A shaft portion is processed to have a desired diametrical thickness by rolling in place of cutting so that a cutting operation requiring much time may be eliminated from a manufacturing process of the adjustable blade. A shaft elongation and a sharp edge caused by the rolling can be inhibited to thereby eliminate an additional cutting operation conventionally performed for correcting the shaft elongation and the sharp edge. In particular, a metal shaped material for an adjustable blade integrally provided with a blade portion and a shaft portion is formed to have a shape and a size close to those of the desired adjustable blade. In forming the shaft portion, a shaft portion forming section of the shaped material is rolled to have a desired diametrical thickness.

A turbocharger is known as a supercharger used for improving the power output and the performance of an automobile engine. The turbocharger is an apparatus in which a turbine is driven by the exhaust energy of the engine to rotate a compressor with the power of the turbine, whereby the engine is supercharged to have more air fed into it than fed into it by natural suction. In the case of an engine capable of running at up to a high rotational speed region, when the engine is running at low rotational speeds, the exhaust turbine of the turbocharger hardly functions due to the reduced flow rate of the exhaust gas, so that the engine can not avoid giving a slow-moving feeling until the exhaust turbine runs efficiently, and necessitating a subsequent time or a so-called turbo-lag before the turbine rapidly reaches the full-running state. Furthermore, in the case of a diesel engine which runs inherently at low rotational speeds, there is a disadvantage that it is difficult to produce an effect of the turbocharger.
Therefore, a VGS turbocharger that works efficiently even when the engine is running at low rotational speeds has been developed. The turbocharger of this type is adapted to obtain a high power output when the engine is running at low rotational speeds by throttling flow of exhaust gas at a low flow rate with adjustable blades (vanes) to increase the velocity of the exhaust gas and increase work of an exhaust turbine. For this reason, in the VGS turbocharger, an adjusting mechanism for the adjustable blades are required additionally, and it is required that the associated constituting parts be formed to have a complicated shape or the like in comparison with those of the conventional one.
It has been common that, when an adjustable blade for such a VGS turbocharger is manufactured, a metal material (or a shaped material having a starting form for the adjustable blade) including a blade portion and a shaft portion that are integrally formed is first formed, for example, in accordance with a precision casting method represented by a lost wax casting method, a metal injection molding method or the like, and the shaped material is then suitably subjected to cutting or the like, to thereby finish the blade portion and the shaft portion to have desired shapes and dimensions.
However, in the technique using cutting operations applied to the shaped material, the following problems arise. Since this kind of turbo apparatus is constructed so as to introduce exhaust gas and utilize energy of the exhaust gas, a surface member thereof is naturally exposed to a high-temperature atmosphere of the exhaust gas. Since the exhaust gas contains constituents that can corrode the metal material, a heat resisting stainless steel such as SUS310S having excellent heat, oxidation resistance and the like is also used for the adjustable blade. However, since such a material is generally difficult to cut and therefore requires a lot of time to cut it, there is a problem that a lot of trouble is taken for processing it. In addition, since about ten to fifteen adjustable blades are required in one turbocharger, it is necessary to manufacture 300,000 to 450,000 adjustable blades a month in the case that about 30,000 motor vehicles are actually mass-produced monthly, so that the cutting operation is incapable of coping with this (production of about 500 adjustable blades is a limit in the cutting operation). In view of the foregoing, to mass-produce the adjustable blades, it is necessary to remove the cutting operation from the processing steps as much as possible, and rolling is mainly used for processing the shaft portion.
However, even in the case where the shaft portion of the adjustable blade is processed by rolling, there is a tendency that a shaft elongation (a phenomenon that the shaft portion is elongated in an axial direction), a sharp edge (a sharp portion is formed at a distal end of the shaft portion in a protruding state) and the like which are caused by rolling are increased, for example, when a rolling allowance is large. In some cases, in order to correct them, it is necessary to subject the shaft portion to cutting after rolling. Even in the cutting for correction, a lot of time is required as mentioned above, to thereby cause mass-productivity of the adjustable blade to be reduced. Accordingly, there has been required a manufacturing method which can restrict the shaft elongation caused by rolling as much as possible.
Additionally, recent years have seen tighter regulation of exhaust gas emission into the atmosphere particularly from diesel vehicles from a viewpoint of environmental protection and the like. For a diesel engine which inherently runs at low rotational speeds, mass production of a VGS turbocharger capable of improving the engine efficiency from a low rotational speed region has been strongly desired in order to reduce NOx, particulate matter (PM) and the like.

Variable blade manufacturing method and variable blade in VGS type turbo charger


A hybrid beam for support of a nacelle panel of a jet engine is disclosed. The beam is comprised of a first longitudinal composite panel and a second longitudinal composite panel, wherein the first longitudinal composite panel is integrally affixed to the second longitudinal composite panel along a longitudinal edge. The composite panels form a composite beam structure that is substantially open with a cross-section that is generally “L-shaped”. A plurality of hinge stations are affixed to a first side of the first longitudinal composite panel and at least one track guide is disposed on a second side of the first longitudinal composite panel. The track guides receive a head portion of a slider that is fixed to the translating jet engine nacelle panel. Each hinge station further comprises a bushing for defining a center of rotation for the jet engine nacelle panel relative to the beam.

Nacelle structures for jet engines of an aircraft provide a housing within which the jet engine is supported. The nacelle structure typically includes a thrust reverser that can provide assistance in slowing the aircraft by redirecting the engine thrust. The thrust reverser includes a panel of the nacelle that is translated between a stowed position, for normal operation during flight, and a deployed position, for redirecting the engine thrust, such as during landing of the aircraft. The thrust reverser panel slides along a track beam to move between the stowed position and the deployed position.
Thrust reverser track beams support the thrust reverser panel during translation and join the thrust reverser panels and an engine strut or pylon for under-wing carriage of the nacelle. Other installations of jet engines may enclose the engine within a fuselage portion of the aircraft, in which case the beams join the thrust reverser panels to the aircraft fuselage.
Thrust reverser track beams have conventionally been machined from solid ingots of metal, such as aluminum. As engine diameters and bypass ratios have increased, the engine weight has increased commensurately. This has required larger and stronger beams. The increasing size of the beams requires larger aluminum ingots resulting in greater waste aluminum during manufacturing. More recently, composite track beams have been proposed, in which the generally closed-form beam is constructed from a composite material, such as graphite fiber layers impregnated with a resin material to form a graphite composite structure. Other constructions may involve a tubular hybrid beam, in which a portion of the beam is composite and a portion is metal. Although such beam constructions provide reduced weight, composite and hybrid composite beams are encumbered with difficult manufacturing techniques and poor access to critical components. Such beams can also be more difficult to inspect, due to the substantially closed construction of the composite portions of the beam.
Therefore, beams of reduced weight and improved manufacturability with ease of access are desired for use with panels of jet engine nacelle structures.


In a method for forming a gate in a semiconductor device, a first preliminary gate structure is formed on a substrate. The first preliminary gate structure includes a gate oxide layer, a polysilicon layer pattern and a tungsten layer pattern sequentially stacked on the substrate. A primary oxidation process is performed using oxygen radicals at a first temperature for adjusting a thickness of the gate oxide layer to form a second preliminary gate structure having tungsten oxide. The tungsten oxide is reduced to a tungsten material using a gas containing hydrogen to form a gate structure. The tungsten oxide may not be formed on the gate structure so that generation of the whiskers may be suppressed. Thus, a short between adjacent wirings may not be generated.

Semiconductor devices have become complicated multi-layered structures. Further, semiconductor devices have become highly integrated. Thus, reducing the electrical resistance of conductive patterns such as gate electrodes has become desirable.
Generally, a polysilicon layer pattern is employed in a gate electrode. To decrease electrical resistance of a gate electrode, a metal silicide layer pattern is formed on the polysilicon layer pattern. To reduce the electrical resistance of a gate electrode, a tungsten layer pattern is conventionally formed on the polysilicon layer pattern.
A conventional method of forming a gate electrode includes sequentially stacking a tungsten layer pattern and a polysilicon layer pattern.
For example, a polysilicon layer and a tungsten layer are sequentially formed on a semiconductor substrate. The polysilicon layer and the tungsten layer are partially etched to form a polysilicon layer pattern and a tungsten layer pattern.
However, when the etching process is performed, etching damage may be generated at surface portions of the substrate, the polysilicon layer pattern and the tungsten layer pattern due to plasma used in the etching process. Thus, an additional oxidation process (sometimes referred to as a re-oxidation process) for curing the etching damage is performed on the substrate, the polysilicon pattern and the tungsten pattern.
The re-oxidation process is performed in a furnace or rapid thermal processing (RTP) equipment at a temperature of no less than about 800° C. under an oxygen atmosphere or a water vapor atmosphere. When the re-oxidation process is performed at the above-mentioned high temperature, etching damage is sufficiently cured. On the contrary, a gate oxide layer may have a greater thickness than desired due to an excessive bird's beak. The term "bird's beak" is well understood by those skilled in the art and need not be explained further. This is referred to as a punch-through phenomenon of a gate oxide layer. The punch-through phenomenon may cause variable threshold voltage of a transistor or deteriorating reliability of the gate oxide layer.
To overcome the above-mentioned problems, a radical oxidation process that is performed at a relatively low temperature has been proposed to replace the re-oxidation process. Although the radical oxidation process may improve the punch-through phenomenon of the gate oxide layer, efficiency for curing the etching damage may be reduced and the gate electrode may not have a sufficiently rounded edge.
The re-oxidation process is performed under a condition that tungsten in the gate electrode is not oxidized. However, it is very difficult to prevent the oxidation of tungsten in the gate electrode. In particular, when the gate electrode is oxidized by the radical oxidation process, a sufficient amount of oxygen is provided to the gate electrode to round the edge of the gate electrode. However, when a flux of oxygen is increased, tungsten in the gate electrode is oxidized to form tungsten oxide (WOx) on a surface of the tungsten layer pattern.
When a heat budget is applied to the tungsten oxide material, needle-shaped whiskers grow. Because the whiskers include a conductive material, a short between wirings may be generated due to the whiskers. As a result, a semiconductor device incorporating the gate electrode may operate abnormally.
Examples of methods for removing the tungsten oxide material are disclosed in Korean Patent Laid-Open Publication Nos. 2001-0039009 and 2003-0080239.
However, an oxidation process and a process for removing the tungsten oxide material disclosed in the above-mentioned Publications are performed at a relatively high temperature of no less than about 800° C. Thus, a bird's beak is generated in the gate oxide layer so that the punch-through phenomenon of the gate oxide layer occurs.

Method of forming a gate of a semiconductor device


The present invention provides a combination cannula positioned targeting guide adapted for angular receipt and support of a surgical instrument, the combination including an endoscopic portal having an enlarged membrane chamber having a rear port and an elongated portal cannula extending towards a portal tip, the rear port and the portal cannula being axially aligned; a portal stand extending from a substantially rectangular body towards an arcuate channel in communication with the enlarged membrane chamber; and the endoscopic portal being rotationally secured to the portal stand.

Surgical portals allow for accessing underlying body tissue in order to introduce surgical objects during a medical procedure. Typically, surgical ports are used in minimally invasive procedures including arthroscopic, laparoscopic, an endoscopic procedures.
As minimally invasive surgeries involve making one or more small incisions at appropriate locations and inserting surgical instruments through the incisions to the surgical site, surgical portals allow for such surgical instruments to be more efficiently and safely used. Controlling the surgical instruments is of utmost importance as the surrounding tissue can easily be damaged through inadvertent contact with the instruments.
In many instances, the surgical portal is used to maintain a pathway from an external incision to a surgical site, such as a hip joint. The portal scope is of such a diameter that incorrect placement of the distal tip within the joint capsule could injure the femoral head or other organs or tissues of other types of endoscopic surgical sites. Therefore, accurate placement is very desirable. In some situations, it is desirable for the surgical portal to be transparent to enable viewing through a surgical instrument with a viewing scope to observe the environment of the surgical site.


A delivery device for a book binding machine is provided with a first conveyor belt (19) arranged for movement in a vertical direction between a book delivery station and a book transfer station and a second conveyor belt (40) located in a fixed position so as to be on the same level as the first conveyor belt (19) and in alignment with the first conveyor belt (19) at the book transfer station. The first conveyor belt (19) receives a book block (12) from an clamp (11) at the book delivery station and lowers to the book transfer station so as to transfer the book block to the second conveyor belt (40), then returns to the book delivery station in order to receive the book block from the following clamp.

This invention relates to a book delivery device for a book binding machine.
In a conventional book binding machine, a number of clamps are successively moved on a book production line. And each of clamps is adapted for movement between a first position in which it clampingly holds a book block and a second position in which it releases the book block from clamping. While the clamps clampingly holding the book blocks are travelling on the book production line, the book blocks are applied with covers at glued spines thereof, then the spines are pressed, and finally when the clamps reach a book delivery station, the clamps move from the first position to the second position so that the book blocks are fallen from the clamps. Thus there is provided a book delivery device for receiving the book blocks fallen from the clamps and transporting it to the next processing station.
At this time, it is necessary to receive the book blocks from the clamps without giving strong impulse to the book blocks because, immediately after glue is applied to the spine, an adhesion between the spine and the cover is not perfect so that the cover may be detached from the spine. Therefore there has been provided a conveyor belt easily sloping downward from the book delivery station so as to receive the book blocks fallen from the clamps. Then the book blocks are transported from the clamps to the conveyor and slowly conveyed by the conveyor belt.
However, this book delivery mechanism inevitably leads to a large-sized book binding machine because there is required space whose length corresponds to a few clamps in order to deliver the book blocks.

Book delivery device for book binding machine


Described herein is a protective structure. The protective structure includes a semiconductor substrate, a first diode disposed at least one of in or on the semiconductor substrate and a diode arrangement disposed at least one of in or on the semiconductor substrate. The diode arrangement includes a stack of a second diode and a transient voltage suppressor (TVS) diode connected in series with the second diode. The diode arrangement is in parallel with the first diode.

Electrostatic discharges (ESD) can severely damage semiconductor components. Therefore, ESD protective concepts are realized in most semiconductor components nowadays. The ESD protective components integrated in the chip define a current path via which the ESD current can flow without causing damage.
In the case of high-speed data transmission lines, in particular, the requirement exists of ensuring an ESD protection up to 15 kV without the signal waveform being distorted to an excessively great extent. For this purpose, the protective element must have a particularly low capacitance.
Known ESD protective structures have structures that are complicated and have inaccurate producability on account of the high substrate thickness for the diode arrangement.
The dopant diffusion through the complete substrate thickness leads to inaccuracies and a high space requirement owing to the lateral outdiffusion that likewise takes place. The high substrate thickness brings about a high resistance, which adversely affects the performance of the protective structure.

Protective structure and method for producing a protective structure


A method for producing zirconia fused cast refractories, which comprises casting zirconia fused cast refractories containing at least 33 wt % of a ZrO.sub.2 component utilizing a mold, wherein the mold is rotated on a rotation axis, so that at least a portion of a meltage of raw material poured into the mold, is cooled to solidify under a centrifugal force of at least 1.2 G.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for producing zirconia fused cast refractories which are useful mainly for a floor or a side wall of a glass tank furnace, which is in contact with molten glass.
2. Discussion of Background
Fused cast refractories have a dense structure as compared with bonded refractories (usual fired refractories), and they are excellent in corrosion resistance by virtue of the dense structure. Therefore, fused cast refractories are used mainly at a portion of a furnace where a corrosion action is vigorous. Zirconia fused cast refractories are excellent particularly in a corrosion resistance against molten glass, and they are frequently used for a floor and a side wall of a glass tank furnace which is in contact with molten glass.
Fused cast refractories which are practically used, have a shape of a rectangular parallelpiped in many cases. However, at some portions such as corner portions of a glass tank furnace, a polyhedron having a larger number of faces than the rectangular parallelpiped (hexahedron), may be used. As refractories for a glass tank furnace, it is common to use refractories which have high corrosion resistance against molten glass and which are less likely to generate blisters in the molten glass, at a portion which is in contact with molten glass, so that no defects will be introduced into the glass as far as possible. Further, in a case where the refractories are inhomogeneous, they may be arranged so that the structural portion of the refractories which has high corrosion resistance against molten glass and which is less likely to form blisters in molten glass, is located on the side of molten glass.
As typical zirconia fused cast refractories useful for a glass tank furnace, so-called AZS type zirconia fused cast refractories comprising ZrO.sub.2, Al.sub.2 O.sub.3, SiO.sub.2 and a small amount of an alkali component (for example, of a composition comprising from 33 to 41 wt % of ZrO.sub.2, from 46 to 50 wt % of Al.sub.2 O.sub.3, from 12 to 16 wt % of SiO.sub.2 and from 0.3 to 1.8 wt % of alkali metal oxides) may be mentioned. Recently, demand for high quality glass has increased for e.g. electronic parts, and accordingly, use of high zirconia fused cast refractories containing from 88 to 97 wt % of a ZrO.sub.2 component is increasing, which are excellent in the corrosion resistance against molten glass and which are believed to be less likely to introduce defects in glass by elution of the refractories into molten glass.
The AZS type zirconia fused cast refractories are composed of monoclinic ZrO.sub.2 crystals (mineral name: baddeleyite; although they are monoclinic crystals at room temperature, they undergo transformation to tetragonal crystals at a high temperature), .alpha.-Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 crystals (corundum) and a SiO.sub.2 rich matrix glass containing an alkali component. This matrix glass is present in the refractories as a glass having a proper viscosity in a temperature range of from 900 to 1200.degree. C. within which ZrO.sub.2 crystals undergo reversible crystal transformation from monoclinic crystals to tetragonal crystals accompanied with a volume change, and it functions as a cushion which absorbs and relaxes strains formed in the refractories due to the volume change of the ZrO.sub.2 crystals and thus prevents formation of cracks in the refractories. The function performed by the matrix glass in the refractories, is the same also in the high zirconia fused cast refractories, and the property of the matrix glass for relaxing the strains is more important, since the amount of the matrix glass is relatively small.
Such zirconia fused cast refractories are usually prepared by a method which comprises charging a starting material prepared to have a predetermined chemical composition into an electric arc furnace provided with graphite electrodes, arc-melting the starting material, pouring the meltage into a mold made of e.g. graphite, having a predetermined internal size and having previously embedded in a thermal insulator, followed by cooling to solidify.
With zirconia fused cast refractory, when the meltage solidifies upon cooling, its volume decreases from 20 to 30%. Accordingly, an inlet port having a certain capacity, which is a so-called riser, is provided to supply the meltage to the portion shrinked upon solidification of the meltage. However, the supply of the meltage to the portion where the meltage solidified, will necessarily terminate, whereupon voids will be formed in the solidified refractory, whereby voids will be formed in the refractory. Such voids are usually present in a cluster at the upper center near the inlet port, where the meltage was introduced, of the fused cast refractories.
When zirconia fused cast refractories are to be used for a glass tank furnace, the presence of such void clusters impairs the useful life of the refractories and will be a cause for formation of defects in the glass. Accordingly, void free refractories (hereinafter referred to as VF refractories) obtained by cutting off the portion including void clusters (which usually extend to cover about 50 vol % of the cast refractories), are used for a glass tank furnace in many cases.
Various measures have been taken to improve the yield of the products and to produce high quality glass having no substantial defects such as blisters or stones. However, even if VF refractories of zirconia fused cast refractories containing from 88 to 97 wt % of a ZrO.sub.2 component, which are regarded to be the best at present, are used after scraping off the surface formed during casting, it is still difficult to completely eliminate defects formed in the glass.
The present inventors have carefully examined the state where blisters generate in molten glass at the contact between the molten glass and the high zirconia fused cast refractories containing from 88 to 97 wt % of a ZrO.sub.2 component. As a result, it has been found that in the dense structure of the high zirconia fused cast refractories, a slightly dark gray layer structure visually observed on a cross-sectional polished surface, having a thickness of at most 1 mm (hereinafter referred to as worm tracing or WT), is present, in which the matrix glass and fine voids (mostly not larger than 1 mm) are accumulated in a layer form, and a number of such WT are present along the surface of the refractories, which was in contact with a side surface of the mold during solidification of the high zirconia fused cast refractories. Further, such WT is likely to be a starting point of abnormal corrosion of the refractory, and it is also likely to be a point for generating blisters in molten glass.
Further, as a result of careful examination of the cross-sectional polished surface of the high zirconia fused cast refractories containing from 88 to 97 wt % of a ZrO.sub.2 component, it has been found that no such WT is observed at the portion of the refractories located in a distance of from 6 to 8 cm from the lower surface of the refractories which was in contact with the bottom of the mold during solidification of the refractories.

Method of producing zirconia fused cast refractories


A method and system to provide user-level multithreading are disclosed. The method according to the present techniques comprises receiving programming instructions to execute one or more shared resource threads (shreds) via an instruction set architecture (ISA). One or more instruction pointers are configured via the ISA; and the one or more shreds are executed simultaneously with a microprocessor, wherein the microprocessor includes multiple instruction sequencers.

Multithreading is the ability of a program or an operating system to execute more than one sequence of instructions at a time. Each user request for a program or system service (and here a user can also be another program) is kept track of as a thread with a separate identity. As programs work on behalf of the initial request for that thread and are interrupted by other requests, the status of work on behalf of that thread is kept track of until the work is completed.
Types of computer processing include single instruction stream, single data stream, which is the conventional serial von Neumann computer that includes a single stream of instructions. A second processing type is the single instruction stream, multiple data streams process (SIMD). This processing scheme may include multiple arithmetic-logic processors and a single control processor. Each of the arithmetic-logic processors performs operations on the data in lock step and are synchronized by the control processor. A third type is multiple instruction streams, single data stream (MISD) processing which involves processing the same data stream flows through a linear array of processors executing different instruction streams. A fourth processing type is multiple instruction streams, multiple data streams (MIMD) processing which uses multiple processors, each executing its own instruction stream to process a data stream fed to each of the processors. MIMD processors may have several instruction processing units, multiple instruction sequencers and therefore several data streams.
The programming model adopted by today's multithreaded microprocessors is the same as the traditional shared memory multiprocessor: multiple threads are programmed as though they run on independent CPUs. Communication between threads is performed through main memory, and thread creation/destruction/scheduling is performed by the operating system. Multithreading has not been provided in an architecturally-visible manner in which programmers can directly access threads.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and system to provide concurrent user-level, non-privileged shared resource thread creation and execution


The circuit breaker according to the present invention has first and second terminals having favorable electric conductivity and joined to each other with solder; and a heater whose circumference is insulated installed for melting the solder and supplied with electric power from the current path separate from current paths passing through the first and second terminals; wherein the first and second terminals are separated by a spring force and insulated when the solder is melted.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a circuit breaker used in a power semiconductor device, such as an inverter that passes large current, and specifically to a small and low-cost circuit breaker that can reliably break a circuit regardless of operating conditions, and has a small wiring loss.
2. Background Art
There is a case wherein an element of an inverter for driving a motor installed in a hybrid motor vehicle or the like is broken to be a short-circuited state, and regenerative current flows back from a motor rotated by an engine power. In order to prevent the flow of a large current into the circuit in such abnormality, a circuit breaker has been used. As a circuit breaker, a device wherein a fuse is broken by the heat of a heater has been proposed (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-119858).
In a conventional circuit breaker, a heater was serially inserted in a current path, and a fuse was broken when a larger current than in normal operation flows in abnormality. However, in the case of a hybrid vehicle or the like, since there was no significant difference in the current value for driving a motor in normal operation and the regenerative current value from the motor in abnormality, the fuse cannot be reliably broken. In addition, since an electric resistor serially inserted in a current path was used as the heater, there was a problem of large wiring loss. If the fuse was substituted by a relay, although the circuit was reliably broken, there were problems of contact resistance, costs, and a space.


The front end position of the leads of a leaded part can be accurately detected even from image data having a noise signal mixed therein. A method including a step for defining, with respect to an electronic part having a plurality of leads to be packaged on a board by an electronic parts packaging plant, a two-dimensional test window having a rectangular coordinate system with the X-axis extending parallel with the direction in which the leads are juxtaposed and the Y-axis perpendicular to the X-axis; a lead emphasizing step for emphasizing the light intensity of the lead regions of image data obtained by photographing the electronic part in the test window; a data producing step for producing one-dimensional histogram data which indicates the distribution of light intensity along the Y-axis on the basis of the image data after having the light intensity of its lead regions emphasized; and a positioning step for calculating the Y-coordinate of the lead position in the test window on the basis of the histogram data thereon.

In recent years, in the field of the surface packaging of electronic parts, the packaging of leaded parts, such as QFP or SOP, has been practiced with increasing frequency, and to ensure satisfactory packaging of these parts without positional deviation during mounting, it has become necessary to identify the position of the leads of the parts. Particularly, the identification of the position of the front ends of the leads is a very important factor in positioning the parts or knowing the parts shape during packaging.
A conventional parts identifying device will now be described using FIGS. 6, 7 and 8. A description only of the parts identifying process using an identifying system will be given herein, while leaving out a description of the process for packaging electronic parts.
In FIG. 6, the numeral 101 denotes an electronic part depicted in image data to be processed for identification by an identifying system in an electronic parts packaging plant. The electronic part 101 is equipped with a plurality of leads 102 on an optional side or sides thereof. The leads 102 are disposed in parallel on a side or sides of the electronic part 101.
The parts identifying process using a conventional parts identifying device will now be described.
First, at the step #11 of a flowchart shown in FIG. 8, a test window 103 shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 is defined. The test window 103 is used to define the range for processing the image data on the whole or part of the electronic part obtained by a pickup tube used when identifying parts. The X-direction of the test window 103 is determined by one method or another such that it is parallel with the direction in which the leads 102 are juxtaposed. Such method will not be described herein.
At the step #12 of the flowchart shown in FIG. 8, the values of light intensity in the X-direction within the test window are added for each Y-coordinate to provide histogram data 104 to be used in the identification process.
This process is intended to detect the position of the leads 101 in the lengthwise direction, i.e., the Y-direction of the test window 103 and calculate the front end position of the leads 102; therefore, even with the histogram data 104 produced in the aforesaid process, the detection of the front end position of the leads 102 is possible. The histogram data 104 for effecting said process is produced in the manner shown in FIG. 7.
Finally, at the step #13 of the flowchart shown in FIG. 8, a differential process is performed on the histogram data 104 to produce differential data 105 shown in FIG. 7. This process is a process for calculating the position at which the rate of change of light intensity in the histogram data 104 is at the maximum. In the differential data 105, this position corresponds to the peak point 106 where the differential value is at the maximum. Thus, the position of the peak point 106 corresponds to the Y-direction position of the leads 102 in the test window 103. Thus, the front end position of the leads 102 present in the test window 103 is calculated from data on the relative position between the test window 103 and the reference position of the electronic part 101 with respect to the nozzle center or the like.
In the case where the leads 102 are present on a plurality of sides of the electronic part 101, said processing is performed for each of the test windows associated with the plurality of sides, whereby the front end position of the electronic parts can be identified and so can be the shape of the electronic part 101.
However, in the parts identifying process using said conventional parts identifying device described above, if there is a noise 107 in the test window 103, as shown in FIG. 9, there are produced histogram data 108 and differential data 109 as shown in this figure. Since the differential date 109 has a plurality of peak points, such as shown at a, b and c, there has been a problem that despite the fact that the actual front end position of the leads is the position corresponding to the peak point a of the differential data 109, the position corresponding to the peak point b or c would be erroneously identified as the front end position of the leads, depending upon the method for peak point detection employed.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A continuous wave photolytic iodine laser has a gain cell for receiving a continuous supply of gaseous fuel. The gain cell is connected to laser beam transfer optics, a laser resonator for shaping a laser beam, and a lamp. The lamp is driven by a microwave subsystem such that a laser gain medium is pumped through the gain cell. The continuous wave photolytic iodine laser of the present invention incorporates a closed loop fuel system for presenting gaseous fuel to the gain cell at a rate sufficient to sweep any lasing by-products out of the gain cell, thereby preventing quenching of the lasing process. The fuel system also includes a condenser for converting the gaseous fuel to a liquid after it has passed through the gain cell, a scrubber for removing the by-products of the lasing process from the fuel, and an evaporator for converting the recycled liquefied fuel back to a gas. The closed loop fuel system also includes a pump for pressurizing and transporting the liquefied fuel.

The present invention has particular utility in connection with the industrial, military, and scientific application of lasers and is described herein as applied to such use. In recent years, lasers have been enjoying an ever increasing range of applicability to various processes. The word "laser" is an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation." Therefore, a laser is basically a device for the generation of coherent, nearly single wavelength and frequency, highly directional electromagnetic radiation.
Currently, the gas CO.sub.2 (carbon dioxide), and the solid state Nd:YAG (Yttrium, Aluminum, Garnet) lasers dominate the material cutting and welding industries. However, the applicability of these lasers in a wide variety of manufacturing processes is limited. The gas CO.sub.2 laser, because of the beam's long wavelength, and the Nd:YAG laser because of its low brightness, both require a great deal of power to be useful. Brightness, also called the beam quality compares the relative amount of energy within the central lobe of a laser beam with that of a perfect laser beam. The numbers corresponding to brightness are greater than or equal to unity, with values of 1 indicating superior brightness and values much greater than 2 or 3 indicating poor performance.
Due to its high brightness and small wavelength, the photolytic iodine laser (PIL) has the potential to address the needs of a wide variety of markets. The PIL is a gas laser which employs a gas as a fuel for generating the laser beam. Usable PILs were first developed in the early 1980's. However, these early PILs were not suitable for manufacturing processes. They displayed poor output power as compared to input power, as well as poor repeatability of performance. Additionally, these early systems were prone to excessive buildup of molecular iodine which severely interrupted the lasing process.
PILs require a continuous flow of fuel through the laser's gain cell region in order to generate a laser beam. The laser's gain cell is that section of the laser where light amplification occurs. For a given gain cell size, the laser's power is proportional to the flow rate of the gaseous fuel through the gain cell. Conventional PILs have employed blowers in the fuel delivery system to provide adequate fuel flow rates. However, these blowers can be costly. In addition, it has been found that merely increasing the pressure in the system is not sufficient. The types of fuel employed in PILs, namely C.sub.3 F.sub.7 I, exhibit high frictional properties which basically cause the fuel to "stick" to the walls of the conduits within which the fuel flows. This results in significant pressure drops in the fuel system thereby making it difficult to establish and maintain fuel flow rates sufficient to generate a laser beam of proper intensity.
PILs employ microwave systems to provide power to the lamps needed to generate a laser beam. In the past, these systems utilized low power magnetrons as the power source. Therefore, these systems required large numbers of magnetrons; one for each lamp, and extensive supporting systems, to provide for adequate laser power. The microwave systems were very complex and required a great deal of maintenance. This made these lasers impractical for industrial use.
Therefore, it is important to provide a PIL whereby the components are kept simple, and the number of components is kept to a minimum. This will allow for ease of maintenance, as well as make the laser more competitive with conventional material processing equipment.
In view of the foregoing, there is a current need and large market potential for an economical materials processing laser which is superior in both brightness, and processing performance to those currently in use. Moreover, the laser must be capable of maintaining its performance integrity over extended periods of time.
Therefore, the general object of the present invention is to provide a continuous wave laser for use in industrial applications which can be economically procured and operated, yet is capable of generating a laser beam of sufficient power so as to be practical.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a CW PIL which does not require the use of expensive blowers to maintain the fuel flow rate.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a PIL wherein the microwave system is capable of powering more than one lamp on a single magnetron.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a method for determining critical laser parameters.


A camshaft assembly comprising a shaft, a lobe, a gear, and a boss portion is disclosed. The lobe includes a first powdered metal and has a first density, while the gear includes a second powdered metal and has a second density. The boss portion is formed on one of the lobe or gear, and has an aperture sized to cooperate with the shaft and a periphery cooperating with the other of the lobe or gear to fix the lobe against rotation relative to the gear. The boss portion has a third density less than the density of the lobe or gear on which the boss portion is formed. A method of making a camshaft component is also disclosed.

Small internal combustion four cycle engines typically include components such as a cam gear and a pair of cam lobes mounted on a camshaft. The cam gear meshes with a crankgear mounted on a crankshaft, thereby rotating the camshaft in timed relation to the engine cycle. Each rotating cam lobe reciprocates a push rod, which in turn respectively act on a rocker arm to alternate an intake valve and an exhaust valve between open and closed positions. In the case of an overhead cam type engine, the rocker arms normally act directly between the cam lobes and the valves.
It is well known to form camshaft components from powdered metals. For example, the Powder Metallurgy Design Manual, published by the Metal Powder Industries Federation (MPIF) of Princeton, N.J. and hereby incorporated by reference, describes a variety of items, including camshaft components, which can be formed from powdered metal.
Various proposals have been made for attaching the powdered metal components to the camshaft. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 3,962,772 to Haller discloses a composite machine element such as a gear or cam. A powdered metal preform is formed in a conventional briquetting die-set, and then fit on a knurled shaft in a die cavity. A plunger then compresses the preform to solidify it and interlock it with the shaft. Also, U.S. Pat. No. 4,969,262 to Hiraoka et al. discloses a method of making a camshaft in which the cam is composed of outer and inner powder layers. The green cam piece is fit on a steel shaft, and the green camshaft assembly is then sintered to bond the cam piece to the shaft.
In most camshaft assemblies, the cam lobe and the cam gear are indexed to rotate at the same speed. The lobe and gear are therefore usually fixed to the shaft, normally at some distance from each other. Because the cam lobe is subject to wear from contact with the followers, it is desirable for the outer contact surface of the lobe to be relatively hard. Conversely, it is desirable that the cam gear have ductile teeth which are relatively strong and flexible to facilitate their meshing with the teeth of the crankgear. For these reasons, it is difficult to form the lobe and gear as a unitary piece.


A method of estimating the occurrence of midnight on a given day comprises the steps of determining the average night length (NLAVE) by averaging the night lengths (NL) between a night starting time (NST) as determined by a photosensor and a night ending time (NET) determined by a photosensor for each of a plurality of days, and estimating midnight to occur at the time that is one half of the average night length (NLAVE) after the night starting time (NST) for the given day. This estimate of midnight to control the operation of lights or other equipment without the need for clocks or constant power.

This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
A significant area for reducing energy consumption is outdoor lighting, such as the lighting of large parking lots with pole mounted luminaires. While it is important to provide lighting when people are present, substantial savings could be had if the lights could be switched to a lower level, when people are not present. However, high intensity discharge (HID) lamps typically used in these applications do not respond quickly when turned off and on in an attempt to save energy. Alternatively introducing a means to change light levels (and their associated energy levels) of the HID lamps without allowing the arc inside the lamp to extinguish would enable the lamp to instantaneously respond to the various passive and active control methodologies.
Active control methodologies would include the use of motion sensors to operate the HID lamps at full intensity only when people are present. In contrast, passive control methodologies would leave the lamps operating at full intensity during the times when people are likely to be present, and only operate them at low intensity during times when people are less likely to be present. This type of control, however, requires information about the current time, and it is difficult to retrofit a control with reliable time keeping to a plurality of individual lights, and keep the time for each control accurate and synchronized with the other controls when power to the pole lighting assembly is interrupted by an external switching process. Typically, the lights are only powered during the evening time, and without power the controls cannot maintain the current time.

Light controller and method for controlling lights


A semiconductor deposition system with thermal trap characterized by a processing chamber, a source of process gas coupled to an inlet of the processing chamber, a thermal trap coupled to an outlet of the processing chamber, and a pump mechanism operative to pump a gas from the process chamber and into the thermal trap. The thermal trap preferably includes an enclosure defining a trap chamber, where an inlet to the trap chamber is coupled to the outlet of the processing chamber, a condensable-solid collection surface located within the trap chamber, a mechanism for maintaining the temperature of the collection surface at or below the temperature at which a gas flowing into the chamber condenses into a solid form, and a mechanism for maintaining the temperature of an inner surface of the enclosure at a temperature above which the gas condenses into a solid form. A method for trapping a gaseous material is characterized by the steps of flowing a gaseous material into a chamber of an enclosure, and maintaining the temperature of a collection surface disposed within the chamber at or below the temperature at which the gaseous material condenses into a solid form. The method preferably also includes the step of maintaining the temperature of an inner surface of the enclosure above the temperature at which the gaseous material condenses into a solid.

This invention relates generally to semiconductor manufacturing equipment, and more particularly to traps and filters for removing gaseous materials from exhaust gasses of semiconductor manufacturing equipment.
Semiconductor wafers are processed within processing chambers of semiconductor manufacturing equipment to produce integrated circuits (ICs). For example, semiconductor wafers can be processed within a plasma etch machine to remove material from the wafer surface, or can be processed with in a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) machine to deposit layers of material over the wafer surface.
A common processing step is the deposition of a silicon-nitride passivation layer over a semiconductor wafer. One process for forming silicon-nitride layers is to react ammonia (NH.sub.3) with dichlorosilane (SiH.sub.2 Cl.sub.2) within a wafer processing chamber. Unfortunately, one of the by-products of the reaction is ammonium chloride (NH.sub.4 Cl) which is a gaseous material at processing temperatures (e.g. greater than about 300.degree. C. and typically about 700.degree. C.) but which forms a solid condensate at temperatures below about 125.degree. C.
A problem occurs when pumping waste gasses from a silicon-nitride processing chamber during processing. The ammonium chloride, which is initially in a gaseous state, condenses as a solid in the exhaust pipes and within the exhaust pump used to extract the waste gasses from the chamber. Ammonium chloride condensed in the exhaust pipes and pump can back-flow into the processing chamber under certain circumstances, which can contaminate the chamber and any wafer within the chamber. This type of contamination can produce a "nitride haze" on the wafers being processed with undesirable and sometimes damaging results.
Condensed ammonium chloride within the pump mechanism is particularly problematical. The pumps used are typically molecular pumps designed to pump very low pressure gasses. When ammonium chloride deposits within the pump mechanism, it forms a salt-like substance which grinds the delicate internal surfaces of the pump. This can lead to premature wear, reduced efficiency, and ultimately the failure of the pump.


An example game apparatus selects an operational character that is to be used by a player in a multiplayer game with competition. The game apparatus selects an additional character that is to be added to the operational character from a plurality of candidates for an additional character to be selected. The additional character is associated with an image of the additional character, information of an effect to be given to performance in the game with competition of the operational character to which the additional character is added, and information about a type. The game apparatus generates a selection image including at least an image of the operational character selected by the player and each other user, an image of the additional character selected by the player, and an image of the type of the additional character, for display, during selection of the operational character and the additional character.

There are conventional game programs that can enhance the performance of a player character in an action game by giving a predetermined effect to the character.
In such game programs, the effect is allowed to be given in the single-player mode, but not when the action game is a game with competition. Therefore, in the case where multiple players compete with each other, the players can use tactics to select a character, but the feature of giving the effect cannot be utilized to improve the strategic aspect of a game with competition.
Under these circumstances, the present application discloses a game apparatus, storage medium storing a game program, game system, and game processing method capable of improving the strategic aspect of a game with competition.
(1) A non-limiting example of a game apparatus disclosed herein selects an operational character that is to be used by a player in a multiplayer game, based on an operational input for specifying one of a plurality of candidates for an operational character to be selected. The game apparatus selects an additional character that is to be added to the operational character, based on an operational input for specifying one of a plurality of candidates for an additional character to be selected. The additional character is associated with at least an image of the additional character, information of an effect to be given to performance in the multiplayer game of the operational character to which the additional character is added, and information about a type having advantage and disadvantage. The game apparatus generates a selection image including at least an image of the operational character selected by the player and each other user participating in the multiplayer game, an image of the additional character selected by the player, and an image of the type of the additional character, for display, during selection of the operational character and the additional character. The game apparatus controls the selected operational character, in a virtual space, according to an operational input, and processes a multiplayer game based on the performance of the operational character given the effect associated with the selected additional character, and the advantage and disadvantage of the type associated with the additional character.
According to the feature of (1), when an operational character and an additional character are selected in the multiplayer game, operational characters, additional character, and information about their types are shown to a player. Therefore, tactics can be used to select a character in the multiplayer game, resulting in an improvement in the amusingness of the multiplayer game.
(2) The game apparatus may further generate, in the multiplayer game, a game image including at least an image of the virtual space, an image of the selected operational character, an image of the selected additional character, and an image of the type of the additional character, for display.
According to the feature of (2), useful information such as operational characters, additional character, and information about their types can be shown to a player not only during selection of a character but also in the multiplayer game.
(3) The game apparatus may store one or more of the additional characters that are previously specified by the player from a plurality of the additional characters, as a candidate for an additional character to be selected. The game apparatus may select an additional character from the stored candidates for an additional to be selected, in the additional character selection process.
According to the feature of (3), an additional character to be used in the multiplayer game is selected from selection candidates previously specified by a player. Therefore, previously specified selection candidates affect the strategic aspect of the multiplayer game, resulting in a further improvement in the strategic aspect of the multiplayer game.
(4) The game apparatus may further prepare a set of the additional character and an auxiliary character combined with the additional character, and store the prepared set as the candidate for an additional character to be selected. The auxiliary character may be associated with at least an image of the auxiliary character, and information of an effect to be given to the performance in the multiplayer game of the operational character to which the auxiliary character is added. If the additional character added to the operational character appearing in the multiplayer game is combined with the auxiliary character, the game apparatus may process the multiplayer game based on the performance of the operational character given the effect of the additional character as well as the effect of the auxiliary character.
According to the feature of (4), an operational character can be given an effect that depends on a combination of two kinds of characters, an additional character and an auxiliary character. Therefore, an increased variety of effects can be provided, resulting in a further improvement in the strategic aspect of the multiplayer game. In addition, a user may not separately select an additional character and an auxiliary character in the additional character selection process, resulting in an easier selection operation.
(5) The additional character may be associated with information of a capacity that is the maximum amount of the auxiliary character or characters which are allowed to be combined with the additional character. The auxiliary character may be associated with an amount of the auxiliary character that occupies the capacity when the auxiliary character is combined with the additional character. The game apparatus may prepare a set of the additional character and one or more of the auxiliary characters combined with the additional character, in the set preparation process, provided that the amount of the combined auxiliary character or characters is smaller than or equal to the capacity of the additional character.
According to the feature of (5), a condition is provided for an auxiliary character that can be combined with an additional character. As a result, more tactics can be used to prepare a set of an additional character and an auxiliary character, leading to a further improvement in the strategic aspect of the multiplayer game.
(6) The game apparatus may further update the information about the effect associated with each additional character such that the effect is enhanced, if a predetermined condition for the additional character is satisfied.
According to the feature of (6), a player can enhance an effect caused by an additional character by satisfying the above predetermined condition. As a result, the strategic aspect of the multiplayer game using an additional character can be further improved.
(7) The information about the type may indicate one of three kinds of types having a trilemma relationship and one kind of type without advantage and disadvantage in relation to the three kinds of types.
According to the feature of (7), the strategic aspect of the multiplayer game can be improved by a multiplayer game in which a type is taken into account.
(8) The game apparatus may execute a fighting game in the multiplayer game, and determine the amount of damage to a first operational character caused by a second operational character's attack, based on (a) the performances of the first and second operational characters, and (b) the advantage and disadvantage between the type of an additional character added to the first operational character and the type of an additional character added to the second operational character.
According to the feature of (8), the effect of an additional character is reflected on the amount of damage in a fighting game, and therefore, the strategic aspect of the fighting game can be effectively improved.
(9) The operational character may be associated with information of an operational character group to which the operational character belongs. The additional character may be associated with information of an additional character group to which the additional character belongs.
In the multiplayer game, if the additional character group to which the additional character added to the operational character belongs corresponds to the operational character group to which the operational character belongs, the game apparatus may increase the effect associated with the additional character more than if there is not the correspondence.
According to the feature of (9), an additional character can give a more complicated effect to an operational character, resulting in a further improvement in the strategic aspect of the multiplayer game.
(10) The selection image may further include an image of the operational character group to which the selected operational character belongs.
According to the feature of (10), an image of the operational character group is shown, and therefore, a player can select an operational character and an additional character whose groups correspond to each other by an easier operation.
Note that an example of a storage medium storing an information processing program that causes a processor of an information processing device to execute the processes of (1)-(10) is disclosed herein. An example of an information processing system that executes the processes of (1)-(10) is also disclosed herein. An example of an information processing method for causing an information processing system to execute the processes of (1)-(10) is also disclosed herein.
According to the above game apparatus, storage medium storing a game program, game system, and game processing method, the strategic aspect of a multiplayer game can be improved.
These and other objects, features, aspects and advantages of the present exemplary embodiment will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present exemplary embodiment when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Game apparatus, storage medium storing game program, game system, and game processing method


A method and system for correcting butting artifacts in x-ray images is disclosed. In order to correct a butting artifact in an x-ray image, a butting artifact region in the x-ray image is normalized. Multiple intensity shift estimators are calculated for each pixel of each line of the butting artifact. Confidence intervals are calculated for each intensity shift estimator. A multiple hypothesis hidden Markov model (MH-HMM) is formulated based on the intensity shift operators and confidence measures subject to a smoothness constraint, and the MH-HMM is solved to determine intensity shift values for each pixel. A corrected image is generated by adjusting the intensity of each pixel of the butting artifact based on the intensity shift value for that pixel.

The present invention relates to artifact correction in X-ray images, and more particularly, a method and system for correcting butting artifacts in X-ray images.
In order to generate X-ray images, digital imaging systems often utilize flat detectors. In such digital imaging systems, an X-ray source and a flat detector are positioned on opposite sides of patient's body. X-rays are generated by an X-ray source, pass through the patient's body, and hit the flat detector, which generates a digital image of the patient's body. Butting refers to a technique that combines multiple detectors side by side in order to image a large area when a detector large enough to image the area is not available or is too expensive. A butting line where two detectors are joined together typically results in missing or corrupted data in the output X-ray images. In medical X-ray imaging, four detectors are often joined together and arranged as a 2×2 matrix. Accordingly, butting artifacts resulting from such an arrangement are typically seen as a cross shape, thus referred to as a butting cross.
Depending on the digital imaging systems, the butting artifacts can appear as missing data or distortion of the image intensities. In either case, important medical information can be biased in X-ray images, making the use of such X-ray images for diagnostic purposes difficult. It is therefore critical to accurately correct such butting artifacts in X-ray images.

Method and system for correcting butting artifacts in X-ray images


The present invention is directed to a pulse generating circuit for use in a semiconductor device, in which P type MOS transistors are connected in parallel, series connected N type MOS transistors are connected in series to the P type MOS transistors in a parallel manner, the potential of a node is provided to the P type MOS transistor and the N type MOS transistors, while the potential of a node is provided to the P type MOS transistor and the N type MOS transistors, so that a one shot pulse having a substantially identical waveform can be generated either when an input clock .phi..sub.IN changes its level from an "H" level to an "L" level or from the "L" level to the "H" level.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to pulse generating circuits for use in semiconductor devices, and to a pulse generating circuit for use in a semiconductor device for generating a one shot pulse in accordance with change in the level of an address signal, such as an ATD circuit provided in a DRAM.
2. Description of the Background Art
FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram showing a conventional DRAM. In FIG. 3, a row address is input into a row address buffer 21, and the input row address is decoded by a row decoder 22 to be applied to a memory cell array 23. When a RAS signal is applied to a control circuit 28, a row address of the memory cell array 23 is designated in the timing of the RAS signal. Meanwhile, a column address is externally input into a column address buffer 24 and applied to a column decoder 25, and an OR output of each address is applied to ATD circuit 27. The ATD circuit 27 upon detecting a change in the level of an address signal, generates a one shot pulse as an internal CAS signal and applies the same to the column decoder 25. The column decoder 25 decodes a column address signal and designates a column address of the memory cell array 23 through a sense amplifier 26. Externally input data is applied from an I/0 29 to the memory cell array 23 through the sense amplifier 26. If a R/W signal applied to the control circuit 28 indicates a state of writing, the data is written into a designated address of the memory cell array 23. If the R/W signal indicates a state of reading, an address of the memory cell array 23 is designated by a row address signal and a column address signal, data is read out from a corresponding address, and the read out data is amplified at the sense amplifier 26 and then output through the I/0 29.
FIG. 4 is a diagram of an electrical circuit showing one example of the ATD circuit shown in FIG. 3. Referring to FIG. 4, an address signal, for example, is input as a clock input .phi..sub.IN. The clock input .phi..sub.IN is input to the gate of a P type MOS transistor 2 and the gates of N type MOS transistors 8 and 10, and inverted at an inverter 1 to be applied as .phi..sub.IN to the gate of N type MOS transistor 5 and the gates of N type MOS transistors 12 and 14. A P type MOS transistor 3 is connected in parallel to a P type MOS transistor 2, a power supply voltage V.sub.cc is provided to the drains of the P type MOS transistors 2 and 3, the sources of the P type MOS transistors 2 and 3 are connected to the drain of the N type MOS transistor 8, an N type MOS transistor 9 is connected between the source of the N type MOS transistor 8 and the drain of the N type MOS transistor 10, and an N type MOS transistor 11 is connected between the source of the N type MOS transistor 10 and ground. Each gate of the P type MOS transistor 3 and the N type MOS transistors 9 and 11 is connected to a node N1.
A P type MOS transistor 4 is connected in parallel to a P type MOS transistor 5, a power supply voltage V.sub.cc is provided to the drains of the P type MOS transistors 4 and 5, the sources of the P type MOS transistors 4 and 5 are connected to the drain of an N type MOS transistor 12, an N type MOS transistor 13 is connected between the source of the N type MOS transistor 12 and the drain of the N type MOS transistor 14, and an N type MOS transistor 15 is connected between the source of the N type MOS transistor 14 and ground. Each gate of the P type MOS transistor 4, the N type MOS transistors 13 and 15 is connected to a node N2. The node N1 is connected to the connection point of the sources of the P type MOS transistors 4 and 5 and the drain of N type MOS transistor 12, while the node N2 is connected to the connection point of the sources of the P type MOS transistors 2 and 3 and the drain of the N type MOS transistor 8.
The gates of the P type MOS transistors 7 and 6 constituting a 2-input NAND circuit are connected to the nodes N1 and N2. The drains of the P type MOS transistors 6 and 7 are each provided with the power supply voltage V.sub.cc, the sources are connected together to be output as .phi..sub.OUT and also connected to the drain of an N type MOS transistor 17, the source of the N type MOS transistor 16 is connected to the drain of the N type MOS transistor 17, and the source of the N type MOS transistor 17 is grounded. The gate of the N type MOS transistor 16 is connected to the node N1, while the gate of the N type MOS transistor 17 is connected to the node N2.
FIG. 5 is a timing chart for use in illustration of an operation of the ATD circuit shown in FIG. 4. Now, referring to FIG. 5, a description of the operation of the ATD circuit shown in FIG. 4 follows. The N type MOS transistors 8-11 and 12-15 function as high resistance elements. As shown in FIG. 5(a), when the clock input .phi..sub.IN rises to an "H" level, the P type MOS transistor 2 is turned off, the N type MOS transistors 8 and 10 conduct, and .phi..sub.IN which is an output of the inverter 1 is pulled down to an "L" level. Accordingly, the P type MOS transistor 5 conducts, while the N type MOS transistors 12 and 14 are turned off. As a result, the node N1 is pulled to the "H" level, while the N type MOS transistors 9 and 11 conduct.
With the P type MOS transistors 2 and 3 being non-conductive, the node N2 attains the "L" level as shown in FIG. 5(d). At that time, as shown in FIG. 5(c), the node N2 rapidly rises from the "L" level to the "H" level, while the node N2 is pulled down to the "L" level from the "H" level gradually as shown in FIG. 5(d), since the N type MOS transistors 8-11 function as the high resistance elements. Therefore, the P type MOS transistor 7 has conducted before the node N1 rises to the "H" level, while the P type MOS transistor 6 conducts when the node N2 is pulled down to the "L" level. Therefore as shown in FIG. 5(e), a one shot pulse by which the sources of the P type MOS transistors 6 and 7 attain the "L" level only during a period T1 is output as .phi..sub.OUT.
Conversely, when the clock input .phi..sub.IN is pulled from the "H" level to the "L" level, the node N2 rapidly rises to the "H" level from the "L" level, and the node N.sub.1 is gradually pulled to the "L" level from the "H" level. As a result, a one shot pulse which attains the "L" level only during a period T2 is output as .phi..sub.OUT.
In the ATD circuit show in FIG. 4, as described above, it takes a longer period of time for .phi..sub.OUT to change its level from "L" to "H" in the case in which the node N2 changes its level from "H" to "L" as compared to the case in which the node N1 changes its level from the "H" to "L", resulting in different one shot pulse widths between T1 and T2. Accordingly, the ATD circuit shown in FIG. 4 suffers from a disadvantage that accessing time varies depending upon change in address when used for an SRAM or a DRAM.

Pulse generating circuit for semiconductor device


A lighting fixture for a vehicle includes: at least one light source; and a housing including a housing main body and an outer lens. The housing includes a partition wall which partitions a housing space, formed by the outer lens and the housing main body into a housing space exposed portion and a housing space shielded portion which houses and shields the at least one light source. The partition wall includes: at least one opening provided ahead of the at least one light source and through which outputted light passes from the housing space shielded portion to the housing space exposed portion; and at least one reflection wall portion including a reflection surface which reflects the outputted light toward a direction on the side of the vehicle such that an irradiating region of the outputted light is widened, and extending to the housing space exposed portion to shield the at least one light source so as to prevent the at least one light source from being visually contacted from a direction front of the vehicle. The irradiating light is formed by reflected light of the outputted light reflected by the reflection surface and outputted through the outer lens.

The present invention relates to a lighting fixture used for vehicle, and, in particular, to a lighting fixture for vehicle preferable for being provided for a door mirror.
Conventionally, as a lighting fixture for vehicle, there is known a lighting fixture for vehicle in which a lighting fixture housing, where a plurality of LEDs (Light-Emitting Diodes) arrayed in a row are provided as a light source inside the lighting fixture housing equipped with an outer lens and a housing main body, is provided in the mirror housing of the door mirror of a vehicle. Such a lighting fixture for vehicle is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2002-79885.
Further, some conventional lighting fixtures for vehicle are set that each LED is arranged such that a plurality of irradiating regions, which are formed on an outer lens by outputted light directly heading from the plurality of LEDs to the outer lens, are adjacent at a predetermined gap or less, and all LEDs are simultaneously turned ON so as to satisfy legal standards for treating the LEDs as a single lighting fixture. The lighting fixture for vehicle is treated as a single lighting fixture, and can be used as a direction indicator by allowing each LED to simultaneously blink at predetermined time gap.
However, in the conventional lighting fixture for vehicle, although it is treated as a single lighting fixture, irradiating light is formed by the outputted light directly heading from the plurality of LEDs to the outer lens, and the arranging positions of a plurality of LEDs become locally bright and the plurality of LEDs in a turned-ON state is recognizable in the case of looking at the irradiating light via the outer lens. For this reason, the irradiating light has uneven brightness, and causes the reduction of visual quality the lighting fixture for vehicle during light-ON.
Further, the conventional lighting fixture for vehicle is structured that the outputted light from a plurality of LEDs directly head to the outer lens. For this reason, each LED is visually contacted via the outer lens from the outside of the outer lens during light-OFF, causing the reduction of visual quality of the lighting fixture for vehicle during light-OFF.


A conjugate gradient solver apparatus is provided for generating data defining a solution vector x for a linear system represented by Ax=b where A is a predetermined matrix and b is a predetermined vector. The apparatus includes solver circuitry and a precision controller. The solver circuitry processes input data, defining said matrix A and vector b, in accordance with an iterative conjugate gradient method to generate said data defining the solution vector x. The solver circuitry is adapted to process data items, corresponding to vectors used in said conjugate gradient method, having a variable fixed-point data format. The precision controller determines the fixed-point data formats of respective said data items adaptively during progress of the conjugate gradient method in the solver circuitry.

Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to information processing and, in particular, to conjugate gradient solvers for linear systems.
Description of the Related Art
This invention relates generally to conjugate gradient solvers for linear systems of equations, and provides conjugate gradient solver apparatus for generating data defining a solution vector for such a linear system.
The solution of linear systems of equations is fundamental to numerous scientific and engineering applications. Efficient solution of large scale linear systems is critical for achieving high energy efficiency and fast turn-around times, as well as permitting handling of increasingly-complex problems in the real-world application in question.
Linear systems can be represented in general by Ax=b, where A is a (typically symmetric, positive-definite) matrix of dimensions n×n (i.e., n rows and n columns), and b is a vector of dimensions n×1 (n rows and 1 column). Linear system solvers provide processing apparatus for processing input data defining the elements of matrix A and vector b to generate data defining the solution vector x for the system. The processing operation can be performed in accordance with various known techniques for solving linear systems. These techniques can generally be divided into direct methods, which aim to provide a solution in a fixed number of steps, and iterative methods. Iterative methods aim to improve on a current solution in each successive iteration until a desired precision is achieved. The conjugate gradient method is a well-known technique which can be implemented as an iterative method for solving linear systems.
Through use of solver circuitry specifically adapted to the computational task in question, hardware linear system solvers can exploit the parallelism inherent in the solution process to offer efficient solver implementations. Use of a fixed-point data format for processing data items in the solver circuitry offers further efficiency advantages. Fixed-point solvers can be implemented with high computational density, low power, small circuit area and small data widths (e.g., 8 or 16 bits) for data items, enabling particularly fast and efficient operation. However, the small dynamic range offered by the fixed-point data format severely limits its application in linear system solvers. In general, fixed-point solvers can only be used in scenarios requiring very low precision or with a limited class of solution methods having constraints suited to a restricted dynamic range. One example involves the use of fixed-point solvers for implementing the Lanczos method after preconditioning of the input matrix A.
For linear system solvers based on the conjugate gradient method, use of a fixed-point data format would likely cause overflow errors and strongly distort the result. The solver would tend to abort after only a few iterations, returning a very inaccurate solution. To avoid this problem, state of the art conjugate gradient solvers use a floating-point data representation. While the floating-point format offers wide dynamic range, arithmetic operations are costly in terms of time, power and circuit area, frustrating the key objective of enhancing system efficiency.

Conjugate gradient solvers for linear systems

International Business Machines Corporation


A self-baking, Soderberg type carbon anode (40) for use in an aluminum electrolyses cell (1) to form product aluminum (11), where the anode (40) is consumable in molten electrolyte (12) in the cell, the anode having top, bottom and side surfaces and at least four layers of vertically disposed plate inserts (48) meltable in the molten electrolyte, the plate inserts (48) preferably made of aluminum and are capable of melting to create hollow vertical slots (52) at the bottom of the anode facilitating any gas bubbles (60) generated to channel to the side of the anode into the electrolyte (12).

Aluminum is produced conventionally by the electrolysis of alumina dissolved in cryolite-based (usually as NaF plus AlF3) molten electrolytes at temperatures between about 900° C. and 1000° C.; the process is known as the Hall-Heroult process. A Hall-Heroult reduction cell/"pot" typically comprises a steel shell having an insulating lining of refractory material, which in turn has a lining of carbon that contacts the molten constituents. Conductor bars connected to the negative pole of a direct current source are embedded in the carbon cathode substrate that forms the cell bottom floor. In general carbon anodes are consumed with evolution of carbon oxide gas (CO2 and CO), as gas bubbles and the like.
The consumption of carbon anodes in molten electrolyte is shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,480,474 and 3,756,929 (Johnson FIG. 6a and Schmidt-Hatting et al. FIG. 1, respectively). Anodes are at least partially submerged in the bath and those anodes as well as their support structures are replaced regularly once the carbon is consumed. Alumina is fed into the bath during cell operation and it is important to have good alumina dissolution. The anode gas bubbles will help to create/cause bath flow and turbulence. It is important to create a good turbulence by anode gas bubbles to the extent favorable to increase alumina dissolution.
Traditional technology relied on natural flow of gases from under the carbon anodes during the aluminum reduction process, but this delayed gas bubble removal and decreases efficiencies and aluminum production. This presence and build up of gas generated during electrolysis has been a continuing problem in the industry and a cause of high energy requirements, and to efficiently operate the electrolysis cells, the electrodes must be properly designed.
As used to produce aluminum by the Hall-Heroult electrolytic process, there are two anode technologies. One is a pre-baked anode characterized by U.S. Pat. No. 2,480,474, mentioned previously, and U.S. Ser. No. 10/799,036, filed on Mar. 11, 2004 (Barclay et al.) The other is a "Soderberg" self-baking anode cell technology characterized by U.S. Pat. No. 3,996,117 (Graham et al.). In a pre-baked cell, there are usually 10 up to 40 anodes depending on cell size (amperage). Soderberg cells have only one large self-baking anode of approximate size, 2-3 meters wide and 5-6 meters in length. This self-baking is taught by Soderberg in U.S. Pat. No. 1,440,724.
As described by Edwards et al. in Aluminum and Its Production, MCGraw-Hill, New York, 1930, pp. 300-307, carbon anodes can be made of a mixture of carbon, pitch and tar which is pressed into molds and subsequently baked in a baking oven, or they can be made by the Soderberg technique.
In the Soderberg technique, a steel casing is used to hold carbonaceous material of electrode paste of carbon and tar-pitch. The electrode mix at the bottom end, for example in a cryolite bath, is gradually baked to provide a dense, baked carbon electrode of good conductivity, and then consumed in the cryolite by electrolysis.
As for pre-baked anodes, the use of single and multiple bottom anode slots, across the entire anode bottom, to improve gas release in aluminum processing has been reported in Light Metals, "How to Obtain Open Feeder Holes by Installing Anodes with Tracks", B. P. Moxnes et al., Edited by B. Welch, The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society, 1998, pp. 247-255. There, 1.4 meter anodes were tested.
As shown by previously mentioned Barclay et al. U.S. Ser. No. 10/799,036 inward non-continuous slots in the bottom of a pre-baked anode can facilitate gas bubble movement and reduce energy consumption. U.S. Pat. No. 4,602,990 (Boxall et al.) taught bottom sloped either pre-baked or Soderberg anodes conforming to a sloped cathode design to either enhance or inhibit gas bubble motion However, the sloped anode can only be coupled with sloped cathodes and it cannot be used in a flat bottom cathode cell.
With their large bottom surface area Soderberg anodes can present serious problems in gas evolution. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,996,117 (Graham et al.). A carbon block anode disposed between a steel jacket provided for the upper sides of the anode is illustrated as well as anode gas, primarily CO2 bubbles, which are substantially trapped below an alumna containing crust.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,030,335 (Olsen), the trapped CO2 gas was recognized as a problem during the passing of the CO2 gas to a disposal burner, since the gas would also contain pitch volatiles and the combustion product would have to be wet or dry cleaned. Also, breaks in the crust would allow gas escape in the furnace building. In this patent, a plurality of liftable cover plates was used as seals. In this patent, the side steel jacket/manifold for the Soderberg anode is more clearly shown. None of the previous two Soderberg cell designs solves problems of CO2 gas formation of the bottom of the anode.
In a self-baking Soderberg electrolysis cell, during electrolysis, a large quantity of anode gas (40 to 50 kg CO2/hour) is produced on the single anode bottom surface, and the anode gas has to travel a considerable distance before it can be released from the bottom surface of the anode. The gas bubbles coalesce and grow even larger before they escape from large anode bottom surface. This process of the anode gas bubble formation, coalescence, and release/escape from anode surface creates significant cell instability, and therefore, Soderberg cells usually have a lower current efficiency than pre-baked cells. At the same time, the anode gas bubbles cover a large percentage of the bottom anode surface and that results in a significant increase in electrical resistance and cell voltage, resulting in a higher energy consumption than pre-baked cell technologies.
What is needed is a Soderberg carbon anode design that will quickly channel anode gas out of the bottom horizontal surface to improve cell current efficiency, increase cell stability and reduce electrical resistance.
It is a main object of this invention to provide a cell design to reduce the amount of gas bubbles at the bottom surface of self-baking Soderberg anodes.

Method for reducing cell voltage and increasing cell stability by in-situ formation of slots in a Soderberg anode


A detector detects the end of a serial bit stream wherein the serial bit stream is based on one clock and the detector (and other associated circuitry) is based on a different, asynchronous clock. An Exclusive OR block receives the serial bit stream and a digital strobe signal according to IEEE High Performance Serial Bus Specification 1394. Based on this standard, one but not both of the serial bit stream and digital strobe signal changes level every data interval. The Exclusive OR block outputs a periodic signal when the serial bit stream and digital strobe signal are present but outputs a constant digital level upon termination of the serial bit stream and digital strobe signal. The detector also includes a first register coupled to receive the output of the receiver, a second register coupled to receive the output of the first register and a third register coupled to receive the output of the second register. All three registers are clocked simultaneously. The serial bit stream and digital strobe signal are asynchronous relative to the clock. Hardware logic determines when contents of the third register is same as contents of the second register; this indicates termination of the serial bit stream and digital strobe signal.

The invention relates generally to electronic communications hardware and deals more particularly with a technique to detect the end of a serial bit stream which does not include an explicit end of bit stream signal.
There are many applications where serial data is transmitted from a source to a destination. For example, digital data may be sent serially from a television transmission station to a data converter in a subscriber's home via a satellite in a compressed format. The data converter receives the serial data and then converts it to parallel format for processing by digital decompression hardware. The data converter needs to determine when the serial bit stream has ended; otherwise the data converter could interpret the subsequent lull as a series of data bits of constant level. Some communication protocols require an explicit end of bit stream signal or "footer", and the data converter merely senses that signal to determine when the serial bit stream has ended. However, when the data is sent according to a standard defined by IEEE High Performance Serial Bus Specification 1394, there is no explicit signal identifying the end of the serial bit stream. Rather, the serial bit stream merely ends after the last of the normal data bits.
The problem is further complicated in data converters which are operated asynchronously relative to the serial bit stream which is received, i.e. the received serial bit stream is based on a clock of the source whereas the data converter generates and uses its own clock to determine the end of the serial bit stream (and perform the serial to parallel conversion and decompression).
Accordingly, a general object of the present invention is to provide circuitry and a method to detect the end of a serial bit stream which does not include an explicit end of bit stream signal.
A more specific object of the present invention is to provide a detector of the foregoing type which operates on a serial bit stream which is asynchronous relative to a clock within the detector.

Apparatus and method for detecting end of serial bit stream

International Business Machines Corporation