Concepts and technologies are disclosed herein for point-of-sale customization service. A processor executing a point-of-sale customization service can receive a unique identifier associated with a user device detected in a proximity of a computing device. The processor can query preferences stored in a data store using the unique identifier and identify point-of-sale preferences associated with the user device based upon the querying. The processor can transmit the point-of-sale preferences to the computing device to apply to a transaction.

According to some statistics, about sixty percent of all transactions for goods and services are completed using non-cash sources of funds. For a majority of retailers who complete these transactions, these non-cash payments may be accepted using point-of-sale systems. The point-of-sale systems may support credit card transactions, electronic fund transfer, debit card transactions, and the like.
During completion of these transactions, purchasers may interact with a point-of-sale system or terminal to complete the transaction. These point-of-sale systems can provide instructions to a purchaser to guide the purchaser through the payment process and/or tailor the customer experience based upon feedback from the purchaser. For example, some point-of-sale devices or terminals may provide language choices, an option to withdraw cash from a debit card account used to pay for the goods and services, digital signature fields, combinations thereof, or the like.
Some point-of-sale devices, however, may be programmed by a manufacturer or a retailer. As such, there is not necessarily consistency among point-of-sale devices across retailers. In fact, some retail locations may have more than one type of point-of-sale device. Because of the various available point-of-sale systems and the diversity among programmers who design the customer experience associated with these point-of-sale devices, the purchasing experience at different point-of-sale devices may be different from a purchasing experience at another type of point-of-sale device. As such, purchasers may make mistakes when completing transactions and/or may be unhappy with their experiences during the purchase process.


A complex fluid machine has an expansion-compressor device, a pump, and a motor generator. The expansion-compressor device, the pump, and the motor generator are operatively connected and arranged in series. A portion of an outlet side passage formed in the fluid machine, through which the working fluid flows from the expansion device, is arranged adjacent to a portion of a pump outlet-side passage formed in the fluid machine, through which the working fluid flows from the pump, so that heat of the working fluid in the outlet side passage is transferred to the working fluid in the pump outlet-side passage.

A complex fluid machine (a fluid pump having an expansion device) is known in the art, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 2004-108220, which is applied to a bottoming cycle (Rankine cycle) power generating system. In such a conventional fluid machine, a turbo pump (fluid pump) for pressurizing liquid phase working fluid, a turbine (expansion device) coaxially connected to the turbo pump for expanding gas phase working fluid which is heated by a heat exchanger, and an electric power generator coaxially connected to the turbo pump for generating the electric power, are integrally formed into one unit, wherein the turbo pump and the electric power generator are driven by rotational force produced by the operation of the turbine.
Although it is disclosed in the above complex fluid machine, that the fluid pump, the expansion device and the electric power generator are integrally formed into one unit, heat transfer of the working fluid flowing in the fluid pump and the expansion device is not considered.
Namely, when the heat of the working fluid at an outlet side of the expansion device is transferred to the working fluid at an inlet side of the fluid pump, the working fluid flowing into the fluid pump is likely to be boiled. When the boiling of the working fluid occurs, the working fluid includes gas phase fluid therein (generation of cavitation), so that volume efficiency of the fluid pump will be decreased.
On the other hand, it is considered to more efficiently operate the Rankine cycle, by transferring the heat of the working fluid at the outlet side of the expansion device (the waste heat remaining in the working fluid even after the expansion) to the working fluid in a heating side (at an outlet side of the fluid pump, at a heating device), so that an amount of super heat for the working fluid is further increased.

Fluid pump having expansion device and rankine cycle using the same


A lifting support for a boiling water reactor nuclear fuel assembly comprising a grappling head configured to allow attachment to a lifting device, a body with an upper end and a lower end, the upper end connected to the grappling head, the body configured to be inserted into a water channel of a boiling water reactor nuclear fuel assembly, and an end connected to the lower end, the end configured to be accepted by the nuclear fuel assembly.

Lifting of heavy objects, such as fuel assemblies, is a necessary activity performed for safe and continuous operation of nuclear power plants. Lifting of such nuclear fuel assemblies is often strictly regulated with varying precautions being undertaken prior to actual load lift. Typical precautions include, for example, ascertaining the weight of the assembly, determination of a path that the assembly will take during the lift, identification of critical and/or safety sensitive nuclear related components which may be jeopardized during the lift, and evaluation of potential damage in the event of a load drop.
Fuel assemblies provided for boiling water nuclear reactors are composed of a plurality of fuel rods which are supported at a lower end by a lower nozzle or end fitting. A top nozzle or end fitting is located above the plurality of rods. Water rods are interspersed in the plurality of fuel rods to help channel coolant flow and moderate the nuclear reaction. Between the upper and lower nozzles or end fittings, a plurality of spacer grids are positioned at intervals to provide lateral support and prevent potentially destructive side to side movement of individual fuel rods. The fuel assembly top nozzle and bottom nozzle may be configured to aid in channeling coolant flow through the assembly during operation, the bottom nozzle accepting coolant flow and the top nozzle discharging coolant from the assembly in the case of a conventional boiling water reactor fuel assembly. In this typical configuration, the weight of the fuel rods is supported by structures such as an internal water channel, the water rods, inert rods or tie rods during fuel assembly load lift.
Certain areas in a nuclear power plant are more safety sensitive and require extremely thorough procedures to ensure continued health and safety of the public at large. Such safety sensitive areas include, among other areas, the nuclear reactor itself and the fuel pool. The presence of potentially large amounts of radioactive materials in these areas, as well as vital cooling systems, requires the utmost care when lifting is performed. The resulting required safety in these areas necessitates additional checks before load lift. A typical check usually involves, for example, inspecting the structural components of the polar crane or a fuel handling crane. In addition to inspecting the crane, the actual load lifted (i.e. the fuel assembly itself) is inspected and evaluated.
Nuclear plant operating experience indicates that when typical materials used in nuclear reactors are exposed to radiation over 62 Mwd/kgU, these materials may start to degrade. Specific experience shows a potential for stress corrosion cracking, hydrogen embrittlement and irradiation hardening which may challenge the structural integrity of both tie rods and water rods as well as other components used in lifting a fuel assembly with current designs. Currently, structural members used for a load lift of boiling water reactor fuel assemblies may be composed of a zirconium alloy with a thickness of less than 0.03 inches. Although weight reduction is achieved, the minimal corrosion allowance provided for these members from corrosion is a serious potential problem during load lift. As a typical potential problem, water rods, which may also be used to carry the fuel assembly load, are normally exposed to coolant on both inner and outer surfaces, which in turn increases the possibility of corrosion on these surfaces. Additionally, as a result of this exposure, hydrogen embrittlement of the water rod may occur. The water rod hydrogen concentration may approach 500 to 700 ppm, thereby requiring a reduction in load carrying capability for the assembly components. If these problems occur, current practices in the nuclear industry require costly and time consuming alterations to fuel assemblies which are exposed to radiation at or near this level of radiation, which are mechanically damaged, or for fuel assemblies which may have hydrogen embrittlement. To correct these problems, complete disassembly of the fuel assembly and reconstitution of the fuel assembly may be needed with new parts installed in the fuel assembly.
New (unirradiated) fuel assemblies also present other load lift difficulties. New fuel assemblies must be lifted by a special lifting device to allow for sufficient structural lift capacity over critical plant/safety sensitive areas. These special lift devices often provide complicated structures which may include connecting bolts, bayonet mounts, compression springs and washers to transfer the weight of the assembly from the fuel assembly to the crane.
There is a need to provide a lifting support for a boiling water nuclear fuel assembly to eliminate complicated structural support mechanisms currently used in existing nuclear fuel assembly configurations.
There is a further need to provide a lifting support for a fuel assembly for new (unirradiated) fuel handling operations.
There is a still further need to provide a configuration that will allow repair of fuel assemblies which exhibit stress corrosion cracking problems, hydrogen embrittlement, irradiation hardening or other similar load path defects without incurring costly and time consuming alterations to the fuel assembly.

Boiling water reactor nuclear fuel assembly lifting support


A partition plate for multiple-stage adsorption separator includes a planar body member having opposing external surfaces and a peripheral edge with conduits providing fluid communication between the opposing surfaces and different points on the peripheral edge. Each of the opposing surfaces is provided with a peripheral rim and covered with a perforated plate whereby an open chamber is defined between the body member and a perforated plate at each of the external faces.

This invention relates to a multiple-stage adsorption separator and, particularly, to a multiple-stage adsorption separator suitable for use as a multiple-stage adsorption separator with simulated moving-beds.
For the separation of a mixture which is difficult to separate by distillation, a multiple-stage adsorption separating process of a simulated moving-bed system is known. In this separating process, four operations: a desorption operation, a concentration operation, an adsorption operation and recovery of the adsorbent are performed continuously and simultaneously. Such adsorption separating technique with the simulated moving-beds is applied to, for example, the separation of a mixture of xylene isomers (Japanese Published Patent Application (Kokoku) No. 42-15681, Japanese Published Patent Application (Kokoku No. 5010517), the separation of diisopropyl naphthalenes (Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application (Kokai) No. 2-172929) and the like. FIG. 1 shows a diagram explaining the principle of adsorption separating with the simulated moving-bed system. In this Figure, the reference numerals 1-6 designate adsorption chambers having adsorbent packed beds and these chambers are mutually connected. The reference numeral 17 designates an adsorbent feed line, the reference numeral 18 designates an extract withdrawing line, the reference numeral 19 designates a feedstock feed line, the reference numeral 20 designates a raffinate withdrawing line and the reference numeral 21 designates a recycle line. The reference numeral 22 designates a pump. In the arrangement of the adsorption chamber 1-16 and the lines 17-21 as shown in FIG. 1, the desorption operation is first performed in the adsorption chambers 1-3, the concentration operation is performed in the adsorption chambers 4-8, the adsorption operation is performed in the adsorption chambers 9-13 and the recovery of the adsorbent is performed in the adsorption chambers 14-16.
In such multiple-stage adsorptive separation with the simulated moving-bed-system, each of the feed and withdrawing lines is shifted in the liquid flow direction by one chamber with valve control at a predetermined time interval. Therefore, in the next time interval, the desorption operation is performed in the adsorption chamber 2-4, the concentration operation is performed in the adsorption chamber 59, the adsorption operation is performed in the adsorption chamber 10-14 and the recovery of the adsorbent is performed in the adsorption chamber 15-1. Such an operation is continuously performed so that the adsorption separating process simulation moving-bed system for a fluid mixture can be attained.
An apparatus used for the above multiple-stage adsorption separating process of the simulated moving-bed system comprises the connected adsorbent packed beds. In order to carry out this adsorptive separation efficiently and economically, the development of the apparatus is an important, technical subject. The apparatus of this kind generally comprises the multiple adsorbent packed vessels connected sequentially through manifolds. However, in the case of this apparatus, since the multiple adsorbent packed vessels formed individually are used, equipment efficiency is low and equipment cost is increased, further pressure drop and heat loss of the fluid passing through the manifolds are large and, thus, the apparatus can not be considered industrially advantageous.
Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application (Kokai) No. 58-79534, shows an adsorbent separator which comprises a multiplicity of adsorbent packed beds arranged so as to define multiple-stages in a large, cylindrical vessel. However, in the case of this apparatus, due to the complicated arrangement of the adsorbent packed beds, it is difficult to arranged the adsorbent packed beds and their packing requires a long time and, further, it is troublesome to change the adsorbents. Finally, this separator has the disadvantage point of high equipment cost.

Partition plate for multiple-stage adsorption separator


A projector includes an apparatus casing, a light source module, a flow generating device, a sensing module, and a power module. The light source module is disposed inside the apparatus casing and includes a light-emitting part and a lampshade surrounding the light-emitting part. The flow generating device can generate an air flow for dissipating heat by the light source module. The sensing module is disposed in the apparatus casing and includes a thermo-sensitive component disposed near the lampshade and located in a flowing path of the air flow. The power module is disposed in the apparatus casing and electrically connected to the light source module and the sensing module. The power module selectively stops powering the light source module according to an electric parameter of the thermo-sensitive component. Thereby, the invention protects the projector from being overheated by use of the thermo-sensitivity of the thermo-sensitive component.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a projector, and especially relates to a projector having an overheating protection.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A common projector usually has a thermal breaker which can protect the projector under overheating from being damaged or brunt due to the overheating. Therefore, the thermal breaker is usually disposed near a hottest component inside the projector for a quick response to overheating. For the common projector, bulbs are usually the hottest components, so the thermal breaker is usually disposed near the bulb. However, the thermal breaker usually uses mechanical protection mechanism, of which the composition is complicated so that it is difficult to reduce the cost. Furthermore, the volume of the thermal breaker is usually larger than a normal electronic component, so a proper space is required for the thermal breaker to be disposed. In practice, the thermal breaker is usually installed in the projector independently from other electronic components, so the installation of the thermal breaker is inevitable.

Projector with a therm-sensitive component for overheating protection


A video input processor is disclosed. The processor includes: an imaging signal-generating portion configured to image a subject and producing first imaging signals containing visible light components and a second imaging signal containing near-infrared light components; a gain adjustment portion configured to adjustably set a maximum gain value according to a relative magnitude between the visible light components and the near-infrared light components and adjust a gain for the first imaging signals at the set maximum gain value; and a noise reduction portion configured to reduce noises in the first imaging signals after the gain has been adjusted.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a video input processor for imaging a subject and suppressing noise components of produced imaging signals by signal processing. The invention also relates to an imaging signal-processing circuit and to a method of reducing noises in the imaging signals.
2. Description of the Related Art
When a subject is imaged by a camera device designed to image a motion picture sequence or still images, for example, with enhanced ISO sensitivity, the automatic exposure function is activated. This shortens the exposure time of the sensor (imaging device) and increases the gain for the output signal from the sensor. Therefore, the effects of noises produced by the sensor itself and by ICs located around it become more conspicuous. As a result, the final image becomes a noisy image with poor signal-to-noise ratio.
Noises are produced by factors associated with the sensor itself and by various other ambient factors such as the operating frequency of an IC located around the sensor. Furthermore, the image is affected by various noise patterns of from low to high frequencies due to variations in characteristics of the signal source (sensor) itself and timewise variations of the signal source.
A known technique for performing signal processing inside a camera device to reduce or suppress noise uses a circuit employing a filter having a large number of taps for noise reduction. The signal-to-noise ratio of the displayed image is improved by processing performed by this circuit.
However, if processing is performed by an ordinary low-pass filter (such as a Gaussian filter) having a large number of taps, edge information will be diffused concomitantly. In the output image, the steepness of each edge drops and the apparent resolution deteriorates. To solve this problem, a noise reduction technique which improves the S/N of the input image by performing filtering processing while maintaining the resolution may be necessary during processing of camera signals.
One known approach for noise reduction uses an imaging device equipped with given color filters such as red (R), green (G), and blue (B) filters. Light from a subject is passed through an IR (infrared radiation) cut filter for cutting invisible radiation components, especially in the near-infrared region. The radiation transmitted through the IR cut filter is received by the imaging device having the color filters. An image having high color reproducibility is outputted from the imaging device. In addition, the same subject is imaged, and the resulting image is not transmitted through the IR cut filter to obtain the image with a larger amount of information. Edge information is detected from the image whose amount of information is maintained by not allowing the image to pass through the IR cut filter (see, for example, JP-A-2006-180269 (patent reference 1)).
In the above-cited patent reference 1, the image for deriving the edge information is referred to as invisible light image (in the embodiment, referred to as the infrared light image). This image holds image information containing a wide range of frequency components from low to high frequencies, the image information being obtained before the image is passed through the IR cut filter.
In the above-cited patent reference 1, the invisible light image (infrared light image) is passed through a high-pass filter to extract high-frequency components. Meanwhile, the visible light image, i.e., the image which has high color reproducibility and which is captured after being passed through the IR cut filter, is adjusted in terms of gain. Then, the image is passed through a low-pass filter, removing noises. However, when the image is passed through the low-pass filter, resolution information is diffused, deteriorating the steepness of each edge. Therefore, in the technique of the above-cited patent reference 1, the visible light image passed through the low-pass filter and the infrared light image passed through the high-pass filter are combined, the infrared light image holding edge information. Consequently, noise reduction and prevention of diffusion of edge information (deterioration of the steepness of each edge) are achieved simultaneously.
With respect to the IR cut filter, a function of selectively transmitting and blocking infrared light components can be imparted to a single color filter layer of an imaging device.
For example, JP-A-2005-006066 (patent reference 2) discloses a color filter array whose pixel units are each made up of transmission filters of the three primary colors of red (R), green (G), and blue (B) and an infrared pass filter which has sensitivity to the infrared region and which transmits infrared light. Patent reference 2 states that the infrared filter can be a white (W) filter.
On the other hand, with respect to gain adjustment, color correction, and noise reduction performed during white balance adjustment, processing of imaging signals having infrared light components is known (see JP-A-2001-078204 and JP-A-2005-303704 (patent references 3 and 4)).

Video input processor, imaging signal-processing circuit, and method of reducing noises in imaging signals


A disk texturing apparatus for texturing surfaces of a magnetic disk or the like with cross-pattern grooves. The texturing apparatus is basically constituted by a rotational drive having a spindle for supporting and rotating a disk, and a tape transport mechanism for moving a texturing tape across and in pressed with a texturing surface of said disk. The spindle of the rotational drive mechanism is arranged to hold a disk in an eccentrically deviated position off the rotational axis of the rotational drive. As a result, the disk is revolved along an eccentrically deflecting orbit around the rotational axis of said rotational drive while being rotated with the spindle, moving in and out in radial directions in a degree commensurate with the amount of deviation from said rotational axis to form cross-pattern grooves on the disk surface.

1. Field of the Art
This invention relates to a disc texturing apparatus, and more particularly to an apparatus for texturing surfaces of a magnetic disk or similar data storage medium of annular shape with fine intersecting grooves while the disk is put in rotation on a spindle of a rotational drive mechanism.
2. Prior Art
It has been the usual practice in the art to form fine grooves on the surface of a magnetic disk or similarly annular magnetic data storage medium by the so-called texturing operation, for the purpose of improving magnetic head fly characteristics through reduction of frictions and at the same time for improving magnetic orientation of the storage medium coated on the disk surface.
In texturing operations of this nature, combinations of a texturing tape or tapes and abrasive particles have been widely resorted to as means for abrading disk surfaces. Abrasive particles are either deposited on a texturing tape or dispersed in and fed by an abrasive carrier liquid. For instance, in a texturing operation using an abrasive carrier liquid containing abrasive particles in dispersed state, a disk is mounted on a spindle for rotation therewith, and the abrasive carrier liquid is fed to between the texturing surface of the rotating disk and the texturing tape which is pressed against the disk surface under a predetermined load. While rotating the disk on the spindle, the texturing tape is transported along and across the rotating disk surface with the abrasive particles of the abrasive carrier liquid in pressed contact with the disk surface. As a result, the disk surface is textured with circumferential grooves by scratching or abrading actions of the abrasive particles.
When a texturing tape is simply transported across the surface of a rotating disk, the disk surface is textured with circumferential grooves lying concentrically around the center of the disk. In this connection, texturing with cross-pattern grooves is proposed U.S. Pat. No. 4,973,496, forming intersecting grooves on the disk surface for replenishment of a lubricant which is generally applied on the textured disk surface in a subsequent stage. According to the just-mentioned U.S. patent, the texture of cross-pattern grooves is advantageous especially from the standpoint of magnetic head lift characteristics because, even if a lubricant should wear off in certain localities of the disk surface, it can be replenished from other regions through intersections of the cross-pattern grooves, constantly maintaining a uniform lubricant film all over the disk surface.
In order to form cross-pattern grooves, it has been required to move the texturing tape back and forth along the texturing disk surface and in radial directions of the disk, in addition to the rotation of the disk and the transport of the texturing tape. For this purpose, the above-mentioned prior art U.S. patent employs a tape transport mechanism having a roller for pressing the texturing tape against the disk surface and mounted on an oscillating frame structure which is driven by a motor for reciprocating movements in radial directions parallel with the disk surface. In this case, however, there always arises a problem that, as the frame structure is moved back and forth parallel with the disk surface, the disk is shaken or vibrated under the influence of inertial forces at the stroke ends of the oscillating frame structure depending upon the mass of the roller or other component parts which are mounted on the oscillating frame structure, as a result disturbing the uniformity of texture grooves to be formed on the disk. The inertial forces at the stroke ends become greater and the vibrations of the disk are magnified to such a degree as to jeopardize formation of uniform texture grooves especially in case the rotational speed of the disk and the speed of reciprocating movement of the roller are increased for the purpose of accelerating the texturing operation.

Hitachi Electronics Engineering Co., Ltd.


A collapsible table includes a table board, at least one folding mechanism, and plural table legs. The folding mechanism further includes a central body, at least one rotation lock assembly, and a pair of fastening assemblies mounted on the table legs. The central body is settled between the two fastening assemblies. The rotation lock assembly is arranged between the central body and one of the fastening assemblies, wherein the central body, the rotation lock assembly, and the fastening assembly are mutually coupled and fixed. The rotation lock assembly contains a rotating piece that is rotatable to be positioned at predetermined positions. The rotating piece has one end fixed to a bottom surface of the table board. Thus, all components related to rotating and locking are modularized into and thereby hidden in the folding mechanism to facilitate assembly, disassembly, transportation, and storage of the collapsible table.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a collapsible table and, more particularly, to a collapsible table having a modularized folding mechanism adaptive to table legs of various shapes and structures and capable of hiding therein all driving components for collapsing or expanding the table.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Among various house furnishings, collapsible tables have relatively complex structures and rather high selling prices but nevertheless capture a notable market share due to their advantageous foldability that allows them to be collapsed for easy storage and transportation. Presently, commercially available collapsible tables come in a variety of structures for meeting consumers' various needs. For example, FIG. 1 depicts a conventional and relatively low-priced collapsible table A which is composed essentially of a table board B and a collapsible leg assembly C. While the collapsible table A is advantageous in having a simple structure and allowing rapid collapse, the collapsible leg assembly C is equipped with no mechanism for safely fixing postures thereof. In other words, the collapsible table A even when expanded is in an unstable state, in which the table board B may rotate and thereby folding the collapsible table A if the table board B is pressed at an edge thereof intended for triggering the collapse. Or, if a young child tries to climb up the collapsible table A or impacts the collapsible leg assembly C unintentionally, the collapsible table A may also be rapidly folded, thereby trapping or hitting the child's body. Even worse, the child may be too weak to get rid of the collapsed collapsible leg assembly C and then becomes suffocated. Sadly, such tragedies are reported from time to time, causing broken families and leaving the afflicted parents in indelible grief.
In an attempt to end the tragedies resulting from the aforesaid simple collapsible tables, some collapsible tables are now equipped with safety latches or locking mechanisms for safety purposes, such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,168,372 "Expandable and Collapsible Table", U.S. Pat. No. 6,651,568 "Collapsible Table", U.S. Pat. No. 6,634,304 "Collapsible Table", U.S. Pat. No. 6,026,751 "Collapsible Table", U.S. Pat. No. 5,086,711 "Collapsible Table", and so on.
However, while the collapsible tables of the prior inventions are provided with safety locking mechanisms to ensure postural stability, one thing common among those designs is that all the supporting and driving structures to effectuate locking of the prior art devices are exposed, regardless of the locking mechanisms used. As a result, not only do those collapsible tables have less pleasing appearances (this can be a serious problem when it comes to furniture emphasizing design and style), but also the relative movement between the exposed driving structures may still accidentally injure users trying to collapse or expand the collapsible tables. Besides, theses known collapsible tables have folding mechanisms that must be assembled to the table boards and the table legs respectively through complicated and inconvenient assembling/disassembling processes, which render the collapsible tables unfavorable to fabrication and transportation. Hence, a need exists for an improved collapsible table that remedies all the above-mentioned shortcomings of the known collapsible tables such as inferior appearance, inconvenient assembly/disassembly, inadequate safety, and so on.


In an image forming apparatus, resolution in a main scanning direction and in a sub-scanning direction is increased utilizing features of a multibeam system. The same scanning line is subjected to duplicate scanning by two light beams from two lasers. At that time, dot strings having a dot interval of d formed by the respective light beams are shifted by d/2 in the main scanning direction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multibeam image forming apparatus. More particularly, the invention relates to realization of high resolution of an image formed by the apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In image forming apparatuses for forming an electrostatic latent image using a laser beam, such as digital copiers, laser-beam printers, and the like, a laser beam from a semiconductor laser is projected onto a rotating polygonal mirror, and a reflected beam from the polygonal mirror is projected onto the surface of a charged photosensitive member moving at a constant speed. By the rotation of the polygonal mirror, the laser beam is caused to perform scanning in a direction (main scanning direction) orthogonal to the moving direction (sub-scanning direction) of the photosensitive member. Since the laser beam is modulated in accordance with an image to be output, an electrostatic latent image is formed on the photosensitive member. The electrostatic latent image is developed to provide a visualized toner image.
Recently, in response to a request for high-speed image formation, multibeam image forming apparatuses having a plurality of lasers have been realized.
In such a multibeam image forming apparatus, lasers are disposed so as to perform scanning by arranging a plurality of laser beams in a sub-scanning direction. For example, a forced-laser-emission signal and a sample-and-hold request signal are prepared for each laser, and start of control to cause each laser to emit light by the forced-laser-emission signal and the sample-and-hold request signal at a predetermined timing, and to adjust the amount of laser light to a predetermined value (automatic power control) is instructed in a non-image region for each scanning operation during a printing operation. An image for a plurality of lines is formed at one laser scanning operation. Accordingly, in a printer of this type, an image for the same number of lines as the number of laser beams can be formed at one laser scanning operation. As a result, high-speed printing can be realized.
On the other hand, in order to respond to a request for high-resolution image formation, the number of image forming apparatuses having a high-resolution mode in addition to an ordinary-resolution mode is increasing (refer to Patent Literatures 1, 2).
When intending to provide high resolution in a main scanning direction, an approach to increase the frequency of video clock signals for transmitting image data is adopted in order to increase the pixel density at one laser scanning operation.
When intending to provide high resolution in a sub-scanning direction, an approach to increase the rotational speed of the polygonal mirror as well as increasing the frequency of video clock signals, or an approach to reduce the moving speed of the photosensitive member is adopted in order to increase the scanning frequency (the number of scanning operations per unit length in the sub-scanning direction) for the photosensitive member.
However, in a multibeam image forming apparatus, if the scanning frequency for the photosensitive member is increased in order to provide high resolution in the sub-scanning direction, a problem of duplicated scanning arises. For example, in a two-beam image forming apparatus, the scanning frequency for the photosensitive member must be increased by four times in order to double the resolution in the sub-scanning direction. In this case, if the two-beam image forming system is used without being modified, the same scanning line is subjected to duplicated scanning by respective laser beams because the beam interval remains in the state of original resolution (refer to FIG. 4 and related description to be provided below). Accordingly, scanning must be performed only by one of two beams, and therefore the feature of the two-beam image forming system is not utilized.
Furthermore, in order to provide high resolution in the main scanning direction, the frequency of video clock signals may be increased. However, an increase in the frequency causes a problem of radiation noise from circuitry, thereby increasing the production cost in order to deal with radiation noise.

Multi-beam image forming apparatus with overlapped scanning


In a bare-chip LSI mounting board test apparatus, at the stage that a bare-chip LSI is mounted on a board, tester boards on which equivalent parts corresponding to SMT parts other than the bare-chip LSI to be mounted on the board is confronted to the board, probes connected to the respective equivalent parts of the tester boards which correspond to the mount parts are brought into contact with pads located at the mount places of the mount parts on the board on which the bare-chip LSI is mounted to built a quasi-mount state of the mount parts to the board, and under this state a test signal is transmitted from a controller to the bare-chip LSI.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for performing functional tests on LSI mounted on a board and particularly, to a test apparatus for a bare-chip LSI mounting board to perform a high-speed test in a short time.
2. Description of the Related Art
It has been hitherto difficult to perform a functional test at an actual speed on a bare-chip LSI alone. Therefore, it has been generally adopted to perform the functional test after a bare-chip LSI is mounted on a board and also SMT (surface mount technology) parts such as RAM, capacitors and resistors are mounted on the board. However, in this case, a conduction failure of the bare-chip LSI to the board, functional defects of the bare-chip LSI itself, or the like are found at the final stage of the manufacturing process, and thus the loss in productivity is increased. That is, even when the test failure is caused by the defect of the bare-chip LSI itself, a print board and other SMT parts which have been already mounted must be wasted.
The present invention has an object to provide a bare-chip LSI mounting board testing apparatus which can find a conduction failure, functional defects, or the like at such an early stage that a bare-chip LSI is mounted on a board before SMT parts such as RAM, capacitors and resistors are mounted, thereby reducing the loss in productivity.
Therefore, according to the present invention, a bare-chip LSI mounting board test apparatus comprising: at least one tester board which equivalent parts corresponding to mount parts other than a bare-chip LSI to be mounted on a board are mounted, probes connected to the respective equivalent parts of the tester boards, driving means for bringing the probes into contact with pads located at the mount places of the mount parts on the board to build a quasi-mount state of the mount parts to the board, and a controller for transmitting a test signal to the bare-chip LSI under the quasi-mount state. SMT parts having no leads. SMT parts having no leads and parts such as RAM, capacitors and resistors having leads, or parts such as RAM, capacitors and resistors having leads can be used as the mount parts.
In this case, as a preferable embodiment of the present invention, the tester boards have the respective equivalent parts mounted thereon in the same arrangement as the SMT parts, and the pair of tester boards are arranged so that the probes are arranged so as to be brought into contact with and detached from the respective pads on both surfaces of the board. Further, the controller of the high-speed tester transmits the test signal through the tester boards to the bare-chip LSI of the board.

Apparatus for testing a bare-chip LSI mounting on a printed board


A process for the manufacture of an object displaying a message includes the following steps: preparation of a support for the message having dimensions less than the dimensions of the object; manual or automatic application of the message to the support; introduction of the support carrying the message on its surface into a molten transparent material so as to surround the support with a sufficient quantity of molten transparent material to enable subsequent formation of a transparent body which completely surrounds the support; and formation of the transparent body by thermomechanical means.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns a process for the manufacture of an object displaying a message, information, advertising, etc including a transparent body carrying the message, etc.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the field of manufacture of glass balls containing in their interior any kind of design, it is usual to distinguish two categories of techniques. The first technique, usually applied to the manufacture of balls with no value such as marbles for children, entails mixing the glass, before the ball is formed, in an arbitrary manner with one or more materials with different colors, often also glass, in order to obtain coloured inclusions within the ball, which is often of clear glass.
Although this technique can be used to manufacture balls with an arbitrary design, in which case it is entirely satisfactory, it cannot be used to manufacture balls containing a specific design because the arbitrary mixing of the coloured material with the glass of the ball cannot produce a definite design.
There is also another technique for manufacturing balls incorporating an artistic design, for example of enamel, which technique entails manual preparation of the enamel design by an artistic and costly process followed by the introduction of the design, which is carried out on a glass medium, into the molten glass in order to surround the medium with molten glass and then form the ball or other object.
An object of the present invention is to create a process for the manufacture of balls of transparent glass, for example, which carry in their interior a definite design, which process should be usable on an industrial scale to manufacture large numbers of such balls at negligible cost, for example to produce balls carrying advertising, messages or other information.

Process for the manufacture of an object displaying a message


A semiconductor apparatus includes a TSV formed to be electrically connected with another chip and a TSV test unit configured to check a capacitance component of the TSV to generate a TSV abnormality signal.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a semiconductor apparatus, and more particularly, to a semiconductor apparatus with TSVs (through-silicon vias).
2. Related Art
Capacities and speeds of semiconductor memories, which are used as memory devices in most electronic systems, have steadily increased. Various attempts have been made to mount a memory with increased capacity within a smaller area and drive the memory efficiently.
In order to improve the degree of integration of semiconductor memories, a three-dimensional (3D) layout, in which a plurality of memory chips is stacked, has been adopted in place of the existing two-dimensional (2D) layout. As memories trend toward higher integration and higher capacity, the 3-D layout is being used more to increase the capacity and decrease the size of a semiconductor memory devices.
A TSV (through-silicon via) type has been used in the 3D layout structure. The TSV type has been adopted as an alternative for overcoming degradation of a transmission speed due to a distance to a controller on a module, poor data bandwidth, and degradation of a transmission speed due to variables in a package. In the TSV type, paths are defined to pass through a plurality of memory chips, and electrodes are formed in the paths so that respective memory chips and a controller can communicate with each other. In a stacked semiconductor memory apparatus to which the TSV type is applied, wires, sub packages and package balls, which are used in an SIP type and a POP type, are not needed, and electrodes are connected directly over a controller in such a way as to have paths which pass is through a plurality of memory chips. Bumps are formed between the paths which pass through the plurality of memory chips, to electrically connect the plurality of memory chips to each other and to a controller.
FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view explaining processing errors that may occur when forming TSVs in a semiconductor device.
FIG. 1 shows a metal layer 10 for forming a TSV, a dielectric layer 20, and a wafer layer 30.
While not shown in FIG. 1, connection layers (not shown) may be electrically connected to the upper and lower ends of the metal layer 10.
The connection layers are formed of a conductive substance for connecting the TSV with another TSV or a controller. In general, the connection layers are constituted by bumps.
(a) of FIG. 1 shows the case in which the TSV is normally formed in a semiconductor chip.
Referring to (a) of FIG. 1, a path is defined to pass through the wafer layer 30, and the metal layer 10 made of a metallic substance is normally formed in the path.
In the TSV, in order to isolate the metal layer 10 and the wafer layer 30 from each other, the dielectric layer 20 such as an oxide is formed between the metal layer 10 and the wafer layer 30.
(b) and (c) of FIG. 1 show the cases in which the metal layer 10 is abnormally formed in the path surrounded by the dielectric layer 20.
If a variation occurs in process conditions for forming the TSV, the metal layer 10 may be abnormally formed in the course of filling the metal layer 10 in the path surrounded by the dielectric layer 20.
In the event that the metal layer 10 is formed with an open type gap as shown in (b) of FIG. 1, a current path is not created between an electrode e1 and an electrode e2. Therefore, the TSV formed as in (b) of FIG. 1 cannot transfer a signal.
In the event that the metal layer 10 is formed with a void type gap as shown in (c) of FIG. 1, although a current path is created between an electrode e3 and an electrode e4, the current path has a large resistance value due to the presence of the void type gap. Therefore, the TSV formed as in (c) of FIG. 1 cannot stably transfer a signal.
FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view explaining processing errors that may occur when connecting chips formed with TSVs.
Referring to FIG. 2, a first chip 201 and a second chip 202 are formed with three TSVs are connected with each other. Bumps 203 are formed on both ends of the TSVs of the respective chips 201 and 202 to be electrically connected with the TSVs.
(d) of FIG. 2 shows the case in which bumps to be connected with the TSVs are normally formed such that the TSV of the first chip 201 and the TSV of the second chip 202 are normally connected with each other.
Referring to (d) of FIG. 2, it is shown that a bump 203-1 connected to the TSV of the first chip 201 and a bump 203-2 connected to the TSV of the second chip 202 are normally connected with each other.
Hence, the TSV of the first chip 201 and the TSV of the second chip 202 formed as shown in (d) of FIG. 2 are electrically connected with each other and can communicate normally with each other.
(e) and (f) of FIG. 2 show that bumps connected to TSVs are abnormally formed so that processing error occur.
Referring to (e) of FIG. 2, a bump 203-4 connected to the TSV of the second chip 202 is abnormally formed by being shifted.
Hence, a bump 203-3 connected to the TSV of the first chip 201 and the bump 203-4 connected to the TSV of the second chip 202 may not be electrically connected with each other, or even when they are electrically connected with each other, they cannot normally implement signal communication due to high resistance from the offset bumps 203-3 and 203-4.
Referring to (f) of FIG. 2, it is shown that a bump is not formed on the TSV of the second chip 202.
Hence, since a bump 203-5 connected to the TSV of the first chip 201 cannot be electrically connected with the TSV of the second chip 202, signal communication can not be implemented.
As can be seen from FIGS. 1 and 2, a processing error may be caused in the course of forming TSVs in semiconductor chips or connecting a plurality of chips formed with TSVs with one another.
If a subsequent process is continuously performed for a product in which the processing error is caused in the course of forming TSVs in semiconductor chips or connecting a plurality of chips formed with TSVs with one another, the manufacturing yield decreases, the productivity deteriorates, and additional costs are incurred.

Semiconductor apparatus and stacked semiconductor apparatus for checking formation and connection of through silicon via


A microphone has a base substrate having a main surface, an acoustic sensor mounted on the main surface, and a circuit element that processes a signal output from the acoustic sensor. The acoustic sensor has a sensor substrate having a first surface opposed to the base substrate, a second surface on a side opposite to the first surface, and a cavity formed while piercing the sensor substrate from the first surface to the second surface, and a movable electrode that covers the cavity from the second surface side. A through-hole is formed in the base substrate while piercing the base substrate in a thickness direction to communicate with the cavity. The through-hole overlaps the sensor substrate when viewed in the thickness direction of the base substrate.

1. Field
The present invention relates to a microphone, particularly to a microphone in which an acoustic sensor is mounted on a main surface of a base substrate.
2. Related Art
A microphone is used in various devices such as a mobile phone and an digital voice recorder. For example, in the microphone disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,763,972, an acoustic sensor and a circuit element are stacked, the acoustic sensor includes a thin film acting as a sensor unit, and the circuit element includes a cavity formed at a position corresponding to the thin film.
Nowadays, there is a demand for further downsizing in the microphone, particularly there is a demand for a low profile in which a whole height of the microphone is reduced. A distance between a sound hole communicating with an outside of the microphone and the sensor unit decreases when the height is reduced for the purpose of the low profile as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,763,972. Therefore, unfortunately an acoustic characteristic of the microphone is degraded due to a foreign matter invading into the microphone through the sound hole, and the sensor unit is easily broken due to compressed air flowing into the microphone through the sound hole.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2007/0278601 discloses a device having a configuration in which external interference is prevented by bending an acoustic port in a substrate.
In the device disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2007/0278601, the substrate is required to have a thickness for forming the acoustic port having the best shape inside the substrate. Therefore, there is a limitation to the reduction of the substrate thickness, which results in the low profile of the whole microphone being difficult to achieve.


A system uses conventional text messaging capabilities of cellular telephone systems to embed one or more call-back telephone numbers. A start delimiter is used to separate a text data portion corresponding to the call-back telephone number from the text message. A termination delimiter may be used to indicate the end of the text data portion corresponding to the call-back telephone number. Multiple text data portions, corresponding to multiple call-back telephone numbers, may be inserted using multiple start delimiters and termination delimiters. A text parser in the cellular telephone searches the text message for the start delimiter and extracts the text data portion corresponding to the call-back telephone number. The cellular telephone user selects a desired call-back telephone number, which may be placed in a dialing queue for simplified communications between the cellular telephone and a destination corresponding to the selected call-back telephone number.

I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to wireless communication systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to a novel and improved system and method for the insertion and extraction of telephone numbers from a wireless alphanumeric text message
II. Description of the Related Art
Remote communication with individuals has become increasingly important in a mobile society. Early versions of devices, such as pagers, transmitted a signal to a paging device worn by the user. However, the paging device did little more than provide a beep indicating that a message had been sent to the user. The user had to call a predetermined telephone number to receive the actual message. These early paging devices were replaced with text messaging devices that include a small display that permits the transmission of a text message, such as the message sender's telephone number. While the text messaging pager provided additional data to the user, the user still had to use a separate telephone device to contact the message sender, or to take action in accordance with the message.
Cellular telephones provide yet another form of remote communication. As with early pager designs, early cellular telephone technology simply provided audio communication with the cellular telephone user. These telephone systems did not permit text messaging. However, new cellular telephone designs include a short message services (SMS) message in which alphanumeric text may be transmitted to the cellular telephone for display. This feature is similar to text messaging in pagers. Industry standards exist to define SMS messaging for cellular telephone communications. One such standard, used for spread spectrum cellular systems, is TIA/EIA/IS-637, entitled "Short Message Services for Wideband Spread Spectrum Cellular Systems" (hereinafter called "SMS standard").
The SMS standard includes a "call-back" data field that permits simple call-back operation by the cellular telephone user. However, the message sender must create an alphanumeric text message, and must complete the call-back data field with the desired telephone number. The cellular telephone uses the telephone number in the call-back data field to program a calling queue within the cellular telephone. Thus, with the call-back data field, the user need only press a "SEND" key on the cellular telephone to call the message sender.
While SMS call-back data fields are convenient for the cellular telephone user, they are inconvenient for the message sender since multiple data fields, including the text message field and the call-back data field, must be completed by the message sender. Furthermore, many potential message senders do not have equipment which supports SMS call-back data fields. In addition, many cellular service providers include text messaging, such as SMS messages, but do not include the call-back data field capability. Thus, even when a message sender completes the call-back data field, the cellular service provider may not have this capability and thus the cellular telephone user does not have the simplified call-back procedures envisioned by those responsible for the creation of the SMS standard.
Therefore, it can be appreciated that there is a significant need for a system and method that permits the insertion of data within the text message itself that can easily be extracted by the cellular telephone and used to simplify the call-back process. The present invention provides this and other advantages as will be illustrated by the following description and accompanying figures.

System and method for the insertion and extraction of telephone numbers from a wireless text message


Disclosed is a drop-in work module was designed but not limited to be used with a wheeled vehicle such as a trailer. The work module provides a unique method for storing, transporting and having all the tools for task once you arrive to your worksite. The foldable side rails provide an additional feature, which provides additional work space for a jobsite requiring less setup time and the need for extra bench tops. The power equipment is designed to be mounted and ready for use with a minimum amount of setup time required to start your project. The work module depicted is setup for construction type projects but is not limited to various arrangements of tools to provide an optimum work station for various crafts.

1. Field of the Invention
The disclosure made herein generally relates to electric power tools and work benches for power tools and, more particularly, to a work station integrated with a variety of power tools and providing a work surface including a drop-in work module for a tow able trailer, thereby permitting the work module to be towed directly to the worksite with all the power tools in place, ready to use after the hinge able compartments have been extended.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Tradesmen and craftsmen, such as those working in the building construction and remodeling trades require a wide variety of power tools and worktables for completing projects. When starting work on a project each day, looking for and setting up power tools and equipment for use on a job site can consume a significant amount of time. Time lost in locating tools, setting up saw horses and work surfaces is unproductive. Additionally, certain task requires items to be prepared off-site to assure because of the unsatisfactory work environment. The work module would help minimize the need to fabricate off-site.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,055,206 to Griffin discloses a composite shop trailer. The Griffin patent includes a shop type composite trailer, which can be folded to a compact size for transport and can be expanded during shop use. U.S. Pat. No. 5,383,698 to Buchholz discloses a tool trailer with open end. The Buchholz patent includes a trailer that is fitted with power saws particularly adapted to accept long pieces of lumber for sawing. U.S. Pat. No. 6,565,165 to Switkes discloses a compact ergonomic weatherproof mobile workstation. The Switkes patent includes a composite workstation with multiple compartments, which are created by joining structural panels in perpendicular, parallel and opposing horizontal configurations. Tools and supplies are placed in the compartments formed in the composite workstation.
Therefore, there remains the need in the construction and remodeling industries for a mobile work station that is designed specifically to illuminate the typical issues involved with the setup and the available work bench areas to perform the normal daily task. The work module would eliminate the need for saw horses and work benches.


A vehicular headlamp for emitting light ahead of an automobile, includes: a semiconductor light emitting device; a reflector, having its optical center on the semiconductor light emitting device, for reflecting light generated by the semiconductor light emitting device forward; and a light transmitting member formed from material that transmits the light generated by the semiconductor light emitting device in such a manner that the light transmitting member covers the semiconductor light emitting device, the light transmitting member deflecting forward a part of the light generated by the semiconductor light emitting device and transmitting another part of the light generated by the semiconductor light emitting device toward the reflector.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicular headlamp and a light emission module. More particularly, the present invention relates to a vehicular headlamp for emitting light ahead of an automobile.
2. Description of the Related Art
A light emitting diode module has been conventionally known that improves efficiency in the use of light by using a reflecting mirror as disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Application Publication (Laid-Open) No. 2002-94129. In this light emitting diode module, light emitted by a light emitting device is reflected by a concave mirror provided on a back face of mold resin.
The vehicular headlamp including, for example, regular headlamp, fog lamp and cornering lamp for automobiles, trains, motorcycles or the like, should form light distribution pattern with high precision from safety reasons. Therefore, it is necessary to control the light emitted by the light emitting device with high precision. However, when sufficient consideration of the light distribution pattern to be formed was not made, the efficient use of the light became difficult in some cases.

Vehicular headlamp and light emission module


A method of controlling attitude of a spacecraft during a transfer orbit operation is provided. The method includes providing a slow spin rate, determining the attitude of the spacecraft using a unified sensor set, and controlling the attitude of the spacecraft using a unified control law. The use of a unified set of sensors and a unified control law reduces spacecraft complexity, cost, and weight.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention is generally directed to satellite attitude determination and control systems and methods, and, more particularly, to satellite attitude determination and control systems and methods that are applicable to both transfer orbit and on-station operations.
2. Description of the Related Art
Transporting a spacecraft from the ground to a destination orbit is an integral and crucial part of any spacecraft mission. For example, to insert a spacecraft into a geosynchronous orbit, a launch vehicle typically injects the spacecraft into a low-altitude parking orbit. The spacecraft then performs transfer orbit operations to transfer the spacecraft from the parking orbit to a destination orbit. The transfer orbit is usually performed by firing a liquid apogee motor (LAM) with the spacecraft spinning around a LAM axis to stabilize the spacecraft and to even the thermal and power conditions, or by firing a combination of LAM and XIP thrusters. Once the spacecraft has completed its transfer orbit, it then may enter in-orbit testing and on-station operation.
From cradle to grave, the spacecraft may go through the following phases of operations: separation, transfer orbit operation (including coasting, spin speed change, reorientation and LAM burn), deployment (including antennas, reflectors, solar wings, radiators), acquisition (including power acquisition and attitude acquisition), in-orbit test (including antenna mapping), on-station operation (including normal pointing, momentum dumping, station keeping and station change), and a deorbiting operation.
Typically, spacecraft, such as communication satellites, use multiple separate sets of sensors and control algorithms for different phases of operations. For example, different sets of sensors and/or control algorithms may be used for attitude determination and control for bi-propellant spinning transfer orbit operations versus those that are used for on-station operations. The use of different sensors, attitude determination, and attitude control methods for spinning transfer orbits and on-station operations, respectively, increases the spacecraft weight, sensor and processor complexity, as well as the development cost for spacecraft attitude determination and control systems.
Spinning transfer orbit operations for spacecraft typically may be performed by ground-assisted attitude determination using a spinning earth sensor and a spinning sun sensor set. The measured leading edge and trailing edge of the earth detected by the earth sensor and the measured TOA (time of arrival) of the sun detected by the sun sensor collected and relayed periodically to a ground station. Typically, at least one orbit pass is dedicated to this data collection. A ground orbital operator may then run a ground attitude determination algorithm using these inputs and ephemeris-computed sun and earth positions to determine the spin axis attitude of the spacecraft. This spin axis attitude (the spin phase being still undetermined) is then uploaded to the spacecraft. Next, on-board software may use this spin axis attitude together with the spin phase measured by the spinning sun sensor to complete the 3-axis attitude determination for subsequent spacecraft reorientation or liquid apogee motor (LAM) burn.
On-station spacecraft operations typically use different sensors, such as a staring earth sensor assembly (STESA) and a wide field of view (WFOV) sun sensor assembly (SSA), and/or a star tracker for attitude determination. Thus, the sensors used for transfer orbit operations may lie dormant for the entire time that the spacecraft is on station. The number of sensor types used and the number of sensors used, increase the hardware and development cost, increase weight and launch cost, and complicate the mission operation. In addition, some spacecraft have configurations and equipment that may make it difficult in some situations to provide a clear field of view for some sensors, such as, for example, a WFOV SSA, which spans a diamond of about 120×120 deg.
In addition, a wheel-gyro wobble and nutation controller (WGWANC) is typically used for spinning transfer orbit coasting control. An example of a WGWANC controller can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,062,512, issued to Wang, et al. on May 16, 2000, a patent owned by the assignee of the present application, the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein. A WGWANC controller can compensate for wobble, capture nutation, and alter spacecraft dynamics by counter-spin or super-spin. However, a WGWANC controller is very different from the 3-axis stabilized controller typically used for on-station operation. A WGWANC controller is also susceptible to interact with the fuel slosh dynamics introduced by spacecraft spinning. Fuel slosh is inherently very difficult to model and adds large uncertainty to the WGWANC controller stability margin. Thus, multiple control types are typically needed for spinning transfer orbit operations versus on-station operations. The use of multiple control types increases the design/analysis/simulation/software/test and other development costs.
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems or disadvantages associated with the prior art.

Unified attitude control for spacecraft transfer orbit operations


This application relates to a data processing method and apparatus, a computer device, and a storage medium. The method includes: detecting, for each block in a first block file, a to-be-maintained transaction record in the block; selecting, from a hash tree of the block, nodes used for proving that the transaction record belongs to the block; constructing a node maintenance tree according to the selected nodes; storing the transaction record at a corresponding leaf node of the node maintenance tree; updating an association between a block head of the block and the node maintenance tree storing the transaction record to a second block file, the block head of the block being adjacent to a block head of a previous block in the second block file; and deleting the first block file after the update processing for the each block is completed. The solutions of this application can save storage resources.

With the rapid development of science and technologies, various technologies are progressing by leaps and bounds, and a lot of advanced technologies are constantly emerging. A blockchain technology belongs to a quite important technology in the present era, and has been applied to quite a lot of scenarios.
In the conventional method, a blockchain is mainly used for account reconciliation, that is, for storing transaction records. Once stored in a blockchain, a transaction record cannot be deleted and tampered with, ensuring the stored transaction record to be real and effect. However, in some cases, not all transaction records in a blockchain need to be maintained all the time, but only some transaction records are maintained. For example, transaction records for which account reconciliation has been completed may not be maintained, but only transaction records for which account reconciliation has not been completed are maintained. However, based on the characteristics that data in the blockchain cannot be deleted and tampered with, in the conventional method, transaction records that do not need to be maintained cannot be deleted. Consequently, the unnecessary data occupies a lot of space, and therefore, a lot of storage resources are wasted.

Data processing method and apparatus, computer device, and storage medium

TENCENT TECHNOLOGY (SHENZHEN) COMPANY LIMITED


A method for software change modeling for network devices provides dynamic (on the device) and static (computer) change modeling. The same source code and libraries are used for both modeling applications, allowing a user to see the impact of activating or deactivating specific software modules without affecting the actual node. A master node passes a node the identity of the software package(s) to be updated and the dependencies. The node notifies its running processes about the update. If any of the processes determine that the update will degrade or have a negative impact on the operation of the node, it returns a veto to the node which sends a list of the processes that are impacted along with the reasons why to the master node.

The approaches described in this section could be pursued, but are not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated herein, the approaches described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
Networked computer systems have evolved over the years from simple serially connected computer systems to massively networked computer systems connected via large intranets and the Internet. During this evolution, many different concepts were developed to manage and load core operating software for client computer systems. The issue of how a computer system obtains its operating software and the effects upon the overall networked system by the loading of new operating software on the computer system has been a complex and perplexing problem.
Heterogeneous multi-computer systems, or multi-node systems, contain a number of computer systems that have differing purposes and different software code bases. For example, the current install base of Windows from Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash., encompasses many different versions of Windows distributed across a wide variety of computers. Microsoft maintains servers that store versions of the supported Windows operating system software. A Windows computer periodically queries a server with its current software versions and the server identifies software components that require updates.
Whenever a Windows computer requires a software update of core operating software, the computer notifies the user that an update is required and the user selects the software component(s) to download. The computer then downloads the software component(s) from a main server and installs each component's library modules and code. The computer must then be restarted to complete the component update and execute the new code. This requires that all processes on the computer be halted and restarted, thereby interrupting any tasks that the computer may be performing.
However, if a multi-node system is purposed to perform an uninterruptible operation, such as managing telecommunications links, the restarting of a computer is not acceptable because a telecommunications link will be disturbed. The computer must also be running an operational version of Windows to be able to communicate with the server, therefore, a new computer is useless until a copy of Windows is installed by a user. Further, the reliance on a human being to perform software selection and initiate software downloads is not desirable in stand-alone systems.
Sun Microsystems of Mountain View, Calif., originally created the concept of diskless workstations that performed diskless booting. A server was provided that hosted a single operating system image that was targeted for a homogeneous set of client workstations. When a workstation booted from its resident BIOS, it would connect to its network and request a copy of the operating system image from the server. In response to the request, the server would send the image to the client. The client would load the image into its local memory and boot from the local memory. This approach worked well for homogeneous systems, but could not work with heterogeneous systems. It further required that an entire operating system image be downloaded to a client workstation and did not take into account the problem of managing and updating individual core software components.
Bootstrap protocol, or BOOTP, is an Internet protocol that was developed to allow a host workstation to configure itself dynamically at boot time. BOOTP enables a diskless workstation to discover its own IP address, detect the IP address of a BOOTP server on the network, and find a file on the BOOTP server that is to be loaded into memory to boot the machine. This enables the workstation to boot without requiring a hard or floppy disk drive. However, this approach has the same shortcomings of the Sun Microsystems approach.
The Beowulf Project began at the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) in the summer of 1994. The Beowulf Project was a concept that clustered networked computers running the Linux operating system to form a parallel, virtual supercomputer. It has been demonstrated to compete on equal footing against the world's most expensive supercomputers using common off the shelf components.
Beowulf divides a program into many parts that are executed by many networked computers. For example, all of the nodes in a connected set of computers run on Linux and have a program installed that performs a series of complex calculations. A lead node begins executing the program. The lead node separates the calculations into a number of tasks that are each assigned to a node in the network. While the lead node performs its calculation task, the other nodes are also performing theirs. As each node completes its task, it reports the results to the lead node. The lead node then collects all of the results. This approach is well suited for performing a series of tasks that can be shared among a group of networked computers. However, the drawback to this approach is that it requires that an identical program be distributed to all of the networked computers and it does not contemplate the problems associated with a heterogeneous set of computers that require individual software component updates, nor the management of such components.
Based on the foregoing, there is a clear need for a system that provides for the management of component-level operating software and nodal downloading of such software for a multi-node networked computer system. Additionally, the system would allow a node to identify versions of the software components that it requires to operate and verify its software components with a master node.
There is also a need for a system that allows for the installation of operating software components onto a node during runtime without requiring the node to perform a restart or reboot sequence. Further, there is a need for a system to create the software components and model the effects of updating such components upon a node.

Software change modeling for network devices


A plasma etching method includes a first process of applying, while applying a first high frequency power to a lower electrode, a second high frequency power to the lower electrode while switching the second high frequency power ON and OFF cyclically; and a second process of applying, while applying the first high frequency power to the lower electrode, the second high frequency power to the lower electrode while maintaining the second high frequency power ON continuously. The first process and the second process are alternately performed. If the deposits are formed on a bottom portion of an inner surface of the hole formed by the etching, the inner surface of the hole is protected by the deposits from the ions introduced into the hole. Therefore, the etching of the inner surface of the hole can be suppressed, and, thus, the twisting of the hole can also be suppressed.

Conventionally, there is known a plasma etching method (for example, Patent Document 1). In this plasma etching method, a processing gas containing fluorocarbon is introduced into a processing vessel in which a processing target object is provided, and a first high frequency power for exciting the processing gas into plasma and a second high frequency power for attracting ions to the processing target object are applied between electrodes within the processing vessel. The second high frequency power has a frequency lower than that of the first high frequency power, and the processing target object is etched by the generated plasma.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent No. 3,681,533
When forming a deep hole or groove by plasma etching (comparative example: FIG. 6A), however, twisting of a hole H is observed. In the comparative example, a two-step etching process is performed by using hexafluoro-1,3-butadiene (C4F6), difluoromethane (CH2F2), oxygen (O2) and carbon monoxide (CO) as a processing gas. In a first process, while applying the first high frequency power to an electrode, the second high frequency power is applied to the electrode while being switched ON and OFF cyclically. In a second process, while applying the first high frequency power to the electrode, the second high frequency power is applied to the electrode while being maintained ON continuously. In the respective processes, the ON/OFF switching of the first high frequency power is synchronized with the ON/OFF switching of the second high frequency power.

Plasma etching method of modulating high frequency bias power to processing target object


A method for manufacturing an adhesive substrate with a die-cavity sidewall is disclosed. A region for forming die-cavity sidewall is defined on one surface of the substrate. The substrate is laminated with a sacrificial film, a partially cured resin is formed between the substrate and the sacrificial film. And then, an aperture is routed through the substrate, the partially cured resin, and the sacrificial film. The aperture is located corresponding to the region so that the substrate has a die-cavity sidewall formed inside the aperture. Thereafter, the sacrificial film is removed to expose the partially cured resin on the substrate so that the substrate with a die-cavity sidewall can have good adhesion.

In the field of semiconductor packages and modules, a substrate with a die cavity to accommodate a semiconductor chip is rather common. The die cavity comprises a die-cavity sidewall and a die-attached plane. For controlling the height of the die-cavity sidewall and the coplanality of the die-attached plane, the die-cavity sidewall and the die-attached plane are manufactured from two different substrates firstly, then by using an adhesive layer to laminate the substrate with a die-cavity sidewall and the substrate with a die-attached, plane for forming a laminated substrate assembly with a die cavity. As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,506,626 and U.S. Pat. Application Publication No. 2001/0046725, the substrate with a die-attached plane is a ball grid array circuit board and the substrate with a die-cavity sidewall is a metal stiffener or spacer circuit board, both substrates are assembled to be a substrate assembly with a die cavity for manufacturing a semiconductor package or module with a faceup die cavity. As disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,639,304 and 6,501,168, the substrate with a die-attached plane is a metal plate or metal core. Moreover, the substrate with a die-cavity sidewall is a circuit board with an opening or window. Both substrates are assembled for manufacturing semiconductor package or module with facedown die cavity.
Normally the adhesive layer used for laminating the two substrates mentioned above is acrylate film, liquid adhesive or prepreg. When the adhesive layer is a solid type or gummy type film such as acrylate film or prepreg, it is necessary to punch or route an opening, then two substrates are laminated under the opening of the adhesive layer aligned to the die-attached plane of the substrate. However, due to the nature of the adhesive layer, the adhesive layer will stick to the tooling or attract unwanted particles during processes, which caused extra cleaning problem for tooling and degradation of adhesion. Moreover, the arcylate film is very sensitive to moisture and only can reach JEDEC lever four. During the routing or punching processes, prepreg can be easily damaged and formed lots of resin flakes or particles.
When using liquid adhesive as an adhesive layer for bonding the two substrates mentioned above, as well known, the liquid adhesive needs to apply to the substrate with a die-cavity sidewall or to the substrate with a die-attached plane via screen printing. In order to avoid the contamination of liquid adhesive onto the die-cavity sidewall during laminating the substrates, the liquid adhesive must have higher adhesion with proper surface tension and viscosity. If the liquid adhesive contains solvent, after screen printing, the liquid adhesive layer will need pre-bake or drying processes and then the two substrates mentioned above are laminated and cured under higher temperatures. During the curing processes, the curing conditions need extremely under control, any mistakes may force the liquid adhesive layer to flow to the die-cavity sidewall or die-attached plane and cause the coplanality issue for die attachment.
A method for manufacturing die cavity on a substrate is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,195,264. An adhesive layer with photosensitive material can be applied between the metal stiffener and printed circuit board. A substrate assembly with a die cavity will be formed after lamination since the adhesive layer with photosensitive material can be exposed and developed, therefore, no residual of the adhesive layer can be found inside the die cavity. However, the requirements for the adhesive layer with photosensitive material should have an excellent photosensitivity and easy photo processing characteristics, moreover, good thermal-setting properties, adhesion, and heat conductivity. However, such kind of adhesive layer with photosensitive material is not easy to get which is in higher cost.

Method for manufacturing an adhesive substrate with a die-cavity sidewall

Advanced Semiconductor Engineering, Inc.


An object of the present invention is to provide an optical disk reproducing method and apparatus which allows for influence on focus servo control and tracking servo control involved in outputting voice information. The optical disk reproducing apparatus includes an optical pickup, a tracking servo control for causing the optical pickup to trace a track on the optical disk, a focus servo control and a pair of speakers for outputting reproduced voice information to the outside. When an information determining unit determines that the reproduced information includes voice information, the tracking servo control and the focus servo control are operated so as to provide a servo characteristic suitable for reproduction of voice information by the speakers to thereby reproduce information in the optical disk.

1. Field of the Invention
The-present invention relates to optical disk reproducing methods and apparatus for reproducing an optical disk such as a CD-ROM which has stored a large amount of voice, character, image information and which has been connected to a personal computer, especially a lap-top computer.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, audio CDs as well as optical disks such as CD-ROMs have spread and efforts have been put into the development of optical disks of high performance in the related fields. Especially, since the optical disk is capable of recording/reproducing a large amount of data at high speed, a CD-ROM player as a data reproducing device has recently spread rapidly as the central existence of multimedia.
A conventional optical disk reproducing apparatus will be described next using a CD-ROM player as an example. FIG. 10 is a block diagram of the conventional CD-ROM player. Reference numeral 1 denotes a CD-ROM as an optical disk; 2, a spindle motor which rotates the CD-ROM 1; and 3, an optical pickup as optical reproducing means which reads information recorded on the CD-ROM 1.
The optical pickup 3 is comprised of a mechanical section and an optical section. The mechanical section is comprised of an object lens 4 which focuses light onto a recording surface of the CD-ROM 1, and an object lens actuator 5 integral with the object lens 4 to move the object lens 4 in a direction normal to a surface of the CD-ROM 1 (hereinafter referred to as "focusing direction") and in a radial direction of the CD-ROM 1 (hereinafter referred to as "tracking direction"). The optical section is comprised of a semiconductor laser, various prisms and an optical sensor 6.
A signal from the optical sensor 6 is delivered to a focus servo control unit 8, a tracking servo control unit 9, and an information signal detector 11 which produce a focus error signal, a tracking error signal and an information detection signal to provide focus control and tracking control of the object lens 4 and signal processing by a signal processor 12, respectively.
A reference numeral 7 denotes a linear motor which is controlled by an access control unit 10 when the optical pickup 3 moves greatly across tracks to thereby move the optical pickup 3 to a target track.
Reference numeral 13 denotes an interface control unit which outputs an information detection signal obtained as the result of information processing by a controller 15 through the interface control unit 13 and a PCMCIA card 22 to a host device (such as a computer) (not shown). Of the signals detected by the information signal detector 11, voice information is produced as a voice signal by the signal processor 12, and outputted by the controller 15 through the interface control unit 13 to the host device (computer). Alternatively, it is delivered through headphone terminals 23 to an external voice output device which then produces a corresponding voice output.
The information detection signal is delivered to the spindle motor control unit 14 to rotate the spindle motor 2 at constant rotational speeds. The controller 15 controls the whole operation of the CD-ROM player.
FIG. 11 is a perspective view of a CD-ROM player 21 as a conventional optical disk reproducing apparatus of an external connection type (hereinafter referred to as a portable type) through the interface (PCMCAia) card 22 to a lap-top personal computer (not shown). Reference numeral 23 denotes headphone terminals to output reproduced voice information from the CD-ROM 1 to the outside. By connecting a headphone (not shown) to the headphone terminals 23, voice is reproducible.
Servo control of the conventional CD-ROM player, thus constructed, will be described next. The CD-ROM has an information track provided in a spiral form in which an information signal is recorded. Since the track interval is very small (1.6 .mu.m), a light spot is required to be positioned with high accuracy relative to the rotating CD-ROM 1 to detect an information signal accurately from the track.
A detailed schematic of the conventional focus servo control unit 8 is shown in FIG. 12, in which reference numeral 15 denotes the controller of FIG. 10; 16, a phase compensation filter to stabilize the servo system; 17, a servo amplifier; 18, a servo gain setting circuit; and 19, a driver.
The operation of the conventional focus servo control unit 8, thus constructed, will be described next. A focus error signal obtained from the optical pickup 3 is inputted to the phase compensation filter 16 to stabilize the servo system. It is then amplified by the servo amplifier 17 and delivered through the driver 19 to the object lens actuator 5 for driving purposes.
The servo gain setting circuit 18 is provided to maintain the servo gain at a fixed value in spite of variations in the optical signal from the optical pickup 3 and the sensitivity of the object lens actuator 5. The amplification factor of the servo amplifier 17 is set by the controller 15 so that a desired drive output is obtained from the driver 19.
Tracking servo control will be described next. FIG. 13 shows an open loop characteristic of the tracking servo. For example, the standard value of the maximum eccentric quantity of the CD-ROM 1 is .+-.70 .mu.m whereas the actual mechanical eccentric value is about .+-.120 .mu.m when the eccentricity of the motor shaft and a turn table are considered.
In order to avoid a reduction of an error rate of the reproduced signal, a deviation of a track (optical pit) is required to be suppressed to within .+-.0.1 .mu.m.
Thus, a servo gain in a low frequency (less than 30 Hz) region is set at EQU 20 log (120/0.1)=61.6 dB.
While the maximum eccentric acceleration is 0.4 G according to the above-mentioned standards in a high-frequency region servo gain, the gain intersection is set at about 1 kHz to improve resistance to vibrations of the optical disk reproducing apparatus and to suppress a high-harmonic resonance frequency.
As described above with reference to the standard values of an optical disk such as a CD-ROM, its roundness and flatness involve errors, which cooperate with an error involved in the optical disk reproducing apparatus itself to rotate the optical disk while vibrating same a little in a radial direction (hereinafter referred to as "eccentricity") or rotating same while vibrating same vertically (hereinafter referred to as "plane vibrations"). A quantity of plane vibrations/eccentricity varies from optical disk to optical disk. Some commercially available optical disks exceed the standards of plane vibrations and eccentricity.
When information to be reproduced is voice information in the conventional portable optical disk reproducing apparatus, the voice output is delivered to the host or to external speaker means through the headphone terminal of the apparatus.
In order to regard the portability of the portable optical disk reproducing apparatus as important, an optical disk reproducing apparatus in which the voice information outputting speaker means is built in the optical disk reproducing device has been developed. The influence of the optical reproducing means on the servo control varies between when the portable type optical disk reproducing apparatus is usually used to reproduce character/image information (inclusive of outputting voice information through the headphone terminals, which applies hereinafter to a similar case) and when the voice information is output by the built-in speaker means.
When the voice information is outputted through the built-in speaker means, the speaker means is provided adjacent the optical reproducing means (optical pickup) due to the problem of the size and spacial arrangement of the reproducing apparatus itself, and, hence, the influence on the voice output due to vibrations of the speaker means occurs. Thus, when the set value of the servo gain is designed in conformity to the standards, the reproducing apparatus operates at the fixed set value in spite of influence due to vibrations of the built-in speaker means. Thus, when information in the optical disk is reproduced, the focus and tracking errors will exceed the predetermined allowable values to thereby bring about no normal reproduction.
For example, FIG. 14 shows a state where the focus error has exceeded an allowable range. As shown, when the optical disk information is reproduced when the quantity of plane vibrations exceeds the standard, the focus error signal will not fall within the allowable range. Thus, in order to reproduce. information in the optical disk normally in such a case, the focus servo gain is required to be increased or otherwise the characteristic of the servo loop gain (or phase compensation filter) is required to be changed.
In order to increase the servo gain, the amplification factor of the servo amplifier could be increased. However, in this method, the focus error signal is suppressed by increasing the servo gain. Since the gains in both the servo and higher frequency regions increase simultaneously, the reproduced output reacts sensitively to flaws on, and/or noise in, the optical disk, and the playability of reproduced information over the flaws on the optical disk in the normal disk reproduction (involving no voice output by the built-in speaker means) would be deteriorated. In addition, excessive control is provided on an optical disk whose quantity of plane vibrations is small, so that power consumption would increase.
Alternatively, an increase in the low-frequency region gain alone based on a change of the phase compensation filter characteristic could be considered. Since the high-frequency region gain according to this method is substantially equal to that provided by the conventional one, the playability is not deteriorated. However, if the low-frequency region gain of the servo system is increased, the stability of the servo system is impaired accordingly, so that this method is not so recommendable. Thus, the problems of excessive control and power consumption in the regular optical disk reproduction are not solved.
As described above, in the conventional optical disk device, the servo gain is preferably set low for flaws on the optical disk whereas the servo gain is preferably set high for external disturbances such as sounds and/or vibrations. Thus, since there is no method of satisfying those contradictory requirements, the designer must compromise with any one of those requirements.
The present invention intends to solve the above problem. It is an object of the present invention to provide an optical disk reproducing method and apparatus which is capable of reproducing voice information normally with the speaker means built in the optical disk apparatus even when errors exceeding the standards occur and reproducing information from a CD-ROM even in a regular manner (state of use) with low power consumption in a stabilized manner.

Information reproducing method and apparatus with servo characteristic change for sound reproduction

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


Methods and systems for detecting a temperature TO of a remote object are provided. The method includes storing in memory, a lookup table relating an output voltage of an infrared sensor to a temperature sensed by the infrared sensor V(TO, TA), determining a temperature sensor voltage output corresponding to a temperature TA proximate the infrared sensor, determining a first voltage as a function of the temperature TA proximate the infrared sensor and a reference temperature TREF, V(TA, TREF), determining a second voltage as a function of the temperature of the object TO and the reference temperature TREF, V(TO, TREF) by combining the determined temperature sensor voltage output and the first voltage, and determining a temperature of the object TO from the lookup table using the second voltage.

This invention relates generally to temperature sensors, and more particularly to methods and apparatus for deriving an object temperature using an IR thermopile sensor to over a wide range of object and ambient temperatures based on a single compact lookup table.
Infrared (IR) thermopile sensors are used to measure the temperature of remote objects. The output voltage of the thermopile sensor varies with both object temperature and ambient temperature of the sensor. Although the general shape of the characteristics curve is known, there are relatively large variations between contributions of individual parts of the sensor to the characteristics curve. For accurate measurement each sensor is individually calibrated at known temperatures. During normal operation, the calibration data is used in conjunction with the measured ambient temperature to give an accurate indication of object temperature. However, the relationship between output voltage and temperature is a 4th power equation requiring a significant computational requirement to solve.

Methods and systems for determining temperature of an object