A mounting and attachment system, which mounts a continuous snow rail for snow protection above the seams of a metal roof and also attaches lower members or snow flags between the seams to stop the snow from sliding under the seam. This system reduces the requirement for holes and threaded holes in the mounting block. The mounting block has a slot which runs therethrough to fit over a raised seam. This slot can have parallel walls or can be shaped to match a particular seam. This block also has slots or linear indentations on the sides or ends in a direction perpendicular or parallel to the slot for the seam. A snow rail long enough to connect two or more of the seam-mounted blocks together. Finally, a top rail may be secured parallel to the seam and mounted on two or more seam mounted blocks.

The invention relates to a non-penetrating system for mounting other devices (e.g. accessories) and snow brake systems for metal roofs with raised metal seams.
Mounting attachments and snow protection systems to metal roofs have always created problems for either the method of attachment or by the function of the finished application. The following system overcomes many problems and can be installed in an endless variety of configurations.
The present invention provides a method of attaching specially shaped mounting blocks to a raised metal seam without penetrating said seam while providing an adaptable shape for a number of different functions.
One aspect of the present invention uses an improved mounting and attachment system, which can easily be mounted. The present invention uses an improved mounting and attachment system, which can easily mount continuous snow rail for snow protection above the seam and also attach lower members or snow flags which fall between the seams to stop the snow from sliding under the height of the seam. This system eliminates the requirement for holes and threaded holes to be drilled into the mounting block, saving manufacturing time and money. The mounting block is configured so that there is a slot which runs through the mounting block to fit over a raised seam. This slot can have parallel walls or can be shaped to match the form of a particular seam. This block will also have slots or linear indentations on the sides of the block in directions perpendicular and parallel to the slot for the seam. These slots or indentations can be of any shape and are not limited to the designs as shown in the drawings as long as they run the length of the block. A second piece of the assembly is a rail long enough to connect two or more of the seam-mounted blocks together. The bottom of the second piece has a groove on either side which will match the groove in the mounting block, thus being of a design to slide onto the mounting block and, at the same time, align the blocks and attach to the mounting blocks without fasteners. The shape of the top rail can have a raised portion that will act as a snow rail or snow bar. This system eliminates bolts and holes generally associated with the assembly of this type of system. Another aspect of the invention utilizes the slot that mounts the rail to the mounting blocks for mounting snow protection sections (e.g., snow flags) between the raised metal seams below the upper rail. These sections can be installed by sliding them between the seam mounting blocks during installation. This design gives flexibility in the design and installation of the snow rail system while also allows for other shapes of rail to be mounted on the attachment blocks for different purposes. This continuous rail adds strength to the system, covers the area between the seams and easily installs giving it many advantages over the prior art.
According to one embodiment, the present invention may be used to attach solar panels to a roof comprising standing seams or other elements.
Still further, according to another embodiment, the present invention uses a mounting block that is configured to include a support means such as a planar base that is designed to attach to the surface of a roof or other support portion of a building or the like.
Other advantages will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


The invention relates to a semiconductor memory, particularly a DRAM, in which the memory cells in each case have a trench capacitor arranged in a lower area of a trench hole and a vertical selection transistor which is formed adjoining an upper area of the trench hole and which connects an inner electrode of the trench capacitor to a bit line, a conductive channel being capable of being formed in dependence on the potential of a word line in the channel area, the channel area completely enclosing the trench hole in its upper area, and the associated word line at least partially enclosing the channel area.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a memory cell having a vertical selection transistor, to an arrangement of such memory cells and to a method for producing these memory cells.
2. Description of the Related Art
Information can be stored and read out again with the aid of rewritable semiconductor memories. In the case of a DRAM semiconductor memory, the information is stored in the form of a particular charge in a storage capacitor. In this arrangement, each DRAM memory cell comprises one trench capacitor and one selection transistor. In the trench capacitor, a charge is stored which represents the information to be stored. The selection transistor, in contrast, is used as a switch for the writing and reading process. When the selection transistor of the memory cell is activated by means of the associated word line, the stored charge is transferred to a bit line of the semiconductor memory. The voltage of the bit line can be evaluated via an evaluation circuit so that the charge stored in the trench capacitor can be detected as information.
The performance of such memory cells is fundamentally determined both by the characteristics of the individual components themselves and by their interaction.
The continuous trend for memories with higher and higher capacity necessitates increasingly higher integration densities of the semiconductor patterns. To reduce the area required by DRAM memory cells, concepts with a vertically arranged selection transistor are also increasingly examined.
From DE 199 54 867 C1, a DRAM cell arrangement and a method for producing it is known in which a vertical selection transistor is provided. The known cell arrangement has a trench capacitor which is connected to a horizontally arranged source-drain region in the upper end area. A lower source-drain region which is connected to a vertical interconnection channel is formed offset with respect to the upper source-drain region. The interconnection channel is run from the lower source-drain region up to the bit line. In parallel with the interconnection channel, a gate region is formed which represents a part of a word line. The known cell arrangement has the disadvantage that a relatively large amount of area is needed for forming the memory cell.
From U.S. Pat. No. 6 262 448 B1, a generic memory cell, a corresponding arrangement of memory cells and a method for producing it are known.
From U.S. Pat. No. 5 561 308, a memory cell structure having an annular vertical TFT transistor is also known, the one electrode of which forms at the same time the inner capacitor electrode.

DRAM memory with vertically arranged selection transistors


A device and method that allows a gravel slurry to placed in a wellbore from the toe towards the heel to reduce the pressure acting upon the heel of the wellbore during the gravel placement operation. By reducing the pressure acting upon the heel gravel slurry may be placed in longer sections of the wellbore in a single operation.

Hydrocarbon wells, horizontal wells in particular, may have sections of wellscreens having a perforated inner tube with an overlying screen portion. The purpose of the screen is to block the flow of particulate matter into the interior of the production tubing. Despite the wellscreen, some contaminants and other particulate matter may continue to enter the production tubing. The particulate matter usually occurs naturally or is part of the drilling and production process. As the production fluids are recovered the particulate matter is also recovered at the surface. The particulate matter causes a number of problems in that the material may be abrasive or hazardous to the environment, thereby reducing the life of any associated production equipment and creating a disposal problem. By controlling and reducing the amount of particulate matter that is pumped to the surface, overall production costs are reduced.
Even though the particulate matter may be too large to enter the production tubing, the particulate matter may cause problems at the downhole wellscreens. As the well fluids are produced the larger particulate matter is trapped in the filter element of the wellscreens. Over the life of the well, as more and more particulate matter is trapped in the filter elements, the filter elements become clogged and restrict flow of the well fluids to the surface.
A method of reducing the inflow of particulate matter before it reaches the wellscreens is to pack gravel or sand in the annular area between the wellscreen and the wellbore. Packing gravel or sand in the annulus provides the producing formation with a stabilizing force to prevent any material around the annulus from collapsing creating additional particulate matter, it also provides a pre-filter to stop the flow of particulate matter before it reaches the wellscreen.
In a typical toe to heel gravel packing operation a screen and packer are run into the wellbore together. Once the screens and packer are properly located the packer is set so that it forms a seal between wellbore and the screen isolating the region above the packer from the region below the packer. The screen is also attached to the packer so that it hangs down in the wellbore forming an annular region around the exterior portion of the screen. At the bottom of the screen is a section of tubular that is blank but for the presence of gravel pack ports. The upper end of the screen is usually referred to as the heel and the lower end of the screen is usually referred to as the toe of the well.
Typically a washpipe subassembly is put together on the surface and then run into the wellbore where it stings through the packer and then run into the screen. The run in continues until the washpipe outlets are approximately aligned with the gravel pack ports in the blank section of tubular past the screens and near the toe of the well.
Once the washpipe is landed, a slurry, usually containing gravel, may be pumped down the well through the washpipe. When the gravel slurry reaches the outlets in the washpipe it exits the washpipe. The blank section of tubular may have an internal seal to help direct the gravel slurry through the gravel pack ports in the blank tubular and finally the gravel slurry flows into the packer and into the annular space created on the outside of the screen.
As the slurry travels from the toe of the well toward the heel along the outside of the screen, an alpha wave begins that deposits gravel from the toe towards the heel, all the while the transport fluid that carries the gravel drains to the inside of the screen. As the fluid drains into the interior of the screen it becomes increasingly difficult to pump the slurry down the wellbore. Once a certain portion of the screen is covered the gravel will start building back from the heel towards the toe, the beta wave, to completely pack off the screen.
After the annular area around the screen has been packed with gravel then the operator begin to reverse out. In some instances the operator may desire to backwash the interior of the screen to remove and excess gravel that may have been deposited in the interior of the screen assembly. In this case the ports in the washpipe that were depositing the sand slurry into the annulus are now raised above the internal seal and the operator pumps gravel free fluid down the annular area around the exterior of the washpipe to reverse the fluid inside of the washpipe back to surface thereby removing any the excess sand or gravel but leaving the gravel that was placed around the exterior of the screen in place.


A pixel structure including a gate, a gate dielectric layer, a patterned semiconductor layer having a channel area disposed above the gate, a patterned dielectric layer having an etching-stop layer disposed above the gate and a number of bumps, a patterned metal layer having a reflective pixel electrode, a source and a drain, an overcoat dielectric layer, and a transparent pixel electrode sequentially disposed on a substrate is provided. The source and the drain respectively cover portions of the channel area. The reflective pixel electrode connects the drain and covers the bumps to form an uneven surface. The overcoat dielectric layer disposed on a transistor constituted by the gate, the gate dielectric layer, the patterned semiconductor layer, the source and the drain has a contact opening exposing a portion of the reflective pixel electrode. The transparent pixel electrode is electrically connected to the reflective pixel electrode through the contact opening.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pixel structure and a manufacturing method thereof. More particularly, the present invention relates to a pixel structure having a reflective pixel electrode and a manufacturing method thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
With the popularization of liquid crystal displays (LCDs), a number of portable electronic devices, such as mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), or pocket PCs by degrees require outstanding display performance of the LCDs. The portable electronic devices not only necessitate satisfactory display performance indoors, but also require appropriate frame qualities outdoors or in a high luminance environment.
Thus, how to maintain a sharp display quality in the high luminance environment has become one of the major trends in LCD development. In view of the foregoing, a transflective LCD (TR-LCD) has been developed according to the related art. The TR-LCD is able to achieve desirable display effects both indoors and in a bright outdoor environment.
In a conventional TR-LCD, a pixel structure is equipped with a reflective pixel electrode suitable for reflecting external light, such that a reflective area is formed. To ensure that the display effect in the reflective area is as favorable as the display effect in a transmissive area where no reflective pixel electrode is disposed, a padding layer is frequently inserted under the reflective pixel electrode. Thereby, the TR-LCD having dual cell gap can be constructed. In addition, a plurality of photoresist bumps is often disposed under the reflective pixel electrode in the conventional pixel structure, so as to improve the reflectivity of the reflective pixel electrode. However, the padding layer, the reflective pixel electrode on the padding layer, and the photoresist bumps are fabricated through a rather complicated process and require more manufacturing costs. Based on the above, it is rather difficult to simplify the process of manufacturing the pixel structure of the TR-LCD while a reduced cost and a desirable quality of the pixel structure are needed to be guaranteed.

Pixel structure and manufacturing method thereof


An electronic circuit includes a first electronic component formed above a buried insulating layer of a substrate and a second electronic component formed under the buried insulating layer. The insulating layer is thoroughly crossed by a semiconductor well. The semiconductor well electrically couples a terminal of the first electronic component to a terminal of the second electronic component.

Many electronic circuits are manufactured with components formed from an SOI-type structure. Such a structure is formed of a semiconductor substrate having an insulating layer, and then a semiconductor layer, deposited thereon. The insulating layer is generally an oxide layer, referred to in the art as a buried oxide (BOX) layer. The semiconductor substrate and the semiconductor layer are, for example, made of silicon or of an alloy of silicon and of one or a plurality of other compounds.
The electronic components of the circuit may be formed in different ways in the SOI structure. Doped wells may be formed in the different semiconductor layers of the structure. Stacks of layers of different materials and doping levels may be formed, for example, by successive depositions and/or by masking steps.
There is a need in the art for electronic circuits overcoming all or part of the disadvantages of known electronic circuits and, more particularly, overcoming all or part of the disadvantages of circuits having some of their electronic components formed inside and on top of an SOI-type structure.


The present disclosure relates to a method and device for adjusting a bit rate during live streaming. In the method for adjusting the bit rate during live streaming includes: a parameter of a network used by an anchor terminal for transmitting live streaming data is acquired, an adjustment range of the bit rate for uploading the live streaming data is determined based on the parameter of the network used by the anchor terminal for transmitting the live streaming data, and the bit rate for uploading the live streaming data by the anchor terminal is adjusted based on a determined adjustment range.

In order to adapt to a fluctuating network environment, a bit rate self-adapting technology is widely used in a live streaming service. At an anchor side, a bit rate for uploading data by an anchor terminal is dynamically adjusted according to an uplink network status of the anchor terminal to ensure a smoothness of pushing live streaming data. A live stream is converted into a plurality of grades with different bit rates/resolutions at a server through transcoding, and then according to a downlink network status of a user terminal, different transcoding grades are selected self-adaptively for the user terminal in real time to ensure the clarity and smoothness of viewing.

Method and device for adjusting bit rate during live streaming

BEIJING DAJIA INTERNET INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


Disclosed is a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device. A plurality of device separation regions are formed in an SOI layer of an SOI substrate, a desired impurity is implanted into a body portion of an Si active layer region, and thereafter a gate electrode is formed with a gate insulation film therebetween. Thereafter, an impurity is implanted into the Si active layer region to form extension portions of source/drain portions, and then an impurity different in polarity from the impurity in the source/drain portions is halo-implanted to form a reverse-characteristic layer. In the halo implantation, the range of projection is set to reach the inside of a buried oxide film. With this configuration, in a fully depleted SOI-MOSFET or the like provided with a thin film SOI layer, it is made possible to simultaneously achieve an improvement of roll-off characteristic and a reduction in parasitic resistance and to secure a sufficient driving capability.

The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, and is for contriving a higher degree of integration and a higher performance in an LSI of, for example, a MOS transistor or the like which uses an SOI substrate.
In recent years, in the LSI of the MOS transistor (hereinafter referred to as MOSFET), a higher degree of integration and a higher performance have been demanded, and a structure in which an SOI (silicon on insulator) layer is formed on a semiconductor substrate with a buried oxide layer therebetween, i.e., a MOSFET using an SOI substrate (hereinafter referred to as SOI-MOSFET) has been paid attention to. In the SOI-MOSFET, perfect device separation is achieved by an insulation layer (silicon oxide layer), so that soft errors and latch-up are suppressed, and high reliability can be obtained even in an LSI with a high degree of integration. In addition, since it is possible to reduce junction capacity of a diffusion layer, charging and discharging attendant on switching are suppressed, which is advantageous in view of contriving a higher speed and a lower electric power consumption.
The SOI-MOSFETs as above-mentioned are generally classified into two kinds according to the operation mode. One of the two kinds is a fully depleted SOI-MOSFET with an operation mode in which a depleted layer induced in a body portion beneath the gate electrode reaches the bottom surface of the body portion, i.e., reaches the interface between the body portion and the buried oxide film. The other of the two kinds is a partially depleted SOI-MOSFET with an operation mode in which the depleted layer does not reach the bottom surface of the body portion, and an electrically neutral region remains in the body portion.
FIG. 9 shows a general sectional view of a general fully depleted SOI-MOSFET. In FIG. 9, an SOI substrate 90 provided with an SOI layer 91 on an Si substrate 90a with a buried oxide film 90b therebetween is used, and a plurality of device separation regions 92 are formed on a part on the principal surface side of the SOI substrate 90 at predetermined intervals.
An impurity (impurity for a body portion) for an n-MOS or p-MOS, for example,. is implanted into an Si active layer region (SOI layer) 91a located between the device separation regions 92, and a gate electrode 93b is formed on a part of the surface of the Si active layer region 91a (the surface where the body portion is located) with a gate insulation film 93a therebetween.
In addition, an impurity is implanted into the Si active layer region 91a by use of the gate electrode 93b as a mask, whereby extension portions 91b located between the source/drain portions and the body portion (located beneath side walls 93c which will be described later), i.e., the extension portions 91b in the source/drain portions are formed.
Thereafter, the side walls 93c are formed on the side wall sides of the gate electrode 93b. With the side walls 93c as a mask, an impurity is implanted into the source/drain portions of the Si active layer region 91a to form a diffusion layer (a source/drain layer, which is omitted in the figure). Further, a metallic film is built up on the surfaces of the source/drain portions and the surface of the gate electrode 93b, and is thermally treated (annealing treatment) to form a silicide film 94 (and a gate silicide film 93d).
Then, an inter-layer insulation film is formed so as to cover the device separation region 92, the source/drain portions (silicide film 94), the gate electrode 93b (gate silicide film 93d) and the side walls 93c, thereafter contact holes for electrical connection are opened in the portions of the inter-layer insulation film where the source/drain portions (silicide film 94) are located, and a wiring is formed so as to fill up the contact holes, thereby manufacturing a fully depleted SOI-MOSFET. In FIG. 9, symbol 93e denotes a diffusion layer formed on the gate electrode 93b, together with the extension portions 91b, and the inter-layer insulation film, the contact holes and the wiring are omitted in the figure.
In the case of the fully depleted SOI-MOSFET as above-mentioned, in order that an electrically neutral region in the body portion does not remain, a very thin SOI layer must be formed on the oxide film (namely, the buried oxide film) in a uniform thickness, so that the difficulty on the basis of the manufacturing process is increased; however, there is obtained a great merit that the sub-threshold characteristic (S characteristic) among operation characteristics is improved.
Incidentally, in the fully depleted SOI-MOSFET, since the thickness of the depleted layer in the body portion is restricted by the buried oxide film, the depleted electric charge amount is largely reduced as compared with the partially depleted type, and, in place, movable electric charges contributing to the drain current are increased. As a result, a steep S characteristic is obtained, and, in the case of forming a fully depleted SOI-MOSFET in the 0.13 m generation and later generations, for example, the thickness of the SOI layer must be suppressed to be about 30 nm or less.
Namely, according to the fully depleted SOI-MOSFET, even where a very steep S characteristic is obtained, the threshold voltage can be lowered while suppressing the off-leak current, so that a sufficient drain current can be secured even at a low operating voltage, and a device with an extremely low power consumption such as to be capable of operating at a voltage of 1 V or less (and a threshold voltage of 0.3 V or less), for example, can be produced.
Therefore, in the case of manufacturing an LSI of a super-low power consumption device with high degree of integration and high performance in the future, it is important to establish a process which makes it possible to constitute a fully depleted SOI-MOSFET for a very thin (for example, 30 nm or less in thickness) SOI layer.
In the case where the SOI layer is a thin film as above-mentioned, according to the general technology for manufacturing the fully depleted SOI-MOSFET, the body portion in the SOI layer would be thinned, and the source/drain portions and the extension portions would also be thinned. As a result, the sheet resistance in the source/drain portions and the extension portions is raised, i.e., the parasitic resistance of the transistor is raised, thereby lowering the driving capability.
The sheet resistance of the source/drain portions can be sufficiently reduced by forming a silicide film as shown in FIG. 9, but, as for the sheet resistance of the extension portions, it is necessary to raise the impurity concentration (for example, to about 1×1015/cm2) in the extension portions. When the impurity concentration in the extension portions is raised, however, the extension portion on the source side would be heavily influenced by the electric field (electric line of force) imposed from the drain side, and, particularly in the case where the transistor constituted has a small gate length, the threshold voltage (absolute value of the threshold voltage) is steeply lowered (roll-off characteristic is worsened).
As a method of improving the roll-off characteristic, there is known a method in which, as for example indicated by void arrows in a general illustration in FIG. 10 (the same components as those in FIG. 9 are denoted by the same symbols as above, and description thereof is omitted), after the formation of the extension portions 91b an impurity different in polarity from the impurity in the source/drain portions is halo-implanted (halo ion implantation) to thereby form an impurity layer (hereinafter referred to as reverse-characteristic layer) 95 different from the source/drain layer in electrical characteristics so as to cover the surroundings of the extension portions (the lower surface side of the source/drain portions, the lower surface side of the extension portions, and the gate electrode side), thereby shielding the influence of the electric field from the drain side.
The general halo implantation is carried out, for example, by a method in which the arrangement angle of an SOI substrate arranged in an ion implantation apparatus is adjusted so that ions are obliquely implanted at an implantation angle relative to the direction of a normal to the implanted surface (the surface of the Si active layer region, in an embodiment which will be described later) of more than 7°.
However, in the case where the reverse-characteristic layer is formed on the lower surface side (the buried oxide film side) of the extension portions as shown in FIG. 10, particularly in a fully depleted SOI-MOSFET in which p-MOS is formed, there is the problem that the sheet resistance of the extension portions is raised.
Due to the foregoing, in the fully depleted SOI-MOSFET in which a thin film SOI layer is formed, it is impossible to simultaneously achieve an improvement of roll-off characteristic and a reduction in parasitic resistance, and, therefore, it has been impossible to secure a sufficient driving capability.

Method of manufacturing semiconductor device


Face-based image clustering systems and methods are described. In one aspect, face regions are detected in images. At least one respective parameter value is extracted from each of the face regions. Ones of the face regions associated with parameter values satisfying a cluster seed predicate are classified as cluster seed face regions. The cluster seed face regions are clustered into one or more clusters. A respective face model is built for each of the clusters. The face models are stored. In another aspect, face regions are detected in images. At least one respective parameter value is extracted from each of the face regions. The face regions are ranked based on the extracted parameter values. The face regions are clustered in rank order into one or more clusters. Representations of ones of the clusters are rendered on a display.

As individuals and organizations continue to rapidly accumulate large collections of image content, they increasingly will require systems and methods for organizing and browsing the image content in their collections. Many systems allow a user to manually classify images and other digital content by their association with a particular event or subject matter and to segment this digital content based on these classifications. Manual classification systems, however, tend to be time consuming and unwieldy, especially as the size of the digital content collection grows. Some systems are configured to automatically segment digital content, such as images, based on color, shape, or texture features. These automatic segmentation systems, however, often tend to misclassify the digital content because of the inherent inaccuracies associated with classification based on color, shape, or texture features.
In some content-based image retrieval approaches, low level visual features are used to group images into meaningful categories that, in turn, are used to generate indices for a database containing the images. In accordance with these approaches, images are represented by low level features, such as color, texture, shape, and layout. The features of a query image may be used to retrieve images in the databases that have similar features. In general, the results of automatic categorization and indexing of images improve when the features that are used to categorize and index the images more accurately capture the target aspects of the content of the images.
Recently, efforts have been made to detect and classify aspects (e.g., faces and eyes) of human subjects. For example, in one approach, human faces in digital images are organized into clusters. In accordance with this approach, a face image is used to form a first cluster. A face recognizer generates similarity scores based on comparisons of an unassigned face image to each face image in any existing cluster. If a similarity score for the unassigned face image is above a threshold, the unassigned face image is added to the cluster corresponding to the highest similarity score. If the similarity scores for the unassigned face image is below the threshold, the unassigned face image is used to form a new cluster. The process is repeated for each unassigned face image. For each cluster, all the face images contained in the cluster are displayed in a cluster review screen. If a face image does not belong to a particular cluster, the user may delete it from the cluster or reassign to another cluster. If two clusters of faces belong together, the user can merge the clusters.
In a semi-automatic face clustering approach, a face detector is used to automatically extract faces from photos. A face recognizer is used to sort faces by their similarity to a chosen model. In this process, when one or more faces are associated with a person, a model representing those faces is created and unlabeled faces that are sorted in order of their similarity to that model are displayed. The user can select several faces and assign them to the appropriate person with a drag-and-drop interaction technique. The model is updated to incorporate the newly identified faces and the unlabeled faces are resorted by their similarity to the new model. The sorted faces are presented as candidates within a user interface that allows the user to label the faces.
The face models that are built using existing face-based image clustering approaches typically do not accurately represent the faces of the persons they represent. As a result, faces that are ranked closest to a particular face model oftentimes do not correspond to the person that is represented by the model. In particular, if one image is mistakenly included into one cluster, then other images that are similar to this image also will be included into this cluster. In this way, each false alarm may propagate to generate more false alarms. What are needed are face-based image clustering systems and methods that are capable of building more accurate and more robust face models.

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A method and system for generating parity symbols and rebuilding data symbols in a RAID system. The method includes receiving a command to generate a desired parity or data symbol using an XOR relationship between some of a plurality of parity and data symbols. A symbol of the plurality of parity and data symbols is input to an XOR accumulator, the symbol being included in the XOR relationship. Additional symbols of the plurality of parity and data symbols are input to the XOR accumulator. Each time that an additional symbol is input and is included in the XOR relationship, an XOR operation is performed between the symbol in the XOR accumulator and the additional symbol, thus obtaining a resulting symbol that replaces the previous symbol in the XOR accumulator. After every symbol included in the XOR relationship has undergone an XOR operation, the symbol in the XOR accumulator is output as the desired parity or data symbol.

With the accelerating growth of Internet and intranet communication, high-bandwidth applications (such as streaming video), and large information databases, the need for networked storage systems has increased dramatically. System performance, data protection, and cost have been some of the main concerns in designing networked storage systems. In the past, many systems have used fibre channel drives, because of their speed and reliability. However, fibre channel drives are also costly. Integrated drive electronics (IDE) drives are much cheaper in terms of dollars per gigabyte of storage; however, their reliability is inferior to that of fibre channel drives. Furthermore, IDE drives require cumbersome 40-pin cable connections and are not easily replaceable when a drive fails. Serial advanced technology attachment (ATA) drives that use the same receptor as their fibre channel counterparts are now available. Serial ATA drives have the speed required for acceptable system performance and are hot-swappable, meaning that failed drives are easily replaced with new ones. Furthermore, they provide more storage than fibre channel drives and at a much lower cost. However, serial ATA drives still do not offer the same reliability as fibre channel drives. Thus, there is an industry push to develop high-capacity storage devices that are low cost and reliable.
To improve data reliability, many computer systems implement a redundant array of independent disks (RAID) system, which is a disk system that includes a collection of multiple disk drives organized into a disk array and managed by a common array controller. The array controller presents the array to the user as one or more virtual disks. Disk arrays are the framework to which RAID functionality is added in functional levels, in order to produce cost-effective, available, high-performance disk systems.
In RAID systems, stored data is distributed over multiple disk drives in order to allow parallel operation to thereby enhance disk access performance and to provide fault tolerance against drive failures. Currently, a variety of RAID levels from RAID level 0 through RAID level 6 have been specified in the industry. RAID levels 1 through 5 provide a single drive fault tolerance. That is, these RAID levels allow reconstruction of the original data if any one of the disk drives fails. It is possible, however, that more than one serial ATA drive may fail in a RAID system. For example, dual drive failures are becoming more common as RAID systems incorporate an increasing number of less expensive disk drives.
To provide, in part, a dual fault tolerance to such failures, the industry has specified a RAID level 6. The RAID 6 architecture is similar to RAID 5, but RAID 6 can overcome the failure of any two disk drives by using an additional parity block for each row (for a storage loss of 2/N, where N represents the total number of disk drives in the system). The first parity block (P) is calculated by performing an exclusive OR (XOR) operation on a set of assigned data chunks. Likewise, the second parity block (Q) is generated by using the XOR function on a set of assigned data chunks. When a pair of disk drives fails, the conventional dual-fault tolerant RAID systems reconstruct the data of the failed drives by using the parity sets. These RAID systems are well known in the art and are amply described, for example, in The RAIDbook, 6th Edition: A Storage System Technology Handbook, edited by Paul Massiglia (1997), which is incorporated herein by reference.
An examplary dual parity scheme performs an XOR operation on horizontal rows of drive sectors, in order to generate P parity, and then performs an XOR operation on diagonal patterns of sectors, in order to create Q parity. In general, these systems require a prime number of drives and a prime number of sectors per drive in order to perform. For example, Table 1 shows the process of performing an XOR operation for both the horizontal P parity calculation and the diagonal Q parity calculation in an 11+2 disk configuration, where disk 11 is the P parity disk and disk 12 is the Q parity disk. Note that there are 11 sectors per disk; the number of sectors per disk is equal to the number of data drives.
TABLE 1Process of performing an XOR operation for both the horizontalP parity calculations and the diagonal Q parity calculation
In the example in Table 1, P parity is calculated by performing an XOR operation on the data on sector 0 of disk 0 and the data on sector 0 of disk 1. An XOR operation is further performed on the interim result of the first operation and the data on sector 0 of disk 2 and so on, until the final sector 0 of disk 10 has been processed. The final result is stored in sector 0 of the P parity disk 11 (parity may be rotating and is, therefore, stored in a special row across multiple disks). For the Q parity, an XOR operation is performed on the data on the third sector of drive 0 and the data of the second sector of drive 1. An XOR operation is further performed on the result of the first operation and the first sector of drive 2. The process repeats for the eleventh sector of drive 3, the tenth sector of drive 4, and so on, through the fourth row of drive 10. The final result is stored in the third sector of the Q parity disk 12. This completes an entire diagonal across a prime number of drives, divided into an equal prime number of rows.
An examplary dual parity algorithm is found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,453,428, entitled, "Dual-drive Fault Tolerant Method and System for Assigning Data Chunks to Column Parity Sets." The '428 patent describes a method of and system for assigning data chunks to column parity sets in a dual-drive fault tolerant storage disk drive system that has N disk drives, where N is a prime number. Each of the N disk drives is organized into N chunks, such that the N disk drives are configured as one or more N×N array of chunks. The array has chunks arranged in N rows, from row 1 to row N, and in N columns, from column 1 to column N. Each row includes a plurality of data chunks for storing data, a column parity chunk for storing a column parity set, and a row parity chunk for storing a row parity set. These data chunks are assigned in a predetermined order. The data chunks in each row are assigned to the row parity set. Each column parity set is associated with a set of data chunks in the array, wherein row m is associated with column parity set Qm, where m is an integer that ranges from 1 to N. For row 1 of a selected N×N array, a first data chunk is assigned to a column parity set Qi, wherein i is an integer determined by rounding down (N/2). For each of the remaining data chunks in row 1, each data chunk is assigned to a column parity set Qj, wherein j is an integer one less than the column parity set for the preceding data chunk, and wherein j wraps to N when j is equal to 0. For each of the remaining rows 2 to N of the selected array, a first logical data chunk is assigned to a column parity set Qk, wherein k is one greater than the column parity set for the first logical data chunk in a preceding row, and wherein k wraps to 1 when k is equal to (N+1). For each of the remaining data chunks in rows 2 to N, each data chunk is assigned to a column parity set Qn, wherein n is an integer one less than a column parity set for the preceding data chunk, and wherein n wraps to N when n is equal to 0.
The algorithm described in the '428 patent safeguards against losing data in the event of a dual drive failure. However, performing the algorithm described uses excess processing cycles that may otherwise be utilized for performing system storage tasks. Hence, the '428 patent describes a suitable dual parity algorithm for calculating dual parity and for restoring data from a dual drive failure, yet it fails to provide an optimized hardware system capable of performing the dual parity algorithm without affecting system performance. When one data sector changes, multiple Q parity sectors also need to change. If the data chunk size is equal to one or more sectors, it leads to system inefficiencies for random writes. Because parity calculations operate on an entire sector of data, each sector is read into a buffer. As the calculations continue, it may be necessary to access the buffer several times to reacquire sector data, even if that data had been used previously in the parity generation hardware. There is, therefore, a need for an effective means of calculating parity, such that the storage system is fault tolerant against a dual drive failure, provides optimal performance by improving buffer bandwidth utilization, and is capable of generating parity or regenerating data at wire speed for differing data sector sizes.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide hardware and software protocols that enable wire speed calculation of dual parity and regenerated data.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a programmable dual parity generator and data regenerator that supports both RAID5 and RAID6 architectures.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a programmable dual parity generator and data regenerator that operates independently of stripe size or depth.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a programmable dual parity generator and data regenerator that operates independently of sector order (i.e., order in which sectors are read from and written to the buffer).

Method and system for wire-speed parity generation and data rebuild in RAID systems


A Computed Tomography (CT) system can be deployed by subsea vehicles such as remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) or by divers to perform CT inspections on a subsea structure. In embodiments, a marinized signal source and a marinized flat panel signal detector are positioned at a structure to be inspected subsea and possibly repositioned at different angles about the structure to acquire a series of 2D radiographic images which are then fed to a reconstruction algorithm that produces a 3D reconstructed volume of the structure being inspected.

Conventional radiography generates a two-dimensional (2D) image which provides qualitative data of an object that is inspected, but imposes challenges associated with making dimensional measurements as the 2D image has an overlap of all the three-dimensional (3D) features of the object that is being inspected. Current art does not utilize performing Computed Tomograghy (CT) scanning subsea with a high energy source and a flat panel detector.

Subsea computed tomography system with flat panel detectors


Series of first ramps and second ramps are generated. A circuit delivers a first signal representative of the comparison of each first ramp with a set point and delivers a second signal representative of the comparison of each second ramp with the set point. Based on the first and second signals: a first ramp is stopped and a second ramp is started when the first ramp reaches the set point, and a second ramp is stopped and a first ramp is started when the second ramp reaches the set point. The value of the set point is modulated in response a maximum value of the first/second last ramp compared with the set point.

Oscillators configured to generate a binary periodic signal, for example, a clock signal, are known. These oscillators use a comparison of at least one voltage ramp with a set point voltage to generate the periodic signal, with the slope of the ramp(s) and the set point voltage determining the frequency of the generated periodic signal. The comparison(s) are respectively implemented by one or a plurality of voltage comparators, typically comparator-assembled operational amplifiers.
However, the propagation time in the comparators is sensitive to temperature variations of the oscillator. So, a modification of the oscillator temperature will result in a modification of the frequency of the generated periodic signal, which is not desirable.
There is a need to overcome all or part of the disadvantages of known oscillators, in particular of the previously-described known oscillators.


An exhaust purifier for an internal combustion engine is capable of properly heating a catalyst in consideration of a deterioration with time and manufacturing variation in an electric heater that heats the catalyst.. The exhaust purifier has the catalyst 4 disposed in an exhaust pipe, the electric heater for forcibly heating the catalyst 4, a power source for supplying power to the heater, an estimate unit for estimating the temperature that the catalyst 4 will reach, a comparator for providing the difference between the estimated temperature and a target temperature, and an operation controller for controlling the operating conditions of the engine according to the temperature difference. The estimate unit measures the voltage and current of the heater, calculates the resistance or power of the heater according to the voltage and current, and estimates the temperature. The operation controller adjusts the quantity of intake air and ignition timing, or adjusts ignition timing and then the quantity of intake air to maintain an engine speed, or, if a battery 6 is abnormal, adjusts the quantity of intake air and ignition timing to increase the temperature of exhaust gas.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an exhaust purifier for an internal combustion engine, and particularly, to one that heats a catalyst with an electric heater in consideration of a deterioration with time and manufacturing variation in the heater.
2. Description of the Related Art
An exhaust system of an internal combustion engine employs a catalyst in an exhaust passage to remove toxic substances such as HC, CO, and NOx from the exhaust gas. The catalyst purifies exhaust gas only after it is heated above an activation temperature. To heat the catalyst, hot exhaust gas from the engine is usually used. If the engine is started from a cold state, it will take time to heat the catalyst to the activation temperature because the temperature of exhaust gas is low at first. Until the catalyst is activated, the exhaust gas is insufficiently purified.
To solve this problem, an electrically heated catalyst (EHC) has been proposed. The EHC has a catalyst and a metal carrier to which a current is applied at the start of the engine to quickly heat the catalyst up to an activation temperature. An example of the EHC is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 5-179939. The EHC, however, consumes large amounts of power, dropping the voltage of a battery during an idling period.
To prevent such voltage drop, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 6-101459 checks an idling state and a heater operation. If the heater is operating while the engine is idling, the disclosure increases the quantity of intake air by controlling an electronic throttle or an idling speed controller (ISC) disposed in an intake system of the engine. As the quantity of intake air increases, the quantity of injected fuel increases to increase the torque and idling speed of the engine. This increases the power generated by a generator to compensate for the voltage drop of the battery.
This disclosure determines a period for operating the heater according to the temperature of cooling water of the engine without considering a deterioration with time of the heater resistance and manufacturing variation in the heater. Accordingly, the heater operating period may be too long or too short for the catalyst. As a result, the heater and the heat of exhaust gas will excessively or insufficiently heat the catalyst.
An object of the present invention is to provide an exhaust purifier for an internal combustion engine, capable of properly heating a catalyst in consideration of a deterioration with time and manufacturing variation in an electric heater that heats the catalyst.

Exhaust purifier for internal combustion engine


A shift device, which sends a command signal to an electric actuator for shifting a plurality of gear ranges of a transmission of a vehicle by the electric actuator. The gear ranges include a plurality of drive ranges and a parking range. A shift lever is arranged to move between a neutral position and a plurality of manipulation positions located about the neutral position. A restoration mechanism restores the shift lever to the neutral position. A first sensor electrically detects a manipulation performed to select one of the drive ranges. A second sensor electrically detects a manipulation performed to select the parking range. The first sensor detects toward which of the manipulation positions the shift lever is manipulated.

The present invention relates to a shift device that electrically controls shifting of a number of gear ranges of an automatic transmission installed in a vehicle.
The gear ranges of an automatic transmission for a vehicle, such as a P (parking) range, an R (reverse) range, an N (neutral) range, and a D (drive) range, are switched by a manual valve. A shift device for the automatic transmission includes a shift lever. When the shift lever is manipulated, the shift lever moves between gear positions located in order on a substantially straight line. The shift lever is directly connected to the manual valve through, for example, a link or a wire mechanically. Therefore, a manipulation force greater than or equal to a predetermined value is required to switch the manual valve by the manipulation of the shift lever. Thus, to apply the principle of leverage, the length of the shift lever needs to be greater than or equal to a predetermined value. In such shift device, the shift lever is only manipulated linearly and requires a large space for manipulating the shift lever. Also, the installation position of the shift device is limited to a place where a link or a wire can be arranged, such as on the floor adjacent to the driver's seat or on the steering column.
To reduce the force required for manipulation and to reduce the size of the shift device, a gear shifting device for an automatic transmission is proposed in Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 63-37729. According to the device of the above publication, a manual valve in the automatic transmission is controlled by a wire to shift drive gear ranges. The wire is driven by an electric motor and the electric motor is actuated in accordance with the manipulation of a number of electric switches.
According to the shift device structured as above, a driver can shift the gear range of the automatic transmission by manipulating the electric switches with a small force and the size of the shift device is reduced. Also, the shift device is not required to be mechanically connected to the automatic transmission. Therefore, the shift device can be located at any position in the passenger compartment.
However, to reliably select a desired gear range of the shift device of the above publication, the electrical switches must be manipulated carefully. This hinders the operability of the shift device.
To solve such problems, Japanese laid-open publication No. 3-157557 discloses a gear shifting device for an automatic transmission. The gear shifting device is provided with a shift device, which has a stroke contact type manipulation switch. The contact points of the manipulation switch are located adjacent to one another along a predetermined track. Since the shift device of above publication is provided with the stroke contact type manipulation switch, the size of the shift device is reduced and the shift device can be placed at any position. According to the above shift device, a driver can confirm the current gear range by a gear range indicator arranged on, for example, an instrument panel. Thus, the drive can manipulate the manipulation switches intuitively.
However, the shift device of the publication No. 3-157557 is provided with the stroke contact type manipulation switch and the manipulation positions are located adjacent to one another along the predetermined track. Therefore, if a driver manipulates the manipulation switch too fast, the switch could slide past a desired manipulation position. Therefore, a driver cannot manipulate the manipulation switch promptly. Thus, the operability of the shift device is insufficient.
The objective of the present invention is to provide a miniaturized shift device that has an improved flexibility of installation position and an improved operability.
Further objective of the present invention is to provide a shift device that prevents the assumption of a driver related to the setting of a gear range of an automatic transmission being different from the actual state of the gear range so that the driver is not disturbed.


Disclosed herein are systems, methods, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable storage media for detecting gunshots with improved accuracy. The system includes a plurality of acoustic sensing devices having intelligent modules for distinguishing gunshot events from other types of acoustic events.

In general, it is believed that a major trauma victim's probability of surviving a traumatic injury and reaching a better outcome increases as the time-delay in providing the victim critical care decreases. In fact, evidence suggests that mortality is decreased in trauma patient outcomes when the trauma patient reaches definitive care (e.g., surgery) within about one hour of the traumatic injury (e.g., a gunshot wound). Colloquially, the first hour of time after a major injury is incurred is sometimes known as the "golden hour."
Gunshots may occur in acoustic environments having a wide variety and range of complexities—from relatively simple environments (e.g., open spaces with little reflectance and little interfering sounds) to relatively complex environments (e.g., closed spaces with many reflecting surfaces and/or areas having a high incidence of overlapping sounds such as human and automobile traffic noise, industrial equipment noises, etc). In some cases, overlapping sounds may have the quality of a gunshot (e.g., a firecracker, a drill, etc.).
There is therefore a need for a relatively simple, effective way to detect acoustic events, such as gunshots, in different environments and identify them with a high degree of accuracy and to provide relevant alerts when an acoustic event is so detected.

System and methods for detecting gunshots


An exterior rearview mirror for a vehicle has a base and a mirror housing connected to the base. A mirror pane is movably connected in the mirror housing. An electrically operated drive unit for moving the mirror pane is provided. The drive unit includes electric motors encapsulated by a drive unit housing. Electric lines for supplying the drive unit with electrical power are provided. A plug connector is positioned in the drive unit housing. The electric lines have a plug for insertion into the plug connector. The plug connector has electric connectors for connecting the motors to the plug connectors. The motors are connected to the electric connectors by a plug connection.

The present invention relates to an exterior rearview mirror for motor vehicles, comprising an electrically driven drive unit, encapsulated within a housing, for moving the mirror pane and including also electrical lines for supplying the drive unit with electric power.
Plug connections for electrically connecting the drive unit to a power supply are known for such mirrors. The corresponding plugs have, however, such great size that, for mounting and demounting of the mirror, they cannot be easily introduced or removed through respective wall openings in order to facilitate mounting. The electrical connections within the housing of the drive unit are therefore often realized by soldering, respectively, by crimping, which requires special working steps.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to improve a mirror of the aforementioned kind such that an especially simple mounting and assembly of the exterior rearview mirror is possible.

Exterior rearview mirror for motor vehicles


According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a roll press apparatus is provided. The roll press apparatus presses electrode sheets, each including a both-side coated portion where an electrode mixture is applied to both sides of a current collector and a one-side coated portion where the electrode mixture is applied to one side of a current collector, by passing the electrode sheet through a separated space between a pair of press rolls.

As the development and demand for mobile devices increases, the demand for rechargeable batteries as an energy source is increasing rapidly, and among the rechargeable batteries, many researches have been conducted on commercially available lithium rechargeable batteries with high energy density and discharge voltage, and lithium rechargeable batteries have been widely used.
Rechargeable batteries are classified into cylindrical batteries and rectangular batteries in which the electrode assembly is embedded in a cylindrical or rectangular metal can, and pouch batteries in which the electrode assembly is embedded in a pouch type of case made of an aluminum laminate sheet according to the shape of the battery case.
In addition, as a generator that is formed in a laminated structure of a positive electrode/a separator/a negative electrode and can be repeatedly charged and discharged, the electrode assembly is embedded in the battery case, and may be approximately classified into a spiral-wound jelly-roll type with a separation film between a long sheet type anode and a negative electrode coated with an active material, a stack type in which a plurality of positive and negative electrodes are sequentially stacked while disposing a separator therebetween, and a stack/fold type in which stacked unit cells are wound with a long length of a separation film. Among them, the jelly-roll type of electrode assembly has high merits of easy manufacturing and high energy density per unit weight. Such a jelly-roll type of electrode assembly has been mainly used in a cylindrical type of battery and a prism-shaped battery.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of an electrode sheet included in a conventional jelly-roll type electrode assembly. Hereinafter, this will be described in further detail.
Referring to FIG. 1, an electrode sheet is formed by coating an active material on opposite sides of an electrode current collector 10 to increase an opposing area of each electrode. Due to the nature of the jelly-roll structure, a portion in which inner and outer surfaces 12 and 14 of the two electrodes overlap each other do not face each other. That is, in the first winding portion of the inner side of which the first winding of the inner electrode is wound and in the winding section of the outer side of the outer electrode which are wound last, the opposing surfaces of the two electrodes are not formed. Thus, in these portions, active material layers 20 and 30 are applied only to the sides of the electrodes facing each other. Hereinafter, the portions where the active material is applied only to a single side of each electrode will be called one-side coated portions 40.
Meanwhile, a portion where the active material is not coated and thus a current collector metal film is exposed may be called an uncoated portion, but the uncoated portion is not limited to the non-facing portion. An electrode tab 50, which serves as a path for drawing out charges moved through the electrode current collector 10 to the outside the battery cell is welded to the uncoated portion, and a mandrel that grips an electrode when the jelly-roll type electrode assembly is spirally wound also becomes an uncoated portion.
However, since the one-side uncoated portion 40 is coated with an active material only at one side, uniformity of rolling is not maintained in relation to a two-side coating portion in which active material is applied on both sides of the current collector, and the one-side coated portion 40 and the both-side coating portion have a difference of about 10% even in the porosity of the electrode in the rolling step to increase density of the electrode active material layer after applying the active material.
For this reason, when a lithium rechargeable battery is completed and is thus charged and discharged, electrochemical reactions and battery phenomena tend to be excessive or underestimated in such non-uniform portions, in comparison with other portions, and accordingly, problems such as deteriorated electrical function, battery failure, and shortened cycle-life may occur. In addition, process defects may occur due to the non-uniformity of these portions even in manufacturing the battery.
For example, a low pressure is applied to the one-side coated portion due to a thin thickness in a rolling and pressing process for electrode manufacturing, and a coated active material is combined with the electrode assembly with low pressure and low density. Thus, when the volume is changed by charging, a pressure difference with the two-side coated portion becomes more severe, which may cause a problem that a cycle-life characteristic due to deformation of the electrode assembly and the resulting battery swelling phenomenon is rapidly deteriorated.
Therefore, there is a high need for an electrode rolling process of a jelly-roll type electrode assembly which can solve the above problems.

Roll press apparatus comprising stepped revision member and method for pressing using the same


The disclosure is directed to polymer ligands that are optimally suited for surface-functionalizing magnetic nanoparticles. The amphiphilic polymers are prepared by coupling several amine-terminated anchoring groups, polyethylene glycol moieties, and reactive groups onto a poly(isobutylene-alt-maleic anhydride) (PIMA) chain. The reaction of maleic anhydride groups with amine-containing molecules is highly-efficient and occurs in one-step. The availability of several dopamine groups in the same ligand greatly enhances the ligand affinity, via multiple-coordination, to the magnetic NPs, while the hydrophilic and reactive groups promote colloidal stability in buffer media and allow subsequent conjugation with target biomolecules. Nanoparticles ligated with terminally reactive polymers have been easily coupled to target dyes and tested in live cell imaging with no measurable cytotoxicity.

Magnetic nanoparticles such as those made of Fe3O4, FePt, Co, or Mn-doped Fe3O4 exhibit unique size- and composition-dependent physical properties that are not observed at the molecular scale or shared by their bulk parent materials. See references 1-7. This has generated a great deal of interest to integrate them into electronic devices and as contrast enhancement agents for Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). See references 1-4, 6, and 7. Other potential applications in biology include use as magnetic carriers for drug delivery platforms, biosensors, hyperthermia and bioseparation. See references 8-13. Magnetic NPs as contrast enhancing agents for MR imaging and sensing have generated considerable attention and much work in the past decade. This has motivated researchers to develop new synthetic schemes to prepare large quantities of high quality magnetic nanoparticles and to conceive new surface-functionalization strategies for post growth manipulation and processing.
An effective integration of magnetic NPs into biology requires the availability of NPs with homogenous composition, reduced size distribution, high coercivity, and the ability to interface them with biological systems. Thus far, the most successful route to prepare high quality iron oxide (IO) nanoparticles (NP) with controllable size and high crystallinity has relied on the thermal decomposition of metal precursors (such as iron oleate, iron pentacarbonyl and iron acetylacetonate) in hot surfactant solution. See references 14-18. However, nanocrystals synthesized via thermolysis of organometallic precursors are capped with hydrophobic ligands, which make them dispersible only in organic solvents. Therefore, any use in bio-inspired investigations requires additional chemical manipulation and post growth surface modification to render the magnetic NPs colloidally stable in buffer media and biocompatible. See references 4 and 19-22.
Two main strategies have emerged as reliable approaches for interfacing these materials with biological systems. One uses amphiphilic polymers (e.g., copolymers and phospholipids) to encapsulate the as-prepared hydrophobic nanoparticles within micelle-like structures; it relies on the interdigitation (an entropy-driven process) between the hydrophobic segments of the polymers and the native cap. Such strategy has been employed by several groups to prepare various water-soluble NPs and to couple them to biomolecules. See references 23-30. Encapsulation preserves the native organic cap, which may be beneficial as this can better preserve the physical properties of the native materials (e.g., optical or magnetic), but tends to significantly increase the hydrodynamic size of the nanoparticles and may yield more than one nanocrystal per micelle. See references 23 and 30. This will limit their use in applications requiring small size probes. The other strategy relies on the removal of the hydrophobic shell and replacing it with bifunctional ligands that present anchoring groups and hydrophilic moieties: ligand exchange. These anchors interact with the metal surface via Lewis-base type coordination. This route should, in principle, provide compact NPs and better colloidal stability in physiological conditions, if the ligands present strong anchoring groups to NP surfaces. For Fe3O4 and γ-Fe2O3 magnetic nanocrystals, dopamine has been reported to exhibit specific affinity to the NP surface, a feature attributed to the improved orbital overlap of five-membered catechol ring and reduced steric effects. See references 9 and 31.
Several monodentate dopamine-modified ligands, such as dopamine-PEG-carboxy/amine and zwitterionic dopamine sulfonate have been used for preparing colloidal dispersions of iron oxide NPs in water media, due to ease of implementation. See references 32 through 34. Similarly, ligation with monodentate moieties has been applied to transfer a wide range of inorganic nanocrystals (e.g., metal NPs and quantum dots) to buffer media. However, the binding affinity of such monodentate ligands to the NP surface is weak, and this can result in irreversible ligand desorption from the NP surfaces due to the dynamic nature of coordination interactions. This can negatively affect the NP stability in biological media, in particular at low concentrations. Furthermore, ligands with weak affinity can be easily displaced by biomolecules bearing amine and carboxylic functional groups, which will eventually promote NP aggregation, making this strategy ineffective. See reference 22. Such problems should be overcome by developing multi-coordinating ligands, which improve the NP colloidal stability in biological media by enhancing the ligand affinity to the NP surfaces. See references 35 through 40. Our group has previously reported the design of multi-dopamine modified ligand consisting of a short poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) backbone laterally appended with a few catechol groups and several poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) moieties via N,N′-dicyclohexylcarbodiimide (DCC) and N-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)-N′-ethylcarbodiimide (EDC) condensation. See reference 40. The resulting aqueous iron oxide (IO) nanoparticles (NP) were stable for one month in high acidic/basic conditions and at least 6 months in DI water. However, the use of polyacrylic acid (PAA) precursor for modification, where close proximity of the COOH groups along the backbone combined with the need to use DCC/EDC reagents, produced ligands with lower numbers of metal-coordinating groups (˜6 dopamines per PAA chain); the PAA-based ligands also required thorough post-synthesis purification.
The present disclosure refers to the following references by number:    1. Lewin, M.; Carlesso, N.; Tung, C. H.; Tang, X. W.; Cory, D.; Scadden, D. T.; Weissleder, R., Tat peptide-derivatized magnetic nanoparticles allow in vivo tracking and recovery of progenitor cells. Nat Biotechnol 2000, 18 (4), 410-414.    2. Gupta, A. K.; Gupta, M., Synthesis and surface engineering of iron oxide nanoparticles for biomedical applications. Biomaterials 2005, 26 (18), 3995-4021.    3. Lee, J. H.; Huh, Y. M.; Jun, Y.; Seo, J.; Jang, J.; Song, H. T.; Kim, S.; Cho, E. J.; Yoon, H. G.; Suh, J. S.; Cheon, J., Artificially engineered magnetic nanoparticles for ultra-sensitive molecular imaging. Nature Medicine 2007, 13 (1), 95-99.    4. Jun, Y. W.; Lee, J. H.; Cheon, J., Chemical design of nanoparticle probes for high-performance magnetic resonance imaging. Angewandte Chemie-International Edition 2008, 47 (28), 5122-5135.    5. Mattoussi, H.; Cheon, J., Inorganic nanoprobes for biological sensing and imaging. Artech House: Boston, 2009; 302 p.    6. Kim, J.; Piao, Y.; Hyeon, T., Multifunctional nanostructured materials for multimodal imaging, and simultaneous imaging and therapy. Chem Soc Rev 2009, 38 (2), 372-390.    7. Frey, N. A.; Peng, S.; Cheng, K.; Sun, S., Magnetic nanoparticles: synthesis, functionalization, and applications in bioimaging and magnetic energy storage. Chem Soc Rev 2009, 38 (9), 2532-2542.    8. Perez, J. M.; Josephson, L.; O'Loughlin, T.; Hogemann, D.; Weissleder, R., Magnetic relaxation switches capable of sensing molecular interactions. Nat Biotechnol 2002, 20 (8), 816-820.    9. Xu, C. J.; Xu, K. M.; Gu, H. W.; Zheng, R. K.; Liu, H.; Zhang, X. X.; Guo, Z. H.; Xu, B., Dopamine as a robust anchor to immobilize functional molecules on the iron oxide shell of magnetic nanoparticles. J Am Chem Soc 2004, 126 (32), 9938-9939.    10. Nasongkla, N.; Bey, E.; Ren, J. M.; Ai, H.; Khemtong, C.; Guthi, J. S.; Chin, S. F.; Sherry, A. D.; Boothman, D. A.; Gao, J. M., Multifunctional polymeric micelles as cancer-targeted, MRI-ultrasensitive drug delivery systems. Nano Lett 2006, 6 (11), 2427-2430.    11. Medarova, Z.; Pham, W.; Farrar, C.; Petkova, V.; Moore, A., In vivo imaging of siRNA delivery and silencing in tumors. Nat Med 2007, 13 (3), 372-377.    12. El-Boubbou, K.; Zhu, D. C.; Vasileiou, C.; Borhan, B.; Prosperi, D.; Li, W.; Huang, X. F., Magnetic Glyco-Nanoparticles: A Tool To Detect, Differentiate, and Unlock the Glyco-Codes of Cancer via Magnetic Resonance Imaging. J Am Chem Soc 2010, 132 (12), 4490-4499.    13. Santra, S.; Kaittanis, C.; Grimm, J.; Perez, J. M., Drug/Dye-Loaded, Multifunctional Iron Oxide Nanoparticles for Combined Targeted Cancer Therapy and Dual Optical/Magnetic Resonance Imaging. Small 2009, 5 (16), 1862-1868.    14. Rockenberger, J.; Scher, E. C.; Alivisatos, A. P., A new nonhydrolytic single-precursor approach to surfactant-capped nanocrystals of transition metal oxides. J Am Chem Soc 1999, 121 (49), 11595-11596.    15. Park, J.; An, K. J.; Hwang, Y. S.; Park, J. G.; Noh, H. J.; Kim, J. Y.; Park, J. H.; Hwang, N. M.; Hyeon, T., Ultra-large-scale syntheses of monodisperse nanocrystals. Nature Materials 2004, 3 (12), 891-895.    16. Sun, S. H.; Zeng, H.; Robinson, D. B.; Raoux, S.; Rice, P. M.; Wang, S. X.; Li, G. X., Monodisperse MFe2O4 (M=Fe, Co, Mn) nanoparticles. J Am Chem Soc 2004, 126 (1), 273-279.    17. Yu, W. W.; Falkner, J. C.; Yavuz, C. T.; Colvin, V. L., Synthesis of monodisperse iron oxide nanocrystals by thermal decomposition of iron carboxylate salts. Chem Commun 2004, (20), 2306-2307.    18. Jun, Y. W.; Huh, Y. M.; Choi, J. S.; Lee, J. H.; Song, H. T.; Kim, S.; Yoon, S.; Kim, K. S.; Shin, J. S.; Suh, J. S.; Cheon, J., Nanoscale size effect of magnetic nanocrystals and their utilization for cancer diagnosis via magnetic resonance imaging. J Am Chem Soc 2005, 127 (16), 5732-5733.    19. Zhang, F.; Lees, E.; Amin, F.; Gil, P. R.; Yang, F.; Mulvaney, P.; Parak, W. J., Polymer-Coated Nanoparticles: A Universal Tool for Biolabelling Experiments. Small 2011, 7 (22), 3113-3127.    20. Mattoussi, H.; Palui, G.; Na, H. B., Luminescent quantum dots as platforms for probing in vitro and in vivo biological processes. Adv Drug Deliver Rev 2012, 64 (2), 138-166.    21. Mout, R.; Moyano, D. F.; Rana, S.; Rotello, V. M., Surface functionalization of nanoparticles for nanomedicine. Chem Soc Rev 2012, 41 (7), 2539-2544.    22. Ling, D.; Hyeon, T., Chemical design of biocompatible iron oxide nanoparticles for medical applications. Small 2013, 9 (9-10), 1450-66.    23. Kim, B. S.; Qiu, J. M.; Wang, J. P.; Taton, T. A., Magnetomicelles: Composite nanostructures from magnetic nanoparticles and cross-linked amphiphilic block copolymers. Nano Lett 2005, 5 (10), 1987-1991.    24. Tromsdorf, U. I.; Bigall, N. C.; Kaul, M. G.; Bruns, O. T.; Nikolic, M. S.; Mollwitz, B.; Sperling, R. A.; Reimer, R.; Hohenberg, H.; Parak, W. J.; Forster, S.; Beisiegel, U.; Adam, G.; Weller, H., Size and surface effects on the MRI relaxivity of manganese ferrite nanoparticle contrast agents. Nano Lett 2007, 7 (8), 2422-2427.    25. Yu, W. W.; Chang, E.; Falkner, J. C.; Zhang, J. Y.; Al-Somali, A. M.; Sayes, C. M.; Johns, J.; Drezek, R.; Colvin, V. L., Forming biocompatible and nonaggregated nanocrystals in water using amphiphilic polymers. J Am Chem Soc 2007, 129 (10), 2871-2879.    26. Lin, C. A.; Sperling, R. A.; Li, J. K.; Yang, T. Y.; Li, P. Y.; Zanella, M.; Chang, W. H.; Parak, W. J., Design of an amphiphilic polymer for nanoparticle coating and functionalization. Small 2008, 4 (3), 334-341.    27. Pellegrino, T.; Manna, L.; Kudera, S.; Liedl, T.; Koktysh, D.; Rogach, A. L.; Keller, S.; Radler, J.; Natile, G.; Parak, W. J., Hydrophobic nanocrystals coated with an amphiphilic polymer shell: A general route to water soluble nanocrystals. Nano Letters 2004, 4 (4), 703-707.    28. Lees, E. E.; Nguyen, T. L.; Clayton, A. H. A.; Muir, B. W.; Mulvaney, P., The Preparation of Colloidally Stable, Water-Soluble, Biocompatible, Semiconductor Nanocrystals with a Small Hydrodynamic Diameter. ACS nano 2009, 3 (7), 1121-1128.    29. Wu, X. Y.; Liu, H. J.; Liu, J. Q.; Haley, K. N.; Treadway, J. A.; Larson, J. P.; Ge, N. F.; Peale, F.; Bruchez, M P, Immunofluorescent labeling of cancer marker Her2 and other cellular targets with semiconductor quantum dots. Nat Biotechnol 2003, 21 (4), 41-46.    30. Mikhaylov, G.; Mikac, U.; Magaeva, A. A.; Itin, V. I.; Naiden, E. P.; Psakhye, I.; Babes, L.; Reinheckel, T.; Peters, C.; Zeiser, R.; Bogyo, M.; Turk, V.; Psakhye, S. G.; Turk, B.; Vasiljeva, O., Ferri-liposomes as an MRI-visible drug-delivery system for targeting tumours and their microenvironment. Nat Nanotechnol 2011, 6 (9), 594-602.    31. Boyer, C.; Whittaker, M. R.; Bulmus, V.; Liu, J. Q.; Davis, T. P., The design and utility of polymer-stabilized iron-oxide nanoparticles for nanomedicine applications. Npg Asia Mater 2010, 2 (1), 23-30.    32. Xie, J.; Xu, C. J.; Xu, Z. C.; Hou, Y. L.; Young, K. L.; Wang, S. X.; Pourmond, N.; Sun, S. H., Linking hydrophilic macromolecules to monodisperse magnetite (Fe3O4) nanoparticles via trichloro-s-triazine. Chem Mater 2006, 18 (23), 5401-5403.    33. Amstad, E.; Gillich, T.; Bilecka, I.; Textor, M.; Reimhult, E., Ultrastable Iron Oxide Nanoparticle Colloidal Suspensions Using Dispersants with Catechol-Derived Anchor Groups. Nano Letters 2009, 9 (12), 4042-4048.    34. Wei, H.; Insin, N.; Lee, J.; Han, H. S.; Cordero, J. M.; Liu, W. H.; Bawendi, M. G., Compact Zwitterion-Coated Iron Oxide Nanoparticles for Biological Applications. Nano Letters 2012, 12 (1), 22-25.    35. Zhang, T. R.; Ge, J. P.; Hu, Y. X.; Yin, Y. D., A general approach for transferring hydrophobic nanocrystals into water. Nano Lett 2007, 7 (10), 3203-3207.    36. Shukoor, M. I.; Natalio, F.; Ksenofontov, V.; Tahir, M. N.; Eberhardt, M.; Theato, P.; Schroder, H. C.; Muller, W. E.; Tremel, W., Double-stranded RNA polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid immobilized onto gamma-Fe2O3 nanoparticles by using a multifunctional polymeric linker. Small 2007, 3 (8), 1374-8.    37. Liong, M.; Shao, H.; Haun, J. B.; Lee, H.; Weissleder, R., Carboxymethylated polyvinyl alcohol stabilizes doped ferrofluids for biological applications. Adv Mater 2010, 22 (45), 5168-72.    38. Stewart, M. H.; Susumu, K.; Mei, B. C.; Medintz, I. L.; Delehanty, J. B.; Blanco-Canosa, J. B.; Dawson, P. E.; Mattoussi, H., Multidentate Poly(ethylene glycol) Ligands Provide Colloidal Stability to Semiconductor and Metallic Nanocrystals in Extreme Conditions. J Am Chem Soc 2010, 132 (28), 9804-9813.    39. Ling, D.; Park, W.; Park, Y. I.; Lee, N.; Li, F.; Song, C.; Yang, S. G.; Choi, S. H.; Na, K.; Hyeon, T., Multiple-Interaction Ligands Inspired by Mussel Adhesive Protein: Synthesis of Highly Stable and Biocompatible Nanoparticles. Angew Chem Int Edit 2011, 50 (48), 11360-11365.    40. Na, H. B.; Palui, G.; Rosenberg, J. T.; Ji, X.; Grant, S. C.; Mattoussi, H., Multidentate catechol-based polyethylene glycol oligomers provide enhanced stability and biocompatibility to iron oxide nanoparticles. ACS nano 2012, 6 (1), 389-99.    41. Uyeda, H. T.; Medintz, I. L.; Jaiswal, J. K.; Simon, S. M.; Mattoussi, H., Synthesis of compact multidentate ligands to prepare stable hydrophilic quantum dot fluorophores. J Am Chem Soc 2005, 127 (11), 3870-3878.    42. Nikolic, M. S.; Krack, M.; Aleksandrovic, V.; Kornowski, A.; Forster, S.; Weller, H., Tailor-made ligands for biocompatible nanoparticles. Angew Chem Int Edit 2006, 45 (39), 6577-6580.    43. Pons, T.; Uyeda, H. T.; Medintz, I. L.; Mattoussi, H., Hydrodynamic dimensions, electrophoretic mobility, and stability of hydrophilic quantum dots. Journal of Physical Chemistry B 2006, 110 (41), 20308-20316.    44. Lee, N.; Hyeon, T., Designed synthesis of uniformly sized iron oxide nanoparticles for efficient magnetic resonance imaging contrast agents. Chemical Society Reviews 2012, 41 (7), 2575-2589.    45. Huang, J.; Bu, L. H.; Xie, J.; Chen, K.; Cheng, Z.; Li, X. G.; Chen, X. Y., Effects of Nanoparticle Size on Cellular Uptake and Liver MRI with Polyvinylpyrrolidone-Coated Iron Oxide Nanoparticles. ACS nano 2010, 4 (12), 7151-7160.    46. Xie, J.; Xu, C.; Kohler, N.; Hou, Y.; Sun, S., Controlled PEGylation of monodisperse Fe3O4 nanoparticles for reduced non-specific uptake by macrophage cells. Advanced Materials 2007, 19 (20), 3163-3166.    47. Mirkin, C. A.; Letsinger, R. L.; Mucic, R. C.; Storhoff, J. J., A DNA-based method for rationally assembling nanoparticles into macroscopic materials. Nature 1996, 382 (6592), 607-609.    48. Clapp, A. R.; Medintz, I. L.; Mauro, J. M.; Fisher, B. R.; Bawendi, M. G.; Mattoussi, H., Fluorescence resonance energy transfer between quantum dot donors and dye-labeled protein acceptors. J Am Chem Soc 2004, 126 (1), 301-310.    49. Mattoussi, H.; Mauro, J. M.; Goldman, E. R.; Anderson, G. P.; Sundar, V. C.; Mikulec, F. V.; Bawendi, M. G., Self-assembly of CdSe—ZnS quantum dot bioconjugates using an engineered recombinant protein. J Am Chem Soc 2000, 122 (49), 12142-12150.    50. Sapsford, K. E.; Algar, W. R.; Berti, L.; Gemmill, K. B.; Casey, B. J.; Oh, E.; Stewart, M. H.; Medintz, I. L., Functionalizing Nanoparticles with Biological Molecules: Developing Chemistries that Facilitate Nanotechnology. Chemical Reviews 2013, 113 (3), 1904-2074.    51. Guardia, P.; Di Corato, R.; Lartigue, L.; Wilhelm, C.; Espinosa, A.; Garcia-Hernandez, M.; Gazeau, F.; Manna, L.; Pellegrino, T., Water-Soluble Iron Oxide Nanocubes with High Values of Specific Absorption Rate for Cancer Cell Hyperthermia Treatment. ACS nano 2012, 6 (4), 3080-3091.    52. Piao, Y.; Jin, Z.; Lee, D.; Lee, H. J.; Na, H. B.; Hyeon, T.; Oh, M. K.; Kim, J.; Kim, H. S., Sensitive and high-fidelity electrochemical immunoassay using carbon nanotubes coated with enzymes and magnetic nanoparticles. Biosensors & Bioelectronics 2011, 26 (7), 3192-3199.    53. Jun, Y. W.; Seo, J. W.; Cheon, A., Nanoscaling laws of magnetic nanoparticles and their applicabilities in biomedical sciences. Accounts Chem Res 2008, 41 (2), 179-189.    54. Sandiford, L.; Phinikaridou, A.; Protti, A.; Meszaros, L. K.; Cui, X. J.; Yan, Y.; Frodsham, G.; Williamson, P. A.; Gaddum, N.; Botnar, R. M.; Blower, P. J.; Green, M. A.; de Rosales, R. T. M., Bisphosphonate-Anchored PEGylation and Radiolabeling of Superparamagnetic Iron Oxide: Long-Circulating Nanoparticles for in Vivo Multimodal (T1 MRI-SPECT) Imaging. ACS Nano 2013, 7 (1), 500-512.    55. Mattoussi, H.; Karasz, F. E.; Langley, K. H., Electrostatic and Screening Effects on the Dynamic Aspects of Polyelectrolyte Solutions. J Chem Phys 1990, 93 (5), 3593-3603.    56. Susumu, K.; Uyeda, H. T.; Medintz, I. L.; Pons, T.; Delehanty, J. B.; Mattoussi, H., Enhancing the stability and biological functionalities of quantum dots via compact multifunctional ligands. J Am Chem Soc 2007, 129 (45), 13987-13996.    57. Mei, B. C.; Susumu, K.; Medintz, I. L.; Delehanty, J. B.; Mountziaris, T. J.; Mattoussi, H., Modular poly(ethylene glycol) ligands for biocompatible semiconductor and gold nanocrystals with extended pH and ionic stability. J Mater Chem 2008, 18 (41), 4949-4958.    58. Susumu, K.; Mei, B. C.; Mattoussi, H., Multifunctional ligands based on dihydrolipoic acid and polyethylene glycol to promote biocompatibility of quantum dots. Nat Protoc 2009, 4 (3), 424-436.    59. Mei, B. C.; Susumu, K.; Medintz, I. L.; Mattoussi, H., Polyethylene glycol-based bidentate ligands to enhance quantum dot and gold nanoparticle stability in biological media. Nat Protoc 2009, 4 (3), 412-423.

The Florida State University Research Foundation, Inc.


A multilayer capacitor includes a body including a multilayer structure in which a plurality of dielectric layers are stacked, and further including a plurality of internal electrodes having a dielectric layer interposed therebetween and external electrodes disposed on external surfaces of the body and connected to the internal electrodes. The body further includes an active portion in which the plurality of internal electrodes are located to form capacitance and a side margin portion covering a first surface and a second surface of the active portion opposing each other. An average grain size of a dielectric layer included in the active portion is different from an average grain size of a dielectric layer included in the margin portion. The side margin portion includes an extending portion extending between the external electrodes and the internal electrodes to cover a portion of the internal electrodes.

A capacitor is a device capable of storing electricity which is based on a principle that electricity is generally accumulated in each of two facing electrodes when a voltage is applied thereto. When a direct current (DC) voltage is applied, current flows in the capacitor, while electricity is accumulated therein, and when accumulating is completed, no current flows. Meanwhile, when an alternating current (AC) voltage is applied, AC current flows, while polarities of electrodes alternate.
Capacitors may be classified into various types such as an aluminum electrolytic capacitor in which electrodes are formed of aluminum and a thin oxide film is provided between the aluminum electrodes, a tantalum capacitor using tantalum as a material of electrodes, a ceramic capacitor using a high-k dielectric material such as titanium, barium, or the like, between electrodes, a multilayer ceramic capacitor (MLCC) using a multilayer structure of high-k ceramics as a dielectric material provided between electrodes, a film capacitor using a polystyrene film as a dielectric material between electrodes, and the like.
Among the capacitors, the MLCC advantageously has excellent temperature characteristics and frequency characteristics, may be implemented in a small size, and thus has been widely applied in various fields such as high-frequency circuits. In recent years, attempts to implement a smaller multilayer ceramic capacitor have continued, and to this end, a dielectric layer and an internal electrode are formed to be thin. However, as components are reduced in size, there is a limit to increasing the number of stacked internal electrodes, and thus, it is difficult to secure an intended level of capacitance.
Recently, many attempts have been made to reduce moisture resistance reliability and cracks caused due to occurrence of stress during board mounting.


A hybrid underlayment, includes a thermoplastic making up between 92.0% by volume to 95.5% by volume of the hybrid underlayment. A plurality of expanded microspheres is dispersed through the thermoplastic. The microspheres are expanded to a cross-sectional area in a range of between 180 square micrometers and 1450 square micrometers. The microspheres makeup between 1.0% by volume to 7.5% by volume of the hybrid underlayment. The hybrid underlayment is extruded into a flat sheet having a thickness of between 1.0 mm and 2.0 mm and a density from 7 pcf to 25 pcf. A metalized thermoplastic film is laminated to the top surface of the thermoplastic sheet.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to flooring systems and, more specifically, to a flooring system for interlocking flooring units.
2. Description of the Related Art
Luxury vinyl tile (LVT) flooring units are increasingly used in high end flooring applications. Such flooring units, while made of vinyl, often have a texture and color corresponding to other flooring materials, such as ceramic tiles and wood. They are frequently (but not always) less expensive than the floorings materials they resemble. They also tend to be lighter and easier to install that other flooring materials and often are more resistant to scuffs and stains.
LVT units typically have complementary locking surfaces on their edges so that adjacent units are locked to each other along their edges. Most installers of LVT units place an underlayment between the subfloor and the flooring units. This underlayment improves the acoustics and feel of the flooring units by absorbing movement between the flooring units and the floor substrate as users walk across the surface of the flooring units.
Typical underlayments tend to be resilient, which allows for dampening of the effects of people walking on the floor. However, because the underlayments do not provide adequate support for the locking surfaces of the flooring units, the locking surfaces along the edge of a flooring unit tend to be weaker than the rest of the flooring unit. Therefore, when one's heel, or other pressure source, is applied to the locking joint between two flooring units, the locking surfaces become weakened due to the resilience of the underlayment. Through enough use, the locking surfaces can become degraded and even break.
Therefore, there is a need for a flooring system with an underlayment that reduces stress on the locking surfaces of LVT flooring units while providing adequate sound dampening.

Underlayment including extruded sheet material with expanded microspheres and metalized PET film


A beam deflector having a base, the beam deflector including a polygon mirror to reflect a light beam, a mirror driving unit including a rotor shaft erected from the base and a rotor to support the polygon mirror and to rotate about the rotor shaft, a friction member to contact with and be separated from the rotor so as to obstruct and release rotation of the rotor, respectively, and a friction member driving unit to drive the friction member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present general inventive concept relates to a beam deflector, a light scanning unit and an image forming apparatus having the same to reduce a driving noise of the image forming apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
An electrophotographic image forming apparatus, which representatively includes a copy machine, a laser printer, etc., forms an image on a printing medium with a toner through successive processes of charging, exposing, developing, transferring, fusing and cleaning.
The electrophotographic image forming apparatus includes a light scanning unit performing the exposing process. The light scanning unit includes a light source to generate and scan a beam, a beam deflector to deflect an entering beam so that the beam emitted from the light source can be main-scanned to an exposed body, and an f-θ lens to correct an error included to the deflected beam by the beam deflector. Also, the beam deflector includes a polygon mirror having a plurality of reflecting planes, and a mirror driving motor rotating the polygon mirror.
However, in the conventional beam deflector, an operation of the mirror driving motor is stopped by turning off an electric power applied to the mirror driving motor after a printing work is completed.
However, although the mirror driving motor is turned off, the polygon mirror idly rotates due to a rotation inertia, and a driving noise due to this is transmitted to a user.
Recently, since the mirror driving motor rotates with a high speed to increase a printing speed (page per minute (ppm)), it takes an prolonged time in stopping the mirror driving motor. Accordingly, noises due to the rotation of the mirror driving motor lasts for a long period of time, thereby causing the user an aggravated inconvenience.

Beam deflector, light scanning unit and image forming apparatus having the same


A backlight module (10) includes a flat cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL) (30) having an output interface, and a light guiding plate (20). The output interface has a nano-material layer coated thereon. The light guiding plate includes an incidence interface (21), an emission interface (23), and a reflection interface (22), wherein the emission interface and the reflection interface respectively have nano-sized V-shaped grooves provided thereat. A pitch of the V-shaped grooves of the emission interface gradually increases from the incidence interface to a side of the light guiding plate distal from the incidence interface, and a pitch of the V-shaped grooves of the reflection interface gradually increases from the incidence interface to the side of the light guiding plate distal from the incidence interface.

Cathode ray tube (CRT) display technology has been widely used for several decades. The main advantages of CRT displays are their excellent display performance and their low price. However, the large size and high operating voltage of CRTs makes them unsuitable for some applications.
In recent years, various flat panel displays has been developed, particularly with a view to achieving the same display performance as CRT displays. A liquid crystal display (LCD) panel is one type of flat panel display device that can be readily mass-produced. The lightness and slimness of LCD panels make them suitable for a wide variety of uses, such as in personal digital assistants (PDAs), notebook personal computers, and other information appliances.
Because the liquid crystal of an LCD panel cannot emit light by itself, in general, a backlight module needs to be employed in the LCD panel. Many key characteristics for evaluating the performance of an LCD display depend on the backlight module employed. In particular, high illumination performance, low power consumption, and a small size are desired. Improved illumination performance has become a key goal of many LCD developers and manufacturers in recent times.
A typical backlight module comprises a light guiding plate, a reflector sheet, a prism sheet, a diffusion sheet, and a cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL). The light guiding plate has an incidence interface, an emission interface, and a reflection interface opposite to the emission interface. In order to increase the optical brightness and uniformity of the backlight module, U.S. Pat. No. 5,851,062 discloses a backlight module including a prism sheet on which a periodic pattern is formed. A cross-section of a smallest unit of the periodic pattern is shaped like an M. The M-shape includes a long positive-sloping surface, a short negative-sloping surface, a short positive-sloping surface, and a long negative-sloping surface.
However, the very need for a prism sheet is being increasingly considered to be inconsistent with the ongoing industry trend toward miniaturizing backlight modules and LCD panels and decreasing cost.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,860,753 discloses a light source for a flat panel display device. The light source is generally a tube-shaped lamp. However, light is emitted from the lamp tube in various different directions. Some of the light may be absorbed by a housing of an associated backlight system, or may reach an associated light guiding plate after being repeatedly reflected. These problems may significantly reduce the efficiency of illumination. Indeed, it is widely held that one of the principle shortcomings of a conventional LCD panel is poor light transmission efficiency. That is, a high percentage of light generated by the backlight system is absorbed by various components of the LCD panel. The light transmission efficiency of a typical LCD panel is generally about 5% to 10%. The light transmission efficiency is degraded not only during transmission from the backlight system to the light guiding plate, but also during transmission through attached functional optical sheets such as reflector sheets, prism sheets and diffusion sheets.
What is needed, therefore, is a backlight module which can overcome the foregoing problems and improve illumination performance.

Backlight module with nano-material light coupling layer