A protection device for an Optical Emission Spectrometer (OES) and a method of protecting a detector to which purge gas is supplied, in an OES, are disclosed. The protection device comprises a timer, which measures a parameter, such as a humidity value, indicative of a shut down time period following cessation of application of purge gas to the detector. The protection device comprises a processor, which determines a start-up time period, based on the parameter, during which purge gas is supplied to the detector prior to cooling of the detector. The processor may selectively trigger commencing or maintaining application of purge gas to the detector or cooling of the detector in dependence on the parameter.

Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry is an elemental analysis technique that derives its analytical data from the emission spectra of elements excited within a high temperature plasma. The purpose of the optical system in an ICP-OES is to separate element specific wavelengths of light that are emitted from the excited sample, and to focus the resolved light onto a detector as efficiently as possible.
The ICP-OES is comprised of five sections: a sample introduction region, a torch, a focusing optics region, a wavelength separation device (polychromator) and a detector. Light exiting the polychromator is focused onto the detector.
Traditionally, optical detection was carried out using a photomultiplier tube. Solid state charge transfer devices (CTDs) have replaced these in recent times. Charge transfer devices can be grouped broadly into two categories: Charge Injection Devices (CIDs) and Charge Coupled Devices (CCDs). Each is comprised of a doped silicon wafer forming a 2D pixel array. CIDs offer significant benefits in the field of atomic spectroscopy, when compared with other CTDs.
The detector in an OES is desirably capable of detecting light across a wide range of wavelengths in the visible and ultraviolet parts of the spectrum. For example, the iCap 7000 Plus Series ICP-OES supplied by Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc offers virtually continuous wavelength coverage across a range of 166.4 nm to 847.0 nm.
CID detectors require cooling to temperatures below zero Celsius—typically, −40 to −45 degrees Celsius—to achieve best performance. Cooling reduces the amount of dark current/noise. Moreover, CID detectors are purged with an inert gas such as argon or nitrogen that contains little or no water (around or less than 10 parts per million (10 ppm) of water). Such dry inert gas purging optimises transmission of light having a wavelength below around 190 nm.
If the CID detector is not purged, over time relatively moist air can leak into the detector chamber. Additionally or alternatively, the detector chamber may be purged with gas containing residual water, such as may happen if, for example, poorer quality purge gases such as welding argon are employed.
In either case, upon cooling the detector to its preferred sub-zero operating temperature, any water present will freeze on the detector surface. Reduced detector performance then occurs in the region of the frozen water and, in worst cases, the frozen water can irreparably damage the detector such that it must be replaced. Furthermore, the frozen water may reduce light transmission through the detector.
The present invention seeks to address this problem.

Detector protection in an optical emission speedometer


A method of reducing the acid concentration within gastric fluid, suppressing a tendency towards a strongly acidic pH within the gastric fluid, and inhibiting the production of gastrin involves the step of administering live or killed lactic acid bacterium (such as Lactobacillus johnsonii No. 1088) to a living subject. The invention also relates to a method of alleviating the side effects caused by continuous administration of a proton pump inhibitor by administering live or killed lactic acid bacterium to a living subject.

Gastrin, which is produced within the pyloric region of the stomach, is a hormone that has the effect of increasing the acid concentration within the gastric fluid and shifting the pH of the gastric fluid to a strongly acidic state (Schubert M L, Peura D A. Gastroenterology, 134: 1842 to 1860, 2008). In other words, by inhibiting the production of gastrin, the acid concentration within the gastric fluid can be reduced, and the tendency towards a highly acidic pH can be suppressed.
It has been reported that, in the stomachs of rats, there are indications that the production of gastrin is inhibited by the existence of bacteria (Uribe A, et al. Gastroenterology, 107: 1259 to 1269, 1994). Further, the stomachs of humans exist in a substantially-germ-free state, and compared with the stomachs of rodents, the acid concentration of the gastric fluid is higher, and the pH is more strongly acidic (Kabir A M, et al. Gut, 41: 49 to 55, 1997). One example of a bacterium that can reside in the human stomach is Helicobacter pylori, which is a known pathogenic bacterium. It has been reported that when the Helicobacter pylori is eradicated from an infected patient, the acid concentration within the gastric fluid increases, and the incidence rate of reflux esophagitis increases (Labenz J, et al. Gastroenterology, 112: 1442 to 1447, 1997).
Lactobacillus johnsonii No. 1088 (hereinafter abbreviated as "No. 1088") is a lactic acid bacterium of the genus Lactobacillus that has been developed by the inventors of the present invention, and because this bacterium was isolated from the gastric fluid of humans, it has extremely good acid resistance and is able to exist within the human stomach. Further, the bacterium has a powerful growth-inhibitory effect on pathogenic bacteria (such as Escherichia coli O-157 and Helicobacter pylori), and is an extremely useful bacterial strain even among the various bacteria of the genus Lactobacillus (accession number: NITE BP-278).

Lactic acid bacterium for inhibiting production of gastric acid and gastrin


Provided are industrial processes for producing a fatty acid alkyl ester from a natural oil feedstock or a mixed lipid feedstock, wherein the natural oil feedstock comprises a free (un-esterified) organic acid such as a free fatty acid, comprising: producing fatty acid alkyl esters using an alcoholysis reaction such as a vapor phase alcoholysis reaction or a supercritical alcoholysis reaction, wherein the alcoholysis reaction takes place under conditions comprising: mixing the natural oil feedstock and/or mixed lipid feedstock and alcohol into an alcoholysis reactor or equivalent, and then depressurizing, and then recovering the fatty acid alkyl esters from the alcoholysis reactor or equivalent by distillation in a distillation column, leaving a still pitch or distillation bottoms in the distillation column or equivalent, wherein the fatty acid alkyl esters can be removed from the alcoholysis reactor or equivalent with or without cooling of the reaction mixture prior to depressurization.

Biodiesel is a renewable fuel that can be blended with, or replace, conventional diesel fuel for combustion in diesel engines. Current commercial methods for the production of biodiesel involve subjecting natural oils (e.g. soybean oil or palm oil) to a transesterification process in which triglycerides within the natural oil feedstock are reacted with alcohol in the presence of a basic catalyst, e.g. sodium hydroxide or sodium methoxide, or a two-stage process wherein the oil is subjected to a first acid-catalyzed esterification reaction and then a second base-catalyzed transesterification reaction. The composition of the biodiesel product depends on the alcohol used in the transesterification reaction. For example, if methanol is the selected alcohol, the resultant biodiesel will be comprised of fatty acid methyl esters (FAME). If ethanol is the selected alcohol, the resultant biodiesel product will be comprised of fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEE).
In addition to biodiesel, the resulting product from the catalyzed transesterification of natural oils also contains glycerol (i.e. glycerin) and unreacted alcohol. The glycerol product is typically contaminated and unsuitable for use as high-value "food-grade" glycerol.
In order to obtain fuel-grade biodiesel product, e.g. a biodiesel meeting the specifications set forth in the American Society of Testing and Manufacturing (ASTM) Specification D6751, the transesterification product mixture must undergo further processing in order to separate the fatty acid alkyl esters from the reaction by-products such as glycerol, unreacted alcohol, water, free fatty acids, salts, and light and heavy organics. Conventional separation techniques, most typically liquid-liquid-type batch separation techniques, are time consuming, maintenance intensive, and economically inefficient.
Conventional biodiesel production techniques are also limited in their ability to process oils with high free fatty acid content, e.g. oils with free fatty acid contents of 10% or greater. This is primarily due to the tendency of free fatty acids to react with the catalyst, increasing catalyst replacement costs and lowering overall biodiesel yields. Such shortcomings limit the growth of the biodiesel market.
There still remains a need for an economical biodiesel process that can survive without government subsidy, as well as improve upon existing processes that are less environmentally friendly. Many traditional processes that utilize only base catalysis and refined feedstocks that cannot operate profitably without the RFS credit. Other processes—acid/base and enzymatic—while an improvement over the base catalyzed route due to their ability to convert high acid feedstocks, still come with their own problems associated with catalyst usage/recycle & waste disposal. And, while many have pursued the supercritical alcohol route, none have developed a process successful enough for wide commercial deployment. Thus, a heretofore unaddressed need exists in the industry to provide a commercial solution that improves upon all the shortcomings of existing technology.

Systems and methods for fatty acid alkyl ester production with recycling


An editor in an industrial automation environment comprises an input component that receives modification data relating to at least one of lifecycle and deployment of an object, the object is associated with a programmable logic controller and configured in accordance with a hierarchically structured data model. An implementation component can implement the modification data with respect to the object. The editor can further comprise a security component that determines that an entity providing the data to the input component is authorized to implement the modification data.

Due to advances in computing technology, businesses today are able to operate more efficiently when compared to substantially similar businesses only a few years ago. For example, internal networking enables employees of a company to communicate instantaneously by email, quickly transfer data files to disparate employees, manipulate data files, share data relevant to a project to reduce duplications in work product, etc. Furthermore, advancements in technology have enabled factory applications to become partially or completely automated. For instance, operations that once required workers to put themselves proximate to heavy machinery and other various hazardous conditions can now be completed at a safe distance therefrom.
Further, imperfections associated with human action have been minimized through employment of highly precise machines. Many of these factory devices supply data related to manufacturing to databases that are accessible by system/process/project managers on a factory floor. For instance, sensors and associated software can detect a number of instances that a particular machine has completed an operation given a defined amount of time. Also, data from sensors can be delivered to a processing unit relating to system alarms. Thus, a factory automation system can review collected data and automatically and/or semi-automatically schedule maintenance of a device, replacement of a device, and other various procedures that relate to automating a process.
While various advancements have been made with respect to automating an industrial process, utilization and design of controllers has been largely unchanged. In more detail, industrial controllers have been designed to efficiently undertake real-time control. For instance, conventional industrial controllers receive data from sensors and, based upon the received data, control an actuator, drive, or the like. These controllers recognize a source and/or destination of the data by way of a symbol and/or address associated with the source and/or destination. More particularly, industrial controllers include communications ports and/or adaptors, and sensors, actuators, drives, and the like are communicatively coupled to such ports/adaptors. Thus, a controller can recognize device identify when data is received and further deliver control data to an appropriate device.
As can be discerned from the above, data associated with conventional industrial controllers is created, delivered, and/or stored with a flat namespace data structure. In other words, all that can be discerned by reviewing data received and/or output by a controller is an identity of an actuator or sensor and a status thereof. This industrial controller architecture operates efficiently for real-time control of a particular device—however, problems can arise when data from industrial controllers is desired for use by a higher-level system. For example, if data from the controller was desired for use by a scheduling application, individual(s) familiar with the controller must determine which data is desirable, sort the data, package the data in a desired format, and thereafter map such data to the scheduling application. This introduces another layer of software, and thus provides opportunities for confusion in an industrial automation environment. The problem is compounded if several applications wish to utilize similar data. In operation, various controllers output data, package it in a flat namespace structure, and provide it to a network. Each application utilizing the data copies such data to internal memory, sorts the data, organizes the data, and packages the data in a desired format. Accordingly, multiple copies of similar data exist in a plurality of locations, where each copy of the data may be organized and packaged disparately.
Moreover, due to the aforementioned deficiencies associated with conventional controllers, it is currently not possible to provide detailed information to a controller regarding lifecycle and/or deployment of data. Rather, data generated by the controller is provided to a network, and then the data is consumed by applications that may utilize such data. The applications then peruse the data and have software associated therewith that is utilized to determine whether such data is needed, what the lifecycle is with respect to the data, and the like. This determination is made with respect to each application, thus creating inefficiency and affecting network speed.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Editing lifecycle and deployment of objects in an industrial automation environment


A method, apparatus and program product generate package files that are separately stored and selectively combined to generate a net file suited for system simulation and analysis. Selective combination of the package files using respective reference connections of each package enables focused and efficient modeling of design performance characteristics.

Advances in the field of computer and electronic system design continue to drive and facilitate greater processing efficiencies. Through modeling and other analysis, electronic files containing designs for electronic circuits and computer systems are optimized for use as templates for hardware manufacturing and networking. A typical computer/circuit design file includes text that accounts for numerous electronic hardware components. For example, a file containing a design commonly includes programmatic objects and identifiers descriptive of busses, microchips, expansion cards and other system hardware. A bus generally enables selective communication between a computer processor unit (CPU) and one or more components, such as those mounted on an expansion card. A typical bus, such as a Peripheral Component Interconnect or Industry Standard Architecture bus, may additionally couple to a main system circuit board. Expansion cards are typically thin, rectangular printed circuit boards that have connector pins along one edge that couple to corresponding sockets of the bus. Programmatic objects describing such components within the design file may include delay, routing, voltage, resistance, symbol and/or other parameter data.
In operation, actual components of a circuit cooperate to process electronic signals according to system requirements. More particularly, the components interconnect to generate and communicate electronic signals. Different combinations and configurations of components affect system performance. For example, component layout can impact system timing. System timing regards the arrival of a signal at a given component within a predetermined window of time. Each component visited along the path of a signal introduces varying delay that affects the time required for the signal to reach a destination component. Thus, successful timing requires coordination with other signals and signal paths to ensure coordinated system processing. Failure to achieve desired timing can result in processing delays, error and failure.
Another performance factor affected by system design is noise. Noise is characterized as static or interference introduced as the signal travels through system components and connections. As such, the electrical characteristics of the signal change as it propagates through a system. For instance, square wave characteristics of an input signal may become less distinct due to loss dispersion encountered in a system. While some tolerance of noise is typically built into a system design specification, unacceptable noise levels can severely impact signal clarity and system performance. For example, data may become corrupted, e.g., a binary "1" may register as a "0." Designs accommodating high noise levels thus run risk of pervasive error, to include unreliable results, as well as processing failure and delay.
Production of a hardware system represents a substantial investment of material, manpower and other economic resources. Consequently, it is advantageous to verify design integrity prior to committing it to hardware. More particularly, it is desirable to predict or otherwise analyze performance characteristics of a design prior to implementation. To this end, simulation programs, or engines, have been developed to model performance of the programmatic objects of a design. Such modeling practices help to assure conformity with system needs.
Ideally, a simulation engine could process a file containing the entire design, imparting comprehensive performance data to a user in a timely fashion. Due to the massive amounts of components associated with electrical circuit/computer system designs, however, modeling of a comprehensive system and/or network is impractical in terms of modeling every detail of a design. That is, no known simulation engine program can practically model signal flow through a design file that comprehensively addresses all aspects of a system. Processes needed to accomplish such modeling would exceed both processing capacities of known electronic systems, as well as practical time lines of system developers.
To this end, some conventional design processes try to approximate system performance using macrofiles that encapsulate or abstract critical component functionality, and that as a result, are relatively smaller in size. While the relatively smaller size of such macro level files can make simulation more manageable, extreme care and effort must be taken to ensure the macro level files possess the resolution and fidelity necessary to accurately model the system with meaningful veracity. For instance, an improperly constructed macro level file may ignore subtle, less critical components and electrical properties of a system that can nonetheless compromise accuracy in the aggregate. As such, and despite their relatively smaller size, the generation of each macro level file can be a painstaking, error prone and meticulous process that represents a substantial investment of manpower, memory and processing power.
In any case, the practicality and application of macro level files remains undermined by their inherent inflexibility. For instance, each macro level file is unique to a particular design and modeling scenario. As such, an entirely new macro level file must be generated from scratch in response to any design change. Because a typical design session involves frequent design changes, completely new macro level files must be generated numerous times. That is, an entire macro level file must be produced for every contemplated design modification to ensure optimized system performance. Moreover, the inflexibility of the highly structured macro files and associated modeling techniques largely discourages customized, focused and efficient analysis. For instance, a designer interested in the performance of only a portion of a system may nonetheless have to wait and sift through execution and analysis of an entire macro level file. Alternatively, a designer may be relegated to creating a file from scratch that simulates only a portion of interest. In either case, designers must re-accomplish work with sometimes preclusive frequency.
Consequently, and for in part the above delineated reasons, there exists a need for an improved manner of analyzing computer system performance.

Electronic circuit design analysis system

International Business Machines Corporation


An apparatus for releasably mounting a trolling motor on a watercraft and a trolling motor assembly which includes the inventive releasable mounting apparatus. The releasable mounting apparatus comprises a mounting bracket and a locking assembly which is releasably engageable with the mounting bracket at a first location and includes a cam structure which is rotatable for locking engagement with the mounting bracket at a second location.

Trolling motors are commonly used on bass boats, pontoon boats, and other watercraft for fishing or for other operations which require a relatively high degree of maneuverability along shorelines or in other tight locations. Various types of trolling motor assemblies are known in the art. One common type of trolling motor is a single tube assembly comprising: an electric motor and propeller assembly secured on the lower end of an elongate tube or other column; a control head or other housing structure attached in fixed position on the upper end of column; and an electrical cable extending through the column from the control head to the motor and propeller assembly for operating the motor. The single tube trolling motor will typically be either manually rotated or rotated by external mechanical means for steering the watercraft.
An example of another common type of trolling motor is a rotating tube assembly comprising: a control head or other housing structure having a fixed tube extending from the bottom thereof; a rotatable tube or other rotatable column having an upper end which is received in the control head and a lower end which projects from the lower end of the fixed column; an electric motor and propeller assembly secured on the lower end of the rotatable column; an electrical cable extending through the rotatable column from the control head to the propulsion motor for operating the motor; and a steering motor and gear assembly provided in the control head for rotating the rotatable column in order the turn the motor and propeller assembly for steering the watercraft.
Although some apparatuses have been developed and used for releasably mounting a trolling motor to a watercraft, the prior systems have had significant shortcomings. For example, the releasable mounting apparatuses used heretofore typically have had a significant amount of looseness in at least one direction and were therefore prone to rattling and other problems. In addition, the prior systems have typically been cumbersome to operate so that the installation and removal of the motor was tedious and difficult. Further, many of the prior systems have relied on the use of removable pins or other separate connections which have contributed to looseness, have been difficult to install and remove, and were easily dropped, misplaced, or lost.
Consequently, a need exists for an effective apparatus and system for releasably mounting a trolling motor on a watercraft. A need particularly exists for an apparatus which would allow the trolling motor to be quickly and easily attached to and detached from the bow of the watercraft or other location by hand, preferably without the need to use any tools. In addition, a need exists for a new detachable mounting system of this type which would provide high attachment preloads effective for preventing looseness and rattling and for providing a rigid, firm friction lock in all directions. Further, the new releasable mounting system would preferably not require the use of attachment pins or any other separate components which are easily dropped, misplaced, or lost or are difficult or cumbersome to install and remove.

Releasable mounting apparatus and trolling motor assembly


A well clean-up fluid system than can be used to remove the filter cake in horizontal and multilateral sections of extended-reach and maximum-reservoir-contact wells for both open and cased hole completions. The fluid system contains one or more low pH chelating agents and a viscoelastic surfactant. The fluid is injected through a drill pipe and starts reacting with the filter cake after rigging down. This method of the well clean-up eliminates the use of coil tubing, enzymes and corrosion inhibitors. The efficiency of filter cake removal is enhanced because the well clean-up fluid system has the ability to divert through the highly damaged areas of well or formation in the horizontal section.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to methods and compositions for removing a filter cake in a wellbore after drilling, especially horizontal sections of extended-reach and maximum-reservoir-contact wells in both open and cased hole completions.
2. Description of the Related Art
The "background" description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description which may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly or impliedly admitted as prior art against the present invention.
During drilling operations, the invasion of drilling fluid and particles that are smaller than the pore size of the drilled-formations into the zone around the well bore is one of the major factors contributing to reducing the productivity in the permeable zone by physical and/or chemical change to formation rock or fluids. This impairment is commonly referred to as formation damage. The volume of materials infiltrating the formation has a significant consequence on the extent of formation damage.
Typically over the permeable formation, filter cake is formed intentionally during drilling operations to prevent fluid losses to the formation and to allow good circulation of drilling fluids from the bottom hole to the surface. The filter cake composition depends on a well-designed drilling fluids and additives. The filter cake should allow for minimum filtration, e.g., minimum passage of drilling fluids through the filter cake into the formation, prevent invasion of solids into the formation, and withstand high differential overbalance pressures. For this reason, the drilling mud program usually involves comprehensive testing procedures to determine filtration rate and for better understanding of filter cake properties including cake porosity, permeability, structure, and others. Such information leads to the formation of an effective filter cake with properties that minimize the formations damage.
Investigators have strived to obtain a better understanding of the microscopic structure of the filter cakes by using different techniques. Several devices have been used to study the structure of filter cake such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF).
On the other hand, the generated filter cake has to be removable to maximize the well productivity. Thereby, good knowledge of filter cake structure and composition leads to successful selection of an effective and efficient process and recipe for removing the filter cake. This issue becomes more severe in the maximum-reservoir contact and extended-reach wells due to the heterogeneity of the filter cake properties in the horizontal section and the presence of the fine drilling cutting particles in the filter cake in high concentrations which also degrade the sealing properties of the cake and leads to deep invasion. This makes it critical for investigators to have an effective technique for obtaining a typical filter cake sample and for removing the filter cake from the well bore. A filter cake operation that suffers problem may lead to extra formation damage in the target hydrocarbon production formation on top of that already existing during drilling operation. This in turn will add to the challenges of casing the well. In one aspect, as a filter cake that is formed over a permeable formation can be designed to include a bridging agent and a polymeric suspending agent. Such additives may help prevent the invasion of drilling fluid and drilling solids into the formation during the drilling operation. The filter cake removal composition should not be too aggressive to avoid early failure which may cause low removal efficiency and loss of the removal composition. A filter cake removal solution/composition may contain acidic components which may corrode the metallic of surface of drilling, casing or completion equipment.
Several methods are employed to overcome the challenge. The most recent method is the employment of two stage filter cake removal as described in U.S. Patent Application Publications US20130146289, US20130146295 and PCT Patent Application Publication WO2013160334 (each incorporated herein by reference in its entirety) that includes an enzyme, and a mixture of hydrochloric acid and an organic acid to remove the filter cake generated by a manganese-tetra oxide-based drilling fluid. The two stage filter cake removal composition is used by first applying the enzyme in a first stage for about 1 to 4 days based on the filter cake composition, the enzyme concentration and its thermal stability. In a second stage a mixture of hydrochloric acid and an organic acid is applied to the filter cake in the target production formation for about 18 hours and at about 250° F. The method comprising two stages aims to remove the filter cake of target production zone over an extended reaction time to control fluid loss from the wellbore.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,569,814 and US2001/0036905 (each incorporated herein by reference in its entirety) discloses fluids and methods of removing the filter cake or cleaning the well after drilling that includes the use of the coiled tubing unit but may not be efficient towards long horizontal wells.
A filter cake removal recipe must therefore meet several important requirements in order to operate effectively and provide high removal efficiency. Uncontrolled fluid losses of treatment fluids during removing the filter cake is a problem associated with filter cake removal in long open hole laterals. Such losses may lead to large portions of the well bore being untreated in intervals and result in filter cake remaining in the well bore. In high contrast or dense filter cakes which have low permeability, this problem becomes more severe.
Extended-reach drilling in carbonate and sandstone reservoirs is being used due to several reasons such as offshore drilling, maximizing reservoir contact, increasing production rate, and for thin reservoir access. The well clean-up is a very difficult process in long lateral horizontal wells because drilling fluid invasion can cause substantial damage to the well and/or the formation. Typically a drilling rig takes several days to be rigged down from the well and during this period the damage to the well and/or to the formation may increase. Coiled tubing is conventionally required to place the clean-up fluids to remove the damage caused by drilling fluid which. Coiled tubing processes are costly and time consuming.
In some cases, the horizontal well length might reach 20,000 ft or more. Currently available well clean-up fluid formulations are not able to clean up the well after drilling. In addition, coiled tubing is needed after the rigging down process is completed. This means more time and more damage to the horizontal section. Long horizontal wells may benefit from very low reactive fluids to clean the well and delayed reaction until after placing the fluid in the well.
Therefore, a need exists for methods and compositions that can remain in contact with the filter cake for a period of time sufficient to degrade the filter cake and can divert treated fluid to different sections in long laterals.

King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals

King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology


Pure water dissolving nitrogen gas and containing microbubbles is supplied to a substrate. Since microbubbles are very minute in size and also have the electrostatic property, they can efficiently adsorb particles on the substrate surface or in the pure water. Further, since pure water dissolving nitrogen gas is unlikely to be charged, the pure water itself never carries new particles from each component of the apparatus. These functions allow efficient particle removal from the substrate surface or the liquid.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique for removing particles from substrate surfaces or liquids in a substrate processing apparatus for processing substrates, such as semiconductor substrates and glass substrates for liquid crystal displays or for photomasks, using liquids.
2. Description of the Background Art
In the substrate manufacturing process, there are conventionally known substrate processing apparatuses for performing predetermined processing on substrates by supplying liquids such as pure water and chemical solutions to the substrates. There are mainly two types of such substrate processing apparatuses: batch substrate processing apparatuses for processing a plurality of substrates at a time which are immersed together in a liquid retained in a processing bath; and single-substrate processing apparatuses for processing a single substrate held by a holder one by one by discharging a liquid onto the substrate surface.
Those substrate processing apparatuses remove particles attached on substrates or floating in liquids as appropriate. Particles are usually removed by forming liquid flows along substrate surfaces and carrying particles by the action of the liquid flows. In some cases, particles are removed by supplying bubbles in liquids to adsorb particles on the bubbles and carry them together.
However, there is a certain limit on the efficiency of particle removal by only using the action of liquid flows. Further, even in the case of using bubbles, bubble sizes usually generated with a bubbler are overwhelmingly larger than particle sizes and thus not optimum for particle removal. In recent years, the level of particles allowed in substrate processing is becoming higher. Accordingly, more efficient techniques for particle removal are required.

Substrate processing apparatus and method


Relatively high VOC hair styling compositions which provide good style retention without unacceptable stickiness or stiffness are disclosed. The compositions comprise from about 0.01% to about 20% of a hair styling polymer and a carrier comprising at least about 0.5%, by weight of the composition, of a first solvent selected from the group consisting of water; water soluble organic solvents; organic solvents which are strongly to moderately strong in hydrogen-bonding parameter; and mixtures thereof; wherein the first solvent is other than a C.sub.1 -C.sub.3 monohydric alcohol, a C.sub.1 --C.sub.3 ketone and a C.sub.1 -C.sub.3 ether, wherein the composition is characterized by a FFV and a CRI wherein (FFV.sup.-1 .times.1000).gtoreq.[(-2.635.times.CRI)+36.418].

The desire to have the hair retain a particular style or shape is widely held. The most common methodology for accomplishing this is by spraying a composition, typically from a mechanical pump spray device or from a pressurized aerosol canister, to the hair. Other means of providing style or shaping to the hair are mousses, gels, lotions and the like. Such compositions provide temporary setting benefits and can usually be removed by water or by shampooing. The materials used in these types of hair styling compositions are generally resins, gums, and adhesive polymers which are capable of imparting style or shape to the hair. Many of these products also contain lower alcohols in order to obtain good films of the polymer in a short period of time.
Many people desire a high level of style retention, or hold, from a styling product. Unfortunately, most current hair styling products having good hold characteristics suffer from the disadvantages of being either too stiff, not smooth or too sticky upon drying. Stiff compositions tend to be brittle and break down under common stresses such as wind, brushing, combing. Stiff compositions also tend to feel and look unnatural. Sticky compositions overcome many of the foregoing disadvantages of stiff compositions, because sticky compositions tend to be more forgiving, i.e., flexible, under stress and allow for restyling of the hair. However, sticky compositions have the disadvantage of leaving the hair with a heavy, coated feel and with a limp and unattractive appearance. Also, sticky compositions cause the hair to quickly become soiled from common contaminant sources such as dust, dirt, lint, sebum, etc.
One approach to minimizing stiffness and roughness of a hair styling composition is the incorporation of silicones, including silicone emulsions and microemulsions, in such compositions. Silicones tend to provide a desirably smooth or soft hair feel. Unfortunately, silicone emulsions tend to be difficult to formulate in hair styling compositions. Hair styling compositions tend to be complex, requiring a number of ingredients for different purposes, with potential for incompatibilities. For example, silicone emulsions tend to be unstable in compositions containing lower alcohols, resulting in phase separation of the composition. Other incompatibilities in the system, e.g., polymer-polymer or polymer-surfactant interactions, can also result in phase separation. This phase separation is not only undesirable for visual aesthetic reasons, but for performance reasons as well. When the product phase separates, hold and/or hair feel properties of the product tend to be negatively impacted.
Therefore, a need exists for hair styling compositions providing good style retention without the disadvantages of stiff or sticky compositions. There is a particular need for hair styling compositions containing lower alcohols providing good style retention without the disadvantages of stiff or sticky compositions.
Surprisingly, the present invention provides hair styling compositions having good style retention without being stiff or sticky. The resulting hair styles obtained from using these compositions hold up well under the common stress conditions and other factors as mentioned above. Importantly, such compositions provide the benefit of allowing the user to restyle the hair without the need for reapplication of styling product. The styling compositions of the present invention leave the hair both feeling and looking natural. Also, these products do not have the disadvantage of causing the hair to quickly resoil.
It has been found in the present invention that compositions having certain properties, as defined by a Film Friction Value (FFV) and a Curl Retention Index (CRI), are particularly useful for providing strong hold in combination with good hair feel. The hair styling compositions, when dried, characteristically exhibit a Film Friction Value (FFV) and a Curl Retention Index (CRI) wherein (FFV.sup.-1 .times.1000) is equal to or greater than about [(-2.635.times.CRI)+36.418]. The compositions of the present invention provide the recited benefits by utilizing a hair styling polymer in combination with certain solvents.
It is therefore object of this invention to provide hair styling compositions that provide good style retention without unacceptable stiffness or stickiness. Another object of this invention is to provide hair styling compositions that both look and feel natural.
It is another an object of this invention to provide hair styling compositions containing silicone microemulsions, especially compositions which also contain lower alcohol.
It is another object of this invention to provide methods for styling and holding hair.
These and other objects will become readily apparent from the detailed description which follows.


A configuration of a coordinate position detection apparatus is provided that provides a sufficient sensitivity even in the case of a larger device. A coordinate position detection apparatus (100) includes: a first sensor electrode (Xi); a first capacitance detector (21) connected with the first sensor electrode (Xi) and including an integration circuit; a second sensor electrode (Yj); a second capacitance detector (22) connected with the second sensor electrode (Yj) and including an integration circuit; a coordinate computing unit (25); and a coordinate pointing device (30). In this coordinate position detection apparatus (100), when it is in a first input mode where the coordinate pointing device (30) inputs a coordinate position, a plurality of first and second capacitance detectors (21) and (22) are configured to detect a signal provided by the coordinate pointing device (30), and the coordinate pointing device (30) performs charging and the plurality of first and second capacitance detectors (21) and (22) perform integration during a unit detection period to measure capacitances. Based on the capacitances, the coordinate computing unit (25) determines the coordinate position.

Coordinate position detection apparatus are known where a touch pen including an oscillator circuit emits a signal to allow a coordinate position to be detected.
JP Hei08(1996)-095701 A discloses a transparent digitizer that can also serve as a touch panel and can be switched between pen-input mode and finger-input mode. In this transparent digitizer-cum-touch panel, an analog multiplexer selects two line-shaped coordinate detection electrodes, and a balanced AC signal supplied to such a coordinate detection electrode is detected by a differential amplifier to determine the coordinate position.


The invented method can be applied to a house, building or other structure to detect the presence of a water problem, even in areas that are not visible to the naked eye. The method includes a step of changing the temperature of the structure relative to its temperature existing immediately before the start of the method. The method also includes a step of infrared scanning the structure. Because moist structure areas are slow to move to the changed temperature compared to dry areas due to the relatively high thermal capacity of water, the changed temperature enables the infrared scanning step to readily contrast moisture-suspect areas of the structure from dry areas thereof. The method can also include steps of determining whether a moisture-suspect area does in fact contain moisture, or is due to other causes unrelated to moisture. If moisture is determined to be present in the moisture-suspect area, the method can also include a step of determining the source of the moisture by sampling and analyzing the moisture.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention is directed to detection and identification of the source of moisture in a building, house or other structure.
2. Description of the Related Art
The presence of moisture in a structure caused by a leak, for example, is often difficult to detect until the moisture has caused sufficient damage to be apparent to the naked eye. In most cases, moisture from rain or ground can seep inside the walls, ceiling, floor, roof or foundation of a structure and cause widespread damage before being outwardly apparent. By the time the damage is noticeable, however, the structure is often extensively damaged, and requires significant and costly repair work, if the structure can be saved at all. It would therefore be advantageous to detect moisture before the structure is extensively damaged and at a time at which the cause of the moisture source can be stopped without extensive and costly repair. In addition, because repair may necessitate destruction of a portion of the structure to access the water-damaged areas, it is desirable to locate exactly where moisture is and is not present in the structure so that undamaged portions of the structure can be left intact while repairing the damaged portions of the structure and stopping the source of the water problem.
A technology that is somewhat related to this invention is used to detect drafts in a house or building for energy consumption analysis. In this technology, a door is removed from the structure and a vacuum duct is attached about the doorway. The vacuum draws air into the structure through cracks or other openings in the structure, and the structure is examined with an infrared scanner. The infrared scanner reveals relatively cool areas of the structure in which air is drawn into the structure with the vacuum system. Although this technology is meritorious to an extent in detecting drafts, it is not intended, and is totally ineffective, for the detection of leaks or other moisture-producing sources that can cause major damage to a structure.

Moisture detection and source identification method for structures


A gear transmission mechanism (2) for motor vehicles having a main shaft (10, 12) and a countershaft (14) parallel to one another, on which different gears for different gear ratios are arranged. The countershaft (14) is arranged above a horizontal plane (X-Y axis) containing a main shaft axis (16) with respect to the axle system of the vehicle so that installation space for the functional components (gearshift elements 18, a hydraulic system 20) of the transmission is available below the gearset formed by the gearbox wheels.

Gear transmission mechanisms with one main shaft and one countershaft parallel to one another have been known for some time and are in use in multiple embodiments, particularly as vehicle gearboxes. Several idly rotatable gears, so-called idler gears, are arranged on the main shaft and permanently engage with assigned rotationally fixed counter gears arranged on the countershaft. The different pairs of idler gears/counter gears correspond to the different gear ratios of the gearbox, as is generally known and therefore not explained here in detail.
The torque initiated in the transmission by the drive motor, via at least one clutch, is transmitted to the countershaft, via a countershaft gear cluster, and from there to the corresponding idler gears, via the torque-proof counter gears, arranged on the countershaft. The torque is transmitted to the main shaft and the output shaft, respectively, by coupling one of the idler gears via an assigned clutch, which subsequently actuates the drive wheels, via a differential gear.
With known gear transmission mechanisms, the countershaft is basically positioned below the main shaft with respect to the axle system of the vehicle, so that this transmission features a relatively large overall installed size below the main shaft that is generally co-axial to the transmission input shaft and the output shaft, which is often technically disadvantageous, since, apart from gearshift elements, hydraulic systems as well as an oil pan for the gearbox are mounted below the gearset arranged on the main shaft and countershaft. In such cases, a certain amount of unused free installation space remains above the gearset.
An example for a gear transmission mechanism is illustrated and described in DE 197 94 980 A1. In this transmission mechanism, the countershaft with the torque-proof counter gears arranged on it is located exactly below a main shaft with respect to the axle system of the vehicle so that most of the overall installed size of this transmission is located below the input shaft and output shaft respectively co-axial to the main shaft and little space is left for hydraulic systems and gearshift elements for the transmission.
DE 37 17 255 C2 shows a similar transmission, where the countershaft is also arranged below a main shaft. There is also an oil pan below the countershaft so that the primary overall installed size of the transmission extends far below the main shaft co-axial to the input and output shaft, respectively, and can therefore limit the ground clearance of the vehicle.
A construction design with a countershaft arranged below the main shaft can cause installation problems, particularly for double clutch transmissions since, owing to the complex activation of such a transmission, voluminous gearshift and hydraulic elements are positioned below the main shaft axis predetermined by the input and output shaft. In this case, a significant amount of excess installation space is left unused above the transmission, which is disadvantageous in modern motor vehicles because of the high packing density in the engine compartment.
An example of a gear transmission developed as a double clutch transmission, is shown in the document "Christiani—competent in the field of motor vehicles" at www.kfz-tech.de, under the caption "transmission with double clutch", where the illustration clearly shows that because of the countershaft located at the bottom, the overall installed size is significantly displaced downward.
Against this background, the object of the invention is to create a gear transmission mechanism, where the clearance in the engine compartment of a motor vehicle can generally be used more efficiently while, at the same time, not exceeding the lower limit of the installation space.

Gear transmission mechanism with a layshaft


A fingerprint image processing device includes a memory, and a processor coupled to the memory. The processor performs operations. The operations include reading a tenprint card image which includes a plurality of fingerprint patterns and at least one ruled line to separate one fingerprint imprint area from another fingerprint imprint area, and extracting from the tenprint card image a fingerprint image which includes at least one of the fingerprint patterns, apart of a fingerprint imprint area, and a part of a next fingerprint imprint area.

Generally, since a fingerprint composed of many ridges with striped pattern has two important characteristics of "permanence" and "uniqueness", it has been used for a person authentication method for a long time. Particularly, matching by using fingerprints left on the crime scene is an effective investigation method.
Recently, in many police agencies, a fingerprint matching system using a computer (a computing machine) has been introduced, and left fingerprint matching has been performed. As objects of the left fingerprint matching, a database of tenprint cards taken from criminals (suspects and arrestees) has been made.
Ten fingers are 10 fingers of both hands. The 5 fingers of the single hand are called a thumb finger, an index finger, a middle finger, a ring finger and a little finger.
As described in a non-patent literature 1 of "The Science of Fingerprints", the tenprint card includes a total of fourteen kinds of images (14 images) containing ten kinds of rolled prints and four kinds of plane prints or slap prints.
Here, it is assumed that, in the tenprint card, ten kinds of rolled print image frames (ruled line frame) and four kinds of slap print image frames (ruled line frame) are already printed.
The rolled print images are fingerprints of a thumb finger, an index finger, a middle finger, a ring finger and a little finger of both hands individually imprinted while these fingers are rolled from side to side, and are images widely taken containing right and left side portion regions of the fingers by rolling the fingers. That is, the rolled print images include a total of ten images (ten kinds of rolled print images) that are two images of rolled prints of a thumb finger, an index finger, a middle finger, a ring finger and a little finger of both hands.
The slap print images are images taken containing fingertip region of the fingers by not rolling the fingers from side to side but standing the fingers at front. The slap prints include: a thumb-finger slap (a slap print of a thumb finger) that a fingerprint of the thumb finger is individually imprinted; and a four-finger slap (four kinds of slap prints) that fingerprints of the other four fingers (an index finger, a middle finger, a ring finger and a little finger) are simultaneously imprinted. That is, the slap print images includes a total of four images that are two images of the thumb-finger slaps of the right and left hands and two images of the four-finger slaps of the right and left hands.
Accordingly, the tenprint card has the fourteen kinds of images and the rolled prints of ten fingers and the slap prints of ten fingers are printed in it.
In a non-patent literature 2 of "ANSI/NIST-ITL-1-2000 Data Format for the Interchange of Fingerprint, Facial, & Scar Mark & Tattoo (SMT) Information" standardized in U.S. NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology), a rule for creating a digital image by scanning a fingerprint image on the tenprint card is regulated.
This rule defines that fourteen individual images are created as digital images by segmenting the images along image frames on the tenprint card.
Furthermore, in this explanation, fingerprint images created as digital images with resolution of "500 ppi" are used based on this rule.
The slap print images are also used for checking a finger position error (an error of imprinting position) of the rolled prints by comparing the slap print images with the rolled print images.
The error of imprinting position is also called an error of imprinting sequence and this check is called a sequence check. The sequence check executed by a computer has started from the 1990's. This starts with segmenting individual fingers from the four-finger slap image. Segmenting the individual fingers from the four-finger slap is called slap fingerprint segmentation or slap segmentation.
A non-patent literature 3 of "NISTIR 7209 Slap Fingerprint Segmentation Evaluation 2004 (SlapSeg04 Analysis Report)" issued by U.S. NIST describes accuracy and problems regarding the slap fingerprint segmentation.
Recent fingerprint matching system is aimed at improving a hit rate of a left fingerprint by registering not only ten fingers of the rolled print images on the tenprint card but also ten fingers of the slap print images in the database and using them as objects for left fingerprint matching.
As described in the non-patent literature 1, appropriate fingerprint detection is that fingerprints are imprinted completely inside the image frames (the ruled line frames) printed on the tenprint card. However, since a criminal who is fingerprinted may be uncooperative for taking fingerprints, the taken fingerprint images may be protruded from the frames without appropriately imprinted inside the frames.
As a related art, a patent literature 1 (Japanese patent publication JP-Heisei 07-168925A) discloses a tenprint card input device. The tenprint card input device includes: a tenprint card image input section inputting image data of a tenprint card by an image scanner and so on; a data process section; an image storage section; a display device; a pointing device; and a segmented fingerprint image output section outputting fingerprint image data segmented in units of fingers. A segmentation information input section of the data process section memorizes the input tenprint card image data into the image storage section, overlaps ten segmentation frames for specifying respective segmentation ranges with the tenprint card image to displays them on the display device, and makes an operator input segmentation information for each finger. A segmentation editor section segments fingerprint images of respective fingers from the tenprint card image data of the image storage section based on the segmentation information, and edits and outputs the segmented fingerprint image.
In addition, a patent literature 2 (Japanese patent publication JP2003-173445A) discloses a fingerprint matching method and device. This related technique extracts the area of a region as core line stability, the region containing no feature point which is composed of points that a ridge of a fingerprint pattern diverges and points that a ridge ends and the region including a predetermined attention point as a center of the region, and then uses the region for matching.
Furthermore, a patent literature 3 (Japanese patent publication JP2004-078434A) discloses a striped pattern image appraising device and a striped pattern image. In this related technique, a feature point data matching section creates information of pair feature points. A core line data matching section creates information of core line points of a search side and a file side which make a pair. An image deformation correction section corrects data of the file side and reduces deformation of an image by using not only the information of the pair feature points but also the information of the core line points making a pair. An appraisive image edition display section outputs both of data of the search side and the corrected data of the file side in order to easily appraise the data. For example, the section overlaps the data of the search side with the corrected data of the file side and outputs them.
Moreover, a patent literature 4 (Japanese patent publication JP 2008-040693A) discloses a line noise removing device, a line noise removing method and a line noise removing program. This line noise removing device includes an image binarization section, a line noise certainty factor calculation section, a line noise region determination section, a density conversion section and an image synthesis section. The image binarization section creates a binary image by binarizing an input image. The line noise certainty factor calculation section creates a rotation image which the binary image is rotated for each of a plurality of rotation angles, calculates an edge feature value for each region continuing black pixels of each rotation image, and calculates a line noise certainty factor. The line noise region determination section selects a rotation angle candidate from the rotation angles, and determines a line noise region based on the line noise certainty factor, for the rotation image corresponding to each rotation angle candidate. The density conversion section creates a density conversion image by executes a local image enhancement on the region corresponding to the line noise region of the input image. The image synthesis section creates a synthesis image by synthesizing the density conversion images when a plurality of the rotation candidates is present.

Tenrprint card input device, tenrprint card input method and storage medium


A semiconductor device has a substrate and graphene with semiconducting properties or diamond region formed on the substrate. The graphene with semiconducting properties or diamond region is formed on or within the substrate using liquid-phase-epitaxy growth of graphene enabled by a catalytic alloy of Ni and Cu. The substrate can be silicon, silicon carbide, gallium arsenide, gallium nitride, germanium, or indium phosphide. A semiconductor component is formed over the graphene with semiconducting properties or diamond region and substrate. The semiconductor component can be a power MOSFET, IGBT, or CTIGBT with a gate structure formed over the substrate, source region adjacent to the gate structure, and drain region adjacent to the gate structure opposite the source region. The graphene with semiconducting properties or diamond region is formed under a gate of the MOSFET to reduce drain to source resistance, as well as providing radiation hardening for the device.

Semiconductor devices are commonly found in modern electronic products. Semiconductor devices vary in the number and density of electrical components. Discrete semiconductor devices generally contain one type of electrical component, e.g., light emitting diode (LED), small signal transistor, resistor, capacitor, inductor, and power metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET). Integrated semiconductor devices typically contain hundreds to millions of electrical components. Examples of integrated semiconductor devices include microcontrollers, microprocessors, charged-coupled devices (CCDs), solar cells, and digital micro-mirror devices (DMDs).
Semiconductor devices perform a wide range of functions, such as signal processing, high-speed calculations, transmitting and receiving electromagnetic signals, controlling electronic devices, transforming sunlight to electricity, and creating visual projections for television displays. Semiconductor devices are found in the fields of entertainment, communications, power conversion, networks, computers, and consumer products. Semiconductor devices are also found in military applications, aviation, automotive, industrial controllers, and office equipment.
MOSFETs are commonly used in electronic circuits, such as communication systems and power supplies. Power MOSFETs are particularly useful when used as electric switches to enable and disable the conduction of relatively large currents. The on/off state of the power MOSFET is controlled by applying and removing a triggering signal at the gate electrode. When turned on, the electric current in the MOSFET flows between the drain and source. When turned off, the electric current is blocked by the MOSFET.
Power MOSFETs are typically arranged in an array of hundreds or thousands of individual MOSFET cells electrically connected in parallel. The MOSFET cell has an inherent drain-source resistance (RDSON) in the conducting state. The width of the MOSFET cell influences the electrical resistance of the MOSFET cell. The larger the width, the smaller the resistance. Many applications such as portable electronic devices require a low operating voltage, e.g., less than 5 VDC. The low voltage electronic equipment in the portable electronic devices create a demand for power supplies that can deliver the requisite operating potential.
In FIG. 1, large-scale integrated circuits (LSIs) using silicon semiconductors are used in all kinds of electronic devices, from computers to smartphones and home appliances, and support our lives. LSIs have improved performance and power saving by reducing the size of the device to be configured, but the miniaturization of LSIs is approaching its limit, and the use of other methods and materials is being sought. Since the discovery of graphene in 2004, researchers around the world have been working on graphene synthesis and device applications. After all, graphene has a high mobility of 100,000 cm2/vs at room temperature, which is about 100 times that of silicon, and its excellent electrical properties are epoch-making materials for next-generation device materials.
In FIG. 2, researchers have successfully synthesized graphene nanoribbon (GNR) into semiconductors with a small band gap between the valence band, which is the energy band filled with electrons, and the conduction band through which electrons flow. The size of the bandgap is an important parameter that determines the ease of electricity flow in a semiconductor. For example, silicon is 1.1 eV and germanium is 0.67 eV, which are uniquely determined by the composition of the substance Semiconductor devices are commonly found in modern electronic products.
The structure of graphene, a substance in which carbon atoms are bonded in a plane, is precisely controlled, which is being researched as a next-generation electronic material that exceeds the limits of the current miniaturization of silicon semiconductors. GNR has extremely excellent electrical characteristics as a semiconductor. A GNR is about 2 nanometers wide for 17 atoms, and the band gap related to the ease of electricity flow is as small as about 0.6 eV (electron volt), and it can be used for both insulators and conductors. It has the optimum properties as a material for semiconductors. Graphene is a two-dimensional material in which carbon atoms are connected in a hexagonal grid with the thickness of one atomic layer. It usually has the properties of a conductor, but it is theoretically expected that a band gap will be formed by making a ribbon-shaped GNR that grows thin and long with a width of several nanometers, and that it will have the properties of a semiconductor. GNR technology can significantly reduce the bandgap from about 2 eV to 0.6 eV, so it operates with low power consumption and has high electron mobility. We can expect the realization of power-saving and ultra-high-speed electronic devices that take advantage of the excellent electrical characteristics of GNR such as the Power MOSFETs disclosed in this application.

Semiconductor device and method of forming low voltage power MOSFETs using graphene for metal layers and graphene nanoribbons for channel and drain enhancement regions of power vertical and lateral MOSFETs


A top-side cooled compact semiconductor package with integrated bypass capacitor is disclosed. The top-side cooled compact semiconductor package includes a circuit substrate with terminal leads, numerous semiconductor dies bonded atop the circuit substrate, numerous elevation-adaptive interconnection plates for bonding and interconnecting top contact areas of the semiconductor dies with the circuit substrate, a first member of the elevation-adaptive interconnection plates has a first flat-top area and a second member of the elevation-adaptive interconnection plates has a second flat-top area in level with the first flat-top area, a bypass capacitor, having two capacitor terminals located at its ends, stacked atop the two interconnection plate members while being bonded thereto via the first flat-top area and the second flat-top area for a reduced interconnection parasitic impedance.

Owing to their high integration density, extremely low quiescent leakage current and ever improving power handling capacity, power MOSFETs continue their popular adoption in power electronics such as switching power supplies and converters. Some of the highly important attributes of power MOSFETs are their continuously increasing degree of integration, shrinking package size and accompanying increased required heat dissipation driven by the consumer market.
The following lists some relevant prior arts already reviewed by U.S. application Ser. No. 12/326,065:
"DirectFET" approach (U.S. Pat. No. 6,624,522, U.S. Pat. No. 7,285,866 and U.S. Patent Application Publication 2007/0284722)
U.S. Pat. No. 6,777,800 entitled "Semiconductor die package including drain clip"
Commonly assigned U.S. application Ser. No. 11/799,467 entitled "SEMICONDUCTOR PACKAGE HAVING DIMPLED PLATE INTERCONNECTIONS"
U.S. Pat. No. 6,249,041 entitled "IC chip package with directly connected leads"
U.S. Pat. No. 4,935,803 entitled "Self-centering electrode for power devices"
Commonly assigned US Patent Application Publication 20080087992 entitled "Semiconductor package having a bridged plate interconnection"
Commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/130,663 entitled "CONDUCTIVE CLIP FOR SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE PACKAGE"
Commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/237,953 entitled "Top Exposed Clip with Window Array"
In a paper entitled "System in Package with Mounted Capacitor for Reduced Parasitic Inductance in Voltage Regulators" by T. Hashimoto et al, published in IEEE Proceedings of the 20th International Symposium on Power Semiconductor Devices & IC's, May 18-22, 2008 Orlando, Fla. pp. 315-318, a developed system in package (SiP) is described on which an input capacitor is mounted for voltage regulators (VR). For convenience of description, this paper is referred to hereinafter as "IEEE paper". A one-phase VR circuit including parasitic inductance (Ls1-Ls6) and an SiP, which has high-side and low-side MOSFETs and a driver IC, of the IEEE paper is reproduced here as FIG. 1. Correspondingly, two schematic cross-sections of SiPs on a printed circuit board (PCB) are reproduced in FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B.
In the SiP shown in FIG. 1A, the input capacitor is mounted on the PCB, and the MOSFETs are bonded to the lead frames with Cu leads. The calculated parasitic inductance of the SiP is 0.87 nH due to the parasitic inductances from Cin to the SiP (Ls1 and Ls6 shown in FIG. 1). In the improved SiP with a mounted input capacitor of FIG. 1B, the parasitic inductance is reduced by more than 50% (from 0.87 to 0.39 nH) because of a small loop from Cin to the SiP. The upper electrodes of MOSFETs (i.e. drain electrode of the high-side MOSFET and source electrode of the low-side MOSFET) are connected to the lead frames with Cu leads, on which Cin is mounted. High-side and low-side MOSFETs are mounted on the same lead frame, which connects to the output inductor. The high-side MOSFET die is flipped so that its drain electrode faces up, facilitating connection of the drain electrode to the positive terminal of Cin. Another advantage of the improved SiP of FIG. 1B comes from its lower equivalent series resistance (ESR) of the mounted capacitor that enables the reduction of capacitor loss from its resonant current.
Thus, the packaging concept as presented in the IEEE paper is based upon using FLIP-CHIP of standard BOTTOM DRAIN MOSFET dies. Copper leads are used for connecting the top of the MOSFET dies to lead frames. From the photograph of the IEEE paper, the construction details on how the Input Capacitor Cin is mounted on top of the SiP are limited although there is no evidence that the SiP is top exposed outside of the small contact openings made for Cin to increase top-side heat dissipation. Another observation is that the SiP of the IEEE paper does not top expose large areas above the High-side and Low-side MOSFET dies other than the ends of Cin.
In view of the above described prior arts, therefore, it remains highly desirable to further reduce the size of power semiconductor device SiP with an integrated input capacitor while reducing its packaging parasitic inductance and resistance, reducing ESR of its input capacitor and lowering its packaging thermal resistance.

Compact semiconductor package with integrated bypass capacitor and method


A portable data collection device having an imaging based dataform reader utilizing a binarization process to identify an imaged dataform or signature area with a target image area. An imaging assembly is provided that includes a board camera having black and white circuitry and generates a composite video signal representing an image of a target area of the imaging assembly when actuated. The imaging assembly includes a two dimensional photosensor array. The imaging assembly is selectively actuatable with a first trigger for reading a target dataform in the imaging assembly's target area and actuatable with a second trigger for capturing a image of the target object in the target area. When the device is operated in a dataform reading mode or in a signature area capture mode, binarization circuitry is provided that binarizes gray scale values generated from the composite video signal and examines the binary values to identify the imaged dataform or signature area. When operating in the signature area capture mode, the binarized data corresponding to the signature area is subject to data compression before being output. When operating in the dataform reading mode, the binarized data corresponding to the dataform are operated on by cell extraction circuitry and dataform decoding circuitry to decode the imaged dataform.

Portable data collection devices are widely used in manufacturing, service and package delivery industries to perform a variety of on-site data collection activities. Such portable data collection devices often include integrated bar code dataform readers adapted to read bar code dataforms affixed to products, product packaging and/or containers in warehouses, retail stores, shipping terminals, etc. for inventory control, tracking, production control and expediting, quality assurance and other purposes. Various bar code dataform readers have been proposed for portable data collection devices including laser scanners and one dimensional (1D) charge coupled device (CCD) imaging assemblies, both of which are capable of reading 1D bar code dataforms, that is, bar codes consisting of a single row of contrasting black bars and white spaces of varying widths. Both laser scanners and CCD imaging assemblies are also capable of reading a "stacked" two dimensional (2D) bar code dataforms, such as PDF417, which is comprised of a plurality of adjacent rows of bar code data. The stacked 2D bar code PDF417 includes row indicator patterns utilized by the dataform reader for vertical synchronization to permit reading successive rows of bar code data.
A two dimensional (2D) imaging based dataform reader has been proposed in U.S. application Ser. No. 08/544,618, filed Oct. 18, 1995, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 5,702,059 on Dec. 30, 1997, and entitled "Extended Working Range Dataform Reader Including Fuzzy Logic Image Control Circuitry". The 2D dataform reader disclosed in application Ser. No. 08/544,618, which is assigned to the assignee of the present application, includes an imaging assembly having a two dimensional array of photosensors adapted to read 2D bar code dataforms (e.g., PDF417, SuperCode, etc.) with vertical synchronization row indicator patterns as well as matrix dataforms (e.g., MaxiCode, DataMatrix, etc.) which do not include vertical synchronization patterns. The individual photosensors correspond to image picture elements or pixels of the resulting image generated with the photosensors are read out after an exposure period or periods. The 2D dataform reader disclosed in application Ser. No. 08/544,618 utilizes an open loop feedback control system including fuzzy logic circuitry to determine proper exposure time and gain parameters for a camera assembly. Application Ser. No. 08/544,618 is incorporated in its entirety herein by reference.
In addition to reading a dataform, it may also be desirable for a portable data collection device to be able to capture a signature. For example, in the package delivery industry, a dataform is attached to each package to be delivered. When the package is delivered to its intended addressee, the package's dataform is read to indicate that the package has been delivered. In addition, the person taking custody of the package confirms delivery by signing a log sheet or a shipping document. Typically, the signature of the person receiving the package is filed with the package delivery records.
In U.S. application Ser. No. 08/623,963, filed Mar. 29, 1996 now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 5,793,033 on Aug. 11, 1998, a portable data collection device is disclosed that includes an imaging based dataform reader with signature capture capability. A signature block was provided in which a recipient would sign his or her name. The signature block was at a predetermined location with respect to a dataform to be read. In one embodiment, the dataform included encoded information regarding the coordinates of the signature block with respect to the dataform. Upon reading the dataform and determining the coordinates of the signature block, data representative of the image of the signature block would be saved. The signature block data would be compressed prior to being transmitted or downloaded to a host computer. Application Ser. No. 08/623,963 is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
While the dataform reader disclosed in Ser. No. 08/623,963 is useful, it requires the signature block to be at a predetermined position with respect to a dataform to be read. Additionally, in the embodiment described above, data relating to the position of the signature block with respect to the dataform needs to be encoded in the dataform. This encoding of position data within the dataform necessarily reduces the coding area available for other desired information and represents an additional cost in the dataform creation process.
As such, what is needed is a portable data collection device including a dataform reader having the capability to identify and decode an imaged dataform and, additionally, identify and store an imaged signature area without the necessity of having the signature area being at a predetermined position with respect to a dataform or having signature area coordinate information encoded in the dataform.
Specifically, with regard to the package delivery industry, what is needed is a portable data collection device that has the capability of reading various bar code and matrix dataforms as well as recognizing and capturing an image area corresponding to a recipient's signature. The decoded dataform data and digital data representative of the captured signature may be stored in memory in the device and subsequently downloaded at the end of, for example, the delivery person's work shift. Alternately, the portable data collection device may advantageously be equipped with a radio transceiver and the decoded dataform data and the signature data may be transmitted via radio frequency (rf) signals to a host computer to permit real time updating of the status of a package to be delivered.

Hand held dataform reader utilizing binarization process for dataform and signature area capture


An information processing device (100) according to the present disclosure includes: an acquisition unit (141) configured to acquire a first image including a content image of an ear of a user; and a calculation unit (142) configured to calculate, based on the first image acquired by the acquisition unit (141), a head-related transfer function corresponding to the user by using a learned model having learned to output a head-related transfer function corresponding to an ear when an image including a content image of the ear is input.

A technology of stereoscopically reproducing an audio image at a headphone or the like by using a head-related transfer function (hereinafter also referred to as an HRTF) that mathematically expresses how sound travels from a sound source to an ear has been used.
The head-related transfer function largely differs among individuals, and thus it is desirable to use a head-related transfer function generated for each individual when the head-related transfer function is used. For example, a technology of generating a three-dimensional digital model (hereinafter referred to as a "3D model") of a head based on an image obtained by capturing an auricle of a user, and calculating a head-related transfer function of the user based on the generated 3D model has been known.

Information processing device, information processing method, and information processing program


A connecting device comprises: a first connecting element, comprising a stopping portion and at least two elastic cantilevers disposed at two ends of the stopping portion, a via hole being formed in the stopping portion between the two elastic cantilevers, and a snap-fit portion being disposed on each of the elastic cantilevers; and a second connecting element comprising an abutting portion and a push-pull portion perpendicularly connected with the abutting portion, positioning rings being disposed at both ends of the abutting portion respectively. The push-pull portion of the second connecting element is inserted through the via hole of the first connecting element, and the elastic cantilevers are inserted into the positioning rings respectively. Thus, assembly and detachment of the first connecting element and the second connecting element can be easily achieved by applying a force to the push-pull portion.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to the field of backlight modules, and more particularly, to a backlight module and a connecting device thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
A liquid crystal display (LCD) device generally comprises a backlight module, an LCD panel, a front frame and a plastic frame. The front frame cooperates with the plastic frame to fix the LCD panel, and the backlight module is fixed with the plastic frame to provide uniformly distributed light having an adequate brightness so that the LCD device can display an image normally. The backlight module comprises a light source, a light guide plate and a backplate. The light source and the light guide plate are both fixed to the backplate, and the backplate is fixed with the plastic frame so that the backlight module is fixed with the plastic frame.
In conventional designs of LCD devices, the backplate 1 and the plastic frame 2 are usually fixed together through screw connection or snap-fit connection. As shown in FIG. 1, the screw connection is achieved by forming via holes at corresponding assembling positions in the backplate 1 and the plastic frame 2 and inserting a screw 300 into the via holes to fix the backplate 1 and the plastic frame 2 together. As shown in FIG. 2, the snap-fit connection is achieved by forming a through-groove 400 in the plastic frame 2 and a protrusion 500 on the backplate 1 at a position where the backplate 1 is to be assembled with the plastic frame 2, and then snap-fitting the protrusion 500 into the through-groove 400 to fix the backplate 1 with the plastic frame 2. Although both the two ways can fix the backplate 1 and the plastic frame 2 together, the screw connection requires use of a tool for installation and detachment, which is inconvenient; and the snap-fit connection also requires use of a tool for detachment and tends to cause deformation and damage of the parts.

Backlight module and connecting device thereof

SHENZHEN CHINA STAR OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


The present invention concerns a method and a system for demodulating mutually interfering signals according to a suitable synchronism bond between said signals. With such a system a complete decoupling of the demodulators of said signals is obtained. The system is characterized in that on each polarization there is at least a pair of demodulators, a first pair operate a baseband conversion of both signal H and V using the carrier recovery circuit driven by data of one of the two signals (e.g. V) and a second pair operate still a baseband conversion of both signals H and V but using said carrier recovery circuit now driven by data of the other signal (e.g. H).

In microwave radio link digital transmission there is the need of increasing, as far as possible, the information transmitted per unit of occupied band.
The microwave transmission is typically carried out by transmitting two distinct signals on two right-angled "polarizations" of the electromagnetic field, hereinafter indicated by H and V.
Because of the non-ideal nature of the hardware and transmissive medium, signals H and V tend to interfere with each other considerably.
There are two conventional ways for making negligible the effects of such interference.
The first way consists in transmitting signals H and V on bands which are only partially overlapped, as indicated in FIG. 1.
In this way the portion of (e.g.) signal H which really interferes with V is small and the interference is tolerable. The interference zones are comprised between points I1-I2, I3-I4, etc.
The more efficient second way consists in the so-called re-use of frequency. In this instance the channeling of signals H and V may be represented as in FIG. 2, from which it appears that the transmissive capacity is doubled with respect to FIG. 1, but the two overlapped spectra (e.g. H1 and V1, H2 and V2, etc.) interfere completely.
In this instance the interference of (e.g.) H on V is much more sensible and is opposed through a suitable cancellation circuit which allows the cancellation of the interference itself.
The operation principle of the cancellation circuit, e.g., cancellation of the interference of H on V, is well known: the receiver of the V signal has also the received H signal; the cancellation circuit processes the H signal in such a way as to obtain a replica Hr which is as true as possible to said interference of H present on V.
The cancellation effect is obtained by subtracting the replica Hr (processed by the cancellation circuit) from signal V.
The usual hardware implementation of this system contemplates that receiver of V signal has at its disposal the received H signal downstream of the demodulator of H itself.
What has been described up to now is also true if V is replaced by H and H is replaced by V.
One of the drawbacks arising from the use of such a system is that when one of the two demodulators does not operate correctly (because of failure, adverse propagation or any other reason), the other receiver does not have the signal necessary for cancellation and, therefore, it is subjected to a sensible, no longer cancelable interference. In other words, if one of the demodulators fails, it not only loses its useful signal (e.g. H) but, worse still, it eliminates the possibility of operation also from the second demodulator (e.g. V). After all, one has the complete loss both of H and V, i.e. of all transmission on that carrier.

Method and system for synchronizing mutually interfering signals in digital radio transmissions with frequency re-use


A method and a network node (300) for enabling wireless communication with a wireless device (302), wherein no more than a pre-determined maximum total transmit power is available for downlink transmission by the network node (300). When detecting that the wireless device (302) requires an extended transmission range (300B) which is larger than a nominal transmission range (300A), a boosted transmit power is determined and used for transmitting a first set of channels and/or signals to be used by the wireless device (302) to achieve the extended transmission range (300B). An attenuated transmit power is also determined and used for transmitting a second set of channels and/or signals not included in the first set of channels and/or signals, which provides a slightly reduced transmission range (300C) for the second set. The boosted transmit power is thus higher than a nominal transmit power, and the attenuated transmit power is lower than the nominal transmit power, so that the total transmit power used for transmitting said first and second sets does not exceed the pre-determined maximum total transmit power.

In a wireless network comprising a plurality of network nodes, it is desirable to utilize available radio resources and network equipment as efficiently as possible so as to achieve high capacity and adequate performance in communication with wireless devices. The term "wireless network" is used in this description to denote any network comprising network nodes, such as base stations, access points, eNodeBs or the like, which are capable of radio communication with wireless devices, e.g. by transmitting channels and/or signals in subcarriers, resource blocks, resource elements, distributed across an available total frequency bandwidth.
The nodes in the wireless network that perform such radio communication with wireless devices are also generally denoted "network nodes" herein. Further, the term "wireless device" denotes any communication equipment that is capable of radio communication with network nodes in a wireless network. Some non-limiting examples of wireless devices that may be involved in the procedures described herein include mobile phones, smartphones, tablets, laptop computers and Machine-to-Machine, M2M, devices. Throughout this description, the term "User Equipment", UE, may be used instead of wireless device.
In a wireless network operating according to Long Term Evolution, LTE, as defined by the third Generation Partnership Project, 3GPP, signals are transmitted by the network nodes using Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing, OFDM, which is a method of encoding digital data on multiple carrier frequencies. For downlink transmission, various channels and/or signals can be organized in a resource block. The resource blocks are used for carrying various data and control information and also reference signals which can be used e.g. for various measurements and channel estimation. The term "resource block" is used herein as a generic term to represent a set of resource elements in which reference signals, user data and/or control data can be transmitted from a network node, regardless of how the resource elements are organized or arranged in the resource block. Further, resource elements in LTE are typically organized in a so-called "resource block pair" of 1 ms duration where a single resource block is defined with a duration of 0.5 ms. A resource block as described herein may in some examples be such a resource block pair as defined in LTE, although this description is not limited to the LTE definition of a resource block. Further, a Resource Element Group is a limited group of adjacent Resource Elements, REs, that are located in the control region of a resource block. A Resource Element Group may e.g. include 4-6 REs.
An example of how a resource block may be configured is illustrated in FIG. 1. A downlink transmission may comprise multiple parallel resource blocks which can be arranged in the frequency domain as distributed in a "stacked" manner across an available frequency bandwidth. In other words, the total available frequency bandwidth can be divided into a set of resource blocks which are thus separated in the frequency domain. One resource block 100, or resource block pair if using the LTE terminology, may extend over 180 kHz during 1 millisecond, ms. The resource block 100 can for example be further divided into 12 subcarriers in the frequency domain and into 14 OFDM symbols in the time domain, as shown in FIG. 1. The resource block 100 in FIG. 1 is thus effectively a "resource grid" divided into 12 elements in the frequency domain representing the subcarriers and 14 elements in the time domain representing the OFDM symbols.
In this example, the smallest resource in the resource block 100 is comprised of one Resource Element, RE, 100A which corresponds to the spectrum allocated for one subcarrier 100B during one OFDM symbol 100C. The resource block 100 in this example is thus comprised of 12×14 REs. The first 1 to 3 OFDM symbols may compose the control region where mainly the Physical Downlink Control Channel, PDCCH, can be multiplexed. The rest of the OFDM symbols in the resource block 100 may compose the data region where mainly the Physical Downlink Shared Channel, PDSCH, can be multiplexed.
Some predefined resource elements in preset positions in this time/frequency grid can be used for transmitting CRSs which are indicated in FIG. 1 as striped resource elements, while the resource elements used for user data and control data are shown to be non-striped. A predetermined sequence of CRSs thus occur in predefined RE positions which are known to the wireless devices. The CRSs can be used by the wireless devices for synchronization, channel estimation, determination of a Channel Quality Indicator, CQI, a Rank Indicator, RI and a Precoding Matrix Indicator, PMI, as well as for mobility measurements such as measuring Reference Signal Received Power, RSRP, and Reference Signal Received Quality, RSRQ, etc.
Since reference signals such as CRSs are used for cell or mobility measurements by wireless devices in idle mode which are more or less unknown to the network, the reference signals for mobility measurements effectively determine the coverage of a cell served by the network node. The wireless devices also need to receive synchronization signals, e.g. including a Primary Synchronization Signal PSS and a Secondary Synchronization Signal SSS, in order to connect to a cell and be able to receive and read various cell and system information in control channels broadcasted by the network node. In other words, the cell effectively extends as far as the synchronization signals, reference signals and cell and system information can be detected and used by a wireless device.
However, it is a problem that a certain limited amount of transmit power is typically available in the network node which may not be sufficient to provide the transmission range wanted for the cell. The total maximum transmit power available in the network node may be determined by existing equipment such as a power amplifier having a certain capacity.
When a network node is upgraded by employing new radio access technologies such as more advanced modulation and coding schemes MCSs, higher capacity and bitrates may be achieved although the communications may at the same time be more vulnerable to radio disturbances such as fading, noise and interference. This may result in shorter transmission range where a satisfactory signal quality can be achieved at a receiving wireless device, as illustrated in FIG. 2A where a new transmission, Tx, range is smaller than a previous Tx range that was achieved when using a more robust technology. As a result, cells of such upgraded network nodes may give rise to areas that lie outside their transmission range and which areas were previously covered by the previous Tx range, as illustrated in FIG. 2B where such an area is denoted "coverage hole". Furthermore, the transmit power that can be used for each transmitted downlink channel and signal may be limited depending on the available total maximum transmit power which must be sufficient for transmitting all channels and/or signals.
It may be possible to extend the coverage of the cell, or maintain the coverage when new radio access technologies are introduced, by installing a new power amplifier with higher capacity and/or by reconfiguring or "retuning" certain mobility parameters, sometimes referred to as Radio Resource Management, RRM, parameters. However, such solutions are quite expensive to employ for each network node, especially when a great number of network nodes need to be upgraded and/or reconfigured in the wireless network.

Method and network node for enabling wireless communication with a wireless device


An adhesive for polarizing plate used in order to provide a transparent protective film on at least one surface of a polarizer, comprising a crosslinking agent in the range of more than 30 parts by weight and 46 parts by weight or less relative to 100 parts by weight of a polyvinyl alcohol-based resin having an acetoacetyl group, is excellent in water resistance.

In a liquid crystal display, for example, it is indispensable to dispose polarizers on both sides of a glass substrate providing a surface of a liquid crystal panel according to an image formation scheme adopted in the display. A polarizer is generally obtained in a procedure in which a polyvinyl alcohol-based film is dyed with a dichroic material such as iodine, thereafter, the film is crosslinked with a crosslinking agent and then, mono-axially stretched to thereby form a film. Since the polarizer is fabricated by stretching, it is easy to shrink. Since a polyvinyl alcohol-based film comprises a hydrophilic polymer, the film is very easily deformed especially in a humidified condition. Since the film itself is weak in mechanical strength, there has been a problem that the film is torn. Hence, adopted is a reinforced polarizing plate fabricated in a procedure in which a transparent protective film or transparent protective films each made from triacetyl cellulose or the like are adhered to on one side or both sides of a polarizer. The polarizing plate is fabricated by adhere the transparent protective film onto a polarizer using an adhesive.
A liquid crystal display in recent years has broadened applications, which covers a wide range from a portable terminal to a home large-sized TV, and sets of specifications have been provided for various kinds of applications. Especially, in the application of a portable terminal, a user as a precondition carries on while moving; therefore, the portable terminal has very severe requirements for durability. Therefore, a polarizing plate is required a durability that any of characteristics, and a shape does not change even in a humidified condition where dew drops are formed.
A polarizer is, as described above, used as a polarizing plate obtained by being reinforced with the transparent protective film. As adhesives for the polarizing plate conventionally used in adhesion of the transparent protective film to the polarizer, preferable is an aqueous adhesive, for example a polyvinyl alcohol-based adhesive prepared by mixing a crosslinking agent into a polyvinyl alcohol aqueous solution. A polyvinyl alcohol-based resin adhesive has had a case where the transparent protective film is peeled at the interface between the polarizer and the transparent protective film in a humidified condition. This is considered because the polyvinyl alcohol-based resin, which is a main component of the adhesive, is a water-soluble polymer and therefore, there occurs a possibility that the adhesive dissolves thereof in an environment of dewing.
In light of the problems, proposal has been made of an adhesive for polarizing plate comprising a polyvinyl alcohol-based resin having an acetoacetyl group and a crosslinking agent (for example, Patent Document 1). Even the adhesive for polarizer described in patent document 1, however, is insufficient in water resistance.                Patent Document 1: JP-A No. 7-198945.

Adhesive for polarizing plate, polarizing plate, method for producing same, optical film and image display