All optical regeneration methods and systems can be realized through an exponential amplifier and a limiting amplifier, which could be two independent devices (one piece of fiber with parametric amplification and a semiconductor optical amplifier operating at saturation state) or one single device (one piece of fiber). The signal quality and the extinction ratio after regeneration are significantly improved compared with the degraded incoming data using a parametric amplifier with the data signal to be regenerated as the pump. The regenerated data has an extinction ratio as high as 14 dB, an extinction ratio enhancement of approximately 5 dB and an approximately 5 dB negative power penalty. This regeneration schemes are format transparent (RZ and NRZ), and provide noise reduction both for bit 1's and bit 0's of the data sequence. The regeneration method and apparatus that just utilizes fibers has the additional capability of ultrafast response speed (several femtoseconds due to the Kerr effect).

To meet the growing capacity demand of fiber optic communication system, more channels and higher line-rates have to be considered in dense wavelength-division multiplexing (DWDM) systems. These systems suffer from many propagation impairments, such as amplified spontaneous-emission (ASE), four-wave mixing (FWM), cross phase modulation (XPM), and stimulated Raman scattering (SRS).
All these effects limit the transmission distance and optical regeneration is necessary to restore optical data signals. In an all-optical network, the need is even more acute as the optical signal may not only travel over variable distance but also go through unpredictable numbers of switching nodes.
In conventional opto-electronic repeater/regenerators, two complete WDM (wave-division multiplexing) terminal equipments in a back-to-back configuration are used. They are expensive since both O-E and E-O conversion are required, and will be finally bandwidth-limited. In the future high speed long-haul transmission systems or large-scale optical networks, all-optical regeneration, including 2R (reshaping and reamplification) and 3R (2R plus retiming) are key technologies to overcome the electronic bottleneck.
Many approaches have been proposed for optical 3R regeneration. The majority of them can be classified into the following categories: 1) cross-gain modulation (XGM) regenerators using semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOA) and/or distributed feedback (DFB) lasers; 2) interferometric regenerators using cross phase modulation (XPM) in SOAs or optical fiber; 3) cross-absorption modulation in electro-absorption modulators (EAM); 4) soliton-based regenerators using synchronous modulation; 5) noise suppression on bit 1's using gain saturation in SOAs or fiber parametric amplifiers; and 6) regenerators based on spectral broadening due to self-phase modulation (SPM); 7) high-order parametric processes.
Regeneration schemes based on gain dynamics of SOAs are limited in speed by the carrier recovery time and in ER by weak gain saturation. As a result, it is unlikely XGM or gain saturation in SOAs will function at 40 Gb/s and above. Other schemes and their potential problems with these approaches are hereafter discussed to place the invention of this application in the proper context. The review is focused on nonlinear optical gating.
Interferometric Regenerators
Interferometric regenerators based on XPM in SOAs can be of the Mach-Zehnder (MZ), Michelson or delay interferometer types exploiting similar phase dynamics as used in the terahertz optical asymmetric demuliplexer (TOAD). A MZ regenerator uses two symmetric SOAs. The input data to be regenerated is split into two equal parts, one is delayed with respect to the other. The retimed clock pulses are also fed equally into the two MZ arms. Because of the relatively delay, the phase difference experienced by the clock pulses in the two arms is roughly a series of rectangular pulse of width τ and height π. The transfer function of the interferometer is sin[(Φ1−Φ2)/2]. The speed of operation of this regenerator is limited only by the rise time, not by the carrier recovery time. As a result, regenerators based on XPM in SOAs have been demonstrated to operate as high as 80 Gb/s (and XPM based wavelength conversion up to 160 Gb/s). The other advantage is that the sensitivity of such regenerators is among the highest of all the optical regenerators due to strong nonlinearities in SOAs. The disadvantages of this type of regenerator are as follows. Because data to be regenerated in general will have long-term average power fluctuations and short-term pattern-dependent effects, the data need to be pre-processed so that the peak power of each bit is the same. Pre-processing in general only optimize operation of bit 1's of the original data to be regenerated. Therefore only the noise of bit 1's (non-inverting regenerator) or bit 0's (inverting regenerator) will be reduced by the regenerator depending on the initial phase delay of the interferometer.
Interferometric regenerators based on XPM in fibers are in general realized in the form of a nonlinear optical loop mirror (NOLM). It exploits the phase difference between the co-propagating and counter-propagating path. The NOLM has ultra high speed potential. It is not very practical because of the interferometric stability with long (˜km) length of the fiber loop, and as in the case of SOA based XPM regenerators, it requires preprocessing.
Cross-Absorption Regenerators
All-optical regenerator based on cross-absorption modulation in EAMs exploits saturation effects in EAMs. This regenerator consists of an EAM with two inputs: the data to be regenerated and a probe laser. At bit 1's, the input data saturates the absorption of the EAM, leaving it transparent to the probe laser. At bit 0's the EAM is still absorptive to the probe laser. In order to obtain (thresholding effects) improved ER, the EAM should be biased at a very lossy state and strong injection power is required. The average power required for the data signal is on the order of +17 to +19 dBm. The speed is limited by the carrier recombination speed, which is in general faster than the carrier recovery speed of lasers. Speeds up to 40 Gb/s have been demonstrated. The disadvantages of cross-absorption regenerators are: 1) it has a very low sensitivity (high input power) and 2) the speed is limited to about 40 Gb/s.
Soliton-Based Regenerators
Soliton-based regenerator exploits the robustness of soliton pulses under synchronous modulation. Synchronous modulation has been used to transmit solitons over unlimited distance. Soliton-based regenerator first converts the regular dispersion-managed RZ pulses to soliton pulses, which is optically filtered and then synchronously modulated by a recovered clock signal (synchronous modulation). The soliton pulses (bit 1's) that emerge from synchronous modulation is robust while noise pulses (bit 0's) will disperse. In addition, synchronous modulation reduces jitter in soliton pulses as the centers of the pulses attract towards transmission peaks at exactly the clock rate. This process can be repeated, each time resulting in a better ER and smaller jitter until reaching an ER and a jitter floor. Although synchronous modulation of multiple channels can be envisioned, RZ-to-soliton and soliton-to-RZ conversions have to be performed in separate channels since the conversion conditions for each channel are different. In addition synchronous modulation requires that each channel have the same clock rate. This is not generally satisfied because different WDM channels often come from different sources with independent clocks. Despite the attention this scheme has received, this approach is not cost effective with OEO regeneration when the cost of preprocessing (RZ to soliton) and post processing (soliton to RZ), which needs to be performed on a per channel basis, is factored in.
Regeneration Using Gain Saturation in Fiber Parametric Amplifiers
This involves regeneration using gain saturation in fiber parametric amplifier (FPA). The pump for the parametric amplifier is a CW laser (for 2R) or retimed clock pulse train (for 3R) and the data to be regenerated is used as the probe. Before input into the FPA, the probe is amplified so that bit 1's will saturate the pump. As a result only bit 1's can be reshaped. It should be noted that this gain saturation is due to pump depletion when the pump power is transferred to the probe. Compared to SOA's with saturated gain, this scheme can operate at high speeds. Inherently, this scheme is not very competitive because reshaping of the bit 1's comes at the expenses of reduced ER. As a result, negative power penalty cannot be achieved. Practically, when a signal needs to be regenerated, its ER is already low and the reshaped signal with a further reduction in ER would not be able to transmit any further in fiber.
Regeneration Using Self-Phase Modulation
In regeneration using self-phase modulation, the input pulses to be regenerated have a spectral width on the order of Δω0˜1/τ, where τ is the pulse width. Due to the effect of SPM, the spectral bandwidth of the pulses broadens to ΔωSPM=Δω0(2π/λ)n2IpL, where Ip is the pulse intensity (which can fluctuate), n2 is the nonlinear refractive, λ is the wavelength and L is the length of the nonlinear fiber. After SPM, the pulses pass through an optical filter whose center frequency, ωf, is shifted with respect to the input signal carrier frequency, ω0 as ωf=ω0+Δωshift. If the spectral broadening of the pulse is small enough so that ωSPM/2<Δωshift, the pulse is rejected by the filter. If the pulse intensity is high enough so that ωSPM/2≧Δωshift, a part of the SPM-broadened spectrum passes through the filter. This regeneration scheme on surface is quite attractive. It uses only passive component, can lead to ER improvement. However, there is a major problem in terms of retiming with this scheme. First, it does not allow a retiming mechanism. Second, the intensity fluctuations (noise and pattern effects) in the input data can lead to significant jitter up to ±10% τ. To solve the retiming issue, this scheme has been combined with synchronous modulation.
High-Order Parametric Processes
Recently optical regeneration using high-order parametric processes has been proposed. It relies on multiple nonlinear optical interactions that involve multiple pumps and multiple idlers. As such, it is complicated, requires complicated filtering, and has limited dynamic range.
Thus, the need exists for solutions to the above problems of the prior art.

University of Central Florida Research Foundation, Inc.


A process for efficiently producing a 2-alkyl-2-cyclopentenone comprising reacting an amine and a hydrogen halide, which are present in a ratio ranging from 1.1:1 to 5:1, with a 2-alkylidene cyclopentanone to carry out an isomerization reaction. A process for producing a jasmonate derivative comprising reacting a 2-alkyl-2-cyclopentenone with a malonic acid diester.

The present invention relates to a method for producing a 2-alkyl-2-cyclopentenone useful as a synthetic intermediate of a biologically active substance or a perfume as well as a method for producing a jasmonate derivative useful as a perfume material or a biologically active substance by using the same.
As a method for producing a 2-alkyl-2-cyclopentenone, for instance, there is a method which comprises obtaining a 2-alkylidene cyclopentanone by dehydrating reaction of a 2-(1-hydroxyalkyl)-cyclopentanone and then isomerizing this 2-alkylidene cyclopentanone. Among such a method, there is known a method for producing a 2-alkyl-2-cyclopentenone by bringing a hydrogen halide into contact with a 2-alkylidene cyclopentanone and there are also investigated variable improvements thereof (JP-A 59-80625 etc.).
In this method, however, it is impossible to obtain the product in a high yield without low concentration condition so that further improvements have been desired for industrial production. As this improved method therefor, there is also known a method using a hydrogen halide salt of an amine in place of the above-mentioned hydrogen halide (JP-A 6-80606). Even in this method, however, no sufficiently satisfactory yield can be obtained without adding a solvent in excess.
Further, those methods wherein a 2-(1-hydroxyalkyl)-cyclopentanone is dehydrated and isomerized at one stage are also known (JP-A 56-147740 and JP-A.5-92934). However, these methods have drawbacks such as longer reaction time, poor yield, much solvent and poor productivity.
JP-A 51-23240 discloses a method for producing a 2-alkyl-2-cyclopentenone with a hydrogen halide or sulfonic acid.
The object of the present invention is to provide a method for efficiently producing a 2-alkyl-2-cyclopentenone as well as a method for producing a jasmonate derivative by using the same.
The present invention relates to a method for producing a 2-alkyl-2-cyclopentenone represented by the formula (2) (referred to hereinafter as the compound (2)):
wherein each of R1 and R2 represents a hydrogen atom or a linear or branched alkyl group having 1 to 8 carbon atoms, or R1 and R2 may be formed into a cyclopentane or cyclohexane ring together with a bonded carbon atom, which comprises reacting an amine and a hydrogen halide with a 2-alkylidene cyclopentanone represented by the formula (1) (referred to hereinafter as the compound (1)) at a molar ratio of the amine/the hydrogen halide of from 1.1/1 to 5/1 to carry out isomerization reaction:
wherein R1 and R2 have the same meanings as defined above, as well as it relates to a method for producing the compound (2), which comprises reacting a catalyst comprising an amine and a hydrogen halide with a 2-(1-hydroxyalkyl)-cyclopentanone represented by the formula (3) (referred to hereinafter as the compound (3)) to carry out dehydration-isomerization reaction:
wherein R1 and R2 have the same meanings as defined above.
Further, the present invention relates to a method for producing a jasmonate derivative represented by the formula (5) (referred to hereinafter as the compound (5)):
wherein R1 and R2 have the same meanings as defined above, R3 represents a linear or branched alkyl group having 1 to 3 carbon atoms, which comprises reacting the compound (2) obtained in the method described above with a malonic acid diester represented by the formula (4) (referred to hereinafter as the compound (4)):
wherein R1 , R2 and R3 have the same meanings as defined above, and the two R3 groups may be the same or different, and then reacting water therewith.
Furthermore, the present invention also provides use of the 2-alkyl-2-cyclopentenone obtained by the method described above as an intermediate for a jasmonate derivative.
[Method 1: The Method for Producing the Compound (2) Obtained from the Compound (1)]
The compound (1) used in the present invention can be produced by a publicly known method in the conventional art. For example, it can be easily synthesized by a method for condensing an enamine of cyclopentanone with an aldehyde and then decomposing the dehydrated-condensed product with an acid; a method of dehydrating the compound (3); or the like.
The compound (1) includes 2-butylidene cyclopentanone, 2-(2xe2x80x2-methylbutylidene) cyclopentanone, 2-pentylidene cyclopentanone, 2-hexylidene cyclopentanone, 2-cyclopentylidene cyclopentanone, 2-cyclohexylidene cyclopentanone and 2-(1xe2x80x2-methylbutylidene)-cyclopentanone.
The amine and hydrogen halide used in the present method at are reacted at a molar ratio of the amine/the hydrogen halide of from 1.1/1 to 5/1, preferably 1.2/1 to 3/1 and more preferably 1.5/1 to 3/1 in order to obtain the compound (2) in a high yield even in a small amount of a solvent.
The amine used in the present method is preferably a weakly basic aromatic amine or heterocyclic aromatic amine. Specifically, there may be exemplified aniline, diphenylamine, pyridine, picoline, quinoline and polyvinyl pyridine. Pyridine, picoline or quinoline is particularly preferable. The hydrogen halide may be hydrogen chloride, hydrogen bromide or hydrogen iodide. Hydrogen chloride or hydrogen bromide is particularly preferable.
The amine and hydrogen halide may be previously mixed at the ratio described above having the excess amine in order to use the mixture. On the other hand, the amine and hydrogen halide may be added to a reaction vessel at the ratio described above. The amount of the hydrogen halide used is preferably 1 to 50 mol-% and particularly preferably 2 to 20 mol-% as compared with the compound (1).
The reaction is preferably carried out in an alcohol solvent or under no solvents. As the alcohol solvent, e.g. C1-8 lower alcohols, diols or triols are used. C1-8 lower alcohols are particularly preferable. Specially, examples thereof include methanol, ethanol, 1-propanol, 2-propanol, butanol, pentanol, hexanol, 2-ethylhexanol, cyclohexanol, ethyleneglycol, 1,8-octanediol, glycerol and polyethyleneglycol. The amount of the solvent used is preferably 0.5 to 5 times and economically more preferably 0.5 to 2 times the weight of the compound (1). The reaction solvent is suitably selected depending on the physical properties of the compound (1) to be used. If the boiling point of the selected solvent is the reaction temperature or less, the reaction may be carried out under pressurization.
The reaction temperature is preferably 80 to 200xc2x0 C. and particularly preferably 100 to 180xc2x0 C., and the reaction is carried out for a suitable time and, after the reaction is finished, a work-up is carried out according to a usual manner, whereby the compound (2) can be obtained.
The compound (1), the solvent, the amine and the hydrogen halide can be simultaneously introduced and reacted, but the reaction procedure is preferably that, when the reaction temperature is reached, the compound (1) is brought into contact with the catalyst. This procedure includes a method which comprises introducing the compound (1) and the solvent, then adding dropwise a mixed solution of the amine and the hydrogen halide thereto at a predetermined temperature and reacting them and a method which comprises previously introducing the solvent, the amine and the hydrogen halide and then adding dropwise the compound (1) thereto at a predetermined temperature. Any method thereof may be adopted.
[Method 2: The Method for Producing the Compound (2) Obtained from the Compound (3)]
In the compound (3) used as the starting material in the present method, the alkyl group constituting 1-hydroxyalkyl group includes e.g. methyl group, ethyl group, propyl group, isopropyl group, butyl group, isobutyl group, amyl group, isoamyl group, hexyl group and heptyl group.
This compound (3) can be produced by a publicly known method in the conventional art. For example, it can be obtained by reacting cyclopentanone with an aldehyde or ketone represented by the formula (6):
wherein R1 and R2 have the same meanings as defined above.
The catalyst used in the present method comprises an amine and hydrogen halide. The amine may be more than enough to form a salt with the hydrogen halide and is not particularly limited but is preferably a weakly basic aromatic amine or heterocyclic aromatic amine. Specifically, it includes those described in the item of Method 1 and is particularly preferably pyridine, picoline or quinoline. The hydrogen halide includes those described in the item of Method 1 and is particularly preferably hydrogen chloride or hydrogen bromide.
The amine and hydrogen halide may be previously formed into a salt to be used. On the other hand, the amine and hydrogen halide may be added to a reaction vessel. The ratio of the amine to the hydrogen halide in the reaction system is preferably that the amine is used in excess. The molar ratio of the amine/the hydrogen halide is preferably from 1/1 to 5/1, more preferably from 1.1/1 to 5/1 and most preferably 1.2/1 to 3/1.
The catalyst comprising the amine and hydrogen halide is preferably added at such a ratio that the amount of the hydrogen halide is 5 to 50 mol-% as compared with the compound (3).
The reaction in the present method in no solvents, but a solvent is preferably used to prevent polymerization as side reaction. The solvent is preferably a polar solvent such as alcohols, diols and triols. Specially, examples of the solvent include those described in the item of Method 1. A C4-8 alcohol is particularly preferable.
The amount of the solvent used is preferably 0.5 to 5 times and economically more preferably 0.5 to 2 times the weight of the compound (3). The solvent is suitably selected in consideration of the physical properties of the compound (3) and the reaction temperature.
With regard to the reaction temperature, from the viewpoint of finishing the reaction in a short time and improving the yield by preventing polymerization of compound (1) and/or (2), the reaction temperature is preferably 100 to 200xc2x0 C. and particularly preferably 130 to 160xc2x0 C. The reaction proceeds at an ordinary pressure but, if the reaction temperature is low, the reaction is preferably carried out under a reduced pressure so that water generated therein can be efficiently distilled away to the outside of the system.
The reaction in the present method is preferably carried out while water generated therein is distilled away. It is preferable in the reaction procedure that, when the reaction temperature is reached, the compound (3) is brought into contact with the catalyst. Because this procedure includes a method for adding dropwise the compound (3) to a mixed solution of the catalyst and the solvent and a method for adding dropwise the catalyst to a mixed solution of the compound (3) and the solvent, any method thereof may be selected.
After the reaction in the present method is finished, a work-up is carried out according to a usual manner, whereby the compound (2) can be obtained.
[Method for Producing the Compound (5)]
By using the compound (2) obtained in Method 1 or 2 described above as the starting material, the compound (5) useful as a perfume material or a biologically active substance can be obtained in a method described in e.g. EP 33604.
Specifically, the compounds (2) and (4) are firstly reacted in the presence of a basic catalyst to obtain a compound represented by the formula (7) (referred to hereinafter as the compound (7)):
wherein R1, R2 and R3 have the same meanings as defined above.
The compound (4) is preferably reacted at 1 to 5 times and preferably 1.2 to 2 times the mole of the compound (2).
The basic catalyst includes an alkali metal such as sodium and potassium and an alkali metal alkoxide such as a sodium alkoxide and a potassium alkoxide. The catalyst is preferably used in a 0.02- to 0.2-fold molar amount per the compound (2). The solvent is preferably a polar solvent such as alcohols. The reaction temperature is preferably in the range of xe2x88x9210xc2x0 C. to 30xc2x0 C. and more preferably in the range of 0 to 20xc2x0 C.
Then, the obtained compound (7) is reacted with water, whereby the compound (5) can be produced. The reaction is preferably carried out while water is added dropwise to the reaction system in a 1- to 3-fold molar amount per the compound (7). The reaction temperature is preferably in the range of 150 to 220xc2x0 C.
According to the method of the present invention, a 2-alkyl-2-cyclopentenone could be obtained in a high yield even if a solvent is not added in excess. Further, the 2-alkyl- 2-cyclopentenone obtained in this method can be used as the starting material to produce a jasmonate derivative efficiently.

Method for producing jasmonate derivatives and intermediates thereof


A method of fabricating an organic device is provided comprising providing a first solution comprising an organic semiconductor or a precursor thereof; a solvent and a decomposable polymer additive, where the polymer additive is heated so that it decomposes into gas. The method is applicable to large scale fabrication of OLEDs, OPVs and OFET devices.

Organic photovoltaics (OPV)[1-7] based on single active layer bulk heterojunction comprising a pair of materials where electron transfer occurs from a donor material to an acceptor material where the pair forms a layer with a higher surface area than a simple flat bilayer structure have been drawing attention because they can be processed from solution at low cost and energy consumption. The most conventional OPV devices consisting of an electron donating polymer such as P3HT and an electron accepting material, such as PCBM, are intensively studied, since they can provide a single active layer bulk heterojunction (BHJ). The morphological structure of blends of polymers is hard to control, but small-molecular OPV system would provide a better control of film morphology. Several concepts have the potential to improve the morphology of OPV devices. One of these is the use of blocking layers to create a so-called p-i-n device. This terminology refers to a structure where the BHJ layer is sandwiched between a pure layer of a dominantly p-type material and a dominantly n-type material. The p and n layers may or may not be electrically doped in this structure. Through the use of convertible materials or orthogonal solvents, these blocking layers can be solution-processed from the same materials in the heterojunction i-layer. Another concept is the ordered heterojunction, in which the donor and acceptor materials form direct paths to the anode and cathode respectively[8] Recently, the use of a spin-cast thermally convertible benzoporphyrin (BP) (FIG. 1 a) has been shown to take advantage of both these concepts.[9,10] This p-i-n device exhibits a power-conversion efficiency of 5.2%, which was successfully demonstrated by spin casting method.[11] However, it is hard to fabricate large areas with spin-casting methods. The alternative processing methods to fabricate larger areas include inkjet printing[12] and slot or blade coating.[13] These methods have worked for polymers such as P3HT[14,15] due to viscous solutions, but small molecule tend to be problematic. More viscous solutions would greatly aid the use of the latter. While adding a polymer additive to the solution to make it more viscous would aid in the use of these methods, the challenge is that the polymer additive cannot diminish the electronic properties of the original materials. A new solution processing method that utilizes a degradable polymer additive would be a great benefit to device fabrication. Similarly, the decomposable polymer additives can be applied to the fabrication of various other organic electronics devices, including but not limited to OFET, OLED, photodetector, sensor and integrated circuit. For example, many polymer, oligomer, dendrimer and small molecule semiconductors had been developed for OFET and OLED devices by printing or coating process.[16-24] Again, certain solution viscosity is generally required for the printing or coating process which could be difficult to achieve from the semiconductor solution especially when the semiconductor or semiconductors are small molecules, oliogmers or dendrimers. A decomposable polymer additive which increase the solution viscosity at the coating step and which then is removed later by annealing could dramatically improve the film quality so as the device performance.
Poly(propylene carbonate) (PC) (FIG. 1b) derived from carbon dioxide and propylene oxide has attracted practical interest with respect to the CO2 fixation and biodegradability.[25] PC also exhibits high transparency and superior mechanical strength. The carbonate linkage in the backbone of PC results in a relatively low thermal decomposition temperature (Td), potentially limiting its practical applications. But from another point of view, the lower Td and decomposing properties could be beneficial for certain applications. Novomer, Inc. has claimed that its synthetic procedure is able to produce PC which decomposes more uniformly at lower temperatures with extremely low residue left after the annealing process. TGA analysis shows that PC can degrade 100% completely above 200° C.

Organic electronic devices prepared using decomposable polymer additives

The Regents of the University of California


A drive-wheel axle unit which prevents the mutual contact portion between a caulk portion (29a) of a hub (6a) and an outer-end face (39) of a housing portion (11) of a drive shaft member (31) from being exhausted, thereby preventing the occurrence of shaky motion, strange sounds and vibrations for a long period of time. A flat surface (38) is formed in the end face of the caulk portion (29a), and is contacted over a large area with the outer end face (39), which makes it possible to reduce the contact surface pressure in the mutual contact portion between the flat surface (38) and outer end face (39).

To support the wheels so as to be rotatable with respect to the suspension, there are used various axle units in which outer and inner rings are rotatably combined together through rolling elements. An axle unit for a driving wheel—which is used not only to support the drive wheels on the independent suspension, but also to drive and rotate the drive wheels—in combination with a constant velocity joint, must be able to transmit the rotary motion of the drive wheels smoothly (that is, in such a manner that the constant velocity performance can be secured) regardless of not only the mutual shift between the differential gears and drive wheels but also the steering angles applied to the wheels. As an axle unit for a driving wheel referred to as a so called fourth-generation hub unit, which, in combination with a constant velocity joint, can be structured so as to be relatively compact and light in weight, there is conventionally known an axle unit disclosed in JP-A-7-317754, or an axle unit disclosed in the specification of U.S. Pat. No. 5,674,011.
Now, FIG. 10 shows a first example of the conventional structure disclosed in the above-cited JP-A-7-317754. According to this structure, the axle unit is assembled to a vehicle and is supported on the suspension. In this state, an outer ring 1, which is disposed so as not to rotate, includes in the outer peripheral surface thereof an outwardly-facing flange-shaped mounting portion 2 to be supported on the suspension and, in the inner peripheral surface thereof a double row of outer ring raceways 3, 3. On the inside diameter side of the outer ring 1, there is disposed a hub 6 which is composed of a combination of a first element 4 and a second element 5. Of the two elements, the first element 4 is formed in a cylindrical shape. Specifically, in the cylindrical-shaped first element 4, on the direction of an outer-end (in the present specification, the outer end with respect to the width direction of the axle unit when it is assembled to a vehicle; in FIG. 10, the left end) portion of the outer peripheral surface thereof, there is formed a mounting flange 7 which is used to support the wheel; and, in the direction of an inner-end (in the present specification, the central end with respect to the width direction of the axle unit when it is assembled to a vehicle; in FIG. 10, the right end) portion of the outer peripheral surface thereof, there is formed an inner raceway 8. On the other hand, in the case of the second element 5, one end portion (in FIG. 10, the left end) thereof is formed as a cylindrical portion 9 to which the outer surface of the first element 4 can be fitted and fixed; the other end portion (in FIG. 10, the right end) thereof is formed as a housing portion 11 which defines the outer ring of a constant velocity joint 10 of a Zwepper type or a bar field type; and, in the outer peripheral surface of the middle portion thereof, there is formed an inner raceway 8. A plurality of rolling elements 12, 12 are interposed between the above-mentioned outer raceways 3, 3 and inner raceways 8, 8, whereby the hub 6 is rotatably supported inside the outer ring 1.
Also, in the mutually matched positions of the inner peripheral surface of the first element 4 and the outer peripheral surface of the second element 5, there are formed an outside securing groove 13 and an inside securing groove 14 respectively. A retaining ring 15 is bridgingly interposed between the two securing grooves 13, 14. In this manner, the first element 4 is prevented from slipping out of the second element 5. Further, a weld 17 is produced between the outer peripheral edge portion of the outer end face (in FIG. 10, the left end face) and the inner peripheral edge portion of a stepped portion 16 formed in the inner peripheral surface of the first element 4, thereby connecting and fixing the first and second elements 4, 5 to each other.
Further, between the two end opening portions of the outer ring 1 and the outer peripheral surface of the middle portion of the hub 6, there are interposed not only substantially cylindrical-shaped covers 18, 18 made of metal plates such as stainless steel plates, but also circular-ring-shaped seal rings 19, 19 made of elastic material such as rubber or elastomer. Also, on the inside of the middle portion of the second element 5, there is formed a partition plate portion 20 which is used to close the inside of the second element 5. These covers 18, 18, seal rings 19, 19 and partition plate portion 20 not only shut off the portion where the plurality of rolling elements 12, 12 are disposed or the constant velocity joint 10 portion from the outside to thereby prevent grease from leaking to the outside, but also prevent foreign substances such as rainwater and dust from getting into the inside.
The constant velocity joint 10 is composed of the housing 11, an inner ring 21, a retainer 22, and a plurality of balls 23. Of these parts, the inner ring 21 is fixed to the leading end portion of a drive shaft (not shown) which can be driven or rotated through a transmission by an engine. In the outer peripheral surface of the inner ring 21, there are formed a plurality of inside engaging grooves 24 respectively extending at right angles to the circumferential direction of the inner ring 21. Each of the inside engaging grooves 24 has a section shape which provides an arc shape when it is cut by a virtual plane intersecting at right angles to the center axis of the inner ring 21. The inside engaging grooves 24 are arranged at regular intervals in the circumferential direction of the inner ring 21. Also, in the position of the inner peripheral surface of the housing portion 11 that is opposed to the inside engaging grooves 24, there are formed a plurality of outside engaging grooves 25 each similarly having an arc-shaped section shape in such a manner that they extend at right angles to the circumferential direction of the inner ring 21. And, the retainer 22 has an arc-shaped section and is formed in a circular-ring-like shape as a whole. The retainer 22 is held by and between the outer peripheral surface of the inner ring 21 and the inner peripheral surface of the housing portion 11. In the circumferential-direction, six positions of the retainer 22 are matched to the inside and outside engaging portions 24, 25, and in these positions there are formed six pockets 26 respectively. Inside these six pockets 26, there are held a corresponding number of balls 23, a total of six balls 23. These balls 23, while they are retained in their respective pockets 26, are allowed to roll along the inside and outside engaging portions 24, 25.
When assembling the above-structured drive-wheel axle unit to a vehicle, the outer ring 1 is supported on the suspension through the mounting portion 2, and the drive wheels are fixed to the first element 4 through the mounting flange 7. Also, the leading end portion of the drive shaft—(not shown), which can be driven or rotated by the engine through the transmission and differential gear—is spline engaged with the inside of the inner ring 21 forming the constant velocity joint 10. While the vehicle is running, the rotary motion of the inner ring 21 is transmitted through the plurality of balls 23 to the second element 5 and to the hub 6 to thereby drive or rotate the drive wheels.
Now, FIG. 11 shows a second example of a conventional structure as disclosed in the specification of the above-cited U.S. Pat. No. 5,674,011. In the second conventional example, the inner peripheral surface of an outer ring 1 is fitted with and fixed to the inner surface of a knuckle 27 forming the suspension. The outer ring 1 does not rotate when the present axle unit is in use, and in it there are formed a double row of outer raceways 3, 3. On the direction of an outer-end (in FIG. 11, the direction of left-end) portion of the outer peripheral surface of a hub 6a, there is disposed a mounting flange 7 which is used to support the wheels of a vehicle. In the direction of an inner-end (in FIG. 11, the direction of right-end) portion of the outer peripheral surface of the hub 6a, there are formed a double row of inner raceways 8, 8 through a pair of inner rings 28, 28. These two inner rings 28, 28 are supported on and fixed to the main body portion of the hub 6a by a caulk portion 29 formed by plastically deforming the other end portion of the hub 6a in such a manner that it is bent outwardly in the diameter direction of the hub 6a. Between the outer raceways 3, 3 and inner raceways 8, 8, there are interposed a plurality of rolling elements 12, 12; and, the hub 6a is rotatably supported inside the outer ring 1.
In the central portion of the hub 6a, there is formed a spline hole 30. The thus-structured hub 6a is combined with a drive shaft member 31 to thereby provide an axle unit for a driving wheel. On one end portion of the drive shaft member 31, there is disposed a spline shaft 32 which can be engaged with the spline hole 30. And the other end portion of the drive shaft member 31 is formed as a housing portion 11 which provides an outer ring of a constant velocity joint. The thus-structured drive shaft member 31 and hub 6a are combined together in such a manner that the spline shaft 32 is inserted into the spline hole 30, and a connecting member 33 made of elastic material is unevenly engaged with the two members 31, 6a to thereby prevent the two members 31, 6a from being separated from each other.
Of the respective conventional structures that have been described hereinabove, in the first conventional structure example shown in FIG. 10, the rotary power between the first and second elements 4, 5 forming the hub 6 must be transmitted through the weld 17 portion. That is, between the first element 4 supporting the wheels and the second element 5 connected to the drive shaft, it is necessary to transmit large torque for driving. But because the first and second elements 4, 5 are fitted with each other through respective cylindrical surfaces, large torque cannot be transmitted through the fitting surfaces thereof. Therefore, the large torque must be transmitted through the weld 17 portion. In order to increase the strength of the weld 17 portion to a sufficient level, the entire periphery of the weld 17 must be welded in a cladding manner. However, where the entire periphery of the weld 17 is claddingly welded, heat at the welding time can distort the shape of the inner raceway 8 portions formed in the outer peripheral surface of the first element 4, or can lower the hardness of the inner raceway 8 portions, which makes it impossible to secure sufficient durability of a rolling bearing unit including the inner raceways 8.
Also, in the second conventional structure example shown in FIG. 11, since prevention of the mutual separation between the hub 6a and drive shaft member 31 is attained by the connecting member 33 made of elastic material, the function of the separation prevention thereof seems unreliable. That is, when a vehicle turns suddenly, due to a large thrust load and a moment load applied to the hub 6a from the wheels, there is applied a large force in a direction to pull out the hub 6a from the drive shaft member 31. With such a large pull-out force, it is difficult to positively prevent the mutual separation between the hub 6a and drive shaft member 31. Therefore, this structure is believed not to be able to secure sufficient reliability.


Osteoarticular allografts are transplanted by techniques which ensure substantial surface contour matching. Specifically, surgical techniques are provided whereby a plug from an osteochondral allograft may be transplanted to a cavity site which remains after a condylar defect is removed from a patient""s condyle. In this regard, the present invention essentially includes placing an osteochondral allograft in substantially the same orientation as the patient condyle, and then removing the transplantable plug therefrom and forming the cavity site in the patient condyle while maintaining their relative same orientation. In this manner, the surface of the transplanted plug is matched to the contour of the excised osteochondral tissue.

The present invention relates generally to surgical transplant techniques. More specifically, the present invention relates to techniques by which donor osteochondral allografts may be transplanted to a patient recipient.
Bone transplantation has been a common surgical procedure for a number of years. In this regard, conventional bone transplantation typically involves removing a bone plug from another site from the same patient (i.e., an autograft) and then inserting the plug at a different site in need of the same. Transplantation of bone from another donor (i.e., an allograft) has also been used where autograft bone is not available. Allograft bone is processed in several ways and is available in solid, paste, or particulate matter.
In recent years, surgeons have been using osteoarticular autografts to repair small defects in the femoral condyle. Small plugs are taken from remote areas of the condyle and transplanted to areas which have defects and are more critical. Osteoarticular allografts, however, have not typically been used because osteoarticular cartilage cells do not survive the freezing or cryopreservation process. Recent advances in preservation of fresh articular cartilage have, however, made the use of osteoarticular cartilage allografts more common.
Instrumentation for bone plug transplantation has yielded plugs of a specified diameter. See in this regard, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,782,835 and 5,919,196, the entire content of each being incorporated expressly hereinto by reference. The surface characteristics of autograft plugs have not been a consideration in selection or harvesting. In transplanting articular allografts, however, these surface characteristics are critical. In order for the allograft to be successful, the surface of the transplanted plug must have the same contour as the excised osteochondral tissue. If this contour is not correct, the articular surfaces of both the femur and tibia are at risk for damage.
According to the present invention, osteoarticular allografts are transplanted by techniques which ensure substantial surface contour matching. Broadly, the present invention is embodied in surgical techniques whereby a plug from an osteochondral allograft may be transplanted to a cavity site which remains after a condylar defect is removed from a patient""s condyle. In this regard, the present invention essentially includes placing an osteochondral allograft in substantially the same orientation as the patient condyle, and then removing the transplantable plug therefrom and forming the cavity site in the patient condyle while maintaining their relative same orientation. In this manner, the surface of the transplanted plug is matched to the contour of the excised osteochondral tissue.
These and other aspects and advantages will become more apparent after careful consideration is given to the following detailed description of the preferred exemplary embodiments thereof.


Computing device, computer instructions and method for processing input seismic data d. The method includes a step of receiving the input seismic data d recorded in a first domain by seismic receivers that travel in water, the input seismic data d including up-going and down-going wave-fields; a step of generating a model p in a second domain to describe the input seismic data d; and a step of processing with a processor the model p to obtain an output seismic dataset indicative of the down-going wave-field and substantially free of the up-going wave-field.

Technical Field
Embodiments of the subject matter disclosed herein generally relate to methods and systems and, more particularly, to mechanisms and techniques for reconstructing wave-fields (e.g., deghosting, redatuming, denoising, interpolating, etc.) based on seismic data collected with receivers located either on streamers or on or close to the ocean bottom.
Discussion of the Background
Marine seismic data acquisition and processing generate a profile (image) of the geophysical structure (subsurface) under the seafloor. While this profile does not provide an accurate location for oil and gas, it suggests, to those trained in the field, the presence or absence of oil and/or gas. Thus, providing a high-resolution image of the subsurface is an ongoing process for the exploration of natural resources, including, among others, oil and/or gas.
During a seismic gathering process, as shown in FIG. 1, a vessel 110 tows plural detectors 112, which are disposed along a cable 114. Cable 114 together with its corresponding detectors 112 are sometimes referred to, by those skilled in the art, as a streamer 116. Vessel 110 may tow plural streamers 116 at the same time. Streamers may be disposed horizontally, i.e., lie at a constant depth z1 relative to the ocean surface 118. Also, plural streamers 116 may form a constant angle (i.e., the streamers may be slanted) with respect to the ocean surface as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,992,992, the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
Still with reference to FIG. 1, vessel 110 may also tow a seismic source 120 configured to generate an acoustic wave 122a. Acoustic wave 122a propagates downward and penetrates the seafloor 124, eventually being reflected by a reflecting structure 126 (reflector R). Reflected acoustic wave 122b propagates upward and is detected by detector 112. For simplicity, FIG. 1 shows only two paths 122a corresponding to the acoustic wave. Parts of reflected acoustic wave 122b (primary) are recorded by various detectors 112 (recorded signals are called traces) while parts of reflected wave 122c pass detectors 112 and arrive at the water surface 118. Since the interface between the water and air is well approximated as a quasi-perfect reflector (i.e., the water surface acts as a mirror for acoustic waves), reflected wave 122c is reflected back toward detector 112 as shown by wave 122d in FIG. 1. Wave 122d is normally referred to as a ghost wave because it is due to a spurious reflection. Ghosts are also recorded by detector 112, but with a reverse polarity and a time lag relative to primary wave 122b if the detector is a hydrophone. The degenerative effect that ghost arrival has on seismic bandwidth and resolution is known. In essence, interference between primary and ghost arrivals causes notches, or gaps, in the frequency content recorded by detectors.
Recorded traces may be used to determine the subsurface (i.e., earth structure below surface 124) and to determine the position and presence of reflectors 126. However, ghosts disturb the accuracy of the final image of the subsurface and, for at least this reason, various methods exist for removing ghosts, i.e., deghosting, from the acquired seismic data. These methods were designed for deghosting seismic data recorded with horizontal or slanted streamers.
The above-discussed methods are not appropriate for seismic data collected with new streamer configurations, e.g., having a curved profile as illustrated in FIG. 2. Deghosting methods for streamers having a curved profile have recently been developed, mainly by the assignee of this application, as later discussed. Such a configuration has a streamer 252 with a curved profile. The curved profile may have any shape. One example of a curved profile is defined by three parametric quantities, z0, s0 and hc. Note that not the entire streamer has to have the curved profile. The first parameter z0 indicates the depth of the first detector 254a relative to the water's surface 258. Second parameter s0 is related to the slope of the initial part of streamer 252 relative to a horizontal line 264. The example shown in FIG. 2 has initial slope s0 equal to substantially 3 percent. Other values may be used. Note that the streamer 252 profile in FIG. 2 is not drawn to scale because a slope of 3 percent is relatively slight. Third parameter hc indicates a horizontal length (distance along the X axis in FIG. 2 measured from first detector 254a) of the streamer's curved portion. This parameter may be in the range of hundreds to thousands of meters.
For such streamers, a deghosting process has been disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 8,456,951 (herein '951) authored by R Soubaras, the entire content of which is incorporated herein. According to the '951 patent, a method for deghosting uses joint deconvolution for migration and mirror migration images to generate a final image of a subsurface. Deghosting is performed at the end of processing (during an imaging phase) and not at the beginning, as with traditional methods. Further, the '951 patent discloses that no datuming step is performed on the data.
Another method that addresses variable-depth data is disclosed by U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/334,776 (herein '776) authored by G. Poole. This method uses a surface datum tau-p model that represents input shot data. A transform from the tau-p model to a shot domain (offset-time) combines the operations of redatuming and reghosting. The use of variable-depth streamer data combined with reghosting ensures that a single point in the tau-p domain satisfies a range of different ghost lags, therefore, making use of variable-depth data notch diversity, which ensures effective receiver deghosting.
FIG. 3 illustrates how one point 302 in the tau-p domain 320 reverse transforms to a pair of lines 304 and 306 in time-space domain 310, at actual streamer position and mirror streamer datum, respectively. The energy relating to mirror cable datum has reverse polarity (−1) compared to the cable datum (+1) as also illustrated in FIG. 3. Note that the time-space (or time-offset) domain 310 has time t on the vertical axis, and offset h between the receiver recording the wave and the source generating the wave, along the X axis, while tau-p domain 320 has the tau coordinate (intercept in the time-space domain) along the Y axis, and the p coordinate (slope in the time-space domain) along the X axis. Application '776 uses a least squares formulation given by:d=Lp  (1)or, in the expanded matrix form,
                                          (                                                                                d                    1                                                                                d                    2                                                                                d                    N                                                                        )                    =                                    (                                                                                ⅇ                                                                              -                            2                                                                              π                                                                                if                                                                                τ                            pr                                                                                -                                              ⅇ                                                                              -                            2                                                                              π                                                                                if                                                                                τ                            gh                                                                                )                                                  (                                                                                p                      1                                                                                p                      2                                                                                p                      3                                                                                p                      M                                                                                )                                      ,                            (        2        )            where column vector d contains a frequency slice from the shot domain data (known), column vector p contains the surface datum tau-p model (unknown), and matrix L makes the transform (known) from the surface tau-p model to the input shot data. Matrix L combines the operations of redatuming and reghosting.
The time shifts for primary (up-going) and ghost (down-going) wave fields are given by:τpr=(hn+Δh)sm−Δτ  (3)τgh=(hn−Δh)sm+Δτ,  (4)where hn is the offset of a given trace in column vector d, sm is the slowness of a given trace in the surface tau-p model, Δh is the offset perturbation as described in the '776 application, and Δτ is the temporal perturbation as also described in the '776 application. Equation (1) can be solved in the time or spectral (e.g., frequency) domain using linear inversion. The method can be applied on the whole shot (cable-by-cable) or in spatial windows of a user-defined number of channels.
However, existing methods relate to pressure measurements made, for example, by hydrophones. Currently, the new streamer generation is capable of measuring not only pressure but also particle motion data, e.g., displacement, velocity, differential pressure, acceleration, etc. Thus, there is a need to process not only pressure measurements, but also particle motion data. Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide systems and methods with such capabilities.

Device and method for wave-field reconstruction


A control system for controlling an airborne vehicle at a time of low aerodynamic moment is provided. The control system includes combined aerodynamic and thrust vector control actuators, a quaternion generator which determines a quaternion error value defining the error between the quaternion of the vehicle and the commanded quaternion; and a controller which controls the actuators based on the quaternion error value, an aerodynamic control gain and a thrust vector control gain.

When a vehicle is flying at a low velocity, the various aerodynamic surfaces are not very effective. For example, when an airplane stalls, it is flying at such a low velocity that it becomes uncontrollable. A further example is that of a vertical launch of a missile from a ship or from a ground launcher. Vertical launches are desirable since the launching equipment takes far less space on the ship than if the missile were to be launched from a turret launcher and since the missile can turn to any direction, once it has cleared the superstructure of the ship.
FIG. 1, to which reference is now made, illustrates the flight of a missile 10 which is launched from a ship 12 having superstructure 14. In order to avoid the superstructure 14, the missile 10 must rise above the superstructure 14 and, only afterwards, turn towards the direction of the target 18. The missile 10 also reduces its altitude so that it comes to fly above sea level 19 at the same altitude as target 18. FIG. 1 illustrates the flight path of the missile.
FIG. 1 also shows a radar system 20, or any other tracking system, which tracks the target 18. It is typically desirable to have the missile 10 come to align its flight path with the target line of sight direction (i.e. the "boresight") of the radar system 20. The alignment is shown at 22.
The missile is first shot vertically out of the launcher 24, most of which is located below the deck, and the control system takes over only after a given period of time. Unfortunately, the missile is then flying at a low velocity, which is a relatively difficult state to control.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,082,202 describes a jet vane thrust vector control unit for use in steering a vertically launched missile during its turn towards alignment with the line of sight direction of the radar system 20. The control unit of U.S. Pat. No. 5,082,202 is jettisoned when it is no longer needed. U.S. Pat. No. 5,082,202 does not provide a control system for controlling the missile during the above-described initial launch stages.

Flight control of an airborne vehicle at low velocity

State of Israel/Ministry of Defense Armament Development Authority Rafael


Embodiments of system, device, and method configurations for managing inter-radio access technology (inter-RAT) mobility of handovers between a UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN) or GSM EDGE Radio Access Network (GERAN) and an evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) to avoid scenarios of in-device coexistence (IDC) interference are disclosed herein. In one example, the existence and types of IDC interference with an E-UTRAN Long Term Evolution (LTE)/Long Term Evolution-Advanced (LTE-A) network are determined and communicated to the UTRAN/GERAN in an IDC indication signal. The IDC indication signal may communicate the existence and type of IDC interference occurring at user equipment, such as between licensed LTE/LTE-A and unlicensed industrial scientific medical (ISM) radio frequency bands. Accordingly, the UTRAN/GERAN may use information provided from the IDC indication signal to prevent a handover to the E-UTRAN that would result in IDC interference.

Next generation mobile networks, such as 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE)/Long Term Evolution-Advanced (LTE-A) networks, are commonly deployed in a multi-radio environment where a mobile station device, referred to as User Equipment (UE) in LTE/LTE-A, is equipped with multiple radio transceivers. Use of these multiple co-located transceivers by a UE may lead to coexistence interference among networks utilizing nearby frequency bands.
Existing 3GPP LTE/LTE-A standards have proposed limited techniques to identify coexistence interference among multiple wireless radios. When a UE is connected to a Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN) or GSM/EDGE Radio Access Network (GERAN), the UE may perform an inter-Radio Access Technology (inter-RAT) measurement for connection with an Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN), such as an LTE/LTE-A network, to determine if the E-UTRAN frequencies currently experience In-Device Coexistence (IDC) interference. However, the UTRAN/GERAN does not know whether the UE may encounter other additional IDC interference problems until after the UE connects to the E-UTRAN. This may result in the UTRAN/GERAN performing a handover of UEs to an E-UTRAN followed by coexistence interference with the E-UTRAN. If coexistence interference occurs and the E-UTRAN does not support a Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) solution to prevent the coexistence interference, the network will handover the UE back to the UTRAN/GERAN. Such network switching results in unnecessary signaling overhead.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Inter-RAT mobility of in-device coexistence


One embodiment disclosed pertains to an inspection system for inspecting a specimen. The system includes a plurality of columns for directing a plurality of multi-pixel incident beams onto a plurality of multiple-pixel regions of the specimen. Impingement of said incident beams causes emission of electrons from the regions. The system further includes a plurality of multiple-pixel electron detectors, each said detector configured to detect in parallel electrons emitted from a plurality of pixels in one of the regions, and a plurality of processing sub-systems. Each said sub-system is configured to process data from one of said detectors. Advantageously, throughput for an inspection system in accordance with an embodiment of the invention may be increased by approximately a factor of N, where N is the number of columns in the system.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to microscopic inspection methods and apparatus. The present invention relates more particularly to automated inspection systems for semiconductor manufacturing.
2. Description of the Background Art
A variety of methods have been used to examine microscopic surface structures of semiconductors. These have important applications in the field of semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) fabrication, where microscopic defects at a surface layer make the difference between a good or bad IC. For example, holes or vias in an intermediate insulating layer often provide a physical conduit for an electrical connection between two outer conducting layers. If one of these holes or vias becomes clogged, it will be impossible to establish this electrical connection. Automated inspection of the semiconductors is used to ensure a level of quality control in the manufacture of the integrated circuits.
An example of an electron beam (e-beam) apparatus for an inspection system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,578,821, issued to Meisberger et al (the Meisberger patent). The disclosure of the Meisberger patent is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. FIG. 1 (corresponding to FIG. 5 in the Meisberger patent) is a simplified schematic representation of the paths of the primary, secondary, back-scatter and transmitted electrons through the electron column and collection system for electron beam inspection. In brief, FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of the various electron beam paths within the column and below substrate 57. Electrons are emitted radially from field emission cathode 81 and appear to originate from a very small bright point source. Under the combined action of the accelerating field and condenser lens magnetic field, the beam is collimated into a parallel beam. Gun anode aperture 87 masks off electrons emitted at unusable angles, while the remaining beam continues on to beam limiting aperture 99. An upper deflector (not depicted) is used for stigmation and alignment, ensuring that the final beam is round and that it passes through the center of the objective lens 104 comprising elements 105, 106 and 107. A condenser lens (not depicted) is mechanically centered to the axis defined by cathode 81 and beam limiting aperture 99. The deflection follows the path shown, so that the scanned, focused probe (beam at point of impact with the substrate) emerges from the objective lens 104. In High Voltage mode operation, Wien filter deflectors 112 and 113 deflect the secondary electron beam into the secondary electron detector 117. When partially transparent masks are imaged, the transmitted beam 108 passes through electrode system 123 and 124 that spreads the beam 108 before it hits the detector 129. In Low Voltage mode operation, the secondary electron beam is directed by stronger Wien filter deflections toward the low-voltage secondary electron detector 160 that may be the same detector used for backscatter imaging at high voltage. Further detail on the system and its operation is described in the Meisberger patent.
FIG. 2 is a schematic depiction of a multitude of integrated circuit (IC) dies for manufacture on a single semiconductor wafer. The semiconductor wafer 202 typically comprises a silicon wafer. The wafer 202 may be, for example, 200 mm or 300 mm in diameter. On the surface of the wafer 202, numerous integrated circuit dies 204 are manufactured thereon. The integrated circuits may comprise, for example, microprocessors, memories, digital logic, analog circuits, and other circuitry.
FIG. 3 is a schematic depiction illustrating conventional raster scanning of a conventional e-beam across a semiconductor die. The typical e-beam apparatus, such as the one depicted in FIG. 1, raster scans the e-beam across an area of a specimen to generate an image thereof (much like a conventional television raster scans a beam across the screen to generate an image frame). An example path 302 of such raster scanning across an integrated circuit die 204 is illustrated in FIG. 3.
FIG. 4 is a schematic depiction illustrating a conventional translation path 402 of a semiconductor wafer 202 under an e-beam column. The translation of the wafer under the raster-scanned e-beam may be performed, for example, in steps such that one portion of a wafer is scanned, then an adjacent portion, and so on, until all the integrated circuits 204 on the wafer have been scanned. Alternatively, if only a fraction of the integrated circuits 204 are to be inspected, the path 402 need cover only those ICs to be inspected. In either case, the translation path fully spans the area to be inspected.

Multi-pixel and multi-column electron emission inspector


In some aspects, a first device detects information encoded in a wireless authenticator device based on a wireless interaction between the first device and the wireless authenticator device. The first device detects the information while securing resources on the first device according to a first security mode. Based on the detected information, the first device selects a second security mode associated with the wireless authenticator device. The first device then applies the selected second security mode. The selected second security mode is one of multiple distinct security modes. Each of the multiple distinct security modes is associated with a respective one of multiple wireless authenticator devices and defines accessibility attributes of the resources on the first device.

This specification relates to associating distinct security modes with distinct wireless authenticators.
Some wireless devices use passwords for user authentication. The device can be locked, for example, by the user or based on inactivity for a certain period of time. When the device is locked, the password is used to authenticate a user's identity and grant access accordingly. For example, the wireless device can be unlocked when a correct password is provided, and it can remain locked otherwise.
Like reference numbers and designations in the various drawings indicate like elements.

Associating distinct security modes with distinct wireless authenticators


A method and apparatus for treating pulp in connection with a blow tank or a storage tank. The pulp is discharged from a batch digester and fed either to the upper or the lower part of a blow tank, depending on the consistency of the pulp being discharged from the digester.

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for treating pulp. A problem resulting in the development of the method and apparatus according to the invention becomes especially obvious during the feed and discharge of blow tanks used in connection with batch digesters. Thus, putting it more precisely, the method and apparatus according to the invention relate to the filling and discharging of various pulp tanks and storage containers.
It is known from prior art that a so-called blow tank is used in connection with batch cooking departments. Contrary to continuous cooking, batch cooking is understood to be a pulp production method in which the cooking department comprises several digesters, most commonly 5-10 in one cooking department. Each of said digesters in turn is filled with chips and cooking chemicals which are allowed to effect the chips for a certain period of time, after which the digester is discharged to a so-called blow tank. The timing of the feedings and discharges of the digesters is effected so that the blow tank is filled at fairly regular intervals. The blow tank is meant to function as an intermediate storage, blow container, of the cooked pulp, from which the pulp is discharged in an even flow to the next, invariably continuously operating process.
A problem discovered in operating said blow tanks is that the consistency of pulp being discharged from the blow tank does not remain within ranges required by the following process stage, i.e. the brown stock washing department. A reason for this is that each digester has its own way of discharging depending on e.g. the operator, the uniformity and execution of the cook in general as well as the raw wood material and pulp quality. During the discharge process, the consistency of the pulp may vary even between zero and ten percent. A reason for this consistency variation is that in the beginning of the discharge process practically only liquor is discharged from the digester, because after the so-called final displacement which in modern batch cooking processes is the last process prior to the discharge of the digester, there is a certain amount of displacement liquor in the bottom part of the digester. This is naturally discharged from the digester first, before the actual pulp. During the discharge, and more intensively towards the end of the discharge, the pulp has to be diluted in order to make it flow from the digester to the discharge pump. Just at the final stage of the discharge, the pulp has to be diluted even more, as the hydrostatic pressure under which the pulp is discharged from the tank is substantially lower than in the beginning of the discharge due to low height of the pulp column.
In the blow tank, the consistency variation often results in channeling of the pulp so that at various locations of the blow tank the consistency of the pulp alters to a large extent. Although the blow tank is provided with one or several mixers, our experience has shown that these are not capable of equalizing the consistency of the pulp in all conditions, but the pulp is discharged from the tank to the following process stage at an unsuitable consistency. In the worst case, the consistency of the pulp is decreased in the mixing zone of the tank far below the desired values.
A second problem consists in filtration of the pulp to form a cake on the surface of the pulp existing in the blow tank. A direct reason for this is the lack of motion in the upper part of the mixing zone and the fact that the pulp being discharged from the digester always contains air and gases originating from the cook which are not easily removed from the pulp. This phenomenon is also dependent on the quality and type of pulp. Especially when running the tank in order to empty it or sometimes even in normal running situations, depending on the surface level, said filtrated pulp causes remarkable consistency variations when entering the mixing zone at the bottom part of the tank, which consistency variations can not be equalized in the mixing zone, but the pulp is discharged further at too high a consistency.
FIG. 1 illustrates the consistency variation of pulp during the blow of one digester. As already stated earlier, the consistency of the pulp varies to a great extent during the discharge, being low both in the beginning and in the end due to reasons stated before. In the middle stage of the blow the consistency of the pulp may be in the order of ten percent. The time interval between two blows is in the order of 20-40 minutes depending on the size and number of digesters. In our tests we have noticed that said interval of about half an hour is sufficient to cause the pulp on the surface in the blow tank to filtrate, i.e. thicken, whereby onto the surface of the pulp existing in the tank a relatively solid, and continuously solidifying, cake is formed.
FIG. 2a illustrates a case in which the digester is discharged to a blow tank via a conduit arranged at the upper end of the tank. In this case it is obvious that the pulp is discharged, if no auxiliary means distributing the flow are used, with considerably great force deep into the pulp already existing in the tank. Thus, in the one hand, the pulp filtered on the surface in the blow tank cannot at any stage enter the mixing zone, except if the tank is being run to empty it or to lower the surface level, but the pulp starts to be collected on the surface in the tank. At the worst case the pulp may start to deteriorate, if the hardened pulp cake remains in the tank for a long period of time. On the other hand, the dilute pulp discharged deep into the pulp existing in the tank forms a local agglomeration, which at some stage when the blow tank is being evenly discharged is suddenly discharged into the mixing zone decreasing the consistency of pulp being discharged from the tank to below the desired values.
FI patents 98836 and 100011 deal partly with the same problem and suggest as a solution various apparatuses by means of which it is possible to somewhat restrict the downward flow of pulp entering the mixing zone or on the other hand fill the blow tank better than before.
Said better filling of the blow tank is illustrated in FIG. 2b where it can be seen how the apparatus according to FI patent 100011 is used to feed pulp into the tank via the bottom part of the tank to a certain altitude. Although said solution does help in many problems related to the filling of the tank, FIG. 2b illustrates also a situation where dilute pulp is being discharged to the tank through the apparatus. This channels directly from the inlet opening of the feeding apparatus towards the mixing zone, resulting in principle in the same kind of situation as the solution according to FIG. 2a.
Naturally, when treating pulp, problems of the same kind appear not only in connection with blow tanks but elsewhere as well, e.g. in connection with pulp storage tanks at various stages of the pulp treatment process.

Process for feeding pulp into a blow tank or storage tank


A head module of an imprint lithography system includes a base, a control body coupled to the base, a first set of actuators configured to generate a first force to translate the control body relative to the base along a first axis and to rotate the control body relative to the base about a second axis perpendicular to the first axis and about a third axis perpendicular to the first axis and to the second axis, a second set of actuators configured to generate a second force to translate the control body relative to the base in a plane defined by the second axis and the third axis and to rotate the control body relative to the base about the first axis, and a flexure coupling the base and the control body and restricting translation and rotation of the control body with respect to the base.

In nanoimprint lithography, techniques for field to field alignment have been used to achieve nanometer level overlay accuracy. In some examples, an alignment error between an imprint template and a corresponding field on a substrate can be corrected by moving a stage retaining the substrate relative to an imprint head module retaining the template. Alignment methods for nanoimprint lithography are described in detail in numerous publications, such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,387,482, 7,027,156, and 6,916,584, all of which are incorporated by reference herein. An alignment speed and accuracy in the related art are limited by a compliance of the stage and non-linear dynamics between the template and the substrate that has a liquid imprint resist on top. For example, the liquid imprint resist may cause a shear force acting on the stage during the field to field alignment and result in a discrepancy between a target displacement and an actual displacement of the template relative to the substrate due to a compliance of the stage.

Nanoimprint lithography with a six degrees-of-freedom imprint head module


In a method and apparatus for adjusting an electrographic printing or copying process, information to be printed is generated as a toner intermediate image on a support for intermediate images and is subsequently transmitted from a reprinting surface to a recording medium at a transfer printing zone. A toner mark is produced on an electrographic support for intermediate images. The toner mark is at least partially scanned on the support for intermediate images and is then removed from the support for intermediate images. The toner Ad concentration is adjusted in a developing station by means of a measured value based on scanning the toner mark. Transfer of the toner intermediate image from the reprinting surface to the recording medium at the transfer printing zone is at least temporarily prevented in the period between the production and the removal of the toner mark.

The invention is directed to a method and to an apparatus for controlling an electrographic printing or copying process. The invention is particularly directed to a method and to a system for controlling the toner concentration in a toner/developer mixture.
EP 403 523 B1 discloses an electrographic process wherein a number of process parameters are monitored and regulated, including the toner concentration in a development station. It is provided for this purpose that a toner mark be generated on a photoconductor drum, that the mark be sensed on the photoconductor drum with a reflex light sensor, and the measured value be employed for the control of the toner resupply in the development station. The solid toner mark is thereby generated at the lateral edge of the photoconductor drum, so that it lies only in the region of the margin perforations with respect to the web-shaped, margin-perforated recording medium and thus does not lie in the actual writing region of the recording medium or of the photoconductor drum. A number of disadvantages result therefrom.
First, the toner mark can thus be only designed relatively small, as a result of which the sensing area and, thus, the measuring precision as well are limited, particularly transversely relative to the transport direction of the photoconductor drum or of the recording medium. Second, it is definitely meaningful for regulating various parameters of the electrographic process to also apply and sense a toner mark in the actual writing region of the photoconductor drum. Particularly when employing web-shaped recording media, for example what is referred to as continuous stock, however, spoilage then arises because the recording medium printed in this way is no longer available for being printed with other information. Conditioned by the process, third, edge effects, for example of the electrical field, arise at the edges of a photoconductor, as a result of which the expressiveness of a measurement in this region is diminished. Such edge effects superimpose all the more greatly the narrower a toner mark is.
WO 97/17635 A discloses an electrophotographic printer device that contains compensation elements, particularly rockers, springs and other prestressing elements, that are intended to avoid fluctuations in the position of the recording medium in the region of the transfer printing zone. This is particularly necessary in a duplex mode wherein the web-shaped recording medium is conducted twice through the same transfer printing station. However, nothing noteworthy can be derived from this publication with respect to the regulation of the electrographic process.
DE 198 01 521.6 (applicant""s reference 980101DE) discloses a control method for the toner/developer mixture, what is referred to as a two-component development system, in an electrographic printer or copier device. in this method, a toner mark is sensed at least two places with respect to the transport direction of the photoconductor drum. In order to achieve an adequate sensing precision with this method, it is necessary that the toner mark be adequately broad. It would thereby be especially advantageous if the toner mark could also extend into the actual writing region of the photoconductor drum.
DE 197 49 651.2 (applicant""s reference 971104DE) discloses an electrophotographic printer that can process both recording media with margin perforation as well as recording media without margin perforation. A unit with a friction drive is provided for this purpose and can be pivoted against and away from a photoconductor drum so precisely that the recording medium again comes to lie exactly at the original position with respect to the photoconductor drum after being pivoted away and back in. The components disclosed therein are designed therefor that the pivoting in and away occurs, for example, during the course of a service call. Such a printer, on the other hand, is suited for printing a recording medium without a margin perforation wider than a recording medium with a margin perforation. A recording medium free of margin perforations can then also be printed by the photoconductor drum in the region of the drum wherein the margin perforations are located given a margin-perforated recording medium. This advantage, however, is accompanied by the disadvantage that the toner mark must be transfer-printed onto the unperforated, web-shaped recording medium in its writing region and, thus, spoilage again arises.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,387,965 A and U.S. Pat. No. 4,468,112 A disclose electrographic processes wherein the toner concentration in a development station is identified and compared to a rated value. The rated value is dependent on a second measurement event in which a toner mark is interpreted.
An object of the invention is to specify a method and an electrographic system wherein a monitoring of toner density can occur and wherein an optimally high printing width on the recording medium can be achieved at the same time.
This object is achieved by a method and system of the invention for regulating an electrographic printing or copying process wherein information to be printed are generated as an intermediate toner image on an intermediate image carrier and are later transferred from a transfer printing surface onto a recording medium in a transfer printing zone. A toner mark is generated on an intermediate image carrier such as an electrographic intermediate image carrier. The toner mark on the intermediate image carrier is sensed at least in regions and the toner mark is subsequently in turn removed from the intermediate image carrier. The toner concentration in a development station is regulated with a measured value such as a density value. The transfer of the intermediate toner image from the transfer printing surface onto the recording medium is at least temporarily prevented in the time span between the generation and the removal of the toner mark.
According to a first aspect of the invention, the information to be printed are generated as an intermediate toner image on an intermediate image carrier with a photoconductor drum and, in a transfer printing zone, are transferred later from a transfer printing surface, for example from the surface of the photoconductor drum or from a transfer printing tape, onto a recording medium. For regulating the toner density, a toner mark is generated on the electrographic intermediate image carrier, the toner mark on the intermediate image carrier is sensed at least in regions, and the toner mark is in turn removed from the intermediate image carrier later. In particular, the density is sensed at the toner mark. The toner concentration is then regulated with the measured value, particularly density value, in a development station such that the inking can be kept constant. A transfer of the intermediate toner image from the transfer printing surface onto the recording medium is at least temporarily prevented in the time span between the generation of the toner mark on the intermediate image carrier and the removal of the toner mark from the intermediate image carrier. This impeding transfer of the transfer printing is particularly prevented during a time span wherein the toner mark passes the transfer printing zone. The prevention of the transfer printing can, in particular, occur by separation/lift-off of the recording medium from the transfer printing surface.
In particular, the invention provides two operating states for the operation of an electrographic printer or copier device. In the first operating state, what is referred to as the measurement cycle, a toner mark is generated on the intermediate image carrier, the density of the toner mark is sensed, and the toner mark is then in turn removed from the intermediate image carrier. The sensed toner density value is employed for the regulation of the toner concentration in the development station and, in particular, has influence on a toner concentration rated value and/or on a control threshold. In the second operating state, information to be printed are generated on the intermediate image carrier as a toner image and are transfer-printed onto the recording medium later. In the second operating state, the toner concentration is, in particular, controlled with the toner concentration or regulation threshold determined from the first operating state.
Inventively, the recording medium is at least temporarily separated or lifted off from the transfer printing surface, particularly from the intermediate image carrier, in the first operating state. The invention is therefore suited for generating the toner mark on the intermediate image carrier in a region in which the information to be printed onto the recording medium are also output. The recording medium is, in particular, web-shaped and can, for example, be made of paper.
A photoconductor drum is particularly provided as an intermediate carrier on which the toner mark is generated. The recording medium is separated or lifted off from it for at least one revolution. In a further embodiment of the invention, a photoconductor tape is employed as a first intermediate image carrier and/or a transfer band is employed as a second intermediate image carrier. Information to be printed are thereby generated on the first intermediate image carrier, are subsequently transferred onto the transfer band and are finally transfer-printed from the transfer band onto the recording medium.
In particular, density values of several toner marks can be employed for determining the rated value in the regulation of the toner concentration. The various toner marks can derive from a plurality of measurement cycles that lie far apart in time or can be formed in a continuous measurement cycle, particularly with one or with several revolutions of the photoconductor drum.
A rapidly switchable, high-precision mechanical lift-off device can, in particular, be employed for separating the recording medium from the transfer printing surface. It is thereby particularly provided that the recording medium lies in nearly the same position with respect to the transfer printing station both in the conveying direction as well as transversely relative to the conveying direction before the lift-off and after being pivoted back in. Optionally, the recording medium can be moved or the transfer printing surface or the transfer printing element can be moved for separating the recording medium from the transfer printing surface. Instead of or in addition to the mechanical movement, an electrophotographic quantity in the region of the transfer printing station is modified in a further version for preventing the transfer printing such that a transfer printing is suppressed. For example, the electrical voltage at a transfer printing corotron can be reduced for this purpose.
As a result of the invention, two operating states of the device are created that are employed alternating in time. The operating state wherein the toner mark is generated and interpreted and no transfer printing onto the recording medium occurs is thereby temporally inserted between the other operating state wherein print information are transfer-printed onto the recording medium.
What is especially advantageous about the invention is that the toner mark can be designed very broad, up to the entire width of the intermediate image carrier, for example of a photoconductor drum. As a result thereof, the toner mark can be interpreted at a plurality of locations, particularly according to the method disclosed by DE 198 01 521.6. The content of this application and the WO Publication corresponding with this application is herewith incorporated into the present specification.
The toner mark can also be positioned at any arbitrary location within the printing width of the intermediate image carrier. As a result of these possibilities, not only is the measurement precision enhanced compared to narrow toner marks but the possibility is also created to apply various methods for the interpretation of the toner mark instead of an evaluation of the toner density. For example, an interpretation of the shape of the generated toner mark or the comparison thereof to a rated shape is also possible. This further enables the interpretation methods to be optimized for colored toner. Various interpretation methods can be combined to form an overall interpretation, for example various interpretation methods and/or color-specific properties of the toner mark sensor can be taken into consideration color-specifically with respect to the toner color.
The evaluation method of the toner mark can be designed due to the adaptability of the toner mark in view of its position, size and shape such that independence from the toner color can be achieved. This also particularly applies when an optoelectronic toner mark sensor works in a narrow light wavelength spectrum, for example in only one color, and its light has a direct influence on the reflection and absorption behavior of the toner-pigments. In this case, in particular, the shape recognition of a large-area mark can be advantageously utilized.
In a second aspect of the invention, toner marks in an electrographic process are cyclically generated and sensed only at relatively large page intervals, for example only after a few thousand printed pages. In the intervening printing intervals, the tone concentration is then implemented in some other way, for example based only on other measured quantities. One such other measured quantity can, for example, be the toner concentration, this being measured in the development station with a toner concentration sensor. A rated value, for example for the toner concentration or for a regulation threshold, is then defined from the measured value (toner density, toner mark shape, etc.) determined from the toner mark and the toner concentration is regulated therewith. This regulation of the toner concentration in a development station to be applied between the toner mark measurements can occur in a known way.
Corresponding to the second aspect of the invention, the toner replenishment is regulated in some other way over relatively large printing intervals (between the tone mark evaluation cycles). Instead of or in addition to the toner concentration control that has just been described, the toner consumption can also be identified on the basis of the printed information, particularly as a result of the total number of printed picture elements (pixels). This determination can also occur dependent on the contrast ratio set at the printer device, on a specific transfer printing efficiency, on the age of the toner/developer mixture, on the toner type and/or on other influencing variables. The delivery of toner into the development station from a toner reservoir can then be controlled with quantities defined in this way.
The second aspect of the invention achieves the object of being able to implement a largely independent regulation of the toner inking in an electrographic process in the intervals between the formation and measurement of the toner mark.

Method and apparatus for controlling the toner concentration in an electrographic process