The present invention relates to a hydraulic brake system with slip control, including a braking pressure generator which is connected hydraulically to at least one wheel brake by way of a main pressure line, a return line connected to the wheel brake and in communication with a pressure fluid collecting device, an auxiliary-pressure pump having an auxiliary-pressure line which is connected to the braking pressure generator, and at least one pressure modulation valve acting in the main pressure line and in the return line to close or keep open the pressure fluid passage in the main pressure line and the return line. An orifice is arranged in the main pressure line between the pressure modulation valve and the wheel brake, and an unimpeded hydraulic passage between the main pressure line and the wheel brake is provided in a first switch position, and the orifice limits the pressure fluid passage in the main pressure line leading to the wheel brake in another switch position.

The present invention relates to a hydraulic brake system with slip control.
The discontinuous pressure fluid control in slip-controlled brake systems by way of digitally operated inlet and outlet valves produces an undesirable emission of sound due to the pulse-like pressure variation.
Therefore, various arrangements to reduce noises during anti-lock/traction slip control operations have been disclosed. In this respect, reference is made to international patent application WO-A-90/12713, as an example. This application discloses the arrangement of pressure pulsation dampers inside the main pressure lines, and for that matter, in the vicinity of the braking pressure generator, or in the by-pass line of the electromagnetic inlet and outlet valves. The pressure pulsation dampers used are configured as vibration-damping elastomeric energy-accumulating elements which, by way of their defined expansion in volume, flow length and restricting properties, shall prevent the transmission of sounds produced by valve switching frequencies to the mass-loaded and, thus, vibrating brake system.
A relatively soft pedal feel and an increased pedal travel are undesirable consequences of the additional pressure fluid volume input caused by the given pressure pulsation dampers during braking operations.
European patent application No. 0 317 305 discloses a solenoid valve which is appropriate for use in anti-lock hydraulic brake systems. The solenoid valve includes a magnetic core accommodating a coil which is confined by a magnetic armature on one side and by a diaphragm member on the other side. The diaphragm member has a passage closable by a valve needle. The diaphragm member is axially movably arranged between the magnetic core and a housing cover containing the pressure fluid inlet. Thus, in the switch position of the valve needle closing the supply channel in the diaphragm member, a pressure differential is operative on both sides of the diaphragm member and causes a displacement of the valve needle relative to the magnetic armature. This fact preloads a compression spring compressed between the valve needle and the magnetic armature. The preloading force of the compression spring, caused by the difference in pressure on the diaphragm member, causes rapid release of the magnetic armature from the magnetic core when the electromagnetic energization is interrupted. The result is short valve opening times. A spring restoring force acting on the valve needle in the opening sense assists the rapid opening of the supply channel in the diaphragm member so that pressure fluid, after having passed the open passage across the valve needle, propagates to an annular slot which is formed between the hollow cylindrical inside wall of the magnetic core and the outside wall of a cylindrical part which guides the valve needle. The fluid emanating from the valve inlet is conducted to a pressure fluid connection leading to the pressure fluid consumer by way of the supply channel in the diaphragm member and the subsequent annular slot.
UK patent application No. 2 252 140 discloses a valve assembly for anti-lock control including an inlet valve and an outlet valve. The inlet valve accommodates an annular piston adapted to be actuated in response to hydraulic pressure differences. The piston is configured as a stepped piston which is pressure-balanced, subjected to the hydraulic pressure of the master cylinder. A compression spring interposed between the valve carrier of the electromagnetically operable inlet valve and the annular piston keeps the annular piston in an unrestricted open position, with the result that pressure fluid is unimpeded to flow from the master cylinder to the wheel brake. When the inlet valve is energized electromagnetically, the valve closure member of the inlet valve adopts its closed position, and the electromagnetically energized outlet valve discharges the wheel braking pressure in the direction of a supply reservoir. This reduces the level of wheel pressure which is conducted from a branch line of the outlet valve to a piston step on the annular piston. Thus, the annular piston is no more pressure-balanced and, with its sealing seat, closes the originally unimpeded pressure fluid passage in the inlet valve from the master cylinder to the wheel brake in opposition to the effect of the compression spring. A new pressure increase in the wheel brakes occurs by pulsed operation of the magnetic coils of the inlet valve so that pressure fluid propagates in a restricted fashion to the wheel brake by way of the orifice bore in the annular piston. To this end, the outlet valve is in an operating position in which the connection to the supply reservoir is closed. Upon deactivation of the master cylinder, the annular piston adopts again a position in which the pressure fluid connection to the wheel brake is unrestrictedly open because the compression spring positions the annular piston on its stop.
The chosen channel arrangement and pressure fluid ducts to provide a connection between the master cylinder, the inlet and outlet valve and the wheel brake necessitates a structural series arrangement of the individual elements in the inlet valve. Also, the selected switching function of the annular piston in response to the amount of pressure conducted from the wheel brake by way of the outlet valve necessitates the chosen arrangement.

Hydraulic brake system with slip control


A method for reduction of differential gloss as found in hardcopy image prints. The method comprises selecting a first halftone having a high apparent gloss characteristic and a second halftone having a low apparent gloss characteristic while retaining an identical matching density characteristic to the first selected halftone. a A determination is then made of which areas of the halftone image correspond to potentially high gloss and low gloss regions under normal printing conditions. The first halftone is applied to those portions of the halftone image determined as corresponding to potentially low gloss regions, and the second halftone is applied to those portions of the halftone image determined as corresponding to potentially high gloss regions of the halftone image.

The present disclosure relates generally to the gloss inherent in the hardcopy of image data be it pictorial or text. More particularly, this disclosure relates to digital image data and the control of differential gloss when that digital image data is printed into hardcopy.
The acceptance of electrostaticgraphic print engines by the graphic arts and commercial print market has heretofore been hampered by various problems, including among them a perceived image quality issue relative to differential gloss. Typical electrostaticgraphic prints, including traditional xerographic prints, usually display high gloss in high mass regions. In the mid-tone regions the image gloss on a glossy substrate reaches a minimum. This differential gloss between high mass and mid-tone areas is objected to by some users.
A typical approach in the past has been to reduce the gloss in the high mass areas through toner and fusing optimization. However, this kind of approach also reduces the overall image gloss at the same time. This in turn upsets another group of users who find the typical glossy appearance of xerographic prints desirable.
Therefore, as discussed above, there exists a need for an arrangement and methodology which will control gloss in general and allow manipulation for overcoming differential gloss without requiring special toners/inks or changes in the fusing operation. Thus, it would be desirable to solve this and other deficiencies and disadvantages as discussed above, with an improved methodology for the manipulation of inherent differential gloss.
Disclosed in embodiments herein is a method for the manipulation of the differential gloss in a halftone image. The method comprises selecting a first halftone having a high apparent gloss characteristic and a second halftone having a low apparent gloss characteristic while retaining an identical matching density characteristic to the first selected halftone. The first halftone is applied to at least some portion of the halftone image, and the second halftone is applied to the remaining portion of the halftone image.
Also disclosed in embodiments herein is a method for the manipulation of the differential gloss in a halftone image. The method comprises selecting a first halftone having a high apparent gloss characteristic and a second halftone having a low apparent gloss characteristic while retaining an identical matching density characteristic to the first selected halftone. Then a determination is made of which areas of the halftone image correspond to potentially high gloss regions under normal printing conditions. The second halftone is applied to those portions of the halftone image determined as corresponding to potentially high gloss regions, and the first halftone is applied to the remaining portions of the halftone image.
Also disclosed in embodiments herein is a method for the manipulation of the differential gloss in a halftone image. The method comprises selecting a first halftone having a high apparent gloss characteristic and a second halftone having a low apparent gloss characteristic while retaining an identical matching density characteristic to the first selected halftone. Then a determination is made of which areas of the halftone image correspond to potentially low gloss regions under normal printing conditions. The first halftone is applied to those portions of the halftone image determined as corresponding to potentially low gloss regions, and the second halftone is applied to the remaining portions of the halftone image.
Further disclosed in embodiments herein is a method for the manipulation of the differential gloss in a halftone image. The method comprises selecting a first halftone having a high apparent gloss characteristic and a second halftone having a low apparent gloss characteristic while retaining an identical matching density characteristic to the first selected halftone. Then a determination is made of which areas of the halftone image correspond to potentially high gloss and low gloss regions under normal printing conditions. The first halftone is applied to those portions of the halftone image determined as corresponding to potentially low gloss regions, and the second halftone is applied to those portions of the halftone image determined as corresponding to potentially high gloss regions of the halftone image.


A pet habitat comprising a cage structure supported on a base structure, the base structure comprising a reusable tray and a disposable liner, the disposable liner comprising a disposable tray locatable within the reusable tray and the disposable tray having two opposing sides, wherein each of the opposing sides includes a deformable pull tab to separate the disposable tray from the reusable tray.

The cleaning of pet habitats is often a cumbersome and relatively time-consuming task for pet owners. Many pet habitats include a base structure into which bedding material for the pet is placed, with the base structure being a permanent part of the pet habitat. The base structure typically must be removed from the habitat and thereafter cleaned to remove the contents therein, which often includes food and pet waste in addition to the bedding material. As such, the process is labor intensive and requires considerable time. What is needed is a pet habitat and method of use to reduce the labor associated with the cleaning of pet habitats by the pet owners.

Pet habitat with disposable bedding liner


The disclosed invention relates to a liquid treatment system comprising a fluid input channel and a plasmatron coupled to the fluid input channel, the plasmatron operative to affix nitrogen to liquid received from the fluid input channel resulting in treated liquid. The system further comprises a liquid chamber connected to the plasmatron for storing treated liquid and a treated fluid output channel connected to the liquid chamber.

Generally, it is known in the prior art to treat water and other liquids or fluids for improved qualities such as for removing waste or undesirable compounds and for introducing beneficial additives for specific applications or uses.
Examples of prior art references include U.S. Pat. No. 7,291,314 for "Activated water apparatus and methods," filed Dec. 20, 2001 by Gorodkin et al., describes an apparatus that subjects water to waves from an RF plasma, which allows continuous production of "activated water" characterized by cluster sizes below about 4 molecules per cluster, water having pH below 4 or above 10, or water having ORP of less than −350 mV or more than +800 mV. The basic frequency of the plasma is preferably between 0.44 MHz and 40.68 MHz, and the plasma is preferably modulated at a frequency between 10 kHz and 34 kHz. Flow rates typically range from 20 l/hr to about 2000 l/hr. Activated water can be used for many purposes, including antimicrobial cleaning of worktable, floor, wall, knife, transport and other surfaces, for example, in meat processing facilities and hospitals.
Additionally, current techniques utilized in the agricultural industry rely on fertilizers and other contaminants to increase the growth rate and yield of crops and other plant life. This use of fertilizers results in a plethora of harmful and toxic chemicals and substances being introduced into the targeted plant life such as ammonium phosphate, urea, potassium chloride, boric acid, and others. Thus there currently exists a need in the art for a safe method of water treatment that enhances the growth potential of plant life while eschewing the use of harmful accelerants such as fertilizers.

Systems and methods for plasma-based fluid treatment


A contact lens contains a copolymer obtained by copolymerizing, as an indispensable feed monomer, 2 to 95 wt. % of a carboxylic acid ester monomer and 98 to 5 wt. % of a copolymerizable monomer. The carboxylic acid ester monomer is represented by the formula (I) ##STR1## wherein R.sub.1 stands for a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group having 1 to 12 carbon atoms, an alkenyl group having 1 to 12 carbon atoms, a cyclic alkyl group having 3 to 12 carbon atoms or an aryl group, and X stands for ##STR2## in which R.sub.2 and R.sub.3 each stand for a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group having 1 to 12 carbon atoms, an alkenyl group having 1 to 12 carbon atoms, a cyclic alkyl group having 3 to 12 carbon atoms or an aryl group, m and 1 being integers of from 0 to 4, at least one of R.sub.1, R.sub.2 and R.sub.3 being a group containing a fluorine atom and n being an integer of from 0 to 4.

This invention relates to a contact lens and, more particularly, to a contact lens having, above all, an excellent oxygen permeability.
Contact lenses now in extensive use may be classified into an oxygen-permeable hard contact lens, referred to hereinafter as a GP contact lens, and a water-containing soft contact lens. The water-containing soft contact lenses, which may be worn more comfortably, are unsatisfactory in oxygen permeability of the lens material. While it may be contemplated to raise the water content of the lens material to thereby raise its oxygen permeability, such lens may be contaminated easily by bacteria, according to recent clinical reports, to cause serious complications to cornea or conjunctiva. The GP contact lenses, on the other hand, have been highly evaluated because of high oxygen permeability, astigmatism curative effects, durability and safety, and have come to be used predominantly as the contact lenses. In keeping therewith, studies and investigations of the GP hard contact lenses are progressing briskly. However, special emphasis is put only on the oxygen permeability of the conventional GP contact lenses with disregard to other properties required of the contact lenses.
For example, the contact lenses described in Japanese Laid-open Patent Applications Nos. 8769/1987, 61928/1987 and 36646/1988 are excellent in oxygen permeability, but are unsatisfactory in shape stability or resistance to contamination. On the other hand, the contact lenses disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent Application Nos. 99720/1987 and 212618/1987 are formed of dialkyl fumarate, which is poor in copolymerizability and, even when it is copolymerized ultimately, it is so brittle that it can be cracked easily, causing danger to users. The contact lens disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. 176909/1986 is low in oxygen permeability and unsuitable for continuous wearing in the eye, to which special attention has been directed recently.


A method of cooling coated foods, particularly confectionery and baked goods, wherein the goods are moved by a conveyor belt through a cooling duct, and wherein air is used as the cooling agent. Alternatively, the goods are conveyed by a conveyor belt through a cooling duct above base plates forming heat exchangers, wherein a liquid cooling agent flows through the heat exchangers. The method includes adjusting a delta-T (actual value) between cooling agent exit and cooling agent entry for a certain product to be coated by regulating the cooling agent flow speed, entering this delta-T as nominal value in a computer as the parameter for further cooling of this product, and regulating the cooling agent entry temperature, particularly in the case of production interruption or restart of production, by the difference determined in the computer between the delta-T determined as the nominal value and the actually measured value.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of cooling coated foods, particularly confectionery and baked goods, wherein the goods are moved by a conveyor belt through a cooling duct, and wherein air is used as the cooling agent. Alternatively, the goods are conveyed by a conveyor belt through a cooling duct above base plates forming heat exchangers, wherein a liquid cooling agent flows through the heat exchangers.
2. Description of the Related Art
A method of the above-described type is basically known from DE-A1-43 11 589. In that known method, air is used as the cooling agent. The process is then called convection cooling and/or radiation cooling. It is also known in the art to carry out cooling by means of base plates which are arranged underneath the conveyor belt and through which flows a liquid cooling agent, preferably water. In that case, the process is called contact cooling or radiation cooling.
A combination of the two types of cooling is also known in the art, i.e., cooling takes place on the upper side by a convection cooling with air and on the lower side by a contact cooling by means of base plates. Cooling takes place in a co-current flow method or a counter-current flow method. In the co-current flow method, the conveying direction and the flow direction of the cooling agent are the same. In the counter-current flow method, the flow directions are oppositely directed. The counter-current flow method has the advantage that the difference between the temperature of the cooling agent and the temperature of the products to be cooled is smaller. In the known apparatus, the cooling agent normally flows parallel through the bottom plates.
The method is used in the production of various foods, such as bars, pralines, waffles, sugar products, products having a long service life and fine bakery products, which are totally or partially coated. The coatings are thick or thin layers, particularly of chocolate, caramel, cocoa icing, shortening icing and sugar icing. The coatings are cooled in the cooling duct in order to solidify. The cooling duct may also include other devices for adjusting and controlling the moisture and other parameters.
Cooling and solidification of the coatings is a process which can basically be dimensioned freely in accordance with the rules of thermodynamics. Since structure, gloss and hardness of the coating, for example, of chocolate, must meet certain quality requirements, the selection of the cooling pattern with respect to temperature and speed of the cooling agent is limited in accordance with experiences in the field, so that, for example, the polymorphous cocoa butter in the chocolate crystallizes in a favorable structure. This is called gentle cooling.
When the same products are manufactured and cooled in a production plant over a longer period of time, those skilled in the field are able to adjust the correct production parameters. For example, when operating in the counter-current flow method, the cooling agent enters with a certain temperature and, due to the heating by the products, is discharged with a higher temperature. This temperature is usually kept constant during a production sequence, in order to ensure a uniform quality. Accordingly, the appropriate parameters and, thus, the desired cooling curves can only be adjusted and maintained after a certain production period, particularly when the products have reached the end of the cooling duct. However, after a production start, a production stop and a production interruption, problems occur since the cooling agent temperature at the cooling agent exit, i.e., in the counter-current flow method, is too low at the product entry. At the production start, there are no products in the cooling duct, so that no heat can be transported away. This means that the cooling medium temperature is too low and new entering products are cooled too much. This has a negative influence and usually leads to the production of waste. The same is true in the case of production interruptions.

Method of cooling coated foods, particularly confectionery and baked goods


A switching mechanism of an air circuit breaker that allows the overall size of the air circuit breaker to be minimal by making the width of the switching mechanism relatively small. The switching mechanism of the air circuit breaker includes both side plates, a main shaft, a main shaft lever, a first link, a closing spring unit, a charging cam, a rotational shaft of the charging cam, a third link, a driving lever, a spring support pin and an end portion supported by the spring support pin, and a third link elastic bias spring having an end portion supported by the spring support pin and an operation portion for providing elastic force onto one surface of the third link to bias the third link to be rotated in one direction. A third link elastic bias spring directly provides the elastic force onto the third link in order to minimize the distance between a pair of driving levers and thus minimize the width of the switching mechanism.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a switching mechanism of an air circuit breaker, a type of a low voltage circuit breaker, and more particularly, to a switching mechanism of an air circuit breaker that allows the overall size of the air circuit breaker to be compact by making the width of the switching mechanism relatively small.
2. Description of the Related Art
The air circuit breaker includes a switching mechanism that opens or closes a current conduction circuit, a cradle unit for housing the switching mechanism and having a terminal part connected with an external power source and a load, and a circuit monitoring and controlling unit that senses a fault current of the current conduction circuit as connected and provides a driving power for automatically driving the switching mechanism to a breaking (trip) position.
The present invention relates to the switching mechanism, which is called as a main circuit part of the major parts of the air circuit breaker, and the related art will now be described.
The switching mechanism of the air circuit breaker according to the related art will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5 and 8.
First, the construction of the switching mechanism of the air circuit breaker according to the related art will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.
As shown in FIG. 1, the switching mechanism of the air circuit breaker according to the related art includes a stationary contactor 12 and a movable contactor 11 which is movable to a closing position at which the movable contactor 11 contacts with the stationary contactor 12 to close the circuit and a breaking (trip) position at which the movable contactor 11 is separated from the stationary contactor 12 to open the circuit.
As shown in FIG. 1, the movable contactor 11 is connected with a main shaft lever 10-1 and driven such that it comes in contact with the stationary contactor 12 or separated from the stationary contactor 12 according to a rotational direction of the main shaft lever 10-1.
The main shaft lever 10-1 is generally used when the air circuit breaker opens and closes 3 phases alternating current conducting lines, so three main shaft levers 10-1 are provided to correspond to each phase and drive the movable contactor 11 of a corresponding phase.
In order to simultaneously drive the three main shaft levers 10-1, the respective main shaft levers 10-1 are coaxially connected with a single common main shaft 10.
Accordingly, the main shaft 10 penetrates both side plates 1 supporting the switching mechanism so as to extend to be connected with the main shaft lever 10-1 of a different phase.
Among the main shaft levers 10-1, the central main shaft lever 10-1 connected with the switching mechanism has one end connected with the main shaft 10 and the other end connected with a first link 6.
Like gears which have a different rotational shaft and are in mesh with each other, one end of the first link 6 is connected with the main shaft lever 10-1, and the main shaft lever 10-1 and the first link 6 are rotated in the mutually opposite directions. The first link 6 provides a driving force to the central main shaft lever 10-1, among the three main shaft levers 10-1, to allow the central main shaft lever 10-1 to drive the movable contactor 11 to an opening or closing position.
A second link 4 is connected with the other end of the first link 6, and the first and second links 6 and 4 are rotated in the same direction.
One end of a third link 3 is rotatably provided at the other end of the second link 4 and connected by a driving connection pin (P) to transfer the driving force to the second link 4.
A closing spring unit includes a closing spring 13 for providing a driving force to drive the movable contactor 11 to the closing position and a closing spring seat (no reference numeral is given). The closing spring 13 charges elastic energy and discharges it to provide a driving force to allow the movable contactor 11 to be driven to the closing position.
In order to prevent the closing spring 13 from being released and support the rotation of the closing spring seat, a closing spring support bracket 15 is provided to support the other end of the opposite side of the end portion that provides the driving force.
The switching mechanism of the air circuit breaker according to the related art comprises a charging cam 2 for providing a driving force for charging elastic force of the closing spring unit, and the charging cam 2 is rotatable together with the rotational shaft 2a. The charging cam 2 includes a cam roller 2b indicated as a dotted line on one side thereof as shown in FIG. 2.
The third link 3 is coaxially connected with the rotational shaft 2a of the charging cam 2 and rotatable together.
A pair of driving levers 16 include a driving lever pin 16b that contacts with the second link 4. The pair of driving levers 16 are separately connected by the driving lever pin 16b, and the second and third links 4 and 3 are interposed between the pair of levers 16. The driving levers 16 can be connected with the closing spring unit to provide a driving force for charging elastic energy to the closing spring unit, or can be rotatable upon receiving charged elastic energy from the closing spring unit.
A breaking spring 14 is provided such that one end thereof is supported by the main shaft lever 10-a and the other end is supported by a spring support pin (reference numeral is not given) fixed on the side plate 1. During a closing operation, the breaking spring 14 is stretched according to clockwise direction of the main shaft lever 10-1 to charge elastic energy, and when a circuit is broken, the breaking spring 14 discharges the charged elastic energy to provide a driving force for rotating the main shaft lever 10-1 counterclockwise.
A pair of third link bias springs 15 are provided. One end of each third link bias spring 15 is supported by the driving lever pin 16b of the driving levers 16 and the other end of each third link bias spring 15 is supported by the driving connection pin (P) that connects the second and third links 4 and 3.
The driving connection pin (P) penetrates the second and third links to connect them, and extends to be protruded to support the pair of third link bias springs 15 at both ends.
In order to prevent interference by the protruded driving connection pin (P), the pair of driving levers 16 are separated by the driving lever pin 16b with a considerably long distance therebetween.
A closing latch 5 extends long in a vertical direction in order to have one surface positioned on a moving locus of the cam roller 2b provided on one surface of the charging cam 2, and can latch a rotation of the charging cam 2. An upper end portion of the closing latch 5 is positioned on a rotating path of an on-shaft 8, so it can be latched or released by the on-shaft 8.
The on-shaft 8 is connected with an on-button (not shown) so as to be rotated manually or automatically rotated by being connected with an electrical driving control device or an actuator.
A recess 3a is formed at an upper portion of the third link 3, an opening latch roller 7a is provided at a position at which it can enter the recess 3a of the third link or released therefrom. An opening latch 7 that can be rotatable centering around a rotational shaft 7b is provided at an upper portion of the third link 3. One end of the opening latch 7 is connected with an opening latch spring 7c by a pin to thus receive an elastic bias force for rotation counterclockwise in FIGS. 1 and 2 from the opening latch spring 7c.
An off-shaft 9 is provided to contact with the other end of the opening latch 7 in a lengthwise direction, and the rotation of the opening latch 7 is latched or released by the off-shaft 9.
The operation of the switching mechanism of the air circuit breaker according to the related art constructed as described can be divided into the elastic energy charging operation, the closing operation and the opening operation of the closing spring and will be described as follows.
First, the charging operation of the closing spring will be described with reference to FIG. 3.
The rotational shaft 2a of the charging cam 2 is rotated by an operating handle (not shown) or a driving motor (not shown) counterclockwise on the drawing.
Then, the driving lever roller 16a of the driving lever 16 contacting with an outer circumferential surface of the charging cam 2 is compressed as a curvature radius of the outer circumferential surface of the charging cam 2 is reduced to press the spring seat of the closing spring unit that contacts with and pressed by the driving lever roller 16a to compress the closing spring 13.
At this time, as the charging cam 2 is rotated, the driving lever roller 16a rolls along the outer circumferential surface of the charging cam 2, and the charging cam 2 is rotated until the cam roller 2b provided at one surface of the charging cam 2 contacts with the closing latch 5.
As the charging cam 2 is rotated counterclockwise, the third link 3, the second link 4 and the driving lever 16 interlock to be rotated counterclockwise.
At this time, rotation of the main shaft 10 is latched by the opening latch 7, so that it is maintained to be separated from the movable contactor 11 and the stationary contactor 12 as shown in FIG. 1.
As the third link 3 is rotated counterclockwise, the roller 7a of the opening latch 7 is received in the recess portion 3a of the third link 3 and the counterclockwise rotation of the third link 3 is latched.
When the cam roller 2b provided on one surface of the charging cam 2 contacts with the closing latch 5, it pushes the closing latch 5, making the closing latch 5 be rotated in clockwise direction centering around its rotational shaft. The clockwise rotation of the closing latch 5 is restraining by the on-shaft 8, and the charging operation of the closing spring 13 is completed.
The closing operation of the switching mechanism of the air circuit breaker according to the related art will now be described with reference to FIG. 4.
When the on-shaft 8 is connected with an ON-button (not shown) and rotated manually or when the on-shaft 8 is connected with the electrical driving control device or the actuator and automatically rotated, the closing latch 5 is released from the on-shaft 8 and rotated clockwise.
As the closing latch 5 is released, the cam roller 2b is also released from the closing latch 5.
Accordingly, the driving lever roller 16a which has restraining discharging of elastic energy of the closing spring 13 while contacting with the outer circumferential surface of the charging cam 2 gets out of the outer circumferential surface of the charging cam 2.
As the closing spring 13 is discharged, the driving lever 16 is pressed by the spring seat of the closing spring 13 and rotated counterclockwise, and accordingly, the driving lever pin 16b pushes the second link 4 to rotate it counterclockwise. Then, the third link 3 is rotated counterclockwise according to the counterclockwise rotation of the second link 4, and accordingly, the first link 6 is pushed up by the second link 4 and rotated counterclockwise.
The main shaft lever 10-1 and the first link 6 are connected with each other for interlocking, so that as the first link 6 is rotated counterclockwise, the main shaft lever 10-1 is rotated clockwise and the main shaft 10 is also rotated clockwise. Accordingly, the movable contactor 11 interlocked with the main shaft lever 10-1 is rotated counterclockwise on the drawing and comes in contact with the stationary contactor 12 and thus the circuit is closed.
At this time, the breaking spring 14 is in a stretched state, storing (charging) the elastic energy.
The circuit opening operation of the switching mechanism of the air circuit breaker according to the related art will now be described with reference to FIG. 1.
When the off-shaft 9 is connected with the OFF-button (not shown) and rotated clockwise manually or when the off-shaft 9 is connected with the electrical driving control device and the actuator and rotated clockwise automatically, the opening latch 7 is released from the latched state by the off-shaft 9 and rotated counterclockwise due to elastic force of the opening latch spring 7c, and also released from the latched state by the recess portion 3a of the third link 3.
As the third link 3 is released from the latched state by the opening latch 7, the interlocked second and first links 4 and 6 are also released, and in a state that the opening spring 14 is stretched while closing operation, a support end portion of the main shaft lever 10-1 is returned to the spring support pin of the side plate 1 to discharge the charged elastic energy to thus rotate the main shaft lever 10-1 counterclockwise. Accordingly, the movable contactor 11 is rotated clockwise and separated from the stationary contactor 12. Thus, the circuit is opened.
However, in the switching mechanism of the air circuit breaker according to the related art, as shown in FIG. 8, one end of each of the pair of third link bias springs 15 is supported by the driving lever pin 16b of the driving lever 16 and the other end of each of the pair of third link bias springs 15 is supported by the driving connection pin (P) that connects the second and third links 4 and 3.
The driving connection pin (P) penetrates the second and third links to connect them, and extends to be protruded to support the pair of third link bias springs 15 at both ends.
In order to prevent interference by the protruded driving connection pin (P), the pair of driving levers 16 are separated by the driving lever pin 16b with a considerably long distance therebetween.
Thus, because the space between the pair of driving levers 16 becomes away, the distance between the both side plates 1 is increased, the width of the switching mechanism of the air circuit breaker is increased, and the air circuit breaker is increased in size.

Switching mechanism for air circuit breaker


A method of heat treatment of a non-metallic or metallic item is provided. The method includes at least one step of heat transfer between the item and a heat transfer fluid A′. The heat transfer fluid A′ includes a fluid medium and nanoparticles having a lateral size between 26 and 50 μm. The heat transfer fluid has a heat transfer coefficient below the heat transfer coefficient of water.

With a view of saving energy consumption, it is possible to improve the performance of heat exchangers systems and to introduce various heat transfer enhancement techniques. Most of techniques have focused on the improvement of heat transfer performance, i.e. the improvement of heat transfer coefficient. Usually, air pressure or fluids such as water, engine oil, ethylene glycol, etc. are used as heat transfer fluid sometimes with additives to improve heat transfer performance.
Additionally, recent investigations in nanotechnology have allowed the development of a new category of heat transfer fluid comprising nanoparticles. Such fluids also called "Nanofluids" are liquid suspension containing particles having at least one dimension below 100 nm. These heat transfer fluids have usually an increased heat transfer coefficient.
Such fluids can be used for accelerating the heat transfer, for example the cooling, between a non-metallic or metallic and a heat transfer fluid. For example, in steel making industry, during the cooling process in a hot rolling process, the run-out table cools the steel strip from approximately 800-950° C. at the entrance to 450-600° C. at the exit. Thus, for some steel grades, a heat transfer fluid having high heat transfer coefficient is needed.
However, it is sometimes necessary to slow down the heat transfer between a non-metallic or metallic item and a heat transfer fluid. For example, during the manufacture of the medium- to high-carbon steels rods, the cooling is a step really important. Indeed, the cooling has to be really slow and controlled in order to obtain a rod having a fine pearlitic microstructure and of uniform quality. If the cooling is too rapid, the risk is to obtain martensitic structure which is detrimental for the manufacture of steel rods having improved strength and drawability.
The patent application EP0126481 discloses a method of direct heat treatment of a medium- to high-carbon steel rod by performing controlled cooling on an expanded spiral coil of a hot rolled medium to high-carbon steel rod that has an austenitic structure. The cooling is performed by passage of the coil through a vessel containing a coolant composed of a gas bubble-water mixed fluid under a strong turbulent action which contains a uniform dispersion of oxidizing gas bubbles and which is held a predetermined temperature not higher than 95° C.
However, there is a risk not to have fine gas bubbles having a uniform size distribution. Indeed, the volume of bubble gas in a vessel is difficult to control. When the gas is blown into the warm water, the resulting bubbles are warmed up and the warm water evaporates into the bubbles until the equilibrium state is reached, and as a result, there occurs an almost instantaneous swelling of the bubbles. Additionally, a specific superficial velocity has to be respected to avoid the coalescence of gas bubbles together to form a single gaseous phase. Finally, a large volume of gas is needed in order to prepare the gas bubble-water mixed fluid containing oxidizing gas bubbles. Consequently, in industrial scale, the use of such fluid containing gas is difficult to handle and it is high costs effective.

Method of a heat transfer of a non-metallic or metallic item


The present invention is for a hovercraft load transport assembly which incorporates an air cushion assembly having a fan powered by an engine. The fan draws air into the device downwardly to fill the neoprene skirt of the device. This causes the device to essentially "float" above the ground on a cushion of air. The neoprene skirt is supported on a metal frame. In one embodiment, optional thrust tubes at the back of the device allow for directional movement. Thrust and throttle controls allow for variance in the lift, speed and movement of the device. There is also a load carrying and dumping receptacle which is hydraulically actuated.

The present invention relates to load transporting devices such as wheel barrows, and more particularly to wheel barrow which float on an air cushion during operation.
Apparatus for moving and transporting loads over short distances are well known in the art. Typically, wheel barrows have a load carrying and dumping receptacle which is supported by one or more wheels at the front and legs at the back in the loading position. For transport, the user stands behind the wheel barrow and lifts the device by the handles. When lifted, the load carrying and dumping receptacle is tilted forward at an angle on the wheel. Therefore, the load is shifted such that wheel bears the brunt of the weight of the load. For hard surfaces such as cement or blacktop, the wheel barrow described above works well.
However, on soft surfaces such as grass or dirt, particularly when the ground is wet, wheel barrows can be difficult to maneuver and often make deep tracks and troughs in the ground, tearing up the grass and dirt. Additionally, traditional wheel barrows only have forwards and backwards movement, and attempting to turn a wheel barrow with a heavy load balanced on one wheel can be very difficult. Dumping heavy load can also be a problem with a traditional wheel barrow in that the user must tilt the wheel barrow upwards by the handles in order the empty the receptacle.
Therefore, there is a need for a wheel barrow which can be easily maneuvered over all surfaces. There is also a need for a wheel barrow which will not tear up lawns or leave tracks or troughs. Moreover, there is a need for a wheel barrow which can be easily maneuvered in all directions and its contents easily dumped.


A method for selective recovery in a communications environment is provided that includes building a recognizable bit pattern into one or more subframes that are associated with a communication flow. One or more of the subframes may be positioned into a superframe. In cases where one or more errors are present in the superframe, the superframe may be demultiplexed such that one or more of the subframes included in the superframe are analyzed and then discarded or forwarded based on the presence of one or more of the errors.

Communication systems have grown increasingly complex in today's society. One aspect associated with communications relates to errors or noise. High levels of errors or noise may result in traffic loss or significant degradations in the quality of data such that the resulting/surviving data is unusable. Additionally, data traffic that experiences significant noise conditions may require retries, which can expend valuable network resources.
In certain scenarios where traffic is distributed across multiple links, a myriad of additional configuration problems associated with errors or noise may occur. For example, when many smaller packets are multiplexed into a larger one, an error may be generated on a corresponding T1/E1 line. Noise or errors that cause corruption of a single timeslot of a T1 line may result in a single packet being lost in a normal network. When multiplexing is used, the corruption of a single timeslot may cause multiple packets to be lost, thus amplifying packet loss for the communication flow. Thus, a problem exists where an errored frame is encountered and an entire frame segment (often referred to as a 'superframe') is discarded even in cases when some of the included subframes may not have errors.
Such deficiencies may inhibit system performance and force valuable bandwidth to be underutilized or wasted. Operations that accommodate a suitable level of noise at the expense of sacrificing valuable T1/E1 lines are not feasible for service providers. Accordingly, the ability to provide a communications system that consumes few resources, optimizes bandwidth, and addresses error/noise characteristics properly presents a significant challenge for network designers, service providers, and system administrators.

System and method for selectively recovering frames in a communications environment


A fiber optic cable with at least one optical transmission component having a nominal radius, and at least two strength components, at least one of the strength components being generally adjacent to the optical transmission component. At least one of the strength components having a nominal radius that is less than the nominal radius of the optical transmission component. A cable jacket surrounds the optical transmission component and the strength components. The optical transmission component being generally disposed adjacent generally flat surfaces of the cable jacket. The cable can be made by an extrusion tooling apparatus with a tip and a die, the extrusion tooling apparatus being operative to extrude jacketing material about the strength components and the optical transmission component. The tip has an orifice defined within the end of the tip for receiving the strength and optical transmission components therein. The tip further includes at least two generally flat and generally parallel surfaces on opposite sides of said tip, and arcuate sections that generally complement the shape of the strength components.

The present invention relates to fiber optic cables that include at least one optical transmission component and at least one strength component.
Fiber optic cables include at least one optical fiber that can transmit data, computer, and/or telecommunication information. Conventional cable designs, however, can have unacceptable optical performance characteristics, and/or can require undesirable structural features that make optical fiber access difficult. In addition, conventional cables can be difficult to route through cable passageways, and/or can make the cable expensive to produce.
Cable designs that define a backdrop for the present inventions can be, for example, difficult to route through cable passageways and/or can be expensive to produce. U.S. Pat. No. 5,155,304 discloses an aerial service wire that includes a PVC jacket having a generally block-shaped cross section. Enclosed by the jacket are two groups of strength components, each of which includes a plurality of filaments that are impregnated with a plastic material. Moreover, conventional aerial fiber optic cables can be too large for some applications. For example, EP-A1-0629889 discloses an aerial cable requiring an optical cable central part with two metallic strain relief elements that are placed diametrically opposite to each other and adjacent the optical cable part. The strain relief elements are connected to the cable part by means of a jacket that includes web-like extensions between the optical cable part and the strain relief elements. In addition, optical cables of the single fiber type may not provide adequate data transmission capacity. For example, JP-A-8304675 discloses a single optical fiber disposed between two glass fibers having respective outside diameters that are larger than the outside diameter of the optical fiber. Moreover, the two relatively large glass fibers can make the cable stiff and difficult to route through cable passageways.
The present invention is directed to a fiber optic cable having at least one optical transmission component with a nominal radius, and at least two strength components, at least one of the strength components being generally adjacent to the optical transmission component. At least one of the strength components can have a nominal radius that is less than the nominal radius of the optical transmission component. The cable has a cable jacket surrounding the optical transmission component and the strength components. The optical transmission component being generally disposed adjacent generally flat surfaces on the cable jacket.
The present invention is also directed to a fiber optic cable with at least one optical transmission component, and at least two strength components, the strength components being disposed adjacent the optical transmission component. The cable has a jacket surrounding the optical transmission component and the strength components. The cable jacket being about 10 mm wide or less and about 5 mm in height or less.
The present invention also includes an extrusion tooling apparatus comprising a tip and a die, the extrusion tooling apparatus being operative to extrude jacketing compound about strength components and at least one optical transmission component for making a generally flat cable. The extrusion tooling apparatus includes an inlet port for receiving a jacketing compound under suitable temperature and pressure conditions, channels for channeling the jacketing compound from the inlet port toward the tip and the die. The tip has an orifice defined within an end portion of the tip for receiving the strength and optical transmission components therein, the tip includes at least two generally flat and generally parallel surfaces on opposite sides of the tip. The tip further includes arcuate sections. The arcuate sections generally complement said shape of said strength components. The die includes a die orifice for shaping the jacketing compound as it exits said extrusion-tooling apparatus.

Fiber optic cables with strength members and an apparatus for making the same


Machine implemented method and system of detecting a loss of sync at a port of a network device coupled to a port of another device is provided. The port includes logic configured to detect that a special character has not been received by the port for a programmable duration; and generates a signal for a processor of the network device indicating a loss of sync between the port of the network device and the port of the other device.

A computer network, often referred to simply as a network, is a group of interconnected computing devices that facilitates communication among users and allows users to share resources, for example, storage space at storage devices using a storage area network (SAN). Adapters, switches, and routers (jointly referred to as network devices) may be used to interconnect computing systems, storage devices and others. These network devices use a port having logic for receiving and transmitting information. A port may lose a signal (referred to as loss of synchronization, or sync) due to a variety of reasons, for example, a link failure, a cable is unplugged and others. Detecting loss of sync is desirable for efficient operation of a computer network. Continuous efforts are being made to improve communication and efficiently detect loss of sync.

Method and system for detecting loss of synchronization in ports


The present invention disposes an easily releasing layer on a surface intended for dicing tape sticking of a dicing ring frame to thereby enable preventing the transfer of an adhesive substance to the ring frame for use in semiconductor wafer working, reducing the frequency of cleaning of the ring frame to the requisite minimum and prolonging the life of the ring frame.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of preventing the transfer of an adhesive substance to a ring frame for use in the wafer dicing process, a pressure-sensitive adhesive sheet used in the above method and a wafer working sheet having the above pressure-sensitive adhesive sheet.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The process for producing a semiconductor device includes a dicing step in which a semiconductor wafer having circuits formed through necessary pretreatments is cut and separated into a plurality of chips. In this step, a dicing sheet for fixing a wafer is stuck to a circular or square frame known as a ring frame, a semiconductor wafer is stuck on this dicing sheet and dicing is carried out every circuit to thereby obtain semiconductor chips.
The dicing step is followed by bonding machine expanding and chip mounting steps and further by wire bonding and molding steps to thereby complete production of a semiconductor device. Although the dicing sheet is fixed on the back of the wafer (chip) from the sticking of the wafer to a chip pickup step, after the pickup step, the dicing sheet is manually peeled from the ring frame and the ring frame is cleaned according to necessity and recycled.
In the conventional dicing sheet, a pressure-sensitive adhesive with low adhesive strength has been employed to facilitate the pickup. Accordingly, manual peeling of the dicing sheet from the ring frame has been facile.
However, the conventional dicing sheet having the pressure-sensitive adhesive with low adhesive strength has been unable to indicate a desired performance when a single type thereof is employed despite the need for a tape having higher dicing performance brought about in accordance with the recent-year trend for increase of semiconductor element integration and chip enlargement. Thus, a dicing sheet has been developed which can hold the wafer (chip) at a high adhesive strength during the dicing step but has its adhesive strength reduced by, for example, ultraviolet irradiation in the pickup step to thereby enable easy pickup of chips (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication Nos. 60(1985)-196956 and 61(1986)-28572).
Further, when a chip is die bonded, a die bonding adhesive such as one composed of an epoxy resin has been applied to the back of the chip. This operation is extremely time-consuming. Consequently, in recent years, a dicing sheet has been developed which has an adhesive layer capable of simultaneously serving as a wafer fixing pressure-sensitive adhesive and as a die bonding adhesive (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication Nos. 60(1985)-35531 and 2(1990)-32181).
In the former ultraviolet-curable dicing sheet, the adhesive is less irradiated with ultraviolet at the part where the dicing sheet is stuck to the ring frame (overlap width part) although the lowering of the adhesive strength is marked at the part irradiated with ultraviolet. Thus, peeling the dicing sheet from the ring frame is difficult because at the overlap width part the adhesive maintains a high adhesive strength and also its cohesive strength is small. Even if the peeling is effected, the adhesive remains on the ring frame (adhesive transfer).
In the latter dicing sheet, the adhesive strength at the interface between a base sheet and the adhesive layer is often set at low for transferring the adhesive layer to the chip at the time of chip mounting. Thus, peeling of the dicing sheet from the ring frame has often been accompanied by peeling at the interface between the base sheet and the adhesive layer of the dicing sheet to result in removal of only the base sheet while the adhesive is left on the ring frame.
This has unfavorably increased the frequency of cleaning for removing the adhesive from the ring frame and also shortened the life of the ring frame.

Method of preventing transfer of adhesive substance to dicing ring frame, pressure-sensitive adhesive sheet for use in the method and wafer working sheet having the pressure-sensitive adhesive sheet


A current monitoring device for detecting an electrical current in a line includes a housing bottom part, a first current sensor, a housing top part, and a second current sensor. The housing bottom part has a first wall in which a first wall bead is formed and configured to partially enclose the line. The first current sensor is arranged in the housing bottom part and obtains a first current measured value by measuring a current strength of the electric current. The housing top part has a second wall in which a second wall bead is formed and configured to partially enclose the line. The second current sensor is in the housing top part and obtains a second current measured value by measuring the current strength of the electric current. The first and second wall beads align with one another to at least partially enclose the electrical line.

Current monitoring devices can be used in particular to detect errors and increase efficiency in photovoltaic systems. In particular, a current monitoring device can be adapted to detect a drop in power, for example due to contamination or damage to the lines or the photovoltaic system. A current detection can be realized in particular by means of Hall sensors in order to enable a contactless measurement of a current flow through the line. Known current monitoring systems typically have a closed line bushing and/or only allow partial current measurement at the line. Accordingly, it may be disadvantageously necessary to provide a current monitoring device at the time of installation of the respective line and/or to cut the line in order to implement a feed-through through the current monitoring device.


A cryptocurrency mining method and a cryptocurrency mining controller device are provided. The method includes: obtaining electricity price information and cryptocurrency price information; determining operation control parameters of the cryptocurrency mining system according to the electricity price information and the cryptocurrency price information; and controlling an operation of a target group of cryptocurrency miners according to the operation control parameters. The operation includes switching between operation states, and the operation states includes at least a running state and an off state.

Cryptocurrency mining is a process that utilizes a long-running, computationally intensive computer program to process and confirm payments on a cryptocurrency network. In addition to running on traditional computers, some participants have designed specialized cryptocurrency mining hardware, also known as miners, that can process transactions and build blocks much more quickly and efficiently than regular computers. Each cryptocurrency miner is competing with all the other miners on the network to be the first one to correctly assemble the outstanding transactions into a block by solving a set of specialized math problems. In exchange for validating the transactions and solving these problems, cryptocurrency miners are rewarded for all of the transactions they process. They receive fees attached to all of the transactions that they successfully validate and include in a block. In addition to transaction fees, miners also receive an additional award for each block they mine. This block reward is also the process by which new cryptocurrencies are created.
Because of the high energy costs for running a powerful cryptocurrency miner, some operators have elected to build data centers known as mining farms in locations where electricity cost is low. These facilities house many mining operations, and the requirements of these facilities are unlike any other computer facility in terms of power consumption and heat removal. The art is continuing to seek ways to improve the architecture for such mining farms to improve efficiency and lower the power consumption of the process.

Method and system for cryptocurrency mining center


A method and an apparatus for executing a bending process on a workpiece plate is provided wherein a rear edge of the workpiece plate is place in contact with stop members of a back gauge unit. Simultaneous with input of target value of bending dimensions, a controller provides drive units of the stop members with operative amounts for achieving front/rear directional positioning of the stop members and a gradient angle of a horizontal surface a stop surface corresponding to the target value. In response to the effective value of the operative amount, the drive units are activated to cause stop members to be moved to predetermined positions. After executing a trial bending of a workpiece plate, bending dimensions at two arbitrary bent portions of the processed workpiece plate are measured. When the measured values differ from the target value are input, based on the input values and the target value, the controller computes corrective values for operative amounts of the drive units in order that the stop members can correctively be positioned based on the corrective values, and executes corrective positioning of the stop members based on the calculated values.

The present invention relates in particular to a method for effecting bending of a workpiece plate by way of causing a rear-edge of the workpiece plate to bump against stop members of a back gauge unit and an apparatus for effecting the method in such a technical field applicable to a bending apparatus such as a press brake incorporating a back gauge unit.
Conventionally, a bending apparatus called a press brake is used for effecting bending of a workpiece plate such as a metal plate.
As shown in FIG. 6 and FIG. 7, a conventional press brake comprises a main press body 1 and a back gauge unit 2 disposed at the back of the main press body 1. In the main press body 1, a lower table 4 for mounting a lower mold 3 thereon and an upper table 6 for securing an upper mold 5 thereto are opposedly disposed above and below the front surface of the main press body 1. The upper table 6 is vertically movable via an interlinked drive mechanism such as an oil-pressure cylinder not shown. While the upper table 6 descends, a workpiece plate 8 disposed on the lower mold 3 is pressed into a V-shaped channel 7 of the lower mold 3 by the upper mold 5. Thus, the workpiece plate 8 is folded at a predetermined angle.
The above-referred back gauge unit 2 functions for positioning the workpiece plate 8 on the lower mold 3 in correspondence with bending degree predetermined for the workpiece plate 8. A pair of stop members 9 and 10, disposed to the left and to the right, are respectively movable in the front/rear direction A (in the depthwise direction of the main press body 1), in the horizontal direction E (in the widthwise direction of the main press body 1) and in the vertical direction C (in the height direction of the main press body 1).
The reference numeral 11, shown in FIG. 7, designates a slide guide for reciprocatably and slidably supporting the above stop members 9 and 10 in the horizontal direction E, where both ends of the slide guide 11 are respectively linked with a pair of drive mechanism 12 and 13 such as a ball screw mechanism.
The drive mechanisms 12 and 13 are respectively provided with independent drive sources such as servo motors. By operating the drive mechanism 12,13 individually to cause both ends of the slide guide 11 to be shifted in the front/rear direction, positions of the stop members 9,10 and a gradient angle .alpha. in a horizontal plane, defined by a front of a stop surface X, can respectively be set. The stop surface X corresponds to a surface against which a workpiece plate 8 is placed in contact. In other words, this is a virtual perpendicular plane formed by tips of the stop members 9 and 10. If the stop members were of single number, a work-supporting surface at a front edge surface of the stop member becomes the stop surface X. The gradient angle .alpha. specifies such a direction for causing the stop surface X to bump against a r ear edge of the workpiece plate 8. Gradient of line segment formed by the stop surface X on the vertical horizontal surface in contact with the stop surface X corresponds to the gradient angle .alpha..
The stop members 9 and 10 respectively have front-edge surfaces each forming a flat work-supporting surface 14. Initially, an operator securely holds a front edge portion of a workpiece plate 8 and then inserts a rear edge portion between the upper mold 5 and the lower mold 3 of the main press body 1 to cause the rear edge portion of the workpiece plate 8 to bump against work-supporting surfaces 14 of the respective stop members 9 and 10. Next, the main press body 1 is operated via a pedal means so that the workpiece plate 8 is bent.
In the case of processing a workpiece plate 8 into a folded state shown in FIG. 8, initially, reference target value B of a dimension between a rear edge 15 and a bending position 16 (this is called the "bending dimension") and reference target value .theta. of a bending angle for each workpiece plate 8 are respectively set. Next, the workpiece plate 8 is subject to a bending process in order that bent angles .theta..sub.L and .theta..sub.R at both end portions can correctly match the reference target value .theta. and bent dimensions B.sub.L and B.sub.R at both end portions also correspond to the reference target value B.
As shown in FIG. 9, the bending dimension is determined by a distance S between a blade tip 5b of the upper mold 5 and respective stop members 9 and 10 of the back gauge mechanism. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 10, the bending angle is determined by input amount d generated by insertion of the upper mold 5 into the V-shaped channel of the lower mold 3, and thus, the distance S and the input amount d are respectively set in correspondence with the target values B and .theta. predetermined for the bending dimension and the bending angle.
The above referenced bending dimension is expressed by means of distance between contact position of the blade tip 5b of the upper mold 5 being abutted to the workpiece plate 8 and the rear edge 15 of the workpiece plate 8 (this is called "absolute dimension"). Further, the bending dimension is also expressed by means of external dimension B1 corresponding to distance between the rear edge 15 of the workpiece plate 8 and folded external surface 8a or by means of internal dimension B2 corresponding to distance between the rear edge 15 of the workpiece plate 8 and folded internal surface 8b. A difference between the external dimension B1 and the internal dimension B2 corresponds to the thickness of the workpiece plate 8. Generally, the external dimension B1 is greater than the absolute dimension, whereas the internal dimension B2 is smaller than the absolute dimension. However, in such a case in which the folded corner portion has a large circular arc, the internal dimension B2 may be greater than the absolute dimension.
When bending a workpiece plate 8 by operating a press brake incorporating the above structure, initially, a pair of drive mechanism 12 and 13 on both sides of the back gauge mechanism 2 are discretely driven to shift a pair of stop members 9 and 10 in the front/rear direction A, and the stop members 9 and 10 are respectively positioned to a predetermined position corresponding to target value B of the dimension predetermined for the workpiece plate 8. In the next step, the workpiece plate 8 is inserted between the upper mold 5 and the lower mold 3 to cause the rear edge 15 of the workpiece plate 8 to bump against the work-supporting flat surfaces 14 of respective stop members 9 and 10. While holding the above condition, the workpiece plate 8 is treated with a bending process.
When the stop members 9 and 10 disposed on both sides are positioned to the identical spots in the front/rear direction A, theoretically, bending dimensions B.sub.L and B.sub.R at both edge portions of the workpiece plate 8 should coincide with each other. However, if precision of the upper mold 5 is not maintained along a full length, then bending dimensions B.sub.L and B.sub.R will not be identical to each other.
The reference numeral 5a shown in FIG. 11 designates a reference surface for mounting the upper mold 5, where a relative positional relationship between the upper mold 5 and an upper table 6 is specified. When the upper mold 5 is secured to a bottom portion of the upper table 6, according to the reference surface 5a, the blade tip 5b of the upper mold 5 is positioned on a central line C of the upper table 6. Since the blade tip 5b of the upper mold 5 actually bends the workpiece plate 8, precision is required for positional relationship between the reference surface 5a for mounting the upper mold 5 and the blade tip 5b. Nevertheless, if precision of the positional relationship between the reference surface 5a for mounting the upper mold 5 and the blade tip 5b is not maintained along the full length of the upper mold 5, then bending dimensions B.sub.L and B.sub.R at both ends of the workpiece plate 8 will not coincide with each other.
Likewise, the bending dimensions B.sub.L and B.sub.R at both ends of the workpiece plate 8 do not coincide with each other in the case in which precision of positional relationship between the reference surface 5a shown in FIG. 11 and the back gauge unit 2 is not maintained along the full length.
Further, the back gauge unit 2 generally uses ball-screw drives functioning as the drive mechanism 12 and 13 for positioning the stop members 9 and 10 on both sides thereof, so if there is any difference in precision or performance characteristic of the ball-screw means on both sides, the bending dimensions B.sub.L /B.sub.R at both edges of the workpiece plate 8 do not coincide with each other.
Further, if surfaces for supporting respective stop members 9 and 10 secured to the slide guide 11 are devoid of a precise finish, the stop members 9 and 10 cannot be positioned with satisfactory precision. Then, like the above case, bending dimensions B.sub.L /B.sub.R at both edges of the workpiece plate 8 do not coincide with each other.
Since bending dimensions B.sub.L and B.sub.R at both edges of the workpiece plate 8 do not coincide with each other whenever erroneous factors cited above are generated, initially, a trial bending operation is performed on a workpiece plate 8, and then bending dimensions are measured at both edge portions. If measured values are not coincident with target values, then the operator discretely controls front/rear directional positions of respective stop members 9 and 10 by operating drive mechanism 12 and 13 on both sides. If measured values of bending dimensions on both sides are not coincident with each other, then operator will optimally shift positions of the stop members 9 and 10 in the front/rear directions A, thereby adjusting the gradient angle .alpha. of the horizontal surface of the front of stop surface X formed by tip portions of the stop members 9 and 10 disposed both sides.
Nevertheless, when positions of the stop members 9 and 10 on both sides are adjusted solely based on the operator's own sense, the operator incurs a greater burden from routines than is desired. Unless the operator is quite experienced, extreme difficulty is involved in execution of the above position adjustment work.
Since a satisfactory result cannot be achieved via a single adjustment, the operator is obliged to follow up with repeated adjustment operations in trial and error fashion, thus preventing improvement in efficiency of work and productivity.

Bending method and apparatus for effecting corrective displacement of a workpiece


Systems, methods, and storage media for authenticating a remote viewing device for rendering digital content are disclosed. Exemplary implementations may: transmit an initial display to be displayed on the viewing device; receive a request, from the viewing device, to view content; transmit an indication of the request to a mobile device associated with a user who is authorized to view the content; receive, from the mobile device, approval of the viewing device for viewing the content; and authenticate the viewing device for viewing the content in response to the approval of viewing device whereby the content can be viewed on the viewing device.

Over the Top (OTT) television applications have become very common. In and OTT implementation, a computing device is integrated with, or coupled to, a television to allow the television to receive content over a network, such as the internet. The content is often part of a paid subscription package or other restricted access mechanism that permits monetization of the content by the content owner and/or distributor (individually and collectively referred to as "distributor" herein). Delivery of content over the internet allows what is sometimes known as "TV Anywhere", i.e. viewing of television content on various devices, such as a laptop computer. To authenticate the various viewing devices of a user, it is common to send a code to a user. The user is then required to log into a web site associated with the distributor and manually enter the code into an interface on the web site. In response to entry of the code by the user, the user's viewing device, such as a set-top box, is authenticated to allow viewing of the content on the viewing device. This can be tedious and confusing to users, often requiring a user laptop or desktop computer to navigate to the web site. The process, described in more detail below, typically takes at least 60 seconds.
FIG. 1 illustrates an example of portions of a conventional sign in using a web site authentication method. Once a user has navigated to a user interface of the viewing device, the user can select content from a user interface for viewing. The user is then presented, on the viewing device, a display such as the screen display 20 shown in FIG. 1, in which a website URL 12 and an authorization code 14 is displayed to the user.
The user then follows the instructions, i.e. logs on to the website, on a separate user device. This can be accomplished through the web browser of a user's computer or mobile device. The user will then log into the web site, using their username and password associated with the user account, and enter the code into an interface on the web site. In response to the login and entry of the authorization code, the user viewing device is authenticated by the content service for viewing of the content and the screen on the user viewing device will be updated to allow the user to navigate to and view specific content. The typical elapsed time of over 60 seconds is a relatively long time for users that are accustomed to on demand access to content.


A pin junction photovoltaic device comprising a substrate and a pin junction semiconductor active layer region disposed on said substrate, said pin junction semiconductor active layer region comprising a p-type semiconductor layer composed of a p-type non-single crystalline semiconductor material, an i-type semiconductor layer composed of an i-type non-single crystalline semiconductor material, and an n-type semiconductor layer composed of an n-type non-single crystalline semiconductor material, characterized in that (a) a buffer layer comprising a non-single crystalline silicon semiconductor material substantially free of germanium atoms is interposed between said p-type semiconductor layer and said i-type semiconductor layer, (b) a buffer layer comprising a non-single crystalline silicon semiconductor material substantially free of germanium atoms is interposed between said i-type semiconductor layer and said n-type semiconductor layer, and said i-type semiconductor layer is formed of an amorphous silicon germanium semiconductor material containing the germanium atoms in an amount of 20 to 70 atomic % in the entire region in which the concentration distribution of the germanium atoms in the thickness direction is varied while providing a maximum concentration point.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improved, highly reliable pin junction photovoltaic device which stably and continuously exhibits an improved photoelectric conversion efficiency without being deteriorated even upon repeated use over a long period of time. More particularly, the present invention relates to a pin junction photovoltaic device having a buffer layer positioned between a p-type semiconductor layer and an i-type semiconductor layer and another buffer layer positioned between said i-type semiconductor layer and an n-type semiconductor layer, wherein said i-type semiconductor layer is formed of an amorphous silicon germanium (that is, a-SiGe) material and has a maximal point for the content of the germanium atoms contained therein. The pin junction photovoltaic element is effectively usable as a solar cell or a photosensor.
2. Related Background Art
There are presently a variety of photovoltaic devices which have been put into practical use as solar cells for power supplies and also as photosensors in image readers.
Now, at the present time, solar cells mostly have been used for power sources of consumer electronic apparatus such as electronic calculators, watches, etc. However, solar cells are expected to be a future power generation source since they supply electric power without causing CO.sub.2 buildup as in the case of oil fired power generation.
Solar cells are based on the technology of utilizing photoelectromotive force generated in a semiconductor active region having a pn junction. Such semiconductor active region with a pn junction is generally formed by using a silicon-containing semiconductor material or a germanium-containing semiconductor material. In the semiconductor active region, light such as sunlight is absorbed, the absorbed light generates photocarriers including electrons and holes, and the photocarriers are separated by the action of an internal electric field of the pn junction, whereby photoelectromotive force is outputted.
Of the presently known solar cells, a solar cell made of a single crystalline silicon material has been found to be highly reliable and high in photoelectric conversion efficiency (this solar cell will be hereinafter called "single crystal silicon solar cell"). However, there are disadvantages of the single crystal silicon solar cell as will be described in the following. That is, it is costly since it is produced by way of the so-called semiconductor wafer process. And the single crystalline silicon material of which the single crystal silicon solar cell is constituted is relatively small in light absorbance and because of this, it is necessary for the single crystal silicon solar cell to have a thick semiconductor active region with a thickness of more than 50 .mu.m in order to facilitate its function absorb light such as sunlight. In addition, the single crystalline silicon material of the single crystal silicon solar cell is of about 1.1 eV in band gap and because of this, short wavelength energy components of the sunlight spectrum are not utilized for photoelectric conversion in the single crystal silicon solar cell. Further in addition, it is extremely difficult for the single crystal silicon solar cell to be of a large area because there is a limit for the size of silicon wafers that can be produced because of the requirement for growing a single crystal.
There are known a number of solar cells made of a polycrystalline silicon material (this solar cell will be hereinafter called "polycrystal silicon solar cell"). The polycrystal silicon solar cell is advantageous in that is can be produced at a cost which is lower than that of the single crystal silicon solar cell. However, as for the polycrystal silicon solar cell, there are disadvantages similar to those in the case of the single crystal silicon solar cell. Particularly, the polycrystalline silicon material of which the polycrystal silicon solar cell is constituted is relatively low in light absorbance and because of this, it is necessary for the polycrystal silicon solar cell to have a thick semiconductor active region as in the case of the single crystal silicon solar cell. In addition, the semiconductor active region of the polycrystal silicon solar cell contains grain boundaries and because of this, the polycrystal silicon solar cell is not satisfactory in terms of solar cell characteristics.
In view of the above, solar cells made of an amorphous silicon material (that is, a-Si; this solar cell will be hereinafter called "amorphous silicon solar cell") have been spotlighted because of their various advantages as will be described in the following. That is, their constituent semiconductor film can be relatively easily formed in a large area, thinned as desired, and formed on a selected substrate. In addition to these advantages, there are also other advantages in that a large area solar cell can be produced on an industrial scale, and thus, it is possible to provide an amorphous silicon solar cell at a reasonable cost.
There is, however, a disadvantage of such an amorphous silicon solar cell in that its photoelectric conversion efficiency is inferior to that of the above-mentioned single crystal silicon solar cell and is not sufficient for the amorphous silicon solar cell to be used as a daily power supply source.
In order to improve such a disadvantage of the amorphous silicon solar cell, U.S. Pat. No. 4,377,723 or Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 125680/1980 proposes a technique of improving the open-circuit voltage (Voc) of an amorphous silicon solar cell by stacking a plurality of photovoltaic cell units each having a pn or pin junction.
Besides the above proposal, U.S. Pat. No. 4,542,256, U.S. Pat. No. 4,816,082, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,816,082 propose a technique of improving the light absorbance of an amorphous silicon solar cell by varying the band gap of each of the constituent semiconductor layers. Particularly, said U.S. Pat. No. 4,542,256 describes a technique of improving the open-circuit voltage (Voc) and short-circuit current (Jsc) of a pin junction solar cell by disposing a layer (that is a so-called intermediate layer) having a continuously graded band gap with an affinity gradient either at the interface between the p-type semiconductor layer and the i-type semiconductor layer or at the interface between the n-type semiconductor layer and the i-type semiconductor layer.
However, neither of these proposals is sufficient in terms of providing a high enough photoelectric conversion efficiency in a pin junction amorphous silicon photovoltaic cell.
FIG. 24 is a schematic diagram illustrating the profile of the energy band gap in the photovoltaic cell described in the above-mentioned U.S. Pat. No. 4,542,256 which has such a graded band gap layer as above described.
In FIG. 24, reference numeral 1 indicates an n-type amorphous silicon germanium semiconductor layer (that is, an n-type a-SiGe semiconductor layer), reference numeral 2 indicates a non-doped (i-type) amorphous silicon germanium semiconductor layer (that is, an i-type a-SiGe semiconductor layer), reference numeral 3 indicates a graded band gap layer comprised of a non-doped a-SiGe semiconductor material in which the composition ratio between the Si atoms and the Ge atoms is varied in the thickness direction, and reference numeral 4 indicates a p-type amorphous silicon semiconductor layer (that is, a p-type a-Si semiconductor layer). Particularly, the composition ratio between the Si atoms and the Ge atoms constituting the graded band gap layer 3 is designed such that the layer contains Ge atoms in an amount of 20 atomic % on the side of the i-type a-SiGe semiconductor layer but does not contain Ge atoms on the side of the p-type a-Si semiconductor layer 4.
FIG. 25 is a schematic diagram illustrating the profile of the energy band gap in the photovoltaic cell described in the above-mentioned U.S. Pat. No. 4,816,082.
In FIG. 25, reference numeral 1' indicates an n-type semiconductor layer comprised of a microcrystalline silicon semiconductor material (that is, .mu.c-Si), reference numeral 2' indicates an i-type semiconductor layer comprised of a non-doped a-SiGe semiconductor material in which the content of the Ge atoms is continuously varied from 0 atomic % to 30 atomic % in the thickness direction, reference numeral 3' indicates an i-type semiconductor layer comprised of a non-doped a-SiGe in which the content of the Ge atoms is continuously varied from 30 atomic % to 0 atomic % in the thickness direction, reference numeral 5 indicates an i-type a-Si semiconductor layer, and reference numeral 4' indicates a p-type .mu.c-Si semiconductor layer.
As apparent from FIG. 25, in the profile of the energy band gap in the photovoltaic cell described in said U.S. Pat. No. 4,816,082, most of the i-type semiconductor layer regions are designed to have a graded band gap while having a layer region with a minimum band gap at a given position.
FIG. 26 is a schematic diagram illustrating the profile of the energy band gap in a photovoltaic element having an i-type semiconductor layer with a plurality of layer regions having different graded band gaps which has been previously proposed by two of the three inventors of the instant invention together with three others (see U.S. Pat. No. 5,252,142).
In FIG. 26, reference numeral 1' indicates an n-type .mu.c-Si layer, reference numeral 3' indicates an i-type a-SiGe semiconductor layer in which the content of the Ge atoms is continuously varied from 30 atomic % to 0 atomic % in the thickness direction (this means that the i-type a-SiGe semiconductor layer has a graded band gap), reference numeral 5' indicates an i-type semiconductor layer, and reference numeral 4' indicates a p-type semiconductor layer formed of a p-type microcrystalline silicon germanium film (that is, a p-type uc-SiGe film). The photovoltaic element shown in FIG. 26 further contains an i-type a-SiGe semiconductor layer 6 with a graded band gap and another i-type a-SiGe semiconductor layer 7 with a graded band gap which is different from that of the i-type a-SiGe semiconductor layer 6 between the n-type semiconductor layer 1' and the i-type semiconductor layer 3'. This configuration is thus different from that of the photovoltaic element shown in FIG. 25.
Each of the proposals mentioned in FIGS. 24 to 26 is of the technique wherein separation of photocarriers due to their drift is facilitated by the action of a layer with a continuously graded band gap, whereby the photocarriers are prevented from recombining.
The present inventors have studied these proposals. As a result, it has been found that the technique according to any of these proposals is effective in improving the initial photoelectric conversion efficiency of an amorphous silicon photovoltaic cell to a certain extent but there still remains a problem in that when the photovoltaic cell is continuously irradiated with light over a long period of time, the photoelectric conversion efficiency is liable to deteriorate, as in the case of an amorphous silicon photovoltaic cell without having such a graded band gap layer as above described.

Pin junction photovoltaic device having an i-type a-SiGe semiconductor layer with a maximal point for the Ge content


A public key cryptographic system and method is provided for a password or any other predefined personal secret information that defeats key factoring and spoofing attacks. The method adopts a new technique of encrypting a password or any predefined secret information by a numeric function of itself, replacing the fixed public key of the conventional RSA encryption. The whole process involving key generation, encryption, decryption and password handling is discussed in detail. Mathematical and cryptanalytical proofs of defeating factoring and spoofing attacks are furnished.

Password encryption is a paramount requirement to control access to web applications and protect confidential information. A password in clear text is vulnerable to interception and eavesdropping on the Internet, which may result in significant information and financial loss to its owner. Public key encryption algorithms that are in use today provide computationally unbreakable encryption to passwords, as discussed in "A Web-only Primer on Public-key Encryption". Though these algorithms are perceived to be unbreakable with today's possible computational speeds, there lies no guarantee that the same situation will continue in future, taken into consideration various factors such as the level of currently ongoing academic research to break these algorithms, continuously increasing processing power of computers, and the application of parallel processing techniques and quantum computers to factorize large numbers (see "Public-Key Cryptography", and Nielsen, Michael A. and Chuang, Isaac L., "Quantum Computation and Quantum Information", Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2000).
None of the proven public key cryptosystems as of today provide absolute security, that is, never-breakable security. The most well known and widely implemented public key cryptosystem for information security is the RSA algorithm, whose security lies in the difficulty of factoring the key modulus into its primes (see "Modular Mathematics", RSA cryptography. "RSA" stands for the surnames of Ron Rivest, Adi Shamir, and Leonard Adelman, who publicly described the RSA algorithm or method in 1977. If someone invents in the future a trivial factoring technique for large numbers, it will mark the end of the RSA cryptosystem, resulting in a drastic impact on e-commerce and e-banking activities.
Further, public key cryptosystems are vulnerable to spoofing attacks (see "The Pure Crypto Project", Remarks on Security, which can be easily crafted by a man-in-the-middle. A spoofed public key can render an otherwise secure communication insecure (see "Easy Fast Efficient Certification Technique). These attacks are not computationally intensive in nature unlike factoring attacks. Spoofing attacks can be mounted in real time without requiring any sophisticated computing infrastructure. Though web browsers verify the authenticity of public keys and provide alerts to users on mismatching keys, most users are unaware of the subject matter and technically not sound enough to understand the seriousness of the problem and be vigilant to notice spoofing attacks.
Research was done in the past to devise public key cryptographic techniques that survive private key compromise attacks (see Cheman Shaik, "Robust Public Key Cryptography—a New Crypto System Surviving Private Key Compromise. Proceedings of the Second European Conference on Computer Network Defense). However, more research needs to be done in the direction of developing new password encryption techniques that withstand factoring and key spoofing attacks.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Password self encryption method and system and encryption by keys generated from personal secret information


Systems and techniques for locating designated electronic shelf labels. A locator device transmits commands to a designated label, causing a label to take on distinctive characteristics, for example showing a characteristic display. Alternatively or in addition, the locator device detects transmissions from labels within range and provides an indication, such as an audible tone or a serial number display, when an identified label is within range. A user may enter a serial number of one or more labels using a keypad, or may upload one or more serial numbers to the locator device. The user then moves with the locator device around a location where labels are in use. Depending on the design of the device, the device broadcasts commands to labels to cause the labels to take on identifiable characteristics, detects serial numbers of labels based on transmissions from labels within range, or both.

Electronic shelf labels provide a convenient way to display prices and other relevant information about goods. A retail location may have hundreds or thousands of electronic shelf labels that receive pricing and other information transmitted by one or more communication base stations, which format and transmit messages to the labels based on requests by a central server, and which receive messages from the labels and relay the messages to the central server. The messages transmitted to the labels may include, for example, data for storage and display, commands and requests for status and messages transmitted by the labels may include, for example, responses to queries and status reports.
In a typical system, messages are periodically transmitted to the labels in order to check the status and contents of the labels. For example, a message may be transmitted to each label requesting an indication of the information stored in the label, and each label's response may be compared to previously stored expected information for the label. Reports may be prepared showing lists of labels showing incorrect status, such as discrepancies in stored information, improper responses to queries, or other indications of improper status. Reports typically list labels by serial number.
Once a report has been prepared, it is often desired to inspect each label listed in the report or to remove the label for testing or replacement. However, labels are numerous and similar in appearance, so that with prior art installations, it may be difficult to identify a particular label.

Method and apparatus for locating electronic shelf labels


A method and system is disclosed for controlling power supply to a memory device. After determining at least one word line being selected, supply voltage lines are controlled so that a predetermined active mode voltage is provided to one or more predetermined memory cells associated with the selected word line, and a standby voltage lower than the active mode voltage is provided to all other unselected portions of the memory device.

The present disclosure relates generally to electronic memory circuits, and more particularly to complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) static random access memories (SRAM). Still more particularly, the present disclosure relates to methods of placing these memories in, and of recovering these circuits from, a standby mode.
Electronic memory circuits have been known for many years. Such memory circuits have employed a wide variety of types of circuits and circuit elements in order to store information in some way, such as by storage of charge in a capacitive element or the use of a bistable circuit or element. Such a bistable element can take the form, for example, of the well-known flip-flop circuit, where a pair of transistors are cross-coupled in such a way that when one transistor is turned on, the other will be forced off, or a magnetizable core or other element or domain which can be selectively magnetized into one of at least two distinct states.
Each of these memory types, categorized by the type of memory cell employed, has distinct advantages and disadvantages with respect to the other types of memory and each type will typically be applied where the advantages can be best utilized.
With widespread use of electronic devices for operating portable appliances such as portable telephones, personal digital assistants (PDA), portable information terminals, AV devices and others on batteries, it is becoming more important to decrease both power consumption during operation and power consumption during device standby mode.
In recent years, there has been an interest in increasing the memory capacity of all types of memory devices, including static memory devices. Some particular problems are encountered in doing so in SRAMs because the size of each memory cell on the chip is much larger than in dynamic RAMs due to the use of a greater number of circuit elements in each memory cell. SRAMs have the advantage over dynamic RAMs by demonstrating significantly higher switching speeds and have the ability to be put in a standby mode, which significantly reduces total memory current.
SRAMs are comprised of gate-insulated field-effect transistors, or MOS transistors. These transistors require an operating voltage that decreases as the transistor size decreases, because the breakdown voltage of the transistor decreases with the smaller size. As well, the threshold voltage (VT) of the MOS transistor must be lowered in accordance with the drop of operating voltage so as to retain high-speed operation, because the operating speed is dominated by the effective gate voltage of the MOS transistor (i.e., the operating voltage minus VT), and increases as the difference increases.
Generally speaking, however, if the VT is lower than about 0.4 V, a direct sub-threshold current, which exponentially increases with the drop in VT, will flow through the MOS transistor, which should intrinsically be cut off. As a result, the direct current greatly increases in a semiconductor integrated circuit composed of a number of MOS transistors, even if the circuit is a CMOS circuit. This sub-threshold current is significant when multiplied by the large number of memory cells in current memory arrays and produces undesirable standby power consumption during standby.
The most popular and simplest method of reducing power involves reducing the applied operating voltage to the entire memory during the standby mode. This approach requires a longer charge time to retrieve the first information from the memory upon recovery from the standby mode. It also requires a high current charging current during the switching from the standby to operating condition. For large bit density SRAMs, lower power consumption is important for device thermal stability, power bus design and product specification. Thus a standby circuit model is widely used in SRAM circuit design.
Desirable in the art of semiconductor memory design are method and circuit designs for operating devices under their standby mode.

Standby mode SRAM design for power reduction

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd.