An apparatus and method for setting a gap between webs has a clamp assemblage which includes a pair of clamp members for securing and moving a trailing end of an expiring web into a spaced relations with the leading end of a fresh web. An actuator moves the clamp members securing the expiring web along guide rails to a predetermined position for setting the gap width between the ends of web.

Conveyance of webs in a continuous manufacturing process utilize splicing apparatus which joins an expiring (conveying) web to the leading edge of a new (entering) web at zero speed. Accumulators, or take-ups, are generally used to allow the manufacturing line to continue at production speed while the splicing process is completed at zero speed. In the manufacture of sensitized film and paper products, a precision uniform splice gap is required to insure trouble-free conveyance and reduce probability of splice related coating disturbances. In many zero speed butt splicing processes, the leading edge of the new web is overlapped with the trailing edge of the expiring web, both webs are clamped and a knife/cutter assembly trims both ends via a cross-cut. Splice tape is applied over the cut with no provision for generating a slight gap between the cut ends of the web.
Automated zero speed butt splicing equipment is used in many converting applications to join together two webs, a new web and progressing (or expiring) web, allowing continuous operation of the manufacturing line. Butt splicing equipment is also commonly used in manufacture of sensitized film and paper products, where splice characteristics can adversely affect the applied emulsion coatings. In most applications, no provision is made to produce a splice with uniform and specific gap dimensions. Lack of this capability on butt splicing equipment used in the manufacture in sensitized film and paper products can produce splices which can cause coating imperfections and conveyance related problems. Splices which are overlapped, for example, will cause coating imperfections due to a disruption in the coating process. Such disruptions are attributed to the increased thickness as the splice conveys through the coating station. A second cause of coating disturbances is due to non-uniform splice gap, which can generate coating imperfections which are generally persistent as the web continues to convey. A splice without a gap of sufficient width will hinge, i.e., buckle at the point of connection, when conveyed over a roller. This hinging of the web progressively weakens the splice tape at the hinge line (web connection line) as the web is conveyed over successive rollers. Of course, the probability of web tearing also increases with hinging. These problems are very costly and can result in significant waste and unscheduled machine down time.
Various attempts have been made in the prior art to minimize the problems described above. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 4,120,739 discloses splice gap setting capability (refer to column 7, lines 4-21) which consists of a butt control bar which advances until its free edge contacts the web and introduces a slight bow in the web, which is clamped. This system requires the cut-off edge of the web to be pulled through the clamp, which can create significant web tension and induce tearing. Clamping pressure is adjusted to prevent web tearing as the web is pulled through. However, due to non-uniformity in the web, such as planarity and camber, prevention of tearing and the ability to generate uniform splice gap width are questionable using this method described in this invention. Differences in elasticity of webs used with this process may also result in gap width variability. The patent states gap setting capability is between 0.1 and 0.3 mm.
In U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,468,31 and 3,554,842 butt splicing apparatus is disclosed that lacks an active splice gapping capability for solving the aforementioned problems.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,769,098, a butt splice apparatus has a method for moving the held portion of the new web from a first position to a second position where it is closely adjacent to the stopped portion of the expiring web (refer to column 4, lines 8-19). There is no provision for positioning the webs for a pre-selected gap setting therebetween.
Therefore, there persists a need for an apparatus and method for setting a gap of predetermined width between webs prior to splicing that is easy to use, reliable, and eliminates web defects usually associated with high production speed splicing operations.

Apparatus and method for setting a gap between strips of web


Executable instructions designed to provide faster cryptographic processing, fixed-timing memory access, and dedicated memory usage are implementable on an x86 CPU utilizing XMM registers. The instructions can be utilized to implement cryptographic processing in accordance with the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). To encrypt, a single instruction performs nonlinear transformation, rotation, and linear transformation. Another single instruction used during encryption performs nonlinear transformation and rotation. New instructions also are implemented to perform decryption. The instructions implemented to perform decryption perform the mathematical inverse functions of their counterparts used for encryption.

With an ever-increasing emphasis on security, the use of cryptographic techniques in computer processing systems is becoming more prevalent. As a result, larger portions of processing resources are being devoted to cryptographic processing. Cryptographic processing can be computationally intensive and time consuming.
Currently, many systems utilize cryptographic techniques in accordance with the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), Federal Information Processing Standards Publication 197, Nov. 26, 2001, available at http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/fips/fips197/fips-197.pdf. The AES, also known as the Rijndael algorithm, specifies cryptographic techniques that can be used to protect electronic data. The AES is a symmetric block cipher that can encrypt (encipher) and decrypt (decipher) information. Some aspects of the AES are computationally intensive and can present processing "bottlenecks." These bottlenecks can slow down security applications and can interfere with other processes being executed on a processor. Further, close analysis of the timing associated with cryptographic processing in accordance with some current implementations of the AES can lead to leakage of cryptographic keys, which could result in weakened security.


A method of fabricating a semiconductor device includes providing a semiconductor substrate in which a gate insulating layer and a pad layer are formed in an active region. A first trench is formed in an isolation region of the substrate. A passivation film is formed to cover the pad layer and fill the first trench. A second trench is formed by patterning the pad layer and removing an exposed semiconductor substrate, the second trench being formed within the first trench. An ion implantation process is performed on the semiconductor substrate exposed through the second trench.

The present invention relates to a method of fabricating a semiconductor device and, more particularly, to a method of fabricating a semiconductor device, in which a dual trench structure can be easily formed in a high voltage region by using a passivation film.
In non-volatile memory devices such as flash memory devices, a high voltage is used in order to perform erase and write operations. To use this high voltage, a high voltage transistor capable of passing or switching the high voltage is used.
A process of forming a high voltage transistor having a general dual trench structure is as follows. A gate insulating layer for insulation is formed over a semiconductor substrate. A pad layer for protecting underlying layers is formed on the gate insulating layer. A hard mask pattern in which a trench region is opened is formed on the pad layer. An etch process is performed along the hard mask pattern, thus patterning the pad layer and the gate insulating layer. An exposed semiconductor substrate is removed to form a first trench.
In order to form a dual trench structure, a photoresist is formed over the semiconductor substrate in which the first trench is formed. The photoresist is a fluid material and is thus formed along the surface of the semiconductor substrate including the trench and the pad layer. Accordingly, it is difficult to form the photoresist thickly because a subsequent exposure process must be performed. If the photoresist is formed thick, not only the exposure process along the pattern, but also a development process is difficult. For this reason, the photoresist is formed thin. In particular, the photoresist is formed thin at the corners of the pad layer.
At the time of an ion implantation process performed on the semiconductor substrate in which a subsequent second trench is formed, an impurity can be implanted into the photoresist film. The impurity can be implanted into the core regions of the pad layer in which the thickness of the photoresist is thin. If the impurity is implanted into the pad layer, electrical properties may vary when the semiconductor device is operated subsequently. It may result in degraded reliability of the semiconductor device.

Method of fabricating semiconductor device


A valve device (14) of a hydraulic system (1) for actuating at least one shifting element (2) of a transmission. The valve device comprising a pilot-controlled control valve device (3) with a valve slide (9) and, functionally connected with this is, an also pilot-controlled switching valve device (4) which is also formed with a valve slide (7). The valve slides (7, 9) are arranged to move longitudinally in a common bore (15) of a valve housing (16) and are positioned coaxially with one another, and an inner valve slide (7) is arranged to move longitudinally at least partially within the outer valve slide (9).

U.S. Pat. No. 7,282,005 B2 describes a hydraulic system for actuating a shifting element of a transmission, having a pilot-controlled control valve device comprising a valve slide and, functionally connected therewith, an also pilot-controlled switching valve device that is also made with a valve slide. By means of a pressure regulating device, the pilot pressure for the control valve device and the switching valve device is set as a function of an electric control signal, such that the pressure regulating device has a defined working pressure range which is usually substantially lower than the actuating pressure of the shifting element. To enable actuating the shifting element with higher pressure values compared with the pilot pressure of the control valve device and the switching valve device, the control valve device is connected downstream from the pressure regulating device, in the area of which the pilot pressure of the pressure regulating device is converted to a higher level.
In general, during the driving operation of a vehicle made with a transmission such as a converter automatic transmission or the like, it must be ensured that in its fully engaged operating condition, a shifting element is operating at its full transmission capacity without slip. For this, at the end of the actuating pressure control pressure range, the actuating pressure is increased abruptly to a higher pressure value, which usually corresponds to a so-termed system pressure. The switch-over or at least approximately abrupt raising of the actuating pressure is effected by means of the switching valve device that is controlled in parallel by the pressure regulating device, which however is only actuated or changed from a first to a second switch condition at high pilot pressures.
By means of the switching valve device, the back-coupling of the actuating pressure to the control valve device is deactivated when the switching valve device is in a second switch condition, so that the control valve device is changed from a so-termed modulation position to an operating condition in which the system pressure applied at the control valve device is completely routed through in the direction toward the shifting element.
Since the valve slide of the control valve device and the valve slide of the switching valve device are respectively arranged in separate valve bores, a hydraulic system, formed in such manner, takes up an undesirably large amount of space.

Hydraulic valve system for actuating at least one shifting element of a transmission


A power tool with a base assembly, and a table supported by the base assembly, where the table has a workpiece supporting surface. A saw assembly is pivotably supported by the table via a trunnion assembly. The table includes a post having a first curved surface having a first radius. The trunnion has a first surface contacting the first curved surface. The trunnion is movable along the first curved surface. The first radius is larger than the distance between the first surface and the workpiece supporting surface.

Typical miter saws have a trunnion assembly that allows the saw assembly to be beveled relative to a table. Typically, the bevel axis is coplanar with the table. In a combination table/miter saw, such arrangement may be undesirable, as, when the saw is used in table saw mode, the bevel axis will be underneath the table surface supporting the workpiece. It is an object of the invention to provide a trunnion assembly for such combination table/miter saw.


A steam generating container A heated by a heat source includes: a water evaporation chamber into which water is supplied by a water supply device; a leading opening to lead steam from the water evaporation chamber, and ejection openings ejecting steam led through the leading opening into a heating chamber containing food. A buffer chamber connecting through the leading opening and with the ejection openings is provided between the water evaporation chamber and the heating chamber. Even when bumping water enters the buffer chamber through the leading opening, the bumping water having entered flows inside the buffer chamber. Thus, the bumping water is hardly ejected into the heating chamber through the ejection openings.

When food is to be cooked, in order that food having high nutritive values should be allowed to be taken in, it is preferred that cell disruption in the food during the cooking is suppressed so that outflow of the nutrients contained in the food is avoided. When food is cooked by using an oven (a cooking device), heat is conducted to the core of the food into an appropriate temperature in a high temperature atmosphere and hence outflow of the nutrients from the food is avoided.
In recent years, with increasing desire for health, cooking devices utilizing steam have been proposed in which outflow of the nutrients of food is avoided and at the same time fat is eliminated (for example, see Japanese Patent Application Laid Open No. 2006-84059. The cooking device described in the Japanese Patent Application includes: a housing provided with a heating chamber the front side of which is opened and which heats contained food; a door opening and closing the front side open part of the heating chamber; a magnetron heating the heating chamber; and a steam generating container supplying steam to the heating chamber. Then, cooking is achieved in a state that high temperature steam fills the heating chamber.
In the steam generating container, an ejection opening ejecting into the heating chamber the steam of the water evaporation chamber is provided in an upper part of the steam generating chamber (the water evaporation chamber) having a water supply port in a lower part. A baffle plate is provided between the water supply port and the ejection opening which are opened in the water evaporation chamber. When water having been supplied through the water supply port to the water evaporation chamber boils and runs up, the baffle plate prevents the boiling water from reaching the upper part so as to avoid a situation that the boiling water is ejected through the ejection opening into the heating chamber.


A left atrial appendage occluder for improving sealing effect and a manufacturing method thereof are provided. The left atrial appendage occluder includes a sealing portion and an anchoring portion coupled to the sealing portion. The sealing portion and the anchoring portion abut against each other. A tight connection between the sealing portion and the anchoring portion can be achieved by applying a pre-tightening force, such that the left atrial appendage occluder can be better attached to and occlude the left atrial appendage after being release.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common persistent arrhythmia. The incidence of AF increases with age and is up to 10% in people over 75 years old. When AF occurs, the atrial pulsation rate is up to 300-600 beats per minute. The heart rate is often fast and irregular, and an effective atrial systolic function is lost. In case of AF, the contractility of a left atrial appendage (LAA) is decreased; in addition, morphological characteristics of the LAA and the uneven trabecula in the LAA which make the blood flow generate an eddy in the LAA and the blood flow rate slow down, thus resulting in the formation of thrombus. For patients with nonvalvular AF, more than 90% of left atrium thrombi occur in the LAA, and after the thrombi fall off, the thrombi will enter the cerebral arterial blood vessels through the aorta, thereby causing cerebral embolism, namely stroke.
Currently, to prevent AF patients from the risk of stroke, preventive treatments are clinically performed by mainly utilizing the following three methods: anticoagulant treatment, surgical treatment, and percutaneous left atrial appendage occlusion (LAAO) treatment. The anticoagulant treatment is to restrain blood coagulation by oral anticoagulants, so as to reduce the risk of thrombus formation in the LAA, and then reduce the occurrence probability of stoke. Clinic trials show that the anticoagulant treatment can remarkably reduce the occurrence probability of stroke, but the anticoagulant treatment is a long-term process and also has remarkable complications, mainly including bleeding complications, and even may lead to severe cases. The surgical treatment includes surgical ablation or suture of LAA. However, surgical trauma is large, and such surgery is generally performed during the valve replacement surgery or the coronary artery bypass graft surgery. Patients, especially elderly patients, generally are hard to accept a simple LAA surgery. The percutaneous LAAO treatment is to deliver and then release a LAA occluder to the LAA disposed in the right atrium of the heart by utilizing a delivery sheath with a smaller diameter in a percutaneous puncture mode. The LAA occluder can occlude the orifice of the LAA to prevent blood flow in the atrium from entering the LAA, thereby preventing thrombus formation and achieving a purpose of preventing AF-induced thromboembolism. Since 2001, the percutaneous LAAO treatment has been in use, and has successively subject to animal experiments and clinical trials. Based on the clinical trials, the LAAO treatment can effectively reduce the occurrence probability of stroke of the AF patients.
The LAA occluder currently in the market mainly has two types of structures: a plug structure and a double-disc structure.
Because the application time of the LAA occluder is relatively short, the technology is relatively immature, there will be some complications after surgery and affect the living quality of the patient. Among them, residual shunt of an instrument is one of the main complications of LAA occlusion. In the case of the LAA occluder with the plug structure, 8% of patients had residual shunt complications from their 6-month follow-up results, and 32% to 34.5% of patients in different centers had some degrees of residual shunt complications from their 12-month follow-up results. In the case of the LAA occluder with the double-disc structure, 2%-16.2% of patients in different centers had moderate residual shunt complications from their 12-month follow-up results. The incidence of residual shunt complications is high, which will affect the living quality of patients. Therefore, reducing the residual shunt after LAA occlusion is one of the main goals of improving the clinical application value of the LAA occluder.
The LAA occluder with the double-disc structure usually includes a sealing portion and an anchoring portion. After the LAA occluder is released, the sealing portion occludes the orifice of the LAA, and the anchoring portion is released inside the LAA and is provided with barbs to fix the sealing portion. After being released, the sealing portion of the LAA occluder should be closely attached to the orifice of the LAA to occlude the LAA. If the sealing portion fails to be closely attached to the orifice of the LAA and the sealing portion may be suspended in the left atrium, resulting that a sufficient occlusion effect for the orifice of the LAA cannot be achieved, and the risk of thrombosis may be further increased. A major factor that causes the sealing portion to be ineffectively attached to the LAA is related to the connection between the sealing portion and the anchoring portion. That is, the anchoring portion and the sealing portion fail to be tightly connected together, the overall length of the occluder is relatively longer, and the anchoring portion is radially compressed, further increasing the overall length of LAA occlude after being released, and also causing an increase in the axial distance between the sealing portion and the anchoring portion, such that the sealing portion cannot be effectively attached to the LAA after being released, resulting in residual shunts.

Left atrial appendage occluder for improving sealing effect and manufacturing method thereof


In some embodiments, a method of forming a three dimensional NAND structure atop a substrate may include providing to a process chamber a substrate having alternating nitride layers and oxide layers or alternating polycrystalline silicon layers and oxide layers formed atop the substrate and a photoresist layer formed atop the alternating layers; etching the photoresist layer to expose at least a portion of the alternating nitride layers and oxide layers or alternating polycrystalline silicon layers and oxide layers; providing a process gas comprising sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), carbon tetrafluoride (CF4), and oxygen (O2) to the process chamber; providing an RF power of about 4 kW to about 6 kW to an RF coil to ignite the process gas to form a plasma; and etching through a desired number of the alternating layers to form a feature of a NAND structure.

The inventors have observed that conventional etch methods utilized to form features in the fabrication of three dimensional devices (e.g., negated and or not-and (NAND) devices) typically display an undesirably low ratio of lateral etch to vertical etch (L/V ratio). Such low L/V ratios may result in undesirable process results during the fabrication of the device. For example, a low L/V ratio may cause a photoresist utilized to define the features to be prematurely consumed, thereby limiting a number and/or the dimensions of a feature that may be formed.
Thus, the inventors have provided improved methods for forming three dimensional NAND structures atop a substrate

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Methods for forming three dimensional NAND structures atop a substrate


An electric rotating machine has an armature coil comprising outer and inner coil trunks disposed in slots of an armature core as well as outer and inner coil arms disposed along an axial side surface of the armature core. The outer coil arms are arranged to operate as a commutator and in slidable contact with brushes. The diameters of the radially outermost parts of the outer coil arms and the brushes are larger than that of the radially outermost surface of the outer conductor. This arrangement assures a larger commutator-brush contact area that reduces current density as well as heat generation in the commutator-brush contact area. As the radially outwardly extending parts of the outer coil arms are exposed to the surrounding air, the outer coil trunk, the outer coil arm and the brushes as well as the radially outwardly extending part are cooled effectively during rotation of the armature core.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electric rotating machine and, more particularly, to an electric rotating machine that can be used for a starter for cranking engines.
2. Related Art
A surface-commutator type electric rotating machine is proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,508,577 (JP-A7-231617). In this electric rotating machine, coil ends of an armature coil extend towards a rotary shaft of an armature in the radial direction along the axial side surfaces of an armature core so that the coil ends disposed at one axial side of the armature core are used as commutator surfaces of a commutator on which brushes slide. As the radially extending coil ends are used as the commutator, the axial length of the armature can be shortened and hence the size of the electric rotating machine can be reduced.
In manufacturing this type of electric rotating machines of different output power specifications, it is more advantageous to change the axial length of the armature than to change the radial length of the armature from the standpoint of using same component parts for the electric rotating machines and same manufacturing apparatus for manufacturing the electric rotating machine.
Provided that only the axial length of the armature is changed for a different output, the heat capacity of the armature will increase with increase in the axial length of the armature. Further, provided that the electric current supplied to the brushes is increased for higher output power, density of current in the brush-commutator sliding area increases correspondingly. As a result, the sliding of the brushes on the commutator surface increases heat generation, increasing the temperature of the entire part of the armature. This temperature rise tends to increase the electric resistance of the armature coil, causing lower output power than desired as well as shorter longevity of the brushes and the coil ends used as the commutator.
Therefore, it becomes necessary to enlarge the diameter of the armature to assure an increased brush-commutator sliding area. This will cause increase in the size of the armature in the radial direction and in the inertia mass of the armature. In the case where this electric rotating machine is used for a starter, for instance, the increased inertia mass of the armature will produce an increased collision shock when the starter engages with the ring gear of an engine.
Further, as the armature that uses the coil ends as the commutator has a shorter length in the axial direction of the armature core, it becomes difficult to dissipate the heat to the surrounding space. Thus, the heating of the armature coil must be reduced to maintain the electrical insulation of the armature coil. Particularly, when the conductors of the armature coil disposed in slots of the armature core expand in the axial direction because of heat expansion, the coil ends tend to move in the axial direction. Therefore, it becomes necessary to cool the armature coil for restricting the heat expansion.

Rotary electric machine having coil end extending radially outward as commutator


A recording apparatus includes: a carriage that relatively moves against a recording medium, on which a recording head for recording an image of input information on a recording region of the recording medium is mounted; and a driving device for driving the carriage. Furthermore, the recording apparatus includes: a control device for driving the carriage by the driving device in accordance with a driving process of: an acceleration step for accelerating the carriage by stepwise changing the carriage's velocity from a rest level to a predetermined level and a retaining step for keeping the carriage's velocity of the predetermined level as a predetermined velocity.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a recording method and a recording apparatus for recording information including characters, images, pictures, and the like on a recording medium. Also the present invention relates to an information-processing system such as a copying machine, a facsimile machine, a printer, a word processor, and a personal computer, using such an apparatus as its output device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Heretofore, various kinds of serial-type recording apparatuses have been proposed as in the form of mounting the recording head of a wire dot matrix recording system, thermal recording system, thermal transfer recording system, ink jet recording system, or the like. The recording apparatus comprises a mobile device (hereinafter referred to as a carriage) on which the recording head is mounted for performing an image formation on a recording medium such as a sheet of paper, a piece of fabric and a sheet of plastic material for overhead projector (generally called an OHP sheet in Japan). For driving the carriage, in general, the serial-type recording apparatus further comprises a motor (mostly, a stepping motor) as a driving means.
In the following description, we will explain an ink jet recording apparatus to serve as an example for explaining a configuration of the conventional recording apparatus and its driving means and control system.
Among the conventional recording methods, the ink jet recording methods have been known as one of the non-impact methods and they are mainly grouped into two different types in that they prepare ink droplets and generate energies for ejecting the ink droplets in different manners. That is, one is of a continuous type and the other is of an on-demand type. The continuous type methods are further grouped into a charge particle control type and a spray type, while the on-demand methods are further grouped into a piezo type, a spark type, and a bubble jet type.
In the case of the method of a continuous type, a plurality of ink droplets is ejected continuously but only a required part of them is charged so as to be adhered on the recording medium but the others are of no use. In the case of the method of on-demand type, on the other hand, ink droplets are ejected when they are required for the recording process. By this method, therefore, the ink can be used without causing any useless droplets and without staining an interior of the apparatus. According to the method of on-demand type, furthermore, a response frequency of the recording means is lower than that of the continuous one because the on-demand type recording head starts and stops its ink ejection during the period of image formation. It follows from this that the high speed recording can be attained by increasing the number of nozzles of the recording head in the type of on-demand, so that a lot of recording apparatuses being commercially available are of the on-demand type.
Therefore the ink jet recording apparatus comprising the recording head of such ink jet type has been commercially manufactured and used to meet the needs for high speed recording, high resolution, high image quality, low noise, and so forth. That is, the ink jet type recording apparatus has thus been employed as printers for copy machines, facsimiles, printers, word processors, output terminals of work stations and so forth, handy or portable printers to be employed in personal computers, host computers, optical disk systems, video systems, and so forth. In these cases, the ink jet recording apparatus can be constructed and designed so as to match their individual mechanisms, operation or service conditions, and the like.
The ink jet recording apparatus generally comprises: a carriage for carrying a recording means (i.e., a recording head) and an ink tank; a transfer means for transferring a recording medium (e.g., a sheet of recording paper); and a control means for controlling the drive of these means. In the ink jet recording apparatus, the ink jet recording head performs its serial scanning movement (i.e., the head scans over a surface of the recording head sequentially) along the direction (main-scanning direction) perpendicular to the direction (sub-scanning direction) of transmitting the recording medium for ejecting ink droplets from a plurality of ejection orifices, while the recording medium is intermittently shifted at a distance corresponding to a recording width of the recording medium.
The process of ink jet recording is characterized by ejecting ink droplets on the recording medium in accordance with the recording signals, so that it has been widely applied in various systems as a noiseless recording process with an inexpensive running cost. By using the recording head comprising a plurality of ink-ejecting nozzles linearly arranged in the sub-scanning direction, an image having a width thereof corresponding to the number of the nozzles can be recorded by a single scanning movement of the recording head. Consequently, high-speed recording movement can be attained.
As described above, however, the aforementioned conventional recording apparatus uses in general the motor (mainly the step motor, i.e., pulse motor, to be revolved in accordance with input pulse) as a driving means for driving the carriage. The motor is responsible for shifting a position of the carriage in the main-scanning direction with respect to the recording medium. On this occasion, in general, the motor is set into rotation at a constant rate by producing an acceleration, i.e., by gradually increasing the speed of rotation. In the conventional recording apparatus, furthermore, a failure of driving the carriage ordinarily at a constant rate (i.e., situations in which acceleration varies) would create instability in image qualities, especially just after the carriage reaches at the predetermined recording rate from a rest state of the motor. For decreasing the instability in image qualities in most of the conventional recording apparatuses, therefore, prior to the recording of image, a recording speed of the carriage is kept at a constant by accelerating from the rest state to the predetermined level to attain the recording speed. By the way, a time interval from rest is required to attain a constant recording speed after accelerating the carriage. The time interval becomes longer when the recording speed is higher than that of the usual, with the result that an approach run of the carriage for the recording movement requires a longer area. It means that a recording area of the recording medium decreases with increase in the recording speed. Thus a problem to be solved is to increase the recording speed without decreasing a recording area of the recording apparatus.
FIGS. 1 and 2 show the time variation of the carriage's velocity for explaining a typical acceleration of a carriage-driving motor (e.g., a magnetic stepping motor) at the period of driving the carriage to be installed in the conventional ink jet recording apparatus. In these figures, the vertical axis is for a transport velocity of the carriage and the horizontal axis is for a lapse of time.
For transporting the carriage by driving the magnetic stepping motor, the so-called open loop control is generally used in such driving. In this case, a detection of the carriage's position is not performed after sending a control signal to the motor. Therefore we cannot detect whether the motor or the carriage is being driven in accordance with the control signal.
In FIGS. 1 and 2, control values of the carriage's velocity at successive times, which are experimentally obtained, are plotted as a thick line D, while each control value practically obtained is plotted as a narrow line (E). In the case of an example as shown in FIG. 1, the carriage's motion is controlled as a uniformly accelerated linear motion. Therefore the carriage's velocity is constantly increased to a predetermined velocity (i.e., a control value) Vk and then the carriage's velocity is kept at a constant without deviating from that value Vk by means of controlling a drive of the carriage motor. In spite of such control, however, an actual position of the carriage is deviated from the expected position with respect to the control value Vk because of variations occurring in the carriage's velocity at successive times. That is, just after the acceleration the carriage once travels at a velocity of over Vk. Then the carriage's displacement can be successively performed at higher and lower velocities in a repetitive manner, with respect to the control value Vk. This kind of variation in the carriage's velocity can be observed in spite of passing the carriage over the point of starting the recording movement.
FIG. 2 shows an example of controlling the carriage's motion by means of a combination of exponential components instead of using the uniformly accelerated linear motion. In this case, however, variations in the carriage's velocity can be also observed after the carriage's acceleration, in spite of passing over the recording start position.
If the variation in the carriage's velocity is continued after starting the recording of an image on a recording medium, the resulting image can be disrupted. To solve this problem, it has been required to converge the above variations during the period between the end of acceleration and the start of recording.
During the period between the time of starting the recording movement and the time of ending the acceleration, the carriage tends to locate on the far side of each expected position at the successive times. In this case, it is noted that the extent to which the carriage's location is deviated from the expected position with respect to the velocity is gradually enlarged with the time, involving that the extent of variations in the carriage's velocity is also enlarged.
At the time of starting the acceleration, the carriage receives a force of the following equation: EQU F=Ma
(where "F" denotes a force, "M" denotes a weight of the carriage, "a" denotes an acceleration).
When the force F is applied on the carriage at a moment of starting the acceleration, the carriage starts to move at a velocity slower than the above control level Vk for a very short period because of stretching a belt member or of hardness of other members for transporting the carriage. After that short period, the carriage moves at a velocity higher than the above control level because of a repulsion force to bring back the shape of the belt member or the like. When the repulsion force is not enough, the acceleration can be finished with a delayed movement of the carriage, depending on the configuration of the transport device. A degree of the force F to be applied on the carriage at the time of accelerating the carriage's motion is directly proportionate to the degree of acceleration, so that the above variations in the carriage's velocity can be converged by decreasing the acceleration. However, it requires a comparatively larger device for providing a longer distance to accelerate the carriage's motion.
Accordingly, it has been required to finish the acceleration of the carriage's motion within a short period by rapidly accelerating the carriage.

Recording apparatus, method and information-processing system


A computer-readable medium, computer-implemented method, and system for manipulating an object is provided. In one embodiment, an object which include one or more object references is converted into an intermediate object for serialization. In another embodiment, an object is restored from an intermediate object that has been deserialized so that the object includes one or more object references.

Several application development projects use object technology to build application software. An object is a programming data structure which includes data values and procedures that can manipulate the data values. For example, in the Java® programming language, a class is a template describing the data values and procedures that are grouped together to represent something, and an object is a variable constructed according to the template of the class. In other words, an object is an instance of a class, or template. Once an object is created from the class, or template, the object resides in the memory of the application while the object is in use by the application. The object is then removed from memory once the object is no longer in use by the application.
An object can be made to outlive the lifetime of the application which created the object through the process of serialization and deserialization. Serialization is the process of saving the current state of an object to a sequence of bytes, such as a stream. Deserialization is the process of later constructing an equivalent object from the sequence of bytes. The sequence of bytes serves as a container for the object, where the sequence of bytes includes a partial representation of the object's data values and procedures. The container may be transient in order to allow the object to be transported from one application to another, possibly over a network. As an alternative, the container may be persistent so that the object may be stored on a storage medium, so that the object is accessible even after the application which created the object is terminated. In both cases, the information stored in the container can later be used to construct an equivalent object containing the same data values and procedures as the original object.
In the scenario where an object includes a reference to another object, this referenced object (and the referenced object's associated data) is also serialized and stored as part of the container. This is done in order to avoid the reconstructed object containing null object references when it is reconstructed from the container. Furthermore, in the scenario when the object includes a reference to another object, when the object is deserialized, the object references are also reconstructed from the stream that the object was deserialized from. This is done because only the stream contains the current state of the referenced objects.

Computer object conversion using an intermediate object


A liquid discharge device includes: a head in which an ejection port to eject liquid as a droplet is formed; a buffer tank which is connected with the head through a supply channel and a collection channel and in which the liquid is housed; a deaeration module which is provided on the side of the supply channel; and a main tank in which the liquid supplied to the buffer tank through the supplement channel is stored, where: the supply channel is connected with a side surface of the buffer tank; the supplement channel penetrates the side surface of the buffer tank and has an exit of the supplement channel in the buffer tank; and the liquid supplied from the supplement channel has speed when the liquid collides with an inner wall surface of the buffer tank facing the exit of the supplement channel.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid discharge device, and particularly relates to a liquid discharge device including a circulation channel that circulates in an ejection unit and storage unit of liquid.
Description of the Related Art
Recently, a demand for printing with a small number of copies has grown in the printing industry. Since it is necessary to make a plate in offset printing, there is a problem in respect of time and costs when printing with a small number of copies is performed. Therefore, inkjet recording of a single-pass system is suitably used.
However, in the single pass system, there is a fault that, when a nozzle that does not perform ejection or a nozzle with ejection bending exists, a stripe is remarkable in the lack part. As a factor to cause the stripe, air bubbles mixed in a head (the rise of a dissolved oxygen amount) are a large factor. By installing a deaeration module in a circuit to remove the air bubbles, the dissolved oxygen amount in ink is kept at a low level during circulation by the deaeration module. However, ink that is not deaerated is supplemented when ink that has been deaerated is consumed by printing, and ink with a large dissolved oxygen amount is ejected because the ink that is not deaerated is supplied into the head, which leads to the degradation of printing quality.
Normally, ink in a buffer tank circulates in the buffer tank, a deaeration module and an ejection head, and keeps a dissolved oxygen amount at about 10%. Since the ink is discharged from the ejection head at printing, the ink in the buffer tank decreases and new ink is refilled from a main tank, but the refilled ink is not deaerated and ink with a dissolved oxygen amount of about 80% is refilled. When ink is not sufficiently diffused in the buffer tank and is supplied to the ejection head, since ink with a high dissolved oxygen amount is ejected, it leads to the degradation of printing quality.
To suppress the dissolved oxygen amount of ink during printing, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-198393 (PTL 1) defines a configuration in which ink in a sub-tank is stirred by providing a partition wall such that the ink flows in the sub-tank in a meandering manner in an ink supply device that supplies the ink from a main tank to the sub-tank and supplies the ink from the sub-tank to a printing head. Moreover, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2010-184424 (PTL 2) describes providing stir means in a sub-tank provided between an ink tank and a printing head and stirring ink in the sub-tank.


A structure for suppressing localized metal precipitate formation (LMPF) in semiconductor processing. For each metal wire that is exposed to the manufacturing environment and is electrically coupled to an N region, at least one P+ region is formed electrically coupled to the same metal wire. As a result, few excess electrons are available to combine with metal ions to form localized metal precipitate at the metal wire. A monitoring ramp terminal can be formed around and electrically disconnected from the metal wire. By applying a voltage difference to the metal wire and the monitoring ramp terminal and measuring the resulting current flowing through the metal wire and the monitoring ramp terminal, it can be determined whether localized metal precipitate is formed at the metal wire.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to Localized Metal Precipitate Formation (hereafter referred to as LMPF) and the corresponding metallization depletion, and more particularly, to methods for suppressing and monitoring LMPF, and suppressing interconnect depletion in semiconductor processing.
2. Related Art
During the process of fabricating chips on a semiconductor wafer, there may be at least two electrically isolated metal wires exposed to the manufacturing environment at the surface of the wafer. Due to photo and/or other forms of excitation, one of the two metal wires (hereafter referred to as the first wire) may be at a higher electrical potential than the other metal wire (hereafter referred to as the second wire). When the wafer undergoes a CMP (Chemical Mechanical Polishing) step, during which the wafer is exposed to an ionic solution, some metal atoms (M) of the first wire dissolve in the solution and become ionized (M->Mn+). As a result of the electrical potential difference between the first and second wires, some of these ionized atoms move in the solution from the first wire towards the second wire, and redeposit as localized metal precipitates (LMP) at the second wire (Mn+→M). These LMPs may cause a short-circuit in the devices on the wafer, which would degrade or destroy the ability of these devices to perform their intended function. Also, in some situations, the metal ions that dissolve into the ionic solution are drawn from a very small area of the first metal wire, resulting in localized removal of metal in that wire, often referred to as depletion or erosion of the metal. This localized loss of material from the first wire degrades the current carrying capability of the line and can lead to premature metallization failure.
Therefore, there is a need for a structure to prevent such localized metal precipitate formation and the corresponding metallization depletion. Also, there is a need for a method for forming the structure. There is also a need for a method for monitoring such LMPF.

Suppression of localized metal precipitate formation and corresponding metallization depletion in semiconductor processing

International Business Machines Corporation


Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable storage media for broadcasting audio tweets. A system broadcasting audio tweets receives tweets via telephone devices, wherein each listener hears a telephone call of a broadcast on the telephone devices. Each received tweet is associated with one or more tags specifying tweet content, which is used to analyze received tweets. The system presents a display of analyzed tweets for selection to a host. The host selects one or more tweets and broadcasts the selected tweets as part of the broadcast to the telephone devices. Automatic speech recognition can be used to automatically convert received audio tweets to text to enable tagging and analyzing the tweets.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to broadcasting audio tweets and more specifically to using automatic speech recognition to associate tweets with tags identifying tweet content utilized in selecting specific tweets for broadcasting to telephone devices and other digital devices.
2. Introduction
Users of telephone devices no longer use phones exclusively for making and receiving telephone calls. The development of smartphones has enabled users to perform more sophisticated tasks using their phones. Features such as the internet and an ever-expanding set of applications for smartphones allow users to accomplish a range of tasks from listening to the radio to sleep monitoring. Traditionally, users listened to the radio using a dedicated radio device located in their home or car. Now, listeners can listen to broadcasts using their smartphones in many different locations.
Often during broadcasts including commentary such as a talk show, the commentator requests listener input. Commentators perform contests involving give-aways, take polls and ask listeners for opinions on various topics. Traditionally, when a commentator requests listener feedback, a listener listening to a broadcast on a radio in a car for example, would call in from a cell phone and wait until their turn to voice their opinion on air. Call screeners would assist in the process and could record a listener's input for future playback. Issues such as unfamiliarity with a listener, feedback irrelevance and lag time exist with the traditional method of listeners responding to commentator requests for listener input.
What is needed in the art is an improved method for a listener to provide input to a broadcast program.

System and method for broadcasting audio tweets


In the present invention statistical methods are used to estimate the reflectance of the paper and align the tone gamut to the dynamic range of a digital input device such as a scanner during a single scan. The estimate is refined during the scan. This refinement increases the robustness with respect to unfavorable originals (e.g., originals with a dark border) and at the same time also can take into account such phenomena as the change of the response of the sensor due to thermal effect during slow scans. In the present invention no spatial information on the image is collected. Instead a histogram of the occurrence of each tone level is accumulated during the scan. The background color of the image, i.e., the tone value of the paper is estimated by analyzing the histogram. When this value is known, the parameters for a tone reproduction curve (TRC) can be calculated. The shape of the TRC is not altered by these parameters, i.e., the exposure can be controlled independently of the tone reproduction. This process is repeated from time to time during the scan to assure robustness and to compensate for drifts in the sensitivity of the sensor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to digital input devices and, more particularly, to the control of exposure therein.
2. Description of the Related Art
Although the light source in a digital input device such as a scanner is more or less constant, papers reflect light to a varying degree. L* is a colorimetric quantity that correlates well with the perceived lightness of a paper. This measure is scaled so that the perfect reflecting diffuser has value 100; one unit corresponds to a just noticeable difference (jnd). The table below shows the L* values for some typical papers:
______________________________________ Medium L* ______________________________________ perfect reflecting diffuser 100 premium paper 97 recycled copier paper 95 photographic AgX paper 93 European recycled paper 87 ______________________________________
The table indicates that the perceived lightness difference of typical papers spans a range of 10 jnd units. In a linear intensity space where sensors operate, such as the reflectance Y, the range is from 94 for the premium paper to 71 for the European recycled paper.
The range of values present in the original image or document can be called the tone gamut. Typically the lowest value in the gamut corresponds to black ink and the highest value corresponds to the paper background. The range of values for which a unique signal is generated by the lamp and sensor system in a scanner can be called its dynamic range.
A system is usually designed so that its dynamic range contains an original with the darkest ink on the lightest paper. Because of fluorescent substances often used in paper, the lightest value can be larger than the value of the perfect reflecting diffuser. This dynamic range can be called the worst case.
When the image is output on a display monitor or a printer, this device will also be calibrated to the worst case, i.e., the lightest possible value will be used to represent the worst case lightest pixels. In a system that reproduces lightness relative to the perfect reflective diffuser, an image scanned from a dark background such as a photograph will be reproduced by using ink to make the background darker (or the signal to a display monitor will be reduced) because the value without ink (or full display monitor signal) will be reserved to the worst case.
The human visual system (HVS) already adjusts for the background or surround. This is why lightness (i.e., brightness relative to an area perceived to be white) is a more important perceptual attribute than brightness for a gray-scale and color reproduction. If a reproduction system does not map the input paper lightness into the output paper lightness, the appearance of the facsimile will be judged as inferior (e.g., smudgy) by a human observer.
In the patent literature the adjustment for different papers, or more generally backgrounds, is sometimes called shading correction and is sometimes called exposure enhancement. This should not be confused with a compensation for sensor artifacts such as photo response non-uniformity (PRNU) and dark current, which in the literature is called normalization.
FIG. 1 is a flow chart illustrating a prior art method of processing a scan line. A document (100) containing an image is scanned (110) and then normalized (120). Exposure control (shading correction) is then performed (130) prior to color transformation (140) and data compression (150). The resulting information is then sent to the scan line buffer 170 or further application dependent processing is performed (160).
The standard solution adopted in many desktop scanner applications and digital copiers is to perform a first preview scan at a low resolution. The so obtained image is analyzed to determine the paper color of the original (or background value) and other parameters. The values so obtained are then used to set the scanner controls, after which the final scan is performed.
In applications such as sheet-fed scanners and color facsimile, it is not possible to perform such a preview scan. In particular, in the case of a color facsimile machine, the image is transmitted during the scan and concomitantly printed on a remote machine, precluding any form of post-processing.
A solution sometimes used is to assume a worst case or a typical case. If the assumption errs towards a high lightness, the scanned image will not have a white background, yielding a smudgy appearance, decreasing the performance of image compression algorithms, and consuming more ink or toner when the image is printed. If the assumption errs towards a low lightness, detail will be lost in the highlights of the image, yielding a washed out appearance.
Manufacturers of digital copiers and color facsimile machines have encountered this problem and developed various approaches. Previous attempts to solve this problem are mostly ad hoc. The disadvantages of methods obtained by trial and error are that they are not robust and cannot easily be adapted when the technology improves non-linearly.
Thus, it can be seen that single-scan constraints impose exposure control limits upon current technology digital input devices and hinder the use of these devices in many applications.
Therefore, there is an unresolved need for an exposure control mechanism that will significantly improve alignment of tone gamut to the dynamic range of a single-scan digital input device while compensating for such phenomena as the change of the response of the sensor due to thermal effect during slow scans.

Dynamic exposure control in single-scan digital input devices


The present invention provides a method and system for monitoring composite optical signals carried over plural fiber-optic lines within an optical network. Methods and systems in accordance with the present invention each utilize a single OPM to monitor each one of a set of sample proportions of composite signals split off from respective fiber-optic lines. In one embodiment, an optical performance monitoring system comprises a plurality of fiber-optic lines, each fiber-optic line carrying a respective composite optical signal, a plurality of optical taps, each optical tap being optically coupled to a respective one of the fiber-optic lines and splitting a portion of the composite optical signal thereof, a plurality of optical switches, each optical switch being optically coupled to a respective one of the optical taps and comprising either an Open configuration and a Closed configuration, an optical coupler, and an Optical Performance Monitor (OPM).

Fiber optic networks are becoming increasingly popular for data transmission due to their high speed, high capacity capabilities. As the traffic on fiber optic networks increases, monitoring and management of the networks become increasingly more significant issues. An established method for increasing the carrying capacity of existing fiber cable is Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) in which multiple information channels are independently transmitted over the same fiber using multiple wavelengths of light. In this practice, each light-wave-propagated information channel corresponds to light within a specific wavelength range or "band." In this document, these individual information-carrying lights of a WDM optical fiber, optical line or optical system are referred to as either "signals" or "channels" and the totality of multiple combined signals, wherein each signal is of a different wavelength range, is referred to as a "composite optical signal." To monitor the network, the spectral characteristics of the composite signal at particular points in the network must be determined and analyzed. This information may then be used to alter the performance of the network if the signal characteristics are less than optimal.
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional system for monitoring the characteristics of a plurality of composite optical signals, wherein each composite optical signal is transmitted along a respective fiber-optic line from among a plurality of fiber-optic lines. The conventional system 100 shown in FIG. 1 comprises a set of fiber optic lines 112a-112e, a set of Optical Performance Monitors (OPM's) 102a-102e and a set of optical taps 110a-110e. Each optical tap is optically coupled to a respective one of the fiber optic lines and splits off a small sampled proportion (typically ca. 1-2%) of the composite optical signal carried by said line to a respective one of the OPM's. For instance, a sample of a first composite optical signal (COS) transmitted along fiber optic line 112a is split off by optical tap 110a to the OPM 102a. Similarly, a separate sample of a different COS transmitted along fiber optic line 112b is split off by optical tap 110b to the OPM 102b, etc.
Each one of the OPM's 102a, 102b, etc. comprising the conventional system 100 continuously measures important spectral characteristics of the sampled COS delivered to it. Such spectral characteristics may include the number of active channels comprising each COS, the absolute and relative intensities of the channels and the wavelengths of the channels. Since each OPM is optically coupled to one and only one fiber optic line, via a respective optical tap, each OPM is dedicated to monitoring the spectral parameters of a particular fiber optic line and there are as many OPM's as there are fiber optic lines.
Although the conventional optical performance monitoring system 100 can adequately perform its intended functions, the dedication of each OPM to a single fiber optic line add a significant degree of cost to the installation and operation of a fiber optic network. Optical performance monitors are typically complex and relatively expensive instruments, comprising finely adjusted wavelength dispersion elements such as diffraction gratings as well as a plurality of photo-detectors, associated control electronics and software. The level of OPM duplication provided in the conventional system 100 multiplies the costs required to set up the network. Further, each OPM may, periodically require re-calibration or adjustment. Thus, maintenance costs are likewise multiplied.
Accordingly, there exists a need for method and system for an optical performance monitor that is constructed with less duplication of apparatus than is the conventional system and that can operate more cost-efficiently than the conventional system. The present invention addresses such a need.

Method and system for monitoring multiple optical communications lines


A closing device for a drawer comprising an elongate hollow housing which includes front and rear portions, a rotating member slidably mounted in the front portion and a resilient member mounted in the rear portion. The front portion includes first and second portions with the first portion having a rotation-preventing internal surface and the second portion having a rotation-admitting internal surface. A locking step is defined by the differing internal cross sections of the first and second portions. The rotation of the rotating member in the first portion is prevented by the internal shape of the first portion relative to the external shape of the rotating member. The rotating member has an angular slot for receiving a guiding pin which is downwardly extending from the bottom surface of a top roller guide.

For drawers without the closing device, the drawer that has been moved to a closed position will sometimes not be fully closed and the front panel of the drawer projects from the furniture body. As a result, it is possible for persons to bump against the front panel and injury of such persons may occur. Also, when the drawer has been pushed into the furniture body with too much energy, the drawer may again roll forward or rebound because of the excessive energy.
An existing drawer closing device has been disclosed in the Malaysian patent application no. P1 20021815. This existing closing device comprises an elongate hollow cylindrical housing having an axial slot extending from one end over at least a part of the body and a second L-shaped axial slot, a cylindrical member telescopically attached within the hollow cylindrical housing and rotatable therein with the cylindrical member having a projection extending out of the second L-shaped axial slot and a resilient member attached to the second end of the hollow housing and a rear end of the cylindrical member. The resilient member pulls the cylindrical member towards the second end of the hollow housing. The cylindrical member is disposed with an angular slot on its top surface for receiving a guiding pin of the drawer roller guide. The angled section of the second L-shaped axial slot defines a locking step for locking the axial movement of the cylindrical member.
When the drawer is opened, the guiding pin which is engaged within the angular slot pulls the cylindrical member together with the attached resilient member through the first axial slot towards the locking step. As the cylindrical member is moved axially through the first axial slot, the projection moves simultaneously within the straight section towards the angled section of the second axial slot. Upon reaching the locking step, the projection is slotted into the angled section, thereby locking the cylindrical member in position. The cylindrical member is then urged to rotate by the action of the guiding pin in the angular slot, with the guiding pin subsequently released.
With this prior closing device, the integrity of the elongate hollow housing is compromised due to the second L-shaped axial slot disposed at its side. Also, the cylindrical member is prevented and/or guided against rotational movement only by the action of the projection through the straight section of the second L-shaped axial slot. In use, this minimal guiding is not always effective at preventing initial rotational movement. Any rotational movement of the cylindrical member whilst the projection is engaged in the straight section of the second axial slot will distort the position of the guiding pin within the angular slot and cause the drawer and closing device to jam.
It has also been observed in practice, that the direct coupling of the resilient member to the cylindrical member causes friction which results in more force needing to be applied for the rotational movement of the cylindrical member. This problem together with the problems of the preceding paragraph would inevitably cause the operation of the prior closing device to be not as smooth and reliable as desired.
Additionally, the assembly of the prior closing device is also undesirably complicated due to the side projection of the cylindrical member. The cylindrical member needs to be inserted into the housing firstly, before the subsequent insertion of the side projection through the second axial slot. The second L-shaped axial slot also complicates the manufacturing of the hollow housing.
This invention thus aims to alleviate some or all of the problems of the prior art, and to provide a closing device that operates smoothly with better reliability as well as allows for ease of manufacture and assembly.


The invention relates to a wearer-adapted and a child/infant supporting harness (1) that includes a first strap portion (2), which is intended to extend obliquely over the wearer's chest (A1) and over a shoulder (A2) of said wearer and obliquely over part (A3) of the wearer's back. A second strap portion (3) is intended to extend around the wearer. The harness also includes a child-holding folded part (4) that has a first region (4a), which can be placed proximate to the wearer (A), and a second region (4b) that can be placed distal from the wearer, and a third region (4c), which connects said first and second regions and which is narrower than said regions. Two elongate sections (4a3, 4a4) extend from mutually opposite edge portions (4a1, 4a2) of first region (4a) of said folded part (4). The end portions (4a3′, 4a4′) of the elongate sections are provided with and/or co-act with means (5) for ready connection with or ready disconnection from the wearer-distal outer surface (4b′) of said second region (4b).

Several different harness designs adapted for wearers and children/infants are known to the art.
A first harness category includes two first strap portions, which are adapted to extend parallel over the wearer's chest and over a respective shoulder of the wearer, and down over part of the wearer's back.
Harnesses of this first category can also be supplemented with a second strap portion, which is adapted to extend around the wearer's hips.
It is also known to apply to the first strap portions and/or to the second strap portion a child-supporting folded part.
This folded part includes a first region that lies proximate to the wearer, a second region that lies distal from said wearer, and a third region which joins the first and the second regions together and which is narrower than said first and second regions.
Children and/or infants carried by a harness of this design will thus be positioned centrally in front of and adjacent the wearer's stomach, and thus obstruct the wearer's vision with respect to the ground structure and floor structure immediately in front of the wearer, with the subsequent risk of stumbling.
Also known to the art is a second harness category, which has the same purpose as the afore described first category and to which the present invention relates.
This second category is based on the ability to provide a wearer-adapted and child/infant supporting harness that includes only one first strap portion.
This strap is intended to extend obliquely over the wearer's chest, and over both shoulders of the wearer and also obliquely over part of the wearer's back.
The second harness category also includes a second strap portion, which is intended to extend around the wearer's hips.
A folded child/infant supporting part includes a first region that lies proximate to the wearer, a second region that lies distal from the wearer, and a narrower third region, which joins together said first and said second regions.
It is also known to cover said straps with soft material, either totally or partially, and also to allow said straps to be divided into two portions, that can be mutually connected by means of a two-part coupling device.
It is also known to enable the length of one or more of said belt portions to be adjusted, so as to suit the wearer's wishes and the size of the child/infant carried in the harness.


A method of culturing a pearl using a mollusk having mantle tissue that includes placing a first portion of a nucleus adjacent to the mantle tissue and allowing the mollusk to deposit nacre on this first portion of the nucleus; and repositioning the nucleus so a second portion of the nucleus is adjacent to the mantle tissue and allowing the mollusk to deposit nacre on this second portion of the nucleus. Also a cultured pearl produced by a method of placing a first portion of a nucleus adjacent to a mollusk's mantle tissue and allowing the mollusk to deposit nacre on this first portion of the nucleus; and repositioning the nucleus so a second portion of the nucleus is adjacent to the mantle tissue and allowing the mollusk to deposit nacre on this second portion of the nucleus. Further, a method of cultivating a pearl using one or more mollusks each having mantle tissue that includes placing a nucleus adjacent to the mantle tissue of one of the mollusks and sequentially reorienting the nucleus with respect to the mantle tissue of either this mollusk or one or more other mollusks.

Pearls are among the most esteemed gemstones and have been highly valued throughout recorded history. The relative scarcity of naturally forming pearls has lead many people to experiment with various methods for producing cultured pearls. The Chinese appear to have developed the first commercially successful cultured pearl production method, perhaps beginning in as early as the fifth century. They inserted various objects between the shell and mantle tissue of freshwater pearl mussels, returned them to the water, and recovered the mussels a year or more later to find the inserted objects coated with mother-of-pearl, which is also referred to as nacre. Similar methods are still being used today to produce what are alternatively known as Mabe, Chicot, or half pearls using various types of mollusks such as freshwater mussels, saltwater oysters, and abalone.
In the mid-1700s, a Swedish naturalist, Carl Linne, induced the formation of free pearls in European freshwater pearl mussels by inserting objects through holes in the mussels' shells and holding the objects away from the shells using fine silver wire. The first commercially successful process for culturing free pearls was developed in Japan by Kokichi Mikimoto (using methods variously attributed to Otokichi Kuwabara, Tokichi Nishikawa and Tatsuhei Mise) beginning in the late 1800s. Mikimoto's technique involves making an incision in the organs of a pearl oyster, placing a nucleus within this incision, and placing a piece of mantle tissue against the nucleus that forms a sac that eventually covers the entire nucleus with nacre. This method is used to produce the majority of Japanese cultured pearls (sometimes referred to as Akoya pearls) as well as "South Sea" pearls that are being produced in Tahiti, Australia, and several other countries in the South Pacific. In terms of overall economic value, the Mikimoto method is used today to produce pearls that represent the largest part of the worldwide pearl market.
An alternative non-nucleated pearl culturing method has also been developed that involves inserting several pieces of mantle tissue into incisions in the mantle organ of a freshwater mussel. This method is primarily being used in China. In terms of total weight of pearls produced, this type of method accounts for a large fraction of worldwide pearl production, although in economic terms it remains a distant second to pearls produced by the Mikimoto method discussed above.
Significant problems or limitations exist with each of these methods of pearl production. Only approximately one half of the outer surface of Mabe pearls are covered by nacre, making them suitable for only certain types of jewelry, such as earrings or pendants. Mabe pearls represent a very small fraction of the pearl jewelry market.
Current nucleated pearl production methods are quite difficult and laborious, technically and practically. Learning where and how to appropriately make the incision into the oyster's organs, insert the nucleus, and insert the piece of mantle tissue next to the nucleus requires substantial training. It has been estimated that it often takes several hundred supervised attempts at seeding pearl oysters before a trainee begins to be competent at the pearl seeding process. This process is also quite traumatic on the pearl oyster and even when a skilled technician is used, "vomits" (where the pearl oyster "spits out" the nucleus soon after insertion) and "deaths" (where the pearl oyster dies soon after insertion) can often exceed 50% of the implanted oysters. Because the nucleus insertion process is very delicate and difficult, there is a worldwide shortage of skilled oyster nucleating technicians and these technicians are often able to demand to be paid a high fraction of the pearls that are eventually produced as a result of their seeding efforts.
Even if the pearl oyster survives the insertion process and retains the nucleus, the quality of the pearl produced will not be known until the pearl oyster is harvested and opened, typically between a year and a half and three years after the nucleus has been inserted. Only a relatively small percentage of the pearls produced will be of the highest quality. The portion of the harvest that is round or semi-round, with fine to good luster, and nacre surface with few or no blemishes will be designated as "A" or "B" grade. These pearls usually comprise between only 2% and 10% of a crop, but may represent between 30% and 50% of the overall value of the harvest. It is common, for instance, for some pearls to be irregularly shaped (a large number of Tahitian pearls, for instance, have a distinctive shape called "circles" where the pearls are surrounded by dark latitudinal striations), suffer from significant surface imperfections, etc. The size and shape of the pearl that will be eventually be produced will depend on the type of mollusk used, the size and shape of the nucleus (nuclei are typically almost perfectly spherical), the size, shape and placement of the incision made by the technician, the positioning of the piece of mantle tissue inserted with the nucleus, and the growth time and final nacre thickness. While they are sometimes produced accidentally, the Mikimoto method is not conducive to intentionally producing fancy shaped pearls, such as teardrop or pear shaped pearls.
While some failures in the nucleation process may be detected within the first several days or few weeks (because the oyster dies or the nucleus is rejected), the success of the majority of the other nucleation attempts will not be known until the oyster is eventually harvested. Only after the oyster has been cared for during the typically one and a half to three year nucleation period will it be known whether the implantation process was successful or not. Thus while the relatively few pearls produced by this method that are perfect or nearly perfect are often extremely beautiful and valuable, the method currently being used to produce nucleated cultured pearls leaves a great deal to be desired.
Pearls produced using the non-nucleated method discussed above are typically irregularly shaped and are almost always far less attractive (in terms of size, shape, color, and nacre quality) and far less valuable than nucleated pearls.
For these reasons, it would be of great benefit to be able to produce nucleated cultured pearls using a method that do not suffer from one or more of the problems described above or that offers one or more of the benefits described below.


A sound processing apparatus is provided with a sound information input device, a recording device to record the sound information, a converting device to convert the sound information into image information, and a display device to display the image information, the display device being such that the vertical and horizontal directions of the display device are time axes and the unit of one of the time axes is longer than the unit of the other time axis. The image information displayed on the display device can be selected by a selection device to display the sound information. The sound information can also be displayed as image information corresponding to a frequency component of the sound information within a predetermined time. The frequency component may be detected using discrete cosine transformation (DCT) for compressing the sound information.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a sound processing apparatus.
2. Related Background Art
There are known tape recorders for recording and reproducing sound and sound recording electronic cameras or the like capable of recording and reproducing both of sound and images.
Such an apparatus is provided with a so-called counter and has been designed such that the display by the counter changes with the lapse of time or the running of a tape.
In such a sound processing apparatus, when sound is to be reproduced, it has been necessary to look for the location of desired sound with the display by the counter as a standard. When the desired sound is not found out, it has been necessary to rapidly feed or rewind the tape and look for the sound by the help of the counter and the sixth sense, and it has been very difficult to operate such apparatus.
Also, there has been software displaying sound information in personal computers or the like, but some of the software is merely the above-described sound processing apparatus as it has been simulated by software and the operability of the apparatus has never been particularly improved.
Also, in another set of software, an oscilloscope is simulated in the fashion of software, and there has been one which displays sound as a waveform. It has been possible to select a portion of which the sound reproduction is desired on a monitor by selecting means.
However, even when the kind of the sound which is the object of recording changes as when for example, the speaker changes, a similar waveform is displayed and it has been impossible to recognize more or less difference in the waveform with the naked eye and pressure the generation source of the sound. Accordingly, there have been required trial and error such as reproducing the sound and further reproducing this side or that side thereof from that situation and thus, the convenience of use has been bad.
Also, in a sound processing apparatus of this kind, sound is generally represented as a graph on a monitor, and the vertical direction has been a sound pressure axis representative of the strength of waveform and the horizontal direction has been a time axis representative of time. Therefore, when an attempt is made to display sound recorded for a long time at once, it has been necessary to reduce the whole as by changing the axis of abscissas of the graph, for example, from five seconds to one minute per 1 cm. If this is done, there has arisen the problem that when there is sound uttered for a short time in a portion thereof, the graph representative of this sound of short time becomes small and becomes unrecognizable.

Timeline display of sound characteristics with thumbnail video


An apparatus for exactly positioning a medium mounted on a spindle is provided, whereby the apparatus comprises a device for continuously changing the angular position of said medium with respect to a predefined reference position by rotating said spindle. Additionally, the apparatus comprises a friction element for braking said spindle at a predetermined position, not allowing a swing back.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to measurement systems for media mounted on a spindle or media spooled onto a spindle. More specifically, the invention relates to storage media such as spinning magnetic hard disks, optical storage disks, tape drives and other overcoats on top of, e.g., optical filters, lenses or mirrors and especially to the positioning of magnetic hard disks mounted on a spindle. Still more specifically, the invention pertains to positioning such disks in a test system.
2. Description of Related Art
Magnetic disks are data carriers with a very large storage capacity. 30 GB can be stored on a magnetic disk of about 95 mm in diameter.
In addition to the high storage density the disks must have precise magnetic, mechanical as well as certain tribological characteristics. When later used in practice, the disks rotate at approx. 7200 revolutions per minute and more. This means that the outer edge of the disk reaches a speed of higher than 100 km/h during which the write/read element is at less than one twenty-thousandths of a millimeter (<50 nm) away from the disk surface.
The quality requirements can only be achieved through the greatest precision in manufacture and statistical process controls.
To achieve high storage densities, a thin film head is used for recording and reading data from modern high-capacity magnetic disks.
The surfaces of such disks and the surfaces of other materials like optical filters, lenses or mirrors may contain features in the sub-micrometer range, such as contamination, sputtering defects, impurities, presputter contamination, scratches, delamination defects, data defects, servo defects, etc. Especially, defects which are distributed across the surface of these thin film disks can significantly influence the production yield of disk drives. These defects can be caused by a local change in the topography or the magnetic structure. In the read back signal such defects lead to so-called "thermal asperities" or "missing pulses".
Even sub-micrometer defects of a few nanometers height can lead to disk failure or scrap in production. The exact characterization of these defects is therefore extremely important for today's magnetic disks.
In this, it is particularly important to create a correlation between the sub-micrometer defects, e.g., the topography of the magnetic disk or its magnetic structure and the resulting disturbances in read signals or other test signals like piezoelectric response, acoustic emission response, laser doppler response, optical response, etc. This is a basis for a general analysis of defects on the storage medium.
To detect errors in the test signal, spin stand testers are used. In particular, for detecting topographic defects, glide testers or optical disk analyzers are used and for magnetic disk characterization, magnetic spin stand testers are utilized. However, the test signals of the above mentioned test systems allow only a limited interpretation of the defects based on read signal analysis, whereas other or additional test techniques allow a further investigation of defect areas or other areas of interest. Using several characterization methods leads to a complementary analysis of defects. Using a combination of these techniques permits to optimize manufacturing parameters and therefore yield to better hard disk drive (HDD) quality.
A characterization with regard to topography and the magnetic characteristics can, however, be carried out using an atomic force microscope (AFM) or magnetic force microscope (MFM). The maximum range which can be recorded with such devices is typically limited to an area of 100 μm×100 μm. However, an analysis of an area of 20 μm×20 μm or below is more convenient in terms of defect characterization precision.
A disk failure analysis is carried out in the following typical way: The storage medium having a potential defect is mounted to the spin stand tester and fixed with the spindle, e.g., by a clamp mechanism. Defects are identified at high rotational speed as a particular response of the sensor (e.g., magnetoresistive element, piezoelectric element, etc.). The position of identified defects is given precisely by a radius ri and an angular position φi in respect to reference values (φ0,r0). For example the defect angle φi is counted from a predefined reference position φ0 given by the spindle drive, spindle electronics or spindle software (e.g., a pen marker or a TTL index signal) and the alignment of the sensor against a magnetic disk or a reference caliper. ri is counted from the disk edge or a predefined written track in the magnetic storage media.
For further analysis, the storage medium is removed from the spin stand tester and inserted into the complementary analysis tool (CAT). However, the defect co-ordinate system is lost in this removal and reinsertion into the CAT. The offset induced by the removal and reinertion to the new analysis tool can be up to 700 μm, which is not suitable to perform an automated measurement, because further searches and/or individual searches are still necessary. A CAT tool is for example a SEM, SIMS, EDX, AFM or even a defect marking tool.
In order to overcome this disadvantage, a combination of a MAG tester (magnetic tester, spin tester) and an AFM has been proposed in the state of the art (U.S. Pat. No. 6,297,630) which is able to directly and quickly detect and characterize sub-micrometer defects on the surface of magnetic disks.
In Research Disclosure n428, vol. 12, 1999, page 1676, a combination of a Glide Height Tester (GHT) or Acoustic Emission Tester (AET) and an AFM is disclosed. When using a GHT, a specific measuring head flies over the rotating thin film disk. The head is not able either to read or write. However, in case it strikes an elevation on the surface of the disk, a piezoelectric signal is generated due to the hit of the head with this asperity. The test signal is correlated to the height of the elevation. The information of the height and size of defects which is determined via the GHT sometimes depends on its calibration and is sometimes not sufficient for nanometer analysis and quality control. The GHT allows a generation of a defect map (ri,φi). The proposed combination uses a similar coordinate system between the GHT and the CAT. Based on the defect co-ordinates determined by the GHT, the CATs are positioned at the defects for further analysis. Thus, the topography of the disk defects or other data can be measured directly.
As can be taken from the above, measurements on hard disks, especially on a nanoscale, are performed while the disk is located on a spindle. As a consequence that the disk is not removed from the test unit, the co-ordinate system which is defined by the spindle, the test setup and the test software is not lost.
After having generated a defect map by measuring defects on the rotating disk, each single defect now can be selected and is then specifically positioned with respect to the CAT and measured. This, however, has to be done while the disk is not rotating at, e.g., 7200 RPM, i.e., the disk being stationary or rotating only very slowly. For the positioning of defects for CAT measurement the disk and/or the CAT have to be positioned precisely relative to the measurement position. The angular position can be changed by rotating the spindle where the disk is clamped, e.g., by a stepper motor.
A specific sector of the storage medium, i.e., the magnetic disk, can be positioned at any angle at very high precision by counting encoder signals (TTL signals) in dependence of the angle relative to a zero position. This is shown in FIG. 1. These pulses may come from a commercial spindle or are generated by additional hardware or software. When the target in angular position (TAP in FIG. 1) is reached, the rotation has to be stopped by a break mechanism or the spindle rotation has to be slowed down by a defined procedure (e.g., a ramp which reduces the spindle rotation velocity). For example the stepper motor movement can be halted or can be ramped down. The ramp down of the stepper motor is associated with a ramp down time which leads to a spindle angle offset (SAO) relative to the initial angular position (TAP). This spindle offset can be compensated by a new TAPnew=TAP−SAO. However different spindle rotation velocity and stepper motor parameters might require different SAOs. SAO can be significantly high owing to the computer control time and computer communication time with the stepper motor. In particular, a hardware dependent behavior was observed. In contrast to ramp down, the abrupt stopping causes post oscillations of the spindle resulting in angular inaccuracies.
Typically, a spindle is controlled and operated by using encoder signals (typically 2) and an index signal (one index signal for one turn). These signals (e.g., TTL signals) are used to define the rotational speed and rotational direction. The number of encoder signals is well-defined for one turn. The number of encoder signals, in respect to the index signal, defines an angular position. When the spindle rotates, starting at the index signal, a counter may count only the rising edge (transition from 0V to 5V) of the TTL encoder signal. In the following, an example is given that is illustrated by FIG. 1. It is assumed that there are 1000 encoder TTL signals per rotation of the spindle. In case a sector of interest of the storage medium is to be positioned at an angle φ of 115.95 degrees relative to a zero position (for investigating a defect on the magnetic disk located at exactly this position), the spindle has to be rotated by 115.95/360×1000 encoder signals forward, in other words, by 322 steps (PIn) and a fraction of 0.83 steps (PFr).
The number of index pulses can be counted very precisely by a software or hardware counter. However, stopping a moving mass like a spindle at a certain position, e.g., in the above example, at 322 index pulses, causes a certain oscillation when it is stopped "abruptly". It has to be mentioned that these oscillations do not lead to exactly the same end positions of the spindle in every case, depending on spindle velocity and spindle mass, spindle mass distribution and spindle friction parameters. An example of such oscillations is given in FIG. 1.
FIG. 1 shows the oscillations being represented by a continuous line. TAP is the angle position of the medium where the spindle is braked (after the 322th encoder pulse) and FA is the final angle position of the medium after the spindle has come to a complete stop. It can be seen that the counter adds 5 encoder pulses (1 to 5 in FIG. 1) during the oscillation. It has to be mentioned that in this example only TTL signals from 0 to 5V (rising edge) are counted. However, these edges from the signal appear in both rotational directions, in particular during the swing back of the spindle. Accordingly, any positioning which counts such pulses owing to oscillation of the spindle is not very exact and leads to severe errors in positioning. This, in turn, may lead to miss-positioning of defects for the CAT and as a consequence, to an analysis of an area which is not representative for the failure. In our example the miss-counting of only 1 TTL signal causes a positioning error of 50–100 μm.
Post oscillations of the spindle can be excluded by using damping parameters of the spindle in such a way that an aperiodic behavior is adjusted. This is known from literature and is used in numerous measuring instruments. However, adjusting an exact aperiodic behavior requires additional hardware for damping the spindle movement. During the spin tests at higher rotational velocities this hardware must be disabled or withdrawn. Furthermore, the damping parameters and behavior have to be well adjusted to achieve the aperiodic condition. If the aperiodic condition is not met exactly, then either the spindle swings back resulting in additional unwanted index pulses or the spindle slowly rotates towards its final position (creep-condition). Even a very small swing back can lead to an additional counting of a TTL signal. In principle, the creep-case can be used to exclude a swing-back. As explained later, the stepper motor is used for fine positioning of the spindle. In case of the creep-case-condition being adjusted and the final position of the spindle angle (i.e., the position of the defect or the like to be analyzed) being reached, the spindle rotates further slowly away from this final position. Thus, adjusting the creep condition cannot be used for fine positioning.
Both cases can be adjusted by adding a damping device (e.g., eddy current brake) which effect is described via a velocity dependent term. Its proportional factor is given by the damping factor β. Friction forces between two bodies are basically not velocity dependent and therefore do not contribute to this term. It is known from literature that a movement (e.g., a pointer in a measurement device) which is dominated by friction term leads to different end portions than a movement not dominated by the friction term. Therefore, a friction term is not wanted in measurement applications.
To solve the positioning problem, it is possible to define non-identical index pulses or a continuous signal in dependence of the angle (e.g., the height of a signal) what, however, would require more electronic effort to read out each of the pulses separately. This would lead to additional hard- and software to be installed.
In addition, it would be possible to differentiate a movement of the spindle backward or forward to separate counts. However, in this case, more soft- and hardware is required as well.
Furthermore, it would be possible to reduce the rotational positioning speed so that the above described effect of post oscillations is minimized or does not occur. This, however, causes a longer rotational positioning time which is not desired. Only a positioning time of a few seconds is tolerable for most applications.
Thus, there is a need to provide a device and a method to stop the spindle in such a way that an exact positioning of the spindle is possible, by simultaneously keeping a small overall positioning time.