A low smoke, zero halogen self-regulating heating cable includes a semi-conductive heating core and two conductive wires embedded within and separated by the semi-conductive heating core. The cable also includes a primary jacket surrounding the semi-conductive core, a braid surrounding the primary jacket, and a final jacket surrounding the braid. At least one of the primary jacket and the final jacket includes a low smoke, zero halogen material.

Self-regulating heating cables generally include two conductor wires embedded in a heating core made of a semi-conductive polymer having a resistivity with a positive temperature coefficient (i.e., a "PTC material"). The core creates electrical paths between the conductor wires and heat is generated in the PTC material as electric current passes through these electrical paths between the conductor wires. However, the number of electrical paths between the wires changes in response to temperature fluctuations. In particular, as the ambient temperature drops, the core contracts microscopically. This contraction decreases the core's electrical resistance and creates numerous electrical paths between the wires. Current then flows across these paths to warm the core. Conversely, as the ambient temperature rises, the core expands microscopically, increasing electrical resistance between the wires so that fewer electrical paths exist and less heat is produced.
The heating core is surrounded by multiple layers, including electrical and thermal insulation layers, ground plane layers, mechanical and chemical barriers, etc. Many self-regulating heating cables use, within various layers, materials that contain a halogen in the formulation as a flame retardant. Despite their flame-retardant characteristics, when such halogen-containing products ignite (such as during a fire), they release toxic and corrosive gasses and contribute to high smoke generation. A low-smoke, zero-halogen self-regulating heating cable that conforms to existing safety standards and has desirable manufacturing and operational characteristics is needed.

Low smoke, zero halogen self-regulating heating cable


This invention discloses a wavelength converting material. The wavelength converting material comprises a metal haloaluminate compound phosphor with a chemical formula Mw-pAlyOzXq:Rp, wherein M is at least one element selected from the group of Be, Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba and Zn; X is at least one element selected from the group of F, Cl, Br, and I; R is one or more elements selected from the group of the transition metals and at least one element selected from the lanthanide series. Because the emitting wavelength of the metal haloaluminate compound phosphor is 550˜650 nm which is from the green to the red light spectrum, the white light mixed by the converted light of the metal haloaluminate phosphor and the blue light has better color rendering index. Besides, this invention also discloses the optoelectronic devices comprising the metal haloaluminate compound phosphor.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure provides a wavelength converting material, particularly the material relating to metal haloaluminate compound, and the application thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many researches have actively aimed at the development of illumination source by replacing traditional fluorescent light source with light-emitting diode (LED) that produces white light similar to solar emission. The popular white LED chip technology uses a blue LED that emits light with wavelength from 440 nm to 460 nm to excite yellow phosphors such that the blue light is mixed with the yellow light to produce white light. Although the foregoing method owns the advantages of process simplicity and cost effectiveness, the color saturation and color rendering index (CRI) of the produced white light are still distinct from the solar emission.
Within recent years, another research has developed to use ultra-violet (UV) LED that emits wavelength from 360 nm to 400 nm to excite red, green, and blue phosphors, and then mixed into white light. The abovementioned method has advantages of high luminous efficiency, high CRI, and being capable of associating with a variety of phosphors. However, the process is more difficult for adequately mixing several sorts of phosphors for controlling the characteristics of the generated white light.

Wavelength converting material and use of same


A control circuit of a power converter includes: a zero current detection circuit for detecting a current flowing between an inductor and a voltage output terminal of the power converter to generate a zero current detection signal; an adjusting circuit for generating an adjustment signal according to the zero current detection signal; a clock signal generating circuit for adjusting a frequency of a clock signal according to the adjustment signal; a periodical signal generating circuit for generating a periodical signal according to the clock signal; an error detection circuit for generating an error signal; and a control signal generating circuit for generating a control signal to control operations of a power switch. If the and amount of pulses generated by the zero current detection circuit satisfy a predetermined condition, the adjusting circuit switches the power converter's operation mode from DCM to CCM.

The disclosure generally relates to a power converter and, more particularly, to a control circuit capable of stabilizing an output voltage of the power converter and a control method thereof.
A power converter may operate at a discontinuous conduction mode (DCM) or a continuous conduction mode (CCM) to supply required power to a load and to improve energy efficiency of the power converter.
Generally, a control circuit of the power converter configures the power converter to operate at the discontinuous conduction mode when the load is a light load, and configures the power converter to operate at the continuous conduction mode when the load is a heavy load. However, when the load condition is closing to a switching boundary between the two operation modes, a traditional control circuit repeatedly switches the power converter between two operation modes. In this situation, it easily causes the circuitry loop of the power converter to be unstable, thereby resulting in unstable output voltage.

Control circuit for power converter and related control method


A bar clamp assembly configured to be secured to a structure through a fastener includes a bar clamp, a securing base, and a fastener retention member. The securing base may be integrally formed with the bar clamp, and is configured to receive and retain the fastener. The fastener retention member is within or on the securing base, and is configured to secure the fastener in the securing base. The bar clamp assembly may also include a plurality of braces, clips and other support structures between the bar clamp and the securing base in order to provide a more robust assembly.

Bar clamps are used to secure bars, rods, or the like to another structure. For example, bar clamps may be used to secure a stabilizer bar within an automobile to an internal frame.
FIG. 1 illustrates an isometric view of a first conventional bar clamp assembly 10. The bar clamp assembly 10 includes a standard curved bar clamp 12 integrally formed with fastening straps or areas 14. The bar clamp 12 is curved in a C-or U-shape, thereby defining a bar retention area 16 between the curved bar clamp 12 and the fastening straps 14.
In order to secure a bar 18 to a structure, a bar bushing 20 is positioned within the bar retention area 16. The bar bushing 20 comprises a bar retention channel 22, into which the bar 18 is positioned. The bar clamp assembly 10 and the bar bushing 20 are positioned on a structure 24.
In order to secure the bar clamp assembly 10, and the bar 18, to the structure, fasteners (not shown in FIG. 1) are positioned through holes 26 within the fastening straps 14. The holes 26 are typically circular, and have no features that securely dig into, or otherwise ensure that the fasteners are retained therein. Instead, the fasteners are merely positioned into the fastener straps 14, thereby acting to compressively sandwich the fastener straps 14 between the structure 24, and flanges of the fasteners.
Because the holes 26 are circular, with no retaining structures therein, the fasteners may slide or otherwise move through the holes 26 (or the holes 26 may move over the fasteners), even after the bar clamp assembly 10 has been secured to the structure 24. If, for example, the structure vibrates or resonates, the force produced by the vibration or resonation may cause the bar clamp 12 to dislodge from the structure 24. As such, the fasteners within the holes 26 may be inadvertently loosened within the holes, thereby causing further insecure clamping.
FIG. 2 illustrates a cross-sectional view of the first conventional bar clamp assembly 10 through line 2-2 of FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 2, the bar clamp 12 integrally connects to the fastener straps 14 through curved riser areas 28. When the bar clamp assembly 10 is securely mounted to the structure 24, the curved riser areas 28 experience stress fatigue due to the inwardly directed fastening force A, and the equal but opposite resistive force B. As such, the curved riser areas 28 become stress riser fatigue zones, thereby weakening the bar clamp 12 at these curved riser areas 28. If enough stress fatigue is exerted at the curved riser areas 28, the bar clamp 12 may warp or contort at these areas, or even snap or break.
FIG. 3 illustrates an isometric view of a second conventional bar clamp assembly 30. The bar clamp assembly 30 comprises a bar clamp 32 and separate fastener compression tubes 34 on either side of the bar clamp 32. The fastener compression tubes 34 may be bonded to the bar clamp 32, and provide support to the bar clamp 32. Similar to the holes 26 of the bar clamp assembly 10, the fastener compression tubes 34 have smooth, tubular channels 36 with no features that are configured to retain fasteners (not shown) therein.
FIG. 4 illustrates a cross-sectional view of the second bar clamp assembly 30 through line 4-4 of FIG. 3. Typically, the fastener compression tubes 34 are separate pieces that are seam-welded to the sides of the bar clamp 32. Because the fastener compression tubes 34 are seam-welded to the clamp 32, the seams 38 may be weakened areas on the bar clamp assembly 30. In fact, the seams 38 are typically fatigue zones that are susceptible to weakening when subjected to increased temperatures and pressures.
Thus, a need exists for a robust and sturdy bar clamp assembly that does not include weakened areas, such as welded areas, which are susceptible to warping, bending, or breaking due to heat and/or pressure.


An electric discharge machine apparatus has a numeric control unit which can optimally set jumping conditions without forcing the user to perform any complicated setting operation. The numeric control unit calculates an optimal jumping velocity from a value indicating a machine-allowable load for the electric discharge machining apparatus, a machining area according to the electric discharge machining conditions, and a machining gap length computed from the electric discharge machining conditions. The machining area is computed by the ratio between the proceeding velocity in machining and a discharge pulse frequency. The machining gap length is computed according to the current value of a machining current pulse as well as to a voltage loaded to the machining gap.

An electric discharge machining apparatus melts and removes a work in a machining liquid by supplying pulse field power between an electrode and the work each provided in the machining liquid. It is a known fact that powder due to machining is generated in a machining gap in electric discharge machining and unless the powder due to machining is removed with any method, insulation of and repetition of electric discharge in the machining gap can not be maintained in a normal state, which causes an arc discharge state, whereby the electric discharge machining is badly affected so that machining efficiency is lowered and a condition of a machined surface is degraded.
A method of removing the powder due to machining includes methods such as machining liquid injection, blowing, and suction, and so-called a jumping operation in which an electrode is reciprocated intermittently and at high velocity is well known as one of the methods used in addition to the above methods.
In a case of machining any work having a form to which liquid machining such as injection, blowing, or sucking for discharging the powder can not physically be applied, an electrode jumping operation is the only method for removing the powder, and for this reason this operation is generally regraded as one of applicable conditions therefor.
FIG. 5 is a view showing an example of the jumping operation. In FIG. 5, the sign J indicates Z-axial movement characteristics of an electrode (jumping path characteristics) and the sign P indicates electric discharge machining time characteristics in a jumping operation. It should be noted that the sign Pp indicates a machining period while the sign P1 indicates a non-machining period (idling time).
Jumping conditions include a jumping height (a jumping-up rate) Jup, a jumping time Jt, and a jump-down time (machining time) Jdown, and selection of those parameters (jumping conditions) is an extremely important factor for efficiently discharging out the powder and improving a machining velocity.
For example, a jumping-up rate Jup raised to a sufficiently high level enables discharge of machining powder from a deep machining hole in a case where a depth of machining becomes deeper. A jumping velocity Jup/Jt is a factor that gives effects over reduction of time in jumping (non-machining time P1) which does not contribute to machining as well as over the powder discharge efficiency based on the pumping effects of jumping, and also which gives large effects over a machining velocity.
As described above, a machining time, a machining velocity, and a maximum machining depth are affected depending on the way of setting a jumping-up rate, a jumping time, a jump-down time, and a jumping velocity, each of which is a parameter for a jumping operation, namely depending on the way of setting a path to be made by the jumping operation, and for this reason an operation for setting of conditions for jumping operations is very important.
Generally, by setting a jumping velocity and a jumping-up rate to possibly maximum ones respectively, the powder discharge efficiency becomes higher, and for this reason the machining efficiency and machining velocity are improved.
As shown in FIG. 5, however, a machining gap is widened in jumping up so that a discharge pulse is not generated and machining does not proceed, namely an idling time P1 is generated, and machining indicates time is equivalent to a machining period Pp which is not jumping up, so that a ratio of the actual machining time in the entire machining time is reduced when jumping height Jup becomes higher, which causes reduction of a machining velocity.
Namely, the jumping operation has a factor contradicting such that a machining velocity is improved by enhancing machining-liquid discharge efficiency as well as by increasing a ratio of a jump-down time (time in machining ) Jdown as much as possible in the entire machining time.
One of the methods for solving this contradiction is, as shown in FIG. 6, to reduce the time Jt required for jumping by making a jumping velocity V (V=Jup/Jt) as fast as possible, however, if a jumping velocity V is speeded up, a load to a mechanical structure of the electric discharge machining apparatus becomes larger, which causes bad influences such as induction of mechanical vibrations or reduction of mechanical precision. For this reason, there is sometimes a case where a jumping velocity can not easily be increased. Especially in a case where an area to be machined is wide, it is known that a negative pressure is generated in a machining gap due to a delay in sucking a machining liquid when an electrode is pulled up so that the electrode can not easily be held up.
A reaction force generated when an adjacent plane form (electrode) is pulled up from a liquid (machining liquid) is described by the expression (1). Herein, F is a machining reaction force generated by a jumping operation, k: a proportionality constant, S: a machining area, V: a jumping velocity, and D: a machining gap. EQU F=k.multidot.S.sup.2 .multidot.(V/D.sup.3) (1)
Namely, force generated in a machining gap in an initial stage of the jumping operation is proportional to the square of a machining area S and is inversely proportional to the cube of a machining gap D. For this reason, the machining reaction force F becomes extremely large in machining of a large area, especially in an operation for finishing.
Generally, when a large area is to be machined, as the machining reaction force F according to the expression (1) is proportional to the jumping velocity V, the jumping velocity V is set to a lower value so as not to induce reduction of precision due to an excessive load applied to a machine. It is understood from the expression (1) that the machining reaction force F is proportional to the square of an area from the expression (1), if an area to be machined becomes twice, a jumping velocity V has to be reduced to 1/4 thereof. For this reason a time required for jumping largely increases, which causes a machining velocity to be reduced.
FIG. 7 shows jumping operations in a case where the jumping velocity is reduced. When the jumping velocity is reduced, a proportion of a period of time in machining Pp in the entire machining period of time is reduced, and also the machining velocity is reduced by the same proportion.
To avoid the phenomenon described above, there is sometimes employed a method of accelerating a jumping velocity by using the fact that a machining gap D is widened and also machining reaction force F is reduced by jumping. Namely, the jumping velocity v is changed so that the value (V/D.sup.3) in the expression (1) is constant.
With this method, the ratio of a machining area S does not always lead to increase in a jumping time V as it is, and for this reason a time required for jumping can further be optimized.
FIG. 8 is a view showing operations according to the method, and a leading edge section Jacc as well as a falling edge section Jred each of the jumping operations are accelerated or decelerated according to a machining gap length. In this case, the machining gap during jumping down is shown as Ddown.
FIG. 9 shows the characteristics in a case where the machining gap Ddown during jumping down becomes narrower in the same method. When the machining gap D in the expression (1) becomes smaller like Ddown, accelerated/decelerated velocities in the leading edge section Jacc as well as in the falling edge section Jred each in the jumping operations are made further smaller. Even in a case where an area to be machined S is large, a load to the machine can be suppressed also by changing the accelerated/decelerated velocities.
It should be noted that a machining velocity in a path for acceleration or deceleration is theoretically obtained in proportion to the cube of the machining gap D, however, the same effects can be obtained by making approximations to other high-speed computable path in consideration of computing performance inside of a numerical control unit.
However, it is still required to decide a constant for a jumping velocity V according to an area to be machined S, so that it is necessary to reset a jumping velocity V according to the area to be machined S.
Generally, this change is one of elements in machining conditions, so that it is selectable as one of the machining conditions. Namely, a jumping velocity notch is selected according to the machining contents, but it is not always easy to accurately estimate a machining reaction force F or a load to the machine according to a machining area S as well as to a machining gap length (machining gap D), and to select an optimal jumping velocity notch. Especially, when a large area is to be machined, it is not easy to optimize the jumping condition and to increase the machining velocity.


The present invention is directed to a technique of producing an ultra-concentrated liquid coffee that is shelf-stable at ambient temperature without the need for refrigeration or freezing. This invention further relates to a process for manufacturing ultra-concentrated stabilized liquid coffee with enhanced freshness, aroma and flavor retention without acidity or bitterness.

The brewing of coffee using only coffee beans and water is an art practiced through the world. While many different coffee beans, roasting and grinding techniques, bean/water ratios may be used based on regional and cultural preferences, the basic hot extraction method remains similar. Therein, the bean in desired form is exposed at an elevated temperature for a period of time sufficient to extract the desired constituents for the taste of the end consumer. Against such background, it is widely accepted that excessive brewing temperature can adversely affect the palatability of the resulting brew. Similarly, insufficient brewing temperature results in insufficient extraction and an undesirably weak brew. Further, it is widely accepted that reheating a properly brewed coffee to excessive temperatures can also adversely affect the desired taste. Accordingly, notwithstanding advances in automatic equipment available to the consumer, brewing a highly palatable coffee remains an elusive challenge.
Recently, in addition to regularly brewed coffee, specialized coffee drinks have become popular. Mocha, espresso, cafe latte, cappuccino and the like require brewing techniques not readily and reliably practiced in the consumer setting, and accordingly are available primarily only at commercial settings having specialized equipment and personnel for such products. Also, cold coffees are becoming popular and require a non-bitter coffee concentrate that will maintain desired flavor in the presence of dilution with ice and additives.
In an effort to provide the consumer and the commercial establishment with a wide variety of hot and cold coffee based beverages that can be reliably and repetitively served without specialized equipment, an effort has been made to provide coffee concentrates that can be heated, diluted, cooled, processed and formulated for such applications. However, the basic constituents of coffee have prevented acceptably shelf-stable products from being successfully developed. Coffees, unlike many food and beverage concentrates, deteriorate in unacceptable ways due to enzymatic and bacterial degradation. While such reactions can be retarded through refrigeration, such storage is expensive and effective for limited time periods and compromised unless completely utilized at first consumption, inasmuch as the temperature transients in handling outside the refrigerated setting can accelerate and resume the undesired reactions. Such limitations also reduce the availability and increase the cost of such products to the consumer inasmuch as refrigerated shelf space is expensive in storage or retail facilities. Further, conventional processing and packing techniques have not provided a satisfactory solution. Coffee is an exceedingly complex liquid of aromatics, oils and other flavor and texture enhancing entities contributing to the recognized taste criteria of acidity, body, aroma, flavor and essence. These qualities by presence or absence determine quality and acceptability of the brewed coffee to the consumer.
Consumers demand convenience and quality in newly introduced coffee innovations. There are a number of schemes for providing devices for making a single beverage server, such as a cup of coffee or tea. In one approach a disposable container fits on top of a cup and has a compartment for receiving a beverage extract such as coffee with a large reservoir on top into which a person must pour boiling water. U.S. Pat. No. 5,325,765 describes a beverage filter cartridge that includes an impermeable pierceable base having a predetermined shape and an opening at one end; a self-supporting wettable filter element disposed in the base sealingly engages with the opening in the base and has a form different and smaller than the predetermined shape of the base so that the filter element diverges from the base and divides the base into two sealed chambers, a first chamber for storing an extract of the beverage to be made, and a second empty chamber for accessing the beverage after the beverage outflow from the filter has been made by combining a liquid with the extract; and an impermeable pierceable cover sealingly engaged with the opening in the base to form an impermeable cartridge. That disposable container proved to be very popular due to delivering a quality cup of coffee in a convenient manner. However, the cost of the disposable container is high preventing many frugal consumers from using this technology.
One of the innovated approaches in the liquid coffee industry is to freeze the coffee concentrates during or prior to shipping and storage. When needed, the frozen liquid coffee concentrates are left at room temperature for a few days or as needed to thaw out and then should be used within two weeks otherwise deterioration in quality is noticed. Such an approach is expensive and requires freezing capability prior to and during shipping and handling. It also reduces the duration during which the concentrate is suitable for consumption and unused portions often have to be discarded.
Aseptic thermal processing of coffee concentrates is one of the approaches used to stabilize coffee concentrates. U.S. Pat. No. 6,399,136 describes a shelf stable coffee concentrate for extended periods at ambient temperatures includes an aseptically packaged coffee concentrate. Thermal processing of liquid coffee concentrates reduce desirable coffee aroma and develop off notes in the finished beverage drink.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,054,162 is directed to a liquid coffee in which the development of acidity has been inhibited and which results in a longer shelf-stable product. The method used in making the liquid coffee product of the present invention includes treating the coffee extract with an alkali, the alkali being present in an amount effective to convert acid precursors present in the coffee extract to their respective acid salts, and thereafter neutralizing the treated coffee extract with an acid, the acid being present in an amount effective to neutralize any excess alkali from the first step and to adjust the final pH of the liquid coffee product to the desired value.
Factors that determine the quality of liquid coffee and liquid coffee concentrates may be its acidity and/or level of sulfur containing compounds. The effect acids, acidity, and sulfur levels have on the organoleptic characteristics of a cup of coffee can, in many cases, be determining factors in the consumer appeal of a coffee beverage. For example, too much acidity in a coffee can result in an undesirable sourness to the beverage, while too little acidity in the coffee may cause a flat flavor profile. Maintaining a stable acidity and flavor profile of a coffee beverage can, therefore, be important in producing and maintaining a coffee beverage that is desired by consumers unless new methods are developed to mask the impact of various acidity levels on organoleptic characteristics.
The task of maintaining the optimal acidity of a coffee beverage is not easy because it is believed that over 25 different acids exist naturally in roasted coffee and that many different factors can affect the final acidity of coffee. For instance, coffee may include chlorogenic, malic, citric, acetic, formic, glycolic, lactic and pyroglutamic acids as well as others. In addition, different bean varieties may also affect beverage acidity. For example, the pH of a coffee brewed from Arabica varieties generally has a pH between about 4.85 and about 5.15. Coffee brewed with Robusta beans, on the other hand, generally has a higher pH in the range of about 5.25 to about 5.40. Other processing factors can also affect the degree of acidity, such as, the degree of roast, the roast profile, the nature of the processing and the age of the green beans and the like.
Due to the length of commercial supply chains and the desired shelf life of liquid coffee, a shortcoming exists with liquid coffee concentrates. Liquid coffee concentrates and extracts tend to be an unstable system, and both shelf- and refrigerator-stored liquid coffee products tend to naturally develop an increased acidity and varying flavor profile over a period of time generally due to naturally occurring acid-generating reactions in the beverage. Over time, these acid-generating reactions can slowly change the beverage's pH throughout a product's shelf file so that the beverage's acidity may also slowly change from the day it is produced to later in its shelf life. A rise in acidity or sourness of the beverage (lowering of pH) may translate into an inconsistent product and a loss of quality unless innovative methods are created to mask the impact of acid on taste.
The coffee concentrate manufactures attempt to control acid development in their concentrates and to prevent pH drift down to pH lower than approximately 4.7 to 5.5. One attempted solution to prevent the sourness development in liquid coffee beverages over time is the addition of sodium bicarbonate to elevate the initial pH of the product. However, the pH of the sodium bicarbonate-treated liquid coffee product still falls over time as the naturally occurring acid generating reactions occur, which still results in a varying acidity profile throughout the product's shelf life. U.S. Pat. No. 6,054,162 describes another attempted solution to address the problem of liquid coffee sourness development. The '162 patent describes a method that inhibits the development of acidity by treating a coffee extract with an excessively large amount of alkali relative to the coffee solids to drive a reaction that converts any acid precursors in the beverage to their respective salts to inhibit the generation of acid. However, such method undesirably increases the pH of the coffee to unacceptably high levels with the excessive amounts of alkali (which is needed to drive the desired reactions) and, therefore, also requires neutralization of the treated coffee with an acid to neutralize the excess alkali into respective salts in order to adjust the final pH to the desired value.
US patent application publication no. US 2010/0316784 A1 describes a method for stabilizing liquid coffee concentrates is by blending a liquid coffee concentrate base with an edible alkali source in an amount effective to artificially increase a pH of the liquid coffee concentrate base between about 0.5 to about 1.5 pH units to form a pH increased coffee concentrate. Next, an aromatic and/or coffee flavor is optionally added to the pH increased coffee concentrate. The pH increased coffee concentrate, with or without the flavor additive, is then aseptically processed and thermally treated at about 285 to about 295° F. for about 60 to about 180 seconds to artificially drive acid generating reactions in the concentrate to completion to form a stabilized liquid coffee concentrate.
In general, the processors of liquid coffee concentrates exert every effort to assure the pH of the concentrate remains higher than 4.6 and even if the pH is dropped to below 4.6, it is usually brought up before consumption to pH higher than 4.6, otherwise undesirable sour notes are detected in hot coffee beverages. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 6,406,730 relates to a process and apparatus for producing low acid food products by which a naturally low acid food product can be acidified for storage and later de-acidified at the point of dispensing for consumption or freezing in suitable equipment.
The phrase "acidified foods" means low-acid foods to which acid(s) or acid food(s) are added and which have a water activity greater than 0.85 and have a finished equilibrium pH of 4.6 or below. Acidified food may be thermally processed, or processed with permitted preservatives to destroy vegetative cells of microorganisms of public health significance and to inhibit the reproduction of microorganisms of non-health significance.
The Code of Federal Regulations ("CFR") governs many, if not most, aspects of food processing. Specifically, the CFR sets forth distinctions between "low-acid" foods and so called "acidified" foods. According to 21 CFR §114.3, the phrase "low-acid foods" means any foods, other than alcoholic beverages, with a finished equilibrium pH greater than 4.6 and a water activity greater than 0.85. Low acid foods include milk, ice cream, creamers, and milk and/or vegetable fat containing beverages such as flavored cappuccino beverages. Special processing, packaging and handling of these products are necessary to prevent premature spoilage and the growth of microorganisms of public health significance. Current processing standards for unrefrigerated low acid foods require the application of a "minimum thermal process" with the application of heat to food, either before or after sealing in a hermetically sealed container, for a period of time and at a temperature scientifically determined to be adequate to ensure destruction of microorganisms of public health significance.
In the world of coffee, it is generally found that pleasing flavor and aroma are particularly desirable characteristics in coffee products. Such characteristics are commonly associated with freshly brewed, high quality coffee. If a coffee product lacks a pleasing flavor and aroma, it is often perceived by the consumer to be of lesser quality. Soluble, or instant, coffee has unfortunately developed a reputation in the coffee industry, and among some consumers, as being a less desirable choice in coffee beverages because it lacks the flavor and aroma of high quality, freshly brewed coffee.
Thus, for many years, producers of soluble coffee have sought to reduce or eliminate the perceived differences between soluble coffee and freshly brewed coffee. Not surprisingly, the majority of this effort has focused on flavor and aroma improvement. Soluble coffee is commonly prepared by spray drying or freeze drying a hot water extract of a roasted coffee. This preparation process often results in a soluble coffee product which is lacking in some of the desired flavors and aromas typically associated with high quality, freshly brewed coffees. Alternately, the soluble coffee may have additional flavors and aromas considered undesirable, such as "instant" flavors or aromas. Unfortunately, this often results in the aforementioned negative perception of soluble coffee by consumers.
Many attempts to remedy this problem have been made, the most common being the incorporation of oils containing aroma constituents into the soluble coffee. The process of adding aromas to soluble coffee is known as aromatization. Aromatization generally involves capturing an aroma in a substrate, such as an oil or emulsion. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,222,364. Usually coffee oil or an emulsion of coffee oil and coffee extract is used as the substrate. The aroma-containing substrate may then be sprayed on, or injected into, the soluble coffee powder prior to the coffee being packaged in containers and sealed. The theory of aromatization is that adding aromas to soluble coffee via oils provides a soluble product which more closely mimics the aroma of fresh roast and ground coffee.
While aromatization is effective for improving the aroma of soluble coffee to some extent, it is not without its difficulties. With the substrates generally used to carry out aromatization, it is often found that either the incorporation of the aroma and/or substrate is too good, or not good enough. If the incorporation of the aroma is too good, the aroma is effectively trapped within the substrate and not sufficiently released. Thus, the consumer is unable to experience the benefit of improved aroma in the soluble coffee product when it is prepared. In an attempt to remedy this problem, recent developments suggest that aroma-enriched microemulsions of coffee oil may be used to improve the aroma of soluble coffee. See U.S. Pat. No. 5,576,044. Such microemulsions add aroma to the soluble coffee without the use of surfactants and stabilizers. However, the process of collecting the aromas and then adding them to the soluble coffee is costly when compared to manufacturing conventional soluble coffee without added aroma oils. This increased cost in the manufacturing process must then be absorbed by the consumer at the point of purchase.                Additionally, the addition of aroma oils does nothing to remedy the deficient perceived flavor of the soluble coffee. It merely improves the perception of aroma when a new container of instant coffee is first opened. On the other hand, if the incorporation of the aroma is not good enough, the aromas will volatilize before, or soon after, incorporation into the product and again, the desired benefit will be lost. Additionally, if the incorporation of the aroma-enriched oil into the soluble coffee is not good enough, and the oils are not properly blended with the soluble coffee, there is a tendency for an unpleasant oil slick to form on the top of the product.
Thusly, a well established need continues to exist for a packaged concentrated coffee product having extended storage life at ambient temperatures that retains full flavor without diminution over time and may be added to hot or cold water to produce various coffee formats.

Methods for making concentrated shelf stable liquid coffee


An integrated circuit fabrication process is provided for forming silicon dioxide in the vacancies of a gate dielectric comprising metal oxide. The gate dielectric has a relatively high dielectric constant to promote high capacitive coupling between two conductive layers separated by the gate dielectric. The gate dielectric may be used in, e.g., a MOS transistor device or an EEPROM memory cell. The silicon dioxide is formed within the gate dielectric by first incorporating silicon atoms within the gate dielectric using gas cluster ion beam implantation. Gas cluster ion beam implantation affords shallow implantation of the silicon atoms. The gate dielectric is then annealed in a diffusion furnace while being exposed to a steam- or oxygen-bearing ambient. As a result of being heated, Si atoms react with O atoms to form SiO.sub.2 which fills oxygen vacancies in the gate dielectric. Absent the oxygen vacancies, the gate dielectric is less likely to allow current to leak between the two conductive layers. The SiO.sub.2 serves to terminate dangling bonds within the gate dielectric so that hot carriers and foreign species are substantially inhibited from being trapped within the gate dielectric.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to integrated circuit fabrication and, more particularly, to incorporating silicon atoms into a high K dielectric using gas cluster ion beam implantation. The high K dielectric is annealed to form silicon dioxide from the silicon atoms to enhance the quality of the high K dielectric.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various devices within an integrated circuit employ a gate dielectric interposed between two layers composed of semiconductive or conductive materials. For example, the gate dielectric may be interposed between a polycrystalline silicon ("polysilicon") gate conductor and a silicon-based substrate in a well-known MOSFET transistor device. The gate dielectric may also be placed between a polysilicon control gate and a polysilicon floating gate in a well-known FLOTOX EEPROM memory device. The gate dielectric of a circuit device serves to isolate the overlying and underlying materials while also permitting capacitive coupling between those materials.
It has been necessary to increase the capacitances of integrated circuit devices in order to meet the high demand for faster and more complex circuits. The capacitance is dependent upon the thickness of the gate dielectric and the relative permittivity of the gate dielectric. Decreasing the thickness of the gate dielectric gives rise to an increase in the capacitance. Permittivity, .epsilon., of a material reflects the ability of the material to be polarized by an electric field. Therefore, capacitance between two layers of conductive material separated by a dielectric is directly proportional to the permittivity of the dielectric. The permittivity of a material is typically described as its permittivity normalized to the permittivity of a vacuum, .epsilon..sub.0. Hence, the relative permittivity or dielectric constant, K, of a material is defined as: EQU K=.epsilon./.epsilon..sub.0
While decreasing the thickness of the gate dielectric effectuates increased capacitive coupling between two conductive layers, it has several disadvantages. For instance, relatively thin gate dielectrics tend to break down when subjected to an electric field. Electrons may pass through the thin gate dielectric by what is known as the quantum mechanical tunneling effect. As a result, a tunneling current may inadvertently flow between the two conductive layers. On the other hand, a dielectric having a relatively high K value may be formed to a greater thickness and still provide for the same amount of capacitance as a thinner dielectric having a lower K value. Accordingly, dielectrics having relatively high K values are growing in popularity for use as gate dielectrics in integrated circuit devices.
Metal oxides which have high K values (e.g., K>8.0), such as tantalum pentoxide, may be used as the gate dielectric. The metal oxide is typically formed using chemical-vapor deposition ("CVD"). Unfortunately, a CVD deposited metal oxide is typically not stoichiometric and contains oxygen vacancies. For example, Ta.sub.2 O.sub.5 formed by the CVD method may contain molecules having 3 or 4 oxygen atoms instead of 5 oxygen atoms. Absent the appropriate number of oxygen atoms, molecules within the metal oxide may include dangling bonds to which foreign atoms can undesirably bond. Further, the oxygen vacancies within the metal oxide may provide migration pathways through the gate dielectric. Foreign atoms may thus pass through the gate dielectric between the overlying and underlying conductive layers. For example, dopants residing within an overlying gate conductor may be able to diffuse through the gate dielectric to an underlying semiconductor substrate where they can render the device inoperable. The vacancies in the gate dielectric also function as carrier-bodies for leakage current, and thereby cause the gate dielectric to have a low breakdown voltage. Moreover, the oxygen vacancies may serve as traps for hot carriers (e.g., electrons) injected into the gate dielectric. As the trapped charge accumulates over time, the capacitance of a device employing the gate dielectric may unfortunately shift from its design specification.
It would therefore be of benefit to develop a high K gate dielectric which experiences little current leakage and has a high breakdown voltage. That is, a gate dielectric is needed which provides for high capacitive coupling between two conductive layers separated by the gate dielectric while also having a low breakdown voltage. Further, it would be desirable to form a gate dielectric in which hot carrier entrapment is less likely to occur. Moreover, the migration of species through the gate dielectric must be prevented to ensure that foreign species do not enter the overlying and underlying conductive layers. In particular, the amount of oxygen vacancies within the gate dielectric needs to be reduced to prevent hot carrier entrapment and current leakage in the gate dielectric, and to prevent the diffusion of species through the gate dielectric.

Incorporating silicon atoms into a metal oxide gate dielectric using gas cluster ion beam implantation


An automated mechanism for measuring the amount of accuracy loss attributable to reverse engineering processes that use 3D scan data is discussed. The embodiments provide a mechanism that displays to a user the effect scan data editing and CAD remodeling operations have on scan data accuracy. Additionally, the user can choose the way the graphical display illustrates the error distribution on the model such as by color mapping and whisker mapping. The accuracy loss may be displayed to the user after finishing an editing/modeling command or during the previewing of the command thereby allowing a user to take appropriate action. Parameters may also be adjusted programmatically based on the amount of accuracy loss determined to be attributable to scan data editing or CAD remodeling operations.

Computer Aided Design (CAD) applications are used to produce computer models of two and three dimensional objects as part of the production process for the actual physical device being modeled. The models frequently include multiple CAD part bodies which must be individually designed. A CAD part body is a computational model used by a CAD application to hold a solid or a sheet (open body with zero thickness) geometry. Once the designer is satisfied with the design, the actual physical device may be produced using the CAD model.
3D scanning captures physical geometry information for a three-dimensional object by gathering high resolution points representing the shape of the scanned three-dimensional object. The 3D scan data can be represented by either a set of points or dense triangular (or other shaped) meshes which cumulatively form a model of the scanned object. The model can be segmented into multiple groups referred to as regions. In a mesh model, the region is a mesh region that is a set of triangular (or other shaped) facets which can be arbitrarily defined by the user or can be automatically identified by a computer program. The computer program can also be designed to detect and group planar, cylindrical, spherical, conical, toroidal, or freeform mesh regions by estimating and tracing the curvature information. Once captured, the raw 3D scan data may be converted to a CAD part model for further processing to replicate or modify the design of the three-dimensional object. This procedure of capturing 3D scan data for a three-dimensional object in order to provide it to a CAD application so that the object may be replicated or redesigned is referred as reverse engineering.
During the reverse engineering process there are two major possibilities of losing the original scan data accuracy. The first possibility can happen during the editing processes for the raw 3D scan data 3D scan data is prone to be noisy so that the user needs to perform smoothing operations on the data to make it easier to directly calculate NC tool paths, build a RP (Rapid Prototyping) model or remodel a CAD part. However, a smoothing operation moves points in the scan data with the result that there occurs an accuracy loss compared to the original data. Another type of operation which leads to the loss of accuracy is decimation (or simplification). Decimation is a process to reduce the number of mesh facets by using bigger meshes when representing more planar (flat) regions. Decimation also modifies point coordinates from the original scan data.
The second part of the reverse engineering process where there is a substantial danger of losing the original scan data accuracy is during the designing of a CAD model replicating the raw 3D scan data geometry. A CAD part body is represented by a set of parametric surfaces whereas 3D scan data is represented by points or a set of triangular (quadric or other shaped) meshes. As a result there is always a disparity between the raw 3D scan model and the reverse engineered CAD model. The loss of accuracy can be interpreted as the deviation between the two models. Ideally, the user should be able to track and manage the accuracy loss throughout the whole reverse engineering processes from raw scan data editing to CAD remodeling. Unfortunately, the tracking and managing of the accuracy loss is not an easy task since the user is required to check the accuracy loss whenever the user edits the raw scan data and/or adds CAD features.

System and method for analyzing modeling accuracy while performing reverse engineering with 3D scan data


A lateral diffused MOS transistor formed in a doped epitaxial semiconductor layer on a doped semiconductor substrate includes a source contact to the substrate which comprises a trench in the epitaxial layer filled with conductive material such as doped polysilicon, a refractory metal, or a refractory silicide. By providing a plug as part of the source contact, lateral diffusion of the source contact is reduced, thereby reducing overall pitch of the transistor cell. Further, source contact resistance is reduced by the presence of the conductive plug, and the reduced thermal budget requirements in forming the source contact reduces up diffusion from the doped substrate, thereby reducing parasitic capacitance.

This invention relates generally to insulated gate field effect transistors (IGFET) such as the metal oxide silicon (MOS) transistor, and more particularly the invention relates to a lateral IGFET and MOS (LDMOS) transistor having a reduced layout area and pitch and reduced grounded source resistance and capacitance in power applications.
The laterally diffused MOS transistor is used in power-applications for low-side switches as well as for RF/microwave power amplifiers. The devices are typically fabricated in an epitaxial silicon layer (P-) on a more highly doped silicon substrate (P+). A grounded source configuration is achieved by deep P+ sinker diffusion from the source region to the P+ substrate, which is grounded.
However, the diffused sinker has a lateral diffusion which increases the necessary width of the source contact. Further, the deep P+ sinker must be kept away from the gate and channel regions in order to achieve a controlled threshold voltage. For example, in an epitaxial layer having 5 .mu.m thickness, the P+ sinker must be greater than 5 .mu.m in depth and will have greater than 4 .mu.m lateral diffusion on all sides. For a 2 .mu.m minimum pattern size, the pitch of a two transistor cell having a common source or drain is on the order of 30 .mu.m. Further, the heat budget for a diffused sinker causes dopant out diffusion from the heavily doped substrate, which increases parasitic capacitance of the device.
The present invention is directed to a process and resulting LDMOS structure having reduced pitch, source resistance, and capacitance.

Lateral diffused MOS transistor with trench source contact


In an image forming apparatus that uses a charging unit to charge a photosensitive drum, forms an electrostatic latent image by carrying out image exposure according to image information, and transfers to a paper the electrostatic latent image by developing the electrostatic latent image into a visible image using a developer so that the image information is presented, an exhaust duct 33 for exhausting air that contains ozone produced within a drum unit 30, which includes a photosensitive drum 3 and a charging unit 5, and a duct 32 for taking in air, which draws in fresh air, are provided within the drum unit 30 so that ventilation of the drum unit 30 can be carried out with excellent efficiency.

The present invention relates to electrophotographic image forming apparatuses such as copying machines, laser printers, and facsimile machines, and more specifically relates to image forming apparatuses of a mode in which a surface of a photosensitive drum (electrostatic latent bearing member) is charged by a charging unit such as a corona charging unit.
As electrophotographic image forming apparatuses such as copying machines, there are monochrome image forming apparatuses that form black and white images, and color image forming apparatuses that form color images. As color image forming apparatuses there are image forming apparatuses of a multiple rotation mode in which toner images of each color component are formed in order on a single photosensitive body by way of toner image formation means for each color (black, cyan, magenta, and yellow) as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 2003-191526 for example, and image forming apparatuses of a tandem mode in which a plurality of toner image formation means, which form toner images of the color components approximately simultaneously on separate respective photosensitive bodies, are arranged serially along a carrying direction of an intermediate transfer material.
On the other hand, corona charging units such as a corotron charging unit using a wire and a case as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 2002-229302 for example, and a scorotron charging unit that uses a wire (discharging electrode), a case, and a grid electrode to stabilize an electric potential on the surface of a photosensitive body, are widely used as charging units for electrophotographic image forming apparatuses. In particular, scorotron charging units offer the advantage of being able to stably control the electric potential on the surface of a photosensitive body by using a grid arranged between the discharging electrode and the surface of the photosensitive body.
In this regard, ozone is produced inside the charging unit when using a corona charging unit as the charging unit, which presents a problem of image deterioration when the produced ozone becomes residual and adversely affects the surface of the photosensitive drum. Furthermore, there is a problem that developer spatters during the development process and the inside of the apparatus becomes soiled by the spattered developer. Conventionally, in order to solve such problems, systems are employed in which an exhaust fan or the like is used to provide centralized ventilation within the apparatus main unit.
However, with conventional ventilation systems, air in the vicinity of the fixing device is also drawn so that the heat produced by the fixing device exerts an adverse influence on the image formation process. For example, toner blocking, thermal deformation of the apparatus housing and other problems occur. To avoid this influence, it has been necessary to install the fixing device and the portion for image formation processing apart from each other at a fixed distance, which presents an obstacle to miniaturization of the apparatus. Furthermore, when carrying out ventilation for the entire apparatus including the vicinity of the fixing device, it has been necessary to use a large capacity exhaust fan and a dedicated duct, which also presents an obstacle to miniaturization.
Further still, with centralized ventilation systems, the ventilation within the charging units installed in the portion for image formation processing is incomplete, which makes it impossible to avoid image deterioration and reduced life of the image formation process due to such factors as ozone damage to the photosensitive drums and nitrogen oxides adhering to the grid of the charging units.

Image forming apparatus having charging unit with separate intake and exhaust ducts


A hydrostatic mechanical power-split transmission with a continuously variable gear ratio comprises a hydrostatic transmission part (1) consisting of a first hydrostatic unit (13) with an adjustable volume, a second hydrostatic unit (A) with a constant volume, and a mechanical transmission part (2) comprising a summing transmission and a range transmission, the summing transmission and the range transmission are arranged in an axially staggered manner in relation to the hydrostatic units.

Hydrostatic, mechanical, power-split transmissions are comprised of one continuously variable hydrostatic transmission having one adjustable volume and one constant volume unit, one summarizing transmission and one range-change transmission with several shiftable gears. The power introduced, via an input shaft splits, on one side to the hydrostatic transmission and, on the other, to an input shaft of the summarizing transmission. The rotational speeds and torques of the hydrostatic transmission and of the prime mover are jointly passed by the summarizing transmission. Different gears can be selected with the aid of gear clutches by the output shaft of the summarizing transmission being coupled via different spur gear steps with the output shaft. Compared with mechanical transmission, continuously variable transmissions have the advantage that it is possible to drive at optimal rotational speed of the motor with no traction interruption occurring when shifting.
DE 39 03 877 discloses a hydrostatic, mechanical, power-shift transmission consisting of a four-shaft gear, planetary transmission and parallel therewith a continuously variable hydrostatic transmission, the same as other gears. By shifting gear clutches, several gears are implemented in each of which the hydrostatic transmission effects a continuous adjustment of the ratios of the whole transmission. In case of synchronous rotational speeds, the change of gear is effected load-free and without traction interruption. By virtue of the structure of the gear clutches and of the control provided, it is possible to activate a new gear and subsequently deactivate the old gear without any jolt during the shift operation. The reverse gear is implemented by its own gearset and a corresponding clutch adjustment, which is to be actuated, for activating the reverse gear.
From WO 97/01049 is known a power-split transmission provided with a mechanical and hydrostatic power branch disposed in a transmission housing. Both branches are operated, via a common input shaft, and summarized in a coupling gear. The coupling gear has several planetary gearsets and clutches and is connected with on output shaft. The coupling gear is situated upon the input shaft. The last planetary gearset of the coupling gear can be connected with a clutch for forward and reverse gears, said clutches being connectable with the output shaft. The operation change from forward to reverse gear and vice versa is effected via the interplay of the clutches. When stopped at zero rotational speed, both clutches are closed. Therefore, depending on the travel direction desired, the corresponding clutch has to be actuated first.
In WO 99/15813 are shown different embodiments of a hydrostatic, mechanical, power-split transmission in which at least the summarizing transmission and the clutches or also the hydrostatic transmission are situated co-axially relative to each other (in-line design). To adapt the traction needed, a group transmission can be provided having, for example, one field and one road group. The change between these groups, the same as between forward and reverse gear, is implemented by actuating a corresponding clutch. The shift to the other respective range is preferably effected after a defined dwelling time on the corresponding ratio point or within a delimited ratio range, i.e., during stoppage or constant speed.
Those transmissions, however, have a basic problem in common that the hydrostatic transmission is connected with a gear transmission, therefore, they no longer constitute a really continuously variable transmission. The shifting of clutches are needed for changing to different ranges, especially when changing from forward to reverse gear and vice versa. The actuation of clutch devices is required, whereby a traction interruption and time delay result negatively impairing the traveling comfort.
Mainly in agricultural, commercial vehicles, the gear change operation between opposite travel directions acts negatively upon the driving properties, such as the efficiency degree when starting. At the starting point, high idle power can appear which can correspond to a multiplication of the input power. This negatively affects the dimensions and weight of the transmission.
The Applicant's DE 101 22 823 A1 discloses a power-split transmission having one hydrostatic part, one summarizing transmission and one range change transmission in which a purely hydrostatic transition driving range is provided for speeds between low reverse gear and low forward gear without a range transfer and without shifting of clutches, especially at zero speed and, attached thereto, a continuously variable hydrostatic, mechanical, speed range with power-split for high speeds. The hydrostatic transmission part, the summarizing transmission and the range change transmission are disposed co-axial with each other upon the intermediate shaft.
Thereby no range transfer is required when changing from low forward and reverse speeds so that in this speed range the shifting of clutches is eliminated, but the length has proved disadvantageous.
The problem on which this invention is based is, starting from said prior art, to provide a hydrostatic, mechanical, power-split transmission in which at zero speed, no clutches have to be shifted, a change of travel direction between forward and reverse is possible without delays, which has a good degree of efficiency and makes do with few speed ranges. Besides, the required length is to be considerably reduced compared to the prior art.

Hydrostatic mechanical power-split transmission


A plurality of trays (T) are set in a disk package loaded into a disk device, and different types of disks are rested on the trays (T). Identification means (30) giving information about the type of a disk is provided on a hook (T7) of each of the trays (7), and detecting means (32) for detecting the information given by the identification means (30) is provided on a drawing lever (18) for drawing out the tray. When the disk package is loaded into the disk device, the types of the disks on the trays (T) can be discriminated by moving and positioning the drawing lever (18) to face the hooks (T7) of the trays (T) successively.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a disk device for use with personal computers, audio equipment, etc., into which is loaded a disk package accommodating different types of disks together, such as CD, CD-ROM, DVD and PD, and which selects one of the disks from the package and drives it when the package is loaded.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are proposed a variety of optical disk media. CD (Compact Disk) and CD-ROM (CD--Read Only Memory) are disks of pit modulation type, and CD-R (CD--Rewritable) is a disk capable of recording data once. PD (Power Disk) is a disk of phase changing type capable of recording/playback (reproduction), and MO (Magneto-Optical Memory) and HS (Hyper Storage) are disks of magneto-optical type capable of recording/playback. Further, as large-capacity disks used for audio, video and computer data, there are known DVD-ROM (Digital Versatile Disk--ROM) of pit modulation type and DVD-RAM (DVD--Random Access Memory) of phase changing type capable of recording/playback. MD (Mini Disk) is also known as a small disk of magneto-optical type capable of recording/playback which is used with audio equipment and computers.
Disk devices for driving such disks are grouped into two types. In one type, only one selected from various disks is loaded in the disk device. In the other type represented by a CD changer, for example, a plurality of disks of the same type are loaded in the disk device and one of those disks is selected and driven for playback.
Recently, there have also been proposed disk devices which include disk driving means capable of driving both CD and DVD and are adaptable for loading of both CD and DVD.
For disk devices adaptable for different types of disks, however, most devices are designed to load CD or DVD one by one therein individually and devices permitting different types of disks to be loaded therein at the same time have not yet been proposed. In particular, disk devices adaptable for simultaneous loading of both a disk exclusive to playback and a recordable disk, such as represented by a combination of CD or CD-ROM and DVD-RAM or a combination of DVD-ROM and DVD-RAM, have not been conceived. Taking into account versatile utility of optical disk media in future, i.e., versatility of computer software and an increase in capacity of demanded data, there exists a need for a disk device which permits different types of disks to be loaded therein together.
In the conventional disk devices into which different types of disks, such as CD or DVD, are loaded separately, the type of the loaded disk is determined with an optical head by reading the TOC data of the disk, or detecting a difference in thickness from the cover surface to the recording surface of the disk, or detecting the track density. This gives rise to a problem that a long time is required for the device to, after loading of a disk, determine the type of the disk and come into the playback operation, etc.
Further, assuming a disk device into which both a disk exclusive to playback, e.g., DVD-ROM, and a recordable disk, e.g., DVD-RAM, can be loaded, a problem is expected to occur in that if an error takes place in determining the type of the loaded disk, the disk device may take DVD-ROM as DVD-RAM erroneously and apply laser power for recording to the DVD-ROM, thereby destroying the data recorded in the DVD-ROM.

Optical disk device capable of accessing a plural different types of optical disks


A liquid crystal display, a method for manufacturing the same, and an apparatus for manufacturing the same are provided. A method includes forming a field-generating electrode on a panel, and forming an inorganic alignment layer on the substrate by using atmospheric pressure plasma. The process using the atmospheric pressure plasma to form the inorganic alignment layer is more simplified by omitting the etch steps of the short point area and the pad areas. Also, alignment layers may be formed on the mother glass with various shapes by using one apparatus.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display, a method of manufacturing the same, and an apparatus for manufacturing the same.
(b) Description of the Related Art
Liquid crystal displays (LCDs) are one of the most widely used flat panel displays. An LCD includes two panels provided with field-generating electrodes and a liquid crystal (LC) layer interposed therebetween. The LCD displays images by applying voltages to field-generating electrodes to generate an electric field in the LC layer, which determines orientations of LC molecules in the LC layer to adjust polarization of incident light.
Among LCDs that include field-generating electrodes on respective panels, a plurality of pixel electrodes arranged in a matrix are provided on one panel and a common electrode is provided covering an entire surface of the other panel. Image display of the LCD is accomplished by applying individual voltages to the respective pixel electrodes. For the application of the individual voltages, a plurality of three-terminal thin film transistors (TFTs) are connected to the respective pixel electrodes, and a plurality of gate lines transmitting signals for controlling the TFTs and a plurality of data lines transmitting voltages to be applied to the pixel electrodes are provided on the panel.
The LCD also includes at least one alignment layer for aligning the liquid crystal molecules of the liquid crystal layer in horizontal or vertical alignments from the surfaces of the panels. The alignment layer is an organic alignment layer made of a polyimide material that is printed on the panels.
However, it is difficult for the alignment layer to be printed on the panel with a uniform thickness with a large-scale panel, and alignment defects are frequently generated due to a low polyimidization ratio of the alignment layer. Also, multiple processes such as the printing of polyimide, a pre-cure, and a main-cure are required to form the organic alignment layer.
Accordingly, a technique for replacing the organic alignment layer with an inorganic alignment layer has been developed, and the inorganic alignment layer may be more easily formed than the organic alignment layer. However, expensive devices for thin film deposition process such as plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition and sputtering are required to form the inorganic alignment layer. Also, when these devices are used, a step process for removing the deposited alignment layer to expose a short point area and a pad area for electrical connection of the upper and the lower panels and external driving circuits are required.

Liquid crystal display, method of manufacturing the same, and apparatus manufacturing the same


A compact low pressure mercury vapor discharge lamp which utilizes an amalgam for reducing the vapor pressure of mercury by absorption. The lamp has a tubulation positioned at a location spaced from the lamp electrodes which is in communication with an arc sustaining gas and includes a container for retention of liquified amalgam within the tubulation. The mercury vapor from the electrical charge sustaining gas is in communication with the amalgam for absorption.

The mercury vapor density or mercury vapor pressure in fluorescent lamps is an important parameter in determining lumen output and lamp efficacy. Low-pressure mercury vapor discharge lamps have a maximum efficiency of converting the electrical energy supplied into ultraviolet radiation at a predetermined vapor pressure. It is known that the envelope cold spot temperature for most efficient lamp operation is approximately 40.degree. C. This temperature causes a mercury vapor pressure of approximately 4 to 6.times.10.sup.-3 Torr to occur inside the lamp.
The mercury vapor pressure is typically very highly dependent on the temperature of operation of the lamp. Often, due to high lamp loading or high ambient temperature, the envelope temperature and mercury vapor pressure rise above the optimum value. As the temperature of lamp operation increases, the vapor pressure and density of mercury in the discharge lamp tend to increase above the desired levels required for optimum light output and efficiency of operation.
It is well known to control the mercury vapor pressure by use of an metal or metal alloy which forms an amalgam with mercury. As the mercury vapor pressure increases to an undesirable level, the amalgam begins to melt and form a solution with mercury vapor so as to decrease the vapor pressure of the mercury and return the lamp to a more optimal operation. Amalgams of indium and bismuth are known to possess these desirable properties.
It is also known that the location of the amalgam in the lamp is an important fact in providing the desired improvement. In practice, the lamp temperature can vary significantly relative to the desired stabilization of the lamp. Thus, the location of the alloy will effect its temperature and, in turn, the mercury vapor pressure. J. Bloem et al., "Amalgams for Fluorescent Lamps", Philips Tech. Rev., 38, 83-88 (1978) suggests that the location of amalgams can be important for lamp starting if the heat from the filament can be coupled to the amalgam. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,869,772 to Latassa et al, 3,898,720 to Morehead, and 4,157,485 to Wesselink et al describe the glass stem as a desirable location for the amalgam which may be alloys of indium, bismuth, and tin. British Patent Specification No. 1,097,090 to Sylvania discloses positioning amalgam at certain locations in fluorescent lamps.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,977,349 to Asakura et al, and 4,288,715 to van Overveld et al, as well as U.K. application no. 2,157,883 describe compact type low-pressure mercury vapor discharge lamps having a folded path between the electrodes which employ an amalgam in the electrode stem area. In the '349 patent, a restriction in a receptacle aids in keeping the amalgam confined to the receptacle. However, during base up lamp processing amalgam has a tendency to fall into the lamp. When the ballast is included in the lamp base, the temperatures in the stem area may be undesirably high for the amalgam. U.S. Pat. No. 4,393,325 to van der Kooi describes a compact lamp with a build in ballast included in the lamp base and the amalgam positioned away from the stem area. The amalgam is in a separate metal container having a slit opening to the arc discharge area.
Although the above-described amalgam containing low-pressure mercury vapor discharge lamps have been employed with varying degrees of success, it has been found that certain disadvantages do exist. It is difficult to contain the amalgam during lamp processing and lamp operation when the lamp base is in an upward position. It is also difficult to incorporate the amalgam into the lamp at a location which is responsive to temperature at which the desirable absorption properties of the amalgam are advantageously utilized.

Low pressure mercury vapor discharge lamp containing an amalgam


An indexing service uses a distributed data storage service to store a file comprising a subset of a plurality of data points. The indexing service also stores metadata indicative of a range of keys associated with the data points, and a data structure comprising information indicative of a probability that the file comprises data points associated with a first key. A client device, in response to a query for data points associated with the first key, downloads the file based on the range of keys and the probability. The client device searches the downloaded file for data points associated with the first key.

Database indexes are used by database management systems to improve the efficiency of storing and retrieving data. An index may include copies of data stored in a database table and references to the locations in the database where that data is stored. Typically, the creation and management of indexes is an integral component of the database's architecture. However, database management systems are increasingly being called upon to handle very large amounts of data. In such circumstances, the generation, management, and use of indexes involves a variety of challenges for which conventional database management systems are not well suited.


A driver circuit that allows high-speed switching when the reference current (I) is small. The driver circuit includes a drive current generation circuit (220) for supplying to a first node (232) a drive current based on a binary data signal (DATA); a current mirror circuit (240) for conducting through a second node (234) a current (mI) having a magnitude of the current flowing through the first node (232), multiplied by a predetermined current mirror ratio (m); and a pre-bias circuit (260) for supplying a first pre-bias current (Ib1) to the first node (232) and supplying a second pre-bias current (Ib2) having a magnitude of the first pre-bias current (Ib1), multiplied by said current mirror ratio (m), to the second node (234).

The present invention relates in general to driver circuits for controlling the current flowing through an element while receiving a data signal, and more specifically to a laser diode driver circuit that allows for high-speed switching.
FIG. 1 shows a prior art driver circuit (100) used in optical communication and other fields. The driver circuit (100) includes a drive current generation circuit (120) for supplying a drive current in accordance with a data signal. The circuit (120) has a variable current source (122) having one terminal connected to a high potential side and supplying a reference current (I) from the other terminal thereof, and a switching transistor (124) for receiving the reference current (I) and generating a drive current in accordance with the data signal (DATA). The driver circuit (100) further includes a current mirror circuit (140) for conducting through a second node (134) a current having a magnitude of the current flowing through a first node (132) multiplied by a predetermined current mirror ratio. The current mirror circuit (140) has a first transistor (142) connected to the first node (132) and a second transistor (144) having a control terminal connected to the first node (132) and a control terminal of the first transistor (142), said second transistor (144) connected to the second node (134). To the second node (134) is connected a laser diode element (150) to be controlled.
In operation, the driver circuit (100) controls the current (Id) flowing through the laser diode element (150), while receiving the data signal (DATA). According to the data signal (DATA) that is a binary signal, the switching transistor (124) becomes either conductive or nonconductive. First, when the switching transistor (124) is nonconductive, no current flows through the first node (132), so that the first transistor (142) remains off. Thus, the second transistor (144) is also off, and no current flows through the second node (134) and laser diode (150). Next, when the switching transistor (124) is conductive, the reference current (I) from the variable current source (122) flows through the first node (132). Due to the nature of the current mirror circuit (140), a current (mI) having a magnitude of the reference current (I) flowing through the first node (132), multiplied by a predetermined current mirror ratio (m), flows through the laser diode (150) via the second node (134). In this way, the emitting and non-emitting states of the laser diode (150) can be switched in accordance with the binary signal (DATA).
Meanwhile, the optical output of the laser diode tends to vary significantly depending upon the operating temperature. For example, the light-emitting efficiency of the laser diode degrades as the temperature rises, so that the current conducted through the laser diode needs to be increased in order to maintain the optical output constant. Thus, to achieve a constant optical output regardless of the operating temperature, it is necessary to adjust the current (mI) conducted through the laser diode as appropriate depending upon the operating temperature. That is, it is necessary to adjust the magnitude of the reference current (I) as appropriate depending upon the operating temperature. Furthermore, in order to accommodate variability in product characteristics for laser diode elements on a unit-by-unit basis, as well as changes over time, the magnitude of the reference current (I) may be adjusted. In this context, the current source (122) is a variable current source. Thus, the magnitude of the reference current (I) is modified depending upon various factors.
However, if the reference current (I) is too small, a problem may occur. If the reference current (I) is small, the amplitude of the drive current also becomes small, so that the rise characteristics of the mirrored version (mI) of the drive current, that is, the current (Id) flowing through the laser diode (150), are degraded. Thus, there is a problem in that high-speed switching of the laser diode is difficult to achieve.


The present invention relates to a protein having an activity of giving a lysozyme insensitivity to a lysozyme-sensitive microorganism belonging to Corynebacterium glutamicum; DNA which codes for the protein; a recombinant vector containing the DNA; a transformant obtained by introducing the recombinant vector into a host cell; a bacterium having a lysozyme sensitivity in which the activity of the protein is inactivated; and a method for producing an amino acid using the bacterium.

Lysozyme-sensitive variants belonging to genus Corynebacterium are used for the manufacture of glutamic acid (Examined Published Japanese Patent Application (JP-B) No. Hei 1-29555) and of glutamine (JP-B Sho 62-49038) and are also used as hosts for the preparation of transformants (Unexamined Published Japanese Patent Application (JP-A) No. Sho 58-56678).
Microorganisms belonging to the genus Corynebacterium and having a sensitivity to lysozyme have been prepared by random introduction of mutation into a chromosome with a mutagenizing agent, followed by a selection of lysozyme-sensitive mutant(s) from the resulting strains (JP-B Sho 62-49038 and Hei 1-29555 and JP-A Sho 58-56678). According to such a method, however, in addition to the mutation concerning the lysozyme sensitivity, unfavorable mutation can also be accompanied therewith and, therefore, it is difficult to obtain a desired lysozyme-sensitive microorganism efficiently.

Gene conferring lysozyme insensitivity to


The present invention sets out to make available a method for reducing noise in an image sequence. This method can be implemented in an acquisition device such as a digital video camera or the like. The aim of this invention is attained with a method for filtering a sequence of digital images in CFA format.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns the processing of digital images and, more particularly, a method for filtering noise in a digital image sequence.
2. Description of the Related Art
Digital images are currently being used in numerous applications, including those related with such traditional acquisition devices as still and video cameras. It is to be expected that ever greater use of digital images will be made in such new generation devices as mobile multimedia communication terminals.
There exist numerous devices or applications that use digital images in sequence, that is to say, images acquired one after the other, separated by a brief interval of time and representing approximately the same real scene.
The speed with which the sequence is acquired, i.e., the number of images acquired in a given time interval, may vary according to the specific application; for example, this number is very large in digital video cameras (about 25 images per second) and smaller (about 15 images per second) in mobile communication terminals, which acquire the digital images and then transmit them in real time to a remote terminal.
It is well known that digital image acquisition devices, especially when they include CMOS sensors, will intrinsically introduce noise into the acquired images.
In digital image sequences noise not only degrades the quality of the images, but also reduces the encoding/compression efficiency. Indeed, the acquired image sequences have commonly to be encoded/compressed by means of encoding/compression techniques that operate in accordance with, for example, the MPEG standard or the H263 standard and nowadays are very widely used in the greater part of devices in the market today.
The encoding/compression efficiency becomes reduced by the presence of noise, because the introduced noise is typically in the form of random fluctuations that reduce redundancy both within an image and between images that are temporally close to each other.
There exist numerous filtering techniques intended to reduce or eliminate the noise present in an image sequence.
Numerous attempts have been made to develop efficient techniques for reducing the noise of a sequence by using various specific types of filters. Known digital filters include, for example, low-pass filters, median filters, adaptive spatial filters and recursive temporal filters with or without motion compensation.
Other prior art techniques seek to improve noise reduction efficiency in image sequences by having recourse to hybrid methods that combine digital spatial filtering with digital temporal filtering.
Though the known techniques for reducing noise in image sequences are satisfactory in many respects, they are also associated with numerous drawbacks and problems that are bound up with, for example, inadequate performance, processing complexity and excessive processing costs that make it difficult to employ them in portable acquisition devices of a commercial type.

Method for filtering the noise of a digital image sequence


A digital signal to be received by a plurality of receivers, particularly restricted-range receivers, and divided into signal frames of which at least some include both a main data channel consisting of sub-channels, and a data transport path including at least one data channel consisting of separate data blocks dedicated to a single service and known as containers. Each container includes a header (41) consisting of a selection sub-header (44) containing, inter alia, data (46) for identifying a group of at least one container destination receiver, and a service sub-header (45) containing, inter alia, dedicated service data; a separately convolutionally coded working data field (42) containing source data for a given service; and an error detection and/or correction data field 943). Said selection sub-headers (44) are disconnected from the respective containers and collected in at least one dedicated service container subjected to simplified channel coding to enable the receivers to detect the presence of a container dedicated thereto by low-cost decoding analysis of said dedicated service container, said selection sub-headers (44) further containing access data (410) for determining the position of the corresponding container in said data path. The above-system enables the digital audio broadcasting (DAB) standard to be used for broadcasting paging data.

The field of the invention is that of the transmission of digital data by RF channels. More specifically, the invention relates to the transmission of information dedicated to a particular receiver, or to a group of identified receivers.
The invention can be applied especially to systems of digital transmission in which at least some of the receivers have an intermittent operation, i.e. they go into operation periodically, at predefined instants, so as to economize energy.
These may be, for example, receivers capable of receiving particular information (alarms, road information, time schedules for transportation means, magazines, medical services) or personal information (paging, faxes, calendaring information).
A particular field of application of the invention is that of one-way paging. Paging is understood to mean any system enabling the transmission of a message to a portable receiver that can advantageously be kept in a user's pocket. These systems can be used in particular to transmit a message to a person who is travelling when the sender of the message does not even know where his or her correspondent is.
Conventionally, such systems in the most simplest case enable the transmission of a sound and/or visual signal by a pocket receiver upon reception of a message. These systems are generally known as simple private call systems.
Other more elaborate receivers enable the reception and display of a short digital message such as for example a telephone number to be called or a coded piece of information.
Receivers of this kind are used especially in paging systems known as the "Operator" (registered mark) and "Alphapage" (registered mark) systems available in France.
These paging systems, as well as all other presently known paging systems, have many drawbacks.
First of all, they can be used at best to transmit only a short message. Consequently, in practice the subscriber receiving a message must always look for a telephone to find out the actual contents of the information intended for him or her.
Furthermore since, for obvious reasons of operating autonomy, portable receivers can be supplied only by batteries or cells, these receivers must have intermittent operation. More specifically, a paging receiver is most usually on standby (only a clock is powered) and goes into operation cyclically to detect a message, if any, that is intended for him or her.
This implies a particular management of the instant at which transmission is made so that each message is sent only when the destination receiver has left its standby state to go into operation.
By contrast, it is necessary that the receivers should have specific synchronization means so as to control the instants at which they go into operation. To do this, in known systems, temporal synchronization data elements are inserted among the paging data elements.
The corresponding synchronization operations hold the receiver in operation for a certain period of time leading to high energy consumption.
Furthermore, known broadcasting systems encounter difficulties in the reception of FM signals in many situations especially when they are mobile and/or they are used in urban environments (because of the Doppler effect, fading, multiple path echoes, scrambling, etc.). They therefore do not provide sufficient guarantee of reception.
In order to overcome some of these drawbacks, the patent application FR 9204479 entitled "Procede de transmission de donnees numeriques de radiomessagerie, et recepteur de radiomessagerie correspondent" (Method for the transmission of paging digital data elements and corresponding paging receiver) filed by the same Applicants as the present application, proposes a system of paging integrated into a more general system of digital broadcasting implementing time and frequency interlacing techniques such as the COFDM.
The use of this system can be used to provide for the transmission of data in an efficient way, even when the transmission channel is highly scrambled. Furthermore, no new infrastructure is required since the same medium is used as for broadcasting (DAB standard).
In this known system, there is provided a fast information channel (FIC) including flags to indicate the presence of information corresponding to the services given. To limit the energy consumption, this FIC channel is not frequency-interlaced. The paging data elements may be inserted into this FIC channel if they are small in number. Otherwise, they are placed in a main service channel (MSC). In this case, they undergo temporal and frequency interlacing.
In practice, it is noted that the place available in the FIC channel is insufficient to enable quality services, especially the supply of information of great length.
This is especially the case for the new applications of broadcasting data to portable terminals (known as PDAs or personal data agents) used for example for services for the transmission of files, road information, general information, stock exchange information, fleet management information, etc.
It is therefore necessary to place at least a part of the paging data elements (and more generally of identified data elements, namely data elements that can be identified by one or more destination receivers) in the MSC. This raises a major drawback, namely the storage of several frames (16 in the case of the present DAB standard) to carry out the de-interlacing and therefore to reconstruct the messages.
Furthermore, the decoding of a useful data element requires the taking into account of a large number of unnecessary data elements (especially all the data elements contained in the FIC and in the channel in which the useful information is contained).
This technique is therefore clearly incompatible with an optimization of reception in receivers with limited autonomy which must have an operation that is intermittent and limited to the maximum extent in time.

Digital signal organized in self-contained data containers, especially for data transmission to selective call receivers


In a processor cache, cache circuits are mapped into one or more logical modules. Each module may be powered down independently of other modules in response to microinstructions processed by the cache. Power control may be applied on a microinstruction-by-microinstruction basis. Because the microinstructions determine which modules are used, power savings may be achieved by powering down those modules that are not used. A cache layout organization may be modified to distribute a limited number of ways across addressable cache banks. By associating fewer than a total number of ways to a bank (for example, one or two ways), the size of memory clusters within the bank may be reduced. The reduction in this size of the memory cluster contributes reduces the power needed for an address decoder to address sets within the bank.

The present invention relates to a cache architecture that contributes to reduced power consumption of integrated circuits. More particularly, the cache architecture permits units within the cache to be disabled on a microinstruction-by-microinstruction basis.
Issues of power consumption have become increasingly important for the design of integrated circuits. The power consumption of integrated circuits, particularly that of processors, has increased over the years with the historical increase clock speeds. Modern processors now consume so much power that the heat generated by the processors has become destructive. The increase in power consumption also contributes to reduced battery life in mobile computing applications.
Power management techniques are commonplace in the modern computer. Users of domestic personal computers recognize that computer monitors, disk drives and the like are disabled when not in use. However, such techniques are not able to keep pace with the ever increasing power demands made by newer generations of integrated circuits. Accordingly, there remains a need in the art for an integrated circuit architecture that contributes to reduced power consumption of the integrated circuit.
An internal cache may be perhaps the largest functional unit within a processor. In the Pentium Pro® processor, commercially available from Intel Corporation, an L2 cache may have a capacity to store 2 MB of data and may occupy approximately 60% of the processor's area when manufactured as an integrated circuit. If a power control technique could be applied to a processor's cache, it could achieve considerable power control savings for the chip overall.
It is known to disable (e.g. power down) a processor cache when it is not in use in order to save power. Such a technique, however, disables the cache entirely and can be used only when the cache has no operation to perform. As is known, a cache may have a high utilization rate. Accordingly, the known power conservation techniques for caches do not achieve significant reductions in power consumption.
No known power control scheme for a processor cache permits the cache to conserve power when in operation.