A surgical device for osteotomy allows for accurate determination of the angle at which a bone in the human or animal body should be corrected, and for precisely maintaining the angle constant during the entire surgical procedure. The surgical device having on its distal end a circular segment fixed to a distal end of a first blade and further moveably connected to a distal end of a second blade. The distal end of the second blade is allowed to move along the circular segment, wherein the proximal ends of the first and second blade converge at an angle. At least a pair of pin guide openings are provided in parallel for inserting and positioning at least two parallel pins or drill bits. The surgical device provides unique fixed reference means allowing to perform a precise surgery according to predetermined parameters and angles even at the final stages of the operation.

Osteotomy is a surgical operation during which an incision is made in the bone at a specific location in order to correct the alignment of this bone. Osteotomy can be applied to various bones in the human or animal body, but most commonly to the proximal or distal femur, the proximal or distal tibia, the proximal or distal humerus, the forearm and in some cases, the smaller bones like the clavicle, fingers, or toes. The correction is usually carried out on the basis of a predetermined axis. The most common reasons for osteotomic intervention are traumas or congenital abnormalities that affect the joints or bones leading to pain, discomfort, or further complications.
Depending on whether a positive or negative bone inclination adjustment is required, osteotomy can be divided to two realignment procedures. The first type, opening wedge osteotomy, involves creating an incision that is then spread-open using a spreader device to create a broadened wedge-shaped opening which can be filled with a bone substitute. In the second type, closing wedge osteotomy, two incisions are made into the bone to create a wedge-shaped piece that is removed and the gap that is left is closed. Both corrections are then stabilised by fixing the bone ends together with an implant, usually a plate screwed above and below the place where the wedges were formed.
Osteotomy has to be done correctly in the first attempt, given the extensive recovery time and potential complications. The probably most commonly performed osteotomy is done in the vicinity of the knee joint (knee osteotomy). There are currently several devices known in the art serving the exact purpose of aiding knee osteotomy, cf. US20020133157, US2008262500, US2002165552. Several of them make use of hinged spreaders whose opening angle is controlled and optionally measured using a screw-based system cf., EP2036509 or US20050273114. Several devices are equipped with more exact protractors for reading of the angle and may use swinging adjustable pins for stabilising the protractor on the uneven bone surface while estimating the measure of the necessary correction angle, cf. US2008195099, FR2679126. Several of these devices allow a relatively precise calculation of the necessary correction angle during making and spreading the wedge incision, but once such device is removed, the surgeon is left with no exact guideline or points of reference allowing him to control that the pre-determined angle is not being changed during the fixing procedure. Usually, the surgeons have to rely only on 2D X-ray pictures that are being extensively taken during the operation, as none of the currently-available devices provides fixed reference means for guiding the surgeon during fixation of the wedge made in the bone after the angle measuring device has been removed to make way for fixation means. Therefore, there currently exists a need for an economical simple device that would not only uniformly allow the precise calculation of the necessary correction angle, but would also provide means for maintaining this pre-determined angle constant during the fixation of screws and plates, thus also advantageously allowing reduced use and exposure to X-rays.

Surgical device for proper orientation during osteotomy


A method and circuit for sampling input waveform signals at a predetermined periodic rate by detecting a peak and a bottom value during each period. The method further includes holding a peak value and a bottom value of an input waveform signal whenever they are generated as hold values and resetting the hold value to the current input waveform signal level so as to obtain a high-fidelity sampling output. The peak level or the bottom level is generated as a sampling value according to which is operating, the peak hold or bottom hold, at the sampling time. If both are currently not operating, then outputting the hold which was the last in operation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and circuit for sampling input waveform signals at a predetermined periodic rate and detecting a peak point and a bottom point in each sampling period.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As known hitherto, a prior art sampling method includes, as shown in FIG. 7, comparing a sampling value obtained immediately before the beginning of a sampling period with the sampling period peak and bottom values to determine which value has the greatest difference from the sampling value during the period of sampling. The value which is output corresponds to the peak or bottom value which results in the greatest difference from the sampling value.
According to this method and referring to this FIG. 7, no problem may be encountered at sampling points t.sub.1 to t.sub.4 where the difference value to a peak level is less than that to a bottom level within each sampling period. However, despite a peak arising between t.sub.5 and t.sub.6, the peak level L.sub.P will not be output since the difference from the sampled value is greater to bottom level L.sub.B. Accordingly, where, for example, QRS wave of an electrocardiogram signal is sampled, a peak value when the sampling value is reproduced sharply fluctuates as compared with an input waveform despite the peak level being almost uniform.


A method of secure key distribution in a communication system having a plurality of subscriber units and an infrastructure communication center is provided. A first subscriber unit sends a request to the infrastructure communication center for a secure communication link with a second subscriber unit. This request includes an encrypted session encryption key which was encrypted with a first subscriber registration key. The infrastructure communication center decrypts the encrypted session encryption key with the first subscriber registration key. Subsequently, the infrastructure communication center re-encrypts the session encryption key with a second subscriber registration key. This re-encrypted session encryption key is sent to the second subscriber unit. In an alternative method, the first subscriber unit and the infrastructure communication center a priori know a session key. Therefore, the infrastructure communication center only needs to encrypt and send the session encryption key to the second subscriber unit, in response to a request by the first subscriber unit.

Many communications systems currently use encryption to enhance security of the systems. These communication systems include cellular radio telephone communication system, personal communication systems, paging systems, as well as wireline and wireless data networks. By way of example a cellular communication system will be described below; however, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the encryption techniques described can be readily extended to other communication systems without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention. Turning now to cellular communication systems, these systems typically include subscriber units (such as mobile or portable units) which communicate with a fixed network communication unit via radio frequency (RF) communication links. A typical cellular communication system includes at least one base station (i.e., communication unit) and a switching center (i.e., an infrastructure communication center). Present cellular communication systems are designed to encrypt communications on an RF link between a subscriber unit and a base station unit through the use of an encryption key known to both units so that others who intercept the RF link communication link will be unable to listen to the communication (e.g., unable to eavesdrop on a voice conversation).
One such RF link encryption technique is described in the United States Digital Cellular (USDC) standard (known as IS-54 and IS-55) and published by the Electronic Industries Association (EIA), 2001 Eye Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20006. The USDC system encryption technique utilizes a series of specialized messages which must be passed between the subscriber unit and a base site communication unit before a session encryption key is known to both units. This encryption key is based upon shared secret data (SSD)in USDC system. For an authentication process an SSDA key is used. Similarly, for a voice privacy function an SSD.sub.B key is used. For the voice privacy function, the initial transmitted subscriber message contains an authentication response, but no other data is encrypted. The command to begin an encryption process is sent from the service provider (i.e., base site communication unit) to the subscriber after the subscriber has been assigned a traffic channel. Further, current system architecture design is focused on bringing encryption to data as well as voice. Data consists of either synchronous or packet data. Ideally, an encryption key should be provided for each data communication session. In a synchronous data environment, a session key is an encryption key which is used for the duration of a single (e.g., circuit switched) data communication (i.e., "call"). Similarly in a data packet environment, a session key is an encryption key which is used from the time that the communication unit registers with a serving system until the next time that the communication unit re-registers. In addition, in a previously-cited related invention entitled "Method and Apparatus for Efficient Real-Time Authentication and Encryption in a Communication System" by Brown et al. having U.S. Ser. No. 08/084,644, and filed on Jun. 28, 1993, another encryption key is proposed for USDC system which is termed an SSD.sub.C key and which is used for data packet encryption. In these communication systems, packetized data also needs to be encrypted. Packetized data adds an additional problem to the typical encryption process. This is because packets of data may arrive at different times at a subscriber unit of a communication unit (i.e., packet messages are "connectionless"). These packets need to be reassembled and decrypted in the same order in which they were encrypted. In addition, an encryption key can only be negotiated when a subscriber performs a registration. Therefore, a need exists for an encryption technique which can alleviate these problems associated with packetized data.
However, these previously known encryption techniques do not address all of the possible eavesdropping vulnerabilities inherent in a communication channel. Eavesdropping may still occur at other points in the communication channel between the subscriber unit and an endpoint target communication device such as through wiretapping of a land-line phone. Such a communication between a subscriber unit and an endpoint target communication device is termed a "point-to-point" communication. The communication may travel along several different physical communication links before being ultimately coupled via a communication link between the subscriber and target devices. For example in the cellular environment, a user of a subscriber unit may place a voice call to a target communication device located at a place of business. In order for that call to be completed, a communication channel must be set up on an RF link to a base site communication unit. In addition, the communication channel must be extended through the public switched telephone network (PSTN) to the place of business. This place of business may have a private telephone network connected to the PSTN. As a result, the communication channel may also need to be extended through the private network to ultimately connect with the target communication device. Currently, encryption techniques are only being applied to individual components of the entire communication channel (e.g., the RF link in USDC system may be encrypted). However, this leaves other components such as the PSTN or private network vulnerable to eavesdropping through wiretapping. Therefore, a need also exists for an encryption technique which can alleviate these problems associated with eavesdropping at other points of the communication channel.

Method for key management of point-to-point communications


A merchandising system for conducting a control of article display positions that are generally changed by the customers includes a method of obtaining article display positions based on the present display state. In this system, when selecting coordinate items to be suitably combined with an article, the display positions thereof can be easily determined, which advantageously helps the customer to search the store or floor for the desired items.

The present invention relates to an article or goods display control method, an article or goods guide method, and a system of the same suitable for obtaining merchandising information to control sales and stock amounts of articles in a store.
There has been known an information system for distribution industries called a planogram or a facing control expert system. This system helps make an article display plan and outputs on a display an image of an article display state (reference is to be made to pages 67 to 72 of Hitachi Hyoron, Vol. 71, No. 2 and to U.S. Pat. No. 4,947,322). In the conventional system, there is produced an image similar to a patchwork presenting various images of articles and goods respectively viewed from a front side thereof like an image of a front view of a display shelf of a supermarket. Moreover, this system is designed on the assumption that the articles are to be displayed or arranged at the respective predetermined positions on the display shelves. In consequence, information of positions beforehand assigned to the respective articles or items are inputted to a computer system so as to generate an article display image based on the display positions.
An example of an article guide system using information outputted from an article display control system of this type is as follows.
As a conventional article guide system aiming at helping a sales job in a store or shop handling dresses and ornaments or accessories associated therewith, there has been known, for example, an electronic dress check system called "Magic Mirror" described in Hightech Merchandising Method in the U.S. III. Merchandising In Store/Mall" (Nikkei data Pro-Marketing System, October 1988, MA1-600-006).
In this electronic dress check system, a customer first specifies a desired dress and an ornament therefor from a catalogue of dresses and ornaments. The store employee supplies the system with numbers respectively of the specified dress and accessory together with a body shape and a face contour of the customer. In response to these supplied items, the system generates and displays an image on which the specified dress and accessory are projected onto the contour of the body with the face of the customer.
Consequently, in this system, the customer need not actually try on the dress. Namely, based on the display image in which the customer seems to actually put the dress on, it is possible for the customer to check the dress for suitability before a decision is made for the purchase of the dress.
As a result, for the store side as well as for the customer, the period of time conventionally required to try on the dress and an ornament therefor can be dispensed with; namely, a time-saving effect is achieved.

Visual merchandizing (VMD) control method and system


A medical software application including an interface which is configured to allow for automatic barcode scanning of barcodes associated with patients and medications for medication administration is further configured to display confirmation of each of the “five rights” of medication administration.

The present invention generally relates to the use of a mobile device for healthcare provision and medical software therefore.
In healthcare practices, it is common for nurses administering medications to confirm the "five rights" of medication administration: right patient, right drug, right dose, right route, and right time.
Historically, nurses would manually confirm each of these rights prior to medication administration. As technology has developed, medication administration has evolved, and technology, such as bar code scanning, is utilized in many medication administration processes. For example, in an exemplary conventional bar code medication administration (BCMA) process, a nurse scans a barcode associated with a medication, and then scans a barcode printed on a patient's wristband, and software confirms the medication is the right medication for the right patient. Existing software may confirm other of the "five rights", but this confirmation is not exposed to a user, so a healthcare practitioner has to either trust that the software is confirming the "five rights", or manually confirm the "five rights".
Sometimes, however, a particular barcode is unreadable or cannot be scanned, or a barcode is not available. Frequently, medical software configured for barcode scanning will allow a user to bypass a scan feature when needed. Generally, however, this bypass feature requires a user to leave a scanning interface to enter required information for the bypass.
Further, it is common for nurses administering medications to review patient vitals and lab results. This information is commonly available in electronic health record software, but accessing it typically requires multi-step navigation through the software.
It is similarly important that nurses administering medications have access to allergy information.
In many cases, a clinician initially only cares about whether there are allergies or not and how severe they are. A low severity allergy is not as important as a high severity one. For patients with a long list of allergies, it is often hard to scan them to determine how severe they are and what a clinician needs to pay attention to. In some existing medical software, allergy information is truncated and a clinician needs to hover to find important information, which may be at the end of the list. Further, in many cases environmental (latex) or food (peanuts or shellfish) allergies are just as dangerous (or more so) than drug allergies. These are not always emphasized or are displayed later in the list. There is no way to easily to see that a patient has severe allergies without taking the time to sort through the allergy list.
The display of allergy information for a patient is essential during many aspects of patient care, but for patients with multiple allergies, it is hard to display the entire list of allergies in an application interface all of the time in a way that will be meaningful to a clinician.
Needs exist for improvement in medical software for a mobile device. These, and other needs, are addressed by one or more aspects of the present invention.


Real-time monitoring, parametric profiling, and regulating contaminated outdoor air particulate matter throughout a region, via hyper-spectral imaging and analysis. Includes: (12) real-time sampling, and hyper-spectrally imaging and analyzing, contaminated outdoor air particulate matter, simultaneously at separate locations throughout the region, for generating local contaminated outdoor air particulate matter data-information packages; (14) real-time measuring outdoor weather-meteorological conditions, simultaneously at the locations, synchronized with the real-time sampling, imaging, and analyzing, for generating local outdoor weather-meteorological conditions data-information packages; (16, 18) real-time processing and analyzing the local data-information packages, for generating sets of local and regional geographical distribution parametric data-information profiles of contaminated outdoor air particulate matter, showing real-time local and regional geographical distributions of qualitative or/and quantitative parameters of contaminated outdoor air particulate matter, via a global data-information processing and communications unit. Particularly suitable for monitoring, profiling, maintaining, operating and controlling, developing, and planning, infrastructure and vehicular traffic, of human populated regions.

'Outdoor air' generally refers to air which is located outdoors (out-of-doors) or outside of (typically, automatically or/and manually climate controllable) closed types of structural entities (i.e., buildings), and which is normally, continuously breathed in by humans on a daily basis, among the myriad of other ways in which outdoor air is used or/and consumed. 'Outdoor air particulate matter' generally refers to essentially any type(s) or kind(s), size(s), and quantity(ies), and, ranges and distributions thereof, of matter being in particulate (or particulate-like) (solid phase) form, which is present in or throughout outdoor air. Such particulate (or particulate-like) matter is considered as being 'airborne' (i.e., moved or conveyed by or through air). Such particulate (or particulate-like) matter is composed or made up of essentially any type(s) or kind(s), size(s), and quantity(ies), and, ranges and distributions thereof, of inorganic or/and organic material(s) or substance(s). Such particulate (or particulate-like) matter is either visible (macro-sized) or invisible (micro-sized) to the naked eye. A well known and commonly used convention for characterizing the size of such particulate (or particulate-like) matter is based on the particulate (or particulate-like) matter having a characteristic diameter (such as an average or longest diameter) of less than a specified magnitude, for example, less than 2.5 microns (fine particulate matter), or less than 10 microns (course particulate matter), being referred to by the terms 'PM2.5', and 'PM10', respectively.
'Contaminated (polluted) outdoor air particulate matter' generally refers to outdoor air particulate matter (as described above) which, by itself is at least one type or kind, and form, of contaminant (pollutant), or/and is contaminated (polluted) by (i.e., includes) at least one type or kind, and form, of contaminant (pollutant). Alternatively stated, there are two 'main' cases, and a third 'combination' case thereof, of 'contaminated outdoor air particulate matter'. Namely, in the first main case, the outdoor air particulate matter is by itself at least one type or kind, and form, of contaminant, and is therefore, contaminated outdoor air particulate matter. In the second main case, the outdoor air particulate matter is not by itself a contaminant, rather, the outdoor air particulate matter is contaminated by (i.e., includes) at least one type or kind, and form, of contaminant, and is therefore, contaminated outdoor air particulate matter. In the third 'combination' case, the outdoor air particulate matter includes (is composed of) both the first and second main cases of contaminated outdoor air particulate matter.
A 'contaminant (pollutant)' generally refers to essentially any type(s) or kind(s), form(s), size(s), and quantity(ies), and, ranges and distributions thereof, of matter that, when a human (internally or/and externally) contacts (is exposed to) sufficient quantity(ies) or/and duration(s) thereof, such matter is considered (i.e., either known or suspected) as being, or potentially being, problematic, hazardous, or harmful to human health and well being.
For the case of outdoor air particulate matter itself not being at least one type or kind, and form, of contaminant, then, such outdoor air particular matter is contaminated by at least one type or kind, and form, of contaminant as a result of one or more physicochemical interaction mechanisms (such as physical or/and chemical absorption or/and adsorption) existing between the outdoor air particulate matter and the at least one contaminant, whereby the at least one contaminant is physically or/and chemically absorbed or/and adsorbed on or/and within the outdoor air particulate matter. In such a case, the outdoor air particulate matter serves as the mobile medium or carrier (transporter, conveyor) of the at least one contaminant.
For either case of the outdoor air particulate matter itself being at least one contaminant, or, being contaminated by (i.e., including) at least one contaminant, or, being a combination thereof, then, in view and by extension of the preceding description, 'contaminated outdoor air particulate matter' generally refers to matter that, when a human (internally or/and externally) contacts (is exposed to) sufficient quantity(ies) or/and duration(s) thereof, such matter is considered (i.e., either known or suspected) as being, or potentially being, problematic, hazardous, or harmful to human health and well being. Such human (internal or/and external) contact with (exposure to) contaminated outdoor air particulate matter is generally effected by normal human air-breathing mechanisms (i.e., via nasal passageways or/and skin pores), and by normal human air-contacting (exposure) mechanisms (i.e., direct contact (exposure) of non-porous areas of skin to air).
A direct result and consequence of contaminated outdoor air particulate matter, considered (i.e., either known or suspected) as being, or potentially being, problematic, hazardous, or harmful to human health and well being, is the need for monitoring, parametric profiling, and regulating contaminated outdoor air particulate matter throughout regions populated by humans. Such is especially the case for fulfilling the important objective of achieving and maintaining high quality levels of outdoor air of the human populated regions, which, in turn, contributes to achieving and maintaining high quality levels of public health, welfare, and activities throughout the human populated regions.
Monitoring, parametric profiling, and regulating contaminated outdoor air particulate matter throughout a region involve the following three main aspects: (1) monitoring (tracking, checking, testing) the (contents or/and quality of the) contaminated outdoor air particulate matter throughout the region, (2) parametric profiling (characterizing, classifying, correlating) the (contents or/and quality of the) contaminated outdoor air particulate matter throughout the region, and (3) regulating (controlling, changing) the (contents or/and quality of the) contaminated outdoor air particulate matter throughout the region.
Teachings of or/and relating to monitoring, parametric profiling, and regulating contaminated outdoor air particulate matter throughout a region, and of related or/and associated subjects and applications thereof (such as monitoring, parametric profiling, and regulating outdoor air, or/and contaminated (polluted) outdoor air), are well known and taught about in scientific, technical, and patent, literature, and currently practiced in a wide variety of numerous different fields and areas of technology.
There exists teachings and practices of a wide variety of different analytical methods and techniques, and associated analytical equipment, instrumentation, hardware, and software, which are suitable for on-line (real time, near-real time) or off-line analysis of contaminated outdoor air or/and contaminated outdoor air particulate matter. Clearly, many factors, parameters, conditions, criteria, and requirements, are involved that need to be identified, analyzed, considered, accounted for, and possibly tested, in order to properly determine which particular analytical method or technique, and, associated analytical equipment, instrumentation, hardware, and software, are most suitable for analyzing a particular type or kind, form, and quantity, of contaminated outdoor air or/and contaminated outdoor air particulate matter.
Hyper-Spectral Imaging and Analysis
Hyper-spectral imaging and analysis has been established as a highly unique, specialized, and sophisticated, combined spectroscopy and imaging type of analytical method or technique, in the more encompassing field or area of analytical science and technology, involving the sciences and technologies of spectroscopy and imaging. By definition, hyper-spectral imaging and analysis is based on a combination of spectroscopy and imaging theories, principles, and practices, which are exploitable for analyzing and classifying various different types and kinds of samples of matter in a highly unique, specialized, and sophisticated, manner.
Hyper-spectral imaging, in general, generating and collecting hyper-spectral images, and, processing and analyzing hyper-spectral image data and information, in particular, theory, principles, and practices thereof, and, related and associated applications and subjects thereof, such as the more general subject of spectral imaging, are well known and taught about in scientific, technical, and patent, literature, and currently practiced in a wide variety of numerous different fields and areas of technology. Selected teachings and practices of hyper-spectral imaging and analysis by the same applicant/assignee of the present invention are disclosed in references 1-8 (and references cited therein).
In sharp contrast to the regular or standard spectroscopic imaging technique of 'spectral' imaging and analysis, the more highly specialized, complex, and sophisticated, spectroscopic imaging technique of 'hyper-spectral' imaging and analysis, consists of using a hyper-spectral imaging and analysis system for on-line (real time, near-real time) or off-line generating and collecting (acquiring) hyper-spectral images and spectra (herein, together, generally referred to as hyper-spectral image data and information), and, processing and analyzing the acquired hyper-spectral image data and information. In hyper-spectral imaging, multiple fields of view of an object (and components thereof) (for example, included in a sample of matter) is 'hyper-spectrally' scanned and imaged while the object (and components thereof) is exposed to electromagnetic radiation.
During the hyper-spectral scanning and imaging there is generating and collecting relatively large numbers (up to the order of millions) of multiple spectral (i.e., hyper-spectral) images, 'one-at-a-time', but, in an extremely fast or rapid sequential manner, of the objects (and components thereof) emitting electromagnetic radiation at a plurality of many wavelengths (or frequencies, or energies), where the wavelengths (or frequencies, or energies) are associated with different selected (relatively narrow) portions or bands, or bands therein, of an entire hyper-spectrum emitted by the objects (and components thereof). A hyper-spectral imaging and analysis system can be operated in an extremely fast or rapid manner for providing exceptionally highly resolved spectral and spatial data and information of an imaged object (and components thereof), with high accuracy and high precision (reproducibility), which are fundamentally unattainable by using a regular or standard spectral imaging and analysis system.
In general, when electromagnetic radiation, for example, in the form of light such as that supplied by the sun, or by a man-made imaging type of illuminating or energy source, such as that used during hyper-spectral imaging, is incident upon an object, the electromagnetic radiation is affected by one or more of the species or components making up the object, by any combination of electromagnetic radiation absorption, diffusion, reflection, diffraction, scattering, or/and transmission, mechanisms. Moreover, an object whose composition includes organic chemical species or components, ordinarily exhibits some degree or extent of fluorescent or/and phosphorescent properties, characteristics, and behavior, when illuminated by some type of electromagnetic radiation or light, such as ultra-violet (UV), visible (VIS), or infrared (IR), types of light. The affected electromagnetic radiation, in the form of diffused, reflected, diffracted, scattered, or/and transmitted, electromagnetic radiation emitted by, or/and emerging from, the object (and components thereof), is directly and uniquely related to, and can be correlated with, the physical, chemical, or/and biological properties, characteristics, and behavior, of the object, in general, and of the species or components making up the object, in particular, and therefore represents a spectral ('fingerprint' or 'signature') pattern type of identification and characterization of the object, which is directly applicable for analyzing and classifying the object.
Accordingly, hyper-spectral images generated by, and collected from, an object (and components thereof) are correlated with emission spectra of the object (and components thereof), where the emission spectra correspond to spectral representations in the form of spectral 'fingerprint' or 'signature' pattern types of identification and characterization, of the hyper-spectrally imaged object (and components thereof). Such hyper-spectral image data and information are processed and analyzed by using automatic pattern recognition (APR) or/and optical character recognition (OCR) types of hyper-spectral imaging data and information processing and analysis, for identifying, characterizing, or/and classifying, the physical, chemical, or/and biological properties, characteristics, and behavior, and, species or components, of the hyper-spectrally imaged object (and components thereof).
Teachings of or/and relating to monitoring, parametric profiling, and regulating contaminated outdoor air particulate matter throughout a region, include various different significant limitations, as well as theoretical or/and practical difficulties and complexities, so as to be impractical or/and economically unfeasible to implement, especially for commercial scale industrial applications. Accordingly, in view of such teachings, there is an on-going need for developing and practicing improved or/and new techniques for monitoring, parametric profiling, and regulating contaminated outdoor air particulate matter throughout a region. There is thus a need for, and it would be highly advantageous and useful to have an invention which includes various exemplary embodiments which can be implemented for real-time monitoring, parametric profiling, and regulating contaminated outdoor air particulate matter throughout a region, via hyper-spectral imaging and analysis.


A method for making fine powder of a metallic compound coated with ceramics is described. In the method, a gaseous mixture of at least one metal vapor constituting one component of a metallic compound and a carrier gas for the at least one metal vapor is passed at a speed of 50 to 2000 m/second into another element constituting the other element of the metallic compound or in an atmosphere of a gas containing the other element, which is heated to a temperature of not larger than 0.8 time as low as a melting point of the at least one metal so that the metal vapor and another element are reacted with each other while rapidly cooling, thereby obtaining a fine powder of a metallic compound. The metallic compound fine powder is further passed into other metal vapor or other metallic compound vapor to cover the metallic compound fine powder with the film of the other metal or metallic compound.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method of making a fine powder of a metallic compound having ceramic coatings thereon. The fine powder of a metallic compound obtained by the method of the invention is suitably used as a sintering material.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As is well known in the art, sintering of a metallic compound powder such as silicon nitride powder does not smoothly proceed when using the metallic compound powder alone. It is the usual practice to add, to metallic compound powder, sintering aids such as yttrium oxide, aluminium oxide and the like.
In order to cause the sintering to proceed smoothly, it is preferred that a metallic compound powder and a sintering aid are uniformly mixed to make a larger contact area thereof.
However, since the metallic compound powder and the sintering aid are both in the form of powders, it is difficult to mix the powders substantially uniformly, with an attendant problem that the strength of the sintered product may not be satisfactory depending on the degree of uniformity in the mixing.
Further, the metallic compound powder is too large to obtain the strong sintered product.

Method for making a fine powder of a metal compound having ceramic coatings thereon


In an electric connection box containing a wiring board such as a bus bar circuit board and a surface cover set on the top of the wiring board and assembled inside the box body, the inside bottom surface of the box body is inclined to an angle that allows the downward flow of water droplets, spacers are projectingly installed upwardly on the inclined surface, and a spacing provided between the bus bar circuit formed in the lower surface of the wiring board in contact with the spacers and the inside bottom surface of the box body is greater than the height of the water droplets.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electric connection box for automotive electrical wiring and, more particularly, to an electric connection box of such a construction that water that has entered the connection box and dropped onto an inside bottom surface can easily be drained from the inside bottom surface to prevent its accumulation between a bus bar circuit of the bottom layer and the inside bottom surface of the box which is likely to cause current leakage to occur in the bus bar circuit of the bottom layer.
2. Description of the Prior Art and Problem
An electric connection box, such as a junction box and a relay box, generally has the constitution as shown in FIG. 5.
In this drawing, numeral 1 denotes a bus bar circuit board with bus bar circuits 2 arranged on both sides, and numeral 3 indicates a surface cover provided with a connector housing portion 4 which is apertured for connection of relays and others with the outside thereof.
Tab terminals 5 or 5A are installed on the bus bar circuit 2 of the bus bar circuit board 1, projecting out upwardly or downwardly of the bus bar circuit board 1.
The tab terminals 5 are inserted in the apertured connector housing portion 4 formed in the surface cover 3 set on the bus bar circuit board 1, or the tab terminals 5A are inserted in a connector housing portion 9 provided in the box body 6a. (See FIG. 6.)
The surface cover 3 and the bus bar circuit board 1 are housed inside the box body 6, and a waterproof cover 7 is installed at the top opening of the box body 6.
FIG. 6 shows the surface cover 3 and the bus bar circuit board 1 which are housed inside the box body 6, with bus bar circuits 2A and 2B arranged on the upper and lower surfaces of the bus bar circuit board 1.
In the connector housing 4 mounted on the surface cover 3 extend the tab terminals 5 which are mated with female terminals 8 are inserted.
Therefore, terminal housing chambers 4a of the connector housing 4 are in communication with the outside thereof through the connector housing portion 4 in the vertical direction. Through this apertured connector housing portion 4, water (or water vapour) can enter the inside via the terminal housing chamber 4a in the direction of the arrow C, and furthermore can drop into a hole 1a provided in the bus bar circuit board 1 through which the tab terminals 5 are disposed, gathering on the inside bottom 6a of the box body 6. Thus water droplets will be formed between the bus bar circuit 2B of the bottom layer and the inside bottom surface 6a.
Also in a spacing between both edges of the surface cover 3 and the inside wall surface, water (or water vapour) is likely to enter as indicated by the arrow D in FIG. 6. Most of the water flows down along the inside wall surface of the box body 6, being drained out at the drain port 6b provided at the corner area where the inside wall surface and the inside bottom surface 6a meet. A part of the water, however, enters a spacing between the bus bar circuit 2B and the inside bottom surface 6a, accumulating thereat.
Particularly in an engine compartment of automobiles, it is very likely that rain water will enter and that sweating will be caused by substantial changes in temperatures, resulting in the water entrance into the connection box as described above.
Also as shown in FIG. 7, the spacing S between the bus bar circuit 2B of the bottom layer and the inside bottom surface 6a is less than the height of water droplets G caused by the surface tension of the water droplets, and the water droplets G, therefore, will be confined between the bus bar circuit 2B and the inside buttom surface 6a, easily accumulating therein because of their frictional force. In this state, the water droplets G will become extremely difficult to drain.


One embodiment is a work machine including an actuator coupled with a chassis, a suspension coupled with the actuator, and a tool mount coupled with the suspension. A grading tool assembly is coupled with the tool mount. A wireless receiver is coupled with the suspension. An electronic controller in operative communication with the receiver and the actuator is structured to adjust the actuator in response to a signal received by the receiver effective to simultaneously adjust the position of the receiver and the force applied to the suspension. A grading indicator is coupled with the suspension and provides a visually perceptible indication of a current state of grading relative to a desired state of grading.

The present application relates generally to work machines including automatic or automated grading features and functions. Grading of earth or substrate is a necessary part of landscaping, grounds keeping, building and construction projects. Systems which automatically control the depth or position of a grading tool without requiring selection by an operator have been proposed. Heretofore, such systems have suffered from a number of drawbacks and disadvantages. For example, such systems have been limited to relatively heavy, high power machines as their automatic control of the depth or position of a grading tool would otherwise inhibit propulsion and grading functionality. Such systems have also failed to provide visually perceptible feedback indicia allowing the operator of a machine equipped with automatic position control and operators of other machines in the vicinity to determine the progress toward a desired grading result. There remains a significant need for the unique apparatuses, systems and methods disclosed herein.

Work machines including automatic grading features and functions


A logic block for a field programmable logic device which is of the type using memory bits in a look-up table to provide any function of several inputs, and which uses additional memory bits to control aspects of the configuration, achieves a smaller size by replacing memory bits which control some configuration choices of the logic block with multiplexers which alternately select a default configuration or allow the look-up table memory bits to control the configuration. Thus the memory bits perform an alternate function of serving as a look-up table to generate a function, and controlling gates such as multiplexers, XOR gates or AND gates to generate a function.

Field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) are user programmable logic devices formed in integrated circuit chips, which include within them configurable logic blocks and a configurable interconnect structure. By configuring the chip, the logic blocks can each be made to perform a selected one of many functions, and the interconnect can be connected to route signals from one logic block and to points exterior to the chip. Thus the FPGA can be programmed or configured to perform a desired complex function and provide output signals at selected exterior pins as specified by the user. Some FPGAs are non-volatile and one-time programmable. Others are reprogrammable. Some have logic blocks configured by applying particular signals to logic gate inputs or multiplexer control inputs. Others are configured by applying a combination of signals to logic gate inputs or multiplexer controls and loading a sequence of bits into a memory. The memory provides a logic function of signals on memory address lines, the function being determined by the set of values loaded into the bits of the memory. Such devices are manufactured by Xilinx, Inc., assignee of the present invention, and are described more thoroughly in the 1992 "The Programmable Gate Array Data Book" available from Xilinx, Inc., 2100 Logic Drive, San Jose, Calif. 95124. Such devices are also described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,870,302, and 4,706,216 incorporated herein by reference. FIG. 8 of the '216 patent in particular, describes a logic block which is configured by loading bits in a memory and configuring certain multiplexers, exclusive-or gates and AND gates to respond in particular ways to other input signals.
FIG. 1 shows a logic block of the type discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,706,216. 8-bit RAM 108 provides a configurable function of the address bits A, B, and C on lines 110-1, 110-2, and 110-3 respectively. Multiplexers 112, 113, 114, 123,126, 127, and 128 determine whether one of the 8 bits in RAM 108 will be forwarded. XOR gates 124, 129, and 130 determine whether the outputs of multiplexers 123, 127, and 128 respectively will be inverted, and AND gates 125, 131, and 132 determine whether the respective outputs of the XOR gates will be passed to a terminal of storage device 121. In order to select the desired option, a control signal must be provided to each of these multiplexers, XOR gates and AND gates. Thus, a means of storing the signal must be provided, such as a memory cell.
In FIG. 1, a second 8-bit RAM 109 can also be configured to provide another function of the inputs A, B and C. Input signal D causes multiplexer 112 to select between the two functions. Thus the logic block of FIG. 1 can provide a selectable function of the inputs A, B, C, and D. It frequently occurs that a user may partition logic into the chip so that only three inputs, for example A, B, and C are used in a particular logic block, and that the D input is not used (tied to a constant value rather than connected to receive a logic signal). In this case it is not necessary to use both 8-bit RAMs 108 and 109 since either RAM could provide all functions of three inputs. Thus some silicon area which has been dedicated to the second 8-bit RAM is not used.

Logic block with look-up table for configuration and memory


A method of detecting an end point of polishing arranged to perform CMP polishing with which an insulating layer of a wafer incorporating a substrate having a metal-containing permalloy layer formed thereon and the insulating layer formed on the metal-containing permalloy layer is chemimechanically polished to expose the flat permalloy layer, the method of detecting an end point of polishing, having the steps of: collecting abrasive material slurry on a surface plate for polishing as a continuous flow from the start or during CMP polishing; continuously mixing a color developing reagent with the collected continuous flow to prepare a specimen for the continuos flow; reading the color of the specimen as a digital value (Ii) by a color identifying sensor; and determining a moment of time at which the digital value (Ii) reaches a digital value (Io) of a specimen of a waste flow of the abrasive material slurry at the end of polishing to be the end of CMP polishing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of detecting an end point of polishing. The detection is performed such that a wafer having a permalloy magnetic layer constituted by forming a permalloy magnetic layer made of permalloy containing metal, such as iron, nickel or cobalt, such as Ni--Fe, Mn--Fe, Co--Fe Ni--Rh--F, Co--Zr--Fe, Co--Fe--B, on the surface of a substrate made of silicon, an alumina-titanium carbide (AlTiC) alloy or glass and having a circuit made of Cu, Ag or Au formed if necessary and furthermore incorporating an insulating layer made of aluminum oxide or the like is joined to a chuck. Then, the wafer is pressed against a platen having a polishing cloth or a lapping surface plate (hereinafter the platen and the lapping surface plate are generally called a "polishing surface plate" and a CMP polishing apparatus and a lapping apparatus are generally called a "CMP polishing apparatus") made of copper, tin, aluminum or plastic. While supplying abrasive material slurry to the surface of the polishing surface plate, the polishing surface plate and the wafer are rotated to polish the insulating layer to perform chemimechanical polishing (CMP) until the permalloy layer is exposed to the outside. As an alternative to this, the wafer is sucked to a chuck table by using a vacuum to downwards and then a platen to which a polishing cloth is bonded, namely a polishing pad, is pressed against the upper surface of the wafer. While supplying abrasive material slurry to the platen or supplying abrasive material slurry to the upper surface of the wafer, the platen and the wafer are rotated to polish the insulating layer to perform chemimechanical polishing (CMP) until the permalloy layer is exposed. The present invention also relates to an apparatus for detecting an end point of polishing.
2. Description of the Related Art
For example, a magnetic recording head substrate is, as shown in FIGS. 2A to 2D, manufactured such that a permalloy layer 3 is formed on a substrate 2. Then, a wafer 1 (see FIG. 2A) having an aluminum insulating layer formed thereon is polished by chemimechanical polishing (CMP) until the permalloy layer is exposed to the outside (see FIG. 2D). Also the CMP polishing operation is performed when a device wafer is manufactured as a substitute for the magnetic head substrate. At this time, a structure consisting of 2 to 10 permalloy layers and device layers is sometimes constituted.
When the water is polished as described above, automatic polishing free of no manpower is required from the market. A variety of pieces of automatic CMP apparatus for automatically detecting an end point of polishing have been suggested.
The end point of polishing is detected by any one of the following methods.
(1) A method for determining the end point in accordance with an amount of polishing by measuring a change of the thickness of the wafer which is being polished by a thickness meter (refer to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-257742, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-193003, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-106984 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-98016). PA1 (2) A method for determine the end point in accordance with a load electric current, voltage or change in the resistance of the motor which rotates the platen or the chucking mechanism during the polishing operation (refer to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 61-188702, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-252112, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No 8-99625, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-70753, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-44035, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-128658 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-177976). PA1 (3) A method determining the end point of polishing in accordance with change in the torque of the motor which rotates the platen or the chucking mechanism during the polishing operation (refer to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-138529, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-216095, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 8-139060, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 8-197417, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-36073, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-262743 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-256209). PA1 (4) A method in which the wafer being polished is irradiated with a laser beam to determine the end point of polishing in accordance with the quantity of reflected light (refer to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 57-138575, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 61-214970, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-255218, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-309559, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-328916, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 8-174411 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-7985 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-160420). PA1 (5) A method with which a color sensor is disposed opposite to a chuck for holding a device substrate which has an interlayer insulating film on which a metal film has been formed to detect the color of the interlayer insulating film which has been chemimechanically polished (refer to JP-A-11-70467). PA1 (6) A method in which phosphorus or tracer particles serving as an index is added to the polishing-material slurry to measure the quantity of the index on the polishing cloth so as to determine the end point of polishing (refer to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-241017 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 8-69987).
The method (1) in which the thickness of the wafer is measured is arranged such that the thickness of only a part of the wafer is measured. Since a long time is required to measure the distribution of thicknesses of the overall portion of the wafer, only a poor accuracy can be realized.
Each of the determining method (2) in which the electric current, the voltage or the resistance is used and the method (3) in which the torque is used, is not a method of directly observing the surface of the polished wafer. Also only a poor accuracy of flattening can be obtained.
The method (4) in which the quantity of reflected laser beam is used, is arranged such that the wafer is directly irradiated with the laser beam to determine the end point in accordance with the quantity of reflected light. Therefore, presence of water of the polishing-material slurry for use in the CMP polishing process on the surface of the wafer causes data to be scattered. Hence it follows that an apparatus for cleaning and drying the position on the surface of the wafer on which the laser beam is made incident and from which the same is reflected must be joined. Therefore, the foregoing method cannot be employed when the size of the CMP apparatus is reduced. What is worse, the cost of the apparatus cannot be reduced. Moreover, the polishing process is interrupted because the cleaning and drying processes of the wafer have to be performed. The method (5) with which the color sensor is employed is free of description about a specific embodiment (computer soft program) of detecting the end point of polishing. Moreover, it is difficult to instantaneously observe the overall surface of the device wafer by one color sensor when a consideration is made from the disclosed drawings. Therefore, the method cannot be employed from a viewpoint of practical use.
The method (5) in which the index is added cannot be employed because the index's influences on polishing of the wafer and on a post-process performed after the CMP polishing process has been completed are not known.

Method of detecting end point of polishing of wafer and apparatus for detecting end point of polishing


Present invention is a resin composition obtained by reacting polyolefin (A) with a (co)polymer (B) prepared from a copolymerizable monomer mixture (C) comprising an xcex1,xcex2-monoethylenically unsaturated monomer and other copolymerizable monomers in a weight ratio (A)/(B)=1/9-9/1 under radical generation in an organic solvent, or by polymerizing a copolymerizable monomer mixture (C) comprising an xcex1,xcex2-monoethylenically unsaturated monomer and other copolymerizable monomers in the presence of polyolefin (A) in a weight ratio (A)/(C)=1/9-9/1 in an organic solvent and successively by reacting the obtained reaction mass under radical generation; and the resin composition has good solution stability, does not cause liquid phase separation or solid precipitation, can be used as intact, is excellent in sprayability at high concentration, and, specifically, has novel function and effect that adhesion to polyolefin molded articles is excellent; and the resin composition can be favorably used for coating and primer because a coated film obtained by using a curing agent capable of reacting with an active hydrogen atom and/or hydroxyl group of the resin composition has excellent weatherability.

The present invention relates to a polyolefin resin composition modified with a (co)polymer prepared from a copolymerizable monomer mixture comprising an xcex1,xcex2-monoethylenically unsaturated monomer and other copolymerizable monomer. More specifically, the invention relates to the resin composition used for a coating or primer of untreated polyolefin resin films, sheets and molded articles, or an adhesive.
Conventionally, polyolefin resins have good productivity, excellent moldability and many other advantages such as light weight, corrosion prevention and impact resistance, and are thus widely used for interiors and exteriors of automobiles and ships, home electrical appliances, furnitures, miscellaneous goods and building materials.
These polyolefin resin molded articles generally differ from polar synthetic resins represented by a polyurethane resin, polyamide resin, acrylic resin and polyester resin, and are nonpolar and crystalline. Consequently, general purpose coatings and adhesives are very difficult to coat or adhere these polyolefin resin molded articles.
As a result, in order to coat or adhere polyolefin resin molded articles, surface adhesion has been improved by primer treatment or activation of the surface. For example, automotive bumpers have enhanced surface adhesion to the coated film by etching treatment with a halogen based organic solvent such as trichloroethane, or desired coating or adhesion has been carried out after pretreatment such as corona discharge, plasma arc or ozone treatment.
However, these conventionally known coating and adhesion methods using a general purpose resin composition required high equipment cost and long application time, and additionally, lead to irregular finish and tend to cause local difference on the state of treated surface.
In order to solve the above problems, coating compositions have conventionally been proposed. For example, a composition obtained by introducing maleic acid into polyolefin has been disclosed in JP-B-62-21027/1987, and a composition having chlorinated polyolefin as a primary component has been disclosed in JP-B-50-10916/1975. However, these compositions are poor in weatherability, though excellent in adhesion properties to polyolefin molded articles. As a result, uses are usually limited to primer or to places where weatherability is not desired. When these compositions are used for coating places where weatherability is needed, a top coat is usually applied by using a two component system which requires complex operation.
Consequently, development of a coating has been carried out on a one component finishing system which can exhibit good adhesion properties to the material without any pretreatment and also has excellent weatherability. For example, a resin obtained by copolymerizing an acryl-based monomer with chlorinated polyolefin has been described in JP-A-58-71966/1983. A coating composition of a hydroxyacryl-chlorinated polyolefin copolymer and an isocyanate compound has been disclosed in JP-A-59-27968/1984.
Other proposals which have been made in the field are a process for introducing an unsaturated bond into polyolefin (JP-A-1-123812/1989 and 2-269109/1990), a process for introducing organic peroxide (JP-A-1-131220/1989) and a process for using bifunctional organic peroxide (JP-A-64-36614/1989). Any of these proposals are designs for improving reactivity of polyolefin with a radically polymerizable, unsaturated monomer.
However, in the above resin composition and the preparation process of the same, the reaction must be, in many cases, carried out in a dilute concentration particularly due to the problem of viscosity. As a result, graft polymerization efficiency to polyolefin is reduced and a homopolymer of the radically polymerizable, unsaturated monomer is liable to form. The resulting resin solution has a strong tendency to develop phase separation and usually has a disadvantage that the solution cannot be used as intact for coating.
The present invention provides a novel resin composition which can eliminate conventional problems mentioned above. That is, the resin composition of the invention can be applied to spray coating in a high concentration without developing a separation phenomenon of the resin solution, and can be used for coating, primer and adhesive. The film obtained by using the coating which comprises the resin composition of the invention and a curing agent capable of reacting with active hydrogen and/or a hydroxyl group can exhibit superior weatherability compared to a chlorinated polyolefin film and excellent adhesion properties compared to an untreated polyolefin resin film, sheet or molded article.
As a result of an intensive examination and investigation in order to achieve the above objects, the present inventors have found that the resin composition obtained by reacting a mixture of polyolefin and a specific (co)polymer, or a reaction mass resulting from polymerization of specific copolymerizable monomers in the presence of polyolefin under radical generation in the presence of in organic solvent, is very effective for achieving the above objects. Thus the invention has been completed.
That is, the present invention can be characterized by the following items (1) to (13).
(1) A resin composition characterized in being obtained by reacting polyolefin (A) with a (co)polymer (B) prepared from a copolymerizable monomer mixture (C) comprising an xcex1,xcex2-monoethylenically unsaturated monomer and other copolymerizable monomers, in a weight ratio (A)/(B) 1/9-9/1, under radical generation in an organic solvent.
(2) A resin composition characterized in being obtained by polymerizing a copolymerizable monomer mixture (C) comprising an xcex1,xcex2-monoethylenically unsaturated monomer and other copolymerizable monomers in the presence of polyolefin (A) in a weight ratio (A)/(C) 1/9-9/1 in an organic solvent, and successively by reacting the obtained reaction mass under radical generation.
(3) The resin composition according to item (1), wherein the (co)polymer (B) is modified to have a polymerizable unsaturated bond in the molecule.
(4) The resin composition according to item (3), wherein the modification is carried out by reacting a (co)polymer (B) having hydroxyl group in the molecule with a polymerizable unsaturated carboxylic anhydride.
(5) The resin composition according to anyone of items (1) to (4), wherein the resin composition comprises one or more third components selected from the group consisting of fats and fatty oils, derivatives of the same, epoxy resin and polyester resin.
(6) The resin composition according to item (5), wherein one or more third components have a polymerizable unsaturated bond in the molecule.
(7) The resin composition according to anyone of items (1) to (6), wherein the polymerization reaction under radical generation is carried out in the presence of organic peroxide.
(8) The resin composition according to item (7), wherein the organic peroxide has a tert-butyl and/or benzyl group.
(9) The resin composition characterized by removing the solvent from the resin composition in anyone of the items (1) to (8) and diluting the residue with an optional organic solvent.
(10) A coating characterized by comprising the resin composition according to anyone of items (1) to (9).
(11) A coated film characterized by applying the coating according to item (10).
(12) A coating characterized by consisting of a principal component comprising the resin composition having an active hydrogen atom and/or hydroxyl group according to anyone of items (1) to (9) and a curing agent capable of reacting with an active hydrogen atom and/or hydroxyl group.
(13) A coated film characterized by curing the coating according to item (12).
One of the resin compositions in the invention can be obtained by reacting polyolefin (A) with the (co)polymer (B) prepared from the copolymerizable monomer mixture (C) comprising an xcex1,xcex2-monoethylenically unsaturated monomer and other copolymerizable monomers in the presence of the organic solvent under radical generation.
Polyolefin (A) which can be used in the invention includes, for example, a homopolymer or copolymer of ethylene, propylene, 1-butene, 1-heptene, 1-octene, 1-hexene, 1-decene and 4-methyl-1-pentene. These homopolymer and copolymer can comprise diene such as butadiene. Particularly, on preparing coating, primer and adhesive which are used for coating polypropylene materials, polyolefin (A) which can be preferable used is polypropylene or a copolymer having 50% by weight or more of propylene component.
The above polyolefin preferably has a weight average molecular weight (hereinafter referred to simply as Mw) in the rage of 5,000 to 200,000. When Mw is less than 5,000, the resin, composition obtained is liable to have poor adhesion properties to the material to be coated. On the other hand, Mw exceeding 200,000 gives high viscosity even in relatively low concentration on dissolving polyolefin into a solvent in the step of resin synthesis. Thus, preparation of the desired resin composition becomes difficult.
The (co)polymer (B) which can be used for the invention is prepared from an xcex1,xcex2-monoethylenically unsaturated monomer or a copolymerizable monomer mixture (C) comprising an xcex1,xcex2-monoethylenically unsaturated monomer and other copolymerizable monomers.
Representative xcex1,xcex2-monoethylenically unsaturated monomers which can be used for preparing the (co)polymer (B) in the invention include, for example, methyl (meth)acrylate, ethyl (meth)acrylate, propyl (meth)acrylate, n-butyl (meth)acrylate, isobutyl (meth)acrylate, tert-butyl (meth)acrylate, 2-ethylhexyl (meth)acrylate, stearyl (meth)acrylate, tridecyl (meth)acrylate, lauryl (meth)acrylate, cyclohexyl (meth)acrylate, benzyl (meth)acrylate, phenyl (meth)acrylate, dimethylaminoethyl (meth)acrylate, diethylaminoethyl (meth)acrylate, and other (meth)acrylic acid esters; hydroxyethyl acrylate, 2-hydroxyethyl (meth)acrylate and other hydroxyvinyl compounds; acrylic acid, methacrylic acid, maleic acid, itaconic acid and other carboxyvinyl compounds and monoesters of the same; styrene, xcex1-methylstyrene, vinyltoluene, tert-butylstyrene and other aromatic vinyl compounds; and other compounds such as acrylonitrile, methacrylonitrile, vinyl acetate, vinyl propionate, acrylamide, mathacrylamide, methylolacrylamide, methylolmethacrylamide, ethylene, propylene and C4 to C20 xcex1-olefin.
Exemplary other copolymerizable monomers which constitute (co)polymer (B) in the invention include maleic anhydride, phthalic anhydride, succinic anhydride, and other carboxylic anhydrides which can copolymerize with xcex1,xcex2-monoethylenically unsaturated monomer.
The xcex1,xcex2-monoethylenically unsaturated monomer and other copolymerizable monomer which can be used in the invention exhibit radical polymerization property. The description methyl (meth)acrylate indicates methyl acrylate and methyl methacrylate.
The (co) polymer (B) in the invention can be prepared by using these monomers singly or as a mixture. For example, known acrylate resin can be used as a (co)polymer (B) of the invention.
The (co)polymer (B) prepared from these monomers can be modified to introduce a polymerizable unsaturated bond in the molecule. The modified (co)polymer (B) can also be used as a (co)polymer (B) of the invention. The (co)polymer prepared from hydroxymethyl acrylate, hydroxyethyl (meth)acrylate or other hydroxyvinyl compounds has a hydroxyl group in the structural units of the polymer molecule. The modified (co)polymer (B) can be prepared by addition of maleic anhydride, phthalic anhydride, succinic anhydride or other polymerizable unsaturated dicarboxylic anhydride to the hydroxyl group of the (co)polymer, by reacting the hydroxyl group with a remained isocyanate group resulting from reaction of a urethane resin having two isocyanate groups with a resin or monomer having a polymerizable unsaturated bond and hydroxyl group, or by other known processes.
The above hydroxyl group containing (co)polymer (B) has a hydroxyl value in the range of preferably 1 to 200 KOH mg/g, more preferably 5 to 150 KOH mg/g as solid.
The resin composition of the invention can be prepared by mixing the above polyolefin (A) and the (co)polymer (B) in an organic solvent in weight ratio (A)/(B)=1/9 to 9/1, preferably (A)/(B)=2/8 to 8/2, heating the mixture to 80 to 200xc2x0 C., and reacting under radical generation. When the ratio (A)/(B) is less than 1/9, the adhesive or coating obtained from the resin composition has poor adhesion properties to the substrate. On the other hand, the ratio (A)/(B) exceeding 9/1 is also unfavorable because weatherability becomes poor and adhesion to the top coat falls down.
The solvent which can be used in the invention includes, for example, xylene, toluene, ethylbenzene and other aromatic hydrocarbon; hexane, heptane, octane, decane and other aliphatic hydrocarbon; cyclohexane, cyclohexene, methylcyclohexane and other alicyclic hydrocarbon; ethanol, isopropyl alcohol, and other aliphatic alcohol; and methyl ethyl ketone, methyl isobutyl ketone and other ketone solvents. A mixture of these solvents can also be used. In these solvents, aromatic hydrocarbon and aliphatic hydrocarbon can be preferably used. A particularly preferred solvent is aliphatic hydrocarbon having 6 to 20 carbon atoms. The organic solvent can be used in such an amount that the solution of polyolefin (A) in an organic solvent has an non-volatile content in the range of 2 to 70% by weight.
On carrying out a radical reaction, radical generation method which can be used is, for example, photo-irradiation in the presence of a photo-polymerization initiator, addition of organic peroxide, or other known methods.
Representative photo-polymerization initiators include, for example, benzoyl, benzoin methyl ether, benzoin isopropyl ether, benzyl, benzophenone, 2-hydroxy-2-methylpropiophenone, 2,2-diethoxyacetophenone, benzyl methylketal, anthraquinone, chloroanthraquinone, ethylanthraquinone, butylanthraquinone, diphenyl sulfide, dithiocarbamate, 2-chlorothioxanthon, xcex1-chlromethylnaphthalenanthracene, 3,3xe2x80x2,4,4xe2x80x2-tetrabenzophenone and 2,4,6-trimethylbenzoyldiphenylphosphine oxide. These initiators can be used singly or as a mixture. Michler""s ketone, trimethyleneamine, alkylmorpholine, and other amine compounds can also be used in combination with these initiators.
The amount of the above photo-polymerization initiator is in the range of usually 0.01 to 10% by weight, preferably 0.1 to 5% by weight for the total weight of polyolefin (A) and (co)polymer (B). When the amount of photo-polymerization initiator is less than 0.01% by weight, the resulting resin solution is liable to develop a separation phenomenon. On the other hand, the amount exceeding 10% by weight tends to cause gelation.
Exemplarily organic peroxide includes compounds having a tert-butyl and/or benzyl group in the molecule, for example, di-tert-butyl peroxide, tert-butylperoxy-2-ethylhexanoate, benzoyl peroxide, dicumyl peroxide, tert-butylperoxybenzoate and cumene hydroperoxide. These peroxides can be used singly or as a mixture.
In the above organic peroxide compounds, di-tert-butyl peroxide and tert-butylperoxy-2-ethylhexanoate are more preferably used in the invention. That is, the organic peroxide having a tert-butyl and/or a benzyl groups in the molecule has a relatively high hydrogen drawing ability and is effective for improving grafting ratio to polyolefin. By using these peroxide compounds, the resin composition obtained becomes very difficult to develop separation phenomenon.
The amount of the above organic peroxide is in the range of usually 2 to 50% by weight, preferably 3 to 30% by weight for the total amount of polyolefin (A) and (co)polymer (B). When the amount of the organic peroxide is less than 3% by weight, the resulting resin solution is liable to exhibit separation phenomenon. Further, addition of the organic peroxide at one time is liable to cause gelation of the reaction mixture. Thus, addition is preferably carried out many times by small portions over a long time.
Another resin composition of the invention can be obtained by polymerizing a copolymerizable monomer mixture (C) comprising an xcex1,xcex2-monoethylenically unsaturated monomer and other copolymerizable monomers in the presence of polyolefin (A) in an organic solvent and successively reacting under radical generation in an organic solvent.
The xcex1,xcex2-monoethylenically unsaturated monomer and other copolymerizable monomers which are used for preparing the above-mentioned (copolymer (B) can also be used in the copolymerizable monomer mixture (C).
The organic solvent used for polymerizing the copolymerizable monomer mixture (C) in the presence of polyolefin (A) can be the same as the organic solvent used for the reaction of polyolefin (A) and the (co)polymer (B).
Polymerization initiators are used for starting polymerization of the copolymerizable monomer mixture (C) in the presence of polyolefin (A). Representative polymerization initiators include, for example, di-tert-butyl peroxide, tert-butylperoxy-2-ethylhexanoate, benzoyl peroxide, dicumyl peroxide, lauroyl peroxide, tert-butylperoxybenzoate, cumene hydroperoxide and other organic peroxide compounds; azobisisobutyronitrile, 4,4xe2x80x2-azobis(4-cyanopentanoic acid), 2,2xe2x80x2-azobis[2-methyl-N-(2-hydroxyethyl)propionamide] and other azo compounds. These initiators can be used singly or as a mixture.
In one of the preparation process of the resin composition in the invention, the above organic solvent solution of polyolefin (A), the copolymerizable monomer mixture (C) and the above polymerization initiator are simultaneously fed to the reaction zone and polymerization of the monomer mixture (C) is carried out under a constant weight ratio; polyolefin (A)/copolymerizable monomer (C) which is in the range of 1/9 to 9/1, more preferably 2/8 to 8/2.
When the ratio (A)/(C) is less than 1/9, the resultant coating or adhesive has poor adhesion to substrate. On the other hand, the ratio exceeding 9/1 is also unfavorable because weatherability becomes poor and adhesion properties to the topcoat are impaired.
The resin composition of the invention can be prepared by reacting thus obtained resin mixture under radical generation in an organic solvent similarly to the above reaction of polyolefin (A) and copolymer (B). The resin composition obtained by such process has much improved stability and low viscosity as compared with the resin composition obtained by reaction of (co)polymer (B) and polyolefin (A). Consequently, coating operation can be carried out in a high concentration.
One or more materials selected from the group consisting of oils and fats, derivatives of the same, epoxy resin and polyester resin can be added as a third component in the stage of polymerizing the copolymerizable monomer mixture (C) in the presence of polyolefin (A) and/or the stage of reaction under radical generation.
Representative oils and fats which can be used as the third component include, for example, linseed oil, soybean oil and castor oil and purified products of these oils.
Exemplarily derivatives of oils and fats which can be used for the third component include short-, medium- and long-oil alkyd resins which have a skeleton consisting of polybasic acid such as phthalic acid and polyhydric alcohol such as ethylene glycol, glycerol and pentaerythritol and are modified with fatty acid in oils and fats; further modified alkyd resins obtained by further modifying these modified alkyd resins with natural resin, synthetic resin or polymerizable monomer, for example, rosin-, phenol-, epoxy-, acryl- and urethane-modified alkyd resins.
When adding carboxylic anhydride having polymerizable unsaturated bond in the molecule to oils and fats having hydroxyl groups, the resulting oils and fats having polymerizable unsaturated bond can also be used for the invention. The above oils and fats and derivatives of the same, can be used singly or as a mixture.
Representative epoxy resins which can be used for the third component include epoxy resins obtained by reacting bisphenol A, bisphenol F or novolak with glycidyl ether, or obtained by adding propylene oxide or ethylene oxide to bisphenol A and successively reacting with glycidyl ether. Other epoxy resins which can be used include amine modified epoxy resin obtained by addition of polyfunctional amine to an epoxy group, aliphatic epoxy resin, alicyclic epoxy resin and polyether-based epoxy resin.
Still another epoxy resin which is obtained by addition of polymerizable unsaturated carboxylic anhydride to the above hydroxylated epoxy resin and has polymerizable unsaturation in the molecule can also be used in the invention. The above epoxy resins can be used singly or as a mixture.
The polyester resin which can be used for the third component can be obtained by polycondensation of a carboxylic acid ingredient and alcoholic ingredient. The carboxylic ingredient includes, for example, terephthalic acid, isophthalic acid, phthalic anhydride, naphthalenedicarboxylic acid, succinic acid, glutaric acid, adipic acid, azelaic acid, 1,10-decanedicarboxylic acid, cyclohexanedicarboxylic acid, trimellitic acid, maleic acid, fumaric acid and other polycarboxylic acids and lower alcohol ester of the same; p-oxybenzoic acid and other hydroxycarboxylic acids; and benzoic acid and other monocarboxylic acids. These acids can be used singly or as a mixture.
The alcohol ingredient includes, for example, ethylene glycol, diethylene glycol, 1,3-propanediol, 1,3-butanediol, 1,4-butanediol, 1,5-pentanediol, 1,6-hexanediol, 1,10-decanediol, 3-methylpentanediol, 2,2xe2x80x2-diethyl-1,3-propanediol, 2-ethyl-1,3-hexanediol, neopentylglycol, trimethylolethane, trimethylolpropane, glycerol, pentaerythritol, ethylene oxide adduct of bisphenol A, propylene oxide adduct of bisphenol A, propylene oxide adduct of hydrogenated bisphenol A and ethylene oxide adduct of hydrogenated bisphenol A. These alcoholic ingredients can be used singly or as a mixture.
The invention can also use a polyester resin which is obtained by addition of carboxylic anhydride having polymerizable unsaturated bond in the molecule to the above hydroxyl group containing polyester resin and has a polymerizable unsaturated bond in the molecule.
The above polyester resin can be used singly or as a mixture.
The third component above can be added by feeding to a reactor or can be previously charged to the reactor. The amount of the third component is usually 0.5 to 60% by weight, preferably 5 to 40% by weight for the resin component.
The third component can also be added after radical generation step.
When oils and fats or derivatives of the same are used for the third component, the resulting resin composition has particularly excellent stability, good compatibility with other resins, and extremely enhanced peel strength. Specifically, castor oil containing resin composition is very excellent.
The resin composition of the invention can be used as intact for coating, primer or adhesive. The resin composition prepared from hydroxyethyl acrylate, 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate, acrylic acid or methacrylic acid and having an active hydrogen atom and/or a hydroxyl group in the resin can be used for coating in combination with a curing agent capable of reacting with an active hydrogen atom and/or a hydroxyl group. For example, polyurethane-based coating, primer or adhesive can be used by mixing the resin composition with a polyisocyanate-based curing agent capable of reacting with an active hydrogen atom and/or a hydroxyl group.
Representative polyisocyanate-based curing agents which can be used include, for example, phenylene diisocyanate, tolylene diisocyanate, xylylene diisocyanate, diphenylmethane diisocyanate and other aromatic diisocyanates; hexamethylene diisocyanate, trimethylhexamethylene disocyanate, lysine diisocyanate and other aliphatic diisocyanates; and isophorone diisocyanate, dicyclohexylmethane diisocyanate and other alicyclic diisocyanates. Isocyanate terminated prepolymer obtained by reacting the above diisocyanate compounds with polyhydric alcohol, polyetherpolyol or polyesterpolyol can also be used.
Amino resin prepared from melamine or urea can also be used as a curing agent.
The resin composition of the invention and the curing agent capable of reacting with an active hydrogen atom and/or a hydroxyl group can be used in an arbitrary ratio.
When the curing agent capable of reacting with an active hydrogen atom and/or a hydroxyl group has an isocyanate group, the equivalent ratio of an active hydrogen atom to an isocyanate group is preferably in the range of 0.5:1.0 to 1.0:0.5, more preferably 0.8:1.0 to 1.0:0.8.
When the curing agent capable of reacting with active hydrogen atom and/or a hydroxyl group is an amino resin, the weight ratio of resin composition of the invention/amino resin as solid is preferably in the range of 95/5 to 20/80, more preferably 90/10 to 60/40.
The above obtained resin composition of the invention can be used as intact for coating, primer and adhesive. However, the resin composition can be incorporated, when needed, with additives such as an antioxidant, weatherability improver, heat stabilizer and other various species of stabilizers; inorganic pigment, organic pigment and other colorants; and carbon black, ferrite and other electrically conductive fillers.
No particular restriction is imposed upon the method for coating the surface of molded articles with the resin composition of the invention or with a mixture of the resin composition of the invention and the curing agent capable of reacting with an active hydrogen atom and/or a hydroxyl group. Spraying method is favorable. For example, coating can be carried out by spraying with a spray gun on the surface of molded articles. Application can be usually carried out with ease at room temperature. No particular limitation is put upon the drying method after application. Natural drying, forced drying by heating and other suitable methods can be used.
The resin composition of the invention and the mixture of the resin composition and the curing agent capable of reacting with an active hydrogen atom and/or a hydroxyl group can be used due to the characteristics thereof for a broad field of primer in addition to the above uses for coating. For example, the dried surface obtained above can be further painted with other coatings by electrostatic deposition, spraying or brushing. Other coatings which can be used are not restricted in particular and include, for example, solvent type thermoplastic acrylate resin coating, solvent type thermosetting acrylate resin coating, acryl-modified alkyd resin coating, epoxy resin coating, polyurethane resin coating and melamine resin coating.
Further, the resin composition of the invention or the mixture thereof and curing agent capable of reacting with an active hydrogen atom and/or a hydroxyl group can be favorably used for a topcoat of molded articles prepared by using, for example, polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene and other polyolefins; ethylene-propylene copolymer, ethylene-butene copolymer, propylene-butene copolymer, ethylene-propylene-butene copolymer and other olefin copolymers; and mixture of polypropylene and synthetic rubber, and can also be used for surface treatment of polyamide resin, unsaturated polyester resin, polycarbonate resin and a steel plate or a steel plate treated by electro-deposition.
Further more, the resin composition of the invention or the mixture thereof and curing agent capable of reacting with active hydrogen atom and/or a hydroxyl group can be used for a primer of coating and adhesive which consist primarily of polyurethane resin, polyester resin, melamine resin or epoxy resin. Such primer can improve adhesion properties of coating to various species of coated surface of articles and at the same time can form a coated film having excellent brilliancy.
The resin composition of the invention or the mixture thereof and curing agent capable of reacting with active hydrogen atom and/or a hydroxyl group can be favorably used in particular for a topcoat of molded articles prepared by using polypropylene and other polyolefin, a mixture of polypropylene and synthetic rubber, unsaturated polyester, epoxy resin and polyurethane resin, and also for a primer for improving adhesion properties of the topcoat to the surface of these molded articles.


A data disk holder which includes a firm backing panel is constructed of a lamination of paperboard and heat-sealable plastic materials that has enhanced structural integrity suitable for use in a bindery process. A top panel of compatibly heat-sealable material is fused to the plastic lamina of the backing panel to form an interior pocket therebetween with an opening for receipt of a data disk. The firm paperboard backing is consistent with other bound pages, thereby improving handling and efficiency during binding operations, and the opening-defining edge of the holder may be bound shut to fully enclose the data disk for permanent storage. An optional security access window may be provided for access to the stored data disk, and an alternative adhesive closure strip may be used to secure the data disk holder opening.

The present invention relates generally to the art of storage devices for recorded data disks, such as compact disks and the like. More particularly, the present invention is directed to a data disk holder having suitable structural integrity to facilitate easy handling and binding thereof into a perfect-bound publication during a bindery process.
With the increasing demand for information and the proliferation of the use of data disks (i.e., CD's, DVD's, etc.) to store such information, it has become increasingly common for bound publications such as books and magazines to be sold with an accompanying data disk(s) containing supplemental information which compliments and/or augments the information contained in the bound publication. While early efforts to include such data disks with bound publications included adhesively securing a data disk holder to the back cover of the publication, or packaging the bound publication and data disk in an exterior package, more recent efforts have been directed toward the use of data disks holders which can be perfect-bound directly into the book or magazine during the bindery process.
The ability to perfect bind the data disk holder into a book during the bindery process substantially reduces the labor-intensive secondary operation of manually inserting the data disk into a holder and adhesively applying the same to the inside of the book cover, or the secondary operation of packaging the bound publication and supplemental data disk holder into an exterior package to hold the same. Such labor-intensive secondary operations obviously increase handling and manufacturing costs, thus reducing the profit margin for the publication.
Perfect binding a data disk holder within a bound publication, however, presents certain manufacturing and handling issues in the signature grabbing, trimming and gluing operations of the bindery process. It has been found that conventional disk holders constructed of all plastic or vinyl suffer from structural integrity problems in that they are too pliable and easy to bend. Such holders of this type tend to damage easily either during shipping to the bindery or during the binding operation. Consequently, difficulties occur in handling the damaged disk holders in the signature grabbing and trimming operations, causing jams in the binding equipment and the need for added costly and labor intensive sorting and rework operations. Furthermore, the material inconsistency between conventional all-vinyl or plastic data disk holders and typical paper sheets of a printed publication tend to cause delays in the glue drying process of the bound pages. Since the glue on a plastic disk holder will dry slower and is less secure, it has a tendency to stick to the binding flights and pull loose during the bindery process, thereby causing additional costly rework. Safety is also a concern in that data disk holders bound within a printed publication are susceptible to theft and/or vandalism. While it is oftentimes considered desirable for the data disk holder to accommodate reusable storage for a data disk, allowing unfettered access to the disk is generally considered inadvisable. Although it is difficult to prevent theft or vandalism, it is preferable that any such reusable disk holder provide some means of indicating tampering with the contents thereof.
One attempt at producing a bindable data disk holder can be found in U.S. Pat. Ser. No. 5,713,605. This holder is designed to position the compact disk for binding within a magazine and has an outer jacket portion which is constructed from a single web of card stock that is folded over upon itself and adhesively secured together to form a pocket. Contained within the pocket is a separate disk assembly which holds a data disk and incorporates a paperboard backing with a clear plastic film that is shrink-wrapped therearound so as to entirely encompass the data disk and base portion. This assembly is then adhesively secured within the inside of the outer jacket, and is accessible through an openable flap in the jacket. The outer jacket of this data disk holder is provided with a peripheral tear strip for removable edge binding within a magazine.
The complexity of this data disk holder is readily evident. The holder is constructed of multiple components having multiple layers of card stock which, upon completion, not only increases the manufacturing cost, but also forms an overly thick and cumbersome data disk holder that will be incongruent with the remainder of the printed pages of the bound publication. In addition, such a data disk holder is not designed for reusable storage, as once it is opened, neither the inner data disk assembly nor the outer jacket is capable of containing the data disk in a storage capacity.
Another more recent attempt to create a data disk holder suitable for binding can be found in U.S. Ser. Pat. No. 6,360,889. This disk holder utilizes a pair of vinyl sheets sealed together to form a pocket within which the data disk may be stored. A separate cardboard spacer may also be carried within the pocket to secure the data disk against movement and provide consistency in thickness. The holder containing the data disk is constructed with all-vinyl peripheral land portions that facilitate trimming and binding of the holder within a bound publication. Although such peripheral land portions may be ribbed to enhance structural integrity, their all-vinyl construction is still susceptible to being easily bent, and will continue to pose problems in the glue drying process due to the inconsistency of signature materials.
From the foregoing, it is evident that there is a distinct need for a data disk holder which has sufficient structural integrity to remain flat without significant deformation during shipping and handling in the bindery process, yet substantially congruent with the other signature pages of the bound publication and constructed of a material consistent therewith to facilitate rapid and secure binding of the holder within the publication. There is also a desire for such a data disk holder to provide means for reusable storage of the data disk, as well as safety means for warning of unwanted tampering with the data disk. It is with these objectives in mind, as well as the objective of designing such a data disk holder in a cost efficient manner, that has lead to the development of the present invention which is described in detail hereafter.

Data disk holder with firm laminated backing suitable for binding


A queue management capability enables allocation and management of tracking queue entries, such as load and/or store queue entries, at execution time. By introducing execution-time allocation of load/store queue entries, the allocation point of those entries is delayed further into the execution stage of the instruction pipeline, reducing the overall time the entry remains allocated to a specific instruction. The queue management capability may also resolve deadlock conditions resulting from execution-time allocation of the queue entries and/or provide a mechanism to avoid such deadlock conditions.

One or more aspects relate, in general, to out-of-order processing within computing environments, and in particular to managing resources used in such processing.
Many computing environments utilize out-of-order execution. Out-of-order execution of instructions in a processor allows significant performance improvements by balancing utilization of the execution pipes, but often, results in data hazards that are to be addressed. Typically, a set of structures, called load and store queues, is utilized to track storage operations executed out-of-order and detects cases where out-of-order memory accesses may have resulted in a wrong result, enforcing correct execution. Load/store queue tracking resources are typically limited, allowing for only a certain number of in-flight storage access instructions.

Delayed allocation of an out-of-order queue entry and based on determining that the entry is unavailable, enable deadlock avoidance involving reserving one or more entries in the queue, and disabling deadlock avoidance based on expiration of a predetermined amount of time

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPROATION


Integration of silicon boron nitride in high voltage semiconductors is generally described. In one example, a microelectronic apparatus includes a semiconductor substrate upon which transistors of an integrated circuit are formed, a plurality of transistor gates formed upon the semiconductor substrate, a gate spacer dielectric disposed between the gates, and a contact etch stop dielectric disposed upon the gates and gate spacer dielectric, the contact etch stop dielectric comprising silicon boron nitride (SiBN) to reduce breakdown of the contact etch stop dielectric in high voltage applications.

Generally, semiconductor devices utilize dielectric materials such as silicon nitride to electrically insulate various elements.
It will be appreciated that for simplicity and/or clarity of illustration, elements illustrated in the figures have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements may be exaggerated relative to other elements for clarity. Further, if considered appropriate, reference numerals have been repeated among the figures to indicate corresponding and/or analogous elements.

Integration of silicon boron nitride in high voltage and small pitch semiconductors


A method and apparatus in which images on the front and back sides of a double-sided original are serially connected on one scanning line, subjected to image processing and converted into binary image data, and immediately separated into the front and back side images again. One of the front and back side images is compressed and transferred to a SCSI bus, and the other is temporarily stored in a graphic video RAM and can be displayed or printed. After the former image is completely compressed and transferred, the latter is read from the video RAM, compressed by the compression circuit and then transferred to the SCSI bus.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image reading apparatus for reading images on both sides of a sheet.
2. Description of the Related
When a double-sided original is handled by a conventional image reading apparatus, the following original conveyance/reading mechanisms are used: A mechanism (referred to as "the first example" hereinafter) in which an original is first conveyed for reading an image on the front side, and the original is then turned upside down and again conveyed for reading an image on the back side, and a mechanism (referred to as "the second example" hereinafter) in which a conveyance passage having a length of at least double the length of an original to be read, so that an image on the front side of the original is read in the first half of the conveyance passage, and an image on the back side is then read in the latter half of the conveyance passage.
Another possible double-side reading apparatus is a reading apparatus (referred to as "the third example" hereinafter) of the type in which two image sensors are provided one on each side of a conveyance passage, and one scanning line on the front side of an original is serially connected to one scanning line on the back side for subsequent processing, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,038,222, 5,126,855 and 5,280,545. This third example has the advantages of simple construction, and high-speed operation.
However, when the image signal processed by the third example is output to the outside, a special format in which image signals of the front and back sides are serially connected on one scanning line is not easily compatible with general processing systems.
In order to use the image signal read by the third example, an image must be read by a batch processing device for reproducing and separating the image stored in a storage medium into images on the front and back sides of an original, again compressing the images if required, and then transmitting the compressed images to a circuit at the next step. Thus, because a large amount of time is required for reading the images, image output to the next step in real time is impossible in reading, and additional memory for temporarily storing image data is required.

Image reading apparatus for reading both sides of a double-sided original