Known hand-held mobile radiotelephones and cordless telephones have the dimensions of a handset, and their antennas radiate near the user's head; such may be improved by providing a hand-held radiotelephone which is of a compact design and fully user-controllable and exposes the user to only little RF radiation. A hand-held radiotelephone (HH1) is provided whose earpiece (R) and/or microphone (M) are spatially separated from the other components of the radiotelephone. It is also possible to provide an infrared link between the earpiece and/or microphone and the housing of the radiotelephone in order to further increase the user's freedom of movement. During operation of the hand-held radiotelephone, the keyboard and display are fully accessible.

A hand-held radiotelephone is known from EP 04 64 011 A1. A hands-free module is connected to this hand-held radiotelephone by a connector. The hands-free module comprises an earpiece ("external phone unit") and an external microphone which are connected to the audio stage of the transceiver in addition to the internal loudspeaker and internal microphone, respectively. Accordingly, the hands-free module is designed as an add-on unit for the hand-held radiotelephone. The additional volume occupied by the hands-free module makes the telephone unwieldy, particularly during transport.
Another hand-held radiotelephone is disclosed in DE 34 01 518 C2. This radiotelephone can be folded into a more compact shape. In the unfolded condition, it is adapted to the shape of the human head. The antenna is incorporated in the housing of the hand-held radiotelephone, and during operation, it is in close proximity to the user's head. It extends from the area of the ear to the area of the mouth, so that the corresponding parts of the head are located directly in the radiation field of the antenna. The effects of the RF radiation on the health of the human organism are currently under intensive investigation and discussion (see article by W. Mansfeld, "Hochfrequente Strahlung und ihr Gefahrdungspotential" in "Nachrichtentechnik, Elektronik", No. 42, 1992, Berlin). Although definite results are not yet known, preventive solutions to the problem of reducing such exposure are being sought.
DE 38 36 406 C2 discloses a handset-shaped radio control unit which is integrated with a telescopic housing and is thus very compact during transport. For operation, the housing is changed into a handset-shaped structure adapted to the shape of the user's head. The transmitting/receiving antenna is in close proximity to the upper part of the user's head.
Prior art hand-held radiotelephones, such as hand-held mobile phones, or cordless telephones are designed to assume at least the size of a conventional handset during operation, with the antenna being in close proximity to the user's head.

Hand-held radiotelephone having two-part construction


A heat exchange system can include a heat exchange unit and a magnetic element. The heat exchange unit can have a housing and a heat exchange surface configured to thermally couple to a subject of heat exchange. The housing can define an outer surface spaced apart from the heat exchange surface. A magnetic element, a ferrous element, or both, can be positioned within the housing. A coupling agent can have a complementary magnetic element, ferrous element, or both. The coupling agent can interact with the magnetic element, the ferrous element, or both, positioned within the housing. The coupling agent can be coupled to a substrate to retain the heat exchange unit relative to the substrate.

The innovations and related subject matter disclosed herein (collectively referred to as the "disclosure") generally pertain to fluid heat exchange systems. Some systems are described in relation to electronics cooling applications by way of example, though the disclosed innovations may be used in a variety of other applications. More particularly, the innovations and related subject matter relate to mechanical retention systems for retaining a heat exchange component adjacent to a heat-exchange surface of a subject of heat exchange.
Heat sinks, including fluid heat exchangers, are used to cool electronic and other heat dissipating devices by accepting thermal energy (heat) from such a device and dissipating the heat to another medium, as by passing the heat to fluid flowing through or over the heat sink. Some heat exchangers are configured to transfer heat to a device (e.g., an endo-thermic reaction chamber). Mechanical retainers disclosed herein can be used in connection with either type of heat exchanger.
Despite the existence of many previously proposed heat sinks and fluid heat exchange systems, a need exists for heat exchange systems configured to provide improved thermal performance. As well, a need exists for systems configured for existing and developing small form factors. For example, a need for exists for compact, low-profile heat exchange assemblies (e.g., integrated heat sink and pump assemblies) having a vertical component height of about 27 mm, such as between about 24 mm to about 27.5 mm, or less. Hereinafter, such heat sinks and heat exchange components will, for convenience, be referred to as an "HX unit"
A number of improvements have been recently made in the field, as disclosed, for example, in US patent applications, 61/522,247, filed on Aug. 19, 2011, 60/954,987, filed on Aug. 9, 2007, Ser. No. 12/189,476, filed on Aug. 11, 2008, 61/512,379, filed on Aug. 12, 2011, Ser. No. 13/401,618, filed on Feb. 21, 2012, and Ser. No. 13/559,340 filed on Jul. 26, 2012, which applications are hereby incorporated by reference in their respective entireties, for all purposes.
As illustrated in FIG. 8, for example, known heat exchange systems 300 typically are configured with retention elements 302, such as integrated flanges that flare off the body of the system. The flanges have holes through which a fastener is placed to mount a housing to a surface holding the subject to be cooled (or heated). The retention elements 302 are arranged to match or otherwise correspond to the arrangement of mounting points on the surface. Taking as a non-limiting example the case of a CPU that is to be cooled, the CPU will be mounted on a motherboard or other such circuit board. The fastening points for the HX unit will be predetermined and specified by the manufacturer of the board or another party. Because a great variety of CPUs and their boards exist, the manufacturers of HX units usually must design their HX units to have retention elements that match (or correspond to) the mounting patterns on the mounting surfaces. Disadvantageously, this increases tooling costs for HX units and creates assembly inefficiencies.
Although some prior art HX units have been retained in an operable position by a separable retention element, known separable retention elements have been cumbersome to install. For example, an installer typically has needed to hold the HX unit and the separable retention element in position while engaging a plurality of fasteners (each of which usually requires the use of a tool to engage the fastener).
Accordingly, a need exists for a mounting system that allows a given HX unit design to be retained to each of a plurality of patterns of mounting points, or having differing mounting systems of the same pattern, e.g., varying screw diameters, snap-fit connectors instead of screw receptacles, etc.

Mounting system for fluid heat exchange systems


A positive variable resistive yarn having a core, a sheath, and an insulator. The sheath includes distinct electrical conductors intermixed within a thermal expansive low conductive matrix. As the temperature of the yarn increases, the resistance of the sheath increases.

The present invention relates generally to electrically conductive yarns, and in particular, to electrically conductive yarns providing a resistance that is variable with temperature.
Electrically conductive elements have been used as heating elements in textiles such as knit or woven fabrics. The electrically conductive elements are incorporated into the textile, and electricity is passed though the electrically conductive elements. Therefore, there is a need for electrically conductive elements, such as yarns for use in items such as textiles.

Temperature dependent electrically resistive yarn


Method of manufacturing containers for dispensing solutions, includes the steps of: (a) extruding a parison from a die while injecting supporting air into the parison, and sealing a forward part of the extruded parison; (b) forming a middle portion of the parison constituting a barrel portion of a container to be produced, during extrusion of the parison, so as to have a wall thickness thinner than the forward part of the parison; (c) injecting air into the parison, after being inserted into a mold with a vacuum mechanism, to blow it out while keeping a pressure in the interior of the mold to a value lower than an internal pressure of the parison, and cutting off the parison from the die to form a container, (d) inserting a mandrel into the molded container through a cut opening of the container after transferring the mold retaining the molded container to a solution-charging station and charging a medical solution into the molded container; and (e) pulling the mandrel out of the container after charging a medical solution into the molded container, and sealing the opening of the solution-charged container.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing containers for dispensing solutions and, more particularly, to a method of manufacturing transfusion containers by blow molding, without causing contamination of a charged medical solution with impurities.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Heretofore various methods have been used for manufacturing containers for dispensing solutions, such as transfusion containers. A primitive method comprises the steps of sealing two sheets of thermoplastics with heat along three sides thereof to form a container and providing an opening of the remaining sides of the resultant container with a mouth member for sealing the produced container. Another method comprises the steps of sealing one open end of a tubular member of thermoplastics with heat and then providing the other open end thereof with a mouth member for sealing the produced container. Another method is a blow molding technique in which a container is directly produced from thermoplastic resins. Among them, the blow molding is now widely used as it has an advantage such that a produced container can be filled with a medical solution and then sealed with the attachment of a mouth member during manufacture of containers for dispensing solutions.
However, the blow molding of the prior art requires use of a complex device since both the blowing and charging steps must be carried out with a blowing mandrel provided with a charging nozzle. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 9, the blow molding equipment of the prior art comprises a blowing mandrel 600 and a reciprocating charging core 603 coaxially arranged therein and movably supported by packing 604. The charging core 603 is closed by a valve 601 with a sealing packing 602 during formation of a container but opened when injecting vapor, washing liquid or air into a produced container.
Such a structure makes the molding equipment complex in structure and increases the diameter of a mandrel, which in turn causes a limit on the head shape of containers to be produced and makes it difficult to perform fine control of the molding conditions. Also, it takes a long time for maintenance of the device. In addition, there is a fear of contamination of charged medical solutions with dusts resulting from wear or degradation of the packing since the reciprocating charging core has to be held in the mandrel and sealed by the packing 604 to avoid leakage of vapor, washing liquid or air into the core.
In addition, in the blow molding of the prior art the inflation has been carried out by cutting the parison after inserting it into the mold, the parison may come into contact with the inside of the mold, which causes whitening of the surface of the produced container.


Compounds of the following formula (I) wherein R1 R2, n, Ar1 and A2 are as defined in the specification, in vivo-hydrolysable precursors thereof, pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof, the use in therapy and pharmaceutical compositions and methods of treatment using the same. The example compounds are 1-(2-(naphthylmethoxy)-1-phenylethyl)piperazine derivatives. The compounds are neurokinin 1 (NK1) receptor antagonist and/or serotonin reuptake inhibitors, with medical indications for depression and other disorders

The mammalian neurokinins are peptide neurotransmitters found in the peripheral and central nervous systems. The three principal neurokinins are Substance P (SP), Neurokinin A (NKA) and Neurokinin B (NKB). N-terminally extended forms of at least NKA are known. Three receptor types are known for the principal neurokinins. Based upon their relative selectivities for the neurokinins SP, NKA and NKB, the receptors are classified as neurokinin 1 (NK1), neurokinin 2 (NK2) and neurokinin 3 (NK3) receptors, respectively. In the periphery, SP and NKA are localized in C-afferent sensory neurons, which neurons are characterized by non-myelinated nerve endings known as C-fibers, and are released by selective depolarization of these neurons, or selective stimulation of the C-fibers. C-Fibers are located in the airway epithelium, and the tachykinins are known to cause profound effects which clearly parallel many of the symptoms observed in asthmatics. The effects of release or introduction of tachykinins in mammalian airways include bronchoconstriction, increased microvascular permeability, vasodilation, increased mucus secretion and activation of mast cells. Neurokinin antagonists that interact with NK1, NK2 and NK3 receptors, having different chemical structures have been described. Particularly international publications WO 98/07722, WO 96/39383 and WO 98/25617, and regional publications EP 428434, EP 474561, EP 515240 and EP 559538 disclose the preparation of a variety of chemical structures.
NK1activity is also implicated in depression and anxiety, mice with genetically altered NK1 receptors have decreased anxiety related behavior (Santarelli, L., et. al., Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. (2001), 98, 1912) and NK1 antagonists have been reported to be effective in an animal model of depression (Papp, M., et. al., Behav. Brain Res. (2000), 115, 19).
Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) are widely used for the treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD) and are considered well-tolerated and easily administered. SSRIs, however, have a delayed onset of action, are associated with undesirable side effects, such sexual dysfunction, and are ineffective in perhaps 30% of patients (M. J. Gitlin, M J, J. Clin. Psych., 55, 406-413, 1994).
Compounds with dual action as NK1 antagonists and serotonin reuptake inhibitors may also provide a new class of antidepressants. Indeed, compounds combining NK1 antagonism and serotonin reuptake inhibition have been described (Ryckmans, T., et. al, Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett. (2002), 12, 261).

2-(arylalkoxy)-1-phenylethylamine derivatives as NK


A transmitter and receiver of a broadcasting signal and a method of processing the broadcasting signal are provided. The transmitter includes: a segmenter configured to segment an L1 signaling of a frame into a plurality of segmented L1 signalings such that each of the segmented L1 signalings has bits a number of which is equal to or smaller than a predetermined number; and an encoder configured to perform a Bose, Chaudhuri, Hocquenghem (BCH) and a low density parity check (LDPC) encoding, or the LDPC encoding without the BCH encoding, with respect to the segmented L1 signalings.

1. Field
Apparatuses and methods consistent with exemplary embodiments of the inventive concept relate to a transmitter, a receiver, and a signal processing method thereof, which can process L1 signaling.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the 21st century information society, broadcasting communication services are characterized by digitalization, multi-channel, broadband, and high quality. Recently, as a high-quality digital television (TV), a portable media player (PMP), and a portable broadcasting device have been widely used, there is an increasing demand to support various methods for receiving digital broadcasting services.
In compliance with such a demand, the standards group has established various standards and specifications, such as the digital video broadcasting the second generation European terrestrial (DVB-T2), to satisfy user needs. However, there is still a need for better transmission and reception performances for broadcasting services.

Transmitter, receiver, and signal processing method thereof


A substrate for a display includes a substrate section on which a flexible substrate and a driver are mounted, a flexible substrate side terminal area, disposed in a mounting area on the substrate section for the flexible substrate, to which a signal is inputted from the flexible substrate, a driver side terminal area, disposed in a mounting area on the substrate section for the driver, through which at least a part of the signal is inputted and outputted to the driver, a wire, disposed to extend from the mounting area on the substrate section for the flexible substrate to the mounting area for the driver and connected to the flexible substrate side terminal area and the driver side terminal area, through which the signal is transmitted, and a shield section, disposed to overlap the wire via an insulating film on the substrate section, that is kept at a constant potential.

Conventionally, a known example of a circuit board constituting a display device has been described in PTL listed below. The circuit board described in PTL 1 includes pads arranged in a plurality of columns. The pads include a first column of pads to which long metal wires extend and a second column of pads to which metal wires that are shorter than the first metal wires, which extend to the first column of pads, extend. The first metal wires are provided not in a region between adjacent second columns of pads but in a region at a lower layer than the second column of pads via at least a first insulating layer between the first metal wires and the second column of pads. Assuming that W1 is the line width of a first metal wire in a region at a lower layer than a second column of pads and W2 is the width of a second column of pads, 0.8≤W1/W2 S≤1.

Substrate for display device and display device


Inherently tacky polymerized copolymer particles are formed by emulsion polymerization for use as an PSA for marking films. The adhesives are the reaction product formed by emulsion polymerization of a first monomer mixture comprising at least one alkyl acrylate containing from 4 to about 12 carbon atoms in the alkyl group, at least one hard monomer, and at least one unsaturated carboxylic acid containing from 3 to about 5 carbon atoms and present in a total amount of from about 3 to about 6% by weight of the first monomers which there is added by the reaction product of a second monomer system comprising at least one alkyl acrylate containing from 4 to about 12 carbon atoms in at least one unsaturated carboxylic acid monomer present containing from 3 to about 5 carbon atoms in present in a total amount from about 7 to about 10% by weight of the monomers, said second copolymer being substantially free of other hard monomers in which said first copolymer is present in an amount at least 50% by weight of the total copolymers and has a glass transition temperature from 0 to about -25.degree. C. The second copolymer has a glass transition temperature of from about -25.degree. C. The copolymers are preferentially formed by sequential polymerization.

Marking films are recognized in the art as laminates of a self-supporting polymeric film facestock or backing such as polyvinyl chloride (PCV) and a layer of a pressure sensitive adhesive (PSA) for application to substrates, especially vertically oriented substrates. The exposed surface of the PSA of the laminate is in contact with a release liner or the surface of the facestock which is provided with a release coating. Marking films are manufactured in the form of large rolls of the laminate then cut to size depending on the application. Applications may range from automotive pinstripping to large printed signs or individual indicia in the form of or containing letters, numbers, logos and the like.
There are many requirements for a laminate to be used for a marking film. A very important requirement is durability of the laminate of the polymeric film and adhesive for a period of months or years. The laminate of the polymeric film facestock and adhesive must remain functional for an expected period of time and after that period of time, the laminate must have retained the ability to be cleanly removed from the substrate without leaving an adhesive residue. Removal typically occurs with destruction of the facestock namely, where the facestock is no longer reusable. Accordingly, the adhesives are typically regarded more as "permanent" than as "removable".
Polyvinyl chloride films that have been used for marking the film application have varied in durability depending on service life. Short life vinyl films are used for promotional sign applications where an expected service life is six months to one year and if plasticized, the vinyl is typically film plasticized with a monomeric plasticizer. Cost is kept low by elimination of any primer or anchor and barrier layers. Medium and long life films are typically expected to have an useful life of up to about ten years and normally contain UV and heat stabilizing components and polymeric plasticizers. A primer may be employed to enhance anchorage of the pressure-sensitive adhesive to the film and a barrier layer may be employed to inhibit migration of plasticizer from the body of the film into the adhesive. The medium life films are generally calendered and have an expected service life of five years. Long life films are cast and have an expected service life of ten or more years. Vinyl films typically have a thickness of from about 1 to 5 mils, typically 2 to 3 mils.
The PSAs typically used for marking films have been solvent based adhesives. PSAs are typically regarded as "permanent" in the sense that an attempt is made to remove a laminate having a paper facestock from the substrate, tear of the facestock would occur. When used on a vinyl or other polymeric substrates, attempts at removal result in deformation of the facestock to the extent that it may not be reused. The preferred adhesives desirably have some degree of initial repositionability, when the laminate is first applied to the substrate. Repositionability of the laminate without deformation of the facestock ends as adhesion grows with time in consequence of molecular flow to conform to the substrate. Typically the bond to a substrate will increase as much as 100% from an initial peel strength of about 500 N/M after 10 to 15 minutes dwell on the substrate to about 600 to 700 N/M within 24 hours. The requirement that the adhesive provide sufficient bond such that the facestock is not reusable is an important characteristic to inhibit vandalism of applied signs and other indicia in the form of advertisements, labels, and the like.
Other properties must also be present. The PSA must have sufficient shear strength to resist flow under the load of a thick polymeric facestock, it must yield to shrinkage of the facestock without exposing the adhesive, and it must be resistant to adhesive shrinkage so as to avoid wrinkling of the facestock. For outdoor applications, the PSA must be water-resistant with minimal to no significant loss of adhesion. Examples of typical outdoor applications include where the PSA is provided as a marking film label on a container exposed to sea water under transoceanic shipping conditions or as a sign on public or private transportation in climates of high humidity or rainfall. Where the PSA is bonded to a transparent substrate such as glass, it is desirable that the PSA be clear or transparent and resist the whitening action of water.
Another PSA property important to the marking films applications of signs and labels to truck sidings and the like is its compatibility with the practice of spray-washing of the substrate with a surfactant solution, laying the laminate on the clean, wet substrate, and after positioning, squeegeing out the excess water. This presents the problem of water whitening, the resistance to which, as indicated, is important especially where the substrate is transparent. If water whitening occurs it must dissipate in a matter of a few hours.
In consequence of the significant requirements placed on these adhesives, particularly that of resistance to water, the adhesives currently used for marking film applications have been organic solvent-based. Organic solvents are known to be noxious to the senses and may be hazardous. In addition, they present environmental problems, all of which are avoided if the PSA is water-based, such as emulsion-based PSAs. PSAs are, however, notoriously water-sensitive and whiten in some instances by mere application of a drop of water. While some such as a 2-ethylhexyl acrylate-butyl acrylate-vinyl acetate emulsion copolymer, have been employed for general purpose short life marking film applications, there has not yet been proposed functional adhesives for medium and longer term marking film service applications. The present invention is, therefore, directed to water-resistant, i.e., resistant to water-whitening and water deterioration, PSAs where the carrier is water, and which, when employed in marking film label applications, will cleanly remove from the substrate even after many years of exposure to the elements.

Pressure-sensitive adhesives for marking films


Assemblies involving integrated circuit dies (e.g. packaged integrated circuits) and packaged dies electrically connected to circuit boards at times mechanically fail at conducting pads used for electrical interconnection. Such failure is mitigated by underlying appropriate pads with a compliant region having specific characteristics.

For integrated circuits i.e., circuits having multiple active elements formed on a silicon substrate, the formation of the circuits on the silicon substrate is only part of the fabrication procedure. The silicon substrate with its subsequent layers added during device formation generally has outermost surface regions—pads—of high electrical conductivity, i.e. conductivity greater than 0.02 (μohm-cm)−1 employed for electrical communication with the integrated circuit. Electrical connection to these pads and the protection of the silicon substrate with its added layers i.e. in totality, the die, is denominated in the trade as packaging.
A variety of methods have been used to connect the die to electronic circuitry external to the die such as by forming an interface between a die package and an external substrate or forming an interface directly to a circuit board e.g. printed circuit board. The two most commonly used interfaces from die to external substrate or circuit board are wirebonding and flip chip solder bumps. Wirebonding uses a wire, e.g. a gold wire, connection between the die pad and the external substrate pad or circuit board pad. Flip chip solder bumps connect the die pad to the external substrate pad or the circuit board pad via solder e.g. metal alloys such as Sn—Pb, Sn—Ag—Cu or Sn—Ag. These conducting masses are typically spherical in shape and are generally denominated solder bumps. (Although the connecting entities are termed solder bumps, the material of these bumps need not be solder but are formed from material that is electrically conducting. Similarly the shape of the entities need not be spherical, even though solder bumps are generally spherical in nature, more precisely truncated spheroids, since such shape is thermodynamically preferred. Other materials have other preferred stable states. For example, copper is more readily manufacturable in a cylindrical shape.) The connecting bumps, in the context of this disclosure generically referred to as solder bumps, are employed to produce an electrical pathway to other entities.
In a common approach, the desired electrical connection is produced by physically abutting the solder bumps of the integrated circuit die with a corresponding array of electrically conducting bodies (also referred to for purpose of this disclosure as pads) formed on a body external to the die e.g. an external substrate and/or a rigid or flexible circuit board. Generally, the array on the integrated circuit die and the mating array on the external body are formed in a geometric grid pattern. However, the geometry of the array is not critical and any configuration is considered for purposes of this disclosure as an array. Additionally, although the conducting array of the external substrate generally has a mating conducting region corresponding to each bump of the die such one to one correspondence is not required. The correspondence is chosen to effectuate the electrical connections necessary to produce the desired electrical circuit. The array of bumps formed from solder is mated with the pad array of the external body. This interconnection provides both an adequate mechanical and electrical connection. A typical assembly sequence for connecting a solder bumped die to a rigid or flexible substrate includes: 1) abutting the solder bumps with the substrate using flux as an intermediary, and 2) heating the assembly above the liquidus temperature of the solder. For example, heating is accomplished by employing temperatures in the range 217 to 260 degrees C., for commonly used lead-free solders typically containing Sn, Cu, and Ag and 183 to 225 degrees C. for eutectic Pb—Sn solders. Accordingly, a metallurgical joint is created between the solder and the die pads as well as between the solder and the external body pads. For improved mechanical and environmental stability, the joint is typically reinforced with a polymeric material (denominated an underfill) between the die and the substrate.
Nevertheless, despite these precautions, significant mechanical forces that cause deformation of the assembly are possible. Such forces are a consequence of the variety of materials constituting the assembly components and their corresponding differing thermo-mechanical properties, e.g. modulus and coefficient of thermal expansion. Additionally, differences in die size, substrate size, bump dimensions, material thicknesses only augment the difficulty in avoiding assembly deformation. (Although it is possible that there is no difference between the die and the external substrate in either stiffness and/or coefficient of thermal expansion, such circumstances are coincidental and quite unusual.) Further, even if the mechanical forces of a die/external body combination are tolerated at one operating temperature, mechanical failure of the combination is still a real possibility due to ambient temperature changes associated with transport or operation.
Mechanical distortion and/or failure, i.e. delamination or cracking at a material layer interface or cohesive failure within a material layer, is a real concern and often is the cause of, or contributing factor to, failure of an electronic component. Since the materials used in the die/external body assembly are generally dictated by a variety of electrical and mechanical demands associated with other problems there has been little flexibility in expedients used to maintain mechanical stability of the die/external body combination. In addition commercial considerations are driving the technology towards use of thinner material layers that, in turn, allow increased bending and thus increased mechanical stresses and strains experienced by the die/external body structure. An approach that mitigates the risk for failure due to thermomechanically induced loads for a reasonable spectrum of operating conditions and die/external body configurations would be quite desirable.


There is provided a polyester film useful for production of a magnetic recording medium excellent in runnability, electromagnetic conversion characteristics and storage stability. In the polyester film, a continuous thin film which contains a resin as a matrix and acts as a primer layer for a magnetic layer is coated on one surface of a support film composed of a polyester. According to one embodiment thereof, the surface of the continuous thin film has (A) small protuberances each containing particles with an average particle size of less than 0.06 micrometer as a nucleus and having a height of 13 nm or less, (B) large protuberances each containing particles with an average particle size of 0.06 micrometer or more as a nucleus and having a height of 30 nm or less, and (C) micro-protuberances composed of a matrix resin alone, the numbers, per mm.sup.2 of the film, of these protuberances satisfying the formulas, EQU An=1.0.times.10.sup.4 -1.0.times.10.sup.8 /mm.sup.2, EQU Bn=0-4.times.10.sup.4 /mm.sup.2, and EQU Cn.ltoreq.4.0 .times.10.sup.6 /mm.sup.2. wherein An is the number of the small protuberances, Bn is the number of the large protuberances, and Cn is the number of the micro-protuberances,. the fine surface roughness Ra.sup.s of the continuous thin film portion composed of the matrix resin alone being 1.10 nm or less, and the surface roughness Ra of the overall continuous thin film being 1 to 10 nm.

This invention relates to a polyester film for use in a magnetic recording medium, and more specifically to a polyester film useful for production of a magnetic recording medium excellent in runnability, electromagnetic conversion characteristics and storage stability.
As a high-density magnetic recording medium, a magnetic recording medium of a ferromagnetic metallic thin film is known which is formed by physical sedimentation such as vacuum deposition or sputtering, or by plating. For example, a magnetic tape having Co deposited thereon (Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. 147,010/1979) and a vertical magnetic recording medium using a Co-Cr alloy (Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. 134,706/1977) are known. Such a metallic thin film formed by a thin film forming means such as deposition, sputtering or ion plating has advantages that though said film has a thickness as low as less than 1.5 micrometers, it can provide performance equal to or higher than that of a coated magnetic recording medium (a magnetic recording medium obtained by mixing a magnetic powder with an organic polymer binder and coating the mixture on a non-magnetic support) having a magnetic recording layer more than 3 micrometers in thickness.
Magnetic characteristics such as coercivity Hc and a squareness ratio of a hysteresis loop, which are static characteristics of the magnetic recording medium are thought to be less dependent on the surface condition of the non-magnetic support being used. As an example relying on such a thought, a Co-Cr multilayered structure formed by vacuum deposition is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,787,327.
In the metallic thin film-type magnetic recording medium, however, the thickness of the metallic thin film formed on the surface of the non-magnetic support is low, and the surface condition (surface unevenness) of the non-magnetic support is developed as such, as unevenness of the surface of the magnetic recording layer, which becomes a cause of noise.
From the aspect of noise, it is advisable that the smoother the surface of the non-magnetic support, the better. On the other hand, from the aspect of handling such as winding or unwinding of a base film, the surface of the base film is required to be rough because if the film surface is smooth, the sliding property between the films is poor causing a blocking phenomenon. Thus, from the aspect of electromagnetic characteristics, the surface of the non-magnetic support is required to be smooth, whereas from the aspect of handlability, the film surface is required to be rough. Therefore, a base film that meets both the contradictory qualities at the same time has been demanded.
Moreover, runnability of the metallic thin film surface is a serious problem when the metallic thin film magnetic recording medium is actually used. A usual coated magnetic recording medium formed by mixing a magnetic powder with an organic polymer binder and coating the mixture on a base film can improve runnability of the magnetic surface by dispersing a lubricant in the binder. However, in case of the metallic thin film magnetic recording medium, such a measure cannot be taken; it is very hard to stably maintain runnability, and especially runnability at a high temperature and high humidity is poor.
In order to remedy the defects, it is proposed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 30,105/1987 that very small protuberances be formed on the film surface using fine particles, a water-soluble resin and a silane coupling agent. Further, it is proposed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 30,106/1987 and Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. 292,316/1984 that very small protuberances are formed on the film surface using fine particles and a water-soluble resin. In the above proposals, however, the fine particles are present in the trapezoidal protuberances of the water-soluble resin; it is not that the fine particles are uniformly present on the film surface. Still further, it is proposed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 34,456/1989 that a discontinuous film of a water-soluble polymer and fine particles forming a higher protuberance than said film be independently adhered to the film surface. However, according to such process, since the discontinuous film and the fine particles are not uniformly dispersed, uniformity of the film surface is poor.

Polyester films for magnetic recording medium


A channel estimation device in wireless communication in use of a plurality of subcarriers for communication, comprises: a first channel estimation section which performs channel estimation for each subcarrier based on pilot signals mapped to each subcarrier; a second channel estimation section which further estimates channels for each subcarrier using channel estimation values estimated by the first channel estimation section; and a channel selection section, which selects and outputs the first and second channel estimation values estimated by the first and second channel estimation sections, according to the subcarrier.

The present invention relates to a channel estimation device, and in particular relates to a channel estimation device in wireless communication in which a plurality of subcarriers are used for communication.
In wireless communication, transmission signals pass through a plurality of channels to arrive at a receiver. Consequently the signals observed by the receiver are waveforms with amplitude and phase distorted by multipath fading. As means of correcting such distortion, synchronous detection (channel compensation) using a pilot signal is employed. In a system which adopts the synchronous detection, a pilot signal is transmitted from a transmitter, and at a receiver the pilot signal is used to estimate multipath fading channel, and the channel estimation values are used in synchronous detection to demodulate data. At this time, if the error in channel estimation values is large, the result of data demodulation is affected, causing an increase in the data error rate.
On the other hand, in recent years numerous communication systems have used OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing), a characteristic of which is a high frequency utilization efficiency. OFDM (including OFDMA) is a multicarrier transmission method, which employs a plurality of orthogonal subcarriers, mapping transmission data onto the subcarriers for transmission. Normally, pilot signals are mapped onto a plurality of subcarriers similarly to data. As explained above, in synchronous detection these pilot signals are used to determine channel estimation values for each subcarrier, and the channel estimation values are employed to perform data demodulation.
FIG. 21 shows the configuration of a transmission device in an OFDM communication system; the data modulation portion 1 performs, for example, QPSK data modulation of transmission data including user data and control data), and converts the data to complex baseband signals referred to as symbols having an in-phase component and a quadrature component. The time-division multiplexing portion 2 performs time-division multiplexing of a plurality of pilot symbols into data symbols. The serial/parallel conversion portion 3 converts input data into N-symbol parallel data, and outputs N subcarrier samples. The IFFT (Inverse Fast Fourier Transform) portion 4 performs IFFT processing of N subcarrier samples input in parallel and merging the results for output as discrete-time signals (OFDM signal). The guard interval insertion portion 5 inserts guard intervals into the N-symbol portion of OFDM signals input from the IFFT portion, and the transmission portion (TX) 6 performs DA conversion of the OFDM signals with guard intervals inserted, converts the OFDM signal frequency from the baseband to the radio frequency band, performs high-frequency amplification, and transmits the signals from the antenna 7.
FIG. 22 shows the configuration of an OFDM reception device. Signals output from a transmission antenna 7 pass through a fading channel and are received by the reception antenna 8 of the reception device; the reception circuit (Rx) 9 converts the RF signals received by the antenna into baseband signals, and the baseband signals are AD converted into digital signals and output. The FFT timing synchronization circuit 10 detects the FFT timing of the time-domain signals output from the reception circuit 9, and the symbol extraction portion 11 deletes the GI and extracts OFDM symbols from the time-domain signals based on the FFT timing, and inputs the OFDM symbols to the FFT portion 12. The FFT portion 12 performs FFT processing for each extracted OFDM symbol consisted of N samples, converting this symbol into frequency-domain subcarrier samples S0 to SN-1. The channel estimation circuit 13 calculates the correlation between pilot signals received at fixed intervals and a known pilot pattern to perform channel estimation for each subcarrier, and the synchronous detection circuit (channel compensation circuit) 14 uses the channel estimation values for each subcarrier to perform demodulation of data symbols. By means of the above processing, transmission data distributed into each of the subcarriers is demodulated. Thereafter, the demodulated subcarrier signals, not shown, are converted into serial data and then decoded.
In the above explanation, it is assumed that the number of subcarriers for data mapping, the number of IFFT points, and the number of FFT points are equal; but in actuality, the number of subcarriers for data mapping is smaller than the number of IFFT points and the number of FFT points. The reason for this is as follows.
If N data items are subjected to N-point IFFT processing as components of N subcarriers f1 to fN, then the frequency spectrum is as shown in (A) of FIG. 23. In OFDM, an IFFT-processed signal is analog-converted, and a low-pass filter is used to extract the f1 to fN baseband signal components from the analog signal, which are up-converted to the radio frequency and transmitted. In order to select these f1 to fN baseband signal components, a low-pass filter having a sharp cutoff characteristic is necessary, as is clear in (A) of FIG. 23; fabrication of such a filter is difficult. Hence as shown in (B) of FIG. 23, the carriers on either side of the N subcarriers f1 to fN are not used, that is, Nc subcarriers (Nc<N) are used for data transmission.
In addition to the above-described technique of the prior art, various other methods have been proposed as channel estimation methods used in a channel estimation circuit 13. The first of these methods is a channel estimation method characterized by conversion of a frequency-domain pilot signal into the time domain, followed by noise suppression processing in the time domain, and then reconversion into the frequency domain (see the first and second references: Takashi Dateki et al, "ODFM channel estimation by adding a virtual channel frequency response", 2006 Nat'l Conv. Rec. IEICE, B-5-94, and J. J. Beek et al, "On channel estimation in OFDM systems", Proc. 45th IEEE Vehicular Technology Conference, Chicago, Ill., USA, July 1995, pp. 815-819). A second method is a channel estimation method in which the pilot is averaged in the subcarrier direction and time-axis direction and channel estimation is performed for each subcarrier (the third reference: see Kawai et al, "Effect of multi-slot and subcarrier averaging channel estimation filter in QRM-MLD for MIMO multiplexing using OFDCDM", IEICE Tech. Rep., RCS2004-68, May 2004).
FIG. 24 shows the configuration of a channel estimation device which realizes the above-described first channel estimation method; two channel estimation portions 21, 22 are connected in series. The first channel estimation portion 21 is a channel estimation portion comprising the configuration of the prior art explained in FIG. 22; by calculating the correlation between received pilot signals and a known pilot pattern with a fixed period, channel estimation is performed for each subcarrier. The second channel estimation portion 22 converts the channel estimation values output by the first channel estimation portion 21 into the time domain, performs noise-suppression processing in the time domain, and then returns the signals to the frequency domain and outputs channel estimation values for each subcarrier. That is, the IFFT portion 22a uses IFFT to convert frequency-domain channel estimation values output from the first channel estimation portion 21 into the time domain, the noise-suppression portion 22b eliminates noise at or below a preset level from the time-domain channel estimation values, and the FFT portion 22c returns the noise-suppressed time-domain channel estimation values to the frequency domain and outputs frequency-domain channel estimation values (channel estimation values for each subcarrier). The IFFT and FFT can also be configured using IDFT (Inverse Discrete Fourier Transform) and DFT, or using IDCT (Inverse Discrete Cosine Transform) and DCT.
In the first channel estimation method of the prior art, a constant noise level is suppressed, so that in general the channel estimation values for subcarriers at center of the frequency domain are improved, but the precision of subcarriers at both ends worsens. FIG. 25 shows the MSE (Mean Square Error) for each subcarrier. The MSE is a value obtained by determining the difference between a power of the signal received by way of a known channel h and a power of the signal received by say of an estimated channel h′, and changing the known channel variously to determine a plurality of power differences, which are averaged. As is clear from FIG. 25, the MSE of the subcarriers at both ends is degraded, that is, the channel estimation value is degraded; consequently there is the problem that the data error rates for the subcarriers at both ends are degraded compared with the data error rates for subcarriers near the center. The reason for this is as follows.
Consider the time-domain square wave shown in (A) of FIG. 26. When the Fourier transform of such a square wave is taken, a sinc function is obtained. This sinc function has an infinite interval, and so frequency components extend to infinity. That is, the time-domain square wave can be represented by sine waves of frequencies extending to infinity. However, as shown in (B) of FIG. 26, consider a case in which the sinc function is set to 0 at and above a certain frequency (so that there are only finite frequency components). If after such an approximation an inverse Fourier transform is performed to return to the time domain, the square wave can no longer be accurately represented. In particular, near the points at which the square wave changes rapidly, that is near the points at which the value of the square wave changes from 0 to 1 and from 1 to 0, accurate representation is no longer possible.
In the first channel estimation method of the prior art, time-domain signals are sinc function signals, and in order to suppress noise, the signal is set to 0 at and below a certain threshold. The above-described phenomenon occurs due to this operation, and distortion occurs in subcarriers at both ends of the communication band, so that the MSE is degraded. In the case of the first channel estimation method, the time-domain signals are sinc signals, but the only difference is that t and f in FIG. 26 are interchanged, and the same result is obtained.
By means of the second channel estimation method of the prior art, the influence of noise is eliminated and the S/N ratio is improved, but there is the problem that the noise suppression effect is small.


A system, method, and apparatus are disclosed whereby a wireless Personal Area Network such as a Bluetooth piconet may be extended to a remote location beyond the normal range by means of a conferencing connection. The conferencing connection may comprise, for example, one or more ISDN lines or an IP connection between two or more conference endpoints. The broadband connection may include a video channel, an audio channel, a control channel, and a Bluetooth channel.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to conferencing, and more particularly, to extending the range of wireless piconets or wireless Personal Area Networks (PANs) by use of a conferencing connection.
2. Description of the Related Art
Audio conferencing and video conferencing enable geographically remote individuals or groups to communicate with each other from their respective locations. Conferencing serves a valuable purpose by reducing the time and expense required by traveling to meet in person. Accordingly, teleconferencing enables increased profitability, productivity, and efficiency within or among organizations. Conferencing also allows enterprises to speed decision-making and empower dispersed teams. Conferencing is particularly beneficial in the fields of business, medicine, education, and government.
In audio conferencing, speakerphones are examples of endpoint devices used to enable audio communication between participants at two or more sites. An example of a speakerphone can be found in the POLYCOM® SOUNDSTATION® line of products. Video conferencing offers the additional ability to communicate graphic information and to view the facial expressions and body language of the conference participant(s) located at a remote site. Video conferencing offers the benefits of face-to-face communication without the inconvenience, expense, and uncertainty associated with traveling. An example of a video conferencing unit can be found in the POLYCOM® VIEWSTATION® line of products.
It is often desirable to share data with remote participants during a conference. Video conferencing and collaboration, together with data sharing and collaboration, allow increasingly dispersed organizations to pull their human and information resources together to create new ways of working and interacting. A video conferencing system can provide a rich and effective collaborative environment, even though participants may be thousands of miles apart.

System, method, and apparatus for extending wireless personal area networks using conferencing connection


A filter arrangement includes one first resonator circuit connected between a first node and a second node. A second resonator circuit is connected between a third node and a fourth node. The first resonator circuit and the second resonator circuit are intercoupled. Further, an inductive device is provided, connected between the first node and the third node.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a filter arragement and in particular to a resonator band-pass filter arrangement for balanced and unbalanced line systems.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Band-pass filters are needed in almost any microwave application. In particular narrow-band transmit/receive circuits (so called transceiver-circuits), as they are used in mobile radio communication systems, need band-pass filters in order to suppress all interference signals from outside the used frequency band. Thus, large interference signals cannot limit the receiver and small interference signals do not deteriorate the basic noise. Further, band-pass filters are used in so-called mutiband systems in order to select the individual bands over frequency-separating filters, so-called diplexers.
Good band-pass filters distinguish themselves by showing very little electrical losses in the passband and having as much isolation as possible in the stopband and/or blocking band.
Frequently, resonators are used in band-pass filters. A serial resonator is concerned, if this two-terminal element shows a very good passband performance with the resonance frequency, if connected in series. For other frequencies this element shows a blocking performance. A parallel resonator is concerned, if this two-terminal element shows a very good passband performance with the resonance frequency if connected between the signal path and a reference potential, like e.g. ground. For other frequencies this element shows a blocking performance.
A balanced transformer (Balun) is used, where a transition from an unbalanced to a balanced line system, e.g. a microwave line system, or the contrary is necessary. In modern handset devices small signal transmitter/receiver circuits (small signal transceiver) integrated in semiconductors exclusively have balanced inputs and outputs. However, power amplifiers and antennas are implemented in an unbalanced technique. Therefore, two networks are required for every frequency band in such handset devices in order to realize low-loss transitions between the balanced power system and the unbalanced power system. In the mobile radio area unbalanced circuits, like e.g. diplexers, are the conventional and only used circuits so far. Further, a large number of line systems used in practice are unbalanced systems, like e.g. coaxial, microstrip and strip lines.
For realizing band-pass filters a large numbers of realization possibilities exist.
For many decades filters having concentrated inductive members and capacities or having line structures have been known. In frequency-separating filters (diplexers) usually pure line structures are used.
For narrow-band filter applications surface acoustic wave filters, the so-called SAW-filters, have been used for years, in which non-coupled resonators are used. Such non-coupled resonators are for example arranged in the so-called ladder-type structure.
For narrow-band band-pass filters realizations with coupled resonators have only become established for circuits in the mobile radio area in the last few years. These filter realizations especially distinguish themselves by their very steep filter edges. This technology finds its use with large resonators, e.g. of cylindrical ceramics with low losses and a large dielectric constant and with filters for great powers, like they are for example used in base stations.
The above described, known filter realizations are disadvantageous in so far, that they are exclusively available for balanced line systems or exclusively for unbalanced line systems. Thus, the filter realizations either comprise a balanced input gate and a balanced output gate or an unbalanced input gate and an unbalanced output gate. Mixed constructions of coupled resonators and concentrated devices, like for example inductive devices, are not known.
Omitting the balanced transformer, the balun, is only known in the art in combination with surface acoustic wave filters (SAW filters). The relatively extensive and costly SAW filters offer a possibility of balancing the unbalanced signals by inserting a physically very short 180° degree line in the acoustic area. SAW filters offer a very steep filter characteristic with average throughput losses of about 2 to 3 dB and have established themselves as receiving filters ahead of the preamplifiers of the transmit-receive circuits. On the transmission side of the transmit/receive circuits mainly balanced transformers (Baluns) realized in ceramics are used.
The drawback of the above-described realizations of band-pass filters known in the art is on the one hand, that band-pass filters having discrete inductive devices and capacitors for commercial microwave products produced in large amounts are of no interest, as the number of required devices is very high and therefore the required area is very large. Further, the losses in the passband are intolerably high. In contrast to that, coupled resonator filters offer better selection properties with lower losses than the "interconnected" resonator filters, like for example the ladder type structures. The commercially very successful SAW filters are based on an antiquated topology due to their non-coupled resonator technology.
For realizing frequency-separating filters, diplexers, the SAW filters comprise a too high passband attenuation, which lies at about 0,7 dB with diplexers. Further, SAW filters are not large-signal stable, so that the signal output by a power amplifier would destroy the filter. After the output of the transmit/receive circuit a SAW filter is too expensive.
A balanced transformer has too little selection properties compared to a SAW filter, so that its use is not advantageous either.
Regarding the realizations for band-pass filters known in the art it can be summarised, that they are too expensive to realize, comprise a too high loss in the passband and/or a too low selection property.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,848,221 describes a filter circuit that consists of a serial inductivity, from a series coil and from two parallel branches, which respectively consist of a serial circuit, from an inductivity and a capacitor. The filter is connected between an input circuit and an output circuit, wherein the coils are coupled to each other in the parallel branches.
JP 613706A describes a band-pass filter which comprises an LC series resonance circuit which is connected in series with another LC series resonance circuit. An LC parallel resonance circuit is connected between the connection of the two LC series resonance circuits and ground. The inductivities used in the LC series resonance circuits are coupled to each other.
In the article by Orlov A. T., "Use of active Networks to widen the spectrum of application of piezoelectric filters", in "Frequency Control Symposium, 1994, Proceedings of the 1994 IEEE. International Boston, Jun. 1, 1994, pages 411 to 414" the design of active BAW piezoelectric filters is described whose properties are not obtainable with inductivity-free passive piezoelectric filters.

Filter arrangement for balanced and unbalanced line systems


A remote control panel (RCP) is provided for controlling an operation of a radio (104, 106). The RCP (102) includes a keypad (208) configured for receiving user input commands for controlling the radio using the same keypad commands as would be used when operating the same without the RCP. The RCP also includes a display unit (206) for displaying information concerning an operational state of the radio. The RCP further includes a communication interface (212, 312-316, 320-322) configured for relaying information from the RCP to the radio located a distance away. The interface is also configured for relaying information from the radio to the RCP. The RCP includes a computer processing device configured for providing an extended capability for the radio exclusive of a predefined functional capability. The extended capability is selected from the group consisting of additional digital data processing capability, additional display capability, and additional communication capability.

1. Statement of the Te Field
The invention concerns communications systems. More particularly, the invention concerns an advanced command and control external keypad display unit for concurrently controlling a plurality of radio devices, monitoring the radio devices and providing additional functionality to a user of the radio devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional communications systems are often comprised of a radio device and a keypad display unit. The keypad display unit is hereinafter referred to as "the KDU" or "the remote control panel". The radio device provides a means for wireless communications between communication devices existing within a defined area. The radio device can be a portable radio device. Alternatively, the radio can be a non-portable radio device. For example, the radio device can be mounted to a dashboard of a vehicle or securely coupled to holster. The holster can be designed for carrying the portable communications device on a person's shoulder, leg, back or chest.
The radio device is comprised of a casing, an internal circuitry, a user interface and an antenna. The casing provides a means for protecting the internal circuitry from damage due to an external factor, such as water and vibration forces. The internal circuitry and user interface provide a means for turning the radio device on/off, controlling a volume, selecting a frequency, setting a frequency, and transmitting a signal to another communications device. The antenna is mechanically coupled to the casing and electrically coupled to the internal circuitry. The antenna provides the means for the internal circuitry to transmit and receive RF signals.
The KDU is advantageously provided to enable the remote operation of the radio device. One can appreciate that such a remote operation configuration has many advantages. For example, the KDU enables the use of a radio device securely coupled to a holster or mounted in a fixed position within a vehicle. The KDU is configured to control the radio device and monitor the status of the radio device. In this regard, it should be appreciated that the KDU is electronically connected to the radio device via a cable.
The KDU is comprised of a casing, an internal circuitry, and a user interface. The casing provides a means for protecting the internal circuitry from damage due to an external factor, such as water and vibration forces. The internal circuitry and user interface provides a means for communicating with the radio device and controlling the radio device. More specifically, the KDU enables a user to adjust the volume, select a frequency, set various configuration options, transmit a signal to another communications device and listen to a received communications.
Despite the advantages of such a KDU, it suffers from certain drawbacks. For example, the KDU is not configured to: (a) concurrently control multiple radio devices; or (b) concurrently control a radio device and some other equipment. The KDU is also not configured to provide additional functionality to the radio device, such as a text messaging functionality, a streaming video functionality, a camera functionality, a web browsing and a global positioning system (GPS) map functionality.
In view of the forgoing, there is a need for an improved KDU for use with a plurality of radio devices. The KDU needs to be configured to: (a) concurrently control multiple radio devices; and/or (b) concurrently control a radio device and some other equipment. The KDU also needs to be configured to provide additional functionality to the radio devices, such as a text messaging functionality, a streaming video functionality, a camera functionality, a web browsing functionality and a global positioning system (GPS) map functionality.


Techniques of the present invention are directed to distribution of deposition gases onto a substrate. In one embodiment, a gas distributor for use in a processing chamber is provided. The gas distributor includes a body having a gas deflecting surface and a gas distributor face. The gas deflecting surface defines a cleaning gas pathway. The gas distributor face is disposed on an opposite side of the body from the gas deflecting surface and faces toward a substrate support member. The gas distributor face includes a raised step and at least one set of apertures through the raised step. The at least one set of apertures are adapted to distribute a deposition gas over a substrate positioned on the substrate support member.

The present invention relates generally to semiconductor manufacturing and, more particularly, to top gas baffle and distributor for delivering gases in semiconductor processing chambers.
Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is a gas reaction process used in the semiconductor industry to form thin layers or films of desired materials on a substrate. Some high density plasma (HDP) enhanced CVD processes use a reactive chemical gas along with physical ion generation through the use of an RF generated plasma to enhance the film deposition by attraction of the positively charged plasma ions onto a negatively biased substrate surface at angles near the vertical to the surface, or at preferred angles to the surface by directional biasing of the substrate surface. One goal in the fabrication of integrated circuits (ICs) is to form very thin, yet uniform films onto substrates, at a high throughput. Many factors, such as the type and geometry of the power source and geometry, the gas distribution system and related exhaust, substrate heating and cooling, chamber construction, design, and symmetry, composition and temperature control of chamber surfaces, and material build up in the chamber, must be taken into consideration when evaluating a process system as well as a process which is performed by the system.
Uneven gas distribution is one problem encountered in semiconductor fabrication, which affects deposition uniformity. In one known chamber configuration, a gas plenum is provided around the perimeter of a processing region and a plurality of nozzles extend radially inwardly to provide gases to the substrate surface. A challenge in such a design is to evenly distribute gases across the substrate surface so that more gas is not provided towards the edge of the substrate than towards the center of the substrate. A top gas nozzle, positioned directly above the substrate support member, can be used to improve deposition uniformity.
Despite the improvements obtainable by using of a top gas nozzle further improvements and/or alternative techniques are desirable for increasing uniformity of gas distribution on the surface of a substrate.

Gas baffle and distributor for semiconductor processing chamber


A microbundle optical cable such as, a riser cable, includes an outer jacket and a plurality of microbundles housed in the outer jacket. At least one of the microbundles includes an optical fiber ribbon enclosed in a microbundle coating. The at least one microbundle includes a longitudinal axis and a cross-section taken on a plane substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis. The cross-section may include a first dimension and a second dimension. The first dimension is higher than the second dimension. Therefore, the cross-section shape is an elongated cross shape.

In the field of optical communication networks, the expression "Fiber-to-the-x" ("FTTx") is used to denote a network architecture making use of optical fibers. In particular, the expression "Fiber-To-The-Premises" ("FTTP") denotes the portion of the optical communication network that reaches the premises (home, offices and the like) of the end customer. The expression "Fiber-To-The-Home" ("FTTH") denotes the portion of the optical communication network that reaches the home of the end customer.
A FTTH network is an optical communication network providing a number of end customers with broadband communication services, i.e. with services requiring data transmission at a rate of more than a few Mbit/s.
Typically, a FTTH network comprises a distribution cabinet cooperating with a transport network, a plurality of termination boxes and a plurality of optical fibers. Each termination box is connected to the distribution cabinet by means of one or more optical fibers.
Typically, a distribution cabinet is located in the basement of a building, in which building the end customers reside, whereas termination boxes are arranged at the various building floors, within or in proximity of the apartments and/or offices of the end customers.
An optical cable comprising a plurality of optical fibers typically exits the distribution cabinet. In the following of the present description, an optical cable which exits a distribution cabinet and serves each floor of a given building to reach each end customer will be indicated as "in-line optical cable" or "riser cable".
FTTH installations are largely characterized by the presence of multi-dwelling units (MDUs). Such units may comprise up to several tens of potential customers who are concentrated onto a relatively small area and are typically distributed in a vertical dimension.
Therefore, typically, the in-line optical cable runs through the building from the basement up to all the building floors. The in-line optical cable is typically laid down within a conduit, which protects the in-line optical cable.
In new buildings such conduits are generally empty and fully available for the passage of such rising cables. On the contrary, in existing buildings the conduits are generally at least partially occupied and it may be difficult to perform installation. In any case, the riser cable may be typically subject to bends when it is installed in both new and existing conduits.
Typically, an optical cable, which comprises one or more optical fibers, exits each termination box installed at an end customer's apartment/office of the building. An optical cable which exits a termination box is typically indicated as "drop cable".
Connecting the distribution cabinet to a termination box requires extracting at least one in-line optical fiber from the in-line optical cable and connecting such an in-line optical fiber to a drop optical fiber of said drop cable exiting the termination box. The optical connection between the in-line optical cable and the drop cable is typically made in a so-called "optical transition box".
The Applicant has faced the problem of providing an optical cable, in particular an optical riser cable, which has a relatively reduced outer diameter while has a high fiber count and which can be more easily bent in order to install it in conduits, either existing conduits or new conduits. It should be remarked that providing an optical cable having a relatively reduced outer diameter and a high number of optical fibers are conflicting requirements.
The Applicant has also faced the problem of providing such a riser optical cable having an optical fiber modularity, namely a fiber optical cable wherein all the optical fibers are arranged into several groups, with each group of optical fibers comprising one or more optical fibers. Typically, each group of optical fibers comprises the same number of optical fibers. Each group of optical fibers could be advantageously dedicated to a single customer. Indeed, providing a plurality of optical fibers to a single customer is becoming a requirement of national telecom authorities which want to offer more competition among telecommunication providers. This because each single optical fiber reaching the premise of a customer can be used by a different telecommunication provider. After the installation of the optical cable the only operation required to a customer in order to change provider is to switch to the appropriate fiber.
Several optical cables are known in the art.
For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 6,185,352 discloses a fiber optic fan-out cable having optical sub-units. The optical sub-units are disposed about a central member, at least some of the optical sub-units each respectively comprising a sub-unit jacket, strength fibers, and at least one respective optical fiber ribbon therein. The optical fiber ribbon including a plurality of optical fibers, the strength fibers generally surrounding and contacting the optical fiber ribbon within the sub-unit jacket. A cable jacket surrounds the central member and defines an annular space wherein the optical fiber sub-units are disposed about the central member. The annular space including essentially no strength fibers therein outside of the sub-unit jackets, the strength fibers being essentially located within the optical sub-unit jacket with the respective optical fiber ribbons. One or more layers of optical sub-units, that can be bundled with a conventional binder tape or cord, are preferably helically (unidirectionally) or SZ stranded about the central member in the annular space. Cable jacket has an outside diameter of about 8 mm to about 30 mm, as determined by the number of sub-units that are in the particular cable. The number of sub-units in a cable may vary from, for example, 3 to 36.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,536,071 discloses an optical cable for communication including at least one micromodule, wherein the micromodule is blocked with respect to the propagation of water. The at least one micromodule comprises a plurality of optical fibers, for example a bundle of optical fibers, includes at least one optical fiber, a retaining element for housing the at least one optical fiber, and a thixotropic filling compound arranged within the retaining element. The micromodule comprises a plurality of optical fibers, for example a bundle of optical fibers. The plurality of optical fibers is housed within the retaining element in a loose manner.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,067,394 discloses a modular optical transmission cable which has several reinforcement and optical modules, each optical module having: a sheathed optical fiber, coated with: an intermediate decoupling layer, and with a rigid shell forming a microcarrier, a reinforcement module being associated with an optical module, the modules being molded in an external sheath. A flexible reinforcement module is associated with at least one optical module that is self-reinforced against compression in order to obtain a cable having high flexibility combined with high compressive strength. The disclosure can be applied in the field of optical fiber cables and especially that of the reinforcement structures of such cables and fibers.
No one of the cables disclosed in the above cited prior art provides the desirable requirements in terms of reduced diameter, high fiber counts, optical fiber modularity and high capability to be bent for being installed in conduits, either existing conduits or new conduits.
All requirements are particularly desirable when the optical fiber cable is used for installing an FTTP or FTTX network.


An apparatus and process is provided for producing semi-solid material suitable for directly casting into a component wherein the semi-solid material is formed from a molten material and the molten material is introduced into a container. Semi-solid is produced therefrom by agitating, shearing, and thermally controlling the molten material. The semi-solid material is maintained in a substantially isothermal state within the container by appropriate thermal control and thorough three dimensional mixing. Extending from the container is a means for removing the semi-solid material from the container, including a temperature control mechanism to control the temperature of the semi-solid material within the removing means.

Slurry casting or rheocasting is a procedure in which molten material is subjected to vigorous agitation as it undergoes solidification. During normal (i.e. non-rheocasting) solidification processes, dendritic structures form within the material that is solidifying. In geometric terms, a dendritic structure is a solidified particle shaped like an elongated stem having transverse branches. Vigorous agitation of materials, especially metals, during solidification eliminates at least some dendritic structures. Such agitation shears the tips of the solidifying dendritic structures, thereby reducing dendrite formation. The resulting material slurry is a solid-liquid composition, composed of solid, relatively fine, non-dendritic particles in a liquid matrix (hereinafter referred to as a semi-solid material).
At the molding stage, it is well known that components made from semi-solid material possess great advantages over conventional molten metal formation processes. These benefits derive, in large part, from the lowered thermal requirements for semi-solid material manipulation. A material in a semi-solid state is at a lower temperature than the same material in a liquid state. Additionally, the heat content of material in the semi-solid form is much lower. Thus, less energy is required, less heat needs to be removed, and casting equipment or molds used to form components from semi-solids have a longer life. Furthermore and perhaps most importantly, the casting equipment can process more material in a given amount of time because the cooling cycle is reduced. Other benefits from the use of semi-solid materials include more uniform cooling, a more homogeneous composition, and fewer voids and porosities in the resultant component.
The prior art contains many methods and apparatuses used in the formation of semi-solid materials. For example, there are two basic methods of effectuating vigorous agitation. One method is mechanical stirring. This method is exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 3,951,651 to Mehrabian et al. which discloses rotating blades within a rotating crucible. The second method of agitation is accomplished with electromagnetic stirring. An example of this method is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,229,210 to Winter et al., which is incorporated herein by reference. Winter et al. disclose using either AC induction or pulsed DC magnetic fields to produce indirect stirring of the semi-solid.
Once the semi-solid material is formed, however, virtually all prior art methods then include a solidifying and reheating step. This so-called double processing entails solidifying the semi-solid material into a billet. One of many examples of double processing is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,771,818 to Kenney. The resulting solid billet from double processing is easily stored or transported for further processing. After solidification, the billet must be reheated for the material to regain the semi-solid properties and advantages discussed above. The reheated billet is then subjected to manipulation such as die casting or molding to form a component. In addition to modifying the material properties of the semi-solid, double processing requires additional cooling and reheating steps. For reasons of efficiency and material handling costs, it would be quite desirable to eliminate the solidifying and reheating step that double processing demands.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,902,544 to Flemings et al., incorporated herein by reference, discloses a semi-solid forming process integrated with a casting process. This process does not include a double processing, solidification step. There are, however, numerous difficulties with the disclosed process in Flemings et al. First and most significantly, Flemings et al. require multiple zones including a molten zone and an agitation zone which are integrally connected and require extremely precise temperature control. Additionally, in order to produce the semi-solid material, there is material flow through the integrally connected zones. Semi-solid material is produced through a combination of material flow and temperature gradient in the agitation zone. Thus, calibrating the required temperature gradient with the (possibly variably) flowing material is exceedingly difficult. Second, the Flemings et al. process discloses a single agitation means. Thorough and complete agitation is necessary to maximize the semi-solid characteristics described above. Third, the Flemings et al. process is lacking an effective transfer means and flow regulation from the agitation zone to a casting apparatus. Additional difficulties with the Flemings process, and improvements thereupon, will be apparent from the detailed description below.
A primary object of the present invention is to provide semi-solid material formation suitable for fashioning directly into a component.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a more efficient and cost-effective semi-solid material formation process.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and a process for forming semi-solid material and maintaining the semi-solid material under substantially isothermal conditions.
An additional object of the present invention is to provide formation of semi-solid material suitable for component formation without a solidification and reheating step.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a process and apparatus for semi-solid material formation with improved shearing and agitation.

Apparatus and method for semi-solid material production


Provided are a binder composition for a solid electrolyte battery and a slurry composition for a solid electrolyte battery that have excellent processability and can cause a solid electrolyte battery to display excellent battery characteristics. The binder composition contains a particulate polymer of a copolymer including an acrylate monomer unit and an aromatic monomer unit, alkyl-modified cellulose represented by formula (I), and an organic solvent. In formula (I), R1, R2, and R3 each indicate a hydrogen atom or an alkyl group having a carbon number of at least 1 and not more than 4. At least two of R1, R2, and R3 are alkyl groups having a carbon number of at least 2 and not more than 4 in 50 mol % or more of all repeating units. Also, n indicates a natural number.

Demand for batteries such as lithium ion batteries has been increasing in recent years for various applications such as mobile information terminals, mobile electronic devices, and other mobile terminals, and also domestic small power storage devices, electric motorcycles, electric vehicles, and hybrid electric vehicles.
The widespread use of batteries in such applications has been accompanied by demand for further improvement of battery safety. One effective method for ensuring battery safety is to prevent leakage of an organic electrolyte solution containing an electrolyte dissolved in an organic solvent. On the other hand, techniques relating to the production of batteries in which solid electrolytes are used instead of organic electrolyte solutions (i.e., solid electrolyte batteries) have been investigated.
Specifically, a solid electrolyte battery normally includes a solid electrolyte layer as an electrolyte layer between a positive electrode and a negative electrode. The solid electrolyte layer may, for example, be a polymeric solid electrolyte layer or an inorganic solid electrolyte layer. As one example of a polymeric solid electrolyte layer, PTL 1 describes a solid electrolyte layer obtained through shaping of a composition obtained by adding an electrolyte salt to polyethylene oxide or the like. On the other hand, as one example of an inorganic solid electrolyte layer, PTL 2 describes a solid electrolyte layer obtained through press forming of a powder of a specific three-component glassy solid electrolyte. Solid electrolyte batteries including inorganic solid electrolyte layers, in particular, have exceedingly high safety compared to batteries in which organic electrolyte solutions are used. For this reason, the development of inorganic solid electrolyte layer-containing solid electrolyte batteries having high safety has been proceeding, particularly in recent years (for example, refer to PTL 3 to 5).
In PTL 3 to 5, a binder is used in production of a solid electrolyte battery. The binder is used, for example, in a solid electrolyte layer or in an electrode active material layer disposed on a current collector in an electrode with the aim of binding components such as solid electrolyte particles and electrode active material so that these components do not become detached from a battery member such as an electrode.
The binder in the electrode active material layer or solid electrolyte layer is an important element for the expression of characteristics as a battery.

Binder composition for solid electrolyte battery and slurry composition for solid electrolyte battery


Presently disclosed is a method and apparatus for monitoring and diagnosing a content delivery network (CDN) by examining received content elements that have been marked with one or more identifiers. Diagnosing is accomplished by using all or part of one or more of the identifiers associated with errored or corrupted content elements to determine which network elements or connection paths are faulty. The identifiers may contain content-, server-, or receiver-specific data that denotes, respectively, the source of the content, the links associated with one or more of the servers utilized in the network, and/or data associated with the receiving computer system. Both marking and diagnosing may be performed at any location within the CDN or at any host computer connected to the CDN or receiver. The marking may also be dynamically reconfigured in order to facilitate diagnosis.

A typical content delivery network (CDN) may include, among other things, a central server that is the collection point for digital works or "content," one or more distribution servers, and a collection of receivers. The receivers are typically the end-users of the content distribution network, such as individuals connected via the public Internet and personal Web browsers to the CDN who have paid for or have requested free content transmissions. The distribution servers provide a distributed organization and caching scheme for the content packets. This form of caching is often necessary in large-scale distribution operations in order to provide rapid (low latency) delivery of content packets to the receivers.
The central server may be, in some instances, a single host or a dedicated collection of host servers and storage units responsible for providing CDN management along with the repository of content. Alternatively, the coordination and management functions may be provided by an independent process operating on one or more network host elements. In still other systems, the central server may be merely one of many servers that can all act as content collection points as well as packet distribution points within the network.
It must be noted that "content," as used in this description, refers to all forms of digital media currently known or to be discovered, whether complete works or portions thereof. Examples include, but are not limited to, videos (e.g., MPEG files), still images (e.g., JPEG or TIFF files), voice and/or musical recordings (e.g., MP3 files), text files (e.g., ASCII or HTML files), Portable Document Format (PDF) files, and executables.
For a variety of purposes, it is sometimes useful to attach tags or markers to the content. These tags or markers are designed so that they are unobtrusive, even invisible to users, and minimally affect the "core use" of the content, but are available for detailed examination by persons or programs that choose to use them. These markers typically contain some kind of tracking information. Well-known examples are the "received" headers of conventional e-mail (described in, for example, Request For Comments [RFC]-821), various kinds of digital watermarks, and region codes on digital video disks (DVDs). (These marks are distinguished from the mechanisms of digital rights management (DRM) systems, which depend on some form of encryption to "lock" the content away as well as some form of key delivery to provide an "unlock" mechanism for the content.)
Tracing or tracking marks support a variety of different applications. One such application is to simply trace the actual path followed by a digital work that might have traversed any of a large number of paths. Another is to identify the point in time at which a work was requested or delivered. A mark can include information that is not easily constructed by another party, offering a weak kind of signature authentication facility. A mark may also provide information that is used by a facility of the recipient to determine which of a number of services might be available. In its crudest form, this latter use determines whether the content is playable or accessible by the recipient's computer.
In another application, marking may be performed by extending fields in previously tagged documents, such as HTML, XML, and related SGML-derived files. Such extensible mark-up languages (or formats) allow the addition of "nested" marks or tags, which are simply ignored by readers that are not looking for them.
In addition, other forms of watermarking or postmarking are also well known. Such uses include, for example, date- and time-stamps, copyright information, and even steganometric encryption of additional information within an image. Such devices are described, for example, in Bruce W. Schneier, Applied Cryptography, 2d ed. (1996) and J. Zhao, "A WWW Service To Embed And Prove Digital Copyright Watermarks," Proc. of the European Conference on Multimedia Applications, Services and Techniques, Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium (May 1996), both incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.

Centrally-controlled distributed marking of content


A turbine blade (1), for example, for a ram air turbine engine, and method of making the turbine blade, wherein the turbine blade (1) includes a blade retention insert member (2) having a hub connector (3). The turbine blade (1) is fabricated by using sheet molding compound consisting essentially of discontinuous short fibers (7) initially random spaced within a polymer matrix sheet. A plurality of sheets of sheet molding compound are precut to a desired configuration or shape and placed in a heated blade mold. Heat and pressure are applied to the mold causing the sheet molding compound to flow around the blade retention insert member (2) and fill the mold cavity. The flow of the sheet molding compound causes the initially randomly oriented short fibers (7) to preferentially align in the direction of flow to rigidify the turbine blade (1). Fiber woven cloth skins (8) may integrally molded with the sheet molding compound during the compression molding process to accommodate high loads, and an aluminum chopped strand veil cloth (9) may also be integrally molded into the blade (1) or layers of conductive material may be deposited on at least portions of the surface of the turbine blade (1) during a secondary operation. At least one woven cloth material (6) may also be integrally molded into the turbine blade (1) to react to bending loads and to provide additional load transfer capabilities.

Hydraulic and electric power are generated in aircraft by power take-offs from propulsion engines during flight and/or an auxiliary power unit (APU). Control of an aircraft is dependent upon the generation of electrical and/or hydraulic power. In the event the propulsion engines are rendered inoperative during flight and emergency power cannot be generated by the APU, control of the aircraft may not be maintained without an emergency power source which generates its power from movement of the aircraft through the air.
For this purpose, ram air turbine engines (RATs) are used to generate emergency power in modern jet aircraft, with the RAT being stored within the fuselage or wing of an aircraft except during deployment for the purpose of generating emergency power. Upon deployment, the RAT pivots from a stowed position within the fuselage or wing to a deployed position which extends downwardly from the aircraft to a position where the air intercepts the turbine blades then turns producing power as a consequence of the velocity of the aircraft moving through the air.
An example of a typical RAT construction is disclosed in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,125,960.
Turbine blades for RATs have been and are currently forged or machined from aluminum; however, to enhance the RAT's performance, there has been a demand for turbine blades having an increased axial length. While it initially may appear that an increase in length would not pose any particular problems, the increased axial length involves increase in weight as well as the imposition of higher loads on the hub of the RAT.
For example, if, following the past and current trend, aluminum blades are used for the RAT, it is necessary to completely redesign the RAT hub thereby increasing the weight as well as the mechanical complexity; however, a redesign is not required if the blades are constructed so as to have a mass moment of inertia equal to or at least substantially equal to existing shorter aluminum blades. In order to obtain the desired mass moment of inertia for the longer blades, it is necessary for the blades to be manufactured from a composite material while at the same time minimizing the manufacturing costs and providing a high reproducibility and enabling inspection of the finished turbine blades.
In, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,713,753, a laminate construction for an airfoil wing type member is proposed, with the member being produced by machine winding multiple layers of reinforcing fiber about a foil-like material support layer on a rotatable mandrel, with the laminate construction being cut from the mandrel and shaped to a desired configuration in a mold cavity with the addition of a hardenable resin filler material. Adjacent layers of the fibers are wound to form a diamond shaped pattern, with the pitch angles of the fibers in different layers being varied to accommodate different conditions.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,648,921, also proposes a blade construction including an outer shell of a fiber reinforced plastic which is bonded by way of a bonding adhesive to an aluminum spar extending substantially centrally therewith. The lightweight filler material such as a rigid urethane foam is formed within the voids remaining between the shell and the spar, with a protective metal sheath being subsequently fitted and bonded to the leading edge of the blade by an adhesive bond. The spar is provided with a root portion for facilitating interconnection of the blade to a hub.
Yet another composite blade construction is proposed in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,022,547, wherein the blade is fabricated by laying up and bonding together a plurality of filament laminates, with the filaments of at least a portion of the laminates being skewed in a chordwise direction, forward and aft of a non-radial blade axis so as to form a biased lay-up with the blade center of twist biased forward or aft of the blade radial axis. The filaments may be skewed forward so that no filaments run from the blade leading edge to the blade tip but rather from the blade leading edge to the blade root.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,883,267, also proposes a blade construction made of composite fibrous material, with the blade construction comprising a streamlined or airfoil section arranged around a core. The airfoil section is constituted by a superimposition upon the core of a plurality of superimposed layers of composite fibrous material composed of, for example, a matrix of synthetic resin in which is incorporated a fibrous reinforcement having high grade mechanical characteristics and constituted by fibers or filaments of carbon or boron. The core is made of a metal such as titanium and includes a blade fixing root portion 3a constructed so as to be accommodated in a circumference of a disk or drum.
Yet another composite blade construction is proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,762,835, wherein the primary structure of the blade comprises elongated graphite fibers embedded in a polymeric resin matrix forming a filament/resin composite with filaments/resin sheets comprising partially cured polymeric resin having a plurality of graphite filaments embedded therein in a generally equi-spaced parallel relationship, arranged in an area of the blade so as to provide protection against damage caused by foreign objects.
While each of the above proposed blade constructions are somewhat effective in achieving their respective stated objectives, each propose the utilization of continuous fibers and a filament winding or laying process to arrive at the desired blade construction.
In, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,834,616, a rotor blade is provided which comprises a composite structure formed by laminating multiple plies or layers to provide high strength or high modulus of elasticity for the rotor blade, with the blade being fabricated with an inner core, a composite thickness of woven material about the core, an outer layer, and a single covering layer. The inner core may be fabricated of a closed cell foam, with the composite thickness being a woven composite, the outer layer being formed of a composite of graphite filaments and epoxy resin matrix, and the covering layer being formed of a single ply of glass filaments with an epoxy resin matrix. A socket of a metallic material is provided with a threaded connection for mounting on the rotor hub, with a retention member being positioned within the socket.
In DE 30 15 208 A1, proposes a plastic blade construction wherein each blade includes a metal core having a central spindle with anchoring profiles projecting therefrom. An outer case of plastic material is built-up around the core and profiled to a desired aerodynamic shape. The core includes a projecting member for enabling an attachment to the hub, and a fine metal wire mesh is embedded in an outer layer of the plastic material.

Turbine blade with metallic attachment and method of making the same