A rewritable optical medium and a method of managing its defect area is disclosed. The DMA condition or initially assignable spare area size in the present invention is determined based upon the interrelation between the spare area size and the DMA condition. Namely, the PDL entry condition among the DMA condition is determined to allow a minimum spare area for linear replacement in the initially assignable spare area after slipping replacement during formatting to facilitate management of the defect area of a rewritable optical medium. The present invention also discloses a method of controlling the recording/playback of optical media with the same format and different sizes, thereby improving the system performance.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical recording medium and particularly to a method of managing the defect area and method of controlling the recording/playback operation of the optical recording medium.
2. Discussion of Related Art
An optical storage medium is generally divided into a read only memory (ROM), a write once read many (WORM) memory into which data can be written one time, and rewritable memories into which data can be written several times. Rewritable optical storage mediums, i.e. optical discs, include rewritable compact discs (CD-RW) and rewritable digital versatile discs (DVD-RW, DVD-RAM, DVD+RW).
The operations of writing and playing back data in a rewritable optical disc may be repeated. This repeated process alters the ratio of storage layers for recording data into the optical disc from the initial ratio. Thus, the optical discs lose their characteristics and generate an error during recording/playback. This degradation is indicated as a defective area at the time of formatting, recording on or playing back from an optical storage medium. Also, defective areas of a rewritable optical disc may be caused by a scratch on its surface, particles of dirt and dust, or errors during manufacture. Therefore, in order to prevent writing into or reading out of the defective area, management of such defective areas is necessary.
FIG. 1 shows a defect management area (DMA) in a lead-in area and a lead-out area of the optical disc to manage a defect area. Particularly, the data area is divided into a plurality of zones, where each zone is further divided into xe2x80x98a user areaxe2x80x99 and xe2x80x98a spare area.xe2x80x99 The user area is where data is actually written and the spare area is used when a defect occurs in the user area.
There are four DMAs in one disc, e.g. DVD-RAM, two of which exist in the lead-in area and two exist in the lead-out area. Because managing defective areas is important, the same contents are repeatedly recorded in all four DMAs to protect the data. Each DMA comprises two blocks of 32 sectors, where one block comprises 16 sectors. The first block of the DMA, called a DDS/PDL block, includes a disc definition structure (DDS) and a primary defect list (PDL). The second block of the DMA, called an SDL block, includes a secondary defect list (SDL). The PDL corresponds to a primary defect data storage and the SDL corresponds to a secondary defect data storage.
The PDL generally stores entries of defective sectors caused during the manufacture of the disc or identified when formatting a disc, namely initializing and re-initializing a disc. Each entry is composed of an entry type field and a field for a sector number corresponding to a defective sector. The SDL lists defective areas in block units, thereby storing entries of defective blocks occurring after formatting or defective blocks which could not be stored in the PDL during the formatting. Each SDL entry has a field for storing a sector number of the first sector of a block having defective sectors, a field for storing a sector number of the first sector of a block replacing the defective block, and reserved areas. Accordingly, defective areas, i.e. defective sectors or defective blocks, within the data area are replaced with normal or non-defective sectors or blocks by a slipping replacement algorithm and a linear replacement algorithm.
The slipping replacement algorithm is utilized when a defective area is recorded in the PDL. As shown in FIG. 2A, if defective sectors m and n, corresponding to sectors in the user area, are recorded in the PDL, such defective sectors are skipped to the next available good sector. By replacing the defective sectors by subsequent good sectors, data is written to a normal sector. As a result, the user area into which user data is written slips and occupies the spare area in the amount equivalent to the skipped defective sectors. For example, if two defect sectors are registered in the PDL, the user data would slip and occupy two sectors of the spare area.
The linear replacement algorithm is utilized when a defective block is recorded in the SDL or when a defective block is found during playback. As shown in FIG. 2B, if defective blocks m and n, corresponding to blocks in either the user or spare area, are recorded on the SDL, such defective blocks are replaced by normal blocks in the spare area and the data to be recorded in the defective block are recorded in an assigned spare area.
As defective areas are compensated utilizing the spare area, methods of assigning the spare area play an important role in the defective area management. Typically, the spare area may be allocated in each zone or group of the data area or may be allocated in a designated portion of the data area.
One method of allocating the spare area is to allocate the spare area at the top of the data area, as shown in FIG. 3(a). In such case, the spare area is called a Primary Spare Area. Namely, the data area excluding the primary spare area becomes the user area.
The primary spare area, assigned in an initial formatting process, is assigned when a manufacturer produces the optical disc or when a user initially formats an empty disc. A variety of sizes can be allocated for the primary spare area. For example, in order to provide a 4.7 GB(Giga byte) initial data recording capacity (i.e. initial user area) in a disc with a size of 120 mm, 26 MB (Mega Byte) may be allocated for the primary spare area. Moreover, a supplementary spare area may be additionally assigned near the bottom of the data area, as shown in FIG. 3(b), if necessary.
When a rewritable optical disc is loaded, the defect information registered in the lead-in area (or lead-out area) of the DMA is first read and recorded in a specified location of the system memory of a drive. The maximum DMA storage capacity to store the defect information in the system memory of a drive, for example 32 KB (Kilo bytes), is predetermined. Thus, DMA processing conditions are given to satisfy the predetermined DMA storage capacity. The conditions are expressed below in Equation 1, where SPDL denotes the number of sectors used for maintaining the PDL entries, SSDL denotes the number of sectors used for maintaining the SDL entries, EPDL denotes the number of PDL entries, and ESDL denotes the number of SDL entries.
xe2x80x831xe2x89xa6SPDLxe2x89xa615 (or 16)
1xe2x89xa6SSDLxe2x89xa615 (or 16)
SPDL+SSDLxe2x89xa616 sectors
SPDL=[(EPDLxc3x974+4)+2027]/2048
SSDL=[(ESDLxc3x978+24)+2027]/2048xe2x80x83xe2x80x83[Equation 1]
Referring to Equation 1, a DMA storage capacity which satisfies the conditions, 1xe2x89xa6SPDLxe2x89xa615 and 1xe2x89xa6SSDLxe2x89xa615, is 32 KB (2048*16). This is because one sector corresponds to 2048 Bytes and the number of total sectors which can be used for the PDL and SDL cannot exceed 16 sectors, i.e. SPDL+SSDLxe2x89xa616 sectors. The DMA storage capacity satisfying the conditions, 1xe2x89xa6SPDLxe2x89xa616 and 1xe2x89xa6SSDLxe2x89xa616, is 64 KB (=(2048*16)+(2048*16)) because only one condition that the PDL or SDL cannot exceed 16 sectors is present. Thus, the DMA storage capacity varies with the DMA conditions.
However, during a formatting of an optical disc, an overflow may be caused by a limited number of entries which can be registered in the PDL according to Equation 1. This is because the DMA conditions do not take into consideration the size of the spare area. In other words, advancement of technology will continuously produce an optical recording medium with greater capacity or an optical recording media with the same format but different sizes and recording capacity. This would result in a variation of the standard, size and recording capacity of the optical medium. For each variation, the size of the spare area and the DMA condition should be determined for the new optical recording medium. Nevertheless, there has been no standard for determining the size of the spare area and DMA condition.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve at least the problems and disadvantages of the related art.
An object of the present invention is to provide a method of managing the defect area of an optical recording medium in consideration of the spare area size and the DMA condition.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method of managing the defect area of an optical recording medium by determining the DMA condition using an interrelation between the spare area size and the DMA condition.
A still another object of the present invention is to provide a method of managing the defect area of an optical recording medium by determining the size of initially assignable spare area using the interrelation between the spare area size and the DMA condition.
A further another object of the present invention is to provide an optical recording medium in which the spare area is assigned in consideration of the interrelation between the spare area size and the DMA condition.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a method of controlling recording/playback of an optical medium, which allows recording/playback of optical media of different conditions in a single system.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a method of controlling recording/playback of an optical medium, which allows recording/playback of 120/80 mm optical media having the same format but different sizes in a single system.
Additional advantages, objects, and features of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and in part will become apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned from practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained as particularly pointed out in the appended claims.
To achieve the objects and in accordance with the purposes of the invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, a method of managing a defect area of an optical medium includes determining the size of the initially assignable spare area; and determining a PDL entry condition such that a spare area for linear replacement is left in the initially assignable spare area after the slipping replacement during a formatting. The PDL entry condition is determined by utilizing the interrelation between the initially assignable spare area size and the PDL entry condition.
The size of the initially assignable spare area is determined based upon the initial recording capacity and the PDL entry condition. A SDL entry condition is determined using the set PDL entry condition and a predetermined maximum spare area size. The SDL entry condition may also be determined using the set PDL entry condition and a predetermined DMA storage capacity. When the predetermined maximum spare area size is larger than the initially assignable spare area size, a separate spare area is additionally assigned as required.
To accomplish the objects of the present invention, there is also provided a method of managing a defect area of an optical medium in which a PDL entry condition is determined to allow a spare area for linear replacement to exist in the initially assignable spare area after slipping replacement during a formatting.
To accomplish the objects of the present invention, there is provided an optical medium in which a spare area is assigned to allow a spare area for linear replacement to exist in the initially assignable spare area after slipping replacement during formatting. In another embodiment of the present invention, a method of controlling the recording/playback of an optical medium is provided including judging the kind of the optical medium when an optical medium is loaded, and controlling the recording/playback of the optical medium based upon a DMA condition of the judged optical medium.
Furthermore, to accomplish the objects of the present invention, there is provided a method of controlling the recording/playback of an optical medium including judging if an optical medium has a diameter of 80 mm when an optical medium is loaded, and if it is judged to be an optical medium having the diameter of 80 mm, controlling the recording/playback operation on condition such that the number of sectors managed by a PDL among a DMA condition does not exceed 11.

Optical recording medium and method of managing defect area of the optical recording medium


A process for reducing fouling during cracking of a hydrocarbon feedstock containing resid is provided which comprises: introducing a mixture stream of heated hydrocarbon feedstock mixed with steam to a flash/separation apparatus to form i) a vapor phase at its dew point which partially cracks causing a temperature decrease and partial condensation of said vapor phase in the absence of added heat, and ii) a liquid phase. Partial condensation is reduced by adding a heated vaporous diluent, e.g., light hydrocarbon or superheated steam, to the flash/separation apparatus to an extent sufficient to at least partially compensate for the temperature decrease and to dilute and superheat the vapor phase, prior to removing the vapor phase as overhead for subsequent cracking and recovery of cracked product. An apparatus for carrying out the process is also provided.

Steam cracking, also referred to as pyrolysis, has long been used to crack various hydrocarbon feedstocks into olefins, preferably light olefins such as ethylene, propylene, and butenes. Conventional steam cracking utilizes a pyrolysis furnace which has two main sections: a convection section and a radiant section. The hydrocarbon feedstock typically enters the convection section of the furnace as a liquid (except for light feedstocks which enter as a vapor) wherein it is typically heated and vaporized by indirect contact with hot flue gas from the radiant section and by direct contact with steam. The vaporized feedstock and steam mixture is then introduced into the radiant section where the cracking takes place. The resulting products including olefins leave the pyrolysis furnace for further downstream processing, including quenching.
Pyrolysis involves heating the feedstock sufficiently to cause thermal decomposition of the larger molecules. The pyrolysis process, however, produces molecules which tend to combine to form high molecular weight materials known as tar. Tar is a high-boiling point, viscous, reactive material that can foul equipment under certain conditions. In general, feedstocks containing higher boiling materials tend to produce greater quantities of tar.
The formation of tar after the pyrolysis effluent leaves the steam cracking furnace can be minimized by rapidly reducing the temperature of the effluent exiting the pyrolysis unit to a level at which the tar-forming reactions are greatly slowed. This cooling which may be achieved in one or more steps and using one or more methods is referred to as quenching.
Conventional steam cracking systems have been effective for cracking high-quality feedstock which contain a large fraction of light volatile hydrocarbons, such as gas oil and naphtha. However, steam cracking economics sometimes favor cracking lower cost heavy feedstocks such as, by way of non-limiting examples, crude oil and atmospheric residue. Crude oil and atmospheric residue often contain high molecular weight, non-volatile components with boiling points in excess of 1100° F. (590° C.) otherwise known as resids. The non-volatile components of these feedstocks lay down as coke in the convection section of conventional pyrolysis furnaces. Only very low levels of non-volatile components can be tolerated in the convection section downstream of the point where the lighter components have fully vaporized.
Additionally, during transport some naphthas are contaminated with heavy crude oil containing non-volatile components. Conventional pyrolysis furnaces do not have the flexibility to process residues, crudes, or many residue or crude contaminated gas oils or naphthas which are contaminated with non-volatile components.
To address coking problems, U.S. Pat. No. 3,617,493, which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses the use of an external vaporization drum for the crude oil feed and discloses the use of a first flash to remove naphtha as vapor and a second flash to remove vapors with a boiling point between 450 and 1100° F. (230 and 590° C.). The vapors are cracked in the pyrolysis furnace into olefins and the separated liquids from the two flash tanks are removed, stripped with steam, and used as fuel.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,718,709, which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses a process to minimize coke deposition. It describes preheating of heavy feedstock inside or outside a pyrolysis furnace to vaporize about 50% of the heavy feedstock with superheated steam and the removal of the residual, separated liquid. The vaporized hydrocarbons, which contain mostly light volatile hydrocarbons, are subjected to cracking. Periodic regeneration above pyrolysis temperature is effected with air and steam.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,190,634, which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses a process for inhibiting coke formation in a furnace by preheating the feedstock in the presence of a small, critical amount of hydrogen in the convection section. The presence of hydrogen in the convection section inhibits the polymerization reaction of the hydrocarbons thereby inhibiting coke formation.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,580,443, which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses a process wherein the feedstock is first preheated and then withdrawn from a preheater in the convection section of the pyrolysis furnace. This preheated feedstock is then mixed with a predetermined amount of steam (the dilution steam) and is then introduced into a gas-liquid separator to separate and remove a required proportion of the non-volatiles as liquid from the separator. The separated vapor from the gas-liquid separator is returned to the pyrolysis furnace for heating and cracking.
Co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 10/188461 filed Jul. 3, 2002, patent application Publication US 2004/0004022 A1, published Jan. 8, 2004, which is incorporated herein by reference, describes an advantageously controlled process to optimize the cracking of volatile hydrocarbons contained in the heavy hydrocarbon feedstocks and to reduce and avoid coking problems. It provides a method to maintain a relatively constant ratio of vapor to liquid leaving the flash by maintaining a relatively constant temperature of the stream entering the flash. More specifically, the constant temperature of the flash stream is maintained by automatically adjusting the amount of a fluid stream mixed with the heavy hydrocarbon feedstock prior to the flash. The fluid can be water.
Co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 60/555,282, filed Mar. 22, 2004, describes a process for cracking heavy hydrocarbon feedstock which mixes heavy hydrocarbon feedstock with a fluid, e.g., hydrocarbon or water, to form a mixture stream which is flashed to form a vapor phase and a liquid phase, the vapor phase being subsequently cracked to provide olefins. The amount of fluid mixed with the feedstock is varied in accordance with a selected operating parameter of the process, e.g., temperature of the mixture stream before the mixture stream is flashed, the pressure of the flash, the flow rate of the mixture stream, and/or the excess oxygen in the flue gas of the furnace.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/851,494 filed May 21, 2004. which is incorporated herein by reference describes a process for cracking heavy hydrocarbon feedstock which mixes heavy hydrocarbon feedstock with a fluid, e.g., hydrocarbon or water, to form a mixture stream which is flashed to form a vapor phase and a liquid phase, the vapor phase being subsequently cracked to provide olefins. Fouling downstream of the flash/separation vessel is reduced by partially condensing the vapor in the upper portion of the vessel.
When heavy resid containing hydrocarbon feeds are used, the feed is preheated in the upper convection section of a pyrolysis furnace, mixed with steam and optionally, water, and then further preheated in the convection section, where the majority of the hydrocarbon vaporizes, but not the resid. This two-phase mist flow stream may pass through a series of pipe bends, reducers, and piping that convert the two-phase mist flow to two-phase stratified open channel flow, i.e., the liquid flows primarily through the bottom cross-section of the pipe and the vapor phase flows primarily though the remaining upper cross-section of the pipe. The stratified open channel flow is introduced through a tangential inlet to a flash/separation apparatus, e.g., a knockout drum, where the vapor and liquid separate. It has been observed that the resulting hydrocarbon/steam vapor phase is at its dew point and is hot enough to crack reducing the vapor temperature by about 8° C. (15° F.) before it is further preheated in the lower convection section and then cracked in the radiant section of the furnace. This cooling effect condenses a portion of the heaviest hydrocarbon. The condensate dehydrogenates into foulant that limits both the time between decoking treatments and the maximum amount of hydrocarbon present as vapor in the flash/separation apparatus. Microscopic analysis of the foulant indicates it is derived from liquid hydrocarbon.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a process for cracking hydrocarbons in which liquid condensation from the vapor in the flash/separation apparatus is reduced or eliminated.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Process for reducing vapor condensation in flash/separation apparatus overhead during steam cracking of hydrocarbon feedstocks


A device for connection of a line element to a component is provided. The line element ends in a connection housing or is connected to such a connection housing. A releasable fixing arrangement is configured between the connection housing and the component. A line section extending in the connection housing is heated by an electric heating wire. The heating wire externally surrounds the line section. The heated line section projects in the direction of the component so far over the region for releasable fixing of the connection housing on the component that it ends in the inner space of the component.

Exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to a device for connecting a line element to a component and a fuel cell system having at least one component comprising such a line element.
German Patent Document DE 10 2007 009 898 A1 discloses a heating system for a pipe or a tube in a fuel cell system. A heating wire in contact with the pipe or tube in order to prevent water from freezing in the pipe or tube. The heating wire is, for example, wound around the pipe or tube and is fixed thereto via a protective layer. In addition, a thermal insulation can be provided.
The problem with this structure is that the pipe itself can be heated. Heating is thereby difficult in the region of possible connection elements, in particular if the heated line element is attached to an unheated component, for example a fuel cell stack, a reactor, a water separator or similar. Condensation and freezing of liquid water can then arise in this region, as merely the surrounding pipelines can be heated and this region of the connection is not heated.
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention provide a device for connecting a line element to a component that is designed so that the abovementioned disadvantages are avoided and a connection is ensured that avoids the condensation and possible freezing of liquid from the medium conveyed in the line element.
The device according to the invention for connecting a line element to a component is configured so that the line element ends in a connection housing or is fixedly connected to such a connection housing. This connection housing itself then comprises suitable means for releasable fixing to the component. This can be, for example, a conventional screw interacting with a flange. In addition other releasable connection means would be conceivable, for example plug-in connections with mechanical locking, as described in particular by the SAE paper J 2044.
According to the invention a line section extending in the connection housing is heated via an electric heating wire externally surrounding it. The heated line section thereby projects in the direction of the component so far over the region for releasable fixing of the connection housing to the component that the line section ends in the inner space of the component.
The device according to the invention thus allows the media to be transported to also be heated in the region of the component interface or the connection of the line element to a component as well as allowing the thawing of any medium frozen in this region. As the line section projects into the inner space of the component it can additionally be ensured that condensing medium forming in the region of the possibly cool wall of the component and running down the wall does not penetrate into the line element or the line section. The secure and reliable transport of media with the line element to the component can thus be ensured.
According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention the material of the connection housing surrounds the heated line section and the heating wire over the whole length of the line section. The heating wire can thus be wound around the line section correspondingly from externally so that no reaction of a medium conveyed in the line section with the possibly very hot heating wire can occur. In addition, due to the fact that the material of the connection housing surrounds both the heating wire and the line section, this can be correspondingly protected against damage. The connection housing or the material of the connection housing thus form a protective layer around the line section provided with the heating wire. This is then protected from mechanical damage so that the heating can be securely and reliably guaranteed.
According to a further advantageous embodiment of the device according to the invention the connection housing is formed from an electrically non-conductive material. Such a connection housing composed of an electrically non-conductive material can also provide, additionally or alternatively to the abovementioned mechanical protection of the line element and/or heating wire, an electrical insulation of the heating wire in relation to the environment so that, besides the heating wire and the line section, merely the material of the connection housing is necessary as a third layer. The structure is correspondingly simple and can be cost-effectively realized.
According to an advantageous further development of the device according to the invention the connection housing is formed integrally with the line element. Such a structure can be used, for example, when line elements with a pre-finished length are used in comparatively large numbers. The line element and the connection housing can then be easily formed integrally so that in the region in which the line element goes into the connection housing, no additional interfaces are produced that could be critical in terms of sealing and possibly in relation to the transmission of electrical heat energy from the region of the connection housing into the region of the line element.
According to a particularly favorable embodiment of the device according to the invention, the connection housing is formed as an injection molded part, which surrounds an end of the line element and the line section on the outer periphery. Such a structure as an injection molded part, in particular made of plastic, can be easily used to produce a comparatively stable and cost-effective connection housing if correspondingly high numbers of connection housings are required. Due to the fact that the connection housing or the injection molded material of the connection housing completely surrounds an end of the line element and the line section, a sealed connection can be produced very simply and efficiently through this structure. Additionally, the line section can be embedded together with the heating wires in the injection molded part insofar as this structure is to be used in the above-described variant. A component is then produced with a single work step on an injection molding unit which brings together all the aforementioned variants and advantages.
As already indicated above, according to a further very advantageous embodiment of the device according to the invention, the line element itself can also be designed to be electrically heated. It can thereby be particularly meaningful and advantageous if the electrical heating both of the line element and of the connection housing is designed so that the heating wire extending in the region of the line section is also connected to a heating wire extending in the region of the line element.
According to a very favorable and advantageous development of the present invention, the electrical connections for the heating wire are guided outwards in the region of the connection housing. This facilitates the electrical connection of the heating wire in the region of the connection housing. As the connection housing is releasably connected to a component, it is generally at a fixedly predefined location during the operation of a system equipped with the device and, unlike a line element formed, for example, as a tube, is typically not moved by vibrations and the like. In this region an arrangement of the electrical connection elements can thereby take place comparatively simply, securely and reliably without these being exposed to the risk of damage through constant movements.
As already mentioned above, the present invention is also directed to a fuel cell system having at least one component. This fuel cell system according to the invention then provides that the at least one component is connected by means of a device according to one of the already-described embodiments to a line element. As already known from the abovementioned prior art, it is particularly critical in fuel cell systems, in which water is produced or required in a highly pure form as product water and for moistening membranes, if these systems are operated at temperatures below freezing point. However, as this is unavoidable in vehicles in many regions of the world, the device designed according to the invention plays a particularly advantageous role in such fuel cell systems.

Device for connecting a line element to a component


A memory device includes a matrix of several columns of SRAM memory cells each including transistors forming a memory point, a read port and a write port, and such that the transistors of the read port and/or the P-type transistors include a second well with a conductivity type opposite that of a first well of the other transistors. The memory device also includes a polarization unit for the second wells, able to select and apply polarization potentials on the second wells, including a memory circuit of the polarization states of the second wells for each column or group of columns and a selection circuit applying a polarization potential on the second wells according to one of the values received as input, as a function of the stored polarization state associated with the column or group of columns.

The invention relates to the field of static random access memories (SRAM) working over very broad range of supply voltage values, and for example used in portable electronic devices such as smart phones, digital tablets, laptops, etc.
For so-called high-performance and low-consumption modern portable applications, it is interesting to use integrated circuits designed to work over a very broad range of supply voltage values so as to be able to dynamically adapt the value of the supply voltage of the circuits as a function of their use, and thus to optimize the energy performance of those circuits and reduce their electricity consumption so as to save on battery time.
In digital integrated circuits, the possible values of the supply voltage of those circuits are generally limited by the memories of those circuits. Indeed, the variability of the CMOS transistors present in the memories prevents them from working at a supply voltage as low as that of the elements forming the logic of the integrated circuits because the architecture of the memory leads to a deterioration of their performance greater than for the elements forming the logic when the supply voltage is reduced. For example, by reducing the supply voltage, the access time of the SRAM memories increases more quickly than the propagation time of the logic circuits.
In integrated circuits, several types of memories are used. The closer the memory is to the computing unit, the closer its performance and operating conditions will be to those of the computing unit. Thus, the cache memory L1, which is glued to the computing unit, is generally designed from SRAM memory cells with 6 or 8 transistors (called 6T or 8T). These memory cells are developed to achieve a better compromise of the following criteria:                good stability of the stored information,        ease of writing,        a maximum read current (ICELL) to have good performance,        a reasonable cell size to have a high integration density associated with low deteriorations of the performance caused by metallization of the cell, and        a minimal retention current (IOFF) to minimize the consumed static power.
The dispersions obtained with the deca-nanometric CMOS technologies of 28 nm and less prevent, however, a guarantee of these criteria with a high performance (of approximately 5 to 6 sigmas, or an error rate of approximately 10−9). At a low voltage, these conditions are even more difficult to achieve.
In parallel to these considerations, reducing the dimensions of electronic components requires using new technologies to produce these integrated circuits. Thus, for technological nodes of 28 nm and below, the FDSOI (Fully Depleted Silicon-On-Insulator) technology makes it possible to improve the electrostatic control and dispersions of MOS transistors. Furthermore, the threshold voltage of an FDSOI transistor can be adjusted by doping and polarization on the rear face of the transistor. N- or P-wells can be used, both for NMOS and PMOS transistors. This FDSOI technology offers a means to improve the performance of memory circuits without additional design efforts.
The document "6T SRAM design for Wide Voltage Range in 28 nm FDSOI" by O. Thomas et al., SOI Conference (SOI), 2012 IEEE International, 1-4 Oct. 2012, Napa, Calif., pages 1-2, describes a 6T memory cell made using 28 nm FDSOI technology whereof the mono-P-Well architecture (only one P-well shared by all six transistors of the memory cell) makes it possible to decrease the supply voltage value of the transistors of the cell, in particular by improving writing. However, the write optimization and read optimization remain dependent on one another. Yet the reduction in the supply voltage causes a decrease in the possible read speed.
The document "An Area-Conscious Low-Voltage-Oriented 8T-SRAM Design under DVS Environment" by Y. Morita et al., VLSI Circuits, 2007 IEEE Symposium on, 14-16 Jun. 2007, Kyoto, JP, pages 256-257, describes an 8T memory cell that includes, relative to a 6T memory cell, two additional transistors forming the read port of the cell. This read port makes it possible to decorrelate the reading from the writing done in the cell because during reading, the two access transistors used for writing in the cell remain in the blocked state. As for a 6T memory cell, this alternative may be improved using FDSOI technology. However, a drop in the supply voltage of the transistors of the cell nevertheless causes a drop in the read speed that can be achieved by such a memory cell.
Furthermore, for high-performance applications, whether the memory cells include 6 or 8 transistors, the performance of the memory circuits is affected by timing faults, or synchronization faults, in read and write. A read timing fault is due to a read current of the cell that is too low to discharge a bit-line quickly enough in the allotted access time. A write timing fault is due to the excessively long switching time of the memory cell to store a bit correctly. The read timing faults can also be created by an excessively long write time because in that case, the completion of logic level "1", i.e., the transition of the potential from the node with logic level "0" toward logic level "1" during writing, is not complete (completion being able to end during the following cycle), which limits the read current during the following cycle if it involves reading because the potential in the node is then lower than the potential correspondent to logic level "1". Yet the number of cells showing such a malfunction increases when the supply voltage of the memory cells is reduced.
In the matrix of memory cells, redundancy solutions for a column or row of cells have been proposed to offset these problems, as for example described in document "Row/Column Redundancy to Reduce SRAM Leakage in Presence of Random Within-Die Delay Variation" by M. Goudarzi et al., Low Power Electronics and Design (ISLPED), 2008 ACM/IEEE International Symposium on, 11-13 Aug. 2008, Bangalore, pages 93-98. These redundancies are used to replace the columns or rows of nonfunctional memory cells, i.e., the columns or rows of cells where one or more cells create read and/or write timing faults. The possible number of redundant columns or rows nevertheless remains limited due to the fact that a certain density of the matrix must nevertheless be kept. Furthermore, this solution requires reprogramming the access circuits to the matrix.
There are also solutions based on error correction codes (ECC). They associate additional bits with the word that makes it possible to detect and correct any errors. The programming of the additional bits is done through an encoding logic and verification by a decoding logic. ECC's are very effective to respond to "software" errors (assumed to be small in quantity), but are not suitable for low-voltage applications where the error rate increases very quickly.
These read and/or write timing fault problems created by a drop in the supply voltage are also found for SRAM memory cells comprising transistors other than CMOS FDSOI transistors, such as TFET transistors as described in document "A novel Si-Tunnel FET based SRAM design for ultra low-power 0.3V VDD applications" by J. Singh et al., Proceedings of 15th Asia and South Pacific Design Automation Conference (ASP-DAC), pp. 181-186, January 2010.

Device with SRAM memory cells including means for polarizing wells of memory cell transistors

Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives


A device that comprises a first semiconductor die and a second semiconductor die. The first semiconductor die comprises a first clock signal generator. The second semiconductor die comprises a fault detection circuit, the fault detection circuit comprising a second clock signal generator, a first counter coupled to the second clock signal generator, multiple storage devices coupled to the second clock signal generator and to the first counter, a logic gate coupled to the multiple storage devices, a second counter coupled to the logic gate and to the first clock signal generator, and a comparator coupled to the logic gate and the second counter.

High voltage devices may provide isolation barriers that separate a low voltage portion of the device from a high voltage portion of the device. The isolation barriers reduce the risk of electrical shock to human beings, and the risk of damage to other electronic or electrical equipment, in the event of a failure on the high voltage portion of the device. High voltage devices are used in electric motor applications, electric generator applications, electric converter applications, and high power amplifier applications.

Device with isolation barrier and fault detection


A method and apparatus for enabling dynamic product and vendor identification and the display of relevant purchase information are described herein. According to embodiments of the invention, a recognition process is executed on sensor data captured via a mobile computing device to identify one or more items, and to identify at least one product associated with the one or more items. Product and vendor information for the at least one product is retrieved and displayed via the mobile computing device. In the event a user gesture is detected in response to displaying the product and vendor information data, processing logic may submit a purchase order for the product (e.g., for an online vendor) or contact the vendor (e.g., for an in-store vendor).

A mobile computing device may include an image sensor (e.g., a camera) and/or an audio sensor (e.g., a microphone) to capture media data about people, places, and things a user of the mobile computing device encounters. When the user encounters an object, he may utilize the mobile computing device to obtain information about the object; however, he must typically enter a query to determine whether the object is a product for sale (if the object is encountered outside of a shopping context), an additional separate query for identifying both on-line and in-store vendors, and another separate query to obtain product review information. What is needed is a process for quickly and efficiently identifying product and vendor information for objects encountered by mobile computing device users.

Method and apparatus for enabling real-time product and vendor identification


An electronic control unit has a microcomputer and a signal monitoring circuit. When a brake pedal is pressed down and an analog signal from a brake pedal sensor is changed in a low power consumption operation mode of the microcomputer, the signal monitoring circuit operates cyclically. When the signal monitoring circuit starts the operation, a capacitor is charged with a constant current for only a charging time stored in a memory. When a comparator detects that the analog signal is lower than the charge voltage of the capacitor, a wakeup signal is output from the comparator to the microcomputer to cause the microcomputer to operate in the normal operation mode. The charging time is pre-stored in a memory of the microcomputer.

In an in-vehicle electronic control unit, a microcomputer disposed therein operates with an in-vehicle battery as a power supply.
In the in-vehicle electronic control unit that is required to operate even when an ignition switch is off, that is, in the off-state during which the in-vehicle battery is not changed, particularly when the ignition switch is off, power consumption is required to be reduced as much as possible. For this reason, when given conditions including a condition where the ignition switch is off are satisfied, the operation mode is shifted to a low power consumption operation mode (standby mode or sleep mode) which is smaller in the power consumption than the normal operation mode.
Also, in the in-vehicle electronic control unit, there is required a function of shifting (waking up) the microcomputer to the normal operation mode when some signals are monitored, and the occurrence of a predetermined change in the signals is detected even when the microcomputer is in the low power consumption operation mode.
For example, it is assumed that an analog signal having a voltage value changed according to the amount of operating an operation section such as a brake by a vehicle driver is to be monitored. Then, there is provided a wakeup function of waking up the microcomputer when it is determined that the operation section has been operated upon detecting that a magnitude relation of the analog signal and a reference voltage reaches a predetermined relation (analog signal<reference voltage, or analog signal>reference voltage).
Further, because it is considered that an optimum value of the reference voltage is different in each of the vehicle lines, it is required that a value of the reference voltage used for the wakeup function can be arbitrarily changed.
Under the circumstances, as a technique of realizing the wakeup function, it is proposed that, even when the microcomputer becomes the low power consumption operation mode, the microcomputer is returned to the normal operation mode at regular time intervals, and the analog signal to be monitored is subjected to A/D conversion by means of a built-in A/D converter. The A/D conversion value is compared with a reference voltage corresponding value within a memory. When both of those values satisfy a predetermined relationship, the microcomputer remains in the normal operation mode without returning to the low power consumption operation mode again.
However, in this method, because the microcomputer must be intermittently returned to the normal operation mode even temporarily, the power consumption cannot be sufficiently reduced.
JP 2004-234463A proposes a circuit that cyclically subjects an analog signal to A/D conversion, and compares the A/D conversion value with a value within an expected value register to output a wakeup signal to the CPU when the compared values satisfy a given relationship, in addition to the CPU.
However, in JP 2004-234463A, because the circuit including the A/D converter must be provided in addition to the microcomputer, the circuit scale and the costs increase.

Electronic control unit and signal monitoring circuit


An electronic device under test (DUT) responds to a digital input signal by generating a digital DUT output signal conveying a repetitive digital signal pattern. An apparatus for measuring various characteristics of the DUT output signal includes a trigger generator for generating a series of trigger signal edges in response to selected DUT output signal edges occurring during separate repetitions of the digital signal pattern. The trigger generator can be configured to generate each trigger signal edge in response to the same or a different edge of the digital signal pattern. The apparatus determines when a DUT output signal edge occurs by determining when the DUT output signal rises above or falls below adjustable reference voltages. The apparatus alternatively responds to each trigger signal edge by measuring a period between two different edges of the digital signal pattern and or by repetitively sampling the DUT output signal to determine its state.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to automated test equipment, and in particular to a system for measuring characteristics of a digital signal including its jitter, analog noise levels, period, frequency, skew, and rise and fall times.
2. Description of Related Art
Digital integrated circuits (ICs) communicate through digital data signals, and when a transmitting IC transmits a digital data signal to a receiving IC, the transmitter typically synchronizes state changes in the digital data signal to leading (or trailing) edges of a periodic clock signal so that the state changes within the data signal will occur at predictable times. To produce a data sequence represented by successive states of the digital signal, the receiver need only digitize the data signal with an appropriate sampling phase and frequency. In some communication systems, a transmitter sending a digital data signal to a receiver also sends a clock signal to the receiver for controlling the timing with which the receiver samples the data signal. In other communication systems the receiver may include a "clock recovery" system for generating the sampling clock signal locally, using a feedback control system to adjust the phase and frequency of the sampling clock signal based on an analysis of data the receiver acquires by observing the data signal.
FIG. 1 depicts the voltage of a typical serial data signal as a function of time. The signal transitions between high and low logic levels VH and VL differ by a nominal peak-to-peak voltage VPP with transitions occurring with a nominal clock period P. While a transmitting IC may synchronize the edges of a data signal to edges of a clock signal having period P, a data signal can often appear somewhat jittery to a receiving IC in that timing with which data signal edges cross a midpoint level midway between VH and VL varies to some extent, for example, due to noise. For example, while edges 10 and 11 cross over the midpoint level at the expected times, noise in edge 12 causes it to cross over the midpoint level too soon. Noise can also cause variation in the signal's logic level as shown at points 14 and 15 in the waveform of FIG. 1.
Variation in signal edge timing (jitter) can be random or deterministic. Random jitter arises from random noise in the transmitting IC or in the signal path conveying the signal to the receiving IC. Noise in the signal path conveying the data signal to the receiving IC can introduce jitter into the data signal. In a system where the transmitter sends a clock signal to the receiver, noise in the clock signal path can also cause the receiving IC to perceive the data signal to be jittery relative to the clock signal. In a receiving IC employing a clock recovery system to generate a local clock signal, feedback errors or noise in the clock recovery system can cause jitter in the clock signal, thereby causing the data signal to appear jittery relative to the clock signal. Random jitter renders the timing of each signal edge somewhat non-deterministic in that is not possible to predict the amount of timing error in any individual signal edge arising from random noise.
Deterministic jitter arises from inherent characteristics of the transmitting and receiving ICs and the signal path interconnecting them. For example all signal paths delay signal edges by an amount that is a function of signal frequency. When a digital data signal conveys a bit pattern such as {01010101 . . . }, it will act as a relatively higher frequency signal than when it conveys a bit pattern such as {00000111110000011111 . . . }. Thus the amount by which a signal path delays an edge of such a signal depends on the particular data pattern the signal currently conveys. This "pattern-dependant" jitter is deterministic in that timing error in each data signal edge due to pattern-dependant jitter for a given pattern is predictable based on the nature of the pattern and on characteristics of the channel hardware. Deterministic jitter that is not pattern-dependant can arise, for example, from periodic noise that is coherent with the clock signal the transmitting IC uses to time edges.
FIG. 2 is a conventional "eye-diagram" generated by a storage oscilloscope repeatedly sweeping a digital signal so that traces of a large number of the signal's data cycles are superimposed on the display. If the signal were not subject to noise or jitter, the signal trace would follow the path indicated by the solid lines of FIG. 2, but due to noise and jitter, the signal trace can move anywhere in the shaded area of FIG. 2.
Since a receiver periodically samples a digital signal between transitions to determine the data sequence it represents, it can tolerate some amount of jitter, but when a digital signal is too jittery, the receiver will not be able to correctly determine each successive state of the digital signal from the samples it acquires because it will sometimes sample the signal to soon or too late. Digital system specifications therefore require that the amount of jitter in a digital signal remain within acceptable limits. One measure of jitter, called "peak-to-peak jitter" corresponds to the width of the shaded area of FIG. 2 at the nominal crossover point 20, representing a difference in relative timing of earliest and latest arriving signal edges. System specifications typically require peak-to-peak jitter to remain within a predetermined limit.
A receiver can also tolerate some amount of noise induced variation in the voltage of its signal logic levels, but when the variation becomes too large, it will not be able to correctly determine the logic level represented by each sample because the signal may sometimes may fail to be on the correct side of the midpoint voltage at the moment the receiver samples it. Digital system specifications therefore require that the amount of voltage variation in a digital signal remain within acceptable limits. For example, some digital system specifications require that difference between the lowest detected high logic level and the highest detected low logic level (the "vertical eye opening" shown in FIG. 2) to be no smaller than some specified minimum.
To determine whether an IC can tolerate a specified amount of jitter or logic level variation, some testers can add a specified amount of jitter to one or more of the IC's input data or clock signals while monitoring the IC's output signals to determine whether the digital output signals exhibit their expected sequences of logic states. It would also be beneficial if an IC tester could also measure the amount of jitter and logical level variation in an IC's digital output signal to determine whether they are within specified limits. It would further be helpful if the tester could also measure other characteristics of a digital signal including, for example, period, skew and rise and fall times.

System for measuring characteristics of a digital signal


The present invention relates to a method and composition of an oral preparation of itraconazole, an excellent azole antifungal drug. More particularly, it relates to an oral preparation of itraconazole having improved bioavailability, which is prepared by following steps of: i) dissolving itraconazole and bydrophilic polymer with solvent, ii) spray-drying said mixture, and iii) preparing the solid dispersions for oral preparation. The solid dispersions prepared in this invention may be useful in preparing tablets, granules and other oral dosage forms.

The present invention relates to a method and composition of an oral preparation of itraconazole, an excellent azole antifungal drug. More particularly, it relates to a method and composition of an oral preparation of itraconazole having improved bioavailability, which is prepared by following steps of: i) dissolving itraconazole and hydrophilic polymer with solvent, ii) spray-drying said mixture, and iii) preparing the solid dispersions for oral preparation.
In other words, the present invention relates to an oral preparation of itraconazole, which has improved bioavailability by enhancing water solubility and rapidly being dissoluble regardless of food intake, prepared using a solid dispersions having itraconazole and pH-dependent, pharmaceutically safe, fastly dissolved at a low pH and hydrophilic polymer with the steps of i) dissolving and ii) spray-drying for the formation of an oral preparation of itraconazole having water-insoluble property.
Itraconazole or (xc2x1)-cis-4-[4-[4-[4-[[2-(2,4-dichlorophenyl)-2-(1H-1,2,4-triazol-1-ylmethyl)-1,3-dioxolan-4-yll]methoxy]phenyl]-1-piperazinyl]phenyl]-2,4-dihydro-2-(1-methylpropyl)-3H-1,2,4-triazol-3-one, is a broadspectrum antifungal compound, and has been considered as an efficacious and safe drug.
Itraconazole has been developed as a broad antifungal agent for oral, parenteral and topical use and is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,267,179, but usually has been administered in oral route. Further, itraconazole is efficacious in oral administration, because it has a tendency of extensive tissue distribution [Mycoses 32 (Suppl. 1), p67xcx9c87, 19891].
It has been reported that itraconazole has a pH-dependent solubility characterized in the ionization only at a low pH, such as, a gastric juice, and many attempts have been carried out to increase solubility and bioavailability, because itraconazole is almost insoluble in water (less than 1,xcexcg/ml) and in diluted acidic solution(less than 5,xcexcg/ml).
Generally, it has been reported that water insoluble drug has low dissolution property from the solid preparation. For increasing the solubility and dissolution rate of poorly water-soluble drugs, extensive studies of solubilization have shown that a wide variety of type of drugs can be efficiently solubilized by surfactants, hydrophilic carriers or pro-drugs, etc. Among them, a solid dispersion of drug and inert hydrophilic polymer has been suggested to enhance the solubility of insoluble drug. Further, many researches have been reported to enhance the solubility, dissolution rate and bioavailability of insoluble drug by preparing a solid dispersion of insoluble drug and inert carrier [{circle around (1)}International Journal of Pharmaceutics, Vol. 104, p169xcx9c174(1994), {circle around (2)}International Journal of Pharmaceutics, Vol. 143, p247xcx9c253(1996)].
The term xe2x80x9ca solid dispersionxe2x80x9d defines a system in a solid state comprising at least two components, wherein one component is dispersed more or less evenly throughout the other component or components. Many factors have been known to affect the solubility of a solid dispersion.
Prior references related to oral preparation for increasing bioavailability of itraconazole are as follows:
1) The solubility and bioavailability of a drug are increased by complex using cyclodextrin or its derivative in WO 85/02767 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,764,604,
2) The aerosol preparation is prepared by reducing the particle size of a drug in WO 90/11754,
3) The liposomal preparation for external use including itraconazole is prepared containing phospholipid and by solvent system in WO 93/15719,
4) The preparation for external use adhering to the nasal mucous membrane or the vaginal mucous membrane is prepared by emulsion or aqueous solution using cyclodextrin or its derivative in WO 95/31178,
5) The oral preparation to increase solubility and bioavailability of drug is disclosed in WO 94/05263, in which hydrophilic polymer such as hydroxypropyl methylcellulose is coated with about 25-30 mesh sugar spheres, and such preparation of itraconazole is commercially marketed as the trademark xe2x80x9cSPORANOXxe2x80x9d,
6) The solid dispersions comprising drug and hydrophilic polymer according to the melt-extrusion method is disclosed in WO 97/44014, in which bioavailability is improved by increasing dissolution rate of drug and food effect is minimized according to the food intake.
Generally, there is a solvent method, a melting method or a solvent-melting method, etc. for preparing solid dispersions using hydrophilic polymer as carrier. In the solvent methods, a freezing drying method, a drying method or a nitrogen-gas drying method has not a few drawbacks, low reproducibility of preparation, the higher cost of preparation and long time in the preparation, etc. In the melting method, the careful attention of working process is demanded because raising temperature over melting point affects the stability of drug and cooling condition of melting mixture also affects the property of preparation. Further, even though a solvent-melting method is carried out when a solvent method or a melting method cannot be used alone, it has not a few drawbacks, for example, a lot of manipulation steps and time.
However, the spray-drying method used in this invention has some advantages, for example, short preparation time and maintaining low temperature, because the drug and the carrier dissolved in a solvent are immediately dried after spraying. Therefore, because the stability of drug is not affected by raising temperature, the spray-drying method is efficient in industrialization.
A disclosed preparation of WO 94/05263 is concerned with the beads comprising a 25xcx9c30 mesh core, a coating film of a hydrophilic polymer and an antifungal agent, and a seal coating layer, and materials suitable for use in a fluidized bed granulator(Glatt(trademark)) with a Wurster bottom spray insert. A seal coating polymer layer is applied to the drug coated cores to prevent sticking of the beads which would have the undesirable effect of a concomitant decrease of the dissolution rate and of the bioavailability.
However, the reason why sugar sphere having appropriate dimensions(about 25-30 mesh) has to be used is to minimize the tendency toward agglomeration among sugar spheres in the drug coating process. In addition, during the preservation of the prepared beads filled in hard-gelatin capsules, sticking of the beads results in the undesirable decrease of the bioavailability. Therefore, a seal coating polymer layer has to be applied to the drug coated cores to prevent sticking of the beads. This is undesirable for demanding unnecessary step in the preparation.
On the other hand, the spraying rate in the preparation manufactured by said patent is regulated carefully to prevent undesirable drying or moisturization. Further, spraying air pressure is controlled to prevent formation of big bead and increasing of agglomeration during the coating process. Also, there is some drawbacks of spending the long time in drying, because fluidizing air volume has to be monitered carefully and inlet-air temperature has to be controlled.
The influence of food and dose on the oral bioavailability of itraconazole was studied. The relative systematic availability of itraconazole (PEG capsules) compared with solution averaged 40% in the fasting state but 102%(1.92 xcexcg h/ml) in the post-prandial state. Food did not significantly affect the rate of absorption of the capsules. Areas under the curve at single doses of 50, 100 and 200 mg had a ratio of 0.3:1:3, suggesting non-linear itraconazole pharmacokinetics in the range of therapeutically used doses. It was also concluded from the study that to ensure optimal oral absorption, itraconazole may be administered either in capsules shortly after a meal or in solution, the absorption of which is not influenced by the presence of food in the stomach [Mycoses 32 (Suppl. 1), p67xcx9c87, 1989].
Meanwhile, the solid dispersions using the melt-extrusion method in WO 97/44014 is prepared by following steps: i) mixing the itraconazole and pharmaceutically acceptable hydrophilic polymer, ii) optionally blending additives with the thus obtained mixture, iii) heating the thus obtained blend until one obtains a homogenous melt, iv) forcing the thus obtained melt through one or more nozzles, v) cooling the till it solidifides. Obtained solid dispersions is characterized in increasing dissolution rate of drug and lowering food effect, that is, bioavailability change of drug dependent upon the food intake.
The melting temperature and melting time of polymer and drug are important factors in the solid dispersions preparation by the melt-extrusion method disclosed prior reference. In this reference, it was reported that dissolution rate of solid dispersions is decreased at a low temperature, because drug and polymer are not melted sufficiently, and that polymer cannot be used at a higher temperature owing to decomposition of polymer. Therefore, setting of melting temperature is very important. Further, to perform the cited method, extra equipment for preparing melt-extrusion and special technique to handle this equipment have to be required.
Particularly, hydrophilic polymers, such as, cellulose derivatives such as hydroxypropyl methylcellulose; natural gum such as tragacanth gum; polyvinylacetal diethylaminoacetate (trademark xe2x80x9cAEAxe2x80x9d); and polymethacrylic acid and its copolymer become char phase due to the decomposition of polymers on condition that melting time is long at relatively low temperature. The charred solid dispersions results in a serious problem of dissolution rate and stability of preparation due to the change of original character of polymer.
Also, the solid dispersions disclosed in prior reference is prepared by melt-extrusion and grinding to particles having the particle size less than 600 xcexcm in the Fitzmill twice. Then, yield of preparation is relatively low as 78%. Further, there are some drawbacks of long preparation step by adding the grinding process.
The present invention has developed the oral preparation of itraconazole having improved bioavailability prepared by preparing the solid dispersions. In this invention, the problems of prior method is solved by increasing pharmaceutical stability of heating, shortening of the manufacturing time and enhancing the yield of preparation using the spray-drying method in the solvent methods. Then, organic solvent is no longer remained in this method.
Also, the present invention developed the solid dispersions having itraconazole and pH-dependent, pharmaceutically safe, fastly dissolved at a low pH and hydrophilic polymer with the steps of i) dissolving and ii) spray-drying for the formation of an oral preparation of itraconazole having water-insoluble property. Further, the bioavailability of drug is improved and the food effect, that is, bioavailability change of drug dependent upon the food intake is minimized by increasing dissolution rate considerably in itraconazole preparation.
The object of the present invention is to provide an oral preparation of itraconazole having improved bioavailability, which is prepared by following steps of: i) dissolving 1 wt parts of itraconazole and 0.5xcx9c5.0 wt parts of pH-dependent inert hydrophilic polymer with at least one solvent selected from the group consisting of methylenechloride, chloroform, ethanol and methanol, ii) dispersing and spray-drying said mixture, and iii) preparing the solid dispersions for oral preparation.
Also, said pH-dependent inert hydrophilic polymer is at least one polymer selected from the group consisting of polyvinylacetal diethylaminoacetate and aminoalkyl methacrylate copolymer. And, said oral preparation of itraconazole is prepared by following compositions comprising 1.0xcx9c2.5 wt parts of said polymer as to 1 wt parts of itraconazole. Further, the concentration of solution dissolving itraconazole and pH-dependent inert hydrophilic polymer is 3xcx9c10% (w/w), and inlet temperature is 30xcx9c60xc2x0 C. at spray-drying.
Itraconazole has a weak basic property with pKa 3.7 and is ionized in acidic environment such as in the stomach. It has lipophilic property in nature, with oil/water partition coefficient being 5.66 in the pH 8.1 aqueous buffer/n-octanol system.
AEA(trademark) and Eudragit(trademark) E are hydrophilic polymers possessing the characteristic tertiary amine functional groups and are frequently used in protective or gastric soluble coating. Unlike other hydrophilic polymers, for example, Hydroxypropyl methylcellulose 2910, Methylcellulose, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Hydroxypropylcellulose, Sodium carboxymethylcellulose, etc. which release drug upon swelling, AEA(trademark) and Eudragit(trademark) E are solubilized under pH 5 in a pH-dependent manner, for increasing the dissolution profile of poorly water soluble drugs. The absorption of dissolved itraconazole from the stomach is not a problem in itself.
The pH-dependent hydrophilic polymer used in this invention, for example, polyvinylacetal diethylaminoacetate (trademark xe2x80x9cAEAxe2x80x9d) or aminoalkyl methacrylate copolymer (trademark xe2x80x9cEudragit Exe2x80x9d) is dissolved in acid solution only at a pH in the range of 1xcx9c5. Further, 0.5xcx9c5.0 wt parts of said pH-dependent hydrophilic polymer, preferably, in the range of 1.0xcx9c2.5 wt parts of the polymer is contained as to 1 wt parts of insoluble drug. In case that the content of polymer is less than 0.5 wt parts, the solubility of drug with carrier shall decrease, because a solid dispersions is not formed completely, and such fact is confirmed by observing endothermic peak by melting of drug in Differential Scanning Calorimetry. In case that the content of polymer is more than 5.0 wt parts, initial dissolution rate shall decrease by polymer, and patient adaptability can be reduced by big size of preparation in taking drug.
The oral preparation in this invention is prepared by preparing the solid dispersions, which can be mass-produced in a large amount using spray dryer. The organic solvent, such as, methylenechloride or chloroform is used for dissolving insoluble drug and hydrophilic polymer before spray-drying, and methanol or ethanol can be mixed to said solution. The amount of solvent for spray-drying shall be required in the concentration of hydrophilic polymer to be 3xcx9c10% (w/w), preferably, 5% (w/w). Also, inlet temperature of dissolved mixture is 30xcx9c60xc2x0 C., preferably, 35xcx9c45xc2x0 C., and inlet amount of dissolved mixture can be changed properly according to the concentration of polymer. The yield of solid dispersions may be more than 95%.
Also, the solid dispersions used in this invention can be manufactured as not only tablet but form of oral preparation, such as, powder, granule, granule capsule, pellet capsule by the known method. Therefore, there are many choices in preparation development.
The diluent can be added to solid dispersions in order to manufacture oral preparation in this invention. For example, lactose, starch, sodium starch glycolate (Explotab(trademark)), crospovidone (Kollidone CL(trademark), Kollidone CL-M(trademark)), croscarmellose sodium (AC-Di-Sol(trademark)) or maltodextrin (Maltrine(trademark)) is used as a disintegrant in preparation. Further, stearic acid, magnesium stearate or talc is used as a lubricant.

Method and composition of an oral preparation of itraconazole


Compositions of proteins with cartilaginous tissue inducing and maintenance activity are disclosed. The compositions are useful in the treatment of osteoarthritis, cartilage defects and in related tissue repair.

The search for the molecule or molecules responsible for formation of bone, cartilage, tendon and other tissues present in bone and other tissue extracts has led to the discovery of a novel set of molecules called the Bone Morphogenetic Proteins (BMPs). The structures of several proteins, designated BMP-1 through BMP-13, have previously been elucidated. The unique inductive activities of these proteins, along with their presence in bone, suggests that they are important regulators of bone repair processes, and may be involved in the normal maintenance of bone tissue. There is a need to identify additional proteins which play a role in forming other vital tissues. Recently, the BMP-12-related subfamily of proteins, including BMP-13, was shown to have tendon/ligament-like tissue inducing activity, and to be useful in compositions for the induction of tendon/ligament-like tissue formation and repair. Surprisingly, the present inventors have found that members of this subfamily are also effective for the induction of cartilaginous tissue, and thus are useful for the treatment of diseases or defects of cartilaginous tissue. In particular, the inventors have found that BMP-13 or VL-1 is particularly effective for the induction of cartilaginous tissue. In addition, the inventors have found that BMP-9 is useful for increasing proteoglycan matrix synthesis, and is therefore useful for the maintenance of cartilaginous tissue.

Cartilage induction by bone morphogenetic proteins


A translucent ceramic having a high light transmittance is provided. It contains a perovskite compound having a composition represented by a general formula: (Ba1-s-tSrsCat)(MxB1yB2z)vOw (where M contains at least one of Sn, Zr and Hf, B1 represents at least one of Mg, Zn, Y and In, B2 represents at least one of Ta and Nb, each of conditions of 0≦s≦0.99, 0.01≦t≦0.45, x+y+z=1, 0<x≦0.9, 1.00≦z/y≦2.40, and 0.97≦v≦1.05 is satisfied, and w represents a positive number for maintaining electrical neutrality) as a primary component. This translucent ceramic can be used as, for example, an objective lens (2) of an optical pickup (9) to provide advantages. In another aspect some of M is replaced by Ti.

As is described in Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2, glass, plastic, a single crystal of lithium niobate (LiNbO3) and or the like, has been previously used as a material for an optical component, e.g., a lens, mounted on an optical device, e.g., an optical pickup.
The glass and the plastic have high light transmittances and are easily worked into desired shapes. Therefore, glass and the plastic are primarily used for optical components, e.g., lenses. On the other hand, the single crystal of LiNbO3 or the like is primarily used for an optical component, e.g., an optical waveguide, taking advantage of electrooptic properties and birefringence.
Further miniaturization and thickness reduction have been required of optical devices, e.g., an optical pickup, including such an optical component.
However, refractive indices of known glass and plastic materials are less than 1.9 and, therefore, there are limits to miniaturization and thickness reduction of the optical components and the optical devices including the known glasses and plastics. In particular, the plastic has a disadvantage that the moisture resistance is poor. In addition, there is also a disadvantage that it is difficult to effectively transmit or condense incident light because birefringence may occur.
On the other hand, the single crystal of LiNbO3 or the like has, for example, a relatively high refractive index of 2.3. However, the single crystal of LiNbO3 or the like has a disadvantage that it is difficult to use for optical components, e.g., a lens, because birefringence occurs and, thereby, the use is limited.
Examples of materials which cause no birefringence and which can provide excellent optical properties include translucent ceramic containing Ba(Mg,Ta)O3 based perovskite or Ba(Zn,Ta)O3 based perovskite as a primary component. These are described in, for example, Patent Document 3 and Patent Document 4, respectively.
However, such translucent ceramic containing Ba(Mg,Ta)O3 based perovskite or Ba(Zn,Ta)O3 based perovskite as a primary component is a polycrystalline substance. Therefore, there is an essential problem in that voids are liable to remain in a sintered body thereof. That is, light is liable to scatter when light passes through the translucent ceramic if many voids are present in the sintered body, and as a result, the light transmittance decreases.
The optical properties, e.g., the refractive index and the Abbe number, of the translucent ceramic containing Ba(Mg,Ta)O3 based perovskite as a primary component can be changed by allowing Sn and/or Zr, which are tetravalent elements, to substitute for a part of Mg and/or Ta. The amount of change increases as the amount of substitution increases. However, the upper limit of the amount of substitution is a low 0.40 and, therefore, it is difficult to change the refractive index and the Abbe number to a large extent. For example, a change merely within the range of 2.071 to 2.082 can be obtained in terms of the refractive index.
Likewise, it is difficult to change the refractive index and the Abbe number of a translucent ceramic containing Ba(Zn,Ta)O3 based perovskite as a primary component to a large extent.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 5-127078 (all pages, FIG. 1)
Patent Document 2: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 7-244865 (claim 6, a paragraph [0024])
Patent Document 3: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-75512 (all pages, all drawings)
Patent Document 4: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-75516 (all pages, all drawings)

Translucent ceramic, method for manufacturing the same, optical component, and optical device


A contact mask having guard ring patterns for manufacturing a semiconductor device which can prevent a lifting of a photoresist film in guard ring regions. A first guard ring pattern and a second guard ring pattern in the contact mask are formed along the perimeter portion of contact patterns in the contact mask. The first and second guard ring patterns have a plurality of discontinuous patterns, respectively. Each of the discontinuous patterns of the first guard ring pattern and each of the discontinuous patterns of the second guard ring pattern are formed in a zigzag pattern relative to each other. During the etching process using the contact mask, a photoresist pattern for the guard ring is not lifted due to an insufficient area existing between the photoresist pattern and an insulating layer in the guard ring region.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a contact mask having guard ring patterns used for manufacturing a semiconductor device and, more particularly to a contact mask having guard ring patterns which can prevent a lifting of a photoresist film in guard ring regions.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Arts
Generally, in a manufacturing process of the semiconductor device, a connection between the junction and the conductive layer or between the conductive layers is accomplished by a contact hole formed in an insulating layer. Also, when the contact hole is formed, a guard ring is formed on the insulating layer along an edge of a die. The guard ring is formed to prevent defects due to an electrical influence between neighboring dies upon a wafer level test. A conventional contact mask used for forming a contact hole and a guard ring will be explained below by reference to FIG. 1.
FIG. 1 is a partial plan view of a conventional contact mask. In a contact mask 9, a transparent substrate 1 is made of materials such as quartz. A plurality of contact patterns 4 are formed on the substrate 1. A first guard ring pattern 2 and a second guard ring pattern 3 are located along the around portion of the contact patterns 4, respectively. Each of the first and second guard ring patterns 2 and 3 has a continuous pattern with a line shape. The second guard ring pattern 3 is located at an inside of the first guard ring pattern 2.
The process for forming a contact hole and a guard ring using the contact mask having a structure described above will be explained by reference to FIGS. 2 and 3.
FIG. 2 is a partial plan view of one of the dies for explaining the state in which a lithography process is implemented using the contact mask 9 shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 3--3 of FIG. 2. A photoresist film 5 is formed on an insulating layer 7 formed on a silicon substrate 8, the photoresist film 5 is then patterned through the exposure and development process using the contact mask 9 as shown in FIG. 1. The insulating layer 7 is wet etched at a given depth and the remaining insulating layer 7 is then dry etched using the patterned photoresist film 5 as a mask to form a plurality of contact holes 6 in the insulating layer 7. Meanwhile, during etching processes, the outside portion of the insulating layer 7 corresponding to the first and second guard ring patterns 2 and 3 of the contact mask 9 is etched, thus a first guard ring g1 and a second guard ring g2 are formed.
In manufacture of a highly integrated device, since a BPSG film containing a large amount of impurity ions is used as the insulating layer 7 to improve the flatness of the surface, the etching rate of the insulating layer 7 made of BPSG is increased in a wet etching. Due to characteristics of wet etching, the insulating layer 7 is laterally overetched, and the photoresist film 5, which is formed on the insulating layer 7 between the first guard ring g1 and the second guard ring g2 after a wet etching process, is lifted. The lifted photoresist film 5 is buried into an adjacent contact hole 6, therefore, the contact holes having a complete structure can not be formed through a following dry etching process so that the device is defective. As a result, yield of the device is lowered.

Contact mask having guard ring patterns for manufacturing a semiconductor device


A buffer flush controller, of a peripheral component interconnect-peripheral component interconnect bridge (PPB), includes a first compounding circuit, a first state machine, a second state machine, and a second compounding circuit. The buffer flush controller can maintain data consistency by efficiently controlling a flush operation of a data buffer of a peripheral component interconnect bridge, and the buffer flush controller can ensure a normal system operation without deadlock.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a buffer flush controller, and more particularly to a buffer flush controller of a peripheral component interconnect-peripheral component interconnect bridge.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In order to improve the efficiency of a computer, a computer system often uses various data buffers such as a posted write buffer, a read buffer, and a line buffer. Because data consistency sometimes cannot be maintained when these buffers are used, a buffer system can fall into deadlock and cause a fatal defect in the computer system. For this and other reasons, contemporary practice is concerned with handling data and memory access with peripherals, in situations with flush of data, and in situations that are related to these situations. One exemplar, Craft et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,438,666, Shared Memory Bus System for Arbitrary Access Control Among Contending Memory Refresh Circuits, Peripheral Controllers, And Bus Masters, Aug. 1, 1995) proposes use of computers having a shared address, data and control bus for providing access to a memory storage unit to store instructions and data therein and to retrieve instructions and data therefrom. Bus arbitration units determine which of many devices is granted access to a shared bus, such as an AT-type shared bus as used in an IBM.RTM.PC-AT or a compatible computer system. Chan et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,345,577, DRAM Refresh Controller With Improved Bus Arbitration Scheme, Sep. 6, 1994) shows a cache controller with both burst and hidden refresh modes. In the burst mode, refresh requests are counted, but not acted on, until a predetermined number of refresh requests have been received. In the hidden refresh mode, a request is acted upon, but no hold signal is sent back to stop the central processing unit while the refresh request is being acted on. Circuitry is provided which allows local memory access, but holds other memory access until the refresh is completed. In addition to the data buses, data buffers are provided. Dishon et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,862,411, Multiple Copy Data Mechanism On Synchronous Disk Drives, Aug. 29, 1989) advocated use of multiple copy data mechanisms on synchronous disk drives. At least two direct access storage devices that are predetermined to record the same data from a central processing unit, are normally kept synchronized with each other except during the transient power up phase. The synchronization of direct access storage devices is controlled and maintained by synchronization control independent of any commands from the central processing unit. Shriver (U.S. Pat. No. 4,625,296, Memory Refresh Circuit With Varying System Transparency, Nov. 25, 1986) shows a memory refresh circuit with varying system transparency. A memory refresh circuit controls the refreshing of dynamic RAM included in a system wherein a control store outputs micro-code instructions to control the system operation in response to sequences specified by a sequence and interrupt logic circuit. A counter transmits certain counts of system machine cycles to an array logic device.

Buffer flush controller of a peripheral component interconnect-peripheral component interconnect bridge


A collapsible mobility aid with two frame elements, on each of which at least one wheel is secured or can be secured, and with a folding mechanism by which the frame elements are connected to each other, and a distance between the frame elements in a first position of the folding mechanism can be adapted to a transport distance and in a second position of the folding mechanism can be adapted to a use distance, wherein the folding mechanism has a central element with a slide arranged moveably with respect thereto, at least two connection arms which are each articulated on a frame element and on the central element, and at least two levers which are each articulated on a connection arm and on the slide, wherein the swivel axes, about which the levers are arranged on the connection arms and the slide such that they can be swiveled, are on one plane when the folding mechanism is in the second position.

Mobility aids within the meaning of the present invention are orthopaedic devices for people of limited mobility. For instance, mobility aids may be wheelchairs, walking aids or walking frames, or buggies or other devices and equipment which increase mobility. This type of device, and in particular collapsible wheelchairs, have been known within the scope of the prior art for many years. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 8,419,047 B2 and WO 2015/034372 A1 both describe such a collapsible wheelchair. The aim of the folding mechanism is to reduce the distance between the two frame elements for the purpose of transporting the wheelchair. This enables space-saving storage of the wheelchair when transporting it.
A wheelchair according to the preamble is described, for instance, in US 2015/0245963 A1. While the two formerly named documents comprise a folding mechanism in the form of connection arms that are only fixed in pairs to the two frame elements, wherein a simple hinge with an end stop is arranged between each of the arms, the latter named application features a folding mechanism as described in the present disclosure. The advantage is the two levers, which are each arranged between a connection arm and the slide of the central element. As a result, when the collapsible wheelchair is folded up, i.e. when the folding mechanism moves from the second position into the first position, the folding-up or—in the reverse process—the unfolding of the folding mechanism on both sides, i.e. towards the two frame elements, is guaranteed to be quick and homogeneous.
There is a risk with collapsible mobility aids that the mobility aid will be involuntarily folded up, for example accidentally, although the intention was not to do so. In principle, a seat cushion or seat cover is situated between the two frame elements; the user of the mobility aid then sits on this cushion or cover. As a result, a force acts on the two frame elements that are connected to this cover or cushion, wherein this force is aimed towards the respective other frame element; this may lead to the folding mechanism moving out of the second position into the first position, although this is not desirable in this situation. US 2015/0245962 A1 solves this problem by moving the folding mechanism a little beyond the dead centre of the folding mechanism when the folding mechanism is brought out of the first position into the second position, i.e. when unfolding the folding mechanism. As such, a pressure on the two frame elements of the wheelchair cannot cause the collapsible wheelchair to be unintentionally folded up. However, on the one hand, it is disadvantageous that, in order to fold up the folding mechanism, i.e. to move the folding mechanism out of the second position into the first position, the two frame elements must first of all be moved away from each other so as to once again move the folding mechanism beyond the dead centre. On the other hand, it is disadvantageous that the movement of the folding mechanism beyond the dead centre causes a bearing gap within the system, which may lead to a rattling and a general sense of insecurity, as well as the feeling that the wheelchair is of sub-standard quality, although objectively speaking this is not the case.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,572,133 B1 describes another configuration of a folding mechanism which, when fully unfolded, i.e. in the second position of the folding mechanism, is far from the dead centre of the arrangement. When fully unfolded, the respective connection arms of the folding mechanism therefore do not run exactly or almost exactly perpendicular on the longitudinal extension of the central element; rather, they are each at a considerable angle, which may lie between 40° and 45° in the named document. In this case, different connection arms are provided which are at a corresponding angle in different directions, as is known from a scissors mechanism. Consequently, a pressure on the two frame elements would cause this folding mechanism to push together, wherein the connection arms that are, for example, tilted backwards in terms of the direction of movement of the wheelchair, are arranged on the slide of the central element, while the connection arms that are swiveled forwards in terms of the direction of the wheelchair are positioned on the central element itself. A folding-up of the folding mechanism by applying pressure to the frame elements would therefore cause a movement of the slide relative to the central element. However, since these two components are fixed against one another when the folding mechanism is fully unfolded, i.e. in the second position, this movement is not possible. However, the embodiment depicted has the disadvantage that it requires a large number of connection arms; moreover, the folding mechanism is complex and therefore expensive.


A method and apparatus for controlling the output to a drive for moving a workpiece and/or tool along a defined path in a machine tool. The drive output can be modified according to a periodic controlling variable or a periodic disturbance variable. The defined path of the workpiece is divided into equidistant subdivisions and a control deviation corresponding to each subdivision of the defined path is determined and stored. A control variable is derived from the control deviation and utilized to control the drive output.

A control arrangement is known from the German utility patent G 92 00 708.2, which allows for periodically changing controlling and disturbance variables. Processes comprising these variables include stock removal operations such as planing, turning, milling, grinding, boring etc. The periodicity relates not only to the controlling variables, such as the change of the angular position of lathe work, but also to disturbance variables, for example the cutting forces. Additionally, the utility model relates to the coupling of a periodic linear motion with a periodic rotary motion, the coupling of two rotary motions or the coupling of periodic linear motions. Moreover, the prior control setup relates also to fluctuations of synchronism in machine tool drives due to a pole reversal. A tool or workpiece is considered to be a work object.
Conventional control methods do not allow a sufficient suppressing of external disturbance variables thus inviting the risk of instabilities. This relates notably also to the case of equal periodicity of the controlling variable and the disturbance variable.
Described in the book O. Follinger "Regelungstechnik," Huthig-Verlag, Heidelberg, 6. edition, p. 519 with literature references p. 526, is an extension, proposed by C. Johnson, of a so-called Luenberger observer by a disturbance model. In this context, a disturbance estimate, calculated correctly by phase and amplitude, is with inverted sign superimposed on the controlled system, such as is done similarly in the known case of directly measurable disturbances by feeding the disturbance variables forward into the controller. This method is suited favorably in using a digital process control computer. For each scanning step, however, both the mathematical mapping of the controlled system and of the disturbance must be calculated. As the complexity of the disturbance model increases, the continual calculation leads to appreciable calculating effort, which in the case of fast processes, such as in controlling electrical drives in machine tools, can overwhelm typical standard microprocessors. The scanning intervals can become impermissibly high, which invites the risk of instabilities. With the addition of a digital measuring system, such as positional determination by angle transmitter, control can be rendered impossible when fluctuations assuming higher frequencies due to the low scanning frequency are being folded back, since the scanning theorem is violated. In addition to eliminating disturbances, the adjustment of a periodic controlling variable which is free of contouring error also poses difficulties.
The aforementioned German utility model G 92 00 708.2 provides a solution to the described control task which does not require a disturbance variable observer. The solution consists in the fact that for adjustment of the periodic controlling variable and/or for tune-out of a periodic disturbance variable, the controller features at least one conjugate complex pole pair, wherein the amount of each of the two poles is equal or approximately equal to the periodic frequency of the disturbance variable. In practice, the configuration of the feedback loop is such that a disturbance compensation system in the form of a disturbance controller is wired parallel to a controller configured in accordance with conventional aspects. This disturbance controller has the aforementioned properties, which are described by the behavior of an integral band-pass controller or a proportional band-pass controller.
The properties of both controller types are represented by their complex transfer functions, that is, the output of the disturbance controller, based on an input that matches the control difference, is represented by the Laplace transform of the respective variables. The complex function variable s allows illustration by way of the relation s=.delta.+.tau..omega. in a frequency representation that is determined by the amplitude response and the phase response of the controller. Besides, an inverted Laplace transformation makes it possible to achieve a direct representation in the time range.
If in the prior control setup the frequency of the periodic motion changes, the frequency of the disturbance controller of the disturbance compensation system must be adapted. Problems arise when such frequency changes occur within the original period.
Therefore, the objective underlying the invention is to propose an improved control method that eliminates the disadvantages described above and, notably, allows reacting directly to frequency changes of a periodic controlling variable or of a periodic disturbance variable which act upon the movement of a work object being moved along a specific local coordinate.
Furthermore, a control setup for realization of the inventional control method is proposed.

Method and apparatus for controlling a drive in a machine tool


The invention concerns a bending machine comprising a machine frame, and upper bar and a lower bar mounted on the frame and mutually mobile, a bending bar mounted on the frame, a bending bar mounted on the frame and mobile relative to the frame, to the upper bar and to the lower bar, said bending bar being provided with a support and a bending tool pressing on said support via a bending device actuated by a control unit. The invention aims at making the bending adjustment faster and more accurate. Therefor, said bending device is equipped with an adjusting device capable of being used during a bending operation; the adjusting device, which is actuated by the control unit, can be controlled during a bending operation; at least one sensor associated with the control unit enables detection, through the adjusting device of an adjustment performed by the control unit. For a given bending operation, the control unit determines at least one bending parameter for the bending device, the bending bar tool being set in a substantially flexure-free position at the end of the bending operation.

The invention relates to a bending machine, comprising a machine frame, an upper beam and a lower beam, both of which are held on the machine frame and can move relative to one another, a bending beam, which is held on the machine frame, can move with respect to the latter and with respect to the upper beam and lower beam and has a bending beam carrier and a bending beam tool that is supported on the bending beam carrier via a curving device actuable by a control unit.
Bending machines of this type are known from the prior art.
In these bending machines, the curving device is set manually, it being necessary to establish the appropriate setting of the curving device for a defined bending operation by means of a series of tests.
The invention is based on the object of improving a bending machine of the generic type in such a manner that the curving device can be set more quickly and more precisely.