A voltage step-down circuit reduces the amount of power drawn from the battery of an implantable cardiac stimulation device (ICD) to supply an integrated circuit (IC) within the ICD. The ICD battery supply voltage is reduced to a level that maintains proper operation of the IC. The reduced battery supply voltage is also regulated such that the IC is supplied with a constant voltage source. The IC consumes less power when supplied by the reduced battery supply voltage than when supplied directly by the battery supply voltage. The present invention promotes ICD battery longevity and reduces the need for frequent ICD battery replacements.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to implantable cardiac devices, such as implantable cardiac defibrillators (ICDs). The present invention more particularly relates to reducing ICD integrated circuit (IC) power consumption in such implantable cardiac devices.
2. Background Art
Implantable cardiac stimulation devices, such as implantable cardiac defibrillators (ICDs), are well known in the art. Such devices may include, for example, implantable cardiac pacemakers and defibrillators either alone or combined in a common enclosure. The devices are generally surgically implanted in a pectoral region of the chest beneath the skin of a patient. The primary components of an ICD include a monitoring and detection mechanism, a capacitor, a battery, a sensing system for detecting an arrhythmia, and a control system for controlling delivery of a capacitive discharge electrical shock in response to a detected arrhythmia. The implantable devices generally function in association with one or more electrode carrying leads which are implanted within the heart. The electrodes are positioned within the heart for making electrical contact with the muscle tissue of their respective heart chamber. Conductors within the leads couple the electrodes to the device to enable the device to deliver the desired electrical therapy.
ICDs are often employed to monitor a patient's heart to detect arrhythmias, which are irregular heartbeats that feature either very rapid ventricular contractions (tachycardia), an excessively slow heartbeat (bradychardia) or, most commonly, extra or "premature" beats. The most common arrhythmia is atrial fibrillation, which is an abnormal rhythm of the heart that can result in an increased risk of stroke due to the formation of emboli (blood clots) in the heart. More specifically, atrial fibrillation is an abnormality of heart rhythm in which chambers of the heart no longer contract in an organized manner. Heart rate often becomes irregular and may be very fast, producing palpitations. Atrial fibrillation can lead to symptoms of heart failure (shortness of breath, edema, palpitations) and chest pains and, when left untreated, occasionally can lead to stroke.
The heart has a right side and a left side. Each side has a chamber that receives blood returning to the heart (an atrium) and a muscular chamber that is responsible for pumping blood out of the heart (a ventricle). Atria are relatively thin-walled chambers, whereas the ventricles are much more muscular. Blood passes from the atria into the ventricles through two processes. During the resting phase, when the ventricles are not contracting, the tricuspid and mitral valves open. Some of the blood that has accumulated in the atria passively flows through the tricuspid and mitral valves into the right and left ventricles, respectively. The atria then contract, pumping blood out and into the ventricles. Once the ventricles fill with blood, they contract, pumping blood out of the ventricles into the lungs, and to the body.
Contractions of the different chambers of the heart are normally organized in a specific manner. An electrical impulse travels through the heart's chambers and sets off contractions. The heart's "spark plug" is a small area of specialized heart tissue called the SA node, located in the right atrium. Each time this tissue "fires," an impulse travels first through the right and left atria, signaling these chambers to contract and pump blood into the ventricles, and then'travels down into a patch of another specialized heart tissue located between the atria and the ventricles, called the AV node. Electrical-wire-like specialized tissue conducts the impulse down into the ventricles, where it signals the right ventricle to contract and to pump blood out and into the lungs, and signals the left ventricle to contract and pump blood out to the rest of the body. Normal sequence of electrical activation of the chambers of the heart is called normal sinus rhythm.
In atrial fibrillation, normal sinus rhythm does not occur. Instead, multiple "wavelets" of electrical impulses travel randomly through the atria, leading to more or less random activation of different parts of the atria at different times. Because the tissues of the right and left atria are not stimulated to contract in an organized manner, the walls of the atria more or less quiver.
Lack of organized contraction by the atria causes several detrimental things to happen. First, because less blood is pumped into the ventricles, there is less blood circulating throughout the body and blood accumulates in the lungs, causing shortness of breath (dyspnea) and other symptoms of heart failure. Second, because the heart is no longer pumping blood into the ventricles, the blood in the atria (particularly in a small part of the left atrium, the left atrial appendage) becomes relatively stagnant. There is a small but real risk that, over time, the stagnant blood will form a blood clot. If a blood clot forms, it may eventually enter the left ventricle and then get pumped out into the body. If this happens, the clot may travel to the brain, block the flow of blood in a cerebral artery, and cause a stroke.
Third, atrial fibrillation can create chest pain (angina). Multiple disorganized wavelets of electrical activity bombard the AV node with electrical impulses. When a great many electrical impulses are conducted through the AV node down into the ventricles, the ventricles contract very rapidly, producing a very fast heart rate. When the ventricles contract too rapidly, less blood is pumped into the body and blood may "back up" into the lungs. Rapid contraction increases the ventricles' demand for oxygen. The demand may exceed the ability of the coronary arteries to supply the ventricles with oxygen-rich blood, causing angina.
When an ICD detects an arrhythmia (e.g., due to atrial fibrillation), the ICD is often used to deliver an appropriate shock to the patient's heart in an attempt to return the heart to normal sinus rhythm. Sometimes, second, third, and fourth (and possibly more) shocks are required in a critical case to return the heart to normal sinus rhythm.
Current ICDs are battery powered. The battery is implanted in the patient as part of the ICD. The types of batteries used in ICDs vary. Typical ICD batteries supply voltage in the range of 2.8 to 3.6 Volts (V). As a result of on-going improvements in integrated circuit (IC) technology, however, ICs require significantly less power to operate. For example, supply voltages as low as 0.9 V are commonly used. Therefore, typical ICD batteries supply more power than is actually needed to maintain proper operation of the IC. As a result, ICD battery power is essentially wasted and the longevity of the ICD battery is reduced, requiring a patient to replace the ICD battery more frequently than is desirable. Battery replacement requires a surgical procedure. It would be desirable to minimize such surgical procedures.
Methods and devices are therefore needed to conserve ICD battery power and promote battery longevity, such that a patient will be required to undergo fewer ICD battery replacements. More generally, there is a need to reduce the amount of power an IC draws from an ICD battery.

Methods and devices for reducing integrated circuit power consumption in implantable cardiac stimulation devices


The present invention relates to an ion generation composite target for an ion irradiation technology including: a substrate having a through hole formed thereon; and a graphene thin film configured on the substrate, across the through hole, having a thickness in a range between 1 nm to 3 nm, and ionized to release a proton or a carbon ion.

In recent years, an application utilizing a laser-driven ion acceleration (LIA) mechanism to generate energetic particles, especially to irradiate an acceleration for protons, has become very popular and drawn lots of attentions, due to its own critical prospects in engineering and medical field, as well as important scientific connotations, such as: the proton cancer therapy, the fusion ignition, the elementary particle research, the high-energy physics research, and the astrophysics research. In particular, a laser plasma accelerator apparatus has a volume size as much more compact as compared to the conventional accelerator, and even is able to be built as a table-top device.
The LIA mechanism is also well known as a laser plasma acceleration, or a laser wake field acceleration, etc., and usually defined and described through a fundamental theoretical model known as a target normal sheath acceleration (TNSA) model. In the TNSA model, it uses a high-energy laser beam to bombard a solid target, to cause a powerful Coulomb explosion at a front side thereof, so as to instantly heat up and ionize the composition materials of the solid target into a plasma state. A group of ionized hot electrons in the plasma cloud is thus pushed away and driven by the ponderomotive force from a laser electromagnetic wave, pass through the solid target, exit from the rear end thereof, and then aggregate to form a thin layer of hot electrons (a.k.a. plasma sheath). The aggregation of hot electrons simultaneously induces a strong electrostatic field, which pulls a group of ionized protons moving forward, and is capable of accelerating the ionized protons up to a very high energy level of million electron volts (MeV).
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a fundamental model for a laser wake field proton acceleration in a prior art. In FIG. 1, a high-energy laser beam 10 emitted by a pulsed laser source, goes toward a solid target 12 to bombard and ionize the composition materials of the solid target 12, and a group of ionized hot electrons is consequently excited to move far away from the solid target 12 and form an arc-shaped hot electrons layer 14. An electrostatic field correspondingly induced is able to drag a group of protons 16 to move forward synchronously. However, the induced electrostatic field has an intensity that rapidly attenuates and drops down within a very short distance. Thus when applied to a laser wake field acceleration mechanism, the thickness of the solid target 12 should be formed as thin as possible to enhance the overall acceleration efficiency to the protons. Nevertheless, if the thickness of the solid target is less to a certain threshold, it results in a new issue that a target with an ultra-thin thinness can hardly bear a bombardment caused by a pre-pulse laser from a high-energy laser.
FIG. 2 is a relationship diagram illustrating an intensity of a laser pulse with respect to time in the prior art. When a laser wake field is applied to accelerate elementary particles, since in the state of the art, a high-energy laser is implemented in a pulsed way, a pre-pulse is generated before the main pulse is excited. As shown in FIG. 2, although the intensity of the pre-pulse is slightly lower than that of main pulse, the duration of the pre-pulse is relatively much longer as compared to that of the main pulse. It is estimated that the total power generated by the pre-pulse is even ten times larger than that of the main pulse, in addition to the strong heating effect that the pre-pulse applies to the target. Therefore, a target with an ultra-thin thinness can never bear a bombardment caused by a pre-pulse laser, and is destroyed and fails to function, prior to the arrival of the main pulse. Although a target with thicker thickness can survive over a bombardment caused by a pre-pulse laser, but its thicker thickness will significantly lower the overall acceleration efficiency to the protons.
Hence, there is a need to solve the above deficiencies/issues. It is necessary to develop and produce an ultra-thin solid target that is capable of bearing a bombardment caused by a pre-pulse laser and not being damaged, and at the same time receiving an excitation from the pre-pulse to achieve a maximum level of ionization, to emit more ions or heavy ions. Upon the main pulse arrives, the laser wake field is successfully created by hot electrons or ions to accelerate the target particles.

Ion generation composite target and laser-driven ion acceleration apparatus using the same


A specimen processor, for operation with holder apparatus carrying a viewing screen and a filter device and a container of a biological sample, has a frame with reference structure for aligningly engaging the holder apparatus, and has a transport that carries a manipulation device. The processor operates the transport and the manipulation device to engage the filter device, remove it from support by the holder apparatus and collect cellular particles from the sample onto the filter device. The processor further operates the transport and manipulation device to abut the filter device with the viewing screen for transferring collected cellular particles to the screen, and to return the filter device to carrying by the holder apparatus.

This invention generally relates to the field of particle collection and transfer. The invention provides a method and apparatus for collecting a quantity of particles from a liquid, such as cells from a biological sample, and transferring the particles onto a glass slide or other viewing screen. The invention is useful in cytology, which is a medical and laboratory science that makes diagnoses based on examination of cells.
More particularly, this invention relates to specimen processor that operates with a cartridge-like transport or holder. The processor operates with the holder to collect a quantified clinical specimen from sample material carried with the holder, and to transfer the specimen to a viewing screen, also carried with the holder.
The specimen processor apparatus and method of the invention are advantageously used, in at least one instance, in the clinical laboratory processing of a biological sample. More particularly, they are used in clinical laboratory processing in which cellular particles are collected from a liquid suspension of the sample and transferred to a microscope slide for examination, either electro-optically or by human viewing. The cellular particles are, as is advantageous, applied to the slide with essentially a monolayer and uniform distribution.
The term "cellular particle" is used herein to encompass cells, cell fragments and clusters or groupings of cells and/or cell fragments.
Clinical laboratory diagnostic testing with a monolayer distribution of cellular particles on a microscope slide, and apparatus and methods for performing such testing of the type with which the invention is advantageously practiced, are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,143,627; in co-pending U.S. application for patent Ser. No. 843,571; and in the commonly assigned and concurrently filed application entitled "Clinical Cartridge Apparatus". The disclosures of these documents are incorporated herein by this reference.
The U.S. Pat. No. 5,143,627 describes an instrument for collecting a quantitatively measured number of biological cellular particles from suspension in a liquid sample and for transferring the counted collected particles, with an essentially monolayer and uniform distribution, to a viewing screen, typically a microscope slide. The instrument has disposable elements and containers that contact the sample material and accordingly that require replacement between the processing of successive samples, to avoid inter-sample contamination.


A system and method for enabling broadcast programs to be copied once only by consumer recorders includes writing a unique media identification on each blank disk to which content is to copied in a read-only area of the disk before it is initially recorded. Also, a one-way key management media key block is written to the disk. A content key is derived by combining a media key, derived from the media key block, with the media identification. Additionally, to facilitate copying the content one time only, an exchange key is established between the recorder and a sender such as a satellite receiver or a disk player that is associated with the recorder, and the exchange key is modified with one or more special numbers representing control commands including copy once and copy no more. The modified exchange key is then encrypted using the content key to render an encrypted modified exchange key, and the encrypted modified exchange key is then hashed with a nonce to render a bus content key. The bus content key is then used to encrypt the data for copying the data to a disk. Unauthorized attempts to copy the data after the first authorized copy has been made cannot succeed because the media ID is different on subsequent blank media. Further, if illegal clones are manufactured that can calculate the media key, new blank media can change the media key block such that the clones can no longer calculate the correct media key. Authorized players, however, can decrypt the data to display it.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to broadcast data encryption, and more particularly to the encryption of recordable media to permit the media to be copied once only.
2. Description of the Related Art
The advantages of digitized video and music are numerous, but one significant drawback is that being digitized, the content is relatively easy to copy perfectly, without authorization of the copyright owner. Copies can be made of digital audio and video content that is broadcast to in-home receivers over a network such as, for example, Home Box Office (HBO), or that is provided to in-home users on media such as digital video disks (DVDs). Indeed, widespread copying by pirates costs content owners billions of dollars per year. Thus, the present invention understands that it is desirable to limit the unauthorized copying of digital audio and video.
The problem, however, is complicated by the desire of governmental bodies and consumer protection lobbies to permit a buyer of digitized content to make a single copy for archive purposes or other legitimate reasons. Accordingly, the problem addressed by the present invention is how to enable a buyer to copy a broadcast program, but once only. It is to be understood that while today the requirement is to make only one copy, in the future the requirement might be to allow two or more copies. It is to be further understood that any solution solving the "copy once" requirement could be trivially extended to any specified number of copies; the invariant feature of any solution is to make sure that a copy cannot be further copied. For convenience and clarity, the present disclosure assumes that only one copy is to be made, it being understood that limiting the number of permissible copies to any finite number is within the scope of the present invention.
To better understand the problem, if every recorder in the world were an authorized, properly programmed recorder, a broadcast program could simply contain an unencrypted signal indicating "copy once", and each recorder used for copying would duly copy the content and append an unencrypted message to the copy indicating "copy no more". Any player could play the copy, but any recorder sought to be used to recopy the content would obey the "copy no more" message, protecting the rights of the content owner.
Of course, pirate recorders can be constructed that do not obey such procedural messages. Consequently, a cryptographic approach must be used to prevent unauthorized usable copies from being made. One approach recognized herein is to provide each authorized recorder with its own secret key, which the recorder would use to encrypt the content. Unfortunately, the media so recorded could be played back only on the player that is associated with the recorder that made the copy, so this approach is unacceptable in the consumer market.
Alternatively, the present invention understands that a single secret key could be provided to all recorders, which would then use the key to encrypt the content as it is recorded. In this way, any authorized recorder that includes a player could play back the recording, regardless of where the recording was made, and authorized recorders could be programmed to copy any broadcast program only once. Current DVD encryption methods use this approach. The drawback with this method is that it is cryptographically fragile—once the system secret is discovered by an unauthorized person, it can be disseminated to unauthorized pirate recorders that could use the key to copy the content thousands of times, unencumbered by what amounts to a promise to copy a broadcast program only once, and thereby defeat the system.
As recognized herein, a one-way key management scheme can be used which has a good key management method to address the above-noted problem of unauthorized recorders being provided with a stolen system key. One-way key management is a cryptographic protocol in which two parties can agree upon a key without having two-way communication. Good one-way key management protocols also have the feature that illegal clones that have some of the secrets in the protocol nonetheless can be excluded from interoperating from the legitimate devices. One such system is disclosed in IBM's co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/655,938, filed Apr. 24, 1998 for an invention entitled "System for Encrypting Broadcast Programs in the Presence of Compromised Receiver Devices", incorporated herein by reference. However, such a system, in and of itself, is not sufficient to address the current problem. This is because a pirate, although unable to discover the key and decrypt the data in the broadcast program or on the DVD, can simply make a bit-for-bit copy of the encrypted data. The pirate recorder itself could not decrypt and play the data, but any legitimate recorder-player would be capable of decrypting and playing the unauthorized copy, thus making the copy salable.
The present invention has carefully considered the above considerations and has addressed the noted problem.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Content guard system for copy protection of recordable media

International Business Machines Corporation


An antenna for receiving an RF signal from a satellite is preferably integrated with a window of a vehicle. The window preferably includes a first nonconductive pane and a second nonconductive pane laminated together with a PVB adhesive layer. A first conductive layer is disposed on one of the surfaces of the nonconductive panes and a second conductive layer is disposed on another of the surfaces of the nonconductive panes. The second conductive layer includes a main slot extending thereinto. The main slot defines a feed line region and ground plane regions. The second conductive layer also includes stub slots extending into the ground plane regions for antenna impedance matching and providing the antenna with a circular polarization.

1. Field of the Invention
The subject invention relates to an antenna for receiving a circularly polarized radio frequency (RF) signal from a satellite.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Vehicles have long implemented glass to enclose a cabin of the vehicle while still allowing visibility for the driver of the vehicle. Automotive glass is typically either a tempered (or toughened) glass or a laminated glass which is produced by bonding two or more panes of glass together with an adhesive interlayer. The interlayer keeps the panes of glass together even when the glass is broken.
Recently, antennas have been integrated with the glass of the vehicle. This integration helps improve the aerodynamic performance of the vehicle as well to help provide the vehicle with an aesthetically-pleasing, streamlined appearance. Integration of antennas for receiving linearly polarized RF signals, such as those generated by AM/FM terrestrial broadcast stations, has been the principal focus of the industry. However, that focus is shifting to integrating antennas for receiving RF signals from Satellite Digital Audio Radio Service (SDARS) providers. SDARS providers use satellites to broadcast RF signals, particularly circularly polarized RF signals, back to Earth.
Various glass-integrated antennas for receiving RF signals are known in the art. Examples of such antennas are disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,355,144 (the '144 patent) to Walton et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 6,097,345 (the '345 patent) to Walton.
The '144 patent discloses an antenna integrated with a window of a vehicle. The vehicle includes a metal frame having an edge defining an aperture. The edge of the metal frame is electrically conductive and supports the window. The window includes two panes of glass sandwiching an adhesive interlayer. An electrically conductive film is bonded to a surface of one of the panes of glass and defines a slot between the film and the edge. A conductive layer is disposed on another of the surfaces of the panes of glass. A center conductor of an unbalanced transmission line is connected to the conductive layer and a shield of the unbalanced transmission line is connected to the metal frame. The conductive layer acts as a feed line to electromagnetically couple center conductor to the electrically conductive film. The antenna of the '144 patent is not configured to allow reception of circularly polarized RF signals. Furthermore, the antenna of the '144 patent contains no provisions for matching an impedance of the antenna to an impedance of the unbalanced transmission line.
The '345 patent discloses an antenna integrated with a window of a vehicle. The window is supported by a metal frame of the vehicle. The window includes two panes of glass sandwiching an adhesive interlayer. In one embodiment, a conductive layer is disposed on one of the surfaces of the panes of glass. The conductive layer defines a slot having two slot legs with resonance on two frequency bands. A feed line is disposed on another of the surfaces of the panes of glass. A center conductor of an unbalanced transmission line is electrically connected to the feed line. The feed line then acts as a capacitive coupling to the conductive layer. A shield of the unbalanced transmission line is electrically connected to the metal frame. The antenna of the '345 patent is not configured to allow reception of circularly polarized RF signals. Furthermore, the antenna of the '345 patent contains no provisions for matching an impedance of the antenna to an impedance of the unbalanced transmission line.


The present invention provide processes for producing an optically active quinuclidinol from a quinuclidinone using an asymmetric reduction by a microorganism and enzyme with commercial advantages in simple and easy manner. In the present invention, permit a microorganism or preparation thereof to act on a quinuclidinone (3-quinuclidinone), and recover or harvest an optically active quinuclidinol produced (3-quinuclidinol). The microorganisms capable of producing an (R)-3-quinuclidinol from a 3-quinuclidinone include the genus Nakazawaea, the genus Candida and the genus Proteus. The microorganisms capable of producing an (S)-3-quinuclidinol from a 3-quinuclidinone include the genus Arthrobacter, the genus Pseudomonas and the genus Rhodosporidium.

An optically active quinuclidinol (e.g. 3-quinuclidinol) is an important intermediate for physiologically active or pharmacologically active components (such as medicines). For the production of an optically active 3-quinuclidinol, there are known processes such as a process which comprises acylating and optically resolving a racemic modification as a starting material with a subtilisin protease (U.S. Pat. No. 5,215,918 A), a process which comprises reducing the starting material imine, which is prepared from a 3-quinuclidinone and an optically active phenethylamine, with the use of a sodium borohydrate (Synth. Commun. (1992), 22(13), 1895-911), a process which comprises hydrolyzing an acetylated racemic modification after resolving with a tartaric acid (Acta Pharm. Suec. (1979), 16(4), 281-3) and a process which comprises optically resolving a racemic form of butyl ester as a starting material with the use of an esterase of horse blood serum (Life Sci. (1977), 21 (9), 1293-302).
These methods, however, have difficulty in producing an optically active quinuclidinol (e.g. 3-quinuclidinol) with commercial advantages in simple and easy manner. Moreover, the efficient production of an optically active quinuclidinol using asymmetric reduction by a microorganism and enzyme has never been reported.

Processes for production of optically active quinuclidinol


A method for denoising Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) data includes receiving a noisy image acquired using an MRI imaging device and determining a noise model comprising a non-diagonal covariance matrix based on the noisy image and calibration characteristics of the MRI imaging device. The noisy image is designated as the current best image. Then, an iterative denoising process is performed to remove noise from the noisy image. Each iteration of the iterative denoising process comprises (i) applying a bank of heterogeneous denoisers to the current best image to generate a plurality of filter outputs, (ii) creating an image matrix comprising the noisy image, the current best image, and the plurality of filter outputs, (iii) finding a linear combination of elements of the image matrix which minimizes a Stein Unbiased Risk Estimation (SURE) value for the linear combination and the noise model, (iv) designating the linear combination as the current best image, and (v) updating each respective denoiser in the bank of heterogeneous denoisers based on the SURE value. Following the iterative denoising process, the current best image is designated as a final denoised image.

MR images are acquired in k-space in the Fourier domain. The acquired image data includes white noise. That is, noise in the acquired image data is a signal whose spectrum has equal power within any equal interval of frequencies. In order to transform the raw image data into an image, a reconstruction process is performed. Using a standard linear reconstruction model, one or more filtering operations must be performed during the reconstruction. During each filtering operation, multiplications may be performed to color the noise by making certain frequencies of the noise signal more prominent than others. This creates a modulation of the noise in the Fourier domain.
Following filtering, a coil combination process is performed to combine data acquired from individual coils of the MRI device. Coil combination may also encompass so-called "parallel imaging", in which undersampling artifacts through accelerated acquisition are compensated for via dedicated coil combination coefficients. This combination may also amplify the noise in some region of the space, in the pixel domain. This noise "modulation" is often referred to as "G-factor" noise and may be influenced by the coil geometry, the field of view, the location of the imaging plane, and the sampling pattern used to acquire the k-space data. This creates modulation of the noise in space.
An additional modulation in the noise results from the signal level not being uniform in space. During imaging, a coil array is placed around the subject's body. Signal sensitivity is typically very good close to the coils (i.e., at the periphery of the body); however, sensitivity is poor in the center of image space. So, if an image is reconstructed based on this data, it will have a dark center region. To compensate for the difference in sensitivity, a corrective field may be applied in the pixel domain (i.e., multiply the pixel intensity by some factor in the center); however, this modulates the noise as well.
Accordingly, the noise associated with an MRI acquisition is Gaussian, but modulated in both in the Fourier domain and pixel domain. Conventional denoising techniques are unable to address denoising in this context because these techniques cannot adequately handle noise in the Fourier domain and, at the same time, adapt to varying noise level so denoising of the center of the image does not result in blurring.

Parameter-free denoising of complex MR images by iterative multi-wavelet thresholding


A method of fabricating a vertical structure opto-electronic device includes fabricating a plurality of vertical structure opto-electronic devices on a crystal substrate, and then removing the substrate using a laser lift-off process. The method then fabricates a metal support structure in place of the substrate. In one aspect, the step of fabricating a metal support structure in place of the substrate includes the step of plating the metal support structure using at least one of electroplating and electro-less plating. In one aspect, the vertical structure is a GaN-based vertical structure, the crystal substrate includes sapphire and the metal support structure includes copper. Advantages of the invention include fabricating vertical structure LEDs suitable for mass production with high reliability and high yield.

Conventionally, most GaN-based semiconductor devices that include Light Emitting Diode (LED), Laser Diode (LD), Hetero-junction Bipolar Transistor (HBT), High Electron Mobility Transistor (HEMT), are fabricated using insulating sapphire substrate. As a result, device structures constructed with insulating substrate are typically constructed into lateral structures since a top side n-contact must be formed to make an electrical connection with the top side p-contact.
This construction causes numerous device performance problems such as current crowding and weak resistance to electrostatic discharge (ESD). The current crowding can become critical when high current injection is required for lighting applications using high power white LEDs or a blue/UV LD. Since the electrons are confined near the n-type electrode in such devices, the photon generation in the opto-electronic devices is limited with respect to increased current injection. In other words, the power efficiency suffers. This is a critical drawback of lateral devices currently available in the market.
The ESD issue is considered a serious problem, particularly when GaN-based LEDs are employed in a high voltage environment, for example, in automobile applications. Once electrostatic charge occurs on the device surface, the lateral device experiences charge build up which often leads to device failure within very short period since there is no current discharge path in the device due to the insulating substrate.
The other critical disadvantage of lateral devices having an insulating substrate like sapphire is the poor heat dissipation. Sapphire is known to be a poor heat conductor. Hence, the device lifetime is significantly shortened when the device is subjected to a high current injection mode. These are two are critical hurdles for the further development of GaN-based LEDs and LDs, and blue/UV LDs.
From the production yield point of view, the lateral structure device also has numerous disadvantages. Devices constructed with lateral structures need large device dimensions because both the p and n electrode are placed in the same plane as shown in FIG. 1. Hence the number of devices is limited due to the amount of wafer real estate the lateral devices require.
In addition to the issues raised above, sapphire substrate material is known to be the second hardest material, next to diamond. This causes difficulty in wafer grinding and polishing. Moreover, it is also difficult to separate the devices from the wafer. Therefore, even though one can expect high device yield rate up to front fabrication processes, the ultimate device fabrication yield is mainly dependent on post fabrication processes that include lapping, polishing, and die separation.
Recently, there have been new developments concerning a vertical structure GaN-based compound semiconductor, depicted in FIG. 2. A laser lift-off process has been introduced to remove the sapphire substrate from the GaN epi layer. Some techniques have substituted the insulating sapphire substrate with a conductive or semi-conductive second substrate to fabricate vertical structure devices using an excimer laser with a wavelength transparent to sapphire, typically in the UV range. It is noted that most other techniques utilize wafer-bonding techniques for permanent bonding to the second substrate after removing sapphire substrate by laser lift-off.
However, these techniques have not resulted in a practical wafer scale laser lift-off process for the mass production of VLEDs (Vertical LED). The two main reasons are the difficulty in large area laser lift-off due to de-lamination of bonding adhesive layer between support wafer and the epitaxial layer. The other problem is the difficulty in wafer bonding between epitaxial layer and a permanent second substrate since the epitaxial layer surface is not flat on entire wafer surface after laser lift-off. Because of these reasons, the final yield after laser lift-off greatly hampered, as a result, only small fragment portion of wafers have been fabricated for vertical structure devices according to the other techniques.
There have been other efforts to overcome the wafer bonding problems to fabricate VLEDs. Instead using wafer bonding methods, one other technique shown in FIG. 3 attaches a metal support. However, the laser lift-off yield is known to be very low due to de-lamination of the bonding layer to the support structure. If the bonding is not secure enough to withstand the high-energy laser shock wave, the GaN epi layers may buckle or crack after laser lift-off. Once cracks or buckles exist on the GaN epi layer, it is very difficult to perform a post laser lift-off process, such as cleaning, de-bonding, and device separation. Hence, final device process yield becomes very low even though the other process yield can maintain very high. These problems are mainly attributed to the temporary wafer bonding technique and non-optimized laser processing technique used.
Another problem with conventional vertical devices based on another technique, shown in FIG. 3, is poor device performance. Since sand blasting is often used on the sapphire substrate to create a uniform laser beam energy distribution, the GaN surface after laser lift-off is very rough, which results in poor reflectivity of the device. In addition, the metal reflective layer formed on the n-GaN layer is not as high as non-metallic reflector material, such as ITO.
What is needed is a method of fabricating vertical structure compound semiconductor devices that provides a reliable and repeatable laser lift-off process while obtaining high device performance in order to apply laser lift-off process to the fabrication of vertical structure devices.

Method of fabricating vertical structure compound semiconductor devices


There are disclosed a bipolar alignment mark structure for semiconductor device and a process for forming the same. The bipolar alignment mark structure comprises: a semiconductor substrate having a scribe region for defining a integrated circuit region; a plurality of negatively polar alignment marks having a form of trench which are aligned on the scribe region regularly distant from one another; and a plurality of positively polar alignment marks having a form of column which are aligned in such a way that they alternate with the negatively polar alignment marks. A step generated in the structure is more enlarged, which allows easy and accurate measurement of alignment mark. Based on this ease, the structure gives convenience to the fabrication process for a semiconductor device, along with high yield. In addition, the accuracy in measuring alignment mark can bring about an effect that the semiconductor device is improved in reliability.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to a bipolar alignment mark structure for a semiconductor device which is used to align pattern masks with a semiconductor substrate so as to overlap the pattern masks with patterns formed over the semiconductor substrate and, more particularly, to a bipolar alignment mark structure capable of indicating standard coordinates on the semiconductor substrate, accurately and distinctively. The present invention also is concerned with a process for forming the bipolar alignment mark structure.
2. Description of Prior Art
Generally, a fabrication process for semiconductor device comprises the use of a plurality of light-exposure masks with different pattern shapes in such a manner to put one to another, so as to form circuit devices, multilayer wires and contacts over the surface of semiconductor substrate. Such many light-exposure masks are located over the semiconductor substrate by stages according to process order.
In order to align the light-exposure masks stepwise, it is necessary to take for a standard a patterned mark which is formed on the semiconductor substrate. Usually, the patterned mark to be used to align the light-exposure masks is called "alignment key" or "alignment mark", hereinafter referred to as "alignment mark" for convenience.
There is a stepper, an alignment equipment which positions one light-exposure mask or aligns two or more light-exposure masks with one another over semiconductor substrate by use of the alignment mark. The stepper is a light-exposure equipment operating in step-and-repeat manner, which is movable on plane, e.g. in X-Y directions and has a stage capable of mounting a wafer thereon. In addition, the stepper is provided with a mark-detecting equipment which senses an alignment state of the light-exposure masks by detecting the alignment marks formed over the wafer. According to the output from the mark-detecting equipment, the stage moves the wafer forward and backward or leftward and rightward to align the water with the light-exposure mask in such a way that a pattern region formed over the wafer entirely overlaps with a pattern region formed on the light-mask fixed above the wafer. Meanwhile, the mark-detecting equipment irradiates the alignment marks on the wafer and light-exposure mask with a laser beam with a frequency and senses the reflected beam passing through a predetermined optical passage system to a light sensor, so as to detect the position of the alignment marks.
The alignment marks, which are used to align the wafer and the light-exposure masks as previously mentioned, are formed over scribe regions, parts of semiconductor substrate where no integrated circuit is formed. And, they are formed in such a way so as to generate steps at the scribe regions.
However, since conventional alignment marks of semiconductor substrate are formed in monopolar arrangement having merely either depression or prominence, material layers coated sequentially over them during the fabrication process for integrated circuit cannot help but have limitedly enlarged stepped portions. Owing to such limitation in the stepped portion, a problem is generated in that the conventional monopolar alignment mark cannot play a role as standard coordinates as the number of layer formed over the monopolar alignment mark is increased. This is because the stepped portion comes to disappear or be indistinguishable as material layers are piled over the monopolar alignment mark. Such removal or indistinctness of the stepped portion leads to incapability of accurately indicating standard coordinates on the semiconductor substrate. In addition, the monopolar alignment mark with no or indistinguishable step is incapacitated from playing a role of standard coordinate.
As a result, conventional monopolar alignment marks formed over the semiconductor substrate are likely to cause the misalignment of light-exposure mask with the semiconductor device, considerably lowering the production yield of semiconductor device.
In order to better understand the background of the invention, conventional monopolar alignment mark will be now described with reference to FIGS. 1 through 4. This description is on the premise that the monopolar alignment marks shown in FIGS. 1 through 4 are applied to fabrication processes for DRAM or SRAM device.
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, there are a plane view showing conventional positive polar alignment marks with a shape of prominence and depression and a cross sectional view taken generally through line II--II of FIG. 1, respectively.
On a scribe region of a semiconductor substrate 11, as shown in these figures, there is first entirely coated a first remaining layer 13. This first remaining layer 13 may be formed by, for example, a polysilicon-coating process for the formation of capacitor. A plurality of positively polar alignment marks 15 of rectangular column are aligned parallel to and regularly distant from one another, on the surface of the first remaining layer 13. The positively polar alignment marks 15 may be formed by forming a second remaining layer of inter-polyoxide film or of planarization film and patterning the second remaining layer by means of etch. Thereafter, a predetermined material, for example, a metal is uniformly coated on the positively polar alignment marks 15 and on the exposed area of the first remaining layer 13 to form a third remaining layer 17. There are generated steps A on the surface of the third remaining layer 17 each of which has a height corresponding to the altitude of the rectangular column, as shown in FIG. 2. A laser beam incident to the stepped portion formed on the surface of the third remaining layer 17 is diffusely reflected, so that the positively polar alignment marks can be detected by the mark-detecting equipment of stepper.
Referring now to FIGS. 3 and 4, there are shown a conventional semiconductor device having a plurality of negatively polar alignment marks and a cross sectional view taken generally through line IV--IV of FIG. 3, respectively.
First, as shown in these figure, on a scribe region of a semiconductor substrate 21, there is entirely coated a first remaining layer 23. This first remaining layer 13 may be formed by a predetermined process, for example, a polysilicon-coating process for the formation of capacitor. Following completion of the coating, on the first remaining layer 23, there is formed a second remaining layer pattern 25 where a plurality of negatively polar alignment marks 26 is present parallel to and regularly distant to one another. The negatively polar alignment marks 26 have a form of groove and expose the first remaining layer 23 partly therethrough. The second remaining layer pattern 2S may be formed by a predetermined process comprising, for example, coating an inter-polyoxide film on the first remaining layer 23 to form a second remaining layer and patterning the second remaining layer by means of etch. Thereafter, a predetermined material, for example, a metal is uniformly coated on the second remaining layer pattern 25 and the exposed areas of the first remaining layer 23 to form a third remaining layer 27. There are generated steps B on the surface of the third remaining layer 27, each of which has a height corresponding to the thickness of the second remaining layer pattern 25, as shown in FIG. 4. A laser beam incident to the stepped portion formed on the surface of the third remaining layer 27 is diffusely reflected, which capacitates the mark-detecting equipment of the stepper to detect the negatively polar alignment marks.
Such conventional monopolar alignment marks as have either positive or negative polarity cannot but help limitedly enlarging the step at the surface of the remaining layer laminated on themselves, as mentioned hereinbefore. Further, conventional monopolar alignment mark has such a problem attributed to the limited step that it is incapacitated from indicating standard coordinates on the semiconductor substrate as the number of the layers piled on the alignment mark is increased. Furthermore, it is more difficult for the conventional monopolar alignment mark to indicate standard coordinates on the semiconductor substrate when a metal layer is coated on the alignment mark. With the conventional monopolar alignment mark structure, as a result, the semiconductor substrate cannot be aligned with light-exposure masks accurately, and production yield in semiconductor device is considerably lowered. The above problems are more serious as the distance between wires is reduced with a highly integrated semiconductor device.

Process of forming bipolar alignment mark for semiconductor

Hyundai Electronics Industries Co., Ltd.


The invention provides a printed circuit board (PCB) printing system. In a particular embodiment, the system includes a liquid electrophotographic printing device. At least one supplier of electrically conductive ink supplying electrically conductive ink to the electrophotographic printing device is also provided. In addition, at least one supplier of dielectric ink supplying dielectric ink to the electrophotographic printing device is also provided. The liquid electrophotographic printing device is operable to apply the electrically conductive ink and the dielectric ink to a provided substrate such that substantially immiscible boundary delineation occurs at any points of contact between the applied electrically conducive ink and the applied dielectric ink. An appropriate method of use for the rendering of a printed circuit board is also provided.

Computers, televisions, communication devices, consumer electronics and the vast majority of electronic equipment rely upon the printed circuit board (PCB) to interconnect and interface internal electrical components. For example, the PCB known as a computer motherboard provides interconnection and interface between memory stores, processors, switches and a host of other components that collectively operate as a desktop or laptop computer. In other words, a PCB is the platform to which other electronic devices are commonly attached so as to interact as a greater system or device.
Early PCB's were relatively simple as the number of components was low and the size and complexity of the attached components were also relatively simple. As electronic components and apparatuses, such as cell phones and personal data assistants, became smaller, thinner and more advanced in performance ability, PCB's for such devices have become more complex and higher density.
With advancements in nano-scale fabrication of semiconductor devices, more and more components may be desired upon a PCB. Contemporary PCB boards often require high resolution manufacturing techniques and precision. In addition, whereas once the interconnection circuits on a PCB were commonly on only one surface, modern system often require at least two layers. In some instances this may be achieved by providing a PCB with a circuit trace on both the top and bottom surfaces, generally requiring either two substrates to be joined as a single PCB, or careful fabrication processes so as to not foul one side while rendering the other, and/or multi-level fabrication.
The fabrication process for a conventional PCB is typically quite involved. An insulating substrate is provided with a thin copper (or other conductive metal) layer deposited across the top surface. To function as a PCB, the circuit or trace lines need to be defined. One typical method used to establish the trace lines from the metal layer is the well known process of photolithography.
Generally speaking, a photo-resist layer, also commonly known simply as a photoresist, or even resist, is deposited upon the metal layer, typically by a spin coating machine. A mask is then placed over the photo resist and light, typically ultra-violet (UV) light is applied. During the process of exposure, the photoresist undergoes a chemical reaction. Generally the photoresist will react in one of two ways.
With a positive photoresist, UV light changes the chemical structure of the photoresist so that it is soluble in a developer. What "shows" therefore goes, and the mask provides an exact copy of the patterns which are to remain—such as, for example the trace lines of a circuit.
A negative photoresist behaves in the opposite manner—the UV exposure causes it to polymerize and not dissolve in the presence of a developer. As such the mask is a photographic negative of the pattern to be left. Following the developing with either a negative or positive photoresist, blocks of photoresist remain. These blocks may be used to protect portions of the original metal layer, serve as isolators or other components.
In typical PCB fabrication, the photoresist blocks protect portions of the metal layer as an etching process is performed. It is generally understood that an etching process such as ion etching, is accomplished by either of two traditional processes, a physical process or an assisted physical process. In a physical etching environment no chemical agent is provided. Rather, the removal of material is entirely dependent upon the physical impact of ions knocking atoms off the material surface by physical force alone. Physical ion etching is commonly referred to as ion milling or ion beam etching.
In an assisted physical process, such as a reactive ion etching process (or RIE), removal of material comes as a combined result of chemical reactions and physical impact. Generally the ions are accelerated by a voltage applied in a vacuum. The effect of their impact is aided by the introduction of a chemical that reacts with the surface being etched. The reaction makes the surface softer and as such, increases both the relative control of the etching as well as the etching rate.
Once the etching process is complete, the remaining photoresist blocks are removed, normally by dissolving them with a chemical agent. If a trace is intended to cross another trace, a dielectric layer may be applied, followed by another application of photoresist to be masked, exposed and etched so as to insulate portions of some traces while providing contact spots for other traces. Typically a multi layer PCB board is achieved by laminating multiple thin layers together, each layer having previously lithographically established traces.
Although the photolithographic process has been described in general terms, it is still apparently obvious that it is a complex and involved process. As it is a process involving the removal of material (the metal being etched as well as the photoresist) it is also a somewhat wasteful process. Recapture of materials for re-use may or may not be economically feasible. In addition, many of the materials and chemicals used may be harmful to the general environment.
Further still, the multiple steps are time consuming. It is also not uncommon to experience some percentage of failure due to defects in the masking and etching process which may or may not be detected prior to the final PCB being provided for testing and or component assembly.
Although current PCB architecture is largely aided with computer drafting, it is not uncommon for prototype systems to require several versions and revisions to a PCB. Indeed, with a new system, or simply to test new semiconductor structures such as memory devise and processors, it is not uncommon to utilize repeated copies of the same PCB architecture and or to rapidly evolve the PCB architecture as refinements are made with the attaching components. As such the time, cost, materials and other factors of the photolithographic processes traditionally used in PCB fabrication may be aggregated and aggravated.
Hence, there is a need for a system and method of rendering PCB's that overcomes one or more of the drawbacks identified above.

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


Disclosed are human tissue phantoms mimicking the mechanical properties of real tissue, and methods for manufacturing thereof including the steps of obtaining a computer aided three-dimensional design of a phantom mimicking the tissue in shape and size; fabrication of a mold form facilitating the production of the designed phantom; molding said phantom with the use of two-component silicon gels as a bulk tissue-mimicking material having Young's modulus in the range of 2 to 30 kPa; filling the enclosed volume of said phantom with anatomical and pathological tissue structures mimicking their respective mechanical properties and having Young's modulus in the range of about 30 to 600 kPa; covering said phantom by a protective layer having mechanical properties to a human tissue protective layer; and securing the phantom perimeter on a supporting plate by a rubber barrier. The example of used tissue-mimicking material is a two-component silicone SEMICOSIL gel with variable elastic properties and Young's modulus from 3 kPa to 600 kPa as a result of changing the silicon component ratio. As examples, the breast and prostate phantom tissue and their fabrication procedures are described.

This invention generally pertains to the field of materials which closely mimic the mechanical characteristics of human tissue and organs, such as breast and prostate. More specifically, these materials can be used advantageously in manufacturing of tissue models, which are beneficial for training clinical practitioners to conduct palpatory examination as well as for testing and calibrating elasticity imaging devices.
Human tissue phantoms, in general, are used as tools for the assessment and verification of performance standards in the daily clinical practice of diagnostic radiology and ultrasonic equipment.
The U.S. Pat. No. 5,805,665 discloses an apparatus and a method of use and construction of anthropomorphic mammography phantoms, which provide mammography practitioners with a training tool to practice proper patient breast positioning and optimal patient X-ray exposure. The mammography phantoms simulate normal breast tissue as well as tissue irregularities and anomalies associated with various known breast pathologies. Examples of such pathologies include microcalcifications, cysts, tumors, etc. The mammography phantoms preferably conform to the shape of the upper torso of a female, complete with one or two breast simulators that can vary in size, density, compressibility, and stretchability.
One example of a phantom for the use in training of practitioners to locate and aspirate tumors identified by X-ray consists of a bulk of tissue-equivalent, X-ray permeable material containing at least one simulated tumor as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,273,435. A phantom can be fabricated from an X-ray permeable material (such as gelatin with a radiopaque material like iodinated oil containing lampblack) poured into a mold with the shape of a human breast.
Another example is an ultrasound phantom containing tissue-mimicking material and disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,277,367, in which both the speed and attenuation of sound could be simultaneously adjusted using water based gels like those derived from animal hides. In one embodiment, ultrasound phantoms with desired ultrasonic properties are prepared from a mixture of gelatin, water, n-propanol, and graphite powder—all mixed with a preservative. In another embodiment, an oil and gelatin mixture forms the basis of the tissue-mimicking material.
A tissue-mimicking material for use in ultrasound applications possessing the ultrasonic speed and attenuation characteristics of human tissue is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,902,748. This material includes a pure gel-forming component and hydroxy compound, such as an n-propanol, to adjust the ultrasonic speed of propagation through the material. The tissue-mimicking material may be included in an ultrasound phantom container with solid scattering particles and/or test objects incorporated therein.
A breast-shaped phantom for optical and magnetic resonance imaging quality control is known from U.S. Pat. No. 6,675,035. This phantom consists of a cup in the shape of a human breast in its natural pendant position and a filler (agar, fat emulsion) occupying the volume of the cup. The cup forms an outer skin (polyurethane) of the phantom with a thickness similar to human skin and with optical transparency at selected optical wavelengths similar to human skin. The filler material has optical scattering and absorption characteristics similar to human breast tissue.
An interactive breast examination training system to familiarize physicians and other medical personnel with the techniques for clinical breast examinations is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,945,783. The system includes a model with an outer shape comparable to a human breast. Inflatable nodules are embedded at various locations and depths in the model. The nodules are adapted by being inflated to simulate tumors and are relatively undetectable by touch when deflated. Pressure sensors are fluidly coupled to the nodules to sense fluid pressure in the nodules. A pump is fluidly coupled to the nodules to inflate the nodules. A processor is operatively coupled to the pressure sensors and the pump to inflate the nodules to desired hardness levels based upon pressure readings from the pressure sensors.
It is clear that tissue-mimicking materials must exhibit the same properties relevant to a particular imaging modality as those of actual human soft tissues. For elasticity imaging, tissue-mimicking materials for use in phantoms should have mechanical properties that correspond to those of real tissue. Soft tissues have Young's modulus values ranging from about 2 kPa for normal tissue to about 1,000 kPa for pathological anomalies such as cancer. Tissue-mimicking materials for use in magnetic resonance imaging phantoms should have values of characteristic relaxation times, T1 and T2, which correspond to those of tissue. Soft tissues exhibit T1 values ranging from about 200-1200 ms and T2 values from about 40-200 ms. The tissue-mimicking material for use in ultrasound should have the same range of speeds of sound, attenuation coefficients, and backscatter coefficients as soft tissue. These parameters should be controllable in the manufacturing process of the phantom material, and their variation within the range of room temperatures should be small. Speeds of sound in human soft tissues vary over a fairly small range with an average value of about 1540 m/s. The speed of sound in fat is thought to be about 1470 m/s. The amplitude attenuation coefficients in these tissues appear to vary over the range from about 0.4 dB/cm to about 2 dB/cm at a frequency of 1 MHz. For use in computed tomography (CT), the tissue-mimicking materials must exhibit the same CT number as that of the tissue being mimicked. The CT numbers for most soft tissues lie in the range of about 20-70 at the typical effective X-ray energy of a clinical CT scanner, except for fat where the CT number is about 100. Although known tissue phantoms accurately mimic ultrasonic, X-ray, optical and MRI related parameters within the range characteristic for tissues in vivo, there are no tissue phantoms accurately representing entire range of the elasticity modulus for normal and diseased tissue.
There is a need for phantoms that emulate the real mechanical characteristics of human tissue, (such as the breast and prostate as examples) that resemble an organ in shape and size appropriate for use in training clinical practitioners conducting manual palpation.
There is also a need for phantoms with predetermined elasticity properties representative of the entire range of normal and pathological tissue for calibrating and testing elasticity imaging devices.

Human tissue phantoms and methods for manufacturing thereof


The disclosure relates to a light weight monolithically fabricated toothbrush affording a person with inadequate hand strength greatly improved gripping and control characteristics by utilizing an enlarged lightweight tubular handle with an anti slip gripping surface specifically designed to deter retention of bacteria forming moisture and excess toothpaste.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a tooth brush with greatly improved gripping and control characteristics having an enlarged handle with an anti slip gripping surface that affords a person with inadequate hand strength a firm comfortable and controlling grip on the tooth brush handle.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Prior art is repleat with various renditions of toothbrush designs. The vast majority are mainly concerned with the technical aspects of improving the brushing efficiency of the toothbrush as a whole. There are some with larger handles that are intended to house an electric motor or store some other tooth brushing aid. Some handles are made large enough to store the head of a traveling toothbrush. None of the above designs make any conscious effort to improve the user's grip. Beebe, U.S. Pat. No. 4,283,808, teaches an after market gripping device for tooth brushes adapted to be positioned over the handle of the toothbrush wherein the device is formed of soft plastic foam material. The problem with the plastic foam gripping device is that plastic foam tends to absorb moisture, therefore, by it's very nature, is unsanitary. Furthermore, the consistency of plastic foam enables the toothbrush handle to move independently from the exterior surface of the slip on gripping device. The independent movement of the toothbrush, caused by the inherent mechanical instability of foam plastic, creates a condition wherein the all important rotational and longitudinal control of the toothbrush handle is virtually non existent.
Previous attempts at improved grip toothbrushes have resulted in solid handle expensive devices that are not compatible with both the left and right handed user.
There is no prior art that teaches the use of a one piece reasonably priced toothbrush having an oversized tubular handle designed specifically to afford a normal left or right handed person with inadequate hand strength a firm comfortable grip on the toothbrush handle. Furthermore, there is no prior art that teaches the prevention of surplus toothpaste and moisture from flowing, while in the act of scrubbing one's teeth, on to the gripping area of a toothbrush.


The present invention relates to a flexible printed circuit board assembly. A flexible printed circuit board assembly of the present invention comprises a flexible printed circuit board having a plurality of circuit patterns; a connector mounted at a location spaced apart by a certain distance from an end of the flexible printed circuit board and electrically connected to the, circuit patterns; and a stiffener attached to a region on a bottom surface of the flexible printed circuit board below the connector and having a size corresponding to that of the connector. A connector inside portion and a connector outside portion of the flexible printed circuit board located inside and outside with respect to the connector can be bent. The connector outside portion is bent and bonded to a bottom surface of the stiffener, and the connector inside portion is bent and bonded to a bottom surface of the connector outside portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a flexible printed circuit board assembly, and more particularly, to a flexible printed circuit board assembly, which has a complicated circuit pattern and a connector but can be easily mounted even in a relatively narrow space.
2. Description of the Related Art
Since a flexible printed circuit board assembly has flexibility by which the flexible printed circuit board assembly can be bent by itself, the flexible printed circuit board assembly has been used in various kinds of electrical appliances. For example, a flexible printed circuit board can be installed between a main body and an openable display unit of a notebook computer to transmit an electrical signal between the main body and the display unit, or can be installed between a main body and a movable pickup assembly of an optical disc drive in a computer to transmit a signal therebetween.
Further, the flexible printed circuit board is used in a portable terminal such as a cellular phone or a personal digital assistant (PDA) that a user utilizes to perform communication or to store information while conveniently carrying it with him/her. The cellular phone or PDA comprises a min body containing a signal transmitting/receiving means and a signal processing means; and a display unit that can be opened or closed with respect to the main body. In general, the display unit is slid or folded with respect to the main body so that the display unit can be opened or closed. In such a cellular phone or PDA, since the display unit is opened or closed with respect to the main body, transmission/reception of a signal between the main body and the display unit is performed through the flexible printed circuit board.
Generally, a number of circuit patterns corresponding to a variety of functions of the portable terminal are formed on the flexible printed circuit board. A connector is mounted on the flexible printed circuit board, so that the flexible printed circuit board can be electrically connected through the connector to a main printed circuit board (PCB) of the main body or a PCB contained in the display unit.
There is a recent tendency for a portable terminal to have a variety of additional functions such as the functions of a camera and an MP3 player in addition to a basic communication function. Such diversification of functions inevitably results in complication of printed patterns of a flexible printed circuit board to support transmission and reception of signals corresponding the various functions. The complication of the printed patterns of the flexible printed circuit board means that the area of the flexible printed circuit board becomes larger and the connector inevitably has a large size corresponding thereto.
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the conventional flexible printed circuit board assembly comprises a flexible printed circuit board 1 provided with a plurality of circuit patterns 3 printed thereon at certain intervals, and a connector 2 provided at one side of the flexible printed circuit board 1.
As described above, as the functions of the portable terminal become complicated, various circuit patterns printed on the flexible printed circuit board become more complicated and the number thereof is increased, leading to increase in the required area of the flexible printed circuit board 1 and increase in the size of the connector 2. Further, a plurality of terminals 4 to be electrically connected to the circuit patterns 3 are provided on a bottom surface of the connector 2.
The connector 2 is provided at a location spaced apart by a certain distance L from an end of the flexible printed circuit board 1 and can be connected, for example, to a connector of a portable terminal so as to transmit an electrical signal. The mounting of the connector 2 at the location spaced apart by the distance L from the end of the flexible printed circuit board 1 is because it is necessary to secure an area on which circuit patterns to be connected to terminals 4 placed at an end portion of the connector 2 will be formed. That is, as denoted by reference numeral "A" in FIG. 1, a predetermined area should be provided between the connector 2 and the flexible printed circuit board 1 so as to form the circuit patterns to be connected to the terminals 4 provided at the end portion of the connector.
A stiffener 5 is attached to a bottom surface of the flexible printed circuit board 1, which is a surface opposite to the surface on which the connector 2 is provided. The stiffener 5 is provided to prevent the flexible printed circuit board 1 from being deformed under an atmosphere at a high temperature in the process of connecting the patterns of the flexible printed circuit board 1 to the terminals 4 of the connector 2. The stiffener is made of a synthetic resin material or a metallic material and then attached to the bottom surface of the flexible printed circuit board 1. Moreover, the stiffener 5 is provided to protect and stably support the flexible printed circuit board when the connector of a main body of the portable terminal is connected to or detached from the connector 2. To stably support the flexible printed circuit board 1 as described above, the conventional stiffener 5 is designed to have a width W that is twice as large as the distance from the end of the flexible printed circuit board 1 to the connector 2, as shown in FIG. 2.
However, there is a recent tendency for a personal terminal such as a cellular phone or a PDA to be smaller and slimmer. With the tendency of diversification of functions due to addition of the functions of an MP3 player, a camera including a moving picture, and the like, the number of circuit patterns for transmitting signals increases accordingly. For example, since a PDA has relatively more functions than a cellular phone, the PDA has one hundred or more circuit patterns for transmitting signals, and a connector having one hundred or more terminals or pins corresponding to the circuit patterns.
With the increase in the number of circuit patterns and the size of a connector due to diversification of the functions of a portable terminal, there is limitation on reduction of the size and thickness of the portable terminal. That is, when the circuit patterns to be connected to the connector 2 are designed and arranged in the conventional structure of the portable terminal, there is limitation in that an area including portion "A" around the connector inevitably becomes larger. For example, due to increase in the number of circuit patterns, the size of the connector 2 as well as the distance L between the connector 2 and the end of the flexible printed circuit board are increased inevitably. Accordingly, the entire size of the flexible printed circuit board assembly becomes larger, and thus, there is limitation on miniaturization and slimness of the portable terminal.

Flexible printed circuit board assembly, method for manufacturing the same, and portable terminal comprising the same


A fabric and a method of forming a fabric formed by the steps of providing an endless fabric having at least two layers of MD yarns, raveling CD yarns in an area of said endless fabric to be cut, cutting at least one layer of MD yarns at a first predetermined location, and cutting at least one layer of MD yarns at a second predetermined location. The method also includes steps of folding the endless fabric in half in the MD direction, placing the first and second predetermined locations proximally to one another, forming loops from at least one uncut layer of MD yarns when said fabric is folded, and seaming the loops to form an endless fabric.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to papermaker's fabrics and in particular to fabrics which are seamed to provide for an endless fabric when installed on papermaking equipment.
2. Description of the Prior Art
During the papermaking process, a cellulosic fibrous web is formed by depositing a fibrous slurry, that is, an aqueous dispersion of cellulose fibers, onto a moving forming fabric in the forming section of a paper machine. A large amount of water is drained from the slurry through the forming fabric, leaving the cellulosic fibrous web on the surface of the forming fabric.
The newly formed cellulosic fibrous web proceeds from the forming section to a press section, which includes a series of press nips. The cellulosic fibrous web passes through the press nips supported by a press fabric, or, as is often the case, between two such press fabrics. In the press nips, the cellulosic fibrous web is subjected to compressive forces which squeeze water therefrom, and which adhere the cellulosic fibers in the web to one another to turn the cellulosic fibrous web into a paper sheet. The water is accepted by the press fabric or fabrics and, ideally, does not return to the paper sheet.
The paper sheet finally proceeds to a dryer section, which includes at least one series of rotatable dryer drums or cylinders, which are internally heated by steam. The newly formed paper sheet is directed in a serpentine path sequentially around each in the series of drums by a dryer fabric, which holds the paper sheet closely against the surfaces of the drums. The heated drums reduce the water content of the paper sheet to a desirable level through evaporation.
It should be appreciated that the forming, press and dryer fabrics all take the form of endless loops on the paper machine and function in the manner of conveyors. It should further be appreciated that paper manufacture is a continuous process which proceeds at considerable speeds. That is to say, the fibrous slurry is continuously deposited onto the forming fabric in the forming section, while a newly manufactured paper sheet is continuously wound onto rolls after it exits from the dryer section.
The present invention relates primarily to the fabrics used in the press section, generally known as press fabrics, but it may also find application in the fabrics used in the forming and dryer sections, as well as in those used as bases for polymer-coated paper industry process belts, such as, for example, long nip press belts.
Press fabrics play a critical role during the paper manufacturing process. One of their functions, as implied above, is to support and to carry the paper product being manufactured through the press nips.
Press fabrics also participate in the finishing of the surface of the paper sheet. That is, press fabrics are designed to have smooth surfaces and uniformly resilient structures, so that, in the course of passing through the press nips, a smooth, mark-free surface is imparted to the paper.
Perhaps most importantly, the press fabrics accept the large quantities of water extracted from the wet paper in the press nip. In order to fulfill this function, there literally must be space, commonly referred to as void volume, within the press fabric for the water to go, and the fabric must have adequate permeability to water for its entire useful life. Finally, press fabrics must be able to prevent the water accepted from the wet paper from returning to and rewetting the paper upon exit from the press nip.
Contemporary press fabrics are used in a wide variety of styles designed to meet the requirements of the paper machines on which they are installed for the paper grades being manufactured. Generally, they comprise a woven base fabric into which has been needled a batting of fine, non-woven fibrous material. The base fabrics may be woven from monofilament, plied monofilament, multifilament or plied multifilament yarns, and may be single-layered, multi-layered or laminated. The yarns are typically extruded from any one of several synthetic polymeric resins, such as polyamide and polyester resins, used for this purpose by those of ordinary skill in the paper machine clothing arts.
Woven fabrics take many different forms. For example, they may be woven endless, or flat woven and subsequently rendered into endless form with a seam. Alternatively, they may be produced by a process commonly known as modified endless weaving, wherein the widthwise edges of the base fabric are provided with seaming loops using the machine-direction (MD) yarns thereof. In this process, the MD yarns weave continuously back and forth between the widthwise edges of the fabric, at each edge turning back and forming a seaming loop. A base fabric produced in this fashion is placed into endless form during installation on a paper machine, and for this reason is referred to as an on-machine-seamable fabric. To place such a fabric into endless form, the two widthwise edges are seamed together. To facilitate seaming, many current fabrics have seaming loops on the crosswise edges of the two ends of the fabric. The seaming loops themselves are often formed by the machine-direction (MD) yarns of the fabric. The seam is typically formed by bringing the two ends of the press fabric together, by interdigitating the seaming loops at the two ends of the fabric, and by directing a so-called pin, or pintle, through the passage defined by the interdigitated seaming loops to lock the two ends of the fabric together.
Further, the woven base fabrics may be laminated by placing one base fabric within the endless loop formed by another, and by needling a staple fiber batting through both base fabrics to join them to one another. One or both woven base fabrics may be of the on-machine-seamable type.
In any event, the woven base fabrics are in the form of endless loops, or are seamable into such forms, having a specific length, measured longitudinally therearound, and a specific width, measured transversely thereacross. Because paper machine configurations vary widely, paper machine clothing manufacturers are required to produce press fabrics, and other paper machine clothing, to the dimensions required to fit particular positions in the paper machines of their customers. Needless to say, this requirement makes it difficult to streamline the manufacturing process, as each press fabric must typically be made to order.
Fabrics in modern papermaking machines may have a width of from 5 to over 33 feet, a length of from 40 to over 400 feet and weigh from approximately 100 to over 3,000 pounds. These fabrics wear out and require replacement. Replacement of fabrics often involves taking the machine out of service, removing the worn fabric, setting up to install a fabric and installing the new fabric. While many fabrics are endless, about half of those used in press sections of the paper machines today are on-machine-seamable. Some Paper Industry Process Belts (PIPBs) are contemplated to have an on machine seam capability, such as some transfer belts, known as Transbelt®. Installation of the fabric includes pulling the fabric body onto a machine and joining the fabric ends to form an endless belt.
In response to this need to produce press fabrics in a variety of lengths and widths more quickly and efficiently, press fabrics have been produced in recent years using a spiral winding technique disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,360,656 to Rexfelt et al., the teachings of which are incorporated herein by reference.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,360,656 shows a press fabric comprising a base fabric having one or more layers of staple fiber material needled thereinto. The base fabric comprises at least one layer composed of a spirally wound strip of woven fabric having a width which is smaller than the width of the base fabric. The base fabric is endless in the longitudinal, or machine, direction. Lengthwise threads of the spirally wound strip make an angle with the longitudinal direction of the press fabric. The strip of woven fabric may be flat-woven on a loom which is narrower than those typically used in the production of paper machine clothing.
The base fabric comprises a plurality of spirally wound and joined turns of the relatively narrow woven fabric strip. The fabric strip is woven from lengthwise (warp) and crosswise (filling) yarns. Adjacent turns of the spirally wound fabric strip may be abutted against one another, and the spirally continuous seam so produced may be closed by sewing, stitching, melting, welding (e.g. ultrasonic) or gluing. Alternatively, adjacent longitudinal edge portions of adjoining spiral turns may be arranged overlappingly, so long as the edges have a reduced thickness, so as not to give rise to an increased thickness in the area of the overlap. Alternatively still, the spacing between lengthwise yarns may be increased at the edges of the strip, so that, when adjoining spiral turns are arranged overlappingly, there may be an unchanged spacing between lengthwise threads in the area of the overlap.
In any case, a base fabric, taking the form of an endless loop and having an inner surface, a longitudinal (machine) direction and a transverse (cross-machine) direction, is the result. The lateral edges of the base fabric are then trimmed to render them parallel to its longitudinal (machine) direction. The angle between the machine direction of the base fabric and the spirally continuous seam may be relatively small, that is, typically less than 10°. By the same token, the lengthwise (warp) yarns of the fabric strip make the same relatively small angle with the longitudinal (machine) direction of the base fabric. Similarly, the crosswise (filling) yarns of the fabric strip, being substantially perpendicular to the lengthwise (warp) yarns, make the same relatively small angle with the transverse (cross-machine) direction of the base fabric. Note, the crosswise and lengthwise yarns in the fabric strip may slip such that they are not always perpendicular to one another. In short, neither the lengthwise (warp) nor the crosswise (filling) yarns of the fabric strip align with the longitudinal (machine) or transverse (cross-machine) directions of the base fabric.
A press fabric having such a base fabric may be referred to as a multi-axial press fabric. Whereas the standard press fabrics of the prior art have three axes: one in the machine direction (MD), one in the cross-machine direction (CD), and one in the z-direction, which is through the thickness of the fabric, a multi-axial press fabric has not only these three axes, but also has at least two more axes defined by the directions of the yarn systems in its spirally wound layer or layers. Moreover, there are multiple flow paths in the z-direction of a multi-axial press fabric. As a consequence, a multi-axial press fabric has at least five axes. Because of its multi-axial structure, a multi-axial press fabric having more than one layer exhibits superior resistance to nesting and/or to collapse in response to compression in a press nip during the papermaking process as compared to one having base fabric layers whose yarn systems are parallel to one another.
Multi-axial press fabrics of the foregoing type had been produced only in endless form. As such, their use had been limited to press sections having cantilevered press rolls and other components, which permit an endless press fabric to be installed from the side of the press section. However, their relative ease of manufacture and superior resistance to compaction contributed to an increased interest and a growing need for a multi-axial press fabric which could be seamed into endless form during installation on a press section, thereby making such press fabric available for use on paper machines lacking cantilevered components. On-machine-seamable multi-axial press fabrics, developed to meet this need, are shown in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,916,421; 5,939,176; and 6,117,274 to Yook, the teachings of which are incorporated herein by reference.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,916,421 shows an on-machine-seamable multi-axial press fabric for the press section of a paper machine made from a base fabric layer assembled by spirally winding a fabric strip in a plurality of contiguous turns, each of which abuts against and is attached to those adjacent thereto. The resulting endless base fabric layer is flattened to produce first and second plies joined to one another at folds at their widthwise edges. Crosswise yarns are removed from each turn of the fabric strip at folds at the widthwise edges to produce unbound sections of lengthwise yarns. A seaming element, having seaming loops along one of its widthwise edges, is disposed between the first and second fabric plies at each of the folds at the two widthwise edges of the flattened base fabric layer. The seaming loops extend outwardly between the unbound sections of the lengthwise yarns from between the first and second fabric plies. The first and second fabric plies are laminated to one another by needling staple fiber batting material therethrough. The press fabric is joined into endless form during installation on a paper machine by directing a pintle through the passage formed by the interdigitation of the seaming loops at the two widthwise edges.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,939,176 also shows an on-machine-seamable multi-axial press fabric. Again, the press fabric is made from a base fabric layer assembled by spirally winding a fabric strip in a plurality of contiguous turns, each of which abuts against and is attached to those adjacent thereto. The resulting endless fabric layer is flattened to produce a first and second fabric plies joined to one another at folds at their widthwise edges. Crosswise yarns are removed from each turn of the fabric strip at the folds at the widthwise edges to produce seaming loops. The first and second plies are laminated to one another by needling staple fiber batting material therethrough. The press fabric is joined into endless form during installation on a paper machine by directing a pintle through the passage formed by the interdigitation of the seaming loops at the two widthwise edges.
Finally, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,117,274, another on-machine-seamable multi-axial press fabric is shown. Again, the press fabric is made from a base fabric layer assembled by spirally winding a fabric strip in a plurality of contiguous turns, each of which abuts against and is attached to those adjacent thereto. The resulting endless fabric layer is flattened to produce a first and second fabric plies joined to one another at folds at their widthwise edges. Crosswise yarns are removed from each turn of the fabric strip at the folds at the widthwise edges to produce unbound sections of lengthwise yarns. Subsequently, an on-machine-seamable base fabric, having seaming loops along its widthwise edges, is disposed between the first and second fabric plies of the flattened base fabric layer. The seaming loops extend outwardly between the unbound sections of the lengthwise yarns from between the first and second fabric plies. The first fabric ply, the on-machine-seamable base fabric and the second fabric ply are laminated to one another by needling staple fiber batting material therethrough. The press fabric is joined into endless form during installation on a paper machine by directing a pintle through the passage formed by the interdigitation of the seaming loops at the two widthwise edges.
A seam is generally a critical part of a seamed fabric, since uniform paper quality, low marking and excellent runnability of the fabric require a seam which is as similar as possible to the rest of the fabric in respect of properties such as thickness, structure, strength, permeability etc. It is important that the seam region of any workable fabric behave under load and have the same permeability to water and to air as the rest of the fabric, thereby preventing periodic marking of the paper product being manufactured by the seam region. Despite the considerable technical obstacles presented by these seaming requirements, it is highly desirable to develop seamable fabrics, because of the comparative ease and safety with which they can be installed.
In some instances it is desirable or economic to form an endless fabric using the traditional process then fold it in half in order to make a fabric having one-half of the MD direction length of the original woven fabric. One reason for doing this is that it is easier and faster to weave a two-layer fabric than for example a four layer integrally woven fabric. By folding the original endless fabric in half in the MD direction, a two-layer fabric becomes a four-layer fabric. However, the folded fabric again requires a seaming arrangement that will not reduce the strength of the fabric or cause marking, whilst being relatively easy to install.
The present invention is directed at solving these problems.


Personalized voice survey delivery systems and methods in which a computer identifies a person to be surveyed, including his or her phone number or Internet login to a specific website, or email address, together with specific identifiers for the person, such as the person's name. The person's phone number is dialed and when the call is answered, the computer concatenates the files having the digitized identifiers such as the person's name, with the file that is the standard message to be delivered as the initial survey content. Computer-generated personalized voice messages are created by concatenating data files of audio that were pre-recorded in the voice of an individual whose live voice is to be simulated during the delivery of the voice survey. The audio signal that is produced from the concatenated data files, one of which is a pre-recorded voice phrase corresponding to the identifier, another of which is a standard message, the resultant audio message sent to the called number sounds as if the calling party is the political office holder, celebrity, or candidate, addressing the called party directly, as if during a live telephone survey by the political office holder, celebrity, or candidate. The event of the person logging into a specific website or clicking a link in an email can be substituted for dialing the person's phone number.

Computerized calling, or "broadcast voice messaging" systems, are known, as are computerized telephone survey systems. Such prior art systems can automatically dial a list of phone numbers, detect the called phone go off hook and then generate a voice message to the called number. Telephone survey systems allow call recipients to press telephone keys to indicate responses to each question. Broadcast voice messaging systems typically deliver the same, single voice message to each recipient, whether the message be associated with a telephone survey, or an outgoing message only.
Some broadcast voice messaging systems can personalize the content of the message delivered, using text-to-speech engines. A limitation or short coming of prior art computerized calling systems is that they sound like computers. They are therefore limited in that they can either deliver a single generic message, or the personalized content sounds like a computer. A computer-generated voice message system that delivered personalized, life-like messages would be an improvement over the prior art. Some telephone survey systems can include "branching logic" which changes the subsequent question based on the recipient's previous response. A limitation or short coming of the prior art computerized telephone survey system is that they cannot interact in a lifelike, personalized fashion with the survey recipient, which makes the survey recipient much more likely to complete the survey.
A further limitation of prior art computerized telephone survey systems is that the survey recipients are not afforded the opportunity to provide spoken feedback to the survey.

Variable data voice survey and recipient voice message capture system


An all-solid state secondary cell which has a positive electrode active material layer, negative electrode active material layer, and solid electrolyte layer, wherein at least one of said positive electrode active material layer, said negative electrode active material layer, and said solid electrolyte layer includes an inorganic solid electrolyte and a binder comprised of an average particle size 30 to 300 nm particulate-shaped polymer and said particulate-shaped polymer is present in said positive electrode active material layer, said negative electrode active material layer, and said solid electrolyte layer in a state holding the particulate state, is provided.

In recent years, demand for lithium secondary cells and other secondary cells has been increasing for portable information terminals, portable electronic devices, and other portable terminals and also various other applications such as small-size power storage devices for household use, two-wheel motor vehicles, electric vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles, etc. Along with the growth in applications, further improvements in safety of secondary cells is being demanded. To secure safety, the method of preventing leakage of liquids and the method of using solid electrolytes instead of organic solvent electrolytes—which are highly flammable and are high in risk of causing fires when leaking—are effective.
For example, Patent Document 1 discloses an all-solid state secondary cell which is configured by using a solid electrolyte constituted by sulfide glass and/or sulfide glass ceramic comprised of Li2S and P2S5.