Passive collection of neighbor base station configuration information through handover messages is provided. In one embodiment, a base station comprises: a processor coupled to a memory, the base station coupled to a core network for a wireless network operator, the base station radiates downlink RF signals to at least one UE and receives uplink RF signals from the UE. The processor implements: a UE handover function that receives and processes a handover request message associated with a UE transferring to the cell from a neighboring cell; and a handover request parser that evaluates information elements in the handover request message to extract neighbor information. The handover request parser stores the extracted neighbor information as a set of neighbor information in the memory; and wherein the processor is configured to adjust operation of the base station based on the set of neighbor information stored in the memory.

A Long Term Evolution (LTE) Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) (also sometimes referred to simply as the "radio access network" or "RAN") comprises a set of base stations that wirelessly communicate with user equipment (such as smartphones) using licensed radio frequency spectrum. Each base station is also generally referred to as an LTE Evolved Node B, "eNodeB" or "eNB." In providing wireless LTE service coverage to users across a region, multiple LTE base stations may be installed using equipment from multiple vendors, and/or operate on multiple carriers with different capabilities and configurations. When user equipment (UE) moves between eNodeBs, the user equipment's coverage is continued through the system using handovers and/or cell-reselection methods. In such an environment where multiple base stations may operate in close vicinity, it is important for each eNodeB to be aware of the operating configuration of neighbor base stations so that it may adjust its own operation to avoid conflicts and ease user equipment handovers.
There are multiple ways by which a base station may gather configuration information about neighboring base stations. Such methods include: having a Management System pushing neighbor configuration to each eNodeB, implementing Radio Environment Mapping (REM) in which each eNodeB tunes itself to the operating frequencies of its neighbors to read system-information messages to collect neighbor configuration information, leveraging user equipment to implement Automatic Neighbor Relation (ANR) (where a UE is instructed to perform measurements of the radio-environment and report back to its serving cell, and through LTE X2 Application Protocol interactions that enable the neighboring eNodeBs to communicate with each other.
However, there are limitations to each of these methods. For example, having a Management system pushing neighbor configuration information to each of the eNodeBs is tedious and resource-intensive and the configurations may become stale and require periodic re-push to refresh the information provided to other eNodeB. REM methods may cause service disturbances while scanning different neighbor frequencies with a full-band sweep to read system information. Additionally, it requires an eNodeB to repeat these measurements periodically to avoid stale neighbor information. The effectiveness of a REM scan is also constrained by the number of radio bands supported by the eNodeB performing the scan. For example, if an eNodeB supports only bands 1, 3 and 7, it cannot detect a neighbor eNodeB operating at band 41. ANR methods using UEs can fall short when a new frequency is introduced in the system and the eNodeB is not aware of the new frequency. Moreover, ANR methods require UE processing and RF resources. LTE X2 Application Protocol interactions require the implementation of IPSec tunnels to communicate to the network core and the resulting X2-traffic may become congested between eNodeBs at the core. Moreover, as there become an increasingly large number of cells installed in a neighborhood, establishing X2 relationship between eNodeB at each of those cells will become increasingly cumbersome.

Systems and methods for passive collection of neighbor base station configuration information through handover messages


A photothermographic material including, on at least one side of a support, an image forming layer including at least a photosensitive silver halide, a first organic silver salt, a reducing agent, and a binder, and at least one non-photosensitive layer which is disposed on the same side as the image forming layer and farther from the support than the image forming layer, wherein 50% or more of a total projected area of the photosensitive silver halide is occupied by tabular grains having a silver iodide content of 40 mol % or higher and an aspect ratio of 2 or more, and the non-photosensitive layer comprises a second organic silver salt, and an image forming method using the same. The invention provides a photothermographic material and an image forming method excellent in image tone and image storability.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a photothermographic material and an image forming method. More particularly, the invention relates to a photothermographic material and an image forming method with excellent image tone and improved image stability.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, in the field of films for medical diagnosis and in the field of films for graphic arts, there has been a strong desire for decreasing the amount of processing liquid waste from the viewpoints of protecting the environment and economy of space. Technology is therefore required for light sensitive photothermographic materials which can be exposed effectively by laser image setters or laser imagers and thermally developed to obtain clear black-toned images of high resolution and sharpness, for use in medical diagnostic applications and for use in photographic technical applications. The light sensitive photothermographic materials do not require liquid processing chemicals and can therefore be supplied to customers as a simpler and environmentally friendly thermal processing system.
While similar requirements also exist in the field of general image forming materials, images for medical imaging in particular require high image quality excellent in sharpness and granularity because fine depiction is required, and further require blue-black image tone from the viewpoint of easy diagnosis. Various kinds of hard copy systems utilizing dyes or pigments, such as ink jet printers and electrophotographic systems, have been marketed as general image forming systems, but they are not satisfactory as output systems for medical images.
Thermal image forming systems utilizing organic silver salts are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,152,904 and 3,457,075, as well as in "Thermally Processed Silver Systems" by D. H. Klosterboer, appearing in "Imaging Processes and Materials", Neblette, 8th edition, edited by J. Sturge, V. Warlworth, and A. Shepp, Chapter 9, pages 279 to 291, 1989. All patents, patent publications, and non-patent literature cited in this specification are hereby expressly incorporated by reference herein. In particular, photothermographic materials generally have an image forming layer including a catalytically active amount of a photocatalyst (for example, silver halide), a reducing agent, a reducible silver salt (for example, an organic silver salt), and if necessary, a toner for controlling the color tone of developed silver images, dispersed in a binder. Photothermographic materials form black silver images by being heated to a high temperature (for example, 80° C. or higher) after imagewise exposure to cause an oxidation-reduction reaction between a silver halide or a reducible silver salt (functioning as an oxidizing agent) and a reducing agent. The oxidation-reduction reaction is accelerated by the catalytic action of a latent image on the silver halide generated by exposure. As a result, a black silver image is formed on the exposed region.
Photothermographic materials utilizing an organic silver salt have a great merit of containing all components necessary for image formation in the film in advance and being capable of forming images only by heating. However, on the other hand, after image formation, these chemical components remain as is in an unexposed portion, and reaction products remain where image forming reactions have occurred. These remaining chemical components and reaction products exert adverse influences on storage stability of the image, and thus further improvements in image stability are required.
Attempts have also been made at applying the photothermographic material as photosensitive material for photographing. The term "photosensitive material for photographing" used herein means a photosensitive material on which images are recorded by a plane exposure, rather than by writing the image information by a scanning exposure with a laser beam or the like. Conventionally, photosensitive materials for photographing are generally known in the field of wet developing photosensitive materials, and include films for medical use such as direct or indirect radiography films, mammography films and the like, various kinds of photomechanical films used in printing, industrial recording films, films for photographing with general-purpose cameras, and the like. For example, an X-ray photothermographic material coated on both sides using a blue fluorescent intensifying screen, a photothermographic material containing tabular silver iodobromide grains described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 59-142539, and a photosensitive material for medical use containing tabular grains that have a high content of silver chloride and have (100) major faces, and that are coated on both sides of a support, which is described in JP-A No. 10-282606, are known. Further, photothermographic materials coated on both sides are also described in JP-A Nos. 2000-227642, 2001-22027, 2001-109101, and 2002-90941.

Photothermographic material and image forming method


An optical scanning device includes a plurality of light sources configured to emit a plurality of light beams, respectively; an optical deflector having a deflection-reflection surface that deflects and reflects the light beams, each of the light beams being incident on the deflection-reflection surface at an oblique incident angle, the oblique incident angles of the light beams being different from one another; and a flat glass arranged to be tilted at a tilt angle with respect to the deflection-reflection surface in a sub-scanning direction, the light beams being incident on the deflection-reflection surface via the flat glass, the tilt angle being smaller than a largest one of the oblique incident angles of the light beams. The light beams deflected and reflected by the deflection-reflection surface are incident on a plurality of scanned surfaces via the flat glass, respectively.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical scanning device, an image forming apparatus including the optical scanning device, and an optical scanning method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electrophotographic image forming apparatuses used in laser printers, laser plotters, digital copiers, plain-paper facsimiles, and multifunction peripherals have recently become increasingly faster and capable of forming color images. Image forming apparatuses of a tandem configuration provided with a plurality of (typically, four) photosensitive elements which are image carriers have come into wide use. In such a tandem image forming apparatus, for example, four photosensitive elements are arranged side by side along a conveying belt (or an intermediate transfer belt on which toner images are temporarily carried) that conveys a recording material. The tandem image forming apparatus forms a color image as follows. Electric chargers electrostatically charge the photosensitive elements. Thereafter, writing units form latent image on the photosensitive elements. Developing units develop the latent images on the photosensitive elements with respective developing materials (yellow, magenta, cyan, and black toners, for example). These developed images of the respective colors are sequentially transferred onto the recording material (or the intermediate transfer belt) conveyed by the conveying belt to be overlaid on one another, thereby forming a color image.
As another than the tandem configuration, what is referred to as a one-drum-intermediate-transfer configuration is adopted by some image forming apparatuses. This type of image forming apparatus develops toner images of respective colors one by one on a single photosensitive element, transfers the toner images onto an intermediate transfer member one by one to overlay the images on one another to form a color image on the intermediate transfer member, and thereafter transfers the images onto a recording material at a time. This configuration requires rotating the photosensitive element four times for each sheet of image formation. Accordingly, this configuration is inferior in productivity in color image formation to the tandem configuration.
As described above, tandem image forming apparatuses can form color images at higher speeds than the one-drum-intermediate-transfer image forming apparatuses and therefore can increase productivity in color image formation. However, in the tandem image forming apparatus, an optical scanning device is used as a writing unit that performs optical writing onto the plurality of photosensitive elements. Accordingly, the optical scanning device is undesirably required to include a plurality of light sources (for instance, an image forming apparatus including four photosensitive elements generally requires four light sources). As a result, an increase in the number of components, misregistration due to differences between wavelengths of the plurality of light sources, an increase in production cost, and the like problems arise.
Some type of tandem image forming apparatuses includes an optical scanning device that deflects light flux, or light beams, emitted from a plurality of light source devices associated with a plurality of photosensitive elements using a single deflector so that exposure of the photosensitive elements is performed simultaneously using a plurality of scanning-image-forming optical systems associated with the photosensitive elements, thereby forming latent images.
When such an optical scanning device is employed, a configuration what is referred to as an oblique-incidence optical system is typically employed for cost reduction. For example, a technique that causes light beams to be incident on a deflection-reflection surface of a deflector obliquely with respect to the sub-scanning direction is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2003-005114. In this incidence optical system, each of the plurality of light beams is deflected and reflected by the deflection-reflection surface. Thereafter, the plurality of light beams are separated and guided onto corresponding scanned surfaces (photosensitive element surfaces) by a turning mirror or the like. Angles (angles of incidence on the optical deflector) of the plurality of light beams with respect to the sub-scanning direction are set to angles that allow the turning mirror or optical elements associated with the plurality of light beams to separate the light beams from one another.
In other words, employing the oblique-incidence optical system makes it possible to achieve intervals, at which the turning mirror can separate the light beams from one another, between the light beams in the sub-scanning direction without upsizing an optical deflector. This leads to a less-expensive optical scanning device. The upsizing can result from, for example, increasing the thickness of a polygon mirror of the optical deflector or adopting a polygon mirror that is multi-layered with respect to the sub-scanning direction of the light beams. When a polygon mirror is used as the optical deflector, large energy that would otherwise be required for high-speed spinning becomes unnecessary, and wind noise caused by the high-speed spinning can be reduced.
In an image forming apparatus that employs the oblique-incidence optical system, a flat glass is typically arranged on optical paths of the plurality of light beams at a position near the optical deflector for the sake of reducing wind noise caused by high-speed spinning of the optical deflector, reducing transfer of heat that is generated at a motion section of the optical deflector, preventing mirror surfaces of the optical deflector from being smudged, and the like.
Put another way, the plurality of light beams deflected and reflected by the optical deflector enter the scanning optical system via the flat glass. The flat glass is arranged obliquely with respect to the sub-scanning direction with reference to the plane of the normal of the deflection-reflection surface of the optical deflector. Accordingly, when the flat glass is tilted in the sub-scanning direction, some of the light beams does not return to the optical deflector, but the other of the light beams returns to be incident on the optical deflector again. In this case, there arises a problem that the light beam incident on the optical deflector again (referred to as stray light) reaches a scanned surface (photosensitive element surface), thereby degrading image quality.
Meanwhile, stray light is, contrasted with a light beam (writing light) that scans a scanned surface, unnecessary light resulting from reflection from an optical element or the like on an optical path of the light beam. For example, a light beam resulting from reflection from the flat glass is stray light.
A technique of arranging a flat glass parallel to a deflection-reflection surface of an optical deflector in an oblique-incidence optical system is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H08-334719. This technique is effective as a countermeasure against stray light in an optical system including only one scanned surface. However, this technique cannot prevent generation of stray light nor reduce an amount of stray light reaching a scanned surface when this technique is applied to an optical scanning device (or an image forming apparatus) that includes scanned surfaces to be scanned with a plurality of light beams and causes the plurality of scanning light beams to be incident on a same deflection-reflection surface of an optical deflector obliquely from opposite sides with reference to the plane of the normal of the deflection-reflection surface.
A technique related to a flat glass arranged upstream of incidence of a light beam on an optical deflector is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H08-334720. This technique causes the flat glass to tilt in a direction that causes a light beam that is reflected by the flat glass before incidence on the optical deflector and a light beam that is reflected from the optical deflector to deviate from each other. However, because the plurality of light beams are obliquely incident on a same deflection-reflection surface of the optical deflector from opposite sides with reference to the plane of the normal of the deflection-reflection surface, this technique cannot prevent generation of stray light from every light beam nor reduce an amount of stray light reaching a scanned surface.
Therefore, there is a need for an optical scanning device and an optical scanning method capable of preventing generation of stray light or reducing an amount of stray light reaching a scanned surface and an image forming apparatus including the optical scanning device.

Optical scanning device, image forming apparatus and optical scanning method


A display device includes a display panel including a bus line section; and at least one driver for driving the bus line section included in the display panel. Each of the at least one driver includes an amplifier for generating a non-driving signal based on an input signal, the non-driving signal not contributing to driving of the bus line section.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a plurality of column electrode driving circuits used in a display device such as, for example, a liquid crystal display device, and a display device including the plurality of column electrode driving circuits.
2. Description of the Related Art
A liquid crystal display device includes a pair of glass substrates and a liquid crystal layer interposed between the pair of glass substrates. FIG. 5 is a plan view illustrating a schematic structure of one of the glass substrates of a conventional liquid crystal display device. The one of the glass substrates will be referred to as a "control glass substrate". The control glass substrate is indicated with reference numeral 21. The control glass substrate 21 includes a display section 21a. The liquid crystal layer is interposed in a plane corresponding to the display section 21a. The control glass substrate 21 has a plurality of row electrodes (gate electrodes) 205 and a plurality of column electrodes (source electrodes) 206 thereon. The plurality of row electrodes 205 are parallel to each other, and the plurality of column electrodes 206 are parallel to each other. The plurality of row electrodes 205 and the plurality of column electrodes 206 are perpendicular to each other. The other glass substrate (not shown; hereinafter, referred to as a counter glass substrate) has a common electrode provided on substantially the entirety of a surface thereof, the surface being closer to the liquid crystal layer than the other surface of the counter glass substrate.
The control glass substrate 21 has a lengthy gate substrate 29 thereon along one side thereof. The control glass substrate 21 has a lengthy source substrate 25 along a side thereof, which is perpendicular to the side along which the gate substrate 29 is provided. There is a gap between the display section 21a and the gate substrate 29. There is a gap between the display section 21a and the source substrate 25. A plurality of row electrode driving circuits (gate driver ICs) 22, each for driving a plurality of row electrodes 205, are provided to straddle the gap between the gate substrate 29 and the display section 21a. A plurality of column electrode driving circuits (source driver ICs) 23, each for driving a plurality of column electrodes 206, are provided to straddle the gap between the source substrate 25 and the display section 21a.
A control substrate 31 is provided in the vicinity of the gate substrate 29 and the source substrate 25. A timing controller IC 34 is mounted on the control substrate 31.
FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating an internal structure of the timing controller IC 34. The timing controller IC 34 includes an input buffer 34a for receiving a control data signal (for example, a display data signal regarding each of RGB colors in a color image displayed by the display section 21a, a clock signal CK, a horizontal synchronous signal HS, a vertical synchronous signal VS, an enable signal ENAB, or the like).
The timing controller IC 34 further includes a timing control section 34b for outputting a column electrode driving timing signal and a row electrode driving timing signal based on the control data signal which is input to the input buffer 34a, a source-side output buffer 34c for outputting a display data signal in synchronization with the column electrode driving timing signal which is output from the timing control section 34b, and a gate-side output buffer 34d for outputting the row electrode driving timing signal which is output from the timing control section 34b.
The timing control section 34b generates a column electrode driving timing signal such as, for example, a source start pulse (SSP) or a source clock (SCK) for each column electrode driving circuit 23 based on the control data signal which is output from the input buffer 34a.
The timing control section 34b outputs each column electrode driving timing signal generated by the timing control section 34b to the source-side output buffer 34c. Then, the source-side output buffer 34c outputs the received column electrode driving timing signal to a respective column electrode driving circuit 23 on the source substrate 25 via a line 25a provided on a flexible printed circuit board (FPC) 33 (FIG. 5) and on the source substrate 25.
Similarly, the timing control section 34b also generates a row electrode driving timing signal (or a scanning signal) such as, for example, a gate start pulse (GSP) or a gate clock (GCK) for each row electrode driving circuit 22 based on the control data signal which is output from the input buffer 34a. The timing control section 34b outputs each row electrode driving timing signal generated by the timing control section 34b to the gate-side output buffer 34d. Then, the gate-side output buffer 34d outputs the received row electrode driving timing signal to a respective row electrode driving circuit 22 on the gate substrate 29 via a line 29a provided on an FPC 32 (FIG. 5) and on the gate substrate 29.
As described above, the timing controller IC 34 generates a column electrode driving timing signal for driving each column electrode driving circuit 23 and a row electrode driving timing signal for driving each row electrode driving circuit 22, and outputs a display data signal to each column electrode driving circuit 23 based on the control data signal and the column electrode driving timing signal in synchronization with the column electrode driving timing signal.
In the liquid crystal display device having the above-described structure, each row electrode driving circuit 22 and each column electrode driving circuit 23 are driven based on the respective row electrode driving timing signal and the respective column electrode driving timing signal which are generated by the timing controller IC 34 provided on the control substrate 31. Therefore, the timing controller IC 34 needs to have a sufficiently large size and the control substrate 31 also needs to have a large size for mounting the timing controller IC 34 thereon.
Recently, display devices including liquid crystal display devices have increased in size and become of higher definition. This has required the bus lines on the control substrate 31 and the source substrate 25 to be longer, which increases a load capacitance of each bus line and also increases the number of the column electrode driving circuits 23 connected to each bus line. As a result, the fan-out required of the output buffers 34c and 34d in the timing controller IC 34 needs to be increased, and stricter timing setting is also required.
In order to output the column electrode driving timing signals and the row electrode driving timing signals from the timing controller IC 34 to the respective column electrode driving circuit 22 and the respective row electrode driving circuit 23, the FPC 32 for connecting the control substrate 31 and the gate substrate 29 and the FPC 33 for connecting the control substrate 31 and the source substrate 25 are required. The line 29a provided on the gate substrate 29 and the line 25a provided on the source substrate 25 are also required. These requirements have significant influences on the external appearance of the display devices including an increase in the thickness.
Since the control substrate 31 and the gate substrate 29 are connected to each other using the FPC 32 and the control substrate 31 and the source substrate 25 are connected to each other using the FPC 33, the structure of the display device is complicated and the assembly process becomes more difficult. As a result, the production cost of the display device is raised.
Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 11-194713 discloses a display device having the following structure. A column electrode driving circuit (source driver) is provided with a timing generation circuit, and the column electrode driving circuit and a row electrode driving circuit (gate driver) are operated based on the column electrode driving timing signal and the row electrode driving timing signal which are generated by the timing generation circuit. Such a structure is simpler and prevents enlargement of the entire size of the device.
Accordingly, in the above-described display device including a plurality of column electrode driving circuits (source drivers) and a plurality of row electrode driving circuits (gate drivers), it can be considered that one of the plurality of column electrode driving circuits is provided with a timing generation circuit, so that a column electrode driving timing signal and a row electrode driving timing signal generated by the timing generation circuit is supplied to each of the plurality of column electrode driving circuits and each of the plurality of row electrode driving circuits.
FIG. 7 is a plan view of a control glass substrate 210. The control substrate 210 includes a plurality of column electrode driving circuits (source drivers). One column electrode driving circuit 23A, among the plurality of column electrode driving circuits 23, includes a timing controller IC 34. Such a structure is not practical for the following reason. The column electrode driving circuit 23A including the timing controller IC 34 needs to have a large output buffer in order to output a column electrode driving timing signal and a row electrode driving timing signal to the other column electrode driving circuits 23 and the other row electrode driving circuits 22, respectively.
In the display device disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 11-194713, the column electrode driving circuits and the row electrode driving circuits are mounted by COG (chip on glass). In such a case, the column electrode driving circuits and the row electrode driving circuits cannot be easily positionally aligned with lines provided on the glass substrate. Therefore, such a display device is not easily produced. In the Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 11-194713, lines are provided in the display section in order to avoid interference between the lines. This structure undesirably requires an area of the glass substrate around the display section to be enlarged.
A conventional display device, such as, for example, a liquid crystal display device includes, an external component (or external substrate), such as, for example, a gray scale reference power supply substrate, in addition to the display panel and the driver. Such an external component has an amplifier, such as a gray scale reference voltage amplifier or a common voltage amplifier, mounted thereon.
Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 9-113876 discloses a structure of an output stage of a counter electrode driving circuit in a liquid crystal display device. Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 8-171081 discloses a structure of a matrix type display device including a buffer for reserve lines.
In a conventional display device including a gray scale reference voltage amplifier and a common voltage amplifier on an external component, an area of the external component on which amplifiers or the like are mounted needs to be enlarged. This inevitably increases the size of, and raises the cost of the external component. In addition, the large number of lines between the external component and the drivers tends to generate connection defects and lower the production yield.


An orthopaedic shoulder prosthesis includes glenoid defect-filling component configured to be implanted within a defect in a glenoid of a patient. The glenoid defect-filling component includes a porous metallic body and a plurality of holes formed in the porous metallic body, the plurality of holes being arranged in a pattern to receive a number of pegs of a discrete polymer glenoid component.

During the lifetime of a patient, it may be necessary to perform a total shoulder replacement procedure on the patient as a result of, for example, disease or trauma. In a total shoulder replacement procedure, a humeral component having a head is utilized to replace the natural head of the arm bone or humerus. The humeral component typically has an elongated intramedullary stem that is utilized to secure the humeral component to the patient's humerus. In such a total shoulder replacement procedure, the natural glenoid surface of the scapula is resurfaced or otherwise replaced with a glenoid component which provides a bearing surface for the head of the humeral component.
Glenoid components generally include a body that defines a bearing surface for receiving the head of the humeral component and a number of attachment pegs integrally formed with the body. The attachment pegs are inserted and thereafter secured into a corresponding number of holes that are drilled in the glenoid surface of the scapula by use of bone cement.
Occasionally, the glenoid surface of the scapula includes central and/or combined defects of the glenoid surface that provide a surface to which it is difficult to attach a glenoid component or that are difficult to treat surgically. Current methods of treating central and/or combined defects of the glenoid surface include bone grafting, two stage surgery, or immobilization of the joint. While these methods can be effective, they require time-intensive surgeries, multiple surgeries, and/or long recovery times.

Method of implanting a glenoid defect-filling component


A contact sensor package has a substrate, a film, a sealant and a plurality of contact sensors disposed on the substrate. The contact sensors are disposed within the enclosed space defined by the substrate, the film and the sealant. The contact sensor package further has at least a ground conductive trace formed on the substrate and an electrostatic charge dissipation layer formed on a surface of the film and electrically connected to the ground conductive trace. The electrostatic charge dissipation layer has an upper surface that serves as a contact surface for a detecting a contact work-piece.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a contact sensor package structure.
2. Description of the Related Art
Contact sensor package structure has been widely adopted in many types of electronic devices including, for example, computer screens, mouse and finger pattern identifiers. Due to the need for high sensitivity and miniaturization, most contact sensor packages have precise and miniature sensors and circuits. However, the precision and the minuteness of an electronic device often render the device more vulnerable to damage as a result of external environmental influence (such as pollutants). Thus, most contact sensor packages include an insulating but flexible film to serve as a contact surface so that the circuits and sensors within the packages are not directly exposed to the external environmental conditions. Yet, the frequent contact or friction of the insulating film with users or objects often produces static electricity. When electrostatic charges accumulates on the film up to a sufficient level, it possibly occurs that an electrostatic charges discharge through the internal circuits or sensors, leading to the irreversible damages to either the internal circuit or the sensors. In other words, more precise and compact electronic devices are more sensitive to electrostatic discharging. Hence, a method capable of reducing possible damage to contact sensor package due to electrostatic discharge is urgently required.

Advanced Semiconductor Engineering, Inc.


An atomic ion clock with a first ion trap and a second ion trap, where the second ion trap is of higher order than the first ion trap. In one embodiment, ions may be shuttled back and forth from one ion trap to the other by application of voltage ramps to the electrodes in the ion traps, where microwave interrogation takes place when the ions are in the second ion trap, and fluorescence is induced and measured when the ions are in the first ion trap. In one embodiment, the RF voltages applied to the second ion trap to contain the ions are at a higher frequency than that applied to the first ion trap. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Ultra-stable atomic clocks find widespread applications in navigation, communications, and scientific measurements and experiments, to name just a few. An atomic clock comprises a gas cell or vacuum tube to confine an ensemble of reference atomic oscillators, isolated from changes in the environment where the clock operates. In many instances, an atomic clock comprises a quartz oscillator, where the frequency of the quartz oscillator is corrected and accurately maintained by exploiting the physics of the reference atomic oscillators. Sampling the output of the quartz oscillator at specific oscillation intervals provides the ticks of the atomic clock.
One type of atomic clock is an atomic ion clock where the two lowest energy levels of the ions determine the frequency of the "atomic oscillators". The ions are confined within an ion trap by the use of radiofrequency (RF) and static (DC) electric fields. For the two lowest energy levels with an energy difference of ΔE, the frequency ω associated with the ion atomic oscillators is given by ΔE=ω, where  is Planck's constant.
Mercury (Hg) ion atomic clocks offer some advantages over other high-performance clocks being developed today. FIG. 1 illustrates the two lowest energy levels (split from the 2S1/2 energy level) for 199Hg+ ions, labeled 102 and 104, sometimes referred to as the upper clock level and the lower clock level, respectively. A 202Hg discharge lamp may be used to provide ultraviolet light with wavelength 194 nm, so that an ion may be excited from upper clock level 102 to 2P1/2 optically excited state 106. This is pictorially represented by photon absorption line 108, showing that the energy difference between energy levels 106 and 102 corresponds to the energy of a photon with a wavelength of 194 nm. When an ion is in optically excited state 106, it may then transition to lower clock level 104, as pictorially represented by photon emission line 110, emitting a photon at a wavelength smaller than 194 nm. In this way, with ions initially populating energy level 102, fluorescence is observed because the absorption of 194 nm light leads to the emission of light at a lower wavelength (higher frequency).
Once ions are driven into lower clock level 104, they no longer absorb and scatter the 194 nm photons. Fluorescence will resume when an interrogating microwave radiation is tuned to the approximately 40.507 GHz transition between energy levels 102 and 104, thereby leading to a repopulation of ions to upper clock level 102. The fluorescence response peaks when the microwave radiation is at approximately 40.507 GHz, and will decrease as the microwave frequency is tuned away from 40.507 GHz. FIG. 2 illustrates a sample data fluorescence response curve, giving photon count as a function of frequency offset from the center frequency (approximately 40.507 GHz) of the interrogating microwave radiation.
Rather than look directly for a peak fluorescence response, some atomic clocks will modulate the interrogating microwave radiation at two frequencies ν0+Δν and ν0−Δν, and will vary ν0 until the fluorescence response at frequency ν0+Δν is substantially equal to the fluorescence response at frequency ν0−Δν. When this occurs, the two frequencies are essentially centered about the peak fluorescence response frequency, so that ν0 is essentially the peak response frequency and is a measure of the frequency transition between upper and lower clock levels 102 and 104.
The above description of a mercury atomic ion clock may be represented at the system level by FIG. 3, illustrating ion trap 302, with optical windows 304 and 306, and microwave window 308. The source of optical radiation is labeled 310, and optical detector 312 measures the fluorescence. Oscillator 314 provides a reference frequency, which is modulated by modulator 316 to ν0+Δν and ν0−Δν, and microwave radiator 318 interrogates the ions in ion trap 302 via microwave window 308. These component systems are monitored and controlled by control system 320, so that the frequency of oscillator 314 is controlled to provide equal fluorescence responses at the two frequencies ν0+Δν and ν0−Δν. The output of oscillator 314 provides a stable frequency reference to be used as the basis for an atomic clock. (A clock will count the cycles, and add one second after an appropriate number of cycles have been accumulated.)
The atomic clock system of FIG. 3 is operated in two phases, a first phase in which lamp 310 optically stimulates the ions so that optical detector 312 may detect fluorescence, but where microwave radiator 318 is off; and a second phase, where lamp 310 is off and the microwave radiator 318 is on so that upper clock level 102 may be repopulated.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,420,549, hereinafter referred to as the '549 patent, discloses a mercury ion atomic clock in which a linear quadruple ion trap is electrically separated into two regions. The regions are co-linear, have the same number of electrodes, and are driven by the same RF field to contain the ions; but separate DC voltages are applied to each region to shuttle the ions from one region to the other. Fluorescence is stimulated only when the ions are in the first ion trap, whereas the resonance interrogating microwave radiation is applied only when the ions are in the second ion trap region. As explained in the '549 patent, by separating the ion trap into two regions, a resonance region and a fluorescence region, the resonance region may be made much smaller than the fluorescence region, making it easier to magnetically shield the resonance region, as well as simplifying thermal control. Other advantages are described in the '549 patent.

Atomic ion clock with two ion traps, and method to transfer ions


A solution including a noncontact electronic measurement device is provided. The measurement device includes one or more imaging devices configured to acquire image data of a surface of an object located in a measurement region relative to the measurement device and one or more projected pattern generators configured to generate divergent pattern(s) of structured light, which impact the surface of the object within a field of view of the imaging device when the object is located in the measurement region. Using image data acquired by the imaging device(s), a computer system can measure a set of attributes of the surface of the object and/or automatically determine whether the measurement device is within the measurement region. An embodiment is configured to be held by a human user during operation.

Current systems for measuring aspects of railroad wheels include numerous types of physical gauges, such as a "J" type steel wheel gauge approved by the Association of American Railroads (AAR) and a "pi tape" for measuring a circumference/diameter of railroad wheels. Such devices are inexpensive and simple, however, use of the device is prone to human error based on precise placement and angle of view of the devices. Furthermore, an overall accuracy is limited by human perceptual capabilities. Electronic wheel gauges also are used, including those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,904,939 and 7,478,570 and a wheel diameter gauge provided by Riftek. These devices provide more accurate measurements, but are somewhat bulky and are often difficult to fit into restricted spaces afforded by transit railcar wheels.
Some devices seek to provide minimal contact or noncontact measurement. For example, a laser wheel profilometer offered by Riftek projects a single point of light from a moving carriage across a wheel, deriving a wheel profile from multiple point distance readings. The device includes moving components, which are subject to wear and breakage and often cannot fit in small areas. Structured-light based measurement of railroad wheels has been implemented in wayside and in-ground systems, such as those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,636,026 and 6,768,551, both of which are hereby incorporated by reference. These measurement systems have been shown to be highly effective and reliable at measuring railroad wheels from structured light projections, but are extremely expensive, permanent installations.
Another gauge, Calipri, offered by NextSense, measures the main profile aspects of a wheel using a noncontact solution by having an operator carefully pass a sensor head around the wheel in a semicircular fashion. However, this gauge cannot measure diameter without the use of a large, separate fixture and a separate measurement. Furthermore, the gauge requires the operator to move the sensor head in a precise manner, requires a significant standoff distance, and requires a separate connected computational and display component. The gauge takes measurements from a succession of images acquired over a period of time, which must be referenced to each other with an extremely high degree of precision if the resulting measurements are to be in any way accurate. As a result, the gauge also requires use of an expensive and sophisticated inertial measurement unit (IMU) to recognize and compensate for significant variations of poses of the operator's hand while taking the measurements.


A helmet apparatus for automated vehicle heading alert includes a carrier detachable from headwear of a driver, a plurality of light emitting elements, a gyroscopic device, a signal processing and decision-making (SPDM) processor, and a power device. The light emitting elements are installed on the carrier and include left and right light emitting elements. The gyroscopic device is installed on the carrier and includes a gyroscope for detecting an operation of a vehicle and outputting gyroscope signals corresponding to the operation. The SPDM processor receives the gyroscope signals to form operation signals, processes the operation signals, performs a discriminant decision-making procedure, generates consecutively discriminant signals corresponding to the operation signals, and drives accordingly at least one of the light emitting elements to turn on, turn off, or flashing. The power supply device is used for supplying power required by the light emitting elements, the gyroscopic device, and the SPDM processor.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a drive-heading warning device, and in particular, to a helmet apparatus for automated vehicle heading alert capable of dynamically reflecting a traveling state of a vehicle and automatically generating a drive-heading warning for pedestrians and vehicles around.
2. Related Art
As those have been devised, automobiles or motorcycles are generally equipped with indicator lights which can produce actively visual warnings movement state of a vehicle. To be specified, the indicator lights are direction lights, brake lights, or other types of light having a warning function of the vehicles. In the classification, the direction light is used for indicating the vehicle-driving direction, and warning the other vehicles around to keep away a safe distance.
A conventional direction light is ordinarily controlled by the vehicle driver through switching a related mechanism on the vehicle, such as a toggle switch operated by hands or fingers, and, generally, the corresponding decision is usually made by the driver's brain. The visual warning, which is often provided by flash-light signals, can be classified into front-positioned ones and rear-positioned ones, and situated approximately at four corners of the vehicle body. For a crowded traffic, the indicator light of the vehicle is easily ignored by the vehicles around due to its relatively low position, and, in addition, the driver may be too nervous to forget the operation of the indicator light; therefore, there is a room for improvement.
The published Chinese patent CN2696925, entitled automatic warning device for speed reducing or steering of vehicle, provides an automatic warning device for speed reducing or steering of a vehicle. The device has guiding pipes with a proper inclination angle; inner portions of the guiding pipes are provided with conductive beads; an upper end surface of the guiding pipe is provided with a guiding post functioning as a switch. Each set of external wires of the guiding posts is connected to a third brake light arranged on the vehicle. An inertia force generated during sudden braking or steering of the vehicle drives the conductive beads to move and hence turn on the circuit and turn on the brake light. Moreover, Yang Shengxing in TW Patent No. M299488 in the year 2006, Lin Jiexing in TW Patent No. M351002 in the year 2008, and Luo Jianming and Shi Zhihao in TW Patent No. M354128 in the year 2008 each similarly provide a warning helmet used for vehicles, in which by means of a wireless receiver for receiving signals, switching signals for a direction light or brake light can be synchronously transmitted to a receiver and a circuit control module on the safety helmet in a wireless manner, thereby controlling the direction light and brake light set on the safety helmet.
The U.S. Pat. No. 5,615,132, granted in 1997 to Horton and Newton and entitled method and apparatus for determining position and orientation of a movable object using accelerometers, and the TW invention patent I320702 in the year 2010, invented by Lu Shudong, et al. and entitled method for dynamically providing direction signal and safety helmet using same, both provide a safety helmet capable of providing position or direction signals, which reflects a left or right inclination action of a user or a speed change into signals by using an accelerometer. The patent invented by Horton and Newton is mainly used in application of virtual reality, and the patent invented by Lu Shudong, et al. is used for actuating a driving light set, but the sensing principle thereof is mainly based on an acceleration change rather than an angular speed displacement change of a gyroscopic device.
In the published TW patent TW201106886, entitled safety helmet with indicator light and direction indicating method using the safety helmet, the direction indicating method using the helmet includes detecting, by using a detection device, time it takes for a main body that has turned leftward or rightward for an angle to return to an original position, and when the time reaches a preset value, driving the left light or the right light to emit light for a preset period of time. This technology mainly detects an action of the head of a user and the duration of the action, and thereby turns on a corresponding indicator light device. However, in practice, a vehicle driver wearing a helmet usually observes the situation behind at left and right sides through left and right review mirrors, and inevitably turns the head to the left or right during the observation. Therefore, in the method provided in this published patent, misoperations occur easily, in which a user action of looking at the left or right review mirror is taken by mistake as a left turning or right turning operation and thus the left light or right light is driven to limit light.
To date, the conventional design for direction lights on a helmet are, in principle, actuated directly through a direct ON/OFF operation or a decision calculation based on a physical measurement of sensors, such as inclination sensor or accelerometer. However, the inexact employment of sensory methodology is basically prone to noise interference with the highly vibrational vehicles on an uneven road surface.
Therefore, how to provide an effective direction detection which can exactly indicate the direction of a moving vehicle is an urgent issue to be solved by the inventor of the present invention.

Helmet apparatus for automated vehicle heading alert


A sensor package includes a semiconductor sensor chip having multiple light sensitive regions each of which defines a respective light sensitive channel. An optical filter structure is disposed over the sensor chip and includes filters defining respective spectral functions for different ones of the light sensitive channels. In particular, the optical filter structure includes at least three optical filters defining spectral functions for tristimulus detection by a first subset of the light sensitive channels, and at least one additional optical filter defining a spectral function for spectral detection by a second subset of the light sensitive channels encompassing a wavelength range that differs from that of the first subset of light sensitive channels.

Various applications for industrial products and consumer products employ color measurement. Several different techniques for color measurement are known, including comparison methods, spectral methods and tristimulus (or three-range) methods.
For applications where the perception of an observer is relevant, it often makes sense to express color differences in a color space adjusted to the biological principles of human color perception. The human eye with normal vision has three kinds of cone cells that sense light, having peaks of spectral sensitivity in short ("S," 420 nm-440 nm), middle ("M," 530 nm-540 nm), and long ("L," 560 nm-580 nm) wavelengths. Three parameters corresponding to levels of stimulus of the three kinds of cone cells can, in principle, describe any human color sensation. Weighting a total light power spectrum by the individual spectral sensitivities of the three kinds of cone cells renders three effective values of stimulus, which provide a tristimulus specification of the objective color of the light spectrum. The tristimulus values associated with a color space can be conceptualized as amounts of three primary colors in a tri-chromatic, additive color model. For example, the XYZ color space, created by the International Commission on Illumination ("CIE"), encompasses all color sensations that are visible to a person with average eyesight and defines a device-invariant representation of color that serves as a standard reference against which other color spaces are defined. The CIE 1931 color space, for example, defines the resulting tristimulus values that are denoted by "X," "Y" and "Z." A subsequently developed standard field-of-view is the CIE 10° Standard Observer, which provides a highly accurate degree of observation for matching human visual perception. The CIE tristimulus values (XYZ) can be calculated from the CIE Standard Observer functions.
An XYZ sensor can be used, for example, for direct color measurement (e.g., of light sources and/or ambient light) and provide the coordinates of the XYZ color space, which can be converted into other color spaces or into correlated color temperature ("CCT"). A measurement system that relies on XYZ sensors is independent of the spectral mixture of the detecting light and identifies only the standard spectral parts (i.e., the tristimulus values X, Y and Z). Thus, detailed spectral characteristics are not available using an XYZ sensor.
Spectral sensors, on the other hand, can facilitate a reconstruction of the measured light spectra as well as the calculation of color coordinates based on the estimated spectral result. A spectral reflectance sensor, for example, can provide information about the composition of a sample on the assumption that light not reflected from the sample is absorbed due to its composition.


A trim deflector apparatus for a marine vessel. The trim deflector apparatus comprises a first control surface movably coupled to the marine vessel, a second control surface movably coupled to the first control surface and configured to be moved relative to the first control surface by a first actuator, and a protruding foil attached to the second control surface.

Marine vessels have a wide variety uses for transportation of people and cargo across bodies of water. These uses include fishing, military and recreational activities. Marine vessels may move on the water surface as surface ships do, as well as move beneath the water surface, as submarines do. Some marine vessels use propulsion and control systems.
Various forms of propulsion have been used to propel marine vessels over or through the water. One type of propulsion system comprises a prime mover, such as an engine or a turbine, which converts energy into a rotation that is transferred to one or more propellers having blades in contact with the surrounding water. The rotational energy in a propeller is transferred by contoured surfaces of the propeller blades into a force or "thrust" which propels the marine vessel. As the propeller blades push water in one direction, thrust and vessel motion are generated in the opposite direction. Many shapes and geometries for propeller-type propulsion systems are known.
Other marine vessel propulsion systems utilize water jet propulsion to achieve similar results. Such devices include a pump, a water intake or suction port and an exit or discharge port, which generate a water jet stream that propels the marine vessel. The water jet stream may be deflected using one or more "deflectors" to provide marine vessel control by redirecting some water jet stream thrust in a suitable direction and in a suitable amount. For example, the water jet stream may be deflected using a reversing deflector (e.g., a reversing bucket), a steering deflector (e.g., a steering nozzle), and/or any other suitable type of deflector.
It is sometimes more convenient and efficient to construct a marine vessel propulsion system such that the net thrust generated by the propulsion system is always in the forward direction. The "forward" direction or "ahead" direction is along a vector pointing from the stern, or aft end of the vessel, to its bow, or front end of the vessel. By contrast, the "reverse", "astern" or "backing" directing is along a vector pointing in the opposite direction (or 180 degrees away) from the forward direction. The axis defined by a straight line connecting a vessel's bow to its stern is referred to herein as the "major axis" of the vessel. A vessel has only one major axis. Any axis perpendicular to the major axis is referred to herein as a "minor axis." A vessel has a plurality of minor axes, lying in a plane perpendicular to the major axis. Some marine vessels have propulsion systems which primarily provide thrust along the vessel's major axis, in the forward or backward directions. Other thrust directions, along the minor axes, are generated with awkward or inefficient auxiliary control surfaces, rudders, planes, deflectors, etc. Rather than reversing the direction of a ship's propeller or water jet streams, it may be advantageous to have the propulsion system remain engaged in the forward direction while providing other mechanisms for redirecting the water flow to provide the desired maneuvers.
A typical capability of marine vessels is the ability to steer the vessel from side to side. Some systems, commonly used with propeller-driven vessels, employ "rudders" for this purpose. A rudder is generally a planar water deflector or control surface, placed vertically into the water, and parallel to a direction of motion, such that left-to-right deflection of the rudder, and a corresponding deflection of a flow of water over the rudder, provides steering for the marine vessel.
Other systems for steering marine vessels, commonly used in water jet stream propelled vessels, rotate the exit or discharge nozzle of the water jet stream from one side to another. Such a nozzle is sometimes referred to as a "steering nozzle," which is one example of a steering deflector. Hydraulic actuators may be used to rotate an articulated steering nozzle so that the aft end of the marine vessel experiences a sideways thrust in addition to any forward or backing force of the water jet stream. The reaction of the marine vessel to the side-to-side movement of the steering nozzle will be in accordance with the laws of motion and conservation of momentum principles, and will depend on the dynamics of the marine vessel design.
A primary reason why waterjet powered craft are extremely efficient at high speeds is the lack of appendages located bellow the waterline. Typical appendages that can be found on non-waterjet driven craft (i.e., propeller driven) are rudders, propeller shafts, and propeller struts. These appendages can develop significant resistance, particularly at high speeds.
The lack of appendages on waterjet driven craft also provides a significant advantage in shallow water, as these craft typically have much shallower draught and are less susceptible to damage when run aground, as compared to craft with propellers bellow the hull.
Notwithstanding the negative effects on craft resistance, some appendages are of considerable value with respect to other craft dynamic characteristics. Although a significant source of drag at high speeds, a rudder is a primary contributor to craft stability when moving forward through the water, particularly when traveling at slow to medium speeds.
In simple terms, a rudder is a foil with a variable angle of attack. Actively varying the angle of attack (e.g., a turning maneuver) will increase the hydrodynamic force on one side of the rudder and decrease the hydrodynamic force on the opposite side, thereby developing a net force with a transverse component to yaw the craft in the desired direction.
Referring to FIG. 1 many craft are equipped with lifting devices known as trim-tabs (also known as tabs or transom-flaps) 200 or interceptors 206 (see FIG. 2). A trim tab 200 can be thought of as a variable-angle wedge that mounts to the transom 203 of a vessel that, when engaged with a water stream, creates upward force 204 on both the trim tab 200 and the hull bottom 205. Varying the actuator 201 position will create varying amounts of hydrodynamic force 204 on the vessel. For example, extending the actuator 201 so as to actuate the trim tab further into the water stream will increase the angle of attack of the wedge, thereby increasing the hydrodynamic force 204 on the vessel. In contrast, referring to FIG. 2, an interceptor 206, mounted to transom 203 of a vessel and actuated by actuator 207, intercepts the flow of water under the transom of the vessel with a small blade 206 and creates an upward hydrodynamic force on the hull bottom 205. These devices that are found in both propeller and waterjet driven craft can be actuated to develop a hydrodynamic lifting force at the transom (stern) to trim the bow down, assisting the craft in getting up on plane and adjust the heel angle of the craft. Both trim-tabs and interceptors typically develop forces in the opposite direction of the actuation and along the same plane as the control surface motion.
It should be understood that while particular control surfaces are primarily designed to provide force or motion in a particular direction, these surfaces often also provide forces in other directions that may not be desired. For example, a steering deflector such as a steering nozzle, which is primarily intended to develop a yawing moment on the craft, in many cases may develop a rolling or heeling effect. This is due to the relative orientation of the nozzle's turning axis. Referring, for illustration purposes, to FIGS. 3A, 3B, it is to be appreciated that in many waterjet propelled craft, the rotational axis of the steering nozzle 312, 314 is orthogonal to the bottom surface 16, 18 of the craft such that the rotational (transverse) thrust component generated by the steering nozzle is applied in a direction parallel to the bottom surface of the craft. Because of, for example the V-shaped or deep V-shaped hull, a rotational thrust component is generated at an angle (with respect to a horizontal surface) close or equal to the dead rise angle of the hull at the transom, which thereby causes a rolling or heeling moment in addition to a yawing (rotational) moment. The net rolling/heeling force imposed on a dual waterjet propelled craft can be equal to twice the force developed by a single waterjet. This is because the nozzles are typically controlled in unison when a waterjet driven craft is in a forward cruising or transiting mode.
Similarly, trim-tabs and interceptors 320, 322 are generally mounted at the transom 324, close to the free surface of the water such that a trimming force is developed orthogonal or perpendicular to the bottom surface 316, 318 of the hull at the transom. While the purpose of the trim tabs and interceptors is to develop up/down trimming forces at the transom, an inward component is also developed because a force is developed at an angle (with respect to a horizontal surface) close or equal to the dead rise angle of the hull at the transom plus 90 degrees. When both trim-tabs or interceptors are actuated together, the side components cancel out and the net force is close to or exactly vertical. When one tab or interceptor is actuated more than the other, for example when a rolling or healing force is desired, a side or yawing component is developed, causing a turning effect as well. The relative magnitude of the yawing component increases with increased dead rise angle. FIG. 4A illustrates how actuating the interceptor or trim-tab differentially in order to create a rolling force may also induce an unwanted yaw force. FIG. 4B illustrates how actuating the steering nozzles in order to create a yawing force may also induce an unwanted roll moment. These unwanted yawing and rolling forces in planning craft can make it difficult to control the craft at high speeds, particularly when automatic controls systems are employed such as Autopilots for automatically controlling the vessel heading and Ride Control Systems for minimizing pitch and roll disturbances.

Variable trim deflector system with protruding foil and method for controlling a marine vessel


A carrier proximity mask and methods of assembling and using the carrier proximity mask may include providing a first carrier body, second carrier body, and set of one or more clamps. The first carrier body may have one or more openings formed as proximity masks to form structures on a first side of a substrate. The first and second carrier bodies may have one or more contact areas to align with one or more contact areas on a first and second sides of the substrate. The set of one or more clamps may clamp the substrate between the first carrier body and the second carrier body at contact areas to suspend work areas of the substrate between the first and second carrier bodies. The openings to define edges to convolve beams to form structures on the substrate.

Substrate devices require small dimensions and the ability to build device structures with such small dimensions is challenging. The synthesis of three-dimensional structures, such as gratings, light wave guides, fin type field effect transistors (finFET) and/or the like, involves challenging processing issues. One challenge relates to generation of augmented reality (AR) glasses. AR glasses may use gratings to diffract light and light wave guides to intermix digital images with real images through a lens such as a glass lens or a plastic lens.
Processes for generation of AR glasses are similar to the processes for generation of semiconductor structures on wafers. For instance, when processing a structure on a silicon substrate or processing a grating structure on a glass or plastic substrate, existing structures are masked to avoid or minimize damage to the existing structures. With respect to AR glasses, damage to a substrate or a coating can reduce definition and/or introduce distortions in an AR scene.
With respect to these and other considerations, the present disclosure is provided.

Method and device for a carrier proximity mask


A protective ear appliance including two ear protectors with a band and a slidable coupling between the band and the ear protectors. The band encircles a portion of a wearer's head, has a curved shape with two ends and inner and outer curved surfaces. There is a slidable coupling between each of the ear protectors and the band so that each ear protector can slide independently with respect to the band to adjust the distance between the two ear protectors along the band so that the ear protectors can seat in the wearer's ears. The band can be formed with a central band hingedly coupled to the two end band portions. The ear protectors are coupled to the end band portions and slide relative to the end band portions. The protective ear appliance is designed to be worn with the central band around the back of the wearer's head.

The invention is generally directed to a protective ear appliance, and, in particular, to a device, known either an earmuff or ear band, which covers the wearer's ears with cupped regions sized and shaped to cover the ears and a band between the ear cups to support the earmuff or ear band on the wearer's head. In the past, earmuffs have been generally known in which the earmuff band was generally positioned on top of the wearer's head so that gravity provided much of the ability of the earmuff to remain on the wearer's head. However, in many uses it was desired that the band not rest on the wearer's head as this tended to affect the wearer's hair and interfere with wearing a hat, helmet or was generally uncomfortable for the wearer. Of course, the traditional earmuffs were formed with a metal, spring-like band, which provided a gentle biasing force of the ear cups against the wearer's ears and in the vertical orientation this is generally adequate to keep the earmuffs seated during normal walking activities.
However, when the earmuff was rotated approximately 90 degrees so that the connecting band was generally horizontal around the back of the wearer's head or in the neck region, gravity did not assist the earmuff in remaining in place and it became necessary to rely on the biasing force in the band to maintain suitable pressure. Generally, this approach required that the band have greater tension in it, which tended to make the earmuffs less comfortable to wear and made adjustment of the ear band and particularly important as, without a good fit around the wearer's ears of the ear cup, the earmuff was likely to slide or be uncomfortable.
Prior art earmuffs which were designed to be worn with a band around the back of the wearer's head instead of on top of the wearer's head suffer from several problems. First, the adjustment system was contained, as in the prior art, in the band itself, which has the effect of modifying the biasing force in the band applied to the wearer's head. This tends to make the earmuff in some cases too tight so that it is uncomfortable for the wearer and, in other cases, too loose so that the earmuff is likely to slide. In addition, most of these devices have metal which can in certain circumstances be uncomfortable and dangerous in use and require that the frame of the device be enclosed in a pocket or fabric enclosure. In addition, these devices are generally not constructed in a fashion in which the ear cups are protective of the ear apart from providing some insulation and temperature protection.
Accordingly, there is a need for a protective ear appliance which goes around the back of the wearer's head and is adjustable apart from the band so that the biasing force exerted by the band is generally not substantially affected by the adjustment of the size of the protective ear appliance. In addition, there is a need for a protective ear appliance for use around the back of the wearer's head, which provides for a wide range of adjustment of the size through movement of the ear cups independently so that, depending upon the configuration of the wearer's ears on the head, the band can be appropriately seated on the back of the head and the ear cups independently adjustment. There is also a need for the ear cups to be formed in a way which provides greater protection to the wearer's ears against wind and temperature without overheating the ears.


The invention relates to a package for food product useful for boil-in-bag or microwave. This package comprises a sealed flexible pouch with a web of oriented material having a slit in the direction of the orientation of the material which is covered by an adhesive membrane. The package is opened and emptied by peeling off the membrane to expose the slit, inverting the package and pulling the edges of the package substantially parallel with the slit to open the slit to facilitate emptying of the contents of the package without spillage and with a reduced risk of burning the fingers of the user.

Packages for boil-in-bag cooking are well-known and are the most used for frozen food. The bag may e.g. contain a meal which once prepared has been thawed and cooked within the bag. These packages are inexpensive and comprise a sealed pouch, which has to be opened with scissors when the food is heated. The use of a knife or cutting means such as a knife or scissors is not very convenient. Also known are boil-in-bag packages which are opened by pulling of a tab which tears off a strip from the package. The tearing of the strip often takes place along weakening lines in the packaging material.
Other conventional packages comprise mono-oriented plastic material having V- or U-shaped pre-cuts. Due to the mono-orientation of the material a strip of the material can be torn from the package even though it is not provided with weakening lines.
The requirement of consumers is that a boil-in-bag should be easy to handle, i.e. to open and empty without any danger of burning fingers or of spilling or splashing of the contents of the bag. The above discussed packages do not fulfil these requirements sufficiently. For example, emptying by tilting of a package having a strip opening gives an uneven pouring and soiling of the outer surface of the package, while turning downwards the opening will result in splashing of the content.

Package for food product and method for emptying the package


The disclosure is generally directed to methods and compositions for reducing blood cholesterol levels, and more particularly to dietary supplements for reducing blood cholesterol levels. The dietary supplements for reducing cholesterol typically comprise at least one phytosterol source, at least one soluble fiber source, at least one guggulsterone source, and at least one policosanol source.

Field of the Disclosure
The disclosure is generally directed to methods and compositions for reducing blood cholesterol levels, and more particularly to dietary supplements for reducing blood cholesterol levels.
Brief Description of Related Technology
Coronary heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. Stroke is the third leading cause of death. These two manifestations of cardiovascular disease cause nearly 40 percent of all deaths in the United States (Anderson et al., "National Vital Statistics Reports, Deaths: Leading Causes for 2002," CDC, 53(17):1-92 (2005)).
Cardiovascular disease is caused by atherosclerosis in the blood vessels and arteries that supply the heart. Atherosclerosis is a process involving the gradual buildup of plaques (typically, over decades) on the inner linings of blood vessels and arteries. Over time, the plaques can occlude the blood vessels and arteries, causing ischemia (injury caused by insufficient blood flow and reduced oxygen to tissues) and/or infarction (cell death caused by ischemia). Plaques can also become unstable, rupture, and promote a thrombus (blood clot) that occludes a coronary artery. A severe plaque rupture in the coronary vasculature can lead to myocardial infarction (or heart attack).
Stroke is caused when pieces of plaque travel through the bloodstream and occlude an artery in the brain. Stroke can occur suddenly with immediate maximum neurologic deficit (loss of brain function).
Elevated blood cholesterol levels (total and LDL cholesterol levels) are considered risk factors for cardiovascular disease. In adults, total cholesterol levels of 240 mg/dL or higher are considered high risk, and levels from 200 to 239 mg/dL are considered borderline-high risk. About 99,900,000 of American adults have total cholesterol levels above 200 mg/dl, and about 34,500,000 have total cholesterol levels of 240 mg/dl or more (American Heart Association, Learn and Live, "High Blood Cholesterol and Other Lipids—Statistics" (2004)).
Other risk factors for cardiovascular disease include high blood pressure (140/90 mm Hg or higher), tobacco use, diabetes mellitus, overweight (body mass index of 25.0 to less than 30.0) and obesity (BMI of 30.0 or greater), physical inactivity (guidelines suggest at least 30 minutes of moderate exercise five times per week or at least 20 minutes of vigorous exercise three times per week), gender (males are at greater risk of developing cardiovascular disease), increasing age (55 years and older for men and 65 years or older for women), family history of early heart disease (having a mother or sister who has been diagnosed with heart disease before age 65, or a father or brother diagnosed before age 55) or family history of stroke. When one or more risks factors are identified in an individual, the risk of heart attack or stroke typically increases significantly.
Phytosterols are lipids having chemical structures similar to cholesterol, which are present in all plants including but not limited to vegetables, fruits, and grains, particularly in nuts, seeds, and plant oils. Phytosterols inhibit intestinal cholesterol absorption, thereby lowering plasma total and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels. Daily consumption of about one to two grams of phytosterols reduces the risk for cardiovascular disease by about 25 to about 28% without causing any adverse effects. Twice per day consumption of about 0.40 grams of phytosterols or about 0.65 grams of phytosterol esters has also been shown to lower total cholesterol levels and LDL cholesterol levels by up to 10%.
Soluble fiber is found in certain foods including oats, peas, beans, certain fruits, and psyllium. Soluble fiber has been scientifically proven to reduce blood cholesterol levels, which may help reduce the risk of coronary vascular disease. Consumption of 10.2 grams psyllium per day over an eight week period lowered serum total cholesterol by 4% (p<0.0001) and LDL cholesterol by 7% (p<0.0001) relative to placebo in subjects already consuming a low-fat diet, with no effect on serum HDL or triacylglycerol concentrations. Similarly, consumption of 15 grams of beta-glucan daily over a three week period by individuals having initial total cholesterol levels exceeding 260 mg/dL reduced total cholesterol by about 19% and LDL cholesterol by about 23%. In another study, individuals having total cholesterol levels ranging from 210 to 326 mg/dL consumed 3.5 g of beta-glucan daily and experienced a 5.4% reduction, in total cholesterol after two weeks.
Guggul lipid has been long used to treat obesity and other weight related problems, and offers considerable benefits in preventing and treating atherosclerotic vascular disease. The effects of the administration of 50 mg of guggul lipid or placebo capsules twice daily for 24 weeks were compared as adjuncts to a fruit- and vegetable-enriched diet in the management of 61 patients with high cholesterol levels (31 patients were in the guggul lipid group and 30 were in the placebo group) in a randomized, double-blind fashion. Guggul lipid decreased the total cholesterol level by 11.7%, the low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL) by 12.5%, triglycerides by 12.0%, and the total cholesterol/high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol ratio by 11.1% from the post-diet levels, whereas the levels were unchanged in the placebo group. The lipid peroxides, indicating oxidative stress, declined 33.3% in the guggul lipid group without any decrease in the placebo group. The combined effect of diet and guggul lipid at 36 weeks was as great as the reported lipid-lowering effect of many modern drugs. Guggul lipid contains ketonic steroid compounds known as guggulsterones, which have been shown to provide the lipid-lowering actions.
Policosanol is a mixture of long-chain primary aliphatic alcohols derived from the waxes of plants such as sugar cane (Saccharum officinarium) and yarns (e.g., Dioscorea opposita). Such long-chain primary aliphatic alcohols are also found in beeswax. There are a number of studies suggesting that policosanol consumption can lower cholesterol, inhibit experimentally induced atherosclerotic lesions of cerebral ischemia, help prevent the peroxidation of lipoproteins, and inhibit platelet aggregation. In one study, patients with LDL-cholesterol levels exceeding 160 mg/dl were randomized in double-blind fashion to receive policosanol (10 mg/day), lovastatin (20 mg/day), or simvastatin (10 mg/day). After eight weeks, policosanol reduced LDL-cholesterol levels by about 24%, lovastatin reduced LDL-cholesterol levels by about 22%, and simvastatin reduced LDL-cholesterol levels by about 15%. Additionally, HDL-cholesterol levels increased significantly in the policosanol group but not in the groups receiving statin drugs.
Dietary supplementation with salts of glucaric acid such as D-glucarate reduced serum cholesterol in rats (Walaszek et al., Nutr. Res., 16: 673-681 (1996)). Both calcium and potassium salts of D-glucarate were effective in lowering total cholesterol levels by about 13-15% and LDL cholesterol levels by about 30-35%. Notably, potassium hydrogen D-glucarate was effective in lowering both VLDL cholesterol and total triglycerides, but calcium D-glucarate did not demonstrate similar effects.
Anthocyanins are pigment compounds found in all plants, which have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Anthocyanins are generally considered to be flavonoids, and more specifically to be derivatives of 2-phenylo-benzo-g pyren. Hypertension, atherosclerosis, and diabetes can reduce the flexibility of arterial walls, which can contribute to poor blood flow and plaque formation. Rat aortas exposed to anthocyanin-enriched blueberry extract in vitro exhibited relaxation (Zaragoza et al., Arch. Farmacol. Toxicol., 11:183-188 (1985)). Other studies suggest that anthocyanins provide cardio-protective benefits including reducing platelet aggregation.
Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) is essential for human life. It catalyzes the formation and utilization of energy in every human cell. Some people do not manufacture enough CoQ 10, especially as they grow older. Research has shown that COQ10 deficiency is a major cause of cardiomyopathy, and congestive heart failure, and that these diseases can often be cured by CoQ 10 supplementation. Coenzyme Q 10 is commonly added to multivitamin preparations.
Phytoestrogens such as resveratrol have also been shown to have cardioprotective effects. Resveratrol is a polyphenolic compound found in the skin of red grapes, which is a powerful phytoestrogen, cardioprotectant, and anti-oxidant. Other sources of resveratrol include peanuts, mulberries, and the dried roots and stems of Polygonum cuspidatum. Resveratrol has been shown to induce leukotriene production in human neutrophils. Leukotrienes are powerful mediators of inflammatory reactions and are thought to be involved in the cellular processes that contribute to atherosclerosis (Pace-Asciak et al., Clin. Chim. Acta., 235:207-219 (1995)). Administration of resveratrol to rats which were fed a high cholesterol diet inhibited cholesterol and triglyceride liver deposition, lowered serum triglyceride and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels, and reduced the ratio of total cholesterol to high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (Arichi et al., Chem. Pharm. Bull., 30:1766-1770 (1982)).
Chromium helps to prevent the buildup of plaque in arteries by lowering harmful low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and increasing beneficial high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol. Despite its benefits, chromium is difficult for the body to absorb and retain. Compounding the problem, the average American diet is low in chromium.
Pantethine is the disulfide dimer of pantetheine, the 4′-phosphate derivative of which is an intermediate in the conversion of the B vitamin pantothenic acid to coenzyme A. Large amounts of pantethine have been found to have lipid-lowering effects. Pantethine has been found to decrease serum levels of total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL), and triglycerides.
Consumption of artichoke leaf extract (ALE) has also been shown to lower cholesterol levels. Also, the Chinese herb, Salvia miltiorrhiza (also known as dansheng), has been traditionally associated and recommended for heart conditions.
The progression of atherosclerosis and the onset of cardiovascular disease can be slowed or even prevented by reducing total and LDL cholesterol levels. Existing pharmaceuticals are capable of treating elevated cholesterol levels, but the majority cause significant side-effects, such as liver problems. Thus, a dietary supplement capable of reducing blood cholesterol levels without causing significant side-effects would represent a significant advance for treatment of cardiovascular disease.

Dietary supplements for reducing cholesterol levels


A chassis shelf may include an upper guide adapted to receive a first edge of a first card and a lower guide adapted to receive a first edge of a second card. The chassis shelf may include an alignment device adapted to align the chassis shelf with respect to a chassis. The chassis shelf may include an attachment device for removably coupling the chassis shelf to the chassis.

Electronic devices may be used in many types of systems and/or applications, such as control systems, data processing systems, medical systems, telecommunication systems and/or communication networks. Electronic devices may include system controllers, servers and/or data acquisition systems, medical imaging systems, central office systems, and/or network devices, such as routers, switches, firewalls, and/or network address translators. For some applications it may be desirable to make electronic devices scalable to accommodate new application requirements. For example, a communication network may be expanded to accommodate new users, modified to accommodate new networking protocols and/or types of data traffic, and/or may be reconfigured in response to network attacks and/or natural disasters.
Scalable electronic devices may be designed to accommodate certain changes. For instance, an electronic device may be configured to include a chassis that accepts removable cards to provide flexibility for accommodating new application requirements. A card may include any device capable of receiving data from another device and/or capable of making data available to another device. Implementations of cards may take the form of removable cards or boards that are configured and adapted for use in an electronic device.
An electronic device may include one or more chassis slots for accepting a removable card having a first size, such as a full sized card, and may include one or more slots for accepting a removable card having a second size, such as a half-height card. An electronic device having the above configuration may provide adequate flexibility in certain situations; however, in other situations the scalability of the electronic device may be inadequate. For example, if accommodating a new application requirement, such as an upgrade, requires a number of half-height cards that exceeds the number of half-height slots, a new electronic device enclosure and/or chassis may be required to deploy the additional capability. Installing a new enclosure/chassis may result in additional cost, additional cooling requirements, and/or additional space requirements. The new chassis may be required even though an existing enclosure/chassis is not fully utilized.


A synthetic material is applied to a structure of an article of manufacture such as an automotive vehicle. Typically, the material assists in or at last does not interfere with manufacturing steps applied to the article of manufacture.

It is generally known to apply a synthetic material to a structure of an article of manufacture for imparting strength, adhesion, acoustic damping, baffling, sealing, reinforcement or the like to the structure. Such synthetic materials are frequently used in articles such as buildings, containers, furniture, transportation vehicles (e.g., automotive vehicles) or the like. Typically, it is desirable that these synthetic materials either assist in, or at least do not interfere with the processing, formation, assembly or the like of the article of manufacture. As an example, it is typically desirable that these synthetic materials, when placed adjacent weld locations, do not inhibit welding of automotive vehicle components. As such, there is a need for a synthetic material that is compatible with operations, which may be performed upon an article of manufacture.


A ribbon identification system detects a digitally encoded tract comprised of radially printed bands of dark and light areas positioned on a ribbon spool that fits on a media printing device. Each type and length of ribbon to be used is associated with a specific and unique digitally encoded tract. When the ribbon spool is positioned correctly on the printing device, the digitally encoded tract is detected, and the control program of the printing device sets the parameters associated with that ribbon automatically ensuring proper printing. Through the digitally encoded tract, the ribbon spool is uniquely identified so that once it has been determined by the printing device's control program that the ribbon has been depleted, that ribbon spool, if reinstalled on the same printing device at a later time, will be recognized as a depleted ribbon, and the printing device will not function.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to printer ribbons and systems, and in particular, to such systems that enable identification of ribbon characteristics.
2. Related Art
Printer systems utilize ink ribbons to print visually readable characters onto media, such as paper. The ink ribbon is typically wound onto a spool and may be contained in a cartridge for storage, transportation, and handling. The spool, with or without the cartridge, is mounted in the printer system. The spool then rotates as the ribbon is fed through the printer during a printing operation to transfer the ink onto the media.
Various kinds of ink ribbons with many different characteristics are available for use in printer systems. Ribbon characteristics include the fabric type, ribbon length, ink color, and ribbon width. Each type of ribbon may have several parameters that a printer system needs to be aware of in order to accommodate that particular ribbon type. For example, printing density, ribbon feed synchronization, and/or number of printing jobs available may all need to be adjusted. Identification of the various characteristics can be important for printer operation and optimization of print quality. For example, if a certain type of print ribbon spool or cartridge is inserted into a non-compatible printer, the printer may not operate at all. If a printer is set to print black characters, a color ribbon may result in poor print quality on the media. Another situation may be that the printer is unable to detect when the ribbon is depleted, resulting in possible damage to the printer or inferior or non-existent printing.
Numerous ribbon identification devices and methods have been proposed. Some determine the identification of the ribbon. Others determine whether the ribbon or cartridge is exchanged. Still others determine whether the ink or ribbon is depleted. The characteristic for identification can be placed on the ribbon or on the cartridge. For example, a material different than the ribbon can be attached near the end of the ribbon so that a detection mechanism can determine when a ribbon supply is ending. Other types of detection mechanisms can be configured to detect the amount of ink remaining on the ribbon, either by directly sensing the amount of ink on the ribbon or by measuring the amount of ink transferred onto the print media.
Identifiers can also be placed on the ribbon cartridge or ribbon core, such as a bank of color coded bands, a resistive ink identifier, or a semiconductor chip or memory storing readable ribbon characteristics. As these identifiers pass by a sensing mechanism, such as photo-optical, magnetic Hall Effect, and other proximity-type detectors, the information contained therein is read and processed. Thus, such ribbon identification schemes are usually limited in the type and amount of information that can be read by the printer system.
Further, such ribbon identification systems typically require the detection mechanism on the printer to determine the format of the identifier as well as how the identifier is to be scanned and read. This can add complexity to both the reader and the ribbon identifier.
Therefore, there is a need for a ribbon identification system that overcomes the deficiencies of conventional systems discussed above.


A magnetic field sensor structure including a first magnetoresistive element in a spin-valve arrangement with a first reference layer structure with a first reference magnetization direction and a second magnetoresistive element in a spin-valve arrangement with a second reference layer structure with a second reference magnetization direction, wherein the first and second magnetoresistive elements are arranged in a layer vertically above each other and galvanically isolated from each other by an intermediate layer, and wherein the first and second reference magnetization directions are different.

Detecting small magnetic fields by means of large magnetoresistance changes while using up as little chip surface area as possible and with a low level of manufacturing-process complexity is becoming increasingly important for applications in automotive and industrial electronics. In this context, it is particularly important to achieve compatibility and optimization of parameter swing, or signal swing (change in the magnetoresistance as a function of a change in the magnetic field), chip surface area, manufacturing-process complexity, current consumption, etc.
In sensor technology, currently GMR structures (GMR=giant magnetoresistance) or TMR structures (TMR=tunneling magnetoresistance) are frequently used. GMR and TMR structures will be summarized below using the term xMR structures. In electric contacting of such xMR structures or xMR layer systems, one differentiates between a CIP configuration (CIP=current in plane) and a CPP configuration (CPP=current perpendicular to plane). In the CIP configuration, an xMR layer system is contacted from one side, and a current flow follows such that it is essentially parallel or lateral to the layer system, whereas in the CPP configuration, an xMR layer system is contacted from two sides, so that a current flow may occur such that is essentially perpendicular to the xMR layer system. GMR layer systems are commonly operated in the CIP configuration, which is associated with a relatively small amount of effort in terms of process engineering on account of contacting from one side at a layer package or at a layer structure. On the other hand, TMR layer systems are often operated in the CPP configuration, which may use contacting the layer package or layer system from two sides. However, there are also TMR layer systems which may be operated in a CIP configuration, which shall be referred to as a CIPT configuration (i.e., a CIP configuration with a TMR layer system). Contacting the layer system from one side only (above or below) allows a simpler manufacturing process as compared to contacting from both sides, as is the case in the CPP configuration.
Spin-valve magnetic sensors based on GMR or TMR technology have advantages over Hall and AMR technologies (AMR=anisotropic magnetoresistance), as are established today, in particular with respect to their measuring sensitivities. On account of their reference magnetization, useful for operation, GMR and/or TMR elements (xMR elements) are suited to sense both magnetic field directions and field strengths. In an implementation as a linear field sensor, xMR elements may be employed, for example, for detecting rotational speeds of pole wheels and/or of toothed wheels influencing a magnetic field (bias magnetic field) (so-called speed sensors). To this end, xMR spin-valve sensors may be spaced apart at a distance of about half a pole distance or tooth distance of a transmitter wheel and may be connected to form a Wheatstone bridge or half-bridge. Thus, a differential output signal may be obtained by means of a differential magnetic field by spatially separating Wheatstone bridges.

Magnetoresistive magnetic field sensor structure


A clock control circuit is provided in a flip-flop circuit, since a first clock signal supplied to a master latch circuit is generated by an OR logic between a reference clock signal and a skew adjustment clock signal, a second clock signal supplied to a slave latch circuit is generated in accordance with the reference clock signal, the first clock signal has a phase advanced from the second clock signal by exactly an amount of a skew margin. An input signal is fetched into the flip-flop circuit at the rising edge of the first clock signal, then is output at the rising edge of the second clock signal. By this, malfunction due to the clock skew is prevented. The flip-flop circuit can operate as in the normal mode by holding the skew adjustment clock at a logic "0".

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a flip-flop circuit, more particularly relates to a flip-flop circuit capable of preventing a malfunction due to a clock skew.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, the increasing miniaturization of the manufacturing process has led to an increase in the number of the logic circuits. To reduce the power consumption, use is made of many functional clock signals etc. resulting in a tendency for a larger clock skew in the chip. On the other hand, the delay time of the gates becomes smaller so the probability of erroneous operation due to the skew becomes higher.
To prevent an erroneous operation due to the skew in the logic circuit, the delay element of the data is formed so as to occupy a relatively large area. The control thereof also becomes more difficult.
Particularly in a scan flip-flop circuit having input/outputs of two systems of data, at a serial shift operation of a scan test, the serial output signal is directly connected to the serial signal input terminal of the next stage, so it suffers from the disadvantage that the data is propagated fast and therefore malfunction due to the skew is more apt to occur in comparison with the system input.
Arranging the two systems of clocks so as to prevent this makes the arrangement and interconnections excessively difficult and requires the addition of other circuits to the scan flip-flop circuit in order to adjust the timing, so causes a great increase in the chip area.