In an example embodiment a method, apparatus and computer program product are provided. The method includes facilitating receipt of a light-field image, determining one or more depth levels in the light-field image and generating a plurality of images from the light-field image. The method includes determining one or more registration matrices corresponding to the one or more depth levels between an image and one or more remaining images of the plurality of images. The method includes performing a super-resolution of the image and the one or more remaining images based on the one or more registration matrices to generate a super-resolved image of the image.

Various electronic devices such as cameras, mobile phones, and other devices are widely used for capturing image of a scene. In a traditional camera, an image resolution is same as resolution of sensors present in the camera, so in order to capture an image having high resolution, corresponding number of sensors are required. There are other cameras such as light-field cameras that are capable of capturing multiple views of a scene in a single click of operation. These cameras allow focusing later on objects in images even after capturing the images. However, these cameras have limitations of poor resolution of the captured images, as the sensors used to register details of the images are shared across multiple images. In various exemplary scenarios, resolutions of the images captured by the light-field cameras are enhanced by a 'super resolution' technique of the captured image.

Method, apparatus and computer program product for generating super-resolved images


An image display device includes a display element selectively implementing a 2D image and a 3D image and a patterned retarder. The display element includes a pixel array including a plurality of subpixels, which are respectively formed at crossings of column lines and row lines. The patterned retarder includes a plurality of first retarders, each of which transmits light from the display element as a first polarization component, and a plurality of second retarders, each of which transmits the light from the display element as a second polarization component. The first retarders and the second retarders are alternatively arranged.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the disclosure relate to an image display device capable of implementing a two-dimensional plane image (hereinafter referred to as '2D image') and a three-dimensional stereoscopic image (hereinafter referred to as '3D image').
2. Discussion of the Related Art
With the recent development of various contents and circuit technologies, an image display device may selectively implement a 2D image and a 3D image. The image display device implements the 3D image using a stereoscopic technique or an autostereoscopic technique.
The stereoscopic technique, which uses a parallax image between left and right eyes of a user with a high stereoscopic effect, includes a glasses type method and a non-glasses type method, both of which have been put to practical use. In the non-glasses type method, an optical plate such as a parallax barrier for separating an optical axis of the parallax image between the left and right eyes is generally installed in front of or behind a display screen. In the glasses type method, left and right eye images each having a different polarization direction are displayed on a display panel, and a stereoscopic image is implemented using polarized glasses or liquid crystal (LC) shutter glasses.
A LC shutter glasses type image display alternately displays a left eye image and a right eye image on a display element every one frame and opens and closes a left eyeglass and a right eyeglass of LC shutter glasses in synchronization with a display timing, thereby implementing the 3D image. The LC shutter glasses open only the left eyeglass during odd-numbered frame periods, in which the left eye image is displayed, and open only the right eyeglass during even-numbered frame periods, in which the right eye image is displayed, thereby making binocular disparity in a time division method. In the LC shutter glasses type image display, because the LC shutter glasses are turned on in a short period of time, a luminance of the 3D image is low. Further, a 3D crosstalk is extremely generated because of the synchronization between the display element and the LC shutter glasses and the ON/OFF conversion response characteristic.
As shown in FIG. 1, a polarized glasses type image display includes a patterned retarder 2 attached on a display panel 1. The polarized glasses type image display alternately displays left eye image data L and right eye image data R on the display panel 1 every one horizontal line and converts polarization characteristic of light incident on polarized glasses 3 using the patterned retarder 2. Through such an operation of the polarized glasses type image display, a left eye image and a right eye image may be spatially divided, thereby implementing a 3D image.
In the polarized glasses type image display, because the left eye image and the right eye image are adjacently displayed on the adjacent horizontal lines, a range of a vertical viewing angle, at which a crosstalk is not generated, is narrow. The crosstalk is generated when the left eye image and the right eye image are overlappingly displayed as one image (i.e., one of the left eye image and the right eye image) at a location of the vertical viewing angle. To prevent the crosstalk in the polarized glasses type image display, as shown in FIG. 2, a method for forming black stripes BS in an area of a patterned retarder 2 to thereby widen a vertical viewing angle of the 3D image had been proposed in Japanese Laid Open Publication No. 2002-185983. However, the black stripes BS of the patterned retarder 2 used to widen the vertical viewing angle bring about a side effect resulting in a large reduction in a luminance of a 2D image.


A disc for use in a disc screen is disclosed that creates an “intended space”—i.e., the designed space through which material is intended to pass—that undulates in both directions in the plane defined by the screen's rotatable shafts. The disc design includes a major axis that is rotated along the length of the shaft, creating a helical ridge. The ridge is continuous and non-stepwise, thereby avoiding the “pinch” of the prior art designs. And by having the helical ridge of adjacent discs on the same shaft with opposing rotations, the lateral movement of material may alternate along the length of the shaft—further spreading the material throughout the width of the disc screen and increasing the screen's efficiency.

Material recycling has become an important industry in recent years due to decreasing landfill capacity, environmental concerns and dwindling natural resources. Many industries and communities have adopted voluntary and mandatory recycling programs for reusable materials. Solid waste and trash that is collected from homes, apartments and companies often combine several types of recyclable materials into one container. When brought to a processing center, the recyclable materials are frequently mixed together in a heterogeneous mass of material. Mixed recyclable materials include newspaper, clean mixed paper, magazines, aluminum cans, plastic bottles, glass bottles and other materials that may be recycled.
Disc screens are increasingly used to separate streams of mixed recyclable materials into respective streams or collections of similar materials. This process is referred to as classifying, and the results are called classification. A disc screen typically includes a frame in which a plurality of rotatable shafts is mounted in a parallel relationship. A plurality of discs is mounted on each shaft and a chain drive commonly rotates the shafts in the same direction. The discs on one shaft interleave with the discs on each adjacent shaft to form screen openings—i.e., the intended space—between the peripheral edges of the discs. The size of the intended space determines the dimension (and thus the type) of material that will fall through the screen. Rotation of the discs agitates the mixed recyclable materials to enhance classification. The rotating discs propel across the screen the larger articles which are too big to fall between the discs. The general flow direction extends from an input area where the stream of material pours onto the disc screen to an output where the larger articles pour off of the disc screen. The smaller articles fall between the discs onto another disc screen or a conveyor, or into a collection bin.
The prior art disc screens, however, have several shortcomings. First, the discs used to make up the screen are generally of the same diameter and therefore there is little lateral agitation, resulting in the majority of material remaining in the position where the material is initially deposited. The edges of the disc screen therefore are underutilized. Second, when the discs are of varying diameters, the change in diameter is by way of a step function. This then creates a gap between discs that is not intended to be used for sorting or classifying the material. Consequently, material can become "pinched" in these unintended gaps, damaging the discs and reducing the overall efficiency of the disc screen.
What is therefore needed is a disc for use in a disc screen that overcomes these deficiencies.


An artificial fireplace for simulating flaming logs has a housing containing a solid state light source, a rotating flame simulation assembly, a viewing screen, and a simulated fuel source. The solid state light source preferably comprises light emitting diodes (LEDs) affixed to a printed circuit board. The light produced by the LEDs reflects off of the rotating flame simulation assembly and an image of a flame is transmitted onto the viewing screen. This design creates a realistic, randomly-flickering flame image above the simulated fuel source. Optional features include a dimmer assembly to adjust the intensity of the image and a second light source to simulate smoldering embers within the simulated fuel source. This design eliminates the problems associated with using a light bulb for a light source by instead using LEDs with a longer life span which emit less undesirable heat and consume less electricity.

Fireplaces are common household devices that are used to provide heat and a pleasing aesthetic. However, traditional fireplaces are expensive, create smoke, and are a fire hazard so artificial fireplaces or stoves are popular alternatives. Artificial fireplaces are less expensive than traditional fireplaces and they do not use actual flames, so there is no smoke or fire hazard.
Typically, an artificial fireplace is formed from a ceramic housing with a viewing aperture and a hollow interior. The ceramic housing contains a light source, a viewing screen, a flame simulation device, and a simulated fuel source. The light source is disposed on the bottom of the interior of the housing, underneath the flame simulation device and between the viewing screen and the rear of the housing. The light emitted by the light source bounces off of the flame simulation device and projects the image of the flame simulation device onto the viewing screen. The simulated fuel source, which is typically shaped as one or more wooden logs, is disposed adjacent to the viewing screen and positioned such that it appears the flames projected on the screen are emanating from the logs. The simulated fuel source additionally serves to conceal the operation of the light source and flame simulation device.
The prior art artificial fireplace is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of an artificial fireplace, shown in section to better illustrate the placement and function of the various components. The housing 20 of the artificial fireplace 22 defines a hollow cavity 24 which contains a light source 26, a flame simulation assembly 28 generally above the light source 26, a simulated fuel source 32 located so as to conceal the light source 26 and the flame simulation assembly 28 from the field of vision 34 through the viewing aperture 36, and a viewing screen 38 located between the light source 26 and the simulated fuel source 32. The light source 26 and the flame simulation assembly 28 are operatively coupled to suitable power sources, which are not shown. The light source 26 emits light 40 that strikes some of the flame elements 42 affixed to the flame simulation assembly 28. The light 40 reflects off of the flame elements 42 and an image of the flame elements 42 is projected onto the viewing screen 38 at a point generally above the simulated fuel source 32. The end result is the appearance that there are flames emanating from the simulated fuel source 32. The flame simulation assembly 28 rotates, which causes the light 40 to strike the flame elements 42 at different angles as they move. The result is the appearance of motion within the image that is projected onto the viewing screen 38. Typically, the viewing screen 38 is made of glass or plastic and comprises a transparent surface which faces the viewing aperture 36 and a diffusing surface which faces the rear of the housing 20. In some prior art artificial fireplaces 22, there is also a fuel light source 44 located within the simulated fuel source 32 which projects light 40 through small apertures 46 in the simulated fuel source 32 for creating the appearance of smoldering embers. Additionally, some prior art artificial fireplaces 22 also include a dimmer assembly which can be used to selectively adjust the brightness of the flame image and/or the brightness of the simulated embers.
FIG. 2 is a front perspective view of the prior art light source 26 and flame simulation assembly 28. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the prior art light source 26 is typically one or more light bulbs 48. The flame simulation assembly 28 essentially comprises a shaft 50 that is journaled in a bearing 52 in one leg 54 of a U-shaped frame 56. The other end of the shaft 50 extends through a hole 58 in the other leg 60 of the frame 56 and is operatively coupled to a motor 62 which causes the shaft 50 to rotate about its axis. Also typically provided, but not shown, is a control assembly for selectively adjusting the speed at which the shaft 50 rotates. Affixed to the shaft 50 are several irregularly-shaped flame elements 42 which are made of a material suitable for reflecting the light 40 emitted by the light source 26. As a result of the flame elements 42 rotating as the light 40 strikes them, the flame image projected onto the viewing screen 38 appears to flicker and move.
Heretofore, the biggest problem with artificial fireplaces is that they do not produce a realistic flame image. One known method of producing a more randomly-moving, and therefore more realistic, flame image is to use a rotating shaft with attached flame elements to simulate flickering flames, as can be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 2,984,032. The light from the light source strikes the irregularly-shaped flame elements at different angles as they rotate, which results in a flame image that appears to leap and change shape. While this creates the image of a flickering flame, the image is not realistic because the result is an orange glow. A flame contains a variety of colors; primarily orange and red, but there are also instances of blue and green in places. The usual light source in an artificial fireplace is a monochromatic light bulb, which results in an unrealistic orange glow. Some prior art fireplaces attempt to create a multi-colored flame by using rotating flame elements of different colors, but this does not produce a realistic flame image. Alternatively, some prior art fireplaces use stationary flame elements and instead produce the illusion of flickering flames with a light source which flickers or blinks in a predetermined pattern or at random intervals. This results in an unsatisfactory flame effect and disadvantageously shortens the lifespan of the light source by repeatedly cycling it on and off.
In addition, there are other problems associated with using one or more light bulbs as a light source. First, light bulbs have a relatively short life span and they must be replaced frequently. This life span is further shortened when the light source is designed to flicker or blink randomly or in a pre-selected pattern. Furthermore, light bulbs produce a fair amount of heat and, depending on the material used to form the components disposed within the fireplace, this can create a fire hazard. Finally, light bulbs consume more electricity than do other light-producing devices. Therefore, there is a need for an artificial fireplace with a light source that produces a realistic multi-colored flame image and lasts longer, operates more efficiently, and generates less undesirable heat than traditional light sources.
It is accordingly a general aspect or object of the present invention to provide an artificial fireplace which produces a more realistic flame image.
Another aspect or object of this invention is to provide an artificial fireplace with a light source which has a superior life span compared to prior art light sources.
Another aspect or object of the present invention is to provide an artificial fireplace with an improved light source that produces less undesirable heat within the interior cavity of the fireplace than prior art light sources.
Another aspect or object of the present invention is to provide an artificial fireplace with an improved light source that consumes less electricity than prior art light sources.
Other aspects, objects and advantages of the present invention will be understood from the following description according to the preferred embodiments of the present invention, specifically including stated and unstated combinations of the various features which are described herein, relevant information concerning which is shown in the accompanying drawings.


A method and system for updating data for a set of objects in a database is provided. A request identifies a set of objects using a property of the objects and an operation to be performed thereon. The object request is translated to a relational request such that a column in a table corresponding to the property can be operated upon by a relational data store mechanism.

The present invention relates to database systems.
In conventional relational databases, all data are stored in named tables. The tables are described by their features. In other words, the rows of each table contain items of identical type, and the definitions of the columns of the table (i.e., the column names and the data types stored in the column) describe the attributes of each of the instances of the object. By identifying its name, its column names and the data types of the column contents, a table is completely described. Queries to a relational data base are formulated in a query language. One such language is SQL (Structure Query Language) which is widely used in commercial relational data base systems. The data types offered by SQL can be classified as character arrays (names), numbers, and data types related to date and time. Tables can be modified or combined by several operations of relational algebra such as the application of Boolean operators, projection (i.e. selection of columns) or the Cartesian product.
Relational databases offer several advantages. Data base queries are based on a comparison of the table contents. Thus, no pointers are required in relational databases, and all relations are treated uniformly. Further, the tables are independent (they are not related by pointers), so it is easier to maintain dynamic data sets. The tables are easily expandable by simply adding new columns. Also, it is relatively easy to create user-specific views from relational databases.
There are, however, a number of disadvantages associated with relational databases as well. For example, access to data by reference to properties is not optimal in the classical relational data model. This can make such databases cumbersome in many applications.
Another recent technology for database systems is referred to as object oriented data base systems. These systems offer more complex data types in order to overcome the restrictions of conventional relational databases. In the context of object oriented data base models, an "object" includes both data and the functions (or methods) which can be applied to the object. Each object is a concrete instance of an object class defining the attributes and methods of all its instances. Each instance has its unique identifier by which it can be referred to in the database.
Object oriented databases operate under a number of principles. One such principle is referred to as inheritance. Inheritance means that new object classes can be derived from another class. The new classes inherit the attributes and methods of the other class (the super-class) and offer additional attributes and operations. An instance of the derived class is also an instance of the super-class. Therefore, the relation between a derived class and its super-class is referred to as the "isA" relation.
A second principle related to object oriented databases is referred to as "aggregation." Aggregation means that composite objects may be constructed as consisting of a set of elementary objects. A "container object" can communicate with the objects contained therein by their methods of the contained objects. The relation between the container object and its components is called a "partOf" relation because a component is a part of the container object.
Yet another principle related to object oriented databases is referred to as encapsulation. According to encapsulation, an application can only communicate with an object through messages. The operations provided by an object define the set of messages which can be understood by the object. No other operations can be applied to the object.
Another principle related to object oriented databases is referred to as polymorphism. Polymorphism means that derived classes may re-define methods of their super-classes.
Objects present a variety of advantages. For example, operations are an important part of objects. Because the implementations of the operations are hidden to an application, objects can be more easily used by application programs. Further, an object class can be provided as an abstract description for a wide variety of actual objects, and new classes can be derived from the base class. Thus, if an application knows the abstract description and using only the methods provided by, the application can still accommodate objects of the derived classes, because the objects in the derived classes inherit these methods. However, object oriented databases are not yet as widely used in commercial products as relational databases.
Yet another database technology attempts to combine the advantages of the wide acceptance of relational data bases and the benefits of the object oriented paradigm. This technology is referred to as object-relational database systems. These databases employ a data model that attempts to add object oriented characteristics to tables. All persistent (database) information is still in tables, but some of the tabular entries can have richer data structure. These data structures are referred to as abstract data types (ADTs). An ADT is a data type that is constructed by combining basic alphanumeric data types. The support for abstract data types presents certain advantages. For example, the methods associated with the new data type can be used to index, store, and retrieve records based on the content of the new data type.
Some conventional object-relational databases support an extended form of SQL, sometimes referred to as ObjectSQL. The extensions are provided to support the object model (e.g., queries involving object attributes). However, these object-relational databases are still relational because the data is stored in tables of rows and columns, and SQL, with some extensions, is the language for data definition, manipulation, and query. Both the target of a query and the result of a query are still tables. The extended SQL language is often still the primary interface to the database. Therefore, there is no direct support of host object languages and their objects. This forces programmers to continue to translate between objects and tables.
Another problem with existing object-relational systems includes operating on a set of objects. Conventionally, the data for each object is located and brought out of the database, commonly to a remote computer, manipulated, and then sent back to the database server and stored therein. For a set of objects, this operation is repeated each time, which by its nature, is time consuming.
One approach for updating a set of objects that is less time consuming includes writing stored procedures that execute on the database server on sets of data. Disadvantages of this technique include that the business objects are not used for storing the data. Consequently, rather than using object terminology, the procedure uses terminology defined by the database schema, which could be quite different. Likewise, the procedures would include different updating methods so the developer would need to know both object-oriented authoring as well as a relational language operating such as Structured Query Language (SQL). Finally, the business logic is now separated into two locations, the database and traditional object-oriented language code.
There is thus a need for improved techniques for operating on data pertaining to a set of objects.

Performing operations on a set of objects in a database system


A lubrication system for an engine is provided. The lubrication system may include an oil pan configured to receive oil from the engine. The oil pan may have a first end, a second end opposite the first end, and a middle portion located between the first and second ends. The lubrication system may also include a suction pump configured to pump oil from the middle portion to the engine, a first conduit fluidly connected to the first end, a second conduit fluidly connected to the second end, and at least one pump fluidly connected to the first and second conduits. The at least one pump may be configured to direct oil from the first end toward the middle portion when the engine is tilted in a first direction and direct oil from the second end toward the middle portion when the engine is tilted in a second direction.

Traditional lubrication systems circulate oil through an engine to lubricate moving parts, clean the engine, and cool the engine. In a wet sump engine, circulated oil is collected at the base of the engine, where it is pumped back into the engine by an oil pump. In a dry sump engine, circulated oil drains to the base of the engine and is subsequently pumped to an external reservoir by a scavenger pump. The oil is then pumped from the external reservoir back to the engine by a pressure pump.
Oil platforms utilize engine systems to drive machinery and to generate electricity. Severe weather conditions, such as hurricanes and strong winds, may cause the oil platforms to tilt. Both wet sump and dry sump engines may not function properly at tilted angles. When an engine is tilted, oil pools at the lowest point of the engine, which can be away from the associated pump. In such circumstances, either the oil pump (wet sump) or the scavenger pump (dry sump) may not have access to an adequate oil supply to properly lubricate, clean, and cool the engine. This can result in pump starvation and sub-optimal engine performance or even failure.
A system for supplying oil to an engine operating at tilted angles is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,590,953 ("the '953 patent") of Wellauer that issued on Jul. 6, 1969. The '953 patent describes an engine having an oil pan. An enclosed compartment is formed within the oil pan that is only open to the oil pan by a vent hole. Two oil scavenging bells are located at the front and rear of the oil pan and communicate with an oil scavenging pump. The scavenging pump directs oil from the two scavenging bells into the enclosed compartment at a diffuser oil plate. A suction bell within the enclosed compartment communicates with a circulating pump to deliver oil to the engine.
Although the system of the '953 patent may be capable of operating at tilted angles, it may still be less than optimal. Specifically, because the system of the '953 patent requires an enclosed compartment and other modifications to the oil pan, the '953 system may be complicated and expensive.
The lubrication system and methods of the present disclosure solve one or more of the problems set forth above and/or other problems with existing technologies.

Lubrication system for a tiltable engine


A method for making a water-proof laminate from wood, includes a lower mold. A lower cover is provided in the lower mold. A wood plate is provided on the lower cover in the lower mold. An upper cover is provided on the wood plate. An upper mold is provided for pressing the lower cover, the wood plate and lower cover against the lower mold. A coating is injected into the upper and lower molds to cover at least the edges of the upper mold, wood plate and lower mold so that a water-proof laminate is finished after the curing of the coating. The upper mold is moved from the lower mold, and the water-proof laminate is moved from the lower mold.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a method for making water-proof laminates from wood.
2. Related Prior Art
Disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,017,319 is a conventional method for making composite products from lignocellulosic materials. In this conventional method, lignocellulosic material is provided that includes at least 10% of hemi-cellulose. The lignocellulosic material is heated at a certain temperature for a certain period to decompose and hydrolyze the hemi-cellulose into un-polymerized water-soluble resin material. The resin material is heated and pressed against a surface at a certain temperature for a certain period to polymerize, crosslink and thermoset the resin material so that the resin material is attached to the surface. This method, however, requires complicated and expensive equipment. The resultant product of this method is inevitably expensive.
The present invention is therefore intended to obviate or at least alleviate the problems encountered in the prior art.

Method for making water-proof laminates from wood


Air is conditioned by compressing air at a first location during a first interval of time and storing the compressed air at the first location. Compressed air stored at the first location is transported by pipeline to a second location remote from the first location during a second interval of time different from the first interval of time and expanded at the second location. The expanded air is delivered to enclosures at the second location. The first interval of time is preferably during the night when the power required to compress the air is relatively inexpensive.

Pollution in many large industrial cities in the world is rapidly reaching critical proportions. In Tokyo, for example, oxygen "bars" have been opened to provide urban dwellers with whiffs of oxygen as a respite from local pollution. As an alternative, clean air from a remote rural area could be piped into buildings in urban areas to provide fresh country air to the workers of the building. This approach is suggested in GB 2054831 which discloses a system for piping clean, cool air from a mountain to an urban region at sea level, or for piping hot air from sea level to a remote area in the mountains.
The basic problem with this approach is the cost in transporting large masses of air from one geographic location to another. To the very high capital cost of constructing conduits between the locations, and the cost of distributing the air within the city, must be added the operational costs for piping the air.
U.S. Pat. No. 465,298 discloses apparatus for conditioning air in houses by delivering air drawn into a stack at one location by a fan to a manifold connected to various houses, the air being filtered and moistened, heated or cooled, as required. Part of the air is compressed and stored, if desirable, producing a higher pressure for portions of the delivered air. Even so, the operational and construction costs of this approach are high.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved method of and apparatus for piping clean air from a remote rural location to an urban location, in a manner that is more cost effective and efficient than previously known.

Method of and apparatus for conditioning air


A carbon fiber reinforced substrate comprising a fabric composed of carbon fiber bundles and a first resin adhering to the fabric. Each of the carbon fiber bundles comprises numerous continuous carbon filaments, has the tensile modulus of 210 GPa or more, and has the fracture strain energy of 40 MJ/m3 or more. The amount of the first resin adhering to the fabric is in a range from 1 to 20 parts by weight per 100 parts by weight of said fabric. A preform comprising a laminate composed of plural layers of the carbon fiber reinforced substrate, wherein the layers are integrated by means of the first resin. A composite comprising the preform impregnated with a matrix resin.

Composites reinforced with carbon fibers have been used in applications of aircraft, space and sports, because of their excellent mechanical properties and lightweight.
As a typical method of producing such a composite, autoclave molding is known. In the method, a prepreg comprising a sheet composed of carbon fiber bundles each of which is formed with continuous carbon fibers arranged in one direction and a matrix resin being impregnated therewith. The prepregs are piled up in a mold and heated and pressurized in an autoclave, to be made into a composite.
The prepreg used as a substrate to be molded into a composite has an advantage in production of composite having high reliability. However, it also has a disadvantage that it is too stiff to be drapable. Furthermore, the production of a composite using the prepreg has such problems as high cost and low productivity.
For molding a composite at high productivity, injection molding or infusion molding is known. The injection or infusion molding includes, for example, resin transfer molding (RTM). In the resin transfer molding (RTM), a substrate composed of carbon fiber bundles not pre-impregnated with a matrix resin (dry carbon fiber bundles) is placed in a complicatedly shaped mold, and a matrix resin liquid (low viscosity) is injected or infused into the mold, for making the carbon fiber bundles impregnated with the matrix resin.
However, though the injection or infusion molding is excellent in composite productivity, the substrate used (for example, a dry woven fabric) has problems in view of handling properties such that texture slippage is liable to occur (un-stability of form), that the substrate is so less stiff as to allow easy bending, and that layers of the substrate do not adhere to each other when laminated (no tacky property). In addition, since the matrix resin must be low in viscosity, the composite has a problem of being low in mechanical properties, compared with the composite formed with a matrix resin having a high viscosity as used in the above-mentioned prepreg. These problems present a problem that the composite obtained cannot sufficiently exhibit the properties peculiar to carbon fibers and does not have the mechanical properties expected from the properties of the carbon fibers used.
To solve this problem, U.S. Pat. No. 5,071,711 A proposes a technique, in which a thermoplastic-like resin is applied to a fabric composed of reinforcing fibers, for improving the handling properties of the dry woven fabric used as a substrate, and stabilizing the form of the preform used for injection or infusion molding.
Furthermore, Journal of Advanced Materials, Volume 32, No. 3, Jul. 2000, P27–34 or Composites Part A, Volume 32, 2001, P721–729 reports that if a woven fabric is coated with a resin obtained by mixing an epoxy resin and elastomer particles or polyamide 6, for injection or infusion molding, the mechanical properties (such as the interlaminar fracture toughness of Mode II) of the obtained CFRP are improved.
However, the proposal cannot improve, or can improve only insufficiently, mechanical properties, though it can improve the handling properties of the substrate. That is, for example, the very high levels of mechanical properties required for primary or principal structure elements of aircraft cannot be achieved even if a woven fabric or the like is merely coated with a resin, and in the case where the carbon fibers used themselves do not have the necessary properties, the composite obtained using them cannot exhibit necessary mechanical properties (especially the compression strength after impact) either.
Moreover, in the injection or infusion molding methods described in the above-mentioned proposals, since a sheet composed of carbon fiber bundles merely arranged in one direction cannot be handled with the fiber orientation kept as it is in a dry state, a bi-directional woven fabric is used.
However, for example, primary or principal structure elements of aircraft require very high mechanical properties, especially the compression strength after impact and the compression strength after hot-wet conditioning. In a bi-directional woven fabric, carbon fiber bundles form a bi-directional weave structure. Therefore, the amount of reinforcing fibers in each direction is substantially one half. Furthermore, since the warp and the weft are almost equal in fineness or titer, large crimps of carbon fiber bundles are formed at the interlacing points of warp and weft. Because of these problems, the mechanical properties of a prepreg composed of carbon fibers arranged in two directions could be only halves of those of a prepreg composed of carbon fibers arranged in one direction.
That is, even though the required properties of the carbon fibers to be used and the form of the fabric composed of the carbon fibers are especially important factors for exhibiting high mechanical properties, the above-mentioned proposals do not disclose any explanation about such factors at all.
The object of the invention is to solve the problems of the prior art. Particularly, the object of the invention is to provide a carbon fiber reinforced substrate having excellent handling properties in such as stiffness, form stability, drapability and tackiness, to provide a preform formed with the substrate and having good matrix resin permeability, and to provide a composite formed with the preform having excellent mechanical properties in such as the compression strength after impact or the compression strength after hot-wet conditioning, and having also good productivity.

Carbon fiber reinforced base material, preform and composite material comprising the same


A controllable magneto-rheological device includes an annular cylinder formed by inner and outer walls connected at first and second opposing ends and forming an inner shaft configured to receive an operational component of an engine, generator or other device including one or more rotating structures. A magneto-rheological fluid is provided to fill a volume between the inner and outer walls of the annular cylinder. A plurality of electro-magnetic coils are positioned around the outer wall of the annular cylinder. One or more current controllers are coupled to the plurality of electro-magnetic coils for introducing a current through each of the electro-magnetic coils and corresponding magnetic flux through the magneto-rheological fluid. A level of current provided to each of the plurality of electro-magnetic coils directly affects the viscosity of the magneto-rheological fluid and thus the stiffness and damping levels of the controllable magneto-rheological device.

Numerous applications involving high performance mechanical components generate undesired vibrations. For example, engines for use in vehicles, power systems or other applications can sometimes encounter vibrational response among operational components that potentially can cause component degradation over time and/or inefficient system performance. Gas turbine engines for use in aircraft, marine, industrial or other environments are a particular system in which vibrational control can be an important consideration.
Known systems and devices for improving vibratory control within an engine or other environment can include passive and/or active control structures. Passive features such as bearings, dampers, springs, shock absorbers or other devices can help to absorb or dissipate excess levels of mechanical energy. Active control features such as attenuators or the like can help reduce excessive levels of structural movement among operational components of an engine. However, even with such known devices, addressing vibratory control across a wide range of applications and operating conditions can pose unique challenges.
For instance, within the particular environment of a gas turbine engine, numerous vibrational concerns may arise. Synchronous vibrations can occur during normal engine operation due to conditions such as imbalance, and/or misalignment of rotating components, and/or damage of engine components. Non-synchronous vibrations can result from bearing defects, looseness among engine components, effects of adjacent system components, or resonant modes being excited by the rotating components, or other operational components. For example, vibrations can occur due to rotor bow or thermal bowing of a rotor shaft caused by uneven rotor temperature differentials after engine shutdown. Additional instabilities can also arise within a gas turbine engine in the form of cross coupled stiffness (Alford) forces, Engine Vibration Related Noise (EVRN) or other conditions.
Accordingly, systems and methods for addressing different types of vibration within a given environment would be useful. Specifically, providing a controllable device for reducing vibration within a gas turbine engine or other system is desired.

Controllable magneto-rheological device for gas turbine engine


Backside connections for 3D integrated circuits and methods to fabricate thereof are described. A stack of a first wafer over a second wafer that has a substrate of the first wafer on top of the stack, is formed. The substrate of the first wafer is thinned. A first dielectric layer is deposited on the thinned substrate. First vias extending through the substrate to the first wafer are formed in the first dielectric layer. A conductive layer is deposited in the first vias and on the first dielectric layer to form thick conductive lines. Second dielectric layer is formed on the conductive layer. Second vias extending to the conductive lines are formed in the second dielectric layer. Conductive bumps extending into the second vias and offsetting the first vias are formed on the second dielectric layer.

The packaging density in electronic industry continuously increases to accommodate more electronic devices into a package. Three-dimensional ("3D") wafer-to-wafer stacking technology substantially contributes to the device integration process. Typically, a wafer has layers of integrated circuitry, e.g., processors, programmable devices, memory devices, and the like, built on a silicon substrate. A top layer of the wafer may be connected to a bottom layer of the wafer through silicon interconnects ("vias"). To form a 3D wafer stack, two or more wafers are placed on top of each other and bonded. 3D wafer stacking technology offers a number of potential benefits, including improved form factors, lower costs, enhanced performance, and greater integration through system-on-chip ("SOC") solutions. The 3D wafer stacking technology may provide additional functionality to the chip. After being formed, the 3D wafer stack may be diced into stacked dies ("chips"), each stacked chip having multiple tiers ("layers") of integrated circuitry. SOC architectures formed by 3D wafer stacking can enable high bandwidth connectivity of products, e.g., logic circuitry and dynamic random access memory ("DRAM"), that otherwise have incompatible process flows. There are many applications for 3D wafer stacking technology, including high performance processing devices, video and graphics processors, high density and high bandwidth memory chips, and other SOC solutions.
FIG. 1 shows a cross-sectional view of a typical 3D wafer stack 100 having backside connections. As shown in FIG. 1, wafer 110 has a device region 102 built upon a front side of substrate 101, and wafer 120 has a device region 105 built upon a front side of substrate 106. Typically, each of substrate 101 and substrate 106 is a silicon substrate. Each of device region 102 and device region 105 includes integrated circuitries with active and passive devices. Wafer 110 is bonded to wafer 120 through conductive pads 103 and 104 located in respective device regions 102 and 105, as shown in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 1, 3D wafer stack has a dielectric layer 108 on a back side of substrate 106. Backside vias 111 filled with copper extend through the dielectric layer 108 to conductors 107 in device region 106, as shown in FIG. 1. Insulating layer 109 is formed on sidewalls of vias 111, as shown in FIG. 1. Conductive bumps 112 are placed directly on top of vias 111 to form backside connections 113, as shown in FIG. 1.
As shown in FIG. 1, 3D wafer stacked architecture integrates more electronic devices comparing with a conventional planar architecture, such that more electrical power is needed to be supplied through backside connections 113 to device regions 105 and 103. Backside connections 113, however, may deliver to device regions 105 and 103 only limited amount of the electrical power through conductive bumps 112 and vias 111 without being damaged. Backside connections 113 that consist of conductive bumps 112 placed directly vertically on top of vias 111 that are formed in the dielectric layer 108 cause direct vertical stress transfer into dielectric layer 108 and to an interface between 3D wafer stack 100 and a package (not shown). The direct vertical stress deteriorates thermal and mechanical stability of the 3D wafer stack 100. The limited power delivery and stress transfer not only negatively impact the operation, but also cause significant reliability problems for 3D wafer stack 100. Further, present manufacturing flow for backside connections for 3D wafer stack 100 is very complicated and expensive, and involves many additional operations, e.g., to provide additional re-routing capabilities, and to increase the amount of power delivered to electronic devices.

3D integrated circuits using thick metal for backside connections and offset bumps


An improved system for securing a display device mounting bracket to a surface mounting bracket in a mounting system. A fastener connects to a movable extension component that is movably engaged with the device mounting bracket. When a device mounting bracket has been correctly positioned relative to the surface mounting bracket, the movable extension component is moved until a portion of the surface mounting bracket is positioned between the device mounting bracket and the movable extension component, thereby preventing the device mounting bracket from moving away from the surface mounting bracket.

In recent years, flat panel televisions have become enormously popular in both commercial and residential sectors. As the prices for plasma and liquid crystal display (LCD) flat panel displays have continued to fall, and the quality for the same devices have improved, more and more businesses and individuals have purchased such devices for both home and business entertainment purposes.
One of the advantages of flat panel televisions units that customers have found particular appealing is their relatively low thickness. Because conventional "tube" televisions have a relatively large depth, the display options for such devices are quite limited. In the residential setting, most users require a television stand or large entertainment center to store the television. Such stands or entertainment centers can take up significant floor space, which is often undesirable. In the commercial or educational setting, users will often install large overhead mounting systems that can contain the television. However these systems usually require professional installation. With flat panel televisions, on the other hand, users are presented with a relatively new option: mounting the television directly to the wall. By mounting the television to the wall, a person can eliminate the need to take up potentially valuable floor space.
Although the introduction of flat panel televisions on a wide scale has presented new opportunities to both residential and commercial customers, it has also presented new challenges. In particular, flat panel televisions, while usually having significantly smaller depth or profile than conventional "tube" televisions, tend to be quite heavy. Particularly for flat panel televisions with large screens, this weight can become also prohibitively great. With such large weights involved, it is especially important that users can easily, safely, and securely mount the devices without having to make substantial adjustments.
A number of conventional wall mounting systems involve the use of a relatively large wall mounting plate and a plurality of adapter brackets that are configured to attach to the back of a television or other display device. Each adapter bracket typically includes a screw or similar fastener that is used to secure the adapter bracket relative to the wall mounting plate. One such adapter bracket is shown at 100 in FIG. 1. The conventional adapter bracket 100 includes a pair of side portions which bound a mounting contact portion 102. An upper hook 108 and a lower guiding portion 110 are located on each side portion 104, which together define a receiving region 122 for the wall mounting plate. The upper hook 108 is formed on each of the side portions 104 at substantially the same position. Each upper hook 108 and/or lower guiding portion 110 may be formed as one piece with the rest of the adapter bracket 100 or, alternatively, each upper hook 108 and/or lower guiding portion 110 may comprise a separate component which is coupled to the adapter bracket 100 in the appropriate position. A plurality of openings 112 are used to connect the conventional adapter bracket 100 to a television or other flat panel display.
The lower guiding portion 110 includes a longitudinal surface 120, through which a fastener may be threaded. When the conventional adapter bracket 100 has been correctly positioned relative to the wall mounting plate (with the conventional adapter bracket 100 already being coupled to a television or display device), the movement upwards relative to the longitudinal surface 120, causes it to move through an opening in the longitudinal surface 120 and press against the wall mounting plate. This action impedes the conventional adapter bracket 100 from being pulled away from the wall mounting plate.
Although the system discussed in FIG. 1 is useful, it relies upon the ability of an installer to access the fastener when the conventional adapter bracket 100, which is attached to a television during installation, has been mated with the wall mounting bracket. However, when correctly positioned, the space between the television and the wall or other mounting surface is quite small, in the range of a few inches on occasion. When smaller televisions are being mounted, the conventional adapter bracket 100 does not need to be very long, and an installer may only have to place his or her hand in the open space. However, flat panel televisions are becoming increasingly large in size, now reaching or even exceeding 63″ in screen size. This increase in size inherently results in a substantial increase in weight for the unit. Because of this weight, the various mounting system components must also become larger in size. The end result of this increase in size is that the fastener on the conventional adapter bracket 100 becomes much more difficult to reach. For example, when a 23″ television is being mounted, the installer may only have to place his hand behind the television to reach the fastener. With a 63″ television on the other hand, the installer may have to place much, if not all of his entire arm behind the television before reaching the fastener. With the aforementioned small space between the television and the wall, this can become difficult or even impossible for the average person.
It would therefore be desirable to provide an improved mounting system that allows an installer to quickly and easily secure the system's adapter brackets to the wall mounting bracket, even when very large televisions or other display devices are being mounted.

Movable extension assembly for a mounting system


A semiconductor memory device is provided which includes a semiconductor substrate of a first conductivity type, a plurality of trench capacitors formed in the substrate and a plurality of switching transistors formed on the respective trench capacitors. Each of the switching transistors is electrically connected to the corresponding trench capacitor. Each of the trench capacitors has a first electrode formed in the side portion of a trench provided in the substrate and a second electrode containing impurities of the first conductivity type and embedded in the trench. Each of the switching transistors has a source region formed from a first epitaxial layer of the first conductivity type grown on the trench so as to electrically contact the second electrode, a channel region formed from a second epitaxial layer of a second conductivity type grown on the first epitaxial layer, and a drain region formed from a third epitaxial layer of the first conductivity type grown on the second epitaxial layer. The first, second and third epitaxial layers are in contact with a polycrystalline silicon layer containing impurities of the second conductivity type. The first conductivity type is opposite to the second conductivity type.

1. Field of the invention
This invention relates to a semiconductor memory device, and more particularly, to a semiconductor memory device having numerous trench capacitors and switching transistors. This invention also relates to a method for producing the semiconductor memory device.
2. Description of the prior art
FIG. 4 shows the memory cell structure of a conventional semiconductor memory device such as a dynamic random access memory (DRAM).
This conventional semiconductor memory device includes a plurality of memory cells, each of which has a trench capacitor 40 formed in a P-type silicon substrate 32, and a switching transistor 41 connected to the trench capacitor 40.
The trench capacitor 40 has an N-type impurity diffused layer 33 whichis formed on the sides of a trench 42 provided in the silicon substrate 32, a capacitive oxide film 34 which is formed on the trench 42, and a cell plate 31 which is embedded in the trench 42.
The N-type impurity diffused layer 33 is connected to the source region 37 of the switching transistor 41. The drain region 38 of the switching transistor 41 is connected to a bit line 36. The bit line 36 is formed on an insulating film 39a which is deposited on the silicon substrate 32 so as to cover a gate electrode 35.
A plurality of other switching transistors 41 (not shown) are also connected to the same bit line 36.
An insulating film 39b is deposited over the insulating film 39a so as to cover the bit line 36.
The electrical connection between the source region 37 and the drain region 38 is opened and closed by controlling the potential level at the gate electrode 35 of the switching transistor 41.
Data is written into the capacitor 40, when the switching transistor 41 is in the on state, by causing a charge to flow from the bit line 36 into the N-type impurity diffused layer 33 of the capacitor 40 by way of the drain region 38, the surface of the silicon substrate 32 below the gate electrode 35, and the source region 37.
When the switching transistor 41 is in the off state, the charge remains held in the capacitor 40.
When the switching transistor 41 is turned to the on state, the charge stored in the N-type impurity diffused layer 33 of the capacitor 40 is caused to flow into the bit line 36 by way of the source region 37, the surface of the silicon substrate 32 below the gate electrode 35, and the drain region 38, thus reading the data stored in the capacitor 40.
In the conventional semiconductor memory device, the source region 37 and drain region 38 of the switching transistor 41 are formed in a self-aligning manner by implanting ions into the silicon substrate 32 with the gate electrode 35 as a mask (see, for example, M. Sahamoto et al., "Buried Storage Electrode (BSE) Cell For Megabit DRAMS", IEDM Dig of Tech: Papers (1985) P. 710).
The above-described technique, however, has the following problems.
For the purpose of achieving a higher degree of integration, it is required to reduce the size of the switching transistor 41 in a lateral direction. To reduce the size, the transistor must be shortened in a lateral direction. However, reducing the channel length of the switching transistor 41 would involve various problems such as a drop in the threshold voltage and a decrease in the dielectric strength between the source region 37 and the drain region 38.
To avoid such problems, it would become necessary to reduce the supply voltage for the semiconductor memory device, which in turn would cause problems, for example, in terms of compatibility with other semiconductor memory devices.
There has also been proposed a semiconductor memory device having a vertical transistor and a trench capacitor as shown in FIG. 5 (see Morimoto et al., Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 61-224351). In this memory device, the trench capacitor is formed in a P-type silicon substrate 41 and the vertical transistor is formed on the substrate 41. The vertical transistor includes source/drain regions (N-type layers) 42 and 43 positioned one above the other with a channel region (P-type silicon epitaxial layer) 39 interposed therebetween, and also includes a gate electrode (N-type silicon layer) 44 functioning as a word line. A gate insulating layer 50 is interposed between the gate electrode 44 and the source, channel and drain regions (42, 39 and 43). The trench capacitor includes a charge storage layer 45 made of an N-type silicon layer, a capacitor-insulating film 51, and a plate electrode 40 made of a P-type silicon buried layer.
The channel region 39 is electrically in contact with the plate electrode 10 which is electrically in contact with the P-type silicon substrate 41. Accordingly, the channel region 39 of the switching transistor is electrically connected to the P-type silicon substrate 41 through the plate electrode 40 of the trench capacitor. In this arrangement, a substrate bias is applied to the switching transistor through the route shown by arrow A in FIG. 5, and a plate bias is applied to the memory cell through the route shown by arrow B in FIG. 5. Thus, this conventional memory device involves a problem in that a substrate bias and a plate bias cannot be separately applied to the switching transistor and the memory cell, respectively.

Method of producing a semiconductor device having trench capacitors and vertical switching transistors

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A system for venting moisture from wall and building structures, especially masonry walls constructed from masonry elements such as of brick, block, stone, faux stone or the like, without weakening the wall or building structure, utilizes open matrix weep vent members that are fabricated, for example from a mass of intertwined and intertangled polymeric filaments that are bonded at a plurality of intersections thereby to form one-piece or unit-handled weep vent members that preferably are inserted in place of mortar at spaced locations along horizontally extending mortar joints between rows of bricks, blocks or other masonry wall elements. Weep vent members that embody the present invention have wider portions at their rearward or intake end regions, and narrower portions at their forward or discharge end regions, with a preferred form characterized by a generally trapezoidal shape that helps to retain the weep vent members in their associated mortar joints, and that provide a funnel-like ducting of moisture from their relatively wider rear end regions toward their relatively narrower forward end regions.

In exterior walls of masonry structures, as houses or commercial buildings, there are a number of locations in the design of the building structure wherein ambient moisture-laden air may become relatively trapped in still air, and in time condense in droplets or drops on adjacent surfaces of masonry, wood or metal which may not be visible to an observer or exposed for treatment. There has been substantial development of devices and arrangements for leading moisture away from relatively trapped areas in masonry and other types of building construction in an effort to overcome this problem. It is well known, for example, to provide drainage tubes through brick walls, to provide porous plugs adjacent the brick that are intended to dissolve in contact with water so that the water may drain, and to insert rigid tubular members in mortar joint areas between adjacent brick.
A proposal also has been made to utilize rectangular blocks of randomly oriented bonded filament material inserted at spaced locations in a brick wall between vertically extending end surfaces of adjacent bricks to form vertical weep vents that are of substantially uniform cross-section as they extend from an interior side of a brick wall to an exterior side thereof. These vertical weep vents have very little width—typically a horizontally measured width that is equal to horizontally measured width of the mortar joints that extend between the vertical end surfaces of adjacent bricks. The uniform width of the vertical weep vents does nothing to "funnel" moisture from interior ends toward exterior ends of the weep vents to facilitate moisture discharge from wall spaces adjacent the interior ends.


Transmit diversity (TD) has become a common technique used in modern wireless communications systems to improve performance. TD uses multiple antennas (e.g., 110 and 111) at a transmitter (e.g., 105) to transmit multiple encoded datastreams and a single (or multiple) antenna (e.g., 116) at a receiver (e.g., 115) to receive the datastreams. Preferred embodiments of the present invention provide a general architecture (e.g., 705) that can support different TD schemes and even non-TD, simplifying receiver design and minimizing hardware usage.

Normal wireless communications systems use a transmitter with a single antenna and a receiver with a single antenna to transmit and receive information. Wireless communications systems with a single transmitter antenna are commonly referred to as single output (SO) systems and systems with a single receiver antenna are known as single input (SI) systems. Therefore, a single input and single output system is known as a SISO system.
In search of increased data rates, greater channel capacity (better efficiency, defined in bits/second/hertz), better transmission quality, and higher diversity, wireless communications designers have started to use multiple antennas, both at the transmitter and the receiver. A system with multiple transmitter antennas is known as a multiple output (MO) system and one with multiple receiver antennas is know as a multiple input (MI) system. Systems with both MO and MI are referred to as MIMO systems. Communications systems with multiple input and/or output antennas offer greater diversity, increased channel capacity, and typically trade off error performance for higher data rates. One class of communications systems with multiple output antennas are commonly said to have transmit diversity, or TD for short.
Unfortunately, designing a wireless receiver for a communications system featuring TD can be difficult when the communications system can use one out of a plurality of different TD schemes. For example, in IS2000, a third generation wireless communications system standard, two different open-loop TD schemes have been adopted for use. The two TD schemes are Orthogonal Transmit Diversity (OTD) and Space-time Spreading (STS). In Wideband Code-Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), yet another third generation communications system standard, both open-loop and closed-loop TD schemes have been accepted. In other third generation communications systems, different open-loop and closed-loop TD schemes, including TD schemes for MIMO systems, are under consideration for acceptance into the various technical standards.
TD schemes operate by transmitting signals via multiple antennas from the same transmitter that are received by a receiver and the receiver performs post-processing to recover the transmitted signals. Alternatively, TD schemes may transmit a signal that is received by multiple antennas with each of the multiple receive antennas producing a slightly different image that are combined to recover the transmitted signal. Both the transmitter and the receiver may have multiple antennas. For example, in OTD, separate antennas are used to transmit even and odd data bits. While in STS, odd and even data bits are transmitted on each transmit antenna.
A concern when designing a TD receiver for the various TD schemes is that in order to support all of the TD schemes specified in a single technical standard or to support TD schemes in multiple standards, the receiver architecture would necessarily be very complex and large. For a receiver that supports dual or multiple standards, the problem becomes even more significant.
A straightforward implementation of the receiver would involve the design of separate TD decoders for each TD scheme specified in the technical standard. However, such an approach would be highly inefficient. For example, in a communications system that uses STS and OTD TD schemes with two transmit antennas, the combined TD decoder architecture would require: 40 real multipliers, 12 adders, and two memory elements. The large number of hardware elements implies a large physical size for the receiver and the consumption of a large amount of power. Obviously, a receiver architecture with a TD decoder that can share hardware elements would greatly reduce both the complexity and the size of the receiver.
In one solution, proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,317,410, a TD decoder architecture supporting STS and OTD TD schemes is proposed wherein implementation complexity is reduced through the use of switches. The switches permit the sharing of certain hardware components, such as multipliers, between the two TD schemes. Though the switches permit a more efficient receiver implementation, it is clear that the complexity of the receiver architecture is not minimized. Additionally, the proposed solution works only with STS and OTD TD schemes. The additional support of any other TD scheme would require a redesign of the TD decoder architecture.
An additional concern when designing a TD receiver is simply the minimization of the hardware requirement for the receiver. It is desirable to have the TD receiver's hardware requirement to be close to that of a non-TD receiver. As stated previously, a receiver with less hardware is a smaller receiver that uses less power and is cheaper overall to manufacture.
A need has therefore arisen for a TD receiver architecture that minimizes hardware requirements and can simultaneously support multiple TD schemes without incurring significantly increased hardware complexity.

Efficient receiver architecture for transmit diversity techniques


A vibration isolating apparatus mainly used for supporting an engine for a compact vessel which is structured such as to securely perform a stopper operation and to widely improve a durability at a time when a large load is given, without changing a fastened position, a height and a mounting operability. There is provided a vibration isolating apparatus wherein an opening portion close to a lower end in a cylindrical body metal fitting and a lower end mounting metal fitting disposed below the same are connected to each other by a body rubber portion disposed between the both elements, an upper end mounting metal fitting to which an engine mounting bolt is provided in a projecting manner is fixedly attached to a flange portion of an upper end portion of the body metal fitting by caulking, an opening edge portion close to a lower end of the body metal fitting is extended outward at least in both sides opposing to each other so as to be formed as a stopper portion having an upper and a lower surfaces covered with a stopper rubber, an annular stopper metal fitting is disposed on the stopper portion in such a manner as to provide a predetermined interval with respect to an outer peripheral surface of the body metal fitting, and the stopper metal fitting is fixedly provided in the lower end mounting metal fitting.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vibration isolating apparatus used for supporting an engine mainly for a compact vessel or an automotive vehicle in such a manner as to isolate a vibration.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, as a vibration isolating apparatus provided for supporting an engine corresponding to a vibration generating source, for example, in a compact vessel in such a manner as not to transmit a vibration thereof to a vessel body, a vibration isolating apparatus comprising an upper mounting metal fitting to which a bolt for mounting an engine is provided in a projecting manner, a lower mounting metal fitting mounted to a body end and a body rubber portion disposed between both of the metal fittings is used.
Further, in order to increase an effect for reducing a vibration and a sound of the engine, it is considered to use a liquid-enclosing type vibration insulating apparatus which is structured such that an opening portion close to a lower end in a cylindrical body metal fitting and a lower end mounting metal fitting disposed below the same are connected to each other by a body rubber portion disposed between the two metal fitting, and an upper end mounting metal fitting is fixedly attached to an upper end portion of the body metal fitting so as to form two liquid chambers communicating between a diaphragm made of a rubber film and disposed therewithin and the body rubber portion by an orifice.
As the vibration isolating apparatus of the above type, particularly in order to support an engine having a heavy weight for a compact vessel without a slackness and a play and optionally adjust a supporting height, the applicant of this invention has suggested that a support portion provided in the upper end mounting metal fitting in a projecting manner and constituted by an engine mounting bolt is structured such as to be a double nut construction constituted by a washer based nut and a nut for preventing a slackness and removal (JP-A-08210429(1996) (Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 8-210429)).
In the suggested apparatus mentioned above, as means for restricting a large displacement due to the engine vibration, a part of the vibration isolating base body has a projecting portion to which a projecting piece from the body metal fitting is inserted and a stabilizer is fixed to the upper end mounting metal fitting, so that the stabilizer is elastically brought into contact with the projecting portion at a time of a large displacement to a vertical direction or a direction perpendicular to the axial direction, thereby achieving a stopper effect.
In this case, since the stopper portion is brought into contact with only one side of the vibration isolating apparatus and the stabilizer is fixed to only one fastening portion of the engine mounting bolt, a support strength serving as a stopper is not sufficient, so that there is a problem in a durability, for example, a deformation of the stabilizer is generated at a time when a large load (a large displacement) is given.
Particularly, as a vibration isolating mount for supporting the engine for a compact vessel, in view of the point mentioned above, it is desired that the vibration isolating apparatus is further improved.


A method of fabricating a semiconductor device comprises the steps of forming a contact hole in an insulation film so as to extend therethrough and so as to expose a conductor body at a bottom part of the contact hole, forming a barrier metal film of tungsten nitride on the bottom part and a sidewall surface of the contact hole with a conformal shape to the bottom part and the sidewall surface of the contact hole, forming a tungsten layer so as to fill the contact hole via the barrier metal film, and forming a tungsten plug in the contact hole by the tungsten layer by polishing away a part of the tungsten film on the insulation film until a surface of the insulation film is exposed, wherein there is conducted a step of cleaning a surface of the conductor body prior to the forming step of the barrier metal film.

The present invention generally relates to semiconductor devices and more particularly to the fabrication process of a semiconductor device that has a contact structure contacting with a diffusion region or gate electrode formed on a semiconductor substrate.
In the art of MOS semiconductor integrated circuit devices, increase of integration density and decrease of device size are steadily in progress for the purpose of achieving higher operational speed, diversified functions, larger storage capacities and lower power consumption. Today, there emerged semiconductor devices that have a gate length of less than 100 nm. With such ultra-miniaturized semiconductor devices, there arise various problems to be solved, and innovation of technology has become inevitable.
Patent Reference 1 Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application 8-45878 official gazette
Patent Reference 2 Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application 11-214650 official gazette

Semiconductor device and a fabrication process thereof


An oven appliance may include a cabinet, a plurality of chamber walls, a cooking surface, a top heating element, a temperature sensor, and a controller. The cooking surface may be defined in a cooking chamber. The top heating element may be mounted above the cooking surface to heat the cooking chamber. The temperature sensor may be disposed within the cabinet. The controller may be configured to initiate a cooking operation that includes initiating preheat activation of the top heating element, receiving temperature signals from the temperature sensor during the preheat activation, determining a preheat threshold is met based on the received temperature signals, and initiating cooking activation of the top heating element based on a cooking cycle having a predetermined time interval subsequent to determining the preheat threshold is met. Initiating cooking activation may include directing the top heating element based on the cooking cycle for the predetermined time interval.

Conventional residential and commercial oven appliances generally include a cabinet that includes a cooking chamber for receipt of food items for cooking. Multiple gas or electric heating elements are positioned within the cabinet for heating the cooking chamber to cook food items located therein. The heating elements can include, for example, a bake heating assembly positioned at a bottom of the cooking chamber and a separate broiler heating assembly positioned at a top of the cooking chamber.
Typically, food or utensils for cooking are placed on wire racks within the cooking chamber and above the bake heating assembly. When the bake heating assembly is activated, heat from the bake heating assembly is thus forced to rise through an air gap, and any other intermediate elements, between the bake heating assembly and the wire rack before the utensil on the wire rack can be heated. Heat within the cooking chamber is relatively diffuse, and the temperature is generally consistent about the item or items on the rack.
Although these conventional configurations are useful for many types of foods, there are certain disadvantages. For instance, certain food items, such as pizzas or breads, may benefit from very high, localized (i.e., non-diffuse) heat for a relatively short amount of time. Some such cooking operations are commonly referred to as short-cycle cooking operations. Oftentimes, stone or specialized high-heat cooking surfaces are used for trapping heat against the bottom of flat-breads or pizza. Such cooking surfaces may be difficult to preheat or maintain at a specific temperature desired by the user. Traditional oven preheat methods alternate bottom and top heat in order to evenly heat the oven. This method would require a long period of time to bring a high-intensity oven's cooking surface to a "ready-to-cook" temperature. Alternatively, preheating a cooking surface with bottom heat only can result in uneven temperatures on the cooking surface, with areas near the bottom heater being hotter than those further away. This method also does not preheat the oven chamber, which can reduce cooking performance
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide an oven appliance or methods for preheating a cooking surface and oven chamber and maintaining those temperatures throughout a cooking cycle.

Oven appliance and method for preheating high-heat cooking surface


A controller for steering a client device between content streaming apparatuses in a wireless local area network (WLAN). The controller is configured to determine whether a client device should be steered to a content streaming apparatus based on at least one sample measurement related to the client device and/or the content streaming apparatus. The steering logic calculations may use predetermined thresholds.

Repeaters or extenders are commonly utilized to extend the coverage area of Wi-Fi or wireless networks. Generally, extenders (or repeaters) operate by receiving and amplifying existing Wi-Fi signals from an access point (AP) within the extender and transmitting the boosted or amplified signal to a receiver within a digital device, such as an STA, gateway, etc. The coverage area of a given Wi-Fi network can be effectively doubled with the use of a Wi-Fi repeater or extender, extending the Wi-Fi connectivity to far corners of a home or office, different floors, or even to outside proximal locations. Though wireless extenders are added to Wi-Fi networks to improve the Wi-Fi coverage of a gateway, Wi-Fi client's STAs do not easily re-associate with a new access point. Instead, the STAs tend to remain associated with one AP (in the gateway or an extender) when a closer AP with stronger Wi-Fi link is available. This issue is known as the "sticky client" problem; the mobile devices fail to roam to the best AP because the Wi-Fi airtime is shared among all the devices connected to the wireless LAN (WLAN).
"AP steering" moves a client (STA) "stuck" to one AP with a poor signal quality, indicated by a low received signal strength indicator (RSSI), to another AP with a better signal strength. While air-time fairness logic provided by chipset vendors mitigates one client "hogging" airtime from others, the client is better off being moved to another AP. Various steering solutions involve "AP steering" of a client conducted by a controller in, e.g. a gateway, to disassociate a client from an existing AP if it has a weak link and force it to find another AP with a strong link. The steering is typically not managed by a network controller, and the chips in the AP do not communicate received signal strength indicator (RSSI) information to the network controller. As a result, these steering solutions fail to provide additional logic criteria in determining whether to move the client.
"Band steering", on the other hand, optimizes channel utilization in a given AP to avoid overloading one band over another band by enabling dual-band wireless clients to connect to less crowded 5 GHz network, leaving the 2.4 GHz network available for those clients who support 2.4 GHz only. Accordingly, Wi-Fi performance can be improved for all clients. When a Wi-Fi environment offers connectivity in both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, and clients have both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz capability, band-steering techniques therefore need to define an optimal or target balance of the load between the two frequency bands.
As just noted, WiFi client band steering is typically driven by the need to make a more efficient balance of 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz channel utilization as triggered when an AP shows high utilization. This includes trying to get more advanced clients with 802.11ac (VHT) on 5 GHz and those with only 802.11n (HT) on 2.4 GHz. Conversely, WiFi client AP steering is typically driven by the need to move a client with poor link quality that is "stuck" on a given AP to another AP with better link quality. This need exists because client logic is often resistant to changing AP/channel on its own. Thus, while dynamic ("smart") channel selection may be implemented from a chipset vendor to shift a signal between bands on a given device; dynamic channel selection does account for AP steering based on signal strength, nor does dynamic correction provide additional logic criteria to determine whether to move a client STA to another device entirely. The converse is also true; device logic for AP steering based on signal strength does not account for channel utilization on the particular bands that a client STA is switched to.
The separate controller logic or band and AP steering of WiFi clients can result in inefficient/cross purpose operations. An example is a client being steered to another band of the same extender or other device, when steering to another device entirely would have been preferable. Another example is a client being steered to a new device on the same band, when another band in the new device would have been preferable.
Another issue is that logic for RG client steering can be overly simplistic, focused simply on channel utilization or client link quality. Finally an issue is that 802.11 blacklisting is often used exclusively for executing client steering. Instead 802.11 BSS transition management (BTM) should be the favored over blacklisting when proactively executing client steering if both AP and client are found to support BTM.


The present invention relates to preformed seals used in the manufacture of low density gas filled disk drives. The seals may be preformed to facilitate positioning in the disk drive and eliminate the need for manually applied or semi-automatically applied epoxies, thereby reducing manual labor costs, non-uniform seals, waste and inefficiencies due to equipment malfunction. The epoxy seals may soften and seal after being positioned, thereby forming an in-place hermetic or substantially hermetic seal.

Hard disk drives incorporate magnetic storage disks and read/write heads which are capable of reading data from and writing data onto the rotating storage disks. Data is typically stored on each magnetic storage disk in a number of concentric tracks on the disk. The read/write heads, also referred to as read/write transducers or read/write elements, are integrated within a slider. The slider, in turn, is part of an actuator assembly which positions the heads relative to the surface of the storage disks. This may be at a predetermined height above the corresponding storage disk or, in some instances, in contact with the surface of the storage disk. The actuator assembly is typically positioned by a voice coil motor which acts to position the slider over a desired track. One or more read/write heads may be integrated within a single slider. In the case of non-contact sliders, a cushion of air is generated between the slider and the rotating disk. The cushion is often referred to as an air bearing.
Hard disk drives are an efficient and cost effective solution for data storage. Depending upon the requirements of the particular application, a disk drive may include anywhere from one to a plurality of hard disks and data may be stored on one or both surfaces of each disk. While hard disk drives are traditionally thought of as a component of a personal computer or as a network server, usage has expanded to include other storage applications such as set top boxes for recording and time shifting of television programs, personal digital assistants, cameras, music players and other consumer electronic devices, each having differing information storage capacity requirements.
A primary goal of disk drive assemblies is to provide maximum recording density on the storage disk. In order to provide greater storage capacity on a storage disk, track widths have become increasingly narrower. However, decreasing the width of tracks makes it more difficult for the read/write heads to accurately read and write information to and from the narrowing tracks. Not only is it difficult to physically position the read/write element over a narrow width track, but it is increasingly difficult to maintain the read/write element over the track at an optimal position for accurate data transfer. Air turbulence created by the spinning disks, disk flutter and spindle vibrations, temperature and altitude can all adversely effect registration of the read/write element relative to the tracks. Moreover, increasing the speed of the rotating disks to achieve increased data access times increases air turbulence, which increases misregistration between the read/write element and the tracks on the storage disks (track misregistration or TMR). Higher rotational speeds can also increase disk flutter and spindle vibrations further increasing TMR. Higher rotational speeds can also increase spindle motor power and idle acoustics.
Accuracy can be further adversely effected if the read/write heads are not maintained within an optimum height range above the surface of the storage disk. Thus, a related goal is to increase reading efficiency or to reduce reading errors, while increasing recording density. Reducing the distance between the magnetic transducer and the recording medium of the disk generally advances both of those goals. Indeed, from a recording standpoint, the slider is ideally maintained in direct contact with the recording medium (the disk) to position the magnetic transducer as close to the magnetized portion of the disk as possible. Contact positioning of the slider permits tracks to be written more narrowly and reduces errors when writing data to the tracks. However, since the disk rotates many thousands of revolutions per minute or more, continuous direct contact between the slider and the recording medium can cause unacceptable wear on these components. Excessive wear on the recording medium can result in the loss of data, among other things. Excessive wear on the slider can result in contact between the read/write transducer and the disk surface resulting, in turn, in failure of the transducer, which can cause catastrophic failure.
Similarly, the efficiency of reading data from a disk increases as the read element is moved closer to the disk. Because the signal to noise ratio increases with decreasing distance between the magnetic transducer and the disk, moving the read/write element closer to the disk increases reading efficiency. As previously mentioned, the ideal solution would be to place the slider in contact with the disk surface, but there are attendant disadvantages. In non-contact disk drives there are also limitations on how close a read/write element may be to the surface of a disk. A range of spacing is required for several reasons, including the manufacturing tolerances of the components, texturing of the disk surface and environmental conditions, such as altitude and temperature. These factors, as well as air turbulence, disk flutter and spindle vibration, can cause the read/write element flying height to vary or even cause the read/write element to contact the spinning disk.
Disk drives are assembled in a clean room to reduce contamination from entering the drive prior to final assembly. Thus, the air that is trapped within the drive once it is finally sealed is filtered room air. Accordingly, seals or gaskets used in disk drives between the housing components, such as between the base plate and cover, are designed to prevent contaminants from entering the drive. Such seals are not designed to prevent internal air and other gases from exiting through the seal and out of the drive. Loss of gas in this manner is anticipated and accommodated by use of a filtered port to maintain equalized air pressure within the drive compared to that of air pressure outside of the drive.
As an alternative to air-filled drives, advantages may be achieved by filling disk drives with gases having a lower density than air. For example, helium has a lower density than air at similar pressures and temperatures and can enhance drive performance. As used herein, a low density gas or a lower density gas means a gas having a density less than that of air. When compared with air, lower density gases can reduce aerodynamic drag experienced by spinning disks within the drive, thereby reducing power requirements for the spindle motor. A low density gas-filled drive thus uses less power than a comparable disk drive that operates in an air environment. Relatedly, the reduction in drag forces within the low density gas-filled drive reduces the amount of aerodynamic turbulence that is experienced by drive components such as the actuator arms, suspensions and read/write heads. Some low density gases also have greater thermal conductivity, which results in better motor efficiencies and therefore lower power consumption for a given performance level. Reduction in turbulence allows drives filled with low density gas to operate at higher speeds compared with air-filled drives, while maintaining the same flying height and thereby maintaining the same range of read/write errors. Low density gas-filled chives also allow for higher storage capacities through higher recording densities due to the fact that there is less turbulence within the drive which allows the tracks to be spaced more closely together.
Despite these advantages, low density gas-filled drives have not been commercially successful. Low density gas-filled drives, in order to function, must be effectively sealed over an acceptable lifetime of the drive. It has been difficult to prevent the low density gas from escaping from the sealed drive environment. Unlike air-filled drives, a port may not be used to equalize pressure outside and inside the drive. As a result, the seal between the cover and base plate must minimize or prevent leakage and maintain a threshold level of low density gas within the sealed environment over the expected lifetime of the drive. Conventional rubber seals used in air-filled drives are inadequate at preventing leakage of low density gas due to the smaller atom size of low density gases, such as helium, compared to air. The smaller helium atoms diffuse through the rubber seals, thereby reducing the volume of low density gas within the drive. Thus, over time, the necessary threshold quantity of low density gas may be lost within the drive environment and may or may not be replaced with ambient air. In either case, the performance of the drive will change from the design specifications, namely, a low density gas-filled sealed environment. As the low density gas leaks out of a drive and is replaced by air, the drive is subject to undesirable operational effects possibly leading to unacceptable error rates and/or failure of the drive. For example, the increased concentration of air may increase the turbulent forces on the heads due to the increased drag forces within the drive which may further cause the heads to fly at too great a distance above the disks and potentially increasing instances of read/write errors. If the low density gas leaks from the sealed environment over time and is not replaced by ambient air, problems will occur such as the heads flying at a distance too close or in contact with the disks, thereby increasing instances of read/write errors as well as damage to the disk surface and head and higher operating temperatures due to a reduction in conduction cooling. Each creates a reliability risk. The risk of unanticipated failures due to inadequate amounts of low density gas within the drive is a draw back to low density gas-filled drives. Indeed, data stored within the drive may be irretrievably lost if the drive fails due to the loss of the low density gas environment.
Low density gas-filled drives also must be designed to permit testing and rework, if necessary. Thus, the ability to seal openings in the base plate and/or cover plate on a temporary basis and on a long-term basis must exist. Such openings include, but are not limited to, openings for securing ends of the spindle and actuator shafts to the cover or base plate, or openings to permit self servo-writing. These openings must be adequately sealed to permit testing of the drive under normal conditions and, if possible, unsealed to permit rework. Thus, it is desirable to minimize waste and optimize efficiencies when sealing a disk drive housing to allow rework when needed.
Seals are a critical component for any disk drive, particularly low density gas filled disk drives. One critical sealing location is around electrical connectors in the disk drive base plate. For example, multi-pin input/output connectors are used to connect the printed circuit board, typically secured to the exterior of the base plate, to the electrical components within the sealed interior portion of the drive housing, such as the flex circuit. Prior to the present invention, an epoxy sealant was dispensed either manually, such as with a hand-operated syringe, or semi-automatically using a dispensing machine which mixes and applies adhesives and sealants during the assembly process. Because manual labor is involved in each of these processes, these application methodologies are relatively costly. Moreover, it is also difficult to maintain uniform consistency in the application, placement and quantity of the sealing epoxy due to the use of manual labor and/or due to the need to continuously add component epoxies to mixing and dispensing machines and simultaneously maintain operation of the machines which tend to clog over time. These methods require additional processing time for mixing and dispensing of component epoxies and require specialized equipment to apply the sealing epoxy and to try to accurately control volume and placement of the epoxy. These techniques also require regular and frequent equipment cleanup and maintenance which is labor-intensive. These methods are also inefficient in terms of material usage. Not only does the quantity of epoxy applied vary, possibly resulting in the waste of epoxy, but a large quantity of epoxy remains unused in the dispensing equipment, cannot be subsequently used and is discarded.
Another drawback of these techniques is contamination of the electrical or input/output pins by the sealing epoxy. Either the epoxy is applied first, requiring the pins of the connector to push through the pre-existing epoxy, or the epoxy is applied following assembly of the connector, in which case the application methodology causes the epoxy to contact and contaminate the pins. In each scenario, the epoxy-coated pins may no longer create a reliable electrical connection between electrical components on opposite sides of the base plate. In turn, this can cause electrical failures in the disk drive.