A tufting machine has two slidable needle bars in back-to-back relationship, each needle bar being reciprocated toward and away from a backing material in unison. Each needle bar carries a plurality of transversely spaced apart needles mounted in needle modules, the needles in one bar being staggered relative to those in the other bar. The needles in both needle bars may cooperate with identical hooks positioned on the opposite side of the backing material. Each needle bar is slidable transversely independently of the other needle bar. The gauge between needles in each needle bar is twice the gauge between the hooks and the hooks have a common throat length so that each hook may cooperate with a needle in either needle bar. Thus each needle bar may be shifted transversely by a distance equal to the pitch between needles of the composite needle bar assembly rather than the larger pitch between needles in the same needle bar as in the prior art. This permits the gauge at which a particular yarn may be shifted to be substantially equal to half the gauge of that capable in the prior art so that substantially improved pattern definition may result.

This invention relates to tufting machines and more particularly to a tufting machine having at least two sliding needle bars with the needles in each bar staggered relative to those in the others, the needle bars being capable of producing stitches at a gauge substantially less than the prior art.
In the production of tufted fabrics a plurality of spaced yarn carrying needles extend transversely across the machine and are reciprocated cyclically to penetrate and insert loops of yarn into a backing material fed longitudinally beneath the needles. The loops are seized by loopers or hooks oscillating below the fabric in timed relationship with the needles as the loopers or hooks cross the needles just above the needle eye. In loop pile machines the loopers point in the direction in which the backing material is being fed, hold the seized loops while the needles are being retracted from the backing, and thereafter move away from the point of seizure to release the loops. In cut pile machines the hooks point in the direction opposite to the direction in which the backing material is being fed so the loops are fed onto the hooks and each hook cooperates with a respective oscillating knife. Since the loops are fed toward the closed end of the hook they cannot be released except by being cut by the respective knife. As the hook rocks away from the point of loop seizure the knife rocks upwardly and cuts the loop. During each penetration of the backing material a row of pile is produced transversely across the backing material. Successive penetrations result in a longitudinal row of pile produced by each needle.
This basic method of tufting limits the aesthetic appearance of tufted fabrics so produced. Thus, the prior art has developed a number of procedures for creating various pattern effects.
One such procedure for patterning is to initiate relative lateral movement between the backing material and the needles to laterally displace longitudinal rows of stitching. One method is to jog or shift the needle bar endwise or laterally across the tufting machine relative to the base material in a step-wise manner in accordance with a pattern, that is the needle bar is slidable in the longitudinal direction thereof. The patented art is abound with disclosures relating thereto, and Ingram U.S. Pat. No. 4,392,440 is exemplary thereof.
The use of a single straight needle bar greatly constrains the versatility of a tufting machine thereby limiting the patterning capabilities. This versatility can be increased by using a laterally shiftable needle bar having staggered needles, i.e., a needle bar wherein adjacent needles are offset in the backing material feed direction. Staggered needle cut pile machines without a shiftable needle bar are illustrated in Crumbliss et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,913,505 and Card U.S. Pat. No. 4,003,321. When a shiftable or sliding needle bar is utilized with staggered needles a temporary crossing-over of adjacent yarns occurs thereby resulting in a greater variety of patterning effects.
It is also known to use two separately slidable back-to-back needle bars each having straight or side-by-side inline needles, i.e., one row of needles in each bar, so as to separate the two rows of needles of a staggered needle bar configuration onto separate needle bars which can be moved independently of one another to bring each needle into cooperative registration with a hook or looper at a given pitch position corresponding to the respective needle bar. This creates a much greater facility to cross one row of yarns and needles over the other row of yarns and needles to provide greater patterning effects.
As explained in the aforesaid Crumbliss et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,913,505 and the aforesaid Card U.S. Pat. No. 4,003,321, in conventional constructions, as used in the context of cut pile, the hooks cooperable with the needles in one row are of a different length than the hooks cooperating with the needles of the other row. That is, the throat length or distance from the bill to the neck of the hooks cooperating with needles of one row are of a different length than those of the hooks cooperating with the needles of the other row. Thus, in the prior art, as exemplified by Card U.S. Pat. No. 4,366,761, when there are two independent slidable needle bars or rows of needles, the hooks cooperating with a given needle bar can only cooperate with the needles in that bar. Thus, it is only possible to move a particular needle laterally by an amount consistent with a multiple of the pitch at which the needles are set on the relevant needle bar. That is to say each needle bar may only be shifted by an amount equal to a whole number multiple of the gauge or spacing of the needles in that needle bar, and which is twice the gauge of the composite needle bar assembly in dual shifting bars staggered needle tufting machines. This limitation manifests itself in a patterned tufted product as a lack of sharpness or definition in the pattern.

Dual sliding needle bar tufting apparatus


The invention provides a process for the induction of normal rooting on nodal and internodal stem segments without using hormones and/or other chemical treatments in Mentha species, which comprises oblique excision of shoots of Mentha species from the plants, immediately dipping the cut end of twigs or stems into water and keeping in complete dark for up to one week with by varying the temperature cycle for each set of 24 hours duration of the treatment.

The present invention relates to a process for the induction of normal rooting on nodal and internodal stem segments without using hormones and/or other chemical treatments in Mentha species. The invention more particularly provides a new and easy system of inducing normal roots on plant cuttings thereby leading to large scale production of propagules ready for field plantation of mints (Mentha species).
Mentha species, constitute not only the major essential oil crops of global significance but also serve as some of the chief culinary herbs. The essential oils extracted from the herb biomass is extracted through hydro-distillation. The volatile oil is a complex mixture of mainly monoterpenoids. The oils per se or their specific constituents find extensive use in a large cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries all over the world. Some of the highly functionalized monoterpenoidal constituents of the oil serve as novel synthagens for various chemcial industries. Different Mentha species serve as source of one or more of the popular natural phytochemicals like menthol, linalool, linalyl acetate, carvone, menthone etc. The ever increasing demand and utility of the oils or their specific constituents from the impetus of their increased significance as crops of choice for profitable agro-business. Furthermore, some of the species are as such consumed as ingredients of foods, spices and culinary herbal formulations etc. like Mentha piperita, Mentha virdis etc.
Many commercial Mentha species (e.g. Mentha arvensis, Mentha piperita) are propagated from subterranean suckers, stolons, etc. An area, preferably pertaining to the best land, of the previous crop is saved after second harvest (August) which during winter period produce underground suckers. In practice, in the months of January and February i.e., ending winters, the suckers are dug out, cut into about one inch pieces and directly planted in to the field and the new crop is irrigated immediately. The suckers thus sown take about 18 to 30 days to sprout (Kumar et al. 1997, CIMAPxe2x80x94Farm Bulletin Number 004). However, the xe2x80x98above ground canopyxe2x80x99 of the sucker-crop remains useless. It has never been explored for development of propagules concurrently for the new crop plantation. Thus, no state of the art already exists concerning the utilization and development of the aerial plant canopy as propagules for the plantation.
Rooting in mints and other plants under in vitro conditions is known to be induced by hormonal (auxins, IAA, IBA, NAA, BA, gibbrellins, cytokinin etc.) treatment and/or under culture media (e.g. MS medium, Murashige et al. 1962, Physiol. Plant. 15:473-497; LS medium, Linsmayer and Skoog 1965, Physiol. Plant 18:100-127) consisting of a number of ingredients including anions, cations, carbohydrates, nitrogenous compounds, vitamins, and singal metabolites like Ca2+, inositols etc. (Kukreja et al., 1991 J. Essential Oil Res. 4:623-629; Kukreja et al. 1992 Euphytica 53:183-192; Faure et al. 1998, Plant Cell Tissue and Organ Culture 52:204-212; Krasnyanski et al. 1998, Theor.App. Genet. 96:683-687, Rao et al. 1998, Plant Cell Rep. 17:861-865). The rooting in dicots, may also be induced by infective method i.e., with the help of Agrobacterium rhizogenes. However, the roots (so called xe2x80x98hairy rootsxe2x80x99) so obtained are not physiologically and genetically normal and native and behave differently (Banerjee et al., 1995, Curr. Res. Med. Aromatic Plants 17:348-378). Rooting in plant shoots and twigs have also been propagated under defined nutrient solutions like Hoagland Solutions, Johnsons Nutrient Solutions of various concentration-strengths have been used for long-term plant maintenance hydroponically and for root growth (Hoagland and Arnon, 1938 Circ. Calif. Agric. Exp. Stat. 347:32, Wickremesinhe and Arteca, 1994 Plant Sci. 101:125-135), however, rooting initiation under complete nutrient minus aqueous mileau has not come into knowledge hitherto. The patent hitherto (Driver, U.S. Pat. No. 4,612,725 dated Sep. 23, 1986; Wochok et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,478,000 dated Oct. 23, 1984; Dobres et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,843,782 dated Dec. 1, 1998; Nishigori JP 7222536 dated Aug. 22, 1995) do not cover in vitro Rooting Induction (nodal and internodal) under the specified nutrient free conditions. The patent literature for plants in general and mints in particular lacks the method of rapid and direct induction of roots in stems, stem segments, multiple shoots etc. under complete nutrient free aqueous conditions invented herein. The xe2x80x98aerial rootsxe2x80x99 have not been produced and represent a new phenomenon of their induction through the invented process of treatment in mint species.
The invented protocol does not require special chemicals, hormones, micro organisms etc. for induction of rooting in stem, twigs or stem segments of Mentha species (Mentha citrata, Mentha piperita, Mentha cardiaca, Mentha spicata, Mentha arvensis, Mentha virdis, Mentha pulegium, and Mentha longifolia. The roots obtained by the invented protocol are genetically native and physiologically normal.
The method also provides a way to avoid exposure of the plant or plant part to numerous chemicals essentially supplemented in tissue culture media or nutrient solutions or other recipes/formulations of combinations of chemicals and hormones for bringing about rooting in vitro.
The invention is not only economically inexpensive but also technically feasible to be accomplished as and when desired with minimal infrastructural prerequisites. As a synergistic utility, the xe2x80x98above the groundxe2x80x99 canopy of the plants, besides the underground suckers, can be processed through the invented mode to produce rooted propagules to serve as plantlets for the new crop plantation. These propagules possess better and faster establishment behaviour to rapidly resume normal growth thereby offering agronomic advantage. Compared to 18 to 30 days required for sprouting of planted suckers, the root initiation in stem segments by the invention becomes visible within a week.
The juvenile roots could be particularly useful for the specialized physiological and biochemical studies concerning root-shoot interactions, ion uptakes and metabolic precursor feeding and transformations etc.
Additionally, it provides a way of producing rooting in tissue culture raised multiple shoots, required in biotechnological research as well as field transfer of the culture generated variants, clones, transformants etc.
The main object of the invention is to provide a process for the induction of normal rooting on nodal and internodal stem segments without using hormones and/or other chemical treatments in Mentha species which obviates the drawbacks of the earlier processes as detailed above.
Another object of the invention is to provide a new and easy system of rapid and production of normal roots in stem cuttings of Mentha species thereby leading to large scale production of propagule ready for the field plantation.
Still another object of the invention is producing aerial roots at the non-submerged inter-nodes of the twigs of Mentha species dipped in water under specified conditions.
In accordance with the above objectives, the invention provides a process for the induction of normal rooting on nodal and internodal stem segments without using hormones and/or other chemical treatments in Mentha species which comprises oblique excision of shoots of Mentha species from the plants, immediately dipping the cut end of twigs or stems into water and keeping in complete dark for up to one week with by varying the temperature cycle for each set of 24 hours duration of the treatment.
The invention discloses a process for the induction of normal roots on nodes and internodes of stem segments without using hormones and/or other chemical treatments in Mentha species. Mentha species, constitute not only the major essential oil crop of the global significance but also serves as some of the chief culinary herbs. The present invention is directed to, inter alia, a method of rapid ab initio induction of roots on the nodes and internodes of various Mentha species under nutrient as well as hormone minus aqueous system. The invented process involves applying specified duration of light and or dark treatments with temperature limit. The method allows use of above the ground canopy, of the mints to utilize as propagules for the fresh plantation using the rooted plantlets so generated. The invention provides a method to avoid exposure of the plant or plant parts to various chemicals essentially supplemented in tissue culture media or nutrient solutions or other recipes/formulations. The invention also provides a method of producing rooting in tissue culture raised multiple shoots, required in biotechnological research as well as field transfer of the culture generated variants, clones, transformants etc. and micropropagation purposes. Even xe2x80x98aerial rootsxe2x80x99 have also been produced as one of the facets of the invention. The invented process is a novel, fast convenient and inexpensive process for the induction of normal rooting in shoots, stems, twigs or stem segments as well as in tissue culture generated multiple shoots of Mentha species together with successful transplantation of the rooted plantlets for the new crop. A conceptual scientific explanation for the phenomena is proposed.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a process for the induction of normal rooting on nodal and internodal stem segments without using hormones and/or other chemical treatments in Mentha species which comprises oblique excision of shoots of Mentha species from the plants, immediately dipping the cut end of twigs or stems (with at least a pair of leaves) into water and keeping in complete dark for up to one week with temperature cycles of a range of 11-25xc2x0 C. for 11 hours and of a range of 5-10xc2x0 C. for 13 hours for each set of 24 hours duration of the treatment.
In an embodiment of the present invention the inflorescence head should be removed from the flowering twigs or shoots.
In another embodiment of the present invention the presence of a pair of leaves on the stem, stem segments, multiple shoots and twigs is mandatory for the induction of rooting
In yet another embodiment of the invention the source stems, shoots, twigs, stem segments etc. may be from the native plants growing in soil or from those produced in vitro through tissue culture techniques.
In yet another embodiment of the invention similar root induction may be achieved in certain other plants similar to mints like other Lamiacea, Bacopa monnieri etc.
In yet another embodiment of the invention the water may be replaced once or more times depending upon the rate of achieving root induction, leaching of terpenoidal constituents from the leaves or their putrefaction under water under certain circumstances (anaerobiosis etc.) could lessen or prevent rooting induction. However, aeration or replacement with fresh water could overcome the problem.
A light and dark dependent quantitative as well as qualitative differences in the rooting efficiency and rooting type phenomenon were observed with faster and more abundant rooting under complete dark treatment. As a phenomenally original observation out of the invention the root induction at even the non-submerged internodes (called herein as xe2x80x98aerial rootingxe2x80x99) in the stems or twigs with cut ends dipped in the water was observed only in the case of complete dark treatment.
Scientifically, the mandatory requirement of a pair of leaves for the induction of rooting may be because of their role in catering to the need of carbon and other nutrient to sustain the root growth. As such, it appears that the presence of a pair of leaves holds the secret of signal of rooting initiation with their subsequent role of the nutritional feeding of the initiated roots coming into picture subsequently. The fast and more abundant rooting in dark may be perceived along the same lines as dark treatment could set in the breakdown of storage or reserve starch in the leaves with the soluble carbohydrates thus generated provide abundant supply pool for translocation to the sink of rooting site. Again light-dark cycles could though periodically regulate the balance of starch-soluble carbohydrate production with the mobilization of starch during the intermittent dark period and replenishment of starch pool through photosynthetically generated transitory starch during the light period. It should imply that though rooting initiation and proliferation in light-dark cycles may be slower in rate, it may be temporally more sustainable under the no nutrient medium utilized in the invented process. A support to the above conceptual notion may be drawn from the fact that subterranean (underground) suckers which sprout to give full plants in conventional cultivation of propagation of the mints are thickened (xe2x80x98rhizomaticxe2x80x99) stolons having plenty of stored food to sustain sprouting (differentiation) and support early growth of the plantlets just like seed reserves do to the germinating embryos or like potato tuber portion do to the planted potato eyes. As concerns xe2x80x98aerial rootsxe2x80x99 induced under complete dark treatment of the invented process, a plausible explanation being postulated herewith is that such roots may be induced under severe depletion of nutrients (which are little available from the water as it is nutritionally un-supplemented and leaves progressively loose their status of higher gradient with progressive supply but no replenishment). Accordingly they may possess some special attribute to take up nutrients from air. It may be something like reminicient of the hanging roots in certain Ficus trees in nature. However, the concept speculated herewith needs experimental scrutiny of acceptance or rejection.
The following examples are given by way of illustration of the present invention and should not be construed to limit the scope of the present invention.

Process for the induction of normal roots on nodes and internodes of stem segments without using hormone and/or chemical treatments in mentha species

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research


Disclosed herein are azeotrope and near-azeotrope compositions comprising E-1,1,1,2,3-pentafluoropropene (E-HFC-1225ye) and hydrogen fluoride. The azeotrope and near-azeotrope compositions are useful in processes to produce and in processes to purify E-HFC-1225ye and/or Z-1,1,1,2,3-pentafluoropropene (Z-HFC-1225ye). Also disclosed are processes for the extractive distillation to separate E-HFC-1225ye from Z-HFC-1225ye.

1. Field of the Invention
Disclosed herein are azeotrope compositions comprising E-1,1,1,2,3-pentafluoropropene and hydrogen fluoride. The azeotrope compositions are useful in processes to produce E-1,1,1,2,3-pentafluoropropene and in processes to purify E-1,1,1,2,3-pentafluoropropene.
2. Description of Related Art
Chlorine-containing compounds, such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) are considered to be detrimental to the Earth's ozone layer. Many of the hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), used to replace CFCs, have been found to contribute to global warming. Therefore, there is a need to identify new compounds that do not damage the environment, but also possess the properties necessary to function as refrigerants, solvents, cleaning agents, foam blowing agents, aerosol propellants, heat transfer media, dielectrics, fire extinguishing agents, sterilants and power cycle working fluids. Fluorinated olefins, or fluoroolefins, containing one or more hydrogens in the molecule, are being considered for use in some of the applications, like for example, in refrigeration. Thus, there is a need for additional commercially acceptable methods of manufacturing and purifying fluoroolefins.

Azeotrope compositions comprising 1,1,1,2,3-pentafluoropropene and hydrogen fluoride and uses thereof


There is provided a siloxane-imide copolymer composition having at least one polymeric block with a low glass transition temperature and at least one polymeric block with a high glass transition temperature. Preferred compositions have the general formula ##STR1##

The present invention relates to polymeric compositions having both siloxane units and imide units. More particularly, the present invention relates to siloxane-imide copolymers which are soluble in diglyme; i.e. diglycol methyl ethers.
It is known in the art that siloxane-imide copolymers can be prepared by reacting, for example, a diaminosiloxane and a dianhydride such as benzophenone dianhydride to yield a polyamide acid having the formula ##STR2## where R is a divalent hydrocarbon radical, R' is a monovalent hydrocarbon radical, m is a whole number greater than one, and n is a whole number greater than 10. Such polyamide acids are soluble in highly polar solvents such as N-methyl pyrrolidone and are provided the end-user in this form.
The siloxane-imide polymer is formed, typically after the end-user has applied a coating of polyamide acid to a substrate, by heating at a temperature of from about 150.degree. C. to about 400.degree. C. to remove the solvent and effect cyclization to form a siloxane-imide copolymer having, for example, the formula ##STR3##
These polyimides, while useful as protective coatings for semiconductors and other electronic devices, suffer from the defect that they are insoluble in virtually all of the common organic solvents. Another drawback of methods which require heating the polyamide acid at temperatures of from 150.degree. C. to 400.degree. C. is that many semiconductor devices cannot be heated to such extremes without adversely affecting the device itself. Furthermore, the artisan will appreciate that the amide acid can hydrolyze to form carboxylic acid groups which, of course, will prevent complete imidization when the end-user attempts to use the product. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a polyimide capable of being applied in the form of an imide rather than in the form of an amide acid.
Holub, U.S. Pat. No. 3,325,450, discloses polyimidesiloxanes of Formula II hereinabove and their preparation by reacting diaminosiloxanes and organic dianhydrides to form a polyamide acid, and thereafter heating the polyamide acid to effect imidization. Variations of Holub's teachings can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,392,144; 3,435,002; 3,553,282; 3,558,741; 3,663,728; and 3,740,305.
Berger, U.S. Pat. No. 4,030,948, discloses a polyimide copolymer which is the reaction product of a tetracarboxylic acid dianhydride, an organic diamine and a di(aminoalkyl)polysiloxane, where the di(aminoalkyl)polysiloxane constitutes 18 to 45 mole percent of the total amine requirement of the polymer.
Berger, U.S. Pat. No. 4,395,527, discloses that polyimides containing siloxane units of the formula ##STR4## where Q is a substituted or unsubstituted aromatic group; Z is --O--, --S--, ##STR5## D is an unsubstituted or substituted hydrocarbylene; R.sup.1, R.sup.2, R.sup.3, R.sup.4, R.sup.5, and R.sup.6 are each, independently, unsubstituted or substituted hydrocarbyl radicals; and x, y and z each, independently, have a value from 0 to 100; impart improved solubility and adhesion to the polyimide. Generally, such polyimides are said to be soluble in chlorinated hydrocarbon solvents such as dichlorobenzene and trichlorobenzene, as well as in polar solvents such as N,N-dimethyl acetamide; N-methyl caprolactam; dimethylsulfoxide; N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone; tetramethylurea; pyridine; dimethylsulfone; hexamethylphosphoramide; tetramethylene sulfone; formamide; N-methylforamide; butyrolactone; and N-acetyl-2-pyrrolidone. Berger further teaches that if a diether-containing anhydride is utilized as one of the starting materials, there is obtained a polyimide soluble not only in the chlorinated hydrocarbon solvents and polar solvents previously disclosed, but also, where it contains a siloxane unit, the polyimide is soluble in a solvent which is derived from monoalkyl and/or dialkyl ethers of ethylene glycol and condensed polyethylene glycols and/or cyclic ethers containing no less than a five member ring, such as diglyme. However, Berger makes clear that polyimides will have limited solubility in diglyme. The artisan will appreciate that Berger requires the use of unusual monomers which, accordingly, are rather expensive if it is desired to obtain a diglyme soluble imide-siloxane polymer. In another aspect Berger teaches the art that polyimides containing siloxane units have a much lower glass transition temperature (Tg), e.g. on the order of 140.degree. C. as compared with 350.degree. C. for conventional polyimides. Consequently, they will melt and flow more readily than prior art polyimides.


A children's activity and entertainment enclosure includes a housing a plurality of legs attached to the housing to support the housing at a selected elevation above a support surface and a flexible sheet material covering the housing and at least upper portions of the legs. A plurality of activity stations are present within the enclosure as are a seat for seating a child and a suspension mechanism for suspending the seat from the housing so that a child sitting in the seat with feet engaging the support surface can maneuver within the enclosure from one activity station to another.

There already exist a various play enclosures for small children. These run the gamut from a tent-like enclosure containing a multiplicity of balls to enclosed children's sandboxes and wading pools. These enclosures invariably have one or more openings to provide access to the enclosure. Thus, a child can enjoy the security of the enclosure without feeling isolated from other people in the vicinity of the enclosure. However, the same openings allow the child to leave the enclosure.
Children's walkers are also commonplace. A child sitting in one of these devices can propel him/herself along the floor in any direction. Therefore, a child using such a walker must be supervised at all times.
Another conventional child's activity toy is a swing, some of which are motorized so that a child can swing back and forth without any outside assistance. While the child on the swing requires minimal supervision, the child may become bored with this repetitive motion, particularly when there are no goals to be reached at the limits of that motion.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to be able to provide a single children's toy which has the advantages of a play enclosure, walker and swing without the aforesaid disadvantages.

Children's activity and entertainment enclosure


A method for patterning a metal layer without so-called "rabbit ears" comprising the steps of:. deposition of a metal layer on a substrate, deposition of a barrier layer on the metal layer, formation of a mask layer of a predetermined pattern on the barrier layer, etching of the barrier layer and the metal layer under conditions such that the mask layer is also eroded slightly, and removal of the mask layer. In other embodiments, selective etching of barrier layer and mask sidewalls avoids or eliminates such "rabbit ears" and/or etchant product deposits which are precursors of such "rabbit ears".

The present invention relates to a method for patterning a metal layer by dry etching for use, in particular, in a process for fabricating a semiconductor device.
FIGS. 22-29 are cross-sectional views illustrating a conventional process to make a pattern of a metal layer.
The process comprising:
(1) Forming a 1.0 .mu.m-thick SiO.sub.2 (silicon dioxide) layer 21 and a 1.0 .mu.-thick AlSi (Alluminum alloy including silicon) layer 22 on a Si (silicon) substrate 20. [FIG. 22]
(2) Depositing a 3-layer resist consisting of a first resist layer as the lower layer 23, SOG (Spin-on-glass) as the middle layer 24, and a second resist layer as the upper layer 25 on the AlSi layer 22. [FIG. 23]
(3) Patterning the upper layer 25 using conventional photographic technology, and etching the middle layer 24. [FIG. 23]
(4) Removing the upper layer 25 and etching the lower layer 23 using the middle layer 24 as an etching mask. An inevitable problem in this process is the deposition of products 40 which result from a reaction between the etchant and the surface of the AlSi layer 22. [FIG. 25]
(5) Removing the middle layer 24. [FIG. 25]
(6) Etching the AlSi layer 22 using the lower layer 23 as a mask.
Inevitably, a portion of the etching products 41 is deposited on the wide wall layer 23. [FIG. 27]
(7) Removing the lower layer 23, leaving so-called "rabbit ears" at the shoulders of the patterned AlSi 22. [FIG. 28]
(8) Depositing a final passivation layer 27. [FIG. 29]
In a conventional dry etching metal patterning process as described above, "rabbit ears" on the shoulder of the patterned metal layer causes deterioration of the coverage of the passivation layer thereon. Specifically, the passivation layer tends to develop cracks and/or pinholes. Accordingly, semiconductor devices fabricated in this conventional process may suffer from poor reliability.


A method and apparatus for targeting a robotics materials handling and sequencing system having a plurality of storage bins. A targeting cassette is inserted into one or more of the stationary storage bins and a laser scanner is utilized to read an identification code on the targeting cassette. Based upon the reading of the laser scanner, the position of the targeting cassette is calculated. Additional storage locations can be calculated either by targeting the location or using an interpolation method to calculate the location of the remaining storage bins.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a robotics handling system for storing and handling articles. More particularly, the present invention relates to a laser targeting system for use with a robotics system for handling videocassettes in an automated programmable sequence.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Existing prior art videocassette storage, handling and sequencing systems typically embody one of two forms. In certain systems, videotape cassettes are stored on a movable carousel and the desired cassette is positioned for removal by rotation of the carousel. The cassette is then loaded into the tape transport by a robotics handling mechanism. Other robotics sequencing systems incorporate one or more stationary columns of storage bins in which cassettes are held and an elevator robotics system loads the designated cassettes into specific transport units. In these latter systems, it is known to place a bar code label on the videocassette and use a bar code reader to allow a computer control system to determine the location of the cassette to be retrieved and control the movement of the cassette from a storage bin to a tape transport. Exemplary of such systems are U.S. Pat. No. 4,654,727 (which discloses an automatic cassette handling and sequencing system utilizing a bar code reader and is capable of storing hundreds of cassettes for handling) and U.S. Pat. No. 4,846,619 (which discloses a robotics handling system having a plurality of columns of storage bins located about a circle),
While recently developed systems such as the ones embodied in the above-identified U.S. patents have expedited the handling and sequencing of cassettes in robotics systems, the adjustment of cassette loading and handling pickup points has often been a difficult and time consuming effort. Fine tuning and adjusting of pickup points (or "targeting") is necessary to ensure that the robotics can properly grasp a cassette and insert it into a transport. Targeting is generally necessary at the time of installation of a robotics system in order to adjust the handling robotics to compensate for inconsistencies in manufacturing (or for manufacturing tolerances) and for the effects of stress being applied to various parts during installation. After installation and the initial targeting, the system may become slightly misaligned during use. For example, misalignment may occur when a video transport in the system is serviced or the entire system moved, or due to normal wear and tear such as belt stretch and fatigue. The effect of such misalignment serves to handicap the sequencing and handling capabilities of the system. In existing systems, however, both initial targeting and subsequent retargeting require significant time and effort and manual adjustment of the entire system.


A blown film that comprises polypropylene that has a melt flow rate of 1.8 to 14.0 g/10 min. and a melting point of at least 115° C. The blown film has a haze of less than 10% and a gloss of greater than 70%. The blown film may be co-extruded with a medium density polyethylene or 15 wt % of an impact copolymer. A clarifier may also be incorporated. The blown film that comprises polypropylene is produced on a standard air cooled blown film line.

The film market demands polypropylene resins that can produce a special combination of film properties. Typically high clarity, high gloss polypropylene films can be produced by cast, double bubble (tubular), and water quenched blown film processes. Excellent optical film properties can also be obtained through biaxial orientation (BOPP) by the tender-frame process. An air-cooled blown film process, which is widely used to produce polyethylene film, does not produce high clarity films using conventional polypropylene resins.
Achieving high clarity, high gloss blown films made from polypropylene using existing processing technology is desirable. Producing a blown film with a high modulus is also desirable.


A system for inputting information into a camera digital control circuitry, including a clock pulse generator; scanning circuitry having a plurality of output terminals to be successively scanned one by one in synchronism with consecutive pulses of a clock pulse train; at least one terminal selector for selecting one of the output terminals according to the predetermined selection; and at least one counting circuitry for counting the clock pulses successively generated, wherein at least one digitalized information signal, output from the counting circuitry at a predetermined time when one of the output terminals selected in advance is scanned, is inputted through the terminal selector to the camera digital control circuitry as a digitalized information word in correspondence with the selection.

This invention relates to a system for inputting information to be set in advance into a digital control circuit means of a camera, which is applicable, for example, to an automatic exposure control means of cameras so as to set in digitalized photographic information.
As for circuit means such as the automatic exposure control circuit means of cameras, complete digitalization of the above-mentioned circuit means has often been proposed, and accordingly, a number of proposals concerning arrangements for inputting information into the digital circuit means are already well known to those skilled in the art.
According to one of the prior art arrangements, the introduction of a decoder is proposed as a means for the above-mentioned input system, wherein a specific binary code is arranged to be output from the decoder in correspondence with the selection of one of a plurality of input terminals of the decoder. However, in such a case, not only must a specifically designed decoder having special functions to accomplish the above-mentioned purpose be provided, but the decoder requires quite a large number of specific input terminals.
Another one of the conventional arrangements for a system for inputting information into the digital circuit means can be found in Japanese Laid Open Patent Application No. 50-90324 (1975). The system includes a camera having an automatic exposure control means including a digital computing circuit, in which various photographic information are digitalized so that the output signal from the circuit mentioned above may introduce a set value of the correct exposure. There is further provided an actuator means having a plurality of contacts which are respectively arranged to be changed-over in response to a manual setting of a shutter speed dial, and a circuit means for setting a shutter speed, which is arranged to apply the respective output signals coded in advance to the corresponding terminals of the digital computing circuit mentioned above depending upon the respective, resultant change-over states of the plurality of contacts mentioned above.
However, the arrangement described above requires quite a complicated switching circuit means and is not arranged to be relatively, compactly constructed, particularly if the absolute number of values of information of even the same kind is to be increased, and when several specific classifications of the information is desired.
Furthermore, according to one of other alternative proposals, a certain binary code is arranged to be input through every contact between a code board including a plurality of portions to be contacted, such as the gray code board, and a plurality of brushes, the number of respective contacts between the above mentioned portion and brush directly corresponding to the bit number. However, even by the arrangement as described above, there still remain some problems in that not only is the specific pattern to be ready for the code board quite complicated, but also the number of respective contacts mentioned above corresponding to the number of bits arranged for the code board mentioned above, as specifically disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,928,858 (1975) are large. Furthermore, more specifically, the arrangement mentioned above has a fatal, specific disadvantage in that the output of the wrong binary code cannot be substantially avoided, if one of the brush and portion contacts prepared in a manner as mentioned above is simply brought into poor contact with each other.
Furthermore, according to a still further proposal disclosed in Japanese Laid Open Patent Application (Tokkaisho) No. 50-337264, there is provided a system for inputting information into a digital control circuit means. As far as the above-mentioned system is concerned, a train of clock pulses is arranged to be input into a counter means through manually pressing a button, so that the output from the counter means is not only utilized as a representation of the photographic informaton, but also is displayed at the same time during the above-mentioned pressing of the button. More specifically, according to the above-mentioned system, a photographer handling the camera equipped with the above-mentioned system has to continuously press the button and simultaneously, to pay attention to the display which varied in a non-continuous manner or a stepwise manner, until the display mentioned above reaches a predetermined value, so that a value corresponding to the value displayed at the instant of the releasing of the button is input into the digital control circuit means as the predetermined photographic information. Therefore, when the photographer happens to be not paying attention, the predetermined value is overlooked, and thereby, the above-mentioned setting actuation must again be repeated. Furthermore, in addition to the above-mentioned defects, it is naturally quite inconvenient for the photographer in that he must keep observing the above-mentioned display in the course of the setting in of the photographic. Moreover, since the speed of display varied in a manner as described in the foregoing can not help being limited within such a degree as to enable the photographer to confirm the respective non-continuous displayed value, it naturally takes a rather long period to set the predetermined photographic information therewith.

System for inputting information into digital control circuit means of a camera


A method for temporarily marking a surface whose distance from a light beam source can substantially vary, without requiring focusing or refocusing of the light beam, commences with the step of coating a portion of the surface with a light reactant, color-forming chemical solution. The solution is soluble in a liquid solvent that is nonreactive with the surface. The coated portion of the surface is exposed to a collimated, non-focused laser beam exhibiting an airy disk pattern having central bright spot, the exposure occurring for a period of time that enables the central bright spot to expose the coating and to manifest a color change at points of incidence. The bright spot exhibits a diameter that does not exceed a predetermined diameter within an expected distance variations between the source of the laser beam and the surface. A laser source employs a gradient index lens to produce the airy disk diffraction pattern with a central bright spot that manifests more than 50% of the energy of a collimated beam emanating from the laser source.

During manufacture of large structures, it is often necessary to accurately align portions of the structure. In the construction of aircraft, many physical alignments are required, often between portions of the airframe that are substantially displaced from each other. The distance between alignment points can vary from several feet to 40 feet or more. Such alignments must be extremely precise and require the rendering of extremely fine lines or points to achieve required tolerances. Notwithstanding the importance of accurate positioning and small size of required alignment marks, it is important to be able to easily remove the marks once the alignment process is completed.
Laser systems have been employed to remotely mark structures. Where fine markings are required, the prior art teaches various focusing techniques so as to enable a laser's beam pattern to be compressed to a fine point. Such focusing is time consuming and is to be avoided if possible. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,148,057 to Jesse, an ultraviolet laser is employed to cure an ink that has been coated on a large surface. The ink (resin) is rolled, brushed or sprayed onto the surface being marked and subsequently illuminated by a laser beam in a predetermined pattern. After the surface is washed, a raised mark is present on the path that the laser beam followed. U.S. Pat. No. 4,547,649 to Butt et al. discloses a laser-heat based system wherein when a surface oxide is heated to approximately 1200.degree. F. The heated portion of the surface oxide returns to the base metal state and contrasts with the remaining surface oxide layer. Such a technique enables superficial marking of zirconium and certain other metals.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,307,047 to Edinger et al. is a further laser-heat based system wherein a plastic object is mixed with another material that upon localized heating, changes color. The laser is controlled to create numbers, letters and other permanent markings thereon.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,657,510 to Rothrock discloses a laser marking system wherein a mask is employed to shape a laser beam to create a desired pattern on the receiving surface. The laser beam causes mechanical changes in the target surface to create the desired mark.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,401,992 to Vorst et al. also discloses a mask for shaping a laser beam. The masked laser beam causes a material containing a dye to decompose and form a color contrast mark on the surface being marked. The material being marked is described as a colored synthetic resin.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,035,983 to Kiyonari et al. describes a composition useful in a laser marking system. The composition contains a non-black inorganic lead compound and a resin. A laser, having a wavelength in the far infrared region, exposes the material and causes the appearance of a black mark. The far infrared laser regime is said to be required due to the heat resistance of the lead compound. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,769,310 to Gugger et al. and 5,030,551 to Herren et al. both disclose the marking of ceramic materials, glazes, etc. using a laser beam. Both patents describe the rendering of permanent marks in or on a ceramic material or glaze through the use of the laser beam. U.S. Pat. No. 3,747,117 to Fechter employs a laser to expose a metal oxide coatings as to create spots having greater light permeability than the unexposed portions of the oxide. The oxide medium is described as a layer of oxidized aluminum into which a dye solution has been diffused so as to color the oxide. U.S. Pat. No. 4,822,987 to Goldenfield et al. describes a marking method that employs a computer controlled laser to engrave or etch a bar code onto nuclear fuel rods. This process, as well as most if not all of the above noted processes, leaves permanent marks on the surface.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide an improved laser marking system wherein a surface is marked with non-permanent indicia.
It is another object of this invention to provide an improved laser marking system wherein a fine marking beam pattern is achieved without the requirement of focusing optics.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide an improved laser marking system wherein a surface to be marked may be placed at varying distances from a laser exposure device without any requirement for focusing or refocusing of the laser beam.
It is still another object of this invention to provide a laser marking system wherein a temporary, light responsive medium may be coated on a surface to be marked and later removed from the surface without leaving a marking residue.

Laser marking system and method for temporarily marking a surface


A skeletal structure is formed of at least 4 and usually 6-12 curved members, each pivotally connected together at their upper and at their lower ends so as to have a generally spherical shape resembling a pumpkin. The skeletal structure is collapsible so that the curved members are parallel to each other for packaging or storage. A string of miniature electrical lamps can be attached removably to the curved members for providing a decorative appearance to the skeletal structure.

This invention pertains to collapsible skeletal structures which can have an opened spherical shape and be collapsed for packaging. It pertains particularly to such a skeletal spherical-shaped structure with multiple lamps attached to the skeletal form to decoratively outline the structure.
Various collapsible skeletal structures are known, the structures being collapsible for packaging or storage purposes but are expanded or extended during normal use. One example of such structure are extendible gates and support structures which utilize numerous scissor type members which are pivotably attached together at their ends and mid points. However, the present invention utilizes numerous curved pivoted members in a unique combination to create a collapsible skeletal structure such as having a generally spherical shape.


Determining geometric data of a conical measurement object comprises determining spatial coordinates at a plurality of measurement points of the measurement object. At least six spatial coordinates are determined on at least six different measurement points. Element parameters of a tangential conical substitute element are determined by means of a system of equations which describes difference values between the spatial coordinates and the tangential conical substitute element. The difference values are modeled by means of at least two difference parameters whose sum represents a perpendicular spacing between the tangential conical substitute element and a spatial coordinate. Geometric data of the conical measurement object is determined using the substitute element.

The present invention relates to a method and a device for determining geometric data of a conical measurement object.
For quality control of industrially produced workpieces, the workpieces are often examined or measured by means of coordinate measuring machines in order to check if the workpieces correspond to the specifications. For this purpose, a workpiece to be measured is placed in the measurement volume of a coordinate measuring machine. The coordinate measuring machine has a measuring head, often in the form of a tactile probe head, by means of which defined measurement points of the workpiece are scanned. Due to the defined position of the measurement object within the measurement volume, spatial coordinates of the measurement point can then be determined by means of the position of the measuring head within the measurement volume. When the spatial coordinates are determined at a plurality of measurement points, it is possible to determine geometric data of the measurement object, such as the circumference or the diameter of a bore or the length of a side.
However, measurement errors of different causes are superposed on each measurement value. Some measurement errors can be predicted, for example on the basis of a change in room temperature. Other measurement errors, however, are unknown. Moreover, each workpiece has individual manufacturing tolerances. Coordinate measuring technology is therefore facing the challenge of acquiring unknown manufacturing tolerances of the workpieces even when the superposed and at least partially unknown measurement errors are of the same order of magnitude.
When a measurement object is measured by means of a coordinate measuring machine at a plurality of measurement points, a "point cloud" of spatial coordinates is obtained as a result. If these points are connected notionally, a metrological image of the measurement object is obtained. This metrological image differs from the ideal measurement object as a result of the measurement errors and as a result of the manufacturing tolerances. Since the determination of the geometric data on the metrological image can vary substantially depending on which measurement points are used, an ideal substitute element matching the "point cloud" as good as possible is often determined. The substitute element allows the geometric data to be determined with higher reproducibility and a better basis for comparisons.
There are several substitute elements that are more or less well suited depending on the shape of the measurement object and on the geometric data being sought. Known substitute elements are Gaussian elements, minimum elements, envelope elements and inscribed elements. In the case of a Gaussian element, the sum of the squares of the deviations between measurement points and the ideal substitute element is minimized. Therefore, there is exactly one Gaussian substitute element for each specific point cloud. The same holds true for the minimum element, in the case of which the deviation of the maximum absolute value between substitute element and any desired measurement point is minimized. Gaussian and minimum elements can be uniquely determined both for "open" measurement objects or measurement regions (for example straight line or plane) and for "closed" measurement objects (for example circle, ball, cylinder).
The envelope element is the smallest possible substitute element that encloses all the measurement points. The inscribed element is the largest possible substitute element where all the measurement points lie outside the substitute element. Since the envelope and the inscribed substitute elements touch at least some measurement points, they are often called fitting or tangential substitute elements.
Envelope and inscribed elements are well suited for determining geometric data such as location, orientation, diameter, length and other pairing dimensions. In the case of conical measurement objects, however, envelope or inscribed substitute elements could only be determined if additional conditions (secondary conditions), such as the cone angle of the envelope or inscribed cone, had been defined in advance. Such secondary conditions, however, complicate the comparability of the measurements since the secondary conditions would always need to be considered.
DE 10 2005 030 274 A1 suggested a method and a device by means of which the envelope and inscribed cones of a conical measurement object can be uniquely determined without specifying a cone angle as secondary condition. The document proposes to use the point cloud initially to determine a first conical substitute element, in particular a minimum cone. Subsequently, the cone angle of the minimum cone is used to transform the measurement points of the point cloud such that the transformed measurement points form a substantially cylindrical intermediate element. A cylindrical substitute element in the form of an envelope cylinder or inscribed cylinder was determined for this intermediate element. In the next step, the longitudinal axis of the cylindrical substitute element is determined, and a further coordinate transformation of the measurement points is performed such that the cone apex of the originally determined minimum cone lies on the longitudinal axis of the cylindrical substitute element. Following thereupon, this minimum cone is displaced on the longitudinal axis of the cylindrical substitute element until the condition of envelope or inscription is fulfilled.
Thus, in the case of this method and the corresponding device, the envelope or inscribed cone is determined via the detour of a tangential cylindrical substitute element. The cone angle of the minimum cone is used as cone angle. The method leads to a uniquely determined substitute element, even without a prior secondary condition, and therefore avoids the above-mentioned disadvantages. However, this method is time-consuming and computation intensive, because a plurality of coordinate transformations and the determination of two substitute elements has to be carried out.
DE 198 21 372 A1 discloses a coordinate measuring machine and a method for controlling it, with a plurality of spatial coordinates being determined at a plurality of measurement points. Parameters of geometric elements, such as a circle or a plane, are stored in the controller of the coordinate measuring machine in order to define the measurement points to be scanned on the measurement object. The document proposes to store these parameters with reference to a respectively dedicated coordinate system of the geometric elements. This document, however, does not indicate a solution for the above-mentioned problems in the context of determining tangential substitute elements for conical measurement objects.

Method and device for determining geometric data of a conical measurement object

Carl Zeiss Industrielle Messtechnik GmbH


A method and apparatus to index network information is described. A network is searched for files of information relevant to people and resources in a particular field using a search list of weighted links to said files. The information is parsed into content and additional links to additional files. The content is weighted and copied to memory (such as a database). A determination is made as to whether the additional links are relevant to the people and resources in the given technical field. Those additional links that are relevant are weighted using a predetermined weighting algorithm. The relevant additional weighted links are copied to the search list. This process continues until an ending condition occurs.

The invention relates to communications in general. More particularly, the invention relates to a method and apparatus to retrieve information from a network such as the Internet.
The existing amount of information available over the Internet and World Wide Web (WWW) is staggering. There are literally millions of xe2x80x9cweb pagesxe2x80x9d full of information on almost any topic of interest. Moreover, this amount of information is increasing at a geometric rate. This sheer volume of information has made the search for specific types of information a significant challenge. The complexity of this challenge may be better understood with some background information regarding the Internet and WWW in general.
The Internet comprises a network of computers interconnected by some form of communication medium. The type of computer could range from handheld computers and pocket PCs to high-end mainframe and supercomputers. The communication mediums may vary between twisted pair, co-axial cable, optical fibers and radio-frequencies. Each computer is equipped with software and hardware that enables each computer to communicate using the same procedures or language. These procedures and language are often referred to as protocols, which are often layered over one another to form something called a xe2x80x9cprotocol stack.xe2x80x9d One such protocol is referred to as the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and it permits the transfer of Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) documents between computers. The HTML documents are often referred to as xe2x80x9cweb pagesxe2x80x9d and are files containing information in the form of text, video, images, links to other web pages, and so forth. Each web page is stored in a computer (sometimes referred to as an xe2x80x9cInternet Serverxe2x80x9d) and has a unique address referred to as a Universal Resource Locator (URL). The URL is used by a program referred to as a xe2x80x9cweb browserxe2x80x9d located on one computer to find a web page stored somewhere on another computer connected to the network. This creates a xe2x80x9cwebxe2x80x9d of computers each storing a number of web pages that can be accessed and transferred using a standard protocol, and hence this web of computers is referred to as the WWW.
A complete field of technology has arisen that focuses upon making it easier for a user to find information available over the Internet. There are a large number of xe2x80x9csearch enginesxe2x80x9d that permit the user to enter key words or phrases. The search engine then searches the Internet to find web pages that contain the key terms. The results are then presented to the user in some sort of ranked fashion. Given the sheer volume of information available over the Internet and WWW, however, search time can be extremely long. This is particularly problematic in an age when users are demanding faster performance in information retrieval tools. Moreover, the search results may often have little relevance to the user""s initial request.
In order to accelerate the search process, some search engines build internal databases using a search program referred to as a xe2x80x9cweb crawler.xe2x80x9d The idea is that by building an internal database, much of the search work can be done prior to a user""s request for information thereby decreasing search times. A web crawler performs as its name suggests. The program periodically xe2x80x9ccrawlsxe2x80x9d or searches the Internet and attempts to catalog or index the information available in certain web pages. The index is stored in a database that is accessible to the search engine. In this manner, when a user enters a search term, the internal database is searched first in a relatively fast and efficient manner.
A problem with conventional web crawlers, however, is that they are designed to collect a limited set of information about the web page. Each web page typically has a list of terms provided by the web page designer that attempts to identify the content found within the web page. The web crawler retrieves this list of terms and stores the terms in a database. This list of terms, however, is typically limited to what the web designer deems significant. Consequently, it may not be accurate or comprehensive. Moreover, in many instances, this list may contain terms that are misleading. For example, a web page having information about a particular brand of car may include in its list of terms the name of several competitors. When the user inputs the competitor""s name in a search engine, the unintended web page would be retrieved as part of the search results.
Another problem with conventional web crawlers is that they are designed to locate general information. They simply search for web pages in a random manner and index those web pages within the initial search parameters. These conventional web crawlers, however, are not optimized to locate a specific set or domain of information. Accordingly, the conventional web crawler is not efficient or effective when attempting to catalog or index specialized information.
In view of the foregoing, it can be appreciated that a substantial need exists for a web crawler that solves the above-discussed problems.
One embodiment of the invention comprises a method and apparatus to index network information. A network is searched for files of information relevant to people and resources in a particular field using a search list of weighted links to the files. The information is parsed into content and additional links to additional files. The content is weighted and copied to memory (such as a database). A determination is made as to whether the additional links are relevant to the people and resources in the given particular field. Those additional links that are relevant are weighted using a predetermined weighting algorithm. The relevant additional weighted links are copied to the search list. This process continues until an ending condition occurs.
With these and other advantages and features of the invention that will become hereinafter apparent, the nature of the invention may be more clearly understood by reference to the following detailed description of the invention, the appended claims and to the several drawings attached herein.

Method and apparatus to retrieve information from a network


An optical implementation of an inner-product neural associative memory is realized with a first spatial light modulator for entering an initial two-dimensional N-tuple vector and for entering a thresholded output vector image after each iteration until convergence is reached, and a second spatial light modulator for entering M weighted vectors of inner-product scalars multiplied with each of the M stored vectors, where the inner-product scalars are produced by multiplication of the initial input vector in the first iterative cycle (and thresholded vectors in subsequent iterative cycles) with each of the M stored vectors, and the weighted vectors are produced by multiplication of the scalars with corresponding ones of the stored vectors. A Hughes liquid crystal light valve is used for the dual function of summing the weighted vectors and thresholding the sum vector. The thresholded vector is then entered through the first spatial light modulator for reiteration of the process cycle until convergence is reached.

S. Y. Kung and H. K. Liu proposed a method of implementation of a neural network associative memory via an inner-product array processor in a paper titled "An optical inner-product array processor for associative retrieval," SPIE, Vol. 613, Nonlinear Optics and Applications, pp. 214-219 (1986). H. K. Liu suggested an optical implementation of a programmable associative recall system in a concept paper titled "Real-time optical associative retrieval technique," Optical Engineering, Vol. 25, No. 7, pp. 853-856, July (1986). The main objective was that the processor be implemented in coherent optics as shown in FIG. 1 using the replication capability of a holographic optical element called a multifocus hololens 10 described by Y. Z. Liang in a paper titled "Multifocus dichromated gelatin hololens," Applied Optics, Vol. 22, No 21, pp. 3451-3456, (1986). The inner-products formed are between an N-tuple input vector initially applied via a liquid crystal spatial light modulator 11 and each of a plurality of N-tuple vectors stored in an electronically addressable transmission-type spatial light modulator 12, such as a liquid crystal TV spatial light modulator (LCTV SLM) described by H. K. Liu, et al., "Liquid crystal television spatial light modulators," Applied Optics, Vol 28, No. 22, pp 4772-4780 (1989). The N-tuple vectors are all represented by 2-D image arrays.
The input vector is replicated by the multifocus hololens 10 to provide a number M of input vectors for multiplication with each of M vectors stored in the electronically addressable spatial light modulator 12. The inner products are passed through a diffuser 13 that averages the light intensity of each vector product to yield M inner-product scalars. The scalars are then multiplied by the same M vectors stored in a second spatial light modulator 14 identical to the spatial light modulator 12, thus completing the process of forming the M inner-product vectors (weighted) which are summed by a multifocus hololens 15 that plays a reverse role from the multifocus hololens 10. A television camera (or CCD detector array) 16 detects the output matrix which is then processed through an electronic thresholding means 17. The thresholded matrix is fed back as an input vector through an electronically addressable spatial light modulator 18. This process of producing and feeding back a threshold matrix is reiterated until convergence is reached and the output threshold matrix becomes stable. The stable threshold matrix displayed on a screen 19 is the one of M stored vectors that best matches the initial input vector.
The source of energy for this optical system is an argon laser 20. A lens 21 collimates the laser beam which is then divided by a beam splitter 22. Mirrors 23 and 24 and a beam splitter 25 complete the optical inner-product neural network computation model.

Optical implementation of inner product neural associative memory

The United States of America as represented by the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration


An electrical connector shell reinforcement means operable to support and strengthen the bayonet pins of the electrical connector is disclosed. The electrical connector shell reinforcement means includes a metal band bonded upon the electrical connector shell before or after the insertion of the bayonet pins. The shell reinforcement means provides structural support against the shearing forces the pins are subjected to. An alternative embodiment of the electrical connector reinforcement means incorporates a washer-like metal band directly supporting the bayonet pins of the electrical connector shell. An alternative embodiment of the electrical connector reinforcement means incorporates a metal cup on the composite material molded into the bayonet pin. Finally, a coupling ring is disclosed to be formed of plastic or composite material to include a metal liner therewithin having a bayonet pin receiving groove cut or broached into its inside surface, and a method of producing such device is also disclosed.

The present invention relates to an electrical shell connector reinforcement means and more particularly to a reinforcement means which structurally supports the bayonet pins and bayonet grooves of the electrical connector shell and coupling ring, respectively.
Electrical connectors for the coupling of electrical cables having multiple terminations such as individual leads, are well known. Such multi-lead connectors are used in electronic systems to electrically couple the individual components from those systems together. In, for example, aircraft systems, military vehicles and the like, these connectors must operate in a high degree of reliability. They must not fail in severe climatic, vibrational, or electrical interference environments. Unfortunately, despite the many types of connector designs now available, connectors are still subject to failures due to these factors. A failure of the individual electrical connector can result in the failure of an entire electrical system.
To address these failure problems, various programs have been initiated to implement retrofits which prevent failures before they happen. It is still, however, an object of the art to obtain a connector which would have increased reliability and decreased failure rate due to stress forces, vibration, climatic conditions or environmental changes, all providing a high degree of electromagnetic shielding.
Bayonet connectors which incorporate a first electrical connector shell having bayonet pins implemented upon the exterior surface of the first connector shell operable to slidably interfit a second cylindrical electrical connector shell and further to be coupled incorporating a coupling ring which is operable to receive the bayonet pins of the first cylindrical connector shell, are well known.
In the bayonet electrical shell connector configuration, the greatest stress forces to which the exterior surface of the first connector shell are subjected, occurs at the stress points behind the bayonet pins. Further, the interaction of the environment incorporating vibrational stresses, temperature changes and the like produce the potential for failure due to these forces as they act upon the individual bayonet pins which are slidably interconnected within the bayonet grooves lining the interior surface of the coupling ring.
The weakest portion of the first connector shell is the surface directly beneath the bayonet pins. In, for example, a first electrical connector shell formulated of a composite material, the metal pins may be, for example, ball-peened into place and the area directly surrounding them would be a composite interacting with their metal nature. Alternately, the bayonet pins when comprised of a composite material may be molded into place or pressed into the composite connector shell after fabrication of the shell.
It would be advantageous to provide additional mechanical support to the bayonet pins without enlarging their size or changing their chemical composition.
Further, it would be advantageous to strengthen the overall annular mating of the first connector shell and the second connector shell through the coupling ring by the incorporation of reinforced bayonet grooves without radically changing the size or configuration of the standard coupling ring.
It is therefore an objective of the art to obtain a connector which has an increased immunity to stress failure as a result of vibration, environmental conditions or physical abuse while providing an improved degree of electromagnetic shielding.

Electrical connector shell reinforcement means and method of fabricating same


In a mobile communication system according to the present invention, the mobile communication system is configured to manage a specific mobile station which is allowed to communicate through a CSG cell under the control of a home base station (Home-eNB); and a general mobile station (UE) other than the specific mobile station is configured to be capable of using the CSG cell as a camped cell, only when broadcast information indicating an allowance of a camping in the specific cell is received.

Discussions have been in progress on a home base station Home-eNB in RAN-WG of the "LTE (Long Term Evolution)" in the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project).
Specifically, according to the current 3GPP specifications, a mobile communication system is configured to manage a specific mobile station (a specific mobile station which is allowed to communicating through a specific cell) belonging to a CSG (Closed Subscriber Group) under the control of a home base station Home-eNB or a macro base station eNB.
In other words, according to the current 3GPP specifications, only a specific mobile station belonging to a CSG is configured to be capable of communicating through the CSG cell (the specific cell) under the control of the home base station Home-eNB or the macro base station eNB.
However, in the current 3GPP specifications, even when a general mobile station other than the specific mobile station cannot detect a cell fulfilling a predetermined radio condition, except for the CSG cell, the general mobile station cannot perform a communication through the CSG cell.
In general, the home base station Home-eNB is supposed to be installed inside a building and is also supposed to be installed in a place where radio waves from the macro base station eNB installed outside buildings in the public wireless network are not detected. Accordingly, as described above, it is believed that there often occurs a situation in which a general mobile station other than the specific mobile station cannot detect a cell fulfilling a predetermined radio condition except for the CSG cell under the control of the home base station Home-eNB.
In such a case, even when there are available radio resources left in the CSG cell, the general mobile station cannot use the CSG cell as a camped cell and becomes out of service.
Meanwhile, when many CSG cells are operated at the same frequency band as that of the public wireless network (a macro cell), there arises a problem of mutual interference.
For example, when a mobile station without an access right to the CSG cell performs a communication with a macro cell in a place close to the CSG cell having a less transmission loss, an uplink interference with the CSG cell is considerably increased.
In contrast, in a downlink communication of the mobile station, an interference from the radio waves from the CSG cell occurs, and thus a communication quality is considerably deteriorated.
Meanwhile, when many CSG cells are operated at a frequency band different from that of the macro cell, there arises a problem of interference between the different CSG cells.
In particular, the home base station is supposed to be installed by an end user, and therefore a cell designing is supposed not to be sufficiently made. Accordingly, the mutual interference between the CSG cells can be a serious problem.

Mobile communication system, home base station, and mobile station


An apparatus for controlling driving of a vehicle includes a display located in the vehicle, a sensor configured to collect information about a surrounding vehicle, and a processor electrically connected with the display and the sensor, and configured to obtain location information and speed information of at least one surrounding vehicle located on neighboring lanes beside a driving lane where the vehicle is traveling, using the sensor, when the at least one surrounding vehicle is located within a danger distance in a lateral direction of the vehicle, perform avoidance driving for avoiding the at least one surrounding vehicle in the driving lane, and display an indicator corresponding to the avoidance driving on the display.

With the development of the auto industry, a highway driving assist system for allowing a vehicle to partially perform autonomous driving on a highway has been developed. The highway driving assist system may provide various functions such as setting speed keeping, vehicle-to-vehicle distance keeping, and lane keeping. The vehicle may collect information about a surrounding vehicle located in another lane adjacent to its driving lane as well as a surrounding vehicle located in the driving lane. Depending on a driving situation, the highway driving assist system may be required to perform driving in consideration of a location, a speed, and the like of a surrounding vehicle located in a neighboring lane.
When the surrounding vehicle located in the neighboring lane beside the driving lane of the vehicle is traveling in a state where it is slanted close to the driving lane, particularly when the vehicle overtakes the surrounding vehicle, a driver of the vehicle may feel anxious due to the closeness of the surrounding vehicle to the vehicle. Thus, there is a need for developing an avoidance strategy capable of reducing anxiety of the driver when the vehicle overtakes a surrounding vehicle which is traveling in a state where it is slanted in the direction of the driving lane from the neighboring lane.

Apparatus and method for controlling driving of vehicle


A transistor that includes a doped buried region 320 within a semiconductor body 300, 340. The doped buried region includes a portion having a first thickness 348 and a second thickness, the first thickness being less than the second thickness. In one embodiment the first thickness is about half the second thickness. The transistor also includes a collector region 342 over the buried region, a base region 396 within the collector region, and an emitter region 422 within the base region.

This invention relates to semiconductor devices, and more specifically to bipolar transistors.
Bipolar transistors are commonly used in semiconductor devices, especially for high-speed operation and large drive current applications. A double polysilicon bipolar transistor 10 is shown in FIG. 1. The active area for the transistor is isolated by shallow trench isolation regions 12. The collector 13 is a lightly doped region of one conductivity type in epitaxial layer 14, and the base region is formed by doped regions 16 and 18 of the opposite conductivity type. A heavily doped buried layer 15 lies beneath the collector 13 and is doped the conductivity type of the collector. Doped region 16 is called the intrinsic base region because it lies directly between the emitter and collector of the transistor. Region 18, on the other hand, is known as the extrinsic base region. The extrinsic base region 18 provides an area for connecting to the base of the transistor. The base electrode 20 comprises a first doped polysilicon layer. The emitter region 22 is a doped region of the same conductivity type as the collector and is located within the intrinsic base region 16. The emitter electrode 24 is formed with a second doped polysilicon layer. Contact to the buried layer 15 is made by a heavily-doped collector contact implanted region 28. Oxide region 26 and base-emitter spacers 28 insulate the emitter electrode 24 from the base electrode 20.
The design of the collector of a bipolar transistor influences both its breakdown and high-frequency characteristics. In general a thicker, more lightly-doped collector provides a higher collector-emitter breakdown voltage (BVceo), whereas a thinner, more heavily-doped collector reduces base pushout (Kirk effect) and provides a higher cutoff frequency (fT). Much emphasis has been placed on improving fT in the prior art. For example, in Japanese Patent Application No. 63-154721 a recess is etched in the epitaxial layer in which the collector and base are formed to thin the collector layer between the intrinsic base and a buried layer. In another approach, a phosphorus implant beneath the intrinsic base suppresses base pushout and improves fT. See Sugiyama, et al., xe2x80x9cA 40 GHz fT Si Bipolar Transistor LSI Technology,xe2x80x9d 1989 IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting Technical Digest, 9.1.1. These techniques, however, result in transistors with low BVceo. The Sugiyama paper, for example, reports a BVceo of only 3.3 Volts.
In contrast, the prior art transistor shown in FIG. 2 is designed for high BVceo. The transistor is identical to that of FIG. 1, except that the n+ buried layer is omitted. This, however, increases both the vertical and horizontal components of the collector resistance. High collector resistance can result in the transistor going into saturation at high collector currents, which can induce latchup by injecting holes into the substrate.
The BVceo and fT of a bipolar transistor have traditionally been subject to a performance trade-off. In other words, transistors designed to operate as power devices typically do not perform well in applications requiring small-signal amplification, whereas transistors designed to amplify small signals typically do not perform well in high-power conditions. As a result, the integrated circuit designer is often forced to compromise or trade off the performance of one type of circuit (e.g. input/output) in the integrated circuit against another type of circuit (e.g. small signal amplifier). Therefore, a need exists for structures and methods that allow for transistors designed for both high BVceo and high fT to be formed on the same monolithic integrated circuit. It is also desirable that both types of transistors be formed in a cost-effective manner without added process steps.
In typical double polysilicon bipolar transistors, the emitter junction 22 in FIG. 1 is formed by implantation and subsequent diffusion of a dopant from the polysilicon contact 24. A fraction of the emitter dopant implant is blocked from reaching the polysilicon contacting the single-crystal silicon region by the portion of the polysilicon contact 24 deposited on the vertical surface of the base-emitter spacer 28. Since the average dose of dopant diffusing through the polysilicon-silicon interface along the entire length of the emitter surface is a function of the ratio of the width of the implanted planar fraction of the polysilicon to the width of the non-implanted polysilicon on the vertical surface of the base-emitter spacers, the emitter diffusion profile and average junction depth becomes a function of the lithographically-defined emitter width. This effect is typically most severe for extremely narrow emitters with lithographically-defined widths less than approximately four times the thickness of the polysilicon contact 24. In this case, the gain of the transistor also becomes a function of the emitter width and the transistor is said to suffer from narrow-emitter effects.
In order to achieve a consistent gain for all the transistors used within a circuit, it is desired that this emitter diffusion 22 extend an equal distance into the single-crystalline silicon for all bipolar transistors on a single silicon substrate, independent of the dimensions of the lithographically-defined emitter region. One method of achieving this size independence of the emitter junction and the transistor gain is by forming an xe2x80x9cLxe2x80x9d-shaped base-emitter spacer that allows the volume of the vertically-deposited emitter polysilicon to reside within the xe2x80x9cLxe2x80x9d and outside of the region above the active emitter. This situation allows an implanted region to be formed directly above the entire length of the emitter junction. An additional advantage to the use of an xe2x80x9cLxe2x80x9d-shaped spacer is that the width of the planar portion of polysilicon located directly above the intrinsic emitter region becomes larger for a given patterned emitter size. This increases the area for creating a low-resistance emitter contact and reduces the susceptibility of the contact to being fully or partially blocked by parasitic spacers formed in the emitter contact region during subsequent CMOS source-drain spacer processing steps.
The xe2x80x9cLxe2x80x9d spacer is typically formed by the low-pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) of a stack film of oxide/nitride/oxide and a combination of selective wet and dry etching of the layers. However, the dimensions of an xe2x80x9cLxe2x80x9d-shaped spacer formed by this method are limited by the etching selectivities between the LPCVD oxide, LPCVD nitride, and a previously-formed thermal oxide layer. Typically an xe2x80x9cLxe2x80x9d-shaped spacer with a thin enough body to completely contain the vertically-deposited polysilicon cannot be reliably manufactured. A need exists for a fabrication method to form thin-bodied xe2x80x9cLxe2x80x9d-shaped spacers reliably.
In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, there is disclosed a transistor which includes a doped buried region within a semiconductor body. The doped buried region includes a portion having a first thickness and a second thickness, the first thickness being less than the second thickness. In one embodiment the first thickness is about half the second thickness. The transistor also includes a collector region over the buried region, a base region within the collector region, and an emitter region within the base region.
In accordance with another embodiment of the invention, there is disclosed an integrated circuit including a first transistor including a first doped buried region within a semiconductor body. The first doped buried region includes a portion having a first thickness and a second thickness, the first thickness being less than the second thickness. The integrated circuit further includes a second transistor. The second transistor has a second doped buried region with the semiconductor body, the second doped buried region being substantially uniform in thickness. The integrated circuit may also include CMOS p-channel and n-channel transistors.
In accordance with still another embodiment of the invention, there is disclosed a method for making a transistor. The method includes the steps of masking the surface of a semiconductor body to cover an intrinsic region, doping unmasked regions of the surface to form a plurality of diffusion source regions, and diffusing dopants from the diffusion source regions to form a doped buried region having a first thickness and a second thickness, the first thickness being less than the second thickness in the intrinsic region. The method also includes the steps of forming a collector region over the doped buried region, forming a base region within said collector region, and forming an emitter region within said base region.
An advantage of the inventive concepts is that bipolar transistors having relatively high breakdown characteristics may be integrated with bipolar transistors having a relatively high cutoff frequency with no added process costs.

Bipolar transistor with high breakdown voltage collector


An essentially worldwide navigational network (Omega) operating at a very low frequency in an internationally allocated navigational band in the electromagnetic spectrum is provided with a receiver capable of automatic synchronization. The RF signal is detected by counting the cycles in the output of the signal tracking means in a preset short time interval and comparing the count to a threshold value. Automatic receiver synchronization synchronizes the intervals generated in the receiver with the received signals. Logic circuitry shifts the timing in Omega to relate the receiver segment timing with the detected signals.

Omega is an accurate all-weather, global electronic navigational system. Omega supplies the navigational information regardless of weather or time of day, by providing very low frequency continuous pulsed wave transmissions to ships in any sea, land, or air vehicles anywhere. This system is available to both military and civilian users and all nations. In this connection, the system is being installed on all U.S. Naval surface ships capable of independent operation as a general purpose all weather electronic aid to navigation. Fishing boats and merchant ships have also been equipped with this system.
The Omega navigational system utilizes phase-difference measurement techniques for navigation. This system contemplates eight transmitter locations such that a ship or aircraft anywhere in the world will be within range of at least 3 and probably 4 transmitters. Each station transmits Omega signals on a time-share basis, when no other station is on the air, and time shared frequencies in the 10 to 14 KHz band. In practice, the fundamental measurement in Omega is the phase of the 10.2 KHz signal from each of the several stations. The 10.2 KHz transmission at each station lasts approximately 1 second and is repeated each 10 seconds.
The receiver measures the phase of the 10.2 KHz signal from a selected transmitter in comparison with the signal from a second station. The phase difference establishes a line of position (LOP) on an Omega chart. Another pair of stations provide a second line of position, establishing a fix.
Omega receivers in use today are simple to operate with a numerical readout displaying continuously the Omega coordinates of the vehicle's position based on the phase difference of received signals. Omega receiving systems model numbers AN/SRN-14 and AN/BRN-4 were manufactured by Avionics Division ITT, Nutley, N.J. 07710.
In the Omega navigational system, signals are transmitted in a format that is repeated at 10 second intervals. All navigational signals are transmitted during 8 segments that are 0.9 to 1.2 seconds long with 0.2 second spacing. The 10 second format with eight 0.2 second OFF intervals is generated in an Omega receiver. Successful search consists of synchronizing the format generated in the receiver with that of the received signals. However, the synchronization is rendered difficult because of the following factors:
1. Low cost Omega receivers operate on 10.2 KHz only.
2. Only some of the 8 stations will be received at any time.
3. Noise and weak signals will give false indications of signal absence.
4. The response of narrow-band filters to noise will cause false indications of signal presence.
5. The Omega segment format has a poor autocorrelational factor, rendering the received signal pattern ambiguous under noise conditions.
Thus, the search problems may be divided into two areas, namely, (i) satisfactory detection of Omega RF signals under adverse conditions, and (ii) a technique for relating the receiver segment timing with the detected signals.
In Omega navigational receiving systems heretofore proposed, synchronization has been achieved manually. Within the recent past a computer controlled correlation technique for achieving synchronization has also been proposed. Manual synchronization is time consuming and inaccurate. The correlation technique requires the use of an expensive general purpose computer.

Automatic synchronization for receivers of a navigational system

International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation


A mechanism 30 ejects an article 12 in an ascending path from a position 10 on a carrier wheel 20. An inverted "V" shaped trough 43 is located to face the ascendent path of the article 12, and to be oriented substantially parallel thereto. The article 12 is captured and removably held in an apex portion 49 of the trough 43 by an elongated magnet 56 which establishes a force field parallel to such trough 43, concentrating in the apex portion 49. The article 12 is also oriented by magnet 56 and the apex portion 49 of trough 43 in a desired direction. An air nozzle 60 has a needle-like tube 64 disposed in the apex portion 49 ending adjacent to a body 16 of an article 12. A hose fitting 66 is attached to tube 64 for introducing an air stream therein which impinges upon body 16 and propels article 12 in the desired direction.

Elongated electrical articles, such as axially leaded diodes are generally tested after they are fully assembled and before they are packaged for shipment. Typically, these diodes have a central, cylindrical body with two wire-like leads extending in longitudinally opposite directions from such body. Quite often the diodes are packaged for shipment by adhering the leads thereof to tape and then winding the tape on a reel. Typically, such taping takes place by carrying the diodes in a closely spaced, parallel relationship on the periphery of a carrier wheel and by manipulating the tape such that it contacts a rather large portion of the periphery so that good adherence of the diodes to the tape is achieved. Typically, the wheel is loaded at a top portion and the taping typically takes place along a lower portion of the wheel.
It is advantageous to test the diodes on the same wheel which is used for taping to make certain each diode is electrically acceptable just before it is adhered to the tape. However, with the tape contacting the lower portion of the wheel, it becomes appropriate to do the testing and subsequent operations along the upper periphery of the wheel. Therefore, as the wheel rotates toward the tape, each diode is electrically tested and an unacceptable diode, for example, one having the wrong polarity is removed and replaced. Heretofore, it is believed that such replacement has generally been done on a manual basis, often with the wheel being stopped for this purpose. Now, a desire to enhance the speed of diode handling has inspired a search for automatic removal and replacement of an unacceptable diode without interrupting the testing and taping functions.
It is known to remove a diode from a wheel by automatically ejecting it from its position thereon. The problem is to properly capture a diode when it is ejected in an ascending path and to do so with proper orientation of the diode and with redirection to a desired location, preferably at a high rate of speed. Heretofore, it has been customary to eject or deflect such a diode from the lower part of a wheel so that the force of gravity works for and not against the capture of the diode.

Capturing articles ejected from a carrier and redirecting such articles