The goal of this invention is to produce phenol of high purity by conversion of impurities that are present in the starting phenol, which is produced by the decomposition of cumyl hydroperoxide. The indicated goal is achieved by purifying the phenol containing admixtures of aliphatic and aromatic carbonyl compounds with an aluminum zirconium catalyst.

The invention relates to the area of chemistry and petrochemistry, more precisely to a process for producing phenol and acetone by the cumene method.
The phenol that is used as the starting material, which is produced by the decomposition of cumyl hydroperoxide with an acidic catalyst, does not satisfy consumer requirements, since it contains admixtures of hydroxyacetone (HA), 2-methylbenzofuran (2-MBF), α-methylstyrene (AMS), acetophenone (AP), mesityl oxide (MO), and dimethylphenylcarbinol (DMPC), and needs to have the indicated impurities removed.
Relatively pure end product phenol is obtained by means of fractional distillation of the decomposition product of cumyl hydroperoxide with separation from the lower-boiling and higher-boiling components [U.S. Pat No. 4,251,325 (1978)]. However, even with careful operation of the rectifier, the phenol that is isolated contains such impurities as HA and 2-methylbenzofuran in quantities which are relatively small, but are still undesirable.
Processes are known for purifying the phenol that is used as the starting material which involve the use of various heterogeneous catalysts which convert the impurities listed above almost entirely into high-boiling compounds which can later be separated from the product phenol by distillation. One exception is HA, which can be converted into 2-methylbenzofuran or into higher-boiling products, depending on the efficiency of the catalyst. Thus, during the catalytic conversion the only impurity—2-methylbenzofuran—can accumulate in the catalysis product, complicating the subsequent separation process.
For example, a process is known for producing phenol of high purity from the phenol that is used as the starting material, which is produced by the decomposition of cumyl hydroperoxide with an acidic catalyst, by placing it in contact with a heterogeneous catalyst, which is a gamma aluminum oxide having a certain specific surface and a certain acidity of the surface centers. In the process, the aliphatic and aromatic carbonyl compounds, which are present in the starting phenol, are converted into high-boiling products, which are relatively easily removed from the end product by rectification [U.S. Pat. No. 5,264,636 (1992)]. The disadvantage of this process is the insufficiently high activity of the catalyst, especially when the content of impurities in the starting phenol is relatively small (0.1% by mass and less), which means that the 2-methylbenzofuran content of the end product is reduced to only a small extent.
A process is also known where phenol is purified by removing from it the side products of the cumene oxidizing process. This process involves treating the starting phenol by placing it in contact with a catalyst which is activated aluminosilicate, and then separating the resulting high-boiling components by distillation [U.S. Pat. No. 2,910,511 (1956)—prototype].

Process and catalyst for purifying phenol


Disclosed is a recording apparatus that helps to achieve a reduction in size and cost. The recording apparatus has a U-turn sheet feeding mechanism for reversing and feeding a recording medium and a duplex transport mechanism for reversing the recording medium and performing printing on both sides thereof, in which the same transport path serves as a transport path for transporting the recording medium from a U-turn sheet feeding roller to a main transport roller for transporting the recording medium to a printing portion and as a transport path for reversal in duplex transport. Further, a transport roller provided in the transport path from the U-turn sheet feeding roller to the main transport roller for transporting the recording medium to the printing portion is the same as a transport roller for duplex transport. A single transport roller serves both as the U-turn transport roller and as the duplex transport roller.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording apparatus that performs recording on a recording sheet by a recording means.
2. Related Background Art
A conventional recording apparatus will be described with reference to FIG. 24.
In FIG. 24, reference numeral 901 indicates a recording head that performs recording by selectively discharging ink from a plurality of discharge ports. The recording head 901 is retained in position by a carriage (not shown), and reciprocates in a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction of a recording medium, thereby performing printing on the recording medium. Reference numeral 902 indicates a platen opposed to the recording head, and retains the recording medium at a printing portion.
Next, a U-turn feeding structure will be described.
Reference numeral 905 indicates a sheet feeding cassette that retains recording mediums in a stacked state, reference numeral 906 indicates a U-turn sheet feeding roller for separately conveying the recording mediums, reference numeral 910 indicates a paper guide on the inner side of a U-turn portion, reference numeral 911 indicates a paper guide on the outer side of the U-turn portion, reference numeral 907 indicates a U-turn transport roller, reference numeral 908 indicates a U-turn transport roller adapted to be driven to rotate while pressurizing the U-turn transport roller 907, reference numeral 903 indicates a transport roller pair for transporting the recording medium to a printing portion, reference numeral 913 indicates a paper guide for guiding the recording medium to the transport roller pair 903, reference numeral 904 indicates an ejection roller pair for ejecting the recording medium, and reference numeral 909 indicates an ejection tray retaining the ejected recording medium. Reference numeral 912 indicates a U-turn paper guide flapper for switching between U-turn transport and reversal transport for two-side recording.
Next, a U-turn sheet feeding operation will be described.
The recording mediums stacked in the sheet feeding cassette 905 are separately transported in the direction of the arrow M by the U-turn sheet feeding roller 906, further transported in the direction of the arrow N by the U-turn transport roller 907 and the U-turn transport roller 908, and transported in the direction of the arrow P while guided by the paper guides 910, 911, and 913. At this time, the U-turn paper guide flapper 912 moves in the direction of the arrow Q (indicated by the dashed line) to secure the U-turn transport path. Next, the recording medium is transported to the printing portion by the transport roller pair 903, and printing is effected by the recording head 901. Then, the recording medium is transported in the direction of the arrow U by the ejection roller pair 904, and ejected onto the ejection tray 909.
Next, a two-side printing structure will be described.
Reference numerals 914 and 915 indicate duplex transport rollers, reference numeral 916 indicates duplex transport rollers adapted to be driven to rotate while pressurizing the duplex transport rollers 914 and 915, reference numeral 917 indicates outer paper guides for duplex transport, reference numerals 918 and 919 indicate inner paper guides for duplex transport, and reference numeral 920 indicates a two-side paper guide flapper for switching the transport path before and after reversal in duplex transport.
Next, a two-side printing operation will be described.
Printing is performed by the recording head 901 on the recording medium fed by the U-turn sheet feeding mechanism; when the printing on the obverse side is completed, the transport roller pair 903 and the ejection roller pair 904 are reversed in rotation to transport the recording medium in the direction of the arrow R. The recording medium is further transported in the direction of the arrow S by the transport roller pair 903, and transported to a duplex transport portion. At this time, the U-turn paper guide flapper 912 moves in the direction of the arrow T, and the two-side paper guide flapper 920 moves in the direction of the arrow K, securing the transport path for the recording medium in the direction of the arrow S.
Further, the recording medium is transported by the duplex transport rollers 914 and 915 and the duplex transport rollers 916, and guided by the paper guides 917, 918, and 919 to be transported in the directions of the arrows H and I. The recording medium is transported again in the direction of the arrow P toward the transport roller pairs 903 in a reversed state. At this time, the two-side paper guide flapper 920 moves in the direction of the arrow L (indicated by the dashed line), securing the transport path after reversal. Printing is performed on the reverse side of the reversed recording medium by the recording head 1, and, when the printing is completed, the recording medium is ejected onto the ejection tray 909, thereby completing the two-side printing.
The above-described conventional example has the following problems.
Since the paper transport path is independent, mounting of the U-turn sheet feeding mechanism and the two-side printing mechanism results in an increase in the size of the apparatus main body in height direction and depth direction, thus hindering achievement of a reduction in size. Further, the provision of the independent transport mechanism leads to an increase in cost, which means the construction cannot be adopted in an inexpensive apparatus.
Further, to cope with jamming due to defective transport of a recording medium, it is necessary to provide a mechanism allowing opening of the paper guide portion; in this case also, the transport mechanism is independent, and the paper guide portion opening mechanism is also formed separately, which leads to an increase in apparatus size and cost.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


In a shaft coupling having a pair of complementally shaped, detachably joinable coupling sleeve halves (11, 12) which can be clamped together by means of clamping elements to form a split coupling sleeve provided with at least one seat (14) for a first shaft member (A1) which is to be non-rotatably connected with a second shaft member (A2, A2′) so that the first and second shaft members are aligned. The sleeve halves include retaining elements for positively locking the first shaft member (A1) against rotational movement relative to the coupling sleeve, wherein the retaining elements include a plurality of elongate force transmitting elements (16D) in the seat (14, 15)

1. Technical Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a shaft coupling comprising a pair of complementally shaped, detachably joinable coupling sleeve halves which form, when they are joined together, a split coupling sleeve having an axis and provided with at least one seat for a first shaft member which is to be non-rotatably connected with a second shaft member so that the first and second shaft members are centred on said axis of the coupling sleeve, clamping elements for holding the coupling sleeve halves together and clamping them about the first shaft member, and a retaining device including interengaging retaining elements for positively locking the first shaft member against rotational movement relative to the coupling sleeve.
2. Prior Art
In known shaft couplings of this kind, also known as split clamping or compression couplings, the retaining device usually comprises a keyed joint having at least one axial key received in registering keyways in the coupling sleeve formed by the coupling sleeve halves and in the shaft member or members. The key serves as a positively locking member to prevent relative rotational movement of the coupling sleeve on the one hand and the shaft member or members on the other hand if the frictional locking of the shaft member or members to the coupling sleeve should be inadequate. Sometimes, the retaining device also comprises one or more additional retaining elements providing a positive locking of the shaft member or members to the coupling sleeve against axial movement relative to the coupling sleeve.
Split clamping couplings have several advantages. For example, they are inexpensive in comparison with many other couplings. They do not require special tools for their installation and also do not require any extra length of the shafts to enable the installation. In prior art split clamping couplings the retaining device is problematic, however.
A retaining device comprising axial keys as locking members has important disadvantages. One disadvantage is that the keyways form stress concentration areas in the coupling sleeve and in the shaft member or members and therefore limit the torque that can be transmitted.
Another disadvantage is that if the coupling and the shaft member or members have to be positively held together both rotationally and axially to be able to transmit high torques and great axial forces, a retaining device including both at least one axial key and at least one transverse key is required.
A further disadvantage is that it is often difficult to provide an adequate clamping force, that is, adequate friction between the coupling sleeve and the shaft member or members, especially in split clamping couplings which are required to transmit very high torques. As a practical matter, it is therefore necessary to rely on the retaining device for the transmission of at least a portion of the desired torque.
A disadvantage is also that the keyed joints often exhibit a certain rotational play that has undesired effects when the direction of the torque is repeatedly reversed.
Still another problem is that the contact surfaces between the coupling sleeve and the shaft member or members are prone to so-called fretting or chafing corrosion.


Disclosed are methods and apparatus for utilizing any of a plurality of disparate types of lens actuators on a mobile device. The method may include launching a configurable actuator driver and identifying a particular type of lens actuator that resides on the mobile device. Based upon the particular type of lens actuator that resides on the mobile device, lens-actuator-specific parameter values are obtained that facilitate control interfacing with the particular type of lens actuator. In addition, tuning parameter values are obtained that characterize a displacement-response of the particular type of actuator to control signal values, and the tuning parameter values for the particular type of lens actuator are provided to a configurable lens-actuator driver. The particular type of lens actuator that resides on the mobile computing device is then operated using the tuning parameter values.

1. Field
The present invention relates to computing devices. In particular, but not by way of limitation, the present invention relates to apparatus and methods that enable control of hardware devices of computing devices.
2. Background
Mobile computing devices such as smartphones, netbooks, gaming devices, PDAs, and laptops now typically include a variety of hardware devices such as cameras, and these mobile computing devices are now capable of running relatively sophisticated operating systems that enable users to interact with the hardware devices in a simplified and often intuitive manner.
The cameras that are now available in mobile computing devices, for example, include camera lens actuators (e.g., voice coil motor (VCM) and piezoelectric actuators) that are very popular and widely used. These actuators are used to drive the optical lens set of the camera along the optical axis to achieve a desired focus. An important aspect of controlling the focus of the lens set is to control the lens motion with optical precision. Known detrimental factors that interfere with the precision control of these lens sets are: 1) linear sub-optimal lens movement and 2) ringing. These two factors can be corrected using a tuning process that is used to derive characterization parameters that vary for the different types of actuators-lens combination. Currently, different software drivers are developed for each type of actuator that incorporates the tuning parameters.
As a consequence, ongoing maintenance of the actuator drivers is difficult because changes must be made to each of the different actuator drivers. And in addition, whenever new actuator hardware is developed, the vendors must expend time and resources developing new corresponding drivers. Accordingly, the current approach to device driver deployment is less than ideal and will most certainly not be satisfactory in the future.

Configurable lens actuator driver system


An imaging lens includes first to sixth lens elements arranged from an object side to an image side in the given order. Through designs of surfaces of the lens elements and relevant optical parameters, a short system length of the imaging lens may be achieved while maintaining good optical performance.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an imaging lens and an electronic apparatus including the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, as use of portable electronic devices (e.g., mobile phones and digital cameras) becomes ubiquitous, much effort has been put into reducing dimensions of portable electronic devices. Moreover, as dimensions of charged coupled device (CCD) and complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) based optical sensors are reduced, dimensions of imaging lenses for use with the optical sensors must be correspondingly reduced without significantly compromising optical performance.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,580,205 discloses a conventional imaging lens that includes six lens elements, and that has a system length of 2 cm. Such a big imaging lens is unsuitable for use in an electronic device that focuses on slim size and that has a thickness of 1˜2 cm.
Reducing the system length of the imaging lens while maintaining satisfactory optical performance is always a goal in the industry.

Imaging lens, and electronic apparatus including the same


An exhaust gas processing device includes: an exhaust gas processing unit positioned above an engine; a reduction agent tank accommodating a reduction agent; a reduction agent supply unit attached to the exhaust gas processing unit; a cooling unit having a first end portion and a second end portion; a cooling water accommodation unit having a lower portion positioned below the cooling unit; a first pipe connecting the first end portion and the cooling water accommodation unit; a second pipe connecting the second end portion and the cooling water accommodation unit; a circulating device driven by the engine. The first pipe and the second pipe are connected to the lower portion. The first pipe includes: a connection portion connected to the first end portion; an apex portion positioned above the cooling unit; a supplying portion positioned between the connection portion and the apex portion. Thus, it is possible to suppress an increase in the temperature of the reduction agent supply unit.

Conventionally, a construction machine having an exhaust gas processing device is known. The exhaust gas processing device purifies nitrogen oxides in exhaust gas discharged from an engine. The exhaust gas processing device causes a reduction reaction of nitrogen oxides in the exhaust gas and a reduction agent to occur using a reduction catalyst, for example, to decompose the nitrogen oxides into water and nitrogen. The exhaust gas processing device includes a NOX purification device that is disposed on an engine and has a reduction catalyst therein, a urea water tank that accommodates urea water as a reduction agent to be supplied to the NOX purification device, and a urea water injection valve that is attached to the NOX purification device so as to inject the urea water in the urea water tank into the NOX purification device (for example, see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2012-237232). In the exhaust gas processing device, the urea water injection valve injects urea water into the NOX purification device. Moreover, the exhaust gas processing device causes a reduction reaction between nitrogen oxides in the exhaust gas and an ammonia generated from the urea water by a reduction catalyst in the NOX purification device. In this way, the exhaust gas processing device purifies nitrogen oxides in the exhaust gas.
The urea water injection valve of the exhaust gas processing device, that is, the reduction agent supply unit, is attached to the NOX purification device through which hot exhaust gas passes. Due to this, the temperature of the reduction agent supply unit is likely to increase with the heat of the exhaust gas. When the temperature of the reduction agent supply unit increases, the temperature of the urea water passing through the reduction agent supply unit also increases. Due to this, in the exhaust gas processing device, an excessively large amount of ammonia may be generated due to hydrolysis of urea water. In such a case, after the exhaust gas processing device causes a reduction reaction of the nitrogen oxides and ammonia to occur in the NOX purification device, the ammonia may remain in the NOX purification device, as a result, the NOX purification device may corrode. Due to this, it is desirable to provide an exhaust gas processing device capable of suppressing an increase in the temperature of the reduction agent supply unit and a construction machine having the exhaust gas processing device.

Exhaust gas processing device and construction machine

KOBELCO CONSTRUCTION MACHINERY CO., LTD.


A method for creating new vias in an integrated circuit chip. The method automatically creates a plurality of new vias around an original via for electrically connecting two metal layers to each other in circuit layout data of the integrated circuit chip. The new vias also electrically connect the two metal layers to each other. According to the new vias, the probability of certainly electrically connecting the two metal layers of the integrated circuit chip to each other can be increased when the integrated circuit chip is being manufactured.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to an integrated circuit chip, and more particularly to a method for creating new vias (electric contacts) in the integrated circuit chip.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 (Prior Art) is a schematic illustration showing a partial circuit layout of an integrated circuit chip 100. As shown in FIG. 1, the circuit layout of the integrated circuit chip 100 has a first metal layer M1 and a second metal layer M2 adjacent to each other. A wire 102 of the first metal layer M1 is electrically connected to a wire 104 of the second metal layer M2 through a via (electric contact). Ideally, when the integrated circuit chip 100 is being manufactured, the via can certainly electrically connect the first metal layer to the second metal layer. However, the via sometimes cannot certainly electrically connect the wire 102 to the wire 104 during the actual manufacturing process due to the following factors. For example, particles may be filled into the via or the conductive layer of the via is poorly formed. Thus, the two metal layers M1 and M2 are not certainly electrically connected to each other. Consequently, the signals in the integrated circuit chip 100 cannot be normally transmitted to the wires 102 and 104, thereby disabling the integrated circuit chip 100 from working normally.
Thus, how to provide a quick and effective method to solve the above-mentioned problems is an important subject in the IC industry.


Methods, systems, and devices for wireless communications are described. A method for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE) may include: receiving a multicast bandwidth part configuration for multicast communications between a base station and the UE, where the multicast bandwidth part configuration includes a maximum number of multiple-input, multiple-output layers to be used for the multicast communications; establishing a multicast link with the base station for multicast communications; determining to use a reduced number of antennas for multicast reception than the number of antennas used for unicast reception, or determining that the UE is able to decode the multicast communications prior to a remaining portion of the multicast communications; and receiving the multicast communications via the reduced number of antennas, or reducing the radio frequency power prior to completion of a number of repetitions or retransmissions of the multicast communications.

Wireless communications systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, and so on. These systems may be capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing the available system resources (e.g., time, frequency, and power). Examples of such multiple-access systems include fourth generation (4G) systems such as Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) systems, or LTE-A Pro systems, and fifth generation (5G) systems which may be referred to as New Radio (NR) systems. These systems may employ technologies such as code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA), or discrete Fourier transform spread orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (DFT-S-OFDM). A wireless multiple-access communications system may include one or more base stations or one or more network access nodes, each simultaneously supporting communication for multiple communication devices, which may be otherwise known as user equipment (UE).
Some radio access technologies (RATs) may support multicast communications, in which data is transmitted in a single multicast communication from a base station to multiple UEs subscribed to the multicast service. The group of UEs subscribed to the multicast service may be geographically spread out in the coverage area of the base station. Thus, each UE of the group of UEs may have a different geometry with the base station that may result in each UE experiencing different signal quality levels with the base station. The base station may account for the variance in the signal qualities of the UEs when configuring multicast transmissions. In some cases, a UE may have good geometry and signal quality with the base station, but the base station may nevertheless configure the group multicast transmissions to account for one or more UEs with low signal quality or poor geometry. Accordingly, the UE with good signal quality may expend unnecessary power when receiving the multicast transmission due to the multicast configuration including enough resources for a lower signal quality than that of the good geometry UE.


A means and method are provided for enhancing or replacing the natural excitation of the human vocal tract by artificial excitation means, wherein the artificially created acoustics present additional spectral, temporal, or phase data useful for (1) enhancing the machine recognition robustness of audible speech or (2) enabling more robust machine-recognition of relatively inaudible mouthed or whispered speech. The artificial excitation (a) may be arranged to be audible or inaudible, (b) may be designed to be non-interfering with another user""s similar means, (c) may be used in one or both of a vocal content-enhancement mode or a complimentary vocal tract-probing mode, and/or (d) may be used for the recognition of audible or inaudible continuous speech or isolated spoken commands.

The present invention is directed generally to voice recognition, and, more particularly to a means and method for enhancing or replacing the natural excitation of a living body""s vocal tract by artificial excitation means.
The ability to vocally converse with a computer is a grand and worthy goal of hundreds of researchers, universities and institutions all over the world. Such a capability is widely expected to revolutionize communications, learning, commerce, government services and many other activities by making the complexities of technology transparent to the user. In order to converse, the computer must first recognize what words are being said by the human user and then must determine the likely meaning of those words and formulate meaningful and appropriate ongoing responses to the user. The invention herein addresses the recognition aspect of the overall speech understanding problem.
It is well known that the human vocal system can be roughly approximated as a source driving a digital (or analog) filter; see, e.g., M. Al-Akaidi, xe2x80x9cSimulation model of the vocal tract filter for speech synthesisxe2x80x9d, Simulation, Vol. 67, No. 4, p. 241-246 (October 1996). The source is the larynx and vocal chords and the filter is the set of resonant acoustic cavities and/or resonant surfaces created and modified by the many movable portions (articulators) of the throat, tongue, mouth/throat surfaces, lips and nasal cavity. These include the lips, mandible, tongue, velum and pharynx. In essence, the source creates one or both of a quasi-periodic vibration (voiced sounds) or a white noise (unvoiced sounds) and the many vocal articulators modify that excitation in accordance with the vowels, consonants or phonemes being expressed. In general, the frequencies between 600 to 4,000 Hertz contain the bulk of the necessary acoustic information for human speech perception (B. Bergeron, xe2x80x9cUsing an intraural microphone interface for improved speech recognitionxe2x80x9d, Collegiate Microcomputer, Vol. 8, No. 3, pp. 231-238 (August 1990)), but there is some human-hearable information all the way up to 10,000 hertz or so and some important information below 600 hertz. The variable set of resonances of the human vocal tract are referred to as formants and are indicated as F1, F2 . . . . In general, the lower frequency formants F1 and F2 are usually in the range of 250 to 3,000 hertz and contain a major portion of human-hearable information about many articulated sounds and phonemes. Although the formants are principle features of human speech, they are by far not the only features and even the formants themselves dynamically change frequency and amplitude, depending on context, speaking rate, and mood. Indeed, only experts have been able to manually determine what a person has said based on a printout of the spectrogram of the utterance and even this analysis contains best-guesses. Thus, automated speech recognition is one of the grand problems in linguistic and speech sciences. In fact, only the recent application of trainable stochastic (statistics-based) models using fast microprocessors (e.g., 200 Mhz or higher) has resulted in 1998""s introduction of inexpensive continuous speech (CS) software products. In the stochastic models used in such software, referred to as Hidden Markov Models (HMMs), the statistics of varying annunciation and temporal delivery are statistically captured in oral training sessions and made available as models for the internal search engine(s).
Major challenges to speech recognition software and systems development progress have historically been that (a) continuous speech (CS) is very much more difficult to recognize than single isolated-word speech and (b) different speakers have very different voice patterns from each other. The former is primarily because in continuous speech, we pronounce and enunciate words depending on their context, our moods, our stress state, and on the speed with which we speak. The latter is because of physiological, age, sex, anatomical, regional accent, and other reasons. Furthermore, another major problem has been how to reproducibly get the sound (natural speech) into the recognition system without loss or distortion of the information it contains. It turns out that the positioning of and type of microphone(s) or pickups one uses are critical. Head-mounted oral microphones, and the exact positioning thereof, have been particularly thorny problems despite their superior frequency response. Some attempts to use ear pickup microphones (see, e.g., Bergeron, supra) have shown fair results despite the known poorer passage of high frequency content through the bones of the skull. This result sadly speaks volumes to the positioning difficulty implications of mouth microphones which should give substantially superior performance based on their known and understood broader frequency content.
Recently, two companies, IBM and Dragon Systems, have offered commercial PC-based software products (IBM ViaVoice(trademark) and Dragon Naturally Speaking(trademark)) that can recognize continuous speech with fair accuracy after the user conducts carefully designed mandatory training or xe2x80x9cenrollmentxe2x80x9d sessions with the software. Even with such enrollment, the accuracy is approximately 95% under controlled conditions involving careful microphone placement and minimal or no background noise. If, during use, there are other speakers in the room having separate conversations (or there are reverberant echoes present), then numerous irritating recognition errors can result. Likewise, if the user moves the vendor-recommended directional or noise-canceling microphone away, or too far, from directly in front of the lips, or speaks too softly, then the accuracy goes down precipitously. It is no wonder that speech recognition software is not yet significantly utilized in mission-critical applications.
The inventors herein address the general lack of robustness described above in a manner such that accuracy during speaking can be improved, training (enrollment) can be a more robust if not a continuous improvement process, and one may speak softly and indeed even xe2x80x9cmouth wordsxe2x80x9d without significant audible sound generation, yet retain recognition performance. Finally, the inventors have also devised a means for nearby and/or conversing speakers using voice-recognition systems to automatically have their systems adapted to purposefully avoid operational interference with each other. This aspect has been of serious concern when trying to insert voice recognition capabilities into a busy office area wherein numerous interfering (overheard) conversations cannot easily be avoided.
The additional and more reproducible artificial excitations of the invention may also be used to increase the acoustic uniqueness of utterances-thus speeding up speech recognition processing for a given recognition-accuracy requirement. Such a speedup could, for example, be realized from the reduction in the number of candidate utterances needing software-comparison. In fact, such reductions in utterance identification possibilities also improve recognition accuracy as there are fewer incorrect conclusions to be made.
Utterance or speech-recognition practiced using the invention may have any purpose including, but not limited to: (1) talking to, commanding or conversing with local or remote computers, computer-containing products, telephony products or speech-conversant products (or with other persons using them); (2) talking to or commanding a local or remote system that converts recognized speech or commands to recorded or printed text or to programmed actions of any sort (e.g.: voice-mail interactive menus, computer-game control systems); (3) talking to another person(s) locally or remotely-located wherein one""s recognized speech is presented to the other party as text or as a synthesized voice (possibly in his/her different language); (4) talking to or commanding any device (or connected person) discretely or in apparent silence; (5) user-identification or validation wherein security is increased over prior art speech fingerprinting systems due to the additional information available in the speech signal or even the ability to manipulate artificial excitations oblivious to the user; (6) allowing multiple equipped speakers to each have their own speech recognized free of interference from the other audible speakers (regardless of their remote locations or collocation); (7) adapting a users xe2x80x9cspeechxe2x80x9d output to obtain better recognition-processing performance as by adding individually-customized artificial content for a given speaker and making that content portable if not network-available. (This could also eliminate or minimize retraining of new recognition systems by new users.)
In accordance with the present invention, a means and method are disclosed for enhancing or replacing the natural excitation of the human vocal tract by artificial excitation means wherein the artificially created acoustics present additional spectral, temporal or phase data useful for (1) enhancing the machine recognition robustness of audible speech or (2) enabling more robust machine-recognition of relatively inaudible mouthed or whispered speech. The artificial excitation may be arranged to be audible or inaudible, may be designed to be non-interfering with another users similar means, may be used in one or both of a vocal content-enhancement mode or a complimentary vocal tract-probing mode and may be used for the recognition of audible or inaudible continuous speech or isolated spoken commands.
Specifically, an artificial acoustic excitation means is provided for acoustic coupling into a functional vocal tract working in cooperation with a speech recognition system wherein the artificial excitation coupling characteristics provide(s) information useful to the identification of speech by the system.
The present invention extends the performance and applicability of speech-recognition in the following ways:
(1) Improves speech-recognition accuracy and/or speed for audible speech;
(2) Eliminates recognition-interference (accuracy degradation) due to competing speakers or voices, (e.g., as in a busy office with many independent speakers);
(3) Newly allows for voice-recognition of silent or mouthed/whispered speech (e.g., for discretely interfacing with speech-based products and devices); and
Improves security for speech-based user-identification or user-validation
In essence, the human vocal tract is artificially excited, directly or indirectly, to produce sound excitations, which are articulated by the speaker. These sounds, because they are artificially excited, have far more latitude than the familiar naturally excited voiced and aspirated human sounds. For example, they may or may not be audible, may excite natural vocal articulators (audibly or inaudibly) and/or may excite new articulators (audibly or inaudibly).
Artificially excited xe2x80x9cspeechxe2x80x9d output may be superimposed on normal speech to increase the raw characteristic information content. Artificially excited output may be relatively or completely inaudible thus also allowing for good recognition-accuracy while whispering or even mouthing words. Artificial content may help discern between competing speakers thus-equipped, whether they are talking to each other or are in separate cubicles. Artificial content may also serve as a user voiceprint.
Systems taking advantage of this technology may be used for continuous speech or command-style discrete speech. Such systems may be trained using one or both of natural speech and artificial speech.
The artificial excitations may incorporate any of several features including: (a) broadband excitation, (b) narrow band excitation(s) such as a harmonic frequency of a natural formant, (c) multiple tones wherein the tones phase-interact with articulation (natural speech hearing does not significantly involve phase), (d) excitations which are delivered (or processed) only as a function of the success of ongoing natural speech recognition, and (e) excitations which are feedback-optimized for each speaker.
The user need not be aware of the added acoustic information nor of it""s processing.
Consumer/business products incorporating the technology may include computers, PCs, office-wide systems, PDAs, terminals, telephones, games, or any speech-conversant, speech-controlled or sound-controlled appliance or product. For the discrete inaudible option, such products could be used in public with relative privacy. Additional police, military and surveillance products are likely.

Signal injection coupling into the human vocal tract for robust audible and inaudible voice recognition


The invention is a method for making a reverse intaglio decorative or jewelry item and the product made by the method. Any suitable graphical image is scanned into digital memory. The image is changed from two-dimensional to three-dimensional by adding contour to the original image using appropriate graphics software. The contour is scaled for the production of first and second slightly different sizes. Both sized images are converted to a computer numeric control dataset for controlling a milling machine, which cuts the first contour into the underside of a cabochon of stone or crystal and the second contour into a die stamp tool. An insert is die-stamped into metal, said insert having a convex surface that matches the contour of the first contour milled into the cabochon. The insert is painted and mounted into the cabochon to form the reverse intaglio. Suitable inserts may also be produced by molding and casting rather than machining methods.

A rare and expensive jewelry item known as a reverse intaglio crystal usually comprises a hand-carved and hand-painted glass or crystal set in a precious metal bezel or ring. An "intaglio" has a recessed figure cut in stone or some other hard substance so that the figure is hollowed out in three dimensions. In a reverse intaglio, the figure is cut into the reverse side of the stone.
In the finished reverse intaglio item produced by the method of the present invention, a three-dimensional image of something of interest, such as an animal, a house, or a tree, is visible through the face of the stone, creating the accurate visual impression that the image is actually within, not under, the stone. In a reverse intaglio made by traditional methods, the hand-carving and hand-painting is done in reverse (that is, on the underside of the stone) using a technique known as "eglomise." An image is carved in three dimensions into the underside of a small glass, crystal or precious stone cabochon. The image is then painted in reverse inside the cabochon. The paint is applied to the carved surface of the recess within the cabochon. The image is seen through the face (top) of the crystal.
It is as if a scene was painted on the inside of a window for viewing from the outside, which is precisely what the French word "eglomise" historically defined. In a reverse intaglio, the fact that the image is carved into the underside of the stone in three dimensions before painting is what conveys the correct visual impression that the scene actually resides within the stone.
Reverse intaglios have been relatively rare and expensive because they have been made entirely by hand. They are often quite small, about the size of a U.S. dime, requiring extreme precision in the acts of cutting and painting in order to produce a visually pleasing product. Painting an image in reverse, particularly on a small, three dimensional surface, is a developed and relatively rare skill. In order for reverse intaglios to become more widely available and affordable, a way had to be found to make the intaglios more efficiently without sacrificing the intricate three-dimensional carving and painting detail and the traditional high-quality character of the image within the stone.

Method for making a decorative or jewelry item


A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device and an apparatus of automatically adjusting a semiconductor pattern can precisely correct a difference in the shape or position of a pattern exposed or formed in two exposure steps. A pattern measuring unit measures an offset between the first pattern and the second pattern in a pattern measuring step. Based on the information on the offset thus detected, the first pattern is adjusted in a first patterning step with a high degree of freedom in the next manufacturing step cycle of a semiconductor device to precisely align the shape or position of the first pattern with the second pattern in a second patterning step with a low degree of freedom.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device including a step of exposing a fine pattern with precise alignment, and an apparatus of automatically adjusting a semiconductor exposure pattern for use in the method.
2. Description of Related Art
In semiconductor devices such as so-called integrated circuits, a finer pattern and a higher integration degree are recently required in association with a larger capacity of memory or a larger number of functions of logics in a CPU (Central Processing Unit). In addition to the integrated circuits, a finer pattern and a higher integration degree are similarly required, for example in imaging devices such as CADS (Charge Coupled Device), as a type of the semiconductor devices by making good use of a fine pattern forming technique which has been developed in the integrated circuits.
In the semiconductor devices such as the integrated circuits, an exposure step was typically performed with a step & repeat method using a so-called stepper exposure unit before a generation in which a 0.25 μm design rule is applied. In a generation in which a 0.25 to 0.18 μm design rule is applied or in a later generation, however, a single manufacturing process for a semiconductor device has employed both an exposure step with the step & repeat method and an exposure step with a scan method using a so-called scanner exposure unit (also referred to as "a scan exposure unit").
The exposure step in the step & repeat method involves the use of a reticule having a mask pattern formed thereon at a predetermined scaling factor such as 5 times or 10 times in some cases for performing an exposure step to scale down the pattern onto a semiconductor wafer at a predetermined scaling factor. While this exposure step has an advantage of high throughput, it does not necessarily function well for the exposure process of a pattern with a line width design rule of less than 0.25 μm because of limits of resolution or difficulty in making fine adjustments of the pattern during the exposure process.
On the other hand, in the exposure step in the scan method, an exposure step of one mask pattern for one chip involves irradiating an elongated slit area with light and scanning the entire mask pattern through the slit area to perform an exposure step of the entire shot. Since this exposure step allows precise exposure of a very fine pattern with high resolution and permits many parameters for shape correction with a higher degree of freedom, fine adjustments of patterns can be made during the exposure step. In this exposure step, however, both stages of a reticule and a wafer must be controlled simultaneously and thus equipment therefore becomes complicated to cause a higher process cost than the step & repeat method.
To address this, it is becoming popular practice to employ such scan method to perform the exposure in a device pattern forming step which strongly requires precise formation of a fine pattern of less than 0.25 μm such as each structural part of a device or a wiring pattern on the one hand, and on the other hand, to employ the step & repeat method to perform an exposure step in a step of forming a so-called rough-layer pattern with a relatively low fineness of 0.25 μm or more, for example a resist pattern for use in an ion implantation step.
Typically, since the step of forming a pattern of a rough-layer or the like is performed after the device pattern forming step, the exposure step in the step & repeat method is performed after the exposure step by the scan method.
The exposure step in the step & repeat method, however, allows only scale-up/scale-down and parallel shifts over the entire exposure area with regard to adjustments of the shape or a position of a pattern, so that it has a lower degree of freedom than the exposure step in the scan method. Thus, if an offset occurs in the shape or the position of the pattern in the exposure step of the scan method performed earlier, a problem arises in that the existing offset cannot be corrected precisely in some cases in the exposure step of the step & repeat method performed later.
For example, if the exposure step in the scan method results in distortion in an aspect ratio over the entire exposure area, the exposure step with the step & repeat method performed thereafter cannot adjust the dimensions independently in the vertical and horizontal directions over the entire exposure area. For this reason, if adjustments are made to correct the offset only in one of the directions, the offset in the other direction may remain uncorrected or the amount of the offset may increase.
Alternatively, it is contemplated that an effective approach is to prevent occurrence of an offset in the shape or a position in a pattern in the exposure step in the scan method. To realize the approach, however, it is necessary to add a step of forming a marking for indicating a reference point of alignment in the exposure step by the scan method on a wafer to be patterned prior to the exposure step in the scan method since the exposure step in the scan method is typically performed earlier. The necessity causes an additional disadvantage of more complicated manufacturing steps or a lower throughput.

Method of manufacturing semiconductor device and apparatus of automatically adjusting semiconductor pattern


A wellbore pressure isolation apparatus is deployed in a wellbore and has a sealing element that can be activated to seal against an interior surface of a surrounding tubular. Once set, a ball valve in the apparatus restricts upward fluid communication through the apparatus, and another ball valve in the apparatus can restrict downward fluid communication through the apparatus. These ball valve can have disintegratable balls intended to disintegrate in wellbore conditions after different periods of time. To facilitate deployment of the apparatus in a horizontal section of the well bore, the apparatus has a plurality of rollers positioned on a distal end. In addition, the apparatus has a ring disposed about the body between the distal body portion and an adjacent body portion. The ring has an outside diameter at least greater than that of the adjacent body portion to facilitate pumping of the apparatus in the wellbore.

FIG. 1A shows a cross-sectional view of a wellbore 10 having a casing 20 positioned through a formation. Typically, the casing 20 is set with concrete to strengthen the walls of the wellbore 10. Once the casing 20 is set, various completion operations are performed so that oil and gas can be produced from the surrounding formation and retrieved at the surface of the well. In the completion operations, completion equipment, such as perforating guns, setting tool, and pressure isolation plugs, are deployed in the wellbore 10 using a wireline or slick line.
The wellbore 10 is shown in a stage of completion after perforating guns have formed perforations 13, 15 near production zones 12, 14 of the formation. At the stage shown, a pressure isolation plug 100 on the end of a wireline 40 has been deployed downhole to a desired depth for isolating pressures in the wellbore 10. The plug 100, which is shown in partial cross-section in FIG. 1B, has a mandrel 110 and a packing element 120 disposed between retainers 150A-B and slips 130A-B. The overall outside diameter D of the plug 100 can be about 3.665-inches for deployment within casing 20 having an inside diameter of about 3.920 or 4.090-inches.
After being deployed in the casing 20, a setting tool sets the tool by applying axial forces to the upper slip 130A while maintaining the mandrel 110 and the lower slip 130B in a fixed position. The force drives the slips 130A-B up cones 140A-B so that the slips 130A-B engage the inner walls of the casing 20. In addition, the force compresses the packing element 120 and forces it to seal against the inner wall of the casing 20. In this manner, the compressed packing element 120 seals fluid communication in the annular gap between the plug 100 and the interior wall of the casing 20, thereby facilitating pressure isolation.
Once set in the desired position within the wellbore 10, the plug 100 can function as a bridge plug and a frac plug. For example, the plug 100 has a lower ball 180 and a lower ball seat 118 that allow the plug 100 to function as a bridge plug. In the absence of upward flow, the lower ball 180 is retained within the plug 100 by retainer pin 119. When there is upward flow, however, the lower ball 180 engages the lower ball seat 118, thereby restricting flow through the plug 100 and isolating pressure from below. During completion or production operations, for example, the plug 100 acting as a bridge plug can sustain pressure from below the plug 100 and prevent the upward flow of production fluid in the wellbore 10.
To function as a frac plug, for example, the plug 100 has an upper ball 160 and an upper ball seat 116 in the plug. In the absence of downward flow, the upper ball 160 is retained within the plug by retainer pin 117. When there is downward flow of fluid, however, the upper ball 160 engages the upper ball seat 116, thereby restricting flow of fluid through the plug and isolating pressure from above. In a fracing operation, for example, operators can pump frac fluid from the surface into the wellbore 10. Acting as a frac plug, the plug 100 can sustain the hyrdualic pressure above the plug 100 so that the frac fluid will interact with the upper zone 12 adjacent to upper perforations 13 and will not pass below the plug 100.
Although FIG. 1A shows the pressure isolation plug 100 used in a vertical section of wellbore 10, wellbores may also have horizontal sections. Unfortunately, moving completion equipment, such as perforating guns, setting tool, and plugs, in a horizontal section of a wellbore can prove difficult for operators. For example, if a plug is to be used to isolate a bottom zone of a wellbore having a horizontal section, then perforating guns and other equipment must be moved downhole through the horizontal section using a tractor or coil tubing. As one skilled in the art will appreciate, the use of tractors or coil tubing in horizontal applications can be very time consuming and expensive.
Accordingly, a need exists for a pressure isolation plug that can be advantageously used in wellbores having not only vertical sections but also horizontal sections and that can allow perforating guns and other equipment to be moved downhole without the need of tractors or coil tubing. The subject matter of the present disclosure is directed to overcoming, or at least reducing the effects of, one or more of the problems set forth above.

Pressure isolation plug for horizontal wellbore and associated methods


A urethane and graphene interior trim panel is provided. In another aspect, the interior trim panel may be an automotive vehicle instrument panel, airbag cover, door trim panel, center console, knee bolster, seat mechanism cover, pillar cover or the like. A further aspect includes a graphene infused thermoplastic polyurethane compound and more particularly a TPU-graphene composition or mixture which can be ground, molded and then used in vehicle interior applications.

The present disclosure relates generally to an interior trim panel and more particularly to a urethane and graphene interior trim panel.
Traditionally, automotive vehicle instrument panel skins are made from a variety of polymeric materials including polyvinyl chloride ("PVC"), thermoplastic polyurethane ("TPU"), thermoplastic polyolefin ("TPO") and thermoplastic elastomers ("TPEs"). These skins can be made by methods such as slush rotational molding and thermoforming. Examples are disclosed in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2017/0240736 entitled "Polyvinylchloride for Seamless Airbag Doors" invented by Farrar, and U.S. Pat. No. 7,560,515 entitled "PVC Alloy for Use in Air Bag Doors" which issued to Tansey on Jul. 14, 2009, both of which are incorporated by reference herein.
In the past, TPU was used for separate airbag doors assembled to instrument panels. More recently, U.S. Pat. No. 5,824,738 entitled "Light Stable Aliphatic Thermoplastic Urethane Elastomers and Method of Making Same," which issued to Humphrey et al. on Oct. 20, 1998, discusses the traditional use of a light stable aliphatic thermoplastic polyurethane formed by slush molding. This patent is incorporated by reference herein. Conventional TPU, however, undesirably "self-heals" or rejoins where an airbag cover door tear seam is intentionally created by scoring the skin with a knife or the like. Furthermore, it is believed that aliphatic TPU and PVC blends/alloys exhibit reductions of their original physical properties and tend to become brittle over time when exposed to high heat during the lifetime of the interior trim component.
South Korean Patent No. 2014-0005684 discloses a thermoplastic polyurethane film containing 30-40% by weight of graphene powder. This very large concentration of graphene undesirably causes the TPU to become hard and rigid. Therefore, the lack of flexibility makes removal of the film from a mold difficult and the final product lacks the desired soft feel and impact absorption for vehicle occupants and does not contain the required flexural properties to allow for satisfactory airbag deployments.
In accordance with the present invention, a urethane and graphene interior trim panel is provided. In another aspect, the interior trim panel may be an automotive vehicle instrument panel, airbag cover, door trim panel, center console, knee bolster, seat mechanism cover, pillar cover or the like. A further aspect includes a graphene infused thermoplastic polyurethane compound and more particularly a TPU-graphene composition or mixture which can be ground, molded and then used in vehicle interior applications. A method of making a urethane and graphene interior trim panel is also disclosed.
The present apparatus and method are advantageous over conventional devices. For example, the present graphene infused thermoplastic polyurethane produces enhanced heat performance along with improved electromagnetic interference ("EMI") shielding properties. Furthermore, the present method employs a grinding process which results in a final product having superior flow-ability and viscosity during slush or rotational molding in comparison to traditional low temperature deployable grade plastics, such as PVCs and TPUs. The present apparatus and method employ an advantageous concentration of graphene which maintains final panel flexibility and softness yet achieves desired electromagnetic interference shielding of electronic components, such as electronic controllers, sensors and the like, assembled to or located behind the trim panel. Additional features and advantages can be ascertained from the following description and claims taken in conjunction with the appended drawings.

Urethane and graphene interior trim panel


A composite stencil screen assembly including a uniformly-prestressed resilient backing screen attached to a frame and a metallic wire mesh stencil screen attached to the backing screen. A predetermined portion of the backing screen is removed after the stencil screen is attached thereto in order to permit the pre-stressing force in the backing screen to uniformly pre-stress the stencil screen in all directions to impart a tight, wrinkle-free, high-quality printing surface to the stencil screen. In a preferred embodiment, the assembly is retensioned subsequent to removal of the predetermined portion of the backing screen. The composite construction is uncomplicated in design, resists metal fatigue of the wire mesh stencil screen, is effectively used in non-thermally dependent and thermally dependent printing operations, and has a long service life.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to printing apparatus, and, more particularly, to an improved screen printing apparatus, its method of manufacture, and its method of use.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Stencil screens are extensively employed to apply coatings to surfaces of mass-produced articles of manufacture. The coatings may be applied so as to produce simple schemes or patterns or they may be applied in more elaborate decorative designs including manufacturer's names, product names, logos, and similar types of information. During printing, a printing or coating medium such as ink or a thermally responsive material is forced by means of a squeegee through exposed areas of the screen which delineate the intended design to be transferred onto the surface of the article.
Examples of prior art stencil screen printing apparatus are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,894,487, U.S. Pat. No. 4,137,842 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,520,727. Each of these patents disclose apparatus having a metallic wire mesh design-bearing stencil screen which is secured to a metallic frame. In operation of these apparatus, the stencil screen is pushed slightly outwardly and drawn taut by the squeegee during each design transfer application. Upon completion of the transfer application, the squeegee is retracted and the screen is permitted to relax to its original condition. During their useful service lives, such screens are adaptable to screen printing a wide variety of surfaces and/or articles of manufacture. Unfortunately, particularly in printing flat substrates, the continuous tensioning and relaxing of the wire mesh screen material soon causes unavoidable and harmful fatigue of the material (particularly where the material is in contact with the lower edges of the metallic frame), hence leading to premature failure of the screen.
A further disadvantage of stencil screen apparatus of this type is that the wire mesh screen cannot always be tensioned uniformly over the entire area of the frame to which it is secured. For example, the screen is usually tensioned and cemented along substantial portions thereof to a rubber boot which surrounds the frame while the remaining portions of the screen are held in metal compression clamps which act as bus bars at times when the screen is heated by electrical resistance, such clamps usually being adjustably secured by screws to opposite ends of the frame. Due to its inherent non-suppleness, metallic wire mesh screen is difficult to attach to the rubber boot under sufficient tension to cause the screen to tightly conform to the shape of the frame. Consequently, the wire mesh screen can only be effectively tensioned along its length dimension where its clamped ends are adjustably connected to the frame by the aforementioned screws. Such non-uniform tensioning of the screen has been known to produce wrinkles and/or other variably-tensioned areas in the screen which deleteriously affect the quality of the image which is transferred by the screen to the article.
Such screens further have relatively limited inherent resiliency. This generally does not create a problem during many printing operations. However, at times when thermally responsive printing medium is applied by the screen printing apparatus, i.e., at times when the screen and printing medium are heated, the thermally responsive printing medium, if applied to a substantially cooler surface such as glass, for example, quickly sets upon contact therewith and causes the screen to adhere to the surface of the article. A practical example of where this situation physically occurs is in manufacturing plants wherein ultraviolet or colored strips of coating are applied to windshield glass, and the like. Under such conditions, retraction of the screen from the article surface usually causes removal of at least a portion of the printed image from the article surface thus essentially destroying the printed image.
In such thermally dependent printing operations, it would be most advantageous if the screen structure could be provided with greater inherent resiliency whereby it would positively and virtually instantaneously return to its initial position upon passage of the squeegee to thereby prevent sticking or blocking of the screen to the cooler article surface.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,373,441 and German Offenlegungsschrift No. 29 16 391 disclose composite stencil screen apparatus which require elaborate constructions involving electroplating opposite end portions of a metallic stencil screen that are thermoplastically secured to a thermoplastic synthetic resin material such that the thermoplastic securement between the wire stencil screen the resin material is not damaged during electrical resistance heating of the stencil screen.
An advantage exists, therefore, for a stencil screen printing screen construction which is: 1) resistant to metal fatigue, 2) uniformly tensioned across its length and width dimensions, and 3) high in inherent resiliency.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a stencil screen printing apparatus having a printing screen construction which is resistant to metal fatigue and, therefore, of long service life.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a stencil screen printing apparatus having a printing screen construction which is uniformly tensioned in all directions within the plane of the stencil screen to thereby provide a high-quality image transfer surface.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a stencil screen printing apparatus having a printing screen construction which is high in inherent resiliency and, therefore, especially useful in thermally dependent printing applications wherein a substantial temperature differential exists between the screen and the article surface being coated; such a highly resilient printing screen construction thereby preventing adhering of the screen to the article surface which is caused by the rapid cooling and setting of the thermally responsive printing medium upon contract with the cooler article surface.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a stencil screen printing apparatus having a printing screen construction which permits accurately controllable and essentially uniform electrical resistance heating of the screen in the instances where the printing medium is thermally responsive.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide methods of manufacture of a stencil screen printing apparatus which will produce an apparatus capable of fully attaining all of the aforenoted objects.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a method of coating article surfaces with at least one color of thermally responsive printing medium at speeds heretofore unattainable by the printing screen apparatus of the prior art through the use of at least one stencil screen printing apparatus having the novel structural features of the present invention in order to achieve rapid and effective printing of articles, such method finding particular advantage in high-volume production environments.
Still other objects and advantages will become apparent in light of the attached drawings and the written description of the invention presented herebelow.


A multi-tank indirect liquid level measurement device and method for wastewater tanks in a recreational vehicle may be implemented using a sealable reservoir that holds pressurized air, a manual piston pump that supplies and/or pressurizes the air in the reservoir, a rotary valve that incorporates a selection disk with an axial passage that is rotationally coupled to a connection disk that has a plurality of pipes, each of which connect on their other end to the wastewater tanks to be gaged. A bourdon tube pressure gage displays the pressure difference between the sealable reservoir and atmospheric pressure, which is an indirect reading of the height of the wastewater in the tank being gaged.

This disclosure relates to the measurement of liquid levels in recreational vehicle wastewater holding tanks.
Many recreational vehicles, such as campers, trailers, fifth wheelers, and motor homes, have one or more tanks for storing the effluent or wastewater originating in the toilet, sink, or shower. These tanks are typically called black water or gray water tanks. The effluent stored in black water and gray water tanks can easily clog or render inoperable a liquid level measurement apparatus or sensors in direct contact with the wastewater. Examples of typical direct wastewater measurement devices are ones that use conductance, capacitance, floats, or other direct means for measuring the liquid in a tank. Despite the numerous cleaning methods and chemicals that have been developed, many of the existing wastewater level measuring methods and systems can fail within several weeks, resulting in the owner of a recreational vehicle draining the wastewater tank or tanks too frequently or running the risk of a tank overflow.
A typical modern recreational vehicle has a plurality of wastewater holding tanks. There are normally separate tanks for black water (human waste from the toilet) and gray water (waste water from the kitchen sink). There may be a second gray water tank for effluent from a shower.
Indirect liquid level measurement systems exist. One example is U.S. Pat. No. 7,389,688 by John Vander Horst. These devices work, but it was desired to make a simpler purely mechanical device that requires no transducers and is capable of measuring the liquid level in multiple tanks using a single gage.
It should be understood that the drawings are not necessarily to scale. In certain instances, details that are not necessary for an understanding of the invention or that render other details difficult to perceive may have been omitted. It should be understood that the invention is not necessarily limited to the particular embodiments illustrated herein.

Rotary valve multi-tank indirect liquid level measurement system and method for wastewater tanks in a recreational vehicle


A radial wedge flange clamp comprising a pair of flanges each comprising a plurality of peripheral flat wedge facets having flat wedge surfaces and opposed and mating flat surfaces attached to or otherwise engaged with two elements to be joined and including a series of generally U-shaped wedge clamps each having flat wedge interior surfaces and engaging one pair of said peripheral flat wedge facets. Each of said generally U-shaped wedge clamps has in its opposing extremities apertures for the tangential insertion of bolts to apply uniform radial force to said wedge clamps when assembled about said wedge segments.

The present invention relates to a device for making quick and reliable connection and disconnection of metal seal flanges.
The mating surfaces of conventional, commercial wedge flange clamps that use flat or conical wedges that apply axial force to a conical shaped flange do not make full surface contact over the entire range of motion of the clamp. Thus, these clamps are not able to generate the high force needed to achieve tight metal to metal seals. The most common of such wedge flange clamps are identified as band clamps, hinged clamps and chain clamps. In each of these prior art clamps, a band, a hinged peripheral structure or a peripheral chain is used to force a flat or conical wedge clamping mechanism against and over a conical shaped flange. While such devices provide useful clamps each is subject to certain limitations.
For example, in the case of the band and hinged clamps, full surface contact is attained in only at a single point radial position. At other radial positions, the contact reverts to one or two line contacts that are subject to high friction and galling. In the chain clamp, full surface contact does not exist over the entire width of the chain segments but only at points at approximately the midpoint of the chain segment where they are in radial contact with the conical wedge.
Generation of the high axial forces needed to attain a tight metal to metal seal is only possible when full surface contact exists continuously between a flat wedge and a wedge shaped flange at every radial position.
It would therefore be highly desirable to have a wedge flange clamp that achieves full surface contact between a flat wedge and a wedge shaped flange over the entire available surface of both such elements through their entire range of motion.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved interdependent wedge element flange and clamp system that maintains full surface contact between flat wedge clamp segments and matching flat wedge shaped flange facets.
It is another object of the present invention to provide such an improved clamp that is useful in tight physical space installations where axial installation and wrenching of axially disposed bolts or other similar fasteners is difficult or undesirable.
The radial wedge flange clamp of the present invention comprises a pair of flanges each comprising plurality of flat male peripheral wedge facets attached to or otherwise secured about two elements to be joined and a series of flat female wedge clamps each engaging one pair of said flat peripheral wedge facets and having in their opposed extremities apertures for the tangential insertion of bolts to apply uniform radial force to said wedge clamps thereby forcing the flat surfaces of said flat female wedge clamps against said flat surfaces of said wedge facets when said bolts are tightened.


In grain oriented silicon steel sheets containing MnSe as a main inhibitor, an iron loss is reduced by increasing the magnetic flux density and realizing the thinning of product thickness and fine division of crystal grains while utilizing the stability of secondary recrystallization as a merit of such a sheet. In this case, 0.02-0.30% of Cu is added to a slab of the above grain oriented silicon steel, and particularly the decarburization annealing and/or the final finish annealing are carried out under particular conditions.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method of producing grain oriented silicon steel sheets suitable as a core material for use in transformer and other electric machinery and having less iron loss.
2. Related Art Statement
As a means of reducing iron loss of the grain oriented silicon steel sheet, there have hitherto been adopted 1) a method of increasing Si content, 2) a method of thinning product thickness, 3) a method of refining secondary recrystallized grains, 4) a method of reducing impurity content, 5) a method of highly aligning secondary recrystallized grains into (110)[001] orientation (called as Goss orientation), and the like. Among them, the method of increasing the Si content is not adaptable as an industrial production method because when the Si content exceeds 4 wt % (hereinafter shown by % merely), the cold rolling property is considerably degraded.
On the other hand, there are proposed various methods for reducing the product thickness. For example, in the grain oriented silicon steel sheet containing AlN as an inhibitor, Japanese Patent laid open No. 58-217630 and No. 59-126722 disclose a method wherein products having a thickness of 0.15-0.25 mm are obtained by adding Sn, Cu to the steel composition. Furthermore, in the grain oriented silicon steel sheet containing MnSe, MnS as an inhibitor, Japanese Patent laid open No. 62-167820, No. 62-167821 and No. 62-167822 disclose a method wherein products having a thickness of 0.15-0.25 mm are obtained and an average grain size after secondary recrystallization is within a range of 1-6 mm.
In the method of adding Sn and Cu to the grain oriented silicon steel sheet containing AlN as a main inhibitor as disclosed in Japanese Patent laid open No. 58-217630 and No. 59-126722, however, a relatively high magnetic flux density was obtained, but it could not be said that the improvement of iron loss was sufficient. For example, in Table 5 of Japanese Patent laid open No. 59-126722, the iron loss is 0.85-0.90 W/kg as W.sub.17/50, which can not be said to be a satisfactory value. Furthermore, a proper reduction in final cold rolling exceeds 80% in the grain oriented silicon steel sheet containing AlN as a main inhibitor, but when the product thickness is not more than 0.23 mm, the secondary recrystallization becomes unstable and the probability for obtaining products having less iron loss rapidly decreases.
In the method of Japanese Patent laid open No. 62-167820, No. 62-167821 and No. 62-167822 aiming at the thinning and refining of crystal grain in the grain oriented silicon steel sheet containing MnSe, MnS as an inhibitor, the magnetic flux density is low as compared with the grain oriented silicon steel sheet containing AlN as a main inhibitor, and hence the hysteresis loss is poor. However, such a method is advantageous in the fine division of crystal grain, and hence the total iron loss is 0.83-0.88 W/kg as W.sub.17/50 as shown in Table 2 of Japanese Patent laid open No. 62-167820, which is substantially equal to that in the case of using AlN as a main inhibitor.
However, it is hardly said that such a level of iron loss is fully satisfactory. Moreover, the optimum reduction in cold rolling is 55-88% in the grain oriented silicon steel sheet containing MnSe, MnS as a main inhibitor, so that even when the product thickness is not more than 0.23 mm, the secondary recrystallization becomes considerably stable as compared with the grain oriented silicon steel sheet containing AlN as a main inhibitor.

Method of producing grain oriented silicon steel sheets having less iron loss


A semiconductor device with an electrode wiring structure comprises at least one diffused region provided in a semiconductor substrate, a silicon oxide layer covering the substrate surface, a silicon nitride layer provided on the silicon oxide layer, a through-hole reaching the diffused region through the silicon oxide layer from an upper surface of the silicon nitride layer, a silicon semiconductor layer filled in the through-hole and serving as an electrode wiring layer, and an interconnection layer electrically connected to the diffused region through the silicon semiconductor layer. According to the structure, since the silicon oxide layer is covered with the silicon nitride layer, unwanted contaminations such as phosphorus, boron, etc., previously contained in the silicon oxide layer are not added to the silicon semiconductor layer during its growth process. Therefore, the electrode wiring layer of silicon semiconductor having controlled conductivity can be provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and a method of making the same, and more particularly, to a semiconductor device having an electrode wiring structure in which a through-hole formed in insulating layers is filled with a conductive material, and to a method of making the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
For providing an electrode wiring structure in a semiconductor device, a through-hole is formed in an insulating layer, and a conductive material is deposited on the insulating layer so as to fill the through-hole therewith. An example of such a structure will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 4 shows a drain region in a section of a semi-conductor device such as a static RAM including a MOS transistor (MOSFET) as a circuit element. An N-type diffused region 2, which serve as a drain, is formed in a surface region of a P-type silicon substrate 1, and a silicon oxide layer 3 (which is also called an inter-level insulator) is deposited on the substrate 1. A through-hole 4 is provided in the insulating layer 3 so as to reach the N-type diffused region 2. An Al alloy containing 1 wt % of Si, for example, is deposited on the entire surface of the silicon oxide layer 3 by means of sputtering techniques, and the resultant metal layer is patterned to provide an interconnection layer 5. At this time, when the diameter of the through-hole is large, the through-hole is filled with the Al--Si alloy, as shown in FIG. 4, and the interconnection layer 5 is electrically connected to the N-type diffused region 2.
With a tendency toward a fine device structure, an aspect ratio of the through-hole, i.e., a depth/diameter ratio is increasing. Therefore, a unwanted cavity 6 is easily formed by a deposited configuration in the sputtering as shown in FIG. 5. Poor step coverage may occur with a certain probability, and electrical conduction may be not assured.
As a countermeasure against the above disadvantage there has been recently developed a method for depositing a conductive material into only through-holes. More particularly as such a method, it is effective to selectively and epitaxially grow a silicon layer in only the through-holes. The discontinuity in the through-holes may be substantially eliminated (e.g., Tanno et al., Jap. J. of Appl. phys., vol. 21, No. 9, 1982, p.L564). As shown in FIG. 6, after a through-hole 4 is formed in a silicon oxide layer 3 provided on a P-type silicon substrate 1 so as to reach an N-type diffused region 2, a silicon layer doped with an N-type impurity is epitaxially grown in only the through-hole by means of selective epitaxial growth techniques to provide a low resistivity single crystal silicon layer 7 having no thickness step with the silicon oxide layer 3. Thereafter, when an Al--Si layer is provided by the sputtering, no cavity and no discontinuity as shown in FIG. 5 may occur. Subsequently, a wiring structure is provided by well-known photoetching techniques.
In such a conventional selective epitaxial growth, a silicon oxide layer containing a large amount (10.sup.19 atoms/cm.sup.3 or more) of phosphorus or boron has been used as an insulating layer. A through-hole is formed in the silicon oxide layer, and a silicon layer is then deposited in the through-hole. Since this deposition must be performed at a high temperature of 900.degree. C., the phosphorus or boron is evaporated from the silicon oxide layer and added to the silicon layer to be deposited in the through-hole. Accordingly, it is difficult to control the conductivity type or resistance value of the silicon layer. Since the silicon oxide layer easily absorbs unwanted impurities such as heavy metals (e.g., Fe or Ni) by gettering, it may be contaminated during the formation of the through-hole.
As described above, in a method wherein the interconnection layer is provided on the insulating layer and the conductive material is simultaneously filled in the through-hole, unwanted cavity or discontinuity may occur at the through-hole when its aspect ratio becomes large. On the contrary, in the method wherein the silicon layer is grown in only the through-hole by means of the selective epitaxial growth and the interconnection layer is then provided, unwanted discontinuity and the like may not occur at the through-hole, thereby eliminating the problem described above. However, in the selective epitaxial growth, when the silicon layer is deposited in the through-hole, Phosphorus or boron may be evaporated from the silicon oxide layer. Accordingly, it is difficult to control the conductivity type or resistance value of the deposited silicon layer. In addition, the insulating layer may absorb heavy metals by gettering, thereby bringing deterioration of the devices.

Semiconductor device silicon via fill formed in multiple dielectric layers


The invention relates to ketolide compounds of Formula (I) and their pharmaceutically acceptable salts, solvates, hydrates, polymorphs and stereoisomers having antimicrobial activity. The invention also provides pharmaceutical compositions containing the compounds of invention and methods of treating or preventing microbial infections with the compounds of invention, wherein, T is —C*H(R1)—P-Q; R1 is hydrogen; unsubstituted or substituted lower alkyl, cycloalkyl or aryl; P is heteroaryl ring; Q is unsubstituted or substituted aryl or heteroaryl ring; and P is attached to Q via carbon-carbon link; and R3 is hydrogen or fluorine, With the provision that when R1 is hydrogen, R3 is fluorine.

Macrolides are a well-known family of antimicrobial agents. Erythromycin A, a 14-membered macrolide, was isolated in 1952 from Streptomyces erythraeus. Examples of macrolides being used as therapeutic agents are roxithromycin, clarithromycin and azithromycin (azalide). Ketolides are semisynthetic 14-membered ring macrolide derivatives, characterized by the presence of a keto function at position 3 instead of L-cladinose moiety present in the macrolactone ring. Telithromycin and Cethromycin are examples of ketolides.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,331,803 discloses the 6-O-methyl derivative of erythromycin i.e. clarithromycin. The U.S. Pat. No. 4,349,545 discloses roxithromycin. The azalide azithromycin is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,517,359. Telithromycin is described in EP 680967 A1 and corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 5,635,485 and Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett. 1999, 9(21), 3075-3080. Another ketolide Cethromycin (ABT 773) is disclosed in WO 98/09978, and J. Med. Chem. 2000, 43, 1045.
The U.S. Pat. No. 6,900,183 describes 11,12-γ-lactone ketolides having C-21 of the lactone substituted with cyano or amino derivatives. The patent applications such as U.S. 2004/0077557 and PCT publications WO 02/16380, WO 03/42228, WO 03/072588 and WO 04/16634 disclose 11,12-γ-lactone ketolides. Our co-pending PCT publication No. WO 08/023,248 discloses several Macrolides and Ketolides.


An acoustic absorbing component comprising a fiber-reinforced thermoplastic resin expanded body having a percentage of void not less than 50 vol %, and a resin molded body. The fiber-reinforced thermoplastic resin expanded body is fused under a pressure to at least a part of a surface of said resin molded body.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an acoustic absorbing component and a production process thereof.
2. Related Background Art
Acoustic absorbing materials (sound absorbing materials) have been used heretofore in many fields and are often used typically for walls and ceilings of anechoic room.
A specific example of such acoustic absorbing materials generally used is a combination of plate-shaped acoustic absorbing components in which woven cloth covers a porous material such as glass wool. These components are suitably applicable to applications in a relatively large scale such as the anechoic room, but are not suitable for acoustic absorbing components for automobile such as component s in an automobile engine room including an automobile engine cover. Requirements for acoustic absorbing components for automobile are capability of being used in a limited space and capability of exhibiting a sufficient acoustic absorbing effect. The convent ional acoustic absorbing materials as described above, however, had a lot of problems; for example, it was not easy to freely shape them so as to be compatible with the space, their acoustic absorbing performance was degraded by absorption of oil or water, an increase of the weight due to the absorption of oil or water made retention of the shape difficult, and so on.
Further, the acoustic absorbing components for automobile, such as those for automobile engine and surroundings, are demanded to have not only excellent acoustic absorbing performance, but also light weight. In addition, they need to have durability or to be resistant to peeling or the like in their operating environments. The acoustic absorbing components conventionally known are not enough in these respects, either.

Acoustic absorbing component and production process thereof


A method and a system for the evacuation of buildings providing an elevator system includes at least one elevator car and an elevator shaft. The system includes a device to detect an incident or a device to receive an emergency signal in this regard, a device for determining the floor of this incident, and at least one sealing element (positioned in the elevator shaft and constructed to seal the elevator shaft, so that the elevator shaft is divided in at least two sections.

Regarding office buildings, apartment buildings or similar estates, where many people work or live in one construction of many floors, there is the danger of a fatal situation if the inhabitants are not able to leave the building in the case of emergency, e.g. a fire accident.
Especially in the case of a fire, a local source of fire could spread out fast and possibly trap inhabitants in inaccessible—and inescapable—areas of a building. In addition, toxic gases slowly spread out in the whole building poisoning inhabitants that will possibly faint and, thus, won't be able to escape.
The reduction of evacuation time is therefore very important to reduce or even eliminate fatalities and serious illnesses.
Therefore, it is a goal to get a tall building evacuated in a time of about 15 minutes. This is usually the period within which the spreading of a fire or its gases is not fatal.
The disadvantage of the present state of the art is that there is not a proper solution to evacuate a building by using elevators today. Traditional elevators are simply not allowed to be used during evacuation and only staircases are used for evacuation. This causes major problems in tall buildings, since more than 100 meters walk in a staircase is very challenging for many people and sometimes no alternative for persons with walking difficulties.
By using current methods, the evacuation could take 45 minutes or more.
In JP S57 27879, at a basket upon arrival at a fire floor, a plate is described to move forward to close a gap of a hoistway and landing, and an air blowing by a blower in the basket is started. As a result, a pressure in the basket is increased and fire smoke that enters from the hall to an elevator shaft and the basket is prevented. In JP H09 315717 A, when a fire occurs, smoke flows into a hoistway from a clearance of a landing door, and a smoke detector provided on an upper part of a landing entrance/exit is operated. When air is fed into an air bag by an air bag controller, the air bag closes the hoistway in an intermediate floor and the smoke is prevented by the air bag. In JP 2012 030932 A, a partition device is described which is provided in the middle of a hoistway, and a pair of partition members of the partition device rotate and spread out in a horizontal state in the event of fire so that the cross section in the hoistway is partitioned into an upper and lower part.

Device and method for the evacuation of buildings


The disclosure describes various systems and methods for access control. One such method includes providing an access control module that is capable of operating at least a first frequency and a second frequency. The method further includes interacting with a first credential utilizing the first frequency and granting access via an access point based at least in part on the interaction with the first credential, and interacting with a second credential utilizing the second frequency and granting access via the access point based at least in part on the interaction with the second credential.

The present invention is related to systems and methods for modular entry control.
In a typical installation, wireless access to access points in an establishment is provided by installing access control readers in relation to respective doors that are wired to a centralized control station. In such systems, credentials are issued which communicates with the access control readers to provide access with the respective doors. To update access control, the readers are typically replaced with newer models and new credentials are issued for operation in relation to the new readers. This can be a costly undertaking and may require that all issued credentials be gathered and replaced at once. Furthermore, retrofitting existing buildings with access control can be costly where a wired link to the centralized control station is utilized.
Thus, for at least the aforementioned reasons, there exists a need in the art for advanced systems and method for access control.