures an image through the reading window. The main illumination unit illuminates an imaging target located on the opposite side of the imaging unit with the reading window interposed therebetween by emitting light outward the housing, and is arranged at the upper edge portion of the reading window. The auxiliary illumination unit illuminates the imaging target by emitting light outward the housing through the reading window, and is arranged inner side than the main illumination unit.

In the related art, a sales data processing device such as a point-of-sales (POS) terminal includes a reading device that acquires a code image such as a bar code or a two-dimensional code or an image of an appearance of a merchandise as information for identifying the merchandise. The reading device has a built-in imaging unit configured with an image sensor or the like, and captures a code image or an image of a surface of a merchandise through a transparent reading window provided in a portion of the housing.
The above-mentioned reading device in the related art is provided in the housing with a light source (light emitting diode (LED) or the like) for illuminating the code image or the surface of the merchandise that is an imaging and reading target. If the light source is configured to emit the light sufficiently for reading, it is inconvenient for the user to feel glare.


A method of partially reconfiguring an IC having programmable modules that includes the steps of reading a frame of configuration information from the configuration memory array; modifying at least part of the configuration information, thereby creating a modified frame of configuration information; and overwriting the existing frame of configuration information in the configuration memory array with the modified frame, thereby partially reconfiguring the IC.

Dynamic reconfiguration and self-reconfiguration are two of the more advanced forms of field programmable gate array (FPGA) reconfigurability. Dynamic reconfiguration involves the active FPGA being fully or partially reconfigured, while ensuring the correct operation of those active circuits that are not being changed. Self-reconfiguration extends the concept of dynamic reconfigurability. It assumes that specific circuits on the FPGA itself are used to control the reconfiguration of other parts of the FPGA. Both dynamic reconfiguration and self-reconfiguration rely on an external reconfiguration control interface to boot an FPGA when power is first applied or the device is reset.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a conventional FPGA 90, which includes input/output (I/O) blocks 102A (each labeled IO) located around the perimeter of the FPGA, multi-gigabit transceivers (MGT) 104A interspersed with the I/O blocks, configurable logic blocks 106A (each labeled CLB) arranged in an array, block random access memory 108A (each labeled BRAM) interspersed with the CLBs, configuration logic 112, configuration interface 114, on-chip processor 92 (labeled PowerPC®) and internal configuration access port (ICAP) 120. Although FIG. 1 shows a relatively small number of I/O blocks, CLBs and block RAMs for illustration purposes. It is understood that an FPGA typically includes many more of these elements. On-chip processor 92 is an IBM PowerPC® 405 processor. FPGA 90 can include more than one of these processors (typically up to four of these processors). FPGA 90 also includes other elements, such as a programmable interconnect structure and a configuration memory array, which are not illustrated in FIG. 1. FPGA 90 is described in more detail in "Virtex-II™ Pro, Platform FPGA Handbook", (Oct. 14, 2002) which includes "Virtex-II Pro™ Platform FPGA Documentation" (March 2002) "Advance Product Specification," "Rocket I/O Transceiver User Guide", "PPC 405 User Manual" and "PPC 405 Processor Block Manual" available from Xilinx, Inc., 2100 Logic Drive, San Jose, Calif. 95124.
In general, FPGA 90 is configured in response to a set of configuration data values, which are loaded into a configuration memory array of FPGA 90 (not shown) from an external memory, e.g., a read-only memory (ROM), via configuration interface 114 and configuration logic 112. Configuration interface 114 can be, for example, a select map interface, a JTAG interface, or a master serial interface. The configuration memory array can be visualized as a rectangular array of bits. The bits are grouped into frames that are one-bit wide words that extend from the top of the array to the bottom. The configuration data values are loaded into the configuration memory array one frame at a time from the external memory via the configuration interface 114.
FIGS. 2-1 and 2-2 are simplified conceptual diagrams of the configuration memory array. The bits of the configuration memory array 100 (and 101) configure, for example, the CLBs 106B, BRAMs 108B, MGTs 104B, and I/Os 102B. In FIGS. 2-1 and 2-2 the labels are chosen so that the configuration memory array elements (with a B suffix) in FIGS. 2-1 and 2-2 correspond to their associated physical components (with an A suffix) in FIG. 1. A frame 122 is a column one bit wide extending from the top of the array 100 to the bottom. A frame is the smallest part of the configuration memory array that can be written to or read from.
The processor block is either a hard-core processor, e.g., processor block 110 of FIG. 2-1 and processor 92 of FIG. 1, such as the PowerPC® of IBM Corp. of Armonk, N.Y., or a soft core processor having CLBs, e.g., processor block 109 of FIG. 2-2, such as the MicroBlaze™ processor core of Xilinx Inc. of San Jose, Calif.
In order to provide self-reconfiguration for the FPGA, the internal configuration access port (ICAP) 120 was added. The ICAP 120 gives access by the FPGA's internal logic (e.g., CLB's 106A and BRAMs 108A) to the configuration memory array 100 (and 101). In other words, one part of the configured FPGA can reconfigure another part of the FPGA. Conventionally, this self-reconfiguration was done by loading pre-generated reconfiguration frames in the BRAM, and using customized logic, over-writing pre-targeted frames in the configuration memory array with these pre-generated reconfiguration frames.
FIG. 3 shows the ICAP module 120 of the prior art. There is an eight bit wide input bus 210 and an eight bit wide output bus 218. The input write signal 212 indicates when there is a read from or write to the ICAP module 120 (where, e.g., write=1 and read=0). Additional inputs include a chip enable signal 214 and a clock signal 216. The busy (done) output signal 220 indicates when data can be received by the ICAP module 120.
FIG. 4 is a simplified format of a data packet 310 sent to the input bus 210 of the ICAP module 120 of FIG. 3. The data packet 310, includes a command portion 312 having an operation (op) code 316, a register address 318, and a word count 320 for the data portion 314, and the data portion 314. The operation code 316 includes commands to the configuration logic 112 to, for example, read from or write to the configuration memory array 100. There are registers in the configuration logic 112, which are identified by register address 318. Further details can be found in Xilinx, Inc. application note, XAPP151, Sep. 27, 2000, titled "Virtex Series Configuration Architecture User Guide."
There are several disadvantages with using the above custom logic self-reconfiguration approach. First, for example, the approach lacks flexibility, as what is to be reconfigured must be predetermined, i.e., the frames pre-generated and the custom logic set. Second, any changes to the reconfiguration take a significant amount of time, as the modified reconfiguration must be pre-loaded. Third, pre-loading entire frames, when only parts of the frames need to be reconfigured is inefficient. And fourth, more complex dynamic reconfiguration scenarios, such as modifying selected resources, generating parameterized circuits on the fly, relocating partial bitstreams to other locations on the array are very difficult to implement in custom logic.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to have an improved scheme for implementing the self-reconfiguration of an FPGA, which overcomes the above-described deficiencies.

Reconfiguration of a programmable logic device using internal control


A wrapping film housing carton of a long type for housing a rolled wrapping film therein, comprising at least cutting means for cutting the wrapping film after drawing out the wrapping film through an opening provided in a longitudinal direction of the carton and a film holding section for preventing the end of the wrapping film after cutting from being rewound into the carton, the film holding section comprising a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer of a cured product of a composition containing a polyurethane prepolymer. This constitution enables the film holding section to be formed by printing. The wrapping film housing carton has good and stable wrapping film holding properties and non-temperature-dependency and can realize a reduction in production cost and simplification and acceleration of the production process.

The present invention relates to a wrapping film housing carton comprising cutting means for cutting a rolled film, such as a wrapping film, and a film holding section for preventing rewinding of the end of the film after cutting and, more particularly to a technique for improving a film holding section which enables simple and efficient formation of the film holding section by printing method and, at the same time, can markedly improve the non-temperature-dependency of the film holding capability.
An example of representative conventional methods for preventing rewinding of the end of a wrapping film after cutting the film in a carton for the wrapping film is as follows. A pressure-sensitive adhesive layer is provided on the surface of a front sheet section constituting a wrapping film housing carton, and a wrapping film housing carton is constructed so that, when the front end of a side overhead cover section glued to a position covering the front sheet section is peeled and removed to open the carton, the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer is exposed onto the surface of the carton, thereby permitting the end of the film after cutting to be held by the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer. In this method, the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer is formed by applying a sticker of the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer onto the surface of the front sheet section.
In the above conventional method using a pressure-sensitive adhesive, however, it is not easy to control the tackiness of the pressure-sensitive adhesive per se, and even slightly excessive tackiness may cause a wrapping film to strongly adhere to the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer, resulting in breakage of the film at the time of drawing out the film. Further, dust is gradually deposited onto the pressure-sensitive adhesive coated face, deteriorating the film holding capability and creating unhygienic conditions.
Furthermore, the conventional pressure-sensitive adhesive has poor printability and coatability and, hence, cannot be easily printed or coated on the housing carton. For this reason, it is common practice to prepare a sticker of a pressure-sensitive adhesive which is then applied to a predetermined position of the housing carton. The preparation of a sticker of the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer renders the production process complicated and, at the same time, is disadvantageous from the viewpoint of cost.
Further, conventional pressure-sensitive adhesives which have been proposed in the art (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 270935/1994) are not always satisfactory in the temperature dependency. Specifically, the conventional pressure-sensitive adhesive layer has a very increased tackiness to the film in an ambient temperature range from about 35.degree. to 40.degree. C. or above, disadvantageously making it difficult to peel the film from the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer.
The present invention has been made with a view to solving the problems of the conventional methods involving the construction of a film holding section using the above pressure-sensitive adhesives. An object of the present invention is to provide a wrapping film housing carton which enables formation of a film holding section by printing, possesses a good wrapping film holding property, and stably non-temperature-dependent property, and can realize a reduction in production cost and an improvement toward simple and efficient production.


An air source (11) is connected to an air motor (3) through an electropneumatic converter (12) which is connected to a rotational controller (13). Upon changing settings in a target rotational speed (N0) or paint discharge rate (Q0), in order to supply a necessary air pressure for rotationally driving the air motor (3) in a steady state with new setting conditions, the rotation controller (13) selects a steady value (is) from a rotational data selection processing table, and outputs to the electropneumatic converter (12) the newly selected steady value (is) as an input current value (i). By so doing, the rotational speed of the air motor (3) is quickly controlled toward the changed target rotational speed (N0).

Generally, there have been known so-called rotary atomizing head type coating machines which are constituted of an air motor which is connected to an atomizing head, a speed sensor for detection of rotational speed of the air motor, an air source for supplying driving air to the air motor, an electropneumatic converter for adjusting a supply air pressure from the air source according to an electrical quantity, and a controller for controlling an electrical quantity to be output to the electropneumatic converter on the basis of detected rotational speed and a target rotational speed (e.g., Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-192022).
In the case of the prior art rotary atomizing head type coating machines of this sort, by way of a feedback control of an air motor, an electrical quantity to be applied to an electropneumatic converter is adjusted by a controller in such a way as to minimize a difference between a detected rotational speed and a target rotational speed of an air motor. Therefore, in the case of conventional rotary atomizing head type coating machines, for example, an air motor is driven at a speed which is within a differential range of ±5% relative to a target rotational speed of approximately 3,000 rpm to 1,000 rpm thereby putting the rotary atomizing head in high speed rotation while supplying a paint to the rotary atomizing head in this condition. As a result, the supplied paint to the rotary atomizing head is atomized by rotary atomization (by centrifugal atomization) to form finely divided paint particles. Atomized paint particles are charged by a rotary atomizing head at an external electrode to urge a flight from the coating machine toward a work piece along an electrostatic field for deposition on the work piece.
In the case of the atomizing head type coating machine by the above-mentioned prior art, an air motor is employed as a drive source for the rotary atomizing head instead of an electric motor. The reasons for this are: (1) High insulating properties of compressed air of the drive source make it easier to insulate the motor as a part to be applied with a high voltage; (2) Relatively simple construction permits reductions in size and cost and inexpensive maintenance and service; and (3) No possibilities of volatile and flammable organic solvent and paint taking fire within the motor.
However, an air motor has a relatively small torque so that the rotational speed of the motor is easily fluctuated by variations in load conditions of the rotary atomizing head (the air motor), for example, when paint supply is turned on and off. On such an occasion, if the rotational speed of the atomizing head is increased, paint is divided into particles of a smaller diameter. On the contrary, if the rotational speed is lowered, paint is divided into particles of a larger diameter. In this connection, it is important to maintain paint particles in a uniform size because the paint particle size has great influences on the quality of finish touches. On the other hand, the rotational speed of the atomizing head varies as the paint supply is switched on and off, making it difficult to atomize paint into an aimed particle size because of impairing the quality of coatings.
Especially, in recent years, it is usually the case for a coating machine to switch paint supply on and off repeatedly several tens times per one car body while coating same according to shapes of its exterior surfaces. Besides, due to a demand from coating industries, there has been a trend toward high paint discharge operations using a paint with a large content of a highly viscous non-volatile component of a high specific gravity. As a consequence, the rotational speed is fluctuated to a greater degree by on-off of paint supply, and deviated from a target rotational speed for a longer time (e.g., for 7 to 10 seconds). In addition, fluctuations in rotational speed take place several tens times per one car body, each time disturbing the paint particle size which has extremely great influences on the quality of coatings.


An improved, scattering-type mask for use in a charged-particle beam lithography process comprises the mask having a membrane portion and a scattering portion, the membrane portion being fabricated with a conductive material or a plurality of materials in which one of them is conductive. The conductive nature of the membrane portion mitigates the accumulation of charge in the mask, thereby enhancing the definition of the charged-particle pattern transferred from the mask onto the wafer under fabrication and reducing the distortion obtained with the system.

The fabrication of integrated circuit devices typically involves a number of photolithography steps. With lithography, a mask is used to imprint positive or negative pattern images onto a layer of photoresist coating the surface of a semiconductor wafer. The patterns thus applied define the various regions of the integrated circuit device, such as contact windows, gate electrode areas, bonding pad areas, implantation regions, and so forth. Once the resist patterns are imprinted on the device, selective processing techniques are applied to form a device structure or layer. Typically, fabrication of an integrated circuit requires a series of separate masks and lithographic transfer steps. In this way, the patterns from each mask are transferred, layer by layer, onto the surface of the wafer. Masks used in fabricating small feature sizes typically have comprised glass plates covered with hard-surface materials such as chromium, iron oxide, or molybdenum silicide.
Various lithographic techniques are known. Traditionally, integrated circuit exposure tools have involved optical systems using ultraviolet light, but as lithographic technology has advanced, other forms of lithography have evolved such as electron beam, x-ray, and ion beam lithographies. Early forms of lithography involved contact or proximity printing, in which the mask and wafer are placed in direct contact or in close alignment with one another. Due to mask damage associated with those techniques, projection printing has emerged as the preferred technology. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,602,619, "Scanner for Step and Scan Lithography System," issued Feb. 11, 1997 to Sogard, assigned to Nikon Precision, Inc. (the "Nikon patent"), hereby incorporated by reference.
Conventional direct-write electron-beam lithography offers advantages, for example, good resolution and large depth of focus, but it has traditionally suffered in terms of its relatively low throughput levels. Projection electron-beam lithography systems have typically used full-field illumination of the mask and an absorption-transparency mask structure to take advantage of good resolution and depth of focus while attempting to capitalize on the higher throughputs achievable with projection systems. E-beam absorption-transparency masks use an aperture approach: certain electrons are blocked by the mask from hitting the wafer surface, while others are allowed to pass through apertures in the mask to contact the wafer. In these systems, increasing the beam current sufficiently to achieve commercially-viable throughput levels results in two principle difficulties: (1) stochastic electron-electron interactions produce an uncorrectable image blur at the wafer surface leading to reduced process latitude which ultimately can limit throughput; and (2) the absorbing mask structure is subject to thermal distortion. These effects vary with voltage, that is, the image blur is reduced at higher voltages but thermal distortion increases with increased voltage. For further background regarding electron-beam lithography, see, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,424,173, "Electron Beam Lithography System and Method," issued Jun. 13, 1995 to Wakabayashi et. al, assigned to Hitachi Ltd., and U.S. Pat. No. 5,674,413, "Scattering Reticle for Electron Beam Systems," issued Nov. 12, 1995 to Pfeiffer et al., assigned to International Business Machines Corp., both of which are incorporated herein by reference.
A modern process for high resolution patterning comprises SCattering with Angular Limitation in Projection Electron-beam Lithography (known as "SCALPEL"), disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,260,151, "Device Manufacture Involving Step-and-Scan Delineation," issued Nov. 9, 1993 to Berger et al., and assigned to Lucent Technologies, Inc. (the present assignee) (the "Berger '151 patent"), which is hereby incorporated by reference. The SCALPEL system employs charged-particle beam lithography, thus offering the depth of focus advantages of e-beam lithography, yet it uses membrane-based, scattering-type masks, not absorption-transparency masks, avoiding the thermal distortion encountered in previous attempts. The SCALPEL masks form a pattern while allowing the electron beam to pass through the membrane masks, rather than blocking electrons. Significant advantages are thus provided by SCALPEL as the transparency improves with increased voltage.
The SCALPEL system is simplistically illustrated in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 1, the system essentially comprises an electron beam gun 10 for emitting a beam of electrons 12, a membrane-based mask 40 for modulating the beam, one or more projection lenses 20, for demagnifying and focusing the projected beam, an aperture filter 22 for filtering strongly-scattered electrons, and the wafer 30 having a resist system 32 on its surface. Preferably, the resist system comprises a high-resolution, single layer resist. The mask comprises a membrane portion 42 and a scattering portion 44. Applying the SCALPEL concept, the membrane portion 42 is fabricated with a low atomic number material (e.g., silicon nitride), while the scattering portion 44 is fabricated with a high atomic number material (e.g., tungsten). In this way, electrons passing through both portions of the mask (e.g., beam A), scatter more strongly than electrons passing through only the low atomic number membrane portion (e.g., beam B). The aperture filter 22 blocks the strongly-scattered electrons (E.sub.S), while allowing the membrane-only trajectory (beam B) to pass with little change. Image formation is thus achieved by capitalizing on the different scattering properties of the materials used to fabricate the mask.
With this system, the components of the mask depart from the traditional chrome-on-glass configuration. In previous embodiments, the membrane mask was comprised of a silicon-nitride membrane 42 coated with a scattering-portion 44 of tungsten and chromium. The SCALPEL mask also has been designed having struts and skirts for enhancing the mechanical integrity and providing image precision, respectively (see Berger '151 patent, col. 5, lines 35-45). For further background regarding the SCALPEL system and related technology, reference is made to the following U.S. patents, all of which are assigned to Lucent Technologies, Inc., the present assignee, and which are incorporated herein by reference: U.S. Pat. No. 5,663,568, "Apparatus for Controlling a Charged Particle Beam and a Lithographic Process in which the Apparatus is Used," issued Sep. 2, 1997 to Waskiewicz; U.S. Pat. No. 5,316,879, "Sub-micron Device Fabrication Using Multiple Aperture Filter," issued May 31, 1994 to Berger and Liddle (an inventor herein); and U.S. Pats. Nos. 5,258,246, 5,130,213 and 5,079,112, issued November 1993, July 1992, and January 1992, respectively, all three of which are titled "Device Manufacture Involving Lithographic Processing," issuing to Berger et al. Background on SCALPEL is also described in L. R. Harriott & J. A. Liddle, "Projection Electron Beam Lithography: SCALPEL," FUTURE FAB INTERNATIONAL (Technology Publishing, Ltd, 1997), at 143-48, also incorporated by reference.
As with other lithography and charged-particle delineation systems in general, the success of the SCALPEL system is related to the types and function of the masks used. The invention provides an improved mask for use in a charged-particle beam lithography process having particular applicability to the SCALPEL system. Further advantages may appear more fully upon considering the description given below.

Membrane mask for projection lithography


A venous return catheter (30, 56, 60, 70) and method of use therefor having a semi-rigid support member (32) extending within a lumen (42) to prevent kinking thereof during insertion and use. The tubular walls of the catheter body (40,72) are sufficiently thin and flexible to provide maneuverability and allow clamping of the lumen (42) during use, but which outer diameter is sufficiently small and thus requires a smaller and less traumatic incision in the right atrium. The catheter is provided with a plurality of openings (34) along a length proximate the distal end of the catheter, and may have a second set of openings (74) in a two-stage catheter (70). The semi-rigid support member (32) is fixedly or selectively secured at a central location of the distal tip 44 free of the openings (34), but is free at the proximal end of the catheter to provide maneuverability. The semi-rigid support member may have a plurality of radially extending support members (57) to provide additional support. The catheter may also have a linear support member (62) integrally defined in the body wall (40) to prevent kinking but allow clamping.

Use of catheters to administer fluids into and drain fluids out of the body has been a standard practice in medical procedures for years. Many such catheters are available and used as part of an extracorporeal circuit during open heart procedures.
In a typical open heart procedure, blood is bypassed from the heart and lungs to a heart lung machine which, in combination with an oxygenator, pumps and oxygenates the blood passing through the extracorporeal circuit. When bypassing the heart, blood is siphoned away from the right atrium using a venous return (suction) catheter, oxygenated and returned to the aorta using an aortic arch (delivery) catheter. The distal end of the venous return catheter is usually placed in the right atrial appendage, while the proximal end of the catheter is attached to the tube feeding to a venous reservoir. The venous reservoir is placed at a lower level than the operating table to create a differential head pressure. This differential head pressure acts to siphon blood residing in the right atrium via the venous return catheter into the venous return reservoir.
During the open heart procedure, both the venous return catheter and aortic arch catheter are first introduced into the heart, and specifically the right atrium and inferior vena cava of the heart, and the aorta, respectively. The catheters are then clamped to inhibit blood flow therethrough. When the patient is ready to be placed on the extracorporeal circuit, the catheters are connected to inlet and outlet ends of the extracorporeal circuit, respectively, while simultaneously releasing the clamps.
Periodically, during the open heart procedure, the heart needs to be moved or adjusted by the surgeon. As the suction catheter and delivery catheter are already attached to the heart, there is a potential for these catheters to bend and kink, which can restrict blood flow therethrough and possibly create a dangerous and even life threatening situation. One prior art catheter which tends to avoid kinking is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,129,129 to Sarns. This catheter has an extremely thick tube body with a coil imbedded in the tube walls. Reinforcing the tube wall, however, significantly increases the outer diameter of the catheter. As such, the larger outer diameter requires a larger incision to be formed in the heart for introducing this large catheter, which tends to cause more trauma to the heart. Another disadvantage with this prior art catheter is that it can only be clamped in the non-reinforced area of the catheter which is provided at the proximal end of the catheter. This unreinforced section is in an inconvenient location for the surgeon, and restricts the surgeon from choosing the location of the clamp during the surgery.
There are three main areas of concern when performing the surgery in the conventional way. First, the kinking of the venous line, such as at the catheter tip, could potentially run the venous reservoir dry and allow air into the patient's circulation system. This introduction of air would be fatal. Secondly, the trauma on the heart created by a larger incision takes longer to heal and creates a larger scar. Finally, it is inconvenient for the surgeon to clamp only at the selected areas of the catheter.
There is a desire to provide a reinforced catheter that has a high inner to outer diameter ratio, a sufficient inner diameter and a small outer diameter which facilitates for smaller incision in the right atrium.

Venous return catheter having integral support member


The invention relates to a method for process control, wherein at least one process device to be controlled is controlled by at least one process module and by at least one safety module, in that process signals not relevant to safety are transmitted to a local control unit associated with the process device by the process module and safety signals relating to the process safety are transmitted by the safety module, wherein the process signals and the safety signals are logically linked to one another in the control unit and the result of the logical link is made available at a control output of the control unit to which the process device to be controlled is connected.

In many applications of automation and process engineering, not only does the process control have to control the actual working process, but safety aspects must also be taken into account. In the control of process devices, for example actuators, a combination of process data and safety data or a combination of the corresponding signals is, for example, necessary when movements of a machine part driven by an actuator which are critical to safety or which are dangerous for persons or also for capital goods should both be controlled by the actual process control and also switched off by the safety control in a case of emergency or disturbance.
Different methods for the combination of the process control with the safety control are already known.
In accordance with one method, the process control and the safety control are separate from one another: the control of the actual working process of the process device takes place by the process control. In the case of a fault, the safety control switches the voltage supply of the process device off independently of the process control, whereby the process device runs out in an uncontrolled manner. There are improved solutions in which actuators with so-called integrated safety are used which have separate switch inputs for the process control, on the one hand, and for the safety control, on the other hand.
In accordance with a further known method, the process logic, on the one hand, and the safety logic, on the other hand, are combined with one another in the safety control. The process data and the safety data are taken into account in the safety control in this process, with only a resulting signal being communicated to the process device to be controlled. The required exchange of data between the process control and the safety control is disadvantageous in this process. In practice, field bus systems are increasingly used such that, when this known method is used, a common communication protocol has to be implemented both in the process control and in the safety control.
A further known method proposes that the data stream from the process control to the process device be monitored by the safety control. As with the known methods described above, it is, however, disadvantageous here that the data of the process control have to be taken into account in the safety program of the safety control. Not only the calculation effort in the safety control is hereby increased, but a communication relationship between the process control and the safety control is moreover required.
It is furthermore problematic that the data exchange of process data and safety data is frequently critical, since there is the risk that, in particular due to the inexperience of the user, only unsafe input signals of the process control, which are not securely recorded, are used for safety functions. For example, a configuration can thus be accidentally realized in which a signal corresponding to an "emergency off" is read in at an unsafe input module and a dangerous movement of an actuator is hereby controlled due to the exchange of data in the safety control. This represents a non-acceptable interruption of the safety chain for the practical application.
Reference is generally made in another respect to DE 199 28 517 C2, DE 199 25 693 A1, DE 102 01 212 A1, DE 102 11 939 A1, DE 102 11 938 A1 and DE 199 22 561 A1 with respect to the prior art.

Abstract: The invention moreover relates to a system for process control, in particular for the carrying out of the method in accordance with the invention.


The invention relates to a paint spray gun (1) having a compressed air distribution chamber (8) into which a compressed air feed line (10), a round jet line (6) and a wide jet line (7) open, the quantity of compressed air supplied to the compressed air distribution chamber (8), the round jet line (6) and the wide jet line (7) being adjustable via a setting element arranged in the compressed air distribution chamber (8) and rotatable from outside by an actuating element (15) about an axis of rotation (D) extending through the compressed air distribution chamber (8). Said paint spray gun (1) is characterized in that the setting element is formed as a rotary distributor (14) that is held immovably in the axial direction of the axis of rotation (D) and can be rotated about the axis of rotation (D) in order to open and close openings (6′, 7′, 10′) of the round jet line (6) and/or the wide jet line (7) and/or the compressed air feed line (10).

The generic paint spray gun is known from EP 0 706 832 B1. Said paint spray gun presents a compressed air distributor which is connected to a compressed air feed line, and which distributes the compressed air of the compressed air feed line over a horn air supply line and a round jet supply line. The compressed air quantity fed to the horn air supply line can be set by screw adjustment of a plug, which presents a terminal sealing spigot for continuous opening or closing of the horn air supply line. To delimit the pressure that is generated in the round jet area to a maximum, if at the time of the closing of the horn air the pressure in the round jet area increases above the maximum admissible for paint spray guns, the plug presents, seen from its end, an area of larger diameter, in the direction towards the sealing spigot, which also continuously narrows the air pathway between the compressed air feed line and round jet supply line, at the time of the closing of the horn air supply line. The plug is shifted there by means of a knurled knob rotating in the axial direction. The solution described therein presents the disadvantage that, owing to the axial resetting kinematics of the plug for opening or closing the lines in the compressed air distributor, the knurled knob needs to be turned one rotation. Moreover, the design of the plug with the sealing spigots and the plate-like disk makes it impossible to determine or calculate with precision the distribution of air in the compressed air distributor. In addition, the multipart design is disadvantageous here from the point of view of manufacturing technology. Moreover, during the adjustment, the distance between the knurled knob and the gun body changes, which is often perceived as disadvantageous.