Provided are a solder bump, a method of manufacturing the same, and a method of bonding a light emitting device using the method of manufacturing the solder bump. In particular, the solder bump is formed of a compound including a first element through a third element, in which the first and third elements together form a compound having a plurality of intermediate phases and solidus lines.

This application claims the priority of Korean Patent Application No. 2003-68321, filed on Oct. 1, 2003, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a bonding medium, a method of manufacturing the same, and a method of bonding two parts using the method of manufacturing the bonding medium, and more particularly, to a SnAgAu solder bump and a method of manufacturing the same, and a method of bonding a light emitting device using the solder bump.
2. Description of the Related Art
Wire bonding has been widely used for bonding a light emitting device and a submount. The wire bonding between a light emitting device and a submount is performed not only to apply a driving voltage to the light emitting device, but also to remove heat generated by the light emitting device during its operation.
In light emitting devices such as LDs or LEDs, it is preferable for a channel through which current is supplied to have a low resistance, in order to keep the driving voltage at a low level. In addition, it is preferable for heat generated by the light emitting devices to be removed rapidly.
Meanwhile, as the integration density of chips including light emitting devices increases, the length of wires connecting the light emitting devices to submounts seems to be increased.
Because a line resistance of the wires connecting the light emitting devices to the submounts is proportional to the wire's length, the increased length of the wires is accompanied by increased resistance.
Therefore, when current is provided to the light emitting devices via the wires, the driving voltage is increased. Additionally, when heat from the light emitting devices is removed via the wires, heat removal efficiency is decreased, ultimately leading to further increase in the driving voltage of the light emitting devices.
Accordingly, flip-chip bonding has been recently used instead of wire bonding between a light emitting device and a submount.
When a light emitting device is connected to a submount using the flip-chip bonding, heat resistance and line resistance are lower than in the case of wire boning, because they are directly connected via solder bumps.
FIG. 1 illustrates conventional technology in which a light emitting device is bonded to a submount using the flip-chip bonding.
Referring to FIG. 1, reference numerals 14 and 16 denote a light emitting device and a submount, respectively. The light emitting device 14 is flipped to be bonded to the submount 16. The light emitting device 14 includes a compound semiconductor layer 12 and a substrate on which the semiconductor layer 12 is formed. The compound semiconductor layer 12 includes, for example, an n-type compound semiconductor layer (not shown), a p-type compound semiconductor layer (not shown) and an active layer interposed therebetween. First and second pad layers 22a and 22b are formed on the submount 16 and separated from one another. The first and second pad layers 22a and 22b faces two regions of the compound semiconductor layer 12, respectively: one region where an n-type electrode (not shown) is formed, and the other region (protruding toward the submount 16) where a p-type electrode (not shown) is formed. A step S is formed between the two regions. A pad layer 18a, which contacts the n-type electrode, is formed in the region of the compound semiconductor layer 12 where the n-type electrode is formed, and a pad layer 18b, which contacts the p-type electrode, is formed in the region of the compound semiconductor layer 12 where the p-type electrode is formed. In addition, a portion of a surface of the pad layer 18a facing the submount 16 that contacts n-type electrode is covered with a first Au film 20a, and a portion of a surface of the pad layer 18b facing the submount 16 that contacts the p-type electrode is covered with a second Au film 20b.
A first Pt film 24a is formed on an upper surface of the first pad layer 22a deposited on the submount 16, and a second Pt film 24b is formed on an upper surface of the second pad layer 22b. The first Pt film 24a faces the first Au film 20a, and the second Pt film 24b faces the second Au film 20b. The first Pt film 24a is connected to the first Au film 20a by a first AuSn solder bump 26a, and the second Pt film 24b is connected to the second Au film 20b by a second AnSn solder bump 26b. The first and second Pt films 24a and 24b prevent diffusion of Sn from the first and second AnSn solder bumps 26a and 26b into the first and second pad layers 22a and 22b.
In the conventional technology described above, the first and second AuSn solder bumps 26a and 26b are formed by heating AuSn solder at a temperature of 280° C. or more for a few seconds. When the AuSn solder is heated at a temperature of 280° C. or more, characteristics of a metal layer for the p-type electrode change. As a result, the contact resistance of the p-type electrode increases, leading to an increase in the driving voltage of the light emitting device.

SnAgAu solder bumps, method of manufacturing the same, and method of bonding light emitting device using the same


In an elevator apparatus, a radiation fin device on which heat generating parts are mounted and a cooling fan for cooling the radiation fin device by forced air are accommodated in a tall and narrow case. The cooling fan has a rotation shaft extending in a direction perpendicular to a fin attaching surface of the case. A ventilating passage is provided between the radiation fin device and the cooling fan by a ventilating duct.

The present invention relates to an elevator controlling apparatus for controlling the operation of an elevator.
FIG. 7 is a plan view showing a conventional elevator disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 3-18569. In the figure, a car 1 is raised and lowered within a hoistway 2. A main control panel 3 and a sub-control panel 4 for controlling the operation of the elevator are located at the bottom portion, i.e., a pit 2a of the hoistway 2. The main control panel 3 is supported by a supporting stand 7 at the inside of a hall 5 side inspection door 6. The sub-control panel 4 is supported by supporting legs 8 in the space behind the car 1.
In recent years, cases where the controlling apparatus, i.e., the main control panel 3 and the sub-control panel 4 in this example, is disposed in the space in the hoistway 2, as shown in this example, without providing a machine room at the upper portion of the hoistway 2 have increased.
Next, FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional elevator controlling apparatus disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 4-338074. In the figure, a case 11 is provided with an air inlet 11a and a plurality of air outlets 11b. The air inlet 11a is disposed at the lower portion of the side of the case 11, and the air outlets 11b are disposed at the top of the case 11. A filter 12 is provided at the air inlet 11a.
Amounting panel 13 is fixed in the case 11. A printed circuit board 14 is attached to the mounting panel 13. A plurality of on-board parts 15 are mounted on the printed circuit board 14. Also, a radiation fin device 16 is fixed in the case 11. The radiation fin device 16 is provided with a plurality of fin portions 16a.
A plurality of heat generating parts 17 are mounted on the radiation fin device 16. Snubbers 18 which are composed of resistors, capacitors or the like are attached to the heat generating parts 17. These snubbers 18 restrain surge voltages generated when switching high power semiconductor devices.
A first cooling air passage 19a is formed between the neighboring fin portions 16a in the case 11. A second cooling air passage 19b is formed between the printed circuit board 14 and the radiation fin device 16 in the case 11. A cooling fan 20 is disposed between the first and second cooling air passages 19a and 19b and the air inlet 11a.
In such a controlling apparatus, cooling air is introduced into the case 11 from the air inlet 11a by driving the cooling fan 20. The air flowing into the case 11 passes along the paths as shown by the arrows A and B in FIG. 8, and is exhausted outside of the case 11 through the air outlets 11b. Accordingly, the on-board parts 15 and the heat generating parts 17 are cooled directly or through the radiation fin device 16.
As described above, in recent elevators, since the controlling apparatus is disposed in a narrow space, a reduction in the thickness of the controlling apparatus is desired. In contrast, in the conventional controlling apparatus of the type shown in FIG. 8, the axis of the cooling fan 20 is disposed vertically to send the cooling air from the lower part to the upper part. Accordingly, the depth (thickness) of the case 11 can not be reduced to less than the diameter of the cooling fan 20, so that reduction of the whole controlling apparatus the thickness is disturbed by the cooling fan 20.
In order to solve the above-noted defects, an object of the present invention is to provide an elevator controlling apparatus which can be reduced in a total size of thickness and disposed in a narrow space.
According to the present invention, there is provided an elevator controlling apparatus comprising: a case including a fin attaching surface, an air inlet and an air outlet, the air outlet being provided in the fin attaching surface above the air inlet; a radiation fin device attached to the fin attaching surface in the case; a heat generating part mounted on the radiation fin device; a cooling fan for cooling the radiation fin device, disposed in the case and having a rotation shaft which extends in a direction perpendicular to the fin attaching surface; and a ventilating duct disposed in the case for forming a ventilating passage between the radiation fin device and the cooling fan.


In a secondary air supply system, each of two branch portions of a secondary air supply pipe that is divided from a joint portion is provided with an air control valve, and the joint portion is provided with a pressure sensor and an auxiliary air control valve. The air control valves are opened at different timings such that pressure fluctuations in the joint portion upon opening of the firstly and the secondly opened air control valves are measured. An abnormality diagnosis is performed with respect to those two air control valves based on combinations of the aforementioned two pressure fluctuations.

1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to a secondary air supply system and, more particularly, to a secondary air supply system including a secondary air supply pipe that is divided into two branch portions each having an air control valve and being connected to each of two exhaust systems of an internal combustion engine with two banks. The invention relates to a secondary air supply system that supplies secondary air to a section upstream of an exhaust emission control device provided in an exhaust passage of the internal combustion engine for detecting an abnormality in components of the secondary air supply system.
2. Description of Related Art
Generally a catalyst is employed for purifying exhaust gas discharged from the internal combustion engine. The catalytic temperature has to be raised from the low-temperature state as quickly as possible upon start-up so as to improve the purifying rate. The catalyst is activated upon increase in the oxygen concentration of the exhaust gas to raise the catalytic temperature. In the aforementioned case, a secondary air supply system is employed to supply air into the exhaust gas so as to be mixed for raising the catalytic temperature. The aforementioned secondary air supply system supplies air from an air pump into the exhaust pipe via a secondary air supply pipe connected thereto.
The catalyst is not activated at an appropriate timing unless secondary air can be supplied when needed. If, however, the secondary air is supplied in a state where the catalyst has been already activated at sufficiently high temperature, the catalyst may be excessively heated. Then the secondary air supply pipe is provided with an air control valve that controls supply of the secondary air such that appropriate quantity of secondary air is supplied to the exhaust pipe.
If the air control valve has an abnormality, appropriate quantity of secondary air cannot be supplied, causing either deterioration in exhaust emission or excessive heating of the catalyst. For example, JP-A-2003-83048 discloses the secondary air supply system that allows diagnosis of abnormality in the air control valve. In the aforementioned system, a pressure sensor is provided between the air control valve and the air pump so as to detect the abnormality in the air control valve based on fluctuation of the pressure detected by the pressure sensor upon operation of the air control valve.
There is an internal combustion engine having a plurality of banks of, for example, two cylinder groups each including a plurality of cylinders like a V-type engine, and each of the banks is provided with an exhaust pipe. In the case where secondary air is supplied to the respective exhaust pipes of the V-type engine, it is possible to supply secondary air to the respective exhaust pipes independently. In this case, however, two air pumps are required, resulting in the cost increase.
In the apparatus disclosed in JP-A-5-86848, secondary air is supplied to two exhaust valves via two branch portions of the secondary air supply pipe from its joint portion. The air control valve is provided for each of the branch portions of the secondary air supply pipe. In this case, the two branch portions of the secondary air supply pipe join at upstream side, and each secondary air flowing through the respective branch portions may influence with each other.
The secondary air supply system that allows abnormality diagnosis of two air control valves accurately at low costs has never been developed (see JP-A-2003-83048).
In the known exhaust emission control device of the internal combustion engine, the catalyst that exhibits oxidizing function is provided within the exhaust passage so as to purify the exhaust gas by reducing the content of the exhaust gas, that is, carbon monoxide (CO), hydrocarbon (HC), and nitrogen oxide (NOX). There is a known secondary air supply apparatus in which air is supplied under pressure from the air pump to a secondary air supply passage having a valve connected to the exhaust passage for supplying secondary air into the exhaust pipe so as to increase oxygen concentration. Then HC, CO contained within the exhaust gas are oxidized to improve purification of the exhaust gas. In the aforementioned secondary air supply apparatus, in the case where abnormality is detected in components such as the air pump or the air control valves, the exhaust gas purification rate may be decreased to deteriorate emission. Therefore, the pressure sensor is provided in the secondary air supply passage so as to detect the abnormality in the components based on the pressure value detected by the pressure sensor (see JP-3444458).
If the internal combustion engine includes two banks as aforementioned, the exhaust emission control device is provided for each bank so as to purify the exhaust gas by oxidizing HC and CO contained within the exhaust gas in the exhaust passage from the respective banks. Then the secondary air supply pipe of the secondary air supply system is divided into two branch portions. In this case, an auxiliary air control valve is provided for a joint portion of the secondary air supply pipe upstream of the branch portions, and two air control valves are provided for the respective branch portions.
FIG. 19 shows a timing chart representing an operation of the aforementioned secondary air supply system and a graph representing a relationship between time and pressure with respect to the operation of the secondary air supply system. When the air pump provided on the joint portion of the secondary air supply pipe is driven and the auxiliary air control valve at the upstream side is opened after a predetermined elapse of time, the pressure P within the secondary air supply pipe increases up to P0. When the air control valve provided in one of the branch portions is opened after a predetermined elapse of time, the pressure P is reduced to the pressure P1. When the other air control valve provided in the other branch portion is opened after a predetermined elapse of time, the pressure P is reduced to P2. Then secondary air is supplied to the section of the exhaust passage upstream of the exhaust emission control device. The pressure Pon upon supply of the secondary air is measured for a time period TPon. After measuring the pressure Pon, the pump is stopped, and the firstly and the secondly opened air control valves at the downstream side are closed simultaneously. Then supply of secondary air is stopped. Pressure Poff in the state where secondary air is not supplied after a predetermined elapse of time is measured for a time period TPoff. The auxiliary air control valve, then is closed.
Then it is determined whether there is an abnormality in the components of the secondary air supply system based on the pressure difference ΔP1 between the pressure detected upon opening of the auxiliary air control valve and the pressure detected upon opening of the first air control valve (firstly opened air control valve), that is, (P0−P1), the pressure difference ΔP2 between the pressure detected upon opening of the first air control valve and the (secondly opened air control valve) pressure detected upon opening of the second air control valve, that is, (P1−P2), and the pressure Poff measured upon stop of the secondary air supply system.
As shown in FIG. 19, as the pressure difference ΔP1 upon opening of the first air control valve at the downstream side after opening the auxiliary air control valve at the upstream side is relatively large, the abnormality in the component may be easily detected. Meanwhile as the pressure difference ΔP2 upon opening of the first air control valve and then the second air control valve is relatively small, it is further difficult to determine the abnormality in the component, for example, the second air control valve based on the pressure difference ΔP2 compared with the abnormality diagnosis with respect to other components.
The secondary air is supplied to the exhaust system in the internal combustion engine through the joint portion and the respective branch portions of the secondary air supply pipe upon activation of the air pump. The discharging performance of the pipe may be deteriorated owing to aging for an extended service period. In case of deterioration in the performance of the pump, the pressure P0 after opening of the auxiliary air control valve by driving the air pump is decreased. Each of the pressure differences ΔP1 and ΔP2 is decreased accordingly. It may further be difficult to determine the abnormality in the component, especially the second air control valve based on the pressure differences ΔP1, ΔP2.

Secondary air supply system and abnormality diagnosis method of secondary air supply system


A semiconductor element includes an insulating outer layer that includes electric contact connections of a first conductive type. These connections are connected to contact areas located beneath the insulating surface layer, of which connections at least one is of a first conductive type. At least one of the contact areas and a further area that includes two layers of mutually different conductive types disposed between the contact areas, are covered by a layer of a second conductive type of material. This second layer is, in turn, covered with an insulating layer on at least that side which lies distal from the surface layer.

The present invention relates to a semiconductor element and then particularly to an improved semiconductor element especially for use in a transistor.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,146,298, for example, teaches a semiconductor element, particularly a high-voltage MOS-transistor, that includes a substrate of a first conductive type on which there is mounted a layer of material of a second conductive type that includes cells which are comprised of material of a first conductive type in which the electrical contact areas, source area and gate area, are placed and also an electric contact area of a second conductive type, drain area. According to this prior publication, the first type of conductive material is normally p-type silicon doped with about 5×1014 atoms per cm3, whereas the second conductive material is n-type silicon doped with about 3×1012 atoms per cm3. A further area formed by two layers of the first and the second conductive types of material respectively is disposed between drain area and the other two contact areas. The substrate has a typical thickness of from 100 to 500 μm. An effective breakdown voltage of about 300 V is obtained with these dimensions and doping levels. The semiconductor element also includes an insulating outer layer through which the electric contacts extend.
The object of the present invention is to provide an improved semiconductor element of this type, in which the dimensions of said semiconductor element can be reduced substantially without detracting from its performance.

Lateral semiconductor device comprising two layers of mutually opposite conductivity-type materials between source and drain


A phosphor substrate (10) includes a substrate (1), phosphor layers (3R, 3G, and 3B) which are disposed on the substrate (1) and which emit fluorescences (L2) using incident excitation light (L1), and a partition (7) surrounding side faces of the phosphor layers (3R, 3G, and 3B), in which at least portions of the partition (7) in contact with the phosphor layers (3R, 3G, and 3B) have light-scattering properties.

In recent years, displays mounted on television sets, personal computers, information terminal assistants, and so forth have been increasingly required to have higher performance. There have been advances in the research and development of various types of display devices, such as cathode ray tube displays, liquid crystals, plasma displays (PDPs), and organic EL displays. In particular, liquid crystal displays are thin and light in weight and thus compose the major portion of a current display market. However, liquid crystal displays have narrow viewing angles and low image recognition performance when viewed from an oblique direction, compared with conventional cathode ray tube displays.
As a method for improving viewing angle characteristics of a liquid crystal display device, a method is disclosed in which phosphors and scattering members are arranged on the front of a liquid crystal display device, a part of blue light from a polarized collimated light source is used for blue display, and a part of the blue light is color-converted into red and green with the phosphors, thereby performing display (for example, see PTLs 1 and 2).
Organic EL displays are display devices having excellent display characteristics, such as high contrast, wide viewing angles, and high-speed response. To achieve full-color display, RGB light-emitting layers are required to be patterned by mask deposition, thus causing difficulty in increasing the definition and the size.
Meanwhile, a method for emitting light from RGB phosphors using a monochromatic organic EL as an excitation light source is disclosed (for example, see PTL 3).
In a phosphor color conversion display, in the case where a black matrix is disposed, light emitted from phosphors is absorbed or confined in the matrix, so that the light-output efficiency is not increased.
In contrast, a method is reported in which a white paste is used for a partition of a PDP (for example, see PTL 4).
Regarding other conventional techniques, in a phosphor color conversion display including an organic EL element serving as an excitation light source, a structure is reported in which a reflective film is disposed on a side face of a phosphor layer (for example, see PTL 5).

Phosphor substrate, display device, and electronic apparatus


Some embodiments relate to an SRAM cell layout including upper and lower cell edges and left and right cell edges. A first power rail extends generally in parallel with and lies along the left cell edge or the right cell edge. The first power rail is coupled to a first power supply. A second power rail extends generally in parallel with the first power rail and is arranged equidistantly between the left and right cell edges. A first bitline extends in parallel with the first power rail and the second power rail and is arranged to a first side of the second power rail. A second bitline, which is complementary to the first bitline, extends in parallel with the first power rail and the second power rail and is arranged to a second side of the second power rail.

Semiconductor memory is an electronic data storage device implemented on a semiconductor-based integrated circuit. Semiconductor memory is made in many different types and technologies. Semiconductor memory has much faster access times than other types of data storage technologies. For example, a byte of data can often be written to or read from semiconductor memory within a few nanoseconds, while access times for rotating storage such as hard disks is in the range of milliseconds. For these reasons, among others, semiconductor memory is used as a primary storage mechanism for computer memory to hold data the computer is currently working on, among other uses.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

SRAM cell for interleaved wordline scheme

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd.


A medium feeding apparatus includes an apparatus main body, and a medium cassette removably inserted into the apparatus main body. The medium cassette is configured to store a medium. The medium cassette includes a medium positioning unit for determining a position of the medium, and a locking unit that locks a movement of the medium positioning unit when the medium cassette is inserted into the apparatus main body and before the medium cassette reaches a predetermined position in the apparatus main body.

The present invention relates to a medium feeding apparatus provided in an image forming apparatus or the like.
In an image forming apparatus such as a copier, a printer, a facsimile or the like, an exposure unit such as a laser scanning unit or an LED (light emitting diode) emits light to expose a surface of a photosensitive body (i.e., an image bearing body) based on a image data to form a latent image. The latent image is developed with toner. The resulting toner image is transferred directly or via an intermediate transfer body to a medium such as a printing sheet or a film. The medium is conveyed to a fixing unit, where the toner image is fixed to the medium by application of heat and pressure.
Such an image forming apparatus includes a medium feeding apparatus for storing and feeding the medium. The medium feeding apparatus has a medium cassette in which a stack of the media (i.e., printing sheets) is stored. The medium cassette is detachably mounted to a main body of the medium feeding apparatus. The medium cassette has a pair of medium guides that determine positions of both ends of the media in a widthwise direction. Both medium guides have guide racks that engage a common pinion gear (see, for example, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2008-81259 (FIG. 1)).
In this regard, when the medium cassette is mounted to the main body of the medium feeding apparatus, there is a possibility that the medium guides may be unintentionally displaced. In such a case, the medium (guided by the medium guides) may also be displaced.

Medium feeding apparatus and image forming apparatus


A lightweight, nonmotorized radar antenna system specially adapted for use on a boat or ship includes a multiple section mount supporting a plurality of radiating elements to provide 360 degree coverage around a vertical structure, such as sailboat mast. The mount can have a variable inner diameter for installation on various sized structures.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lightweight, nonmotorized antenna system specially adapted for use on a boat or ship.
2. Description of Prior Art
Radar is widely used on both commercial and pleasure water craft of all sizes and motive means. Regardless of the type or size of the vessel, all marine radar sets are composed of the same basic building blocks, namely: the display, the data processing unit, the transceiver, and the antenna unit. One example of such a known marine radar set is shown in FIG. 1. In operation, the data processing unit 6 creates an electrical signal that is fed to the transceiver 8, and the transceiver 8 then feeds the signal through a coaxial cable 10 and a rotary joint 12 to the antenna 14. This signal is radiated from the antenna 14 in the form of an electromagnetic wave that propagates away from the antenna 14 until it encounters a solid object and is reflected. The antenna 14 then intercepts the reflected electromagnetic wave and converts it back into an electrical signal, which is fed back through the rotary joint 12 and the coaxial cable 10 to the transceiver 8. The transceiver 8 then communicates to the data processing unit 6 that the reflected signal has been received and the data processing unit 6 computes the distance and bearing of the solid object causing the reflection and produces information to be displayed on the display screen 16. Conventional marine radar antennas, such as antenna 14 in FIG. 1, are mounted on motorized mounts 18 that rotate the antenna in order to effectuate circular coverage. When such motorized mounts are employed, the resulting antenna/mount unit is substantially heavier than the antenna by itself. Nevertheless, these marine radar antennas must still be mounted as high as possible in order to maximize the range of the radar set.
Therefore, not only does the added weight of the motorized mount present a hazard and danger to the installer when the antenna unit is being mounted high upon a mast or support structure, but the extra weight of the motorized mount on its support structure can produce unnecessary, uncomfortable, and possibly even dangerous rolling motion upon the vessel.
Additionally, because motorized mounts are exposed to the elements, they are liable to rust and wear, especially when used in a high humidity environment as is encountered on the water. Such rust and wear inevitably result in requiring frequent preventive and corrective maintenance.
Finally, and significantly, when these motorized mounts are mounted to the mast of a sailboat, they are by necessity mounted either in front of, behind, or to the side of the mast. When positioned in this manner, the mast blocks radar coverage in a given segment of space. As shown in FIG. 2, mast 20 is mounted upon deck 22 of a vessel and motorized antenna 27 is mounted on horizontal member 23 in front of mast 20. Blind area 25 represents the segment of space that can not be scanned by motorized antenna 27.

A radar antenna system with variable vertical mounting diameter


A snowboard binding having a base element that can be fastened to the top of a snowboard. At least one instep element extends over part of a snowboard boot fastened to the base element. The instep element is movable along at least one arc-like path to improve mobility of the boot in the binding.

A type of binding has a base element to be fastened to the surface of the snowboard, an instep element fastened to it that partially overlaps the top of a snowboard boot, and a heel element that supports the backside of the snowboard boot and is hinged to pivot on the base element. This type of binding is known from DE 44 35 113 C1 (U.S. Pat. No. 5,918,897; EP 0 705 265 B1, JP 8-206275 A1). The instep element is a large-surface element, in that it covers the snowboard boot in its toe region and in its instep region. The instep element is fastened to the base element via straps that are adjustable in length, namely, a toe strap and an instep strap. In the closed position of the binding, the boot is therefore held between the base element, the instep element and the heel element. Adjustment of the binding to boots of different size is done by length adjustment of the strap securing the instep element and also via the adjustable position of the pivotable heel element, which is done by means of a length-adjustable strap fastened in the front region of the base element and enclosing the heel element on the rear.
A similar snowboard binding is also known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,556,123 A1, wherein fastening of the heel element is configured differently.
The aforementioned bindings are also generally referred to as a soft binding, because they are used together with relatively soft, flexible boots (so-called softboots) that offer the snowboarder relatively high flexibility of movement, both forward and to the side. The flexibility, i.e., the possible range of motion, can be adjusted by adjusting the instep and heel element, so that the snowboarder has, as desired, a large or small latitude of motion of the boot in the binding.
However, when the shinbone is bent laterally along with the shaft of the boot, a problem arises in that the instep element, which lies relatively firmly against the outer top of the boot in the region of the toes and instep, limits this lateral bending movement, especially when the instep element, as in the aforementioned prior art, is designed as a large-surface element and extensively covers the front region of the foot and the instep region of the boot and is adapted to its contour. Even if the instep element is made from a flexible material, lateral movement of the boot is severely hampered in this configuration, which is viewed as a shortcoming, since high flexibility of movement forward and to the side is desirable in precisely this type of binding.


A vibrato mounting bracket for a guitar, said vibrato unit having a frame having: a) a generally fiat central portion extending from a bottom peripheral edge portion of the guitar, said flat central portion having four vibrato, unit attachment openings therethrough; b) a bottom portion extending from the central portion over the bottom peripheral edge portion of the guitar and having a lower strap screw attachment opening therethrough; and, c) an upper portion extending above the central portion having two opposite lateral openings therethrough spaced to align with i) the two outer string stop bar screws on the guitar, or ii) the two outer bridge attachment screws on the guitar where said guitar has a bridge attachment screw, or iii) the bridge height adjustment screws. The front face and the sound box are then better able to vibrate thereby producing maximum resonance and depth of sound.

The inventor herein is a musician. He initially developed a vibrato mounting bracket for his guitar after he became aware that he would substantially devalue his guitar if he mounted a vibrato unit on the guitar. Drilling holes and turning screws into his $40,000 guitar to mount the vibrato unit directly thereon, would devalue the guitar by $6000. Accordingly, he developed a mounting bracket which carried the vibrato unit. The mounting bracket was attached to his guitar solely by the lower shoulder strap connection screw, as well as at a top of the bracket by the outer two string stop bar screw attachments on the guitar. He observed that his vibrato bracket guitar sounded substantially better than vibrato guitars to which the vibrato unit was directly mounted thereon.
The inventor attributed this improved sound quality and volume to the clamping effect which the vibrato unit had on the front face of the guitar. He subsequently further developed his mounting bracket, each bracket further reducing upward pulling and downward pressure on the front face of the guitar. The conventional vibrato, directly attached to the front face of the guitar, draws the highly tensioned strings of the guitar down thereby centrally lifting the front face of the guitar up, effectively dampening vibration on the central and entire front face of the resonating sound box of the guitar. The inventor's system resists string pull from the bottom of the guitar. Additionally the angle on which the strings are pulled down from the bridge of the guitar has also been refined so that the direction of string pull is towards a point above the bottom of the front face of the guitar. The downward component of force on the front face of the guitar is thereby even further reduced. With the use of this type of a mounting a bracket smaller inexpensive guitars have a sound box which produces substantially more resonance, depth and volume than the most expensive guitars having a vibrato directly unit directly mounted thereon. The sound volume is generally doubled with the use of the bracket. Sound sustain, the duration of vibration is also substantially increased. Sound attack, the speed which sound resonates from the guitar was also speeded. Improving sound attack, particularly in concert performances, reduces confusion caused by a multi-second delay. The quality and depth of sound with the herein disclosed vibrato mounting system on even an inexpensive guitar far surpasses anything available with any conventionally mounted vibrato unit on even the most expensive guitar.
Conventional vibrato units are most preferably mounted down, rearwardly as far as possible on the guitar, sacrificing operability, but thereby reducing downward clamping force on the face of the guitar. With the unit disclosed herein, the vibrato unit can be shifted upwardly on the guitar, allowing the vibrato arm to be more easily grasped and operated.

Mounting plate and vibrato assembly for vibrato system on a guitar


The invention relates to a support for culturing cells, in particular to microcarriers coated with gelatine or gelatine-like proteins. Such microcarriers serve as support for culturing anchorage dependent cells. In particular the invention relates to a process for the preparation of a cell culture support comprising the step of coating a microcarrier bead with gelatine or gelatine-like protein, said gelatine or gelatine-like protein having a molecular weight of about 40 kDa to about 200 kDa.

Cell culture of animal cells, in particular mammalian cells, is important for the production of many important (genetically engineered) biological materials such as vaccines, enzymes, hormones and antibodies. The majority of animal cells are anchorage-dependent and require attachment to a surface for their survival and growth.
Routinely, anchorage-dependent cells have been cultivated on the walls of for instance tissue culture flasks and roller bottles. As the necessity has developed to provide large amounts of certain antiviral vaccines, genetically engineered proteins, and other cell-derived products, improvements have been made to develop new systems for larger scale production of cells.
One such an improvement started with the development of microcarriers in 1967 by Van Wezel (Van Wezel, A. L. Nature 216:64-65 (1967)). Van Wezel made microcarriers composed of cross-linked dextran beads charged with tertiary amine groups (DEAE). He demonstrated the attachment and growth of cells on these positively charged DEAE-dextran beads suspended in culture media in a stirred vessel. Thus, in microcarrier cell cultures cells grow as monolayers on small spheres which are in suspension. By using microcarriers it is possible to achieve yields of several million cells per millilitre. Over the years various types of microcarriers have been developed. Crosslinked dextran, like the first microcarriers, is still the most popular bead material.
Some advantages of microcarrier cultures over other methods of large-scale cultivation are: i) high surface area to volume ratio can be achieved which can be varied by changing the microcarrier concentration leading to high cell densities per unit volume with a potential for obtaining highly concentrated cell products; ii) cell propagation can be carried out in a single high productivity vessel instead of using many low productivity units, thus achieving a better utilisation and a considerable saving of medium; iii) since the microcarrier culture is well mixed, it is easy to monitor and control different environmental conditions such as pH, pO2, pCO2 etc.; iv) cell sampling is easy; v) since the beads settle down easily, cell harvesting and downstream processing of products is easy; vi) microcarrier cultures can be relatively easily scaled up using conventional equipment like fermenters that have been suitably modified.
When developing further improvements the following requirements for an optimum microcarrier should be met: i) the surface properties of the beads should be such that cells can adhere and proliferate rapidly, preferably the contour should be even; ii) the density of the beads should be slightly more than that of the culture medium, so as to facilitate easy separation; conventional culture media are aqueous in nature and have densities ranging from 1.03-1.09 g/cc, however, the density should not exceed a certain limit the optimum range being 1.03-1.045 g/ml; gentle stirring, which will not harm the shear-sensitive cells, should be sufficient to keep them in suspension, if the beads settle down cell growth will be prevented; iii) the size-distribution of the beads should be narrow so that an even suspension of all microcarriers is achieved and cells attain confluency at approximately the same time; also, clustering of microcarriers in solution should be prevented; iv) the optical properties should enable easy microscopic observation; v) they should be non-toxic not only for the survival and good growth of the cells but also for cell culture products that are used for veterinary or clinical purposes; vi) the matrix of the beads should be such that collisions, which occur during stirring of the culture, do not cause fragmentation of the beads.
An important modification in the development of improved microcarriers is the coating of core particles with collagen. The advantage of using collagen is that it is a promoter for both cell attachment and cell growth. In addition cells can be easily detached by proteolytic enzymes. Several collagen-coated micorcarriers are commercially available such as for instance SoloHill™ collagen-coated microcarriers and Cytodex 3™ from Amersham Biosciences. There is however a strong need for further improvements of microcarriers to meet the requirements for optimum microcarriers outlined above.
A process for the preparation of collagen coated microcarriers is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,994,388. Providing a core bead with a collagen coating is performed in two steps: coating and fixing. The core beads are suspended in an acidic, aqueous collagen solution (0.01-0.1N acetic acid), and the solution is evaporated to dryness. The dry, collagen-coated beads are then suspended in a solution which contains a protein crosslinking agent such as glutaraldehyde, thus crosslinking the collagen coating. Alternatively, the core beads wetted with the collagen solution are not dried entirely before the start of the fixing step.
Whereas in the art in this field often the term collagen or denatured collagen is used, throughout the rest of this description the term gelatine or gelatine-like protein will be used. The term gelatine more truly reflects the appearance of the protein, being a single polypeptide chain, whereas collagen normally is used to describe a structure of three polypeptide chains oriented in a helical bundle.

Process for coating cell-culture support


The application relates to a windscreen for a convertible with an approximately U-shaped roll bar pivotable about a transverse axis of the vehicle into an approximately horizontal position of rest. The windscreen has a first part pivotable upwards behind a front seat row and a second part horizontally covering the space behind the seat row approximately level with the belt line of the vehicle. The two windscreen parts are connected pivotably to one another with the first part resting on the second part in its position of rest. In order to ensure especially simple actuation the roll bar, movable by means of a convenient drive mechanism, is utilized to shift the first part of the windscreen into its directed operating position.

The invention relates to a windscreen for a convertible, with an approximately U-shaped roll bar pivotable about a transverse axis of the vehicle into an approximately horizontal position of rest. The windscreen has a first part pivotable upwards behind a front seat row and a second part horizontally covering the space behind the seat row approximately level with the belt line of the vehicle. The two windscreen parts are connected pivotably to one another with the first part resting on the second part in its position of rest.
An object of the present invention is to design a windscreen arrangement of the type in such a way that its first part can be pivoted upwards into its operating position simply and quickly, without the driver having to leave the vehicle for this purpose.
According to certain preferred embodiments of the invention, in a windscreen of the relevant generic type, this object is achieved by a windscreen arrangement wherein for a convertible, with an approximately U-shaped roll bar pivotable about a transverse axis of the vehicle into an approximately horizontal position of rest, the windscreen having a first part pivotable upwards behind a front seat and a second part horizontally covering a space behind the seat row approximately level with a belt line of the vehicle, the two parts are connected pivotably to one another and the first part resting on the second part in its position of rest, and wherein means are provided for bringing the first part within reach of a person sitting on the front seat by raising the roll bar by means of a convenient drive mechanism.
According to especially preferred advantageous embodiments, the windscreen arrangement includes means for automatically bringing the first part into operative connection with a releasable catch device by raising the roll bar by means of a convenient drive mechanism, said releasable catch device including means for retaining the first part in its swung-up operating position during return movement of the roll bar to its position of rest.
Another object of the present invention is to develop a windscreen of this type in such a way that it can be fastened to the vehicle and removed from it again easily and quickly, without any measures, such as, for example, the provision of special holding devices, having to be taken on the vehicle itself for this purpose.
According to the invention, in a windscreen of the relevant generic type, this last mentioned object is achieved in that the second part can be secured to the roll bar by fastening means and pivoted upwards together with this.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, at the same time the outer contour of the second part of the windscreen is matched in its course to the inner contour of the roll bar.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Windscreen arrangement for a convertible


An output driver stage for an integrated circuit device includes slew rate control on the final logic gate. Slew rate control is provided by resistors located in the power supply path for the gate. A switch is connected in parallel across the resistor, and can be used to short the resistor to disable or reduce slew rate limiting. The switch is connected to another location within the output circuitry, and disables or reduces the slew rate limiting resistor during a portion of the switching cycle. This provides for slew rate limiting during a portion of switching when it is most needed, and disables it when slew rate limiting is not required.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to semiconductor integrated circuits, and more specifically to an output driver circuit suitable for use with high speed devices.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As integrated circuits become faster, various factors become important to their operation which are not important at slower speeds. For example, in CMOS integrated circuits, an output circuit connected to the output pad of a chip typically includes one P-channel device and one N-channel device stacked in series. When such output changes state very quickly, current changes occur which have a very steep slope. The rate of change of current, referred to as di/dt, combines with inductance of the output pin and the power supply connected to the output driver to cause a voltage jump which reflects into the power supply. This voltage jump is often referred to as ground bounce.
Since the voltage jump is defined by L(di/dt), it is known that limiting the slope of the output current can help minimize the problem. In order to limit the rate of change of the output current, it is known to limit the switching speed of the output transistors. This is often done by causing the last stage of the output circuitry, which drives the gates of the output transistors, to switch more slowly than usual. This causes the output transistors to turn on and off more slowly, lowering di/dt, and limiting the voltage jump. Even though the changing of state of the output circuit is slowed down, overall speed of the device may actually increase because a long settling time is not needed to recover from the ground bounce phenomenon.
This switching speed limitation of the logic stages driving the output transistors is sometimes referred to as slew rate control.
One technique for controlling the slew rate of the output stage is to place resistors in the supply path to the final stage of logic gates. These resistors cause the logic gates to change state more slowly, which slows the rate of change of voltage to the gate of the output transistors. Thus, as described above, the output transistors change state more slowly, limiting di/dt.
One drawback to this approach, however, is that the use of the limiting resistors tends to slow down the output circuitry more than desired. The value of these resistors must be chosen to decrease the steepest part of the slope of the output from the last logic stage, which requires fairly large resistors. However, this also slows down operation of the final logic stage for portions of the output curve where di/dt limiting is not really required.
It would be desirable to provide an output driver circuit which limits di/dt to sufficiently low values, while providing a circuit which otherwise has maximum speed. It would be further desirable for such a circuit to be formed without adding undue complexity to the output driver portion of the device.

Slew rate limited output buffer with bypass circuitry


An image forming apparatus includes a control unit configured to perform area division by color of an original image included in input image data, and to generate masking sheet image data of each color including a cutout guide image corresponding to a color unit area obtained by the area division by color of the original image, on the basis of color density and a shape of the color unit area; and a printing unit configured to execute a print job based on the masking sheet image data so as to print the cutout guide image on a material sheet.

The present disclosure relates to an image forming apparatus that prints an image on a sheet.
Conventionally, there is known an image forming apparatus that can divide image data of one page into a plurality of sets of image data. For instance, the conventional image forming apparatus divides A1 size image data into four A3 size image data. In this way, the A1 size image data can be divided and printed on four A3 sheets.


Reconstituted surfactants comprising a lipid carrier, a polypeptide analog of the native surfactant protein SP-C, and a polypeptide analog of the native surfactant protein SP-B are useful for the treatment and/or prophylaxis of RDS and other respiratory disorders.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to reconstituted surfactants which are useful for the treatment or prophylaxis of RDS and other respiratory disorders. The present invention also relates to methods of preparing such a reconstituted surfactant and pharmaceutical compositions which contain such a reconstituted surfactant. The present invention further relates to methods for the treatment or prophylaxis of RDS and other respiratory disorders by administering such a reconstituted surfactant.
2. Discussion of the Background
The human lung is composed of a large number of small air sacs, called alveoli, in which gases are exchanged between the blood and the air spaces of the lungs. In healthy individuals, this exchange is mediated by the presence of a protein-containing surfactant complex that prevents the lungs from collapsing at the end of expiration.
Lung surfactant complex is composed primarily of lipid and contains minor amounts of various proteins. An absence of adequate levels of this complex results in malfunction of the lung. This syndrome is called Respiratory Distress Syndrome (RDS) and it commonly affects preterm infants.
Said syndrome is effectively treated with modified natural surfactant preparations extracted from animal lungs. Commercially available modified surfactant preparations are, for example, Curosurf, derived from porcine lung, Infasurf, extracted form calf lung lavage, and Survanta, a chemically modified natural bovine lung extract.
The main constituents of these surfactant preparations are phospholipids, such as 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine commonly known as dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC), phosphatidylglycerol (PG), and surfactant hydrophobic proteins B and C (SP-B and SP-C).
Due to the drawbacks of the surfactant preparations from animal tissues, such as the complication of the production and sterilization processes and possible induction of immune reactions, synthetic surfactants mimicking the composition of the modified natural surfactants have been developed. Said synthetic surfactants are known as reconstituted surfactants. However the development of clinically active reconstituted surfactants has turned out to be complicated since the native hydrophobic proteins are too big to synthesize, structurally complex, and unstable in pure form.
In order to replace said native hydrophobic proteins, some synthetic polypeptides partially corresponding to their sequences and analogs thereof have been proposed in the prior art and are disclosed in for example WO 89/06657, WO 92/22315, WO 98/49191, WO 95/32992, U.S. Pat. No. 6,660,833, EP 413,957, and WO 91/18015.
WO 00/47623 disclosed synthetic polypeptides which are analogs of the native protein SP-C wherein: i) cysteine residues in position 5 and 6 have been replaced by Ser residues; ii) the Val residues of the 'center region' of SP-C have been substituted with other neutral and hydrophobic residues selected from the group consisting of Leu, Ile, and norleucine (nL); iii) some of the neutral amino acids present in the 'center region' of SP-C have been replaced with bulky or polar residues selected from the group consisting of Lys, Trp, Phe, Tyr, and Ornithine. Said artificial polypeptides are characterized by the fact that they are capable of folding like the native protein SP-C and, hence, interacting properly with the surfactant lipids and, thus, do not give rise to self-oligomerization.
WO 00/76535 generically discloses pulmonary surfactant preparations comprising at least one modification of the SP-B in combination with at least one modification of the SP-C protein.
In A. J. Waring, et al., (abstract presented at the Paediatric Academy Society Annual meeting held in San Francisco on Apr. 29-May 2, 2006) a study was undertaken to examine the activity of a synthetic surfactant constituted of the SP-C-mimic, SP-Cff, that is a synthetic 34-residue SP-C with phenylalanine instead of cysteine in positions 4 and 5, and the SP-B-mimic, Mini-B.
However, according to the available literature, in animal studies, the treatment with reconstituted surfactants gives rise to poor lung gas volumes and grade of alveolar patency at the end of expiration, and a ventilation is required with a positive end expiratory pressure (PEEP) in order to achieve an in vivo activity comparable to that achieved with modified natural surfactants (see, J. Johansson, et al., J. Appl. Physiol., 2003, 95, 2055-2063; and A. J. Davis, et al., Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med., 1998; 157, 553-559). Thus, the available reconstituted surfactant preparations are indeed not capable of forming a stable phospholipidic film in the alveoli at the end of expiration.
Moreover, all of the aforementioned documents are silent about the problem of the alveolar patency at the end of expiration and the effect of the disclosed preparations thereof.
Thus, there remains a need for a reconstituted surfactant with improved properties in terms of lung compliance.

Reconstituted surfactants having improved properties


A method is described for extracting the spatial distribution of charge stored in a charge-trapping layer of a semiconductor device. The method comprises the steps of performing a first charge-pumping measurement on a device under test using a variation of the upper level of the pulse and performing a second charge-pumping measurement on this device using a variation of the lower level of the pulse. The data obtained is combined for extracting the spatial distribution. This is done by establishing a relation between a charge pumping current Icp and a calculated channel length Lcalc of the semiconductor device by reconstructing spatial charge distribution estimates from the charge pumping curves for multiple values of the charge pumping current Icp. From these multiple values of Icp the value is obtained for which the corresponding calculated channel length Lcalc is substantially equal to the effective channel length Leff of the semiconductor device and the spatial charge distribution is reconstructed from the charge pumping curves using the obtained value of Icp.

1. Technical Field
The present invention is in the field of semiconductor processing and devices, more specifically in the field of non-volatile charge-trapping memory devices. In particular, the present invention relates to a method for extracting the spatial distribution of charge stored in a charge-trapping layer of a semiconductor device, according to the preamble of the first claim.
2. Background Art
Non-volatile memories (NVM) are characterized by the fact that once a bit is stored in a memory cell this bit will be retained even when the memory cell is no longer powered. When electrical fields are used for erasing and programming of the memory cell, the NVM devices are also known as EEPROM (Electrically-Erasable-and-Programmable-Read-Only-Memory) devices. Whereas in floating gate EEPROM devices charge is stored in a conductive layer being part of a double-capacitor structure, in charge-trapping EEPROM devices charge is stored in a non-conductive layer being part of a single-capacitor structure. In such non-conductive charge-storage layer, e.g. nitride, oxide containing polysilicon nanocrystals or metal nanoparticles, the charge will not spread out uniformly over the whole of the charge-storage layer but will be confined substantially to the location where the charge was introduced into this non-conductive charge-storage layer. Charge-trapping memory devices are characterized by the presence of discrete charge traps as memory elements contrary to floating gate memory devices where a conductive layer is used as one continuous charge trap for storing charge. Developments in EEPROM devices are increasingly focused on localized charge trapping because it eases integration and reduces stress-induced-leakage. In particular NROM™ devices using nitride as non-conductive charge-storage layer as disclosed for example by B. Eitan in international application W099/070000, are very attractive since they allow storage of two physical bits per memory cell, each bit at a different location in the nitride charge-storage layer. By injecting carriers, e.g. electrons, in the nitride layer the NROM™ cell is programmed. In order to erase the NROM™ cell opposite-type carriers are injected in the nitride layer as to compensate the charge stored during programming, e.g. holes are injected in the nitride layer to compensate the electrons already present. However, poor endurance and poor retention after cycling, i.e. repetitive programming and erasing of a cell, are major drawbacks of NROM™.
Currently the exact cause of the poor endurance and poor charge retention properties of non-volatile charge-trapping memory devices, in particular of NROM™ devices, is not yet known, impeding the improvement of these properties. One method to determine the lateral distribution of charge in MOSFET-type devices is the technique known as Charge-Pumping (CP). This method was initially developed to study hot-carrier-induced degradation mechanisms in MOSFET-type devices. Charge-pumping measurements are a powerful technique for obtaining information on the charge trapped in a MOSFET-type device by scanning the threshold voltage along the channel of the device. M. Rosmeulen et al teaches in "Characterization of the spatial charge distribution in local charge-trapping memory devices using the charge-pumping technique", (Solid-State Electronics journal, volume 48 (2004) p 1525-1530), the application of the charge-pumping technique to non-volatile memory devices which are based on localized trapping of charge, in particular to n-type NROM™ devices using nitride or silicon-rich-oxide as trapping medium and injection of electrons for programming the memory cell. In particular section 3.3 of this disclosure, hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety, teaches how the lateral distribution of the total charge trapped in the device can be directly calculated from the charge-pumping measurements using a deconvolution-based procedure. Although this measurement procedure allows extracting the lateral distribution of electrons injected in the device during a programming step, it doesn't take into account the variation of the density of charge traps present at the interface between the channel and the dielectric stack and assumes this density to be uniform along the channel. Moreover when the device is subjected to multiple program/erase steps, this interface will be degraded due to this electrical stress. Additional interface traps Nit will be formed in a non-uniform way, in particular when erasing the memory device by injection of holes. Due to the sensitivity of the charge-pumping measurements to this interface degradation, an accurate extraction of the lateral distribution of charge injected in the trapping medium during a programming or erasing step in a degraded device is therefore impossible due the non-uniform distribution of the interface traps.
On the other hand Chim et al. describe in "Extraction of metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect-transistor interface state and trapped charge spatial distributions using a physics-based algoritm" (Journal Applied Physics, volume 81(4) (1997), p 1993-2001) a charge extraction algorithm based on charge-pumping measurement data to gain insight in the hot-carrier-induced degradation mechanisms of MOSFETs and to extract both interface traps Nit and oxide charge Not. However as this technique is based on an iteration scheme starting from values of interface traps, local threshold voltages etc, which are estimated in view of the expected results, its accuracy can be questioned.
Thus, there is a need for a method to determine the spatial distribution of charge trapped in a dielectric and in interface traps of a MOSFET-type device.

Method for extracting the distribution of charge stored in a semiconductor device

Interuniversitair Microelektronica Centrum (IMEC)


In one aspect, a device includes at least one processor and storage accessible to the at least one processor. The storage may include instructions executable by the at least one processor to analyze a user's gameplay of a video game and to curate one or more video clips based on the user's gameplay. The video game clips may be curated based on player input to an input device, player audio from a microphone, and/or player video from a camera.

Video game use is increasing in magnitude and popularity. In fact, many people now spend their free time watching other people play video games as opposed to actually playing themselves. As recognized herein, while these people and the players themselves can watch gameplay in real time or after the fact, there may be instances where a person may wish to view specific instances or features of gameplay after the fact but does not have the ability to do so in any meaningful and efficient way. There are currently no adequate solutions to the foregoing computer-related, technological problem.

Techniques for curation of video game clips


An RF receiver which produces quadrature digitized outputs and has a gain control is coupled to a digital gain controller which converts the quadrature digitized outputs into an rms voltage, and iterates over a finite number of steps to quickly control the gain to a level sufficient to achieve subsequent digital signal processing without limitations caused by insufficient dynamic range or nonlinear saturation effects caused by insufficient signal or excessive signal at the A/D input, respectively.

RF amplifiers, mixers, and baseband converters are well known in the art of high frequency signal processing. One of the characteristics of an RF receiver is gain control, and one of the limitations of the output of an RF receiver is saturation, whereby the signal level is amplified beyond the linear region of operation of the amplifier. Typically, in an RF receiver, each successive stage generates signal gain, and in a digital signal processing system which accepts as input the A/D outputs of the RF receiver. For best noise performance, each stage has a gain characteristic which exceeds its noise contribution, so that in well-designed systems, it is usually the last stage of the amplifier chain which saturates from excessive gain for a given input signal level. For a digital system, this last stage is the A/D converter, and it is possible to measure the signal level generated by the A/D converter and determine whether to increase or decrease the gain of the system. For a wireless communications system operating under the IEEE 802.11 series of standards, it is further desired to make gain adjustments during the initial stage of the packet known as the preamble.
FIG. 1 shows an IEEE 802.11 wireless Ethernet packet 10. The IEEE standards have provided an initial set of specifications for 802.11, and subsequent revisions to the specification have added, and continue to add additional standards, which are reflected in a suffix letter. The group of standards having the 802 prefix are known collectively as Ethernet standards. Currently approved IEEE standards for wireless communications are IEEE 802.11, IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g, and others are in development. In the present invention, we will refer to the entire body of current and future IEEE 802.11 standards simply as 802.11. The wireless packet 10 comprises a preamble 12 which has a preamble time T1 16, and is followed by the data frame 14 which occupies a data time T2 18. The communications system receiving this packet has the duration of the preamble T1 16 to accomplish synchronization and set the gain control. For 802.11b T1=15 us, and for 802.11a T1=6 us. Prior art Automatic Gain Control (AGC) systems typically accommodate slow changes in AGC level over long intervals of time. In 802.11 wireless communications, the distinction is that the information arrives in discrete packets from different transmitter sources, and each packet may require its own AGC level.
FIG. 2a shows a prior art RF receiver, as might be used in an 802.11 wireless system. This type of system is known as a dual conversion receiver, and comprises an antenna 22 for receiving incoming signals, an RF receiver 20 for processing and baseband converting these signals into a quadrature pair of signals 21 and 23, and analog to digital (A/D) converters 24 and 26 for converting these signals into a pair of quadrature digital outputs 25 and 27, each with a data width Ndata. There are several signal processing methods for realizing an RF receiver, and prior art FIG. 2a shows a dual conversion receiver. Incoming signals are amplified by preamp 28, which has a gain control input for receiving an analog signal from a D/A converter 29, which produces this gain control signal from a digital preamplifier gain port 50. This gain control input 50 causes a varying amount of gain to be generated by preamplifier 28, which delivers the amplified signal to a mixer 30, which frequency converts the RF signal to an intermediate frequency (IF) with the use of a first local oscillator 32. An IF filter 34 removes the unwanted image frequencies, and the IF amplifier 36 amplifies the IF signals and provides them to a pair of mixers 38 and 42. Quadrature local oscillators 40 and 44 produce a pair of baseband detection signals which are phase coherent single frequency signals separated in phase by 90 degrees. These quadrature signals are provided to the mixers 38 and 42, and low pass filters 46 and 48 remove all but the quadrature baseband signals 21 and 23, which is suitable for conversion with A/D converters 24 and 26. In a typical RF system, preamplifier 28 has a small amount of gain control, and IF amplifier 36 has a larger amount of gain control. The characteristic of gain control is often exponential with applied voltage, producing a gain/control characteristic of db/volt. An RF receiver where the gain control has the characteristic of increasing gain with increased control is known as a "positive gain control amplifier", and an RF receiver where the gain decreases with increased control is known as a "negative gain control amplifier".
FIG. 2b shows a prior art direct-conversion RF receiver 60. Signals from an antenna 62 are delivered to the RF receiver 60, and are applied to variable gain preamplifier 64, as before. The amplified signals are applied directly to a quadrature detector comprising a pair of mixers 68 and 72, which are driven by quadrature local oscillators 70 and 74. Matched low pass filters 76 and 78 produce signals for the A/D converters 80 and 82, which simultaneously sample the signals to produce I (in-phase) 81 and Q (quadrature) 83 digital signals, each with a word size of Ndata. Gain control port 66 operates as before, where a digital signal is sent through a D/A converter to produce a control signal for preamplifier 64.
FIG. 3 shows the nature of gain control for an exemplar system. An arbitrary signal level is applied to the antenna of the systems of either FIG. 2a or 2b, and produces an output at the A/D converter. For optimal performance, sufficient gain control should be applied to the RF receiver to move the signal to the range noted as optimal RMS (Root Mean Square) level 91, which corresponds to an "optimum gain control input range" 90. This is accomplished by applying the suitable level of gain control to achieve the optimum RMS input level 91, which depends on whether the amplifier has a positive gain control characteristic 92, or a negative gain control characteristic 94, as well as the sensitivity and saturation characteristic of the gain curve. A digital gain control input Vagc 96 is applied which exponentially changes the gain according to 92 or 94, and the gain control range 90 which causes the A/D to receive optimum RMS voltage levels is the desired gain control range 90. This level must be reached during time T1 of FIG. 1, while still allowing enough time for system synchronization to occur on the preamble 12.
It is desired to have an AGC apparatus and method for an RF receiver having a gain control and digitized outputs which acts upon the digitized outputs and provides the gain control signal to quickly bring the gain of the RF receiver to a level sufficient to allow subsequent signal processing. It is further desired for the AGC apparatus and method to settle to a usable level of gain during the time of reception of the preamble of the wireless packet.

Digital automatic gain control method and apparatus


The present invention is directed to a system and a method for calibrating a lithography stepper system. The system includes a lithography stepper system, measurement system such as a scatterometry system, and a processor for correlating an ideal xe2x80x9cgolden standardxe2x80x9d characterization signature to a test structure characterization data set, based on a plurality of focus and exposure conditions.

The present invention relates generally to the fabrication of a semiconductor device and more particularly to a system and a method for characterizing lithography test structures formed using a stepper system and using that information to calibrate focus and exposure settings of the stepper system.
In the semiconductor industry, there is a continuing trend toward higher device densities. To achieve these high densities there has been and continues to be efforts toward scaling down device dimensions (e.g., at submicron levels) on semiconductor wafers. In order to accomplish such high device packing density, smaller and smaller feature sizes are required. This may include the width and spacing of interconnecting lines, spacing and diameter of contact holes, and the surface geometry such as corners and edges of various features.
The requirement of small features with close spacing between adjacent features requires high resolution lithographic processes. In general, lithography involves the transfer of a pattern or image from one medium to another, as from a mask to a wafer. In particular, a mask can be used to shield one area of the wafer while exposing another in a lithography stepper system. For example, a photoresist is applied to a wafer which is then aligned to a mask. Then, an illumination source such as ultraviolet or x-ray radiation can be projected through the mask, thereby exposing the photoresist with the mask pattern. The wafer is then indexed, or xe2x80x9csteppedxe2x80x9d via a wafer stage system, and the image transfer is repeated at another location on the wafer. The wafer is then developed to remove the exposed photoresist and baked to harden the remaining photoresist pattern. Areas of the wafer not covered by the hardened photoresist are then etched away or otherwise processed, and the wafer is inspected to ensure the image transfer from the mask to the top layer is correct. This process is repeated several times until all of the active devices and features have been formed.
During the image transfer process of fabricating a semiconductor, many variables can affect the critical dimensions of fabricated features on the wafer. Specifications must be held within very close tolerances to meet device performance requirements, thus requiring precise adjustment of system variables. Calibration of variables within a lithography stepper system based upon an ideal control standard is typically required on a periodic basis to achieve a uniform process. For example, an in-house control specimen, or xe2x80x9cgolden standardxe2x80x9d, can act as a base precision standard, from which process parameters can be adjusted to account for variations in the system. The calibration using the xe2x80x9cgolden standardxe2x80x9d is typically performed manually, and can be subjective and time consuming. In an exemplary manual calibration procedure, test structures are exposed and developed on a test wafer with multiple focus and/or exposure conditions. The test wafer is then inspected via optical microscope and compared to an ideal standard. Upon visual analysis, if a perceived disparity occurs between the test wafer and the ideal standard, a correction is made to the focus and/or exposure settings and the procedure is repeated. Thus, due to the manual calibration inefficiencies and subjectivity, an efficient and objective means for calibration of the lithography stepper system utilizing an ideal, or xe2x80x9cgolden standardxe2x80x9d is desired to increase precision in the image transfer process.
The following presents a simplified summary of the invention in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the invention. This summary is not an extensive overview of the invention. It is intended to neither identify key or critical elements of the invention nor delineate the scope of the invention. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of the invention in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.
The present invention generally relates to the fabrication of a semiconductor device and more particularly to a system and a method for characterizing lithography test structures formed using a stepper system. The characterization information is used in conjunction with information from a predetermined ideal standard to calibrate focus and exposure settings of the stepper system.
The calibration of focus and exposure settings in a lithography stepper system can vary the structural profile of features formed on a wafer and thus affect an overall performance of a semiconductor device. Defective features may result in reduced performance of the semiconductor device. Thus, there is a need to accurately calibrate the focus and exposure settings of a stepper system before the actual production runs of wafers begins. According to one aspect of the invention, a calibration is accomplished by obtaining information from generated calibration test structures (e.g., gratings) from the stepper system for a variety of focus and exposure conditions and comparing the information to an ideal sample or xe2x80x9cgolden standardxe2x80x9d in order to ascertain an optimal focus and exposure condition and thereby increase the quality and precision of a fabrication process prior to production runs.
The present invention is directed to a system and a method for calibrating focus and exposure settings in a lithography stepper system. A stepper system is employed to print a plurality of test structures (e.g., a grating), at a variety of focus and exposure conditions. The generated plurality of test structures are further developed, wherein each has feature characteristics which are a function of their associated focus and exposure conditions. Each of the test structures is then measured and characterized, for example, using scatterometry, to generate characterization data associated therewith. The characterization data is then compared to data representing ideal feature characteristics (e.g., a xe2x80x9cgolden standardxe2x80x9d data set) via, for example, a correlation to determine an optimal focus and exposure condition according to a predetermined criteria. Calibrating the focus and exposure conditions to an ideal xe2x80x9cgolden standardxe2x80x9d at the beginning of a production run facilitates achieving desired critical dimensions at production startup.
To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the invention comprises the features hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims. The following description and the annexed drawings set forth in detail certain illustrative embodiments of the invention. These embodiments are indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of the invention may be employed. Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the drawings.

Automated periodic focus and exposure calibration of a lithography stepper


A method, apparatus, and computer program product are provided in a data processing system for performing a logical partition migration utilizing multiple mover service partition pairs. Responsive to a virtual machine monitor initiating a logical partition migration operation to move a logical partition from a source system to a destination system, a plurality of input/output paths are established between a plurality of mover service partition pairs. The virtual machine monitor performs the logical partition migration operation using the plurality of mover service partition pairs to transfer a memory image of the logical partition from the source system to the destination system to effect the logical partition migration operation. Responsive to failure of one of the plurality of input/output paths, the virtual machine monitor may complete the logical partition migration operation using at least one remaining mover service partition pair.

The present application relates generally to an improved data processing apparatus and method and more specifically to mechanisms for utilizing multiple mobile service partitions during mobility operations to enhance performance and better utilize system resources.
Live Partition Mobility (LPM) is a feature of POWER6® and POWER7® servers that allows a running logical partition (LPAR) to be relocated from one system to another. POWER6 and POWER7 are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation in the United States and other countries. The source and target systems must have access to the same network and storage area networks (SANs) but need not be of the same type. Partitions that are to be relocated must be fully virtualized (i.e., have no dedicated input/output (I/O) adapters) although it is possible to use multi-pathing software to fail over to virtual adapters for the duration of the move.
Any sized partition can be moved; essentially, memory is copied asynchronously from one system to another to create a clone of a running partition, with "dirty" pages being re-copied as necessary. When a threshold is reached (i.e., when a high percentage of the pages have been successfully copied across), the partition is transitioned to the target machine and any remaining pages are copied across synchronously. The agents that carry out the memory copying are nominated Virtual I/O Servers (VIOS) on each machine. LPM is used to avoid outages for planned server maintenance, for load balancing across multiple servers and for energy conservation.

Performing a logical partition migration utilizing plural mover service partition pairs


A rotor for an electric machine includes a rotor yoke having a plurality of axial winding slots distributed on an outer periphery of the rotor yoke; a winding bar disposed in one of the plurality of axial winding slots, the winding bar having at least one winding end emerging axially from the rotor yoke so as to form an end winding; and a retaining device including a plurality of radial bolts, each of the plurality of radial bolts having a head fixedly connected to a shank, wherein the retaining device retains the end winding against a centrifugal force acting on the end winding.

As a result of the changed market economic conditions in the open electricity supply markets and the improved technologies in the field of power electronics, the subject of variable speed drives for energy production has gained in importance. For this purpose, doubly-fed asynchronous machines are preferably used, especially in the case of outputs of above 60 MVA.
The stator of this type of machine does not differ from those of salient pole synchronous machines which are used for this application. Machines of this type are characterized in that they are equipped with a three-phase winding both on the stator as well as on the rotor. In this case, the end windings of the rotor winding are customarily arranged on a cylindrical surface (see for example DE-A1-195 13 457).
As a result of centrifugal force, the winding bars have the tendency to move away from the center radially outwards during operation. The difficulty in the case of said construction of the end windings is in sufficiently protecting the bars of the winding against deformation as a result of mechanical forces. For this, three solutions are generally made available:                In the case of smaller machines, the entire end winding is wound with a plurality of layers consisting of steel wire. For production engineering reasons this is not advisable in the case of larger diameters.        In the case of machines with diameters of more than 2 meters, the end windings are fastened on the axial extension of the rotor yoke either by means of radial bolts or threaded rods with a support, as is described in the aforementioned publication, or        The entire end winding is enclosed by a shrunk-on steel cylinder, as is known in the case of non-salient pole synchronous machines.
The aforementioned publication concentrates particularly on the description of the overall construction with the associated end winding support system. The bolts which are used in this case serve for the radial support of the rotor end windings and are anchored in the axially raised rotor yoke (see FIGS. 4 and 5 of the publication with the bolts 37). The bolts are threaded rods which on the one hand are screwed (36) in the rotor yoke, and on the other hand, on the air-gap side, absorb the resulting centrifugal forces by means of rectangular individual elements and nuts. The disadvantage of the described system lies in the large number of individual parts and the associated risk of destruction of the machine when losing a bolt or a nut.
The development which is described in the following text deals in more detail with the bolts which are used and especially with their secure fixing.

Rotor for an electric machine having a retaining device for the end winding


The invention relates to a process for the detection of hydrocarbons other than methane in a gas predominantly or essentially comprising oxygen, as well as methane and the said hydrocarbons other than methane, the said process comprising:                a stage of detection of the combined hydrocarbons in the said gas, providing a first value for the combined hydrocarbons,        a stage of combustion of the hydrocarbons other than methane,        a stage of detection of methane in the said gas, providing a second value,        a stage of calculation of the amount of hydrocarbons other than methane by the difference between the first value and the second value.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of the detection of hydrocarbons other than methane in a gas comprising or essentially comprising oxygen and in particular a gas comprising at least 95% of oxygen with impurities, in particular hydrocarbon impurities, the said hydrocarbon impurities being, for example, present at less than 200 ppm.
The invention also relates to units for the production of gases from the air. This is because the presence of nonmethane hydrocarbons in the liquid oxygen bath of the evaporators of these production units leads to a risk of explosion when certain concentration limits are exceeded. These limits are defined in the operating instructions for the production units.
2. Description of the Related Art
The techniques currently used to identify and detect these hydrocarbons are, on the one hand, chromatography and, on the other hand, infrared spectrometry (FTIR).
Chromatography is a technique which has been used for a very long time. It is sequential and only allows the detection and measurement of a few preselected hydrocarbons. The capital investment and the maintenance costs of the chromatograph are high.
Infrared spectrometry (FTIR) is a technique which, although more effective than chromatography, is not completely comprehensive, as it requires an examination of the spectrum in order to search for an impurity which would not have been preselected. In addition, the equipment requires a high capital investment.
The problem is thus posed of finding a novel method and a novel device which make possible continuous measurement and continuous detection of hydrocarbons other than methane in a gas essentially comprising oxygen.
The problem is also posed of finding a method and a device which are simpler to employ and less costly than the prior techniques and devices.
The problem is also posed of finding a method and a device which make possible continuous measurement and continuous detection of hydrocarbons other than methane in a gas essentially comprising oxygen, the said hydrocarbons other than methane being present, with respect to methane, in a proportion of the order of a few percent.
The problem is also posed of ensuring the safety of units for the production of gases from the air, comprising an evaporator, by the continuous comprehensive detection of nonmethane gaseous hydro-carbons at a concentration of a few ppm (for example: less than 5 ppm) in the oxygen of the evaporator, which can itself comprise methane, for example at approximately 50 ppm.

Process and device for the detection of hydrocarbons in a gas

Abstract: The invention also relates to a device for implementing this process.

L'Air Liquide Societe Anonyme pour l'Etude et l'Exploitation des Procedes Georges Claude


Apparatus and method for controlling devices within a home network, and a home network system employing the same. The apparatus for controlling a plurality of devices connected in the home network includes a batch processing portion for generating a batch command for a certain service of services provided by the plurality of devices, to process the certain service as one job, and a control portion for controlling when a batch command is selected, the control portion for controlling a certain device that is designated by the selected batch command operates in accordance with the selected batch command. Accordingly, operations of the devices within the home network for providing the service can be processed as one job.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a home network, and more particularly to a method for providing a service in a manner of processing a set of pre-selected services with one batch command. The present application is based on Korean Patent Application No. 2001-5287 filed on Feb. 3, 2001, which is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
These days, due to advanced communication technology, many devices in home like information communicating devices such as personal computers, faxes, printers, etc., A/V devices such as TVs, DVDs, VCRs, etc., and home appliances such as electric cookers, refrigerators, washing machines, etc. are connected and used in a network under an external control. Studies are also under way to find out a more efficient method for providing service through such a network.
Meanwhile, the method for providing service through such a network has been disclosed by the same applicant in Korean Patent Application No. 2000-57991 filed Oct. 2, 2000, entitled 'Apparatus and method for controlling device in home network and system employing the same'.
FIG. 1 is a flowchart for explaining a conventional method for controlling devices in a home network.
Referring to FIG. 1, first, a web browser is activated in a device (step S102).
The device is accordingly connected to a URL of a lookup server that stores information about the devices connected through the home network (step S104). The lookup server will be described in greater detail later.
Then as shown in FIG. 2(a), a homepage displaying a list of devices connected in the home network is downloaded (step S106). In the homepage, every available device is displayed in the form of an icon.
A user selects one from the list of devices (step S108). Accordingly, the user is connected to a dynamic IP address of the selected device, and the homepage of the selected device is displayed (step S110).
If the user clicks on an icon representing a digital TV 01 (DTV 01), the homepage of the DTV is displayed as in FIG. 2(b). The reference character 'M' represents a cursor of a mouse.
The homepage of the selected device displays a list of available services.
The user selects one from the list of available services provided by the selected device (step S112). Then a sub-page, showing details of the selected service, is displayed (step S114).
If the user selects a service 3 in the screen of FIG. 2(b), the screen is displayed as in FIG. 2(c).
The user also selects the particulars of the selected service (step S116). According to the selected particulars, the selected device performs the selected service (step S118).
For example, if turning-on the DTV is the selected service, the DTV is turned on as in FIG. 2(d).
Although the detail of the selected service is selected once in the above description for the simplicity of description, there often is a case when the detail has to be selected more than once according to the type of the selected service.
Since the user has to select each device, service, and item related to the service every time he/she needs to use the service, the user experiences the inconvenience of having to carry out a set of routines in order to use the service.
Also, although the conventional method for providing the service through the home network uses a graphical user interface for the convenience of the user, the user still experiences inconvenience since he/she has to activate many steps until he/she finally activates the service.
Also, even for repeating the same service, the user still has to go back to the start and activate many steps.

Apparatus and method for controlling a device in a home network based upon a batch command that is generated when a name of the batch command, a name of the device, a service of the device and details related to the service are sequentially selected


Methods, systems, and computer-readable storage media for receiving a time-series of data values associated with a plurality of sensors, each sensor generating at least a portion of the time-series of a respective data value, providing a plurality of auto-regression models, each auto-regression model being provided based on a respective first sub-set of the time-series of data values used as input, and a respective second sub-set of the time-series of data values used as training data during a training process, receiving respective data values associated with a time from and generated by each of the plurality of sensors, determining respective predicted values for each of the auto-regression models, and selectively indicating that an anomaly is present in the system based on respective predicted values for each of the auto-regression models, and the respective data values associated with a time.

Within the area of IoT (Internet of Things), and particularly in predictive maintenance, a goal can include detecting potential failure of machines, components. Predicting failure is based on observations (sensor data) occurring before the failure critically affects the whole machine, and causes a breakdown. Accordingly, models are needed to detect behavior patterns of sensor values, which caused errors, and/or malfunction of a machine in the past. In many cases, no or only minimal training data is available. Consequently, standard classification algorithms are impractical.

Multivariate nonlinear autoregression for outlier detection