Methods for fabricating busbar and finger metallization over TCO are disclosed. Rather than using expensive and relatively resistive silver paste, a high conductivity and relatively low cost copper is used. Methods for enabling the use of copper as busbar and fingers over a TCO are disclosed, providing good adhesion while preventing migration of the copper into the TCO. Also, provisions are made for easy soldering contacts to the copper busbars.

1. Field of the Invention
The subject invention relates to solar photovoltaic cells and, more specifically, to method for manufacturing low cost metallization layers for such cells and the resulting cell device structure.
2. Related Art
The silkscreen, silver-paste metallization technology has been developed mainly by the "traditional" diffused junction solar cell manufacturers. In such cells, a top layer of silicon nitride is used and then the metallization is formed on top of the silicon nitride. However, electrical contact must be made between the metallization and the emitter—through the silicon nitride layer. Therefore, silkscreen is used to deposit the silver paste and then the cell is annealed at high temperature (e.g., 950° C.) so that the silver paste diffuses through the silicon nitride layer and makes contact to the emitter. Since diffused-junction solar cells make the bulk of the solar market (by a very large margin), silver-paste technology became a de facto standard in the solar cell industry and much of the manufacturing and development efforts are directed at improving the conductivity of the resulting metallization using silver paste.
A specific metallization layer that is particularly relevant to the subject invention is busbar and fingers over a transparent conductive oxide (TCO). One solar cell architecture that incorporates a silver busbar and fingers over TCO is known as the HIT cell, available from Sanyo® of Japan. FIG. 1 illustrates the general structure of the HIT module. A high quality (Czochralski grown) single crystal silicon wafer of n-type is used as the substrate 100. The substrate 100 is about 200 micron thick and a square of about 125 mm by 125 mm. The substrate surfaces are texturized to form pyramid shapes throughout the surface, but this is not shown in FIG. 1 due to the minute size of the pyramids. The top surface is coated with a thin layer of an amorphous intrinsic silicon layer 105. A thin layer 110 of amorphous p-type silicon is deposited over the intrinsic layer 105. A layer of TCO 115, e.g., ZnO2, ITO (Indium Tin Oxide), or InSnO, is deposited over the p-type layer. Then, busbar 120 and fingers 125 are fabricated over the TCO, generally by silk screen followed with anneal. The same is done on the bottom surface, wherein an i-layer 130, p-layer 135, and TCO layer 140 are deposited on the bottom surface, followed by busbar 145 and fingers (not visible in FIG. 1). The HIT cell, while being of relatively high efficiency (currently available at about 20% efficiency) is very expensive to manufacture. While part of the cost being the high grade silicon substrate used, other part of the cost is the high cost of the silver paste-based busbar and fingers. Additionally, the silver paste-based busbar and fingers pose a reliability problem in that they tend to delaminate with time.
FIG. 2 illustrate another structure, known as SmartSilicon®, and available from Sunpreme of Sunnyvale, Calif. A rather "dirty" metallurgical grade silicon (MG silicon) is used for fabricating substrate 200, using casting and solidification technique. Metallurgical grade silicon is generally of 3-5 "nines" purity, meaning 99.9%-99.999% pure, compared to Czochralski grown substrates, which are of nine-nines purity and even higher. Metallurgical grade silicon is generally used in the manufacture of aluminum-silicon alloys to produce cast parts, mainly for the automotive industry. It is also added to molten cast iron as ferrosilicon or silicocalcium alloys to improve its performance in casting thin sections, and to prevent the formation of cementite at the surface. MG silicon has been thought to be useless for semiconductor and solar applications. See, e.g., Towards Solar Grade Silicon: Challenges and Benefits for Low Cost Photovoltaics, Sergio Pazzini, Solar Energy Materials & Solar Cells, 94 (2010) 1528-1533 ("As shown before, MG grade silicon is much too dirty to be employed for EG and PV applications."), and Solar Energy website of the U.S. Department of Energy: "to be useful as a semiconductor material in solar cells, silicon must be refined to a purity of 99.9999%." (Available at http://wwwl.eere.energy.gov/solar/silicon.html.) This is generally referred to as 6N, or solar grade silicon, SoG Si. Therefore, efforts have been made to produce what is referred to as "upgraded" metallurgical silicon (UMG silicon). However, to date, these efforts have not shown great success and come at high cost, especially for the high energy required for the "upgrade" process. Conversely, Sunpreme has shown that by using p-type doped MG silicon substrate and forming specific layers of amorphous silicon, a relatively cheap solar cell can be formed that has conversion efficiency higher than that of conventional thin-film solar cells.
The SmartSilicon solar cell is formed using a p-type MG silicon substrate 200, forming an amorphous intrinsic layer 205 on the top surface, forming an amorphous n-type layer 210 over the intrinsic layer 205, forming a TCO 215 over the n-layer. A back metallization layer is formed by depositing a titanium layer 230 over the entire back surface of the substrate 200, and depositing a layer of aluminum 235 over the titanium layer 230. The busbar 220 and fingers 225 are formed of silver, using the silk screen method. The SmartSilicon cell's attractiveness is in its conversion efficiency being competitive with that of pure silicon solar cells, while using an extremely cheap MG silicon substrate. Consequently, the relative cost contribution of the silver metallization process to the cost of the entire cell increases.
While the solar industry embraces the silkscreen silver paste metallization process, the subject inventors have determined that there is a need to provide a cost-effective solution for busbar and finger metallization over a TCO, that is cheaper and more reliable than silkscreen silver paste, and that has lower resistivity than silver paste.

Low-cost solar cell metallization over TCO and methods of their fabrication


An optical interconnection device has a passive control mechanism for substantially eliminating thermal effects on optical properties of the apparatus Specifically, the interconnection apparatus includes a control material coupled to an optical circuit substrate, wherein the control material has a thermal expansion coefficient that is different than a substrate thermal expansion coefficient. In response to an increase or decrease an ambient temperature, the control material thermally expands or contracts at a different rate than the substrate to create a non-planar substrate distortion transmitted to the core portion, thereby creating a temperature independent optical path length within the optical core portion.

FIG. 1(a) illustrates a well know Bragg grating device 5 formed from silica based optical waveguides. One important application of an integrated optical Bragg grating is the add-drop filter. In performing the add-drop filter function, the waveguides in Bragg grating 5 include a port 1 which receives initial traffic carrying several wavelengths. The dropped wavelength is Bragg reflected and leaves through port 2. The remaining wavelengths pass through the corrugations and leave through port 4. An added wavelength enters port 3, is Bragg reflected and leaves through port 4. FIGS. 1(b) and 1(c) illustrate the bands of dropped and passed signals R.sub.x and T.sub.x, respectively.
Other devices which provide optical interconnections accomplish optical wavelength multiplexing and demultiplexing using a polarity of closely spaced input waveguides communicating with the input of a star coupler. The output of the star coupler communicates through an optical grating comprising a series of optical waveguides, wherein each of the waveguides differs in length with respect to its nearest neighbor by a predetermined amount. The grating is connected to the input of a second star coupler and the outputs of which form outputs of a switching, multiplexing, and demultiplexing apparatus. Examples of such interconnection apparatuses are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,002,350 and 5,136,671, which are expressly incorporated herein by reference.
The geometry of the above-referenced devices may be such that a polarity of separate and distinct wavelengths each launch into a separate and distinct input port of the apparatus will all combine and appear on a predetermined one of the output ports. In this manner, the apparatus performs a multiplexing function. The same apparatus may also perform a demultiplexing function. In this situation, a polarity of input wavelengths is then separated from the others and directed to a predetermined one of the output ports of the apparatus. An appropriate selection of input wavelengths also permits the switching between any selected input port to any selected output port. Accordingly, these devices are generally referred to as frequency routing devices and, more specifically, wavelength division multiplexers (WDMs). Ideally, the individual wavelength channel position of the WDMs and the associated transmitters should be aligned to a predefined, industry-established wavelength grid referred herein as .lambda..sub.0, .lambda..sub.1, .lambda..sub.2, .lambda..sub.3 . . . .lambda..sub.n.
Unfortunately, however, in practice the wavelengths or center frequencies of both the transmitter and WDM channels drift with time and/or have initial fabrication errors. Such drifting or errors each result in wavelengths of the respective optical devices to not be aligned as desired and thus adversely affect the operation of that device within a communication system. Additionally, ambient temperature affects both the path length and refractive index of WDMs, producing shifts of center frequency of WDM passbands with changes in ambient temperature. To stabilize center frequencies associated with conventional WDM passbands, a temperature controller must be used to stabilize the substrate temperature. The climate control devices require power for operation, thus limiting the use of WDMs to areas where power is accessible, such as central telephone switching offices. Furthermore, the reliability of the heaters and temperature sensors are of concern to some customers who require redundant components to be present to avoid any failure during the lifetime of the device. Moreover, where power is not available to deliver climate control, WDMs may only be configured to have passbands which can tolerate center frequency drifting, thus limiting the number of channels for multiplexing or switch, and increasing the number of WDMs and cost associated with the required signal processing capability.
To date, devices have typically used what may be referred to as a "set and forget" scheme. In other words, existing devices have simply relied on the passband width of the WDM and/or transmitters being lirge enough to tolerate any and all of the wavelengths inaccuracies that may be present due to at least the reasons set above. In such a system, the WDM passband requires a large channel space, therefore significantly limiting the number of channels.
Furthermore, to be effectively used in an increasingly demanding optical communication system of today where WDMs are going to smaller channel spacings, i.e., less than about 50 GHz, and large channel counts, i.e., greater than or equal to about 32 channels, improvement is needed in the ability to provide accurate center wavelength control in a WDM system and integrated device.
With the forgoing disadvantages of prior art optical interconnection devices in mind, it is an object of the present invention to provide an optical transmission device having an optical planar waveguide with temperature independent transmission properties.
It is another object of the present invention to achieve passive control over thermal effects on planar optical waveguidles using non-planar geometric distortion of a substrate which supports the optical waveguides.
Another object of the present invention to eliminate the need for temperature control devices to prevent the shifting of center frequencies for waveguides and optical transmission devices.
Another object of the present invention is to provide WDMs which have small channel spacings having temperature independent center frequencies.
Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon reading the following specification, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Optical device having a temperature independent spectral response using nonplanar geometric distortion of a substrate


A construction method of solar battery modules by which solar battery modules are fixed using a fixing member, including: connecting a first frame body of a solar battery module between a pedestal and a to-be connected portion on a side opposite to a side of a plate-like portion extending outward farther than the pedestal with respect to an axis of the fixing member; sliding the fixing member to a position of a structural member such as a rafter along the first frame body; fixing the fixing member to a support member by the plate-like portion extending outward farther than the pedestal; and connecting a first frame body of a second solar battery module different from the first solar battery module between the pedestal and the to-be connected portion on a side identical to a side of the plate-like portion extending outward farther than the pedestal with respect to the axis.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a construction method of solar batter modules.
2. Background of the Invention
A conventional solar battery module can be mounted directly on a roofboard without the use of a roofing agent. As shown in FIG. 10, frame bodies of two solar battery modules are adjacent in a flowing direction and a vertical direction, a joint portion 62 formed on a ridge-side frame body 61 of an eaves-side solar battery module is connected to a roofboard 31, and a ridge-side fitting portion 64 formed on a ridge-side frame body 61 of an eaves-side solar battery module is fitted into an eaves-side fitting portion 63 formed on an eaves-side frame body 60 of a ridge-side solar battery module. This conventional solar battery module is disclosed in the Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2000-297509.
However, the conventional solar battery module is integrally created with joint portions 62 for mounting a frame body thereof on the roof board 31. Therefore, in some cases the position of the rafters which support the roofboard 31 at predetermined intervals and the position of the joint portion 62 of the solar battery module are not aligned with each other, which creates problems such as the joint portion 62 not being fixed to the rafter and the deterioration of the fixing strength of the solar battery module.
The eaves-side frame body 60 and the ridge-side frame body 61 of the solar battery module have different shapes, complicated machining operation is required to form the joint portion 62, which connects to an increase the cost.
Hence, it is an object of the present invention to provide a construction method of solar battery modules by which a fixing member for fixing solar battery modules can be more securely fixed.

Construction method of solar battery modules


A method and system are provided to support simultaneous operation of a weapon and communication with a remote apparatus. The system utilizes a control module with a transceiver in communication with a receiver of a remote apparatus and/or output device.

1. Technical Field
This invention relates to a weapon communication system. More specifically, the communication system supports use of the weapon while communicating with a remote apparatus.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The ability of a remote apparatus to effectively achieve its targeted tasks is dependent, in large part, on communication systems and a user interface. The human machine interface and related controls are critical to successful tele-operated and semi-autonomous operations. The human operator has the adaptability needed in a dynamic, unpredictable environment. However, the operator's cognitive, motor, and peripheral senses are limited even under optimal conditions. Accordingly, designing the remote apparatus platform control interface and integrating this interface must take into consideration these limitations in order to optimize the quality and effectiveness of the human/machine interface.
One objective to optimize the quality and effectiveness of the human-machine interface is for the user interface to provide a wide range of human/robot interaction modalities. For example, when interacting with a fully autonomous tactile mobile robot or unmanned vehicle, the communication from the robot may merely consist of a situation report at a way point. In this case, the human response could be a software recognized hand signal instructing the robot to continue on to the next way point. Conversely, the other end of the spectrum of interaction modalities occurs when autonomous functionality is not appropriate or not operational. Non-autonomous interaction would likely require a live video feed from the robot as well as telemetry data. The operator would need to directly control the mobility of the robot with some type of proportional input, such as a small joystick or tactile sensor.
Accordingly, there is a need for a system that supports control of a remote apparatus while supporting motor skills and cognitive abilities of the operator.


A memory circuit includes multiple word lines, multiple pairs of complementary bank bit lines, multiple block select lines, and multiple of block circuits. Each of the block circuits includes a local bit line; a first transistor having a control terminal connected to the local bit line, a first bias terminal connected to a first bank bit line of a given pair of bank bit lines, and a second bias terminal connecting to a first voltage source; a second transistor having a control terminal connected to a corresponding one of the block select lines, a first bias terminal connected to a second bank bit line of the given pair of bank bit lines, and a second bias terminal connected to the local bit line; and a plurality of memory cells connected to the local bit line and to respective word lines in the memory circuit. At least two block circuits are connected to a given pair of bank bit lines, the block circuits being configured such that a load on each bank bit line in the given pair of bank bit lines is substantially matched to one another.

Memory circuits, including, for example, dynamic random access memory (DRAM), are employed in a wide variety of devices and applications. As memory access time requirements are pushed faster and noise immunity requirements are increased, the design of memory circuit architectures to meet such requirements becomes significantly more challenging. Additionally, memory sizes requirements are continuously increasing, thereby exacerbating speed and noise immunity problems.
Various memory architectures have been proposed to meet certain design criteria, such as, for example, memory access time, often measured as latency. However, although these known memory architectures have had some successes at reducing memory latency, they have often achieved such a reduction in memory latency at the expense of other important design criteria, such as, for example, memory density, noise immunity, power consumption, etc., which are often mutually exclusive design characteristics in a given memory architecture.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a memory circuit that does not suffer from one or more of the problems exhibited by conventional memory architectures.

Differential and hierarchical sensing for memory circuits

International business Machines Corporation


A megasonic immersion lithography exposure apparatus and method for substantially eliminating microbubbles from an exposure liquid in immersion lithography is disclosed. The apparatus includes an optical system for projecting light through a mask and onto a wafer.

Various processing steps are used to fabricate integrated circuits on a semiconductor wafer. These steps include deposition of a conducting layer on the silicon wafer substrate; formation of a photoresist or other mask such as titanium oxide or silicon oxide, in the form of the desired metal interconnection pattern, using standard lithographic or photolithographic techniques; subjecting the wafer substrate to a dry etching process to remove the conducting layer from the areas not covered by the mask, thereby etching the conducting layer in the form of the masked pattern on the substrate; removing or stripping the mask layer from the substrate typically using reactive plasma and chlorine gas, thereby exposing the top surface of the conductive interconnect layer; and cooling and drying the wafer substrate by applying water and nitrogen gas to the wafer substrate.
In a common IC fabrication technique known as a dual damascene technique, lower and upper dielectric layers are sequentially deposited on a substrate. A via opening is patterned and etched in the lower dielectric layer, and a trench opening is patterned and etched in the upper dielectric layer. At each step, a patterned photoresist layer is used to etch the trench and via openings in the corresponding dielectric layer. A conductive copper line is then formed in the trench and via openings, typically using electrochemical plating (ECP) techniques, to form the horizontal and vertical IC circuit interconnects on the substrate.
Photoresist materials are coated onto the surface of a wafer, or onto a dielectric or conductive layer on a wafer, by dispensing a photoresist fluid typically on the center of the wafer as the wafer rotates at high speeds within a stationary bowl or coater cup. The coater cup catches excess fluids and particles ejected from the rotating wafer during application of the photoresist. The photoresist fluid dispensed onto the center of the wafer is spread outwardly toward the edges of the wafer by surface tension generated by the centrifugal force of the rotating wafer. This facilitates uniform application of the liquid photoresist on the entire surface of the wafer.
During the photolithography step of semiconductor production, light energy is applied through a reticle or mask onto the photoresist material previously deposited on the wafer to define circuit patterns which will be etched in a subsequent processing step to define the circuits on the wafer. A reticle is a transparent plate patterned with a circuit image to be formed in the photoresist coating on the wafer. A reticle contains the circuit pattern image for only a few of the die on a wafer, such as four die, for example, and thus, must be stepped and repeated across the entire surface of the wafer. In contrast, a photomask, or mask, includes the circuit pattern image for all of the die on a wafer and requires only one exposure to transfer the circuit pattern image for all of the dies to the wafer.
Spin coating of photoresist on wafers, as well as the other steps in the photolithographty process, is carried out in an automated coater/developer track system using wafer handling equipment which transport the wafers between the various photolithography operation stations, such as vapor prime resist spin coat, develop, baking and chilling stations. Robotic handling of the wafers minimizes particle generation and wafer damage. Automated wafer tracks enable various processing operations to be carried out simultaneously. Two types of automated track systems widely used in the industry are the TEL (Tokyo Electron Limited) track and the SVG (Silicon Valley Group) track.
A typical method of forming a circuit pattern on a wafer includes introducing the wafer into the automated track system and then spin-coating a photoresist layer onto the wafer. The photoresist is next cured by conducting a soft bake process. After it is cooled, the wafer is placed in an exposure apparatus, such as a stepper, which aligns the wafer with an array of die patterns etched on the typically chrome-coated quartz reticle. When properly aligned and focused, the stepper exposes a small area of the wafer, then shifts or "steps" to the next field and repeats the process until the entire wafer surface has been exposed to the die patterns on the reticle. The photoresist is exposed to light through the reticle in the circuit image pattern. Exposure of the photoresist to this image pattern cross-links and hardens the resist in the circuit pattern. After the aligning and exposing step, the wafer is exposed to post-exposure baking and then is developed and hard-baked to develop the photoresist pattern.
The circuit pattern defined by the developed and hardened photoresist is next transferred to an underlying metal layer using an etching process, in which metal in the metal layer not covered by the cross-linked photoresist is etched away from the wafer with the metal under the cross-linked photoresist that defines the device feature protected from the etchant. Alternatively, the etched material may be a dielectric layer in which via openings and trench openings are etched according to the circuit pattern, such as in a dual damascene technique. The via and trench openings are then filled with a conductive metal such as copper to define the metal circuit lines. As a result, a well-defined pattern of metallic microelectronic circuits, which closely approximates the cross-linked photoresist circuit pattern, is formed on the wafer.
One type of lithography which is used in the semiconductor fabrication industry is immersion lithography, in which an exposure apparatus includes a mask and lens which are provided over an optical transfer chamber. A water-containing exposure liquid is distributed through the optical transfer chamber. In operation, the optical transfer chamber is placed over an exposure field on a photoresist-coated wafer. As the exposure liquid is distributed through the optical transfer chamber, light is transmitted through the mask, lens and exposure liquid in the optical transfer chamber, respectively, and onto the photoresist of the exposure field. The circuit pattern image in the mask is therefore transferred by the light transmitted through the exposure liquid to the photoresist. The exposure liquid in the optical transfer chamber enhances the resolution of the transmitted circuit pattern image on the photoresist.
Prior to distribution of the exposure liquid through the optical transfer chamber, the aqueous liquid is typically de-gassed to remove most of the microbubbles from the liquid. However, some of the microbubbles remain in the liquid during its distribution through the optical transfer chamber. These remaining microbubbles have a tendency to adhere to the typically hydrophobic surface of the photoresist, thereby distorting the circuit pattern image projected onto the photoresist. Accordingly, an apparatus and method is needed to substantially obliterate microbubbles in an exposure liquid during immersion lithography in order to prevent distortion of the circuit pattern image projected onto the photoresist in an exposure field.

Megasonic immersion lithography exposure apparatus and method

Abstract: An optical transfer chamber is provided adjacent to the optical system for containing an exposure liquid. At least one megasonic plate operably engages the optical transfer chamber for inducing sonic waves in and eliminating microbubbles from the exposure liquid.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.


The invention is generally directed to a foldable door and sidewall, and more particularly, to a foldable door and sidewall suitable for use with tents, awnings, restaurant patio shielding, and other protective enclosures. The invention is also directed to methods for retrofitting a protective enclosure (e.g., frame structure associated with a collapsible tent) with a foldable door or sidewall, as well as to kits for accomplishing the same. In one embodiment, a foldable door or sidewall is disclosed that is adapted for detachable attachment with a protective enclosure, wherein the foldable door or sidewall comprises a flexible sheet having a continuous perimeter that defines a plurality of discrete door or sidewall edges, wherein at least one of the door or sidewall edges is adapted to slidably engage a slide track, and at least one magnet integrally associated with at least one of the door or sidewall edges of the flexible sheet, wherein the door or sidewall edge having the at least one magnet integrally associated therewith is not the same as the door or sidewall edge adapted to slidably engage the slide track.

The present invention is generally directed to a slidable door and sidewall, and more particularly, to a slidable door and sidewall suitable for use with tents, awnings, restaurant patio shielding and other protective enclosures, as well as methods related thereto.
There are numerous types of protective enclosures available for protecting an interior space from the elements. For example, tents, awnings, canopies, and other protective structures are readily available from a number of different manufacturers for those interested in shielding an interior space from one or more natural elements such as sun, wind, rain and snow. Such protective enclosures are available in all kinds of shapes and sizes, and are known to be made from both natural and synthetic materials, including blends thereof.
Historically, canvas and other natural fabrics have been used in the manufacture of protective enclosures. Tents and awnings, for example, have historically been made from canvas because canvas provides for a high-level of protection from the elements, and because canvas is generally readily foldable into a more compact structure, which is highly desirable for purposes of storage and transport. More recently, however, protective enclosures have also been made from a variety of synthetic fabrics which are also readily foldable, synthetic fabrics such as those made with polyamide (e.g., nylon), polyester, polytetrafluoroethylene (e.g., GORE-TEX), and polyvinylchloride, as well as various blends thereof. In either case, the natural and synthetic fabrics used in the manufacture of protective enclosures are generally considered to be either fibrous, like canvas, or non-fibrous (i.e., nonwoven), like many synthetic fabrics such as vinyl sheets.
A significant improvement associated with protective enclosures, made from either a natural and/or synthetic fabric, has been the development of transparent windows and doors. More specifically, protective enclosures for boats and automobiles have been developed that include one or more transparent windows that allow for unobstructed viewing for the occupant(s) within the interior space associated therewith. For example, transparent windows have been incorporated into automobile convertible tops (e.g., rear windows), as well as boat enclosures (e.g., sailboat storm dodger). These windows have traditionally been made from either glass or clear vinyl. Similarly, tents and awnings have likewise incorporated transparent windows into their respective doorways and sidewalls; however, these windows have usually been made from only clear vinyl, and not glass, for obvious safety reasons.
There are, however, several drawbacks associated with protective enclosures having glass and clear vinyl windows. For example, because glass is generally inflexible and a relatively poor shock absorber, it may readily break and thus has only limited utility in an otherwise flexible and foldable protective enclosure. As a substitute for glass, clear vinyl sheets have been utilized for windows; however, such clear vinyl has a tendency to form wrinkles and creases with use, it scratches relatively easily, and it may lose its transparency (e.g., yellow) over time. Furthermore, clear vinyl is somewhat susceptible to changes in size and shape as a result of temperature fluctuations.
An alternative to both glass and clear vinyl windows has been the use of semi-rigid clear plastic materials, such as polycarbonate and acrylic-based thermoplastic sheets. These materials are characterized by high transparency, ease of cleaning, and high shock resistance. Moreover, these materials are generally not susceptible to changes in size and shape as a result of temperature fluctuations. As such, the use of semi-rigid clear plastic materials as windows in protective enclosures has been seen as a significant improvement over glass and clear vinyl, especially in the context of high-end boat enclosures and party/exhibition tents. Exemplary in this regard is U.S. Pat. No. 5,121,703 to Smith and U.S. Pat. No. 5,472,771 to Sofie et al.
Although protective enclosures having semi-rigid clear plastic windows are now available, there are still several shortcomings associated with existing protective enclosures that need to be overcome. For example, and in the context of high-end boat enclosures and party/exhibition tents, existing protective enclosures generally include one or more doors, several sidewalls, as well as a plurality of windows. The doors and windows are typically opened and closed by means of a zipper; however, other means such as snaps, buttons, tie-downs, and VELCRO are also known. Similarly, the sidewalls of such protective enclosures are typically attached to one another (as well as to (1) flexible ropes and/or awning cords generally associated with the underlying rigid/flexible framing structure of pole tents, and (2) rigid cross-members generally associated with the underlying rigid framing structure of span tents) by means of a zipper, snaps, buttons, tie-downs or VELCRO. The use of such attachment means poses several disadvantages.
For example, zippers, snaps, buttons, tie-downs and VELCRO are all somewhat cumbersome to use in the sense that they require a relatively high level of physical and cognitive effort to successfully operate. As such, zippers, snaps, buttons, tie-downs, VELCRO, and the like may pose a significant safety concern in an emergency situation. Indeed, large party/exhibition tents are generally occupied with their doors open, or at least unsecured, to facilitate evacuation in the event of a fire or other emergency. In addition, the assembly and disassembly of protective enclosures such as party/exhibition tents (and storage of the same) is often an arduous task because of the multiple and non-modular components involved.
Accordingly, and although significant advances have been made in the field of protective enclosures, there is still a need in the art for improved protective enclosures and methods related thereto. In particular, there is a need for foldable doors and sidewalls associated with such protective enclosures. The present invention fulfills these needs, and provides for further related advantages.
In brief, the present invention is generally directed to a slidable door and sidewall, and more particularly, to a slidable door and sidewall suitable for use with tents, awnings, restaurant patio shielding, and other protective enclosures. The present invention is also directed to methods for retrofitting a protective enclosure (e.g., frame structure associated with a collapsible tent) with a slidable door or sidewall, as well as to kits for accomplishing the same.
In one embodiment, the present invention is directed to a foldable door or sidewall adapted for detachable attachment with a protective enclosure, wherein the foldable door or sidewall comprises a flexible sheet having a continuous perimeter that defines a plurality of discrete door or sidewall edges, wherein at least one of the door or sidewall edges is adapted to slidably engage a slide track, and further comprises at least one magnet integrally associated with at least one of the door or sidewall edges of the flexible sheet, wherein the door or sidewall edge having the at least one magnet integrally associated therewith is not the same as the door or sidewall edge adapted to slidably engage the slide track. The foldable door or sidewall may further comprise a semi-rigid thermoplastic resinous sheet in an integral and coplanar relationship with the flexible sheet, wherein the semi-rigid thermoplastic resinous sheet defines a window. In addition, the flexible sheet may be either a fibrous material, a non-fibrous material, as well as various blends thereof. The semi-rigid thermoplastic resinous sheet may be transparent, and may have a decorative decal or strip affixed thereto so as to alter the transparency of the otherwise transparent thermoplastic resinous sheet.
In another embodiment, the present invention is directed to a collapsible protective enclosure suitable for protecting an interior space from one or more natural elements, wherein the collapsible protective enclosure includes a frame structure that defines the interior space, wherein the interior space further defines a floor, a plurality of walls, and a roof, wherein the roof and plurality of walls intersect at a plurality of edges, and wherein the frame structure includes a cross-member spanning across at least one of the walls and adjacent to at least one of the plurality of edges, comprising: a slide track having at least one groove adapted to slidable engage a rod, wherein the slide track is detachably attached to the cross-member; and a door or sidewall that includes a flexible sheet having a continuous perimeter that defines a plurality of discrete door or sidewall edges, the flexible sheet being in a coplanar relationship with at least one of the walls, wherein at least one of the door or sidewall edges has a welt that is slidably engaged to the at least one groove of the slide track, and wherein another of the plurality of door or sidewall edges has at least one magnet integrally associated therewith.
In still another embodiment, the present invention is directed to an architectural window adapted for integral association with a foldable door or sidewall of a collapsible protective enclosure. The architectural window comprises a flexible sheet having a continuous perimeter that defines a plurality of discrete edges; a semi-rigid thermoplastic resinous sheet in an integral and coplanar relationship with the flexible sheet; and at least one magnet integrally associated with the flexible sheet or the semi-rigid sheet, wherein the at least one magnet is adapted to maintain the architectural window in a closed position.
The present invention is also directed to a method for retrofitting a protective enclosure with a foldable door or sidewall. The method comprises the discrete steps of: providing a protective enclosure, wherein the protective enclosure includes a cross-member, and wherein the cross-member spans across a portion of the protective enclosure; attaching one or more slide track supporting devices to the cross-member; attaching a slide track to the one or more slide track supporting devices, wherein the slide track has at least one groove adapted to engage a welt associated with an edge of the foldable door or sidewall; and engaging the welt with the at least one groove of the slide track such that the foldable door or sidewall is in slidable engagement with the slide track.
In yet another embodiment, the present invention is directed to a kit adapted to retrofit a protective enclosure with a foldable door or sidewall. The kit includes at least the following components: a foldable door or sidewall, wherein the foldable door or sidewall comprises a flexible sheet, the flexible sheet having a continuous perimeter that defines a plurality of discrete door or sidewall edges, wherein at least one of the door or sidewall edges has a welt; a slide track having at least first and second grooves, wherein the first groove is adapted to slidably engage the welt of the foldable door or sidewall and the second groove is adapted to engage a rod; and one or more hooks having adjustable straps, wherein each of the one or more hooks has a hooked end adapted to detachably attach to a cross-member associated with the protective enclosure and a flat end having at least two slits adapted to adjustably engage a strap, and wherein each of the one or more straps is connected to the rod.
These and other aspects of the present invention will be evident upon reference to the following detailed description and related Figures.

Slidable door and sidewall associated with tents, awnings, and other protective enclosures


An apparatus for detecting when a dynamic signal is stable. The apparatus is couplable to a first charge pump connected to receive the dynamic signal and generate a first signal as a function of the dynamic signal. The first charge pump has a predetermined capacitance and current. In one embodiment, the apparatus includes: (1) a second charge pump connected to receive the dynamic signal and in parallel with the first charge pump, the second charge pump having a smaller capacitance and discharge current than the first charge pump and configured to produce a second signal as a function of the dynamic signal, (2) a third charge pump connected to receive the dynamic signal and in parallel with the first charge pump and the second charge pump, the third charge pump having a smaller capacitance and larger discharge current than the first charge pump and configured to produce a third signal as a function of the dynamic signal and (3) control logic configured to receive the second and third signals and produce an active signal when the second and third signals are substantially opposite to each other, logically, indicating that the dynamic signal is stable.

It is desirable, in many applications, to adjust the gain levels of a signal. For example, when a signal is transmitted over a line, it may be necessary to increase the gain of the signal to account for degradation in signal clarity and strength. Signal gain may require adjustment (up or down) depending on, for instance, the distance a signal travels from point-to-point. One common device used to adjust signal gain is an automatic gain control (AGC) loop. An AGC loop automatically adjusts the output gain of a signal to a specific level as a function of its input.
In larger systems, it may be necessary to employ several AGC loops connected together to control signal gain. A requirement associated with nesting interconnecting AGC loops is that when one loop is active, the other loop(s) should remain stable to avoid transmitting an unstable signal (garbage data) to the active loop thereby ensuring that the system converges. To verify the stability of an AGC loop, many devices monitor the voltage produced by a charge pump of an AGC loop to determine when the AGC loop is stable. The charge pumps are typically used in the AGC loop to boost or reduce the voltage of a signal to a particular level, then freeze the loop at that level. By monitoring the output voltage (a signal) of the charge pump, it is possible, in principal, to ascertain when an AGC loop is stable.
Determining when the resulting output signal of the AGC loop is stable based on the output voltage of the charge pump, however, can be arduous or impractical. First, it is difficult to detect the stability of the loop by monitoring the output voltage of the charge pump because the final values of the output voltage are often unknown. Second, it is also difficult to detect the stability of the loop by comparing the output voltage of the charge pump because the values of the output voltage are dynamic having differing values even when the loop is stable. Third, to reduce the variations in the output voltage of the charge pump when the loop becomes stable requires a large capacitor (resulting in a large time constant) in the charge pump. As a result, the variations in the output voltage are dampened during both the active and stable periods. Thus, to detect the stability of the loop by monitoring the variations (as the variations are being tempered) in the output voltage with the constraints on the allowable time interval is difficult, if not impossible.
Presently, most detection circuits are design specific. The detection circuits only function with specific AGC loops having predetermined charge pump voltages and time intervals. Other detection circuits are complicated and expensive. Thus, it is difficult and often expensive to design stability detection circuits to operate in a multiple interconnected AGC loop environment, since each AGC loop may have a unique stability characteristic.
Accordingly, what is needed in the art is an improved apparatus that automatically detects when a dynamic signal is stable, without knowing, beforehand, the level and time that is takes a particular dynamic signal to reach stability. Additionally, such an apparatus should employ a simple, low-cost and substantially standardized design (for easy interchangeability in different systems).

Apparatus for detecting when a dynamic signal is stable


Methods and apparatus for access, enablement and control of devices in TV white space are provided. Methods and apparatus for channel scanning by a device are provided that shorten channel scanning time by using a 5 MHz Measurement Pilot frame at a predetermined location within an enabling device's channel, regardless of the operating bandwidth of the enabling device. Also provided are methods and apparatus for multi-band dynamic station enablement that locate information regarding an enabling device's supported regulatory classes and channel numbers within one accessible frame of information and also provide request and response messages to arrange for enablement of a requesting device on a network. Further, methods and apparatus are provided for identifying an interfering device on a network by providing increased information from within a DSE Registered Location element.

Recently, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has approved the operation of unlicensed radio transmitters in the broadcast television spectrum at locations where that spectrum is not being used by licensed services, such as television stations and wireless microphone operators, under certain rules. This unused TV spectrum is often termed "white space". A concept called Cognitive Radio was proposed to implement negotiated, or opportunistic, spectrum sharing to improve spectrum efficiency for these frequencies.
It can be expected that the implementation of Cognitive Radio (CR) in TV white space will be a major topic within wireless communication into the future and provide a viable solution to the problem of scarcity of the wireless spectrum. In 2004, based on the expectation of unlicensed use of TV white space, under the charter of an IEEE 802 Standards Committee, a working group named IEEE 802.22 was established to develop a standard for a Cognitive Radio-based PHY/MAC/air interface for use by license-exempt devices on a non-interfering basis in spectrum that has already been allocated to the TV Broadcast Service. The IEEE 802.22 working group is also called the WRAN Group, since it is essentially developing an air interface for a Wireless Regional Area Network (WRAN) with a range as large as 30 miles.
An alternate idea is to standardize the use of this spectrum to provide services similar to that of the traditional IEEE 802.11 WiFi standard. This effort to use TV white space for WiFi access is known as 802.11af. The difference between the traditional 802.11 standards and 802.11 of is that 802.11 of will be for WiFi operation in the TV white spaces.
TV white space (TVWS) consists of fragments of TV channels. Thus, depending on the usage of TV broadcasting and wireless microphones, the spectrum opportunity may be 6 MHz, 12 MHz, 18 MHz, . . . assuming that a TV channel is 6 MHz wide. In addition, the spectrum opportunity may happen in any of the TV bands. Thus, the spectrum opportunity in TVWS differs from the traditional 802.11 bands of 2.4 GHz, 3.6 GHz and 5 GHz in that the center frequency and channel bandwidth are variable.
Due to the combinations of bandwidths in TVWS, and variable center frequencies, the channel access delay and the complexity in finding available bandwidth can be large. In addition, as part of the process to find available bandwidth, unlicensed 802.11 devices wishing to operate as dependent stations are subject to channel permissioning and regulatory controls. Once transmitting, these unlicensed devices need to be identifiable to a database administrator in case they cause interference to other authorized devices.

Methods and apparatus for access, enablement and control by devices in TV white space


Metal oxide based memory devices and methods for manufacturing are described herein. A method for manufacturing a memory cell includes forming an insulation layer on an access device followed by forming vias through the insulation layer to expose the first and second access device terminals. First and second interlayer conductors extending through the vias are formed next. Top surfaces of the interlayer conductors are oxidized to form oxide layers. The oxide layer on the first interlayer conductor forms a memory layer. On top of the insulation layer a layer of protection metal is formed covering the oxide layers. The layer of protection metal is patterned and etched to form a top electrode layer covering the memory layer. The oxide layer on the second interlayer conductor is removed. Parallel first and second access lines are then formed on the top electrode layer and the second interlayer conductor, respectively.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to metal oxide based memory devices and methods for manufacturing such devices.
2. Description of Related Art
Resistive random access memory, RRAM, is a type of nonvolatile memory that provides the benefits of small cell size, scalability, ultrafast operation, low-power operation, high endurance, good retention, large On/Off ratio, and CMOS compatibility. One type of RRAM includes metal oxide layers than can be caused to change resistance between two or more stable resistance ranges by application of electrical pulses at levels suitable for implementation in integrated circuits.
In prior methods of forming a transition metal oxide (TMO) memory layer, photoresist is used as an etching mask to protect the portions of TMO in a designated region that will be the memory layer, while other portions of TMO that are not part of the memory layer are etched away. After etching, the photoresist is stripped and this stripping may cause damage to the TMO memory layer. Prior methods of avoiding this damage caused by stripping have included using a hard mask such as SiO2 or Si3N4 prior to oxidization to define surfaces to be oxidized to form the TMO memory layers. By defining which regions to oxidize, the step of etching away unwanted oxidized regions is eliminated. However, this process of using a hard mask adds two extra processes to the previously described method involving damage caused by the photoresist strip. These additional steps in the process add time and cost to production, which are undesirable.
It is therefore desirable to provide a memory cell and method of manufacture that eliminates the possibility of damage to the TMO memory layer caused by a photoresist strip while adding a minimal amount of manufacturing steps in order to provide a cost-effective method of manufacture.

RRAM process with metal protection layer


An exterior molding, also known as lace, placed around a fixed automotive window, such as a windshield, for channeling fluids along the sides. The molding comprises a first segment extending continuously along the top and sides; two identical segments extending along the sides only, secured to the first segment; and two identical mirror image segments around the upper corners of the window which are beneath the exterior and which provide transitions between the first segment and the side segments. The side and corner segments contain grooves which serve to channel rain and window washer fluid, and are secured together with the first segment to form a unitary molding having a smooth, continuous outer appearance.

The present invention relates to a molding, also known as a lace, which retains an edge of a fixed automotive window, such as a windshield or a rear window, and conceals the space between the window and an adjacent body panel, and also channels rain water and windshield washer fluid which accumulates on the window in a controlled manner along the sides.

Automotive window water management lace and method of manufacture


A field emission print head capable of converging electrons and having a structure such that odd order gate lines are connected to a first gate lead electrode, even order gate lines are connected to a second gate lead electrode. When the first gate lead electrode is selected and operated, the potential of the second gate lead electrode is made to be a low level. Since the odd order gate line is disposed between the low level even order gate lines, emitted electrons can be converged. When the second gate lead electrode is selected and operated, also emitted electrons can be converged. Each gate line has field emission cathodes disposed in a zigzag configuration. Since the first gate lead electrode is made to always be a low level as a converting electrode, the field emission print head can easily be manufactured.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a print head adaptable to an optical printer, and more particularly to a print head having a field emission device.
2. Related Art
Hitherto, optical printers have been known. The schematic structure of the optical printer will now be described with reference to FIG. 1. A film 120 is coated with a sensitive material, such as silver halide (silver salt), so as to be exposed to light when the lower surface of the film 120 is irradiated with light reflected by a mirror 121.
The film 120 is irradiated with light emitted from a print head 125. The print head 125 is supplied with image data for each line. Light modulated by image data above is main-scanned vertically on the surface of the sheet and the print head 125 is sub-scanned as indicated by an arrow shown in FIG. 1 so that one image is printed on the film 120 by a line sequential method.
Reference numeral SLA 122 represents a SELFOC lens array serving as a lens for causing light emitted from the print head 125 to be focused on the surface of the film 120. A mirror 123 introduces light into the SLA 122.
An RGB filter 124 is an optical filter of three primary colors for printing a color image on the film 120. In a case where a color image is printed, image data for one line is decomposed into R (red), G (green) and B (blue) image data, and then the RGB filter 124 is sequentially moved to correspond to image data for each color so that the RGB filter 124 performs the main scanning operations three times. That is, the main scanning operations performed by three times result in the color image for one line being recorded on the film 120.
An optical printer of the foregoing type has a light source which has been a light emitting diode (LED) or a fluorescent character display tube of a thermionic emission type. In recent years, use of semiconductor microprocessing technique has enabled micron size field emission devices to be formed into an array configuration on a substrate. A field emission print head using the foregoing field emission device array as the electron source has been suggested (refer to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-43539).
An example of the structure of a conventional field emission print head of the foregoing type is shown in FIGS. 2A, 2B and 2C. FIG. 2A is a schematic plan view, FIG. 2B is a schematic cross sectional view taken along line 2B--2B shown in FIG. 2A, and FIG. 2C is a detailed cross sectional view taken along line 2C--2C shown in FIG. 2A. As shown in FIGS. 2A, 2B and 2C the field emission print head has a first flat substrate 101 having a plurality of field emission devices 105 formed thereon, a second flat substrate 102 disposed opposite to the first flat substrate 101 and having a fluorescent member 106 and so forth formed thereon, a holder member 103 for maintaining a predetermined distance from the first flat substrate 101 to the second flat substrate 102, and a vacuum layer 104 surrounded by the first flat substrate 101, the second flat substrate 102 and the holder member 103.
The first flat substrate 101 is made of an n-type silicon single crystal substrate and covered with a silicon oxide film (SiO.sub.2 film) 101' except the field emission devices 105 and the substrate contact electrode 107 thereof. The second flat substrate 102 is made of a transparent glass substrate and having a transparent anode electrode 109 and a fluorescent member 106 laminated on the surface thereof. The field emission devices 105, each having a cathode electrode and a gate electrode, and the fluorescent member 106, having an anode electrode, are disposed to opposite to each other in such a manner that a vacuum layer 104 is formed between the field emission devices 105 and the fluorescent member 106. A pair of the field emission device 105 and the fluorescent member 106 form a unit light source. Each unit light source has one field emission device sectioned by gate electrodes separated from one another and disposed in the form of an array. The cathode electrode of each of the field emission device shares a monocrystal silicon plate. Also the anode electrode is commonly shared.
One field emission device, as shown in FIG. 2C, has a plurality of projecting cathode electrodes (emitters) 111 formed on the surface of the first flat substrate 101 and gate electrodes 112 formed on the SiO.sub.2 film 101' and having openings adjacent to the foregoing projections. The gate electrodes 112 are separated from one another by each field emission device.
Although the first flat substrate 101 is made of the single crystal silicon substrate and the projections are formed by anisotropic etching of the single crystal silicon substrate, an insulating substrate having metal electrodes and metal projections may be employed or a structure having metal projections formed on a conductive substrate may be employed.
In the thus-structured unit light source in a state where the single crystal silicon substrate 101 is grounded through the substrate contact electrode 107, when anode voltage V.sub.ak is applied to the fluorescent member 106 through the anode contact electrode 110 and the anode electrode 109 and gate voltage V.sub.gk is applied to the gate electrode of the field emission devices 105 through the gate contact electrode 108, the electric field of the gate electrode is applied to the projection portions of the cathode electrode of the field emission devices 105 so that electrons are field-emitted from the leading portions of the projections. The field-emitted electrons are accelerated due to the anode voltage when allowed to reach the fluorescent member 106 so that the portions of the fluorescent member 106 opposite to the device emit light.
Thus-emitted light passes through the transparent anode electrode 109 and the second flat substrate 102 to be radiated so that image data for one line is emission-recorded on a recording medium, such as a film. In the foregoing case, the line sequential scan method may be employed as described above, in which the recording medium or the print head is moved to record image data for the following one line. When the RGB filter 124 is, as shown in FIG. 1, moved to perform main scanning, a color image can be recorded.
Since a field emission print head of the foregoing type is manufactured by using the microprocessing technique for semiconductors, high resolutions can be realized.
However, in the foregoing conventional field emission print head, electrons are emitted from the leading ends of the projecting cathode electrodes 111 for field-emitting electrons while being spread by an angular degree of about 60 degrees.
Therefore, somewhat spread electrons reach the anode. As a result, there is a risk that electrons collide with adjacent pixels in the anode portion, and thus there arises a problem in that leakage light emission takes place.
In order to prevent the foregoing problem, the pixel pitch is required to be elongated. However, elongation of the pixel pitch causes the resolution to deteriorate. Although the spread of electrons can be prevented by shortening the distance from the cathode to the anode, the distance cannot be shortened because the apparatus cannot withstand the operation voltage of hundreds of volts which is applied to the anode in the case where the distance from the cathode to the anode is shortened.


It is an object of the present invention to provide a blasting method and a shot material, which are very practical both in the cost and the treatment performance.

The present invention relates to a shot material and a blasting method using the shot material.
Blast processing is used in a wide variety of fields for peeling a coating, such as a white line on the pavement, and removing other deposits, removing a deposit to a rubber mold, removing a deposit, such as paint, pollutant, rust, or surface oxide, deburring of a resin shaped article, or surface abrasion. Conventionally, as a shot material for use in the blast processing, particles made of various materials, such as alumina, glass, or a resin, have been utilized. Recently, from the viewpoint of reduction and recycle of waste for preventing environmental pollution, attempts are vigorously made to remove coating films in products disposed of (for example, metal materials and resin materials in automobiles and household appliances) by blasting treatment using the shot material to reuse them as raw materials. Therefore, various studies have been made on the shot material used in the blasting treatment (e.g., Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2001-277123).
However, the blasting treatment for peeling the coating films in waste requires a great amount of the shot material, and therefore poses problems of costs for the material of the shot itself and for treating the used shot material. In addition, the shot material used for an object of reusing waste becomes another waste and hence the used shot material must be treated, antistatic properties must be imparted to the shot material for preventing it from adhering to the materials peeled, and safety must be secured for preventing an occurrence of dust explosion, and these problems of treatments for the shot material are the big hurdle that should be overcome for putting the shot material into practical use.
In view of the above problems accompanying the current techniques, an object of the present invention is to provide a blasting method and a shot material, which are very practical both in the cost and the treatment performance.

Blasting materials and method of blasting

Abstract: (a) A shot material containing a styrene ion-exchange resin or a waste material caused therefrom, or/and a dried sludge-derived material, (b) a shot material containing a resin which is comprised of a resin containing a rubber component and a resin containing no rubber component, and (c) a shot material containing at least one component selected from the group consisting of an epoxy resin composition and inorganic filler, and a blasting method using the shot material.


A method of providing hollow cast products using a filling unit wherein a non-solid material is filled into elastic molds having open bag shaped interior filling sections by a filling nozzle insertable internally of the filling sections of the elastic molds and a blowing nozzle for blowing air into the filling section, which includes: partly filling the filling sections of the elastic molds with the non-solid material, and blowing air into the partly filled filling sections before the material solidifies to blow the material upward and solidify the material on the inner peripheral surface of the filling sections.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for producing cast products and, more particularly, to an apparatus in which non-solid materials including water, paste-like chocolate, foodstuffs such as fish cake and fish paste, stationery such as rubber erasers, and daily necessities such as soap are filled in an elastic mold of open-bag shape, and are then solidified to yield cast products.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, a variety of cast products including foodstuffs have been produced by using molds. Such conventional molds have been constructed of a plurality of split molds made of a rigid body in accordance with the configuration of cast products to be obtained using the molds.
According to these conventional methods, materials are first filled into the split molds, allowed to solidify inside the molds, and are then withdrawn by separating the split molds.
With such a conventional method using the split mold, the filling material is filled inside the split mold, and after the filled material is solidified inside the split mold, the filled material is withdrawn by dividing the split mold.
These split molds, however, tend to leave the mark of the joint of the mold on the surface of the product thus formed, resulting in lower product values. In addition, a large number of molds and complicated production steps are required especially when products of complicated shapes are desired to be formed.
Furthermore, since the split mold is made of a rigid body, the manufacture of the split mold itself is expensive and the product cost tends to be high. Especially when a variety of products are produced in small lots, the cost of the split mold occupies a greater part of the total cost of the product, and this almost prohibits the actual production of desired products.
In addition, if the split mold made of a rigid body is used, in the case of a filling material whose volume changes with temperatures when it solidifies, the split mold often breaks under a high pressure or a vacuum which may be applied to the mold during solidification.
Therefore, a measure has been devised to use as the mold an elastic mold having an open-bag shaped filling section so as to permit production of cast products which are free from joint marks, to reduce the production costs of the mold itself, prevent the mold from becoming damaged, and to substantially simplify the production process.
However, there are cases where it is desirable to produce cast products by using two or more kinds of material. In such a case, if, for instance, a plurality of different kinds of material are to be laminated in the height-wise direction of the cast product, it it possible to produce such a product by filling the filling material comprising different materials into the elastic mold via a filling nozzle in a plurality of cycles.
When the cast product is produced by using two or more kinds of material, there is a case where it is desirable to form the cast product into a double structure by dividing the materials into an inside portion an outer peripheral portion of the cast product.
Specifically, such cases include those in which whiskey is filled inside chocolate, or ordinary chocolate and white chocolate are formed into a double structure.
In such a case, it has been impossible to produce the cast product by merely filling the filling material into the elastic mold and solidifying the filled material.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for producing cast products which is capable allowing a filling material to be adhered to an inner peripheral surface of an elastic mold and to be solidified in that state, thereby producing hollow cast products and meeting the demand for diverse cast products.

Method of producing cast products using elastic molds


The present invention relates to a LED rear lamp comprising a light guide (1) arranged in or forming part of a housing (10), said light guide (1) having a plate-like shape with a central aperture (2) surrounded by an inner side face (9) of the light guide. One or several LEDs (3) are arranged in the central aperture (2) such that a main emission direction of each LED (3) is aligned towards the inner side face (9) to couple emitted light through the inner side face (9) into the light guide (1). The light guide (1) is designed to guide a first portion (5) of the emitted light to escape through at least two opposing outer side faces (4) of the light guide (1) and to internally reflect or scatter a second portion (6) of the emitted light traveling towards the two outer side faces (4) to escape through a main surface (7) of the light guide (1). With the proposed LED rear lamp a good rear and side visibility is achieved in an efficient manner.

Rear lamps for bicycles as well as for any other vehicles have to be designed to provide a good visibility for other motorists and cyclists. For a maximum safety the rear lamp needs to be seen from the back as well as from the side. Commonly known bike rear lamps often use stray light to ensure side visibility which is typically week, or they use additional LEDs just for the side visibility which then do not contribute the back visibility resulting in an extremely inefficient operation.
DE 20 2010 003 752 U1 discloses a LED rear lamp for a bicycle providing a good visibility from the back as well as from the side. The disclosed rear lamp comprises a light guide having a flat main portion passing over in curved side portions. The LED is arranged centrally behind the main portion of the light guide such that a main emission direction of the LED is aligned towards the opposing main surface of the main portion. The light guide is designed to internally reflect the light of the LED towards the side portions. A first portion of this light is then a second time internally reflected to escape through the main surface of the main portion. The second portion through the main surface of the curved side portions. Due to the design of this curved side portions the side visibility is achieved.

LED rear lamp, in particular for a bicycle


The invention relates to new methods of preparing substituted benzimidazole compounds, such as 2-bromo-5,6-dichlorobenzimidazole, which are useful in the preparation of compounds having antiviral activity.

The present invention relates to new processes for the preparation of substituted benzimidazole compounds.
Certain substituted benzimidazole nucleosides have been shown to possess antiviral activity. PCT Publication No. WO 98/56761 teaches a series of substituted benzimidazole pyranosyls having antiviral activity, and processes for preparing the same. PCT Publication Nos. WO 92/07867, 96/01833, 97/25337, 99/06424 teach a series of substituted benzimidazole furanosyls, including substituted benzimidazole furanosyls having antiviral activity, and processes for preparing the same.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,003,079 is directed toward a process for the preparation of benzimidazolones. E. Kawashima, et al. Heterocyclic Compounds 4:24-26 (1991), relates to a process for preparing 2,5,6-trichlorobenzimidazole. L Townsend, J. Med. Chem. 38:4098 (1995), relates to a process for synthesizing certain 2,5,6-trihalo-1-(β-D-ribofuranosyl)benzimidazoles.

Process for preparing substituted benzimidazole compounds


A computer system, method and computer readable medium for memory management with intelligent trimming of pages of working sets are disclosed. The computer system has memory space allocatable in chunks, known as pages, to specific application programs or processes. The pages allocated to a specific application program or process define a working set of pages for the program or process. Occasionally, a system runs short of free memory space and needs to reduce the size of working sets using a process called trimming. A trimming method is disclosed that estimates numbers of trimmable pages for working sets based upon a measure of how much time has elapsed since the memory pages were last accessed by the corresponding application program. This estimation is performed prior to the need to trim working sets, and the trimming method uses these estimates to facilitate faster and more accurate trimming and thus faster recovery from shortages of free memory.

This invention concerns memory management systems for computer systems, particularly methods of trimming, or reducing, working sets.
Personal computers allow users to do an almost unlimited number of tasks. Examples include drafting term papers and letters, organizing recipes and addresses, tracking checking accounts and stock portfolios, communicating via electronic mail with other computer users, and drawing blueprints for home improvements. To accomplish these and other tasks, the typical computer system includes application programsxe2x80x94specific sets of instructionsxe2x80x94that work with other components of the computer system to provide specific functions. Application programs are often called software to distinguish from the physical equipment, or hardware, of a computer system.
The computer system typically includes a processor, a short-term memory, a long-term memory, a keyboard, a visual display, and an operating system. The operating system is a special kind of software that facilitates execution of application programs. Application programs logically combine functions or services of the operating system with those of the processor to achieve their more complex functions. Examples of typical operating-system functions include initial interpretation of inputs from the keyboard and managing memory for application programs.
One facet of memory management concerns the allocation of short-term memory during start up and execution of application programs. Starting an application program generally entails retrieving some instructions making up the program from a long-term memory, such as a magnetic or optical disk, and copying them into portions of a short-term memory, such as a random-access memory (RAM), before the processor begins executing the program instructions. Short-term memory devices are generally faster than long-term memory devices and allow the processor to more quickly fetch and execute individual program instructions. The short-term memory is organized typically as a set of memory pages, each having the same storage capacity, for example, 4096 bytes.
As each application program starts, a memory manager within the operating system allocates a set of short-term memory pages to each application program, with the objective of reducing the number of times the processor needs to access the slower, long-term memory during execution of the application program. The set of pages allocated, or assigned, to an application program is called its working set. As application programs execute, the memory manager detects page faultsxe2x80x94conditions indicating that applications need certain data or program instructions initially left behind in long-term memoryxe2x80x94and eventually expands corresponding working sets to include these data or instructions if there is sufficient short-term memory available. The amount of available short-term memory is called free memory. However, if there is insufficient free memory to allow expansion of working sets, the memory manager attempts to increase the amount of free memory by re-assigning memory pages from other working sets to free memory.
This process of re-assigning pages from working sets to free memory is known as trimming the working sets. Trimming in the Microsoft WINDOWS NT 4.0 brand operating system, for example, requires the memory manager to compare the current size of one working set to its minimum allowable size every six seconds during a free-memory shortage. When the memory manager finds a working set that is larger than its minimum allowable size and that has not had too many recent page faults, the manager trims a limited number of pages from its working set, adding the pages to free memory and thus making them available for the working sets of other application programs. If there is still a free memory shortage, the memory manager looks for the next working set that is larger than its minimum allowable sizes and trims pages from it. This process of sequentially checking for larger-than-necessary working sets repeats until the memory manager trims enough pages to end the memory shortage.
In trimming pages from a specific working set, the memory manager typically tries to trim pages that have not been accessed recently. It does this by checking the access bit for each page of a working set to see whether the page has been accessed (since the last time it was checked). If the access bit is zero, indicating that the page has not been accessed, the manager re-assigns the page to free memory. If the bit is one, indicating that the page has been accessed, the memory manager resets it to zero. (If the bit for this page is still zero the next time the manager checks the page, the memory manager will trim the page.) The memory manager then similarly checks the access bit for the next page of the working set, trimming the page if it has not been accessed or resetting the access bit to zero if it has. This page-by-page search for trimmable pages continues through the working set and onto the next working set until either enough pages have been trimmed to end the free-memory shortage or each working set has been checked. (For further details, see David A. Solomon, Inside Windows NT, Second Edition (ISBN 1-57231-677-2) pages 217-304 (1998).)
In devising the present invention, the inventors recognized that this trimming method suffers from at least two problems. First, because it lacks accurate information about the relative use of specific pages, it severely limits the rate pages can be trimmed from working sets and thus reduces how fast the operating system can respond to changing memory needs of application programs, ultimately forcing them to resort to slower, long-term memory more often than may be necessary. Second, because the method treats each working set that has trimmable pages equally and in sequence, it can sometimes incorrectly and disproportionately distribute the trimming burden across a few working sets, ignoring other working sets better suited for trimming, that is, working sets having larger numbers of pages that have not been accessed recently. Accordingly, there is a need for better ways of trimming working sets.
To address these and other needs, the inventors devised a memory management system, method, and software that facilitates faster, more intelligent trimming of working sets. Specifically, in one implementation, or embodiment, the method includes assigning working sets of memory pages to corresponding application programs; estimating numbers of memory pages eligible for trimming from the working sets; and trimming the working sets based on the estimated numbers of memory pages eligible for trimming.
In an exemplary implementation, the method entails tracking the age of the memory pages of each working set using a two-bit age counter that permits classifying the pages of each working set into four classes based on how recently they were last accessed. In this implementation, estimating the numbers of memory pages eligible for trimming includes summing the number of pages in the three oldest of the four classes. Additionally, trimming the working sets entails sorting at least some of the estimates based on magnitude and trimming working sets with larger estimates before trimming those with small ones.

System, method, and software for memory management with intelligent trimming of pages of working sets


A method for configuring the operation of the software of a data as a service (DAAS) system during run time is described. The configuring includes at least one of configuring ingestion of a vendor dataset to produce an ingested dataset and which analysis operations to perform on the vendor dataset to produce an analyzed dataset, and the configuring also includes at least one of how to search the vendor dataset based on a search query from a customer to allow the customer to locate a new record from the vendor dataset and how to match records in the vendor dataset with a match query from the customer to provide an updated record to the customer.

In the context of a DAAS system, a vendor may provide a vendor dataset for ingestion into the DAAS system using vendor-specific configuration information. In this example, ingestion is performed on the vendor dataset by an ingestion service that is configured according to the vendor-specific configuration information. For ingestion, the vendor-specific configuration information may include information describing the structure of the vendor dataset that may be used by the DAAS to validate the vendor dataset and support retrieving records from the vendor dataset in support of match and search services (e.g., locating records in the vendor dataset based on search and match queries to import new records into a customer system or import updated records into a customer system).
The vendor dataset may also be optionally analyzed by the DAAS system to produce an analyzed dataset using vendor-specific configuration information that configures an analysis service. This analysis may include analysis operations performed on the vendor dataset after ingestion and indicated in the vendor-specific configuration information (in other words, the vendor-specific configuration information may also include indications of which analysis operations to perform). The analyzed dataset produced by this analysis is used by a search service for allowing customers to perform search queries to import records from the vendor dataset.
The vendor dataset may also be optionally indexed by the DAAS system to produce an indexed dataset using vendor-specific configuration information that configures an indexing service. The indexing may be performed based on match keys specified in the vendor-specific configuration information. The indexed dataset may support performance of match queries to match records of records already imported into customer systems with potentially updated versions in the vendor dataset by a match service. The match service may be configured to support match queries using the vendor-specific configuration information, which includes indications of the match keys to generate for a corresponding match query, match rules to perform the match query, and indications of weights to apply to perform ranking of results of the match query.
Traditionally, vendor-specific configuration information for dataset ingestion, analysis, indexing, and querying must be setup prior to running the DAAS system. In this fashion, the vendor-specific configuration information, including information describing the structure of the vendor dataset, indications of which analysis operations to perform, indications of fields to generate the set of match keys to generate, indications of match rules to apply, and indications of weights to apply, is determined and used to configure the DAAS system prior to compilation and running of the DAAS system. However, this technique is inefficient as it requires recompilation and redistribution of the DAAS system software, including the ingestion service, the analysis service, the indexing service, and the match service for any updates to the vendor-specific configuration information.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A self-releasing pan-handle holder for thermally insulating a handle on pots and pans. The pan-handle holder is designed to receive the long handle on a pot or pan. The pan-handle holder comprises an insulating sleeve having a sleeve axis with first and second complimentary sections and a lumen, which allows for closely receiving a pan-handle. The pan-handle holder further includes a biasing mechanism for holding the first and second complimentary sections apart. When the pan-handle holder is placed on a pot or pan-handle, it is squeezed tightly and held around the pan-handle to protect the user from heat in the handle. Typically, the component parts of the of the present pan-handle holder are made of a non-metallic thermal insulating material.

The culinary arts field has long been motivated to provide auxiliary thermal-insulated handles for cooking utensils. For example, Achberger (U.S. Pat. No. 1,162,896; issued in 1915) discloses an auxiliary cooking utensil handle. The Achberger handle is a separately portable two part handle hinged along the length of one side and opens and closes in clam shell fashion. The Achberger handle includes a spring to radially bias the handle members normally apart. Because the Achberger device opens along the entire length of one side, there is a relatively large opening of the device from which a pan handle can inadvertently slip. However, the Achberger device does incorporate the benefit of being easily (i.e., single handedly) releaseable from a pan handle. A later example is the device of Budelman (U.S. Pat. No. 2,609,563). The Budelman device is an auxiliary skillet handle vertically split along its length into a pair of handle members. The handle members are joined at one end and are pivotable relative to each other. The Budelman handle has the benefit of an adjustable pivot that allows the device to be used with a range of skillet handle widths. However, the Budelman device opens along the entire length of both of its sides, therefore having an even larger opening in the device from which a pan handle can inadvertently slip.
Case metal cookware often presents the problem of needing an auxiliary means of insulating skillet or long pot/pan type handles. Colasent (U.S. Pat. No. 4,209,877) discloses a thermally insulated supplementary handle for cast iron cookware. The Colasent insulating device is a cage or housing affixed over the existing long handle of a pan. More recently, auxiliary pan handle grips made of high temperature resistant rubbers or polymers have become available in the field. These auxiliary grips stretch to slide over and tightly engage the pan handle. These latter insulating grips have the advantage of providing not only an insulating benefit, but also provide a cushioned grip over the metal handle. (See U.S. Pat. No. D456,667 to Veltri et al.). However, both the Colasent handle and the insulating grips are relatively permanently installed onto the pan's handle.
Although the above devices and others in the field may be useful for their intended purposes, it would still be beneficial to the field to have alternative auxiliary thermal insulating handles for use with culinary cookware. Particularly, it would be beneficial to have available such auxiliary insulating handles that may used to easily engage the handle of a hot pan while the pan is being manipulated, but which can be easily removed when manipulation of the pan is finished. This allows one auxiliary handle to be easily used with more than one pan, and allows a kitchen to be equipped with a few representative such auxiliary handles for use with a wide range of pan handles. Importantly, it would be additionally beneficial if the auxiliary handle provided a relatively limited portion of its surface from which an engaged pan handle might inadvertently slip out of the auxiliary handle.

Self-releasing, heat insulating pan-handle holder


A retention device or clip for retaining a handgun trigger guard in a holster has a first end wall for securing against a rear end wall of the holster, a pair of flexible side walls projecting forwardly from the first end wall and a flexible third wall projecting forwardly from the first end wall at a location spaced below the side walls and extending at right angles to the side walls. Each side wall has a free end or ear biased inwardly towards the ear of the other side wall for extending into the trigger guard of a gun seated in the holster. The third wall acts as a rest for a lower edge portion of the trigger guard after it is pushed below the side walls, and also biases the trigger guard upwardly into engagement with the side walls for added security.

The present invention relates generally to holsters for handguns, and is particularly concerned with retention devices for preventing handguns from accidentally falling out of holsters and also resisting unauthorized removal of handguns from holsters by persons other than the wearer of the holster.
Weapon retention for uniformed police officers has been a concern of holster designers for decades. It is very important for a police officer's security that an assailant cannot readily remove a handgun from the officer's holster. However, it is similarly important that the officer can readily draw the handgun from the holster when needed. Providing adequate security against unauthorized withdrawal while still permitting a quick draw of the handgun by the wearer of the holster has proved to be difficult to achieve, although numerous retention devices have been proposed in the past.
Because revolvers were the handguns of choice for American peace officers for more than 100 years until the 1980's, retention devices were generally designed to grip a revolver by its cylinder and/or trigger guard recurve. Some prior art devices were clips designed to grip the frame or cylinder of a pistol or revolver. One such device is described in U.S. Pat. No. 609,317 of Zimmerman, and a later device of this nature is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,865,238 of Bianchi. Both of these devices are designed to grip the entire handgun.
In the 1970's, it became apparent that semi-automatic pistols were gaining favor in both police and civilian applications, and this required different designs for gripping devices. Initially, some holsters were provided with a bump or dent in the outer side wall to press into the trigger guard and thereby create friction.
In a large number of security holster designs, the holster has a full or partially open front or forward end wall, and the handgun is withdrawn by moving or pivoting it forwardly to release the gun from the retention device, which is normally designed to resist drawing of the gun straight upwardly out of the holster. Semi-front opening holsters are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,942,692 of Chica and 4,542,841 of Nichols. Numerous trigger guard gripping devices have been designed for use in such holsters. Typically, such holsters are also equipped with a secondary retention device such as a security strap. These straps are typically used with fully or partially open front holsters and are arranged to pass around the front opening of the holster. The strap must be released before the handgun can be rotated forward to release from the trigger guard gripping device.
One such retention device designed for fully or partially open front holsters is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,277,007 of Bianchi and Nichols. This holster has a spring loaded projection which extends into the trigger guard when a handgun is inserted in the holster. The projection prevents an upwards draw while permitting the handgun to be pulled forward to release the projection. Numerous other holsters have been designed in a similar manner. Another commercially successful holster of this type is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,018,654 of Rogers, which also combines a trigger guard gripping device with a semi-front opening holster. The trigger guard gripping device in this case has two opposing bosses or barbed fins in the side walls of the holster which engage in the trigger guard. An elongated, rigid spacer is positioned below the fins to form a rest or stop for the trigger guard. The holster body is provided with voids into which the fins flex to permit the lower portion of the trigger guard to pass the fins or barbs. The fins then flex back out into the central opening of the trigger guard. Once the trigger guard is fully seated, the fins will resist upward drawing of the handgun.
Another similar retention device is provided in a Gould and Goodrich holster which has a spacer or "welt" inserted into the seam at the rear end wall of the holster. The spacer is made in two halves, each having a cantilever fin projecting from it to engage in a trigger guard when a handgun is inserted into the holster. Rivets project through the holster sidewalls and both halves of the spacer adjacent the fins. This is a bulky arrangement and may give rise to substantial stresses on the fixed fins. A later version of this holster had a separate spacer on which the pistol's trigger guard rests after insertion of the pistol into the holster. The retention device in this case is also made in two halves, with a fin for projecting into the trigger guard from each half, and has a narrow ledge on which the trigger guard rests. The rivets are spaced from the fins to allow the spacer to split open in a limited way at the fins, when the fins are being spread by passage of the trigger guard, thereby reducing strain on the cantilevered fins and reducing the risk of the fins breaking off. Both this device and the Rogers device rely on the holster side walls to complete the integrity of the device by encircling the split area.
In all of these prior art devices, the relationship between the trigger guard stop and the retention fins is critical. If there is too much space between the stop and the retention fins, the pistol can move around in the holster, which is undesirable and can cause wear on the pistol surfaces. When too little space is provided, the trigger guard of the pistol may fail to fully engage in the device, resulting in reduced weapon retention and thus reduced security. Since the spacing between the fins and the trigger guard stop or rest in such holsters may vary in production, it is difficult to ensure an optimum position of the fins relative to the trigger guard stop. If this optimum positioning is not achieved, the retention device may be of reduced effectiveness.

Holster with trigger guard retention device


Disclosed is a system, apparatus, computer readable storage medium, and method to perform a context inference for a mobile device. In one embodiment, a data processing system includes a processor and a storage device configurable to store instructions to perform a context inference for the data processing system. Data may be received from at least a first sensor, and a first classification of the data from the sensor may be performed. Confidence for the first classification can be determined and a second sensor can be activated based on a determination that the confidence fails to meet a confidence threshold. A data sample classification from the activated second sensor may be classified jointly with the data from first sensor.

Electronic devices can be equipped with a variety of sensors and inputs to monitor and discover information about a device's environment. For example, a device may utilize an accelerometer to measure aspects of device movement or a microphone to measure the device's nearby audio environment.
Programs or applications running on a device may process data from sensors in order to provide an enhanced user experience. A device can infer context based on the sensor data. However, sensor data may sometimes be ambiguous or misleading, and false positives can occur when inferring context based on output from a single sensor. However, activating multiple data sensors can be detrimental to a goal of power efficiency.
Therefore, new and improved sensor management techniques are desirable.

Adaptive sensor sampling for power efficient context aware inferences