A method that involves recognizing an incoming FAX call at a destination edge node, the destination edge node supportive of at least two FAX transport manners. A first control packet is sent from the destination edge node to an originating edge node that effectively requests transmission of the FAX call according to one of the FAX transport manners. A second control packet is sent from the originating edge node to the destination edge node that effectively confirms or refuses to confirm transmission of the FAX call according to one of the FAX transport manners.

FIG. 1 shows an exemplary network having a packet switched wide area network (WAN) 6 used to transport, for example, enterprise traffic between remote corporate campuses 10, 11. Associated with each remote campus 10, 11 are edge nodes 5, 7. Edge nodes 5, 7 are used as gateways between the WAN 6 and the campus equipment 4, 8.
Note that telephony equipment may be part of the campus 10, 11 network. Specifically telephones (e.g., telephone 1), FAX machines (e.g., FAX machines 3, 9), PBXs (e.g., PBXs 4,8) or other device (such as a modem) used to send receive information over a time division multiplexed (TDM) network, such as the telephone network, are part of the overall network formed by attachment to the packet switched WAN 6.
In cases where telephony equipment is serviced by a packet switched WAN, the edge nodes 5,7 typically perform some form of TDM/packet translation. Because the telephony equipment is designed to interface with a TDM network, the edge nodes 5,7 provide a TDM network interface 12, 13 for this equipment. Thus edge nodes 5, 7 translate the telephony traffic to/from a packet switched network interface 14, 15 from/to a TDM network interface 12, 13.
Edge nodes 5, 7 also perform various forms of compression in order to reduce bandwidth consumption of the WAN 6 by the telephony traffic. Typically the TDM network interface 12, 13 comprises a 64 kb/s channel for each telephony line (e.g., telephony line 2). Telephone lines may also be referred to as channels. The edge nodes 5, 7 are responsible for reducing the per channel bandwidth below 64 kb/s. This results in more efficient utilization of the WAN 6.
For example, an outgoing telephone call that consumes one telephony line is usually compressed from 64 kb/s to 32, 16 or 8 kb/s by a compression algorithm executed by a digital signal processor (DSP) within the edge node (e.g., edge node 5). The outgoing call then enters the WAN 6 as a 32, 16 or 8 kb/s offered load (not counting overhead) resulting in a 32, 48 or 56 kb/s savings in WAN 6 bandwidth. The receiving edge node (e.g., edge node 7) decompresses the phone call back to 64 kb/s and sends the call over TDM interface 13 to PBX 8.
Because FAX (also referred to as facsimile) traffic typically consumes a single telephony line (e.g., telephony line 17), a FAX call also receives up to 64 kb/s of service at the TDM interface 12. In order to reduce WAN 6 bandwidth consumption, the FAX call may be "compressed" or otherwise reduced. A technology known as FAX Relay, mostly embodied in ITU standards T.4, T.6, T.30, V.17, V.21, V.27, V.29 and V.33, specifies the manner in which a 64 kb/s FAX data stream is reduced to a lower bit rate (such as 0.3, 2.4, 4.8, 9.6, and 14.4 kbps). Fax Relay involves identification of a baseband image signal from the 64 kb/s stream. Edge nodes 5, 7 may therefore also perform (besides voice compression/decompression) FAX Relay processing functions for FAX calls in order to reduce WAN 6 bandwidth consumption while maintaining a TDM interface 12, 13 for the telephony equipment.
A problem with implementing Fax Relay is the relative newness of FAX Relay for packet switched networks. Existing packet switched WANs have a sizable installed base of equipment without Fax Relay capability. Thus a transmitting edge node (e.g., edge node 5) and a receiving edge node (e.g., edge node 7) should first communicate with one another to ensure both have the ability to process Fax Relay signals.
A packet network is any network that transports data with packets. This network includes, for example, a FastPacket™ network from Cisco Technology Inc. A packet network may also be a WAN, Local Area Network (LAN) or regional network such as those associated with local exchange carriers. A packet network also may include two or more FastPacket™ networks bridged by an IP, Frame Relay, or ATM network. The bridging network (e.g., IP, Frame Relay, or ATM networks) couples the FastPacket™ networks.
Telephony control signals are distinguishable from telephony data signals. In a sense, telephony control signals are procedural whereas telephony data signals are substantive. Telephony control signals help setup and maintain the connection between telephony equipment (such as PBXs, telephones, modems and FAX machines) while telephony data signals are the substantive traffic (e.g., a telephone conversation between users) carried over the connection. This distinction between substantive and procedure is maintained with reference to packet technology discussed below.
For packet based WANs 6, the "connection" is not an actual connection since TDM technology is not employed. A protocol referred to as the Transition State Protocol (TSP) is a special form of packet based communication used to communicate telephony control signals over a FastPacket™ WAN 6.
For telephony based communications (e.g., telephone calls, FAX transmissions, etc.), control signals that indicate 1) the telephone number is dialed, 2) the telephone number is answered, 3) the receiver is off hook, and 4) the receiver is on hook are communicated over the WAN 6 by way of TSP packets and the TSP protocol. TSP packets are control packets sent over the WAN 6 to communicate these control signals between transmitting and receiving telephony equipment. A more detailed description of TSP technology for these telephony control signals is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,115,431 entitled "Method and Apparatus For Packet Communications Signaling" issued May 19, 1992.
Referring again to FIG. 1, an originating edge node (e.g., edge node 5) needs to know if the destination edge node (e.g., edge node 7) has the ability to process, for example, a 14.4 kb/s Fax Relay signal from the WAN 6 up to a 64 kb/s traditional FAX signal for delivery to the PBX 8. If so, the originating edge node 5 can transmit the 14.4 kb/s Fax Relay signal over the WAN 6. If not, the edge node 5 may transmit a full 64 kb/s traditional signal over the WAN 6 instead since the bandwidth efficiency offered by FAX Relay is not available for this particular connection.
However, the knowledge process starts with the destination edge node 7 which results from the manner in which FAXes are transmitted. A brief discussion of FAX transmission as compared to other transmission types is helpful.
At least three types of information have traditionally been transmitted over networks: data, voice and FAXes. Voice data may be compressed since telephone users can still comprehend a conversation with less than 64 kb/s of bandwidth between them. Data information is typically transmitted via a data modem (which is distinguishable from a FAX) and may be compressed as well. Similarly, FAXed traffic may be compressed (or otherwise processed by FAX Relay) because the FAX "baseband" signal needed to reproduce the image may be transmitted with less than a 64 kb/s channel. Nevertheless, the compression or reduction methods are different between FAX Relay, data, and voice transmission. Furthermore, for edge node pairs that cannot support FAX Relay, the FAX connection is typically implemented with 32 kb/s or a full 64 kb/s effective offered load to the packet network. Thus, regardless if FAX Relay is implemented or not, a destination node needs to distinguish between a voice call, a FAX call, and a data call.
FAX and data modem connections begin with a special tone (referred to as a Called Station Identification (CED tone)) generated by the receiving device. The receiving FAX machine or data modem "answers" the call initially with a CED tone. Thus, to first order, voice calls are distinguished from FAX and data modem calls by the presence of the CED tone. FAX calls are further distinguished from data modem calls (since both are answered with the CED tone) by a v.21 preamble. Thus a destination edge node can identify a FAX call within one of its channels by first recognizing a CED tone "answered" by the FAX machine and then recognizing a v.21 preamble. FAX Relay processing may be implemented after the tone and preamble are sent. The FAX call's tone and preamble may be transmitted as a regular voice call because the voice compression algorithms do not distort the tone or preamble to the extent that it is unintelligible at the remote FAX machine.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and apparatus using transition state protocol signaling for fax transport manner capability exchange


A Vacuum conveying apparatus with a weighing and metering device, comprises a separation container (10), acted on by a vacuum, for intermittent intermediate storage of material conveyed in a suction gas flow, a force isolation means for entry of conveyed material into the separation container (working side), a weighing device (50) for, in particular, continuous weighing of the separation container, as well as a vacuum pump (70) and a controller. In order to create a vacuum conveying apparatus that can guarantee a more precise weighing and/or a more accurate stipulation of the timepoint for turning off the vacuum pump or for interrupting the suction process during the ongoing conveyance process, the vacuum pump (70) is isolated in terms of force from the separation container (10) and is also situated such that it is not weighed.

Vacuum conveyors are usually used for transporting small-particle or powdery material, such as powders, granules, dusts, tablets, or small parts in a suction gas flow, which, as a rule, consists of air or inert gas. The material is suctioned off from a supply site via, for example, a manual suction tube or a feed funnel, is transported through a hose or tube conduit, and arrives at the separation chamber of the vacuum conveyor via a suction opening. There the suction gas is separated from the transported material, which is collected in the separation container, and if need be, a filter element is downstream from the gas side. The suction gas leaves the separation chamber in the direction of the vacuum pump, which is usually fixedly installed directly on the upper side of the separation chamber.
In a standard vacuum conveyor, a discharge valve, through which the material can leave the separation chamber, to fall directly into a packaging container, is as a rule located on the underside of the separation container. In addition, a gas valve can be situated between the separation container and the vacuum pump.
During the suctioning process, the so-called suction cycle, the discharge valve is closed and the gas valve between the separation container and vacuum is opened. The separation container is thus filled for a certain prespecified time or until a specific degree of filling with material has been reached. Subsequently, in the so-called discharge cycle, the gas valve between the separation container and vacuum is closed or the vacuum pump is shut off and the discharge valve is opened. The transported material then falls, in the simplest case, through the discharge opening from the separation container. If necessary, however, the material can also be blown out from the separation container by excess pressure, or bridge-building materials can be fluidized. By counter-blowing from the pure gas site, the filter can also be cleared of adhering filter cake. A cycle control regulates the duration of the individual suction and discharge cycles.
Some vacuum conveyors also permit, in addition to simple transporting, the possibility of metering conveyed material. Above all, such vacuum conveyors with a metering function differ from vacuum conveyors without a metering function in that after switching off the vacuum pump or interrupting the suction, the discharge valve remains closed for sufficient time that the conveying process in the separation container comes to a complete standstill; thus, all of the material which was still in suspension has settled in the separation container. Afterwards, the conveyed quantity of material is weighed via a weighing device. This is done, for example, such that the vacuum conveyor rests on a weighing device, such as a frame construction with a system of, for example, three working-load weighing cells. This measures the total weight of the vacuum conveyor plus the conveyed material contained therein.
Subsequently, the discharge valve is opened. Afterwards and/or beforehand, the tare of the vacuum conveyor is weighed in order to determine the quantity of conveyed material removed. This repeated weighing is undertaken because experience shows that a one-time tare at the beginning of the conveying process is not sufficient. This is because the mass of conveyed material adhering to the filter of the vacuum conveyor and to the walls of the separation container changes from conveying cycle to conveying cycle, and thus falsifies the measurements.
In order to attain a larger metering quantity of conveyed material than is possible in one suction cycle, the material is conveyed in several suction cycles. A controller determines beforehand the number of required suction cycles and the theoretical filling quantity per suction cycle. Usually, in the first cycles, larger quantities of material are conveyed with rapid filling cycles; in the last cycles, if desired, operation is in the flying conveyance mode, guaranteeing a very continuous conveyance so that one can better approximate the nominal conveyed quantity. This process is very time-consuming.
Therefore, the procedure then became one of weighing the vacuum conveyor continuously during conveyance. Shortly before attaining the theoretical filling quantity for a specific suction cycle, the vacuum pump was switched off or the suction process was interrupted. This procedure is faster, but weighing accuracy suffers under the changing transverse forces that act on the separating container during the conveyance operation. In actual practice, it has become evident that the metering accuracy of these vacuum conveyance devices is often insufficient. Depending on the conveyed material, deviations result of 20 to 500 g from the actual conveyed quantity to be attained (target quantity).
FIG. 1 shows a view of a prior vacuum conveyor 100 with a metering function. As indicated in FIG. 1, the vacuum conveyor sits in a frame construction 120 on a 3-point weighing apparatus 150 and carries a vacuum pump 170 on its separation container 110. Since the vacuum conveyor is continuously weighed during the conveyance process, the weighing must suppress or minimize disturbing forces and influences as much as possible.
To this end, among other things, the entry side of the separation container was provided with an isolation system 140. As can be seen in FIG. 1, an isolator is connected to the entry opening of the separation container; its other end is firmly connected with the frame construction, where the (nondepicted) hose or tube system of the working side is connected. This isolation system is intended to guarantee that the forces generated by the transported material do not have a disturbing effect on the weighing.
It has become evident, however, that these measures are not sufficient to limit influences disturbing the weighing to an acceptable level. These disturbing influences derive essentially from the recurring differences in vacuum level within the transport conduit, whose disturbing transverse force influence cannot be compensated for with the previously known methods, in spite of a force isolation. The force isolation serves rather to avoid impacts and mechanical tensions that are generated by the conveyed product and the inherent weight of the transport conduit. Since determination of the timepoint for shutting off the vacuum pump or interrupting the suction process is done on the basis of weighing the vacuum conveyor, this point is arrived at only insufficiently among previous vacuum conveyors. The stipulated target value for the conveyed quantity is not attained precisely enough, as the deviations further discussed above already make clear.

Vacuum conveying apparatus with a weighing or metering device


The present disclosure relates to: a communication technique for converging an IoT technology and a 5G communication system for supporting a higher data transfer rate beyond a 4G system; and a system therefor. The present disclosure can be applied to an intelligent service (for example, a smart home, a smart building, a smart city, a smart car or connected car, health care, digital education, retail business, security and safety-related service, etc.) on the basis of a 5G communication technology and an IoT-related technology. The present invention relates to a method for transmitting uplink control information (UCI) by a terminal in a wireless communication system, the method comprising: receiving physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) configuration information from a base station; and transmitting, to the base station, UCI in a PUCCH to which PUCCH format 1 has been applied on the basis of the PUCCH configuration information, wherein the PUCCH configuration information contains spreading code index information, and the spreading code index information is determined on the basis of the length of a spreading code to be applied to symbols through which the UCI is to be transmitted, among symbols through which the PUCCH is to be transmitted.

To meet the demand for wireless data traffic having increased since deployment of 4G communication systems, efforts have been made to develop an improved 5G or pre-5G communication system. Therefore, the 5G or pre-5G communication system is also called a "Beyond 4G Network" or a "Post LTE System".
In the 5G system, hybrid FSK and QAM modulation (FQAM) and sliding window superposition coding (SWSC) as an advanced coding modulation (ACM), and filter bank multi carrier (FBMC), non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA), and sparse code multiple access (SCMA) as an advanced access technology have also been developed.
The Internet, which is a human centered connectivity network where humans generate and consume information, is now evolving to the Internet of things (IoT) where distributed entities, such as things, exchange and process information without human intervention. The Internet of everything (IoE), which is a combination of the IoT technology and the big data processing technology through connection with a cloud server, has emerged. As technology elements, such as "sensing technology", "wired/wireless communication and network infrastructure", "service interface technology", and "security technology" have been demanded for IoT implementation, a sensor network, a machine-to-machine (M2M) communication, machine type communication (MTC), and so forth have been recently researched. Such an IoT environment may provide intelligent Internet technology services that create a new value to human life by collecting and analyzing data generated among connected things. IoT may be applied to a variety of fields including smart home, smart building, smart city, smart car or connected cars, smart grid, health care, smart appliances and advanced medical services through convergence and combination between existing information technology (IT) and various industrial applications.
In line with this, various attempts have been made to apply 5G communication systems to IoT networks. For example, technologies such as a sensor network, machine type communication (MTC), and machine-to-machine (M2M) communication may be implemented by beamforming, MIMO, and array antennas. Application of a cloud radio access network (RAN) as the above-described big data processing technology may also be considered an example of convergence of the 5G technology with the IoT technology.
Meanwhile, various researches have been conducted on a method of transmitting an uplink control channel in a communication system. In particular, a method of transmitting a long physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) is under discussion in various aspects.

Method and device for configuring uplink control channel in wireless cellular communication system


Stable urea group-containing dispersions are obtained in situ by reacting carbon dioxide with an amine in the presence of a continuous phase carrier. These amine/carbon dioxide condensation adducts dispersed in the carrier are employed in the formation of polyurethane foams, polyurethane elastomers and coatings, and polyurethane microcellular foams.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to stable dispersions obtained from the in situ reaction between carbon dioxide and an amine in the presence of a continuous phase carrier; to cellular and microcellular compositions obtainable from these dispersions; and to specific methods for making the dispersions. In particular, the invention relates to solid phase urea group-containing amine/carbon dioxide condensation adducts obtained under specific reaction conditions and dispersed in a continuous phase carrier, the urea group-containing stable dispersion being employed in the formation of foams and microcellular products.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is known that the physical properties of foams can be altered by using urea or polyisocyanurate dispersions, or polymer modified polyols in the urethane forming process. Common examples of polymer modified polyols are those prepared by the in situ polymerization of a vinyl monomer in the presence of a polyether or polyester polyol as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,652,639; 3,823,201; and 4,690,956. Examples of polyisocyanurate dispersions, optionally containing pendant urea groups, are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,359,541, 4,386,167, and 4,326,043, and are generally prepared by polymerizing a polyisocyanate with a trimerization catalyst, deactivating the catalyst, reacting the free isocyanate groups with an active hydrogen compound such as an amine, and subsequently dispersing the product in the desired polyol. In this method, an amine is reacted with isocyanate and requires one to add the product to a polyol. It is also known that urea based dispersions may be obtained by the reaction of polyisocyanates with a polyamine and/or hydrazines and/or hydrazides as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,042,537.
Other dispersions include polyisocyanate polyaddition based dispersions of the kind described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,374,209 and 4,093,569 formed by reacting an isocyanate with an alkanolamine in the presence of a polyol.
Carbamates of amines formed by the reaction between mono or polyfunctional amines with carbon dioxide at room temperature and atmospheric pressure are described in "The Chemical Structure of Some Diamine Carbamates," 73 J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1829 (1951). In particular, the carbamates described in this article are ammonium salts of alkylcarbamic acid. These amine carbamates are prepared at room temperature and atmospheric pressure in cold alcoholic solutions such as methanol, which is subsequently evaporated to eventually yield a dry carbamate powder. Carbamates prepared by this procedure find use as sources of carbon dioxide in plastic foams as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,502,600. This patent teaches the formation of a plastic foam by combining an aqueous plastics dispersion of, for example, vinyl acetate with a compound having CH acidic hydrogens adjacent to a carbonyl or nitrilo group, and a pre-formed carbamate prepared by the procedure described in the journal article quoted above, and to this mixture is added an aldehyde which chemically reacts with and disassociates the carbamate to release carbon dioxide. Thus, there no longer remains solid particles in the foam since the carbamate was made to decompose by the addition of an aldehyde and to release carbon dioxide as a blowing agent for foaming action rather than remain as a carbamate dispersion.
Other patents have described the reaction of specific amines with carbon dioxide for the production of polyurethane foams. U.S Pat. Nos. 4,735,970 and 4,500,656 teach one to react an alkanolamine with carbon dioxide in the presence of a polyol to form a homogeneous mixture of an ammonium salt of an alkylcarbamic acid, or an amine/carbon dioxide adduct, and the polyol. U.S. Pat. No. 4,077,920 teaches one to form a carbamate-amine dispersion by bubbling carbon dioxide through an alkanolamine/polyol mixture, and compares the flame retardant properties of foams prepared by this dispersion with a foam prepared by a dispersion of carbamate-amines obtained by reacting an amine without hydroxyl groups and carbon dioxide. This reference, however, does not teach one to react an amine without hydroxyl groups with carbon dioxide at super-atmospheric pressures in the presence of a polyol to produce urea group-containing dispersions.
Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 4,994,503 teaches to improve the impact strength and flexural modulus of a foam by contacting a carbonyl compound, such as a urea, with a polyamine in the presence of a polyahl at atmospheric pressure, or reduced pressure, to produce aminocarbonyl dispersions.

Poyurea based dispersions, foams prepared therefrom, and a process for the preparation therein


A method of forming a semiconductor device can include forming a plurality of gate structure patterns including gates and first mask patterns stacked on a semiconductor substrate, the gate structure patterns being spaced apart from each other and extending in a first direction, forming a first interlayer insulating layer covering the gate structure patterns, forming a plurality of second mask patterns extending in a second direction crossing the first direction and spaced apart from each other, and etching the first interlayer insulating layer to form a contact hole, self-aligned to the first and second mask patterns, in at least one contact region defined by a neighboring pair of the first mask patterns and a neighboring pair of the second mask patterns. Related devices are also disclosed.

It is known to include contact holes in semiconductor devices for electrically connecting upper and lower conductors. In detail, the contact hole can be formed through an insulating layer interposed between the upper and lower conductors to define a penetration path connecting the upper and lower conductors, and a conductive material can be formed in the contact hole to electrically connect the upper and lower conductors.
With high integration of semiconductor devices, the diameter of contact holes and the alignment margin between contact holes and lower conductors may be reduced. Further, there is a need for a contact hole having a smaller diameter than that formed by a photolithography process. To follow these trends in semiconductor devices, a self-aligned contact (SAC) hole has been introduced.
In some conventional approaches in forming a SAC hole, a conductive layer and a hard mask layer are sequentially formed on a substrate, and these layers are patterned to form a stacked structure having a conductor and a hard mask pattern. An insulating spacer layer is formed on sidewalls of the conductor and the hard mask pattern, and an interlayer insulating layer is formed on the entire surface of the substrate. Here, the interlayer insulating layer has a larger etching rate than the hard mask pattern and the insulating spacer layer. Then, a SAC hole is formed through the interlayer insulating layer in such a manner that the SAC hole has a sidewall aligned with the hard mask pattern and the insulating spacer layer.
The above conventional method of forming the SAC hole can provide advantages in manufacturing high-density integrated semiconductor device since the SAC hole can be self-aligned in a direction perpendicular to a sidewall of the hard mask pattern. Even when regions where contact holes will be formed are misaligned during photolithography, the SAC holes can be precisely formed between hard mask patterns in a direction perpendicular to the sidewall of the hard mask patterns. However, since the SAC holes may not be self-aligned in a direction that is parallel to the sidewall of the hard mask pattern, the SAC holes can be formed at misaligned positions in the direction parallel to the sidewall of the hard mask pattern. Therefore, contacts may not be densely arranged in the direction of the sidewall of the hard mask pattern, thereby possibly producing negative effects on device integration.

Semiconductor devices with contact holes self-aligned in two directions


A diamine-platinum (IV) complex represented by the following formula (1): ##STR1## wherein R.sup.1 and R.sup.2 together represent R.sup.5 O--CH(CH.sub.2 NH.sub.2).sub.2 (R.sup.5 represents hydrogen, acetyl, trifluoroacetyl, benzoyl, cycloalkylcarbonyl or methanesulfonyl) or a C.sub.5-8 1,2-cycloalkanediamine; R.sup.3 and R.sup.4 each represents hydrogen or R.sup.6 CO-- (R.sup.6 represents alkyl, halogenoalkyl, cycloalkyl, aryl or aralkyl); and two X's together represent a malonic acid residue or glycolic acid residue which may have a substituent capable of coordinating to the platinum in formula (1) by an O,O-coordination or an N-acylamino acid residue coordinating to the platinum in formula (1) by an O,N-coordination; and a pharmaceutical composition comprising as an active ingredient the above-described diamine-platinum (IV) complex.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a platinum (IV) complex having excellent therapeutic effects on malignant tumors and to a pharmaceutical composition comprising the platinum (IV) complex.
2. Discussion of the Background
In recent years, malignant tumors became the top of the cause of death, and various anti-malignant tumor drugs have been developed to treat them. As a platinum complex among these drugs, a cisplatin has already been used. However, the cisplatin sometimes causes serious nephropathy as a side effect, so that its use must often be limited. In addition, since the cisplatin is slightly soluble in water and organic solvents, the route of administration is also limited. In consequence, a carboplatin (Saishin Igaku, 41(3):509 (1986)) has been developed and marketed as a derivative of the cisplatin having a reduced renal toxicity and an increased solubility in water. Also, in recent years, in addition to divalent platinum complexes including the cisplatin and the carboplatin as representative examples, tetravalent platinum complexes, typically an iproplatin (a compound disclosed in JP-A-57-77694; the term "JP-A" as used herein means an "unexamined published Japanese patent application"), have been developed. Their antitumor effects have been shown, for example, in JP-A-61-33192, JP-A-61-7283, JP-A-62-207283, JP-A-1-294684, JP-A-2-4797, JP-A-2-96523, JP-A-8-20594, JP-A-8-27174 and JP-A-8-259581. These tetravalent platinum complexes have characteristics in that they have excellent water solubility and low renal toxicity. Some of them have a high lipophilicity and can be orally administered. However, their antitumor effects are not always satisfactory.

Platinum (IV) complex and pharmaceutical composition comprising the same


A trigger sprayer is made from a single grade of polymer capable of being reused as post consumer resin. The design allows for upright and inverted actuation. A pre-compression diaphragm ensures that dispensing stroke delivers a complete and uniform amount of fluid.

At present, a class of pump dispensers can be made from post consumer resin (PCR) ranging from 67% to 100%, in terms of PCR recycled content. As consumers and manufacturers continue to support sustainability initiatives, the demand for these type of dispensers is expected to grow. Correspondingly, dispensers made from a single grade of polymeric material, without reliance on any metallic or glass components, are particularly desirable insofar as they themselves can be converted into PCR base material without the need for disassembly or separation of plastic from non-plastic components.
Over the years there have been many proposals for avoiding the use of metal in pumps. Deformable pump chambers, typically using a single bellows constructions and elastomer or thermoplastic elastomer materials, have been proposed and used. However these materials are expensive as well as usually non-recyclable, while bellows-form chambers are seldom effective.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,867,347 describes a pump chamber having a resiliently restorable flexible wall which could be made from standard plastics such as polypropylene. Restoring force is provided by a special form of the flexible wall, comprising at least one facet having a concave boundary and a curved surface portion interrupting the facet to induce bending thereof in the dispensing stroke, this bending producing a strong restoring force tending to restore the flexible wall to the rest condition. The curved surface portion—typically a cylindrical surface portion—is axially inclined to the facet and meets it along the concave boundary. In the preferred form the flexible wall has the shape of a polygonal pyramid with plural facets. While this structure can be molded integrally with adjacent components, the restoring force achieved was inconsistent and sometimes inadequate so that the design was never adopted in widespread commercial uses.
Trigger sprayers are class of dispensers in which a directional nozzle dispenses fluid along a known and expected flowpath. Such dispensers usually rely on atomization to evenly disperse the fluid and/or to create a mist therefrom. Consumers often prefer these type of dispensers for cleaning and personal care products precisely because of this predictable, projecting dispensing pattern. The trigger sprayer assembly itself is characterized by closure that couples to a container, with a handle or trigger-type actuator positioned beneath the barrel of a horizontal projecting outlet. The outlet may include a rotatable nozzle assembly to open, close, and/or toggle between various types of spray patterns (mist, stream, wide cone, narrow cone, etc.). One such trigger is described in international patent publication number WO 2018/049373, filed on Sep. 12, 2017.
However, in trigger dispensers, it is also desirable to employ a "pre-compression" arrangement so that fluid is forcefully and completely dispensed upon the first actuation of the trigger (after an initial priming when the dispenser is used for the very first time). In this manner, precompression reinforces and further ensures that the dispensing path will be consistent and known (i.e., without an initial stroke whereby the fluid fails to fully project and/or disperse as designed and intended).
United States Patent Publication 2008/0230563 discloses a pre-compression style trigger sprayer. A pre-compression valve is employed to create predetermined pressure prior to actuation. The valve itself is an elastic diaphragm, while flexion springs are used to urge the actuator and piston into position.
Thus, a trigger sprayer dispenser made from a single grade of polymeric material is needed. Further, such a sprayer having pre-compression functionality would be even more desirable. Finally, a design that could be used in a standard, vertical orientation, as well as continue to dispense when inverted, would be welcome.
For the sake of clarity and to further highlight and contrast with certain aspects of the invention disclosed herein, all of the aforementioned disclosures are incorporated by reference into this Background section.

Recyclable, pre-compression dispenser with trigger sprayer


A method of mixing two fluids uses three open-ended tubular sections assembled to define a mixing valve. An axial relationship between two of the tubular sections is defined by the third tubular section. A first fluid is introduced into an annular channel defined by the tubular sections. A flow of a second fluid is introduced along a flow path through the tubular sections. The first fluid is drawn into the flow of the second fluid via holes linking the annular channel to the flow path.

Diesel engines configured for bi-fuel operation utilize an air and natural gas mixture along with diesel fuel. The advantages associated with bi-fuel operation include reduced diesel fuel consumption and reduced noxious emissions.
Conversion of a conventional diesel engine for bi-fuel operation is readily and typically accomplished by coupling a natural gas supply line to diesel engine's air intake line. To control the amount of natural gas introduced into the air intake, some type of conventional valve is disposed in the gas supply line. While a simple valve is preferred for robustness and cost, these valves do not typically offer the kind of precise adjustability required for efficient bi-fuel operation at a variety of diesel engine speeds.


A magnetic toner includes magnetic toner particles containing at least a binder resin and a magnetic iron oxide. The magnetic iron oxide contains 0.2 to 4.0% by weight of at least one metal element selected from the group consisting of Mn, Zn, Ni, Cu, Co, Cr, Cd, Al, Sn and Mg, and 0.2 to 0.8% by weight of silicon element on the basis of an iron element; the ratio (B.sub.si /A.sub.Si).times.100 of the content B.sub.Si of the silicon element present in the magnetic iron oxide up to an iron element solubility of 20% by weight to the total content A.sub.Si of the silicon element present in the magnetic iron oxide is 45 to 85%; the ratio (C.sub.si /A.sub.Si).times.100 of the content C.sub.Si of the silicon element present in the magnetic iron oxide up to an iron element solubility of 10% by weight to the total content A.sub.Si is 35 to 70%; and the magnetic toner has a weight average particle diameter of 3.5 to 10.0 .mu.m, and contains 0 to 30% by volume of magnetic toner particles having a volume particle diameter of 12.7 .mu.m or more determined from a volume distribution.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a magnetic toner used for image forming methods such as an electrophotographic method, an electrostatic printing method, a magnetic recording method, and a toner jet method. Particularly, the present invention relates to a magnetic toner for developing electrostatic latent images, and an image forming method and a process cartridge, both of which use the magnetic toner.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many electrophotographic methods have been conventionally known, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,297,691, Japanese Patent Publication No. 42-23910 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 3,666,363) and Japanese Patent Publication No. 43-24748 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 4,071,361). In these methods, generally, an electric latent image is formed on a photosensitive member by any one of various means using a photoconductive material, and then the latent image is developed by using toner to form a toner image as a visible image, and if required, the toner image is transferred to a transfer material such as paper or the like, followed by fixing under heating, pressure or heating and pressure to obtain a copy or print.
There are also various known developing methods of visualizing electrostatic latent images by using toner. Examples of such developing methods include the magnetic brush method disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,874,063, the cascade developing method disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,618,552, and the powder cloud method disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,221,776, a fur brush developing method, a liquid developing method, etc. Of these developing methods, particularly, the magnetic brush method, the cascade method and the liquid developing method, all of which use a two-component type developer mainly comprising a toner and a carrier, are brought into practical use. Although all these methods are excellent methods capable of relatively stably obtaining good images, they have a problem with respect to the two-component type developer in which the carrier deteriorates, and the mixing ratio of the toner and the carrier varies.
In order to solve the problems, various developing methods are proposed, which use a one-component type developer comprising only a toner. Particularly, methods using a one-component type developer comprising toner particles having magnetism are excellent.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,909,258 proposes a developing method using a magnetic toner having electric conductivity for development. In this method, a conductive magnetic toner is supported on a cylindrical conductive sleeve having magnetism therein, and is brought into contact with an electrostatic latent image holding member having an electrostatic latent image to develop the latent image. At this time, in the development unit, a conductive path is formed by toner particles between the surface of the electrostatic latent image holding member and the sleeve surface. Charge is led to the toner particles from the sleeve through the conductive path, and the toner particles are adhered to the image region due to Coulomb's force between the image region of the electrostatic latent image and the magnetic toner particles to develop the latent image. Although this method using a conductive magnetic toner is an excellent method capable of solving the problems of the conventional two-component developing methods, the method has a problem in which since the toner is conductive, it is difficult to electrostatically transfer a toner image from the electrostatic latent image holding member having the toner image to a final support member such as plain paper or the like.
As a developing method using a high-resistance magnetic toner which can be electrostatically transferred, there is a developing method which employs dielectric polarization of toner particles. However, this method has a problem in which the development speed is fundamentally low, and thus a developed image having a sufficient density cannot be obtained.
Another known development method using a high-resistance insulating magnetic toner is a method in which magnetic toner particles are triboelectrically charged by friction between the respective magnetic toner particles and friction between the magnetic toner particles and a triboelectric charging member such as a sleeve or the like to develop an electrostatic latent image by the magnetic toner having triboelectric charge. However, such a method has problems in which the number of times of friction between the magnetic toner particles and the triboelectric charging member is small, causing insufficient triboelectric charge, and in which the charged magnetic toner particles easily agglomerate on the sleeve due to an increase in Coulomb's force between the toner particles and the sleeve.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 55-18656 discloses a new jumping development method capable of solving the above problems. In this method, a magnetic toner is thinly coated on a sleeve, and frictionally charged, and then the magnetic toner layer on the sleeve is brought near an electrostatic latent image to develop the latent image. In this method, the magnetic toner is thinly coated on the sleeve to increase the opportunity of contact between the sleeve and the magnetic toner, thereby permitting sufficient triboelectric charge. Also the magnetic toner is supported by magnetic force, and a magnet and the magnetic toner are relatively moved to prevent agglomeration of the magnetic toner particles and cause sufficient friction with the sleeve, thereby obtaining an excellent image.
The insulating toner used in the above development method comprises a sufficient amount of finely powdered magnetic material mixed and dispersed therein, and partially exposed from the surfaces of the toner particles. Therefore, the type of the magnetic material used influences the fluidity and triboelectric chargeability of the magnetic toner, thereby influencing various characteristics required for the magnetic toner, such as the development performance and durability of the magnetic toner, etc.
In further detail, in the conventional jumping development method using a magnetic toner containing a magnetic material, repetition of a development step (for example, copying) for a long period of time causes deterioration in the fluidity of a one-component type developer containing the magnetic toner, insufficient triboelectric charge, nonuniformity in charging, and fogging in an environment of low temperature and low humidity, thereby causing a problem of image quality. With low adhesion between the binder resin and the magnetic material which constitute the magnetic toner particles, repetition of the development step causes separation of the magnetic material from the surfaces of the magnetic toner particles. There is thus the tendency to cause an adverse effect on the toner image, such as a decrease in density of the toner image.
With the magnetic toner containing the magnetic material dispersed therein with nonuniformity, the small particles of the magnetic toner containing a large amount of magnetic material are accumulated on the sleeve, thereby sometimes causing a decrease in image density and the occurrence of nonuniformity in density, which is referred to as "sleeve ghost".
With respect to the magnetic iron oxide contained in conventional magnetic toner, magnetic toner containing magnetic iron oxide particles containing a silicon element is proposed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 62-279352 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 4820603), and 62-278131 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 4975214). Although a silicon element is positively contained in such magnetic iron oxide particles, the magnetic toner containing the magnetic ion oxide particles has the need to improve the fluidity of the magnetic toner.
In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-9045 (corresponding to European Patent Application Publication EP-A187434), it is proposed that the shape of magnetic iron oxide particles is controlled to a spherical shape by adding silicate. In the magnetic iron oxide particles obtained by this method, large amounts of silicon element are distributed in the magnetic ion oxide particles because of the use of silicate for controlling the particle size, but the silicon element is less present on the surfaces of the magnetic iron oxide particles, thereby causing insufficient improvement in the fluidity of the magnetic toner.
A method is proposed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 61-34070, in which triiron tetraoxide is produced by adding a hydroxosilicate solution in oxidization to triiron tetraoxide. The triiron tetraoxide particles obtained by this method contain Si element in the vicinity of the surfaces thereof, but have a problem in which the surfaces have low resistance to mechanical shock such as fraction or the like because the Si element is present in a layer near the surfaces of the triiron tetraoxide particles.
In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-72801, a magnetic toner is proposed, which contains magnetic iron oxide particles containing 0.4 to 4% by weight of silicon element, 44 to 84% of the total content of the silicon element being present in the vicinity of the surfaces of the magnetic particles.
In the magnetic toner containing the magnetic iron oxide particles, the fluidity of the toner, and the adhesion between the binder resin and the magnetic iron oxide particles are improved. However, in the magnetic iron oxide particles disclosed in a production example, a large amount of silicate component is present in the uppermost surfaces, and a porous structure is formed in the surfaces of the magnetic iron oxide particles, thereby increasing the BET specific surface area of the magnetic iron oxide particles. Therefore, the magnetic toner containing the magnetic iron oxide particles have the tendency that triboelectric charge properties deteriorate after allowing to stand in an environment of high humidity for a long time.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-362954 (corresponding to European Patent Application Publication No. EP-A468525) discloses magnetic iron oxide particles containing silicon and aluminum elements. However, there is demand for further improving environmental properties.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-213620 discloses magnetic iron oxide particles containing a silicon component which is exposed from the surfaces thereof. However, like the above magnetic iron oxide particles, there is demand for further improving environmental properties.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-239571 discloses that magnetic iron oxide particles contain silicon element, and the Fe--Si ratio of the uppermost surface is controlled. Although this improves frictional chargeability in an environment of high humidity, the magnetic iron oxide particles described in a production example have the tendency that the bulk density is increased, and a toner containing the magnetic iron oxide particles is liable to be densely packed in a development unit.
In a high-capacity system in which the toner fill in the development unit is increased for complying with recent increases in processing speed and lifetime, such a magnetic toner is easily packed in the development unit due to the weight of the toner and the pressure by a agitator, thereby causing insufficient supply of the toner to the sleeve and a fading phenomenon in which an image is blanked in a strip.
Such a magnetic toner is also insufficient in improvement of fluidity. Particularly, when a cartridge is transported for a long time, the toner contained in the cartridge is deviated to one side and tapped therein. Therefore, in this state, image formation easily causes nonuniformity in distribution of the toner on the sleeve, and sometimes causes blanking in an image.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 9-59024 and 9-59025 disclose magnetite particles containing 1.7 to 4.5 atomic % of silicon in terms of Si based on Fe, and, as a metal element other than Fe, 0 to 10 atomic % of at least one metal element selected from Mn, Zn, Ni, Cu, Al, and Ti based on Fe.
Although this can improve magnetic properties and chargeability, the fluidity of the toner cannot be sufficiently improved only by adding the above metals, and the toner has a property to be further improved.
Furthermore, in order to improve the fluidity of a toner, besides the magnetic material, other raw materials of the toner are demanded to be controlled for improving the fluidity.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 62-226260, 63-139365, 3-50559 and 6-208244 disclose a toner or toner resin composition containing polypropylene modified by carboxylic acid or maleic acid. However, the fluidity of the toner cannot be sufficiently improved.
In recent years, there have been demand for increasing the operation speed and lifetime of an image forming apparatus using an electrophotographic technology, such as a copying machine and a laser beam printer, and demand for improving definition and quality of the toner image obtained. A toner and a process cartridge containing a toner are stored in a variety of environments, and thus storage stability is an important property of the toner.
In recent, as printer apparatus, light-emitting diode (LED) printer and laser beam printer have been mainly put on the market. In a technical tendency, resolution have been increased, i.e., conventional resolution of 240 or 300 dpi has been increased to 400, 600, or 1200 dpi. Accordingly, a development system has been required to have higher definition.
A copying machine is increasingly made highly functional, and is thus increasingly digitized. In this tendency, an electrostatic image is mainly formed by a laser, and thus resolution is also increased. In this case, like a printer, a development system having high resolution and high definition is required. Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 1-112253 and 2-284158 disclose a toner having a small particle size.
However, a high-resolution and high-definition image can be formed by decreasing the particle size of a toner, while the surface area per unit weight of the magnetic toner is increased to increase the tribo charge of the magnetic toner. Therefore, the fluidity of the magnetic toner deteriorates, thereby making further significant the fading phenomenon and nonuniformity in the magnetic toner on the sleeve.

Magnetic toner, image forming method and process cartridge


The present invention provides a memory element and a memory device realizing reduced variations in resistance values in an initial state or erase state of a plurality of memory elements and capable of retaining the resistance value in a write/erase state for writing/erasing operations of a plurality of times. The memory element includes a first electrode, a memory layer, and a second electrode in order. The memory layer has: an ion source layer containing at least one of chalcogen elements of tellurium (Te), sulfur (S), and selenium (Se) and at least one metal element selected from copper (Cu), silver (Ag), zinc (Zn), and zirconium (Zr); and two or more high-resistance layers having a resistance value higher than that of the ion source layer and having different compositions.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a memory element and a memory device capable of storing information by a change in an electric characteristic of a memory layer including an ion source layer and a high-resistance layer.
Description of the Related Art
In information devices such as a computer, as a random access memory, a DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) whose operation is fast and having high density is widely used. However, since the manufacture process of a DRAM is complicated more than a general logic circuit LSI and signal process used for an electronic device, the manufacture cost is high. A DRAM is a volatile memory in which information disappears when power is turned off. A refresh operation, that is, an operation of reading written information (data), amplifying it, and writing the information again has to be performed frequently.
To address the drawback, as nonvolatile memories in which information does not disappear even when power is turned off, for example, a flash memory, an FeRAM (Ferroelectric Random Access Memory), an MRAM (Magnetoresistive Random Access Memory), and the like are proposed. In the case of the memories, written information is continuously retained for long time without supply of power. However, each of the memories has an advantage and a disadvantage. Specifically, a flash memory has high integration but has a disadvantage in operation speed. An FeRAM has limitation in microfabrication for high integration and also has a drawback in manufacturing process. An MRAM has a drawback in power consumption.
A memory element of a novel type which is advantageous particularly with respect to limitation in microfabrication of a memory element is proposed. The memory element has a structure that an ion conductor containing a metal is provided between two electrodes. In the memory element, the metal contained in the ion conductor is contained in one of the two electrodes. With the arrangement, when voltage is applied across the two electrodes, the metal contained in the electrode is diffused as ions into the ion conductor, and the resistance value of the ion conductor or the electric characteristic such as capacitance changes. For example, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication (Translation of PCT Application) No. 2002-536840, as a memory device using the characteristic, an ion conductor made of a solid solution of chalcogenide and metal is proposed. Concretely, the memory device is made of a material obtained by dissolving Ag, Cu, or Zn in AsS, GeS, or GeSe, and one of two electrodes contains Ag, Cu, or Zn.

Memory element with ion conductor layer in which metal ions diffuse and memory device incorporating same

SONY SEMICONDUCTOR SOLUTIONS CORPORATION


A liquid ejecting apparatus includes: a head which ejects a liquid from nozzles; a first electrode which charges the liquid with a first potential; a second electrode which is charged with a second potential different from the first potential; and an inspector which inspects whether the liquid is ejected from the nozzles based on a variation in a potential caused in at least one of the first and second electrodes by ejecting the liquid charged with the first potential from the nozzles to the second electrode and which determines whether the inspection of liquid ejection from the nozzles is normally executed based on the variation in the potential during a non-ejection period in which the liquid is not ejected from all of the nozzles.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a liquid ejecting apparatus and an ejection inspecting method.
2. Related Art
A liquid ejecting apparatus such as an ink jet printer which ejects charged ink toward a detecting electrode and inspects liquid ejection based on an electric variation occurring in the detecting electrode has been suggested (see JP-A-2007-152888).
When a noise occurs during the ejection inspection upon executing the ejection inspection based on the electric variation, a failure nozzle (a dot missing nozzle) which fails to eject a liquid cannot be exactly detected.

Liquid ejecting apparatus and ejection inspecting method


In the case where a variable resistive element, which is made of a variable resistor provided between a first and second electrodes, and of which the electrical resistance varies by applying a voltage pulse between the two electrodes, is applied to a resistance nonvolatile memory, there is a range of the resistance value of the variable resistive element in a low resistance state where the nonvolatile memory can operate normally. In the conventional manufacturing method the resistance value of the variable resistive element is too low, therefore, it can not be controlled within a desired range of the resistance value. A step of carrying out of a reduction process is provided at any point after the step of forming a variable resistor material as a film, it has thereby become possible to increase the resistance value of the variable resistive element, which is too low in the conventional method.

1. Field of the Technology
The present technology relates to a manufacturing method for a variable resistive element, which is made of a variable resistor provided between a first electrode and a second electrode, and of which the electrical resistance can be made to vary by applying a voltage pulse between the two electrodes.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, a variety of device structures such as FeRAM's (Ferroelectric RAM's), MRAM's (Magnetic RAM's) and OUM's (Ovonic Unified Memories) have been proposed as a next generation nonvolatile random access memory (NVRAM) which can replace flash memory and can operate at a high speed, and are involved in severe competition for development in regards to enhancement in the performance, an increase in the reliability, reduction in cost and adjustment in the process. However, these memory devices at present respectively have advantages and disadvantages and an ideal "universal memory" having all the advantages of SRAM, DRAM and flash memory is still far from being implemented.
In comparison with these state of the art memory devices, a method for changing the electrical resistance in a reversible manner by applying a voltage pulse to a perovskite material, which is known as a colossal magnetoresistance effect, has been disclosed in the specification of U.S. Pat. No. 6,204,139 by Shangquing Liu, Alex Ignatiev et al. of Houston University in the U.S. and in "Electric-pulse-induced reversible resistance change effect in magnetoresistive films," Applied Physics Letter, Vol. 76, by Liu, S. Q. et al. pp. 2749-2751 in 2000. This technology is extremely groundbreaking in that it uses a perovskite material, which is known to have a colossal magnetoresistance effect and where a change in the resistance over several digits is exhibited at room temperature without applying a magnetic field. The structure of the variable resistive element which is shown in the specification of U.S. Pat. No. 6,204,139 has a lower electrode material that is made of a yttrium barium copper oxide, YBa2Cu3O7 (YBCO), film which is deposited on a single crystal substrate made of a lanthanum aluminum oxide, LaAlO3 (LAO), a variable resistor film that is made of a perovskite-type oxide made of a crystal praseodymium calcium manganese oxide, Pr1-XCaXMnO3 (PCMO), film and an upper electrode material made of an Ag film which is deposited by means of sputtering. In addition, it has been reported on the operation of this variable resistive element that the resistance can be changed in a reversible manner by applying a voltage pulse of plus or minus 51 volts between the upper and lower electrodes. A resistance random access memory (RRAM) which uses the operation of the reversible change in the resistance of this variable resistive element (hereinafter appropriately referred to as "switching operation") requires no magnetic field unlike MRAM, and therefore, has excellent properties such that power consumption is extremely low, miniaturization and increase in the integration are easy, and the dynamic range of the change in the resistance is significantly broad in comparison with MRAM, making multilevel storage possible.
In addition, as for the materials for a variable resistor, a ZnSe—Ge heterostructure and oxides of metals such as Ti, Nb, Hf, Zr, Ta, Ni, V, Zn, Sn, In, Th, and Al in addition to the above described perovskite materials are known as the materials which become a semiconductor when the composition ratio is off from the stoichiometric composition ratio, and of which the resistance value is variable depending on the applied voltage pulse conditions though it is at a small level.
An example of a conventional manufacturing method for this variable resistive element is described in the following.
FIG. 12 is a cross sectional diagram showing the basic structure of a variable resistive element. In addition, FIG. 13 is a flow chart showing the schematic manufacturing steps in accordance with a conventional manufacturing method for fabricating the variable resistive element.
This variable resistive element has a structure where a second electrode 1, which becomes a lower electrode, a variable resistor 2 and a first electrode 3 which becomes an upper electrode are layered sequentially in the direction perpendicular to the substrate. In addition, metal wires 6 are provided through contact holes 5 which are created in an interlayer insulating film 4 in order to apply a voltage pulse between the first electrode 3 and the second electrode 1.
The present Applicants fabricated a variable resistive element using, as an example of the variable resistor 2, a PCMO film which is an oxide having a perovskite-type structure and was formed so as to have a composition ratio of Pr0.7Ca0.3MnO3 and a film thickness of 100 nm at a temperature for film formation of 500° C., and evaluated the properties thereof. FIG. 14 is a graph showing the change in the resistance value when a voltage pulse having the positive polarity (+2 V of the first electrode and 0 V of the second electrode) and the negative polarity (0 V of the first electrode and +2 V of the second electrode) with a pulse width of 100 nsec is alternately applied to this variable resistive element. The lateral axis indicates the number of applied pulses and the longitudinal axis indicates the resistance value that is read out along the logarithmic scale. As for the number of applied pulses, alternate applications of a voltage pulse having a negative polarity and a voltage pulse having a positive polarity are counted as one pulse. As shown in FIG. 14, a repeating switching operation was confirmed when the resistance value in a low resistance state was approximately 102Ω and the resistance value in a high resistance state was approximately 104Ω. In addition, the ratio of the resistance value in the high resistance state to the resistance value in the low resistance state (hereinafter appropriately referred to as "switching ratio") is approximately 100, and thus the two resistance values are clearly distinguished.
In the case where this variable resistive element is applied to a resistance nonvolatile memory, there is a restriction in the resistance value of the variable resistive element, in particular, in the resistance value of the variable resistive element in the low resistance state as described in the following.
The data in the nonvolatile memory is determined by the level of the amount of current which flows through the variable resistive element that is selected at the time of readout (hereinafter appropriately referred to as "readout current"). In the case of the simplest binary memory, for example, the amount of the read out current differs between when the variable resistive element is in the low resistance state and in the high resistance state, and therefore, the voltage value that has been converted from the readout current of the selected variable resistive element and the reference voltage are compared using a sense amplifier circuit, and thereby, each piece of data is determined as a binary value "1" or "0." Here, in the case where the resistance value of the variable resistive element in the low resistance state is too high, the difference in the amount of the readout current between the time of the low resistance state and the high resistance state becomes small even when the switching ratio is sufficiently large, and therefore, the margin of the performance of the sense amplifier circuit becomes small and a problem arises where the data can not be correctly determined.
Meanwhile, in the case where the resistance of the variable resistive element is too low, the problem described below arises.
In a resistance nonvolatile memory using variable resistive elements, a number of variable resistive elements are connected to wires (so-called word lines and bit lines) for selecting a variable resistive element as a memory cell. When the resistance value of a variable resistive element becomes low, the amount of current that flows through an unselected variable resistive element other than the variable resistive element which is the selected memory cell increases in accordance with this low resistance, and therefore, the total amount of current which flows through the wires increases due to this extra current which flows through unselected variable resistive elements. When this total amount of current increases, the voltage drop along the wires increases, and therefore, in the particular case where the variable resistive element which is the selected memory cell is located at the end of the wires, the supplied voltage becomes insufficient and a problem arises where normal writing and readout operations can not be carried out.
Accordingly, the resistance value of the variable resistive element must be set within a predetermined range, in order to make the resistance nonvolatile memory operate normally. That is to say, the upper limit of the resistance value is limited by the performance of the sense amplifier which is determined by the configuration of the sense amplifier circuit, and the lower limit of the resistance value is determined by the number of cells in the variable resistive elements, which are memory cells connected to word lines and bit lines, the wire resistance of these lines and the current supplying performance of bank selecting transistors in the peripheral circuit connected to these lines.
Here, a case is assumed where a variable resistive element is applied to a certain example of a resistance nonvolatile memory (hereinafter, this nonvolatile memory is referred to as "nonvolatile memory A") which operates normally when the resistance value of the variable resistive element in the low resistance state is in a range from 103Ω to 105Ω, and where it is more desirable for the resistance value to be approximately 104Ω, taking inconsistencies in the reproducibility of the resistance value when the nonvolatile memory is fabricated into consideration. The range of resistance is determined by the specifications of design for each nonvolatile memory, as described above (in the nonvolatile memory A of the present example, the number of memory cells which are connected to the word lines and the bit lines is 128, and the peripheral circuit which includes a sense amplifier and bank selecting transistors is designed in accordance with a design rule of 0.25 μm).
In the above described conventional manufacturing method for a variable resistive element, however, the resistance value of the variable resistive element in the low resistance state becomes approximately 102 Ω, which is too low, and therefore, a sufficient readout voltage cannot be supplied to some selected cells, due to the voltage drop in the lines to which a number of variable resistive elements are connected, and thus, the data cannot be correctly read out.
As for the control means for raising a resistance vale of the variable resistive element which is too low to a desired range in the conventional manufacturing method, though there are methods such as reducing the area of the variable resistive element or increasing the film thickness of the variable resistor, any method can contribute to increasing the resistance value in a linear function, and therefore, it is difficult to increase the resistance value by approximately 1 to 2 digits as required in the present example.
In addition, though the resistance value of the variable resistive element can be increased by changing the conditions for the formation of a variable resistor film, for example, the material composition or the temperature for film formation, a sufficient switching ratio for separating the high resistance state and the low resistance state must be secured in addition to control over the resistance value, and therefore, optimization of these conditions is not easy.
Therefore, in view of the above described problems, an objects of the present invention is to provide a manufacturing method where the resistance value in the low resistance state of the variable resistive element can be controlled. In particular, an object of the invention to provide a manufacturing method where the resistance value of the variable resistive element, which is too low in accordance with the conventional manufacturing method, can be controlled to a desired resistance value without causing the switching ratio to decline.

Manufacturing method for variable resistive element


A core stopping structure for an electronic clinical thermometer comprising a stopper protruded out of an inner wall of a thermometer body, a stopping member provided on a core and configured to block relative movement of the stopper, whereby when the core is pulled out of the thermometer for a predetermined length, the stopper will block the stopping member thereby preventing the core from further moving out of the thermometer body and therefore preventing the conductive wire connected with the core from breaking.

(a) Technical Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a core stopping structure for an electronic clinical thermometer, and in particular to one which can prevent a core from moving further out of an electronic clinical thermometer after the core has been withdrawn out of the electronic clinical thermometer for a predetermined length, thereby preventing the conductive wire from breaking and therefore assuring the normal operation of the thermometer.
(b) Brief Description of the Prior Art
Prior to the invention of the electronic clinical thermometer, the mercury clinical thermometer was widely used for measuring the temperature of human bodies. Based on the theory that mercury expands when encountering heat but contracts when encountering cold, the mercury clinical thermometer was invented. In the process of taking body temperature, when the temperature sensing probe (the heat sensor tube) of the mercury clinical thermometer is in contact with heat, the mercury will expand, pushing a portion of the mercury into a capillary tube thereby allowing the user to view the temperature reading displayed on the exterior of the capillary tube. In recent years, due to the high level of pollution in mercury, the electronic clinical thermometer, utilizing electronic technology, has been developed and has gradually replaced the highly polluted mercury clinical thermometer of old days.
When the battery in an electronic clinical thermometer is used up, the user must pull out the core to replace the battery. Since the conventional core is connected to the conductive wire while the other end of the conductive wire and a temperature sensor are fixedly mounted within a metal tip of the front end of the thermometer, the user is uncertain as to how far to pull out the core, and will often pull off the conductive wire, making the thermometer unable to work properly.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a core stopping structure of an electronic clinical thermometer which can obviate and mitigate the above-mentioned drawbacks.

Core stopping structure for an electronic clinical thermometer


A socket for an electrical part is provided with a pressing member to press the electrical part in a horizontal position thereof, and an operation member provided for the socket body to be vertically movable and configured to rotate the pressing member. The operation member is provided with an operating portion for pressing and rotating an operated portion formed to the base end portion of the pressing member. The operating portion includes a first operating portion pressing downward a first operated portion of the operated portion so as to rotate the pressing member in an opening direction thereof from a horizontal state when the operation member is moved downward, and the operating portion further includes a second operating portion pressing upward a second operated portion of the operated portion so as to rotate the pressing member in a closing direction thereof from a standing position when the operation member is moved upward.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a socket for an electrical part such as semiconductor device (called "IC package" hereinlater) for detachably holding the electrical part.
2. Related Art
As a conventional socket for an electrical part of this kind, there is known a socket for holding an IC package as electrical part for carrying out a performance test such as a burn-in test with respect to the IC package as disclosed in Patent Document 1 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 11-162602 A).
In this socket for the electrical part, a pressing member for pressing the IC package, from the upper side thereof, accommodated in a socket body is provided to be rotatable, and this pressing member is urged in a direction pressing the IC package (i.e., closing direction) by means of a spring.
A portion of the pressing member is pressed downward by lowering an operation member which is provided for the socket body to be vertically movable to thereby rotate the pressing member in an opening direction against the urging force of the spring. In this state, the IC package is mounted on a socket body.
On the other hand, when the operation member is moved upward, the pressing force on the portion of the pressing member is released, and the pressing member is then rotated in a closing direction by the urging force of the spring.
Then, when the pressing member takes its horizontal attitude, the IC package is pressed by the pressing member, and a number of electrodes disposed to the IC package are pressed against, with a predetermined pressure, an electrical conductive member provided for the socket body.
However, in such conventional socket for an electrical part, the pressing member is rotated in the closing direction by the urging force of the spring, and on the other hand, when the operation member is lowered, the pressing member is rotated in the opening direction against the urging force of the spring. Therefore, a large force against the urging force of the spring is required to open the pressing member, which requires an additional constitutional parts or element in addition to the arrangement of the spring, thus increasing attaching or mounting workings or like.


A molded product of a wholly aromatic liquid crystal polyester resin composition having a dielectric constant of 3.0 or less and a dielectric dissipation factor of 0.04 or less and is obtained by an injection molding of a composition comprising 90 to 45 percent by weight of the wholly aromatic liquid crystal polyester having a melting point of 320C or more, 10 to 40 percent by weight of an inorganic spherical hollow material having an aspect ratio of 2 or less, and 0 to 15 percent by weight of an inorganic filler having an aspect ratio of 4 or more. The molded product has dielectric properties suitable for information and telecommunications equipment, and is excellent in solder heat resistance, processability, and dimensional stability. The molded product is advantageous as a substrate material for use in information and telecommunications equipment such as a cellular mobile phone and as a fixing/holding member of a transmitter-receiver element.

In recent years, a transmission amount of an information and a transfer velocity of the information and telecommunications equipment such as a personal computer and a cellular mobile phone have increased explosively with the development of the advanced information society. Especially, in a wireless communication system the applied frequency band shifts increasingly to a high frequency range by the requirement to higher speed and higher density communication.
In order to speed up the signal transmission velocity, the reduction of delaying time for the propagation of signals is an important subject, and therefore a reduced dielectric constant applied for the information and telecommunications equipment becomes indispensable. Also, in the high frequency range, since the high frequency has a property to lose by converting in the form of heat, in order to transmit electric signals effectively, a material having a small dielectric loss (dielectric constants ∈×dielectric dissipation factor tan δ) is necessary so that a reduced dielectric constant of a material is, also, required in this respect.
Namely, for plastic components employed for the information and telecommunications equipment, as the electrical characteristics, low levels of the specific dielectric constant and the dielectric dissipation factor are given as important prescribed properties in addition to a solder heat resistance, processability, and dimensional stability. Especially, it is in a substrate material of the portable wireless telecommunications equipment and a fixing or a holding member of transmitter-receiver element that they are strongly demanded. Fluoroplastics and polyolefin are known as plastic materials having especially low level of the relative dielectric constant where, for example, the relative dielectric constants of Teflon® (trade name) and of polypropylene are approximately 2 and approximately 2.4, respectively. However, those plastics have problems with heat resistance, processability and mechanical properties so that the development of plastic materials having the dielectric properties combined with those various properties simultaneously is demanded. On the other hand, the recent further downsizing and weight saving requirement for electronic equipments are demanded more strongly and also, a heat resistance capable of coping with a reflow method which improves packaging density of component in printed-wiring assembly substrate surface is required.
Liquid polyester resins have good processability, excellent dimensional stability, and high heat resistance which is tolerable to the solder reflow compared with other general plastics, and have ideal characteristics as materials for electronic and electrical components. However, most of the conventional liquid polyesters provide the dielectric constant having 3.0 or more, and even if 3.0 or less, the liquid polyesters and liquid polyesters compound having an excellent balance of processability, heat resistance, reduced dielectric constant, and reduced dielectric dissipation factor to satisfy the requirement of the above mentioned electronic and electrical industrial fields have been unknown.
A molded product of liquid polyester is made generally from a composition compounded with inorganic fillers and the dielectric dissipation factor improves by compounding general fillers while the relative dielectric constant increases. In order to decrease the relative dielectric constant of the molded product, a method is considered to compound spherical hollow material fillers containing air which has the reduced dielectric constant. However, if the product for electronic part having a portion of thickness less than 0.5 mm is produced by injection molding method, compounded hollow filler may be destroyed so that the compounded effect is deprived and the improvement effect of the relative dielectric constant is reduced.
An object of the present invention is to provide the molded product, which has the dielectric property that the conventional liquid crystal polyester has not realized, which simultaneously keeps the heat resistance property such as solder reflow of the liquid crystal polyester, and which is used in the information and telecommunications equipment employed in high frequency band ranges such as microwaves and millimeter waves.

Wholly aromatic liquid crystal polyester resin molded product


A temperature-context-aware refrigerator according to an embodiment comprises: a temperature context awareness unit for sensing a temperature of at least one storage compartment, and when the difference between the sensed temperature and a temperature set for the corresponding storage compartment is equal to or greater than a predetermined level, generating load-responsive operation information including a target temperature lower or higher than the set temperature; a temperature control unit for controlling a temperature sensor and the temperature context awareness unit, and performing a load-responsive operation for controlling the temperature of the storage compartment by using the load-responsive operation information; and a database unit which used by the temperature context awareness unit to generate the load-responsive operation information.

A refrigerator, which is an apparatus for maintaining or cooling temperatures of various types of stored goods at a low temperature, includes a storage box composed of one or more separate spaces. The refrigerator has a temperature change interval which can be maintained at a maximum in a process of producing a product and shipping the product, and a user can set temperature of the refrigerator by adjusting the temperature of the refrigerator within the interval.
The user does not easily change the temperature of the refrigerator after setting the temperature of the refrigerator. When the temperature of the refrigerator is fixed, there have been cases where the refrigerator cannot appropriately cope with a sudden temperature change
In particular, various kinds of materials are carried into the refrigerator with various temperatures according to their characteristics. When a temperature of an incoming material is excessively high, or a difference in temperature between the incoming material and stored materials which are entirely cooled or frozen is excessively high, the incoming material affects other stored materials in the refrigerator. In this case, there is a problem in that a cooling or freezing performance of the refrigerator cannot be sufficiently exhibited because a temperature controllable range of the refrigerator is limited unless a user changes temperature settings.

Temperature-context-aware refrigerator and method for controlling same


The disclosure relates to a system and method for managing data from a number of systems. The method comprises: defining a set of objects for the data; defining a set of classes for the data; maintaining a catalog for each instance of the data; in the catalog identifying each instance's source system and its level of harmonization with other data; applying a set of harmonization rules to identify from the data a group of related data and an owner of the group; identifying differences in instantiations within the group; and initiating update requests to affected systems having the identified differences.

In a large scale project, such as managing of an oil drill site or management of a large construction project, the project can be split into a number of different, but related, tasks. Each task may have different inputs, outputs, deadlines, criteria and lifespans. As such, a task is typically managed by a separate process. Different systems may be used to manage each task with separate entities responsible for each task. An entity may or may not be related to other entities in other tasks. Further, within each task a collection of different sub-systems (even paper-based data) may funnel data to the central management system for the task.
Many large corporate environments have information that is duplicated across many data sources. There are many solutions available when it comes to dealing with managing documents, but support for the on-going reconciliation of data stored in databases is very limited and the typical solutions require extensive manual synchronization processes or an expensive process of replacement and consolidation.
Frequently, data is applied to two or more tasks during the project (e.g. the target completion date for the project). When a task has "control" or superior rights to the data and the task determines that the data has changed, an updated version of the data needs to be provided to all tasks in the system that use the data. As an example, development and operation and an oil well site has several different tasks and issues, including: planning and approval (e.g. drill site approval, land access management, etc.), drilling and construction, production and regulatory (e.g. energy utility board, environmental approval, zoning approval, etc.). Typically, the planning task manages the processes for obtaining the required land access approvals for a proposed drilling site. After approval(s) are obtained and after completion of construction of the site, the actual production of may deviate from the original projected date. As such, the original regulatory approval(s) may (or may not) need to be updated. Similarly, land access rights may (or may not) need to be revisited.
Prior art data management systems do not effectively deal with managing data from different tasks. Some prior art management systems impose a data monitor with data write capabilities over the systems that they monitor. While some data write capabilities may be useful in certain circumstances, providing such capabilities introduce issues with ensuring that data management system properly interfaces with and updates the data of the local system and that the management system has the appropriate data privileges to update the data.

System and method for managing and updating data from a number of sources for a project


A surface acoustic wave device includes a quartz substrate and generates surface acoustic waves having a high sonic speed. A surface acoustic wave device includes a surface wave substrate comprising a quartz substrate on which an ZnO thin film functioning as a piezoelectric thin film is disposed. IDTs comprising respective pairs of comb electrodes are disposed in contact with the ZnO thin film. A thickness and arrangement of the piezoelectric thin film relative to the quartz substrate and comb electrodes is such that a novel higher order mode of leakage elastic surface acoustic waves are generated and effectively used enable operation at higher sonic velocity and higher frequency.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a surface acoustic wave device including a quartz substrate, and more particularly to a surface acoustic wave device which is formed by laminating a piezoelectric thin film on a quartz substrate and is adapted to generate a newly discovered higher order mode of leakage elastic surface acoustic waves.
2. Description of the Related Art
Heretofore, surface acoustic wave devices have been widely used as, e.g., band-pass filters in mobile communication equipment. The surface acoustic wave device has a structure including at least one interdigital transducer (IDT) comprising at least one pair of comb electrodes disposed in contact with a piezoelectric substance. Such a surface acoustic wave device has been used in various application forms such as resonators and delay lines, in addition to band-pass filters.
As substrate materials of surface acoustic wave devices, there are known piezoelectric single crystals such as LiNbO.sub.3, LiTaO.sub.3 and quartz. A structure including an IDT disposed on a substrate made of any one of those materials to generate Rayleigh waves has been previously practiced.
Surface acoustic wave devices including quartz substrates have had the problem that, while the quartz substrate exhibits a good temperature characteristic, the Rayleigh waves which are surface acoustic waves generated by the quartz substrate have a low sonic speed.
Meanwhile, it is known that, in a surface acoustic wave device including a quartz substrate, leakage elastic surface acoustic waves are generated in addition to the Rayleigh waves and the sonic speed of these leakage elastic surface acoustic waves are relatively high compared to the sonic speed of the Rayleigh waves. However, the leakage elastic surface acoustic waves are attenuated to a large extent during transmission. This attenuation is due to the fact that the leakage elastic surface acoustic waves have a decay constant which causes the leakage elastic surface acoustic waves to decay and be attenuated. For this reason, it has been difficult to prevent attenuation and make practical use of the leakage elastic surface acoustic waves.
Thus, despite exhibiting a good temperature characteristic, quartz substrates have not been previously used as materials for surface acoustic wave devices required to operate at a relatively higher frequency, because of the low sonic speed of Rayleigh waves, and difficulties preventing attenuation of elastic surface acoustic waves utilizing leakage elastic surface acoustic waves.

Surface acoustic wave device using higher order mode of leakage elastic surface acoustic wave


A DVD recognition method and apparatus is disclosed. First, a disc recognition apparatus uses a laser with a specific wavelength to irradiate an inner area of the DVD, thereby obtaining an inner TE signal. Then, the disc recognition apparatus uses the laser to irradiate an outer area of the DVD, thereby obtaining an outer TE signal. Afterward, the type of the DVD is recognized according to the inner and outer TE signals.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a disc recognition method and apparatus, and particularly to a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) recognition method and apparatus that recognizes DVDs as DVD-RAM or DVD-RW/DVD+RW according to the difference between tracking error signals corresponding to the inner and outer circles of the DVD respectively.
2. Description of the Related Art
Optical storage media are important in the evolution of data storage media. With the development of optical storage media, data can be recorded and backed up to high capacity, light discs, with the optical storage media taking the place of traditional data storage media. In optical storage media, DVD has significant advantages in data density and capacity compared to VCD and CD, therefore, DVD players (DVD-ROMs) are taking the place of VCD or CD players gradually and becoming essential equipment.
DVD players are compatible with VCD and CD, that is, can read VCD and CD including CD, CD-R, and CD-RW and DVD including DVD, DVD-R, DVD+RW, DVD-RW, and DVD-RAM. After the type of disc is recognized, the DVD-ROMs use an appropriate laser with a specific wavelength to read data from the disc.
In conventional disc recognition method, Taiwan Patent No. 397969 recognizes a disc according to the thickness of protection layer of the disc. For example, with the data reflection layer of CD at 1.2 mm and the data reflection layer of DVD is 0.6 mm, the disc can be recognized by detecting the thickness of protection layer of the disc. In addition, FIG. 1 shows a DVD recognition method. After the disc is recognized as a DVD, in step S11, the DVD-ROM focuses servo operation on the disc. Then, in step S12, the type of the DVD is recognized according to the magnitude of DPP (Differential Push Pull) TE (Tracking Error) signal of the disc. If the magnitude of the DPP TE signal is large (Yes in step S13), in step S14, the DVD is recognized as a DVD-RAM. If the magnitude of the DPP TE signal is small (No in step S13), in step S15, the DVD is recognized as a DVD-RW/DVD+RW.
However, since the thickness of dyestuff and quality of DVDs of respective manufacturers are different, there is no effective and accurate recognition rule provided by the above conventional method. If the recognition result is wrong, more time will be spent on another recognition process, or the DVD-ROM will fail to read the disc.

Method and apparatus for DVD recognition using inner and outer tracking error signals


The present disclosure provides a method of removing a bearing compartment from a gas turbine engine comprising inserting a tool between an aft portion of a low pressure turbine and a forward portion of a turbine exhaust case, the tool comprising one of a single wedge-shaped ring or a plurality of wedge-shaped segments, removing a plurality of fasteners coupling a flange of a bearing compartment housing to the turbine exhaust case, the bearing compartment housing containing the bearing compartment, and removing the bearing compartment housing from an aft portion of the gas turbine engine.

Gas turbine engines typically utilize multiple shafts which transmit torque between the turbine and compressor sections of the gas turbine engine. The shafts are typically supported by multiple bearings housed within bearing compartments. Present maintenance and replacement procedures of some of these bearing compartments requires removal of other structures of the gas turbine engine to remove the bearing compartments, thereby increasing maintenance and replacement time.