An antenna includes a dielectric substrate disposed on a ground conductor and first and second radiating conductors containing meandering lines that are symmetrically disposed on a surface of the dielectric substrate and whose lower ends are connected at a junction. A third radiating conductor is disposed between the first radiating conductor and the second radiating conductor and extends in a straight line along the symmetry axis of both the radiating conductors. A capacitive conductor is disposed on the dielectric substrate and is substantially parallel to the ground conductor. The upper ends of the first, second and third radiating conductors are connected to the capacitive conductor. Power of a frequency supplied to the junction causes the first and second radiating conductors to resonate while power of a higher frequency causes the third radiating conductor to resonate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to antenna devices suitable for being incorporated into in-vehicle telecommunication systems and the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
As shown in FIG. 5, an antenna device having a meandering radiating conductor patterned on a substrate is known as a compact antenna with a reduced height for being incorporated into an in-vehicle telecommunication system and the like (see, e.g., Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-349532 (in particular, pages 3 to 4, FIG. 1)).
In an antenna device 1 shown in FIG. 5, a meandering radiating conductor 3 made of copper foil is formed on a surface of a dielectric substrate 2 that is placed upright on a ground conductor 4, and high-frequency power is supplied to the lower end of the radiating conductor 3 via a power feeder such as a coaxial cable. As compared to the height of a radiating conductor formed in a straight line and having the same electrical length, the height of the meandering radiating conductor 3 is significantly lower, and thus use of the meanderline structure is advantageous in reducing the height of the antenna as a whole.
As shown in FIG. 6, moreover, an antenna device with a radiating conductor including two different pitches of meandering lines joined together and formed on a substrate surface has been used as a compact antenna that can send and receive signal waves of two frequency bands (see, e.g., Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2001-68917 (in particular, pages 3 to 4, FIG. 1)).
In a dual-band antenna device 5 shown in FIG. 6, a radiating conductor 8 made of copper foil is patterned on a surface of a dielectric substrate 7 that is placed upright on a ground conductor 6. The radiating conductor 8 is a combination of a first radiating conductor 8a meandering from the side adjacent to a feeding point with a relatively wide pitch, and a second radiating conductor 8b meandering from the end of the first radiating conductor 8a with a relatively narrow pitch. Supply of power of a first high-frequency to the feeding point of the radiating conductor 8 via a power feeder such as a coaxial cable allows the entire radiating conductor 8, which extends from the first radiating conductor 8a to the second radiating conductor 8b, to resonate at a first frequency f1. However, supply of power of a second high-frequency to the feeding point allows only the first radiating conductor 8a to resonate at a second frequency f2 that is higher than the first frequency f1. Since a meandering line with a narrow pitch (the second radiating conductor 8b) tends to impair the flow of a high-frequency current with a higher frequency, the second frequency f2 can allow only the first radiating conductor 8a to function as a radiating element.
In the above-described antenna device 1 and the antenna device 5 that are known, excessively narrow meandering pitches of the radiating conductor 3 and the radiating conductor 8 tend to cause higher mode resonances. A possible approach to reducing the antenna height, in this case, is to narrow the widths of the radiating conductor 3 and the radiating conductor 8, but their excessively narrow widths result in reduction in gain and narrowing of the resonant frequency band. In the antenna device 1 and the antenna device 5, therefore, it is difficult to reduce the antenna height while maintaining a sufficient gain and bandwidth.
Reducing the height of the entire antenna is particularly difficult in the dual-band antenna device 5, because in the radiating conductor 8a and the radiating conductor 8b the two different meandering pitches are connected in series. This inevitably increases the length of the radiating conductor 8.


A method and system for making electronic payments is disclosed herein. The method for making a payment for items being purchased by a customer at a point of sale comprises acquiring and sending a payment pending notification comprising an account number of the customer and a first terminal identification number to a host system. A payment request comprising a total cost of the items, a second terminal identification number, and a control bank card number is then acquired and sent to the host system. The host system associates the customer's account in the host system with the purchase by correlating the first terminal identification number with the second terminal identification number. A payment decision using information in the customer's account is made with the host system and is sent to the point of sale, where the transaction is closed. A system configured to perform the method is also provided.

The background information is believed, at the time of the filing of this patent application, to adequately provide background information for this patent application. However, the background information may not be completely applicable to the claims as originally filed in this patent application, as amended during prosecution of this patent application, and as ultimately allowed in any patent issuing from this patent application. Therefore, any statements made relating to the background information are not intended to limit the claims in any manner and should not be interpreted as limiting the claims in any manner.
Electronic Funds Transfer Point of Sale (EFTPOS) systems have operated for many years. An EFTPOS system is an electronic payment system involving electronic funds transfers based on the use of payment cards, such as debit or credit cards, at terminals located at points of sale. The terminals typically provide a means for entering personal account data into the system. Terminals typically include a magnetic stripe reading device and a keypad integrated with an EFTPOS terminal located at the point of sale. The keypad may provide a customer making a purchase the ability to enter their personal identification number (PIN) associated with their credit or debit card. When making a purchase, a merchant or vendor rings up a total cost of items being purchased and the customer is asked to tender payment. The customer may then swipe their credit or debit card through the magnetic stripe reading device and enter their PIN. The personal account data read from the payment card, PIN, merchant ID/terminal ID, and the total cost of items being purchased are electronically sent to the customer's card issuer for payment with the EFTPOS system.
Many merchants have other electronic point of sale systems in place as well. For example, many merchants have an advertising system and/or a loyalty program system in addition to an EFPTOS system. Many grocery stores, fuel stations, and other stores and restaurants have loyalty programs. Typically, a loyalty program involves the merchant providing incentives to its customers to shop with the merchant, such as in the form of discounts, coupons, or other rewards and incentives. Typically, each customer is given a unique identification loyalty card having a barcode. The customer scans their barcode when making a purchase and their identification information scanned from the barcode and information about the items being purchased is collected. In this way, loyalty programs allow merchants to collect information about their customers' shopping habits and provide rewards accordingly. In addition to rewards and incentives with the loyalty program, advertising systems may provide for sending targeted advertisements to customers, taking into account the collected information about the items being purchased by the customer.
EFTPOS and the other electronic point of sale systems, such as advertising and loyalty program systems, are typically separate systems using separate and different input devices at the point of sale. Consequently, these separate systems typically require additional steps to be taken by a customer making a purchase at the point of sale.

Method and system for making electronic payments


A lift station for raising the level of an open channel flow of liquid by sweeping blades mounted to a rotated wheel into the liquid flow after entering a housing to sweep the liquid up and back along a housing interior wall and over a weir edge located well above the level of the open channel flow stream. The flow stream is caused to descend as it enters the housing through a drop to increase the flow velocity to a degree sufficient to offset the impeding effect on upstream flow of the encounter of the flow with the rotating blades. Roller bearings are mounted to the inside of the housing to side walls to support the bladed wheel and are packed with a solid lubricant to insure a long service life despite being exposed to the liquid and debris entrained therein. A reverse rotation device positively prevents a backwards rotation of the wheel to prevent damage to the blades. The wheel is driven by a motor mounted in a housing tray affixed to one side wall driving a drive shaft penetrating the side wall. The housing tray collects any liquid leaking past the shaft and has a sloping bottom directing liquid back towards a drain hole in the housing side wall.

The present inventor has heretofore invented an apparatus and method for efficiently lifting liquid from a shallow depth open channel flow to a higher level, as described in EP 1 122 024.
This apparatus comprises a rotating wheel having straight edged flexible blades which are rotated into the flow in the same direction as the flow, and sweep liquid up from the channel flow along an upwardly and rearwardly curved housing wall and over an elevated weir edge, to thereby be raised in level.
The object of the invention is to make certain improvements to improve performance of the apparatus referred to.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A device that requires a regulatory label includes a label affixed to a surface of the device and a marking mechanism in the device that detects a configuration setting associated with the device and alters a portion of the label based on the configuration setting such that the label indicates information related to the configuration setting of the device.

Many electronic devices require specially marked labels that indicate information mandated by government regulations. The information on the label typically indicates, for regulatory compliance and auditing purposes, a particular configuration of the device to which the label is fixed. For example, wireless communication cards and digital video disk (DVD) players are electronic devices that required such regulatory labels.
Wireless communication cards are commonly used in electronic computer systems, such as notebook and desktop computers, to enable the systems to connect to a wireless local area network (WLAN) for accessing the Internet or other systems on the network. Various countries designate specific channels and frequency ranges for unlicensed use by electronic computer systems and devices. Accordingly, a wireless communication card is configured to use specified channels and specified frequencies to comply with the regulations promulgated by the country into which the card will be sold and used. Moreover, the wireless communication card must have a regulatory label attached to it indicating the specific configuration of the card. By affixing such a label to the card, an end user is informed of the card's configuration, and an auditing agency can quickly determine whether the card is being shipped to the correct destination for regulatory purposes.
Similarly, a DVD player is configured to play DVDs in a particular region. The regulatory label must be attached to the DVD player prior to entering the retail market, and indicates the appropriate region code corresponding to the region into which the DVD player will be sold. The regulatory label prevents an end user from attempting to resell the DVD player in another region.
In both examples, the regulatory label is typically applied by an operator during the manufacturing or assembly process of either the device itself (e.g., the DVD player) or of the system (e.g., the computer system) into which the device (e.g., wireless communication card) is installed. Because different countries/regions can have different configurations, the operator can manually mark the appropriate configuration on the label. This process, however, is time-consuming and error prone. In another approach, the label can be marked by a programmed marking tool prior to applying the label to the device such that the operator is not required to manually mark the label. This approach, however, does not eliminate the risk of attaching the marked label to the wrong device, i.e., the indication on the label does not correspond to the device's configuration. Alternatively, a different label can be provided for each different configuration and the operator can choose the appropriate label to attach to the card. This process, however, is also error prone because it does not eliminate operator error and it is also expensive because the manufacturer must now stock a plurality of different labels each having a distinct part number.
Accordingly, what is needed is an improved method and system for providing a label with the correct regulatory markings for a device. The method and system should eliminate the risk of marking a label incorrectly or attaching a marked label that indicates an erroneous configuration. In addition, the method and system should simplify the assembly process and reduce the costs associated with managing multiple inventory items. The present invention addresses such a need.

Method and system for automatically and dynamically marking a label for a device


The invention is directed to open-framework and microporous solids well suited for use in catalysis and ion exchange. The microporous solids are constructed by using a salt template which can be readily removed without destroying the framework of the micropore. Various microporous solids can be formed having different geometric structures depending upon the templating salt used and the concentration. Examples of two compounds include Na2Cs[Mn3(P2O7)2]Cl and K2.02Cs2.90[Cu3(P2O7)2]Cl2.92. Both compounds have 3-D (Mn, Cu)-P-O frameworks.

In the U.S. chemical industry, catalysts are used in over 90% of the manufacturing processes, transforming raw chemical ingredients into petroleum products, synthetic rubber and plastics, food products, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals, as well as controlling vehicle and industry emissions. Catalytic processes are involved in nearly 20% (approximately $1 trillion) of the U.S. gross domestic product and associated jobs. In economic terms, the U.S. chemical industry produces over 7,000 different products worth an estimated $375 billion per year, and generates 10% of the nation's total exports. Worldwide, the manufacture of catalysts themselves, which come in forms as disparate as biological enzymes (specialized proteins) to fine metal powders to complex inorganic compounds like zeolites, is a $10 billion industry. The chemical industry, which is highly dependent upon catalysis, has the greatest trade surplus of all U.S. industries.
However, both chemical and refining industries have lost market share in recent years. New catalyst technologies are required to develop cleaner, safer, more energy-efficient, and lower cost processes because most existing processes were conceived when energy use and pollution minimization were less important than today.
Microporous solids have been explored as one possible material for such catalytic applications (also useful in other related applications, such as sorbent and molecular sieves applications). Microporous solids comprise a fascinating class of materials with most of their interesting properties resulting from the fact that the frameworks facilitate a structurally confined space on the order of small molecules. These spaces consist of micropore structures that can be used as a microreactor allowing for selective and controlled chemical processes.
Zeolites and zeolite-type materials, for instance, are well known for their practical importance in industrial processes, such as gas separation, catalysis, and shape-selective synthesis. The naturally occurring and synthetic microporous solids, including aluminosilicates, aluminophosphates, substituted alumino-phosphates, and zinco- (or beryllo-) phosphates or arsenates, are closed-shell, diamagnetic solids.
Significant progress in the synthesis of transition-metal-containing zeolite analogues has recently occurred, mainly because of the potential importance of these materials in industrial catalysis. In particular, a great deal of research activity has occurred relating to the use of organic and inorganic templates to direct the synthesis of zeolite-type, micro- and mesoporous materials. The open-framework solids developed from such research activity conceivably possess some unique chemical properties that are derived from enhanced catalytic activity (e.g. redox chemistry with respect to the anchored transition metal center) combined with shape-selective absorptivities, as compared to the Si— and Al— based materials.
However, in these transition-metal-containing zeolite analogues, low temperatures have typically been employed during synthesis, in part, to avoid the formation of condensed frameworks. Due to such low temperatures, the templating agents used cannot be readily removed from the structure by heating without destroying the framework of micropores. Specifically, because organic or organometallic templating molecules are often bonded strongly, such as via a covalent bond, to the microporous frameworks, the framework may collapse as the templating molecule is removed. As such, the effectiveness of such materials in novel applications is thereby diminished.
Therefore, a need currently exists for a class of new cost-effective catalysts that improve the yields of products, cheapen or simplify processes, open up attractive products previously too costly to market, and/or reduce the amount of pollution. In particular, the need exists for a class of microporous solids that allow removal of the space-filling, charge-compensation molecules without disrupting the overall microporous framework.

Method of purifying a waste stream using a microporous composition


A universal leakage monitoring system (ULMS) to measure a plurality of leakage macros during the development of a manufacturing process or a normal operation period. The ULMS characterizes the leakage of both n-type and p-type CMOS devices on the gate dielectric leakage, the sub-threshold leakage, and the reverse biased junction leakage, and the like. Testing is performed sequentially from the first test macro up to the last test macro using an on-chip algorithm. When the last test macro is tested, it scans the leakage data out.

This invention generally relates to the manufacture of semiconductor devices, and more particularly, to a monitoring system for detecting and characterizing various classes of leakage in CMOS devices.
As the scaling of integrated circuit continues to progress, CMOS devices become prone to many different types of leakage problems. Current technology having a gate dielectric thinner than 10 nm, a channel length shorter than 50 nm, a junction depth thinner than 20 nm, the threshold voltage of fast devices below 200 mV are typically subject to serious leakage related problems.
Handling leakage problems has been profusely described in the art, as for instance, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,844,750 to Hsu et al. Therein is described a leakage monitoring apparatus that first measures die leakage and then generates digital keeper control bits to improve the performance of the dynamic circuits. More specifically, the sub-threshold leakage of CMOS devices on multiple locations of the die is simultaneously monitored. Based on the leakage information, keepers of dynamic circuits are properly sized to compensate for the leakage while maintaining the performance. The apparatus described uses a current mirror circuit to measure the sub-threshold leakage of pull down NMOS devices whose gates are connected to 150 mV. The patent is directed toward handling one specific class of circuit from being affected by sub-threshold leakage due to process variations. However, the apparatus described does not characterize other types of leakages, such as junction leakage, gate dielectric leakage. It neither addresses the problem of monitoring and quantifying the sub-threshold leakage of PMOS devices.
In another related patent, U.S. Pat. No. 6,844,771, issued to Chung-Hui Chen, there is described another class of leakage monitoring apparatus which first monitors the decoupling capacitor leakage voltage and selectively switches off any decoupling capacitor that displays a predetermined amount of leakage current. The apparatus detects the presence of gate dielectric leakage at a specific threshold level, i.e., when the leakage current multiplied by the gate resistance is smaller than ½ Vdd. When detected, a switch is triggered to shut off the capacitor. The proposed approach suffers from a serious problem, in that when the gate shows either a catastrophic failure or a broken gate oxide caused by pin-holes or other defects, the voltage drop exceeds a preset threshold level (e.g., ½ Vdd). As a result, the circuit fails to shut the decoupling capacitor off. Again, the cited patent is not suited for universal leakage characterization, since it makes no mention of how to measure other classes of leakage mechanisms other than capacitor leakage.
Gate Dielectric Leakage Characterization Circuit
As previously referred to, there are two classes of gate leakage: the first is known as normal leakage, while the second relates to the broken gate oxide leakage. The first class of leakage exhibits a weak temperature dependence and an activation energy value of approximately 0.4 eV. This value approximates the barrier height of the SiO2 to Si interface. A normal gate oxide leakage current of this class, also known as thermal emission current, is described in the article by C. R. Crowell and S. M. Sze, "Current Transport in Metal-Semiconductor Bafflers", Solid State Electron, 1966, Vol. 9, p. 1035-1048. The leakage level ranges from 1aA to 1pA. The second class is a gate oxide leakage mechanism, commonly referred to as Fowler-Nordheim tunnel, and it, likewise, displays a weak temperature dependence. The leakage level ranges from 1 to 10 p{acute over (Å)}. This second class of leakage is caused by broken gate oxide on different substrates, and is characterized by a leakage current level ranging from 0.1 to 1 m{acute over (Å)}.
The behavior of an n-MOS and p-MOS capacitor abnormal leakage significantly differs from one another. Therefore, it becomes necessary that they be independently monitored and characterized. In general, the broken gate leakage of a p-MOS capacitor is known to display a two to three orders of magnitude higher leakage current level than that of an n-MOS capacitor.
Referring now to FIGS. 1A and 1B, a schematic diagram and a device cross-sectional view of an n-MOS capacitor leakage monitoring device is illustrated. The gate is attached to node "B1", while the source, drain and body are connected to ground.
Referring to FIG. 2A and 2B, a schematic diagram and a device cross-sectional view of a PMOS capacitor leakage monitoring device are respectively shown. The gate is attached to node "B2", while the source/drain and body are connected to the power supply.
Sub-Threshold Leakage Characterization Circuit
The sub-threshold characteristics of a MOSFET device have strong temperature dependence, i.e., the lower the temperature, the lower the leakage current. The sub-threshold leakage current is conventionally measured at Vg=0V or at any lower bias level, typically, of the order of about 150 mV.
Referring to FIGS. 3A and 3B, there are shown a schematic diagram accompanied by a device cross-section of an NMOS sub-threshold leakage monitoring device. The gate is connected to ground or biased at 150 mV, while the drain is attached to node "A1" and the source and body to ground.
Correspondingly, FIGS. 4A and 4B show a schematic diagram and a cross-sectional view of a p-MOS sub-threshold leakage monitoring device. The gate is connected to VDD or biased at (VDD-150 mV). The drain is shorted to node "A2" while the source and body are connected to VDD.
Junction Leakage Characterization Circuit
The reserve leakage current for a normal p-n junction displays a strong temperature dependence which is governed by the relationship exp(−Eg/kT), wherein Eg is the band-gap energy of the order of 1.1 eV. However, for an abnormal p-n junction, the leakage level is two to five orders of magnitudes higher than that of a normal device. Its activation energy remains below 0.1 eV.
Referring to FIGS. 5A and 5B, a schematic diagram and a device cross-sectional view of an NMOS reverse p-n junction leakage monitoring device are shown. The gate is connected to node "C1", while the source, drain and body are attached to ground.
With reference to FIGS. 6A and 6B there are shown a schematic diagram and a device cross-sectional view of a p-MOS reverse p-n junction leakage monitoring device. The body is connected to node "C1", while the gate, source and drain are connected to VDD.
It is conceivable that a single p-type or n-type CMOS device or a plurality of CMOS devices can be advantageously used for monitoring. By way of example, if the leakage is proportional to the size (also referred to as the width) of the device, one may use as many devices as the area allocated thereto permits it.
In summary, while the prior art has addressed the problem of measuring the sub-threshold leakage and how to generate feedback controls to maintain keeper strength of dynamic circuits, there still remains a problem of how to monitor the effect of different classes of leakages, such as gate leakage, junction leakage and device leakage across a chip.
Furthermore, while the prior art has provided means for measuring leakage in n-type devices, it has not been able to expand this teaching to other classes of CMOS devices, regardless whether p-type or n-type.
Finally, and referring to monitor circuits capable of achieving the aforementioned goals, they typically require complex and bulky circuitry, each monitor device requiring its own comparator, which are difficult to integrate in a CMOS fabrication facility.

Monitoring system for detecting and characterizing classes of leakage in CMOS devices

International Business Machines Corporation


An amplifier capable of lowering an electrical current flowing in a peak amplifier before a carrier amplifier becomes saturated to thereby improve the efficiency of an entirety of the amplifier is provided. The amplifier includes a carrier amplifier circuit having an amplifying element operable in class-AB or class-B, and a plurality of peak amplifier circuits which have amplifying elements operating in class-B or class-C and which are arranged to start an operation in stages in response to an input level. An output of the carrier amplifier circuit and outputs of the peak amplifier circuits are combined together for signal output. One of the peak amplifier circuits which is rendered operative at the lowest input level is smaller in saturation output than the carrier amplifier circuit.

The present invention relates generally to amplifiers for use in base stations of a cellular telephone system or the like, and more particularly to an amplifier capable of improving the efficiency of Doherty amplifier circuitry.
Traditionally, in the case of electrical power amplification of a code division multiple access (CDMA) signal or a multi-carrier signal, a common amplifier is added a distortion compensation means for expanding the operation range of this common amplifier up to a nearby area of the saturation region to thereby lower electric power consumption. The distortion compensation means includes a feed-forward distortion compensation technique, pre-distortion compensation technique or else; however, with mere use of such distortion compensation, the achievability of lower power consumption reaches almost a limit. For this reason, in recent years, a specific type of amplifier circuitry, called the Doherty amplifier, draws attention as a high efficiency amplifier.


Provided is an image processing device including a changing unit that changes a threshold value of intensity of each of points within an image, a first display control unit that controls displaying of points including an intensity value equal to or greater than the threshold value every time the threshold value is changed by the changing unit, a receiving unit that receives designation of one or a plurality of predetermined regions within a displayed image based on an operation of a user, a fixing unit that fixes the threshold value of each of the points within the designated predetermined region as a threshold value by the changing unit at a time of designation of the predetermined region, a second display control unit that controls displaying of points including an intensity value equal to or greater than the threshold value fixed by the fixing unit among the points within the predetermined region, and points including an intensity value equal to or greater than the threshold value to be changed by the changing unit among the points outside the predetermined region, in a case where there is one or the plurality of predetermined regions within the image.

On medical scenes, there are demands for extracting a target such as a blood vessel from an examination image which is obtained using computer tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), or the like. For the demands, in the related art, it is known that a user selects a predetermined region while looking at a screen and extracts a target by setting a threshold value with respect to intensity or the like for each selected predetermined region (for example, Patent Document 1).

Image processing device, image processing method, program, and recording medium


There are provided a substrate which has solved an unsatisfactory adhesion problem of a seal part in a liquid crystal cell comprising a retardation layer provided on the inner side of the cell, and a liquid crystal cell using the substrate. A black matrix layer 12 formed of a metal and its picture frame part 12A, a color filter layer 13, and a retardation layer 14 are stacked on a substrate 11, and an area including at least the picture frame part 12A is an area to be sealed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a color filter substrate, and a liquid crystal display panel comprising the color filter substrate stacked on a counter substrate through a seal material.
2. Background Art
A retardation film for controlling a phase difference has hitherto been used in liquid crystal displays. For example, in the reflection-type liquid crystal display, in general, a linearly polarizing plate and a ¼λ retardation plate are used in combination to provide circularly polarized light. Further, in recent years, in a liquid crystal display of a homeotropic alignment mode widely used in liquid crystal TV applications, in order to reduce the dependency of display upon the angle of visibility, a retardation film having an optical axis perpendicular to the substrate and having a negative birefringence anisotropy (a negative C plate) and a retardation film having an optical axis horizontal to the substrate and having a positive birefringence anisotropy (a positive A plate) are used in combination. Many other retardation films are commercially available including view angle compensation films using discotic liquid crystals.
All the above conventional retardation films are applied to the outer side of the liquid crystal cell. In this case, for the reason that different retardation films, or a retardation film and a polarizing plate are applied to each other at a certain specific angle and for the reason that the refractive index of a pressure-sensitive adhesive for application is different from the refractive index of the retardation plate and the refractive index of the polarizing plate, external light reflection occurs at the lamination interface, leading to lowered display contrast.
In recent years, an attempt has been made to provide a retardation layer utilizing a liquid crystal material within a liquid crystal cell (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 48627/1998). Such liquid crystal materials usable herein include, for example, liquid crystalline polymers having a glass transition point and capable of freezing the liquid crystal structure at or below the glass transition temperature, and liquid crystalline monomers which can cause three-dimensional crosslinking in a liquid crystal layer state utilizing a reactive group such as an unsaturated bond in a molecular structure and consequently can freeze the liquid crystal structure. The liquid crystal materials can be applied by coating onto a base material having an aligning function. The retardation layer provided within the liquid crystal cell can eliminate the drawbacks of conventional retardation films of a type applied to the outside of the liquid crystal cell.
When a retardation layer is provided on the inner side of the liquid crystal cell, the retardation layer is provided on any one of a pair of substrates constituting the liquid crystal cell. Typically, the retardation layer is provided on the inner side of a color filter substrate with a color filter. The liquid crystal cell is constructed so that a color filter substrate and a counter substrate are provided in combination and a liquid crystal material is filled into between the substrates. Both the substrates face each other while providing a given space therebetween, and the peripheral part of the substrates are sealed with a seal material.
When a retardation film is provided on the outer side of the liquid crystal cell as in the prior art, both the substrates on their inner sides (liquid crystal material filling sides) are intimately contacted with each other through a seal material. When a retardation film is provided on the inner side of the liquid crystal cell, however, for the retardation layer and the seal material, mutual positional relationship and mutual adhesion should be taken into consideration.
For example, in a color filter substrate, in fact, a black matrix layer is sometimes provided on the peripheral part of the display area for displaying an image. The reason why the black matrix layer is formed in a picture frame form is attributable to the production process, that is, is that, in the formation of a black matrix layer using a black pigment-containing resin composition or a thin film of a black metal such as chromium, the black layer is first provided on the whole area of the substrate followed by the removal of the black layer only in its part corresponding to the display part for patterning. This picture frame part functions to prevent light leakage. When a seal material is located in the black matrix layer in its picture frame parts the adhesion between the substrate and the black matrix layer, the adhesion between the black matrix layer and the retardation layer, and the adhesion between the retardation layer and the seal material should be well ensured.

Color filter substrate and liquid crystal display panel


A camera with a rotating optical lens assembly is provided. The camera includes a housing, a main lens coupled to the housing, a ground glass coupled to the housing in the internal cavity and designed to capture an image of the subject from the main lens, a pair of optical assemblies rotatably mounted to the housing and each having a plurality of telescoping tubular lens assemblies, a magazine coupled to the housing and storing a film, and a motor coupled to the housing and operably connected to the pair of optical assemblies by a plurality of linkage members. The motor is designed to simultaneously rotate the optical assemblies in opposite directions to permit each telescoping tubular lens assembly that moves in temporary alignment with the ground glass to transfer the captured image of the subject to an exposed portion of the film.

The embodiments herein relate generally to cameras for capturing motion picture. More specifically, embodiments of the invention are directed to a camera assembly to capture slow to high speed images.
Cinematographers and other professionals use cameras to produce film or television works. In many instances, these cameras are mounted to vehicles or cranes to capture images of the subject. There exist a variety of camera devices as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,523,956, 4,322,140 and 4,131,343. However, these camera devices are limited in their ability to produce high quality and reliable footage, especially when the film is traveling at a high-rate of speed.
As such, there is a need in the industry for a camera that addresses the limitations of the prior art, which comprises oppositely rotating optical lens assemblies that enhance the quality of low to high speed footage captured.

Camera to capture slow to high speed footage


A strap feeding and withdrawing structure for a packing machine includes a driving member and a strapping member pivotally assembled on a main body of a conveying device and respectively driven by an electromagnetic switch unit and a pull member to carry out strap feeding, strap withdrawing and strap strapping work. The separable strap feeding and withdrawing structure of this invention can be disassembled quickly, facilitating maintenance and removal of disorder. In addition, the strapping member is disposed thereon with a strap withdrawal detecting member able to accurately control data of strap withdrawing and tightness of strapping.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a packing machine, particularly to one provided with a strap feeding and withdrawing structure able to carry out strap packing accurately and be disassembled quickly for facilitating maintenance and repair.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A conventional packing machine 10, as shown in FIG. 1, is provided with a strap feeding and withdrawing mechanism 12 in a machine table 11 for controlling feeding and withdrawing of the strap in the interior of the packing machine 10. The strap feeding and withdrawing mechanism 12 is composed of a bracket 121, a strap-feeding wheel unit 122, a strap guiding wheel unit 123 and a strap-withdrawing wheel unit 124. The bracket 121 is secured inside the machine table 11, and the strap-feeding wheel unit 122, the strap-guiding wheel unit 123 and the strap-withdrawing wheel unit 124 are firmly assembled on the bracket 121. The foresaid mechanism can function to carry out strap feeding and withdrawing, but the whole strap feeding and withdrawing mechanism 12 has to be disassembled when it needs to be repaired or replaced, resulting in trouble in maintenance and assembly, and replacing cost may be high.

Strap feeding and withdrawing structure for a packing machine


Systems and methods to automatically detect anomalies in waveforms. In addition, the systems and methods alert a human operator of the anomaly and provide suggestions as to the cause of the problem and/or possible solutions to the problem.

This invention relates generally to systems and methods for detecting anomalies and, more particularly, to detecting anomalies in waveforms produced by electrical circuits.
Electronic circuits typically need to be tested in both the design and production phases. At present, there exist several ways to test various portions of such circuits, the most prevalent being through the use of an oscilloscope.
The operation of an oscilloscope provides a time-based snapshot of the operation of a portion of a circuit of interest. For example, an oscilloscope may provide a real-time view of the voltage level in a particular portion of a circuit over a brief (e.g., over one period) time interval. One particular waveform that an oscilloscope may be used to analyze is a clock signal. The oscilloscope will typically show the clock signal (or any other type of signal, such as a data signal) in a Voltage vs. Time (VvT) format.
As described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,263,290 which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety, one particularly effective way to analyze a clock signal is to receive a series of voltages sampled from an input clock signal and interpolate between these samples in order to form a time tag list, using interpolations that are optimized for time interval measurement and analysis. The time tag list accurately represents the times at which particular events of interest occur, and is used to generate displays and results analysis such as adjacent clock cycle jitter and accurate differential triggering and analysis or any other type of data signal related display that may be desired.
One drawback of the testing methods is that the detection of anomalies in the waveforms being analyzed requires highly sophisticated and trained human oscilloscope operators. One additional drawback is that oscilloscopes may require additional software to measure period or frequency over many periods.

Waveform anomoly detection and notification systems and methods


A cache controller controls at least one cache. The cache includes ways including a plurality of blocks that stores therein entry data. A writing unit writes degradation data to a failed block. The degradation data indicates that the failed block is in a degradation state. A reading unit reads entry data from a block. A determining unit determines, if the entry data obtained by the reading unit includes the degradation data, that the block is in the degradation state.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technology for controlling a cache that includes ways including a plurality of blocks that store therein entry data, and more particularly, to a technology for controlling block degradation.
2. Description of the Related Art
Cache memories are low-capacity and high-speed memories that are widely used to solve problems caused by difference in performance between a processor such as a central processing unit (CPU) and a storage device such as a memory. The cache memory includes a plurality of ways arranged in parallel. Each of the ways includes a plurality of storage units called "block" as many as indices of the cache memory. A group of blocks in different ways having the same index (i.e., blocks within the same cache line) is usually accessed simultaneously.
Tag random access memories (tag RAMs) are used to store therein tags indicative of addresses where cache data, which is stored in the cache memory, is on a main memory actually. Such a tag RAM provides a list of addresses of the cache data for the CPU. The data structure of the tags stored in the tag RAM is same as the above-described data structure using ways and blocks.
Accesses to a specific block, which are the storage unit in the cache memory, may frequently fail due to a memory failure. If such access errors occur, it is necessary to set the specific block that causes the access errors to an unavailable state, i.e., to degrade the specific block, to avoid occurrence of a serious failure.
In one of degradation methods, if the failure occurs in the specific block, the whole way including the specific block is degraded. Although the block that causes the failure can be easily degraded by the degradation method mentioned earlier, all the blocks in the same way cannot be used, which results in decreasing performance of the cache memory. In contrast, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. S60-101656 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H2-302856 disclose technologies for degrading, if a failure has occurred in a specific block, the specific block only.
However, if the technologies disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. S60-101656 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H2-302856 are used, degradation data indicative of a degradation status is stored corresponding to each one of the failed blocks, which increases an amount of data in the circuit. To be specific, if there are many ways including many blocks, i.e., there are many blocks, a large amount of degradation data is required, as a result of which a larger part of storage circuit is occupied by the degradation data.
For this reason, there are needs for producing a cache controller that degrades not the whole way but the failed block by using a lower amount of the degradation data. Such problem commonly arises in a data processor including the cache memory.

Method and apparatus for controlling degradation data in cache


The present invention proposes a hearing device with a housing and a receiver module which comprises a shell (16) with a cavity having an opening (17), wherein at least part of the shell (16) forms part of the housing, and wherein an electro-acoustic transducer, comprising a motor assembly (2) and an acoustic assembly (3) including a membrane, is arranged within the cavity, the acoustic assembly (3) being disposed within the shell (16) such that the cavity is divided into a front chamber (12) and a back chamber (13), the motor assembly (2) being disposed within the back chamber (13) or the front chamber (12) and being operatively coupled to the membrane, and the front chamber (12) being in acoustic communication with the exterior of the shell (16) via the opening (17), wherein the shell (16) has an outer surface individually shaped according to a measured inner shape of a section of an ear canal of a user of the hearing device. Furthermore, a method for manufacturing such a receiver module is presented.

Small electronic hearing devices for being worn at an ear or within an ear canal of a user are becoming increasingly popular. Examples of such devices are earphones, for instance used in conjunction with personal audio/video players, gaming units and mobile phones, ear-level communication devices, active hearing protection devices, in-ear monitors as well as hearing aids, sometimes also referred to as hearing instruments or hearing prostheses. Such devices are available in a number of different form factors depending on how they are worn, for instance as behind-the-ear (BTE), in the crest of the cymba, in-the-ear (ITE), in-the-canal (ITC), completely-in-canal (CIC) or hybrid BTE/ITE devices. In many applications it is preferred that the device is as inconspicuous as possible, e.g. for reasons of aesthetics and wearing comfort. This is frequently achieved by placing the device into the ear canal of the user, either partly or fully. Alternatively, the devices are designed to be small enough to fit into the crest of the cymba or to be worn entirely behind the pinna.
In order to provide an audio signal to the ear drum of the user all the mentioned devices require a receiver, i.e. a unit that converts an electrical signal conveying the audio signal into acoustic energy in the form of sound waves (more generally referred to as an electro-acoustic transducer). Such receivers need to be very small, especially in order to fit into the ear canal of a person. Smaller receivers allow to design hearing devices which can be inserted deeper into the ear canal, e.g. into the bony portion, which provides the benefit of reduced occlusion effect. This particularly enables the design of deep-fitted CIC devices. Moreover, smaller receivers allow to design hearing devices that occlude the ear canal to a lesser extent, i.e. that leave the ear canal more open when the hearing device is inserted, providing the benefit of increased wearing comfort as well as a more natural sound perception. Especially open-fitted hybrid BTE/ITE devices, popularly referred to as receiver-in-canal (RIC) or receiver-in-the-ear (RITE) devices, benefit from such small receivers. Furthermore, also BTE devices and devices worn in the crest of the cymba profit from small receivers since it is mainly the size of the receiver that determines the degree of miniaturisation achievable for these devices.
An example of such a miniature receiver is disclosed in EP 0 851 710 A1. Such receivers typically have the shape of a rectangular cuboid, which is especially not optimal in view of the oval-shaped cross-section of the ear canal. Alternatively shaped receivers are shown in EP 1 209 948 A2. A receiver with reduced thickness is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,960,093. In all of these publications the acoustic membrane, also called diaphragm, is arranged longitudinally within the receiver casing in order to maximise the size of the diaphragm and thus to achieve a high output sound pressure level. Contrary to this EP 0 548 580 A1 proposes a cylindrical receiver for in-the-ear applications where the diaphragm is arranged laterally with respect to the cylinder axis at an open end of the cylinder. However, this design constrains the size of the diaphragm to that of the ear canal cross-section which has the disadvantage of limiting the achievable output sound pressure level relative to the designs mentioned previously.
In addition, it can be beneficial to provide a microphone (i.e. an acousto-electric transducer) in the mentioned devices capable of picking up the sound present in an ear canal of the user of the hearing device. Such a microphone is referred to as an "ear canal microphone" in order to distinguish it from the one or more microphones used to pick up the sound from the surroundings of the hearing device user and therefore referred to as "ambient microphones". Such ear canal microphones can be utilized for a number of purposes. For instance WO 02/17838 A1 discloses a hearing protection device comprising means for verifying proper functioning of the device in terms of sound attenuation, i.e. of sufficient acoustical sealing. The means include an ear canal microphone for measuring the sound present in the ear canal. Furthermore, EP 1640972 A1 proposes a system and method for separation of a user's voice from ambient sound. The system comprises a device to be worn at least partly in the user's ear canal with a first microphone oriented outwardly towards the environment and a second microphone oriented inwardly towards the user's ear canal. An audio signal processing unit processes the audio signals from the first and second microphone using a blind source separation algorithm adapted to separate the user's voice from ambient sound. Furthermore, US 2005/0058313 A1 provides an ear-level communication system comprising an ear mould housing a microphone for use in an ear canal, a processor, and a wireless transmitter. The microphone picks up the user's voice from within the ear canal which is then processed by the processor and transmitted to a remote receiver by means of the wireless transmitter. Furthermore, U.S. Pat. No. 5,987,146 describes an open ear canal hearing aid system which comprises a plurality of ear canal tubes sized for positioning in an ear canal of a user. A receiver and/or microphone are located in the ear canal at the end of ear canal tubes. Furthermore, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,937,738 a digital hearing aid comprising an occlusion subsystem is presented. The occlusion sub-system compensates for the amplification of the digital hearing aid user's own voice within the ear canal. To achieve this, an ear canal microphone captures the sound in the occluded ear canal and provides the signal to circuitry which electronically cancels or minimises its effect. US 2008/0181440 A1 presents a combined receiver and ear canal microphone assembly which for instance can be used in a digital hearing aid according to U.S. Pat. No. 6,937,738. For all these applications it is desirable that the employed ear canal microphones be as small as possible, especially in those instances where both a receiver and an ear canal microphone are to be used, as is the case for active occlusion cancellation mentioned in the last example above.

Hearing device with a transducer module and method for manufacturing a transducer module


It is a main object of the present invention to improve the drawback of a conventional wire cut EDM which controls the pulse width of discharging current to supply discharge energy under the state of constant current slope. The discharging current slope control method and device of the wire cut electrical discharge machine of the present invention comprises an electrical discharge detecting circuit, a timing controller circuit, a normal discharge driver circuit, an arc discharge driver circuit, normal discharge switch elements and arc discharge switch elements. The slopes of the output triangle waveform currents shall be variable due to the different results of detecting by the electrical discharge detecting circuit, depending on normal discharge or arc discharge condition, to render the current slope of the arc discharge smaller than the current slope of the normal discharge, so as to achieve the effect of keeping a high machining speed without easily breaking of the wire electrode.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wire cut electrical discharge machine(EDM). More particularly, it relates to a method and device for controlling discharge the current slope of wire cut electrical discharge machine.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Referring to FIG. 1, conventional wire cut electrical discharge machine(EDM) as disclosed in Taiwan Utility Model Patent Publication No. 82108873, as shown in FIG. 1, comprises a power source 1, a capacitor 2, electrode wires 3 including lines L1.about.Ln combined with point "a" line of a loop circuit, a wire electrode 4 of the wire cut EDM and a workpiece 5. To maintain a stable electrical discharge state, the wire cut EDM controls the discharging conditions by sending the voltage condition of discharge gap 6 to an electrical discharge detecting circuit 7 to judge whether it is in one of the normal discharge or the arc discharge conditions, then deciding the pulse width of discharging duration through a timing controller circuit 8, driving a set of switches 10 by a driver circuit 9 which receives the output of the timing controller circuit 8 to control the turn-on time of SW-1.about.SW-n of switches 10 respectively so that the pulse width of the normal discharge is twice that of the arc discharge. The main discharge loop circuit of the conventional wire cut EDM has no current-limited resistor, and its machining current slope which is constant after finishing configuration is determined by the inductance of the electrode wire 3. A large machining current slope will obtain a faster machining rate and therefore can be more efficient, but it is more possible to cause wire electrode breakage is excess current peak and current density of arc discharge arc provided. The method of detecting electrical discharge of the conventional wire cut EDM is to provide a detecting voltage between the wire electrode 4 and the workpiece 5, and checking the gap voltage between the wire electrode 4 and the workpiece 5 alter a period of time to see whether the gap voltage is larger than a predetermined reference voltage or not. If the gap voltage is larger than the reference voltage, it means there is a proper gap between the wire electrode 4 and the workpiece 5, so that it will be deemed as normal discharge when it discharges next time. Otherwise, if the detected voltage is smaller than the reference voltage, it means that the distance between the wire electrode 4 and the workpiece 5 (gap) is too small, and it would be deemed as are discharge next time.
The wire cut electrical discharge machine(EDM) as above-mentioned judges first, whether the electrical discharge (of next time is normal discharge or, arc discharge by electrical discharge detecting circuit 7 alter initiating machining, then controls the driver circuit 9, by the timing signals produced by the discharge timing controller circuit 8 to control the turn-on of the set of switches 10 SW-1.about.SW-n for pulse width modulation, making the pulse width of normal discharge to be twice that of the arc discharge, so as to obtain a differert discharging energy for maintaining a stable machining. The discharging current signal waveform at point "a" of the circuitry is shown in FIG. 2, wherein T1 is the half cycle pulse width controlled by normal discharge and T2 is the half cycle pulse width controlled by arc discharge; the slopses of both discharge states are the same, S1; the provided energy ratio of normal discharge and arc discharge equals (T1/T2).sup.2, the energy variance during electrical discharge, therefore, is nonlinear and the wire electrode 4 breakage occurs easily due to the same large discharging slope of normal discharge and arc discharge, affecting the machining quality and speed.

Method and device for controlling discharging current slope of wire cut electrical discharge machine

Industrial Technology Research Institute


A multichip sensor includes an element chip having a detection element of a sensor; a signal-processing IC chip having a signal-processing IC for processing an output signal of the detection element; and a package adapted to accommodate at least the element chip and the signal-processing IC chip and having a surface to be mounted on an ECU board. The plane of the element chip and the surface to be mounted on the ECU board are perpendicular to each other. The plane of the signal-processing IC chip, which is greater than the element chip, and the surface to be mounted on the ECU board are in parallel with each other.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multichip sensor configured such that at least an element chip including a detection element of a sensor and a signal-processing IC chip including a signal-processing IC for processing an output signal of the detection element are accommodated within a package.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a vehicular motion control apparatus is widely known for performing vehicle stabilization control for maintaining running stability of a vehicle at the time of cornering. Generally, the motion control apparatus includes an integral unit and various sensors, such as a yaw rate sensor, which are connected to the integral unit by use of, for example, harnesses and connectors. The integral unit is configured by integration of a hydraulic unit and an electronic control unit (ECU). The hydraulic unit carries a plurality of hydraulic devices, such as a plurality of solenoid valves and a hydraulic pump, for controlling braking force to be applied to wheels. The ECU controls the plurality of hydraulic devices. The integral unit receives signals from the yaw rate sensor and other sensors by means of so-called controller area network (CAN) communication and performs vehicle stabilization control.
In recent years, technology for accommodating a yaw rate sensor in the ECU of the integral unit (i.e., technology for directly mounting a yaw rate sensor on an ECU board (i.e., circuit board)) has been developed (refer to, for example, Japanese Kohyo (PCT) Patent Publication No. 2004-506572). This technology enables not only elimination of the above-mentioned harnesses and connectors, but also elimination, from the yaw rate sensor, of devices required for the above-mentioned CAN communication, such as a CPU and a CAN driver. Thus, the overall cost of manufacturing the motion control apparatus can be reduced.
A yaw rate sensor to be mounted directly on an ECU board assumes the form of a multichip sensor as described in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (kokai) No. 2001-91613. FIGS. 4A to 4C (plan view, front view, and right side view) show a typical multichip sensor for yaw rate detection which is mounted directly on an ECU board.
As shown in FIGS. 4A to 4C, a multichip sensor 1 for yaw rate detection includes a lead frame 2; an element chip 3 which includes a detection element for detecting a yaw rate of a vehicle; a signal-processing IC chip 4 which includes a signal-processing IC (custom IC, ASIC) for processing an output signal of the detection element; a package 5 which accommodates the lead frame 2, the element chip 3, and the signal-processing IC chip 4; and a plurality of terminals 6 which project from the package 5.
The element chip 3 and the signal-processing IC chip 4 are accommodated in the package 5 in such a manner that planes thereof (along which the element chip 3 and the signal-processing IC chip 4 extend, respectively) and a surface S of the package 5 for mounting on an ECU board (hereinafter may be called the "surface-for-mounting-on-ECU-board") are in parallel with one another (i.e., in parallel with an X-Y plane).
The yaw-rate detection element of the element chip 3 is a detection element of an ordinary gyro sensor which utilizes a Micro-Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS), whose development has been accelerated in various technical fields in recent years. The detection element of the gyro sensor is configured so as to detect a rotational rate about an axis perpendicular to the plane thereof.
Accordingly, the element chip 3 shown in FIGS. 4A to 4C is configured so as to detect a rotational rate about the Z-axis. In order to detect a yaw rate of a vehicle, the multichip sensor 1 for yaw rate detection shown in FIGS. 4A to 4C must be mounted directly on an ECU board such that the plane of the element chip 3 (surface-for-mounting-on-ECU-board S (X-Y plane)) is horizontal. Thus, the plane of the ECU board in the above-mentioned integral unit must be horizontal.
However, in the above-mentioned integral unit, in many cases, the ECU board is attached to a predetermined vertical surface of a hydraulic unit body in order to fulfill a desire to lay out of a plurality of hydraulic devices within the hydraulic unit. In other words, there arises a problem that the surface-for-mounting-on-ECU-board S of the package 5 must be vertical to the plane of the ECU board.
A conceivable solution of the above problem is that the position and direction of the terminals 6 projecting from the package 5 are changed so as to change the surface-for-mounting-on-ECU-board of the package 5 from the surface S (X-Y plane) to a surface S′ (Y-Z plane shown in FIG. 4B). In other words, the conceivable solution is to lay the plane of the element chip 3 and the plane of the signal-processing IC chip 4 vertical to the surface-for-mounting-on-ECU-board S′. By this procedure, as shown in FIG. 5, when the surface-for-mounting-on-ECU-board S′ of the package 5 (X-Y plane) is mounted directly on a vertical ECU board B, the plane of the element chip 3 (X-Z plane) lies horizontal.
However, in this case, since the signal-processing IC chip 4 also lies horizontal, the multichip sensor 1 for yaw rate detection requires a great height (horizontal length W in FIG. 5) from the ECU board B. This is because the size (length of a side of the top or bottom surface) of the signal-processing IC chip 4 is usually greater than that of the element chip 3.
Thus, in the case where the plane of the element chip is vertical to the plane of the ECU board (i.e., to the surface-for-mounting-on-ECU-board of the package), reducing the height of the multichip sensor from the surface-for-mounting-on-ECU-board has been desired.


Provided herein are methods and agents for ligation-based exponential ribonucleic acid amplification followed by detection using a nucleic acid polymerization reaction employing terminal-phosphate-labeled nucleotides including three or more phosphates as substrates for nucleic acid polymerase.

Various methods are known for amplifying and detecting specific analytes such as nucleic acids with specificity and sensitivity. Such methods generally require the amplification step to occur before the detection step. Amplifications methods include polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), used for the amplification of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA) respectively. And, detection methods for nucleic acids generally include the use of detectable labels, for example, fluorescent labels or radioactive labels coupled to enzymes or antibodies.
Many ribonucleic acid (RNA) amplification methods include multi step reactions, for example, conversion of RNA to complimentary DNA (cDNA) as one of the steps and require multiple enzymes and intermediate purification steps.
Additionally, amplifying and detecting methods require the separation of labeled starting materials from the labeled product, using, for example electrophoresis, or affinity separation techniques.
It would, therefore, be of benefit to provide a method for exponential RNA amplification and subsequent detection that overcomes some of the limitations of known techniques.


An apparatus for deodorization of livestock waste includes a tank containing livestock waste to be deodorized; a source of atmospheric air; a source of ultraviolet light; and a magnet. Air from the source of atmospheric air is passed by the source of ultraviolet light while simultaneously being exposed to magnetic flux from the magnet, thereby creating a plurality of multivalent oxygen ion allotropes. The apparatus delivers the atmospheric air containing multivalent oxygen ion allotropes to the livestock waste, thereby reducing odor. A method for deodorizing livestock waste, has the steps of: pumping waste from a holding tank; exposing atmospheric air to ultraviolet light and magnetic flux, thereby creating a plurality of multivalent oxygen ion allotropes; exposing the waste to the air containing the plurality of multivalent oxygen ion allotropes; and returning the waste to the holding tank.

This invention relates to a system of ionized oxygen allotrope gas livestock waste deodorization and method and apparatus therefore, and more particularly, a system of, and a method and apparatus therefore that generates multiple (multivalent) oxygen ion charged forms for treated livestock waste, as for deodorization purposes, in which the treating agent employed is atmospheric oxygen in the ambient air. More specifically, a basic feature of the invention is to continuously draw an ambient air flow into the system and process same, to concurrently energy transform and ionize the atmospheric oxygen therein to form stable and highly energized multivalent oxygen allotrope ions in oxidant gaseous form that are conveyed to and continuously applied to the livestock waste being treated by interspersing the air flow involved therein, for elimination by oxidation and/or flocculation of the contaminants and other undesirable materials contained in same, by the oxygen allotrope ions; with the remaining components of the air returning harmlessly to the atmosphere.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,655,933, herein incorporated by reference, discloses a livestock waste purification arrangement which uses as the water treating agent ionized oxygen allotrope gas in multiple (multivalent) ion charge forms.
Aside from water purification systems of the filtration and/or integrated ion exchange membrane process type, the vast majority of water purification technology utilized at the present time is concerned with a broad application spectrum of a wide variety of chemical additive type water treatment processes, a number of which are oxidizing or descaling agents, as distinguished from oxygen or its allotropes, and all of which are not available from the ambient air or natural locale of the water to be treated. Traditional chemical treatment of water has involved a wide variety of industrially formulated chemical substances for disinfection, descaling, detoxification, sterilization, flocculation, or anticoagulation applications or purposes. Purification chemicals commonly may take any one of the three physical states, solids, liquids or gases, and range from complex chemical formulations to highly active elemental substances, such as the halogens. These various chemical compounds or substances for water purification purposes have dramatic chemical structural differences one from another, depending on whether they are categorized, as, for instance, biocides, algacides, fungacides, scale inhibitors, descalers, de-emulsificrs, coagulants, coalescents, flocculants, de-toxicants, surfactants, disinfectants, etc. The material of each such category is also subdivided into several sub-groups with regard to individual chemical strength and reactive oxidizing potentials per solubility limits for chemical water saturation.
In any event, the basic inherent problems associated with water treatment using formulated chemicals has been historically one of "too little or too much" or synergistic inter-reactions that produce new chemical compounds that are corrosive or dangerous. Further, the solubility and reactivity of the chemical additive often changes with water temperature changes; reactivity may be further affected by minor water chemistry natural shifts in acidity-alkalinity values as well as by chemical additive neutralization interaction with other foreign contaminant chemical substances.
Furthermore, it is all too common place that the chemical treatment additive prescribed for a particular problem will have an adverse reaction and be incompatible with other chemical treatment additives or even some of the contaminants in the water system, resulting in no real benefit and often having some deleterious affect on water quality, as well as the possibility of adversely affecting the health of the users of the water.
It is well recognized that the treatment of water with chemicals for purification and related purposes, while widely employed for this purpose in quite a number of different applications, is well known to be an inexact science, with the chemicals themselves often being questioned as the possible source of health problems, such as the causing of cancer, and the like.
On the other hand, water treatment systems that do not involve the addition or use of chemicals as such, but rather employ gaseous ozone obtained from the ambient air, which are of the so-called non-chemical type, have experienced only modest success and acceptance. While the injection of gaseous ozone in neutral molecular form into public drinking water supplies for the purpose of disinfection and purification has been an acceptable practice in Europe since the turn of the Century, and on account of the recognized oxidizing activity of neutral ozone gas, increasing number of applications of it have been made, wider use for all applications has been prevented because of the expense of ozone production, particularly in large volumes. Conventionally large volume ozone gas production is accomplished by employing expensive high voltage electric discharge equipment, such as 10,000 volt corona discharge generators, in which atmospheric oxygen is converted into neutral ozone gas molecules within an intense electrical discharge electromagnetic arc zone. Corona generators are known to have excessive power consumption requirements; further, the maintenance requirements of this type of equipment are excessive in that constant repair service is required on the anode-cathode electrodes along with constant servicing of the dehumidifying air dryer and dessicating units. Also, large municipal and industrial ozone systems require additional costly cooling tower equipment to relieve generated heat. While small wall hung type corona discharge ozone generating devices have been available since about 1950, their known technical limitations represent real safety concerns due to the relatively high voltage requirements for the generator and the close proximity to the water that is required for the generator. Even in the smaller corona units, high maintenance requirements for the electrode and air drying modules are a continuing problem.
Nevertheless, as neutral ozone is known to be a strong and rapid oxidizing agent, its consideration for use in purification of municipal water supplies has continued. Neutral ozone, however, for rapid purification purposes, requires the delivery of large quantities of the gas for application to the water supply, which, of course, involves large capital expenditures.
While previous systems have employed ionized oxygen allotrope gas to treat water, the present invention relates to an apparatus and method to employ such gas to deodorize livestock waste.

Deodorization of livestock waste using ozone


Provided is a control apparatus configured to control update of a control program of an on-vehicle control device configured to control a target device installed on a vehicle. The control apparatus includes: a memory configured to store therein update programs for control programs; and a control unit configured to update a plurality of control programs in accordance with update orders set on a plurality of update programs stored in the memory. The control unit executes a determination process of determining whether or not update of the plurality of control programs is to be performed in accordance with the update orders, based on a result of comparison between required update times of the plurality of control programs and a predetermined threshold.

In the automotive field in recent years, vehicles have progressed in functionality, and a diverse range of devices are installed in vehicles. Accordingly, vehicles are equipped with many control devices, so-called ECUs (Electronic Control Units), for controlling these on-vehicle devices.
Each vehicle is equipped with various types of ECUs such as: traveling-related ECUs that control an engine, a brake, an EPS (Electric Power Steering), etc., in response to operations on an accelerator, a brake, and a handle; body-related ECUs that control ON/OFF of interior lights and headlights, sound of an alarm unit, etc., in response to switch operations performed by an occupant; and meter-related ECUs that control operations of meters arranged near the driver's seat.
Generally, each ECU consists of an arithmetic processing unit such as a microcomputer, and implements control of an on-vehicle device by reading out a control program stored in an ROM (Read Only Memory) and executing the read control program. Control programs of ECUs may differ depending on the destinations, grades, and the like of vehicles. Therefore, old versions of control programs need to be overwritten with new versions of control programs in response to version upgrading of control programs.
While a control program of an ECU is being updated, a function to be controlled by the ECU may become unusable. Therefore, update of a control program has to be performed at an appropriate timing.
In order to solve the above problem, various techniques for executing update of a control program at an appropriate timing have been proposed. For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses a technique of monitoring the communication state in a vehicle, and updating a control program in accordance with the communication state. Patent Literature 2 discloses a technique of estimating, based on the schedule of a vehicle, a time period during which the vehicle will not be used, and generating a schedule so as to update a control program in the time period. Patent Literature 3 discloses a technique of determining whether or not a security-related program is updatable, based on the states of a traveling-related device and a steering-related device, and updating the program in accordance with the result of the determination.

Control apparatus, program update method, and computer program


The disclosure relates to radiological image intensifier tubes comprising a vacuum electron tube and a luminescent observation screen comprising means to improve the contrast of the image. These means consist of a layer of aluminium with a thickness of at least 1 micrometer, partially absorbent for the incident electrons, placed in the path of the electrons generated by the tube and in the vicinity of the layer of luminophores. The deposited layer has the effect of reducing, firstly, the quantity of electrons re-emitted from the observation screen to the tube and, secondly, the proportion of these electrons that return to strike the layer of luminophores. Application to radiological type image intensifier tubes.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to radiological image intensifier tubes (RII tubes) using a vacuum electron tube and a luminescent observation screen.
The luminescent observation screen of an RII tube has the role of generating a visible light image when the screen is excited by an electron beam that strikes its photoluminescent surface. The invention relates more particularly to the luminescent observation screen comprising means to improve the contrast of the image.
Image intensifier tubes are vacuum tubes comprising an input screen located at the front of the tube, an electronic optical system and an image observation screen located at the rear of the tube, on the side of an output window of this tube.
In radiological image intensifier tubes, the input screen furthermore has a scintillator screen that converts the incident X photons into visible photons.
The visible photons excite a photocathode which, in response, generates an electron flux. This electron flux is then transmitted by an electronic optical system that focuses the electrons and directs them to the observation screen. The observation screen has one or more layers of luminophore grains deposited on a transparent glass support. The luminophores struck by the electrons then produce visible light from the exterior of the tube through the transparent support.
2. Description of the Prior Art
FIG. 1 gives a schematic view of a radiological type of image intensifier tube of this kind.
The intensifier tube 1 has a glass casing 2 of which one end, in front of the tube, is closed by an input window 3 exposed to radiation by X photons.
The second end of the casing forming the rear tube is closed by the observation screen 4 which is transparent to light.
The X-rays are converted into visible light rays by a scintillator screen 5. The visible light rays excite a photocathode 6 which, in response, produces electrons. These electrons are extracted from the photocathode 6 and accelerated to the observation screen 4 by means of different electrodes 7 and an anode 8 positioned along a longitudinal axis 9 of the tube and forming the electronic optical system.
In the example shown, the observation screen 4 is formed by a transparent element made of glass attached in an imperviously sealed manner to the casing 2. This glass element furthermore, in the example shown, comprises a support that bears luminophores 10 for example.
In certain embodiments of image intensifier tubes, the setting up of the acceleration potential of the electrons coming from the photocathode of the tube is done by a grid, under the acceleration voltage, that is positioned in the vicinity of the observation screen. The accelerated electrons go through the grid reaching the luminophores 10, of the observation screen, which produce visible light.
In other embodiments, the acceleration potential is obtained by a voltage applied to a thin layer of conductive material for example a metal deposited directly on the layer of luminophores of the observation screen. The small thickness of this metal layer enables the electrons to pass to the luminophores without great loss. In present embodiments, the thickness of the metal layer, which is made of aluminium for example, is about 0.3 micrometers.
This very small thickness is chosen so that the layer is transparent to electrons, in order that these electrons may reach the photocathode without losses. Indeed, aluminum is not naturally transparent to electrons except in very small thicknesses.
Furthermore, it has already been proposed, for cathode-ray tubes and not for radiological image intensifier tubes, to coat the aluminum layer with a carbon layer in order to limit the production of secondary electrons by the luminophore layer. For, carbon is a material with a very low secondary emission coefficient. Therefore, it does not generate excessive secondary electrons when it is struck by the electrons of the incident beam and furthermore it is relatively transparent to these incident electrons (which are high-energy electrons) but is absorbent to the secondary electrons which are transmitted by the layer of luminophores.
The emission of secondary electrons is inconvenient for the following reason. In the image intensifier tubes, the accelerated electrons coming from the photocathodes strike the layer of luminophores prompting an emission of photons in the visible light domain representing the radiological image. If we consider a beam of incident electrons Ei (see FIG. 1) striking the luminophores in a zone Z of the observation screen, these luminophores in turn, by the impact of the incident electrons Ei, produce re-emitted electrons Er that are directed towards the interior of the tube and then again fall on the luminophores of the observation screen at a place which is not the place at which they were emitted. This phenomenon is parasitic with respect to the initial image produced by the beam of incident electrons Ei. Hereinafter, these re-emitted electrons shall be called back-scattered electrons.
In present-days structures, the back-scattered electrons represent about 20% of the beam of incident electrons EI and are highly parasitic with respect to the image produced by the observation screen. The back-scattered electrons get dispersed when they are emitted into the tube. When they fall on the observation screen, accelerated by the bias voltages of the tube, these back-scattered electrons excite the luminophores of the observation screen in a totally distributed way. This secondary phenomenon produces a background noise expressed by a reduction of the contrast of the image.
In an unexpected way, it has been perceived that it is possible to obtain an equally efficient result without depositing any carbon layer, by using solely the properties of aluminium and choosing an aluminum layer thickness that is far greater than what normally ought to be chosen, given the low transparency of this material to electrons.
The fact is that aluminium has a secondary emission coefficient low enough for it to play partly the same role as the carbon layer. The aluminum layer may then constitute a single luminophore coating layer. The manufacture of the RII tube is thereby simplified.

Radiological image intensifier tube having an aluminum layer


Systems and methods for removing boron-containing contaminants from a composition comprising trichlorosilane to form a purified product comprising trichlorosilane are disclosed. Purification columns and devices, having various locations of inlet and outlet ports, are fluidly connected to each other in order to remove various types of boron species and other impurities present in TCS.

Halosilanes, such as trichlorosilane (TCS), are used in the manufacture of polycrystalline silicon. TCS can be prepared by a number of different processes, including hydrochlorination in which silicon tetrachloride (STC) is reacted with metallurgical grade silicon and hydrogen, often in a fluidized bed reactor, and the resulting crude TCS is subsequently purified prior to being fed into a CVD reactor in which the polysilicon is formed by deposition onto heated silicon filaments. The properties of the polysilicon produced depend, to a large extent, on the purity of the TCS used. In order to meet the stringent demands of the solar and semiconductor industries, it is critical to provide starting materials, including TCS, having extremely low levels of impurities.
Impurities in TCS can arise from a variety of different sources, including, for example, the metallurgical grade silicon from which it was prepared. This silicon is known to contain various metal species such as aluminum, iron, copper, phosphorus, and boron. Of these, boron-containing species have been found to be particularly difficult to remove from TCS. For example, boron-containing impurities typically have very similar boiling points as TCS, making separation of these contaminants extremely difficult and inefficient to accomplish by distillation. Furthermore, once the boron species have become entrained in the resulting polysilicon, it is also very difficult to remove. For example, boron-containing species partition nearly equally between a silicon melt phase and a solid phase, making it extremely difficult to remove by common re-solidification processes such as directional solidification. In addition, the presence of boron compounds provides an unwanted doping of the polysilicon properties, such that p-type semiconductors are obtained.
For this reason, various processes have been described for removal of boron-containing impurities from TCS. For example, it has been shown that boron species can be removed from TCS, either in the liquid phase or the gaseous phase, using an adsorbant such as silica gel. However, for such processes, the loading capacity of the adsorbant is often rapidly exceeded, and, as a result, an excessive quantity of adsorbant would be needed, making this approach uneconomical. In addition, it has been shown that water (such as from a moist inert gas) or other hydroxyl-containing species can be added to TCS to convert the boron-containing impurities, believed in the art to be primarily BCl3, into compounds that can be subsequently removed, such as by distillation. However, in such a process, an excess of hydroxyl-group reagent compared to the boron impurity is needed in order to fully remove the contaminants, and, under these conditions, TCS can also react, leading to unwanted side reactions and formation of silica and other polymeric siloxanes, which would require additional methods of removal.
Thus, while methods are known in the art, there is a need in the industry for improved methods and systems that are capable of efficiently and effectively removing contaminants, particularly boron-containing contaminants, from compositions containing trichlorosilane.


A transfer mechanism for transferring food product from a compartment of a food processing system includes a conduit having a first end portion configured to be in communication with the compartment and a second end portion, a fluid discharge positioned substantially within the conduit between the first end portion and the second end portion, and a pressurized fluid source in communication with the fluid discharge. The pressurized fluid source is operable to propel a fluid through the fluid discharge to move the food product from the first end portion of the conduit toward the second end portion.

In mass processing of food product, the food product is often heated by cooking or blanching the food product in a cooker using a hot heat transfer medium into which the food product is immersed. After cooking or blanching, the food product is either transferred out of the food processing system, or is cooled or chilled by immersing the food product in a cool heat transfer medium so that the food product may be packaged, stored, and/or shipped. It is desirable to transfer the food product between these mediums while minimizing, for example, crossover of the hot heat transfer medium into the cool heat transfer medium. In addition, it is desirable to transfer the food product between processing systems or out of a processing system entirely while minimizing loss or waste of the heat transfer mediums.

Transfer mechanism for use with a food processing system


A perfume composition providing differentiated odour depending on the assessment conditions is provided. The perfume composition includes a) less than 20% by weight of perfumery ingredients having an equilibrium headspace concentration (HS) between 151 and 900 microgram/l at 25° C., b) at least 35% by weight of perfumery ingredients having a HS higher than 900 microgram/l at 25° C. and b) 25% by weight of perfumery ingredients having a HS lower than or equal to 150 microgram/l at 25° C. The perfume composition reduces consumer perfume habituation to said perfume product.

One sought after benefit of perfumed products is the generation of surprising olfactive effects during use.
These surprising olfactive effects may arise as a result of the dissolution of solid product, such as powder detergent, into water and the concomitant release of selected odourants, providing the user with a nice olfactive experience during application of the product, and providing the reassurance of an olfactive cue related to the product's efficacy.
Patent Application WO 99/65458 A1 discloses water-soluble, modified starch-based microcapsules comprising at least 10% by weight of fragrance ingredients having a boiling point at normal pressure of 275° C. or lower, a calculated C Log P of at least 2.0 and an odour detection threshold (ODT) of less than or equal to 50 ppb and at least 30% by weight of fragrance ingredients having a boiling point at normal pressure of greater than 275° C., a C Log P of at least 4.0 and an ODT of less than or equal to 50 ppb. These microcapsules are intended to release high impact odourant in contact with water.
WO 1997034988 A1 discloses a glass and hard surface cleaning compositions. The compositions comprise efficient blooming perfumes, characterized in such that from 0.001% to 3% of a blooming perfume composition comprising at least 50% of blooming perfume ingredients selected from the group consisting of: ingredients having a boiling point of less than 260° C. and a C log P of at least 3 (and wherein said perfume composition comprises at least 5 different blooming perfume ingredients). However, this disclosure does not provide any guidance as to what is a "blooming perfume" in terms of sensory benefits.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,508,259 A discloses perfume compositions that comprise an encapsulated perfume and a non-encapsulated perfume, wherein the encapsulated perfume has an odour character that is different from that of the non-encapsulated perfume, so that a distinct odour signal is produced when the microcapsules are dissolved in water. Here again the olfactory benefit is generated under the effect of an external action and requires the use of microcapsules.
The use of microcapsules to release high performance odourants at different moments of an application is well known. The release of the odour benefit is generally induced by mechanical rupture of frangible core-shell microcapsules or slow diffusion through slightly permeable capsule walls.
However, the use of microcapsules is not always desired. For instance, microcapsules may be visible in water-clear products and impart an unacceptable appearance to the product. Microcapsules may also be visible on hard, smooth surfaces treated with products that would include such capsules. This is especially the case of hard surface or glass cleaners.
US 20030166497 A1 discloses a process for preparing or selecting compositions having a fragrance burst of at least 20% relative to a product before dilution (as well as enhanced deposition). The composition is selected such that perfume and surfactant in said composition yields a calculated "Perfume Burst Index" (PBI) value of less than 3, wherein the value of the PBI is calculated by using an algorithm. It is anticipated that, in general, the burst is achieved by diluting a surfactant system until the critical micelle concentration is reached and the surfactant micelles dissociate.
However, when a substrate treated with a perfumed product starts to dry the perception of perfume usually decreases, which is due to the combination of decreasing amount of odourant molecules present on the substrate on the one hand, and perfume linearity (i.e. the maintenance of a constant perfume character through the evaporation process) on the other. While linearity is a basic of the established art of perfumery, it contributes to the onset of consumer fatigue and habituation, leading to a loss of the sensory perception mentioned herein above. So far no solution exists to this issue that does not involve the use of microcapsules.
There is therefore a need for fragrance compositions, and more particularly microcapsule-free fragrance compositions that exhibit perceptibly different odour characteristics depending on assessment conditions. In particular, there is a need for fragrance compositions, and more particularly microcapsule-free fragrance compositions, for use in perfumed products that provide perceptibly different odour characteristics at different stages of use or application of the perfumed products, from the wet stage, e.g. from its point of purchase and its application onto a substrate to be treated, through to the dry stage, when it has been deposited and dried down on the substrate.


A substrate processing apparatus includes: a storage tank configured to store a liquid; a substrate support unit configured to rotatably, horizontally support a substrate; and a plate driving unit configured to move the substrate support unit between an immersion position at which the substrate is immersed into the liquid stored in the storage tank, and a separation position located above the immersion position, at which the substrate is separated from the liquid stored in the storage tank. The substrate processing apparatus also includes a rotary drive unit configured to rotate the substrate supported by the substrate support unit, and liquid supply units configured to supply a liquid to the substrate that is being rotated by the rotary drive unit in the separation position.

In a step for manufacturing a semiconductor wafer and a glass substrate for flat panel display, a liquid process using a liquid is sometimes performed to a substrate for processing the substrate.
A substrate is sometimes processed in the following manner (JP2007-35866A). Namely, a substrate is supported with a front surface (patterned surface) of the substrate facing upward, and a process liquid is supplied to the front surface. The process liquid flowing down from the substrate is received in a process-liquid storage tray. The process liquid is stored in the process-liquid storage tray at a height where a rear surface of the substrate is in contact with the process liquid or more. Then, the substrate is liquid-processed with the process liquid.
In addition, a substrate is sometimes liquid-processed in the following manner (JP2002-75943A). Namely, a process liquid is supplied to a space between an opposed member, which is disposed opposite to a lower surface of a substrate, and the lower surface of the substrate to form a liquid layer, and the substrate is liquid-processed by giving ultrasonic vibrations to the substrate through the liquid layer.
In a step of liquid-processing a substrate, a surface of the substrate is sometimes cleaned by a process liquid, rinsed, and then dried.
In the substrate processing apparatus of JP2007-35866A, a surface of a substrate can be cleaned by a cleaning liquid as a process liquid. However, when the surface is rinsed after the cleaning process, a step of replacing the cleaning liquid with a rinse liquid is needed. Further, in order to dry the surface, a step of draining the supplied rinse liquid is needed. As to the substrate processing apparatus of JP2002-75943A, although a substrate can be unloaded therefrom, and the substrate is rinsed by another substrate processing apparatus, it may take time for unloading the substrate. Such an increase in number of steps and processing time raises a manufacturing cost. Thus, in order to decrease the number of steps (processing time) starting from a substrate liquid process to a cleaning and drying process, there is desired a single processing unit capable of performing both a process in which a substrate is immersed into a liquid layer (process by DIP) and a liquid-membrane process in which a liquid is supplied to a rotating substrate and is then spun off.

Substrate processing apparatus and substrate processing method