An apparatus for providing I/O support to a computer system and a method of use thereof is disclosed. The apparatus in accordance with the present invention includes an internal control element located within the apparatus. The control element allows the apparatus in accordance with the present invention to relinquish ownership of the associated I/O devices for the purpose of being used by another computer. Accordingly, through the use of the apparatus in accordance with the present invention, expensive KVM switches and cabling, along with the accompanying I/O devices, are no longer needed to provide I/O support for computer networks. A first aspect of the present invention provides an apparatus for providing I/O support to a computer system. The apparatus comprises an I/O device and an internal control element coupled to the I/O device for relinquishing ownership of the I/O device from the apparatus to the computer network. A second aspect of the present invention provides a method for providing I/O support to a computer system. The method comprises the steps of providing an apparatus wherein the apparatus includes an I/O device and an internal control element coupled to the I/O device and utilizing the internal control element to allow ownership of the I/O device to be relinquished from the apparatus to the computer system.

FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional computer system 10. Computer system 10 typically includes the main computer system 12, a keyboard 14, a mouse 16, a display device or monitor 18, a diskette or floppy drive 20 and a compact disc (CD) or digital versatile disc (DVD) drive 22. It is understood that computer system 10 is for illustrative purposes and includes numerous components not shown.
Large installation computer networks typically incorporate racks of server computers (servers) to provide services to the other computers within the networks. The functions performed by each of these servers vary depending on the network and the server's place within the particular network. For example, at least one server typically functions as "file server" for the network. A computer functioning as a file server will usually have significantly more data storage capacity than the other computers connected to the network. The networked computers utilize this data storage capacity to store files and databases. Software executed by the file server controls access to these files and databases.
Typically, each server within each rack would incorporate certain peripheral input/output (I/O) devices such as a keyboard, a mouse, a display device, a floppy disk drive and a CD/DVD drive. However, these I/O devices are not used, except at certain critical installation points or for routine computer maintenance. Therefore, within the context of a large computer network environment, they are characterized as low-use devices.
When setting up these large installation computer networks it is desirable to minimize cost as well as the amount of space used. Consequently, to minimize the space used by the low-use devices, a keyboard/video/mouse (KVM) switch is sometimes incorporated.
Through the use of a KVM switch, only one set of keyboard, mouse and display devices are utilized by the rack of servers. FIG. 2 illustrates a conventional KVM system 50 comprising a rack 52 populated with a number of server computers 54-68, switch 70, keyboard 14, mouse 16 and display device 18. The KVM switch 70 is cabled to each of the server computers 54-68 and to keyboard 14, mouse 16 and display device 18. If a computer operator or technician subsequently needs to access one of the server computers 54-68 in rack 52, KVM switch 70 is utilized to associate keyboard 14, mouse 16 and display device 18 with the appropriate server computer 54-68. The computer operator or technician is then able to use the keyboard 14, mouse 16, and display device 18 to interact with the appropriate server computer 54-68. However, due to the high cost of KVM switches and associated extensive cabling and the valuable rack space occupied, their utilization is less than desirable. Also note that the KVM system 50 does not address a solution for additional I/O such as the floppy drive 20 and CD/DVD drive 22 which is typically duplicated within each server 54-68 in rack 52.
Accordingly, what is needed is a low cost, space saving method and apparatus for providing I/O support for these and other types of systems. The present invention addresses such a need.

Apparatus for providing I/O support to a computer system and method of use thereof


A disposable belt for use with an absorbent product and a belt system is provided. The disposable belt includes a length of belt material and a hook material patch connected to a first surface portion. The length of belt material has a first major surface and an opposite second major surface, and includes a loop surface structure. The hook material patch is flat and has a first side facing away from the first surface portion, and a second side abutting against the first surface portion. The first side is provided with a first hook surface structure. The second side of the hook material patch is provided with a second hook surface structure, and the second hook surface structure engages with the loop surface structure. The belt system includes the disposable belt and a second length of belt material.

Absorbent products such as products used for incontinence care are in some embodiments held up by a belt. Such belts are known for instance from GB 2277865 and GB 2277866. These belts are held around a waist of a user by attachment means comprising a flexible strip of hook elements engaging with the belt material. Thus, a releasable hook and loop fastening arrangement is provided. The belt may be reused and does not have to be exchanged with every change of absorbent product.
Double sided hook patches are known as such, e.g. from FR 2830726, US 2010/0319167, and JP 2006325939. FR 2830726 discloses the use of a hook patch having a different number of hooks on each of its two different sides to achieve different attachment properties. The use of hook patches is disclosed in connection with various garments, including belts. US 2010/0319167 discloses a hook and loop fastening system comprising a double sided hook patch, the hook patch having different attachment properties on its two sides thanks to differently large areas of hooks on the two sides of the hook patch. The purpose of the system is to permit the hook patch to be removed prior to washing a relevant textile. JP 2006325939 discloses a double sided hook patch to be used in connection with diaper covers, clothes, and linen. The purpose of the double sided hook patch again, is to permit removal of the hook patch prior to washing a relevant textile.
Today, in connection with some absorbent products, a disposable belt including a length of belt material and a hook material patch is reused consecutively with a number of absorbent products until the disposable belt has become worn out, at which point the disposable belt is disposed of and a new disposable belt is used.

Disposable belt having detachable hook and loop fastener


A mounting bracket assembly including a mounting bracket and an outlet box having a mounting member. The mounting bracket includes a plate member having an opening adapted to receive the outlet box and a support member extending laterally from the plate member at an edge of the opening. A tab member is affixed to one of the mounting member and the support member and engages the other thereof. One of the mounting member and support member also includes a raised portion which slidably engages the other member during insertion of the outlet box so as to bias the mounting member away from the support member until the raised portion is brought into locking engagement with the other member. A method for installing an outlet box includes providing a wall panel with a mounting bracket installed internally therein, cutting an opening in a wall member of the panel in alignment with the opening in the plate member, and inserting an outlet box having a mounting member such that the tab member engages one of the support member and mounting member and the raised portion slidably engages one of the support member and mounting member during insertion so as to bias the members away from each other until the raised portion is brought into locking engagement with the other of the members.

The present invention relates generally to a bracket assembly, and in particular, to an improved mounting bracket assembly for installing an outlet box, such as an electrical outlet box, in a wall or panel.
In modern society, walls typically are provided with electrical outlets, data and communication lines and other utility devices such as electrical switches. Similarly, moveable panel systems, which are commonly used to divide large, open office space into separate work spaces, also typically provide access to electricity through outlets, and to data and communication lines which can be routed internally therein. For example, Herman Miller, Inc., the assignee of the present application, manufacturers and sells three such work space management systems: the ACTION OFFICES.RTM. system, the ETHOSPACE.RTM. system and the Q SYSTEM.TM. system.
Typically, electrical outlets, data and communication lines, switches and the like are mounted in an outlet box, sometimes referred to as an electrical box or a junction box. The outlet box, in turn, is often supported by a mounting bracket, which is positioned internally in the wall or panel and is secured therein to an internal frame member, stud or like support. Typically, the outlet box is mounted to the bracket with mechanical screw-type fasteners, which can be difficult to access. The mounting bracket provides support for the outlet box and allows the box to be spaced apart from the frame member. Alternatively, the box can be supported by brackets engaging only the outermost wallboard, or other surface sheet material, or can be mounted directly to the frame member. Typically, an opening is provided in the wallboard, or other material, so as to expose the outlet box to the user.
In panel systems, the frame members typically extend along the ends of the panel and are used to connect adjacent panels as well as support various shelving configurations, overheads and the like. Therefore, outlet boxes mounted directly to the frame members can interfere with the installation of the various accessories or can be difficult to access when two panels are attached to one another in a perpendicular arrangement.
When using a mounting bracket to support an outlet box within a wall or panel, the box typically is fastened to the bracket prior to the installation of the wallboard or other sheet material. Often, however, it is desirable to make panels retrofittable, wherein the panel may not initially be provided with electrical power, data or communication lines at the user's request, but wherein it is later desired to install outlets and the like. Typically, in such a situation, the outlet box can only be secured directly to a frame member, or to the wall board itself through use of brackets and the like, since it is generally not possible to mount a bracket inside the panel due to its enclosed configuration. Moreover, the installation of many outlet boxes requires access to fasteners located outside the outlet box, but inside the panel, so as to make retrofit installation nearly impossible.
In addition, outlet boxes typically are secured to the frame or brackets with various mechanical fasteners, which can be difficult to access and/or install. Fasteners such as screws, bendable tabs and the like can be difficult to orient or to initiate the threading thereof, require extensive human manipulation and can be time consuming to install, both in the manufacturing facility and in the field.

Mounting bracket assembly for an outlet box


A substrate support mechanism including a housing made of a magnetically permeable material; a pin located substantially within the housing and having an upper end extending up into a passage which extends up through the bottom of the chamber and into the cavity which contains a substrate during processing; a first magnet assembly on the inside of the housing and mounted on the pin; a carriage structure located outside of the housing; and a second magnet assembly mounted on the carriage structure, wherein the first and second magnet assemblies are positioned relative to each other so that the second magnet assembly causes the pin and the first magnet assembly to magnetically levitate within the housing.

The invention relates to substrate support mechanisms such as are used in a semiconductor processing chamber, e.g. a rapid thermal processing (RTP) chamber.
In an integrated circuit fabrication process, a substrate processing device holds a substrate in a processing chamber and subjects the substrate to a chemical or physical process, such as etching, deposition, or annealing, just to name three examples. Inside the processing chamber, the substrate rests on a susceptor, support ring, platen, or some other substrate support. In order to increase throughput, prevent contamination, and avoid human error, an automated robot handler moves the substrate into and out of the chamber. A gentle "hand-off" between the robot handler and the substrate support is typically accomplished by a lift pin apparatus.
The lift pin apparatus includes several lift pins which can move vertically to raise and lower the substrate. To transfer a substrate from the robot handler to the support, the lift pins rise vertically and pick the substrate off the robot handler. After the robot handler retracts, the lift pins lower the substrate onto the support. When the process is complete, the lift pins raise the wafer off the support and the robot handler is positioned beneath the substrate. Then the lift pins lower the substrate onto the robot handler.

Lift pin and support pin apparatus for a processing chamber


An apparatus and process for operating connectorless, free-space data porting optical structural composites with integrated optical or electrical busses are disclosed. Optical transceivers and fiber optic/coaxial cable are embedded into a foam-core composite sandwich structure which is infiltrated with vinyl ester resin. The embedded busses are composed of a signal source producing an optical free space signal, which is shone onto an optical/electrical bus containing a transceiver for converting this signal into another electrical or optical signal which then is imprinted upon a coaxial or fiber optic cable buried in the composite structure. The signal traverses the composite structure, then a transceiver converts the electrical/optical signal into a free space optical signal which shines out of the composite structure to an outside free space optical receiver. The optical free space signal is oriented to be received and transmitted at an angle of about 90 degrees relative to the composite material.

Considerable work has been performed on embedding electrical cabling and optical fibers into structural composite materials. Typically, this embedded cabling is integrated with sensor arrays in order to measure and report environmental and material conditions such as temperature, strain, and onset of damage. Another application for embedded cabling is for creating an integrated optical bus for high bandwidth data communication throughout a composite structure. Such an integrated bus can be used to transmit information between external or embedded sensors, actuators, processors, displays, communication devices, and other components associated with the composite structure. In such circumstances, the composite structure acts as a structural local area network (LAN).
One example application for a structural LAN is in a modern military ground vehicle, which has a series of complex, interdependent subsystems such as propulsion, communication, and weapons. Currently, conductive wiring is traced between components in the vehicle. This technique has several disadvantages. Cutouts in the structure are necessary to provide a pathway for wiring between onboard devices. Electrical cabling, especially for complex systems with many components, can introduce significant weight and volume. Wireless communication is one alternative to electrical wiring, but is susceptible to interference, jamming, and interception.
Replacing the external cabling in the military vehicle with integrated busses embedded in a composite structure offers a number of advantages over wired or wireless LANs, such as lower weight and volume, higher bandwidth, and insusceptibility to interference, jamming, and interception. However, an important challenge is the connectorization of the embedded cabling to external devices. Interfacing with embedded busses using conventional techniques requires physical connectorization. For electrical busses, coaxial or multi-pin interfaces are most common. For optical busses, ferrules and mechanically interlocking connectors are typically implemented. For example, to implement this approach for embedded optical fibers, a short length of fiber end is typically traced out of the structure. These "pigtails" are extremely fragile and bulky, and have greatly limited the practical application of embedded optical fibers.
One method for remote querying of embedded components in a military vehicle is via RF communications. However, in applications where interference, jamming, or interception of signals is possible, methods using RF communication are unfavorable. Another method used for remote querying of embedded components is to use a graded index lens (GRIN). This approach typically requires the interrogation light source to have line-of-sight access to the end face of the optical fiber, which limits interrogation to the edges of composite structures. For most practical structural network applications, however, edge access is very limited.
What would be desirable, but has heretofore not been implemented, are noninvasive, normal incidence, free-space data porting structural composites with integrated optical busses.

Composites for wireless optical communication


An optical information reproducing method of the present invention is used for an optical recording medium. The optical recording medium includes a recording layer containing information and a mask layer that is located close to the recording layer and includes a nonlinear optical material whose optical properties are changed in accordance with incident light intensity. The method includes irradiating the optical recording medium with convergent light that is polarized in a first direction and dividing reflected light from the optical recording medium into a first polarized component that is polarized in the first direction and a second polarized component that is polarized in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction. The second polarized component is used to detect a reproduction signal.

In recent years, with the advance of the information society, there has been a growing demand for a large-capacity external storage. For optical information recording, an increase in density by reducing the size of recording pits has been restricted due to a diffraction limit that depends on the wavelength of light and the numerical aperture of an objective lens.
Therefore, a so-called super-resolution recording/reproducing technology that enables readout of a recording mark smaller than a focusing spot diameter has been proposed as a means for achieving higher density. For example, JP 2000-348377 discloses a technique that uses near-field light to perform recording/reproduction beyond the diffraction limit of light.
FIG. 8 shows the cross-sectional configuration of an optical recording medium used in super-resolution recording/reproduction. This optical recording medium 1 includes a transparent substrate 11 and a first protective layer 12, a mask layer 13, a second protective layer 14, a recording layer 15, and a third protective layer 16 that are formed on the transparent substrate 11 in the indicated order. The first to third protective layers 12, 14, and 16 are made of ZnS—SiO2. The recording layer 15 is made of a phase change material (e.g., a multinary compound such as GeSbTe). The mask layer 13 is made of silver oxide that is decomposed into oxygen and silver by heat. When the optical recording medium 1 is irradiated with convergent light L1, a focusing spot is formed in the mask layer 13, and then the silver oxide is decomposed into oxygen and silver to change the refractive index in a high-temperature portion of the focusing spot where the temperature exceeds a given threshold value. Thus, an aperture 17 smaller than the focusing spot diameter is formed in the mask layer 13 as a refractive index changing region. It is possible to write a recording mark 18 into the recording layer 15 or read the recording mark 18 from the recording layer 15 using near-field light generated at the aperture 17. The recording layer 15 is located at the position where the near-field light generated in the mask layer 13 can reach, thereby achieving both high-speed writing and high-speed reading.
A general optical head device has been used in the above super-resolution recording/reproduction. FIG. 9 shows a general optical head device 101 when used for reproducing information from the optical recording medium 1. For convenience, the lateral direction of the sheet of this drawing is identified as an X-direction, the vertical direction from the sheet surface is identified as a Y-direction, and the longitudinal direction of the sheet is identified as a Z-direction.
A semiconductor laser 102 (a radiation light source) radiates linearly polarized light that is polarized in the X-direction. The light emitted from the semiconductor laser 102 enters a polarization beam splitter 103. The polarization beam splitter 103 has the functions of transmitting all the light polarized in the X-direction and reflecting all the light polarized in the Y-direction. The light passing through the polarization beam splitter 103 is converted into parallel light by a collimator lens 104, then converted into circularly polarized light by a quarter-wave plate 105, and focused to the inside of the optical recording medium 1 by an objective lens 106. The light reflected from the optical recording medium 1 again passes through the objective lens 106 and the quarter-wave plate 105, and thus is converted into linearly polarized light that is polarized in the Y-direction. This linearly polarized light further passes through the collimator lens 104 and enters the polarization beam splitter 103. The light entering the polarization beam splitter 103 is polarized in the Y-direction, and therefore is reflected by the polarization beam splitter 103. The reflected light passes through a cylindrical lens 107 or the like so that the wavefront is controlled to detect a servo signal. Subsequently, a photodetector 108 detects a reproduction signal and a servo signal. The quarter-wave plate 105 and the polarization beam splitter 103 are used to improve the light utilization efficiency. Even if the quarter-wave plate 105 is not provided, and the polarization beam splitter 103 is replaced with a non-polarization beam splitter, information can be recorded/reproduced.
When optical information is reproduced in the above manner, a general laser beam includes a noise component. For normal reproduction (rather than the super-resolution reproduction), the noise component is not a problem because the degree of signal modulation is sufficient. In the case of super-resolution reproduction, however, a recording mark smaller than the spot diameter of the laser beam should be read, so that the degree of modulation of a reproduction signal is reduced significantly. Therefore, the effect of the noise component of the laser beam cannot be ignored, which may lead to S/N degradation.

Optical information reproducing method, optical head device, and optical information processor

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A mast footing having a tensioning device for the leading edge with the components which provide for a reduction of force being attached to the mast footing such that they may be detached. When the sail has been correctly trimmed, i.e., with the leading edge tensioned, the device is removed from the arrangement. Then, only a hook-shaped device of short length is attached between a loop at the neck of the sail and a hook at the mast footing, which device preferably has a constant length or, at most, may be fine-tuned within a range of a few centimeters.

The invention relates to a mast footing for a windsurfing rig having a force reduction device in order to, tension the leading edge of the sail.
A mast footing of this type is disclosed in German Patent DE 3,633,752 C2. There, in order to tension the leading edge, a tensioning device is used which has a rod and a silent ratchet, adjustable in steps, which may be operated by means of a hand lever. The rod and the silent ratchet are arranged in the interior of a tubular mast footing which features a longitudinal slot, which is penetrated by the hand lever. The force required in order to tension the leading edge may be applied effortlessly with the tensioning device. However, the tensioning device for the leading edge has, on the whole, a relatively great weight, which does not achieve weight-saving goals. Today, great efforts are being made to save weight in the area of the rig.
With modern rigs and sails, an optimal tension of the leading edge and the bending of the mast connected therewith is determined, in essence, by means of the cut of the sail and should vary over, at most, only a very limited range in response to the strength of the prevailing wind. Consequently, the range of fine-tuning amounts to only a few centimeters. In this connection, the force which must be applied to the leading edge for an ideal bending curve of the mast lies between 200 kp (1962 N) and 400 kp (3924 N). Yet, most windsurfers fear a mast break, such that in practice, the leading edge is not tensioned adequately and, consequently, windsurfing is undertaken without the sail being optimally trimmed.
Tensioners for the leading edge used by most surfers today consist of a tackle which is reeved fourfold to sixfold, one end of which has a hook which is secured in a loop of the sail and the other end of which is fastened to the mast footing. In addition, a sheet clamp is present at the mast footing, in which the free end of the line of the tackle is loaded. With this stretcher for the leading edge, the problem also occurs that the tensile force required in order optimally to trim the sail can scarcely be applied by one person and that the end of the tackle, part of which is quite long, must be stowed after tensioning, which is commonly carried out by means of winding it about the mast footing or stowing it inside the mast footing.


The invention provides a coating composition for rubbers which forms a coating film having excellent adhesion to the rubber surface as well as excellent wear resistance and surface lubricity. The composition is an aqueous resin composition containing 100 parts by weight of the component (A), 10 to 100 parts by weight of the component (B) and 5 to 150 parts by weight of the component (C): wherein the component (A) is a curable silicone composition consisting of (A-1) which is an organopolysiloxane in which a group selected from the group consisting of a hydroxyl group and groups represented by the formula R1O— (R1 is a monovalent hydrocarbon group), and a group represented by the formula (1), below are bonded to each of at least two terminal silicon atoms of a polysiloxane chain:

The present invention relates to a coating composition for rubber that imparts a coating having superior adhesion to rubber as well as superior wear resistance and surface lubricity.
A method for imparting lubricity and wear resistance to the surface of various types of rubbers has been used in the prior art in which, after applying a silicone resin composition to the surface of a rubber article, the composition is cured to form a cured coating layer to coat the surface of the rubber with the coating.
Examples of silicone resin compositions that have been proposed for use in this case include a composition comprising an organopolysiloxane containing epoxy groups and an alkoxysilane containing an amino group (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. S54-43891), a composition comprising an organopolysiloxane containing hydroxyl groups, an organohydrogen polysiloxane, an organopolysiloxane containing epoxy groups and an alkoxysilane containing an amino group (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Nos. S54-45361, S54-90369 and S54-90375), a composition comprising an organopolysiloxane containing hydroxyl groups, an organohydrogen polysiloxane and the hydrolysis condensation product of a dialkoxysilane containing an amino group (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Nos. H7-109441 and H7-126417), a composition comprising an organopolysiloxane containing hydroxyl groups or vinyl groups, an organohydrogen polysiloxane and a dimethyl polysiloxane (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. S62-215667), a composition comprising an organopolysiloxane containing a hydrolyzable group, an organopolysiloxane containing epoxy groups or amino groups and a hydrolyzable group and a hydrolyzable silane containing an epoxy group or an amino group (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H7-196984), a composition composed of a reaction product of a silane or siloxane containing an amino group and a silane or siloxane containing an epoxy group, a polydiorganosiloxane containing hydroxyl groups and a polyorganohydrogen siloxane (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. S56-78960), a composition comprising a reaction product of a silane or siloxane containing an amino group and an alkoxy group and a silane or siloxane containing an epoxy group and an alkoxy group, and a polyorganosiloxane containing an alkoxy group or hydroxyl group and an amino group (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H11-43647), a composition comprising a polyorganosiloxane containing hydroxyl groups and epoxy groups, an alkoxysilane containing an amino group and an alkoxysilane containing a mercapto group (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H5-5082), a composition comprising a polydiorganopolysiloxane containing hydroxyl groups, a polyorganohydrogen siloxane, a organosiloxane containing a water-soluble amino group, an aminosilane compound, an epoxysilane compound, a carboxylic acid and an alkyl amine oxide (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2002-188057), a composition composed of a hydrolysis condensation product of an acryl-silicone graft copolymer and an amino group-containing dialkoxysilane, and an organopolysiloxane containing epoxy groups (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H7-109440), and a composition composed of a diorganosiloxane containing hydroxyl groups, an epoxy resin and a silane containing a an amino group (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H4-318021).
However, since coatings obtained from these silicone resin compositions lack wear resistance and surface lubricity, silicone resin compositions blended with fine powder have been proposed to improve these properties.
Silicone resin compositions have been proposed which are blended with a fine powder such as polymethyl silsesquioxane, specific examples of which include a composition comprising a polyorganosiloxane containing hydroxyl groups, a polyorganosiloxane containing epoxy groups, an alkoxysilane containing an amino group and a polymethyl silsesquioxane powder (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. S61-159427 and H2-233763), and a composition comprising a dimethyl polysiloxane containing a silanol group, a diorganopolysiloxane containing amino groups, a γ-glycidoxypropyl trimethoxysilane, and a polymethyl silsesquioxane fine powder (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H7-251124).
In addition, silicone resin compositions blended with a fine silicone rubber powder have also been proposed, examples of which include a composition comprising a non-flowable branched organopolysiloxane, a hydrolysis condensation product of a dialkoxysilane containing an epoxy group, a hydrolysis condensation product of a dialkoxysilane containing an amino group and a fine silicone rubber powder (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H7-233351), a composition comprising a non-flowable branched organopolysiloxane, a diorganopolysiloxane containing an amino group, a hydrolysis condensation product of a dialkoxysilane containing an epoxy group, a hydrolysis condensation product of a dialkoxysilane containing an amino group, a trialkoxysilane containing a (meth)acryloyl group or an amino group and a fine silicone rubber powder (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H7-310051), a composition comprising an organopolysiloxane, a hydrolysis condensation product of a dialkoxysilane containing an epoxy group, a hydrolysis condensation product of a dialkoxysilane containing an amino group and a fine silicone rubber powder (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H8-245882), a composition composed of an organopolysiloxane containing a hydroxyl group, a hydrolysis condensation product of a dialkoxysilane containing an epoxy group, a water-soluble amino compound and a fine silicone rubber powder (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H9-53047), and a composition comprising an organopolysiloxane containing an alkoxy group or a hydroxyl group, an organotrialkoxysilane, an organoalkoxysilane containing an amide group and a carboxyl group, an organoalkoxysilane containing an epoxy group and a silicone rubber fine powder (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H11-49955).
Silicone resin compositions blended with a polycarbonate resin fine powder have also been proposed, an example of which is a composition comprising an organopolysiloxane having alkenyl groups, an organohydrogen polysiloxane and a fine polycarbonate resin powder (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H9-12891).
In addition, silicone resin compositions blended with a fine polyethylene resin powder have also been proposed, an example of which is a composition comprising a curable silicone compoound and a fine polyethylene resin powder (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2002-188056).

Abstract: (A-2) which is an alkoxysilane and, optionally, (A-3) which is a metal compound as a condensation catalyst; component (B) which is a polyurethane resin; and component (C) which is an organic resin fine powder having a melting point of 150° C. or higher and an average particle diameter of 0.5 to 50 μm.


The present invention provides a switching apparatus having a design intended to reduce wear on its key part. In an embodiment of the invention, a rotatable member is rotatably fixed on a pivot. A slidable bearing member has a first surface for engaging the rotatable member in a non-sliding manner, and an opposite second surface for slidingly engaging an abutment. Any significant wear on the switching apparatus is more likely to occur between the sliding member and the abutment, rather than between the rotatable member and the sliding member. In an embodiment, one of the rotatable member and the slidable bearing member includes a protuberance, and the other of the rotatable member and the slidable bearing member includes a corresponding indentation for engagement with the protuberance. The join formed between the protuberance and indentation provides a substantially non-sliding engagement between the rotatable member and the slidable bearing member.

The present invention relates to a switching apparatus for selectively engaging and disengaging a mechanism.
Chairs are known to have adjustment mechanisms for their various adjustable parts. For example, an angle a backrest makes with reference to a chair seat may be adjustable by an adjustment mechanism provided between the backrest and the seat. Similarly, the angle that the chair seat makes with reference to a seat support (and thus the floor) may be adjustable by an adjustment mechanism provided between the seat and the seat support. In order to control such adjustment mechanisms, a user operable switching apparatus may be provided.
A switching apparatus may employ a cam rotatable about a pivot by means of a handle. An example of such a switching apparatus is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,356,200 to Stumpf et al. In certain designs, the cam must bear a significant amount of force and, over time, the cam face may wear down. Excessive wear on the cam face may result in loosening of parts and early breakdown of the switching apparatus. It is thus desirable to design a mechanism with reduced mechanical wear on its key parts. U.S. Pat. No. 5,676,425 to Pernicka and U.S. Pat. No. 6,394,550 to Liu attempt to address this issue with a bearing plate against which the cam bears. However, the problem of cam wear remains.


A thin film capacitor comprises a dielectric thin film having a perovskite structure sandwiched between top and bottom electrodes. At least one of the top and bottom electrodes is made of a conductive oxide material having a perovskite structure represented with a general formula of ABO.sub.3 in which A represents A-site elements composed of at least two of alkaline-earth and rare earth metals, and B represents B-site elements composed of at least one of transition metals. The capacitors involve a small leakage current, occupy a small area, and provide large capacitance. Accordingly, the capacitors realize a high integration semiconductor memory such as a DRAM of gigabit order.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a thin film capacitor made of perovskite dielectric material and a semiconductor device having the thin film capacitor.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The integration and performance of semiconductor devices such as volatile memories like MOS DRAMs are rapidly improving. The integration density of memories has experienced fourfould increase for each new generation, which occurred nearly every three years. Such integration will continue because of expanding needs of integrated memories, and more critical dimensions will be required for the memories. Namely, the memories play a role of "process driver." High integration of memories is backed by various technological innovations, and more integrated memories will be developed. When the capacity of DRAMs was changed from one to four megabits, the cell structure thereof was also changed from a planar type to a three-dimensional type such as a stack type and a trench type. The 1-Mb DRAM employs a silicon oxide insulation film (SiO.sub.2) of about 10 nm thick to form a planar capacitor that provides required capacitance. The planar capacitor, however, is improper for the 4-Mb DRAM because each cell area of this DRAM is too small to accommodate the planar capacitor of required capacitance. To solve this problem, the three-dimensional structures have been proposed. Among them, a trench structure forms a capacitor in a trench, and a stack structure forms a multi-layered capacitor on a transistor. However, even the three-dimensional structures may be improper, or are difficult to fabricate 256-Mb and 1-Gb DRAMs as long as SiO.sub.2 is used for a capacitor insulation film. There are attempts to employ STO (SrTiO.sub.3) and BTO (BaTiO.sub.3) instead of SiO.sub.2 to form a capacitor insulation film having a perovskite structure and a high dielectric constant, for very high integration DRAMs.
Another attempt is to develop a ferroelectric capacitor memory. This is a nonvolatile memory that holds data even after power is cut. This memory has capacitors made of a ferroelectric thin film having a perovskite structure. Remnant polarization in the ferroelectric thin film quickly inverts when the film is sufficiently thin, to speedily achieve write and read operations like a volatile memory. It is easy to increase the capacity of this memory because each memory cell only consists of a transistor and a capacitor. A technique is studied to operate the ferroelectric capacitor memory like a DRAM without inverting remnant polarization in the capacitor. Just before power is cut, the technique uses the remnant polarization to operate the memory as a nonvolatile memory. This technique is advantageous in maintaining the performance of the ferroelectric thin film of the capacitor because the film may fatigue if the remnant polarization is frequently inverted.
Another attempt is made to employ the ferroelectric capacitor for a large bypass capacitor of a GaAs microwave monolithic integrated circuit (MMIC). Electrodes of this kind of capacitor are usually made of metal such as Pt, conductive metal oxide such as RuO.sub.2, or semiconductor oxide such as ITO (InTiO.sub.3) and STO:Nb.
When these electrodes are used with a dielectric film to form a capacitor of a volatile memory such as a DRAM, the apparent dielectric constant of the dielectric film drastically decreases if the dielectric film is very thin. In addition, the dielectric film may cause a large leakage current to deteriorate a memory function. When such electrodes are used with a ferroelectric film such as a PZT film to form a storage capacitor of a nonvolatile memory, charges accumulated in each interface between the ferroelectric film and the electrodes may fatigue and destabilize the memory function of the capacitor.
To stabilize the memory function of a volatile memory, it is necessary to suppress the leakage current of a capacitor of the memory. To achieve this, a known technique directly bonds metal electrodes to a dielectric film and forms a Schottky barrier in each interface between the metal electrodes and the dielectric film. The Schottky barrier, however, produces a steep electric field in the dielectric film and decreases the dielectric constant thereof. Namely, this technique is effective to reduce the leakage current of a capacitor but causes a steep potential gradient to decrease the dielectric constant of the capacitor on the contrary to the original aim. The height of a Schottky barrier to be formed in a given dielectric film is determined by the electron state of metal electrodes bonded to the dielectric film. When the metal of the electrodes is Pt, Au, W, or WN, the work function of the metal determines the barrier height. Namely, the barrier height is selectable according to the metal of the electrodes. In practice, however, metals suitable for fabricating semiconductor memories are limited, and therefore, the work functions of these metals are close to one another. Accordingly, it is difficult to choose an optimum barrier height.
Instead of forming the Schottky barrier, another prior art employs semiconductor electrodes made of ITO to form a depletion layer in the electrodes around each interface between the electrodes and a dielectric film that forms a capacitor together with the electrodes. The depletion layers, however, produce series-connected Junction capacitance to decrease the capacitance of the dielectric film. In addition, a shortage of interface potential increases a leakage current. ITO or STO:Nb is incapable of providing a required electrode resistivity of 1.times.10.sup.-3 .OMEGA. cm or below. Namely, the resistance of ITO or STO:Nb is too high.
To solve this problem, conductive oxide such as RuO2 is used to form electrodes of a capacitor. The electrodes may control the electron state of each interface between the electrodes and a dielectric film of the capacitor and optimize the dielectric characteristics of the capacitor. Such electrodes, however, form reactive products that degrade the dielectric characteristics of the capacitor. For example, RuO.sub.2 electrodes formed on a dielectric film of Sr.sub.1-x Ba.sub.x TiO.sub.3 form interface products mainly composed of SrRuO3. The electrodes also form a Ba rich layer in each interface. This Ba rich layer is ferroelectric to decrease the dielectric constant of the capacitor.
A perovskite dielectric thin film serving as a capacitor insulation film is usually made of BaTiO.sub.3 or SrTiO.sub.3 and has a manufacturing problem. To attain a high dielectric constant, the film must be processed under a high temperature. Accordingly, a bottom electrode on which the dielectric thin film is formed must be made from refractory metal such as platinum or palladium. It is impossible to use aluminum, copper, and Nichrome for the bottom electrode because they may vaporize during the high-temperature process or may react with the dielectric thin film to drastically decrease the dielectric constant of the film. The refractory metal, however, causes a problem of irregularities on the surface of the electrode during the high-temperature process to form the dielectric thin film. This results in providing the dielectric thin film with an uneven thickness to cause an uneven distribution of electric field. The electric field becomes stronger at a thin part of the dielectric thin film, to deteriorate the insulation characteristics of the film. When the dielectric thin film is epitaxially grown on the bottom electrode, the bottom electrode may roughen the film and may cause crystalline dislocation in the film, to thereby cause an abnormal distribution of charges. It is very difficult to carry out a finer and finer etching process on the refractory metal electrode. If W or WN, which is very easy to process, is used to form the bottom electrode or a barrier metal, the surface of the electrode or barrier metal will have irregularities. If the perovskite dielectric thin film is directly grown on the W or WN electrode, WO.sub.3 will be produced to spoil the function of the electrode or barrier metal.

Thin film capacitor with electrodes having a perovskite structure and a metallic conductivity


A recording apparatus includes a head unit, which includes a driver, and a recording data transmitter that transfers recording data to the head unit via a signal line. The recording apparatus further includes a switching unit in the head unit that switches a driving signal applied to the driver between conductive and nonconductive states based on the transferred recording data, a partition signal output unit in the recording data transmitter that outputs a partition signal that partitions a data signal of the recording data to the head unit in response to switching by the switching unit, and a data selector in the head unit that selects data to be discarded from the transferred recording data based on the partition signal.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a recording apparatus and a recording apparatus control method.
2. Background Art
In inkjet printing systems that use a piezoelectric device as a driving unit, a voltage in the form of a driving waveform is applied to the piezoelectric device to deform the piezoelectric device and thereby change the capacity of an ink channel to discharge ink droplets from nozzles in a print head. The driving waveform is selected from among a plurality of driving waveforms each consisting of multiple driving pulses and applied to the piezoelectric device by switching a switching circuit between conductive and nonconductive states according to image gradation data. Consequently, the timing and size of the ink droplets discharged from the nozzles in the print head can be controlled in multiple stages.
A problem arises in that noise is generated in the power supply voltage and ground due to the operation of the switching circuit in the print head. In addition, since signal lines are laid out close to each other in flat flexible cables, wire noise can be generated easily. Noise affects the bit values of transferred recording data, because the driving pulses are relatively high-voltage pulses, e.g., from 30V to 50V. As a result, corrupted bit values produce such problems as the discharge of ink droplets of the wrong size or at the wrong time.
To cope with these problems, for example, a technology that uses a printing data stop control unit to control a printing data transmission unit to temporarily stop the transmission of data and a clock based on a switching signal that determines the timing of turning on/off a switching circuit located on the recording head side, and also determines the timing of switching between driving pulses has been proposed (e.g., JP-2010-120181-A).

Recording apparatus and recording apparatus control method


The present invention discloses a design for a single-chip dual-axis magnetic field sensor, based on magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) elements and permanent magnets integrated on a semiconductor substrate to produce two types of sensor bridges that detect orthogonal magnetic field components. The orthogonal magnetic field component detection capability results from the different types of sensor bridges that can be produced by varying the shape of the MTJ elements and the bias fields that can be created by permanent magnets. Because the permanent magnets can create orthogonal bias fields on the different sensor bridges, it is possible to use a single pinned layer to set direction for both sensor bridges. This is advantageous because it permits the two-axis sensor to be fabricated on a single semiconductor chip without the need for specialized processing technology such as local heating, or deposition of multiple magnetoresistive films with different pinned layers setting directions.

Magnetic sensors are widely used in modern systems to measure or detect physical parameters including but not limited to magnetic field strength, current, position, motion, orientation, and so forth. There are many different types of sensors in the prior art for measuring magnetic field and other parameters. However, they all suffer from various limitations well known in the art, for example, excessive size, inadequate sensitivity and/or dynamic range, cost, reliability and other factors. Thus, there continues to be a need for improved magnetic sensors, especially sensors that can be easily integrated with semiconductor devices and integrated circuits and manufacturing methods thereof.
Magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) sensors have the advantages of high sensitivity, small size, low cost, and low power consumption. Although MTJ devices are compatible with standard semiconductor fabrication processes, methods for building high sensitivity devices with sufficient yield for low cost mass production have not been adequately developed. In particular, yield issues due to offset in the magnetoresistive response of MTJ sensors, and difficulty in matching the magnetoresistive response of MTJ elements when combined to form bridge sensors have proven difficult. Likewise, the manufacturing process for two-axis magnetic field sensors integrated on a single semiconductor substrate has proven difficult.

Single-chip two-axis magnetic field sensor


An ink jet recording apparatus for forming an image on a recording medium having: a carrying section for carrying the recording medium; a line head for jetting ink to the recording medium, the head line being provided in a direction approximately perpendicular to a carrying direction of the recording medium which is carried by the carrying section; an active energy ray radiation section for radiating an active energy ray to the ink jetted on the recording medium to cure the ink; and a temperature controlling mechanism for controlling the temperature of the recording medium which is carried by the carrying section within a preset target temperature range.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus which jets ink in droplets form onto a recording medium to form an image thereon.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, in an ink jet image forming method, an image can be formed easily and at low cost in comparison with a gravure printing method, so that the ink jet image forming method has been applied in various printing fields such as special printing and the like, that is, a photograph, various printings, marking, color filter and so forth.
Particularly, in the ink jet image forming method, an ink jet recording apparatus of the ink jet image forming method which jets and controls a small dot, ink which has an improved gamut of color reproduction, endurance, aptitude for jetting ink and the like, and an specific paper which has dramatically improved ink absorptivity, coloring property of coloring material, surface gloss and the like are combined for use so as to obtain image quality comparable to a silver salt photograph.
An improved image quality of the ink jet image forming method can be obtained when the ink jet recording apparatus, the ink and the specific paper are all provided. However, if the recording apparatus needs the specific paper, the type of recording medium is limited. This results in high cost for recording medium and restricted application of the ink jet recording apparatus. Thus, lots of attempts have been made to form an image by the ink jet image forming method on a recording medium other than the specific paper. To put it more concretely, that is a phase-change ink jet method using wax ink which is solid at room temperature, a solvent-based ink jet method using an ink which main component is a quick-drying organic solvent, a UV ink jet method in which ink is irradiated with ultraviolet (UV) after forming an image and the like.
Particularly, in the UV ink jet method, less odor is produced in comparison with the solvent-based ink jet method. Moreover, an image can be formed on a recording medium which is no quick-drying property and absorptivity. Thus, recently, much attention has been paid to the UV ink jet method. For example, Japanese Patent Application Publication (Examined) No. Tokukou-Hei 5-54667, Japanese Patent Application (Unexamined) No. Tokukai-Hei 6-200204 and Patent Application Kohyo Publication (National Publication of Japanese Translation Version) No. Tokuhyo 2000-504778 disclose an ultraviolet curable ink (hereinafter referred to simply as UV ink).
However, the diameter of a dot changes a lot after placing the ink according to the working environment or the type of a recording medium even if the UV ink is used. Thus, there is less possibility to form an image with a high quality and a high-definition on any type of recording medium.
In a usual UV ink, there is a problem that the UV ink shrinks while curing, so that a recording medium shrinks as the UV ink shrinks. Specially, the ink shrinks more while curing on a thin plastic film, an adhesive label or the like which is used for soft packing including food packing. Accordingly, the UV ink jet method has not been put to practical use in printing on the soft packing or label printing.
Radical polymerization ink and cationic polymerization ink have been known as the UV ink. The inventors have found that shrinkage of the ink which occurs while forming an image can be prevented by using the cationic polymerization ink, specially the cationic polymerization ink with a specific composition, even if the jetted ink is received on the above-described thin plastic film or adhesive label.
However, the curing property of the cationic polymerization ink is easily affected by water (humidity). For example, when the cationic polymerization ink is received on the recording medium to form an image, there is a problem that the cationic polymerization ink is not cured enough due to an effect of ambient humidity even if UV radiation is irradiated on the cationic polymerization ink.
A UV ink jet recording apparatus jets the UV ink from a head toward the recording medium. When the UV ink which is jetted from the UV ink jet recording apparatus is received on the recording medium, the UV ink with droplets form spreads on a surface of the recording medium to form a UV ink dot on the recording medium. It is preferable that each diameter of a plurality of dots which are formed on the recording medium does not differ a lot for forming a high-definition image on the recording medium. However, if the cationic polymerization ink is not cured in a short period of time after irradiation of UV radiation due to an effect of ambient humidity as described above, each diameter of the dots greatly differs. Accordingly, in light of forming a high-definition image, the effect of humidity cannot be neglected.


A wearable motion supporting device includes a waist portion frame having a long base portion in a right-left direction of a wearer, a pair of right and left lower extremity frames connected to a lower portion of the waist portion frame, a back portion frame connected to an upper portion of the base portion of the waist portion frame, and a connection portion connecting the back portion frame and the base portion of the waist portion frame. The connection portion is made of a rotational mechanism of one DOF (Degree Of Freedom) on a frontal plane, for example, a four-node link mechanism.

In recent years, a wearable motion supporting device has been put to practical use, which is worn on a body of an elderly person or a physically handicapped person, and assists and substitutes for muscle strength to thereby support motions such as walking and riding (moving between a wheelchair and a bed, and the like). This technique has also been applied to development of a wearable motion supporting device that assists heavy work of a non-handicapped person. In order to drive the wearable motion supporting device for a long time, a battery having a long life is required. The above-described battery is generally large and heavy. Consequently, wearable motion supporting devices each having a structure that does not put a load of the device including the battery and a wearing fixture on a wearer have been described in Patent Documents 1, 2.
As shown in FIG. 14A, a wearable motion assisting device described in Patent Document 1 includes a wearing fixture 101 provided with an actuator, a biological signal sensor 102 that detects a biological signal of a wearer, and a control device 103 that operates the actuator, based on the biological signal of the wearer. The wearing fixture 101 includes a waist portion 104 wrapped around a trunk of the wearer, a backpack 105 inserted into the waist portion 104 from above, and leg portions 106 fixed to legs of the wearer. In the backpack 105, a battery and the control device 103 are housed. The leg portions 106 each include a hip joint actuator 111 fixed to a lower portion of the waist portion 104, a thigh orthosis 112, a knee joint actuator 113, a lower thigh orthosis 114 and a foot frame 115, which are connected to one another in this order. Since the wearing fixture 101 has the foot frames 115 to put feet of the wearer on, loads of the backpack and the wearing fixture are all supported by the foot frames without being applied to the wearer.
In Patent Document 2, a lower extremity exoskeleton device is described. The lower extremity exoskeleton device described in FIG. 9 in Patent Document 2 includes a pelvis frame 120, a back portion frame 121 connected to an upper portion of the pelvis frame 120, and lower extremity frames 123 connected to a lower portion of the pelvis frame 120, as shown in FIG. 15. In this lower extremity exoskeleton as well, a foot frame 124 to put a foot of the wearer on is provided in each of the lower extremity frames 123.


A reusable EAS tag that is detachable from an article by placing the EAS tag in proximity to a detaching device is provided. The tag includes an energy coupler, a micro-actuator, and a clamping mechanism. The detaching device transmits a signal to the EAS tag to signal detachment, which is received by the energy coupler. The energy coupler converts the energy from the transmitted signal to electrical energy and delivers the electrical energy to the actuator. The actuator converts the electrical energy to mechanical energy to actuate the clamping mechanism and release the tag's locking or clamping mechanism for removal of the tag from the article to which it is attached.

1. Field of the Invention
This application relates to electronic article surveillance (EAS) tags, and more particularly to a reusable EAS tag that is proximity detached by electromagnetic energy.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electronic article surveillance systems are well known in the art and are used in many applications including inventory control and to prevent theft and unauthorized removal of articles from a controlled area. Typically, in such systems a system transmitter and a system receiver are used to establish a surveillance zone, which must be traversed by any articles being removed from the controlled area.
An EAS tag is affixed to each article and includes a marker or sensor adapted to interact with a signal being transmitted by the system transmitter into the surveillance zone. This interaction causes a further signal to be established in the surveillance zone which further signal is received by the system receiver. Accordingly, upon movement of a tagged article through the surveillance zone, a signal will be received by the system receiver identifying the unauthorized presence of the tagged article in the zone.
Certain types of EAS tags have been designed to be reusable and, thus, include releasable attachment devices for affixing the tags to the articles. Such attachment devices are further designed to be releasable by authorized personnel only so that unauthorized removal of a tag from its article is avoided. To this end, many attachment devices are made releasable only through the use of an associated special tool or detaching mechanism.
An EAS tag employing an attachment device and an associated detacher is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,942,829, entitled Reusable Security Tag, issued to Humble, et al. on Mar. 9, 1976. The EAS tag of the '829 patent includes a tag body and an attachment device in the form of a tack assembly. The tack assembly includes an enlarged head and a tack body having a pointed end, which serves to pierce through an article and to be receivable in and clamped to the tag body. This secures the article and tag together.
In the tag of the '829 patent, the tack is clamped to the tag body using a spring clamp formed as a clutch lock with spreadable jaws. Once the article is pierced, the pointed tack end is received in the tag body and is secured between the jaws of the clutch lock. This locks the tack and the tag body forming the EAS tag to the article so that the tag and article cannot be readily separated from each other.
In order for authorized personnel to be able to release the tack from the clutch lock and, therefore, the tag from the article, the '829 patent utilizes a detacher mechanism which is adapted to grip the tag body and apply a bending force thereto. This force is sufficient to deform the clutch lock so that the jaws of the clutch lock are spread apart, thereby releasing the tack. The tack can then be removed from the tag body so that the article and tag become separated from one another.
To permit the bending of the tag body sufficiently to deform the clutch lock, the tag body of the '829 patent must be made of a flexible material. Typically, flexible plastic materials such as, for example, polypropylene, have been used. Such materials, however, are susceptible to being cut and damaged. This tends to be a disadvantage, since it increases the likelihood that the locking feature of the tag can be separated from the EAS sensor part of the tag or can be exposed and defeated.
Another type of EAS security device is known in which a variation of the spring clamp of the '829 patent has been incorporated into a so-called keeper for a compact disc. This type of device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,031,756, entitled Keeper For Compact Disc Package Or The Like, issued to Buzzard, et al. on Jul. 16, 1991.
The keeper of the '756 patent comprises a rigid plastic frame. One side of the frame is provided with an enlarged section which houses a tack-like button assembly and a spring clamp as in the '829 patent. In this case, the spring clamp is used to lock the button assembly in a first position. In this position, the pointed end of the button assembly protrudes into the frame to pierce and hold to the frame a cardboard container containing a compact disc. As a result, unauthorized removal of the compact disc with the frame causes an EAS sensor also incorporated into the frame, to generate a detectable signal for alarming an EAS system.
In the keeper of the '756 patent, the enlarged section of the frame is provided with opposing linear slots, which lead to the region between the jaws of the spring clamp. By inserting ramped linear fingers into these slots, the fingers are guided into this region, causing the jaws to flex outward. This releases the button enabling it to be withdrawn from the cardboard container. The container and its housed compact disc can then be separated from the frame.
While the keeper of the '756 patent utilizes a spring clamp of the '829 patent type in a rigid frame, it also has certain drawbacks. One drawback is that the linear slots leading to the spring clamp permit in-line viewing and access to the clamp. This increases the susceptibility of the clamp to defeat, since linear objects can be inserted into the slots in an attempt to open the jaws. Another drawback is that the fingers of the detacher are required to be of high precision, since they must be received in the region between the spring clamp jaws. This increases the cost and complexity of the detacher.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,426,419, entitled Security Tag Having Arcuate Channel And Detacher Apparatus For Same, issued to Nguyen, et al. on Jun. 20, 1995, discloses an EAS tag that has a hard tag body, which is adapted to be releasable from an article in an easy and simple manner by insertion of an arcuate probe of an associated detacher device into an arcuate channel of the tag to release a spring clamp mechanism. The spring clamp mechanism is a releasable locking mechanism that prevents removal of the tack assembly that is adapted for insertion through an article, which is captured when inserted into an opening in a portion of the tag body. The EAS tag of the '419 patent is more difficult to defeat than the above tags and is in worldwide use.
The EAS tag of the '419 patent can be defeated by insertion of a segment of relatively rigid metal bent in an arcuate manner to simulate the arcuate probe of the associated detacher device. U.S. Pat. No. 6,373,390, entitled Electronic Article Surveillance Tag Having Arcuate Channel, issued to Hogan, et al. on Apr. 16, 2002, discloses a device usable in the EAS tag of the '419 patent to reduce the potential for defeats by insertion of simulated arcuate probes. As each improvement in defeat resistance is implemented, new techniques for unauthorized tag removal are developed. An improved EAS tag detachment mechanism is needed to reduce the incidence of unauthorized EAS tag detachments.
An alternate to a reusable EAS tag is a disposable EAS tag or EAS label. Instead of detachment from an article that is authorized for removal, EAS labels are typically deactivated so they do not interact with the EAS surveillance zone and are not detected by the associated EAS receiver when the article is removed. Deactivation is normally accomplished by exposing the label to an electromagnetic field or pulse of preselected waveform, frequency, amplitude, and/or duration. Deactivation normally occurs near the cash register in a retail environment, and may be linked to a barcode scanner or to radio frequency identification (RFID) equipment. In some cases, the deactivator equipment may be triggered as the article is scanned for checkout.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,867,101, entitled Multi-Phase Mode Multiple Coil Distance Deactivator for Magnetomechanical Marker, issued to Copeland, et al. on Feb. 2, 1999, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,060,988, entitled EAS Marker Deactivation Device Having Core-Wound Energized Coils, issued to Copeland, et al. on May 9, 2000, disclose deactivators suitable for deactivating magnetomechanical or acoustomagentic EAS labels and are available from Sensormatic Electronics Corporation, Boca Raton, Fla. Deactivators for radio frequency (RF), and other technology EAS labels are also commercially available. In some instances, retail merchants may use reusable EAS tags and disposable EAS labels in one store, which requires separate detaching and deactivation mechanisms for different purchases. If a deactivator could be used to detach EAS tags, the burden of the retailer to have multiple mechanisms would be eliminated, and the mechanical techniques for unauthorized detaching of EAS tags could also be reduced.
In addition, detaching of EAS tags requires the presentation of the tag to the detaching device and/or the application of mechanical force by the operator. Detaching by simply placing the EAS tag in proximity to a detaching mechanism would speed up the detaching process, thereby reducing the time required for each transaction, decreasing costs, and increasing customer satisfaction.

Proximity detaching for electronic article surveillance tags


A bleaching/cleaning composition is provided that includes a surfactant, a peroxy bleach compound and a ligand L which is a macrocyclic organic compound of formula: ##STR1## wherein: t is an integer from 2 to 3;. s is an integer from 3 to 4; PA0 R.sup.1, R.sup.2 and R.sup.3 are each independently hydrogen, alkyl, aryl or a substituted alkyl or aryl.. The preferred ligand is 1,4,7-trimethyl-1,4,7-triazacyclononane.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to activation of bleaches employing peroxy compounds including hydrogen peroxide or hydrogen peroxide adducts, which liberate hydrogen peroxide in aqueous solution, and peroxy acids; to compounds that activate or catalyse peroxy compounds; to bleach compositions, including detergent bleach compositions, which contain a catalyst for peroxy compounds; and to processes for bleaching and/or washing substrates using the aforementioned types of compositions.
In particular, the invention is concerned with the use of a class of organic ligand molecules and, optionally, a source of iron and/or manganese ions as a catalyst for bleach activation of peroxy compound bleaches.
2. The Related Art
Complexes having the general formula: EQU ]L.sub.n Mn.sub.m X.sub.p ].sup.z Y.sub.q (A)
wherein Mn is manganese which can be either in the II, III, IV or V oxidation state, or mixtures thereof; n and m are independent integers from 1-4; X represents a coordinating or bridging species; p is an integer from 0-12; Y is a counter-ion, the type of which is dependent upon the charge z of the complex; z is the charge of the complex and is an integer which can be positive, zero or negative; q=.sup.z /[charge Y]; and L is a ligand being a macrocyclic molecule of general formula: ##STR2## wherein R.sup.1 and R.sup.2 can each independently be zero, H, alkyl, or a substituted alkyl; each D can independently be N, NR, PR, O or S wherein R is H, alkyl, aryl or a substituted alkyl or aryl, t and t' are each independently 2 or 3, and s is 2,3,4 or 5, have been described in EP-A-0,458,397 as effective catalysts for bleaching with peroxy compounds.

Lever Brothers Company, Division of Conopco, Inc.


A sensor for detecting RF current flowing in a conductor includes a layer 10 of insulating material with a hole 16 for the passage of the RF conductor 18 in a direction normal to the layer. A plurality of conductive tracks 20, 22 (FIG. 3) on the opposite major surfaces of the layer are selectively joined by a plurality of through-holes each containing conductive material. The conductive material selectively connects the conductive elements 20, 22 to form a plurality of loops (FIG. 4) disposed non-parallel to the layer 10 for inductive coupling to the RF conductor 18.

This invention relates to a sensor for use in the measurement of the radio frequency (RF) current flowing in a conductor, for example in plasma processes such as those used to fabricate semiconductor devices.
Plasmas are widely used to process materials, including etching and depositing layers. Many of the plasma processes are critical steps in the production of electronic devices.
Production plasmas are normally produced by the application of RF voltages (0.1 to 100 mHz) to low pressure gas reactors. The electrical or electro-magnetic field causes a breakdown in the gas and aids the surface modification, etching or deposition of the material in a controlled way. As well as producing the plasma, high frequency voltages are also used to bias the surface being processed in order to enhance the required process. It is well known in the prior art that the current and voltage at the process surface are correlated with process rates, process quality, and surface damage. The current and phase in the absence of a plasma are determined by the chamber impedance and applied voltage. The chamber impedance is also a critical parameter in determining process quality or fault detection/classification.
The plasma is a conducting gas containing electrons and ions that are free to conduct electrical current. The ions have lower mobility than the electrons and the plasma has a current-voltage characteristic similar to a diode. This diode characteristic tends to rectify the applied radio frequency current and generate harmonics. The intensity of the harmonics is correlated to plasma parameters and other process parameters of interest to the process engineer. The harmonics also have an impact on the accuracy of conventional sensors and can cause unwanted damage to circuitry.
In general, in industry the current state of the art recognises the importance of accurate control of chamber impedance, current and voltage levels and harmonic content (see, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,314,603, 5,472,561, 5,866,985 and 5,910,011). However, the lack of accurate, robust and cost effective sensing and measuring circuits at high power with non-standard and non-linear load impedance have limited the ability of industry to apply many of these techniques. This limits the repeatability of plasma process and has a yield impact that cost industries such as the Semiconductor industry many millions of dollars annually.
There is a need in many industries using plasma processes generated by radio frequency (RF) voltages to measure accurately the current, voltage and the phase between them, at the applied frequency and at higher harmonics in varying non-linear reactive and inductive loads. In some cases several variable frequencies are applied simultaneously.
In principle, voltage and current measurements are straightforward. The standard approach, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,325,019, uses a single loop for current sensing and a capacitor for voltage sensing.
An improvement to this circuit is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,808,415 and uses a sensor having two pick-up loops to increase the accuracy of the current detection. In this case the current-carrying conductor is divided in the region of the sensor and the sensor is inserted between the two parts of the conductor so that the loops lie one on each side of the conductor. The sensor carries the two loops as a pattern of conductive material formed on a layer of insulating material. This allows for a cheap robust sensor that has substantial reduced pick-up of stray field due to external sources of RF or through non-symmetries in the RF field surrounding the current-carrying conductor.
A need now exist for a sensor capable of more accurate measurement of RF current, for use, for example, in the control of increasingly complex plasma processes.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a sensor for detecting RF current flowing in a conductor, the sensor comprising at least one layer of insulating material, a hole through the layer(s) for the passage therethrough of the RF conductor in a direction substantially normal to the layer(s), a plurality of conductive elements on at least two major surfaces of the layer(s), and a plurality of through-holes in the layer(s) each containing conductive material, the through-holes being so positioned that the conductive material selectively connects the conductive elements on said at least two major surfaces to form with said elements a plurality of loops disposed non-parallel to the layer(s) for inductive coupling to the RF conductor.
Preferably the loops are connected in series and, most preferably, substantially completely surround the hole.
Preferably at least three and most preferably at least eight loops are formed, but the invention allows the fabrication of an arbitrary number of loops and, in general, the greater the number of loops the greater the immunity to external fields or non-uniformity in the magnetic field around the current-carrying conductor. Further, this is achieved without the need to split the current-carrying conductor.
In an embodiment the sensor also incorporates an RF voltage sensor in the form of a layer of conductive material on a surface of one of the layers for capacitive coupling to the RF conductor.
An embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:


Prepaid PTT service calls through a switched mobile communication network may originate at off-net roaming locations. A flag is set in a mobile telephone station indicating that the mobile station is that of a prepaid subscriber, to set a PTT client program to its “prepaid mode.” When the prepaid mobile station initiates a PTT call while roaming off-net, the call is directed to a prepaid server, and the PTT client program assists the subscriber to re-enter the called number when the prepaid server prompts the subscriber to do so. The call can then be extended from the prepaid server platform to a PTT switch for establishing communication with one or more selected contacts in a contact list, based on translation of the contact number to one or more destination telephone numbers for the called contact(s).

Traditional push-to-talk (PTT) communication utilized two or more radio transceiver stations, all tuned to the same channel. When not transmitting, the transceivers received any signal carried over the channel and supplied any received audio to the users. A user wishing to speak pushed a button, which caused that user's transceiver to broadcast audio over the common channel to the other transceiver(s) that shared the channel. Modern public cellular communication systems have evolved in recent years to offer a wide range of voice and data communications services. Many such services emulate traditional voice telephone services offered originally by the public switched telephone network, but the cellular implementation enhances the services with high degree of mobility. In recent years, it has become popular for cellular communication service providers to offer a PTT service to their customers.
The service providers and their equipment vendors have developed a number of different implementations for supporting PTT through wireless mobile networks. Discussion here focuses on implementations of PTT that utilize voice-switched calls through mobile switching centers of a cellular network. In support of such a PTT service implementation, the carrier deploys a switch referred to as a PTT service specific switch (PTT SSS). Voice calls between the PTT service's subscribers are routed through the PTT SSS, which controls the advanced PTT features and differentiates the PTT service from ordinary voice telephone service through the cellular network. As discussed below, problems arising in handling of PTT call for roaming prepaid subscribers. It may be helpful to consider PTT routing and network handling of prepaid calls in some detail, to understand the problems.
For subscribers roaming "off-net" (i.e. receiving service from an MSC belonging to one of the carrier roaming partners), PTT call routing may rely on the use of a mobile station resident PTT client program that stores a centrally administered contact list. Typically, a PTT subscriber places a PTT call by selecting a name corresponding to a contact from the list stored in the subscriber's mobile station, and the resident PTT client program causes this station to place the PTT call. The names corresponding to the contact list may be the names of other PTT users, the names of predefined groups of other PTT users, or a mixture of both. The PTT call goes through the mobile communication network to the PTT SSS.
Even when the selected contact is an individual subscriber, rather than a group, the actual number stored in the contact list for that contact is an alias numbers rather than the actual phone number of the contact, since PTT calls must be routed to the PTT SSS rather than to the called contact's Home MSC. While the subscriber identifies contacts by their names and actual corresponding telephone numbers for establishment of the contact in the system, the alias numbers are managed and translated through the PTT SSS. The alias numbers for the contacts on the subscriber's list are downloaded into the PTT client program in the mobile station, and the PTT client uses one of those alias numbers to make each PTT call. The alias numbers are limited in extent, the same alias numbers being assigned to a plurality of subscribers and may translate to different contacts for each of that plurality of subscribers. A table is maintained at the PTT SSS that correlates the alias numbers with the actual phone numbers, for each subscribing mobile station contact list. The alias numbers in the contact lists are subject to change, thus requiring the contact lists to be centrally administered in order to maintain correlation between the subscriber's named contacts and their phone numbers. Updated contact lists are downloaded to the mobile station resident clients when the updates occur. Because of the use of the contact list and aliases, the user typically does not know the number that the PTT client program uses to initiate a PTT communication and may not even remember the actual telephone number of the other party or parties.
For postpay subscribers there is no issue of concern, however, the use of the contact list and aliases raises concerns for prepaid operations, particularly when a prepaid mobile station is roaming off-net. A brief review of prepaid service may help to establish context for further discussion of PTT.
Many providers offering communication services through wireless mobile communication networks offer many of the services on a prepaid basis. As prepaid subscriptions to wireless communications services have become increasingly popular, prepaid availability has been extended to PTT service. Prepaid subscriptions are beneficial both to subscribers and the providers. The customer can budget an amount of airtime that will be used during a certain period of time to insure that the limited cost will not be exceeded. The wireless service provider receives payment in advance and avoids the risk that the customer will default on a bill that can occur with a postpay arrangement.
Conventionally, the prepaid wireless service customer purchases blocks of time for making voice telephone calls via a cellular telephone network. Upon connecting to the wireless communications network, the customer account is authorized and authenticated, and the network allows a call to proceed. The network monitors the customer's usage time and decrements from the customer's account. If the account becomes depleted, the system can either prompt the customer to purchase more time, or the system can terminate the call.
Prepaid network services offered by wireless carriers rely on intelligent network triggers to provide access to the carrier's prepaid server when a call is initiated to a called destination. The carrier's prepaid server times and rates a call originating from a location in the carrier's network, and the prepaid server deducts appropriate charges from the subscriber's prepaid account. The prepaid server can block or disconnect such a call if the subscriber is out of funds.
However, the use of intelligent network triggers or carrier specific techniques are not applicable when the prepaid subscriber is roaming "off-net." For this reason, prepaid services rely on "hotlining" of calls originated by a prepaid subscriber roaming off-net to the home carrier's prepaid server. The serving off-net mobile switching center (MSC) that provides service to the roaming subscriber replaces the telephone number dialed by the subscriber with a number for the prepaid server, which was received by the serving MSC from the subscriber's home location register (HLR) when the roaming subscriber's mobile station registered with the serving MSC. Consequently, before a prepaid call can be completed successfully to the intended destination, the prepaid server must prompt the roaming subscriber to reenter the called number in order to extend the call further. With the destination number, the prepaid server can pass the call to a network switch for routing to the desired destination. The home carrier's prepaid server can then time, rate and control the call, which is forwarded for completion to the called destination. However, such processing of prepaid calls for roaming subscribers raises issues with regard to routing of voice calls for PTT type service based on contact lists and aliases.
With the "hotlining" of PTT calls originated to the prepaid platform when the subscriber is roaming "off-net," the originally transmitted contact number information (alias) is replaced with the prepaid server number when the call is routed from the visited area MSC to the prepaid server. When the prepaid server prompts the roaming subscriber to reenter the destination number in order to extend the call further, the PTT customer is not likely to be able to readily respond to the reentry prompt in the context of a PTT call. Even if the selected contact is a single individual and the subscriber knows that contact's phone number, user input of that phone number would not properly direct the PTT call the PTT SSS. The PTT call thus would fail if the subscriber cannot reenter the correct PTT alias number.
As a result, carriers introducing voice call-based PTT services face a choice of either only offering PTT service to postpay type subscribers, or offering their prepaid subscribers a limited version of the PTT service that only allows prepaid subscribers to originate PTT calls when they are on-net. Neither of these options is commercially attractive.
Hence a need exists for a prepaid PTT service that can be implemented effectively for mobile calls that originate at roaming as well as on-net locations. Such a service should eliminate incompatibility between the roaming design of the voice call-based PTT services and the roaming design of the prepaid services being offered by many wireless carriers. System enhancements should avoid imposition of specially designed PTT handsets for prepaid subscribers, thereby enabling a wireless carrier to maintain only a single inventory of PTT handsets.

Push-to-talk wireless communication for prepaid mobile subscribers


A probe is provided for an SPM (Scanning Probe Microscope), and a method is provided for fabricating the probe in which a double side alignment process is not required to simplify the fabricating. The probe includes a cantilever; a body supporting the cantilever; and a tip formed at an end of the cantilever, wherein the cantilever, the body and the tip are made of silicon, and boron is diffused into the cantilever and a predetermined area of the body. The method includes steps of: forming a first mask layer on an area of a silicon substrate to be formed with the body and the tip; etching the silicon substrate in a predetermined depth using the first mask layer to form the tip; removing the first mask and forming a second mask layer on an area of the silicon substrate except for an area to be formed with the body and the cantilever; forming a boron-diffused layer by diffusing boron into an area to be formed with the cantilever and a predetermined area of the body using the second mask; removing the second mask layer and forming a third mask layer on the boron-diffused layer; and etching the silicon substrate using the third mask layer to form the body and the cantilever.

The present invention is directed to a probe used for a scanning probe microscope (hereinafter, referred to as SPM) and a method of fabricating the probe. More particularly, the present invention is directed to a probe for an SPM and a method of fabricating the probe in which a double side alignment process is not required to simplify the fabricating.
The SPM is a microscope capable of observing various shapes on a surface of an object by nano meters that cannot be observed by an optical or electron microscope, and is used widely, now. In recent years, methods for realizing a highly integrated storage device using the SPM have been studied and much used in a photolithography for forming fine patterns. In the SPM, a probe is used to scan a surface of an object.
A general structure of a probe is shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is a photograph of a probe taken by a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The probe includes a cantilever 101, a body 102 supporting the cantilever 101 and a tip 103 formed at the end of the cantilever 101. The cantilever 101 includes two legs of which one ends are connected to a side of the body 102 and of which the other ends are connected to each other, so that the two legs form a triangle. A position where the other ends of the two legs are connected to each other is formed with the tip 103.
The conventional probe is made of silicon dioxide, silicon nitride, metal, silicon and the like. Specifically, silicon is widely used as probe material because of its excellent mechanical characteristic. When the silicon is used as probe material, silicon on insulator (SOI) wafer is usually as a silicon substrate.
An example of fabricating a probe of a AFM (Atomic Force Microscope) using the SOI wafer is described in a paper published with IEEE in 1991 by C. F. Quate et al., entitled "Atomic Force Microscope Using a Piezoresistive Cantilever". According to this paper, a silicon cantilever is fabricated through a double side alignment process, using a silicon dioxide at the center of the SOI wafer as an etching-stopper layer. In this case, the cantilever is made of silicon with an excellent mechanical characteristic to obtain a sharp tip. However, because a complicate double side alignment process is used and a position of the silicon dioxide where etching is stopped is varied according to a thickness of the SOI wafer, a length of the cantilever is not constant. Also, because the SOI wafer is expensive, cost in mass production thereof increases.
An example of fabricating a probe of a AFM (Atomic Force Microscope) using silicon dioxide, silicon nitride, metal and the like except for the silicon is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,968,585, patented to T. R. Albrecht et. al, on Nov. 6th in 1990 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,021,364, patented to C. F. Quate et. al, on Jun. 4th in 1991. In these patents in which the probe of a AFM is made of silicon dioxide, silicon nitride, metal and the like, the mechanical characteristic of the cantilever is not as good as that of the silicon cantilever and a range in which a thickness of the cantilever can be adjusted is limited. In addition, deposition characteristic of deposited films make the tip not as sharp as the silicon tip.
Therefore, a probe for an SPM and a method of fabricating the probe in which a probe with an excellent performance can be fabricated in simpler processes and in lower cost have been required.

Method of fabricating probe for scanning probe microscope

Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology