The present invention relates to a variably operable timber screen for three-dimensional decoration of a building exterior wall and shading control of a building, the screen comprising: a pair of rails (10a and 10b); a motor (20); a timing belt (30); several pairs of rollers (40); a plurality of columns (50); a plurality of bearings (60); a rotational force transmitter bar (70); a plurality of decorative timber blade units (80); an manipulation unit (90); and a control unit (100). Therefore, the present invention can not only make the exterior of a building itself more attractive, but can also control the amount of incident sunlight through windows and doors.

In Korea, that is located in northern hemisphere, seasonal winds blow from the same direction every year.
In summer, the Asian continent warms up and a low pressure center is created on land, and wind from southeast and southwest blows to the low pressure center from the ocean. In other words, a sweltering high temperature and humidity wind blows in Korea from June until September. On the contrary, in winter, the Asian continent gets colder and temperature drops, a large high pressure, such as Siberian anticyclone, is created and wind blows therefrom to the ocean, so that very cold and dry wind blows from northwest through Korea.
In buildings or houses, a window system having two different functions such as blocking outside noise and blocking inside noise, controlling the ventilation and shading, and blocking the inside of a building from and the outside is provided. The window system is configured such that an opening is provided in a predetermined part of an exterior wall and a window frame is fixed to the opening, and then a window that slides in left and right sides is installed inside the window frame to enable shading and ventilation through the window.
However, in Korea, since it is preferred for houses to face south in consideration of a sunlight condition, even though a part or whole of windows thereof installed to the south is opened, it is difficult for natural seasonal wind flowing from east and west to flow easily into a room through the windows in summer.
The natural wind flowing through the windows is very useful for ventilating indoor air and reducing indoor temperature in summer, but when indoor ventilation is inadequate, the indoor air becomes stuffy and the indoor temperature rises.
Moreover, in houses or stores, an awning apparatus is installed over an upper part of a door or a window for blocking excessive direct sunlight.
Such an awning apparatus is usually installed over the window, a show window, a door, or a building exterior wall, and used to provide a pleasant environment and protect goods in the stores by blocking the sunlight or rainwater.
Recently, the awning apparatus has used not only as protective use but also as decorative use by having a visual effect using various shapes or colors, and as various purposes such as obtaining a business synergy effect by attracting public attention.
In the traditional awning apparatus, a manual operated style for manually opening and closing an awning, a motor operated style for opening and closing an awning by electric power, or a fixed style is used.
Hereinabove, an awning apparatus of the fixed style is inexpensive but has use restrictions because it may not be opened or closed as needed (it is difficult to adjust the amount of incident sunlight according to needs of an user), and an awning apparatus of the motor operated style is expensive to manufacture.
Meanwhile, it is a recent trend to design the building exterior wall to be attractive using the various shapes through a curtain wall method, for this purpose, there are various demands for three-dimensional decoration of the building exterior wall and shading of the building (for example, blocking and allowing direct sunlight through the window, preventing easy breakage of the window and intrusion of outsiders through the window, ensuring privacy protection through the window, and ensuring a view from the window etc.), and in existing buildings, there are also demands for three-dimensional decoration of the existing buildings and shading control of the buildings by building owners.

Variable-operated timber screens for three-dimensional decoration and lighting control of buildings facades


A bathtub shower splash shield member which includes a shower curtain holding structure adapted for use with a bathtub for preventing water from a shower head from splashing between a wall and the adjacent side of a suspended shower curtain, member comprised of a generally triangular shaped unitary body containing two general orthogonally arranged mounting legs that intersect at a vertex and a web extending between and joining mounting legs. The two mounting legs include a vertically extending leg adapted to be mounted on a wall structure and a horizontally extending leg adapted to be mounted on the flat horizontal surface of a side wall of the bathtub. The shower curtain holding structure includes an opening extending through vertically extending leg and a finger clamp disposed in this opening. The finger clamp includes a clamping portion extending in a direction away from first leg. The clamping portion cooperates with the web to grip a portion of the curtain between the clamping portion and the web.

A bathtub is usually located in an alcove with an end wall of the alcove at each end of the bathtub. A curtain rod with a shower curtain suspended therefrom usually extends across the space between the two end walls. The shower curtain extends downwardly into the bathtub below the top rim of the tub. Due to the inwardly curved interior shape of the ends of the bathtub there is normally a gap between the end walls and the shower curtain which is offset from the end walls by said inward curvature of the tub. When taking a shower water may splash through this gap onto the bathroom floor.
It is also possible that the bathtub may not be precisely perpendicular to one or both of the end walls. This further contributes to the formation or enlargement of the gap between the edge of the shower curtain and the end wall.
This invention provides a simple, easy to install splash shield which eliminates this gap and prevents water from splashing onto the bathroom floor.


The multiple compartment plastic container comprises an injection molded finish having a circumferential wall and at least one diametrical wall dividing the finish into at least two passages and an extruded and blow molded body integrally attached to said finish and providing at least two compartments communicating with said passages. The container is made by injection molding a plastic finish having a circumferential wall and at least one diametrical wall dividing the finish in two or more passages, extruding a plastic tube with wall of the tube integral with circumferential wall of the finish and the diametrical wall, closing a blow mold about the tube, and blowing air into the tube through the finish to the confines of the blow mold.

It has heretofore been proposed to make multiple compartment plastic containers with multiple finishes such as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,729,553; 5,052,590; 5,135,702 and 5,223,245. It has also been proposed to make multiple compartment plastic containers with two halves of a finish which communicate with the multiple compartments as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,347,420. U.S. Pat. No. 4,065,536 proposed a single finish having passages communicating with the compartments which is made by injection molding a preform having two compartments which is thereafter blow molded.
Among the objectives of the present invention is to provide an improved multiple compartment plastic container having a single finish with multiple passages communicating with the multiple compartments and a novel method of making the multiple container.
In accordance with the invention, the multiple compartment plastic container comprises an injection molded finish having a circumferential wall and at least one diametrical wall dividing the finish into at least two passages and an extruded and blow molded body integrally attached to said finish and providing at least two compartments communicating with said passages. The container is made by injection molding a plastic finish having a circumferential wall and at least one diametrical wall dividing the finish in two or more passages, extruding a plastic tube with wall of the tube integral with circumferential wall of the finish and the diametrical wall, closing a blow mold about the tube, and blowing air into the tube through the finish to the confines of the blow mold.
Preferably, the step of injection molding the finish comprises providing a neck ring, a finish insert and a mold core including a blow pin within the neck ring. The mold core contour forms the diametrical dividing wall of the finish and the diametrical dividing wall of the finish is oriented by the mounting of the mold core assembly. In accordance with the preferred method, the neck ring is moved relative to the extruder to provide an integral tube and brought into position to form a space between the mold and neck ring prior to closing the mold halves. The neck ring is then lowered to the top of the mold as the molds are closing. The container is blown once the molds are closed and the neck ring head is moved down to the top of the mold. The container is blown through the mold core into all container chambers simultaneously. The mold halves pinch the tube upon closing to provide two chambers which are blown outwardly to form the container. The diametrical dividing wall of the finish is aligned in the same direction as the dividing rib in the mold cavity.

Injection extrusion blow molding process for making multiple compartment plastic containers


A fastener assembly for being molded into a foamed structure. The fastener assembly includes a base having first and second opposed major surfaces, first and second opposed ends, and first and second opposed side edges. A multiplicity of attachment members are carried by the base and extend outwardly from the first major surface of the base for mating with complementary attachment members. First and second spaced-apart end seals are attached to respective first and second opposed ends of the base for preventing intrusion of liquid foam past the ends of the base and onto the attachment members during molding of the structure. Each of the end seals defines a solid mass within which the attachment members are embedded. A multiplicity of spaced-apart anchors are carried by the base, and extend outwardly from the second major surface of the base for permanently attaching the fastener assembly to the foamed structure.

This invention relates to a fastener assembly of the type which is molded into foam structures, such as seat cushions. The fastener assembly according to the particular embodiment disclosed in this application cooperates with a complementary fastener assembly on an upholstery cover to hold the cover in place on the cushion. Hook and loop-type fasteners are a common type of fastener assembly used for this application.
Prior art patents in this field include Applicant's U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,693,921, 4,802,939, and 4,933,035. These patents disclose the provision of a thin plastic film which covers the attachment hooks to prevent intrusion of liquid foam into the area of the hooks during molding. Thus, the hooks do not become contaminated during molding and maintain their full ability to cooperate with the loops on the cover to keep the cover in place on the cushion. The film provides excellent protection against foam intrusion but must be removed from over the hooks after molding is complete according to one of several methods. Applicant has also employed metal shim stock material secured to the film and extending along the center of the fastener to hold the fastener in a mold having magnets.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,784,890 ('890 Patent) discloses a fastener which does not have an overlying plastic film covering the hooks, but relies on magnets to seal the fastener into the mold recess along the sides. The ends of the fastener are held in the mold recess by "restricting means", disclosed in the alternative as a length of polymeric film attached to and extending beyond the end of the fastener to be held in place by magnets in the mold, Col. 4, line 58-Col. 5, line 2; or "dam-like structures" which are placed on the ends of the fastener where the hooks have been removed by melting or cutting away the hooks to provide a flat area. Col. 5, lines 2-13. In the '890 Patent the magnetic material for protecting the ends is attached as a short tab to the end of the fastener and extends beyond the end of the fastener and over the marginal edge portions.
The present invention provides an efficient and inexpensive fastener which can be used without a protective film, and which does not require attachment of hold-down members which extend beyond the ends of the fastener.

Fastener assembly with mechanical end seals


A rocker, which is pivotable for dispensing products and has a lower product support part, is arranged at the bottom of a product shaft in a product-dispensing device of a vending machine. To achieve trouble-free dispensing even in the case of bottles or cans made of a soft material, an upper product support part is formed by an attachment mounted tiltably on the rocker. A stop device, by which the rocker pivots the attachment with it, is provided between the rocker and the attachment. A free-running angle is provided between the rocker and the attachment.

Such a product-dispensing device is described in DE 29 16 694 C2. In the course of the pivoting of the rocker, the products first arrive on the upper product support part and then at the lower product support part, from which they drop out. The upper product support part as well as the lower product support part are fixed to the rocker in DE 29 16 694 C2. The bottle in question lies directly at the edge of the support surface of the upper product support part in the starting positions. This is unproblematic in the case of hard bottles or cans of a round cross section. However, jamming, which may cause damage to the bottle, may occur during dispensing in the case of bottles known to exist on the market, which are made of a soft material and/or have a nonideal round or rounded square cross section.
Another product-dispensing device at the bottom of a vertical product shaft is described in DE 36 08 942 A1.

Product-dispensing device of a vending machine

Sielaff GmbH & Co. Automatenbau Herrieden


A method and apparatus by which a graph can be used to invoke computations directly. Methods get information into and out of individual processes represented on a graph, move information between the processes, and define a running order for the processes. An application writer informs a system incorporating the invention how processes should access necessary data. The invention adds "adaptor processes", if necessary, to assist in getting information into and out of processes. In general, in one aspect, a method executes on a computer system a computation expressed as a graph comprising a plurality of vertices representing computational processes, each vertex having an associated access method, and a plurality of links, each connecting at least two vertices to each other and representing a flow of data between the connected vertices, comprising the steps of: (1) accepting the graph into the computer system as user input; (2) preparing the graph for execution by performing, on the computer system, graph transformation steps until each vertex is in a runnable state, and each link is associated with at least one communication method compatible with the access methods of the vertices connected by the link; (3) launching each link by creating, by means of the computer system, a combination of communication channels and/or data stores, as appropriate to the link's communication method; and (4) launching each process by invoking execution of the process on the computer system.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the control of computations in data processing systems and, more particularly, to the execution of programs expressed as graphs in parallel or distributed environments.
2. Background
Complex business systems typically process data in multiple stages, with the results produced by one stage being fed into the next stage. The overall flow of information through such systems may be described in terms of a graph, with vertices in the graph representing either data files or processes, and the links or "edges" in the graph indicating that data produced in one stage of processing is used in another.
The same type of graphic representation may be used to describe parallel processing systems. For purposes of this discussion, parallel processing systems include any configuration of computer systems using multiple central processing units (CPUs), either local (e.g., multiprocessor systems such as SMP computers), or locally distributed (e.g., multiple processors coupled as clusters or MPPs), or remotely, or remotely distributed (e.g., multiple processors coupled via LAN or WAN networks), or any combination thereof. Again, the graphs will be composed of data, processes, and edges or links. In this case, the representation captures not only the flow of data between processing steps, but also the flow of data from one processing node to another. Furthermore, by replicating elements of the graph (files, processes, edges), it is possible to represent the parallelism in a system.
However, while such a graph may be useful for understanding of complex programs, such a graph cannot be directly used to invoke computations because:
(1) It does not tell how to get information in and out of the individual processes. PA1 (2) It does not tell how to move information between the processes. PA1 (3) It does not tell what order to run the processes in. PA1 (1) accepting the graph into the computer system as user input; PA1 (2) preparing the graph for execution by performing, on the computer system, graph transformation steps until the graph is in an executable form, and each link is associated with at least one communication method compatible with the access methods of the vertices connected by the link; PA1 (3) launching each link by creating, by means of the computer system, a combination of communication channels and/or data stores, as appropriate to the link's communication method; and PA1 (4) launching each process by invoking execution of the process on the computer system.
Accordingly, it would be useful to have a system and method for executing computations expressed as graphs. The present invention provides such a system and method.

Executing computations expressed as graphs


A heat dissipation structure configured to couple with an interface card is provided. The heat dissipation structure comprises a first heat conduction portion arranged above a first surface of a wired board of the interface card, a second heat conduction portion arranged above a second surface of the wired board opposite the first surface thereof, and a heat convection portion connecting the first and the second heat conduction portions. Both the first and the second heat conduction portions comprise a plurality of contact leads used to contact the heat-generating electronic components disposed on the two surfaces of the wired board. The heat convection portion has a plurality of first bending strips and a plurality of second bending strips that are alternatively arranged, and a plurality of heat convection slots are formed between the first bending strips and the second bending strips.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a heat dissipation structure. More particularly, the present invention relates to a heat dissipation structure applied in an interface card.
2. Description of Related Art
Nowadays, portable computers, either the notebook computers or the tablet computers, are all developing towards lighter, thinner and smaller designs. However, this trend causes the inner space of the portable computer to become narrower and leads to increased integration level of its inner parts. When the portable computer is operating, the inner electronic components that can generate heat, such as the central processing unit and the video-graphic chip, will produce a lot of heat, so the narrow inner space of the portable computer will worsen the heat dissipation in the computer. Once the heat generated by the inner parts of the portable computer can not be successfully dissipated outside, the inner temperature will surely increase, and when the temperature increases beyond the critical point that the inner parts can endure, the overheat shut-down will occur. Therefore, the heat dissipation is an important factor that has to be taken into account in portable computer designs.
In order to update the hardware components of the portable computer, in the conventional technology, a modularized interface card is usually mounted inside the portable computer via a card slot. Among others, the mini-PCI interface is a common interface card specification applied to the portable computer. According to the function to be updated from the interface card, the interface card usually has more than one heat-generating electronic component thereon. However, with the progresses of the IC design and fabrication process, the heat-generating power of the electronic components on the interface card becomes increasingly higher. Therefore, the heat dissipation issue of the electronic components on the interface card has to be solved.
FIG. 1 is a top view of a conventional heat dissipation structure coupled to an interface card, and FIG. 2 is a side view of FIG. 1. Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, an interface card 100 (e.g. a mini-PCI interface card) includes a wired board 110 having a plug region 112 that can be plugged into a corresponding slot in a portable computer. Moreover, the interface card 100 further comprises multiple heat-generating electronic components 120, all of which are arranged on a unilateral surface 110a of the wired board 110. However, when the heat-generating electronic components 120 are operating, such an arrangement will cause the heat to accumulate on the unilateral surface 110a of the wired board 110 having the heat-generating electronic components 120.
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, in order to provide a solution of the heat dissipation problem of the interface card 100, in the conventional technology, a heat dissipation structure 200 is directly fixed above the surface 110a of the wired board 110 of the interface card 100. The heat dissipation structure 200 comprises a flat heat conduction portion 210, wherein the heat conduction portion 210 has a plurality of connection leads 214 fixed on the unilateral surface 110a of the wired board 110 by the surface mount technology (SMT). Moreover, the heat conduction portion 210 further has a plurality of contact leads 212 which are joined onto the surfaces of the heat-generating electronic components 120. Therefore, the thermal energy generated by each heat-generating electronic component 120 will be conducted to the heat conduction portion 210 via the plane contact leads 212 in contact with respective electronic components 120, and will be dissipated to the surroundings via heat convection. However, the conventional heat dissipation structure applied to the interface card has at least the following disadvantages,
1. The layout of the conventional technology, in which the heat-generating electronic components are incorporated with a unilateral surface of the heat dissipation structure, causes the heat source to excessively gather on the unilateral surface of the wired board of the interface card, such that the heat generated by the heat-generating electronic components can not be rapidly guided outside via the heat dissipation structure, therefore lowering the heat dissipation performance of the interface card.
2. The heat dissipation efficiency of the heat dissipation structure according to conventional technology is poor, so the interface card may fail due to the overheating of the heat-generating electronic components on the wired board of the interface card.
3. Since the heat dissipation of the interface card is not efficient in the conventional technology, the housing temperature of the portable computer increases, and accordingly, hot spots occur on the housing of the portable computer, thus making the user feel uncomfortable.

Heat dissipation structure for interface card


An apparatus for transferring a plurality of electronic components includes a row of pick heads operative to pick up the electronic components simultaneously from a first location and to place them at a second location. Additionally, there is a driving mechanism operative to drive the pick heads to move relative to one another in directions which are parallel to a length of the row of pick heads whereby to adjust a pitch width of the pick heads.

The sorting of electronic components, such as packages that have been singulated on a mounting tape or a singulation jig, is one of the key back-end processes for the manufacture of Chip-Scale Packages ("CSP") like Ball Grid Array ("BGA") packages and Quad Flat No leads ("QFN") packages.
In a CSP package, there is a lead or ball side (top surface) for making electrical connections with other devices, as well as a mold side (bottom surface) comprising an encapsulant for protecting the internal circuitry. The mold side is also commonly referred to as a marking side as labels or other information may be marked onto this surface of the package. Inspection results on the lead/ball side and mold/marking side are commonly used as sorting criteria when sorting different packages that have been formed to determine whether packages have been satisfactorily assembled. Accordingly, an important performance index for a machine used for processing semiconductor packages is its inspection and sorting throughput.
Typically, after sorting and inspecting, good packages are offloaded to a container, such as a tray or tube container, and rejected packages are disposed of in a reject bin. Further, reworked units may be transferred to yet another tray or bin.
Conventional package processing machines sort and inspect the packages individually. The packages are also picked up and transferred to the various stations as well as offloaded separately. The throughput of such processing machines is significantly lowered as a result. An example of a method to pick-up and sort singulated electronic packages individually is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 7,190,446 entitled "System for Processing Electronic Devices". Singulated packages are individually picked up from a tape and placed onto holders at a certain segment of a rotary table. Concurrently, inspections of the packages take place at other segments of the rotary table. The packages are next rotated to a segment to be picked up individually by an offloading arm which transfers the packages separately to different offloading devices such as a tube, tray or bin, according to the inspection results. Pick-up and transfer of the packages are performed individually which slows down the sorting process. Furthermore, there is no flipping feature in order to expose the mold side for inspection. Inspection of the mold side of the package is done through a glass holder, which may render inspection results unreliable as a result of the quality of the glass and contamination through use.
Another pick-up and sorting apparatus is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,446,354 entitled "Handler System for Cutting a Semiconductor Package Device". The singulated packages are picked up by a vacuum head, washed with water and dried while being held by the vacuum head. After cleaning and drying, the packages are placed onto a hot plate having an array of small vacuum holes for further drying and lead/ball surface inspection. Half of the packages are placed onto a turntable with a buffer plate on top, with pockets arranged in an alternating format. The remaining packages are put onto the second half of the buffer plate. The buffer plate rotates when required to position the packages in a preferred orientation before being picked up by dual offloading pick arms. The packages are then picked up one at a time by multiple vacuum heads on the dual offloading pick arms which transfer the packages to a position opposite the offloading device for mark inspection. The packages are further transferred to a tray or a tube according to the inspection results. This method is undesirable as a complicated pick head design using several motors to drive individual vacuum pads in the z-direction is needed. More expensive fabrication methods are required since the motor channel includes the motor itself, encoder and a driver. Additionally, while the pick-up rate of individual packages is quite fast and flexible, it is still unable to match the speed of the saw machine for producing smaller package sizes.
In yet another prior art approach, U.S. Pat. No. 6,655,045 entitled "Apparatus and Method for Pick and Place Handling" discloses a gang transfer arm which carries the singulated packages by a gang "sliding" approach. The singulated packages are slid by a rinsing carrier from a singulation jig to a rinsing platform. Next, a drying carrier moves the washed packages further for drying on the same platform. The packages are next moved in individual rows onto a transfer track and the packages are separated into separate units to be picked up individually at the end of the track. The lead/ball surface inspection can be conducted before offloading units to either a tray, tube, reject bin, or canister according to the inspection results. As different conversion kits are required for different packages, this method involves high costs. The setup and conversion are also difficult, requiring major leveling adjustments from the singulation jig to the rinsing platform, a map separator and the transfer track. Additionally, this method limits inspection to the lead/ball surface of the packages only. Furthermore, since the packages are separated into separate units to be picked up individually at the end of the track, this reduces throughput of the sorting process.
Therefore, in order to overcome the aforesaid disadvantages in the prior art, it would be desirable to provide simple and reliable apparatus and methods for handling singulated packages in groups instead of individually and which allow full inspection of multiple sides of the packages (such as their bottom and top surfaces and four side surfaces) efficiently and cost effectively.

Transfer apparatus for handling electronic components


In an apparatus and method for monitoring defects in wafers, a monitoring circuit is fabricated on an area of each one of the wafers. The monitoring circuit includes representative devices that replicate similar devices located in a die area of the wafers. Defects if present in the representative devices contribute to a generation of a noise, thereby causing an imbalance in a differential signal measurable across selected ones of the representative devices. A digitizing circuit that uses a common mode voltage as a reference to measure the imbalance digitizes the differential signal to a digital signal, the digital signal being indicative of the noise generated by the defects. The digital signal is stored over a configurable time interval to form a digital bit stream. The digital bit stream is compared to a reference to determine whether the defects are within an allowable range.

The present disclosure relates generally to integrated circuit (IC) manufacturing, and more particularly to a method and an apparatus for measuring flicker noise (also referred to as 1/f noise) generated by defects present in an IC manufacturing environment.
The flicker noise is a type of electronic noise occurring mostly at low frequencies in virtually all electronic devices. Unlike thermal noise that has constant power amplitude over the frequency spectrum, the flicker noise decreases with frequency. The flicker noise is typically caused by material or process defects (or both) present in the IC manufacturing environment. The flicker noise is often used as a figure-of-merit (FOM) for comparing performances of semiconductor devices.
Ongoing scaling of semiconductor device dimensions, including the introduction of new channel materials and device structures, is having a significant impact on noise performance metrics. In particular, the flicker noise being intrinsically related to the interface properties is expected to be impacted by deep sub-micron technologies, especially in analog, mixed signal, and radio frequency (RF) circuits.
A traditional solution for measuring flicker noise properties of transistors in a production environment is typically based on fabrication of test circuits on a wafer and the use of highly sensitive, low noise amplifiers to measure the low frequency noise signals. The testing is typically performed in a more stringent measurement environment that is different than the production environment. However, since this technique relies on amplification and measurement of very low level analog signals, the measurement results are often erroneous, costly to obtain, and unreliable.

Process and temperature insensitive flicker noise monitor circuit


A stand structure includes a vertically aligned central pillar that is not connected to a subsurface and an upper bearing surface for a construction. At least three foot elements are disposed around the central pillar and configured to be connected to the subsurface. Each of the foot elements is connected to at least one upper radial strut and at least one lower radial strut. Each of the struts has a central longitudinal axis, an upper attachment to the central pillar and a lower attachment to a respective one of the foot elements. The central longitudinal axes of each of the upper radial struts has a convexly curved profile beginning at a respective one of the upper attachments. At least one tensile element is disposed so as to compensate buckling forces for each of the upper radial struts.

GB 2 419 150 A discloses a stand structure in framework form, in particular for an offshore wind energy installation, which consists of a vertically aligned central pillar, which however has its substructure on the subsurface, i.e. introduces force into the subsurface. In addition to the weight of the tower and the generator gondola of the offshore wind energy installation, wind and water forces (waves, current, tides) occur, which act on the stand structure. At the same time, three foot elements are founded on a circumferential circle around the central pillar. The weight of the stand structure is therefore introduced into the subsurface both via the central pillar and via the foot elements. For connection to the central pillar, one upper radial strut and one lower radial strut are provided per foot element, the term "radial strut" being derived from its orientation in the direction of the radius of the circumferential circle. The construction of the stand structure is rotationally symmetrical, i.e. all the upper and lower radial struts are attached to the central pillar with their upper attachments in the same radial plane. In each case one upper and one lower radial strut lie in a common axial plane through the respective foot element and are therefore assigned to each other by the foot element. The central longitudinal axes of the known radial struts have a linear profile. The upper radial struts run obliquely, the lower radial struts run horizontally. During loading, high notch stresses are produced in the connection region of the upper radial struts, which run linearly at an acute angle, to the central pillar, which can result in adverse effects. An attachment ring with specially formed transitions should provide help.
EP 2 036 813 B1 discloses a generic stand structure having upper and lower radial struts, from which the invention proceeds as the closest prior art. In contrast to the above-described stand structure, the central pillar in this stand structure is not founded, so all occurring forces are introduced into the floor via the founded foot elements. The rotationally symmetrical construction and the arrangement of upper and lower radial struts per foot element in a common axial plane is identical. The upper radial struts likewise have a linear profile of their central longitudinal axes over their entire length. The upper radial struts in turn run with great inclination and attach to the central pillar at an acute angle. In order to avoid adverse effects on the upper attachment of the upper radial struts to the central pillar owing to occurring notch forces and at the same time to reduce the mass of the stand structure and thus its erection costs, the central pillar and the upper radial struts in this stand structure have a conical profile of their outer contour, with the largest cross section at the upper connection points. The cross sections are correspondingly smaller at points of lower load.
EP 2 072 685 A1 discloses a transition piece between a framework having a multiplicity of straight struts and the tower of a wind energy installation. The outer contour of the transition piece has a slightly curved profile. This acts however to adapt the size of the tower to the framework. The advantage of the transition piece is its division into identical part-pieces in the form of for example quarter shells, which can be connected to each other by simple vertical weld seams during assembly on site. EP 2 067 915 A2 discloses a foot node part for a grating structure for an offshore construction, which as a cast piece allows a curved transition between a substructure pile and the column struts.
DE 103 10 708 A1 discloses a stand structure in the form of a framework having a central pillar and only upper radial struts which run in a straight line and attach to the central pillar at a very acute angle. To stabilise the upper radial struts during transport of the stand structure, stabilisation elements are provided in the upper region of the radial struts, which are each attached to the radial struts and intersect between the radial struts.
EP 1 270 848 A1 discloses a resilient cable brace for water constructions, which is however attached to the outside of the construction and is intended to support the construction against excessive bending under load. DE 103 16 405 A1 also discloses a stand structure in the form of a framework with a cage-like formation, which has a central pillar which is stabilised with rings at different heights instead of radial struts. To this end, the rings are braced upwards and downwards against each other in a spoke-like manner by steel tension cables. One part of the cables is attached to the central pillar and runs obliquely thereto, another part runs between the rings parallel to the central pillar. The central pillar is founded in the subsurface by means of a central foot element and introduces the main forces into the floor.
Finally, DE 35 09 721 A1 discloses a frame structure for mounting a pavilion roof, which for reasons of stability has outwardly curved transverse struts in the profile of its central longitudinal axis. These transverse struts consist of a plurality of pipe sections, which are joined to each other at an obtuse angle, but are horizontally built.

ALFRED-WEGENER-INSTITUT HELMHOLTZ-ZENTRUM FUER POLAR-UND MEERESFORSCHUNG


In a batch process control system employing storage tanks without mixers, properties of the storage tank pump out feedstock may be modeled to more accurately control the quality of a process. This model may not require the measurement of input or pump out flow or assume perfect blending. Rather, the developed model may assume that feedstock input into a storage tank may remain layered with some mixing due to continuous convection, turbulence during loading, or other factors. The model may include a projection of the properties describing a storage tank layer of input material into the model. For each new load of storage tank input feedstock, model zones may be shifted and the zone from which the feedstock is drawn may be updated with the properties from the new load.

Process control systems, like those used in chemical, petroleum or other processes, typically include one or more process controllers and input/output (I/O) devices communicatively coupled to at least one host or operator workstation and to one or more field devices via analog, digital or combined analog/digital buses. The field devices, may be, for example, valves, valve positioners, switches and transmitters (e.g., temperature, pressure and flow rate sensors). These field devices may perform process control functions within the process such as opening or closing valves and measuring process control parameters. The process controllers receive signals indicative of process measurements made by the field devices, process this information to implement a control routine, and generate control signals that are sent over the buses or other communication lines to the field devices to control the operation of the process. In this manner, the process controllers may execute and coordinate control strategies using the field devices via the buses and/or other communication links.
Process information from the field devices and the controllers may be made available to one or more applications (i.e., software routines, programs, etc.) executed by the operator workstation (e.g., a processor-based system) to enable an operator to perform desired functions with respect to the process, such as viewing the current state of the process (e.g., via a graphical user interface), evaluating the process, modifying the operation of the process (e.g., via a visual object diagram), etc. Many process control systems also include one or more application stations (e.g., workstations). Typically, these application stations are implemented using a personal computer, laptop, or the like that is communicatively coupled to the controllers, operator workstations, and other systems within the process control system via a local area network (LAN). Each application station may include a graphical user interface that displays the process control information including values of process variables, values of quality parameters associated with the process, process fault detection information, and/or process status information.
Process control systems involving batch processes typically process a common set of raw materials or feedstock through various numbers of stages or steps as a batch to produce a product. One or more steps or stages of a batch process may be performed in the same equipment, such as a processing tank, reactor, or other type of processing equipment. The feedstock is fed into the reactor at various stages of the batch process from various other tanks such as storage tanks and other reactors. Process information from field devices and controllers coupled to the storage tanks and reactors may be made available to one or more applications executed by the operator workstation to enable an operator to perforin desired functions with respect to the batch process.
To control the quality of a batch process product, it is important to understand exactly what is happening at each stage of the process. Understanding the properties of the feedstock that is being fed from the storage tanks into the various processing tanks at different stages of the process is one factor to consider in determining the quality of the final product. For example, the feedstock may have varying properties depending on a variety of factors including source, time of year, age, storage conditions, etc. Without a clear understanding of feedstock properties, it may be difficult to control the quality of the final batch process product. For example, any changes in the properties of the feedstock, even within accepted limits, can impact the reactor operation and quality parameters in the final batch process product.
In some processes, feedstock is blended as it is delivered into the storage tank to achieve uniform properties for the feedstock as it is pumped out of the tank and into a reactor. Under turbulent conditions, blending occurs via convection and turbulent dispersion. Dispersion may be created by different equipment: stirred tanks, jet mixers and ultrasound mixers. In processes where the feedstock is blended, continuous calculation of the storage tank pump out concentration may be achieved by also measuring the storage tank's input concentration, input flow, pump out flow and storage tank level (or weight). Processes using blended feedstock also assume perfect blending.
Batch process operations typically do not use blended feedstock. Storage tanks in batch processes are usually loaded periodically from trucks or from reactors and do not employ mixers to mix the feedstock. Deliveries of additional feedstock may be accompanied by analysis data that allows the batch process to at least account for the input feedstock that is added to the previous feedstock. However, as a storage tank is depleted, more feedstock is added. This input feedstock likely includes slightly different properties than the old feedstock. In storage tanks without mixers, a certain amount of stratification or "layering" of the feedstock may occur as new input feedstock is added to the old feedstock. In addition to layering, a certain amount of mixing between the layers may also occur due to naturally-occurring turbulence and other factors, but complete blending is not possible in storage tanks without mixers. As such, it is difficult to predict the exact properties of the pump out feedstock that is fed into a batch process reactor after it leaves the storage tank.

Method and system for multi-zone modeling to determine material properties in storage tanks


An intervertebral prosthesis for insertion between adjacent vertebrae includes upper and lower prosthesis plates locatable against respective vertebrae and having opposing, concavely curved recesses therein, and a core located between the plates. The core has opposed, convexly curved surfaces received in the recesses of the plates to allow the plates to slide in articulated manner over the core. The opposed surfaces of the core and the recesses of the plates have cooperating spherical curvatures. The recess of each plate surrounds a locating peg projecting centrally from the base of the recess and is bounded by an annular rim, such that the annular rims of the plates are arranged to contact one another at a predetermined limit of sliding movement of the plates over the core. The peg locates loosely in an opening located centrally in a curved surface of the core, whereby the plates can slide over the core in all directions while the peg holds the core captive.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an intervertebral prosthesis.
In the event of damage to a spinal disc it is known practice to implant an intervertebral prosthesis surgically to replace the damaged organ. Several types of prosthesis for this purpose are known and in common use.
One type of known intervertebral prosthesis is sold by Waldemar Link GmbH & Co under the trademark LINK® SB Charité. This prosthesis includes upper and lower prosthesis plates which locate against and engage the adjacent vertebral bodies, and a low friction core between the plates. The core has upper and lower convexly curved surfaces and the plates have corresponding, concavely curved recesses which cooperate with the curved surfaces of the core. This allows the plates to slide over the core to allow required spinal movements to take place. The curved recesses in the plates are surrounded by annular ridges which locate, at the limit of sliding movement of the plates over the core, in opposing peripheral channels surrounding the curved surfaces of the core.
This type of configuration is also described in European Patent Publication Nos. EP 0 560 140 and EP 0 560 141 (both Waldemar Link GmbH & Co). However a drawback of such configurations is that the provision of the peripheral ribs and channels limits the areas available for bearing and sliding contact between the plates and core, and accordingly the loads which can be transmitted by the prosthesis. As a result of the relatively small bearing areas, it is believed that at least the core will be subject to rapid wear and have a relatively short life-span.
EP 0 560 141 also describes one alternative arrangement in which the curved surfaces of the core carry opposing, elongate keys that locate in elongate grooves in the plates and another alternative arrangement in which the plates have opposing elongate keys that locate in elongate grooves in the opposite curved surfaces of the core. These key and groove arrangements allow the plates to slide freely over the core, within the limits of the length of the grooves, in one plane only. Although allowance is made for some lateral play of the keys in the grooves, very little sliding movement of the plates over the core can take place in the orthogonal vertical plane, and this is considered to be a serious drawback of this design.
2. Description of the Background Art
European Patent Publication Nos. EP 0 560 140 and EP 0 560 141 have been discussed above. U.S. Patent Publication Nos. US2002/0035400 and US2002/0128715 describe intervertebral prostheses with center-posts received in passages in a core. The core possesses an annular flange structure engaged by extensions on the plates.


The present invention relates to antimicrobial phenyloxazolidinone compounds having a pyrrolidinyl or azetidinyl moiety.

The subject invention discloses new and usefull phenyloxazolidinone compounds having either a pyrrolidinyl or azetidinyl moiety. The compounds are useful antimicrobial agents, effective against a number of human and veterinary pathogens, including gram-positive aerobic bacteria such as multiply-resistant staphylococci, streptococci and enterococci as well as anaerobic organisms such as Bacteroides spp. and Clostridia spp. species, and acid-fast organisms such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Mycobacterium avium and Mycobacterium spp.


An optical switch provides the ability to broadcast one input signal to multiple output channels and to combine multiple input signals into single output channel. The signal broadcast pattern is reconfigurable. One or more diffractive optical elements are used in the switch.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an optical switch capable of broadcasting one or more input signals to multiple output channels in a reconfigurable broadcast pattern, and combining multiple input signals into one output channel.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional optical switches receive and direct a single input signal to a single selected output. To broadcast an input signal to all output ports, some optical switches require an additional output port, N input ports as well as a 1×N splitter positioned between the output port and N input ports. To implement broadcasting, the input signal is switched to the added output port and is split by the 1×N splitter into multiple signals that are each fed back to a respective added input port. Each of the multiple added input ports then redirect their respective signal to a respective output port. The approaches used in conventional optical switches do not provide for transmitting a single input signal to multiple, reconfigurable outputs. Optical switches that utilize the conventional 1×N splitter require an additional output port and N input ports, increase insertion loss, add to complexity and cost. Additionally, this broadcasting method does not provide a reconfigurable broadcast pattern; as a result, it wastes optical power when 1-to-N broadcasting is not necessary (e.g., when only need 1-to-M, and M<N).
Additionally, conventional optical switches lack beam-combining capability.

Optical switch with reconfigurable broadcasting and combining capabilities


Self-ligating molar orthodontic brackets are used to terminate an arch wire during an orthodontic procedure. The molar orthodontic brackets include a bracket base, an arch wire slot in the bracket base oriented toward the occlusal edge of a tooth during use, and ligation cover selectively movable between an open, non-ligating position and a closed, ligating position relative to the arch wire slot. The ligation cover can be hingedly attached to the base by an integral film hinge such that the molar bracket may be injection molded as a single piece of plastic. The self-ligating nature of the molar brackets and the orientation of the arch wire slots make insertion of an arch wire into the arch wire slots of the molar brackets much simpler compared to tube brackets.

1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to orthodontic brackets. More specifically, it relates to molar orthodontic brackets that terminate a set of orthodontic brackets that hold an arch wire.
2. The Relevant Technology
Orthodontics is a specialized field of dentistry that involves the application of mechanical forces to urge poorly positioned, or crooked, teeth into correct alignment and orientation. Orthodontic procedures can be used for cosmetic enhancement of teeth, as well as medically necessary movement of teeth to correct underbites or overbites. For example, orthodontic treatment can improve the patient's occlusion, or enhanced spatial matching of corresponding teeth.
The most common form of orthodontic treatment involves the use of orthodontic brackets and wires, which together are commonly referred to as "braces." Orthodontic brackets, more particularly the orthodontic bases, are small slotted bodies configured for direct attachment to the patient's teeth or, alternatively, for attachment to bands which are, in turn, cemented or otherwise secured around the teeth. Once the brackets are affixed to the patient's teeth, such as by means of glue or cement, a curved arch wire is inserted into the slot of each bracket. The arch wire acts as a template or track to guide movement of the teeth into proper alignment. End sections of the arch wire are typically captured within tiny appliances known as tube brackets or terminal brackets, which are affixed to the patient's molars.
The arch wire holder of existing terminal brackets is essentially a tunnel through the bracket, open at only the mesial-distal ends. Because the arch wire slot is not open at the labial side of the bracket, it is not possible to insert the wire in the slot by simply placing the arch wire down into the slot. The arch wire must be fed through the side of the bracket. Because of this, the procedure of inserting the arch wire through the tube bracket can be somewhat difficult, especially when it must be performed while inserting the arch wire into the arch wire slots of the other brackets. FIG. 1 illustrates the difficulty of this procedure, which requires the orthodontic practitioner to carefully insert the arch wire 2 into the arch wire tunnel 4, accessible only at the mesial end of terminal bracket 6. Once the arch wire 2 has been fed through the tunnel 4 in the terminal bracket 6, the end of the arch wire 2 may be bent to prevent it from sliding out of the terminal bracket 6. In this way, the terminal bracket acts as an anchor from which the arch wire causes the patient's teeth to move as desired.
It would be an improvement in the art to provide a molar orthodontic bracket that more easily and conveniently accepted and held an arch wire therein. Such a bracket would greatly simplify the procedure of placing the arch wire in the holder of the molar bracket.

Molar orthodontic brackets having a hinged bracket cover


Present novel and non-trivial system, device, and method for generating a vertical path profile are disclosed. The vertical path profile generating system is comprised of a source of navigation data, a source of performance factors data, a vertical path generator (“VPG”) and a presentation system. The VPG may be configured to receive the navigation data representative of takeoff runway information; receive the performance data may be representative of aircraft performance factors; determine a first vertical path and/or second vertical path as a function of criteria employing the navigation data and the performance data; generate presentation data responsive to the determination; and provide the presentation data to one or more presentation devices comprised of, in part, a visual display unit configured to display a first takeoff path profile and/or a second takeoff path profile.

Field of the Invention
This invention pertains generally to the field of aircraft display units that present information to the pilot of an aircraft.
Description of the Related Art
Aviation governing authorities such as the Federal Aviation Administration ("FAA") of the Unites States have developed constraints on aircraft climb performance. In the United States, the FAA has published these constraints in Part 25 of the Federal Aviation Regulations. Constraints on aircraft climb performance include minimum climb gradients with one or more engines inoperative during a plurality of take-off ("T/O") segments along with defined aircraft configurations corresponding to the T/O: a ground roll segment, a first segment defining first climb performance criteria, a second segment defining second climb performance criteria, a third segment defining acceleration criteria, and a fourth segment defining third climb performance criteria.
The FAA defines minimum climb gradients in terms of percentages. Although minimum climb gradients are specified as percentages by regulation, pilots often use rates of climb (e.g., feet per minute) or climbs speeds. Manufacturers of aircraft translate minimum climb gradients into tables showing T/O distances as functions of aircraft performance factors such as, for example, temperature, altitude, and weight. By knowing the current temperature at the airport, altitude of the airport, and weight of the aircraft, a pilot may look up various T/O distances during his or her preflight duties and determine whether the aircraft is safe for T/O. Although these duties are routine, mistakes could be made by the pilot.

Vertical path profile generating system, device, and method


A system comprises determination of an inversion-recovery or saturation-recovery imaging pulse sequence associated with first values of echo spacing, flip angle, effective TR, trigger pulses, artifact post-suppression, and number of image data lines per acquisition, execution of a scout pulse sequence comprising a plurality of single-shot image data acquisitions to acquire respective sets of image data lines, where each of the plurality of single-shot image data acquisitions is executed using a different respective inversion time and where each of the plurality of single-shot image data acquisitions is associated with second values of echo spacing, flip angle, and number of image data lines per acquisition which are substantially similar to corresponding ones of the first values, generation of a plurality of images based on the respective sets of image data lines, determination of one of the plurality of images, the determined one of the plurality of images generated based on a set of image data lines acquired using a first inversion time, and execution of the inversion-recovery or saturation-recovery imaging pulse sequence using the first inversion time.

A Magnetic Resonance (MR) scanner generates images of patient anatomy based on sequences of RF pulses. According to a typical inversion recovery (IR) sequence, an R-wave of the cardiac cycle is detected, an inversion pulse is delivered after a first waiting period, and raw image data is read after a second waiting period. The second waiting period between the inversion pulse and the contrast-relevant readout line is known as the "inversion time" (TI).
Different values of TI result in different T1 weighting of the image data, which results in different contrast levels between tissue types. In the case of a short TI, magnetization of all tissues will be similarly inverted at readout regardless of differences in the tissues, and the tissues will appear similar in the resulting image. For longer TIs, tissues with shorter T1 properties will recover faster and generate a greater positive signal than other tissues with longer T1 properties, which will appear darker. It is therefore desirable to set the TI to achieve suitable T1-contrast between tissue types of interest.
In cardiac MR, a delayed enhancement (DE) or late Gadolinium Enhancement (LGE) sequence requires injection of a T1-shortening contrast agent into the patient. Ideally, a normal (healthy, viable) myocardium appears dark grey and infarcted myocardium ("infarct") bright in a resulting image, resulting in maximum separation of normal and infarcted tissue while still visualizing the morphology of normal myocardium. Since the contrast agent continuously washes out of tissue and blood due to the clearance by the kidneys, maintaining the above-described image contrast requires continuous adjustment of the TI as a function of the continuously-changing T1 values of the imaged tissues.
This adjustment is difficult and time-consuming. Therefore, even experienced scanner operators often adjust the TI too coarsely, resulting in suboptimal contrast, which can lead to missed pathology and wrong clinical diagnosis. This problem is exacerbated in certain types of DE imaging, such as flow-independent dark blood delayed enhancement (FIDDLE) imaging, due to a small ranger of TI values which provide optimal image contrast.
Improved systems to determine appropriate TI values for IR sequences are therefore desired.

TI scout for inversion recovery sequence


A split collet in which the contour of the central opening that is intended to receive a balance staff is not circular. The collet is characterized in that the contour (3) of the central opening (2) comprises a limited number of supporting parts (4, 5, 12, 14, 15) intended to co-operate with the balance shaft, said number being greater than two.

One of the critical points for the use of a hairspring in a high-precision clockwork movement is the reliability of the attachment of the hairspring to the balance staff. This attachment is usually made by means of a collet, which was originally a small split cylinder designed to be driven onto the balance staff and pierced laterally in order to receive the inner end of the hairspring.
Therefore, Swiss patent No. CH 468662 describes, in particular in connection with its FIG. 3, a collet having four arms, a circular central opening, an elasticity split for the driving onto the balance staff and a recess for the balancing.
The subject of the European patent application published under No. EP 1 302 821 is a split collet with a circular central opening made in one block with a hairspring and comprising balancing recesses.
French patent application number FR 2 124 243 (U.S. Pat. No. 3,785,028) relates to circular sleeves for a hairspring that are designed to be driven onto the balance staff of a watch. These sleeves are manufactured from section pieces having an arm for the attachment of a hairspring and a regulating split diametrically opposite to this arm.
It therefore appears that many solutions for the driving of a collet onto a staff are known, and they are well suited to the usual materials such as steel which have a range of plastic deformation. Specifically, the diameter of the opening provided to receive the balance staff is smaller than the diameter of the balance staff so as to ensure a good hold for the staff after driving. This difference in diameter is usually absorbed at least in part by a plastic deformation of the material of the collet.
This means that these solutions are not very well suited to the collets or to the collet-hairspring assemblies made of a material such as silicon, quartz or diamond. Specifically, these materials, that can be machined by techniques such as deep reactive-ion etching (DRIE), have no range of plastic deformation, which means that they break when the stresses in the material exceed the elastic limit.
For example, Swiss patent No. 508 233 proposes a split collet of which the circular central opening comprises a second split of small-dimension elasticity. As can be seen in particular in FIG. 1, the two halves of this collet are extremely bulky which makes them very rigid and limits the amplitude of their elastic deformation. This makes the collet very fragile, in particular when it is made of a material such as silicon.
The subject of Swiss patent No. CH 252 387 is a collet consisting of two parts, a hollowed-out ring and a U-shaped elastic part placed transversely inside the hollowed-out ring. The two arms of the U are stressed by the hollowed-out ring and must deform in order to pinch the strip of the hairspring and accommodate the balance staff during driving. However, the elasticity at the connection of the arms of the U-shaped part is insufficient, which easily leads to the breakage of this part, in particular when it is made of a material such as silicon.
Moreover, the European patent application published under number EP 2 112 565 reveals microengineering parts having a central opening of which the contour is not circular but has a symmetry of rotation of 2π/3 about the axis passing through the center C of the central opening. FIG. 5 of this document shows in particular a microengineering part furnished with elastic arms.
The solutions described in this document are completely satisfactory for mechanical parts such as wheels. However, they have a number of drawbacks for producing collets that usually have less thickness than wheel plates, such as providing a low range of tolerance for the diameters of the staffs onto which the collets have to be driven.

Split collet with a non-circular opening


A multi-bit sigma-delta analog-to-digital converter (ADC) has a single-ended input for receiving an analog input signal. A multi-bit feedback current digital-to-analog converter (IDAC) generates a multi-level feedback current depending on a multibit digital feedback signal from a Flash ADC. The feedback current is summed with the input signal with the feedback current. The summed signal is integrated on a continuous-time basis. The IDAC is selectively connectable to the summing node via a first path and a second path. The first path transmits current from the IDAC to the summing node with a first polarity and the second path transmits current from the IDAC to the summing node with an inverted polarity. This can reduce flicker noise and can allow the converter to operate without any mid-scale biasing current sources.

Continuous-time (CT) Sigma Delta (ΣΔ) analog-to-digital converters (ADC) have received much attention in the last couple of years for applications that require signal bandwidths of several MHz. Continuous-time ADCs are more favourable over switched-capacitor ADCs due to their lower power requirements. Other advantages include better noise immunity due to their inherent anti-aliasing properties, which is especially advantageous in RF receivers. Also, the technology trend towards very deep submicron processes dictates lower power supply voltages. As a consequence, switched capacitor based circuits require boot-strapping techniques to drive the switches in order to extend the dynamic range and sampling rates of the converter. Continuous-time ADCs avoid such problems and much higher signal bandwidths can be attained.
Despite the advantages mentioned above in using continuous-time ΣΔ ADCs, audio band ADC implementations have remained in the discrete time domain. This is because discrete time ADCs achieve relatively high linearity, they are very tolerant of clock jitter, and as high signal bandwidths are not required moderate sampling rates can be employed in sigma-delta based ADCs. Also, chopper stabilisation can be readily employed in discrete-time to remove the flicker noise especially problematic in deep submicron MOS devices.
A discrete-time ADC implementation would seem to be advantageous over a continuous-time ADC for audio band applications for the reasons just mentioned. However, relatively large signal ranges, e.g. 2 Vrms, used for television audio are outside the voltage range that switched-capacitor based circuits implemented in deep sub-micron process technologies can easily interface to. The input voltage range must be constrained to the allowed limits dictated by the process technology. In this case, the only solution would be to attenuate the input signal and thus surrender valuable dynamic range. Even after attenuating the input signal, anti-alias filtering circuitry and buffering circuitry would be required to drive the switched-capacitor input stage.
OEMs typically demand that this functionality is provided on-chip, inevitably leading to an increased die cost along with deteriorated noise performance.
The motivation for using a continuous-time front-end ΣΔ modulator in this application is that it avoids having to attenuate, anti-alias filter and buffer the input. However, there remain problems in using a continuous-time front-end ΣΔ ADC.
FIG. 1 illustrates a generalized topology as used in a multi-bit sigma delta ADC. In a conventional manner, the multi-level output of the feedback DAC 14 is summed 11 with an input signal 10 and the resulting output is integrated 12. The subsequent integrator stages 16, 17 following the first stage 15 can be continuous-time or discrete-time. A Flash ADC 18 converts the output of the last integrator stage 17 into a multi-bit digital code which is fed back to the DACs within stages 15, 16, 17. A digital filter and decimator 19 converts the output into a digital code having a desired resolution.
In FIG. 1, a single-ended continuous-time (CT) sigma delta ADC input stage 15 requires the use of a single-ended feedback IDAC 14. FIG. 2 illustrates a typical solution, or structure, for a single-ended input continuous-time ADC. This corresponds to stage 15 in FIG. 1. An input signal Vin is converted to a current by resistor Rint which flows into a summing node 21. The feedback path includes a current digital-to-analog converter (IDAC) 22 which comprises a set of 2N unit value current digital-to-analog converters (IDACs) 25, only one of which is shown. The set of IDACs 25 are also connected to the summing node 21. Each IDAC 25 comprises a first branch which is connected to the summing node 21 via a switch 24A and a second branch which is connected to an op-amp 26 via a switch 24B. Each IDAC 25 receives a selection signal D. The selection signal is applied directly to switch 24A and inverted before being applied to switch 24B. An integrator amplifier 27 integrates the output on a continuous basis.
The circuit shown in FIG. 2 has certain disadvantages, including: (1) common-mode noise is not rejected in this single-ended input structure; (2) even harmonics produced in the IDAC are not cancelled; (3) chopping the IDAC current sources, as well as the DC biasing current source flicker noise, is not possible in this single-ended input structure.
The present invention seeks to provide an improved ADC.

Feedback DAC chopper stabilization in a CT single-ended multi-bit sigma delta ADC


A fuel injection valve has a single pipe member made of composite magnetic material which can be processed to form ferro-magnetic structures and non-magnetic structures. A magnetic fuel connector, a magnetic valve body, a nonmagnetic intermediate pipe are formed in the single pipe member. An electromagnetic solenoid is disposed around the intermediate pipe, and a needle valve is disposed in the valve body. A magnetic stationary core is disposed inside the fuel connector, and a magnetic movable core is disposed inside the valve body in a magnetic circuit composed of the solenoid, the fuel connector, the stationary core and the valve body.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fuel injection valve and a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
JP-A-5-288130 discloses a fuel injection valve which is composed of a unit member made of magnetic material having a fuel connector and a cylindrical core, an intermediate pipe soldered or welded to the bottom of the core and a valve body soldered or welded to the bottom of the intermediate pipe.
In order to introduce high pressure fuel inside the fuel connector, the cylindrical core and tile valve body, the soldering or welding is indispensable in the above structure.
However, when the fuel connector and the intermediate pipe are soldered or welded, they may be out of alignment due to high temperature of the soldering or welding. This may cause inaccurate fuel injection.

Fuel injection valve and method of manufacturing the same


A four state programmable memory cell includes a substrate of a first conductivity type having a channel region having a first side and a second side, a control gate located on a first insulating layer above the channel region, a drain region of a second conductivity type located on the substrate adjacent to the first side of the channel region, a source region of a second conductivity type located on the substrate adjacent to the second side of the channel region, a first insulated floating gate located on a second insulating layer above the drain region adjacent to the control gate, and a second insulated floating gate located on a third insulating layer above the source region adjacent to the control gate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to memories for integrated circuits and more particularly to Electrically Programmable Read-Only (EPROM) and Electrically Erasable (EEPROM) memory cells.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
FIGS. 1A-1D are schematic cross-sectional views of various known types of memory cells. FIG. 1A represents an EPROM cell that corresponds to a MOS transistor in which a floating gate is interposed between the control gate and the substrate. The EPROM cell includes, in a P-type substrate 1, source and drain N-type regions 2 and 3 having, for example, the so-called LDD shape as represented, that is, lower doped N-type regions are provided on both sides of the channel region. The channel region is coated with a first insulated floating gate GF, in turn coated with a second insulated control gate GC. Conventionally, the source and the substrate are grounded.
To program such a cell, the control gate and the drain are raised to positive voltages, for example, 12 volts and 6 volts, respectively. As a result, a depleted channel region is formed beneath the gate and electrons flow from the source to the drain. A voltage barrier occurs near the drain region and the electron flow in this region generates so-called hot electrons which are injected in the floating gate which is therefore negatively charged.
Thereafter, when an attempt is made to turn on the MOS transistor whose gate is the control gate GC, depending on whether the floating gate GF has been negatively charged or not, a more or less high gate voltage must be applied. The state of a cell can be determined during a read operation by applying a gate voltage such that the non-programmed cells turn conductive and the programmed cells remain blocked. In other words, the "threshold voltage" of the transistor is modified by the above mentioned operation.
The above cell described with relation to FIG. 1A is normally erased by exposure to UV-rays. Then, the electrons gain a sufficient energy to overcome the oxide barrier and thus the electrons stored in this floating gate are eliminated.
Various alternatives of such EPROM cells have been devised. Some of these alternatives are illustrated in FIGS. 1B-1D.
FIG. 1B differs from FIG. 1A by the doping level of the source region. This doping is progressive so that the source-substrate junction can withstand a relatively high voltage. This cell is electrically erasable by applying a high voltage to the source whereas the control gate is grounded and the drain is floating.
A drawback of the erasing mode lies in that, if the erasing time duration is too long, an electron depletion may occur in the floating gate which is then positively charged instead of returning to a neutral state. The channel may then be permanently conductive and, during a reading step, it is no longer possible to identify a conductive cell. Various circuits have been devised to avoid this drawback.
FIG. 1C illustrates a structure to avoid the above mentioned drawback. The floating gate GF coats only a portion of the channel length so that, even if the floating gate GF remains slightly positively charged, there is still a blocked channel region. However, this structure requires an increased cell surface.
FIG. 1D represents a further alternative described in an article by Mizutani and Makita in IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, Vol. ED-34, No. 6, June 1987, pp 1297-1303 and in Japanese application 62/215079. In this structure, the floating gate coats only a portion of the channel region and is not coated with the control gate. The above article describes an implementation of this floating gate using a polysilicon spacer formed on one side of the control gate.
The above described FIGS. 1A-1D are very schematic and the existing devices exhibit many alternatives with respect to what has been described, especially regarding the shape of the source and drain regions, of the LDD type or not, of the doping gradient type (as represented in FIG. 1B) or not, and the connections. More particularly, in FIGS. 1A-1D, a source metallization and a drain metallization are represented over each source and drain region. Conventionally in a memory array, the various memory cells have a common source. Then, no metallization source is provided on each cell.
EPROM cells, wherein the floating gate extends not only above the channel but also above a low doped extension of the source and/or drain adjacent to the channel, are also known in the art (cf. Japanese application 1/262 669; U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,804,637, 4,203,158, 5,267,194, 5,202,576; European application 5 977 722; German application 3 345 173; and IEEE Electron Device Letters (Vol. 11, No. 11, Nov. 1990, pp. 514-516). In most of these documents, the floating gate and the control gate are at least partially stacked.
FIG. 9 of U.S. Pat. No. 4,754,320 shows an EPROM cell wherein the floating gate is lateral with respect to the control gate and extends above a low doped extension of the device. The thicknesses of the insulating material under the control gate and the floating gate are equal and the charging of the floating gate results from hot carrier injection.
Considering the operation of the above-described memory cells, in all these cells, hot carriers generated in the channel will have an effect in at least one of the operating modes. All these cells exhibit at least two of the following drawbacks.
1. At each read operation, hot carriers are unavoidably generated in the channel, near the drain, and a spurious injection of carriers (electrons) occurs in the gate. As a result, a charge accumulation in the floating gates occurs and the non-programmed cells look, after several read operations, like programmed cells. In other words, the threshold voltages of the programmed cells and non-programmed cells get closer and become more difficult to differentiate.
2. The programming operation requires the flow of a relatively high current between the source and the drain with, for example, a 12-volt voltage. In conventional integrated circuits, means are known for providing from a low supply voltage (for example 3 or 5 volts) a higher voltage (approximately 12 volts). These systems are called charge pumps. However, a drawback of charge pumps is that they have high output impedances and therefore are not adapted to conduct high currents.
Therefore, a high voltage supply external to the integrated circuit must be provided for the programming step.
3. The programming and erase operations are binary operations. These cells are not adapted to store analog values.
Other drawbacks are particularly related to EEPROM cells, that is, cells having a source region with a specific diffusion profile such as illustrated in FIG. 1B. These drawbacks are described as follows.
4. Given, the type of formation of the source regions, and, as the case may be, the drain regions, the diffusion depth of the doping atoms of the source beneath the gate is not properly controlled; therefore, the effective length of the channel region is variable, which affects the threshold voltage.
5. The injection of hot carriers in the gate during the erase operation at high voltages can degrade the gate oxide. These cells therefore are fragile.
6. As above mentioned, there is a risk that the polarity of the floating gates may be inverted, which requires providing necessary steps so that the cells are not permanently conductive.


A device emits radiation at a predetermined wavelength. The device includes a light-emitting structure which generates the radiation. The device further includes at least one reflective edge in radiative communication with the light-emitting structure, the reflective edge having a dielectric portion. The device further includes at least one electrical contact extending through the dielectric portion of the reflective edge, the contact in electrical communication with the light-emitting structure.

Semiconductor devices that can emit non-coherent or coherent light are known in the art. A number of publications on semiconductor based light emitters deals with Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) or Microcavity LEDs or Microcavity Lasers or Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers. Examples of such publications are:                H. De Neve, J. Blondelle, R. Baets, P. Demeester, P. Van Daele, G. Borghs, IEEE Photon. Technol. Lett. 7 287 (1995);        E. F. Schubert, N. E. J. Hunt, R. J. Malik, M. Micovic, D. L. Miller, "Temperature and Modulation Characteristics of Resonant-Cavity Light-Emitting Diodes", Journal of Lightwave Technology, 14 (7), 1721-1729 (1996);        T. Yamauchi and Y. Arakawa, Enhanced and inhibited spontaneous emission in GaAs/AlGaAs vertical microcavity lasers with two kinds of quantum wells. Appl. Phys. Lett. 58 (21), 2339 (1991);        T. J. de Lyon, J. M. Woodall, D. T. McInturff, R. J. S. Bates, J. A. Kash, P. D. Kirchner, and F. Cardone, "Doping concentration dependence of radiance and optical modulation bandwidth in carbon-doped Ga0.1 In0.49P/GaAs light-emitting diodes grown by gas source molecular beam epitaxy" Appl. Phys. Lett. 60 (3), 353-355 (1992);        D. G. Deppe, J. C. Campbell, R. Kuchibhotla, T. J. Rogers, B. G. Streetman, "Optically-coupled mirror-quantum well InGaAs-GaAs light emitting diode", Electron. Lett. 26 (20), 1665 (1990);        M. Ettenberg, M. G. Harvey, D. R. Patterson, "Linear, High-Speed, High-Power Strained Quantum-Well LED's", IEEE Photon. Technol. Lett. 4 (1), 27 (1992);        U.S. Pat. No. 5,089,860 Deppe, et. al. Feb. 18, 1992, "Quantum well device with control of spontaneous photon emission, and method of manufacturing same".
It is known in the art that the light emission from an electroluminescent device or from a light emitting semiconductor diode (a LED) is limited by the total interal reflection occurring at the interface between the semiconductor substrate wherein the device is fabricated and the surrounding medium. Mostly emission of the light to air, with refractive index of unity, is intended. The semiconductor typically has a refractive index ns of 3 to 4. GaAs, for example, has a refractive index ns=3.65. Snell's law determines that only photons arriving at the semiconductor-air interface with an angle smaller than a critical angle θc=arcsin (1/ns) can escape to the air. All other photons are totally reflected at the semiconductor-air interface, and therefore remain in the semiconductor substrate, until eventually they are re-absorbed. For GaAs, the critical angle for total internal reflection is 16 degrees. Hence, total internal reflection limits the number of photons escaping the semiconductor substrate to those photons arriving at the semiconductor-air interface with an angle of less than 16 degrees. Only about 2% of the photons generated inside the semiconductor comply with this condition.
Several prior-art inventions propose to increase the escape probability of photons generated in the LED. In microcavity light-emitting diodes, such as described for example by Cho et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,226,053, the active layer of the light emitting device is placed in a microcavity. The cavity influences the emission of the photons: more photons are generated with an angle smaller than the critical angle θc. In this way, efficiencies of 15% and more have been achieved.
A second way to increase the efficiency of LEDs is to re-absorb photons which cannot escape from the semiconductor. If re-absorption occurs in the active layer of the LED, there is a chance that the electron-hole pair generated during re-absorption will recombine radiatively again, and re-emit a photon. Again, 2% of these photons will escape, and the remainder part can be re-absorbed. The phenomenon of multiple re-absorption and re-emission has been shown to result in efficiencies of the order of 10% in normal LEDs, and also to boost the efficiency of certain microcavity LEDs up to 23%. The problem with this technique is that it is inherently slow, because one has to wait for multiple re-absorptions and re-emissions.
A third way is to shape the semiconductor surface of the light emitting devices such that more of the generated rays reach the semiconductor-air interface within the critical angle. The optimum shape for the semiconductor-air surface is a hemisphere, where the light-emitting area is confined to a small spot at the centre of the hypothetical full sphere from which the hemisphere is taken. Other shapes have been proposed. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,087,949, Haitz proposes a structure which is more practical to make than a hemisphere, namely a set of V-groves in the substrate that are created such that the normal to the V-grove facets are oriented substantially perpendicularly to the light-emitting region. Kato, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,349,211, proposes a structure where the sidewalls or edges of the substrate are shaped such that some of the photons that are reflected from the regular light-output interface are emitted through these sidewalls. Egalon and Rogowski propose a sidewall shape for the substrate (rather than only for the mesa) that redirects some of the photons to angles that can escape through the regular light-output surface. All these proposed structures assume that the LED substrate is fairly thick and transparent for the photons emitted by the diode.
According to the teaching of U.S. Pat. No. 5,087,949 by Yamanaka et al. light emitting devices with a cavity having a truncated polyhedral pyramid shape are created. The lateral edges or facets of the devices have an angle of preferentially 45 degrees. Photons that are generated in a direction parallel to the light-output surface (edge) are reflected by the mesa edge of such cavity into a direction which is substantially perpendicular to the light-output surface, and hence more photons can escape from the cavity.
A fourth way to increase LED efficiency is to provide device structures capable to redirect a photon more than once before the photon is re-absorbed. This goal is achieved by providing surface edges of the device that contain surface portions having angles different from the main semiconductorsubstrate-air interface. Every time a photon hits such a surface, it is redirected to a new propagation angle. In this way, photons travelling in a direction that is not favourable for emission to the air have a certain probability to be redirected in a favourable angle after a number of reflections at such surface. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,739,217, Bergh and Saul propose to create topographic irregularities at the light-emitting surface or at the opposite (light-reflecting) surface of a LED which has a transparent substrate. Noguchi et al. in EP-A-0404565 propose to texture the sidewalls or edges of the substrate wherein the light emitting device is made.
The previously described methods apply to light-emitting devices where the light is emitted through the substrate. Therefore, the light-emitting devices need to be fabricated in a transparent substrate. The teaching of the patents of Noguchi et al., Egalon et al., and Kato et al. can only be applied to single light-emitting devices, but not to light-emitting devices in arrays. The invention disclosed by Haitz et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,087,949) can be applied to arrays, but it requires the presence of a fairly thick substrate, and the spacing of the light-emitting devices of an array should be of the order of the substrate thickness.
A method for manufacturing light-emitting devices the substrate of which does not have to be transparent is proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,358,880, by Lebby et al. The invention includes replacing the original substrate, which can be non-transparent, by a transparent conductive layer such as Indium Tin Oxide and a clear epoxy plus glass-like host substrate. Further, the disclosed invention aims to make a closed cavity, by etching through the active layer of the light emitting device, and covering the sides of the etched mesa with a dielectric material and a metal. In this way, photons that cannot escape through the transparent window are kept in the cavity by multiple reflections, re-absorbed and eventually re-emitted.
When applied to for instance a material system like GaAs, InAs, or AlAs and combinations thereof, the inventions mentioned above can only be used for light-emitting devices with a large diameter. This is because these prior art inventions rely on etching through the active layer of the light-emitting device. When doing so in a material with a large surface recombination velocity like GaAs, one triggers a severe parasitic surface recombination current. Surface recombination is a phenomenon of two charge carriers of opposite type, an electron and a hole, recombining at a trap, e.g. at the surface of the material, without emitting light. The velocity of recombination is proportional to the number of available traps and to the density of charge carriers available for recombination. The surface of III-V semiconductors like GaAs has a large number of traps, about 1014 cm−2. Hence, the surface recombination velocity is very large. Thus there is a problem of making highly efficient light emitting devices as the recombination losses of the charge carriers decrease the efficiency of the total light emission of the devices. One solution is to inject electrons and holes from electrodes that are physically at a large distance from the free surface (edge), which usually coincides with the cleavage surface of the device. Because of the necessity of having a large distance between the edge of the device and the contact, the resulting device is necessarily large, typically at least several hundred microns in diameter. Such devices therefore are not suitable for integration in large arrays. Also, their large area results in a large capacitance, and therefore slow operation.
Thus the prior art fails to disclose highly efficient light-emitting devices that can be integrated as small devices in a dense array of light emitting devices.
High efficiency LEDs are required for applications such as optical communication. Optical communication replaces electrical communication in many areas, because it can provide longer distance interconnects for a given energy budget. The minimum distance over which optical interconnects are advantageous over electrical interconnects can be quite short, e.g. a few centimeters. The energy consumption necessary for a given data bandwidth is a critical factor deciding on the minimum distance over which optical interconnects are competitive over electrical interconnects. The bandwidth transmitted by an optical interconnect system is the product of the serial bandwidth per interconnect channel with the number of parallel optical channels. Optics have the advantage over electrical interconnects that the number of channels can be much larger. One of the conditions to be able to access this potential massive parallelism, is that the power consumption per channel remains small: the heat dissipation has to remain manageable. Therefore high efficiency LEDs that can be integrated in dense arrays are needed.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A system, transmitter, receiver and method for communication power control by the transmitting entity (150A) keeping a sequence number counter (200) per UE (130A) that is incremented whenever a common channel transmission is made specifically to that UE, the value of the counter is signalled inside the message itself (or possibly by other signalling means) across the Uu interface, when the intended recipient UE correctly decodes a message, it also decodes the counter value, it compares this counter value with the last correctly received sequence number, which it holds in a memory (300), and deduces whether there are any missing sequence numbers, and accordingly effects transmission power control, this provides the advantage that the transmitting entity is able to provide information to the receiving entity that enables a correct recipient-specific error statistic to be generated, when applied to 3GPP release 5 HS-SCCH for TDD, this technique is able to assist the UE in calculating a correct error statistic for the HS-SCCH enabling the UE then to correctly set the SIR target to meet the desired HS-SCCH error target, and to then consequently correctly set the TPC command direction as “power-up” or “power-down”.

In the field of this invention it is known that many communications systems employ common channels. These channels are used to send information from a single transmitting point to specific desired receiving points. In general, when using common channels, all receiving points are "listening" for a transmission that is intended for them. A specific receiver to which a given transmission is sent is normally identified via an "address" or ID field within the common transmission. Each receiver uses this address to identify whether or not the transmission was intended for it. If not, the transmission is discarded. If the address field matches that of a given receiver, the receiver will attempt to fully decode the sent information.
An example of such a common channel implementation is the HS-SCCH (High-Speed Shared Control Channel) as specified by 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) release 5.
A problem exists within the current release 5 specifications for 3GPP TDD (Time Division Duplex) mode, whereby a Transmit Power Control (TPC) based power control scheme is used to control the transmit power of the HS-SCCH. User equipment (UE) is capable of measuring the signal to interference ratio SIR of HS-SCCHs that were correctly decoded by the UE (and hence intended for that UE). The UE then compares the measured SIR with a nominal target SIR and generates binary TPC commands that indicate to the transmitter whether the power should be increased or decreased. The nominal SIR target is set based upon the target error rate. For low target error rates, a high SIR target will be set, and vice versa. Also, the SIR target required to attain a target error rate will vary with the radio channel propagation conditions. Parameters that affect this "SIR-to-error-rate" mapping are, for example, UE speed and the amount of multipath (reflections) in the channel. It is therefore the job of the UE (in the TPC-based power control scheme) to autonomously adapt the SIR target in response to a measured error rate, or error statistics. Without correct error statistics, the UE is unaware of how well it is doing in controlling transmit power and the target error rate may not necessarily be met.
However, this approach has the disadvantage(s) that in the TPC scheme for the HS-SCCH common channel the UE is unable to distinguish between a transmission not intended for it (the decode will fail) and a transmission that was intended for it but was corrupted by noise and/or interference. This inability to detect how many messages were actually transmitted to the UE is a problem since the UE is therefore unable to determine the actual error rate (the UE knows how many overall messages were in error, across all UEs, but does not know how many were sent to it, nor how many of those sent to it were in error). As such, the TPC based power control scheme for the HS-SCCH common channel cannot be made to operate correctly, or at least it will be very difficult for the UE to reach the correct error rate.
A need therefore exists for system, transmitter, receiver and method for communication power control wherein the abovementioned disadvantage(s) may be alleviated.

System, transmitter, receiver and method for communication power control