The operation speed of a semiconductor device is improved.

A processor executes a program called a start-up routine when it is booted. Although it depends on the environment in which a program is executed, the processing content of the start-up routine includes processing necessary before the main routine is executed, such as setting a variety of registers, copying minimally necessary programs from a memory device outside the processor into a cache memory, and setting the cache memory to a usable state. A specific example of the setting of a variety of registers is a setting for a peripheral device connected to the outside of the processor, such as a latency setting for a DRAM (Dynamic RAM) that is a main memory device.
In many cases, the start-up routine is stored in a nonvolatile memory device (hereinafter also referred to as a nonvolatile memory) outside the processor. A mask ROM, a PROM, an EPROM, a flash memory, or the like is normally used as a nonvolatile memory device for storing the start-up routine. Patent Document 1 below discloses a processor which includes a power-on determination means for determining whether power has been turned on for a system or for periodic operation and therefore does not require an operation to read table data of initial values from a boot ROM when power has been turned on for the periodic operation.

Semiconductor device, electronic component, and electronic device

Abstract: The semiconductor device includes a first memory region and a second memory region; in the semiconductor device, a first memory cell in the first memory region is superior to a second memory cell in the second memory region in data retention characteristics such as a large storage capacitance or a large channel length-channel width ratio (L/W) of a transistor. When the semiconductor device is used as a cache memory or a main memory device of a processor, the first memory region mainly stores a start-up routine and is not used as a work region for arithmetic operation, and the second memory region is used as a work region for arithmetic operation. The first memory region becomes an accessible region when the processor is booted, and the first memory region becomes an inaccessible region when the processor is in normal operation.

Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.


A medical device system includes: a surgical arm mounting device including a coupler and a surgical arm interface, the coupler including a clamp for a first side rail of an operating table; and a support member including a brace, the brace extending from the coupler at least part way across the width of an operating table. The clamp has a first mechanical state in which the mounting device is fixed to the side rail, a second mechanical state in which the mounting device is translatable along the side rail, and a third mechanical state in which the mounting device is removable from the side rail. The surgical arm interface is configured to receive a mating mounting device interface of a surgical arm.

Minimally invasive medical techniques (e.g., laparoscopy) have been used to reduce the amount of extraneous tissue damaged during diagnostic or surgical procedures, thereby reducing patient recovery time, discomfort, and harmful side effects. Such techniques were traditionally performed manually via a surgeon manipulating various surgical instruments within the patient's body but can now by implemented using computer-assisted teleoperated systems. The use of minimally invasive teleoperated surgical systems facilitates increased precision and range of motion in manipulating surgical instruments when compared to manual techniques, but it also introduces new challenges. These systems move components that have significant mass, and so operating challenges include limited movability, portability, flexibility during set up for a surgical procedure, as well as velocity and stability considerations while operating a system during the procedure. System cost is also a consideration, because reducing costs benefits patients and hospitals. Likewise system size and complexity are considerations because smaller operating rooms may not be able to accommodate the major surgical system components. Improvements for set-up and operation of such systems are continuously sought.


Systems and methods for using RAID with ATA mass storage devices can benefit from operating system optimizations for avoiding unaligned write accesses. When the ATA mass storage devices in the RAID array have different physical sector sizes, the largest physical sector size is reported as the physical sector size for the single disk represented by the RAID array. The operating system can optimize accesses that are aligned with all of the physical sector sizes within the RAID array. Additionally, any storage devices that have a first logical sector that does not have an offset of zero, are configured to ignore all logical sectors in the first physical sector. Accesses to the first logical sector are mapped to the second physical sector. A logical sector alignment of zero is then reported to the operating system for the RAID array, enabling the operating system to avoid unaligned writes.

1. Field of the Invention
One or more aspects of the invention generally relate to using large sector size serial ATA (SATA) mass storage devices in a redundant array of independent disks (RAID) array, and more particularly to configuring sector alignment and physical sector size information for the RAID array.
2. Description of the Related Art
A RAID array includes two or more storage devices and appears as a single storage device to an operating system. As the storage capacity of disk drives has increased, the physical sector size has also increased. The physical sector is the smallest unit of data in an ATA storage device. The logical sector is the smallest host addressable unit of data in an ATA storage device. It is desirable to have a larger physical sector size in order to improve the efficiency of error detection and correction for the ATA storage device. It is also desirable to support older disk drives with smaller physical sector sizes along with newer disk drives in a single RAID array.
Recently, optimizations implemented at the operating system level use storage system characteristics to improve access performance by avoiding unaligned writes. In particular, the physical sector size characteristic is used by contemporary operating systems to ensure that writes are aligned to physical sector boundaries. The operating system is configured to use a single physical sector size value to perform optimizations. When a RAID includes storage devices with varying physical sector sizes, it is not possible to report the differing storage system characteristics to the operating system. It is desirable to allow a RAID array that includes storage devices with varying physical sector sizes to benefit from the optimizations performed at the operating system level.
In addition to having different physical sector sizes, different ATA storage devices within a RAID array may also have varying logical sector alignments. Like the physical sector size, the logical sector alignment characteristic is used by contemporary operating systems to ensure that writes are aligned. The operating system is configured to use a single logical sector alignment value to perform optimizations. It is desirable to allow a RAID array that includes storage devices with varying logical sector alignments to benefit from the optimizations performed at the operating system level.

Using raid with large sector size ATA mass storage devices


A vacuum-operable feces collector includes a primary housing having an outer wall for defining a cavity therein. The housing further has a rear portion provided with a plurality of vents. The device further includes a vacuum mechanism for collecting the excrement from a support surface. Such a vacuum mechanism includes an elongated hose and further includes a cage removably positionable within the auxiliary housing and a motor and a rotary fan operably connected thereto. The motor and the fan are housed within the cage wherein the cage has a plurality of outlet openings and an inlet port disposed upstream therefrom for assisting the fan to direct air outwardly from the auxiliary housing. A storing mechanism is operably connected to the vacuum mechanism and includes a disposable bag removably connected to the hose.

1. Technical Field
This invention relates to excrement removal devices and, more particularly, to a vacuum-operable excrement collector.
2. Prior Art
It will be appreciated that in an urban environment, animal excrement has become an increasingly serious problem and a number of municipalities have enacted "curb your dog" ordinances not only requiring that animals be walked on leashes in the streets, but that their owners assume responsibility for removal of their animal's excrement from the street. For example, New York City has enacted legislation requiring a dog owner to remove the dog's excrement from the street or be fined for failure to comply.
Accordingly, a number of commercially available devices have been developed and marketed to assist an animal owner in removing his animal's excrement from city streets. Such devices include, for example, chemical devices to chemically decompose the fecal matter as well as other hand held or wheeled devices for scraping or shoveling it up into containers. Such prior art devices present a number of disadvantages including, for example, extreme bulkiness, or they require the owner to physically handle the animal's excrement in order to dispose of it.
Accordingly, a need remains for a hand-held, vacuum-operable feces collection device wherein the excrement is drawn into an excrement containing housing by suction generated by the device. The present invention satisfies such a need and is readily capable of being operated and carried by an animal owner and further includes a disposable bag in the housing for easy disposal by the owner. Thus, the present invention provides a pet owner with a practical, convenient, and sanitary method of collecting pet feces.


A high k dielectric film and methods for forming the same are disclosed. The high k material includes two peaks of impurity concentration, particularly nitrogen, such as at a lower interface and upper interface, making the layer particularly suitable for transistor gate dielectric applications. The methods of formation include low temperature processes, particularly CVD using a remote plasma generator and atomic layer deposition using selective incorporation of nitrogen in the cyclic process. Advantageously, nitrogen levels are tailored during the deposition process and temperatures are low enough to avoid interdiffusion and allow maintenance of the desired impurity profile.

Integrated circuit design is constantly being scaled down in pursuit of faster circuit operation and lower power consumption. Scaled dimensions in a circuit design generally requires attendant changes in fabrication processing.
A basic building block of integrated circuits is the thin film transistor (TFT). As is known in the art, the transistor typically includes a gate electrode separated from a semiconductor layer or substrate by a thin gate dielectric material. Although a common acronym for state-of-the-art transistors is MOS, for metal-oxide-silicon, the material of choice for the gate electrode has long been silicon rather than metal. Among other advantages, silicon gate electrodes are able to withstand high temperature processes and enable self-aligned doping processes used for completing the transistor, thus saving expensive masking steps.
Accordingly, conventional gate electrodes are formed of polysilicon doped with conductivity-enhancing impurities, such as arsenic, phosphorus or boron. Silicon can be deposited by CVD with in situ doping by flowing a dopant source gas (e.g., arsine, phosphine, diborane, etc.) concurrently with a silicon source gas (e.g. silane). Recently, interest has been drawn to the possibility of doping silicon electrodes with germanium, thereby reducing the electrical work function of the transistor gate electrode. Accordingly, a reduced voltage is needed to operate the circuit, consequently generating less heat. Moreover, a silicon germanium gate electrode remains compatible with surrounding materials and current integrated circuit fabrication processes. Proposals for forming silicon germanium layers include in situ doping of a silicon layer by forming germane (GeH4) along with silane (SiH4) in a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process.
While in situ doped CVD processes have been found to be effective in producing silicon germanium, the addition of germane to the silane flow has been found to significantly increase incubation or nucleation times over dielectric materials, particularly oxides such as silicon dioxide and some of the high-k materials discussed below. Similarly slow nucleation over dielectric materials occurs when chemical vapor depositing other gate electrode materials, such as polysilicon and particularly silicon in situ doped by flowing dopant source gases (e.g., diborane, arsine or phosphine) along with a silicon source.
Slow nucleation entails longer overall deposition times, lower throughput and consequently greater fabrication costs. The semiconductor industry is very sensitive to fabrication costs. Accordingly, any increase in wafer throughput, at any stage of processing, translates to reduced production costs and higher margins.
One way in which SiGe or other in situ doped silicon deposition has been hastened is by the first formation of a nucleation layer, typically silicon, over the gate dielectric, followed by poly-SiGe deposition. This additional step unfortunately complicates the process flow, requires adjustment of the doping concentrations at the dielectric-electrode interface to ensure the desired work function for the transistor, and does not necessarily guarantee rapid and uniform nucleation. Other recent work optimizing silicon and poly-SiGe deposition processes has also focused on increasing deposition rates while maintaining layer uniformity. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,607,724; 5,614,257; 5,700,520; 5,874,121; and 5,876,797 describe methods of depositing polysilicon at high rates by CVD under "high pressure" conditions.
Another area in which process control is particularly critical is the fabrication of transistor gate dielectrics. In the pursuit of ever faster and more efficient circuits, semiconductor designs are continually scaled down with each product generation. Transistor switching time plays a large role in the pursuit of faster circuit operation. Switching time, in turn, can be reduced by reducing the channel length of the transistors. In order to realize maximum improvements in transistor performance, vertical dimensions should be scaled along with horizontal dimensions. Accordingly, effective gate dielectric thickness, junction depth, etc. will all decrease with future generation integrated circuits. To date, this scaling has reduced gate electrode widths to less than 0.25 μm. Currently, commercial products are available employing gate widths or critical dimensions of 0.18 μm or less.
Conventional gate dielectrics are formed of high quality silicon dioxide and are typically referred to as "gate oxide" layers. Ultrathin gate oxides (less than 7 nm), however, have been found to exhibit high defect densities, including pinholes, charge trapping states, and susceptibility to hot carrier injection effects. Such high defect densities lead to leakage currents through the gate dielectric and rapid device breakdown unacceptable for circuit designs with less than 0.25 μm gate spacing, i.e., sub-quarter-micron technology.
While care under laboratory conditions can be used to control defect densities, such control has been difficult to achieve under commercial volume fabrication conditions. Moreover, even if the integrity of the oxide is perfectly maintained, quantum-mechanical effects set fundamental limits on the scaling of gate oxide. At high fields, direct tunneling dominates over Fowler-Nordheim tunneling, and largely determines oxide scaling limits. These scaling limits have been estimated at about 2 nm for logic circuits, and about 3 nm for more leakage-sensitive memory arrays in dynamic random access memory (DRAM) circuits. See, e.g., Hu et al., "Thin Gate Oxides Promise High Reliability," SEMICONDUCTOR INTERNATIONAL (July 1998), pp. 215-222.
Another problem with thin gate oxides is their susceptibility to dopant diffusion from the overlying gate electrode. A polysilicon gate electrode layer is typically doped with boron for its enhanced conductivity. As the gate oxide thickness is scaled down, boron can easily penetrate through the gate oxide, resulting in instabilities in device properties. Boron penetration into gate dielectrics has such undesirable consequences as positive shifts in threshold voltage, increases in sub-threshold swing, increases in charge trapping, decreases in low-field hole mobility, and degradation of current drive due to polysilicon depletion in p-MOSFETs.
Some efforts to address deficiencies of silicon dioxide include nitrogen incorporation into the gate dielectric. Silicon nitride (Si3N4) has a higher dielectric constant than SiO2, theoretically enabling thinner equivalent oxide thickness for gate dielectrics that are not tunnel-limited, and furthermore serves as an effective barrier against impurity diffusion. However, the interfaces between silicon nitride films and the underlying semiconductor substrate are generally of poor quality, resulting in a high density of charge trapping sites and pinholes, and attendant current leakage. As a consequence, attempts have been made to create SiO2 and Si3N4 hybrids, such as silicon oxynitride films, for use as gate dielectrics. Conventional methods of incorporating nitrogen into silicon oxide gate dielectrics are difficult to control, however, particularly for ultra-thin gate dielectrics of future generation devices.
Other solutions to scaling problems include the use of high permittivity materials ("high k"). Theoretically, incorporating materials of high k materials into the gate dielectric opens the door to further device scaling. Due to higher dielectric constant, many materials can exhibit the same capacitance as a thinner silicon dioxide layer, such that a lower equivalent oxide thickness can be achieved without tunnel-limited behavior. Some high k materials under investigation include aluminum oxide (Al2O3), zirconium oxide (ZrO2), hafnium oxide (HfO2), barium strontium titanate (BST), strontium bismuth tantalate (SBT), tantalum oxide (Ta2O5), etc. Such dielectrics have a dielectric constant (or k) value greater than about 7. While exhibiting greatly increased dielectric strength, these materials have been difficult to integrate with existing fabrication technology.
Similar high quality, thin dielectric layers are desirable in other contexts of integrated circuit fabrication. Integrated capacitors in memory arrays must exhibit a certain minimum capacitance for proper data storage and retrieval. Some efforts to increase capacitance for a given memory cell space have focused on the use of materials characterized by high dielectric constants (high k materials), such as those listed above.
Accordingly, a need exists for improvements in the integration of dielectric layers and conductors in semiconductor fabrication, particularly at interfaces in transistor gate stacks.

Incorporation of nitrogen into high k dielectric film


A computing device includes a local directory service cache. The local directory service cache is a live database. The directory service cache is stored in a shared memory space. In certain embodiments of the invention, client processes needing directory services can directly access the local directory service cache via memory mapping. A caching program updates and maintains the database and obtains the needed data if a cache miss is encountered. Some socket communications between the client processes and the caching program may be used to update database entries, notify the caching program of cache misses, etc.

Computer systems typically include two or more computers networked together to allow the sharing of applications, resources, services and information by a number of users. Applications running in this de-centralized environment need information about the system from time to time, including, for example, information about users, host name resolution, passwords, and file system mount points. Typically, a network service known as a "directory service" (traditionally, also "name service") is used to store, maintain, and provide this information to client programs in the system. A directory service typically keeps track of all resources on a network and makes this information available to users and applications. For example, when a user logs on, the login program on the local computer may communicate with the directory service to check the user's password or other authentication information. The local computer may further communicate with the directory service to obtain information about the user's permissions in the network.
A directory service includes a database where the directory data is stored, as well as programs for administering the database and programs for communicating with client applications. The directory service may be implemented on one or more servers on the network. A process is a running instance of a program. Typically, processes requiring directory services call a look-up function to access the requisite directory information. The look-up function may be included in a C library of standard functions that are available in the system. In some systems, the look-up function involves making a request directly to the remote directory server over the network using conventional protocol-based communications. The directory server receives the request, looks up the requested data in the database, and transmits a response to the client process. Directory service requests between the client and the directory service are costly in terms of network resources. This type of communication requires active participation by both the requesting client and the responding directory server. The directory server receives the requests over a dedicated socket or port and must constantly be checking for communications over that port. Additionally, a number of client requests in a short period of time can overload the directory server. The response time may become unacceptable or the server may even crash. If the directory services are implemented on the main network server, the whole network may come to a halt. Accordingly, reliance on a centralized, server-based directory service can result in slow operation or total network failure during periods of heavy use. The directory service response time may not be within acceptable limits, for example due to a backlog of requests, or network delays. This problem increases as the size of the network and the number of processes running on the system increase. Making requests of the directory service can also be inefficient because the same data is often accessed repeatedly.
One solution to the problem of providing directory services efficiently involves caching the retrieved data locally on one or more machines, so that after a first lookup of particular data from the directory server by a caching program, all local processes can retrieve that data locally by communicating with the caching program. After the initial access, for each subsequent access of that particular data, the necessary communication is restricted to local inter-process communication between the requesting process and the caching program. This local communication is faster than communication with a directory server over a network. This technique suffers from the drawback that the operating system has to perform a number of potentially costly operations: the request must be transmitted from process to process, the caching program must be given the opportunity to run and produce the result, and the result must be provided to the requesting process. This may slow down the other processes running on the system. The centrally-managed cache may still be a bottleneck.

Method and system for caching directory services


A panel substrate which has an improved surface flatness so as to prevent a reduced display performance of a display panel. The panel substrate of the invention comprises a substrate member, a polish processing layer formed through wet film formation on or above the substrate member, and a polished surface formed as the surface of the polish processing layer.

The present invention relates to a panel substrate, a display panel, an organic EL (Electroluminescence) panel, and a method of manufacturing the organic EL panel.
The present application claims priority from Japanese Applications Nos. 2004-76087, 2004-34656, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
A flat display panel is usually formed by mounting at least one display (element) device on a panel substrate, and it has been pointed out that a flatness of the surface of such a panel substrate greatly affects the displaying performance of the display panel. Especially, with regard to an organic EL panel, if there are irregularities on the surface of a panel substrate, an un-uniformity will occur in the thickness of each of several layers laminated on the panel substrate, resulting in a deteriorated displaying performance.
FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing the cross section of an organic EL (element) device 10 for use in forming a conventional organic EL panel. As shown, the organic EL device 10 mounted on a panel substrate 11 has a laminated structure formed by interposing an organic layer 20 containing at least one organic luminescence layer between a pair of electrodes. Further, insulating films 13 are formed around a lower electrode 12 on the panel substrate 11, while an area on the lower electrode 12 surrounded by the insulating film 13 forms a luminescent area S. Moreover, in the luminescent area S, the organic layer 20 is laminated on the lower electrode 12, while an upper electrode 14 is formed on the organic layer 20.
As one example, the organic layer 20 has a three-layer structure including a hole transporting layer 21, a luminescent layer 22, and an electron transporting layer 23, with the lower electrode 12 serving as an anode and the upper electrode 14 as a cathode. However, it is also possible to form a structure not including the hole transporting layer 21 and/or the electron transporting layer 23, or a structure in which at least one of the aforementioned layers is formed into a multi-layered structure. Alternatively, it is also possible to form a hole injection layer on the anode side of the hole transporting layer 21, and an electron injection layer on the cathode side of the electron transporting layer 23. In addition, it is further possible for the lower electrode 12 to be used as a cathode and the upper electrode 14 as an anode.
Such an organic EL device for use in forming an organic EL panel, once under an electric voltage applied between the lower electrode 12 and the upper electrode 14, allows positive holes to be injected and transported from the anode side to the organic layer 20, and electrons to be injected and transported from the cathode side to the organic layer 20, thereby effecting a light emission through a recombination of the positive-holes with electrons. On such an occasion, although an electric current flows between the anode and the cathode due to the recombination of positive holes with electrons, if there are some surface irregularities on the surface of the panel substrate 11 within the luminescent area S, such surface irregularities will also occur on the surface of the lower electrode 12 mounted on the panel substrate 11. As a result, some thin portions will locally occur in the organic layer 20 within the luminescent area S. Once such thin portions locally occur, a leak current (different from the current caused by the aforementioned recombination) will be generated there, causing some problems such as an emission failure and an increased power consumption.
In order to solve the above problem, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 11-191487 suggests that the surface flatness of a panel substrate can be improved if the surface thereof is polished chemically or mechanically prior to forming an organic EL device on the panel substrate.
With regard to the aforementioned conventional polishing method for treating the surface of a panel substrate, although it is possible to easily shave convexities on such surface, it is impossible to eliminate some scratches-like deep concavities without cutting a thick portion from the surface of the panel substrate. Actually, since the depths of such concavities are unrecognizable, it is difficult to completely eliminate such concavities on the panel substrate surface.
Usually, two kinds of glass substrates have been utilized as a panel substrate for a flat panel display, one is called "soda lime glass" if containing an alkaline component, and the other "non alkaline glass" if not containing an alkaline component. When utilizing a panel substrate containing an inexpensive alkaline component, a commonly used method is to coat the surface of the panel substrate with an SiO2 film through sputtering, thereby preventing an undesired effect of the alkaline component of the panel substrate on the above-mentioned display (element) device.
However, with regard to the aforementioned panel substrate surface on which the concavities are still remaining, even if the SiO2 film has been formed through sputtering, it is still impossible for a sputtering process to provide a thick film because of the necessity of film-stress control, hence making it impossible to fill the concavities on the panel substrate surface. In addition, since pin-holes of the SiO2 film will be formed in these concavities, it is impossible to block an invasion of the alkaline component of the panel substrate even if the SiO2 film has been formed.

Panel substrate, display panel, organic EL panel, and method of manufacturing the same


An apparatus and a method for lesion detection are provided. The method of lesion detection involves detecting lesion candidates from a medical image, detecting anatomical objects from the medical image, verifying each of the lesion candidate based on anatomical context information comprising information regarding a location relationship between the lesion candidates and the anatomical objects, and removing one or more false positive lesion candidate from the detected lesion candidates based on a verification result.

1. Field
The following description relates to a technique of detecting lesion from a medical image, and to a method and an apparatus for eliminating one or more lesion candidate detected from a medical image as a false positive lesion candidate.
2. Description of Related Art
Computer-Aided Detection (CADe), also called Computer-Aided Diagnosis (CADx), is a technique of automatically detecting lesions from a medical image using a computer for the purpose of assisting a doctor in making a diagnosis. However, the low-resolution of many medical images and the wide-range atypical characteristics of lesions within medical images make it challenging to achieve high accuracy in CAD.
For example, ultrasound images are obtained from a probe whose location and angle are arbitrarily determined by a doctor. Thus, the obtained ultrasound images may contain an atypical image of a lesion due to the different locations and angles of a probe used to obtain the image. Thus, if an algorithm of automatically detecting lesions is applied to such an atypical image, the computer is likely to detect not just lesions but also anatomical objects found in the image as lesions.

Apparatus and method for lesion detection


The present disclosure relates to a method and system for exchanging packets of information pertaining to an instrument. Data pertaining to the instrument is obtained from internal and external sources, which may be governmental or non-governmental. The obtained data undergoes a process of clustering and dimensional reduction to arrive at cleaned and optimised data attributes. A predictive model is built using those data attributes. A testing provision is included in the proposed method and system that allows for validation of the constructed model by using test data and comparing the predictions with actual values. Upon validation, the model predicts one or more packets of information that can have a bearing on the exchange of packets pertaining to the instrument.

Background description includes information that may be useful in understanding the present invention. It is not an admission that any of the information provided herein is prior art or relevant to the presently claimed invention, or that any publication specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art.
Prediction of packets of information for simulating scenarios for assessing exchange of packets pertaining to one or more instruments is highly valuable. However, to have relevance, it is imperative that predictive models designed for such predictions, predict packets that are as close to actual values as possible.
A well designed predictive model predicts packets of information based on data attributes obtained from the parties involved in the exchange of packets pertaining to said instrument. The information predicted holds great value in assessing the nature of exchange of packets pertaining to the instrument, which further determines the state of the instrument.
An exemplary implementation of such a predictive model is to assess the risk in lending credit, between a lending entity and a borrower.
In the domain of Credit Risk practice, classification of exposures largely follows binary approaches, that is, 'Performing' or 'Non-Performing', based on the absence or occurrence of default to the lending entity during the reference period. The preponderance of 'Non-Default' exposures data points in the population does not easily lend itself for predicting potential default in a scientific manner. The binary nature of classification of loan exposure has compelled practitioners to bracket 'Non-Default' exposures into few buckets (8-9), implying that all exposures within a bucket same have the same or similar default tendencies.
The above described approach neither allows for discerning variables influencing actual 'Defaults' within a population nor lends itself for an acceptable back-testing of predicted 'Probability of Defaults' (PD).
There is therefore a need in the art for a predictive model that can predict complex packets of information that fall, preferably, on a continuum scale for better understanding of the complexities involved in the exchange of information packets pertaining to an instrument.

Method and system for exchange of packets pertaining to an instrument


A fuel supply system for providing fuel from a fuel source to a combustion chamber of an engine is disclosed. The fuel supply system includes a vapor separator in which vapor is separated from fuel supplied from the fuel source. A pre-pressurizing pump pressurizes fuel from the vapor separator to a first pressure and delivers it to a high pressure pump. The high pressure pump pressurizes the fuel to a pressure above the first pressure and delivers it to a fuel injector for delivery into the combustion chamber. Preferably, a fuel cooler is provided between the vapor separator and high pressure pump for cooling the fuel. In addition, a valve is diverts a portion of the fuel supplied by the high pressure pump back to the vapor separator.

Internal combustion engines operating on a two-cycle principal have traditionally been arranged so that fuel is delivered into an incoming air supply. The fuel and air mixture passes into a crankcase chamber for crankcase compression, and is then delivered through a scavenge passage to a combustion chamber of the engine for combustion therein.
As is well known, in the operating cycle of a two-cycle engine, an exhaust port leading from the combustion chamber is open during at least part of the time the scavenge passage is open. Thus, exhaust along with a portion of the air and fuel charge being delivered through the scavenge port flow through the exhaust port into the exhaust system.
In this arrangement, and especially at low engine speeds, a large amount of fuel must be added to the air to compensate for the loss of fuel flowing through the cylinder and directly out the exhaust port. Supplying excessive fuel, however, is costly and can result in stalling of the engine. In addition, the quantities of fuel flowing into the exhaust may foul a catalyst positioned in the exhaust system.
As one attempt to solve the above-stated problems, some two-cycle engines have been arranged to have fuel directly injected into the combustion chamber. A fresh air charge is supplied to each combustion chamber through the crankcase and a scavenge port. Once air is supplied to the combustion chamber and the exhaust port is closed, a fuel injector injects fuel directly into the combustion chamber for mixing with the air.
This arrangement has the benefit that little of the fuel flows unburned into the exhaust system, and the amount of fuel supplied to each combustion chamber may be closely controlled. On the other hand, in order for this system to work, fuel must be supplied to the fuel injector under high pressure. In particular, a large amount of fuel must be sprayed into the combustion chamber in a short time, and in a manner which atomizes the fuel. Thus, these systems have a fuel supply which includes a fuel tank and a high pressure pump for pumping fuel from the tank and supplying it under high pressure to the fuel injector.
A problem with this arrangement arises in pressurizing the fuel from tank pressure (typically atmospheric pressure) to this high pressure by the high pressure pump. First, if a single pump is used, for the pump to create the large pressure head in the single step, its capacity must be very low and insufficient fuel may be supplied to the engine. Another problem is the introduction of large amounts of vapor into the fuel. This vapor may cause a vapor lock in the system and alters the amount of fuel which is actually delivered to the combustion chamber during a desired fuel delivery time. Thirdly, such a high pressure pump must operate at high speeds, and thus achieves high temperatures. When the fuel is hot, vapor creation within the fuel is accelerated, worsening the above-stated problems.
A fuel supply system for delivering fuel from a fuel source to a combustion chamber of an engine through a fuel injector at high pressure and without the above-stated problems is desired.


An illumination device includes a rectifier circuit, M light-emitting modules, and a control module. The rectifier circuit has a positive output terminal and a negative output terminal, and generates a driving voltage between the positive output terminal and the negative output terminal according to an input power. The M light-emitting modules are coupled between the positive output terminal and the negative output terminal. Each of the M light-emitting modules has a conduction voltage, and includes a light-emitting unit that includes at least one light-emitting diode. The control module is coupled between the rectifier circuit and the M light-emitting modules, and controls the M light-emitting modules to dynamically form S light-emitting diode strings coupled in parallel with each other. A number of the light-emitting units in each of the S light-emitting diode strings is N, in which S×N=M, where M, S, N are positive integers.

Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to an illumination device. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to an illumination device having light-emitting modules that can be adapted to a driving voltage.
Description of Related Art
Recently, light-emitting diodes (LEDs) have been widely applied in various illumination devices, such as home lighting, headlights, electric torches, backlight in display panels, etc.
In some approaches, illumination devices using LEDs as the light-emitting elements cannot effectively kept all LEDs being lighted simultaneously with different driving voltages. As a result, the effective usage of the LEDs is reduced. Moreover, the current illumination devices cannot effectively achieve the constant-power to drive LED under different driving voltages.
Therefore, a heretofore-unaddressed need exists in this industry to improve the illumination devices for not only keeping all of the LEDs being lighted simultaneously within a wide range of driving voltage, but also achieving the constant-power to drive LED.

Illumination device and light-emitting diode circuit


A silicon article including a silicon base and columns extending from the silicon base. The columns define a gap between the columns which is devoid of material so that the article can act as a filter or heat sink. Also disclosed is a method of making the silicon article.

The present invention relates to a silicon article processed by a semiconductor technique, and more particularly, relates to a silicon article having columns which is particularly suited for use as a filter, especially a charge and particulate selective filter, or as a heat sink.
An advantage of processing techniques used in the semiconductor industry is that silicon structures can be made which have very fine submicron dimensions. Typically, such semiconductor processing techniques are used to make the wiring lines, trenches and other features of semiconductor devices. The present inventors, however, have invented new silicon structures which deviate from those found in present day semiconductor devices. Among these structures are those found particularly useful for filters, especially charge and particulate selective filters, and heat sinks.
The prior art is replete with various structures and apparatus for filter and heat sink applications. Prior art relating to filters will be discussed first.
Hoenig U.S. Pat. No. 3,475,882, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein, discloses a chamber for separating gases based on their charge. The chamber further includes plates, coated with n-type and p-type semiconductor materials, on which a gas is adsorbed.
Thompson U.S. Pat. No. 5,332,485, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein, discloses an electrostatic filter consisting of parallel electrodes separated by porous filter material. The porous filter material is meant to collect the fine particles only after they have been agglomerated.
Hattori et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,466,279, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein, discloses an electric dust collection system in which dust particles are first ionized and then collected on collector electrodes. A metal oxide semiconductor layer is formed on the collector electrodes. Particles are only separated by charge and then collected.
El-Shoubary et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,480,558, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein, discloses a crude apparatus for cleaning soils of contaminants. In one embodiment shown in FIG. 4, the apparatus consists of a platinum or carbon electrode embedded in a plurality of porous bags filled with an adsorbent material. The electrode attracts the contaminants which are adsorbed by the adsorbent material in the bag.
As is apparent from the above prior art, there is opportunity for improvement of filters, particularly those filters which are charge and particulate selective.
Accordingly, it is a purpose of the present invention to have am improved filter, especially an improved charge and particulate selective filter.
Turning now to prior art related to heat sinks, Weichold et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,179,043, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein, discloses micro heat pipes cut into semiconductor devices. The micro heat pipes are partially filled with heat conductive films to improve cooling.
Bernhardt U.S. Pat. No. 5,218,515, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein, discloses a microchannel heat sink formed on the back side of a semiconductor device.
Azar et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,304,846, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein, discloses a semiconductor material heat sink having fins and channels. As shown in FIG. 16 of this reference, the heat sink is many times bigger than the semiconductor device that it is to cool.
Bertin et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,506,753, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein, discloses a semiconductor device having grooves on the inactive side for cooling. The grooves are 125-250 microns deep and 500-1000 microns wide.
In view of the above references, it would be desirable to have a heat sink that is improved in performance.
Accordingly, it is another purpose of the present invention to have an improved heat sink.
According to a first aspect of the invention, there is disclosed a silicon article comprising:
a silicon base portion; and
a plurality of columns extending from said base portion, said columns being circular or elliptical in crossection and comprising polysilicon or a metal, said columns defining open areas between said columns.
According to a second aspect of the invention, there is disclosed a method of making a silicon article comprising the steps of:
(a) applying a photoresist to a silicon substrate;
(b) exposing and developing said photoresist to form a pattern of openings;
(c) etching said silicon substrate through said pattern to form a pattern of trenches in said silicon substrate;
(d) removing said photoresist;
(e) heating said silicon substrate in a suitable atmosphere to form a thin oxide or nitride coating on the surface of said trenches;
(f) filling said trenches with polysilicon or a metal; and
(g) removing said silicon surrounding said trenches to thereby leave columns of polysilicon or metal surrounded by said oxide or nitride coating.

Method of making silicon article having columns

International Business Machines Corporation


A disk drive incidentally generates undesirable acoustic noise during an operation mode and includes a spindle motor having windings and a rotor rotatable at an operating spin-rate during the operation mode. A commutation state sequencer includes a sequence of commutation states including a present commutation state and a next commutation state for generating a sequence of control signals. Switching elements are responsive to the sequence of control signals for sequentially applying a voltage across a selected combination of the windings to generate a torque on the rotor in order to maintain the operating spin-rate. A spindle motor control system provides a series of commutation clock pulses having a corresponding series of commutation clock periods to advance the commutation state sequencer from the present commutation state to the next commutation state. At least two of the commutation clock periods each have a systematically introduced variation from a nominal commutation clock period that depends on the operating spin-rate. The systematically introduced variation reduces the acoustic noise in the disk drive.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to reducing undesirable acoustic noise generated by a hard disk drive. More particularly, the present invention relates to a disk drive employing spindle motor commutation time variation for reducing acoustic noise in the disk drive.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In hard disk drives, data is stored on magnetic media disks, which are typically stacked on a spindle assemble. The spindle assembly is mechanically coupled to a spindle motor which rotates the disks at a substantially constant operating spin-rate during an operating mode of the disk drive.
A typical three-phase spindle motor includes a stator having three windings and a rotor. The rotor has magnets that provide a permanent magnet field. The spindle motor can generate torque on the rotor when current flows through at least one of the windings. The torque depends on the magnitude and direction of current flow through the windings and an angular position of the rotor relative to the stator. The functional relationship between torque and current flow and angular position is commonly depicted in a set of torque curves, each of which corresponds to a respective one of a series of commutation states.
A spindle motor driver typically drives the spindle motor. The spindle motor driver includes a commutation state sequencer having a sequence of commutation states for generating a sequence of control signals. The spindle motor driver also includes switching elements which are responsive to the sequence of control signals for sequentially applying a voltage across the selected combinations of the windings of the spindle motor to generate positive torque on the rotor to maintain the operating spin-rate. A spindle motor control system provides a series of commutation clock pulses to advance the commutation state sequencer from a present commutation state to a next commutation state. The series of commutation clock pulses have a corresponding series of commutation clock periods. In conventional disk drives, the commutation clock periods each have a nominal commutation clock period that depends on the operating spin-rate. The nominal commutation clock period produced by the conventional spindle motor control system cause the spindle motor to be commutated at fixed time intervals.
Typical disk drives produce acoustic noise to a large extent from mechanically induced vibrations. Some portion of the acoustic noise produced in the disk drive is from electro-magnetically induced vibrations. The electro-magnetically induced vibrations occur mainly at harmonics of the spindle motor fixed commutation frequency resulting from the nominal commutation clock period. The spindle motor commutation fixed time intervals provide for reliable detection of back electromotive force (BEMF) zero crossings, and provide for the spindle motor to be synchronously operated at the proper nominal commutation frequency. The conventional spindle motor control system produces spindle motor commutation harmonics occurring at fixed frequencies. The commutation harmonics occurring at fixed frequencies cause narrow peaks in the acoustic spectrum known as prominent tones. The prominent tones can be audible and can potentially violate disk drive acoustic noise specifications.
There exists substantial competitive pressure to develop mass-market hard disk drives having reduced acoustic noise. For the reasons stated above, there is a need to reduce undesirable acoustic noise generated by a hard disk drive, especially the acoustic noise produced from electro-magnetically induced vibrations occurring mainly at harmonics of the spindle motor commutation frequency.
The invention can be regarded as a disk drive that incidentally generates undesirable acoustic noise during an operation mode. The disk drive includes a spindle motor, switching elements, a commutation state sequencer, and a spindle motor control system. The spindle motor has a plurality of windings and a rotor rotatable at an operating spin-rate during the operation mode of the disk drive. The commutation state sequencer includes a sequence of commutation states for generating a sequence of control signals. The sequence of commutation states includes a present commutation state and a next commutation state. The switching elements are responsive to the sequence of control signals for sequentially applying a voltage across a selected combination of the windings to generate a torque on the rotor in order to maintain, the operating spin-rate. The spindle motor control system provides a series of commutation clock pulses to advance the commutation state sequencer from the present commutation state to the next commutation state. The series of commutation clock pulses have a corresponding series of commutation clock periods. At least two of the commutation clock periods each have a systematically introduced variation from a nominal commutation clock period that depends on the operating spin-rate. The systematically introduced variation for each of the at least two commutation clock periods reduces the acoustic noise in the disk drive.
The invention can also be regarded as a method of reducing acoustic noise in a disk drive that incidentally generates undesirable acoustic noise during an operation mode. The disk drive includes a spindle motor having a plurality of windings and a rotor rotatable at an operating spin-rate during the operation mode of the disk drive; and a spindle motor driver having switching elements. The method includes providing a sequence of commutation states for generating a sequence of control signals. The sequence of commutation states include a present commutation state and a next commutation state. The method also includes controlling the switching elements with the sequence of control signals to sequentially apply a voltage across a selected combination of the windings to generate a torque on the rotor in order to maintain the operating spin-rate. The method also includes providing a series of commutation clock pulses to advance the sequence of commutation states from the present commutation state to the next commutation state. The series of commutation clock pulses have a corresponding series of commutation clock periods. The method also includes systematically introducing variation from a nominal commutation clock period that depends on the operating spin-rate into each of at least two of the commutation clock periods to reduce the acoustic noise in the disk drive.

Disk drive employing spindle motor commutation time variation for reducing acoustic noise


A diamond cutting element for use on an earth boring drill bit, such as a drag bit. The cutting element is cooled with drilling fluid via a plurality of internal channels having outlets adjacent the peripheral cutting edge of the diamond cutting element.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to diamond cutting elements employed in drag bits for drilling subterranean formations, and more specifically for a structure and method for cooling the diamond tables of such cutting elements and their associated substrates
2. State of the Art
Diamond cutting elements have been employed in earth boring drill bits for many decades. During the last twenty years, synthetic diamonds, known as polycrystalline diamond compacts, or PDC's, have been made available on the market by General Electric, DeBeers and others. These PDC's are available in a variety of shapes, but one preferred configuration widely employed in earth boring drill bits is a planar disc, variations of which, including half-discs and "tombstone" shaped planar cutters, have also been employed Non-planar diamond cutting elements have also been developed and proposed, such as "dome" cutters and concave cutters. Advances in diamond film technology enhance the feasibility of non-planar cutters of fairly complex configuration.
Planar PDC cutting elements generally comprise an assembly of a layer of diamond crystals bonded together under ultra-high temperature and pressure into a wafer-like, thin layer or "diamond table" on a cemented carbide (such as WC) substrate of similar configurations. The PDC cutting element is then bonded via the substrate (as by brazing) to a carrier element such as a stud, cylinder or other supporting structure, which in turn is secured to the face of the drill bit. It will be appreciated that some PDC cutting elements may not possess a uniform thickness diamond table and, as with overall cutter configuration, diamond film technology presents many potential options for varying diamond table thickness.
PDC's have been a great success in advancing the state of the drill bit art, and are now widely employed in drill bits of numerous and diverse configurations. Since the early days of PDC use on drill bits, however, it has been apparent that PDC's suffer thermal degradation at the high temperatures generated by the frictional abrasive contact of the PDC cutting edge with the formation as the bit rotates and weight is applied to the drill string on which the bit is mounted. Such degradation leads to premature dulling of the PDC cutting edge, and even gross failure of the PDC cutting element assembly. Improved feed stock and fabrication techniques have raised the thermal tolerance of PDC's to some degree, and there has developed a subcategory of PDC's known as thermally stable products, or TSP's, which retain their physical integrity to temperatures approaching 1000.degree. C. TSP's may be infiltrated into matrix body drill bits at the time of bit furnacing, rather than being attached at a later time, as with non-thermally stable PDC's. However, even TSP's suffer from thermal degradation during cutting of the formation as the drill bit advances the well bore.
While the prior art has focused on problems associated with the degradation of the diamond layer or table, heating of the cutting element substrate (typically tungsten carbide) from the drilling operation is also detrimental to cutting element performance. Heat checking of the substrate, typically caused by alternative heating and quenching of the cutting elements as the drill bit bounces on the bottom of the borehole, can initiate more severe substrate cracking which, in turn, can propagate cracking of the diamond table.
A variety of attempts have been made to cool and clean PDC cutting elements during the drill operation by flushing the cutting elements with drilling fluid, or "mud," pumped down the drill string and through nozzles or other orifices on the face of the bit. The flow of drilling mud removes formation cuttings and other debris from the face of the bit and generally radially outwardly to the bit gage, up the junk slots and into the well bore annulus between the drill string and the wall of the well bore to the surface, where the debris is removed, the mud reconditioned with additives and again pumped down the drill string. It is known in the art to direct drilling mud flow across the face of a series of cutting elements (U.S. Pat. No. 4,452,324 to Jurgens); to direct mud flow from a nozzle toward the face of a single cutting element (U.S. Pat. No. 4,303,136 to Ball); and to direct flow from a nozzle to a single cutting element at a specific orientation (U.S. Pat. No. 4,913,244 to Trujillo). It has also been proposed to direct mud flow through the face of a PDC cutting element from internal passage extending from the interior of the drill bit through the carrier element and out an aperture in the face of the cutting element (U.S. Pat. No. 4,606,418 to Thompson). All of the foregoing approaches, while providing some cooling to the PDC cutting element, are believed to serve primarily to remove formation cuttings from the cutting elements, and only incidentally or secondarily to provide any benefit in cooling the cutting element, as the mud flow is actually quite removed from the high temperature point or line of contact between the outermost edge of the PDC cutting element (taken from the bit face) and the uncut formation. Stated another way, the intervening presence of the formation cuttings or chips being sheared from the formation at the PDC cutting edge prevents contact between the drilling mud flow and the high temperature interface between the cutting element and the formation in the vicinity of the cutting edge.
It has been proposed, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,852,671 to Southland, to direct drilling mud flow through a passage in a stud supporting a PDC to a relief between the pair of cutting points in the formation-contacting zone of a disc-shaped PDC cutting element to improve the cooling and cleaning of the cutting elements. While potentially an improvement over the previously-referenced externally-disposed drilling mud flow direction techniques, the Southland patent suffers from the limitations imposed by the use of a single fluid exit point proximate the cutting contact point of the PDC. Moreover, flow characteristics of the Southland cutter will commence an almost immediate deterioration as soon as drilling commences, it being generally known that unused planar PDC's, even those with so-called "chisel" configurations, or those of the Southland "double point" configuration, wear rapidly during the first part of a drilling operation. Thus, after a few dozen feet of drilling, the Southland cutter points are worn flat to the depth of the relief, and the fluid intended to flush and cool the cutting zone is ejected from the stud passage behind the cutting element, to no advantageous effect.

Drill bit cutting element with cooling channels


A sheet post-processing apparatus includes a first conveying unit configured to convey a sheet; a holding unit configured to hold the sheet conveyed by the first conveying unit; a first post-processing unit configured to perform a post-process on the sheet conveyed by the first conveying unit; a second post-processing unit configured to perform a post-process on the sheet conveyed by the first conveying unit, the second post-processing unit being arranged below the first post-processing unit; a moving unit configured to move the holding unit from the first post-processing unit to the second post-processing unit; a second conveying unit configured to convey the sheet subjected to the post-processed by the first post-processing unit or the second post-processing unit in a direction orthogonal to a direction in which the sheet is conveyed by the first conveying unit; and a stacking unit configured to stack the sheet conveyed by the second conveying unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sheet post-processing apparatus and an image forming apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In image forming apparatuses such as a laser printer and a color image copying machine using the electrophotographic process, in general, the following method is adopted. Image data input from a personal computer or an image input device is exposed by a laser or the like to form an electrostatic latent image on an image carrier such as a photosensitive drum. Toner is developed by a developing device and then transferred to a sheet such as a form. The toner is then fused onto the sheet by a fixing unit of the heating roller type or the like to fix an image, and the sheet is discharged.
Image forming apparatuses aiming at automation of operations are also provided. These apparatuses are connected with a post-processing apparatus for performing post-processing including stapling, punching, sorting (gathering), bookbinding, and folding. Sheet post-processing by the post-processing apparatus includes stacking processing for sorting sheets for every copy and stacking them on a discharge tray and stapling processing for stapling post-processed sheets for every predetermined number of sheets and stacking them on a stack tray.
As an image forming apparatus equipped with a post-processing apparatus, an image forming apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 4199203 is known for example. The image forming apparatus includes a document scanning unit arranged at the top of the apparatus body, a paper feeding unit arranged at the bottom of the apparatus body, a printing unit arranged in between the document scanning unit and the paper feeding unit, a sheet post-processing unit that can perform a plurality pieces of sheet post-processing on sheets that are conveyed from the apparatus body after being printed by the printing unit, and a discharging unit to which the sheets after post-processing are discharged, both units arranged in a space within the apparatus body.
In the image forming apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 4199203, however, when sheets are conveyed from the apparatus body through the short edge feed (SEF), post processing can be performed on the short edge side that orthogonal to the sheet conveying direction, but not on the long edge side that is parallel to the sheet conveying direction. There is also a problem that, because a punching unit and a staple unit in the sheet post-processing unit are collaterally arranged in the horizontal direction, the apparatus body has a large lateral size.
Therefore, there is a need to provide a sheet post-processing apparatus that can incorporate a plurality pieces of post-processing units for performing post-processing on sheets in a space-saving manner, switch the sheet conveying direction smoothly, and perform post-processing on sheets without degrading productivity and to provide an image forming apparatus including the post-processing apparatus.

Sheet post-processing apparatus and image forming apparatus


An internal combustion engine includes low and high pressure turbochargers connected in series. An engine cylinder has an intake valve that fluidly connects a main chamber of the engine cylinder with an outlet of the high pressure compressor through an intake passage. An exhaust gas recirculation passage is fluidly interconnected between exhaust and intake conduits. A pre-chamber encloses a spark plug and is fluidly open with the main chamber of the engine cylinder. A first fluid path extends from the intake passage directly to the pre-chamber, and a second fluid path extends from the intermediate passage directly to the pre-chamber.

Internal combustion engines combust fuel to convert the potential chemical energy therein to mechanical power that can be utilized for various applications. A common configuration of an internal combustion engine includes a combustion chamber formed as a cylinder with a reciprocal piston slideably disposed therein. Air is drawn into the cylinder by the downward motion of the piston with respect to the lengthwise dimension of the cylinder. Fuel is introduced to the cylinder either by direct injection, port fuel injection (PFI), or by being premixed with air that is drawn in. The piston reciprocally moves toward the top of the cylinder in a compression stroke compressing the air therein. The compressed air and introduced fuel are combusted forcing the piston again to move downwards in a power or expansion stroke. The engine can harness the forced motion of the piston for other work, such as propelling a vehicle, operating an implement, or running a pump or generator.
A variety of fuels can be combusted, including hydrocarbon-based fuels such as the traditional gasoline or diesel or alternatively liquid natural gas (LNG) or compressed natural gas (CNG). Ignition of the fuel in the combustion chamber may be induced by a sparkplug or glowplug, although in other embodiments the fuel may be susceptible to auto-ignition due to compression from the upward motion of the piston. In some embodiments, a pre-combustion chamber or pre-chamber may be located proximate to and in fluid communication with the main combustion chamber that serves as an additional volume in which a mixture of fuel and air is initially ignited to induce combustion that then propagates into the main combustion chamber.
The makeup of material within the pre-chamber can sometimes vary from the makeup of material that is present within the combustion chamber due to insufficient mixing of material between the pre-chamber and the main chamber prior to ignition. In some instances, exhaust gas may remain in the pre-chamber from a previous expansion stroke. Such exhaust gas may not be sufficiently vented when a new intake charge enters the main chamber during an intake stroke, which can lead to an inefficient ignition. It has been proposed in the past to purge the pre-chamber by introducing a clean air/fuel mixture into the pre-chamber. One example of a previously proposed purging system can be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 9,249,746 ("Geckler"), which issued on Feb. 2, 2016. Geckler describes a system and method in which purge gas is introduced into a pre-chamber. The purge gas is a gas containing oxygen such that a pre-chamber charge can be created. While Geckler's systems and methods are an improvement over engines having pre-chambers that are not purged, there is always room for further improvements in engine operation and combustion efficiency.

System and method for staged pre-chamber purging


We claim a fragrance delivery system consisting of a mixture of various polymers oligomers and stabilizers capable of forming a surfactant complex gel dispersion when combined with a cleansing surfactant base and yielding high levels of fragrance deposition onto the skin, hair or other surface such as a textile, from a cleansing or softening consumer product comprising a micelle forming surfactant. The internal phase or dispersible phase of this surfactant complex gel dispersion (GLPPD) is made of a mixture of various immiscible polymers, oligomers and stabilizers forming a complex gel with the surfactant platform and whose ratio and composition are selected to dissolve preferentially a wide range of fragrance raw materials. The selection criteria are, first, that the fragrance should present a higher fragrance partitioning ratio into the surfactant complex gel phase than into the free micelles of the surfactant, second, that the surfactant complex gel should not be further solubilized by the free micelles, and third, that the polymer mixture selected should complex with the surfactant system. The external or dispersing phase of the GLPPD is made of a single cationic polymer or a mixture of cationic polymers that have been hydrated and associated with the surfactant to form a complex gel structure that cannot be further solubilized by the free micelles.

The present invention relates to a fragrance carrier and delivery system formed of mixtures of water miscible and immiscible polymers or oligomers able to form a surfactant complex gel dispersion capable of yielding high levels of fragrance deposition onto the skin, hair or other surfaces such as tiles or textiles, from a cleansing consumer product comprising a mixture of surfactants. The internal and external phases, or dispersible and dispersing phases, of this surfactant complex gel dispersion are formed when a mixture of various polymers, oligomers and optionally stabilizers are combined with a surfactant cleansing system to form an association surfactant complex structure with a polymer to polymer ratio, (polymer/oligomer/stabilizer mixture) to surfactant ratio, and composition that are selected so as to dissolve fragrance raw materials having a wide range of solubilities and volatilities.
Fragrance enhanced deposition and long lastingness are two benefits commonly searched for when formulating body or hair washes, liquid soaps, detergents and softeners, intended to be applied on the skin, hair, textile or other surfaces, all these products containing cleansing or conditioning surfactants or surface active agents. The amount of fragrance deposition on said surfaces, and its longlastingness, are however limited because most fragrances are solubilized in the free surfactant micelles and washed off by the cleansing or conditioning surfactant system present in these types of consumer products.
Fragrances are typically oily substances that, when added to a surfactant-containing composition, become solubilized in the surfactant micelles by partitioning. This process limits the amount of fragrance deposition on the surface treated with the composition, firstly, because the fragrance is greatly diluted in the micelles, and, secondly, because the small amount of fragrance that is deposited upon micelle breakage is re-solubilized back into the surfactant system.
Attempts to solve this problem have led to the use of cationic polymers, alone or in combination with fragrance carriers, in the surfactant solution. Fragrance deposition by these systems onto the surface, in particular the skin, is mainly attained by the use of either a cationic surfactant or a cationic polymer. Typical prior art in this field is represented for example by U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,804,538, 5,843,875 and 5,891,833. These documents all describe the use of cationic polymers to assist in enhanced fragrance deposition from body washes onto the skin.
Fragrance carriers used in the prior art typically consist of either a cationic polymer alone, that forms ion pairs with the surfactant, or a cationic polymer combined with oily liquid droplets in which the fragrance is dissolved, or combined with hydrophobic solid waxes or polymeric solid particles in which the fragrance is encapsulated.
The main drawbacks of using a cationic polymer forming ion pairs with a surfactant is that the level of fragrance binding is extremely low and therefore these carrier systems do not show a high level of fragrance deposition on the treated surface.
Drawbacks presented by carrier systems that resort to the use of cationic polymers in combination with oily liquid droplets are, first, that the oil in itself is partially solubilized in the surfactant micelles, and second, that the fragrances gradually diffuse out of the oil droplets by partitioning into the micelles when the cleansing composition reaches thermodynamic equilibrium. These two processes reduce significantly the level of fragrance deposition onto the surface on which the product is applied. A typical example of this type of solution is the fragrance delivery system described in US patent application 2002/0055452.
Hydrophobic waxes and polymeric solid particles, although not solubilized by the surfactant micelles because of their solid character, still lose fragrance by partitioning into the micelles. Furthermore, solid particles are difficult to deposit onto the skin, hair and other surfaces, since they do not break during shear, and in addition they are easily removed during washing.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,491,902 and European patent application 1 146 057 are pertinent examples of prior art describing the use of solid polymeric particles as fragrance carriers.
Encapsulation of fragrances in hollow spheres, nanosomes, liposomes, microspheres, etc., present similar challenges. In most cases, the solid walls of these spheres are unstable at high surfactant concentrations and they are also permeable, allowing the gradual partitioning of fragrances into the surfactant micelles.
In summary, the main problems posed by these prior known techniques are: first, that they lose fragrance into the surfactant micelles by partitioning, second, that, when the hydrophobic vehicle is a triglyceride or mineral oil, it can be solubilized into the micelles, and third, that when the vehicle is a solid particle, or has solid walls, it cannot be broken by shear, thus preventing fragrance deposition, and that it also allows the gradual diffusion of fragrances into the micelles.
In more recent documents such as US 2004/0087476 and 2004/0091445, there is described the use of cationic polymeric particles which are preferably not admixed with the fragrance prior to addition thereof to the end product containing the surfactant. The cationic polymers in question must have affinity to specific perfumery raw materials having defined characteristics. In addition, the fragrance polymeric systems there-described must obey certain parameters which are not generally defined or current in the art, but are defined only in the above-mentioned documents. In other words, the described resulting fragrance carriers or polymeric fragrance particles are quite specific and relate only to specific cationic polymers and fragrance raw materials, as mentioned in the examples. The drawback of this type of system is the danger that the skilled perfumer may be limited in his activity and choice of perfumery materials by having to formulate fragrances mainly as a function of the carrier polymer available, rather than on the basis of his hedonic objectives.
In fact, in the art of perfumery and more particularly of fragrance delivery and deposition on substrates treated with perfumed, surfactant-containing, consumer products, it is highly desirable to be able to deal with fragrance carrier systems that are as universal as possible, i.e. that can be easily adapted to the general characteristics of the end consumer product with which the surface or substrate is treated, without overly restricting the palette of materials that the perfumer has at his disposal for creating pleasant, original and effective fragrances meeting consumer preferences. The present invention addresses precisely this problem and also obviates the other problems encountered in the prior art of reference.
We have now surprisingly been able to establish that a more general solution to the prior art problems above-mentioned is that of providing a fragrance carrier system that takes into account the composition of the end product base, in particular the nature of the essential component in skin, hair, textile and other surface cleaners and conditioners, i.e. the surface active agent or surfactant system.
The present invention thus provides a fragrance carrier and delivery system which essentially consists of a gel complex resulting from the interaction of the fragrance carrier/deposition polymer combination with the surfactant molecules contained in the end product. The fragrance carrier/deposition combination comprises various types of water miscible and immiscible polymers, oligomers, and optionally stabilizers, able to form association complexes with the surfactant molecules at any dilution, when combined with the cleansing/conditioning surfactant platform.
We have now been able to establish that surfactant complex gel structures produced by combination of carefully selected mixtures of water miscible and immiscible polymers and/or oligomers optionally stabilized, with cleansing surfactant systems in particular, enable the formation of higly substantive gels which preferentially dissolve the fragrance and allow its effective deposition on the surfaces being cleansed. The external dispersing phase of such gel-liquid polymer/polymer dispersions (hereinafter referred to as "GLPPD"), which are one object of the invention, consists of a water miscible cationic polymer, or a mixture of water-miscible cationic polymers, able to form an aqueous surfactant complex gel when combined with a detergent surfactant system, whereas the internal dispersible phase of the GLPPD consists of one or more water immiscible liquid polymers or oligomers, and optionally stabilizers, also able to form complexes with a cleansing surfactant. The GLPPD can be made in situ in the surfactant base or be prepared separately and then added to the surfactant base. The fragrance, which can be of any appropriate composition, can also be admixed with the GLPPD, separately from the surfactant base, or be added after the complex gel has been formed in the surfactant base.

Fragrance delivery system for surface cleaners and conditioners


An implantable electrode arrangement for a cochlear implant system is described. The arrangement includes an electrode array with an outer surface having electrode contacts to apply cochlear stimulation signals to target neural tissue within an implanted patient cochlea. An electrode lead delivers the cochlear stimulation signals from an implanted signal processor to the electrode array. An electrode transition section includes a distal end portion of the electrode lead that is connected to a basal end portion of the electrode array. An electrode storage device contains the electrode transition section and is secured at an electrode opening in an outer surface of the patient cochlea. The electrode storage device is controllable after being surgically implanted to further insert an additional section of the electrode array from the electrode storage device into the patient cochlea and thereby implant a greater portion of the electrode array more deeply into the patient cochlea.

A normal ear transmits sounds as shown in FIG. 1 through the outer ear 101 to the tympanic membrane (eardrum) 102, which moves the bones of the middle ear 103, which in turn vibrate the oval window and round window openings of the cochlea 104. The cochlea 104 is a long narrow duct wound spirally about its axis for approximately two and a half turns. The cochlea 104 includes an upper channel known as the scala vestibuli and a lower channel known as the scala tympani, which are connected by the cochlear duct. The scala tympani forms an upright spiraling cone with a center called the modiolus where the spiral ganglion cells of the auditory nerve 113 reside. In response to received sounds transmitted by the middle ear 103, the fluid filled cochlea 104 functions as a transducer to generate electric pulses that are transmitted to the cochlear nerve 113, and ultimately to the brain. Hearing is impaired when there are problems in the ability to transduce external sounds into meaningful action potentials along the neural substrate of the cochlea 104.
In some cases, hearing impairment can be addressed by an auditory prosthesis system such as a cochlear implant that electrically stimulates auditory nerve tissue with small currents delivered by multiple electrode contacts distributed along an implant electrode. FIG. 1 shows some components of a typical cochlear implant system where an external microphone provides an audio signal input to an external signal processing stage 111 which implements one of various known signal processing schemes. The processed signal is converted by the external signal processing stage 111 into a digital data format, such as a sequence of data frames, for transmission into a receiver processor in an implant housing 108. Besides extracting the audio information, the receiver processor in the implant housing 108 may perform additional signal processing such as error correction, pulse formation, etc., and produces a stimulation pattern (based on the extracted audio information) that is sent through an electrode lead 109 to an implanted electrode array 110 which penetrates into the cochlea 104 through a surgically made electrode opening in the outer surface of the cochlea 104. Such an electrode opening—as used throughout this description—in the outer surface of the cochlear is made during surgery, for example with an incision as commonly known from electrode insertion techniques through round-window or cochleostomy. Typically, this electrode array 110 includes multiple electrode contacts 112 on its surface that deliver the stimulation signals to adjacent neural tissue of the cochlea 104 which the brain of the patient interprets as sound. The individual electrode contacts 112 may be activated sequentially, or simultaneously in one or more contact groups.
Some patients with hearing loss still retain some amount of residual hearing. Many such patients can benefit from the simultaneous employment of a cochlear implant and a conventional mechanical hearing aid, often referred to as an electroacoustic stimulation (EAS) system. See A. Illg, A. Buchner, O. Majdani, T. Lenarz, "Sprachverstehen in Ruhe und im Geräusch bei unterschiedlichen Elektrodenlängen", presented at the 19th annual meeting of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Audiologie e.V., Hannover, Germany, 2016; See Büchner et al., "Impact of low-frequency hearing," Audiology and Neurotology, 14. Suppl. 1 (2009): 8-13; Von Ilberg et al. "Electric-acoustic stimulation of the auditory system: a review of the first decade," Audiology and Neurotology, 16. Suppl. 2 (2011): 1-30 (all three incorporated herein by reference in their entireties). EAS candidates who still show residual hearing are typically treated with a shorter electrode array because the residual hearing abilities are usually in the low frequency region—the apical region of the cochlea—and shorter electrode arrays are less likely to damage the intracochlear structures or influence the mechanical characteristics of the cochlea. On the other hand, patients with little or no residual hearing usually are better treated with longer electrode arrays which can provide electrical stimulation to a larger portion of the cochlea, thereby significantly improving speech understanding as can be seen in FIG. 2A.
Unfortunately, as FIG. 2A also shows, some patients lose their residual hearing during or after cochlear implantation. Obviously this is a problem because, among other things, such patients should be treated by a long electrode array, but are already implanted with a short one. The benefit of a cochlear implant for such patients is lower than what could have been achieved with a longer electrode array—the patient either has to deal with reduced speech perception or undergo re-implantation with a longer electrode array.

Full postoperative insertion of partially inserted cochlear implants


Provided is a wavelength tunable optical filter of a micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS). The wavelength tunable optical filter comprises two optical fibers or optical waveguides having their optical axes aligned to each other, two lens for collimating light at leading ends of the optical fibers or optical waveguides, two or more mirrors formed on a substrate, thermal actuators supporting at least one of the mirrors, wherein one of the mirrors is actuated by thermal expansion of the actuator. Because all mirrors are formed on a substrate, a manufacturing process is simple and an initial resonance wavelength can be precisely adjusted. Since the thermal expansion is generated by the electrical current directly flowing through the thermal actuators, it can be actuated by a low consumption power. Also, since an electrostatic force is not used to move the mirrors, a sticking phenomenon between the mirrors does not occur, and the wavelength can be tunable in a wide range. Since the planar mirrors are arranged in parallel, the light alignment is easily performed, the line width is constant and the insertion loss is low.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wavelength tunable optical filter for inputting or outputting light with a desired wavelength in an optical communication system of a wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) scheme and, more particularly, to a wavelength tunable optical filter operated by a thermal actuation.
2. Description of the Related Art
An optical communication system using a wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) scheme sends/receives optical signals of various channels each of which has a different wavelength, through an optical fiber, and needs a process of combining or splitting light having a desired wavelength at each of terminal and node. For this process, a wavelength tunable filter is used. The prior art wavelength tunable filter is comprised so that the distance between distributed bragg reflectors (DBR's) is shortened by an electrostatic force, as a voltage is applied between the distributed bragg reflectors (DBR's) alternatively stacked and made of semiconductors or dielectric materials, which have a different refractive index. The wavelength tunable filter by an electrostatic force has the actuation range limited to less than ⅓ of an initial gap between the two mirrors, since two mirrors are stuck when the distance between the two mirrors is less than ⅔ of the initial gap. Also, in the case where the number of DBR pairs increases in order to raise wavelength selectivity, the thickness of the actuator is also increased. Thus, the actuation voltage is rapidly increased. In this case, since an additional high voltage generator is needed, the manufacturing cost is increased. If the actuation voltage exceeds a critical value, a discharge between the two mirrors occurs and an insulator is damaged, thereby the elements can be no longer used. Accordingly, in order to prevent the above problems, the methods for manufacturing the mirrors and the actuators with different material or different thickness have been studied. However, there is a disadvantage in that the methods are too much complicated.
Recently, actuation methods using thermal expansion have been studied in order to solve these problems.
One of them makes use of a principle that, when a cantilever joined up and down by two materials having a different thermal expansion coefficient is heated, bending occurs toward the material having a smaller thermal expansion coefficient (T. Amano et al., J. Light wave Technol., vol. 21, pp 596˜601, 2003). Namely, after manufacturing a cantilever type actuator joined up and down by two materials having a different thermal expansion coefficient, one side of the actuator is fixed to an anchor and the other side is connected to a mirror. The cantilever is bent in an upward or downward direction by heat generated when electrical current flows between two electrodes on the anchor, thereby the mirror connected to the end of the cantilever also moved such that the distance between the mirrors increases or decreases. Accordingly, the motion direction of the mirror can be determined by relatively enhancing the thermal expansion coefficient of the upper or the lower part of the cantilever structures in the initial manufacturing process. This method has a problem that, since the one side of the mirror is fixed to the cantilever, the two mirrors initially set to parallel to each other are sloped as the cantilever is curved, thereby the line width becomes wide and the transmissivity of light becomes low. Meanwhile, since the heat generated at the anchor as the electrical current flows is transferred to the cantilever, a part of heat is lost at the anchor and the remaining heat is used to actuate the mirror. Accordingly it has a disadvantage in that the efficiency is low and the power consumption is high.
The other one makes use of longitudinal thermal expansion of the actuator. Namely, four actuators supporting a mirror are connected to electrodes two by two, and then, when electrical current flows from one electrode to the other, heat is generated from the actuators, thereby the length of the actuator is increased and it is bent in a direction where the mirrors moves away from each other (F. Riemenschneider et al. IEEE Photon. Technol. Lett., vol. 14, pp. 1566˜1568, 2002). This structure is manufactured in such a manner that two substrates on which mirrors have been formed respectively are joined with the mirrors facing each other and then one of the substrate is removed from the other. At this time, to prevent the two mirrors from being attached each other, one of the mirrors is composed of two materials having a different intrinsic stress so that the mirror is naturally deformed in a convex form in the process of removing the substrate. However, since this method makes it difficult to constantly reproduce the radius of curvature of the mirror convexly transformed and the gap between the two substrates, it has a disadvantage in that initial gap between the two mirrors is not constant. Also, if the distance between the two mirrors is denoted by 'd' and the refractive index of the material existed between the two mirrors is denoted by 'n', the free spectral range (FSR) Δλ of adjacent resonant wavelengths can be defined as λ2/2nd. Since the initial distance, d, between the two mirrors becomes tens of μm, FSR is less than tens of nm. Accordingly, even though the actuation distance is over 100 nm, the available wavelength tuning range is limited to tens of nm by FSR. In addition, since the convex mirror is used, if a beam waist of the incident light is not precisely adjusted to a curvature of the curved mirror, then the transmission line width becomes wide. Therefore the wavelength selectivity is decreased, while the insertion loss is increased.

Thermally actuated wavelength tunable optical filter

Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute


A rotary spindle 4 for a power tool such as a hammer drill is disclosed. The spindle 4 comprises a first spindle part 402 for rotation about its longitudinal an axis by means of a motor and having an inwardly directed rim 406, and a second spindle part 404 for supporting a drill bit of the hammer drill and having an outwardly directed rim 410. The second spindle part 404 extends through an aperture 408 in the first spindle part 402 and rims 406, 410 cooperate with each other to prevent removal of the second spindle part 404 from the first spindle part 402. A circlip 414 locks the first and second spindle parts 402, 404 together and maintains o-rings 412 under compression.

Electrically driven hammer drills are known in which a motor causes a driving member in the form of a flying mass to be reciprocally driven in a hollow spindle by means of piston, while at the same time causing the piston to rotate about its longitudinal axis. The spindle supports a working member such as a drill bit, either by direct mounting of the drill bit to the spindle, or by supporting a tool holder which in turn supports the drill bit, such that rotation of the spindle about its axis causes rotation of the drill bit to effect a drilling action, while reciprocating movement of the flying mass within the spindle imparts hammer impacts to the drill bit.
The spindle of a hammer drill of such known types is generally manufactured in a single piece. As a result, the entire spindle generally needs to be constructed as robustly as that part of the spindle subjected to the greatest amount of wear, even though most of the spindle does not need to be constructed to such a level of robustness. This significantly increases the cost and difficulty of manufacturing the hammer drill. Furthermore, when the hammer drill is repaired, the entire spindle generally needs to be replaced, even if only part of the spindle is damaged, which makes repair of the drill costly.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,373,905 discloses a hammer drill in which a spindle in which a striker mass is reciprocally driven is formed from two separate parts, i.e. a guide tube, and a tool socket arranged forwardly of the guide tube, the guide tube and tool socket overlapping each other in a certain region and being connected to each other by means of a press fit. As a result, only the tool socket needs to be formed from a robust, high-grade material, which significantly reduces the cost of manufacture and repair of the drill.
However, this arrangement suffers from the drawbacks that because the guide tube and tool socket are connected to each other by means of a press fit, the cooperating parts of the guide tube and tool socket must be manufactured to accurate dimensions, as a result if which manufacture of the drill is still costly. Also, the hammering action of the striker mass against the tool socket causes the tool socket to tend to detach from the guide sleeve, as a result of which components such as profiled rings securing the guide tube and tool socket together are subjected to significant stresses and can become damaged and must be frequently replaced.
Preferred embodiments of the present invention seek to overcome the above disadvantages of the prior art.

Rotary spindle for power tool and power tool incorporating such spindle


A solid electrolytic capacitor of the present invention includes a capacitor element having an anode member, a dielectric member, and a cathode member; an anode terminal attached to the anode member; a cathode terminal attached to the cathode member; and a housing for covering an outer periphery of the capacitor element, the anode terminal and the cathode terminal being each at least partly exposed from an undersurface of the solid electrolytic capacitor, the anode terminal having a projection formed by rolling using a roll having a large diameter portion and a small diameter portion, and being connected to the anode member at the projection.

A solid electrolytic capacitor structured as shown in FIG. 9 has been conventionally known. This solid electrolytic capacitor includes a capacitor element 2 having an anode terminal 10′ and a cathode terminal 12′ attached to an undersurface thereof. The capacitor element 2 is covered with a housing 8 made of a synthetic resin. The capacitor element 2 includes a dielectric oxide film 5, a cathode layer 6, and a cathode lead layer 7, which are sequentially formed on a peripheral surface of an anode element 3, which is a sintered body of a valve metal. A valve metal means here a metal for forming an extremely fine and durable dielectric oxide film 5 by electrolytic oxidation treatment, and may be tantalum, niobium, aluminum, titanium, etc.
An anode lead 4 made of tantalum projects from the heightwise middle of the anode element 3. Because the anode lead 4 and the anode terminal 10′ have a different height, a cylindrical bolster member 9 intervenes between the anode lead 4 and the anode terminal 10′ to electrically connect the both (see, for example, JP 2005-244177, A).
The arrangement of the bolster member 9 being attached on the anode terminal 4 as described above however complicates the attachment process, and requires high accuracy in attachment, because the bolster member 9 has a small diameter and length of 1 mm or less. In order to avoid the process that is complicated and needs high accuracy, it is possible to etch a metal plate to form a projection. However, low etching accuracy in mass production could cause projections with great variations in height. This makes it difficult to attach the anode lead, entailing problems of poor appearance and performance variations.

Solid electrolytic capacitor and manufacturing method therefor