Methods for bonding structurally asymmetrical or otherwise structurally dissimilar optical discs are provided. A bonded optical disc stack is formed from a first and a second optical disc by coating the back side of at least one of the optical discs with a light-curable bonding material and stacking the first and second optical discs back to back. The front side of the second optical disc is exposed to light for a first predetermined time period. The front sides of both the first and second optical discs are then exposed to light for a second predetermined time period. Finally, the front side of the first optical disc is exposed to light for a third predetermined time period. In this manner, when the second optical disc comprises program information and the first optical disc comprises a graphical image or other artwork, image pass-through due to simultaneous exposure and disc warpage due to one-sided exposure are significantly reduced.

This invention relates to information recording media in the form of light-readable discs, and more particularly to such media which are made up of two such discs secured to one another back to back to form a two-sided stack.
Light-readable information recording media in the form of discs are well known as shown, for example, by Kramer U.S. Pat. No. 5,068,846. Commercially available compact discs ("CDs") and compact disc read-only memories ("CD-ROMs") are examples of recording media of this general type.
More recently, digital versatile discs ("DVDs") have emerged wherein light-readable information technology is employed to record movies and other similar real-time audio/visual programming (hereinafter "program information") on discs. To increase program information storage capacity, DVDs are formed from two discs (similar in appearance to conventional audio CDs) bonded back to back (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,729,533, issued Mar. 17, 1998, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference). Bonding of the two discs is normally performed by coating each disc's back side (i.e., the side of a disc which is bonded to another disc) with a light-curable bonding material, stacking the discs back to back, and curing the bonding material by simultaneously exposing each disc's front side to ultra-violet light. This bonding technique is commonly referred to as "simultaneous exposure."
When the two discs forming a DVD are structurally symmetrical or otherwise structurally similar (e.g., both discs contain program information), the transmissivity of each disc is also similar. Accordingly, light of approximately the same characteristics (e.g., wavelength and intensity) may be used to expose each disc during simultaneous exposure. However, when the discs to be bonded are structurally asymmetrical or otherwise structurally dissimilar (e.g., one disc contains program information and the other disc contains printed images or other artwork), the transmissivity of each disc may differ greatly. As a consequence, during the simultaneous exposure of a DVD formed with structurally asymmetrical or structurally dissimilar discs (hereinafter "an asymmetrical DVD"), unequal amounts of light reach the bonding material through each disc (assuming a similar light source is used to expose each disc). For example, when a disc contains a printed image, the characteristics of light transmitted through the disc vary with the transmissivity variations inherent in the printed image (e.g., due to ink thickness or color variations). By curing through such an image, the underlying bonding material will be cured non-uniformly and in a manner related to the spatial transmissivity variations present in the printed image. In such a case, an image closely resembling the original printed image (e.g., a mirror image of the original image) may be visible through a program information disc bonded to the printed image disc. This type of bleed-through phenomenon is referred to as "image pass-through." In addition to producing an unattractive mirror image of the original printed image, the non-uniformly cured bonding material responsible for image pass-through may actually degrade DVD playability.
One technique for reducing image pass-through in an asymmetrical DVD is to cure the light-curable bonding material by exposing only the program information side of the DVD to light (commonly referred to as "one-sided exposure"). In this manner, the spatial transmissivity variations present in the printed image have no effect on the curing process, and image pass-through is eliminated. Unfortunately, a one-sided exposure also results in non-uniform curing of the bonding material as bonding material proximate the disc being exposed to light is cured more rapidly than bonding material distal the exposed disc. Because bonding material expands during the curing process, bonding material receiving more light (e.g., the bonding material proximate the exposed disc) expands more rapidly than bonding material receiving less light (e.g., the remaining bonding material). This non-uniform bonding material expansion strains the bonding material and the discs of the DVD and causes the DVD to warp or tilt. Thereafter, the warped/tilted DVD will not play properly. This problem is exacerbated by the non-uniform infrared heating associated with the curing process.
A need therefore exists for methods for bonding structurally asymmetrical or otherwise structurally dissimilar optical discs which minimize both disc tilt and image pass-through. Such methods will allow a program information disc to be bonded to a graphical image disc without experiencing the drawbacks associated with either phenomenon.
In view of the foregoing, it is an object of this invention to provide methods for bonding structurally asymmetrical or otherwise structurally dissimilar optical discs which reduce both disc tilt and image pass-through.

Methods for bonding structurally dissimilar optical discs


A fluid-activatable vane is defined by a thin vane body having opposed narrow leading and trailing side edges and opposed substantially smooth large top and bottom surfaces. The body has a central longitudinal axis and is substantially symmetrical on opposed sides of the axis. An attachment shaft is aligned with the central axis at a near end edge of the vane to secure two diametrically opposed vanes through a coupling wherein the vane will tilt along a 90.degree. arc from a horizontal plane to a vertical plane when exposed to a fluid flow. The two vanes form a propeller and are fixed to a respective end of the attachment shaft in a respective plane and offset 90.degree. from one another. A fluid actuatable torquing curved outer end edge portion is formed integral with the vane body in an outer end edge portion thereof and on a respective side of a central longitudinal axis. The curved outer end edge portions also project from a respective one of the top and bottom surf aces with the curved outer end edge portion adjacent the leading edge projecting upwardly from the vane when the vane is disposed horizontally when secured to a drivable vertical shaft of a turbine.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a fluid-activatable vane for constructing propellers secured to a vertical drivable shaft of a turbine and particularly wherein each of the vanes is provided with a fluid actuatable torquing means formed integral at an outer end edge portion of the vane and projecting on a respective side of the opposed surfaces of the said vane.
2. Background Art
Various types of vanes have been designed for connection to turbine apparatuses such as wind turbines and wherein the vane has a specific shape and in most cases is rolled by a mechanical coupling whereby to orient the vane at a specific position when entering into the wind flow direction. Such vane structures and turbine apparatuses are for example described in French Patent 2704908 published on Nov. 10, 1994 and French Patent 2668205 published on Apr. 21, 1992. Also, wind turbine apparatuses are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,472,311; 5,553,996; 4,970,404 and many others. However, as previously described, these structures require complex mechanical couplings to control the orientation of the vanes which form the driving propellers. Because most of the structures utilize many propellers in a plurality of stacks of propellers, these structures become complex and costly and often require maintenance thereby causing a shutdown of the turbine. There is therefore a need to provide a vane structure and coupling which substantially overcomes the above disadvantages.

Fluid-activatable vane for a fluid turbine


A media processing device uses an external storage device. The media processing device includes a storage device access module, an information source, a program memory, a system memory, a signal processor, a user interface and a system controller. The system controller accesses the external storage device, reads file information, and constructs contents to be displayed. When the system controller receives a command to select a media file, the system controller accesses the external storage device, searches for the selected media file, reads data of the searched media file, copies the read data, and provides the copied data to be decoded. When the system controller receives a commend to encode a signal, the system controller controls the signal processor to encode the input signal into media data, constructs a media file from the encoded media data, positions the media file, and copies the constructed media file when the external storage device is accessible through the storage device access module.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a media processing device, which accesses an external storage device, reads and reproduces media files stored in the external storage device, and stores media files produced by itself through an encoding process in the external storage device, thus enabling the reproduction and storage of the media files without being provided therein with a storage module for storing the media files.
2. Description of the Related Art
Currently, media processing devices for reproducing and storing media files, such as an MPEG-1 Audio Layer-3 (MP3) player and a voice recorder, have been widely used. FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing the construction of a conventional media processing device 100. The conventional media processing device 100 is equipped therein with a non-volatile storage module 140, such as flash memory, and, accordingly, is capable of storing media files received from a host device 180 therein. Additionally, when a command to reproduce a media file is input from a user to the conventional media processing device 100 through a user interface module 120, the conventional media processing device 100 reads a media file from the storage device 140 and transmits the data of the media file to a signal processing module 150 so that the data of the media file are encoded according to a certain signal processing method, such as an MP3 encoding method.
For the purpose of the above-described transmission and reception of the media file, the host device 180 and the media processing device 100 are each provided with a transmission medium access function. FIG. 1 illustrates the case where a Universal Serial Bus (USB) transmission medium is used, as an example. In USB technology, when two devices are connected to each other through a USB transmission medium, one device performing a master function is referred to as a USB host while the other device performing a slave function is referred to as a USB device. In the case where the media processing device 100 receives a media file from the host device 180 as shown in FIG. 1, the host device 180 corresponds to the USB host and the media processing device 100 corresponds to the USB device. For this purpose, the host device 180 includes a USB host module 190 and the media processing device 190 includes a USB device module 130.
An Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 1394 transmission medium and a wireless Local Area Network (LAN) can be used as the transmission medium for that purpose, besides the USB transmission medium. As for the connection between the two devices, the devices may be connected to each other through a cable, may be provided with connection ports for the connection therebetween, or may be wirelessly connected to each other through a wireless medium. In the case where IEEE 1394 technology or wireless LAN is used, a different scheme other than the above-described host-device scheme can be employed. For example, in the case of IEEE 1394 technology, a peer-to-peer scheme other than the master-slave scheme is used, and the host device 180 corresponds to a Serial Bus Protocol 2 (SBP2) initiator and the media processing device 100 corresponds to a SBP2 target according to SBP2 that is a higher-rank management protocol. For example, i-Pod of Apple Computer, Inc. is a typical MP3 player utilizing an IEEE 1394 transmission medium. Meanwhile, in general digital transmission media including a USB transmission medium and an IEEE 1394 transmission media, the host device 180 may be generally modeled on a controller and the media processing device 100 may be generally modeled on a target.
Three issues regarding the conventional media processing device 100 are cost reduction and the miniaturization and weight of a product. The storage device 140 would be a great hindrance to address these issues. Further, with respect to the storage capacity of the storage device 140, there is another problem in which user demand for upgrading storage capacity is raised because storage capacity becomes relatively insufficient when one or two years elapse after the products of the storage device 140 have been marketed. In the meantime, external storage media for supporting high performance digital transmission media, such as a USB transmission medium or an IEEE 1394 transmission medium, are popularized, but are problematic in that they are of questionable utility.

Media processing device using an external storage device


A voice packet dynamic echo cancellation system includes an input/output unit configured to communicate over a packet network and a storage unit configured to store network performance information associated with node segments on the packet network. The system also includes a processing unit configured to execute instructions to: set-up a call from an originating call device to a terminating call device; determine the network performance of the call between the originating call device and the terminating call device; locate an echo signal of the call to the originating call device based on the network performance; produce a echo cancellation signal based on the echo signal; cancel the echo signal with the echo cancellation signal; and recheck the network performance information during a duration of the call and adjust the specific delay point of the received signal window based on the network performance information.

Telephone calls are often plagued by echoes, which are the reflected copies of the caller's voice that are reflected back by the two wire to the four wire network portion of the far end phone set. The far end reflects back the received voice and the received voice is transmitted back through the line to the caller after a brief delay. Echoes of sufficient delay, such as, for example, a delay of greater than 25 milliseconds, can be detected by the human ear and can degrade a phone conversation to unacceptable levels. Several techniques have been employed to correct the echoes experienced during calls. For instance, a technique known as echo suppression uses a voice activated switch to turn off transmission from the speaker to the listener whenever the caller is silent. Some negative side effects of echo suppression include voice clipping and choppiness, which may further result in voice degradation. Another technology is known as echo cancellation, which is accomplished by sampling the return path for echo signals from 0 to 128 milliseconds windows in which a signal processor looks for an attenuated mirror image of the transmit signal arriving back in the receive path at a lower attenuation during this window. Once the signal is locked on or confirmed, the echo is then cancelled by the processor inducing a cancellation signal (180 degree out-of-phase) matching the delay time and amplitude of the attenuated signal that was originally transmitted.
With the movement of telecommunication services from TDM to voice over Internet protocol ("VoIP"), particularly using plain old telephone service ("POTS") phones that contain the two wire to four wire network component, traditional voice quality impairments have combined with IP-based impairments to degrade the overall quality of VoIP calls. Packet technology, such as VoIP, injects path delay in a call session due to voice codec sampling, and the use of jitter buffers to eliminate packet jitter that is within the network, these attributes make it more difficult to cancellation more difficult and costly due to longer Echo Cancellation sampling windows to detect the longer round trip delays. In place of the switch-based echo cancellers used in time slot based switching protocols, VoIP media gateways or voice codec conversions have become responsible for the echo cancellation functions.
The echo cancellation function takes processing power and memory to facilitate implementing a "tail" or echo cancellation sampling, correspondence, and cancellation functions. Thus, the use of packetized voice communications makes echo cancellation more costly. Media gateways also have limited echo cancellation capacity due to their limited storage capacity, which generally support echo tails of limited window size, such as 28-64 milliseconds. In some applications of packet voice, such as the use of wireless handsets or VoIP over the long distances necessitated for international calls, there may be echoes with significantly longer tail delays than current systems are designed to handle. Further, media gateways do not provide bidirectional echo cancellation capabilities, thus leaving one side of the network uncorrected.
FIG. 1 is an illustration of a transmitted signal and a received signal as commonly known is generally designated 100. A transmitted signal 102 is shown containing a voice signal 104 from a call where they are both shown during a period of time that is illustrated and generally designated as transmitted signal window 106. Transmitted signal window 106 is a period of time in which transmitted signal 102 and voice signal 104 are stored and analyzed for echo cancellation. For example, the amplification and frequency of voice signal 104 on transmitted signal 102 is stored and analyzed to determine signatures of voice signal 104. Transmitted signal window 106 may be any period of time associated with current echo cancellation techniques, such as 64 to 256 milliseconds. Transmitted signal window 106 may be stored for a period of time, such as 64 milliseconds, while a signal processor scans a received signal 108 and an echo signal 110 to determine the time delay 114 between voice signal 104 and echo signal 110. A processor compares the peaks of voice signal 104 and echo signal 110 to determine when echo signal 110 is being received to determine time delay 114. Once echo signal 110 has been detected and time delay 114 has been determined, the processor introduces echo signal 110 180 degrees out-of-phase with echo signal 110 contained in received signal 108 to cancel echo signal 110 from received signal 108. As can be seen, for the processor to determine echo signal 110 of received signal 108, it must scan a large received signal window 112.
Further, to augment media gateways, Internet protocol ("IP") processors may be used that use large amounts of memory, processing power, and algorithms to determine the delay in the echo. If the echo delays are substantial, then these processors become ineffective due to their storage and tracking limitations. For example, some long distance VoIP calls involving Internet routers and switches may produce echo delays of anywhere from 45 to 300 milliseconds. Moreover, if a call involves a wireless RF link as in commonplace cell phone calls, the echo delay may increase even further. For instance, a RF wireless call may have delays of up to 125 milliseconds for one caller on a wireless cell phone where the other caller is on a landline, and up to 250 milliseconds for both callers on wireless cell phones.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Voice packet dynamic echo cancellation system


The present disclosure relates to the technical field of flexible substrate processing, and discloses a flexible substrate attaching method. The flexible substrate attaching method comprises the steps of: pre-fixing a flexible substrate on a carrier substrate with a first fixation structure; forming a thin film on the flexible substrate, and forming a pattern of the thin film via a patterning process; the pattern of the thin film contacting at least a part of the flexible substrate and at least a part of the carrier substrate simultaneously to play the function of consolidating the flexible substrate onto the carrier substrate. In this flexible substrate attaching method, a flexible substrate can be fixed on a carrier substrate and the flexible panel can be detached after the manufacture is completed. The present disclosure further provides a flexible substrate attachment structure.

The 21st century is the time of flat panel display in the display field, and among it, flexible display has gained fast growth as the next-generation focus of display technologies. Flexible display is made of a flexible material, which can be deformed, bended, and has the advantages of being slim and light, convenient to carry, etc.
However, a flexible substrate is difficult to process and is thus largely limited in application and development. A general solution to that is to fix a flexible substrate on a rigid carrier substrate before the processing of the flexible substrate. This can realize manufacturing the flexible display using existing devices. However, the prior art flexible substrate attaching processes are relatively complicated and such flexible substrate as manufactured is difficult to get detached after it is completed.
In addition, flexible substrate attaching techniques are generally divided into mechanical attaching and spin coating attaching. The former is easy and convenient for detachment, but more difficult for fixation on the carrier substrate; the latter is not easy for detachment of the completed flexible substrate from the carrier substrate. Therefore, there is a need for providing a relatively simple and readily achievable flexible substrate attaching method in the field.

Flexible substrate attaching method and flexible substrate attachment structure


A process for catalytically converting cyclohexanone oxime to epsilon caprolactam. The conversion catalyst is a crystalline aluminosilicate zeolite having a Constraint Index greater than 1 and a reduced surface acidity. The surface acidity is reduced by selective surface dealumination of the crystalline aluminosilicate zeolite by contacting the zeolite with dicarboxylic acid, such as oxalic acid.

Epsilon caprolactam, usually referred to simply as "caprolactam", is a large volume commodity chemical used as a monomer in the production of the commercially important Nylon-6. Although routes to the precursor cyclohexanone oxime vary, all commercial caprolactam production makes use of a Beckmann rearrangement of the oxime. The commercial reaction is carried out in a batch operation in oleum (H.sub.2 SO.sub.4 SO.sub.3) solution. The recovery step in this technology employs an ammonium hydroxide neutralization of the resulting caprolactam-oleum solution, a process generating two moles of by-product ammonium sulfate per mole of product. The sulfate has some value as a low grade fertilizer, but its recovery and/or disposal can add substantial cost to Nylon-6 production. Attempts have been made to circumvent the use of oleum and carry out the reaction in the gas phase, thereby eliminating the undesirable by-product.
A number of patents and publications have appeared which describe such heterogeneous gas phase conversions. Examples of these include U.S. Pat. No. 3,503,958 to P. S. Landis, which describes and claims such conversion using a zeolite such as hydrogen Y; U.S. Pat. No. 3,016,375 which uses as catalyst polyphosphoric acid; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,359,421 to Bell et al. which uses as catalyst a zeolite having a silica to alumina ratio of at least 12 and a Constraint Index of 1 to 12.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,582,815 to Bowes describes and claims a method for preparing binder-free and silica-bonded extrudates of zeolites, including ZSM-5.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,697,010 to McMahon discloses a process for the catalyzed conversion of cyclohexanone oxime to caprolactam over a catalyst composition comprising the hydrogen form of crystals having the structure of ZSM-5 made in the presence of a boron source.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,709,024 to Sato et al. discloses a process for the production of epsilon caprolactam using a crystalline aluminosilicate catalyst having specific Si/Al atomic ratio and a specific acid amount of external surface.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,927,924 to Bell et al. discloses synthesis of caprolactam using a catalyst subjected to steam treatment to reduce its Alpha Value.
The desired rearrangement of cyclohexanone oxime (I) to caprolactam (II) is believed to occur via a protonated intermediate (not shown), according to Equation A. ##STR1##
In addition, however, two major side reactions occur, one with the formation of 5-cyanopentene (III) and water (Equation B), and the other forming cyclohexanone oxime (IV) (Equation C). ##STR2##
In addition to (III) and (IV) other by-products of unknown structure also are formed.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a heterogenous process which is highly selective for the desired caprolactam product. It is expected that an increase in selectivity of the zeolite catalyst is obtained when cyclohexanone oxime is converted to epsilon caprolactam using a zeolite catalyst having reduced surface acidity to minimize non-selective reactions on the surface acid sites of the zeolite catalysts. It is a further object of the present invention to improve process performance of the zeolite catalyst used in caprolactam synthesis, i.e., better (slower) aging.

Synthesis of caprolactam using catalysts


A system and method for disk replication over a network with network failover, the method including: generating at least one write packet when a write instruction is detected from a first computing environment, where the at least one write packet includes: metadata associated with a data block, and a packet identifier; storing the at least one write packet in a cache; sending the at least one write packet from the cache to a second computing environment for storage; and determining if the at least one write packet has been successfully stored in the second computing environment.

Replication and backup methods for servers, hardware, and software systems are essential tools in ensuring operability when an original computing or storage device or system, or the like, fails, as technology is prone to do after some period of time. For example, an original device may be replicated by sending the contents of the device to an identical machine at a secondary location so that in a scenario where the original device at a first location experiences issues, such as loss of connectivity, disk failure, and the like, a backup version of the contents remains accessible. In order to replicate content from one device to another, multiple packets of data must be transferred to the replication system, e.g., over an internal or external network. However, the networks themselves may not always be reliable, and therefore it would be beneficial to provide a solution which takes into account network communication failures and provides a failover solution.
It would therefore be advantageous to provide a solution that would overcome the challenges noted above.

Replication system with network failover


A magnetoresistance effect element and a magnetic memory having thermal stability expressed by a thermal stability factor of 70 or more even with a fine junction size. The magnetoresistance effect element includes a first magnetic layer of an invariable magnetization direction forming a reference layer, a second magnetic layer of a variable magnetization direction forming a recording layer, and a first non-magnetic layer disposed between the first and second magnetic layers in a thickness direction of the first and second magnetic layers. At least one of the first and second magnetic layers has the following relationship between D (nm) and t (nm): D<0.9t+13, where D is a junction size corresponding to the length of a longest straight line on an end surface perpendicular to the thickness direction, and t is a layer thickness. The junction size is 30 nm or less.

As shown in FIG. 14, a magnetic memory cell 105 of a magnetic memory (magnetic random access memory: MRAM) with a conventional magnetoresistance effect element has a structure where a magnetoresistance effect element 110 and a selection transistor 109 are electrically connected in series. The selection transistor 109 has a source electrode electrically connected to a source line 102, a drain electrode electrically connected through the magnetoresistance effect element 110 to a bit line 104, and a gate electrode electrically connected to a word line 103. The magnetoresistance effect element 110 basically has a three-layer structure with a first ferromagnetic layer 111, a second ferromagnetic layer 112, and a non-magnetic layer 113 provided between the first and second ferromagnetic layers 111 and 112. The resistance value of the magnetoresistance effect element 110 is reduced if the respective magnetizations of the first and second ferromagnetic layers 111 and 112 are parallel and is increased if these magnetizations are antiparallel. The memory cell of the MRAM assigns these two resistance conditions to bit information "0" and bit information "1".
In the MRAM, the magnetoresistance effect element 110 becomes finer and finer year by year for a higher integration. Both the first and second ferromagnetic layers 111 and 112 of the magnetoresistance effect element 110 are in the risk of thermal agitation of their magnetizations as these layers become finer, potentially leading to loss of bit information. To retain bit information even if the first and second ferromagnetic layers 111 and 112 become finer, the second ferromagnetic layer 112 to become a recording layer is required to have a thermal stability factor (E/kBT) of 70 or more and the first ferromagnetic layer 111 to become a reference layer is required to have a thermal stability factor (E/kBT) higher than that of the second ferromagnetic layer 112. Here, E is an energy barrier required for magnetization reversal and corresponding to the product of a magnetic anisotropy energy density Keff and a volume V of the first or second ferromagnetic layer 111 or 112 (E=KeffV), kB is a Boltzmann's constant, and T is the absolute temperature.
To obtain high thermal stability expressed as E/kBT, the effective magnetic anisotropy energy density Keff of the first or second ferromagnetic layers 111 or 112 should be increased. In terms of this aspect, a perpendicular magnetic anisotropy magnetoresistance effect element giving an easy axis of perpendicular magnetization to the first or second ferromagnetic layer 111 or 112 has received attention. Rare earth based amorphous alloys, L10-ordered element (Co or Fe)—Pt alloys, Co/(Pd or Pt) multilayer films, etc. have been studied as electrodes of such perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (see non-patent literature 1, 2, or 3, for example).
The present inventors have found that, in a stacked structure of CoFeB/MgO, reducing the thickness of the CoFeB layer generates perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (see patent literature 1, for example). By applying the stacked structure of CoFeB/MgO to a perpendicular magnetic anisotropy magnetoresistance effect element, E/kBT of substantially 40 is obtained in the second ferromagnetic layer 112 as a recording layer with a junction size diameter of 40 nm (see non-patent literature 4, for example). Further, by forming a double CoFeB—MgO interface recording layer structure and increasing the thickness of a magnetic layer in a recording layer with the purpose of enhancing thermal stability, E/kBT of 80 or more is obtained with the junction size diameter on the order of 40 nm and E/kBT of substantially 59 is obtained with the junction size diameter of 29 nm in the second ferromagnetic layer 112 as a recording layer (see non-patent literature 5, for example). The junction size of a ferromagnetic layer mentioned herein is the length of a longest straight line on a junction surface of the ferromagnetic layer at which the ferromagnetic layer contacts an adjacent non-magnetic layer or an adjacent electrode. According to non-patent literatures 4 and 5, the ferromagnetic layer has a circular columnar shape and the junction surface has a circular shape. Thus, the junction size means the diameter of the junction surface.
As shown in FIG. 15(a), a perpendicular magnetic anisotropy magnetoresistance effect element described in non-patent literature 4 has a basic structure where a lower non-magnetic electrode 114 and an upper non-magnetic electrode 115 are connected to a three-layer structure including a first ferromagnetic layer 111, a second ferromagnetic layer 112, and a non-magnetic layer 113 provided between the first and second ferromagnetic layers 111 and 112. As shown in FIG. 15(b), the second ferromagnetic layer 112 as a recording layer characteristically has a junction size D larger than a ferromagnetic layer thickness t.
As shown in FIG. 15(c), a perpendicular magnetic anisotropy magnetoresistance effect element described in non-patent literature 5 has a five-layer structure where a second non-magnetic layer 116 is stacked on a second ferromagnetic layer 112 on a non-magnetic layer 113, a third ferromagnetic layer 117 is stacked on the second non-magnetic layer 116, and a third non-magnetic layer 118 is stacked on the third ferromagnetic layer 117. Interface magnetic anisotropy is generated between the third ferromagnetic layer 117 and the third non-magnetic layer 118. Non-patent literature 5 recites that use of this five-layer structure can enhance thermal stability. This structure still has a characteristic in that a total thickness t of a recording layer including the second and third ferromagnetic layers 112 and 117 magnetically coupled through the second non-magnetic layer 116 is smaller than a junction size D.

Magnetoresistance effect element and magnetic memory


Systems, methods, and computer program products for associating a unique identifier with an object. The system may include a database with a memory unit, an index unit, and a control pointer unit, at least one identifier management unit, and at least one update unit. A finite set of identifiers is organized in pages, and each page includes a bitmap representing the availability of the identifiers. The pointers to data in the index include a pointer to a last page loaded by an identifier management unit, and a pointer to a last page updated by an update unit.

In large-scale information systems, objects stored in a database are usually assigned an identifier consisting, for example, in an alphanumeric string of characters. The identifier may be used as means for identifying a given object with a data structure of limited size. By processing the identifier instead of the object itself, resources of the overall systems are optimized. Objects processed and stored in databases may not be static in essence. Objects may be created, deleted and modified at various rates. Therefore, the identifiers may also be created, deleted and modified correspondingly.
However, for databases processing a large amount of data accessed by a large number of clients, creating, deleting, modifying and also assigning identifiers may become a task that impacts the overall performance of the system. One example of a performance parameter that can be impacted is the response time. Other examples are the memory needed for storing the identifiers and their association with the corresponding objects and the communication bandwidth for updating the identifiers and their correspondences.
In some applications, each object is assigned a unique identifier that represents the object in a unique fashion throughout the system. A field in which the use of unique identifiers in a database may be important is the management of travel reservations.
Travel companies such as airline companies and hotel companies for example use very sophisticated databases and reservation software for handling reservations by customers. A travel reservation involves a large number of participants: commercial agents, transportation companies, customs and other administrative bodies, etc. These participants are also usually distributed over large geographical regions. Therefore, a common database and communication architecture must be used to endure a proper management of the large amount of information that the travel specifications of each reservation by each customer represent. The common database is thus accessed by a large number of client devices (at the travel companies) simultaneously, and from a large number of locations.
TPF (acronym for "Transaction Processing Facility") is an example of a real-time operating system developed by IBM™ for processing data transactions involved in travel reservation systems. Other systems exist, as would be understood by the person skilled in the art.
In order to share information concerning a given reservation, the travel industry has developed common descriptors and data structures to be used in the data transaction-processing systems. Historically, the airline industry defined the PNR (acronym for "Passenger Name Record") which is a record in a database that contains information (including reservation information) concerning a traveler or a group of travelers travelling together. The purpose of the PNR was to make it possible for airline companies to exchange reservation information in case the travel involved several airlines for several destinations. IATA (acronym for "International Air Transportation Association"), the trade association regrouping the airline companies throughout the world, is the body that defines the standard for the PNR (content, format, etc.). Although PNRs had initially been defined for the airline industry, they are also used for hotel reservation, car rental, train bookings, etc.
In order to facilitate access to the PNRs, unique identifiers are associated with the PNRs. The unique identifiers are usually called "record locators" but other denominations exist. The record locators are typically defined as an alphanumeric string of characters, for example 6 characters (numbers and letters). The use of an alphanumeric string is the current standard in the industry.
The management of record locators must meet a large number of technical constraints. The following are exemplary constraints. One constraint is a high throughput, for example, more than 50 identifier requests per second. Another constraint is a low response delay, for example at least 90% of the identifier requests to be processed in less than a millisecond. Another constraint is being reliably uniquely associated with an active PNR at a given time and avoiding failure due to identification conflicts. Another constraint is being reusable once a previous use of the identifier is exhausted. Another constraint is guaranteeing the avoidance of "lost" identifiers, for example identifiers assigned to an inactive PNR without possibility to recover the identifier (e.g., for reuse). Another constraint is simplicity of operation and avoidance of manual interventions. Another constraint is respect of the communication constraints of the architecture of the system (messaging constraints and the like). Another constraint is being interoperable between transaction data processing systems (e.g., TPF developed by IBM™ and other systems). Another constraint is to respect standardization constraints.
To cope with such constraints, there is a need for an evolution from centralized mainframes to distributed systems wherein independent and redundant servers (called "backends") can simultaneously and independently perform allocations of record locators for newly created reservation records. In some centralized mainframes, the record locators not only serve as identifiers for the PNRs but they also serve as a low-level address in the database. In order to generate the record locators, the centralized systems implement algorithms that can convert an address in the database into a record locator compliant with the standard. Such generation method for unique identifiers is not convenient for distributed architectures. The address-based generation cannot be implemented in each backend without an increase of the complexity of the system while keeping the constraints on the identifiers met (short size with a restricted number of characters, high performance, compatibility, etc.).
Thus, there is a need for improvements of unique identifier generation for database systems.

Management of unique identifiers in a database


Embodiments of a system and method for beamforming in a Wireless Network are generally described herein. In some embodiments, an enhanced Node B (eNB) transmits to User Equipment (UE), from a plurality (Nc) of antenna ports of a plurality (Nt) of transmit antennas, a data signal where signal power is allocated in eigen beams, each of the Nt transmit antennas having antenna ports that are adjustable in elevation and in azimuth. The eNB also determines and transmits to the UE a Pc set of the largest principal eigen beams of the data signal and receives, as feedback from the UE, a precoding matrix that identifies the antenna port from which strongest energy in the data signal is detected at the UE. The eNB uses the precoding matrix for beamforming.

One issue with communicating data over a wireless network is multipath, wherein transmitted information signals bounce off objects causing them to reach the receiving antenna multiple times as diverse signals via different angles and at slightly different times. This may cause interference and delay wireless signals.
Thus there are general needs for systems and methods that reduce signaling, bandwidth and delay associated with multipath. MIMO technology takes advantage of multipath behavior by using multiple, smart transmitters and receivers with an added spatial dimension, to dramatically increase performance and range. MIMO enables antennas to combine data streams arriving from different paths and at different times to effectively increase receiver signal-capturing power by using special diversity technology. Recently, full dimensional multiple input multiple output (FD-MIMO) has been discussed in the academy and industry. Unlike conventional MIMO techniques, FD-MIMO can leverage the significantly increased freedom offered by the advanced antenna arrays with large number of antenna elements which can be adjusted individually in both elevation and azimuth. FD-MIMO offers advantages by simultaneously supporting elevation and azimuth beamforming, with a practical antenna panel form factor. The objective of MIMO beamforming is to focus beams from a number of transmitting antennas to create a maximum on one or more receiving antennas.

Antenna selection codebook for full dimensional MIMO systems


A PCI rim comprising a bead seat and a flange each engaging a tire bead of a tire T wherein flange radius of the flange is set in a range from 7.5 mm to 12 mm, flange height of the flange is set in a range from 14 mm to 25 mm, and bead seat radius of the bead seat is set in a range from 4.5 mm to 7.0 mm. The gap F in practical engagement can be significantly reduced compared with the case of a conventional PCI rim. This brings unified circumferential engagement of the tire T with the rim 9 for a practical vehicle so that FV can be inhibited to be significantly small. Further, vibration problems caused by tire rotation are prevented and the displacement of the rim for the practical vehicle can be reduced.

The present invention relates to a post cure inflation rim (hereinafter referred to as "PCI rim") for vehicles.
For carcass material of a tire, nylon, polyester or the like have widely been used. During tire production the temperature of a tire just after vulcanization is very high. So, if the tire is left as it is, heat contraction happens and the tire is significantly deformed.
In view of this problem, just after vulcanization and the temperature of a tire is still high, the tire is assembled with a PCI rim (different from one used in a practical vehicle) for holding and cooling the tire. A constant air pressure is applied to the assembly so that the deformation and the like are prevented.
FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross section of a main part showing a condition where a PCI rim m and a tire t are engaged with each other. As shown in FIG. 4, conventionally, a PCI rim has been designed so that flange radius r.sub.1 is smaller (for example, 5 mm) and flange height l.sub.1 is smaller (for example, 10.5 mm) in view of easy tire detachability, or wide applicability for PCI rims of different diameter.
However, in the case where a tire t just after vulcanization is assembled with the PCI rim m designed as mentioned above, the tire is assembled with a portion from clinched portion a to sidewall b being inclined in a direction of an arrow e. This is shown by a full line in FIG. 4. An imaginary line in FIG. 4 shows an ideal shape of an assembled tire without inclination.
For this reason, as shown in FIG. 5, when the tire t is assembled with a rim n for a practical vehicle, a wide gap f is formed between heel portion d of tire bead c and the rim n. This wide gap f makes the engagement between the tire t and the rim n for the practical vehicle non-uniform in a circumferential direction, and accordingly FV (Force Variation) is great. This results in the tire vibration in its rotation.
An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problem, namely to provide a PCI rim with which a gap between a heel portion of a tire and a rim for a practical vehicle can be narrowed.


A circuit for adjusting a luminance of a backlight is provided. The backlight includes a plurality of partitions that are independent of one another. Each of the partitions includes a plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs) arranged in an array and connected in series. The circuit includes a plurality of LED drivers each configured to supply a respective drive current to the plurality of LEDs of a respective one of the plurality of partitions, and a plurality of programmable voltage generators configured to receive respective control commands and to supply respective reference voltages to the plurality of LED drivers based on the respective control commands. Each of the LED drivers is further configured to set a level of the drive current supplied by the LED driver in response to the reference voltage supplied to the LED driver.

As an integral part of a liquid crystal display, a backlight module typically includes a backlight and a driving circuit for driving the backlight. For large size liquid crystal displays, the backlight typically includes multiple partitions each including a plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs) as the light sources. In operation, there may be differences in the luminance of different partitions of the backlight.

Circuit, system and method for adjusting luminance of backlight, backlight and display device


An image forming apparatus in which apparatus setting information registered in at least one of other apparatuses connected to the image forming apparatus via a communication line is obtained from the other apparatuses. The apparatus selling information of the other apparatuses which is not registered in the image forming apparatus is extracted out of the obtained apparatus setting information of the other apparatuses and is displayed on a display together with the apparatus setting information registered in the image forming apparatus. Desired apparatus setting information is selected out of the displayed apparatus setting information and a setting operation corresponding to the selected apparatus setting information is performed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, and a communication apparatus, which are connectable to other apparatuses via a communication line, an apparatus setting method, a program for implementing the method, and a storage medium storing the program.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, mode setting related to functions and operations of an apparatus is performed by an operator inputting via a user interface provided in the apparatus. Here, as examples of the mode, there are modes in which a facsimile destination, an e-mail destination, or the like is set. Once such mode setting is performed, when transmitting an image to the same destination next time, the user can save the trouble of setting the same destination by calling up the set mode.
However, in an office environment in which a plurality of apparatuses exist on a local area network (LAN), even if mode setting is performed in one of the plurality of apparatuses, this mode setting is not reflected in the other apparatuses so that userfriendliness differs with each apparatus. To provide the same level of userfriendliness for all the apparatuses, mode setting must be performed in all the apparatuses, which requires a time-consuming operation.
Therefore, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2001-337797, there has been proposed a technique in which, in apparatuses like computer terminals connected to each other via a communication line like LAN, one of the apparatuses generates apparatus setting information related to setting of a user mode (information for performing setting related to functions and operations of another apparatus to be set, which is transmitted from the apparatus connected via the communication line) in response to an operation by an operator, and send the generated apparatus setting information to the other apparatus to be set via the communication line, and then the other apparatus to be set receives the transmitted apparatus setting information and registers the same in a memory of the apparatus to be set. With this technique, the operator can perform mode setting easily by selecting one of user modes registered in the apparatus if necessary.
However, in the above-mentioned prior art, to update the apparatus setting information, new apparatus setting information has to be transmitted to each apparatus, and at the time of operating each apparatus, the new apparatus setting information has to be registered, thus requiring a complicated operation.

Image forming apparatus, communication apparatus, apparatus setting method, program for implementing the method, and storage medium storing the program


According to one example embodiment, a buffer, e.g., in a clock/signal distribution apparatus is provided that substantially reduces jitter due to power supply noise. Decoupler and input stage isolates load from the top rail power supply (VDD). In a more particular embodiment, jitter contributions from the bottom rail power supply (VSS) can be minimized by cross-coupled load devices within load. Substantial independence from process and temperature is facilitated through the use of current bias, such as Proportional to Absolute Temperature (PTAT) current bias.

The communication age and its appetite for increased data throughput continues to force high bandwidth designs. Technologies such as telecommunications and networking, for example, continue to fuel research and design efforts that facilitate serial data rate capabilities on the order of hundreds of gigabits per second and higher.
As the data rate capability increases, other design specifications, such as clock jitter and propagation delay, constrains the circuit designer in regard to the maximum data rate that is achievable. As the data rate increases, for example, the total jitter budget for a particular design decreases. An Optical Carrier (OC)-192 compliant transceiver, for example, having a data rate capability of 10 gigabits per second (Gbps) is allowed less than 1 picosecond (ps) of total jitter due to random noise, i.e., root mean square (rms), jitter. Further, only 10 ps is allowed for deterministic jitter. Therefore, predicting and reducing jitter induced via power supply and other sources of random noise becomes important in most applications.
High performance clock buffers are often used in communication designs for duplication, distribution, and fan-out of clock signals. Sensitivity to clock jitter is a concern in these applications. In many applications, errors resulting from the accumulation of jitter can significantly interfere with system performance and reliability.
Accumulated jitter has profound effects on systems that employ a single clock that is distributed, or fanned out, over many distribution paths, e.g., clock distribution networks. Fundamental knowledge of the requirements of each branch of a given clock tree design, therefore, can be important in understanding which type of device will perform well in a particular design or application.
Specifically, a detailed understanding of the frequency requirements of each clock branch, phase relationships between each clock branch and the reference clock, and phase relationships between each clock branch and every other clock branch is required. Accuracy requirements of the distributed clock signals for both the short term, e.g., cycle to cycle, and long term, e.g., accumulated over n cycles, should be known. Load and termination of the transmission lines used to propagate the clock signals can also be important in the preservation of waveform integrity.
A primary source of jitter is power supply noise. Power supply noise that exists, for example, at the power supply input of a Phase Locked Loop (PLL) will appear on the output of the PLL as jitter. Power supply induced jitter can be a substantial, though not always constant, contributor to jitter.
Power supply noise manifests itself in various ways, both on the top rail and bottom rail power supplies. An inverter operating from a top rail power supply, for example, may have a threshold voltage equal to half of the top rail power supply magnitude. If the top rail power supply contains a voltage ripple component, then the voltage ripple component causes a shift in the threshold voltage at the input to the inverter, which translates into jitter.
Alternately, bottom rail power supply manifestation of jitter may be caused by ground bounce. When there is a surge of current through the output drivers, for example, the inductance of the leads to the supply planes, e.g., VDD and VSS, have a voltage drop across them that is equal to the product of the inductance of the leads and the derivative of the current surge with respect to time. This raises or lowers the effective bottom rail potential of the device. Series resistance may also be a factor when considering finer geometry processes.
Hence, if the device has an output whose frequency is dependent upon supply voltage, e.g., a Voltage Controlled Oscillator (VCO), the frequency will change due to ground bounce. Additionally, any transistors operating within the device experiences a change in threshold voltage, which may also cause a frequency change. Further, if the device is providing an input to a PLL, then the PLL attempts to correct the frequency change, thus further contributing to jitter at its output.
Requirements such as power supply levels, input and output transition times, and circuit board layout often constrain the design of buffer circuits. It is not typically cost effective, however, to design a buffer circuit for each particular application, which may require specialized power supply regulation. It is desirable, rather, to design a buffer circuit that may be effective in a number of applications having varying speed and process requirements, as well as unknown system parameters, such as power supply noise characteristics. A need exists, therefore, for a buffer circuit that minimizes power supply contribution to jitter, while negating the need for customized power supply regulation.
An apparatus and method that addresses the aforementioned problems, as well as other related problems, are therefore desirable.

Method and apparatus for a reference clock buffer system


This disclosure provides methods, systems, services, and applications for collecting data from mobile devices connected to a mobile network. Aspects include campaign-based methods and systems as well as event-based methods and systems. Data includes mobile network data such as signal strength, call quality, network type, etc. and mobile device data such as mobile device type, charge level of the battery, etc. The disclosure also provides analytics for mobile network operators including mapping of location information and data points. Also described herein are methods and systems for verifying a credit card user's mobile device location.

Mobile device users generally expect an always-on connection with the network, clarity in voice calls, and uninterrupted data connections. To maintain these expectations, mobile operators must build and maintain a high performance network capable of meeting the Quality of Service (QoS) demands imposed by customers. Part of meeting customer expectations and ensuring all-over network coverage and quality involves constant monitoring. Monitoring focuses on a number of different elements such as the system load (the number of subscribers utilizing specific network nodes and infrastructure at any given time) as well as determining where there are coverage gaps in both the voice and data network.
Collecting real-time data about coverage gaps is a difficult process, as the coverage can often change based on the number of subscribers utilizing a particular network node or cell tower at any given time. There is a need for automatic, real-time network data collection that can be easily viewed and parsed to make actionable decisions.

Automatic event-based network monitoring


A seatbelt retractor is disclosed. The seatbelt retractor has a frame, a spindle, a seatbelt webbing and torsion bar. The frame is attached to a structure of a road vehicle. The spindle is rotatably supported by the frame. The seatbelt webbing is wound about the spindle for retraction there to and protraction there from. The torsion bar is fixedly coupled to the spindle for rotation therewith, the torsion bar has a first torsion portion mechanically coupled or press-fitted into a second torsion portion.

Vehicle manufactures are required to provide seatbelt restraint systems in almost all road vehicles today. Typically, these restraint systems include a retractor, a seatbelt webbing, a latch plate and a seatbelt buckle. When the seatbelt system is not in use, the seatbelt webbing is retracted into the retractor and wound about a spindle disposed in the retractor. When in use, the seatbelt webbing is protracted from the retractor, wrapped around the occupant and secured by the latch plate to the seatbelt buckle.
In an effort to improve the safety of an occupant during a vehicle crash, retractors having torsion bars have been developed to limit the forces applied by the seatbelt on the vehicle occupant. The torsion bar is fixed to a spindle on a first end and to a tread head on a second end. As the seatbelt webbing is loaded by a vehicle occupant during a crash, the torsion bar twists allowing the spindle to rotate and pay out additional webbing to reduce the peak forces on the occupant. Depending on the occupant's size and the severity of the crash, different amounts of webbing pay out and a corresponding level of twisting of the torsion bar is appropriate.
To achieve different load limiting characteristics and degrees of webbing pay out during a vehicle collision, retractors have been developed having multiple torsion bar segments which may be activated independently depending on the size of the occupant and the severity of the collision. While these new and improved multi-level load limiting retractors achieve their intended purpose, many issues still exist. For example, manufacturing of torsion bars that provide multiple levels of load limiting are much more complex and, consequently, more expensive to manufacture than retractors having a single load limiting level torsion bar. Therefore, a need exists for a method of constructing multi-level load limiting retractors in a feasible and cost effective manner.


A picture encoding apparatus for encoding an input digital picture signal in such a manner that the amount of generated data is reduced is disclosed, that comprises a dividing unit for dividing the input digital picture signal into blocks each of which is composed of a plurality of pixels, a detecting unit for detecting the maximum value of the pixels of each block, the minimum value thereof, and a dynamic range that is the difference between the maximum value and the minimum value, a quantizing unit for quantizing each value of the pixels that has been normalized with the value of the dynamic range, and an additional code encoding unit for generating the difference of the minimum value with the minimum value and a delayed value of the minimum value and for variable-length code encoding the difference of the minimum value.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a highly efficient encoding method for encoding a digital picture signal and compressing the data amount thereof and a decoding apparatus for decoding the compressed digital picture signal into the original digital picture signal. In particular, the present invention relates to an encoding method for encoding a digital picture signal and transmitting additional information along with the encoded information, a picture encoding apparatus, a picture encoding and transmitting method, a picture recording medium, a picture decoding method, and a picture decoding apparatus.
2. Description of Related Art
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a picture signal encoding apparatus that compresses a digital picture signal. The picture signal encoding apparatus shown in FIG. 1 is an encoding apparatus corresponding to an adaptive dynamic range encoding method (hereinafter referred to as the ADRC method). In the ADRC method, an input picture signal is divided into blocks each of which is composed of a predetermined number of pixels. Pixels of each block are adaptively encoded corresponding to the dynamic range of the block. The ADRC method has been proposed by the applicant of the present patent application as U.S. Pat. No. 4,703,352, issued on Oct. 27, 1987. Next, with reference to FIG. 1, the ADRC method will be briefly described. An input picture signal is supplied from an input terminal 1 to a block dividing portion 2. For example, each block composed of nine pixels of 3 pixels.times.3 lines (hereinafter referred to as a block of (3.times.3) pixels) is supplied to a maximum value detecting portion 3 and a minimum value detecting portion 4. The maximum value detecting portion 3 detects the maximum value MAX of the pixel values of the block. The minimum value detecting portion 4 detects the minimum value MIN of the pixel values of the block. The maximum value MAX is supplied from the maximum value detecting portion 3 to a subtracting portion 5. The minimum value MIN is supplied from the minimum value detecting portion 4 to the subtracting portion 5, a subtracting portion 6, and a framing portion 15. The subtracting portion 5 subtracts the minimum value MIN from the maximum value MAX and generates a dynamic range DR. The dynamic range DR is supplied from the subtracting portion 5 to a quantizing step width calculating portion 7 and the framing portion 15. The quantizing step width calculating portion 7 calculates a quantizing step width .DELTA. corresponding to the dynamic range DR supplied from the subtracting portion 5. The calculated quantizing step width .DELTA. is supplied to a quantizing portion 8.
Nine pixels of a block of (3.times.3) pixels are supplied from the input terminal 1 to the subtracting portion 6. By subtracting the minimum value MIN from the pixel values of the nine pixels, these pixel values are normalized. The normalized pixel values are supplied to the quantizing portion 8. The quantizing portion 8 quantizes each of the normalized pixel values with the quantizing step width .DELTA. and supplies the resultant values as quantized values q to the framing portion 15. The framing portion 15 frames the dynamic range DR, the minimum value MIN, and the nine quantized values q and outputs the framed signal as an output signal. The output signal is recorded on a recording medium such as a disc or transmitted through a transmission line.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a picture signal decoding apparatus that decodes a digital picture signal that has been encoded by the ADRC encoding apparatus shown in FIG. 1. A signal reproduced from a recording medium or a signal supplied through a transmission line is supplied from an input terminal 30 to a deframing portion 34. The deframing portion 34 deframes the input signal that has been framed for each block into a dynamic range DR, a minimum value MIN, and nine quantized values q. The deframing portion 34 supplies the dynamic range DR and the quantized values q to a decoding portion 41. In addition, the deframing portion 34 supplies the minimum value MIN to an adding portion 42. The decoding portion 41 dequantizes the nine quantized values q corresponding to the dynamic range DR and supplies the dequantized values to the adding portion 42. The adding portion 42 adds the maximum value MAX to the dequantized values and thereby decodes the nine pixel values of the block of (3.times.3) pixels. The nine decoded pixel values are supplied to a time sequence converting portion 43. The time sequence converting portion 43 converts the decoded pixel values of blocks into pixel values of time sequence.
In the conventional ADRC method, pixel values of each block are quantized with a quantizing step width corresponding to a dynamic range so as to compress pixel values. However, important data that is the minimum value MIN and the dynamic range DR that are transmitted along with compressed pixel values is not compressed, but simply transmitted.
However, each pixel value of a digital picture signal is represented by eight bits that have 256 tones. When each pixel value of eight bits is encoded, the important data of the minimum value MIN and the dynamic range DR is represented by 16 bits per block. In other words, each of the minimum value MIN and the dynamic range DR is represented by eight bits. Thus, in this case, since the important data of the minimum value MIN and the dynamic range DR is not compressed, a high picture compression that has been desired cannot be accomplished.

Method and apparatus for picture encoding and decoding


A method of controlling the feeding of the backing material moving through a tufting machine in order to produce tufted articles such as carpets having a woven look or appearance. The backing material is indexed forwardly along its path of travel through the tufting machine by at least the stitch length for each stitch in a stitch cycle of the programmed pattern. At a desired point in the stitch cycle, the backing material can be indexed forwardly by a greater distance approximately equal to the program stitch length and a calculated jump distance to achieve a desired pattern effect.

Patterned, tufted articles, such as carpets, have become increasingly popular in recent years, especially with the advent of computerized and servomotor controls for various aspects of tufting machines, which have significantly expanded the number of pattern effects and styles that now can be produced. The formation of programmed designs or patterns within tufted carpets or rugs generally has been accomplished through (i) control of yarns being fed to various needles of a tufting machine, typically through the use of pattern attachments such as roll or scroll attachments; (ii) by the lateral shifting of one or two needle bars of the tufting machine to locate stitches or tufts at various laterally shifted positions as the backing material is moved underneath the needles; and/or (iii) by shifting the primary backing material laterally, typically in machines using a floating head and a reduced number of needles (i.e., one).
It has also been known to use a combination of one or more of yarn feed control, shifting of a needle(s) and or shifting of the primary backing to form desired pattern effects in the backing. For example, by using yarn feed controls to feed more or less yarn (i.e., back rob the yarns), different color yarns can be placed at laterally displaced locations, with lowered tufts or ends of yarns created by the shifting of needle(s) and back-robbing of the yarns fed to the shifting needles being buried or hidden by other tufts.
While such patterning systems or devices have enabled an increasing array of different styles and/or pattern effects to be formed in carpets, there is still a limit in the type of patterns or "looks" that can be achieved with such patterning devices. In addition, pattern attachments such as roll or scroll attachments further can significantly add to the complexity and cost of a tufting machine, while the burying of yarns requires higher pile heights to cover such buried yarns, thus adding further costs to the finished carpet. Further, tufting machines that utilize the lateral shifting of the primary backing generally have limited production rates or capacities, and typically are used mainly as specialty machines, such as for producing patterned carpets and rugs. In addition, to provide rugs or carpets with a "woven look" as opposed to a "tufted appearance," it typically has been necessary to use specialty machinery, such as weaving looms or other dedicated machinery, which can be more costly and labor intensive operate to produce such woven carpets.
Accordingly, it can be seen that a need exists for a system and method for forming patterned, tufted articles that address the forgoing and other related and unrelated problems in the art.

System and method for control of the backing feed for a tufting machine


A method and apparatus of engaging a probe with a sample surface including automatically reducing the spacing between a probe of a probe based instrument and a sample from an initial separation to one in which the probe is positioned for obtaining a sample surface measurement in less than ten seconds without damaging either the probe or the sample. The method includes oscillating the probe, measuring at least one parameter of probe oscillation and then engaging the probe and the sample by generally continuously controlling the reducing step based on the measuring step to reduce the separation from an initial separation to an engage position. In addition to feeding back directly on the tip-sample interaction, a direct communication line is provided between the processor used to generate control signals that govern the engage and a conventional motion controller. In an alternative, a coarse positioning actuator and a fine positioning actuator in which the control of both is coordinated under feedback to place the probe in the engaged position, and wherein the close approach phase of the algorithm is controlled by a dedicated real time controller.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to metrology instruments employing a probe and, more particularly, relates to a method and apparatus for automatically and rapidly driving a probe of such an instrument into engagement with a sample.
2. Description of Related Art
Several probe-based instruments monitor the interaction between a probe and a sample to obtain information concerning one or more characteristics of the sample. For example, scanning probe microscopes (SPMs) typically characterize the surface of a sample down to atomic dimensions by monitoring the interaction between the sample and a tip on the cantilever probe. By providing relative scanning movement between the probe and the sample, surface characteristic data can be acquired over a particular region of the sample, and a corresponding map of the sample can be generated.
The atomic force microscope (AFM) is a very popular type of SPM. The probe of the typical AFM includes a very small cantilever which is fixed to a support at its base and which has a sharp probe tip attached to the opposite, free end. The probe tip is brought very near to or into contact with a surface of a sample to be examined, and the deflection of the cantilever in response to the probe tip's interaction with the sample is measured with an extremely sensitive deflection detector, often an optical lever system such as described in Hansma et al. U.S. Pat. No. RE 34,489, or some other deflection detector such as strain gauges, capacitance sensors, etc. The probe is scanned over a surface using a high-resolution three axis scanner acting on the sample support and/or the probe. The instrument is thus capable of creating relative motion between the probe and the sample while measuring the topography or some other surface property of the sample as described, e.g., in Hansma et al. U.S. Pat. No. RE 34,489; Elings et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,266,801; and Elings et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,412,980.
AFMs may be designed to operate in a variety of modes, including contact mode and oscillating mode. In contact mode operation, the microscope typically scans the tip across the surface of the sample while keeping the force of the tip on the surface of the sample generally constant. This effect is accomplished by moving either the sample or the probe assembly vertically to the surface of the sample in response to sensed deflection of the cantilever as the probe is scanned horizontally across the surface. In this way, the data associated with this vertical motion can be stored and then used to construct an image of the sample surface corresponding to the sample characteristic being measured, e.g., surface topography. Alternatively, some AFMs can at least selectively operate in an oscillation mode of operation such as TappingMode™. In TappingMode™ the tip is oscillated at or near a resonant frequency of the cantilever of the probe. The amplitude or phase of this oscillation is kept constant during scanning using feedback signals, which are generated in response to tip-sample interaction. As in contact mode, these feedback signals are then collected, stored, and used as data to characterize the sample.
Regardless of their mode of operation, AFMs can obtain resolution down to the atomic level on a wide variety of insulating or conductive surfaces in air, liquid or vacuum by using piezoelectric scanners, optical lever deflection detectors, and very small cantilevers fabricated using photolithographic techniques. Because of their resolution and versatility, AFMs are important measurement devices in many diverse fields ranging from semiconductor manufacturing to biological research.
One potentially problematic characteristic of SPMs (including AFMs) and other probe-based instruments lies in the technique employed to initially cause the probe to approach its "engaged" position. An engaged position is one in which the probe is located sufficiently close to the sample surface to obtain the desired measurement. This position varies with the characteristics of the instrument, the instrument's mode of operation, the sample, and the measurement being taken. The probe may be placed in this position by moving the probe toward the sample, the sample toward the probe, or a combination of both.
Because the probes are fragile, some amount of care is required to successfully engage a probe to the sample'surface. Typically, the operator starts with a large initial separation between the probe and sample to ensure that the probe and sample are not damaged when either needs to be exchanged. This initial separation is often several mm or greater, but may be as small as 25-50 um, depending on the system configuration, skill level and risk tolerance of the operator. From this initial separation, the operator typically manually reduces the probe-sample distance, often with the aid of an optical microscope to visually monitor the separation. The operator will typically position the tip to a secondary separation which is perhaps 20-1000 um from the surface, from which point an automatic engage algorithm is used for the final approach. This manual positioning step is time consuming and can be difficult for some operators. In many cases, depending on the skill of the operator and the configuration of the SPM, the manual positioning step can take several seconds to several minutes. Alternately, some systems use an external metrology device, such as an interferometer. Both systems are inexact and thus must allow for some margin of error, obviously leading to potentially longer engage times to accommodate the error.
From the secondary separation, the operator typically initiates an automatic engage algorithm which operates until the probe is engaged on the sample surface. During the automatic engage process, the system typically monitors one or more SPM feedback properties (for example, cantilever deflection or amplitude) for evidence of probe/sample interaction.
For the case in which the secondary separation is large such as 1000 microns, known automatic engage algorithms take a substantial amount of time to achieve the engaged position. Therefore, some techniques attempt to limit this final automatic engage movement to about 100 microns, and may be as little as 20 microns if sample clearance can be very closely controlled. The manual work required to achieve such secondary distances, however, typically offsets the benefits achieved with automatic engage times. A representative example of this operation is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,343,993 to Binnig, which is entitled "Scanning Tunneling Microscope" and the subject matter of which is disclosed herein by reference.
It is desirable to perform the entire engage process automatically and as quickly as possible. This goal is not easily met, however, because actuator precision and speed are, generally speaking, inversely related. Hence, a highly responsive, relatively low speed actuator is not well suited for rapidly closing the gap during the initial or "fast engage" phase of the engage process course. It also might not have sufficient range. More particularly, lack of range is one key reason for using two actuators. The Z piezo stage is actually capable of higher speeds than the SPM stage, but the SPM stage has about a 15,000 um range, while the Z Piezo Stage only has about a 8-16 um range (some manufacturers offer 50 um range Z Piezo scanners, but this is still too small). On the other hand, a less dynamically responsive, relatively high speed actuator that is capable of closing the probe/sample gap rapidly might not have sufficient smoothness/precision of motion to prevent the probe from slamming into the sample and damaging the probe and/or sample. For instance, if the Z-axis actuator diminishes probe/sample separation in insufficiently small increments, the approach may not be stopped before probe and/or sample are damaged by excessive interaction.
A proposed solution to this problem is disclosed U.S. Pat. No. 5,614,712, which is assigned to David J. Ray. The Ray patent introduces automatic coarse and fine position controls to a two-stage Z actuator. Referring to FIG. 1, the actuator 2 includes both a coarse positioning actuator 4, such as a stepper motor, and a fine positioning actuator 6, such as a piezoelectric actuator. The fine positioning actuator 6 is mounted on the coarse positioning actuator 4, and a probe 8 is mounted on the fine positioning actuator 6. Referring to FIG. 2, once tip-sample separation is blindly reduced a selected amount from a large distance (about 1000 microns) to a safe separation (about 100 microns, for example), the fine positioning actuator 6 is first extended to diminish the spacing between the probe 8 and the sample S while checking for probe/surface interaction indicative of engagement (compare position B to position A). If the fine positioning actuator extends through its full range without detecting the sample surface, it is retracted, as seen by comparing positions C and D with position B. The coarse positioning actuator 4 is then extended, typically incrementally, as seen in position A′, and the fine positioning actuator 6 is again extended while checking for probe/surface interaction indicative of engagement, as understood by those skilled in the AFM art. This "sewing" process is repeated as required until the fine positioning actuator drives the probe 8 into its engaged position as seen in position B′.
Engagement is thus constrained to occur during motion of the fine positioning actuator 6. This process is effective and automatic, but is relatively time consuming, often taking one minute or more to complete due in part to the fact that it requires extension and retraction of the fine positioning actuator with each incremental movement of the coarse positioning actuator. These slow engage speeds are tedious for all applications and unacceptable in applications in which a large number of measurements must be obtained as rapidly as possible. For instance, in many industrial applications employing step-and-repeat operations (semiconductor analysis, etc.), waiting for the probe to repeatedly re-engage can cut throughput in half or more.
Another two-stage actuator is disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 10311841 to IBM. The two-stage actuator disclosed in the Japanese IBM patent also has a coarse positioning actuator and a fine positioning actuator. However, unlike with the system disclosed in the Ray patent, transition between first and second stages is justified based on the difference in speeds of response rather than on the accuracy of positioning of the two stages. Hence, the engagement is constrained to occur during motion of a stage that has a relatively high-speed response but a limited range. As such, there is a greater risk that the tip and/or sample becomes damaged during the engage operation.
In all these systems the user is moving blindly through a selected distance in a continuous coarse positioning step. As a result, a system able to sense actual tip-sample separation would be ideal insofar as the continuous step could be used to move the initial tip-sample separation to a closer, yet still safe, separation.
In this regard, another limitation with known systems is that conventional SPM control architecture most often uses the host software to control the engage process. The host exists within the framework of the PC's operating system and therefore can be highly non-deterministic. Generally, during the engage process, the host alternates between sending commands to the SPM motion controller and the digital signal processor of the SPM over a PCI bus. Due to PCI bus latencies, it is not possible for the host to exercise real time control over the engage process, and therefore many of the actions have to be performed serially with added delays to accommodate these latencies. Possibly more importantly, prior to engage, known systems require the user to focus the corresponding optics of the SPM on the back of the probe, move the optics objective lens down by the desired probe-sample separation distance (e.g., 1000 microns), and then focus on the sample. In this case, notwithstanding the time required for each step, if either of these focal positions is off by more than more than a few tens of microns, the probe may be damaged.
Finally, as noted above, it is important to note that it is possible for the user to manually reduce the initial tip-sample separation to a secondary distance of less than 20 microns, and possibly even less than 10 microns, prior to performing the automatic portion of the engage process using, for example, one of the above-described methods. Such manual reduction may be performed once the probe is mounted in the AFM head, for example, by viewing the probe and sample as the two are brought into close range. From such safe distances, automatic engage times can be greatly reduced as compared to conventional methods. However, the relevant time in this case is the entire time required to bring the probe from the initial separation to the engaged position. In this case, it includes both the manual positioning step and the automatic engage time. For high throughput applications, the time and user intervention required to perform such a manual operation is prohibitive.
The need has therefore arisen to provide a feedback-controlled probe/surface engage of a probe-based instrument that is nondestructive to both the probe and the sample, automatic, and rapid, with generally no manual adjustment of the tip-sample separation (e.g., to a "safe" distance), to allow users to realize significant improvement in overall throughput. More specifically, a need exists to decrease AFM engage time from initial tip-sample separations (for example, exceeding 20 microns and preferably distances at or greater than 1 mm) from the current 15 to 25 seconds to less than three seconds while preserving probe/sample integrity, especially for sub-50 nm probes including critical dimension (CD) and focused ion beam (FIB) probes.

Method and apparatus for rapid automatic engagement of a probe


A lock-up device is a device disposed in a space produced between a front cover and a turbine in a torque converter so as to mechanically connect the front cover and the turbine, and includes a clutch part and a release part. The clutch part is disposed in a power transmission path from the front cover to the turbine, and is configured to be in a clutch-on state of transmitting a power from the front cover to the turbine in a set posture. The release part is configured to be actuated by means of a hydraulic pressure, turn the clutch part of the clutch-on state into a clutch-off state, and block transmission of the power from the front cover to the turbine.

In many cases, a torque converter is provided with a lock-up device for directly transmitting torque from a front cover to a turbine. As described in PTL 1 and so forth, the lock-up device includes: a piston that can be frictionally coupled to the front cover; a drive plate fixed to the piston; a plurality of torsion springs supported by the drive plate; and an output plate elastically coupled to the piston through the plural torsion springs in a rotational direction. The output plate is fixed to the turbine.
The piston axially divides the space between the front cover and the turbine, and is axially movable by difference in hydraulic pressure between the axially divided spaces. Further, when a lock-up clutch is turned on (power is transmitted), the hydraulic pressure is controlled such that the hydraulic pressure on the turbine side of the piston can be greater than that on the front-cover side of the piston. Accordingly, the piston is moved towards the front cover, and a friction facing mounted to the outer peripheral part of the piston is pressed onto the friction surface of the front cover. Therefore, the torque from the engine is directly transmitted from the front cover to a turbine-side member.


A ceramic layer system including at least two layers having respective ion conductivities which are substantially different includes a substrate layer composed of a ceramic material and having substantially no ion conductivity; and at least one conducting layer positioned adjacent to the substrate layer, containing coated ceramic particles composed of ceramic particles composed of a ceramic material having no substantial ion conductivity which are coated with a material having a substantial ion conductivity so that each conducting layer of the at least one conducting layer has a continuous phase after sintering composed of the material which has a substantial ion conductivity and so that the at least one conducting layer has an ion conductivity effective to conduct ions. A method of producing a gas sensor for detecting small quantities of at least one gas in gas mixtures includes providing a substrate layer composed of ceramic particles composed of a material having substantially no ion conductivity; applying a layer composed of coated ceramic particles onto the substrate layer, the coated ceramic particles being composed of ceramic particles composed of a material that has no substantial ion conductivity coated with a material which has a substantial ion conductivity at the operating temperature of the gas sensor; applying at least one functional layer onto the layer composed of coated ceramic particles to provide a green body; preheating the green body to remove binding agents, plastifying agents, and any additional organic constituents; and sintering the green body after preheating by heating to a temperature effective to sinter the green body so that the layer comprised of coated ceramic particles has a continuous phase comprised of the material which has a substantial ion conductivity.

The invention relates to ceramic layer systems having at least two adjacent layers whose conductivities are markedly different. Within the scope of this invention, conductivity is to be understood as the property of a material that permits conduction processes under certain conditions. An example of this type of ceramic layer system is included in a specific embodiment of gas sensors, which will be described in detail below, for detecting gases present in small quantities in a surplus of other gases, for example oxygen, carbon monoxide, hydrogen and/or other combustible components in exhaust gases of internal combustion engines. In this case, the conductivities are related to oxygen ion conduction at higher temperatures. The gas sensors being used more frequently in the field are those whose essential elements include a first electrode that is exposed to the gas mixture, a second electrode that is also in contact with the gas mixture by way of a diffusion barrier, and a reference electrode. All of the electrodes are in contact with a material that is ion-conductive at higher temperatures, and are connected to each other in a conductive manner. Zircon dioxide has performed particularly well as an ion-conductive material. Built-in heating elements assure the temperatures at which ion conduction takes place, typically 450 to 800.degree. C. These temperatures are referred to hereinafter as the operating temperature of the gas sensor. The measured signals received by the electrodes indicate the concentrations of the gases to be detected, or changes thereto, and permit control of the operating state of the engine.
The cited components of the gas sensors are mechanically sensitive, and are therefore disposed on a comparatively thick ceramic substrate layer, or embedded into such a substrate layer. The ceramic substrate layer can also be made of zircon dioxide. The advantage of this is that the ceramic substrate layer, which is generally produced from a ceramic substrate film, and the ion-conducting layer, which is generally printed onto the substrate, can be fixedly connected to one another during co-sintering, a stage of the production process, without a phase shift. In the event of temperature changes, therefore, no voltages occur that can have a negative impact on the integrity of the gas sensor. A disadvantage, however, is that the heating elements must be insulated against the ion-conductive ceramic substrate, which can require up to four additional work cycles. A further disadvantage lies in the relatively high cost of zircon dioxide, so the mechanical stability of the sensor is disproportionately high.
The two above-listed disadvantages are avoided if the ceramic substrate comprises a less expensive material that is non-ion-conductive (or practically non-ion-conductive) and therefore does not need to be insulated against the heating elements. Gas sensors of this type contain a ceramic layer system having two adjacent layers of different composition and whose conductivities for oxygen ions vary considerably. The substrate layer is non-ion-conductive (or practically non-ion-conductive), whereas the ion conductivity of the adjacent zircon dioxide layer is higher by several orders of magnitude at the operating temperatures. However, gas sensors that include the materials under practical consideration for the substrate layer have demonstrated that they cannot be sufficiently thermally stressed. In particular, it has been found that first microcracks, then visible, larger cracks form particularly during heating to operating temperatures which, of course, must take place quickly; these cracks soon lead to breakdowns of the gas sensor.

Ceramic layer systems, particularly for gas sensors


An absorbent lid or cover for a hermetic enclosure comprises a coating applied via sputtering to at least a portion of at least one surface of the lid and consisting of at least one elemental metal selected from the group consisting of silicon, germanium and titanium. Adsorbent inserts for such enclosures that are either sputter-coated or sputter-shaped with the aforementioned elemental metals are also disclosed, as are methods for making such covers, inserts and enclosures.

In the production of hermetic enclosures, such as packages for semiconductor devices, a housing or base member containing a semiconductor die or chip is typically sealed with a lid which is usually attached to the base by means of a peripheral charge of solder, and the package is sealed by assembling the lid adjacent to the base and by subjecting this assemblage to heat in order to melt the solder. For many applications a pre-formed peripheral charge of solder (known as a solder "preform") is pre-attached to the cover during the manufacturing process, so that the lid and solder are provided together, as a combined unit. Such combined hermetic sealing covers for a package for a semiconductor device, a method for their fabrication and a method for fabricating a sealed package with them, are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,874,549, 3,946,190 and 3,823,468.
Typically, the cover or lid comprises a substrate that is made of plastic or of metal (e.g., iron-nickel or iron-nickel-cobalt alloys such as KOVAR (KOVAR is a registered trademark of CRS Holding, Inc.)), which is sometimes coated with a thin layer of either nickel or gold or with alternating layers of nickel and gold. One conventional technique for applying these coatings to metallic covers is electroplating, and plated metallic covers as well as methods of fabricating and plating such covers are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,243,729, 4,284,481, 4,601,958 and 4,666,796.
For some applications the body of the lid either is constructed entirely of glass, or it is constructed of plastic or metal but with a central opening adapted to accept a glass insert, in either case thereby allowing electromagnetic radiation such as light to reach the electronic device even after the package is sealed. Many of the physical characteristics of the cover, such as the size, shape, composition, configuration and thickness of the lid itself, as well as the composition and thickness of the coating layers (if any), and the size, shape, composition and thickness of the glass insert (if any), are typically specified within narrow tolerances by the manufacturer of the electronic device that is intended to be housed within the package.
During the process of sealing a semiconductor package, residual atmospheric gases can sometimes remain inside the package, due to incomplete evacuation. Also, after the package is sealed and the electronic device within the assembled package is placed into use, the normal operation of the electronic device often generates harmful gases and/or moisture which also become trapped inside the package. Although the prior art has attempted to deal with the problem of excess moisture trapped within the package, by suggesting the inclusion of powder or granular dessicant materials within the package, or by teaching the formation of gels or pastes comprising dispersions of such dessicant materials and the subsequent application thereof to the interior of the package, the prior art has not addressed the reduction or elimination of common but deleterious atmospheric gases, such as oxygen, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and ammonia, as well as nitrates and sulfates, from the interior or cavity of the package.
It is generally well known that certain elemental metals, specifically, silicon, germanium and titanium, can provide strong adsorption sites for water, water vapor and common atmospheric gases. However, in general, highly pure layers of these materials cannot be electroplated onto the outer surface of a typical coated hermetic sealing cover for a semiconductor package. Moreover, these three elemental metals differ somewhat from one another in the nature and extent of their chemical and physical adsorption properties, and they also differ from one another with respect to the layer thickness and grain size at which their adsorbent properties can be optimized. However, none of the techniques (e.g., stencil printing) suggested by the prior art for applying a moisture-adsorbent material to the interior of a semiconductor package allows sufficient control over either the thickness or the grain size of the material being applied to enable the effective use of any of these more efficient, adsorbent elemental metals in a semiconductor package.
It is therefore the principal object of this invention to provide a sealing cover or an insert for a semiconductor package, methods for making such a cover and/or insert and methods for making such a package, in which a material that is capable of adsorbing both moisture and other common atmospheric gases is selectively coated on the sealed side of the cover or on the insert utilizing a technique which allows precise control of the thickness and grain size of the adsorbent material being applied, and thus allowing those parameters to be adjusted depending upon the specific nature of the adsorbent material being used and the other requirements of the manufacturer of the electronic device.