In a magnetron sputtering device for high rate coating of various substrates with sputtered atoms, the sputtering occurs from the interior cavity wall composed of four individual rectangular plates and condenses onto a substrate passing axially through the cavity. Most of the atoms which do not condense on the substrate redeposit on a wall and are subsequently sputtered resulting in efficient target utilization. A few percent, depending on the length of the cavity, escape out the end and are lost to the deposition process. The magnetic field through the cavity is uniform and relatively constant such that the four rectangular targets evenly erode. The two opposing ends of the cavity are open for substrate movement through the deposition region. The magnetic field is generated by a solenoid and allows adjustment for sputtering of magnetic materials.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to an electrode type, magnetically enhanced, glow discharge device used in film deposition and, more particularly, to an improved magnetron sputtering device for high rate deposition onto stationary or moving substrates.
2. Description of Prior Art
Magnetron Sputtering is a well known technique for applying a film of material to a substrate. The process involves placing a "target" comprised of or coated with the material to be sputtered into a chamber containing a low pressure gas. A negative voltage is connected to the cathode creating a low pressure gas discharge between the target and a nearby anode. Gas atoms bombard the target's surface with high energy and, through momentum transfer between the incident ions and target atoms, eject (sputter) target atoms that will condense on the substrate. The process is self-sustaining because many of the incident gas ions, rather than ejecting an atom of the material to be sputtered, create a shower of electrons that collide with neutral gas atoms and create even more gas ions. The magnetic field increases the efficiency of the electrons producing more ions when parallel to the targets surface.
A variety of magnetron sputtering devices having different geometries and using magnetic fields of various shapes to direct and guide the gas discharge have been developed. The typical magnetron sputtering devices are plagued by non-uniform magnetic fields over the sputtering surface which causes a "race track" erosion pattern on the target and reduces target utilization efficiency to typically 5% to 15%. Target utilization can be increased through target design such as specifying removal of portions that would not be sputtered and/or specifying very thin targets. These approaches have resulted in efficiencies as high as 50%. Numerous other approaches have been made to increase target utilization. One approach is to move the target with respect to the magnets. Although this approach increases target utilization, it presents additional problems. Specifically, it requires motion components which are expensive and prone to breaking down. Minimizing down time is particularly important in commercial processes. Another solution in U.S. Pat. No. 5,073,245 issued to Hedgcoth is to use a cylindrical magnetron containing a slit in its wall. This approach allows planar substrates to be coated but significantly reduces the coating rate and is best applied to thin films.

Rectangular cavity magnetron sputtering vapor source


An L-amino acid is produced by culturing a Methylophilus bacterium which can grow by using methanol as a main carbon source and has L-amino acid-producing ability, for example, a Methylophilus bacterium in which dihydrodipicolinate synthase activity and aspartokinase activity are enhanced by transformation through introduction into cells, of a DNA coding for dihydrodipicolinate synthase that does not suffer feedback inhibition by L-lysine and a DNA coding for aspartokinase that does not suffer feedback inhibition by L-lysine, or a Methylophilus bacterium made to be casamino acid auxotrophic, in a medium containing methanol as a main carbon source, to produce and accumulate an L-amino acid in culture, and collecting the L-amino acid from the culture.

Amino acids such as L-lysine, L-glutamic acid, L-threonine, L-leucine, L-isoleucine, L-valine and L-phenylalanine are industrially produced by fermentation by using microorganisms that belong to the genus Brevibacterium, Corynebacterium, Bacillus, Escherichia, Streptomyces, Pseudomonas, Arthrobacter, Serratia, Penicillium, Candida or the like. In order to improve the productivity, strains isolated from nature or artificial mutants thereof have been used as these microorganisms. Various techniques have been disclosed for enhancing activities of L-glutamic acid biosynthetic enzymes by using recombinant DNA techniques, to increase the L-glutamic acid-producing ability.
The productivity of L-amino acids has been considerably increased by breeding of microorganisms such as those mentioned above and the improvement of production methods. However, in order to meet further increase in the demand in future, development of methods for more efficiently producing L-amino acids at lower cost have still been desired.
As methods for producing amino acids by fermentation of methanol which is a fermentation raw material available in a large amount at a low cost, there have conventionally known methods using microorganisms that belong to the genus Achromobacter or Pseudomonas (Japanese Patent Publication (Kokoku) No. 45-25273/1970), Protaminobacter (Japanese Patent Application Laid-open (Kokai) No. 49-125590/1974), Protaminobacter or Methanomonas (Japanese Patent Application Laid-open (Kokai) No. 50-25790/1975), Microcyclus (Japanese Patent Application Laid-open (Kokai) No. 52-18886/1977), Methylobacillus (Japanese Patent Application Laid-open (Kokai) No. 4-91793/1992), Bacillus (Japanese Patent Application Laid-open (Kokai) No. 3-505284/1991) and so forth.
So far, however, no method has been known for producing L-amino acids by using Methylophilus bacteria. Although methods described in EP 0 035 831 A, EP 0 037 273 A and EP 0 066 994 A have been known as methods for transforming Methylophilus bacteria by using recombinant DNA, applying recombinant DNA techniques to improvement of amino acid productivity of Methylophilus bacteria has not been known.


A system having a processor, a printed circuit board, and an adapter board, coupled to the processor through the printed circuit board. The adapter board provides a first signal having a first state when the adapter board is in a proper operating condition and a second state when the adapter board is in an improper condition. The adapter board produces a second signal having the second state for less than a predetermined time when an adapter board requires a reset signal from the processor. The adapter board combines the first signal with the second signal a single signal fed to the processor through the printed circuit board. When the processor detects that the single signal is in the second state for a time less than the predetermined period of time, the process interprets the single signal as indicating the adapter board requires a reset.

As is known in the art, large mainframe computer systems and data servers sometimes require large capacity data storage systems. One type of data storage system is a magnetic disk storage system. Here a bank of disk drives and the computer systems and data servers are coupled together through an interface. The interface includes CPU controllers, commonly referred to as storage processors (SPs), which operate in such a way that they are transparent to the computer. Typically a pair of such processors is used for redundancy. That is, data is stored in, and retrieved from, the bank of disk drives in such a way that the mainframe computer system or data server merely thinks it is operating with one mainframe memory. One type of data storage system is a RAID data storage system. A RAID data storage system includes two or more disk drives in combination for fault tolerance and performance.
As is also known in the art, it is sometimes desirable that the data storage capacity of the data storage system be expandable. More particularly, a customer may initially require a particular data storage capacity. As the customer's business expands, it would be desirable to expand the corresponding data storage capacity of the purchased storage system.
One such data storage system is shown in FIG. 1 to include an interface coupled between a host computer/server and a bank of disk drives. The interface includes, in this example, a pair of vertical, rack mounted storage processors (SPA) and (SPB) interconnected though a printed circuit board, such as a printed circuit board or backplane. Each SP is coupled to the host computer/server and/or bank of disk drives through an IO card. It is noted that with the interface shown in FIG. 1, each SP has plugged into it a pair of front mounted IO cards. The interface also includes a pair of remote IO cards for connection to the host computer/server; remote in the sense that remote IO cards, here designated as remote annex IO cards, are displaced in position from the SP and hence do not plug directly into the SP but connect the SP through the backplane. That is, the remote annex IO cards are physically remote from the SP are therefore connected to the SP through the printed circuit board. It is noted that connections to the host computer/server are referred to as front end connections and connections to the bank of disk drives are referred to as back end connections.
Each one of the pair of remote annex IO cards is connected to a corresponding one of the pair of SPs. However, as noted above, the remote annex IO card A is connected, through the printed circuit board, to SPA and remote annex IO card B is connected, through the printed circuit board, to SPB. The connections of an exemplary one of the SPs, here SPA is shown in FIG. 2. It is noted that there are a limited number of discrete signals to use for status (i.e., Insert, Power Good, Reset, Power Enable, etc) reporting back from the IO card to the Storage Processor. Here, in the arrangement shown in FIG. 2, each IO card has four pins, one for the each of the status signals: Insert (indicating to the SP that the IO card has been inserted into the SP); Power Good (indicating to the SP that the power on the IO card is proper); Reset from the SP to reset (i.e., reboot the IO card); and Power Enable from the SP to enable power for the IO card. The same signals are used for the remote annex IO card. While the four status signals are passed directly between the pair of IO cards and a reset microcontroller of the SP (since the two IO cards are plugged into the SP), the status signals between the remote annex IO card and the SP are through the printed circuit board because, as shown in FIG. 1, the remote annex IO card, unlike the IO cards, are not behind the SP.
It is noted in FIG. 2 that the SP includes a CPU complex that communicates with the reset microcontroller on the SP and a microcontroller on the remote annex IO card through an I2C (Inter-Intergrated Circuit) interconnect. The card includes a power monitor and control circuit which receives the power enable signal from the SP through the printed circuit board and reports whether or not the power on the remote annex IO card to the SP though the printed circuit board. The insert signal is produced by a microcontroller on the remote annex IO card to the reset microcontroller in the SP through the printed circuit board, and such microcontroller receives a reset (or boot) signal from the SP through the printed circuit board. The signals on the I2C interconnect provide environmental data, such as temperature, to the CPU complex on the SP.
It is noted that the presence or absence of an IO card is detectable by the SP through an inserted signal sent to the SP by the IO card. This, inserted signal is useful in adapting the system to hot pluggable/hot removable IO cards. It is also noted that the remote annex card has its inserted signal fed to the SP through a single line in the printed circuit board.
While the system described above in connection with FIGS. 1 and 2 are useful with system having one remote IO card, it would be desirable to expand the number of remote IO cards that communicate to the SP without requiring changes to the printed circuit board, particularly to the number of pins used on the printed circuit board. It is also desirable that each one of the remote IO cards be hot pluggable/hot removable. Thus, in order for the system to operate with a plurality of hot pluggable/hot removable remote IO card, the reset microcontroller on the SP would have to receive some kind of signal to know whether any one of the pluralities of remote IO cards has supplied an inserted signal. However, the addition of pins for more than one remote IO card is not available in the printed circuit board.

Method for communicating plural signals generated at a source to a remote destination through a single wire


In one embodiment, the semiconductor device includes a memory array and a control architecture configured to control reading data from and writing data to the memory array. The control architecture is configured to receive data and a codeword location in the memory array, select one or more data units in the received data based on a data mask, read a codeword currently stored at the codeword location in the memory array, error correct the read codeword to generate a corrected read codeword, form a new codeword from the selected data units of the received data and data units in the corrected read codeword that do not correspond to the selected data units, and write the new codeword to the memory array.

1. Technical Field
Exemplary embodiments relate to memory devices, and more particularly to a memory system, a memory device, a memory system including the same and/or a method of writing data in the semiconductor memory device.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Semiconductor memory devices may be classified into non-volatile memory devices such as flash memory devices and volatile memory devices such as DRAMs. DRAMs are cheap and are used for storing mass data such as system memories. As volatile memory devices such as DRAMs shrink, the bit error rate (BER) of memory cells in the DRAMs may rapidly increase.

Semiconductor memory devices, memory systems including the same and method of writing data in the same


An apparatus for a portable pop-up carport for automobiles 18, sports utility vehicles and small trucks comprising a foldable frame structure 32 having a light weight waterproof roof 20, side panels of mesh-like material 22 and optional front and rear panels. Bungee cord 24 and hook members 34 are provided to secure and anchor the pop-up carport 10 to the vebicle's bumpers 26 and anchor rings 28 are provided to further secure the device to the ground 30. The device 10 is designed to provide shade from the sun and help cool the air within a vehicle 18 parked beneath the device. When the user is finished with the use of the pop-up 10, they simply fold it up and secure it with a VELCRO, hook and loop, strap 38.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to portable shelters and, more specifically, to a portable pop-up carport for automobiles, sports utility vehicles and small trucks comprising a foldable frame structure having a light weight waterproof roof, side panels of mesh like material and optional front and rear panels. Bungee cord and hook members are provided to secure and anchor the pop-up carport to the vehicle's bumpers and anchor rings are provided to further secure the device to the ground. The device is designed to provide shade from the sun and help cool the air within a vehicle parked beneath the device. When the user is finished with the use of the pop-up, they simply fold it up and secure it with a Velcro strap. The device is not recommended as a permanent car port or to be used on windy days.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are other portable carports designed for this purpose. Typical of these is U.S. Pat. No. 2,798,501 issued to Oliver on Jul. 9, 1957.
Another patent was issued to McAndrew on Aug. 14, 1979 as U.S. Pat. No. 4,164,233. Yet another U.S. Pat. No. 4,605,030 was issued to Johnson on Aug. 12, 1986 and still yet another was issued on Apr. 7, 1987 to Dorame, et al. as U.S. Pat. No. 4,655,236.
Another patent was issued to Moyet-Ortiz on Jul. 31, 1990 as U.S. Pat. No. 4,944,321. Yet another U.S. Pat. No. 5,040,557 was issued to Morgan on Aug. 20, 1991. Another was issued to Wilson, et al. on Mar. 10, 1992 as U.S. Pat. No. 5,094,257 and still yet another was issued on Jan. 7, 2003 to Danaher U.S. Pat. No. 6,502,596.
Another patent was issued to Greenhalgh on Jul. 4, 1978 as Canadian Patent No. 1033938. Yet another U.K. Patent No. 1,522,367 was issued to Haynes on Aug. 23, 1978. Another was issued to Hrytzak on Sep. 15, 1976 as U.K. Patent No. 1,449,321 and still yet another was issued on Jun. 25, 1985 to Tavenaux as French Patent No. 2,583,812.


A battery pack including a battery including a battery cell, a first switching unit at a main current path between the battery and a terminal, a second switching unit at the main current path between the battery and the terminal, and serially coupled to the first switching unit, a third switching unit at a bypass current path coupled in parallel to at least a part of the main current path, and configured to block or to allow an electric current on the bypass current path, and a controller for dividing a charging section of the battery, and for controlling at least one of the first switching unit, the second switching unit, or the third switching unit according to divided charging sections to charge the battery.

1. Field
Embodiments of the present invention relate to a battery pack and a method of controlling the battery pack.
2. Description of the Related Art
Secondary batteries (e.g., rechargeable batteries) are actively researched due to development of portable electronic devices, such as cellular phones, notebook computers, camcorders, and personal digital assistants (PDAs). Some secondary batteries are fabricated as a battery pack including a battery and a charging/discharging circuit, and the battery is respectively charged or discharged by an external power source or an external load via an external terminal of the battery pack. That is, when the battery pack is coupled to the external power source via the external terminal, the battery is charged by power from the external power source, the power being supplied via the external terminal and a charging/discharging circuit. In addition, when an external load is coupled to the battery pack via the external terminal, electric power of the battery is supplied to the external load via the charging/discharging circuit and the external terminal, and a discharging operation occurs. Here, the charging/discharging circuit between the external terminal and the battery controls the charging/discharging of the battery.
In general, the battery is charged with a maximum charging current until a voltage of the battery reaches a predetermined voltage, and then, the charging current is gradually reduced thereafter.

Battery pack and method of controlling the same


Advances in wireless technologies have resulted in the ability of a 5G communication system to support multiple wireless communication applications. Each of these applications requires special handling in all layers and more so in scheduler and physical layer. The present disclosure presents embodiments of dynamical creating a computation instance with a slice of resources allocated for each scheduling input. Each computation instance may be independently managed, controlled, and customized according to the specific requirements of the corresponding scheduling input. Such a dynamic resource allocation allows large number of slices in PHY layer. Furthermore, when overloading happens, one scheduling inputs may be migrated from one distribution unit (DU) to another DU without interruption for end users during scheduling migration. Accordingly, efficiency and robustness of a 5G communication system may be improved to serve multiple wireless communication applications.

The importance of wireless communication in today's society is well understood by one of skill in the art. Advances in wireless technologies have resulted in the ability of a 5G communication system to support multiple types of wireless communication applications, e.g., drones, Ultra-Reliable Low-Latency Communication (URLLC), Internet of things (IoT) devices, enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB), etc. Each type of communication applications may have their own requirements or preferences in layer 2 (scheduler and Medium Access Control (MAC)) and layer 1 (physical layer or PHY).
Having a same design for all these applications may be inefficient for overall system performance and operation. While on the other hand, different hardware solutions for at least PHY acceleration and separate/different layer 2 schedulers may be used for different types of applications. However, such an implementation with multiple specific designs means multiple variants of products or solutions, and thus increases cost and complexity. The deployment of such a solution is also difficult.
Accordingly, what is needed are systems, devices and methods that address the above-described issues.

Systems and methods for application aware slicing in 5G layer 2 and layer 1 using fine grain scheduling


A power converter includes a first set of transistors electrically connected in series, a second set of transistors electrically connected in series, and an AC link. The second set of transistors is electrically connected in parallel with the first set of transistors to form an H-bridge. The AC link is electrically connected between the first and second sets of transistors. A plurality of H-bridges are connected in parallel and a three-wire DC bus is electrically connected to the H-bridges.

1. Field of the Invention
The subject invention relates to power converters and more particularly, to active rectifiers and inverters for high voltage power converters, for example, power converters used in aircraft energy generation and propulsion.
2. Description of Related Art
Traditional active rectifiers and inverters are used to convert AC to DC power and DC to AC power, respectively. Development of 'more electric' aircraft architectures has seen the implementation of increasingly sophisticated electrical power and distribution systems. These aircraft architectures more typically include electrical systems with higher power densities and higher voltages than in traditional architectures. Power conversion for a hybrid-electric or all electric vehicle, such as an aircraft, can potentially require power converters to handle megawatts of electrical power.
While traditional active rectifiers and inverters are satisfactory for their intended purpose, continued developments toward the "more electric" vehicle have led to a need for improved power converters that are capable of handling higher currents and voltages. The present invention provides a solution for these problems.


A vehicular seat apparatus has a first slide rail unit including a first stationary rail and a first moving rail and a second slide rail unit including a second stationary rail and a second moving rail. Load sensors are provided between the seat cushion assembly and the moving rails. The first stationary rail and the second stationary rail are connected to each other by a rigid frame. The rigid frame can maintain the relative positions of the first and second slide rail units. Body mounting leg portions provided on the rigid frame are fixed to a seat mounting portion of a vehicle body.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicular seat apparatus mounted in a vehicle such as an automobile.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an automobile that is furnished with an airbag for its passenger seat, the airbag may sometimes be expected to expand if an occupant in the passenger seat is an adult. The automobile of this type must be provided with determining means that determines whether the occupant in the passenger seat is an adult or any other one (child, child seat, or other occupant). Load sensors that are formed of strain gages, for example, are used as the determining means. The load sensors are incorporated in a seat cushion of the passenger seat. Seats of this type are described in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publications Nos. 9-207638, 2000-280813, and 2002-337588.
The load sensors that are formed of strain gages are located between a seat slider and a seat cushion assembly, for example. The load sensors electrically detect seating loads that act on the seat cushion assembly. In some cases, however, the outputs of these sensors may be influenced by variation in the position of the seat slider or a seat mounting portion of a vehicle body, so that the accuracy of detection of occupants may be lowered.
In a seat apparatus that is provided with load sensors, the detection accuracy of the sensors is improved by performing calibration before the seat apparatus is attached to the vehicle body. Before the apparatus is attached to the vehicle body, however, the seat slider or the frame of the seat cushion may possibly be deformed under the influence of vibration that acts on the seat apparatus during transportation, for example, the dead weight of the apparatus, etc. In this case, the sensor outputs may possibly be disturbed with the seat apparatus attached to the vehicle body despite the finished calibration.
In order to deal with this problem, a proposal has been made to attach in advance the seat apparatus to a proper jig that is equivalent to the seat mounting portion of the vehicle body during the transportation or storage of the apparatus. With use of this jig, however, it entails redundant operations, such as attachment to and removal of the seat apparatus from it, as well as additional cost.
In a seat apparatus in which left- and right-hand slide rail units are provided individually with locking mechanisms, moreover, the mounting positions of the rail units may sometimes be subject to variation. This variation may possibly cause a phase difference in locking operation between the respective locking mechanisms of the two slide rail units. Thus, the locking mechanisms of the rail units cannot operate fully synchronously, so that one of the rail units may possibly fail to be fully locked (or may be half-locked, as it is called). In this case, the friction of a locking latch member of the slide rail unit causes variation in the operating force of an unlocking or release lever (operating section).


In a method for measuring absorption and reduced scattering coefficients of a multiple scattering medium, a coherent light beam is outputted. The coherent light beam includes linear polarized P and S wave components having mutually orthogonal polarizations and frequencies ωP and ωS, respectively. Then, the coherent light beam is split into a signal beam and a reference beam, which include the P wave and S wave components. The signal beam is subsequently projected into the medium. Optical interference signals of the reference beam and the signal beam penetrating the medium are respectively detected and converted into heterodyne interference electrical signals. Thereafter, the two heterodyne interference electrical signals are compared to obtain amplitude attenuation and phase delay of the signal beam penetrating the medium, from which the absorption and reduced scattering coefficients of the medium at a position where the signal beam penetrated the medium are inferred.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for measuring the absorption coefficient and the reduced scattering coefficient of a medium, more particularly to a method for measuring in real time the absorption coefficient and reduced scattering coefficient of a multiple scattering medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
Human tissue is a highly scattering medium, and has the characteristics of having a scattering coefficient much greater than the absorption coefficient thereof. A conventional method of obtaining an image in a scattering medium involves measuring of absorption coefficients so as to obtain an image with contrast. However, when it is desired to obtain the image of an object in a multiple scattering medium, since the light waves are highly scattered, the resultant image is blurred, and the resolution of the image is also reduced considerably. Therefore, if the scattering effect of light in a relatively high scattering medium can be reduced, or if only slightly scattered snake photons and ballistic photons are selected, together with enhancement of the sensitivity to absorption coefficients, the resolution of an image in the medium can be enhanced. However, this is not suitable for imaging objects in multiple scattering media.
At present, methods for imaging in a multiple scattering medium mainly include time-domain and frequency-domain imaging techniques. The concept of diffused photon density wave (DPDW) is proposed in the frequency-domain technique. DPDW satisfies the diffusion equation, and can be relied upon to obtain definite amounts of the absorption and scattering coefficients of the test object, thereby permitting recovery of the image of an object in the scattering medium. The frequency-domain technique is currently more suitable for imaging in a multiple scattering medium, but has the drawback that the spatial resolution is not high. Thus, how to enhance imaging resolution in applications that involve a multiple scattering medium is currently an important topic in the industry.

Method for measuring the absorption coefficient and the reduced scattering coefficient of a multiple scattering medium


A vibrating body for an acoustic transducer is provided, in which the high resonance frequency associated with inverse resonance can be outside the audible range and which can improve the acoustic characteristic of a speaker device. The vibrating body 1 for an acoustic transducer includes: a diaphragm 2 including a first vibrating part 2a and a second vibrating part 2b formed in proximity of the outer circumferential edge of the first vibrating part 2a; and an edge portion 3 formed in proximity of the outer circumferential edge of the diaphragm 2. In the vibrating body 1 for an acoustic transducer, first reinforcing portions 6a and 6b are formed so as to extend from the second vibrating part 2b to the edge portion 3 in a radial direction.

Since portable electronic devices such as mobile phones, portable radios, and PDAs are designed for the purpose of portability, the devices are reduced in overall size or thickness. Therefore, the speaker devices used in such portable electronic devices also are reduced in size or thickness. Generally, the minimum resonance frequency f0 of a speaker device are reduced to obtain an acoustic characteristic with small distortion over a wide frequency bandwidth.
To meet the demand for a reduction in thickness or size of such speaker devices, it is thought to reduce the weight of a diaphragm that vibrates in response to an electric signal applied to a voice coil and emits a sound wave (hereinafter referred to as "an acoustic wave"), the weight of an edge portion that is attached to the circumferential edge of the diaphragm to support the diaphragm, and the weight of other components. For example, the weights of the diaphragm, edge portion, and other components can be reduced by decreasing the thicknesses thereof.
However, when the thicknesses of the diaphragm, edge portion, or other components are reduced, these components are easily deformed, and a reduction in rigidity is, of course, caused. The rigidity is a physical quantity related to the resistance to deformation of a structural body. When the rigidity of the diaphragm, edge portion, or other components is small, a rolling phenomenon, a split vibration (split resonance), or other phenomenon is likely to occur. This results in, for example, an increase in incidental noise, occurrence of an unusual sound, and sound distortion, causing a problem in that good sound quality cannot be obtained.
Now, the rolling phenomenon means that the vibrating system of a speaker device does not linearly move up-and-down in an emission direction of an acoustic wave (a vibrating direction of a voice coil) in response to the electric signal applied to the voice coil and vibrates in a direction substantially perpendicular or oblique to the emission direction of the acoustic wave. In addition, the split vibration (split resonance) is a phenomenon that the diaphragm is bended and different parts of the diaphragm thereby vibrate differently. Furthermore, the split resonance is the following phenomenon. Vibrations created by the vibrational movement of the voice coil bobbin propagate concentrically from a central portion of the diaphragm toward a circumference of the diaphragm thereof. Then the vibrations are reflected from the edge portion and propagate in the reverse direction from the circumference of the diaphragm toward the central portion. The vibrations reflected from the edge portion and subsequent vibrations propagating from the voice coil bobbin interfere with each other to cause the split resonance.
Therefore, a vibrating body for an acoustic transducer that has the following structure has previously been proposed to improve the rigidity of the edge portion included in the vibrating body for an acoustic transducer. More specifically, in this vibrating body for an acoustic transducer, a dome-shaped diaphragm is formed integrally with an edge portion disposed on the outer circumference thereof, and the edge portion includes a groove-shaped rib formed integrally therewith. In addition, an adjustment member that partially improve the bending strength of the edge portion is disposed on a part of the front or rear surface of the edge portion (see, for example, Patent Document 1). Hereinafter, this art is referred to as a first conventional example.
To provide a speaker device that can be reduced in size without an increase in the lowest resonance frequency f0, a vibrating body for an acoustic transducer that has the following structure has previously been proposed. More specifically, in this vibrating body for an acoustic transducer, a first vibrating part that functions as a diaphragm is disposed at the center; a connection part to which a voice coil connects with the outer circumference of the first vibrating part; and an edge portion is disposed integrally on the outer circumference of the connection part. In addition, a second vibrating part that functions as a diaphragm is disposed on the outer circumferential side of the connection part so as to be continuous with the edge portion (see, for example, Patent Document 2). Hereinafter, this art is referred to as a second conventional example.
Moreover, a vibrating body for an acoustic transducer that has the following structure is proposed, the vibrating body can has a sufficient rigidity over the entire area of a dome-shaped diaphragm and reduce a fluctuation in a high tone frequency characteristic caused by a harmonic distortion and reproduce a sound in a high quality, even when dimensions of the dome shape is large. That is, in this vibrating body for an acoustic transducer, a dome-shaped diaphragm is supported by a frame via an edge portion formed integrally with the outer circumference of the diaphragm. The edge portion has, on its outer circumference, reinforcing ribs having convex/concave structure. The diaphragm has a groove- or a ridge-shaped reinforcing rib that is formed radially from the center of the dome so as to extend from the vicinity of the center of the dome toward the outer circumference of the dome (see, for example, Patent Document 3). Hereinafter, this art is referred to as a third conventional example.    [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-048494 (claim 1, [0011], [0019] to [0025], FIGS. 1 and 2)    [Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-166070 (claim 1, [0011], [0017] to [0025], FIGS. 1 and 2)    [Patent Document 3] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-287418, (claim 4, [0013], [0015] to [0020], FIGS. 2 and 3)

Vibrating body for acoustic transducer and speaker device


The present invention relates to improved non-azide gas generants and methods for their manufacture for use in an automobile gas bag system. This discovery overcomes the problems of moisture and thermal cycling in a non-azide gas generant pellet through the use of at least two fuels selected from guanidine nitrate, nitroguanidine, triaminoguanidine nitrate, diaminoguanidine nitrate and monoguanidine nitrate and an oxidizer system comprising mixtures of strontium nitrate, sodium nitrate and ammonium perchlorate.

Automobile airbag systems have been developed to protect vehicle occupants in the event of a crash by rapidly inflating a cushion or bag between a vehicle occupant and the interior of the vehicle. The inflated airbag absorbs the vehicle occupant's energy to provide a gradual, controlled deceleration and provides a cushion to distribute body loads and keep the occupant from impacting the hard surfaces of the vehicle interior.
The use of such protective gas-inflated airbags to cushion vehicle occupants in crash situations is now widely known and well documented. The requirements of a gas generant used in an automobile airbag inflator are very demanding. The gas generant must have a burning rate such that the airbag is inflated rapidly (within approximately 30-100 milliseconds) and the burning rate must not vary over long term storage (aging and/or thermal cycling) or as a result of shock and vibration encountered during the life of the vehicle. The burning rate must also be relatively insensitive to changes in humidity and temperature. When pressed into pellets, wafers, cylinders, discs or whatever shape, the hardness and mechanical strength of the gas generant bodies must be adequate to withstand the conditions to which they will be exposed without any fragmentation or change of exposed surface area. Excessive breakage of the generant bodies will lead to system failure where, for example, an undesirable high pressure condition will be created within the inflator, possibly resulting in catastrophic rupture of the inflator housing.
The gas generant must efficiently produce a relatively cool, non-toxic, non-corrosive gas which is easily filtered to remove solid and liquid combustion by-products. This filtering is needed to preclude damage to the inflatable airbag or injury to the occupant of the automobile. These requirements limit the applicability of many otherwise suitable chemical compositions, shapes and configurations from being used in automotive airbag inflators. Gas generants can also be used for fire extinguishing. Recently, a number of companies have begun using the gases produced by solid energetic or pyrotechnique materials for fire extinguishing.
An important parameter relating to gas generants is physical stability of the gas generant pellet. As mentioned above, physical forces, such as vibration, can abrade or crack the gas generant pellets. This damage is unacceptable as the surface area is increased and thus the ballistics (rate of combustion) are altered. Ballistics can also be altered through the absorption of water and thermal cycling. It is known that most non-azide based gas generants, especially 5-aminotetrazole, are hygroscopic and soften upon heating. These changes cause the gas generant pellet to degrade or crumble. This change in surface area can result in catastrophic failure of the inflator housing due to excessive pressure build up in the housing at the time of ignition.
A source of water for degradation of a generant pellet is the gas generant itself. Many non-azide gas generants are prepared by an aqueous mixing process. Water is used to mix the non-azide fuel, oxidizer, and other components of the gas generant composition. The majority of the water is removed during a drying step, however, at least 1% by weight and sometimes as high as 5% by weight water still remains in the generant composition. This drying step is expensive and dangerous. Any method that would allow the gas generant to be prepared without the use of water would be readily accepted by the industry.
In its broadest aspect, the present invention overcomes the previously described problems through the use of guanidines as the fuel and an oxidizer system comprising strontium nitrate and ammonium perchlorate. In addition, the invention, as it relates to the inflator housing, comprises the use of a metal ribbon with a plurality of apertures and a segment of expanded metal that is rolled into a coil and used as a filter to trap combustion products. The following discussion of the background art will assist the artisan in understanding the advancements that the present invention brings to the industry.

Gas generant compositions containing guanidines


A stand-alone filtering apparatus for use with indoor barbecuing includes a base configured for the reception of a heating assembly and a filter unit which is selectively positionable in a vertical direction relative to the base. The filter unit includes a filtering element for removing contaminants from a medium as the medium passes therethrough and a ventilation system for creating an air flow for drawing the medium and the contaminants through the filtering element.

1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates generally to smoke filters and more particularly to a free-standing, smoke and fume filtering device for use in connection with indoor grills and rotisseries.
2. Description of the Related Art
Outdoor charcoal or gas barbecuing is a popular method of cooking and preparing various foods such as meats, poultry, fish and vegetables and manufacturers have enjoyed great commercial success providing outdoor barbecues and accessories in the United States and elsewhere. Part of the popularity of outdoor barbecuing can be attributed to the unique blend of smell, flavor and look the briquettes convey to the meat, fish, and/or vegetables which is often referred to as xe2x80x9cbarbecuexe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9csmokexe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9ccharcoalxe2x80x9d flavor. However, due to the obvious safety concerns of burning briquettes indoors, barbecuing has typically been recognized as an outdoor cooking activity.
Recently, however, manufacturers have been looking for ways to manufacture grills for barbecuing indoors which imitate the various cooking advantages of outdoor barbecues, e.g., the smell, taste and look of barbecued food. For example, electric indoor barbecues provide one method of safely barbecuing indoors and some of these designs include electric hotplates with grill-like surfaces for conveying a grill-like look to the food and for allowing the fat/grease to drip from the food onto the heating element to flavor and/or xe2x80x9csmokexe2x80x9d the food.
However, since the amount of dripping fat differs among various food types, e.g., chicken versus sausage, the amount of smoke emanating from the heating elements is often difficult to control which can quickly spoil the charm of indoor barbeque grilling. Moreover and especially with indoor grilling, the smoke and/or fumes emanating off the heating elements should be filtered prior to introduction into the surrounding area. As a result and due to the convenience of other cooking methods and appliances such as ovens and stoves which offer a wider range of cooking options, e.g., baking, broiling, frying, etc., indoor barbecuing is not commonplace.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,404,801 to Holland discloses an outdoor barbecue unit which includes a replaceable filtration element for removing contaminants from the smoke as the smoke exits a smoke exhaust cylinder mounted atop the barbecue hood. U.S. Pat. No. 4,827,903 to Kim discloses a table mounted cooker which includes a filter which removes contaminants from the smoke exhaust as the smoke exhaust is drawn through a chimney or ventilation system. Movement of the filter relative to the cooking surface is limited to removal of the filter from the unit, i.e., the filter is not positionable relative to the cooking surface.
As can be appreciated, these units are somewhat complicated and may not be suitable for ordinary indoor use. Moreover, separate ventilation systems or exhaust connections may be required which, again, are typically not suitable for ordinary indoor use. Thus, there exists a need to develop a simple, smoke filtering system which can be easily and readily adapted for use with a variety of indoor grills.
The present disclosure relates to a stand-alone filtering apparatus for use during indoor barbecuing which includes a base configured for the reception of a heating assembly, e.g., a grill plate and/or a rotisserie. Preferably, the filter unit is selectively positionable in a vertical direction relative to the base and includes a filtering element for removing contaminants from a medium, e.g., smoke or fumes, as the smoke and fumes pass therethrough. The filter unit also includes a ventilation system configured to draw the smoke and contaminants through the filtering element prior to dispersing the exhaust into the surrounding environment. The filtering element is preferably selectively removable for cleaning and/or replacement purposes.
In one embodiment, the base includes a post which extends upwardly therefrom and the filter unit includes a sleeve which telescopically engages to the post. A pair of opposing locking tabs may be associated with the post or the sleeve to allow a user to selectively position the filter unit in a desired vertical position relative to the base. Preferably, the filter unit includes a hinge which permits pivotable movement of the filter unit relative to the base. The base and post may also be connected by a hinge or pivot element to allow the base to pivot relative to the post for storage purposes.
In another embodiment, the base includes a frame-like support rack which is configured to support the grill and/or the rotisserie below the filter unit. Preferably, the filter unit includes a motor which operates at least one fan for creating an air flow to draw the smoke and contaminants through the filtering element prior to dispersing the same into the surrounding atmosphere. The motor may include a switch to regulate the speed of the fan and the resulting air flow of the smoke and contaminants through the filtering element.


A method for removing a metallic layer from the surface of a ceramic substrate, the method including the steps of immersing the metallic coated ceramic substrate in a solution of up to 31% hydrochloric acid for a sufficient time to at least substantially dissolve or remove the metallic layer therefrom, removing the ceramic substrate from the acid solution, rinsing the ceramic substrate in a rinse solution, and annealing the ceramic substrate at a predetermined temperature for a sufficient time to at least reduce damage or defects in the surface of the ceramic substrate.

The fabrication of semiconductor devices requires extensive chemical processing of the surface and body of a silicon wafer. Such processing typically involves chemical reactions such as, for example, diffusion, oxidation and deposition. For processes involving deposition, dielectric materials such as polycrystalline silicon, silicon nitride and silicon dioxide are deposited through suitable chemical means on the surface of the wafer. In deposition applications, species from a source such as a target, a gas inlet manifold and the like may deposit on exposed internal chamber surfaces, including the chamber walls and hardware. Deposition rings are designed to intercept such stray species. Over an extended use, the deposition ring degrades and must be regularly replaced to ensure optimal performance of the deposition equipment.
The deposition ring is generally composed of a ceramic substrate coated with a metallic layer. The metallic layer provides a surface on which the stray species may be readily deposited. The metallic layer is generally composed of a metal that has limited reactivity with the ceramic substrate, resists corrosion and adheres well to the substrate and is economically competitive. Aluminum is the metal that closely matches these requirements. The aluminum layer is generally arc sprayed onto the ceramic substrate and enhances the adhesion of tantalum deposition, for example, or other depositions, thereby improving the performance of the deposition ring. The metal-based top layer is generally composed of tantalum as a deposition species that is deposited through vacuum deposition during use of the deposition ring in semiconductor manufacturing.
Sustained exposure of the ceramic deposition ring to the deposition species, tantalum in this example, will contaminate and degrade the shield to the extent it becomes inoperative. The contaminated and degraded shield must then be replaced with a new one. The spent ceramic shield can be refurbished to reduce maintenance costs of the deposition equipment. Typically, the spent ceramic ring is treated by first removing the metallic layer(s) from the ceramic substrate. The old metallic layer(s) are typically removed by immersing the deposition ring in a heated solution of potassium hydroxide. The potassium hydroxide solution dissolves the aluminum layer, thereby undercutting the tantalum layer. Although the potassium hydroxide solution is useful for removing the old metallic layer(s), it also has a tendency to damage the surface of the ceramic substrate, thereby weakening the bonding of the initial metallic layer to the ceramic substrate resulting in undesirable delamination and flaking.
Accordingly, there is a need to develop a method for removing a metallic layer(s) from the surface of a ceramic substrate without damaging the ceramic substrate to ensure that no delamination of the re-applied metallic layer will occur. There is a further need to develop a method for removing a metallic layer from the surface of a ceramic substrate while enhancing the surface of the ceramic substrate for subsequent re-coating.

Method for removing a composite coating containing tantalum deposition and arc sprayed aluminum from ceramic substrates


An image forming apparatus includes a controller for detecting the opening and closing of a shutter from the output from an optical sensor and controlling the opening and closing operation of the shutter based on the detected result. The controller determines that if the optical sensor is turned “ON” within a predetermined period of time from when the shutter begins opening, the operation of the shutter from the closed state to the open state is correctly detected. When no reflected light is detected by the optical sensor even after a predetermined time has elapsed, the controller determines that an anomaly has occurred and closes the shutter and repeat another detecting process.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a printer, copier or the like, which forms an image on a sheet of paper, in particular, relating to an image forming apparatus which uses an optical sensor that detects the density and misregistration of the image in order to assure image quality.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
In image forming apparatuses based on electrophotography, a test pattern image (reference toner image) for checking whether the image forming process is executed correctly is often used. Typical examples of test pattern images include the toner image for density measurement and the toner image for positional check.
This test of the image forming process is carried out by forming a reference toner image on a trial basis, sensing the density and position of the thus formed reference toner image with an optical sensor and detecting whether a toner image having a correct density is formed at an exact position. In this test, if the conditions of the image forming process are not pertinent, the image forming process conditions are corrected in accordance with the detected result of the optical sensor. In this way, this test using a reference toner image is periodically implemented, whereby it is possible to achieve image forming operations under pertinent conditions.
In color image forming apparatuses, it is impossible to reproduce a faithful color image unless images of color separations are laid over in register with each other. To avoid this, the above-described detection, or check on whether there is any problem with toner density and image position, is periodically implemented using an optical sensor with a reference toner image.
However, the optical sensors used for toner density sensing and registration sensing have to be arranged at positions where unfixed toner passes through. Besides, the aforementioned reference toner image is formed on the transfer belt and detected by the optical sensors, and in order to achieve reliable detection, the sensors have to be positioned at the most downstream side in the image forming process.
Accordingly, quite a few amount of unfixed toner scatters when the recording medium (paper) is transferred from the toner belt to the fusing device. As a result, the unfixed toner gradually builds up on the detection surface of the sensors, possibly causing detection deterioration and detection failure.
To deal with this problem, patent document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-open 2001-100597, discloses a configuration in which a shutter is provided in the vicinity of the detecting surface of an optical sensor in an openable and closable manner so that the shutter will open to permit detection only for the time of measurement and can close itself otherwise, to thereby prevent adherence of unfixed toner. Further, in patent document 1, the optical sensor for detecting the light reflected off the reference toner image is made active during the opening and closing movement of the shutter so as to be used for detecting the opening and closing of the shutter by detecting the reflected light from the transfer belt. That is, check on whether the shutter is correctly opened and closed is enabled without providing a separate sensor for detecting the opening and closing of the shutter.
However, in the case having the configuration as in patent document 1, if the toner has adhered on the transfer belt when the shutter changes its position from the close state (no light of direct reflection received) to the open state (light of direct reflection received), light, emitted from the optical sensor and reflected off the toner layer, shifts out of the light path of direct reflection from the transfer belt due to the thickness of the adhered toner layer, hence the optical sensor can receive no light of direct reflection (no light of direct reflection received) and detects the shutter being closed in error even though the shutter is opened correctly.
Then, when the toner area on the transfer belt has moved away from the shutter, the optical sensor finally receives light of direct reflection and detects the shutter being open. However, at this timing, the offset cam for driving the shutter has already rotated past and gotten out of the position, causing the problem that the open/close status of the shutter becomes unstable.


A conductive member has a first face adapted to be mounted on a board on which an inspection circuit is arranged and a second face adapted to be opposed to a device to be inspected. The conductive member being formed with a first through hole having a first diameter and communicating the first face with the second face. A contact probe is provided with a tubular body having a second diameter which is smaller than the first diameter, and a plunger retractably projected from one end of the tubular body. A first retainer is formed with a second through hole and opposing at least the second face of the conductive member so as to communicate the first through hole with the second through hole, so that the contact probe is retained in the conductive member while only the plunger is projected from one end of the second through hole. A second retainer is adapted to retain the one end of the tubular body concentrically with the first through hole.

The present invention relates to an inspection unit for a high frequency/high-speed device for ensuring reliable connection between the inspection unit and the device to be inspected, on occasion of inspecting its electrical performance, before a module of a high frequency/high-speed circuit such as an amplifier circuit, a mixer circuit, a filter circuit, a memory, a CPU, etc. or an IC to be incorporated in a mobile phone, for example, has been assembled to a circuit board. In this specification, the term "high frequency" refers to an analogue signal having a high frequency (1 GHz or more), while the term "high-speed" refers to a digital signal having very short pulse width and pulse interval, and both of which are hereinafter collectively referred to as RF (radio frequency).
On occasion of inspecting electrical performance of the RF device such as a semi-conductor wafer, an IC, or a module, insufficient contacts between the terminals may particularly cause fluctuation of impedance or other measurement factors, which may sometimes vary to change measured values. Under the circumstances, such inspection has been conducted by a special inspection unit, for example, as shown in FIG. 4A (disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 2001-99889A). In such an inspection, an RF circuit, which is the device to be inspected, is constructed in a form of a module 50 including an amplifier circuit and a mixer circuit, and is housed in a metal casing for avoiding interference with the exterior. The module 50 includes input and output terminals 51, 54 for RF signals, a power supply electrode terminal 52, and a grounding terminal 53, which are provided on a back face of the metal casing. Then, the inspection is conducted by electrically connecting the terminals to respective terminals of a wiring board 66 on which certain wirings for the inspection are arranged.
In the example as shown in FIG. 9A, there are employed contact probes each having a spring and a plunger contained in a metal pipe, one end of the plunger being adapted to be projected to the exterior by the spring and contracted when pushed. The respective electrode terminals are connected by contact probes 63 for RF signals, a contact probe 64 for power supply, and a contact probe 65 for grounding which are contained in a metal block 61 for preventing them from being affected by noises. Each of the contact probes 63 for RF signals is formed in a coaxial structure, using the contact probe as a core conductor and using an inner wall of a through hole in the metal block 61 as an outer conductor, especially for preventing intrusion of noises. In FIG. 9A, denoted with numeral 67 is a coaxial cable, and 68 is a plate for pressing the metal pipes surrounding the contact probes. Such a structure around the contact probes is almost the same in case of an IC socket for inspecting ICs, though such socket has a different outer shape.
Although FIG. 9A shows only two contact probes 63 for RF signals (for input and output), and one each contact probes 64, 65 each for power supply and for grounding, a large number of these contact probes are actually provided in the metal block 61. In the maximum case, the electrode terminals of about 600 pieces per 1 cm2 are provided in a matrix manner with a narrow pitch of about 0.4 mm.
In such the narrow-pitch device, an outer diameter of the contact probe for RF signals including a dielectric layer must be reduced in size. Meanwhile, it is also necessary to adjust the impedance of the coaxial structure formed by the contact probe and the inner wall of the through hole to a predetermined characteristic impedance (50 Ω, for example) satisfying the following Equation (1).
                    Zo        =                              60                                          ɛ                r                                                                    log            e                                          D            d                                              (        1        )            where, d is the outer diameter of the core conductor (the contact probe), D is the inner diameter of the outer conductor (the through hole), and εr is a dielectric constant of the dielectric substance between them.
In order to satisfy the Equation (1), it is possible to reduce the inner diameter D of the outer conductor by providing a tube made from dielectric substance with small dielectric constant between each contact probe and each through hole. However, even though a tube of polytetrafuluoroethylene having dielectric constant of 2.1, which is the dielectric substance having the smallest dielectric constant available at present, is employed, and the contact probe having the smallest diameter available (having the outer diameter of 0.15 mm) is employed, the inner diameter of the outer conductor (the inner diameter of the through hole formed in the metal block) requires about 0.5 mm to obtain 50Ω as the characteristic impedance of the coaxial structure. This cannot attain the pitch of 0.4 mm.
For the purpose of solving the problem as described above, Japanese Patent Publication No. 2004-170182A discloses such a structure that dielectric rings 69 are fixed to at least two positions of an outer periphery of each contact probe 63 as shown in FIG. 9B, thereby to concentrically hold the contact probe in a through hole of a metal block with a gap. According to this structure, almost all parts of the dielectric substance between the contact probe as the core conductor and the inner face of the through hole of the metal block as the outer conductor can be formed to be an air layer having dielectric constant of 1. That is, it is possible to decrease the dielectric constant between the core conductor and the outer conductor of the coaxial structure, thereby to reduce a hole diameter of the through hole as compared with the contact probe having the same size, and hence, narrowing the pitch can be achieved.
However, in order to firmly hold the contact probe in the through hole by the dielectric rings, it is necessary to make outer diameters of the dielectric rings somewhat larger than the inner diameter of the through hole, and to forcibly push the contact probe with the dielectric rings into the through hole. The contact probe itself is in a shape of a very small pipe having an outer diameter of about 0.15 mm, and it is difficult to push it into the through hole. In this respect, there has been a problem that the contact probe is liable to be crooked with an external force, and even with a little crook, smooth movement of the plunger to be achieved by the spring within the pipe may be hindered. Moreover, in a case where the dielectric ring is made larger in width with a view to enhancing easiness in its insertion process and mechanical strength, the dielectric constant of the dielectric substance in the coaxial structure becomes larger, resulting in disturbance of the characteristic impedance, which will sacrifice the high frequency characteristics and high speed performance.
Meanwhile, Japanese Patent Publication No. 2004-325306A discloses a structure for holding such small contact probes in the through holes in the metal block as shown in FIG. 8A. In this structure, a metal block 2 and a metal plate 31 are formed with recessed parts, and insulative spacers 32 are inserted into the recessed parts concentrically with the through holes so that opposite ends of the contact probes 1 can be held by the insulative spacers 32. According to this structure, the contact probes 1 will hardly receive external forces, and can be held concentrically with the through holes 21 keeping gaps from the through holes, thereby to decrease the relative dielectric constant and to attain pitch narrowing.
However, this structure has also a problem that when the metal plate 31 is mounted after the contact probes 1 have been inserted, the contact probes 1 in the coaxial structure may be inclined, as shown in FIG. 8B, and a work for mounting the metal plate 31 is difficult because several hundreds of the contact probes including the contact probes for power supply and grounding are present within an area of a few cm2, and each the contact probe in the coaxial structure has a diameter of about 0.15 mm and a length of a few millimeter.


A method for preparing very large spatially-addressable arrays of chemical compounds by light-directed synthesis is provided, wherein the light is provided by a laser and the compounds are arrayed on a rotating disc in a CD-ROM format. A method for assaying the resulting array with a CD-ROM mechanism is also provided.

The advantages of combinatorial chemistry for the rapid generation of chemical compounds for pharmaceutical screening are well established. The single greatest strength of combinatorial chemistry is that it makes possible the generation of libraries of huge numbers of compounds in a relatively short period of time.
Several methods have been employed for the preparation of such libraries, e.g., solution-phase synthesis; solid-phase synthesis on polymer beads or other divided supports; synthesis on soluble, precipitatable polymer supports; and synthesis on planar supports. All of these methods are capable of generating large libraries (i.e., libraries containing a large number of compounds), but none of them are amenable to rapid screening of the libraries for binding activity, biological activity, or other desirable properties.
Current methods for screening libraries include those in which individual library members, or small groups of members, are assayed in microtiter plates, e.g., by screening for a desired activity or for binding to a specific binding partner, such as a receptor or antibody or other ligand, but the number of compounds that can be assayed at once is on the order of 102 to 104: one compound per well in a 96-well microtiter plate screens at most 96 compounds, while twenty compounds per well in a 384-well plate screens about 7680 compounds. The latter approach, while permitting higher throughput, requires secondary screening to identify the active species in any given well. For example, screening a library containing all of the 3.2 million possible pentapeptides which could be made from the twenty natural amino acids (i.e., a 3.2-million-member library) by these methods would require 500 to 3400 plates. Screening a library of the 64 million possible hexapeptides would require 10,000 to 68,000 plates. Robotic systems are available for microtiter plate assays, but screening a large library by such a method remains a massive undertaking. Furthermore, in a pharmaceutical discovery environment this represents only one of the many assays an organization might wish to conduct.
An alternative to testing individual compounds is the testing of complex mixtures, with various "deconvolution" strategies being employed to deduce the active species. These strategies have in common the re-synthesis and re-testing of successively less-complex mixtures. In addition to the great effort involved, the testing of complex mixtures is limited by the low concentration of any individual species in the mixture, and is susceptible to false positive results from the additive effects of large numbers of weakly active species. In practice, deconvolution has had limited success in probing large libraries of compounds. See L. Wilson-Lingaro, J. Med. Chem., 39, 2720-2726 (1996); and D. A. M. Konings, J. Med. Chem., 39, 2710-2719 (1996), and references therein, for a discussion of deconvolution strategies.
Ideally, the probing of a combinatorial library would be conducted in a single operation, with the active members of the library being in some way "pointed out" of the vast population of compounds by the assay. Two of the current methods meet this requirement. Both methods employ solid-phase synthesis, and both require that the library members remain attached to the solid support. In one method, a library of compounds bound to polystyrene beads is prepared by the split-mix method. The library is assayed in a single batch, by being exposed to a molecule of interest, such as a receptor, enzyme, or other specific binding partner. Any beads to which the molecule binds are visualized (e.g., by a colorimetric assay), and beads so identified are selected and the structure of the library member attached to the bead is determined. This can be done by sequencing if the compound is a peptide or nucleic acid, as described, e.g., in U.S. Pat. No. 5,382,513 (incorporated herein by reference). The structure of the compound on the bead may in some cases be deduced from spectroscopic evidence (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,382,513), or by decoding a chemical tag that reveals the chemical history of the bead, as described in patent application WO 95/24186 (incorporated herein by reference). The method is in principle capable of screening very large libraries, limited only by the number of beads one is willing to examine. In practice, libraries of 104 to 106 members can be dealt with in this fashion.
The second approach involves physically locating a compound or compounds in a spatially addressable array of compounds on a planar support. In this approach, a compound's identity is revealed by its location in the array. One method of this type employs an array of compounds generated by light-directed synthesis, as first disclosed by Fodor et al. in Science, 251, 767-773 (1991), in which a fraction of sites on a planar support carrying photo-detachable protecting groups is exposed to light through a photolithographic mask, and the fraction of sites thus deprotected are functionalized with a specific monomer or building block, itself carrying a photo-detachable protecting group. The process is repeated with the mask in a different position or orientation, or with a different mask, and a second monomer or building block is attached to the support and/or to the first monomer residues. After numerous such cycles, with careful attention to the pattern of masking, an array of compounds is built up on the support. The final array is completely deprotected, and exposed to the ligand of interest. Binding of the ligand is visualized by immunofluorescence, using antibodies against the ligand which are tagged with a fluorescent dye. Under a fluorescence microscope, any location in the array to which the ligand has bound is visible as a fluorescent area, and the x-y coordinates of the area reveals the identity of the library member to which the ligand was bound. This technology, as applied to polypeptide and oligonuceotide synthesis, is known as Very Large Scale Immobilized Polymer Synthesis, or VLSIPS. It is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,143,854, 5,413,939, 5,424,186, and 5,527,681, all of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The photolithographic method of synthesis, however, is cumbersome, and requires a substantial investment in very specialized equipment. A further investment in a fluorescence microscope or a specialized scanner is required for the assay, and highly skilled technicians are required, at least to conduct the synthesis aspect of the process. The scale of library synthesis is limited by the size of the masks and by the translational reach of the scanning device, which together limit the accessible surface for synthesis to a few square centimeters. In practice this technique is presently limited to arrays of 104 to 105 compounds. For these reasons the method is not routinely employed; see G. Jung and A. G. Beck Sickinger in Angewandte Chemie, 31, 367 (1992).
As an alternative to photolithography, the use of directed laser light to conduct light-directed synthesis has been described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,719,615 and 5,318,679 (both of which are incorporated herein by reference). In the latter patent, a rectangular array support is either held stationary or translated, while a laser beam is scanned across the array by means of a rotating mirror, in the manner of an ordinary laser printer. This provides an alternative to the photolithographic masking approach, but fluorescence microscopy is still relied upon as an assay method.
Another alternative method for the synthesis of spatially addressable arrays utilizes ink-jet printing technology to spray micro-droplets of reagent solutions onto a substrate. This method is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,474,796 and 5,449,754, both of which are incorporated herein by reference. This method is in theory capable of preparing arrays of 107 compounds, but a method of indexing such large arrays is not disclosed. Again, fluorescence microscopy is the preferred means of conducting an assay.
There remains a need for reliable methods of generating very large, very high-density arrays of chemical compounds, on the order of about 108 or more compounds, along with a method of rapidly screening such arrays for chemical properties of interest, such as binding to antibodies, cellular receptors or other ligands, catalytic activity, or inhibition of enzymes.

Spatially addressable combinatorial chemical arrays in encoded optical disk format


An electronic equipment manufacturer has been bearing the burden to adjust variations in characteristics of semiconductor integrated circuits according to a conventional art. The device and the method of this invention include a microcomputer, signal processing circuit which processes an input signal accordingly to a control signal from the microcomputer and provides an output signal and a memory which stores adjustment values to adjust changes in signal characteristics due to variations in manufacturing of elements composing the signal processing unit. The microcomputer adjusts the changes in the signal characteristics of the signal processing circuit according to the adjustment values stored in the memory.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a semiconductor integrated circuit which can adjust its signal characteristics by itself when the characteristics fluctuate due to production variations, and to a method of the adjustment.
2. Description of the Related Art
When a semiconductor integrated circuit is produced with a semiconductor manufacturing process, it is common to have manufacturing variations in such as alignment of photomasks and width of an etched line. Characteristics of the semiconductor integrated circuit vary among semiconductor integrated circuits due to the manufacturing variations, even if they are from the same production lot or even from the same wafer.
For example, if the semiconductor integrated circuit includes an amplifier, the gain of the amplifier varies among the semiconductor integrated circuits. When the semiconductor integrated circuits are shipped to an electronic equipment manufacturer and mounted in electronic equipment, the characteristics of the equipment vary from unit to unit. With this being the situation, electronic equipment manufacturers used the semiconductor integrated circuits adjusting variations in the characteristics of the semiconductor integrated circuits themselves.
For example, a TV receiver manufacturer uses signal processing ICs which receive and demodulate video signals. The video signal processing ICs have various characteristics such as depth of color, tint, and brightness. Although these characteristics are modified to liking of the TV receiver manufacturer or of viewers, basic range of adjustment is determined by the manufacturer of the semiconductor integrated circuits. Each of the semiconductor integrated circuits needs to have the same basic range of adjustment. Otherwise, criteria of the adjustment to the electronic equipment would vary.
In reality, however, the characteristics vary among the semiconductor integrated circuits resulting from the variations in manufacturing of the semiconductor integrated circuits as described above. Thus, the TV receiver manufacturer have measured the variations in the characteristics of the semiconductor integrated circuits and adjusted them.
To explain more concretely, a TV receiver has a microcomputer and a memory. For example, depth of color is measured by an image scanner or by visual evaluation, and an adjustment signal is generated so that a center value of the color always has predetermined depth.
The adjustment signal value is calculated by the microcomputer and stored in the memory. Once stored in the memory, the adjustment signal is read from the memory by the microcomputer and applied to the video signal processing IC, every time the power supply of the TV receiver is turned on. By this means, always same amount of control can be applied to the TV receiver, whichever semiconductor integrated circuit is used as the video signal processing IC.
However, a problem is that the electronic equipment manufacturer, not the semiconductor integrated circuit manufacturer, has to make the adjustment of the variations in the semiconductor integrated circuits, bearing additional complication of adjustment processes in the production line.

Semiconductor integrated circuit and adjustment method thereof


Provided is a semiconductor sensor device which is manufactured by an MEMS technology wherein machining technology and/or material technology is combined with semiconductor technology for detecting and measuring various physical quantities. In the semiconductor sensor device, cracks which generate in a cap chip and a molding resin are eliminated and air-tightness between a semiconductor sensor chip and the cap chip is ensured. The cracks due to vibration applied when being cut can be eliminated by having the circumference side surface of the cap chip as a wet-etched surface. Furthermore, insulation is ensured by coating the cap chip side surface with an insulating protection film.

The MEMS technology, in which semiconductor manufacturing process technologies are incorporated with mechanically machining technologies and/or material technology to realize a system having a fine three-dimensional structure on a semiconductor substrate, can be applied to a wide variety of fields. Applications of semiconductor sensor devices manufactured by the MEMS technology to detections of physical quantities, such as acceleration, angular velocity, pressure, in fields of automobiles, aero planes, mobile terminal devices and toys, particularly attract attention from people.
These semiconductor sensor devices have a special feature in having a movable part formed by the MEMS technology. They detect displacement of the movable part by change in resistance of piezo-resistors or electro-static capacitance and process the detected data to measure the acceleration, the angular velocity, the pressure and the like. Patent documents 1 through 3 disclose acceleration sensor devices, Patent documents 4 through 6 disclose angular velocity sensor devices, and Patent documents 7 and 8 disclose pressure sensor devices.
The acceleration sensor of Patent document 1 is schematically shown in FIG. 14, and will be briefly described below, referring to the figure. A semiconductor sensor device will be explained as an acceleration sensor device, unless otherwise specified. And, details in structures of a semiconductor sensor chip for the semiconductor sensor device may be omitted from description since they are similar to those of Patent documents 1 through 8. A three-axis semiconductor acceleration sensor having a movable part manufactured by the MEMS technology is shown in an exploded perspective view of FIG. 14A. In the three-axis semiconductor acceleration sensor 10h, an acceleration sensor chip 20h and an IC regulation plate 30h are bonded by adhesive, such as resin, with a predetermined distance between them in a case 71h. Chip terminals 24h of the acceleration sensor chip 20h are connected by electric wires 51h to terminals 34h of the IC regulation plate, and the terminals 34h of the IC regulation plate are connected by electric wires 51h to case terminals 74h, and sensor signals are taken out from outer terminals 75h. A case lid 72h is fixed on the case 71h by adhesive. FIG. 14B is a plan view of the acceleration sensor chip 20h viewed from a top of the sensor. In the acceleration sensor chip 20h, a three-axis semiconductor sensor element 20h′ and the chip terminals 24h are provided. The three-axis semiconductor sensor element 20h′ is composed of a frame 27h, a weight 26h and pairs of beams 25h, and the weight 26h is held in a center of the frame 27h by two pairs of beams 25h. On the beams 25h, some piezo-resistors are formed. X-axis piezo-resistors 21h and Z-axis piezo-resistors 21h′ are on one pair of beams, and Y-axis piezo-resistors 21h″ are on the other pair of beams.
In the three-axis semiconductor acceleration sensor 10h shown in FIG. 14, the case 71h and the case lid 72h are made of ceramic, such as alumina. Since there is a limit to make the thickness of the case 71h and the case lid 72h thinner because they are made of ceramic, it is difficult to make them smaller-sized but also lighter. Since the case terminals 74h and the outer terminals 75h are formed on the ceramic case 71h and they are connected through a ceramic, the ceramic case becomes high in manufacturing cost, and it has been difficult to realize a low-priced acceleration sensor as long as a ceramic case is used. Since the case lid 72h is bonded to the case 71h with adhesive resin to air-tighten them, they tend to be less air-tight due to an environmental change because resin is used.
A structure with an improved air-tightness is described in Patent document 9. As shown in FIG. 15A, a semiconductor sensor assembled substrate 4i is constituted of a semiconductor sensor substrate 2i having a number of semiconductor sensor chips 20i manufactured by an MEMS technology, and cap substrates 3i, 3i′, which have a number of cap chips 30i, 30i′ formed, bonded on a top surface and a bottom surface of the semiconductor sensor substrate 2i. Movable parts of the semiconductor sensor chips 20i are air-tightened by the upper and lower cap chips 30i, 30i′. By slicing the semiconductor sensor assembled substrate 4i along cutting lines 90i, 90i′ shown by dot-chain lines by a diamond cutting wheel, a semiconductor sensor assembly 40i shown in FIG. 15B is prepared. By restricting a sealed portion to the movable part of the semiconductor sensor chip 20i, it is easy to air-tighten. As shown in FIG. 15C, the semiconductor sensor assembly 40i is bonded to an inner bottom of a case 71i, and a case lid 72i is bonded to a top side of the case 71i to complete a semiconductor sensor device 10i. However, such a semiconductor sensor device enveloped in a case has been difficult to reduce its size and manufacturing cost.
A semiconductor sensor device, in which a semiconductor sensor assembly is covered with resin by applying a resin sealing technology of semiconductor as shown in Patent document 10, has started to be used in practice. FIG. 15D depicts an example of such a semiconductor sensor device 10j in which the semiconductor sensor assembly 40j is sealed with resin. By thinning a molding resin 70j to the extent that the semiconductor sensor assembly 40j and electric wires 51j are not directly exposed to outer atmosphere, miniaturizing and lightening the semiconductor sensor device can be realized. A bonding process of a case that was necessary for the semiconductor sensor device 10i of FIG. 15C is not required in the resin-sealed semiconductor sensor device 10j of FIG. 15D, and its manufacturing cost can be reduced.
Patent document 1:JP 2006-133123 APatent document 2:JP Hei 08-233851 APatent document 3:JP Hei 11-160348 APatent document 4:JP 2006-175554 APatent document 5:JP 2003-194545 APatent document 6:JP 2005-524077 WPatent document 7:JP 2004-132947 APatent document 8:JP Hei 10-098201 APatent document 9:JP Hei 03-002535 APatent document 10:JP Hei 10-170380 A

Semiconductor sensor device and method for manufacturing same


Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to the communications field, and disclose a method and an apparatus for device-to-device inter-cell interference coordination. The method in the present disclosure includes: receiving, by a first terminal when the first terminal becomes a detection terminal, configuration information sent by a first base station, where the configuration information includes a resource usage detection parameter, and the resource usage detection parameter is used to configure a resource usage detection manner for the first terminal; detecting, by the first terminal based on the resource usage detection parameter, resource usage information corresponding to a resource location; reporting, by the first terminal, the resource usage information to the first base station, so that the first base station adjusts, based on the resource usage information, a D2D data transmission mode for the first terminal or a second terminal using the resource location.

Device-to-device (D2D) is an end-to-end direct communications technology. That is, forwarding by a base station is no longer required in communication between terminals, and the base station only needs to perform resource configuration, scheduling, coordination, and the like to assist in direct communication between the terminals. To enable D2D communication between terminals in neighboring cells, base stations need to exchange resource pool information, and a base station needs to broadcast resource pool information of a current cell served by the base station and a neighboring cell of the current cell. A terminal transmits or monitors a signal in a corresponding resource pool based on the resource pool information broadcast by the base station, so that the terminal has an opportunity to monitor a resource pool of the neighboring cell, to implement inter-cell D2D transmission. However, resource pools of neighboring cells often overlap. In this case, all terminals in a same resource pool and in the neighboring cells are performing data transmission, and there is relatively strong interference on data received by the terminals in the same resource pool and in the neighboring cells, namely, inter-cell interference. In the prior art, an inter-cell interference coordination (ICIC) technology is used to reduce inter-cell interference. That is, in a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, signaling at an interface between evolved NodeBs (The interface between eNodeBs, X2) is standardized. Base stations corresponding to neighboring cells may exchange, by using the X2 interface, relative narrowband transmission power (RNTP), overload indicator (OI), and high interference indicator (HII) information of current cells of the base stations. The RNTP, OI, and HII information indicate, in a form of a bitmap, whether transmit power on a resource block in a current cell exceeds a threshold. When a base station serving a neighboring cell schedules a resource to be used by a terminal in the cell, the base station learns, based on RNTP information, transmit power on the resource in a neighboring cell of the cell, determines a possible resource usage level of the neighboring cell, and schedules the resource with reference to the possible resource usage level of the neighboring cell, to avoid inter-cell interference.
The prior art has at least the following problem: When terminals perform D2D communication at a cell edge, a D2D link is far away from a base station, and the base station cannot accurately learn signal quality of the D2D link. Therefore, the base station cannot measure RNTP, OI, and HII information of the D2D link, and cannot instruct, in a timely and accurate manner, a base station in a neighboring cell to adjust a resource scheduling manner. As a result, inter-cell interference cannot be accurately reduced.

Method and apparatus for device-to-device inter-cell interference coordination


An electrical power system protection device includes a circuit breaker and a switch connected in series to a power line. The protection device also has a current limiting element connected in parallel to the circuit breaker. When the level of electrical current flowing in the power line, detected by a current detector, has exceeded a predetermined first set level, a first over-current detector delivers immediately a trip command to the circuit breaker. As a consequence, fault current is commutated to the current limiting element so that any drop of voltage in the power line upstream of the circuit breaker is greatly suppressed. When a state in which a predetermined second set level is exceeded by the detected current level is continued beyond a predetermined period, a second over-current detector delivers an off command to the switch, thus protecting the upstream portion of the power line against the fault in this power line. The current level is set to fall within a range which activates a momentary element of an over-current relay of a receiving end breaker of a downstream sub-system connected to the power line. In the event of a failure in the downstream power line, the receiving end breaker is tripped immediately so that the sound portion of the power line is reset to a normal state of operation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system for protecting an electrical power system, and more particularly, to an electrical power system protecting method and device in which, in the event of a failure in a part of electrical lines of an electrical power network or system, a suitable measure is taken for ensuring safe operation of other sound lines.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, electrical power network is constructed to include a plurality of power transmission lines or a plurality of power distributing lines. In the event of a failure such as short-circuit fault in one of the power lines of the network, the line in which the failure has occurred is disconnected from sound power lines which are on the "upstream" side of the failed line by tripping the circuit breaker of the receiving end of the failed line.
In the case of a power distribution system, high voltage such as 77 KV is transformed into a lower distribution voltage, e.g., 6.6 KV, through one or more transformers which are provided in a distributing substation, and the power of the thus reduced voltage is distributed from a substation BUS to a plurality of feeders branching off the substation BUS. The power is then supplied to consumers through the feeders. In this type of distribution system, when a failure such as short-circuit fault has occurred in the load side of one of the feeders, the circuit breaker provided on the branching end of the feeder adjacent to the substation BUS (referred to as "feeder circuit breaker") is made to trip so as to disconnect this feeder, while ensuring supply of electrical power to other feeders which are sound, thus protecting the power distribution system. A protecting method called "harmonic protection" also has been adopted in which circuit breakers in the failed feeder which is most downstream and which is closest to the point of failure is selectively and preferentially opened to enable supply of power to wide area as possible. For instance, the timing of tripping of the feeder circuit breaker is delayed a predetermined time, e.g., 0.2 second, after tripping of the circuit breaker of the receiving end of a consumer in which the fault has occurred.
In the conventional protecting system as described, when the point at which the fault has occurred is close to the feeder circuit breaker, a large short-circuit current may flow through this feeder during the period of the delay mentioned above. As a consequence, the voltage of the power supplied to other feeders which are sound and which are connected to the same main transformer as the failed feeder may drop. Such a drop of the voltage has not been recognized as a critical problem. In recent years, however, the influence of such voltage drop is often not negligible because the short-circuit current is very large in current power network having a large capacity. In particular, in the modern information-oriented society in which abundant electronic information devices such as computers are used, a large voltage drop causes a serious situation such as erasure of the information stored in terminal devices of information systems, on-line control systems and computers, even when the period of such voltage drop is very short.
On the other hand, an increase in the level of short-circuit current attributable to increase in the capacity of electrical power network requires that mechanical durability of equipments in the network, as well as the capacities of the circuit breakers in the network, to be increased. In recent years, therefore, a current limiting device has been proposed which suppresses increase in the level of short-circuit current thereby reducing breaking capacities required for circuit breakers, as in, for example, in Report SPD-87-43 of The Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan, Oct. 27, 1987. In this current limiting device, a current -limit fuse and a current limiting element are connected in parallel with a switching element which has a predetermined breaking capacity. In the event of a short-circuit fault, the switch element is opened first so that short-circuit current flows first through the current limiting fuse. After a while, the current limiting fuse is fused so that the short-circuit current is made to flow through the current limiting element, whereby the level of the short-circuit current is limited. This current limiting device suppresses the level of the short-circuit current so as to diminish the reduction of voltage in the sound portion of the electrical power network in the event of a fault of the kind described.
The art disclosed in the Report mentioned above, however, suffers from the following problem. Namely, the above-mentioned current limiting device, when used as a feeder circuit breaker, is not designed for performing the aforesaid harmonic protection function, i.e., selective and preferential tripping of circuit breaker which is downstream from the feeder and which is close to the point where the fault has occurred. Therefore, when the short-circuit current is limited excessively, the momentary element of an over-current relay which is to trip the circuit breaker closest to the point where the fault has occurred so not operate so that the time required for separation of the fault point is prolonged undesirably.

Method of and device for protecting electrical power system