A method and system for computer access is provided. The method and system include an integrated remote access system comprising multiple cooperating non-dedicated remote access servers that provide access to a computer network such as the Internet, an intranet or other computer network for a switching office on a Public Switched Telephone Network ("PSTN"). The integrated remote access system is assigned a unique office code and other switching offices in the PSTN route access requests for the computer network to the integrated remote access system as though it were an actual switching office. No actual line numbers or ports are assigned by the PSTN for the integrated remote access system, increasing the number of available lines and ports on actual switching offices. The integrated remote access system eliminates the need for dedicated remote access servers to provide access to a computer network thereby decreasing costs for a network access server provider. The cooperating non-dedicated remote access servers that comprise the integrated remote access system are configured specifically to handle access requests and long duration connections to a computer network such as the Internet. Thus, capacity and performance are increased on the PSTN.

A variety of computing devices are often accessed together to form a "computer network." The computer network may be a Local Area Network ("LAN") that access devices over a small geographical area, or a Wide Area Network ("WAN") that access devices over a large geographical area. A user with a computer and a telephony device such as a modem may establish a connection to a desired computer network (e.g., the Internet, an intranet, or another computer network) using a Public Switched Telephone Network ("PSTN"). The PSTN is any of those provided by AT&T, GTE, a Regional Bell Operating Company and others comprising multiple switching offices. Access to a desired computer network (e.g., the Internet) is provided by a network access service provider (e.g., America-On-Line, Netcom, etc.), which charge a user a fee to use dedicated access equipment to provide access to the desired computer network.
A user's access request for computer network access via a PSTN originates at a local end switching office, is sent to a central switching office, one or more intermediate switching offices and finally to a remote end switching office where dedicated access equipment for the desired computer network is accessed. The computer network typically has one or more dedicated Remote Access Servers ("RAS") that are connected to the end switching office to provide network access. The one or more dedicated RAS are connected to one or more trunks that provide an interface to the PSTN. The one or more dedicated RAS provide access to one computer network service provider (e.g., America-On-Line ("AOL"), Microsoft Network, Netcom, etc.) in a local service area. A dedicated RAS includes multiple telephony devices such as banks of modems, trunks and other telephony devices that provide connections to the one computer network from a PSTN.
An end office, and then a dedicated RAS receives incoming calls from the PSTN and forwards them to a computer network to provide network access. A dedicated RAS provides computer network access by receiving incoming calls from the PSTN via trunks. A dedicated RAS does not provide any telephonic switching capabilities, since this functionality is provided by the PSTN.
There are a number of problems associated with using a dedicated RAS connected to a PSTN to provide access to the Internet, an intranet and other computer networks. An access request from a user to a computer network passes through multiple switching offices, an end office, a RAS and a login server to provide access to a computer network such as the Internet or an intranet. There may be congestion at any of the multiple switching offices, the end office, the RAS and/or the login server. In addition, network paths between the switching offices, may be out-of-service and require additional routing, which in turn may cause additional congestion.
An end switching office connected to a dedicated RAS must provide enough capacity to handle its normal telephonic load as well as requests for the dedicated RAS. This includes allocating a certain number of resources including switching capacity, dial numbers, ports and trunk capacity in the switching office for the dedicated RAS. This limits the ability of the switching office to allocate additional dial numbers, ports, trunk and switching capacity to users and leaves dial numbers and ports allocated to the dedicated RAS unused or under used during certain periods.
Dial-up numbers used for a dedicated RAS access are assigned local dial-up numbers on a switching office connected to the dedicated RAS. The dial-up numbers for a computer network with a dedicated RAS cannot be recognized as direct intelligent network calls or direct wireless calls in a PSTN. This limits access to a computer network through a local dial-up number and makes it difficult for a mobile or wireless computer user to access a computer network outside of their home area.
In addition, a network access service provider must have one or more dedicated RAS connected to an end office in each local area that they provide network access service. For example, if a network service provider allowed customers in the 312, 414, and 608 area codes to access a computer network, an end office in the 312, 414, and 608 area codes would have one or more dedicated RAS to provide network access for users. This is very expensive for a network service provider, especially if the network service provider operates nationwide or world-wide as one or more dedicated RAS are required for at least one end office in multiple local areas.

Method and system for computer network access using cooperating non-dedicated remote access servers


An eyeglass frame shape measurement apparatus includes a measuring unit measuring shapes of right and left rims of an eyeglass frame. Measuring modes include a first measuring mode in which whole peripheries of both rims are measured; a second measuring mode in which the whole periphery of one of the right and left rims; and a third measuring mode in which nose side portions of the left rim and the nose side portion of the right rim are partially measured. A controller drives the measuring unit to measure the whole peripheries of both rims in the first measuring mode, for driving the measuring unit to measure the whole periphery of one of the left and right rims in the second mode, and drive the measuring unit to measure partially the nose side portions of both rims in the third mode.

The present invention relates to an eyeglass frame shape measurement apparatus for measuring, the shapes of the rims of an eyeglass frame.
There is known an eyeglass frame shape measurement apparatus (for example, see Japanese Patent Publication 2000-314617) which includes a frame hold unit for holding the right and left rims of an eyeglass frame, and a measurement unit for inserting a tracing stylus into the grooves of the rims of the eyeglass frame held by the frame hold unit and detecting the movement of the tracing stylus to thereby measure the shapes of the rims.
This type of apparatus, normally, uses a two-rim support trace mode in which right and left rims are both held by the frame hold unit and the right and left rims are measured successively. The two-rim support trace mode can obtain the shapes of the right and left rims and also the mutual position relationship data between the right and left rim shapes. The position relationship data includes data on the geometric inter-center distance of the right and left rims (FPD), the nose width (DBL) between the nose side end of the left rim and the nose side end of the right rim, and the curve angle of the frame (rims). The data obtained by the eyeglass frame shape measurement apparatus are used as basic data for eyeglass lens periphery processing to be executed by an eyeglass lens periphery processing apparatus.

Eyeglass frame shape measurement apparatus


Methods for forming a denuded zone in an oxygen-containing semiconductor wafer using rapid laser annealing (RLA) are disclosed. The method includes scanning an intense beam of laser radiation over the surface of the wafer to raise the temperature of each point on the wafer surface to be at or near the wafer's melting temperature for a time period on the order of a millisecond or so. This rapid heating and cooling causes oxygen in the wafer near the wafer surface to diffuse out from the wafer surface. Oxygen in the body of the wafer remains unheated and thus does not diffuse toward the wafer surface. The result is an oxygen-depleted zone—called a “denuded zone”—formed immediately adjacent the wafer surface. The methods further include forming a semiconductor device feature in the denuded zone such as by implanting the wafer with dopants.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to wafer processing, and in particular to methods of processing an oxygen-containing wafer using rapid laser annealing (RLA) to form a denuded zone at the wafer surface.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Single crystal silicon wafers for semiconductor manufacture are usually cut from large single crystals grown from liquid silicon using a process called the "Czochralski" process. In this process, molten silicon is contained in a vessel made from silicon oxide (SiO2) so that the resulting silicon crystal contains about 1018 atoms of oxygen per cubic centimeter. Depending on the thermal history of the silicon wafer, the oxygen atoms occupy substitutional sites in the crystal lattice.
During crystal growth, vacancies and interstitials are both present in the ingot. Which of these defects dominate depends on the ratio of crystal growth (v) to the axial thermal gradient at the interface (G). A high v/G ratio results in a vacancy-dominant crystal, while a low v/G ratio results in an interstitial-dominant crystal. Once the crystal cools down, the point defects agglomerate into larger defects. The interstitials form 1 to 2 mm dislocation loops (known as "A type" dislocations). The vacancies form 50-200 nm voids known as COPs D-defects (or just "COP defects" for short), where COP stands for "crystal-oriented particle".
The most economical way to grow a silicon crystal is as fast as possible. However, fast crystal grown results in a vacancy-dominant structure that leads to COP defects in the crystal. The COP defects present on the surface of the wafer can be problematic. In particular, a COP defect can adversely affect the gate dielectric quality, even to the point in extreme cases where the gate is totally shorted. One of the benefits of high-temperature annealing is that it reduces the amount of COP defects at the same time it generates oxygen precipitates that act as gettering centers for process impurities that otherwise will interfere with the device operation.
The electrical circuitry eventually formed in and on the wafer during the semiconductor manufacturing process occupies only a very thin section of the wafer body immediately adjacent the wafer surface. Accordingly, one approach to avoiding the hazards presented by the aforementioned oxygen-related surface defects is to grow an epitaxial layer of pure silicon on the wafer surface. This can be done using, for example, chemical vapor deposition (CVD). The epitaxial layer is usually lightly doped as compared to the underlying single-crystal wafer. The underlying single crystal wafer serves as a template that orients the atoms so that the epitaxial layer is atomically aligned to the underlying single crystal. The vapor-phase grown epitaxial layer is relatively free of oxygen atoms so that the above-described problems with oxygen-related surface defects is avoided. Unfortunately, growing an epitaxial layer on a silicon wafer is an expensive proposition, adding about a 20-50% premium to the cost of an ordinary silicon wafer.
Another approach to reducing oxygen-related surface defects that is less expensive than growing an epitaxial layer is to reduce the concentration of oxygen atoms near the wafer surface by heating the wafer in an inert atmosphere. This allows the oxygen near the wafer surface to out-diffuse and form an oxygen-depleted surface region called a "denuded zone". Wafers processed in this manner are commercially available from a variety of wafer manufacturers. The typical approach is to use a furnace to heat the entire wafer to a temperature between 600° C. and 700° C. for one to two hours, and then to rapidly cool the wafer. However, this is a time-consuming process and the rapid cooling is hard to carry out in this furnace-based approach.
Yet another approach to forming a denuded zone in an oxygen-containing wafer involves flash annealing. Flash annealing uses millisecond-long, high-intensity flashes from a flash lamp to irradiate the entire top wafer surface at once. However, the sudden burst of energy heats only the very top surface of the wafer and causes the entire wafer to bow severely. The resulting stresses may result in a permanently warped wafer if the stress levels exceed the elastic limit for the wafer material at the maximum temperature. Unfortunately, the available time durations of the pulse and the peak temperatures that are accessible with flash annealing cannot be used to create an optimal denuded zone.
What is needed is a fast and efficient approach to form a denuded zone at the surface of an oxygen-containing semiconductor wafer that overcomes the above limitations.

Methods of forming a denuded zone in a semiconductor wafer using rapid laser annealing


A presence system and method are disclosed. The system comprises, intercommunicated: presentities E1, E2, E3 that provide presence notifications N1, N2, N3; a watcher W able to observe, when received, the presence notifications N1, N2, N3; and a presence service PS that receives the presence notifications N1, N2, N3 and delivers it to the watcher W, which is subscribed to the presence service PS. The presence service PS is able to acquire information about an idle, on-hold or suspended state of the presence subscription of the watcher W, and automatically delivers the presence notifications N1, N2, N3 to the watcher W only when he is not in the idle, on-hold or suspended state. The method is applied to carry out the necessary actions for operating the system proposed.

Presence systems generally relate to systems where a subscriber, usually called a watcher, accesses in order to receive information or notifications about at least presence of other users, called presentities or contacts, from a presence service in charge of managing and updating said information.
Session Initiation Protocol for Instant Messaging and Presence Leveraging Extensions (SIMPLE) Presence is one of said presence systems, and is based in users subscribed to a presentities list through only one Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) SUBSCRIBE message sent to a Resource List Server (RLS) which stores and updates said presentities list, or users subscribed to individual Presentities through a set of SIP SUBSCRIBE messages sent to a Presence Server (PS).
Sometimes a watcher is not prepared to watch said information and/or does not want to be bothered by constantly receiving updated presence information.
There are several proposals regarding the optimization of the presence notification receptions.
One of said proposals is described in the Internet Draft, here cited as "work in progress", "Problem Statement for SIP/SIMPLE" by A. Houri from IBM, T. Rang from Microsoft Corporation, E. Aoki from AOL LLC, V. Singh, H. Schulzrinne from Columbia U., Feb. 26, 2007, (accessible at http://www.softfront.co.jp/tech/ietfdoc/org/draft-ietf-simple-interdomain-scaling-analysis-00.txt).
In said draft it is suggested to optimize the reception of presence notification. In section 7.4 it is described that watchers need not be notified about every presence update of all the contacts at all times. For some contacts watchers may only want to know their presence information when they want to start a communication session. It is proposed to label this as on-demand presence and to accomplish it by using fetch based SUBSCRIBE with expiration interval set to zero. Said approach requires a mechanism in the watcher application to enable watchers to indicate that they only require presence information when starting a new session. Examples may include services, where contacts presence status does not have to be seen or known to a watcher all of the time. It is given as an example a cell-phone associated watcher who may need presence updates only when the cell-phone application (e.g., phone book) runs in the foreground on the device. In section 7.6 other kind of optimizations are described, based on using different kinds of filters applied to presence documents, limited intervals updatings, partial notifications including only what was changed in the presence document from the last sending, and suppressing the sending of unnecessary notifies when for example a subscription is refreshed. In section 7.3 it is described to use a "time presence" status in order to receive only availability information of certain presentities rather than getting notification for every status change of the presentity.
Another of said proposals is described in the Internet Draft, here also cited as "work in progress", "Composing Presence Information" by H. Schulzrinne and R. Shacham from Columbia University, W. Kellerer, S. Thakolsri from DoCoMo Eurolabs, Dec. 27, 2006, (accessible at http://www.potaroo.net/ieff/idref/draft-schulzrinne-simple-composition/).
In section 5 of said draft it is described to provide information to the watcher indicating communication capability of the presentities, according to different "busy status" generally indicated by the user o automatically, including for example when said presentity is "in a car", "on-the-phone", "in a place that does not allow for private communications", or complex rules derived that involve outside information such as time of day, such as for example, when user-input is "idle" between certain hours of the night, the user's activity should be set to "sleeping".
Still another of said proposals is found in the Internet Draft, here also cited as "work in progress", SIMPLE made Simple: An Overview of the IETF Specifications for Instant Messaging and Presence using the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)" by J. Rosenberg from Cisco, Jun. 23, 2007, (accessible at http://ietfreport.isoc.org/idref/draft-rosenberg-simple-simple/).
Section 2.5 of said draft relates to optimizations regarding presence notifications sent to the watcher. It proposes to use a mechanism that allows a watcher to include filters in its subscription, which limit the cases in which notifications are sent.
EP1441486A2 describes a presence system and a presence notification destination controlling method, used to send presence notifications only to specific subscribers, as a function of, for example, notification destination determination rules including notification conditions designated by subscribers, or according to the attributes of the subscribers. Different examples of rules based on said subscribers attributes are given in the description, such as: "Notify the first subscriber to perform a subscription", "Notify subscribers belonging to a specified group" and "Notify subscribers belonging to the private group if the presence for the presentity is "Free"".
US2007033278 concerns to a method and apparatus for providing a list-based service. It proposes to provide a notification when the list members state satisfy some conditions, such as that the presence state has or has not changed during a time interval, or that it has or has not changed a threshold amount, etc. These conditions can be indicated by the watcher by an indication comprised at the subscription. In said document is not described to apply said conditions to the watcher.
It is not known in the cited prior art, to optimize the presence notification receptions according to states of the watcher different from an active, terminated or pending state, i.e. to stop sending presence notifications to the watcher while he is in an idle on-hold or suspended state, but has not terminated its presence service subscription.

Presence system and a method for providing a presence service


An electroformed tool has an integrated base with channels contacting the tool with heat exchange fluids flowing through the channels during molding or embossing. A blank base is machined with a network of interconnected open channels on a top surface and end flow through passageways communicating with the channels. The tool is used as an electrode to erode the top surface of the blank base using plunge electro discharge machining by lowering the uneven deposit on the bottom of the electroformed tool down onto the top surface of the blank base in the electro discharge machining environment to form a top contoured surface to mate with the uneven deposit on the non-molding side of the substrate. Thermal management fluid channels are thereby conformal to the mold cavity. The tool and base are sealed together.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to molding tooling and embossing tooling used in molding and embossing micro- and nano-structures, as well as general purpose molding, and in particular to enhanced molding or embossing tooling formed with an attached base with flow through channels for hot and cold fluid, the top of the base being shaped by electro-discharge machining to mate with the uneven bottom surface of the electroformed plate and the method of forming the tooling.
2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98
Industries specializing in injection molding, gas-assisted injection molding, slush molding, blow molding, and thermoforming processes strive to mold articles at faster cycle times. Efforts to cut cycle times (and, thereby, manufacturing costs) typically focus on the cooling process, as it is generally the longest part of any cycle. One approach to shortening the cycle time is directed to the mold components (i.e. cavity and core.). Mold components are generally constructed using blocks of metal. The profile or details of the molding surface are typically machined into the metal blocks. Channel patterns, e.g., thermal management channels, are then drilled from various angles such that the channels intersect one another to form thermal management circuits. One drawback of the resulting mold component is that the channels are drilled at straight lines into the metal, and the resulting channel patterns generally cannot conform well to the shape of the intended molded article. This non-conformity causes uneven heat transfer between the mold component and molded article, thus making it difficult to mold products at a faster cycle time and compromising the quality of the molded article (i.e., causing different shrinkage rates due to hot and cold spots in the molded article, resulting in warpage, "sinks", voids, etc.).
Electroforming has long been utilized to make certain types of mold cavities, when the parts to be therein produced have exceptional requirements of form or surface finish (e.g. optical lenses, microstructures). Electroforms are produced by electrodepositing a metal onto a mandrel, which has the shape which corresponds to (but is opposite in phase from) the mold cavity to be produced (i.e. a convex mandrel is used to make a concave cavity), and subsequently separated from the mandrel. The costs of electroformed tooling are high, however, owing to such factors as the high price of the chemicals and metals needed to maintain the electrolyte from which they are deposited, the electrical energy used, and the relatively slow deposition rate, which necessitates a long process time to achieve significant thickness of the electrodeposit. Nonetheless, for certain applications, electroforming is the only known practical way to produce mold components, and so the practice of electroforming has long been tied to molding.
Electroformed mold components suffer the additional disadvantage of being inherently irregular in shape on their back (i.e. non-molding) surface, except in rare instances wherein the cavity shape is very simple (e.g. optical disc molding). Therefore it is generally necessary for a relatively thick electroform to be produced, in order to account for the loss of thickness that results from post-plating machining of the electroformed component, to bring it to finished dimensions that can be accommodated in an automated molding device. This makes the manufacture of electroformed mold components costly (sometimes prohibitively so).
In injection molding and hot embossing of micro/nano-structures, electroforming is frequently employed as a technique for producing tooling. Often, this is the only practical method for replicating structures of such small feature sizes, with sufficient fidelity. Unfortunately, this presents a problem, as the backsides of electroforms are inherently non-uniform and hence typically require extensive post-plating machining to planarize, or otherwise finish, the back surface of the electroformed tool. This is necessary, in order to facilitate heat exchange between the tool, and the platen against which it is mounted.
Heating and cooling means are typically integrated into this platen or mold base in order to regulate the temperature of the tooling at the tool/plastic interface, where molding/embossing takes place. Quicker, more responsive control of the tool temperature facilitates better replication fidelity, and allows for minimization of process cycle times.
Prior art tooling does not adequately address the problem of minimizing the time involved in the operation while maximizing heating and cooling efficiency of the tooling.
In both micro molding, embossing, and general-purpose molding, Kim, et al (U.S. Pat. No. 6,846,445) taught that molds could be thermally cycled very rapidly, and that conformal cooling was beneficial. However, they passed high frequency current through the mold components to heat them, cleverly taking advantage of the skin effect and the proximity effect, but this approach necessitates some rather cumbersome and costly components, and requires that the mold halves remain within 10 cm of each other during the heating phase. This means that heating cannot take place during part removal, if said removal requires that the mold halves be separated by a distance greater than 10 cm, which is not unusual for deep molds with long cores. They also did not claim nor explain a method indicating how the conformal cooling should be accomplished.
Peterson, et al (U.S. Pat. No. 6,939,123) taught that an electroformed mold component could be made, by laminating an electroformed segment ("stamper") to a backing block, which is made of machined metal, using an adhesive to bond them together. However, the preparation of such a backing block that would be suitable for a complex shaped electroformed segment, as well as machining the "plurality of projections" described in this patent, require relatively complex and tedious machining operations, and thus this method is also rather cumbersome.
Moore, et al (U.S. Pat. No. 7,004,221) taught a method for manufacturing a mold from two or more joined segments, either or both of which could have some portion of the cooling channel network machined therein, said channel network being conformal to the mold cavity, and joining the two together by employing hot isostatic pressing (HIP), or alternatively using metal tubing to form the channel network, and embedding said tubing in (presumably) powdered metal, which is subsequently densified and joined to another segment or segments by the HIP process. Although this process is perhaps workable for some mold cavities, it does not address the applications (e.g. optics) wherein extremely stringent standards of form and surface finish are required, as it requires the mold cavity to be either cast, or machined. This would not be feasible in many cases, because of the difficulties of generating those forms in a massive mold, unless electroforming were employed to produce those segments. However, electroformed items made of nickel (a very widely applied metal) often contain trace amounts of sulfur, which render them sensitive to the high temperatures typically employed in the HIP process, hence eliminating such electroformed articles as potential mold segments in such a process.
What is needed is embossing and molding tooling formed by a rapid process of attaching a blank to an electroform without having to planarize the back surface of the electroform, the blank having integrated conformal flow-through channels attached as part of the tooling for a quicker, more responsive temperature control with heating and cooling to be facilitated by passing a heat exchange medium (fluid) through the integrated channels in the embossing/molding die.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Mold tooling with integrated conformal thermal management fluid channels and method


A method includes impacting at least one identifier on a section of passing film for identifying the film as a source for content copied from the film.

The large amounts of resources invested in film production makes it imperative that film content be protected from unauthorized copying or illegal distribution. Encryption and encoding techniques exist for protecting digital forms of film content. These techniques do not protect content on film negatives from unauthorized copying. Processing of film negatives by laboratories must be secure to prevent unauthorized copying or pirating of copyrighted film content.
Security markings or codes have been used in positive film prints, but these do not aid in identifying DVDs or computer files of motion pictures processed by laboratories from which unauthorized copying of film content occurred. One aspect of preventing unauthorized copying is to trace the source of the film processing laboratory that had possession of a film negative from which content was pirated or copied. Previous coding of film negatives required producing defects into the film, which may be deemed unacceptable to creative teams at film or motion picture studios.
Accordingly, there is a need for easy identification of the facility or laboratory in possession of a particular element of a film negative processed that was used to create a unauthorized copying of copyrighted film content.


A paving machine includes an implement, an elongated structure, a sensor arrangement, and one or more breakaway couplers. The implement modifies a surface during a movement of the paving machine. The elongated structure is coupled to a side portion of the paving machine and extends along a direction of the movement. The sensor arrangement includes sensor units arranged sequentially along the elongated structure. The breakaway couplers correspondingly normally retain the sensor units to the elongated structure. Each breakaway coupler includes a mounting structure and a retainer unit. The mounting structure is secured to one of the elongated structure or a corresponding sensor unit, while the retainer unit retains the other of the elongated structure or the corresponding sensor unit to the mounting structure by a retention force, which is adjustable.

A machine, such as a paving machine or a cold planer, generally includes an implement that is applied to modify a surface (e.g., an unpaved surface) as the machine moves over the surface. To properly alter and modify the surface, the implement may be positioned appropriately with respect to the surface. In this regard, the machine may include a number of sensor units (e.g., ultrasonic sensor units) arranged sequentially along one or more of the sides of the machine. The sensor units detect a parameter associated with the surface based on which data related to the surface (e.g., a grade or a slope of the surface) may be determined. Based on said data, the implement may be adjusted with respect to the surface.
Often, such sensor units are coupled to an elongated structure (generally referred to as an averaging beam) arranged along a side of the machine, and which extends generally along a direction of machine motion. During an operation of the machine, a likelihood for such sensor units to interfere with a terrain (e.g., walls, curbs, barriers, structures, etc.) surrounding the machine, or with the surface itself, is relatively high. In several instances, such interferences wreck and/or irreparably damage the sensor units, leading to one or more of a machine breakdown, operational downtime, service effort, and incurrence of costs.
US Publication No. 20170182954 relates to an attachment device, such as a camera or a sensor, which is mounted to a road paver machine. The attachment device monitors the process involving the receipt of a paving material and its distribution on the ground. The attachment device is mounted by means of a magnetic quick mounting unit.

Machine with sensor units retained by breakaway couplers


A method for producing a buried n-doped semiconductor zone in a semiconductor body. In one embodiment, the method includes producing an oxygen concentration at least in the region to be doped in the semiconductor body. The semiconductor body is irradiated via one side with nondoping particles for producing defects in the region to be doped. A thermal process is carried out. The invention additionally relates to a semiconductor component with a field stop zone.

Buried n-doped semiconductor zones are required as so-called buffer zones or field stop zones for example in vertical power components such as power IGBT, power diodes, power thyristors or power MOSFET. Components having n-doped (field stop) zones that are buried, that is to say arranged at a distance from a surface of a semiconductor body, are described, for example, in DE 100 53 445 C2, DE 102 43 758 A1, EP 0 594 049 A1 or DE 102 07 522 A1. The function and the advantages of field stop zones in power components are described, for example, in Niedernostheide, F.-J. et al.: "13 kV Rectifiers: Studies on Diodes and Asymmetric Thyristors", Proceedings ISPSD 2003 (Cambridge, UK), pages 122-125 or in DE 198 29 614 A1.
Buried field stop zones can be produced, for example, by means of sufficiently known epitaxy methods for depositing doped semiconductor layers successively on a semiconductor substrate the doping of which layers is chosen such that the desired doping profile is achieved in the resulting semiconductor body.
A further possibility for producing a buried n-doped semiconductor zone consists in producing the semiconductor zone as a doped zone of a first semiconductor body that is near the surface, which may be effected, for example, by means of a diffusion method during which dopant atoms are indiffused into the semiconductor body. The doped semiconductor body is subsequently connected to a second semiconductor body at the doped side, which results in a semiconductor body having a buried doped semiconductor zone. So-called wafer bonding methods are suitable for connecting the semiconductor bodies.
Both epitaxy methods and wafer bonding methods have the disadvantage of being complicated and therefore expensive. The wafer bonding method furthermore has the disadvantage that the charge carrier life time in the connected semiconductor body is significantly reduced in the region of the interface between the two original semiconductor bodies, which may adversely affect the function, in particular the turn-off behavior, of a component having a buried zone produced in this way.
DE 102 43 758 A1 describes producing a buried field stop zone by means of proton irradiation and a subsequent annealing step at temperatures of between 250° C. and 500° C. By means of the proton irradiation, on the one hand, defects are produced in the semiconductor body and, on the other hand, hydrogen is thereby introduced into the semiconductor body, hydrogen-induced donors or hydrogen-correlated donors arising from the defects and the hydrogen during the annealing step. The doping profiles produced by such a method essentially follow the distribution of the primary defects caused by the irradiation. The distribution has a Gaussian profile in the irradiation direction, the half value width in the case of proton irradiation being comparatively narrow, which results in a narrow doped zone in the case where only one irradiation energy is used.

Method for producing a buried N-doped semiconductor zone in a semiconductor body and semiconductor component


An acid generator represented by the following formula (1) is provided:

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an acid generator containing an aromatic ring, and more particularly, the invention relates to an acid generator containing an aromatic ring, which is included in a chemically amplified resist composition used in semiconductor processes.
2. Description of the Related Art
A chemically amplified resist composition used in the semiconductor fine processing utilizing lithography contains an acid generator, and as the technologies supporting the semiconductor fine processing continue to develop, a demand for resists with higher resolution still exists.
Therefore, in order to produce a resist having an increased resolution and desired properties, a large number of different acid generators have been developed, and in order to improve the diffusion rate of acid and transparency, which are some of the properties associated with high resolution, numerous modifications and experiments in the design of the cation moiety of the salts used as acid generators, have been carried out.
However, in the recent studies of resist compositions, the development of photoacid generators focused on the cation moiety is beginning to face limits in the improvement of resist properties, and there has occurred a problem of reducing effluence into water, which is required as water is used in the immersion ArF processes.
Therefore, based on a number of experimental data and articles reporting that the anion moiety can exert greater influence than the cation moiety on the physical and chemical properties which substantially improve the fluidity of acid and the properties of the resist composition, new inventions associated with the anion moiety of acid generators have recently been achieved. These new inventions are focused on the invention of a photoacid generator which reduces the diffusion rate of acid, and can control the transmissibility of ArF radiation at 193 nm (for example, Korean Patent Application Nos. 10-2006-0104718, 10-2006-0133676, 10-2005-0107599, 10-2006-0114104 and 10-2008-0023406).

Photoacid generator containing aromatic ring

Abstract: wherein X represents an alkylene group having 1 to 10 carbon atoms, —X1—O—X2—, or a heteroatom selected from the group consisting of nitrogen, sulfur and fluorine; X1 and X2 each independently represent an alkylene group having 1 to 10 carbon atoms; Y represents a cyclic hydrocarbon group having 5 to 30 carbon atoms and containing one or more aromatic rings, while one or more hydrogen atoms on the ring of the cyclic hydrocarbon group may be substituted by one or more members selected from the group consisting of —O—Y1, —CO—Y2, an alkyl group having 1 to 6 carbon atoms, an alkoxy group having 1 to 6 carbon atoms, a perfluoroalkyl group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms, a perfluoroalkoxy group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms, a hydroxyalkyl group having 1 to 6 carbon atoms, a halogen atom, a hydroxyl group and a cyano group; Y1 and Y2 each independently represent an alkyl group having 1 to 6 carbon atoms; n represents an integer of 0 or 5; and A+ represents an organic counterion.


An insulated-gate field effect transistor comprising a channel forming region, source/drain regions, a gate region, a bias supplying means, and a capacitive element, wherein a potential for controlling a gate threshold voltage of the insulated-gate field effect transistor in an off-state thereof is applied to the channel forming region through the bias supplying means, and a signal having approximately the same phase as a phase of a signal supplied to the gate region is supplied to the channel forming region through the capacitive element.

The present invention relates to an insulated-gate field effect transistor and a method of driving the same.
As one of methods for effectively accomplishing a low power consumption in an integrated circuit, there is a method of decreasing a power supply voltage. The gate threshold voltage V.sub.th in an MOS integrated circuit is generally 0.4 to 0.6 volt. When the method of decreasing a power supply voltage is applied to an MOS integrated circuit and the power supply voltage is equal to, or less than, 1 volt, therefore, there arises a problem that the operation speed of an MOS transistor element decreases. Further, when the gate threshold voltage V.sub.th is decreased (e.g., to about 0.2 volt) for decreasing a power supply voltage, leakage current caused by sub-threshold current flows even when the MOS transistor element is in an off-state, a stand-by current is no longer negligible, and there is caused a limit in decreasing power consumption. As a technology for preventing the flow of leakage current even when the MOS transistor element is in an off-state, the following technology is known.
That is, as a first prior art, as shown in FIG. 21, there is known a method in which an MOS transistor element TR.sub.1 having a low gate threshold voltage V.sub.th-L and an MOS transistor element TR.sub.2 having a high threshold voltage V.sub.th-H are combined, and when the MOS transistor element TR.sub.1 in a circuit block is not operated, the occurrence of leakage current in the MOS transistor element TR.sub.1 is inhibited by bringing the MOS transistor element TR.sub.2 into an off-state.
In a second prior art, as FIG. 22 shows an equivalent circuit and a schematic cross sectional view, a channel forming region is connected to a gate portion, and the gate threshold voltage V.sub.th of an MOS transistor element is set at a value close to conventional ones. And, the channel forming region is biased to a forward direction with a voltage of an input signal, whereby the gate threshold voltage V.sub.th is controlled so as to have a small value.
As a third prior art, as shown in FIG. 23, there is known a method in which a voltage of a channel forming region (well in FIG. 23) of an MOS transistor element or an MOS transistor element block is controlled, thereby to change the gate threshold voltage V.sub.th-ON when the transistor element is in an on-state and the gate threshold voltage V.sub.th-OFF when the transistor element is in an off-state. That is, there is used a phenomenon in which, for an n-channel transistor, when the voltage of the channel forming region (well) is decreased, the gate threshold voltage increases (that is, a high V.sub.th-OFF is obtained and the occurrence of leakage current is prevented) and when the voltage of the channel forming region (well) is increased, the gate threshold voltage decreases (that is, a low V.sub.th-ON is obtained and a decrease in a power supply voltage is accomplished).
The above first prior art or the above third prior art has the following problem. In addition to a conventional circuit for driving an MOS transistor element, it is required to provide a circuit for controlling the gate portion of the MOS transistor element TR.sub.2 having a high gate threshold voltage V.sub.th-H in the first prior art, or, it is required to design a circuit for controlling the voltage of the channel forming region (well) individually corresponding to a logic circuit in the third prior art, and procedure in designing of an integrated circuit system is complicated.
On the other hand, in the above second prior art, the channel forming region and the source portion in the MOS transistor element formed in a silicon semiconductor substrate are forward-biased, and therefore, when a voltage of an input signal exceeds the forward voltage in a junction portion between the channel forming region and the source portion, the voltage of the input signal is clamped. That is, the problem is that the voltage of the input signal is clamped around 0.6 volt at the highest even if it is high. In other word, the problem is that the amplitude of the input signal is limited. Further, the second prior art also involves a problem that when the power supply voltage is close to the gate threshold voltage V.sub.th, some MOS transistor elements may not operate due to temperature dependence on the gate threshold voltage V.sub.th, a variation among production lots and an in-plane variation on a wafer. That is because the channel forming region is connected to the gate portion so that, essentially, the gate threshold voltage V.sub.th when the voltage between the gate portion and the source portion is, e.g., 0 volt cannot be controlled so as to be a desired value after the MOS transistor element is produced.
Generally, the gate threshold voltage V.sub.th of an MOS transistor element is defined by controlling an impurity concentration in a channel forming region. In general, impurity is introduced into the channel forming region by ion implantation. With an increase in the integration degree of an integrated circuit, design rule of an integrated circuit is further and further is decreased, and the absolute amount of the impurity atoms ion-implanted into the channel forming region decreases. In the ion implantation, essentially, the amount of the impurity atoms in ion implantation has a fluctuation. Therefore, the degree of fluctuation from an average value of an impurity concentration increases, and as a result, the variation in the gate threshold voltage V.sub.th of an MOS transistor element, caused by the above fluctuation, increases. In an integrated circuit having 1000000 transistor elements having a gate length of 0.1 .mu.m, one simulation result shows that the variation in the gate threshold voltage V.sub.th is as large as 0.6 volt.

Insulated-gate field effect transistor and method for driving thereof


A flicker detection system according to the present invention has an AC component extracting circuit that extracts an AC signal from a voltage applied to a lamp, the AC signal being an AC component of the voltage applied to the lamp, a display section adapted for displaying the information that flicker has occurred, and a control section that has a reference voltage registered in advance for determining that flicker has occurred and instructs the display section to display the information that flicker has occurred in the lamp, depending on the result of comparison between the reference voltage and the AC signal received from the AC component extracting circuit. In the present invention, when flicker occurs in a lamp, the voltage fluctuation generated between the lamp electrodes exceeds the reference voltage, and accordingly, the occurrence of flicker is determined by comparing the AC signal representative of the voltage fluctuation with the reference voltage, and when flicker occurs, a display to that effect is made.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a flicker detection system for an apparatus in which a lamp is used, such as a projector or the like, a method of detecting flicker, and a projector apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
It has been common to employ a discharge lamp such as a Xenon lamp etc. (hereinafter referred to simply as a lamp) having advantages of serving substantially as a point-source light and providing a high luminance for projector apparatuses such as a LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) projector, a DLP (Digital Lamp Processing) projector, etc. The luminance of a lamp ordinarily decreases with usage (operation time) causing the projected picture to become unclear. In order to address such an issue, Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No, 2001-142145 describes measures to estimate in advance the usable life of a lamp, i.e., the time that elapses until the luminance is reduced causing the projection picture to become difficult to view, so that the lamp can be used for a maximum time.
In addition to the reduction of the luminance of a lamp, on the other hand, another cause that is responsible for disturbance in viewing the projection picture is the occurrence of flicker. Conventionally, manufacturers determined the life of a lamp based upon commonly performed tests to estimate reduced luminance and the occurrence of flicker to measure the approximate elapse of time until lamps would become unusable. Further, this information about the estimated life of a lamp was inputted into projector apparatuses as data which set the same limit on the usable time of individual lamps.
This above mentioned method to determine the usable life of a lamp was based upon the tendency of lamp in general and not on an individual lamp by lamp basis.
Furthermore, as a means to reduce the running cost a projector apparatus, there is a recent requirement on the part of users to continue using the lamp as long as the projection picture is reasonably clear, regardless of reduced luminance which results from long time use. A common practice in cinema theaters where films are shown is that lamps are replaced whenever there is an occurrence of flicker. As a result, the usable life of a lamp that has been inputted into the projector apparatus in advance as data is only regarded as a rough standard, and in fact the lamp is actually used until flicker occurs.
In the case of a Xenon lamp, on the other hand, the increase of flicker increases the risk that the lamp will burst. Consequently, any delay in replacing the lamp could cause the lamp burst within the projector apparatus. What is needed is a safe and reliable means to protect the projector apparatus from the bursting of a lamp in situations where the lamp is used until almost the expiration of the lamp.

Flicker detecting system for detecting lamp life differing from lamp to lamp


A driving device of a driving mass of a gyroscope comprises a differential read amplifier to supply first signals indicating a rate of oscillation of the driving mass; a variable-gain amplifier to supply second signals to drive the driving mass based on said first signals; a voltage elevator providing a power supply signal to the variable-gain amplifier; a controller generating a first control signal to control a gain of the variable-gain amplifier; and a first comparator, coupled to the variable-gain amplifier, generating a second control signal based on a comparison of the first control signal with a threshold, the second control signal controlling at least one among: (i) the variable-gain amplifier in such a way that the gain is increased only during the start-up phase of the gyroscope, and (ii) the voltage elevator in such a way that the power supply signal is increased only during the start-up phase.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a microelectromechanical gyroscope with improved start-up phase, to a system including the microelectromechanical gyroscope, and to a method for speeding-up the start up phase.
2. Description of the Related Art
As is known, the use of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) has become increasingly widespread in various sectors of technology and has yielded encouraging results especially in the production of inertial sensors, microintegrated gyroscopes, and electromechanical oscillators for a wide range of applications.
MEMS of this type are usually based upon microelectromechanical structures comprising at least one mobile mass connected to a fixed body (stator) by means of springs and mobile with respect to the stator according to pre-set degrees of freedom. The mobile mass is moreover coupled to the fixed body via capacitive structures (capacitors). The movement of the mobile mass with respect to the fixed body, for example on account of an external stress, modifies the capacitance of the capacitors, whence it is possible to trace back to the relative displacement of the mobile mass with respect to the fixed body and hence to the force applied. Conversely, by supplying appropriate biasing voltages, it is possible to apply an electrostatic force to the mobile mass to set it in motion. Furthermore, to obtain electromechanical oscillators the frequency response of the inertial MEMS structures is exploited, which is typically of a second-order lowpass type.
Many MEMS systems (in particular, all electromechanical oscillators and gyroscopes) use driving devices that have the task of keeping the mobile mass in oscillation.
The gyroscopes have a complex electromechanical structure, which comprises two masses that are mobile with respect to the stator and coupled together so as to have a relative degree of freedom. The two mobile masses are both capacitively coupled to the stator. One of the mobile masses is dedicated to driving (driving mass) and is kept in oscillation at the resonance frequency. The other mobile mass (sensing mass) is dragged along in oscillatory motion and, in the event of rotation of the microstructure with respect to a pre-set axis with an angular velocity, is subject to a Coriolis force proportional to the angular velocity itself. In practice, the sensing mass operates as an accelerometer that enables detection of the Coriolis force.
To enable actuation and produce an electromechanical oscillator where the sensor performs the role of selective frequency amplifier, with second-order transfer function of a lowpass type and high merit factor, the driving mass is equipped with two types of differential capacitive structures: driving electrodes and driving sensing electrodes. The driving electrodes have the purpose of sustaining the self-oscillation of the mobile mass in the direction of actuation. The driving sensing electrodes have the purpose of measuring, through the transduced charge, the position of translation or rotation of the sensing mass in the direction of actuation.
The U.S. Pat. No. 7,305,880 describes a system for controlling the rate of oscillation of the gyroscope, comprising a reading system including a differential read amplifier, a highpass amplifier, and an driving-and-control stage, operating in a time-continuous way. All the components that form the reading system are of a discrete-time analog type and, in particular, are provided by means of fully differential switched-capacitor circuits.
The U.S. Pat. No. 7,827,864 describes an improvement of the previous control system, where the control loop comprises a filter having the purpose of reducing the offset and the effects of components and any parasitic coupling, operating on the overall gain and phase of the feedback loop.
To obtain a self-sustained oscillation of an electromechanical oscillator, at a constant amplitude, the loop according to the known art complies with the Barkhausen stability criterion, which is a mathematical condition to determine when a loop comprising linear blocks oscillates, and it is given by the following equations (1a) and (1b):
                    {                                                                                                                                          G                      LOOP                                                                                (                                              ω                        =                                                  ω                          dr                                                                    )                                                                                        =                1                                                                                φ                                                        (                                                                  G                        LOOP                                                                                (                                                  ω                          =                                                      ω                            dr                                                                          )                                                              )                                                  =                                                      k                    ·                    2                                                      π                                                                                (                              1                                a                            )                                                                          (                              1                                b                            )
where the first equation means that the gain GLOOP of the loop at the driving frequency ωdr must be unitary, and the second equation means that the phase shift φ (accumulated by the signal in a round trip of the loop) must be an integer multiple of 2π.
During the start-up phase of the electromechanical oscillator, equations (1a) and (1b) must be varied in such a way to obtain a time evolution of the oscillation up to reaching a desired oscillation amplitude, i.e., the gain GLOOP must be higher than a unitary gain. It follows that the following equations (2a) and (2b) are to be complied with during the start-up:
                    {                                                                                                                                          G                      LOOP                                                                                (                                              ω                        =                                                  ω                          dr                                                                    )                                                                                        >                1                                                                                φ                                                        (                                                                  G                        LOOP                                                                                (                                                  ω                          =                                                      ω                            dr                                                                          )                                                              )                                                  =                                                      k                    ·                    2                                                      π                                                                                (                              2                                a                            )                                                                          (                              2                                b                            )
Under the condition sets out by equations (2a) and (2b) the oscillations of the electromechanical oscillator are free to evolve from the noise (always present in real systems). The aforementioned evolution follows, substantially, the following steps:                i. At a starting point, when the system is turned on, an error signal (the error signal being the difference between the target amplitude of oscillation and the effective amplitude) is considerably high; this error causes the control voltage of the VGA to its maximum value in a time which depends on the control strategy adopted.        ii. The gain of the loop is at the maximum value, thus the condition sets out by (2a) is assured and the system evolves from the noise signal;        iii. after a certain start-up transitory period, during which the oscillation amplitude rises, a desired oscillation amplitude is reached; at this point the condition sets out by (1a) must be respected.
The term transitory period at step (iii), indicates the period during which the oscillating mass of the electromechanical oscillator passes from a stationary condition (the mass does not oscillate) to an oscillating state where the mass oscillates at a controlled, desired, amplitude, or around the desired amplitude.
In the above identified systems, according to known embodiments, the start-up phase evolves slowly, since it evolves just from the noise.

Microelectromechanical gyroscope with improved start-up phase, system including the microelectromechanical gyroscope, and method for speeding-up the start up phase


In one embodiment, a computer-implemented method includes the step of communicatively coupling with an application-server local area network (LAN). The physical servers are discovered in the application-server LAN. The applications running in one or more physical servers in the application-server LAN are discovered. The application data and the application metadata are captured. The application data and the application metadata are parsed. The unique data blocks of the application data and the application metadata are identified. The unique data blocks are uploaded to a cloud-computing platform. It is determined that the one or more physical servers running the application data and the application metadata is no longer available in the application-server LAN. A cloud-based appliance in the cloud-computing platform is placed in an operational state. An application associated with the application data and the application metadata is identified.

1. Field
This application relates generally to data storage, and more specifically to a system, article of manufacture and method for cloud-based data and/or applications recovery.
2. Related Art
A remote, online, or managed backup service, sometimes marketed as cloud backup, is a service that provides users with a system for the backup, storage, and recovery of computer files. Additionally, many services are also hosted in remote cloud systems. Online backup providers and hosts can provide these type of service to customers (e.g. end users, clients). Online backup providers can maintain and manage physical servers host a variety of applications like virtual machines (VM's), Microsoft Exchange Servers, Microsoft (MS) SQL servers, file servers etc. Customers have come to expect continuous application uptime. However, physical disasters can take a remote online service offline. For example, Disaster may not be confined to a physical server but the entire site hosting the physical servers may go down. Consequently, customers cannot access the applications/data if the physical servers meet with a disaster. The longer the application downtime, the larger the impact to the users/business. Accordingly, improvements in these services can enable online backup providers to provide various forms of continuous back up protection and/or restoration.

Methods and systems of cloud-based disaster recovery


A synchronization establishing apparatus in a spectrum spread communication system, includes a search section that calculates correlation values from a received spectrum spread signal, and calculates power values and power addition values of the power values. Also, the search section selects larger ones of the power addition values to output together with timing data corresponding to the selected larger power addition values. One of the symbols and the power values is corrected in phase based on phase change quantities. A frequency offset estimating section estimates frequency offsets from one of the correlation values and the power values and demodulation timing data and calculates the phase change quantities from the estimated frequency offsets. A demodulation path selecting section selects path timings based on the selected larger power addition values and outputs the demodulation timing data to the frequency offset estimating section.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a spectrum spread communication synchronization establishing apparatus for a receiving section of a radio apparatus for a spectrum spread communication.
2. Description of the Related Art
A receiver of a direct spectrum spread system basically receives a spectrum spread signal by an antenna to convert to an intermediate frequency signal or baseband signal. Then, the receiver establishes synchronization with a spreading code signal used in a transmitter by the synchronization establishing circuit and sends the synchronized spectrum spread signal to a despreading demodulator. The despreading demodulator carries out inverse modulation. That is, the despreading demodulator multiplies the synchronized spectrum spread signal by the spreading code. A data demodulator demodulates the multiplication result to produce a data.
The synchronization establishing circuit of the receiver needs to carry out a searching operation of a phase coincident point with the spreading code and to restrict a timing in a predetermined range for establishing and tracking synchronization.
FIG. 1 shows a conventional spectrum spread communication synchronization establishing apparatus. Referring to FIG. 1, the conventional spectrum spread communication synchronization establishing apparatus is composed of a plurality of synchronizing circuits 400. Each of the synchronizing circuits 400 is composed of a local oscillator 1, a multiplier, a low pass filter (LPF) 2, a sampling and holding circuit (S/H) 3, a correlating unit 4, and a symbol integrating unit 8. A signal converting section is composed of the local oscillator 1, the multiplier, and the low pass filter (LPF) 2 and converts a received signal from a corresponding antennal into a baseband signal. The sampling and holding circuit (S/H) 3 samples the baseband signal to store and hold and outputs a sampling signal. The correlating unit 4 calculates correlation between the sampling signal and a spreading signal of a spreading code to produce a correlation value. The symbol integrating unit 5 multiplies the correlation value by a theoretical value of a symbol corresponding to the correlation value in case that the symbol is known or a determination value after demodulation in case that the symbol is unknown. Then, the symbol integrating unit 5 adds the multiplication results for a plurality of symbols, and calculates power of the addition result for the plurality of symbols to produce a power value.
The spectrum spread communication synchronization establishing circuit is further composed of a plurality of path search sections 10 respectively provided for the synchronizing circuits 300 and a demodulation path selecting section 12. Each of the path search sections 10 adds the power values for a plurality of slots to produce a power addition value, and selects larger ones of the power addition values in order to outputs timings corresponding to the selected power addition values. The demodulation path selecting section selects a demodulation reception timing from the timings outputted from the path search sections 10 based on the selected larger power addition values and outputs a demodulation path data.
In the spectrum spread communication synchronization establishing apparatus, a spectrum spread signal is received by the antenna, and then is converted into the baseband signal by the local oscillator 1, the multiplier and the low pass filter (LPF) 2. Subsequently, the sampling and holding circuit (S/H) 3 samples the baseband signal for every ½ chip and supplies the sampled signal to the correlating unit 4 via a memory.
The correlating unit 4 is generally composed of a matched filter. The correlating unit 4 multiplies the spreading code for one symbol of the sampled signal read out from the memory by the preset spreading code for one symbol for every chip and outputs a summation of the multiplication results as a correlation value. This operation is carried out at a plurality of sample points, i.e., a plurality of paths which are shifted by ½ chip, 1 chip, 3/2 chip, and so on. The respective correlation values are outputted. Therefore, the correlation values corresponding to the plurality of paths are outputted from the correlating unit 4.
In the symbol integrating unit 5, a symbol signal obtained by carrying out a despreading operation in the interval of ½ chip is inversely modulated. That is, the symbol signal is multiplied by a theoretical value for a symbol in case the symbol is known in a transmission sequence or a determination value determined after demodulation in case that the symbol is unknown. Then, the multiplication results are added for a plurality of symbols for every path so as to carry out symbol integration. It should be noted that the whole or a part of the symbol contained in a slot is used for the symbol integration. The power value of the integrated addition value is determined and outputted to the path search section 10.
The path search section 10 adds the power values for a plurality of slots to produce a power addition value. Subsequently, the path search section 10 selects larger ones of the power addition values in order to outputs the selected power addition values together with timing data. The demodulation path selecting section 12 selects some path timings based on the timing data and the selected larger power addition values outputted from the path search sections 10. The demodulation path selecting section 12 outputs the timing of the path and antenna data to a demodulating section which is connected with the demodulation path selecting section 12.
As methods for selecting the path in the demodulation path selecting section 12, there are a method for allocating demodulation paths in order of larger average power per one slot, a method for weighting the power addition value for each path in accordance with the signal to interference ratio (SIR) of the path and allocating the demodulation paths in order of larger weighted power addition values, and a method for selecting the path in consideration of past changes of the power addition values of each path. In either of the methods, any one of the paths is selected when the path timings are close to each other in case of paths obtained from the same antenna.
According to the above-mentioned conventional spectrum spread communication synchronization establishing apparatus, an appropriate synchronization timing can be established with less erroneous determination of a synchronization position. Also, even when the synchronization timing is changed, the change is able to be tracked. Thus, the receiving quality can be improved and it is not necessary to use wasteful strong transmission output on the transmission side in order to attain a predetermined receiving quality, resulting in suppression of interference.
On the other hand, in this kind of receiver, there is a frequency offset generated in the transmission path due to the Doppler effect or a frequency offset due to a frequency error between a receiver oscillator and the transmitter oscillator. If the frequency offset exists, a gain cannot be sufficiently obtained due to phase rotation caused by the frequency offset in in-phase addition of outputs from the correlating units 4 for several symbols.
In addition, when the frequency offset increases, the sufficient gain cannot be obtained, and conversely, the addition may exert detrimental effects. Consequently, the number of symbols for the in-phase addition must be decreased not to receive influence of the frequency offset.
In conjunction with the above description, a search and establishing method of a code division multiple access signal is disclosed in Japanese Laid Open Patent Application (JP-A-Heisei 11-313382). In this reference, a code division multiple access signal is received, and a spreading code signal is extracted from the received code division multiple access signal. A local spreading code signal is generated and a frequency offset is detected between the extracted spreading code signal and the local spreading code signal. Whether the received code division multiple access signal is appropriate is determined based on the frequency offset. The received code division multiple access signal is decoded when it is appropriate.
Also, a spectrum spread type receiver is disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 2672769. In this reference, a quasi-synchronization detecting circuit mixes a received spectrum spread (SS) signal which has been spectrum spread by use of a pseudo-noise (PN) signal to a local carrier orthogonal to the SS signal and gets a complex baseband signal. A partial correlation calculation section divides the complex baseband signal into a plurality of partial data and calculates correlations between these partial data and corresponding partial PN signals to produce partial correlation signals. An absolute value square summation calculating section calculates a summation of squares of absolute values of the partial correlation signals and outputs a correlation absolute value square summation signal. An initial synchronization establishing and tracking section detects a repetition period of the PN signal contained in the received SS signal based on the correlation absolute value square summation signal and output a timing signal synchronized with the repeating period.
Also, a spectrum spread type receiver is disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 2698506. In this reference, a spectrum spread type receiver receives a direct spectrum spread (SS) signal spectrum spread by a pseudo-noise (PN) signal. A quasi-synchronization detection circuit mixes a reception SS signal and a local carrier to produce a complex baseband signal. A correlating unit carries out an operation of the correlation between the complex baseband signal and the PN signal. An AFC circuit generates an error signal in accordance with a frequency offset of the local carrier to the reception SS signal and corrects the influence of the frequency offset of the local carrier in accordance with this error signal. An initial synchronization establishing and tracking circuit carries out initial synchronization establishment and tracking of the PN signal based on a result obtained by adding a signal of the magnitude of the correlation signal and a signal of the magnitude of the error signal.
Also, a spectrum spread communication synchronization establishment demodulator is disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 2850959. In this reference, a spectrum spread code synchronous circuit carries out demodulation after despreading with a spreading code, when a spectrum spread signal obtained by spectrum spread using the spreading code after modulating a transmission data and then transmitted is received as a reception signal, and demodulated so as to reproduce a reception data. A signal converting section converts the reception signal into a baseband signal. A sampling and holding circuit samples, stores and holds the baseband signal and outputs a sampling signal. A first correlating unit calculates correlation between the sampling signal and a spreading signal of the spreading code to produce a first correlation value. A symbol integrating unit inversely modulates the first correlation value based on either of a theoretical value of a symbol corresponding to the first correlation value in case of the known symbol or a determination value after demodulation in case of unknown symbol, and adds the inverse modulation result for a plurality of symbols, and calculates power of the addition result to produce a power value. A short-time integration path search section adds the power values for a plurality of slots and selects ones of the addition results in order of larger power value per a slot for the number of first correlating units. A long time integration path search section adds the power value for a plurality of slots longer in time than that of the short time integration path search section and selects ones of the addition results in order of larger power value per a slot for the number of first correlating units. A demodulation path selecting section selects demodulation reception timings from the timings from the short time integration path search section and the long time integration path search section in order of larger power value per a slot. A second correlating unit calculates correlation between the reception signal and the spreading signal at the demodulation reception timings to produce a second correlation value. A detector detects the second correlation value and outputs a detection signal. A signal synthesizing section outputs the determination value based on a synthesis signal obtained by carrying out RAKE synthesis and space diversity synthesis of the detection signal for each path.

Spectrum spread communication synchronization establishing apparatus using frequency offset and receiver with the same


A compound represented by formula (1), a liquid crystal composition, a liquid crystal display device are described.

1. Technical Field
The invention relates to a polymerizable compound having four groups that can be polymerized by light or heat, and a liquid crystal composition including the polymerizable compound. The invention also relates to a liquid crystal display device in which the orientation of liquid crystal molecules is fixed by sealing the liquid crystal composition between substrates, and then polymerizing the polymerizable compound while a voltage applied to the substrates is adjusted.
2. Technical Background
A liquid crystal display device utilizes optical anisotropy, dielectric anisotropy and so forth of liquid crystal molecules in a liquid crystal composition. A classification based on the operating mode for liquid crystal molecules includes a phase change (PC) mode, a twisted nematic (TN) mode, a super twisted nematic (STN) mode, a bistable twisted nematic (BTN) mode, an electrically controlled birefringence (ECB) mode, an optically compensated bend (OCB) mode, an in-plane switching (IPS) mode, a fringe field switching (FFS) mode and a vertical alignment (VA) mode.
A liquid crystal display device having a mode in which a polymer is used in combination with a liquid crystal composition is known. The mode is, for example, a polymer sustained alignment (PSA) mode or a polymer stabilized (PS) mode. Ina liquid crystal display device having this mode, a liquid crystal composition to which a polymerizable compound is added is poured into a display device. A polymer is formed in the liquid crystal composition by the irradiation with ultraviolet light which polymerizes the polymerizable compound, while a voltage is applied between electrodes. With this method, a liquid crystal display device is obtained in which the response time is decreased and the image burn-in is improved.
This method can be applied to a variety of operating modes of liquid crystal display devices, and modes such as PS-TN, PS-IPS, PS-FFS, PSA-VA and PSA-OCB are known. A polymerizable compound used for these kinds of modes seems to have a high ability to orient liquid crystal molecules, but its solubility in a liquid crystal composition is not reported to be high. Improvement of the solubility in a liquid crystal composition has been tried until now, but there is a tendency that the polymerization reactivity is decreased as the solubility increases. Thus, the development of a polymerizable compound having a suitable balance between the solubility and the polymerization reactivity has been expected.

Compound having four polymerizable groups, liquid crystal composition and liquid crystal display device

Abstract: In formula (1), for example, the ring A1 and the ring A4 are phenylene or cyclohexylene; Z1, Z2, Z3 and Z4 are a single bond or alkylene having 1 to 6 carbons; L1 is a single bond; s and t are 0; and P1, P2, P3 and P4 are a polymerizable group.


This invention involves a cylinder of circular section, with one end raised about 5 degrees above the other, and capable of being rolled back and forth through an arc of approximately 210.degree., 105.degree. in either direction from a central position, or in some cases for complete revolutions, into which trash, garbage, and possibly septage are introduced repeatedly through a hole in the top of the high end when the cylinder is in the central position, and then the cylinder is rocked from one extreme position to the other so that the material inside is tumbled upon itself and aerated and randomly dispersed, and by repeatly falling tends to progress from the high, input end toward a discharge opening in the low end as digested compost. These units can be built by any reasonably competent mechanic. The smaller ones require a cold chisel, electric drill, and ideally a saber-saw or acetylene torch. The larger ones will require some welding.

1. Filed of the Invention
The invention relates to rocking, rolling composters. Mechanical rotation has long served to replace the manual labor of turning over a pile of compost. Such composters are becoming needed in various towns in the United States of America, and they are also needed in third-world areas.
2. Description of the Related Art
Prior art composting units include such units as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,942,769 to Whiteside, et al. Prior art composters are batch composters, with drums supported on stands. One problem with such units is that the addition of small amounts of new or raw garbage necessitates delay in removing the composted mass.


The tuner in a digital TV receiver converts received signal to a penultimate intermediate-frequency signal. Penultimate local oscillations are supplied in a first phasing and in a second phasing in quadrature therewith, for heterodyning with the penultimate IF signal in first and second mixers respectively to generate real and imaginary components of an ultimate intermediate-frequency signal. The first and second mixers are of a switching type, switching in respective response to the penultimate local oscillations as supplied in first and in second phasing. First analog-to-digital conversion circuitry containing a number N of analog-to-digital converters digitizes the real component of the ultimate IF signal on an N-phase basis, N being at least one. Second analog-to-digital conversion circuitry, which contains a number N of analog-to-digital converters, digitizes the imaginary component of the ultimate IF signal on an N-phase basis. A complex digital carrier signal is generated at the frequency of the radio carrier wave as translated to the ultimate IF signal band. Synchrodyning circuitry responds to the complex digital carrier signal supplied as ultimate local oscillations, and to the digital samples of the real and imaginary components of the ultimate IF signal, for recovering in-phase and quadrature-phase components of baseband signal.

A Digital Television Standard published Sep. 16, 1995 by the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) specifies vestigial sideband (VSB) signals for transmitting digital television (DTV) signals in 6-MHz-bandwidth television channels such as those currently used in over-the-air broadcasting of National Television System Committee (NTSC) analog television signals within the United States. The radio receiver portions of the HDTV receiver used by the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) for field testing of the standard were designed by Zenith Electronics Corporation. In the Zenith receiver, phase tracking is done at baseband after synchronous detection is done. Digitization is done after synchronous detection. The digital transmission scheme authorized by the ATSC is unusual because it uses vestigial-sideband amplitude modulation (VSB AM).
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,479,449 entitled "DIGITAL VSB DETECTOR WITH BANDPASS PHASE TRACKER, AS FOR INCLUSION IN AN HDTV RECEIVER", which issued Dec. 26, 1995 to C. B. Patel and A. L. R. Limberg, digitization is done before synchronous detection; and phase tracking is done at intermediate frequencies before generating complex-number digital samples for synchronous detection. U.S. Pat. No. 5,479,449 teaches that, despite lack of symmetry of VSB AM upper and lower sidebands, phase tracking can be done at intermediate frequencies before generating complex-number digital samples for synchronous detection in VSB AM receivers. Narrow bandpass filtering is done to achieve symmetry of upper and lower sidebands before extracting carrier to be synchrodyned to baseband to develop control signal for the bandpass tracker. Alternatively, the carrier is extracted from the asymmetrical upper and lower sidebands, synchrodyned to baseband and lowpass filtered to develop control signal for the bandpass tracker, the cut-off frequency of the lowpass filter being so low in frequency that there is no response to the asymmetrical portion of the carrier sideband structure.
Bandpass phase trackers are also useful for detecting digital television signals transmitted by QAM of a center-channel carrier as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,506,636 entitled "HDTV SIGNAL RECEIVER WITH IMAGINARY-SAMPLE-PRESENCE DETECTOR FOR QAM/VSB MODE SELECTION", which issued Apr. 9, 1996 to C. B. Patel and A. L. R. Limberg, and in allowed U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/266,753 entitled "RADIO RECEIVER FOR RECEIVING BOTH VSB AND QAM DIGITAL HDTV SIGNALS", which was filed Jun. 28, 1994 for C. B. Patel and A. L. R. Limberg.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,479,449 digitizes the sidebands of the in-phase synchronous detection result after converting the real samples to complex samples using a digital filter with Hilbert transform system function for generating the imaginary samples. This Hilbert transformation is done by digital filtering of intermediate-frequency (IF) signals with system functions between one and ten MHz in frequency, which is considerably simpler to do than performing the Hilbert transformation at baseband. The delay required to achieve a 90.degree. phase shift at a megahertz is considerably less than that required to approximate 90.degree. phase shift at close to zero frequency. Nonetheless, the Hilbert transformation filter circuitry involves a substantial amount of digital hardware one would prefer to avoid having to use.
C. B. Patel and A. L. R. Limberg considered replacing the Hilbert transformation filter circuitry with differential 90.degree. phase shift networks using FIR or IIR digital filters. U.S. Pat. No. 5,548,617 issued Aug. 20, 1996 and entitled "DIGITAL VSB DETECTOR WITH BANDPASS PHASE TRACKER USING
RADER FILTERS, AS FOR USE IN AN HDTV RECEIVER" describes differential 90.degree. phase shift networks using IIR digital filters based on a type described by C. M. Rader in his article "A Simple Method for Sampling In-Phase and Quadrature Components", IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON AEROSPACE AND ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS, Vol. AES-20, No. 6 (November 1984), pp. 821-824. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,731,848 issued Mar. 24, 1998 to C. B. Patel and A. L. R. Limberg, and entitled "DIGITAL VSB DETECTOR WITH BANDPASS PHASE TRACKER USING NG FILTERS, AS FOR USE IN AN HDTV RECEIVER" C. B. Patel and A. L. R. Limberg describe differential 90.degree. phase shift networks using FIR digital filters based on types generally described by T. F. S. Ng in United Kingdom patent application 2 244 410 A published Nov. 27, 1991 and entitled "QUADRATURE DEMODULATOR".
The Hilbert transformation filter circuitry is implemented as a digital filter in the bandpass trackers described above after analog-to-digital conversion is performed by a single analog-to-digital converter (ADC) operative on the penultimate intermediate-frequency signal used in the receiver. This penultimate IF signal is located in the very high frequency (VHF) band somewhat below television broadcast channel two. A DTV receiver using a bandpass tracker usually will be designed as a triple-conversion receiver, converting radio-frequency (RF) signals as received from an antenna or cable connection to a first intermediate-frequency signal located in the ultra-high frequency (UHF) band somewhat above television broadcast channel eighty-three, converting amplified UHF first IF signal to the VHF penultimate IF signal, and finally converting amplified VHF penultimate IF signal to an ultimate IF signal somewhere within about a 1-10 MHz frequency range, for synchrodyning to baseband. Using a single ADC in a digital communications receiver avoids any problem of matching separate ADCs respectively used for converting a real component and an imaginary component of analog ultimate IF signal, as well as any problem of matching the gains of the real and imaginary components respectively supplied to these ADCs. Also, the problem of developing real and imaginary components of the ultimate IF signal that are in accurate 90.degree. phasing is largely avoided.
Further, the practice when digitizing signals in a digital communications receiver has been to use a flash analog-to-digital converter, and the high 10.76 megasymbols per second symbol rate and eight- or sixteen-level symbols used in DTV signals impose very difficult operating demands on a flash converter. A flash converter has a considerable amount of circuitry for incorporation within a monolithic integrated circuit (IC) die, employing a (2.sup.n -1)-resistor ladder voltage divider and (2.sup.n -1) comparators to achieve n-bit digital resolution, n being a positive integer. Considerable area is taken up on the die, so ADC cost is quite high, in the several dollar range. A flash converter consumes considerable power for operating at at least 21.52 million samples per second rate as required in the receiver for digitizing VSB AM DTV signals with 10.76 million symbols per second, when a bandpass phase tracker is used. The desire to use as few expensive, power-consuming IC devices as possible directs one skilled in the art away from considering the use of plural-phase analog-to-digital conversion.
In order to get digital resolution of ten to twelve bits at 21.52 million samples per second rate, in order better to facilitate equalization filtering, the inventor has considered the use of analog-to-digital conversion methods other than flash conversion. The inventor discerns that a single flash converter can be replaced by twenty-four ADCs of successive binary approximation type arranged for staggered sampling to provide 24-phase analog-to-digital conversion with up to eleven or twelve bits resolution without need for successive binary approximation rates above DTV symbol rate. Each ADC digitizes a sample of one-half symbol period duration. Conversion rate of each ADC is one-twenty-fourth that of the flash converter, which tends to reduce power consumption by the square of twenty-four in each ADC with an overall reduction of power consumption by a factor of twenty-four. Each ADC of successive binary approximation type has only one to twelve comparators therein depending on the specific type of ADC being used, this being fewer than the (2.sup.9 -1) to (2.sup.12 -1) comparators used in a flash converter with 9-bit to 12-bit resolution and never appreciably more than the (2.sup.8 -1) comparators used in a flash converter with 8-bit resolution.
The ATSC Digital Television Standard published Sep. 16, 1995 specifies symbol coding of trellis coded signals. Twelve time-interleaved trellis codes are used for data within 828-symbol data segments, each data segment being preceded by a 4-symbol data synchronization code group as a header. The original purpose of using twelve time-interleaved trellis codes was to facilitate comb filtering to suppress artifacts of co-channel interfering NTSC signal. In the Zenith receiver used for field testing the ATSC Digital Television Standard, the twelve time-interleaved trellis codes are decoded on a 12-phase basis, using a respective trellis decoder for each of the twelve phases of trellis decoding. Each trellis decoder can use a "soft decision" technique of the type described by Viterbi, which decision procedure is substantially independent of the decision procedures in the other trellis decoders. The use of independent time-interleaved trellis codes reduces the concern in regard to matching the conversion gains of the ADCs exactly, when using the 24-phase analog-to-digital conversion procedure described above. Unless ghosting is substantial, so the equalization filtering commingles ADC responses considerably, differences in the conversion gains of the ADCs are compensated for in some part by the individual "soft decision" procedures in the trellis decoders.
If ADC matching can be done satisfactorily in any case, plural-phase conversion with fewer phases, such as sixteen, should be feasible. This would reduce the amount of hardware required in the complete analog-to-digital conversion circuitry. The possibility of analog-to-digital conversion circuitry capable of providing digital resolution of ten to twelve bits at 21.52 million samples per second rate without as much power consumption or as much device cost encouraged the inventor to consider how the problems of separate analog-to-digital conversion of the real and imaginary components of the ultimate IF signal can be overcome, rather than avoided.
The problem of equalizing gains for the real and imaginary components of the ultimate IF signal as presented in analog form to their respective ADCs is capable of satisfactory solution by supplying the penultimate IF signal to a pair of switching-type mixers that are of matched construction, which switching-type mixers are switched in response to in-phase and quadrature-phase output signals of a penultimate local oscillator. The pair of switching-type mixers that are of matched construction are, for example, formed in a monolithic IC using a tree of emitter-coupled bipolar transistor pairs. The switching-type mixer responses are similarly lowpass filtered to generate respective input signals for the two ADCs. Respective LC lowpass filters designed to be driven from effectively zero source impedances are recommended for maintaining equal insertion gains for the real and imaginary components of the ultimate IF signal as presented in analog form to their respective ADCs.
The problem of developing real and imaginary components of the ultimate IF signal that are in accurate 90.degree. phasing is solved in such an arrangement by supplying the in-phase and quadrature-phase output signals of the penultimate local oscillator in accurate phasing. This simplifies the problem since the penultimate local oscillator output signals are essentially free of modulation.
The problem of matching ADC characteristics is capable of solution, for example, by using matched constructions within a single monolithic IC. If the ADCs are flash converters, they are preferably arranged to use one resistor ladder in common. If the ADCs are of successive binary approximation type, they are preferably arranged to use the same network for establishing the comparator standards used in the successive approximation procedures.

Bandpass phase tracker with hilbert transformation before plural-phase analog-to-digital conversion


The present invention provides a liquid sample suctioning device capable of simplifying a structure thereof, preventing clogging of a pipette and contamination of a liquid sample, and closing a hole formed in a lid after the liquid sample is suctioned. The liquid sample suctioning device is adapted to suction the liquid sample in the container by piercing through the lid mounted on an opening of the container, comprising a piercer having a leading end insertable into the container by piercing through the lid and forming a deformation piece deformable toward an inner side of the container in the lid, a pipette configured for suctioning the liquid sample in the container, a first driving part for moving up and down the piercer, and a second driving part for moving up and down the pipette along the piercer.

An analyzer for suctioning a liquid sample stored in a sealed container such as a vacuum blood collection tube and analyzing the suctioned liquid sample is widely known. A conventional analyzer of this type comprises a suction tube whose leading end is sharpened in order to suction the liquid sample from the sealed container, wherein the suction tube is adapted to pierce through a lid of the sealed container. The suction tube adapted in the foregoing manner, however, has the problem that scraped pieces generated when the suction tube pierces through the lid invade the suction tube, thereby unfavorably clogging the suction tube.
In order to solve the foregoing problem, a sampling device adapted to thrust a hole making tube into a lid and insert a suction tube through the hole making tube to thereby insert a leading end of the suction tube into a sealed container was disclosed (see U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,951,512 and 5,132,088). As another example, a device provided with a hole making tool having a sharp leading end and a suction tube was disclosed (U.S. Pat. No. 4,721,137). The device is adapted to form a hole in a lid using the hole making tool, and thereafter move the suction tube to be positioned with respect to the hole so that the suction tube is inserted through the hole. These devices can prevent the suction tube from being clogged with the scraped pieces.
However, the devices having the structures disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,951,512 and 5,132,088 have the disadvantages that the hole making tube was clogged with the scraped pieces when it was thrust into the lid, and the scraped pieces entered the liquid sample in the sealed container, thereby clogging the suction tube and contaminating the liquid sample. As another disadvantage, the hole making tube, through which the suction tube was to be inserted, was inevitably increased in size, and the hole formed in the lid by the thrust of the hole making tube was thereby increased in size. When the hole is too large, the hole may not be closed after the hole making tube is removed from the lid, and a large force was conventionally required to push the hole making tube into the lid.
A disadvantage included in the constitution disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,721,137 which required the positioning of the suction tube with respect to the hole in the lid after the hole making tool was thrust into the lid of the sealed container and then removed from the lid. It was necessary to firmly retain the sealed container so that there was no positional deviation of the sealed container when the hole making tool was removed. In order to realize such a firm retention, a structure for retaining the sealed container unfavorably became complicated, and a user had to make a lot of operations when he/she set the sealed container in the device.

Liquid sample suctioning device and analyzer