A laser system for use in performing dental procedures is provided. The system includes a handpiece which is capable of being connected to a source of laser light, such as a fiber optic cable. The fiber optic capable carries laser light into the handpiece. For most of the purposes contemplated herein, the argon laser light is preferred. The handpiece includes a collimating lens such that the laser light is collimated and a collimated laser output exits said handpiece. Collimated laser light is found to be useful in initiating the curing of dental resin restorative materials. Also placed within the handpiece is a mirror for controlling the direction of laser light output from said handpiece and for directing the collimated laser light toward a dental work area. Finally, multiple detachable attachments are provided which are capable of being mounted on the exterior or at the proximal end of said handpiece for optionally modifying said collimated laser light output. Such attachments may include lenses, optical filters, and fiber optic cables.

1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a laser system for performing a variety of dental procedures, particularly curing of dental restoratives. More particularly, the present invention relates to a device which provides a collimated laser light output for use in dentistry, together with removable attachments for modifying the light output of the device.
2. Technical Background
Numerous recent improvements in dentistry have related to the manner in which conventional procedures are performed, as well as improved and expanded procedures available through improvements in technology. One significant area of advancement in dentistry has related to improvement in materials available for use in dental procedures. For example, modern dentists have available a wide scope of materials which have not been traditionally used in dentistry. While composite resin-based materials have been known for some time, they have had limited applicability to dentistry because of limitations in the characteristics of the materials. A particularly notable problem relates to the inability to adequately and uniformly cure these materials. In recent years, however, development of these materials has resulted in more acceptable dental materials, even though problems with curing continue.
Reactive composite resin materials of the type used in dentistry are generally classified as either condensation resins or addition resins. Condensation resins generally involve the reaction of two different chemical species to produce a final cured product. Addition resins, conversely, rely on the generation of an activated free radical which is added to the resin and which initiates the polymerization reaction.
Light cured resins are generally considered to be addition resins. In these systems light activates or decomposes a light sensitive molecule, which in turn initiates the polymerization reaction within the resin system. Some photoinitiator molecules which have been used in such systems include benzoin methyl ether, camphoroquinone, biacetyl, and acenaphthenequinone. These materials are well known and commercially available.
Typically, the photoinitiator used in the composite resin system is decomposed upon exposure to light of a specific wavelength. This provides significant advantages. For example, it is possible to work freely with the material until it is set in place. At that point, the material is exposed to light of a wavelength which will initiate cure. Thus, control over cure is maintained by the user.
In order to cure addition resin composite materials, the use of laser light has been suggested. The use of conventional light sources has resulted in generally inadequate curing in certain areas of its application because of the insufficient energy available from such conventional light sources.
Laser light has been found to have a number of advantages over conventional light sources. Laser light can be produced which is essentially monochromatic. Conventional light sources, conversely, contain a full spectrum of wavelengths. As a result, it is possible to chose a laser wavelength or wavelengths which correspond to specific wavelengths which trigger curing in the composite resin. Another advantage of laser light is that it is "coherent." That is, it forms a single integrated beam of light. This allows the light to be channeled through precision optics and focused into a fiber. In this manner, the beam as it exits the fiber is divergent. If the proper distance and spot size are maintained, it is possible for the laser light to provide sufficient energy to initiate the polymerization reaction of the composite resin.
Problems have been encountered even in the use of laser light initiated addition resin systems, such as the recurring problem of uneven cure. A number of factors may influence the adequacy of cure, including the nature of the composite resin system used, the shade of the composition, light exposure time, the type of light source used, the energy density of the light and the dimensions and other characteristics of the restoration. It will be appreciated that dealing with these factors presents the dentist with a difficult task.
The problem is made more difficult with the use of a divergent laser beam which occurs straight from the end of a fiber optic cable. Divergent beams are used in order to provide sufficient beam strength at a single point of interest. The limitation with this technique is that it is necessary for the dentist to manipulate the laser beam such that the proper spot, as it relates to the energy density, is placed at the desired location on the composite restoration in order to achieve adequate and even cure. This is difficult particularly in view of the fact that the laser light may be outside the visible spectrum or if the laser light fluoresces the material to be cured, thereby obscuring any definitive spot size. If adequate cure is not achieved (if there is a failure to fully polymerize the resin composite) it may result in retention failures, adverse pulpal responses, and a general decrease in the properties of the restoration.
Thus, while the use of composite resins has a number of appealing features, the actual use of these materials has been problematic. In particular, there have been significant drawbacks in the devices used to initiate cure. The limitations of these devices has resulted in inadequate and inconsistent curing of the composite resins. Clinically, this is seen as an incomplete cure, or poor bonding of resin to the tooth substrate especially down at the base of the cavity preparation. If the manipulated spot size is to large, inadequate cure may occur. If the manipulated spot size is too small, there exists a danger of dental pulpal injury, due to a hot energy density temperature rise. In addition, a manipulated small spot could cause a degradation in the filling material and its ability to bond to the tooth.
It would be an advantage in the art to provide a laser device which overcame the limitations identified above. At the same time, it would be beneficial to take advantage of the other possible uses of lasers in dentistry. For example, lasers have potential for use in dental surgery, including the cauterization of blood vessels. Lasers have been suggested for use in the place of scalpels in significant dental surgery. In addition, it is possible to use laser light in endodontic procedures.
Accordingly, it would be a significant advancement in the art to provide a device which was capable of overcoming the limitations now experienced in the delivery of laser light for use in dental procedures. In particular, it would be a significant advancement in the art to provide a device capable of delivering laser light having constant power along the beam, rather than a divergent beam. In that regard it would be an advantage to provide such a device which was capable of achieving consistent curing of dental restoratives. It would also be a significant advancement in the art to provide means for performing several different functions with a single source of laser output.
Such methods and apparatus are disclosed and claimed herein.

Laser system for use in dental procedures


A wiring processing apparatus decides each group formed by sorting signals that flow between component pins. Then, the wiring processing apparatus reads printed circuit board data and identifies a net cluster that belongs to each group. After a net cluster that belongs to each group is identified, the wiring processing apparatus refers to the printed circuit board data about the identified net cluster, and automatically creates each wiring route that indicates a wiring scanning area of the signal cluster in each group. Thus the wiring processing apparatus displays them on the printed board data. After the wiring route is automatically created, the wiring processing apparatus automatically creates wiring route information that corresponds to each wiring route, and controls them according to each wiring route.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wiring path information creating method, a wiring path information creating program, and a wiring path information creating apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, performing automatic wiring for printed circuit boards is becoming more difficult, because signal speed of large scale integrations (LSIs) is becoming faster as well as LSIs are manufactured in such a way that they have many pins and ball grid arrays (BGAs) are used for them, thus their size is becoming larger. Thus, various technologies that perform automatic wiring have been proposed. For example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 4-264983, a technology is proposed of which an object is to assist automatic wiring such that even an unskilled designer can design a wiring pattern as high-quality as one designed by a skilled designer, by using knowledge processing in automatic wiring in printed boards.
In Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 4-264983, an unskilled designer, based on knowledge and know-how of skilled designers stored in knowledge base, refers to information pertaining to printed board wiring, and draws an inference therefrom. Thus the unskilled designer creates information pertaining to wiring strategy for printed board wiring, and provides the information to an automatic processing unit. The automatic processing unit searches for a wiring algorithm according to the wiring strategy and executes the algorithm.
In the conventional technology, however, a problem remains in that a design period is considerably prolonged. That is because in the conventional technology some of printed board wiring procedures, for example, accumulating knowledge base pertaining to printed board wiring and constructing wiring strategy based on the knowledge base, still must be performed manually.
The larger the LSIs are in size and the faster a signal speed thereof is, the heavier a labor load of the designer is.

Wiring path information creating method and wiring path information creating apparatus


Disclosed is a magnetic recording medium excellent in surface properties, good in electromagnetic characteristics, and excellent in durability, which comprises a non-magnetic support and a magnetic layer formed thereon, wherein said magnetic layer contains a ferromagnetic powder, and as binders, at least a vinyl chloride resin having a S-containing polar group and a polyurethane resin having phosphobetaine and/or phosphamine as a polar group.

In recent years, for avoiding deterioration of signals caused by repeated copies, digitization of magnetic recording media has proceeded. Further, the recording density thereof has also been desired to be increased, because of an increase in the amount of recording data.
As magnetic powders, therefore, finer magnetic metal powders having high saturation magnetic flux density have been used. However, when such magnetic metal powders are used, the dispersibility of the magnetic metal powders greatly affects the characteristics of the media.
That is to say, the poor dispersibility of the magnetic metal powders and other inorganic pigments deteriorates the surface properties of the media and the magnetic characteristics, which causes deterioration of the electromagnetic characteristics (output) and the durability.
As measures to solve such a problem, it has been studied that the dispersibility of the powders is improved by the use of binders having polar groups high in adsorptivity to the magnetic metal powders.
Specific examples thereof include the use of binders comprising polymers having --COOX, --SO.sub.3 X, --OSO.sub.2 X, --PO.sub.3 X.sub.2 or --OPO.sub.3 X.sub.2 as the polar groups [wherein X represents --NR.sub.1 R.sub.2 R.sub.3 R.sub.4 (R.sub.1, R.sub.2, R.sub.3 and R.sub.4 each represents a hydrogen atom, or an alkyl, alkenyl, substituted alkyl or substituted alkenyl group having 1 to 12 carbon atoms)] (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 63-261523), the use of binders composed of resin components having --COOM, --SO.sub.3 M, --OSO.sub.3 M or --PO(OM').sub.2 as the polar groups [wherein M represents a hydrogen atom or an alkali metal atom, and M' represents a hydrogen atom, an alkali metal atom or a lower hydrocarbon group] (Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 6-10860, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 8-165372, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 8-77460 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 9-265623), and the use of binders containing polyurethane resins in which negative functional groups form internal salts (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2-101624).
However, with the recent increase in capacity of digital recording media, head gaps become narrow to bring about the liability of heads to clog, and the number of repetitions of reading and writing is also increased. Accordingly, higher levels of the dispersibility and durability have been desired particularly in disk media, so that it has also become necessary to enhance the dispersibility of carbon black and abrasives which are additives used together with the magnetic powders.
When the binders having the polar groups described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 63-261523 and the like described above are used, the dispersibility of the magnetic metal powders is improved, but a balance between the paint stability or the paint viscosity and the yield value thereof is insufficient. They are therefore not satisfactory in this respect.
As a measure for preventing the clogging of heads, addition of Cr.sub.2 O.sub.3 has hitherto been known, and as a means for enhancing the durability, it has formerly been known that large-sized carbon is added to reduce the friction of coated films. However, the polar groups such as --COOM, --SO.sub.3 M, --OSO.sub.3 M (wherein M is K, Na or H) and metal salts of sulfamic acid, shown in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 63-261523, Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 6-10860, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 8-165372 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 9-265623 described above, improve the dispersion of the magnetic metal powders but the total dispersion became insufficient, because the material characteristics of carbon or Cr.sub.2 O.sub.3 were largely different from those of the magnetic metal powders. On the other hand, the use of amine polar groups which have previously been known to provide good dispersion of carbon or Cr.sub.2 O.sub.3 resulted in the difficulty in dispersing the magnetic metal powders. Further, even if resins having acid polar groups excellent in the dispersion of the magnetic metal powders, such as --COOM, --SO.sub.3 M, --OSO.sub.3 M (wherein M is K, Na or H) and metal salts of sulfamic acid, shown in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 63-261523, Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 6-10860, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 8-165372 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 9-265623, and resins having amine polar groups are used as mixtures, the synergistic effect can not be obtained.
That is to say, the media prepared by such resin mixture systems have the problem that carbon and Cr.sub.2 O.sub.3 are liable to drop out of coated films to cause the clogging of heads and a reduction in durability, because the resins having acid polar groups are incorporated therein. As to the magnetic metal powders, the inconvenience also has occurred that the dispersibility becomes insufficient to deteriorate the surface properties, resulting in difficulty in obtaining high output, because the resins having the amine polar groups are incorporated therein. Further, coated surfaces formed are significantly affected by the dispersion of paints, and paints insufficiently dispersed have the inconvenience that fine coating streaks are developed, when the paints are applied. In particular, this phenomenon has been significant in coating by the wet-on-wet process.
Media having the coating streaks have large spacing loss between heads and the media, so that the output is low and the durability is also poor, which has been a great factor for deteriorating the quality of the magnetic recording media.


In accordance with the exemplary embodiments of the invention there is at least a method and an apparatus to perform operations including starting, by a device of a communications network, a timer in response to a radio resource control message, where a power preference indication message is not sent by the device for at least a duration of the timer.

This section is intended to provide a background or context to the invention that is recited in the claims. The description herein may include concepts that could be pursued, but are not necessarily ones that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated herein, what is described in this section is not prior art to the description and claims in this application and is not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
Certain abbreviations that may be found in the description and/or in the Figures are herewith defined as follows:    ARQ automatic repeat-request    CQI channel quality indication    C-RNTI cell radio network temporary identifier    DRB data radio bearer    DRX discontinuous reception    DL downlink    eDDA enhancements for diverse data application    eNB base station    HARQ hybrid automatic repeat-request    HFN hyper frame number    IDC in-device co-existence    IE information element    NAS non-access stratum    Node B base station in UTRAN    MAC medium access control layer    PDCP packet data convergence protocol layer    PHY physical layer    PPI power preference indication    QoS quality of service    RACH random access channel    RAN radio access network    RLC radio link control    RN relay node    RPLMN registered public land mobile network    RRC radio resource control    RS reference signal    SDU service data unit    SFN system frame number    SMC security mode command    SN serving network    UE user equipment
A long-term evolution (LTE) system, initiated by the third generation partnership project (3GPP), is a radio interface and network architecture that provides high data rates, low latency, and packet optimization with improved system capacity and coverage. In the LTE system, an evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (EUTRAN) includes a plurality of evolved Node-Bs (eNBs) and communicates with a plurality of mobile stations, also referred to as user equipment (UE). The radio protocol stacks of E-UTRAN includes a radio resource control layer (RRC), a packet data convergence protocol layer (PDCP), a radio link control layer (RLC), a medium access control layer (MAC), and a physical layer (PHY).
Radio resource control (RRC) signaling can include RRC connection reconfiguration signaling used by eNBs and UEs to modify a RRC connection, such as to establish/modify/release the RRC connection, to perform handover, to setup/modify/release measurements, and to establish/modify/release radio bearers. RRC states include a RRC Idle state where user equipment is not actively communicating with a radio access network, and RRC Connected state where the radio is active and connected to an eNB. The eNB has a downlink signaling configurations determining the time instants where the UE shall receive the scheduling and paging information. For power saving purposes, an eNB may configure time periods when the UE shall monitor downlink control signals. During other times the UE is allowed to go to power saving mode during which eNB cannot assume that the UE would listen for downlink signals. This relates to a discontinuous reception (DRX) period, which causes the UE to shut off its radio for periods of time to save power.
As coverage of data networks has increased, such as including WiFi networks, the demand for diverse smartphone applications also have increased. The significant amount of mobile applications present challenges to connectivity and power savings operations of the devices in view of the ubiquitous nature of these applications. One such challenge relates to these mobile applications running in the background on a UE which tend to require an always on connection with the network.


Provided are a cascaded photovoltaic grid-connected inverter, a control method and a control device for the same. The method includes: determining whether at least one of inverter units of the cascaded photovoltaic grid-connected inverter is over-modulated; injecting a reactive current to a power grid to make a grid-connected current effective value greater than or equal to √{square root over (2)}*idcmin, in a case that at least one of the inverter units is over-modulated; determining a voltage U0 required for grid connection for the cascaded photovoltaic grid-connected inverter corresponding to a current grid-connected current effective value; and adjusting an output active voltage of each of the inverter units according to Ujd=Pj/P0*U0d, and adjusting an output reactive voltage of each of the inverter units in a case that none of the inverter units is over-modulated.

A cascaded photovoltaic grid-connected inverter includes n cascaded inverter units (such as an H-bridge inverter unit), and a topological structure of the cascaded photovoltaic grid-connected inverter is shown in FIG. 1. A direct current side of each of the inverter units is connected with an independent photovoltaic array, and alternating current sides of the inverter units are connected in series, and then connected with a power grid through a filtering inductor L.
A conventional control strategy of the cascaded photovoltaic grid-connected inverter is described as follows. Each of the inverter units independently performs maximum power point tracking, stabilizes a direct current bus voltage and uploads a power signal to a total controller. The total controller calculates a grid-connected current instruction value based on all power signals, and then achieves an effective control of the current of the power grid by using a PR controller.
However, the conventional control strategy is easy to result in an inverter unit over-modulation phenomenon in a case that output active powers between the inverter units are seriously unbalanced. For example, when an output power of a photovoltaic array corresponding to an inverter unit #1 decreases due to uneven lighting or other factors, an output active power Pi of the inverter unit #1 is inevitably reduced according to a principle of active power conservation, thereby causing decrease in a grid-connected current effective value. After the grid-connected current effective value is decreased, output voltages of inverter units #2 to # n are respectively increased in order to maintain the active power conservation of the inverter units #2 to # n. In a case that an output voltage of a certain inverter unit exceeds a direct current bus voltage of the inverter unit (that is, a modulation degree of the inverter unit is greater than 1), an over-modulation phenomenon occurs in the invert unit, thereby resulting in a negative impact on the grid-connected operation stability of the cascaded photovoltaic grid-connected inverter.

Cascaded photovoltaic grid-connected inverter, control method and control device for the same


The invention provides an apparatus [10] and method for controlling the orientation of a suspended load. The apparatus consists of a closed loop pipe [11] containing a fluid volume attachable to a suspended load and at least one pump for circulating the fluid volume in the pipe. A control unit [17] is operable to receive at least one input direction signal. The apparatus includes a control unit which is configured to generate a control signal to activate the at least one pump to control the flow of the fluid volume in the pipe and thereby impart a rotational force on the pipe.

Loads can be suspended by forklifts, wheel loader overhead cranes such as boom and jib cranes and many other machines that can lift a load higher than ground level. When a load is suspended external forces such as wind can cause the load to rotate about its coupling, changing the orientation of the load relative to its original position. This can be problematic for crane operators trying to maintain a stable position of the load whilst it is suspended. Crane operators also have little or no control to manoeuvre the overhanging load and accurately position the load in desired orientation before it is lowered.
Current load positioning systems involve one or more guide ropes being attached to the suspended load and workers manually dragging the load via the guide ropes into a desired position. This handling operation can be problematic due to miscommunications between workers and external forces such as inclement weather. Such issues can result in collision of the load with obstacles leading to damage of the load and/or the obstacles.
Due to the complexity of the handling operation and the safety protocols for the on-site workers the routes for the suspended loads must be pre-planned to ensure that at no point a worker is required to work directly below the suspended load. This can impose restrictive working conditions when the area to manoeuvre the load is small.
There is a high risk of serious injury or death if a suspended load should fall during handling operations. Due to the nature of the use of guide ropes, the workers are required to be in close proximity of the load and are therefore at an increased risk of danger. The level of danger increases as the weight and size of the load increases. In an effort to overcome these problems load positioning systems have been developed.
JP7252087A discloses a system of rotating a suspended load using precessional effect produced by two gyroscopic counter-rotating wheels. An assembly containing the counter-rotating wheels is attached to the suspended load and a control unit controls the rotation speed and tilt degree of each wheel to induce a precessional force on the assembly and attached load. A disadvantage of this system is that the wheels can only be inclined a limited amount and therefore the precessional force applied to the load is limited.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,871,249 discloses a system for a suspended payload. The system consists of a stabiliser, control and positioner units suspended from a crane and a payload directly coupled under the positioner unit. The stabilising unit creates gyroscopic stability for a suspended load using counter-rotating flywheels in the x, y and z axes and a gear system to rotate the wheels in different directions from a single motor. The counter-rotating flywheels cancel out precessional forces in response to yaw, roll or pitch disturbances.
This system has a very complex assembly with multiple moving parts, seven flywheels rotating at high speeds and an elaborate gearing system. This assembly is required to be attached and detached to each load which involves significant manhandling. If there is any misalignment of the components of the assembly or failure of one element of the system it reduces the operation of the system or could cause the entire system to fail. Another disadvantage of this system is that high speeds of the counter-rotating flywheels and the precession forces applied to the components of the assembly can cause wear to the assembly components. The assembly components would require regular maintenance and replacement parts resulting in maintenance costs and reduces the efficiency of the system.
GB 1179943 discloses a load positioning device composed of counter rotating masses which produce a turning torque on the load. Brakes cooperate with each of the masses in order to rotate the load in one direction by braking one of the rotating masses. To stop the rotation of the load the other brake is applied to the other mass. A disadvantage of this system is that continuous high speeds of the counter-rotating masses and the precession forces applied to the components of the device can cause wear to the device components. The device components such as the braking mechanism would require regular maintenance and replacement parts resulting in high maintenance costs and reduces the efficiency of the system.
Another load positioning system is disclosed in RU 2343102. The positioning system provides for turning a crane hook using flywheels in the lifting mechanism connected to a high torque motor to turn the load relative to the lifting mechanism. A disadvantage of turning the load using this system is that it would result in the lifting lines being twisted and therefore making the load unstable.
A disadvantage of prior art systems that form part of the lifting gear is that the positioning apparatus is exposed to high mechanical stresses when a heavy load is lifted. The apparatus needs to undergo strict testing to meet safety regulations and may be unable to be used for weights over a certain limit.
A problem of prior art systems that use high speed rotating masses or flywheels is that they can cause injuries due to contact with the rotating parts and in the event of a failure the rotating masses/flywheels and other components of the system may become high speed projectiles that could strike and injure workers.
It is the object of the present invention to obviate or at least mitigate the foregoing disadvantages of prior art load positioning systems.
It is another object of an aspect of the present invention to obviate the inaccurate positioning of a load and allow the crane operator to maintain full control of the orientation of the load.
A further object of the invention is to reduce the risk of injury to on-site workers who work in close proximity to the load positioning apparatus. Further aims of the invention will become apparent from the following description.

Apparatus and method for controlling the orientation of a suspended load


A protective switch device such as a contactor/circuit-breaker comprises double-contact switch poles. Contact bridges are housed in a mobile support. Slide members guided in slots of the support and commanded by a tripping mechanism can be applied to the bridges. The mobile support can be actuated by a solenoid without the contact pressure springs transmitting any reaction force to the armature of the solenoid.

1. Field of the invention
The present invention concerns a protective switch device of the circuit-breaker or contactor/circuit-breaker type comprising at least one double-contact switch pole provided with a mobile contact bridge, a mobile support accommodating said contact bridge(s) and a contact pressure spring associated with each bridge.
In a device of this kind, commanded displacement of the support is adapted to cause displacement of the bridges; the bridges may be displaced relative to the support to enable the application of pressure to the contacts by springs. In the event of an electrical fault affecting at least one pole a magnetic and/or thermal tripping mechanism is adapted to operate via a control part to cause omnipolar opening of the contacts, for example by means of slide members movably mounted in the support; if the device is a contactor/circuit-breaker, an electrically or manually generated opening or closing command is adapted to be exerted via another control part to cause omnipolar opening of the contacts, for example by means of the aforementioned slide members or by means of a cage surrounding the support.
2. Description of the prior art
A device of this kind is disclosed in the patents FR - 2 634 590 and EP - 270 158. It has the disadvantage that, when opening is commanded by a solenoid, the latter has to overcome the force of the contact pressure springs because the active contact part is applied directly to the bridges. Also, the contact bridge operating systems prevent the overall dimensions of the device from being reduced as much as would be desirable. If the fixed contacts of the same pole are moved closer together there is insufficient electrical insulation, especially if the pole is opened electrodynamically.
An object of the invention is to achieve excellent electrical insulation between the two pairs of contacts of each pole of a circuit-breaker when the contacts are opened, especially when they are opened by electrodynamic repulsion of the contacts.
Another object of the invention is to reduce the overall dimensions of the support for the contact bridges of a protective switch device and to enable the designer of the device to move the fixed contacts of the same pole closer together to reduce the overall dimensions of the device and the mass of the mobile bridge.
A final object of the invention is to reduce the operating forces required in a contactor/circuit-breaker device of the type described.


An object cutting method which can reliably remove particles remaining on cut sections of chips is provided. An expandable tape 23 is electrically charged in a state where a plurality of semiconductor chips 25 obtained by cutting a planar object to be processed along a line to cut are separated from each other on the expandable tape 23. This electric action causes particles remaining on cut sections of the semiconductor chips 25 to eject therefrom even when a molten processed region is formed in the cut sections. Therefore, particles remaining on the cut sections of the chips 25 can reliably be removed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an object cutting method of manufacturing a plurality of chips by cutting a planar object to be processed along a line to cut.
2. Related Background Art
As a conventional technique in the field mentioned above, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-142206 discloses a technique of destaticizing a forming material of a planar object to be processed (a material forming or having formed the object), which is formed with a modified region to become a cutting start point, when applying a stress to the object through a sheet. Also, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-260407 discloses a technique of blowing ion air for neutralizing static electricity against a planar object to be processed, which is formed with a scribe line, when applying a stress to the object through a sheet. Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-141997 discloses a technique of attracting particles from a chip surface by static electricity, so as to remove them.


A route searching method is used for circuit design, and includes a step of setting, with respect to each pin, a corresponding flag of a pass flag which indicates that a pin is passed, a searching flag which indicates that a pin is being searched, and a branch flag which indicates that a pin is a branch point, and a step of determining a direction of a route search depending on each flag which is set with respect to each pin.

This application claims the benefit of a Japanese Patent Application No.11-320219 filed Nov. 10, 1999, in the Japanese Patent Office, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to route searching methods and storage media, and more particularly to a route searching method for analyzing timings and delay times of paths which include circuit elements, wirings and the like and through which signals propagate when designing circuits such as LSIs, and to a computer-readable storage medium which stores a program for causing a computer to carry out such a route search process.
2. Description of the Related Art
Route searching methods make a timing analysis, to analyze the timings and the delay times of the paths which include circuit elements, wirings and the like and through which the signals propagate, when designing circuits such as LSIs. Such route searching methods can be categorized into a worst route search and a total route search. In a case where a plurality of paths join, the worst route search propagates, as a route search result, only a calculation result with respect to a worst route. On the other hand, in the case where a plurality of paths join, the total route search propagates, as the route search result, the calculation results with respect to all of the routes.
In addition, in a case where no route search is made, a route is checked every time a calculation is made with respect to the route. When checking the route, a plurality of routes may pass through the same pin depending on the routes, and in this case, the analyzing time of the timing analysis becomes that much longer because calculation conditions are judged a plurality of times with respect to the same pin.
According to the conventional route searching method, the amount of calculations which are made is large because the calculations with respect to the routes are basically made while searching the routes. In addition, the same calculation may be made a plurality of times depending on the routes. As a result, there are problems in that it is difficult to increase the speed of the calculation process in the conventional route searching method, and that a high-speed timing analysis cannot be made by the conventional route searching method.
Accordingly, it is a general object of the present invention to provide a novel and useful route searching method and storage medium, in which the problems described above are eliminated.
Another and more specific object of the present invention is to provide a route searching method and a storage medium, which can reduce the amount of calculations which are made with respect to the routes regardless of the routes, and can carry out the calculation process at a high speed, so that a high-speed timing analysis can be made.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a a route searching method used for circuit design, comprising the steps of (a) setting, with respect to each pin, a corresponding flag of a pass flag which indicates that a pin is passed, a searching flag which indicates that a pin is being searched, and a branch flag which indicates that a pin is a branch point, and (b) determining a direction of a route search depending on each flag which is set with respect to each pin. According to the route searching method of the present invention, it is possible to reduce the amount of calculations which are made with respect to the routes regardless of the routes, and to carry out the calculation process at a high speed, so that a high-speed timing analysis can be made.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a computer-readable storage medium which stores a program for causing a computer to carry out a route search for use in circuit design, wherein the program comprises a flag set procedure causing the computer to set, with respect to each pin, a corresponding flag of a pass flag which indicates that a pin is passed, a searching flag which indicates that a pin is being searched, and a branch flag which indicates that a pin is a branch point, and a determining procedure causing the computer to determine a direction of a route search depending on each flag which is set with respect to each pin. According to the computer-readable storage medium of the present invention, it is posisble to reduce the amount of calculations which are made with respect to the routes regardless of the routes, and to carry out the calculation process at a high speed, so that a high-speed timing analysis can be made.
Other objects and further features of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Route searching method and storage medium


An optical information recording and regenerating apparatus for optically recording and regenerating information to and from a medium having a regenerating system which includes an AGC circuit consisting of a gain-variable amplifier for controlling the amplitude of a regenerated signal, which is obtained when regenerating information, to a predetermined value; a differential circuit for differentiating an output signal of the AGC circuit; and a peak detecting circuit for detecting the peak value of an output of the differential circuit. The AGC circuit controls gain in accordance with the output of the peak detecting circuit so that the peak value of a differential signal of a regenerated signal in a preformat area, wherein information has been embossed in a medium beforehand, becomes constant.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical information recording and regenerating apparatus which optically records and regenerates information by using a beam of light emitted from a laser light source and, more particularly, to a structure of a regenerating system which regulates the amplitude of a regenerated signal.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has extensively been used an optical information recording and regenerating apparatus which is designed to record information by applying a beam of light from a laser light source to an optical recording medium such as an optical disk and to regenerate the information by receiving the reflected light from the medium.
For example, in an optical disk unit which employs an optical disk as the medium, there are some cases where the level of a regenerated signal obtained by the regenerating process varies greatly because the replaceable medium tends to cause significant variations in reflectance of the medium or because the optical efficiency varies as the optical system becomes soiled due to dust or the like.
In a pit-position recording type apparatus wherein the position of the peak of a regenerated signal corresponds to "1" of data, as illustrated in FIG. 1, for instance, the regenerated signal obtained by regeneration is sliced at an appropriate voltage level (slice level) to generate a gate signal. The zero-cross point of the differential signal of the regenerated signal during a period in which the gate signal stays ON (hereinafter referred to simply as "the differential signal") is detected. The signal based on the AND (logical product) of the zero-cross signal which reverses at each zero-cross point and the gate signal is turned into a binary-coded signal. The regenerated data is produced according to the binary-coded signal.
In such an apparatus, when the amplitude level of a regenerated signal changes with the slice level fixed, the peak of the regenerated signal sometimes may not exceed the slice level when the amplitude is small, presenting such problems as no gate signal generated or deteriorated accuracy in detecting a sector mark for determining the start position of a sector. To prevent such errors from occurring at the time of regeneration, an automatic gain control circuit (AGC circuit) is used to control the amplitude of a regenerated signal.
For instance, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 58-73022 has disclosed an apparatus which is designed to carry out AGC so as to provide uniform amplitude of "VFO signal" in a regenerated signal in the preformat area of a medium, thereby achieving uniform amplitude of the regenerated signal. Further, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 56-94515 has disclosed an apparatus which is designed to carry out AGC on the mean value of the differential signals of the preamble signals which are obtained by reading the preamble data from a medium, thus achieving uniform amplitude of the regenerated signal. Furthermore, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 64-25356 has disclosed an apparatus which is designed to carry out AGC independently on the regenerated signal in the preformat area and that in the data area of a medium.
The operating methods based on the AGC carried out on regenerated signals in the conventional apparatuses described above may cause the problems stated below as the modulation transfer function (hereinafter referred to as MTF which means the signal resolution in the field of optical information recording and regeneration) becomes smaller with increasing density of data.
The following describes the case wherein AGC is performed to make uniform the amplitude of the VFO signal which is regenerated from the VFO area in the preformat area as in the case of the apparatus disclosed under Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 58-73022. The VFO signal is repeated at the shortest data interval, i.e. 3T, of (2, 7) code which is used as a recording code. Therefore, carrying out AGC on the VFO signal eventually means carrying out AGC on the smallest signal amplitude in the regenerated signal. The minimum value of MTF is approximately 20%, while the maximum amplitude of the regenerated signal is approximately five times as large as the VFO signal; therefore, any attempt to control the VFO signal to an appropriate level may cause the regenerated signal to be saturated in the data area or the like. On the other hand, if a target value for the AGC output level is set to prevent the saturation of the signal even when the MTF reduces down to 20%, then the output amplitude level of the AGC circuit becomes extremely low when the MTF is large.
In addition, in the case of an optical disk unit, a regenerated signal contains a DC component; therefore, it is subjected to AC coupling in a regenerating system before it is transmitted. This causes the transient of the regenerated signal as illustrated in FIG. 2 at the beginning of the preformat area. As a result, the amplitude of the regenerated signal which is measured from the ground level (GND) apparently becomes large. Hence, when implementing AGC on such a regenerated signal, unless a correct timing is selected to initiate AGC, AGC is actuated at the signal level which is involved in the aforesaid transient. As a result, it may erroneously be determined that the signal amplitude is large, leading to an desirably small output amplitude level of the AGC circuit.
According to the apparatus disclosed under Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 56-94515, AGC is carried out on the mean value of differential signals; therefore, the aforesaid inconvenience in the apparatus disclosed under Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 58-73022, which determines the output amplitude level of AGC only according to the amplitude of the VFO signal can be improved. The apparatus disclosed under Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 56-94515, however, still may cause the signal output amplitude to be saturated in the data area because, in the preformat area of the optical disk, for example, 28 bytes out of 52 bytes are assigned to the VFO area, that is, the VFO area occupies the majority of the preformat area. Therefore, the signal output amplitude in the data area may still be saturated after differentiation if the MTF of a regenerated signal is small because the amplitude in the VFO area is small.

Optical information recording and regenerating apparatus which regulates the amplitude of a regenerated signal


A noise-testing method for a thin-film magnetic head with an MR read head element and a heating unit capable of applying a heat and a stress to the MR read head element, includes a step of applying alternately and discontinuously with each other an electrical power having a first level and an electrical power having a second level higher than the first level to the heating unit, and a step of evaluating the thin-film magnetic head by measuring a noise output or noise outputs obtained from the MR read head element when the electrical power or the electrical powers are applied to the heating unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a noise-testing method for a thin-film magnetic head with a magnetoresistive effect (MR) read head element to check whether the head produces noises, to a computer program product for testing a thin-film magnetic head with an MR read head element, and to a magnetic disk drive apparatus with a noise-test function.
2. Description of the Related Art
As hard disk drive apparatuses (HDD) increase in capacity and reduce in size, highly sensitive and high-resolution thin-film magnetic heads are being demanded. In order to satisfy the demand, giant magnetoresistive effect (GMR) thin-film magnetic heads with GMR read head elements each having a multi-layered structure with a magnetization-fixed layer and a magnetization-free layer become widely used. On the other hand, tunnel magnetoresistive effect (TMR) thin-film magnetic heads with TMR read head elements having higher sensitivity and higher resolution are put to practical use.
In thin-film magnetic heads with MR read head elements, defective products that generate Barkhausen noise in their outputs may be included. The Barkhausen noise is generated primarily because a magnetic domain wall is caught in defects in the magnetic film constituting the MR read head element as the magnetic domain wall moves, and is affected substantially by stress applied to the MR read head element. In practice, when an external or internal stress that exceeds a certain amount is applied, inverse magnetostriction disperses the magnetization in the MR read head element to destabilize the structure of the magnetic domains, making it more likely to cause Barkhausen noise. Such a stress can be caused by a distortion of the structure of the element itself as well as increase of deformation by the thermal expansion associated with an increase in the temperature of the element.
The influence of temperature and stress has become more remarkable than ever before especially in the aforementioned thin-film magnetic heads with MR read head elements each having the multi-layered structure.
Furthermore, in order to stably control the flying height of a thin-film magnetic head, which is set to an ultra-small value in a recent magnetic disk drive apparatus, a technique has come into adoption in which a heating element is provided within a thin-film magnetic head and the end of the head element is caused to be protruded in the direction of the magnetic disk by the heat generated by the heating element to adjust the flying height. U.S. Pat. No. 5,991,113, for example, discloses such technique. With this technique, thermal asperities and crashes are avoided to maintain good read and write characteristics. However, heat generated by such a heating element further heats the MR read head element and portions around the MR read head element, and can further increase the influence of the temperature and stress.
Approaches to preventing the Barkhausen noise in MR read head elements have been proposed. For example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 2002-133621A proposes a method for determining whether an MR read head element is acceptable or defective by measuring noise generated in response to various values of sense currents flowing through the MR element.
However, it has been very difficult to identify heads having the noise problem beforehand with the related art described above. Namely, even if a head was tested by using a sense current to cause an MR read head element itself to generate heat to induce thermal stress and was determined as non-defective heads, the head has sometimes caused Barkhausen noise under actual high-temperature conditions.
Furthermore, increasing the sense current value in order to test a head can cause an irreversible change in the MR effect element and make the testing a destructive test. This causes a serious problem especially in the case of a TMR effect element including a tunnel barrier layer, which is an ultra-thin insulation film.
In order to solve these problems, the assignee of this application has proposed, in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/835,049, filed on Aug. 7, 2007, a test method of a thin-film magnetic head having an MR read head element and a heating section capable of applying heat and stress to this MR read head element. According to this preceding test method proposed, characteristics of the MR read head element when the head is heated by applying an electrical power with a constant or gradually increasing value to the heating section is measured.
This test method can detect normal high-temperature noises that certainly occur when the environment temperature becomes high and disappear when the environment temperature returns. However, with respect to special kind of high-temperature noises that suddenly occur when the environment temperature becomes high and will not occur when a period under high temperature environment is short, it is impossible to detect such special high-temperature noises without application of power for a long time. This causes to take a long time for determination whether a thin-film magnetic head is good product or not and therefore it is difficult to perform such test during a fabrication process of the thin-film magnetic head.

Method for testing noise of thin-film magnetic head, and magnetic disk drive apparatus with noise testing function


A home safety unit having an emergency light system for providing light in the event of a power failure or the detection of a fire condition, and a fire detection system for providing an alarm indicating the existence of a fire. The safety unit is designed to have an aesthetically pleasing appearance and to be installed inconspicuously between the base of an existing light fixture and a wall or ceiling. Installation of the safety unit is a simple process, whether installing it when constructing a new building or by retro-fitting it into an existing building.. A modified light switch having parallel impedance across the light switch terminals is installed to provide continuous power to the safety unit when the switch is in its off position. Also included is a low voltage dropout system for disconnecting the auxiliary lights when the battery voltage falls below a certain level and for providing an audible alarm indicating this low voltage condition.

This application is related to emergency lighting systems and fire detector systems, and more specifically to a combination emergency lighting and fire detector unit which can be easily retro-fitted into an existing building.
Fire detector systems are becoming increasingly popular today as the general public becomes aware of the need for such devices. Because of the high demand and large volume of production, the prices of these devices have fallen to well within the range of many households and are in increased demand.
One desirable feature of a fire detector system is to have a battery so that the detector will operate even if the utility power is interrupted. To eliminate the need for frequent battery changes, it is desirable to have rechargeable batteries that are constantly being charged. However, such a system usually requires an external power line connecting the system to the nearest outlet.
Another desirable feature of a fire detector system is to have it designed so that it blends in with the decor of one's home and will not be located out of sight and away from the prime locations for smoke accumulation in the event of a fire.

Emergency lighting and fire detector system


A method for consulting a voice message received and a method for providing a compounded voice message. The compounded voice message is composed of at least one first and one second voice component and is associated with a group of items of information relating to the voice components. The method for consultation includes reading at least one voice component of the voice message, detecting at least one user interaction concomitant upon the reading of the at least one voice component, sending at least one signal relating to the interaction detected, and receiving a command of an action to be performed relating to a voice component read from the voice message and to at least one item of information of the group of items of information associated with the voice message. Also provided is a device implementing the method for consulting a compounded voice message.

1. Art
A voice messaging service allows a caller to leave a voice message destined for a called party on a messaging server. The called party can thereafter consult either vocally, or visually, the voice messages which have been sent to him.
A voice message may be composed of one or more voice components which have been sent by one or more distinct senders. For example, document EP1117242 A2 proposes a method allowing a called party to send a caller a voice response to a voice message left by the caller. The called party can insert voice components at various locations of the initially received voice message. A server records these voice components and performs an audio editing of a new voice message containing the initially received voice message and the inserted voice components.
2. Drawback of the Prior Art
In the prior art, the compounded voice message composed of several voice components takes the form of a single audio sequence. A recipient user of such a compounded voice message cannot interact in an independent manner with a sender of one of the voice components of the voice message.
Neither does the user have access to information relating to each voice component of the voice message received or to each sender of the voice message.
Thus for a user using a terminal having limited capabilities, for example a terminal with no display means, access to this information is still more complex.

Method and device for consulting a voice message


An improved heat exchanger utilizing a primary heated fluid to vaporize a secondary fluid flowing axially therethrough including a preheater assembly located within a cold leg side of the heat exchanger to allow axial flow of the secondary fluid through a preheater assembly to heat the secondary fluid to it boiling point temperature. The heat exchanger generally comprises a vertical shell portion with a tubesheet disposed adjacent a lower end thereof and a tube bundle which includes a plurality of U-shaped tubes through which the primary fluid flows. The preheater assembly is located in the vicinity of the tubesheet wherein the secondary fluid enters the preheater through a fluid inlet nozzle into a lower feedwater inlet box which is disposed around the inlet nozzle for dispersing the secondary fluid from the nozzle over a greater area. Specifically, the feedwater inlet box may include a double-perforated plate assembly whose flow resistance produces a low velocity uniform introduction of feedwater into the tube bundle. This water flows upward providing axial-counter flow and enhances heat transfer. This cold water is introduced near the coldest end of the tubes where it is most effective, while the design prevents thermal shock of the tubesheet with a layer of warm recirculating water providing a cushion between the tubesheet and the cold feedwater.

Steam generators utilizing a heated primary fluid to produce steam from a secondary fluid have been used in nuclear power plants for a number of years. In such a steam generator the pressure of the steam is a function of the log mean temperature difference (LMTD) of the two fluids. The LMTD equation for a countercurrent flow heat exchanger is: ##EQU1## where T.sub.1 ' and T.sub.1 " are the temperatures of the entering first and second fluids, respectively and T.sub.2 ' and T.sub.2 " are the temperatures of the exiting first and second fluids, respectively, from the heat exchanger. If the flow pattern in the exchanger is not completely countercurrent or cocurrent, as in a U-tube heat exchanger, it is necessary to apply a correction factor. This equation does not include such a correction factor and is merely provided as an example. By increasing the LMTD the pressure of the steam can be increased. However, the temperature of the primary fluid is a limiting factor in a nuclear power plant because it is normally set at a maximum allowable value. Therefore, preheater or economizer chambers incorporated within the steam generator housing are important in providing an increased LMTD without requiring an increased primary fluid temperature. U.S. Pat. No. 3,804,069 issued to Bennett and assigned to Westinghouse Electric Corp., the assignee of the present invention, provides an example of a steam generator which includes a preheater located within the generator housing to raise the temperature of the secondary fluid to the boiling temperature thereof. The efficiency of the steam generator is improved by the operation of the preheater in rapidly raising the temperature of the secondary fluid to nearly that of the primary fluid.
Prior art preheaters presently used in steam generators generally use a laterally directed cross-flow system of heat transfer to maximize heat transfer in a limited amount of space. FIG. 1, set forth in more detail hereinafter, illustrates a steam generator wherein feedwater enters the generator through a nozzle and is directed back and forth across the cold leg side of a lower tube bundle section. However, due to the relatively high velocity of incoming secondary fluid which flows perpendicular to the tubes within each cross-flow path, current preheaters have potential to cause these tubes to vibrate. The resulting vibration of the heat exchanger tubes in the cold leg side of the generator causes them to strike against the support plates that laterally secure them, which might cause the walls of these tubes to wear. Such tube wall wear can in turn cause some leakage of the primary fluid that flows through the heat exchanger tubes to mix with the non-radioactive water secondary fluid that is ultimately used to create non-radioactive steam, thereby contaminating it. Consequently, the tube vibration that can potentially be produced by the lateral, back and forth flow pattern associated with prior art crossflow preheaters is undesirable.
Other drawbacks associated with such prior art preheaters result from the channeling of cold secondary feedwater near the base of the steam generator in the vicinity of the tubesheet and lower part of the tube bundle. The channeling of such cold feedwater onto the tubesheet results in unwanted thermal stresses to the lower shell and the tubesheet. Additionally, if the colder feedwater contacts saturated steam in the tube bundle, it can quench the steam, causing instantaneous steam collapse or water hammer. Water hammer conditions not only introduce unwanted mechanical shocks to the generator, but also produce undesirable water level fluctuations in the generator. Finally, the space required by some prior art preheaters within the shell of the steam generator displaces some of the U-shaped heat exchanger tubes that could otherwise be present, which lowers the overall efficiency of the generator.
To alleviate these latter drawbacks, systems have been designed to reduce the thermal stresses experienced by the tubesheet by splitting the flow of the incoming colder secondary water so only a limited amount of water is allowed to come in contact with the tubesheet as set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 3,896,770 issued to Byerley et al. Unfortunately, such preheater arrangements still may produce tube vibration. A second method is to provide a buffer zone adjacent to the tubesheet to protect the tubesheet from thermal shock, as set forth in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,942,481 and 3,916,843 issued to Bennett. However, the baffle plates of the steam generator restrict service access to the cold leg areas of the tube bundle and introduce new sites where tube degradation may take place.
Clearly, a heat exchanger assembly is needed which can be incorporated into the steam generator in nuclear power plant facilities that reduces the potential for tube vibration present in cross-flow preheater systems while also providing a means of protecting the tubesheet and tube bundle from thermal shock stresses caused by contact with cold secondary fluid that maximizes the space available for exchanger tubes in the tube bundle.

Steam generator with axial flow preheater


Semiconductor devices and methods are provided to fabricate field effect transistor (FET) devices having local wiring between the stacked devices. For example, a semiconductor device includes a first FET device on a semiconductor substrate, the FET device comprising a first source/drain layer, and a first gate structure comprising a gate dielectric layer and a metal gate layer. The semiconductor device further includes a second FET device comprising a second source/drain layer, and a second gate structure comprising a gate dielectric layer and a metal gate layer; wherein the first and second FET devices are in a stacked configuration. The semiconductor device further includes one or more conductive vias in communication with either the first gate structure of the first FET device or the second gate structure of the second FET device.

This disclosure relates generally to semiconductor fabrication techniques and, in particular, to structures and methods for fabricating stacked field-effect transistor (FET) devices.
In a typical complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) layout, ninety percent of the time a first transistor is connected to at least a second transistor. For example, a drain of an n-type transistor is connected to the drain of a p-type transistor to form an inverter. Other arrangements, such as connections between the drain of a first transistor connected to the source of a second transistor, a drain of a first transistor connected to the drain of a second transistor, or a source of a first transistor connected to the source of a second transistor are also considered, where the first and second transistors may be any combination of n-type or p-type transistors. Hence, stacking transistors one on top of another is attractive in order to reduce the area required to accommodate the multiple transistors. However, with normal planar transistors, stacking is difficult and may involve bonding.

International Business Machines Corporation


A hot-air chimney for a computer in an enclosure, for the purpose of removing hot air generated by ICs within the enclosure, is fabricated in the shape and form of an expansion card for the computer. The chimney has a base panel in the shape of the expansion card, and an enclosed passage formed on the base panel. The chimney also has an end flange fashioned to simulate an end panel of the expansion card, and the enclosed passage is open to an opening in the end flange. In computers wherein expansion cards are installed parallel to and overlying a motherboard, the hot-air chimney is installed in place of an expansion card adjacent to the motherboard. An opening positioned in the base panel into the enclosed passage, and positioned to overlie a heat-producing IC on the motherboard, conducts heated air from the IC into the enclosed package and then outside the enclosure via the opening in the end flange. The chimney is particularly effective for computers with fan-mounted ICs, such as a CPU with a cooling fan. In some embodiments an EMI-grounding grid is provided over the opening in the end flange of the hot-air chimney.

In current art, integrated circuits (ICs) are building blocks for most electronic circuitry. IC technology has grown from single transistor devices to an art wherein single ICs may have more than a million circuits. Similarly, operating frequencies of microcircuits have increased to 100 megahertz and more. This growth in IC density and speed has benefitted users through development of increasingly smaller, faster, more capable, and more portable electronic equipment.
Increased capability in integrated circuits, however, comes with an inherent disadvantage in that the denser and faster ICs operate hotter than less powerful ICs. ICs, like most other electrical devices, consume electrical power and dissipate much of the power as heat. Higher circuit densities and higher operating speeds cause an IC to consume greater amounts of power and dissipate greater amounts of heat. This phenomenon is particularly true for state-of-the-art microprocessor CPUs, which may dissipate 30 to 50 watts. Recent experience in using such microprocessor CPUs as the Intel Pentium.TM., for example, has emphasized the need for heat removal.
A particular problem with hot ICs is that electrical properties of silicon devices change appreciably with temperature. For proper operation and reasonable service life, waste heat must be removed to keep ICs and surrounding structure and devices within safe operating temperatures.
Mounting and assembly constraints under which ICs are typically utilized serve to exacerbate the problem of heat removal. A premier use of microprocessor ICs, for example, is as central processing units (CPUs) for personal computers. These microprocessor IC's are typically mounted to a motherboard and are surrounded, in the same enclosure, by a variety of components, such as a power supply, disk drives, disk controllers, basic input/output system (BIOS), random access memory (RAM), video display adapter, small computer system interfaces (SCSI), and other heat-generating components commonly found in personal computers.
In recognition of the problem of heat generated by ICs, high-powered microprocessor CPUs often are provided on a motherboard with a fan apparatus that draws in surrounding air, passes the air at relatively high velocity over surfaces of the CPU package, and expels heated air into the immediate surroundings, that is, the unused volume within the enclosure of the personal computer. Fans for this purpose are available commercially, and may be added by a user to microprocessor CPUs and other ICs. Such fan apparatus has proven successful in its immediate purpose, which is to cause the directly-effected IC to run cooler.
The solution of fan-cooling an IC such as a microprocessor CPU creates a new problem. Expelling heated air from a microprocessor IC into the immediate surroundings within an enclosure of a personal computer raises the ambient temperature in the computer enclosure, which risks effective operation and life of many surrounding components in the computer enclosure.
In tests performed on conventional computers in conjunction with the present invention, ambient temperature in a personal computer enclosure, having a high-powered microprocessor IC with a fan, was measured at about 20 degrees C. with the computer not operating. After a few minutes with the microprocessor CPU and its fan operating normally, the air temperature within the personal computer enclosure rose to over 44 degrees C.
What is clearly needed is a method and apparatus that keeps a microprocessor IC operating within a specified safe temperature range without raising the temperature of the volume of air within a personal computer enclosure.

Method and apparatus for waste heat removal from a computer enclosure


A data communication method and a data communication method are provided. The method includes: detecting, by an electronic cigarette, a behavior characteristic of a user; generating, by the electronic cigarette, a first triggering signal for indicating a current behavior of the user, if the behavior characteristic of the user meets a reporting condition; transmitting, by the electronic cigarette, the first triggering signal to a user terminal bound to the electronic cigarette; collecting, by the user terminal, use information of the electronic cigarette according to the first triggering signal; determining, by the user terminal, preset time and a preset event according to the collected use information; and issuing, by the user terminal, a prompt about the preset event at the preset time.

An electronic cigarette is an innovative electronic product, which has an appearance and smell similar to that of a conventional cigarette, but is healthier and more environmentally protective than the conventional cigarette.
With the increasing number of users of the electronic cigarette, more demands are made on the function of the electronic cigarette. An intelligent electronic cigarette including a wireless communication module and a control module is disclosed in the Chinese application No. 201310684449.X. Smoking parameters may be encoded by the control module into a smoking parameter file in compliance with a wireless communication protocol. The smoking parameter file may be decoded into a smoking parameter signal and transmitted to an intelligent terminal by the control module by using the wireless communication module, thereby enabling a real-time or timing interaction between the control module and the intelligent terminal.
In the above technology, although the electronic cigarette is enabled to transmit smoking data to the intelligent terminal, it is limited to a user viewing his/her smoking condition through the intelligent terminal, and the dynamic interaction between the intelligent terminal and the user cannot be achieved. A corresponding service can not be provided to the user according to the habit of the user, and the demand of the user for the electronic cigarette can not be met, thus the user experience is poor.

HUIZHOU KIMREE TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD. SHENZHEN BRANCH


In a belt retractor (10) having a belt tensioner (16) and a force-limiting device, the belt tensioner (16) includes a pivoted pinion gear (24) associated with a belt reel (14), a drive unit (18) and an oblong force-transmitting element (22) movable by the drive unit (18) supported at least partly in a tubular portion (21) and adapted to be engaged in the pinion gear (24) so as to rotate the pinion gear (24) in a tensioning direction (A). The force-transmitting element (22) includes a bending portion (30) which is provided at the rear end of the force-transmitting element (22) viewed in the tensioning direction and which is designed to be pressure-resistant in the longitudinal direction (L) of the force-transmitting element (22) but to be flexible in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction (L).

The invention relates to a belt retractor comprising a belt tensioner and a force-limiting device, wherein the belt tensioner includes a pivoted pinion gear associated with a belt reel, a drive unit and an oblong force-transmitting element movable by the drive unit which is at least partly supported in a tubular portion and can be engaged in the pinion gear so as to rotate the pinion gear in a tensioning direction.
Belt retractors usually include a belt tensioner adapted to counteract a belt slack of the seat belt and a film-spool effect of the seat belt wound on the belt reel. Such belt tensioner comprises, e.g., a pivoted pinion gear coupled to the belt reel, a drive unit and a force-transmitting element moved by the drive unit which is at least partly supported in a tubular portion, the tubular portion usually being curved for lack of space. Upon activation of the belt tensioner the force-transmitting element is displaced in the tubular portion and partly driven out of the same by the, for example, pyrotechnic drive unit. The force-transmitting element then engages in the pinion gear and with a further movement causes a rotation of the pinion gear and thus of the belt reel coupled to the pinion gear in a tensioning direction. The force-transmitting element is designed so that the force-transmitting element is in mesh with the pinion gear in the position taken by the pinion gear after rotation by the force-transmitting element.
Upon completion of the tensioning operation a force-limiting device ensures that the restraining force of the seat belt acting on the vehicle occupant after tensioning does not excessively increase during the vehicle deceleration. For this purpose, upon completion of the tensioning operation a defined webbing extension is allowed by the force limiter permitting a limited rotation of the belt reel in the direction of webbing extension, i.e. against the tensioning direction. By rotation of the belt reel also the pinion gear coupled to the belt reel is rotated against the tensioning direction, however, whereby the force-transmitting element which continues engaging in the pinion gear is pushed back into the tubular portion. Since said tubular portion is curved, however, the force-transmitting element has to be additionally bent during insertion so as to adapt the force-transmitting element to the course of the tubular portion again. To this end, an additional deformation has to take place which results in an increase in the compressive force required for inserting the force-transmitting element. However, this affects the responsive behavior of the force-limiting device, as in the case of force limitation this compressive force has to be overcome in addition to the resistance of the force limiter.


A process for the conversion of a halogenated organic feedstock to produce a stream of hydrocarbonaceous compounds having an exceedingly low concentration of halogenated organic compounds and an aqueous stream containing hydrogen halide.

The field of art to which this invention penaim is the production of hydrocarbonaceous compounds from halogenated organic compounds.
There is a steadily increasing demand for technology which is capable of treating halogenated organic compounds to produce hydrocarbonaceous compounds and a resulting hydrogen halide stream.
With the increased environmental emphasis for the treatment and recycle of organic waste streams containing halogenated compounds, there is an increased need for improved processes to convert organic waste streams to produce hydrocarbon compounds and hydrogen halide. For example, during the disposal or recycle of potentially environmentally harmful organic waste streams, an important step in the total solution to the problem is to produce an organic stream or hydrocarbon which facilitates the ultimate resolution to produce product streams which may subsequently be handled in an environmentally acceptable manner. One environmentally attractive method of treating halogenated organic waste streams is by hydrogenation. Often in an industrial complex used to produce or process petrochemicals, there are by-product or waste streams which must be treated, converted, recycled or otherwise managed. Therefore, those skilled in the art have sought to find feasible and economical techniques to convert organic waste streams containing halide compounds to hydrogenated organic compounds or hydrocarbons and to recover the simultaneously produced hydrogen halide. When hydrocarbon compounds are produced, a necessary concern is to be able to ensure that essentially no halogenated organic compounds are present in the hydrocarbon product stream.

Process for the treatment of halogenated organic feedstocks


An improved lighting control architecture provides many different kinds of controlling options. A single channel per line communication is described. This can be used to form single channel DMX to communicate with DMX format luminaires, while still using only one communication per line. The controlling console has only a single connector that outputs information for all luminaires. This is connected to a distribution rack, which itself includes plural connectors but spaced from the console. The multiple connectors can represent communications in many different formats including format of one lamp per line, or time division multiplexed formats of many lamps per line.

Modern stage lighting systems include extremely sophisticated control structures. The lighting is controlled by a sophisticated console. Many different lighting effects and operations can be controlled by that console. The console usually controls a number of lighting units. Each lighting unit communicates with the console over a channel, typically via a wire connection.
Many different companies make electronically-controlled lighting equipment ("luminaires") that are controllable from such a console. Each of these different luminaires has some differences in its operation and control.
One trend in the art has been to run a common wire to a group of lighting units. This common wire has information that communicates with all of the units, using some form of multiplexed communication. For example, one commonly-used form of communication is the USITT DMX 512 communication protocol. This protocol allows a number of lamps to communicate over a single line. DMX time division multiplexes the information to form a stream of information that has different parameter commands at different times. Each parameter command is meant for controlling a different lamp. The lamp responds only to time slots representing information for that particular lamp. That information is located in its assigned time slot.
An alternative but somewhat related multiplexing technique assigns an address to each lamp. The "series 200" format from VARI-LITE, INC..TM. uses this technique.
A description of an addressed format can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,980,806, the description of which is incorporated by reference. Each lamp in an addressed system responds only to information which is addressed to the lamp.
These systems have required complex and non-standard electronics. Moreover, the cable connecting the console to the lamps needs to have a large bandwidth and hence needs to be properly selected to maintain that large bandwidth.
Another issue of concern is the patent position. At least one entity has purported to have patented one or many techniques which are similar to the DMX-512 standard.
For all of the above reasons, an alternative to the DMX-512 standard is desirable.
One previous solution proposed by LIGHT & SOUND DESIGN.TM., the assignee of the present application, was to take a step backwards in the art by attaching a single wire from the controlling console to control each lamp separately. This required, however, an incredible amount of wiring in the console and hence many connectors on the console. Moreover, this would have required increasing the physical size of the console in order to accommodate the huge number of connectors.
The wiring problem can be further complicated since different manufacturer's lights have different advantages and uses. A lighting designer often specifies many different manufacturer's lamps within the show. This has required some way of controlling those multiple lamps, especially when those lamps communicate in different communications formats.
Control of the many proprietary formats has necessitated even more connections and connectors. This has the further possible drawback of requiring customized devices which may add to the cost.
In view of the above recognitions, the present disclosure forms an alternative system which avoids many of the above-discussed drawbacks of DMX and other similar systems, but which allows a relatively simple system. This system also allows provision for a remotely situated connector carrier. That connector carrier is easily reconfigured to accommodate many different formats of signals.
This is carried out according to the present system by using a console communication over a standard format line to an interface unit. That interface unit includes outputs for multiple connection formats. Multi-parameter lamps are controlled by using a separate dedicated channel for each lamp. However, this system as described herein also includes provision for allowing use of other data formats and other off the shelf equipment.
Yet another aspect of the present invention concerns the cost to develop and implement such structure. Design of totally new structures, of course, could prove extremely expensive.
Accordingly, another aspect of the invention is to use a available hardware structure, which can be programmed and reconfigured in multiple ways to allow inexpensive yet high flexible and reliable systems.