An improved combing or opening roll assembly for open-end spinning machines includes means for cleaning the inner cavities by direct axial injection of compressed air into the cavity, and an outer surface configuration designed to inhibit or prevent accumulation of microdust and fibers thereon. One outer surface of the roller unit includes a color-coded speed indicating means which enables an operator immediately to visualize the relative speed of rotation, as a safety factor decreasing the likelihood that an operator would inadvertently touch the combing ring during rotation.

Several types of opening cylinders and rollers exist for use on open end spinning machines, and are used for combing and aligning the fibrous materials being processed. Such units are described in various U.S. Patents including those numbered U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,067,625; 4,939,897; 4,805,395; 3,750,380; and 5,088,266 (as examples only). Most of the known devices include a shaft rotatably mounted in a bearing housing, and an opening roller mounted on the end of the shaft which projects from the bearing box. These fittings are subjected to incredibly high stress and must be replaced periodically. Prior art devices and patents teach the manufacturing of a base member and ring which can be removed and exchanged when worn. Still others teach a structure and methodology for protecting the bearings of the opening roller shaft from entrance of contaminants such as fiber remnants, fiber fly, and microdust. The penetration of fibers and microdust particles into the cylinder roll and casing, if allowed to accumulate, can cause speed loss and even bearing seizure or jamming, and such contaminants substantially shorten the life of the components.
Most approaches to cleaning the bearing box and shaft of the opening roller involve the removal of at least the cylinder ring in order to remove the fibers and dust particles collected in the spacial tolerances around the bearing box and shaft. Such a procedure of course requires a considerable amount of machine down time and labor. One later approach taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,939,897 involves the use of an opening cylinder having at least two air passageways or ducts through which compressed air is injected to bow out contaminants and clean the inner cylinder. The structure described therein creates an air flow pattern whereby compressed air injected into one of the ducts must move through a recess in the inner body of the cylinder, into a radial connecting duct, and then into the hollow cavity surrounding the bearing housing. Contaminant material, then exits an opposite radial connecting duct and out a second cleaning duct. Therefore the airflow pattern is not along a direct or clean flow path, causing some loss of air pressure and resulting cleaning capacity.
It was to the provision of an opening roller or cylinder having an improved structure for maintenance purposes, and to the provision of means for improving the safety of maintenance procedures, that the present inventor turned. Further objectives were improved operation due to decreases in maintenance time, and increased cost effectiveness due to extended life of component parts.
The present invention is directed to an improved opening roller or cylinder assembly: having a plurality of ducts for injection of air into the roller along a direct path parallel to the axis of the rotating shaft; having a surface-mounted means for propelling dust and fiber contaminants away from the roller assembly; and having visual means for demonstrating rotation of the assembly so that personnel do not touch or otherwise engage the roller during machine operation.
The present device is adaptable to all types of existing machinery and to various ring styles. The roller head is designed to accommodate combing rings wound with opening wire, or rings with needles mounted in any surface arrangement. Generally, prior art devices require that the opening roller be removed from the machine, and special tools be used, to remove the wire or pin rings. However, with the present invention, the rings can be replaced at the machine without special tooling or machine downtime.
The structure that enables the meeting of these objectives includes: a combing roll head having contoured outer surfaces which eliminate accumulation of dust and fibers thereon; separable components whereby forward and rear collar members are threadedly connected to each other to support a combing ring therebetween; the collars having threads formed in counterclockwise relationship such that jamming of the components is eliminated; wedge-shaped projections on the outer surface of the rear collar to create turbulence and propel dust away from the roller assembly; at least two air ducts, one on either side of the bore through which the shaft is mounted, aligned parallel to the shaft, and extending directly into the hollow cavity which surrounds the bearing box; and at least one countersunk, color-coded bore on the outer collar for indicating when the roller head is in rotation or is at a standstill.
By utilizing such a structure it has been possible to substantially reduce the machine downtime, increase the life of the roller head and components, reduce maintenance costs, and reduce risk of injury to personnel. The structure, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description studied in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.


A ball grid array package (BGA) according to the present invention has an interposer between a bond pad on the lower surface of the substrate and the solder ball. The interposer has a conductive portion in contact with the bond pad surrounded by a nonconductive or insulating portion. The conductive portion in contact with the bond pad is sufficiently constrained from widening during a subsequent reflow process by the presence of the nonconductive or insulating portion. The contact with the bond pad is sufficiently small to allow traces to pass near the bond pad substantially directly en route to another bond pad. The nonconductive portion also prevents subsequently-applied encapsulant from coming in contact with and contaminating the bond pad. The elevated surface of the interposer, i.e. the surface of the interposer furthest from the bond pad, supports the solder ball, and is sufficiently wide to support the solder ball without allowing the solder ball to come in contact with the traces. The solder ball and the trace routing on the lower surface of the substrate is in different planes, thereby allowing a simplified trace routing, but retaining and even increasing rigidity of the structure and coplanarity of the solder balls.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic semiconductor device, and more specifically to a ball grid array (BGA) package.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many electronic devices include integrated circuits mounted on printed circuit boards. Integrated circuits, or dies, have been typically packaged for ease of installation on the printed circuit board. Small packages provide a competitive advantage in consumer products by limiting the size of the printed circuit board to enhance the portability of the electronic devices.
Integrated circuits typically have leads, or bond wires, for connection to a printed circuit board. However, as integrated circuits have become more complex, the number of leads has increased. This increase in lead count, coupled with the reduction in package size, has lead to leads having a finer pitch. The finer lead pitch allows a small package size and the resulting high density board assembly. However, the fine pitch of the leads has made it difficult to assemble the board.
Ball grid array (BGA) packages allow small integrated circuits to be connected easily on the "mother" circuit board. The die is mounted on one surface of a substrate, and a number of electrically conductive traces or wires are patterned onto a surface of the substrate. More particularly, fine pitch traces radiate outward from the die, with each trace connected, at one end, to the lead from the die and, at the other end, to a bond pad to which a solder ball is electrically connected.
A circuit board typically has an insulating layer covering a layer of conductive interconnects. Ball grid array packages are typically mounted onto a circuit board by reflowing the solder balls into holes in the insulating layer to connect with the conductive interconnect layer of the printed circuit board. Solder balls typically widen slightly during connection to the printed circuit board, during thermal cycling of the die during testing, and/or during operation of the device. Therefore, the solder balls are initially spaced apart a minimum distance from one another, from the traces to which connection is to be prevented, and from the die, even for smaller packages.
Also, a thicker substrate having a recess or cavity in the upper surface in a "cavity up" BGA has been used where the die is mounted within the cavity, allowing a stiffer package without increasing overall profile height. This package stiffness enhances the coplanarity of the solder balls. To achieve greater stiffness, package designers have added stiffeners, additional substrates, and thicker substrates. "Cavity up" BGA have experienced uncompensated inductances due to both the bending of the traces through the vias and the bending of the traces around the solder balls on the lower surface, particularly at higher frequencies. In particular, the "cavity up" substrate has typically included traces on the upper surface, connected to the die, which passed through small through-holes or "vias" in the substrate to the lower surface of the substrate. The traces on the lower surface of the substrate extend from the vias to connect with the solder balls. Like the "up" BGA, because the solder balls have been distributed on the lower surface of the substrate, the routing of the traces on the lower surface of the substrate was not rectilinear, and often when routing the traces they were "bent" around some other solder balls en route to the desired solder ball.
The uncompensated inductances due to the bending of the traces through the vias was reduced in "cavity down" BGA, since a cavity on the lower surface of a substrate allowed a die to be mounted on the cavity ceiling, almost completely within the substrate. The leads of the integrated circuit or die formed bond wire loops connecting directly to the traces on the lower surface of the substrate, thereby eliminating both the upper traces and the vias through the substrate.
For example, referring to FIG. 1, a "cavity down" ball grid array (BGA) package includes a substrate 102, having an upper surface 102a and a lower surface 102b, and a recessed central cavity 104 in the lower surface 102b. The substrate 102 is made of FR4, a thin printed wiring board (PWB) material. A semiconductor die 106 is mounted to the ceiling or top of the cavity 104 by a heat-dissipating, epoxy adhesive. The lower surface 102b of the substrate 102 is covered with a patterned lead frame of copper, forming a lead frame of traces 112 that extend outwardly from the edge of the cavity 104 with each trace ending on a bond pad 114a metallurgically wetted to a solder ball 114. The traces 112 have been typically very fine patterns of metallic conductors, each trace providing electrical connection between one of the solder balls 114 and a corresponding bond wire 116 at the edge of the cavity 104. The solder balls 114 are grouped near the periphery of the lower surface 102b of the substrate 102, for protection from possible widening.
The bond wire 116 at the edge of the cavity 104 is connected by either inner lead bonding (either thermosonic or thermocompression) or wire-bonding to a lead on the die 106. Although not shown in FIG. 1, the substrate 102 may have several layers of traces 112 separated by dielectric layers, each trace 112 of each lead frame being separately connected to a bond wire 116. The bond wires 116 loop height therefore create a "bump" 116a on the lower surface 102b of the substrate 102. Even when only one lead frame of traces 112 is included, the bond wires 116 create a bump on the lower surface 102b of the substrate 102. If desired, a heat sink 118 schematically shown in FIG. 1, can be positioned to pass through the substrate 102 into the cavity 104, to remove heat generated by the die 106. "Cavity down" BGA are also desired due to their improved thermal performance. The lower surface of the die 106 adheres directly to the thermally conductive heat spreader. This facilitates the use of an additional heat sink 108, externally attached, as well.
While "cavity down" ball grid array packages have reduced the uncompensated inductances caused by bending of the traces 112 through the vias, they have not eliminated the significant uncompensated impedance created by the bending of the traces 112 around the solder balls 114 on the lower surface 102b. This problem of bending in the routing of traces has been exacerbated as pin count (and consequently solder ball count) has increased. As can now be seen, the solder balls 114 nearer to the cavity obstruct a direct, rectilinear path between the bond wires 116 and the solder balls 114 nearer to the periphery of the substrate 102.
Yet another problem with ball grid array routing is the tight dimensional tolerance for implementing the traces 112. As the number of solder balls 114 has increased, the distance between adjacent solder balls 114 has diminished, leaving very little space for the traces 112. As package size was reduced and pin count increased, proportionally more of the package surface area was covered with solder balls, and hence the trace routing became more difficult to implement between the solder balls.
Another problem with existing ball grid arrays involve the encapsulation of the lower surface 102b of the substrate 102. Encapsulating the package in a resin, liquid, or other protective material dispensed within the cavity has provided some measure of physical, electrical and thermal protection of the package from other packages on the shared printed circuit board. Referring again to FIG. 1, once fabricated, the package is encapsulated giving rise to at least three problems. First, the encapsulant 110 can amass in the vicinity of the bond wires 116 on the lower surface of the substrate 102, that could create an uneven surface or bump 116a that reduces the coplanarity of the solder balls 114. Solder balls 114 closer to the bump 116a may be prevented from coming into contact with the circuit board by the presence of the bump, even though other solder balls 114 may make appropriate connection. Second, the mass of encapsulant 110 intrudes on the standoff of the package and may prevent the solder balls 114 from reaching the circuit board. The standoff of a package is the distance between the lower surface the package and the upper surface of the circuit board. Third, the spreading of encapsulant 110 is difficult to control, and encapsulant 110 may come into contact with the bond pads 114a, thereby contaminating the bond pads 114a.
It will be recognized by one skilled in the art that other ball grid array structures are known. Some have been "cavity up," some have been "cavity down," and some have multiple cavities on the same substrate. Additionally, some have more than one substrate. Many of these have particular advantages over the prior art described, but these variations of designs do not eliminate the basic problem in routing and the thickness of the encapsulant 110 and the consequent reduction in profile standoff during the solder reflow to bond the package to the external printed circuit board.

Interposer for ball grid array (BGA) package


In an assembly for controlling the temperature of a fountain fluid and/or selected rollers of a printing machine, which includes a fountain fluid circulating system, a cooling fluid circulating system, a refrigerant circulating system, and a means for selectively operating one or, simultaneously, more than one of the circulating systems, a common heat exchanging means is provided. The common heat exchanging means comprising a plurality of flow passages disposed in heat exchanging adjacent relationship with each other, and a distributing means for connecting each of the circulating systems to a selected series of flow passages of the common heat exchanging means. Adjacent flow passages can be connected to different circulating systems for heat exchange therebetween. The temperature-controlling assembly therefore can be operated in different heat exchanging functions.

The invention relates to an assembly for controlling the temperature of a fountain fluid and/or selected rollers of a printing machine. The invention relates in particular to an assembly including a fountain fluid circulating system for supplying a fountain fluid application means with a fountain fluid, and a cooling fluid circulating system for supplying a roller cooling means with a cooling fluid.

Assembly for controlling the temperature of a fountain fluid and/or selected rollers of a printing machine


A magnetic recording medium and method for forming the magnetic recording medium are described. The magnetic recording medium includes a magnetic layer formed on a non-magnetic support, and a lubricant layer over the magnetic layer. The lubricant layer includes a compound selected from the group consisting of hydrocarbyl-substituted cyclopentanes, hydrocarbyl-substituted cyclopentenes, hydrocarbyl-substituted cyclopentadienes, and mixtures or derivatives thereof. The lubricant layer also may be used on a magnetic head for reading and writing information on a magnetic recording medium. The magnetic recording medium and the magnetic head may be used to manufacture computer disk drives, compact disk drives, audio equipment, and video equipment.

Thin-film magnetic recording disks and disk drives are commonly used for storing a large amount of data in magnetizable form. Over the last decade, magnetic recording has become the predominant technology for the storage of digital information in modern computer systems.
Magnetic recording generally is accomplished by the relative motion between a magnetic medium and a magnetic recording head. A magnetic recording head consists of a small electromagnet with a gap facing the magnetic medium. During writing, a current is applied to the windings of the electromagnet, thus creating a fringing field at the head gap and magnetizing the magnetic medium according to the direction of the current applied to the head. During reading, the flux from the magnetic medium is intercepted from the head core, inducing a voltage pulse in the coil of the read head.
FIGS. 1A and 1B illustrate a typical disk drive. FIG. 1A is a top plan view of the disk drive, and FIG. 1B is a side view of the disk drive. The disk drive 10 generally includes a magnetic disk 11 and a disk head 16 for writing and reading information to and from the magnetic disk 11. The disk head 16 may include a read/write element 12 and a slider 13. The disk head 16 is connected to a suspension arm 14, which is, in turn, connected to a rotary actuator 15.
A common method to store or retrieve data is called contact start/stop (also known as "CSS"). In a typical CSS operation, the disk head and the surface of the magnetic disk are set so that they are in contact with each other at the start of the operation. Thereafter, a space of an air layer is formed between the head and the surface of the magnetic disk by giving a predetermined rotation to the magnetic disk. In this state, recording or reproduction of data is performed. At the end of the operation, the rotation of the magnetic disk is stopped. At this point, the head and the surface of the magnetic disk are in a frictional contact state as when the operation is started. The frictional force produced between the head and the magnetic disk in this frictional contact state wears the head and the magnetic disk. Eventually, this frictional force may damage the head and the magnetic disk. Furthermore, in the frictional contact state, a slight change in altitude of the head sometimes renders the load on the head non-uniform, thus resulting in damage to the head and the surface of the magnetic disk.
To prevent the wear of the magnetic disk caused by the contact with and sliding on the head, a lubricant layer is provided on the surface of the magnetic disk. A common lubricant used in magnetic disks is perfluoropolyether ("PFPE"). To increase the wear resistance of the magnetic disk and to protect the magnetic material from the corrosive effect of the PFPE lubricant, a protective layer is sometimes provided between the magnetic medium and the lubricant layer. The protective layer may include amorphous carbon, diamond-like carbon, and other materials.
Due to the prevalent use of computers, increases in the areal data storage density of a magnetic disk have continued rapidly and unabatedly for almost 40 years. The trend towards high recording densities is expected to continue. For example, the current areal density is about 0.5 gigabytes per square inch. The next generation disks are going to have an areal density of about 10 gigabytes per square inch. In a few years, the areal density is expected to exceed 40 gigabytes per square inch. To achieve a high recording density, the magnetic head should be positioned as close as possible to the surface of the magnetic medium. The distance between the tip of the magnetic head and the surface of the magnetic medium is referred to as "flight height". For example, to achieve an areal density of about 0.5 gigabytes per square inch, a flight height in the range of about 25–30 nm is required. To achieve an areal density of 10 gigabytes per square inch, the flight height should be decreased to about 10–15 nm. If an areal density of 40 gigabytes per square inch is desired, the flight height should be further decreased to about 3.5 nm. This means that the thickness of the lubricant layer (or film) and the thickness of the protective layer should sum to about 3 nm or less. Consequently, the reliability of the head-disk interface becomes more dependent on the life and performance of the lubricant film as the conquest for higher density disks continues. In other words, the characteristics of the lubricant film, such as its physical, chemical, and tribological properties, have a critical impact on the performance of such high density disks.
First, the lubricant film or layer should last for the lifetime of the drive. If the lubricant layer wears away prematurely, the disk drive would fail accordingly. Furthermore, the lubricant layer should be resistant to chemical degradation. Chemical degradation of the lubricant layer can be induced by thermal decomposition, catalytic reaction with solid surfaces, and mechanical shearing due to high-speed contact with the disk head.
In addition to chemical stability, a major challenge in developing disk lubricant systems is to provide adequate durability without increasing stiction to unacceptable levels. During the lifetime of a magnetic disk, the disk head goes through thousands stop and start cycles. If the static friction forces between the disk head and the magnetic medium becomes too large, the drive motor may not develop sufficient torque to restart disk spinning. This may lead to failure of the disk drive.
As mentioned above, PFPEs have been used extensively to form a lubricant film in a magnetic recording medium. PFPEs are relatively expensive. Therefore, cheaper alternatives are more desirable. Although PFPEs have good thermal stability, they decompose readily when they are in contact with Lewis acids. This is an important consideration because the head often is fabricated from an Al2O3/TiC composite, and Al2O3 can be converted to AlF3, a strong Lewis acid. This formation of AlF3 leads to chemical degradation of PFPE lubricants. Moreover, use of chlorofluorohydrocarbons ("CFCs") as solvent generally is involved when PFPEs are applied to a magnetic medium. CFCs have detrimental effects on the ozone layer, and use thereof should be avoided, if possible.
In view of the foregoing discussion, in order to meet the challenge of the information age, there is a need to develop magnetic recording media with a lubricant layer that is more chemically and mechanically robust to withstand high shear rates and harsh environments. The lubricant layer should allow decreased flight height so that higher areal densities may be achieved. Furthermore, it is desirable that such lubricant be relatively inexpensive, and that no CFCs be used in forming the lubricant layer.

Lubricant for magnetic recording medium and use thereof


A spray head and air atomizing assembly for providing atomizing air in an air sprayer or other delivery device in which the atomizing assembly includes converging, spiral atomizing fluid passageways. The invention also relates to a method and system for applying materials to a substrate using atomizing air as a vehicle for delivering a component to the application fluid or for conditioning the application fluid.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a spray head air atomizing assembly and more specifically to an air atomizing assembly to control the flow of atomizing air in a fluid spray or other delivery device such as an air sprayer for spraying paints, adhesives, coatings, and other semi-liquid materials. The invention also relates to a method and system of spraying or applying such materials by using the atomizing air or air stream as a vehicle for delivering catalyst, an agent, moisture or other component to the application fluid and of conditioning the application fluid.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Two common types of spray or delivery devices exist for spraying or delivering a fluid to a substrate. One such device is a so-called airless type sprayer or delivery device in which an application fluid is forced through one or more nozzle openings at high pressure. With this type of device, the fluid is atomized or disbursed into tiny droplets as a result of the pressurized fluid passing through the nozzle opening.
A second such device is an air or air atomized spray gun or delivery device in which the application fluid passes through a nozzle orifice, at pressures usually much lower than the pressures employed with airless spraying, in combination with atomizing air flowing through a plurality of air orifices surrounding the nozzle opening. The atomizing air functions to atomize or disperse the application fluid after its exit from the nozzle opening.
While many of the air atomizing assemblies of the prior art are generally acceptable when being used to atomize relatively low viscosity materials such as paint which , because of their physical characteristics, are broken up and atomized easily, the performance of such assemblies is limited and less than satisfactory when used to atomize high viscosity materials (in excess of about 3,000 centipoises) and materials which have a high surface tension such as epoxies, urethanes, polyureas and other adhesives. These high viscosity and high surface tension materials are difficult to atomize and thus tend to "string" a lot as the application material travels from the spray nozzle to the substrate.
Further, in prior art air atomizing sprayers or application systems, the atomizing air has been used primarily as a means to atomize or disperse the application fluid, with the introduction of secondary reaction components or other agents, catalysts and components being accomplished via other conventional means.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for an improved air atomizing assembly, and more particularly a need for an air atomizing nozzle assembly which provides improved atomization of both conventional low viscosity materials such as paints as well as materials which have a relatively high viscosity and/or a high surface tension such as adhesives and the like. There is also need in the art for improved methods and systems of conditioning the application fluid and introducing and mixing secondary reaction components, agents and catalysts with the application fluid.

Air atomizing assembly and method and system of applying an air atomized material


Efficient hierarchical searching is based on object type. By pre-computing additional information and storing it in a fast-lookup structure, it is possible to quickly identify objects that satisfy an object retrieval request. Furthermore, it is also possible to use this technique to avoid object hydration for operations in the store. Moreover, it is possible to leverage database statistical structures such as histograms to estimate the number of qualifying objects without having to examine each object.

Consumers use their computers primarily for communication and organizing personal information, whether it is traditional personal information manager (PIM) style data or media such as digital music or photographs. The amount of digital content, and the ability to store the raw bytes, has increased tremendously; however the methods available to consumers for organizing and unifying this data has not kept pace. Knowledge workers spend enormous amounts of time managing and sharing information, and some studies estimate that knowledge workers spend 15-25% of their time on non-productive information related activities. Other studies estimate that a typical knowledge worker spends about 2.5 hours per day searching for information.
Traditional approaches to the organization of information in computer systems have centered on the use of file-folder-and-directory-based systems ("file systems") to organize pluralities of files into directory hierarchies of folders based on an abstraction of the physical organization of the storage medium used to store the files. The Multics operating system, developed during the 1960s, can be credited with pioneering the use of the files, folders, and directories to manage storable units of data at the operating system level. Specifically, Multics used symbolic addresses within a hierarchy of files (thereby introducing the idea of a file path) where physical addresses of the files were not transparent to the user (applications and end-users). This file system was entirely unconcerned with the file format of any individual file, and the relationships amongst and between files was deemed irrelevant at the operating system level (that is, other than the location of the file within the hierarchy). Since the advent of Multics, storable data has been organized into files, folders, and directories at the operating system level. These files generally include the file hierarchy itself (the "directory") embodied in a special file maintained by the file system. This directory, in turn, maintains a list of entries corresponding to all of the other files in the directory and the nodal location of such files in the hierarchy (herein referred to as the folders). Such has been the state of the art for approximately forty years.
However, while providing a reasonable representation of information residing in the computer's physical storage system, a file system is nevertheless an abstraction of that physical storage system, and therefore utilization of the files requires a level of indirection (interpretation) between what the user manipulates (units having context, features, and relationships to other units) and what the operating system provides (files, folders, and directories). Consequently, users (applications and/or end-users) have no choice but to force units of information into a file system structure even when doing so is inefficient, inconsistent, or otherwise undesirable. Because most existing file systems utilize a nested folder metaphor for organizing files and folders, as the number of files increases, the effort necessary to maintain an organization scheme that is flexible and efficient becomes quite daunting.
Several unsuccessful attempts to address the shortcomings of file systems have been made in the past. Some of these previous attempts have involved the use of content addressable memory to provide a mechanism whereby data could be accessed by content rather than by physical address. However, these efforts have proven unsuccessful because, while content addressable memory has proven useful for small-scale use by devices such as caches and memory management units, large-scale use for devices such as physical storage media has not yet been possible for a variety of reasons, and thus such a solution simply does not exist. Other attempts using object-oriented database (OODB) systems have been made, but these attempts, while featuring strong database characteristics and good non-file representations, were not effective in handling file representations and could not replicate the speed, efficiency, and simplicity of the file and folder based hierarchical structure at the hardware/software interface system level.
Newly developed storage systems, such as "WinFS" (described further below) store the directory of the files as table(s) in a database. Each file is represented by a row in a table, and file system operations, such as "enumerate all files in a directory", are satisfied using queries against the database engine. Thus, efficiently performing basic operations against the store become operations of efficiently optimizing database queries.
In such storage systems, the concept of a file is extended to that of an "object". Metadata about the file is stored in a managed CLR (common language runtime) object with a schema (defined in the storage system) to represent the allowable descriptive data for that object. For example, a picture would have a representative CLR object that would store data such as its resolution, time it was taken, and location information. This object model supports data inheritance. With data inheritance, it is possible to derive a type from another and add new fields. For example, a sub-class of the picture could be created, such as "DriversLicensePicture". Such a sub-class would contain extra information, such as a Driver's License ID field.
In these newly developed storage systems, such as WinFS, the exposed schemas are mapped to tables through a translation layer. Users only see a series of views of the data instead of operating on the base tables. While the exact design of this mapping is not significant, it serves as the glue between the WinFS API and the underlying storage format. Users do not control or see this mapping directly.
The WinFS Store also exposes the concept of querying objects based on their type, as opposed to their file name as in earlier conventional file systems. Type-based queries can search for an exact type or any type that derives from a given type. This latter form is called hierarchical matching, and it is expected to be a common WinFS operation.
WinFS's schema model poses some new challenges to the query processor. User-defined types, or UDTs, are used extensively, and it is common to retrieve all UDTs from a table based on the UDT type. Furthermore, WinFS uses UDT inheritance, and it is also a requirement to retrieve all elements of a given type and also any subtype from a table. Multiple tables exist, each containing a different number of UDTs, types, type topology, and UDT distribution within that topology. These properties make it difficult to make accurate cardinality and cost estimates, and it also makes it difficult to efficiently retrieve values based on type/subtype hierarchy.
In view of the foregoing deficiencies in existing data storage and database technologies, there is a need for efficient type hierarchy retrieval and cost estimation. The present invention satisfies these needs.


A system and/or a method facilitates creating an image-based video by automatically applying a motion to an image. A motion component can receive the image and generate a corresponding motion, which can mitigate complications involved with authoring the image-based video. The motion component can apply the motion to the image based at least upon a comparison between an aspect ratio of the image and a resulting video aspect ratio. The comparison can be a numeric difference, wherein the difference can be associated with a category, wherein the category provides the motion to be applied.

There is an increasing use of digital photography based upon decreased size and cost of digital cameras and increased availability, usability, and resolution. Manufacturers and the like continuously strive to provide smaller electronics to satisfy consumer demands associated with carrying, storing, and using such electronic devices. Based upon the above, digital photography has demonstrated growth and has proven to be a profitable market for both electronics and software.
A user first experiences the overwhelming benefits of digital photography upon capturing a digital image. While conventional print photography forces the photographer to wait until development of expensive film to view a print, a digital image in digital photography can be viewed within sub-seconds by utilizing a thumbnail image and/or viewing port on a digital camera. Additionally, images can be deleted or saved based upon user preference, thereby allowing efficient use of limited image storage space. In general, digital photography provides a more efficient experience in photography.
Editing techniques available for a digital image are vast and numerous with limitations being only the editor's imagination. For example, a digital image can be edited using techniques such as crop, resize, blur, sharpen, contrast, brightness, gamma, transparency, rotate, emboss, red-eye, texture, draw tools (e.g., a fill, a pen, add a circle, add a box), an insertion of a text, etc. In contrast, conventional print photography merely enables the developer to control developing variables such as exposure time, light strength, type of light-sensitive paper, and various light filters. Moreover, such conventional print photography techniques are expensive whereas digital photography software is becoming more common on computers.
Digital photography also facilitates sharing of images. Once stored, images that are shared with another can accompany a story (e.g., a verbal narration) and/or physical presentation of such images. Regarding conventional print photographs, sharing options are limited to picture albums, which entail a variety of complications involving organization, storage, and accessibility. Moreover, physical presence of the album is a typical manner in which to share print photographs with another.
In view of the above benefits associated with digital photography and deficiencies of traditional print photography, digital images and albums have increasingly replaced conventional print photographs and albums. In particular, image-based video provides a convenient and efficient technique for sharing digital images. Image-based video generally is a slide show of images simulating/emulating motion (e.g., panning, zooming, transitioning, . . . ) through still images. An effect of utilizing image-based video is an enhanced motion video experience that enables details of high-resolution images to be better viewed on a TV screen and/or computer monitor. For example, resolution of a picture taken by a typical 3 Mega Pixel digital still camera is about 2000×1500 pixels whereas resolution of a typical computer monitor is 1024×768 pixels. With the image-based video technique, it is convenient for portions of a 2000×1500 pixel image (e.g., 1024×768 pixels) to be better viewed on a monitor of resolution 1024×768 pixels. This effect is becoming more and more important with the resolution of digital images produced by digital still cameras getting higher and higher. Furthermore, using panning and zooming effects in image-based video, details of such high-resolution pictures can be better viewed on lower resolution display devices such as monitors and/or TV screens.
With the vast sudden exposure to digital photography and digital cameras, the majority of digital camera users are unfamiliar with the plethora of applications, software, techniques, and systems dedicated to generating image-based video presentations. Furthermore, a user typically views and/or prints with little or no delay. Thus, in general, camera users prefer quick and easy image presentation capabilities with high quality and/or aesthetically pleasing features. Traditional image presentation applications and/or software require vast computer knowledge and experience in digital photography editing, (based upon the overwhelming consumer consumption) it is difficult for most users to comprehend and/or to dedicate the necessary time to self-educate themselves in this particular realm.
In view of the above, there is a need to improve upon and/or provide systems and/or methods relating to image-based video creation that facilitate applying motion and transitions to an image to create an aesthetically pleasing viewing experience with minimal user interaction.

Photostory 3—automated motion generation


One embodiment of the present invention relates to a method for detecting a range and velocity of a target. In this method, an electromagnetic wave is transmitted over a frequency range, where a period of the wave comprises a number of consecutive ramps. A first ramp in the period is transmitted over a first portion of the frequency range, and a second ramp in the period is transmitted over a second portion of the frequency range that differs from the first portion. The second ramp is offset by a frequency shift relative to the first ramp. A scattered wave is received from the target and processed to determine the range and the velocity of the target. Other methods and systems are also disclosed.

Radar is a system that uses electromagnetic waves to identity the range, direction, and/or velocity of both moving objects and stationary targets. For example, radar is often used to detect weather conditions, ships, aircraft, motor vehicles, geological formations, as well as many other applications.
To facilitate this functionality, radar systems include a radar transmitter that transmits electromagnetic waves, such as radio waves, which are scattered or reflected by a target. A radar receiver, which is typically in approximately the same location as the transmitter, then receives the scattered wave and analyzes it to determine the range, direction, and/or velocity of the target. Because radio frequency signals are relatively easy to amplify, even though the scattered wave is usually very weak, the receiver can amplify the received scattered wave so it can be suitably processed. Therefore, radar systems can detect objects at ranges where other electromagnetic waves, such as sound or visible light, would be too weak to detect.
As will be appreciated from the above discussion and embodiments described herein, there is an on-going need for improvements in radar systems.

Radar methods and systems using ramp sequences


A system for controlling an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) includes a first user interface configured to receive a first user input and a second user interface configured to receive a second user input. The first user input provides one or more instructions to effect an autonomous flight of the UAV. The second user input provides one or more instructions to modify the autonomous flight of the UAV, The autonomous flight includes a flight towards a target.

Aerial vehicles have a wide range of real-world applications including surveillance, reconnaissance, exploration, logistics transport, disaster relief, aerial photography, large-scale agriculture automation, live video broadcasting, etc. In some applications, an aerial vehicle carrying a payload (e.g., a camera) may be controlled to fly around a target to acquire data or perform certain tasks. With the advancement of sensors and navigation technologies, autonomous flight or control of the aerial vehicles has become possible. The usefulness of aerial vehicles with autonomous flight may be improved.

Systems and methods for adjusting UAV trajectory


The present invention relates to a drive mechanism for a drug delivery device, comprising: a piston rod to operably engage with a piston of a cartridge to displace the piston in a distal direction during a dose dispensing action, at least one actuation member mechanically coupled with the piston rod to induce a distally directed displacement of the piston rod when actuated by a user, a control to ascertain at least one predefined condition of use, and at least one interlock member coupled with the control to mechanically obstruct displacement of the piston rod if the condition of use is not fulfilled.

Chronic diseases require administering of medicaments or drugs according to a predefined time schedule in order to keep the concentration level of a pharmaceutically active substance within given margins. Many medicaments require administration by way of injection. Therefore, patients administering the medicament in self-medication typically make use of syringes or syringe-like drug delivery devices. Such devices should be universally applicable and should be operable even by persons without formal medical training.
Moreover, such devices, like pen-type injectors, should provide accurate, precise and reliable setting of a dose and subsequent dispensing of the respective amount of the medicament. Typically, the medicament to be dispensed and injected is provided in a disposable or replaceable cartridge, such as a vial, an ampoule or a carpule comprising a piston slidably disposed therein to become operably engaged with a piston rod of a drive mechanism of the drug delivery device. The drive mechanism is adapted to apply thrust to the cartridge's piston in a distal direction in order to built-up a respective fluid pressure, which in turn induces dispensing of the liquid medicament via a dispensing or distal end of the cartridge being typically in fluid connection with a piercing element like an injection needle.
It is generally of importance, that the patient strictly follows a given prescription schedule. However with patients that already got used to the medicament for a long time or patients that suffer side effects of a chronic disease and which may be physically or mentally impaired, compliance of the prescription schedule is sometimes sub-optimal. Since a large variety of existing, e.g. disposable drug delivery devices is implemented all-mechanically, it is also rather difficult for an attending physician to control, whether the patient strictly follows the given prescription schedule.
For instance document WO 2011/042540 A1 discloses a safety injection system having a multi-dose delivery module and a removable cap configured to cover a needle on a distal end of the dose delivery module. Said safety injection system further comprises a time lock operatively connected to the cap and the multi-dose delivery module. This way, an automatic lockout feature is provided so that certain users will be effectively prevented from accidental over medication. However, such an automated lockout feature always requires, that the patient or user of the device always returns the removable cap back onto the distal end of the dose delivery module after an injection procedure has been accomplished.

Pen-type drug injection device with controller and time lock-out mechanism for its drive


It is an object of this invention to provide an image input apparatus, image input system, light source control method, and storage medium capable of providing on the market an image input apparatus which greatly reduces the time before actual reading starts and which can be easily used in a manner based upon the energy saving standard. To achieve this object, the image input apparatus includes internal and external light sources for irradiating an original, an internal light source light amount controller for turning on/off the internal light source, an external light source light amount controller for turning on/off the external light source, a CCD for reading an original irradiated with light, a RAM for temporarily storing the read data, an interface circuit for transferring the data stored in the RAM to an external apparatus, and a CPU for turning on the light sources when an application program is enabled by the OS of the external apparatus.

The present invention relates to an image input apparatus, image input system, light source control method, and storage medium and, more particularly, to an image input apparatus, image input system, light source control method, and storage medium suitably applicable to a scanner apparatus or copying machine having a read position aligning function.
Recently, with the explosive spread of personal computers, demand for peripheral devices is also abruptly increasing. In particular, image input apparatuses, so-called scanners, for inputting images from originals are used more widely than expected. Accordingly, in addition to conventional design requirements such as high image quality and high resolution, the maturation of products from the viewpoint of the ease of use, such as the ease of use in general homes, is newly demanded. That is, consideration for beginners, e.g., the ability to input images easier and faster, is of much concern in the market.
Also, in the recent electrical appliance industry, low power consumption is the keyword, and standards and the like meeting this demand are extensively proposed. By achieving items determined by these standards, all manufacturers reflect this demand to their products in order to obtain indices accepted by general customers. As scanner standards, ENERGY STAR (specifications for promoting power saving in standby state, announced by US Environmental Protection Agency) is available as an index for energy saving of electronic appliances. This ENERGY STAR has the reference that the consumption power in standby state should be decreased to 12 W or less. To meet this reference, processing by which, when an original illuminating light source which consumes large power is not used for a long time, a standby mode starts and the lamp is automatically turned off, is installed into a scanner.
Unfortunately, the following problems arise when the above-mentioned processing function by which a standby mode starts and the lamp is automatically turned off if the original illuminating light source is not used for a long time is imparted to a scanner. That is, the temperature characteristic of the lamp used in a scanner has a large effect on the light amount; after the lamp is turned on, a certain time is necessary before a light amount stable enough to start scanning is reached. In currently available scanners, the lamp is turned on at the beginning of scan, and actual image reading is started after the light amount (temperature) of the lamp becomes stable.
Accordingly, a very long time is necessary before reading is actually started after a user has instructed the scanner to start scanning. This gives the user a long waiting time. In addition, this long waiting time sometimes gives the user the anxiety as to whether the scanner itself is normally operating. Also, since the present situation is that the cost is going down steadily, these scanner lamps are gradually replaced with inexpensive ones having inferior temperature characteristics. This tendency is nothing but the cause of worsening the ease of use from the user""s viewpoint for the reasons mentioned earlier, and hence obviously poses a serious problem in the future. Furthermore, in the long waiting time before reading starts, the user is likely to cause operation errors or misunderstand that some inconvenience has occurred.
The present invention has been made in consideration of the above situation, and has as its first object to provide an image input apparatus, image input system, light source control method, and storage medium capable of providing in the market an image input apparatus which greatly reduces the time before actual reading starts and which can be easily used in a manner based upon the energy saving standard.
It is the second object of the present invention to provide an image input apparatus, image input system, light source control method, and storage medium which, while a light amount is unstable, can inhibit the display of an input screen of an image reading application program and can display information indicating that the light amount is currently being adjusted, thereby preventing operation errors and avoiding misunderstanding of an operator.
To achieve the above objects, an image input apparatus according to the present invention is characterized by the following arrangement.
That is an image input apparatus controllable from an external apparatus comprises a light source for irradiating an original, reading means for reading the original irradiated by said light source, and control means for turning on said light source when image input apparatus operating means of said external apparatus is enabled.
Also, an image input system according to the present invention is characterized by the following arrangement.
That is, an image input system comprising an external apparatus and an image input apparatus controllable from said external apparatus, wherein said image input apparatus comprises a light source for irradiating an original, reading means for reading the original irradiated by said light source, and control means for turning on said light source when image input apparatus operating means of said external apparatus is enabled.
According to its first aspect, a light source control method according to the present invention is characterized by the following steps.
That is, a light source control method applied to an image input system comprising an image input apparatus which comprises a light source for irradiating an original, and reading means for reading the original irradiated by said light source, and an external apparatus which comprises image input apparatus operating means, wherein said light source is turned on when said operating means of said external apparatus is enabled.
According to its second aspect, the light source control method according to the present invention is characterized by the following steps.
That is, a light source control method applied to an image input system comprising an image input apparatus which comprises a plurality of light sources for irradiating an original, and reading means for reading the original irradiated by said light sources, and an external apparatus which comprises image input apparatus operating means, and light source selecting means included in said operating means to select a light source to be used in reading from said plurality of light sources, characterized by comprising the steps of turning on all said light sources when said operating means is enabled; turning off a light source except for a light source selected by said light source selecting means when said operating means of said external apparatus generates read designation while said light sources are ON; and turning on a light source selected by said light source selecting means when said operating means of said external apparatus generates read designation while said light sources are OFF.
According to its first aspect, a storage medium according to the present invention is characterized by the following arrangement.
That is, a computer-readable storage medium storing a program for executing a light source control method applied to an image input system comprising an image input apparatus which comprises a light source for irradiating an original, and reading means for reading the original irradiated by said light source, and an external apparatus which comprises image input apparatus operating means, wherein said light source control method turns on said light source when said operating means of said external apparatus is enabled.
According to its second aspect, the storage medium according to the present invention is characterized by the following arrangement.
That is, a computer-readable storage medium storing a program for executing a light source control method applied to an image input system comprising an image input apparatus which comprises a plurality of light sources for irradiating an original, and reading means for reading the original irradiated by said light sources, and an external apparatus which comprises image input apparatus operating means, and light source selecting means included in said operating means to select a light source to be used in reading from said plurality of light sources, wherein said light source control method comprises the steps of: turning on all said light sources when said operating means is enabled; turning off a light source except for a light source selected by said light source selecting means when said operating means of said external apparatus generates read designation while said light sources are ON; and turning on a light source selected by said light source selecting means when said operating means of said external apparatus generates read designation while said light sources are OFF.

Image input apparatus, image input system, light source control method, and storage medium


An image processing system for convolving an image includes processing circuitry that is configured to retrieve the image including a set of rows, a merged kernel, multiple skip values and a pixel base address. The merged kernel includes all non-zero coefficients of a set of kernels. Each skip value corresponds to a location offset of each non-zero coefficient with respect to a previous non-zero coefficient. Further, the processing circuitry is configured to execute a multiply-accumulate (MAC) instruction and a load instruction parallelly in one clock cycle for multiple times, on the set of rows and the merged kernel to convolve the image with the merged kernel. Each row on which the MAC and load instructions are executed is associated with a corresponding non-zero coefficient and a corresponding skip value. The load instruction is executed based on the pixel base address, the corresponding skip value, and a width of each row.

The present disclosure relates generally to image processing systems, and, more particularly, to a system and a method for convolving an image with sparse kernels.
Convolution techniques are utilized for performing various image processing functions (such as object detection and classification) on images based on extracted features of the images. Conventionally, to convolve an image, an image processing system executes vector and scalar load operations to load rows of the image in vector registers and weight coefficients of kernels in a scalar register, respectively, and further executes multiplication and accumulation operations on the loaded rows and the weight coefficients. The image processing system, however, is unable to execute the vector and scalar load operations in a single clock cycle. Hence, the image processing system is unable to execute the multiplication and accumulation operations in each clock cycle.
The kernels in a convolution neural network are typically sparse kernels, i.e., a value of a majority of weight coefficients in the kernels is zero. Multiplication of such a weight coefficient with the corresponding row of the image results in an output with all values equal to zero. Thus, the multiplication and accumulation operations that involve a weight coefficient having a value zero do not contribute to convolution output, and result in the wastage of a clock cycle, thereby hampering a utilization of the image processing system. Further, the multiplication and accumulation operations that involve the weight coefficient having a value zero consume a significant amount of power. As a result, a power consumption of the image processing system is significant. In addition, to execute various image processing functions on the image by way of multiple kernels, each row is loaded several times, thereby requiring a significant memory bandwidth of the image processing system. Therefore, there exists a need for a system and a method that solves the aforementioned problems of the existing techniques of convolving the image with sparse kernels.

System and method for convolving image with sparse kernels


A method for determining the presence of polymorphisms, including mutations, in nucleic acids by using mass spectrometry is presented. The method requires amplification of the nucleic acid region to be analyzed followed by analysis by mass spectrometry and comparison of the obtained spectrum with spectra obtained from wild-type sequences and/or sequences known to contain the polymorphism. Differences between the spectra, either the appearance or disappearance of one or more peaks indicating a change in mass or a change in the height of one or more peaks indicating a change in the amount of nucleic acid of a specific mass, indicate the presence of a polymorphism. Variations of the method involve digestion of the amplified nucleic acid, e.g., by using restriction enzymes, nucleases or chemical methods, prior to analysis by mass spectrometry. The method can be applied to any type of nucleic acid including genomic DNA, CDNA and RNA. The method is especially well suited for performing routine genetic screening on a large scale for mutations known to be associated with a disease. The method is also appropriate for determining the presence of polymorphisms for other purposes, e.g., for genotyping or screening for mutations in a positional cloning project. A preferred approach is to amplify then digest the nucleic acid and then to analyze it via matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS) using a neodymium-garnet laser and a 3-hydroxypicolinic acid matrix.

The determination of the presence of polymorphisms, especially mutations, in DNA has become a very important and useful tool for a variety of purposes. Detecting mutations which are known to cause or to predispose persons to disease is one of the more important uses of determining the possible presence of a mutation. One example is the analysis of the gene named BRCA1 which may result in breast cancer if it is mutated (Miki et al., 1994; Futreal et al., 1994). Several known mutations in the BRCA1 gene have been causally linked with breast cancer. With this knowledge in hand it is now possible to screen women for these known mutations to determine whether they are predisposed to develop breast cancer. Some other uses for determining polymorphisms or mutations are for genotyping and for mutational analysis for positional cloning experiments.
A few different methods are commonly used to analyze DNA for polymorphisms or mutations. The most definitive method is to sequence the DNA to determine the actual base sequence (Maxam and Gilbert, 1977; Sanger et al., 1977). Although such a method is the most definitive it is also the most expensive and time consuming method. Restriction mapping analysis has some limited use in analyzing DNA for polymorphisms. If one is looking for a known polymorphism at a site which will change the recognition site for a restriction enzyme it is possible simply to digest DNA with this restriction enzyme and analyze the fragments on a gel or with a Southern blot to determine the presence or absence of the polymorphism. This type of analysis is also useful for determining the presence or absence of gross insertions or deletions. Hybridization with allele specific oligonucleotides is yet another method for determining the presence of known polymorphisms. These latter methods require the use of hybridization techniques which are time consuming and costly.
In recent years some breakthroughs have been made which allow the use of mass spectrometry to analyze macromolecules (Hillenkamp et al., 1991; Schneider and Chait, 1995; Wang and Biemann, 1994; Nordhoffet al., 1993; Siuzdak, 1994; Wu et al., 1994; Nelson et al., 1989; Nordhoff et al., 1994; Kirpekar et al., 1994; and Pieles et al., 1993). Many papers have now been published which establish that mass spectrometry can be used to analyze DNA fragments. Some papers have focused simply on the ability to measure the mass of a single fragment of DNA or RNA whereas others have gone so far as to show the utility of mass spectrometry for sequencing short fragments of nucleic acids (Pieles et al., 1993; Kirpekar et al., 1994). In all of the papers published to date the analysis has been limited to polynucleotides on the order of about 50 nucleotides or fewer. The appeal of mass spectrometry is the tremendous speed in obtaining data. Once samples have been prepared the throughput can be as fast as 1-2 seconds per sample. Analysis of the data is then done off-line. This time of 1-2 seconds is a tremendous advantage when compared with the many hours needed for running gels and/or hybridizing samples for analysis if the more classical methods of nucleic acid polymorphism analysis are used.
The present invention applies mass spectrometry to the determination of the presence of polymorphisms within known genes. The method uses mass spectrometry to compare the mass spectrum of a fragment of DNA from a sample to be analyzed with known reference mass spectra of DNA, e.g., spectra for wild-type DNA and DNA with a known polymorphism. Determination of the presence of a polymorphism in the sample being tested is rapid and accurate. The use of mass spectrometry with its very rapid analysis is especially useful for routine screening of large numbers of samples.
The publications and other materials used herein to illuminate the background of the invention, and in particular, cases to provide additional details respecting the practice, are incorporated herein by reference, and for convenience, are referenced by author and date in the text and respectively grouped in the appended List of References.

Mass spectrometry to assess DNA sequence polymorphisms


A probe apparatus of inspecting electrical characteristics of a power device having electrodes on both sides of a substrate at wafer level can reduce and uniformize a contact resistance between the electrode on a rear surface of the substrate and a mounting surface conductor of a chuck top. In the probe apparatus, an attracting device supports a semiconductor wafer W on the chuck top 12, and has many vertical fine holes in a pattern (diameter φ and pitch p) that satisfies the condition of φ<p≦2φ. For example, the diameter φ is about 0.25 mm, and the pitch p is about 0.5 mm.

In a manufacturing process of a semiconductor device, electrical characteristics of the semiconductor device are inspected by a semiconductor testing apparatus at the end of a pre-process or a post-process, so that faults of chips are inspected. In such a semiconductor testing apparatus, a probe apparatus serves as a handling apparatus that interfaces the chips on the semiconductor wafer, and a tester in charge of signal processing when performing an inspection at wafer state or at wafer level. Typically, the probe apparatus includes a movable chuck top (mounting table) configured to mount and support thereon the semiconductor wafer; a probe card having probe needles to be brought into contact with electrodes of each chip, thus allowing the chips to be electrically connected with the tester; and a moving device configured to move the chuck top to align the inspection target chips with respect to the probe needles or to the probe card fixed at a certain position.
As for the semiconductor device for power supply, i.e., a so-called power device such as a power MOSFET or an IGBT, electrodes are formed on both sides of a chip and an electric current is flown in a thickness direction of the chip in order to supply a high current at a high voltage. As for the power MOSFET, for example, a source electrode and a gate electrode are formed on a front surface of a chip, while a drain electrode is formed on a rear surface of the chip. If a constant control voltage is applied to the gate electrode, a high current can be flown between the source electrode and the drain electrode. In case of an IGBT, an emitter electrode and a gate electrode are formed on a front surface of a chip, while a collector electrode is formed on a rear surface of the chip. If a constant control voltage is applied to the gate electrode, a current larger than that of the power MOSFET may be flown between the emitter electrode and the collector electrode.
In the probe apparatus of inspecting electrical characteristics of a power device having electrodes on both sides of a chip at wafer level, in order to electrically connect the tester with the power device or each chip to be inspected, probe needles of a probe card positioned above a semiconductor wafer are brought into contact with electrodes (gate electrode and source electrode/emitter electrode) formed on a front surface of the semiconductor wafer. Meanwhile, as for an electrode (drain electrode/collector electrode) formed on a rear surface of the semiconductor wafer, a top surface of the chuck top is made of a plate-shaped conductor, i.e., a mounting surface conductor, and the electrode formed on the rear surface of the semiconductor wafer and the mounting surface conductor are electrically connected by being brought into direct contact with each other. Further, a measurement line or a transmission line through which a current outputted from the power device is flown may be provided between the mounting surface conductor of the chuck top and a corresponding terminal of the tester.
Generally, in the probe apparatus, the semiconductor wafer needs to be held at a certain position on the chuck top in order to align the semiconductor wafer with the probe card or the probe needles accurately. For the purpose, a vacuum evacuation type attracting device has been used.
Conventionally, as such an attracting device, there are known two types depending on the shape of a vacuum suction hole formed on a mounting surface of the chuck top: a groove type in which a multiple number of annular recesses (suction grooves) are formed concentrically and a hole type in which a multiple number of holes (suction holes) are formed at a regular pitch. Typically, in the groove type attracting device, annular suction grooves each having a groove width of, e.g., about 0.5 mm are concentrically arranged at distance of, e.g., about 15 mm to about 20 mm therebetween in a radial direction. Meanwhile, in the hole type attracting device, suction holes each having a diameter of, e.g., about 0.5 mm are arranged in a lattice shape at a pitch of, e.g., about 10 mm. Accordingly, in case that the mounting table has a size of, e.g., about 8 inches (about 200 mm), the total number of the annular suction grooves in the groove type attracting device may be 6 to 8, and the total number of the suction holes in the hole type attracting device may be in the range from about 300 to about 400. In both of the groove type attracting device and the hole type attracting device, the suction grooves or the suction holes are formed in the mounting surface conductor of the chuck top by mechanical machining such as turning or drilling.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2011-089891
Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2012-058225
In the probe apparatus of inspecting the electrical characteristics of the power device having the electrodes on both sides of the substrate at wafer level, the semiconductor wafer is fixed at a certain position on the chuck top by using a vacuum attracting force of the attracting device, and, at the same time, the rear surface of the semiconductor wafer is electrically connected with the mounting surface conductor by being brought into direct contact with the mounting surface conductor. In such a conventional probe apparatus, however, a high electric resistance (wafer contact resistance) on a contact surface between the electrode on the rear surface of the wafer and the mounting surface conductor of the chuck top has been a problem to be solved.
That is, if a constant control voltage is applied to the gate electrode of the power device, the source electrode (or the emitter electrode) and the drain electrode (or the collector electrode) are electrically connected, and the power device is turned on. Here, the power device outputs a current of several hundreds of ampere (A) when a high voltage of, e.g., several thousands of voltage (V) is applied from the tester. This outputted current is introduced to the tester. In inspection of dynamic characteristics, a turn-on time or a turn-off time is measured, whereas in inspection of static characteristics, an on-resistance or the like is measured. Thus, in consideration of measurement accuracy and power loss, it may be desirable that impedance of an outgoing measurement line from the tester to the electrode (the drain electrode or the collector electrode) on the rear surface of the power device is low.
In the conventional probe apparatus, however, since the wafer contact resistance is high, it has been difficult to lower the impedance of the outgoing measurement line. Especially, in the aspect of measurement accuracy, since the wafer contact resistance on the mounting surface of the chuck top is highly non-uniform, reproducibility of measurement in the inspection of electrical characteristics at wafer level has been poor.


Apparatus and method for treating a material web, which has at least one nip through which the material web is guided and which is formed between a first revolving, heated surface and a second revolving surface, it being possible for the first surface to be heated to at least 120° C. and both surfaces in the nip having the same direction of movement as the material web. Good surface quality of the material web is obtained by providing a box which bounds a space through which the material web is guided, the space being arranged after the first or after the last nip in the direction of movement of the web.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an apparatus for treating a material web, which has at least one nip through which the material web is guided and which is formed between a first revolving, heated surface and a second revolving surface, it being possible for the first surface to be heated to at least 120° C. and both surfaces in the nip having the same direction of movement as the material web. Furthermore, the invention relates to a method for treating a material web, in which the material web is guided through a nip which is formed between a first revolving, heated surface and a second revolving surface, the first surface being heated to at least 120° C.
In the following text, the invention will be described by using the example of a paper web. However, it can also be used with other material webs in which similar problems occur.
2. Discussion of Background Information
In order to improve surface quality and for the purpose of consolidation, paper webs are guided through at least one nip which, as a rule, is formed in what is known as a calender. In this case, the nip can be formed by two rolls, of which one is heated. The other roll then often has a resilient surface. However, the nip can also be formed by a heated roll and a shoe roll interacting therewith. The shoe roll has a cover which is brought into contact with the opposing roll over a predetermined circumferential section by a pressure element. Other configurations of the nip are of course likewise conceivable, for example a configuration in which the nip is formed by two circulating belts.
It is known that the surface quality can be improved if heat is supplied to the paper web in the nip. For this purpose, one of the two surfaces is heated, for example the surface of a heated roll. Although, in principle, this has positive effects on the surface of the paper web, it can lead to the problems discussed below.
At the end of the nip, the operating pressure is reduced, more or less abruptly, to the ambient pressure. Then, if the paper still has a temperature above the boiling point of the water contained at approximately ambient pressure, that is to say about 1 bar, the water evaporates abruptly. This is already intrinsically a problem, since the moisture of the paper or board web can thus fall below a desired level. This can, for example, impair downstream processes, such as a printing process. On the other hand, on account of technical restrictions in upstream processes, it is often not possible to increase the web moisture upstream of the nip in order to remedy this problem.
Furthermore, the water evaporating abruptly can lead to fibres being swept along and caused to stand up, and thus to a worsening of the surface quality. This applies even if the fibres are not torn completely out of the paper web.

Apparatus for treating a material web after a nip


A mobile communication apparatus includes a wide area receiver and a cell transceiver. The wide area receiver which is operable at relatively low power receives a selective calling signal from a wide area base station that forms a wide one-way communication area. The cell transceiver operable at higher power than the wide area receiver performs two-way communication with a nearest cell base station that forms a two-way communication area. The wide area receiver is caused to operate at all times. However, when the mobile communication apparatus exists outside the wide one-way communication area, the transceiver is caused to start operating.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile communication system and, particularly, to a mobile communication terminal and a communication method therefor which enable two-way communication with a base station.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In general, mobile terminals carried by users are battery-powered. Therefore, it is desirable that their power consumption be minimized. There has been proposed a radio telephone terminal that is intended for such reduction in power consumption in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-303077. This radio telephone terminal is equipped with a detector for detecting the remaining amount of battery power. If the battery remaining power is greater than or equal to a predetermined amount, location registration is performed every time the telephone terminal moves to an adjacent communicable area (cell). If the battery remaining power is smaller than the predetermined amount, the user is merely informed of non-effectiveness of location registration. Further, the time interval of reception of control signals from a base station and that of location registration are varied in accordance with the battery remaining power, to reduce the battery consumption and in turn elongate the usable time.
However, a transmission operation for location registration requires a large amount of power because of driving of a high-frequency amplifier. In the conventional radio communication terminal as described above, because it is necessary to perform, on a regular basis, transmission and reception operations for location registration with the base station, the battery is consumed at a high rate and the usable time cannot be made sufficiently long.


A cluster system and a method for providing service availability. The cluster system includes a first physical server having registered therein an active virtual machine; and a plurality of physical servers, wherein the plurality of physical servers comprises a second physical server having registered therein a standby virtual machine corresponding to the active virtual machine, the active virtual machine failing over to the standby virtual machine when a failure occurs in the first physical server, wherein each of the plurality of physical servers stores post-failure registration information when the failure occurs, wherein the post-failure registration information associates the active virtual machine with a physical server among the plurality of physical servers, and wherein the physical server is different from the second physical server.

1. Field
The present disclosure relates to a technique for providing service availability in a cluster system, and more particularly, to a method for providing, based on a virtualized environment, a high level of service availability in a cluster system and to such a cluster system.
2. Discussion of Related Art
A variety of high availability (HA) technologies exist for reducing downtime during which a service is not available due to a physical failure in a computing environment for providing the service. For example, a cluster system, which includes several server computers that are communicatively connected to one another, provides an active server for offering a certain service and a standby server for resuming the service when the active server fails.
While, as described above, the standby server performs a failover upon the occurrence of a failure in the active server, an administrator of the system may understand what causes the failure of the active server in order to restore the active server or replace the active server with a new server.

Cluster system and method for providing service availability in cluster system


A method is disclosed for depth migrating seismic data. The method includes pre-stack time migrating the seismic data to form a stacked, time migrated image. The stacked, time migrated image is demigrated, and post-stack depth migration is then performed on the demigrated image. In some embodiments, the pre-stack time migration and the demigration account for ray bending in vertically transversely isotropic media.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to the field of seismic data processing. More particularly, the invention relates to methods for demigrating previously time-migrated seismic data so that post-stack depth migration processes can be used.
2. Background Art
Seismic surveying is used to evaluate structures of, compositions of, and fluid content of subsurface earth formations. A particular application for seismic surveying is to infer the presence of useful materials, such as petroleum, in the subsurface earth formations. Generally, seismic surveying includes deploying an array of seismic sensors at or near the earth's surface, and deploying a seismic energy source near the sensors also at or near the surface. The seismic energy source is actuated and seismic energy emanates from the source, traveling generally downwardly through the subsurface until it reaches one or more acoustic impedance boundaries in the subsurface. Seismic waves are reflected from the one or more impedance boundaries, whereupon it then travels upwardly until being detected by one or more of the seismic sensors. Structure and stratigraphic composition of the Earth's subsurface is inferred from, among other properties of the detected energy, the travel time of the seismic wave, and the amplitude and phase of the various frequency components of the seismic wave with respect to the energy emanating from the seismic source.
In order to infer the structures of subsurface earth formations from seismic waves measured at the earth's surface from the source/receiver position at the surface, it is necessary to determine the velocity of the various formations through which the seismic wave passes. Velocities of the earth formations can vary both with respect to depth in the earth (vertically), and with respect to geographic position (laterally). Seismic data, however, are recorded only with respect to time. Methods known in the art for estimating velocities of the earth formations both vertically and laterally rely on inferences about the travel path geometry of the seismic wave as it travels from the source to the various receivers deployed at the earth's surface.
In order for images produced from seismic data to correspond accurately to the spatial distribution of subsurface structures and compositional changes in the Earth's subsurface, techniques known generally as "time migration" and "depth migration" are performed on the seismic data. Migration is a process by which reflection events in seismic data are made to correspond in time (time migration) to the reflection times that would occur if seismic data acquisition geometry were identical for every surface position for which an image is produced, and in the case of depth migration, to have such events be located at the depths in the Earth at which they are located. Thus, migration is performed in two general classes of migration process. Time migration is used to cause the reflective events to be poisoned at the correct time in the image. Depth migration is used to cause the reflective events to be positioned at the correct depth in the image. Migration techniques are performed either "pre-stack" or "post-stack." Post stack migration refers to migration techniques that are performed on seismic data for which numbers of individual data recordings ("traces") are processed and summed to improve seismic signal to noise ratio. Pre-stack migration, by contrast, is performed on individual data recordings. Pre-stack migration typically produces better images. An effective method of pre-stack time migration is disclosed, for example, in Sun, C., Martinez, R., Amplitude preserving 3D pre-stack Kirchhoff time migration for V(z) and VTI media, 72nd Annual International Meeting, Society of Exploration Geophysicists, Expanded Abstracts, pp. 1224-1227 (2002).
Pre-stack depth migration typically produces the best image images comparing to the other type of migration. Pre-stack depth migration, however, is computationally intensive, and therefore relatively expensive, as compared with post-stack depth migration techniques. Pre-stack time migration techniques, such as the technique disclosed in the Sun et al. paper referred to above, are relatively computationally economical. What is needed is a technique to produce a stacked seismic section having the image quality of pre-stack depth migration while incurring pre-stack time migration computation cost.

Method for depth migrating seismic data using pre-stack time migration, demigration, and post-stack depth migration


The present invention relates to the use of a catalyst preparation system for the preparation of a diluted catalyst slurry. In particular, the invention relates to a catalyst preparation system comprising a mixing vessel for mixing a particulate catalyst and a liquid hydrocarbon diluent. According to the invention, diluted catalyst slurry is prepared in a mixing vessel comprising a rotatable axial impeller system comprising at least two double-bladed hubs. The invention also relates to a process for preparing diluted catalyst slurry for use in the preparation of a particulate polyethylene product in a loop reactor with the catalyst preparation system as described herein.

Polyethylene (PE) is synthesized by polymerizing ethylene (CH2═CH2) monomers. Because it is cheap, safe, stable to most environments and easy to be processed polyethylene polymers are useful in many applications. According to the properties polyethylene can be classified into several types, such as but not limited to LDPE (Low Density Polyethylene), LLDPE (Linear Low Density Polyethylene), and HDPE (High Density Polyethylene). Each type of polyethylene has different properties and characteristics.
Ethylene polymerizations are frequently carried out in a loop reactor using ethylene monomer, liquid diluent and catalyst, optionally one or more co-monomers, and hydrogen. The polymerization in a loop reactor is usually performed under slurry conditions, with the produced polymer usually in a form of solid particles which are suspended in the diluent. The slurry in the reactor is circulated continuously with a pump to maintain efficient suspension of the polymer solid particles in the liquid diluent. Polymer slurry is discharged from the loop reactor by means of settling legs, which operate on a batch principle to recover the slurry. Settling in the legs is used to increase the solids concentration of the slurry finally recovered as product slurry. The product slurry is further discharged through heated flash lines to a flash tank, where most of the diluent and unreacted monomers are flashed off and recycled.
Alternatively, the product slurry may be fed to a second loop reactor serially connected to the first loop reactor wherein a second polymer fraction may be produced. Typically, when two reactors in series are employed in this manner, the resultant polymer product is a bimodal polymer product, which comprises a first polymer fraction produced in the first reactor and a second polymer fraction produced in the second reactor, and has a bimodal molecular weight distribution.
After the polymer product is collected from the reactor and the hydrocarbon residues are removed therefrom, the polymer product is dried, additives can be added and finally the polymer may be extruded and pelletized.
During the extrusion process ingredients including polymer product, optional additives, etc, are mixed intimately in order to obtain a compound as homogeneous as possible. Usually, this mixing is done in an extruder wherein the ingredients are mixed together and the polymer product and optionally some of the additives are melted so that intimate mixing can occur. The melt is then extruded into a rod, cooled and granulated, e.g. to form pellets. In this form the resulting compound can then be used for the manufacturing of different objects.
Polymerization of ethylene involves the polymerization of ethylene monomer in the reactor in the presence of a polymerization catalyst and optionally, if required depending on the used catalyst, an activating agent. Suitable catalysts for the preparation of polyethylene comprise chromium catalysts, Ziegler-Natta catalysts and metallocene catalysts. Typically, the catalyst is used in particulate form. The polyethylene is produced as a resin/powder with a hard catalyst particle at the core of each grain of the powder.
Several systems have been disclosed which involve the preparation and the supply of catalyst slurry to a polymerization reaction. In general, for preparing catalyst slurry, a mixture of dry solid particulate catalyst and diluent are apportioned in a catalyst mixing vessel and thoroughly mixed. Then such catalyst slurry is typically transferred to a polymerization reactor for contact with the monomer reactants.
It is known in the art that for the production of ethylene polymers having suitable properties it is important during polymerization to control reaction conditions, including reaction temperatures, reactant concentration, etc. Polymerization reactions are also sensitive to the quantity, quality and the type of catalyst utilized. Sub-optimal conditions at the start of or during the polymerization reaction may lead to a sub-optimal polymerization conditions resulting for instance in low production yields and/or the production of polymers having undesired properties and/or falling off specifications. In view thereof, ethylene polymerization reactions require accurate and adaptive monitoring and control of the reaction conditions.
In particular, the concentration of a particulate catalyst in a diluent has a direct and immediate effect on polymer characteristics such as polymerization product granulometry and polymerization product particle density, as well as on polymerization characteristics such as polymerization processivity. Therefore, a change in catalyst concentration has a profound effect on various polymerization parameters and hence the final polymer product. Indeed, (local) catalyst concentration differences in a polymerization reaction result in unwarranted polymer heterogeneity in respect of for instance product density, granulometry and molecular weight (distribution).
As catalyst slurries comprise a solid particulate catalyst suspended in a liquid diluent, such slurries are prone to sedimentation. Adequate mixing of the catalyst slurry is needed to assure a homogeneous distribution of the solid catalyst particles in the diluent before the catalyst slurry is fed to the polymerization reactor.
Moreover, the physicochemical characteristics of the catalyst well as of the diluent, including for instance the type of catalyst and diluent, the specific gravity of the catalyst, catalyst granulometry, catalyst settling velocity, catalyst concentration, the viscosity of the diluent and the catalyst slurry as well as the desired properties of the polymerization product require a highly flexible and adaptable catalyst slurry preparation and mixing system for adequately preparing a diluted catalyst slurry.
In view of the above, there remains a need in the art to provide an improved catalyst preparation system for preparing a diluted catalyst slurry with suitable properties for use in a polymerization process for making polyolefin resin, and in particular polyethylene.

Catalyst slurry preparation system and use thereof


A vehicle suspension control system comprises an actuator device for connection between a sprung mass of a vehicle and unsprung masses of the vehicle. A suspension system further comprises a device for determining forces acting between the sprung mass and the unsprung masses and for producing signals proportional to said forces, the device for determining forces comprising a first sensor device operable to produce a first set of signals comprising signals indicative of the loads in load paths between the unsprung masses and the sprung mass and a second sensor device operable to produce a second set of signals which includes signals indicative of the lateral acceleration of the vehicle, the longitudinal acceleration of the vehicle, and the yaw rate of the vehicle; a device for processing the second set of signals to produce steady state force signals indicative of steady state input loads on the vehicle including loads arising from cornering and acceleration/deceleration of the vehicle and loads carried by the vehicle; a device for combining the steady state force signals with the first set of signals to produce dynamic force signals indicative of dynamic inputs to the vehicle, the dynamic inputs including forces arising due to purgibations on a road below the vehicle. The control system further includes a first device for processing the steady state force signals to produce first control signals for controlling the actuator device, or by the first control signals act to control the actuator device to maintain the orientation of the sprung mass relative to a reference plane constant throughout vehicle cornering and acceleration/deceleration and constant with changing interior loads; and a second device for processing the dynamic force signals to produce second control signals for controlling the actuator means, whereby the second control signals act to control the actuator device to substantially eliminate the transmission of dynamic forces from the unsprung masses to the sprung mass.

This invention relates to a vehicle suspension control system. By "vehicle" is meant all classes of vehicle capable of motion on land, and the term includes motor vehicles, lorry cabs and trailers, tractors and tracked vehicles.
In particular, the invention relates to a vehicle suspension control system for controlling the suspension of a vehicle having an active suspension system.
Active suspension systems are well known. For example, our European Patent Application No. EP-A-0114757 discloses an active suspension system in which a number of sensor inputs representing variables of vehicle motion are processed in a microprocessor to produce signals representing forces required at the points of support of the vehicle body on its wheel/hub assemblies. The required forces are applied by respective hydraulic actuators disposed between the vehicle body and each wheel/hub assembly to maintain as nearly as possible a constant attitude of the vehicle.
Active suspension systems operate on the principles either of measuring the forces acting between the vehicle body and the wheel/hub assemblies or of calculating such forces from measured values indicative of vehicle behaviour.
The main problem faced by the designer of an active suspension system is the difficulty that whilst the vehicle suspension system should respond to perturbations in the road (dynamic inputs) by moving the actuators attached to the wheel and hub assembly, the suspension system should not cause the actuators to deflect in response to loads imposed upon the vehicle by reason of "steady state inputs". "Steady state inputs" include loads being placed on the suspension due to the cornering and acceleration/deacceleration of the vehicle. "Steady state input" also include variations on the load of the vehicle due to load carried inside the vehicle and aerodynamic forces on the vehicle. Such "steady state inputs" should generally not cause displacement of the actuators. In other words, the designer is faced with the problem of designing a suspension system which is "soft" to road input whilst being "hard" to steady state inputs.