1-chloro-2,2,2-trifluoroethane (refrigerant 133a) is dissolved in a furan-derivative absorbent, and especially an ether of tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol, to form an absorption refrigerant pair composition. It exhibits a good combination of performance, capacity, stability, low toxicity and convenient operating pressures. These compositions are useful in methods of absorption refrigeration, cooling and heating and especially in an absorption heat pump.

This invention relates to novel absorption pairs for absorption heating and cooling.
In view of diminishing fossil fuel supplies, and hence, increasing fuel costs, there is a need to minimize the amount of fuel society consumes to heat habitable space.
The heat pump concept, wherein available energy is taken from an ambient source such as outside air, and combined with fuel energy to heat space, is not new. Existing concepts include electrically driven-vapor compression heat pumps and absorption heat pumps. The latter require an absorption pair which comprises a solvent and a solute wherein the solvent remains a liquid, which may be a solution, throughout the operation of the apparatus, and the solute having a liquid and vapor phase in the cycles of the operation. The solute must be soluble in the solvent and must be readily separable as a vapor from the solvent by means of evaporation. In addition, the solute must be suitable for condensation from the vapor back to a liquid form. In general, all absorption heating apparatus require essentially the same parts and function in essentially the same way regardless of the particular solute and solvent used. Nevertheless, heat pumps as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,106,309, 4,127,009, 4,127,010 and 4,127,993 of B. A. Phillips are preferred. The major components of the apparatus are a generator, condenser, evaporator, absorber and absorption pair (also called absorber pair). The solute passes through all units and the solvent, sometimes also known as the absorbent, is confined to movement through the generator and absorber.
In operation, a mixture of absorbent and solute is heated in the generator to boil off most of all of the solute which rises as a vapor through a connecting conduit to the condenser. The mixture may be heated in the generator by any suitable means such as a gas flame, geothermal heat, solar heat or warm water.
The generator and condenser operate at relatively high pressure, so that condensing temperature of the solute is sufficiently high to permit rejecting the latent heat emitted by the condensing solute to outside air or cooling water passing through or around the condenser.
The liquid solute leaving the condenser passes through a conduit to a throttling valve (or its equivalent), through the throttling valve and through another conduit to the evaporator. The throttling valve throttles the liquid solute to a lower pressure so it will boil at a relatively low temperature in the evaporator and thus absorb heat from air or water passing through or around the evaporator.
The vaporized solute passes from the evaporator through a conduit to the absorber where heat of mixing is emitted (preferably to cooling water passing therethrough) as it is dissolved in cool absorbent which has been carried to the absorber by means of a conduit connecting the absorber with a generator outlet. The mixture of absorbent and solute resulting in the absorber then passes through a conduit to the generator where it is reheated to continue the process.
Any suitable material of construction for the apparatus may be used which can withstand the encountered temperature, pressure and corrosive properties, if any, of the solvent and solute. For the present compositions, aluminum, copper and their alloys are preferred. It is desirable, however, that minor components of a heat pump system (such as pump parts) be made of steel or other metals. Thus, it is desirable for the solute/solvent system to have good stability in contact with steel as well as with aluminum and copper.
Such a heat absorption apparatus is particularly desirable since moving parts, if any, are minimal when compared with the moving parts found in electrically driven-vapor compression heat pumps.
Unfortunately, the known solute/solvent systems for heat pumps have serious disadvantages. The most common solute/solvent pair (absorber or absorption pair) is ammonia/water. The ammonia/water pair has a disadvantage since the heating efficiency of apparatus utilizing the ammonia/water absorber pair is not as high as desired; i.e. the coefficient of performance (COP) practically attainable is generally less than about 1.30 at low generator temperature, i.e. below 180.degree. F., and at high generator temperatures, i.e. 220.degree. F., is generally below about 1.40. COP is a measure of the efficiency of the absorption cycle and is the ratio of the heat output to the energy input. The ammonia/water combination has additional disadvantages. Water is highly volatile, thus preventing complete separation of the ammonia from the water in the generator at high generator temperatures. The condensing pressure required to condense the ammonia is undesirably high, thus requiring equipment capable of withstanding such pressure.
The only other presently commercial absorber pair is water/lithium bromide wherein water is used as the solute and lithium bromide is used as the absorbent. The water/lithium bromide absorber pair (and the related water/lithium chloride absorber pair) has undesirable characteristics. For example, water as a solute is limited to an evaporation temperature of above about 32.degree. F., which is its freezing point. Lithium bromide is not sufficiently soluble in water to permit the absorber to be air cooled. The extremely low pressures in the system require large vapor conduits. Unless the system is precisely controlled, lithium bromide can crystallize and cause fouling of the system and the generator temperature cannot efficiently operate below 180.degree. F. nor above 215.degree. F. Additionally, aqueous lithium bromide solutions are corrosive, thus requiring special inhibitors and alloys for suitable apparatus.
Other absorber pairs which have been suggested have not been commercially accepted due to one or more disadvantages. Such disadvantages include a lack of sufficient affinity of the absorbent for the solute vapor, thus preventing sufficient absorption of the solute vapor to draw in and compress the solute. The absorber pairs have frequently not been mutually soluble over the whole range of operating conditions, thus permitting crystallization and the formation of solid articles which make it difficult or impossible for proper fluid circulation. The absorbent has frequently been too volatile, thus preventing the refrigerant vapor leaving the generator to be adequately purified. When absorbent evaporates from the generator, the efficiency of the system is frequently substantially reduced since energy input is wasted in evaporation. Additionally, the absorbent pairs previously suggested are frequently unstable, cause corrosion of the apparatus, are toxic or are highly flammable. Absorption pairs suggested in the prior art frequently have unacceptably high or unacceptably low working pressures. The working pressures should be as near to atmospheric pressure as possible to minimize equipment weight and minimize leaking into or out of the system. In addition, pressure difference between the high side and low side is frequently too high to facilitate circulation of the solution. The solutes suggested in the prior art frequently have a latent heat of evaporation which is unacceptably low, thus requiring large quantities of fluids to be circulated and the coefficient of performance of other absorber pairs suggested in the prior art is usually too low for serious consideration in commercial apparatus.
Some absorber pairs including a halogenated hydrocarbon solute (refrigerant) and an organic absorbent have been explored over the years for absorption refrigeration. Although certain specific absorber pairs wherein the absorbent included a furan-type ring had been proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,040,902 as a part of a program exploring numerous potential absorber pairs, no further discussion of furan-type absorbents has appeared in the art. Instead, subsequent exploratory work with organic absorbents has concentrated on acyclic glycol ethers and particularly on DMETEG (dimethoxytetraethylene glycol) and the ethyl ether of diethylene glycol acetate. More recently, and until the present invention, exploratory work on organic absorbents for halogenated hydrocarbon refrigerants has apparently lain dormant.

Absorption pairs of 1-chloro-2,2,2-trifluoroethane and furan-derivatives


Compounds having the formula I: ##STR1## are antagonists of the actions of leukotrienes. These compounds are useful as anti-asthmatic, anti-allergic, anti-inflammatory, and cytoprotective agents. They are also useful in treating angina, cerebral spasm, glomerular nephritis, hepatitis, endotoxemia, uveitis and allograft rejection.

The leukotrienes constitute a group of locally acting hormones, produced in living systems from arachidonic acid. The major leukotrienes are Leukotriene B.sub.4 (abbreviated at LTB.sub.4), LTC.sub.4, LTD.sub.4 and LTE.sub.4. The biosynthesis of these leukotrienes begins with the action of the enzyme 5-lipoxygenase on arachidonic acid to produce the epoxide known as Leukotriene A.sub.4 (LTA.sub.4), which is converted to the other leukotrienes by subsequent enzymatic steps. Further details of the biosynthesis as well as the metabolism of the leukotrienes are to be found in the book Leukotrienes and Lipoxygenases, ed. J. Rokach, Elsevier, Amsterdam (1989). The actions of the leukotrienes in living systems and their contribution to various diseases states are also discussed in the book by Rokach.
European patent applications 318,093 (May 31, 1989) and 399,818 (Nov. 28, 1990) disclose generic structures somewhat similar to the present compounds although there are no aliphatic ketones present in them. European patent applications 349,062 (Jan. 3, 1990) and 399,291 (Nov. 28, 1990, Bayer) describe quinoline-containing leukotriene biosynthesis inhibitors, which differ from the present compound most notably in that the quinoline moiety is joined to the remainder of the molecule by an ether link rather than a vinyl group. The structures of the compounds disclosed in the above patent applications are shown below. ##STR2##

Quinoline-containing ketoacids as leukotriene antagonists


A CMOS memory cell including a PMOS transistor and an NMOS transistor having a common floating gate with a gate oxide region of both the NMOS and PMOS transistors providing a tunneling window for program and erase. The PMOS and NMOS transistors of the CMOS memory cell are biased so that only the PMOS transistor is utilized during programming and only the NMOS transistor is utilized during erase to prevent depletion of the substrate beneath the tunneling oxide regions. The CMOS memory cell further includes a separate PMOS pass transistor for supplying a program voltage to the source of the PMOS transistor underlying the common floating gate, so that an NMOS threshold does not have to be added to the program voltage.

1. Field of The Invention
The present invention relates to CMOS memory cells having PMOS and NMOS transistors with a common floating gate. More particularly, the present invention relates to a configuration allowing programming and erasing through the gate oxide of NMOS and PMOS transistors of a CMOS memory cell.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 illustrates the configuration of a conventional CMOS memory cell 100 having a PMOS transistor 102 and an NMOS transistor 104 with a common floating gate. Drains of transistors 102 and 104 are connected together to form the output of the CMOS cell 100. Capacitors 106 and 108 are connected to couple voltage to the common floating gate. Bias voltage is provided to the source of PMOS transistor 102 from a chip Vcc pin. Bias voltage is provided to the source of the NMOS transistor 104 through a chip ground or Vss pin. Capacitor 106 supplies voltage from an array control gate (ACG) node. An NMOS pass transistor 110 supplies a word control (WC) voltage to capacitor 108 as controlled by a word line (WL) voltage supplied to its gate. The CMOS memory cell 100 is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,272,368 entitled "Complementary Low Power Non-Volatile Reconfigurable EECELL," and in U.S. Pat. No. 4,885,719 entitled "Improved Logic Cell Array Using CMOS E.sup.2 PROM Cells."
Typical voltages applied for program, erase and read of the CMOS memory cell 100 are listed in Table I below. Programming indicates electrons are removed from the common floating gate, while erase indicates that electrons are added to the common floating gate.
TABLE I ______________________________________ WC WL ACG Vcc Vss ______________________________________ Program 12 13.8 0 0 0 Erase 0 5 13.8 12 12 Read 2.5 5 2.5 5 0 ______________________________________
FIG. 2A shows a layout for the CMOS cell 100 of FIG. 1, while FIGS. 2B-2E show respective cross sectional views at BB', CC', DD' and EE' in FIG. 2A. The layout for the CMOS cell shown in FIGS. 2A-2E is formed in a p type substrate.
As shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, capacitor 106 includes n+ type implant regions 202 and 203 formed in the p type substrate. Overlying the n+ type implant regions 202 and 203 is a gate oxide layer (GOX) 204 approximately 150 .ANG. thick. Provided above the gate oxide layer 204 is the common floating gate (F.G.) 206. With a p type substrate beneath the gate oxide 204, during application of a program voltage, with a higher voltage on the substrate than on the common floating gate, the p type region beneath the gate oxide can become depleted forming a p- type region, and preventing tunneling from the common floating gate. To prevent such depletion, additional n.sup.+ dopant is added to the substrate directly beneath gate oxide 204 to form a programming junction (PRJ) region 208 which will not be depleted during programming.
As shown in FIGS. 2A and 2C, capacitor 108 includes n+ implant regions 208 and 209 formed in the p type substrate. Overlying the n+ type implant regions 208 and 209 is a gate oxide 210 which includes a 150 .ANG. portion 211 and a 85 .ANG. portion 212. Overlying the gate oxide 210 is the common floating gate 206. The 85 .ANG. portion 212 of the gate oxide 210 provides a tunneling oxide region to enable electrons to be applied to the floating gate 206 during erase and removed during programming. As with capacitor 106, capacitor 108 includes a programming junction region 214 to prevent depletion of the p type substrate during programming. The programming junction region 214 overlies both the 150 .ANG. portion 211 and the 85 .ANG. portion 212 of the tunneling oxide 210, even though the thin 85 .ANG. portion 212 is significantly degraded when grown over a programming junction region, creating leakage current.
As further shown in FIGS. 2A and 2C, transistor 110 is formed by a polysilicon (POLY) word line (WL) region 216 on the substrate with a portion of region 216 overlying n+ implant region 209 and another portion overlying an additional n+ implant region 218.
As shown in FIGS. 2A and 2D, transistor 104 includes two n+ implant regions 220 and 222 in the p substrate. A gate oxide region 224 of approximately 150 .ANG. is placed on the substrate bridging regions 222 and 220. The common floating gate 206 overlies the gate oxide region 224.
As shown in FIGS. 2A and 2E, transistor 102 includes two p type regions 230 and 232 included in a n+ type well 236 which is included in the p type substrate. A gate oxide region 238 of approximately 150 .ANG. is placed on the substrate bridging the regions 230 and 232. The common floating gate 206 overlies the gate oxide region 238.
The CMOS memory cell 100 is advantageous because it enables zero power operation, zero power operation indicating that a component does not continually draw power when the component is not changing states. For instance, with an appropriate voltage applied to the common floating gate 206, PMOS transistor 102 will conduct and NMOS transistor 104 will not conduct. Current will then be provided from Vcc through PMOS transistor 102 to the output until the output is charged up to Vcc. In this configuration, no current will be provided through NMOS transistor 104 to Vss. Further, with another voltage applied to the common floating gate 206, NMOS transistor 104 will conduct while PMOS transistor 102 does not. The output will then discharge to Vss. No additional current will be provided through PMOS transistor 102 from Vcc to Vss.
Although the CMOS memory cell design of FIG. 1 enables zero power operation as described, the CMOS cell 100 is not typically included in an array of memory cells on an integrated circuit chip. CMOS memory cells have previously not been considered practical because the threshold of the PMOS transistor 102 is referenced to Vcc. With Vcc being a voltage supplied from an external source to a chip Vcc pin, unregulated variations in Vcc occur. Such variations in Vcc require that an unacceptably high voltage be applied to the common floating gate to assure PMOS transistor 102 can be turned off.
Recently, it has been discovered that by applying a regulated voltage from a voltage reference to the source of PMOS transistor 102, rather than directly from Vcc, use of a CMOS memory cell 100 becomes practical. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/426,741 entitled "Reference for CMOS Memory Cell Having PMOS and NMOS Transistors With a Common Floating Gate" filed Apr. 21, 1995, (hereinafter, the CMOS reference patent application), incorporated herein by reference, discloses such a reference for a CMOS memory cell.

CMOS memory cell with gate oxide of both NMOS and PMOS transistors as tunneling window for program and erase


A focusing and leveling apparatus, including: an illumination light source (201) for emanating a light beam; an illumination lens group (202), a projecting unit, an object (209) being measured, a detecting unit, a refractive unit, a relay lens group and a photoelectric detector (220), disposed sequentially in this order in a transmission path of the light beam. The projecting unit includes projection slits (203) defining a plurality of non-linearly arranged marks, such that after passing sequentially through the illumination lens group (202), the projecting unit, the object (209) being measured and the detecting unit, the light beam emanated by the illumination light source (201) becomes a plurality of non-linearly arranged sub-beams corresponding to the plurality of marks. The refractive unit is so configured that after passing through the refractive unit, the plurality of sub-beams form a plurality of linearly arranged light spots.

Current projection photolithography systems typically include an automatic focusing and leveling sub-system for accurately measuring a level and a tilt of the surface of an object. FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of such a focusing and leveling system used in a conventional projection photolithography tool. As shown in FIG. 1, the focusing and leveling system includes a projection objective 19 and an optical measuring path extending on both sides of an optical axis of the projection objective 19. Disposed in the optical measuring path are an illuminating unit, a projecting unit, a detecting unit and a relay lens group arranged in this order. The illuminating unit is composed of an illumination light source 1, an illumination lens group 2 and fiber optics (not shown). Light emanated from the light source 1 is condensed by the illumination lens group 2 and directed through the fiber optics onto the projecting unit, thereby providing illuminating light to the whole measuring system. The projecting unit is composed of projection slits 3, an upstream projection lens group 4, a reflector group 5 and a downstream projection lens group 6. Light exiting the illuminating unit passes sequentially through the projection slits 3, the upstream projection lens group 4, the reflector group 5 and the downstream projection lens group 6, and then forms light spots to be measured in an exposure area on the surface of the object 7 being measured. The detecting unit is composed of an upstream detection lens group 8, a reflector group 9 and a downstream detection lens group 10. The relaying unit is disposed downstream relative to the detecting unit and is made up of a relay reflector 11, a relay lens group 12, a detector 13, a focusing controller 14 and an arithmetic unit 15. When travelling in the relaying unit, light forming the spots is received by the detector 13 and converted thereby to a light intensity signal indicative of the position and tilt of the surface of the object being measured.
As disclosed in one of its embodiments, the U.S. Pat. No. 5,414,515 provides a device with a single optical path and multiple light spots, in which, in order to achieve a measurement field of view having a required size, a plurality of charge-coupled devices (CCDs) is used. This design is disadvantageous in that the use of multiple CCDs, as wells as, corresponding image capture cards and cables, leads to high cost and increased footprint constraints on the whole photolithography tool in which the device is employed.
The Chinese patent CN101710291 discloses a solar energy device having a lens for refracting parallel light beams. This device differs from the subject matter of the present invention in terms of its application. CN101710291 focuses on the convergence of light beam energy and has no requirement on image quality. In contrast, the present invention is applied to imaging position adjustment and has requirements on resolution, distortion, focal depth and other image quality metrics. Therefore, there are essential differences between CN101710291 and the present invention.

Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment (Group) Co., Ltd.


Disclosed is an aluminium-zinc hot-plated steel plate having excellent weather resistance, corrosion resistance and alkali resistance, and an environmental-friendly surface treating agent therefor, wherein after the surface treatment of the aluminium-zinc hot-plated steel plate using an environmental-friendly surface treating agent consisting of the components of a matrix resin compounded from a particular solvent-free aqueous aliphatic polyurethane dispersion and aqueous polyurethane-acrylic acid copolymer, an organic silicon compound, a matrix resin curing agent, a water-soluble metal salt compound and a high-density polyethylene lubrication auxiliary etc., the formed surface-treated aluminium-zinc hot-plated steel plate has comprehensive properties of excellent weather resistance, corrosion resistance and alkali resistance, and good machine formability etc.

Since aluminium-zinc hot-plated steel plate has the features of good corrosion resistance, high heat reflectivity, heat resistance and ability for appearance decoration, it is widely used in various fields of the people's life, such as buildings, household appliances, automobiles etc., for example, a roof and wall surface of lightweight steel construction, a purlin, a floor support plate, a guardrail, a sound barrier and a drainage etc. in the building industry, and a back board of large-scale electric appliances and an automobile exhaust system etc. in the household appliance field. When particularly used as a building material, because of the need of guaranteeing a service life of more than ten years or even several decades, relatively strict requirements of the aluminium-zinc hot-plated steel plate are raised: for example, the material for a roof and wall surface needs to have good weather resistance and corrosion resistance, so as to ensure that the appearance surface of the steel plate during service has no colour change and corrosion, and the beautiful appearance is maintained for a long time; and when the material is used as a floor support plate, a guardrail, a sound barrier and a drainage etc., it is often in contact with slating and concrete etc. and thus exposed to an alkaline corrosion environment, in which case the material must be required to have good alkali resistance etc.
In order to meet the above-mentioned requirements and expectations, the surface of the aluminium-zinc hot-plated steel plate would usually be subjected to a wet film-coating treatment to enhance the resistance of the aluminium-zinc hot-plated steel plate to various corrosive media and environment, and currently the types of the surface treating agents used for the aluminium-zinc hot-plated steel plate can be roughly divided into two categories of chromium-containing treatment and chromium-free treatment. For the building industry, the corresponding environmental regulations have not been issued yet, and chromate has extremely strong corrosion resistance and self-repairing function, such that the aluminium-zinc hot-plated steel plate treated with the chromium-containing surface treatment becomes the mainstream in the building industry nowadays; however, with the development of the society, environmental protection requirements are increasingly strict, and the environmental protection of the building industry has been an irresistible trend; therefore, the aluminium-zinc hot-plated steel plate treated with the chromium-free surface treatment having various excellent resistances will be the mainstream in the future.
Japanese Patent JP 2007-321224 discloses an aluminium-zinc hot-plated steel plate having excellent corrosion resistance and water-resistant adherence, wherein the surface thereof is covered with a chromium-free treated organic/inorganic composite protection film, and the protection film consists of a silane-modified aqueous anionic resin, a tetravalent vanadium compound, and phosphoric acid or a compound thereof etc. The aluminium-zinc hot-plated steel plate coated with the protection film has excellent corrosion resistance and water-resistant adherence, but does not have adequate weather resistance and alkali resistance.
Chinese Patent CN 1530462 A provides a treating agent for metal surface and an aluminium-zinc plated steel plate treated with the treating agent, wherein the surface treating agent comprises an aqueous resin with combined carboxyl group and acid amide, such as a urethane resin or an acrylic resin, an organic silane coupling agent and one or two metal salt compounds, and the above-mentioned treating agent is coated onto the surface of the steel plate to form a single layer of skin film of 0.2-5 g/m2. Although this patent provides a chromium-free coating film having good corrosion resistance and alkali resistance, the weather resistance thereof is not mentioned.
Chinese Patent CN 1511908 A provides an aqueous resin composition for treating a steel plate plated with an aluminium-zinc alloy, which comprises an anionic water-dispersed polyurethane resin, a silane coupling agent and a water-soluble zirconium compound etc., wherein the steel plate having an aluminium-zinc alloy surface to be treated with the treating agent has high processability, high corrosion resistance, weather resistance, resistance to blackening, and adhesion to a coating film, and this treating agent is also an environmental-friendly product; however, the evaluation time in this patent for the weather resistance is only 100 h, which is relatively short.
Chinese Patent CN 124777 A discloses an aluminium-zinc alloy steel plate coated with a resin composition, wherein a silane coupling agent having an amino group, chromium ions and an alcohol at least selected from one of a trihydric alcohol and a dihydric alcohol with 2-3 carbons are incorporated into an acrylic polymer resin emulsion containing a carboxyl group and a glycidyl group and having an acid value of 10-60, such that the resultant mixture has a pH of 7-9 so as to obtain the resin composition; and the resin composition is coated onto the aluminium-zinc alloy steel plate, and dried to form a resin skin film. The aluminium-zinc alloy steel plate coated with the resin composition has good formability, corrosion resistance, alkali resistance and coatability. However, the designed treating reagent therein is a chromium-containing product, and does not have an environmental protection performance, and the weather resistance thereof is not investigated.

Aluminium-zinc hot-plated steel plate having excellent weather resistance, corrosion resistance and alkali resistance, and manufacturing method and surface treating agent therefor


A flexible container for storing a liquid medicament and a device for the automated release of the liquid medicament from the flexible container are disclosed. The flexible container includes a wall and an access opening. The wall of the flexible container comprises two sheets of flexible material sealed together such that a storage volume intended to contain the liquid medicament is defined. The access opening provides a fluid connection to a conduit system in fluid connection with the storage volume via a fluid channel arranged between the storage volume and the access opening, wherein the fluid channel is formed by a cavity arranged on at least one of the two sheets.

Devices for the automated release of liquid medicaments normally are used with patients who have a continuous need for a medicine that can be administered by subcutaneous infusion, which need can vary in the course of a day. Example applications for computer-controlled infusion pump devices, such as insulin pumps, include certain pain therapies and the treatment of diabetes. Such devices can be carried by a patient on the body and can contain a certain amount of liquid medicament in a medicine reservoir in the form of a container. The medicine reservoir often comprises medicine sufficient for one or several days. The liquid medicament is supplied to the patient's body from the medicine reservoir through an infusion cannula or an injection needle.
Convenience and discretion are paramount concerns for patients who may self-administer medicaments, for example, insulin, by means such as an infusion pump. Consequently, the dimensions of such infusion devices must be limited, and particularly the overall length, width and thickness should be as small as possible to prevent the devices from being evident through clothing and to allow the patient to carry the devices as comfortably as possible.
In the interest of maintaining sterility and preventing contamination, typically the devices are single-use devices. The devices may be delivered pre-filled with a certain liquid medicament, or empty, ready to be filled. This self-filling of containers has the advantage that medicaments that are not readily available in pre-filled containers can be used for such infusion pump devices, thereby providing the patient with a larger choice of sources for delivery of the medicaments. Alternatively, devices or parts of the devices can be reused by the patient, for example, by replacing an empty medicament container or by refilling the container.
Standard infusion pump devices that are carried on or near the body have a medicine reservoir with a cylindrical ampoule and a displacement piston. The piston is pushed into the ampoule by a piston rod or a threaded spindle to convey the liquid medicament. These known designs are undesirably long or thick and do not provide advantageously compact infusion pumps.
Manufacturers try to meet the demand of small infusion pump devices by various means. For example, the infusion pump can be divided into structural assemblies arranged in separate, smaller, housings that can be joined by a wireless or a wired connection. An example of such a modular infusion pump device is disclosed in US 2006/0184119 A1.
Another possibility is the use of particularly flat construction containers. For example, the cylindrical ampoule may be replaced by a container having a rectangular or other suitable cross-section and may interact with a displacement piston of a corresponding shape. Different embodiments of such compact medicine reservoir devices are shown in WO 2008/122135 A1.
A further approach to reduce the overall volume of an infusion device is to replace the syringe-type dosing mechanism with a downstream pump system. In the syringe-type dosing mechanism, an actuator displaces a piston along a long axis of a container to convey the appropriate amount of liquid medicine. In the device with a downstream pump system, a miniaturized pump downstream of the reservoir causes a suction pressure that conveys the product from the reservoir to its destination. An example of such a pump is described in WO 2004/009162 A1.
For some of the above mentioned infusion devices, the suction pressure achievable with the pump system is not very high. A suitable container for such devices is disclosed in US 2007/0123820 A1, comprising a flat container and a flat piston body arranged in the body in a sliding manner. Fully filled, such a container has a ratio of maximum height to overall width of less than 1.25. The cross-sectional area of the container in relation to the displacement axis is much larger than for conventional cylinder piston arrangements. Even a comparably small pressure gradient generated by a miniaturized pump can overcome the friction force of the piston seal as the piston glides on the inner wall of the container.
In an especially advantageous approach the rigid container and movable piston are replaced by a flexible container. Such a flexible container may comprise, for example, two flexible wall sheets that are sealed together. Flexible containers have the advantage of a smaller volume surplus of the container in relation to its content, which reduces the manufacture costs and the achievable dimensions of an infusion pump device using such a flexible container. The volume of a flexible container for use in an infusion pump device in some embodiments may be up to 10 ml, in other embodiments 5 ml or less, and in still other embodiments 1.5 to 3.5 ml.
For use in an infusion pump device the flexible container must be connected to a conduit system of the device. For that purpose the flexible container may be provided with a port. Such a port can be mounted on the container with a flange sealed to a container wall sheet. US 2007/0049865 A1 discloses such a container. The port is provided with a septum, to be punctured by a hollow needle of the conduit system of the infusion pump device. Another possibility used for flexible containers are ports in the form of flexible tubes or rigid connection pieces welded between the two sheets of the container at the periphery of the flexible container. The fastening of the port to the container, for example, by gluing or welding, requires a precise production control to avoid high rejection rates, and furthermore limits the choice of suitable materials.
A common problem of flexible containers with ports as used, for example, in IV bags, is the dead volume resulting between the collapsed container and the port. Dead volume cannot be used, meaning that it cannot be emptied. Thus, flexible containers are impossible to completely drain. The resulting loss of useable container volume due to the dead volume is particularly high for smaller containers as they are suitable for infusion pumps having a total volume of only 5 mL or less. For single-use container filled with the medicament, the dead volume considerably increases the effective costs per dose and thus of the overall therapy costs, since a certain percentage of the medicament will inevitably remain in the container and has to be disposed. This cost effect is particularly important for expensive medicaments. In addition to the increased costs, the dead volume leads also to an increase of the overall volume of the flexible container, and thus of the volume of an infusion pump device comprising such a flexible container.
A further problem, particularly of flexible containers as they are known, is air remaining in the container. If, for example, a flexible container is provided empty, intended to be filled with the appropriate medicament by the user, the dead volume initially is filled with air. However, removing the air from flexible containers as they are known from the state of the art requires a certain skill of a user. If said air remains in the container, it may be administered instead of the liquid medicament, which leads to potentially dangerous dosing errors. Furthermore, the administration of air into a patient's body should be avoided for medical reasons.

Flexible container with a preformed fluid channel and infusion pump device using such a container


An apparatus for granulating hot cut, in particular thermoplastic resin material, the material strands melted by an extruder being knocked off into granule pellets in a granulating housing by rotating knives disposed on a shaft driven by way of a motor, the granule pellets being picked up by a cooling medium flowing in the granulating housing, cooled and discharged out of the granulating housing, characterized in that a flow opening establishing a continuous fluid connection between the inside of the granulating housing and the outside environment is designed between the shaft and the region of the granulating housing in which the shaft penetrates the granulating housing.

The invention concerns an apparatus for granulating according to the preamble of claim 1.
Granulating apparatuses for granulating hot cut, wherein the knocked off granulates are picked up, cooled and discharged by a quickly flowing fluid film or fluid ring, for example water, are known in different embodiment forms. In the case of these apparatuses a critical area is the sealing of the knife driving shaft against the water rotating in the granulating housing. An escape of the water from the area between the shaft and the granulating housing should be prevented since the water otherwise could undesirably reach the area of the motor. For this purpose different sealings are known from prior art that seal the shaft that is rotating about its axis reasonably well.
Still more difficult the situation becomes when the shaft rotates not only about its own axis but additionally is also to be axially displaceable in order to adjust the spacing of the knifes to the perforated plate and to adjust the cutting pressure of the knifes optimally. Such granulating apparatuses, whereby the shaft that supports the knife is adjustable in the axial direction, are likewise known in a plurality of implementations. In these cases the sealing must not only prevent a water escape and endure the rotation of the shaft in the bearing, but also assure in a lasting manner the axial adjustability.
Frequently according to prior art the shaft of the knife head is thereby supported in an axially displaceable sleeve. By these means the desired contact pressure of the knifes against the perforated plate can also be adjusted. The torque is transmitted to the knife driving shaft usually by means of a toothed clutch. If water is utilized as a cooling medium for the knocked off granulate particles, which is usually the case, the knife driving shaft has to be sealed relative to the housing in order to prevent an escape of water through the bearing Hereby friction-dependent difficulties arise. The axial displacement of the knife driving shaft also causes a displacement of the running surface of a sealing ring that implements the sealing of the water, so that the friction conditions change continuously. In a similar way the friction parameters of the toothed clutch change also during the displacement of the knife driving shaft. Furthermore one should take note that the sleeve that forms the support runs in a slide bearing that has to be greased. Here also different friction parameters arise at different times because the greasing means (usually oil) becomes after some time more or less gummy so that a relatively high breakaway torque is produced which is in contrast to the demand that usually only minor axial friction is desired. Beyond that a sleeve bearing is contingent on a certain effort. A dragging support of the shaft in the housing by means of two sealing rings with an oil film positioned in between also has the disadvantage that the lifetime of a seal ends at some point and the sealings become porous and leaking, the oil film escapes and subsequently becomes affixed to the shaft and an axial displacement capability is no longer assured.
For the solution of this problem diverse implementations are known from prior art, for example the substitution of a sleeve support of the shaft by means of a motor bearing. Furthermore different suspensions of the motors were developed, for example in the DE 10 302 645 or the WO 2006/122340, in order to assure the axial displacement capability of the knife driving shaft for the long term.

EREMA Engineering Recycling Maschinen und Anlagen Gesellschaft m.b.H.


A polishing head for chemical-mechanical polishing apparatus includes a carrier plate having concentric, integral, cylindrical walls, an annular piston fitting within the outer of the cylindrical walls and a second piston fitting within the inner cylindrical wall and engaging the annular piston. Each piston defines a chamber with the carrier plate and the chambers are isolated from each other by a seal. Pneumatic fittings supply air or vacuum to each chamber. The second piston includes a cylindrical side wall and an integral bottom plate. The bottom plate is thicker in the center than at the side wall and the underside of the plate is covered with a wafer adhering layer. A retaining ring is attached to the lower edge of the annular piston. The retaining ring includes a peripheral groove for separating an outwardly extending flange from the main body of the ring. The underside of the ring includes one or more spiral grooves for circulating slurry about a wafer during polishing.

This invention relates to chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) apparatus and, in particular, to a pneumatically actuated polishing head for such apparatus.
CMP apparatus is used primarily for polishing the front face or device side of a semiconductor wafer during the fabrication of semiconductor devices on the wafer. A wafer is "planarized" or smoothed one or more times during the fabrication process in order for the top surface of the wafer to be as flat as possible. A wafer is polished by being placed on a carrier and pressed face down onto a polishing pad covered with a slurry of colloidal silica or alumina in de-ionized water.
A polishing pad is typically constructed in two layers overlying a platen with the less resilient layer as the outer layer of the pad. The layers are typically made of polyurethane and may include a filler for controlling the dimensional stability of the layers. A polishing pad is usually several times the diameter of a wafer and the wafer is kept off center on the pad to prevent polishing a non-planar surface onto the wafer. The wafer is rotated to prevent polishing a taper into the wafer. Although the axis of rotation of the wafer and the axis of rotation of the pad are not collinear, the axes must be parallel.
The platens used for a polishing pad and for a polishing head are carefully machined to produce optically flat, parallel surfaces. The resilient layers on a polishing pad are assumed to provide a uniform pressure on a wafer. It is believed that this assumption is in error and one aspect of the invention addresses the problem of distortion in the polishing pad.
Polishing heads must meet somewhat conflicting requirements for use in CMP apparatus. The wafer must be securely held but not damaged or contaminated. Polishing heads of the prior art typically use a wax-like material to attach the wafer temporarily to the carrier. The wax must be completely removable and must not affect the silicon to which it is attached. The polishing head cannot be so rigid that the wafer is chipped or damaged when the wafer engages the polishing pad or the head.
Gill, Jr. et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,141,180 discloses a polishing head attached to a vertical shaft by a ball and socket joint to permit limited movement of the head to accommodate variations in the thickness of a wafer. The wafer carrier is covered with a felt-like material and the wafer is held against the nap surface by a vacuum coupled to the back of the wafer through a plurality of holes in the carrier. The polishing head includes a plastic ring encircling the wafer to locate the wafer radially with respect to the vertical shaft.
Shendon et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,205,082 discloses a polishing head including a flexible diaphragm attached to a wafer carrier and to a retaining ring. Air pressure on one side of the diaphragm is above ambient pressure and air pressure on the wafer side of the diaphragm is at ambient pressure. The pressure on a wafer can be non-uniform due to forces from deflection of the diaphragm itself. Vertical motion of the carrier is limited by a flange engaging an adjustment bolt, which must be loosened to lower the carrier. A "C" washer is described for facilitating this adjustment.
The retaining ring surrounding a wafer in a polishing head of the prior art has an inside diameter slightly larger than the diameter of the wafer and there is always a slight gap between the wafer and the ring. Whether the ring presses against the resilient polishing pad or not, there is inevitably an annular region about the periphery of the wafer where the polishing is not uniform, known in the art as "edge exclusion." Edge exclusion in the prior art is typically 5-10 mm. wide and reduces the area of the wafer from which good die can be obtained.
It is known in the art that uniformity in wafer polishing is a function of pressure, velocity, and the concentration of chemicals. Edge exclusion is caused, in part, by non-uniform pressure on a wafer. The prior art attempts to solve the problem by contacting the polishing pad with the retaining ring, e.g. as disclosed in the Shendon et al. patent, but the problem remains.
Another aspect of the problem of uniformity is the distribution of the slurry. As a wafer is polished, chemical by-products locally change the composition, pH, particle size, and uniformity of the slurry. In the prior art, this problem was addressed by thoroughly mixing the slurry and by controlling the rate of flow to the polishing pad; specifically, by providing a sufficient flow to prevent large, local changes in composition, particle size, or pH. Even so, edge exclusion remains a problem.
In view of the foregoing, it is therefore an object of the invention to provide an improved polishing head for CMP apparatus.
Another object of the invention is to provide a pneumatic polishing head in which concentric pistons locate a wafer vertically and radially.
A further object of the invention is to provide a polishing head in which the ring surrounding a wafer is pressed against the polishing pad with a force independent of the force applied to the wafer.
Another object of the invention is to provide a more uniform pressure across a wafer, particularly at the edge of the wafer.
A further object of the invention is to improve circulation of slurry to minimize non-uniformities in concentration across the surface of a wafer.
Another object of the invention is to provide a wafer polisher that produces smaller edge exclusion than polishers of the prior art.
A further object of the invention is to provide a polishing head that distorts the polishing pad less than polishing heads of the prior art.
Another object of the invention is to provide a retaining ring that assists in circulating slurry across a wafer to minimize local variations in composition or pH.

Pneumatic polishing head for CMP apparatus

Integrated Process Equipment Corporation


A parallel kinematics robot has a first drive arm and a second drive arm, the two drive arms being crossed when the robot operates within its normal work area. The drive arms thereby occupy less space in a horizontal direction compared with a situation where the two drive arms point away from each other.

Conventional parallel kinematics robots comprise a plurality of drive arms each connected, directly or via a gearbox, to a respective shaft of a servo motor at one end. At the opposite end the drive arms are attached to proximate ends of rods via ball joints having three degrees of freedom (DOF). The rods transmit the rotating movement of the drive arms to a respective movement of an end effector that is attached to distal ends of the rods via ball joints. The servo motors and the respective drive arms are thereby working in parallel in the sense that manipulation of one drive arm does not affect the position of the remaining drive arms.
A delta robot is one well known type of parallel kinematics robot that can comprise three drive arms. Each drive arm is connected to an end effector with two rods having a ball joint at each end. The drive arms rotate about respective servo motor axes, the servo motors being arranged symmetrically such that their axes intersect at 60 degrees angles. Because the drive arms of a delta robot are relatively long and point in different directions the robot construction needs a lot of space. U.S. Pat. No. 7,188,544 discloses one type of a delta robot comprising three drive arms. Delta robots can also comprise four or more drive arms.
WO200366289 discloses other and less well known types of parallel kinematics robots comprising three or more drive arms. The robots according to WO200366289 differ from delta robots in that the rotational axes of the drive arms are parallel, and in many embodiments the drive arms even have one common rotational axis. The number of rods between the drive arms and the end effector vary from one to three depending on a drive arm and a robot embodiment. Also the drive arms of the robots according to WO200366289 need to be relatively long and well spread, and consequently need a lot of space.
There remains a desire to provide a more compact parallel kinematics robot.


A sheet feeding device includes a first roller that draws a recording medium at a first position and feeds the recording medium; a friction pad that comes into contact with the first roller with a predetermined contact pressure at a second position that is close to and downstream of the first position in a conveying direction of the recording medium and nips the recording medium with the first roller to convey the recording medium in the conveying direction; and a second roller that comes into contact with the first roller at a third position that is close to and downstream of the second position in the conveying direction and nips the recording medium with the first roller.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technology for feeding a recording medium in an image forming apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
When a recording sheet is picked up from a sheet tray and conveyed, multi feed may occur, necessitating the sheets to be separated one by one after being picked up. FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of a feed roller arranging portion of a conventional sheet feeding device showing a relation between a feed roller 48 and a friction pad 49. The feed roller 48 is provided at the most downstream end of the sheet tray in a sheet feeding direction, and the friction pad 49 for separating recording sheets is provided on the downstream side in a sheet drawing direction. The friction pad 49 is made of a material that produces a kinetic frictional resistance that is at least greater than the kinetic frictional resistance between recording sheets. The friction pad 49 includes a spring 49a and a pad support 49d, and produces a designated kinetic frictional resistance by launching the pad support 49d, with the spring 49a imparting a predetermined contact pressure. Thus, when two recording sheets are conveyed at a time, a first recording sheet in contact with the feed roller 48 is separated from a second recording sheet in contact with the friction pad 49 because the kinetic frictional resistance between the recording sheets is smaller than that between the second recording sheet and the friction pad 49, and is conveyed towards a pair of registration rollers 46a and 46b along a sheet conveying path 42.
In the sheet feeding device having the structure described above, the recording sheet is only nipped at the point where the feed roller 48 and the friction pad 49 are in contact. In such a structure, stick-slip vibrations generated by the friction between the friction pad 49 and the recording sheet cannot be suppressed, so that conveying behavior and conveying accuracy do not become stable and abnormal sound is generated.
Various technologies have been known to prevent or suppress abnormal sound at the time of separating recording sheets, such as those disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3911113, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2006-306597, and Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2002-154694.
Japanese Patent No. 3911113 discloses a sheet separating/feeding device, that separates the leading edges of a plurality of sheets that are conveyed from upstream of a friction pad in a sheet conveying direction in an overlapping manner, separates the sheets one by one at a nip between a rotating feed roller and the friction pad downstream of the friction pad in the sheet conveying direction, and feeds the separated sheets. The friction pad is mounted on a pad holder in such a way that the surface area of the friction pad is less on the downstream side than on the upstream side in the sheet feeding direction. Furthermore, concaves and convexes are formed on the surface of the pad holder on the downstream side of the sheet feeding direction to set a coefficient of friction to the pad holder on the downstream side.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2006-306597 discloses a sheet separating device that separates sheets fed from a sheet stack contained in a sheet cassette one by one. The sheet separating device includes a separation roller that picks up the topmost sheet by coming into pressure-contact with the sheet and a slanting member that includes a slant portion that is in pressure-contact with the separation roller and applies resistance to the leading edge of the sheet with respect to a direction of a sheet entry route.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2002-154694 discloses a sheet feeding device that includes a pickup roller that is arranged in contact with the lower side of a sheet, and a swingable pressure plate that comes into contact with the upper side of the sheet via a sheet member and presses the sheet against the pickup roller. The sheet is fed in a predetermined direction while being nipped by a nip formed by the pickup roller and the pressure plate via the sheet member. An intermediate sheet member is provided between the pressure plate and the sheet member.
Although the technologies described above intend to prevent multi feed and abnormal sound, it is hard to sufficiently suppress or prevent abnormal sound due to the stick-slip vibrations.

Sheet feeding device, image forming apparatus, and sheet feeding method


Small changes in a broadcast version of a base media item can be identified by performing a multi-level comparison of digital fingerprints. A fingerprint of a base media item is compared to a fingerprint of a media broadcast to determine whether a media item embedded in a broadcast is likely, to a first level of certainty, to be the base media item. A second, more stringent, match between the fingerprint of the base media item and loosely matched items can be used to identify potentially-altered versions of the base media item. Potentially-altered versions can be compared against each other, and resulting matches are flagged as altered base media items, which can be fingerprinted and tested against broadcast fingerprints in the same manner as the base media item.

Current technology allows a portion of a song, movie, or other unknown content items to be identified by comparing it against a database of known content. To facilitate identification of the unknown content, it is known to generate fingerprints of both the known and unknown content items, and compare the fingerprints. These fingerprints can include audio watermarks. In cases where fingerprints are used, the database of known content is sometimes used to store fingerprints of distinct content items.
In some instances, the database storing the fingerprints of the known content is also used to store timestamps, indicating particular times at which particular items of known content were broadcast. The unknown content can also include timestamps, and by performing a two-step comparison that matches both the fingerprints and the timestamps of unknown distinct content items with the fingerprints and timestamps stored in the database of known content items, information can be deduced about a source of the unknown content item.
Currently available technology, however, requires having a comprehensive database of known content items to be compared against each unknown content item, because if an unknown content item is not included in the database of known content items, any attempt to identify the unknown content item will be unsuccessful.
Even when attempting to identify broadcast content using a fingerprint of a known media item included in the comprehensive database, it can be difficult to identify subtle changes in a broadcast content item. For example, if a fingerprint comparison is made between a media item actually broadcast and a known media item, but the media item actually broadcast has been subtly altered, the actually-broadcast media item may not be identified as a match because of the changes. For these and other reasons, currently available technology is less than ideal.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Identification of changed broadcast media items


A combination of a hairbrush having a brush head with a concave central portion and captive ends, along with a thermal coating that includes a desired amount of at least one of aluminum, silver, and/or diamond dust in the coating, results in a hairbrush that can be raised to approximately 200° F. in a short timeframe. A conventional hairbrush without either the coating or the captive ends was unable to achieve the desired temperature.

The present disclosure relates to hairbrushes, and more particularly to a new hairbrush design having improved temperature characteristics, as well as a method of making same.
Styling hairbrushes are well known. However, a need exists for a hairbrush that is conducive to higher temperature hairdryers used in association with hairstyling. For example, hairdryers in use today operate in a temperature range of approximately 150° F. to 200° F. or greater. When styling more fragile hair, lower air speed and lower temperature are desired. For example, an airspeed of about 25 mph and a temperature of 150° F. would be more commonly used for fragile hair. On the other hand, thicker, more curly hair requires a higher air speed (e.g., about 65 mph) and higher temperature (200° F. or greater) for purposes of shaping.
Conventional styling hairbrushes only reach a temperature of approximately 140°, even after being exposed to high heat for an extended period of time. Therefore, a need exists for the new hairbrush design that can reach close to the optimum temperature of the dryer in a short timeframe.

Hairbrush with improved temperature characteristics


There are provided a data processing device for chromatograph and a data processing method for chromatograph which allow a peak to be desirably checked. A peak (correction target peak (P1)) whose intensity exceeds a predetermined threshold in a chromatogram at a target wavelength (λ1) is corrected based on correction reference values (height (H1) and area (A1) of a peak (P11)) and a sensitivity coefficient (R=I1/I2), and the chromatogram after correction is displayed or printed. Therefore, even if the correction target peak (P1) is saturated, display or printing may be performed in a state where correction has been performed so that the chromatogram at the peak (P1) is not cut off in the middle. Accordingly, at the time of display or printing of the chromatogram, a fine peak may be prevented from becoming too small, and also the correction target peak (P1) may be prevented from being cut off in the middle, and thus the peaks may be desirably checked.

With a liquid chromatograph, a gas chromatograph and the like, by irradiating measurement light on a sample inside a cell, for example, and by detecting transmitted light from the sample by a detector, chromatogram data representing the relationship between time and intensity (absorbance or the like) may be obtained. If a PDA detector (Photodiode Array Detector) is used as the detector, light from the sample dispersed by a diffraction grating or the like may be detected by a plurality of photodiodes for respective wavelengths, and thus three-dimensional data representing the relationship between time, wavelength and intensity may be obtained.
When an impurity analysis is performed for a pharmaceutical product by using this type of chromatograph, the proportion of impurities to a main component in a sample is sometimes analyzed. In this case, when the concentration difference of components in the sample is great, there are problems that, if a low-concentration component (impurity) is to be accurately detected, the signal of a high-concentration component (main component) is saturated, and if the high-concentration component (main component) is to be accurately detected, the low-concentration component (impurity) is buried in the noise.
For example, it is described in "Acetylcysteine, Purity (6) Related Substances" (pp. 311-312) in Non-Patent Document 1 that, if a test is conducted by a liquid chromatograph that uses an ultraviolet absorption photometer at a measurement wavelength of 220 nm, the areas of peaks other than acetylcysteine are each not more than 0.3%, and the total area is not more than 0.6%.

Data processing device for chromatograph and data processing method for chromatograph


A system and method for discovering services in an Internet of Things (IoT) environment are disclosed. The method may include providing service-feature information from a consumer app to a query service that is indicative of a service provided by a remotely located provider app and incorporating the service-feature information into resource records of an additional information section of a multicast domain name service (mDNS) message. The message is multicasted to other IoT devices, and a response message is received from at least one provider device. The additional information section of the response message is then analyzed to determine whether a service provided by the at least one provider device meets criteria defined by the service-feature information.

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computers and computer networks that use a standard Internet protocol suite (e.g., the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and Internet Protocol (IP)) to communicate with each other. The Internet of Things (IoT) is based on the idea that everyday objects, not just computers and computer networks, can be readable, recognizable, locatable, addressable, and controllable via an IoT communications network (e.g., an ad-hoc system or the Internet).
A number of market trends are driving development of IoT devices. For example, increasing energy costs are driving governments' strategic investments in smart grids and support for future consumption, such as for electric vehicles and public charging stations. Increasing health care costs and aging populations are driving development for remote/connected health care and fitness services. A technological revolution in the home is driving development for new "smart" services, including consolidation by service providers marketing 'N' play (e.g., data, voice, video, security, energy management, etc.) and expanding home networks. Buildings are getting smarter and more convenient as a means to reduce operational costs for enterprise facilities.
There are a number of key applications for the IoT. For example, in the area of smart grids and energy management, utility companies can optimize delivery of energy to homes and businesses while customers can better manage energy usage. In the area of home and building automation, smart homes and buildings can have centralized control over virtually any device or system in the home or office, from appliances to plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) security systems. In the field of asset tracking, enterprises, hospitals, factories, and other large organizations can accurately track the locations of high-value equipment, patients, vehicles, and so on. In the area of health and wellness, doctors can remotely monitor patients' health while people can track the progress of fitness routines.
As such, in the near future, increasing development in IoT technologies will lead to numerous IoT devices surrounding a user at home, in vehicles, at work, and many other locations. The numerous IoT devices provide a variety of services that are discoverable utilizing known techniques including domain name service based service discovery (DNS-SD). DNS-SD does enable an IoT client device to query other IoT devices to discover the services that are available, but the existing framework for clients to query other IoT devices produces broad searches that result in many responses from the other IoT devices. In addition, a querying device often times must establish a session with a responder device to retrieve more information about the services provided by the responder. And if the services are not of interest to the querying device, the querying device must disconnect and continue the discovery process. Thus, existing service discovery methodologies are prone to overly broad responses that increase network traffic and may cause substantial delays.

Enhanced DNS-based service discovery in an internet of things (IoT) environment


There is provided an infrared light source that has a simple structure and radiates infrared rays polarized in a specific direction and having a specific wavelength. The infrared light source (100) comprises a heat generator (107) and a latticework (101) in which a dielectric part (105) and a metal part (103) are alternately formed at a constant pitch in a constant direction. The infrared rays are radiated in a direction perpendicular to the surface of the latticework and are polarized in the direction indicated by an arrow A. If the constant pitch is denoted by P, the width of the dielectric part in the constant direction by T, and the specific wavelength by λ, for arbitrary P and T that meet the inequalities 0<P≦2.0λ and T≦0.5P, the depth D of the latticework is so selected that the intensity spectrum of the infrared rays radiated from the infrared light source has the peak at λ.

There are few infrared sources capable of obtaining strong intensity at a specific wavelength in an infrared wavelength range.
Although some of expensive lasers are oscillated at the specific wavelengths, the specific wavelengths cannot be set to arbitrary values.
There is considered a device in which light with arbitrary wavelengths is taken out from radiant light radiated from a heater, etc. using a filter, or the like. However, such a device has problems that the number of components is large, a method of manufacturing a wavelength filter is complicated, and output energy is extremely low.
Also, there has been proposed a high-temperature light emitting micro cavity light source (for example, see Japanese Patent Application National Publication No. 2001-519079). However, the high-temperature light emitting micro cavity light source has a complicated structure.
On the other hand, an application for light sources with an infrared wavelength range has been expanded to fields including medical care and biotechnology.
There is a non-dispersive infrared absorption method as a method of analyzing gas or liquid, utilizing absorption of infrared rays radiated from materials. The non-dispersive infrared absorption method is a method that uses infrared absorption lines inherent in materials to measure concentration of the corresponding materials or composition of the materials. As analysis systems using a non-dispersive infrared absorption method, there are systems in various forms such as a stationary type system built in production equipment or devices and a portable system driven by a battery.
FIG. 61 is a view showing a basic configuration of the analysis system using the non-dispersive infrared absorption method. The analysis system includes an infrared source 301, a measuring cell 207, a means 211 that periodically changes intensity, a wavelength selecting element 303, an infrared sensor 203, and a demodulation means 205. As the infrared source 301, a white infrared source (lamp) using black body radiation is exclusively used. As the means 211 that periodically changes intensity, there is used a chopper that periodically interrupts infrared rays by rotating a shutter covering the light source or a radial slit. As the wavelength selecting element 303, a narrow range filter transmitting a specific wavelength alone using a dielectric multi-layer film or the like is used. As the infrared sensor 203, various detectors such as a pyroelectric element, a bolometer, a thermopile, a heat flux sensor and the like are used. Infrared rays from the infrared source 301 pass through the measuring cell 207 including an object to be measured and arrive on the means 211 that periodically changes intensity, the wavelength selecting element 203, and the infrared sensor 203, in succession.
FIG. 62 is a view showing relations among absorbance of the object to be measured (for example, gas), intensity of lights, transmittance of the wavelength selecting element. FIG. 62(a) is a view showing absorbance of gas A to be measured with respect to wavelength. It shows that the absorbance of gas A to be measured is large at a wavelength λS. FIG. 62(b) shows intensity of infrared rays radiated from the infrared source 301 with respect to wavelength. The infrared source 301 radiates infrared rays with intensity distribution corresponding to temperature over a wide wavelength range according to a Planck's law. FIG. 62(c) shows transmittance of the wavelength selecting element 303 with respect to wavelength. The wavelength selecting element 303 is a narrow range filter transmitting lights with a narrow wavelength range around λS alone.
Transmittance of infrared rays with wavelength λS is changed according to a concentration of the gas to be measured in the measurement cell, and therefore an output of the infrared sensor 203 is also changed. The concentration of the gas is calculated from a comparison between a detected signal and a reference signal previously obtained, based on Lambert' law. λS is not always set to the peak wavelength at which absorption becomes maximized, but is determined in consideration of various factors such as that of avoiding overlaps with absorption of other coexisting gases.
Actually, since this method is hard to obtain reliable results due to an influence of aging change, etc. of the elements or the optical system, in many cases some kind of reference signals are used.
FIG. 63 shows an analysis system using a reference sample. Gas B with previously known composition is sealed in a reference cell 207A, and a wavelength selecting element 3031A and an infrared sensor 203A are installed for measuring concentration of gas B. Gas A to be measured is sealed in a measurement cell 207B, and a wavelength selecting element 3031B and an infrared sensor 203B are installed for measuring a concentration of gas A. A concentration of gas A is obtained from a ratio between a signal of the infrared sensor 203A and that of the infrared sensor 203B and from absorbance at λS of object gas A to be measured and that of object gas B to be measured. In many cases, the reference cell 207A is sealed with the same kind of gas as the gas to be measured.
FIG. 64 is a view showing the analysis system in a two-wavelength method. A wavelength selecting element 3033 and the infrared sensor 203A are installed for infrared rays at wavelength λS at which absorbance of the gas to be measured is to be large, and a wavelength selecting element 3035 and an infrared sensor 203B are installed for infrared rays at wavelength λR at which absorbance is to be small. Transmittance of the wavelength selecting element 3033 at wavelength λS is the same as characteristics of the wavelength selecting element 303 shown in FIG. 62(c). Transmittance of the wavelength selecting element 3035 at wavelength λR is shown in FIG. 62(d). A concentration of gas A is obtained from a ratio between a signal of the infrared sensor 203A and that of the infrared sensor 203B and from absorbance at wavelength λS and that at wavelength λR of object gas A to be measured.
The analysis system as described above uses infrared rays with the specific wavelengths determined according to materials to be measured. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 62(b), infrared sources in conventional analysis systems radiate infrared rays with a wide wavelength range. Thus, in conventional analysis systems, only infrared rays with wavelengths selected by a wavelength selecting element, such as a filter, among the infrared rays radiated from the infrared source, are used and infrared rays with other wavelengths are discarded. Therefore, conventional analysis systems waste much energy and cannot reduce an output from the infrared source, and therefore it is difficult to make the infrared source compact. As a result, conventional analysis systems are low in energy efficiency and are relatively large in size.
In order to monitor an object to be measured, a monitor system (for example, see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-106523) in which a light source radiates lights with a specific wavelength and a sensor receives the lights, is used.
In many cases, such systems use a silicon sensor as a light receiving element. Since silicon sensors have high sensitivity in a range from 400 nm to 1000 nm, the systems use lights with a wavelength within the range in many cases. However, sunlight and illumination light have much wavelength component in the range, which becomes noise component and causes the systems to malfunction. In order to avoid an influence of noise such as sunlight, it is advantageous to use lights with a infrared wavelength range.
As described above, an infrared source radiating lights with an infrared wavelength range is required for a system monitoring an object. However, there are few infrared sources radiating lights with strong intensity at specific wavelengths in an infrared wavelength range.
Lasers oscillated at specific wavelengths are expensive and the specific wavelengths cannot be set to arbitrary values.
A device in which lights with arbitrary wavelengths are taken out from lights radiated from a heater, etc. using a filter, or the like, is available. However, such a device has problems that the number of components is large, a method of manufacturing a wavelength filter is complicated, and output energy is extremely low.
Further, a high-temperature light emitting micro cavity light source (for example, see Japanese Patent Application National Publication No. 2001-519079) has been proposed. However, the structure is complicated.

Infrared source and method of manufacturing the same


A lithium-ion secondary battery with high capacity is provided. Alternatively, a lithium-ion secondary battery with improved cycle characteristics is provided. To achieve this, an active material including a particle having a cleavage plane and a layer containing carbon covering at least part of the cleavage plane is provided. The particle having the cleavage plane contains lithium, manganese, nickel, and oxygen. The layer containing carbon preferably contains graphene. When a lithium-ion secondary battery is fabricated using an electrode including the particle having the cleavage plane at least part of which is covered with the layer containing carbon as an active material, the discharge capacity can be increased and the cycle characteristics can be improved.

In recent years, portable electronic devices such as smartphones and tablets have spread rapidly. Also with growing interest in the environment, hybrid cars and electric cars have attracted attention, thereby increasing the importance of secondary batteries. Examples of the secondary batteries include a nickel-metal hydride battery, a lead-acid battery, and a lithium-ion secondary battery. In particular, lithium-ion secondary batteries have been actively developed because the capacity thereof can be increased and the size thereof can be reduced.
A basic secondary battery includes a positive electrode, a negative electrode, and an electrolyte (an electrolyte solution or a solid electrolyte) provided therebetween. Typically, the positive electrode and the negative electrode each include a current collector and an active material layer provided over the current collector. In the case of a lithium-ion secondary battery, a material capable of receiving and releasing lithium ions is used as an active material for a positive electrode and a negative electrode.
As examples of positive electrode active materials of a lithium-ion secondary battery, phosphate compounds disclosed in Patent Document 1, such as lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4), lithium manganese phosphate (LiMnPO4), lithium cobalt phosphate (LiCoPO4), and lithium nickel phosphate (LiNiPO4), each having an olivine structure and containing lithium (Li) and iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), cobalt (Co), or nickel (Ni) are known.

Lithium-ion secondary battery and electronic device

Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.