A fiber optic accelerometer includes a ring that is twistably-responsive to an orthogonally-directed acceleration force. The ring is mounted by means of either an inner or an outer peripheral flange comprising an annular washer to one of two concentric walls of a disk-like casing. The walls apportion the interior of the casing into a disk-like central section and a surrounding annular section. The ring is appropriately flange-mounted and proportioned to present a moment of inertial that subjects the ring to twisting in the presence of acceleration along the sensitive input axis. Flat spiral coils of optical fiber are fixed to the top and bottom of the ring. Each coil forms a portion of the leg of an interferometer for generating a signal responsive to the acceleration input.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to apparatus for sensing linear acceleration. More particularly, this invention pertains to an open loop a.c. accelerometer employing an optical fiber pickoff for generating an interferometric output measurement.
2. Background of the Prior Art
The measurement of flexure or deformation of an elastic body in response to acceleration or pressure comprises the operating principle of numerous acceleration and pressure sensors. While the amount of deformation or displacement can be determined interferometrically, mechanically, piezoelectrically or by changes in the capacitances or inductances between elements, all such systems are limited by their physical and operational peculiarities such as limited sensitivity, high cost, limited maximum deflection and operating environment sensitivities. Some errors due to operating conditions are fundamental, such as limited physical flexure capacity in response to acceleration that renders the desired output indistinguishable from signal components associated with noise sources. Other operating condition errors can result from changes in physical dimension, modulus of elasticity, index of refraction, etc. occasioned by temperature and pressure changes.
Interferometric strain measurements exhibit superior accuracy and resolution. When carried out by means of an optical fiber, interferometric systems include simple and rugged sensor devices with low power requirements, immunity to electromagnetic interference, and ready adaptability to remote sensing and high data rates. Interferometric measurements of acceleration and pressure employing an optical fiber medium can be accomplished through telemetric signal transmission of a multitude of sensors in a single fiber using time division multiplexing. The fibers are themselves relatively insensitive per unit length and not subject to errors due to ambient pressure, tension from acceleration, etc. Increasing leg length provides greater sensitivity.
A number of a.c. acceleration measurement devices have been developed that utilize disk-mounted spiral coils of optical fiber to produce a desirable push-pull effect. U.S. Pat. No. 4,959,539 discloses a hydrophone in which each surface of an elastic and circumferentially-supported disk is round with a flat spiral of optical fiber fixed thereto. Flexure of the disk shortens the optical path length of the spiral on one surface while lengthening it on the oppositely-facing surface. The disk may be mounted on a body so that an acoustic pressure differential to be measured exists across the disks with the spirals being connected for push-pull operation as two legs of a fiber optic interferometer. In one such hydrophone, a pair of the circumferentially-supported disks and associated optical fiber spirals are mounted on opposite sides of such a body with the outer spirals connected as one interferometer leg and the inner spirals as another leg so that the differences in the lengths of the legs due to acceleration-induced flexure of the disks are cancelled. Such a double disk arrangement offers twice the measurement sensitivity. U.S. Pat. No. 5,317,929 discloses a fiber optic accelerometer based upon the double-disk structure described above that includes a centrally-located mass which clamps the opposed flexible disks together. Again, flat spiral windings of optical fiber are fixed to the surfaces of the flexible disks, providing inputs to the legs of a measuring interferometer. By adding a central mass, the device obtains greater sensitivity to acceleration without any decrease in its ability to cancel or reject d.c. effects.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,369,485 teaches another fiber optic accelerometer that employs a cascaded arrangement of disks engaged at their central portions to a cylindrical post and, at their exterior portions, to a coaxial cylindrical mass. The axial dimension of the hollow cylindrical mass greatly exceeds its wall thickness. Again, optical fibers formed into flat coils are fixed to opposed sides of each of three disks that extend radially from the cylindrical post to the hollow cylindrical mass. The various coils are interconnected to eventually form the arms of an interferometer.
Each of the foregoing accelerometers derives optical signals as inputs to an interferometer from direct measurement of the deflections of flexible disks. As a consequence, the efficiency and strength of the signal derived is highly dependent upon the peculiarities of the reaction of the flexible disk to acceleration. Generally, one may expect the deformation of a flexible disk to assume a two-dimensional shape that includes an intermediate inflection point between its clamped center and circumference. Unfortunately, this does not coincide with the region of the overlying spiral coil that is most capable of changing optical path length in response to stressing. Thus, an inherent mismatch minimizes the amount of signal generated per unit of strain-induced acceleration in such prior art devices. Further, by mounting coils to opposed faces of the relatively-thin flexible disk, the difference in optical path lengths experienced in compression and tension are relatively minimal. Again, this leads to a relatively "weak" output at the interferometer in response to acceleration. Sensitivity at low levels of acceleration may, in fact cut off the useful range of the sensor.


An irrigation system continuously monitors status of lawns or plants under its care and directs water to where it is needed when it is needed to maintain lawn or plant health. The system can significantly reduce water usage, unnecessary seepage, and runoff. A water nozzle with a pan and tilt capability can direct water where it is needed. An image sensor can continually take and analyze images of the lawns or plants to determine watering needs. The image sensor can also monitor where the water is landing while the irrigation system is delivering water to the lawns or plants. This information can be used to adjust the water delivery aim to ensure that the intended spots are accurately irrigated. A laminar flow nozzle with minimal flow dispersion can improve water deliver accuracy and detection of where the water lands.

The majority of lawn and plant irrigation systems are controlled based on timing. Under this method, a controller is programmed so that water is delivered during set times and for set durations. For optimal operation and water savings, the operator has to frequently adjust the frequency and duration of the watering to adjust for varying weather, soil conditions, and plant conditions. Such adjustments by the users are seldom performed and most users end up overwatering their lawns and plants in an attempt to ensure plant health despite varying conditions. This wastes a great deal of water both on the individual level and in the aggregate on a municipal level.
In addition, lawns are generally irrigated using sprinkler heads that tend to send water in a radial or angular distribution making it difficult to uniformly irrigate a given lawn or plant area. Under such non-uniform irrigation, the user ends up over-irrigating some areas to ensure that less irrigated areas get enough water to maintain greenness. Furthermore, sprinklers deliver water in way that is easily misdirected by moderate wind.
Recently drip irrigation has been increasingly utilized for planter areas. While drip irrigation can reduce water consumption compared to sprinklers, the same overwatering still occurs since the need for frequent monitoring and adjusting of watering schedules, which is tedious and seldom performed, remains. In addition, drip irrigation is not used for lawn areas, which frequently consume the most irrigation water.
Furthermore, both sprinkler and drip irrigation systems require installing a grid of irrigation pipes and tubes that are mostly installed underground resulting in high cost.
Thus, currently utilized irrigation systems do not adjust to conditions and hence tend to overwater, they do not accurately deliver water and hence they tent to waste water, and they do not uniformly deliver water and hence tend to overwater. Also, installation of most of these systems is costly because the installation requires underground pipe burials.
Additionally, the current systems do not accurately adjust the duration or timing of the watering based on the condition of the lawns or plants and are unable to water one small spot more or less than the rest of the area based on the plant or lawn needs of that spot since the user rarely, due to the tediousness of the task, readjusts the watering proportion within a sprinkler system once the system is installed.

Remotely sensing and adapting irrigation system


An embracing mechanism for vehicle wheels including: a forward-pushing base disposed in front of a wheel, a backward-pulling base disposed behind the wheel, and a downward-pressing base disposed above the wheel. The forward-pushing base is connected to the backward-pulling base via an upper transmission box and a lower transmission box. The lower transmission box is provided with a front resistant spring and a rear resistant spring. The downward-pressing base is hinged to the forward-pushing base and the backward-pulling base via hinge parts, respectively.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a vehicle part and a vehicle in the field of the vehicle design and manufacture, and more particularly to an embracing mechanism for vehicle wheels and a vehicle comprising the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, the damping and absorption of the impact energy by the compression and deformation of the front section and the rear section of a car body is very limited. With the fast development of the freeways, the travel speed of cars largely increases, and so does the crash force. Thus, it is urgent to develop mechanisms to improve the damping and absorption of the impact energy in order to increase safety.

Embracing mechanism for vehicle wheels and vehicle comprising the same


A measurable means to evaluate a given relevancy verification process to a human decision process is provided. For example, a cognitive concept relationship (CCR) system can be utilized to provide a relevancy verification evaluation that is independent of the relevancy quality of the test data employed to train the relevancy verification algorithm under test. This provides a means to evaluate relevancy verification of, for example, keyword/item pairs for any number of business applications with different relevance standards and/or changes in relevance standards over time, without the need to manually re-label the test data and/or re-measure the algorithmic relevancy.

Advances in networking and computing technologies have enabled the transformation of computers from low performance/high cost devices capable of performing basic word processing and computing low-level mathematical computations to high performance/low cost machines capable of a myriad of disparate functions. For example, a consumer level computing device can be employed to aid a user in paying bills, tracking expenses, communicating nearly instantaneously with friends or family across large distances by way of email, obtaining information from networked data repositories, and numerous other functions/activities. Computers and their associated peripherals have thus become a staple in modern society, utilized for both personal and business activities.
The Internet in particular has provided users with a mechanism for obtaining information regarding any suitable subject matter. For example, various web sites are dedicated to posting text, images, and video relating to world, national, and/or local news. A user with knowledge of a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) associated with one of such web sites can simply enter the URL into a web browser to be provided with the web site and access content. Another conventional manner of locating desired information from the Internet is through utilization of a search engine. For instance, a user can enter a word or series of words into a search field and initiate a search engine (e.g., through depression of a button, one or more keystrokes, voice commands, etc.). The search engine then utilizes search algorithms to locate web sites related to the word or series of words entered by the user into the search field, and the user can then select one of the web sites returned by the search engine to review related content.
As more and more people have begun to utilize the Internet, it has become apparent that revenue opportunities exist for small and large businesses alike. For instance, many retail companies utilize the Internet to sell goods online, thereby reducing costs associated with managing and maintaining a store location, providing an ability to centralize inventory, and various other similar benefits that result in decreased costs that are passed on to customers. Given this increased use of the Internet for generating business and/or revenue, it has also become apparent that the Internet can be utilized as an advertising mechanism. In one example, an individual who enters the term "flower" into a search engine may be interested in purchasing flowers—thus, it is beneficial for a company that sells flowers to advertise to that user at the point in time that the user is searching for a relevant term. Oftentimes users who are searching for information will see related advertisements and click on such advertisements to purchase flowers, thereby creating business for the flower retailer. Furthermore, the search engine is provided with additional revenue by selling advertisement space for a particular period of time to a retailer when a relevant term, such as, for example, the term "flower," is utilized as a search term.
Conventionally, advertising space relating to search terms provided to a search engine is bought or sold in an auction manner. More specifically, a search engine can receive a query (from a user) that includes one or more search terms that are of interest to a plurality of buyers. The buyers can place bids with respect to at least one of the search terms, and a buyer that corresponds to the highest bid will have their advertisement displayed upon a resulting page view. Bidding and selection of a bid can occur within a matter of milliseconds, thereby not adversely affecting usability of the search engine. Thus, two or more competing bidders can bid against one another within a limited time frame until a sale price of advertising space associated with one or more search terms in the received query is determined. This bidding is often accomplished by way of proxies (e.g., computer component) that are programmed with a demand curve for specific search term(s). As alluded to above, auctioning advertising space associated with search terms is a substantial source of revenue for search engines, and can further be a source of revenue for advertisers.
Because of the potential of a significant boost in revenue from advertising with search terms, it is very likely that a business will attempt to associate as many search terms as possible to their advertisements, even words that have no relevancy to the search terms themselves. This is typically attempted for two reasons—first, to increase exposure of the advertisement, and, second, to exclude the competition from being able to advertise. However, by allowing associations with search terms of non-relevant advertisements, users typically become quickly dissatisfied with the search engine and switch to another search engine or become hostile towards a particular advertiser for constantly displaying irrelevant advertisements every time they search. To avoid these issues, oftentimes "relevancy standards" are utilized to determine if a search term is relevant enough to allow it to be associated with a particular advertisement and/or business. Current technology to determine relevancy is very cumbersome and typically requires models that must be trained and retrained as the data changes and can only be implemented for a specific business relevancy standard. Since relevancy can change overtime (e.g., businesses add new lines, consumer trends change, words take on new meanings, etc.), current attempts to evaluate relevancy become very burdensome and time consuming to change.

Data independent relevance evaluation utilizing cognitive concept relationship


Apparatus and methods for extraction of nails, screws and other such fasteners from wood or other host materials are disclosed. One embodiment of the apparatus includes a shank adapted for application at a rotational drive source, a two-part engaging member at one end of the shank having a cavity extending thereinto for receiving therein a fastener to be extracted and openable to release the fastener after extraction. A cutting component is defined at a bottom edge of the engaging member adjacent to an opening to the cavity for cleanly removing host material from around the fastener. A gripping surface formation comprising a spiraling striation is formed at a surface of the cavity for threadably engaging the fastener to be removed.

The demand for wood products is ever increasing. However, both the quantity and quality of new wood resources is decreasing thereby resulting in increased building expenses and decreased building quality. A considerable inventory of otherwise sound lumber, much of it from old growth forests, is disposed of annually because it has been used and thus has fasteners embedded therein. Much, if not most, of this lumber could be profitably reused if only the fasteners embedded in it could be easily and inexpensively removed without undue damage to the lumber product (often occasioned by nail-removing equipment just to get access to the fastener head). Excessive damage to used lumber often makes the product unusable, but at the very least causes the used product to be dropped in grade to a use below its potential had it remained relatively undamaged.
When undertaking nail extraction, it is often the case that its head is broken away (or that it was headless to begin with) and/or is recessed into the wood material. In the case of screws, it is also common for a broken shank to remain embedded in the host material and for grooves in the head for driving the screw to be stripped away. In all such cases, removal of the fastener has been heretofore extremely difficult without excessive damage to the host material (i.e., the wood fiber for example) within a large radius of the fastener's shank.
Many devices have been heretofore suggested and utilized for aiding in the removal of nails and/or screws from wood. Such devices have included simple lever tools such as claws and pries, mechanized pullers having opposed jaws with limited wood cutting capability, as well as impact tools for driving the fastener through the host. Many such tools necessarily result in excessive damage to the host material, and few of the heretofore known devices are effective where the shank of the fastener is headless and/or where the fastener is totally recessed in the host material.
Of the heretofore known devices for removal of fasteners from yieldable materials such as wood, plastic or the like, many are cumbersome and do not lend themselves to rapid and repeated utilization (i.e., are labor intensive). Most are targeted to specific kinds and sizes of fasteners, as well as specific fastener positions and orientations relative to the host material surface. Moreover, many such devices are quite limited in application, often necessitating more than one tool to remove a single fastener.

Methods for extracting fasteners from a host material


A cowl cover is produced with an integrated washer fluid passageway using a gas-assisted injection molding process. The cowl cover has a single unitary layer that is defined between upper and lower surfaces. The washer fluid passageway is formed in the single unitary layer between the upper and lower surfaces including by gas-assisted injection molding such that the cowl cover is a unitary, single-piece homogenous member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a cowl cover with an integrated washer fluid passageway. More specifically, the present invention relates to a cowl top cover that is formed by gas-assisted injection molding so as to include an integrated washer fluid passageway.
2. Background Information
Generally, most vehicles have a cowl box that is disposed in an area between a front windshield and a fire wall of an engine room to divide the engine room and an interior part of the vehicle. The cowl box usually has a cowl cover that overlies an upward opening of the cowl panel. The cowl cover is provided with air inlets so that an outside air is drawn to the cowl box. The air drawn to the cowl box is used for the air conditioning and/or directly sent to the vehicle interior through a duct coupling the cowl box and the vehicle interior. The windshield wipers are also often mounted on the cowl box and extend trough openings in the cowl box cover. One example of such a cowl box is disclosed in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2003/0178873.
In the past, the windshield washer nozzles were typically mounted on the vehicle hood. However, some vehicles have recently installed the windshield washer nozzles on the cowl cover to improve the appearance of the vehicle. However, with this type of arrangement, the washer tubes sometimes interfere with the windshield wipers. Moreover, the washer tubes sometime make a rattling noise when they vibrate on the cowl cover. Due to these concerns, the washer tubes should be mounted with sufficient clearance from the windshield wiper system and the cowl cover itself. These design considerations limit the possible designs of the cowl box and the cowl cover. One example of such a cowl structure that has integrated wipers and washer fluid passages is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,893,865.
In view of the above, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure that there exists a need for an improved cowl cover with an integrated washer fluid passageway. This invention addresses this need in the art as well as other needs, which will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure.

Cowl cover with integrated washer fluid passageway

Nissan Technical Center North America, Inc.


A polymer-insulated crush-resistant high-strength optical waveguide fiber cable buffered by a braided layer of porous polytetrafluoroethylene fibers to provide strength, a low thermal expansion coefficient buffer, and strong environmental protection.

Optical communication glass fibers are made from glass such as quartz glass or doped silica glass and are extremely small in diameter and hence weak in strength. Under normal conditions of use, such fibers may be subjected to considerable bending strain and other tensile forces during the cable manufacturing process and while being pulled through ducts and otherwise bent, twisted, or manipulated during reeling or during installation. In the transmission of light signals through optical fiber cables, the signals are readily attenuated in response to relatively small distortions in the cable, such as those caused by the above stresses, sharp bends or roughness in the surface of the fiber to produce light signal distortions or attenuation at an unacceptable level.
To confine the optical signals inside the signal-transmitting fiber core, a glass or silica fiber core is coated with a glass cladding or an amorphous fluoropolymer coating always of a lower refractive index from that of the optical fiber. The coating on the glass cladding may optionally be a silicone, acrylic, polyimide, or other release agent and a polymer coating, which is usually a hard or soft polymer coating which is coated on the fiber from a melt or a solution of the polymer, or extruded onto the fiber. Many hard and soft plastic coatings have been tried and some of these have been applied in layers for varying purposes as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,113,350, 4,105,284, 4,380,367, 4,072,400, 3,930,103, 4,463,329, 4,099,837, and 4,642,265, of which the background discussion contained therein is hereby incorporated into this application. Another excellent discussion of optical fiber packaging and buffering is provided by a paper in the Bell System Technical Journal, in Volume 54, No. 2, pages 245-262, February 1975, by D. Gloge.
To protect a glass or amorphous fluoropolymer-clad hard polymer-coated glass fiber core, a layer of porous polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) tape may be adhered to the hard polymer coating layers by a heat-resistant adhesive coated on the inside of the porous PTFE tape. The soft porous PTFE buffering layer can be covered by jacketing, such as an inner jacket of high-temperature polymer in the form of wrapped laminated tape, a dipped coating from a solvent, or by an extruded melt. A strength member sheath can then be applied followed by an outer jacket of the same polymer materials as the inner jacket or from other materials for environmental protection. This cable is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,002,359.
It would be desirable, however, to have a cable having greater crush resistance along with higher tensile strength, good flex, and improved thermal isolation of the optical waveguide fiber cable.

Crush-resistant high-strength buffered optical waveguide fiber cable


A cob cutter blade honing device which hones the convex and concave sides of a cob cutter blade in a single process is provided. A cob cutter blade to be sharpened is placed into a mounting bracket found at the top of a vertical spindle. Manipulation of an operator control means causes a vertical shaft to engage the hole of the cob cutter blade, aligning it against a locator surface. A locking mechanism then locks the blade into position. Further manipulation of the operator control means rotates the spindle from the alignment and locking position into the honing position. Once in this position, further manipulation of the operator control means causes a movement of the spindle about its vertical axis. As the spindle rotates, a grinding belt engages the convex surface of the cob cutter blade thereby sharpening it and cutting an appropriate toe-to-heel angle. Further rotation of the spindle moves the blade into position in front of a honing stone. The honing stone engages the concave side of the cob cutter blade's creating a beveled edge along the blade cutting tip.

In processing corn, it is necessary to shuck, or cut, the corn kernels from the cob. Over the years, several machines have been developed to effectuate this process. An example of such machine is seen in U.S. Pat. No. 5,041,057. These machines generally have six cutting surfaces. Each cutting surface, or cob cutter blade, consists of a counter-balanced knife having a U-shaped blade which is curved along its longitudinal axis to approximate the curvature of an average piece of corn. The curvature creates a convex and concave side of the blade. The cutting surface of the blade, found at its tip, has a heel and a toe, with the toe being greater in height than the heel, thereby creating an angled cutting surface. An example of a cob cutter blade is seen in U.S. Pat. No. 5,232,404.
In the processing of sweet corn for human consumption, the kernels are soft and can be easily crushed or partially cut if the blades are dull. During typical use, the blades become dull and must be resharpened every four to six hours. With proper care a blade may last up to three packing seasons. Without proper care, the blades can deteriorate quickly. Therefore, the proper sharpening of the blades is critical.


A can for holding paint and similar products. The can has a rectangular bottom, preferably square, and rectangular sides providing a space savings of about 20 percent as compared to round cans. It has a main opening large enough to permit passage of large paint brushes or sprayer suction lines and filters. This opening is covered with a large cap. A swivel pour valve permits paint to be poured from the can in a controlled manner with no spillage or mess. In a preferred embodiment, the swivel pour valve is an integral part of the large cap covering the large opening. The can is preferably made of plastic which eliminates problems of rust and other corrosion problems.

Paint normally is supplied for the home use retail market in 1/2 pint, pint, quart and 1 gallon cylindrical metal containers formed of metal with removable tops. The removable tops of 1 gallon and smaller cans have a convoluted rim that is press fit into a matching rim, to form a tight seal. Paint poured from these cans into other containers (smaller cans, paint roller pans, etc.) for more efficient use, flows over and into the convoluted edge which inevitably contaminates the sealing area and runs down the side of the can and often on to work area forming a paint ring where the can sits. When a paint brush is dipped into the can and then drug across the curved rim area, paint also gets into the sealing area. Upon resealing the can, this contamination can result in a less than airtight seal and the remaining paint may dry out during storage. Due to the configuration of the top convoluted edge of the can being located radially inward from the periphery, it is difficult to get all of the paint poured out causing waste and disposal concerns.
Paint is also sold in larger containers such as a standard 5 gallon metal or plastic container. The lids of these containers are often provided with a small removable seal cap. Paint can be poured from the 5 gallon can through the seal cap or by removing the complete lid. This contaminates with paint the top area around the seal cap and usually the side of the can. Paint can also be removed from the 5 gallon cans with power suction lines. Insertion of the suction lines and strainers usually requires the complete top of a 5 gallon can to be removed which breaks the seal.
Unused paint is usually stored in its original can. Repeated opening and closing of the top gradually reduces the sealing capability allowing air and moisture to enter or paint to seep out when can is upset. Each repeated opening becomes more difficult to effect a tight seal. The external surfaces of the I gallon and smaller cans easily rusts when exposed to humid conditions. Since the convoluted seal is not very tight due to paint and rust contamination, moisture gets inside the can which causes rusting and contamination of the remaining good paint unless rust prevention interior coatings are used. This rusting in the rim area also makes it difficult to subsequently remove the top, and after only a few openings, pliers are usually required. Liquid paint left in the convoluted seal as a result of pouring inevitably splatters when the top is pressed or hammered into place.
The cylindrical shape of any can of any size does not provide for economical shipping and storage of paint. One gallon cans are usually shipped in cardboard boxes, 4 to a box. Up to about 27% of the available shipping space is not used. One and 5 gallon cans are stored and displayed in stores and warehouses in stacked columns with up to about 27% wasted space.
Many adapters have been devised for attachment to the top of paint cans. These have had only limited success in solving the problems discussed above.
Water coolers with swivel pour valves are commercially available, and many square cans made of both plastic and metal are used commercially for the containment of a great variety of products.
What is needed is an effective clean paint can. Such a can should be capable of providing a means for discharging all of its contents by power spray equipment or in a narrow controllable stream, without concern for drips, runs, spills or contamination of sealing surfaces, loss of sealing capability with each opening and closing, waste of paint left in can, spattering during replacement of the top, corrosion contamination during storage, loss of shipping and storage space, access by power paint spraying suction lines and strainers, and storage of unused paint with minimum concern for messy spills, drips, contamination and subsequent loss of contents. It should be opened and resealed without the need for screwdrivers, pliers or hammers.


A multilayer printed circuit board is obtained by impregnating a base material with a thermosetting resin in to form a prepreg; applying an undercoating agent comprising a terminal-bifunctional linear epoxy resin having an average epoxy equivalent of 450 to 6,000, together with at least one of 2-undecylimidazole, 1-cyanoethy1-2-undecylimidazole or 2,4-diamino-6{2'-undecyl-imidazole(1')}ethyl-s-triazine, or the aforementioned components together with an aromatic polyamine, to at least one circuit side of an interlayer circuit board on at least one side of which a circuit has been formed; and laying the prepreg on at least one side of the undercoating agent-applied interlayer circuit board and subjecting them to laminating.

The multilayer printed circuit boards have generally been manufactured by a process comprising the steps of applying an oxidizing treatment, or so-called black oxide treatment, on both sides of a core substrate board on which circuit has been formed and which is used as an interlayer circuit board (i.e., roughening the circuit surface), laying thereon one or more sheets of prepreg obtained by impregnating a thermosetting resin in a base material, further laying thereon a metal foil, and subjecting the assembly to hot pressing. The purpose of the black oxide treatment is to achieve good adhesion property between the interlayer circuit board and the prepreg. Since the interlayer circuit board without the black oxide treatment almost showed no adhesion property to the prepreg, this black oxide treatment has been an essential technique for the manufacture of multilayer printed circuit boards. This technique makes use of the oxidation phenomenon initiated by a chemical treatment of the surface copper foil of an interlayer circuit board (a copper-clad laminate in which circuit has been formed and which is used as interlayer circuit board), and practically it involves very difficult control of the process and requires a great deal of equipment investment and running cost. The fact has also been pointed out that since copper oxide has a poor acid resistance and also is low in physical strength, troubles tend to occur during the multilayer molding, drilling and through-hole plating operations.
There have also been known the multilayer printed circuit boards producing methods featuring formation of a resin layer on the surface of the interlayer circuit board, as for instance disclosed in JP-A-53-132772, JP-A-60-62194 and JP-A-63-108796. However, in any of these prior art proposals, it has been intended to improve dielectric strength, haloing resistance, or heat dispersibility, by suppressing formation of voids in the molding operation, or to increase insulating layer thickness, and those purposes are different from those of the present invention.
The present invention relates to a multilayer printed circuit board which is excellent in adhesion property of the undercoating agent to copper foil in interlayer circuit board and thereby, in which the black oxide treatment is not required. In order to solve the problems involved in the multilayer printed circuit board such as adhesion property to the copper foil in interlayer circuit board, especially that to which no black oxide treatment has been applied, heat resistance under moisture absorption, plating solution resistance, and delamination, the present inventors have made extensive researches on the composition of undercoating agent and could reach the present invention.

Multilayer printed circuit board and process for producing and using the same


In manufacturing a separator for use in a fuel cell, first, a core (31, 94) is interposed between two preforms (17, 90, 101) and a with-core separator (41, 95, 107) is formed. After this, the core is melted by heating and discharged to form multiple cooling water passages (54). Because consequently there is no need to bring separators together to form the cooling water passages, a seal becomes unnecessary. Also, since there is no need to bring separators together the electrical contact resistance also falls.

A fuel cell utilizes a principle opposite the water electrolysis to generate electricity by causing hydrogen and airborne oxygen to chemically react. Theoretically, the only emission is water. Generally, hydrogen is used as the fuel gas and air or an oxidant gas is used as the oxygen.
As a fuel cell of this kind, for example the "fuel cell" disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2000-123848 is known. This fuel cell has a structure wherein a cell module is constructed by sandwiching an electrolyte film with an anode electrode and a cathode electrode and sandwiching the outer side faces of the anode electrode and the cathode electrode with a first separator and a second separator respectively by way of gaskets.
More specifically, first flow passages to become fuel gas flow passages are formed on the inner side face of the first separator, second flow passages to become oxidant gas flow passages are formed on the inner side face of the second separator, and these flow passages respectively supply fuel gas and oxidant gas to the electrolyte film in the center.
As mentioned above, because the electricity output obtained with one cell module is small, a required electricity output is obtained by making a stack of many such cell modules. The first and second separators are called "separators" because they are separating members for preventing fuel gas or oxidant gas from leaking into adjacent cells.
The first separator has first flow passages for fuel gas on its inner side face, and the second separator has second flow passages for oxidant gas on its inner side face; it is necessary for the gases to be brought into contact with the anode side electrode and the cathode side electrode effectively, and for this it is necessary for many extremely shallow grooves to be provided as the first and second flow passages.
The first and second separators each have in a top part a fuel supply opening and an oxidant gas supply opening for supplying fuel gas and oxidant gas to the first and second flow passages, and each have in a bottom part a fuel gas discharge opening and an oxidant gas discharge opening. Also, the first and second separators each have a cooling water supply opening for passing cooling water in their top part and have a cooling water discharge opening in their bottom part.
The cooling water supply opening and the cooling water discharge opening are each connected to cooling water passages. The cooling water passages are for example formed by cooling water passage grooves being formed in outer side faces of the first separator and the second separator and these cooling water passage grooves being brought together with cooling water passage grooves formed in a separator of an adjacent cell.
When the cooling water passages are formed by bringing separators together like this, a seal member for preventing the leakage of cooling water becomes necessary at the interface of the separators, and the thickness, shape and material and so on of this seal member must be considered.
Also, on one side of the first separator or the second separator gas flow passage grooves must be provided, and on the other side cooling water passage grooves must be provided, and the molding of the grooves becomes difficult.
And also, because separators are brought together, electrical contact resistance between the separators increases, and it may happen that due to this contact resistance a voltage drop arises in each cell and the output of the fuel cell becomes small.
So, when manufacturing a separator for a fuel cell, in forming the cooling water passages in the separator, it is desirable that a seal not be necessitated and that it be possible to form the cooling water passages easily, and furthermore that output decrease of the fuel cell be suppressed.

Method of manufacturing separator for fuel cell


Multi-DVR node communication is described. In an embodiment, television-based client devices are each a node of a multi-DVR system where the nodes are implemented for communication with each other. A node status can be communicated from a node of the multi-DVR system to the television-based client devices at the respective nodes of the multi-DVR system. A node status can include a media content identifier of media content being rendered at the node of the multi-DVR system. Additionally, node status updates can be received from each of the television-based client devices at the respective nodes of the multi-DVR system such that one or more of the television-based client devices can request to playback the media content identified in a node status update.

A typical household may have four, five, or more, television viewing areas and/or rooms with televisions, most of which consumers expect to have television content provided by a television programming content provider. In an IP-based television (IPTV) system, a television-based client device does not include a physical tuner like a conventional television set-top box, for example. Rather the television programming content and other media content is delivered to the household as IP-based data via a communication network.
In a multi-room viewing system, a primary device typically receives the television programming and other media content as the IP-based data, and then allocates the content to the other television-based node devices of the system. The primary device manages viewing and recording conflicts for the viewing system, such as recording times and bandwidth conflicts between the various data streams that are allocated to the node devices and to viewer requested actions, such as a request to view live television, receive video on-demand, listen to an audio channel, and the like via a data stream.
The primary device of a multi-room viewing system also controls or manages the DVR (digital video recorder) functionality and utility in the overall system because the node devices do not have the same DVR functionality and utility as the primary device in the system. If the primary device of a multi-room viewing system is missing or taken out of service, the other television-based node devices of the system may be rendered unusable, or unable to manage bandwidth and media content allocation conflicts.


A storage unit temporarily stores first image data input from an input device and second image data to be output to an output device. An image-data input/output processing unit performs processes of inputting the first image data from the input device and outputting the second image data to the output device. An execution-condition determining unit determines a condition for the processes of inputting and outputting the image data, and switches processing modes between a normal processing mode and a low-speed processing mode based on a determined condition.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technology for controlling an image-data input/output process performed by an image forming apparatus connected to an image-data input unit such as a scanner and an image-data output unit such as a plotter.
2. Description of the Related Art
An image forming apparatus, which is connected to an image-data input unit such as a scanner and an image-data output unit such as a plotter, is configured to receive image data from the scanner and output the image data to the plotter. At this time, the image forming apparatus can perform a process of reading the image data received from the scanner (hereinafter, "a reading process") in parallel with a process of outputting the image data to the plotter for printing out an image (hereinafter, "a printing process"). However, when a data size is large, the image forming apparatus may fail to perform the above processes in parallel. For example, in a case where a capacity of a page memory is insufficient, if most of the page memory is used for the printing process, the image forming apparatus may fail to perform the reading process in parallel with the printing process due to structural limits of a system. Consequently, a job productivity of the image forming apparatus is degraded.
To solve the problem, various image forming apparatuses have been developed. For example, an image forming apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2005-79646 is configured to assign a unique image identifier (ID) to each parameter indicating a request for an execution of an image-data input/output process. Therefore, an image-data input/output process to be executed next can be selected based on an image ID assigned to a parameter indicating a request for an execution of an image-data input/output process that is executed last.
A technology for using a common image format regardless of type of an image-data input/output device such as the scanner and the plotter has recently proposed. The common image format is generally represented by a red-green-blue (RGB) color space. However, RGB data requires a relatively large memory size, so that the RGB data is generally compressed into a joint photographic experts group (JPEG) format. However, as there are plural types of image data, sizes of compressed image data differ from one another depending on the types of the image data.
Furthermore, there has been developed an image forming apparatus to which a plurality of image-data input/output devices is connected, such as a printer, a facsimile, a World Wide Web (Web) application, an image storage medium (a secure digital (SD) card or the like), and a document box stored in a hard disk drive (HDD), in addition to the scanner and the plotter. If various combinations of the above image-data input/output devices are considered, the number of types of the image-data input/output devices becomes enormous. Moreover, there are various types of image forming apparatuses in all price ranges from low-end to high-end. Therefore, performances of the image forming apparatuses including a memory size are variously different from one another.
In this manner, when the image forming apparatus performs an image-data input/output process, wide range of conditions should be met for processing the image-data input/output process, such as a type of image data, a specification of an image-data input/output device where the image data is input/output, a state of the image forming apparatus, and the like. Under such circumstances, the method disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2005-79646 cannot be appropriately applied to a practical use. Therefore, there has been expected to achieve an image forming apparatus capable of optimally-dealing with the wide range of conditions for processing the image-data input/output process.

Apparatus and method for controlling an image-data imput/output process performed by an image forming apparatus connected to an image data input unit and an image data output unit


The present invention relates to methods of identifying agents which modulate the activity of PIPKIγ661. Methods of using such agents to prevent or treat a cell migration-mediated condition or disease in a subject are also provided.

The ability of cells to form cell contacts, adhere to the extracellular matrix, change morphology, and migrate is essential for development, wound healing, metastasis, cell survival and the immune response. These events depend on the binding of integrin to the extracellular matrix, and assembly of focal adhesions, which are complexes of scaffolding and signaling proteins organized by adhesion to the extracellular matrix (Critchley (2000) Curr. Opin. Cell Biol. 12:133–139; Burridge and Chrzanowska-Wodnicka (1996) Annu. Rev. Cell Dev. Biol. 12:463–518; Schwartz and Ginsberg (2002) Nature Cell Biol. 4:E65–E68). Phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate (PtdIns(4,5)P2) regulates interactions between these proteins, including the interaction of vinculin with actin and talin (McNamee, et al. (1993) J. Cell Biol. 121:673–678; Berditchevski, et al. (1997) J. Biol. Chem. 272:2595–2598; Chong, et al. (1994) Cell 79:507–513; Gilmore and Burridge (1996) Nature 381:531–535; Steimle, et al. (1999) J. Biol. Chem. 274:18414–18420; Martel, et al. (2001) J. Biol. Chem. 276:21217–21227). The binding of talin to β-integrin is strengthened by PtdIns(4,5)P2, suggesting that the basis of focal adhesion assembly is regulated by this lipid mediator (Martel, et al. (2001) supra; Janmey (1994) Annu. Rev. Physiol. 56:169–191). Further, it has been suggested that PIPKIγ661/talin association is important for targeting PIPKIγ661 to focal adhesions (Di Paolo, et al. (2002) Nature 420:85–89; Ling, et al. (2002) Nature 420:89–93).

Method for identifying an agent that modulates type 1 phosphatidylinositol phosphate kinase isoform β661 activity


A computer processor complex including a hardware processor coupled to a multimedia coprocessor is provided. This computer processor complex is capable of separately processing a stream of non-multimedia instructions in addition to a stream of multimedia instructions such as are used in MPEG audio and video. The computer processor complex includes a visible register set including registers for a program counter and a data pointer. The program counter is used to hold the address in memory where the multimedia instructions are located and the data pointer indicates where the data, corresponding to these multimedia instructions, is located in memory. A hardware processor is coupled to a first bidirectional port on the visible register set and a multimedia coprocessor is coupled to a second bidirectional port on the visible register set. The bidirectional ports allow the hardware processor and the coprocessor to exchange data and status information typically using an interrupt based communication mechanism. A main memory device is also coupled to the hardware processor over bidirectional port and coupled to the multimedia processor over a second bidirectional port. This arrangement allows the hardware processor and the coprocessor to share main memory and load separate instruction streams from main memory.

An increasing number of devices used in business and home are controlled by small embedded microprocessors. Generally, these embedded processors are low-cost and include a limited amount of memory or storage for executing applications. Consequently, the applications executed on these embedded processors must also be relatively small and compact.
It is also desirable that these small applications be interoperable with a large class of devices, such as cellular phones, manufactured by different companies. This reduces the costs associated with developing software applications and therefore decreases the overall cost of ownership for the device. For example, cellular phone users should be able to transfer applications to each other and download them into their phone for processing. This would greatly enhance the flexibility and feature set on cellular phones even though the phones may be different models designed by different manufacturers.
A general purpose stack based processor fits these requirements well because stack instructions tend to be small and compact. The general purpose stack based processor includes a stack for storing operands and a stack processor which processes instructions by popping one or more operands off the stack, operating on them, and then pushing the results back on the stack for another instruction to process. Essentially, stack based executables are compact because the stack instructions reference operands implicitly using the stack rather than explicitly in the instructions. Storage saved by not referencing operands such as registers, memory addresses, or immediate values explicitly can then be used to store additional stack instructions.
Embedding a general purpose stack based processors in a wide variety of devices is also very cost effective. Compared with RISC (reduced instruction set computer) or CISC (complex instruction set computer) processors, stack processor research and development costs are relatively low. Another part of the cost effectiveness is based on developing software that can be shared and used by a wide variety of different devices. By increasing software interoperability between devices, stack based processors can be produced in high volumes, low profit margins, and yet high overall profits. For example, software applications consisting of architecturally neutral bytecode instructions can be readily shared when designed for execution on a Java Virtual Machine (JVM) stack based processor such as described in the book, "The Java Virtual Machine Specification" by Tim Lindholm and Frank Yellin, published by Addison-Wesley, 1997. These bytecode instruction based software applications are compact and substantially interoperable with almost any device utilizing, or simulating, a JVM stack based processor.
In most cases, these embedded processors are also required to perform many high performance multimedia operations involving digital video and audio. Typically, the embedded processor must decode images and audio stored in a compressed data format called MPEG.sup.1. MPEG employs two basic techniques for video compression: block-based motion compensation for the reduction of the temporal redundancy (i.e. several frames in a video sequence remain substantially the same over time) and discrete cosine transform (DCT) coding for the reduction of spatial redundancy (i.e. images within a frame are the same color or have the same intensity levels). To exploit temporal redundancy, MPEG uses intra-frames (I frames), predicted frames (P frames), and bidirectionally interpolated frames (B frames) to record the differences between each video image rather than the complete image. To exploit spatial redundancy, discrete cosine transforms (DCT) are used to convert pel (picture element) values from the spatial domain (i.e. intensity variations based on distance in an image) into the frequency domain (i.e. intensity variations based in terms of frequency in an image). In the frequency domain, the pixels in an image are represented as a combination of frequencies using a series of DCT coefficients. If images are moving within a frame, motion-compensated prediction uses motion vectors to represent a current frame as a translation of pixel values from a reference frame. Finally, the remaining pixel values and DCT coefficients are further compressed using run-length coding techniques well known in the art. FNT 1. MPEG (Moving Pictures Expert Group) is a group of people that meet under ISO (International Standards Organization) to generate standards for digital video (temporal sequencing of images) and audio compression. MPEG is a nickname for the video/audio standards and the official name is ISO/IEC JTC 1 SC29 WG11 where IEC is International Electro-technical commission; JTC1 is Joint Technical Committee 1; SC29 is Subcommittee 29; and WG11 is Work Group 11.
Unfortunately, general purpose stack based processors are generally not well suited for performing high-performance multimedia or other real time processing. In part, performance is often impacted on a stack based processor manipulating the stack to gain access to the operands. Generally, numerous machine cycles are spent pushing and popping operands on the stack. For example, graphic processing on a stack based processor is difficult because the instruction can not manipulate groups of pixels or data points as needed when performing various digital signal processing based compression/ decompression techniques such as MPEG video or digital Dolby/AC-3 based audio. Processing groups of pixels on a stack based processor would require numerous stack operations and would be inefficient. Potentially, each pixel value would have to be pushed on the stack and operated on. Each calculation would be a separate operation and it would be difficult to take advantage of redundant calculations that generally occur in image processing and audio processing. Clearly, additional processing required on a stack based processor would make it difficult to perform these calculations in a time frame acceptable for users expecting real-time multimedia effects.
General purpose hardware processors are also not well suited for multimedia applications due to inherent architectural limitations. For example, many general purpose processors employ a cache memory and cache controller to manage the use of high speed cache among many applications. Typically, the cache controller swaps data in and out of cache to minimize the number of cache misses. Unfortunately, MPEG video streams decoding and other multimedia operations need cache and other high speed memory for extended periods of time. Further, many multimedia applications often need more space than these cache can provide. Thus, the unavailability of memory and frequent cache misses can make multimedia operations, such as MPEG video, appear choppy, slow, and generally low quality.
Several manufacturers have integrated graphics functions into the general purpose processor to increase multimedia performance executing applications. The UltraSparc processors designed and marketed by Sun Microsystems, Inc. employ VIS (visual instruction set) integrated graphic functions. Designing a central processor with integrated graphics functions is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/638,390, filed Apr. 26, 1996, entitled "A CENTRAL PROCESSING UNIT WITH INTEGRATED GRAPHICS FUNCTIONS", authored by Robert Yung, and assigned to the assignee of the present invention. Intel Corporation has also designed several processors with integrated graphic functions based upon the MMX instruction set. Many of these solutions attempt to operate the multiple integrated graphics functions in parallel using sophisticated compilers and hardware mechanisms to schedule instructions. However, the complexity of these integrated graphic functions often leads to structural hazards (i.e. contention for the same hardware resources) and data hazards (i.e. data dependencies) which leave portions of the processor idle waiting for results or resources.
What is needed is a processor complex capable of executing multimedia applications and scalable to a wide range of processing environments.

Processor complex for executing multimedia functions


An adhesive film and arrangement and method for verifying an adhesive attachment. A mechanical strength of adhesive film structure is matched to a target binding force of a bond produced using the film where when the film is pulled from the substrate or a material layer with peeling stress on the bond for verification of adhesive attachment, the film fails with exceedance of the mechanical strength of the structure when the strength of the bond attains or exceeds the target binding force, and the adhesive film when pulled apart does not fail when bond strength does not attain target binding force. An arrangement is disclosed for verification of adhesive attachment, having a substrate, a component bonded to the substrate by an adhesive film, and at least one test section. The test section is formed by projection of the film across an edge of the component bonded to the substrate, the projection being bonded to regions of the substrate.

Although they are applicable to any adhesive bonds, the disclosure herein and the problem underlying it are elucidated hereinafter in relation to a planned bonded assembly and to a repair or refinish by adhesive bonding.
In the production of adhesive bonds, it is frequently desirable to check whether the finished adhesive bond is of sufficient quality, or in other words to check how well one bonding partner holds to the other.
For verification of assembly groups that are produced according to a construction document and hence include a planned adhesive bond, the applicant is aware of a method of testing the quality of the finished adhesive bond in which what is called a peel test is conducted on a separately manufactured sample. The conventional method entails the production of separate specimens that are then tested in a test laboratory by mechanical testing machines and with utilization, for example, of load cells. This course of action is associated with considerable expenditure of time and costs. The test result may often additionally only be available with a time delay. It would be desirable to improve this state of affairs.
Moreover, it would be desirable, for the testing of adhesive bonds in the course of repair work in which, for example, a new piece of material is bonded to a component which is already in use and is in need of repair owing to damage for instance, to have a way of testing that reliably and rapidly gives information as to whether the adhesive bond is of the required quality. For cases of refinishing executed with the aid of adhesive bonds too, a reliable and time-saving way of verification would be desirable.

Adhesive film and arrangement and method for verifying an adhesive attachment


A coin separator/rejector system includes a plurality of coin races which are disposed in a coin separator and rejector body. The races have at least one protrusion along their length so as to deflect downwardly traveling coins and force these coins to alter both their attitude and direction of travel to encounter apertures formed between successive coin races. Coins of a selected diameter travel downwardly along any given coin race for ultimate deposit or credit. Coins of other than the selected diameter are directed into alternative races for rejection or return to the user.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to coin separators and rejectors for use in vending machines, coin operated telephones, video game machines or other applications where mechanical sorting, selection and rejection of coins is required. More particularly, this invention relates to a coin separator and rejector system which utilizes principles of inertia and controlled deflection to selectively discriminate and collect coins deposited in a coin operated machine or appliance. The present invention also relates to a method of separating and rejecting coins employing the described principles.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The simplest type of coin operated machine is one which requires a single coin of a single denomination for operation. In this instance, the basic consideration or problem involving a separator/rejector is to accept the single, desired coin and to reject all others. The problem is solved in one aspect by designing the coin inlet to accept coins no larger in diameter than the desired coin. In a second aspect, the coins which pass through the inlet enter a separator/rejector which accepts the desired coins--i.e., the largest coins--and rejects all smaller coins.
More complex coin operated machines are designed to perform a variety of functions such as accepting more than one coin denomination, accepting combinations of coin denominations, returning change, and returning undesirable coins, tokens, slugs and counterfeit coins. The more complex machines therefore require more sophisticated means for separating coins. Some of these coin separators, for example, sort the coins and direct coins of different desired denominations into separate chutes or cash boxes, or into escrow devices in advance of the cash boxes.
In general, coin operated machines must be rugged as well as reliable. Numerous attempts have been made toward the design of an effective, yet trouble-free, coin separator/rejector to be used in coin operated machines and the like, so that coins which are inserted in the machines may be readily organized and separated. The desired coins are deposited for credit, and undesired coins are rejected and/or ultimately returned to the user.
Many times, the principal design feature of a rejector is to limit the operation of a machine to a particular denomination of coin, as dictated by the price of the merchandise, service, or entertainment available through the machine. Other times, a principal desire is to limit the size of the machine as dictated by space concerns. There is generally very limited space in most machines for a coin rejector. This is a special concern when the rejector must be capable of accepting a variety of coin denominations. In almost all instances, it is desirable to reject pennies and foreign coins.
A variety of rejectors have evolved to address the need to discriminate among various coin denominations. Early coin rejectors used a combination of coin diameter and gravity to reject all coins but those of a preselected denomination. One example of such a rejector is seen in U.S. Pat. No. 917,629. This patent describes a coin rejector with a spiral coin race containing an aperture through a portion of its length. As a coin descends in this device, it is pulled toward the outer diametrical extent of the coin race. If the coin is too small (and thus not of a desired denomination) to be supported at its top and bottom as its passes over the aperture, it is simply hurled out of the coin race. Disadvantages of the device described in U.S. Pat. No. 917,629 include its cumbersome configuration. In addition, the spiral shape of the device requires that it be at least as wide as the diameter of the desired coin. Additionally, the use of a spiral configuration involves an overall vertical length which would be prohibitive in many contemporary applications. Further, it is generally undesirable for the coin to "tumble" from the coin separating mechanism, since the ability of a coin to tumble requires that the rejector employ a width which is oftentimes impractical or even inoperable in conventional vending machines.
Another design using gravity as a means for rejecting undesired coins is seen in U.S. Pat. No. 2,014,506. This device employs an inclined coin race which is fitted with an aperture along a portion of its length. The coin race itself is fitted with an inclined bottom track and a low tolerance upper guide. In this device, coins of less than a minimum diameter travel along the coin race and "tumble" out of the device upon encountering the aperture, since they are no longer supported at both their top and bottom edges. Although this type of device appears sound in principle, it is cumbersome in size, and it has a propensity to fail or "jam", especially when bent or oversized coins are introduced into the coin chute. This device also fails to maintain coins in a preferred on-edge orientation at all times.
To address the need to process coins of different denominations, a number of coin rejectors have been suggested which use a plurality of coin inlet slots disposed along the face of the machine, each slot being connected to a different coin race. Such a device is seen in U.S. Pat. No. 3,768,618. In this device, a number of coin chutes are connected to a corresponding number of coin inlet portals disposed along the machine body. Each coin chute is formed at an angled, downwardly inclined fashion with an aperture or "window" formed along part of its length. When coins of less than a minimum diameter move down these coin chutes, they "topple" through the windows, thereby resulting in rejection. A multiple race setup such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,768,618 also has many of same drawbacks described above. It is inherently bulky because of the number of coin chutes it needs to process multiple coin denominations. Thus, the proper sorting and collection of three different denominations of coins would require at least three separate coin slots, each with its own coin rejector.
Due to a general trend toward miniaturization, as well as the need in the industry to separate multiple denomination coins, more compact coin devices have been designed that employ a plurality of moving parts in order to establish a correct coin credit system with coins introducible from a solitary coin inlet. Such a coin rejector is seen in U.S. Pat. No. 2,292,628. In this and similar designs, a coin inserted in a solitary coin slot on the face of the machine travels downward until it engages a series of coin cradles or "flippers" disposed within the apparatus itself. Depending on the width and diameter of the coin, the coin moves downward and across the face of the rejector via a plurality of coin handling cradles until it reaches a particular coin outlet slot. In this fashion, multiple coin denominations may be used in the machine, with undersized domestic coins (usually pennies) or foreign coins being rejected and returned to the user. Many of the drawbacks associated with this design revolve around the overall complexity of the device itself. In this and similar coin separating devices, up to 80 separate or moving parts may be used, each part subject to varying degrees of wear and contamination from dirt and other corrosives, soon reducing the overall reliability and efficiency of the device and resulting in undesirable incidences of "jamming." Such a multi-component device is also highly sensitive to moisture, and often requires periodic balancing. High incidences of "jamming" resulting from inoperability of the device significantly decreases the profitability of any given vending operation. Servicing "jams" is expensive and often results in user frustration and ultimately nonuse of the machine or appliance itself.

Apparatus and method for separating and rejecting coins


A capillary holder for mounting a capillary onto a horn is provided that comprises a mounting hole formed in the horn that has a first width along a first axis that is smaller than a width of the capillary and a second width along a second axis perpendicular to the first axis that is larger than the width of the capillary. In particular, the mounting hole is configured such that application of a flexion force to reduce the second width simultaneously expands the first width so as to fit the capillary when the first width is larger than the width of the capillary, and removal of said flexion force contracts the first width whereby to grip the capillary using an elastic force of the horn.

Wire bonding is a common procedure used in semiconductor packaging whereby electrical wire connections are made between electrical contact pads of different electronic components, or of different contacts pads on an electronic component. For example, wire connections are commonly made between contact pads of an integrated circuit ("IC") chip and a lead frame carrier on which the IC chip is attached before the IC chip is molded during assembly.
A capillary is often used to apply bonding energy to weld bonding wire, typically made from gold, aluminum or copper, to the contact pads. The capillary is also used to feed wire to the contact pad and break the wire from the bond on the contact pad once a wire connection is made. Bonding energy, such as ultrasonic force, power and/or thermal energy is applied at a tip of the capillary. Therefore, it is very important for the capillary to be fastened securely so as to ensure that the wire bonds are formed properly and consistently according to set parameters.
Conventionally, a horn of an ultrasonic transducer is formed with a slit at its tip. The capillary is mounted in a recess in the slit. Threaded screw holes are made in the slit to receive a screw, which is screwed into the holes and tightened in order to close the slit and provided a clamping force to grip the capillary securely. However, it has been found that there are many disadvantages associated with the use of a screw to secure the capillary. One disadvantage is that since wire bonding is performed repeatedly at high frequency under stressful conditions, over time, the screw threads on the screw and screw holes become worn and loosen the screw. The problem is that wire bonding requirements are so precise that any loosening of the capillary mount may adversely affect the performance of the wire bonding tool. Another undesirable effect is the possible bending vibration caused by the screw.
One method of avoiding the aforesaid disadvantage is to utilize the body of the horn itself to grip the capillary without reliance on a foreign object to secure the capillary. This approach is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,422,448 entitled "Ultrasonic Horn for a Bonding Apparatus". An ultrasonic horn is provided with a capillary attachment hole formed so as to be smaller than the capillary and a jig insertion hole that communicates with the capillary attachment hole. A jig is insertable into the jig insertion hole to widen the capillary attachment hole. Therefore, a cross-sectional area of the capillary attachment hole is increase, so that the capillary can be received in the capillary attachment hole. The capillary is fastened in place by the elastic force that is generated by the horn material when the jig is removed from the jig insertion hole and the cross-sectional area of the capillary attachment hole is thereby reduced.
In typical ultrasonic transducers, the ultrasonic drivers are arranged such that ultrasonic oscillation is generated down the horn in a longitudinal direction along the length of the horn. A disadvantage of the gripping force introduced by the aforesaid prior art is that the elastic force is exerted on sides of the capillary that are transverse to the longitudinal oscillation axis of the horn. By gripping the capillary transversely to this longitudinal direction, the gripping force is less effective, and there is a greater risk of movement of the capillary in the longitudinal direction relative to the horn if the elastic fastening force is not sufficiently large to prevent this.


A method for a distributed processing system which includes the steps of developing a control program for controlling outputs at a plurality of I/O nodes, distributing executable portions of the program to the I/O nodes through a network, broadcasting input status data from the I/O nodes on the network and controlling the outputs at the I/O nodes in response to the input status data broadcast on the network and the executable portions of the program residing at the I/O nodes.

1. Field of the Invention
The field of the invention is digital controllers for controlling a machine, an assembly line or a commercial process. More particularly, the invention relates to programming terminals, distributed processing systems and communication networks.
2. Description of the Background Art
Programmable controllers are used in many industrial and commercial settings to control the operation of various machines and processes. They fall into the broad category of real-time sampled data systems. In a certain maximum time, inputs are read, controlling equations are applied, and actuator outputs are provided.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,477,882, a group of small programmable controllers are connected in a ring network. A control program is set up and loaded into each respective controller.
While the programs are executing, the controllers communicate I/O image data, corresponding to the state of their inputs and outputs, in round-robin fashion. If eight controllers are in the ring, each controller puts its I/O image data on the network in one of the eight time slots. During the other seven time slots, each controller relays a set of image data from a neighboring controller on one side to a neighboring controller on the other side. The controllers each maintain an image of its own I/O image data as well as I/O image data for the other seven controllers in the ring. The update rate for each controller is limited to eight intervals which are required for all of the I/O image data to be communicated around the ring.
Another approach to communication of I/O data is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,897,834. There each network node broadcasts its input data on a repetitive basis. The other nodes are programmed to recognize the source address of the sending node and a bit of input data in the broadcast, and to control an output in response to this input data. However, the only type of control that can be exercised is a 1-to-1 mapping. If an input bit is true, then the output can be set true, or the NOT function can be performed: if an input bit is false, the output can be set true. There are no combinational logic functions performed at the I/O nodes. An output cannot be controlled in response to the AND function for two bits of input data.
Also, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,897,834, the mapping of the I/O nodes is accomplished by a direct connection of a programming device to each node. There is no downloading of mapping information through the broadcast network.
Flood et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,937,777, discloses distribution of ladder control programs to separate processors connected through a rack backplane. Execution of these programs is linked through description files generated by a high-level sequential function chart program. I/O status data is collected by I/O scanners and is accessed in an image table, as needed, by the ladder control programs. The distribution of the ladder logic is essentially manual, the ladder program is set up first and then assigned to a controller by entering a controller ID number in a step of the sequential function chart.
All of these prior systems lacked the ability to distribute subdivisions of a ladder diagram program for execution at different nodes on a serial data network.

Distributing a real-time control program to a plurality of input/output nodes


An automatic call synchronization system and method, in which a mobile terminal (101) transmits, when receiving an incoming calling signal and determining that an automatic call synchronization function is turn on, to a wireless signal transponder (104) a call synchronization request carrying the identification information of the mobile terminal (101) and the call information; the pattern recognizer (103), which is connected with the wireless signal transponder (104), authenticates the mobile terminal (101) according to the identification information of the mobile terminal (101), and transmits to a fixed terminal (102) a call access request carrying the identification information of the mobile terminal (101) and the call information through the wireless signal transponder (104) after the authentication is successful; the fixed terminal (102) calls the user of the mobile terminal (101) according to the identification information and the call information, and transmits, when the call is answered by the user using the fixed terminal (102), to the wireless signal transponder (104) a call access response and implements the conversation through a fixed phone operation network matched with the fixed terminal (102). In this way, the call charge may be saved, and automatically performing the call synchronization has flexibility and convenience, thus bringing convenience to the user.

With the development of the communication technology, a variety of communication means such as a fixed terminal, a mobile terminal and the like have been popularized in people's live and work. However, the radiation of electromagnetic wave exists during conversation by the mobile terminal, and thus using the mobile terminal for a long time will cause health problems. The places where the mobile terminal is used for the conversation are typically some fixed places such as home, office or the like, and fixed terminals are generally configured in such fixed places. Presently, the call transfer between a mobile terminal and a fixed terminal can be implemented by user's initiative setting. For example, for the user who enables the call transfer function of the mobile terminal, he/she can, when being at home or office, set the call transfer number as his/her fixed terminal number. When the mobile terminal of the user is called by others, he/she may answer the call by a fixed terminal. However, the degree of automation for the present call transfer function is low, and both the enabling and disabling of the call transfer function require the user's setting and related operations to achieve corresponding functions. When the position and environment where the user is located are changed, the call transfer number should also be changed initiatively, which increases the load of the user and largely limits convenience and initiative for the usage by the user.
Thus, it is a problem urgently required to be solved by those skilled in the art how to improve the degree of automation of the call transfer function and to bring convenience to the usage by the user.

Automatic call synchronization system and method

Beijing BOE Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd.


A structure of protection of a first area of a semiconductor wafer including a substrate of a first conductivity type against high-frequency noise likely to be injected from components formed in the upper portion of a second area of the wafer, includes a very heavily-doped wall of the first conductivity type having substantially the depth of the upper portion. The wall is divided into three heavily-doped strips of the first conductivity type separated and surrounded by medium-doped intermediary strips of the first conductivity type. The distance between the heavily-doped strips being of the order of magnitude of the substrate thickness.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to integrated circuits intended for operating at very high frequency and more specifically to such circuits, some portions of which are sensitive to noise signals.
2. Description of the Related Art
For example, in the field of telecommunications and of portable phones, it is desired to integrate on a same chip logic signal processing circuits and analog amplifying circuits, intended for operating at very high frequencies, greater than 1 GHz, ranging for example from 2 to 10 GHz. In particular, a low-noise analog amplifier directly connected to the antenna output is generally provided. It is important to avoid that the noise resulting from the switchings of the digital signals affects the amplifier inputs since this noise would then be injected back into the circuit with a very high gain.
To test the sensitivity to noise of an integrated circuit and of various protection circuits, a test structure such as that shown in FIG. 1 may be used. In this test structure, the chip is divided into squares. For example, a chip portion having a 5-millimeter side is divided into 15×15 squares. A circuit likely to transmit square signals is formed in the first square (square C1-1 of the first column and of the first row) and the high-frequency signal collected in the other squares is studied. A portion of the component including the squares most diagonally distant from square C1-1 is surrounded with a protection structure 10. The quality of this protective structure is tested by comparing the noise collected in square C14-14 (fourteenth column, fourteenth row) arranged inside of the protective structure and the noise collected for example in square C1-15 (first column, fifteenth row) located substantially at the same distance from square C1-1 as the squares located inside of protective structure 10.
As illustrated by the partial cross-section view of FIG. 2, the case where the structure is formed on a lightly-doped P-type solid single-crystal silicon substrate 11 (P−) will more specifically be considered. The various components of the integrated circuit are assumed to be formed in an upper portion of this substrate, for example, in a lightly-doped N-type epitaxial layer, a portion 12 of which is shown at the limit of protective structure 10. The various components are for example directly formed in this epitaxial layer (case of the some bipolar transistors) or in more heavily-doped P-type wells (13) or N-type wells (14) in which N-channel and P-channel MOS transistors will in particular be found. The protective structure is formed of a heavily-doped P-type wall 15 connected to ground.
Such a protective structure is efficient at frequencies smaller than 1 GHz. However, as illustrated in FIG. 3, the protection is no longer efficient when the frequencies increase. This is in particular due to the fact that the connection between heavily-doped wall 15 and the ground inevitably includes an inductance 1 having an impedance which increases along with frequency.
FIG. 3 shows the attenuation in dB at the level of square C1-15 and at the level of square C14-14 of a signal transmitted by square C1-1, according to frequency (in logarithmic scale), between 100 MHz and 10 GHz. In square C1-15, it can be seen that this attenuation decreases as the frequency increases. In square C14-14 (or in any other square located inside of protective structure 10), it can be seen that, until a frequency on the order of one gigahertz is reached, the attenuation is much greater than for square C1-15. However, for frequencies on the order of from 1 to 2 GHz, the slope of curve C14-14 changes and the attenuation caused by isolating wall 15 becomes negligible. It can even be acknowledged that, for frequencies greater than 2 GHz, the isolating wall has a negative effect, that is, the attenuation of the signal from square C1-1 is smaller in square C14-14, which is "protected" by isolating structure 10 than in square C1-15, which is not protected.
Various theoretical explanations could be found for this phenomenon, which in any case is certainly due to the fact that the impedance of the connection of isolating wall 15 to ground becomes high. Thus, in prior art, various means for reducing the value of this impedance have been tried. One of these means is to use a so-called "flip-chip" semiconductor chip assembly mode in which the connection points on the chip are metallized and coated with conductive balls. Each conductive ball is then directly put in contact with a metallized region of a printed circuit board to which this chip is to be connected. Connections with a much smaller impedance than in the case where the chips are assembled in a package and connected to the package tabs by wires are thus obtained. However, this has not enabled completely solving the problem posed and has only partially improved the features of known protection structures.

Structure for protection against radio disturbances


A method for forming a metal line of a semiconductor device uses a low dielectric constant material as an interlayer dielectric layer and treats a surface of the interlayer dielectric layer with plasma to prevent moisture and ammonia from being adsorbed in the low dielectric constant material. The method for forming a metal line of a semiconductor device includes forming a lower metal line layer on a semiconductor substrate, sequentially forming an etch stop layer and an interlayer dielectric layer on an entire surface including the lower metal line layer, forming a plasma layer by treating a surface of the interlayer dielectric layer with plasma, forming a photoresist pattern on the plasma layer, forming a via hole using the photoresist pattern as a mask to open the lower metal line layer, and forming a via contact by burying a metal material in the via hole.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a method for forming a semiconductor device, and more particularly, to a method for forming a metal line of a semiconductor device in which a low dielectric constant material is used as an interlayer dielectric layer and a surface of the interlayer dielectric layer is treated with plasma to prevent moisture and ammonia from being adsorbed in the low dielectric constant material.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Recently, the number of devices integrated into one fingernail-sized semiconductor chip has approached, and in some cases exceeded, 1×109. This number of devices integrated into one semiconductor chip increases by geometrical progression. To obtain both high-integration and a high-speed in such a device, it is necessary to improve the development the semiconductor chip in both structural and material aspects. The improvement in the structure of the semiconductor chip involves an increase in the number of metal layers. Also, a shallow trench isolation (STI) method is used for isolation between the devices. In such devices, the semiconductor chip is formed of materials including copper (Cu) and low-dielectric materials (Low-k).
Particularly, with the increase of high integration of a semiconductor device, the distance between metal lines has become gradually narrowed and metal lines having a multilevel structure have been required. Parasitic capacitance and parasitic resistance components existing either between adjacent metal line layers on one layer or between adjacent lower or upper metal line layers have arisen as important problems. The need for a multilevel metal line having minimal parasitic capacitance and parasitic resistance components has been required in the manufacture of a high integrated semiconductor device having improved operational speed.
To form metal lines having reduced parasitic capacitance and parasitic resistance components, either metal having a low specific resistance such as Cu or a material having a low dielectric ratio such as low-k dielectric material is required as a metal line material.
Particularly, Cu has advantages in view of low specific resistance, low cost and simplified process. Also, Cu has demonstrated electro-migration effects better than that of aluminum by at least ten times.
Instead of existing SiO2, a low dielectric constant material may be used to reduce power consumption and improve the speed of a semiconductor device. A material having a dielectric constant value 'k' less than 3 is used in a semiconductor device having a line width of 90 nm or below.
Hereinafter, a related art method for forming a metal line of a semiconductor device will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1A to FIG. 1E are sectional views illustrating related art process steps of forming a metal line of a semiconductor device.
First, as shown in FIG. 1A, an etch stop layer 12 is deposited on a semiconductor substrate in which a lower metal line layer 11 is formed. An interlayer dielectric layer 13 is thickly formed on the etch stop layer 12.
The etch stop layer 12 is formed of SiN, SiC, SiCN, or SiCO, and the interlayer dielectric layer 13 is formed of phosphorous silicate glass (PSG), boron phosphorous silicate glass (BPSG), undoped silicate glass (USG), fluorine doped silicate glass (FSG), SiOC, high density plasma (HDP), plasma enhanced-tetra ethyl ortho silicate (PE-TEOS), or spin on glass (SOG).
However, in a semiconductor device of 0.13 μm or less, Cu is used as a metal line layer and a low dielectric constant material such as low-k dielectric material is typically used as the interlayer dielectric layer 13 to minimize parasitic capacitance and parasitic resistance components.
At this time, if the low dielectric constant material is used as the interlayer dielectric layer, SiO2 is deposited on the interlayer dielectric layer 13 to additionally form a capping layer 15. that the capping layer becomes necessary because the low dielectric constant material has a low density and thus will adsorb a gas including moisture and ammonia in the air. The capping layer 15 serves to prevent the low dielectric constant material from adsorbing the gas.
Next, as shown in FIG. 1B, a photoresist is deposited on the interlayer dielectric layer 13 and then patterned by exposing and developing processes to form a photoresist pattern 14 so that a region for a via hole is opened.
Afterwards, as shown in FIG. 1C, the capping layer 15 and the interlayer dielectric layer 13 are sequentially dry etched using the photoresist pattern 14 as an etching mask to form the via hole 16. As a result, the etch stop layer 12 is exposed through the via hole 16.
Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 1D, the photoresist pattern 14 is removed by an ashing process and the etch stop layer 12 exposed through the via hole 15 is etched to open the lower metal line layer 11.
Then, the opened via hole 16 is filled with a metal material 17 such as Cu so that the metal material 17 contacts the lower metal line layer 11 through the via hole 16.
Finally, as shown in FIG. 1E, the overfilled metal material 17 is planarized by a chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process. In this case, the metal material 17 is removed by the CMP process until the capping layer 15 is exposed. Thus, a via contact 20 that contacts the lower metal line layer 11 is formed. The lower metal line layer 11 will be electrically connected to an upper metal line layer to be formed later, through the via contact 20.
However, the related art method for forming a metal line of a semiconductor device has several problems.
Since the low dielectric constant material used as the interlayer dielectric layer can adsorb a gas including moisture and ammonia in the air, any ammonia adsorbed in the low dielectric constant material during the process is externally emitted which will disturb the patterning process for forming the metal line. This will prevent the proper formation of a metal line, which can adversely affect the yield. Also, if the low dielectric constant material adsorbs any moisture, a dielectric constant value of the low dielectric constant material will increase, further deteriorating characteristics of the device.
The capping layer is additionally deposited on the interlayer dielectric layer of the low dielectric constant value to prevent moisture and ammonia from being adsorbed in the interlayer dielectric constant material. However, since the capping layer is formed of SiO2 having a high dielectric constant value, parasitic capacitance is increased between a lower metal and an upper metal, thereby also deteriorating the performance of the device.
A photoresist less responsive to ammonia may be used as the interlayer dielectric layer. However, such a photoresist is expensive and thus increases the process cost.

Method for forming metal line of semiconductor device


A method and system for restoring a subscriber context in a network element of a mobile communication network is described, wherein a new subscriber context which has been updated after the latest restart is indicated by transmitting a corresponding restart information to the network element. Based on the restart information the network element continues the use of new subscriber contexts updated after the latest restart and inactivates old subscriber contexts updated before the latest restart. Thereby, the amount of unnecessary subscriber context re-activations and the corresponding downtime of the service is reduced. Moreover, the amount of signaling required after the restart is reduced, since a smaller number of subscriber contexts have to be re-established.

Network elements such as a Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN) and a Gateway GPRS Support Node (GGSN) of the GPRS usually send to each other echo request messages so as to poll that the other GSN, i.e. SGSN or GGSN, is alive.
A GSN receiving an echo request message responds with an echo response message which contains a restart counter value as a parameter. The GSN which receives the echo response message compares the received restart counter value with a previous restart counter value stored for that particular peer GSN.
If the previously stored restart counter value differs from the restart counter value received in the echo response message, the GSN that sent the echo response message is considered by the GSN that received the echo response message as being restarted. The received new restart counter value is stored by the receiving GSN, replacing the value previously stored for the sending GSN. Subsequently, the GSN that received the echo response message with the new (unexpected) restart counter value considers all subscriber contexts, i.e. Packet Data Protocol contexts (PDP contexts), relating to the sending GSN as inactive.
A VLR (Visitor Location Register) restart procedure is a similar procedure, wherein the VLR informs a HLR (Home Location Register) of the restart. When the VLR has been restarted, the complete set of subscriber information relevant to the VLR is transmitted to the VLR.
FIG. 1 shows a principle diagram indicating information transfers and processings of such an echoing procedure performed between two network elements NE1 and NE2. In FIG. 1, the processing starts at the top and moves to the bottom.
Initially, the network element NE2 transmits an echo request message to the network element NE1 which responses with an echo request response message including its restart counter value (N=n). If the restart counter values of both network elements are equal, the NE2 assumes that no restart has been performed since the last echo request.
Thereafter, mobile stations (MS) of the mobile communication network activate new subscriber contexts to the network elements, such that new contexts are created in the NE1 and NE2. The NE1 is then restarted due to a failure or the like, and its restart counter is incremented. Subsequently, MSs activate further subscriber contexts which are created in the NE1 and NE2.
If the NE2 now transmits an echo request message to the NE1, the restart counter value received in the echo response message differs from the value previously stored for the NE1. Accordingly, the NE2 assumes a restart of the NE1 and inactivates all subscriber contexts of the NE1, although some subscriber contexts were created after the restart of the NE1 and are thus still valid.
Thus, unnecessary subscriber context re-activations have to be performed and the downtime of the service is high.

Method and system for restoring a subscriber context