A detector for electromagnetic radiation is disclosed. The detector includes: a first electrode layer including at least one first electrode pixel and a second electrode pixel. A second electrode and a first layer including at least one first perovskite are situated between the at least one first electrode pixel of the first electrode layer and the second electrode. Further, a second layer including at least one second different perovskite, is situated between the second electrode pixel of the first electrode layer and the second electrode. In another embodiment, a detector for electromagnetic radiation is disclosed where a first layer including at least one first perovskite, is situated between the at least one first electrode pixel of the first electrode layer and the second electrode, and between the second electrode pixel of the first electrode layer and the second electrode. A method for the production is also disclosed.

X-ray detectors and gamma radiation detectors/gamma detectors are used in many fields. In conventional X-ray detectors, the maximum and average energy of the X-ray photons are selected dependent upon the transirradiated object. For example, in industrial production, X-ray radiation is used for testing materials by way of non-destructive testing (NDT), wherein X-ray radiation with energies of a few megaelectronvolts (MeV) can be used.
An important part is also played by X-ray detectors in medical diagnostics, wherein the energies of the X-ray radiation used are typically in a range of approximately 20 to 120 kiloelectronvolts (keV). The examined substances typically have different X-ray absorption spectra. Thus, for example, the absorbing power of bones, soft tissues or tissue in different energy ranges differ significantly from one another. In order not to expose the patients to excessive and unnecessary radiation loading, the dose of the X-ray radiation is typically selected so that the X-ray image is optimized for structures of a particular category, for instance, bones or soft tissues. The energy of the X-ray radiation used is therefore selected to be in the range which is particularly strongly absorbed by the structure to be investigated.
All these X-ray detectors are based upon the integration of the generated charge carriers independently of the energy of the photon that has generated them. This enables the absorption properties to be determined in a pixel-by-pixel manner, but does not yield spectral information.
It is, however, often also necessary to obtain information regarding the overall composition of the object being irradiated, in particular, the spectral composition.
Spectral information in X-ray images is obtainable, for example, with counting detectors (e.g. based upon cadmium telluride, CdTe or cadmium zinc telluride CdZnTe), which have dedicated and complex (expensive) control and readout electronics.
Currently, manufacturing of spectrally resolving detectors is complex and expensive. Furthermore, they are not easily scalable in area (e.g. in the case of CdTe).
In order to obtain detailed information, for example, from a patient or an object from an image recorded via X-ray or gamma radiation, concerning the composition of the materials (in the case of patients, e.g. distinguishing soft tissues and bones or recognizing particular biomarkers), further different approaches exist. In order to detect both bone as well as tissue, X-ray radiation in different energy regions can be used. In the so-called dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA), two different recordings are made with different X-ray energies. The two X-ray images that have been recorded with different X-ray spectra can be compared and a dual-energy image can be calculated.
For this purpose, either two images can be recorded successively with one X-ray tube or, in a tomograph, images can be recorded with two different X-ray tubes with different emission spectra. The former is dependent upon the movement of the patient between the two recorded images (movement artifacts), but does not need additional X-ray tubes. Where a good image resolution is required, the first variant is normally not usable in practice (movement artifacts). Another approach consists of a detector having different layers. Each layer is sensitive to a different energy. For this purpose, a layering of two or more scintillators with a filter, for example, in the middle, is often selected.
For example, it is usual to stack a plurality of detectors, wherein for example, the uppermost detector can serve as a filter (hardening the radiation) for the lower-lying detector(s). Such an arrangement of a plurality of detectors, each with different energy regions is known, for example, from U.S. Pat. No. 8,488,736 B2. Through a combination of the images, it can be prevented that the X-ray images have overexposed or underexposed parts.
Through the stacking of detectors, it is possible with a single X-ray source which emits X-ray radiation in different energy ranges to create images on the basis of the radiation transmitted in the respective energy ranges. For this purpose, however, a large number of respectively independent detectors is needed.
Relatively new detector materials make use of the property of "photon counting" with which information regarding the energy of the incident photons can also be generated (cf. D. Pacella: Energy-Resolved X-Ray Detectors: The Future of Diagnostic Imaging, 2015).
The approaches mentioned have in common that they must be manufactured in an expensive and complex manner with a view to a good image resolution: either a second X-ray tube must be installed in the tomograph, a layering of different scintillator and filter materials matched to one another must be combined in one detector, or the resolution of the detector must be high enough so that the counting of individual photons is possible.
In the publication by M. Sytnyk, "The Bright Future of Metal Halide Perovskites for X-Ray Detection", Appl. Phys. Lett. 115, 2019, DOI: 10.1063/1.5125999, the approach of the combination of a plurality of scintillator layers in a detector was taken and further formulated in the form of a thought experiment. M. Sytnyk et al. combine four different scintillating perovskite nanocrystals which emit visible photons in different wavelengths and simultaneously function as a filter for layers lying thereunder. The absorption by these nanocrystals is dependent upon the incident X-ray radiation. The spectral information is resolved again via a hyperspectral camera (not scalable in area), or via the use of color filters (not without massive conversion losses).

Multiple spectral detectors using structured perovskite


Disclosed herein is a device comprising a protection circuit configured to protect against a polarity reversal of the input DC power supply voltage, the protection circuit comprising an N-channel main transistor having a source coupled to an input terminal and having a drain coupled to an output terminal, a command circuit configured to render the main transistor blocked in the event of a polarity reversal and conducting otherwise, and a control circuit configured to dynamically adjust the bias of substrate regions of respective components connected to the main transistor by connecting the substrate regions either to the source or to the drain of the main transistor according to the value of the voltages present at the source and the drain of the main transistor and the type of conductivity of the substrate regions.

The invention applies advantageously but not exclusively to the field of motor vehicles for the protection of an electronic entity such as, for example, a control unit or a processor, against a reversal of the expected polarity of the DC power supply voltage intended for this electronic entity.
The devices for protecting against polarity reversals of a DC power supply voltage make it possible to avoid the flow of reverse currents through electronic components during the polarity reversal.
Currently, there are a number of solutions for producing protection against these polarity reversals. Notable among these is the series connection of diodes in the power supply line. However, such a solution generates unacceptable power dissipations when the current in the electronic entity to be protected, a control unit for example, exceeds 5 amps. Now, electronic control units that can be used in motor vehicle applications can control charging currents ranging from 20 to 40 amps. Furthermore, the series-connected diodes in conjunction with the inductance of the power supply line, and the capacitors of the power supply filters usually present in the electronic control units, create a rectified resonant circuit which can generate overvoltage conditions on the power supply line of the controlling electronic unit to be protected.
Another solution consists in inserting an electromechanical relay into the positive power supply line, the command coil being powered between the positive and negative power supply terminals. Such an arrangement forces the relay to close in the presence of a minimum voltage difference between the positive and negative terminals of the power supply and forces the relay to open if the voltage present at the positive power supply terminal drops to a value close to zero or becomes negative relative to the negative power supply terminal.
Such a solution does not present the drawbacks of the previous solution, but does require bulky relays, which may be incompatible with the physical place that is to receive the electronic entity to be protected. Furthermore, such relays must be assembled manually on the electronic entity when the current conveyed by the latter exceeds a few amps, because such relays cannot be mounted as surface components.
Another solution consists in placing a P-channel MOS transistor in the positive power supply line. Although this solution offers the benefit of the simplicity of a command circuit for the PMOS transistor, it nevertheless presents a drawback in terms of surface footprint because of the large size of a power PMOS transistor.
Another solution consists in placing an N-channel MOS transistor in the negative polarity line. However, such a solution requires the negative output terminal of the electronic unit to be protected, to which loads are connected, to be connected in return to the negative power supply terminal of this electronic unit so as to avoid the flow of negative currents in all the loads connected to the electronic unit during a polarity reversal of the power supply voltage. Now, in some applications, for example motor vehicle applications, the negative terminals of the loads are directly connected in return to the negative power supply terminal without going back through the electronic unit which controls these loads.
Furthermore, analog components external to the electronic unit, sensors for example, may not be electrically compatible with electronic unit input terminals becoming negative during a polarity reversal.
It has also been proposed in the prior art to insert an N-channel transistor into the positive power supply line, associated with an external discrete command component, such as a charging pump, capable of supplying a command voltage to the gate of the transistor that is greater than the power supply voltage in normal operation. However, such a solution using an external discrete charging pump has a significant surface footprint, and causes a strong electromagnetic noise to be generated because of the relatively high value of the capacitors of the charging pump used in discrete charging pump implementations.

Electronic device for protecting against a polarity reversal of a DC power supply voltage, and its application to motor vehicles


An additive manufacturing device manufactures an additively manufactured article by preheating a powder material by irradiating the powder material with a charged particle beam and then melting the powder material by irradiating the powder material with the charged particle beam. The additive manufacturing device includes a beam emitting unit emitting the charged particle beam and irradiating the powder material with the charged particle beam, and a position detection unit detecting a position of scattering of the powder material when the powder material scatters by being irradiated with the charged particle beam. When the powder material scatters by being irradiated with the charged particle beam, the beam emitting unit emits the charged particle beam such that a thermal dose of the preheating is increased at the position of scattering.

An additive manufacturing device and an additive manufacturing method such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,992,816 are traditionally known. In this device and method, an additively manufactured article is manufactured by melting a powder material by irradiating the powder material with an electron beam and thereafter solidifying the same. In this device and method, a detector is installed near the surface of the powder material. The detector detects scattering of the powder material when the powder material is irradiated with the electron beam. That is, the detector detects a smoke phenomenon in which the scattered powder material rises as a mist. Moreover, this device and method prevent the article from being manufactured improperly by interrupting the electron beam irradiation when scattering of the powder material is detected.

Additive manufacturing device and additive manufacturing method


A lead frame adapted to a semiconductor package, which is enclosed in a molded resin body and is connected with a board, is formed by processing a thin metal plate so as to include a stage for mounting a semiconductor chip thereon, a plurality of leads arranged to encompass the stage, and a plurality of lead interconnecting members (or dam bars) for interconnecting the leads together. At least one recess, which is of a circular shape or a non-circular shape, is formed on the backside of the lead (or the lead interconnecting member), which is substantially arranged in the same plane with a terminal surface of the molded resin body. Due to the formation of the recess that is subjected to plating, it is possible to increase the joining strength between the lead and solder; hence, it is possible to improve reliability regarding electric connection between the semiconductor package and board.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to semiconductor packages encapsulating semiconductor chips connected to substrates and boards. The present invention also relates to lead frames for use in semiconductor packages.
The present application claims priority on Japanese Patent Application No. 2004-372919, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there are available a variety of semiconductor packages such as QFN (Quad Flat Non-Leaded) packages having plural leads partially exposed on terminal surfaces and side surfaces lying in thickness directions of molded resin bodies. An example of a conventionally-know semiconductor package is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-314024. FIG. 14 shows the layout of a lead frame 51 for use in a QFN package, which is produced using a lead frame 51 including a stage 55 for mounting a semiconductor chip 53 thereon, plural leads 57 formed in the periphery of the stage 55, and dam bars 59 for interconnecting the leads 57 together. The lead frame 51 is produced by performing press working and/or etching on a thin metal plate.
In the manufacturing of the lead frame 51, the semiconductor chip 53 is bonded onto the surface of the stage 55 first; then, pads of the semiconductor chip 53 are electrically connected to the leads 57 via bonding wires 61. Next, as shown in FIG. 15, a molded resin body 63 is formed to integrally fix the semiconductor chip 53, the stage 55, the bonding wires 61, and the bonded portions of the leads 57 therein. Herein, a backside 57 of the lead 57 is formed in the same plane with a backside 63a of the molded resin body 63.
The lead 57 is partially subjected to plating with respect to a surface 57b and a backside 57a, which are exposed to the exterior of a QFN package, thus forming a plated layer 65 for soldering. The plated layer 65 is used to improve the anti-wetting ability of solder for the lead 57. Lastly, the dam bar 59 and a projecting portion 57c of the lead 57 projecting to the exterior are subjected to cutting along a cutting line A, thus completing the manufacturing of a QFN package in which the leads 57 are electrically independent from each other.
The aforementioned QFN package (denoted by a reference numeral 80) is mounted on a board 71 in such a way that, as shown in FIG. 16, the backside 57a of the lead 57 and a land 73 of the board 71 are bonded together via a solder 67. This allows the QFN package 80 to be electrically connected to the board 71. The joining strength realized by the solder 67, by which the lead 57 and the land 73 are joined, depends upon the overall area of the backside 57a of the lead 57, which is exposed to a lower surface 63a of the molded resin body 63.
Due to recent tendencies regarding microelectronics and devices, there is a demand for improvement of reliability regarding electric connections established between QFN packages and boards. In the case of the QFN package 80 connected to the board 71, the overall area of the backside 57a of the lead 57, which are exposed to the lower surface 63a of the molded resin body 63, is restricted by prescribed standards; hence, it is very difficult to improve the joining strength between the lead 57 and the land 73 by way of a simple increase of the overall area of the backside 57a of the lead 57. In other words, under the present circumstances, it is very difficult to further improve reliability regarding electric connection between the QFN package 80 and the board 71.

Semiconductor package and lead frame therefor


Systems and methods for generating storage system commands are presented. Logical volumes comprise one or more storage areas. The methods include providing a map of the logical volume from information relating to the types of the storage areas composing the volume. Storage commands referencing the logical volume map are converted to storage area commands by command handlers associated with the type of the storage areas in the logical volume. The storage system comprises clients that access the storage areas by using a command stacks associated with the logical volumes.

Virtualized storage systems offer clients access to multiple physical storage devices as if they comprise a single logical volume. Some storage systems function in a distributed manner where clients access physical storage devices directly without requiring dedicated management servers. Zetera Corporation's Z-SAN™ technology represents one such implementation that allows clients to directly interact with physical storage devices.
The virtual storage system should provide clients robust access to data storage. A system can be considered robust if multiple clients are able to share access to the system when the system dynamically changes. Furthermore, the system should allow clients to function independent of each other and should also allow the physical storage devices to function independent of each other. Independent clients are most efficient when they can adapt to changes in the system without requiring information from other clients. For example, two clients sharing a logical volume in the virtual storage system could have different views of the logical volume. Sometimes one client could see a physical storage device associated with the logical volume while the other client might not see the same physical device; however, the logical volume could still be useful to both clients. If the logical volume comprises redundant data on different physical devices, then both clients could still access the logical volume for read access while write accesses might require restrictions to prevent the data becoming unsynchronized.
Clients should have an ability to discover elements of the virtual storage system where elements include logical devices, physical storage devices, partitions, proxies, services, or other components of the virtual storage system. Discovery of virtual storage system elements is described in co-owned U.S. patent application having Ser. No. 11/205,895 titled "Disaggregated Resources and Access Methods" filed on Aug. 16, 2005, herein incorporated by reference in its entirety. The referenced application describes aspects of discovering maps of logical devices including virtual storage systems. The maps can also change as the virtual storage system changes. In conjunction with discovering maps of virtual storage systems, the virtual storage system should also provide a method for generating storage commands in the dynamic environment, especially where clients or devices could appear or disappear without notice. High-level storage commands associated with a logical volume might not necessarily change as the virtual storage system or logical volume changes because changes occur below the volume level view of the virtual storage system. However, the low-level storage commands targeting physical devices are more likely to change to reflect updates of the system. These and other issues need to be addressed in the contemplated dynamic environments.
A preferred solution for generating storage commands should offer the following capabilities:                Command generation should handle scenarios where clients loose visibility to portions of a shared storage area while other clients do not.        Clients should be able to access a data set that is coherent even though parts of a logical volume storing the data set are missing; as in the case of lost physical devices mirroring some of the data.
The system should scale to larger deployments having a larger number of clients or storage devices without necessitating introduction of extra equipment to manage the storage services.                Commands should be generated in a manner that supports a heterogeneous mix of storage group types associated with a logical volume including RAID groups.        The command generating system should be independent of the command transport and work in multiple storage environments including environments that employ standard protocols or proprietary protocols.
Others have addressed various aspects of virtualized storage including handling changes in a logical volume within a dynamic environment. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,732,171 titled "Distributed network system with virtualization" and U.S. Patent application number 2005/00144199 also titled "Distributed network system with virtualization" teach storage virtualization through the use of storage configuration identifiers stored on storage servers and management servers. The identifiers are timestamps exchanged between application clients and a storage system to indicate when a change in a storage configuration or allocation within the storage system has taken place. Application clients can then update their view of the storage system when an identifier changes. However, these references do not teach a how a storage system should generate commands through command handlers associated with the type of storage areas in the storage system.
In addition to the above references, the following references reflect varied approaches to creating maps for virtual storage systems associated with various storage media: U.S. pending patent applications 2005/0270856, 2005/0246401, 2003/0172157, 2003/0023811; and issued U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,775,673, 6,775,672, 6,772,161, 6,732,230, 5,758,050, and 5,129,088. Although these references address the specific issues for which they are intended, they do not address generating storage commands using a map of a logical volume built as a function of storage group types composing the logical volume. In some cases, the references describe commands or commands sets, but still do not teach how to generate the commands.
Thus, there remains a considerable need for methods and apparatus in virtualized storage that are able to generate storage commands as the storage environment changes.


In a semiconductor device having regions of a vertical pnp bipolar transistor, that is, a collector region composed of a p-type semiconductor region, a base region composed of an n-type semiconductor region and an emitter region composed of a p-type semiconductor region, a metal electrode is connected to the base region with polysilicon doped with impurities being provided therebetween. In another form of a semiconductor device, an n.sup.+ region is provided within a base region of a vertical pnp bipolar transistor while surrounding an emitter region of the transistor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and, more particularly, to a semiconductor device having a structure that allows a reduction in the cell size of a vertical bipolar transistor.
2. Related Background Art
FIG. 1 schematically shows an example of the construction of a vertical pnp bipolar transistor.
Referring to FIG. 1, the transistor includes a p-type semiconductor substrate 101, an n.sup.+ -type buried layer 102, p.sup.+ -type buried layers 103a and 103b, an n-type epitaxial layer 104, a p-type isolation region 105a, a p-type collector region 105b, an n-type channel-cut region (channel stopper) 106, a field oxide 107, gate oxide film 108, an n-type base region 109, an n.sup.+ -type base diffusion region 110, a p.sup.+ -type collector electrode 112a, a p.sup.+ -type emitter region 112b, an inter-layer CVD film 113, a collector metal electrode 114a, a base metal electrode 114b, and an emitter metal electrode 114c.
As shown in FIG. 1, the vertical pnp bipolar transistor has the n.sup.+ -type buried layer 102, the p.sup.+ -type buried layer 103b and the p-type collector region 105b, all being subsequently formed on the p-type semiconductor substrate 101 of single-crystal silicon or the like. Also, the n-type epitaxial layer 104 is formed surrounding the p-type collector region 105b. Within the p-type collector region 105b, the p.sup.+ -type emitter region 112b and the n.sup.+ -type base diffusion region 110 are formed. The p.sup.+ -type collector electrode 112a is provided contacting the p-type collector region 105b. On the p.sup.+ -type collector electrode 112a, the p.sup.+ -type emitter region 112b, and the n.sup.+ -type base diffusion region 110, the collector metal electrode 114a, the emitter metal electrode 114c, and the base metal electrode 114b are respectively provided.
Hitherto, the base metal electrode 114b has been provided on the n.sup.+ -type base diffusion region 110 through a contact (not shown) after the formation of the region 110 by implanting ions into the n-type base region 109.
However, in a vertical bipolar transistor having the above-described construction, the margin around the base metal electrode 114b, that is, the respective distances from the n.sup.+ -type base diffusion region 110 to the p.sup.+ -type emitter region 112b and to the p.sup.+ -type collector electrode 112a, is inevitably determined by such factors as the level of precision with which the regions, etc. are aligned with each other during the processes in which they are formed. Thus, a problem arises, and it is difficult to reduce the cell size of a vertical pnp bipolar transistor.
Also, inversion at the surface of the n-type base region 109 may sometimes entail a reliability problem.


The present invention comprises a module for an electrolyzer of filterpress type comprising at least one closed frame defining at least one first opening, wherein said module comprises a sealing and electric insulating material, wherein said material at least partly covers the surface of the frame. In addition the present invention comprises a method for producing a module for an electrolyzer of filterpress type and use thereof.

Electrolysers of filter press type are commonly used for the production of hydrogen and oxygen from brines and lyes, usually aqueous alkali hydroxide solutions. Cell stacks in such configurations are formed by electrochemical cells which commonly consist in sequence of a bipolar plate, first electrode (anode or cathode), a steel frame with a diaphragm, referred to as the diaphragm element, said diaphragm element separates the cell into anode and cathode compartment, a second electrode and a new bipolar plate. Gaskets are used for sealing purposes.
The manufacturing of inter alia diaphragm elements comprises both mechanical and/or manual fastening of the diaphragm to a frame and requires in addition gaskets to form a sealed cell stack. Another prior art embodiment comprises a moulding process to cover a steel frame with rubber and in such an assembly the bipolar plate is the load carrying element. The steel frame in the diaphragm element is only a means of fastening diaphragms while the rubber on the frame serves as gasket between neighbouring bipolar plates. Further, this existing assembly requires bipolar plates which have an outer diameter at least equal to that of the diaphragm frame thus covering the whole frame. As the bipolar plates are made of steel, this leads under normal operation to secondary electrolysis in the gas channels thereby reducing the gas quality. The existing assembly requires manual stacking where each element is placed in a vertical position. In the mentioned prior art embodiment the diaphragm elements with the integrated gasket form the seal between two bipolar plates. The mentioned embodiments are not suitable for pressurised operation. An increased internal pressure has to be compensated solely by the force exerted by bolts connecting the endplates arranged at each end of the stack. Hence an increased internal pressure may easily lead to leakages. The bipolar plates are supporting the electrolyser, but also bring the electrical potential to the outside of the electrolyser and complicate the electrical insulation of the device.
EP0833963B1 describes steel frames covered by vulcanizable material, i.e., rubber. This rubber serves as electrical insulation and as sealing material. The diaphragm is bolted to the rubber covered frame. Furthermore, a T-shaped element that forms the lye channels is bolted to the frame.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,554,978 discloses a high pressure electrolyser and frames thereof. The frames can be made of metal with a non-conducting layer or of a synthetic material. A separate gasket is included between the frames in the disclosed embodiments.
GB1145751 describes an electrolyser built up of frames that are formed of a hardenable mouldable material; examples of this material are cement, ceramic, thermosetting resin, thermoplastic materials. A separator may be integrally moulded to the frame ring. Rubber O-rings are included to provide the sealing between the frame and adjacent elements.
Traditionally electrodes are mounted by solid spacer, serving as a current collector, to the bipolar plate and there is a gap between electrode and diaphragm where gas bubbles are formed and escape into the gas collecting chambers.
According to prior art mounting of electrodes on bipolar plate is time-consuming and expensive. The gas-tightness of bipolar plate is compromised by drilling-through, which may lead to gas leakages especially during the pressurized operation. In addition current is concentrated in fewer spots which lead to non-uniform current distribution across the electrodes. Further, rigid fixing of electrode prevents intimate and adjustable contact of electrode with membrane as in a zero gap design, thus increasing the ohmic resistance and decreasing the efficiency of the electrolysis.
Processes concerning modules for electrolysers of filterpress type and for manufacturing of diaphragm elements according to prior art are laborious and demanding as many separate elements has to be fitted together.

Electrolyser frame concept, method and use


Various aspects can be implemented for determining optical character recognition (OCR) parameters using an OCR engine. In general, one aspect can be a method that includes using an optical character recognition (OCR) engine in a base configuration to generate one or more OCR responses corresponding to one or more sample pages of a document. The method also includes identifying a dominant OCR parameter for the document based on the one or more generated OCR responses. Other implementations of this aspect include corresponding systems, apparatus, and computer program products.

Various projects, such as the Google Books Library Project, are underway to create a comprehensive, searchable, electronic card catalog of all documents (e.g., books) in all languages that helps users discover new books and publishers discover new readers. Optical character recognition (OCR) of printed books, or manuscripts can be used to convert books in print format into electronic format. Once the text of the books are scanned and recognized through the OCR operation, it can be easier for people to find relevant books through web searches. The correct OCR parameter configuration can be important in achieving an efficient and accurate OCR process. An English OCR package can deal very well with English, and may be able to cope passably with some other Roman alphabet languages such as French or German. However, it will not be very helpful in recognizing a document written in Chinese. In a large scale OCR operation, such as the Google Books Library Project, it can be less than desirable to rely on human intervention to select the appropriate OCR parameter configuration.

Determining optical character recognition parameters


An adjustable golf club having means for adjusting the balance of the club and means for adjusting the alignment angle of the club. A club head is attached to the connection end of the shaft by connecting means at a connection point along the heel-to-toe axis and at a line-of-play alignment angle and a heel-to-toe alignment angle. The connecting means includes a slide fixed to the connection end of the shaft and a socket in the top portion of the club head. The balance of the club can be adjusted by linearly moving the slide along the heel-to-toe axis in the socket. The line-of-play alignment angle of the shaft can be adjusted by rotatably moving the slide in the socket. After the club is adjusted, the slide is secured in the socket by locking means to prevent the club from deviating from the desired adjusted configuration during play. A method of putting a golf ball with the above provided adjustable putter. The adjustable putter is provided to the golfer. The golfer adjusts the balance and line-of-play alignment angle of the club to the golfer's satisfaction. The golfer then strikes the golf ball with the adjusted putter.

A golf club has many design features such as the size, weight, and shape of the head, and the rigidity, straightness, length and alignment of the shaft. Golfers often switch golf clubs, in particular the putter, to better suit their physical characteristics or swing technique. While many commercial brands of standard golf clubs are available having different design characteristics, changing golf clubs frequently is expensive.
Some adjustable golf clubs are known. However, under current United States Golf Association (U.S.G.A.) Rule 4-1a(i), only putters may be designed to be adjustable, except for weight, provided that all configurations of adjustment conform with the Rules. Phillips U.S. Pat. No. 5,348,295 and Jarvis U.S. Pat. No. 4,569,523 each appear to disclose a golf putter with a shaft which may be adjusted about a pivot to change the "heel-to-toe" alignment and/or the "line-of-play" alignment of the shaft. As used herein, the "heel-to-toe" alignment and "line-of-play" alignment are defined consistent with the U.S.G.A. Rules of Golf 1996, Appendix II, rule 4.1b, Figs. II and III, as follows: "heel-to-toe" alignment is the projection of the straight part of the shaft on to the vertical plane through the toe and heel; "line-of-play" alignment is the projection of the straight part of the shaft on to the vertical plane along the intended line of play.
Under U.S.G.A. rule 4.1b, the "heel-to-toe" alignment must be at least 10 degrees from vertical and the "line-of-play" alignment must be no greater than 20 degrees from vertical in either direction. Since the above-described adjustable putters may be adjusted into configurations of alignment different than those proscribed in U.S.G.A. rule 4.1b, such known adjustable putters do not conform with U.S.G.A. rules and are therefore illegal in U.S.G.A. sponsored competition. Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a putter having a shaft alignment which may be adjusted only within the ranges proscribed by the U.S.G.A. rules.
Further, no known adjustable golf putters provide both shaft alignment adjustment and adjustment or movement of the connection point between the shaft and the club head along the heel-to-toe axis. Movement of the connection point between the shaft and the club head along the heel-to-toe axis adjusts the "balance" of the club. Therefore, it would also be desirable to provide a putter having "alignment" as well as "balance" adjustment.
Additionally, under U.S.G.A. Rules 4-1a(i) and (ii), a putter may be adjustable provided that the adjustment cannot be readily made and that all adjustable parts are firmly fixed and there is no reasonable likelihood of them working loose during a round. Therefore, it would also be desirable to provide a putter having the aforementioned adjustability but which also complies with all U.S.G.A. rules relating the design of clubs.


A tool handle assembly adapted to be connected to a tool head comprises a leg with an inner grip handle connected to the leg between first and second ends thereof, an outer grip handle connected to the first end of the leg and a tool head connector connected to the second end of the leg. The inner grip handle includes a grip extending perpendicular to the leg. The outer grip handle preferably pivots about an axis extending perpendicular to an axis extending through the leg. The inner grip handle is preferably pivotal between a storage and use position and is slidably connected to the leg. The leg of the tool handle preferably telescopes and comprises a pair of parallel extending legs connected together by cross-members.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an improved handle for use on tools such as paint rollers, brooms, rakes, hoes, mops and the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,592,160, an improved tool handle was disclosed which was particularly well adapted for use in association with shovels. The present invention is directed to further improvements to such a tool handle for tools which are used by employing a sweeping type motion such as brooms, paint rollers, mops, rakes and hoes. Such tools typically have handles comprising a single straight shaft which is secured to a head of the tool along a central axis of the tool head.
Although simple to manufacture, the conventional single, straight shaft tool handle must be gripped in a manner that is often awkward or uncomfortable for the user resulting in unwanted strain and causing pre-mature, user fatigue. Tool handles have been manufactured which are curved relative to the tool itself, see e.g. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,487,747 and 5,974,775. However, such tool handles are typically of a fixed configuration. Although the selected configuration may facilitate use of the tool handle for a specific application, the fixed configuration limits use of the handle for other applications and does not permit the user to modify the handle configuration to accommodate the manner in which they might prefer to grip the tool depending upon the application for which it is to be utilized.
There remains a need for a tool handle which is comfortable to hold and grip in a wide range of applications.

Adjustable tool handle for paint rollers and the like


The present invention provides a process for producing molded articles of a polyimide precursor by a use of a usual extrusion technique, and physical properties of polyimide products prepared by the heat treatment of the molded articles of the polyimide precursor at 400.degree. C. are excellent. This process is characterized by drying a solid obtained by pouring a dilute solution of a polyimide precursor including an aromatic tetracarboxylic acid component and an aromatic diamine component 1 into a liquid in which the precursor is only poorly soluble to obtain a dry solid having a polyimide precursor concentration of 50-70% by weight, and then extruding this dry solid at 80.degree.-130.degree. C.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for producing molded articles of a polyimide precursor from which there can be obtained molded articles of polyimide having excellent heat-resistance by carrying out a heat treatment.
More specifically, the present invention relates to a process for producing molded articles of a polyimide precursor which is scarcely imidated and which has self-shape retention properties for inhibiting fluidization at room temperature.
2. Description of the Related Art
Polyimides have excellent heat resistance, chemical resistance, mechanical properties and electrical properties. Polyimide films can usually be produced by applying a solution containing 8 to 30% of a polyamic acid (a polyimide precursor or PAA) in a fluid state to a support by casting or by the use of a T-die; drying the solution by hot air or the like to obtain fluidity-free PAA films having self-shape retention properties; and then further heating the films up to about 400.degree. C. to produce the polyimide films. For example, as the polyimide films, there is a trade name "Capton" made by Du Pont.
However, since these polyimide films are manufactured by a solution casting process, productivity is poor and cost is high. On the other hand, in order to improve the productivity, there is a process which comprises completely removing a solvent; melting and extruding a pelletized thermoplastic polyimide at a high temperature (e.g., 400.degree. C.); and then cooling the extruded articles to produce the films (e.g., Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No.Hei-3-42224).
The thus produced thermoplastic polyimide films, since being thermoplastic, has poorer heat resistance as compared with a thermosetting polyimide obtained by curing a polyimide precursor.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No.Sho-63-243321 has disclosed a method which comprises the steps of obtaining a polyimide precursor as a polyamic acid ester by solution polymerization, concentrating or isolating it under reduced pressure, adjusting the concentration of the ester to 30-80% by weight, heating/dissolving, extruding, cooling it to obtain molded articles, and then heating them at a high temperature (300.degree. C. or more) to obtain polyimide molded articles.
However, this method requires the concentration of the precursor, and so the reaction of esterifying an aromatic tetracarboxylic acid is necessary. In consequence, the process is complex. Additionally, in this method, N-methylpyrrolidone having a high viscosity and a high boiling point (204.degree. C.) is used as a solvent, and therefore a long period of time is required to merely concentrate PAA under reduced pressure, so that yield is poor.

Process for producing molded articles of polyimide precursor


The present invention discloses a mixed-type heterojunction thin-film solar cell structure and a method for fabricating the same. Firstly, a conductive substrate and a template are provided, and the template has a substrate and an inorganic wire array formed on the substrate. Next, a conjugate polymer layer is formed on the conductive substrate. Next, the inorganic wire array is embedded into the conjugate polymer layer. Next, the substrate is separated from the inorganic wire array. Then, an electrode layer is formed over the inorganic wire array and the conjugate polymer layer. The solar cell structure of the present invention has advantages of flexibility, high energy conversion efficiency and low fabrication cost.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for fabricating a solar cell structure, particularly to a mixed-type heterojunction thin-film solar cell structure and a method for fabricating the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Fossil fuels are going to be exhausted by the end of this century. The search and development for substitute energies, such as wind power, tide power, and biofuel, has been progressing for a period of time. Among them, solar energy has relative higher market acceptability, and many nations have been devoted to the development of solar energy. The German Advisory Council on Global Change predicted that solar energy will provide about 60% of the total energy in 2100. Solar energy is generated by the photovoltaic effect, wherein solar energy material directly converts sunlight into electric energy. The crystalline silicon solar cell has been developed for tens of years, and the related technologies thereof have been very mature. Generally, the monocrystalline silicon solar cell has an energy conversion efficiency of as high as about 20%. However, the fabrication cost thereof is too high to popularize solar energy. The topics of solar energy researches would be developing new materials, processes and systems to promote the energy conversion efficiency and reduce the cost of solar energy.
As to the polymer solar cell, the bi-layer solar energy element containing donors and acceptors was the one used at first. However, the contact area between donors and acceptors is too small to increase the probability of exciton (hole-electron pair) fission. Thus, the performance of this type of polymer solar cell is hard to promote. The solar cell containing the mixed donor material and acceptor material is called the BHJ (bulk heterojunction) cell, which has a greater donor-acceptor contact area than the bi-layer solar cell. Further, the spacing between donors and acceptors is within nanometers, which is near the exciton diffusion length—about 1-10 nm. Thus, the probability of exciton fission increases. The local electric field in the junction, which disjoins charges, originates from the HOMO (Highest Occupied Molecular Orbital) of donors and LUMO (Lowest Unoccupied Molecular Orbital) of acceptors. Therefore, more electrons and holes are disjoined at junctions. Thus is solved the problem of exciton diffusion length in polymer semiconductor. Then, the entire active layer is able to convert light into current. The mixture of donor material and acceptor material is spin-coated on a substrate to form an active layer. However, the two materials are not uniformly distributed in the active layer, which results in the following two cases. One is that there are likely to be paths directly connecting the anode and cathode, decreasing the parallel resistance and increasing leakage current. The other is that there are likely to be isolated areas having none path to the electrodes, wherefore the external circuit cannot collect the current of holes and electrons separated in the isolated areas.
Accordingly, the present invention proposes a mixed-type heterojunction thin-film solar cell structure and a method for fabricating the same to solve the abovementioned problems, whereby solar cells can possess flexibility and high energy conversion efficiency at the same time.

Mixed-typed heterojunction thin-film solar cell structure and method for fabricating the same


Some embodiments of the invention provide a method of editing video through a multi-stage editing process. The method selects a particular stage in the editing process. A particular editing operation is performed on a set of video images during the particular stage. After the selection of the particular stage, the method uses a background rendering process to render the result of the particular editing operation on the particular set of video images. The background rendering process is a process that the method performs separately from the multi-stage video editing process, so that a user may continue editing the video sequence while the rendering occurs. Some embodiments provide a preview of the rendering process in a preview window. Some of these embodiments update the preview in real time. In some embodiments, the rendering occurs to a temporary location and then stores to a persistent storage. In some of these embodiments, an entry for the stored render's location is logged in a list of entries that allows the stored render to be catalogued and retrieved from the persistent storage. The temporary location and the persistent storage can be part of a non-volatile memory such as a hard drive.

Video editing is an arduous and time consuming process. Tools have been developed to assist and enable those performing the difficult task of video editing. However, video editing tools can themselves be highly complex and thus, provide their own challenges to the users of such tools.
One difficulty in video editing is providing information to the video editor (user) regarding how the currently applied video editing functions affect the video sequence currently being edited or any number of video sequences previously edited. At any given time during the video editing process, the user may need a preview of the results of the previous editing work, i.e., the edited frames. Often, a succeeding section of the video sequence depends upon the output of the video editing functions on a preceding section of the video sequence. Thus, a user could spend a significant amount of time merely waiting while renders are generating. This waiting is particularly inefficient if the user only wishes to preview a small section of video from a long video sequence. The video editing process and wait time can be even more drawn out and obtuse if the prior renders and tasks cannot be stored and retrieved in an organized fashion but must constantly be re-rendered, even when unchanged. The waiting is also inefficient if the entire video project must be re-rendered to reflect every individual change.
Thus, there is a need for a video editing process that allows background rendering to occur while other video editing is performed. There is also a need for a method that stores and retrieves multiple renders at various times, for different data, to and from different locations.

Background rendering in video compositing


A raising and lifting device comprises a shank member and an elevating device. The shank member has a first leg with a threaded portion for threaded attachment to a tree or similar structure; a second leg attached to the first leg substantially normal thereto; and a third leg attached to the second leg substantially normal thereto at the end of the second leg opposite the first leg. The elevating device is secured to the third leg. The elevating device comprises a pulley secured to the shank, around which a rope or similar device may be passed to raise a tree blind or other load up a tree or similar structure by pulling.

1. Field of the Invention:
The present invention pertains, generally, to lifting devices. More particularly, the present invention pertains to a sportsman's lifting and raising device. Even more particularly, the present invention concerns a sportsman's lifting and raising device particularly adapted for use with trees.
2. Prior Art:
Hunting is typically done either from the ground or from a height, such as from a tree. When hunting is done from a tree, a device for a hunter to stand or sit upon, as well as to hide the presence of the hunter, is typically raised into the tree. Several attempts have been made to provide devices to lift or raise persons or objects into trees. Five such devices are described below.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,957,135, issued May 18, 1976 to Lane, is entitled "CLIMBING DEVICE." The patent discloses a device for climbing a tree or similar structure. The device comprises a basket-like member secured to a pair of hangers that go around a pair of pulleys. The hangers are secured to the tree by chains secured to pipes that go around the tree.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,205,733, issued Jun. 3, 1980 to Wade, is entitled "PORTABLE ELEVATED STATION." The patent discloses a portable elevated station to be mounted to a tree. The station includes a platform suspended from a hoist. The hoist includes a drum. The hoist and the platform are suspended from a bough of a tree by a rope connected to the tree at one end and to the drum at the other end.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,347,913, issued Sep. 7, 1982 to Cromer, Jr., is entitled "CHAIR LIFT." The patent discloses a portable chair lift device for use by a hunter or the like for raising the person off the ground. The device includes a frame member which has a seat hung downwardly therefrom on ropes. A worm gear assembly is carried by the frame member. A hand crank is attached to the frame member for turning the worm gear. A rope is wound around a tree or similar structure and passes over a pulley attached to the worm gear. As the hand crank is turned, the seat is raised or lowered.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,347,914, issued Sep. 7, 1982 to Gary, is entitled "PORTABLE TREE SLING OR PORTABLE TREE STAND OR PORTABLE TREE HUNTING SLING, OR ALTERNATIVES THEREOF." The patent discloses a portable tree sling device comprising a rope to which is attached a fabric seat and a fabric back rest. The rope is wound around a pulley, to which is attached a hand crank. In use, the rope is to be cast over a bough of a tree and tied to the trunk of the tree. A user sits on the seat and cranks the seat higher or lower.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,602,698, issued Jul. 29, 1986 to Grant, is entitled "HUNTING CHAIR." The patent discloses a hunting chair device for elevating hunters and animals into a tree or similar structure. The device comprises an upright, hollow frame carrying a bracket below it. A reel is rotatably mounted in the bracket. A cable is attached to the reel, extends through the hollow frame, and exits through an open top. Foot pedals are attached to the reel for rotating the reel and winding the cable around it to elevate the chair into a tree. A seat and a handlebar-like member are attached to the frame. Brackets brace the chair against the tree. In use, a user sits on the seat and, by pedaling the foot pedals, raises or lowers the device.
It is to be appreciated that none of these references discloses a simple lifting and elevating device with a minimal number of parts and that attaches directly to a tree. The present invention, as detailed hereinbelow, addresses these issues.


An arrangement for adjusting an adaptive digital balance filter included in a subscriber unit connected to a telephone line includes a selection unit, which can be connected to the subscriber unit either via the exchange or via a separately arranged switch. When the selection unit is connected to the subscriber unit, the balance filter is disconnected from both branches of the subscriber unit. A test signal generator is included in the selector unit for sending a signal on the lines via both branches of the subscriber unit. There is further included a plurality of digital filters wherein the transfer function of any of the filters closely coincides with the transfer function of the filter formed by the line impedance and the portion of the subscriber unit which is connected to the line and to the balance filter. By means of a measuring unit there is formed a criterion for determining which one of the filters included in the selector unit most closely matches the above-mentioned filter, and the parameters of the selected filter are allowed to determine the parameters of the balance filter.

In telecommunications and more specifically with respect to transmitting and connecting telephone calls from one subscriber to another, there is a need of separating the transmission directions with the aid of a fork constituted, for example, by a so-called hybrid circuit. This divides the incoming two-wire and two-directional line from a subscriber's set into a four-wire transmission circuit (i.e., a pair of two one-way connections) to enable the functions of signal conversion, filtering, amplification, and so forth which functions can only take place in only one direction.
When both two-wire subscriber terminals are connected together through a four-wire exchange, it is necessary that the attenuation in the four-wire loop (i.e., the loop including the hybrid circuit, both one-way four-wire paths and the exchange connection or switching stage) exceed a certain value for the avoidance of stability problems. One possibility is to arrange attenuation in the exchange switching stage, but this results in unnecessary attenuation of the signals which are to be passed through.
To obtain a sufficiently high so-called cross fork attenuation with the object of avoiding the above-mentioned stability problems, and thus obtain sufficient signal separation in the hybrid circuit, the balance impedance must accurately match the impedance in the line currently connected to the exchange via the subscriber unit. It is therefore impossible to use the same balance impedance for all subscribers, since, relative to the hybrid circuit, there can be considerable scattering of the input impedances to the different subscriber lines.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,982,080 teaches automatically adjusting the value of the balance impedance of a hybrid circuit in response to the impedance value of a given line amongst a plurality of available lines for achieving optimum impedance match between a hybrid circuit and the associated line.

Arrangement for adjusting an adaptive digital filter included in a subscriber unit


A video decoding method includes: when a current block satisfies a preconfigured condition, parsing a first syntax element indicating whether the current block is split into a plurality of sub-blocks; when the first syntax element indicates that the current block is split, parsing a second syntax element indicating whether the current block is split using a quad-tree structure; when the second syntax element indicates that the current block is not split using the quad-tree structure, parsing at least one of a third syntax element indicating whether the current block is split using a binary-tree structure or a ternary-tree structure and a fourth syntax element indicating a split direction of the current block; and determining a split mode of the current block based on at least one of the first syntax element, the second syntax element, the third syntax element and the fourth syntax element.

Compression encoding means a series of signal processing techniques for transmitting digitized information through a communication line or techniques for storing information in a form suitable for a storage medium. The medium including a picture, an image, audio, etc. may be a target for compression encoding, and particularly, a technique for performing compression encoding on a picture is referred to as video image compression.
Next-generation video contents are supposed to have the characteristics of high spatial resolution, a high frame rate and high dimensionality of scene representation. In order to process such contents, a drastic increase in the memory storage, memory access rate and processing power will result.
Accordingly, it is required to design a coding tool for processing next-generation video contents efficiently.

Method for processing image and apparatus therefor


A method includes receiving code for computer programming, analyzing the code and extracting a plurality of configuration properties from the code. In the method, one or more configuration files are generated from the extracted plurality of configuration properties, and microservice code is generated from the one or more configuration files. The microservice code is configured for deployment on one or more cloud computing platforms.

Software application developers seek techniques which result in more efficient development and deployment of applications. For example, in order to increase development and operational speed, and reduce processing overhead, developers are using DevOps to develop applications and are designing applications to execute on microservices-based cloud platforms.
In general, DevOps corresponds to the combination of software development ("Dev") and information technology operations ("Ops"), which reduces the time to develop applications that have features, fixes, and updates closely aligned with the objectives of an enterprise. A microservices architecture structures applications as collections of loosely coupled services. The microservices utilize lightweight protocols and are fine-grained. An application which is comprised of multiple smaller services is easier to understand, develop, scale and test. For example, development can be performed by teams working independently and in parallel with each other to generate the different microservices. Services in a microservices architecture are able to be independently deployed by multiple providers communicating over a network in a cloud platform, which increases operational efficiency and reduces computing resource overhead.
Given recent trends to design and develop applications for cloud-based microservices architectures, there is a need for techniques and systems which can efficiently modify existing code and/or generate new code so that the code is capable of being deployed on a microservices-based cloud platform.

Code development for deployment on a cloud platform


A tracking system includes a call handler and a database containing information relating to items to be tracked. The database contains customer identification criteria that guide the call handler to determine whether to track a tracked item for a customer. Communication nodes communicate with the customer, send a signal to a tracking device, receive a signal from the tracking device, and involve a law enforcement official in the communicating with the customer when appropriate.

It is common for an owner of an asset such as a desktop or laptop computer, mobile phone, personal digital assistant (PDA), other electronic device, or even a briefcase or purse to lose the asset or have the asset stolen. When a lost or stolen asset such as a computer contains pertinent or confidential information, an owner often wishes to be able to locate and retrieve such asset immediately. The process of locating a lost or stolen asset that contains pertinent or confidential information may result in personal frustration, financial expense, and in the case of a corporate asset lost productivity as the asset's user requests and awaits a replacement. In addition, if the asset gets into the wrong hands, disclosure of confidential information and/or trade secrets may occur. The capability of locating a lost or stolen asset may be valuable to individuals, businesses, associations, schools, and even governments who store pertinent or confidential information on a personal computer (PC), laptop, server, PDA, cellular phone, or any device that could be stolen or lost.
In addition, a person may suffer great pain and sorrow if a loved one or pet runs away, is kidnapped or otherwise abducted, or is lost. For example, a child and the child's family may experience great tragedy if the child runs away or is abducted. A person with a mental disability may become disoriented or hurt if the person becomes lost and is not in familiar surroundings. When this situation occurs, a family member or caregiver wishes to be able to locate and have the person safely returned. However, no cost-effective method currently exists for tracking humans on a large geographic scale.
Most current tracking systems are used to track large, mobile assets such as an automobile. These tracking systems are neither feasible nor readily available to the public for the tracking of people, animals or small, portable mass quantity items such as a computer laptop or a briefcase containing important files. The current tracking systems do not adequately protect privacy and provide sufficient safety to be used for the automatic tracking of lost or abducted people. Furthermore, the current tracking systems are often used simply to help an individual locate an asset or areas near an asset, such as automobile global positioning systems that provide location-specific maps. These systems are not coordinated to prevent thefts and to locate and recover missing or stolen properties. Moreover, many of these tracking systems and services are not easily affordable to individual consumers or mass quantity purchasers such as corporate entities.
Exemplary existing tracking systems are described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/926,203 by Contractor, with Publication No. 2005/0026629; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/843,203 by Holland et al. with Publication No. 2005/0026589; and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/858,758 by Boling et al., with Publication No. 2005/0026627, each of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. However, each of these tracking systems have significant drawbacks.
The present embodiments are directed towards satisfying one or more of these problems.


A multi-channel mode converter operating with a series of TE or TM mode electromagnetic wave includes a plurality of coaxial waveguides arranged in overlay configuration. By controlling radius ratio and the number of coupling aperture of each coaxial waveguide, high power and high purity of operating mode of electromagnetic wave can be obtained and the major parasitic mode of electromagnetic wave can be suppressed, so as to avoid crosstalk between coaxial waveguides. A rotary joint including the above-mentioned mode converter with multi-channel is also disclosed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mode converter and rotary joint of microwave, and more particularly to a multi-channel mode converter and rotary joint operating with a series of TE or TM mode electromagnetic wave.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Mode converters can transform a mode of electromagnetic wave to another mode of electromagnetic wave. For example, when using rotary joints for radar system and satellite system, mode converters can transform communication electromagnetic wave from general transmission mode to another mode which exempts from rotating influence or transform back without energy loss. As to dual channel mode converters, conventionally, two different modes of electromagnetic wave are used for operation and different mode converters must be designed accordingly, which makes the structure of the dual channel mode converter more complicated and limits the channel number. Besides, TEM mode electromagnetic wave is required in outer channels for operating conventional multi-channel converters, and TEM electromagnetic wave leads to heavy energy loss.
To solve the problems mentioned above, a multi-channel mode converter and rotary joint should be developed.

Multi-channel mode converter and rotary joint operating with a series of TE or TM mode electromagnetic wave


A locking system for preventing a take-up reel of a tape drive from rotating when a tape cartridge is not inserted to the drive. Locking elements are defined about the take-up reel, a buckling mechanism, and a load ring to interact and provide locking engagement to prevent take-up reel rotation. The take-up reel, buckling mechanism and load ring rotate in concert during insertion and removal of the cartridge and are positioned relative to each other such that as the tape cartridge is inserted to the tape drive, locking elements disengage to enable rotation of the take-up reel. As the cartridge is inserted into the drive, locking elements return to locking engagement.

By way of example, and shown in FIG. 1, a conventional magnetic tape drive 5, comprises a rectangular shaped housing 11, an opening 14 defined therein for accepting a removable tape cartridge 20, a pair of spindle motors 10a and 10b, mounted therein, and a permanently mounted rotatable take-up reel 15. First spindle motor 10a is adapted for accepting the take-up reel while the second motor 10b is adapted for accepting the removable tape cartridge 20. Generally, the tape drive 5 further includes a head assembly 25 positioned intermediate the take-up reel 15 and the tape cartridge 20. The head assembly 25 is further positioned along a tape path 30, defined by a plurality of tape guide rollers 35. In the tape drive shown in FIG. 1, the tape path is defined by six rollers 35.
Although not shown in FIG. 1, tape drive 5 also includes a buckling mechanism 36, shown in FIG. 2, for "buckling", or attaching a take-up leader 17 with a cartridge leader 37. Typically, the buckling mechanism 36 is mounted to the drive 5 at a position intermediate the take-up reel 15 and the cartridge 20. When the tape cartridge 20 is not inserted into the drive 5, the buckling mechanism engages the take-up leader 17. The take-up leader 17 is a thin strip of polyester film e.g. Mylar, attached to the take-up reel 15. The cartridge leader is defined at the end of the data storage tape wound within the cartridge 20. As the cartridge 20 is inserted into tape drive 5, the buckling mechanism 36 releases take-up leader 17 and urges the take-up leader 17 to buckle with the cartridge leader 37.
The process of buckling tape leaders is known. For example, commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/666,854, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,769,346, entitled "TAPE BUCKLING MECHANISM FOR SINGLE REEL CARTRIDGE TAPE RECORDING" describes tape leader buckling process and is therefore incorporated herein by reference.
Typically, the thickness of the leaders and the thickness of the magnetic data storage tape are not the same, i.e. the leader is thicker than data storage tape. Thus, as the leaders and tape are spooled onto a take-up reel, the take-up leader 17 length and the cartridge leader 37 length must add up to a specific length so as to minimize a condition known as "radial runout" at the take-up reel. Radial runout occurs when the cumulative length of the take-up leader and the cartridge leader, when buckled, is not equivalent to the circumference of the take-up reel hub or a multiple thereof. This condition is best illustrated in FIG. 3, which provides a magnified view of the buckled leaders 18 and tape 40 wound around the take upon reel hub 15a. As shown, the cumulative length of the buckled leaders 18, is greater than the circumference of the take-up reel hub 15a. The net effect of radial runout is that the stack of wound tape 40 becomes asymmetrical. As shown in FIG. 3, the radius on one half of the tape stack, represented by R1, is less that the radius on the other half, represented by R2. Radial runout leads to non-constant tape speed. Consequently, servo control and overall drive performance may be degraded.
Unfortunately, a consequence of fixing the cumulative length of the take-up leader and the cartridge leader to avoid radial runout, is that the take-up leader 17 may have a length which is excessively longer than the tape path, as shown in FIG. 4. This creates the possibility of the take-up leader becoming disengaged from the buckling mechanism during shipment or anytime the tape cartridge is not inserted. For example, a counter clockwise rotation, represented by the arrow D1, of take-up reel 15 would create slack in the take-up leader 17, which may cause the take-up leader to disengage from the buckling mechanism 97.
Thus, there remains an unsolved need for a take-up reel locking mechanism for preventing the take-up reel from rotating when a tape cartridge is not inserted into the tape drive.


The exposure system comprises a projection optical system that irradiates exposure light emitted from a mask onto a substrate, a first support member that supports the projection optical system, and a support structure that supports the first support member, wherein the support member supports the first support member at a position that is higher than the position at which the first support member supports the projection optical system.

Various kinds of exposure apparatus are used in lithographic processes for manufacturing semiconductor elements and so forth. Step-and-repeat type projection apparatuses, such as step-and-repeat type projection exposure apparatuses (so-called "stepper"), and step-and-scan type projection exposure apparatuses (so-called "scanning stepper") form the mainstream of exposure apparatuses.
With the advancement of large-scale integration and higher speeds of CPU processors and larger capacities of semiconductor memory, the demand for fine patterning of resists formed on wafers has been rapidly increasing, and higher exposure precision is becoming a requirement in such exposure apparatuses. Such apparatuses are used in the mass production of devices, and consequently, high throughput is also being demanded as a requirement in exposure apparatuses. The exposure precision and the throughput have been improved by enhancing the resolving power by increasing the numerical aperture (NA) of a projection optical system and by using shorter exposure wavelengths of the exposure light, by improving the position controllability and increasing the acceleration of the reticle stage or the wafer stage.
However, the shape and the weight of the projection optical system are enlarged when the NA of the projection optical system is increased, and vibrations increase when the acceleration of the reticle stage is increased. Thus, the increase in vibrations is suppressed by modifying the configuration of frames that supports the projection optical system, stages and the like, by elaborating displacement of vibration suppression devices, and the like, as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2002-305140.
However, the aforementioned techniques are directed to suppressing the occurrence of vibrations, and are not directed to directly improving the rigidity of the frames. Accordingly, to support the further increase in the NA of the projection optical system and the increase in the acceleration of the stage, the frames necessarily have to be made larger. There is, however, a limit on increasing the size of the frames because of restrictions in the installation location and the transportation of the exposure apparatus.
If the acceleration of the stage and the NA of the projection optical system are improved in order to form fine patterns, the rigidity of the frames is reduced relatively compared to the conventional case. As a result, the vibrations increase, and instead, the formation of fine patterns becomes difficult, which present a problem.

Exposure apparatus and device manufacturing method


A rotary sheet-printing press includes a register bar; a plurality of front lay marks mounted on the register bar in a series extending perpendicularly to a sheet-feeding direction; a plurality of setting motors, each connected to a separate front lay mark for shifting each front lay mark parallel to the sheet-feeding direction; a control panel; manually operable controls mounted on the control panel in a field of vision of the front lay marks and connected to the setting motors for energizing the setting motors of a desired number of arbitrarily selected front lay marks and for adjusting the selected front lay marks parallel to the sheet-feeding direction; and a visual indicator mounted on the control panel and operatively connected to the front lay marks for displaying actual positions thereof.

This invention relates to a rotary sheet-printing press which includes a register bar provided with a plurality of front lay marks arranged in a series transverse to the direction of advance of the sheets to be printed. The front lay marks serve the purpose of aligning the leading edge of the sheet to be printed and are individually adjustable parallel to the direction of sheet advance.
Due to errors during the cutting of the sheets, the leading sheet edges are not always straight and/or are not always perpendicular to the lateral sheet edges.
In order to compensate for such error which may lead to faulty alignments in the printing press, it is known to align the front lay marks individually, corresponding to the course of the leading edge of the sheet. Such an alignment has been conventionally performed manually, while using an appropriate tool, such as a wrench. Such a procedure, however, has several disadvantages: it is time-consuming, it can be performed only while the press is at a standstill and, in particular, upon a displacement (adjustment) of any particular front lay mark, the operating person loses visual contact with that front lay mark to concentrate on the manual adjustment. As a result, it is not possible to make a direct verification whether the adjustment was sufficient or excessive. Also, it may occasionally occur that the wrong front lay mark is being adjusted.

Rotary sheet-printing press having a register bar


The present invention provides a method for producing a nitrile represented by general formula (1) (in the formula, R denotes an optionally substituted alkyl group, alkenyl group, dienyl group, aralkyl group or aryl group having a total of 3-20 carbon atoms), and the method includes heating an aldoxime represented by general formula (2) (in the formula, R denotes the same groups as those mentioned above) at 80-250° C. in the presence of an alkali metal or alkaline earth metal salt of phosphoric acid (catalyst A) and distilling off water generated as the reaction progresses to outside the reaction system.

Several methods for obtaining the corresponding nitrile from an aldoxime using a dehydrating agent have been known. Typical examples of the methods include (A) a method in which an aldoxime is dehydrated by a reaction with an acid anhydride such as acetic anhydride, (B) a method in which an aldoxime is dehydrated with phosphonitrilic chloride (hexachlorocyclotriphosphazatriene), and (C) a method in which an aldoxime is dehydrated by a reaction with a basic compound such as an alkali metal hydroxide (WO93/02046).
However, the employment of the above-described method (A) is disadvantageous in that acetic anhydride has to be used in an equimolar amount or more to the aldoxime, and hence the starting material cost is high. In addition, the acetic anhydride is finally converted to acetic acid, and hence the waste acetic acid treatment is necessary. The employment of the method (B) is also disadvantageous in that phosphonitrilic chloride has to be used in an equimolar amount or more relative to the aldoxime, and hence the starting material cost increases, and moreover that the waste product treatment cost is not lower in this case than in the case of acetic anhydride. The employment of the method (C) is disadvantageous in that the produced nitrile compound may be converted by hydrolysis to the amide compound depending on the reaction temperature or the reaction time (see Comparative Examples 1 to 3). In this respect, a method in which an acid such as sulfuric acid is used as the dehydrating agent has been reported as a method for overcoming these disadvantages (Japanese Patent Application Publication No. Sho 58-096053). This method is better than the above-described methods, because it is only necessary to use a catalytic amount of the acid, and the amount of waste products is small. However, this method is disadvantageous because of its limited application range. Specifically, nitriles can be obtained from aromatic oximes in yields of 80% or higher, but the yields of nitriles from aliphatic oximes decrease to 70%. Hence, this method cannot be practically applied to a wide range.


A buffer of block addresses for use by a client for read and write operations in a client-server system is maintained. Block addresses are maintained in the buffer and are streamed to the client in response to a request for the addresses to support a read or write operation. The quantity of addresses maintained in the buffer may be dynamically adjusted in response consumption of addresses for read and write operations.

1. Technical Field
This invention relates to managing metadata in response to read and write operations. More specifically, a technique is provided to maintain a window of address translations for use in both read and write operations in a shared file system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
FIG. 1 is a prior art block diagram (10) of a distributed file system including a server cluster (20), a plurality of client machines (12), (14), and (16), and a storage area network (SAN) (30). Each of the client machines communicate with one or more server machines (22), (24), and (26) in server cluster (20) over a data network (40). Similarly, each of the client machines (12), (14), and (16) and each of the server machines in the server cluster (20) are in communication with the storage area network (30). The storage area network (30) includes a plurality of shared disks (32) and (34) that contain only blocks of data for associated files. Similarly, the server machines (22), (24), and (26) manage metadata located in the meta data storage space (36) of the storage area network (30) pertaining to location and attributes of the associated files. Each of the client machines may access an object or multiple objects stored on the file data space (38) of the SAN (30), but may not access the metadata space (36). In opening the contents of an existing file object on the storage media in the SAN (30), a client machine contacts one of the server machines to obtain object metadata and locks. Typically, the metadata supplies the client with information about a file, such as its attributes and location on storage devices. Locks supply the client with privileges it needs to open a file and read or write data. The server machine performs a look-up of metadata information for the requested file within metadata space of the SAN (30). The server machine communicates granted lock information and file metadata to the requesting client machine, including the addresses of all data blocks making up the file. Once the client machine holds a lock and knows the data block address or addresses, the client machine can access the data for the file directly from a shared storage device (32) or (34) attached to the SAN (30). The quantity of elements in the system (10), including server nodes in the cluster, client machines, and storage media are merely an illustrative quantity. The system may be enlarged to include additional elements, and similarly, the system may be reduced to include fewer elements. As such, the elements shown in FIG. 1 are not to be construed as a limiting factor.
As shown in FIG. 1, the illustrated distributed file system separately stores metadata and data. In one example, one of the servers in the server cluster (20) holds information about shared objects, including the addresses of data blocks in storage that a client may access. To read a shared object, the client obtains the file's data block address or addresses from the server and then reads the data from the storage at the given block address or addresses. Similarly, when writing to a shared object, the client requests the server to create storage block addresses for data and then requests the allocated block addresses to which the data will then be written. One known method for reading a shared object uses a sequential block allocation method. For a shared object that is read sequentially, the client asks the server for the data block addresses corresponding to a first segment. Upon receiving the block addresses, the client reads the data in the first segment. If the application requires the client to read beyond the first segment, the client asks the server for the data block addresses corresponding to the next segment, and upon receipt of the block addresses, the client reads the data in the next segment. Similarly, for a sequential write operation, the client asks the server to allocate space for a first segment. Upon receiving the data block addresses for the first segment, the client writes data into the data blocks in the first segment. If the application requires additional segments, the client sends a communication to the server to allocate space for a second segment, and the client writes data into the blocks of the next segment upon receiving the data block addresses. Both the read and write operations of the sequential block allocation method require the client to request from the server data block addresses for successive addresses within the shared object during a read or write procedure. The client uses these data block addresses to translate read or write operations on the object to read or write operations on the storage device. Because the client remembers the correspondence between data addresses within the object and data addresses within the storage device, the remembered data block addresses that were fetched from the server are called address translations, as they let the client translate an object-relative address into an address within the storage device. Similarly, the request from the client to the server for data block addresses is sometimes called an address translation request. Accordingly, the sequential block allocation technique requires additional client-server communications if an initial allocation request does not provide a sufficient quantity of data block addresses.
As explained above, the sequential block allocation technique supports a plurality of client-server communications, in response to insufficiency of data block addresses in an initially returned segment. This results in an increased bandwidth consumption, also known as increased network traffic. Therefore, there is a need for a technique that mitigates client-server communications for block address translations for each read and each write operation. Such a technique should ensure mitigation of network traffic by decreasing the quantity of client-server transactions, as well as mitigation of wastage of disk space.

International Business Machines Corporation


In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, disclosed is an image analysis and conversion method and system, where bitmapped ink images are converted to structured object representations of the bitmapped images, which may be read and edited by a structured text/graphics editor.

This invention relates to a method and apparatus for processing images, and more particularly to an image analysis system that takes as an input, bitmapped and/or digital ink images, and outputs structured object representations which can be used within a structured text/graphics editor.
While the invention is particularly directed to the art of image processing and analysis, and will be thus described with specific reference thereto, it is to be appreciated the invention may have usefulness in other fields and applications.
Electronic communication has become the standard in many fields, replacing and/or enhancing previous modes of communication. For example, in business, education, scientific and other forms of communication the use of electronic slide presentations has become nearly ubiquitous. These electronic slide presentations are commonly created through the use of structured text/graphics editor programs. Though not limited to, examples of such editors include Microsoft Powerpoint, Corel Draw, MacDraw, and Frame. These programs offer editing capabilities for both text and graphic material. Among the text editing capabilities are the control of fonts, columnar layout structures, list indentation, bullet points, and font color, among others. Graphic editing capabilities include menus of generic shapes, freeform and spline drawing, snapping to grids, resizing, parameterized reshaping, boundary lines and fill color control, as well as positioning of text blocks within graphic objects, among others. In addition, these structured text/graphics editors include the ability to import bitmap images, which are treated as picture objects that can be positioned, scaled and cropped.
While the structured text/graphics editors described have met with significant commercial success and usage, existing implementations have limitations. Particularly, existing structured text/graphics editors require the creation and editing of material to take place within the system via manual operations. Due to these limitations existing text/graphics editors are not able to meet the demands of workers employing different modes of work, such as working with physical documents, i.e., generating sketches by paper and pen. More particularly, the described computer-based text/graphic editing tools do not have an easy usable interface with physical document media.
For example, a common process for generating an electronic slide presentation using structured text/graphic editors begins with the drafting of presentation slides on a physical surface away from constraints of interacting with a computer. In one instance, an individual may make sketches on a pad of paper using pen and pencil, or a group may be cooperatively creating concepts on a whiteboard. Only after this initial process will someone be appointed to convert the handwritten material into structured text/graphic formats using the computer-based editors.
Alternatively, the entire presentation may be composed from scratch within a structured text/graphics editor, foregoing any possible advantages of using a paper media, simply due to the fact that the final result is required to be in the computerized format.
If the initial creation is undertaken using hand-drawn images, the process for importing these images into a structured text/graphic editor can be a tedious and cumbersome process. While various editors have created shortcuts which permit the selection of specific preconfigured geometric shapes through click-and-drag programs, even these shortcuts can become tedious when a complex figure is involved. Also drawing a complex shape not offered as a preconfigured object can be more difficult than drawing it freehand. Further, with attention to the inputting of text, the typing of keystrokes is in and of itself not difficult. However, obtaining a desired layout, with indentations, bulleted and structured text blocks in desired positions involves a large number of mouse and keyboard operations to navigate menus, enter text, adjust positions and format parameters, and so forth.
While text and graphic recognition systems exist, these systems do not consider the text and/or graphics in such a way that a structured text/graphics editor may employ its full range of operations to the recognized text/graphics.
It has therefore been considered useful to develop a system which overcomes the above deficiencies and others to improve the usefulness of structured text/graphics editors.

Method and apparatus to convert bitmapped images for use in a structured text/graphics editor


A high current end power stage comprises at least four power transistors, two electrical supply lines and a safety fuse. The at least four power transistors have each a diode which is blocked during normal operation of the respective power transistor. The two electrical supply lines couple the at least four power transistors with a supply potential and a reference potential such that two of the at least four power transistors are connected electrically between the supply potential and the reference potential. The safety fuse is connected in series to the at least four power transistors in at least one of the two electrical supply lines. The at least one safety fuse can be triggered by a current which flows through the diode of the at least four power transistors, said diode being then arranged in the direction of conduction, when the supply potential and reference potential are exchanged.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a high current power output stage comprising power transistors, in particular MOSFET power transistors.
2. Description of the Prior Art
High current power output stages are used, for example, in control units of motor vehicles for driving electric motors, e.g., for an electric power steering device or an electric brake force amplifier device. The high current power output stage is operated in a normal operation mode, e.g., with currents of the order of magnitude of 100 amperes. The electrical energy required is provided by a generator device or a battery. When the battery is replaced, the battery can inadvertently be coupled to the high current power output stage with the polarity reversed. The current flow caused as a result of this in the high current power output stage can damage or destroy the power output stage.
DE 102 08 981 A1 discloses a motor vehicle comprising two vehicle electrical systems. A current distributor with power management is provided for each of the two vehicle electrical systems. One of the current distributors comprises an output stage and a microcomputer. The output stage comprises a measuring resistor. The current flow in the output stage is determined from a voltage drop across the measuring resistor by the microcomputer. The current flow in the output stage can be interrupted by corresponding driving of the output stage by the microcomputer. A fusible link is connected in one supply line of the output stage in order to prevent a fire in the event of a short circuit and simultaneous breakdown at the output stage. A relay is provided as a polarity-reversal protection, said relay interrupting the current flow in the event of polarity reversal.
DE 195 01 985 A1 discloses a polarity-reversal protection for a DC-voltage-supplied electronic circuit against damage as a result of polarity reversal. A suppressor diode is connected in parallel with a battery and with electrical loads. A fusible link is connected in a supply line between the battery and the suppressor diode and the electrical loads. In the event of polarity reversal, the suppressor diode is turned on and the fusible link triggers as a result of the current flow caused thereby.


In a distributor type fuel injection pump and a power transmission pump for transmitting power to the fuel injection pump, when a rotation system member of the injection pump is seized if anything should happen, only an injection pump is damaged to thereby greatly reduce damage to an engine. To this end, an annular groove is provided in a rotor to which power from the engine is transmitted, and the annular groove constitutes a frail portion of the rotor. The annular groove is positioned along the rotor so that all or most of the sliding portions of the rotor are located on a side of the groove opposite to a power supply side. When seizure occurs in the sliding portions of the rotor to prevent rotation, the rotor is twisted off at the annular groove by the power from the engine, so that rotation of a power supply side portion of the rotor is not prevented.

This invention relates to a distributor type fuel injection pump for supplying fuel to an engine, especially a distributor type fuel injection pump (an inner cam system fuel injection pump) in which plungers are provided slid ably in radial direction in a rotor rotating synchronously with an engine, and the plungers are made to reciprocate by moving on a cam surface of a cam ring to vary the volume of a compression space formed in the rotor.
An inner cam system distributor type fuel injection pump is, for instance, as shown in Unexamined Patent Publication No. S59-119056, Unexamined Patent Publication No. S60-79152, Unexamined Patent Publication No. H3-175143 and so on, constructed such that an inner cam (a cam ring) is located around a fuel distributing rotation member (a rotor), compressing plungers are engaged on a cam surface formed inside of the inner cam via a rolling member, etc., and the compressing plungers are made to reciprocate in radial directions of the fuel distributing rotation member. The fuel distributing rotation member is provided with a pump chamber (a compression space) whose volume is varied by the compressing plungers, an intake hole for inhaling fuel into the pump chamber in an intake process, a distributing port for delivering fuel compressed in the pump chamber in a delivery process, and an over-flow port for cutting off delivery of fuel. A ring-shaped member (a control sleeve) is fitted outside of the fuel distributing rotation member so as to cover the over-flow port, and cut-off timing in the delivery process is varied by moving the ring-shaped member in the axial direction, so that injection quantity may be varied.
A system of power transmission for supplying rotation power to the rotation member of this injection pump is constituted such that drive pulleys mounted on a crank shaft of the engine, a cam shaft for an intake/discharge valve, and a drive shaft of the injection pump are connected by a timing belt, the timing belt is given a specific tension to reliably supply drive power of the engine to the drive shaft of the injection pump and to maintain timing of operation between pistons of the engine and the intake/discharge valve in good condition.
By the way, in the fuel injection pump, for increasing performance of injection, a small tolerance is required for a clearance between the rotation member and the members with respect to which the rotation member slides. In lubrication in this sliding portion, fuel which is to be compressed is used as a lubricating oil, so that fuel with impurities sufficiently removed is used. Though this is managed sufficiently, if fine foreign matter flows into the fuel injection and enters into the sliding portion of the rotation member, the sliding portion of the rotation member is damaged, so that smooth sliding is lost and then the rotation member is seized at the sliding portion and, as a result, there is a problem that the rotation movement of the rotation member is restrained.
If the rotation member or the member with respect to which the rotation member slides is deformed in some manner, a clearance of the contacting sliding portion set in advance is not maintained and, as a result, it may possibly seize in a similar manner.
Though thus seizure of the rotation member does not usually occur, if anything should happen, the engine stops because fuel injection to the engine is terminated, but the engine does not stop simultaneously to seizing (sticking) of the rotation shaft in the injection pump. Although the drive shaft of the injection pump is locked up (seized), the drive force is transmitted from the crank shaft to the timing belt to cause jumping of the teeth of the timing belt. Thus, the phase between the crank shaft and the cam shaft for the intake/discharge valve deviates and the timing of operation between the pistons of the engine and the intake/discharge valve deviates so that they come into collision with each other and, as a result, it may be possible to cause considerable damage to engine. If this should occur, not only the injection pump be repaired but also the engine itself must be repaired.

Distributor type fuel injection pump and power transmission device