In a FET having a thin-film SOI layer, to prevent a parasitic resistance increase in source/drain regions. To realize an elevated layer to be formed on the source/drain region without using a lithography process and without a fear of a short circuit. Element-isolation insulating films 7, which are taller than a semiconductor layer 3, are formed surrounding the island-shaped semiconductor layer (SOI layer) 3, while gate electrodes 5a, 8a which are taller than the element-isolation insulating films 7 are formed on the semiconductor layer 3. A polycrystalline silicon film 11 is deposited on the whole surface. elevated layers 11a, 11b which are shorter than the element-isolation insulating film 7 are formed on the source/drain regions 3a, 3b by chemical-mechanical polishing and etching back. Silicide layers 13a to 13c are formed on the gate electrode and on the elevated layers. An interlayer insulating film 14 is formed, and a metal electrode 16 is formed.

In a case of forming a MOSFET using an SOI substrate in which a single crystal semiconductor layer (silicon layer) is formed on a semiconductor supporting substrate via an insulating film (mainly an oxide film), the insulating film is formed under the source region and the drain region of the MOSFET, whereby it is possible to reduce the parasitic capacity comparing to a case where a MOSFET is formed using a typical bulk substrate. As such, manufacturing an LSI with a use of an SOI substrate is advantageous for a speedup of the element, so that this method has been widely adopted.
In general, MOSFETs using SOI substrates may be of a full depletion type in which an SOI layer below the gate is fully depleted to be operated, or a partial depletion type in which an SOI layer is not fully depleted but is operated with a neutral region still remaining. Although a FET of the partial depletion type has an advantage that it can be manufactured using a forming method according to a process using a bulk substrate, there remains a neutral region which is electrically separated from the substrate. Thereby, a so-called substrate floating effect arises, in which the potential of the neutral region changes corresponding to the operational conditions and the operational current fluctuates. This makes a circuit design difficult. On the other hand, in a FET of the full depletion type, the potential below the channel does not fluctuate since there is no neutral region. Therefore, it has the advantage that a stable circuit operation can be achieved.
However, transistors of the full depletion type are subject to a characteristic deterioration caused by a punch through and a short channel effect, compared to transistors of the partially depleted type. In order to counter this defect, the film thickness of the SOI layer must be made thinner. Generally, in order to keep the fully depleted operation, it is known that the film thickness of the SOI layer must be a ¼ length of the gate length or less. Therefore, if the gate length is 0.1 micron, the film thickness of the SOI layer must be 25 nm or less. However, if the film thickness of the SOI layer becomes thinner, the film thickness of the source/drain regions of the transistor becomes thinner, so that the resistance between the source/drain regions increases. In particular, if a metal silicide layer is formed on the source/drain region, the whole film thickness of the silicon layer is silicified, which causes a problem that an aggregation of silicide and breaking of wire may easily occur, whereby the parasitic resistance increases. Through our researches, we recognized that this phenomenon occurs remarkably if the film thickness of the SOI layer is 30 nm or less. In order to prevent the parasitic resistance increase, it is effective to locally thicken the silicon layer of the source/drain region. To cope with this, a method to raise a silicon layer on the source/drain region by the selective epitaxial growth has been proposed (for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2000-223713). This conventional art will be explained below with reference to drawings.
FIGS. 12(a) through 12(d) are sectional views showing the step of the manufacturing method, in order, of the aforementioned conventional example. There is provided an SOI substrate in which a semiconductor layer 3 is formed on a supporting substrate 1 made of silicon, via a buried insulating film 2 consisting of an oxide film. As shown in FIG. 12(a), the semiconductor layer 3 serving as an active region is isolated by element-isolation insulating films 7c, then a gate insulating film 4 is formed on the semiconductor layer 3, and a mask insulating film 9 consisting of a polycrystalline silicon film and a silicon nitride film is deposited thereon, then by patterning these, a gate electrode 22 is formed. Thereafter, sidewall insulating films 10 are formed on the side surfaces of the gate electrode 22 having the mask insulating film 9.
Next, as shown in FIG. 12(b), single crystal silicon is raised to have, for example, a film thickness of 50 nm under the silicon growth CVD conditions including HCI, to thereby form elevated layers 11e, 11f. Then, by implanting into the semiconductor layer 3, using the ion implanting method, impurity atoms of a conductive type opposite to that of the semiconductor layer serving as a channel region, source/drain regions 3a, 3b are formed.
Next, as shown in FIG. 12(c), after the mask insulation film 9 is removed, cobalt, for example, is deposited on the whole surface by spattering to have a film thickness of 30 nm to 100 nm, and a heat treatment is performed to thereby form cobalt silicide layers 13a, 13b and 13c. Then, the extra cobalt silicide layer is etched away, but with the cobalt silicide layers 13a, 13b and 13c remaining.
Then, as shown in FIG. 12(d), an interlayer insulating film 14 consisting of an oxide film or the like is deposited on the cobalt silicide layers 13a, 13b and 13c by the CVD. Here, the surface of the interlayer insulating film 14 may be flattened by the chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP). Then, contact openings 15a, 15b are selectively formed in the interlayer insulating film 14. Then, a metal such as A1 is deposited by spattering, and is patterned by the photolithography to thereby form a metal electrode 16 contacting the cobalt silicide layers 13a, 13b and 13c via the contact openings 15a, 15b.
In a method of forming the elevated layers using the aforementioned selective epitaxial growth method, facets are generated at the growth edges of the elevated layers, which causes the width of the growth edges to narrow. As such, it is difficult to form elevated layers with low resistance. Further, the selective epitaxial growth needs a special CVD device suitable for the method, which causes the manufacturing cost to increase.
Further, in a case that silicon is raised under the condition that the facets are not formed at the growth edges of the elevated layers, selectivity is degraded, whereby a special lithography process is required to prevent a short circuit. As a method of forming the elevated layers in which selective growth is not performed and the lithography process is not required, there is proposed a method in which element-isolation insulating films are so formed as to be taller than the semiconductor layer (SOI layer), and by using CVD, CMP and the like, a conductive material such as silicon is buried into a depression defined by the gate electrode and the element-isolation insulating films.
In this case, however, the surface height of the gate electrode and the surface height of the elevated layer coincide with each other, which causes a problem that a short circuit tends to occur when a silicide layer is formed.
It is an object of the present invention to solve the aforementioned problems in the conventional art, which object includes, first, to enable elevated layers with low resistance to be formed to thereby reduce the parasitic resistance in source/drain regions, and secondly, to enable elevated layers which are less possible to cause a short circuit to be formed without using a lithography process.

MOSFET formed on a silicon-on-insulator substrate having a SOI layer and method of manufacturing


An electronic apparatus and an information processing method are provided. The apparatus includes a main body, a first electronic component and a second electronic component, having a common function and disposed at different positions in relation to the main body, and a controller, disposed in relation to the main body. The controller is connected to the first electronic component through a first connection wire and the controller is also connected to the second electronic component through a second connection wire. The first connection wire has a length longer than the second connection wire. The apparatus further includes a reference wire, connected to the controller, in order to provide reference data corresponding to the first connection wire to the controller. The controller is configured to adjust detection data received from the first electronic component via the first connection wire, based on the reference data of the reference wire.

Currently, some smart phones often include the standardized SAR (Specific Absorption Rate) sensor design to comply with the nascent 2018 SAR certification standard. According to this standard, a capacitive proximity (CAP) sensor needs to be configured on the top and bottom of the smart phone body, respectively, to detect the proximity of the human body.
For cost optimization, one IC chip (controller chip) may connect to both the top and bottom capacitive proximity sensors to process the data captured from both sensors and perform proper control functions on the smart phone based on the data processing results. The capacitive proximity sensor design requires a connection wire as short as possible in the smart phone or other similar apparatus. A long connection wire may degrade signal quality due to temperature change. When both capacitive proximity sensors are connected to and controlled by one controller chip, the controller chip is often located close to one of the capacitive proximity sensors and distanced from the other. It is inevitable to have a long sensor connection wire in the layout. When the controller chip collects the sensor data through the long connection wire, the accuracy of the collected sensor data may be degraded due to temperature change, thereby degrading the performance of the controller chip.
The disclosed electronic apparatus and information processing method are directed to solve one or more problems set forth above and other problems in the art.

Electronic apparatus and information processing method


A steel reinforced filled polymer torque rod and method of making the same, is disclosed. The torque rod includes a stamped metal reinforcement plate having first and second bores therethrough which are surrounded by first and second annular flanges, respectively. The stamped metal reinforcement plate also includes a depression extending axially between the first connector bore and the second connector bore, and an end flange surrounding an end surface of the reinforcement plate. The torque rod also includes a polymer shell which encases and conforms to the stamped metal reinforcement plate. The polymer shell includes a first connector portion which encases the first connector bore and first annular flange, a second connector portion which encases the second connector bore and the second connector flange, an end wall which encases the end flange, and a number of side walls which encase the depression.

The present invention relates to torque rods, and more particularly to steel reinforced molded or filled polymer torque rods for use as automobile track bars, stabilizer rods, control links, and truck cab rods in the transportation and other industries.
Torque rods are used in the trucking industry to stabilize vehicle axles relative to a vehicle frame. A typical torque rod is a rod or link with connectors at each end. The connector designs vary, but could include ball studs, metal tubes, or straddle bars. In a typical application, one end of the torque rod is connected to a vehicle frame, and the other end is connected to an axle of the vehicle. The torque rod connectors usually permit rotation of the torque rod in several planes, and are often isolated from shock with elastomer bushings. The torque rods could be mounted parallel or perpendicular to the vehicle axle. There are some designs where the torque rods are mounted in a transverse or "V" pattern relative to the vehicle axle. In both cases, the torque rods prevent the axles from rotating about their own axis, moving fore-and-aft, and moving laterally.
Due to the severe loadings on torque rods, these items have traditionally been manufactured from steel rod, steel tubing, forgings, and castings. The current manufacturing methods, though, are costly. In addition, conventional torque rods are relatively heavy and because weight is of prime concern in the transportation industry, there are a variety of advantages to the elimination of excess weight.
Steel stampings have been considered. However, the end configurations required to support the torque rod connectors are difficult to form.
More recently, attempts have been made to manufacture torque rods using composite materials and molded polymers. These types of torque rods have disadvantages. For example, the materials are generally not strong enough to withstand the variety of loadings to which they are subjected. In some cases, the material is not rigid enough to provide the stability required on the vehicle. Some materials are subjected to impact damage, as one would expect from road gravel. Some molded torque rods with adequate strength are too bulky to fit the particular application. In addition, some molded torque rods are simply too expensive.
The present invention contemplates a steel reinforced filled polymer torque rod which overcomes the above-mentioned problems and others.

Steel reinforced filled polymer torque rod


A computer-implemented method, non-transitory, computer-readable medium, and computer-implemented system are provided for deploying a smart contract in a blockchain network. The computer-implemented method includes: receiving, by a blockchain node in a blockchain network, a transaction for creating a smart contract, wherein the transaction comprises machine codes of the smart contract, and the machine codes of the smart contract are obtained by a compilation service provider performing Ahead of Time (AoT) compilation on bytecodes of the smart contract; determining, by the blockchain node, that the machine codes of the smart contract are obtained by a trusted compilation service provider; and in response to determining that the machine codes of the smart contract are obtained by the trusted compilation service provider, completing, by the blockchain node, a deployment of the smart contract.

Blockchain is a new application mode of computer technologies such as distributed data storage, peer-to-peer transmission, consensus mechanism and encryption algorithm and the like. The advent of smart contracts in the blockchain 2.0 era promotes the application scope of blockchain to a new level. With a smart contract, the blockchain can also invoke a segment of codes which can be user-defined in addition to performing transfer transactions.

Methods, blockchain nodes, and storage media for deploying smart contract

Alipay (Hangzhou) Information Technology Co., Ltd.


A casket and memorialization accessory combination comprises a casket comprising a casket shell having a pair of side walls and a pair of end walls and a casket lid closable on the casket shell, a decorative ornament comprising a digital image display device, and a keepsake box adapted to receive keepsake items therein. The casket shell and ornament are configured such that the ornament is removably attachable to the casket shell. The keepsake box and ornament are configured such that the ornament is attachable to the keepsake box. The ornament can be removed from the casket in which a deceased was displayed for viewing and attached to the keepsake box so that the keepsake box and ornament can be presented to a loved one of the deceased as a memorial to the deceased.

There is a trend in the death care industry towards personalizing to the deceased the funeral products and the funeral or other memorial service to provide a more meaningful memorial experience for the family and friends of the deceased. The casket in which the deceased is displayed can be customized to fit the needs and preferences of the deceased and the family. For instance, a wide variety of materials, finishes, colors, and decorative ornamentation can be chosen for the casket.
Some casket designs incorporate decorative corner ornaments secured to the casket during fabrication thereof. In many, if not most, prior designs, these ornamental corner pieces are rigidly affixed to the casket shell. Consequently, if a customer purchasing the casket is not pleased with the particular pre-installed ornamental corner pieces, and wishes to customize the casket exterior to his or her taste, the funeral director must go through a lengthy and complicated process to first remove the original ornamental corner pieces and then reinstall the ornamental corner pieces chosen by the customer. This process typically requires manual manipulation and access to the interior of the casket which may require the removal of bedding, lining, and the like. Such a process is time consuming and can damage the otherwise new casket and is thus frowned upon and generally avoided by the funeral director.
To more effectively market caskets, the funeral director desires to offer a wide variety of ornamental corner pieces from which a customer can select according to the customer's taste. However, to offer such a wide selection, and to avoid the undesirable practice mentioned above, the funeral director would have to maintain a large inventory of many different casket material/finish and corner piece combinations, which is also undesirable. To minimize the required inventory of finished caskets, the funeral director could simply have one casket of each material/finish on hand provided that the funeral director had some means providing for the quick and efficient changing of the ornamental corner pieces on each casket. As such, the customer could quickly view numerous corner pieces on a single casket, and the funeral director would need only stock a single casket of each material finish. Many prior casket designs, which rigidly affix the ornamental corner pieces, do not permit such quick and efficient changing of the ornamental corner pieces as discussed above.
A quick-change casket corner mechanism is disclosed in Acton et al. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,591,466, 5,928,706, and 7,340,810, assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated by reference herein. The Acton et al. patents disclose an ornamental corner piece assembly having a back plate that attaches to the corner of a casket. The back plate includes a clip member having at least one keyhole groove. A decorative corner insert includes at least one attachment member that slidingly engages the keyhole groove in the clip member such that the corner insert removably couples to the back plate. In this way, a funeral director may quickly and conveniently change out the decorative corner pieces to provide a wide variety of casket designs personalized to the deceased. Such a quick change casket corner ornament is commercially available from the assignee as its LIFESYMBOLS® line of corner ornaments.
Another advance in the areas of personalization and memorialization is the subject of Groemminger et al. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,557,222, 6,883,212, and 7,210,204, assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated by reference herein. The Groemminger et al. patents disclose a casket ornament display plaque and associated methods for memorializing a deceased. The casket ornament display plaque comprises a decorative board, a casket ornament attached to the board, and indicia attached to the board identifying the deceased to be memorialized. The casket ornament is one having been removed from a casket in which the deceased was displayed or one that is substantially identical thereto.
Another advance in the areas of personalization and memorialization is the subject of Biondo et al. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,611,124, 5,727,291, 6,836,936, and 6,976,294, assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated by reference herein. The Biondo et al. patents disclose a casket having an integral memorabilia compartment for the placement, display, and storage therein of personal effects and mementos of memorialization of the deceased. In one form the casket comprises a shell, a cap pivoted to the shell, and an openable and closeable memorabilia compartment forming a part of the cap. In one form the memorabilia compartment takes the form of a drawer. Such a casket is commercially available from the assignee as its MEMORYSAFE® line of caskets.
Advances have therefore been made in the area of casket designs incorporating decorative or ornamental corner pieces as demonstrated with the product discussed above. However, there continues to be room for improvement in the area of personalization in the death care industry.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A method for preparing a needled preform comprises transporting, cutting and needling a textile tape. The method further comprises cutting through a portion of the textile tape with a cutting device. The textile tape remains substantially contiguous after the cutting. The method further comprises needling the textile tape into a needled preform after cutting the textile tape, and the needling utilizes needles having working surfaces oriented in a direction to transfer fiber segments from a selected fiber orientation into a z-direction. In an embodiment, a system for enabling z-fiber transfer in a textile tape comprises a textile support configured to transport the textile tape, a cutting device configured to cut a portion of the textile tape, and a needling device configured to needle the textile tape into a needled preform after the cutting device cuts the textile tape.

Carbon/carbon ("C/C") parts are employed in various industries. An exemplary use for carbon/carbon parts is fabricating them in the form of friction disks such as aircraft brake disks, race car brake disks, and clutch disks. C/C brake disks are especially useful in such applications because of the superior high temperature characteristics of C/C material. In particular, the C/C material used in C/C parts is a good conductor of heat and the C/C material is able to dissipate heat away from the braking surfaces that is generated in response to braking. C/C material is also highly resistant to heat damage, and is thus capable of sustaining friction between brake surfaces during severe braking without a significant reduction in the friction coefficient or mechanical failure.
C/C material is generally formed by utilizing continuous oxidized polyacrylonitrile (PAN) fibers, referred to as "OPF" fibers. These OPF fibers are the precursors of carbonized PAN fibers and are used to fabricate a preformed shape using a needle punching process. OPF fibers are layered in a selected orientation into a preform of a selected geometry. Typically, two or more layers of fibers are layered onto a support and are then needled together simultaneously or in a series of needling steps. This process interconnects the horizontal fibers with a third direction also called the z-direction, and the fibers extending into the third direction are also called z-fibers. This needling process may involve driving a multitude of barbed needles into the fibrous layers to displace a portion of the horizontal fibers into the z-direction. Transport of the fibers by the barbed needles is a function of several parameters including barb geometry, barb position with respect to the orientation of the fibers, needle penetration depth and fiber characteristics. Fibers presenting a high modulus like carbon fibers may be difficult to transport in the z-direction as they may break under the action of the needles. The polymeric nature of the OPF fibers facilitates the transport of the low modulus fibers in the z direction. Controlling the degree of transport in the z-direction and the distribution of z-fibers may be important steps in the production of a preform.
After the needling process is complete, the OPF fibers are generally carbonized at high temperatures in a controlled environment to transform the preform into a high carbon content substrate. Following this batch operation, the resulting fibrous carbon substrate is densified through chemical vapor deposition of pyrolytic carbon until the composite reaches the desired density level.
Alternatively, and to eliminate or reduce the costly and lengthy carbonization step, the fibrous preform may be prepared directly from carbonized carbon fibers or from stabilized carbon precursor such as stabilized pitch fibers. Carbonized carbon fibers are readily commercially available in substantially continuous tow forms from a wide number of suppliers and possess desirable higher thermal and mechanical properties than the transformed OPF fibers. Stabilized pitch fibers are also commercially available and have potential to further increase the final composite thermal properties. Additionally, other inorganic fibers such as those prepared with a ceramic precursor may be available as well. Such fibers, however, exhibit a high modulus and are much more difficult to transport in a substantially continuous tow form in the z-direction with barbed needles.
For example, large lengths of carbonized fibers, when constrained at both ends, will generally break under a downward movement of the barbed needles rather than being transported into the preform like PAN/OPF fibers. Alternatively, short lengths of pre-cut carbonized fibers may be added in the form of loose fibers or a web. Loose fibers are not amenable to a well controlled production process and a web of suitable geometry may not be readily commercially available. In addition, a preform prepared with a high number of short length fibers may exhibit low strength.
Therefore, a method for increasing the amount of displaced fibers into the z-direction from a starting, substantially continuous textile is desired.

Method and system for enabling z fiber transfer in needled preform


A handheld electronic device holder with three tentacle-like appendages to be manually positioned by a user to mount or suction onto a stationary object while receiving a flat portion of a handheld electronic device to be suctioned to. The invention is positioned by the user to comfortably and easily point the display of the electronic device towards the users visual focus to allow a hands-free viewing experience.

The present invention improves the interaction with handheld electronic devices such as mp3 players, smartphones and other electronic devices under the users discretion by holding said devices in a fixed position.
Users of electronic handheld devices require support in keeping a consistent view of their devices display while simultaneously engaging in everyday activities. For example some activities in which a user may need to have a view of their handheld electronic device may include but are not limited to: Driving an automobile, riding a bicycle, operating a motorized vehicle, cooking, playing an instrument, typing on a computer, and other scenarios under the users discretion.
This invention may be used in any scenario which the user is primarily engaged in an activity that requires some concentration and while the user also requires accessibility to their handheld electronic device.
In the use of electronic handheld device holders, the user will frequently wish to adjust the position of the holder depending upon the demands of the immediate situation. Once the electronic device is attached to the holder, the holder is mounted to a stationary object and the portion of the holder that is attached to the electronic device has been arranged in the desired position, the holder stays in place and is rendered ready for use.
In the past, electronic device holders have been purposed for only one scenario of use and with only one specific electronic device, as well as being too complicated for the average user, too bulky for easy transport, aesthetically displeasing, and lacking a unique interactive and visual experience that resembles a fictional creature.

Tentacle grip suction holder for handheld electronics


A warming dispenser includes a housing having a compartment. The compartment holds a plurality of sheets. A heating device is located adjacent the plurality of sheets. A micro power source is connected to the heating device to generate energy from a fuel source, wherein the heating device uses the energy to warm at least one of the sheets. The micropower source may be, for example, a micro fuel cell adapted to deliver electricity for resistive heating.

Disposable wipes are widely used by the consuming public to clean and moisturize skin and to clean and disinfect a variety of surfaces such as kitchen counter tops. Typically, the wipes are housed in a container for use in a home, office, vehicle or the like. These containers suffer from at least two drawbacks. First, if the wipe is to be used on an infant for instance, the wipes when extracted are often cold to the touch and are uncomfortable on the infant's skin. Second, if the wipes are to be heated prior to use on the infant, the wipes must be housed in a container that is electrically connected to a power source. Such an electrically powered container is bulky and not transportable.
A device is needed in the industry, which utilizes a compact, portable power source that enables a user to transport a container of wipes device conveniently in a purse, pocket, suitcase, automobile or the like, which can be quickly activated to warm the wipes for use on human skin.


A bottom and top emission OLED structure includes: first and second anodes; first and second organic light-emitting layers disposed between the first and second anodes. A first electrode may be disposed between the first and second organic light-emitting layers or first and second electrically isolated electrodes may be disposed between the first and second organic light-emitting layers.

There are many types of flat panel displays that have been and are currently being developed. One popular type of flat panel display is a liquid crystal display (LCD). LCDs generally perform well, but have somewhat narrow viewing angles, relatively slow signal response times, and require background lighting. Consequently, LCDs are not at their best for high-speed image animation and consume additional energy powering the background lighting. In addition, large LCDs are difficult to produce.
Organic light emitting diode (OLED) displays have been developed to address the disadvantages of LCDs. Unlike LCDs, which modulate light generated by their background lighting systems, OLED displays emit light via an array of OLED-based pixels.
FIGS. 1A and 1B respectively illustrate conventional bottom and top emission OLED pixel structures 120, 120′. The bottom emission OLED pixel structure 120 shown in FIG. 1A, is constructed on a transparent substrate 100 and includes: a bottom, transparent anode 130 disposed on the substrate 100; an organic light-emitting layer 140 containing an organic light-emitting material disposed on the anode 130; and a top, metal electrode 150 disposed on the organic light-emitting layer 140. Light is emitted from the bottom of the OLED pixel structure 120 by the light-emitting layer when an electric current passes between the anode 130 and the metal electrode 150.
The top emission OLED pixel structure 120′ shown in FIG. 1B, is constructed on a transparent substrate 100 and includes: a bottom, metal electrode 150′ disposed on the substrate 100; an organic light-emitting layer 140 containing an organic light-emitting material disposed on the metal electrode 150′; and a top, transparent cathode 135 disposed on the organic light-emitting layer 140. Light is emitted from the top of the OLED pixel structure 120′ by the light-emitting layer 140 when an electric current passes between the metal electrode 150′ and the cathode 135.
Although conventional bottom and top emission OLED pixel structures are satisfactory for OLED display applications that only require images to be displayed on one side of the display, there are potential OLED display applications that require images to be displayed on both sides of the display. Such a two-sided OLED display would require an OLED pixel structure that emits light from the top and the bottom.
Accordingly, a need exists for an OLED pixel structure that is capable of emitting light from the top and bottom thereof.

Bottom and top emission OLED pixel structure


This invention includes a trickle charging circuit that works with a series charging element to charge battery cells with a low, constant current when the voltage of the cell is below a predetermined operational range. The trickle charging circuit includes a control transistor that is actuated by a current source when both the power supply and undervoltage battery cell are coupled. The trickle charging continues until a minimum operational voltage of the cell is reached. The invention includes a means for rapid charging the cell once the cell voltage is within a preferred operational range. The circuit includes means for charging at other currents, like mid-rate currents, as well.

1. Technical Field
This invention relates generally to battery charging circuits, and more specifically to battery charging circuits that apply a small current to a battery when the battery is below a predetermined threshold voltage.
2. Background Art
An increasing number of portable electronic products are available today that are powered by way of a rechargeble battery. These products include such things as cellular telephones, portable radios, pagers, personal digital assistants, MP3 players and voice recorders. Such products owe their convenient mobility to the use of rechargeable batteries. Within these batteries, various chemistries have been used to provide electrical power. Traditionally, popular chemistries included nickel-cadmium and nickel-metal-hydride. More recently, however, designers have used lithium-based cells, including lithium-ion and lithium-polymer, due to the many advantages they offer over nickel-based chemistries. These advantages primarily include low weight and overall size with a high energy density.
Rechargeable batteries generally include a protection circuit within the battery pack. Protection circuits are prolific in battery packs employing lithium-ion and lithium-polymer cells. When rechargeable cells are charged, the voltage of the cell rises. Lithium-based rechargeable cells typically have a maximum termination voltage of 4.1 or 4.2 volts. This means that if a lithium-based battery is charged beyond the termination voltagexe2x80x94known as an xe2x80x9covervoltage conditionxe2x80x9dxe2x80x94the reliability of the cell may be compromised. Most lithium battery protection circuits known in the art sense the voltage of the cell and terminate charging by opening a switch when the cell reaches the proper termination voltage.
There is another condition however, known as an xe2x80x9cundervoltage conditionxe2x80x9d, that occurs when the cell voltage drops below it""s recommended operating point. For a typical lithium-ion cell, this voltage is about 2.5 volts. When the voltage drops below this level, possibly due to over discharge, cell manufacturers suggest that rapid charging may damage the cell by inhibiting the storage capacity. To prevent performance loss, therefore, the battery must be slowly charged until it reaches the minimum operational threshold. The slow charging current, often called a xe2x80x9ctrickle currentxe2x80x9d, is on the order of a few hundred milliamps. Once the minimum threshold is reached, a full charging current, like 1 amp for example, may be applied until the maximum termination voltage is reached.
Many prior art charging systems, like that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,002,239 to Maloizel, do not include trickle-charging circuits. Consequently, when a battery with a voltage below the recommended minimum is coupled to such a charger, either the battery is charged improperly or not charged at all. There is thus a need for a low-cost charging circuit that accommodates trickle charging.


A coherent integration section synthesizes an IF signal stored in a memory and a C/A code replica generated by a code generation section using a mixer to calculate a correlation value, and integrates the correlation value using an integration section. An integration count monitoring section counts the integration count of the integration section. When a saturation control section has detected saturation of integration of the correlation values, the integration count monitoring section causes the integration section to suspend integration when the integration count is equal to or less than a reference count, and allows the integration section to continue integration when the integration count has exceeded the reference count.

The present invention relates to a correlation calculation control circuit and a correlation calculation control method.
In the global positioning system (GPS) which is one type of satellite positioning system, GPS satellite signals are respectively transmitted from GPS satellites which orbit the earth, and a GPS receiver calculates the present position based on the received GPS satellite signals.
The GPS satellite transmits a radio wave in the L1 band (1575.42 MHz) and a radio wave in the L2 band (1227.6 MHz). Commercial GPS receivers are permitted to use only the GPS satellite signal in the L1 band. The GPS satellite signal in the L1 band is a spread spectrum signal which is modulated by a coarse/acquisition (C/A) code (pseudo random noise (PRN) signal which differs depending on the satellite) and a navigation message. The navigation message includes an almanac (approximate orbit information of all the GPS satellites), an ephemeris (precise orbit information of the GPS satellite), time information, and the like.
The GPS receiver acquires/tracks the received GPS satellite signal, and decodes the navigation message included in the GPS satellite signal. The GPS receiver then calculates the present position based on the orbit information of the GPS satellite and the time information included in the decoded navigation message. Specifically, the GPS receiver calculates the position of each GPS satellite when the GPS satellite has transmitted the GPS satellite signal and the pseudo-range from the GPS receiver to each GPS satellite from the difference between the time at which each GPS satellite has transmitted the GPS satellite signal and the time at which the GPS receiver has received the GPS satellite signal. The GPS receiver calculates the present position by solving simultaneous equations in which the three-dimensional position of the GPS receiver and the clock error between the GPS satellite and the GPS receiver are unknown quantities. The GPS receiver can calculate its three-dimensional position by receiving the GPS satellite signals from at least four GPS satellites. This is because each coordinate value of the three-dimensional position and the clock error between the GPS satellite and the GPS receiver are used as unknown quantities.
The GPS receiver acquires the GPS satellite signal by performing correlation calculations on the received signal and a C/A code replica. The C/A code replica is a signal which simulates the C/A code included in the acquisition target GPS satellite signal and is pseudo-generated by the GPS receiver. Specifically, the GPS receiver performs a coherent process which calculates the correlation between the C/A code included in the received signal and the C/A code replica (code replica) using FFT calculations, and an incoherent process which integrates the correlation values (results of the coherent process) to calculate the integrated correlation value. As a result, the phases of the C/A code and a carrier frequency contained in the GPS satellite signal are obtained (see JP-A-11-242075, for example).
In the coherent integration process, a phenomenon may occur in which the integrated correlation value is saturated (i.e., a memory which stores the integrated value overflows). When saturation of the integrated values has been detected, a related-art GPS receiver temporarily suspends coherent integration (i.e., suspends integration of the correlation values) until the present integration time expires. However, it may be desirable that integration of the correlation values not be suspended depending on the cause of saturation.
For example, the integrated values may be saturated when the strength of the received signal is high (strong signal) or when cross-correlation has occurred. When the integrated values are saturated due to a strong received signal, no problem occurs even if integration of the correlation values is suspended, since the peak value of the integrated value has reached a value sufficient for determination of the phase of the C/A code and the like.
The term "cross-correlation" refers to a phenomenon in which not only the correlation between the C/A code of the acquisition target GPS satellite signal included in the received signal and the C/A code replica, but also the correlation between a signal component other than the C/A code and the C/A code replica is detected. When saturation has occurred due to cross-correlation, the integrated value includes a plurality of peak values. In this case, whether the detected saturation is saturation due to the peak value of the C/A code or saturation due to the peak value of the signal component other than the C/A code cannot be determined at this point. Specifically, the peak value of the C/A code of the acquisition target GPS satellite signal may be insufficient when saturation has been detected. In this case, the GPS satellite signal is not accurately acquired if integration of the correlation values is suspended. This increases the period of time required for positioning calculations (particularly initial position calculations). Therefore, it is desirable that integration of the correlation values not be suspended when saturation due to cross-correlation has occurred.

Correlation calculation control circuit and correlation calculation control method


A drive unit for an electric motor vehicle includes first and second electric motors having characteristics which achieve high efficiencies in different operational regions. A common motor shaft receives output torques from both of the first and second motors, which output torque are then transmitted to a drive wheel. Sensors are provided for sensing a travelling condition of the vehicle and the rotational speeds of the first and second motors. Request torque, i.e. that torque required for the travel of the vehicle, is determined in accordance with the detected travelling condition of the vehicle. The determined request torque is distributed to the first and second motors in accordance with the detected rotational speeds to govern the output torques of the first and second motors.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a drive unit for an electric motor vehicle.
2. Description of the Background Art
In a conventional vehicle, a gasoline engine is generally used to generate a torque, which is transmitted to drive wheels after a change in rotational speed by an automatic transmission or a manual transmission. In the gasoline engine, a mixture of gasoline and air is compressed and combusted to generate energy which is output as torque. Therefore, noise is caused by the combustion, and the exhaust gas which is the product of combustion pollutes the environment.
Therefore, it has been proposed to replace combustion engines with electric motors to prevent generation of the noise and exhaust gas. Electric vehicles are equipped with an electric motor and a battery, and the motor rotates drive wheels. With an electric vehicle there is scarcely any noise and exhaust gas is not generated.
FIG. 15 is a cross section of a prior art drive unit for an electric vehicle.
In FIG. 15, 10 is a drive unit, 11 is a motor, and 12 is a differential unit. The motor 11 is formed of a stator 14 fixed to a drive unit casing 13 and a rotor 15 disposed around the stator 14. A direct current is supplied to a coil 16 of the stator 14 to rotate the rotor 15.
The differential unit 12 has a casing 18 integral with the rotor 15, and the rotation of the rotor 15 is transmitted to the casing 18. The casing 18 carries a pinion shaft 19, which extends through the casing 18 and rotatably carries a plurality of pinion gears 20. The pinion gears 20 engage with left and right side gears 21 and 22, through which the rotation is transmitted to left and right drive shafts 23 and 24, respectively.
In the conventional electric vehicle described above, however, the quantity of electricity which can be stored in the battery is restricted, and thus the travelling distance of the vehicle is short. In the travel of a vehicle equipped with an electric motor, the efficiency changes in accordance with the rotational speed, i.e., the vehicle speed. Therefore, a high drive efficiency may be achieved in a high-speed range, in which case the efficiency is low in the low speed range. Conversely, a high drive efficiency may be achieved in a low-speed range, in which case the efficiency is low in the high speed range.
As noted above, a high efficiency throughout the entire speed range cannot be achieved. Further, in high-speed driving, the travelling distance is significantly reduced, and rapid start and rapid acceleration cannot be achieved.
Therefore, there exists a need for an electric vehicle which can achieve high efficiency throughout the entire speed range
FIG. 16 schematically shows another prior art drive unit for an electric vehicle, FIG. 17 is a cross-section of the same prior art unit, and FIG. 18 is a schematic diagram of same.
In FIG. 16, 29 indicates the electric vehicle, 30 is a drive unit for the electric vehicle 29, 31 is an AC motor, 32 is a battery for supplying the current to the motor 31, and 33 is a transistor inverter for converting the DC current supplied from the battery 32 into AC current. The transistor inverter 33 operates in response to a signal from a control unit 34 to generate the AC current.
A change speed lever or shift lever 35, which is disposed near a driver's seat, is operated to set the transmission at an intended speed range as described later. An accelerator 36 is disposed near the driver's seat and is operated to change the rotational speed of the motor 31 and thereby change the speed of the vehicle.
A rotor phase angle sensor 37 sends an output signal to the control unit 34. Various transmission ranges are selected for transmission 38 responsive to movement of the shift lever 35 to change the rotational speed of the motor 31 at a gear ratio complying with the travelling conditions.
In FIGS. 17 and 18, 30 is a drive unit, 31 is the motor and 38 is the transmission. The motor 31 is formed of a rotor 41 and stators 42 and 43 disposed at opposite sides of the rotor 41. The rotor 41 rotates together with a rotor shaft 44 which is rigidly connected to the rotor 41.
The rotor shaft 44 is connected to an input shaft 45 of the transmission 38, and thus the rotation of the motor 31 is supplied to an input shaft 45. 47 indicates an electromagnetic clutch, 48 is a first reduction gear, and 49 is a second reduction gear. A main shaft 50, which is disposed in parallel with the input shaft 45, carries an one-way clutch 51 and a reverse gear clutch 52. A differential gear 55 transmits the rotation, at a speed reduced by a final drive gear 53, to the left and right drive shafts 56 and 57.
In the electric vehicle 29 described above, the rotation of the motor 31 is transmitted to the transmission 38, which can select the necessary speed range, so that the appropriate speed ranges can be achieved for the respective operational regions of the motor 31, and thus relatively high drive efficiency can be achieved throughout the entire range of the vehicle speed. However, the torque generated by the motor 31 is transmitted through the transmission 38 to the drive wheels. Therefore, there is a loss related to the transmission efficiency of the transmission 38, and thus the overall efficiency is insufficient and, also, a complicated speed change mechanism is required.


Embodiments described herein provide various examples of a machine-learning-based visual-haptic system for constructing visual-haptic models for various interactions between surgical tools and tissues. In one aspect, a process for constructing a visual-haptic model is disclosed. This process can begin by receiving a set of training videos. The process then processes each training video in the set of training videos to extract one or more video segments that depict a target tool-tissue interaction from the training video, wherein the target tool-tissue interaction involves exerting a force by one or more surgical tools on a tissue. Next, for each video segment in the set of video segments, the process annotates each video image in the video segment with a set of force levels predefined for the target tool-tissue interaction. The process subsequently trains a machine-learning model using the annotated video images to obtain a trained machine-learning model for the target tool-tissue interaction.

In a conventional surgical procedure, including a conventional laparoscopic procedure, a surgeon who holds one or two surgical tools and then applies the one or two surgical tools on a tissue, e.g., by pushing or pulling on the tissue, can actually feel the pressure or tension applied on the tissue as a result of a physical haptic feedback transmitted through the surgical tools back to the surgeon. Based on this physical haptic feedback, the surgeon can quickly adjust the applied force until a desirable physical haptic feedback is received.
In contrast, in a robotic surgery platform, surgeons working with remote controllers are physically and mechanically detached from the robotic arms and end effectors/surgical tools interacting with the surgical subject, and as such do not receive physical haptic feedback. To gauge the applied forces, a "visual haptic" technique is often used. More specifically, surgeons watch visual appearances of tissues under applied forces in video feeds on video monitors and use their experiences and expertise to make mental mappings between what they see on the video feeds and what they think the applied forces on the tissues should be, and make adjustments on the applied forces if necessary.
However, there can be a vast amount of inconsistency in judging the applied forces on the tissues based on the visual appearances from one surgeon to another surgeon and among surgeons of different skill/experience levels. It can be expected that a more experienced surgeon can make more accurate mappings based on the visual haptics than a less experienced surgeon. Unfortunately, there is no good way to provide a consistent correlation between what a surgeon sees in the video and what the applied force really is.

Machine-learning-based visual-haptic system for robotic surgical platforms


A solvent composition comprising dichloropentafluoropropane and (perfluorobutyl) methyl ether, wherein the ratios of the dichloropentafluoropropane and the (perfluorobutyl) methyl ether in the solvent composition are from 10 to 50 wt % and from 50 to 90 wt %, respectively.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to solvent composition comprising dichloropentafluoropropane and (perfluorobutyl) methyl ether.
2. Discussion of Background
Dichloropentafluoropropane (hereinafter referred to simply as R225), 1,1-dichloro-1-fluoroethane (hereinafter referred to simply as R141b), or a solvent mixture composition of R225 or R141b with a solvent soluble therein, which is excellent in non-flammability, low toxicity and stability, has been widely used for various degreasing, defluxing or dust removal, or as a dewatering solvent, a dry cleaning solvent, a solvent for chemical reaction, a carrier solvent for silicone and halogenated lubricants or the like. Further, (perfluorobutyl) methyl ether has been developed and is being marketed.
R225 or a solvent mixture composition of R225 with a solvent soluble in R225, is used for various degreasing and defluxing. However, R225 adversely affects an acrylic resin, and could not be used for cleaning a part containing this resin.
(Perfluorobutyl) methyl ether scarcely affects a resin, but its solvency of e.g. oil is poor, whereby the cleaning ability tends to be inadequate, and no adequate cleaning effects can be obtained.
WO-96/36689 discloses an azeotropic composition comprising from 61 to 90 wt % of R225 and from 10 to 39 wt % of (perfluorobutyl) methyl ether. However, this composition was found to be ineffective for overcoming the adverse effect of R225 against the acrylic resin.


A method and an apparatus for loading and positioning of elongate terminated electronic components include a load plate having vertical slots extending therethrough, the slots being spaced apart at regular intervals and each slot having parallel opposing sidewalls. Components are positioned and retained in the load plate slots with the long axes of the components in an orientation transverse to the upper surface of the load plate. At a predetermined time, each component is allowed to drop out of the slot and through a curved chute, the chute bending from an upper opening to a medial point and flaring outwardly from the medial point to a lower opening, and having a width at the medial point larger than the short axis of the component and a width at the lower opening slightly larger than the long axis of the component so that the component is rotated through about 90.degree. on passage through the chute. As the component exits the bottom of the chute, it enters and is retained in a shallow rectangular pocket in a test plate. Because of the 90.degree. rotation, the long axis of the component is oriented generally parallel to the upper surface of the test plate and is thus making the component available for testing and processing by conventional means.

Methods for rapidly testing and sorting large quantities of miniature electronic components, such as chip capacitors and resistors, are well known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,406,373, assigned to the assignee of the present application, teaches a method in which components to be tested are arranged in banks of rows and files on a test plate. The test plate is advanced past a testing station where an electrical property of the component is tested by contacting each component with an electrical probe. The components are subsequently passed to a sorting station where each component is blown out of the test plate and into one of several receptacles depending on the determined electrical property of the component. Components to be tested may be loaded either directly into the test plate or first placed in a load plate and then transferred to the test plate.
More recently, automated rotary testers, such as the Palomar Systems, Inc. Model 18 tester (Escondido, Calif.), have been developed that can test large quantities of components at high speeds. In these testers, components to be tested and sorted are placed in slots, or holes, spaced apart on the outer circumference of a circular test plate. The test plate is rotated in a stepwise, intermittent manner towards a testing station where one or more electrical properties of the components are determined by means of electrical probes. The test plate then advances to a sorting station where the components are directed into one of several receptacles depending on the determined electrical property.
When electronic components having nearly equal length and width dimensions are tested in either linear or rotary test devices as described above, the components may be positioned in the test plate, either directly or indirectly by means of a load plate, using vibratory and/or vacuum techniques well known in the art. For example, the Palomar Systems, Inc. Model 18 rotary tester includes a rearwardly inclined circular test plate that may be loaded by simply depositing a multiplicity of components on the lower front portion of the test plate, either manually or by an automatic feed mechanism. The stepwise rotation of the test plate agitates the components sufficiently to cause them to fall into the slots on the outer circumference of the test plate.
However, these loading techniques cannot be successfully employed for electronic components of which one of the length and width dimensions is greater than the other, hereinafter referred to as elongate, terminated components. Industry practitioners define for a miniature electronic component the length as the distance between the end caps (i.e., coated ends) of the component, the thickness as the height of the internal stack of ceramic and metal layers, and the width as the remaining dimension. FIGS. 1A, 1B, and 1C show, respectively, long-side terminated, short-side terminated, and chip array components as examples of elongate, terminated components. Each of these components has an elongate rectangular body 2 and multiple electrically conductive coatings 4 that form the terminals. (The features of the individual components are identified by the suffix of the corresponding figure number.)
The difficulty associated with loading elongate, terminated devices is illustrated by FIG. 1D for short-side terminated components of the type shown in FIG. 1B. To accommodate such components, slots 6 in a test plate 8 must necessarily be wider than the smallest dimension of the components. When they enter test plate slots 6, short-side terminated components tend to stand upright, thereby resulting in a significant percentage of components standing at a 90.degree. misaligned orientation in test plate slots 6 and remaining incorrectly positioned. Moreover, a short-side terminated component such as an 0612 body, which is 0.06 inch (1.5 mm) long and 0.12 inch (3.0 mm) wide, necessitates a 0.13 inch (3.3 mm) wide test plate slot 6 that would undesirably accommodate two incorrectly loaded 0612 components standing side-by-side in one slot, as shown in FIG. 1D.
A method commonly employed for loading elongate, terminated components is the flat-load technique. As shown in FIG. 2A, short-side terminated components 10 are first placed manually in a series of shallow pockets 12 in a flat-load plate 14, with the terminals 16 of components 10 oriented towards the short sides of pockets 12. A thin slide plate 18, typically made of stainless steel, is placed between flat-load plate 14 and a slotted test plate assembly 20. Test plate assembly 20 includes a two-piece electrically nonconductive top plate 21 having slots 22 chamfered at one end and of uniform width at the other end, and a common plate 23 having a copper plated surface 24 and smaller diameter slots 26 axially aligned with corresponding slots 22 in top plate 21. The long sides of pockets 12 are generally perpendicular to the longitudinal axes of slots 22 and 26. Slide plate 18 covers pockets 12 of flat-load plate 14 to hold components 10 in place. The assembled stack of plates is inverted, as shown in FIG. 2B, and slide plate 18 is removed, thereby allowing components 10 to fall into slots 22 of test plate assembly 20 and against surface 24 of common plate 23, as shown in FIG. 2B. As shown in FIG. 2C, with flat-load plate 14 and the chamfered slot piece of top plate 21 removed, a common voltage or electrical current is then applied to copper surface 24 of common plate 23, with which bottom terminals 16b of components 10 are in contact. An electrical probe 28 is then applied against the top terminal 16t of each component 10 to measure its electrical properties.
Manual loading and flat loading are operator intensive and do not readily facilitate rapid testing of large quantities of components. There thus remains a need in the art for a method and an apparatus that permit rapid loading and positioning of large quantities of elongate, terminated electronic components for testing and processing operations.

Method and apparatus for loading electronic components


An image processing apparatus and method which displays MPR images at a plurality of image displaying areas including full image displaying areas and at least one evacuating image displaying area. When the number of MPR images exceeds the number of image displaying areas, the MPR images are sorted into images for construction and images for evacuation based on a priority order of display conditions. The MPR images may be reduced in size to arrange more than one evacuated image in an evacuating image displaying area.

A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus and image processing method. The present invention further relates to an image processing apparatus and image processing method using evacuated images for image diagnosis.
B. Background of the Invention
An image processing apparatus used in an image diagnosis apparatus, such as an X-ray Computed Tomography (CT) apparatus, a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) apparatus, and an ultrasound diagnosis apparatus, processes acquired image data in order to display a plurality of images, such as Multi Planar Reconstruction (MPR) images and three-dimensional images.
The MPR image displays an axial image, a coronal image and a sagittal image as three orthogonal cross sections. Further, the MPR image includes various other images, such as an oblique image, double oblique images, and a curved MPR image. The three-dimensional image also includes images generated by many methods, such as a volume rendering method, Maximum Intensity Projection (MIP) method and an averaging method. Consequently, it becomes difficult to simultaneously display all of such various kinds of images in a limited space of a screen for an image diagnosis apparatus.
It has been proposed to evacuate overflowed images from among the acquired image data. The evacuated images are usually stored at an outside area, such as screen corners, away from a normal displaying area of the screen.
It is difficult to directly use the stored evacuation images as reference images for a diagnosis. To use an evacuated image as a reference image for a diagnosis, the evacuated image is moved into a normal displaying area of the screen. To search for a desired image, an operator must then search evacuated images stored in corners of the screen and/or hidden under a displayed image.

Image processing apparatus and method using evacuated reference images


A system and method of controlling maximum available engine power of a combine harvester wherein the engine drives the harvester and additionally powers a threshing mechanism for separating harvested crop into grain and crop residue and at least one further crop processing subsystem that may be selectively configured and disengaged, including a straw chopper engageable for chopping the crop residue and propelling the chopped residue from the harvester, structure configurable for directing the crop residue into the chopper or to bypass the chopper, utilizing a controller for automatically reducing the maximum available engine power as a function of the status of the engagement of the subsystems, particularly the chopper and the configuration of the associated structure.

The current marketplace for work machines, and particularly agricultural machines such as combine harvesters, is substantially driven by advertised horsepower. To keep pace with competition, manufacturers have been substantially increasing available engine power. This peak torque power of the specified engine is required to operate the full complement of product applications and variations. For instance, a combine can be used with a variety of different header configurations, e.g., corn (maize), or small grain (wheat, legumes), which headers can be of vastly different widths, and thus have widely different power requirements. For satisfactory performance, the engine of such a combine harvester has to provide power to each and every crop processing subsystem and the top range combine harvesters have engines that can readily provide the needed power in all modes of operation.
In a combine harvester, the rotating threshing drum or rotor of the threshing mechanism is the greatest power consumer. Residue chopping also requires a substantial amount of power, especially when chopping straw of small grain crops, such as wheat and barley. Thus, when the chopper is configured in the chopping mode, an adequate, relatively large amount of engine power must be available, both for operating the chopper under normal loads, and also when heavier loads are present, such as when a slug of crop residue is processed. This power requirement may vary, however, within a wide range, as a function of the operating speed, and the position of counter or stationary knives of the chopper. In other instances, particularly when it is desired to windrow or swath the crop residue, the straw chopper is bypassed, e.g., by positioning of doors or plates, and may be idle, and even disengaged entirely from the engine. As a further possible configuration, even though the chopper is not configured for chopping, the chopper may still require some amount of available engine power, for instance, as a result of being unintentionally being left running or engaged even though mechanically bypassed, or because of being intentionally left running while bypassed so as to chop any crop residue that still makes it into the chopper, to avoid clogging the chopper. And, as a further possible configuration, the crop residue may be directed to bypass the chopper and instead enter a crop residue spreader, so as to substantially increase the power demand of that device. Each of these configurations will have its own required power level that will be less than the full amount of power that the engine is able to direct to the subsystems, such that if available maximum power is not properly managed for a given configuration, damage can result. And, conversely, if insufficient maximum power is available, performance can suffer.
To explain, when such a substantial power consuming subsystem as the straw chopper is bypassed or disengaged, more power becomes available for the other crop processing subsystems. The spare engine capacity can increase the power applied to other subsystems, such as the driveline of the threshing drum of the threshing or separating apparatus. The operator, who often wants to maximize on harvesting capacity, may tend to use the spare power to accelerate the combine harvester, in order the increase the machine throughput. By doing so, however, an operator risks exceeding a subsystem's capacity. For example, threshing efficiency typically decreases drastically if too much crop is taken in. Overload will eventually result in excessive wear/and or deformation of the components of the crop processing subsystem. Elements of the threshing system, such as threshing slats, may bend and threshing concaves may become distorted. The available amount of power may also exceed the mechanical limitations of the driveline to the threshing drum, thereby shortening the lifetime of components such as drive belts and gearboxes. Thus, it is apparent that it would be desirable to have a scheme or system for more closely or precisely controlling available engine power, under a wide range of possible crop handling or processing subsystem configurations.
Manufacturers have devised a variety of engine power management systems and schemes for combine harvesters. Reference generally, Heisey, U.S. Pat. No. 6,865,870, issued Mar. 15, 2005 to CNH America LLC, which provides a system that provides different overall power levels for different operating modes, e.g., field work verses road travel. There are also known systems that set power levels as a function of equipment connected to the harvester. Several such systems utilize detectors for determining the identity of a header attached to a combine harvester, and provide corresponding stored engine power curves for the particular headers. Reference in this regard, Ehrecke, U.S. Pat. No. 6,397,571, issued Jun. 4, 2002 to Deere and Company. Manufacturers have also devised engine power management schemes for setting available engine power levels as a function of systems of the machine that are currently engaged or operating, e.g., straw chopper, propulsion system, harvester assembly, separator, as indicated by the positions of switches for engaging or activating the respective systems, e.g., the on/off switches for the systems. Reference in this regard, Wyffels, U.S. Pat. No. 5,878,557, issued Mar. 9, 1999 to Deere and Company. Still other engine management schemes rely on sensed measurements of actual power usage of the various systems, for determining available power level values. Reference in this regard, Dickhaus, U.S. Pat. No. 6,073,428, issued Jun. 13, 2000 to Claas Selbstfahrende Erntemaschinen GmbH.
However, an observed shortcoming of setting maximum available power as a function of overall operating mode as suggested above in the first patent, and based on header identity alone, such as proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,397,571, is that too much available power may be present in instances when less than all crop processing subsystems are engaged. As noted above, these subsystems often are significant contributors to the total consumed power. In removing the power requirements of one or more of the major subsystems, i.e., turning off or disengaging some of the systems, the balance of subsystems still on or engaged can divide the total available power. In many cases, however, this can result in substantially overrunning the subsystems' functional capability, resulting in grain loss, etc., or exceeding mechanical limits causing failures. It is not cost effective to design every system to carry the maximum available power for a plethora of configurations, but rather it would be preferred to limit available power to the subsystem not exceeding its performance limits.
Setting maximum available power based on the identity of engaged or activated subsystems such as by monitoring on/off switches as proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,878,557, also suffers from a shortcoming that practically, it will necessitate setting the available power level to accommodate the maximum expected power usage of those subsystems, and doesn't accommodate reduced power needs of different configurations of the subsystems. For example, as set forth above, an engaged straw chopper may use as little as just a few horsepower. For instance, a chopper may use as little as 20 horsepower, if configured one way, e.g., bypassed and idling, and as much as 150 horsepower if configured another way, e.g., for receiving straw and with stationary knives fully extended or deployed. Thus, this system falls short of providing a closely tailored level of available power for different subsystem configurations having different power needs.
Setting maximum available power as a function of measured actual usage, as proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,073,428, suffers from the shortcoming that it must rely on measurement means that can be unreliable, inaccurate, and/or complex, and can require calibration to ensure accuracy, so as to be of limited practicality. Also, the actual power usage can vary significantly during operation as a result of temporary or intermittent operating conditions such as passage of slugs of crop material through the crop processing systems, such that the level of available power will be correspondingly varied, reactive to demand, as opposed to in anticipation of demand, which can be problematic. For example, if the actual power usage during an interval of time is relatively low as a result of smooth operating conditions, the available maximum engine power may be set to reflect this. But, when an abrupt increase in power demand occurs, such as entry of a slug of dense crop material into one or more of the crop processing subsystems, e.g., the threshing system, chopper, or spreader, the additional engine power available may be inadequate. This inadequate power can cause the engine to bog down or stall, such that other subsystem performance suffers. Then, if in response the system automatically or the operator manually increases power, after the need for the additional power has passed, the now available power will not closely match actual power needs.
Thus, what is sought is a control operable for setting a level of maximum engine power available for any given product derivation, configuration or mode, including wherein one or more subsystems of a combine may not be being used, or is configured in any of a variety of relatively low power requirement options verses a higher power requirement option, which control is not reliant on power usage measurement means which may suffer from the shortcomings and disadvantages set forth above.

Combine harvester power management control


Devices, systems and methods for treating pain or other conditions while minimizing possible complications and side effects. Treatment typically includes electrical stimulation and/or delivery of pharmacological or other agents with the use of a lead or catheter. The devices, systems and methods provide improved anchoring which reduces migration of the lead yet allows for easy repositioning or removal of the lead if desired. The devices, systems and methods also provide for simultaneous treatment of multiple targeted anatomies. This shortens procedure time and allows for less access points, such as needle sticks to the epidural space, which in turn reduces complications, such as cerebral spinal fluid leaks, patient soreness and recovery time. Other possible complications related to the placement of multiple devices are also reduced.

Neuromodulation is a method of treating pain symptoms by therapeutically altering activity in pain pathways with the use of an implantable device. Neuromodulation works by either actively stimulating nerves to produce a natural biological response or by applying targeted pharmaceutical agents in small doses directly to a site of action.
Electrical stimulation involves the application of electrodes to the brain, the spinal cord or peripheral nerves of a patient. These precisely placed electrodes are typically mounted on a lead that is connected to a pulse generator and power source, which generates the necessary electrical stimulation. A low-voltage electrical current passes from the generator to the nerve, and can either inhibit pain signals or stimulate neural impulses where they were previously absent.
In the case of pharmacological agents delivered through implanted leads or catheters, the drug can be administered in smaller doses because it does not have to be metabolized and pass through the body before reaching the target area. Smaller doses—in the range of 1/300 of an oral dose—can mean fewer side effects, increased patient comfort and improved quality of life.
However, neuromodulation is not without its risks and complications. Many studies show that less than 50% of patients receive meaningful pain relief with spinal cord stimulation. Patients fail spinal cord stimulation for many reasons including unwanted stimulation, inability to stimulate the target area, and sometimes loss of stimulation over time. Likewise, unpleasant stimulation of the chest or rib area may occur due to undesirable positioning or movement of the stimulation lead. In addition, changes in stimulation may occur over time due to scar tissue forming around the leads, fracture of the lead, or movement of the lead position. For example, migration of the electrode may occur resulting in a loss or change of stimulation.
Many of these complications may be lessened or avoided with more desirable placement of the stimulation leads and a greater ability to maintain electrodes in such desirable position. In addition, surgical complications may be lessened or reduced with less invasive procedures. Further, such positioning of leads should be reversible without damaging or harming the patient anatomy, particularly delicate nerve tissue. Currently, approximately 20% to 40% of conventional spinal cord stimulation patients require revision or explantation of at least one lead. Therefore, such positioning should be reversible in the instance that removal or repositioning of a lead is desired for any reason. At least some of these objectives will be met by the present invention.

Methods, systems and devices for neuromodulating spinal anatomy


The present disclosure relates to a linked crank mounting device for use with a switch rail, comprising: an input terminal or series of input terminals; an actuator; an output connector; and attachment means for rigidly attaching the linked crank mounting device relative to the railway; wherein the input terminal or terminals are for receiving input power, the output connector is directly or indirectly mechanically linked to at least one of a switch rail or an output connector of a further linked crank mounting device, and the actuator applies the input power to the output connector.

Switch rails are present at all railway turn-outs, and allow trains to change tracks. This is achieved by having an extra pair of rails present—the switch rails—which can be moved from a position where they do not interfere with the standard rails and the train wheels, into a position where the train wheels are diverted on to one or more of the switch rails, and so the train is diverted onto the turn-off. The radius of the turn off required (and hence length of the switch rails) varies depending on a number of factors including the terrain and the speed of the train at that section of track.
The switch rails are required to move within strict dimensional limits. Often, the tip of the switch rail is driven into position by a point machine located between, or at the side of the tracks, level with the free end of the switch rails. The force required at this point is exponentially proportional to the length of the switch rail. To ensure the switch rail is located within the required dimensional limits, a series of linked cranks is often employed—with a crank being attached to the switch rail at regular intervals along its length and mechanical linkages connecting all the linked cranks.
In most current linked crank designs, power is transferred from the output of the point operating machine, via the switch rail, to the linked cranks. The point machine moves the tip of the rail, which is connected to a first linked crank, which is thus rotated. This first linked crank is connected to the rest of the linked cranks, and so they all rotate increasingly smaller amounts to ensure the switch rail is located properly. This means that the point machine needs to provide power not only to move the tip of the switch rail, but also all of the linked cranks. This adds significant additional load to the point machine, increasing wear and causing increased incidences of breakdown.
There are new, alternative point machines which address this unreliability somewhat. However these have been expensive to produce, and require a significant amount of work to install, making it expensive, time-consuming and slow to update a significant number of turn-outs with these alternative systems.


A telephone call redirection system for misdialed telephone numbers is provided. When a caller physically and unintentionally dials one of a set of first numbers subscribed to by the system, the system recognizes the number intended by the caller, and provides the caller with the option of being redirected. If interested, the caller dials another number offered by the system to hear of the desired, intended number.

Technology currently exists for transferring telephone calls directed to one telephone number to a second, different telephone number. Such technology is often referred to as call forwarding and is most commonly utilized when a party or entity moves locations, but wishes to receive calls placed to its prior location and telephone number. Examples of such technology are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,482,057; 3,586,780; and 3,909,543.
However, such systems are designed for situations wherein the first number was at one time a valid, correct telephone number for the desired location, and for some reason that number has been changed. Such systems and technology do not address the situation wherein the number dialed is an incorrect number either because of a dialing error, or because the caller used the wrong number in the first place. In such occurrences, the party receiving the incorrect call typically recognizes the call as a misdial, informs the caller accordingly, and the call is terminated. No further information is available to the caller as to the correct number which should have been dialed. Directory assistance, or other forms of research are then required if the caller wishes to be connected to the desired destination.
It would be advantageous if a system were to be provided which would recognize a call as a misdial, and provide the caller with information with regard to the desired number, or a direct connection to the desired number. Moreover, it would be advantageous if during the call, the captive listener, i.e. the caller, were to be provided with additional information in the form of advertising.


The present invention provides a semiconductor device and a method of forming thereof, in which a uniaxial strain is produced in the device channel of the semiconductor device. The uniaxial strain may be in tension or in compression and is in a direction parallel to the device channel. The uniaxial strain can be produced in a biaxially strained substrate surface by strain inducing liners, strain inducing wells or a combination thereof. The uniaxial strain may be produced in a relaxed substrate by the combination of strain inducing wells and a strain inducing liner. The present invention also provides a means for increasing biaxial strain with strain inducing isolation regions. The present invention further provides CMOS devices in which the device regions of the CMOS substrate may be independently processed to provide uniaxially strained semiconducting surfaces in compression or tension.

For more than three decades, the continued miniaturization of silicon metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs) has driven the worldwide semiconductor industry. Various showstoppers to continued scaling have been predicated for decades, but a history of innovation has sustained Moore's Law in spite of many challenges. However, there are growing signs today that metal oxide semiconductor transistors are beginning to reach their traditional scaling limits. A concise summary of near-term and long-term challenges to continued complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) scaling can be found in the "Grand Challenges" section of the 2002 Update of the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS). A very thorough review of the device, material, circuit, and systems can be found in Proc. IEEE, Vol. 89, No. 3, March 2001, a special issue dedicated to the limits of semiconductor technology.
Since it has become increasingly difficult to improve MOSFETs and therefore CMOS performance through continued scaling, methods for improving performance without scaling have become critical. One approach for doing this is to increase carrier (electron and/or hole) mobilities. Increased carrier mobility can be obtained, for example, by introducing the appropriate strain into the Si lattice.
The application of strain changes the lattice dimensions of the silicon (Si)-containing substrate. By changing the lattice dimensions, the electronic band structure of the material is changed as well. The change may only be slight in intrinsic semiconductors resulting in only a small change in resistance, but when the semiconducting material is doped, i.e., n-type, and partially ionized, a very small change in the energy bands can cause a large percentage change in the energy difference between the impurity levels and the band edge. This results in changes in carrier transport properties, which can be dramatic in certain cases. The application of physical stress (tensile or compressive) can be further used to enhance the performance of devices fabricated on the Si-containing substrates.
Compressive strain along the device channel increases drive current in p-type field effect transistors (pFETs) and decreases drive current in n-type field effect transistors (nFETs). Tensile strain along the device channel increases drive current in nFETs and decreases drive current in pFETs.
Strained silicon on relaxed SiGe buffer layer or relaxed SiGe-on-insulator (SGOI) has demonstrated higher drive current for both nFET [K. Rim, p. 98, VLSI 2002, B. Lee, IEDM 2002] and pFET [K. Rim, et al, p. 98, VLSI 2002] devices. Even though having strained silicon on SGOI substrates or strained silicon directly on insulator (SSDOI) can reduce the short-channel effects and some process related problems such as enhanced As diffusion in SiGe [S. Takagi, et al, p. 03-57, IEDM 2003; K. Rim et al, p. 3-49, IEDM 2003], the enhancement in the drive current starts to diminish as devices are scaled down to very short channel dimensions [Q. Xiang, et al, VLSI 2003; J. R. Hwang, et al, VLSI 2003]. The term "very short channel" denotes a device channel having a length of less than about 50 nm.
It is believed that the reduction in drive currents in very short channel devices results from source/drain series resistance and that mobility degradation is due to higher channel doping by strong halo doping, velocity saturation, and self-heating.
In addition, in the case of biaxial tensile strain, such as strained epitaxially grown Si on relaxed SiGe, significant hole mobility enhancement for pFET devices only occurs when the device channel is under a high (>1%) strain, which is disadvantageously prone to have crystalline defects. Further, the strain created by the lattice mismatch between the epitaxially grown Si atop the relaxed SiGe is reduced by stress induced by shallow trench isolation regions, wherein the effect of the shallow trench isolation regions is especially significant in the case of devices having a dimension from the gate edge to the end of the source/drain region on the order of about 500 nm or less. [T. Sanuki, et al, IEDM 2003].
Further scaling of semiconducting devices requires that the strain levels produced within the substrate be controlled and that new methods be developed to increase the strain that can be produced. In order to maintain enhancement in strained silicon with continued scaling, the amount of strain must be maintained or increased within the silicon-containing layer. Further innovation is needed to increase carrier mobility in pFET devices.

International Business Machines Corporation


A hair curling apparatus includes a handle, a barrel depending from the handle, and dimensioned to accommodate a lock of hair wrapped thereabout and a clamp releasably mounted relative to one of the barrel or the handle. The clamp includes a spoon which is adapted to move relative to the one of the barrel or the handle between a closed position and an open position. The spoon engages the lock of hair when in the closed position. The curling iron apparatus has both clamp and clampless capabilities, thus providing the user with styling flexibility.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a curling iron. More particularly, the present invention relates to a curling iron including a releasable clamp permitting the user to style hair with or without the presence of the clamp on the curling iron.
2. Background of the Related Art
Heated hair may be smoothed, manipulated, and styled more easily that non-heated hair. There are numerous hair styling tools and appliances for heated styling of hair including curling irons having a variety of features. Curling irons are intended to impart a curl or pattern to hair being styled by sufficiently heating a barrel or mandrel of the curling iron and restraining the hair in physical contact with the barrel. A section of hair is typically wound around the heated barrel of the curling iron and held in contact with the heated barrel for a period of time. Heat from the heated barrel reforms plastic bonds in the hair. When the heat styled hair is removed from the heated barrel, the hair retains the shape of the curling iron's barrel.
One conventional curling iron utilizes a clamp to hold hair in place along the barrel of the curling iron. The clamp secures a starting section of hair with subsequent windings of the hair being wound on top of the clamp and the barrel, locking the clamp against the barrel. Thus, the hair must be unwound to release the clamp. Unfortunately, unwinding the hair from the barrel reduces the set of the curl and the precision of the set.
In recent years, clampless curling irons have become available. A clampless curling iron provides additional flexibility and benefits over conventional curling irons including, e.g., the ability to wrap hair directly over the barrel while keeping the barrel stationary, eliminating creases and crimps in the hair associated with the clamp, and enabling the curling iron to get closer to the roots thereby creating an increased volume in the curl.

Curling iron apparatus with releasable clamp


An apparatus including a first housing coaxially aligned with and separable relative to the second housing is provided, wherein the first housing includes a puncture rod arranged to address and puncture a gas charged cylinder within the second housing, whereupon the puncture rod includes pneumatic conduit structure to direct pressurized gas from the cylinder into a delivery conduit for mounting to an associated bicycle tire.

1. Field of the Invention
The field of invention relates to tire inflation apparatus, and more particularly pertains to a new and improved bicycle tire recharge apparatus wherein the same is directed to the recharging of bicycle tires.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Bicycle tire recharge structure typified as manual pump structure is indicated in the U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,712,592; 4,569,275; and 4,842,290.
The advent of racing style tires having pressures to one hundred to one hundred twenty pounds per square inch requires great effort frequently exceeding the sealing capacity of conventional bicycle pumps to deliver such pressures. The instant invention attempts to overcome deficiencies of the prior art by eliminating manual pneumatic pump structure and in lieu thereof employing a pressurized gas canister structure arranged for selective inflation of a pneumatic tire and in this respect, the present invention substantially fulfills this need.


An interference compensation unit in an OAM reception apparatus removes the interference component caused by horizontally polarized waves relative to vertically polarized waves from a first mode vertical component reception signal obtained by an OAM reception unit using both a first mode horizontal component reception signal and a second mode horizontal component reception signal.

The present disclosure relates to an OAM reception apparatus, an OAM reception method, and an OAM transmission system.
A radio communication system which performs radio communication by combining spatial multiplexing transmission and dual polarized wave transmission of vertically and horizontally polarized wave transmission has been proposed in, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2013-211887. In the radio communication system disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2013-211887, spatial demultiplexing processing for demultiplexing a spatial multiplexed signal spatially multiplexed by MIMO (multiple-input and multiple-output) and inter-polarization interference compensation processing for compensating inter-polarization interference are executed in series (i.e., independently and sequentially executed).
On the other hand, a radio transmission system (i.e., orbital angular momentum (OAM) transmission system) using electromagnetic waves having OAM has recently attracted attention (e.g., International Patent Publication No. WO 2016/063315).
However, no method has yet been proposed for receiving a signal wirelessly transmitted by a combination of OAM transmission and dual polarized wave transmission with inter-polarization interference compensation.

OAM reception apparatus, OAM reception method, and OAM transmission system


Electrochromic devices are applied to selected areas on a spacecraft. Radiant energy characteristics of the electrochromic devices are altered by applying appropriate electrical excitation signals to the devices to create a force on the spacecraft due to light impinging on the devices sufficient to alter the orientation thereof or maintain it under the action of external disturbance forces or torques.

1. Technical Field
This invention relates to spacecraft control and, more particularly, to the use of electrochromic devices to control the maneuvering of a spacecraft.
2. Discussion
A difficult problem confronting a spacecraft is that of controlling and stabilizing the orientation of the spacecraft for long periods of time. If the resultant of the solar radiation forces acting on the spacecraft does not pass through the center of mass of the vehicle, a torque that either perturbs the attitude of the vehicle or causes corrective actions by the attitude control system is produced. The result of these attitude corrections is either consumption of propellant or an increment in the momentum stored in attitude control devices such as momentum/reaction wheels or control moment gyros.
In most space projects, solar radiation pressure is still considered primarily as an environmental disturbance source. As early as 1958, solar pressure was also identified as a source of controllable forces applicable to propulsion and attitude control of spacecraft in long duration missions. For example, it has been proposed to provide a trailing cone system to derive control torques from solar radiation. Weathervane-type movable surfaces to develop controllable torques have also been explored. Other researchers have proposed a reflector-collector configuration for using focused radiation, a system of body-fixed corner mirror arrays for pointing the spin axis of a satellite to the sun, and solar paddles for attitude and spin control. Still others considered using a grated solar sail for controlling the attitude of a spinning, sun-orbiting spacecraft. Other approaches considered the application of solar pressure torquing to earth pointing satellites. For example, one approach considered the case of a gravity-gradient-controlled satellite where torques are produced by translation of the control surfaces. In other cases, rotatable control surfaces were used to control the attitude of a dual spin satellite. Time-optimal control of the attitude of a satellite via solar radiation pressure has also been discussed in the literature.
Solar pressure control has been used in various space missions of the past. Mechanically controlled solar vanes were used in the early Mariner spacecraft. Fixed vanes were flown in the OTS satellite and are baselined in several European and future domestic communication satellites for momentum management.
Current techniques for solar pressure trimming, or attitude control by solar pressure, still generally use either a set of fixed, offset panels or electromechanically controlled vanes. These panels or vanes are usually located at the outer ends of the solar arrays or other appendages to maximize the torques attainable. Since the fixed panels must be of relatively large sizes, and placed at large inclination angles with respect to the arrays, provisions for deployment must be made. Deployment facilities add complexity, weight and cost. Movable vanes can be smaller but require hinges or bearings, actuators, and position transducers or sensors.
Therefore, there is a need for an approach to solar pressure trimming and control that is simple, easy to integrate, without moving parts, and has low cost and weight.

Spacecraft control by electrochromic devices