A storage system having one or more storage modules each comprising a substantially cylindrical housing having a curved sidewall portion extending between a top wall portion and a bottom wall portion, with the housing being disposed about a central axis. A carousel is mounted within the housing for controlled rotation about the central axis. The carousel has a plurality of storage locations disposed in vertical arrays about the axis to receive articles to be stored. A first door opening is formed in the sidewall portion to provide for access from the exterior of the housing to at least one of the vertical arrays adjacent to the first door opening. A means for controlling the temperature within the housing is also provided.

Medical, chemical and biological laboratories utilize large volumes of microplates and related labware in their drug development and analytical programs, whether for the analysis of chemical or biological samples. To be cost effective, for tracking accuracy, and for reasons of health and safety, most modern high throughput laboratory analysis systems are automated, with extensive use being made of conveyors, robots, and other microplate handling devices integrated into the system to provide for rapid mechanical movement of the microplates in seriatim through a sequence of workstations, such workstations including, without limitation, plate de-lidders, plate readers, plate flippers, plate shakers, thermocylers and protein crystallography workstations. At each workstation, a pre-determined operation is performed on the respective sample contained in each microplate. Increasingly, such automated systems are under the centralized control of a personal computer ("PC") or other CPU means programmed with commercially available control system software designed for this purpose. Each microplate is typically bar-coded or otherwise machine readably marked to allow for the individual identification and tracking of samples throughout the system. Some prior art control system software programs allows for customized processing of identified sub-sets of microplates of a larger run of microplates at one or more of the workstations. Moreover, some of these programs also allows for the accumulation, storage and analysis of statistical data pertaining to the processed samples.
Progressively, such prior art laboratory analysis systems have also become more modular in nature, thus allowing for the number, type and sequence of workstations to be re-organized and re-configured without the need for extensive re-design of the system hardware or software from scratch. This modularization has been facilitated by several factors, including, without limitation, the standardization of microplates and related labware to published industry standards, the increasing availability of standardized processing hardware (e.g. plate movers and workstations) having standardized electrical interfaces for easy connection to PC's, and the availability of increasingly versatile and user friendly control system software to run on such PC's.
More recently, in order to conserve valuable laboratory floor space, such high volume automated laboratory analysis systems have moved from strictly linear layouts, such as utilized in, for example, the CRS Model HSDM 40 MBS system available from Thermo Electron Corporation, of Burlington, Ontario, Canada, wherein a series of 40 thermocylers is laid out 20 on each side of a linear microplate transport axis defined by a conveyor belt based plate mover, to systems having a more dense three-dimensional layout, such as utilized, for example, in the CRS Model VAL 40 MBS system also available from Thermo Electron Corporation, of Burlington, Ontario, Canada, wherein 40 thermocylers are arranged in a semi-circular outline of 8 vertical banks, each bank having 5 thermocycler units stacked one above the other, with the 8 banks surrounding a robot having a SCARA arm which is able to grip a microplate and rapidly and accurately move it from a defined pick-up location to any one of the 40 thermocycler units and to subsequently retrieve the microplate from that thermocycler unit for return to its original location, or to another location within its reach, for subsequent processing by the automated analysis system.
Such advances in the prior art have not only reduced the space requirements for high throughput automated laboratory analysis systems, but have also significantly reduced the lost motion and long transport times associated with prior art systems laid out on a two-dimensional linear geometry. As such, the processing bottleneck in high throughput automated laboratory screening and analysis systems utilizing microplates has shifted from delivery and retrieval of the microplates to and from the workstations of the system to delivery of the microplates from storage into the automated system. This is so as known automated processing systems, such as those discussed above, typically have a storage facility of limited capacity connected directly to the system from which it can draw microplates for automated processing. An on-line storage facility of this type typically comprises a carousel having from six to eight removable "nests" (or "hotels") each accommodating the storage of from about 20 to about 30 microplates. These nests are typically releasably hung around the outer circumference of the carousel frame for automated feeding into the laboratory analysis system by robots or other plate moving means. An example of such a carousel, with fixed nests, can be seen in U.S. patent applications Ser. No. 10/735,866 (Hass) published under Publication No. US 2004/0175258 on Sep. 9, 2004. An example of such a carousel, with removable nests, is the CRS Microplate Carousel available from Thermo Electron Corporation, of Burlington, Ontario, Canada. Not only are such prior art carousel storage devices unduly heavy and complex, due in part to the separate mounting hardware typically used to provide for such releasable mounting of the nests, but they must additionally provide plate locators on the nests to positively locate the microplates relative to the nests for accurate robotic gripping. Additionally, and more importantly, such on-line storage facilities must be continually replenished from a larger, standalone storage facility that is off-line (e.g. a larger refrigerated housing or heated incubator) typically containing many hundreds, if not thousands of microplates. This task is, in the prior art, typically carried out manually by laboratory personnel who restock the empty nests of the on-line storage facility with microplates retrieved from the off-line storage facility. Such work is not only tedious and time consuming, but keeps laboratory personnel from doing higher level tasks. Moreover, failure to timely replenish the on-line storage facility from the off-line storage facility may result in costly shut-downs of the automated system due to lack of microplates for processing.
It should also be considered that microplates manually loaded into the on-line storage facility for subsequent processing by the automated system are more likely to be subject to sequencing errors (i.e., being mixed up in their order) than machine identified and loaded microplates. Such sequencing errors can result in the samples contained within the microplates being improperly processed at the workstations of the system, as the position of each respective microplate within the system is based on the assumption that laboratory personnel initially set-up the on-line storage facility according to the worklist provided. Thus, such sequencing errors of the microplates can have potentially dire consequences. Additionally, manual movement of the microplates from the off-line storage facility and loading thereof into the on-line storage facility is subject to mishap (e.g., dropping of the microplates), with resultant loss of the samples contained within the microplates.
The above problems with prior art microplate storage facilities are compounded where the storage must be environmentally controlled, i.e., maintained at a temperature that is not ambient to the processing system. For example, it is known to store microplates for subsequent automated processing at temperatures that vary between about 95° Celsius to about minus 80° Celsius with varying controlled levels of humidity and CO2. In such cases, prior art environmentally controlled storage devices are severely limited for several additional reasons. With respect to environmentally controlled on-line microplate storage facilities, a well-known line of such devices is the Cytomat 6000 Series of automated incubators, available from Thermo Electron Corporation of Burlington, Ontario, Canada, which devices have a conventional storage carousel centrally positioned inside of a bulky, cuboidal incubated housing enclosure. Such large and bulky cuboidal housing enclosures prevent the nesting of these types of devices in sufficiently close proximity to one another to allow for efficient multiple placement around a centralized external microplate mover or robot, particularly where a circular or semi-circular array of the subject devices is desired to minimize the floorprint of the system. Moreover, the housing enclosure of such prior art environmentally controlled microplate storage devices have a single robotic arm positioned within the incubated housing enclosure, which robotic arm is limited in its operation to accessing only microplates stored in the carousel nest positioned immediately adjacent to the arm for delivery of such microplates to an area located immediately outside of a small door positioned in a front wall of the housing enclosure. These structural arrangements significantly limit the available options for efficiently incorporating prior art types of environmentally controlled on-line laboratory storage facilities into high throughput automated microplate analysis systems. Further, the placement of the robotic arm and its related equipment inside of an environmentally controlled housing enclosure introduces an extra heat load thereon and causes the robotic arm to operate in conditions of heat, cold, or humidity that may not be optimal to its performance, reliability or longevity. Moreover, such an extra heat load may cause temperature variations in the microplates positioned in proximity to the robotics. Such local temperature variations can cause undesirable effects on the sample characteristics, thus producing an uncontrolled basis of experimentation.
With respect to larger scale environmentally controlled off-line storage facilities, such as walk-up or walk-in refrigerators or incubators, the capacity of these units has to be planned for well in advance of their date of first use, and may often require facility restructuring, particularly in relation to any upsizing subsequent to initial facility construction. Moreover, the capital costs associated with such off-line bulk microplate storage facilities are significant, further limiting their availability.
Thus, there remains a need in the prior art for an improved environmentally controllable storage system suitable for use with microplates. This need is acute in relation to environmentally controllable storage systems for microplates that: (i) are suitable for on-line integration with other automated laboratory analysis equipment; (ii) are scalable to the desired throughput requirements of a user on an ongoing basis over time; (iii) eliminate or substantially reduce the need for large, off-line storage facilities; and (iv) provides for automated testing and analysis purposes an interim, or remote, large scale, mobile, on-line storage capability which obviates the need for restocking of frequently used test samples contained in microplates.
It is thus an object of the present invention to obviate or mitigate at least one of the above mentioned disadvantages associated with prior art storage devices.

Environmentally controllable storage system


An indication of a touch on a touch-enabled screen of a device is received that indicates a selection of a date facet in a listing of items. The date facet denotes a temporal indicator, other facets denote non-temporal indicators. An indication of a pinch gesture is received. The date facet is scaled to produce a scaled-facet listing. The scaling includes modifying a degree of a characteristic of the date facet in an increasing amount including producing a scaled-out listing implemented as an updated portion of item data having a different temporal indicator than an initial display of the item data by an amount proportional to a magnitude of a pinch gesture characteristic of the pinch gesture. The scaled-facet listing is displayed by exposing an updated set of the item data having the modified degree of the characteristic and replacing previous item data with the scaled-out listing.

Users of the World Wide Web may typically perform a significant number of searches in pursuit of general information and online commerce. Such searches may be performed with search engines and network-based commerce systems. With the proliferation of websites for conveying a large volume of information to users, a challenge may exist for users to readily and concisely peruse the vast amount of information available in search results related to website navigation.
A user may desire to quickly assess the success of search results in matching their needs and expectations for information. To accomplish this assessment a user may desire to expand or contract an amount of information and related details being displayed as a result of an online search. A user's being able to readily display more or fewer details in item listings may allow a more efficient way of determining a match of particular search results with the information desired or whether a further search may be needed.
A convenient and easy to use interface with a client device may allow the user to quickly elaborate or reduce the amount of detail and refinement of display data, thus offering a quick way of perusing search results. A user may also desire to expand or contract the amount of data being displayed for a particular aspect of the results in an item listing. For example, a user may want to examine older or newer reviews of movies found in an online search for entertainment.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Control of search results with multipoint pinch gestures


A broadhead adapter may be used to convert a field tip arrow to an arrow having a broadhead arrowhead. A broadhead adapter is comprised of a collar and at least one broadhead arrow blade. The collar is adapted to receive the stud of a field tip through an opening. The collar is adapted to securely fit between an end of an arrow shaft and the shoulder of the field tip. Each broadhead arrow blade is attached to the collar to form an arrowhead configuration. The outer perimeter of the collar should have substantially the same dimensions as the outer perimeter of the end of the arrow shaft. An arrow having a broadhead arrowhead may be formed by securing a broadhead adapter between the shoulder of a threaded arrow field tip and the threaded opening of an arrow shaft.

Archers use different types of arrows for different purposes. Two commonly used types of arrows are field tip arrows and broadhead arrows. A field tip arrow has a conical pointed head. It is typically used for target practice. A common broadhead arrow has a plurality of tapered blades having cutting edges. The tapered blades converge at a tip and form an arrowhead configuration. A broadhead arrow is typically used for hunting. Modern arrow shafts have threaded inserts at one end. Typical field tips and broadhead arrowheads have projecting threaded studs adapted to thread into the threaded insert of an arrow shaft.
Because typical field tips and broadhead arrowheads have projecting threaded studs, arrowheads can be quickly removed and replaced. The original arrowhead is unscrewed from the arrow shaft. The replacement arrowhead is screwed into the arrow shaft. This permits a field tip arrow to be quickly converted to a broadhead arrow by facilitating the replacement of a field tip arrowhead on an arrow shaft with a broadhead arrowhead. Similarly, a broadhead arrow can be converted to a field tip arrow by replacing the broadhead arrowhead with a field tip arrowhead. Damaged arrowheads can also be repaired by unscrewing the damaged arrowhead from the arrow shaft and replacing it with another arrowhead.
It is desirable to reduce the weight and manufacturing cost of broadhead arrowheads. It is also desirable to provide an arrowhead which facilitates the conversion of a field tip arrow to a broadhead arrow while still maintaining the connection between the field tip arrowhead and the arrow shaft.
What is needed is a broadhead adapter which facilitates the conversion of a field tip arrow to a broadhead arrow wherein the adapter does not have a threaded stud. Instead, the broadhead adapter should have a collar through which the stud of a field tip would fit for securing the adapter to an arrow shaft. The adapter should be able to be manufactured at a lower cost than current broadhead arrowheads. It should weigh less than similarly shaped current broadhead arrowheads. It should provide for the quick and economical repair of damaged broadheads. It should enhance and not detract from the aerodynamic properties of the arrow. The broadhead adapter should be capable of forming a fully functional broadhead arrow when the adapter is attached to an arrow shaft by a field tip.


A remote control device includes an instruction transmitter and a controller which controls a speed of an unmanned helicopter based on an instruction from the instruction transmitter. The instruction transmitter selectively outputs one of a speed change signal that changes the speed of the unmanned helicopter and a speed determination signal that determines the speed of the unmanned helicopter. When an output from the instruction transmitter is changed from the speed change signal to the speed determination signal, the controller determines whether the speed of the unmanned helicopter should be maintained or brought to zero based on a result of comparison between speed information of the unmanned helicopter and a threshold value. Preferably, the speed change signal changes the speed of the unmanned helicopter by changing a tilt angle of a nose of the unmanned helicopter in an up-down direction in accordance with an amount of operation applied to the instruction transmitter.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to remote control devices, and more specifically to a remote control device which is used to control transportation equipment such as an unmanned helicopter.
2. Description of the Related Art
An example of a conventional technique of this kind is disclosed in JP-A 2009-96369.
JP-A 2009-96369 discloses an operation assisting device for an unmanned radio-controlled helicopter. The operation assisting device is interposed between a receiver and servo motors in a conventional unmanned radio-controlled helicopter, and includes a microcomputer, a PWM signal reading circuit, a PWM signal generation circuit, a PWM signal switching circuit, and various sensors. With the arrangement described above, hovering is performed when the operator's operation is in neutral, and when there is an operation by the operator, the servo motors are controlled accordingly or an amount of the operation is interpreted as a target value and the control is performed to follow the value.
However, if a desired flying speed is to be maintained at a constant level, the above-described operation assisting device is difficult for an operator to operate and requires a high level of skill. In particular, under external conditions such as strong winds, it becomes even more difficult to maintain a stable and constant flying speed of the helicopter.


Provided are a stamper fabricated by using an embossing master and a focusing grating coupler fabricated by using the stamper, which is applicable to a subminiature pickup head for a mobile optic disk, whereby it is possible to reduce a weight and a volume of the pickup head with a simple process and low cost and to apply for mass production.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of fabricating a microscopic focusing grating coupler that is applicable to a subminiature pickup head for a mobile optic disk and, more particularly, to a method of fabricating a focusing grating coupler using a stamper manufactured by an embossing master.
2. Discussion of Related Art
In general, an optical pickup head is applied in the field of an optic disk such as CD, DVD, and etc., and composed of an optic lens manufactured by a transparent material such as a glass and a plastic, and a number of components such as a collimator, a beam splitter, a quarter wave plate, tracking/focusing servo-actuator, a laser diode, photo diodes and etc. Thus, the pickup head of a prior art has disadvantages in view of an access time and a data transfer rate, as compared with a magnetic disk, since it has a large volume and a heavy weight.
As a mass data storage device for a portable information appliance, a subminiature optic disk driver has been studied, as information and communication technology has been developed. Therefore, it is required a new technology that can improve demerits of the conventional pickup head.
As a technology for reducing a size and a weight of the pickup head remarkably, a method for using a focusing grating coupler composed of an optic grating has been proposed, instead of using an objective lens. The focusing grating coupler is comprised of an ultra fine grating that is finer than a wavelength of light, and focuses a laser light to one point, whereby it is possible to reduce a size of a core part in the pickup head to a semiconductor chip size or less, and to improve an access time and a data transfer rate. The focusing grating coupler employs a principle that a laser light incident on a planar waveguide is focused by using a diffractive grating. It could be fabricated in a very small size and serve as an objective lens.
For increasing a recording density of the pickup head, the laser light focused on the focusing grating coupler should have a minimum spot size, and a numerical aperture (NA) of the lens should be increased since the laser light source is fixed. Thus, in the case of using the technology described above, it is possible to increase a lens size to a constant focal length, i.e. a coupling area, or increase a coupling angle. At this time, a minimum space between grating patterns should be maintained 100 nm or less corresponding to a value smaller than a quarter wavelength of the laser light source. Thus, it is required an expensive equipment such as an electron beam lithography system (EBLS) and a high process technology, and needs time and cost-consuming fabrication processes.

Method of fabricating stamper and focusing grating coupler using the same

Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute


A method, apparatus and computer program product for performing optimized distributed routing for stretched data center models through updating route advertisements based on changes to Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) Tables is presented. Port members of an Internet Protocol I (IP) interface or Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) are distinguished into Access Interfaces which only lead to hosts on said subnet and Trunk Interfaces which lead to other redundant routers on said subnet. In the subnet of a network a network route for the subnet is always advertised. A separate host route corresponding to an Internet Protocol (IP) address of each Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) table record that points to an Access Interface is advertised and route advertisements are changed for a host in said subnet for tracked access interfaces.

It is typical to configure an IP subnet on multiple routers as a directly attached subnet. This is done for redundancy reasons so that the loss or failure of any single router does not result in loss of service to hosts in the subnet. In such a configuration with two routers A and B on the subnet it is typical that some of the hosts on the subnet are closer to Router A and other hosts on the same subnet are closer to Router B. Techniques like Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP) (with backup master capability) and Routed Split Multi Link Trunking (RSMLT) have been used to ensure that routed traffic from a host within the subnet to elsewhere in the network uses the router that is closest to the host thus ensuring optimal forwarding in terms of network bandwidth usage, hop counts and latency.

Optimized distributed routing for stretched data center models through updating route advertisements based on changes to address resolution protocol (ARP) tables


A computer system has a processor that has a prediction array that avoids conflicts when the prediction array is accessed twice in once clock cycle to retrieve predictions for two separate conditional branch instructions. The prediction array is included as part of a branch prediction logic circuit that includes a bank control logic coupled to the prediction array. The bank control logic assures the conflict noted above is avoided. The prediction array preferably comprises multiple (e.g., 4) single-ported bank memory elements, each bank comprising multiple predictions. The bank control logic uses information associated with a previously fetched and branch predicted conditional branch instruction to generate a bank number for a current branch instruction. The generated bank number corresponds to one of the banks in the prediction array. The processor preferably fetches two (or more) groups (also called “slots”) of instructions each cycle. Each slot may include one or more branch instructions that need to be branch predicted. Thus, the branch prediction logic circuit first generates a bank number for one of the slots and then generates a bank number for the other slot and uses the bank numbers to retrieve predictions from the multi-bank, single ported prediction array. The bank control logic computes the bank numbers in a manner that assures that no two consecutively generated bank numbers are identical.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to prediction of conditional branch instructions in a microprocessor. Still more particularly, the invention relates to branch prediction in a processor that fetches more than one block of instructions at a time. More particularly still, the invention relates to branch prediction with bank interleaved prediction arrays.
2. Background of the Invention
A microprocessor comprises the logic, typically a semiconductor device, which executes software. Microprocessors thus fetch software instructions from memory and executes them. Each instruction generally undergoes several stages of processing. For example, the instruction must be fetched and decoded to determine the type of instruction (add, multiply, memory write, etc.). Then, the instruction is scheduled, executed and finally retired. Each stage of processing may take multiple clock cycles. It has been recognized that the next instruction to be executed by a processor can be fetched and entered into the processor's pipeline before the previous instruction is retired. Thus, some processors are designed with pipelined architectures to permit multiple instructions to be at various stages of processing at any one point in time. For example, while one instruction is being scheduled, the next instruction can be fetched and decoded. Moreover, as the pipeline increases in length with developments in microprocessor design, the processor can have more instructions at various stages of processing.
A computer programmer has a variety of different types of instructions at his or her disposal when writing software. One type of instruction is generically referred to as a "conditional branch" instruction. This instruction includes a condition that is checked and the condition can either be true or false. For example, the condition might be to check whether a certain error condition exists. The error condition either exists or not. If the error condition currently exists, the condition is true, otherwise the condition is false (i.e., the condition does not exist). Consequently, one set of instructions is executed if the condition is true, and another set of instructions is executed if the condition is false.
Each instruction is stored at a unique address in memory. Typically, if a conditional branch instruction checks a condition that turns out to be false, then program execution follows to the next instruction following the conditional branch instruction. If the condition is true, however, program execution generally jumps (also called "branches") to a different instruction and the processor continues executing from that instruction. Thus, the branch is either "taken" or "not taken" depending on whether the condition is true or not. If the condition is true, the branch is taken and the processor's instruction pointer (which contains the address of each instruction to be executed) is reloaded with a different address from the branch instruction to continue execution. If the condition is false, the branch is not taken and the instruction pointer is simply incremented so that processor continues execution with the instruction immediately following the conditional branch instruction.
In a pipelined architecture, instructions may be fetched to enter the pipeline before a previously fetched conditional branch instruction is actually executed. Accordingly, pipelined processors include branch prediction logic that predicts the outcome of branch instructions before the branch instructions are actually executed. The branch predictor logic thus predicts whether the branch is likely to be taken or not, and thus which instructions are to be fetched following the fetching of a conditional branch instruction. The branch predictor merely predicts the future outcome of the conditional branch instruction; the true outcome will not be accurately known until the branch instruction is actually executed. If the branch predictor turns out to have made the correct prediction, then instructions that must be executed are already in the pipeline. If the prediction turns out to have been inaccurate, then the incorrect instructions that had been fetched must be thrown out and the correct instructions fetched. Performance suffers on mispredictions. Choosing a branch prediction scheme that results in correct predictions much more often than mispredictions will result in higher performance.
Superscalar processors are increasingly executing more and more instructions in parallel. Therefore, more and more instructions must be fetched in parallel. Some processors fetch multiple blocks of instructions (i.e., a group of two or more instructions) at a time. The blocks of instructions may or may not be contiguous. Each block may contain one or more conditional branch instructions that must be predicted. Accordingly, there is a need to predict multiple branch instructions generally simultaneously (i.e., in the same clock cycle).
Most simple branch predictors include a table of counters. The prediction table typically includes multiple entries and each entry includes a prediction as to whether a conditional branch instruction will be taken or not. Once a conditional branch instruction is fetched, the address for that instruction is used to generate an index value which is then combined with history information regarding past branch outcomes. The resulting value is then used to point to one of the entries in the prediction table. As such, on encountering a conditional branch instruction in program flow, the table of counters is indexed for the given branch. The most significant bit of the counter at the indexed entry often is used as the prediction for the branch. A "1" may mean that the branch should be taken, while a "0" may mean that the branch should not be taken. The counter is updated ("trained") once the outcome of the branch is accurately known.
Various branch prediction schemes differ in the way the prediction table is indexed by a conditional branch instruction. For example, it has been suggested that for processors that fetch multiple blocks of instructions at a time, the indexing scheme should use a single function that considers the position of the branch instruction in the block of fetched instructions. That is, the position in the predictor table of the prediction associated with a particular branch instruction depends on the position of the branch in the block of instructions containing the branch. This type of indexing scheme leads to interference in the predictor tables. This means that two or more different branches may index the same entry in the table leading to some undesirable results whereby the various branches are predicted erroneously.
Another suggested indexing technique is to use information associated with a fetched block of instructions to predict the branches in the next fetched block. In this technique, the accessed entry in the predictor table does not depend on the position of the fetch block in the group of blocks fetched in parallel. However, the predictor tables must have multiple read ports to manage conflicts when the same entry in the table is being accessed as a result of predicting two different branch instructions. That is, the memory used to store the prediction table must be dual-ported. Multiple read ports undesirably add considerable complexity and significantly reduce useful storage capacity of the prediction table.
Accordingly, an improved branch prediction indexing scheme is needed for processors that can simultaneously fetch multiple blocks of instructions.

Conflict free parallel read access to a bank interleaved branch predictor in a processor

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A high resolution video acquisition system is disclosed that provides a rrding capability at extended time with full resolution. Two real time digital scan converters, a synchronizing computer and image frame buffers cooperate to provide two high resolution Red, Green, and Blue 60 hertz video channel outputs for recording systems in digital format and for real time video display. The respective channels are sampled at approximately one frame per second per channel for approximately 2 hours, thereby providing a full resolution extended time recording capability.

Most high bandwidth video acquisition systems record data for only short periods of time and are incapable of acquiring continuous high resolution imagery. Typically and more particularly, standard commercial video systems operate by approximately a factor of 10 less than the high resolution video acquisition system. Current recording systems have no capability to capture high resolution imagery and simultaneously record data for long periods of time (i.e., hours in lieu of minutes). Additionally, established high bandwidth digital scan converters produce analog outputs exclusively.

High resolution video acquisition system

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army


A display device includes a pixel comprising first and second pixel electrodes receiving respective pixel voltages; a control capacitor electrically connected to the second pixel electrode by a switching operation in order to change the voltage of the second pixel electrode; and a first storage line overlapping the first pixel electrode and having a variable voltage in order to change the voltage of the first pixel electrode. A method of driving a display device includes providing a pixel voltage to each of first and second pixel electrodes of a pixel; and then changing the voltages applied to the first pixel electrode and/or the second pixel electrode to cause the first and second pixel electrodes to simultaneously be at different voltages.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display device and a method of driving the same, and more particularly, to a display device including a plurality of pixel electrodes, each partitioned into a main pixel electrode and a subpixel electrode in order to represent different grayscales.
2. Description of the Related Art
A liquid crystal display (LCD) includes a LCD panel which includes a thin-film transistor (TFT) substrate ("lower substrate" below) having a plurality of thin-film transistors formed thereon and an upper substrate which may include a color filter substrate having a color filter layer formed thereon. An LCD panel also includes a liquid crystal layer interposed between the thin-film transistor substrate and the upper substrate. Since the LCD panel is non-self-luminous, a backlight unit may be provided on a rear surface of the LCD panel to emit light.
Generally, LCD panels have a narrower viewing angle (defined as the maximum angle with a contrast ratio of 1:10) than self-luminous display panels. One class of LCD panels is vertical alignment (VA) mode LCD panels. A VA mode LCD panel includes electrodes on the TFT substrate and on the upper substrate. In order to improve the viewing angle in VA mode LCD panels, variations of these panels have been developed, including patterned VA mode LCD panels (having openings formed in electrodes on the upper and lower substrates), multi-domain VA mode LCD panels (having protrusions formed on electrodes on the upper and lower substrates), and mixed VA mode LCD panels (having openings in electrodes on the lower substrate and protrusions on electrodes on the upper substrate).
However, in these LCD panel variations, an image color may depend on the angle at which the image is viewed by an observer. Such color dependency is due to the fact that the red, green and blue primary colors displayed by the pixels may change in different proportions with the viewing angle of the observer. Therefore, the color obtained as a mixture of the red, green and blue primary colors changes according to the viewing angle of the observer.
In order to solve this problem, a new mode of LCD panel has been developed. In the new mode LCD panel, each pixel electrode is partitioned into a main pixel electrode and a subpixel electrode so that the pixel electrode can simultaneously represent different luminance levels. The new mode LCD panel may include different switching devices connected to the main pixel electrode and the subpxiel electrode, so that different pixel voltages can be simultaneously applied to the main pixel electrode and the subpixel electrode. Alternatively, the new mode LCD panel may have an additional capacitor between a switching device and the subpixel electrode while no capacitor is provided between the switching device and the main pixel electrode. It is desirable to find ways to more effectively apply different pixel voltages to the main pixel electrode and the subpixel electrode in new mode LCD panels.

Method of driving display device comprising electrically connecting a control capacitor to the second pixel electrode and changing the voltage of the first pixel electrode by changing a voltage of a first storage line


A method and an apparatus for power management in a computer system have been disclosed. One embodiment of the method includes monitoring transactions over an interconnect coupling a chipset device and a peripheral device in the system, the transactions being transmitted between the peripheral device and the chipset device according to a flow control protocol to allow the chipset device to keep track of the transactions, and causing a processor in the system to exit from a power state if a plurality of coherent transactions pending in a buffer of the chipset device exceeds a first threshold. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

In a typical computer system, a central processing unit (CPU) of the system supports various power states to allow robust power management in the system. For example, a CPU may support five power states, such as the C0, C1, C2, C3, and C4 states. In one system, the C0 state is an active power state, in which the CPU executes instructions, while the remaining states, i.e., the C1, C2, C3, and C4 states, are sleeping states. In the sleeping states, the CPU consumes less power and dissipates less heat than in the C0 state because the CPU does not execute any instruction while in the sleeping states. Furthermore, the power consumption in the C4 state is generally less than the power consumption in the C3 state because the CPU supply voltage is lowered when the CPU enters into the C4 state.
Each sleeping state has a latency associated with entering and exiting and is related to the power saving in each state. In general, the more circuitry or logic being shutdown to save more power, the more effort and longer exit latency are consumed to re-energize the circuitry and/or logic shutdown. For example, the phase lock loop (PLL) and input/output (IO) of a CPU can be shut down to save more power when the CPU is in the C3 or C4 state because the CPU does not snoop while in the C3 or C4 state. However, it typically takes longer to re-energize the PLL and IO after the CPU exits from the C3 or C4 state.
In an exemplary system, the CPU can access the memory during the C0 state or snoop bus-master initiated memory traffic while in the C1 or C2 state. The bus master is a peripheral device having control of the bus at a given time, such as, for example, an external graphic core. The data movement from one device to another over a bus is, therefore, referred to as a bus mastering event. In contrast, in the C3 or C4 state, the CPU suspends snooping or memory access as part of the deeper sleep states. In order to snoop the bus-master initiated memory traffic, a CPU in either the C3 or C4 state has to exit the C3 or C4 state. Because of the higher exit latency of the C3 and C4 states, the system has to verify whether there is an on-going bus mastering event from any peripheral device in the system that may require the CPU to snoop before entering either the C3 or C4 state. If there is an on-going bus mastering event, the CPU has to settle for a power state (e.g., C1 or C2) with higher power consumption but lower exit latency than the C3 or C4 state.
As to the peripheral device, it may be coupled to the CPU through a root complex device via a serial interconnect, such as a PCI EXPRESS interconnect. A root complex device includes a host bridge and one or more root ports. Examples of a root complex device include a memory controller or IO controller functional device. An interconnect is an infrastructure that couples one device to another. PCI EXPRESS is a high speed, point-to-point serial interconnect standard. For example, the first generation of PCI EXPRESS interconnect supports 2.5 Gb/sec per lane data transmission. In one exemplary system, a graphic device is coupled to a chipset of the system (e.g., a memory controller hub) through a 16-lane PCI Express interconnect.
Furthermore, PCI EXPRESS allows flow control by supporting an accounting scheme with credits to keep track of the traffic over a PCI EXPRESS interconnect. The credits indicate the available buffering in a device for various types of transactions over an interconnect. For example, a memory controller can report to the software of the capability of a root complex device to transmit data by writing the information in a number of registers. According to PCI EXPRESS protocol, there are a number of prescribed credits for various transactions, such as, read request, write request, completion, etc. For example, when a graphic device issues transactions (e.g., read requests) towards the root complex device and these transactions are pending, a credit is consumed to reflect the amount of buffering taken up in the memory controller by the pending transactions. When these transactions are handled or retired by the memory controller, the credit is released or freed up. The number of pending transactions, as reflected by the credits consumed, indicates the likelihood of a bus mastering event that may prohibit entry into the C3 or C4 state.
A prior art technique to indicate on-going bus mastering traffic uses a sideband signal. For example, a graphic device sends a signal AGP_BUSY to the root complex device of the computer system to indicate on-going bus mastering traffic for the system that attaches the graphic device using Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP). However, the sideband signals are costly because they require one additional pin per sideband signal on each device. Furthermore, permanent connector infrastructure has to be provided for the sideband signals in the system even though future technological innovation may not use such sideband signals at all.

Transaction-based power management in a computer system


The invention relates to an adhesive bond 1 for a plurality of densely packed elements 4a, 4b, 4c guided into a plate pack 3. At the plate surface 2 with the adhesive bond 1 the guidance holes 5a are made larger than the guidance holes 5b in the remainder of the plate pack (3) and the adhesive bond is effected by means of a highly viscous adhesive. Because of the larger opening 5a, an adhesive reservoir 10 is formed at the plate surface 2. This makes it possible to use high viscosity adhesives. The geometric features and the use of a highly viscous adhesive make it possible to manufacture durable and heat-resistant adhesive bonds for elements such as wires, glass fibers or micromechanical components.

For the electric testing of microelectronic components, test heads based on the buckling beam concept, as described in European patents 0 165 331 and 0 283 545 are increasingly employed. Such contact probe arrangements comprise, inter alia, a first perforated plate pack, in which the contact probes are guided so as to be laterally deformable, and a second perforated plate pack, on or in which the contact probes are attached.
The fastening of the contact probes through embedding or adhesive bonding is no longer possible with very densely arranged contact probes. FIG. 1a shows the problems which arise in embedding or bonding, particularly with those contact probes which are covered with an insulating layer 6. Layer 8 is, for example, a copper layer. This insulating layer surrounding the contact probes outside the second perforated plate pack mostly ends directly at the guide holes intended for the contact probes in the second perforated plate pack and there forms a blockage. No adhesive or embedding material can flow into the guidance hole when it is blocked in this way.
A suitable low viscosity adhesive for a lasting and heat-resistant adhesive bond between the partly insulated contact probes and the second perforated plate pack is e.g. EPOTEK 353-ND. As shown in FIG. 1b, such adhesives rise to a height of 15 mm on the contact probes, which is unacceptable.
Highly viscous adhesives or thixotropic adhesives such as EPOTEK 353-ND/T, of course, climb up the contact probes only negligibly, to a height of approximately 2 mm but, on the other hand, do not penetrate sufficiently deeply into the guidance holes of the perforated plate pack, so that the contact probes have an inadequate fastening action. This problem is shown in FIG. 1c.
Both EPOTEK 353ND and EPOTEK 353ND-T are two component epoxy adhesives available from Epoxy Technology Inc., 14 Fortune Drive, Billerica, Mass. 01821. Epoxy 353ND has a viscosity of 2000 CPS, a TCE (thermal coefficient of expansion) of 54.times.10.sup.-6 /K and a lap shear strength of 1500 PSI while EPOTEK 353ND-T has a viscosity of 43000 CPS, a TCE of 43.times.10.sup.-6 /K and a lap shear strength of 1500 PSI.
It is the object of the present invention to provide a durable and heat-resistant adhesive bond at the surface or in depth of a plate for densely ordered elements at any angle to the surface of the plate of the guided element.

Adhesive bond for densely ordered elements

International Business Machines Corporation


A method of manufacturing a gas barrier film includes depositing an atomic layer deposition film on a surface of a plastic substrate to form a gas barrier laminate, using atomic layer deposition; depositing a curable resin layer on a support from which the layer is peelable, to form an overcoat laminate; laminating the overcoat laminate to the gas barrier laminate, with the atomic layer deposition film and the curable resin layer facing each other, and transferring the curable resin layer onto the atomic layer deposition film; curing the curable resin layer through application of heat or an active energy beam; and releasing the curable resin layer from the support.

Next-generation devices using organic semiconductor techniques are being developed and some are in practical use in fields such as of organic electroluminescent (EL) displays, organic EL lighting devices, organic solar cells, and electronic papers. Such devices include basic components elements which have an elaborate structure and are formed of material susceptible to external influences. The structure and material may deteriorate due to exposure to traces or extremely small traces of moisture or oxygen, which reduces the device's performance. To address this concern, for example, elements of an organic EL display are sandwiched between glass substrates so that they do not deteriorate. This structure is employed because the sealing technique shields the elements from air to great effect, and it ensures a high degree of moisture-proofing while allowing light transmission.
However, there is a demand for a flexible (thin, lightweight, unbreakable, and bendable) substrate formed of a plastic film, for the following reasons: the difficulty in handling a glass material, thickness and weight, and possible application to mobile devices whose markets are rapidly expanding. Additionally, such a substrate is required to have gas barrier properties, which prevent deterioration of the structure and material due to exposure to external moisture (vapor) and oxygen. The requirement for the gas barrier properties is that the moisture vapor transmission rate (MVTR) should be of the order of 10−5 [g/(m2·day)], and a thickness, including a substrate film's thickness, should be some tens of micrometers. Transparent gas barrier films that meet these requirements are under investigation.
Such transparent gas barrier films have been developed and put to practical use largely in the field of packaging materials. Gas barrier films of packages for foods and pharmaceuticals have vapor barrier properties of the order of 1 to 10−2 [g/(m2·day)], or better vapor barrier properties. Flexible gas barrier layers have been developed that conform to a substrate film and achieve high vapor barrier properties. Such gas barrier layers may be close-packed layers of inorganic materials formed on a thin plastic substrate film, or composite gas barrier layers that include a lamination of inorganic and organic materials to reduce the inorganic material's vulnerability to cracks for example. Such gas barrier layers can be formed using the following methods: Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) and Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD). With PVD, a substance is converted to its vapor phase, where it moves like gas at the atomic or molecular level, and is then condensed onto a surface of a substrate film.
Examples of PVD include vacuum deposition and sputtering. Sputtering, which provides a high-quality thin film having a uniform quality and thickness, has found widespread use. For example, this method is used in producing transparent electrode wiring films, electrode wiring films, or the like, for displays such as liquid-crystal displays, and a light reflection film or the like of an optical disc.
CVD is a method of growing a solid thin film by introducing a gas source into a vacuum chamber, and allowing one or more types of gas to decompose or react over a substrate using heat energy. Some types of CVD use a plasma or catalyst reaction to promote the reaction during film formation or reduce the reaction temperature. CVD using a plasma reaction is called plasma-enhanced CVD (PECVD), while CVD using a catalyst reaction is called Cat-CVD. These types of CVD reduce coating defects, and are thus used in, for example, a process for fabricating semiconductor devices (for example, a process of forming a gate insulating film).
Atomic layer deposition (ALD) has attracted attention as a method for achieving higher gas barrier properties. PTL 1 discloses an ALD technique used to deposit a gas transmission barrier layer on a substrate of material selected from the group consisting of plastics and glasses. ALD is a method of depositing layers one by one on a surface of a substrate film at the atomic level through chemical reaction of a substance adsorbed on the surface.
A preferable gas barrier layer is a continuous thin film coating of inorganic material with no defects. However, a substrate film may suffer from defects such as pinholes, due to flaws in the coating process or defects therein which impair its barrier properties. In PTL 1, an organic light-emitting polymer (OLEP) is formed on a flexible and permeable polyester substrate, and then a gas barrier layer is formed over the entire top and side surfaces of this light-emitting polymer using ALD. In PTL 1, such a gas barrier layer is used in an optically transparent gas barrier film to reduce the influence of the flaws and defects. Additionally, the gas barrier film of PTL 1 has a thickness of some tens of nanometers so that it can reduce gas permeability drastically compared to conventional gas barrier films.
PTL 2 discloses a gas barrier film that includes at least one inorganic barrier layer and at least one organic layer alternately formed on a plastic substrate. The inorganic barrier layer is formed using ALD. PTL 3 discloses a barrier film having a MVTR of 104 [g/(m2·day)] or less. Such a MVTR is necessary for barrier films of electronics to prevent elements vulnerable to moisture from deteriorating over a period of time. The barrier film of PTL 3 includes a substrate formed of a plastic film, and first and second barrier layers deposited on a surface and the opposite surface of the substrate using ALD. The first and second barrier layers are formed of inorganic material having vapor barrier properties.

Gas barrier film and method of manufacturing the same


The present invention relates to an adaptable input/output device. One embodiment of a hardware device for facilitating an interaction between a computing system and a user includes: an interaction surface for supporting the interaction, a single actuator capable of driving a first region of the interaction surface, and a first selective clamping mechanism capable of restricting movement of one or more second regions of the interaction surface that partly intersect the first region, wherein a displacement of one or more desired portions of the interaction surface is dynamically controllable.

Conventional input/output (I/O) devices such as keyboards and mice do not adapt to an end user's needs or working habits in the sense that the I/O devices typically cannot adjust their physical shape in response to the user's interactive context. For example, while the functionality associated with particular keys on a conventional computer keyboard can be reassigned by software to a variety of different functions, the conventional keyboard remains a keyboard: it is not designed or enabled to dynamically change shape and transform (e.g., into a joystick) in response to the current usage context
Moreover, conventional I/O devices tend to occupy a significant amount of the user's available working space; thus, a keyboard may compete and conflict with a display over limited surface area. The space conflict is especially problematic when dealing with portable computing devices (e.g., laptop computers, personal digital assistants, and the like). Furthermore, while the various regions of a touch-enabled display screen can be dynamically reassigned to different functions, the physical shape of the display screen is conventionally fixed and remains a substantially flat surface. This results, among other limitations, in little or no meaningful tactile feedback for the user, and is less than optimal for many interactive applications.
Existing or proposed displays that can change shape out-of-plane (e.g., Braille displays) generally rely on individual actuators to control the out-of-plane position of individual display elements. This approach entails a large number of actuators, has performance limitations, and can be complex, unreliable, and costly.


A device and method to inspect the sensitive distances of crankshaft or any other rotating axel with electrical measuring method and controlling the sensitivity and critical points according to desired explained spans. Its electronic system is flexible and has the possibility to coordinate with various control systems.

One of the most important parts of a car is a crankshaft, which can be considered like the heart of a body. Unfortunately this part is usually damaged due to some physical contacts between engine and bearings which needs to be replaced by spending a lot of money.
In precise and sensitive present engines there is no method for anticipating the defects of the engine. If this is possible to perform on time, we can prevent basic breakdowns incidence in engines that sometimes result in its complete destruction.
The expenditures of basic repair of an engine are so high that can be compared with a percentage of a new engine. Crankshaft is one of the most expensive parts of engine the repair of which has high expenditures. Anticipating engines defect with the method of electronic measurement with high accuracy is the same as ECG for the engine that will show and warn weaknesses and breakdown of engine in order to prevent cost and time consuming repair.
There are many cases for eliminating crankshaft which we have to lathe, repair and finally replace this part. Considering the high price of this part we can do a basic action to increase crankshaft lifetime by this design.
Usually the beating and rough noise of engine is heard when a basic defect has happened in it and it is late to save the engine. In the case of airplane piston engines and turbines it may threaten human lives too. Since basic repair of engines particularly large engines is a hard, cost and time consuming task and needs high proficiency, by this invention, we can either prevent a small problem turning into a big defect or prevent a small defect turning into a basic problem.

Instant crankshaft device for piston engines and bearing shafts


Techniques regarding nanofluidic chips with a plurality of inlets and/or outlets in fluid communication with one or more nanoDLD arrays are provided. For example, one or more embodiments described herein can comprise a nanoscale deterministic lateral displacement array between and in fluid communication with a global inlet and a global outlet. The nanoscale deterministic lateral displacement array can further be between and in fluid communication with a local inlet and a local outlet. Also, the nanoscale deterministic lateral displacement array can laterally displace a particle comprised within a sample fluid supplied from the global inlet to a collection region that directs the particle to the local outlet. An advantage of such an apparatus can be the expanded versatility of the nanoscale deterministic lateral displacement array for sample preparation applications involving nanoparticles not accessible to other higher throughput microscale microfluidic technologies.

The subject disclosure relates to microfluidic devices comprising multiple inlets and/or outlets, and more specifically, to microfluidic chips comprising one or more nanoscale deterministic lateral displacement arrays in fluid communication with multiple inlets and/or outlets.
The need for nanoscale particle separation, concentration, and purification from complex mixtures is ubiquitous in medicine, food safety, agriculture, and biotechnology; particularly with the growing role played by genomics in these fields. For example, deoxyribonucleic acid ("DNA") and exosomes, small extracellular vesicles (EVs) containing a host of biomarkers (e.g. tumor-specific proteins, micro-ribonucleic acid ("microRNA"), messenger ribonucleic acid ("mRNA"), and DNA), can operate as potentially powerful prognosticators and/or therapeutic agents for diagnosing, monitoring, and/or treating disease. Length-based separation of DNA has primarily been served by established techniques including gel electrophoresis, high-performance liquid chromatography, precipitation, and/or affinity capture. Similarly, for exosomes, ultracentrifugation ("UC"), filtration, precipitation, and/or affinity capture can be applied to enact a separation or purification of extracellular vesicles ("EVs"). However, conventional methods suffer from one or more of the following issues: manual preparation required from a trained technician; batch rather than continuous processing; expensive equipment necessary for operation; sample loss; inability to handle small volumes; long run times; and/or background contamination.
Microfluidic lab-on-a-chip ("LOC") devices have drawn the gaze of many academic and/or industry leaders searching overcome problems with conventional devices. Microfluidic technologies can offer: fast analysis and response time; low fabrication costs (can be mass produced and integrated into multiple processes such as labeling, purification, separation, and detection); high-throughput analysis; and/or low fluid volumes (can process with less waste, lower reagent costs when needed and/or less sample volume can be needed for a diagnostic). Within this framework, techniques employing a host of mechanisms have been explored and exploited for nanoparticle separation in general, such as field flow fractionation, centrifugal, optical, affinity capture, electrophoresis, dielectrophoresis, magnetophoresis, acoustophoresis, ion concentration polarization, electrohydrodynamic vortices, deterministic lateral displacement, and/or sieving
While most of the features mentioned above for microfluidic technologies are overtly aligned with present needs, lower required fluid volumes appear to conflict with the goal of high throughput or shorter processing times when applied to sample preparation where sufficient volume is needed for downstream, off-chip analysis. It is this feature that reduces this list of usable microfluidic techniques as applied to sample preparation of nanoscale biomarkers; however, there are several of these methods that can reasonably employ high-throughput analysis to parallelize the separation process, effectively scaling the volume up.
One technology that has proven versatile in its ability to separate a range of nanoscale particles with different morphology is nanoscale lateral deterministic displacement ("nanoDLD"). NanoDLD technology shrinks deterministic lateral displacement technology to the nanoscale, demonstrating the ability to sub-fractionate exosome populations (e.g., 30-150 nanometers ("nm") in size) with tens of nanometers resolution in a continuous flow system (e.g., without batch processing). The technology can be used to demonstrate separation of DNA fragments by length with a selectively of about 200 base pairs ("bp") difference. A key challenge for nanoDLD is very low sample throughput per array (e.g., about 0.2 nanoliters per hour ("nL/hr")) owing to the technology's scaled dimensions. By contrast, micron scale DLD pillar arrays can be less fluidically restrictive and used to isolate circulating tumor cells ("CTCs") from blood at flow rates of 10 milliliters per minute ("mL/min"), or 600 mL/hr, for twinned arrays (e.g., 3 billion times faster than a single nanoDLD array. Of course, micron scale DLD arrays cannot separate nanoscale colloids, only much larger cellular material.

Microfluidic devices with multiple inlets and outlets

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


A tool structure having a V-shaped body and confronting leg plates is provided to sever connecting thread of a button member relative to a garment and the like. The blades include confronting V-shaped cutting edges for severing of the thread. The structure is arranged to optionally include a button securement member to prevent inadvertent loss of the buttons subsequent to the severing procedure.

1. Field of the Invention
The field of invention relates to thread cutting apparatus, arid more particularly pertains to a new and improved button removal tool wherein the same is arranged for the severing of connecting thread of a button relative to a fabric.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Button cutting tools, and more particularly thread cutting structure, is available in the prior art as indicated by U.S. Pat. No. 250,629.
The prior art structure has heretofore failed to provide means for containing a button member subsequent to the severing procedure and in this respect, the present invention substantially fulfills this need.


A testing probe system includes probes configured to contact shared probe pads of multi-channel die of a wafer; and a controller configured to generate testing patterns and receive signals from the multi-channel die of the wafer. The controller is configured to contact a probe of the probes with a shared probe pad of the multi-channel die, select a first channel of the multi-channel die to test, select at least one test mode for testing the first channel, stimulate at least the first channel during a single contact period, acquiring a first output of the first channel during the single contact period, select a second channel of the multi-channel die to test, select at least one test mode for testing the second channel, stimulate at least the second channel during the single contact period, and acquire a second output of the first channel during the single contact period.

Semiconductor die are conventionally made in large area wafers such that hundreds or thousands of identical individual die are simultaneously made. Such die may comprise diodes, transistors, metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors, insulated-gate bipolar transistors, etc. After being formed, the die of the wafer may be tested for certain characteristics via a testing apparatus (typically called "wafer probe" or "probe" test). Typical die testing includes optical testing, or electrical testing by contacting the dies with probe needles. Die which fail the probe test for any reason are normally marked for removal.
Die which pass the probe test in the wafer are often damaged, particularly on the bond pads and under bump metallization (UBM) contacted by the probe needles, when electrically tested. Furthermore, oftentimes, via the optical testing, die which have only minor cosmetic damage are marked for removal. Due to the testing limitations and inaccuracies discussed above during wafer probing, some die pass the wafer probe test and are treated as "good die" when, in fact, the die are defective. Conversely, some die fail wafer probe test and are treated as bad die when, in fact, the die are "good die." As a result, good die may be discarded and improperly marked "good" die are frequently assembled in package form and defects discovered only when the packaged device is fully tested.
Furthermore, semiconductor die supporting multi-channel configurations within a same semiconductor die present several testing probe evaluation challenges. For example, when semiconductor die operate in a two-channel configuration, an effective count of the number of evaluations would be doubled corresponding to the doubled channel. As a result, when utilizing conventional testing probe systems, twice as a many contact periods (e.g., "touch downs") between probes and a given semiconductor die is required. Accordingly, twice as much time is required to test die having two-channel configurations, which can lead to reduced overall die production and/or significant testing system modifications.

Testing probe system for testing semiconductor die, multi-channel die having shared pads, and related systems and methods


A radially self-expanding implantable intraluminal device formed from a hollow tubular braid. The intraluminal device may be used in a variety of medical procedures which require a passageway to be maintained in an open position or which require reinforcement, support or a bypass conduit such as in blood vessels weakened by disease. The intraluminal device is longitudinally expanded or radially collapsed for ease of insertion into a lumen and upon alignment within the lumen, the intraluminal device radially self-expands to come into intimate contact with the inner surface of the lumen.

The present invention relates to an implantable intraluminal device. More specifically, the present invention relates to a radially self-expanding implantable intraluminal device which is particularly useful for repairing or serving as a conduit for blood vessels narrowed or occluded by disease or for use in other body passageways requiring reinforcement or the like.
Intraluminal devices or, more specifically, endovascular prosthesis, are known for treating stenosis, stricture, aneurysm conditions and the like. These devices, which include stents and grafts, are generally implanted by a mechanical transluminal procedure. Stents are devices designed to hold open a constricting vessel and generally are not designed as conduits or bypass devices. Intraluminal or endoprosthetic graphs, on the other hand, are designed as internal bypass devices which relieve stress from the surrounding vessel wall. Often, a device of this type is percutaneously implanted within the vascular system to reinforce collapsing, partially occluded, weakened or abnormally dilated localized sections of a blood vessel. Advantages of this method over conventional vascular surgery include obviating the need for surgically exposing, incising, removing, replacing, or bypassing the defective blood vessel. Stents are often used in combination with other endoprosthesis, such as intraluminal grafts. In some cases a stent is positioned at each end of the graft, thus allowing the graft to serve as a conduit or internal support to relieve stress from the vessel wall. The stents on each end serve to keep the lumen open and to anchor the graft in place. Attachment of the graft to the stent can be accomplished with hooks or sutures. In some instances, the stent is attached to only one end of the intraluminal graft. In this case the graft is allowed to xe2x80x9cfloatxe2x80x9d in the downstream direction of the vessel.
Structures which have previously been used as stents have included coiled stainless steel springs; helically-wound coiled springs manufactured from an expandable heat-sensitive material; expanding stainless steel stents formed of stainless steel wire in a zig-zag pattern; cage-like devices made from malleable metal; and flexible tubes having a plurality of separate expandable ring-like scaffold members which permit radial expansion of the tube. Each of these devices is designed to be radially compressible and expandable so that they will easily pass through a blood vessel in a collapsed state and can radially expand to an implanted size after the problem area has been reached. None of these devices is designed to retain fluid.
Each of the foregoing structures suffer from a number of disadvantages. To begin with, current stents are not designed to be contractible once deployed and therefore a great deal of care must be taken to properly position and expand the device to the appropriate size. Over expansion of a stent places unnecessary stress on an already damaged vessel. Under expansion of the stent may result in inadequate contact with the inner wall of the vessel and migration of the stent may occur.
Because the structures are designed to be delivered in a collapsed state within a blood vessel, it is difficult to ensure that the device, once deployed, will radially expand to the proper dimensions. For example, the expansion of a particular coiled spring-type stent is predetermined by the spring constant and modulus of elasticity of the particular material used to manufacture the coiled spring structure. These same factors predetermine the amount of expansion of collapsed stents formed of stainless steel wire in a zig-zag pattern. Likewise, prostheses formed from heat sensitive material which expands upon heating have a predetermined amount of expansion based upon the alloy utilized in their manufacture.
Another type of endovascular prosthesis consists of a thin wall textile radially fixed graft, which is folded up to fit inside an introducer sheath. The graft is manufactured to a predetermined diameter. If the graft is oversized, when displaced in the artery and subsequently expanded, the graft may not fully open leaving a fold or a crease in the graft which may further constrict an already narrowed or occluded blood vessel. On the other hands if the graft is too small in diameter, it will slide around in the vessel and disrupt blood flow.
As previously mentioned, intraluminal grafts are often used in combination with stents. Another disadvantage of the foregoing types of intraluminal devices is that once the device is deployed within the lumen, it is permanently and fully expanded and cannot be contracted for repositioning. It is advantageous to be able to realign an intraluminal graft which has been misdeployed through catheter malfunction or any other problem which may arise during the implantation procedure. Generally, the present intraluminal devices once fully expanded cannot be easily moved within the lumen without surgery.
When repairing blood vessels narrowed or occluded by disease, or repairing other body passageways, the device used in repairing or supporting the passageway must be flexible enough to negotiate the curves or bends of the body passageway. Most conventional endovascular prostheses do not have the requisite ability to bend so as to be advantageously placed within the vascular system.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to develop a new and improved intraluminal device and, in particular, an intraluminal vascular graft that can be expanded to a variable size to accommodate the size of the diseased portion of the vessel and prevent migration of the graft away from the desired location and provide support functions similar to conventional stents. The intraluminal grafts of the present invention are directed toward achieving this result as well as others including: preventing rupturing and/or erosion of the body passageway by the expanded graft; permitting tissue of an elongated section of a body passageway to be supported by an elongated graft; providing the necessary flexibility to negotiate the bends and curves of a vascular system; and being repositionable and adjustable even after being radially expanded within the lumen. Therefore, an intraluminal vascular graft which would overcome the foregoing difficulties and others while providing better and more advantageous overall results is highly desirable.
In accordance with the present invention, a new and improved radially self-expanding implantable intraluminal device is provided. More particularly, the present invention is formed from a hollow tubular braid which may be implanted intraluminally and thereafter radially self-expands to come in intimate contact with the inner surface of the lumen in which it is inserted.
The device is preferably used as an endovascular prosthesis in which the device relieves the stress of weakened blood vessel, although it may be used in a variety of body passageways to provide reinforcement of a supporting passageway or the like. The implantable intraluminal device is both radially and longitudinally flexible or bendable. When the tubular braid is elongated in the longitudinal direction, the diameter of the device is decreased so that it may be percutaneously implanted within a body passageway. Once the device has been properly positioned within the body passageway, it is permitted to radially self-expand or self-deploy to come in intimate contact with the interior surface of the body passageway.
The hollow tubular braid may be formed from a number of natural and synthetic materials, including collagen, thermoplastics and metals. More specifically, thermoplastics which are useful include polyesters, polypropylenes, polyethylenes, polyurethanes, or polytetrafluoroethylenes and combinations and mixtures thereof. Useful metallic substances include stainless steel, titanium and nichol-chromium alloys, among others. The hollow tubular braid is formed to be radially self-expanding by heat-conditioning the thermoplastic or metal fibers from which the device is made at a sufficient time and temperature to effectuate memory. The braid is heat-conditioned in a radially expanded or longitudinally compressed position to provide the radially self-expanding feature of the device. For example, if the thermoplastic chosen for making a tubular braid is polyester, the tubular braid is preferably heat conditioned at a temperature from about 200xc2x0 F. to about 700xc2x0 F. for approximately five to thirty minutes and subsequently cooled while being maintained in a radially expanded position, thereby effectuating memory within the braided device.
The type of braid used to form the tubular device may be varied. More specifically, the intraluminal device of the present invention may be formed from a simple three yarn tubular braid (two-dimensional braid) or may be formed from a three-dimensional braid. The braid may also include a yarn which is used to stiffen the tubular braided structure and provide a greater radially expanding force. The expanding radial force is preferably designed so that the intraluminal device will open up to be in intimate contact with the interior surface of the body passageway in which it is inserted and anchor itself thereto.
Generally, the fibers used to form the braid have a denier in the range of 20 to 500 denier, although deniers outside this range may have utility for specific applications. The force exerted by the device is non-rupturing, i.e., sufficient to open the device without causing damage to the vessel wall. The braid may be formed with a braid angle between 15xc2x0 and about 90xc2x0 and preferably about 54.50 to about 75xc2x0 with respect to the longitudinal axis of the braided structure. The braid angle is measured from the longitudinal axis of the braided device.
Once inserted into the body passageway, the intraluminal device will be permitted to radially self-expand and substantially conform to the shape and inner surface of the body passageway. The intraluminal device need not be perfectly sized to the vessel or passageway into which the device is inserted since the diameter of the device is infinitely variable in the ranges between its minimum diameter and its maximum diameter.
An advantage of the radially self-expanding implantable intraluminal device of the present invention is that once it is inserted and permitted to self-expand, the device may still be repositioned or realigned if not properly positioned within the lumen. A method of repositioning an implanted intraluminal device of the present invention includes introducing a guide wire having on its distal end a means or mechanism, such as a finger-like member, for grasping the braided device so that the device may be realigned to a proper position within the lumen. By pulling on one end of the intraluminal device of the present invention, the device will elongate in the longitudinal direction causing a decrease in diameter of the device such that it is free to move within the vessel, thereby permitting the device to be easily repositioned. Once in the repositioned location and no longer longitudinally elongated, the device of the present invention will once again radially self-expand to come into intimate contact with the inner surface of the lumen.
One method of producing a radially self-expanding implantable intraluminal device includes radially expanding a hollow tubular braid and subjecting the radially expanded braid to conditions of time and temperature sufficient to set the material in the radially expanded position. As a consequence of radial expansion, the device is shortened in length due to changes in the angle of the yarns with respect to the longitudinal axis. The braid is then permitted to cool while maintaining the braid in the radially expanded position. The heat source for heat conditioning the thermoplastic braid includes a convection oven, a heated mandrel, an infra-red light source or immersing the device in a hot liquid medium. The thermoplastic braid is preferably heated at a temperature of about 200xc2x0 F. to about 700xc2x0 F. for a time period of about five to thirty minutes. However, the heat parameters will vary depending upon the thermoplastic selected for forming the tubular braid. The heat conditioning of the thermoplastic yarns of the braid provides the intraluminal device of the present invention with memory to return the device to a radially expanded position following a reduction in diameter due to longitudinal expansion so that the device may be intraluminally inserted into a body passageway.
In an alternative embodiment of the present invention, the intraluminal device may also include a means for attaching the device to the inner surface of the lumen to provide additional anchoring of the device. Such attaching means may include small hooks which are integrally formed on the outside or extraluminal surface of the device during the braiding process. Preferably, the hooks are integrally formed in at least one end of the device, although, depending upon the procedure being performed, both ends may include hooks. Anchoring means may also be added as a separate component if desired.
A preferred form of the intraluminal device, as well as other embodiments, features and advantages of this. invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of illustrative embodiments thereof, which is to be read in connection with the accompanying drawings.

Radially self-expanding implantable intraluminal device


An etching method containing, at the time of processing a substrate having a first layer containing titanium nitride (TiN) and a second layer containing a transition metal, selecting a substrate in which a surface oxygen content of the first layer is from 0.1 to 10% by mole, and applying an etching liquid containing a hydrofluoric acid compound and an oxidizing agent to the substrate and thereby removing the first layer.

Miniaturization and diversification of semiconductor devices have progressed more and more, and a processing method thereof covers a wide range with respect to each of device structures and production steps. As regards etching of the substrate, development of both dry etching and wet etching has been advanced and a variety of chemical liquids and processing conditions have been proposed depending on kinds and structures of the substrate material.
Above all, when a device structure of CMOS, DRAM or the like is produced, a technique of etching a prescribed material precisely is important and as one of techniques of addressing such problem, a wet etching which utilizes a chemical liquid is exemplified. For example, a precise etching processing is required in the production of circuit wiring of a microscopic transistor circuit, a metal electrode material, or a substrate having a barrier layer, a hard mask, and the like. However, sufficient study has not yet been done on etching conditions and chemical liquids suitable for each of the substrates containing a wide variety of metal compounds. Under these circumstances, an efficient removal of a hard mask or the like applied to the device substrate has been laid out as a production problem. Specifically, there are examples of studies on chemical liquids for etching titanium nitride (TiN) (see Patent Literatures 1 to 6).

Etching method of semiconductor substrate, and method of producing semiconductor device


Polysiloxane-polyoxyalkylene block copolymers, which are intended for the production of polyurethane foams, are prepared. The foams obtained have an improved, finer cell structure and the collapse of the foams is reduced. It is essential for the invention that a mixture of polyoxyalkylene groups is present in the polysiloxane-polyoxyalkylene block copolymers. Further particulars are laid down for selecting the different polyoxyalkylene groups with regard to the respective molecular weights and the ratio of polyoxyalkylene groups to one another.

For producing polyurethane foams, polysiloxane-polyoxyalkylene block copolymers are added to the mixture of reaction products. Said copolymers enable a uniform pore structure to be formed and stabilize the foam formed up to the end of the reaction. However, not all polysiloxane-polyoxyalkylene block copolymers are suitable in the same way. In order to be useful as polyurethane foam stabilizers, the polyoxyalkylene and the polysiloxane blocks of the block copolymer must be present in a well-balanced ratio, the structure of the two blocks also being of great importance. For the structure of an as effective as possible foam stabilizer, there is a plurality of variables for the polyoxyalkylene block as well as for the polysiloxane block.
The polyoxyalkylene block can be composed of different oxyalkylene units, particularly of oxyethylene, oxypropylene and oxybutylene units. The weight ratio of these units to one another, as well as the molecular weight of the polyoxyalkylene block can be varied. Of importance is also the end group of the polyoxyalkylene block, which can be reactive with respect to the polyurethane formation (for example, OH group) or inert (for example, alkoxy group). The polyoxyalkylene block can be linked to the polysiloxane block by a hydrolytically stable C-Si bond or by the hydrolytically less stable C--O--Si bond. Different polyoxyalkylene blocks can also be linked to the polysiloxane block.
The polysiloxane block can be varied with respect to the nature and proportion of the silicon units. The siloxane block can be linear or branched and have different molecular weights. The polyoxyalkylene block can be linked terminally and/or laterally to the polysiloxane block.
Only to a certain extent can the effectiveness of a polysiloxane-polyoxyalkylene block copolymer as a foam stabilizer be predicted. The expert is therefore required to test the possible variations largely empirically. In view of the large, practically indeterminable number of possible variations, the finding of special variation possibilities and of appropriate block copolymers represents a progress-amassing and thus inventive effort.
Polysiloxane-polyoxyalkylene block copolymers, which have different polyoxyalkylene groups in the average molecule, have already been described repeatedly. The following publications are named as being representative of the large number of appropriate publications:
German Patent 15 70 647: Chloropolysiloxanyl sulfates are reacted with mixtures of alkylene oxide adducts, which consist of 50 to 95 OH-equivalent percent of polyalkylene glycol monoethers, which consist of ethylene oxide and propylene oxide units and contain 40 to 70% by weight of oxypropylene units and have a molecular weight of 1,000 to 3,000 and the hydroxyl groups of which preferably are secondary, and
5 to 50 OH-equivalent percent of alkylene oxide adducts of polyhydric hydroxyl compounds with a molecular weight of 130 to 3,500, the polyalkylene glycol components of which consist of ethylene oxide and/or propylene oxide units and which have an OH equivalent weight up to 1,750 and the hydroxyl groups of which preferably are secondary,
the quantitative ratio being selected so that there are at most 1.4 and preferably 1.05 to 1.2 OH-equivalents per acid equivalent of the chloropolysiloxanyl sulfate.
German Patent 16 94 366: The polysiloxane-polyoxyalkylene block copolymers are used as foam stabilizers, the polysiloxane block of which has a known structure, but the polyoxyalkylene block of which consists of
25 to 70% by weight of a polyoxyalkylene with an average molecular weight of 1,600 to 4,000 and an ethylene oxide content of 20 to 100% by weight, the remainder being propylene oxide and optionally higher alkylene oxides, and
30 to 75% by weight of a polyoxyalkylene with an average molecular weight of 400 to 1,200 and an ethylene oxide content of 65 to 100% by weight, the remainder being propylene oxide and optionally higher alkylene oxides.
German Offenlegungsschrift 25 41 865: The polysiloxane-polyoxyalkylene block copolymers are defined with respect to their polyoxyalkylene blocks, so that the one polyoxyalkylene block has an average molecular weight of 900 to 1,300 and consists of 30 to 55% by weight of ethylene oxide, the remainder being propylene oxide, and the other polyoxyalkylene block has an average molecular weight of 3,800 to 5,000 and consists of 30 to 50% of ethylene oxide, the remainder being propylene oxide.
European Publication 0 275 563: The block copolymer, described in this published European patent application, comprises three different polyoxyalkylene blocks, namely one block, which contains 20 to 60% by weight of oxyethylene units with a molecular weight of 3,000 to 5,500, a further block with 20 to 60% by weight of oxyethylene units and a molecular weight of 800 to 2,900 and a third block, which contains only polyoxypropylene units and has a molecular weight of 130 to 1,200.

Polysiloxane-polyoxyalkylene block copolymers with different polyoxyalkylene blocks in the average molecule


Crystal forms of (3R,4S)-7-hydroxymethyl-2,2,9-trimethyl-4-(phenethylamino)-3,4-dihydro-2H-pyrano[2,3-g]quinolin-3-ol that are excellent as a drug, and production methods thereof. Production methods include crystallizing (3R,4S)-7-hydroxymethyl-2,2,9-trimethyl-4-(phenethylamino)-3,4-dihydro-2H-pyrano[2,3-g]quinolin-3-ol from an acetate ester solvent, an aliphatic hydrocarbon solvent, a nitrile solvent, an aromatic hydrocarbon solvent, a ketone solvent or an ether solvent, and crystal forms obtained according to the methods.

(3R,4S)-7-hydroxymethyl-2,2,9-trimethyl-4-(phenethylamino)-3,4-dihydro-2H-pyrano[2,3-g]quinolin-3-ol (hereinafter, called as Compound (1)) of Formula (1):
exerts an antiarrhythmic action and the possibility thereof to be used as a drug is known.
Drugs are desired to provide a compound having a constant quality with which a constant effectiveness can be always expected, and are thus generally crystallized. In addition, by crystallizing a compound, there can be obtained such an advantage that the chemical stability of the compound is enhanced (for example, see Non-patent Document 1). Meanwhile, it is known that a solid material has an ability that two or more crystallographic structures different from each other can be taken. The two or more crystallographic structures of the material as described above are called crystal polymorphism. In addition, when a compound is crystallized in an organic solvent or water, it is also known that the organic solvent or water used for the crystallization is sometimes incorporated in the compound, so that the compound becomes a solvate crystal (solvate) or a hydrate crystal (hydrate). In the present specification, the crystal polymorphism together with the solvate crystal and the hydrate crystal are called as crystal forms. These crystal forms usually have different solubilities, dissolution rates, stabilities, hygroscopicities, melting points, handling properties, and the like, so that for developing a crystal of a compound as a drug, it is necessary to evaluate these characteristics comprehensively and to select a crystal form suitable for the development of the drug (for example, see Non-patent Document 2).
However, with respect to Compound (1), there is hitherto only a description that the compound is obtained by the purification using column chromatography and the crystal form of Compound (1) is unknown (for example, see Patent Document 1). It is necessary to confirm whether the compound is able to be crystallized and have crystal forms. Then, when the crystal forms exist, it is necessary to confirm the reproducible production methods of chemically stable crystal forms, and novel crystal forms of the compound.

Crystal form of tricyclic benzopyran compound and production method thereof


In a movement detection method for multiple objects on a capacitive touchpad, the waveform of sensed values on the touchpad is monitored for its variation to determine respective movements of the objects on the touchpad, and various operational gestures are further determined exactly.

Capacitive touchpad is used as an input device to control cursor movement by providing a smooth panel for user's finger or conductive object to touch or move thereon. Since a capacitive touchpad is very thin, it can be designed into an ultra-thin notebook, a keyboard, a digital player and other devices, and further, its non-mechanical design makes it very easy to be maintained.
FIG. 1 shows a cross-sectional view of a typical two-dimensional capacitive touchpad 100, which comprises a panel 102, a Y-axis sensing layer 104, an insulator layer 106, an X-axis sensing layer 108, and a bottom plate 110. When a finger 112 touches on the panel 102, the sensed value on the touched position will have a variation, and the control circuit connected to the touchpad 100 can convert the capacitances on the touchpad 100 to the sensed value as shown in FIG. 2, by which the position where the finger 112 touches and the moving distance and the moving direction of the finger 112 can be determined. Conventionally, the sensed value from the touchpad 100 is used to determine if an object touches on the touchpad 100 by the way as shown in FIG. 3. When the sensed value is greater than a threshold value th, it is determined that an object touches on the touchpad 100; on the contrary, when the sensed value is less than the threshold value th, it is determined that the object leaves the touchpad 100 or no object touches on the touchpad 100.
However, the way to operate programs or devices by detecting gestures of single object, such as touching down to a touchpad, leaving from a touchpad, and moving on a touchpad, could no longer fulfill users' requirements in current electronic products. For this reason, there is a need to detect double or even more objects on a touchpad. Specifically, the actions of multiple objects operating on a touchpad can be defined as various gestures to vary the operations.
There have been proposed several detection methods for multiple objects touching on a touchpad. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,825,352 issued to Stephen et al., the waveform of sensed values is detected to determine the object touching on a touchpad. FIGS. 4A to 4D show the waveforms of sensed values from a touchpad 001 in two directions in a conventional method. In FIGS. 4A to 4D, X profile 002 is the distribution of the sensed values in the horizontal direction of the touchpad 001, and Y profile 003 is the distribution of the sensed values in the vertical direction of the touchpad 001. Each peak of the waveform in the X profile 002 represents an object touching on the touchpad 001. For example, as shown in FIG. 4A, the waveform in the X profile 002 has single peak 021, and it means there is only one object 011 on the touchpad 001. In FIG. 4B, the waveform in the X profile 002 has two peaks 021 and 022, and it means there are two objects 011 and 012 on the touchpad 001. As shown in FIG. 4C, if the waveform in the X profile 002 has three peaks 021, 022, and 023, it means there are three objects 011, 012, and 013 on the touchpad 001. By detecting the number of the objects on the touchpad 001, various gestures could be identified. For instance, two objects moving on the touchpad 001 may be defined as a first gesture, and two objects leaving from the touchpad 001 within a reference time interval since their touching down to the touchpad 001 may be defined as a second gesture, and so on. By this way, practical gestures are increased and the operations become more simple and varied.
However, it cannot determine the respective movements of two or more objects by the foregoing method. For example, as shown in FIG. 4B, two objects 011 and 012 touches on the touchpad 001, resulting in the X profile 002 having two peaks 021 and 022 and the Y profile 002 having one peak 031. Then, if the object 011 starts to move upward and the object 012 keeps still on the touchpad 001, the X profile 002 still has two peaks 021 and 022, while the Y profile 003 splits from one peak 031 to two peaks 031 and 032 as shown in FIG. 4D. It becomes more difficult to determine which object on the touchpad 001 is the moved one. If the movement of respective object can be determined individually, more practical gestures can be defined, and more operations for a touchpad can be applied thereto.
Therefore, it is desired a method for detecting the movement of respective one among multiple objects on a capacitive touchpad.

Movement detection method for multiple objects on a capacitive touchpad