A process for producing a semiconductor device such as a photovoltaic element including a solar cell or a photosensor having a photoelectric conversion semiconductor layer formed by sequentially forming a p-type or n-type semiconductor layer composed of a non-single crystalline silicon series semiconductor material, an i-type semiconductor layer composed of a non-single crystalline silicon series semiconductor material, and an n-type or p-type semiconductor layer composed of a non-single crystalline silicon series semiconductor material on a substrate by means of plasma CVD, characterized in that at least one i-type semiconductor as said i-type semiconductor layer is formed in a discharge chamber having a cathode electrode by means of VHF plasma CVD using a silicon-containing raw material gas, wherein a VHF power of a wattage which is two times or less that of a VHF power required for decomposing 100% of said silicon-containing raw material gas is applied to said cathode electrode.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for producing a semiconductor device such as a photovoltaic element including a solar cell, a photosensor, or the like.
2. Related Background Art
For the production of a solar cell which is categorized to a photovoltaic element, there are known various production processes. For instance, in the case of producing a solar cell having a photoelectric conversion semiconductor layer composed of a non-single crystalline semiconductor material (this solar cell will be hereinafter referred to as xe2x80x9cnon-single crystalline series solar cellxe2x80x9d), a plasma CVD (chemical vapor deposition) process has been widely adopted on an industrial scale. The non-single crystalline semiconductor material herein is meant to include an amorphous semiconductor material, a microcrystalline semiconductor material, a polycrystalline semiconductor material, and the like.
For the non-single crystalline series solar cell to be used as a sunlight power generation source, it is basically required that the photoelectric conversion semiconductor layer has a large area, the solar cell has excellent and stable solar cell characteristics and it exhibits a high photoelectric conversion efficiency, and the solar cell can be mass-produced In order to produce such non-single crystalline series solar cell by means of a plasma CVD process so as to satisfy these requirements, it is necessary to have due consideration so that as the photoelectric conversion semiconductor layer, a large area homogeneous semiconductor film having a uniform thickness and which excels in electrical, optical and photoconductive characteristics, mechanical characteristics, fatigue resistance upon repeated use, and use environmental characteristics can be repeatedly formed at a high speed and with a good reproducibility.
Separately, there have been proposed a variety of sunlight power generation systems using solar cells having such configuration as above described. Such sunlight power generation system typically comprises a unit in which a plurality of solar cell modules [comprising a plurality of solar cells (photovoltaic elements) electrically serialized while being sealed by a sealing material] are electrically connected with each other in series connection or parallel connection so as to obtain a desired electric current and a desired voltage. In this case, it is important that neither disconnection nor short are not occurred in each solar cell module and that all the solar cell modules are uniform as much as possible with respect to their output voltage and output electric current For this purpose, at a stage of forming the respective solar cell modules, it is an important factor that the semiconductor layers used therein, which are an utmost decisive factor of dominating the characteristics of the solar cell module, are made to be uniform in terms of the characteristics. Besides, in viewpoints of making it easy to design a solar cell module and simplifying the fabrication process of a solar cell module, it is important to make it possible to efficiently form a homogeneous semiconductor film having a uniform property over a large area, where this situation leads to improving the productivity of a solar cell and diminishing the production cost thereof.
Incidentally, the semiconductor layer of a solar cell (a non-single crystalline series solar cell) has a semiconductor junction such as p-i-n (or n-i-p) junction, p-n (or n-p) junction or the like. For instance, in the case where the semiconductor layer comprises an amorphous silicon (a-Si) material and has a p-i-n junction structure, the p-i-n junction structure comprises, for example, an n-type a-Si semiconductor layer, an i-type a-Si semiconductor layer and an p-type a-Si semiconductor layer stacked in this order, where the n-type a-Si semiconductor layer may be formed by subjecting a gaseous mixture of a film-forming raw material gas such as silane (SiH4 or the like) and an n-type dopant-supplying compound such as PH3 to glow discharge decomposition, the i-type a-Si semiconductor layer may be formed by subjecting said film-forming raw material gas to glow discharge decomposition, and the p-type a-Si semiconductor layer may be formed by subjecting a gaseous mixture of said film-forming raw material gas and an p-type dopant-supplying compound such as B2H6 to glow discharge decomposition.
For the production of a non-single crystalline series solar cell having such semiconductor junction, there are known methods using a multi-chambered plasma CVD apparatus comprising a plurality of film-forming chambers communicated with each other, where a semiconductor layer having a desired conduction type is formed by each film-forming chamber to form a semiconductor layer having a stacked structure with a desired semiconductor junction. As a representative example of such plasma CVD apparatus, there can be mentioned a roll-to-roll type plasma CVD apparatus for continuously forming a deposited film on an elongated substrate as disclosed, for instance, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,400,409. The roll-to-roll type plasma CVD apparatus described in this document comprises a plurality of glow discharge regions (film-forming spaces in other words) provided in a plurality of processing chambers communicated with each other. In said document, there is described that semiconductor elements having a semiconductor junction can be continuously formed by continuously transporting an elongated flexible substrate having a desired width in the longitudinal direction along a route of sequentially passing through the glow discharge regions while forming a semiconductor layer of a desired conduction type on said substrate by each glow discharge region.
In this apparatus, each glow discharge region (that is, each film-forming space) is provided in the corresponding film-forming chamber whose inside can be maintained in a vacuumed state. In order to prevent film-forming raw material gas including doping gas (dopant-supplying gas) used for the formation of a deposited film as a semiconductor layer in each glow discharge region (film-forming space) from being diffused or contaminated into the glow discharge region situated next thereto, a gas gate is provided between each adjacent film-forming chambers. The gas gate comprises a slit-like separation passage through which adjacent film-forming chambers are communicated, where separation gas such as Ar gas, H2 gas or the like is flown into the separation passage to form a gas flow of the separation gas whereby the adjacent film-forming chambers are isolated one from the other.
The film-forming method using the above-described roll-to-roll type plasma CVD apparatus is suitable for mass-producing functional deposited films or semiconductor devices such as photovoltaic elements including solar cells. However, there are such disadvantages as will be described below.
That is, because the space for forming a p-type or n-type semiconductor layer is substantially isolated from the space for forming an i-type semiconductor layer as above described, it is possible to prevent a dopant in the gaseous state used in the former space from being contaminated into the latter space.
However, for instance, at the time of forming an i-type semiconductor layer on a previously formed n-type semiconductor layer or after the i-type semiconductor layer is formed on the n-type semiconductor layer, there is an occasion in that for example phosphorous element (P) as the dopant in the n-type semiconductor layer is thermally diffused into the i-type semiconductor layer, where the n-i junction is weakened.
A solar cell whose photoelectric conversion semiconductor layer has a semiconductor junction including such weakened n-i junction has inferior initial characteristics such that the open-circuit voltage (Voc) and fill factor (F.F.) are insufficient and therefore, the initial photoelectric conversion efficiency is insufficient.
Besides, in the case of a solar cell having a photoelectric conversion layer with a p-i-n junction formed in accordance with the film-forming method using the foregoing roll-to-roll type plasma CVD apparatus, even when the solar cell has a satisfactory initial photoelectric conversion efficiency, it is liable to have such disadvantages as will be described in the following. That is, when the solar cell is continuously used under severe environmental conditions outdoors, there is a tendency in that the dopant in the p-type semiconductor layer or the n-type semiconductor layer is gradually thermally diffused into the i-type semiconductor layer to deteriorate the characteristics of the solar cell, where the photoelectric conversion efficiency of the solar cell is eventually deteriorated. Thus, the solar cell is insufficient in terms of the reliability.
As previously described, the film-forming method using the foregoing roll-to-roll type plasma CVD apparatus is suitable for mass-producing solar cells. However, there are still subjects to be improved in order to stably and efficiently mass-produce highly reliable solar cells having uniform solar cell characteristics and which exhibit a satisfactory photoelectric conversion efficiency which is hardly deteriorated even when continuously used under severe environmental conditions outdoors over a long period of time at a reasonable production cost.
Now, in the case where a plurality of solar cell modules [comprising a plurality of solar cells (photovoltaic elements) electrically serialized while being sealed by a sealing material] are electrically connected with each other in series connection or parallel connection into a unit, the solar cell module whose output electric current or output voltage is minimum becomes a rate-limiting factor to dominate the characteristics of the unit.
In this connection, it is very important to improve not only the average characteristics of all the solar cell modules involved but also variations among the solar cell modules in terms of the characteristics.
For this purpose, at a stage of forming the respective solar cell modules, it is necessary for the semiconductor layers used therein, which are an utmost decisive factor of dominating the characteristics of the solar cell module, to be made such that they are complete with respect to the characteristics. In addition, in order to reduce the production cost, it is also necessary to make the semiconductor layers have fewer defects so that neither disconnection nor short are occurred in the solar cell module, whereby the yield is improved.
In view of the above situation, there is an increased demand for improving the process for producing a photovoltaic element (a solar cell) by way of continuously forming a plurality of semiconductor layers on an elongated substrate (or a web substrate) which is continuously moving by means of plasma CVD, so that each of said plurality of semiconductor layers can be continuously and uniformly formed on the elongated substrate so as to have uniform characteristics and fewer defects over the entire of the elongated substrate.
The present invention has been accomplished in view of the foregoing technical subjects to be solved in the prior art.
An principal object of the present invention is to eliminate the foregoing problems in the prior art and to provide an improved process which enables one to efficiently produce a highly reliable semiconductor device having improved output characteristics.
The semiconductor device in the present invention includes a photovoltaic element including a solar cell, a photosensor, and the like.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a process for producing a highly reliable semiconductor device having a photoelectric conversion member and which has improved output characteristics at an improved yield, characterized in that a plurality of semiconductor layers to constitute said photoelectric conversion member are continuously formed so that each of said plurality of semiconductor layers has improved uniform characteristics and fewer defects.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a process for producing a highly reliable semiconductor device having a photoelectric conversion member formed by sequentially forming a p-type or n-type semiconductor layer composed of a non-single crystalline silicon series semiconductor material, an i-type semiconductor layer composed of a non-single crystalline silicon series semiconductor material, and an n-type or p-type semiconductor layer composed of a non-single crystalline silicon series semiconductor material by means of plasma CVD, characterized in that at least one i-type semiconductor layer as said i-type semiconductor layer is formed in a discharge chamber (or a film-forming chamber) by means of VHF (very high frequency) plasma CVD provided with a cathode electrode using a silicon atoms-containing raw material gas, wherein a VHF power of a wattage which is two times or less that of a VHF power required for decomposing 100% of said silicon atoms-containing raw material gas is applied to said cathode electrode.

Process for producing a semiconductor device


A method for wet etching disposable spacers in silicon integrated circuits is provided. Illustratively, a pair of spacers is formed over a polysilicon substrate. A second pair of spacers is formed from doped silicon dioxide over the first pair of spacers. Then the second pair of spacers is etched away with NH.sub.4 OH/H.sub.2 O.sub.2, thus providing a means for defining the underlying polysilicon layer, e.g., by etching.

In the fabrication of various EEPROM devices, it is frequently necessary to utilize etch processes with high selectivity. In particular, various gate structures (e.g., floating gate, control gate, erase gate) must typically be precisely defined by various etch processes without risk of damage to these gate structures. One process for floating gate definition involves the formation of two spacers, an undoped densified silicon dioxide spacer beneath a phosphorous doped silicon dioxide spacer. The phosphorous doped spacer is then removed by a wet etch after the gate is defined.
One etch process previously employed in FET fabrication utilizes a mixture of ammonium hydroxide and hydrogen peroxide, which is also called "ammonium peroxide" or NH.sub.4 OH/H.sub.2 O.sub.2, to smooth a window opened in a composite dielectric comprising BPTEOS over TEOS on a crystalline silicon substrate. After the window is opened with dry etching procedures, thereby exposing bare crystalline silicon, the wafer is exposed to an ammonium peroxide cleaning solution to remove sodium or other contaminants from the surface of the BPTEOS. (The cleaning solution utilizes approximately eight parts H.sub.2 O, two parts H.sub.2 O.sub.2 [30% concentrated] and one part concentrated NH.sub.4 OH.) It has been observed that the ammonium peroxide solution isotropically etches the BPTEOS somewhat and does not significantly etch the underlying TEOS or damage the crystalline silicon substrate.

Flash EEPROM fabrication process that uses a selective wet chemical etch


The inventive computer system uses a layer of software between the operating system and the hardware that localizes the fail-safe protocols into a single module. The system also uses shared memory allocation functions as the interface with the operating system. The memory allocation function creates data structures to satisfy the requests of the operating system. The system also has a data structure locking mechanism to prevent more than one processor from writing to the data structure at a time. This layer isolates and hides the complexities of the underlying hardware and memory sharing, and presents a simpler view of the hardware as a single system to the operating system that resides above it. Since all of the fail-safe code is in one single module, rather than distributed throughout the operating system, it is easier to test and verify its correct operation, as well as maintain the operating system.

Over the past few years computer systems have become larger and larger, with more processors, more interconnections, and more physical memory being incorporated therein. The increasing size of the computer systems has led to a reliability problem that greatly affects system operation.
This problem has two significant factors, the first is hardware unreliability and the second is software unreliability. Regarding the hardware aspects of the problem, the probability that any one piece of hardware will fail in the system, increases as the number of pieces of hardware in the system increases. This is due to the large size of the system, as well as the increasing complexity of hardware.
Regarding the software aspects of the problem, the software has become unreliable and tends to fail unexpectedly. This is because the systems are becoming faster, and the programs are becoming larger and more complex, which leads to an increase in the occurrence of software failures. The higher clock rates of the systems allow the software to run faster. Since more lines of code are being run in a given period of time, then the system is more likely to execute buggy code, thus causing the system to fail simply because it is running faster. Moreover, since the systems are running faster and have more memory, programs have become larger and more complex, thus increasing the likelihood that buggy code exists in the programs. For example, assume a certain defect rate of one bug in every 10,000 lines of code. Thus a 100,000 line program would have 10 bugs, while a 30,000 line program would have only 3 bugs. Furthermore, because the code is running more quickly, the system is more likely to run across those bugs. Thus, the problems of hardware unreliability and software unreliability are two obstacles in building large systems.
A prior approach to solving this problem is to divide up a large system into domains or nodes. The concept, known as clustering, contains failures in the system, such that if there is a failure, either hardware or software, in one node or domain of the system, the damage that is done is limited to the domain in which the fault occurs. For example, if there is a large system that is divided into ten domains, and an error occurs in one of domains of such severity that it brings down that domain, then the remaining nine domains would continue to operate. A domain could have a single processor or many processors.
A domain is a subset of the hardware that is isolated from the remainder of the system with some fail-safe mechanisms that prevent failures within a failed domain from spreading into the other domains and crashing the entire system. A domain oriented system uses software partitioning mechanisms such that the software is aware of the domains and uses certain protocols to contain software faults to within a domain. These software mechanisms are complex and expensive to implement, and invasive in the sense that they require changes to many parts of the operating system, and require that operating system engineers be cognizant of the unreliability of the underlying hardware.
Traditional clusters use message-based communications between the domains or nodes, and thus require software to ensure reliable communications over potentially unreliable links (e.g. transmission control protocol/internet protocol or TCP/IP), and to maintain some degree of coherence between the software resources on different nodes (e.g. network file system or NFS).
The clustering approach provides good isolation between the domains or nodes, and therefore good overall system availability. However, this approach has the disadvantages of increased costs from complexity, lower performance (since applications using resources spanning several nodes must compete with the hardware and software overheads of internode communications), and a lack of a single system image.
Another approach is to modify the clusters for memory sharing among the nodes. This moves the cluster software mechanisms for resource coherence and communication down into the cache-coherence hardware, and thus exploits the existing hardware capabilities more fully, while simplifying the software and improving performance. However, this reintroduces the problems of poor reliability from hardware and software failures, discussed earlier.
There are several approaches to resolving the above problems. One way is to have a very reliable system, and endure the performance sacrifices. This approach divides the system into independent subsets of processors and memories, and treats each of the subsets as though they were separate systems. This approach, taken by Sun in its initial offering of Ultra Enterprise 10000 multiprocessor (64 CPUs), allows existing cluster software solutions to be used, but fails to capitalize on the potential of the shared memory. Moreover, this approach does not present a single system image, as by definition, the large system has been separated into smaller, independent systems. This approach also makes system maintenance, such as granting user accounts, privileges to the different users, maintaining file systems, system accounting, maintaining applications, and updating applications, extremely difficult. Each subset would have to be individually maintained.
Another approach is exemplified by the Solaris MC system, as detailed in the paper entitled "Solaris MC: A Multi-Computer OS" by Khalidi et al. of Sun Microsystems Laboratories, Technical report SMLI TR-95-48, November, 1995. In this approach, the system is partitioned into subsets and relies on traditional message-based communication between the subsets, using shared memory as the transport mechanism rather than a network. This approach has the advantage of being able to use existing cluster-based operating system code with improved performance, since the shared memory provides better performance than the network transport. However, this approach fails to exploit the potential for sharing memory objects between subsets. Solaris MC mitigates this weakness somewhat with the "bulkio no-copy" protocol, which allows for somewhat more efficient performance, but still requires explicit use of such mechanisms as the PXFS coherency protocol which introduces more complexity.
Solaris operates in a similar manner to the traditional clustered approach where the software domains are very loosely coupled and use messaging exclusively for communication between the nodes or domains. Since the operating system itself does not really share memory between the domains, Solaris overcomes the reliability problem by simply not allowing sharing of memory between domains. However, this approach does not overcome the other problems of limited system performance and the lack of a single system image. Essentially, Solaris uses messaging to gain high system reliability, and modestly increases system performance by using shared memory as the transport mechanism to carry the messages between the nodes, as compared with a network transport mechanism. This approach also suffers some of the maintenance problems as the Sun Ultra Enterprise system, as discussed above.
Another approach is exemplified by the Hive system, as detailed in the paper entitled "Hive: Fault Containment for Shared-Memory Multiprocessors", by Chapin et al., Stanford University, http://www-flash.stanford.edu. The Hive operating system exposes more of the coherent shared memory to the operating system and applications, but requires a set of protocols to overcome the unreliability of the system. These software protocols segment the domains and contain software and hardware faults, and thus compensate for the unreliability of the underlying hardware and software. These protocols include nontransparent proxies, which are proxies that the operating system programmer must be aware are being used.
Essentially, the Hive uses shared memory between the different domains or nodes, and imposes the set of protocols to prevent the system from crashing if a failure occurs in one part of the shared memory, one processor in another domain, or software in another domain. Thus, the Hive system has good reliability because of the protocols, and good performance characteristics because it uses shared memory.
However, Hive has a problem in that the protocols introduce a high level of complexity into the operating system. These mechanisms are distributed throughout the kernel or core of the operating system, consequently requiring kernel programmers to be aware of the hardware fault mechanisms, as well as which data structures are sharable and which protocol is necessary to share them. For example, RPC is difficult when the call involves locking resources in the remote node at interrupt level. Distributed data structures may be used for anonymous page management, however, they require the programmer to be aware that the "remote" parts of those structures could be read but not written. Also, the "careful" protocol for reading remote nodes requires agreement as to the meanings of tags and consistency between two different nodes.
Consequently, Hive requires that all parts of the operating system be aware of the structure of the hardware, particularly that it is divided into domains, where data resides, and to be aware of when these different protocols must be invoked. Thus, the whole operating system has to be rewritten and extensively modified to accommodate these protocols. Moreover, the problem of using the Hive protocols is not just limited to the difficulty of initial modification, but also involves the larger issue of maintenance. Since these protocol mechanisms are distributed throughout the operating system, then the operating system is more complex and more difficult to maintain. Each programmer charged with maintenance of the operating system must know and understand how the protocols interact with the rest of the operating system.
Therefore, there is a need in the art to have a large scale computer system that uses shared memory between the different domains, and thus has good performance characteristics, as well as good reliability from using failure containment mechanisms, and yet is relatively easy to maintain, while presenting a single system image to structures above it.


A tunable oscillator circuit (200) includes surface acoustic wave transducer (303) disposed on a piezoelectric substrate (301) having a high SAW coupling coefficient. The SAW transducer is (303) non-reflective and self-resonant comprising a pair of electrodes with interdigitated fingers. A tuning mechanism, such as a varactor, is coupled across the transducer allowing for output frequency tuning of the oscillator circuit.

Electric oscillators are extensively used in many applications where there is a need to generate one or more predetermined frequency output. For example, in frequency modulation (FM) radio frequency (RF) communication, RF receivers and RF transmitters use oscillators for generating carrier frequencies.
Generally, oscillators operate at a particular resonant frequency. An oscillator's resonant frequency is determined by reactive elements of a tank circuit which comprises capacitive and inductive components. In conventional voltage controlled oscillators (VCOs), a variable reactive element in the tank circuit controls the resonant frequency of the oscillator. Often, the variable element is a two-terminal, non-linear capacitor, such as a semiconductor varactor, which is responsive to a control signal for controlling the value of its capacitance. Such tank circuit resonators provide a very wide tuning range (i.e. in the range of 3 MHz to 30 MHz) which makes them particularly suitable in frequency synthesized land-mobile communication applications.
Conventionally, transmission lines and coaxial distributed structures have been used as a substitute for the inductive component of the tank circuit. However, the fundamental companion element to the variable capacitor has relied upon magnetic field storage to provide the inductive reactance necessary to resonate an oscillator with the variable capacitor. As the inductor's component size is being reduced in response to the miniaturization drive in the electronics industry, the resonator's quality factor, Q, decreases. Decreased quality factor, has a number of undesired consequences, namely, degradation of VCO's sideband noise performance and desence performance. Additionally, because an inductor's magnetic field is very difficult to shield, VCO generated signals, spurious or otherwise, are undesirably coupled to the surrounding circuit.
Another problem frequently encountered in conventional VCOs, is a phenomenon known as "microphonics" which adversely affects an FM receiver's performance. Microphonics is a phenomenon whereby mechanical vibrations around the VCO structure are picked up by the electromagnetic inductor, thereby changing its effective inductance. As such, the resonant frequency of the VCO is changed. Since, in FM systems, the frequency changes are demodulated, the resonant frequency changes are manifested as undesired hum and noise which adversely affect the receiver's audio output.
There have been attempts in the past to use SAW devices in VCOs. SAW devices use acoustic waves which travel at the speed of sound. The SAW devices are preferred over widely used transmission line, and discrete components because acoustic waves have a substantially shorter wave length at operating frequency than electromagnetic waves which travel at the speed of light. These devices are less susceptible to stray magnetic and other problems associated with resonators which utilize magnetic inductors. Furthermore, for a given operating frequency, a SAW resonator provides a smaller structure than a transmission line structure, therefore, making them suitable for miniaturized radio frequency applications. Additionally, SAW structures are potentially integratable with other active circuits, such as amplifiers and varactors, which are produced using conventional integrated circuit technologies.
For the above reasons, the popularity of SAW structures in radio frequency applications has been steadily increasing, especially in resonator filter applications. FIG. 1 depicts the diagram of a conventional SAW resonator structure 100 which shows a SAW transducer 110 and a pair of reflectors 120 disposed on a piezoelectric substrate 105. As is well known, the reflectors increase quality factor of the SAW resonator by preventing dissipation of surface acoustic waves emanating from the SAW transducer 110 near the resonant frequency. The SAW transducer 110 comprises a first electrode 112 having a first set of open-ended fingers 114 and a second electrode 116 having a second set of open-ended fingers 118. The first electrode 112 and the second electrode 116 comprise conductive layers patterned on the piezoelectric substrate such that a first set of fingers 114 and a second set of fingers 118 are interdigitated in relation to each other.
Conventionally the substrate 105 is made of a material with low temperature coefficient, such as quartz. As such, the SAW resonator is used in applications where a stable, high frequency (within 100 MHz-1000 MHz range) source is desired. Historically, SAW resonators have not been used as oscillators in land-mobile communication because it is extremely difficult to get the resonant frequency to change, over a wide tuning range, with a variable capacitor. Typically, the tuning range of for a 900 MHz SAW resonator has been in the range of only a few kilohertz, whereas, in land-mobile applications, a typical VCO in that frequency range must tune in megahertz range.
Therefore, there exists a need for an oscillator circuit which overcomes the problems associated with magnetically induced oscillators while providing a substantially wide tuning range.

Tunable oscillator having a non-reflective saw resonator


A packing and ejecting system for a front or side loading refuse vehicle for packing refuse from a charging hopper into an associated storage body and fully ejecting the refuse from a rearward portion of the storage body without tilting the storage body. A loading device may be used to load refuse or recyclables from the front or side of the vehicle into the charging hopper. A packing and ejecting device may be mounted within the charging hopper without reducing the holding capacity of the charging hopper. The packing and ejecting device includes a substantially hollow cylinder carrier interconnecting crossed pairs of packing cylinders and ejecting cylinders, wherein the extension of the packing cylinders, with the ejecting cylinders retracted, linearly displaces the packer panel and cylinder carrier through a first longitudinal portion of the storage body and extension of both the ejecting cylinders and the packing cylinders, displaces the packer panel through the entirety of the storage body and where the fully retracted cylinders store within a hollow portion of the cylinder carrier.

I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to refuse vehicles, particularly any front or side loading, rear discharging vehicle body dedicated to hauling refuse and recyclables, and more specifically relates to a new compacting and ejecting mechanism disposed within such a vehicle for packing refuse or recyclables from a charging hopper into an associated oversized, relatively long, storage body and later fully ejecting the same from the storage body without tilting a portion of the storage body.
II. Related Art
Refuse hauling trucks commonly include a heavy-duty chassis and a hollow truck body mounted on the chassis and dedicated to receiving, compacting and discharging refuse materials. This combination generally includes all the associated hydraulic, pneumatic and/or electric operating mechanisms associated with heavy-duty packing and ejection equipment. Such trucks are typically loaded from the rear, front, or side and have heavy hydraulic-operated compacting systems to compact the refuse within the storage bodies of the trucks.
In the case of front or side loading vehicles, refuse or recyclables are dumped into a top loading charging hopper rearward of both the vehicle cab and a packing blade disposed in a retracted or stowed position within the charging hopper. In one type of cylinder-operated packing blade, a hollow, relatively vertical ram is moved aft along a horizontal plane in the manner of a plow blade to pack and compress the refuse a short distance into the storage body after each loading. Between loadings, the ram or packer blade is moved to a forward stowed position in the charging hopper, to allow more refuse to enter the charging hopper rearward of the blade. In this incremental manner, refuse is eventually packed against a heavy-duty tailgate until the storage body is full. Typically, the packed material in a full storage body is ejected or discharged by opening the heavy tailgate and tilting the storage body to dump the contents. Ejection may be assisted by employing the packing ram to push the material toward the open tailgate, but full powered ejection is not possible. Thus the load must not be packed so tight that gravity cannot cause the load to empty from the storage body. A representative example of such a refuse vehicle appears in U.S. Pat. No. 4,715,767, issued to Edelhoff et al. which describes a front loading refuse vehicle that must be tilted to empty the refuse from the storage compartment of the vehicle.
In the refuse hauling industry, the total load that a refuse vehicle is able to carry before requiring dumping, is becoming increasingly significant. The fewer times a refuse vehicle must be emptied at a waste site, the more efficient the refuse handling process becomes. It will be recognized that the available load capacity may be restricted by the particular type of packing or ejecting arrangement implemented in the refuse vehicle. While it is desirable to increase the capacity of the storage body the overall size of the vehicle cannot exceed certain size, weight and height restrictions.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,901,394 issued to Bowles discloses a compacting and ejecting system for a self-contained refuse handling and transporting vehicle. It does not appear that the Bowles' packing/ejecting system would be useful in an oversized storage body. In that system, a packing ram is positionable in either of a packing or ejecting position within the body of the vehicle. The packing ram includes a diagonally telescoping cylinder aligned vertically within the charging hopper opening, wherein one end is attached to the packing ram and the other end is attached to an anchor block. The anchor block is slidable along upper side rails between a first packing position and a second ejecting position and includes pins or plungers which lock into either fore (packing) or aft (ejecting) holes. When the pins are engaged in the holes, the anchor block is locked into position. A cylinder is used to withdraw and disengage the pins from the holes. To move the anchor block between fore and aft positions, an inch worm type motion is required, extending the packing cylinder, unlocking the anchor block and retracting the packing cylinder.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,877,366 issued to De Filippi discloses a packing and ejecting system operable in a conventional refuse vehicle. A packing ram and sliding block or bridge slide fore and aft within the charging hopper and storage body on a pair of tracks. The pair of tracks are spaced apart and positioned in the lower corners of the storage body, extending longitudinally therein. A telescopic ejecting cylinder is both centered between the side walls of the charging hopper and positioned between the forward end of the charging hopper and sliding block. Essentially horizontal, criss-crossed compacting cylinders are positioned between the sliding block and a packing ram. While this system can accomplish full ejection, it does so with the sacrifice of significant loading volume. As seen in FIGS. 1-2, when the compacting cylinders are fully retracted, the packing ram is drawn towards but short of the sliding block. In this arrangement, the load capacity of the charging hopper is reduced by the width of the sliding block and the distance between the sliding block and the packing ram when positioned in the stowed position.
While strides have been made, a need clearly persists for a packing apparatus that is both operable in a packing and fully ejecting mode that avoids potential jamming, and is operable in an oversized or elongate storage body without significantly decreasing the holding capacity of the charging hopper and which thereby allows refuse to be loaded from either the front or side while eliminating the need to tilt the storage body during the dump cycle. The present invention meets these needs.

Ejection and compacting system for refuse truck


A windblown-type heat-dissipating device is designed for use on a circuit board, such as a computer mother board, that is installed inside a computer casing having an air inlet, an air outlet, and air sucking means. The heat-dissipating device comprises a base plate; a plurality of heat-conductive members upright mounted on the base plate; and a plurality of air-guide walls, including a first air-guide wall which is arranged substantially in parallel to the first side of the base plate and near the air inlet; a second air-guide wall having a first end arranged on the third side of the base plate and a second end near the center of the base plate, forming a curved shape that can divert the air stream from the air inlet toward the air outlet, and which has a low portion and a high portion; and a third air-guide wall having a first end arranged at the corner between the third side and the fourth side of the base plate and a second end arranged toward the air outlet. In the foregoing structure, the particular arrangement of the air-guide walls allows the air stream from the air inlet to flow evenly over all the heated portions of the heat-conductive members such that the heat-dissipating efficiency is high.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to heat-dissipating means, and more particularly, to a windblown-type heat-dissipating device for use on a circuit board, such as a computer mother board, for the purpose of dissipating heat produced from the circuit components on the circuit board.
2. Description of Related Art
During the operation of a circuit board, such as a computer mother board, heat can be produced from some circuit components, such as the CPU (central processing unit), that if not properly dissipated, can cause damage to their internal circuitry. A conventional way of dissipating the heat from a CPU is to mount a heat-conductive member on the CPU and then use an air-sucking means to cause an air stream to flow over the heat-conductive member such that the heat from the CPU can be dissipated. This conventional way of dissipating heat from a CPU is illustratively depicted in the following with reference to FIG. 2.
As shown in FIG. 1, the conventional heat-dissipating device includes an electric fan 1, an air inlet 2, a heat-conductive member 4, and an air outlet 5. The CPU is mounted beneath the heat-conductive member 4. The electric fan 1 and the air outlet 5 are provided in one sidewall 32 of the casing 3 of the computer, while the air inlet 2 is provided in the other sidewall 31 of the casing 3. When the electric fan 1 is being operated, it can suck the cool air from the outside through the air inlet 2 to flow over the heat-conductive member 4 and then drain out to the outside through the air outlet 5. The flowing air can thus bring the heat on the heat-conductive member 4 from the CPU to the outside, thereby maintaining the CPU at a low temperature. One drawback to the foregoing heat-dissipating device, however, is that part of the air being sucked in through the air inlet 2 can be diverted away from the CPU to an area indicated by A in FIG. 2 instead of flowing to the area B where the CPU is mounted. This is because that the path from the air inlet 2 via the area A to the air outlet 5 is shorter than the path from the air inlet 2 via the CPU and then via the electric fan 1 to the air outlet 5. Since this part of the incoming cool air will not contribute to the cooling of the CPU, the overall heat-dissipating efficiency is considerably low. This drawback not only causes the electric fan 1 to waste more electric power, but also causes the CPU to be easily subjected to damage since the heat-dissipating efficiency is inadequate.

Windblown-type heat-dissipating device for computer mother board


A lawn mower drive arrangement delivers power to a mower deck of a lawn mower vehicle. The drive arrangement includes a prime mover and a drive sheave, at least one mower deck sheave for powering at least one cutting blade and an endless engaging the drive sheave and at least one mower deck sheave. The drive sheave is oriented such that its axis of rotation is generally transverse. Guide pulleys engage the tension side and the slack side of the endless belt between the drive sheave and at least one mower deck sheave. The guide pulleys are positioned such that the endless belt twists by an acute angle substantially less than 60 degrees between the drive sheave and the guide pulleys.

This invention relates to an engine and belt drive arrangement for a mower vehicle and more particularly to the arrangement of a belt drive for transferring power from the engine to the mower deck of a riding lawn mower. A belt drive arrangement for communicating power between an engine and a mower deck is known by those skilled in the art as a "mule drive". A riding lawn mower may be considered in relation to an axis system including a longitudinal X axis where the positive direction is forward, a transverse Y axis where the positive direction is toward the operator's right and a Z axis where the positive direction is up. The X and Z axes define a vertical, longitudinal plane which generally bisects the riding lawn mower. Typically, a mule drive includes a drive sheave having an axis of rotation which is generally horizontal and co-planer with or at least parallel to the longitudinal plane of the mower vehicle. In a typical prior art mule drive, an endless belt communicates between the drive sheave and a mower deck. The mower deck typically has a driven sheave for each mower blade and various idler and tensioning pulleys as needed to maintain frictional engagement between the driven sheaves and the endless belt. A pair of guide pulleys situated under the drive sheave redirect the endless belt to the mower deck. The guide pulleys rotate on an axis which is normal or almost normal to the vertical, longitudinal plane of the mower vehicle. The orientation of the guide pulleys forces the endless belt to twist through an angle between the drive sheave and guide pulleys which is at or near 90 degrees. Typically, the guide pulleys are located as close as possible to the drive sheave so that the engine may be mounted as low as possible in the mower vehicle to maintain a relatively low center of gravity. Accordingly, the near 90 degree twist angle of the portions of the belt between the drive sheave and the guide pulleys must typically be accomplished over a relatively short distance. A rate of belt twist may be measured in angular degrees per unit length of belt. The rate of belt twist in a typical prior art mule drive may easily exceed 7 degrees per inch between the drive sheave and the guide pulleys. The rate of belt twist of the endless belt between the drive sheave and the guide pulleys limits the size and capacity of the belt as well as reducing the life of the belt.
The limitations inherent in a typical prior art mule drive configuration are three fold. First, in a traditional mule drive arrangement, an engine is positioned in a longitudinal fashion thereby increasing the length and decreasing the maneuverability of the mower vehicle. In a zero turning radius (ZTR) riding lawn mower, the longitudinal orientation of the engine also places the engine further to the rear of the center of rotation for the mower. Because of the need to prevent backward tipping of a ZTR mower about its primary drive wheels, the aft location of the engine forces the designer to position the counter balancing weight of the operator further forward of the center of turn rotation. However, in a ZTR mower, it is preferable to locate the operator close to the center of rotation for turning to reduce the centrifugal force experienced by the operator during tight turns or spin turns. This centrifugal force causes the operator to experience the unwanted sensation of riding at the end of a boom during a tight turn or spin turn. Second, the relative positions of the drive sheave and the guide pulleys are such that the area of the cross section of the belt (or more precisely the width and extent of the central load carrying fibers of the belt) and therefore the power transmission capacity of the belt are limited to allow a 90 degree twist between the drive sheave and a guide pulley. Third, even when the size of the endless belt is properly limited, an endless belt that undergoes repeated abrupt high angle twisting will withstand fewer cycles than a belt which is not subject to such repeated abrupt high angle twisting.


The construction and balancing puzzle of the present invention utilizes multiple differently shaped parts which are assembled vertically on a stand to form particular designs. During the assembling or construction, the assembled parts must be balanced at all times. The basic puzzle piece is an injection molded cube and the remaining puzzle pieces are fabricated by joining several cubes together in a single plane. The stand or base includes a flat bottom to be supported on a table and the upper portion is made from two upwardly facing walls that are at an angle of 90 degrees with respect to each other to form a V. Each of the two walls of the base has a length that is preferably one and one-half times the length of the cube that makes the basic puzzle piece.

The present invention is directed toward a puzzle and, more particularly, toward a construction and balancing puzzle that utilizes multiple differently shaped parts which are to be assembled vertically on a stand to form particular designs. During the assembling or construction, the assembled parts must be balanced at all times.


A method of determining whether a vacuum/pressure sensor in a vehicle fuel tank correctly indicates a vacuum level in the tank. An input from the sensor is obtained. The tank is sealed for a predetermined time period. After the time period, another input is obtained from the sensor and the sensor inputs are compared.

Vacuum/pressure sensors are commonly used in vehicle fuel tanks to monitor tank vacuum levels. When a vacuum/pressure sensor fails to operate properly, the sensor may indicate a constant vacuum level, even while vacuum is actually being increased (i.e., pressure is being reduced) in the tank. If a vacuum/pressure sensor fails to operate and its failure is not detected, the fuel tank can become damaged when excessive vacuum is applied. On the other hand, a properly operating vacuum sensor may register a constant vacuum level when a leak in the tank is sufficiently large to prevent vacuum in the tank from increasing.


The present disclosure describes aspects of constant-density writing for magnetic storage media. In some aspects, a constant-density writer delays transitions between bits within write data to enable constant-density writing. The write data has an initial bit period based on a constant clock signal, which is generated based on the rotation of a media disk. The constant-density writer modifies the write data to generate phase-delayed write data, which has a bit period that is greater than or equal to the initial bit period. To realize this bit period, the constant-density writer changes write phases of bit transitions within the write data. The constant-density writer can also insert stretch bits, filter single-bit transitions, and mitigate glitches within the phase-delayed write data.

Electronic devices provide many services to modern society. These services enable an electronic device to provide entertainment, assist with scientific research and development, and provide many modern-day conveniences. Many of these services create or use data, which the electronic device stores. This data may include digital media such as books or movies, algorithms that execute complex simulations, personal user data, applications, and so forth. To avoid exceeding data storage limits, it is beneficial to increase the data storage capacity of the electronic device and avoid deleting data, limiting services, or purchasing additional external storage devices.
Many electronic devices use media drives to store data on disks, such as a hard-disk drive. Generally, the data of each disk is organized along concentric tracks of magnetic media in which individual bits of the data are written. To accommodate greater amounts of user data, data densities per media disk have increased substantially, shrinking physical geometries of both the tracks and bits written on the magnetic media. To accommodate greater amounts of user data, it is beneficial to efficiently utilize an area of a media disk.

Constant-density writing for magnetic storage media


In vehicle air-conditioning devices including a refrigerant circuit having a compressor, an outdoor heat exchanger, an expansion device, and an indoor heat exchanger that are connected by refrigerant pipes to form a refrigeration cycle; an indoor air-sending device that supplies air to the indoor heat exchanger; and an outdoor air-sending device that supplies air to the outdoor heat exchanger, the refrigerant circuit is installed under the floor of a vehicle and uses carbon dioxide as the refrigerant.

From the standpoint of global warming, there is a movement to limit the use of chlorofluorocarbon refrigerant, which has high global warming potential. Hence, railroad-vehicle air-conditioning devices that use carbon dioxide refrigerant, which has low global warming potential, have been proposed (see Patent Literature 1, for example). The technique disclosed in Patent Literature 1 relates to an air-conditioning device installed on the ceiling of a railroad-vehicle. The vehicle air-conditioning devices to be installed on the ceiling like this are mainly used in vehicles that are operated at about 130 km/h or less.
On the other hand, in high-speed trains (e.g., the Shinkansen trains and limited express trains), vehicle air-conditioning devices are usually installed under the floor. There is no underfloor vehicle air-conditioning device that uses carbon dioxide as the refrigerant.


The present invention relates to a probe member for a pogo pin, a method of manufacturing the probe member, and a pogo pin including the probe member. An embodiment of the present invention provides a probe member including a first body portion and a second body portion that are stacked in a height direction based on the other end of a contact portion, wherein the probe member is used in a test socket in a state in which at least a portion of the probe member is inserted in a pipe having an internal space.

After manufacturing processes, semiconductor devices are electrically inspected to check whether the semiconductor devices are normally operable or reliable. In such inspection processes, test devices including pads, and test sockets are used.
Test sockets are used to connect terminals of semiconductor devices to pads of test devices such that electrical signals may be exchanged between the terminals of the semiconductor devices and the test devices.
To this end, pogo pins are arranged in such a test socket as a contact means. Pogo pins include probe members and elastic members to guarantee smooth contact between a semiconductor device and a test device and absorb mechanical shocks that may occur when the semiconductor device and the test device are brought into contact with each other.
FIG. 1 is a view schematically illustrating a pogo pin of the related art. As shown in FIG. 1, an upper plunger 1005 and a lower plunger 1006 protrude from both ends of a body 1004 of the pogo pin, and a spring 7 is inserted in the body 1004. The upper and lower plungers 1005 and 1006 are biased by the spring 1007 in directions away from each other. In this state, the upper plunger 1005 is brought into contact with a terminal 1002 of a semiconductor device 1001, and the lower plunger 1006 is brought into contact with a pad 1009 of a test device 1008 such that the terminal 1002 of the semiconductor device 1001 may be electrically connected to the pad 1009 of the test device 1008.
Another pogo pin of the related art is disclosed in Korean Patent No. 10-1439342. Specifically, referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, the pogo pin includes a probe member 1110, a body 1120, an elastic member 1130 in the body 1120 to bias the probe member 1110 in an upward direction, and a lower probe member 1140 at least partially exposed through a lower opening of the body 1120 and supported by the elastic member 1130, wherein the probe member 1110 includes a plurality of probe plates 1112 to 1116 integrally attached to each other and including probe portions 1112a to 1114a and coupling portions 1112b to 1114b.
However, such pogo pins of the related art have the following problems.
Since probe portions to be brought directly into contact with a terminal of a semiconductor device have a plate form, the contact area between the terminal of the semiconductor device and the probe portions is limited.
In addition, although the probe portions are required to have high wear resistance to endure a concentrative load applied by the semiconductor device, and coupling portions are required to have high conductivity to compensate for conductivity loss at the coupling portions, since the probe portions of the related art are horizontally stacked with respect to a contact portion, the probe portions and the coupling portions do not sufficiently exhibit their characteristic electrical and mechanical properties even when formed of different materials. That is, in the related art, wear resistance and conductivity required for pogo pins are poorly guaranteed.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Probe member for pogo pin, manufacturing method therefor and pogo pin comprising same


A display device includes a scanning line (1) formed on an insulating substrate; a storage capacitance line (3) formed in parallel to the scanning line; an image signal line (2) formed across the scanning line (1) and the storage capacitance line (3) through an insulating layer; and a pixel electrode (6) being surrounded with the scanning line (1), the storage capacitance line (3) and the image signal line (2); wherein at least one overlapped area (11) of the storage capacitance line (3) and the image signal line (2) is defined in the area other than the crossing region of the storage capacitance line (3) and the image signal line (2) within one pixel area; whereby, breakage of the image signal line is mended without increasing the production steps, and production yield is improved.

The present invention relates to a display device being able to mend a breakage of image signal line, a method of manufacturing the display device, and method of mending breakage of line in display devices, particularly appropriate for applying to liquid crystal display device.
In the conventional display devices such as active-matrix type liquid crystal display, mending method of a breakage of image signal line, is disclosed for example in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 61852/1997. FIG. 6 is a plan view showing approximately one pixel in the conventional liquid crystal display. In FIG. 6, numerals 1a, 1b denote a scanning line, numeral 2a, 2b denote an image signal line, numeral 6 denotes a pixel electrode, numeral 7 denotes a source electrode, numeral 8 denotes a drain electrode, numeral 14 denotes breakage in a part of the scanning line 2a, numeral 24 denotes a storage capacitance electrode (a first conductive electrode), numeral 25 denotes a gate electrode, numeral 26 denotes a channel protecting film (insulating layer) , numerals 27a, 27b denote a contact hole, numeral 28 denotes a second conductive electrode, numeral 29 denotes a third conductive electrode, numerals 30a, 30b, 31a, 31b denote a point in which a laser light is irradiated.
In FIG. 6, a mending method will be explained for the case that image signal line 2a breaks at a crossing area with scanning line 1b. In this case, laser light is irradiated at two points, 31a and 31b, so that a branching area of the image signal line 2a is electrically connected to the third conductive electrode 29, and the third conductive electrode 29 is electrically connected to storage capacitance electrode 24. Then, laser light is irradiated at the two points, 30a and 30b, so that the image signal line 2a is electrically connected to the second conductive electrode 28, and the second conductive electrode 28 is electrically connected to storage capacitance electrode 24. And, laser light is irradiated at the point 32, storage capacitance electrode 24 is separated from pixel electrode 6. Further, laser light is irradiated at the point 33, thereby drain electrode 8 and gate electrode 25 in thin film transistor are electrically connected. By the above treatments, a path line is formed as shown by a series of arrows in FIG. 6. Storage capacitance electrode 24 is utilized as a part of signal electrode thus a breakage of image signal line is mended.
However, in above mentioned technology, although mending of an image signal line is possible, there is a problem that a pattern for mending of image signal line is needed, which causes an increase in the number of masks and the number of production steps. Further, a region for the mending pattern is required, which causes a decrease in aperture ratio in a pixel.
Besides, the prior art for mending of a broken line by use of a storage capacitance line is disclosed for example in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 61852/1997. FIG. 7 shows a structure of approximately one pixel of a conventional liquid crystal display device in the prior art, where like reference numerals are used to identify like parts as that in FIG. 6. In FIG. 7, when scanning line 1 is broken at a broken point 35, the broken point 35 is bypassed through a storage capacitance electrode 34 with laser radiating on the laser radiating point 36, thus broken line is mended. However, in said prior art, although the breakage of the scanning line is mended by bypassing through the storage capacitance electrode, there is no description on mending of a breakage of the image signal line. Further, because the storage capacitance line 34 used for mending is connected to pixel electrode 6 through a contact hole, it is difficult to mend the breakage in the image signal line by using storage capacitance line.
The present invention aims at solving the above problems and at improving the production yield through mending the breakage of image signal line without increase of process steps or decrease of aperture ratio.

Method of mending breakage of line in display device


An image processing method and an apparatus using the method enable information to be added particularly to a two-valued image having a high resolution so that the information can be read reliably. In a counter section of the apparatus, clock pulses with respect to the main scanning direction and clock pulses with respect to the sub scanning direction are counted as an 8-bit yellow component density image signal is input, and a determination is made as to whether the position at which mark M is to be added has been reached and as to whether, if the addition position is reached, the present position is a position at which a modulation amount .alpha.(=255) is to be added to the image signal or a position at which a modulation amount .beta. is to be subtracted from the image signal. The result of this determination is output to a selecting device. The selecting device is supplied with the input Y component density image signal and two signals obtained by modulating this signal with the modulation amounts .alpha. and .beta. and outputs one of the three input signals according to the determination result.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing method and an apparatus for processing images in accordance with a certain method and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for performing image processing, for example, in a copying machine, a facsimile machine or a printer to add special information indicating the kind of machine, a serial number and the like, to a recorded image.
2. Description of the Related Art
A method of adding information representing a kind of machine, a serial number, and the like to a formed image has been practiced mainly with respect to image processing apparatuses, such as copying machines, in which an image signal is formed by pulse width modulation and an image is formed by electrophotography, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,257,119 and U.S. Ser. No. 9735 (filed on Jan. 27, 1993).
With respect to an apparatus used only for binary image recording and incapable of forming a halftone image, a method has been practiced in which the distance between pixels in a formed image are slightly changed to add information corresponding to the kind of machine and a serial number or the like.
FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining an information addition method conventionally practiced. This conventional method will be described with respect to the case of pulse-width modulating an image signal originally expressed at a resolution of 400 dpi to form a multivalued image at a resolution of 200 dpi.
According to this conventional art, information is expressed by combinations of marks formed on sixteen lines (marker lines) A0 to A15 disposed at predetermined intervals on a formed image. Information is added to a formed image by forming such combination patterns reiteratively and periodically in the sub scanning direction (recording medium transport direction) on the formed image.
As shown in FIG. 9, marks M having a predetermined size (e.g., 8 (in the main scanning direction: laser light scanning direction).times.4 (in the sub scanning direction) pixels) are reiteratively arranged at certain intervals on each line. Specifically, the number of marks M on line A0 from which one cycle of mark patterns starts is twice the number of marks on the other lines. On this line, pairs of marks M are disposed so that the subsequent one in each pair follows immediately after the preceding one, thereby making it possible to recognize the lines through which one cycle or one set of information is expressed. To accurately decipher information recorded in this manner when the information is read out afterward, an image signal is formed so as to express each mark M in a rectangular form of 32 (8.times.4) pixels at a resolution of 400 dpi.
Information is expressed with such marks M as described below.
This is, as shown in FIG. 9, information is expressed by the distance (L1, L2, L3, . . . ) from the left end of the left one of an adjacent pair of marks M on top line A0 to the left ends of the nearest marks M on the subsequent lines (A1, A2, A3, . . . ) in the main scanning direction.
FIGS. 10(a) and 10(b) are diagrams of an image signal for expressing one mark M conventionally used and a mark M thereby formed. FIG. 10(a) shows the configuration of an image signal for expressing mark M and FIG. 10(b) shows a pattern of mark M formed in an image on a recording medium on the basis of the image signal expressed as shown in FIG. 10(a). As shown in FIG. 10(a), mark M is formed by an image signal forming 8 pixels in the main scanning direction and 4 pixels in the sub scanning direction, i.e., a total of 32 pixels on condition that the resolution is 400 dpi.
With respect to pixels "A" in the total of 32 pixels of the image signal as shown in FIG. 10(a), a predetermined value .beta. level is subtracted from the density value of the original image signal (-.beta.) while with respect to pixels "B" a predetermined value .alpha. level is added to the original image signal (+.alpha.). With respect to the image signal thus modulated, image formation is effected by pulse width modulation so as to have a resolution of 200 dpi such that two pixels in the main scanning direction and one pixel in the sub scanning direction, i.e., two pixels, form one pixel at 200 dpi. A pattern of mark M such as that shown in FIG. 10(b) is thereby obtained if the density value of the original image signal in mark M is uniform through the 32 pixels thereof.
That is, mark M is formed of a set of four recording lines 101 to 104. Recording lines 101, 102, and 104 are thinner (lower in density) than the surrounding ones. Conversely, recording line 103 is thicker (higher in density). Therefore, the above-mentioned distances L1, L2, L3, . . . are obtained as the relationship between the positions of thicker recording lines 103. If the modulation value of the image signal is larger, the resulting marks are easier to read but become conspicuous in an ordinary image. Therefore, optimal values of .alpha. and .beta. are empirically determined.
If the image formed on the recording medium in this manner is read, for example with a scanner having a resolution of 400 dpi, the marks can be correctly read and the read image is analyzed to identify the machine that has formed the image.
However, with the advancement of the image processing technology relating to pulse width modulation and electrophotography, the resolution of image forming apparatuses such as printers, for example, those for forming two-valued images only has been increased to 400 dpi, to 600 dpi, to 800 dpi, . . . In other words, the distance between pixels has become very small, so that it is difficult to decipher added information from formed images.
This problem will be described with respect to the case of forming marks M by an apparatus for forming only two-valued images at a resolution of 600 dpi. If marks M are formed so as to have the same size as that of marks M each having 8 pixels in the main scanning direction and 4 pixels in the sub scanning direction, i.e., a total of 32 pixels at a resolution of 400 dpi as shown in FIG. 10(a) (or 4 pixels in the main scanning direction and 2 pixels in the sub scanning direction, i.e., a total of 8 pixels) by, for example, two-valuing with a modulation signal such as that shown in FIG. 10(a) by an error diffusion method or the like, while preserving the same density, and if .alpha.=40, then the total addition value (total amount of modulation) in the area indicated by "B" in FIG. 10(a) is 40*8=320. In this case, if the image signal is expressed by 8 bits with respect to each pixel (density value: 0 to 255), and if the density value designated by the original image signal of the region to which each mark M is added is "0", the area of "B" has an increase in recording dots relative to the surrounding areas, which is at most about a 1.3 dot (320=255*1.255) with respect to the total amount of modulation. As a result, the essential effect of adding marks M cannot be achieved.
Therefore, there is a need to prepare a modulation signal for 12 pixels in the main scanning direction and 6 pixels in the sub scanning direction, i.e., a total of 72 pixels in order to form marks M, as shown in FIG. 11(a). If the image signal on which this modulation signal is superimposed are two-valued for image formation by an error diffusion method or the like, so that the overall density is preserved, and if .alpha.=40, then the total addition value (total amount of modulation) in the area indicated by "B" in FIG. 11(a) is 40*18=720. In this case, if the image signal is expressed by 8 bits with respect to each pixel (density value: 0 to 255), and if the density value designated by the original image signal of the region to which each mark M is added is "0", two-valued recording dots corresponding to an amount of about 3 dots (720=255*2.823) are newly formed with respect to the total amount of modulation.
However, the positions of three dots 105, 106, and 107 newly formed as three of 18 pixels represented by "B" as shown in FIG. 11(b) cannot be specified because they are changed according to the values of the original signal and the two-valuing method used. Also, a situation may occur in which dots 105, 106, and 107 cannot be discriminated from dots expressing a texture and existing around dots 105, 106, and 107.
As described above, marks M cannot be correctly read from a two-valued image formed at a high resolution when the image is read with a scanner or the like, so that added information cannot be deciphered. Thus, the essential purpose of adding information to an image to identify the apparatus used to form the image has become difficult to attain.
A similar problem is encountered in the case where input image data is multivalued data as well as in the case where input image data is two-valued image data.

Apparatus and method for processing image which adds identification information to be easily decipherable in high resolution image


The gutter clamp is a handheld clamp allowing a user to temporarily clamp a gutter to a support surface, such as a face board, while work is being performed on the gutter. The gutter clamp includes an handle portion and a clamping portion extending from the handle portion. The clamping portion includes first and second clamping members joined to the handle portion in such a manner that the clamping members pivot toward and away from each other. The first clamping member is adapted for contacting an outer face of the support surface, and the second clamping member has a substantially U-shaped upper end, allowing the upper end to be mounted on an outer wall of the gutter, and to securely contact an inner face of the outer wall, the handles being resiliently biased to hold the clamping members, thus releasably securing the gutter to the support surface.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to clamping devices, and particularly to a gutter clamp allowing a user to temporarily clamp a gutter to a support surface, such as a face board projecting downwardly from a roof, while work is being performed on the gutter.
2. Description of the Related Art
Gutters are typically long, heavy unwieldy pieces of contoured metal, fixed to roofs high off the ground. Thus, when the gutter is being installed on the house or building, or other work is being performed, it is difficult for the workers to hold the gutter against its support surface while performing the necessary work, such as attaching the gutter to the support surface.
A variety of clamping devices have been designed for holding the gutter to the support surface, leaving the hands of the user free to perform the necessary work. Such clamping devices typically include a conventional C-shaped clamp, with one end of the clamp contacting the support surface and the other end holding the outer wall of the gutter. Gutters, however, are typically made of aluminum or similar materials selected for their light weight, and are susceptible to damage in the form of dents, punctures and other force and stress related damage, which can be easily caused by a tight clamp.
Further, metal gutters are generally coated with a corrosion-proof paint or other thin film coating. The contact of a typical C-shaped clamp or similar clamp can cause the paint or coating to be scratched, thus leaving the gutter susceptible to corrosion from exposure to the elements.
Further, such clamps are designed to hold the gutter to the support surface, and do not provide further functionality. It would be desirable to provide a clamp that would allow the user to support the gutter without the need of a separate support surface, leaving the user's other hand free to perform work. It would be further desirable to provide a gutter clamp that does not contact the exterior of the gutter to prevent dents and other damage to the gutter walls. Thus, a gutter clamp solving the aforementioned problems is desired.


A one-piece blow molded bumper end cap is provided for use in combination with a vehicle bumper assembly. The bumper end cap functions as an end plug to enhance air flow into the engine compartment when used in combination with a flow-through bumper. The bumper end cap also includes structural features which improve the crashworthiness of the bumper system in lower speed corner impacts, as well as, higher speed frontal impacts.

Generally, automotive vehicles have included a bumper assembly to minimize damage to the vehicle during collisions. These bumper assemblies function as impact beams as well as provide some energy absorbing features to enhance the crashworthiness of the vehicle. While bumper assemblies have historically been an exposed feature of the vehicle, current design trends have integrated the bumper assembly with the vehicle body. For example, the bumper assembly may be located behind the front fascia of the vehicle. Current design trends have also been directed to improvements in aerodynamics to substantially reduce the wind resistance of the vehicle.
While these design trends have made the vehicle more visually appealing, they have adversely affected other aspects of the vehicle. As an example, the integrated fascia/bumper assembly may impede the air flow into the engine compartment of the vehicle, thus decreasing the cooling capacity of a radiator associated therewith. In addition, the packaging requirements of the bumper assembly have made it difficult to satisfy certain crashworthiness criteria. Moreover, the location of the bumper assembly behind a body panel can result in increased damage to the vehicle during certain impact situations.


An apparatus and method for qualitative assessment of pelvic floor muscular strength includes inserting a spherical intracavitary device into vagina or anus above the level of the levator plate and measuring a force necessary to remove the inserted device from the vagina or anus. A diagnostic set for qualitative assessment of pelvic floor muscular strength, includes at least one spherical intracavitary device and a force gauge. The device and force gauge can be attached together after insertion of the device into the vagina or anus.

The invention relates to pelvic floor strength, and in particular an apparatus and method for qualitative assessment of pelvic floor muscular strength.
Pelvic floor weakness is a critical factor in the development of such dysfunctions like stress urinary incontinence, genital prolapse, and fecal incontinence. Accurate pelvic floor functional assessment is important when determining the degree of dysfunction, the amenability of the dysfunction to non-surgical therapy, and for monitoring the success of treatment. Multiple methods of pelvic floor strength assessment have been developed. Worth, Dougherty and McKey, Nurs. Res., 1986:35 and Brink et al., Nurs. Res., 1989:38 describe a method using digital pelvic assessment (DPA) scales; Bo and Kerschan-Schindl et al, Neurourol. Urodyn., 1992: and 2002:21, respectively, describe a method using vaginal pressure measurements; Jonasson et al., Acta Obstet. Gynecol. Scand. 1989:68 and Contreras and Coya, Int. Urogynecol J. 1996:7 describe the use of vaginal cones; Weidner, Barber et al, and Weidner, Sanders et al, Am. J. Obstet. Gynecol., 2000:183, respectively, describe the use of electromyographic activity measurement (EMG). However, Worth et al, Bo, Hahn et al., Gynecol. Obstet. Invest. 1996:41, Peschers et al. Int. Urogynecol. J. 2001:12 and Bo and Finckenhagen, Acta Obstet. Gynecol. Scand. 2001:80 have shown these methods to have disadvantages, such as subjective and indirect measurement, cumbersome data collection, measurement artifacts, or prohibitive cost for routine office use. In addition, the DPA is not designed to assess resting pelvic tone. Because it is the dynamic action of the muscles that is believed to prevent dysfunction, any static state measure may be a poor representation and of limited clinical utility.
Accurate assessment of pelvic floor muscle function has remained difficult to achieve. Previously described techniques have been limited by providing only indirect and subjective information on pelvic contractions in the form of generated vaginal pressure. The exceptions may be an instrumented vaginal speculum force gauge developed at the University of Michigan by Sampselle et al., Obstet. Gynecol. 1998:91 that is not commercially available and vaginal cones. However, the speculum also measures circumferential pressure, not retentive force.
Kerschan-Schindl et al. and Hahn et al. have shown pressure perineometry, a widely used technique, to be a reproducible method of measuring vaginal pressure in both continent and incontinent women. However, this instrument is limited in that it measures all pressure changes in the vagina. Contraction of the rectus abdominus and/or adductor muscles, in addition to the pelvic floor muscles, will result in increased pressure recordings. Further, most electronic pressure devices have a narrow sensor area, making placement a problem.
Perineometry using EMG activity is another commonly used method. Again, this method is limited because it is indirect and the origin of the potentials generated cannot be localized to the pelvic floor muscles. Previous studies by Peschers et al. demonstrated that adductor muscle activity increases EMG recordings. Additionally, surface EMG recording is inaccurate in quantitatively assessing muscular strength. Its usefulness maybe limited to biofeedback.
Kato and Kondo, Int. Urogynecol. J. 1997:8; Peattie et al., Brit. J. Obstet Gynaecol., 1988:95; and Wilson and Borland, Aust. N Z J. Obstet. Gynaecol. 1990: 30 showed weighted vaginal cones have also been useful in the assessment and rehabilitation of the pelvic floor. However, Bo, Acta. Obstet. Gynecol. Scand. 1995:74 showed that the cones are often not well accepted and are poorly correlated with physical findings and other pelvic assessment techniques. Hahn et al. demonstrated that women with severe prolapse or incontinence, reduced vaginal tone causes the cones to change position and allows retention in the posterior pelvis without the assistance of the pelvic floor muscles. Contreras Ortiz and colleagues reported on pelvic floor assessment using a modified weighted vaginal cone (the IVD test). The cones were larger than previously used cones, but the same shortcomings were suspected.
Another proposed method for pelvic floor functional assessment is ultrasound of the perineum to measure elevation of the bladder neck during a pelvic contraction. Reddy et al., Am. J. Obstet. Gynecol. 2001:185 showed this method to be useful as a biofeedback device because it discriminates between straining and a contraction; however, quantification of the strength of the pelvic floor contraction is not a possibility.
Finally, the least expensive method to assess pelvic floor muscular strength is digital palpation. Worth et al. and Brink et al. devised numerous scales, which have been shown to have good intra- and inter-observer reliability. This method, however, is limited because it is an indirect measurement of pressure, although some scales have attempted to overcome this shortcoming by including perineal lift as part of the assessment. It is also subjective, which has restricted its usefulness. Nonetheless, the speed and ease of use distinguish it between other currently accepted methods and are the reasons it was used for comparison in this study.
The use of spherical intravaginal devices to enhance pelvic floor rehabilitation in the management of genital prolapse has been previously reported by Adamkiewicz et al., Int. Urogynecol J. 2001:12 and Martin et al, Zentralbl. Gynakol. 1994:16 and is also known from the U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/303,981. The device is conveniently a plastic sphere with a silicon thread attached for easy insertion and removal and is available in 28 –44 mm diameter sizes. Women perform pelvic floor exercises with the sphere in the vagina above the level of the levator ani. As the pelvic floor muscles strengthen the likelihood of device expulsion decreases.

Apparatus and method for qualitative assessment of pelvic floor muscular strength


An endoscope system includes an endoscope, a display device, and a cable interconnecting the endoscope and the display device. The endoscope includes an elongated body extending distally from a handle. An image sensor is disposed within a distal portion of the elongated body, a lens is disposed at a distal end of the elongated body, and a light source including one or more light emitting elements is integrated into the distal end of the elongated body and positioned radially outward of the lens. An integrated processor is disposed within the handle.

Endoscopes are introduced through an incision or a natural body orifice to observe internal features of a body. Conventional endoscopes include a light transmission pathway, including a fiber guide, for transmitting light from an external light source through the endoscope to illuminate the internal features of the body. Conventional endoscopes also include an image retrieval pathway for transmitting images of these internal features back to an eyepiece or external video system for processing and display on an external monitor.


A system is presented with a search panel for specifying search criteria for searching a database of biological information. The search panel uses the extensible markup language (XML) to send search requests to the database. A database graph generation module linked to the biological database generates a database graph representing the database schema. Once the database schema is known, another module creates joins between the database tables in order to most effectively join data from one table to another. An SQL statement incorporating the optimized joins is then used to search the biological database.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method, system, and software program for generating a search within a relational database, or across homogenous relational databases. More specifically, the invention relates to a search tool that automatically creates joins between tables without the user or client software having previous knowledge of the database schema.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A structured database is a computerized record keeping system created for the purpose of maintaining information and making that information available on demand. Many databases in use today are based on a relational model, often called a relational database, in which the data is stored as a collection of individual tables all related to one another.
The tables, or nodes in a graphical representation, in a relational database include a row of column names specifying one or more column fields, and one or more data rows containing a single value for each of the column fields. For example, a table containing product information in a company's product database may contain a column of product names, and each field in that column may contain a name of a current product. Similarly, a second column may contain product ID numbers each relating to the product name found within the same row.
One feature that distinguishes relational from nonrelational databases is the ability to "join" two or more tables. A join is described as a query in which data is retrieved from the fields of more than one table (although data may also be retrieved by joining a table with itself). In order to join two or more tables, the tables to be joined need to share a common key field that is stored in at least one column. Typically, the purpose of the join is to connect data having the same primary key across the tables being joined. A primary key is usually represented as a column of data entries in a parent table, while secondary keys, also called foreign keys, describe an identical column of data in a child table to be joined. In such cases, for the results of the join to be meaningful, the columns that represent the same data in the different tables must use the same field values to represent the same instances of those objects. In other words, the primary and foreign keys must use the same text strings in order to effect a correct join.
One common query for retrieving data from various tables in a database is the SELECT statement from the structured query language (SQL). A standard SQL statement usually takes the form: "SELECT <string> FROM <string> WHERE <string> GROUP BY <string> HAVING <string> ORDER BY <string>." More information on SQL can be found at http://www.microsoft.com. While only the SELECT and FROM strings are required, it is desirous to include other strings to further narrow and optimize the search, and to allow the user to express the desired format of results. The result of a SELECT statement is a subset of data that matches the search criteria, and is stored as a temporary table, often termed the result table. In the SELECT statement illustrated above, the FROM string indicates the table name from which the information is being retrieved. The remaining strings included in the SELECT statement direct which columns are to be returned and stored in the results table. The WHERE string includes filtering criteria and hence dictates which rows satisfy the search criteria and are to be returned and stored in the results table.
A join operation is usually performed by specifying more than one table in the FROM string of the SELECT statement. A join operation allows rows from multiple tables all satisfying the search criteria to be sequentially combined into a single row and stored in the results table. This becomes important for grouping relevant information into a single table, rather than requiring the search engine to repeatedly parse the entire database to assemble the requested data, thus saving time.
As an example of a join operation, assume that a first table has columns containing a primary key of product names and product purchase prices. A second table may have a foreign key that contains product names that can be joined to the first table, and additionally has a second column that contains product sales prices. A third table might contain a foreign key column of product names and a second column containing product profit margin numbers. In order to effect a correct join between the three tables, a query would recognize that the column containing product names is identical across the three tables. Furthermore, the text string containing the product names must also be identical across the three tables in order to effect a correct join. Now, when a query is run that requests the financial properties of a particular product, the search can be conducted across the tables in the database by first finding the product name as a text string within each table, and then returning the value of the corresponding financial information. In this example, the product name field is used to join the three tables containing purchase, sales, and profit margin dollar amounts, all of which can be returned to the user initiating the query.
Additionally, not all three tables need share an identical common column as previously demonstrated. For example, suppose a user wants to find if a particular product is currently in stock in a particular color. The first table might contain a list of product names and corresponding product ID numbers. A second table may contain the list of product ID numbers and corresponding product colors. A third table may contain a list of product colors and corresponding quantities in stock. To search for a particular color of the product, the database management software would transverse the tables by starting with the product name, join the product ID number from the first table to the product colors of the second table, and then use the product colors to finally retrieve the quantity in stock from the third table. The path to find if a particular color is in stock then follows the path: product name, product ID number, product color, and finally quantity in stock. It is conceivable that another table might include columns containing product names and colors. Therefore, an alternative path might be: product name, product color, and finally quantity in stock, thus cutting out one node from the path and reducing the time required to perform the search. If this simple example were extended substantially, there could potentially be hundreds or thousands of different paths to follow to get from the starting node to the desired result. As the complexity and amount of the data entries increase, the number of potential paths increases exponentially. This becomes readily apparent where a database system contains a large number of data entries relating to the same primary key entry, such as in a biological database, for example.
Traditional database search methods are able to perform a search across various tables, however, they are grossly inefficient because a chosen path might connect hundreds of nodes when a more efficient path would connect only a few nodes. Hence, in an effort to streamline the query process, it is desirous for a database search tool to automatically create the correct joins and then optimize the joins by calculating the shortest path between two nodes.
One current problem with current database systems is that they usually require an experienced database manager to structure queries based on personal knowledge of the database's schema and contents. Furthermore, a query usually searches for an exact string match, or maybe a partial string with wildcard characters. Even though some database techniques allow the database to store a list of synonyms for a frequently used search term, the list is cumbersome to maintain and is often non-exhaustive.
Typically, the tables within a single database are joined. However, with current database management systems, the tables to be joined need not be contained within the same database. Products such as SQLNet from Microsoft Corporation and SQL Connect from Oracle Corporation enable the use of a heterogeneous database where a collection of database tables on different hardware platforms operating under different database management systems all appear to a user to be on one machine operating under one database management system.
In any case, current database systems require the user to have some knowledge of what fields are searchable within a database to be able to formulate a query that will allow the requested information to be retrieved. If a user is not intimately familiar with the database schema, it can be very inefficient, or even impossible, for a user to find the requested information.
It would be a substantial advancement in the art if the correct joins could be created automatically without the user having any prior knowledge of the database schema. It would be an additional advancement in the art if the correct joins and corresponding paths could be optimized to conduct an efficient search thus reducing the time required for a search. The present invention, among other things, provides a solution to this problem.
More narrowly, one application of relational databases is in the storing of biological information such as gene sequences. Modern biological sequencing efforts, such as those underway for the complete sequencing of the entire human genome, as well as newly developed experimental techniques for biological analysis, have resulted in an unprecedented amount of information contained in publicly accessible databases. For example, GenBank (an annotated database of all published DNA and RNA sequences), SwissProt (an annotated protein sequence database), PubMed (a biomedical literature repository), Molecular Modeling Database (contains 3-dimensional macromolecular structures including nucleotides and proteins), Entrez Genomes (a whole sequence listing for the complete genomes of individual organisms), PopSet (a set of DNA sequences that have been collected to analyze the evolutionary relatedness of a population), and NCBI taxonomy database (containing the names of all organisms that are represented in genetic databases) are some of the publicly accessible databases.
The information and sequence records contained in the public databases are typically accessible using programs or applications collectively referred to as bioinformatic applications. One method of information searching and data acquisition involves the use of specifically designed or proprietary analysis applications which query, retrieve, and interpret information contained in the database directly. These analysis programs may access the informational databases and may contain additional functionality to process, analyze and categorize the information and databases to facilitate their use.
Each publicly accessible database usually provides a non-uniform output, thus requiring a separate bioinformatic application to query each database. Because of the large number of publicly accessible databases, the number of specifically designed or proprietary analysis applications is continually increasing to allow users of such databases to access and analyze the information contained in the databases. This requires a user to purchase and maintain a multitude of applications specifically designed to access each database of interest. This becomes expensive in terms of disk storage, purchase price of such applications, and the time required to learn to use each application. It would be a substantial improvement in the art if a single program product were capable of searching any of the various publicly accessible biological databases as described herein.
Thus, there is a need for an improved design and method of searching and retrieving information from a multitude of relational databases. The system should have the characteristic feature of database independence in order to allow different databases and schemas to be used without having to devote large amounts of time to rewrite the code for existing databases or components and to minimize the changes to existing databases needed to update the system with new functionalities. Furthermore, the system should preserve the property of component reuse, wherein database designers and application programmers may reuse components which are likely to be used by the many different applications accessing the information in the database. Additionally, the database system and applications should be code independent. Thus, whenever a new utility or application is added to the system, or if a component is changed, little or no lines of code will have to be changed in other applications or services improving upgrade performance and reducing maintenance time.

System and method for accessing biological data