The present invention is a topical skin preparation for treatment of fungal infections of the skin and nails. The preparation comprises triacetin in combination with an antifungal agent. In a preferred form, the preparation further comprises, a fatty acid source such as a fish oil. In a preferred embodiment, cod liver oil and tolnaftate are used in combination with triacetin. The concentrations of these constituents are 96.0-99.0% concentration triacetin, 0.5-3.0% concentration tolnaftate and 0.5-1.0% concentration cod liver oil, in one preferred embodiment. Other compounds, such as ethyl alcohol, amino acids such as n-acetylcysteine, and herbal additives may also be added to the preparation. Further, other antifungal agents such as nystatin, clortimazole, econazole, ketoconazole, miconazole, solconazole, oxiconizole, naftifine, terbinafine, and butenafine, for example, may be substituted for the antifungal agent tolnaftate. The preparation of the present invention is effective in treating immune compromised patients and those with diabetes, as well as relatively healthy persons.

Fungal skin infections, often called dermatomycoses, are among the most common skin infections. Characteristically, these infections exhibit single or multiple lesions that may produce a mild scaling, or deep, inflamed, nodular lesions. Many of these infections are superficial, affecting the hair, nails, and/or skin, and are generally caused by three fungi: Trichophyton, Microsporum, and Epidermophyton.
Since clinical differentiation of the similar dermaphytes is difficult, these infections are discussed or grouped and treated according to the sites involved. Diagnosis of difficult, non-responding pathogenic organisms can be identified by scraping of the developed lesions, and examining by either direct microscopic examination of a potassium hydroxide preparation or by fungal culture.
Some of the fungal skin infections are classed as follows. Tinea Pedis is a very common fungal infection, which is commonly known as athletes foot or ringworm of the feet. Tinea pedis can be difficult to cure in some affected persons.
Tinea curis is commonly known as jock itch, and is caused by Epidermophyton floccosum, Trichophyton rubrum, or Trichophyton mentagrophytes. They occur on the medial and upper portions of the thighs, and in the pubic area. Tinea curis is more commonly seen in males. Tinea curis lesions have specific margins with small vessels commonly found. Acute lesions are bright red, and chronic, recurring cases tend to be hyper pigmented.
Tinea corporis is known as ringworm of the skin and is more prevalent in climates with higher humidity. Tinea corporis usually involves infections by Trichophyton or Microsporum species. Lesions causes by Tinea corporis form on smooth and bear skin areas. These lesions begin as small circular red areas and can become scaling, raised, and pruritic areas.
Tinea versicolor is a fungal infection that generally creates cosmetic concerns. Lesions generally occur on seborrheic areas in a confetti-like configuration. This common superficial fungal infection of the stratum corneum is caused by Ptiyrosporum orbiculare.
Candidiasis or moniliasis is caused primarily by Candida albicans, and usually occurs in the groin, axilla, interdigital spaces, and under the breasts.
Onychomycosis, or fungal infections of the nail bed or plate, contribute to 40% of all nail disorders. It has been estimated that total United States Medicare costs for treating onychomycosis are in excess of 43 million dollars. Mycotic nail infections are most commonly caused by dermatophytes (Trichophyton, Microsporum, and Epidermophyton species), yeasts (Candida species), and nondermatophyte molds (Scytalidium, Fusarium, Acremonium, Aspergillus and Scopulariopsis, species). Four major types of mycotic nail infections have been identified: distal subungual onychomycosis, which is the most common type, affecting the plantar surfaces of the hands and feet; white superficial onychomycosis, which affects the toenails; proximal subungual onychomycosis, which is often associated with immunosuppression; and, candidal onychomycosis. These infections vary with respect to the pattern of fungal invasion and causative pathogen. Clinical symptoms of onychomycosis include onycholysis, or separation of the nail from its bed, hyperkeratosis such as calluses or corns, brittleness, color change, and paronychial inflammation, or inflammation due to infection of the skin fold at the nail margin.
Mycotic nail infections do not always resolve spontaneously and may have serious consequences, including limitation of mobility and dexterity, decrease in peripheral circulation in the affected area, and self-consciousness. Onychomycosis can also worsen pre-existing foot problems, such as problems caused in diabetic patients.
Numerous different topical preparations, both prescription and non-prescription, have been used to treat these fungal infections. A significant number of these preparations are sold over-the-counter in drug stores, grocery stores and other retail outlets. On Feb. 26, 1993 the United States Food & Drug Administration identified certain topical antifungal agents that could be generally recommended as safe and effective for non-prescription use, and other agents that could not be recommended. The agents identified as topical non-prescription antifungal agents that are recognized as safe and effective included clioquinal, providone iodine, clortrimazole, tolnaftate, haolprogin, undecylenates, and miconazole nitrate. Those identified as not generally recognized as safe and effective included, alcloza, alum potassium, aluminum sulfate, amyltricreso is, basic fuchsin, benzethomium chloride, benzoic acid, benzoxiquine, boric acid, camphor, candicidin, chlorothymol, coal tar, dichlorophen, menthol, methylparaben, oxyquinoline, oxyquinoline sulfate, phenol, phenolate sodium, phenyl salicylate, propionic acid, propylparaben, resorcinol, salicylic acid, sodium borate, sodium caprylate, sodium propionate, sulfur, tannic acid, thymol, tolindate, triacetin, zinc caprylate, zinc proplonate.
Even the effective agents are not effective in all conditions. In treating patients with immune suppressed disorders such as diabetes, chemotherapy patients, HIV infected patients, and those with chronic infections, fungal infections go untreated or unsuccessfully treated.
In attempting to achieve optimum blood sugar levels in controlling diabetes, infections must be controlled. Infections raise blood sugar levels. Patients with diabetes are generally on a number of medications, including antidiabetic agents, antihypertensives, and lipid lowering drugs. Oral antifungal agents compete with these other medications at the liver for removal from the body. This activity leads to elevated liver enzyme levels. Once liver enzyme levels are elevated, patients have to be taken off of their antifungal and other medications. The same situation holds true with other immunosuppressed patients, including chemotherapy patients and HIV affected patients. Further, drug interactions have to be monitored during treatment with oral antifungal agents.
Accordingly, there is a need to provide an antifungal preparation capable of treating various fungal infections that will effectively work in medically compromised, as well as relatively healthy persons. A topical preparation is the best for this situation, as liver complications are avoided.


A die for forming the toothed end of a steering rack bar from a cylindrical blank includes first and second die blocks relatively movable to converge on the blank. The die blocks incorporate opposed generally semicircular recesses to accommodate the blank. One recess incorporates the obverse form of the teeth. The recesses define a main cavity between them, as the die blocks converge to their final closed position. Subsidiary recesses are provided in one or both die blocks at the joint line therebetween, defining chambers at the final closed position. The chambers incorporates stop elements located laterally remote from the main cavity. The stop elements include longitudinally extending abutments on the first die block which overlap respective juxtaposed abutments on the second die block as the final closed position is approached. The stop elements restrict further flow of blank material away from the main cavity, while preventing blank material from flowing between the overlapped juxtaposed abutments. The volume of the chambers at the final closed position is substantially equal to the difference of volume between the rack bar blank and the steering rack bar as finish forged over the toothed end thereof in the main cavity.

Rack bars normally comprise a round bar with teeth cut or formed at a "toothed end", the remaining non-toothed region referred to as a "shank end". Variable ratio rack bars such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,753,378 incorporate teeth of varying cross-section and varying skew angle with respect to the rack bar longitudinal axis, as well as varying tooth pitch. The pinion which engages the rack is usually helical and is installed in the steering gear at an oblique angle to the normal to the rack bar longitudinal axis, henceforth termed the "pinion installation angle". For variable ratio rack bars the teeth at the toothed end of the rack bar are usually symmetrically disposed about a mid point, this "on-centre region" corresponding to the pinion meshing position when the vehicle is steered straight ahead.
The geometry of such teeth makes variable ratio rack bars very difficult to machine by known rack manufacturing processes, and precision forging is therefore often resorted to, notwithstanding the high precision that is required for satisfactory pinion meshing.
The optimum geometry of the teeth of such rack bars varies widely according to specific vehicle requirements, and whether the steering gear is of the power or manual type. When viewed in cross-section normal to the longitudinal axis of the rack bar, the teeth are frequently positioned towards the periphery of the bar so that the bending strength at the toothed end of the rack bar is minimally reduced as compared to that at the shank end.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,116,085 describes a rack bar having at its toothed end a cross section of triangular or "Y" section which is particularly suited for variable ratio racks. Such a rack may be formed in forging dies such as those described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,571,982 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,862,701, and is supported in the steering gear in a V shaped rack pad. The above-referenced United States patents are being incorporated by reference. This arrangement provide resistance to rack roll under the action of tooth meshing forces as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,116,085. An additional advantage of the above Y section, and of the related manufacturing process, is that the cross-sectional area of the Y section (including the mean height of the teeth in the toothed region) may be made to match that of the round rack bar blank from which the rack is forged, thereby saving material and enabling the construction of a die in which there is no flash. This die construction enables very high forming pressures to be achieved, so that precise filling of the tooth cavities of the die may be achieved even if forging is conducted at relatively low temperatures, the latter which is also conducive to the avoidance of scaling. The Y section of the rack is of larger diameter over corners so that its strength in bending at the toothed end approximately matches that at the shank end. A suitable temperature has been found to be around 700.degree. C. (often referred to as "warm forging") in contrast to a temperature of 1100.degree. C. typically used in conventional hot forging.
This use of a Y section design has been found to be highly desirable in variable ratio power steering gears where a large change of steering ratio is appropriate to the vehicle handling characteristics and, as a result, the skew angle of some of the teeth is large. The use of a Y section serves to stabilise the rack bar under the influence of rolling moments caused by the pinion/rack tooth contact forces, in particular the lateral component of these forces caused by the presence of large skew angles. However, in certain circumstances, such as when the skew angles are relatively small, for example during the introductory phase of variable ratio in a particular vehicle model where lesser degrees of ratio change may be employed, it may be desirable to provide the more conventional round cross section at the toothed end of the rack bar so that the rack assumes a section like the letter "D", and the curved back of this section is of a radius substantially concentric with the radius of the shank end of the bar. This arrangement has some manufacturing advantages for power steering gears over racks of Y section in that the toothed end of the rack may be assembled through the inner seal of the power steering cylinder after the piston has been attached to the shank end of the rack bar (a practice well known in the art of manufacture of power steering gears). Also a conventional arcuate shaped rack support pad may be used and the entire rack bar may be finish ground by a through-feed centreless grinding process rather than by plunge grinding only the shank end.
When forging a D section rack, the cross-sectional area of toothed end of the rack bar is less than that of the shank end. It follows that either the rack bar blank must be reduced in diameter over that region later to be forged to form the toothed end or, alternatively, the excess metal must be extruded into side chambers adjoining the main die cavity, forming protrusions which can be removed by subsequent machining. Either approach will enable a power rack bar to pass through the seal and to be processed by through-feed centreless grinding. The present invention addresses the die construction for forging a D section rack employing such chambers. The general configuration of the forging die to be described may remain substantially that of the die described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,571,982 or 5,862,701 particularly in regard to the provision to grip the rack bar blank and to provide the necessary end constraints. However, the forming elements disclosed in the prior art are replaced by a pair of opposing die blocks each having a cavity in section corresponding to one or other half of the D section rack but including the above side chambers. The forging die disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,571,982 also provides robust keys that engage as the upper and lower die blocks approach each other so that the die blocks are maintained in precise alignment.
Now, in the manufacture of Y section racks by warm forging, the very high pressures achieved ensure that the tooth cavities of the die are precisely filled over substantially all their length to within a fraction of a millimeter of the tops of the rack teeth. This is particularly important in the on-centre region of variable ratio racks used in power steering gears where the pressure angle is low and tooth contact with the pinion typically occurs only over the top one to two millimeters of the rack teeth. Poor die fill results in a reduction of the total length of the meshing pinion-rack contact lines and hence a corresponding reduction in effective contact ratio. In the case of a D section rack to which the present invention relates, this length of contact is already reduced as compared to that for Y section racks due to the aforementioned narrower rack teeth. The simple two forming element arrangement to be described must be capable of achieving the same very high pressures as the Y forming die.
Satisfactory die fill may be expressed as the meniscus or radius of the formed metal within the cross-section of the toothed cavity where, for example, the flank of the tooth cavity meets the bottom of the cavity. This radius is determined by the hydrostatic pressure of the formed metal within the die cavity. By experience it has been found that this should be of the order of 1100 MPa.
For this reason, the two element die construction illustrated in UK Patent 2088256, with its provision for "flash gutters" each side of the upper die chamber, is impractical in that metal would escape into these gutters before the desired hydrostatic pressure had been reached, particularly at the "hot forging" temperatures specified by the patent. According to this prior art patent specification, the initial hot forging process is followed at a later stage of manufacturing by a cold coining process when the final accuracy of form and tooth fill is achieved. Such a two stage process of forming the fine rack teeth may cause folds or other defects in the material unless precise compensation is made for the variation of temperature between hot forging and cold coining stages.
Likewise, the two die element construction illustrated in UK Patent 2108026, with its provision of a relief cavity whose volume is greater than that which would be filled by excess material displaced into it, would also be impractical in that metal would escape into the relief cavity before the desired hydrostatic pressure is reached to fully form the rack teeth.
Flash gutters are commonly provided in conventional forging dies to allow for the fact that the bar stock material used as blanks in forging operations is subject to a relatively wide variation of diameter, whereas in the processes described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,571,982 and 5,862,701, the blank is precision ground on its diameter to a fine tolerance. The chambers each side of the main die cavity according to the present invention have only a superficial resemblance to conventional flash gutters, and are primarily provided to prevent "pinching" of the metal which inevitably occurs at the joint line between mutually approaching die recesses having substantially semi-circular cross-sections. Other functions of these chambers are referred to later in the specification. Thus these chambers will be present whether or not the diameter of the blank has been reduced in diameter at the (yet to be formed) toothed end or not.
For these chambers to be effective, they must provide positive metal entrapment during the last stages of closing of the die in order to produce the aforementioned high final hydrostatic pressure. In fact, according to the present invention, during the last instant of closing, it is possible for metal from these chambers to re-enter the main die cavity in order to ensure complete die fill.
In one aspect the present invention consists of a die for forming the toothed end of a steering rack bar from a cylindrical blank by forging, the die comprising first and second die blocks relatively moveable to converge on the blank, said die blocks incorporating opposed generally semi circular recesses to accommodate said blank, one recess incorporating the obverse form of the teeth, said recesses defining between them a main cavity as said die blocks converge to their final closed position, subsidiary recesses in one or both die blocks at the joint line there between defining chambers at said final closed position, each side of said main cavity communicating with one of said chambers along all or most of the full longitudinal extent of said main cavity, characterised in that said chambers in cross-section incorporate stop means located laterally remote from said main cavity restricting further flow of blank material away from the main cavity, the volume of the chambers at said final closed position being substantially equal to the difference of volume between the rack bar blank and the steering rack bar as finish forged over the toothed end thereof in the main cavity.
It is preferred that said stop means comprises longitudinally extending abutments on said first die block which overlap respective juxtaposed abutments on said second die block as said final closed position is approached.
Alternatively, or in addition, it is preferred that said chambers are generally tapered in depth in a direction away from said main cavity sufficiently to inhibit further outward flow of blank material as said final closed position is approached.
Preferably, at least a portion of said blank material within said chambers is urged back towards said main cavity as said final closed position is approached.
Preferably each said longitudinal extending abutment on said first die block has a small clearance zone with said respective overlapped juxtaposed abutment on said second die block.


A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device includes preparing two substrates having a first and a second surface and having first and second pads and a second testing-dedicated pad, the first pads in the first surface, the second pads in the second surface and arranged with an inter-pad distance that is larger than that for the first pad, and the second testing-dedicated pad being in the second surface; coupling a wafer with a apparatus, and inspecting the wafer with a probe card, the wafer having a LSI, which is an object of an inspection, the apparatus applicable signal to the LSI formed in the wafer, and measurable electrical characteristics of the LSI formed in the wafer, and the probe card having one of the two substrates; dicing the wafer into semiconductor elements containing the LSI; and packaging the semiconductor element over the other of the two substrates.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing the semiconductor device and a semiconductor device manufactured by such process.
2. Related Art
In recent years, high-density installation in a semiconductor device requires an increased number of lands disposed in one chip. In particular, configurations of flip-chip devices are advantageous for achieving an arrangement of larger number of lands, since such configurations allow installing lands in array-like patterns in both the periphery of the semiconductor device and additionally the entire surface of the semiconductor device.
In such flip-chip devices, bumps are formed by printing, vapor deposition, plating processes or the like on the lands, which is formed on the semiconductor element via a semiconductor process. A dicing process is conducted for the obtained product, and then the diced products are installed on the package substrate via a reflow soldering process to complete the production of the device.
An operability of a semiconductor device for a desired operation is required to be checked in a wafer-condition.
A large scale integration (LSI) tester is a device for applying electrical signal to a semiconductor element in a wafer-condition and determining whether the signal from the semiconductor element is a desired signal or not. A probe card is a tool utilized between a LSI tester and a semiconductor element and serves as transferring electrical signal. A probe card typically includes a probe card board for providing a coupling with a LSI tester and probes for providing contacts with lands on the semiconductor wafer.
In the case of the flip-chip device, the probes are required to be arranged in a probe card board in an array-like pattern with the same spacing as the spacing for the lands in the semiconductor wafer. In addition, larger number of lands causes narrower inter-pad distance. When a testing of a semiconductor wafer for such flip-chip device is conducted, electric contacts are assured by pushing the probes over bumps formed in the lands in the semiconductor wafer.
The coupling terminals that provide coupling to the LSI tester are required to be arranged around the circumference of the surface of the probe card board at predetermined spacing. In addition, the coupling terminals that provide coupling to the probes are required to be arranged around the center of the back surface of the probe card board in the same arrangement as employed for the lands on the semiconductor wafer. Therefore, it is concluded that, when the inter-probe distance or probe spacing is different from the inter-terminal distance or terminal spacing for the coupling terminals in the LSI tester, it is necessary to provide a matching of the spacing in the probe card board.
To solve the problem, either a wiring-system or an adapter board-system is employed for converting the spacing.
In the wiring-system, wires are laced through the board, which includes through holes corresponding to the spacing of the land pads in the semiconductor element, and the wires are cut and polished in the back surface of the board, and the cut surfaces of the wires are employed as the land pads in the side of the probes. The other ends of the wires are connected to the probe card board to obtain the coupling between the LSI tester and the probe.
In the case of employing the wiring system, all the procedures for electric wirings are made by manual works of workers. Limited number of electric wirings is available in the wiring system by such reasons, and more specifically the upper limit would be about 2,000 pins.
Therefore, when more pads are required, the use of the adapter board system is required. In order to manufacture land pads that accommodate narrower inter-pad distance of several hundred micrometers, ceramic boards or built-up boards are generally employed for the base material in the adapter board system. The set of the land pads are formed in the side of the back surface of the adapter board at the same inter-pad distance as employed in the semiconductor element, and the other set of the land pads are formed in the side of the front surface thereof at the inter-pad distance of about 1 mm, and wiring couplings are made between the set of land pads in the side of the back surface and the set of the land pads in the side of the front surface in the inside of the adapter board.
However, according to the adapter board system, new adapter board dedicated for the product must be designed in accordance with the arrangement of the pads specified for the product. Ceramics boards and the built-up boards, which are the materials for the base material in the adapter board system, are expensive, and therefore the adapter board system is not advantageous in terms of the cost.
To solve the problem, a technology employing the package substrate of the device as the adapter board has been developed, as described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. H07-301642 (1995). This allows reducing the cost for every device. FIG. 8 is a diagram, illustrating an exemplary implementation that employs a package substrate for an adapter board.
However, even if the configuration for utilizing the product package substrate of the object device is adopted as an adapter board as typically described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. H07-301642 (1995), the configuration further needs to be improved.
The adapter board is required to have a testing-dedicated terminal (testing-dedicated pads). The testing-dedicated pad is a dedicated terminal, which is essential for applying specified electrical signal from a LSI tester, when an LSI testing is conducted for an LSI formed in the semiconductor wafer. On the other hand, no terminals dedicated for the testing is required in the package substrate having a semiconductor device installed therein. Therefore, a direct utilization of the package substrate for the adapter board cannot achieve the LSI testing.
To solve the problem, wiring of the testing-dedicated pad on the package substrate is considered. Typical semiconductor packages having testing-dedicated pads are described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-347,482 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-022,664.
However, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-347,482 merely discloses a configuration having a testing-dedicated pad provided only in the upper surface of the semiconductor package, and coupled to the semiconductor chip, and no package substrate testing-dedicated pad is provided in the configuration disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-347,482. Further, no inter-pad distance conversion for the land pads is considered in the disclosure of Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-022,664. Therefore, the package substrate cannot be utilized for the adapter board for inspection that is employed for the conversion of the inter-pad distances in the above-described technologies disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-347,482 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-022,664.
Further, if the semiconductor package is to be installed on a mother board, it is necessary to provide an external coupling terminal such as a solder bump and the like in a surface of opposite to the surface for installing the semiconductor element of the package substrate. However, when the terminals dedicated for the testing is wired on the package substrate, the presence of the solder bumps coupled on the testing-dedicated pad for the external coupling terminal may possibly limit flexibility for designing the mother board in the product having the package substrate installed therein.

Method for manufacturing semiconductor device including testing dedicated pad and probe card testing


Methods and apparatus are provided for a near field detection system. The apparatus comprises a glass plate, the glass plate having a first edge and comprising a first electrode, the first electrode disposed along the first edge of the glass plate, adapted to detect the presence of an object in near proximity to the glass plate, and adapted to transmit a signal in response to the presence of the object.

Some vehicles can offer as a feature a lift gate that can be opened and closed either manually or through powered operation by the control system.
As with any closing portal, it is possible for an object to interpose itself between the lift gate and the frame surrounding the lift gate. It would be desirable to detect such an object to reduce the likelihood that a lift gate will impact the object during its closing. Some methods of detecting objects within the range of motion of the lift gate can involve pressure switches or sensors, contact switches or sensors, and the like. Such devices typically require contact, or forceful contact with the switch or sensor to detect the presence of an obstacle. Additionally, it is necessary to position such devices at various locations in, on, or near the lift gate or lift gate frame. Thus, at least some portion of the vehicle may be is adapted to house and operate them. Such an assembly adds to the complexity of design and density of components, sometimes increasing the cost of design and/or manufacture.


A surface mount quartz crystal oscillator comprises a package body having a recess, a quartz crystal blank having extending electrodes extending from the outer periphery of the crystal blank, an IC (integrated circuit) chip secured to an inner bottom surface of the recess and having at least an oscillator circuit connected to the crystal blank, and an insulator disposed on the IC chip. A pair of conduction terminals are disposed on an inner wall surface of the recess and electrically connected to the IC chip. The crystal blank is secured to the insulator with a conductive adhesive at positions from which the extending electrodes are extended, and the conductive adhesive electrically connects each extending electrode to one conduction terminal associated therewith.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a surface mount quartz crystal oscillator, and more particularly, to a surface mount crystal oscillator which facilitates a reduction in size.
2. Description of the Related Art
A surface mount crystal oscillator which accommodates a quartz crystal unit and an oscillator circuit using the crystal unit in a surface mount package has been widely used, particularly for portable electronic devices as a frequency or a time reference source because of its small size and light weight. In recent years, an increasing reduction in size has been rapidly advanced in a variety of portable devices represented by portable telephones, causing an associated reduction in size of surface mount crystal oscillators.
A conventional surface mount crystal oscillator illustrated in FIG. 1A employs package body 1 formed with a recess which receives IC (integrated circuit) chip 2 and quartz crystal blank 3, and cover 4 which is placed over the recess for closing the same to hermetically encapsulate IC chip 2 and crystal blank 3 within package body 1.
Steps are formed in the inner wall of the recess of package body 1. Package body 1 is made of a three-layered laminated ceramics comprising a bottom plate, a first frame wall corresponding to the steps and a second frame wall corresponding to a portion of the recess above the steps. The frame wall refers to a frame-shaped member which has an opening corresponding to the recess. IC terminals, not shown, are formed at appropriate positions on the bottom of the recess for use in connection to IC chip 2. Also, a pair of crystal terminals, not shown, are formed on one step, as shown, in the recess of package body 1 for use in connection to crystal blank 3. Further, conductive paths (i.e., wiring pattern), not shown, are formed in package body 1 for connecting the IC terminals to the crystal terminals.
IC chip 2 has an oscillator circuit integrated therein which is connected to crystal blank 3 to make up an oscillator, and is connected to the IC terminals using bumps 5, for example, by ultrasonic thermo-compression bonding hence secured to the inner bottom surface of the recess of package body 1.
Crystal blank 3, which is comprised, for example, of an AT-cut quartz crystal blank, is substantially rectangular in shape as illustrated in FIG. 1B, and is formed with excitation electrodes 6 in central regions of both main surfaces, respectively. Extending electrodes 7a, 7b are extended from a pair of excitation electrodes 6 toward both ends on one shorter side of crystal blank 3, respectively. The leading end 24 of each extending electrode 7a, 7b is folded over onto the opposite main surface of crystal blank 3. Crystal blank 3 is secured with conductive adhesive 8 at both sides of one end thereof, on which extending electrodes 7a, 7b are extended, on the step, on which the crystal terminals are formed. In this event, crystal blank 3 is secured while the other end of crystal blank 3 is carried on the other step, as shown. In this way, crystal blank 3 is connected between an input terminal and an output terminal of an oscillation amplifier within IC chip 2 through the crystal terminals, conductive paths routed on package body 1, and the IC terminals.
At four corners on the bottom of package body 1, mounting electrodes (not shown) are formed for use in surface-mounting the crystal oscillator on a wiring board. The mounting electrodes also extend off outer side surfaces of package body 1. The mounting electrodes, which will serve as a power supply terminal, a ground terminal, an output terminal, and the like of the crystal oscillator, are electrically connected to IC chip 2 through conductive paths, not shown, and the IC terminals.
In the foregoing crystal oscillator, however, crystal blank 3 has one end held on one step within the recess of package body 1, and the other end carried on the other step, so that the resulting crystal oscillator has a problem of large outer dimensions. With the use of an AT-cut quartz crystal blank which has a thickness shear vibration mode, the crystal blank itself can be fairly reduced in size. However, in the structure described above, crystal blank 3 must be mounted to straddle IC chip 2, so that crystal blank 3 must have a horizontal length, as shown, larger than the horizontal length, as shown, of IC chip 2. Actually, slow progress of reduction in size of IC chip 2 eventually results in difficulties in reduction in size of a crystal oscillator.
To solve the foregoing problem, Japanese Patent Laid-open Application No. 2002-280835 (JP, P2002-280835A) proposes a crystal oscillator, as illustrated in FIG. 2, in which a crystal blank has one end secured on a step in a recess of package body 1 and the other end carried on a spacer disposed on IC chip 2. The crystal oscillator thus constructed can be reduced in size because the other step is eliminated within a pair of steps in the recess of package body 1.
However, even in the structure illustrated in FIG. 2, a step required for disposing the crystal terminals causes the crystal oscillator to have an outer planar size much larger than the size of IC chip 2, thus inhibiting the reduction in size of the crystal oscillator.


An online Gaussian mixture learning model for dynamic data utilizes an adaptive learning rate schedule to achieve fast convergence while maintaining adaptability of the model after convergence. Experimental results show an unexpectedly dramatic improvement in modeling accuracy using an adaptive learning schedule.

The present invention relates generally to data modeling and in particular to modeling methods and systems using Gaussian mixtures.
Gaussian mixture is commonly used in parametric estimation of density functions and in unsupervised clustering. While the batch learning process of these models on stationary distribution is well understood and can be solved using the EM (expectation minimization) algorithm, there are increasing interests in developing online learning algorithms on dynamic data. The demand for such algorithms comes from real-time applications like video processing where a stream of new data is constantly being observed and the underlying data distribution may change over time.
Current solutions reported in the literature use adaptive filter learning to track slow distribution shifts, and handle sudden distribution changes through Gaussian reassignments. Ever since the original proposal of using Gaussian mixtures for modeling pixel distributions in video signals, the conventional approaches have followed the formulation presented by Stauffer, C. and Grimson, W. E. L., Adaptive Background Mixture Models for Real-time Tracking, Proc. CVPR, Vol. 2, pp 246–252, June 1999. At each step, parameters of one (or more, depending on the selection criteria) of the Gaussians that best match the new observation x are updated using a recursive filter θ(t)=(1−α)·θ(t−1)+α·{circumflex over (θ)}(x;t), where α controls the temporal rate of adaptation (also referred to as the "learning factor", α). If x does not match the current model well, then one of the Gaussians is reassigned to the new point. Through recursive filter learning and Gaussian reassignment, the system is able to model dynamic distributions. Unfortunately, convergence is very slow using this strategy, requiring the distribution to remain stationary for a long time to allow the system to achieve an acceptable approximation.
While recursive filter learning is necessary to track distribution changes, a more efficient strategy can be used to speed up convergence during initial parameter estimation. Such a strategy was proposed by Kaew TraKulPong, P. and Bowden, R., An Improved Adaptive Background Mixture Model for Real-time Tracking with Shadow Detection, Proc. of 2nd European Workshop on Advanced Video Based Surveillance Systems, September 2001. Kaew et al. proposed separating the learning process into discrete stages. By storing sufficient statistics of the first L samples in the early learning stage and applying the appropriate term weighting, convergence can be improved. However, this explicit division of learning stages can only be applied at initialization. It has been observed that, in fact, subsequent Gaussian reassignment also suffers from slow convergence. In addition, a buffer is needed to store statistics of the previous L samples.
The requirement of stationarity of the distribution of data is at odds with the dynamic nature of a real time data. Data modeling of real time data such as audio streams and video requires an improvement on conventional data modeling techniques.

Adaptive mixture learning in a dynamic system


There is provided a fixed contact structure, including: a substrate; at least one fixed contact which is disposed on the substrate; a movable contact which slides on the corresponding fixed contact in a sliding direction; a resist layer which is consecutively disposed on the substrate outside both ends of the fixed contact with respect to the sliding direction; and gaps which are formed outside both ends of the fixed contact with respect to a direction orthogonal to the sliding direction.

In the past, there have been proposed various types of a fixed contact structure for sliding a movable contact on a board (refer to Patent Literature 1 and Patent Literature 2). FIG. 4 shows an example of the fixed contact structure. In FIG. 4, a board 100 includes a substrate 101, and a resist layer 102 and three fixed contacts 103 which are placed on un upper surface of the substrate 101. Each of the three fixed contacts 103 is aligned at intervals from one another and extended along the same direction. Two of the fixed contacts 103 have the same dimension (longitudinal length), and the other one of the fixed contacts 103 is set to be shorter in length than the two.
The resist layer 102 is disposed without any gaps in the entire periphery of the three fixed contacts 103.
Three movable contacts 110 are disposed at intervals on the board 100. Each of the three movable contacts 110 slides on the corresponding fixed contact 103 and a region of the resist layer 102 which is extended from the corresponding fixed contact 103 along a sliding direction S which corresponds to a longitudinal direction of the fixed contact 103. In this way, an electric signal can be obtained in accordance with a sliding position of the three movable contacts 110.


A chip-size semiconductor package and fabrication method is provided that reduces the size of the package. Further, the electrical path from the chip pads to the external leads is reduced to improve electrical characteristics. In addition, the external leads can be formed directly at the location of the chip pads. The chip-size semiconductor package has a passivation film is formed on a semiconductor chip excluding the chip pads thereon. Inner ends of conductive wires are vertically coupled to corresponding chip pads, respectively. Then, the semiconductor chip is sealed with a molding resin excluding the outer ends of the conductive wires that protrude. The outer ends can be formed as external leads having a shape, such as circular external balls, based on the intended use.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor package and a fabrication method that minimizes the size of the semiconductor package almost to the size of a semiconductor chip and improves an electrical path between a chip pad and the outside to enhance electrical characteristics.
2. Background of the Related Art
In the construction of a related art semiconductor package, a semiconductor chip is fixedly bonded on a paddle of a lead frame. Then, the pads of the semiconductor chip and internal leads are electrically connected with conductive wires. Next, the entire structure is sealed with a molding resin. Finally, the external leads are formed to be of a predetermined shape depending on the intended use.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing an SOJ (small outline J-lead) semiconductor package in which external leads 7 are formed in the shape of a letter "J". As shown in FIG. 1, internal leads 3 of a lead frame are bonded on a semiconductor chip using the strength of an adhesive tape 2. Further, chip pads 6 formed at the center of the top surface of a semiconductor chip 1 are connected with the internal leads 3 through conductive wires 4 using ultrasonic thermal compression bonding. Then, the semiconductor chip 1 and the internal leads 3, except for the external leads 7, are surrounded within a molding resin 5. Finally, then the external leads 7 are formed depending on the purpose of the user. The external leads shown in FIG. 1 are formed to be "J" leads.
In the related art semiconductor package, an electrical signal from the chip pads 6 formed on the semiconductor chip is transmitted outside the semiconductor package using the lead frame. However, the package size is relatively large in comparison with the semiconductor chip size. As the electrical path from the chip pads to the external leads become longer, the electrical characteristics decline and a semiconductor package with many pins is difficult to achieve.
To overcome the disadvantages of related art semiconductor packages using the lead frame, various kinds of semiconductor packages such as a chip-size semiconductor package have been developed.
FIG. 2 shows a plastic molded extended bump (PMEB) type chip-size semiconductor package. In FIG. 2, a metal wiring pattern 13 is formed to connect a plurality of chip pads 12 formed on the semiconductor chip 11 with internal bump bonding pads 17. On the internal bump bonding pads 17 are bonded conductive internal bumps 16. On the top surfaces of the conductive internal bumps are bonded tapes (not illustrated). Then, the semiconductor chip 11 is surrounded within a molding resin 14. By removing the tapes (not illustrated), the top surfaces of the internal bumps 16 are exposed. After applying a solder paste to the internal bumps 16, conductive external solder balls 15 are put thereon and bonded with the internal bumps 16 through an infrared reflow process. Such a PMEB-type chip size semiconductor package was described at the "SEMICON JAPAN '94 SYMPOSIUM" held by the MITSUBISHI corporation in Japan on Dec. 2, 1994.
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a bump electrode in FIG. 2. The chip pads 12 are formed on a top surface of the semiconductor chip 11. A passivation film 18 that protects the chip 11 is formed on the semiconductor chip 11 except on the top surface of the chip pads 12. The metal wiring pattern 13 is formed on the chip passivation film 18 having one end connected to the chip pads 12 and the other end connected to the bump bonding pads 17.
The metal wiring pattern (ball connecting pattern) for transmitting electrical signals from the chip pads 12 is formed through a separate pre-assembly formation process. That is, the metal wiring pattern 13 is formed to electrically connect the chip pads 12 of the semiconductor chip 11 of the semiconductor chip 11 to the internal bump connecting pads 17. A polyimide film 19 is formed on the above construction except the internal bump bonding pads 17. Next, the internal bumps 16 are bonded on the exposed internal bump bonding pads 17 by means of a solder adhesive 20 composed of Pb or Sn. Then, the molding resin 14 seals the semiconductor chip 11 by surrounding the entire surface of the above construction except for the top surface of the internal bumps 16. Finally, the external balls 15, which serve as external leads, are bonded on the internal bumps 16 to complete the chip-size semiconductor package fabrication.
The overall size of the PMEB-type chip-size semiconductor package relative to the related art SOJ semiconductor package is smaller. Further, the PMEB-type semiconductor package has a relatively shorter electrical path, which improves the chip's electrical characteristics. However, a separate formation process, which is a pre-assembly process, is necessary for the metal wiring pattern. Further, the electrical path from the chip pads of the semiconductor package to the external solder balls remains relatively long.
The above references are incorporated by reference herein where appropriate for appropriate teachings of additional or alternative details, features and/or technical background.


The present eye activity monitoring system includes a monitoring apparatus for acquiring the eye image of a user in a closed eye state and an image-processing apparatus for generating an alarm signal based on the eye image. The monitoring apparatus includes an eye mask, an image-sensing unit positioned on the eye mask, a control circuit electrically connected to the image-sensing unit, a transmitting module electrically connected to the control circuit, an antenna electrically connected to the transmitting module and at least on power supply positioned on the eye mask. The image-processing apparatus has a receiving module and an image-processing module. The image-processing module judges the eye status according to the acquired feature of the eye image, and sends a warning alarm to trigger the warning device when an abnormal event occurs.

Since the development of the medical science and the living condition result in longer and longer human lifespan, the aged society is impending. However, aged people often suffer from diseases such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes, which are serious threats endangering the life quality of the aged people, since these diseases are apt to break out suddenly. Therefore, researchers recently have utilized considerable resources on developing medical equipment which functions such as family attendance for sending a warning alarm when a family member's disease suddenly breaks out. It is difficult to warn in advance when the aged person is asleep and a disease breaks out suddenly, and the aged person may die suddenly as a consequence if the family is careless or not present at such particular time. Although there are some medical equipment at the present that can be put on the aged people to send a message to medical organizations for emergency treatment by the monitoring of physiology signals, it is apparent such methods are departing from human nature and will harm the self-respect of the aged people.
At present, many physiology signal-sensing methods are invasive, contact type or activated through the patients to trigger the emergency treatment notification. However, such type of equipment has many problems such as resulting in discomforting the patients. In addition, it is possible that the patients tear apart the sensing components because of extreme pain or other factors generated from the breaking out of illness, which causes the sensing equipment to fail. Therefore, the current society is in great need of a type of monitoring equipment that will not cause discomfort to the patients but can send out physiology signals effectively, and especially can send alarm signal on time when the monitored person suffers from a certain abnormal situation during sleep.

Eye activity monitoring apparatus and system


A method and system provides for the automated handling of alarms from a fault management system for a telecommunications network without the need for the intervention of an operator. When the fault management system identifies service outages or other network performance problems, an alarm is generated, and an established set of rules is applied to evaluate the alarm based on certain attributes of the alarm. From this application of the rules, an action is identified and initiated, which could involve any of a number of tasks or activities, including, for example, transmission of instructions directly to a network device, electronic notifications directly to a technician or other maintenance personnel, and/or generation of a trouble ticket.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of telecommunications, and, more particularly, relates to a method and system for automated handling of alarms from a fault management system for a telecommunications network.
2. Description of Related Art
The present invention is a method and system for automated handling of alarms from a fault management system for a telecommunications network, thus improving the performance and efficiency of the telecommunications network.
Presently, various methods and systems are used for monitoring faults within telecommunications networks. Often, these are called fault management systems. Such fault management systems are crucial to network providers, including telecom providers and/or Internet service providers, because of the need to proactively monitor and rapidly address network performance and degradation issues. For example, Agilent Technologies, Inc. of Palo Alto, Calif. markets and distributes a software product under the trademark FM eXEL that serves as a fault management system. Specifically, this software product is designed to monitor and control network devices, such that service outages and degradations are reported to the network provider in substantially real-time. This and other software products are widely used by network providers.
Regardless of the particular fault management system selected for monitoring a network, in most cases, alarms or messages associated with network conditions are transmitted to a Network Operating Center ("NOC") established by the network provider, which is typically a centralized facility staffed by operators (e.g., technicians and engineers) trained to respond to such alarms. When a NOC operator receives an alarm from the fault management system, which is typically displayed on a computer monitor, the NOC operator must evaluate its significance. If the alarm relates to a critical component or aspect of the network, then the NOC operator will take immediate and appropriate action. For example, the NOC operator may dispatch a repair crew to the location of the problem, or the NOC operator may adjust certain network devices to compensate for an identified problem by transmitting instructions to one or more network devices. As one skilled in the art will recognize, various well-known methods and systems exist for executing such corrective actions. However, if a particular alarm is relatively insignificant, or if there are insufficient resources to deal with the alarm, or if the NOC operators are busy tending to more critical alarms, then there might be a delay in responding to a particular alarm, or the particular alarm might be completely ignored.
Because of the irregular rate and volume of alarms from a fault management system, a particular NOC may not always have the staffing necessary to address all alarms from the fault management system in a timely fashion, which may ultimately result in service degradation and decreased network performance. Alternatively, if the network provider staffs a NOC based on estimated peak periods of activity, there is an associated labor cost.
Thus, there is a need for a method and system for automated handling of alarms from a fault management system for a telecommunications network, preferably a method and system in which certain actions are initiated in response to one or more alarms from the fault management system without the need for the intervention of a NOC operator. Such a method and system would allow for the level of alarm traffic generated by a fault management system to be effectively filtered or reduced, so as to allow the NOC operators to focus their efforts on addressing more critical faults or network performance issues. Furthermore, it would be desirable that, in such a method and system for automated handling of alarms, the appropriate response to one or more alarms from the fault management system could be based on or configured to local, regional, national, and/or international network conditions.

Method and system for automated handling of alarms from a fault management system for a telecommunications network


The immersion microscope objective lens system of the present invention provides a numerical aperture of 1.3, a magnification of 40.times., a planatic image field even in the wide field of view and appropriately compensates for all aberrations. The immersion microscope objective lens system of the present invention comprises a structure including a plurality of lens groups G1 through G8 arranged along a common optical axis wherein the first lens group G1 from the object side of the lens system includes a planoconvex lens and a meniscus lens cemented to the planoconvex lens with its convex surface facing toward the image side of the lens system and wherein the second lens group G2 includes two positive meniscus lenses having convex surfaces facing toward the object side of the lens system and wherein the following condition is fulfilled: that n2 is larger than 1.70 where n2 is the refractive index in relation to the "d" line of the meniscus lens of the first lens group G1 (.lambda.=587.6 nm).

The resolution power of a lens is directly proportional to the lens' numerical aperture. Microscope objective lenses having large numerical apertures have been designed and developed in order to improve resolution power. It is usually very difficult to design microscope objective lenses having the same numerical aperture with substantially different lens magnifications.
The above design problem becomes even more problematic when the lens requires an almost constant field of view independent of magnification, as in the case of an immersion microscope objective lens. It is also more difficult to design an anastigmatic low magnification objective lens system having a large numerical aperture. For example, a 40.times. objective with a NA of 1.3 has a larger NA on the image side than a 60.times. which has a NA of 1.4. Therefore, the 40.times. objective is more difficult to design.

Immersion microscope objective lens system


Disclosed are a method, device and system for signalling transmission in a virtual multi-antenna system. The method includes N terminals receive CSI-RSs from a Node B, N being a positive integer larger than or equal to 2; and one terminal in M terminal(s) calculates channel related information from the Node B to the terminal according to the received CSI-RS, and sends the channel related information to L terminal(s), wherein the M terminal(s) form(s) a subset of the N terminals, M is smaller than or equal to N and larger than or equal to 1, and L is smaller than or equal to N and larger than or equal to 1. A first sending unit in the device is configured to calculate channel related information from a Node B to one terminal in M terminal(s) according to a CSI-RS received by the terminal, and send the channel related information to L terminal(s).

In a wireless communication technology, when a Node B, for example, an Evolved Node B (eNB), sends data by multiple antennae, a data transmission rate may be increased in a space multiplexing manner, that is, a sender sends different data at different antenna locations by the same time-frequency resources, and a receiver, for example, User Equipment (UE), also receives the data by multiple antennae. As shown in FIG. 1, when a Node B is to send downlink data to terminals A, B, C and D in a cell, if an existing downlink transmission manner is adopted, the Node B needs to allocate different channel resources to A, B, C and D; and the Node B may adopt a Single User Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (SU-MIMO) manner to improve transmission efficiency. Under a single-user condition, resources of all antennae are allocated to the same user, the user is in possession of all the physical resources allocated by a Node B side in a transmission interval, and such a transmission manner is called SU-MIMO; while under a multiple-user condition, space resources of different antennae are allocated to different users, one user shares the physical resources allocated by the Node B side with at least one of other users in a transmission interval, a sharing manner may be a space division multiple access manner or a space division multiplexing manner, and such a transmission manner is called Multiple User Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MU-MIMO), wherein the physical resources allocated by the Node B side refer to time-frequency resources.
In a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, downlink physical Channel State Information (CSI) are reflected by three ways: a Channel Quality Indicator (CQI), a Pre-coding Matrix Indicator (PMI) and a Rank Indicator (RI).
A CQI is an index for determining quality of a downlink channel. In an existing technology, a CQI is represented by integral values from 0 to 15, representing different CQI levels respectively, different CQIs correspond to respective Modulation and Coding Schemes (MCSs), and there are totally 16 conditions which may be represented by 4-bit information.
A PMI refers to notifying an eNB of a pre-coding matrix for pre-coding a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) sent to UE according to measured channel quality in a closed loop space multiplexing sending mode only. Feedback granularity of the PMI may be feeding back the PMI in the whole bandwidth, or may also be feeding back the PMI according to sub-bands.
An RI is configured to describe the number of spatial independent channels, and corresponds to a rank of a channel response matrix. UE is required to feed back RI information in open loop space multiplexing and closed loop space multiplexing modes, and is not required to feed back the RI information in other modes. The rank of the channel matrix corresponds to the number of layers, so that the RI information fed back to an eNB by the UE is the number of the layers for downlink transmission.
A transmission layer has the meaning of "layer" under a multi-antenna condition in LTE and Long Term Evolution-Advanced (LTE-A), and represents the number of available independent channels in space multiplexing. The total number of transmission layers is a rank of a spatial channel. In an SU-MIMO mode, resources of all antennae are allocated to the same user, and the number of layers for transmitting MIMO data is equal to the rank adopted for transmitting the MIMO data by the eNB; while in an MU-MIMO mode, the number of layers for transmission of one user is smaller than the total number of the layers for transmitting the MIMO data by the eNB, and the eNB is required to notify different control data to the UE in different transmission modes for switching between the SU-MIMO mode and the MU-MIMO mode.
In a practical communication system, a Node B may adopt multiple transmitting and receiving antennae, while there may usually not be many antennae configured on a terminal of a user side under the limits of a factor such as a size and cost of the terminal, which may cause incomplete utilization of advantages of a MIMO technology.
An uplink virtual MIMO method disclosed at present is to combine multiple users to form virtual MIMO channels in the same time-frequency resource to jointly send data to a Node B with multiple antennae. When distances between the users are large enough, the channels for different users to reach the Node B may be considered to be uncorrelated, so that issue related to the size and the cost is addressed.
Virtual MIMO is divided into cooperative virtual MIMO and non-cooperative virtual MIMO. A main thought of cooperative virtual MIMO is that data may be shared between users and the antennae of respective users are shared to form a virtual multi-antenna system, and an existing uplink cooperative virtual MIMO technology mainly realizes a diversity function of MIMO; and non-cooperative virtual MIMO refers to that users may not share data but send independent data streams to a Node B respectively, the Node B selects some users for pairing according to channel conditions of the users, the paired users send data to the Node B in the same time-frequency resource, and the Node B distinguishes different users through multiple antennae, which is similar to that of downlink MU-MIMO, and non-cooperative virtual MIMO mainly realizes a multiplexing function of MIMO.
A virtual MIMO technology at the present stage is usually suggested for an uplink for a mobile terminal to send data to a Node B, and a non-cooperative manner is mainly adopted.
Device to Device (D2D) communication is a technology for direct communication between terminals, and its main characteristic is that: a certain device in multiple close devices covered by a network may find other devices in a wireless manner and realize direct connection and communication with the other devices. In D2D communication, resources are shared with cell users under the control of a cell network, so that a utilization rate of a frequency spectrum may be increased. In addition, D2D communication also has the advantages of: reducing a burden of a cellular network, reducing power consumption of a battery of a mobile terminal, increasing a bit rate, improving robustness of a failure of a network infrastructure and the like, and further supporting novel small-scale point-to-point data service.
Downlink virtual MIMO may allow sharing of receiving antennae of multiple users to form a virtual SU-MIMO receiver, and because of less interlayer interference, SU-MIMO may achieve higher link performance and higher downlink throughput compared with MU-MIMO, which is great for improving a communication condition of a hot spot with densely distributed users. However, downlink virtual MIMO is essentially cooperative virtual MIMO, and the terminals are required to share information received from a Node B and jointly perform demodulation and decoding. Since an existing mobile communication network architecture does not support data sharing between users, two processes are required for data interaction between users: 1, each user sends data to a Node B through an uplink channel respectively; and 2, the Node B forwards the data to the users in downlink channels. In such interaction processes, the antenna data may not be effectively shared between the users, so that an existing downlink virtual MIMO technology is not taken full advantage in a mobile communication system.
For the problem of incapability of an existing mobile communication network in effectively supporting a downlink virtual MIMO technology, there is yet no effective solution.

Method, device and system for signalling transmission of virtual multi-antenna system


A semiconductor memory device comprising at least one memory mat comprised of a plurality of memory cells respectively provided at points where a plurality of word lines and spare word lines respectively intersect a plurality of bit lines and spare bit lines placed so as to intersect the word lines and spare word lines. In the semiconductor memory device, a plurality of fuse means allowed to open or remain unopen in accordance with stored information encoded with respect to addresses for specifying defective word lines or defective bit lines are used to control gate means based on their corresponding complementary signals. Thus, the gate means transmit signals for selecting their corresponding word lines or bit lines to thereby produce coincidence/non-coincidence signals.

This invention relates to a semiconductor memory device, and principally to a technique which is effective for use in effecting defect relief in a dynamic RAM (Random Access Memory).
A defective bit-free chip cannot be formed any more in a semiconductor memory device in which attempts have been made to achieve mass storage capacities such as 64 Mbits, 256 Mbits, etc. It is essential for redundant circuits for switching faulty or defective word lines or bit lines to spare word lines or bit lines, respectively, to be provided for such a semiconductor memory device. In this case, fuses have been used to store faulty or defective addresses. However, in a configuration wherein fuses are provided in one-to-one-correspondence with complementary address signals comprised of "true (True)" and "bar (Bar)" signals and one of them is rendered open to store defective addresses, a vast number of fuses are needed, thus resulting in an undesirable increase in the chip size. If the number of the fuses is restricted to avoid an undue increase in the chip size, then a problem arises in that the efficiency of relief is sacrificed.
Various redundant circuits using fuses have been described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 6295592, 9-7389 and 8-77791.


A pressing tool in which, according to work content, an exchange tool is held so as to be capable of being exchanged by attachment/detachment by a locking bolt penetrating through a mounting portion provided to the tool main body, and the exchange tool is actuated by a pressing member. The outer periphery of the shank of the locking bolt is provided with: an annular groove for locking, arranged on the bolt-head side so as to be partially discontinuous; a release groove extending from the discontinuous part of the annular groove toward the tip of the bolt along the shank at an incline so as to gradually get shallower; and a retaining annular groove formed on the shank further toward the tip of the bolt than the release groove, the bolt-head side inner wall of the retaining annular groove being formed as a tapered incline. The mounting part is provided with a locking pin that fits into the locking annular groove, the release groove, and the retaining groove and that is capable of moving between the grooves. The locking bolt is provided with a release coil spring for urging the bolt toward the bolt head.

There is publicly known a pressing tool used for fixing a crimp or solderless terminal to a wire cable. In this instance, when a cable diameter or the crimp terminal differs, a tool head (an exchange tool) must be replaced with a counterpart complying with appropriate specifications in some cases. Further, tools that process a target other than the crimp terminal, e.g., a tool used for cutting a wire, cable, a steel wire, and others are widely used, and a tool head (the exchange tool) must be replaced in each of these tools when a diameter of a processing target differs.
Here, although there are many kinds of application pressures, e.g., an application pressure generated by a manual lever or an application pressure based on an air pressure or a hydraulic pressure, a hydraulic type is convenient in order to produce a large pressure. A hydraulic type or a pneumatic type usually requires a hydraulic pump or a pneumatic pump separately from a work tool, and an entire apparatus enlarges. Therefore, there is a driver (an electric hydraulic type) that drives a hydraulic pump with the use of an electric motor provided to a tool itself and actuates a pressing tool by a generated hydraulic pressure.
Since this electric hydraulic type is relatively small and light in weight and can provide a large application pressure based on an oil pressure, it is used for a portable tool. In this case, there is one that has an exchange tool mounted in a bifurcated mounting portion protruding toward a tool main body side and fixes the exchange tool and the mounting portion by using a penetrating locking bolt.
A locking bolt (5) disclosed in Patent Document 1 is constituted of a shank having a circular cross section and a bolt head (13) provided at one end thereof, and a securing recess 10, a longitudinal groove 11 extending in a longitudinal direction of the shank, and a blocking surface 18 that separates the longitudinal groove 11 from the securing recess 10 are formed on the shank. A depth of the securing recess 10 is equal to at least a depth of the longitudinal groove 11.
A securing element captivity is provided to one fork leg 2 of fork legs 2, 3 provided to the tool main body in a bifurcated manner. A securing element 7 held here is held on the securing element captive in a state that it is engaged with one of the longitudinal groove 11 and the securing recess 10 by constant engagement. The locking bolt 5 is movable in a bolt receptacle 4, which is a through hole provided in the fork leg 2, in the range between a lock position and a release position. A compression spring 15 is compressed and disposed between the fork leg 2 and the bolt head and energizes the locking bolt 5 toward the release position.
At the time of the locking the locking bolt 5, the securing element 7 engages with the securing recess 10. The securing recess 10 is formed on a surface of the locking bolt 5. To move the locking bolt 5 to the release position, the securing pin 7 is moved to the longitudinal groove 11. At the time of starting movement of the locking bolt 5, the securing pin 7 fixed in the securing recess 10 is guided by the longitudinal groove 11. Here, an end of the longitudinal groove 11 is terminated at a position away from a free end 12 of the locking bolt 5. As a result, the longitudinal groove 11 forms a stop at an unlock position (the release position) in cooperation with the securing pin 7. Consequently, the locking bolt 5 is held in a receiving neck 1 of the tool (Patent Document 1, Col. 6, Lines 54-67).
According to the invention disclosed in the Patent Document 1 as described above, at the time of releasing the locking bolt 5, the securing pin 7 is brought into contact with and held at the end of the longitudinal groove 11 (an end of the bolt on the free end side), and hence it serves as a retainer of the bolt.
Patent Document 2 is adopted as a prior art in the Patent Document 1. According to the Patent Document 2, a cylindrical security sector 17 energized toward a push-in side is provided at one end of a locking bolt 7, and a bevelled part 29 (a running-up slope) used for moving a locking pin 10 having a semispherical tip from an annular security sector 27 is formed on the cylindrical security sector 17 (see Patent Document 1, Column 1, Lines 33-61, "Background section"). That is, when the security sector 17 is pulled toward a pull side (an opposite side of the push-in side), the beveled part 29 of the security sector 17 pushes the locking pin 10 toward an outer side (a direction to push from the annular sector toward the outside) to effect unlocking, and the lock bolt 7 is released together with the security sector 17.
Here, an annular recessed part 33 is provided at an outer periphery of the other end (a free end side) of the bolt 7, and the locking pin 10 is engageably inserted into this part to serve as a retainer of the bolt. A side surface of the recessed part 33 on the security sector 27 side is formed as a bevelled part 34, and the locking pin 10 automatically moves out of the recessed part 33 at the time of pushing in the bolt 7 for locking. It is described that the invention in Patent Document 1 is configured to simplify handling with respect to Patent Document 2 as the prior art (Patent Document 1, Column 1, Lines 57-61).


A multi-functional retractable pet leash comprising a housing having integrally formed therewith a handle wherein the housing houses therein a first spooling mechanism which spools a flexible leash member for tethering an animal and a second spooling mechanism which spools a strapping means for strapping the housing to a tree or post of varying circumferences. Additionally, the housing houses therein a flashlight assembly wherein at least a portion of the front of the housing is transparent to allow light to project therethrough.

Leashes are commonly used to walk animals in the parks, neighborhoods, etc. so that the pet cannot wander away from its owner. Since many pet owners work during the day, typically, pet owners walk their pet at night. Henceforth, I have determined that integrating a lighting device and a retractable leash will eliminate the need for pet owners to carry a separate flash light while walking their pet at night. Moreover, I have determined that integrating a strapping means for strapping the pet to a post such as while in the park or the like is very desirable.
Several devices have been patented which are aimed at pet leashes.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,595,143, to Alberti, entitled "RETRACTABLE LEASH APPARATUS PROVIDING FOR DOUBLING THE RANGE AND RETRACTION SPEED OF SUCH APPARATUS WITHOUT TENSION INCREASE" discloses a leash apparatus which utilizes two commercially available self retracting leashes, one carried by on the leashed animal and the other carried by the animal owner. Each leash has a button which, when a button is pushed, locks the leash line reel in the leash. The button on the user hold leash is manually operated. The button on the animal carried leash is operated by remote control.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,462,019, to Hong-Rong et al., entitled "ANIMAL LEASH" discloses an animal leash which is made of aircraft cable of a particular length. The cable includes a clamp having an eye for receiving a snap connector for securing the cable about a tree or post so that the animal can readily move around the tree or post.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,501,230, to Talo, entitled "RETRACTING AND LOCKING ANIMAL LEASH" discloses a hand-held apparatus which dispenses, retracts and locks an animal leash in a desired position. The apparatus includes a housing having an elongated handle portion adapted to be grasped in the hands of the user and a generally cylindrical spool/cord reservoir portion from which the cord extends coupled to the top of the handle portion.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,269,150, to McCarthy, entitled "DOG LEASH" discloses a retractable leash device which includes a leash cable which is wound on a spring-loaded spool. The housing of the device includes an outer casing which is essentially shaped like two hollow truncated pyramids aligned base to base. One end of the outer casing functions as a hand grip wherein the hand grip is provided with a spring loaded braking plate so that squeezing the handgrip causes the teeth on the braking plate to engage and stop the leash cable.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,315,642, to Rogers et al., entitled "EXTENSIBLE ANIMAL LEASH" discloses an extensible animal leash having a casing for spooling therein a flexible leash. The casing has coupled thereto a flexible strap for holding the extensible animal leash by the animal owner.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,776,644, to Fontaine, entitled "ANIMAL TETHERING DEVICE" discloses an animal tethering device which includes a casing for spooling therein the leash and a loop strap which extends from the rear end of the casing and can be snugly fit about the wrist while the casing is held in the hand.
While each of the above pet leashes function as desired, none of them have a multi-functional retractable pet leash comprising a housing having integrally formed therewith a handle wherein the housing houses therein a first spooling mechanism which spools a flexible leash member for tethering an animal and a second spooling mechanism which spools a strapping means for strapping the housing to a tree or post of varying circumferences. Additionally, the housing houses therein a flashlight assembly wherein at least a portion of the housing is transparent to allow the light to project therethrough.
As will be seen more fully below, the present invention is substantially different in structure, methodology and approach from that of the prior retractable pet leashes.

Multi-functional retractable pet leash apparatus


Printers and printer systems for printing images on paper in different configurations and for dispensing printed paper in different directions are disclosed herein. According to an aspect, a printer includes a body defining openings. A printing unit is positioned within the body and can receive an instruction for printing an image. In a first print mode, the printing unit can print the image on the paper in a first configuration and dispense the paper in a first direction through one of the openings of the body. In the second print mode, the printing unit can print the image on the paper in a second configuration and dispense the paper in a second direction through another of the openings of the body. A sensing component can determine whether the printer is in the first print mode or the second print mode.

Printers are used in many environments. For example, printers are often used as peripheral devices at point of sale (POS) terminals. Depending on the POS environment, a printer may be either placed for rest on a surface, mounted on a wall surface, or placed underneath a counter. In other instances, a printer may be fitted within an enclosure such as a cabinet. Depending on the configuration in its environment, printed paper may be dispensed from the printer in an undesirable direction, location, or orientation. For example, if the printer is positioned within a cabinet with its front facing the opening of the cabinet, printed paper may dispense in a direction away from the cabinet opening, thus it may be difficult for the user to access the dispensed paper. As a result, the usefulness of the printer may be limited. Accordingly, it is desired to provide printers that can dispense paper more conveniently and that can be more easily configured.

Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions Holdings Corporation


The invention provides a seating apparatus having a reclining movement with a corresponding seat lift movement. The apparatus further provides a seating support surface having increased comfort comprising a shaped diaphragm with a series of calculated openings provided throughout.

A common goal in the field of seating apparatuses, particularly office chairs, and the like, is to provide an apparatus that provides improved comfort and fit for the user. Achieving these goals generally takes one of two approaches: improving the mechanics of the chair (e.g., the adjustability of the chair, or the individual parts thereof), or improving the comfort of the chair by altering the support provided by the chair (e.g., the seat, the backrest, or the arms).
Multiple various attempts have been made in the past to improve chair mechanics as a method of improving comfort and usability of the chair. One key aspect of chair mechanics central to chair comfort is chair reclining movement.
In chairs that provide reclining movement, it is desirable that the recline pivot point be at the center of the body or where the user's back normally pivots (i.e., an axis through the user's hip joints). The pivot point of a reclining chair is normally displaced from the ideal pivot point. It is also desirable to have a chair wherein the angle between the user's upper body and the user's lower body opens up to relieve internal congestive body pressures. It is, of course, also desirable to provide a chair wherein the user's feet remain on the floor and the recline action parallels the natural body action closely enough to avoid the common shirt tail pull problem.
Various approaches to improving comfort of a chair's seat and back rest are also known. For examples, much work has been performed in the field to make the chair seat and back rest form fitting for various users, such as using contouring synthetic foam. Foam, however, is an inherently inadequate support as it is difficult, if not impossible, to make a single piece of foam that provides optimal firmness and softness at desirable points across the foam. Foam can also be problematic due to heat buildup between the foam cushion and the body of the user. Foam cushioning is further undesirable in that it requires upholstering to have a finished look that is appealing to users. Not only does this add cost to the chair, but if the cushion has been specially formed for optimal comfort, the addition of upholstering can alter the shape and firmness (or softness) of the foam.
Previously known chairs have also failed to provide support surfaces that easily and comfortably fit the bodies of a wide range of users. As one method of improving comfort, manufacturers have prepared chairs in a range of sizes (e.g., small, medium, large). This is obviously undesirable, as it requires the preparation of multiple lines of the same product, and accordingly requires sellers of the product to stock multiple lines of the same product. Still further, a user who purchases such a "sized" chair may at some time no longer be sized to the chair. Still further, the sizing of the chair prohibits the comfortable use of the chair by a variety of users.
In light of the shortcoming of previously known seating apparatuses, as described above, it would useful to have a seating apparatus having mechanical advantages, as well as improved seat and back rest support, to provide a user improved comfort. Moreover, it would be useful to provide such a chair in a form that maximizes aesthetics and function, as well as comfort. All of these benefits, as well as others that will become apparent with the description provided herein, are provided by the present invention.

Seating apparatus with reclining movement


An information processing apparatus, present in an intranet, sharing information with an information processing apparatus present in the other intranet connected to the intranet via a network, includes a memory storing the information, and a controller setting the information stored in the memory to an update disabled state in the updating of the information stored in the memory if the information is in an update enabled state, requesting the information processing apparatus sharing the information and present in the other intranet to set an update disabled state, and updating the information on condition that the update disabled state is set in all information processing apparatuses sharing the information and present in the intranets. Updating of the information shared by a plurality of intranets connected to each other via a network is thus synchronized to prevent updating contention.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to information processing in a plurality of intranets connected to each other via a network and, in particular, to a system, an apparatus, a method, a computer program, and a recording medium for synchronizing the updating of shared information including a document in the information processing.
2. Description of the Related Art
Information is typically shared among intranets connected to each other via a network, such as the Internet. The shared information is, in general, maintained and managed to the same state (synchronized) by transferring files in the file transfer protocol (FTP). When a file is transferred via a network, the file must pass through a variety of security steps arranged in each intranet. If the networks are different in security policy, sharing information becomes technically and procedurally difficult.
Concerning such sharing information among intranets, when information is shared within the Internet or among a plurality of intranets, a single information management server collects and generally manages information. The information is then opened on that server or a public server for disclosing information to users in a different system. Such a technique is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication Nos. 2000-311204 and 2002-373225.
Updated information is transferred in accordance with updating of each database among intranets (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-148611). Updating of information is performed via electronic mails (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication Nos. 2000-285074, 2003-150438, 11-150532, 2000-207305, and 2003-16019). By mutually exchanging information via electronic mails, information is shared and a transmitted schedule is then displayed on a schedule display (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-49567).
When information is managed separately by a plurality of intranets, the shared information can lose consistency. For example, the shared information can be individually updated by each intranet, or updated information cannot be reflected in another intranet. Such an in convenience becomes pronounced when information is shared among intranets of networks different in security policy. When information shared by intranets is updated in response to an update request, an acknowledgement of updating of information is difficult without notification. Information shared by a plurality of intranets that limit access from the outside must be maintained to the same state. Intranet to intranet communications are required in such a case, but it is difficult to clear security restrictions (firewall proxy). In particular, if restrictions different in security policy are applied, it takes time to share information passing through the security restrictions.
Information shared by intranets can be accessed by another intranet to learn the update status of the information, but security restrictions makes it difficult for the other intranet to examine the update status.
The more the number of intranets sharing information, the longer time is required for each intranet to make an access request and to receive an access result. Communications take more time, and replies are delayed. Management of transmission and reception and internal process become complex.
There are no mentions about a solution to these problems in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication Nos. 2000-311204, 2002-373225, 2000-148611, 2000-285074, 2003-150438, 11-150532, 2000-207305, 2003-16019, and 2002-49567.

System, apparatus, and method for processing information, and computer program, and recording medium


During each node's awake period, each node multicasts the relative time or slot of their next awake period (beaconing interval) to all neighboring nodes. This enables each node to intelligently and independently schedule the time slot of its next transmission based on the beaconing intervals of the nodes it has heard from. During each active (awake) interval, a node builds statistics of the future transmission/receive times of its neighbors and uses them to determine its next transmission time. In one proposed implementation, at the end of an active interval, a node picks the time slot with the highest counter for its next transmission. In another proposed implementation, at the end of an active interval, a node picks one of the slots with a weighted probability; the weight of each slot is proportional with the value of the counter associated with the slot.

Low power consumption, and thus long battery life, is critical to the success of next-generation ad-hoc wireless devices. With this in mind, many ad-hoc networks allow nodes to periodically sleep, or power down, in order to conserve battery life. The period of activity and inactivity is usually referred to as a node's duty cycle (DC).
With the above in mind, it would be beneficial to allow devices to keep their radios off for a majority of the time, yet be aware of the presence and information services being beaconed by neighboring devices. If a radio is off for too long of a time, it may miss information being broadcast by other nodes, however, if a radio is on for long periods of time, it may needlessly listen during periods of inactivity.
When all devices are in the same administrative domain (e.g. same owner or a shared, well-known configuration) with precisely maintained clocks, it is trivial to arrange the nodes' duty cycles to maximize battery life. However, there are many cases where the collection of nodes to be synchronized is not within the same administrative domain. For example, laptop computers and other mobile devices co-resident inside a coffee house while their individual owners make a purchase.
It would thus be beneficial for all nodes, even those without a shared administrative domain, to be synchronized such that they all transmit within a same period of time, so that an efficient duty cycle can be achieved. Therefore, a need exists for a method and apparatus for synchronizing nodes within a communication system that allows nodes to transmit and receive information during a synchronized time period.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions and/or relative positioning of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of various embodiments of the present invention. Also, common but well-understood elements that are useful or necessary in a commercially feasible embodiment are often not depicted in order to facilitate a less obstructed view of these various embodiments of the present invention. It will further be appreciated that certain actions and/or steps may be described or depicted in a particular order of occurrence while those skilled in the art will understand that such specificity with respect to sequence is not actually required. Those skilled in the art will further recognize that references to specific implementation embodiments such as "circuitry" may equally be accomplished via replacement with software instruction executions either on general purpose computing apparatus (e.g., CPU) or specialized processing apparatus (e.g., DSP). It will also be understood that the terms and expressions used herein have the ordinary technical meaning as is accorded to such terms and expressions by persons skilled in the technical field as set forth above except where different specific meanings have otherwise been set forth herein.

Method and apparatus for synchronizing nodes


A method of patterning a metal layer in a semiconductor die comprises forming a mask on the metal layer to define an open region and a dense region. The method further comprises etching the metal layer at a first etch rate to form a number of metal segments in the open region and etching the metal layer at a second etch rate to form a number of metal segments in the dense region, where the first etch rate is approximately equal to the second etch rate. The method further comprises performing a number of strip/passivate cycles to remove a polymer formed on sidewalls of the metal segments in the dense region. The sidewalls of the metal segments in the dense region undergo substantially no undercutting and residue is removed from the sidewalls of the metal segments in the dense region.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of fabrication of semiconductor dies. More specifically, the invention relates to patterning interconnect metal in a semiconductor die.
2. Background Art
In semiconductor die manufacturing, interconnect metal segments are formed in interconnect metal levels of a semiconductor die to provide connectivity between various circuit elements in the semiconductor die. The interconnect metal segments can be formed in a conventional metal etch process, which utilizes a plasma dry etch technique to pattern a layer of interconnect metal, such as aluminum, to form the interconnect metal segments.
The conventional metal etch process works adequately when the thickness of the interconnect metal segments is less than 4.0 microns and the spacing aspect ratio, which is equal to the height of the interconnect metal segments divided by the space between adjacent interconnect metal segments, is generally less than 2.0. However, when the thickness of the interconnect metal segments is greater than 4.0 microns and the spacing aspect ratio is greater than 2.5, the conventional metal etch process results in undesirable undercutting on sidewalls of the interconnect metal segments and/or under-etching between adjacent interconnect metal segments.
Undercutting occurs as a result of over-etching, which is utilized in the conventional metal etch process to ensure that all residue metal is removed between adjacent interconnect metal segments. By way of background, metal etches faster in open regions of a semiconductor die, where the spacing between adjacent interconnect metal segments is relatively large and the spacing aspect ratio is generally less than 2.0, in comparison to dense regions of the semiconductor die, where the spacing aspect ratio between adjacent closely-packed interconnect metal segments is generally greater than 2.5. The different between etch rates in open and dense regions of the semiconductor die is referred to as reactive ion etch ("RIE") lag. As a result of RIE lag, a substantial amount of over-etch is required to clear out residue metal between interconnect metal segments in dense regions of the semiconductor die.
Semiconductor manufacturers have attempted to reduce undesirable undercutting by reducing the amount of over-etch in dense regions of the semiconductor die. However, reducing the amount of over-etch in dense regions of the semiconductor die can result in undesirable under-etching.
Thus, there is a need in the art for an effective method for patterning interconnect metal in dense regions of a semiconductor die.

Densely packed metal segments patterned in a semiconductor die


An explosive device includes a firing train, an explosive charge and a shock activated neutralizer configured to disable activation of the explosive charge by the firing train. The neutralizer includes a housing and a rupturable fluid barrier configured to selectively permit mixing of disabling material constituents to interact with the firing train to disable the same. A method of neutralizing an explosive device includes rupturing the fluid barrier, at least in part by applying a shock to the explosive device, and interacting the disabling material with the firing train to disable the same.

Most conventional explosive devices such as explosive weapons are configured to detonate at a predetermined time or under predetermined conditions, by dropping the device, for example, or via relatively highly sophisticated ignition timing and/or triggering means. As is well known throughout the world, however, explosive devices do not always detonate when desired, often due to failure of the firing mechanism or the absence of expected conditions conducive to detonation. Unexploded explosives can present a danger to all persons who may happen to come into contact with them during a military operation, and even decades after suspension or resolution of an armed conflict. In particular, disposal personnel and non-combatants may be exposed to a substantial risk of death or dismemberment when engaging in activities within an initially failed explosive's zone of action. Even though explosives may fail to explode as intended, the explosive charge(s) and firing mechanisms may remain susceptible to activation by a variety of external forces such as heat, mechanical shock and other means. Cluster bombs, which may leave numerous unexploded and widely dispersed bomblets, pose a particular threat to non-combatants residing in armed conflict zones. The global benefits of fail-safe mechanisms for explosive devices are clear.
Over the years, various systems have been proposed to address the foregoing problems. U.S. Pat. No. 6,539,872 to Tipkin represents one such strategy and is directed to fuze "sterilization" using a sacrificial anodic component. Tipkin proposes a method of fuze sterilization wherein a first component and a second component having a prescribed relationship required for proper detonation of the fuze are positioned in a fuze device. The first and second components are fabricated from materials having different galvanic potentials. An electrolyte introduced between the first and second component initiates galvanic corrosion of one of the components, which may continue for a period of time until the prescribed relationship between the first and second components changes sufficiently to disable the detonation operation of the fuse. While Tipkin may be applicable to certain types of explosives and in certain environments, its passive fuze disabling approach is not without shortcomings.
The present disclosure is directed to one or more of the problems or shortcomings set forth above.