Methods and apparatus for secure collection and display of user interface information in a pre-boot environment are disclosed. A disclosed system executes trusted software under a secure mode of a processor. In the secure mode, the processor may directly access an area of memory that normally cannot be accessed. One or more software routines, device drivers, digital certificates, hash codes, encryption keys, and/or any other data may be stored in the secure area of memory. Software routines and device drivers stored in the secure area of memory and/or certified by data in the secure area of memory may be “trusted.” Preferably, trusted software routines and/or device drivers are digitally signed by a trusted source (e.g., Microsoft). In addition to trusted interface objects, the pre-boot environment may include non-trusted interface objects. These non-trusted interface objects may use third party software routines and/or device drivers. Accordingly, both trusted and non-trusted interface objects may be used in the same pre-boot interface.

As more people use their computers for more functions in their lives (e.g., storing private data, banking, shopping, etc.), the need for improved computer security measures increases. Unauthorized access to a computer may be prevented using a variety of protection schemes such as magnetic key cards, passwords, etc.
However, most of these computer protection schemes rely, at least in part, on software running on the protected computer. For example, a magnetic key card reader may require a device driver and an input routine to be executed by the computer. This device driver and input routine must be loaded when the computer is powered up.
A computer protection scheme that relies on software running on the protected computer is susceptible to "spoofing" and other deceptive software attacks. For example, a dialog box asking a user for a password may actually be generated by a virus program designed to collect the password for disclosure to an unauthorized user.
Prior to loading a full operating system with a graphical user interface (e.g., Microsoft Windows®), most computers are capable of presenting a text-based user interface and/or a limit graphics interface in a pre-boot environment. For example, most DOS (Disk Operating System) based systems enter a text-based environment if the F2 key is pressed during start up.
In order to protect this pre-boot environment, the user may be required to enter a basic input/output system (BIOS) password. Frequently, people use the same password for multiple purposes. In such an instance, a disclosure of the BIOS password may open a user up to additional unauthorized access such as bank accounts, etc.


A structural support for a bolt collar in an automotive vehicle main structural support is provided and includes a rear wall having a rounded portion, a pair of side walls extending substantially perpendicular from the rear wall and a base extending from a lower portion of the rear wall and from a lower portion of the rounded portion in a direction opposite to that of the pair of side walls. The rounded portion extends outwardly from the rear wall in the same direction as the base in an arc-like fashion and forms a recess on an inside surface of the rear wall. Further, the rounded portion extends approximately halfway up the rear wall from the base.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to connection points between a main structural component, such as a main frame, in an automotive vehicle and a sub-assembly, such as a sub-frame, bumper beam, steering hanger beam, etc. More specifically, the invention relates to a bolt collar and a structural support arrangement on the main structural component.
2. Description of Related Art
Referring to FIG. 7, load transfers between a main structural component 100, such as a main vehicle frame, and a sub-assembly (not shown), such as a sub-frame, bumper beam, etc., in an automotive vehicle occur at connection points through the bolts connecting the sub-assembly to the main structural component 100. To strengthen the connection points a structural support or stiffener 104 can be added to the main structural component 100 to strengthen a bolt collar 106. The stiffener 104 is welded (designated by an "x") to the main structural component 100 and then the bolt collar 106 is welded to both the stiffener 104 and to the main structural component 100 such that a longitudinal axis 108 of the stiffener 104 is perpendicular to the longitudinal axis 110 of the bolt collar 106. This conventional method, however, tends to result in high bending stress around a weld interface 112 between the bolt collar 106, main structural component 100 and stiffener 104, which in turn leads to stress cracks.
Thus, what is required is an improved stiffener that overcomes the above disadvantage.


Disclosed is a rubber composition having excellent low loss characteristics and capable of imparting a tire with wear resistance and fracture resistance. The rubber composition is obtained by blending a carbon black, which has a toluene coloring transmittance of not less than 90% while satisfying the following relation between the hydrogen emission rate (mass %) and the cetyltrimethylammonium bromide adsorption specific surface area (CTAB) (m2/g): the hydrogen emission rate >0.260−6.25×10−4×CTAB, into a modified natural rubber which is obtained by adding a polar group-containing monomer into a natural rubber latex for graft-polymerizing the polar group-containing monomer to a natural rubber molecule in the natural rubber latex, and then solidifying and drying the resulting product.

Lately, it is strongly demanded to reduce a fuel consumption of an automobile and hence a tire having a lower rolling resistance is required. For this end, there is required a rubber composition being excellent in the low loss factor (low heat buildup) as a rubber composition used in a tread or the like of the tire. Also, the rubber composition for the tread is required to be excellent in the wear resistance and fracture characteristics in addition to the low loss factor. As to these requirements, in order to improve the low loss factor, wear resistance and fracture characteristics of a rubber composition formed by compounding a filler such as carbon black or the like into a rubber component, it is effective to improve an affinity between the filler and the rubber component in such a rubber composition.
For example, in order to improve the reinforcing effect with the filler by improving the affinity between the filler and the rubber component in the rubber composition, there are developed a synthetic rubber wherein the affinity for the filler is improved by a terminal modification, a synthetic rubber wherein the affinity for the filler is improved by copolymerizing with a functional group-containing monomer and so on.
On the other hand, a natural rubber is voluminously used while utilizing its excellent physical characteristics, but there is no technique wherein the affinity for the filler is improved by modifying the natural rubber itself to highly improve the reinforcing effect with the filler.
For example, there is proposed a technique for epoxidizing the natural rubber, but the affinity between the natural rubber and the filler cannot be sufficiently improved in this technique, so that the reinforcing effect with the filler cannot be sufficiently improved (for example, see JP-A-H06-329702). Also, there is known a technique wherein a graft-polymerization is conducted by adding a vinyl-based monomer to a natural rubber latex, and the grafted natural rubber obtained by this technique is put into a practical use as an adhesive or the like (for example, JP-A-H09-25468 and JP-A-2002-138266). In the grafted natural rubber, however, a large amount of the vinyl compound as a monomer (20-50% by mass) is grafted for changing the characteristics of the natural rubber itself, so that when it is compounded with carbon black, the viscosity is largely increased and the processability is deteriorated. Moreover, since the large amount of the vinyl compound is introduced into the molecular chain of the natural rubber, there are damaged the excellent physical characteristics inherent to natural rubber (viscoelasticity, stress-strain curve in a tensile test and the like).
Moreover, JP-A-2004-359713 discloses that a rubber composition having improved wear resistance and low heat buildup is obtained with a modified natural rubber formed by graft-polymerizing a polar group-containing monomer onto a natural rubber molecule in a natural rubber latex.

Rubber composition and tire using the same


To provide a semiconductor integrated circuit device and a sense amplifier in a memory in which a transistor element whose body potential is variable is built in an appropriate location and which can produce high speed operation with a layout advantage, an SOI transistor integrated circuit, each source of p-channel MOS transistor Qp1 and Qp2 is given a high potential level Vdd, for example, a supply-power potential, and respective body potentials are set as variable potentials corresponding to mutually inverse signal inputs Vin and Bvin, and a control signal CS is given to each gate. Also, each source and body of n-channel MOS transistor Qn1 and Qn2 are given a low potential level Vsa, for example, an earth potential, the signal inputs Vin and Bvin are supplied to respective gates. A connection node of these drains of the transistors Qp1 and Qn1 is connected to a signal output section Vout. Also, a connection node of the drains of the transistors Qp2 and Qn2 is connected to a signal output section BVout.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to a semiconductor integrated circuit having a signal inverting circuit formed on a SOI (Silicon On Insulator) substrate and a sense amplifier of a memory.
2. Description of Related Art
The related art discloses a countermeasure in which SOI (Silicon On Insulator) technology is introduced to a semiconductor memory circuit to provide for high speed and high integration. A memory cell and various circuits are constituted by MOS transistors formed on a SOI substrate, and a body potential is partly or wholly fixed. This provides a circuit configuration that satisfies multiple requirements, such as priority for countermeasures for layout reduction and priority for operating performance. See Japanese Patent Unexamined Patent Publication Application No. 8-125034.

Semiconductor integrated circuit device and sense amplifier of memory


A circular fiber hoop for supporting one or more fiber optic cables, especially fiber optic cables for an optical sensor provided within a pressurized enclosure of a power generator. The fiber hoop is a single piece member including a center mandrel positioned between opposing side guards. The fiber optic cable is wound around the mandrel between the side guards. An end of the fiber optic cable including the sensor is optically coupled through a union connector to another optical fiber, where the union connector is mounted to one of the side guards so that it is separated from the wound mass of the fiber cables. The wound mass of the fiber cable on the mandrel is then enclosed in a suitable tape.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a fiber hoop for supporting an optical fiber bundle and, more particularly, to a single piece, circular fiber hoop including a center mandrel and opposing side guards, where fiber optic cables are wound on the mandrel and optical connectors are mounted to the side guards, and where the fiber hoop has particular application for fiber optic cables providing optical signals for sensors in a power generator.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
High voltage generators for generating electricity as a power source are well known in the art. A power plant may include a gas turbine engine that rotates a shaft by combusting fuel and air in a combustion chamber to generate a working gas that expands across blades that rotate, and in turn causes the shaft to rotate. The shaft of such an engine is coupled to an input shaft of a high voltage generator that is mounted to a rotor having a special configuration of coils. An electrical current provided in the rotor coils generates a magnetic flux around the coils, and as the rotor rotates, the magnetic flux interacts with windings in a stator core enclosing the rotor, which generates a current flow in the windings
A typical high voltage generator includes an outer housing or frame comprised of structural steel including an internal bore in which the stator core and rotor are mounted. Often times, the outer frame is filled with hydrogen and pressurized for operation of the generator, where the pressurized hydrogen provides a good environment for cooling purposes. The stator core is typically a stacked assembly of several thousand laminate rings of a relatively thin ferrous material, such as iron or steel A group of the laminations are formed together during assembly of the generator and slid onto construction bolts extending along an inside surface of the internal bore of the frame The rotor is then rotatably mounted within the laminate rings It is critical that sensors are provided within the pressurized environment of the outer frame of a high voltage generator to measure operating conditions and detect failures. For example, a typical high voltage generator may include eight suitable sensors providing measurements for vibration, temperature, strain, etc.
In modern high power generators, these measurements are typically obtained using optical sensors, such as fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors, Rayleigh scattering sensors, etc, that employ a fiber optic cable. The analyzing devices that monitor the optical signals from the sensors are external to the generator frame and thus it is necessary to provide a penetration including a pressure seal at a suitable location within the frame through which the fiber optic cables can exit the frame without effecting the pressure environment therein. In one known design, the fiber optic cable including the sensor, sometimes referred to herein as a sensor cable, is optically coupled to another fiber optic cable, sometimes referred to herein as an analyzer cable, through a suitable fiber optic coupler within the pressure environment of the frame, where it is the analyzer cable that extends through the penetration and pressure seal to be coupled to the analyzing device. An end of the fiber optic cable including the optical sensor is positioned at the location where it is desired to take the particular measurement, and then the fiber is routed within the frame in a strategic manner so that it is less likely to be damaged to a location where the pressure seal is provided to gain access outside of the generator.
The fiber optic cable including the sensor is provided by the manufacturer of the sensor and comes in a set length, such as seven meters Typically, that length of the sensor cable is significantly longer than what is required to provide the optical sensor at the sensing location and optically coupled to the analyzer fiber at the location of the pressure seal Because it is not practical to have an installer reduce the length of the sensor fiber cable during assembly of the power generator, various techniques are employed in the art to bundle the optical fiber to confine the excess length of the cable.
In one known bundling technique, the excess fiber optic cable is freely wound into a loop having a diameter, for example, of 8-10 inches, so that bending of the fiber does not significantly affect the propagation of the optical signal therein. Particularly, once all of the fiber optic cables have been routed to the pressure seal location, then the installer will freely wind the excess fiber length of all of the fiber optic cables into a single free loop. The loop is then enclosed in a protective coating of a suitable material and is mounted to an inside wall of the frame. Requiring the installer to freely loop the excess fiber optic cables typically creates inconsistencies from loop to loop sometimes resulting in optical losses in the fiber as a result of loop configuration. Particularly, as the installer wraps the fibers into the loop, optical losses as a result of the fiber being bent typically occur, where those losses are not consistent from one loop to the next loop

Apparatus for making uniform optical fiber bundles in power generators


At the start of a communication, a video and audio output other than the communication is automatically turned off. When a handset is off-hooked or the operation to start the communication is performed by an operation apparatus, a communication control circuit switches a change-over switch to an a contact and turns off a disconnecting switch. When the handset is on-hooked or the operation to finish the communication is executed by the operation apparatus, the communication control circuit switches the change-over switch to a b contact and turns on the disconnecting switch.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a communicating apparatus and a communication system.
2. Related Background Art
In recent years, there have been proposed an apparatus for receiving a television signal by assembling a television tuner into an audio/video communication terminal apparatus such as a television conference terminal, a television telephone, or the like an apparatus providing a line input terminal for a video signal and an audio signal, and an apparatus for outputting a reproduction video signal and a reproduction audio signal of a video reproducing apparatus (such as video tape recorder, video cassette recorder, video disk reproducing apparatus, or the like).
In the communication terminal apparatus having therein a TV receiving function or a line input function as mentioned above, hitherto, there are provided a switch for manually switching an audio signal of a television, a video recorder, or the like and an output of a communication voice of a television telephone or the like, and an output system of the audio signal and an output system of a communication voice are independently provided. In the former case, by the operator manually switching the change-over switch, only one of the audio signal and the voice output can be outputted. For example, prior to starting the television telephone communication, the operator manually switches the change-over switch to the output of the communication voice. In the latter case, output levels of both of the output systems are adjusted by volume switches provided for them, respectively.
Also in the former case, prior to starting the communication, one's communication partner must switch to the voice output each time communication is performed, which is troublesome. After completion of the communication, an operation to again return the change-over switch to the original state has to be executed.
In the latter case, before or just after the start of the communication, operations for reducing the volume of the audio output and for increasing the volume of the audio output after completion of the communication have to be performed.
On the other hand, in the communication terminal apparatus having the TV receiving function or line input function therein, generally, video display means is also commonly used for displaying a video image from the communication partner. In this case, the video image from the communication partner is synthesized as a slave picture plane with another video image and is displayed or a display of the video image from the communication partner and the display of another video image are switched by a change-over switch. In any of those constructions, when the communication is started, the user must manually execute some operation so as to enable the video image from the communication partner to be displayed. After completion of the communication, the user must perform the operation to return the change-over switch to the original state.

Apparatus and method for suspending a reproduction operation reproducing image information when the arrival of a call from a communication line is detected


A vacuum chuck is disclosed for holding and positioning wafers more stably and securely. The vacuum chuck includes a supporting assembly having a receiving groove and at least one first vacuum aperture defined in the receiving groove. A seal unit includes a seal ring bulging to form a vacuum trough. The seal ring is fixed in the receiving groove of the supporting assembly and has at least one second vacuum aperture communicating with the first vacuum aperture. A chuck connector fastened with the supporting assembly has at least one vacuum port and at least one vacuum orifice communicating with the vacuum port. At least one vacuum hose connects the first vacuum aperture, the second vacuum aperture with the vacuum orifice and the vacuum port of the chuck connector for evacuating the air of the vacuum trough to hold and position the wafer on the seal ring and the supporting assembly.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a chuck for holding and positioning semiconductor workpieces during various processing procedures, and more particularly relates to a vacuum chuck for holding and positioning the semiconductor workpieces more stably and securely.
2. The Related Art
In a semiconductor device manufacturing process, semiconductor workpieces such as wafers need to undergo various processing procedures. The wafers are usually held and positioned on a chuck to be processed and the chuck is an important device in the semiconductor device manufacturing process.
With the development of semiconductor technology, the chuck is improved gradually for satisfying the requirement of the various processing procedures. The chucks are divided into two kinds. One kind is a contact type chuck and the other kind is a non-contact type chuck. A vacuum chuck which holds and positions the wafer thereon by vacuum drawing force is a typical contact type chuck. Referring to U.S. Pat. No. 6,032,997 discloses a vacuum chuck. The vacuum chuck has a body portion. The body portion defines a top surface. A plurality of concentric flat lands are disposed on the top surface. Between every two adjoining lands, a concentric trench is defined. Several orifices are defined to pass through the body portion and communicate with the trenches respectively. Each orifice is connected to a vacuum hose which is connected to a vacuum source. The wafer contacts the lands and then the air is evacuated from the trenches. Lastly, the wafer is held on the lands of the vacuum chuck by the vacuum drawing force.
Another vacuum chuck is published in U.S. Pat. No. 6,164,633. The vacuum chuck has a generally square body. The body has a first surface and a second opposing surface. The first surface has a first circular platform and a second circular platform for receiving two different diameter wafers. The second surface has a third circular platform for receiving a wafer having a third diameter. A first vacuum trough and a second vacuum trough are respectively formed in the first platform and the second platform. A third vacuum trough is formed in the third platform. Three vacuum passageways are formed and extend from the interior portions of the body to three exterior vacuum ports located at one side of the body. Each vacuum passageway corresponds to a single vacuum trough and links the respective vacuum trough to a vacuum source and so that the air is evacuated from the vacuum trough to hold the wafer on the corresponding platform.
However, the two vacuum chucks disclosed above have very weak airtightness, which easily causes the wafer held thereon to come off the vacuum chuck and damage the wafer.


A multimedia system specifies a multimedia experience stream by a narrative definition that defines a narrative presentation having sub-narratives. Each sub-narrative may incorporate multiple streams of different types of media with each stream defining a “path” through content of that media type. The multimedia system directs the presentation of the sub-narratives by interfacing with presentation components for each media type through a custom interface component for that media type that implements a common application interface. When a user pauses a presentation, the user can manually navigate around the content of a stream from the current location at the time of the pause to another location. When the user resumes the presentation, the multimedia system automatically transitions from the navigated-to location to the current location at the time of the pause to resume the presentation from where it was paused.

Traditional presentation media including photographs, slideshows, videos, animations, and so on have been used to develop multimedia presentations. For example, a presentation with video and animation may be developed by a teacher to help explain certain concepts to students. As another example, a slideshow may be developed to assist a person in presenting a complex topic at a conference. These traditional presentation media have been augmented with advanced tools for presenting complex computer-based presentation media such as Google Earth and Microsoft's Virtual Earth, Photosynth, HDView, and Xtensible Application Markup Language ("XAML") renderers or presentation components.
Microsoft's Virtual Earth is a geospatial mapping tool that allows developers to create applications that layer location-relevant data on top of the Virtual Earth map images. The images are collected from satellites, aerial cameras, and other sources. Microsoft Photosynth is a tool that analyzes digital images of an object uploaded by a user to build a three-dimensional point cloud of the object. Pattern recognition components of Photosynth compare portions of images to create points, which are then compared to convert the image into a model. Users can interactively view Photosynth collections online by means of a 3D viewer. HD View is an image viewer tool that assists in the display of very large images. The digital images are stitched together to create images that can be in excess of a gigapixel in size. Such a gigapixel image may represent a panoramic view. HD View provides an interface for viewing such gigapixel images using panning and zooming. "XAML" can be used to define presentations that include visual and audio content that is rendered by a XAML renderer tool such as Microsoft's Windows Presentation Foundation.
Although these advanced tools can be used to generate complex presentations, these tools each provide very different user interfaces and application interfaces. A person who wants to prepare a presentation would select the tool that is most appropriate and develop the presentation using that tool. The person may create the media for the presentation from scratch and/or may extract portions of existing media and customize them for the presentation. Different portions of a presentation might be more effectively presented with a different tool or might already exist in different types of media or by using a combination of different types of media. Using current tools, however, it can be difficult to develop a presentation from these different types of media.


The present invention relates to a conductive nanostructure, a method for molding the same, and a method for manufacturing a field emitter using the same. More particularly, the present invention relates to a field-emitting nanostructure comprising a conductive substrate, a conductive nanostructure arranged on the conductive substrate, and a conductive interfacial compound disposed in the interface between the conductive substrate and the conductive nanostructure, as well as to a method for molding the same, and a method for manufacturing a field emitter using the same.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a conductive nanostructure, and more particularly, to a conductive nanostructure, a method for molding the same, and a field emitter using the same through an electrical discharge machining.
2. Description of the Related Art
CNT and nanostructures including the same have been developed recently in the field of nano-technologies. Typical application of the nanostructures is field emission tip of electrical apparatus such as an atomic force electron microscope. The field emission tip should have excellent electron emission efficiency according to fields. In specifically, when the field emission tip of atomic force electron microscope is employed, it is required to have high strength not to be easily broken in impact with surface of workpiece. As a result, it can reliably measure a contact structure of high aspect ratio with high resolution. In order tot secure high resolution, it is advantageous for the field emission tip to be manufactured in a geometric structure having high aspect ratio.
CNT as nanostructures used to the field emission tip has excellent chemical resistance and mechanical strength and realizes geometric structure with high aspect ratio itself. Accordingly, CNT is a promising substitution. As an attempt to CNT as a probe of field emission tip of an atomic force electron microscope, It has been a recent technological trend in forming a needle-shaped CNT at an apex of a field emission element. Korean Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2005-0060308 discloses a method for sticking CNT to a tip using adhesion. Also, Korean Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2002-0040133 concretely discloses a catalyst is formed on a metal tip and a method for directly growing CNT by a CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition) process using the catalyst.
It is necessary to reliably manufacture nanostructures capable of controlling aspect ratio, excellent adhesion with substrates such as a metal tip, and having excellent electrical property such high electron emission efficiency.

Conductive nanostructure, method for molding same, and method for manufacturing a field emitter using same

SEOUL NATIONAL UNIVERSITY R&DB FOUNDATION


A bearing ring having a main part ring provided with at least one groove formed a surface of the main part ring. The bearing ring further provides at least one fiber sensor mounted inside the groove. The bearing ring also include at least one counterpart ring mounted into the groove of the main part ring and coming into contact with the fiber sensor to maintain the fiber sensor against a groove bottom, the counterpart ring being secured to the main part ring.

In order to estimate bearing loads acting on a bearing, it is known to integrate strain sensors onto the fixed stationary ring of the bearing.
In order to be able to measure different parameters and to monitor the condition of a bearing in a reliable manner without any electrical power locally at the bearing, it is also known to use optical fiber sensors. For example, it is possible to refer to the patent EP-B1-2 507 603 (SKF).
Such optical fiber sensors may be disposed in circumferential grooves formed on the outer surface of the non-rotating outer ring.
Classically, the assembly of the optical fiber sensors on the outer ring uses gluing to fix the optical fiber sensors and potting to embed and seal these fiber sensors.
Such an assembly is very long and meticulous. As a matter of fact, this needs a curing of the glue and potting material. Besides, before curing, meticulous operations have to be achieved to handle optical fiber sensors that are fragile combined with liquid glue and potting materials.
One aim of the present invention is to overcome these drawbacks.

Bearing ring with integrated fiber sensor and associated bearing


A sheet conveying unit that guides and conveys a sheet material by a lower conveying guide includes an opening in the lower conveying guide, a brush-like member on a downstream side of the opening to scrap off paper dust adhered on a surface of a sheet material. A sheet detecting unit controls operation of the brush-like member.

1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sheet conveying unit that conveys a sheet of recording medium in an image reading unit, a post-processing unit, and an image forming apparatus.
2) Description of the Related Art
In an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, for example, a sheet material is placed on a sheet conveying guide, the material is conveyed while being guided by the sheet conveying guide, a toner image formed, for example by an image forming unit, is transferred on the sheet material to form an image on the sheet material, and the sheet material with the formed image is discharged to the image forming apparatus main unit to be stacked on, for example, a tray.
Recently, however, for the purpose of resource saving or cost reduction, recycled paper or the back side of used paper is frequently utilized. When an image forming apparatus is used for such recycled sheets of paper over a long period of time, it often results in deposition of paper dust generated in the course of conveyance of sheet materials on a sheet conveying guide.
Particularly, when the sheet conveying guide is provided with a curved portion, since a sheet material hits the sheet conveying guide at the curved portion, or it is bent or rubbed by the curved portion, paper dust adhered to an end surface (a cut edge face) or a surface of the sheet material drops and deposits, particularly on the curved portion or the like.
When paper dust is deposited on the sheet conveying guide as described, the paper dust adheres to another sheet in conveyance again, so that a frictional coefficient of a conveying roller is lowered and a deviation occurs in conveyance of the sheet material.
When deposited paper dust adheres to a sheet material in conveyance again to enter in an image preparing unit, for example, in an electrostatic photography type image forming apparatus, there is a problem of occurrence of such an abnormal image that, when paper dust adheres on an image carrier and the adhered paper dust cannot be completely removed by a cleaning unit, black or white stripes or black or white spots appear on a formed image.
Therefore, a technique for forming a hole for paper dust drop in a sheet conveying guide to allow paper dust to drop from the hole has been proposed (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H7-215523).
In the technique, paper dust on a sheet dropping from the hole in the course of conveyance can be removed, however, paper dust which do not drop from the sheet and remains in adhesion thereon cannot be removed and it may drop or deposit in the course of following conveyance of the sheet, which results in contamination inside the image forming apparatus, which further causes lowering of a conveying performance due to skew or increase in slippage rate. In this image forming apparatus, there is such a drawback that the remaining paper dust adheres on an image carrier, or that black or white stripes or black or white spots appear on the image, if the remaining paper dust cannot be completely removed by a cleaning unit.

Sheet conveying unit, and image reading unit, post-processing unit, and image forming apparatus employing the sheet conveying unit


A measurement system for measuring aspects of a wafer combines an apparatus for performing a conductivity measurement, such as a four-point probe system, with apparatus for performing an optical measurement, such as a photoacoustic measurement system. Results are obtained and combined to provide comprehensive data sets describing the characteristics of the thin film substrate therein.

Current methods for obtaining measured values for aspects of opaque thin films such as the thickness require a priori knowledge of one or more material properties of the thin film being measured. For example, a four-point probe measurement requires knowing the bulk resistivity of materials used in the film being measured to accurately calculate the thickness of the thin film. With this technique, four-point probe system is used to apply a current to an opaque film using two outer probes and simultaneously read the voltage drop across a portion of the film using the inner two probes. The current applied and the voltage measured together with the known bulk resistivity is used to calculate the thickness of the film. The calculation is simple, and described in detail in standard textbooks on semiconductor processing.
Though nominal values for materials currently being used in semiconductor applications are well known, these values are subject to variations in source materials used, variations in the process control parameters of the deposition tool used to form the film, etc.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,407,546, "Non-contact Technique for using an Eddy Current Probe for Measuring the Thickness of Metal Layers Disposed on Semiconductor Wafer Products," issued Jun. 18, 2002 to Le et al., describes another type of technique used for determining metal film thickness is the eddy current probe. This can be used to measure a metal's thickness as well as the sheet resistance from a known resistivity constant. However, it requires a calibration sample i.e. a sample that covers a wide variety of thickness range to generate baseline measurements. This information is used while measuring on the inspection sample whose thickness and sheet resistance are unknown. At the beginning of the calibration process, the eddy current probe is placed in contact with the calibration sample. The measurements are usually performed on a test wafer. There are also methods based on optical reflectivity techniques.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,228,776, "Apparatus for evaluating thermal and electrical characteristics in a sample," issued Jul. 20, 1993 to Smith et al., describes measuring changes in optical reflectivity caused by thermal waves to monitor variations in electrical conductivity and resistance as a method for evaluating the integrity of metal lines and vias in a semiconductor sample.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,054,868, "Apparatus and Method for Measuring a Property of a Layer in a Multilayered Structure," issued Apr. 25, 2000 to Borden et al., describes using a thermal conductance method for determining sheet resistivity of a conductive layer or thermal conductivity of a dielectric layer located beneath the conductive layer. According to Borden et al. the invention relies on focusing a heating beam on a conductive layer and modulating its power at a frequency that is predetermined to be low enough such that the heat generated by the beam transfers out of the heated region only by conduction. The power of a second beam, called as the probe beam, whose phase is modulated with modulation of the heating beam, reflected by the heated region is measured.
A photoacoustic film thickness system such as the MetaPulse™ system, available from Rudolph Technology Incorporated, can be used to measure thin film thicknesses on wafers. Such a system forms two optical beams: an excitation beam used to excite the surface of the film sample periodically, and a probe beam used to sense the reflectivity of the surface of the sample following each pulse from the excitation beam. The time interval between excitation of the film surface and the measurement of the reflectivity is varied in a controlled manner to obtain a measurement of the surface reflectance as a function of time. This data is analyzed using the acoustical impedance of each layer in the thin film stack on the wafer and a software program to calculate the thickness of each layer in the film stack.
Examples of optical systems are provided in the following U.S. Patents.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,008,906, "Optical Method for the Characterization of the Electrical Properties of Semiconductors and Insulating Films," issued Dec. 28, 1999 to Maris, describes a method for characterizing a sample that includes the steps of (a) providing a semiconductor material; (b) applying at least one of an electric field, a pulsed or cw light source, a change in temperature and/or a change in pump pulse intensity to the semiconductor material; (c) absorbing pump light pulses in a portion of the semiconductor material and measuring changes in optical constants as indicated by probe light pulses applied at some time t following the absorption of the pump light pulses; and (e) associating a measured change in the optical constants with at least one of a surface charge, dopant concentration, trap density, or minority carrier lifetime.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,710,030, "Optical Generator and Detector of Stress Pulses," issued Dec. 1, 1987 to Tauc et al., describes an optical stress pulse generation and detection system for non-destructively measuring physical properties of a sample. This system uses a pump beam having short duration radiation pulses having an intensity and at least one wavelength selected to non-destructively generate a stress pulse in a sample. The system directs the non-destructive pump beam to a surface of the sample to generate the stress pulse. The optical stress pulse generation and detection system also uses a probe radiation beam and guides the probe beam to a location at the sample to intercept the stress pulse. The change in optical constants induced by the stress pulse is detected by observing the probe beam after it intercepts the stress pulse.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,379,109, "Method and Apparatus for Non-Destructively Measuring Local Resistivity of Semiconductors," issued Jan. 3, 1995 to Gaskill et al., describes an apparatus for non-destructively measuring the resistivity of a semiconductor, such as InP. The system has light sources for illuminating a pre-selected portion of the semiconductor with first and second light beams, each of a pre-selected single wavelength. The first light beam operates to excite the semiconductor by photo-injecting carriers, and the second light beam bombards the local portion of the semiconductor with a pre-selected photon energy. The system measures a fractional change in reflectance of the second light beam responsive to the first light beam, and records this fractional change in reflectance for various values of photon energy of the second light beam, to generate a photoreflectance line-shape. The photoreflectance line-shape is used to calculate a photoreflectance line-shape phase angle, which is used to determine the resistivity of the pre-selected portion of the semiconductor.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,546,811, "Optical Measurements of Stress in Thin Film Materials," issued Aug. 20, 1996 to Rogers et al., describes a method for determining the residual stress in an unsupported region of a thin film. The method includes the steps of (a) optically exciting the film with a spatially and temporally varying optical excitation field to launch counter-propagating acoustic modes along at least one wave vector; (b) diffracting a portion of an optical probe field off the excited acoustic modes to generate a time-dependent signal field at the excitation wave vector; (c) detecting the signal field to generate a time-dependent, light-induced signal; (d) analyzing the light-induced signal to determine the frequencies of the acoustic modes; (e) partially determining the dispersion of at least one mode; and, (f) comparing the measured dispersion to that calculated using a mathematical model to allow the residual stress properties of the unsupported region of the film to be determined.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,693,938 "Optical Probe Microscope Having A Fiber Optic Tip That Receives Both A Dither Motion And A Scanning Motion, For Nondestructive Metrology Of Large Sample Surfaces," issued Dec. 2, 1997 to Marchman et al., describes an optical probe microscope that includes an optical fiber oriented in a vertical direction. The fiber has a tip that emits light onto a horizontal surface of a sample to be measured. This surface can have both desired and undesired departures from planarity. An electromechanical device for imparting dither motion to the fiber tip is superposed on another electromechanical device for imparting two-dimensional horizontal scanning motion to the fiber tip. The dither motion has a much higher frequency than that of the scanning motion. Between successive scans, another device moves the sample itself from one horizontal position to another. A microscope receives the optical radiation either transmitted or reflected by the sample surface. The microscope forms a (magnified) image of this received optical radiation on the surface of an optical image position detector. The surface of this detector has a relatively large area compared with that of the (magnified) image. The resulting electrical signal developed by the detector provides desired information concerning the scanning position of the fiber tip. Also, this electrical signal is processed and fed back to a vertical pusher that maintains constant the distance of the fiber tip from the sample surface.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,038,026, "Apparatus and Method for the Determination of Grain Size in Thin Films," issued Mar. 14, 2000 to Maris, describes a method for the determination of grain size in a thin film sample having steps of measuring first and second changes in the optical response of the thin film, comparing the first and second changes to find the attenuation of a propagating disturbance in the film and associating the attenuation of the disturbance to the grain size of the film. The second change in optical response is time delayed from the first change in optical response.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,959,735, "Optical Stress Generator and Detector," issued Sep. 28, 1999 to Maris et al., describes a system for the characterization of thin films, as well as interfaces between thin films, through measurements of their mechanical and thermal properties. In the system light is absorbed in a thin film or in a structure made up of several thin films, and the change in optical transmission or reflection is measured and analyzed. The change in reflection or transmission is used to give information about the ultrasonic waves that are produced in the structure. The information that is obtained can include (a) determination of the thickness of thin films with a speed and accuracy that is improved compared to earlier methods; (b) a determination of the thermal, elastic, and optical properties of thin films; (c) a determination of the stress in thin films; and (d) a characterization of the properties of interfaces, including the presence of roughness and defects.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,844,684, "Optical Method for Determining the Mechanical Properties of a Material," issued Dec. 1, 1998 to Maris et al., describes a system and method for characterizing a sample. The method includes steps of (a) acquiring data from the sample using at least one probe beam wavelength to measure, for times less than a few nanoseconds, a change in the reflectivity of the sample induced by a pump beam; (b) analyzing the data to determine at least one material property by comparing a background signal component of the data with data obtained for a similar delay time range from one or more samples prepared under conditions known to give rise to certain physical and chemical material properties; and (c) analyzing a component of the measured time dependent reflectivity caused by ultrasonic waves generated by the pump beam using the at least one determined material property. The first step of analyzing may include a step of interpolating between reference samples to obtain an intermediate set of material properties. The material properties may include sound velocity, density, and optical constants. In one embodiment, only a correlation is made with the background signal, and at least one of the structural phase, grain orientation, and stoichiometry is determined.
Though nominal values for materials currently being used in semiconductor applications are well known, these values are subject to variations in source materials used, variations in the process control parameters of the deposition tool used to form the film, etc.
Although the four-point probe system and photoacoustic film thickness systems provide a technique for measuring the thickness of a material, it would be advantageous to be able to verify test information as a means to insure accuracy.

Dual photo-acoustic and resistivity measurement system


An actuator drive controller is equipped with a power source for supplying power to an actuator; a voltage detector for detecting a voltage of the power source; and a controller for controlling a current supplied to the actuator, based on the voltage detected. When the voltage becomes not more than a reference value, the controller controls the current supplied to the actuator so as to become lower than a current set in advance, depending on consumption power of the actuator, in a case that the consumption power of the actuator is not less than a specified value set in advance.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an actuator drive controller, and more particularly, for example, to the actuator drive controller used for controlling an actuator for an automobile such as the actuator of an active control engine mount.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there is known an active control engine mount that cancels an uncomfortable vibration for a driver by expecting a vibration input of an engine from a crank pulse and actively controlling vibration absorption characteristics of the engine mount that is arranged so as to support the engine (for example, see paragraphs 0009 to 0019 and FIG. 1 of Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication 2000-27933). The active control engine mount is composed of a mount part for supporting the engine and an actuator arranged at a lower portion of the mount part. In the active control engine mount the actuator is designed to generate such a vibration that cancels the vibration of the engine. And the vibration generated by the actuator is transmitted to the mount part, and thereby the vibration of the engine is cancelled.
Generally, with such an actuator a voltage applied to it is increased by a voltage boost circuit in order to improve various performances of the active control engine mount. In addition, the voltage boost circuit is designed to increase a current in order to assure a voltage boost performance when a voltage of a power source of the actuator becomes not more than (≦) a predetermined value.
Meanwhile, because a battery voltage lowers with such an actuator drive controller as described above, a current increases by the voltage boost circuit therefore, something, which can endure a larger current, as electric contact points such as a terminal of the voltage boost circuit and circuit components such as a harness and a fuse, becomes necessary. Accordingly, there occurs a problem that the actuator drive controller is enlarged and production cost becomes high. Consequently, it can be considered to provide another actuator drive controller which controls the current so as not to exceed a predetermined value by monitoring the current entering the voltage boost circuit. However, because in the actuator drive controller the voltage boost circuit becomes complex, problems such as the enlargement of the controller and the high cost are not solved. In addition, if the current supplied to the actuator is controlled like the actuator drive controller depending on the monitored current, the current supplied to the actuator is determined regardless of a movement of the actuator. That is, the actuator drive controller cannot accurately control the current supplied to the actuator.
Consequently, a desideratum remains in the art for an actuator drive controller that can accurately control the current supplied to the actuator, and is also inexpensive to manufacture and miniature in size.
The inventor has achieved the present invention not by conventionally monitoring a current when a voltage of a power source lowers, but based on knowledge that the problem described above can be solved by regulating consumption power of an actuator itself and thus controlling the current.
According to a first aspect of the present invention for solving the problem, there is provided an actuator drive controller that comprises a power source which supplies power to an actuator; a voltage detector which detects a voltage of the power source; and a control means for controlling a current supplied to the actuator, based on the voltage detected by the detector, wherein when the voltage becomes not more than (≦) a reference value set in advance, the control means controls the current supplied to the actuator so as to be lower than another current set in advance, depending on consumption power of the actuator, in a case that the consumption power of the actuator is not less than (≧) a specified value set in advance.
In the actuator drive controller the voltage of the power source of the actuator is detected by the voltage detector. On the other hand, based on the detected voltage, the control means determines whether or not the voltage of the power source becomes not more than (≦) the reference value set in advance. And the controller determines whether or not the consumption power of the actuator is not less than the specified value set in advance. Then, when determining that the consumption power of the actuator is (≧) not less than the specified value set in advance, the controller controls the current supplied to the actuator so as to be lower than the current set in advance, depending on the consumption power of the actuator. In other words, when the consumption power of the actuator is large (when a movement of the actuator is large), the current supplied to the actuator is controlled so as not to flow at not less than an allowable value in a case that the voltage of the power source lowers as described above. Meanwhile, when lowering the current supplied to the actuator, a lowering factor of the current is preferably set so that a performance of the actuator is at least maintained at a lowest operable limit therefor.
In addition, in the actuator drive controller the actuator may be driven by a duty ratio set in advance. Furthermore, in the actuator drive controller, when the voltage of the power source is not more than the reference value and the consumption power is not less than the specified value, the controller may be designed to control or change the duty ratio and thereby regulate the current.
According to a second aspect of the present inventions, in the actuator drive controller described in the first aspect the control means controls the current supplied to the actuator, based on the duty ratio set in advance depending on the consumption power of the actuator; and when the voltage is not more than the reference value and the consumption power of the actuator is not less than the specified value, the control means controls the current supplied to the actuator so as to become smaller than the duty ratio set in advance, based on a compensation duty ratio that is compensated.
In accordance with the actuator drive controller described in the first aspect, when the voltage of the power source lowers, the controller can be made to control the current so as not to exceed the predetermined value, for example . Therefore, something which can endure a larger current, as electric contact points such as a terminal of a voltage boost circuit and circuit components such as a harness and a fuse, is not required. In addition, because it is not required to monitor a current that is input to the voltage boost circuit, the controller does not become complex. Accordingly, in accordance with the present invention described in the first aspect an inexpensive and miniature actuator drive controller can be provided.
In addition, in accordance with the actuator drive controller, because when the voltage of the power source becomes not more than the reference value and the consumption power of the actuator is not less than the specified value, the current can be regulated by lowering the consumption power of the actuator itself, the current supplied to the actuator can be more accurately controlled.
In accordance with the actuator drive controller described in the second aspect of the invention, because the current is controlled, based on the duty ratio set in advance depending on the consumption power of the actuator, the current supplied to the actuator can be accurately controlled, depending on the movement of the actuator.


The amount of genomic data as well the sensitivity of the information carried necessitates the need to develop smart and efficient ways to transmit genomic data in a secure way. While encryption schemes exist, there is also the need to first reduce the amount of massive information and then apply an encoding and encryption method that will be effective both in the economic sense as well as for security of genomic data. In this invention, we discuss novel techniques to encode processed variant information and send it across to a remote site ensuring covert transmission. The protocols not only encode and encrypts the information; it condenses the information that needs to be transferred.

Sequencing techniques, such as genomic sequencing and SNP genotyping, can generate a large amount of genomic data. For example, a variant call file used to store data from sequencing variants of a chromosome may be hundreds of gigabytes.
Researchers and healthcare providers frequently need to transfer genomic data from one site to another geographically distant site. Because dedicated or private networks that span long distances can be prohibitively expensive or otherwise include unsecure spans, the data is often transferred over non-secure networks. Genomic data may be associated with particular patients and so there are privacy concerns; indeed, the transfer may be subject to laws and regulations related to the storage and transfer of such data. Further, as the data is processed to identify patient-specific anomalies, the more sensitive the information and therefore the greater need for a secure transfer mechanism.
The amount of data as well as the sensitivity of the information necessitates the need to develop efficient techniques to transmit genomic data securely. Existing techniques do not necessarily account for the characteristics of the genomic data, including variant data, nor take into account the quality of the specific data being transferred.
Accordingly, there is a need for an efficient and secure system for transferring genomic data over unsecure networks.


Priority propagation is achieved in the context of a rate-based scheduling hierarchy. Priority traffic is not delayed by non-priority traffic by more than the duration required for transmission of the maximum packet length at the physical interface speed. Multiple sibling priority levels are supported. To achieve these objectives, the scheduling hierarchy tree is divided into sub-trees corresponding to non-priority traffic and the different levels of priority. At each scheduling decision, a packet is selected from the highest priority non-empty sub-tree. Scheduling decisions within each sub-tree exploit the usual rate-based scheduling method but without priority propagation. When a packet from a priority sub-tree is chosen, scheduling state in the non-priority sub-tree is updated.

The present invention relates generally to communication networks and more specifically to systems and methods for rate-based scheduling.
High speed networks are designed to carry services with a wide range of quality-of-service (QoS) requirements. It is useful to define a hierarchy of traffic classes over which QoS requirements may be configured. FIG. 1 depicts an example of such a hierarchy. There are three levels. The bottom level or root is a node 102 defining a single physical interface over which traffic will be transmitted. The next level of hierarchy shows three logical interfaces 104, 106, 108. Logical interfaces may correspond to, e.g., virtual LANs (VLANs). A third level of hierarchy consists of classes. Here logical interface 104 has associated classes 110 and 112. Logical interface 106 has classes 114, 116, and 118. Logical interface 108 has associated classes 120 and 122. Each class has may represent, for example, a different customer.
Thus, all of the classes, logical interfaces, and physical interfaces are represented by nodes in a tree structure. The nodes corresponding to the classes are leaf nodes, i.e., they are furthest from the root node in the hierarchy. When packets arrive they are placed in a queue associated with a leaf node.
Each node in this hierarchy typically has a configured minimum rate, maximum rate, and excess bandwidth sharing weight. Each node is expected to be served by its parent node at least at its configured minimum service rate and up to its maximum configured rate. The excess service that can be given to a node above and beyond its minimum rate is proportional to its specified excess bandwidth sharing weight relative to the weights of its active non-empty peers that are simultaneously vying for excess service.
Furthermore, individual nodes can be configured as priority nodes. In FIG. 1, priority nodes are drawn with dashed lines. Priority nodes have higher scheduling preference than their siblings regardless of the other scheduling criteria. For example, voice traffic may be assigned to a priority class. The class hierarchies now being discussed are desired to have the property of priority propagation. This means that a priority indication can be passed on a per-packet basis from a node to its parent. Priority nodes do not typically have minimum and maximum rates or excess sharing weights but may have priority rates to be used in allocating transmission resources among sibling priority nodes.
The tree structure of FIG. 1 also represents a scheduling hierarchy that corresponds to the class hierarchy. The goal of the scheduling hierarchy is to determine the sequence of packet transmissions in such a way as to insure the satisfaction of the rate and priority settings of each node in the class hierarchy. Conceptually, the scheduling hierarchy performs as follows. The root node in the class hierarchy runs a one-layer scheduler to choose one of its children nodes. A chosen child in turn, runs its own one-layer scheduler that chooses one of its own children. This process continues until a "leaf" of the class hierarchy is reached.
Attributes of the children, such as the guaranteed rates and priorities of the children are actually stored in and managed by the parent's scheduler. From the perspective of the parent, the children nodes are schedule entries in the local scheduler.
In a representative implementation, the behavioral model of a scheduling node is as follows:
1) If at least one of the priority schedule entries is not empty, one of the priority entries must be chosen.
2) If all priority schedule entries are empty, then choose one of the schedule entries whose minimum rate has not yet been satisfied.
3) If all schedule entries with non-zero minimum rates have currently reached or exceeded their minimum rate, choose a schedule entry whose maximum rate has not yet been satisfied.
In a non-pipelined implementation, for each physical interface packet transmission opportunity, a scheduling decision is made that involves selecting a node from the lowest level of the hierarchy. A single scheduling decision involves traversal of scheduling nodes along a particular path through the tree. The choice of the branch to follow at each scheduling node is determined by a scheduling decision at each node: the next (child) scheduling node in the traversal is the one corresponding to the schedule entry chosen at the previous scheduling node. The result of this tree traversal is to select a packet from a queue associated with one of the leaf nodes.
Alternatively, a packet pipeline model can be used. The physical interface scheduling decision is made from among packet handles (pointers to queued packets) that have propagated to nodes at the level of hierarchy adjacent to the root. The root node picks a packet handle based on its scheduling criteria. The node that stored this packet handle then replaces it with a packet handle stored by one of its children, making a selection based on its own scheduling criteria. In this way, packet handles propagate downward from leaf nodes to the root.
Problems arise in applying the scheduling hierarchy to handling priority traffic. It is desirable to mandate the property referred to above as priority propagation so that priority traffic experiences low latency.
For example, when the root node arbitrates among its children, it may be that none of these children are configured with priority, but some of the descendants of these children are configured with priority and are non-empty. It is desirable therefore that the root chooses a child with non-empty priority descendant(s). In a purely rate-based scheduler, such functionality is unavailable, as each node arbitrates among its own children only based on the children's state and does not have any awareness of the existence of priority descendants beyond its own child layer. Hence, the scheduler may choose a branch of the tree with no priority traffic even though some other branch of the tree may contain non-empty priority nodes. This will cause extra undesirable delay for priority traffic.
Additionally, inaccuracies in the rate-based scheduler may further increase the latency of priority traffic and further exacerbate the inability to provide the necessary low latency to priority traffic. One typical scenario where the prior art rate-based schedulers fall short arises when a node with an active priority descendent must wait for a large number of siblings to be scheduled ahead of this node even if the other siblings have no priority traffic. If packet pipelining is used, the pipeline delay further contributes to undesired latency imposed on priority traffic. It would be desirable to have a scheduler that meets the following criteria:
1) Priority traffic is not delayed by competing non-priority traffic by more than the time duration needed to transmit one maximum length packet at the speed of the physical interface.
2) Multiple sibling priority levels are supported.
3) Different priority streams are scheduled in proportion to their priority rates to minimize per-flow jitter.
4) The excess-rate service that each entry receives over its minimum rate is shared according to the specified excess sharing weight.

Priority propagation in a multi-level scheduling hierarchy


A load balancing system for a wireless network comprises: a base station parameter extraction unit able to extract base station availability parameters of currently available base stations; and a base station quality of service selector associated with said base station parameter extraction unit configured to determine from said parameters which of said available base stations is able to provide a currently required quality of service. The system requests resources from one such base station, thereby to ensure that mobile stations are distributed in a balanced manner between the available base stations. As well as quality of service, interference with other links may be taken into account, and uplinks and downlinks may be considered separately.

The present invention, in some embodiments thereof, relates to load balancing and or interference minimization in wireless networks and, more particularly, but not exclusively, to such load balancing etc. in a WiMAX or like wireless cellular network, in particular including any networks using the OFDMA protocol.
WiMAX, or Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, is a telecommunications technology that provides wireless data in a variety of ways, ranging from point-to-point links to full mobile cellular-type access. The name "WiMAX" was created by the WiMAX Forum, which was formed in June 2001 to promote conformity and interoperability of the standard. The forum describes WiMAX as "a standards-based technology enabling the delivery of last mile wireless broadband access as an alternative to cable and DSL".
The bandwidth and range of WiMAX make it suitable for potential applications including: connecting Wi-Fi hotspots with other parts of the Internet, providing a wireless alternative to cable and DSL for last mile broadband access, providing portable connectivity, to allow users to connect through portable devices without restriction to available hardware, providing data and telecommunications services, and providing a redundant source of Internet connectivity to protect from service loss at the main connection.
In Wi-Fi the media access controller (MAC) uses contention access—all subscriber stations that wish to pass data through a wireless access point (AP) compete for the AP's attention on a random interrupt basis. This can cause subscriber stations distant from the AP to be repeatedly interrupted by closer stations, greatly reducing their throughput. This makes services such as Voice over IP (VoIP) or IPTV, which depend on an essentially-constant Quality of Service (QoS) depending on data rate and interruptibility, difficult to maintain for more than a few simultaneous users.
In contrast, the 802.16 MAC uses a scheduling algorithm for which a mobile station needs to compete only once for initial entry into the network, hereinafter referred to as network entry or NWE. After NWE the mobile station is allocated an access slot by a base station. The time slot can enlarge and contract, but remains assigned to the subscriber or mobile station, which means that other subscribers cannot use it. In addition to being stable under overload and over-subscription (unlike 802.11), the 802.16 scheduling algorithm can also be more bandwidth efficient. The scheduling algorithm also allows the base station to control QoS parameters by balancing the time-slot assignments among the application needs of the subscriber stations.
The current IEEE-802.16e standard in fact allows the mobile station (MS) to select the most appropriate base station (BS) from those available. The standard however does not define the BS selection method that the MS is to use. The BS selection methods for network entry (NWE) and MS handover (HO) that are currently used are vendor specific.
The MS has available the following two factors:                Channel conditions        BS load
Channel condition is set according to measurements performed by the MS using known metrics such as received signal strength indication (RSSI), signal to interference noise ratio (SINR), etc. A particular feature of the known channel selection method is that it is transparent to the individual user so that two mobile stations requiring the same quality of service have the same chance of receiving attention at the same base station.
The mobile station knows the base station load because the Base Station Load is broadcast by BSs in downlink channel descriptor (DCD) messages and uplink channel descriptor (UCD) messages, messages which are sent periodically by the base station to define downlink and uplink parameters and in neighborhood advertisement (NBR-ADV) messages, messages sent periodically by the base station to define the downlink and uplink parameters of its neighbors. Parameters that may be obtained from such messages include Available downlink (DL) Radio Resources and Available uplink (UL) Radio Resources, and these parameters indicate the average percentage of unused slots in the DL and UL.
The MS can use downlink and/or uplink resource parameters or just one of them for the NWE or HO decision, but the MS currently has no means to combine the two parameters into a single decision function that considers both the downlink and uplink. Moreover, the MS is unable to introduce its QoS requirements, i.e., current connections' requirements, (which also impact the required slots) in any except the crudest way, meaning that it simply selects the BS with the most spare slots. However choosing the base station with the most available slots is not always the optimal choice, say considering interference and other issues. It is not currently possible to make a choice that optimizes for a low QoS requirement.
In addition, the MS is unable to take into consideration the interference it imposes on the network upon BS selection. Thus a MS may be more distant from a first BS than a second BS, but if the first BS has more slots then it may choose the first BS in preference to the second. However because of the increased distance it may require a stronger signal, thus interfering with numerous other MSs, in some cases unnecessarily.
Interference thus causes difficulties due to the fact that the consumption of slots (and hence the load on the BS) is defined according to the channel's conditions and modulation and coding scheme (MCS). A single MS with poor channel conditions may have an affect on the BS's load that is out of all proportion to its actual requirements. In addition, the higher the QoS requirements are, the higher the MS consumption and loading affect. Furthermore, when an MS selects a more distant BS it affects the neighboring BSs and more particularly degrades the performance of the neighboring base stations due to interference.
WO02/32156 to Nortel teaches network driven cell switching and handoff with load balancing for wireless systems. The system uses two metrics—signal strength and base station load. A function takes these two metrics as inputs and produces a factor. The higher the factor the better is the choice of base station. However, this does not take into account the mobile station's actual consumption, or effect on the actual base station load.
To conclude, currently the IEEE-802.16e standard does not standardize the base station selection method and the various vendor-specific methods in use do not include a way to combine all factors influencing the consumption of slots into a single BS selection method/decision. Rather they are transparent to the actual users so that two mobile stations requesting the same quality of service stand the same chance at the same base station. At most the base station is able to modify connections after the mobile station has connected.


A process of forming an electronic device can include forming a patterned oxidation-resistant layer over a semiconductor layer that overlies a substrate, and patterning the semiconductor layer to form a semiconductor island. The semiconductor island includes a first surface and a second surface opposite the first surface, and the first surface lies closer to the substrate, as compared to the second surface. The process can also include forming an oxidation-resistant material along a side of the semiconductor island or selectively depositing a semiconductor material along a side of the semiconductor island. The process can further include exposing the patterned oxidation-resistant layer and the semiconductor island to an oxygen-containing ambient, wherein a first portion of the semiconductor island along the first surface is oxidized during exposing the patterned oxidation-resistant layer, the semiconductor island, and the oxidation-resistant material to an oxygen-containing ambient.

1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to electronic devices and processes, and more particularly to electronic devices including semiconductor regions of different thicknesses over insulating layers and processes of forming the electronic devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Increased performance of electronic devices is resulting in more complicated structures used in the electronic devices. For integrated circuits, different semiconductor regions of different thicknesses are used in order to meet the designed performance specifications.
One attempt to achieve different thicknesses of semiconductor regions over an insulating layer can include selectively thinning portions of a semiconductor layer. Before selective thinning, the semiconductor layer may have a substantially uniform thickness. One or more masks can be used with one or more etching operations to thin some, but not all of the semiconductor layer. After selective thinning, the uppermost surfaces of the different semiconductor regions may lie at different elevations above a primary surface. The resulting topology can cause problems with lithographic operations (e.g., depth of focus) and polishing operations.
Another attempt to form different thicknesses of semiconductor regions over an insulating layer can include a Separation by Implanted Oxygen ("SIMOX") process. A semiconductor layer has a substantially uniform thickness over an underlying insulating layer. The semiconductor layer can be selectively implanted with oxygen at one or more regions where a thinner channel region of a transistor structure is desired. SIMOX processes are generally disfavored because they severely damage the one or more portions of the semiconductor layer being implanted, and annealing may not reduce the crystal defect level low enough to be used for high-performance transistors.
Skilled artisans appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the invention.

Process of forming an electronic device including a semiconductor island over an insulating layer


Connector device for electric cable carrier tray sections, which come together at a point of connection, each of the cable carrier tray sections including a straight elongate U-shaped body member, where each arm of the U defines a side wall and a bottom wall extends between both side walls, where the connecting device comprises at least one joining member for the connection of two electrical cable carrier tray sections, which change direction at the point of connection, and are attached together by the side walls by securing means, wherein the joining member is rigid and is differentiated in two parts, where the parts form a fixed angle therebetween in a central region of the joining member and each of the parts has means for attachment to the sections.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a connector device for electrical cable do carrier tray sections which come together at a point of connection, each of the electrical cable carrier tray sections comprising a straight elongate U-shaped body member, where each arm of the U defines a side wall and a bottom wall extends between both side walls, and more precisely to sets of two symmetrical or asymmetrical joining members to form a end-to-end joint of two electrical cable carrier tray sections which change direction at the point of connection, such that said sections are contained in one same plane, forming a flat angle, or are contained in concurrent planes, forming a dihedral angle, at the same time as they are attached, together by the side walls thereof by removable securing means.
2. Prior Art Reference
In the present art, respective rigid, straight, identical connecting parts are used for joining two coplanar aligned electrical cable carrier tray sections and they are respectively attached to the side walls and bottom walls of the ends of said sections placed end-to-end at the point of connection of both electrical cable carrier tray sections.
On the contrary, when it is a case of connecting electrical cable carrier tray sections which are not aligned at the point of connection, albeit contained in one same plane or contained in two planes in dihedral form, random means are used, such as parts hand-formed from sheet, bar or other items, which undoubtedly represent an inconvenience for the fitter, do not allow a precise installation to be made and make it unsightly.
With a view to overcoming such drawback and avoiding the production of such random means, centrally hinged connector devices have been manufactured. For the former case, they are hinged about an axis formed on the same plane as the two wings defining the devices, while for the latter case, they are hinged about an axis perpendicular to the wings which, in this case, have a mutually overlapping portion.
This latter arrangement of hinged connector devices affords the advantage of allowing any flat or dihedral angle to be formed at the point of connection where the electrical cable carrier tray sections change direction, but, on the other hand, it does not of itself allow the precise angle to be maintained in each case, whereby it must be complemented with extra supports or other arrangements. Furthermore, the lack of angular rigidity of such items and the possibility of adaptation to any angle, contribute to a summation of angular errors at the time of installing the cable carrier trays, obliging troublesome final positional corrections of the complete installation, or a strict control throughout the complete assembly thereof.
With a view to avoiding such drawbacks, the solution has been adopted of making such angular connecting portions rigidly, according to pre-established angles.
In accordance with the foregoing premises, there has been developed the connector device for electrical cable carrier trays sections of the invention which comprises at least one joining member and wherein the joining member is rigid and is differentiated in two parts, preferably of like length, forming a fixed angle therebetween which locates the apex and/or edge in the central region of the device and which have means for attachment to the trays.
One feature of the invention is that the fixed angle has a value of 135 sexagesimal degrees, measured obviously on the concave portion.
According to the invention, the two differentiated parts of the joining member comprise respective web walls which are contained substantially in one same plane when the two tray sections are not coplanar, the fixed angle formed between both walls being plane. In this case, both members of a set are mutually symmetrical and, therefore, identical.
Likewise, also according to the invention, both differentiated parts of the device comprise respective web walls that are not contained substantially within one same plane when both tray sections are coplanar, with the angle formed by both walls being dihedral. In this case, both members of a set are mutually asymmetrical.

Connector device for electrical cable carrier tray sections


Process for carrying out catalytic multiphase reactions in a tubular reactor, in which at least three reactants are present in three different phases, wherein the process is carried out in at least one tubular reactor, and the catalyst is present in a continuous phase, at least one reactant is present in this continuous phase, and at least two reactants are present dispersed in the continuous phase and the loading factor B of the tubular reactor is equal to or greater than 0.2. In particular, the multiphase reaction is a hydrocarboxylation of at least one olefin to a carboxylic acid.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for carrying out a multiphase reaction in which at least three reactants are involved, a process for preparing carboxylic acids by hydrocarboxylating olefins, products obtained by the multiphase reaction process, and uses thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Tertiary carboxylic acids may be used for the preparation of siccatives, peroxides and lubricants. A further field of use of tertiary carboxylic acids is the preparation of unsaturated esters such as vinyl esters, from which co-oligomers or copolymers are prepared.
Since the 1960s, the direct carbonylation of olefins with carbon monoxide to give carboxylic acids using strong acids as a catalyst (Koch reactions, in New Synthesis with Carbon Monoxide, J. Falbe (Ed.), Springer, Berlin, 1980, p. 372) has been known. Later, it was found that the reaction can additionally be catalyzed by silver or copper cations (Y. Souma, H. Sano, Bull. Chem. Soc. Jpn. 1974, 47, 1717). These reactions, irrespective of the starting olefin, form predominantly tertiary carboxylic acids when the starting olefin has a sufficiently large number of carbon atoms (e.g., n in the formula specified below is greater than 3):CnH2n+CO+H2O→R1R2R3C—COOH where (R1+R2+R3)=Cn−1H2n+1 catalyst
Industrially, these reactions are typically carried out in stirred reactors at from 40 to 70° C. and from 70 to 100 bar of CO pressure using a BF3/H2O or BF3/H3PO4/H2O catalyst. The use of catalysts having Cu ions allows the reaction to be carried out even at ambient temperature and standard pressure.
Disadvantages in all known processes include the oligomerization of a portion of the olefins to form oligomers which may partly convert to higher carboxylic acids. A further disadvantage is a low mass transfer between the phases thus resulting in low space-time yields.

Preparation of tertiary carboxylic acids


A solar LED lamp for lighting purpose includes a fixing box, a covering member mounted on the fixing box and a plurality of LED modules attached to a bottom of the covering member. The covering member includes a top plate fixed to a top of the fixing box, a solar panel disposed over a top surface of the top plate and a mounting bracket fixed to a bottom of the top plate and located in front of the fixing box. The LED modules are attached to a bottom of the mounting bracket. The solar panel is provided for receiving solar energy and converting the solar energy into electrical energy which is used to activate the LED modules.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an LED (light emitting diode) lamp and, more particularly, to a solar LED lamp which utilizes solar energy to drive an LED lamp.
2. Description of Related Art
An LED lamp is a type of solid-state lighting that utilizes LEDs as a source of illumination. An LED is a device for transferring electricity to light by using a theory that, if a current is made to flow in a forward direction through a junction region comprising two different semiconductors, electrons and holes are coupled at the junction region to generate a light beam. The LED has an advantage that it is resistant to shock, and has an almost eternal lifetime under a specific condition; thus, the LED lamp is intended to be a cost-effective yet high quality replacement for incandescent and fluorescent lamps.
Known implementations of LED lamp are electrically powered. However, it is not feasible to use the electrically powered LED lamp in some wild areas such as desert, mountain chains and virgin forest for there being no electrical power supply in such remote areas.
What is needed, therefore, is a solar LED lamp which can overcome the above-mentioned disadvantages.

Fu Zhun Precision Industry (Shen Zhen) Co., Ltd.


A configuration is configured to allow purchase of an item available in an auction. The configuration transmits to a bidder a plurality of bids for use in an auction. Each bid is given a predetermined bid value. The configuration provides for display a selectable interface to place a bid on the item and a selectable interface to purchase the item at the retail price. The configuration receives from the bidder at least one bid on the item. In response to each bid received from the bidder for the item, the configuration reduces the retail price for the item by a value corresponding to the bid value. The configuration then provides for display the reduced retail price in response to each bid received from the bidder for on the item. The bidder can continue with the auction in an attempt to receive the auctioned item at a low cost or may purchase the auction item at a retail price minus the total of the value of bids placed by that bidder.

1. Field of Art
The disclosure generally relates to the field of electronic commerce.
2. Description of the Related Art
Auctions conducted online are well known. Generally auctions are conducted so that participant bidders bid on an item and the highest bidder wins. A twist on an auction is an entertainment auction, which sometimes is referred to as a penny auction. In a penny auction, participant bidders must buy a bundle of bids and use one every time they raise their virtual paddle. In some configurations, bids cost 60 cents to $1 each and are bought in packs of 10 to 700, depending on the site.
Although winners of penny auctions receive a substantial discount on an auctioned item, such discounts can be wiped away depending on the number of bids placed prior to winning the item. Moreover, when the bidding closes other bidders who have not won the auction are left with nothing despite incurring a cost for participating in the auction.

Acquisition option in auction configuration


A method for synthesis of 1-decene oligomer is provided, wherein 1-decene is polymerized at 80-120° C., 0.8-1.4 MPa in the presence of aluminum trichloride catalyst supported on gamma-alumina and n-hexane solvent where the volume ratio of 1-decene to n-hexane is 3:8-4:1. The catalyst is treated as follows: impregnating gamma-alumina carrier in 0.5-2.0 M of hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, nitric acid or mixtures thereof, then vacuum drying at 80-100° C. and calcining at 400-800° C.; dissolving 5-10 g of anhydrous aluminum trichloride in 100 ml of tetrachloromethane, trichloromethane or dichloromethane solvent; adding the obtained solution into 10-20 g of activated alumina carrier and obtaining the catalyst after vacuum drying. The conversion of 1-decene is 50 wt % or more. The oligomer has a kinematic viscosity at 40° C. of 6.0-25 mm2/s and a viscosity index of 160-262.

As a Lewis acid catalyst used in cationic polymerization, AlCl3 catalyst is one of the important catalysts widely used chemical industry, petroleum refining and pharmaceutical industry. Due to good catalytic effect, such catalysts have features such as high polymer yield, narrow molecular weight distribution and good selectivity in the catalysis of α-olefin oligomerization. Although it has very high activity, AlCl3 catalyst has obvious disadvantages as follows: (1) AlCl3 catalyst has strong causticity, which may easily cause damage to equipments such as reaction kettles and thus reduce service life of the equipment, leading to less usage; (2) a large quantity of wastewater is produced during the polymerization in the presence of AlCl3 catalyst, thus severe environmental pollution will be caused if the wastewater cannot be disposed in time; and (3) AlCl3 catalyst after reaction cannot be easily recovered such that numerous corrosive waste is produced, thus a post-treatment process becomes necessary.
JP 08505888B discloses a method for producing lubricant base oil through cationic polymerization, wherein decene polymer is produced in the presence of Lewis acid such as AlCl3, BF3 as the catalyst. Since a homogeneous system is used in the method, resulting in a high amount of halide such as AlCl3, BF3 in product, products having a low level of halide cannot be produced. What is more, BF3 is both expensive and easy to cause a series of environmental problems due to the corrosivity of fluorine. Since such catalysts are difficult to be separated and are hardly recycled while a number of troublesome industrial waste liquid is produced, the cost of production is increased. Meanwhile, the α-olefin polymer thus obtained has a low molecular weight, and the obtained lubricant thus has a low viscosity, which cannot meet the environmental requirement when used as a lubricant.
Therefore, in order to satisfy the requirement of green chemistry, solid acid catalysts such as supported metal oxide are developed to replace traditional catalysts such as AlCl3 and BF3, meanwhile immobilized AlCl3 catalysts are also studied widely. It is desirable to eliminate the current problems as above and convert the AlCl3 catalyst into an environmentally friendly catalyst, providing that the excellent characteristics of AlCl3 can be maintained. A supported AlCl3 catalyst is a novel, efficient and environmentally friendly solid acid catalyst. In recent years, it has attracted more attention due to its higher catalytic activities and mild reaction conditions, and is widely used in the research on polymerization and alkylation.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,927,087 firstly proposes a method for producing a supported AlCl3 catalyst by the reaction of AlCl3 vapor with infusible oxides such as alumina and silica having a hydroxyl group on the surface thereof. Moreover, it emphasizes the necessity to remove unreacted AlCl3 by purging carrier gas above 300° C. after the reaction.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,929,800 discloses that a catalyst with high activity in the isomerization or pyrolysis of alkanes can be produced by a process of dissolving aluminum trichloride in a solvent such as CCl4, CH3Cl or CH2Cl2, adding a carrier such as silica or alumina thereto, and refluxing the resultant at 50-80° C. under N2 protection and dark condition refluxing for several hours to days.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,002,060 indicates that alpha-olefin can be oligomerized or copolymerized in the presence of supported aluminum trichloride as a catalyst and an organic aluminum compound as an aid.
CN 1156338 and CN 1939590 disclose that immobilized AlCl3 catalysts are prepared by the gas-phase immobilization as follows: reacting fresh aluminum trichloride carried by N2 gas brought into a reaction tube having alumina with a double-pore structure of mesopore and macropore and a particles size of 20-200 mesh therein, wherein the chlorine content is 6.0-9.0 wt %. The catalysts have shown good catalytic activity and selectivity in isobutene polymerization of low degree, and exhibit good stability. However, noticeable pressure drop is observed in the reaction of a fixed bed reactor filled with catalysts in form of fine particles.

Method for synthesis of 1-decene oligomer


A method and apparatus for performing minimally invasive hip surgery to implant an acetabular shell into the acetabulum. A collapsible acetabular reamer is moveable between an expanded position and a collapsed position. In the expanded position, the reamer reams the acetabulum. In the collapsed position, the reamer can fit through a small minimally invasive incision.

Traditional hip replacement surgery has been used in the United States since as early as the 1960's. The surgical technique to implant a hip has not drastically changed over the years, and today, this technique is quite successful. In fact, the surgical technique is prolifically used throughout the world and has a known success rate of over 90%. Certainly, the traditional surgical technique is fundamentally sound and predictable.
Unfortunately, traditional techniques to implant a hip have well recognized shortcomings. Most importantly, a rather large incision is made on the side of the hip. The incision can extend from 6 to 12 inches; the actual length of the incision depends on the size of the patient and type of surgery (revision versus total hip arthroplasty, for example). A long, deep incision can divide a number of important stabilizing muscles and tendons and further damage the hip joint and surrounding soft tissue. Inevitably, long incisions lead to larger blood losses, longer rehabilitation times for patients, and unsightly scar lines. A patient can easily spend four or five days in the hospital after a total hip arthroplasty, for example.
Recently, surgeons have been developing new, less invasive surgical techniques to perform total hip arthroplasty and revision hip surgery. Minimally invasive surgery, or MIS, is one such technique with great promise to become a popular and accepted technique for implanting a hip.
MIS has significant advantages over traditional hip replacement surgery. Most importantly, a rather small incision is made on the side on the hip. This incision is approximately 3 to 5 inches long, and the benefits of a shorter incision are enormous.
First and foremost, the patient can recover in a much shorter period of time after a MIS. The recuperation time in the hospital can be a few days and significantly reduce the cost to both the patient and hospital. In fact, some patients are leaving the hospital within 24 to 48 hours after the surgery. Obviously, this shortened time period is extremely important to the patient.
As another advantage, MIS is less invasive and traumatic to the patient. Significantly less soft tissue is disrupted in a minimally invasive surgery compared to a traditional hip surgery. Also, the amount of blood loss is reduced, and patients will require fewer blood transfusions. Further, the length of the scar is significantly smaller, and these scars are more cosmetically appealing. The incisions themselves heal in a much shorter period of time and are much less painful than a long ten or twelve inch incision. As such, the patient can sooner return to work or enjoy recreational activities. In short, the patient can more quickly return to a normal way of life.
Presently, instruments to perform MIS are being developed and refined. These instruments have a vital role in the ability to perform a successful minimally invasive surgery. As one important consideration, these instruments must be able to fit through the small MIS incision. Traditional acetabular reamers are typically hemispherical and have relatively large diameters with deep shell heights. These reamers do not fit well through the small MIS incision.
In short, instruments, and in particular acetabular reamers, play a vital role in MIS surgery for hip implantation. It therefore would be advantageous to provide a new acetabular reamer and method of use for performing a minimally invasive surgery to implant a prosthetic hip.