A cargo box side rail for a pickup truck cargo box is disclosed in which the side rail is formed with integral clamp portions to attach the side rail to the cargo box by clamping to the upper end of the cargo box. By clamping the side rail to the cargo box the use of the cargo box stake pockets is avoided. By integrally forming the side rail with a clamp portion, the number of required components for attaching the side rails is reduced simplifying the construction of the side rail.

The present invention relates to side rail for attachment to the upper end of a pickup truck cargo box side wall and in particular to a side rail that is integrally formed with a clamp portion for attaching the side rail and which does not utilize the cargo box stake pockets.
Side rails have commonly been attached to the side walls of pickup truck cargo boxes for decorative purposes as well as provide protection to the upper surface of the side walls. Typically, the side rails are attached to the cargo box through the stake pockets in cargo box side walls. However, the sidewall stake pockets are being used in only a small percentage of pickup trucks. As a result, there is an expectation that vehicle manufacturers may eliminate stake pockets from the cargo box.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a means for mounting side rails to a cargo box without utilizing the stake pocket.
It is a further feature to incorporate a clamp structure into the side rail itself rather than utilizing a separate clamp piece that cooperate with the side rail and the cargo box side wall.
It is a further feature of the present invention to provide a clamp attachment for the side rails that does not mar the cargo box by either drilling holes in the box or scratching the painted surface.
It is an advantage of the side rail of this invention that varying lengths of side rail can be used, independent of the stake pocket location. This enables the side rails to be used with a tool box mounted at the front of the cargo box. The side rails no longer have to extend along side the toolbox where they block access to the tool box.
In one embodiment of the present invention, a two-piece clamp mechanism is employed with the upper piece being integrally formed with the side rail itself. In a second embodiment, a single-piece clamp structure is used which is also integrally formed with the side rail. By clamping the side rail to the upper end of the cargo box side wall, there is no requirement for use of the stake pockets. Thus, side rails can be attached to a vehicle that does not include stake pockets in the cargo box. In addition, side rails of varying lengths can be used and attached any where along the cargo box side wall without regard to the location of stake pockets.
Further objects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from a consideration of the following description and the appended claims when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.


A microscope objective lens includes a first lens group, a second lens group, and a third lens group. The first lens group includes a positive lens component having a lens surface positioned nearest to the object side and having a negative refractive power. The second lens group includes a diffractive optical element that joins two diffractive element components respectively made from different optical materials and which has a diffractive optical surface on which diffractive grating grooves are formed on the bonded surface of the two diffractive element components. The third lens group includes at least one achromatic lens component having a negative refractive power, and a lens surface of the third lens group nearest to the image side is arranged so that a concave surface of the lens surface faces the image side.

Conventional microscope objective lenses require large numbers of cemented lenses for favorably correcting various aberrations, in particular, chromatic aberration, and also require the use of anomalous dispersion glass materials for correcting secondary spectra. Accordingly, conventional microscope objective lenses are inevitably expensive. In recent years, high-magnification, large numerical aperture lens systems are being proposed which use a diffractive optical element (DOE) capable of correcting various aberrations, in particular, chromatic aberration including secondary spectra without having to use large numbers of cemented lenses and anomalous dispersion glass materials (for example, refer to Patent Document 1).    Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. H06-331898

Microscope objective lens including a first lens group with a positive refractive power, a second lens group, and a third lens group having a negative refractive power


Processes for coating substrates, in particular substrates including shielded surfaces, with iron oxide-containing coatings are disclosed. Such processes comprise contacting a substrate with an iron oxide precursor, preferably maintaining the precursor coated substrate at conditions to equilibrate the coating, and then oxidizing the precursor to form a substrate containing iron oxide. Also disclosed are substrates coated with iron oxide-containing coatings for use in various magnetic applications.

The present invention relates to a process for coating a substrate. More particularly, the invention relates to coating a substrate with a iron oxide-containing material, preferably a magnetic iron oxide-containing material.
An application where substrates with coatings, e.g., magnetic conductive coatings, find particular usefulness is memory cores, linear, power and recording head application, magnets and heating.
In many of the above-noted applications it would be advantageous to have a magnetic iron oxide which is substantially uniform, has high permeability, and has good chemical properties, e.g., morphology, stability, etc.
A number of techniques may be employed to provide conductive iron oxide coatings on substrates. Most ferrites are prepared as ceramic materials by standard ceramic processing. In this process the constituent raw materials, oxides, hydroxides, or carbonates, are weighed and first milled in a steel mill using steel balls as the milling media and water as the carrier. During milling, the raw materials are mixed to yield a homogeneous mixture. Other mixing methods may also be employed such as dry mixing of raw materials. The milling gives uniform mixing and results in some size reduction leading to better reactivity in the calcining step. In the calcining (sometimes called presintering) reaction, the raw materials are heated to 800.degree. to 1300.degree. C. and form the ferrite compound. The carbonates decompose and react by solid-state diffusion to form the final compound.
In the case of the nickel-zinc-spinel ferrites, the powder is calcined at a temperature of ca 1027.degree. C. to yield an agglomerated, friable powder that is essentially 100% converted to the spinel phase. However, in the case of the manganese-zinc-ferrites, the calcining conditions are such that the material is 50-85% converted to spinel. Time and temperature are the most important control parameters in the calcining step.
The purpose of this millings is to further homogenize the material and to reduce the particle size to permit subsequent pressing and sintering. The milling itself can be carried out in a variety of ways, for example, wet-ball mill with steel balls in a manner analogous to the first milling. The main objective is to get a finely divided powder that can be slurried and spray dried.
Following the second milling, the material must be granulated so that it will be free flowing and can be dry pressed into the desired shape. A method for producing ferrite powder is to add a binder such as poly(ethylene glycol) or poly(vinyl alcohol) at 1-4 wt % and sufficient water for form a slurry that is about 65-70 wt % ferrite. The slurry is spray dried to yield a dry powder consisting of small spherical particles having a narrow size distribution.
Very thin parts, such as used in memory cores, amy be formed by tape casting followed by punching the desired shape. Parts that have a high length-to-diameter ratio may be formed by either extrusion or by isostatic pressing.
In the sintering process, the ceramic material is densified and the final magnetic properties are developed. Some materials such as the iron-deficient nickel-zinc=ferrites and the M-type hexagonal ferrites may be fired in air because all the cations exist at their highest valence state. However, with the manganese-zinc ferrites the amount of ferrous iron (Fe.sup.2+) in the crystal lattice is controlled. Typical temperatures for the sintering zone are in the range of 1275-1450.degree. C.; sintering time may range from 20 minutes to 12 hours.
The next zone in the kiln is called the anneal or equilibration zone, where the temperature is dropped to 1000.degree.-1300.degree. C. and the oxygen content of the atmosphere is lowered by the introduction of nitrogen gas. At this elevated temperature the ferrite equilibrates quickly with the atmosphere, and the desired ferrous iron level is established. Following the annealing step, the parts are cooled as rapidly as possible and the oxygen content of the atmosphere is reduced still further.
In an attempt to improve chemical homogeneity, a wet-chemical process was designed in which an aqueous solution was prepared containing the metal cations. Addition of a strong base (eg, NaOH) precipitated an intermediate hydroxide which was subsequently oxidized by bubbling air through the suspension. The results was a homogeneous fine-particle ferrite. A similar type of process used an ammonium bicarbonate-ammonium hydroxide mixture as the precipitating agent followed by conventional calcining.
The preparation of ferrite compounds by the cryochemical method has also been investigated. In this technique, an aqueous solutio is sprayed into a chilled liquid (eg, hexane) where the droplets freeze into beads ca) 0.4 mm diameter. These pellets are removed from the liquid and placed in a freeze dryer where the moisture is removed by sublimation. The resultant pellets are converted to the spinel by calcining.
The preparation of the hexagonal ferrites by wet-chemical precipitation, topotactic reaction, and fluidized-bed reaction has been investigated. However, the most common method is standard ceramic processing.
Critical areas of process control in the conventional type processing are the composition and the presintering conditions. The calcining step is especially critical because it determines to a large extent the properties of the magnet after sintering. At a typical calcining temperature of 1300.degree. C. the material reacts completely to form the hexagonal phase. If calcining takes place at a lower temperature, the magnetic properties are not affected adversely but the calcined material is too soft and the subsequent milling step which gives a very fine particle size. This leads to difficulty in pressing and a very high shrinkage during sintering. If, on the other hand, the sintering temperature is too high, the particles are too hard and the particle size after milling is rather coarse. Although this does not cause a pressing problem, after sintering the particles are too large and the shrinkage and coercive force are both too low.
After calcining the material must be milled to reduce the particle size to the range of 1 um in order to obtain single-domain properties.
Fabrication of the milled powder into parts can take place by a number of methods depending on the degree of magnetic alignment desired. For the lowest-grade material, the milled powder is spray dried and then dry pressed into the required shape. In these materials, the individual particles are randomly aligned with respect to each other, resulting in a isotropic magnet in which the magnetic properties are the same in all directions.
Anisotropic magnets are prepared by dry or wet pressing the material in the presence of an external magnetic field which causes the individual magnetic particles to align themselves with that field. The dry-pressing technique is quite similar to that used for preparing isotropic magnets, except that pressing takes place in the presence of a magnetic field.
Wet pressing, gives the highest degree of alignment with the field because the individual particles are much freer to rotate under its influence. When alignment is essentially complete, the water is removed by applying a vacuum to the die cavity, and a very fine filter paper prevents the powder from being pulled out with the water.
Sintering of dry-pressed parts can take place immediately after forming. However, wet-pressed parts must be carefully dried to remove most of the residual moisture before being placed in the kiln. Drying under controlled conditions may take from 10 to 200 hours, depending on size and shape.
The pressed parts are sintered in the air at 1125.degree.-1375.degree. C. to yield a dense ceramic material. In order to minimize the grain growth that occurs during sintering, the firing temperature is kept as low as possible.
Conventional processing has been used for the preparation of powder for follow on consolidation into final shapes. Such processing has not been directed at or concerned with thin and/or thick films and a wide variety of inorganic substrates, the Novel components and articles produced or the unique properties of such coated components in a wide variety of applications.
One of the preferred substrates for use in certain magnetic mechanical devices are inorganic substrate, in particular flakes, spheres, fibers and other type particles.

Process for coating a substrate with iron oxide and uses for coated substrates


Memory blocks having memory cells which are comprised of vertical transistors and memory elements in which the resistance value is varied depending on the temperature imposed on the upper side thereof, are laminated to realize a highly-integrated non-volatile memory.

Aiming for a high-speed highly-integrated non-volatile memory, phase-change memories are under development, as described in "2002 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference, Digest of Technical Papers, pp. 202-203". In the phase-change memory, data is stored by taking advantage of the characteristic that a phase-change material called chalcogenide material has different resistances depending on its condition. Rewriting of a phase-change resistor is performed by changing the conditions by applying electric current so as to generate heat. Increasing resistance (transition to amorphous state) which is called RESET operation is carried out by maintaining a comparatively high temperature, and reducing resistance (crystallization) which is called SET operation is carried out by maintaining a comparatively low temperature for enough period of time. Reading out operation of the phase-change material is carried out by applying electric current in the degree that does not change the state of the phase-change resistor.
The characteristics of phase-change resistor are described in "2002 IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting, Technical Digest, pp. 923-926" and the Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-100084. In addition, a memory cell comprises a phase-change resistor and an NMOS transistor is described in "2003 Non-Volatile Semiconductor Memory Workshop, Digest of Technical Papers, pp. 91-92".
In these documents, not only a high speed ROM (Read-Only Memory) but also the possibility of non-volatile RAM (Random Access Memory) is described, and realization of an integrated type memory which has both functions of ROM and RAM is mentioned. In a phase-change memory having small electrode area of a phase-change resistor, resistance value can be changed with a little electricity, therefore scaling of a cell is easy. In addition, a high-speed reading operation can be realized since the resistance value difference in amorphous state and crystalline state is large. Because of the above described reasons, realization of a high-speed non-volatile memory employing a phase-change memory has been expected.
In the Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-229537, a memory cell structure employing a phase-change resistor and a vertical transistor is described. A memory cell having small area compare with conventional DRAM is realized by employing the memory cell structure.


A system for utilizing a SIM device for connecting and subscribing to a local network of local mobile server systems on an ad hoc basis is provided. The system includes a SIM device that has computer readable medium storing instructions that cause the SIM device to store credential data including an authentication key from the local mobile server systems on an ad hoc basis after the SIM device has left the manufacturer. A local network of a local mobile server systems allows a SIM device to connect and subscribe to the local network of local mobile service systems on an ad hoc basis. At the local network of local mobile service systems a subscription request is received and credential data from the local network to the SIM device is transmitted on an ad hoc basis after the SIM device has left the manufacturer.

The subject matter discussed in the background section should not be assumed to be prior art merely as a result of its mention in the background section. Similarly, a problem and the understanding of the causes of a problem mentioned in the background section or associated with the subject matter of the background section should not be assumed to have been previously recognized in the prior art. The subject matter in the background section may merely represent different approaches, which in and of themselves may also be inventions.
Devices accessing cellular and data networks typically are limited to using the services of a primary network provider with limited coverage areas. When a user leaves the coverage areas, the user is often compelled to pay enhanced charges for roaming. The subscriber identity module ("SIM") typically limits a user from accessing networks with local coverage if the networks are not part of the core of the primary network provider. The primary network provider has specific access to the SIM, because the SIM has a secret authentication code, which may be any of Kis, Ks, or any other code typically kept secret between the manufacturer of the SIM or the wireless device and the networks to which the SIM and/or wireless device connect. When referring to Ks in the specification, it is merely as an example of any secret authentication code. In this specification, Ki and K may be substituted one for another to obtain different embodiments. Ki is a 2G authentication key, and K is a 3G authentication key. The Ks are provided when the SIM device is manufactured and are protected by software such that the only entities with access to the Ks are the SIM manufacturer, the primary network provider and the internal software of the SIM. The limited access to the K is used to ensure that a wireless device using the SIM is limited to certain coverage areas to get local service and must pay roaming when the wireless device is outside the primary coverage area of a mobile network operator.
The limited coverage can make travelling very expensive, as a business traveler will often be outside of the traveler's primary network coverage area and will be forced to pay roaming charges. Roaming charges may be unnecessary if a local network is willing to provide coverage on an ad hoc basis.
Some have tried to expand the capacity of the SIM by allowing a second set of credentials to the SIM, hence allowing a device to access both the primary and secondary networks without paying roaming charges when in the primary or secondary coverage areas. Providing a second set of credentials is limiting in that the credentials are also installed before the SIM leaves the manufacturer, giving the user no choice as to the secondary network provider. Having only the primary and secondary set of credentials is also limiting in that the traveler may be in a place where neither the first nor the second networks have primary coverage. It also limits the number of subscription options a particular traveler may have in a location. For instance, the subscriber may want to have an unlimited data plan in a certain area, or will only require coverage in a particular area for a week. People have also attempted to use roaming hubs to establish connections with local services, but this does not provide a dynamic enough option to avoid roaming charges. Roaming hubs do not offer the user ad hoc connectivity based on any location and limits subscription options.

Systems and methods for reusing a subscriber identity module for multiple networks


A screen bowl type centrifugal separator which can not only eliminate the problem of the productivity being lowered resulting from the occurrence of clogging with the crystals in the screen part, but also minimize the amount of leakage of the object to be treated in the screen part. Inside of the hub (41) of the screw conveyor (40), a cleaning liquid receiving part (43) which receives the cleaning liquid for the cleaning nozzle (45) is provided, and further, in the cleaning liquid receiving part (43), a residual layer crystal cleaning liquid receiving part (46) which receives the cleaning liquid for cleaning the residual layer object to be treated in the screen part (30) is provided, being partitioned independently of the inside of the cleaning liquid receiving part (43). The cleaning liquid which has been supplied to the inside of the residual layer crystal cleaning liquid receiving part (46) is jet spouted directly toward the residual layer object to be treated from the outer circumferential edge of the flight (42) through the residual layer crystal cleaning liquid path provided along the direction of the helix of the flight (42), with no relation to said cleaning liquid receiving part (43).

With conventional screen bowl type centrifugal separators, when a feed stock consisting of crystalline solid matters and a solvent is supplied to the inside of the bowl, the feed stock is separated into the crystals, which are the object to be treated, and the solvent by the centrifugal force, the crystals being settled onto the inner circumferential surface of the bowl, conveyed by the screw conveyor which is provided with a minute difference in speed between it and the bowl, and subjected to deliquidization at the tapered part provided on one side of the bowl.
The deliquidized crystals generally have impurities produced in the process of manufacture thereof, and the solvent itself deposited on their surfaces, and in order to clean these surplus deposits, a screen part has conventionally been provided on the inner circumferential side of the bowl following the tapered part, with cleaning nozzles which jet spout the cleaning liquid toward the pertinent portion being provided in the hub of the screw conveyor for carrying out cleaning by jet spouting the cleaning liquid all over the crystals which are being conveyed in the screen part. For example, refer to the patent literature 1 (Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 2000-325833).
However, with the screen bowl type centrifugal separator as mentioned above, the crystals will not be conveyed by the conveyor in the clearance in the radial direction that is formed between the outer circumferential edge of the flight of the screw conveyor and the inner circumferential surface of the screen part, the residual layer of crystals being pressed against the outer circumferential edge of the flight to be firmly tightened without being moved in a long period of time of operation.
The crystals forming such a residual layer present a problem that they impede not only the penetration of the cleaning liquid, but also the movement of themselves for replacement with new residual layer crystals. Such a condition is generally called screen clogging. To eliminate the condition of clogged screen, it has been required to temporarily stop the supply of the feed stock, and instead, supply the cleaning liquid for a certain period of time. Thus, while the supply of the feed stock is stopped, the production is interrupted, which has been a factor of lowering the productivity.
Further, there has been a problem that, when the cleaning liquid is applied to all over the whole of the crystals which are conveyed by the flight, a part of the crystals is caused to leak in the screen part by the amount which is in proportion to that of the cleaning liquid passing through the layer of the crystals, and the amount which is in proportion to the mesh size of the screen.
Being developed in view of the problems of the prior art as mentioned above, the present invention is intended to provide a screen bowl type centrifugal separator which can not only eliminate the problem of reduction in productivity resulting from the occurrence of clogging due to the object to be treated, such as crystals, in particular, in the screen part, which is the critical portion of the screen bowl type centrifugal separator, but also minimize the amount of leakage of the object to be treated in the screen part.


A system which uses interactive graphics displayed on a viewing means to control and indicate the operating parameters of an instrument. The interactive graphics which are displayed at any point in time depend on the present state of the instrument. Only those controls and indicators which are relevant to the present state will be displayed, which simplifies the display and reduces operator confusion. When the state of the instrument changes, controls and indicators will be redisplayed so as to be relevant to the new state. A control means allows the operator to interact with controls so as to change the state of the instrument. The controls and indicators can be displayed on the viewing means in a way that simulates their physical appearance. A plurality of instruments may be present in the system; if so, the operator can choose which to control, while a subset of parameters of the other instruments can be viewed simultaneously. The preferred method uses a computer program to display the graphics and control the instruments.

In present computer-controlled instrument systems, manual measurements are performed by manual adjustment of controls located on each instrument, and resulting data appears in indicators on each instrument. As those skilled in the art are aware, the number of controls, especially on an instrument such as an oscilloscope, is large enough to cause confusion (see FIG. 13).

Method for using interactive computer graphics to control electronic instruments


A gas-leak-detection device for detecting a gas leakage from an evaporative emission system includes an electric-wire-connection portion and a passage connection portion that are disposed to overlap with at least one of appearance components in a vehicle when the vehicle is seen in a viewing direction, and are disposed closer to the at least one appearance component than a center plane perpendicular to the viewing direction when the vehicle is in an upright state, the center plane being one of an imaginary-lateral-center plane that is an imaginary vertical plane perpendicular to the left-right direction, an imaginary-longitudinal-center plane that is an imaginary vertical plane including a center in the front-rear direction and being perpendicular to the front-rear direction, or an imaginary-vertical-center plane that is an imaginary horizontal plane including a center in the top-bottom direction and being perpendicular to the top-bottom direction.

A straddled vehicle using an engine as a power source, such as a motorcycle, includes an evaporative emission system for collecting evaporation fuel in order to suppress emission, to the air, evaporation fuel obtained by vaporization of fuel in a fuel tank. The evaporative emission system includes a canister connected to the fuel tank and an intake passage of the engine through a purge pipe. The evaporative emission system causes the evaporation fuel that has flowed from the fuel tank into the canister through the purge pipe to be adsorbed onto activated carbon in the canister. The evaporative emission system discharges the evaporation fuel onto which the activated carbon is adsorbed to the intake passage of the engine together with outside air introduced from an outside-air-introduction passage. The evaporation fuel discharged from the evaporative emission system into the intake passage of the engine is burnt by the engine.
A volume of the canister necessary for collecting the evaporation fuel using activated carbon is determined based on the amount of generation of evaporation fuel calculated from, for example, the volume of the fuel tank and the area of a liquid level of fuel. Thus, the volume of the canister increases as the volume of the fuel tank and the area of the liquid level of fuel, for example, increase. On the other hand, in a straddled vehicle such as a motorcycle, a large number of components such as an engine and an auxiliary machine for the engine are mounted within a limited space. The canister is mounted in the limited space of the straddled vehicle together with other components while maintaining a volume sufficient for collecting evaporation fuel.
Patent Document 1, for example, discloses a straddled vehicle in which a canister is disposed between a body frame and an engine and located above a fuel pump. The canister is fixed to the body frame through a support member shared by the fuel pump. In the straddled vehicle of Patent Document 1, the canister and the fuel pump are vertically disposed near the engine so that components for the fuel system can be arranged in a compact space.


Apparatus and methods are provided for calculating soft information in a multi-level modulation scheme using one or more nearest neighbors. The nearest neighbors correspond to signal points in a signal constellation set nearest to the value of a received signal. For the nearest neighbors of a received symbol of information, a detector can determine whether the nearest neighbors have a same bit value at a bit position of the symbol. When the bit values are the same at that bit position, soft information in the form a log-likelihood ratio can be computed based on the nearest neighbors and a predetermined scaling factor. The predetermined scaling factor can be optimized for system performance.

This invention relates generally to signal detection, and more particularly to calculating soft information for a signal obtained from a multi-level modulation system.
With the continuing demand for higher-speed digital communications systems and higher-density digital storage systems, various techniques have been applied to increase the capacity of these systems. However, even with high-capacity communications and storage media, their respective bandwidths and densities are still limited. Therefore, multi-level signaling can be applied to fully utilize the available bandwidth or density of these systems. For example, rather than binary signaling, e.g., 2-PAM, some communications system can increase the amount of information transmitted by using four signal levels, e.g., 4-PAM.
However, determining the information contained within a received signal of a multi-level system may be a complex problem. In particular, at each time interval, a received signal may correspond to a plurality of different digital information sequences, or "symbols." Typically, to determine the actual symbol corresponding to a time interval of the received signal, soft information can be computed for each bit of the symbol. The soft information can correspond to the likelihood that a particular bit in the symbol is "0" or "1." Soft information for the bits of a symbol are typically computed based on each possible value of the symbol. Because there can be many possible symbol values to consider in multi-level modulation schemes, computing soft information at each time interval can require a large amount of high-complexity computational circuitry. Furthermore, because these likelihoods may need to be computed frequently, the computational circuitry may also have high power consumption. Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide low complexity and low power techniques for calculating soft information in systems with multi-level modulation.

Approximate soft-information computation in multi-level modulation signaling schemes


A method of producing a semiconductor package enabling a sheet-like adhesive film to be used as it is and thereby reducing loss and enabling mounting without the piece of adhesive film sticking out from the semiconductor chip, comprising forming cutting-off notches in an adhesive film provided on a support film from the adhesive film side down to the surface of the support film or a depth D in the middle and cutting the adhesive film to pieces of predetermined size, then stretching the support film to separate the cut individual piece of the adhesive film, attaching semiconductor chip to the cut individual piece of the adhesive film, and mounting the semiconductor chip on a substrate by the piece of adhesive film, and an apparatus for producing a semiconductor package and adhesive film for use with that method.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of producing a semiconductor package, an apparatus for producing a semiconductor package, and an adhesive film, more particularly relates to a method of producing a semiconductor package called "system-in-package (SiP)" and an apparatus for producing a semiconductor package and an adhesive film used for the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Demand for reducing the size, thickness, and weight of digital video cameras, digital mobile phones, notebook computers, and other portable electronic devices has been growing increasingly stronger. To meet with this, VSLIs and other semiconductor packages have been reduced 70% in size in the past three years. On the other hand, how to raise the mounting density of components on mounting boards (printed circuit boards) has been the subject of much R&D for electronic circuit devices comprising such semiconductor packages mounted on printed circuit boards.
For example, semiconductor packages have been shifting from the DIP (dual in-line package) and other surface mounted types to flip-chip mounted types providing the pad electrodes of semiconductor chips with bumps made of solder, gold, etc. and connecting the chips to the circuit boards through the bumps in a state where the surfaces provided with bumps face the boards (face down).
Further, types forming multilayer interconnects also known as reinterconnect layers on the semiconductor chips and the complicated types known as "system-in-packages (SiP)" packaged by burying coils or other passive devices or other semiconductor chips between insulating layers insulating the reinterconnect layers formed on the semiconductor chips are being developed.
As the method of producing a semiconductor package burying other semiconductor chip between the insulating layers insulating the reinterconnect layers formed on semiconductor chip, the method of die bonding other semiconductor chip (hereinafter sometimes simply referred to as "semiconductor chip") on semiconductor chip serving as a substrate (hereinafter sometimes simply referred to as "substrate") and forming insulating layers comprised of resin layers containing the reinterconnect layers covering the same is widely known.
In this method of producing a semiconductor package, as the method of die bonding the semiconductor chip on the substrate, the method of grinding down the wafer from the back side when the semiconductor chip is supplied in the wafer state before dicing, laminating a die-attach film (adhesive film) in the wafer state, dicing the wafer to obtain the individual semiconductor chips, and mounting the obtained semiconductor chip to the substrate face up or face down is widely used.
On the other hand, when the semiconductor chips are supplied in a state already separated into individual units, usually they are supplied on 4 inch diameter chip trays and are mounted face up or face down on the substrates of the SiPs by die bonding. Here, there are restrictions derived from the multiple layers in the wafer state and the resin forming the SiPs etc., so the semiconductor chips of the SiP have to be reduced in thickness to about 50 μm. The individually separated semiconductor chips are reduced in thickness by the following procedure. That is, a package use monitor wafer is attached to the center of a protective tape for use in grinding down the semiconductor chips, the individually separated semiconductor chips are arranged around it, and the chips are ground down while monitoring the thickness of the monitor wafer.
The ground down thin semiconductor chip is then reattached to transfer sheet etc. for mounting on the substrate and supplied to a die bonder. Here, for example when using an insulating paste in a die bonder for bonding face up, a scrubbing operation becomes necessary to make the paste a uniform thickness. However, thin semiconductor chip lacks strength and is liable to break, so cannot be scrubbed. Therefore, thin semiconductor chip cannot be bonded by paste. Accordingly, thin semiconductor chip is bonded using a uniform thickness die-attach film.
A die-attach film, as shown in the schematic view of FIG. 1, is usually supplied in the form of a roll R1. This has a width W1 far greater than the width of the semiconductor chip, so at the time of actual use, as shown in the schematic view of FIG. 2, it is cut corresponding to the width W2 of the semiconductor chip to obtain the roll R2. As shown in the schematic view of FIG. 3, the film is fed out and cut from the roll R2 by a cutter 100 into the size of the semiconductor chip. The semiconductor chip 102 is then bonded to the thus obtained predetermined sized piece of die-attach film 101 using a collet 103. The thus obtained semiconductor chip with the piece of die-attach film bonded to it is transported by a suction collet to the substrate and mounted on the substrate.
In the above method however, it is necessary to prepare a roll cut to the width of the chip. When handling several types of semiconductor chips of different sizes, the loss ends up becoming greater. Further, precise bonding to the semiconductor chip after cutting is difficult. The piece of die-attach film easily sticks out from the semiconductor chip. When actually sticking out, the part where the piece of die-attach film stick out lacks photosensitivity and via holes cannot be formed, so interconnect defects are liable to occur.
Summarizing the problems to be solved by the invention, when mounting an individually separated thin semiconductor chip on a substrate, the loss of the die-attach film (adhesive film) is great and the piece of die-attach film sticks out from the semiconductor chip to easily cause an interconnect defect.

Method of producing semiconductor package, apparatus for producing semiconductor package, and adhesive film


A sink assembly supported by a countertop surface or a freestanding cabinet to form a food preparation station is provided. The sink assembly includes a sink basin, a stanchion, a cutting board supported by the stanchion, and a coupling member fastening the cutting board and stanchion. The stanchion has first and second uprights extending between lower edges that are coextensive with the basin floor and terminating in a platform spanning therebetween. Mounts, such as slotted brackets, releasably secure the stanchion to the basin floor. The coupling member may be first and second pairs of cooperating fasteners associated with the cutting board and platform. The fasteners can be a cooperating tab and slot and a cooperating spring clip and peg. The basin floor may be sloped in multiple directions while the cutting board, when coupled to the stanchion, extends generally parallel to the horizontal plane of the support surface.

Most residential dwellings and commercial establishments have a room or place equipped for the preparation and cooking of food commonly referred to as a kitchen. Many kitchens provide a sink, cabinets, countertop space and various appliances, such as ovens, stoves, and dishwashers. A commonplace item also found in either a household or a commercial kitchen is a cutting board. Cutting boards typically provide a planar food preparation surface for chopping, slicing, and dicing food products and are useful for transferring the prepared food to a different area of the work place, serving platter, tray, pan, pot, or other cookware. Cutting boards vary in size, style, composition, and color and are typically placed on a countertop or kitchen appliance to protect the underlying surface and to reduce wear on the utensil used to prepare the food.
There are, however, various problems associated with traditional cutting boards that limit their effectiveness and convenience. For example, transferring the prepared food from the cutting board surface to a different area of the work place or to cookware may be hindered because the combined weight of the food and the cutting board is too heavy to lift. Also, transferring food from the cutting board surface may be difficult because the cutting board has become too wet with associated food juices such that lifting the cutting board would cause the juices to spill onto the floor creating both a mess as well as a hazard. As a result, transferring the prepared food from the cutting board to its destination may involve a time consuming movement of individual pieces.
Another problem associated with traditional cutting boards is the ability to thoroughly cleanse the area surrounding the cutting board after the food has been prepared. Oftentimes, while food is being prepared, waste materials, such as the fat trimmed off meats, will foul the surface of the cutting board. Typically, such waste materials are simply scraped off the cutting board and onto the countertop so as not to interfere with the food preparation. Accordingly, the countertop surface will be littered with discarded food materials requiring that it be cleansed. Thoroughly cleansing the countertop surface may involve the movement of countertop items, which can be time consuming, and may also involve the very difficult task of cleansing crevices in the countertop surface such as may exist between the juncture of the countertop with an appliance.
One solution to the above-mentioned problems is a cutting board designed to straddle a sink basin such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,765,603 ("the '603 Patent") to Huppert. The cutting board disclosed therein allows for the simultaneous use of the food preparation surface, sink basin, and water faucet. Since the cutting board straddles the sink basin, a serving tray or other cookware may be placed beneath the cutting board for the easy transfer of the prepared food. Also, a cutting board of this design allows the convenient disposal of waste material since it may simply be scraped into the sink for drainage to a garbage disposal. Further, sink accessories, such as a faucet and sink sprayer are readily available for cleansing both the sink basin and the cutting board.
A cutting board having a design such as that disclosed the '603 Patent may have various drawbacks. For example, if the cutting board is not properly secured over the sink basin, it may tend to slide shift during the food preparation. Also, the cutting board may obstruct the use of the faucet while suspended over the sink basin such that one may not be able to wash his or her hands until the cutting board is removed. To address these drawbacks, I disclosed a new and useful food preparation station in my co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 10/299,621, filed Nov. 18, 2002, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
In that application, I disclosed various food preparation stations that incorporate sink assemblies that generally include a sink basin with a stanchion and cutting board disposed in the interior of the sink basin. As disclosed, the stanchion, which supports the cutting board, extends upwardly from the sink basin floor and integrally formed as a one-piece construction with the sink basin floor. The cutting board, supported by the stanchion, provides a planar food preparation surface that could be permanently secured to the stanchion, or adapted to be removably secured to the stanchion. In addition, the sink basin sidewall, which surrounds the basin interior, has a front wall that may be provided with a gap or section of reduced height that facilitates access to the cutting board.
While the food preparation stations and sink assemblies disclosed in my copending application improves upon food preparation area and addresses various problems associated with traditional cutting boards, there still remains a need to provide a preparation area that may be thoroughly and efficiently cleaned and sanitized and that is more versatile to accommodate the various needs of its users while still making an efficient use of space. The present invention is directed to meeting these needs.


A security system for wireless devices such as mobile phones includes a wireless signal transmitter, and a signal strength detector and microprocessor associated with the wireless device being safeguarded. The microprocessor disables or locks the wireless device if the measurement by the detector of the strength of the signal transmitted by the wireless transmitter is less than a predetermined value, thereby indicating that there is more than a predetermined separation distance between the protected device and the transmitter, i.e., that, e.g., someone has taken the device. The disabled wireless device stays disabled until the measured signal strength is again greater than the predetermined value. Once this value is reached the device is automatically unlocked or enabled.

Wireless devices such as laptop computers, palm-sized computing devices, two-way pagers, cellular phones and personal digital assistant (PDA) devices have become increasingly popular. Some of these devices enable the user to communicate with others vocally and through electronic mail and instant messaging, as well as to collect, analyze and distribute important information as the user travels. An important trend involves making the devices as small and compact as possible. While these advantages have been warmly embraced by the public, one disadvantage of the compactness, usefulness, easy accessibility and ubiquity of these devices is that the devices have now become increasingly vulnerable to theft or other unauthorized use.
Many computers, especially portable computers have been secured from unauthorized use through different preventive techniques. One previous method of preventing unauthorized use is an automatic logging off system. This system automatically logs off the computer if the computer device has been inactive for a specified period of time much like a computer screensaver. If an authorized user has logged onto a secure computer, but not entered any input for a predetermined period of time, the concern is that the authorized user might have discontinued use and left the computer unattended without securing the computer. Under these circumstances, if an unauthorized user can get to the computer during this time while the computer is still logged on, the unauthorized person will have full access to the information and resources on the computer. The likelihood of this occurring can be diminished by having the computer automatically log off if the computer goes unused for a specified period of time. With this approach, in order to obtain access again, the authorized user must log back onto the system by entering his or her password.
While the automatic timed lock approach is useful because it protects information and resources, it may also be an inconvenience to authorized users. In this regard, the authorized user is inconvenienced, and productivity is impaired, when the user has to log back in to the computer each time he or she has to leave the computer for a short period of time. Logging back on can become an annoyance if the process needs to be repeated in a nearly continuous manner in situations where the user is frequently away from the computer. A longer period of time for automatic log off can be provided but this undermines the effectiveness of the whole auto log off approach
Another preventative measure taken to secure information on computers is the use of a magnetic swipe card to unlock a computer once the computer has timed out. The computer time out mechanism works the same as the method described above, i.e., log off is automatic if the computer is not used for a specified period of time but instead of entering a password to regain access, a card is swiped through a reader which is associated with the computer. For example, such a reader may be attached to the computer by a daisy chain. This swiping of the card unlocks the computer.
Although the use of such a swipe card allows the user to unlock the computer without having to enter a password, the repetitive action of having to swipe the card through the reader each time the computer locks as a result of the user stepping away from his desk can still become annoying. Further, with the new generation of compact, mobile computer devices, the card reader itself may also be larger than the device being protected, thus defeating the convenience of having a mobile device. Also, the card may be left at the desk unintentionally, as swipe cards often are, thereby defeating the security provided by use of such a card.
A further type of security system that is of particular interest here is wireless locking systems that use a wireless signaling device to cause locking of another wireless-enabled device. For example, such systems are used to remotely control door locks for automotive vehicles, and in a number of other applications.
Patent publications of interest here include U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0178907A1 which relates to an alarm system for preventing loss or theft of a portable and/or movable device such as a mobile telephone. The system determines the distance between the telephone and another movable and/or portable device using the Global Positioning System (GPS) and an alarm is generated when that distance exceeds a predetermined distance. At least one of the devices may be locked when the alarm is triggered. Other patent publications of background interest include Publication Nos. U.S. 2004/0215816A1 and U.S. 2003/0184431A1.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,635,857 discloses a mobile phone alarm system including a phone device attached to the mobile phone and body device adapted to be carried by a user. The phone device repeatedly transmits a verification signal of limited power to the body device. The signal is only identifiable within a predetermined limited distance and if the separation distance between the devices exceeds this predetermined distance, the body device receives no signal and alarms.

Automatic security locking method and system for wireless-enabled devices


A method of determining pallet layers for placement by a material handling system robot can include identifying cases for inclusion in a pallet and identifying case dimension information for the cases. Using the case dimension information, the cases can be classified into at least one group, wherein each group is defined by a height range such that cases classified within a group have a height within the height range associated with that group. Cases of one of the groups can be assigned to locations within a pallet layer, wherein the pallet layer has an area within a predefined area range.

1. Technical Field
This invention relates to material handling systems and, more particularly, to building pallets using robotic systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
Material handling systems are used in a wide variety of environments to receive, store, and load cases of goods for delivery to customers. Generally, material handling systems include a data processor which can examine received customer orders to determine how many cases of customer selected product are to be included on a pallet for delivery to the customer.
Typically, full layer gantries and palletizers are utilized to build pallets having full layers of cases. A full layer of cases refers to a layer having a "footprint" or perimeter which approximates the perimeter of the pallet base, and thus, is substantially square or rectangular in shape. For example, full layer gantries can pull entire layers of cases from a supply pallet having a single product and transfer the entire layer to a pallet being built for delivery to a customer. The palletizer can form full layers of identical cases or cases that are substantially similar in height, width, and length, despite the fact that the cases are not identical in terms of content.
Cases which cannot be readily grouped into full pallet layers, particularly those cases which are not substantially similar in height, width, and/or length, are loaded onto the pallet one by one either by hand or using robots. Presently available pallet configuration systems designed for use with robots, however, often are unable to design or configure stable pallets. Rather, conventional pallet configuration systems attempt to maximize the usable volume of a pallet. Such systems allocate a predetermined volume to each pallet based upon the length and width of the pallet base that will be used to construct the physical pallet as well as the allowable height of a pallet as determined from the loading bay of a transport vehicle, the pallet height that can be accommodated by the automated material handling system, and/or other safety and equipment concerns.
To maximize pallet volume; conventional pallet configuration systems which work cooperatively with robots tend to abandon the concept of adding layers of cases to a pallet in favor of a columnar approach. That is, such systems typically add cases to pallets by stacking additional cases directly atop of cases already placed on the pallet. This technique results in pallets made up of a series of columns rather than layers of interlocking cases. Pallets built with columns of cases, however, can be unstable and subject to collapse. In fact, pallet instability often increases with column height. This stands in contrast to more secure methods of arranging cases using interlocking layers which resemble the layers of bricks within a masonry wall.
While volume usage may or may not be maximized using a columnar approach, the disregard for pallet stability can lead to significant problems with respect to safety and material handling system efficiency. Specifically, a finished pallet still must be transported to a stretch wrapper or other means of securing the cases on the pallet before the pallet can be loaded onto a transport vehicle. While in transit within the material handling system between the robot and the securing station, an unstable pallet can topple over. Such mishaps lead to significant increases with respect to product delivery time and cost. In particular, for each pallet that topples over or loses cases, the pallet building equipment may have to be stopped, the toppled pallet and/or cases must be cleared from the equipment line and rebuilt, and the pallet building equipment must be restarted. More importantly, when an unstable pallet topples over, the safety of those nearby is jeopardized.

Determining pallet case configurations for placement by a robot


The present application relates to the technical field of lithium batteries. Disclosed is a lateral-weld soft connector having a pole column. The connector comprises a first connector, which a top end face configured to face upward; a pole column which extends upwards protrudes out of the top end face of the first connector; a second connected extending outwards and connected to a cell is provided at one side of the first connector; the second connector is bent downwards with respect to the first connector and is disposed at a side edge of the cell.

At present, with electronic products increasing miniaturization, lightweight and portability, such as cameras, notebooks and mobile phones etc., the driving power source of these electronic products is also developing toward high capacity, high security and lightweight. Lithium batteries are widely applied in the electronic products due to their excellent characteristics such as high capacity and the like.
The lithium battery includes a casing, a top cover, a battery core and the like, here the battery core is arranged inside the casing, an upper end of the casing is provided with an upper opening, and the top cover seals the opening at the upper end of the casing. The top cover is provided with a conductive block, and the conductive block is provided with a pole pillar passing through the top cover, and the conductive block is electrically connected to the battery core through a flexible connecting piece.
In the prior art, the conductive block provided with a pole pillar is required to be specially arranged, and then the conductive block is electrically connected to the battery core by using a flexible connecting piece, thus the overall structure is complicated and results in high cost.
Technical Problems
The lateral-weld-type flexible connecting piece with a pole pillar provided by the present application aims to solve the problems in the art that the structure of the lithium battery is complicated and the cost of the lithium battery is high.

Lateral-weld soft connector having pole column

CHANGZHOU RED FAIRY PRECISION TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


A mission system includes a peer vector machine having a host processor and pipeline accelerator and including bridge objects that provide communication via signal objects, message objects, and mission objects.

Certain huge systems are often called "missions," and the software that controls such systems is often referred to as a "mission framework." An example is a ship, which would be considered the main "big" system, and which includes a number of sub-systems like the fire-control subsystem, sonar subsystem, etc. The mission framework typically includes software objects that run the subsystems. In such mission frameworks there is a need for being able to modify subsystems as necessary without such modifications necessitating changes in subsystems within the mission framework that are not being modified.

Object oriented mission framework and system and method


Apparatus for a bike rack for securing at least one bicycle are described herein. The bike rack is attachable to a vehicle receiver hitch. The bike rack includes a hub assembly, hitch insert assembly, and support wing assembly. The tub assembly includes a pair of hubs each having an arm. The hitch insert assembly includes a first end and a second end. The first end is located within the hub assembly and the second end is engageable with the receiver hitch. The hubs are rotatably adjustable about the first end of the hitch insert assembly. The support wing assembly includes a first wing engageable with the arm of the first hub and a second wing engageable with the arm of the second hub. The bike rack also includes an integral locking member and a pair of independently moveable cradles on each wing. Each cradle includes a bike support member.

Bike carriers are typically utilized for storing or transporting bicycles or other cargo items. The bike carriers may be mounted to a vehicle. These vehicle mounted carriers may be positioned at any appropriate location on the vehicle, such as either on the roof of a vehicle or on the rear portion of a vehicle. Often such racks are mounted at the rear of the vehicle where the rack may cause minimum distraction and not obstruct a driver's view. Many vehicles, however, have tailgates that lower and back windows that raise, such as in station wagons, pick-up trucks and many sport utility vehicles, whereby mounting bike racks on the rear of the vehicle becomes inconvenient.
One large class of bike racks includes those racks that may be mounted on the roof of a vehicle. The roof carrier has the advantage of non-obstructed rear vision. However, it has not been widely accepted by the public because of its large size, unsightly appearance and high lift height for loading bicycles. In addition, while this solution may minimize space requirements, as most vehicles roofs are often not utilized for other purposes, loading and unloading the bicycles from a roof rack can be a difficult chore.
Moreover, bicycles that are transported on the vehicle roof may significantly add to the air drag of the vehicle and may therefore reduce gas mileage. In addition, roof mounted racks may be inconvenient since the bicycle rack connections may be located high up on the vehicle, whereby they are difficult to reach. At the very least, the rider is required to lift the bicycle above his head. Even reaching, let alone operating, attachment devices may be difficult at best, and the vehicle's paint job may be damaged.
Another large class of bike racks are those that may be mounted on the vehicle's rear bumper. While these racks are much easier to load and unload, the racks have serious weight restrictions due to the weight limitations of the bumper. The bumper is simply not designed to be a weight bearing fixture. Moreover, these racks tend to have a lack of stability, due in part to the desire to reduce the load on the bumper. The problems multiply if the user increases the number of bikes to be carried.
To engage the bumper, the bicycle carriers may require clamps or brackets that may engage with the upper and lower edges of the vehicle bumper in order to retain the carrier on the bumper. In addition, bumper mounted carriers, if not properly designed or installed, may scratch the bumper surface.
Other types of rear mounted carriers may require the use of straps or complicated assemblies for securing bicycles to the carriers that may be difficult to adjust. The use of the retaining ropes and straps has caused the reliability of the bicycle mountings to depend on some extent on the skill and care of the user.
Another class of bike racks are those that include a rack mounted on a trailer hitch receiver of the vehicle. A common configuration for such hitch receivers is a rectangular receptacle intended for a balled assembly to be inserted and fixed therein. It is upon this balled assembly that a trailer may be hitched. When such a balled assembly is not needed, it may be removed in many designs. When removed, the rectangular receiver is vacant and often covered with a removable cap.
Bicycle racks that may be detachably secured to a conventional trailer hitch mounted on a passenger vehicle may typically employ a rectangular base tube that is received in the trailer hitch square tube hitch receiver mounted on a passenger vehicle. Since the trailer hitch receiver is designed to support large weights, a much more substantial bike rack may be employed.
Traditionally, these bike racks may have static positions that may limit the locations where a bike can be supported by the rack. These limited locations may result in the bike being supported in less than an ideal location or manner. Additionally, it can be difficult to lock the bike(s) to the bike rack with a locking mechanism in order to inhibit theft of the bikes.
Moreover, typical bike racks may utilize two fixed wings or posts. These fixed posts may extend upwardly at an angle relative to one another from a hitch insert. Since the posts are fixed, the angles are also fixed and cannot be changed. Various clamping devices have also been used in the prior art to attempt to secure the crossbar of the bicycles to the bike rack. Such clamping devices have various drawbacks. Some may lack the necessary structural integrity to securely hold bicycles onto the carrier while being transported by the vehicle.


A content provider provides a content provider and service identification to a collection controller. The collection controller retrieves content provider and service specific service provision characteristics from a user subscription database and sets these service provision characteristics as a filter in a service provision control device to be used in the provision of a service from the content provider to the user equipment. Thus, the content provider, through the retrieved content server & service related characteristics from the user subscriber database, can influence the charging and transmission policies used by service provision control device for providing the service.

FIG. 1a and FIG. 1b show a typical scenario in the prior art for providing a service to a user station UE from an application function AF, for example from a content provider. Generally, the application function AF and the user station UE cooperate through some kind of network and they exchange a request and provision message S1, S2 when the user station UE (the user equipment) requests the provision of a service or some data from the application function AF.
As shown in FIG. 1b, of course the service provided by the application function AF, typically run by an operator of the application function, will not be provided to the user station UE, more particularly to the user of the user equipment, free of charge. Therefore, typically the application function AF cooperates with a charging system CS after it receives the request message S1. The charging system CS sends an enquiry message S4 to a subscription database UDB in order to check the provision details of the service with the subscriber data. In the simplest case one can imagine that the charging system checks with the user subscription database DB whether or not the user is actually registered for receiving the service provided by the application function AF. If a positive reply message S5 is received, then the charging system CS can monitor the provision of the service and can, on behalf of the operator of the application function AF, finally charge the user of the user equipment UE with a charging message S6 whilst the service is provided with the service provision message S2 by the application function AF.
FIG. 2 shows a more concrete implementation in the framework of the 3GPP standard including the option to take the end-user's subscription data into account when constructing filters for e.g. QoS (Quality of Service) and charging only.
In FIG. 2 the application function AF is coupled through an interface Rx with the so-called Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF) unit which itself is coupled through an interface Sp with the subscription profile repository SPR which contains the user subscription database UDB shown in FIG. 1b. Through another interface Gx the Policy and Charging Rule Function PCRF is coupled with a gateway GW containing a Policy and Charging Enforcement Function PCEF. The gateway GW itself is coupled to an offline charging system OFCS through an interface Gz and to an online charging system OCS through an interface Gy. One could say that the Policy and Charging Rules Function PCRF unit is a kind of collection controller for collecting end-user's subscription data and for allowing the Policy and Charging Enforcement Function PCEF unit to enforce the policies and the charging when the service is actually provided from the application function AF. In corporation with the online charging system OCS and the offline charging system OFCS the Policy and Charging Enforcement Function PCEF unit "enforces", i.e. applies the charging rules in correspondence with the subscription data retrieved from the subscription profile repository SPR. Thus, the PCED, OFCS and OCS taken together constitute a kind of charging control device.
As explained, since there is a interface Sp situated between the subscription profile repository SPR and the Policy and Charging Rules Function PCRF, the interface Sp allows the PCRF to request subscription information related to the IP-CAN transport level policies from the SPR based on a subscriber identity ID and possible IP-CAN session attributes such as IMSI, MSISDN, APN and RAT type. Furthermore, the interface Sp allows the SPR to notify the PCRF when the subscription information has been changed if the PCRF has requested such notifications.
As can be seen from FIG. 2, the 3GPP policy architecture for QoS and charging policy control allows that subscriber (user) specific subscription data influences the charging policy and the policy as to how the service is provided from the application function AF to the user equipment UE (not shown in FIG. 2). Thus, the SPR (Subscriber Policy Repository) stores subscriber related policies and data only. Examples of such data are subscription type and QoS. For example, if the agreement (see the agreement S7 in FIG. 1b) between the user and the operator of the application function AF is such that the user will be provided with a specified quality of service QoS for which he has to pay, then the PCEF enforcement unit will make sure that the service is provided with the paid for transmission quality (QoS) and that the user is charged in accordance with the charge rate applied for this user (as identified with the user identification such as IMSI, MSISDN, APN and RAT type).
In other words, the subscriber profile repository SPR, as the name indicates, is only used as a tool for subscription type and QoS data and there is no possibility that a third party, e.g. an operator of a content provider, exert any influence on the policy evaluation and the decision for new services. For example, a third party may want to offer a free service with a predetermined QoS to a selected set of users in a geographical area during a predetermined time. This may be done for service test purposes, i.e. to get an early indication whether the consumers like the service and to which price they are willing to pay for it. To put it differently, the gateway GW in the communication system, will provide the service from the application function AF to the user equipment UE (not shown in FIG. 2) in accordance with provision characteristics being charge related. However, since the provision characteristics are only user-related or user-specific there is no possibility that a third party, for example a content provider, influences the way of charging and transmission of the service—essentially because of the fact that the subscription profile repository SPR (as the name indicates) only contains subscriber-specific data.

Collection controller for influencing service to a user station


A system for automatically correcting a mistaken geocoded location input. A wireless device such as a cell phone ranks possible location input based on edit distance, which is a ‘confidence factor’. If there is no perfect match, then a list of geocode options is returned, preferably sorted by the score. The ‘closeness’ is derived by looking at the edit distance to go from the input to the matched address. Edit distance is defined herein as the number of insertion/deletion/replacement operations to go from input location to the possible matched location. In one embodiment, an option list, or ‘pick list’, may be provided based on an edit distance scoring system. The edit distance scoring system is preferably based on a number of keystrokes difference between the input location name and the possible matched location name.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to wireless and long distance carriers, Internet Service Providers (ISPs), and information content delivery services/providers and long distance carriers. More particularly, it relates to location based services, and most particularly to navigation using location based services.
2. Background of the Related Art
The demand for wireless communication services are ever increasing in response to a society that is becoming increasingly mobile. As a result, wireless devices, and in particular cell phones, have become ubiquitous with day-to-day life. A majority of people in the United States now own cell phones.
Location services are a more recent advanced feature made available for use with wireless devices, perhaps most notably to provide location of a cell phone. The general goal of location-based services is to automatically provide location-based information to a requesting application. The requesting application may be operating on the wireless device itself, or even on an external application running, e.g., on another device in the wireless or other network. Some exemplary applications that use location services include mapping applications that show interesting places in a vicinity of the wireless device's current global position, and navigation from a current location. Location based services are available for wireless devices such as personal digital assistants (PDAs) as well as for cell phones.
A geospatial entity object code (Geocode) is code that represents a geospatial coordinate measurement of an exact geographic location on (or above, or below) the earth. Many location-based applications on current wireless phones allow a user of the wireless phone to manually input a geocode location, and get in response a location based service, e.g., navigation to a desired destination.
A geocoded representation is derived from latitude, longitude, altitude, date, local time, global time, and other geospatial attributes, e.g., how the area is coded (number, letter, mixture of both, other); which part of the earth is covered (whole earth, land, water, a continent, a country); what kind of area or location is coded (country, county, airport, railstation, city); and/or whether an area or a point is coded.
In practice, a geocoded location may be entered by the name of the location. While entry of a location name is much more user-friendly than an all-natural numerical input relating to latitude, longitude, etc., it is subject to error when input by the user.
FIG. 3 shows a conventional system for assisting a user manually inputting a location name.
In particular, as shown in FIG. 3, a user manually inputs a first letter 301, then a second letter 302, then a third letter 303 of a location name. The conventional system provides possible matches to the first three sequential letters entered by the user, typically presented in alphabetical order.
The conventional system aims to shorten a user's need to enter all letters of a given location name. However, if the user doesn't know how to properly spell the location, particularly in the earliest letters in the location name, the conventional system will not be able to present the user with a small, focused list from which to choose a location. Moreover, if the user has misspelled any letter in the location name, conventional systems quite simply will in fact exclude, rather than include, the intended location name. Furthermore, even with the conventional system aimed at assisting a user to input a geocoded location correctly in the first place, the conventional system has no way of automatically correcting a mistaken geocode once it is entered by the user.
There is a need for an improved location input technique on a wireless phone.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A superluminescent surface light emitting device comprising a mirror layer (19) formed on a surface of a semiconductor substrate (22). Above the mirror (19) is a light emitting region (16). A second mirror (12) is located in a plane above the light emitting region (16). The combined reflectivities of the mirrors (19,12) are selected such that light is emitted in the superluminescent operating mode in a direction perpendicular to the surface of the device. An implanted region (14) may be used to improve superluminescent operation.

The present invention relates, in general, to manufacturing semiconductor devices, and more particularly to manufacturing of semiconductor devices which emit light.
This application is related to U.S. Pat. No. 5,034,092, entitled "Plasma Etching of Semiconductor Substrates", by M. Lebby et al., assigned to Motorola Inc., which is incorporated herein by reference. M. Lebby is co-inventor of the present invention which is also assigned to Motorola Inc.. The related patent teaches a fabrication method used in a structure which is superficially similar to that of the present invention. The earlier device, however, was fabricated as a vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) rather than a superluminescent surface light emitting device.
Superluminescent light-emitting devices combine high efficiency with a broad spectral bandwidth. These characteristics are important for achieving high performance in applications such as a light source for fiber-optic gyroscopes. Another application for such devices is in a display matrix in which light from several hundred devices is combined to form an image. Light emitting diodes have low efficiency, but light from lasers combines to produce an undesirable "speckle" effect in an image due to coherent wave interference. The broad spectral bandwidth of a superluminescent light-emitting device precludes coherent wave interference effects.
Production of light through the surface of a semiconductor device is highly desirable. Such devices have the potential to be incorporated within an integrated circuit chip having other functions. Also, large arrays of similar such devices may be fabricated on a single substrate to provide an economical, high efficiency, planar display. A surface emitting device may be assembled easily by direct mounting onto a substrate rather than requiring a difficult "flip" mounting. Testing of the device before separation of the wafer into individual chips is possible. This pre-separation testing avoids the need to mount and package defective devices which must then be scrapped. Since packaging costs are a major component of the total device cost both the ease of assembly and pre-separation testing represent significant manufacturing cost reductions. Studies of defect locations on a wafer often provides valuable information which may be used to optimize a wafer manufacturing process. This valuable manufacturing information cannot be obtained if the wafer must be separated into chips before testing. Finally, the finished device will exhibit improved reliability since the critical junction regions are sealed within the structure.
Superluminescent devices provide high efficiency and freedom from wave interference effects, surface light emitting devices facilitate economical manufacturing, testing and packaging. There is a need for a device which combines the advantages of surface light emission with the unique advantages of superluminescence.

Superluminescent surface light emitting device


A short radius exit from a window milled in casing is possible using a whipstock with a sloping surface in excess of 3.5° and a window mill whose diameter is reduced to a percentage generally below about 95% of the casing inside diameter in a mono-bore or non-through tubing application. The system provides a greater flexibility in choosing the window location and eliminates having to penetrate adjacent formations as compared to previous techniques using a longer exit radius. The decrease in mill diameter, as compared to previous techniques, limits stresses on the milling equipment to minimize equipment failures during window milling and subsequent drilling of the lateral.

Typically, whipstocks are used to create laterals from an existing bore to reach an as yet untapped formation. Whipstocks have traditionally been fairly lengthy and have incorporated a sloping surface to direct a milling assembly through a casing wall to form an opening in the casing wall known as a window. After the window is fully formed, the milling assembly is removed and the whipstock guides a drilling assembly through the window to drill the lateral. Casings have what is known in the industry as a drift diameter. The drift diameter is the largest dimension a tool can be and still fit through the inside diameter of the casing. Typically, milling assemblies that are frequently delivered with a whipstock have had external diameters at or near the drift diameter or approximately 97% of the casing inside diameter. The angle of inclination on the whipstock face has typically been less than 3.5°. This small angle creates limitations depending the location of available exit points for laterals and location and composition of adjacent formations. The slight angle on the whipstock requires an exit point from the casing and an exit trajectory of the drill bit that undesirably penetrates an adjacent formation that might produce water or sand or it could be highly unconsolidated and difficult to drill or complete.
The apparatus and method of the present invention allows for shorter radius exits from a window than had been accomplished in the past. It employs whipstock face inclinations of greater than about 3.5° and a window mill diameter of less than 95% of the casing inside diameter. This combination allows for short radius exits and avoids overstressing the milling equipment that forms the window. Those skilled in the art will better appreciate the features of the claimed invention from a review of the description of the preferred embodiment and the claims, which appear below.


A selective differential low-noise amplifier includes a pair of transistors, each transistor of the pair being connected by its source to a current source and by its gate and/or its source to a differential voltage source, a coupling circuit between the gate of each transistor and the source of the other transistor of the pair, and, for each transistor of the pair, at least one series resonance and parallel resonance resonator connected in series between the source and/or the gate of the transistor and the differential voltage source.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a differential low-noise amplifier that differs from prior art differential low-noise amplifiers in that it includes series resonance and parallel resonance resonators to render it frequency selective.
2. Description of the Prior Art
One prior art differential low-noise amplifier is described in published European patent application EP 1 548 932, for example.
For a differential low-noise amplifier of that kind to be used in a radio signal receiver circuit, it is generally necessary to place it between two filters, an anti-blocking filter being disposed between a receiver antenna and the amplifier itself and an image rejection filter being disposed at the output of the amplifier.
The anti-blocking filter is necessary to prevent the receiver circuit from becoming saturated in the presence of strong out of band interference signals known as blocking signals. The image rejection filter is necessary to reject signals in the image band in the case of a "heterodyne" receiver.
It is also necessary to verify the matching of impedances between the antenna, the filters and the amplifier. The input impedance of the amplifier must correspond to the output impedance of the anti-blocking filter. Similarly, the input impedance of the anti-blocking filter must correspond to the impedance of the antenna and the output impedance of the amplifier must correspond to the input impedance of the image rejection filter.
Thus a radio signal receiver circuit includes a plurality of elements (amplifier, filters) whose input and output impedances must be matched.
The invention aims to solve the problems linked to the complexity of existing receiver circuits by providing a selective differential low-noise amplifier that does not necessitate the addition of antiblocking or image rejection filters on the upstream or downstream side or of impedance matching circuits.

Selective differential low-noise amplifier

CSEM Centre Suisse d'Electronique et de Microtechnique SA Recherche et Developpement


An object of the present invention is to impart excellent gloss to an Urushi coating, improve drying properties, improve light fastness, and provide an environmentally responsible high-class lacquered article such as a ‘Byakudan’ (white sandalwood) coating or a ‘Tamamushi’ (iridescent) coating. This object has been accomplished by an Urushi lacquer comprising a naturally occurring raw Urushi or a refined Urushi, and metal colloid particles. As the metal colloid particles, precious metal colloid particles may preferably be used.

A natural Urushi liquid (Urushi) is a water-in-oil emulsion, and is formed from urushiol (a lipid component), a gum (a polysaccharide), a nitrogen-containing substance (a glycoprotein), laccase (an enzyme), and water. There have been many reports concerning the chemistry of Urushi liquid, including the reports of Non-patent Publications 1 to 4.
The water droplet particle size of the raw Urushi emulsion is about 10 micrometers (μm), but the average water droplet particle size of a refined Urushi whose moisture content has been reduced by a 'Nayashi' mixing and kneading process and a 'Kurome' heating process is about 1 μm. This is made into a coating and allowed to stand in an Urushi room at high humidity, the laccase enzyme contained in the water droplets oxidizes the urushiol, and the formation of urushiol quinone, the formation of dibenzofuran, the formation of a quinone-olefin addition polymer, etc. proceed. Due to a decrease in antioxidant power as a result of these reactions, an automatic oxidation reaction of unsaturated side-chain bonds proceeds, and a dried and cured Urushi coating is obtained (ref. reaction schemes in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2; the automatic side chain oxidation reaction proceeds in reality in an urushiol oligomer state or an urushiol polymer state).
It is well known that an Urushi coating exhibits a high-class image with a sense of being soft and comfortable, well-used, and of richness, and will last for a few thousand years, but since the dispersion particle size of the emulsion is relatively large, the gloss of the coating is reduced. Because of this, gloss is imparted to an Urushi coating by adding a polymerized perilla oil, a rosin-modified polymerized linseed oil, etc., wet-rubbing the surface of a dried coating, or carrying out Roiro-finishing by cylinder polishing.
(Non-patent Publication 1) Kisuke Nagase, Yukio Kamiya, Toru Kimura, Kengo Hozumi, and Tetsuo Miyakoshi, Nikka (Journal of the Chemical Society of Japan), No. 10, 587 (2001)
(Non-patent Publication 2) Kisuke Nagase, Yukio Kamiya, Kengo Hozumi, and Tetsuo Miyakoshi, Nikka (Journal of the Chemical Society of Japan), No. 3, 377 (2002).
(Non-patent Publication 3) Kisuke Nagase, 'Urushi no Hon' (Urushi Book) (Kenseisha), published September, Showa 61 (1986).
(Non-patent Publication 4) Edited and written by Tetsuo Miyakoshi, Kisuke Nagase, and Takashi Yoshida, 'Urushikagaku no Shinpo' (Progress in Urushi Chemistry), (IPC Ltd.), published May, Heisei 12 (2000).

Colloidal metal-containing Urushi lacquer and Urushi lacquered article