The present invention provides an air-permeable filtration media that includes an air-permeable backing and an adsorbent. The adsorbent is at least partially embedded in the air-permeable backing. The present invention also provides a method of manufacturing an air-permeable filtration media. The present invention also provides a method of substantially removing contaminants form air, employing the air-permeable filtration media.

Ironically, modem technology had much to do with the creation of indoor air quality concerns. Outdoor air infiltration and high rates of outside make-up air were acceptable when energy was relatively cheap. Energy became more expensive in the early 1970's and architects and engineers responded with designs for tightly sealed, energy-efficient buildings. Indoor air is now recirculated and kept indoors much longer than before. Furthermore, the average American is now spending greater than 90 percent of their time in indoor environments.
There are indoor environments that appear to be causing health and comfort related problems to building occupants and the causes are not identifiable. Pollutant compounds that may be responsible are either not being identified or are not being considered. Common symptoms associated with Sick Building Syndrome (SBS) can include stinging, itchy eyes; throat and nasal membrane irritation; and the perception of odors. Such sensory irritations may lead to headaches, fatigue, general lethargy and worse.
Decades-long research on the adverse effects of outdoor air pollutants has demonstrated that increased concentrations of small particles are directly related to increased mortality. Furthermore, recent studies by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health suggest that indoor particles may be more bioactive (i.e., potentially unhealthy) than outdoor particles. Therefore, there is no question as to the necessity of employing a good particulate filter in the effort to improve indoor air quality.
It must be understood that the indoor environment is very different than the outdoor environment when it comes to air pollution. Because of the enclosed environment and recirculated conditions, pollutants are trapped together for an extended period of time and chemical reactions can take place between pollutants that are normally rapidly dispersed in outdoor environments. This phenomenon can work to intensify the concentration of irritable and sometimes toxic pollutants. This is of great concern with the use of some types of air freshening and "purifying" devices that can actually aid in chemical transformations, such as ionic devices and devices that promote rapid oxidation of chemicals.
New studies undertaken in an attempt to identify pollutants that pose health risks have lead to the conclusion that there is no simple answer. Many of the various pollutant compounds are found in very low concentrations that are difficult to analyze with today's analytical and instrumentation technologies. Furthermore, the adverse health effects from exposure to these compounds, especially multiple compounds at the same time, are difficult to explain. What this means is that finding and eliminating the source of an irritant or toxic compound is not always feasible.
One of the best monitors available for identifying and gauging the reactivity of indoor air pollutants is the human nose. We perceive the world by way of five inputs: seeing, hearing, touching, tasting and smelling. Smell is unique in that it is the sense that is always open to stimulation. Wherever we are we may close our eyes, plug our ears, touch and taste nothing, but we must breathe, and in drawing in air, we stimulate the base of our brains.
Smelling is a complex operation. New research has discovered nearly 1,000 human genes that are dedicated to the sense of smell. Throughout the history of humans, staying alive often meant being able to interpret smells correctly, whether it was identifying rotten food, or being attracted to a sexually alluring musk. Our noses and brains are programmed to analyze and detect the natural environment. The variety of "olfactants", the molecules we can smell, is near 10,000, some at surprisingly low concentrations, as shown in Table 1 below.
TABLE 1OlfactantSensitivity ThresholdConcentrationmusk0.000, 000, 000, 0044parts per trillionrancid fat0.000, 000, 000, 06060parts per trillionvanilla0.000, 000, 000, 08080parts per trillionrotten eggs0.000, 000, 180180parts per billionformaldehyde0.000, 000, 100100parts per billionchlorine0.000, 0044parts per million
In evaluation of current monitoring technologies and studies performed in an attempt to identify problem compounds that contribute to SBS, it is apparent that it may not be possible to come to any specific and useful conclusions. Furthermore, because of the nature of many of the pollutant compound sources, such as building materials, furnishings, cleaning equipment, electrical equipment, building occupants, infiltration of outside air, etc., it may not be feasible to easily eliminate the source of the problem.
As described in many U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reports, indoor air pollution, both in commercial and residential environments are of increasing concern. Of primary concern are very fine particulate matter less than or equal to 2.5 microns in diameter (PM2.5) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Such pollutants contribute to indoor air quality concerns that affect building inhabitants in the forms of sick building syndrome, asthma, allergies, malodorous compounds, and general discomfort.
Sources of indoor air contaminates include, but are not limited to, entrainment of ambient outdoor pollutants through circulation of make-up air, poor HVAC design leading to unbalanced conditions that promote growth of mold and bacteria, off-gassing of natural and synthetic building materials, and occupant activities and emanations.
A wide variety of filtration media currently exists and is available for commercial and private use. The variety of existing filtration media includes various adsorbent media. However, the existing manufacturing methods used to produce adsorbent filtration media incorporate some form of binding or adhesive composition to affix various adsorbent compositions to said media. The use of binding or adhesive compositions lowers the efficiency of applied adsorbent compositions and furthermore, the degradation of binding and adhesive compositions through the normal life of the filtration media results in off-gassing and oxidation of some binding and adhesive compositions which can contribute to air borne pollution.
Additionally, through design, currently available adsorbent filtration media is generally targeted at only removing gaseous chemical compounds. For removal of particulate matter, a second filtration media specifically designed for particulate capture is needed.
It is also becoming apparent that there is a need to reduce concentrations of a wide variety of gaseous chemical compounds in the indoor air. It is not practical or possible to remove all sources generating gaseous chemical compound emissions, and even if one could, one would not know which compounds, or group of compounds, may be the source of the problem.
Gaseous chemical compounds, not unlike particulate matter, do have a size. However, that size is generally measured in units of angstroms (1/10,000,000,000 of a meter). In general they are 1,000 to 10,000 times smaller than a fine dust particle and can easily pass through the finest particulate filter. Therefore, there is a need for gas-phase filtration.
Physical adsorption, also referred to as van der Waals adsorption and adsorption condensation, has been widely accepted and proven as a technology for use in the removal of gases and vapors from contaminated air. It is well known that this process works by the weak bonding of gas molecules to a solid adsorbent. The bond energy is similar to the attraction forces between molecules in a liquid.
Some adsorbents used for air pollution control include activated carbon, alumina, bauxite and silica gel. Activated carbon is by far the most frequently used adsorbent, and has virtually displaced all other materials in solvent recovery and purification systems.
Standard activated carbon adsorption systems were initially developed for control volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from industrial process equipment. However, to work effectively, these systems generally contain very large quantities of activated carbon in a thick "carbon bed" system or a "packed tower". The reason for the large container or thick carbon bed is to provide a long enough residence time for contaminated air flowing through the system to allow the VOCs to be captured and to provide enough adsorbent surface area.
When using standard activated carbon, which is generally in a granular form that is greater than 50 microns in diameter, it is difficult to adapt to a system for the light commercial and home environment. Most commercial and home environments do not have the room or cannot support the cost to operate an extensive industrial adsorption system.
Attempts have been made to produce a filtration media that consists of a thick layer of activated carbon that is glued onto, or sandwiched in between various types of media or substrate. The problem with these systems is that due to the large size of granular carbon particles, the thin layer of carbon has many holes that allow a contaminated air stream to pass through without coming into contact with the carbon, especially with low concentration air steams. Use of a thicker layer of carbon becomes prohibitive due to the inability to efficiently hold the carbon to the substrate. Furthermore, when adhesives are used to affix the carbon to a substrate, much of the effective adsorbent surface area of the carbon is reduced due to blinding by the adhesive. Adhesives also result in off-gassing of chemical compounds which can contaminate and shorten the life of the carbon.
By far, the major drawback to the use of larger granular carbon is the very low concentration of target pollutants in the indoor environment. When adsorbing a higher concentration gas with typical granular activated carbon, a gas will first diffuse onto the surface of the carbon and thus be trapped. However, there is a secondary diffusion phenomenon wherein the gas moves further into the adsorbent particle center, or void spaces, in essence, pushed into the void spaces by more gases waiting to be adsorbed to the surface. However, with low concentration gases, this secondary diffusion phenomenon does not take place because there are no high concentration gases there to push the first gases deeper into the adsorbent.
Because of this process, a very large surface area is needed for low concentration gases. Use of granular adsorbents does not provide enough surface area to maintain effective and efficient control of low concentration gases.
As such, what is needed is an improved filtration media, through the application of adsorbent compositions, without the use of binding or adhesive compositions.

Air-permeable filtration media, methods of manufacture and methods of use


A vehicle component assembly includes a hard coated polymeric element with a resinous polymeric molded element or gasket integrally molded to a predetermined area thereof. Preferably, the element is a polycarbonate optical lens, such as a headlight lens, which is coated with a protective coating or hard coat which provides abrasion resistance and optionally includes ultraviolet radiation absorbers to protect the resinous polymeric molded element from UV radiation degradation. Adhesion is improved by priming the area of the polycarbonate element which receives the gasket with a primer coating. Preferably, the area to be gasketed is primed with a first adhesion promoting primer followed by a second adhesion promoting primer, wherein the first adhesion promoting primer improves the adhesion of the second primer to the protective coating, while the second primer, in turn, improves the adhesion of the molded element or gasket to the first primer and the hard coated element. The gasket is preferably molded on a peripheral portion of the element which may include grooves or other formed portions for mechanical interlocking the gasket with the polymeric element. Preferably, the gasket is formed from a melt-processible gasket material, such as polyvinyl chloride, thermoplastic urethane, or an ethylene-styrene polymer.

This invention relates to vehicle components incorporating polymeric elements with members, casings or gaskets formed thereon and, more particularly, to vehicle component assemblies including vehicle exterior lighting assemblies such as a composite headlamp assembly incorporating a hard coated polycarbonate lens element bonded to a molded polymeric gasket.
In recent years, vehicle headlamp assembly designs have been driven by body styling demands. The lenses of the newer headlamp assemblies are more contoured so that they follow the contours of the vehicle body. Traditional headlamp assemblies typically included a stainless steel bezel which permitted the lens to be mounted in an opening in the vehicle body. More recently, headlamp assemblies include a preformed gasket which is subsequently attached, for example by an adhesive to the peripheral portion of the lens, which permits the lens to be fitted more closely with the body of the vehicle. Such preformed gaskets are, however, difficult to tool and, in some cases, their installation is difficult and labor intensive. Moreover, conventional lenses are now typically molded from a polycarbonate resin. Since polycarbonate lenses are vulnerable to abrasion from road debris and the elements and to discoloration from ultraviolet radiation, the lenses are coated with a hard coat to provide a durable outer surface which is resistant to scratching and which protects the polycarbonate lens from ultraviolet radiation. Heretofore, these hard coatings have inhibited adequate adhesion between the preformed gasket material and the lens. Consequently, in order to improve the adhesion of the gasket to the lens, some conventional gaskets and lenses include structures to provide mechanical interlocking of the gasket to the lens to supplement the bond provided by the adhesive.
Referring to FIGS. 14A and 14B, one conventional, prior known polycarbonate lens (100) includes a first slotted groove (102) along its peripheral edge (104) to provide an anchorage for a conventional preformed gasket (106), as will be more fully described below, a second slotted groove (108) along its peripheral edge for aligning and holding the gasket while it is installed on the lens, and a projecting flange (110), which also assists in the alignment and retention of the gasket (106) on the lens during the installation process. As a result, the molding apparatus for the lens requires complicated tooling, and the lenses are subject to tight tolerances.
The preformed gasket (106) includes corresponding structures that interlock with the lens grooves and flange. To install the gasket, an adhesive is applied to the gasket or lens perimeter, and a first end (112) of the gasket is seated in the first slotted groove (102) to anchor one end of the gasket (106) while the gasket is stretched around the perimeter of the lens. As the gasket is stretched around the perimeter, an intermediate portion of the gasket is then seated in the second slotted groove (108) to align the gasket and provide further mechanical interlocking of the gasket to the lens. Then the second of end (114) of the gasket is wrapped around the perimeter of the lens and seated in the first slotted groove (102) adjacent the first end of the gasket such that the gasket ends define a break or space 115 (FIG. 14A). In this manner, these grooves and flange of the lens and corresponding structures on the gasket cooperate to align the gasket and to mechanically retain the gasket on the lens while the adhesive cures and provide mechanical interlocking of the gasket to the lens. Such process is often difficult and time consuming. Also, the retention of the gasket on the lens is sometimes less than adequate, as is the adhesion between the gasket and lens. While these gaskets have improved the fit-up of the headlamp assembly with the contoured vehicle body, the apparatus used to form these gaskets is also difficult and expensive to tool.
Further, gaskets (106) may be formed with retainers or tabs (116). The retainers (116) project from the gasket and secure to a housing by fasteners to provide a means for temporarily securing the lens and the gasket to the housing during installation. These retainers further complicate the molding process of the gasket. In some applications, the gasket is molded from two materials, with the second material forming the retainers having a greater durometer hardness to increase the stiffness of the gasket where the retainers project from the gasket. Again, this process increases the cost of the gasket and is also difficult to tool.
Despite the improved fit up, these preformed gaskets may not provide the desired life expectancy and may require reinstallation or replacement. Furthermore, because of the geometry of the gasket, there may also be a gap between the first and second ends of the gasket such as that shown at 115 in FIG. 14A. This gap may affect the aerodynamics of the vehicle body or the wind noise of the assembly. Moreover, installation of these preformed gaskets is labor intensive, requiring manual manipulation of the gasket around the lens. This manual manipulation may lead to worker fatigue and, ultimately, may increase the number of defective installations and the cost of the vehicle.
Consequently, there is a need for vehicle component assemblies which incorporate resinous elements, especially hard coated polycarbonate lenses of vehicle headlamp assemblies, and cooperating gaskets of molded members which will exhibit improved adhesion between the gasket or molded member and the resinous element. Moreover, there is a need for such assemblies which can be manufactured and installed with significantly reduced labor, time, and costs.

Vehicular component assembly with hard coated element


Techniques are provided for testing routing resources that route control signals on programmable integrated circuits (ICs). Control signals (such as clock signals) are routed through a logic gate to a test register. Values of the control signals are stored in the test register, transmitted outside the IC, and then compared to expected values to identify defects in the programmable interconnections. An enable circuit couples the control signals to functional registers on the programmable IC during user mode. The enable circuit decouples the control signals from the functional registers so that the control signals do not interfere with tests of the functional registers during test mode. During the test procedures, the control signals are treated as data signals and are not used to control other registers on the IC.

This application relates to techniques for automatically testing circuits, and more particularly, to techniques for testing programmable networks of control signals.
Field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) are programmable integrated circuits that include logic elements, memory, and programmable interconnect conductors. The logic elements, memory, and the interconnect conductors can be programmed to implement a number of different user designs. The logic elements typically include combinatorial and sequential logic circuits.
After an FPGA is manufactured, the logic elements, memory, and programmable connections in the interconnect structure are tested to ensure that they are operating properly. Tests are performed to detect the presence of any manufacturing detects in the FPGA.
Programmable interconnects that route control signals are tested functionally, by observing their effect on functional registers. For example, all programmable interconnections that can connect a clock signal to a clock input of a functional register are tested one at a time. Functional registers are registers that can be programmed and operated during user mode. The tests are performed to determine if the clock signal clocked the function register as expected. If the functional register was not clocked correctly, the programmable interconnections or the clock path may contain defects that prevent proper operation of the functional register.
It is expensive to test all of the programmable interconnections that constitute the programmable network for the controls signals in this way, because a large number of configurations is needed to test all of the interconnections. Because the tests are functional and the same registers are used for observation, a clock connection cannot be tested at the same time as a clear connection on the same register.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide more efficient and cost effective techniques for testing networks of programmable resources that route control signals through a programmable integrated circuit.

Automatic testing for programmable networks of control signals


A tamper-indicating closure for a beverage package includes a base wall having a peripheral skirt with at least one internal thread for securing the closure to a container. A tamper-indicating band is frangibly connected to an edge of the skirt, and a stop flange extends axially and radially from an edge of the band for abutment with a stop bead on the container finish. A plurality of circumferentially spaced drain openings extend axially through the juncture of the band and the flange. A plurality of circumferentially spaced channels extend axially through the internal thread on the closure skirt, with at least some of the channels being axially aligned with the drain openings. The stop bead on the container is in the form of a plurality of circumferentially spaced bead segments separated from each other by circumferential gaps. Liquid product may readily drain from between the container finish and the closure skirt through the axial channels in the closure thread, through the drain openings at the juncture of the closure flange and band, and through the gaps between the stop bead segments on the container finish. The container finish may also have a support flange with drain channels or slots aligned with the gaps in the bead.

It is conventional to form a tamper-indicating closure having a band connected to a skirt by integral frangible means, such as frangible bridges or a frangible web. The band has a stop element (e.g., a flange or a bead) that engages a bead on the container finish to resist unthreading of the closure, so that removal of the closure ruptures the frangible means that connect the band to the skirt. U.S. Pat. Nos. Re. 33,265, 4,322,009 and 4,432,461, assigned to an assignee of the present application, disclose tamper-indicating closures of this character, in which the tamper-indicating band is completely severed from the closure skirt and remains on the container upon removal of the closure from the container. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,295,600 and 6,224,802, also assigned to an assignee of the present application, disclose tamper-indicating closures in which the tamper-indicating band remains connected to the closure skirt and is removed from the container with the closure.
Although tamper-indicating closures and packages of the types disclosed in the noted patents have enjoyed substantial commercial acceptance and success, further improvements remain desirable. For example, problems are encountered when employing this type of closure in so-called wet finish applications, in which liquid may spill during or after the filling operation onto the outside surface of the container so as to be disposed between the container finish and the closure skirt after capping. Wet finish situations of this type are encountered during, for example, hot-fill, cold-fill and aseptic-fill situations, in which the containers are filled close to the brim or to overflow prior to capping. Wet finish situations can also be encountered during filling operations in which liquid may drip from the filling machinery onto the container finish. In wet finish situations of this type, problems are encountered in connection with draining and drying of the area between the outside surface of the container finish and the inside of the closure skirt—i.e., between the threads on the container finish and skirt, and around the tamper-indicating band and the stop element. Liquid trapped within this area can result in growth of mold or mildew, and when dry undesirably increases the torque required for removal of the closure from the container.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,119,883 and 6,152,316, assigned to an assignee of the present application, disclose tamper-indicating closures in which drain openings are provided at the juncture of the tamper-indicating band and the stop flange—i.e., through the stop flange adjacent to the band, through the band adjacent to the stop flange, or through the hinge portion in both the stop flange and the tamper-indicating band. A plurality of these drain openings, disposed in a circumferentially spaced array around the closure, improve product drainage in the area of the tamper-indicating band and the stop flange. U.S. Pat. No. 6,253,940, assigned to an assignee of the present application, illustrates a closure having drain openings at the juncture of the stop flange and the band, and openings in a flared portion of the closure skirt for admitting flushing solution. This helps flush liquid from between the container finish and the closure in the area of the stop flange and the tamper-indicating band.
It is a general object of the present invention to provide a closure and/or a container and/or a closure and container package that is/are specifically constructed to improve liquid product drainage from between the container finish and the closure in wet finish and other similar situations. Another and related object of the invention is to provide a method of manufacturing such a closure and/or container.

Method of making a tamper-indicating closure


In order to provide a circuit substrate with a satisfactory step coverage by the protective layer and the anti-cavitation film in an edge portion of wirings and a liquid discharge head utilizing such circuit substrate, the invention provides a method for producing a circuit substrate provided, on an insulating surface of a substrate, with a plurality of elements each including a resistive layer and a pair of electrodes formed with a predetermined spacing on said resistive layer, including a step of forming an aluminum electrode wiring layer on the resistive layer, a step of isolating the electrode wiring layer by dry etching into each element, and a step of forming the electrode wiring into a tapered cross section with an etching solution containing phosphoric acid, nitric acid and a chelating agent capable of forming a complex with the wiring metal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a circuit substrate provided with a plurality of heat generating elements having heat generating resistors, and a producing method therefor. In particular, it relates to a circuit substrate for a liquid discharge apparatus, provided in a liquid discharge head such as an ink jet head for converting an electrical energy into thermal energy by a heat generating resistor and utilizing such thermal energy for discharging liquid, and a producing method therefor.
2. Related Background Art
In the following, there will be explained a prior method for producing a circuit substrate, taking an ink jet head as an example.
An ink jet recording apparatus discharges ink as a minute liquid droplet from a discharge port onto a recording material, thereby recording a high definition image. In this operation, the ink jet recording apparatus converts an electrical energy by a heat generating resistive member into thermal energy, and generates a bubble by such thermal energy. By an action force of the bubble, a liquid droplet is discharged from a discharge port at a front end of a liquid discharge head. The liquid droplet discharged from the discharge port is deposited on a recording material to record an image. In general, such liquid discharge head includes a circuit substrate provided with a plurality of heat generating resistive members for converting electrical energy into thermal energy.
The heat generating resistive member is an electrothermal converting member for converting electrical energy into thermal energy. The heat generating resistive member is protected by an upper protective layer from contact with the ink.
More specifically, a resistive material layer and an electrode material layer are formed on an insulating surface, a part of the electrode material layer is removed to form a pair of electrodes, between which the resistive material layer constitutes a heat generating portion. Then there are formed a protective layer for protecting these layers from the ink, and an anticavitation layer for protecting the protective layer from a chemical or physical damage resulting from heat generation.
In such configuration, there may result an unsatisfactory step coverage in edge portions of the electrodes for defining the heat generating portion. Such situation is schematically illustrated in FIG. 7. An illustrated circuit substrate has an oxide layer 61, on which a resistive layer 62 such as of TaSiN is formed. The oxide layer 61 is formed by oxidizing a surface of a Si substrate, and FIG. 7 illustrates only the oxide layer on the surface. On the resistive layer 62, an Al wiring 63 is provided but is partially absent on the resistive layer 62, and the resistive layer constitutes a heat generating portion 64 in a portion where the wiring 63 is absent. On the resistive layer 62 and the wiring 63, there is provided a protective layer 65 formed, for example, by P—SiN for protecting these layers from the ink, and, in the heat generating portion 64 of the resistive layer, an anti-cavitation layer 66 formed by Ta is provided on the protective layer 65 for protecting the protective layer 65 from a chemical or physical damage resulting from heat generation. An edge portion of the wiring 63 is illustrated with a substantially vertical structure.
The circuit substrate for a liquid discharge apparatus is provided, at a high density, with a plurality of such heat generating elements including heat generating resistive members as explained above, thereby enabling a high definition image recording. Each heat generating element is serially connected with a power transistor (not shown) for on-off controlling a current in the heat generating resistive member. Also discharge ports are formed on the circuit substrate to constitute a liquid discharge apparatus.
In FIG. 7, in portions indicated by arrows, P—SiN and Ta are unable to cover the wiring 63 with satisfactory step coverage.
In order to resolve such difficulty, there has been developed, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,376,231, a method of giving a tapered shape to the edge portions of a pair of electrodes of a heat generating element. Such method allows to improve the coverage of the protective layer and the anti-cavitation layer also in the edge portions of the paired electrodes of the heat generating element. In the following, there will be explained a method of producing a circuit substrate, including a method of forming tapered portions in the paired electrodes of the heat generating element.
FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing a process flow for preparing a prior heat generating resistive member, and FIG. 5A is a cross-sectional view of a heat generating resistive portion after the preparation. At first a Si wafer is used as a substrate, bearing a SiO2 oxide layer 41 of a thickness of several micrometers by a thermal oxidation process. A resistive material layer of TaSiN or the like of a thickness of about 50 nm is formed by sputtering thereon. Thereafter, for example, an Al film is formed with a film thickness of about 200 nm to form a wiring material layer. Then a resist layer (1) is formed and patterned, and the Al and the resistive material layer are dry etched, for example, by RIE to achieve element isolation, thereby forming a wiring layer 43 and a resistive layer 42. After the resist layer (I) is eliminated by O2 ashing, a resist layer (II) is formed and patterned, and the Al is eliminated by wet etching from a portion of the resistive layer to constitute a heat generating portion 44. In this operation, as the wet etching solution, there is employed an organic alkali etching solution containing tetramethyl ammonium hydroxide (hereinafter represented as TMAH) as a principal component or an acid etching solution containing phosphoric acid as a principal component, whereby an end portion of the resist layer (II) is retracted by etching during etching of Al, thereby forming a tapered shape in the edge portions of a pair of electrodes to be formed. Then a SiN protective layer 45 of a thickness of about 300 nm is formed by plasma CVD, and a Ta film 46 is formed by sputtering. An unnecessary portion of the Ta film 46 is removed by dry etching to obtain a circuit substrate.
However, with the recent progress in the printing technology toward a higher definition, an ink discharge amount per discharge has decreased from several tens of picoliters to several picoliters. Also there is a strong demand for an even higher printing speed, and a longer dimension of the substrae is desired for reducing the number of reciprocating motions of the liquid discharge head. For these reasons, the number of heat generating elements per circuit substrate is increasing from several hundreds to several thousands. Under such situation, even the aforementioned method of forming a pair of tapered electrodes shows a slight fluctuation in such tapered shape, thus deteriorating the coverage of the protective layer and the anti-cavitation film in a part of the heat generating elements.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a circuit substrate for a liquid discharge head, showing a satisfactory coverage of the protective layer and the anti-cavitation film on the heat generating elements and providing an excellent durability, and a producing method therefor.


A wake up circuit includes a bias signal control block configured to receive a sleep signal and to generate a plurality of bias control signals. The wake up circuit further includes a bias supply block configured to receive each bias control signal of the plurality of bias control signals and to generate a header bias signal. The bias supply block includes a first bias stage configured to receive a first bias control signal of the plurality of bias control signals, and to control the header bias signal to be equal to a first voltage. The bias supply block further includes a second bias stage configured to receive a second bias control signal of the plurality of bias control signals, and to control the header bias signal to be equal to a second voltage different from the first voltage. The wake up circuit further includes a header configured to receive the header bias signal, and to selectively connect a supply voltage to a load based on the header bias signal.

A technique that is used to help reduce power consumption of a circuit is to operate the circuit in a sleep or hibernate mode when the circuit is not in active use. In the sleep or hibernate mode, the circuit consumes less power. As the circuit transitions from a sleep mode to a normal operating mode, an amount of power supplied to the circuit increases. A transition period between the sleep mode and the normal operating mode is called a wake up mode.
During the wake up mode, an amount of power supplied to the circuitry is gradually increased to prevent damage or improper operation of the circuit. In some approaches, a daisy chain is used to regulate the power supplied to the circuit during the wake up mode. A daisy chain is a connection design in which multiple devices are connected together to operate in a sequence thereby individually transitioning different components of the circuit to the normal operation mode.

Wake up bias circuit and method of using the same

TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING COMPANY, LTD.


A computer-implemented method for correlating computing problems referenced in social-network communications with events potentially responsible for the same may include: 1) providing a social-network feedback mechanism that enables users to express frustration with computing problems in real time via a social-network service, 2) detecting at least one user communication generated via the social-network feedback mechanism that references at least one computing problem experienced by a user, and then 3) correlating the computing problem referenced in the user communication with at least one event potentially responsible for the computing problem. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.

Due to the virtually unlimited number of possible computer hardware and software configurations, computer hardware manufacturers and software developers often depend on feedback from end users in order to identify hardware or software conflicts and other problems. Unfortunately, manufacturers and developers are often unable to motivate end users to provide such feedback without providing the end users with some form of benefit.
Moreover, even if a manufacturer or developer is able to elicit feedback from an end user (e.g., via a survey or poll), this feedback is often received too far removed in time from a computing problem that may have prompted the end user to provide the feedback. As a result, manufacturers and developers often struggle with correlating a computing problem referenced in an end user's complaint with the source of the computing problem. As such, the instant disclosure identifies a need for systems and methods for motivating end users to provide feedback in a timely manner. This disclosure also identifies a need for obtaining information sufficient to identify and correlate one or more events that may be responsible for computing problems referenced in user feedback.

Systems and methods for correlating computing problems referenced in social-network communications with events potentially responsible for the same


A channel scanning method for reducing scanning time of a channel in automatic channel memory of TV, VCR, or other video appliance is disclosed. To reduce the scanning time, a microcomputer detects synchronization signals for 300 ms after transmitting frequency data for broadcasting channel to tuner and the micom detects synchronization signals for 30 ms per step in dropping frequency data. The synchronization signal detecting time is 360 ms and is shorter than the prior time of 780 ms.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a method of automatic programming by which the channels where broadcasting signals exist are automatically searched and memorized in VTR or TV etc, and especially to a channel scanning method which reduces the scanning time of the whole channel to have the automatic program be completed in a shorter time.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Recently, as the use of cable TV has spread, the number of receivable broadcasting channels has increased rapidly. Because increase of scanning time of the whole channel is caused by the increase in the number of the broadcasting channels, the execution time of the automatic program which memorizes and programs the broadcasting channels needs more time.
FIG. 2 is a change view of tuning frequency to illustrate the traditional method of channel scanning.
With FIG. 2, the traditional method of channel scanning is looked into.
The frequency data fo of a specific channel is transmitted to the tuner by the micom.
Then, for 300 ms after transmission of the frequency data fo, the synchronizing signal is detected.
At this time, if the synchronizing signal is not detected, the detection of the synchronizing signal is continued with the frequency data being increased 8 steps each of 0.25 MHz.
That is, if the synchronizing signal is not detected in 300 ms after transmission of frequency data fo, the frequency data is increased 0.25 MHz and the synchronizing signal is detected for 30 ms.
If the synchronizing signal is not detected at this time, too, the frequency data is again increased 0.25 MHz and synchronizing signal is detected for 30 ms.
Such a detection of the synchronizing signal is continued until the frequency data is fo+2 MHz, the frequency data is decreased to fo 2 MHz.
And then, the synchronizing signal is detected for 30 ms per each step with the frequency data being increased 8 steps each fo 0.25 MHz once.
If the synchronizing signal is detected while the synchronizing signal is detected in this way, the channel of that frequency is judged as the channel in which the broadcasting exists and memorized by micom. In succession, the synchronizing signal of the next channel is detected.
As mentioned above, when the synchronizing signal is detected by the traditional channel scanning method, the synchronizing signal detection time consumed per a channel is 780 ms as shown in FIG. 2.
Hence, much time is needed to scan the whole channel.
Especially, there is a demerit that the scanning time of the whole channel becomes longer and longer as the number of broadcasting channels increase.

Method of and apparatus for channel scanning


A method of manufacturing a magnetic head is provided which can improve controlling a thickness of a gap layer. A coil base layer having at least a surface layer formed of one or two or more alloys selected from Au, Ru, and Rh is formed on a contact layer. Thereby, since a surface of the coil base layer is not oxidized due to air exposure, the contact layer is not oxidized. As such, the coil base layer protects the contact layer, so that it is not necessary to perform an etching process for removing an oxide layer, as in the related art. Therefore, it is possible to further improve controlling a thickness of a gap layer without cutting the gap layer by the etching process, as compared with the related art.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a magnetic head which is capable of improving controlling a thickness of a gap layer.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, an inductive head for recording a magnetic signal on a recording medium has a structure in which it includes a first magnetic layer and a second magnetic layer that are opposite to each other in a film thicknesswise direction at a surface facing the recording medium with a gap layer interposed therebetween, and a coil layer that is provided between the first magnetic layer and the second magnetic layer at a location farther than the facing surface in a heightwise direction.
FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating one process of a method of manufacturing a conventional perpendicular magnetic recording head. In addition, FIG. 15 is a partial longitudinal cross-sectional view of the conventional perpendicular magnetic recording head.
As shown in FIG. 15, reference numeral 1 indicates a shield layer. On the shield layer 1, lower coil pieces 3, which form a helical coil with a coil insulating layer 2 interposed between the shield layer 1 and the lower coil pieces 3, are formed in a plurality of columns. One end of a lower coil piece 3a among the lower coil pieces 3, which is formed so as to be closest to the surface F facing the recording medium, and one end of the lower coil piece 3b among the lower coil pieces 3, which is formed so as to be farthest from the surface F facing the recording medium in a heightwise direction (Y direction in the drawing), extends more than the other lower coil pieces 3 so as to form a coil lead layer 4. As shown in FIG. 15, a conductive contact layer 5 is formed on the coil lead layer 4, and a surface of the conductive contact layer 5 is exposed to a surface of a coil insulating layer 6 for covering the lower coil pieces 3.
As shown in FIG. 15, a main magnetic pole layer 7 and an auxiliary yoke layer 8 are sequentially formed on the coil insulting layer 6. As shown in FIG. 15, the auxiliary yoke layer 8 is formed so as to retreat more than the facing surface F in a heightwise direction (Y direction in the drawing), and a non-magnetic gap layer 9 is formed on the main magnetic pole layer 7 exposed to the facing surface F and the auxiliary yoke layer 8. As shown in FIG. 15, a Gd determining layer 10 and an insulating base layer 11 are formed on the gap layer 9. A plurality of upper coil pieces 13 are formed on the insulating base layer 11 in a plurality of columns. The plurality of upper coil pieces 13 form a helical coil with a plurality of conductive coil base layers 12 interposed between the insulating base layer 11 and the upper coil pieces 13. As shown in FIG. 15, the upper coil pieces 13 are covered with a coil insulating layer 14 made of resist or the like.
As shown in FIG. 15, before the process proceeds to a process illustrated in FIG. 16, a surface of the contact layer 5 exposed to the surface of the coil insulating layer 6 is etched, and an oxide layer formed on the surface of the contact layer 5 is removed (cleaning process). The contact layer 5 is formed of a material, such as Cu or the like, which has excellent conductivity, but it is likely to be oxidized. In addition, the coil base layer 12 is first formed on the contact layer 5. Then, the unnecessary coil base layers 12 are removed by an etching process, except for the coil base layers 12 formed below the upper coil pieces 13. However, in this case, the coil base layer 12 formed on the contact layer 5 may not be removed by the etching process, and may remain on the contact layer 5. Even in this case, since the coil base layer 12 has a laminated structure between Cu and Ti and an oxide layer is easily formed on the coil base layer 12, it is required to perform a cleaning process for removing the oxide layer of the surface of the contact layer. As shown in FIG. 16, the cleaning process is necessary for implementing conductivity between the contact layer 5 and a conductive lifting layer 17 formed on the contact layer 5. In addition, the reason why the oxide layer is formed is as follows. In the process illustrated in FIG. 16, when a magnetic head is carried in a sputtering device in the middle of a process of forming a return yoke base layer 16 on the gap layer 9 exposed to the facing surface F and the coil layer 14 by using a sputtering method before forming a return yoke layer 15 by plating, it may be easily affected by the air. In addition, when the coil insulating layer 14 is formed, oxide may occur due to a patterning process such as exposure, development, or the like or a hardening heating process.
Accordingly, as described above, the etching process is performed so as to remove the oxide layer formed on the surface of the contact layer. However, as shown in FIG. 15, since the gap layer 9 is exposed to the facing surface F ahead of the Gd determining layer 10, the gap layer 9 is also affected by the etching process. As a result, as shown in FIG. 17, the thickness H1 of the gap layer 9 becomes smaller than the original thickness H2. As such, in the conventional method of manufacturing the magnetic head, since deviation may occur in the thickness of the gap layer 9, it is not possible to properly control the thickness of the gap layer 9.
As shown in FIG. 17, the Gd determining layer 10 formed on the gap layer 9 is provided so as to regulate a gap depth (Gd). However, the surface 10a of the Gd determining layer 10 is affected by the etching process, so that the surface 10a is cut as shown by a dot line in FIG. 17, thereby varying the gap depth (Gd). In addition, after the surface 10a is cut, the gap layer 9 may be further affected by the etching process, so that the gap layer 9 may be further cut. In particular, the influence of the etching with respect to the gap layer 9 below the Gd determining layer 10 varies by a shape of the surface 10a of the Gd determining layer 10 or to what extent the surface 10a is affected by the etching process. Therefore, it is likely for the shape of the gap layer 9 not to be uniform.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,490,128 and US Publication No. 2003/0165030, the above-mentioned problems are not described. Therefore, countermeasures for resolving the above-mentioned problems are also not suggested. For example, according to a method disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,490,128, an ion milling process is performed so as to remove an oxide layer in a process illustrated in FIG. 7 (column 12, line 66 to column 13, line 6), but a gap layer 28a is affected by the ion milling process.


A charging control apparatus for a vehicle, which controls a power generation of an AC generator for charging a battery, comprises: a switching circuit connected in series to a field winding of the generator; a comparator for detecting a voltage of a battery and comparing the battery voltage with a sawtooth wave of a predetermined period; a memory device for storing a value regarding a duty factor of an output of the comparator at the same period as the predetermined period of the sawtooth; a control value increasing/decreasing circuit for increasing or decreasing a control value as an output, thereby making the stored value coincide with the control value; and an AND circuit to calculate AND of the control value and an output of the comparator. By controlling the switching circuit by an output of the AND circuit, when an electric load is applied the duty factor of a pulsed field current which is supplied to the field winding is gradually increased from the present value of the duty factor, thereby preventing a sudden increase of a load onto the engine.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a charging control apparatus for a vehicle for controlling the power generation of a generator to charge a battery for a vehicle and, more particularly, to a charging control apparatus which controls a rate of increase of a field current of the generator when an electric load was applied to the generator.
2. Description of the Related Background Art
Hitherto, there has been proposed a charging control apparatus shown in JP-A-62-64299, wherein a battery voltage and a predetermined voltage are compared and when the battery voltage is lower than the predetermined voltage, an up/down counter is incremented and, contrarily, when the battery voltage is higher than the predetermined voltage, the up/down counter is decremented.
In the above apparatus, by extending a period to increment the up/down counter, even if a battery voltage suddenly decreases by applying an electric load, the up/down counter is gradually increased, so that a field current is gradually increased as shown in FIG. 9. Therefore, the electric load is also slowly applied to an engine and an inconvenience such as an engine stall or the like can be prevented. However, the above conventional charging apparatus has a short coming as described below.
In the above apparatus, with a rectangular wave signal from the up/down counter and an output of a comparator for comparing the battery voltage with a reference voltage, an AND is calculated, whose respective wave forms are shown in (a}, (b) and (c) of FIG. 8. The field current is controlled according to the result of the AND, which includes non-exciting intervals where no field current is supplied.
When an electric load is suddenly applied to the battery, however, the battery voltage drops and a high (Hi) signal is outputted from the comparator as shown in (d) of FIG. 8. Consequently, the field current is controlled according to an AND signal having a wave form (e) of FIG. 8 which is identical to the wave form (a) of FIG. 8. Unlike the wave form (c) of FIG. 8, a lack of the non-exciting interval results in an increased exciting energy supplied to the field winding.
Therefore, as shown in FIG. 9, at a point where the electric load is applied, an ON dust factor of the pulsed field current is suddently increased by a certain amount upon a mean value of the duty factor which has been so far maintained, and the duty factor is gradually increased thereafter.
Thus, there may be adversary influences onto the engine of the sudden increase in the duty factor of the pulsed field current when an electric load is applied.


An object is to provide a fixture for a component to be mounted on a circuit board which is easily manufactured and can exhibit good solderability and high whisker resistance. In a fixture which includes a solder joint plate part 11 that can be fixed on a surface of a circuit board by soldering using solder cream, and a component fixing part 12 that can be fixed to a component configured to be mounted on the circuit board, and in which Sn plating is performed at least on a solder joint surface of the solder joint plate part, the solder joint plate part 11 is divided into a plurality of long-plate-like solder joint pieces 13, and on both sides of each of the long-plate-like solder joint pieces 13, wing-like joint feet are provided to protrude through bent flexible parts 16, and the lower surface of each of the joint feet 15 becomes a solder joint surface 18 to be joined with the surface of the circuit board by solder cream.

For example, the surfaces of a fixture for fixing a board-mounted connector on a circuit board by soldering are generally subjected to tin (Sn) plating for improving solderability. However, it is being pointed out that in a case of soldering the fixture plated with Sn onto a circuit board, there is a fear that internal stress or external stress will act on a solder joint part, whereby needle-like crystals called whiskers will be generated, and the whiskers will cause short-circuiting between components around the fixture.
It is known that internal stress or external stress acting on an Sn plating layer as described above is related to generation of whiskers, and in Patent Document 1, there is disclosed a technology of forming recesses having depths, which are 0.4 times to 1.0 time the thickness of an Sn plating layer, in the plating layer, so as to relieve internal stress or external stress acting on the Sn plating layer by the recesses, thereby suppressing generation of whiskers.

Fixture for component to be mounted to circuit board


A targeted discovery between a first device and a second device in a network, in particular, a WHDI network, provides discovery for an identified device or a group of identified devices. The targeted discovery determines an identifier for a second device or a group of devices that the second device belongs to, and sends a device discovery message to the second device using the identifier for the second device when the second device is configured to respond to the device discovery message if the device discovery message includes the identifier for the second device. The first device receives a response to the device discovery message from the second device and can start further communication with the second device.

The WIRELESS HOME DIGITAL INTERFACE (WHDI) is a wireless standard proposed for a wireless multimedia device network, which may be used at home, in the office or in other short-range wireless network environments. WHDI allows for high bandwidth wireless channels for sending content between devices, which may support uncompressed High Definition (HD) content. For example, a DVD player may be connected to multiple HDTVs wirelessly and send uncompressed content to the HDTVs using WHDI. WHDI eliminates the need for cabling, such as High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) cables, component cables, etc., used to transmit uncompressed content between devices. Conventional wireless technologies such as 802.11, BLUETOOTH, etc., do not have the bandwidth or interface to transmit uncompressed multimedia content between devices.
WHDI can be used in various environments. For example, a user located in a single family home or in an apartment may connect a DVD player, an MP3 player, a laptop/notebook or desktop personal computer (PC), a gaming console, and flat panel TVs all together, wirelessly, using WHDI. In another environment, a user wirelessly connects a multimedia projector in a conference room to a desktop PC in his office, and to a set of notebook computers of numerous meeting participants using WHDI. In these examples and other examples, security is a concern because of the wireless communication between the WHDI devices. Due to the nature of wireless networks, typically they are easy to identify by unauthorized users. Also, an unauthorized user may attempt to identify and connect to the particular devices connected in a home WHDI network. The homeowner may desire to keep the identity of their devices private and their devices away from the unauthorized users. For example, a homeowner may not want a neighbor to know they have five HDTVs, or they may not want any non-family members to know they have a server connected to their home network because the server may contain confidential information, such as personal videos, etc. While WHDI provides the protocol and interfaces for high-bandwidth wireless networks, WHDI may lack the security procedures to maintain user privacy. The present invention provides methods to protect a user's privacy based on the user's current needs for using the WHDI devices in a WHDI network.

Method of targeted discovery of devices in a network


A system and related processing methodologies for recommending a product based on a work order are described. The system receives an input case description, including a current repair item and a current work type. Historical work orders associating a plurality of products with repair items and work types are searched for a co-occurrence of the repair item matching the current repair item, and the work type matching the current work type. Upon finding a match, the product associated with the match is added to a set of candidate products for the current work order. A similarity measure between the candidate product and current work order description, a current work type category, and popularity of the candidate product is generated and then used in the generation of a probability score for the candidate product and current work order. If the probability score meets a threshold, the candidate product is recommended.

Field service technicians generally receive work orders for cases and must make a determination as to what products and tools to bring with them to resolve the case. The work order description may identify a repair item and include a description of the problem. Using this information, the field service technician generally selects one or more products to bring with him, from among a potentially complex plurality of available products. It can be difficult, burdensome, and time consuming to determine which of the available products to bring.
Accordingly, it is desirable to have techniques and architectures that can be used to efficiently and effectively recommend products based on the work order. In addition, it is desirable that the techniques and architectures employ machine learning to train and adjust to the work orders and products over time. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.

Techniques and architectures for recommending products based on work orders


A tool for use in analyzing a subsurface formation for the presence of hydrocarbon includes a neutron generator capable of generating a burst of neutrons at a high energy level, some of which will collide inelastically with atomic nuclei in the subsurface formation to produce inelastic gamma rays and then will be captured by atomic nuclei to produce capture gamma rays. The tool also includes at least one radiation detector to detect the inelastic and capture gamma rays, and counting circuitry configured to produce a count of detected inelastic gamma rays and a count of detected capture gamma rays. Processing circuitry in the tool generates a numerical output by dividing the count of inelastic gamma rays by the count of capture gamma rays and then provides the numerical output to an output device for use in analyzing the subsurface formation for the presence of hydrocarbon.

The invention relates to detecting bypassed hydrocarbons in subsurface formations.
Oil and gas production companies typically want to produce as much hydrocarbon as possible in each down-hole drilling operation. Quite often a well contains recoverable quantities of hydrocarbon gas in formations bypassed during drilling.
Pulsed neutron capture (PNC) tools have been used for years to evaluate the presence of hydrocarbon gas behind well casings in bypassed formations. PNC tools operate under the theory that neutrons generated by the tools and traveling with sufficient energy will interact with surrounding atoms to produce energy in at least two different ways. First, a high-energy neutron will collide "inelastically" with a nucleus, exciting the nucleus and causing the nucleus to release a gamma ray. Second, the same neutron eventually will lose enough energy that it will reach a "thermal" state and will be "captured" by another atomic nucleus, which in turn will release a gamma ray of capture.
Most PNC tools measure the thermal neutron capture characteristics, or macroscopic capture cross-section ("sigma" or ".SIGMA."), of a formation by detecting and counting gamma rays of the second type, i.e., those that occur as a result of thermal neutron capture, over a given period of time. In general, the presence of hydrocarbons in a formation increases the neutron capture time and therefore decreases sigma. In some formations, however, the measurement of sigma does not adequately identify certain forms of hydrocarbon trapped in the formation. For example, conventional sigma measurements often fail to identify natural gas in formations containing larger proportional amounts of shale suspended in a sand or thin shale laminations layering the sand, such as those found throughout the Gulf of Mexico. In these areas, natural gas often can be identified by detecting and counting only the number of gamma rays produced by inelastic collisions between the pulsed neutrons and atomic nuclei in the formation.
One PNC tool manufacturer produces a tool that attempts to detect bypassed gas reservoirs by observing the ratio of two different inelastic counts, one taken by a gamma ray detector located nearer the source of pulsed neutrons, and the other taken by a detector located farther from the neutron source. This ratio is measured at various depths to generate a "qualitative" graph, known as a RIN ("ratio of inelastics") curve. According to the developer of the RIN technique, the RIN curve provides a shallow measurement of hydrocarbon in the formation, i.e., two to four inches into the formation behind the well casing.

Detecting bypassed hydrocarbons in subsurface formations


Damage to the pins and ceramic body of pin grid array type semiconductor device assemblies is avoided by providing ceramic bushings in the pin-receiving holes of a boat transport. The bushings elevate the package body above the platform surface of the boat, and also alleviate problems associated with unequal thermal expansion of the metal boat and the ceramic package. In an alternate embodiment, a ceramic insert formed as a square ring encompassing an area roughly equivalent to the area of the package body is provided with holes for receiving the pins, and the boat transport has a cavity for receiving and retaining the ceramic insert.

As used herein, a "semiconductor device" is a silicon chip (die) containing circuit elements on a face thereof, and a "semiconductor device assembly" is a silicon chip contained within a package and connected (wired or bonded) to conductive leads which exit the package.
A common type of semiconductor device assembly has a plurality of pins exiting the bottom surface of the package body, and is termed a Pin Grid Array (PGA). The present invention is especially applicable to PGAs.
The complexity of modern semiconductor devices results in a high number of pins. Pin counts in excess of one hundred are not uncommon. For high pin count packages, the pins are necessarily very thin and closely spaced. Spacing on the order of 0.070-0.100 inch (center-to-center) is not uncommon. Evidently, these pins are delicate, and caution must be exercised in handling the package to avoid damaging the pins so that they can be properly aligned with corresponding holes in a printed wiring board (e.g.) or in a socket to which the packaged device is ultimately mounted. Common damage modes include: 1) physical distortion of the leads, or 2) removal of plating from the leads due to scraping (the leads are commonly gold-plated). Damage to the ceramic package body itself by the metallic boat is also a concern.
In the process of packaging a semiconductor device, it is typical that the semiconductor die is inserted into an opening in the package. The package already has pins exiting the package body, and lead fingers within the package body. The lead fingers ar bonded (or wired) to the pins. After the semiconductor device is connected to the lead fingers (such as by wire or tape-automated bonding), a lid is applied over the package opening to seal the device within the package. During these packaging steps, there are many opportunities for causing damage to the pins while handling and processing the package.
FIG. 1 shows a typical semiconductor device assembly 100, for which the present invention is especially pertinent. The assembly includes a square, flat ceramic package body 102 having a top surface 102a and a bottom surface 102b. An opening 104 extends into the top surface of the package. A plurality of pins 106 extend outward from the bottom surface 102b, and are connected 10 (not shown) to lead fingers (die bond sites) 108 which extend to within the opening. This type of package is referred to as a Pin Grid Array (PGA).
A semiconductor die 114 is inserted into the opening 104, is attached to a die attach pad (not shown), and is connected to the exposed ends (bonding sites) of the lead fingers 108 by any suitable technique (e.g., wire bonding or tape automated bonding).
In many cases, selected pins, for example one pin at each of the four corners of the package 102, are provided with expanded "stops" 106a spaced from the bottom 102b of the package body 102, so that the package body 102 will sit a prescribed distance above a printed wiring board to which the assembly 100 is mounted. For purposes of this discussion, pins 106 having stops 106a are termed "guide pins".
It should also be noted that a central area (not shown) on the bottom surface 102b of the package 102 may or may not be free of pins, in an area corresponding roughly to the opening 104. (In the case that an array of pins covers the entire bottom surface 102, the package is referred to as a "fully-populated" pin grid array. In the case that a central area is free of pins, the package is a "partially populated" array.)
The top surface 102a of the package is has a metallic ring 110 formed about the periphery of the opening 104. After the semiconductor device 114 is attached to the lead fingers 108, a lid 116 is secured over the opening 104, "capping" the package. The lid is essentially a flat metal (or ceramic) plate, and is evidently slightly larger than the opening 104. The lid is commonly sized to fit over the ring 110. A solder "preform" foil 118, of similar size and shape as the ring 110 is provided between the lid 116 and the ring 110, so that the lid may be secured to the package body 102 simply by heating the entire assembly, causing the preform 118 to seal and secure the lid 116 to the top surface of the package 102, over the opening 104.
As mentioned above, in the process of mounting the die in the package, and capping the package, the entire assembly is typically passed through an oven (i.e., to melt the preform 118, inter alia). Conveyor transports are common, and the packages may be placed on "boats" for the journey through the oven.
FIG. 1 shows a portion of boat 150, positioned to receive the semiconductor device assembly 100. The boat 150 is typically an elongated metal structure capable of supporting and transporting a number (e.g., six) of semiconductor device assemblies 100. The boat 150 is a rigid metal structure having a platform portion 120, a top surface 120a, a bottom surface 120b and an area designated by dashed line 122 for supporting the semiconductor device assembly 100. The boat is provided with side portions 124 extending downward from opposite side edges of the platform portion 120, so that the top surface 120a is maintained a suitable distance above a conveyor belt (not shown).
A number of holes 126 are provided through the platform portion 120, and the holes 126 are sized and spaced to allow the pins 106 to pass easily through the top surface 120a so that the package body 102 rests directly on the platform 120.
Typically, the holes 126 are quite (about 0.020 inches) larger than the diameter of the pins 106, to allow easy insertion of the pins and to prevent gouging or scraping of the pin plating. This evidently allows the package 102 to move, and allows the pins to contact the platform 120. Some of the holes 126 may be only a slightly (e.g., 0.005 inches) larger than the pins 106, and these particular holes "126a " act as guide holes, for accurately positioning the package.
Evidently, the holes 126 are capable of gouging the typically softer plating material on the pins 106, due to burrs and the like. This problem is exacerbated by the smaller guide holes 126a. Further, there are expansion problems when the assembly 100 is transported through an oven on the boat 150, in that the plate portion 120 can contact the pins 106.
In cases where stops 106a are not provided, the package body 102 rests directly atop the platform portion, which can cause damage to brazing 106b (see FIG. 3) at the junction of the pin 106 and the package body 102.
Further, the boat is typically formed of a material (e.g., stainless steel) galvanically dissimilar from the pin material (e.g., gold-plated copper) which, when the assembly is transported through an oven can cause undesirable corrosion, electrolysis, or the like, of the pins 106.
As shown in FIG. 1, a large cutout 130 extends through the plate portion 120 in a region essentially central to the area 122. This cutout 130 allows automated machinery (not shown) to lift the finished semiconductor device assembly 100 up off of the boat 150 both during and at the completion of fabrication (packaging). The package is generally lifted once per operation (e.g., die attach, wire bonding, etc.).
As shown in FIG. 1, additional cutouts 132 may be provided within the periphery of the area 122, to minimize the number of holes 126. Only relatively few holes 126, compared with the total number of leads 106, are needed.
Taking into account the cutout 130 and additional cutouts 132, the plate portion 120 is left with "bridges" 134 at two opposite sides of the area 122, and the bridges have a sufficient number of holes 126 to properly align and maintain reasonably motionless a semiconductor device assembly 100.
In the process of inserting the leads 106 of the assembly 100 into the holes 126, because the boat is the direct support for the semiconductor device assembly, contact between the leads and the boat occurs. During the installation and removal of the package from the boat, physical bending of the pins may occur because of the close tolerances necessary to maintain package alignment. At the points of contact, motion of the semiconductor device assembly on the boat has been observed to cause the pin plating to be worn or scratched away, exposing either the under coat or the base metal.
What is needed is a boat assembly that does not damage pins or package bodies.

Guide hole sleeves for boat transports supporting semiconductor device assemblies


A toilet roll dispenser primarily for use in portable toilets, comprising a housing having a first toilet paper roll supported on a mandrel in position for use, and a second or reserve toilet paper roll on the mandrel in side-by-side relationship. The reserve roll is received in the cavity of a use-prevention receptacle which is also supported on the mandrel in co-axial relationship with the reserve toilet paper roll. The side walls of the housing restrict lateral movement of the toilet paper rolls so the reserve toilet paper roll cannot be moved laterally out of the use-prevention receptacle until the first toilet paper roll has been used up and its paper core removed from the mandrel. While the reserve roll is in the cavity of the use-prevention receptacle it cannot be used. After the first roll has been completely used up, it is then possible to reach the paper core of the used up first roll and tear it away from the mandrel. The way is then clear to move the reserve toilet paper roll from the use-prevention receptacle whereupon it can then be used.

This invention relates to the field of toilet paper dispensers in which at least two rolls of toilet paper are supported on a single mandrel or rod, and a use-prevention device to prevent use of the second roll until the first one has been used up. The invention is particularly adapted for use in portable toilets.
A number of prior art devices have attempted to solve the problem of keeping people from using the second roll until the first has been completely used up. However, most of them are relatively complicated, difficult to use and expensive. Those known to the inventor are disclosed in the following United States Patents which are readily available for examination to the general public and others having an interest therein:
U.S. Pat. No. 3,656,699
U.S. Pat. No. 4,836,462
U.S. Pat. No. 4,765,475
U.S. Pat. No. 4,407,459
U.S. Pat. No. 3,790,097
U.S. Pat. No. 3,586,252
U.S. Pat. No. 3,584,802
U.S. Pat. No. 3,295,900
U.S. Pat. No. 2,619,297
This invention of a toilet paper dispenser having at least two rolls of toilet paper and a use-prevention receptacle to prevent use of the second roll until the first has been used up is particularly adapted for portable toilets. However, it can be adapted for use in other toilets as well.
The invention comprises a housing having a lateral dimension large enough to hold at least two rolls of toilet paper on a single laterally extending rod or mandrel supported in the housing by receiving apertures in the side walls of the housing to receive the opposite ends of the mandrel therethrough. A use-prevention receptacle is provided to receive one of the rolls of toilet paper in its cavity thereby preventing the paper from being unrolled until the roll can be removed from the use-prevention receptacle. It can""t be removed until the other roll which is in abutting side-by-side relationship thereto has been used up and its paper core removed from the mandrel. When that is done, the roll in the use-prevention receptacle can be pulled out from the open wall thereof for use.
The use-prevention receptacle comprises a cylindrical cup like receptacle, having a solid cylindrical wall, a solid rear wall having a central aperture to receive the mandrel or rod therethrough and an oppositely facing open wall facing toward the toilet paper roll which is positioned for use on the mandrel. The extra roll is received in the use-prevention receptacle until the first roll has been completely used up and its paper core removed from the mandrel.
The use-prevention receptacle may be made of a relatively rigid plastic material. The configuration and dimension of its cavity corresponds with that of a roll of toilet paper whereby the roll can be received completely therein. It is also within the scope of this invention to provide a use-prevention receptacle having a cavity whose lateral depth is less than the corresponding lateral dimension of a roll of toilet paper, whereby the roll of toilet paper protrudes outwardly a certain distance from the cavity of the use-prevention receptacle but not so far as to permit someone to begin unrolling paper from such roll.
The cross-section or diameter of the cavity of the use-prevention receptacle corresponds to the diameter of a full roll of toilet paper whereby the roll of toilet paper is held firmly and snugly therein. Projections may be provided that extend outwardly from the cylindrical wall of the use-prevntion receptacle which a user can hold with one hand while using the other hand to withdraw the roll of toilet paper from the use-prevention receptacle after the first roll has been used up and its paper core removed from the mandrel.
One end of the mandrel which extends through the aperture in one of the side walls of the housing includes an aperture at its outer end to receive the shackle of a padlock that prevents removal of the mandrel from the housing until the padlock is removed. The opposite end of the mandrel or rod includes either an enlarged head having a diameter greater than that of the receiving aperture, or a projecting arm that extends radially outward from the axis of the mandrel or rod a sufficient distance to prevent drawing through the receiving aperture.


A noise canceler of the present invention switches its noise canceling characteristic on detecting narrow band noise, and thereby executes noise cancellation adequately despite narrow band noise. Further, the noise canceler selects an output signal having a particular noise canceling characteristic, depending on whether or not a speech signal contained in an input acoustic signal is voiced. In addition, the noise canceler adaptively changes, for an acoustic signal containing voiced sound, a window function which regulates the depth of a valley of an attenuation characteristic meant for the acoustic signal. Therefore, the noise canceler improves an output signal with respect to the auditory sense and sound quality without regard to narrow band noise.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a noise canceler for use in, e.g., a voice communication system, and capable of canceling background noise contained in an input acoustic signal and superposed on a speech signal.
2. Description of Background Art
A noise canceler for the above application is disclosed in, e.g., Masanori Akita and Takeshi Ohkura "A Method of Revising Spectral Envelopes under the Noisy Environment for Speech Processing", Technical Report of IEICE, EA95-57, November, 1995. The noise canceler includes an analog-to-digital converter (ADC). When a speech and noise derived from a speech source and a background noise source, respectively, are input to a microphone, the ADC converts them to a digital electric signal. A simple frequency or spectrum subtracting section executes Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) with the digital signal, and then executes simple frequency subtraction. A spectrum correcting section estimates and then restores valleys originally present in the speech signal input to the noise canceler, but lost in the output signal of the simple frequency subtracting section due to the limitation of low levels. In this manner, the conventional noise canceler reduces background noise by simple frequency subtraction and spectrum correction, and then restores and thereby enhances a speech spectrum. However, this kind of scheme has some problems left unsolved, as will be described specifically later.

Noise canceler capable of switching noise canceling characteristics


The invention is an improvement in a machine having a bushing-type journal bearing and a bearing-supported component relatively rotatable one to the other. The bearing has a surface contacting the component and at least one lubrication groove formed in such surface. The improvement comprises a plurality of lubrication grooves spaced along the surface and defining first and second groove sets. Each groove in at least the first set (and preferably in both sets) includes a segment angular to the direction of rotation so that lubricant is distributed both circumferentially and axially on the surface. Groove exit runners are provided so that grease is urged outward toward the bearing edges. The highly preferred embodiment is suitable for uni-directional or bi-directional rotation and other embodiments are disclosed which can be used for uni-directional rotation.

Friction-reducing devices called bearings are available in a wide variety of types and are used in machines of virtually all sizes and complexities. A well-known type uses component parts which roll relative to other parts. For example, bicycle hubs use ball bearings, with or without a bearing "race." And every electrically powered home appliance uses one or more bearings. To enlarge the scale of the examples, railroad freight car wheels are supported on tapered roller bearings. Bearings of the foregoing types incorporate a multiplicity of rolling components such as spherical balls, solid cylindrical rollers, slender cylindrical needles or solid tapered rollers.
Such bearings share certain common features. One is that they operate at relatively high speed. Another is that they are known as "hydrodynamically" lubricated bearings in that their operating speed helps assure that critical surfaces are continually coated with a film of lubricant.
However, bearings having rolling components are by no means the only type of bearing used. Another major bearing type is known as a "bushing" or bushing-type bearing, sometimes called a plain journal bearing. In simplest form, bushing-type bearings are hollow cylinders supporting a component such as a shaft. Bearings of the bushing type involve sliding rather than rolling motion and are typically used where relative bearing-component rotation is at a rather slow speed.
Bearings of this type are known as "boundary" lubricated bearings in that there may not be a film of lubricant between the bearing and the adjacent component. Because such bearings support significant loads (for their size) and because, often, the bearing is called upon to function only occasionally, e.g., once or twice a day, lubricant is simply squeezed out from between the relatively moving surfaces.
With larger machines, bearing lubrication--especially in plain journal or bushing bearings--can be a difficult design problem. Nowhere is this more true than in large mobile machines such as earth-moving and earth-excavating machinery.
Such machinery is available in a wide variety of types ranging from the familiar rubber-tire mounted and crawler-mounted to the less-common dragline. A dragline is often used for removing top soil and "overburden" to expose a valuable mineral, e.g., coal, beneath but near the earth's surface.
A dragline is equipped with an angularly-extending boom from which is suspended a "bucket" having an open mouth and digging teeth, both facing toward the main portion of the machine. Overburden is removed by placing the bucket on the ground at a point distant from the machine and pulling it toward the machine, filling the bucket in the process. Once filled, the machine pivots about a central axis and the bucket emptied at a spoil pile somewhat away from the area being excavated.
Smaller draglines are crawler mounted (much like a military tank) and capable of movement in the same way, albeit at much slower speeds. However, as draglines (and their digging buckets) increased in size, crawler mounting was found to be impractical and in the early 1900's, the "walking" dragline was developed. The walking dragline is so named because it takes short "steps" and uses a "walk leg" mechanism (which resembles a human leg) to do so. A difference is that in a walking dragline, both legs step simultaneously.
To give some perspective to the following discussion, a large walking dragline--made by Harnischfeger Industries of Milwaukee, Wis., and incorporating the invention--has a main housing portion (including the machinery deck, operator's cab and the like) which is about 105 feet long, about 80 feet wide, about 40 feet high and weighs about nine million pounds. The boom extends about 300 feet and the capacity of the digging bucket is about 80 cubic yards. The walk legs of such dragline take steps about seven feet in length.
In a specific application in which the inventive groove arrangement is used, one embodiment of the bushing-type bearing described below is about nine feet in diameter and in excess of two feet in cylindrical length. An adult can easily stand upright inside the "ring" formed by the bushing! The walk legs of a walking dragline preferably use a bushing-type bearing since they are heavily loaded, the leg operates at very slow speed and may be called upon to "walk" only once or a few times per day.
An earlier bearing lubrication groove arrangement involved one or two continuously-cut grooves formed on the interior cylindrical surface of the bearing. This earlier arrangement is aptly described as resembling opposed sine waves since the paths defined by the grooves closely resemble the "trace" of two alternating voltages which are 180.degree. out of phase.
A problem with this earlier lubrication groove arrangement is that there are significant portions of the bearing surface which are not effectively lubricated and therefore, are subject to inordinate wear. Another problem is that the sine wave grooves do not satisfactorily "flush" out small wear particles nor do they provide for bearing edge lubrication.
Another earlier arrangement involved a number of individual grooves formed in the bearing surface in an axial direction, i.e., parallel to the cylinder central axis of the bearing. For reasons explained below, such axially-oriented grooves do not satisfactorily distribute grease in an axial direction. As a result, some areas of the bearing surface are "starved" of grease.
The invention is directed to an improved lubrication groove arrangement which helps maintain a film of lubricant in boundary lubricated bearings. As will become apparent, the invention resolves some of these difficulties in unique and imaginative ways.

Lubrication groove arrangement for a journal bearing


A Multi-Channel Redundant Wireless Network Link (RWNL) device (10) comprises a plurality of wireless networking radio units, a processor unit, a radio control unit, and wired network units. Two RWNL devices communicating to each other form a multi-channel redundant wireless network communication link. The RWNL device aggrades the networking bandwidth of all its wireless networking units to become a big networking bandwidth. Network packets flow control means controls the networking packets transmitted between the wireless networking units and wired networking unit, the communication between the local wireless networking units to remote wireless networking units of the other RWNL. When the communication of one of the wireless networking channels failed to continue the communication, the flow control means will redistribute the packet flow among the remaining wireless networking radio units, shutdown the problem wireless networking channel, and report the networking status. Thus, as long as there is one wireless networking channel still functioning, the network link keeps communicating. The communication link has multiple redundancies.

1. Field of Invention
This invention is concerned with outdoor wireless networking system and devices, specifically, an outdoor high bandwidth wireless network link with multiple redundancies.
2. Description of Prior Art
In the art of outdoor wireless network communication, the communication links among the wireless point of presence (WPOP) are to provide main bandwidth supply to the rest of the transmitting equipments which service the remote clients. This kind of network communication link is normally considered as backbone link for wireless networking. There are wired backbone link and wireless backbone links.
The basic requirements of the backbone link are high bandwidth and high reliability. A LMDS wireless communication system is a very common backbone link of wireless communication. To meet the requirements, a LMDS system uses high quality microwave components and other electronics parts to ensure high reliability. LMDS system also adopts high radio frequency band to provide the high bandwidth for the connectivity, and, a LMDS system is high cost and hard to deploy.
To improve the reliability of the backbone wireless communication, it is not enough by only improve the equipment quality itself; redundancy is a very important and common technology. Some LMDS radio systems have two-radio redundancy modular design. Sometimes, a third location of topology is established in order to achieve the redundancy of the whole communication. More high-grade equipments such as switches and routers need to be deployed to setup a third location redundancy.
In the prior art of the wireless backbone technology, cost and how to achieve the redundancy is a big issue. LMDS radio system itself is very expensive, the high frequency design causes users to pay bandwidth usage fee, and, further more, the high frequency microwave system cannot communicate over far distance. Setting up an third topology redundancy site, is not only extra high cost, but also, the suitable location is not always available. Accordingly, most wireless networks and their backbone are working in the non-redundancy status.
Obviously, a better solution is needed.

Multi-channel redundant wireless network link and device


A magnetic lens for a charged particle beam device and a charged particle beam device are provided. The magnetic lens includes a coil with coil windings to be excited for generation of a magnetic field, a pole piece to guide the magnetic field, a heat shield, which is connected to a cooling system, and a thermal insulation layer provided between the heat shield and the coil.

Technologies such as microelectronics, micromechanics and biotechnology have created a high demand for structuring and probing specimens within the nanometer scale. Micrometer and nanometer scale process control, inspection or structuring, is often done with charged particle beams. Examples of charged particle beam devices are electron microscopes, electron beam pattern generators, ion microscopes as well as ion beam pattern generators. Charged particle beams offer superior spatial resolution compared to photon beams, due to their short wave lengths.
Magnetic charged particle lenses have excitation coils which may be excited with high power. Thereby, the coil may heat up and a heat transfer from the coil to the pole pieces may occur. Even slight variations of the temperature of the pole pieces can lead to a thermal expansion. This thermal expansion may deteriorate the alignment of the charged particle beam column.
In light of the above, the coil might be surrounded by a thermally conductive housing, which is connected to a cooling pipe. However, homogeneous cooling system can be very complicated and areas of the thermally conductive housing, which are distant from the cooling pipe system, may show a temperature increase of up to 10° C.

ICT Integrated Circuit Testing Gesellschaft für Halbleiterprüftecknik mbH


The present invention relates to a memory arrangement having a controller and having at least one memory device. Data signals, control signals and address signals can be transferred between the controller and the memory device. The memory arrangement is designed in such a way that the data signals can be transferred via data signal lines between the controller and the memory device. The memory arrangement is furthermore designed in such a way that the control signals and the address signals can likewise be transferred via the data signal lines between the controller and the memory device.

1. Field
The present invention relates to a memory arrangement having a controller and having at least one memory device.
2. Background Information
Digital computers such as personal computers, laptops, servers, workstations always contain, in addition to one or more central computers (usually referred to as "processors"), additional electrical functional units that cooperate with the processor as peripheral units. At least one of the peripheral units is also always a memory arrangement having a controller and having at least one memory device. Such a memory arrangement serves to supply the processor with data from the memory device (a so-called read operation, since data are read from memory cells of the memory device) or to store data obtained from the processor in memory cells of the memory device (a so-called write operation, since data are written to memory cells of the memory device).
In order to relieve the burden on the processor, the controller is arranged between the processor and the memory devices. Its purpose is to convert requests received on the part of the processor for the memory devices (e.g. write or read operation, addressing data and memory data) into corresponding signals for the memory devices and also to communicate correspondingly with the memory devices and the processor. Such an arrangement comprising controller and memory devices is referred to as a "memory arrangement" in the present case.
Modern processors have a high operating speed (the operating frequency is in the meantime>2.5 GHz); whereas memory devices such as e.g. of the RAM, ROM or flash type always have a significantly lower operating speed than a modern processor. Therefore, it has always been an aim to design memory arrangements in such a way that an operating speed that is as high as possible can be achieved with them.
It has been shown in the past that, in cases in which a changeover is to be made from a write operation to a read operation, or vice versa, i.e. in which a changeover is to be made from read operation to write operation, it is necessary to accept waiting times that are given under specific addressing conditions before the line system present in the memory devices, in particular, functions properly again. This is caused inter alia by capacitive loading of the line system in the memory devices. Such changeover processes take place relatively frequently: the operation of a memory arrangement is usually made up of approximately 70% reading operation (i.e. read accesses are made to the memory cells of the memory devices) and approximately 30% writing operation (i.e. data are written to the memory cells of the memory devices). Consequently, the waiting times described slow down the maximum possible operating speed of the entire memory arrangement.