A method of driving an active matrix liquid crystal display (AM-LCD) is provided. The AM-LCD has a plurality of unit pixels arranged in array form, and each the unit pixel has a pixel electrode, an opposite common electrode, and a liquid crystal layer disposed therebetween. The method comprises the following steps. First, an alternating voltage signal V(n) with a selected gray level n is applied to the pixel electrode. A first compensated voltage signal V′(n) is applied to the pixel electrode simultaneously to compensate the alternating voltage signal V(n) for the potential level shift induced by the parasitic capacitance and the coupling capacitance of the unit pixel. A second compensated voltage signal Vasy(n) is applied to the pixel electrode simultaneously to compensate the alternating voltage signal V(n) for the potential level shift induced by the different material or the asymmetric appearance of the pixel electrode and the common electrode.

With rapid advancement of the fabrication technology of a thin film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD), the LCD is largely applied in various electronic products such as a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) device, a notebook computer, a digital camera, a video camera, and a mobile phone due to the fact it has advantages of smaller size, less weight, lower power consumption and low radiation. Moreover, the quality of the LCD is ceaselessly improved and the price thereof is continuously decreased since manufacturers aggressively invest in research & development and employ large-scale fabricating equipment. That promptly broadens the applied fields of the LCD.
Please refer to FIG. 1, the circuit structure of the unit pixel is shown. The unit pixel is switched on or off by a thin film transistor (TFT) 10. The gate and source of the TFT 10 are connected separately to a scan line and a data line, and the drain thereof is connected with a storage capacitor Cst and a pixel electrode. When the TFT 10 is turned on by the scan signals, the data signals from the source can be transferred via the drain to the pixel electrode, and next be applied to the liquid crystal layer 12 so as to produce desired images.
In general, in the process of fabricating the LCDs, some bits and small pieces, such as ion particles, maybe fall and attach on the surfaces of the liquid crystal layer or the alignment films. Therefore, when the two sides of the liquid crystal layer are applied with a direct voltage for a period of time, the ion particles will be attracted by the voltage difference, so as to accumulate on the surfaces of the alignment films disposed on two sides of the liquid crystal layer. And after the direct voltage applied to the liquid crystal layer is removed, the accumulated ion particles on the alignment films still can produce an interior direct voltage remained in the liquid crystal layer for a long time, thereby causing the severe problems of image sticking.
For solving the aforementioned image sticking issues caused by driving the LCDs with the direct voltages, the LCDs at present are driven by alternating voltage sources. However, it is noted that, affected by the parasitic capacitance and the coupling capacitance in the unit pixel, some residual direct voltage still occurs across the two sides of the liquid crystal layer, even though applying the alternating voltage to drive it. Please refer to FIG. 2, the waveform of each terminal of the TFT 10 in the unit pixel is illustrated. When the scan signal Vg on the gate is a high level signal Vgh, the TFT 10 is turned on. Oppositely, when the scan signal Vg is a low level signal Vgl, the TFT 10 will be turned off. Following the operations of turning on and off the TFT 10, the data signals on the drain will appear polarity reversing due to the usage of alternating voltage source.
However, it is noted that, due to the affections of the parasitic capacitor (Cgd) between the gate and the drain, the storage capacitor (Cst), and the capacitor (Clc) of liquid crystal layer, the data signal Vdata transferred to the drain usually has a potential shift of ΔV(Cgd, Cst, Clc). As shown in FIG. 2, no matter what the potential level the signal Vs has, the potential level of the data signal Vdata always has a decrement ΔV, thereby causing a direct voltage effect for the unit pixel. Especially, for the various data signals with different gray levels, the potential shifts thereof are all different too, so the direct voltages effects thereof also differ.
Please refer to FIG. 3, the potential shifts of alternating data voltage signals with different gray levels are illustrated. In the case of the data signals with 256 gray levels, the signal waveforms of level 0, level 63, level 127, level 191, and level 255 are shown. Apparently, except the data signal of level 127, most data signals with other gray levels have asymmetric waveforms due to the potential shift ΔV, thereby causing the direct voltage effects in the liquid crystal layer. For solving this issue, a gamma correction circuit is introduced to produce additional compensated voltages according to different gray levels for adjusting the potential levels of the alternating data signals.
As shown in FIG. 3, compared to the original voltage level Vcdc of common electrode, disposed on another side of the liquid crystal layer opposite to the pixel electrode, the data signals Vdata provided is equal to Vcdc±V(0)+V′(0), wherein V(0) is the alternating data signal of level 0, and V′(0) is the compensated voltage signal of level 0. Thus, by adding the gamma correction voltage V′(0) for adjusting the level of the common electrode, the direct voltage level of level 0 is adjusted to Vcdc+V′(0), so as to avoid of affections of the residual direct voltage. Besides, as aforementioned, each data signal with one specific gray level has one different potential shift ΔV, so the necessary gamma correction voltage signals V′(0), V′(63), V′(191) and V′(255) are all different. And in the case of the data signal of level 127, because it has no potential shift, no additional gamma correction item is applied.
However, it is noted that, nowadays, for promoting the displaying performance of the LCDs, in the display panels the electrodes or alignment films disposed on two sides of the liquid crystal layer usually are designed with-different appearances or formed of different material. The typical design, such as Reflective Liquid Crystal Displays (RLCD), Multi-Domain Vertical Alignment LCDs (MVA-LCD), protrusion-slit type LCDs or hybrid-aligned nematic LCDs (HAN-LCD), etc., all have the asymmetric shaped or different material of electrodes and alignment films. Therefore, for these LCDs, the trapping ratios of ion particles are different on two sides of the liquid crystal layer, thereby causing severe "residual direct voltage" and "image sticking" problems. Under this condition, how to overcome the above issues becomes an important research topic at present.

Method of driving active matrix liquid crystal display for restraining image sticking


Provided is a fault current limiter that uses a superconductor and can rapidly restore a superconducting state after a current limiting operation. The fault current limiter is configured to perform a current limiting operation through the use of a superconductor and includes a superconducting member (a member including a holding container, a filler and a superconducting wire) including the superconductor, a cooling container, and a suppression member (fins). The cooling container is configured to hold therein the superconducting member and house therein a coolant for cooling the superconducting member. The suppression member (fins) is configured to prevent a boiling state of the coolant from transiting from a nucleate boiling state to a film boiling state in the case where the coolant boils on a surface of the superconducting member (a surface of the holding container) due to a temperature rise of the superconductor during the current limiting operation.

Conventionally, a fault current limiter using a superconductor is known (for example, see Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2006-278135 (PTD 1)). The fault current limiter disclosed in PTD 1 includes a circuit in which a superconducting fault current limiter module having a superconductor and a switch are connected in series, and an external resistor connected in parallel to the circuit. In the fault current limiter, as the superconducting fault current limiter module performs a current limiting operation triggered by an excessive fault current, the current is bypassed to the external resistor, and meanwhile the switch is opened to stop the current supply to the superconducting fault current limiter module.
The fault current limiter described above performs the current limiting operation as the superconductor is quenched by a fault current, however, the temperature of the superconductor rises due to the fault current during the current limiting operation. In the fault current limiter described above, in order to prevent the temperature of the superconductor from rising excessively during the current limiting operation, the switch is opened to stop the fault current from flowing to the superconductor; however, in the case where the switch malfunctions or depending on the conditions under which the fault current has occurred, the temperature of the superconducting may rise rapidly to about 500K, for example.
Affected by the temperature rise of the superconductor, the temperature of a coolant (for example, liquid nitrogen) used to cool the superconductor also rises and reaches a boiling state. When the heat is weak, the boiling state remains at a nucleate boiling state where small bubbles are generated continuously; however, as the heat becomes greater than a critical heat flux for nucleate boiling, the boiling state transits to a film boiling state in which the superconductor is being covered by a film of great bubbles, and the temperature of the superconductor jumps discontinuously to a high temperature. It has been reported that in the film boiling state, the heat flux transferred from the superconductor to the coolant (liquid nitrogen) is only about 15% of the critical heat flux for the nucleate boiling state (for example, see "Transient heat transfer from a silver sheathed high-Tc superconducting tape in liquid nitrogen", Masahiro Shiotsu et. al., Proc. of the 16th International Cryogenic Engineering Conference/International Cryogenic Material Conference, Vol. 1, p. 617-620, 1997 (NPD 1)). The reason therefor is that in the film boiling state, the superconductor is being covered by a film of great bubbles, and thereby the superconductor is thermally insulated from the surrounding coolant.


In a video camera having at least a semiconductor image sensor and a rotary sector shutter arranged in the radiation path of the semiconductor image sensor, in which the light-dependent charge integration in the semiconductor image sensor is released by applying a control signal, the sector shutter includes a plurality of light-transmissive sectors of different size. The charge integration of the semiconductor image sensor is released before a selected light-transmissive sector enters the radiation path thereby ensuring equal integration periods for all portions of the semiconductor image sensor.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a video camera comprising at least a semiconductor image sensor and a rotary sector shutter arranged in a radiation path of the semiconductor image sensor, in which light-dependent charge integration in the semiconductor image sensor is released by applying a control signal thereto.
2. Description Of The Related Art
In video cameras comprising semiconductor image sensors of the charge transfer type, the light-sensitive surface is darkened by means of a rotating sector shutter during the transfer of the charges in a storage member of the image sensor so as to avoid a disturbance of the charge transfer. The rotating sector shutter is further used for reducing the exposure time so as to improve the sharpness when picking up fast moving objects.
In the conventional semiconductor image sensors, the next integration process after the charge transfer is released by means of a control signal. A charge integration in accordance with the incidence of light is thus only possible if this control signal is available and if the light is released by the sector shutter. In the known video cameras, this is utilized for setting exposure times of different lengths. To this end, the phase position of the sector shutter is controlled by means of a suitable control circuit in such a way that the sector shutter has already released the exposure when the integration process is started by means of the control signal.
The integration is ended by rotating the sector shutter. Since the side between a light-transmissive and an opaque sector of the shutter requires a finite time to get from the upper edge to the lower edge of the image, exposure at the lower edge of the image will take longer than exposure at the upper edge. This leads to an amplitude error of the video signal, also referred to as shading.

Video camera comprising at least a semiconductor image sensor and a rotating sector shutter


A method and system for providing dynamic sensor positioning in a color image forming device. Movably mounted sensors are provided in color printers and color reproduction devices allowing for a single sensor to be utilized in a plurality of positions corresponding to a plurality of color control patches, resulting in reduced production and operating costs. In particular, a color xerographic device is provided with a movably mounted ESV that can be positioned substantially adjacent to a plurality of color control patches, thereby, allowing for a single ESV in a multi-color image forming device.

This disclosure is directed to systems and methods for defining a dynamic sensor positioner mechanism in an image forming device.
Printers, copiers and other types of image forming devices have become necessary productivity tools for producing and/or reproducing color documents. Such image forming devices include, but are not limited to, printers, desktop copiers, stand-alone copiers, scanners, facsimile machines, photographic copiers and developers, and multi-function devices and other like systems capable of producing and/or reproducing image data from an original document, data file or the like.
As the technology expands with respect to color image forming devices, the need for additional colors is increasing. For example, beyond the standard four colors of cyan, magenta, yellow and black (CMYK), the need for customized colors is increasing so that name brand colors, i.e., those colors associated with a specific sports team, commercial outlet, etc., are required. The need for increasing the ability to supply more colors in an image forming device is desirable to optimize overall cost performance and to minimize operational disruption. Similarly, as users become more dependent on producing and reproducing color documents, the need increases for quality color products that are customized to the particular needs of the customer, while minimizing operational costs and disruptions.
In color image forming devices, capabilities exist for increasing the number of colors an image forming device may contain, however, color printing requires a control color patch, for each individual color, which is laid down at each color station. The control color patches are utilized to ensure that the respective colors are laid down relative to each other to ensure optimal image quality. The patches are laid down in the inner document zone (JDZ), from inboard to outboard to accommodate the various colors. For every patch being laid down, an electrostatic voltage (ESV) sensor is required to be aligned over the patch in a multi-sensor configuration. Therefore, as the number of overall colors increases, so does the requirement for a corresponding number of sensors such as ESV sensors.
The requirement for increased color stations necessitates an ESV for each color station, resulting in complex manufacturing, and increased production and operating costs.

Dynamic ESV (sensor) positioner for multi-color configuration


A technique for measuring and selectively adjusting a clearance between a stationary object and desirably a rotating object includes a non-contact, sensing system having a sensor attachable to the stationary object, a mask having a predetermined sized viewport or aperture that sets or limits the sensing or operation of the sensor, and a controller. The sensor is operable for sensing within a field of view a portion of the rotating object and generating a signal in response thereto. The field of view varies in response to varying the clearance between the sensor and the second object. Desirably, the portion of the second object includes a varying pattern. The controller is operable to determine the clearance between the first object and the second object in response to the signal. In another embodiment, sensing system is operable to adjust the clearance by controller providing an electrical current to a resistive heating element in the thermally expandable portion of a plurality of segmented labyrinth seals. The sensing system is also operable to measure vibration of the rotating object.

This invention relates to measurements of clearances, and more specifically, to an apparatus and method for measuring or selectively adjusting a clearance between two objects such as a stationary object and a rotating object.
Rotating systems typically have clearances or gaps to avoid contact or rubs during operation due to manufacturing tolerances and thermal expansion or mechanical strain effects. Undesirably, clearances generally result in loss of efficiency of the system. For example, in a pressurized system, clearances cause loss in efficiency due to blowby or degradation of pressure ratios. Typically, manufacturing and design costs increase as attempts are made to reduce the size of clearances in a system.
In a jet turbine engine, for example, a clearance exists between the thin-walled casing and the tips of the rotor blades. The thin walled casing is designed so that during operation it can be heated or cooled to vary the size of the clearance between the casing and the tip of the blade particularly during start-up and shutdown. Rotating systems having a thick casing, however, can not be readily resized by heating or cooling the thick casing to adjust the clearance between the casing and a rotor blade tip.
Therefore, there is a need for a low cost, on-line apparatus and method for measuring a clearance between objects and selectively adjusting and optimizing the clearance during operation.
The above-mentioned need is met by the present invention which in one aspect relates to a technique for measuring a clearance between a surface of a first object and a surface of a second object. The system includes a sensor for sensing within a field of view a portion of the second object and generating a signal in response thereto. The field of view varies in response to varying the clearance between the sensor and the second object. A controller determines a clearance between the surface of the first object and the surface of the second object in response to the signal.
The controller is operable to determine the clearance in response to a magnitude of the signal or in response to the signal comprising a plurality of signals. Advantageously, the second object is a rotating object and the portion of the second object has a varying pattern.
In another aspect of the present invention, a system for adjusting the clearance between a first object and a second object includes a movable seal disposed between the first object and the second object. A sensor is attachable to at least one of the first object and the seal for sensing within a field of view a portion of the second object and generating a signal in response thereto. A controller is operable to adjust a position of the seal relative to the second object to selectively adjust the clearance therebetween in response to the signal. Desirably, the seal is a segmented labyrinth seal having a thermally expandable portion. Advantageously, the second object is a rotating object and the portion of the second object has a varying pattern.
In another aspect of the present invention, a system is provided for measuring vibrations of an object. Desirably, a portion of the object includes a two-dimensional pattern of spaced-apart reflective elements.
In still another aspect of the present invention, a method for measuring a clearance between a surface of a first object and a surface of second object comprises the steps of sensing within a field of view a portion of the second object and generating a signal in response thereto, the field of view varying in response to varying the clearance between the first object and the second object, and determining the clearance between the first object and the second object in response to the signal.

Apparatus and method for measuring and selectively adjusting a clearance


A system to store and to transmit electrical power includes at least one storage system, at least one bidirectional converter, and at least one load coupled to a network, wherein the load is adapted to both, receive electrical power from the network and supply electrical power to the network. A first storage system is used to store electrical power of a power source. The first storage system is connected to a first bidirectional converter by a DC power transmission system. The first bidirectional converter is connected to an AC network and the AC network is connected to a first load.

Transportation systems are often expected to overcome long distances and to cross areas where suitable power generation systems are not available. Direct current (DC) transmission is a suitable transmission method for economic power transmission over such long distances.
DC transmission systems are known for energy transfer between two remote systems. Thereby, a first converter station is usually located close to the power generation unit at one end of a DC transmission line and a second converter station is located at the other end of the DC transmission line in the load center.
Some more sophisticated DC transmission systems comprise bidirectional converter stations and allow for controlling the current flow direction through the bidirectional converter stations.
Worldwide transportation produces a huge amount of carbon dioxid emissions and thus has a negative impact on the environment. It is therefore desirable to provide transportation systems, especially railway vehicles, with energy from renewable energy sources.
However, transportation systems have to be highly reliable. Renewable energy sources, on the contrary, are intermittent and their energy output quantity fluctuates.
Besides, the power demand of transportation systems usually fluctuates too because the vehicles start and stop regularly.
It is therefore the object of the present invention to provide an energy storage and transmission system which allows for compensating fluctuations of energy supply and demand.
This object is achieved by means of the independent claim. Advantageous features are defined in the dependent claims. Further objects and advantages are apparent in the following detailed description.

System to store and to transmit electrical power


A driving circuit for driving loads includes a switch circuit, a transformer, a current sensing circuit, and an inverter controller. The switch circuit and the transformer are used for converting a DC electric power to an AC electric power so as to energize the loads. The current sensing circuit coupled to the loads generates a feedback current signal indicative of a current flowing through the loads. The inverter controller includes a switch drive circuit, a current regulation circuit receiving the feedback current signal, and a mode controller circuit. The switch drive circuit controls the switch circuit so as to adjust power delivered to the primary winding of the transformer in accordance with the feedback current signal. The mode controller disables the switch circuit through the switch drive circuit if the external signal is in an absence state for a predetermined period.

Liquid crystal display (LCD) panels are used in various applications including portable electronic devices and fixed location units, such as laptops, video cameras, mobile phones, PDAs, game machines, medical instruments, automobile navigation systems, and industrial machines. In LCD applications, usually backlighting is needed to illuminate the panel. Typically, LCD backlighting can be used to provide higher brightness, longer lifetime and better uniformity features. There are many types of LCD backlighting sources, such as Electroluminescent Lamps (ELs), Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs), Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamps (CCFLs), Flat Fluorescent Lamps (FFLs), External Electrode Fluorescent Lamps (EEFLs), Hot Cathode Fluorescent Lamps (HCFLs), and Carbon Nano Tubes (CNTs).
CCFL backlighting is commonly used in graphics and color displays, and is well suited for use in large and middle scale LCD panels. Moreover, the CCFL can be used as the illumination source for LCD panels, and may be composed of a phosphor coated glass cylinder with cathodes at either end. Further, with the increasing demanding in larger size of LCD panels, e.g., in LCD televisions or large-size LCD monitors, backlighting systems may operate with multiple CCFLs to provide desired illumination.
A high voltage Direct Current/Alternating Current (DC/AC) converter (known as an inverter) is usually required to drive the CCFL. Most CCFL DC/AC converters may be formed as tuned switch circuits designed to produce an output AC power with a specific voltage and frequency. For example, a typical CCFL inverter needs to output about 20˜80 kHz AC, with an operating voltage of about 400˜800V RMS (Root Mean Square). The inverter controller circuits can include voltage and/or current feedbacks, and dimming control. However, the prior art integrated circuit inverter controllers may have relatively high component count.

Driving circuits and controllers for controlling power to a load


An automated system to draw detailed networks for use in various types of engineering analysis and simulations. Nodes can be activated from a set of available node sites. Elements between nodes are automatically drawn by specifying the node start and node end of each element and selecting a draw command and utilizing stored data arrays and graphical software system for input and display of network based computations. A speed draw command can alternatively activate the next node site for the direction command selected and connect the starting and ending nodes with the next available element in a single command. Elements can also contain various attribute types that are displayed and edited on an element toolbar when elements are selected. Values stored in unique data arrays are then available for use in engineering computations.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to the automatic drawing of elements between nodes of a network system and more specifically to the graphic input and display of network systems commonly utilized in engineering computations.
2. Prior Art
Presently, the development of network systems has been done manually or inefficiently with traditional drawing or CAD software. Network system simulation and analysis is used in structural engineering, hydraulic engineering, thermodynamic engineering, etc. to solve a wide variety of engineering problems. Complex networks need to be drawn to provide a clear presentation of the problem that is being solved, and to provide the connection data for network based computations. The network system drawing consists of nodes or junctions and elements or pipelines between the nodes. The nodes and elements are typically numbered to provide reference to the engineering formula utilized in solving network based computations. The primary concerns in drawing a network system are to properly identify all the nodes and elements, their connections, and the specified attributes of nodes and elements.
The traditional CAD approach to drawing network systems requires that each node of the network be physically drawn and located. Since the nodes and elements of a network system drawing do not require any exact placement, there is no requirement of network based computations for a precision drawing environment which is used by traditional CAD or drawing software. This type of approach has required the user to enter into a node entry mode and then place the nodes on the drawing. Then, additional effort may be required to place the nodes so that they are aligned with each other. To connect the nodes with elements, the user then selects an element entry mode. The user must carefully click or select the start node and drag the element until the end node becomes highlighted to insure that the connection between nodes is accomplished. If the user improperly clicks the pointing device before selecting the node, the element could be shown but the connection with the desired node may not have been accomplished without the user realizing this deficiency.
The use of a graphic system for input and display of network based computations as detailed below avoids the problem of insuring connection and alignment between nodes associated with traditional CAD drawing software approaches. This is accomplished by utilizing preset node sites that can be activated as desired. The coordinates of each node are identified through a set of unique data arrays to allow specified elements to be directly connected between nodes which can be repeated with a single speed draw controller command. This approach to network based computations is more direct and efficient while providing a clearer and more compact presentation of a network system.

Graphic input and display of network based computations


In a business system which allocates a request for one business application to one or more of the computer resources executing such business application, the computer resources are accommodated among the plurality of the business systems so that the load covered by each of the business systems is averaged out. The arbitration apparatus for resource allocation 101 calculates a margin rate for each business system by measuring load for respective business systems, and by calculating a ratio of the measured load and the allowable execution amount allowable under current constitution. When a computer resource 1241 which is not allocated to business system is found, this computer resource is allocated to the business system indicating low margin rate while if such computer resource 1241 is not found, the computer resource 1241 is reallocated by being released from the business system having high margin rate.

The present invention relates to a technology for determining a computer to be allocated to a desired business application among plurality of the computers.
In recent years, use of the Internet in processing predetermined application has been widely performed. Specifically, business applications were conventionally used only in a system whose number of operation terminals was fixed. However, in light of the growing number of processes performed using the Internet, estimation of the number of operation terminals and the number of requests is becoming difficult.
For this reason, there is suggested a technology which improves operation stability and enhances responsiveness to requests by increasing, in accordance with the number of requests, amount of resources (i.e., number of computers) for executing business applications, thereby distributing the load. For example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-141605 (US Publication No. 20050102674) (hereinafter, referred to as Patent Document 1), a technology is suggested in which a computer resource executing a certain service (business application) is reallocated to another service. In this technology, standby computer resources are kept in a "dead stand by" state where application is at least not installed and by sharing such dead standby state computer resources among plurality of services or users, an improvement in usage rate of idle computer resources and server integration are to be accomplished, thereby reducing the cost required for maintaining computer resources. Moreover, concerning respective services, load estimation is conducted using operation history of the past while idle computer resources secured and kept by these services are directed to other services according to result of the load estimation.
In large-scale computing centers, there is configured a system which executes each one of a plurality of business applications (for instance, Web service program) by at least one of a plurality of computers while directs request for the business application to the computer executing such business application. In such systems, a computer non-allocated with business application is pooled, the pooled non-allocated computer is then allocated to business applications having large number of processing steps, and hence the resource amount (that is, number of computers) for the business application having large processing steps is increased due to execution of such business application being performed by the allocated computer. According to such procedure, service level for the business application having large processing steps is prevented from degrading. Here, the service level refers to a level of service provided to service users by service providers. For example, the service level can be represented by a time required from transmission of the request in a user terminal of the service user until the result of the request is returned to the same user terminal.
According to technology described in the Patent Document 1 above mentioned, when a free resource is not found in a shared resource pool, surplus computer resources of the low load business application can be reallocated to the high load business application, in the case of above-described system.
However, the technology described in Patent Document 1 does not consider the following points.
(1) The computer resources used in the computing center do not necessarily share the same specification.
(2) The number of requests acceptable (that is, to stably process) for a computer resource having certain specification differs with the business application.
For this reason, when the technology described in above mentioned patent document 1 is applied to allocation of computer resources for each of the business applications in a system which executes each one of a plurality of business applications by at least one of a plurality of computers while directs request for the business application to the computer executing such business application, an effective allocation of computer resources becomes difficult, that is, free from scarce computer resources or occurrence of over-allocation of the computer resources prevented.

Arbitration apparatus for allocating computer resource and arbitration method therefor


An embodiment of the present invention comprises a method of updating firmware of a peripheral device coupled to a computer system. A first boot operation is executed for loading an operating system into the computer system, and an update routine is installed for loading updated firmware into the peripheral device. The operating system is modified so that the update routine is executed early during a second boot operation for loading the operating system into the computer system. The second boot operation is executed, during which the update routine is executed to load the updated firmware into the peripheral device. In one embodiment, the update routine comprises an update driver having a DriverEntry code segment for loading the updated firmware into the peripheral device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to peripheral devices of computer systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to updating firmware of a peripheral device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Peripheral devices coupled to computer systems (e.g., disk drives including magnetic and optical disk drives, printers, network interface cards, graphics cards, routers, etc.) typically comprise firmware executed by a microprocessor in order to implement the various functions of the peripheral device. For a number of reasons, it may be desirable to update the firmware within the peripheral device while in the field, for example, to fix programming bugs or to install new feature sets. An update application is typically executed by the computer system in order to load updated firmware into the peripheral device.
Running an update application may not be practical for certain peripheral devices. For example, certain versions of the Microsoft Windows® operating system periodically access the computer system's disk drive in order to access a system file. If an update application attempted to load updated firmware into the disk drive during operation of such an operating system, it would prevent the disk drive from servicing the periodic access requests by the operating system, and may ultimately "hang" it. Another drawback of an update application is that the operating system may configure the peripheral device into a particular operating mode, which may be "lost" once the peripheral device is reset to execute the updated firmware. Typically the computer system must then be rebooted after installing the updated firmware so that the operating system can reconfigure the peripheral device.
There is, therefore, a need to update the firmware of a peripheral device without hanging the operating system of the computer system. In another embodiment, there is a need to update the firmware of a peripheral device without needing to reboot the computer system after loading the updated firmware into the peripheral device.

Updating firmware of a peripheral device


A battery is provided with a positive electrode, a negative electrode and an electrolyte. In the battery, a first compound that is an unsaturated fluorine compound and a second compound that is a nitrile compound are contained.

The present technology generally relates to an electrolytic solution, a battery, a battery pack, an electronic device, an electric vehicle, an electrical storage device and an electric power system.
A lithium ion secondary battery is light-weight and has a high energy density, and therefore has been widely used as a power supply for a mobile phone, a note-type personal computer, an electric power tool, an electric automobile and the like. The properties of a lithium ion secondary battery greatly vary depending on the type of a non-aqueous electrolytic solution used in the lithium secondary battery. Therefore, various additives that can be added to a non-aqueous electrolytic solution have been proposed.

Electrolytic solution, battery, battery pack, electronic device, electric vehicle, electrical storage device, and electric power system


A non-reciprocal acoustic device that accomplishes non-reciprocity via linear or angular-momentum bias. The non-reciprocal acoustic device includes an azimuthally symmetric or planar acoustical cavity (e.g., ring cavity), where the cavity is biased by imposing a circular or linear motion of a gas, a fluid or a solid medium filling the cavity. Acoustic waveguides are connected to the cavity or the cavity is excited from the surrounding medium. A port of this device is excited with an acoustic wave. When the cavity is biased appropriately, the acoustic wave is transmitted to one of the other acoustic waveguides while no transmission of the acoustic wave occurs at the other acoustic waveguides. As a result, linear non-reciprocity is now realized in acoustics without distorting the input signal or requiring high input power or bulky devices.

Non-reciprocity of wave propagation is a fascinating property of a medium originating from time-reversal symmetry breaking According to the Casimir-Onsager principle, for a device to be non-reciprocal, its scattering matrix must depend on an odd vector upon time-reversal. For instance, in such a non-reciprocal device (e.g., isolator, diode), the waves are totally transmitted in one direction and perfectly reflected in the other. Recently, a few proposals for achieving unidirectional sound propagation in linear devices have been discussed, but most of these concepts use an asymmetric linear structure without any type of odd-vector bias, making the device totally symmetric upon time-reversal, and therefore completely reciprocal. These linear devices behave as asymmetrical mode converters, rather than as isolators. These linear devices cannot be used for sound isolation because if the input and output are reversed, as required in a device having the purpose of a diode between two ports, the propagation is strictly reciprocal.
A viable solution to achieve acoustic non-reciprocity, suitable for isolation, is to use non-linear media. For instance, one can pair a phononic crystal and a non-linear medium capable of converting the frequency of the wave. From one side, the wave is reflected because the crystal is operating in the band gap. From the other side, the wave frequency is converted into a value in the propagation band of the crystal, and therefore transmitted through the structure. However, this solution requires very high input powers and makes it difficult to efficiently operate with the low-intensity signals typically encountered in linear acoustics. As an additional drawback, particularly problematic for sound waves, it drastically modifies the frequency of the signal. In principle though, non-reciprocal propagation in linear systems is allowed by the laws of physics. Magnetic bias can induce non-reciprocity, like in the case of the acoustic Faraday effect, but magneto-acoustic effects are relatively weak and would require large devices considerably bigger than the wavelength. Mechanical motion has been proposed to realize an acoustic gyrator (a non-reciprocal phase shifter), but as in the case of magnetic bias, the obtained device is very bulky and stringently limited to transverse waves on pipes. A solution for a linear, compact acoustic non-reciprocal device for longitudinal waves in a gas (e.g., air) is still missing and highly desirable for audible sound isolation.

Non-reciprocal acoustic devices based on linear or angular momentum biasing

Board of Regents, The University of Texas System


Disclosed is an apparatus and method for data transmission/reception for transmitting/receiving data, which can transmit and receive data by using a transmitter (display device) capable of receiving and displaying digital data, and a receiver capable of receiving digital data by photographing the digital data. The apparatus includes a transmitter for receiving and displaying digital data; and a receiver for photographing and receiving the digital data displayed in the transmitter, and restoring the received digital data, thereby restoring corresponding data information. The method includes receiving and displaying digital data by a transmitter; and photographing and receiving the digital data displayed in the transmitter, and restoring the received digital data and displaying a corresponding data by a receiver.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an apparatus and method for data transmission/reception, and in particular, to an apparatus and method for transmitting and receiving data using a transmitter (display device) capable of receiving and displaying digital data and a receiver capable of receiving digital data by photographing the digital data.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, the portable terminal has been developed to include a high-speed data transmission function as well as a voice communication function. Moreover, most of today's portable terminals also include a camera which is capable of photographing image data. Typically, the cameras added to the portable terminal are digital cameras. However, if, by using the added camera, the portable terminal can receive and process data of a digital signal as well as photographing the image data, it is possible to receive high speed data at a distance within which the camera can take a photograph.

Apparatus and method for data transmission/reception


A pre-formatted optical data storage tape (10) including an elongated linear polymer layer having at least one pattern of optically readable embossments (114) on at least one surface of the polymer layer, and an optical recording layer covering the pattern of optically readable embossments (114) of the elongated linear polymer layer, wherein the optical recording layer is adapted such that recorded marks (120) may be made in the recording layer by directing a focused source of energy into the recording layer.

In the field of optical and magneto-optical computer information storage systems, it has long been recognized that incorporating physical features into the surface of a storage element, such as a disc or card (hereafter referred to as "media" or "medium"), provides a number of advantages for data storage media. Precise position and tracking, error correction, focusing, and other information can be provided or enhanced by these surface features, and this information is used by the hardware and control system with which the storage element is designed to operate (hereafter referred to as "drive" or "transport"). These surface features are "read" by means of an optical pickup device (hereafter referred to as "optical head" or "optical pickup unit") that is a key component of the drive. Media surface features typically include pits, lands, grooves, and the like. For the majority of optical storage media, the surface features are incorporated into the media (e.g., the disc substrate) at the time of manufacture, and this process is generally referred to as physical pre-formatting (herein "pre-formatting").
In the case of recordable and erasable compact discs ("CD"), digital versatile discs ("DVD"), magneto-optical discs ("MO"), and other media, such pre-formatting is accomplished by means of a molding process, whereby a molten polymer (substrate) material is brought into contacted with a patterning surface ("tool") whose surface contains the mirror-image of a surface relief structure that is to be imparted to the disc surface. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,428,069 shows one such method for pre-formatting discs. After sufficient cooling has occurred, the disc is removed from the molding machine, and various layers are applied over this surface relief structure, such as reflective layers, recordable layers, protective layers and the like.
A CD typically has a single spiral track of data, circling from the inside of the disc to the outside of the disc. The spiral track has very fine surface modulations (often in the form of pits, bumps, or grooves) containing features with dimensions in the submicron size range. When a CD is played, a laser beam passes through the CD's polycarbonate substrate layer, reflects off a reflective layer to an optoelectronic device that detects changes in light. The difference in height of the pits, bumps, and grooves relative to the flat parts of the substrate surface results in a change, or modulation, of the reflected light. An optoelectronic sensor in the head detects these changes in reflectivity, and the electronics in the CD-player (drive) interpret the changes as data bits. For pre-recorded information (music, software, etc.), these pits are used to store the data, as well as provide positional information. For recordable or erasable discs, the pre-formatted structures are typically used for positioning, tracking, and writing/erasing user data.
In the present art, a durable tool, often referred to as a "stamper", is used to impart the pattern into the substrate surface and is typically made from a "master" pattern by a metal electroforming or electroless plating process. The master pattern, in turn, is made on a laser beam recorder, a device in which a recording medium, consisting of a photosensitive layer coated on a substrate is rotated on a lathe or spindle and exposed to a modulated laser beam. Chemical development of the exposed pattern results in a surface relief pattern that will ultimately be replicated into the optical disc substrate, as previously described. Although a number of variants exist, such steps as these are typical of the basic manufacturing process of optical discs.
The performance and tolerance requirements of the laser beam recorder systems that create the master patterns are very high and, therefore, the process requires very expensive hardware and optical components, and the laser beam recorder systems must be housed in a clean-room environment. The molding process used to make the polymer substrates mechanically reproduces the master pattern. It should be noted that the relief structures that are molded into the surface of optical storage media are very precise copies of the same features that the laser beam recorder laser inscribes into the master substrate.
The manufacturing process described above dominates the optical disc manufacturing industry and is designed to enable very low-cost media and hardware production. Low-cost production is achieved by placing the requirements for high precision and accuracy in the master pattern step, which is done relatively infrequently. Precision molding is used to make the plastic replicas rapidly and inexpensively and with nearly the same level of precision and accuracy as the original master pattern, as noted above. This approach has enabled the production of low cost discs in high volumes, and for this reason, the process of pre-molding the surface features, for both pre-recorded and recordable/erasable optical discs, has completely replaced early variants in which formatting was incorporated either after the disc was manufactured or "in the field".
The accuracy, precision, and small feature size that can be achieved in a laser beam recorder mastering facility is greater than can be achieved by carrying out this operation in the field, since the relatively inexpensive drives used by industrial an/or consumer optical disc systems do not have the same level of precision as the laser beam recorders used to create the master pattern. The higher information density (i.e., closer and smaller features) achievable by a laser beam recorder, relative to an inexpensive drive, allows more information to be stored on a disc, so thus pre-formatted optical discs have a much higher areal density (measure of the number of bits stored per area) than discs in which such features were written by means of an inexpensive drive with lower resolution capabilities. Accordingly, it is commonly recognized that the low cost and high capacity of today's optical storage discs would not be possible without pre-formatting.
For purposes of the present disclosure, it is also useful to compare the characteristics of the aforementioned optical disc systems to magnetic tape, which is another common form of removable information storage. Magnetic tape recording systems utilize tape media that typically ranges in size from 4 mm to 35 mm in width, and from tens of meters to thousands of meters in length. Magnetic tape is available in a number of physical storage configurations, including open reel, single hub cartridge, and dual spool cassette. Magnetic tape characteristically provides a very large amount of surface area for storing information. By way of comparison, the tape in a typical 120 minute video home system ("VHS") tape cartridge has roughly 250 times more usable surface area than a CD.
In addition to their respective advantages, optical disc and magnetic tape removable information storage systems also suffer from a number of limitations. Disc-based systems, although characteristically having a significantly higher areal density than magnetic tape, are limited by the total available surface area. A number of variations of the basic optical disc exist or have been proposed for overcoming this limitation, including use of multiple layers, multiple sides, gray-scale (multi-level) recording, near-field, fluorescent multi-layers, holographic, to name but a few. These variants of the optical disc, however, only increase the effective surface area by a factor of about 2 to 20 over the basic optical disc design.
Magnetic tape, while having significantly greater surface area than optical discs, suffers from lower areal density. Although very high data density has been achieved with magnetic hard disk systems, the storage density of magnetic tape has lagged behind hard disks by many orders of magnitude. The lower areal density is due to the intrinsic difficulty in controlling the magnetic tape head-media interface as precisely as can be achieved in hard disk systems.
In addition, magnetic tape systems are susceptible to mechanical wear to both magnetic head and media because of the necessary head-media contact and the intrinsic abrasiveness of magnetic media. Some magnetic tape media are also characterized by a limited storage and operational lifetime resulting from degradation of the magnetic media over time.
It would appear useful, therefore, to combine the beneficial aspects of magnetic tape (linear media with a large storage surface area) and optical recording (high areal density and a longer operational lifetime) in an "optical tape". To date, only one such system has been commercialized. This optical tape system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,567,585 and 5,177,724, and was commercially available from CREO Products of Vancouver Canada. The CREO optical tape system, however, was physically large and very expensive (i.e., $250,000). The CREO optical tape system used 12-inch open reel spools of 35 mm optical tape, which hold 1 Terabyte of data (and initially sold for $10,000 per spool). The tape consists of a dye-polymer-based media developed by ICI ImageData, a subsidiary of ICI (Imperial Chemical Industries of Great Britain), and disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,382,463. This system was not a commercial success and only several dozen units were ever sold. Other optical tape systems have been disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,784,168, 5,825,740, 5,802,033, 5,581,534, 5,734,539, 5,120,136, and 6,141,301.
A serious drawback with the previous attempts to carry out optical or magneto-optical recording in a tape format lies in the optical head/media design. Virtually all of the previously-mentioned systems were based on optical head technologies typically built around proprietary single or multi-channel optical read/write head architectures (such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,097,457, 4,661,941, 5,673,245, and 4,884,260), with unformatted tape media (such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,234,803, 5,382,463, 5,358,759, 5,459,019, 4,904,577, 4,960,680, 5,015,548, 5,196,294, 5,465,241, 5,358,759), all of which rely upon complex and custom optical head designs. These optical tape systems use a variety of read/write technologies, including vertical cavity surface-emitting lasers ("VCSEL") based arrays, magnetically levitated spinning polygons, and multiplexed high-power lasers with custom semiconductor channel modulators. These systems are all based on expensive and/or complex optical head architectures, which considerably increase the cost and development time for such systems. Additional drawbacks to these systems include one or more of the following: the inability of fixed position multiple beam heads to deal with large track pitch variations (e.g., resulting from dimensional changes in the tape substrate), the potential cost and difficulty of replacing one or more head elements when it malfunctions or fails, the difficulty and precision required to align individual head elements in a multi-beam system, especially in the field.
There have been various proposals for dealing with some individual aspects of these problems (such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,239,528, 5,120,136, and 4,633,455). For example, an optical tape drive "including redundant optical heads to continue reading and writing data to an optical tape in the event of failure of one or more optical heads" is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,058,092. But no proposed solution or previous art addresses an integrated system, including the media and the head, that solves all of these problems and disadvantages of the prior art.
What is still desired is a new and improved optical tape system that provides the benefits of practical, low-cost pre-formatted optical disc media used with low cost commercially available optical heads, and provides high areal density and a longer operational lifetime. The new and improved optical tape system will also include the beneficial aspects of a linear media with a large storage surface area.

Pre-formatted linear optical data storage medium


In a laser light generating device, the stability against vibration and time-dependent changes will be improved, and influences of temperature changes exerted on the resonator will be reduced. In a laser light generating device (1) which includes an excitation light source (2) for generating a continuous-wave excitation light and a solid-state laser resonator (4) based on using thermal lens effect caused by heat generation at a position of excitation, the solid-state laser resonator further includes a laser medium (4a) a saturable absorber (4b) an intermediate medium (4c) and reflection means (4d) as the constituents. Influence of vibration is reduced by bonding a substrate of the laser medium (4a) and a substrate of the saturable absorber (4b) so as to integrate them. By adopting a configuration which does not need any method of selecting operating point based on temperature changes and is less susceptible to heat, and by relatively moving the excitation optical system and the resonator in the positional relation of the both to thereby adjust the light path length of the resonator, so as to make it possible to select a stable operating point.

Passive Q-switched or mode-locked pulse light source based on continuous-wave excitation has a configuration that includes a laser medium (Nd:YVO4, etc.) and a saturable absorber. In particular for the case where a short pulse is required or a higher recurrence frequency is desired, both are often used in contact with each other in order to shorten the resonator length (see Patent Document 1, for example).
Referring now to a small-sized pulsed laser which is constituted of a laser medium and a saturable absorber, the resonator length can be shortened and stabilized by thinning the device thickness through use of a semiconductor saturable absorber such as SESAM (semiconductor saturable absorber mirror) or SBR (saturable Bragg reflector), and this is preferable for the case where a higher recurrence frequency is desired or a shorter pulse is preferred. This sort of laser resonator is usually configured using a pair of flat mirrors having no curvature, and formed as a stable resonator making use of thermal lens effect within the laser medium.
FIG. 8 is a graph which exemplifies an excitation light power dependence of lens focal length based on the thermal lens effect, where a relation between both is expressed while plotting input power "Pin" (unit: W) on the abscissa, and focal length "f" (unit: mm) on the ordinate.
As illustrated in the figure, decreasing trend of f with increase in Pin can be found.
A resonator using the thermal lens effect based on temperature dependence of the refractive index can be formed by making use of temperature rise at around the excitation center, which is ascribable to conversion of non-oscillating energy to phonon or re-absorption of light as by-products of absorption of the excitation light at an irradiated region of the excitation light.
FIG. 9 is a graph which exemplifies a profile of temperature rise in the radial direction of the laser medium (Nd:YVO4) caused by the excitation light, where a relation between the both is expressed while plotting the radius "r" (unit: mm) assuming the excitation center as a reference position on the abscissa, and plotting relative temperature change "□T" (unit: K) assuming temperature at r=0 as a reference temperature on the ordinate (temperature decreases in the direction from the excitation center portion towards the peripheral portion).
It is found that the excitation light of approximately 1 W condensed in the laser medium results in a temperature rise of approximately 200 K at the excitation center portion (r=0).
Such temperature rise may elevate temperature of the saturable absorber disposed in close contact with the laser medium and may undesirably vary the characteristics thereof, and this consequently makes it difficult to increase the output. In short, influence of heat or a high-temperature region generated in the laser medium to the saturable absorber may become a problem.
To avoid this problem, there is known a configuration in which an air layer or an intermediate layer is disposed between the laser medium and saturable absorber (see Patent Documents 2, 3 and 4, for example), and this makes it possible to reduce thermal influence (degree of heat conduction) of temperature rise of the laser medium exerted on the saturable absorber.
FIG. 10 schematically shows an example of this type of configuration "a", in which the laser medium and saturable absorber are disposed in a separated manner.
An excitation light emitted from an excitation light source "b" advances through an optical system "c" to reach a substrate "d" and irradiate a laser medium "e".
A saturable absorber "f" opposed to the laser medium "e" is formed on a substrate "g", and a gap "h" is formed between the laser medium "e" and saturable absorber "f" so that air can exist therebetween. The opposing planes of the laser medium "e" and saturable absorber "f" are kept in parallel, and this allows variation in the resonator length (light path length) through adjustment of the length of the gap "h".
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2001-185794 (p. 4-7, FIGS. 1 and 7);
Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2000-101175 (p. 7-8, FIG. 4);
Patent Document 3: Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2001-358394 (p. 3-5, FIGS. 1, 3 to 5); and
Patent Document 4: Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 11-261136 (p. 6-8, FIGS. 1 and 2).
The above-described configuration, however, suffers from a problem of degradation of stability due to vibration and time-dependent changes.
In the configuration having the laser medium and saturable absorber individually fixed on the independent substrates, a change in the resonator length of as much as approximately one-fourth of the oscillation wavelength due to vibration or expansion of an adhesive under temperature change can vary the effective gain due to changes in the oscillation wavelength and relative position of gain spectrum, and this considerably varies the characteristics such as output and pulse recurrence frequency. This configuration also tends to be readily affected by mechanical vibration and causes the jitter to increase, and is associated with a problem that only a small change in the resonator length due to time-dependent changes may result in a large variation in the operating point such as output and pulse recurrence frequency (degradation in the stability).
The configuration having an intermediate matter such as a spacer or shim disposed between the laser medium and saturable absorber is successful in avoiding direct heat transfer from the laser medium towards the saturable absorber, but the heat transfer via the intermediate matter towards the saturable absorber raises another problem of temperature rise of the laser medium or saturable absorber which generally have only a small heat transfer coefficient. Necessity of using a thin spacer also raises a problem (infiltration, etc.) caused by surface tension of the adhesive during adhesion, and raises difficulty in the fabrication.
It is therefore a subject of the present invention to improve, with respect to a laser light generating device, the stability against vibration and time dependent changes, and to reduce influences of temperature changes on the resonator.

Laser light generating device and method of fabricating the same


Organic electroluminescent devices having improved light extraction include a light-scattering medium disposed adjacent thereto. The light-scattering medium has a light scattering anisotropy parameter g in the range from greater than zero to about 0.99, and a scatterance parameter S less than about 0.22 or greater than about 3.

The present invention relates generally to light-emitting devices having organic electroluminescent material. In particular, the present invention relates to designs and methods for enhancing light extraction from such devices.
In the present disclosure, the terms "organic electroluminescent device" and "organic light emitting diode" are used interchangeably.
In the last decade, tremendous strides have been made in the science and technology of organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs). Most of this progress has been fueled by interest in developing flat panel displays, however, if the rate of progress can be sustained into the next decade, OLED technology has the potential to impact general lighting applications. In particular, a large area white-light emitting OLED could potentially provide a solid state diffuse light source competitive with conventional lighting technologies in performance and cost. Achieving this will require significant advances in efficiency, life at high brightness, and the illumination quality of OLED-generated light.
One of the limitations on organic light emitting diode (OLED) performance is the optical extraction efficiency, ηex which is the ratio of light generated within the device to light emitted into the ambient. Typical estimates for this efficiency factor in OLEDs range between 0.17-0.5.
Recently, a promising down-conversion method for achieving illumination-quality white light utilizing an underlying blue OLED was demonstrated. It was found that the presence of an inorganic phosphor layer actually enhanced the power efficiency of the underlying blue OLED and this was attributed to the presence of volume light scattering within the phosphor layer. In this paper, we develop an analytical model to understand the influence of volume scattering on OLED light output and use this to develop design guidelines to maximize device efficiency. In particular, we explore how the amount of light extracted from the OLED depends upon such factors as the particle size, loading fraction and optical loss in the system. In a companion paper, we describe detailed experimental measurements that prove the quantitative validity of this model.


A heat exchanger comprising substantially square (rectangle) conduits featuring a screw like turbulator designed for square conduits. The tubes are designed for reclaiming heat from waste fluids. The tubes are substantially parallel to the flow direction of the waste fluid, thus resulting in a simple and cost effective construction.

Water, or other similar fluids, is often used either for cleaning or cooling a machine, object, person, animal, or other entity. In the process of cleaning or cooling, water is often heated. The heated water is then rejected to the environment still warm. The energy contained in the waste water as it enters the environment can be considered heat pollution and so it is desired to remove this heat. Additionally, the heat in the waste water often has economic value, as it can be used to preheat another fluid and save energy on heating costs.
Recovering useful heat from waste water at a cost that is lower than the cost of the energy produced poses several challenges. Since water freezes at 0 C and boils at 100 C, there is a relatively small temperature range at which it exists at ambient pressure. One of the primary drivers of heat transfer is the temperature difference between the hot fluid, and the cold fluid to which the heat is being transferred. When the temperature difference is low, the heat transfer potential is limited. Additionally, the hot waste fluid typically is at ambient pressure and slow moving. Typically slow moving fluids at ambient pressure have low rates of heat transfer and also have increased risk of fouling heat transfer surfaces. These characteristics thus lead to the desire to enhance the heat transfer characteristics of the heat exchanger. However, due to the limited heat exchange potential, there is also limited benefit in adding enhancements to the heat exchanger which can increase the cost.
The prospect of recovering waste and turning it into useful energy has captured the imagination of many inventors. However, due to the challenges described previously, almost none of these technologies has ever been practically implemented. One notable exception is a technology which includes a vertical copper drain pipe, with a copper coil wrapped around the outside. This technology was first patented by Vasile et al and marketed under the name Gravity Film Heat Exchanger GFX. The inventors noted that in a vertical drain line, waste water tends to cling to the walls of a pipe in a falling film. It was additionally noted that water in a falling film has a high heat transfer coefficient, meaning that it gives off its heat relatively well and thus the heat exchanger was relatively efficient. Additionally, since it was made primarily of standard plumbing copper components, it was simple enough to be implemented and sold in the marketplace. Since this original invention, there have been several imitators and several improvements of this core technology. However, the technology did have very important limitations. Due to its reliance on a falling film of waste water, it could only be installed in vertical orientation. Further to this, several parties have raised doubts about the effectiveness of such technology in actual real life installations. There is very little data that exists about the performance of these devices in real life installations. There is doubt that the falling film is an ideal scenario, primarily achieved in laboratory settings. In real-life installations, it may be the case that other factors may impact such a falling film and that some portion of the waste water will drain through the center of vertical pipe, without making contact with the walls, and thus will not transfer any heat.
A need for a heat exchanger that could be mounted horizontally to overcome the limitations of these vertical heat exchangers was disclosed by Crump. Crump observed that drain pipes are typically oversized. Thus in normal operation, when a fluid is passing through a drain pipe, the drain pipe is not full. In the case of a horizontal drain pipe, the fluid tends to fill the bottom ⅓rd of the pipe. Crump thus disclosed several versions of a pipe in pipe heat exchanger designed to extract heat only from the bottom portion of a drain pipe. Specifically, Crump disclosed a double pass, and triple pass, channel beneath the drain pipe. He also disclosed a serpentine channel. Although there is no data provided by Crump on heat transfer efficiency of his heat exchangers, it is not likely that such a design would provide much heat transfer. The reason for this is that the cold water in the channel below the drain pipe is not mixed in any way. The cold water channel will have a large temperature gradient. The water that is at the top of the channel will heat up, but because higher temperature water rises, very limited heat will travel to the water in the lower portion of the channel. There is nothing in the channel to force the cold water at the center and bottom of the channel to reach the top and contact the warm portion of the channel wall which is in contact with the warm drain pipe. Additionally, the choice of a pipe in pipe design makes the heat exchanger prohibitively expensive. Pipes require a given thickness in order to retain their shape against pressure. As the pipe gets larger, thicker walls are required. The wall thickness required to retain pressure for a large tube at the outside of the drain pipe will be significant, and much more than if the second channel had been made from a series of smaller tubes than one large tube. Thus although Crump did make some useful observations, there are many limitations to the heat exchanger that Crump designed, and there is no evidence that it was ever installed in the field.
Cardone discloses a similar concept to Crump, except that instead of a tube in tube design, he discloses a top plate with a structure beneath the top plate that forces water into a similar serpentine pattern as disclosed by Crump. Although heat transfer data is not disclosed in this application either, it suffers from the same limitations as the Crump design. There is nothing in the heat transfer channels beneath the top plate that force water in the center and bottom of the channel to make contact with the warm top plate. Thus each channel of the serpentine heat exchanger will have a large temperature gradient with only a very small portion of the channel actually exposed to the warm top plate. Additionally, as in the Crump design, there also are limitations on the usefulness of the device due to its proposed construction. In one embodiment, Cardone discloses a large top plate that is a pressure containing wall. This requires a very thick and expensive plate as well as risky and difficult joining of the large top plate to the serpentine structure. Another embodiment disclosing tubes is disadvantageous due to the large number of welds required to make a serpentine structure using cut and welded tubes.
Studer additionally discusses a heat exchanger primarily designed to recapture waste heat from a horizontal drain pipe. However, the Studer patent application is concerned with placing a sheet of copper into a sewer pipe. The copper plate kills bacteria. In some regions, copper is not accepted as a sewer material and so the addition of copper sections near the heat transfer surfaces is necessary to kill bacteria that could foul the heat transfer surfaces. The present application is concerned with recapturing waste heat in a similar fashion except before reaching the sewer. In this case, where copper is required for its bacteria killing properties, it is typically accepted.
Disclosed herein is the addition of a turbulator to the cold fluid channels of the heat exchanger. Some of the functions of such a turbulator can be to heat the water at every level throughout the cold channel, not just on the top surface, and also to simplify the overall construction of the heat exchanger in order to reduce its cost.
In so far as a turbulator is a key component of this patent application, it is important to discuss prior art related to this. Maschio discloses a screw type insert into an oil filled electrical cable in order to locally increase the ability of the oil to absorb heat from the cable. The screw like insert into the round channel forces the oil to travel in a helical flow pattern. This increases the local heat transfer characteristics of oil and thus it is able to provide greater local cooling. However, this device disclosed by Machio is a simplistic device that only allows one helical flow path through cable. Although it is not disclosed how such a device is fabricated, it requires the complicated process of converting a strip of material into a helix. An improved turbulator specifically designed for a heat exchanger is thus required.
Based on these limitations in the prior art, we have developed an improved heat exchanger and turbulator combination. This combination results in a highly effective heat transfer performance as well as a cost effective design.


A chemical-free, body cleansing cream formulation is provided comprising organic Aloe vera gel, coconut oil, sunflower oil, shea butter, witch hazel, one or more essential oils such as clary sage or distilled lime, and one or more pH-balancing agents such as apple cider vinegar or citric acid. The formulation is a natural alternative to soap which does not include chemicals such as sodium hydroxide. The cleansing cream has no soapsuds and produces no foam, and yet can still cleanse the most intimate areas of the body with very little to no risk of skin irritation. Alternatively, the cream or formulation can include Tribulus, witch hazel, horny goat weed (Epimedium), shea butter, ginseng, citric acid, coconut oil, almond oil, and flaxseed.

A surfactant is a solid chemical compound that dissolves in a liquid such as water. The resulting solution has a lower surface tension than the liquid alone. Soap is an example of a surfactant that dissolves in water and produces a solution with a lower surface tension than the water alone. In case the solution is brought in contact with oil or dirt, the soap in the solution lowers the surface tension between the water and the oil, or between the water and the dirt. In this way the solution made of water and soap can be used to wash away oil and dirt. In general, a solution of a surfactant in a liquid is referred to as a detergent.
Sodium hydroxide (NaOH) is a solid base which can be used as a surfactant. Sodium hydroxide is soluble in water and therefore, used for producing soaps and detergents. The production of soap with sodium hydroxide is made by saponification, which is the conversion of fat or oil into soap and alcohol by the action of heat in the presence of Sodium hydroxide.
Typically, soap contains a high amount of synthetic ingredients, which do not contribute to the cleansing of the skin and may in fact adversely interact with the skin. Therefore, the cleansing with soap everyday can cause topical skin problems like acne and eczema. For this reason, soap substitutes are often used instead of soap. A soap substitute is a detergent or a cleansing cream, other than soap, which can be used for cleaning the skin and may provide other advantages, effects or benefits compared to soap. A well-known example of a soap substitute is shower gel.
Shower gels are liquids for cleaning the body during showers. A shower gel uses synthetic detergents to clean the skin. However, the surfactants of shower gels do not come from saponification. Instead, shower gels use synthetic detergents for surfactants derived from either plant-based sources or petroleum. Therefore, shower gels have a lower pH value compared to soap.
Different shower gels and soaps are also used to clean the vaginal area. However, current vaginal cleansing gels and soaps are typically not hormonally balanced. Furthermore, surfactants and detergents also facilitate foam, as reducing the surface tension of a liquid also reduces the work needed to create foam on the surface of a liquid.
Accordingly, there remains a need in the art for a solution to at least one of the aforementioned problems or for new, improved variations of human body cleansers, such as for the intimate areas of a male or female body. For example, it would be desirable to obtain a natural and chemical-free cleansing cream to clean the vaginal area, which does not foam and is hormonally balanced.


A semiconductor module includes: a printed wiring board made of an insulator with conductor patterns formed on both sides thereof. An IC chip is mounted on the printed wiring board and sealed with a resin. A metallic sheet or moisture penetration blocking sheet is adhered on the IC chip surface opposite to the side that faces the printed wiring board.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a module having an IC chip provided thereon and a packaging technique for its assembly. Detailedly, the present invention relates to a semiconductor module which can be reduced in thickness and can still provide high reliability of the peripheral parts against environmental conditions, as well as relating to the production method of the same and a module for IC cards and the like.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
Recently, IC cards having a semiconductor integrated circuit device provided thereon have been put into practice as commutation tickets for public transportation such as buses, railroads and the like, financial cards including bank cards or identification cards. Since an IC card by itself has a data processing function and a high security function, which are not provided by magnetic cards, this advantage makes its application wider.
The IC cards are categorized into three types, i.e., contact type, non-contact type and combination type having both the contact type and non-contact type functions. For the first type or the contact type IC card, it has electrodes on the opposite side on which an IC chip is provided and the electrodes come into mechanical contact with a reader/writer device as an external device and functions as a terminal to be electrically connected. In contrast, for the second type or non-contact type IC card, it has an antenna, such as winding type inlet or etching coil type inlet, and is power supplied from, and exchanges data with, a reader/writer device in a non-contact manner by electromagnetic waves received through the antenna.
Since IC cards are inmost cases held in pockets of clothes, wallets, commutation pass cases and others, there is a strong demand for them to be portable. In order to achieve the portability, it is necessary to thin the IC card module since, in general, IC cards are easy to carry if they are 1.0 mm or thinner. In order to meet the request for a thin configuration, it is necessary to make the constituents of the IC card module, specifically, the printed wiring board, IC chip, bonding wires (especially, the height of wire looping) and sealing resin as thin as possible.
However, when an attempt is made to make the print circuit board thinner, the handling performance after provision of the IC chip will deteriorate in the packaging process in module fabrication. Accordingly, about 100 μm is the production limit at present. When an IC chip is used with a typical semiconductor package such as QFP(Quad Flat Package), SOP(Small Outline Package), CSP(Chip Size Package) or the like, the product cannot but become as thick as 200 μm as a minimum. Wire looping is formed at a height of about 150 μm from the top of IC chip, so when the IC chip and wires are sealed with resin, a resin filler of about 200 μm or thicker from the IC chip surface needs to be formed.
If an attempt was made to make there elements thinner, the IC chip would-break due to a bending load and would cause a fatal defect that causes the electric circuit of the IC chip not to work. In reducing the thickness of the sealing resin, if the epoxy resin contains a lower amount of filler, the whole module becomes liable to warp due to stresses in the resin and hence presents poor flatness and smoothness for the electric terminal surface of a contact type IC card, causing contact failure with the electric connection terminal of the reader/writer device. On the other hand, if the epoxy resin contains a large amount of filler, it presents poor fluidity and will produce unfilled portions.
Sealing techniques for producing thin IC modules with the necessary mechanical strength have been disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Hei 11 No.296638 (to be referred to as the first prior art) and Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Hei 11 No.238744 (to be referred to as the second prior art) and the like. Specifically, Patent Application Laid-open Hei 11 No.296638 (the first prior art) discloses a technique for sealing an IC chip and its peripheral parts within a concave housing while leaving a hollow therein.
The sectional structure of a module of this technique is shown in FIG. 1. The module shown in this drawing has an IC chip 4 provided on a printed wiring board 20 while electrodes of IC chip 4 are electrically connected to predetermined terminals of printed wiring board 20 by wires 5, and then covered by a concave housing 17 so as to isolate and protect IC chip 4 and wires 5 from the outside air. In this technique, a material which has a higher modulus of elasticity than that of single crystalline silicon is used for concave housing 17 so as to protect IC chip 4 and reinforce the module.
However, in this prior art, the module is encased by joining only the interface between printed wiring board 20 and concave housing 17 while IC chip 4 and wires 5 remain within the hollow. When the module of this structure is formed into an IC card module card, and subjected to distortion, twist and other mechanical tests, the interface between printed wiring board 20 and concave housing 17 may crack and water can enter through the cracks easily. Further, if an organic substrate such as of glass epoxy, polyimide or the like is employed, repeated cycles of moisture absorption, reduction in ambient temperature and condensation of the interior atmosphere will cause condensation of water around IC chip 4 and its peripheral parts inside the hollowed space since the organic substrate itself easily permits moisture to penetrate therethrough. Thus, to improve the mechanical strength against bending, warping, twisting and the like, it is necessary to provide a structure having a high enough mechanical strength.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Hei 11 No.238744 (the second prior art) discloses a sealing technique in which an IC chip 4 is encapsulated with an uncured sealing resin, covered with a disk, called a topping foil 18, which is cut out from an epoxy or polyimide resin film by a punching tool, and cured. The sectional module structure of this prior art is shown in FIG. 2. The module shown in this drawing is constructed by providing an IC chip 4 on a printed wiring board 20, electrically connecting terminals of printed wiring board 20 with predetermined electrodes of IC chip 4, applying a liquid resin 19 over the chip and placing a sheet, i.e., topping foil 18, so as to secure a smooth surface.
According to this technology, it is possible to improve controllability of the module thickness by placing topping foil 18 over liquid resin 19. Further, topping foil 18 also serves as a reinforcing element and hence improves the resistance against impacts.
In the method disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Hei 11 No.296638 (the first prior art), after provision of IC chip 4 on printed wiring board 20 by the flip chip mounting process or the COB(Chip On board) wire bonding process, the IC chip 4 and its peripheral parts on the printed wiring board are sealed along the rim of concave housing 17.
However, even though the concave housing 17 is formed of a material having an extremely low permeability, if a hollow exists inside concave housing 17, moisture penetration will occur through the surface of adhesion or through printed wiring board 20, which is usually formed of glass epoxy, polyimide or other organic compounds, and the temperature in the hollow will increase. For example, if the module is used under an external environment of 30° C., 70 % RH, the moisture inside concave housing 17 soon becomes equal to that of the external environment. When cooled from this condition, the moisture therein condenses and causes electric leakage in the interconnection circuit on the IC chip 4 surface and in printed wiring board 20, resulting in operation errors.
In Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Hei 11 No.238744 (the second prior art), topping foil 18 is cut out by a punching tool and placed and cured to complete sealing. This topping foil 18 plays the role of regulating the height of the resin seal of the IC card module and provides the reinforcing function, but will not provide any contribution to protection against external environment.

Semiconductor module and production method therefor and module for IC cards and the like


An input signal amplifier includes an inverting amplifier that outputs an input signal, a logic of which is inverted; a first switch. that switches an input, terminal of the inverting amplifier to be grounded or not; and a feedback resistor connected in parallel with the inverting amplifier and including a plurality of resistors with different values of resistance. The feedback resistor includes both a second switch that shorts or opens the feedback resistor via at least one of the resistors and a third switch that shorts or opens the feedback resistor via another of the resistors.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to an input signal amplifier.
2. Description of the Related Art
In. an input amplifier disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 4625732, as illustrated in FIG. 1A, a bias voltage generating circuit for quick start-up and a pre-charge switch SW6 are added to an input IN1 of an inverting amplifier A1 to enable an input voltage of the inverting amplifier A1 to quickly start up. In the input amplifier in FIG. 1A, on/off states of switches SW4 to SW6 are controlled in accordance with the state of the circuit as indicated in an on/off control logic table in FIG. 1B.


Described herein are technologies related to an implementation of a decentralized discovery system that utilizes a plurality of fuse-nodes to facilitate delivery of content specific data to a user. The plurality of fuse-nodes is a proprietary owned database (or modules) that include relationship links to another fuse-node (s), and/or a particular channel, media, and contents, which further include social network-friends and social network activities of the social network-friend, etc.

Conducting an Internet search based on a search term may typically generate results that are often unhelpful and unfocused. Particularly, when a term is submitted for Internet search, a large number of Internet locations is scanned and browsed to match the submitted search term. Similarly, a user may generally find many choices and sub-layers for the many choices.
Google is an example of an Internet search engine or a machine learning algorithm that searches locations or destination sites throughout the Internet that may match the term to be searched. The destination sites may be stored in or hosted by Web servers. Using the Google Internet search engine may yield the destination site results; however, the resulting destination sites may not guarantee that they are relevant, desirable, or helpful to the user.
To further narrow searches, the user may navigate numerous destinations before achieving the sought-after objective of the search. This narrowing of searches, however, may be costly, time consuming, and worse, the searching may lead to endless result-navigation on the part of the user.

Decentralized multi-channel discovery system through a plurality of data structures


A wire assembly is formed by insertion of a wire into a wire guide including a wire guide which is either a receiving groove or pairs of guide projections in or on an insulation substrate. Cramping terminals may be connected to the wire, and the wire may be cut in desired positions to separate it into a plurality of circuits. A retainer is provided which is at an angle to the leading end of the wire guide at a starting position. The wire is inserted into the wire guide after its leading end has been introduced into the wire retainer.

In order to easily respond to design changes in the internal circuits of electrical connection boxes, they have been made from wires and cramping terminals instead of busbars formed from punched conductive metal plate. The cramping terminals connect the wires with each other as well as with external output terminals.
A wire receiving groove or guide, along which the wire is laid, is placed on an assembly board, and the wire is inserted between the wire guides or in the wire receiving groove. In a typical method, a continuous strand of wire is automatically laid by a suitable device from the starting point of the receiving groove to an end point thereof. Cramping terminals are mounted in appropriate positions for connection to the wire, and the continuous strand is cut at predetermined points to form separate circuits.
When the wire is laid, it is necessary to fix the wire to prevent longitudinal movement thereof; this has been done by inserting the leading end of the wire into a chuck disposed on the assembly board. The chuck holds the wire as it is laid on the substrate; however, it is necessary to introduce the leading end of the wire into the chuck and fix it in place and, after the completion of the wire laying, the wire has to be severed to release it from the chuck. Thus, the above prior art method requires (1) fixing the end of the wire to the chuck and (2) cutting and removing the extended portion of the wire after the wire pattern is complete. Moreover, this wastes the extended wire portion which must be cut and removed.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,684,765 discloses a method for laying a wire on a base plate in which the leading end of the wire is bent downwardly, inserted into a through-hole and held therein by a processor head having a cutter blade. However, in order to provide the through-hole, the base plate must have an increased thickness. Another problem resides in the necessity of having a cutter blade for inserting the wire into the through-hole, thus complicating the apparatus.

Wire assembly and method of production thereof


A method for the production of an absorbent resin having a very small residual monomer content either by adding to an absorbent resin powder a substance capable of reacting with the residual monomer in the absorbent resin powder thereby forming an absorbent resin composition having a water content in the range of 10 to 70% by weight and heat-treating the absorbent resin composition at a temperature in the range of 100.degree. to 200 .degree. C. while retaining the water content of the absorbent resin or by adding to an absorbent resin powder a substance capable of reacting with the residual monomer in the absorbent resin powder thereby forming an absorbent resin composition having a water content in the range of 25 to 55% by weight, heat-treating the absorbent resin composition at a temperature in the range of 120.degree. to 200 .degree. C. while retaining the water content of the absorbent resin composition in the range mentioned above, and then drying the absorbent resin composition at a temperature not exceeding 120.degree. C.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an absorbent and a method for the production of an absorbent resin. More particularly, it relates to an absorbent having an extremely low residual monomer content and a method for producing an absorbent resin having a notably low residual monomer content without adversely affecting absorption properties thereto.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In recent years, the use of a various absorbent resins as one component material for sanitary napkin, disposable diaper, and other sanitary products serving to absorb bodily fluids or as an agronomic water-retaining agent has been prevailing.
The absorbent resins of this class heretofore known to the art include partially neutralized cross-linked polyacrylic acid, hydrolyzate of starch-acrylonitrile graft polymer, partially neutralized starch-acrylic acid graft polymer, saponified vinyl acetate-acrylic ester copolymers, and hydrolyzates of acrylonitrile copolymers or acrylamide copolymers or cross-linked materials thereof.
However, these absorbent resins generally suffer persistence of unaltered monomers therein. When these absorbent resins are used in the fields of sanitary products, foodstuffs, etc., it is particularly desirable to lower the residual monomer contents to the fullest possible extent.
Attempts to lower the residual monomers in the polymers have been made for a long time in the field of water-soluble polymers such as, for example, polymeric flocculants. The methods adopted for these attempts are broadly sorted under the following three types as described in JP-A-56-103,207:
(1) A method which relies on increasing the amount of a polymerization initiator or making split addition of the polymerization initiator. PA1 (2) A method which resorts to extraction as with a solvent. PA1 (3) A method which is aimed at changing residual monomers into derivatives other than polymers. These techniques may be applied to the operation of lowering residual monomer contents in the absorbent resins.
Examples of application of the method of (1) to absorbent resins are found in JP-A-56-72,005 AND JP-A-1-24,808. When this method is applied to an absorbent resin, the polymer or absorbent resin shows a decrease in molecular weight of backbone polymer chain, a decrease in absorption capacity due to excessive self-cross-linking reaction, and an increase in a water-soluble content. Thus, the characteristics of the absorbent resin are degraded in spite of a decrease in the residual monomer content.
One example of the method of (2) is found in JP-A-1-292,003. Though this method is indeed effective in lowering the residual monomer content, it can be hardly called a desirable means because it requires use of a large amount of a solvent and entails very costly recovery of the solvent from the polymer.
As typical examples of the method of (3) changing a residual monomer into derivatives other than polymers, a method which resorts to addition of an amine, ammonia, or a similar in the case of a water-soluble polymer (JP-B-33,2,646) and a method which resorts to addition of a salt of a hydrogen sulfite, a sulfite, a pyrosulfite, or a similar (JP-A-56-103,207), for example, are disclosed. Examples of direct application of this method to absorbent resins are also found in JP-A-1-62,317 and US-A-4,929,717.
Our review of these methods reveals that the polymer obtained by the method disclosed in JP-A-1-62,317 still has a high residual monomer content and the same remark holds good for the method of US-A-4,929,717, that this method is characterized by mixing the polymer with a substance capable of reacting with the residual monomer, adjusting the resultant mixture to a water content in the range of 20 to 90%, and then drying the mixture at a heightened temperature, and that the residual monomer content decreased by this method is still on the level of some tens of ppm, evincing inferiority of the effect of this method. It is preferable to lower the residual monomer eontent of the absorbent resin to the fullest possible extent as described above. The absorbent resins produced by the existing methods suffer persistence of some tens to some hundreds of ppm of residual monomer therein. None of the existing absorbents has attained a decrease of the residual monomer content to below 10 ppm, let alone 5 ppm.
It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide a novel absorbent and a method for the production of an absorbent resin.
Another object of this invention is to provide an absorbent having a residual monomer at an extremely low concentration and a method for the production of the absorbent resin.

Absorbent and method for production of absorbent resin