Use of a liquid composition for lubricating conveyor belts is provided, said liquid composition being suitable for producing a “dry” lubricant film on a surface by discontinuous application thereof, wherein the liquid composition can also be used for continuous application to a conveyor belt surface, with or without further dilution with water, to remove incidental spillages of extraneous material from the conveyor belt surface without loss of the required lubricity.

Known conveyor belt lubricants are employed in applications in which good gliding contact between solid surfaces, for instance glass and metal, or plastic and metal must be ensured.
These applications include bottle filling and conveying plants, where the lubricants are applied to the conveyor belts to ensure the trouble-free conveyance of bottles on the belt. In many known systems, a soap such as potash-based soft soap is used as the lubricant.
As a substitute for the soap-based lubricants, a variety of synthetic conveyor belt lubricants including certain amine compounds are being used. These synthetic lubricants have been described in, for example, EP-A-372,628, U.S. Pat. No. 5,073,280 and EP-A-767,825.
These conveyor belt lubricants are generally supplied as concentrates and use concentrations of such concentrates are usually prepared by applying typical dilution rates of 0.2-1.0% by weight concentrate in water depending on the friction requirement and the water type.
Such aqueous belt lubricants having a use concentration of the active lubricating ingredients of significantly less than 1% by weight have been satisfactorily applied for many years.
On the other hand, the application of these aqueous lubricants has also resulted in high water usage rates and relatively high effluent costs for the user.
Furthermore, when used as conventionally intended these aqueous lubricants flow off the conveyor track surface treated therewith, resulting in a waste of chemical and water, and causing a slippery floor surface which may constitute a hazard to operators working in the immediate environment.
Lubrication in a wide range of lubricating applications involving moving metal parts including metal shaping operations, such as drilling, cutting and drawing, by means of the deposition of a lubricant film has been known for many years. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 5,549,836 discloses a mineral oil-free aqueous lubricant composition useful for producing a lubricant film and suitable for use in the above-mentioned types of lubricating applications involving moving metal parts.
We have now surprisingly found that certain specific liquid formulations suitable for producing a "dry" lubricant film, can be advantageously used as a conveyor belt lubricant, whereby the above-described problems observed when using the aqueous conveyor belt lubricants of the prior art are effectively overcome.
In particular, we have found that such liquid formulations have both good lubricating properties and adequate cleaning characteristics.
In this connection, a "dry" lubricant film is defined as a lubricant film which remains on the surface onto which it is applied as a liquid, and which, consequently does not flow off, or is easily removable from, said surface.

Abstract: This liquid composition was found to exhibit remarkably good durability.


This invention relates in part to processes for selectively producing one or more substituted or unsubstituted alkenals. The process hydroformylates at least one substituted or unsubstituted alkadienes, e.g., butadiene, or a mixture of one or more substituted or unsubstituted alkadienes in the presence of a hydroformylation catalyst, e.g., a metal-organophosphorus ligand complex catalyst, and at an alkadiene and/or carbon monoxide partial pressure sufficient to selectively produce at least one substituted or unsubstituted alkenals, e.g., pentenals. The substituted and unsubstituted alkenals produced by the processes of this invention can undergo further reaction(s) to afford desired derivatives thereof, e.g., hydrogenation to alkenols, particularly pentenols. This invention also relates to reaction mixtures containing one or more substituted or unsubstituted alkenals or alkenols as principal product(s) of those reactions.

Alkenals, particularly pentenals, are valuable intermediates which are useful, for example, in the production of pentenols by hydrogenation. Prior art processes for producing alkenals have various disadvantages. For example, the selectivity to pentenals from prior art butadiene hydroformylation processes has been low. Many prior art alkadiene hydroformylation processes produce saturated aldehydes which are of limited use for conversion to other desirable products. Accordingly, it would be desirable to selectively produce alkenals, such as pentenals, from a relatively inexpensive alkadiene starting material (e.g., butadiene) and by a process (e.g., hydroformylation) which does not have the disadvantages of prior art processes.
Alkenols, such as penten-1-ols, are valuable intermediates which are useful, for example, in the production of hydroxyaldehydes, such as 6-hydroxyhexanals. There is a need to produce alkenols, such as penten-1-ols, in high selectivity and in a manner suitable for a commercial process. Accordingly, it would be desirable to selectively produce alkenols, such as penten-1-ols, from a relatively inexpensive starting material (e.g., butadiene) and by a process (e.g., hydroformylation/hydrogenation) which can be employed commercially.

Processes for producing alkenals and alkenols

Union Carbide Chemicals & Plastics Technology Corporation


During the preconditioning of word lines (19) of a memory array (10), Each nondefective word line (19) is fired, one at a time, to raise the turn-on voltage of the word line. After each nondefective word line (19) has been fired, physically adjacent word line groupings (35) are fired simultaneously without regard to the presence of defective word lines (19).

Flash memory devices are comprised of an array of memory cells, each memory cell being intersected by a word line, sometimes referred to as a row line, and a bit line, sometimes referred to as a column line. Each memory cell may be comprised of a MOS transistor with a control gate and a floating gate. Before a memory cell is programmed, no excess charge exists on the gate of the transistor. As a result, the turn-on voltage of the transistor, V.sub.T is low, and the memory cell may be arbitrarily considered a logical 1. Once the memory cell is programmed by the application of a high voltage to the drain and gate of the transistor, a stored charge accumulates on the floating gate of the transistor, raising the turn-on voltage of the transistor. A programmed memory cell may be arbitrarily considered a logical 0. Erasing or deprogramming a programmed cell involves grounding or applying a negative potential to the control gate and applying an operating voltage to the source of the transistor.
As part of an erase step, each word line in the flash memory device must be preconditioned. Preconditioning is necessary to assure that the turn-on voltage of each cell is uniformly high. During the preconditioning step, the turn-on voltage of each cell is raised so that each cell has roughly the same turn-on voltage.
Because of manufacturing defects a number of word lines of the memory array will be defective. The memory cells in defective rows may have turn-on voltages that are at or below zero. These defective rows and columns can be mapped out of the array of memory cells by replacing the defective rows or columns with redundant rows or columns. Even though defective word lines are mapped out of the memory array, the defective word lines will still physically intersect with good (nondefective) bit lines. The intersection of a defective word line and a good bit line may interfere with a READ operation of nondefective memory cells on the bit line. For example, during a READ operation, if the target cell is a logical 0, i.e., having a high turn-on voltage, and if the defective cell on the bit line has a turn-on voltage at or below zero volts, the sense amplifier will sense the sinking of current by the defective cell. The sense amplifier will then output a logical 1 rather than a logical 0.
As part of the preconditioning step, a conventional strategy for avoiding interference by memory cells in defective rows involves setting the turn-on voltage of memory cells on the defective rows to a high level, thereby preventing these cells from being turned on and sinking current during operation of the flash memory device. To accomplish this, a high voltage, typically 12 volts or more, is applied to the word line and a second voltage, typically 6 volts, is applied to the bit line. The array voltage source, which may be connected to the source of each transistor, is grounded. The remaining word lines are shorted to ground. As a result, the memory cells on the defective row are programmed, resulting in a high turn-on voltage for each transistor in the defective row.
One type of defect occurs when adjacent word lines are shorted together. When adjacent word lines are shorted together, the high voltage applied to the defective word line during preconditioning will be pulled to ground by the ground path through the adjacent shorted defective word line.
In some cases, word lines are shorted across a word line boundary, indicating that a word line in a grouping of eight word lines is shorted to an adjacent word line in a grouping of eight word lines. In this scenario, when a high voltage is applied to a defective word line, the applied voltage may find a path to ground through a shorted word line that is across a word line boundary separating groupings of eight word lines.

Circuit and method for preconditioning memory word lines across word line boundaries


The numbering box for typographic numbering in sheet or web fed printing machines, said box numbering with p digits k*n items on said sheets or web for allowing a sequential collecting of said items in the finishing and collating process of layers of q sheets or of web cut into layers of q sheets, wherein said box carries out a purely sequential actuation for digits 1 to s, where 10S is smaller or equal to q, a purely individually settable actuation for digits s+1 to r, where the maximum number printable by digits 1 to s and s+1 to r is smaller or equal to k*n*q, and a sequential actuation for digits r+1 to p.

In the art of printing machines for securities having the form of notes, such as banknotes, checks and other similar objects, an important feature which is printed on said objects is a serial number. For example, each banknote printed on a substrate, such as a sheet of paper, receives a unique combination of numbers and characters building the serial number of said note.
Many numbering processes have been developed in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,677,910, the content of which is incorporated by reference in the present application, discloses a process and an apparatus for processing security paper prints arranged in lines and columns on a carrier in the form of paper webs or sheets. The print carriers pass, in succession, by a reading instrument which detects the positions of the defective notes identified by a mark and feeds the position to a computer for storage, a cancellation printer controlled by the computer which provides the defective notes with a cancellation print, and a numbering machine. The numbering mechanisms of this numbering machine are moved forward by the computer in such a way that always the satisfactory paper prints, placed in succession in any longitudinal row, are serially numbered, the spoilt notes being neglected. Subsequently, the printed carriers, having passed by another reading instrument, are cut into individual security papers or notes, the defective notes are separated out in a separation device and the remaining, serially numbered individual security notes are assembled to form bundles, each having a complete numerical sequence. In this way, a correct and complete numerical sequence of the security notes in the bundles is ensured, in spite of the separation of defective notes.
With securities usually printed in matrix format on a substrate, several problems arise when one wants to build packs of individual securities which are numbered with successive numbers. A first problem is due to the fact that each sheet of substrate has to be cut into individual notes. In order to maintain a proper production speed, it is in principle not possible to cut each note individually of each produced sheet of substrate, but preferably a run of sheets are piled up and cut together by appropriate cutting devices known in the art.
It has also been determined that a good compromise has been attained by working with piles of 100 sheets of substrate since this is an optimum size to be cut in a precise manner when the piled sheets are to be cut into individual notes.
Another problem one is faced with is the individual numbering of each produced object, such as security note. It is of course not possible to number each produced note once it has been cut with consecutive numbers until the completion of a so-called close set of numbers, usually comprising a million numbered notes in a particular series. Actually, the notes are numbered before being cut, i.e. when the sheet of substrate is still complete, the numbering being part of the printing process of the notes, rather than being carried out after the cutting operation. According to this method, another parameter that must be taken into account is the presence of misprints or defective notes on the substrate. Since all notes of the packs of notes are numbered consecutively, it is not reasonable to build packs of notes with defective notes, which have to be replaced later by correct notes with the same serial number. U.S. Pat. No. 4,677,910 discloses a solution to this problem, as indicated here above. In this patent however, the sheets of substrate are cut individually into individual notes: because of the presence of misprints, it is not possible to cut piles of sheets into piles of individual notes and the individual notes must be sorted out before being piled up to form bundles of notes with consecutive numerical sequences.
According to another process, the sheets comprising misprints are removed before the numbering operation and only sheets with no defective notes are numbered.
Another numbering process is disclosed in European patent application EP 0 598 679, the content of which is enclosed by reference in the present application. In this process, for each sheet comprising N impressions of notes arranged in transverse and longitudinal rows which is run through a numbering machine with N numbering units, the numbering comprising a closed set of numbers with W notes of value and the number of sheets amounting to a multiple of 100, the number of note prints N is divisible by 10 and on each sheet every 10 neighbouring note prints form a group of ten, which receive numbers of the same series of a thousand. Further, in each sequence of 100 successive sheets, the note prints lying respectively at the same note position, that is to say in the same transverse row and in the same longitudinal row, are numbered with the 100 successive numbers of a particular series of a hundred, and the ten note prints of a group of ten of each sheet are numbered with numbers of successive series of hundreds with the same ones and tens. Moreover, the note prints on all subsequent sequences of 100 sheets each are numbered with numbers of successive series of thousands with in each case the same ones, tens and hundreds for the note prints lying at the same note positions, so that the note prints of a sequence of 100 sheets belonging to one and the same group of ten receive the complete sequence of number of a particular series of thousand and the note prints of the following sequence of 100 sheets belonging to the same group of ten receive the complete sequence of numbers of the following series of a thousand, the note prints belonging to various groups of ten being numbered in such a way that the numbers of one group of ten differ from the numbers of another group of ten by an amount which is at least equal to W/Z, Z being the number of groups of ten of a sheet.
Another technical field which is involved in the process of numbering prints or objects arranged in lines and columns on a substrate is of course the numbering devices used to print the proper number on each individual note print. Two main categories exist for such devices, which usually comprise several numbering wheels or disks having the successive numbers or characters engraved in raised form on their circumference. The numbering wheels are either sequentially actuated, which means that such a numbering device is only able to print successive numbers, the wheels being displaced by one step in a fixed sequence, or freely actuated numbering wheels which are able to take any position in an independent fashion, thus being able to print any desired sequence of numbers.
The first category of numbering devices uses a simple mechanism which is only able to change numbers in a sequential order. The numbering wheel for the ones is mechanically coupled to the numbering wheel for the tens, so that the tens wheel is moved one step forward only when the ones wheel passes from the number 9 to the number 0. Similarly, the wheel for the hundreds moved one step forward only when the tens wheel and the ones wheel passes from the number 99 to the number 00 and so on. Such a numbering device is therefore unable to either skip a number or print any given number successively and only strict consecutive numbering processes may be carried out with this numbering device. These devices are known in the art, for example from U.S. Pat. No. 4,677,910.
The second category of numbering devices with freely adjustable numbering wheels is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,660,106, the content of which is incorporated by reference in the present application. This patent discloses numbering devices using an electromagnetic system to block the numbering wheels in the desired position for each numbering step of printed matter. Therefore, the disclosed fully automatically settable numbering unit has the advantage that selectively arbitrary, even non-sequential, numbers can be set at any time, allowing a skip of numbers in a sequence. For a detailed explanation of the functioning of these numbering units, reference is made to the entire disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 5,660,106.
Such numbering devices are particularly useful in processes where numbers are skipped between notes numbered by the same numbering device or when the same number has to be printed on two or more successive notes. However, these numbering units also have the disadvantage that they are complicated with respect to sequential numbering devices, which are usually purely mechanical and also in that they become very warm due to their construction, according to which excessive amounts of energy are dissipated by friction.
Another category of hybrid numbering devices is for example disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,677,910, mainly in FIGS. 6 and 6a, the corresponding description of these numbering devices being incorporated by reference in the present application. This numbering device overcomes the limitation of purely sequential numbering devices and allows changes in the sequence of numbers. The numbering device disclosed in this patent comprises six numbering wheels (see for example in FIG. 6a), i.e. from the right to the left, a wheel 21 for the ones digit, a wheel 22 for the tens digit, a wheel 23 for the hundreds digit, a wheel 24 for the thousands digit etc. All the wheels are mechanically coupled together to provide a pure sequential numbering, except for the wheel printing the ones digit which is kinematically independent from the others and moved by an electric motor. Due to the numbering process used in this patent, according to which notes which are printed on a substrate and arranged in a matrix made of lines and columns are numbered with consecutive numbers on the same sheet. Therefore, if a misprint is present on the sheet, two neighbouring notes, the misprinted one and the next note, receive the same serial number, the ones digit does not change. It is therefore necessary to skip one unit in the numbering process, that is to avoid to move the wheel corresponding to the ones digit. For this reason, this wheel is driven in an independent manner by a motor and is not moved when misprints are encountered during the numbering operation of a sheet.
There is therefore a need for simplified numbering processes and devices which are effective with respect to the different problems encountered in the field of numbering objects arranged in lines and columns on a substrate, i.e. the size of the substrate or piled substrate, the numbering process used to optimise the numbering operations and the numbering devices able to carry out the desired numbering process.

Numbering process and numbering box to carry out the process


A percutaneous filter system for providing temporary filtering of emboli from the blood is disclosed, the filter system including a delivery catheter having a first working access lumen and a second filter deployment/retrieval lumen containing a filtering device which is deployable therefrom. The filtering device includes a deployment/retrieval wire section and a filtering element formed at the distal end of said deployment/retrieval wire section. The filtering element is made of shape memory/superelastic material and is formed to have a distally expanding frustoconical pre-disposed shape which, when the filtering element is deployed by being extended distally from the delivery catheter through the filter deployment/retrieval lumen thereof, defines a filtering channel that is offset from said deployment/retrieval axis and extends about the extended axis of the working access lumen of the delivery catheter. When the filtering element is so deployed within a blood vessel, emboli trapped within the filtering element are funneled toward working access lumen of the delivery catheter and can easily be aspirated or otherwise removed therethrough. With the filtering element in place in its deployed position, other instrumentation may also be passed through the working access lumen of the delivery catheter and the filtering channel to gain access into the blood vessel as desired.

Pulmonary embolism, an obstruction of the pulmonary artery or one of its branches by a blood clot or other foreign substance, is a major cause of in-hospital death. To prevent pulmonary embolism from occurring, patients are commonly treated with anticoagulants such as Heparin and with thrombolytic agents such as Streptokinase. In some situations, however, reliance on this approach to treatment may be inappropriate where, for example, the patient is Heparin sensitive or has a high risk of internal bleeding. Also, this approach is sometimes simply ineffective in preventing recurrent pulmonary emboli.
Mechanical interruption of the inferior vena cava presents an effective alternative when chemical treatment is inappropriate or ineffective. Most devices and methods currently available for mechanically interrupting the inferior vena cava, however, carry a number of significant disadvantages. For example, applying clips or sutures to create new, multiple and reduced orifices within the inferior vena cava to trap emboli and prevent them from migrating to the lungs is an operative procedure requiring anesthesia, creates increased post-operative complications, and may ultimately cause complete occlusion of the vena cava.
Improved treatment has been effected through the development of permanently placed filters. When a permanent filter has been implanted, though, the patient must remain on anticoagulant medicine for as long as the filter is left in place. Also, over the period of time that it is left in place, a permanent filter may eventually become dislodged or become clogged, and the filter must consequently be removed or replaced. While some permanent filters are designed to be percutaneously "retrievable", they often become embedded as their anchoring hooks or protrusions become endothelialized by the vessel wall and retrieval must be done surgically.
In many cases, where long term inferior vena cava filtration is not necessary or appropriate, a temporary filter that can be readily retrieved may provide a preferable alternative. One such device, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,549,626, includes inner and outer catheters and a dome-shaped, mesh-like, collapsible filter basket mounted to the distal end of the inner catheter. In use, the inner catheter and collapsed filter basket are telescopically advanced through the lumen of the outer catheter until the basket exits the distal end of the outer catheter where it expands to its domed shape to engage the vessel walls and trap emboli. A syringe may be applied to the inner catheter to aspirate the trapped particles from the filter. Aside from the mechanical complexity of using two coaxial catheters, the mesh-like material may obstruct the flow of blood in the blood vessel more than necessary, or may be tangled or torn during introduction, placement, expansion and retrieval. The smaller inner catheter and mesh-like basket also tend to interfere with and limit the access of other instruments to the blood vessel or the placement of a permanent filter. "A Retrievable Nitinol Vena Cava Filter: Experimental and Initial Clinical Results," by Nakagawa et al. in the Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology, May-June 1994, p. 507 describes a femorally deployed temporary filter made of Nitinol which forms a frustoconical shape that decreases in diameter as the filter extends distally away from its delivery sheath in the direction toward the heart. The distal end of the filter is formed into a larger diameter, stabilizing loop, which acts to center the terminating end of the filter within the blood vessel. Unfortunately, it is difficult to reach the interior of this filter to perform aspiration, and there is a risk that emboli loosened in the attempt to aspirate or in the process of removing the filter will pass back toward the heart. While a permanent filter may be placed above the temporary filter as a precaution against such an occurrence, doing so would appear to defeat much of the purpose of utilizing a temporary filter in the first place. While this filter is in place, it is also difficult to gain access to or through the filter area with other instrumentation when the need to do so arises.
What is needed is an improved filter for trapping emboli in a blood vessel where the filter is easy to deploy and retrieve and facilitates access to the vessel at or around the filtering site, for example, to aspirate or infuse.

Retrievable inferior vena cava filter system and method for use thereof


A safety pin system for a product is provided and includes a safety pin disposable in a receiving element to disable the product, an obstruction disposable in a blocking position of a product disability indicator and a streamer configured to pass through an opening associated with the product and attached at opposite ends thereof to the safety pin and the obstruction. The opening and the obstruction are sized such that, when the obstruction is disposed in the blocking position with the streamer passed through the opening and the safety pin disposed in the receiving element, the obstruction is irremovable from the blocking position until the safety pin is removed from the receiving element.

The subject matter disclosed herein relates to a safety pin system and, more particularly, to a safety pin system for use with a product.
In aerospace and other similar applications, certain products are installed in their appropriate installation locations with safety pins inserted into components of those products. In an exemplary case, a line replaceable unit (LRU) of an aircraft could be installed in an aircraft with safety pins inserted into a torque tube assembly and a gas charged cylinder assembly. In order for the product to be used properly, the safety pins must be removed. But since the safety pins can be difficult to see, the safety pins often include or are attached to streamers that identify when the safety pins are inserted or removed.
It is often the case, however, that the streamers get tucked behind the face of the product or are otherwise hidden from view. In such cases, the user cannot easily determine that the safety pins are or are not inserted into the torque tube assembly or the gas charged cylinder. As a result, the LRU could be placed in use or operated improperly.


The proposed method comprises passing the hydrodynamic flow of liquid hydrocarbons through a flow-through passage accomodating a baffle body providing for a local constriction of the flow; establishing the local flow constriction on at least one portion of the flow-through passage whose cross-sectional profile area is so selected as to maintain such a velocity of the flow on the portion of the passage that promotes the development of a hydrodynamic cavitation field past the baffle body having the degree of cavitation of at least one; processing the flow of a mixture of liquid hydrocarbons in the hydrodynamic cavitation field to initiate chemical transformations of liquid hydrocarbons resulting in a change in the qualitative and quantitative composition of the mixture of liquid hydrocarbons.

The present invention relates to a method that makes use of the effects of cavitation for changing the qualitative and quantitative composition of a mixture of liquid hydrocarbons. The method can find application in oil processing, petroleum chemistry, and organic synthesis chemistry for producing a variety of fuels, man-made fibers, synthetic alcohols, detergents, rubber-like materials, and plastics.
At present, there are a number of methods in widespread use for changing the qualitative and quantitative composition of a mixture of liquid hydrocarbons used in oil refining.
Oil is essentially a complex composition of closely boiling hydrocarbons and high-molecular hydrocarbon compounds. Oil is the main source for producing all kinds of liquid fuels, such as, gasoline, kerosene, diesel and boiler fuel oil, as well as liquified gases and raw stock for chemical production processes.
Oil processing is carried out with the use of diverse production techniques initiating the chemical transformation of hydrocarbons, which results in changing the qualitative and quantitative composition of a mixture of liquid hydrocarbons.
To this end, there is the extensive use of the cracking process of splitting long-chain hydrocarbons into shorter molecules occurring in the presence of catalysts (catalytic cracking), or by heating hydrocarbons to a temperature range of 500-700.degree. C. under pressure (thermal cracking). Numerous reactions proceed during the cracking process, such as breaking of the carbon bond, redistribution of hydrogen, aromatization, isomerization, breaking and rearrangement of hydrocarbon rings, condensation, and polymerization. Cracking of oil derivatives allows to obtain mixtures of low-boiling hydrocarbons (i.e., gasoline) from high-boiling point hydrocarbons. Unsaturated hydrocarbons resulting from the cracking process find widespread application in the organic synthesis industry.
The catalytic cracking process makes use of alumosilicate catalysts based on zeolites and occurs at a temperature range of 450-550.degree. C. and at a pressure range of 0.1-0.3 MPa.
The catalytic cracking process is used for producing motorfuels and raw stock for petrochemistry. Catalytic reforming is used extensively for increasing the anti-knock properties of gasoline and producing aromatic hydrocarbons (benzene, toluene, xylene). The process is carried out at a temperature range of 480-520.degree. C. and at a pressure range of 1.2-4.0 MPa in the presence of hydrogen and a catalyst.
One of the methods for changing the qualitative and quantitative composition of hydrocarbons is hydrocracking aimed at producing light oils (gasoline, kerosene, diesel fuel). Hydrocracking is conducted at a temperature range of 370-450.degree. C. and at a pressure range of 15-20 MPa in the presence of bifunctional catalysts.
The aforementioned methods for changing the qualitative and quantitative composition of a mixture of hydrocarbons are performed at rather high temperature and high pressure levels in the presence of hydrogen and catalysts which need continuous regeneration during operation. These methods discussed above are highly expensive and energy consuming.

Method for changing the qualitative and quantitative composition of a mixture of liquid hydrocarbons based on the effects of cavitation


Disclosed herein are techniques for sensing multiple reference levels in non-volatile storage elements without changing the voltage on the selected word line. One aspect includes determining a first condition of a selected non-volatile storage element with respect to a first reference level based on whether a sensing transistor conducts in response to a sense voltage on a sense node. Then, a voltage on the source terminal of the sensing transistor is modified after determining the first condition with respect to the first reference level. A second condition of the selected non-volatile storage element is then determined with respect to a second reference level based on whether the sensing transistor conducts in response to the sense voltage on the sense node. This allows two different reference levels to be efficiently sensed. Dynamic power is saved due low capacitance of the sensing transistor relative to the sense node.

The present disclosure relates to technology for non-volatile storage.
Semiconductor memory has become more popular for use in various electronic devices. For example, non-volatile semiconductor memory is used in personal navigation devices, cellular telephones, digital cameras, personal digital assistants, mobile computing devices, non-mobile computing devices and other devices. Electrical Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM) and flash memory are among the most popular non-volatile semiconductor memories.
Some EEPROMs or flash memory devices have a configuration referred to as a NAND configuration in which memory cells are grouped as NAND strings with each NAND string associated with a bit line. One type of NAND memory array is a two-dimensional array. Another type of NAND memory array is a three-dimensional array. One 3D NAND stacked memory device is sometimes referred to as a Bit Cost Scalable (BiCS) architecture.
In a 3D NAND BiCS architecture, a 3D NAND stacked memory device can be formed from an array of alternating conductor and insulator layers. A memory hole is drilled in the layers to define many memory layers simultaneously. A NAND string is then formed by filling the memory hole with appropriate materials. A straight NAND string extends in one memory hole, while a pipe- or U-shaped NAND string (P-BiCS) includes a pair of vertical columns of memory cells which extend in two memory holes and which are joined by a pipe connection. The pipe connection may be made of undoped polysilicon. A dielectric and back gate may surround the pipe connection forming a back gate transistor to control conduction of the pipe connection. Control gates of the memory cells are provided by the conductor layers.
When programming an EEPROM or flash memory device, such as a NAND flash memory device, typically a program voltage is applied to the control gate (or selected word line) and the bit line is grounded. Electrons from the channel are injected into the charge storage region. When electrons accumulate in the charge storage region, the charge storage region becomes negatively charged and the threshold voltage of the memory cell is raised so that the memory cell is in a programmed state.
Typically, the program voltage (Vpgm) is applied to the control gates of the memory cells as a series of pulses. The magnitude of the pulses is increased with each successive pulse by a predetermined step size (e.g. 0.2v, 0.3v, 0.4v, or others). In the periods between the pulses, verify operations are carried out. That is, the programming level of each memory cell of a group of memory cells being programmed in parallel is sensed between each programming pulse to determine whether it is equal to or greater than a verify level to which it is being programmed. One means of verifying the programming is to test conduction at a specific compare point. The memory cells that are verified to be sufficiently programmed are locked out, for example, by raising their respective bit line voltage to stop the programming process for those memory cells.

Sensing multiple reference levels in non-volatile storage elements


An alignment system of a lithography apparatus which is capable of obtaining an alignment mark without being influenced the height of the alignment mark and the thickness of the photoresist, includes a plurality of light sources emitting a light having each different wavelength, a plurality of beam splitters which reflects some portion of light emitted from the light source and transmits other portion of light and combines the reflected light to emit, a spacial filter for transmitting a light incident through the beam splitter, a first lens for condensing the light transmitted through the spacial filter, a wafer stage on an upper surface of which the wafer having a plurality of alignment marks to diffract a beam incident from the first lens is mounted, a second lens for condensing the light diffracted from the alignment mark on the wafer, a diffraction grating for diffracting the direction of the beam condensed in the second lens, a light collecting device for collecting the light reflected in the diffraction grating and converting the light into an electrical signal, and a control unit from controlling the wafer stage in accordance with the signal applied from the light collecting device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an alignment system of a lithography apparatus, and more particularly, to an improved alignment system of a lithography apparatus in which an alignment position corresponds to a light exposing position.
2. Description of the Background Art
Generally, a wafer aligning method includes two methods. One is a method where an alignment light is incident from an alignment system of a lithography apparatus, the incident is light is diffracted, and the diffracted light is collected from an alignment mark on a wafer. The other is an image processing method where the light diffracted from the alignment mark is formed as an image on a charge coupled device (CCD) and the converted electrical signal is processed.
FIG. 1 is a view showing a construction of an alignment system of a lithography apparatus with the method using a diffraction light and the image processing method according to the conventional art. An alignment system for adopting the method using a diffraction light includes a wafer stage (not illustrated) having a wafer 3 mounted thereon, a helium-neon laser 7 for emitting a laser beam which is a coherent beam serving as a light source, a plurality of beam splitters 4 for reflecting a portion of the laser beam and transmitting another portion thereof, an alignment mark 10 mounted on the wafer 3 for reflecting the beam incident on the wafer 3 from the beam splitter 4 and an objective lens, a light collecting device 9 for collecting the beam when the reflected beam is splitted in the beam splitter 4 and passes through a spacial filter 11, and a signal processor (not illustrated) electrically connected to the light collecting device 9. The signal processor is electrically connected to the wafer stage.
The image processing method includes a halogen lamp used as a light source for emitting a coherent beam, a CCD camera 6 for converting a light signal into an electrical signal after detecting an incident diffraction light and outputting the electrical signal to a digital image processing system 8. The digital image processing system 8 is electrically connected to the wafer stage.
After the wafer alignment is performed as described above, a predetermined amount of light (for example, Ultra Violet:UV) is projected to a light exposure region 12 on the wafer 3 through a reduction projection lens 1 disposed on an upper portion of the wafer 3 to form a desired layer (for example, a conductive layer or an oxide film).
The operation of the alignment system of a conventional lithography apparatus will now be described in detail.
In the method using a diffraction light, a laser beam is emitted from the helium-neon laser which serves as a light source 7. A predetermined portion of the emitted beam is reflected, and the other portion thereof is transmitted through a plurality of beam splitters 4. The beams reflected from the beam splitters 4 are incident on the alignment mark 10 on the wafer 3 through the objective lens 2 to be diffracted. Among the diffracted lights, a zeroth order diffraction light is cut off by the spacial filter 11 during its incidence to the light collecting device 9 through the beam splitter 4, and a first order diffraction light reaches the light collecting device 9 after passing through a slit of the spacial filter 11. Accordingly, a light signal incident on the light collecting device 9 is converted into an electrical signal, and a data based on the converted signal is processed in the signal processor (not illustrated), and fed back to the wafer stage to serve as a position information signal of the wafer 3. Then the alignment of the wafer 3 is carried out.
In the digital image processing method, a coherent beam is emitted by using a halogen lamp (not illustrated) which serves as a light source. Among the emitted beam, a portion thereof is reflected through the plurality of beam splitters 4 and the other portion thereof is transmitted. The reflected beampasses through the objective lens 2 to be reflected on the alignment mark 10 on the wafer 3, and the reflected beam is formed as an enlarged image on the CCD camera 6 after passing through the beam splitter 4 to be converted into the electrical signal and applied to the digital image processing system. The digital image processing system uses a pattern matching method to process an inputted signal, and the processed signal is fed back to the wafer stage (not illustrated) to be used as a position information signal of the wafer 3, which is the completion of the alignment of the wafer 3.
However, according to the conventional alignment system of a lithography apparatus and the conventional method, since the positions of the alignment mark 10 and the light exposed region 12 for the alignment of the wafer 3 are different from each other, a base-line error occurs due to a mechanical and thermal drift of the light exposing apparatus, resulting in the lowering of a precision of the wafer alignment.

Apparatus for aligning semiconductor wafer using mixed light with different wavelengths


A reduced pressure or pressurizing pump is provided which can be used in a wide variety of fields of foods, pharmaceuticals, medical treatment, agriculture, healthcare equipment, room air conditioning, combustion, biotechnology, and so on. By the application of the pump of the present invention, there can be materialized, for example, an oxygen enriching apparatus or a nitrogen enriching apparatus, which have the features of an oil-free structure, a small size, compactness, low vibration, low noise, long operating life, and so on. A transport groove of a viscosity pump, which exerts a force feed action on the fluid, is formed at a relative displacement interface between a rotor and a housing, and the rotor supported by a bearing capable of coping with a high-speed rotation is rotated at a high speed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fluid transport system that has a built-in pump for use in a wide variety of fields of air conditioning machines, refrigerators, air conditioners, oxygen water purifiers, combustors and so on, and a method therefor.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, there have been increasing needs for oil-free dry pumps in various fields. The dry pump is defined as a vacuum pump that can perform exhaustion with its outlet port being kept connected to the atmosphere using neither oil nor liquid at the gas passage of the pump. The dry pump is a mechanical vacuum pump of a new type, which has been developed first in Japan in the late 1980's and which has become rapidly widespread mainly in the semiconductor industry.
There have recently been growing demands for improving the vacuum pumps for semiconductor manufacturing processes in order to cope with higher integration density and finer structures. The demands mainly include the contents of 1) obtaining a high ultimate vacuum pressure, 2) cleanness, 3) easy maintenance and 4) small size and compactness. In order to respond to the demands, dry vacuum pumps for roughing have been widely used for the purpose of obtaining a cleaner vacuum in place of oil-sealed rotary vacuum pumps, which have been conventionally used. A number of types of pumps have been developed and put to practical use, where such pumps include positive displacement types of a screw type, a claw type, a scroll type, a multistage root type and so on as well as a kinetic type of a turbo type.
FIG. 16 shows a dry vacuum pump of a thread groove type (a kind of screw type), which is a kind of a conventional positive displacement vacuum pump (roughing vacuum pump).
FIG. 16 illustrates a housing 101, a first rotary shaft 102, a second rotary shaft 103, and cylindrical rotors 104 and 105 which are connected to the first and second rotary shafts 102 and 103, respectively. Thread grooves 106 and 107 are formed on the outer peripheral portions of the rotors 104 and 105, respectively, and by meshing the recess portion of one thread groove with the protruding portion of the other thread groove, a hermetic space is produced between them. If the rotors 104 and 105 rotate, the hermetic space then shifts from the suction side to the discharge side in accordance with the rotation, exerting a sucking action and a discharge action.
In the vacuum pump of the thread groove type of FIG. 16, synchronous rotation of the two rotors 104 and 105 is achieved by timing gears 110a and 110b. That is, the rotation of the motor 108 is transmitted from a driving gear 109a to an intermediate gear 109b and is transmitted to one gear 110b of the timing gears that are provided on the shafts of both rotors 104 and 105 and meshed with each other. The rotation angle phases of both the rotors 104 and 105 are adjusted by the meshing engagement of these two timing gears 110a and 110b. FIG. 16 also illustrates rolling bearings 113a, 113b and 114a, 114b, which support the first rotary shaft 102 and the second rotary shaft 103, respectively.
FIG. 16 also illustrates a built-in oil pump 115 at the end portion of the driving gear 109b, an oil pan 116 in a lowermost portion of the pump, oil 117, a suction chamber 118, a mechanical seal 119, and a fluid transfer chamber 120.
FIG. 17 shows a turbo type dry vacuum pump, which is a kind of a conventional kinetic vacuum pump.
FIG. 17 illustrates a rotor 200 located on the rotary side, a stator 201 located on the stationary side, a downstream side pump 202 that is called the vortex flow component and formed between the rotor 200 and the stator 201, an upstream side pump 203 called the centrifugal component, and an upper casing 204 that houses the rotor 200 and the stator 201. FIG. 17 also illustrates a rotary shaft 205 connected to the rotor 200, ball bearings 206a and 206b, a high-frequency motor rotor 207, a stator 208 of the motor rotor 207, an inlet port 209, an outlet port 210, an oil cooler 211, a lower casing 212, an intermediate casing 213, and a seal portion 214 provided between the intermediate casing 213 and the rotary shaft 205.
In the above-mentioned dry pump, a turbine wheel of the vortex flow component pump that is capable of obtaining a high compression ratio in a viscous flow is arranged on the outlet port side connected to the atmosphere, while a centrifugal component pump that operates as a molecular drag pump in a molecular flow is arranged on the inlet port side. A diaphragm type dry vacuum pump, which is a kind a of positive displacement type vacuum pump, is widely used as a means for performing suction and transport of fluid in a clean state. The diaphragm type pump is used as a comparatively small displacement means for transporting fluid since the pump is able to perform suction, compression, and discharge of fluid in a hermetic space completely isolated from the drive sections of the motor, bearings and so on.
Recently, there have been increasing needs for clean vacuum transport in the fields of, for example, foods, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, and healthcare equipment besides the aforementioned semiconductor processes. For example, a technology for enriching oxygen in the air by using a polymer gas separation membrane (oxygen enriching membrane) has become widespread and utilized for medical treatment, air conditioning in a room, or industrial uses related to combustion and biotechnology besides the aforementioned foods, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, and healthcare equipment.
A known oxygen enriching apparatus, as shown by example in FIG. 18, is provided with an oxygen enriching module 301 for selectively separating oxygen from the atmosphere, a vacuum pump 302 for obtaining oxygen-enriched air by reducing the internal pressure of the module 301, an air blower fan (means) 303 for supplying air into the module 301, and a dehumidifying unit 304 for removing steam and moisture from the oxygen-enriched air.
The oxygen enriching module 301 is provided with, for example, an oxygen enriching membrane of a composite material constructed mainly of polydimethylsiloxane and has a permeability rate of oxygen that is faster than that of nitrogen and a much faster permeability rate of steam. The vacuum pump (reduced pressure pump) 302 is used for reducing the internal pressure of the oxygen enriching module 301, providing a pressure difference between the inside and the outside of the membrane and obtaining oxygen-enriched air. The air blower fan 303 operates to form airflow, supply air to the oxygen enriching module 301 and remove steam from the periphery of the dehumidifying unit 304. Moreover, the dehumidifying unit 304 is provided on the discharge side of the vacuum pump 302 and is constructed so that it internally has a passage of oxygen-enriched air and is arranged in an airflow produced by the air blower means 303.
The oxygen enriching module is a well-known material which is capable of obtaining the oxygen-enriched air by utilizing the principle that oxygen, which is located on the atmospheric side and dissolved in the surface of the membrane, is diffused and moved inside the membrane and separated from the membrane surface on the reduced pressure side by providing a pressure difference between both surfaces of the separation membrane. For example, under the condition of a reduced pressure level of −560 mmHg (−74.5 KPa), the normal air of N2: 79% and O2: 21% becomes the oxygen-enriched air of N2: 68% and O2: 32% by permeating through the oxygen enriching module. The module has the characteristics of an easily obtainable large flow rate, a stabilized oxygen concentration, a light weight, a low consumption of power and so on.
As the uses of the oxygen enriching apparatus, there is, for example, an oxygen inhaler for medical use, healthcare use and first aid use. As a method for obtaining oxygen gas, it is a general practice to fill a portable container with oxygen gas separated by low-temperature separation, and there is demanded a low-cost portable oxygen inhaler which makes best use of the features of the oxygen enriching module and is able to be filled with oxygen handily and easily without frequency limitation.
Moreover, it is possible to conversely make the aforementioned hermetic space nitrogen rich by extracting oxygen O2 from the atmosphere in the hermetic space by utilizing the principle of this oxygen enriching membrane.
This nitrogen enriching apparatus has a use for food preservation to prevent the oxidation of foods. For example, there is an earnest demand for forming a nitrogen-enriched space in a refrigerator to maintain the freshness of foods of, for example, vegetable, fish, and meat for a long time.
As to other uses, uses have been developed for countermeasures against dioxin in processing industrial waste by oxygen-enriched high-temperature combustion, CO2 reduction combustion for combustion with a reduced amount of fuel, an air purifier and an air conditioner intended for the creation of an oxygen-enriched room, and so on.
In the case where the aforementioned system has been constructed for the purpose of creating an oxygen-enriched or nitrogen-enriched air, the common subjects required for the vacuum pump (or pressurizing pump), which has been the important key unit of the system, has been, for example, as follows.
(1) A displacement Q is required to be about 0.5 to 6 l/min, and a vacuum pressure P at the operating point is required to be, for example, −600 mmHg to −400 mmHg (−80 KPa to −53 KPa).
(2) The structure is required to be as simple and compact as possible.
(3) Low vibration and silence are required.
(4) A long operating life is required.
Furthermore, in addition to the above-mentioned requirements (1) through (4), in the case of an oxygen enriching apparatus for medical treatment and healthcare or a nitrogen enriching apparatus for food preservation, the vacuum pump is required to be:
(5) completely oil free.
That is, the use of machine oil is kept at a distance from any portion that communicates with the exhaustion space of the pump. When a vacuum pump is applied to an air conditioning machine, air conditioner, or the like, the level of cleanness required for the vacuum pump is considered to roughly correspond to the above although the level is less significant than in the case of medical treatment, healthcare, and foods.
A vacuum pump, which concurrently satisfies the aforementioned requirements (1) through (4) or (1) through (5), cannot be found conventionally. If such a vacuum pump is materialized, it is expected that the pump will be an initiator for rapidly popularizing the oxygen enriching apparatus.
Assuming the dry vacuum pump that is widespread mainly in the semiconductor industry is replaced with a vacuum pump of the aforementioned oxygen enriching apparatus following the driving principle and the fundamental structure of the dry vacuum pump, there have been the following issues that have not been able to be easily solved. One of the issues is the relation between displacement and an ultimate vacuum pressure.
In the case of the positive displacement pump, the relation between displacement and efficiency or between displacement and the ultimate vacuum pressure is not linear. The smaller the displacement, the further the efficiency and the ultimate vacuum pressure becomes extremely reduced. The reason for the above is that the processing and assembling accuracies of the members that constitute the pump cannot be proportionally improved even if the pump body and the components are reduced in size. Taking the case of the thread groove type dry vacuum pump, which is the aforementioned positive displacement type vacuum pump, as an example, a ratio of occupation of the total amount of internal leak of gas that passes through a gap between the two rotors 104 and 105 or a gap between the rotor and the housing 101 with respect to the closed transport space increases extremely as the displacement reduces. When the speed of the rotor rotation is increased in order to reduce the influence of the internal leak as far as possible, there emerges new issues of an increase in the amount of generated heat and a reduction in the operating life of a seal in a mechanical seal portion 119 that accompanies a mechanical sliding friction, an increase in torque, vibrations of the timing gear portions 110a and 110b, and so on.
In other words, it is not easy to replace the vacuum pump for a semiconductor, which normally has a displacement of not smaller than 500 l/min, with a clean pump that can obtain a pressure P of −600 mmHg to −400 mmHg (−80 KPa to −53 KPa) with a displacement of about 1/100 while scaling down the dimensions and weight in correspondence with the displacement and maintaining a low consumption of power, following the fundamental structure of the vacuum pump.
Another issue is to make the pump free of oil. The thread groove type dry vacuum pump, which is the aforementioned positive displacement type vacuum pump, has a construction in which a gap of normally tens of micrometers can be kept at the portion where the two thread groove rotors 104 and 105 mesh with each other or between the rotor and the casing 101 in FIG. 16. Since a relative phase relation between the two rotors is kept by the timing gears 110a and 110b, there is no mechanical slide portion in the fluid transport space, and clean exhaustion can be achieved. However, oil lubrication is required for the one pair of timing gears and bearings. Oil 117 for this lubrication is sucked from an oil pan 116 located in a lowermost portion of the pump by the oil pump and is supplied to the bearings and the gears via an oil filter. A mechanical seal 119 is provided so as to prevent the oil from flowing into the fluid transfer chamber 120 that houses the thread groove rotor and to prevent the reactive gas transported inside the fluid transfer chamber 120 from intruding into the oil storage space. Other 2-rotor pump types of, for example, the root type, the Wankel type, and the claw type have roughly similar fundamental structures in the portions that need lubrication.
The turbo type dry vacuum pump (FIG. 17), which is the aforementioned kinetic vacuum pump, is driven to rotate normally at a velocity of several tens of thousands of revolutions per minute. In the case of the pump of this type, the timing gear employed in the positive displacement type is not necessary, but oil lubrication to the ball bearing portions is still indispensable. Moreover, a seal means for isolation between the portions that need lubrication with oil and the clean fluid transport space is also necessary.
That is, in the dry pump for semiconductor processes, regarded as oil free, the fluid transport space is merely isolated from the oil-rich space by the mechanical seal means, and there is no change from the conventional pump with regard to the fact that oil for lubrication is the indispensable condition of the pump drive section.
Here, the propriety of reducing the size of the pump constructed as described above by scaling down and the application thereof to clean pumps for healthcare, medical equipment and foods or, for example, an oxygen inhaler for supplying oxygen to a person, an oxygen water purifier for producing oxygen water by bubbling oxygen in a water tank, food preservation for preventing the oxidation of foods by making a refrigerator room internally nitrogen rich, and so on are considered. Even if the fluid transport space can be kept physically completely clean, the fact that the oil-rich space filled with machine oil exists in the neighborhood via a mechanical seal cannot be sensuously unacceptable in an aspect.
In other words, it is extremely difficult to replace the vacuum pump for a semiconductor, which normally has a displacement of not smaller than 500 l/min, with a clean pump for foods, pharmaceuticals, medical treatment, healthcare equipment, and so on to keep a displacement of about 1/100 following the fundamental structure of the vacuum pump.
The diaphragm type dry vacuum pump that is the positive displacement type vacuum pump, which can suck and discharge fluid in a clean hermetic space completely isolated from the drive sections of motors, bearings, and so on, has therefore been the only pump which can be capable of resolving the aforementioned issues. Moreover, the pump is good at exhaustion at a comparatively small flow rate. However, the pump has had the following drawbacks.
(1) Vibration and noise are large.
(2) The pump body is increased in size due to poor pump efficiency.
(3) Operating life is short because of fatigue due to repetitive stress application to the diaphragm membrane.
(4) A low ultimate vacuum pressure cannot be obtained.
The noise of the item (1) is dominated by a pulsation sound of air discharged by intermittent driving. The poor efficiency of the item (2) is attributed to the positive displacement vacuum pump driving principle that the power of the piston in either the suction or discharge stroke does not work as a regenerating action. The item (3) becomes a fatal drawback in supposed application to, for example, a consumer use refrigerator, which must continuously operate for many years regardless of day and night.
In short, a pump, which is able to perform clean exhaustion completely free of oil similar to the diaphragm type pump and to remove the aforementioned drawbacks of the diaphragm type, does not exist conventionally. Accordingly, the appearance of a new pump is necessary and expected.
In view of the aforementioned conventional problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a noncontact completely oil-free fluid transport system by supporting a viscosity pump with a hydrodynamic gas bearing and a method therefor.
In order to achieve the aforementioned object, the fluid transport system of the present invention is constituted of a fluid transport system, which includes a pump constructed of a rotor housed in a housing, a bearing for supporting the rotation of this rotor, a fluid transfer chamber formed of the rotor and the housing, fluid inlet and outlet ports that are formed at the housing and communicate with the fluid transfer chamber, a motor for rotatively driving the rotor, and a transport groove that is formed at a relative displacement interface between the rotor and the housing and exerts a fluid pumping action.

Fluid transport system and method therefor

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


An image scanner including a near field communication unit configured to perform near field communication with a device located within a communicable distance from the near field communication unit, an image sensor, and a controller connected with the image sensor via a cable, the controller being configured to perform an image data generating operation of controlling the image sensor to scan an image and generate image data, detect a start of the near field communication between the near field communication unit and the device, based on a signal output from the near field communication unit, and when detecting the start of the near field communication, halt the image data generating operation until the near field communication unit completes data communication with the device.

1. Technical Field
The following description relates to one or more techniques for an image scanner configured to scan an image.
2. Related Art
An image scanner having a handover function has been known. In the handover function, the known image scanner performs near field communication (hereinafter referred to as "NFC" or "NFC wireless communication") with an NFC-compatible terminal device only to authenticate the terminal device via the NFC wireless communication, and thereafter communicates a large amount of data via higher-speed communication based on different communication standards.
Further, an image scanner has been known that is capable of reading information from an RFID tag embedded in a document sheet as well as reading an image formed on the document sheet. When the image scanner concurrently reads the image and the RFID tag, electromagnetic waves caused by reading the RFID tag might have negative influences on the read image data. Therefore, the known image scanner is configured to begin to read the image and begin to read the RFID tag at respective different moments.

Image scanner and computer-readable medium therefor


An electro-holographic lens device comprising: an active layer made from a transparent photo-refractive material, whose refractive index may be locally modified by locally applying an electric field; an array of electrodes in a predetermined density, provided adjacent the active layer for locally providing electric fields across an array of predetermined locations in the active layer; and a control unit for applying and controlling application of electric fields in a dynamically controllable predetermined locations for creating a holographic fringe pattern across the active layer.

Holography is known as a two-step process: recording and reconstruction. In the recording step a hologram is recorded, i.e. interference between two waves, with a mutual degree of coherence in space and time. These beams are the "object beam" (arriving from the object toward the recording material) and the "reference beam" (directly illuminating the recording material). After the recording step the recording material is usually processed (chemically or otherwise) in a manner that creates the hologram. In the reconstruction step a reconstruction of the hologram is performed, usually by illuminating the hologram with a beam equivalent to the reference beam or the object beam. Employing this method of illuminating the hologram, allows viewing the 'source' of the other beam, i.e. the image of the object (which can be a "virtual", or a "real" object), or the image of the reference beam (usually a point source).
Holography was developed as an analog device, operating in many ways like a lens. As digital methods have been developed, the scientific community started to search for possible ways to create a hologram and also reconstruct it digitally. The reconstruction process was the first one to be performed, since it is simpler and also independent of its recording.
By performing an interference between a spherical wave, emerging from a point source (i.e. through a pinhole), and a plane wave—a basic hologram is produced. It is possible to produce these two waves in a coaxial manner, or at a certain angle between them. Since both waves originate from the same radiating source (with a certain spatial and temporal degree of coherence), it is possible to achieve a good mutual coherence between them, if their paths are within the coherence length of the radiating source. If reconstruction is performed by a plane wave, similar to the one applied during the recording process, one obtains a virtual image of the point source, that acts as a diverging (negative) lens and, at the same time, a real image for a convergent one (positive lens).
The focal length of this lens and its area are functions of the geometrical recording conditions and also the recording and reconstructing frequencies (i.e. wavelengths). Therefore they are spatially and temporally frequency selective. Holography was developed for various applications, among them for reconstructions with white light and in real-time.
Holography is also used for collecting solar energy, where a concentrating holographic lens is used. The holographic lens is provided with a multiple holographic patterns each corresponding to a specific elevation and location of the sun, so that as it travels in the sky different patterns go into action each one corresponding to a particular solar location (see U.S. Pat. No. 4,490,981 (Meckler)).
Real-time reconstruction holography has the advantage of observing variations of the object (static and dynamic movements of its surface, changes in the index of refraction in the material under test, etc.). Certain photosensitive materials change their thickness or indices of refraction (commonly named 'phase materials') instead of their opacity. To these materials belong also films of dichromatic gelatin and photoconductor-thermoplastic films. Using these materials, it is possible to record a hologram at one time and erase it at some other time, and then make another hologram [Collier R. J., Burckhardt C. B., and Lin L. H., "Optical Holography", Academic Press, (1971)]. Approaches towards an electrically controllable hologram were performed in the past. Liquid crystal (LC), which was produced at different heights, and excited by electrical means is one example [Slinger C., et. al., "Electrically controllable multiple, active, computer-generated hologram", Optics Letters, 22, (14) 1113–1115, (15 Jul., 1997)]. Another example is adaptive computer generated hologram in LC, using hybrid feedback systems and interpolation method [Yoshikawa N., et. al., "Adaptive computer-generated hologram with hybrid feedback system", 1966 International Topical Meeting on Optical Computing, Technical Digest, Vol. 1, 224–5]. Another example is a switchable Fresnel lens [Yun-Hsing Fan, Hogwen Ren, and Shin-Tson Wu, "Switchable Fresnel lens using polymer-stabilized liquid crystal", Optics Express, 11, (23), 3080–3086, (17 Nov. 2003)]. However, until now a process for continuously recording and reconstructing a hologram in 'real-time' has not been achieved.
The present invention aims at providing a holographic lens, capable of performing processes by digital methods, which simulate in real-time the recording and reconstruction of a conventional holographic lens.
Another object of the present invention is the provision of a dynamically controllable holographic lens that changes its viewing direction in real-time, while maintaining the spatial positions of the spectral foci. This device is based on simulating the intensity (fringes) obtained at every point in the holographic plane from the incident beams, by means of computer generated processing. Thus changing, by electrical means and in real time, a property (like index of refraction) of a photo-refractive material, and therefore obtaining a Real-Time Computer Generated Hologram (RTCGH). This lens is of a type named hereinafter Real-Time Computer Generated Holographic Lens (RTCGHL). Such a lens can be applied, for example, for concentration of sunlight, as it travels in the sky to a fixed point, in order to transform it to electrical energy.
Another object of the present invention is the provision of a device that tilts the refracted beam in real-time, named hereinafter Real-Time Computer Generated Holographic Tilt (RTCGHT).
Yet additional object of the present invention is the provision of a device that splits the incident beam in real-time into several diffracted beams, named hereinafter Real-Time Computer Generated Holographic Splitter (RTCGHS).
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent after reading the present specification and reviewing the accompanying drawings.


A tunable probe includes a first resonator, a second resonator spaced from the first resonator, and a cross-couple extending from the first resonator to the second resonator. The cross-couple includes a first substrate and a second substrate disposed between the first and second resonator to create a capacitance between the first and second resonators. The cross-couple further includes a wire connecting the first and second substrates and a dielectric surrounding the wire.

Communications systems utilize various filters to allow or inhibit signals selectively with varying frequency. Typically, noise or unwanted frequencies are inhibited or blocked and the desired signal is allowed to pass through for processing. Some band pass filters are constructed using elements that resonate.
One type of communication system, satellite communication systems, utilize microwave communications frequencies that range from 1-30 Gigahertz (GHz). Additional goals of many satellite-based communication system components are to reduce weight in order to reduce costs associated with launching a satellite into orbit and to utilize approved components for space technology. Developing communication materials that utilize approved materials, have a reduced weight, and provide the correct signal processing characteristics is a challenge.

Tunable probe for high-performance cross-coupled RF filters


A descent device according to embodiments of the present invention includes a housing; an inlet capstan; a drive wheel coupled to a centrifugal brake, the drive wheel rotatable with respect to the housing about an axis, the drive wheel including a groove formed along its outer perimeter, the groove having a first inner side wall, a second inner side wall, and a bottom, a distance between the first and second inner side walls decreases from the outer perimeter to the bottom in a direction toward the axis, wherein at least a portion of a radial extent of the inner side walls includes a pattern of protrusions positioned between inner side walls to form an irregular rope path along the groove; an outlet capstan; and a rope extending through the rope inlet, around the inlet capstan, around the drive wheel, around the outlet capstan, and through the rope outlet.

A person can descend quickly from a height by using a rope and a rapid descent device that provides a braking force to counteract the person's weight on the rope. Such devices may be used, for example, by civilians evacuating a building via an exterior of the building, such as when all other exits are blocked or no longer available. Such devices may also be used, for example, by firefighters and/or rescue workers descending rapidly from a burning building, and/or by any person working at a height.
Existing rapid descent devices often include simple drive wheels capable of being driven at a single speed equivalent to the rope speed. The braking force imparted by such rapid descent devices is thus the same for a very heavy load and a very light load, for any given rope speed. Such devices also typically do not permit rope slippage during shock loading or manual rope advancement.

Descent device with automatic and manual control


A hybrid-scale electronic circuit, an internal electrical connection and a method of electrically interconnecting employ an interconnect having a tapered shape to electrically connect between different-scale circuits. The interconnect has a first end with an end dimension that is larger than an end dimension of an opposite, second end of the interconnect. The larger first end of the interconnect connects to an electrical contact of a micro-scale circuit and the second end of the interconnect connects to an electrical contact of a nano-scale circuit.

1. Technical Field
The invention relates to nanotechnology. In particular, the invention relates to electrical interconnection between nanoelectronic circuits and conventional electronic circuits.
2. Description of Related Art
A consistent trend in semiconductor technology since its inception is toward smaller and smaller device dimensions and higher and higher device densities. As a result, an area of semiconductor technology that recently has seen explosive growth and generated considerable interest is nanotechnology. Nanotechnology is concerned with the fabrication and application of so-called nano-scale structures, structures having at least one linear dimension between 1 nm and 200 nm. These nano-scale structures are often 5 to 100 times smaller than conventional semiconductor structures.
A growing area of nanotechnology is nanoelectronics. Nanoelectronics includes nano-scale electronic devices, such as nano-scale field effect transistors (FETs), p-n diodes, light emitting diodes (LEDs) and sensors, to name a few. Nanoelectronics may coexist with conventional electronics (e.g., microelectronics) in the near future as so-called 'hybrid' electronic integrated circuits, i.e., electronic circuits that comprise both nanocircuitry and conventional electronic circuitry. As such, their coexistence will need ways to interconnect the nanoelectronic circuitry to the conventional electronic circuitry within so-called hybrid electronic integrated circuits in a compatible way that is reproducible in a manufacturing environment.

Interconnection between different circuit types

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A multi-color image-forming apparatus having image-forming sections for a plurality of different colors can include an optical sensor having a light-casting section that casts single polarized light and a light-receiving section that receives polarized light different from the cast light. A pattern for detecting toner positions can be used in which toner having high reflectance to a particular light emission wavelength is independently formed. In addition, other patterns in which toner having low reflectance to the particular light emission wavelength are partially formed on a central portion of the pattern of high reflection toner by using the high reflection toner as a foundation. The apparatus can detect each toner pattern by the optical sensor to correct the color shift of each color.

1. Field
The disclosed subject matter relates to a multi-color image-forming apparatus. In particular, the disclosed subject matter related to an image forming apparatus that detects the positions of ink, toner and the like in order to reduce the shift of printing position for each color (C (cyan), M (magenta), Y (yellow) and K (black)) when performing color printing by, for example, superposing the print of the colors.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a method of correcting color shift using a CCD sensor has been known for multi-color image-forming apparati. FIG. 9 shows an example of a conventional multi-color image-forming apparatus that includes a transfer belt 90 and a CCD sensor 91 installed above the transfer belt 90.
Then, a positioning pattern 92 including each color C (cyan), M (magenta), Y (yellow) and K (black) is formed on the transfer belt 90 and, as shown in FIG. 9, irradiating light from an irradiation lamp 93 irradiates the positioning pattern 92. Reflected light is then read by the CCD sensor 91.
It is possible to use light in an infrared region (750 to 950 nm) as the irradiation light from the irradiation lamp 93 irradiating the positioning pattern 92. This is because the reading of the positioning pattern 92 can be detected at substantially the same sensitivity for each color.
The reflected light read by the CCD sensor 91 as described above is input to an MPU (main/central processing unit) and processed. The position of the positioning pattern is determined by the MPU, and the shift amount of registration is calculated. At this point, the transfer position of the positioning pattern is known, and transfer is performed by an instruction from the MPU when it is judged that the registration is in an allowable range by the MPU.
If it is judged by the MPU that the registration has deteriorated and exceeds an allowable range, the MPU calculates the error to find a shift amount. Then, a reflection mirror in a photosensitive optical path is activated by using a stepping motor in response to the shift amount to perform adjustment of at least one tilt in a sub-scanning direction, adjustment of parallel movement, or the like, and registration at the time of exposure by laser beam is matched. At this point, since the CCD sensor 91 can detect adhesion concentration as well, the same sensor combines the detection of position and adhesion concentration. (For example, see Japanese Patent Registration No. 2573855 gazette).
However, in the case of performing the positional detection of the pattern for each color (CMYK) by using the CCD sensor 91 as described above, there are several associated problems/drawbacks. For example, the CCD sensor 91 is expensive. In addition, the volume of data that is output from the CCD sensor 91 is enormous, requiring a high-speed MPU. In addition, a light source such as an infrared light source, for example, is also required because the CCD sensor 91 itself does not have a light source.

Multi-color image-forming apparatus, optical sensor, and method for the same


A transmission cooler thermal bypass device that includes a body having a front side, a back side, a top side, and a bottom side. A first opening, a second opening, a third opening, and a fourth opening, whereby a first passageway connects the first opening and the second opening, and a second passageway connects the third opening and the fourth opening. At least one fin. The first passageway and the second passageway do not include a flow control valve.

Transmission cooler thermal bypass devices are used with a transmission to create a flow path for receiving and transporting fluid from a heat source to a cooler. Once the fluid is cooled, the transmission cooler thermal bypass creates a path for receiving and transporting the fluid from the cooler to the heat source and/or gear box.
A prior art transmission cooler thermal bypass device is illustrated in FIGS. 1-3. The prior art transmission cooler thermal bypass device contains a flow control valve and does not contain fins. The flow control valve is a necessity for the prior art transmission cooler thermal bypass devices. It is an object of the present invention to provide a transmission cooler thermal bypass device that does not use a flow control valve, or any other actuator or spring valve. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a transmission cooler thermal bypass device that includes fins.


A system, method, and computer program for interactive communication among a plurality of users. The invention, called Holocene Conversation Mode (“HCM”), takes advantage of the observation that human beings have developed or utilize a number of real-world characteristics to participate in, perceive, control, and glean subtleties from conversations. These characteristics include proximity and orientation of a listener to other speakers, memory ageing, emphasis by a speaker, relative importance of a speaker to a listener, reputation of a speaker, and the unique human ability to “filter” words of special interest to a listener from overheard conversations. HCM includes a suite of techniques, including spatial and content compression as a function of some of such characteristics, that can be implemented in various combinations in computer software. HCM supports other forms of user interaction, such as allowing a user to give or send an object to another user, or to allow a user to take an object from another user. In addition, HCM supports “kiosks”, in which users can interact with non-human resources in the context of a host-defined environment.

Computer-based, on-line communications have become quite popular in recent years. Businesses have joined universities and government institutions in linking up via high-speed data transmission lines, while millions of private citizens have joined in using modems and broadband links that connect their personal computers to networks spanning the globe. Among the many uses of on-line communication, the most important are electronic mail (or "email"), file transfers, direct use and operation of computers at long range, and real-time conversations ("chat") between a plurality of individuals via on-screen exchanges of text, visual, and other information.
FIG. 1 is a diagram of a typical prior art on-line communication system. Each of a plurality of user terminals 100a, 100b, 100c communicates through corresponding communications channels 102a, 102b, 102c of a network 104 to a server computer 106. The user terminals 100a, 100b, 100c may be, for example, personal computers, "thin" clients, hand-held personal digital assistants, and the like, each typically having a display screen or other output device (e.g., speakers) and at least one input device (e.g., keyboard, mouse, touch pad, and/or microphone). The communications channels 102a, 102b, 102c may be of any conventional type, such as telephone modems, digital subscriber line modems, cable modems, dedicated data transmission lines, or wireless links. The network 104 may be a local area network, a wide-area private network (e.g., an "intranet"), or a wide-area public network (e.g., the Internet).
In such a configuration, typical "chat room" and "instant message" computer program applications allow two or more users to exchange text through the user terminals 100a, 100b, 100c. Each participant types or otherwise inputs (e.g., "pastes" from another source) text into a screen or "window" of a user terminal. This information typically is transmitted to the server 106 operating under a "host" protocol. The server 106 redistributes the input text to all participants. Most host protocols are programmed to cause the text lines to appear on a user terminal display screen for all participants. This creates the illusion that the users are participating in a conversation.
In most cases, the text sent by each participant is handled on a line-by-line basis. FIG. 2A is a diagram of a typical prior art window-based chat room showing the procession of text input by two participants, P1 and P2. Each participant inputs text within an associated text editing control 200 (in this example, an edit cursor bar 201 for P1's input is shown in mid-word). All of the text input by all participants appears in a conversation window 202. All participants in this particular chat room, not just P1 and P2, would see the conversation shown in the example. Further contributions are added sequentially to the bottom of the conversation window 202, in the order that the server computer 106 receives them. Meanwhile, earlier lines scroll "upward" and eventually disappear off the top of each user's window or screen display. A scroll bar 204 may be provided to review prior conversations that have scrolled out of the conversation window 202.
In the case of a slow, thoughtful conversation, comments and responses can follow one another in an orderly manner, giving a reasonable simulation of a real world conversation. Unfortunately, most on-line conversations are seldom orderly. In fact, problems with prior art chat systems become apparent soon after a user logs onto almost any chat session, bulletin board, or conference forum.
An immediately apparent problem is interruption. FIG. 2B is a diagram of a typical prior art window-based chat room showing the interrupted procession of text input by three participants, P1, P2, and P3. Starting from the top of the conversation window 202, after P1 inputs a first line of text, P2 begins to input text, but before P2 is done, P3 replies to P1's question. P2's response then appears. The result can be that three participants hold two simultaneous, intertwined (and thus confusing) conversations. In many chat rooms, the number of participants can rise to one or two dozen, resulting in a visual cacophony of mutual interruptions and parallel conversations that are shuffled together like a randomized deck of cards. However, such interrupted conversations may occur with only two participants.
None of the known chat systems take any significant advantage of the many techniques human beings have developed for participating in, perceiving, controlling, or gleaning subtleties from real-life conversations. Present systems simply ignore a wide range of talents already possessed by most users that enable them to process information efficiently in daily life. These drawbacks contribute to inefficiency, user fatigue, and interpersonal misunderstandings. The present invention addresses these problems.

Interactive communication between a plurality of users


An outlet faceplate includes a body dimensioned to cover an outlet and at least one member integral at an upper portion of the body. The body includes an opening for allowing access to the outlet and an outwardly facing planar surface. The member extends generally forward and then upward from the body to provide a space above the body and behind the member wherein the space receives an excess cord.

During normal usage of electrical tools, appliances, or other electrical implements, electrical power cords supplying electricity or cable cords, such as phone cable cords, television cable cords, antenna cable cords, or computer cable cords, supplying signals may often lie exposed on the floor of a room creating both a hazardous and unsightly condition. As a result, the cord may become inadvertently or accidentally unplugged or disconnected from its respective outlet when the cord is pulled or tripped over. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a way to store excess cord.


A method of managing digital content includes displaying a user interface on a display screen of the electronic device. A search instruction is generated according to a search condition. Each of a plurality of cloud servers is controlled to search for digital content meeting the search condition. Related information of the digital content meeting the search condition is received from each of the plurality of cloud servers. A user interface object is generated according to the related information received from each of the plurality of cloud servers, such that a plurality of user interface objects are obtained. Once an object list is generated by aggregating the plurality of the user interface objects, the object list is displayed on a display screen.

When a user wants to listen to a piece of music, the user needs to download a music player, then open the music player and search for the piece of music. However, the music player may not provide all the music the user desired to listen. When the user cannot find the desired music on one music player, the users then needs to download another music player, which is time consuming and laborious.

Electronic device and digital content managing method


A collapsible chair umbrella with swivel support shaft mount, the umbrella with a canopy on one end of the support shaft and a cross member on the other, the cross member with a clip on each end for selectively attaching to a chair, preferably a lawn or beach chair or the like, the chair having two upright back supports is disclosed. The cross member further comprises a ball swivel with covered, spring assisted action for pivoting the invention's umbrella about the cross member, thereby aiding in elevation, transport, and convenience of the invention.

Lawn chairs, beach chairs, and the like are typically used in a sunny environment where at least a measure of shade is often desirable. Normal shade giving devices are not always portable and, even when so, can be just one more item to transport and set up and take down. Continual changes in positioning of a chair or the shade device is usually necessary. It is therefore desirable to provide a device that is readily transportable, selectively included as a part of a chair, conveniently repositioned, fully adjustable, and assisted with regard to elevation of the shading device.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to umbrellas, and more specifically to a collapsible chair umbrella with swivel mount shaft support.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Prior art is replete with umbrellas and recreational chairs, with some devices including the joining of both. Limitations exist, though, in such combinations in the prior art. Designs of umbrella attachment differ greatly from the present invention. Also, the present invention offers multiple advantages not offered by the prior art.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,234,187 issued to Izzo on May 22, 2001 discloses an adjustable beach chair umbrella comprising an umbrella with a canopy and a rod and, unlike the present collapsible chair umbrella, is mounted to the top of the tubular frame of a beach chair's backrest. Such mounting appears to be less stable than the swivel shaft support shaft mount of the present invention. Furthermore, the umbrella adjustment mechanism appears to be less easily used to adjust an umbrella than the ball swivel mounting of the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,848,838 issued to Thomas on Nov. 19, 1974 discloses an umbrella mounting bracket adapted for mounting the standard of an umbrella on the top portion of a chair back rest. The device differs from the present invention in that it is a bracket only. Further, the bracket is not similar in design or function to the present invention. The bracket offers no assistance in elevation of an umbrella, nor does it offer the support swivel of the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,110,184 issued to Stein et al. on May 5, 1992 discloses a beach chair rotatably mounted to a spike. While such beach chair provides an umbrella which, unlike the present invention, cannot be swiveled in multiple directions.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,871,141 issued to Chen on Oct. 3, 1989 discloses an adjustable umbrella support which attaches to a tubular side frame of a beach chair and comprises two flexible components for adjusting the umbrella. However, unlike the present collapsible chair umbrella with swivel support shaft mount, the support is located on the side frame, the support is likely to get in the way of a user's arm when seated. Also, due to the support being located on the side frame, the bending umbrella may be positioned at least partially in front of a user's face. Unlike the present collapsible chair umbrella, the placement is uncomfortable and inconvenient.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,809,724 issued to Fuser on Mar. 7, 1989 discloses a sunshade holder for deck chairs and baby carriages which provides a U-shaped rod mounted on each tubular back rest side frame of a deck chair or baby carriage. Due to its side frame mounting, a user's arms may be pinched in the mounting devices when a user raises his or her arms outwardly and toward the back rest.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,050,280 issued to Regan on Aug. 21, 1962 discloses an umbrellas adapter for a folding chair which does not encompass an umbrella and which does not provide the more sturdy and wind-resistant dual mount design of the present invention.
While the above-described devices fulfill their respective and particular objects and requirements, they do not describe a collapsible chair umbrella with swivel mount shaft support that provides for the advantages of the present invention, therefore, a need exists for an improved collapsible chair umbrella with swivel mount shaft support. In this respect, the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art.

Collapsible chair umbrella with swivel support shaft mount


A system comprises a plurality of processing modules, one of which is designated to be the primary processing module and the others are designated to be secondary processing modules. During operation, state is maintained in the primary processing module and at least one of the secondary processing modules. A switchover controller causes outputs from the secondary modules to be discarded. When the switchover controller receives an indication that the primary processing module has failed, it designates one of the secondary processing modules to be the primary processing module. Because the newly designated primary processing module already has current state information at switchover, the module is able to operate with minimal delay.

In a conventional computer network (e.g., a local area network or wide area network), computers communicate over a network infrastructure made up of interconnected nodes, such as routers and/or switches, connected by communication links such as optical fiber, copper cable, and wireless links. Often, the topology is such that each node connects to multiple neighboring nodes (e.g., as in a mesh configuration).
Typically, data propagates through such a network in discrete units referred herein as "packets" (meaning any fixed- or variable-sized discrete unit of data, including frames, cells, segments, or packets). For each received packet, a node examines the contents of the packet (e.g., a destination address in the packet header) and determines which neighboring node to forward the packet to. Often, a node makes this determination by performing a table lookup. The neighboring node performs a similar determination until the packet eventually propagates from node to node through the network to its destination.
When a node (or a component in the node) fails, the node may no longer be operative to forward packets. Such a failure may result in serious disruption to the performance of the network. Even after the failure is repaired, there may be a delay before the node becomes fully operational, resulting in continued disruption to the network. In routers, for example, the operation of certain components may depend upon state information, which is maintained in the router according to the contents of previously forwarded packets. Accordingly, once the failure in the router is finally repaired, it may take some amount of time for the router to generate sufficient state information for it to function properly.
Thus, there is a need for an invention that more adequately addresses such problems which may occur in the network.

Automatic switchover mechanism in a network device