The present invention provides flow control for route switching in a communications system using retransmissions. It is well suited for a cellular mobile radio communications system, particularly a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System, UMTS.

Retransmission of data to or from a mobile station, MS, or user equipment, UE, is previously known. It is also known to use medium access control and radio link control layers of a UMTS protocol structure in acknowledged mode for dedicated, common and shared channels.
In acknowledged mode, retransmissions are undertaken in case of detected transmission errors not recovered by forward error control. This is also called automatic repeat request, ARQ. With ARQ, retransmissions can be undertaken unless a transmitted message is (positively) acknowledged or if it is negatively acknowledged. Generally there are time limits for the respective positive and negative acknowledgements to be considered.
Within this patent application, a radio network controller, RNC, is understood as a network element including a radio resource controller. Node B is a logical node responsible for radio transmission/reception in one or more cells to/from a User Equipment. A base station, BS, is a physical entity representing Node B.
With reference to FIG. 1, base stations >>BS 1<< and >>BS 2<< are physical entities representing Nodes B >>Node B 1<< and >>Node B 2<< respectively. Node B 1 and Node B 2 terminate the air interface, called Uu interface within UMTS, between UE and respective Node B towards the radio network controller RNC. In UMTS the interface between a Node B and an RNC is called Iub interface.
Medium access control, MAC, and radio link control, RLC, is used within radio communications systems like General Packet Radio Services, GPRS, and UMTS.
International Patent Application WO0021244 describes flow control operating in WT space, based upon measurements of number of packets (window, W) and round-trip time (time, T) for avoiding system underload/overload by adjusting packet sending rate. A terminal measures window size, round-trip time and packet losses for determining of its sending rate. Alternatively, the terminal is provided with explicit indicators of congestion status or sending rate from network nodes.
Canadian Patent Application CA02308937 discloses a method and apparatus for interconnection of flow-controlled communications. Flow control is performed by including status information in upstream direction of a bi-directional communication link revealing availability status of the channel in downstream direction. A scheduler selects channels for downstream data depending on their availability status.
International Patent Application WO0041365 demonstrates a method and system for credit-based data flow control where a receiver establishes a credit list and transfers a credit message to the sender. When the sender transfers data packets to the receiver, the credit outstanding is reduced. The sender transfers packets only as long as its credit is not consumed. With no credit available, the sender refrains from transmitting packets to the receiver until it achieves new credits.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,831,985 describes a method and system for flow control of communications over a fiber channel. A switch allocates connection line capacity to data sources in relation to their priority and credit available to the source.
3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP): Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network, UTRAN Overall Description, 3G TS 25.401 v3.6.0, France, March 2001, specifies in section 11.1 a general protocol model for UTRAN interfaces. In subsection 11.2.5 a model of a DSCH (Downlink Shared Channel) transport channel for co-incident and separate controlling and serving RNCs respectively. A DSCH is a downlink channel shared dynamically between UEs. It carries dedicated control or traffic data.
3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP): Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network, Radio Interface Protocol Architecture, 3G TS 25.301 v3.6.0, France, September 2000, describes in paragraph 220.127.116.11 a model of a DSCH, an RACH/FACH and a DCH in UTRAN.
FIG. 2 displays a simplified UMTS layers 1 and 2 protocol structure for a Uu Stratum, UuS, or Radio Stratum, between a user equipment UE and a Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network, UTRAN. The radio interface includes three protocol layers:                physical layer L1,        data link layer L2 and        network layer L3.
Two of the protocol layers (L1 and L2) are included in FIG. 2. The data link layer is split into four sub-layers: PDCP (Packet Data Convergence Protocol), BMC (Broadcast/Multicast Control), RLC (Radio Link Control) and MAC (Medium Access Control).
Radio Access Bearers, RABs, are associated with the application for transportation of services between core network, CN, and user equipment, UE, through a radio access network. Each RAB is associated with quality attributes such as service class, guaranteed bit rate, transfer delay, residual BER (Bit Error Rate), and traffic handling priority. An RAB may be assigned one or more Radio Bearers, RBs, being responsible for the transportation between UTRAN and UE. For each mobile station there may be one or several RBs representing a radio link comprising one or more channels between UE and UTRAN. Data flows (in the form of segments) of the RBs are passed to respective Radio Link Control, RLC, entities which amongst other tasks buffer the received data segments. There is one RLC entity for each RB. In the RLC layer, RBs are mapped onto respective logical channels. A Medium Access Control, MAC, entity receives data transmitted in the logical channels and further maps logical channels onto a set of transport channels. In accordance with subsection 22.214.171.124 of the 3GPP technical specification, MAC should support service multiplexing e.g. for RLC services to be mapped on the same transport channel. In this case identification of multiplexing is contained in the MAC protocol control information.
Transport channels are finally mapped to a single physical channel which has a total bandwidth allocated to it by the network. In frequency division duplex mode, a physical channel is defined by code, frequency and, in the uplink, relative phase (I/Q). In time division duplex mode a physical channel is defined by code, frequency, and time-slot. The DSCH, e.g., is mapped onto one or several physical channels such that a specified part of the downlink resources is employed. As further described in subsection 5.2.2 of the 3GPP technical specification the L1 layer is responsible for error detection on transport channels and indication to higher layer, FEC (Forward Error Correction) encoding/decoding and interleaving/deinterleaving of transport channels.
Packet Data Convergence Protocol, PDCP, provides mapping between Network PDUs (Protocol Data Units) of a network protocol, e.g. the Internet protocol, to an RLC entity. PDCP compresses and decompresses redundant Network PDU control information (header compression and decompression).
For transmissions on point-to-multipoint logical channels, Broadcast/Multicast Control, BMC, stores at UTRAN-side Broadcast Messages received from an RNC, calculates the required transmission rate and requests for the appropriate channel resources. It receives scheduling information from the RNC, and generates schedule messages. For transmission, the messages are mapped on a point-to-multipoint logical channel. At the UE side, BMC evaluates the schedule messages and deliver Broadcast Messages to upper layer in the UE.
3G TS 25.301 also describes protocol termination, i.e. in which node of the UTRAN the radio interface protocols are terminated, or equivalently, where within UTRAN the respective protocol services are accessible.
FIG. 3 illustrates a DSCH and FACH protocol model in accordance with 3GPP TS 25.301. The figure illustrates schematically two respective RNC entities of a Serving RNC and a Controlling RNC. As already mentioned, the Serving RNC and Controlling RNC can be separate or co-incident. In case of separate RNCs they communicate over an Iur interface, otherwise they communicate locally. An RNC comprises an RLC entity including an L2/RLC protocol layer >>L2/RLC<< at UTRAN side in FIG. 2. In FIG. 3, RLC entities >>RLC S<< and >>RLC C<< are entities of the Serving RNC and Controlling RNC respectively. In the figure there are two MAC-entities >>MAC-d<<, >>MAC-c/-sh<< illustrated routing dedicated channels over common or shared channels. MAC-d resides in the Serving RNC and MAC-c/-sh in the Controlling RNC. The routing comprises buffering of data in the MAC-entities >>MAC-d<< and >>MAC-c/-sh<<, to accommodate for the unsynchronized data flows into and out of MAC-d and MAC-c/-sh. The two MAC-entities are responsible for the L2/MAC protocol layer functionality at UTRAN side according to FIG. 2. The simplified protocol model in FIG. 3 is illustrated for a DSCH (Downlink Shared Channel), being a shared transport channel, and an FACH (Forward Link Access Channel), being an example of a common transport channel, from Node B to a user equipment, UE. Within UMTS the interface between Node B and UE is called Uu.
3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP): Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network, RLC Protocol Specification, 3G TS 25.322 v3.5.0, France, December 2000, specifies the RLC protocol. The RLC layer provides three services to the higher layers:                transparent data transfer service,        unacknowledged data transfer service, and        acknowledged data transfer service.
In subsection 188.8.131.52 an acknowledged mode entity, AM-entity, is described (see FIG. 4.4 of the 3GPP Technical Specification). In acknowledged mode automatic repeat request, ARQ, is used. The RLC sub-layer provides ARQ functionality closely coupled with the radio transmission technique used.
Higher layer applications can be, e.g., applications on the Internet. Most applications on the Internet use protocols, such as TCP (Transport Control Protocol), that controls the transmission rate, based on link quality in terms of packet loss and delay characteristics. Consequently, besides the negative effect of retransmission delays as such on perceived quality, substantial queuing delay can also lead to secondary effects further reducing quality of service.
None of the cited documents above discloses a method and system of eliminating or reducing retransmissions due to route switching data losses, or flow control for route switching eliminating or reducing buffering, particularly inside of an ARQ loop.

Method and system for flow control for route switching


Techniques (implemented in circuit arrangements, methods, computer instructions) are disclosed which permit digital pre-distortion for amplifiers. A common signal source provides a common analog signal from a digital input signal; a plurality of amplifiers amplifies a split signal which is a split version of the common analog signal; a built-in test circuit is configured to provide distortion information associated to distortion affecting the amplifier. The common signal source implements a signal conditioner to perform, in a signal path of the digital input signal, a feed-forward pre-distortion of the digital input signal according to a pre-distortion relationship mapping the digital input signal onto a pre-distorted version. The signal conditioner is configured to adjust the pre-distortion relationship in dependence on the distortion information.

A circuit arrangement with a high frequency, HF, radio frequency, RF, and/or mmWave power amplifier is known. For example, an antenna element of an antenna array may be fed with HF, RF, and/or mmWave signals. The antenna element may constitute, together with other antenna elements, an antenna array. The antenna array may be used for beamforming, e.g., in communication or localization applications. The circuit arrangement may be controlled, for example, by a digital processor, such as a digital signal processor (DSP), which may generate a digital input signal which, after having being converted into an analog signal, is amplified by the power amplifier.
In order to minimize power consumption, the efficiency shall be high. However, in power amplifiers, increasing efficiency tends to reduce linearity, causing amplitude distortion and/or phase distortion. For example, at some ranges of values of the input signal, the amplified signal may saturate, hence losing linearity and increasing distortion. Therefore, an increase of efficiency normally comes at the expenses of linearity and quality.
It is possible to try to cope with these impairments by using a feedback-based pre-distortion technique. The analog signal at the output of the HF, RF, and/or mmWave power amplifier may be converted into a digital version, which is fed back to the processor and subtracted from the digital input signal. The feedback-based pre-distortion technique may be therefore be operated to adjust (pre-distort) the digital input signal such that even after saturation, overall desired linearity is obtained.
Such a digital feedback-based pre-distortion technique requires complicated feedback functions, which shall perform subtractions in real time for each value of the amplified output signal. An instance of the feedback function is necessary for each antenna element of the antenna array: accordingly, 64 antenna elements require 64 instances of the feedback function. Hence, a great amount of processing power is necessary for performing the on-line subtractions at the processor.
A feedback-based technique has been attempted consisting in performing one single digital pre-distortion function for multiple amplifiers. However, it is in general not ensured that all the amplifiers are subject to the same distortions. Hence, using one single digital pre-distortion for multiple, different amplifiers inherently leads to incomplete pre-distortions for at least some of the amplifiers. Still even if efficiency improvement would be very small, the power consumption benefit is integrated over lifetime, so every 1% is valuable.
Further, in case a plurality of amplifiers (e.g., when operating beamforming) is implied, each feedback should be provided to one single RF to digital converter (which may comprise an analog to digital, ADC, converter) hence implying a complicated equipment.

Digital pre-distortion technique for a circuit arrangement with a power amplifier


An arc flash hazard assessment method includes storing electrical equipment data in memory, defining an arc flash model function based on the data, and estimating the model function based on a weighted average of interpolated and extrapolated values. The electrical equipment data may include an operating voltage, a fault current, and a clearing time. The model function is defined for at least three reference voltages V1, V2 and V3, with the interpolated value at operating voltage V, between voltages V1 and V2, and the extrapolated value from reference voltages V2 and V3. At the arc flash protection boundary, the estimated model function has a predefined incident energy value of 1.2 cal/cm2 (or about 5.02 J/cm2), or less.

Every year, thousands of workers are subject to burns and other injuries due to arc flash events. Arc flashes occur when an electric current passes through an air gap between electrified conductors, or from conductor to ground, when the insulation or isolation is not sufficient to withstand the applied voltage. While the arc flash event itself can occur almost immediately, or within a few milliseconds, the results can be lasting, ranging from superficial burns to debilitating injury, or even death.
Due to the significant threats posed by arc flash events, professional and trade associations including the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) have conducted substantial research and testing to quantify and improve related electrical safety standards. In particular, these efforts are directed to predicting the hazards associated with arc faults and the accompanying arc blasts, in order to provide practical workplace safeguards.
The most effective way to protect workers from arc flash hazards is to de-energize the circuit before attempting to work on or near the exposed conductors. There are some tasks, however, for which work must be performed on energized components, including troubleshooting, testing, and certain types of repair.
When work is necessary on an electrified system, an electrical hazard analysis must be conducted. In general, this includes not only a shock hazard analysis to determine the voltages to which personnel may be exposed, but also an arc flash hazard calculation. The arc flash analysis determines the arc flash protection boundary (or arc flash boundary), from which non-essential workers and other personnel should be excluded. The arc flash analysis can also be used to classify the arc flash risk and determine what personal protective equipment (PPE) may be required, for those personnel who must work inside this boundary.
To address these issues, arc flash hazard analysis is utilized to model arcing currents and incident energy exposure levels to which workers may be exposed in a potential arc flash event. The arc flash protection boundary is also calculated, so that appropriate protective measures can be taken.
Arc flash analysis, however, is a highly complex task, requiring an extensive understanding of electronics, electromagnetic effects, plasma flow properties and magnetohydrodynamics, at extremely high current, energy, and plasma densities. There is a continuous need to better quantify arc flash hazards, in order to protect workers and promote safer, more effective and efficient workplace practices for electrical equipment installation, maintenance and repair.

Systems and methods for arc flash hazard assessment

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Incorporated


An inkjet recording apparatus having a head that ejects ink droplets, a temperature detector that detects temperatures in the vicinity of the head, and a drive waveform controller that generates a drive waveform driving the head, wherein the drive waveform controller changes, based on temperature information coming from the temperature detector, the amplitude as temperature changes, according to the expression V=EXP(A/T+B) wherein V represents an amplitude of the drive waveform, T represents the temperature and A and B represent a constant.

In recent years, there is a demand for image quality with high resolution and high-definition comparable to photographs, even for image forming by the use of an inkjet recording apparatus. Under such condition, droplets of ink ejected on a recording medium are strictly controlled in terms of a quantity and an ejecting speed, for quality improvement.
On the other hand, fluctuations of temperatures in operations of the inkjet recording apparatus, especially, fluctuations of temperatures in a head portion that ejects ink are unavoidable, and this temperature changes make it difficult to control ejected droplets strictly.
Therefore, temperature changes of ink are detected, and based on information of the detection, droplets are strictly controlled. In this case, an ejecting speed of a droplet ejected from the head varies. Thus, in compensation for these, an amplitude of a drive waveform in the case of driving the head electrically is corrected. In this correction, an amplitude change for the temperature change is determined by the linear function (e.g., see Patent Document 1).
(Patent Document 1) TOKKAIHEI No. 5-155026 (page 3, FIG. 5)
However, in the aforementioned technical field background technology, when ink viscosity is high, there is sometimes an occasion wherein correction by means of an amplitude of a drive waveform is not conducted properly. That is, an error in an ejecting speed of droplets depending on viscosity is large in the case of approximation by a linear function, because temperature changes do not cause ink viscosity to undergo a linear change approximated by a linear function.
Especially, in ink having high viscosity, a non-linear change of viscosity for temperature changes is great, and an error from linear approximation of viscosity for big changes of temperature is large. Due to this, correction of an amplitude of drive waveform wherein a linear change of viscosity is assumed is not conducted properly, thus, an ejecting speed or a volume of droplets ejected from the head is varied by temperatures, resulting in deterioration of image quality.
From the background stated above, a matter of importance is how to realize an inkjet recording apparatus wherein an ejecting speed or a volume of droplets ejected from the head is not affected by temperature changes, even when ink viscosity is great.

Inkjet recording apparatus and control method of inkjet recording apparatus


A system for coupling a grounded color changer to an electrostatic coating material sprayer electrically isolates the color changer from a high voltage at the sprayer. The system has a fluid path extending from the color changer to the sprayer and a reservoir is coupled to the fluid path at a connection point intermediate the color changer and sprayer. To fill the system with coating material to be sprayed, the fluid path to the sprayer is first filled with coating material from the color changer, following which the remaining coating material to be sprayed during the coating operation is flowed from the connection point into the reservoir. At least a portion of the fluid path between the connection point and the color changer is then cleaned of coating material to electrically isolate the reservoir and the sprayer from the color changer. Coating material is then delivered from the reservoir to the sprayer for being subjected to a high voltage and emitted in an electrostatically charged atomized spray. At the end of spraying, the high voltage is removed from the sprayer, and the reservoir, fluid path and sprayer are cleaned of coating material of the color just sprayed and reloaded with the next color of coating material to be sprayed.

The present invention relates to a method of and a system for coupling a grounded color changer and associated grounded supplies of conductive paint to electrostatic spraying equipment, while maintaining electrical isolation between a high voltage at the spraying equipment and the color changer and paint supplies.
Color changers for spray coating apparatus have application in industrial operations where articles are to be spray coated at a station or as they move along a production line. Where the articles are to be coated a wide variety of colors, it generally is not practical to establish separate spray stations or production lines for each color, or even to spray a long sequence of articles one color, then another long sequence a second color, etc. Instead, it is desirable to make color changes rapidly and simply at a single station.
Electrostatic spray coating devices have an increased painting efficiency over non-electrostatic types. When painting with an electrostatic spraying apparatus, it is necessary to have some means for applying a charge to the paint. In some apparatus, charging is accomplished by an electrode connected to a high voltage supply and placed in close proximity to or in contact with the paint either just prior or close to its point of atomization. In rotary atomization apparatus, the rotary atomizer is ordinarily made of a conductive material and connected to the power supply, and itself is the electrode. Whichever type of apparatus is used, the charging potential is usually on the order of several tens of kilovolts, and the electrostatic charging process works well when spraying nonconductive paints. However, when spraying conductive paints, such as waterborne or water based paints, precautions must be taken to prevent the high voltage at the spraying apparatus from shorting to ground through a conductive column of paint being delivered to the spraying apparatus.
One known approach to prevent shorting the high voltage to ground when spraying conductive paints is to isolate the entire paint supply and color change system from ground potential. This allows the paint supply and color change system to "float" at the charging potential, but has the drawback that a large amount of electrical energy is capacitively stored in the system. To prevent this energy from presenting a shock hazard to operating personnel, it is necessary to provide a protective enclosure around the color changer and paint supplies, which increases costs and requires that the spraying operation be shut down and the system electrically discharged whenever it is necessary to replenish the supplies of paint. Also, during operation of the system, the large amount of capacitively stored energy increases the potential for injury to an operator.
More recently, so-called isolation systems or voltage blocks have been employed to couple a grounded color changer and associated grounded supplies of conductive paint to an electrostatic sprayer in order to isolate the color changer and paint supplies from the high voltage at the sprayer. Such voltage block systems often have at least one reservoir into which a volume of one color of paint to be sprayed is introduced. After the reservoir is filled with paint, at least part of the fluid line between the reservoir and color changer is flushed clean to electrically isolate the paint in the reservoir from the color changer and paint supplies. The paint in the reservoir is then delivered to the sprayer for being emitted in an electrostatically charged atomized spray, with the cleaned portion of the fluid line between the reservoir and color changer then providing electrical isolation to prevent the high voltage at the sprayer from being coupled to the grounded color changer through a conductive paint path extending between the sprayer and the color changer. At the end of spraying the one color of paint, the high voltage is removed from the sprayer and the reservoir, fluid lines and sprayer are cleaned of paint of the one color and reloaded with paint of another color. Often such voltage block systems have two reservoirs which alternately receive and deliver selected colors of paint to the sprayer, so that one reservoir may be cleaned and reloaded with paint while the other reservoir delivers paint to the sprayer, thereby to shorten color change times. One such dual reservoir voltage block system is taught by U.S. Pat. No. 4,932,589, assigned to the assignee of the present invention. Other voltage block systems are taught by U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,771,729, 4,792,092 and 4,962,724.
Although rapid color changes can be made with voltage block systems that utilize two reservoirs, the art does not provide particularly fast color changes when only a single reservoir voltage block is used. This is because of the number and the nature of the steps that are performed with known single reservoir voltage block systems in order to clean the systems to make a color change.

Method of and system for delivering conductive coating material to electrostatic spraying apparatus


An ink jet recording method and apparatus for recording pictures, characters, etc. on both sides of a recording medium by ejecting a first ink and a second ink on the same side of the medium, wherein the first ink is ejected based on mirror data corresponding to a mirror image of the image to be recorded and the second ink is ejected based on data corresponding to the image to be recorded.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to ink jet recording apparatuses and ink jet recording methods in which picture and character information is printed on recording media. More particularly, the invention relates to ink jet recording apparatuses and ink jet recording methods for recording pictures, characters, etc. on both sides of recording media.
2. Description of the Related Art
When recording is performed on both sides of a recording sheet using a common recording apparatus, such as an ink jet printer, usually, after recording is performed on one side of the sheet, the sheet is turned over and set into a feeder by the user, and recording is performed again on the other side.
Many techniques are also known in which the reversal of a recording medium, such as a sheet of paper, is automatically performed and double-side recording is enabled without bothering the user. For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-324038 (Applicant: Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd.) discloses a structure which prevents an increase in recording time when double-side recording is performed, and moreover, which reduces degradation in image quality due to smears during back-side recording and stains on the recording sides during the reversal of the recording medium.
In ink jet recording, the size of the recording apparatus can be easily reduced. Therefore, methods have been proposed in which both sides of a recording medium are simultaneously recorded by a plurality of recording units provided on both sides to perform double-side recording. For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 07-276716 (Applicant: NEC Corp.) discloses such an apparatus. Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 2000-103052 (Applicant: Brother Industries, Ltd.) and 05-261911 (Applicant: Seiko Epson Corp.) also disclose double-side recording using intermediate transfer media.
However, in the conventional structure in which the recording medium is automatically reversed to perform double-side recording, the mechanism for reversal and transport causes an increase in the apparatus cost. Curling of the recording medium due to the reversal and transport is also a substantial problem. Because of the reversal, since the transport distance for the recording medium is also increased compared with single-side printing, there is an increased possibility of smears and stains on the recording sides. Furthermore, in the structure which includes the apparatus provided with the reversal mechanism and in which inks are ejected on both sides to perform double-side recording, since inks are ejected on both sides, the amounts of inks absorbed by the recording medium are relatively increased, resulting in cockling, setoff, and unsatisfactory fixing properties.
A recording medium referred to as a back print film is known in which the recording side is different from the viewing side. Such a recording medium is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-140878.
This recording medium includes a transparent base; a non-porous layer disposed on the base, the non-porous layer being capable of holding a coloring material (dye) of ink; and a porous layer disposed on the non-porous layer, the porous layer being capable of passing the coloring material. In the recording medium, recording is performed by ejecting dye ink on the porous layer at the front side, and an image formed by the coloring material permeated through the porous layer and held by the non-porous layer is viewed from the back side, i.e., the transparent base side. In the recording method using such a recording medium, the image formed with ink is protected by the base, and it is possible to reduce the influence of water droplets and water vapor. Moreover, since a smooth surface is obtained, a recorded image with high glossiness and high density can be produced. By improving the materials, it is possible to form recording media which enable recording with long-term preservability, such as excellent water resistance, weatherability with respect to light, gas, etc., and wear resistance.
When recording is performed using the back print film, dye ink is ejected on the porous layer at the front to produce a back-side image so that the recorded image is viewed from the base side at the back. Consequently, even if the conventional double-side printing method is used, it is not possible to produce images (front-side image and back-side image) which are viewed from the front and back sides of the recording medium, respectively.

Ink jet recording apparatus and ink jet recording method


Simulated flame device are shown and described having first and second diffusers, each with a sheet having a series of horizontal lines etched or embedded on the sheet. Within the first and second diffusers, a PCB is disposed that has a plurality of light sources disposed on the PCB. The first and second diffusers that wrap about the PCB creates a 360 degree effect, and the diffusers themselves act to stretch the light emanated from the light sources in a vertical direction. The use of the two spaced apart diffusers along with changing a brightness of some or all of the light sources over time simulated moving flames.

The following description includes information that may be useful in understanding the present invention. It is not an admission that any of the information provided herein is prior art or relevant to the presently claimed invention, or that any publication specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art.
Various electrical lighting products currently exist, but none provide for a larger scale flame effect in a portable package. While electric fireplaces can produce a simulated flame, such devices are generally not portable and can be expensive.
All publications identified herein are incorporated by reference to the same extent as if each individual publication or patent application were specifically and individually indicated to be incorporated by reference. Where a definition or use of a term in an incorporated reference is inconsistent or contrary to the definition of that term provided herein, the definition of that term provided herein applies and the definition of that term in the reference does not apply.
Thus, there is still a need for improved electrical lighting devices that simulate a flame.


An electrical contact assembly includes a first module having a first set of electrical contacts, a second module having a second set of electrical contacts, a shape generating module, and a clamping arrangement for clamping the first, second and shape generating modules together. The shape generating module imparts a desired shape to the second module for urging the second set of electrical contacts toward the first set of electrical contacts, such that clamping the modules together results in a positive contact force between the first and second sets of electrical contacts that is substantially uniform across the sets of electrical contacts. The shape generating module includes a first insulating layer, a second insulating layer and a shape producing layer disposed between the first and second insulating layers. The shape producing layer includes an adhesive that flows and cures upon application of a heat treatment to produce the desired shape.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an apparatus and method for mounting multi-chip land grid array modules to printed wiring boards, and specifically to a customizable backer for achieving consistent loading and engagement of the array package connections.
2. Background Information
Land grid array (LGA) connectors are used in many electronic applications to create mechanically loaded electrical connections between contact features (i.e., pads) present on printed wiring boards (PWB's) and those on mating chip modules (i.e., one or more semiconductor chips mounted on a carrier substrate). LGA connector technologies typically must operate under a relatively tight range of mechanical loading conditions to ensure that individual contacts in the array achieve consistent interconnection mating loads for high initial yields at the time of assembly and guaranteed long term field reliability. The tight tolerance of loading required for these LGA connector technologies is a direct consequence of limited mechanical elastic compliance that most individual LGA contact spring members possess within the land grid array connector body. As a result of this limited mechanical contact compliance, mating surfaces of PWB's, chip modules, and all mechanical hardware used in the stacking and loading configuration of these connectors in actual applications must have precision mechanical tolerances, and an aggregate high degree of mating surface coplanarity in order to facilitate a tight distribution of individual contact loads sufficient to guarantee high contact reliability. Unfortunately, although the machined mechanical hardware used to load LGA connectors can be made to extremely high precision tolerances (i.e., very flat and very uniform thickness), the same cannot be said for the conventional PWB's and chip modules included in the connector stack. PWB's and modules always have significant surface variations and thickness variations that result from process conditions inherent to their fabrication and from unique wiring and via density differences within them that can alter their thicknesses, shapes, or the surface topographies of their respective mating LGA contact/contact pad surfaces. These PWB and chip module shape variations can produce significant LGA contact load non-uniformities (both high and low loading conditions) that ultimately result in a number of problematic post assembly conditions, including high initial yield loss of components and the potential for latent field defects including module cracking phenomena, contact intermittency, and gradual loss of complete electrical continuity of individual contact members due to occurrence of fretting corrosion.
With respect to these issues, various approaches have recently been developed and used (circa 1999 to the present) to more tightly control LGA contact load distributions, and to compensate for board and module carrier thickness, shape, and topographic variations. (See, for example, Brodsky et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0188135, Hoffmeyer, U.S. Pat. No. 6,711,026, Torok et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,485,411, and Sinha et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,475,011, all assigned to IBM Corporation). These methods include mechanical hardware and load designs that drive in phase shape changes of the stack of hardware under applied loading conditions, and the addition of various design elements that reduce the amount of intrinsic shape, thickness, and topographic variation of actual module and board array interconnection surfaces.
One approach of relevance to the present application is disclosed in Corbin, Jr. et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,921,272. The apparatus in Corbin Jr. et al. uses an insulating backer plate which compensates for PWB thickness variation (the major contributor to LGA contact load non-uniformities, see FIGS. 1 and 2 of this application). This backer plate consists of a series of concentric overlying layers of Kapton film that are adhered to a molded backer plate made of an electrically insulating material. When this backer plate structure is added to the stack of mechanical components that load the LGA connector system, the backer structure fills in the backside "dish" present on PWB LGA site such that the array site of the board can be mechanically biased towards the intended LGA connector to present a more planar surface to the connector system. Although successfully used in various applications, the backer plate structure of Corbin, Jr. et al. has several limitations for LGA load control. The principal limitation is that this structure must be tailored in advance to an anticipated or relatively narrow measured range of actual PWB thickness variations for a given application. This lack of flexibility can lead to various problems which must be examined with continued scrutiny and inspection in a manufacturing environment. For example, if an improperly selected backer shape is used, or if PWB thickness variation exceeds that of the intended backer plate shape design, or if the amount of board dishing changes over time due to PWB fabrication process drift, some of the LGA interconnect reliability problems referred to above can arise after assembly. Furthermore, if problems are encountered during inspection, raw PWB shape function sorting would have to be exercised prior to assembly, and could result in significant yield losses and added costs, particularly on complex multi-layer, thick cross section boards that facilitate the LGA interconnection of large glass ceramic multi-chip modules, such as those used in supercomputer systems.

Customizable backer for achieving consistent loading and engagement of array package connections

International Business Machines Corporation


A transparent conductive film comprises: a film substrate having two main surfaces; and a transparent conductor layer formed on one main surface of the film substrate. The transparent conductor layer is composed of three layers in which a first indium tin oxide layer, a second indium tin oxide layer, and a third indium tin oxide layer are laminated in this order from the film substrate side. The first indium tin oxide layer has a smaller tin oxide content than the second indium tin oxide layer has. The third indium tin oxide layer has a smaller tin oxide content than the second indium tin oxide layer has.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a transparent conductive film using an indium tin oxide (ITO) layer.
2. Description of the Related Art
A transparent electrode plate, in which three layers of indium tin oxide are laminated on a glass substrate, is well-known (For instance, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. JP 08-43840 A). In a transparent electrode plate in JP 08-43840 A, the content of tin oxide (SnO2) contained in a first layer and a third layer of indium tin oxide is greater than the content of tin oxide contained in a second layer of indium tin oxide. This makes it possible to minimize a surface resistance value of the transparent electrode plate.
Since a sputtering layer of indium tin oxide is amorphous, the sputtering layer has a high surface resistance value as deposition. To minimize the surface resistance value of the sputtering layer, it is necessary to crystallize, the indium tin oxide by heat treatment (crystallization treatment). In JP 08-43840 A, the temperature and time of crystallization treatment are typically 200° C., 60 minutes.
However, when a film substrate is used instead of a glass substrate, it is impossible to perform a crystallization treatment at a high temperature (about 200° C.) like the case of a glass plate due to low heat resistance of the film substrate. Accordingly, when a film substrate is used, there are problems that it is impossible to perform a crystallization treatment on the indium tin oxide or it takes too much time to perform a crystallization treatment in the conventional constitution of three layer-indium tin oxide.


A method and system for controlling a hybrid electric vehicle include controlling torque in a traction motor in response to a provisional motor torque that has been adjusted based on a difference between a measured traction motor speed and a calculated vehicle speed and filtered to attenuate a resonant driveline frequency.

Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs) may use various types of powertrain architectures to provide parallel, series, or a combination to transfer torque from two or more sources to the traction wheels. A power split architecture combines the driving torque generated by the engine and the torque generated by one or more electric machines in various operating modes. A representative power split architecture is illustrated in FIG. 1. The two electric machines, referred to as the motor and the generator, may be implemented by permanent-magnet AC motors with three-phase current input. The engine and the generator may be connected by a planetary gear set with the engine crankshaft connected to the carrier and the generator rotor connected to the sun gear. The gear on the motor output shaft may be meshed to the counter shaft with a fixed ratio. The ring gear may also be connected to the counter shaft in a fixed ratio arrangement.
In this example, the motor is connected to the driveline through the countershaft in parallel to the engine-sourced torque output from the ring gear. The main functions of the motor include: 1. Drive the vehicle in electric drive mode by supplying full required torque; 2. Compensate the ring gear torque output based on driver commands; and 3. Damp driveline oscillation.
Vehicle drivability, including smooth vehicle operation, is a challenging issue for all types of automotive implementations. Driveline resonance is one of the major reasons that a driver feels unsmooth behavior during accelerations and decelerations with fast torque changes. As such, increasing damping around the driveline resonant frequency is a typical task for all types of automotive powertrain controls. Automatic transmissions with hydraulic torque converters have a large natural viscous damping effect due to the torque transfer loss on the fluid. In HEV applications that do not include a torque converter or similar device, this natural damping effect is diminished. The resonant mode can be excited by the motor torque input due to the fast response of the electric machines and the small damping ratio in the mechanical driveline. The transient smoothness is largely dependent upon a well-designed control system.

Hybrid electric vehicle driveline active damping and transient smoothness control


In a dispersion slope compensator of the invention, angular dispersion of a WDM light in which the angular dispersion is already performed in a first direction (Y-axis) with a VIPA plate is performed in a second direction (X′-axis) perpendicular to the first direction with a diffraction grating, and the WDM light is reflected from a three-dimensional mirror and returned to the VIPA plate side. At this point, the three-dimensional mirror is mounted on a rotating stage while placed on a linear-moving stage, which moves the three-dimensional mirror in parallel in the second direction. Thereby, the rotating stage can adjust an angle of a reflection plane of the three-dimensional mirror with respect to an optical axis of the light focused with a lens, which allows optical axis shift of the reflected light to be corrected in the three-dimensional mirror according to setting of a chromatic dispersion compensation amount. Accordingly, chromatic dispersion compensation and dispersion slope compensation can be realized over a wide signal band.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a dispersion slope compensator for compensating chromatic dispersion and dispersion slope which are generated in signal lights having wavelengths transmitted through an optical fiber in wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) type optical communication.
2. Related Art
In an optical fiber communication system, because propagation waveform distortion caused by the wavelength dispersion (chromatic dispersion) of the optical fiber generally decreases signal quality, it is necessary to prevent the decrease in signal quality by utilizing the chromatic dispersion compensator and the like. For example, the conventional chromatic dispersion compensator includes one in which a so-called Virtually Imaged Phased Array (VIPA) is utilized (For example, see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 2003-294999). VIPA branches the light signal in plural light fluxes, which can spatially be identified (for example, traveling in different directions) according to the wavelengths.
The conventional VIPA type chromatic dispersion compensator will briefly be described below. FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a configuration example of the conventional VIPA type chromatic dispersion compensator. FIG. 7 is a top view of the configuration example shown in FIG. 6.
As shown in the drawings, in the conventional VIPA type chromatic dispersion compensator, for example, after an outgoing light from an optical fiber 3 through an optical circulator 2 is converted into parallel light with a collimating lens 4, the light is focused onto one line segment with a cylindrical lens 5, and the light is incident to a space between parallel planes opposing to each other through a light entrance window 1D of a VIPA plate 1. The light incident to the VIPA plate 1 performs repeatedly multiple-reflection between a reflection multilayer film 1B and a reflection multilayer film 1C. The reflection multilayer film 1B is formed on one of planes of a substrate 1A, and the reflection multilayer film 1B has reflectance lower than 100%. The reflection multilayer film 1C is formed on the other plane, and the reflection multilayer film 1C has the reflectance of about 100%. At this point, the several-percent light is transmitted through the reflection plane and outputted to the outside of the VIPA plate 1 in each reflection on the surface of the reflection multilayer film 1B.
The lights transmitted through the VIPA plate 1 interfere with one another to form plural light fluxes having the different traveling directions according to the wavelengths. As a result, when the light fluxes are focused on one point with a lens 6, the focusing position of each light flux is moved on a straight line according to a change in wavelength. The lights, outputted from the VIPA plate 1 and focused with the lens 6, are reflected at different positions on a three-dimensional mirror 7 according to the wavelengths and returned to the VIPA plate 1 by arranging the three-dimensional mirror 7. The lights reflected from the three-dimensional mirror 7 travel in the different directions depending on the wavelength, and optical paths of the lights are shifted when the lights are returned to the VIPA plate 1. The different wavelength components propagate through different distances by changing the optical path shift amount according to the wavelengths, which performs the chromatic dispersion compensation of the input light. The three-dimensional mirror 7 is moved in parallel in a direction (X-axis direction of the drawings) perpendicular to an angular dispersion direction (Y-axis direction of the drawings) in the VIPA plate 1, and a curvature is changed in the Y-axis direction of the reflection plane of the three-dimensional mirror 7 to which the light transmitted through the lens 6 is incident. Thereby, a chromatic dispersion compensation amount becomes variable.
Thus, when a model shown in FIG. 8 is considered, behavior of the light in which the multiple-reflection is performed with the VIPA plate 1 is similar to the light in a well-known Echelon grating, which is of a step-shaped diffraction grating. Thereby, it can be considered that the VIPA plate 1 is a virtual diffraction grating. In consideration of interference conditions at the VIPA plate 1, as shown in right side of FIG. 8, upper sides of the outgoing lights interfere on the condition of a short wavelength based on an optical axis basis and lower sides interfere on the condition of a long wavelength, so that short wavelength components of the light signals having the wavelengths are outputted on the upper side and long wavelength components are outputted on the lower side. In the conventional VIPA type chromatic dispersion compensator, there are advantages that the chromatic dispersion can be compensated over a wide range, and the wavelength (transmission wavelength) of the light signal to be compensated can be changed by temperature control of the VIPA plate 1 and the like.
In a transmission system of the wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) light including the plural light signal beams having the different wavelengths, it is necessary that the chromatic dispersion compensation is appropriately performed to the light signals having the wavelengths, sometimes it is necessary to compensate a chromatic dispersion wavelength dependent property called dispersion slope. Thereby, an apparatus (hereinafter referred to as dispersion slope compensator), which can compensate the chromatic dispersion and the dispersion slope, is required.
Various configurations have been proposed in the conventional dispersion slope compensator (for example, see JP-A No. 2002-258207 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,343,866). For example, as shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, the chromatic dispersion and the dispersion slope which are imparted to light signals having the wavelengths of the WDM light can be separately controlled by providing means 8 (for example, diffraction grating and hologram) in the above VIPA type chromatic dispersion compensator. In accordance with the wavelength, the means 8 generates the optical path shift in parallel in the direction (X′-axis direction of the drawings) perpendicular to the angular dispersion direction (Y-axis direction) with respect to the lights having the wavelength to which the angular dispersion is performed with the VIPA plate 1.
However, for the conventional dispersion slope compensator, the angular dispersion of the lights having the wavelength to which the angular dispersion is performed with the VIPA plate 1 is performed in the X′-axis direction with the diffraction grating and the like. Thereby, the optical axis shift of the reflected light in the X′-axis direction is easy to occur in the three-dimensional mirror 7, which results in a problem that return light loss to the optical fiber 3 is increased.
That is, in the three-dimensional mirror 7 used for the conventional dispersion slope compensator, because the reflection plane is gradually changed from a convex surface to a concave surface with respect to the X′-axis direction, the reflection plane in the X′-axis direction has inclination with respect to the optical axis (Z′-axis of FIGS. 9 and 10) of the light focused with the lens 6. Thereby, the light is not perpendicularly incident to the reflection plane of the three-dimensional mirror 7, and the optical axis shift is generated in the reflected light. Particularly, in the case where an absolute value of the chromatic dispersion compensation amount is set larger, because the optical axis shift of the reflected light is increased, the return light loss to the optical fiber 3 is increased, or the light is not returned.
Specifically, as shown in FIG. 11, the optical axis (solid line) of an intermediate-wavelength light signal in the light signals having the plural wavelengths included in the input light becomes substantially perpendicular to the reflection plane of the three-dimensional mirror 7, so that the return light loss to the optical fiber 3 is small. On the contrary, the optical axis (broken line) of the light signal on the long wavelength side does not become perpendicular to the reflection plane of the three-dimensional mirror 7, so that the optical axis of the reflected light is largely shifted upward in FIG. 11 and the return light loss to the optical fiber 3 becomes larger.
The optical axis (alternate long and short dash line) of the light signal on the short wavelength side does not also become perpendicular the reflection plane of the three-dimensional mirror 7, so that the optical axis of the reflected light is shifted downward in FIG. 11 and the light is hardly returned to the optical fiber 3. In the sectional view of FIG. 11, although the inclination of the reflection plane of the three-dimensional mirror 7 is shown by the straight line, accurately the inclination of the reflection plane becomes a curved line corresponding to the curved shape of the reflection plane. Thereby, the optical axis shift of the reflected light corresponding to each wavelength is changed in a complicated manner by moving the three-dimensional mirror 7 parallelly in X′-axis direction.
FIG. 12 shows an example of transmission wavelength band periodically generated in the conventional dispersion slope compensator. As shown in FIG. 12, for the intermediate-wavelength light signal in the signal band of the inputted WDM light, the sufficient transmission band can be secured for the required transmittance (loss). However, for the light signals on the long and short wavelength sides, the effective transmission band cannot be secured due to the increase in loss. Thereby, the chromatic dispersion cannot be compensated.
In the conventional dispersion slope compensator, an arrangement (distance) of optical components between the three-dimensional mirror 7 and the diffraction grating and the like are not concretized. In order to decrease the increase in loss caused by the optical axis shift of the reflected light, it is necessary to optimize the optical arrangement.


A method is provided for sterilizing fluids using bolus dosing of a fluid, stretching of the bolus of fluid into a membrane, such as a thin or ultra-thin film, and subsequent irradiation of the individual fluid membranes which are then recollected after sterilization. A system is provided whereby a fluid moves along a defined pathway in traditional bolus flow where each bolus of fluid is interspersed with a bolus of gas. The bolus of fluid, for example from a patient or other sample, moves along the flow path and the width of the flow path is gradually increased until the fluid bolus is stretched (without breaking) to form a thin fluid membrane which can be completely panned using irradiation (such as ultraviolet irradiation) to sterilize the each bolus which has been stretched into a membrane. After sterilization the width of the flow path is gradually narrowed to a sufficient sized such that the bolus returns to a sufficient size to be collected, typically when it forms a small droplet. The collected portions are recombined thereby rendering the original fluid sample completely sterilized for subsequent reintroduction into a patient or other use.

This invention relates to a novel method for sterilizing fluids in a fluid sample including treatment of biological fluids for reintroduction into a human or other animal.
Sterilization of fluids is important in many processes including certain medical treatments. Because fluids have a certain defined volume it is hard to ensure that the entire sample is sterilized and penetration of sterilizing agents remains an ongoing challenge in sterilization processes.
Irradiation is one method by which some have tried to sterilize fluids. The amount of penetration of the irradiation is proportional to the energy level of the irradiation and also to the particulate content in the sample. For example, higher energy levels of UV light will penetrate a sample further but the thickness of the sample remains a constraint on the success of this technique, even when the sample is poured into a thin layer on a surface. At best there is sterilization around the periphery of the sample and this may not be sufficient to address the needs of the end user. Stirring of the sample is often not an adequate solution to this problem.
The thickness of the fluid layer is controlled, amongst other things, by the viscosity of the fluid, the surface tension of the fluid and the speed of flow of the fluid if it is moving. Many current methods involve sterilization of fluids as they move since the fluid is often being treated before being restored back into the original sample or directly back into the person or animal. Even methods in which the fluid moves along a surface or in tubing still must overcome the penetration hurdle in order to optimally sterilize the fluid. The depth of penetration will depend on the film thickness but generally penetration depth will be less than xc2xd the film thickness. Particulates in the sample will decrease penetration depth even more.
There are presently many examples of sterilization methods for fluids, in particular biological fluids, which incorporate ultraviolet irradiation in the sterilization process. U.S. Pat. No. 5,709,991 of Lin, et al. teaches methods for photodecontamination to inactive microorganisms in platelet preparations involving the use of psoralens. The method also includes step(s) for the removal of the psoralens after photodecontamination. The need for removal of psoralens after decontamination remains a constraint on the suitability of this approach for certain biological fluids.
Others have tried to reduce the volume of the sample by spreading the fluid out on a surface or using mesh whereby the fluid is stretched in the mesh but these methods do not permit a continuous flow system. These and other methods have been tried to increase the surface area which is exposed to the sterilization agent. UV irradiation has fallen into lesser use because of problems achieving full penetration of the UV light though the whole sample. The advantage of UV light is that it acts to disable the nucleic acids in microorganisms such as viruses and bacteria. Similarly certain cells can be disabled or killed by UV irradiation. White blood cells and any other cells containing nucleic acids will also be effectively made sterile when irradiated. Red blood cells however do not contain a nucleus or nucleic acids and will therefore not be similarly affected.
In accordance with an aspect of the present invention a method is provided for converting a volume of fluid into a continuous flow of thin and ultra thin portions of the fluid referred to as xe2x80x9cmembranesxe2x80x9d in this patent application. These membranes are so thin that irradiation, for example ultraviolet irradiation, will easily pan through the entire thickness of the membrane to effectively provide total sterilization in each fluid membrane portion. In accordance with another aspect, the method of the present invention can be used on clear fluids as well as fluids which contain particulates such as cells or other particles.
The principle of bolus flow using gas to create separate boli of fluid, or portions of a fluid sample, is coupled with a subsequent stretching of each fluid bolus into an extremely thin membrane which is then irradiated to achieve sterilization of that portion. The sterilized portions are later recombined and the complete fluid sample is effectively sterilized by this process.
The present invention has an advantage of providing a controlled system whereby fluid can be taken from one system, sterilized and then reintroduced into the original system after sterilization in a continuous flow system The thinness of the membranes advantageously allows for excellent and thorough sterilization of the fluid.
In accordance with an aspect of the present invention a method for sterilizing fluids is provided. The method comprises the steps of:
bolus dosing the fluid into a fluid flow system using a gas to create a continuous path of bolus volumes of the fluid interspersed with the gas;
moving the bolus volumes of fluid and gas in a continuous flow path through the system wherein the flow path gradually increases in width such that the fluid bolus is stretched into a fluid membrane, penetrable by irradiation;
sterilizing each stretched fluid membrane by exposing it to a sufficient dose of irradiation;
after sterilization, gradually narrowing the flow path width thereby increasing the thickness of each fluid membrane until it forms a droplet or is of suitable size to be collected; and
collecting the sterilized fluid droplets.
In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the fluid membrane is stretched to form a thin or ultra-thin film.
In accordance with another aspect of the method of the present invention the irradiation is ultraviolet irradiation (UVI) and/or the fluid flow system is comprised of UV penetrable tubing wherein the diameter of the tubing is gradually increased and then later decreased in accordance with the claimed method steps. In one embodiment the tubing may be catheter tubing.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention a further step of debubbling is introduced prior to collecting the fluid droplet to prevent frothing of the fluid. In another embodiment the fluid is recondensed before collection. In yet another embodiment the fluid is taken directly from a patient, treated and introduced directly back into the patient.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there are multiple cycles of the method steps to permit repeat sterilizations before collection.
Fluid samples which are treatable by the present invention include any biofluid including whole blood, plasma, serum, and vaccine sera.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention a method is provided for inactivating one or more microorganisms in the preparation of a vaccine, the method comprising the steps of:
bolus dosing the fluid into a fluid flow system using a gas to create a continuous path of bolus volumes of the fluid interspersed with the gas;
moving the bolus volumes of fluid and gas in a continuous path through the system wherein the flow path gradually increases in width such that the fluid bolus is stretched into a fluid membrane, penetrable by irradiation;
sterilizing each fluid membrane as it moves through the system by exposing it to a sufficient dose of irradiation to inactivate the one or more microorganisms;
after sterilization, gradually narrowing the width of the flow path thereby increasing the width of each fluid membrane/bolus until it forms a droplet or is of suitable size to be collected; and
collecting the sterilized fluid droplet.

Method and apparatus for flowing sterile ultra-thin fluid membranes


Hot-melt webs are located on an outer surface of a pad member and an inner surface of a cover member, individually. The pad member and the cover member are heated to melt the hot-melt webs by means of heaters from the sides opposite the webs, individually. As fibrous hot-melt adhesive elements are cut at every turn and separated to insular pieces, they are distributed like mist drops in the outer surface of the pad member and the inner surface of the cover member. Thereafter, the pad member and the cover member are superposed and pressurized so that they are bonded to each other.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing seats used in vehicles such as automobiles, furniture, etc.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a method of manufacturing an integrally-covered molding seat, a hot-melt adhesive is sometimes used to bond a pad member and a cover member. Known hot-melt adhesives include spreadable adhesives (reactive hot-melt type and the like) and hot-melt sheets (film type and the like).
A spreadable liquid hot-melt adhesive, such as the one described in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 3-68391(prior art example 1), is cooled after it is spread on a pad member or a cover member.
Thereafter, the pad member and the cover member are superposed and pressurized, and the hot-melt adhesive is heated to be melted with hot air or high-temperature steam. After the adhesive is cooled, the members are released from the mold.
As is described in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 61-176387 (prior art example 2), on the other hand, a sheet-type hot-melt adhesive or hot-melt sheet is put on the upper surface of a pad member, and a cover member is superposed on the resulting structure. The pad member and the cover member are pressurized and heated with hot air or high-temperature steam so that the hot-melt sheet is melted. Thereafter, the resulting structure is cooled and released from the mold. In the case where the hot-melt sheet of this type is put on the cover member, the hot-melt sheet is usually laminated beforehand to the cover member that is cut and sewn.
In either of the prior art examples 1 and 2, the hot-melt adhesive is heated as it is insufflated with hot air or high-temperature steam from the outside of the cover member or from the inside of the pad member, with the two members superposed.
In the case where the hot-melt adhesive is heated with the hot air from the outside of the cover member, however, the surface of the cover member, if made of a raised fabric, is flattened as it is heated and pressurized. Thus, the surface suffers deterioration in external appearance, such as whitening. In the case where the hot-melt adhesive is heated with the hot air from the inside of the pad member, on the other hand, the thermal efficiency is very poor, and besides, the pad member may possibly be degraded by heat. Further, heating and cooling devices must be incorporated into a mold for pressurizing the pad member and the cover member, so that the construction of the mold is complicated.
In the prior art examples 1 and 2, the hot-melt adhesive is melted by heating the pad member and the cover member that are pressurized against each other. Therefore, the hot-melt adhesive is bound on the interface between the pad member and the cover member as it is melted. Thus, the melted hot-melt adhesive becomes a continuous film or net between the pad member and the cover member as it hardens. Thus, the surface portion of the cooled (or bonded) cover member is too rigid to be pleasant to the touch.


A modified frame buffer and pixel variable read-modify-write method are described for a high performance computer graphics system. Pixel variables are initially classified as decision variables, intensity variables or decision/intensity variables. Only decision/intensity variables requiring a read-modify-write operation, are stored in dual interleaved DRAMs for improved bandwidth. Decision variables and intensity variables each utilize a single address/data bus per video RAM module in the frame buffer, while decision/intensity variables require dual address/data buses for accessing the interleaved memory banks. Enhanced bandwidth is obtained with a minimization of raster engine I/O requirements.

Computer graphics display systems, e.g., CAD/CAM graphics workstations, are widely used to generate and display two-dimensional images of three-dimensional objects for scientific, engineering, manufacturing and other applications. In such high performance computer graphics systems, digital representations of computer generated images conventionally reside in an array of video RAM, which collectively embody the system frame buffer. The rate at which the frame buffer can be updated is a critical parameter in the performance of the entire graphics system. With the ever increasing use of engineering/scientific graphics workstations, there is a need to perform ever more complex rendering algorithms.
Displaying three-dimensional objects on a two-dimensional display device in part requires a graphics system to recognize and eliminate hidden surfaces and lines to obtain the desired three-dimensional effect. One popular method for eliminating hidden surfaces of an image to be rendered involves the use of a depth buffer or Z-buffer. A Z-buffer is a large array of memory with an entry for each picture element, or pixel, on the graphics system's display device.
The Z-axis in a graphics system reflects the distance from a specified observer's viewpoint. Thus, for example, a larger Z value may be defined to represent a greater distance from a viewpoint. A comparison of Z values of points on generated objects determines which object is closest to the viewpoint and therefore which object should appear on the two dimensional display. In Z-buffer systems, as each pixel is generated its Z coordinate (ZNEW) is compared with the Z coordinate previously stored in the Z-buffer (ZOLD). If ZOLD does not exist, then ZNEW is compared to the Z coordinate of the background. If ZNEW is less than ZOLD (indicating in the present example that the pixel is closer to the viewpoint than the previous pixel), then the pixel is written to the display device and the Z-buffer memory is updated to contain ZNEW. If ZNEW is greater than or equal to ZOLD, then the pixel is not written and the Z-buffer remains unchanged. A description of the Z-buffer technique is presented by J. D. Foley and A. Van Dam, in Fundamentals of Interactive Computer Graphics, Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., pp. 560-561 (1982).
The use of a Z-buffer simplifies the solution of the hidden surface problem, however, the speed at which the Z-buffer memory can read, compare and update limits the graphics system pixel writing speed. The large amount of memory required, typically one megabyte or more, and the cost of these devices normally dictates the use of dynamic random access memory (DRAM) instead of more costly static random access memory (SRAM). Commercially available DRAMs may, for example, have read-modify-write (RMW) cycle times on the order of 200 nanoseconds (ns). However, the typical computer graphics processor is capable of generating pixel data at higher speeds, e.g. 100 nanoseconds per pixel, and a display device is capable of receiving pixel data at equally high speeds. Therefore, the slow RMW cycle of the DRAM for Z-buffering is a limiting factor on the ability to speed the display generation process. Thus, in conventional frame buffer designs, read-modify-write operations decrease frame buffer bandwidth and overall system performance.
Various approaches to enhancing frame buffer bandwidth have been proposed. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,679,041, entitled "High Speed Z-Buffer With Dynamic Random Access Memory", issued to Fetter et al., a system which overlaps the ZNEW calculation with the ZOLD read-modify-write cycle is described. In another patent, U.S. Pat. No. 5,043,921, entitled "High Speed Z-Buffer Control", issued to Gonzalez-Lopez et al. and assigned to the same assignee as the present invention, a rapid comparison of values by comparing blocks of Z values with each cycle is discussed. The most straightforward approach to improving performance is to divide the entire frame buffer into two separate devices so that the characteristics of adjacent pixels can be alternately stored in different ones of the two devices. In this way, read-modify-write operations on different but adjacent pixels can be overlapped thereby increasing processing performance. The difficulty with this approach, however, is that twice the number of pins are required of the raster engine to access the dual devices. This requirement proves in practice to be a significant complication.
Packaging technology has been improving almost linearly over the last decade, while memory/logic technology has expanded exponentially. Thus, the density of available pin packaging is an ever more important consideration in the implementation of a high performance computer system, such as a graphics display system.
Therefore, a need exists in the graphics display industry for enhanced frame buffer throughput (and in particular, for enhanced performance of read-modify-write cycles used in the implementation of the conventional Z-buffering technique) while, to the extent possible, minimizing the number of I/O pins utilized by the raster engine to attain the enhanced processing.

Categorized pixel variable buffering and processing for a graphics system

International Business Machines Corporation


A MEMS device and a MEMS device manufacturing method are provided for suppressing damage to device parts. An exemplary method of manufacturing a resonance device includes radiating laser light from a bottom surface side of a second substrate to form modified regions inside the second substrate along dividing lines of a first substrate, which has device parts formed on a top surface thereof, and the second substrate, the top surface of which is bonded to the bottom surface of the first substrate via bonding portions. The method further includes dividing the first and second substrates along the dividing lines by applying stress to the modified regions. The bonding portions are formed along the dividing lines and block the laser light.

Currently, devices manufactured using micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) technologies are widely used. For example, a plurality of devices are formed on a collective substrate (wafer) and then the wafer is divided into individual devices (chips).
For example, as described in Patent Document 1 (identified below), a laser processing method for dividing a wafer is known that includes a step in which laser light is radiated to the inside of a substrate 15 of a workpiece 1, which includes the substrate 15 and stacked portions 17a and 17b provided on a surface of the substrate 15, at the focal point in order to form a modified region 7 inside the substrate 15. Moreover, a cutting starting point area is formed within a predetermined distance from the laser light incident plane of the workpiece 1 along a planned cutting line of the workpiece 1 by this modified region 7 and a step in which the workpiece 1 is cut along the planned cutting line by applying stress to the workpiece 1 from the side near the stacked portions 17a and 17b after forming the cutting starting point area. In this laser processing method, a modified region 7 is formed inside the substrate 15 by radiating laser light from a rear surface 21 side of the workpiece 1, and then a modified region 7 is formed inside a stacked portion 17 by radiating laser light from a side near a surface 3 of the workpiece 1.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2007-83309.
However, in the method disclosed in the cited Patent Document 1, part of the laser light radiated from the side near of the surface 3 penetrates through to the surface of the wafer (substrate), which is the workpiece 1, on the opposite side from the side from which the laser light is incident. At a result, when device parts, for example, electrode pads or the like are formed on the opposite surface of the wafer, there is a risk of laser light that has not been absorbed by the wafer damaging the device parts formed on the opposite surface from the incident surface.

MEMS device manufacturing method and mems device


A memory device is disclosed. The memory device includes a bottom contact, and a memory layer connected to the bottom contact, where the memory layer has a variable resistance. The memory device also includes a top electrode on the memory layer, where the top electrode and the memory layer cooperatively form a heterojunction memory structure. The memory device also includes a top contact on the top electrode, and a first barrier layer, including a first oxide material and a second oxide material, where the first oxide material is different from the second oxide material, and where the first barrier layer is between one of A) the memory layer and the bottom contact, and B) the top electrode and the top contact, where the first barrier layer is configured to substantially prevent the conduction of ions or vacancies therethrough.

In general, memory devices or systems can be segmented in 3 distinct categories: internet-of-things (IoT) memories, embedded memories, and high-density high-volume memories. The memory requirements (cost, density, speed, endurance, retention, power consumption) are quite different for each of these 3 categories.
IoT memories tend to be inexpensive, power-efficient, and low-density. Memories embedded in complex system chips tend to be fast, area-efficient, and medium-density. High-density high-volume memories must be scalable to small geometries to be cost effective.
The high-density high-volume memory category is currently dominated by DRAM (which is volatile) and NAND Flash (which is non-volatile).
DRAM is very-fast, exhibits exceptional endurance, and is therefore best suited for fast system memory. DRAM, however, is expensive and volatile (for example, the data may need to be refreshed every 60 milliseconds) and sacrifices retention to maximize speed and endurance.
In sharp contrast, NAND Flash is inexpensive with much higher bit capacity and good retention, and is best suited for low-cost silicon storage. NAND Flash, however, sacrifices both speed and endurance to maximize retention.
Being limited to two dimensions (2D), DRAM will likely remain expensive since silicon area largely defines cost per gigabyte. In contrast, the cost of NAND Flash is expected to decline over time because of three dimensional (3D) stacking. The cost gap between DRAM and NAND Flash will likely increase over time.
DRAM and NAND Flash fit their sweet spots near perfectly and it seems highly unlikely that a universal memory combining the best of DRAM and NAND Flash will ever exist. It is equally unlikely that any emerging memory technology will replace DRAM because its speed and endurance combination is exceptionally hard to beat. Furthermore, there is no economic justification to build a NAND Flash replacement for high-density applications while NAND Flash prices continue to decrease.
However, as data processing and storage needs continue their rapid increase for mobile devices and cloud data centers, the industry needs a new non-volatile memory with attributes much closer to DRAM (because it is impossible to replace) than to NAND Flash (because it does not need to be replaced).
This vast space between DRAM and NAND Flash is therefore an opportunity for innovation.
Storage Class Memory is an emerging non-volatile memory segment positioned between the most successful system memory (DRAM) and the most successful silicon storage (NAND Flash). There are many opportunities for new memories in the vast space between DRAM and NAND Flash, each with different speed, endurance and retention metrics.
The biggest opportunities are always where the difficulty is greatest and that is in the space closest to DRAM. The ultimate market demand is therefore for Storage Class Memory with DRAM speed, the highest endurance achievable with this speed, a cost per gigabyte closer to NAND Flash, and a pragmatic retention far superior to DRAM retention.
Furthermore, certain semiconductor memory technologies have applied a principal of geometric redundancy, where multiple data bits may be stored in a single cell. This property of a memory cell to support a multiple of values is sometimes referred to as its dynamic range. To date the for memory cells have abilities to support a dynamic range anywhere between 1 and 4 bits. These combined properties of semiconductors have increased capacities and reduced costs.
Another issue associated with semiconductor memory manufacturing has been the substantial costs of the semiconductor foundries which can be more than a billion dollars to establish. Amortizing expenses increase the cost of memory chips. Now, with advances in foundry resolutions enabling smaller cell sizes and the geometric redundancy of multiple bit-level per memory cell semiconductor memory is actually cheaper per unit cost, and substantially more rugged in terms of high G forces than memory files on a disk drive.
In Flash memories, there have been improvements, but they have become susceptible to write cycle limitations and ability to support dynamic ranges are diminished as the quantum limit is approached. Another issue with Flash memory is its limitations in write speeds and the number of write cycle limitations the cell will tolerate before it permanently fails.
Accordingly, what is desired is a memory system and method which overcomes the above-identified problems. The systems and methods should be easily implemented, cost effective, and adaptable to existing storage applications.

Resistive memory device having an oxide barrier layer


A film substrate of an electronic displaying element, an electronic optical element, a touch panel, or a solar battery is disclosed which is composed mainly of an organic polymer having water solubility of 0 to 5 g based on 100 g of 25° C. water and having acetone solubility of 25 to 100 g based on 100 g of 25° C. acetone and an inorganic condensation polymer of a reactive metal compound capable of being condensed.

As a substrate for a liquid crystal displaying element, an electronic displaying element such as an organic EL displaying element, an electronic optical element such as CCD or a CMOS sensor, or a solar battery, a glass plate has been conventionally used due to its high thermal stability, high transparency and low moisture permeability. However, as portable information devices or a cell phone prevail in recent years, a substrate, which is light, flexible, and tough, has been required as a substrate thereof in place for a glass plate, which is relatively heavy and fragile. So, plastic substrates such as a polyethersulfone substrate, a polycarbonate substrate, and a laminate of a polyethersulfone plate with an acryl resin plate as disclosed in Japanese Patent O.P.I. Publication No. 5-142525, have been proposed and put into practical use. However, their high price and their poorness of optical properties such as light transmittance and birefringence have been an obstacle to prevalence of these substrates. Further, since these plastic substrates have a negative wavelength dispersion property, compensation of polarized light cannot be made over the entire visible wavelength region in a liquid display employing a birefringence image displaying method, for example, a liquid display of a STN mode, a VA mode or an IPS mode, resulting in color deviation of a displaying color image, and contrast are lowered in an organic EL displaying element. As a resin having a positive wavelength dispersion property there are mentioned cellulose derivatives, for example, cellulose acetate propionate, however, these cellulose derivatives are not suitable for a substrate of image displaying elements on account of their too high moisture permeability.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Film substrate and its manufacturing method


A synthesized-beam transceiver system steers a beam of a two-dimensional antenna array by activating a first subset of antenna elements to orient the beam in a first direction and subsequently activating a second subset of the antenna elements to orient the beam in a different direction. The system also electrically connects antenna elements that are inactive, not in the first subset, or not in the second subset to a reference potential of the array.

Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) systems typically include RFID readers, also known as RFID reader/writers or RFID interrogators, and RFID tags. RFID systems can be used in many ways for locating and identifying objects to which the tags are attached. RFID systems are particularly useful in product-related and service-related industries for tracking objects being processed, inventoried, or handled. In such cases, an RFID tag is usually attached to an individual item, or to its package.
In principle, RFID techniques entail using an RFID reader to interrogate one or more RFID tags. The reader transmitting a Radio Frequency (RF) wave performs the interrogation. The RF wave is typically electromagnetic, at least in the far field. The RF wave can also be predominantly electric or magnetic in the near field. The RF wave may encode one or more commands that instruct the tags to perform one or more actions.
A tag that senses the interrogating RF wave may respond by transmitting back another RF wave. The tag either itself generates the other RF wave, or forms the wave by reflecting back a portion of the interrogating RF wave in a process known as backscatter. Backscatter may take place in a number of ways.
The backscattered RF wave may encode data stored in the tag, such as a number. The response is demodulated and decoded by the reader, which thereby identifies, counts, or otherwise interacts with the associated item. The decoded data can denote a serial number, a price, a date, a time, a destination, an encrypted message, an electronic signature, other attribute(s), any combination of attributes, and any other suitable data. Accordingly, when a reader receives tag data it can learn about the tag and/or the item that hosts the tag.
An RFID tag typically includes an antenna system, a radio section, a power management section, and frequently a logical section, a memory, or both. In some RFID tags the logical section may include a cryptographic algorithm which relies on one or more passwords or keys stored in tag memory. In earlier RFID tags the power management section included an energy storage device such as a battery. RFID tags with an energy storage device are known as battery-assisted, semi-active, or active tags. Advances in semiconductor technology have miniaturized the electronics so much that an RFID tag can be powered solely by the RF signal it receives. Such RFID tags do not include an energy storage device and are called passive tags. Of course, even passive tags typically include temporary energy- and data/flag-storage elements such as capacitors or inductors.

Synthesized-beam RFID reader system with gain compensation and unactivated antenna element coupling suppression


A method is provided for optimizing CPU budgets associated with at least first and second threads executable in a time-partitioned real-time operating system. The first thread having a first CPU budget is executed, and at least a portion of the first thread's unused CPU budget is transferred to the second thread.

Generally speaking, operating systems permit the organization of code such that conceptually, multiple tasks are executed simultaneously while, in reality, the operating system is switching between threads on a timed basis. A thread is considered to be a unit of work in a computer system, and a CPU switches or time multiplexes between active threads. A thread is sometimes referred to as a process; however, for purposes of this description, a thread is considered to be an active entity within a process; the process including a collection of memory, resources, and one or more threads.
A real-time operating system may provide for both space partitioning and time partitioning. In the case of space partitioning, each process is assigned specific memory and input/output regions. A process can access only memory assigned to it unless explicit access rights to other regions are granted; i.e. only if another process decides that it will share a portion of its assigned memory. In the case of time partitioning, there is a strict time and rate associated with each thread (e.g., a thread may be budgeted for 5000 ms every 25,000ms or forty times per second) in accordance with a fixed CPU schedule. A single, periodic thread could, for example, be assigned a real-time budget of 500 ms to accommodate worst-case conditions; i.e. involving all paths and all code. In many cases, however, the thread may need only a portion (e.g. 50 ms) of its 500 ms budget. The unused 450 ms is referred to as slack, and absent anything further, this unused time is wasted. To avoid this, some operating systems utilize slack pools to collect unused time that may then be utilized by other threads in accordance with some predetermined scheme; e.g. the first thread that needs the additional budget takes all or some portion of it. Alternatively, access to the slack pool is based on some priority scheme; e.g. threads that run at the same rate are given slack pool access priority. Still another approach could involve the use of a fairness algorithm. Unfortunately, none of these approaches result in the efficient and predictable use of slack.
Thus, it should be clear that time-partitioned real-time operating systems require that a specific CPU time budget be given to each thread in the system. This budget represents the maximum amount of time the thread can control the CPU's resources in a given period. A thread can run in a continuous loop until its CPU budget is exhausted, at which point an interrupt is generated by an external timer. The operating system then suspends the execution of the thread until the start of its next period, allowing other threads to execute on time. A thread execution status structure is provided to keep track of initial and remaining CPU budget. Since threads must be budgeted for worst-case conditions, only a portion of the budgeted CPU time is utilized in many cases thus reducing CPU efficiency, and slack mechanisms represent only a partial solution.
In view of the foregoing, it should be appreciated that it would be desirable to provide a method for maintaining the benefits of rigid time partitioning in a real-time operating system while increasing CPU efficiency. This is accomplished by permitting a donor thread to transfer excess or unused CPU budget to a specific beneficiary thread. Additional desirable features will become apparent to one skilled in the art from the foregoing background of the invention and the following detailed description of a preferred exemplary embodiment and appended claims.

Budget transfer mechanism for time-partitioned real-time operating systems


A method of determining an illumination effect value of a volumetric dataset includes determining, based on the volumetric dataset, one or more parameter values relating to one or more properties of the volumetric dataset at a sample point; and providing the one or more parameter values as inputs to an anisotropic illumination model and thereby determining an illumination effect value relating to an illumination effect at the sample point, the illumination effect value defining a relationship between an amount of incoming light and an amount of outgoing light at the sample point.

Visualization of a volumetric dataset may comprise a process which may be referred to as volume rendering. Volume rendering may, for example, be used as part of a medical imaging process, for example to visualize a volumetric dataset gathered by a data gathering process. In the field of medicine, volume rendering may allow for a radiologist, a surgeon or a therapist to understand and interpret volumetric data and may support communication with the patient and may also support education of medical practitioners.
Visualization of medical datasets may be used for example, for diagnosis, teaching, patient communication etc. Visualization of volumetric data is also applied in numerous other technical fields, for example in geological, industrial quality assurance and scientific simulations.

Method of determining an illumination effect of a volumetric dataset


A package structure is provided, which includes: a dielectric layer having opposite first and second surfaces; a first circuit layer embedded in the dielectric layer and having a surface exposed from the first surface of the dielectric layer; a plurality of conductive posts embedded in the dielectric layer and electrically connected to the first circuit layer and having one ends exposed from the second surface of the dielectric layer; a second circuit layer formed on the second surface of the dielectric layer and electrically connected the ends of the conductive posts exposed from the second surface of the dielectric layer; and a plurality of protruding elements formed on the surface of the first circuit layer exposed from the first surface of the dielectric layer, thereby providing a large contact area so as to strengthen bonding between a semiconductor chip and the first circuit layer of the package structure.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to package structures and fabrication methods thereof, and more particularly, to a package structure having protruding elements formed on a circuit layer thereof and a method for fabricating the package structure.
2. Description of Related Art
Along with the rapid development of electronic industries, electronic products are developed toward the trend of multi-function and high performance. To meet the high integration and miniaturization requirements of package structures, conductive pads of circuit layers of the package structures are continuously reduced in size.
Generally, a semiconductor chip is disposed on the conductive pads of a circuit layer through a plurality of conductive bumps. However, during a reflow process, the conductive bumps easily collapse and overflow, which adversely affects the electrical connection quality and even causes a short circuit to occur between adjacent conductive bumps. Further, the contact area between the conductive pads and the conductive bumps is quite small due to planar contact surfaces of the conductive pads, thus leading to a poor bonding between the conductive pads and the conductive bumps and consequently reducing the product reliability.
FIGS. 1A to 1D are schematic cross-sectional views showing a package structure 1 and a fabrication method thereof according to the prior art.
Referring to FIG. 1A, a carrier 10 is provided, and a circuit layer 11 having a plurality of conductive pads 111 is formed on the carrier 10.
Referring to FIG. 1B, a first encapsulant 12 is formed on the carrier 10 to encapsulate the circuit layer 11. The first encapsulant 12 has a first surface 12a and a second surface 12b opposite to the first surface 12a and facing the carrier 10.
Referring to FIG. 1C, the overall structure of FIG. 1B is turned upside down and the carrier 10 is removed. Then, a chip 13 is disposed on the conductive pads 111 of the circuit layer 11 through a plurality of conductive bumps 14.
Referring to FIG. 1D, a second encapsulant 15 is formed on the second surface 12b of the first encapsulant 12 to encapsulate the circuit layer 11, the chip 13 and the conductive bumps 14. Further, a plurality of openings 121 are formed on the first surface 12a of the first encapsulant 12 to expose portions of the circuit layer 11, and a plurality of solder balls 16 are formed in the openings 121 and electrically connected to the circuit layer 11. As such, a package structure 1 is obtained.
However, the package structure 1 has several drawbacks. During a reflow process, the conductive bumps 14 easily collapse and the conductive material (for example, solder material) of the conductive bumps 14 easily overflows, thus adversely affecting the electrical connection quality and even causing a short circuit to occur between adjacent conductive bumps 14. Further, planar contact surfaces 112 of the conductive pads 111 result in a small contact area between the conductive pads 111 and the conductive bumps 14, thus leading to a poor bonding between the conductive bumps 14 and the circuit layer 11 and consequently reducing the product reliability.
Therefore, there is a need to provide a package structure and a fabrication method thereof so as to overcome the above-described drawbacks.

Package structure and fabrication method thereof

Siliconware Precision Industries Co., Ltd.