An earth drilling machine of the type having a boom mounted adjacent a mast to move a tubular between a lower, horizontal boom position and an upper, vertical boom position also includes a lifter configured to move a length of downhole tubular between a lower lifter position aligned with a tubular storage device and an upper lifter position aligned with the lower boom position. An automatic sequencing system includes multiple position sensors responsive to the position of at least the boom, the lifter and a length of downhole tubular at selected positions. A sequencing system is responsive to the position sensors for automatically coordinating movement of the lifter and the boom to reduce or eliminate delays occasioned by tubular handling.

This invention relates to earth drilling machines of the type having a mast, a drive, assembly movable along the mast, a boom mounted adjacent the mast to move between a lower boom position and an upper boom position, a plurality of boom clamps mounted to the boom to grip a length of down hole tubular, a tubular storage device at a lower level, and a lifter configured to move a length of down hole tubular between a lower lifter position aligned with the tubular storage device and an upper lifter position aligned with the lower boom position. In particular, this invention relates to an automatic sequencing system for such an earth drilling machine that automatically coordinates movements of the boom and the lifter.
As used herein the term "down hole tubular" is intended broadly to cover the full range of tubulars used in earth drilling and production operations, including drill pipes, casings, and production tubulars.
In the past, earth drilling machines of the type described above have been manually controlled to raise a tubular from the storage device via the lifter and the boom to the center line of the bore hole drilled by the drilling machine. Similarly, simple manual control has been used when lowering a tubular off of the bore hole axis and down to the storage device with the boom and the lifter.
Manual control of this type can be taxing on the operator, and operator mistakes can result in damage to the drilling equipment. Furthermore, it is difficult or even impossible for an operator to coordinate movement of the boom and the lifting device in a consistent manner so as to minimize the time required to transfer a tubular between the storage device and the center line of the bore hole.
An earth drilling machine of the type described above may in certain cases not be provided with an explosion proof electrical system in the vicinity of the bore hole. In such cases, the use of electrically powered sensors or actuators can result in explosion proof electric system can be avoided to the a considerable expense. The expense of such an extent that mechanically operated valves and sensors can be substituted for electrically operated valves and sensors. As used herein, the term "mechanically operated" is intended broadly to encompass lever actuation, cam actuation and hydraulic pilot pressure actuation.

Automatic sequencing system for earth drilling machine


According to one embodiment, an electronic apparatus comprises: a casing comprising a circuit module; a keyboard mounting portion on which a keyboard is detachably mounted, and a cover detachably covering the opening. The key board mounting portion comprises an opening which allows a wiring electrically connecting the keyboard and the circuit module to be passed therethrough. An area of the opening is equal to or less than half of an area of the keyboard mounting portion.

1. Field
One embodiment of the invention relates to an electronic apparatus preventing a liquid such as water from entering thereinto.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, in an electronic apparatus, e.g., a portable computer, a keyboard and switches are disposed above a circuit module which is formed with electronic circuit parts mounted on a wiring board, so as to realize a compact size.
In this type of electronic apparatus, after the circuit module is accommodated in a casing, the keyboard is disposed on the casing. Therefore, an opening, through which a cable for electrically connecting the circuit module and the keyboard is passed and is used for performing that operation, is formed in a wall portion of the casing. This opening is formed in a wall portion located between the circuit module and the keyboard in the casing, e.g., in an upper wall portion of the casing. The opening is closed by a keyboard baseplate.
However, the keyboard is exposed to the outside such as when the portable computer is in use. Therefore, in the event that a user has spilled a beverage such as water during the use of the portable computer, the beverage conceivably enters through a gap between a baseplate of the keyboard and an edge portion of the opening. The attachment of a liquid such as water to the circuit module is not used.
Therefore, a dripproof structure is provided for the portable computer to prevent the entry of a liquid such as water into the casing.
As a dripproof structure, a discharge hole is formed in the baseplate of the keyboard. The discharge hole communicates with the outside. Therefore, even if a liquid such as water flows into the keyboard, the liquid is discharged to the outside after passing through the discharge hole (e.g., refer to JP-A-2003-122454)
However, even with the dripproof structure disclosed in JP-A-2003-122454, a liquid conceivably enters between an edge of the baseplate of the keyboard and an edge of the opening.
In addition, with the dripproof structure disclosed in the patent document 1, the opening has a size which is substantially equal to the area of the baseplate of the keyboard. Therefore, the opening is relatively large.
Namely, since the length of the edge of the opening is long, the entry of a liquid such as water into the casing is conceivable.


A sliding T-shirts printing pallet comprises a main body, two sliding arm plates, and two stretching bump portions. Each of two sliding arm plates is connected to a shoulder blade side of the main body and to slide along the shoulder blade side. The two stretching bump portions are for flattening an armpit portion of the T-shirts. The front surfaces of the two sliding arm plates are aligned with the front surfaces of the parallelogram top portion and the rectangular bottom portion of the main body so as to form a single plane. Each of the two sliding arm plates defines first and second latch position when the sliding arm plate is slid upward or downward respectively. The sleeve side is roughly aligned with the flank sides of the rectangular bottom portion of the main body when the sliding arm plates are at the first latch position.

The present invention relates to a sliding T-shirts printing pallet. More particularly, this invention relates to a sliding T-shirts printing pallet, which accommodates T-shirts of different sizes without strain on the T-shirts facilitating printing.
Printing patterns on a T-shirts is not a simple work. Fabric's readiness to crease and bunch makes it actually challenging to print on such T-shirts. Therefore, usually a board has been used to provide a firm and flat surface on which the T-shirts spread and then a pattern may be printed.
However, since the T-shirts and the board have portions for shoulder blades, it is not always easy to put on the T-shirts on the board to prepare to print. The T-shirts must be stretched to accommodate the board within, during the process of which the T-shirts can be stretched out beyond the fabric's resilience limit and damaged.
Accordingly, a need for a sliding T-shirts printing pallet has been present for a long time considering the expansive demands of T-shirts printing. This invention is directed to solve these problems and satisfy the long-felt need.


The present application relates to methods and compositions for the generation of therapeutic cells having reduced incidence of karyotypic abnormalities. In several embodiments cardiac stem cells are cultured in an antioxidant-supplemented media that reduces levels of reactive oxygen species, but does not down regulate DNA repair mechanisms. In several embodiments, physiological oxygen concentrations are used during culture in order to increase the proliferation of stem cells, decrease the senescence of the cells, decrease genomic instability, and/or augment the functionality of such cells for cellular therapies.

1. Field of the Invention
The present application relates generally to methods and compositions for generating genomically stable stem cells for the repair or regeneration of damaged cells or tissue. For example, in several embodiments the methods and compositions disclosed herein may be used for the repair and/or regeneration of cardiac tissue. In particular, isolated cardiac cells are cultured in oxygen concentrations and/or in the presence of antioxidant compositions that maintain an optimal balance between reduced oxidative-stress induced DNA damage and functional DNA repair systems, thereby reducing genomic instability (e.g., DNA damage or karyotypic abnormalities) in the cultured cells.
2. Description of the Related Art
The scope of human disease that involves loss of or damage to cells is vast and includes, but is not limited to neurodegenerative disease, endocrine diseases, cancers, and cardiovascular disease. For example, coronary heart disease is presently the leading cause of death in the United States, taking more than 650,000 lives annually. According to the American Heart Association, 1.2 million people suffer from a heart attack (or myocardial infarction, MI) every year in America. Of those who survive a first MI, many (25% of men and 38% of women survivors) will still die within one year of the MI. Currently, 16 million Americans are MI survivors or suffer from angina (chest pain due to coronary heart disease). Coronary heart disease can deteriorate into heart failure for many patients. 5 million Americans are currently suffering from heart failure, with 550,000 new diagnoses each year. Regardless of the etiology of their conditions, many of those suffering from coronary heart disease or heart failure have suffered permanent heart tissue damage, which often leads to a reduced quality of life.

Methods and compositions for maintaining genomic stability in cultured stem cells


A gas spring is provided that can comprise at least one rod, at least one guide bushing, and at least one dynamic seal. The rod can slide inside at least one cylinder containing gas. The dynamic seal can be interposed between the rod and the cylinder. In some embodiments, the guide bushing can be formed from a first mixture comprising a thermoplastic polymer and a solid lubricant filler. Further, in some embodiments, the dynamic seal can be formed from a second mixture comprising a thermoplastic elastomer and a mineral filler or a powder of thermoplastic polymer.

1) Field of the in Inventions
The present invention relates to a gas spring, in particular for moulds, equipped with improved sealing means.
2) Background Art
As it is known, a gas spring is a device which, unlike conventional springs, uses a pressurized gas contained in a cylinder and compressed in a variable manner by a piston rod to exert a return force. Gas springs are used in numerous applications, in particular in the automotive, medical, furniture, aerospace and moulding sectors.
In this latter case, the gas springs for moulds are normally charged with nitrogen N2 at pressures of over 100 bars and constituted by a cylinder adapted to contain said gas therein and inside which the rod can slide: to allow the gas to be stored and compressed inside the cylinder one or more seal elements or gaskets are normally interposed between said cylinder and the rod, and these seal elements generally comprise at least one guide bushing and at least one rod seal. Therefore, starting from an idle position of the gas spring, to take the rod to the end of its travel it is necessary to apply a force thereon, this force naturally being greater than the initial force of the gas spring: the return movement of the rod, when the action of the applied force ceases, is instead automatic and caused by the pressure exerted by the gas on the rod inside the cylinder.
In prior art gas springs the guide bushings are produced with nylon, Teflon or other polymers, while the rod seals are produced with TPU (thermoplastic polyurethane), PU (polyurethane) or other polymers.
Typically, prior art gas springs have a useful life, intended as number of cycles that the rod can perform, beyond which gas starts to leak causing progressive loss of performance of the springs until reaching complete exhaustion. Normally, gas leakage occurs when the rod seal no longer adequately seals the surface of the rod due to wear caused by sliding on the surface of the rod and by the extrusion present between the surface of the rod and the surface of the guide bushing or of the cylinder.
In order to improve the resistance to wear and extrusion, prior art suggests the use of different fillers to mix with TPU, nylon or Teflon to produce rod seals and guide bushings. These fillers are usually constituted by lubricants, usually composed of PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene), graphite or silicones, and/or reinforcing agents, usually composed of organic and inorganic fibres.
Prior art also suggests filling TPU with barite (BaSO4) for specific and limited applications such as those below:                in the medical field BaSO4 fillers are used to allow a component produced with TPU (such as a catheter), which would otherwise be invisible, to be viewed using X-rays;        given the high specific weight of BaSO4, it is added to the TPU to increase its weight for commercial purposes;        BaSO4 is used in the mechanical industry for grinding wheels as at low temperatures it promotes the formation of Fe3O4 on the surface of ground work pieces according to the reaction BaSO4+3Fe→Fe3O4+BaS, the Fe3O4 having a lubricating action.

Gas spring equipped with improved sealing means


This invention relates to DNA sequences and plasmids containing these sequences which can be integrated into a plant genome and which modify the activity of the sucrose-phosphate-synthase (sps) of the plant. The invention relates further to derivatives of the DNA sequences of the invention that are obtained by exchange of single bases or by deletion or insertion of base sequences and which code for proteins with comparable activity to sucrose-phosphate-synthase. Methods for transforming plant cells and regenerating plants from the cells which exhibit modified sucrose-phosphate-synthase activity are also described.

Sucrose is of central importance for the plant and serves many functions. For the long distance transport of photoassimilates and/or energy between various organs in plants, sucrose is almost exclusively used. The sucrose, which is transported in a specific heterotrophic organ determines the growth and the development of this organ. Thus it is known, e.g. from EP 442 592, that transgenic plants, in which the transport of the sucrose away from the exporting leaves is inhibited by expression of an apoplastic invertase, shows a strong reduction in the growth of e.g. roots or tubers in the case of potato plants. For tobacco plants, the principal importance of sucrose for the long distance transport of energy carriers within the plant is described in von Schaewen et al, 1990, EMBO J 9: 3033-3044.
While it has been clearly shown that a reduction of the amount of sucrose imported in the heterotrophic organs, such as tubers and seeds, leads to loss of yield, it is not known whether an increase in the amount of sucrose in the photosynthetically active parts of the plant, mainly the leaves, leads to a better supply of heterotrophic organs and thus to an increase in yield.
A second central role for sucrose and/or the hexoses, glucose and fructose which are derived from sucrose, is in the protection of plants against frost damage at low temperatures. Frost damage is one of the main limiting factors in agricultural productivity in the northern hemisphere. Temperatures below freezing lead to the formation of ice crystals. Since the growing ice crystals consist of pure water, water is abstracted from the cells as the temperature falls.
This dehydration has at least two potential damaging results:
a) all dissolved substances within a cell are strongly concentrated and the cell contracts following the loss of water. Highly concentrated salts and organic acids lead to membrane damage; PA1 b) with rehydration from dew, the previously contracted cells reexpand. The cell membrane also expands again. The volume expansion puts a heavy mechanical load on the membrane. PA1 1 as the transport form for the distant transport of photoassimilates, PA1 2 as an osmotically active substance with the desirable activity of lowering the freezing point in intact, growing plants, and PA1 3 in the undesirable formation of reducing sugars in stored harvested parts of a plant, e.g. the potato tubers, as a result of low temperatures. PA1 a) a suitable promoter that ensures that the coding sequence is read off at the suitable time point and/or in a specified development stage in the transgenic plants or in specified tissues of transgenic plants, PA1 b) at least one coding sequence, that PA1 c) a non-coding termination sequence that contains the signals for the termination and polyadenylation of the transcript.
It is thus clear that a freezing/dew cycle can lead to severe membrane damage of the cells and thus to damage to the plant.
It thus appears worth while to hinder the freezing of plant cells. One possible strategy is to increase the formation of osmotically active substances in the cytosol of plant cells. This should lead to a lowering of the freezing point. Osmotically active substances include sucrose and/or the two hexoses which are derived from sucrose.
The increased formation of sucrose and/or the two hexoses at low temperatures is desirable in the growing plant. Another situation can exist in the harvested parts of a plant, especially in storage. For example, in potato tubers that are stored at 4-8.degree. C., hexoses (glucose) accumulate. It would appear to be sensible, to see this as the answer to a lowering of the temperature ("cold-sweetening").
The accumulation of sucrose and glucose has in the case of potato tubers economically undesirable results. Increased amounts of reducing sugars, such as glucose, in potatoes which are fried when preparing crisps, chips and the like, leads to an undesirable browning due to the Maillard reaction. Such products with a dark brown colour are not generally acceptable to the consumer. Further the cooking strength is strongly dependent on the content of starch and/or its breakdown products which are important in determining the quality characteristics of the potato.
In relation to the economic aspects, sucrose thus possesses three especially important functions:
The biosynthesis pathways for the formation of sucrose, either from the primary photosynthesis products (in the leaf) or by breakdown of starch (in the storage organs e.g. of potatoes), are known. An enzyme in sucrose metabolism is sucrose-phosphate-synthase (SPS). It forms sucrose-6-phosphate from UDP-glucose and fructose-6-phosphate, which in a second step is converted to sucrose.
The isolation of SPS from maize and the cloning of a cDNA from mRNA from maize tissue is known (EP 466 995). In this application, processes for the purification of a protein such as by centrifuging of homogenates, differential precipitation and chromatography are described. A 300 times enrichment of SPS from plant tissue has been described by Salerno and Pontis (Planta 142: 41-48, 1978).
In view of the significance of SPS for carbohydrate metabolism it is questionable whether plants can tolerate a reduction in SPS activity in all or in certain organs. It is especially not known whether it is possible to produce transgenic plants with a reduced SPS activity. Also the use of SPS for the modification of the functions of sucrose for lowering the freezing point in intact plants and for the formation of reducing sugars in harvested parts is not known.
For the preparation of plants with reduced SPS activity, i.e. plants with changed sucrose concentration, it is necessary to make available an SPS coding region of such plant species, for which processes are described, whereby transgenic plants can be grown in large numbers. In as much as a reduction of SPS activity can be achieved, by selection from a large amount, the possibility exists of obtaining plants with such a phenotype. Further organ specific promoters for gene expression should exist for the plant species, by which the possibility of an organ specific reduction of the SPS activity could be investigated.
A species which fulfils the stated requirements is Solanum tuberosum. The genetic modification of Solanum tuberosum by gene transfer using Agrobacteria is well described (Fraley et al., 1985, Crit Rev Plant Sci 4: 1-46). Promoters for leaf specific (Stockhaus et al., 1989, Plant Cell 1: 805-813), tuber specific (EP 375 092) and wound inducing (EP 375 091) gene expression are known.

DNA sequences and plasmids for the preparation of plants with changed sucrose concentration


A process for thermally cracking waste motor oil into a diesel fuel product is provided. The thermal cracking process uses low temperature cracking temperatures from 625.degree. F. to 725.degree. F. with ambient pressure to generate a column distilled fraction of diesel fuel mixed with light ends, the light ends being flashed off to produce a high quality #2 diesel fuel. The process further provides for removal from the cracking vessel an additional product stream which, when filtered, is suitable for use as a #3 fuel oil and that can be further blended with a bunker oil to yield a #5 fuel product.

This invention is directed towards the art of converting used motor oil to a useable fuel source.
Currently, the market for used motor oil has stymied many recycling and reclamation efforts. The market for used motor oil has largely been geared to limited processing steps which convert the used motor oil into a low quality fuel such as bunker oil (#6 fuel oil). Alternatively, a limited amount of used motor oil is reclaimed and converted into a recycled motor oil product.
Used motor oil retains a high energy potential. However, hazards and cost associated with collecting, storing, transporting, and general handling of used motor oil has limited the efforts to collect used motor oil for disposal or recycling. Although the prior art provides limited processing of used motor oil for other petroleum products, there remains a need for improvement within the art of converting used motor oil to a high quality energy source.

Process for converting waste motor oil to diesel fuel


A method for identifying a catalyst composition for use in the heterogeneous Ziegler-Natta addition polymerization of an olefin monomer, said catalyst composition comprising a procatalyst comprising a magnesium and titanium containing procatalyst and a cocatalyst said method comprising: a) providing a library comprising at least one procatalyst compound, b) forming a catalyst composition library by contacting the member of said procatalyst library with one or more cocatalysts and contacting the resulting mixture with an olefin monomer under olefin polymerization conditions thereby causing the polymerization reaction to take place, c) measuring at least one variable of interest during the polymerization, and d) selecting the catalyst composition of interest by reference to said measured variable.

The present invention relates to the field of research for new cocatalyst compositions especially for use in Ziegler-Natta addition polymerization processes. More particularly, this invention is directed toward an apparatus and method of performing heterogeneous Ziegler-Natta catalyzed polymerization of olefins and related techniques for rapidly creating and testing libraries of cocatalyst compositions prepared by combinatorial techniques.
Combinatorial (also known as high throughput or parallel) chemistry and materials science techniques have been used to rapidly screen large numbers of compounds for use in biological, organic, inorganic, and organometallic synthesis and research. Combinatorial materials science generally refers to the methods for creating a collection of chemically diverse compounds or materials and to methods for rapidly testing or screening this library of compounds or materials for desirable performance characteristics and properties. Areas for application of such combinatorial methods have included the discovery of compounds for use as biologically active materials as well as high-temperature superconductors, magnetoresistive materials, luminescent compounds, and catalysts. Examples include U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,712,171, 5,776,359, 5,985,356, 6,004,617, 6,045,671, 6,326,090, 6,346,290, 6,627,571 and WO 00/40331.
In addition to the foregoing patent references, numerous academic papers have also disclosed combinatorial techniques, including: Senkan, Nature, vol. 394, pp. 350-353 (Jul. 23, 1998); Burgess et al., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Eng., 1996, 35, No. 2, pp. 220-222; Maier et al., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Eng., 1998, 37, No. 19, pp. 2644-2647; Reetz et al., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Eng., 1998, 37, No. 19, pp. 2647-2650; Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Eng., 1998, 37, No. 17, pp. 2333-2336; Morken et al., Science, vol. 280, pp. 267-270 (Apr. 10, 1998); and Gilbertson et al., Tetrahedron Letters, vol. 37, no. 36, pp. 6475-6478 (1996).
Although the foregoing and other references have advanced the art of combinatorial materials testing, still further improvements and advances in the field of Ziegler-Natta catalyst development are desired. In particular, rapid techniques of screening candidate materials that are useful as cocatalyst compositions are desired.
Generally, Ziegler-Natta catalyst compositions comprise a Group 2 metal containing procatalyst composition, especially a MgCl2 supported transition metal complex, and a cocatalyst or activator. Suitable activators generally are trihydrocarbylaluminum compounds, especially trialkyl aluminum compounds such as triethylaluminum.
In WO 00/40331 a combinatorial apparatus and method for evaluating homogeneous and supported homogeneous coordination polymerization catalysts including olefin polymerization catalysts employing a metal compound formed from a metal of Groups 3-15 of the Periodic Table of the Elements and one or more ligands is disclosed.
In U. S. Pat. No. 6,627,571, a method for screening heterogeneous catalysts comprising applying a suspension of a catalyst carrier to multiple regions of a substrate and removing liquid there from to form an array of porous catalyst carriers, impregnating the array with a catalytically active component or precursor thereof and analyzing for activity was disclosed.
Ziegler-Natta catalysts can be produced by numerous techniques including physical blending of solid mixtures of magnesium halides with titanium halides or the in situ formation of precipitated halogenated solids from liquid mixtures. Solid phase forming techniques involve the use of ball-mills or other suitable grinding and comminuting equipment and are not adaptable to combinatorial research approaches. Precipitation techniques use repeated halogenations with various halogenating agents, preferably TiCl4 to prepare suitable procatalyst compositions. Other aspects of Ziegler-Natta catalysis present significant challenges to the use of combinatorial approaches in automation and reactor design, particularly due to the small size of the reaction vessels employed and the need to handle a plurality of samples. Consequently, the application of combinatorial methods to Ziegler-Natta process research has not been adequately explored.
In Adv. Synth. Catal., 2003, 345, 1299-1304, the use of donor stabilized aluminum alkyls as activators for the polymerization of propene is disclosed. In Organometallics 2003, 22, 1391-1401 modified alkyl aluminum compounds are disclosed for use as Ziegler-Natta catalyst activators. U.S. Pat. No. 5,468,707 disclosed similarly modified alkylaluminum complexes with 1 or more coordination groups. GB-A-799823 disclosed the use of organoaluminum cocatalysts including halogen, alkoxy aryloxy, amido, mercaptal, thiophenoxy, carboxy, or sulfonic acid ligands. DE 2,212,088 disclosed Ziegler-Natta catalyst compositions comprising an alkylaluminum; and alkoxyaluminum or aryloxyaluminum compounds. U.S. Pat. No. 4,377,720 disclosed using a zirconium containing Ziegler-Natta catalyst in combination with an aluminum cocatalyst including dialkylaluminum alkoxides or aryloxides and dialkylaluminum disubstituted amides. EP-A-1,132,409 disclosed Ziegler-Natta catalyst compositions employing specific alkylaluminum complexes.
It would be desirable if combinatorial research techniques could be applied to heterogeneous catalysts, especially to Ziegler-Natta catalyst compositions, comprising at least one transition metal compound, optionally supported on an inert solid material, an activator or cocatalyst, and optionally one or more polymerization modifier compounds. In particular, what is needed is a combinatorial method and apparatus for the rapid and reliable discovery and development of catalyst compositions that is particularly adapted to use in addition polymerization research, especially research related to the addition polymerization of olefin monomers to form high molecular weight polymers using Ziegler-Natta catalysts.

Method for identifying Ziegler-Natta cocatalysts


A method is disclosed that improves the operation of fuel combustion systems utilizing particulate filters. The method includes the combustion of a fuel emulsion in a fuel combustion system having a particulate filter. The fuel emulsion may comprise water and a fuel with the emulsion including a metal-containing compound, such as, for example, a manganese-containing compound.

Diesel fuel combustion systems raise many challenges for emissions control. Conventional strategies for reducing particulate, hydrocarbon, and nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions include optimizing fuel injection and air motion, effective fuel atomization at varying loads, control of time of fuel injection, minimization of parasitic losses in combustion chambers, low sac volume or valve cover orifice nozzles for direct injection, reducing lubrication oil contributions, and rapid engine warm up.
Diesel particulate traps such as catalyzed diesel particulate filters (C-DPFs) and continuously regenerating technology diesel particulate filters (CRT-DPFs) have been developed which employ ceramic or metal filters. Thermal and catalytic regeneration can burn out the trapped material. New particulate standards may necessitate such traps. Fuel composition, including sulfur and aromatic content, and the burning of lubricant can contribute to increased particulate emissions. Catalysts have been developed for diesel fuels which are very effective in oxidizing the organic portion of the particulate.
It is also recognized that dispersions of water in diesel fuel may serve to reduce undesirable diesel emissions such as carbon monoxide, particulates and NOx. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,669,938; 5,404,841; 5,535,708; 5,584,894; 5,809,774. Notwithstanding all of the foregoing teachings, particulate matter still builds up in diesel particulate filters. This build up, over time, creates backpressure on the combustion system, thereby decreasing the efficiency and power of the system. Additionally, the build up of particulate within a particulate filter system also reduces the efficiency of that system as an emissions control device. The built up particulate may block surfaces within the filter that may otherwise catalyze the break down of undesirable emissions by-products.
U.S. Patent Application 2003/0196430 A1 teaches a process for reducing the level of pollutants in the exhaust of a diesel engine.

Method of improving the operation of combustion particulate filters


The present invention provides a control device of a secondary battery. The control device of the secondary battery using, as a positive electrode material, a positive electrode active material that shows a difference of an open circuit voltage curve between during charge and discharge, has a judging unit that judges, on the basis of a charge-discharge state of the secondary battery, whether or not calculation of a current SOC of the secondary battery is possible; and a charge controlling unit that, when judged that the calculation of the current SOC of the secondary battery is not possible by the judging unit, charges the secondary battery up to a predetermined fully charged state.

In recent years, for a secondary battery such as a lithium secondary battery, various kinds of materials for positive electrode active material have been studied with the aim of achieving high voltage and high capacity. As such positive electrode active material, for instance, Patent Document 1 discloses solid solution material such as Li2MnO3—LiMO2 (M is transition metal whose average oxidation state is 3+).
Regarding the solid solution material disclosed in Patent Document 1, depending on its composition etc., there is a case where a hysteresis phenomenon in which an open circuit voltage curve during charge and an open circuit voltage curve during discharge are quite different occurs. Then, when the positive electrode active material showing the occurrence of the hysteresis phenomenon is applied to the secondary battery, due to an influence of the hysteresis phenomenon, even if the open circuit voltage is the same, an SOC of the secondary battery is different between during charge and discharge. Thus, there is a problem that the SOC can not properly detected.

Control device for secondary battery, charging control method, and SOC detection method


This installation includes: a light source; means for storing film photoresist for exposure and exposed photoresist; a film carrier for positioning said film photoresist at an exposure plane; a projection lens capable of projecting the digital images at the exposure plane; a liquid crystal matrix where the various digital images to be exposed are displayed; a retractable mirror oriented at 45° to an optical axis of the projection lens; and an image analysis device positioned symmetrically to said exposure plane with regard to the plane containing said mirror when the latter is in place on the optical axis. When said mirror is positioned on the optical axis, the image analysis device is suitable for receiving the image transmitted by the liquid crystal matrix issuing from the projection lens. The signals thereby detected are processed using an associated software, for setting the characteristics of the optical members of the installation.

It is important first to stipulate that the field called cinematographic postproduction operates according to two resolutions, respectively the resolution called 2K, meaning in theory 2048×1556 pixels, and 4K also meaning in theory 4096×3112 pixels.
The earliest technology used to make "digital intermediate" films concerns the cathode ray tube (CRT). This technology therefore uses a spot issuing from a cathode ray tube which carries the image to be exposed on the film photoresist.
The accuracy of the spot is conditioned in particular by its energy. In fact, for a high resolution, a low energy spot should be employed, so that the productivity/modulation transfer function ratio, that is, the percentage of spatial data of the starting image that is really transferred to the film support according to the resolution, is mediocre. Furthermore, the geometrical accuracy, the emission spectrum and the purity of the phosphorus layer with which the inside of the tube is coated, require very high quality cathode ray tubes, which are relatively costly, and have a limited service life because the properties of the phosphorus change during its use.
This technology is therefore particularly restrictive in terms of upkeep and maintenance.
The laser technology is also known. This is based on the scanning of a moving object film by three laser beams issuing from solid or gas lasers (for the colors blue and green) and a laser diode (for the color red).
While the resolutions in 2K and 4K can be obtained with this technology, the productivity is however not always adequate, particularly for obtaining a cinemascope film format.
Moreover, the application of the laser technology, particularly the blue laser, is costly in terms of maintenance. In addition, the service life of the lasers is limited.
Finally, the application of the laser implies a film supply system during exposure, synchronized to the nearest fraction of a micron, which is complex and costly to achieve.
The need has therefore arisen to develop a system for making and producing motion picture films from digital images, which can reach a resolution of 2K and 4K, with high production rates, high contrast quality, and reduced operating and maintenance costs.
This is the object of the present invention.

Installation for exposing a cinematographic film from digital images


A system and method for automatically-calibrating display monitor beam currents. A device selects a target beam current within a display monitor. A current sampler measures a present beam current within the display monitor. A beam current controller increases a gain of an amplifier within the monitor by a delta value if the present beam current is less than the target beam current, and decreases the gain of the amplifier by the delta value if the present beam current is greater than the target beam current. A first step in the method selects a target beam current. A second step measures a present beam current generated by an amplifier. A third step increases a gain of the amplifier by a delta value if the present beam current is less than the target beam current. A fourth step decreases the gain of the amplifier by the delta value if the present beam current is greater than the target beam current. A fifth step sets a multiplier to a predetermined value. A sixth step multiplies the delta value by the multiplier. A seventh step reduces the multiplier by a predetermined amount if the present beam current crosses the target beam current.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to systems and methods for display monitor control, and more particularly to a system and method for automatically calibrating display monitor beam currents.
2. Discussion of Background Art
Maintaining color accuracy in computer monitors is of increasing concern to many computer users as well computer designers and manufacturers. The proliferation of computers for use in applications where color accuracy is critical makes faithful color reproduction more than merely an aesthetically pleasing feature in a computer monitor. Fields where color accuracy may be critical may include, for example, medicine, computer graphics, and engineering design work.
Tristimulus values, as further explained in Color Measurement, Theme and Variation, D. L. MacAdam, 2nd ed., Springer-Verlag, pp. 9-21, represent the amount of light energy in overlapping bands referred to as X, Y, and Z. The X, Y, and Z bands correspond to the three channels of a model of human color vision known as the C.I.E. standard of 1976, in which average observers perceive specific hues according to the ratios of light energy in the three bands X, Y, and Z. The tristimulus X, Y, and Z value ratio corresponds to a particular hue. Further, the summed weighted energies of these three bands describe the intensity or luminance of the light. Thus, a given set of tristimulus values may be used to effectively represent a specific a hue at a specific luminance.
Various factors degrade the color of images displayed on computer monitors. A significant factor is cathode ray tube (CRT) aging. Over time, electron and ion bombardment changes the hue and luminous efficiency of the light emitted from the phosphors used in the face of a cathode ray tube. The mechanism of these changes is thought to be the generation of non-emitting recombination centers and/or the loss of activator centers due to changes in the state of ionization of activator constituents. Each of the three primary colors uses a respective phosphor with a different chemical composition (having a different rate of deterioration and aging) which also contributes to the total hue shift.
The rate of CRT color degradation depends primarily upon beam current, acceleration voltage, and CRT temperature. If the acceleration voltage and temperature are held constant, as is typical in CRT displays, then phosphor degradation is substantially a function of the accumulated number of Coulombs of beam current that have passed through the cathode onto the phosphors of the CRT.
Another significant contribution to color degradation is the aging of the CRT's glass faceplate. High-energy electron and X-ray bombardment alters the chemical structure of the faceplate glass and unevenly reduces its transmission of light, dramatically more at shorter wavelengths than at medium and longer wavelengths, thus shifting the transmission of hues toward yellow. The faceplate's rate of change for light transmission depends primarily upon the total amount beam current and acceleration voltage over time.
Color degradation is compensated for most commonly by adjusting the computer monitor's beam current. The beam current is adjusted indirectly by varying the gain of the computer monitor's video amplifiers. There is one video amplifier for each of the red, green, and blue electron guns within the monitor. Since the relationship between the gain of each video amplifier and the resultant beam current is non-linear, the beam current in most monitors is manually calibrated.
For manual calibration, the computer monitor is provided with individual manual color controls for adjusting the gain of its red, green, and blue video amplifiers as well as its overall luminance. A spectra-radiometer, or a photometer, is then used to objectively measure the monitor's tristimulus values using a white screen generated on the monitor's display. The spectra-radiometer measures and displays the tristimulus values of this image. Using these tristimulus values, the gain of the red, green, and blue video amplifiers are adjusted using the manual color controls. The color controls are adjusted until the tristimulus value readings on the spectra-radiometer match a corresponding set of tristimulus values of a desired chromaticity image.
Another manual calibration method involves comparing a test-pattern generated on the monitor with a series of colored cards. This system is relatively inaccurate since it relies on a subjective comparison between the test-pattern and the colored cards.
What is needed is a system and method for automatically calibrating display monitor beam currents that solves the foregoing problems of conventional manual calibration systems.
A system and method for automatic calibration should account for the fact that the relationship between the gain and current in a video display is unknown and changes over the life of the display. Such a system and method should also be relatively fast and relatively stable, even when faced with unstable or fluctuating beam current measurements.

System and method for automatically calibrating display monitor beam currents


The invention provides an arc coating apparatus having a steering magnetic field source comprising steering conductors (62, 64, 66, 68) disposed along the short sides (32c, 32d) of a rectangular target (32) behind the target, and a magnetic focusing system disposed along the long sides (32a, 32b) of the target (32) in front of the target which confines the flow of plasma between magnetic fields generated on opposite long sides (32a, 32b) of the target (32). The plasma focusing system can be used to deflect the plasma flow off of the working axis of the cathode. Each steering conductor (62, 64, 66, 68) can be controlled independently. In a further embodiment, electrically independent steering conductors (62, 64, 66, 68) are disposed along opposite long sides (32a, 32b) of the cathode plate (32), and by selectively varying a current through one conductor, the path of the arc spot shifts to widen the erosion corridor. The invention also provides a plurality of internal anodes, and optionally a surrounding anode for deflecting the plasma flow.

Many types of vacuum arc coating apparatus utilize a cathodic arc source in which an electric arc is formed between an anode and a cathode plate in a vacuum chamber. The arc generates a cathode spot on a target surface of the cathode, which evaporates the cathode material into the chamber. The cathodic evaporate disperses as a plasma within the chamber, and upon contact with one or more substrates coats the substrates with the cathode material, which may be metal, ceramic etc. An example of such an arc coating apparatus is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,793,179 issued Feb. 19, 1974 to Sablev, which is incorporated herein by reference.
An arc coating apparatus of this type is advantageous for use in the coating of large substrates and multiple substrates, due to the large surface area of the cathode which can be evaporated into a large volume coating chamber. However, in a large surface area cathode arc coating apparatus of this type a significant portion of the target evaporation surface of the cathode plate goes largely unused, due to the scanning pattern of arc spots which follows certain physical principles:
1. The arc discharge tends to move in a direction which reduces the voltage drop in the arc circuit, and the arc spot thus tends to migrate to regions on the target surface which are closest to the anodic current conductor. Where multiple current conductors traverse the cathode the arc spot will occasionally migrate into the region between conductors where it may remain for a considerable time because no steering mechanism is present to move the arc spot back to the desired evaporation zone.
2. In the case of metal cathodes the arc spot follows a retrograde motion according to the "anti-ampere force" principle, and is thus attracted to the coaxial magnetic force lines generated by the anodic current conductor.
3. In the case of a cathode formed from a material which does not have a melting phase, for example a sintered or graphite cathode, the arc spot moves according to the "ampere force" principle and is repelled from the coaxial magnetic force lines generated by the anodic current conductor.
4. The arc spot is attracted to the region where the tangential component of a transverse magnetic field is strongest.
5. The arc spot tends to migrate away from the apex of an acute angle at the point of intersection between a magnetic field line and the cathode target surface (the "acute angle" rule).
These effects result in a limited erosion zone relative to the available area of the target surface of the cathode plate, reducing the life of the cathode and dispersing cathodic evaporate into the coating chamber in non-uniform concentrations.
In a large area cathode arc coating apparatus using a metal cathode plate the anti-ampere motion of the arc spot and the tendency of the arc to seek the lowest voltage drop combine to largely confine the arc spot to the vicinity of the anodic conductor, substantially limiting the erosion zone to the region of the target surface surrounding the anodic conductor. This results in a very small area inside the coating chamber in which the cathodic evaporate is concentrated enough to apply a uniform coating to the substrates. However, it is not possible to construct the cathode plate so that the desired coating material is located only in the erosion zone, since the arc spot will occasionally stray out of the erosion zone and if the target surface is not entirely composed of the selected coating material the cathodic evaporate from outside the desired erosion zone will contaminate the coating on the substrates.
In the case of a cathode plate formed from a material which does not have a melting phase, the tendency of the arc spot to move in an ampere direction, away from the region of the anodic conductor, is opposed by the tendency of the arc discharge to settle toward the region of lowest voltage drop. In these cases the arc spot tends to move chaotically over the target surface of the cathode and the cathodic evaporate accordingly disperses in random locations and non-uniform concentrations within the coating chamber, rendering uniform coating of the substrates improbable. This random motion also causes the arc spot to move off of the target surface of the cathode and causes undesirable erosion of non-target portions of the cathode plate, for example the side edges.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,448,659 issued May 15, 1984 to Morrison, which is incorporated herein by reference, describes an arc coating apparatus providing a cathode in the form of a plate with a large target surface for creating cathodic evaporate. A confinement ring composed of a magnetically permeable material surrounds the cathode to confine the arc spot to the target surface. Such plasma sources can be used for the production of coatings on large and long articles, but present the following disadvantages:
1. Despite the initial low probability of the presence of cathodic spots on the protective ring, over time the cathodic evaporate coats the ring and cathodic spots are produced on the ring with increasing frequency. This results in contamination of the coating by the ring material, and ultimately in ring failure.
2. In self-steering cathodic arc sources it is not possible to use external magnetic fields in the vicinity of the target surface of the cathode. It is therefore not possible in such an apparatus to use a plasma-focusing magnetic field, as the influence of the focusing magnetic field makes the distribution of cathodic spots on the working surface of the cathode irregular and non-uniform. Any external magnetic field, for example for focusing or deflecting the arc plasma flow, interferes with the self-sustained magnetic field generated by the cathode and anode current conductors and disrupts the self-steering character of the cathode spot. However, the absence of magnetic focusing reduces the efficiency of the coating process and impairs the quality of substrate coatings, because the content of the neutral component (macroparticles, clusters and neutral atoms) in the region of the substrates, and thus in the substrate coating, increases.
3. A cathode in this type of plasma source rapidly becomes concave due to evaporative decomposition, and its useful life is therefore relatively short. Moreover, since the evaporation surface of the cathode becomes concave in a relatively short time it is practically impossible to use a high voltage pulse spark igniter in such a design, so that a mechanical igniter must be used which lowers working reliability and stability.
4. While the confinement ring prevents the arc spot from straying off of the target surface, it does not affect the tendency of the arc spot to migrate toward the anodic conductor in the case of metal cathodes, or to move chaotically over the target surface in the case of non-metal cathodes.
Accordingly, self-steering arc plasma sources tend to use the target surface inefficiently and the cathode thus has a relatively short useful life.
The erosion efficiency of the target surface can be improved by providing an arc spot steering system to steer the arc spot along a selected path about the target surface. This increases the size of the region within the coating chamber in which coating can occur.
For example, the scanning pattern of a cathode spot can be controlled by providing a closed-loop magnetic field source disposed beneath the target surface of the cathode, in a manner similar to that described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,724,058 issued Feb. 9, 1988 to Morrison, which is incorporated herein by reference. The magnetic field source establishes a magnetic field in a selected direction over the target surface, which directs the cathode spot in a direction substantially perpendicular to the direction of the magnetic field and thus provides more efficient evaporation of the target surface. This approach is based on the principle of arc spot motion whereby an arc spot is attracted to the region where the tangential component of a transverse magnetic field is strongest.
However, this still significantly limits the area of the target surface of the cathode which is available for erosion, because this type of arc coating apparatus creates a stagnation zone in the region where the tangential component of the magnetic field is strongest The cathode spot eventually settles in the stagnation zone, tracing a retrograde path about the erosion zone and creating a narrow erosion corridor on the target surface. This limits the uniformity of the coating on the substrates and reduces the working life of the cathode.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,997,705 issued Dec. 7, 1999 to Welty, which is incorporated herein by reference, teaches a rectangular cathode plate in which the evaporation surface is located on the peripheral edge of the cathode plate, the arc spot being confined to the evaporation surface by cathode shields disposed over opposed faces of the cathode plate. Deflecting electrodes disposed about the cathode plate direct the plasma stream in two directions, parallel to the faces of the cathode plate.
In this apparatus the substrates must surround the edges of the cathode plate, and the cathode plate occupies most of the space within the apparatus. Thus, in order to coat a significant number of substrates the cathode plate, and thus the apparatus itself, must be extremely large. Also, filtration in this apparatus is poor, since the substrates are directly exposed to droplets and macroparticles entrained in the cathodic evaporate.
A deflecting electrode is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,840,163 issued Nov. 24, 1998 to Welty, which is incorporated herein by reference. This patent teaches a rectangular vacuum arc plasma source in which a deflecting electrode is mounted inside the plasma duct and either electrically floating or biased positively with respect to the anode. However, this device requires a sensor which switches the polarity of the magnetic field when the arc spot on the rectangular source has reached the end of the cathode, in order to move the arc spot to the other side of the cathode. This results in an undesirable period where the magnetic field is zero; the arc is therefore not continuous, and is not controlled during this period. Consequently this 'pseudo-random' steering method cannot consistently produce reliable or reproducible coatings.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,673,477 to Ramalingam proposes that the magnetic field source can be moved to shift the magnetic field lines and increase the utilization efficiency of the target surface. However, the mechanical adaptations required for such a system make the apparatus too complicated and expensive to be practical.
Where an external magnetic field is present the arc spot follows the "acute angle" rule, according to which the arc spot tends to migrate away from the apex of an acute angle at the point of intersection between a magnetic field line and the cathode target surface. The basic principle is that a cathodic spot formed by a vacuum arc in a fairly strong magnetic field (in the order of 100 Gauss), the force lines of which cross the surface of the cathode at an acute angle, will move in a reverse (retrograde) direction perpendicular to the tangential component of the field and, concurrently, displace away from the apex of the angle (for example, see Cathodic Processes of Electric Arc by Kesaev I. G., Nauka, 1968). This results in the arc spot settling beneath the apex of the arch-shaped portion of the magnetic field which projects over the target surface.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,587,207 issued Dec. 24, 1996 to Gorokhovsky, which is incorporated herein by reference, teaches that cathode spot confinement under a closed loop-type linear anode can be enhanced by a conductor which encases the anode to form a closed loop magnetic coil, with the magnetic field lines oriented in the direction shown in FIGS. 29 and 30 therein. Simultaneous use of both the closed-loop magnetic steering coil behind the cathode and a closed-loop linear anode in front of the target evaporation surface (with or without an enclosed magnetic coil) results in a synergistic improvement of arc discharge stability and thus cathode spot motion. The anode can be configured in any desired pattern, the configuration thereof being limited only by the periphery of the target surface. The arc spot will scan the target surface under the influence of the transverse magnetic field (in an ampere direction in the case of cathodes of carbon and related sintered materials or in an anti-ampere direction in the case of metal cathodes), virtually unaffected by the current flowing through the anodic conductor.
A disadvantage of this approach is that the arc spot will occasionally migrate from the selected erosion zone to another part of the cathode target surface where the intensity of the transverse magnetic field is small and, there being no means available to return the arc spot to the desired erosion zone, will stagnate in the low magnetic field region. In the case of a carbon-based cathode plate, when the velocity of arc spot movement is low enough the arc spot can settle in any stagnation zone where the transverse magnetic field is close to zero, and will not return to the erosion zone.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,435,900 issued Jul. 25, 1995 to Gorokhovsky, which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses a deflecting magnetic system surrounding a parallelipedal plasma guide, in which the deflecting conductors force the plasma toward the substrate holder. However, this patent does not address the problem of magnetically steering an arc spot around a rectangular cathode plate in the presence of a deflecting magnetic field.
In case of conventional rectangular magnetron sputtering sources the magnetron plasma discharge is confined near the target surface by a closed loop magnetron magnetic field. This creates a closed loop shape of the discharge located along the magnetic corridor defined between outer and central magnetic poles where the magnetic field is strongest. In this conventional design the magnetic field is balanced between the outer and central poles. This design has the drawback of low target utilization rate and inefficient energy consumption (P. Robinson and A. Matthews, Characteristics of a Dual Purpose Cathodic Arc/Magnetron Sputtering System, Surface and Coating Technology, 43/44 (1990) 288-298, which is incorporated herein by reference). This can be also used for a dual purpose arc/magnetron vapor plasma deposition source. If the cathode target is equipped with a magnetron high voltage low current power supply and a separate low voltage high current arc power supply as well as an arc igniter, it is possible to run the target in both magnetron sputtering and arc evaporation modes. This was successfully demonstrated by running large rectangular arc/magnetron cathode targets (P. Robinson and A. Matthews, Characteristics of a Dual Purpose Cathodic Arc/Magnetron Sputtering System, Surface and Coating Technology, 43/44 (1990) 288-298). The setback of this approach is an extremely low utilization rate of the target when it is running in arc mode due to cathodic arc spots having a tendency to settle or stay in a location near the area where the tangential component of the arch-shape planar magnetron-type magnetic field is strongest.
These designs also suffer from a low ionization rate of the plasma vapor flow due to a high degree of confinement provided by the balance magnetron magnetic field. In an unbalanced magnetron magnetic system design the central pole can be weakening or removed, providing that much higher ion fluxes can be extracted from near the target magnetron discharge zone (B. Window and N. Savvides, Journal Vacuum Science and Technology A, 4 (1986) p. 196, which is incorporated herein by reference). U.S. Pat. No. 5,160,595 to Hauzer, which was issued in Nov. 3, 1992, which is incorporated herein by reference, describes an arc/magnetron apparatus in which an edge magnet arrangement is displaceable in an axial direction relative to a preferably fixedly mounted center pole permanent magnet so that a cathode sputtering process and/or an arc discharge process can be realized depending on the relative position of the edge magnet arrangement and the center pole magnet. When the edge magnets are removed the central pole magnet can provide a steering magnetic field for steering arc spots in arc evaporation mode. This design allows for better utilization of cathode target material, but still suffers from a relatively small arc steering area. It also confines most of the ionized plasma flow on or near the target surface, which significantly reduces the ionization rate of vapor plasma flux and results in reduced coating adhesion.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,730,196 to Wang, which was issued in May 4, 2004, which is incorporated herein by reference, teaches that a magnetic focusing coil disposed in a processing area between the magnetron target and substrates to be coated can extract additional plasma flow from near the target area to yield higher ionization of the magnetron sputtering plasma flux. The magnetic field of this focusing coil overlaps the magnetron magnetic field, e.g. the direction of magnetic force lines of the magnetic field created by the focusing coil is aligned with the direction of magnetic force lines created between edge poles and central poles of the magnetron magnets. One disadvantage of this design is that the focusing coil is not adapted to the shape of the magnetron target. This will result in a high non-uniformity of magnetron plasma flow when applied to rectangular magnetron targets.
Neither of the above mentioned magnetron and arc/magnetron sputtering source designs allow for the elimination of macroparticles from the magnetron plasma flow. These macroparticles are generated on the face surface of the magnetron target as a result of micro-arcing processes. This results in an increase of coating defects, which is especially detrimental for such a precision applications as metal interconnect copper, and magnetic media coatings and other semiconductor and optical coatings. It also reduces the functional properties of hard wear-resistant coatings for cutting tools, increases the coefficient of friction in coatings designated for low friction applications, and decreases the corrosion resistance of both decorative and protective coatings.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Rectangular filtered vapor plasma source and method of controlling vapor plasma flow


Vehicle having a surroundings-sensing system which makes available information on the surroundings to a closed-loop and open-loop control unit of the vehicle, and a closed-loop and/or open-loop control process changes the driving behavior as a function of the acquired information on the surroundings, wherein the vehicle has a registration information system which receives the registration information for vehicles in the surroundings, and in that the registration information system compares the received registration information with the registration information acquired by a surroundings-sensing system and changes the closed-loop and/or open-loop control process as a function of the result of the comparison.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a vehicle and a method for identifying vehicles in the surroundings of the vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Devices and methods for performing vehicle dynamics control in a motor vehicle are known. For example, the paper International Congress and Exposition, Feb. 27-Mar. 2, 1995, Detroit, Mich., SAE Paper 950759, 1995 describes a device and a method for performing vehicle dynamics control in a motor vehicle. The vehicle dynamics controller is a system for keeping the motor vehicle stable and in its lane. This is achieved through selective braking of individual wheels of the motor vehicle. For this purpose, the driver's request, that is to say the set point behavior of the motor vehicle, and the behavior of the vehicle, that is to say the actual behavior of the motor vehicle, are determined by means of sensors. In a processing unit/control unit the difference between the set point behavior and the actual behavior is acquired as a control error and the individual actuators, for example the wheel brakes, are controlled with the objective of minimizing the control error. In particular yaw rate sensors, lateral acceleration sensors, steering wheel angle sensors, admission pressure sensors and wheel speed sensors, are used as sensors. There are no indications here of using at least one image sensor system composed of at least two image sensors which pick up essentially the same scene.
In order to assist the driver of a motor vehicle and to actuate the safety means, use is made of surroundings sensors with which, in particular, the distance from objects such as, for example, other vehicles or obstacles can be determined. The sensors in this context are generally embodied as radar, infrared or ultrasonic sensors. Furthermore, it is known that a combination of distance sensors and camera sensors produce a relatively high level of efficiency in the positioning of objects and their classification, and therefore permit additional functions such as detection of pedestrians.
"Handbook of Computer Vision and Applications Volume 1-3" discloses using 3D sensors, such as stereo cameras, to acquire image and position information on objects, therefore permitting wide-ranging safety functions. Furthermore, from the cited volumes it is apparent that a point of interest (POI) can be identified as a relevant region in a scene of the image area from a mono camera image by means of algorithms such as sequence analysis, or analysis of the visual flow can be used indirectly to acquire distances from other road users.
In the text which follows, a device for vehicle-to-vehicle communication and/or for communication between two vehicles over a central infrastructure is referred to as a telematics unit.
DE 102004022289 discloses a method for performing vehicle dynamics control in a motor vehicle. In this context, a sensor senses a measured value and an actuator for performing vehicle dynamics control is actuated as a function of one of the measured values. For the purpose of vehicle dynamics control, image information from the surroundings of the motor vehicle is generated by means of an image sensor system, wherein two image sensors are provided which pick up the same scene. As a result, in order to assist the driver of a motor vehicle, a camera system is used in order to carry out comfort functions or cross-control functions of the motor vehicle which do not require a safe distance signal for objects.
DE 69033962 T2 discloses a method and a device for determining positions having satellite navigation devices. The latter have sufficient precision to be able to use vehicle-to-vehicle communication or communication between two vehicles via a central infrastructure to calculate the relative positioning and relative movement of vehicles with the level of precision which allows driver assistance systems to be operated.
In the text below, a device for vehicle-to-vehicle communication and/or for communication between two vehicles via a central infrastructure is referred to as a telematics unit.
However, the main problem here is that the information on the basis of which the respective application implements its technical control measures on the vehicle is not sufficiently reliable since it is not possible to ensure that further vehicles or objects are not located between the vehicle which is sensed by the telematics unit and the driver's own vehicle. Furthermore, the precision of satellite navigation is not sufficient to assign vehicles, whose approximate position is known from vehicle-to-vehicle communication, in a camera image in order to merge the data items with one another.
The information from a mono camera without a distance sensor is in many cases insufficient for comfort functions or safety functions since the distance from other vehicles cannot be determined reliably enough.

Vehicle and method for identifying vehicles located in the surroundings of the vehicle


A probe apparatus includes a nest element operable to precisely locate a chip having a plurality of exposed interconnects on a face of the chip to permit conductive connection to the chip through the interconnects. The nest element includes a pocket dimensioned to locate the chip within a tolerance of less than a width of one of the interconnects, and tapered walls extending upwardly and outwardly from the pocket, the tapered walls adapted to guide the chip into the pocket. One or more piezoelectric elements can be attached to or provided within to the nest element to impart vibration to the nest element, causing the chip to be “fluidized” such that the chip is guided into the pocket under the force of gravity or other externally applied force.

The present invention relates to a device and method for use in electrically testing a chip.
With each new generation of integrated circuit technology, the number and the density of circuits increase on an integrated circuit. An integrated circuit is also referred to herein as a "chip" or a "die". Not surprisingly, the number and the density of external interconnects to a chip tends to increase with the circuit density, to support increased data bandwidth, and in large part to provide sufficiently low impedance connections to supply power to internal locations of the chip. To help address the requirements for testing chips of increased complexity, built-in-self-test techniques have been developed which reduce the memory and speed requirements of automatic test equipment. However, the increased complexity has caused test time durations to increase substantially. Thus, methods to enable a lower cost test environment have been shifting gradually away from reliance on automatic test equipment and towards reduced pin test equipment which interfaces to the chip through a subset of the chip's external pins.
One chip packaging technology, which supports tightly pitched external interconnects, is known as "controlled collapse chip connection" (i.e., "C4"). The C4 process refers to the manner in which parallel disposed solder bumps formed on an external array of bond pads of the chip, are simultaneously joined to corresponding solder-wettable contact pads of the package element by "reflowing" (i.e., by melting and re-solidification of) the solder bumps to join the bumps to the contact pads of the package element.
While chip packaging systems have kept pace with the increasing density of external interconnects, it has become increasingly difficult to electrically test a bare (unpackaged) chip through its external interconnects. Wafer-level testing has provided a way of testing the functionality of chips before they are even severed from the wafer. Typically, a wafer-level tester has a stepper which steps to one chip location of the wafer, establishes conductive contact to external interconnects of that chip location, and conducts electrical testing at that chip location. Then, the stepper steps to another chip location of the wafer, establishes conductive contact to the other chip location, conducts testing at that chip location, and then repeats the same steps again for another chip location of the wafer.
Alignment in four (4) dimensions is automatically performed for each new wafer. The stepper can then step from one chip location to another automatically and conserve time by eliminating the time required to align the tester to individual chip locations in turn. However, when the test performed on a chip at each chip location is very time-consuming, an economic trade-off is made between the cost of the test and the extent of test coverage achieved for each chip location, the test coverage being a function of the time allotted to the test. Often, for the complex devices considered here, such systems are unable to test more than one chip location of the wafer at the same time due to power delivery and power dissipation issues. One major cost factor comes about because expensive equipment is required to align the external interconnects of a chip of the wafer to a matching wafer probe for testing. Another major cost factor is the test equipment which generally is in the class of equipment referred to as Automatic Test Equipment (ATE). Such equipment has multiple capabilities which result in the equipment being costly, particularly when used to test only one chip location of the wafer at a time.
On the other hand, for chips which are relatively less complex (e.g., chips which are usually smaller, have fewer input/output (I/O) connections and operate at lower power), multiple chip locations can be tested simultaneously in parallel to reduce the cost of testing each chip by a factor equal to the number of chip locations tested in parallel. Except for such less complex chips, testing must either be performed one chip location at a time using an expensive wafer prober and test equipment and/or testing must be performed on individual chips after the wafer has been severed into individual chips.
Heretofore, the time and expense required to align an individual chip of relatively high complexity to a test probe has been costly. Costly precision equipment, similar to that used on wafer probers, has been used to achieve correct alignment to establish conductive contact between the external interconnects of the chip and a probe interface. For relatively complex chips, one alternative has been to mount individual chips to temporary packages, test the chips as mounted to the temporary packages, i.e., via functional and/or burn-in tests, and then remove the temporary packages after the tests. The chips which show good test results are then mounted to final packages. Clearly, it would be desirable to eliminate the time and expense required to mount and remove temporary packages to test individual chips of relative complexity.
For these reasons, it would be desirable to provide a new way of testing individual "bare" chips, i.e., unpackaged chips, after wafers have been severed into individual chips, using equipment that is capable of accurately aligning the external interconnects of the bare chip to a probe interface without requiring costly precision alignment methods.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,002,266 to Briggs et al. ("the Briggs Patent") describes a test socket for a chip which has sloped sidewalls. When placed in the socket, the edges of the chip rest against the sloped sidewalls. At best, the sloped sidewalls of the socket imprecisely align the chip within the socket because the chip remains free to move up and down along the sloped sidewalls. The socket described in the Briggs Patent falls short of locating a chip in a sufficiently precise manner to align fine pitch interconnects (e.g., C4 interconnects) of a chip to a mating array of probe contacts.
Recent advances in C4 process technology provide more tightly controlled tolerances, including tolerances specifying the placement of the bond pads on the chip relative to the edge of the chip. For example, the positional tolerance of bond pads of the chip has now been reduced to as low as 1 mil (i.e., 0.001 inch). With more tightly controlled tolerances, it would be desirable to provide a way of aligning or locating a chip within a retaining member of an electrical testing apparatus which does not require costly equipment or a large amount of time to perform.

Method and apparatus for locating and testing a chip

International Business Machines Corporation


A bi-functional roof drain includes a housing forming a drain manifold and a drain outlet to connect to a drainage system. A vent pipe penetrates the housing and extends through the manifold. The top of the vent pipe is positioned a distance above the housing, which may be variable. With this drain, a method of retrofitting a roof drainage system to provide water drainage and system venting is also presented. This method includes removing an existing uni-functional roof drain from a deck penetration through the roof, and installing a bi-functional roof drain in the same deck penetration. The drain outlet is connected to the drainage system and the vent pipe is connected to the system that requires venting. The height of a top opening of the vent pipe of the bi-functional roof drain may be adjustable in relation to a surface of the roof.

Commercial and industrial buildings are typically constructed with flat or near flat roofs. Because these buildings do not have much if any of a pitch to the roof, the collection of water on the roof surface resulting from rain and melting snow can present a serious structural load that could result in collapse of the roof's structure. To avoid this possibility most commercial and industrial building standards require that roofs of this type include drains positioned at locations that ensure that at least the majority of water accumulation may be removed from the roof through a drainage plumbing system. These commercial buildings also include various plumbing, heating, ventilation, etc. systems that require venting to the ambient air.
Typical roof drains and vent pipes are installed on flat roofs by cutting a hole through the roof deck and installing a drain therethrough and by cutting another hole through the roof deck and installing a vent pipe or conduit therethrough. The drain typically connects with drainage plumbing that carries the water away and the vent pipe typically connects to the system that requires external venting. The drain and vent structures typically include some form of flashing or collar that, through the application of sealant or other roof material, prevents leakage at the site of the drain installation and at the site of the vent installation. These typical drain and vent structures also include some form of drain ring and under deck clamping ring or structure that holds the drain or the vent in place and prevents its inadvertent removal or dislodgement from its installed position. The opening of the roof drain is typically covered by some form of grating or strainer structure to prevent the ingestion of large objects into the drain plumbing system. In most roof drain structures this strainer or grate takes the form of a hemispherical strainer to prevent or minimize the occurrence of obstruction of the roof drain through the accumulation of leaves and other debris that may accumulate on the roof. The opening of the roof vent may or may not include any grating, but typically does not.
While the usage of roof drains and vent pipes is required for the safety of the roof construction and the proper operation of various systems within the building, such also greatly increases the cost of the roof construction. This significant cost increase is a result of the requirement for the large number of holes through the roof to accommodate the roof drains and vent pipes that must be installed on the roof. Each roof drain and each vent pipe requires a separate deck penetration or hole to be cut in the roof structure. This substantially increases the labor cost associated with such a system as many roof penetrations must be cut. Further, depending on the number of roof drains and vent pipes that are installed, the overall structural strength of the roof may be weakened due to the large number of deck penetrations that are cut to accommodate both the roof drains and the vent pipes.
While these factors may be considered in the design of a new construction, and therefore compensated, the cost and structural impact of installing additional roof drains or additional vent pipes in existing buildings can be prohibitive. That is, on an existing building the roof's structure and strength are already set, and any impact thereto resulting from the installation of the roof drains or vent pipes is not easily compensated. Additionally, the roof surface itself may already be occupied by other equipment that limits the ability to properly position additional roof drains or vent pipes. Further, additional roof penetrations by other systems within a building may also limit the ability to install the roof drains or vent pipes at appropriate locations due to clearance requirements dictated by the roof penetrations of the other systems. As a result, the retrofit of an existing building to install additional roof drains or additional vent pipes often is not only expensive but also quite problematic if they can be installed at all.

Bi-functional roof drain having integrated vent


A chromosome DNA which codes for human hepatocyte growth factor, a recombinant expression vector capable of expressing the DNA, a transformant transformed with the expression vector and a method of producing recombinant human hepatocyte growth factor. The DNA and polypeptide of the present invention are expected to serve well for hepatocyte cultivation reagents, liver regeneration promoters, various researches, clinical diagnostic reagents and therapeutic drugs for liver diseases.

Traditionally, epithelial cell growth factor (EGF), fibroblast growth factor (FGF), nerve cell growth factor (NGF), platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF), endothelial cell growth factor (ECGF) and other polypeptides have been known to possess cell growth activity. In addition to those cell growth factors, a polypeptide which shows hepatocyte growth activity in vitro was partially purified from serum of rats with regenerated liver by Nakamura et al. in 1984, and named hepatocyte growth factor (hereinafter abbreviated as HGF) [Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 122, 1450 (1984)].
Until the discovery of HGF, it had been impossible to cultivate hepatocytes in vitro: they showed no growth even in the presence of mammalian serum which allows vigorous growth of various lines of established cells, and they usually fell down off from the wall of cultivation vessel in about 1 week. In the presence in HGF, hepatocytes showed very good growth, and their cultivation became possible [Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 122, 1450 (1984)]. Other workers confirmed that this HGF activity was present also in blood after partial hepatectomy and in blood of fulminant hepatitis patients. Although methods of purification, chemical properties and biological properties of HGF were elucidated by many workers since then, the amino acid structure of HGF or a polypeptide possessing similar hepatocyte growth activity has not been identified.
With this background, the present inventors have made a series of investigations of HGF separated and purified from various tissues such as rat platelets, and found that this platelet-derived HGF comprises two kinds of subunits and it allows hepatocytes to grow very well in vitro, and succeeded in identifying 27 amino acid residues of a partial amino acid sequence of HGF (Japanese Patent Application No. 311866/1988). Furthermore, the inventors used an oligonucleotide probe synthesized on the basis of the identified amino acid sequence to select and identify the cDNA which codes for rat hepatocyte growth factor from a rat liver cDNA library, and succeeded in selecting and identifying the cDNA which codes for human hepatocyte growth factor from a human liver cDNA library using the obtained rat cDNA [Nature, 342, 440 (1989); Japanese Patent Application No. 142697/1989]. Also, the cDNA which codes for human hepatocyt growth factor was isolated from human placenta [Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 163, 967–973 (1989)] and from human leukocytes [Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 172, 321 (1990)] in the same manner.
Since HGF in vivo is a polypeptide secreted in only trace amounts from organs such as liver, brain, lung, bone marrow, spleen, placenta and kidney or from blood cells such as platelets and leukocytes, there are many problems such as starting material availability. HGF yield and stable supply. To utilize this HGF for hepatocyte cultivation or hepatocyte research, it is necessary to clarify its structure and mass-produce HGF or a polypeptide possessing similar activity by gene recombination technology. Also, to clarify the relationship between diseases and HGF gene anomalies in the study of the function of HGF in vivo, it is desired to analyze the structure of the HGF gene on chromosome, which forms the basis thereof.

Chromosome DNA coding for human hepatocyte growth factor


A method and apparatus for reducing convergence time in a digital filter. When the digital filter is initially run, the coefficients in the digital filter are adjusted to reduce error in the output of the digital filter. When the adjusted coefficients meet a selected error level, these coefficients are stored in a memory and the digital filter filters data. The next time the digital filter is run, the stored coefficients are loaded into the digital filter and a number of iterations are run in which the coefficients are adjusted. Then, a determination is made as to whether the error level meets a threshold that may be the same as the selected error level. If the coefficients meet the threshold, the coefficients are stored in the memory and the filter is then used to filter data. A number of sets of coefficients may be stored in the memory and a set of coefficients unable to meet the threshold is replaced with another set of coefficients until the threshold is met or untested sets of coefficients are no longer present in the memory. At that time, a default set of coefficients may be used.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to data processing and in particular to digital signal transmission. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to an equalizer with rapid time convergence.
2. Description of the Related Art
Digital signal processing is concerned with the digital representation of signals and the use of digital processors to analyze, modify, or extract information from signals. Most signals are analog in nature, meaning that they often vary continuously with time and represent variations of physical quantities, such as sound waves. The signals used in many digital signal processing (DSP) are derived from analog signals, which have been sampled at regular intervals and converted into a digital form. One reason for processing a digital signal may be, for example, to remove interference or noise from the signal, to obtain the spectrum of the data, or to transform the signal into a more suitable form. DSP is being used in many areas where analog processing was previously used. In addition, DSP allows for new applications, which were difficult or impossible using analog processing. DSP provides advantages, such as, for example, (1) accuracy is limited only by the number of bits used, (2) reproducibility in which performance is identical from unit to unit because no variations exists due to tolerances, and (3) no drift in performance is present with changes in temperature or age.
In DSP, digital filtering is one of the most important operations present. A common filtering objective in digital filtering is to remove or reduce noise from a wanted signal. A filter is essentially a system or network that selectively changes the wave-shape, amplitude-frequency characteristics of a signal in a desired manner. Common filtering objectives are to improve the quality of the signal. A digital filter is a mathematical algorithm implemented in hardware and/or software that operates on a digital input signal to produce a digital output signal for the purpose of achieving a filtering objective, such as reducing or eliminating noise. The term digital filter is used to refer to both hardware and software routines used to perform filtering functions. Digital filters often operate on digitized analog signals or just numbers, representing some variable stored in a computer memory.
Turing to FIG. 1, an illustration of a known process for filtering symbols is shown. Symbols 100 are transmitted by a transmitter to the receiver over a channel 102, which may result in distortion of the data to cause xe2x80x9cfuzzyxe2x80x9d data 104 to be received by the receiver. An equalizer 106 and a slicer 108 located in the receiver is employed to process the incoming waveform. Equalizer 106 is an adaptive digital filter in this example. Slicer 108 is used to determine the amount of error which is used to adjust coefficients in real time.
The time needed for an equalizer to reduce the transient errors below a steady state error level is known as the xe2x80x9cconvergence timexe2x80x9d. In other words, convergence time is how fast coefficients are fixed or adjusted to be effective in processing a signal. The classical conflict between speed and accuracy is well known in adaptive filter design. By making a step size (e=1) in the adjustment of the coefficients larger, the speed in convergence is increased, but the accuracy (M=1) is decreased. On the other hand, employing a very small step size (e less than  less than 1) increases accuracy with a decrease in speed. Small or fast convergence time requires high speed.
With reference to FIG. 2, a graph illustrating the problem of speed versus accuracy is depicted. Graph 200 shows time on the x-axis and mean square error on the y-axis. Curves 202 and 204 are learning curves averaged over five hundred iterations. Curve 202 represents a learning curve using a step size of 0.01 while curve 204 illustrates a learning curve for a step size of 0.05. As can be seen, curve 204 shows a faster convergence time than curve 202. In addition, accuracy is decreased in curve 204 when compared to the accuracy in curve 202. If the coefficients are adjusted too quickly through larger step sizes, the filter in the equalizer may become unstable. By using smaller step sizes, the time it takes to converge becomes unacceptable for many applications.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to have an improved method and apparatus for increasing the speed of convergence while maintaining accuracy.
The present invention provides a method and apparatus for reducing convergence time in a digital filter while maintaining a small step size. Initially, coefficients may be pre-loaded into the filter or training data may be used in which the coefficients in the digital filter are adjusted to reduce error in the output of the digital filter. When the adjusted coefficients meet a selected error level, these coefficients are stored in a memory and the digital filter filters data. The next time the digital filter is run, the stored coefficients are loaded into the digital filter and a number of iterations are run in which the coefficients are adjusted. Then, a determination is made as to whether the error level meets an acceptance threshold that the coefficients can be continuously used to reach an optimum threshold, which may be the same as the acceptance threshold, but is typically tighter than the acceptance threshold. If the coefficients meet the threshold, the coefficients are continuously adjusted until the optimum threshold is reached and the filter is then used to filter data. Otherwise, the filter is loaded with another set of coefficients from memory and the process is repeated until the last set of coefficients is loaded. If none of the sets of coefficients meet the acceptance threshold, the filter has no choice but to use the normal convergence process. A number of sets of coefficients may be stored in the memory and a set of coefficients unable to meet the threshold is replaced with another set of coefficients until the threshold is met or untested sets of coefficients are no longer present in the memory. At that time, a default set of coefficients may be used.

Method and apparatus for reducing convergence time


A method for programming a memory, which includes multiple multi-level cells each having a left half cell and a right half cell, includes the following steps. First, a target address corresponding to 2n-group data to be stored is provided, wherein n is a positive integer. Next, the 2n-group data is sequentially programmed into the multi-level cells based upon the target address in a programming loop so that the data stored in the left half cells and the data stored in the right half cells are from different groups of the 2n-group data.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to a memory and a method for programming the same, and more particularly to a memory with the shortened memory programming time and a method for programming the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
At present, memories may be used in various occasions for storing data. The memories may be classified into various types including, for example, a multi-level cell (MLC) memory. FIG. 1A (Prior Art) is a schematic illustration showing a conventional multi-level cell 100. Referring to FIG. 1A, the multi-level cell 100 includes a left half cell 110 and a right half cell 120. Each of the half cells of the multi-level cell 100 may have many bits according to the threshold voltage distribution.
Description will be made by taking each half cell having two bits as an example. FIG. 1B (Prior Art) shows the distribution of threshold voltages of the multi-level cell 100. As shown in FIG. 1B, the threshold voltage distributions of the left half cell 110 and the right half cell 120 are sequentially defined as (11, 10, 01, 00). The threshold voltage distributions in FIG. 1B have to be possibly gathered together so that the sufficient read window can be kept to prevent the threshold voltage of the right half cell 120 from influencing the threshold voltage of the left half cell 110, and thus to prevent the error from occurring when the half cells are being read.
To solve the above-mentioned problems, the left half cell 110 and the right half cell 120 have to be programmed in the single programming loop. In the conventional programming command, each bit data has a corresponding address. When 4-bit data is to-be-programmed into the multi-level cell 100, the programming command must include at least four sets of addresses and data. Consequently, the complexity of the programming command received by the memory increases, and the programming flow of the memory becomes complicated and time-consuming.

Memory and method for programming in multiple storage region multi-level cells


An integrated-circuit chip includes a first electrical connection are placed on an underlying layer and covered with an intermediate dielectric layer. A second electrical connection is placed on the intermediate dielectric layer and is covered with a superficial dielectric layer. External electrical connection pads are placed on the superficial dielectric layer and extend selectively over the first electrical connection. Vias pass through the superficial dielectric layer and the intermediate dielectric layer to make connection between the first electrical connection and the external electrical connection pads.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the general field semiconductor devices and, more particularly, to integrated-circuit chips equipped with projecting external electrical contact pads.
In one application, such chips are intended to be mounted on boards so that their external contact pads establish electrical connections on these boards. To this end, during assembly, the chips are pressed in the direction of boards provided with a dielectric layer having particles of an electrically conductive material in suspension, so that the particles lying between the boards and the end or front faces of the external contact pads establish the electrical connections.
In another application, such external contact pads are intended to be soldered to the end of overhanging electrical connection tracks carried by flexible strips. In order to carry out such assembly, the electrical connection track ends are pressed onto the upper face of the contact pads of the chips, at a relatively high temperature.
2. Description of Related Art
Currently, based on a chip comprising a lower layer on which internal pads are formed and a superficial layer which covers the latter and which has surface bumps in the zones of these internal pads, openings are produced in the superficial layer above the internal pads, and the external and projecting contact pads are produced by growth deposition of an electrically conductive material in the openings of the superficial layer and the openings of a temporary mask, which are larger than the openings of the superficial layer. The result is that the end faces of the external contact pads which are obtained have a hollowed central part and a peripheral rim corresponding to the rim of the superficial layer enclosing the corresponding opening made in this layer.
Such an arrangement causes weakening of the superficial layer around the external contact pads and a risk of cracks appearing during the aforementioned assembly operations, which need to be carried out at a relatively high pressure particularly because of the existence of the hollowed parts, these cracks being conducive to the appearance of internal corrosion of the chip. Furthermore, since the internal pads are generally made of aluminum and the external contact pads are generally made of gold, there is a risk of electrochemical reactions which, by expanding the material, are liable to damage the electrical connections and further increase the risk of cracks appearing.
There is a need in the art to improve the mechanical strength of integrated-circuit chips with projecting external contact pads, in respect of both pressure and temperature, particularly during the operations of connecting the pads to other connection means.

Integrated-circuit chip with offset external pads and method for fabricating such a chip