The charging method includes providing a current to the battery pack, sensing first and second battery temperatures, determining a first temperature change rate between the first and second battery temperatures, sensing a third battery temperature, determining a second temperature change between the second and third battery temperatures, and disabling termination of the charging method based on a temperature-based scheme if the first temperature change rate is equal to or exceeds a first predetermined threshold and the second temperature change rate is equal to or exceeds a second predetermined threshold.

This invention relates generally to a method and apparatus for charging rechargeable batteries.
The several advantages of cordless power for portable power tools and certain kitchen and domestic appliances have led to the development of a wide range of sizes of power- or battery-packs, that is, a contained group of power cells. These power cells may include nickel cadmium (NiCd), nickel metal hydride (Nix), lithium, or lead-acid cells, etc.
Referring to FIGS. 1-2, a typcial battery pack 10 is connected to a charger 20. Battery pack 10 comprises a plurality of battery cells 11 connected in series, which dictate the voltage and storage capacity for battery pack 10. Battery pack 10 includes three battery contacts: first battery contact 12, second battery contact 14, and third battery contact 13. Battery contact 12 is the B+ (positive) terminal for battery pack 10. Battery contact 14 is the Bxe2x88x92 or negative/common terminal. Battery contact 13 is the S or sensing terminal. Battery contacts 12 and 14 receive the charging current sent from the charger 20 (preferably from current source 22, as discussed below) for charging the battery pack 10.
As shown in FIG. 2, the battery cells 11 are coupled between the battery contacts 12 and 14. In addition, a temperature sensing device 15, such as a negative temperature co-efficient (NTC) resistor, or thermistor, RT is typically coupled between battery contacts 13 and 14. The temperature sensing device is preferably in closer proximity to the cells 11 for monitoring of the battery temperature. Other components, such as capacitors, etc., or circuits can be used to provide a signal representative of the battery temperature.
The charger 20 preferably comprises a controller 21, which in turn includes positive terminal (B+) 16 and negative (Bxe2x88x92) terminal 17, which are coupled to battery pack 10 via battery contacts 12 and 14, respectively. The positive terminal may also act as an input, preferably an analog/digital input, in order for the controller 21 to detect the battery voltage. In addition, the controller 21 may include another input T, preferably an analog/digital input, which is coupled to the temperature sensing device 15 via the third battery contact 13 (S). This allows the controller 21 to monitor the battery temperature. Controller 21 includes a microprocessor 23 for controlling the charging and monitoring operations. Controller 21 may control a current source 22 that provides current to battery pack 10. This current may be a fast charging current and/or an equalization current. Current source 22 may be integrated within controller 21.
Referring to FIG. 3, the battery temperature and voltage varies during the charging process. for example, battery temperature decreases as the battery is charged. The battery temperature then quickly increases as the battery becomes fully charged. However, if the charging process is not stopped when the battery is fully charged, the battery could be overcharged and thus damaged by the rising temperature. Accordingly, battery temperature or battery voltage are usually monitored as indicators of the full charge condition.
Among the voltage monitoring methods, the Saar double inflection termination method described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,388,582 and 4,392,101, is preferred to detect a battery reaching full charge. Other voltage monitoring methods more typically employed are (1) the minus-delta-voltage method, (2) the peak detect method, and (3) the voltage slope detect method. In the minus-delta-voltage method, a sample of the battery peak voltage is stored and compared to the most recent voltage. Termination occurs when the most recent voltage falls below a set point, usually within between 0.5% and 1.0% of the stored peak, or about 10 to 20 millivolts per cell for a NiCd battery.
The peak detect method is more modem version of the minus-delta-voltage method. Basically, the same method is used, except the set point can be set closer to the peak by using more accurate instrumentation.
The slope detect method is another voltage monitoring method. According to this method, the voltage peak B is detected by calculating the slope of the voltage curve V, or voltage change rate (dV/dt). Termination occurs when the voltage change rate is 0 or negative.
Temperature monitoring methods typically employed are (1) absolute temperature termination and (2) temperature change rate (slope) termination. Absolute temperature termination relies on the temperature rise that occurs when the battery is fully charged. Under this method, the charging process will be stopped when the battery temperature reaches and/or exceeds a certain temperature.
The temperature change rate (slope) termination method requires monitoring the slope of the battery temperature over time, or temperature change rate (dT/dt), during the charging process. Termination occurs when the temperature change rate reaches and/or exceeds a predetermined rate. In other words, termination occurs when a trip point is reached and/or exceeded.
Referring to FIGS. 1-2, the charger 20 may accept different battery packs 10, 10xe2x80x2, 10xe2x80x3, where like numerals refer to like parts. Battery packs 10, 10xe2x80x2, 10xe2x80x3 are similar, but differ in several respects. First, both battery packs 10, 10xe2x80x2 receive air blown from charger fan 24 to cool cells 11. In battery pack 10, the temperature sensing device 15 is covered and/or disposed outside of the airflow, so that the airflow does not affect the temperature sensing. On the other hand, in battery pack 10xe2x80x2, the temperature sensing device 15 is not covered and/or disposed in of the airflow, so that the airflow affects the temperature sensing. Battery pack 10xe2x80x3 does not receive any air blown from charger fan 24. Accordingly, the temperature sensing device 15 cannot be affected by blown air.
FIG. 4 shows the temperature/voltage curves T and V, respectively, when battery pack 10xe2x80x2 is charged, as opposed to the temperature/voltage curves for battery packs 10, 10xe2x80x3, shown in FIG. 3. If the temperature curves T of FIGS. 3-4 are compared, it is obvious that the temperature curve of battery pack 10xe2x80x3 is not as smooth, with many peaks and valleys. This is because the airflow affects the sensed temperature. However, having such peaks and valleys can cause termination of the charging process under the temperature change rate termination scheme prior to fully charging battery pack 10xe2x80x2. In other words, battery pack 10xe2x80x2 may be undercharged because of the airflow.
It is an object of the invention to provide a charging and monitoring method that will not result in undercharged batteries.
In accordance with the present invention, a method for charging a rechargeable battery pack is proposed. The charging method includes providing a current to the battery pack, sensing first and second battery temperatures, determining a first temperature change rate between the first and second battery temperatures, sensing a third battery temperature, determining a second temperature change between the second and third battery temperatures, and disabling termination of the charging method based on a temperature-based scheme if the first temperature change rate is equal to or exceeds a first predetermined threshold and the second temperature change rate is equal to or exceeds a second predetermined threshold.
Also disclosed herein is a battery charging method, which method includes providing a current to the battery pack, sensing first and second battery temperatures, determining a first temperature change rate between the first and second battery temperatures, sensing a third battery temperature, determining a second temperature change between the second and third battery temperatures, and disabling termination of the charging method based on a temperature-based scheme if the first temperature change rate is equal to or below a first predetermined threshold and the second temperature change rate is equal to or below a second predetermined threshold.
Additional features and benefits of the present invention are described, and will be apparent from, the accompanying drawings and the detailed description below.

Method and apparatus for charging batteries


The present invention provides an electrical fuse structure for achieving a post-programming resistance distribution with higher resistance values and to enhance the reliability of electrical fuse programming. A partly doped electrical fuse structure with undoped semiconductor material in the cathode combined with P-doped semiconductor material in the fuselink and anode is disclosed and the data supporting the superior performance of the disclosed electrical fuse is shown.

Electrically programmable semiconductor fuses, or electrical fuses in short as it is referred to in this invention, have been used in semiconductor circuits to provide alterations in the functionality of the circuitry. Typical examples of applications of electrical fuses include: providing redundancy to enable repairs of imperfect chips, storage of secure and permanent information, selection of a particular configuration for chip operation, tuning analogue circuit components, optimizing overall circuit performance, and/or replacing defective circuit elements with redundant circuit elements.
Electrical fuses are programmed by the physical alteration of the structure of the electrical fuses. The most commonly used structure of electrical fuses employs a vertical stack comprising a semiconducting material and a conducting material. While the most common material for the vertical stack is polysilicon and silicide, other semiconducting materials and other conducting materials may be utilized if similar electromigration properties can be found in the combined stack of the two materials. This stack is patterned such that a narrow and long piece of material, called "fuselink" or "fuse neck," is adjoined by two large plates, called "cathode" and "anode" respectively, depending on the polarity of electrical bias applied to the electrical fuse during the programming. Electrical current of relatively high density flows through the fuselink when a sufficiently high voltage bias is applied across the cathode and the anode. The programming current may be high enough to cause the electrical fuses to rupture by a sudden increase in temperature in the physical structure of the electrical fuses. This type of programming is commonly referred to as "rupture mode programming." Alternatively, the level of the programming current may be moderated to cause a controlled electromigration of the material inside the electrical fuse structure. This alternative mode of programming is commonly referred to as "electromigration mode programming." Both types of programming method raise the resistance of the programmed fuse compared to that of intact fuses.
By measuring the resistance of electrical fuses, it can be determined whether the electrical fuse has been programmed or intact. While it may not be necessary to measure the exact value of the fuse resistance to determine the state of the fuse, it is generally necessary to determine whether the fuse resistance has been raised by a significant amount above the detection limit of the sensing circuitry. Typically, this is done by setting the resistance for a reference resistor at a value about 3˜10 times that of an intact electrical fuse and comparing the resistance of the fuse with that of the reference resistor. A difference between the resistance of the reference resistor and the resistance of an intact fuse is often necessary to insure margin in the functionality of the sensing circuitry under adverse operating conditions of the chip.
Rupture mode programming in general tends to produce a distribution of programmed electrical fuse resistance with a significant fraction of low resistance values. Considering that millions of electrical fuses are often used in an array of electrical fuse memory, a failure rate even at a parts per million (ppm) level could be a reliability issue. Electromigration mode programming tends to generate less of the low resistance tails, and hence, better reliability in general. An example of the performance of P-doped electrical fuses in the electromigration mode can be found in Kothandaraman et al., "Electrically Programmable Fuse (eFUSE) Using Electromigration in Silicides," IEEE Electron Dev. Lett. Vol. 23, No. 9, September 2002, pp. 523-525. Kothandaraman et al. describes an electrically programmable P-doped fuse with P-doped polysilicon in the cathode, fuselink, and anode.
Despite the general improvement in the distribution of post-programming resistance of electrical fuses through the use of electromigration mode programming, not all fuses produce a post-programming resistance distribution with high resistance values even in an electromigration mode. The distribution of the resistance of programmed fuses is also dependent on the design of fuses as well; some producing more low resistance values for programmed fuses, while some others produce less low resistance values. Of critical importance among the features of the design is the doping of each component of the electrical fuse, i.e., the cathode, the fuselink, and the anode.
Since the sense circuitry interprets any fuse with resistance less than that of the resistance of the reference resistor as an intact, any programmed fuse with its resistance lower than that of the reference resistor is erroneously sensed as an intact fuse during a sense operation. An improved electrical fuse structure that produces a post-programming fuse resistance distribution with less of a low resistance portion is therefore desired to reduce the error rate in electrical fuse programming and thus to increase its reliability of electrical fuse programming.
The critical impact of the doping on the electrical fuse programming has been recognized in the industry and the prior art demonstrates attempts to improve the post-programming resistance of electrical fuses by modifying the structure of electrical fuses through doping. The use of undoped polysilicon or N+ doped polysilicon for all of the cathode, fuselink, and anode have been suggested and tested in the semiconductor industry. The doping of the polysilicon is the same across the cathode, fuselink, and anode in these prior arts.
More recently, U.S. Pat. No. 6,770,948 to Ito et al. discloses electrical fuses with different doping within a "fuse neck" (which approximately corresponds to the fuselink 120 in FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B) for achieving improved post-programming fuse resistance distribution. Among the structures disclosed by Ito et al. include a fuse neck with a P-type doped region and an N-type doped region; P-type doped region, undoped region, and N-type doped region; P-type doped region, region with both P-type and N-type doping, and N-type doped region. According to Ito et al., all interfaces between materials with different doping are confined within the "fuse neck".
Despite the improvements in the post-programming fuse resistance distribution, reliable programming of electrical fuses still faces challenges as the fuse dimensions shrink and the supply voltage for fuse programming decreases in succeeding semiconductor technology generations. Also, the problem of the statistical occurrence of fuses with low post-programming fuse resistance has been exacerbated by the recent trend in the microelectronics industry that requires reliable programming even under non-ideal programming conditions.
For example, the electrical fuse programming has been performed mostly on a tester before packaging of a chip in an environment where a stable voltage supply is available. The advent of autonomic computing, in which an operating computer can detect defects among its components and repair them during the operation, has created a demand for programming of the electrical fuses under adverse environment, in which the supply voltages may not be as stable as on a tester or the ambient conditions may not be optimal for electrical fuse programming.
Similarly, increased use in hand held devices where the power source is often a battery with a wide range of voltage variations as well as a source of a limited amount of current during the operation has created a demand for electrical fuse programming under adverse environment. Under this type of environment, the distribution of post-programming resistance tends to produce even more low resistance values.
It is therefore highly desirable to improve the design of the electrical fuses to produce a post-programming resistance distribution with less frequency of occurrence of fuses with low post-programming resistance and thus, to provide low programming failure rate. It is also desirable to provide an electrical fuse structure that can produce a distribution of high post-programming resistance even for smaller dimensions.

Electrical fuse structure for higher post-programming resistance

International Business Machines Corporation


A method and apparatus involve: configuring a wall portion to have an opening therethrough and to have a first annular surface extending around the opening; supporting on a circuit board an electrical connector having a plurality of electrical contacts and having a second annular surface; and resisting fluid flow from one side of the wall portion to an opposite side thereof through the opening, including compressing between the first and second annular surfaces a seal ring having third and fourth annular surfaces that respectively engage the first and second annular surfaces, the electrical contacts each having a portion that is accessible through the opening.

There are a variety of applications where a device has a housing with electrical circuitry therein, and is used in an environment that includes exposure to one or more environmental conditions such as dust, grease, moisture, snow, pressurized water, high humidity, or temperature extremes. It is often necessary to provide an electrical connector that is electrically coupled to the circuitry within the housing, and that is accessible from externally of the housing. It is desirable that fluids, moisture and/or environmental contaminants be prevented from entering the housing through or adjacent the connector. Although pre-existing techniques for providing a sealed electrical connector have been generally adequate for their intended purposes, they have not been satisfactory in all respects.

Method and apparatus involving a housing with a sealed electrical connector


A roof bow for a vehicle is provided that has a “bow-tie” shape including a central portion flanked by two triangular portions. The triangular portions are joined to right and left roof brackets that are, in turn, joined to right and left roof rails. The bow-tie roof bow may be assembled from extruded tubular parts. The bow-tie roof bow may be assembled in a clamshell structure including an upper shell and a lower shell that are joined together by welding. The roof bow may be formed in one piece as a sheet metal stamping having side portions that are wider than the central portion.

Roof bows are attached to vehicle roof structures to strengthen the roof and support the roof rails. Current roof rail designs include a rail that extends transversely across the vehicle roof from one roof rail to the other roof rail and have a substantially uniform width as measured in the fore-and-aft direction. Such roof rails do not include lateral supporting reinforcements between the windshield header rail, the rail extending between the B-pillars, and the rail extending between the C-pillars.
Vehicles are subjected to Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) tests in the United States. In FMVSS Side Pole Impact Tests a pole is impacted by the test vehicle that may engage the vehicle in a location where the roof rail is not supported by a transversely extending rail. The unsupported portion of the roof rail may allow unacceptable intrusions into the passenger compartment. Vehicles are also subjected to FMVSS Roof Crush Tests that apply an impact load to the vehicle roof in the area of the roof rail.
Improving test results in the above FMVSS tests is normally addressed by increasing the section size and the thickness of the parts of the roof rail. Increasing the section size and thickness of the roof rails adds weight to the vehicle and may reduce visibility below the roof rail. It is a current objective to reduce vehicle weight to achieve greater fuel efficiency. Any increase in weight is considered to be a problem.
The use of a K-shaped roof bow has been proposed to improve test performance that is joined to the roof rail by welds and rivets. A K-shaped roof bow joined by welds or rivets to the roof rail may separate in the test and limit the effectiveness of such a design in transferring loads from the roof rails to the K-shaped roof bow.
This disclosure is directed to addressing the above problems and other problems as summarized below.


A method is described for regulating the average electromagnetic torque of a polyphase rotating electrical machine, supplied with a polyphase voltage and a polyphase current that are generated by an inverter. The method comprises a step of controlling the machine, using an exact response control process to do this, a step of determining the value of the harmonics of the voltage and/or the current which are generated by the inverter, and a step of calculating the instantaneous torque set point as a function of the value of the harmonics and an average torque set point, so as to produce an instantaneous torque set point suitable for limiting the difference between the average of the instantaneous electromagnetic torque, between two successive regulation times, and said average torque set point.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method and a system for regulating the average electromagnetic torque of a polyphase rotating electrical machine equipped with stator and/or rotor windings. The invention also relates to storage media and a data structure for carrying out this method.
2. Description of the Prior Art
To be more precise, the invention relates to a method for regulating a machine in which the stator and/or rotor windings are supplied with a polyphase voltage and a polyphase current that are generated by an inverter, the inverter being formed by switches whose switching is controllable, this method including:
a control step of switching the switches as a function of an instantaneous torque set point, using an exact response control process to do this so that the instantaneous torque set point is reached as soon as the next regulation time, and
a step at each regulation time of calculating, from an average torque set point, the instantaneous torque set point to be applied so that the average of the instantaneous electromagnetic torque of the machine converges toward said average torque set point.
In the remainder of the description, the term "motor" will be used to denote a polyphase rotating electrical machine, and the term "torque" will be used to denote the electromagnetic torque of this kind of machine.
The above methods have a very wide regulation dynamic range since the instantaneous torque set point can be modified at each regulation time, and it is reached as soon as the next regulation time.
Such control methods are thus particularly useful for applications in which the torque set point changes abruptly. For example, these methods are used to control drive motors of a rolling mill.
However, when the instantaneous torque set point is obtained by simple equalization, for example by assimilating the average torque set point with the instantaneous torque set point, there is a difference between the value of the average torque set point and the average of the instantaneous torque between two successive regulation times. The average torque set point is therefore either never reached perfectly, or it is reached by forming the average of the instantaneous torque over a large number of regulation times, so that the method no longer has a wide regulation dynamic range.
It is therefore an object of the invention to overcome this drawback by providing a method for regulating the average electromagnetic torque which has a wide regulation dynamic range.
The invention therefore relates to a method for regulating the average electromagnetic torque as described above, which method includes a step of determining the value of the harmonics of the voltage and/or the current which are generated by the inverter, and the instantaneous torque set point is also established during the calculation step as a function of this value of the harmonics, so as to produce an instantaneous torque set point suitable for limiting the difference between the average of the instantaneous electromagnetic torque, between two successive regulation times, and said average torque set point.
It has been found that the difference between the average torque set point and the average of the instantaneous torque between two successive regulation times is due to the fact that the inverter cannot generate perfectly sinusoidal voltages or currents from a direct current voltage. In reality, the voltage and the current that are generated are resolved into a sinusoidal component at a fundamental frequency and into sinusoidal components with higher frequencies, corresponding to the harmonics with an order greater than or equal to two. The fundamental frequency sinusoidal component is simply referred to here as the fundamental, whereas the higher frequency sinusoidal components are referred to as harmonics.
The fundamental creates a constant torque Γm over a fundamental period. The harmonics generate an oscillating secondary torque with a higher frequency. The instantaneous torque Γs of the motor is the result of superposition of the torque Γm and the oscillating torque. The oscillating torque and the torque Γm are mutually independent. The known methods, which calculate an instantaneous torque set point only as a function of the average torque set point, do not therefore take the oscillating torque into account. Even if, for example, the instantaneous torque at each regulation time is strictly identical to the average torque set point, the average of the instantaneous torque Γs between two successive regulation times will therefore not be equal to this average torque set point, since the instantaneous torque varies between these two times owing to the oscillating torque. The oscillating torque is therefore responsible for the difference between the average torque set point and the average of the instantaneous torque. This difference increases commensurately when the amplitude of the oscillating torque is large. Since the oscillating torque is created by voltage and/or current harmonics, the value of this difference is therefore a function of the value of the harmonics.
The above method corrects the deficiency of the known methods by taking into account not only the average torque set point, but also the value of the current and/or voltage harmonics, for calculating the instantaneous torque set point.

Method and system for regulating the average electromagnetic torque of a rotating electrical machine, storage medium and data structure for carrying out the method


An alphanumeric keyboard for use with a host computer is disclosed the alphanumeric keyboard has a plurality of alphanumeric keys; and a sound reproducing system. The sound reproducing system includes a data processor for controlling operating functions of the sound reproducing system; and an audio processor for receiving at least one of a plurality of audio input and providing at least one analog audio output. There is also a keyboard controller for sensing use of one or more of the plurality of alphanumeric keys and passing of keyboard scan code to the host computer. The keyboard controller further enables the use of predetermined keys of the plurality of alphanumeric keys for providing user input to the control of the operating function. A connection to the host computer provides a first of a plurality of digital audio inputs; a multi-channel digital audio input/output connection provides a second of the plurality of digital audio inputs; and a MIDI input/output connection provides digital data to be converted to digital audio to provide a third of the plurality of digital audio inputs.

Most computers sold now have numerous connection ports for peripherals such as, for example, loud speakers, a keyboard, a mouse, one or two printers, external disk drivers, MP3 recorders/players, and so forth. The majority of the connectors are on the rear panel of the processor cover. This makes access difficult.
There have been many proposals for "multi-media" keyboards whereby the alphanumeric keyboard for a computer has built in speakers. In the majority of cases, the signal supply to the keyboard is output from the sound card of the computer—as analog audio—and is fed via cables to the keyboard and hence the speakers. Being analog audio, the sound quality is not good. Many such keyboards have complex additional functional controls, plural connections to the host computer, and have in-built sound functionality in addition to those of the host computer. They may also require additional power inputs.


An enzyme having an activity of transferring N-acetylglucosamine to the non-reducing end of a Galβ1-4Glc or Galβ1-4GlcNAc-group via a β-1,3 bond; a nucleic acid encoding the same; and a method of diagnosing cancer and/or tumor, in particular, digestive cancer and/or tumor using the expression dose of a gene of the above enzyme as an indication. A gene of a novel enzyme having an activity of transferring N-acetylglucosamine to the non-reducing end of a Gal β1-4Glc or Gal β1-4GlcNAc-group via a β-1,3 bond is cloned from human stomach cells and its base sequence is determined. Then this enzyme is expressed. Since this enzyme is scarcely or never produced in cancer and/or tumor, in particular, digestive cancer and/or tumor cells, cancer and/or tumor can be diagnosed with the use of the expression of the enzyme gene as an indication.

Five types of enzymes are known, having an activity to transfer N-acetylglucosamine to a non-reducing terminal of Galβ1-4Glc or Galβ1-4GlcNAc group through β1,3-linkage, which activity is involved in the synthesis of polylactosamine sugar chains (Togayachi, A. et al., J Biol Chem, 2001, 276, 22032–40; Shiraishi, N. et al., J Biol Chem, 2001, 276, 3498–507; Sasaki, K et al., Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 1997, 94, 14294–9). However, although the amount of polylactosamine on cell surfaces is increased by making the cells express the gene of the enzyme, some of the enzymes expressed have very low activities. Thus, although it is thought that the enzymes which produce polylactosamine have different characteristics, the characterization of the enzymes has not been sufficient. Therefore, to prepare or produce the polylactosamine sugar chain structure which requires the enzyme activity, it is necessary to chemically synthesize the structure, isolating the structure from a biological component or to synthesize the structure enzymatically using a tissue homogenate.
It is known that sugar chain structures such as Lewis antigen exist on the sugar chain structures based on polylactosamine sugar chains (Kannagi R. Glycoconj J. 1997 August; 14(5):577–84. Review; Nishihara S et al., J Biol. Chem. 1994 Nov. 18; 269(46):29271–8). Similarly, it is said that the structures such as the lengths of polylactosamine sugar chains are involved in cellular immunity by NK cells or the like (Ohyama C et a., EMBO J. 1999 Mar. 15; 18(6):1516–25). Similarly, it is known that human stomach tissue is infected with Helicobacter pylori through a related sugar chain such as Lewis antigen (Wang G et al., Mol Microbiol. 2000 June; 36(6):1187–96. Review; Falk PG et al., Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 1995 Feb. 28; 92(5):1515–9). Thus, if the gene of an enzyme having an activity to transfer N-acetylglucosamine to a non-reducing terminal of Galβ1-4Glc or Galβ1-4GlcNAc group through β1,3-linkage can be cloned, and if the enzyme can be produced by a genetic engineering process using the gene, an antibody to the enzyme may also be produced. Therefore, these are useful for the diagnoses, therapies and prophylactics of cancers, immune diseases and infectious diseases by pylori. However, the enzyme has not yet been purified or isolated, and there is no clue to the isolation of the enzyme and identification of the gene. As a result, an antibody to the enzyme has not been prepared.

N-acetylglucosamine transferase, nucleic acid encoding the same and use thereof in diagnosing cancer and/or tumor

National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology


Disclosed is a workstring for use in a gravel packing system. The workstring includes a washpipe with at least one port and a selectively openable and closeable closure mechanism in operable communication with the at least one port.

In the hydrocarbon recovery industry, gravel packs have longed been used to help prevent unconsolidated formations from collapsing and occluding a borehole therein while also filtering some of the granular material that would otherwise be entrained with the desired production fluid. As wellbore technology is developed, allowing for multilateral well systems, including highly deviated and even horizontal systems, the hydrocarbon industry has had increasing interest in creating horizontal gravel packs for similar reasons as their vertical predecessors were employed. In some cases, such horizontal gravel packs are extremely long. While the pack itself is still quite capable of performing as intended, an issue presents itself with respect to the formation. When an extremely long gravel pack is created, the fluid pressure developed and applied at surface that is required to continue the gravel packing operation as the pack gets longer and longer is continually higher. At a point, such pressure will be damaging to the formation, which is undesirable. Therefore, it has been discovered that it is desirable to create an auxiliary valve system which shortens the escape path of the gravel pack fluid thereby reducing the overall pressure required to complete the packing operation. A device and method to accomplish shortening of such path is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,311,772 to Myhre et al. and owned by the assignee hereof, Baker Hughes Incorporated, Houston, Tex. That device functions extraordinarily well for its intended purpose and does indeed reduce pressures substantially, and to well below levels associated with problems for the formation. Unfortunately, however, the device described in the '772 patent also leaves a washpipe that is not capable of conveying fluids to the bottom of the well because it has in general, a plurality of now open valves over its length, those valves having been opened sequentially by pressure activation to shorten the escape path for the gravel pack slurry fluid. Since it is often desirable to provide to the downhole most end of the workstring a stimulation fluid and operator is required to pull the workstring and in another run provide a device capable of conveying the stimulation fluid to the desired location. As one of ordinary skill in the art is all too well aware, additional runs dramatically increase costs of an operation and therefore are to be avoided. A tool capable of providing for a stimulation operation while avoiding the secondary run after the gravel packing operation would certainly be well received by the art.

Workstring and a method for gravel packing

Abstract: Further disclosed is a collet having a collet base and a plurality of collet fingers extending from the collet base. At least one of the collet fingers includes retaining feature, the retaining feature being configured to yield under bending at a selected valve.

Abstract: Yet further disclosed is a method for gravel packing. The method includes gravel packing a wellbore including opening one or more valves in a washpipe as pressure associated with the gravel packing climbs, the valves providing an escape path for a fluid component of the gravel pack to an inside dimension of the washpipe. The method further includes closing the one or more valves in the washpipe.


Disclosed are an etchant which is used for the manufacture of a semiconductor device using a semiconductor substrate having an electrode and which is capable of selectively etching copper without etching nickel, and a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device using the same. Specifically disclosed are an etchant to be used for the manufacture of a semiconductor device using a semiconductor substrate having an electrode, including hydrogen peroxide, an organic acid, and an organic phosphonic acid, wherein the organic acid is at least one member selected from citric acid and malic acid; a content of hydrogen peroxide is from 0.75 to 12% by mass; a content of the organic acid is from 0.75 to 25% by mass; and a content of the organic phosphonic acid is from 0.0005 to 1% by mass, and a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device using the etchant.

In recent years, following the requirements for downsizing of electronic appliances, downsizing, high integration and multi-functionalization of semiconductor devices to be used for the electronic appliances are being rapidly advanced, and a number of electrodes which connect a semiconductor device and an electronic appliance to each other tends to increase. As the semiconductor device to be used herein, those which have a wiring redistributed on a semiconductor pad formed of aluminum or the like and provided with a bump electrode are frequently used. In order to simultaneously cope with the downsizing of the semiconductor device and the increase of the electrode number as described above, there are proposed a variety of formation methods of a bump electrode (for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2).
In these formation methods of a bump electrode, there may be the case where an etching step of a wiring to be provided on a semiconductor pad (hereinafter also referred to merely as "electrode") is present, and copper must be etched without etching nickel which is used for the wiring.
More specifically, the formation method of a bump electrode disclosed in Patent Document 1 includes a step of etching, in which on a substrate provided with an electrode which is constituted of an electrically conductive material, a cover film which is opened in the electrode portion is provided; a base electrically conductive film formed by sputtering copper or the like, a photoresist film having an opening extending from the electrode to an area on which a bump electrode is formed, and a copper wiring and a nickel wiring in the opening by electrolytic plating are successively provided; the photoresist film is then removed; and a portion of the base electrically conductive film, which is not covered by the wirings, is etched. In etching copper which forms the base electrically conductive film in the step of etching, in order to ensure higher performances, it is desirable that the nickel wiring formed by electrolytic plating is not etched.
Also, the formation method of a bump electrode disclosed in Patent Document 2 includes an etching step in which on a semiconductor substrate having an aluminum electrode provided therewith, a seed layer is formed of titanium or copper by means of sputtering; a resist in which a portion for forming a bump electrode is opened is formed; a barrier metal layer obtained by laminating plural metals such as titanium, copper, nickel, etc. is formed in the opened area by means of electrolytic plating or the like; solder working as a bump electrode is further formed thereon by means of electrolytic plating; the resist is then removed; and the seed layer is subsequently etched. In etching titanium or copper which forms the seed layer in the step of etching, in order to ensure higher performances, it is desirable that the metal which forms the barrier metal layer, such as nickel, etc., is not etched; and that at the same time, oxidation of the bump electrode composed of solder with an etchant is prevented from occurring, thereby suppressing a reduction of performances of the electrode.
But, in the etching step of Patent Document 1 or Patent Document 2, an etchant which is used in the subject step is not sufficiently reviewed, and in etching the member such as the wiring composed of copper, or the like, even the member composed of nickel is etched, too. Also, it is highly expected that the bump electrode is oxidized, whereby its performances are reduced. As described above, with the progress of downsizing, high integration and multi-functionalization of semiconductor devices, required performances by a customer who uses the semiconductor device are becoming severe. Then, in semiconductor devices which are manufactured by a conventional manufacturing method of semiconductor devices, the tendency that the case where the subject required performances cannot be sufficiently satisfied is caused has become remarkable.

Etchant and method for manufacturing semiconductor device using same


A variable length string matcher finds the longest string in a stored sequence of data elements (e.g., in a history buffer) that matches a string in a given sequence of data elements. The matcher includes circuitry that operates iteratively to compare data elements of the strings and determine the longest matching string based on when an iteration does not result in issuance of a match signal. In another aspect, the history buffer is an associative content addressable memory (CAM), and the string matcher uses absolute addressing of the CAM to determine the longest matching string.

This invention relates to string matching.
String matching, in which the characters of one data string are matched against characters of another data string, is useful in, e.g., data compression algorithms of the kind found in data communication systems using statistical multiplexers and modems.
Referring to FIG. 1, in a classic data communication system 10 using data compression techniques, data from a sender 12 undergoes compression 14, and the compressed data is transmitted via a communication medium 16 (in FIG. 1 assumed to be an error-free communication channel). At the other end of the channel, the compressed data is decompressed 20 to recover the original data stream.
In high-bandwidth communication networks the very substantial benefits of real-time data compression tend to be offset by the computational cost associated with the compression and decompression processes.
Among known data compression algorithms is the Ziv-Lempel '77 algorithm (ZL77 for short), which belongs to the class of variable-length input and fixed-length output (V-F class) data compression algorithms.
The ZL77 algorithm is based on the simple observation that, in a continuous data stream, some data occur more than once and in particular may occur more than once within a local region of the data stream. For example, in a stream of text data, the word "the" is likely to appear frequently. If the data source keeps track of the history of data recently sent (by storing it in a so-called history buffer), it can find redundant occurrences of a sequence of data by comparing successive elements of the current data to be sent with successive elements of the stored historical data. The process of comparison is called variable length string matching. When a match is found, the sender, instead of again sending the full redundant sequence, encodes that sequence as a codeword which points to the location of the earlier occurrence of the redundant data sequence in the history buffer and refers to its length. Data compression is achieved if the number of bits required to represent the codeword is less than the number of bits required to represent the redundant data sequence. At the other end of the channel a decoder, which similarly maintains a history buffer of recently sent data, the codeword is decoded by referring to the specified place in the history buffer.
Referring to FIG. 2, for example, a history buffer 11 has 16 cells (13), which are numbered to indicate the order in which the characters of the data stream have appeared (lower numbered cells hold more recent data characters.) Data characters waiting to be sent are shown to the right of the history buffer. The next six characters to be sent are SUPERB. ZL77 determines that the first five of these waiting characters, SUPER are redundant with a like string in the history buffer, and can be encoded as a codeword 15 consisting of Index, Length, and Innovation Character fields. Index 17 has a value of 12 indicating how many characters back in the history buffer the matching string begins; Length 19 has a value of 5 and shows the length in characters of the match; and Innovation Character 21 is the first character in the waiting input string of characters that did not match the string in the history buffer.
Referring to FIG. 3, after transmitting the codeword, the data source updates its history buffer by effectively sliding old data 23 to the left and inserting the recent input data into the right of the history buffer. The process then begins again with the data source encoding the next input data.
Referring to FIG. 4, the data receiver maintains a duplicate history buffer 25 and updates it in the same way as the sender updated its history buffer. Upon receiving a codeword, the receiver uses the Index field to find the location of the longest match, and the Length to determine how many characters to read from the history buffer, also taking the Innovation Character as it appears in the codeword. Then, as shown in FIG. 5, having decoded the codeword, the receiver updates its history buffer by effectively sliding the characters in the history buffer to the left and inserting the decoded characters and Innovation Character from the right.
One hardware architecture capable of implementing string matching algorithms is content addressable memory (CAM). CAM consists of a number of cells which can store data and access the cells by their contents. During a read cycle, CAM takes data as input and outputs the address where the data is found.

Associative cam apparatus and method for variable length string matching


The present invention relates to a non-contact type battery pack charging apparatus using a magnetic field. In the non-contact type battery pack charging apparatus of the present invention, a main control unit (120) receives input data from a voltage comparison unit (140), a current comparison unit (150), a voltage detection unit (170) and a current detection unit (180), determines whether required conditions are fulfilled, such as whether an object is installed, whether the installed object is a battery pack (200), what the charge capacity of the battery pack (200) is, and whether the charging of the battery pack (200) has been completed, and controls a variable-voltage frequency generation unit (130) to be operated so as to correspond to the required conditions. Accordingly, the charging of the battery pack (200) is performed to correspond to the charging capacity of the battery pack (200) only when the battery pack (200) is installed.

As well known, a conventional battery pack charging apparatus is constructed in such a way that the charging terminals of a battery pack come in electrical contact with the charging terminals of the battery pack charging apparatus and power is supplied from the battery pack charging apparatus to the battery pack through the charging terminals of the battery pack and the battery pack charging apparatus.
However, in such a terminal contact type battery pack charging method, the charging of the battery pack is possible only when the terminals of the battery pack and the battery pack charging apparatus come in correct electrical contact with each other, so that the use of the contact type battery pack charging apparatus is considerably inconvenient. Furthermore, the positions of the charging terminals of the battery pack and the battery pack charging apparatus must be changed according to the various designs of potable devices including potable terminals, so that a problem arises in that dedicated battery pack charging apparatuses corresponding to the locations of the charging terminals of the battery pack.
To solve the problems, a non-contact type battery pack charging apparatus using a magnetic field is provided, as disclosed in Korean Pat. Appl. No. 1999-53492 and Korean Utility Model No. 2001-27153.
However, in Korean Pat. Appl. No. 1999-53492 and Korean Utility Model No. 2001-27153, a provision for satisfactorily charging battery packs having different charge capacities for a set time is not made, so that a problem arises in that the battery pack charging apparatuses corresponding to the charge capacities must be provided.
Furthermore, even though an inductive load (conductive material) other than a capacitive load is installed on the battery pack charging apparatus, the conventional non-contact type battery pack charging apparatus regards the inductive load as a capacitive load and performs charging operations, so that a problem arises in that unnecessary power consumption is incurred.

Non-contact type battery pack charging apparatus


The present disclosure provides a fingerprint recognition driving method for a display panel, the display panel including a fingerprint recognition circuit, a fingerprint recognition driving circuit and a controller, the fingerprint recognition driving circuit being used to provide a fingerprint recognition driving signal to the fingerprint recognition circuit, the fingerprint recognition driving method including: periodically arranging, by the controller, time periods for display and touch in a case that the controller does not receive a fingerprint recognition start signal; periodically arranging, by the controller, time periods for display and touch and time periods for fingerprint recognition at intervals in a case that the controller receives the fingerprint recognition start signal; generating, by the controller, a first fingerprint recognition reset signal during at least one time period for display and touch, and the fingerprint recognition driving circuit being reset under the control of the first fingerprint recognition reset signal.

Fingerprint recognition technology has been widely used in various electronic products, such as mobile phones, notebooks, tablets, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), portable electronic devices, and the like, to achieve identity recognition. A user may be easily identified with fingerprint recognition. The user only needs to place a finger on a fingerprint recognition panel or area to log in to the electronic device without having to enter a lengthy and cumbersome user name and password.
Among various types of fingerprint recognition technologies, optical fingerprint recognition solutions are usually applied to electronic products with a display screen. Generally, optical fingerprint recognition solutions may be integrated with touch solutions and display solutions. Thus, fingerprint recognition operation, display operation and display touch operation (one or a combination of display operation and display touch operation is referred to as display touch operation) can be implemented simultaneously in electronic devices.
In order to reduce the size of a display apparatus, in-display fingerprint sensing technology may be used to make a fingerprint sensing area overlapped within a display area of a display panel. In-display fingerprint recognition is to embed a fingerprint recognizer array inside the display panel. That is, a display panel with an in-display fingerprint recognition function has an array of display units and an array of in-display fingerprint recognizers. In the case that the display panel further has a touch sensing function, the display panel may have an array of display units, an array of in-display touch sensors, and an array of in-display fingerprint recognizers. Since the fingerprint recognizer array is embedded inside the display panel, operations of the display function and/or the touch sensing function often affect/interfere with operations of the fingerprint recognition function. For in-display fingerprint recognition, how to arrange display driving periods, touch sensing periods, and fingerprint recognition periods is a technical issue.
It should be noted that the content of the "BACKGROUND" paragraphs is used to help understand the present invention. Part of (or all of) the content disclosed in the "BACKGROUND" paragraphs may not be a prior technology known to those with ordinary knowledge in the art. Although disclosed in the "BACKGROUND" paragraphs, it does not mean that this content has been known to those with ordinary knowledge in the art before the application of the present invention.

Fingerprint recognition driving method for display panel


To provide a nondestructive-read ferroelectric memory capable of realizing high speed, high integration, and long service life.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a ferroelectric memory device serving as a nonvolatile memory for reading data without destructing the data in order to lengthen the service life for the number of read times of a memory cell and further accelerate the access time.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, the significance of a nonvolatile memory in which data can be electrically written or whose data can be erased has been increased in the memory field. Though there are various types of nonvolatile memories, a ferroelectric memory is noticed from the viewpoints of high-speed performance, low-voltage characteristic, and low power consumption. There are various specific configurations of a ferroelectric memory as shown below.
A ferroelectric memory using a ferroelectric capacitor is known which defines two states in accordance with a remanent polarization state in a ferroelectric film. This capacitor detects an internal storage state of 1 or 0 by generating the internal polarization state of 1 or 0 in accordance with the way of applying two types of voltages equal to or higher than the coercive voltage of a ferroelectric thin film and having two different polarities to the ferroelectric capacitor, passing through a storage state due to remanent polarization, and applying voltage equal to or higher than the coercive electric field of the ferroelectric thin film to fetch electric charges. FIGS. 57, 58, 59 are illustrations for explaining the ferroelectric memory.
FIG. 57 is a sectional view showing a structure of a ferroelectric capacitor. As shown in FIG. 57, the ferroelectric capacitor has a structure for holding a ferroelectric thin film 5740 constituted of an inorganic ferroelectric by a first terminal 5741 constituted of a metallic electrode and a second terminal 5742 constituted of a metallic electrode.
FIG. 58 shows a polarization-charge-applied-voltage characteristic of the ferroelectric capacitor shown in FIG. 57. In FIG. 58, curved lines passing through four characteristic points 5801, 5802, 5803, and 5804 show characteristics of applied voltage V and internal polarization charge Q applied between the first terminal 5741 and the second terminal 5742 of the ferroelectric capacitor in FIG. 57.
The characteristic point 5801 shows a state of applying positive high voltage V to the second terminal 5742 from the first terminal 5741 and the characteristic point 5802 shows a state of applying positive high-voltage V to the first terminal 5741 from the second terminal 5742. At the characteristic points 5801 and 5802, internal polarization causes polarization reverse in positive and negative states.
When releasing a potential difference between the first terminal 5741 and the second terminal 5742 of the ferroelectric capacitor under the state of the characteristic point 5801 as 0, the internal polarization is kept as remanent polarization and becomes the state shown at the characteristic point 5804. Moreover, when releasing a potential difference between the first terminal 5741 and the second terminal 5742 of the ferroelectric capacitor under the state of the characteristic point 5802 as 0, internal polarization is kept as remanent polarization and becomes the state shown at the characteristic point 5803.
Thus, because the ferroelectric capacitor has the hysteresis characteristic shown in FIG. 3, it releases terminals at the both ends of a ferroelectric capacitor and has different remanent polarization depending on a previous state even if setting voltage to 0. The remanent polarization can store data by corresponding to the characteristic points 5803 and 5804.
When applying voltage V (ΔVB) to the second terminal 5742 on the basis of the first terminal 5741 from a state in which the terminals at the both ends of the ferroelectric capacitor are released, the characteristic point moves to the characteristic point 5801. In this case, when the previous state is at the characteristic point 5803, electric charges of ΔQHB shown in FIG. 58 are fetched, while when it is at the characteristic point 5804, electric charges of ΔQLB are fetched. As shown in FIG. 58, because ΔQLB<<ΔQHB, it is possible to determine the previous state stored as remanent polarization as 1 or 0 in accordance with the fetched number of electric charges.
The circuit shown in FIG. 59 is known as a specific circuit for performing the above operations.
As shown in FIG. 59, this circuit is constituted of a ferroelectric capacitor 5911 and an N-type insulating-gate field-effect transistor (hereafter referred to as MOSFET) 5912 and includes a word line (WL) 5913, bit line (BL) 5914, and plate line (PL) 5915. In this case, the MOSFET is an abbreviation of a Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistor.
More minutely, the word line 5913 is connected to the gate electrode of the MOSFET 5912. The bit line 5914 is connected to an electrode serving as a source or drain of the MOSFET 5912. Moreover, the plate line 5915 is connected to one end of the ferroelectric capacitor 5911. The other end of the ferroelectric capacitor 5911 is connected to an electrode serving as a drain or source of the MOSFET 5912.
The circuit in FIG. 59 constituted as described above supplies potential to be applied to the ferroelectric capacitor 5911 to the bit line 5914 and plate line 5915 and turns on/off the MOSFET 5912 by the word line 5913 and thereby, performs the write operation and read operation of the above described electric charges.
In this case, the above method fetches electric charges when reading data. That is, because data is destructed, the above method is a method generally referred to as destructive read and an example of this method is disclosed in JP11-39882A (hereinafter referred to as Patent Document 1).
There is a method referred to as a nondestructive read in which data is not destructed when it is read. By improving a material of a ferroelectric thin film, there is a method for detecting a difference between output electric charges due to a difference between operating points when a weak voltage is applied to a ferroelectric capacitor due to a difference between inclinations of characteristics corresponding the characteristic points 6003 and 6004 shown in FIG. 60 by assuming the polarization-charge-applied-voltage hysteresis characteristic to be asymmetric as shown in FIG. 60. Examples of this method are disclosed in JP2-198094A and JP5-82800A (hereinafter referred to as Patent Documents 2 and 3).
Moreover, as shown in FIGS. 61 and 62, there is a structure in which a ferroelectric thin film 6100 is formed at the gate portion of a field-effect transistor, voltage equal to or higher than the coercive voltage of the ferroelectric thin film 6100 is applied between a gate electrode 6101 and a substrate 6109 or to a source electrode 6102 and drain electrode 6103 to make the ferroelectric thin film 6100 generate polarization so as to store data in accordance with the state of remanent polarization even after the applied voltage is removed. This can detect a written polarization direction, that is, a difference of 1 or 0 because electric charges induced by the channel of a field-effect transistor depend on the remanent polarization and become a difference between threshold voltages, and flowing current values are different.
A field-effect transistor having a ferroelectric thin film at its gate portion may be referred to as MFSFET. In this case, the MFSFET is an abbreviation of a Metal-Ferroelectrics-Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistor.
In FIG. 61, potential 0 is applied to the gate electrode 6101 through the word line 6104 and a positive potential V equal to or higher than coercive voltage is applied to the source electrode 6102 and drain electrode 6103 through the first bit line 6105 and second bit line 6106, and the ferroelectric thin film 6100 causes the polarization of a positive electrode at the gate side and the polarization of a negative electrode at the substrate side.
Moreover, in FIG. 62, positive potential V equal to or higher than coercive voltage is applied to the gate electrode 6101 through the word line 6104 and potential 0 is applied to the source electrode 6102 and drain electrode 6103 through the first bit line 6105 and second bit line 6106, and the ferroelectric thin film 6100 causes negative-electrode polarization at the gate side and positive-electrode polarization at the substrate 6109 side.
When reading data, there is a method for detecting a difference between currents flowing through an MFSFET by using a difference between the remanent polarizations as a change in threshold voltages of the MFSFET. As an example of this, there is JP2002-543627A (hereinafter referred to as Patent Document 4).

Abstract: The present invention is provided with an MFSFET 100 having a ferroelectric thin film at its gate portion, word line 104, bit line 105, and bit line 106 so as to apply voltage equal to or higher than the coercive electric field of the ferroelectric thin film between the bit line 105 and the word line 104 at first write timing and apply voltage equal to or higher than the coercive electric field between the bit line 106 and the word line 104 at second write timing, and applies voltage equal to or lower than the coercive electric field of the ferroelectric thin film between the bit line 105 and the word line 104 at first read timing to detect the current flowing between the both bit lines, and applies voltage equal to or lower than the coercive electric field between the bit line 106 and the word line 104 at second read timing to detect the current flowing between the both bit lines.


Process for the preparation of water continuous emulsions, containing 10 to 60 wt. % of dispersed oil. The emulsion contains protein obtained from egg, milk, vegetables or fruit, but no substantial amounts of polysaccharide thickeners. The process comprises the following steps (not necessarily in the indicated order) a. dispersing or dissolving the protein in either an aqueous phase or an oil phase, b. mixing the aqueous phase and the oil phase so that a coarse emulsion comprising oil droplets results, c. homogenizing the emulsion until the D.sub.3,2 ! size of at least 95% of the oil droplets is less than 5 .mu.m, d. acidifying the emulsion until a pH 3.5 to 4.5 is attained, e. adding, under shear conditions, an aqueous electrolyte solution to the emulsion having a temperature of 10.degree. to 55.degree. C. The electrolyte addition causes flocculation of the emulsion. This flocculation increases the viscosity and imparts an attractive texture to the food dressing.

Mayonnaise is a water continuous emulsion, containing 80 wt. % of dispersed oil. In order to impart proper stability and texture to mayonnaises with a reduced fat content, particularly 40 wt. % or less, it is necessary to incorporate auxiliary ingredients in the mayonnaise, particularly lipid emulsifiers and polysaccharide thickeners, such as gums and starch derivatives. Often, however, the thickeners have an adverse effect on taste and mouthfeel. Moreover, such auxiliary ingredients have to be declared on the label, unless they are considered natural. Presently, many consumers prefer industrially prepared food to have a minimum amount of added emulsifiers and thickeners. It is a problem to find natural ingredients with a functionality which can impart to low fat food dressings in general, and to low fat mayonnaise in particular, a smooth, either spoonable or pourable, rheology.
The solution mentioned in JP 06/054 662 (KAO Corp.) realizes a proper texture by using 1 to 10% of egg, milk or soyabean derived protein, which is dissolved in a water continuous emulsion containing 10 to 60 wt. % of dispersed oil. For maximum thickening, the pH of the dressing is adjusted to the protein's isoelectric point which is, however, much higher than the optimum pH for microbiological stability. When lowering to the optimum pH for microbiological safety, the thickening effect quickly disappears and a dressing results which is too thin. Moreover, the oil droplets of this prior art's dressing should be comminuted so that greater than 80% of them have an extremely small size of less than 1 .mu.m, otherwise no proper texture is obtained.
The article `Whey protein and the properties of salad dressing` in Deutsche Milchwirtschaft, 1993, 44(21) p. 1054, by G. Muschiolik et al, discusses the effects of pH and salt content on protein-stabilised emulsion systems. It states that the addition of salt has little or no influence on the consistency of systems containing acid, such as salad dressings. From FIG. 3, it is apparent that the addition of salt either before or after high-pressure homogenisation has little effect on the consistency of systems containing acid.
Similar conclusions are reached in the article `Investigation of the function of whey protein preparations in oil-in-water emulsions` by G. Muschiolik et al, from Proc. Food Macromolecules and Colloids Symposium, 1994, Dijon, which also discusses the effects of pH and salt content on protein-stabilised oil-in-water emulsions.
The article `Heat stability of oil-in-water emulsions containing milk proteins: effect of ionic strength and pH` by Hunt and Dalgleish, in the Journal of Food Science, Vol. 60, No. 5, 1995, p. 1120 examines the heat-stability of acidic emulsions containing whey protein and KCl.
The present invention seeks to provide a process for preparing an improved aqueous-continuous emulsion.

Thomas J. Lipton Co., Division of Conopco, Inc.


A first base station apparatus that forms a first cell, the first base station apparatus includes an assigning unit that assigns a radio resource for a control channel between a mobile station apparatus and the first base station apparatus, and a first transmitting unit that transmits radio resource information indicating the radio resource assigned for the control channel to the second base station apparatus forming a second cell that is different from the first cell.

A radio access network provided in a mobile communication system includes mobile station apparatuses used by users, and base station apparatuses each of which is connected to mobile station apparatuses through a radio interface, and is connected to a ground-based communication network. Each base station apparatus forms a cover area referred to as a cell, and establishes a radio link with the mobile station apparatuses located in the cell which is subject to cover. A base station apparatus receives an uplink radio signal transmitted by mobile station apparatuses in a cell, and transfers user data transmitted from mobile station apparatuses to the ground-based network.
As prior art, a wireless base station that prevents deterioration in reception quality due to of interference of a downlink signal from another base station is proposed. The wireless base includes a reference information storing unit for storing reference information necessary for receiving a control signal transmitted from a mobile station, a first control signal receiving unit for receiving a first uplink control signal used by a mobile station connected to the wireless base station to notify the wireless base station of a reception state of the downlink signal, and for requesting the power control unit to control the power based on the received first uplink control signal, and a second control signal receiving unit for receiving a second uplink control signal used by a mobile station connected to the neighbor base station to notify the neighbor base station of a reception state of the downlink signal and, by referring to the reference information stored in the reference information storing unit, for requesting the power control unit to control the power based on a content of the received second uplink control signal. The transmission power of the downlink signal is controlled based on the request to control the transmission power from the first control signal receiving unit and the request to control the transmission power from the second control signal receiving unit. Related art is disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publications No. 2009-302614.

Base station apparatus, communication system, and communication method


Systems and methods are provided for fuel cell stack heat treatment. An eductor may be used to recycle air into the air inlet stream or to recycle fuel into the fuel inlet stream. An eductor may also be used to exhaust air away from the furnace. The stack heat treatment may include stack sintering or conditioning. The conditioning may be conducted without using externally supplied hydrogen.

The present invention relates generally to the field of fuel cell fabrication and more particularly to fuel cell stack sintering and conditioning methods and apparatus.
Solid oxide fuel cells ("SOFC's") are solid-state devices which use an oxygen ion conducting ceramic electrolyte to produce electrical current by transferring oxygen ions from an oxidizing gas stream at the cathode of the fuel cell to a reducing gas stream at the anode of the fuel cell. The oxidizing flow is typically air, while the fuel flow may be a hydrocarbon fuel, such as methane, natural gas, pentane, ethanol, or methanol. The fuel cell, operating at a typical temperature between 750° C. and 950° C., enables the transport of negatively charged oxygen ions from the cathode flow stream to the anode flow stream, where the ion combines with either free hydrogen or hydrogen in a hydrocarbon molecule to form water vapor and/or with carbon monoxide to form carbon dioxide. The excess electrons from the negatively charged ion are routed back to the cathode side of the fuel cell through an electrical circuit completed between anode and cathode, resulting in an electrical current flow through the circuit.
Fuel cell stacks are frequently built from a multiplicity of cells in the form of planar elements, tubes, or other geometries. Fuel cell stacks, particularly those with planar geometry, often use seals between electrolyte and interconnect surfaces to contain fuel and air at various locations within the stack. The stacks are often internally manifolded for fuel and/or air flow, and the ceramic electrolyte material may include internal openings or holes to accommodate fluid flow within the stack.
Fuel cell stack fabrication may require sintering of the fuel cells and separate conditioning of the fuel cells. During fuel cell stack sintering and conditioning the appropriate environment should be provided in the anode and cathode of the fuel cells. Previously, blowers and mass flow controllers have regulated the process gas flows from external gas supplies to the cell anode and cathode electrodes and the process gases have been exhausted after they pass through the fuel cell stack. Gas pre-heaters and heating coils have been used to regulate the heat input into the anode and cathode process gases. During the conditioning of fuel cell stacks, hydrogen from on-site generation or from off-site delivery is used to characterize the fuel cell stacks.
The fabrication of fuel cell stacks may involve a large number of complex process steps. Each process step needs to be carefully designed and process interactions considered in order to create a functioning product with high yield. In the fabrication process the fuel cell stacks and components may go through several thermal processes. The thermal gradients in those components can cause failures such as cracks or warping resulting in bad fuel cell stacks. Previous process controls have been implemented at the end user level. If a bad fuel cell stack was received by the end user, then the fabrication process was changed. If a good fuel cell stack was received by the end user, then the fabrication process continued unchanged. The previous process controls were slow to respond to problems, expensive, and did not increase fuel cell stack quality.

Solid oxide fuel cell stack heat treatment methods and apparatus


A heat sink for integrated circuits is limited substantially to heat transfer fins on one or more heat pipe tubes, the tube(s) functioning as a base for the heat sink. The heat pipe tube has a flattened oval cross-section and can snap-fit in openings through the fins. The tube is exposed on one side of the heat sink for contact with the heat generating circuit. The fins can be flat or irregular and can have a collar engaging the heat pipe tube. In one example, the heat pipe runs perpendicular to vertical fins along the bottom of a standing fin stack. In another embodiment two U-shaped heat pipe tubes carry a layered stack, the bottom of the U-shapes being presented under the lowermost in the stack. A clamp urges the heat sink against the heat source.

Various electrical semiconductor devices, such as large scale integrated circuits, voltage regulators, current switching devices, high speed or high current circuits and other similar devices, generate heat that can be deleterious to their own operation and must be dissipated. If the ambient air adjacent to the circuit is at a lower temperature than the circuit device, some heat energy is dissipated by heating of the ambient air. The relatively hot circuit device heats the relatively cooler air that comes into contact with the circuit device. The heated air is circulated by convection and replaced by cooler air, thus moving heat energy away from its source.
The rate of heat energy transfer frequently must be sufficient to keep the heat source below some specified limiting temperature. A number of techniques are used to facilitate movement and dissipation of thermal energy from a heat source. Some techniques rely on the nature of the heat sink, which could comprise a solid, liquid or gaseous medium. Other techniques rely on unique structural attributes. It is possible to use different mediums together. It is possible to vary the structural attributes to meet various objectives. Such objectives include the heat transfer rate, the thermal inertia of the sink, its size and weight, manufacturing and material costs, etc.
For dissipation of heat energy into the air, for example, maximizing the surface area of air contact is a consideration, often leading to heat sink structures with thin metal plates or fins for thermal conduction. Consideration also must be given to how the heat is coupled into the fins, often leading to solid metal base plate blocks for contact with the heat source, the base plate block being cast integrally with fins. Structures can be provided to engage with the base plate block, such as clamps or springs and for mounting of a supplemental fan to force air over the fins.
One technique for moving heat energy, which technique is very apt for compact or portable devices having digital processors or the like that generate substantial resistive heating, is to employ a heat pipe configuration to move heat energy from point to point. In a heat pipe arrangement, a captive heat transfer fluid typically is provided in closed thermally conductive envelope. The fluid circulates in a manner whereby heat is taken up at a point that is in thermal contact with the heat source, and the heat is released at a point in thermal contact with a heat sink.
The thermal path advantageously employs a cycle of phase changes of the heat transfer medium. The heat transfer medium is brought in a liquid phase to an evaporator. Heat from the circuit or other heat source boils or vaporizes the heat transfer medium at the evaporator. The resulting gaseous phase diffuses through the envelope and encounters a condenser associated with a heat sink. At the condenser, the gaseous phase is cooled and condenses back to a liquid. A return flow path re-circulates the condensed liquid phase back to the evaporator, closing the loop. In a heat pipe, capillary flow through a wicking material can provide the return flow path. The typical return flow path in the case of a thermo-siphon is gravity driven. Each phase change stores or releases a quantity of heat energy due to the latent thermal energy involved in the phase change itself.
Phase change heat exchange circuits as described can operate with a very modest temperature difference between the source (evaporator) and the sink (condenser) while moving heat energy. Nevertheless, it is a typical attribute of most heat pipe designs that a discrete area of the conductive envelope functions as the evaporator, and a different area that is more or less remote from the evaporator functions as the condenser. If the structure of the envelope is thermally conductive and the condenser part is very close to the evaporator part, then heat energy coupled into the envelope at the evaporator tends to heat the condenser by conduction through the material of the envelope.
The ultimate object of a heat dissipation structure is to couple heat energy from the area of the evaporator to that of the condenser. The use of a heat pipe with a phase change medium has the further object of maintaining the evaporator and condenser respectively above and below the vaporization temperature of the medium. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,163,073—Patel, an integrated heat sink and heat pipe are provided. The heat sink has a cast base plate and vertically extending fins, the fins being cast integrally with the base plate. The base plate has one or more elongated openings that extend along the bottom of the base plate, and either open downwardly toward the heat source or are just barely placed below the surface so as to minimize material between the opening and the heat source. Elongated heat pipes are disposed in the elongated openings, which are exclusively within the thickness of the base plate.
The '073 Patel patent explains that the area of the heat sink is much greater than the area of the heat source. This might suggest that the area in direct contact with the heat source functions as the evaporator, and areas that are remote from the heat source function as condensers. The patent teaches that this structure reduces thermal gradients in the heat sink. If in an ideal case there is no thermal gradient across the heat sink, then at that area in contact with the heat source, the temperature of the heat sink would be as low as possible, providing good coupling of thermal energy into the heat sink. That ideal case, however, presumably would not rely on a phase change between an evaporator and a condenser.
The Patel patent teaches alternative structures for the heat pipes that are placed along the side of the base plate that is to contact the heat source. In the embodiments wherein the openings on the underside of the baseplate are channels opening at the surface, the heat pipes can be D-shaped rather than round in cross-section, with the flat side facing the heat source. The channels are complementary, with U-shaped cross-sections, providing for full surface contact.
In a different sort of finned heat pipe arrangement, for example as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,329,993—Ettehedieh, the base plate part of a finned structure carries an array of passages that function as an evaporator, and these passages are coupled to standing hollow columns that are coupled to the passages in the base plate and function as condensers. An array of parallel (horizontal) fins is coupled to the standing (vertical) columns. This arrangement has structural advantages, but is complex.
It would be advantageous if thermal efficiency, mechanical complexity and production ease could be maximized in a finned heat pipe arrangement that is at the same time compact and inexpensive.

Method for forming a heat dissipation device


Embodiments are provided to automatically target shared resources in a computer network which are pertinent to a query for information from a client and/or a server through the use of a shared resources portal. In one embodiment, a query is received in the shared resources portal from a requestor. The portal may then identify a target resource server to which to route the query by filtering the information provided by a number of shared resource servers in the network against information regarding an organizational role performed by the requester. The identified target resource server may be one which provides information pertinent to the organizational role performed by the requester. The query is then processed in the identified target resource server.

Many business organizations have a network infrastructure to allow access to shared resources by many clients having multiple roles within an organization. For example, shared resources within a business organization may be utilized by a number of different departments such as legal, engineering, sales, human resources and the like. These resources typically include data and services which may be utilized for conducting research or creating documents. As the resources provided by many business organizations may be quite substantial, an organization may further provide clients access to a centralized "intelligent" directory for locating relevant resources or other resources of interest. The intelligent directory may be a high speed database which is connected to the various resources within an organization. The intelligent directory may then be manually accessed via a web-based query interface by a client, to search for desired information. Due to limitations in conventional directory technologies, clients utilizing a present-day directory may be required to peruse through a number of listings, including documents which are irrelevant to the client's role within the organization or which the client is not permitted to access, making the searching for and accessing of shared resources very time consuming and tedious. For example, with conventional directory technologies, clients do not know the various permissions which may be associated with documents they are searching for, nor are they given a starting point for accessing relevant documents which may be pertinent to the client's role within an organization. It is with respect to these considerations and others that the various embodiments of the present invention have been made.

Automatically targeting and filtering shared network resources


A method and apparatus of gain equalization based on a wide-band multi-carrier base station calculates or tests non-uniformity of a gain of an analog intermediate frequency and a radio frequency in advance and stores corresponding correction values in tables. In an initialization period before operating, the corresponding correction values are looked up from the tables based on the analog intermediate frequency and the radio frequency corresponding to each of the carriers to implement a specific correction in a multiplier of a digital up-converter before interpolation. Under a premise that hardware is not modified and specification is not degraded, the non-uniformity of the amplitude-frequency characteristic of the respective carriers in shared channels of a transmitter is equilibrated or corrected by changing a gain-adjust-coefficient of the respective carriers, thereby significantly improving the consistency of the gain of the respective carriers and reducing consumption of resources.

Under the advancement of microelectronics technology and software technology, both wireless (e.g. cellular) communication networks and wire communication networks have been developing towards digitalization, personalization, wide-band, intelligent and multi-media. The wide-band digitalization has become the foundation in a base station system of a cellular communication network. Digital devices of an intermediate frequency portion, even a radio frequency portion, have been used to substitute analog devices. A concept of wide-band multi-carrier base station has appeared. Comparing with a narrow-band base station, a wide-band multi-carrier base station has outstanding features of generality and flexibility. For example, different band width, different system and different application required by users can be satisfied by changing software settings of a digital portion.
A gain of respective carriers of shared portions in a transmitting channel of a wide-band multi-carrier base station has a certain inconsistency. Common portions of the respective carriers of a transmitting channel of the wide-band multi-carrier base station comprise a wide-band high rate digital to analog converter (DAC), a wide-band transmitter, a wide-band linear amplifier, and an antenna feeder. The antenna feeder typically has ideal amplitude-frequency characteristics within a very wide frequency band. Therefore, the difference of the respective carriers caused by the antenna feeder is normally not considered. An output of the DAC has an amplitude-frequency characteristic according to a scrolling down Sinc function, and an output signal amplitude response at Fs/2 (Fs is clock frequency) is 3.92 dB lower than that of at 0 frequency. This is an extreme condition that is actually not used. However, if the bandwidth of a wide-band multi-carrier is larger than Fs/10, the gain difference between the respective carriers caused by the DAC will reach 0.5 dB, even 1 dB. The gain difference between the respective carriers in an operation frequency band of the wide-band transmitter and wide-band linear power amplifier can also reach 1 dB, even 2 dB. In this way, after a plurality of digital intermediate frequency signals with the same amplitude passing through the wide-band transmitter, the final output power difference of the respective carriers is possible to reach 0.5 dB, even above 2 dB.
When designing a system, it is required that each of the carriers exceed a design nominal value. For a wide-band multi-carrier system, it is required that the maximum power outputted by a carrier with the lowest gain reach the nominal value. In this way, the maximum transmitting power of the other carriers in the system can exceed the nominal value or even can reach a value above 2 dB. Thus, a larger power tolerance is reserved for the common portions of the respective carriers of a transmitting channel, particularly the power amplifier. Accordingly, this causes the difficulty of designing a system and the increasing of the cost.

Method and apparatus for gain equalization based on wide-band multi-carrier base station


Disclosed in an ink-jet head assembling method for executing alignments between a top plate and a heater board. The method comprises steps of holding the top plate by fingers, moving the fingers to bring the top plate to a position above the heater board with adhesives having been applied, releasing the holding of the fingers, enabling them to engage with an ink reception port of the top plate, and moving the fingers sideways to abut against the ink reception port, and adjusting a relative position between heaters of the heater board and nozzles of the top plate.

Present invention relates to an ink-jet head assembling method and apparatus and more particularly, to a method and apparatus assembling a head nozzle of a printing head which discharges ink, by mounting a top plate member on a heater board formed with a plurality of heaters for heating the ink, the top plate member has a plurality of nozzles corresponding to the heaters.
Conventionally, so-called bubble-jet type printing head, which heats ink to form bubbles when the ink is discharged to be printed on a paper sheet, has been developed and put into practical use. This bubble-jet type printing head is advantageous due to improving printing precision.
In an assembling apparatus for the bubble-jet type printing head, heaters for heating and boiling ink to form bubbles and discharge orifices for discharging bubbles toward a paper sheet must be precisely aligned on the order of microns. For example, in order to attain a printing precision of about 360 dpi (dots per inch), it is necessary to align 64 discharge orifices within a range of about 4.5 mm at a constant pitch, and the alignment is very small, about 70 microns.
For formation of discharge orifices at such a very small pitch, the discharge orifices can be formed with allowable predetermined high precision in an orifice plate to be attached to the front surface of a top plate member by using, e.g., an ultra-high-precision process machine such as a laser process machine. Similarly, heaters can be formed on a heater board with allowable predetermined high precision, by using an ultra-high-precision etching technique.
In a conventional assembling apparatus, a heater board and a top plate member are respectively set using special-purpose jigs so as to align them in order hat the top plate member can be placed on the heater board in a state that each axis of heaters on the heater board and the orifices formed in the orifice plate precisely coincide. Thereafter, the heater board and the top plate member are manually aligned while alternately observing the heaters and orifices using a precision microscope.
More particularly, a set of fingers to clamp the top plate member are arranged at a predetermined distance above the upper surface of the top plate member placed (temporarily placed) on the heater board. These fingers are moved in a lateral direction to engage the ink reception portion and to move the top plate member on the heater board for precisely aligning both arranging positions.
However, in the conventional apparatus, the thickness of a top plate member changes depending upon processing variations and the gap between the fingers and the upper surface of the top plate member changes, causing problems in the alignment of the top plate member and the heater board. When the thickness of the top plate member is rather thick in comparison to a fixed standard, the gap between the top plate member and the fingers is very small and the contact pressure between the heater board and the top plate member increases. This disturbs the motion of the top plate member in alignment, degrading the aligning precision, or making matters worse, resulting in breakage to the fingers. On the other hand, when the top plate member is thin, the gap between the top plate member and the fingers becomes larger than the desired amount. The top plate member is inclined to one side while it is moved in the alignment. In this case, not only the precise alignment cannot be performed, but fingers might pass over the ink reception portion, which makes the alignment impossible.
Another problem is that, in a conventional assembling apparatus, the aforementioned manual alignment of the heater board and the top plate member causes a variation among workers, a variation depending on the degree of skill of each worker, and a variation depending on the degree of fatigue of each worker. These variations impair position adjustment precision, and pose a problem in reliability of the final products. In addition, since visual measurements and manual operations of jigs are repeated, the time required for alignment is prolonged, resulting in a decrease in assembling efficiency caused by the prolonged assembling time. Furthermore, more time is required until workers become skilled.
In the conventional assembling apparatus, after the heater board and the top plate member are aligned, they are temporarily attached in a manner that a discharging needle of an adhesive supply dispenser is manually set toward a joint portion of the heater board and the top plate member, through which an ultraviolet-setting adhesive is applied, and the joint portion applied with the adhesive is radiated with the ultraviolet rays. This temporarily attached assembly is fixed on a base plate via a spring using special-purpose tools. In this conventional manner, the adhesive is delivered from the discharge needle of the dispenser after attachment of the heater board and the top plate member. In this process, the relative position between the heater board and the top plate member may shift.
Further, as the setting of the discharge needle is made by visual measurement, the management of the adhesive apply portion and apply amount is difficult. As a result, if the adhesive apply position and the apply amount are out of balance, joint states may change due to varying contraction in drying of the adhesive. If the adhesive is applied near an ink channel of the top plate member, the adhesive may penetrate into the channel to fill a nozzle hole.
If the adhesive penetrates into the ink channel which should be fixed by springs, the channel may be filled with the adhesive and the ink may not be discharged. The adhesive may further penetrate thru the joint of the top plate member and the heater board to make a gap between the top plate member and the heater board, causing a leakage of the ink between nozzles.
In the conventional assembling apparatus, when the top plate member is mounted on the heater board, in order to hold this top plate member, a sucker attached under the fingers are brought into a sucking state. A worker picks up one of the top plate members from a tray by, e.g., a pair of tweezers, moves the top plate member near to the sucker of the finger member, to have the sucker hold the top plate.
In this manual operation with visual measurement, precise alignment cannot be obtained. Further, the occurrence of variation among workers, and the fear of too much pressing to break the top plate member or the finger member are pointed out.
In the conventional assembling apparatus, one of the plurality of heaters located at the center of the heater board is specified as the reference heater. More specifically, in an image of the heater board photographed by a tool-maker's microscope, within an image area, the heater closest to the center of the image area is specified as the reference heater.
However, even when the heater board is shifted in the x-axis direction due to a shift between the heater board and the base plate or a shift between the base plate and jig clamp, the same heater pattern is displayed within the image area. Accordingly, it is difficult to distinguish heater boards shifted in the x-axis direction.
For the above reason, if a shifted heater board is attached to a top plate member, the heaters are not correctly combined with nozzle holes having corresponding numerals, and they are set shifted by one or more than two holes. As a result, the nozzle hole(s) not being combined with corresponding heater(s) at the end portion cannot discharge ink.