A beam processing system is for causing a particle beam extracted from a beam generating source to pass through a mass analysis magnet device, a mass analysis slit, and a deflection scanner in the order named, thereby irradiating the particle beam onto a processing object. The mass analysis slit is installed between the mass analysis magnet device and the deflection scanner at a position where the particle beam having passed through the mass analysis magnet device converges most in a lateral direction. A first DC quadrupole electromagnet and a second DC quadrupole electromagnet are installed on an upstream side and a downstream side of the mass analysis slit, respectively.

This invention relates to a beam processing system for processing a processing object by irradiating thereto a beam (particle beam) of light, electrons, ions or the like.
Referring to FIGS. 1A and 1B, a description will be given of an example of an ion implantation system, particularly a beam scan type ion implantation system, among beam processing systems. Such an ion implantation system is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication (JP-A) No. 2003-288857.
In FIGS. 1A and 1B, ions produced in an ion source 301 are extracted as a beam 302 through a non-illustrated extraction electrode. The extracted beam 302 is subjected to a mass analysis in a mass analysis magnet device 303 so that a necessary ion species is selected. The beam 302 composed of the necessary ion species is shaped in cross section by a beam shaper 304. The beam shaper 304 is composed of a Q (Quadrupole)-magnetic pole lens, a Q electrostatic electrode lens, or the like. The beam having the shaped cross section is deflected by a deflection scanner 305 in a direction parallel to the sheet surface of FIG. 1A. Hereinafter, this direction will also be called a "scan direction" or a "lateral direction" and a direction perpendicular to such a direction will also be called a "vertical direction" or a "longitudinal direction".
The deflected beam is parallelized again by a P (Parallel)-lens 306 so as to be parallel to an axis of a deflection angle of 0°. In FIG. 1A, a scan range of the beam by the deflection scanner 305 is indicated by a thick black line and a broken line at the downstreem side of the deflection scanner 305. The beam from the P-lens 306 is transferred to an angular energy filter 308 through one or more acceleration/deceleration electrodes 307. The angular energy filter 308 performs an analysis about energy of the beam to thereby select an ion species with necessary energy. As shown in FIG. 1B, the selected ion species is deflected slightly downward in the angular energy filter 308. The beam composed of the thus selected ion species is irradiated onto a wafer 310 through a plasma electron flood system 309. The beam that is not irradiated onto the wafer 310 is incident on a beam stopper 311 so that energy thereof is consumed. Normally, the structure from the ion source 301 to a vacuum process chamber where the wafer 310 is accommodated is called a beam line.
In this type of ion implantation system, the beam extracted from the ion source 301 performs, after the mass analysis, scanning in the lateral direction at a scanning frequency of several hundreds of Hz to several KHz by the deflection scanner 305 and then is parallelized by the P-lens 306. The longitudinal sectional shape (cross-sectional shape) of the beam is circular and the diameter size thereof is much smaller than the size of the wafer 310, but the beam scan range is set greater than the wafer 310. With respect to the vertical direction, i.e. the longitudinal direction, mechanical scanning is implemented to move the wafer 310. After the parallelization again, the beam is accelerated or decelerated by the acceleration/deceleration electrode or electrodes 307 so as to cover a wide energy range of 5 keV to 260 keV. By performing the energy analysis through the angular energy filter 308 in the form of an electric field or a magnetic field after the acceleration or deceleration, pure ions can be implanted into the wafer 310. Although not illustrated, energy slits are installed on the downstream side of the angular energy filter 308.
In this type of beam scan type ion implantation system, there is a case where the longitudinal sectional shape of a beam is required to be an elliptical or oval shape elongated in the scan direction, i.e. the lateral direction, for ensuring the uniformity of ion implantation into a wafer. In this case, the size of the longitudinal sectional shape is set smaller than the diameter of the wafer with respect to the beam width in the longitudinal direction but is set sufficiently greater than the diameter of the wafer with respect to the beam width in the lateral direction.

Beam processing system and beam processing method


A Peak-to-Average Power Ratio (PAPR) reduction apparatus and method in an OFDM communication system are provided. In the PAPR reduction method, magnitude and phase components are extracted from transmission sample data. Peaks having magnitude components exceeding a threshold are detected by comparing the extracted magnitude components with the threshold. The highest of the peaks is detected and compared with the threshold. If the highest peak is greater than the threshold, the highest peak is updated.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a Multi-Carrier Modulation (MCM) communication system, and in particular, to an apparatus and method for reducing Peak-to-Average Power Ratio (PAPR) in an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) communication system.
2. Description of the Related Art
OFDM is a type of MCM in which a serial symbol sequence is parallelized and modulated to a plurality of mutually orthogonal subcarriers or subchannels.
In OFDM, since data is sent on multiple subcarriers, the amplitude of a final OFDM signal equals the sum of the amplitudes of the individual subcarriers and thus varies significantly. If the subcarriers are in phase, the amplitude of the OFDM signal is very high. The resulting MCM-incurred high PAPR leads a High Power Amplifier (HPA) out of a linear operation range and a signal passing through the HPA is distorted. While the HPA is to be operated in a non-linear area in order to achieve maximum output, it actually operates in a linear area by dropping an input power level in a back-off scheme due to the distortion.
The back-off scheme drops the operation point of the HPA to reduce signal distortion. Since power consumption increases with a higher back-off value, amplifier efficiency is degraded considerably. Therefore, a high-PAPR signal degrades the efficiency of a linear amplifier and places the operation point of a non-linear amplifier in a non-linear area, causing non-linear distortion, inter-modulation between carriers and spectrum radiation.
In general, the OFDM communication system reduces PAPR by clipping, block coding, phase adjustment, Tone Reservation (TR) or peak windowing.
In peak windowing, a threshold depends on how much the PAPR is to be reduced, and a weight function is achieved using the original signal and the threshold. A band-limited weight function acquired using a convolution of the weight function and a window function is multiplied by the original signal in the time domain, thereby reducing the signal magnitude at or below the threshold and thus reducing the PAPR. The band-limited weight function significantly distorts the time-domain original signal. The signal distortion and spectral properties are in a trade-off relationship and adjusted appropriately according to the type and size of the window. It is critical to choose an appropriate threshold, window type and window size such that the PAPR is reduced to a desired level, while Bit Error Rate (BER) performance and the spectral properties are maintained. The peak windowing scheme does not require side information at a receiver, enables signal recovery without any additional device, and offers excellent spectral properties, obviating the need for filtering.
FIG. 1 is a flowchart illustrating a conventional peak windowing method in a peak windower.
Referring to FIG. 1, the peak windower is in an idle state 102 and monitors reception of transmission sample data in step 100. If no signals are received, the peak windower is kept in the idle state in step 102. Upon receipt of transmission sample data, the peak windower extracts magnitude and phase components from the input signal in step 104. In step 106, the peak windower detects the peaks of the input signal exceeding a threshold by comparing the magnitude components with the threshold. The peak windower performs peak windowing on the peaks in step 108 and outputs the peak-windowed signal in step 110.
Peak windowing is a technique of improving the spectrum performance of a signal using clipping and windowing in combination, expressed in Equation (1) asy(n)=b(n)x(n)  (1)where y(n) represents the peak-windowed signal, x(n) represents the input signal, and b(n) represents a value calculated by Equation (3) using a dipping coefficient and a windowing coefficient.
                              x                                (            n            )                          =                                                        x                                            (                n                )                                                                                exp                                      (                              jφ                                                  (                  n                  )                                            )                                                          (        2        )                                          b                                (            n            )                          =                  1          -                                    ∑                              k                =                                  -                  ∞                                            ∞                                                                  [                                  1                  -                                      c                                                              (                      k                      )                                                                      ]                                                          w                                                  (                                      n                    -                    k                                    )                                                                                (        3        )            where w(n) is the windowing coefficient and c(n) is the clipping coefficient given as Equation (4):
                              c                                (            n            )                          =                  {                                                                      1                  ,                                                                                                                          x                                                                    (                        n                        )                                                                                                  ≤                  A                                                                                A                                                                                        x                                                                          (                          n                          )                                                                                                                            ,                                                                                                                          x                                                                    (                        n                        )                                                                                                  >                  A                                                                                (        4        )            where x(n) is the input signal and A is the threshold by which to detect the peaks.
Given a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) size of N and a window function length of W, 3W operations are required for each sample according to Equation (3). Thus, 3WN computations are carried out for N samples. Furthermore, an additional N multiplications are performed according to Equation (1). As a consequence, the conventional peak windowing requires (3W+1)N computations.
For details of the peak windowing technique, see O. Vaananen, J. Vankka, and K. Halonen, "Simple algorithm for peak windowing and its application in GSM, EDGE and WCDMA systems, Communications, IEEE Proceedings-Volume 152, Issue 3, 3 Jun. 2005, pp. 357-362.
Since the convolution of the peak windowing technique requires a large volume of computation, there exists a need for reducing the computation complexity.

Apparatus and method for reducing peak-to-average power ratio in an OFDM communication system


A heat dissipating fan includes a casing having an outlet, a base mounted in the outlet of the casing, and a plurality of air guiding members mounted in the outlet and connected between the base and the casing. Each air guiding member defines at least one air concentrating area for concentrating air, for guiding airflow, and for increasing wind pressure when an impeller mounted on the base turns.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a heat dissipating fan. In particular, the present invention relates to a heat dissipating fan with an air-guiding structure.
2. Description of Related Art
FIG. 1 of the drawings illustrates a conventional heat dissipating fan comprising a casing 10, a base 13, and a plurality of ribs 14a. The casing 10 includes an inlet 11 and an outlet 12 respectively in two sides thereof. The base 13 is located in the outlet 12 and supported by the ribs 14a. A stator (not shown) and an impeller (not shown) are mounted to the base 13. When the impeller turns, air is sucked into the casing 10 via the inlet 11 and outputted via the outlet 12 to dissipate an object such as a fin or a central processing unit.
Although a heat dissipating function is provided, the airflow driven by the heat dissipating fan can only flow along an axial direction of the casing 10 and exit the casing 10 via the outlet 12 to dissipate an object directly below the outlet 12. In a case that the object to be dissipated could not occupy the overall area below the outlet 12, the airflow for dissipating heat could not be effectively used. In another case that the object to be dissipated is located in a limited space such as a notebook type computer, the object may not be located right below the base 13 or in an area surrounding the outlet 12, or the object has a relatively large volume and thus could not be directly located below the heat dissipating fan, the heat dissipating effect is not satisfactory. Further, turbulent is generated when the airflow passes through the ribs 14a, resulting in noise and reducing the heat dissipating efficiency.

Heat dissipating fan with air-guiding structure

Sunonwealth Electric Machine Industry Co., Ltd.


Discharge factors existing on a surface of an electrode or an insulator forming an electron gun are removed efficiently and effectively, thus simply and easily enhancing the withstand voltage property of the electron gun. A conditioning processing device of an electron gun is provided with a voltage supply section, a voltage adjusting section for adjusting the output voltage of the voltage supply section, and a current detection section for detecting a leakage current flowing between the electrodes of the electron gun. Further, there are attached a vacuum exhaust section for adjusting the inside of the electron gun in a reduced pressure condition and a pressure detection section. Further, it is arranged that a personal computer (PC), for example, performs data processing based on the leakage current detected by the current detection section or comparison with a reference value thereof to control the voltage, which is applied between the electrodes from the voltage supply section via a connection section, via the voltage adjustment section.

The present invention relates to a processing method and a processing device of conditioning an electron gun to improve the withstand voltage property thereof by removing a factor of discharge existing on a surface of an electrode or an insulator forming the electron gun.
As shown in a schematic cross-sectional view of FIG. 6, an electron gun 100 used, for example, for an electron beam drawing device is disposed above an electron optical body tube 101, and is provided with a pair of first electrodes 102 (102a, 102b), a second electrode 102, and a third electrode 104 (e.g., a Wehnelt electrode).
Here, in the operation of the electron beam drawing device, the inside of the electron beam 100 and the electron optical body tube 101 is maintained in a high vacuum condition (e.g., about 10−7 Pa), and a high voltage of about 50 kV, for example, is applied between a cathode 105 attached on the tips of the first electrodes 102 and the third electrode 104 (an anode). Then, a thermion is emitted form the cathode 105 made of lanthanum hexaboride (LaB6) in accordance with a voltage (not shown) applied between the first electrodes 102a and 102b, and accelerated by the high voltage described above to be discharged as an electron beam 106 inside the electron optical body tube 110. The electron beam 106 is shaped to have a desired shape by various kinds of lenses, various kinds of deflectors, a beam shaping aperture, and so on (not shown) disposed inside the electron optical body tube 101 to be used for drawing.
In the electron gun 100 described above, the third electrode 104 is connected to a negative pole side of a high voltage source 108 via an extraction electrode 107 and the first electrodes 102 are connected to the negative pole side of the high voltage source 108 described above via a bias power source 109. Thus, the third electrode 104 becomes, for example, about 500V higher than the first electrodes 102 in the negative pole direction. Further, the second electrode 103 is connected to a positive pole side of the high voltage source 108 to be kept at the ground potential. Here, although not shown in the drawings, the first electrodes 102a, 102b, the second electrode 103, and the third electrode 104 made, for example, of stainless steel are separated to be isolated with, for example, ceramics insulators.
When the high voltage is applied to such an electron gun 100 as described above, abnormal discharge caused by a discharge factor such as a protruding section like a burr or a scratch, or an attachment like dust on the surface of the electrode occurs among the electrodes, particularly between the second electrode 103 and the third electrode 104 in some cases. In other cases, massive creeping discharge caused by a discharge factor such as an impurity or attachment on the surface of the insulator between the electrodes occurs. The frequency of such abnormal discharge is high in the initial stage of several tens of hours from the commencement of use of an electron gun after attaching the new electron gun, replacing the electron gun, or maintenance of the electron gun.
The generation of the abnormal discharge cases, for example, voltage drop of about 500V in the operation of the high voltage source 108 of the electron beam drawing device to stop the operation thereof. Further, the electron bean originally required in an electron beam drawing process disappears to cause the production yield to be lowered by deterioration of the drawing accuracy, and to cause the operation rate of the drawing device to be lowered by stopping the operation of the drawing device.
Therefore, in order for suppressing or preventing such generation of the abnormal discharge, it is generally performed to execute a conditioning process (also referred to as a knocking process) of the electron gun after attaching or replacing with a new electron gun or after the maintenance of the electron gun (see, JP-A-2005-026112).
The conditioning process performed generally will be explained with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7. FIG. 7 is a graph showing an example of a waveform of a voltage applied to the electrodes of the electron gun in the conditioning process in the related art. In the conditioning process of the electron gun 100 shown in FIG. 6, for example, the inside of the electron optical body tube 101 and the electron gun 100 communicated therewith is evacuated to be high vacuum (e.g., 10−5 Pa) by a vacuum exhaust device (not shown) disposed below the electron optical body tube 101. Then, the voltage application between the first electrodes 102a and 102b is stopped to keep the emission of a thermion from the cathode 105 stopped, and the negative voltage of the high voltage source 108 is applied to the first electrodes 102 via the bias power source 109, and directly to the third electrode 104. Further, the second electrode 103 is fixed to the ground potential.
In this case, the absolute value of the negative voltage of the high-voltage source 108 is gradually increased from a low application voltage to a high voltage stepwise at constant time intervals as time passes as shown in FIG. 7. For example, the application voltage is increased in the condition of rising by 1 kV through 5 kV in one minute interval, thus performing the conditioning process of the electron gun 100. Then, the highest value of the application voltage is set, for example, to about 1.6 times of 50 kV, which is an actual working voltage of the electron gun, namely 80 kV, and the voltage of the highest value is held for a predetermined period, for example, about 10 minutes while confirming that no abnormal discharge occurs, and then the conditioning process is terminated. If the abnormal discharge occurs in the termination judgment of the conditioning process, the voltage is lowered to a predetermined value and the conditioning process is performed again from the lowered voltage, and is repeated until the abnormal discharge described above stops occurring.
By executing such a conditioning process, namely electrode spark erosion, on the electron gun, the discharge factors described above on the surfaces of the first electrodes 102, the second electrode 103, the third electrode 104, and the insulators described above are eliminated, thus the withstand voltage property of the electron gun is improved.
However, in the past conditioning process of the electron gun, there are some cases in which massive discharge occurs at a high frequency in the conditioning process, the discharge causing damages such as roughening or cracks on the surfaces of the electrodes or the insulators of the electron gun. For example, the massive discharge makes a crater-shaped breakage on the surface of the electrode, and the small fragment adheres to another place and remains there. Therefore, the life of the electron gun is problematically shortened.
Further, it has been proved that if the microscopic protrusion, impurity, and attachment causing the microscopic discharge is not sufficiently removed in the conditioning process, the abnormal discharge caused by the factor of the microscopic discharge described above is apt to occur in the actual use of the electron gun. Further, it has been proved that in the past conditioning processing method, the factors of the microscopic discharge including the fragment described above cannot sufficiently be removed, and accordingly there is a limitation in improvement of the withstand voltage property of the electron gun.
Such a problem occurs not only in the case with the electron gun implemented in the electron bean drawing device described above, but also in the case with electron guns to be other electron sources for emitting electrons by high electric fields as well.

Processing method and processing device of conditioning electron gun


The invention relates to a portable simulator for bathymetric probes of the thermometric or calorimetric types connected at the output to an acquisition card. The simulator has at least four circuits corresponding, respectively, to the following four functions: a) selecting a probe type (thermometric or celerimetric) and establishing a firing sequence; b) generating a periodic signal of variable frequency to simulate a celerimetric type probe; c) generating a variation in temperature to simulate a thermometric probe; d) detecting a supply voltage threshold, with circuits b and c having a common section ending at the input of the acquisition card.

1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to a portable bathymetric probe simulator.
2. Description of Related Art
Sounding is one of the methods used aboard vessels of the French Navy for acquiring data from the aquatic environment. Various types of disposable probes are launched, connected by a thin cable to the ship or submarine. The probes deliver information that is collected on an electronic card located in a computer. These probes, built by the Sippican Company, for example, determine water temperature (XBT thermometric probes) or the rate of propagation of sound in water (XSV celerimetric probes).
The XBT probe includes a resistor whose value varies according to temperature. The XSV probe, which includes a generator, delivers a voltage whose frequency is inversely proportional to the speed of sound in water.
Probes are fired to predict the locations of and to detect submarines or surface vessels by measuring the speed of sound in water or by measuring the water temperature.
Probes are fired in two steps. In the first step, the probe is loaded into a launcher and a "probe loaded" contact signal is transmitted. In the second step, the probe detects the surface of the water. A "probe launched" contact signal is then transmitted, after which the probe begins to send information.
These disposable probes are relatively expensive and a large number of probes must often be launched in submarine combat exercises.
Probe simulators are extremely useful, avoiding unnecessary probe launchings as the system hardware or software can instantly be tested by the simulator. However, current probe simulators are large in size and allow only a single type of probe (XBT or XSV) to be simulated. Moreover, only truncated firing sequences can be simulated with these probes.


This invention relates to an optical transmission line having a structure that reduces dispersion with respect to signal light in a 1.55-xcexcm band. Each transmission unit includes a dispersion-shifted optical fiber as a transmission medium and a mode removing unit for reducing the optical power of high-order modes excluding a fundamental mode of light signals propagating through the dispersion-shifted optical fiber. The dispersion-shifted optical fiber has an incident terminal on which the light signals are incident and an exit terminal from which the light signals are emitted, and has a cutoff wavelength longer than the wavelength of the light signals at a fiber length of 2 m. The mode removing unit has a structure for reducing the optical power of high-order modes to 1/10 or less, preferably 1/40 or less, of the optical power of the fundamental mode so as to satisfy the single-mode condition in relation to fiber length.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical transmission line for transmitting light signals by using an optical fiber.
2. Related Background Art
WDM (Wavelength Division Multiplexing) transmission using an optical fiber network allows large-capacity, high-speed information transmission using WDM signals containing a plurality of wavelength components. As a transmission medium applied to this WDM transmission, an optical fiber having an effective area large enough to suppress the occurrence of a nonlinear phenomenon is preferable. An optical fiber serving as such a transmission medium is designed to have a small dispersion in terms of absolute value and a small dispersion slope in a 1.5-xcexcm band, which is the wavelength range of the WDM signals, so as to reduce the accumulated wavelength dispersion (to be referred to as dispersion hereinafter) of the WDM signals (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid Open Nos. 8-234036 and 8-304655). In addition, an optical fiber susceptible to the adverse influence of bending easily causes the increase of transmission loss by manufacturing cable. For this reason, the optical fiber preferably has a low bending loss.
A nonlinear phenomenon means as a phenomenon in which a signal light pulse is distorted in proportion to the density of light intensity or the like owing to an optical phenomenon such as FWM (four-wave mixing), SPM (self-phase modulation), or XPM (cross-phase modulation). This phenomenon becomes a factor that imposes a limitation on transmission speed or repeater intervals in a repeater transmission system. Dispersion means as a phenomenon in which a pulse wave broadens because the propagation speed of light varies with wavelength. A dispersion slope is defined as the slope of a curve representing dispersion characteristics in a predetermined wavelength range.
The present inventors have found the following problem upon studying an optical fiber applied to a conventional optical transmission line.
In general, in an optical fiber designed to have a large effective area and a small dispersion in terms of absolute value, the bending loss is high. In order to decrease the bending loss, the cutoff wavelength must be increased. A cutoff wavelength longer than those of the light signals can be set by using the distance dependence of cutoff wavelength (e.g., T. Kato, et al., OECC""96, 17C3-4). In this case, however, mode coupling from a fundamental mode to high-order modes occurs at the node or the like between optical fibers, and a deterioration in transmission characteristics is caused by mode-dispersion. This also imposes a limitation on an increase in cutoff wavelength.
It has been difficult to design an optical fiber that can satisfy all the requirements, i.e., a large effective area, a smaller dispersion in terms of absolute value, and a low bending loss. In other words, an optical transmission line has not been realized yet, which can suppress the occurrence of a nonlinear phenomenon and dispersion with respect to all wavelength components contained in WDM signals and is resistant to bending (is not easily affected by the overall transmission characteristics).
The present invention has been made to solve the above problem, and has as its object to provide an optical transmission line having a structure which has a small dispersion and excellent transmission characteristics in optical transmission in a 1.5-xcexcm band and is suitable to WDM transmission.
An optical transmission line according to the present invention is provided at least between a transmitter and a receiver, between a transmitter and a repeater, between repeaters, or between a repeater and a receiver, and functions to transmit light signals containing one or more wavelength components. The optical transmission line according to the present invention comprises at least one transmission unit.
This transmission unit comprises: a dispersion-shifted optical fiber having an incident terminal on which light signals are incident, an exit terminal from which the light signals are emitted, and a cutoff wavelength longer than those of the light signals at a fiber length of 2 m, and a mode removing unit for reducing the optical power of high-order modes excluding a fundamental mode by an amount larger than transmission loss of high-order modes when the light signals propagate from a first portion to a second portion of the dispersion-shifted optical fiber.
Note that the first portion of the dispersion-shifted optical fiber corresponds to the incident portion of the mode removing unit, and the second portion of the dispersion-shifted optical fiber corresponds to the exit portion of the mode removing unit. The mode removing unit functions to satisfy the single-mode condition in optical transmission without using the distance dependence of cutoff wavelength in order to effectively reduce high-order modes.
The above dispersion-shifted optical fiber may be obtained by optically connecting a plurality of dispersion-shifted optical fibers to each other. In this case, the optical transmission line according to the present invention includes a plurality of transmission units. Each transmission unit comprises a dispersion-shifted optical fiber as a transmission medium and a mode removing unit associated therewith. Note that the mode removing unit prepared for each transmission unit may include a plurality of mode removing devices for removing high-order modes. These mode removing devices function as a whole to remove high-order modes propagating through the associated dispersion-shifted optical fibers.
In the optical transmission line according to the present invention, the above mode removing unit is arranged closer to the incident terminal side than the center of the dispersion-shifted optical fiber in the longitudinal direction of the dispersion-shifted optical fiber, and more preferably arranged near the incident terminal of the dispersion-shifted optical fiber. The exit terminal of another optical component, e.g., a dispersion-shifted optical fiber, optical fiber for transmission, or transceiver, is optically connected to the incident terminal of the above dispersion-shifted optical fiber. A position near the incident terminal therefore means a position immediately after the node between the exit terminal of another optical component and the incident terminal of the dispersion-shifted optical fiber. The dispersion-shifted optical fiber applied to the optical transmission line, in particular, has a cutoff wavelength longer than those of the light signals to reduce the bending loss. In order to ensure the single-mode condition, therefore, the mode removing unit is preferably positioned near the incident terminal of the dispersion-shifted optical fiber. When a plurality of dispersion-shifted optical fibers are optically connected to each other, mode-dispersion is likely to occur because optical power is exchanged between the fundamental mode and high-order modes at each node. In this case, coupling from high-order modes to the fundamental mode (the occurrence of mode-dispersion) can be effectively suppressed by removing high-order modes immediately after the node, and the propagation of high-order modes can also be suppressed. Note that coupling from the fundamental mode to high-order modes indicates that the transmission loss apparently increases.
The dispersion-shifted optical fiber applied to the optical transmission line according to the present invention has a cutoff wavelength longer than those of the light signals to reduce the bending loss. For this reason, in consideration of the distance dependence of cutoff wavelength as well, the single-mode condition is not satisfied near the incident terminal of the dispersion-shifted optical fiber. Reducing high-order modes is indispensable to satisfying the single-mode condition. Note that a cutoff wavelength that provides a single-mode condition in optical transmission is given by a wavelength set when R(xcex) defined by the method of measuring the cutoff wavelength (measuring it at a fiber length of 2 m) in ITU-TG. 650 becomes 0.1. Assume that light in a 1.55-xcexcm band as a signal wavelength range (light having a wavelength of 1,550 nm which is the central wavelength in this range, in particular) is to be transmitted. In this case, to satisfy the single-mode condition at the exit portion of the mode removing unit (R(1550 nm)=0.1), the mode removing unit must reduce the optical power of high-order modes to 1/40 or less of that of the fundamental mode at least at the exit portion of the unit. Note, however, that the dispersion-shifted optical fiber applied to the optical transmission line according to the present invention is much longer than a fiber length of 2 m that defines R(xcex), and hence a range of about 1/10 (R(1550 nm)xe2x89xa60.4) or less is allowed as a range in which transmission quality is not substantially affected, in consideration of the distance dependence of cutoff wavelength.
In order to reduce the optical power of high-order modes to 1/10 or less or 1/40 or less of the optical power of the fundamental mode, the mode removing unit preferably has a structure for winding a predetermined portion of a dispersion-shifted optical fiber with a diameter of 10 mm or more but 60 mm or less. Alternatively, the mode removing unit may have a structure for making a predetermined portion of a dispersion-shifted optical fiber meander with a radius of curvature of 5 mm or more. With this structure, high-order modes are greatly reduced, and the influences of high-order modes propagating through the dispersion-shifted optical fiber can be effectively reduced.
In order to effectively suppress a nonlinear phenomenon and implement wavelength division multiplexing transmission and soliton transmission as described above, a dispersion-shifted optical fiber that can be applied to the optical transmission line according to the present invention preferably has an effective area of 50 xcexcm2 or more with respect to light having a wavelength of 1,550 nm, a bending loss of 0.5 dB/turn or less at a diameter of 32 mm, and a cutoff wavelength of 2.0 xcexcm or more at a fiber length of 2 m. More preferably, the dispersion-shifted optical fiber according to the present invention has a dispersion slope of 0.04 ps/nm2/km or less with respect to light having a wavelength of 1,550 nm.
In order to obtain the above characteristics, in a dispersion-shifted optical fiber having a core region extending along a predetermined axis and a cladding region provided on the outer periphery of the core region, the core region may include a first core having a predetermined refractive index, a second core provided on the outer periphery of the first core and having a refractive index lower than that of the first core, and a third core provided on the outer periphery of the second core and having a refractive index higher than that of the second core. The cladding region may include an inner cladding provided on the outer periphery of the third core of the core region and having a refractive index lower than that of the third core, and an outer cladding provided on the outer periphery of the inner cladding and having a refractive index higher than that of the inner cladding. The dispersion-shifted optical fiber may include a core region having the above structure and a cladding region having the above structure.
As disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid Open No. 8-248251 (EP 0 724 171 A2), an effective area (Aeff) is given by
Aeff=2xcfx80(∫0xcex1E2rdr)2/(∫0xcex1E4rdr)xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(1)
where E is the electric field accompanying light propagating, and r is the distance from the core center in the radial direction.
The present invention will be more fully understood from the detailed description given hereinbelow and the accompanying drawings, which are given by way of illustration only and are not to be considered as limiting the present invention.
Further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples,while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.


The invention provides a ferroelectric liquid crystal display with uniformly spaced greyscale levels. The invention uses a bistable ferroelectric liquid crystal display formed by a layer of chiral smectic liquid crystal material between two cell walls. The walls carry e.g. line and column electrodes to give an x,y matrix of addressable pixels, and are surface treated to provide bistable operation. Each pixel may be divided into subpixels thereby giving spatial weighting for greyscale. Temporal weighting of greyscale is obtained by switching a pixel to a dark state for time T1 and a light state for time T2. When T1 and T2 are not equal, four different greyscales are obtainable; i.e. dark, dark grey, light grey, and light. The present invention provides a required uniform spacing of greyscale levels by addressing each pixel two or more times in one frame time. Each pixel is blanked then strobed, two or more times in each frame time; the relative times between blanking and strobing, at least four different time periods, are varied to give the desired greyscale levels. The temporal and spatial weighting may be combined to increase the number of obtainable greyscales. Further, the relative intensity between adjacent subpixels may be adjusted to vary the apparent size of the smallest subpixel; this is useful when subpixel size is near to manufacturing limits.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the multiplex addressing of bistable liquid crystal displays with greyscale, particularly ferroelectric liquid crystal displays.
2. Discussion of Prior Art
Liquid crystal display devices are well known. They typically comprise a liquid crystal cell formed by a thin layer of a liquid crystal material held between two glass walls. These walls carry transparent electrodes which apply an electric field across the liquid crystal layer to cause a reorientation of the molecules of liquid crystal material. The liquid crystal molecules in many displays adopt one of two states of molecular arrangement. Information is displayed by areas of liquid crystal material in one state contrasting with areas in the other state. One known display is formed as a matrix of pixels or display elements produced at the intersections between column electrodes on one wall and line (or row) electrodes on the other wall. The display is often addressed in a multiplex manner by applying voltages to successive line and column electrodes.
Liquid crystal materials are of three basic types, nematic, cholesteric, and smectic each having a distinctive molecular arrangement.
The present invention concerns ferroelectric smectic liquid crystal materials. Devices using this material form the surface stabilised ferroelectric liquid crystal (SSFLC) device. These devices can show bistability, ie the liquid crystal molecules, more correctly the molecular director, adopt one of two aligned states on switching by positive and negative voltage pulses and remain in the switched state after removal of the voltage. The two states can appear as dark (black) and light (white) areas on a display. This bistable behaviour depends upon the surface alignment properties and chirality of the material.
A characteristic of SSFLCs is that they switch on receipt of a pulse of suitable voltage amplitude and length of time of application, ie pulse width, termed a voltage time product V.t. Thus both amplitude and pulse width need to be considered in designing multiplex addressing schemes.
There are a number of known systems for multiplex addressing ferroelectric displays: see for example article by Harada et al 1985 S.I.D. Paper 8.4 pp 131-134, and Lagerwall et al 1985 I.D.R.C. pp 213-221. See also GB 2,173,336-A, and GB 2,173,629-A. Multiplex addressing schemes for SSFLCs employ a strobe waveform that is applied in sequence to lines but not necessarily to successive lines simultaneously with data waveforms applied to eg column electrodes.
There are two basic types of addressing. One uses two fields of addressing with a first strobe (eg positive strobe) in a first field, followed by a second strobe (eg negative strobe) in a second field; the two fields making up a frame which is the time taken to completely address a display. The other type of addressing uses a blanking pulse to switch all pixels in one or more lines to say a black state, followed by a single strobe pulse applied sequentially to each line for selectively switching pixels in that line to a white state. In this blanking addressing system the frame time is the time required to blank plus the time taken to strobe all the lines.
The bistability property, together with the fast switching speed, makes SSFLC devices suitable for large displays with a large number of pixels or display elements. Such ferroelectric displays are described for example in;- N. A. Clark and S. T. Lagerwall. Applied Physics Letters Vol 36. No 11 pp 889-901. Jun. 1980; GB-2.166.256-A; U.S. Pat. No. 4,367,924; U.S. Pat. No. 4,563,059; patent GB-2,209,610; R. B. Meyer et al. J Phys Lett 36, L69, 1975.
For many displays two visible states only are required, ie an ON state and an OFF state. Examples of such displays include alpha numeric displays and line diagrams. There is now an increasing requirement for a plurality of visible states between the ON and OFF states, ie a plurality of different contrast levels. Such different levels are termed greyscales. Ideally the number of greyscales should be around 256 for good quality pictures, but worthwhile displays can be achieved with much lower values, eg 16 or less.
There are two known techniques for providing greyscale; temporal, and spacial dither. Temporal dither involves switching a pixel to black for a fraction of a frame time and white for the remainder. Providing the switching speed is above a flicker threshold (eg above about 35 Hz), a user's eye integrates over a period of time and sees an intermediate grey whose value depends upon the ratio of black to white time. Spatial dither involves dividing each pixel into individually switchable subpixels which may be of different size; each subpixel is sufficiently small at normal viewing distances that subpixels can not be distinguished individually. Both temporal and spacial dither techniques can be combined to increase the number of greyscale levels in a display; see EP9000942, 0453033, W. Hartmann, J. van Haaren.
Patent specification EP-0,214,857 describes a ferroelectric liquid crystal display with greyscale. Greyscale display is achieved by addressing each line of display with three successive equal period frame times, applying a scanning voltage at the beginning of each frame and blanking once per frame at a different time position within the three frames (other specifications would describe these three frames as three fields making up a single frame time). This gives a display with three different time periods when the display can be in a light state; these together with an all dark state gives eight different levels of greyscale. One disadvantage with this arrangement is a low maximum light intensity from the display.
Patent specification EP-261,901 describes a ferroelectric liquid crystal display with greyscale. The time to address a complete display, namely a frame time, is divided into fields of different lengths, hence a pixel can be switched into a light or a dark state for a time approximately equal to the length of each field. Each line is completely addressed in one frame time. A line is addressed (switched to an ON or OFF state) at the start (for a particular line) of each field time. To obtain a binary increase in greyscale levels the length of each field would increase in binary manner. For any reasonable number of lines to be addressed it is not possible to increase the length of each field in the desired progression in order to achieve a desired separation between the different levels of greyscale.
Patent Specification GB-A-2164776 is similar to EP-261,901 in having different length field times within a frame time. Pixels can be either light or dark in each field time. Thus a total of six different levels of greyscale are obtainable from 3 different length field times.
Patent Specification EP-A--0306011 describes a driving method for matrix of column and row electrodes in a ferroelectric liquid crystal display. A frame time is divided into three unequal length field times. The driving method comprises: dividing, the column electrodes into K groups of column electrodes, defining the number Z of column electrode lines constituting each group of the column electrodes, rendering one frame period, selecting a predetermined one of the K groups of the column electrodes for a time width ZTo of each of the blocks so that each picture element on the selected one of the groups of the column electrodes can be set in one of the bright and dark memory states; and selecting a number of times not smaller than n the K groups of thecolumn electrodes during each one-frame period T.sub.F according to a predetermined sequence.
One problem with existing addressing systems is that of providing different greyscale levels that are suitably different in intensity, and with a high overall display brightness.
Even with a combination of temporal and special dither it is still difficult to provide a suitable spacing of greyscale levels.

Ferroelectric liquid crystal displays with digital greyscale

The Secretary of State for Defence in Her Britannic Majesty's Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland


A laser arbor is provided that will display a cutting line on a work piece to be cut by a rotary saw. The laser is operated by a centrifugal switch mounted within the laser arbor along with a laser diode or the like and a battery. Because of the rotation of the laser with the blade and the persistence of the human eye, the moving light spot from the laser appears as a single line, hence it is not necessary as in the prior art to produce light divergence in the plane parallel to the blade plane. For that purpose, it is preferable to employ a light source having a wavelength that lies in a region to which the eye is sensitive, which in practice will typically mean a wavelength in the upper region of the red. Placement of the laser inwardly from the cutting surface of the blade eliminates the danger of any damage occurring to the laser as a result of debris from the cutting process.

Field of the Invention
This invention relates to methods and apparatus for visibly displaying lines on a work piece along which a cut is to be made in the operation of a rotary saw, and particularly to laser or like devices that are mounted adjacent the saw blade, rotate therewith, and are switched on by the radial acceleration produced in rotating the blade.


A suction for the combustion air of a heater, in particular a motor vehicle heater, has a variable cross-section of flow. The object of the invention is to improve the operation of the device that modifies the cross-section of flow and to allow it to be more rationally produced. In addition, it should allow the suction air to be filtered in association with said means without extending the axial length of the heater. For that purpose, the suction pipe is designed as an axially closed tube with radial openings whose cross-sections may be changed by a coaxial, rotary ring set on the outside of the pipe and provided with radial openings. A hood may be axially drawn over the ring on the housing of the heater. Suction air may be filtered in said hood, either by centrifugaton in spiral channels arranged in the hood or by using a ring-shaped filter through which the suction air flows in the radial direction.

The flow cross section is changed in such prior-art air intake fittings by perforated disks arranged in the axial opening, with which the free flow cross section is varied by mutual rotation. In this embodiment, the closed areas of the perforated disks to be mutually rotated may lead to a small maximum flow cross-sectional area. Furthermore, dirt particles may be easily drawn into the heater with the combustion air drawn in in the case of axial flow of the combustion air into the air intake fitting.

Suction pipe for the combustion air of a heater


An improved rack for the ornamental display of stringed instruments is shown and described. The rack mounts against a vertical wall and is fully adjustable thereby accommodating instruments of varying neck widths and head sizes and orientations. The rack is easy to install and use and further is aesthetically pleasing for the ornamental display of stringed instruments on walls in homes, apartments and offices. The rack provides a safe means for storing string instruments while maintaining accessibility of the instrument.

The general concept of a guitar rack or racks for hanging stringed instruments from vertical walls is known in the art. Specifically, in musical stores, it is well-known to hang guitars from walls using pegboard displays. Guitars are also displayed from stands that rest on the floor.
However, little has been provided for the hanging of guitars and other stringed instruments from a wall in a home, apartment or office. The only racks presently available are utilitarian in design and do not satisfy the aesthetic requirements of the consumer. Further, the only guitar racks presently available are not readily adjustable and therefore do not accommodate a wide variety of guitar sizes and styles. Specifically, acoustic guitars generally have wider necks than electric guitars. Additionally, the heads of electric guitars may also be mounted to the distal end of the neck at an angle and therefore the guitar will not hang straight from a two-pronged rack if the prongs are disposed at the same elevation.
The advantages of hanging a guitar or other stringed instruments from a wall are four-fold. First, hanging the guitar or instrument from the head enables the weight of the body of the guitar to counteract bonding forces applied to the neck by the tension of the strings. A straight neck is extremely important to the guitar player. Second, hanging a guitar on a wall keeps the guitar readily accessible. Third, since guitars and other stringed instruments are normally attractive instruments, it enables the guitar owner to proudly display his/her instrument as a wall decoration. And fourth, hanging a guitar on a wall is a safe way to store a guitar because nothing will be dropped on it and it can be hung out of reach from small children.
Therefore, there is a need for an attractive-looking guitar or instrument rack for mounting stringed instruments on walls of homes, apartments, offices and museums. Ideally, the guitar rack should be adjustable to accommodate guitar necks of different widths and guitar heads of different shapes and sizes. While the rack should be aesthetically pleasing, it should also be easy to mount to a standard wall made of perhaps, one-half inch drywall material.


Polyurethaneurea compositions in the form of powders and dispersions are provided for enhancing properties of washed fabric including easy care, better iron gliding, improved shape retention, perfume substantiation and stain management properties.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention includes polyurethaneurea compositions having fabric care properties. Fabric care compositions including detergents and fabric softeners which include the polyurethaneurea compositions are also provided.
2. Summary of Related Art
Fabric softeners are often used in addition to detergents to impart softness and/or fluffiness to washable fabrics. Fabric softeners also make fabrics feel smooth, decrease static cling, impart a pleasing fragrance, reduce drying time, reduce wrinkling and make ironing easier. However, the benefits of these properties generally decrease over time after washing.
The most common active components are based on long chain fatty type molecules called quaternary ammonium compounds, which are cationic in nature. Therefore, in order to prevent undesired reaction with detergents which may be anionic in nature, fabric softeners are generally introduced during fabric rinsing or drying.
In order to reduce the time and expense of fabric laundering, there is a need for fabric care compositions which may be added simultaneously with the detergent. There is also a need for fabric care compositions which extend the duration of the benefits of fragrance substantiation and ease of care associated with fabric softening compositions.


A semiconductor device having an island semiconductor film which is a channel formation region and a semiconductor film which is a source or drain region being in contact with a side face of the island semiconductor film, and a method for manufacturing the semiconductor device are disclosed. The manufacturing costs can be suppressed by forming the island semiconductor film which is to be a channel formation region and the semiconductor film which is to be a source or drain region without using a doping apparatus. The source or drain region is in contact with the side surface of the island semiconductor film which is the channel formation region, a depletion layer is broaden not only in a film thickness direction but also in the crosswise direction and an electric field due to drain voltage is relieved. Therefore, a semiconductor device with high reliability can be manufactured.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor element such as a thin film transistor (hereinafter, TFT) or a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device having a circuit composed of such the semiconductor element. For example, the present invention relates to an electro-optical device as typified by a liquid crystal display panel, an EL (electroluminescence) display device, an EC display device, or the like. Further, the present invention relates to an electrical device for improving processing speed formed by a TFT, for example, a central processing unit (CPU) and a method for manufacturing the electrical device. More specifically, the present invention relates to an electronic device mounted with the electro-optical device and the electrical device.
2. Related Art
In recent years, a TFT with higher mobility than ever is required at the request of growing a display panel in size and driving of a display panel which has an internal driver, an EL display panel, or the like.
Therefore, a TFT which has higher characteristics than those of a TFT using an amorphous semiconductor film and which is formed by a crystalline semiconductor film with a large crystal grain has been developed. The TFT using the crystalline semiconductor film has an advantage of having higher mobility than that of a TFT using an amorphous semiconductor film.
On the other hand, energy of hot carriers generated in the TFT using the crystalline semiconductor film is larger than that in the TFT using an amorphous semiconductor film because of high mobility.
As a result, deterioration of the TFT using the crystalline semiconductor film such as hot carrier deterioration is worse than that of the TFT using an amorphous semiconductor film.
When the crystallinity of the semiconductor film is improved and the level of mobility approaches that of a single crystal semiconductor, reliability of the device becomes large problem. It becomes required to suppress the deterioration of the device.
In order to improve the reliability of the device against deterioration due to hot carriers or the like, it is important to relieve an electrical field in a junction region of a source or drain region.
As a method for forming the source or drain region, there is a method, that is, a film containing a donor impurity (impurity imparting n-type conductivity) or an acceptor impurity (impurity imparting p-type conductivity) is deposited by a CVD apparatus or the like (FIG. 2A).
FIG. 2A shows an n-channel TFT in which a source or drain region is formed by depositing a film containing a donor impurity or an acceptor impurity. In FIG. 2A, reference numeral 1001 denotes a substrate; 1002, a gate electrode; 1003, a gate insulating film; 1004, a semiconductor film containing an element belonging to group 13 in the periodic table (an acceptor impurity, an impurity imparting p-type conductivity); 1005 a semiconductor film containing an element belonging to group 15 (a donor impurity, an impurity imparting n-type conductivity); and 1006, a source or drain electrode.
A semiconductor film 1005 containing an element belonging to group 15 becomes a source or drain region, whereas a region interposed between the source and drain regions 1005 among a semiconductor film 1004 containing an element belonging to group 13 becomes a channel formation region. In FIG. 2A, a region indicated by Lov is a region in which the source or drain region 1005 is overlapped with the gate electrode 1002.
However, this structure makes broadening of a depletion layer 1007 only to the extent of a thickness (approximately 200 nm) of the semiconductor film 1004 as indicated by an arrow in the diagram when drain voltage is applied (FIG. 2B), and so a large electric field is generated in the depletion layer 1007. There is a problem that carriers which receive large energy from the electric field become hot carriers which bring about avalanche or which are injected in an interface between the gate insulating film 1003 and the semiconductor film 1004 or in the gate insulating film 1003 to deteriorate the element.
As another method for manufacturing the bottom gate TFT, there is a method of injecting a donor impurity or an acceptor impurity with a doping apparatus to a region which becomes a source or drain region (FIG. 2C).
In FIG. 2C, reference numeral 1101 denotes a substrate; 1102, a gate electrode; 1103, gate insulating film; 1104, a semiconductor film containing an element belonging to group 15; 1106, a region added with an element belonging to group 13 among a semiconductor film 1104; 1105, a region which is not added with an element belonging to group 13 among a semiconductor film 1104; and 1107, a source or drain electrode.
The region 1106 added with an element belonging to group 13 among a semiconductor film 1104 is a channel formation region, whereas the region 1105 which is not added with an element belonging to group 13 among a semiconductor film 1104 is a source region or drain region. In FIG. 2C, a region indicated by Lov is a region in which the source or drain region 1105 is overlapped with the gate electrode 1102.
The channel formation region 1106 may be formed by depositing the semiconductor film 1104 containing an element belonging to group 15 by a plasma CVD and introducing an element belonging to group 13 with a doing apparatus. Alternatively, the channel formation region 1106 and the source or drain region 1105 may be formed by adding selectively elements belonging to groups 13 and 15 after forming an intrinsic semiconductor film (refer to Unexamined patent publication No. 11-154714).
A doping apparatus is expensive, and so manufacturing costs can be reduced by using a method of depositing a semiconductor film containing an impurity without a doping apparatus.

Semiconductor device used as electro-optical device having channel formation region containing first element, and source or drain region containing second element

Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.


An imaging apparatus including a lens unit and an image pickup unit. The lens unit includes an optical system that projects a subject image onto an imaging device, the imaging device that converts the subject image into an electric signal, an imaging device driving part that drives the imaging device, an signal processing device that converts the electric signal from the imaging device into a digital signal, and a first connection part that connects the lens unit to the imaging pickup unit mechanically and electrically. The imaging pickup unit includes an electric power supply part, a second connection part that connects the lens unit to the imaging pickup unit mechanically and electrically, voltage supply lines that supply output voltage to the lens unit, and a voltage generating circuit that generates the output voltage supplied to the voltage supply lines.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an imaging pickup apparatus and more particularly to an imaging pickup apparatus capable of replacing a lens unit.
2. Discussion of the Background
In Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2000-175089, a digital camera with interchangeable lenses as an imaging pickup apparatus including a lens unit and a camera body as an imaging pickup apparatus body is disclosed. The lens unit is configured by a nonvolatile storage and a connector, and the camera body is configured by a connector, a memory processing device, and a central processor.
In Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2006-135588, a camera system including an optical unit, an adaptor part and a camera body as a lens unit is disclosed. The adaptor has been configured by a mount, an imaging device, and an imaging processor.
In Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2003-319232, a digital imaging pickup apparatus including a camera body as an imaging pickup apparatus body being configured by an imaging storage and a main controller is disclosed. A lens system as a lens unit connecting to the camera body switchable including a lens, an image processor correcting an image is also disclosed.
The technology of imaging pickup devices is quickly developing. Therefore, an imaging pickup device designed a year ago may lose commercial value due to the advancement of the imaging device and the improving design of a lens.

Imaging apparatus, imaging pickup unit connectable to a lens unit, and a lens unit connectable to imaging pickup unit


The present invention relates to a character image generating apparatus. The apparatus comprises a plurality of types of partial base line generating units, a vector font data storing unit, a partial base line length calculating unit for calculating a line length of a partial base line of a character, a partial base line generating unit selecting unit for selecting one of the plurality of types of partial base line generating units on the basis of threshold information and the calculated partial base line length, a character form generating unit for generating a character form of the character image, and a character image generating unit for generating the character image on the basis of the generated character form. This can shorten the processing time needed for the generation of the vector font character image.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique of displaying a character image of a vector font on a display unit.
(2) Description of the Related Art
In general, a portable type information processing apparatus such as portable telephone or PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) employs dot fonts for the display of characters because of a low throughput or graphic throughput of a CPU (Central Processing Unit).
FIG. 19 is an illustration of an example of a dot font. The dot font is for expressing a character image as information on the presence or absence of dots, and the display of a character image is feasible without conducting complicated arithmetic operations only by developing the dot font, stored in a memory or the like in advance, on a screen and, hence, the dot font is an efficient means for use in the portable type information processing apparatus having a low throughput as mentioned above. However, as shown in FIG. 19, the character expression based on a binary image of a dot font cannot provide a character image with a high-quality design.
Meanwhile, the "Effects of Character Size, Character Format, Pixel Density on Subjective Legibility of Reflective Liquid Crystal Displays for Personal Digital Assistants" (written by Satoru Kubota; Image Information Media Academic Journal, Vol. 55, No. 10, pp. 1363-1366, 2001. 10) says that a character of approximately 3.5 mm is clearly visible on a liquid crystal screen.
For example, in general, the display resolution of a liquid crystal panel for use in a portable telephone is approximately 140 dpi (dot per inch), and in a case in which a character of approximately 3.5 mm is displayed on this liquid crystal panel with approximately 140 dpi, the pixels constituting one character are approximately 20 dots×20 dots. Moreover, the number of strokes (number of edges) of a Japanese character becomes approximately 10 to 12 in the case of a larger number of strokes. Accordingly, when a complicated character having many strokes is displayed on a liquid crystal panel of a portable telephone, there is a need to deform the character itself, such as omitting a portion of the character.
Recently, a liquid crystal panel having a display resolution exceeding 180 dpi has been employed for built-in equipment such as a portable type information processing apparatus, and a portable type information processing apparatus has appeared which has a throughout (level equal to PC approximately 10 years ago) capable of operating a graphic library. Moreover, also for portable telephones, there has been an increased need for a high-quality design.
On the other hand, in the case of a dot font, since a fine font having a large number of dots requires a large volume of data, the character image capacity increases along with the trend to higher definition of a display screen of a portable type information processing apparatus, which creates a problem of the shortage of storage capacity needed for font data.
Meanwhile, as a common method for the faithful reproduction of a character design, curves constituting a character are converted into data and the character form is reproduced in accordance with a character size to be supplied. The outline font is one example of this method. There is an increased need to mount this outline font in a built-in equipment. FIG. 20 is an illustration of an example of an outline font.
Referring to a flow chart (steps A10 to A50) of FIG. 21, a description will be given hereinbelow of a character image production process based on an outline font.
First of all, outline data such as font data, UNICODE and curve data are read out from a font memory or the like (step A10), and an outline is produced on the basis of this outline data (step A20). Moreover, anti-aliasing area is produced on the basis of the produced outline (step A30), then writing the outline (reproduction of a character outline) (step A40). Still moreover, a portion inside the outline is painted out (step A50) so as to create a character image.
The outline font outline is converted into data as straight lines and approximate curves. Moreover, as the typical approximate curves, there are the Bezier curve and the spline curve. For example, in the case of the character image generation using the Bezier curve, the starting point, the end point and control points for the interpolation therebetween are used as data and, after a closed curve is obtained on the basis of these points, the internal portion of the closed curve is painted out to generate a character image. That is, in the case of the outline font, a character outline is generated on the basis of some control point information.
FIG. 22 is an illustration of a functional expression on the Bezier curve. In general, the Bezier curve is a curve to be used for the PostScript or the like, and the Bezier function to be used for this Bezier curve is a function representing a tertiary approximate curve. When the starting point of a curve, the end point thereof and two control points thereof are taken as (x1, y1), (x4, y4) and (x2, y2), (x3, y3), respectively, as shown in FIG. 22, the Bezier curve is expressed by the following equations (1) and (2).x=(1−t)3x1+3(1−t)2tx2+3(1−t)t2x3+t3x4  (1)y=(1−t)3y1+3(1−t)2ty2+3(1−t)t2y3+t3y4  (2)where 0≦t≦1
FIG. 23 is an illustration of a functional expression on the spline curve. In general, the spline curve is an approximate curve to be used for the True Type font or the like, and the spline function to be used for this spline curve is a function representing a secondary approximate curve. When the starting point of a curve, the end point thereof and the control point thereof are taken as (x1, y1), (x3, y3) and (x2, y2), respectively, as shown in FIG. 23, the spline curve is expressed by the following equations (3) and (4).x=(1−t)2x1+2t(1−t)x2+tx3  (3)y=(1−t)2y1+2t(1−t)y2+ty3  (4)where 0≦t≦1
Incidentally, as a font for forming a character image according to a method similar to the outline font mentioned above, there is the stroke font expressing a glyph configuration by a vector of a skeleton line of image lines thereof. This stroke font is for producing a character image, for example, by retaining a center line of a character and thickening this center line.
[Non-Patent Document 1] written by Satoru Kubota "Effects of Character Size, Character Format, Pixel Density on Subjective Legibility of Reflective Liquid Crystal Displays for Personal Digital Assistants" (Image Information Media Academic Journal, Vol. 55, No. 10, pp. 1363-1366, 2001. 10)
In general, for carrying out the character display in an information processing apparatus, it is desirable that the processing from the generation of a character image to the display on a display unit is conducted within a time shorter than a time (approximately 0.2 seconds) which is detectable by the human being.
However, a conventional outline font generation method requires the calculation processing of a quadratic or cubic equation even in a case in which the generation of a border line (outline) is made through the use of any one of the Bezier curve or the spline curve, which requires much time for the outline generation processing. In particular, since a portable type information processing apparatus such as portable telephone has a low throughput, the outline generation processing takes a long time to display a character image based on the outline font.
Thus, in the outline font generation process, it is desirable to conduct the outline generation processing, which requires time particularly, within a short time.

Character image generating apparatus, character image generating method, display control apparatus, display control method and computer-readable recording medium recorded character image generation program or display control program thereon


A gear-shift device includes a pivotably mounted selector lever for actuation by the driver, a pivotably mounted actuating lever linked to the selector lever and a transmission member articulated to the actuating lever and which in use acts upon an automatic gear box transmission. The selector lever is pivotably mounted at a first pivot axis through a shift device housing so as to be movable in first and second gear shift gates connected by transverse gate. The actuating lever is supported at the housing for pivotal movement about a second pivot axis spaced from the first pivot axis. A disengageable coupling connects the actuating lever and the selector lever when the selector lever is in the first shifting gate and disconnects the selector lever and actuating lever when the selector lever is moved to the second shifting gate. The coupling connection is disposed spaced from the first and second pivot axes and is configured to provide pivotal movement of the actuating lever about the second pivot axis in response to pivotal movement of the selector lever about the first pivot axis, while accommodating relative sliding movement of the levers with respect to one another at the coupling connection.

This application claims the priority of Italian application TO 96 A 000248 filed Mar. 29, 1996 in Italy, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein.
The invention relates to a gear-shift device for an automatic gearbox of a motor vehicle, with a pivotable selector lever, a pivotably mounted actuating lever linked to the selector lever and a transmission member articulated to the actuating lever and acting on the automatic gearbox.
A gear-shift device for an automatic gearbox of a motor vehicle is disclosed in European Patent Document EPO 413 116 B1. Here the movement of a selector lever is taken up by an entrainment means and is transmitted to an actuating lever. An actuating rod mounted on the actuating lever then leads to the gearbox. The selector lever and the entrainment means are mounted on a common shaft. The gear-shift device shown has a large structural depth since the actuating lever is situated opposite the selector lever. The gear-shift device illustrated is obviously intended for insertion in an aperture in the body, the selector lever being arranged on one side of the body and the actuating lever on the other.
In contrast, an object of the present invention is to provide a gear-shift device for an automatic gearbox which is suitable for mounting on a body, i.e. does not penetrate the body.
This object is attained by providing a gear shift device wherein the gear-shift device is arranged on the surface of a body, wherein the selector lever is mounted close to said surface, wherein an articulation point of the transmission member on the actuating lever is formed close to said surface, and wherein a coupling point for coupling the selector lever and the actuating lever is situated on the selector lever between the pivot shaft for the selector lever and an actuating face of the selector lever.
According to the invention it is proposed to design a gear-shift device comprising a pivotably mounted selector lever for actuation by the driver, a pivotably mounted actuating lever linked thereto, and a transmission member which is articulated to the actuating lever and which acts upon the automatic gearbox, in such a way that the gear-shift device is arranged on the surface of a body, the selector lever is mounted close to the surface, the articulation point of the transmission member on the actuating lever is formed close to the surface, and the coupling point is situated on the selector lever between the pivot shaft and an actuating face of the selector lever. In this context an actuating face is to be understood as being that face of the selector lever which is gripped by the driver in order to actuate the selector lever.
By means of the invention both the pivot shaft of the selector lever and the guide of the transmission member leading to the gearbox are situated close to the body. In addition, the actuating stroke produced at the transmission member can be set without fundamental structural alterations, so that the gear-shift device can be adapted to various gearboxes, and in particular while retaining the movement ratios on the selector lever.
Advantageous further developments of the invention are described in conjunction with the described preferred embodiments of the invention. In certain preferred embodiments, it is proposed to form the connection point by providing, on one of the two levers, two projections which embrace a bulging area provided on the other lever.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Gear-shift device for an automatic gearbox


A posterior fixation system includes a saddle member, an anchoring member, an occipital plate, an occipital rod, and a cross-link connector. The anchoring member anchors the saddle member to bone. The saddle member includes a pair of upright portions that define a channel. The channel is adapted to receive an orthopedic rod, and the saddle member can include a hole to receive the anchoring member. The saddle member and the anchoring member can be coupled so as to allow multi-axial movement of the members. The anchoring member in one embodiment is a screw coupled to the hole of the saddle, and in another embodiment, the anchoring member is a hook. The offset member may be coupled to the saddle member to allow for offset connection of rods. Connection of individual rods can be accomplished by connecting the rods with the cross-link connector. The cross-link connector has an integrally formed cylindrical member that couples a pair of coupling portions together. The cylindrical member can be bent along multiple axes. The occipital plate secures the rods to the occipital bone of the skull. The occipital plate has a cross-shaped plate with a plurality of apertures defined in the plate and at least one saddle member coupled to the plate. Alternatively, the occipital rod can be secured to the occipital bone.

The present invention generally relates to orthopedic implants used for correction of spinal injuries or deformities, and more specifically, but not exclusively, concerns apparatuses for fixing a portion of the spine, such as the cervical spine, to allow correction or healing thereof.
In the realm of orthopedic surgery, it is well known to use implants to fix the position of bones. In this way, the healing of a broken bone can be promoted, and malformations or other injuries can be corrected. For example, in the field of spinal surgery, it is well known to place such implants into vertebrae for a number of reasons, including (a) correcting an abnormal curvature of the spine, including a scoliotic curvature, (b) to maintain appropriate spacing and provide support to broken or otherwise injured vertebrae, and (c) perform other therapies on the spinal column.
Typical implant systems include several pieces, which commonly are useful and may be associated with only specific other pieces. Bone screws, hooks, and clamps are well know as fixation devices, which are connected or adjoined to a particular bone as a connection between the remainder of the implant and the bone. Specially formed plates or rods are commonly used as stabilization and support members. Thus, in a common spinal implant system, a spinal plate is implanted along one or more vertebrae by driving a bone screw through the plate and into each of two vertebrae. The vertebrae are thus supported and kept in a particular position by the plate, so as to promote healing. One example of such an instrumentation system is U.S. Pat. No. 5,735,853 to Olerud.
Alternatively, a rod can be used as the support and stabilizing member. In such an implant, a series of two or more screws are inserted into two or more vertebrae to be instrumented. A rod is then placed within or coupled to the heads of the screws, or is placed within a connecting device that links the rod and a screw head, and the connections are tightened. In this way, a rigid supporting structure is fixed to the vertebrae, with the rod providing the support that promotes correction of the vertebral malformation or injury.
Many varieties of bone fixation devices (e.g. screws and hooks) are monoaxial in construction. That is, such devices are connected to the rod or plate such that a longitudinal axis through the rod or plate and a longitudinal axis through the fixation device are capable of only a single position with respect to each other. While useful in certain circumstances, in many therapeutic situations the degree of precision required to use such an inflexible device is impractical, or can lead to a longer duration of surgery, potentially awkward angles for the surgeon and for the patient, with the potential for attendant complications such as pain and/or extended rehabilitation.
More recently, bone fixation devices having multi-axial capability have been introduced. Examples of such constructs are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,797,911, 5,954,725, and 5,810,818. These devices help to reduce the required precision of placement of the fixation device, since a head portion of the fixation device is multi-axially positionable around the bone-threaded or hook portion. The head can thus be positioned so as to easily receive the rod, limiting or removing much of the positioning difficulty inherent in prior devices.
Most such devices are designed for spinal fixation at the thoracic and lumbar levels. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a comprehensive multi-axial spinal implant system, and particularly one that is useful in the cervical region of the spine.
One form of the present invention is a unique multi-axial bone attachment assembly. Other forms concern a unique spinal implant system, a unique orthopedic fixation plate, a unique cross-link connector, and another unique multi-axial bone attachment assembly.
A further form of the present invention is directed to a unique multi-axial bone attachment assembly that includes a saddle member, a bone anchoring member, and a washer (crown member). The saddle member has a plurality of upright portions that define a channel through the saddle member. The saddle member further has a hole therethrough bounded by an inner wall, and the hole forms a lower opening in the saddle member. The bone-anchoring member extends through the opening. The bone-anchoring member includes a head portion and an anchoring portion. The washer has a recessed portion for accommodating an orthopedic rod and may include a radially extending projection. The washer is fitted within the hole of the saddle member and atop the bone-anchoring member.
Yet another form concerns a unique spinal implant system. A saddle member has a plurality of upright portions that define a channel through the saddle member. The saddle member further has a transverse hole defined through the upright portions that is transverse with respect to the channel. A bone-anchoring member is coupled to the saddle member for anchoring the saddle member to bone. An offset member is adapted to couple to an orthopedic rod, and the offset member has a coupling member and a body adapted to couple to the rod. The coupling member extends from the body and through the transverse hole of the upright members.
Another form is directed to a unique cross-shaped orthopedic plate. The plate includes a cross-shaped member. The cross-shaped member has a longitudinal axis connecting first and second longitudinal ends and a transverse axis connecting first and second transverse ends. The cross-shaped member has a plurality of apertures therethrough. At least one saddle member is attached to the cross-shaped member, and the saddle member has a plurality of upright portions that define a channel through the saddle member.
A further form concerns a unique cross-link connector. The connector includes a plurality of coupling ends each adapted to couple to an orthopedic rod. A cylindrical member is integrally connected to the coupling ends. The cylindrical member has a cylindrical shape for permitting multi-axial bending of the cylindrical member.
Still yet another form is directed to a unique multi-axial bone attachment assembly. A saddle member has a plurality of upright portions that define a channel through the saddle member. The saddle member further has a hole therethrough bounded by an inner wall, and the hole forms a lower opening in the saddle member. A bone-anchoring member extends through the opening. The bone-anchoring member includes a coupling portion provided in the hole for permitting multi-axial movement of the anchoring member and an anchoring portion. An expansion member is coupled to the anchoring member for expanding the coupling portion in order to lock the anchoring member into position.
The present invention provides a modular fixation system that allows a surgeon multiple treatment options for patients, allowing the surgeon to adapt the treatment to specific patient anatomy. The concepts surrounding the present invention are specifically designed for cervical vertebral fixation, but could be extended to include thoracic, lumbar and sacral fixation. Other advantages and objects of the present invention will be evident in view of the following specification and drawings.


A polymer waveguide assembly. The assembly includes a polymer waveguide have a plurality of waveguide cores and an associated plurality of lenses respectively. The assembly also includes a molded lens structure having a support region, a primary refractive surface and a secondary refractive lens. The polymer waveguide is positioned onto the support surface of the molded lens structure so that the waveguide lenses are in optical alignment with the primary refractive lens and the secondary refractive lens of the molded waveguide structure. The lenses of the polymer waveguide are capable of collimating in the X and Y directions respectively. The primary refractive lens and the secondary refractive lens are both capable of collimating light in the Z direction. With this arrangement, a substantial; portion of the light passing through the secondary lens toward the waveguide cores is within the acceptance angle of the plurality of waveguides lenses respectively. The secondary lens thus creates a shallow angle of convergence relative to the input of the plurality of lenses of the waveguide. As a result, issues caused by misalignment are minimized and optical coupling is improved.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to polymer waveguides used for light generation and reception in touch screen displays, and more particularly, to an improved lens structure for free space optical systems which maximizes the free space light coupling between transmit and receive waveguides.
2. Description of the Related Art
User input devices for data processing systems can take many forms. Two types of relevance are touch screens and pen-based screens. With either a touch screen or a pen-based screen, a user may input data by touching the display screen with either a finger or an input device such as a stylus or pen.
One conventional approach to providing a touch or pen-based input system is to overlay a resistive or capacitive film over the display screen. This approach has a number of problems. Foremost, the film causes the display to appear dim and obscures viewing of the underlying display. To compensate, the intensity of the display screen is often increased. However, in the case of most portable devices, such as cell phones, personal digital assistants, and laptop computers, the added intensity requires additional power, reducing the life of the battery in the device. The films are also easily damaged. In addition, the cost of the film scales dramatically with the size of the screen. With large screens, the cost is typically prohibitive.
Another approach to providing touch or pen-based input systems is to use an array of source Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) along two adjacent X-Y sides of an input display and a reciprocal array of corresponding photodiodes along the opposite two adjacent X-Y sides of the input display. Each LED generates a light beam directed to the reciprocal photodiode. When the user touches the display, with either a finger or pen, the interruptions in the light beams are detected by the corresponding X and Y photodiodes on the opposite side of the display. The data input is determined by calculating the coordinates of the interruptions as detected by the X and Y photodiodes. This type of data input display, however, also has a number of problems. A large number of LEDs and photodiodes are required for a typical data input display. The position of the LEDs and the reciprocal photodiodes also need to be aligned. The relatively large number of LEDs and photodiodes, and the need for precise alignment, make such displays complex, expensive, and difficult to manufacture.
Yet another approach involves the use of polymer waveguides to both generate and receive beams of light from a single light source to a single array detector. The waveguides are usually made using lithographic processes. One type of known polymer waveguide is made by forming a bottom cladding layer over a substrate. A second polymer layer is next formed on the bottom polymer layer and patterned using photolithography to form waveguide cores and lenses. A third polymer layer is then formed over the lenses and waveguide cores. The first and third polymer layers have the same index of refraction N1, which is lower than the index of refraction N2 of the middle or second polymer layer.
In use, a first L-shaped waveguide is positioned on the X and Y transmitting sides of a display surface. A second L-shaped waveguide is positioned on the opposite or receiving X and Y sides of the display surface. The lenses of the first waveguide, which are coupled to a light source through the individual waveguide cores, are arranged to generate either a grid or lamina of collimated light across the display surface. The lenses of the second waveguide are optically coupled to each of the lenses on the transmit side of the display. When a data entry is made on the touch screen, using a finger or pointing instrument such as a pen or stylus, an interruption occurs in the grid or lamina of light. An optical sensor, coupled to the individual waveguide cores on the receive side, is able to detect the data entry based on the X, Y coordinates of the interruption.
For more details making and using polymer waveguides, see for example, U.S. application Ser. No. 10/861,251 entitled "Apparatus and Method for a Molded Waveguide for Use with Touch Screen Displays", filed Jun. 4, 2004, U.S. application Ser. No. 10/862,003 entitled "Waveguide With Three-Dimensional Lens" filed Jun. 4, 2004, U.S. Ser. No. 10/862,007 entitled "Techniques for Manufacturing a Waveguide with Three Dimensional Lens" filed Jun. 4, 2004, U.S. application Ser. No. 10/758,759 entitled "Hybrid Waveguide" filed Jan. 15, 2004, and U.S. application Ser. No. 11/498,356 entitled Apparatus and Method for Singulation of Polymer Waveguides Using Photolithography" filed Aug. 2, 2006, all assigned to the assignee of the present invention and each incorporated by reference herein for all purposes. The specification of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/498,356 is attached herewith as Appendix A.
Currently known polymer waveguides have only a single refractory lens surface provided at the end of each waveguide core. These lenses are typically two dimensional, meaning they are capable of collimating light in the only the X and Y planes. Since it is difficult to fabricate a three dimensional polymer lens using photolithography, current polymer waveguides do an inadequate job in collimating light in the Z plane. As a consequence, single lens optical waveguides have poor optical coupling in the Z plane.
To compensate for the poor coupling in the Z plane, a precision molded "vertical" lens is used in cooperation with polymer waveguide. The precision molded lens includes a support area to support the polymer waveguide. When positioned on the support, the vertical lens is optically aligned with the lenses on the waveguide. The combined polymer waveguide and vertical lens generates a free space optical beam directed and collimated in the Z as well and the X, Y planes.
Problems arise with the aforementioned arrangement due to alignment issues. The accurate projection (transmit) and coupling (receive) of the light from the transmit polymer waveguide to the receive polymer waveguide is critically influence by the accurate placement of transmit and receive waveguides relative to the focal point of the vertical lens. In other words, if the polymer waveguides are not precisely aligned with their respective vertical lenses, it may result in the loss of optical coupling between transmit and receive waveguides. For example if there a misalignment issues on the receiving end, then it is likely that the focal point of the vertical lens will fall outside the lenses of the polymer waveguide. The amount of light coupling will therefore be significantly reduced. As a general rule, a slight misalignment will often cause a rather dramatic loss of optical coupling or power at the receiving waveguide.
Accordingly, there is a need for a polymer waveguide assembly having a two lens vertical structure to collimate in the Z plane so light received in free space and exiting the two lenses is substantially within the acceptance angle of the waveguide, allowing a significantly lower sensitivity of optical coupling efficiency with waveguide alignment, thereby minimizing problems caused by misalignment and improving optical coupling.

Apparatus and method for an improved lens structure for polymer wave guides which maximizes free space light coupling