A method of forming a gate of a flash memory cell, by which a coupling effect between floating and control gates can be enhanced by forming a polysilicon spacer in forming the floating gate to increase a surface area of the floating gate. The gate is formed by forming a nitride layer pattern on a substrate to define a prescribed space, forming a polysilicon spacer at a sidewall of the nitride layer pattern within the defined space on the first polysilicon, and removing the nitride layer pattern.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of forming a gate of a flash memory cell, by which a coupling effect between floating and control gates can be enhanced by forming a polysilicon spacer to increase a surface area of the floating gate.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Generally, a non-volatile semiconductor device enables to store data therein without power supply provided thereto as well as enables electrical data erase and write, and its application range expands in various fields.
The non-volatile semiconductor devices are categorized into the NAND type for high degree of device integration and the NOR type for high speed according to memory cell array structures thereof, respectively. Hence, their advantages are utilized popular for many applications.
The NOR type non-volatile semiconductor device directly associated with the present invention consists of a plurality of memory cells, each of which comprises a single transistor, connected parallel to one bit line. Specifically, one cell transistor is connected between a drain connected to the bit line and a source connected to a common source line to enable current increase and high-speed operation of the memory cell. Yet, areas occupied by a bit line contact and source line are increased to have difficulty in achieving high memory device integration.
In the above-featured NO type non-volatile semiconductor device, a memory cell is configured in a manner of stacking a floating gate, insulating interlayer, and control gate in turn. And, a series of device operations associated with data storage, erase, and read are performed in a following manner. In doing so, a programming associated with the data storage is performed by hot electron injection or F-N (fowler-Nordheim) tunneling and an erasing associated with the data erase is performed by F-N tunneling. In the following example, the programming is performed by hot electron injection.
First of all, the programming is explained. By applying a voltage to the bit line and the control gate to form a channel between the source and drain, hot electrons are generated from the drain. The generated electrons go over a gate insulating layer barrier or a tunneling insulating layer barrier due to the gate voltage to be injected into the floating gate. Hence, the programming is achieved so that data can be written in an erased cell.
Thus, if the floating gate is filled with electrons, a threshold voltage of the memory cell is raised by the electrons. If the cell is read by supplying a power source voltage (3.3V or 5V) to the control gate connected to the wordline, a current fails to flow therein since a channel fails to be formed due to the high threshold voltage. Hence, one kind of state can be memorized.
Meanwhile, in case of performing the erasing to store new information, the control gate is grounded and a strong electric field is applied between both ends of the gate insulating layer between the floating gate and the substrate by applying high voltage to the source. If so, the gate insulating layer barrier becomes thinner so that the electrons stored within the floating gate by F-N tunneling penetrate the thin insulating layer barrier to drain toward the substrate. Hence, the data erase is completed. As a result, there exist no electrons in the floating gate to lower the threshold voltage of the cell. If the cell is read by applying the power source voltage to the control gate, one state different from the previous state can be memorized.
Namely, the data read is performed in a manner of deciding a presence or non-presence of current of the memory cell transistor by applying an appropriate voltage to the bit line and control gate of the selected cell.
FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B are cross-sectional diagrams for explaining a method of forming a gate according to a related art.
FIG. 1A shows a step of depositing a gate insulating layer, a first conductor layer, a first insulating layer, and a second insulating layer.
Referring to FIG. 1A, a gate insulating layer 11 is formed on a substrate 10 having a prescribed device formed therein. A first conductor layer 12 for forming a floating gate is deposited on the gate insulating layer 11. And, a first insulating layer 13 and a second insulating layer 14 are stacked on the first conductor layer 12 for insulation between a control gate and floating gate that will be formed later. In doing so, the gate insulating layer 11 may be formed of either oxide or nitride. Preferably, the gate insulating layer 11 is formed of an upper oxide layer/nitride layer/lower oxide layer to have an ONO (oxide-nitride-oxide) structure.
Moreover, the first conductor layer 12 is formed in a manner of depositing silicon and crystallizing the deposited silicon into polysilicon or mono-crystalline silicon, which will be etched to form the floating gate. Preferably, the first and second insulating layers 13 and 14 are formed of oxide and nitride, respectively.
FIG. 1B shows a step of etching the second insulating layer, the first insulating layer, and the first conductor layer in turn to form a gate.
Referring to FIG. 1B, photoresist is coated on the second insulating layer. And, exposure and development are carried out on the photoresist to form a photoresist pattern (not shown in the drawing).
Subsequently, the second insulating layer, the first insulating layer, and the first conductor layer are etched using the photoresist pattern to form a floating gate pattern including the floating gate 15. In doing so, the oxide layer of the gate insulating layer 11 can be used as an etch stop layer.
However, in the related art gate forming method, a junction area between the control and floating gates is limited to a surface area of the floating gate only, whereby a coupling effect is small.

Method of forming gate of flash memory cell


A lever has a knob and an elongated part. In one of its ends, the elongated part carries the knob and is at a distance from the end connected to a mechanism that is to be operated, such as a gear box. The knob includes an electrical switch and is movable radially relative to the longitudinal axis of the lever part and has a cavity into which the lever part protrudes with one of its ends which also functions as a second contact element. The cavity has a peripheral surface which defines a space with the surface of the end of the lever part. In the space there is located an elastically deformable, ring-shaped centering element which at its outer periphery abuts against the peripheral surface of the space and at its inner periphery abuts against the surface of the lever part and a ring-shaped, electrical contact element. The contact element, which is part of the switch, is immovably connected to the knob and adapted to follow the knob in its radial movements. The centering element strives at centering the contact element relative to the end part of the lever part. In a neutral position for the knob, the movable contact element defines a space with the end part of the lever part. By a manual sidewards movement of the knob relative to the lever part, the ring-shaped contact element will be moved into an eccentric position and into contact with the second contact element.

The present invention relates to a control lever having a knob and an elongated lever part which at its one end carries the knob and at some distance from said end is connected to a mechanism that is to be operated, the knob having an electrical switch.
More particularly, the present invention relates to that type of control lever which has a knob in which an electrical switch has been arranged, which can be actuated manually for changing between different positions of the switch. It is also known to arrange electrical switches in levers, for example a pushing switch which is actuated by hand for switching, for instance, an overdrive gear attached to a lever. For the operation of airplanes it is further known to arrange different types of switches in joy sticks.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,183,424 discloses a gear change lever having an elastically mounted knob. The knob includes a spring element positioned below the contact elements. The spring element is an elastic centering element which requires a very symmetrically manufactured knob and a portion of the lever in order to maintain a clearance between the contact elements in a non-activated position. In practice, the clearance must be disadvantageously large in order to secure a clearance, resulting in delayed contact function. For actuation of a clutch by means of a contact function in the knob of a gear change lever, it is of utmost importance that the activation takes place with a minimum delay after moving the knob for changing gear.
The object of the present invention is to obtain a lever by which a change of electrical condition of the electric switch is obtained automatically as early as possible during an operation.


A video telephone headset device includes a foundation which supports an image capture device, a support arm, and a convex mirror. When the foundation is held adjacent to a user's head, the support arm positions the convex mirror in a fixed position in front of the user's face. The mirror reflects the full facial image to the image capture device. This arrangement makes it possible to construct a video telephone headset which is simple and small in size yet able to capture the full face and facial expressions using very little bandwidth.

A video telephone combines an image capture device, an image display device, and a codec for coding and decoding the image.
Several different types of devices are available for the display of a video image. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,347,400 Hunter discloses a helmet-mounted display system for use in virtual reality applications. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,396,269 Gotoh discloses a display similar to that of a desktop PC. Gotoh combines the display with an image capture device which sits in stationary position on a desktop surface.
The image capture device is usually combined with a signal generator within a video camera. The video camera should be capable of capturing a facial image during the movement and gesturing of normal conversation. In particular, facial expressions should be captured during movement of the body. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,414,444, Britz discloses a communicator which incorporates a system of motors to orient the video imaging element. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,414,474 Kamada discloses an apparatus which tracks a moving body.
An additional feature of a video telephone should be the ability to make effective use of its limited communications bandwidth. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,371,534 Dagdeviren discloses a method of communicating audio and video signals using high speed digital ISDN telephone lines. ISDN is a mode of communication for the current invention, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,371,534 is hereby incorporated by reference. Even at the 128 kbps typical of ISDN circuits and using MPEG image compression, the bandwidth typically limits resolution below standard display resolutions and frame rates are typically reduced to 15 frames per second or less.
Furthermore, the ISDN circuits are not yet universally available, so the goal of ubiquitous video telephony cannot yet be realized through ISDN. According to Metcafe's Law, the value of a network increases with the square of the number of user's. By this measure the value of the network of current video telephones is far below its potential value.
The design of mobile devices and of devices using the more generally available plain-old-telephone-service (POTS) is even further constrained by limitations on communications bandwidth. Mobile devices have additional design constraints which limit their size, weight, and complexity.
Most current systems do not track movement of the user's face. Instead, the video camera has an oversized field of view to ensure that a shifting face remains within the image area. The is wasteful of the resolution of the video camera and of the communications bandwidth.
Even a complex system which can continually zoom, pan, and focus and can successfully track the user's movements has limitations. For example, by turning, a user can easily direct his face away from video camera so that his facial expressions cannot be captured by the video camera.
In the M.I.T. Media Laboratory Perceptual Computing Section Technical Report No 317, entitled "An Automatic System for Model-Based Coding of Faces" a compact representation of the face is described. In this system a parametric image model of the face is abstracted by recognizing features from a video image of the face. This parametric image model requires much less bandwidth than the original video image. However, they report that this parametric image model can be extracted only be when head tilts with respect to the video camera are limited to less than 15 degrees.
Current video telephones are further limited by a difficulty in establishing eye-to-eye contact. In most video telephones the camera is to the side or top of the display. Thus, the user can look directly at the camera or at the display, but not at both simultaneously.
The known devices do not satisfy all of the current requirements for a video telephone. There is the need for a video telephone with a video camera which can maintain an orientation and focus on a moving user. There is a need for a video telephone which can make effective use of the available bandwidth while remaining simple and compact.


In an object detecting system for a vehicle to detect an object in accordance with the result of a search operation of the radar, and to allow detection of a deviation of the radar search direction irrespective of the vehicle traveling condition. The stationary object decision unit detects whether or not an object recognized by the object recognition unit as a result of the search operation of the radar is a stationary object. The moving locus of the object, which was determined to be stationary, relative to the vehicle is predicted by the locus prediction unit based on the detected value produced by the motion state detection unit. The actual moving locus of the object, determined as a stationary object, as observed from the vehicle is calculated by the actual locus calculation unit. The predicted value produced by the locus prediction unit and the calculated value produced by the actual locus calculation unit are compared by the comparison device. Based on the result of this comparison, the improper state decision unit decides whether the radar is in an improper state or not.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an object detecting system for a vehicle having a radar which includes an electromagnetic wave transmission means for transmitting an electromagnetic wave in a direction in which the vehicle is traveling and a reflected wave reception means for receiving an electromagnetic wave that is generated by objects in the direction of traveling of the vehicle reflecting the wave transmitted from the electromagnetic wave transmission means, whereby the system detects the objects based on the detection result of the radar.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A system has been known, as disclosed for example in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 8-240660 and 6-160510, which has a radar to transmit an electromagnetic wave such as a laser in a direction in which a vehicle is traveling and to receive an electromagnetic wave reflected from an object present in front of the vehicle, whereby the system detects the object in front of the vehicle based on the result of the search operation of the radar and, in accordance with the result of detection, issues an alarm to urge a driver to avoid the object by manual operation or automatically performs an object avoidance operation.
Such an object detecting system must detect only those objects present on the path in which the vehicle is traveling as path objects and avoid detecting or recognizing objects outside the path of travel. For this purpose, the conventional systems aim at improving the ability to detect path objects by setting the radar to have a plurality of horizontally differing detection directions or to scan in a horizontal direction and by estimating the direction of travel of the vehicle from the steering angle, yaw rate, and the like thereby to determine only those objects in the vehicle path as the path objects. Another means of improving the path object detection capability involves setting the radar to have a plurality of vertically differing detection directions or to scan in the vertical direction.
Although the detection direction of the radar is precisely adjusted before shipping, the detection direction may become misadjusted or deviated by light collision or other causes. When such a misadjustment or deviation is large, it becomes difficult to precisely locate the position of a path object, making it likely that the motion control of the vehicle with respect to the path object, will be inaccurate. It is therefore desirable that when the detection direction of the radar deviates, the misadjustment or deviation of the detection direction be automatically corrected or that the driver be informed and urged to make repairs.
To solve this problem, the object detection system disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-160510 detects the presence of a deviation in the radar detection direction based on a deviation of an observed locus of specific static objects, such as roadside reflectors, as observed from the vehicle with respect to a reference locus when traveling straight with a zero steering angle. This conventional system, however, can only detect the deviation in the detection direction under a limited condition, i.e., when the vehicle is traveling straight.


A normally open pressure responsive electrical switch is shown having upper and lower body members with a combination terminal and disc seat member sandwiched therebetween. An electrically conductive snap acting disc is disposed on the disc seat and is adapted to snap through a centrally disposed aperture in the terminal into electrical engagement with an electrical contact disposed on a terminal mounted in the lower body member. The upper body member has a bore extending therethrough which slidably mounts a pressure converter adapted to convert pressure from a pressure source to a force and apply the force to the disc. A flexible membrane is disposed over the bore with an O-ring received on an O-ring seat adjacent the bore in the upper body member. A wall extending around the seal seat is deformed to capture the O-ring at its seat.

This invention relates generally to seals used with pressure responsive electrical switches and the like and more particularly to O-ring type seals.
In recent years it has become conventional in the automotive art to control various functions by means of microprocessor based controls to obtain performance improvements. In one prior art approach in which solenoid valves are used to effect gear shifting pressure switches placed in communication with hydraulic lines are used to confirm that solenoid valve actuation and de-actuation has occurred by responding to a change in pressure in such lines. An example of a switch of this type is shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,049,708, assigned to the assignee of the present invention. In that patent a normally closed pressure switch comprises upper and lower housings with a snap acting disc mounted on a disc support/terminal member sandwiched therebetween. The lower housing includes a base having a recessed area in which a stationary contact is mounted having an integrally attached terminal extending outwardly beyond the base. The disc support/terminal member has a centrally located opening therethrough with a plurality of contact tabs extending inwardly from the member into the opening in physical and electrical engagement with the outer peripheral portions of the disc. A pressure converter having a flat top surface and a plurality of ribs on its bottom surface extending radially beyond the converter body is slidably received in a centrally disposed bore in the upper housing. The ribs are received in grooves formed in the upper housing to restrict angular movement of the converter and are formed with a recess portion in the center of the converter to provide space for the disc to snap to its opposite, open contacts configuration upon being exposed to a selected pressure level.
A flexible membrane is placed over the centrally disposed bore in the upper housing and an O-ring having a centrally disposed button integrally attached thereto is received on the upper housing with the button received through a centrally disposed bore in the membrane and pressure converter to affix the O-ring, membrane and converter together.
As noted in the above referenced patent, a limitation in prior art switches relates to the fact that the switch contacts are exposed to the working fluids of the transmission. Such fluids contain various contaminants, such as metal shavings from the transmission and insulating pieces both of which can cause problems with switch actuation. Although a filter can be used to exclude gross contaminants various films tend to build-up on the contact and disc surfaces so that it is desirable to provide a high contact force in order to breakthrough the film layers. The structure defined in the patent overcomes that problem by using a pressure converter disposed between the pressure source and the disc resulting in an increase of contact force of two times or more compared to the prior art.
One of the prior art problems that the above referenced patent addressed relates to the O-ring seal used to seal the switch to the pressure source. Pressure responsive switches used with automotive transmissions and particularly microprocessor based engine control modules (ECM) are relatively small and conventional O-rings tend to become dislodged during assembling operations or upon the switches on which the O-rings are mounted being dropped and on occasion are askew or even missing thereby causing leakage problems. Adhesives have sometimes been used to help make sure that once inserted the O-ring members will be permanently retained at their seats; however, this adds to assembly expenses and it is difficult to obtain consistent control of the process. Various other attempts have been made to solve this problem including the provision shown in the referenced patent of the button integrally attached to the O-ring and received through a bore in the membrane and the pressure converter; however, this type of O-ring is significantly more expensive than conventional O-rings and requires extra assembly operations resulting in an undesirable increase in the cost of the switch.
Normally open switches used with the transmission system are typically calibrated to switch from the open position to the closed position upon being exposed to an increase in pressure in the range of approximately 10-30 psi but are subjected to over-pressures of up to 400 psi or even higher which exacerbate any leakage problems.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,015,808, assigned to the assignee of the instant invention, shows another modified O-ring having a neck portion attached to the O-ring and a flange extending outwardly from the neck portion which is adapted to be captured by parts of the switch; however, this also is significantly more expensive than conventional O-rings and requires extra assembly operations. It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a reliable O-ring type seal which is easily assembled and relatively inexpensive. Another object is the provision of an O-ring seal having loose tolerances yet high reliability capable of retention even if the body mounting the seal were to be dropped.
Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed disclosure taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like parts.

Seal apparatus for pressure responsive electrical switch


A compound optical film includes an unitary two-layer structure with of a light guide layer and a light reflective layer attached on the light guide layer. A number of light scattering particles are dispersed in the light guide layer adjacent to an interface between the light guide layer and the light reflective layer. The compound optical film can reduce the thickness of backlight module while the compound optical film is used in backlight module.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a compound optical film and a method for manufacturing the same.
2. Description of Related Art
Optical films used in a backlight module include a light guide plate, a reflective plate, and a light diffusion plate. As the backlight module becomes thinner, the thickness of the optical films used in the backlight module must be designed smaller to satisfy the demand of the thinner backlight module. Usually, these optical films are separately produced and then assembled into the backlight module layer by layer. However, these manufacturing and assembly methods of the optical films not only need complex steps and may induce more defective produces, but also do not help to reduce the thickness of the backlight module.
Therefore, a compound optical film and a method for manufacturing the same, which can overcome the above-mentioned problems, is needed.


Aspects of a method and system for signal phase variation detection in communication systems are presented. Aspects of the system may enable detection of phase change between a current received symbol, and one or more previous received symbols. Based on the phase change a channel estimation filter bandwidth may be selected for despreading and/or descrambling one or more subsequent received symbols. In addition, a decision may be made as to whether the subsequent received symbols are to be received based on a closed loop system, or based on an open loop system.

Cellular communication systems provide wireless communication services in many populated areas of the world. While cellular communication systems were initially constructed to service voice communications, they are now called upon to support data communications as well. The demand for data communication services has exploded with the acceptance and widespread use of the Internet. While data communications have historically been serviced via wired connections, cellular users now demand that their wireless units also support data communications. Many wireless subscribers now expect to "surf" the Internet, access email, and perform other data communication activities using their cellular phones, wireless personal data assistants, wirelessly linked notebook computers, and/or other wireless devices. The demand for wireless communication system data communications continues to increase with time. Thus, existing wireless communication systems are currently being created or modified to service these burgeoning data communication demands.
Cellular networks include a network infrastructure that wirelessly communicates with wireless terminals within a respective service area. The network infrastructure typically includes a plurality of base stations dispersed throughout the service area, each of which supports wireless communications within a respective cell or set of sectors. The base stations may be coupled to base station controllers (BSCs), with each BSC serving a plurality of base stations. Each BSC is coupled to a mobile switching center (MSC). Each BSC also typically directly or indirectly coupled to the Internet.
In operation, each base station (BS) communicates with a plurality of wireless terminals operating in its cell/sectors. A BSC coupled to the base station routes voice communications between the MSC and the serving base station. The MSC routes the voice communication to another MSC or to the PSTN, for example. The BSCs route data communications between a servicing base station and a packet data network that may include or couple to the Internet. Transmissions from base stations to wireless terminals are referred to as "forward link or downlink" transmissions while transmissions from wireless terminals to base stations are referred to as "reverse link or uplink" transmissions.
Third generation (3G) cellular networks have been specifically designed to fulfill these future demands of the mobile Internet. As these services grow in popularity and usage, factors such as cost efficient optimization of network capacity and quality of service (QoS) will become even more essential to cellular operators than it is today. These factors may be achieved with careful network planning and operation, improvements in transmission methods, and advances in receiver techniques. To this end, carriers need technologies that will allow them to increase downlink throughput and, in turn, offer advanced QoS capabilities and speeds that rival those delivered by cable modem and/or DSL service providers. In this regard, networks based on wideband CDMA (WCDMA) technology may make the delivery of data to end users a more feasible option for today's wireless carriers.
A mobile handset may receive and/or decode signals received in a downlink channel from a base station based on coherent detection or noncoherent detection. For coherent detection, the base station may transmit a pilot channel that contains a bit pattern upon which the mobile handset may compute a channel estimate, which characterizes the wireless medium, or channel, through which signals travel between the base station and the mobile handset. The channel estimate, or channel state information (CSIT) may enable detection of information, or symbols, contained in received and/or decoded signals. In a closed loop transmit diversity system, the CSIT may be communicated to the base station in an uplink channel. For noncoherent detection, the mobile handset may attempt to decode received signals without utilizing CSIT.
The characteristics signals transmitted by the base station, for example amplitude and or phase, may be altered as the signals travel in the wireless medium and are received at the mobile terminal. The alteration of the signals may be referred to as fading. In addition to fading, the received signals may comprise noise that was introduced during the travel of the signals through the wireless medium.
The received signal may be spread and scrambled wherein the scrambled signal comprises a plurality of chips. The mobile terminal may descramble the scrambled signal and despread (integrate, or sum) the descrambled signal to detect a symbol. The number of chips contained in a detected symbol may comprise an integration length.
When the integration does not comprise a sufficiently long time interval, the noise component may not be attenuated sufficiently to achieve a desired signal to noise ratio (SNR), wherein the signal refers to the altered signal component in the received signal, and the noise refers to the noise component in the received signal. However, when the mobile terminal is in motion relative to the base station, the CSIT information may be dynamic. Thus, when the integration comprises too long of a time interval with coherent detection, the CSIT may change during the integration time interval, which may result in erroneous detection of symbols. This may also result in a failure to achieve a desired SNR for the received signals.
Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditional approaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, through comparison of such systems with some aspects of the present invention as set forth in the remainder of the present application with reference to the drawings.

Method and system for signal phase variation detection in communication systems


A method and apparatus for chroma intra prediction for a current chroma block with reduced line memory requirement are disclosed. The chroma intra predictor is derived from reconstructed luma pixels of a current luma block using a model with parameters. In various embodiments according to the present invention, the derivation of the parameters relies on a reconstructed luma pixel set corresponding to neighboring reconstructed luma pixels from causal luma neighboring areas of the current luma block, wherein said causal luma neighboring areas include a first area corresponding to reconstructed luma pixels above a horizontal luma block boundary on a top side of the current luma block, and wherein the reconstructed luma pixels from the first area that are included in the reconstructed luma pixel set are from a luma pixel line immediately above the horizontal luma block boundary.

Motion compensated inter-frame coding has been widely adopted in various coding standards, such as MPEG-1/2/4 and H.261/H.263/H.264/AVC. While motion-compensated inter-frame coding can effectively reduce bitrate for compressed video, intra coding is required to compress the regions with high motions or scene changes. Besides, intra coding is also used to process an initial picture or to periodically insert I-pictures or I-blocks for random access or for alleviation of error propagation. Intra prediction exploits the spatial correlation within a picture or within a picture region. In practice, a picture or a picture region is divided into blocks and the intra prediction is performed on a block basis. Intra prediction for a current block can be relied upon pixels in neighboring blocks that have been processed. For example, if blocks in a picture or picture region are processed row by row from top to bottom and from left to right, neighboring blocks on the top and neighboring blocks on the left of the current block can be used to form intra predictor for pixels in the current block. While any pixels in the processed neighboring blocks can be used for intra predictor of pixels in the current block, very often only pixels of the neighboring blocks that are adjacent to the current block boundaries on the top and on the left are used.
The intra predictor is usually designed to exploit spatial features in the picture such as smooth area (DC mode), vertical line or edge, horizontal line or edge and diagonal line or edge. Furthermore, a spatial correlation often exists in both luminance (luma) and chrominance (chroma) components. Therefore, the intra luma prediction mode can be used as a candidate for the intra chroma prediction mode. In recent development in High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), considering the correlation between luma and chroma components, a chroma intra prediction method has been proposed by Chen et al., in "CE6.a: Chroma intra prediction by reconstructed luma samples", Joint Collaborative Team on Video Coding (JCT-VC) of ITU-T SG16 WP3 and ISO/IEC JTC1/SC29/WG11, 4th Meeting: Daegu, KR, 20-28 Jan. 2011, Document: JCTVC-D350. According to Chen et al., reconstructed luma blocks can be used as predictors for co-located chroma blocks. The type of chroma intra prediction is termed as LM prediction.
According to the LM prediction, the chroma values are predicted from reconstructed luma values of the same block according to the following model:PredC[x,y]=α·RecL′[x,y]+β, for x=0, . . . (N−1), and y=0, . . . (N−1),  (1)where PredC[x,y] indicates the predictor for a chroma sample at [x,y] of a chroma block, RecL′[x,y] indicates the luma sample at [x,y] of the corresponding luma block, and N denotes the horizontal resolution (i.e., the vertical resolution) of the chroma block to be predicted. Parameters α and β are derived from causal reconstructed samples around the current block. Since the luma component usually has higher resolution than the chroma components, the reconstructed luma component has to be decimated to match the resolution of the chroma components. For example, for 4:2:0 sampling format, the U and V components may have half of the number of pixels in the vertical and the horizontal directions as the luma component. Therefore, 2:1 resolution reduction in the vertical and the horizontal directions has to be applied to the reconstructed luma sample RecL[x,y] to derive RecL′[x,y]. The resolution reduction can be achieved by downsampling process or subsampling process.
The downsampling process refers to signal decimation by applying proper low-pass filtering before downsampling (also called subsampling in the art) to reduce or avoid possible signal aliasing. On the other hand, subsampling process performs direct downsampling without prior filtering. Both the downsampling process and the subsampling process are called decimation process in this disclosure. While the subsampling processing may cause signal aliasing, the subsampling processing is used in some signal processing systems due to its simplicity. For chroma intra prediction using the LM mode, Chen et al. apply the sub-sampling process in the horizontal direction and the down-sampling process in the vertical direction, where the vertical down-sampling process is performed as follows:RecL′[x,y]=(RecL[2x,2y]+RecL[2x,2y+1])>>1, for x=−1, . . . ,(N−1) and y=−1, . . . ,(N−1),  (2)where N denotes the horizontal resolution (i.e., the vertical resolution) of the chroma block to be predicted and the resolution-reduced (i.e., decimated) luma block.
Parameters α and β are derived based on causal reconstructed chroma pixels around a current chroma block and causal reconstructed luma pixels around a current luma block as shown in FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B. The causal reconstructed chroma pixels on the top 112 and on the left 114 of the current chroma block 110, and the decimated reconstructed luma samples on the top 130 and on the left 140 of the current luma block 120 as shown in FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B respectively. These causal neighboring pixels shown as dark dots in FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B are used to derive parameters α and β as follows:
                              α          =                                                                      I                  ·                                                            ∑                                              i                        =                        0                                                                    I                        -                        1                                                                                Rec                          c                                                                                (                          i                          )                                                                    ·                                                                        Rec                          L                          ′                                                                                (                          i                          )                                                                                -                                                      ∑                                          i                      =                      0                                                              I                      -                      1                                                                                Rec                        c                                                                                (                        i                        )                                                              ·                                                                  ∑                                                  i                          =                          0                                                                          I                          -                          1                                                                                Rec                          L                          ′                                                                                (                          i                          )                                                                                I                  ·                                                            ∑                                              i                        =                        0                                                                    I                        -                        1                                                                                Rec                          L                          ′                                                                                (                          i                          )                                                                    ·                                                                        Rec                          L                          ′                                                                                (                          i                          )                                                                                -                                                      (                                                                  ∑                                                  i                          =                          0                                                                          I                          -                          1                                                                                Rec                          L                          ′                                                                                (                          i                          )                                                                                )                                    2                                                      =                                          A                1                                            A                2                                                    ,                                                                            and                            (        3        )                                                                                β            =                                                                                ∑                                          i                      =                      0                                                              I                      -                      1                                                                                Rec                      c                                                                                (                      i                      )                                                                      -                                  α                  ·                                                            ∑                                              i                        =                        0                                                                    I                        -                        1                                                                                Rec                        L                        ′                                                                                (                        i                        )                                                                                I                                ,                                    (        4        )            where RecC(i) and RecL′(i) indicate reconstructed chroma samples and decimated luma samples around the chroma block 110 and the luma block 120 respectively, and I indicates total number of neighboring data. For the example shown in FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B, where the chroma block size is N×N and the luma block size is 2N×2N, total involved samples number I is 2N. When left or above causal samples are unavailable, padding samples are used instead.
The computation of each RecL′[x,y] sample requires two reconstructed luma samples as shown in equation (2). In hardware implementation, when the luma block 120 is just below the largest coding unit (LCU), two line buffers for storing the reconstructed luma lines 132 and 134 above the current block 120 are required in order to derive parameters α and β for chroma intra prediction. The size of line buffers for storing the reconstructed luma lines 132 and 134 is proportional to the picture width. For large pictures, the size of line buffers for deriving parameters α and β may be substantial. The requirement of large size line buffer will lead to increased system hardware cost, particularly for on-chip line buffer implementation, such as Static Random Access Memory (SRAM). Accordingly, it is desirable to develop chroma intra prediction methods and apparatuses that use reduced line buffers. The reconstructed luma samples on the left side of the current block usually are not an issue for deriving parameters α and β due to the small size memory requirement, i.e. on-chip column buffer, corresponding to these samples. After a current block is intra-coded, there is no need of the reconstructed luma samples on the left of the current block for deriving parameters α and β for subsequently blocks.

Method and apparatus of chroma intra prediction with reduced line memory


A medical imaging device, comprising a illumination unit, can be configured to illuminate a tissue area with light from a first spectral range, comprising a range of visible wavelengths, and with light from a second spectral range, which is different from the first spectral range, an imaging unit, configured to detect light from the first spectral range and to generate a first image of the tissue area on the basis of the detected light from the first spectral range and furthermore configured to detect light from the second spectral range and to generate a second image of the tissue area on the basis of the detected light from the second spectral range, and a superposition unit, configured to generate a superimposed image on the basis of the first and second image in such a way that, in the superimposed image, on the basis of a visual highlighting, it is possible to identify whether and where the tissue area comprises highlight regions which are characterized by an increased emission of light from the second spectral range in comparison to other regions of the tissue area. The document furthermore relates to a method for image-based support for a medical intervention, and to a use of an imaging device in such a method.

During medical interventions or examinations, it is often necessary to distinguish between different types of tissue within a single tissue area. For example, it may be necessary to distinguish between defectively altered or proliferating tissue (abnormal tissue) and surrounding, healthy tissue of the tissue area. Based on such a distinction, medical staff, for example, are able to make a diagnosis and/or decide on a site for application of a local therapy, for example an injection or excision of the abnormal tissue. The abnormal tissue may be, for example, tumor tissue, cyst tissue and/or an expanding tissue growth, for example cholesteatoma tissue, i.e. an inflammatory expanding tissue growth in a middle-ear tissue area.

Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung e.V.


An audio data processing method comprises receiving at least one audio signal frame from an audio playing program, obtaining a first average power of the at least on audio signal frame, determining whether the first average power of the at least one audio signal frame is less than a first threshold and whether the audio playing program is in a background running mode, and in response to determining that the first average power of the at least one audio signal frame is less than the first threshold and the audio playing program is in the background running mode, triggering the audio playing program to pause playing.

User equipment usually plays audio in two modes. One mode is a normal mode. In this mode, an audio soft-decision decoder performs decoding on a central processing unit (Central Processing Unit, CPU) side, and then an audio mixer (Audio Mixer) mixes a plurality of audio tracks for playing. The other mode is an offload mode. In this mode, a DSP decoder performs decoding on a digital signal processing (Digital Signal Processing. DSP) side, and then processing such as audio mixing is performed for playing.
In a processing manner of the offload mode, power consumption is usually relatively low, but in a processing manner of the normal mode, power consumption is usually relatively high. Therefore, power consumption needs to be reduced in the processing manner of the normal mode.

Audio data processing method and apparatus


A method for controlling a resistive random access memory (ReRAM) is proposed. The method calculates a number of a bit value of a data when the data is to be written to the resistive random access memory. Each bit of the data is flipped and the data is written to the ReRAM if the number of the bit value is greater than a half of a length of the data. The data as it original is written to the ReRAM if the number of the bit value is less than a half of the length of the data.

Resistive random access memory is a non-volatile memory. Compared with flash memory, using resistive random access memory in an embedded system allows the system to have a higher execution speed and lower power consumption. Thus, there is a chance that resistive random access memory will be the storage device of the next generation in replacement of flash memory. However, the device and circuit design of the resistive random access memory nowadays are still under development, and there are still issues concerning the reliability thereof. One of the issues is a write error that occurs due to state-changing failure of a resistive memory device being written, and another is a data retention error that occurs due to resistance drifting under high temperature.
The write error refers to an inconsistency between a value stored in the resistive memory device after data are written to the resistive random access memory and a value being written. The inconsistency results from variation in a manufacturing process, which makes devices in the same memory require different transition voltage and transition energy. Usually, the same transition voltage and transition time are adopted for the same resistive random access memory when data are written. Thus, a memory device requiring a higher transition voltage or a longer transition time may cause failing to change a state as the voltage or time is insufficient, thus making the value stored in the memory and the value being written inconsistent with each other.
The data retention error is that, after a period of time, a value read from the resistive random access memory is different from the value stored in the resistive random access memory. The inconsistency is due to unstable resistances of devices. The resistance of the resistive random access memory may drift under high temperature, making the resistance different from the resistance when the data is written. Thus, the data read from the memory is different from the data written to the memory.

Method for controlling resistive random-access memory

Industrial Technology Research Institute


A method and apparatus for contacting heart valve tissue with a catheter tip electrode adapted for atrioventricular (AV) node mapping and modification is provided. The tip is conformed to rest stably and comfortably on a cardiac valve such as the mitral or tricuspid valve. The tip has a peanut shape consisting of two electrode lobes joined by a narrower connecting piece. The tip rests on the valve at the connecting piece and is secured by the adjoining lobes. The connecting piece itself may either be insulating or electrically conductive. The catheter may also include standard mapping and/or pacing electrodes. The catheter may further include a steering mechanism for positioning the catheter at various treatment sites in the heart.

The electrical charge of the outer membrane of an individual heart muscle cell is known as the "membrane potential". During each heartbeat, the membrane potential discharges (depolarizes) and then slowly recharges (repolarizes). The waveform of this periodic depolarization and repolarization is called the "transmembrane action potential." Mechanistically, the action potential is produced by a well-organized array of ionic currents across the cell membrane. These action potentials can be recorded, or mapped, using electrodes located at the distal end of a catheter inserted into a patient's heart.
At the turn of the century, it had also been recognized that a potential similar in shape to the later-discovered transmembrane potential could be recorded if one brought into contact a first electrode with an injured spot of the heart and a second reference electrode with an intact spot. Those signals became known as "injury potentials" or "monophasic action potentials" (MAPs) because of the waveform shape.
The further development of the science of MAPs may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,955,382, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference. It has been recognized that local heart muscle injury is not a prerequisite for the generation of MAPs, and that application of slight pressure with the tip against the inner wall of the heart will result in the generation of monophasic action potential signals. These signals can also be recorded reliably (i.e., without distortion) from a distal catheter tip electrode by using direct current (DC) coupled amplification.
This invention also relates to the thermal destruction, or ablation of endocardial tissue. Ablation of abnormal myocardial tissue (such as arrhythmia-causing tissue) is a therapeutic procedure used with increasing frequency for treatment of cardiac arrhythmias such as, for example, ventricular tachycardia. The medical technique of ablation is discussed in G. Fontaine et al., Ablation in Cardiac Arrhythmias (New York: Futura Publishing Co., 1987), and D. Newman et al., "Catheter Ablation of Cardiac Arrhythmias", in Current Problems in Cardiology, Year Book Medical Publishers, 1989.
Catheter ablation of ventricular tachycardia was first described in 1983 as a method for destroying arrhythmia-causing tissue. Typically, a pacing catheter is introduced into the left ventricle of the heart, and manipulated until the site of earliest activation during ventricular tachycardia is found, indicating the location of the problem tissue. Electrical energy, often high voltage DC pulses are then applied between a catheter-mounted electrode and an external chest wall electrode. In this way, arrhythmia-causing cardiac tissue is destroyed.
More recently, less drastic methods than high voltage pulses have been developed, which are painful (requiring general anaesthesia), and dangerous due to arcing and explosive gas formation at the catheter tip. The use of electromagnetic energy, more particularly radiofrequency (RF) or microwave energy, is currently in popular use. RF and microwave energy, unless otherwise noted, refers to energy in the electromagnetic spectrum from about 10 kHz to 100 GHz. RF ablation, usually in the range of 300-1200 kHz, is a safer alternative to high voltage DC pulsing in which RF energy is applied to the endocardium via an catheter electrode. Tissue destruction, or ablative injury, is effected by heating generated by the RF electric field. RF ablation results in a more controllable lesion size, with no gas or shock wave formation. Ablation may also be effected with energy having microwave frequencies, from about 700 MHz to 100 GHz. Ablation may be accomplished with a small ablating electrode located at the tip of a catheter inserted into a patient's heart.
Currently, no reliable method or apparatus exists to effectively, efficiently and evenly map or ablate the atrioventricular (AV) node. The AV node is the area separating the left atrium and left ventricle of the heart, which are connected by the mitral valve. Above the mitral valve lies the left atrial wall which is smooth and contiguous with the valve leaflet.
A traditional catheter tip electrode, which is cylindrical with a rounded tip, makes poor contact with both the valve tissue and the left atrial wall tissue situated directly above it. At the atrial wall, the tip slips and is unable to maintain continuous close contact with the tissue. At the valve itself, the constant opening and closing of the valve associated with the beating heart causes the tip to slip about the valve leaflet, rendering continuous close contact virtually impossible.
Important applications of the present invention are in the areas of studying and treating myocardial ischemia and cardiac arrhythmias. In particular, the present invention permits (1) precisely locating areas of myocardial ischemia, arrhythmia and tachycardia in the AV node area by using a catheter tip whose shape adapted to stably rest at the mitral valve; and (2) treating those ischemias, arrhythmias and tachycardias using a catheter tip whose shape is adapted to stably rest at the mitral valve.


The present invention provides a nano particle phosphor with superior luminous characteristic formed using nitride semiconductor material, a method of manufacturing the phosphor with high production yield, and a light emitting device using the phosphor. The phosphor is formed of a columnar crystal having a diameter of at most 3 nm, a light emitting region and a light absorbing region are defined in the columnar crystal, and the light emitting region and the light absorbing region are adjacent to each other along a longitudinal direction of the columnar crystal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to crystalline phosphor (fluorescent body) having a columnar shape, manufacturing method thereof and a light emitting device using the phosphor.
2. Description of the Background Art
Recently, phosphors using semiconductor crystals as matrix have been vigorously studied. Particularly, nano-size particle phosphors having luminous efficiency enhanced by quantum size effect have been much developed. Particularly, practical application of ZnS and CdSe, which are II-VI group compound semiconductors, as phosphor materials have been steadily studied, as these materials can be synthesized at a room temperature and nano-particles of uniform size can be synthesized in large amount by coprecipitation, reversed micelle method or the like, as described in ISOBE Tetsuhiko, "High Efficiency of Luminescence on Nanosized Phosphors" Applied Physics, Vol. 70, No. 9, pp. 1087-1091 (2001).
Nano-particle phosphors, however, tend to aggregate, and when specific surface area increases, luminescent killers derived from surface defects increase, degrading light emitting characteristic. In view of this problem, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2003-226521 discloses a technique in which the surface of nano-particles is modified by a surface stabilizer, to attain the effect of defect capping and mono-dispersity.
On the other hand, nitride semiconductors such as GaN, InN and AlN, which are III-V group compound semiconductors, have superior light emitting characteristic and have been known as materials of light emitting device emitting blue-violet light of high luminance. A technique for manufacturing a phosphor using the nitride semiconductor as such has been proposed recently, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open Nos. 2000-008035, 2003-034510 and 2003-063810.
The nitride semiconductor, however, is a chemically stable compound, and therefore, synthesis thereof requires high reaction temperature. Synthesis by reversed micelle method disclosed in ISOBE reference above or surface modification using a stabilizer disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2003-226521 cannot be applied, as these methods employ materials that are much susceptible to pyrolysis.
By the methods disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open Nos. 2000-008035, 2003-034510 and 2003-063810, it is impossible to obtain phosphor particles that can attain quantum size effect (specifically, particles smaller than twice Bohr radius). Particularly, in a method of obtaining phosphor particles by hetero-epitaxial growth of semiconductor around nuclear particles, crystal tends to grow in a specific orientation, and therefore, uniformly coated phosphor particles unavoidably come to have large diameter. Physical grinding of particles or surface modification by post processing can not remarkably improve luminous efficiency, while manufacturing process is troublesome and costly.
As described above, conventional nitride phosphors and manufacturing methods thereof cannot efficiently provide nano-particle phosphors having superior luminous efficiency.
The present invention was made in view of the conventional technical problems described above, and its object is to provide a phosphor having superior light emitting characteristic using nitride semiconductor material, a manufacturing method that can produce the phosphor with high production yield, and a light emitting device using the same.

Phosphor, manufacturing method thereof and light emitting device using the same


A method and apparatus for raising, leveling, and supporting a foundation by placing steel piers beneath the necessary peripheral and interior beams and using a jack to raise the slab beams, then allowing the slab beams to rest on piers. The piers are constructed from steel piling segments, driven into the ground, connected with adhesive, and anchored at a depth offering reactive force sufficient to support the foundation. The piling is pointed at its bottom facilitating insertion and preventing upheaval. A crown is attached to the upper most end of each pier which offers a platform to provide a stable support once the jack is removed and easy access to the slab beam for later readjustment. Multiple piers are utilized to achieve a level foundation. Piers may be placed beneath interior beams on a slab without drilling holes in the interior of the slab.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of raising, leveling, and supporting existing structures that have become uneven. More particularly, the present invention is a method for raising, leveling, and supporting an existing structural foundation through the use of one or more steel piers which have been driven to a depth adequate to support the structure to be raised.
2. Description of the Related Art
Normal movement, settlement, expansion and contraction of supporting soil may cause a building's structure and its foundation to move, thereby damaging the foundation. Furthermore, excess moisture, such as plumbing leaks, over watered lawns, rainfall and the like, causes uneven movement such as flexing and/or swelling of the foundation resulting in structural and cosmetic damage to the building. The damage may be seen in items such as distorted or broken window frames and panes, sloped flooring, wrinkles in wallpaper and cracked doors, walls, driveways and the like.
Several methods and systems for raising, leveling, supporting and repairing existing damaged foundations are known in the art. One basic method used to achieve an even and stable foundation is to implant pilings directly beneath a slab. In the case of a larger slab it is often necessary for holes to be bored through a building structure's flooring to allow access to the interior beams of the foundation. To support a peripheral or interior beam, the access hole is dug into the earth to a depth typically equal to the length of a support piling and the piling is driven into the ground, one on top of the other, until a certain depth is reached. The building is raised, typically using a hydraulic pump, up to a desired height. By implanting pilings or piers directly beneath the foundation beams, the piers or pilings anchor the foundation by directly supporting the weight of the structure. However, problems have often been encountered with trying to balance the weight of the foundation on the piles or piers.
Many inventions have been dedicated to solving this balancing problem such as the invention described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,288,175 (hereinafter called "the '175 patent") issued to Knight on Feb. 22, 1994. The '175 patent uses a reinforced segmental precast concrete pile to support the foundation of a structure. Each segment is aligned during installation and continuously reinforces the pile when anchored upon completion.
Another invention focused on providing balance and stability to a building's foundation is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,195,487 (hereinafter called "the '487 patent") issued to Fukushima on Apr. 1, 1980. The '487 patent describes a method of preventing upward movement of foundation pillars in weak ground, where concrete piles are required as the foundation pillars. The concrete piles used in the '175 and '487 patents have given few benefits to re-leveling pre-existing structures and offered many disadvantages.
First, cement piles require very large diameters to reach load-bearing strengths, but driving these pilings into the ground also requires a very large force. Second, cement piles have a greater potential for fracture as they encounter obstructions such as rocks and tree roots on their way into the ground. Third, cement piers take a greater amount of time to utilize especially if a hole is dug first and the piling is constructed in situ.
Further, many inventions using cement piers were not adjustable, though some prior art has utilized complex adjustable anchors. An example of an adjustable pier is seen in U.S. Pat. No. 6,074,133 (hereinafter called "the '133 patent) issued to Kelsey on Jun. 13, 2000. The '133 patent provides for an adjustable foundation piering system in which piers are used to support a building foundation. The adjustable pier is partially encapsulated in the foundation when the foundation is poured. Upon settling of the foundation, the adjustable pier can then be raised. Unfortunately, the '133 piering system is only used to raise and level a foundation as the foundation is being poured which has no benefit to foundations with existing damage.
Inventions utilizing steel piers or pilings were designed to eliminate the difficulties that stemmed from using cement pile or pier structures. U.S. Pat. No. 3,902,326 (hereinafter called "the '326 patent") issued to Langenbach on Sep. 2, 1975 described a frictionless steel pier system used to stabilize the foundations of settling structures. The steel piers are driven to bedrock or equal load bearing strata and are secured to the foundation to provide unvarying support. However, this frictionless steel pier system heavily depends upon reaching a stable bedrock, which may in some cases be nonexistent. Over time, the frictionless pier system has decreased stability and overall-load bearing capability which allows for denting, bending and potential corrosion of the steel piers.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,684,577 (hereinafter called "the '577 patent") issued to Dimitrijevic on Feb. 3, 2004 transitioned from the frictionless steel piering system to a support system using H-beams and I-beams being positioned underneath an existing building. A vertically-adjustable cap is then placed in contact with the beams; and a jack is disposed on a lower surface of the cap. The cap is then jacked up until the top end of the jack has pressed an upper surface of the cap against the lower surface of the building foundation. However, the use of such beams as the H-beams has decreased bearing characteristics due to the area of the end of the beam that is driven into the ground is less than that typically used for cement and steel pipe pilings.
The second basic method used to stabilize and support a foundation is to implant a piling or pier adjacent to a slab. An example of this adjacent method is seen in U.S. Pat. No. 6,539,685 (hereinafter called "the '685 patent") issued to Bell et al on Apr. 1, 2003. The '685 patent provides for an apparatus used to lift and stabilize a foundation including a lifting plate with a pipe section passed over an anchor pier. The anchor pier, located adjacent to the foundation, is secured to the lifting plate using mechanical fasteners. A jack then raises the lifting plate to a position where the foundation is leveled.
Another example of the adjacent method is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,154,539 (hereinafter called "the '539 patent") issued to McCown, Sr. et al. on Oct. 13, 1992. The '539 patent describes the usage of a support bracket extending longitudinally under the foundation, a yoke assembly disposed above the support bracket and a lifting cradle engageable to the bottom surface of the support bracket. A pile driving means is attached to the yoke assembly and is engageable upon a piling to be driven into the ground adjacent to the structure. However, these abovementioned prior art patents having a pier or pile adjacently located to the foundation have historically had problems with stability due to the method of transferring the load of the structure to the piling or pier.
In view of the above described deficiencies associated with the use of conventional methods and systems for raising, leveling, supporting and repairing existing damaged foundations, the present invention has been developed to alleviate these drawbacks and provide further benefits to a user. These enhancements and benefits are described in greater detail herein below with respect to several embodiments of the present invention.

Method and apparatus for raising, leveling, and supporting displaced foundation allowing for readjustment after installation


A device for connection of a thermocouple to a coaxial connector of an electromagnet/gas tap assembly including a tubular body made of a non-conducting material and having a first end accommodating a female contact adapted to couple in use with a male tip contact of the coaxial connector; an electrically conducting and elastically deformable connecting element externally carried in cantilever fashion by a central portion of the tubular body so as to at least partly surround the first end of the tubular body and shaped so as to surround with radial clearance a collar of the coaxial connector when the female contact couples with the male tip contact; and a fastening element swingingly carried by the tubular body and that can be received on the connecting element for radially clamping the same onto the collar.

It is known that in modern cooking ranges, for safety reasons, each burner of the cooking range is provided, usually next to the switching on electrode, with a thermocouple intended for controlling the safety solenoid valve of the gas tap coupled with the burner.
The thermocouples normally used for such task have an electrically conducting body fixed to the burner plate and which at a first end carries a tip provided with the so-called "hot junction" of the thermocouple, intended to remain in use immersed in the flame generated by the fire. A polarity wire and a ground or earth wire branch off the opposite end of the body, at the terminals of which an electro-motive force is generated in use, until the hot junction remains immersed in the flame, which keeps an electromagnet of the gas tap energized, allowing the gas supply to continue. If the flame goes off, the electromotive force stops and the electromagnet interrupts the gas supply.
The electromagnet that controls the gas supply forms an integrated assembly with the gas tap which, in most cases, is provided with a coaxial connector integrally obtained with the gas tap body; the coaxial connector has a male tip connector which is connected to a pole of the electromagnet, and a metal and conducting collar which surrounds the tip and which, through the same gas tap body, is connected to the other pole of the electromagnet.
According to EP0619460, the two thermocouple wires are connected to the electromagnet to supply it, through a coaxial connector complementary to that of the electromagnet/gas tap assembly and comprising a tubular head made of a non-conducting material wherein a female terminal is accommodated, connected to the polarity wire and adapted to couple with the male tip connector and around which a metal sleeve is supported with a radial clearance, connected to the ground wire and adapted to be interference fitted on the collar of the gas tap body that surrounds the tip.
An alternative solution is described in WO2004/088205, which teaches to connect the thermocouple wires with the coaxial connector provided on the electromagnet/gas tap assembly by means of a device comprising a tubular head of a non-conducting material which internally supports a female connector intended to couple with the tip and connected to the polarity wire and which laterally supports on the outside a slide made of conducting material and connected to the ground wire, which after the insertion of the female connector onto the tip can be made to slide transversally to the tip, through a side window of the head, until it snap fits straddling the collar.
The solutions described have some drawbacks. The connector of EP0619460 has a high insertion and disconnection force; moreover, it is very expensive as it must be made with relatively small tolerances, otherwise it would either be impossible to assemble or a poor electrical contact would be obtained which, even if it does not make the thermocouple work bad, increases the response time thereof due to the raising of the electrical resistance. The connector device of WO2004/088205 has a complex and expensive construction and, above all, has large overall dimensions when the slide protrudes laterally from the head. Moreover, the operator in charge of the assembly can insert the slide in operating position, inside the head, before inserting the female connector onto the tip; this improper use does not usually prevent the assembling by simple insertion of the head/female connector/slide assembly on the coaxial connector provided on the electromagnet/gas tap assembly but it usually causes the onset of a poor electric contact (with possible damage to the slide) which therefore extends the response times of the thermocouple. Finally, connectors of this type are not suitable for relatively frequent assembly/removal.
DE 19908496 does not overcome any of these drawbacks. In fact, the male coaxial connector is interference inserted into the female coaxial connector, the sleeve contact whereof is provided with notches and can therefore be "opened" to facilitate the insertion and reduce the insertion effort. On the other hand, the retaining force is low; for this reason, an annular ridge is provided on the female connector and an annular recess is provided on the male connector; in the insertion step, the annular ridge engages the recess allowing the sleeve contact to "close"; thereafter, a ring or retaining element is axially moved which surrounds the sleeve contact on the outside to prevent it from opening, thus keeping the ridge permanently engaged into the relative recess. If on the one side this solution reduces the insertion effort of the male connector into the female connector, it does not ensure a good electric contact and make the connector construction much more complex, since elements (annular ridge and recess) to be coupled need to be obtained. Moreover, the connector overall dimensions are greatly increased both in axial and in radial direction.

Device for connection of a thermocouple to a safety electromagnet and gas tap assembly in a cooking range


An improved metal particle removal and retention apparatus includes an input end wall which includes a fluid input connector. An output end wall includes a fluid output connector which includes a first connector end and a second connector end. A magnet support housing is connected between the input end wall and the output end wall. The magnet support housing includes an internal housing diameter. The magnet support housing includes one or more external magnet-reception areas. The first connector end of the fluid output connector is contained within the internal fluid reception chamber. The second connector end of the fluid output connector extends out from the output end wall and outside of the internal fluid reception chamber. The fluid input connector extends out from the input end wall and outside of the internal fluid reception chamber. One or more magnets are retained on the external magnet-reception areas. A flow guide is connected to the first connector end of the fluid output connector. The flow guide includes an external guide diameter which is less than the internal housing diameter, whereby a restricted flow space is provided between the magnet support housing and the flow guide. Fluid flowing in the restricted flow space is treated by the magnetic flux of the magnets, and magnet-susceptible particles are trapped by the magnets and removed from the flowing fluid which exits the metal particle removal and retention apparatus. The flow guide includes a plurality of flow reception apertures in communication with the restricted flow space and which preferably have a total effective cross-sectional area equal to or greater than that of the normal engine oil lines with which the apparatus is to be used therefore producing no loss of oil flow pressure or oil flow rate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to fluid clarification systems and, more particularly, to an apparatus especially adapted for removing metal particles from the oil in oil lubrication systems of internal combustion engines.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Magnetic attachments for an oil filter cartridge for an internal combustion engine are generally well known. For example, in my prior Pat. No. 5,273,648, entitled FILTER CARTRIDGE MAGNETIC BELT, I disclose different embodiments of magnetic block assemblies capable of being supported in a circumferentially confronting manner to the wall of a vehicle oil filter canister by means of a flexible belt. Similarly, in my prior U.S. Pat. No. 5,510,024, I disclose, in a similar environment, the use of improved magnetic attachment assemblies characterized by the employment of a shunt element and a heat sink to enhance magnetic filtering efficiency. Additional magnetic attachment assemblies or the like for an oil filter cartridge or canister that eschew separate belt support means, but rely instead on the magnetic force produced by an array of magnets making up the magnetic attachment assembly to maintain the magnetic assembly in confrontational engagement with the filter canister wall, are disclosed in Brunsting's U.S. Pat. No. 5,556,540, entitled MAGNETIC ASSEMBLY FOR A CLOSED PRESSURIZED FLOW PATH OF LUBRICATING OIL.
Although the benefits of using such above-mentioned magnetic attachments for oil filter cartridges are substantial, it may be desirable to provide even greater oil clarification than provided by the prior art magnetic attachment assemblies. In this respect, it would be desirable if the means provided for obtaining such greater clarification were to be relatively simple in construction and more easily manufactured and assembled than is the case with respect to the prior art magnetic attachment assemblies presently contemplated for use with oil filter cartridges.
With a conventional oil filtration system for an internal combustion engine, oil is pumped from an oil pump to a filter cartridge or canister. Particles which are trapped by the filter cartridge inevitably tend to clog the filter causing oil flow to be impeded. To reduce such filter cartridge clogging, it would be desirable if an auxiliary oil filtering device were placed between the oil pump and the filter cartridge.
Once particles are trapped by a filter, there is always a tendency for some of the trapped particles to be dislodged and reenter the oil flow. In this respect, it would be desirable if an oil filtering device were provided that reduces the tendency of trapped particles from becoming dislodged and reentering the oil flow.
For an auxiliary oil filtering device, it would be desirable if means were provided for readily attaching the auxiliary oil filtering device to the body of a motor vehicle.
In a device wherein metal particles in flowing oil are attracted to a magnet, to assure effectiveness of the magnet in attracting the metal particles, it would be desirable if the oil flow were reduced in the flow region wherein the magnetic lines of force of the magnet are most concentrated. The slower the oil flow rate in the region of the magnetic lines of force, the greater effectiveness of the magnet for removing metal particles from the flowing oil.
Some internal combustion engines have hoses or metal lines through which lubricating oil flows. With such internal combustion engines it would be desirable if an auxiliary oil filtering device could be spliced into such an oil hose or metal line through which lubricating oil flows.
An auxiliary oil filtering device, that is used in addition to a filter cartridge, can also employ magnetic means for attracting and retaining metal particles. It is recalled that each of the above-recited U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,273,648, 5,510,024, and 5,556,540, respectively discloses magnetic attachments for oil filter cartridges. In this respect, it would be desirable if an auxiliary oil filtering device could also employ magnetic attachments such as disclosed in these prior art patents by choice of the individual user.
Thus, while the foregoing discussion indicates it to be known in general to use magnetic attachments directly to oil filter cartridges, there is no teaching or suggestion of a metal particle removal and retention apparatus which has the following combination of desirable features: (1) provides for obtaining greater clarification of oil than provided by the prior art magnetic attachments to filter cartridges; (2) provides an auxiliary oil filtering device which is placed between an oil pump and an oil filter cartridge; (3) reduces the tendency of trapped particles from becoming dislodged and reentering the oil flow; (4) provides for readily attaching the auxiliary oil filtering device to the body of a motor vehicle; (5) reduces the oil flow in a flow region wherein the magnetic lines of force of a magnet are most concentrated; (6) provides an auxiliary oil filtering device which can be spliced into an oil hose or metal line through which lubricating oil flows; (7) provides an auxiliary oil filtering device which employs magnetic means for attracting and retaining metal particles; (8) provides an auxiliary oil filtering device which can employ magnetic attachments such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,273,648, 5,510,024, or 5,556,540; (9) provides an auxiliary oil filtering device which may be opened easily to gain access for inspection and cleaning; (10) provides an auxiliary oil filtering device which dispenses with filter screens or paper filters all of which tend to clog during use; and (11) is relatively simple in construction and is easily manufactured and assembled. The foregoing desired characteristics are provided by the unique metal particle removal and retention apparatus of the present invention as will be made apparent from the following description thereof. Other advantages of the present invention over the prior art also will be rendered evident.

In-line metal particle removal and retention apparatus


A driving device for a folding top and/or a folding top compartment lid of a motor vehicle comprises an adjusting linkage and a driving motor. For compensating relatively large tolerances and concept-caused compensating lifts, the adjusting linkage has an adjusting element which, on one end, has a tolerance compensating element. A spring-supported and length-compensating tension/compression element is arranged on the other end of the adjusting element.

The present invention relates to a driving device for a folding top and/or a folding top compartment lid, and more particularly to a driving device having an adjusting linkage and a driving motor.
During the mounting of the driving device for a motor vehicle folding top and/or a folding top compartment lid, large mounting and manufacturing tolerances must be compensated.
It is an object of the present invention to take such measures on an adjusting linkage for a motor vehicle folding top and/or a folding top compartment lid that, on one hand, to compensate relatively large tolerances and, on the other hand, to compensate concept-caused compensating lifts of the adjusting linkage.
According to the present invention, this object has been achieved by providing that the adjusting linkage comprises at least one adjusting element having a tolerance compensating element on one end thereof and, on another end thereof, a spring-supported and length-compensating tension/compression element.
Among the principal advantages achieved by the present invention are that, as the result of the arrangement of an adjusting element in the adjusting linkage which, on one end, has a tolerance compensating element and, on the other end, has a spring-supported and length-compensating tension/compression element, relatively high mounting and manufacturing tolerances as well as concept-caused compensating lifts can be compensated. The adjusting element also has a simple construction and a good operation.
The tolerance compensating element of the present invention, which consists essentially of a bush connected with the housing and a pin screwed into the bush, also has a simple construction. Mounting and manufacturing tolerances can be compensated rapidly and simply.
The tension/compression element provides that the folding top compartment lid is pulled downward into its closed position by a defined force, with the tension/compression element lengthening during this movement.

Driving device for a motor vehicle folding top and/or a folding top compartment lid


Document authentication is accomplished by acquiring document image data, generating a set of features of the document, and generating an assist channel that includes information on how to generate the set of features. The set of features and the assist channel are digitally signed and the append to the document. Document verification is accomplished by acquiring document image data and verifying the signature. If the signature is valid, a set of features of the document is generated using information contained in the assist channel appended to the document. The generated set of features is then compared to the set of features appended on the document. If the sets do not match, the document is determined to have been altered sometimes after the assist channel was appended to the document, i.e., the document is not genuine. Otherwise, the document can be considered to be genuine.

1. Field of Invention
This invention is directed to systems and methods for authenticating and verifying documents.
2. Description of Related Art
There are a number of situations where a sender transmits a document to a receiver and wants to assure the receiver that the document has not been altered during the transmission. In other words, the sender wants to authenticate the document.
Paper documents are traditionally authenticated either through elaborate printing techniques, such as, for example, money, or through trusted signatures and stamps, such as, for example, notarizing by a public notary. The signing and verifying processes of these current methods are not automated and require human intervention. Nor are these processes very reliable.
There are more recent methods that work on digital document data. These methods are applied to paper documents by acquiring a scanned image of a printed document. The resulting bit-stream is then signed using some known digital signing scheme. These techniques, unfortunately, do not work well because, when the same document is scanned separately by the sender and the receiver, the resulting bit-streams are different. This occurs due to the noise inherent in scanning a document, even when using the same device. The noise introduced by scanning makes it difficult to construct an authentication scheme that is resilient in view of the noise.
A method that authenticates photo-identification cards and has to cope with noise being introduced due to scanning is disclosed in "Secure Identification Documents Via Pattern Recognition and Public-Key Cryptography", by L. O'Gorman et al., IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, Vol. 20, No. 10, pages 1097–1102, October 1998. However, the authentication signature disclosed by O'Gorman et al. has a file size that is linear to the size of the photograph. This method does not scale well as the size of a document increases. The method disclosed in O'Gorman et al. would create an authentication file that would be large in comparison to document. This tends to render the O'Gorman et al. method inefficient.

Systems and methods for authenticating and verifying documents


A navigation system (10) adapted for use with a vehicle (12) having an operator (14) includes a map database (16) presenting a current vehicle path, a locator device (20) communicatively coupled to the database (16) and configured to determine the location of the vehicle (12) and to associate the location with a position point within the database (16). The system (10) further includes an improved indicator (34) configured to predictively communicate an upcoming condition to the operator (14), determine a time-dependent-variable condition, compare a current condition of the vehicle (12) to the upcoming condition, and alert the operator (14) to a non-compliant comparison. The system (10) is further configured to receive preferences from the operator (14) and vehicle (12), so as to present a modifiable mode of operation.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to navigation systems adapted for use with a vehicle, and more particularly to an improved system configured to predictively communicate upcoming conditions to an operator of the vehicle.
2. Background Art
It is well known that speeding is one of the most prevalent factors contributing to vehicular accidents. More particularly, these accidents often result when the rate of speed of one or more of the automobiles exceed the rate of speed for which the thoroughfare was designed. Licensed civil engineers typically design thoroughfares based in part on available site distances due to the vertical curvatures (i.e. K values) of the terrain and intersection obstructions. The thoroughfare is designed, such that a typical driver and vehicle combination having an average reaction time and minimum deceleration capabilities is able to stop when identifying an object of minimal height in its path. Thus, when a vehicle is speeding, it is more difficult and sometimes not possible for the driver to safely steer around the object. Despite the efforts of departments of transportation in posting signage, it is appreciated that a driver may not be paying attention and miss a sign or that a sign may have been removed or obscured, such as by other traffic, foliage, construction, or the like.
To better inform the driver, redundant in-vehicle systems have been developed to inform the operator or driver of the applicable speed limit or condition. For instance, it is known to utilize a Global Positioning System (GPS) or cellular telephone technology and a map database to cooperatively inform the operator of the current speed limit or other indicia. It is also known to calculate or obtain the actual speed of the vehicle, compare it to the applicable speed limit, and signal to the driver when the vehicle exceeds the posted speed limit. It is also known to conduct "marking" or inputting of the speed limits into the database.
These conventional systems, however, are reactionary systems that do not provide predictive means for warning the driver of the upcoming speed limit change or condition. These systems also do not provide means for properly addressing special conditions, such as local time dependent variables, and changes in local time as the vehicle travels across geography. Of yet further concern, these systems also present rigid one-size-fits-all models that do not enable modifications by an operator.


A semiconductor wafer regenerating system is capable of easily and efficiently removing fabricating patterns formed on a semiconductor wafer to enable reuse of the semiconductor wafer. The system, which removes patterns of the semiconductor wafer in a dry manner by using blasting grit, includes a mesh conveyor, a grit blaster, a swinging element, a collecting element, a separating element, and a dust collector. The mesh conveyor transports the semiconductor wafer so that the patterns face upward. The grit blaster is installed above the mesh conveyor and has at least one blasting nozzle for blasting grits toward the semiconductor wafer to remove the patterns from the semiconductor wafer. The swinging element swings the blasting nozzle in a plane perpendicular to a transporting path of the semiconductor wafer along the mesh conveyor. The collecting element underneath the mesh conveyor collects pulverulent bodies including grits, chips, and dusts falling from the mesh conveyor. The separating element is connected to the collecting element to separate the grits and chips from the dusts. The dust collector is connected to the separating element to collect the dusts separated by the separating element.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor wafer regenerating system and method and, more specifically, to a system and method for removing patterns formed on a semiconductor wafer to enable the reuse of the semiconductor wafer.
2. Description of Related Arts
Semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) chips being present in everyday electrical and electronic devices are created through a multiple-step sequence of photographic and chemical processing steps, during which electronic circuits are gradually created on a wafer made of pure semiconductor material. Reviewing the semiconductor device fabrication in more detail, extremely pure semiconductor material (e.g., silicon) is grown into mono-crystalline cylindrical ingots, and the ingots are then sliced into wafers about 0.75 mm thick and polished to obtain a very flat surface. Once the wafers are prepared, transistors are formed on the silicon water using various processing steps, e.g., chemical vapor deposition, etching, photolithography, and diffusion and/or ion implantation. After the various semiconductor devices have been created, they are interconnected to form the desired electrical circuits by metal interconnecting wires.
Considering the highly serialized nature of wafer processing, between the various processing steps, wafer tests are performed to verify that the wafer is still good and haven't been damaged by previous processing steps. If the number of die (i.e., a potential chip portion) on a wafer that measure as fails exceed a predetermined threshold, the wafer is discarded rather than invest in further processing. On the other hand, after the metal interconnections are completed, the semiconductor devices are subjected to a variety of electrical tests to determine if they function properly. The device test is carried out using tiny probes, which marks bad chips with a drop of dye. In case that the yield which represents the proportion of devices on the wafer found to perform properly is high enough, the wafer is broken into individual dice, each of which is bonded on a lead frame and packaged. If, however, the yield is below a predetermined threshold, the wafer is discarded.
The discarded wafers which failed to pass the wafer test or device test retains circuit patterns and cannot be used for another purpose, and thus are typically crushed into pieces and scrapped under the ground. Such disposal of discarded wafers results in waste of expensive resources, wafer, and may bring about environment contamination. Accordingly, a method for recycling the discarded wafers is strongly needed.
Some attempts have been made for recycling the discarded wafers. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,706,636 issued 16 Mar. 2004 to Renesas Technology Corp. and entitled METHOD OF REGENERATING SEMICONDUCTOR WAFER discloses a method of regenerating a semiconductor wafer using mixed acids. According to this method, a wafer is polished and then immersed in mixed acids. Afterwards, a surface treatment is performed on the wafer to planarize the surface of the wafer, and then a high temperature annealing process is performed to ultimately obtain a regenerate wafer. However, the disclosed method may be inefficient in that not so few process steps are involved in the regenerating process, which makes this method time-consuming. Further, simply polishing and immersing the wafer in mixed acids cannot guarantee the complete removal of ion-implanted region showing physical characteristics different from that of pure silicon and trenches deeply formed into the surface. Besides, the use of several kinds of acids increases the cost for regenerating the wafer.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US2005/0092349 published 5 May 2005 and entitled METHOD OF RECLAIMING SILICON WAFERS discloses a method of regenerating a semiconductor wafer through consecutive steps of etching, polishing, and heat-treatment. Among the various steps, this attempt is focused on the heat-treatment of the wafer for 20 minutes-5 hours. As a result, this method may be much more time-consuming and inefficient.
As mentioned above, the conventional methods show low productivity in regenerating semiconductor wafers and are costly due to the use of a large quantity of chemicals and abrasives. Thus, the prior art wafer regenerating techniques provide little benefit from the economic point of view.

Semiconductor wafer regenerating system and method