The present invention provides a method for treating atherosclerosis. The method includes the step of administering to a patient having atherosclerosis, a noncysteine, non-thiol composition that will stimulate the intracellular synthesis of glutathione. In an embodiment, the non-cysteine, non-thiol composition is L-2-oxothiazolidine-4-carboxylate. In an embodiment of the present invention, the present invention provides a method for preventing atherosclerotic lesions in a patient at risk of same. Furthermore, the present invention provides a method for preventing re-stenosis in a patient undergoing an invasive procedure to treat atherosclerosis.

The present invention relates generally to the treatment of cardiovascular disease. More specifically, the present invention relates to treatment of atherosclerosis.
Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. In the United States, of a population of 226.5 million in 1980, 551,400 died of ischemic heart disease and 169,500 died of cerebrovascular causes related to arterial disease. See, Merck Manual, Fifteenth Edition, pp. 386.
Atherosclerosis is a form of arteriosclerosis marked by the formation of atheromas. The disease causes the lumen of an artery to become narrowed or blocked (occluded). The atheroma obstructs circulation by protruding into the arterial lumen. The narrowing of the artery restricts blood flow to the organ that is nourished by the artery. The reduced blood flow results in the deterioration of the organ to the point wherein the organ can be permanently damaged unless the blockage of blood flow is removed. When an artery that serves the heart is narrowed or blocked, this pathological process results in a heart attack.
The relationship between hypercholesterolemia, abnormal lipoprotein profiles, and atherogenesis has been well defined. More recently, oxidative modification of lipoproteins, lipoprotein (a), and induction of cytokines and growth factors have been implicated as important factors in the initiation and progression of atherosclerotic plaques.
Lipid peroxidation is one of the deleterious effects of oxidative stress. Peroxidation of the unsaturated lipid moieties of lipoproteins results in a sequelae of events yielding oxidatively modified lipoproteins and macrophage derived foam cells. These cells, which constitute a significant portion of the cells within atherosclerotic lesions, phagocytose and degrade oxidatively modified lipoproteins. See, Rosenfeld et al., Macrophage-derived Foam Cells Freshly Isolated from Rabbit Atherosclerotic Lesions Degrade Modified Lipoproteins, Promote Oxidation of Low-Density Lipoproteins, and Contain Oxidation-specific Lipid-Protein Adducts, J. Clin. Invest., Vol. 87, pp. 90-99 (1991).
A number of pharmaceutical interventions have been proposed for treating and/or preventing atherosclerosis. Although the logic of attempting to protect against lipoprotein modification and ensuing lipid hydroperoxide generation may be apparent, the role of glutathione as providing antioxidant protection is at best unsettled. Heinecke et al., The Role of Sulfur-containing Amino Acids in Superoxide Production and Modification of Low Density Lipoprotein by Arterial Smooth Muscle Cells. J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 262, pp. 10098-10103, 1987, reported that monkey arterial smooth muscle cells produce reactive oxygen species and modify low density lipoprotein by an L-cysteine dependent process. This effect was postulated to involve the production of reduced thiols from the cystine, followed by thiol mediated modification of the lipoprotein.
Parthasarathy, Oxidation of Low-density Lipoprotein by Thiol Compounds Leads to its Recognition by the Acetyl LDL Receptor, Biochim. et Biophys. Acta, Vol. 917, pp. 337-340, 1987 also demonstrated that reduced glutathione and other compounds with reduced thiols promote the oxidation of LDL in the absence of cells. This reaction was hypothesized to be the result of thiol reaction with redox metals, generating free radicals which promote modification of LDL. Parthasarathy further notes: "There appears to be some correlation among plasma cholesterol levels, incidence of atherosclerosis, and levels of protein-bound-homocysteine. Cysteine and other thiols, including protein-bound thiols, undergo auto-oxidation in the presence of redox metals, generating peroxide, superoxide anion and hydroxy radicals in addition to thiol-derived free radicals." See pp. 339.
In many cases of atherosclerosis, invasive procedures such as bypass surgery or angioplasty are required to reestablish an occluded lumen to proper diameter.
Due to its intrusive nature, bypass surgery inherently has a number of disadvantages. Accordingly, the popularity of angioplasties has increased dramatically. In the United States in 1989, hundreds of thousands of angioplasties were performed. This number is rapidly increasing. Fortunately, for many patients, angioplasty permanently reopens the previously occluded arteries. However, in approximately 30% of the occluded arteries which are opened by an angioplasty technique, the arteries re-occlude within six months of the procedure. This results in symptoms of cardiac ischemia, such as chest pain, exercise intolerance, and shortness of breath. The patient's risk of disabling or fatal heart attack is markedly increased.
It is believed that re-stenosis in a previously treated segment of an artery is due, at least in part, to the stretch-induced damage of arterial tissue. The response to the damage caused by the inflation of a balloon catheter is an exaggerated healing response that includes proliferation of the endothelial cells.
Likewise, even in bypass surgery there is a danger of re-stenosis in the patient. Bypass grafts in 40% of patients restenose within 5 years of the surgical procedure

Method for preventing and treating atherosclerosis


A process is disclosed for fabricating a flexible belt comprising conveying the leading edge of a flexible web from a supply roll to a slitting station, slitting the web a predetermined distance from the leading edge to form a web segment having the leading edge at one end and a trailing edge at the opposite end, conveying the leading edge toward the trailing edge, flowing at least one stream of fluid upwardly against the web segment to form an upwardly extending bulge in the segment adjacent the leading edge, flowing at least one stream of fluid downwardly against the web segment to form the web segment into a U-shape, overlapping the leading edge and the trailing edge of the web segment to form a joint, and welding the joint to permanently join the leading edge and the trailing edge together to form a belt. Apparatus for carrying out this process is also disclosed.

This invention relates in general to apparatus and processes for fabricating flexible belts and more specifically to apparatus and processes for fabricating flexible electrophotographic imaging belts.
Various techniques have been devised to form belts from webs. Thermoplastic webs may be joined by overlapping the edge of one web over another and placing the overlapped or seam portion of the webs over a base beneath an ultrasonic vibrating welding element. The technique of ultrasonic welding of thermoplastic material is well known and illustrated, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,532,166, U.S. Pat. No. 3,879,256, U.S. Pat. No. 3,939,033, U.S. Pat. No. 3,947,307 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,459,610, all of these patents being incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
Unfortunately, batch processes for cutting and welding webs into belts require considerable time, duplicate manual handling, occupy excessive floor space and also require extensive equipment for alignment, cutting, welding trimming and other processing steps. Also, excessive manual handling increases the likelihood of damage to sensitive substrates or coatings, particularly for coated substrates that must meet precise tolerance requirements such as flexible electrostatographic imaging members including photoreceptors for high speed electrostatographic copiers, duplicators, printers and the like. Scratches and even fingerprints on the vulnerable surfaces of a sensitive, flexible photoreceptor renders the photoreceptor unacceptable for most electrostatographic copiers, duplicators and printers.
Also, when multiply batch handling techniques are utilized to fabricate belts, it is also often difficult to achieve uniform belt conicity and uniform quality. Moreover, because of differences in belt size requirements for different electrostatographic copiers, duplicators, printers and the like, a machine suitable for fabricating a belt of one diameter or width cannot be readily used to prepare a belt of a different diameter or width without encountering delays and expense. Further, lap joints formed with the leading edge over the trailing edge cannot be readily changed with the trailing edge over the leading edge for new batches where one side of a belt differs from the other side.
Automatic systems for fabricating belts have been created that overcome many of the problems encountered with manual or multiple batch belt making techniques. For example, automatic systems are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,838,964 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,878,985. both of these patents being incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. A typical process involves providing a flexible web having a leading edge, horizontally conveying the leading edge of the flexible web from a supply roll to a predetermined distance past a slitting station, slitting the web at the slitting station to form a trailing edge of a web segment having the leading edge at one end and the trailing edge at the opposite end, gripping only the leading edge and trailing edge while supporting the web segment adjacent the leading edge with at least one upwardly directed fluid stream, conveying the leading edge toward the trailing edge to allow gravity to form a downwardly hanging U-shaped loop in the web segment between the leading edge and trailing edge as the leading edge is conveyed toward the trailing edge, inverting the leading edge and the trailing edge of the web segment, overlapping the leading edge and the trailing edge of the web segment and permanently securing the leading edge to the trailing edge to form a belt.
Although many good belts may be fabricated with this system, it has been found that many belts produced by this system can contact underlying support surfaces such as a belt forming table during cutting of the web into segments, forming the segment into a loop, overlapping opposite ends of each segment, and welding the overlapped ends of each segment. Contact between the web and or belt and the belt forming table can damage the belt or web and increase friction that can inhibit acceptable formation of the loop thereby resulting in a defective belt. To prevent contact of the region of the belt between its ends, an attempt has been made to support the web over the belt forming table by means of a plurality of small air nozzles in the belt forming table. These nozzles supply a layer of air between the photoreceptor material and the belt forming table surface. The photoreceptor web floats on this layer of air. This reduces friction between the photoreceptor material and the belt forming table. When the web is floating properly, the force of gravity is adequate to pull the photoreceptor material down between two spaced apart gripping members utilized to form the belt loop. However, problems with the this belt forming technique are encountered in varying degrees, depending on the direction and amount of curl inherent in the photoreceptor web being used to form the belt. When the photoreceptor web possesses positive curl, the material presents a concave cross sectional shape to the surface of the belt forming table with the top of the dome of the concave shape facing upwardly, e.g.; having a shape similar to the cross section of an open umbrella. This concave shape captures the cushion of air between the material and the belt forming table and allows the material to easily float above the belt forming table. This is a desirable condition. With the material floating on a cushion of air, the force of gravity is usually sufficient to pull the web segment material down between the two gripping members as the leading edge is conveyed toward the trailing edge of the web segment. When the web has no curl, the material presents a flat shape to the surface of the belt forming table. This flat shape reduces the ability of the web to float because the volume of air produced by the small air nozzles in the belt forming table cannot maintain an adequate air cushion under the web. This causes the web to occasionally touch the surface of the belt forming table thereby increasing friction between the photoreceptor web and the belt forming table. When this condition occurs, the force of gravity may not be strong enough to overcome the force of friction acting on the web, and the web segment fails to fully drop down between the two gripping members as the leading edge is conveyed toward the trailing edge of the web segment. This failure of the web segment to fully drop and assume a "U" shape causes intermittent jamming of the web segment in the belt fabricating machine and loss of belt products. When the web possesses negative curl, the material presents a convex shape to the surface of the belt forming table with the bottom of the dome of the convex shape facing downwardly, e.g. having a shallow "U" shape. The convex shape does not allow a cushion of air to build up under the photoreceptor web and greatly reduces the ability of the web to float. This allows the web material to come into direct contact with the belt forming table thereby increasing friction between the table and the web. With this excess friction, the force of gravity is not sufficient to pull the web segment down between the two gripping members as the leading edge is conveyed toward the trailing edge of the web segment. Poor belt quality can adversely affect electrophotographic imaging performance, particularly in high performance monochrome and color copiers, duplicators and printers which demand precise tolerances throughout the belt. Poorly formed belts, scratches and other blemishes on belt surfaces can be readily detected with the naked eye and are of unacceptable quality. Scrapping of poor quality electrophotographic imaging belts can significantly affect manufacturing yields.


Described herein are apparatuses (e.g., systems, devices) and methods for processing, distributing, and analyzing medical data. In particular, apparatuses and methods for processing and distributing tasks or jobs for completion by a qualified worker or specialist are described. Crowdsourcing data to specialists for interpretation can be accomplished using an auction system to match the specialists with discrete portions of the data. The data can be bundled based on one or more categories or characteristics, and then placed on an auction where the specialists can bid for each bundle by submitting a payment price. The data can be medical data, such as ECG data, imaging data and test data.

Ambulatory electrocardiogram (ECG) monitoring can be useful to detect transient cardiac abnormalities or problems that are difficult to detect using a standard ECG recording device. One type of device used for ambulatory ECG monitoring is an event recorder which can be worn or carried by the user to record ECG data for typically a relatively short duration. The event recorder can continuously record ECG data while only storing the most recent ECG on a rolling basis, and/or the event recorder can be activated manually by the user to record ECG data. Conventionally, the ECG data from the event recorders are sent to a receiving center or the user's physician where the ECG data can be interpreted by a specialist.
However, the ease of use of such ambulatory ECG monitors, as well as the widespread availability of such device for operation by patients themselves, a tremendous amount of patient-specific medical data is being generated. Although automated solutions to review and analysis of this data have been proposed and are being developed (see, e.g., U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/076,076, filed Nov. 8, 2013 and titled "ELECTROCARDIOGRAM SIGNAL DETECTION"), such techniques are most valuable to pre-screen or triage the medical information, some or all of which may still have to be reviewed by trained medical technicians and/or physicians.
Review of other medical data, such as medical imaging data including x-rays, MRIs, ultrasound, CT scans, PET scans and the like, is traditionally interpreted by one of the patient's medical providers. Alternatively, medical data is increasingly outsourced to specialists for interpretation. These outsourcing specialists can be located overseas and can belong to an outsourcing center that provides low cost medical data interpretation services. U.S. Pat. No. 7,657,479 to Henley ("Method and System for Provision and Acquisition of Medical Services and Products") describes an online matching method and system for verifying medical service provides and allowing verified providers to bid on personal medical services. See also, U.S. Pat. No. 8,150,750 to Ray titled "Systems and Method for Managing Expert Content". U.S. Publication No. 2012/0123891 to Neilesh Patel titled "Professionally-Qualified Bidding System for a User Seeking Professional Services" also describes a systems and method related to using auction systems to match medical providers with users seeking medical services.
However, such systems as those provided above do not adequately pre-sort or triage the information to be reviewed. Further, such systems are adapted more for small, discrete amounts of information (e.g., single patient consultations, etc.), and do not work well at handling the large amounts of information that may be generated by ambulatory ECG systems and the like. What is needed are systems and methods capable of pre-screening, organizing and matching (triaging) such medical information, and particularly ECG information, before or as part of the auctioning process. Described herein are systems and methods related triaging and bundling medical information (e.g., ECGs) that may address the shortcomings of existing and proposed systems.

Systems and methods for processing and analyzing medical data


In a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, a CMOS section composed of an N-channel MOS transistor and a P-channel MOS transistor and a memory section composed of at least a transfer gate MOS transistor is formed on a substrate. A plurality of conductive plugs is formed to penetrate a laminate insulating film to the MOS transistors. The laminate insulating film is composed of a first insulating film and a second insulating film. A capacitor section is formed on the laminate insulating film and the capacitor section is composed of an upper electrode, a dielectric film and a lower electrode. A third insulating film is formed on the laminate insulating film and the capacitor section. A wiring pattern is formed on the third insulating film to partially penetrate the second insulating film connect to the plurality of conductive plugs. A wiring pattern may be disposed in the laminate insulating film to connect at least two of the plurality of conductive plugs.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a non-volatile semiconductor memory device which includes a dielectric film such as a ferroelectric thin film, and a method of manufacturing the same, and more particularly to a non-volatile semiconductor memory device using a heat-resistant metal and a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Description of Related Art
As a non-volatile semiconductor memory devices there is a ferroelectric semiconductor memory device in which a ferroelectric thin film having a polarization hysteresis is used for a capacitor section. In recent years, the ferroelectric semiconductor memory device is also required to be manufactured with a high density. As a result, the ferroelectric semiconductor memory device has been developed such that a transistor, wiring and a capacitor section are manufactured in a small size and contact holes are manufactured with high aspect ratio.
FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram illustrating a memory capacitor cell of a conventional ferroelectric semiconductor memory device using a ferroelectric thin film. The memory capacitor cell is composed of an NMOSFET as a transfer gate 1 and a ferroelectric capacitor 4. The ferroelectric thin film is provided between a charge storing electrode 2 and a plate electrode 3. The gate electrode of the NMOSFET 1 is connected to a word line 5. One of the diffusion layers of the NMOSFET is connected to a bit line 6 and the other diffusion layer is connected to the charge storing electrode 2 of the ferroelectric capacitor 4. The plate electrode 3 is connected to a plate line.
FIG. 2 is a circuit block diagram illustrating a general ferroelectric random access memory device (to be referred to as an FRAM device hereinafter). In this circuit of a fixed plate line voltage, the plate line voltage controller is not necessary (the plate lines are not shown). In the other circuit of a switched plate line voltage, a voltage controller circuit block is necessary (not shown). The FRAM device is composed of a memory circuit section 7 in which memory capacitor cells are arranged in row and column directions in a matrix manner and a CMOS logic circuit section 8 operable to read or write a data from or in each memory capacitor cell.
As shown in FIG. 1, because the transfer gate 1 of the memory capacitor cell is composed of an NMOSFET, only n.sup.+ regions are formed as the diffusion layers in a portion of a silicon substrate corresponding to the memory circuit section. On the other hand, in the CMOS logic circuit section, the diffusion layers of a PMOSFET are p.sup.+ regions and the diffusion layers of an NMOSFET are n.sup.+ regions. That is, the P.sup.+ diffusion regions and the n.sup.+ diffusion region are mixedly present in a portion of the silicon substrate corresponding to the CMOS logic circuit section.
A first conventional example of such an FRAM device, is reported in "A Half-Micron Ferroelectric Memory Cell Technology with Stacked Capacitor Structure" by Onishi et al. in an international electron device conference (IEDM, Technical Digest, pp. 843-845, 1994). FIGS. 3A to 3D are cross sectional views of the FRAM device proposed by Onishi et al. in the manufacturing process. The method of manufacturing the FRAM proposed by Onishi will be described.
First, as shown in FIG. 3A, two adjacent NMOSFET transfer gates 1 in the memory circuit section 7 and a PMOSFET 9 and an NMOSFET 10 of the CMOS circuit section 8 are formed on a silicon substrate 11. Each MOSFET is separated from each other by element separation oxidation films 35. A first interlayer insulating film 12 is formed on the substrate 11 and the surface of the first interlayer insulating film 12 is flattened in a chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) method. Subsequently, an opening portions (to be referred to as a capacitor contact hole hereinafter) reaching the n.sup.+ diffusion layer of each of the NMOSFET transfer gates 1 through the first interlayer insulating film 12 is formed in the memory circuit section. The n.sup.+ polysilicon film is deposited on the first interlayer insulating film 12 by a CVD method such that the capacitor contact holes are filled with the polysilicon film. Then, the polysilicon film on the first interlayer insulating film 12 is removed in a dry etching back method. As a result, the n.sup.+ capacity plugs 13 are formed in which the capacitor contact holes are filled with the n.sup.+ polysilicon film.
Next, as shown in FIG. 3B, a Pt/TiN/Ti film which functions as the charge storing electrode is formed on the first interlayer insulating film surface by a sputtering method. Then, after a composite alkoxide solution composed of alkoxides of Pb, Ti and Zr is spin-coated on the charge storing electrode film, the substrate is annealed at the temperature of about 600.degree. C. As a result, a PZT film (Pb(Ti,Zr)O.sub.3) having the thickness of about 3000 .ANG. is formed. The PZT film is crystalized by lamp annealing method in which the substrate is heated at the temperature of 660.degree. C. for 30 sec. Subsequently, the Pt/TiN/Ti/PZT film is patterned by an ECR high density plasma etching using a chloric gas. As a result, the structure is obtained in which the PZT film 14 is formed on the charge storing electrode 2 composed of the Pt/TiN/Ti film. Next, a TiO.sub.2 barrier film (not illustrated) is deposited by a sputtering method on the substrate and then a SiO.sub.2 film as the second interlayer insulating film 15 is deposited by a CVD method. A contact hole 16 (to be referred to as a plate electrode hole hereinafter) is formed to reach each of the PZT films 14 through the second interlayer insulating film 15. A Pt film of about 2000 .ANG. is deposited on the substrate by a sputtering method and then the Pt film is patterned by a dry etching using the chloric gas. As a result, the plate electrode 3 composed of the Pt film is formed. In this manner, a capacitor section 4 is formed through the above-mentioned process to have the structure which is composed of the charge storing electrode 2 formed of the Pt/TiN/Ti film on n.sup.+ capacitor plug 13, the Pt plate electrode 3 and the PZT film 14 sandwiched between the charge storing electrode 2 and the plate electrode 3, as shown in FIG. 3B.
Next, as shown in FIG. 3C, a SiO.sub.2 film is deposited as the third interlayer insulating film 17 on the substrate. Then, there is formed an opening portion 18 (to be referred to as a bit contact hole 18 hereinafter) to reach the NMOSFET diffusion layer of the memory circuit section 7 through the laminated film which is composed of the first interlayer insulating film 12, the second interlayer insulating film 15 and the third interlayer insulating film 17. Also, opening portions 19 (to be referred to as CMOS contact holes 19 hereinafter) are formed to reach the diffusion layers and the gate electrode of the CMOS circuit section through the laminated film which is composed of the first interlayer insulating film 12, the second interlayer insulating film 15 and the third interlayer insulating film 17. At the same time, a plate contact hole (not illustrated) which is the opening to the Pt plate electrode 3 through the third interlayer insulating film 17 is formed.
Finally, as shown in FIG. 3D, aluminium is deposited on the substrate by a sputtering method and the deposited film of aluminum is patterned by a dry etching. Thus, a bit line 6 of the memory circuit section 7 and an aluminum wiring pattern 20 of the CMOS logic circuit section 8 are collectively formed.
The first conventional example of the FRAM device formed from a series of processes mentioned above has the following features:
1 the ferroelectric capacitor is formed on n.sup.+ capacitor plug 13, PA1 2 the bit line 6 of the aluminum wiring film is formed on the ferroelectric capacitor 4, and PA1 3 the bit contact hole 18 and the CMOS contact holes 19 to the n.sup.+ diffusion layer and P.sup.+ diffusion layer are partially filled with the aluminum wiring film by the sputtering method. PA1 1 the ferroelectric capacitor 4 is formed on the bit line 6, PA1 2 the n.sup.+ diffusion layers of the NMOSFET transfer gates 1 and the upper capacitor electrode 43 (the charge storing electrode 2) are connected by the local wiring pattern 21, and PA1 3 the opening portions (the local wiring contact hole 61 and the CMOS contact holes 19) penetrating the first to third interlayer insulating films 12, 15 and 17 are partially filled with the aluminum film by the MOCVD method after the ferroelectric capacitor section 4 is formed. PA1 forming on a substrate a CMOS section composed of an N-channel MOS transistor and a P-channel MOS transistor and a memory section composed of at least a transfer gate MOS transistor; PA1 forming a plurality of conductive plugs to penetrate a laminate insulating film to the MOS transistors, the laminate insulating film being composed of a first insulating film and a second insulating film; PA1 forming a capacitor section on the laminate insulating film, the capacitor section being composed of an upper electrode, a dielectric film and a lower electrode; PA1 forming a third insulating film on the laminate insulating film and the capacitor section; and PA1 forming a wiring pattern on the third insulating film to partially penetrate the second insulating film to the plurality of conductive plugs. PA1 forming the first insulating film on the substrate, the CMOS section and the memory section; PA1 forming a bit line wiring pattern on the first insulating film to penetrate the first insulating film to the transfer gate MOS transistor; and PA1 forming the second insulating film on the first insulating film to complete the laminate insulating film. In addition, the method may further include the steps of: PA1 forming the first insulating film on the substrate, the CMOS section and the memory section; PA1 etching the first insulating film to form a trench pattern and to form first contact holes to the MOS transistors, a part of the first contact holes being connected to the trench pattern; PA1 filling the trench pattern and first contact holes with a film composed of conductive heat resistant material; PA1 forming the second insulating film on the first insulating film; PA1 forming second contact holes to penetrate the second insulating films to remaining ones of the first contacts which are not connected to the trench pattern; and PA1 filling the second contact holes with a film composed of conductive heat resistant material to complete the plurality of conductive plugs.
A second conventional example of the FRAM device is proposed by Tanabe et al. in "A Ferroelectric Capacitor over Bit-line (F-COB) Cell for High Density Nonvolatile Ferroelectric Memories" (1995 Symposium on VLSI Technology Digest of Technical Papers, PP. 123-124). FIGS. 4A to 4C are cross sectional views illustrating the manufacturing process of the second conventional example of the FRAM device proposed by Tanabe et al. The method of manufacturing the FRAM will be described.
First, referring to FIG. 4A, a memory circuit section 7 composed of two NMOSFET transfer gates 1 and a CMOS logic circuit section 8 composed of a PMOSFET 9 and an NMOSFET 10 are formed on a silicon substrate 11. The first interlayer insulating film 12 is deposited by a CVD method and the surface of the first interlayer insulating film 12 is flattened by a chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) method. Next, an opening portion (a bit contact hole 18) is formed to reach the n.sup.+ diffusion layer of the NMOSFET 1 through the first interlayer insulating film 12. Subsequently, the tungsten silicide (WSi.sub.x) film is deposited on the substrate 11 by a sputtering method and then patterned by a reactive dry etching. In this manner, a bit line 6 is formed.
Next, as shown in FIG. 4B, the second interlayer insulating film 15 is deposited on the substrate 11 by a CVD method and then flattened by the chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) method. Thereafter, a Pt/Ti film is deposited for the lower electrode of the capacitor section 41 by a sputtering method and further a PZT film 14 is grown by a sol/gel method. The PZT film 14 is subjected to annealing at the temperature of 600.degree. C. in an oxygen gas to be crystalized. Then, the PZT film 14 and the Pt/Ti film 41 are patterned. Next, a Pt film is deposited by a sputtering method and the upper capacitor electrode 43 is formed on PZT film 14 by dry etching the Pt film using a chloric system gas. In the second conventional example of the FRAM device, the lower electrode 41 of Pt/Ti is the plate electrode 3 and the upper electrode 43 is the charge storing electrode 2. After the third interlayer insulating film 17 is formed, opening portions (to be referred to as local wiring contact holes 61 hereinafter) are formed to reach the diffusion layers of the NMOSFET transfer gates 1 of the memory circuit section 7 through the first to third interlayer insulating films 12, 15 and 17, and to reach the upper electrode 43 through the third interlayer insulating film 17. Also, opening portions (to be referred to as CMOS contact holes 19) are formed to reach the n.sup.+ diffusion layer and gate electrode of the NMOSFET 10, and the P.sup.+ diffusion layers of the PMOSFET 9 in the CMOS circuit section 8 through the first to third interlayer insulating films 12, 15 and 17.
Finally, as shown in FIG. 4C, after a TiN/Ti barrier film (not illustrated) is deposited by a sputtering method, a TiN film (not illustrated) and an aluminum film are deposited by an MOCVD method. Subsequently, the Al/TiN/Ti laminate film is patterned by a reactive dry etching. As a result, an aluminium local wiring pattern 21 which connects the diffusion layer of the NMOSFET transfer gates 1 in the memory circuit section and the Pt upper capacitor electrode 43 (the charge storing electrode 2) and an aluminum wiring pattern 20 which connects between CMOS circuits are formed.
The second conventional example of the FRAM device formed through a series of above-mentioned processes has the following features:
The third conventional example of the DRAM device is proposed by Kang et al. in "Highly Manufacturable process Technology for Reliable 256 Mbit and 1 Gbit DRAMs" (1994 IEDM, Technical digest, pp. 635-638, 1994). In the third conventional example of the DRAM device fabrication process, which is applicable to an FRAM device fabrication process, a tungsten film is grown by a CVD method before a capacitor section is formed and the tungsten film is used for a bit line. The method of manufacturing the third conventional example of the DRAM device will be described. FIGS. 5A to 5D are cross sectional views illustrating the manufacturing process of the DRAM device proposed by Kang et al.
First, as shown in FIG. 5A, NMOSFET transfer gates 1 of the memory circuit section 7 and a PMOSFET 9 and an NMOSFET 10 of the CMOS circuit section 8 are formed on a silicon substrate 11. Side wall insulating films are formed on the sides of gate electrodes 22 of the MOSFETs. After an interlayer insulating film is deposited, opening portions are formed to reach the n.sup.+ diffusion layers of the NMOS transfer gates 1 of the memory circuit section. By performing a CVD method and an etching back method, n.sup.+ polysilicon plugs 23 are formed at the opening portions. Further, after a first interlayer insulating film 12 is deposited on the substrate 11 by a CVD method, the surface of the first interlayer insulating film 12 is flattened by a CMP method. Thereafter, an opening portion (bit contact hole) 18 is formed to reach the n.sup.+ polysilicon plug 23 through the first interlayer insulating film 12. Next, a Ti film (not illustrated) is deposited on the substrate 11 by a sputtering method. A lamp annealing is performed to the Ti film to react Ti with polysilicon such that a titanium silicide film is formed on the n.sup.+ contact plug 23 (not illustrated). Next, after a TiN barrier film (not illustrated) is deposited on the substrate 11 by a reactive sputtering method, a tungsten film 24 is deposited on the TiN film by a CVD method. The laminate film is patterned by a reactive ion etching using a photo-resist pattern as a mask. As a result, a tungsten bit line 24 is obtained. However, at this time, a tungsten contact plug is not formed to reach the CMOS circuit section.
Next, as shown in FIG. 5B, a second interlayer insulating film 15 is deposited on the substrate 11 and opening portions (capacitor contact holes 25) are formed to reach the n.sup.+ polysilicon plugs 23 through the second interlayer insulating film 15. Thereafter, cylindrical charge storing electrodes 25 of the n.sup.+ polysilicon are formed on the capacitor contact plugs 23. Then, a film of Ta.sub.2 O.sub.3 as a high permitivity substance is deposited and etched such that the Ta.sub.2 O.sub.3 26 are formed on the surface of the cylindrical charge storing electrode 25. Next, after a TiN barrier film is deposited by a sputtering method and patterned, an n.sup.+ polysilicon plate electrode 3 is formed by a CVD method. Through a series of processes mentioned above, a capacitor section is formed to have the Ta.sub.2 O.sub.3 film 26 as the capacitive film on the storing electrodes 25.
Next, as shown in FIG. 5C, a third interlayer insulating film 17 is deposited by a CVD method, an opening portion (a plate contact holes 27) is formed to reach the n.sup.+ polysilicon plate electrode 3 through the third interlayer insulating film 17. Also, opening portions (CMOS contact holes 19) are formed to reach the diffusion layers of the CMOS circuit section 8 through the first to third interlayer insulating films 12, 15 and 17 and to reach the tungsten bit line film 24 through the second and third interlayer insulating films 15 and 17.
Finally, as shown in FIG. 5D, after a TiN/Ti barrier film (not illustrated) is deposited by a collimator sputtering method, an Al film is deposited on the surface by a high temperature sputtering method and the formed Al film is patterned. In this manner, the CMOS contact holes 19, the plate contact hole 27 and the bit line contact are collectively filled with aluminum. Lastly, a reactive etching is performed to the Al/TiN/Ti film such that an aluminum wiring pattern 20 is formed.
However, there are the following problems in the structure and manufacturing method of the conventional FRAM devices.
First, in the first conventional example of the FRAM device proposed by Onishi et al., the bit line 6 is formed on the ferroelectric capacitor 4. Therefore, the bit contact hole 18 is very deep to reach the transfer gate 1 through the first to third interlayer insulating films 12, 15 and 17. It is difficult for such a deep bit contact hole 18 to be filled with the aluminum film by the sputtering method. It would be possible to expand the diameter of the bit contact hole 18 such that it can be filled with the aluminium film easier. As a result, however, the size of the memory capacitor cell increases in area, so that the high density integration cannot be achieved. Further, because electrostatic coupling is formed between the aluminum film filling the bit contact and the ferroelectric capacitor 4, the capacity of the bit line 6 increases such that the bit line drive ability is decreased.
In the second conventional example of the FRAM device proposed by Tanabe et al., the capacitor on bit-line (COB) structure is used in which the ferroelectric capacitor 4 is formed on the bit line 6 to reduce the bit line capacity. However, for the use of the COB structure, the local wiring contact hole 61 to the NMOS transfer gates 1 and the CMOS contact holes 19 to the diffusion layers of the PMOSFET 9 and the NMOSFET 10 of the CMOS circuit section 8 becomes further deeper by the thickness of the bit line 6 at least. As a result, it becomes further difficult to fill the local wiring contact holes 61 and the CMOS contact holes 19 with the aluminum film only by the sputtering method. Therefore, it is necessarily required to grow the aluminium film by an MOCVD method such that the contacts is filled with the Al film.
By the way, if composite metal oxide such as PZT is exposed to the reducing ambient of hydrogen and so on, oxygen atoms are quitted so that oxygen defects are caused in the crystal. The oxygen defects causes the decrease of a remaining polarization value and the increase of leakage current, resulting in degradation of the ferroelectric characteristic of the capacitor section. In the growth of the Al film by the MOCVD method, a hydrogen gas is generally used as a carrier gas. For this reason, it is not preferred that the Al film is grown by the MOCVD method after the ferroelectric capacitor section is formed. In this manner, because the metal CVD process can not be used after the ferroelectric capacitor section is formed, direct application of the method of manufacturing a DRAM device to the FRAM device process would be limited.
In the third conventional example of the FRAM device proposed by Kang et al., the method of Kang et al. corresponds to the DRAM device manufacturing process and the tungsten bit line 24 is formed using the CVD method before the Ta.sub.2 O.sub.3 film capacitor section is formed. However, it is not tried that when the tungsten bit line is formed, the opening portions (the CMOS contact holes 19) to reach the diffusion layers to the CMOS circuit section 8 are filled with tungsten which is heat-resistant material such that the heat-resistant metal contact plugs are formed at the same time of the formation of the tungsten bit line.
It could be considered that the Kang's method can be applied to the FRAM device manufacturing process by replacing the film of Ta.sub.2 O.sub.3 as a high dielectric material with the ferroelectric film such as the PZT film. However, the opening portions (the CMOS contact holes 19) are very deep to reach the diffusion layers of the CMOS logic circuit section through the first to third interlayer insulating films 12, 15 and 17. In order to deposit the aluminum film using the reflow sputtering method for filling such deep opening portions 19, a high temperature of equal to or higher than 450.degree. C. is required. The ferroelectric film is damaged because of the heat during this sputtering method or the heat stress, resulting in increase of leak current and the decrease of a remaining polarization value. That is, it is impossible to directly apply the method of forming the DRAM device by Kang et al. to the method of forming the FRAM device.
The above mentioned problems relates to the formation of the wiring pattern in the FRAM device. There is remained another problem in the method of forming the ferroelectric capacitor section. In a case that PZT is used as the material of the ferroelectric thin film, the annealing for crystallization of the PZT film after the deposition of the PZT film needs to be performed in the oxygen ambient. Therefore, it is required that the lower capacitor electrode which is provided under the PZT thin film has resistance to oxidation. For this reason, Pt is generally used for the lower capacitor electrode. However, both of PZT and Pt are materials difficult to perform dry etching.
In addition, as shown in FIG. 6A, when the laminate film 29 composed of the PZT film 14 and the Pt lower capacitor electrode film 41 is patterned using a photo-resist pattern 28 as a mask, side wall deposition films 30 mainly composed of the PZT film and the Pt film is deposited on the side walls of the photoresist 28. When the photoresist 28 is removed by an oxygen plasma ashing process, the side wall deposition films 31 like the rabbit's ears are left on the PZT/Pt film pattern, as shown in FIG. 6B. The rabit ear-like side wall deposition films 31 are removed by a mechanical process in which a rotating brush 32 is used. In this case, the PZT film surface 33 is rubbed by the rotating brush 32, so that fine flaws and crystal defects are caused which are one of reasons of degradation of the ferroelectric characteristics of the PZT film.
As described above, the conventional methods of manufacturing the FRAM device is suffering from filling the deep contact holes extending to the diffusion layers with wiring metal without damaging the ferroelectric capacitor section. Accordingly, it is difficult to ensure the reliability of the wiring. Further, in a case where the rabit ear-like side wall deposition films are removed which are formed when the ferroelectric film formed on the lower electrode film of Pt and so on is patterned, a damage is given the surface layer of the ferroelectric film. The characteristic of the FRAM device are degraded even because of these two problems.

Semiconductor device with conductive plugs


A network connection control method and apparatus of a mobile terminal maintains or releases connection to a wireless network based on the existence of downlink traffic from the wireless network. The method preferably includes connecting to a wireless network transmitting a signal greater than a predetermined value in strength when an Internet access request is detected; requesting the connected wireless network for traffic; determining whether the traffic is received from the connected wireless network; and releasing the connection to the wireless network by determining the wireless network as an idle wireless network when no traffic is received. The determination as to whether to maintain or release the connection to the currently connected WLAN based on whether actual traffic is received from the WLAN. When the mobile terminal is connected to an Access Point not coupled to the Internet, the mobile terminal immediately switches the connection to a cellular network.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile communication system utilizing high speed communication. More particularly, the present invention relates to a network connection control method and apparatus of a mobile terminal that mitigates resource shortages and meets the high-speed service requirements of subscribers.
2. Description of the Related Art
Mobile communication systems have been developed previously to provide the subscribers with voice communication services while in motion, particularly when away from home. With the advancement of communication technologies, the art of mobile communications has evolved to support high speed data communication services as well as the standard voice communication services. However, there is a long-felt need for a more sophisticated mobile communication system than known heretofore in order to mitigate resource shortages and meet the growing high-speed service requirements of the subscribers who own or operate mobile communication terminals.
Meanwhile, due to the widespread popularity of Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), WLAN access has become one of the basic functions included in recent portable devices including smartphones, laptop computers, MP3 players, Personal Multimedia Players (PMP), etc. This WLAN capability allows the users to access the Internet with a WLAN-enabled portable device anytime virtually anywhere.
Typically, a WLAN is implemented with an Access Point (AP) which allows access to the Internet. However, a problem arises where a plurality APs which are not connected and only of which Radio Frequencies are activated. In such an environment, the mobile terminal is likely to be connected to one of the APs that are not coupled to the Internet, and thus to be operating in standby mode unnecessarily for long periods of time.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a conventional communication environment where a mobile terminal accesses the Internet via an AP or base station.
Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional mobile terminal 100 has a connection preference policy with which the mobile terminal selects a network to access the Internet. Typically, the connection preference policy is designed, such that the stronger the received signal strength is and the cheaper the connection cost is, the higher the connection priority. Accordingly, it is likely that the WLAN network is assigned the higher connection priority as compared to the cellular network. Once the WLAN is selected for the Internet Access, the mobile terminal 100 attempts connection to the AP with the highest Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI) first among the discovered APs.
However, a problem occurs because the conventional connection preference policy is configured such that the connection priority is determined based on the received signal strength without consideration of whether there is actual data traffic from the Internet. Suppose that the AP 130 is active but not connected to the Internet and the mobile terminal 100 approaches the AP 130. The mobile terminal 100 makes a connection to the AP 130 with the highest RSSI and waits for receiving traffic. However, since the AP 130 is not connected to the Internet 150, no traffic is received such that the user cannot access the Internet normally.
There is therefore a need to release quickly the mobile terminal's connection to an AP that is not coupled to the Internet.

Network connection control method and apparatus of mobile terminal


A tying device and method of assembling same is disclosed. The tying device has a wire guide member adapted for mounting on an upper platen of a baling press. The wire guide member includes a top wall and side walls depending laterally from the top wall to form a channel. A door is pivotally mounted to one of the side walls, and the door having an inner, forward edge extending generally perpendicular to the side walls for guiding the wire tie into the channel. A removable wear insert is mounted to one of the side walls and has a cutout adapted to receive a portion of the door.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of baling presses and more particularly, to an improved wire tie guide and tying device for a baling press and a method of assembling the wire tie guide.
2. Related Art
Wire baling of bulk materials has benefited from increased speed and reduced material cost through automation. Bulk materials include fibrous bulk materials, such as cotton and nylon. Fibrous materials are commonly formed into bales by simultaneous compression and binding. There is a continuing need in the automated baling art to improve the efficiency, reliability and accuracy of the bale binding process.
Baling wire performance requirements vary depending upon the bulk material being baled. Such requirements range from industry standard specifications to general operational parameters, such as minimum speeds required for profitability. The Cotton Council issues baling constraint standards specifying particular ranges for the length of wire around the bale and the tension that the wire must withstand. These ranges correspond to the weight, volume and compression of various standard bale sizes such as "universal density" or "standard density" bales.
Current automated baling machines use an articulated track to guide wire around bales of bulk material, such as cotton, while the bale is under compression. Material to be baled is typically introduced into the automatic baler under vertical compression. Typical pressures for an industry standard 500 pound, 20×54 inch bale of cotton are in excess of 300 tons. Horizontal plates called follower blocks apply compression through platens which contact the surface of the cotton or other material being compressed. The platens incorporate slots which run lateral to the longitudinal axis of the bale. The Industry Standard number of binding wires for the most common kind of cotton bale, the standard density bale, is six. Accordingly there are six slots in the platens to allow the baling wire to be wrapped around the bale while it is still under compression. Under the lateral slots are lateral channels for insertion of wire guide track sections in both the upper and lower platens in automatic balers.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,363,843 issued to Daniel et al. on Apr. 2, 2002, herein incorporated by reference, discloses a bailing press having a plurality of modular wire guide members connected to the upper platen. As shown in FIG. 1, each wire guide member 44 includes a generally U-shaped channel 48 bounded by a top wall 54 and parallel side walls 56, 58 which depend laterally away from the top wall 54 in a generally perpendicular direction. Each wire guide member 44 also includes a door 64 pivotally mounted on a shaft 66 within a cut-out or slot 68 in the one side wall 58. The door 64 is resiliently biased to a closed position by a spring 70. When in the closed position, the door 64 has an outer surface 72 that is generally co-planar with the bottom surfaces 74 of the side walls 56, 58.
While the modular wire guide member of the '843 patent has vastly improved the state of the art, some problems still remain. In particular, contact between the door 64 and the side wall 56 of the modular wire guide may lead to considerable wear of the side wall 56. If the wear is significant or if the wear creates a burr on the wire guide member, the bailing machine must be shut down for removal and repair of the damaged wire guide member. This is because significant wear may prevent the knot from slipping out properly. If the knot does not slip out properly, the bale of fibrous may hang or "stick" to the upper platen. A hanging bale of fibrous material presents a dangerous situation in that the bale could pivot from the upper platen and swing outwardly to injure passerby.
Additionally, a burr on the wire guide member may catch upon the knot, thereby decreasing its reliability. To remove the damaged wire guide for deburring requires that the entire baling machine be shutdown. If the burr is significant, then the wire guide member may need to be heat treated after it is deburred. Such a process is time consuming, inefficient and expensive.
Finally, the dimensional stability of the chamber where the knot is formed is crucial to obtain consistent high-quality knots. If the wire guide member door shuts too much or too little, then the wire ends will not engage properly to form the knot. As an example, the wire ends may straighten out such that the wire ends interlock as two fish hooks. In that case, the wire must be scrapped, and the bale must be manually fastened, which is inefficient.
In addition to knot quality, unscheduled work stoppage due to problems with the wire guide member is very costly. Stopping the baling machine severely reduces productivity and greatly increases costs of production due to labor costs. Therefore, it would be beneficial to have a maintenance device to allow for scheduled maintenance of the wire guide member.
Thus, there is a continuing effort to provide a more reliable and easy to operate tying device by further simplifying the manipulations required by the user. Further, there is a need in the art for an economical device to address the issue of wear to the side wall as a result of contact between the wire guide member door and the side wall.

Method and apparatus for wire guide wear plate


A printer driver generates output data adapted to the processing power of a printer. When the printer driver receives a draw command from an operating system, a complexity value of the draw command is calculated depending on the type of the command and/or the number of contour points of a clipping area included as a parameter of the command. A processing mode is selected depending on the complexity relative to first and second threshold values. In a first processing mode, a draw command to draw image data and a clip command are simply output. In a second processing mode, a draw command to draw image elements generated in accordance with a clip command is output. In a third processing mode, mask data is generated from a clip command, and a command to calculate the logical AND between image data and the mask data is output.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for processing information, capable of maintaining a high processing efficiency even when outputting complicated data, without causing a significant increase in processing complexity.
2. Description of the Related Art
A printing control method and a printing process used in a conventional printing system are described below. A printer and a general-purpose information processing apparatus, such as a personal computer (hereinafter, referred to as a host computer), are generally connected to each other via a Centronics parallel interface, a RS-232C serial interface, a USB (Universal Serial Bus) interface, or a network interface.
In the host computer, application software (hereinafter, referred to simply as an application), such as a word processor or a spreadsheet program, runs on basic software (called an operating system (OS)), such as a Microsoft® Windows® OS (e.g., Windows® 2000, Windows ME®, etc.). When printing is performed by an application, the application program calls a function of a graphic subsystem that is one of subsystems provided by the operating system. The graphic subsystem is responsible for processing image information to be supplied to a display or a printer. In the Microsoft® Windows® operating systems, the graphic subsystem is called a GDI (Graphic Device Interface). In order to handle differences among devices, such as a display or a printer, a module called a device driver is dynamically linked to the GDI, and outputting of data to a specific device is performed via the device driver. A module for use with a printer for the above purpose is called a printer driver. The printer driver has a DDI (Device Driver Interface) that is a set of functions implemented in a device driver to achieve necessary capabilities. When the GDI receives an API (Application Programming Interface) call from an application, the GDI converts the API call into a form adapted to the printer driver and calls a DDI function to perform a printing process. As described above, the GDI sequentially handles print commands received from an application via the printer driver.
Printer drivers can be classified into two types according to the purpose of use: (1) output-to-printer drivers; and (2) output-to-file drivers. An output-to-printer driver is used to output data to a printer having a controller capable of handling control commands described in PDL (Printer Description Language). When the output-to-printer driver receives a draw command from a system via a DDI function, the output-to-printer driver converts the received draw command into a command described in PDL and outputs the command to a printer, which in turn performs printing according to the received command.
An output-to-file driver is used not to send data directly to a printer but to convert a draw command received from a DDI function into a predefined intermediate format and store the result as an intermediate file on a disk system of the host computer. Two widely used intermediate formats are PDF (Portable Document Format) and SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics). An intermediate file stored on the file system of the host computer can be displayed on the host computer using a particular application program capable of handling the intermediate format. If a user issues a command to print the intermediate file, the intermediate file is supplied to the printer via the graphic subsystem, and the printer performs printing.
DDI functions can be classified into three types: (1) logical draw commands associated with text data; (2) logical draw commands associated with graphics data; and (3) logical draw commands associated with image data. In the following discussion, DDI functions associated with image data used in the Microsoft Windows® system are used as examples. The following discussion can also be applied to logical draw commands associated with text data or graphics data. In general, a logical draw command draws an image in a clipping area that defines a valid drawing area in accordance with drawing attribute specified by an application.
For example, when an image 100 shown in FIG. 1A is drawn, a draw command including image data and a clipping area is used as described below. In the example shown in FIG. 1A, the image 100 is drawn by a draw command including, as parameters, image data 101 and a clipping area 102. Note that only the image data 101 and the clipping area 102, which are parameters of the draw command, are shown in FIG. 1A, and the draw command itself is not shown. The image data 101 represents one sheet of rectangular image denoted by hatching. The clipping area 102 represents a valid image area specified by an application. In this case, the draw command including the image data 101 and the clipping area 102 indicates that an image should be generated by clipping the image data 101 with the clipping area 102.
In the conventional technique, when an application specifies a clipping area of image data and prints an image using a graphic subsystem, the printer driver outputs image data and the specified clipping area in accordance with a draw command received via a DDI function from the application. That is, in general, the printer driver outputs a draw command to output an image such as the image 103 and a clip command that defines a clipping area such as the clipping area 104.
A high-performance graphic subsystem is now available which allows an application to represent a complicated image with high resolution and with good halftone. In some complicated image data, the printer driver has to handle a clipping area including as many as 10,000 or more points in a coordinate space of a 600-dpi printer. Although great advances have been made in performance of personal computers and printers, a complicated draw command output by a printer driver can cause a processing system, such as a printer or an application, to have a large processing load that can cause a significant reduction in performance, for example as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-029938.
As described above, when a logical draw command is received from a DDI, if a received source image such as the image 101 and clipping area such as the clipping area 102 are directly output as image data 103 and clipping area data 104, the data output from the printer driver includes a great number of coordinate points when the clipping area of the image is complicated. This causes a large processing load to be imposed on a processing system (for example, a command interpreter or a renderer of a printer or a graphic engine of a computer) that handles the data received from the printer driver, and a significant reduction can occur in performance of a printing system as a whole.

Method and apparatus for processing information


A feeding device includes a material pipe, a first container, a second container and a constant-length linkage mechanism. The material pipe is configured for feeding a first material. The first container is configured for receiving the first material and supplying a timed amount of the first material to a first material feed port. The second container is configured for storing a second material and supplying the second material to a second material feed port. The constant-length linkage mechanism is connected to the first container and the second container. When the first container is actually supplying the first material to the first material feed port, the constant-length linkage mechanism allows the second container to supply the second material to the second material feed port simultaneously.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a feeding device.
2. Description of Related Art
Feeding device is widely used in manufacturing industry. A variety of raw materials is added to the feeding device. When two different kinds of material are needed, two operators feed two kinds of material. As two operators feed two different kinds of material, operator errors may lead to loss of materials and a reduction in production efficiency.
What is needed, therefore, is a feeding device which can overcome the above-described limitations.

Fu Tai Hua Industry (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd.


Embodiments of the present invention disclose a method, computer program product, and system for managing activation keys associated with a computing system. In one embodiment, in accordance with the present invention, the computer implemented method includes the steps of detecting a repair activity on a computing system, determining whether at least one system identifier (ID) associated with a component of the computing system has changed in comparison to system IDs associated with components of the computing system before the detected repair activity, responsive to determining that at least one system ID associated with a component of the computing system has changed, retrieving one or more activation keys that correspond to the determined at least one system ID, and determining whether the one or more retrieved activation keys are associated with a system ID that does not match any system ID associated with a component of the computing system.

In computing systems, optional features are content that a computing system can subscribe to, or access, that is not enabled in the base capabilities of the computing system. For example, a server computer can optionally have access to a suite of applications with varying capabilities. Optional feature activation is commonly achieved through digitally signed activation key files (e.g., product keys, software keys, activation keys, etc.), which provide proof of entitlement of a computing device to access a corresponding optional feature. An activation key file is unique and is associated with a computing system that is approved to access the corresponding optional feature, and can be stored locally on the computing system. In some examples, the activation key file is associated with a computing system, or hardware of the computing system, utilizing a specific identifier that provides an indication of the computing device (e.g., a serial number). The computing system utilizes the corresponding activation key file and the specific identifier (i.e., feature entitlement information) to access the corresponding optional feature.

Entitlement transfer during a repair activity

Lenovo Enterprise Solutions (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.


A simple device functioning as a radiorespirometer is a petri dish with a modified cover for quantitating an amount of CO.sub.2 evolved by living cultured cells. The device is a plastic culture dish having a culture surface circumscribed by a continuous sidewall. A removable flat plastic cover has a flat inside face and an annular collar around the face that fits against a sidewall. The collar is maintained in substantially gas-tight relationship against the sidewall by an elastic band or tightly mating surfaces. An opening through the cover is sealed by a gas-impervious material, such as a plastic film, that can be penetrated by a needle to introduce acid into the dish for terminating culture growth and lysing the cells. A collector tube is removably secured to the inside face of the cover and contains a CO.sub.2 trapping material, such as hyamine (methylbenzethonium hydroxide). The culture medium is provided with a cell substrate that contains radioactive carbon, and radioactive CO.sub.2 produced by the cells is then collected by the hyamine in the tube. The cover is afterwards removed from the dish, and the tube is detached from the cover and placed in a liquid scintillator to quantitate the amount of radioactive CO.sub.2 contained in the liquid.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention concerns a device for measuring an amount of gas evolved by cultured cells, and more particularly concerns a radiorespirometer that measures .sup.14 CO.sub.2 production for studying the metabolism of cultured cells.
2. General Discussion of the Background
Oxidation rates of various metabolic pathways of intact cells are determined by measuring .sup.14 CO.sub.2 released from cultured cells. The activity of pyruvate dehydrogenase, for example, can be determined by culturing cells in the presence of radiolabeled [--.sup.14 C]-pyruvate, denaturing cells by acidification with HClO.sub.4, and collecting liberated .sup.14 CO.sub.2 from decarboxylated pyruvate in a vial containing a material that sequesters the .sup.14 CO.sub.2. The amount of liberated .sup.14 CO.sub.2 is then quantitated by placing the vial in a liquid scintillation counter to determine the amount of radioactivity that is present, which in turn indicates the amount of .sup.14 CO.sub.2 that was evolved.
Previous radiorespirometers, and other measurement methods, have involved complex and awkward devices that limit the amount of data that can be collected. Some prior methods require that cells be removed from a petri dish by scraping them from the culture surface, which mechanically injures the cells and disturbs their normal physiology. In other methods, a non-cellular extract is obtained from the cells, and the extract is used to measure enzymatic production of .sup.14 CO.sub.2 from .sup.14 C substrate. Producing non-cellular extracts requires cell disruption that interferes with normal cell metabolism. The resulting data may be biased by the metabolic contribution of damaged cell material.
An example of a previous radiorespirometer was described by Ross et al. in Analytical Biochemistry 112:378-386 (1981). This radiorespirometer is an airtight chamber created by placing a culture plate in a well and clamping a stainless steel cover over the well. A carrier gas is bubbled through the growth medium in the dish to entrain .sup.14 CO.sub.2 and remove it from the culture chamber. The radioactive gas is then taken to an external collection chamber where a CO.sub.2 trapping agent (Oxisorb II) collects the gas in a scintillation vial. The vial is subsequently placed in a liquid scintillator to measure the amount of radioactivity present in the sample. The usefulness of this design is limited by its complexity and the requirement for many airtight chambers.
Another approach to quantitative measurement of substrate oxidation was disclosed in Spahr et al., J. Mol. Cell Cardiol. 21:175-185 (1989), where degradation and oxidation of substrates were estimated using U-.sup.14 C-labeled glucose, lactate and palmitate. Each petri dish containing attached cells was placed in individual airtight chambers and the substrate oxidation was terminated by injecting HCl through a rubber stopper in the cover of an airtight chamber. Radioactive carbon dioxide was then trapped in a KOH solution contained in a reservoir within each incubation chamber.
Shaw and Boder described another method in J. Mol. Cell. Cardiol. 4:485-493 (1972) in which evolution of .sup.14 CO.sub.2 from growing myocytes was measured in a stoppered flask by suspending a plastic collector cup from the rubber stopper of the flask. Although measurements on intact cultured cells can be obtained with such a device, culturing cells in flasks requires a larger number of cells than are required in smaller containers. The number of flasks containing the cells prepared from the same isolation is therefore small, which limits the number of experimental points generated for the cell sample. In addition, many non-malignant cells will not grow or survive in a culture flask.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide an improved simple device in which evolution of gas from living cells can be detected without requiring a complicated apparatus.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide such an improved device that allows many cell cultures from a given isolation to be simultaneously studied, thereby generating larger volumes of data.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide such an improved device in which studies can be performed on physiologically and biochemically intact attached cells.
Finally, it is an object of the invention to provide such an improved device in which the accuracy of data is improved by reducing the metabolic contribution of damaged cell materials.
These and other objects of the invention will be understood more clearly by reference to the following detailed description and drawings.

The State of Oregon Acting by and Through the State Board of Higher Education on Behalf of Oregon Health Sciences University


The noise in the photo information output from a CMOS-based active pixel sensor cell is reduced by setting the voltage on the output of the cell to a predetermined voltage, such as ground or the power supply voltage, each time the cell is read prior to the cell being read.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an active pixel sensor cell and, more particularly, to an active pixel sensor cell that reduces noise in the photo information extracted from the cell.
2. Description of the Related Art
Charge-coupled devices (CCDs) have been the mainstay of conventional imaging circuits for converting a pixel of light energy into an electrical signal that represents the intensity of the light energy. In general, CCDs utilize a photogate to convert the light energy into an electrical charge, and a series of electrodes to transfer the charge collected at the photogate to an output sense node.
Although CCDs have many strengths, which include a high sensitivity and fill-factor, CCDs also suffer from a number of weaknesses. Most notable among these weaknesses, which include limited readout rates and dynamic range limitations, is the difficulty in integrating CCDs with CMOS-based microprocessors.
To overcome the limitations of CCD-based imaging circuits, more recent imaging circuits use active pixel sensor cells to convert a pixel of light energy into an electrical signal. With active pixel sensor cells, a conventional photodiode is typically combined with a number of active transistors which, in addition to forming an electrical signal, provide amplification, readout control, and reset control.
FIG. 1 shows an example of a conventional CMOS active pixel sensor cell 10. As shown in FIG. 1, cell 10 includes a photodiode 12 connected to a first intermediate node N.sub.IM1, and a reset transistor 14 that has a drain connected to a power supply node N.sub.PS, a source connected to node N.sub.IM1, and a gate connected to a first input node N.sub.IN1.
Cell 10 further includes a buffer transistor 16 and a row select transistor 18. Buffer transistor 16 has a drain connected to node N.sub.PS, a source connected to a second intermediate node N.sub.IM2, and a gate connected to node N.sub.IM1, while row select transistor 18 has a drain connected to node N.sub.IM2, a source connected to a third intermediate node N.sub.IM3, and a gate connected to a second input node N.sub.IN2.
In addition, a detection and calculation circuit 20 is connected to the third intermediate node N.sub.IM3. As further shown in FIG. 1, circuit 20 includes a latch/column sense amplifier 22 and a current mirror 24 which provides the necessary load for reading out the cells. Current mirror 24 must sink a fairly small current in order to minimize fixed pattern noise that results from mismatches in the channel lengths of the buffer transistors when cell 10 is incorporated into an array of cells 10.
FIGS. 2A-2C show timing diagrams that illustrate the operation of cell 10. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2A-2C, the operation of cell 10 begins by briefly pulsing the gate of reset transistor 14 with a reset voltage V.sub.RESET at time t.sub.1. The reset voltage V.sub.RESET, which is equal to Vcc (+5V), resets the voltage on photodiode 12 to an initial integration voltage to begin an image collection cycle.
At this point, the initial integration voltage on photodiode 12 (the first intermediate node N.sub.IM1) is defined by the equation V.sub.RESET -V.sub.T14 -V.sub.CLOCK, where V.sub.T14 represents the threshold voltage of reset transistor 14, and V.sub.CLOCK represents reset noise from the pulsed reset voltage (assumed to be constant). Similarly, the initial integration voltage on the second intermediate node N.sub.IM2 is defined by the equation V.sub.RESET -V.sub.T14 -V.sub.CLOCK -V.sub.T16, where V.sub.T16 represents the threshold voltage of buffer transistor 16 (functioning as a source follower).
After the reset voltage V.sub.RESET has been pulsed and the voltage on photodiode 12 (the first intermediate node N.sub.IM1) has been reset, a row select voltage V.sub.RS is applied to the second input node N.sub.IN2 at a time t.sub.2 which immediately follows the falling edge of the reset pulse V.sub.RESET. The row select voltage V.sub.RS causes the voltage on the second intermediate node N.sub.IM2, which represents the initial integration voltage of the cycle, to appear on the third intermediate node N.sub.IM3. Detection and calculation circuit 20 then amplifies, digitizes, and stores the value of the initial integration voltage as it appears on the third intermediate node N.sub.IM3.
Next, from time t.sub.2, which represents the beginning of the image collection cycle, to a time t.sub.3, which represents the end of the image collection cycle, light energy, in the form of photons, strikes photodiode 12, thereby creating a number of electron-hole pairs. Photodiode 12 is designed to limit recombination between the newly formed electron-hole pairs.
As a result, the photogenerated holes are attracted to the ground terminal of photodiode 12, while the photogenerated electrons are attracted to the positive terminal of photodiode 12 where each additional electron reduces the voltage on photodiode 12 (the first intermediate node N.sub.IM1). Thus, at the end of the image collection cycle, a final integration voltage will be present on photodiode 12 (the first intermediate node N.sub.IM1).
At this point (time t.sub.3), the final integration voltage on photodiode 12 (the first intermediate node N.sub.IM1) is defined by the equation V.sub.RESET -V.sub.T14 -V.sub.CLOCK -V.sub.S, where V.sub.S represents the change in voltage due to the absorbed photons. Similarly, the final integration voltage on the second intermediate node N.sub.IM2 is defined by the equation V.sub.RESET -V.sub.T14 -V.sub.CLOCK -V.sub.T16 -V.sub.S.
At the end of the image collection cycle (time t.sub.3), the row select voltage V.sub.RS is again applied to the second input node N.sub.IN2. The row select voltage V.sub.RS causes the voltage on the second intermediate node N.sub.IM2, which represents the final integration voltage of the cycle, to appear on the third intermediate node N.sub.IM3. Detection and calculation circuit 20 then amplifies and digitizes the value of the final integration voltage as it appears on the third intermediate node N.sub.IM3.
Following this, detection and calculation circuit 20 determines the number of photons that have been collected during the integration cycle by calculating the difference in voltage between the digitized final integration voltage taken at time t.sub.3 and the digitized stored initial integration voltage taken at time t.sub.2. At this point, the difference is voltage is defined by the equation (V.sub.RESET -V.sub.T14 -V.sub.CLOCK -V.sub.T16)-(V.sub.RESET -V.sub.T14 -V.sub.CLOCK -V.sub.T16 -V.sub.S), thereby yielding the value V.sub.S.
Once the final integration voltage has been latched by detection and calculation circuit 20, the reset voltage V.sub.RESET is again applied to the first input node N.sub.IN1 at time t.sub.4, which immediately follows the rising edge of the row select voltage V.sub.RS at time t.sub.3. The reset voltage V.sub.RESET again resets the voltage on photodiode 12 to begin another image collection cycle.
One of the problems with active pixel sensor cell 10, however, is that the reset voltage V.sub.RESET and the row select voltage V.sub.RS have periods, both of which are approximately 30 mS, which are sufficiently long enough to introduce a substantial amount of 1/f noise into the cell. 1/f noise, which results from the trapping and de-trapping of surface charges, can be accurately modeled as variations in the threshold voltages of the reset and buffer transistors 14 and 16.
As a result, the number of photons which are absorbed by photodiode 12 during an image collection period is more properly defined by the equation (V.sub.RESET -V.sub.T14 -V.sub.CLOCK -V.sub.T16)-(V.sub.RESET -V.sub.T14 -V.sub.CLOCK -V.sub.T16 -V.sub.S -V.sub..alpha.), where V.sub..alpha. represents the variations in the threshold voltages of transistors 14 and 16 due to 1/f noise.
Thus, the variations in the threshold voltages of the reset and buffer transistors 14 and 16 add an error term V.sub..alpha. which erroneously yields V.sub.S +V.sub..alpha. as the number of absorbed photons, thereby limiting the accuracy of the cell.
To eliminate the introduction of 1/f noise that results from variations in the threshold voltage of reset transistor 14, a first method of operating cell 10 was disclosed in the parent application where the voltage on the photodiode of the cell was reset to the power supply voltage by utilizing a reset voltage which is greater than the power supply voltage by at least one threshold voltage.
In addition, to further reduce the introduction of 1/f noise, a second method of operating cell 10 was disclosed in the parent application where the cell was read immediately before and after the cell was reset.
Experimental results, however, have indicated that when no signal is present, i.e., when cell 10 is not exposed to a light source, and cell 10 is reset and read according to the method of the parent invention, the voltages read from the third intermediate node N.sub.IM3, which should be the same, include noise which causes the voltages to differ by tens of millivolts. Thus, there is a need for an active pixel sensor cell and a method for operating the cell which reduces the introduction of this noise.

Active pixel sensor cell that reduces noise in the photo information extracted from the cell


A method and system is provided for the growth of the molluscum contagiosum virus in human skin xenografted to an immunocompromised host. A human skin graft is infected with molluscum contagiosum virus attached to or beneath a skin section of the immunocompromised host. According to the method, a section of skin of an immunocompromised host is prepared for receiving a human skin xenograft which is then placed onto or into the host. The human skin is infected with the molluscum contagiosum virus. The animals are monitored and the newly grown virus and its products are harvested for further study.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system and method for growing molluscum contagiosum virus (MCV) in human keratinocytes and, more specifically, for growing MCV in human keratinocytes through a xenograft to an immunocompromised host.
2. Description of Related Art
Molluscum contagiosum virus (MCV) causes an asymptomatic, indolent, harmless infection of human skin. However, in people with impaired immunity, especially in people with acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), MCV often becomes morbid with the development of many nodules some of which are large in size.
MCV is a member of the parapoxvirus family, along with orf virus, pseudocowpox (milker's nodule) virus, yaba virus and tanapox virus. MCV can be identified in skin biopsy samples by the presence of large intracytoplasmic inclusion bodies within infected keratinocytes. MCV lacks known close viral relatives and is serologically distinct from any other characterized pox virus. Fields BN and Knipe DM (eds.) Fields Virology 2nd Ed. Raven Press, New York. 1990, p. 31. Purified virions of MCV resemble those of vaccinia, a member of the orthopox virus group, in morphology, physical properties and chemical composition. Fields BN and Knipe DM (eds.) Fields Virology 2nd Ed. Raven Press, New York. 1990, p. 2130. However, although the vaccinia virus has been readily grown in culture, successful growth of MCV in culture has been elusive.
The difficulty associated with growing MCV in culture appears to be due to a defect in the expression of the genome in MCV. Mouse embryo cells infected with vaccinia have been shown to synthesize viral RNA and polypeptides. The same cells infected with MCV do not synthesize viral RNA and viral polypeptides. Shand, et al., J. Gen. Virol. (1976) 33:281-295. In culture, MCV has been shown to induce a nontransmissible cytopathic effect, but does not produce infectious progeny. Francis, et al., J. Virology (1976) 19:382-388. With the exception of one report (Buller, et al., Virology (1995) 213:655-659), attempts to grow MCV off a human host have repeatedly failed. For example, MCV was found not to grow on the chorioallantoic membrane of chick embryos, on normal human skin grafted onto the chorioallantoic membrane or in cultures of human fetal skin. Postlethwaite, Arch Environ Health (1970) 21:432-452. MCV has been found not to grow following inoculation into the skin, footpad, peritoneal cavity or brain of hairless mice. MCV has also been found not to grow in cultures of human embryonic liver or lung or in cultures of African green and cynomolgus monkey kidney cells or in cultures of human amnion and human foreskin. Postlethwaite, Arch Environ Health (1970) 21:432-452.
Failed attempts to grow MCV in the skin or other tissues of mice, guinea pigs, rabbits, sheep, apes and chimpanzees have also been reported. Warren J: Infections of minor importance: Molluscum contagiosum. In Rivers T M, Horsfall Jr F L: Viral and Rickettsial Infections of Man, 3rd Ed. Pitman Medical Publishing Co Ltd, London, 1959, pp. 908-909. Failed efforts to grow MCV in tissue culture from explants of diseased skin from patients with molluscum contagiosum and in organ cultures of healthy adult human skin inoculated with extracts of MCV papules have also been reported. Prose, et al., Am. J. Path. (1969) 55:349-366.
In view of the difficulties associated with growing MCV in host cells, a need currently exists for a method and host system for growing MCV. A further need exists for a system and method for growing MCV in human cells.

Method and system for growing molluscum contagiosum in xenografts to immunocompromised hosts


A vial capping device includes a cap installation ring, a holding device, a movement device, and a tightening motor. The cap installation ring has an inner periphery thread to be threadedly engaged with a thread of an outer peripheral surface of a cap. The holding device holds a vial during fastening. The movement device brings a thread of the inner peripheral surface of the cap attached to the cap installation ring and an opening of the vial closer to each other. The tightening motor rotates one or both of the cap installation ring engaged with the cap and the holding device holding the vial. Thus, the vial capping device with a simple construction reliably fastens the cap to the vial.

FIG. 17 shows a filling device for filling a vial with tablets in which a cap 210 is put on a vial 220 to seal in tablets. A medicinal information label 221 for a patient is affixed to the side surface of the vial 220. The vial 220, which has been in use for a long period of time, is devised so as to prevent an infant from opening the vial easily. That is, to open it, it is necessary to press the upper surface of the cap against the vial while turning the cap, so even an adult cannot open the cap easily, which results in a bother.
As shown in FIG. 18A, the cap 210 has an inner cover 211 on its inner side. A flange portion 212 of the inner cover 211 is held by engagement portions 213 protruding on the inner side of the cap 210. As shown in FIG. 18B, the engagement portions 213 is engaged with engagement grooves 223 of rotation restricting portions 222 of the vial 220, whereby the cap 210 is locked to the vial 220. The inner cap 211 is equipped with a tension protrusion 214; when the cap 210 is locked to the vial 220, the tension protrusion 214 comes into contact with the inner surface of the cap 210 to raise the cap 210, acting thereon so as to maintain the engagement of the engagement portions 213 and the engagement grooves 223. A moisture-proof ring 215 provided on the inner cover 211 of the vial comes into contact with the inner wall of the vial 220. Since it is equipped with an escape portion 216, the moisture-proof ring 215 reliably comes into contact with the inner periphery of the vial 220, so the tablets absorb no moisture and their quality is maintained. When the cap 210 is pressed against the vial 220, the tension protrusion 214 is crushed, and the engagement portions 213 are detached from the engagement grooves 223 of the rotation restricting portions 222. When, in this state, the cap 210 is turned counterclockwise, the cap 210 can be opened.
The cap 210 and the vial 220, which are constructed as described above, involve a rather bothersome operation. As a result, in recent years, a combination of a vial 1 and a cap 2 as shown in FIG. 19 has come to be sold and put into use. The vial 1 has a structure for preventing an infant from accidental swallowing. The vial 1 has a vial outer periphery thread 4 on the outer peripheral surface of a vial opening 3, and an inner periphery thread 5 on the inner peripheral surface thereof. The cap 2 has a cap inner periphery thread 6 on the inner peripheral surface thereof which is to be threadedly engaged with the vial outer periphery thread 4 of the vial 1. Further, in order to be capable of being threadedly engaged also with the vial inner periphery thread 5 provided at the opening 3 of the vial 1, the cap 2 has a small diameter portion 8 whose diameter is smaller than that of a large diameter portion 7 on which the cap inner periphery thread 6 is provided, with a cap outer periphery thread 9 being provided on the outer peripheral surface thereof.
The vial 1 has a disc-like flange 10 which is partially cut-away so that it may substantially come into contact with the lower edge of the cap 2 when the cap inner periphery thread 6 of the cap 2 is threadedly engaged with the vial outer periphery thread 4. Further, the vial 1 has, in the cut-away portion of the flange 10, a lever 11 whose distal end can be pushed down, with the lever 11 being equipped with a rotation restricting member 12 formed of an elastic latch member protruding obliquely upwards. Further, the cap 2 has a protrusion-like engagement portion 13 at the lower end of the inner surface thereof; when the inner periphery thread 6 of the cap 2 is threadedly engaged with the vial outer periphery thread 4 of the vial 1, the engagement portion 13 climbs over the rotation restricting member 12 while pushing it down and, afterwards, the rotation restricting member 12 protrudes upwardly again due to its elasticity. Even if an attempt is made to turn the cap 2 in the opening direction, the engagement portion 13 abuts the rotation restricting member 12 to restrict the rotation of the cap 2. Thus, in order to detach the cap 2 from the vial 1, it is necessary to turn the cap 2, with the lever 11 being pushed down to downwardly retract the rotation restricting member 12 below the engagement portion 13. Since an infant is incapable of performing such an operation, it is possible to prevent accidental swallowing. Further, when there is no fear of an infant touching the vial 1, the cap 2 is turned upside down, and the outer periphery thread 9 of the cap 2 is threadedly engaged with the vial inner periphery thread 5 of the vial 1. As a result, the rotation restricting member 12 is not engaged with the engagement member 13, and the cap can close the vial so as to easily allow its detachment, so the user feels no bother.
In conventional vial capping devices, it is necessary to rotate one of a mechanism for holding the vial and the other mechanism for holding the cap to lock or threadedly engage the cap to or with the vial, resulting in a rather complicated device structure. Further, in some cases, the holding of the cap is rather insufficient, and the cap spins, resulting in a rather insufficient tightening of the cap. In particular, in the case of a capping device for threadedly engaging the cap 2 with the vial 1 shown in FIG. 19, it is necessary to hold the cap 2, which is of a complicated configuration due to the provision of the small diameter portion 8 equipped with the cap outer periphery thread 9, resulting in problems such as a rather complicated device structure, a poor reliability in holding, and defective tightening due to spinning of the cap.

Vial capping device and vial capping method


An optical transmitter, comprising: a master laser device for generating a master signal; one or more slave laser devices, injected with the master signal such that signals generated by the one or more slave laser devices are phase-locked with the master signal; an input for receiving one or more data streams to be transmitted, the one or more data streams being used to modulate respectively the one or more slave laser devices, such that each signal generated by the one or more slave laser devices respectively comprises a modulated part and a carrier part; and an interfering arrangement, for destructively interfering the signals generated by the one or more slave laser devices with a signal derived from the master signal, so as to generate an output signal in which the carrier part is at least partially cancelled. In embodiments, the transmitter comprises multiple slave laser devices, whose outputs can be coherently multiplexed together to generate multiple-bit output signals.

The biggest challenge in optical telecommunications today is increasing the capacity of installed fibre links to maintain the year-on-year growth in demand for bandwidth. It has been acknowledged within the industry that transitioning to high spectral efficiency coherent modulation formats such as quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK), quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) and the like is important, and 100 Gbit/s QPSK has been deployed on several long haul links worldwide. These modulation formats include modulation in phase, and thus the use of low-cost direct modulation of the signalling laser is not possible due to the high chirp associated with direct modulation of a semiconductor laser, which significantly limits transmission distance.
Today, the most robust solution for generating complex modulation formats is the LiNbO3-based external IQ modulator. However, its drawbacks include: (i) relatively high cost; (ii) significant insertion loss and limited optical power handling; (iii) a need for high drive voltage RF booster amplifiers; and (iv) for generation of complex modulation formats (e.g., 16 QAM), a typical IQ modulator requires two or more high-speed multiple-level (e.g. four logic levels for 16 QAM) data streams to be generated and multiplexed in the electronic domain with associated loss, power consumption, noise and non-linearity.


A bottle opener including a housing with a inner cavity; a pair of clamping handles having upper portions coupled to the lower portions of the housing, and the lower portions including clamping portions configured to mate with the neck of the bottle. Also included are an actuator; a first sliding block making reciprocating movement in a longitudinal axis direction with respect to the inner cavity of the housing by the actuator; a helical screw assembly having an upper portion mounted in the first sliding block by a bearing and a lower portion that is free with rotation related to the first sliding block; and a second sliding block contained only slidably in the inner cavity of housing and positioned between the bottom plane of the inner cavity and the lower surface of the first sliding block.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a bottle opener for opening bottle of wine with cork and the like.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventional bottle of wine was stored with cork. While drinking, someone used a bottle opener to pull the cork out. The traditional bottle opener usually comprises a screw. While used, the screw is rotated into the cork, then pulled out with the cork by additional apparatus such as lever. This bottle opener requires too much time and energy.
Patent application WO 2005/023696A1 discloses a bottle opener including a screw mounted on a carrier, wherein the carrier was deposited on a frame. The carrier can move forward and backward along the longitudinal direction and rotates around the central line. A control nut is rotatably mounted on the frame with a inner cavity therethrough matched with the screw. An actuator means operatively connected to the carrier for reciprocate in order to urge the screw in the inner cavity. A first restraint means is provided to control the rotary movement of the screw and a second restraint means was provided to control the rotation of the control nut. A latch means is provided to releasably latch the control nut to the frame to restrain relative movement in the longitudinal axis of the screw. A detent and a recess are separately provided on the first and second restraint means to limit the rotation of the bottle opener.
The above-mentioned bottle opener can extract cork from bottle quickly and easily. However, this type of bottle opener was provided with complicated structure. If the power received on the restraint means and the latch means are not proper, failure may result.