Systems and methods for maintaining an order of read and write transactions for each source through a bridge in a bus fabric. The bridge provides a connection from a first bus to a second bus within the bus fabric. The first bus has a single path for read and write transactions and the second bus has separate paths for read and write transactions. The bridge maintains a pair of counters for each source in a SoC to track the numbers of outstanding read and write transactions. The bridge prevents a read transaction from being forwarded to the second bus if the corresponding write counter is non-zero, and the bridge prevents a write transaction from being forwarded to the second bus if the corresponding read counter is non-zero.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of computer systems, and in particular to methods and mechanisms for maintaining an order of transactions in a bus fabric.
2. Description of the Related Art
Systems on chips (SoCs) are becoming increasingly complex with ever increasing numbers of agents and circuits within a typical SoC. Often, data will be shared among the different agents of the SoC, and a bus fabric may be utilized to connect the agents to each other. When an agent is generating and sending multiple transactions through the bus fabric, the agent expects the transactions to be processed in the order they were generated.
For example, if a CPU generates a write request for a specific location and then later issues a read request for the same location, the CPU expects these requests to be processed in order. Otherwise, if the read request is processed prior to the write request, the read request will receive stale data. Therefore, maintaining an order of transactions in the bus fabric is essential for ensuring the proper functioning of the SoC.

Systems and methods for maintaining an order of read and write transactions in a computing system


Systems, apparatuses, and methods are described for wireless communications. A session management function may provide to a user plane function one or more messages comprising an Ethernet packet filter set and/or information for at least one policy rule. The user plane function may apply the at least one policy rule to a data flow to provide an Ethernet packet data unit session for a wireless device.

A wireless communications system may not be able to provide an Ethernet over wireless communications for a wireless device due to insufficient information known by the system about the wireless device. For example, some network devices may not have wireless device specific information that may be necessary to serve Ethernet over wireless communications for a wireless device. As a result, difficulties may arise for a wireless device to obtain desired services using Ethernet over wireless communications.

Ethernet type packet data unit session communications


A distributed key-value database management system may provide transactions having a high degree of conformance to ACID properties. A data element may be maintained as a versioned list, where each entry may comprise a timestamp and a value indicative of a corresponding version of the data element. The timestamp may be based at least in part on a vended time value. Timestamps may be monotonically increasing and unique across all entries in a distributed system. Conflicting updates to a data element may be detected directly, prior to the completion of involved transactions.

As compared to traditional relational database management systems, distributed database systems organized by key-value pairs may offer various beneficial characteristics such as improved scalability. However, these types of distributed database systems typically do not provide full support for the transactional characteristics of atomicity, consistency, isolation, and durability ("ACID"). As a result, distributed key-value database systems may not be well suited for applications in which a high degree of conformance to ACID properties is desired.

Acid transaction for distributed, versioned key-value databases


The clock configuration of a printed circuit board (PCB) processor card is described. A processor card including a processor, its associated processor card system bus, a clock generator, and its associated processor card system clock bus is optimized by providing various clock configurations and distributions. In one configuration, multiple clock signals are coupled to a system clock bus for distributing to a host card having system devices. In another configuration, multiple clock signals having various clock rates are coupled to the processor device on the processor card.

In an attempt to meet the growing demands of the personal computer (PC) consumer, PC manufacturers are constantly improving system performance. Historically, consumer demands have focused on upgrading five main aspects of the PC: processor speed and functionality, memory speed and size, power consumption, visual quality, and I/O performance. Manufacturers improve PCs through technological advances in the processes used to fabricate the integrated devices within the PC and/or through hardware or software design improvements. The PC producers often strive to implement these technological or design advances into consumer available products as soon as possible in order to keep up with consumer demands and to compete with other PC manufacturers.
Given the rapid advances in technology, a computer system can become obsolete in a relatively short amount of time. Consequently, computer owners often desire to upgrade their current systems to obtain the processing advantages of the changing computer market in the most cost effective manner. One way in which a consumers may upgrade their computer system is by replacing the printed circuit (PC) board (often referred to as the motherboard) that is housed within the computer system. The motherboard of a computer system commonly holds and interconnects the main processor device, a clock generation device and other integrated devices and components that determine the functionality of the system. However, replacing the whole motherboard as a unit tends to be a narrow upgrade path for the consumer since it is limited by the physical constraints of the box in which the motherboard resides. Commonly, future motherboards have different shapes and sizes not adaptable to previous box designs. Also, replacing the motherboard is relatively expensive and often times not a viable option to the consumer.
In addition, from the perspective of a PC manufacturer, redesigning motherboards is a time consuming process. Presently, it takes close to a year to design and implement a new motherboard. Consequently, upgrades cannot be made available to the consumer during this time and neither manufacturers nor consumers gain the benefits of the technological advances until the redesigned motherboard is ready.
Another upgrade option is implemented by replacing the current processor device residing on the motherboard, with a new upgraded processor device. In general, upgraded processors are designed to be faster and more power efficient than their predecessors due to newly developed technologies and circuit designs. As a result, the consumers can upgrade the speed of their computer system by replacing their current processor device. In addition, redesigning a processor device is more cost and time effective than redesigning a complete motherboard.
Since the upgraded processor has increased speed capability, it typically has different clocking requirements than that which are provided by the clock generation device residing on the original motherboard. Consequently, to take advantage of the new processor's increased speed, the original clock signal from the motherboard is often multiplied up to a rate at which the new processor can operate. Presently, increasing the rate of the motherboard clock is performed internally by the processor device with additional phase locked loop (PLL) circuitry.
The disadvantage of this upgrade option is that the new processor chip is designed to upgrade only that particular motherboard design. The reason for this is that the processor's I/O bus is designed to have a communication protocol that is adaptable to a particular motherboard design. Further, the PLL of the processor device is tuned to increase the clock rate for a given fixed motherboard clock rate. As a result, the consumers may be limited to which processor they can upgrade with.
Upgrading with a new processor device may also be done without adapting the clock rate of the motherboard to the new processor. However, in this case, the advantages of speed provided by the new processor are not realized and thus this upgrade option is greatly limited.
Another problem with replacing the processor device occurs in the case in which a PC manufacturer offers a range (or family) of computer systems allowing the consumers to choose within the family in order to satisfy their processing needs. Commonly, the family of processors offer different processing options. In order to provide these various options each family member has a corresponding different motherboard design adapted to a particular processor chip. Due to the fact that each family member has a different motherboard design, a processor device that can be used to upgrade one family member cannot be employed for upgrading another family member. For example, it might not be possible to upgrade a lower-end processor in the family with the same processor device as a higher-end processor. Thus, once again, a particular motherboard's upgradeability may be limited by whether an upgraded processor device is available.
What is needed is a means of upgrading a computer system without the associated time delays and cost of redesigning a motherboard and without the limitations associated with replacing the processor device on the motherboard.

Clock distribution for processor and host cards


Variation-aware delay fault testing suitable for carbon nanotube field-effect transistor circuits can be accomplished using an electronic design automation tool that performs long path selection by generating random variation scenarios, wherein a random variation scenario (RVS) is an instance of an input netlist where values for a set of process parameters for each gate are chosen from a set of values for each process parameter of the set of process parameters for that gate, the set of values being sampled from a distribution of that particular process parameter for that gate and includes a nominal value for that particular process parameter; calculating a total delay through a path for each RVS; and selecting at least two paths having highest total delays for each fault site under random variations of the RVSs. Delay test patterns can then be generated for the selected paths.

Sensitivity to process variations and manufacturing defects are major showstoppers for the design and high-volume manufacturing of integrated circuits (ICs) based on devices such as carbon nanotube FETs (CNFETs). These imperfections affect gate delay and may remain undetected when test patterns obtained using conventional test-generation techniques are used. Thus, there is an ongoing need for improved detection of imperfections.
It has been shown that the impact of CNFET parameter variations on the gate delay is non-linear for several parameters. This limits the applicability of previously proposed silicon-based methods. Similar to CNFETs, other emerging device technologies can exhibit similar non-linearities in the impact of parameter variations.


A data communications system is disclosed. The data communications system comprises two clock domains. Each of the clock domains are coupled to receive a source clock signal. The first clock domain includes a first clock signal and the second clock domain includes a second clock signal, each of the first clock signal and the second clock signal are derived from the source clock signal. The first clock signal has a frequency which is different from that of the second clock signal, and which is not an integer multiple of the frequency of the second clock signal. The first clock domain includes circuitry which is configured to generate both the first clock signal and a reference clock signal derived from the source clock signal. The first clock domain is further configured to utilize the first clock signal to sample the reference clock signal, and assert an aligned signal responsive to detecting an edge of the reference clock signal, wherein the aligned signal indicates an edge of the first clock signal is aligned with an edge of the second clock signal.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to multi-clock domain digital data communication and, more particularly, to detecting the alignment of multiple clock signals.
2. Description of the Related Art
New techniques to ensure the reliability of the communication of digital data have become necessary as the speed of communication links has increased. Particularly within computer memory systems, a reference clock may accompany parallel digital data so as to provide a mechanism for determining the appropriate time to sample the data. However, it is often the case that multiple clock domains are established within a given communications system due to the difficulties involved in distributing a single clock throughout a large system. Although the clocks of each individual clock domain may or may not have the same frequency, it is to be expected that the phase relationship between any two clocks in different domains will vary depending on changes in voltages and temperature between the domains over time. Jitter in the phase offset between a transmitting clock and a receiving clock tends to move the sampling point away from the ideal point in the received data signal, resulting in poor timing margins and/or a higher bit-error-rate (BER). The higher the speed at which a communications link is clocked, the more significant the effects of phase jitter become. In addition, if the ratio of the clock frequencies across a given boundary is not an integral multiple, determining when the respective clocks are aligned can be difficult. Therefore, it is desirable to have a mechanism to determine when to sample the data across a clock boundary while maintaining a robust timing margin thereby reducing the impact of phase changes between clock domains and enabling higher communication speeds.
It can be important to pick a point in time "deterministically" when one or more ratio'ed synchronous clocks are aligned, especially when it pertains to domain crossing between such clocks. "Ratio'ed synchronous" clocks have frequencies that are rational multiples of a single reference clock. This can happen when a single clock reference input to a chip is multiplied internally by one or more PLLs.

Clock alignment detection from single reference


Disclosed herein are embodiments of a dual-watch collar-wearable communication device. One embodiment takes the form of a system that includes left-side and right-side audio speakers, a microphone, left-side and right-side push-to-talk (PTT) buttons and a controller programmed to carry out a set of functions. The set of functions include routing audio received via a first channel to the left-side audio speaker, routing audio received via a second channel to the right-side audio speaker, routing audio received via the microphone via the first channel when the left-side PTT button is actuated, and routing audio received via the microphone via the second channel when the right-side PTT button is actuated.

It is important that public-safety responders be able to communicate with each other on a regular basis. As a result, one of the most commonly used tools in the public-safety context is a mobile radio. Mobile radios may be incorporated into or with one or more other devices such as cell phones, smartphones, tablets, notebook computers, laptop computers, and the like. Additionally, mobile radios often have accessories that enhance the functionality and dependability of the mobile radios. Accessories can include batteries, chargers, headsets, microphones, speakers, and the like. And certainly many other examples could be listed, as known to those having skill in the relevant art.
Public-safety personnel utilize mobile radios in different talkgroups so that multiple responders can simultaneously hear what one person is saying, and so that talkgroup members can respond in an easy and effective fashion. Public-safety personnel also have the need to communicate on multiple different radio channels and talkgroups. It is desirable for a public-safety responder to be able to communicate with as many allies as possible as efficiently as possible for at least the reason that the immediacy and efficacy with which public-safety responders can communicate with one another are quite often determinative with respect to how positive the ultimate outcome of a given incident can be. Accordingly, there is a need for a dual-watch collar-wearable communication device.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention.
The apparatus and method components have been represented where appropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present invention so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein.

Dual-watch collar-wearable communication device


An active cancellation matrix for process parameter measurements provides feedback paths for each test location wherein each feedback path is used to sense the applied voltage and the sensed voltage is used to adjust the source voltage for any variations along the input path. The devices under test are arranged in a row and column array, and the feedback and voltage input paths are formed along respective rails which extend generally parallel to a row of devices under test. Selectors are used to selectively route the outputs of the test nodes to a measurement unit such as a current sensor. The input voltages can be varied to establish current-voltage (I-V) curves for the devices under various conditions. In the example where the devices under test are transistors, each source input includes three voltage inputs (rails) for a drain voltage, a source voltage, and a gate voltage.

1Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to the design and testing of integrated circuits, and more particularly to a method and system for testing an array of electronic devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Integrated circuits are used for a wide variety of electronic applications, from simple devices such as wristwatches, to the most complex computer systems. A microelectronic integrated circuit (IC) chip can generally be thought of as a collection of logic cells with electrical interconnections between the cells, formed on a semiconductor substrate (e.g., silicon). An IC may include a very large number of cells and require complicated connections between the cells. A cell is a group of one or more circuit elements such as transistors, capacitors, resistors, inductors, and other basic circuit elements grouped to perform a logic function. Cell types include, for example, core cells, scan cells and input/output (I/O) cells. Each of the cells of an IC may have one or more pins, each of which in turn may be connected to one or more other pins of the IC by wires. The wires connecting the pins of the IC are also formed on the surface of the chip. For more complex designs, there are typically at least four distinct layers of conducting media available for routing, such as a polysilicon layer and three metal layers (metal-1, metal-2, and metal-3). The polysilicon layer, metal-1, metal-2, and metal-3 are all used for vertical and/or horizontal routing.
An IC chip is fabricated by first conceiving the logical circuit description, and then converting that logical description into a physical description, or geometric layout. This process is usually carried out using a "netlist," which is a record of all of the nets, or interconnections, between the cell pins. A layout typically consists of a set of planar geometric shapes in several layers. The layout is then checked to ensure that it meets all of the design requirements, particularly timing requirements. The result is a set of design files known as an intermediate form that describes the layout. The design files are then converted into pattern generator files that are used to produce patterns called masks by an optical or electron beam pattern generator. During fabrication, these masks are used to pattern one or more dies on a silicon wafer using a sequence of photolithographic steps. The process of converting the specifications of an electrical circuit into a layout is called the physical design.
Cell placement in semiconductor fabrication involves a determination of where particular cells should optimally (or near-optimally) be located on the surface of a integrated circuit device. Due to the large number of components and the details required by the fabrication process for very large scale integrated (VLSI) devices, physical design is not practical without the aid of computers. As a result, most phases of physical design extensively use computer-aided design (CAD) tools, and many phases have already been partially or fully automated. Automation of the physical design process has increased the level of integration, reduced turn around time and enhanced chip performance. Several different programming languages have been created for electronic design automation (EDA), including Verilog, VHDL and TDML. A typical EDA system receives one or more high level behavioral descriptions of an IC device, and translates this high level design language description into netlists of various levels of abstraction.
Faster performance and predictability of responses are elements of interest in circuit designs. As process technology scales to the deep-submicron (DSM) regime, it is becoming increasingly important for the performance and reliability of IC chips and systems to understand how variations in process parameters affect the operation of an electronic device or circuit. A designer needs to model responses such as current flow with changes in voltage for transistors (I-V curves), or resistance/capacitance measurements for wiring. Device testing may further include leakage measurements across a gate, to indirectly assess the quality of an oxide material and identify potential flaws like pin holes or edge defects. Some devices such as static random-access memory (SRAM) require testing the memory elements with random fluctuations in threshold voltages to better characterize the circuit. Devices should also be stress tested, i.e., under different conditions such as varying temperatures. It is also useful to understand how spatial variations (i.e., devices located in different dies on a single wafer) can affect process parameters.
One example of a circuit used for such testing of an array of devices is shown in FIG. 1. The devices under test (DUTs) in circuit 2 are transistors, three of which 4, 6, 8 are shown arranged in a row. Circuit 1 can be replicated for other rows which together form an array of DUTs. Each DUT receives three voltage signals, a drain voltage VD, a gate voltage VG, and a source voltage VS. These voltage signals are fed by three respective operational amplifiers 10, 12, 14. The amplitude of the voltage signals may be selectively controlled using respective digital-to-analog converters (DACs) 16, 18, 20 each of which has an N-bit control input. The terminal end of the voltage supply rail 22 is connected to measurement circuitry, e.g., current sensors. Current output for each pin set in the row is monitored as the voltages are varied to establish I-V curves for the devices.
While the outputs of circuit 2 provide a fair basis to characterize the response of the devices, the measurements are not completely accurate since they fail to take into consideration loading effects on signal transmission. Even metal wires have a very small resistance, represented in FIG. 1 as resistor symbols along sections of the transmission lines. This resistance (as well as capacitance) affects the propagation of signals in the wires. These loading effects can vary with wire length and environmental parameters such as temperature. In order to have a truly precise measurement, it is necessary to know the exact value of the test parameter applied to the device (e.g., voltage). While the loading effects can be estimated based on theoretical values or manufacturing specifications, physical analysis of resistance effects for different wiring indicates that the actual values within a cell can vary considerably from an expected norm. Calibration of the measurement circuitry does not compensate for variations in the loading effects.
There are many circuit designs adapted to sense or supply an exact voltage in a circuit. U.S. Pat. No. 3,818,274 describes a remote sensing voltage clamping circuit, that clamps a power source output level to prevent overvoltage levels at a remote load. That design uses a high impedance sensing lead and a detector-clamping circuit coupled intermediate the sending lead and the power source. U.S. Pat. No. 4,169,243 discloses a remote sensing apparatus used with a measurement device such as a strain gauge. The apparatus uses two operational amplifiers to cancel errors in the output voltage due to voltage drops in three lead wires. U.S. Pat. No. 5,977,757 teaches a power supply having automatic voltage sensing. The power supply generates a regulated voltage in response to an input voltage and an error signal, and the error signal is generated by a sensing circuit having a high input impedance differential amplifier with inputs coupled to voltage sense terminals. U.S. Pat. No. 5,999,002 shows a contact resistance check circuit that verifies when a sufficient electrical connection is established between a source and a sense lead of a Kelvin connection. An input pulse to the sense probe is altered in related to the contact resistance to produce a check pulse. A comparator generates a fault indication signal if the voltage of a check pulse exceeds a threshold voltage.
These sensing techniques basically apply a voltage and sense the actual voltage with a high impedance node. They all use discrete components, that is, separate circuit structures, which facilitates remote sensing, but there are problems with applying these techniques to testing of electronic devices. Because of their discrete nature, it is difficult to implement these designs in a single integrated circuit. Also, none of these techniques can be rasterized, i.e., applied to an array of columns and rows of devices. It is useful to be able to have an array structure for testing to measure spatial variations in devices/circuits.
In light of the foregoing, it would be desirable to devise an improved method of applying a known voltage to a testing device/circuit which takes loading effects into consideration. It would be further advantageous if the method could be implemented in a geometric matrix (row/column array) of devices/circuits under test.

Active cancellation matrix for process parameter measurements

International Business Machines Corporation


A syringe adapter element for use in a drug mixing system including a housing element having a syringe port adapted for fluid connection with a syringe and a fluid port adapted for fluid connection with a fluid flow adapter element, a needle and at least one septum disposed in the housing element, the needle having a sealed orientation wherein the at least one septum blocks fluid flow through the needle and a fluid flow orientation wherein the needle punctures the at least one septum so as to permit fluid to flow through the needle, and an anti-separation device adjacent the fluid port, such that when the syringe adapter element is connected to a fluid flow adapter element, the anti-separation device applies a force that acts against separating the syringe adapter element from the fluid flow adapter element.

Drug mixing systems are well known in the art. One particular drug mixing system is described in published PCT patent application WO 2005/041846, assigned to the current assignee of the present application, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. The drug mixing system is commercially available from Teva Medical Ltd. and is sold under the brand name Tevadaptor. It is a system for safe compounding and administration of hazardous intravenous drugs. Tevadaptor minimizes the risk of exposure to hazardous drug substances, and eliminates the risk of needle stick injuries. The drug mixing system is intended for use with a luer fitted hypodermic syringe, and is particularly useful for handling toxic drugs such as antineoplastic drugs.
The Tevadaptor drug mixing system includes a receptacle port adapter that can be inserted into a port of a fluid receptacle, such as an IV bag. A vial adapter element is provided for connection to a vial containing a drug. A syringe adapter element may be attached to a syringe and to the receptacle port adapter and/or the vial adapter element. The receptacle port adapter, syringe adapter element and/or the vial adapter element may be vented to the atmosphere in a manner that prevents release to the atmosphere of possibly harmful contents of the vial in a liquid, solid or gaseous form.
The syringe adapter element may have a needle that fluidly communicates with the contents of the syringe. The needle does not normally protrude outwards, but rather is sealed inside the syringe adapter element by a septum. The syringe adapter element may be screwed onto the luer lock tip of the syringe. The needle of the syringe adapter element is now in fluid communication with the contents of the syringe.
Similarly, the vial adapter element may have a spike that fluidly communicates with the contents of the vial, and is sealed by a septum. The vial may be pushed onto the vial adapter element, wherein the spike of the vial adapter element punctures the septum of the vial. The vial adapter element may then be pushed onto the syringe adapter element, wherein the needle of the syringe adapter element punctures the septa of the syringe adapter element and the vial adapter assembly. This allows fluid to flow from the syringe through the needle of the syringe adapter element and through the spike of the vial adapter element to the vial.
After filling the vial with a desired amount of fluid, the vial adapter assembly may be separated from the syringe adapter element. Immediately upon separation, the needle of the syringe adapter element retracts inwards and is sealed by elastomeric septa. In this manner, no fluid drips outwards.

Syringe adapter element in drug mixing system


A method for recovering an anionic fluorinated emulsifier comprises contacting a strongly basic ion exchange resin having an anionic fluorinated emulsifier adsorbed thereon to an aqueous inorganic acid solution and an organic solvent comprising a nitrile group. The anionic fluorinated emulsifier is eluted from the strongly basic ion exchange resin, and a liquid phase comprising an acid of the anionic fluorinated emulsifier is obtained. An acid of the anionic fluorinated emulsifier is recovered from the liquid phase. The strongly basic ion exchange resin and the liquid phase are preferably separated, after the aqueous inorganic acid solution and the organic solvent are contacted to the strongly basic ion exchange resin, and before the acid of the anionic fluorinated emulsifier is recovered from the liquid phase.

At the time of producing a fluorinated polymer such as a polytetrafluoroethylene (hereinafter referred to as PTFE), a melt-processable fluororesin or a fluoroelastomer by emulsion polymerization, it is common to use an anionic fluorinated emulsifier in order not to hinder the polymerization reaction by chain transfer in an aqueous medium.
An aqueous emulsion of a fluorinated polymer (hereinafter referred to as a fluorinated polymer aqueous emulsion) obtained by emulsion polymerization is subjected to coagulation, followed by drying, to obtain a powder of the fluorinated polymer. A powder of a fluorinated polymer, particularly a fine powder of PTFE, is molded by a method such as paste extrusion molding and then, used for various applications. Otherwise, if necessary, a nonionic surfactant, etc. may be added to a fluorinated polymer aqueous emulsion for stabilization treatment, followed by concentration treatment to obtain a fluorinated polymer aqueous dispersion containing the fluorinated polymer at a high concentration. Such a fluorinated polymer aqueous dispersion may be used, if necessary, by an addition of various compounding ingredients, for various coating applications, impregnation applications, etc.
On the other hand, an anionic fluorinated emulsifier to be used for emulsion polymerization of a fluorinated polymer is not easily decomposed in the natural world. Therefore, in recent years, it is desired to reduce an anionic fluorinated emulsifier contained not only in industrial effluents but also in products such as a fluorinated polymer aqueous emulsion, a fluorinated polymer aqueous dispersion, etc.
As a method for reducing an anionic fluorinated emulsifier, there is a method wherein a liquid to be treated, such as an aqueous emulsion or an aqueous dispersion, containing an anionic fluorinated emulsifier, is contacted to a basic ion exchange resin, so that the anionic fluorinated emulsifier in the liquid to be treated is adsorbed on the basic ion exchange resin. Further, since the anionic fluorinated emulsifier is expensive, it has been attempted to recover and reuse the anionic fluorinated emulsifier adsorbed on the basic ion exchange resin.
For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a method of treating a basic ion exchange resin having an anionic fluorinated emulsifier adsorbed thereon, with a mixture of a dilute mineral acid and an organic solvent, to recover the emulsifier as an acid of the anionic fluorinated emulsifier. It is disclosed that the organic solvent is preferably a solvent which is miscible with water to present a solubility of at least 40% or which can be unlimitedly mixed with water, and an alcohol such as methanol, a cyclic ether such as dioxane, methylene chloride, etc. may be used.
Further, Patent Document 2 discloses a method wherein by means of an inorganic acid and a water-insoluble fluorinated medium, from a basic ion exchange resin having an anionic fluorinated emulsifier adsorbed thereon, an acid of the anionic fluorinated emulsifier is eluted in the water-insoluble fluorinated medium for recovery.

Method for recovering anionic fluorinated emulsifier


A method for transferring working conditions parameters of computer numerical control discharge machining devices comprises the steps of inputting the machining, editing the programmable ladder, using the ladder to simulate hardware and establishing the I/O port for transferring the working conditions parameters. Transferring working conditions parameters is done by two kinds of signals, data signals and a strobe signal. The number of the output terminals for these two signals are determined by the number of the working conditions parameters and the variations thereof. The ladder is edited in the programmable logic controller of the computer numerical control system and the working conditions parameters are on-line transferred out from the I/O port by using the combination of the data signals and the strobe signal so as to be able to use the least number of output terminals to transfer the most number of parameters and to be fit for all kinds of power supply systems made by different manufacturers.

This invention relates to a method for transferring working conditions parameters of computer numerical control (CNC) machines and in particular to one for transferring the working conditions parameters of a computer numerical control EDM (electric discharge machining) device by using the PLC (programmable logic controller) ladder under the control of the CNC system to simulate the output signals generated by hardware so as to transfer the most working conditions parameters with the least output terminals.
For the machine manufacturing industry, conventional machining is significantly dependent upon the experience of workers. With the advent of the CNC machines, high machining precision can be repeatedly achieved not only by experienced workers but also by inexperienced workers with CNC machines, such as a CNC wire EDM and a CNC EDM device. An EDM device uses electric sparks and arcs to erode and thus remove metal from a work piece. The energy of the discharge directly affects the working efficiency, electrode wear and surface roughness of the work piece. Therefore it is necessary to adjust the discharge parameters, such as ON time, OFF time, high voltage current, low voltage current, gap voltage and servo sensitivity, so as to obtain the optimum machining. In an automatic system, the controller has to control not only the feed of the machine tools but also the change and switch of parameters in different machining periods. The conventional EDM device and the NC (.numerical control) EDM device, even some of the CNC EDM devices, although being capable of adjusting the parameters, possess different disadvantages. For example,
(1) For the conventional EDM device, it needs a complicated control panel which is difficult to operate and has to be operated manually and furthermore its sophistication in wiring and arranging elements increases the manufacturing cost;
(2) For the NC EDM device, it needs hardware to set, store and transfer working conditions parameters and because of the hardware, it is hard to modify and expand and is inflexible;
(3) For the general CNC EDM device, its control is done by direct I/O (input/output) and thus needs a great number of output terminals for transferring data which increases the sophistication of wiring.
Since EDM comprises a variety of working conditions parameters and each parameter has several different variations, choosing an efficient way to transfer working conditions parameters is of vital importance for automatization.

Method for transferring working conditions parameters of computer numerical control electric discharge machining devices

Industrial Technology Research Institute


An electrical connector is disclosed in a modular telephone connector configuration and includes a housing defining a standard telephone jack. A plurality of stamped metal terminals each have a resilient cantilever jack contact portion, a wire insulation displacement portion and an intermediate portion between the cantilever jack contact portion and the wire insulation displacement portion. The housing is a one-piece structure overmolded about portions of the stamped metal terminals, with the wire insulation displacement portions exposed for receiving insulated telephone wires. The housing includes a cavity for receiving a standard telephone plug. The cantilever jack contact portions of the terminals are exposed by the overmolded housing adjacent the cavity, whereby the contact portions can be bent into the cavity. The housing includes at least one wire-driving portion molded integrally therewith by a living hinge and movable into engagement with the insulated telephone wires to drive the wires into the insulation displacement portions of the terminals.

A common type of female electrical connector or receptacle is referred to in the industry as a telephone jack or "modular jack". Such a modular telephone connector includes a dielectric housing defining a standard telephone receptacle jack. A plurality of terminals are mounted in the housing, and each terminal includes a resilient cantilever jack contact portion projecting into a plug-receiving cavity or opening in the housing for engaging contacts of a standard telephone plug. Most often, the terminals are stamped and formed of sheet metal material and include terminating portions, such as wire insulation displacement portions, opposite the resilient cantilever jack contact portions. The wire insulation displacement portions receive insulated telephone wires.
A wide variety of designs for modular telephone connectors have been proposed to facilitate field installation. Any design should maximize ease of manipulation of the telephone wires and ease of assembly and termination of the connector. Unfortunately, heretofore, even with all of the various design proposals, such modular jacks still employ too many components which are difficult to manipulate and assemble, particularly with the every-increasing miniaturization of such components. Problems still are encountered with various designs of field installable modular telephone connectors because of their size, the assembly manipulations required and the difficulty of terminating the telephone wires to the connector.
This invention is directed to solving these problems by providing a unique modular electrical connector, particularly adaptable as a modular telephone connector or jack, which includes a one-piece molded housing which has various integral, relatively movable portions for effecting complete assembly and termination of the connector without any extraneous components or tools.


A catadioptric reduction projection optical system is of a construction in which an on-axis light beam is used in a catadioptric system, and is designed such that resolving power is not deteriorated and a stop can be disposed. The catadioptric reduction projection optical system has a first lens unit G1 having negative refractive power and diffusing a light beam from a reticle 1, a semi-transparent mirror 2 for transmitting therethrough or reflecting the light beam from the first lens unit G1, a second lens unit G2 having negative refractive power and widening the light beam reflected from the semi-transparent mirror 2, a concave reflecting mirror 4 for returning the light beam from the second lens unit G2 to the semi-transparent mirror 2 through the second lens unit G2 while converging that light beam, a third lens unit G3 having positive refractive power and converging the light beam returned to and transmitted through the semi-transmitted mirror 2 on a wafer 5, and a stop 6 disposed between the semi-transparent mirror 2 and the third lens unit G3.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a catadioptric reduction projection optical system suitable for application as an optical system for reduction-projecting a pattern more enlarged than the pattern of a real element which is used, for example, in an exposure apparatus for the manufacture of semiconductive elements.
2. Related Background Art
Semiconductive integrated circuits have become more and more minute and higher resolving power is required of exposure apparatuses for printing the patterns thereof. To satisfy this requirement, the wavelength of a light source must be shortened and the numerical aperture (N.A.) of an optical system must be made great. However, if the wavelength becomes short, glass materials which stand practical use for the absorption of light become limited. If the wavelength becomes 300 nm or less, practically usable glass materials will be only synthetic quartz and fluorite (calcium fluoride). Fluorite is bad in temperature characteristic and cannot be used in a great quantity. Therefore it is very difficult to make a projection lens of a refracting system alone. Further, due to the difficulty of aberration correction, it is also difficult to make a projection optical system of great numerical aperture of a reflecting system alone.
So, various techniques of combining a reflecting system and a refracting system to thereby construct a projection optical system have heretofore been proposed. An example of them is a ring field optical system as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,747,678 (corresponding to Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 63-163319). In this optical system, an off-axis light beam is used so that incident light and reflected light may not interfere with each other, and the design is such that only the off-axis zonal portion is exposed.
As another example, a projection exposure apparatus comprising a catadioptric system in which a beam splitter is disposed in a projection optical system, whereby the image of a reticle (mask) is collectively projected by an on-axis light beam is disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,698,808 (corresponding to Japanese Patent Publication No. 51-27116) and U.S. Pat. No. 4,953,960 (corresponding to Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2-66510).
FIG. 3 of the accompanying drawings schematically shows the optical system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,953,960. In FIG. 3, a light beam from a reticle 21 on which a pattern to be reduction-transferred is depicted is converted into a substantially parallel light beam by a lens unit 22 having positive refractive power and is applied to a prism type beam splitter (beam splitter cube) 23. The light beam transmitted through the joint surface 23a of the beam splitter 23 is diffused by a correcting lens unit 24 having negative refractive power and is reflected by a concave reflecting mirror 25. The light beam reflected by the concave reflecting mirror 25 passes again through the correcting lens unit 24 and is reflected by the joint surface 23a of the beam splitter 23, whereafter it is converged on a wafer 27 by a lens unit 26 having positive refractive power, and the reduced image of the reticle pattern is formed on the wafer 27. An example in which a semi-transparent mirror comprising a plane parallel plate is used instead of the prism type beam splitter is also disclosed in the aforementioned patent.
In the ring field optical system of the prior art, however, it is difficult to make the numerical aperture great. Moreover, exposure cannot be collectively effected and therefore, it is necessary to effect exposure while moving the reticle and the wafer at different speeds correspondingly to the reduction ratio of the optical system, and this has led to the inconvenience that the construction of a mechanical system becomes complicated.
Also, the construction disclosed in the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 3,698,808 suffers from the inconvenience that the flare by the reflection on the refracting surface of the optical system subsequent to the beam splitter is great. Further, no consideration is given to characteristics such as the reflectance irregularity, absorption and phase variation of the beam splitter and therefore, the resolving power is low and also, the magnification of the entire system is one-to-one magnification, and the apparatus of this patent cannot possibly stand the use as the exposure apparatus for the manufacture of semiconductors of the coming generation of which higher resolving power will be required.
Further, of the projection optical system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,953,960 the optical system of FIG. 4 thereof suffers from the inconvenience that the resolving power is deteriorated by the non-uniformity of the material of the bulky prism for the beam splitter 23. It also suffers from the inconvenience that there is no adhesive agent usable for the wavelength range of about 300 nm or less and it is difficult to construct a beam splitter by cementing two blocks together. Also, that projection optical system has suffered from the inconvenience that a stop is at a location overlapping with the beam splitter 23 or the semi-transparent mirror and the stop cannot be physically placed. Thus, the resolving power is deteriorated, the irregularity of the quantity of light cannot be corrected and further, the telecentricity of the wafer 7 side cannot be secured, and this apparatus has not been practical as a semiconductor exposure apparatus.

Catadioptric reduction projection optical system


A document reading apparatus includes: a feed section for supplying a document sheet; a sheet discharging section located downstream of the feed section in a direction of transporting the document sheet; a reading section located on the sheet discharging section or between the feed section and the sheet discharging section; and a sheet detecting section located upstream of the reading section. The document sheet is transported by a feed roller disposed in the feed section until the document sheet is nipped by a transport roller disposed in the sheet discharging section. The feed section being further provided with a sheet separating mechanism and a feed pinch roller and spring. The feed pinch roller being in contact with the feed roller via a document sheet and rotating in accordance with a rotation of the feed roller, and the spring pressing and urging the feed pinch roller so that a pressure of the feed pinch roller to the feed roller is greater than the force applied by the sheet separating mechanism. The sheet discharge section also includes a transport roller, pinch roller, and spring.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a document reading apparatus. More particularly, the present invention relates to a document reading apparatus to be used as a scanner section for reading a document image on a sheet (paper sheet) in a facsimile apparatus, a printer, an electrophotographic copying machine, or the like. Especially, the present invention relates to a document reading apparatus in which dispersion (variance) of a starting position of reading a document sheet at a reading section is reduced and poor sheet transporting is prevented.
2. Description of the Related Arts
For example, as a feed mechanism constructed in a scanner section of a transmitting system of a facsimile apparatus, a simplified sheet feeding mechanism is often in practical use. In the simplified feed mechanism, one feed roller is disposed in a feed section and one transport roller performs functions both as a sheet guiding section which forwards to a reading section a document sheet supplied from a feed section and as a paper discharging section which discharges the document sheet after the document sheet is read.
As shown in FIG. 5, a conventional document reading apparatus equipped with a simplified feed mechanism includes, for example, a feed section 21 for feeding a document sheet, a sheet discharging section 22 disposed downstream of the feed section 21 in a feed direction, a sheet detecting section (sheet sensor 23) disposed between the feed section 21 and the sheet discharging section 22, and a reading section 24. The reference symbol L represents a sheet path and R.P. represents a reading position.
The feed section 21 is provided with a feed roller 25, a feed spring 26 for allowing the document sheet to fit on the feed roller 25, a separating rubber plate 27 for separating a plurality of document sheets, and a separating press plate 28 for pressing the separating rubber plate 27. The sheet sensor 23 detects a front edge of the document sheet upstream of the reading section 24. The reading section 24 is provided with an optical system unit 29 for reading the document sheet. The sheet discharging section 22 is provided with a transport roller 30 and a pinch roller 31 for pressing the transport roller 30. Further, a sheet tray 32 is mounted upstream of the feed roller 25; and a sheet guide 33 is mounted between the feed roller 25 and the optical system unit 29.
In the above construction, document sheets transported from the sheet tray 32 to the feed roller 25 are separated midway by the separating rubber plate 27 and, at the same time, a separated document sheet is guided to fit on the feed roller 25 by being pressed by the feed spring 26. At this time, the feed roller 25 is rotating at a constant speed in a direction shown by arrow (a), and the document sheets are transported to the reading section 24 one by one by the rotation of the feed roller 25.
Midway therebetween, the sheet sensor 23 detects the document sheet and, upon receiving a detection signal from the sheet sensor 23, the optical system unit 29 starts a reading operation. The front edge of the document sheet which has passed the reading section 24 is nipped between the transport roller 30 and the pinch roller 31 and, thereafter, the document sheet is transported in such a manner that the transport roller 30 receives the document sheet from the feed roller 25. Subsequently, the document sheet which has finished the reading operation is discharged by the transport roller 30.
FIG. 6 shows another prior art example of a document reading apparatus. The simplified feed mechanism shown in FIG. 6 is constructed generally in the same manner as in the above-described example except that the optical system unit 29 of the reading section 24 is disposed to face the transport roller 30. By this construction, the document sheet forwarded to the transport roller 30 is nipped between the transport roller 30 and the optical system unit 29, so that the document sheet is read by the optical system unit 29 at a position of contact with the transport roller 30.
On the other hand, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. HEI 4(1992)-32429 discloses a feed mechanism for preventing feed of overlying transcription sheets. This mechanism is provided with a drive roller 131 and a pinch roller 132 disposed, between a feed roller pair (not shown) and a resist roller pair (not shown), at a position downstream of the sensor 141 detecting the transcription sheet, as shown in FIG. 7. Here, the pinch roller 132 is provided with a torque limiter comprising a spring pair 137 for urging the pinch roller 132 onto the drive roller 131, a hub 140 for allowing the pinch roller 132 to rotate in the same rotation direction as the drive roller 131, and a spring 139.
When only one transcription sheet is inserted between the drive roller 131 and the pinch roller 132, the torque limiter is actuated and the pinch roller 132 is rotated in accordance with the rotation of the drive roller 131 by a normal urging force of the spring 137. However, if a plurality of transcription sheets are inserted between the drive roller 131 and the pinch roller 132, the urging force of the spring 139 increases to release the torque limiter and the hub 140 drives the pinch roller 132 to rotate in the same direction as the drive roller 131 and, at the same time, the urging force of the spring pair 137 decreases, whereby only one transcription sheet which is in contact with the drive roller 131 is transported by the drive roller 131.
The above-mentioned prior art document reading apparatus shown in FIGS. 5 to 7 have the following drawbacks.
Namely, in feeding a document sheet to the optical system unit 29, the document sheet is transported between the feed roller 25 and the transport roller 30 only by the rotation operation of the feed roller 25 and the pressure of the separating rubber plate 27 which is pressed by the separating press plate 28. Therefore, a dispersion in the feed accuracy occurs by a combination of a condition of the document sheet based on a difference in the thickness and the surface friction coefficient, an environmental condition such as an ambient temperature and humidity, a dispersion in the pressing weight imposed upon the document sheet, and the like.
Accordingly, there is a problem that a dispersion of a starting position of reading the front edge of the document sheet occurs between the sheet sensor 23 and reading position of the optical system unit 29 due to a dispersion of the feed accuracy (amount of feeding the document sheet). Also, there is a fear that a reading elongation of the document sheet occurs at the downstream thereof between the reading position of the optical system unit 29 and the transport roller 30 due to poor feeding of sheet such as slippage.
On the other hand, the construction of the feed mechanism section shown in FIG. 7 provides a mechanism such that, when a plurality of overlying transcription sheets are transported, only one of the transcription sheets is sent out by means of the torque limiter operating in accordance with a balance of urging forces between the spring 137 and the spring 139. Here, the urging force of the spring 137 urging the pinch roller 132 onto the drive roller 131 changes when the urging force of the spring 139 changes. Therefore, as in the above-mentioned prior art, it is difficult to prevent generation of a dispersion in the starting position of reading the front edge of the document sheet and an elongation of the document sheet due to the dispersion in the feed accuracy with respect to a transcription sheet inserted between the pinch roller 132 and the drive roller 131.


A golf club head comprises a ball-hitting face made of a steel alloy containing maximum amounts of 0.03% of C by weight, 0.2% of Si by weight, 0.2% of Mn by weight, 0.2% of P by weight, 0.02% of S by weight, 10.5-11.0% of Cr by weight, 1.8-2.2% of Mo by weight, 9.5-10.5% of Ni by weight, 0.9-1.2% of Ti by weight, 0.5% of Al by weight, 0.1% of Cu by weight, 0.3% of Nb by weight, 0.3% of B by weight, 0.01% of N by weight, 0.1% of V by weight, 0.1% of W by weight, and the rest being Fe. The steel alloy is made by a metallurgical method involving two vacuum melting processes. The texture of the steel alloy is mainly formed of martensite.

The present invention relates generally to a golf club, and more particularly to a head of the golf club.
The conventional golf club heads are generally made of stainless steel, such as SUS 630 or SUS 431 (The U.S. AISI Standard 630 type and 431 type). The process is carried out by a precision dewaxing method. The density of such material is greater, while the strength of such material is lower. As a result, the conventional golf club heads have a certain wall thickness to meet the strength requirements that the golf club head should not be too heavy, and that the volume of the golf club head should not be too large. As a result, the scope of the sweet spot of the ball-hitting face of the golf club head is substantially reduced, thereby resulting in an increase in the rate of the ball-hitting failure.
The golf club head of titanium alloy has a density smaller than that of the stainless steel head, and a strength equal to that of the stainless steel head. However, the titanium golf club head is relatively expensive and must be made by a special vacuum melting pouring method at a high cost.
The primary objective of the present invention is to provide a golf club head free of the deficiencies of the conventional golf club head described above.
The golf club head of the present invention comprises a face which is made of a steel alloy containing maximum amounts of 0.03% carbon by weight, 0.2% of silicon by weight, 0.2% of manganese by weight, 0.2% of phosphor by weight, 0.02% of sulfur by weight, 10.5-11.0% of chromium by weight, 1.8-2.2% of molybdenum by weight, 9.5-10.5% of nickel by weight, 0.9-1.2% of titanium by weight, 0.5% of aluminum by weight, 0.1% of copper by weight, 0.3% of niobium by weight, 0.3% of boron by weight, 0.01% of nitrogen by weight, 0.1% of vanadium by weight, and 0.1% of tungsten by weight, with the rest being iron. The steel alloy is made by the metallurgical method requiring two vacuum melting processes. The steel alloy is of a metal quality of martensite.


A memory cell having a low storage node resistance and a method of manufacturing the same are provided. A trench type memory cell, in addition to storage node polysilicon, has other conductive material embedded in the storage node. Conductive material may be one of WSi, TiSi, W, Ti, and TiN. The additional conductive material provides a low storage node resistance which facilitates the realization of 256 Mbit memory cells and beyond.

Very large scale integration semiconductor technologies have substantially increased the circuit density on a chip. Miniaturization of devices built in and on semiconductor substrates has led to ultra large scale integration with minimum device dimensions less than a micrometer and more than a million transistors on a chip. With the improved integration, circuit elements such as memory cells experience electrical limitations resulting from their downsizing.
It is desirable to increase the integration density of memory cells on a memory chip by making the MOS transfer transistor and the storage capacitor which comprise a memory cell smaller. This has been particularly desirable with dynamic random access memory (DRAM) storage cells. However, the storage capacitor must be large enough to store sufficient charge for ensuring that data is correctly read from and written to the memory cell. Trench capacitors have been developed to increase the capacitance of the storage capacitor while permitting the integration density of memory cells to be increased.
FIGS 1A and 1B show a memory cell described in Nesbit et al., A 0.6 .mu.m.sup.2 256 Mb Trench DRAM Cell With Self-Aligned BuriEd STrap (BEST), IEDM 93-627-630, the contents of which are incorporated herein. Specifically, FIG. 1A illustrates a top-down view of a DRAM cell having a self-aligned buried strap and FIG. 1B is a cross-sectional view taken along I-I' of FIG. 1A. DRAM cell 50 includes a trench capacitor 55 and a transfer gate 60. Trench capacitor 55 includes a first N.sup.+ polysilicon fill 65, a second N.sup.+ polysilicon fill 67, and a collar oxide 71. Transfer gate 60 includes N-type source/drain regions 73 and 74 formed in a P-well 75 and a polysilicon gate 77 insulatively spaced from the channel between source/drain regions 73 and 74. A bit line contact 79 electrically connects source/drain region 73 to bit line 81. A shallow trench isolation (STI) arrangement 80 electrically isolates DRAM cell 50 from an adjacent memory cell and passing word line 92. A diffusion region 83 is formed to electrically connect third polysilicon fill 69 and source/drain region 74 of MOS transfer gate 60 by outdiffusing dopants from highly doped polysilicon fill in the storage trench into the P-well 75. Diffusion region 83 and third polysilicon fill 69 constitute a buried strap for connecting trench capacitor 55 to transfer gate 60.
One of the problems is that the resistance of the storage node (Rsn) poly becomes a much greater factor as technological advances are made to accommodate 256 Mbit, 1 GBit and larger DRAM cells. Consequently, with the shrinking design groundrule of high capacity DRAMs, the signal delay (tsd) in the sensing operation performed by a sense amplifier coupled to the bit line associated with a memory cell becomes increasingly large, thereby increasing memory cell access time to undesirable levels. For example, in a simulation of sensing delay versus storage node resistance for a 256 Mbit trench DRAM with a self-aligned BuriEd STrap (BEST) structure, it was found that the storage node resistance Rsn was 60 kOhms and the sensing signal delay tsn was 5.5 nanoseconds (ns). In the simulation for a 1 Gbit DRAM, the storage node resistance Rsn was 130 kOhms and the sensing signal delay tsn was 10 ns. The simulation was performed using both a lumped RC model and a distributed RC model, respectively shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, with the following relations: Vto (transfer gate voltage)=0.75 volts@ Vpwell=0 volts; WL Vpp=3.5 volts; BL Vblh=1.8 volts; and "1" is data read. Using SPICE (circuit simulator) with the distributed and lumped RC models, the sensing delay (i.e., the delay time from the transfer gate being turned on to 90% signal output at the sense amplifier) was simulated. The results of the simulation are graphically represented in FIG. 2C which shows sensing delay vs. storage node resistance. The DRAM storage node resistance substantially increases between a 256 Mbit DRAM and a 1 Gbit DRAM. For a 1 Gbit DRAM, the diameter of the trench decreases as the design rule (feature size) decreases. However, the depth of the trench does not decrease so that a reasonable amount of storage capacitance (Cs) can be maintained. Thus, the deep trench polysilicon becomes much narrower, resulting in a storage node resistance substantially higher than the 256 Mbit DRAM.

Low resistant trench fill for a semiconductor device


The layers of materials constituting the sub-roof under a water-impervious membrane are adapted to provide localized downward drainage passages to a drop-off point that is detectable from underneath the roof. The location of the leak is thus identified within a spacing of these passages. The rupture of the membrane causing the leakage is then easily repaired with a minimum disturbance to the roof structure.

Roofs having slopes approaching the horizontal have special problems in the prevention of leakage. This roof configuration is common in commercial buildings, and thus generates considerable maintenance. Typically, such a roof will slope at one foot or less per 12 feet of horizontal distance. Rain water or thawing ice is the source of the leakage, and this is compounded by the presence of remaining snow and ice that can interfere with expected drainage. So-called "membrane roof construction" was intended to correct the leakage problem, but produced its own set of problems with the passage of time. A membrane roof normally includes some form of truss system for support, and a layered sub-roof assembly extending between the support points. A film of water-impervious material (either in sheet form, or poured from initially-liquid material) is placed on top of the sub-roof. All is fine until a leak occurs somewhere. The film is supposedly protected by "ballast" material, which commonly is in the form of crushed stone or gravel. A service man walking across the roof can easily and inadvertently punch one of the stones through the film. The expected shrinkage and expansion of the roof components can also induce small ruptures in the film.
Leakage through one of these film discontinuities seems to intentionally defy attempts to locate it for repair. After moving laterally along the underside of the roof components, it can easily become first visible in the walls of the building, perhaps 30 feet from the location of the leak. Where the lateral flow takes place between the layered roof components, it may be necessary to tear off a large section of the roof to find it. This is particularly a problem when corrugated sheet material is used for bridging across between the support members. Insulation panels usually are laid over the corrugated sheet, forming concealed channels for the movement of water. Even noncorrugated layers of a roof have a tendency to provide minute passages between them for the concealed lateral movement of leakage before it becomes detectable. It must be kept in mind that the surface tension of wate will enable it to cling to the underside of a roof component, as well as ride along on top of it.


Devices and methods are provided for electrically stimulating a predetermined body part of a mammal. The method includes placing at least one electrode in proximity to the mammal's skin, injecting an electrically conductive gel into the body of the mammal so as to form a conductive gel pathway extending at least partially along a distance between the at least one electrode and the predetermined body part, and stimulating the predetermined body part by applying an electrical signal via the electrode that travels, at least in part, through the conductive gel pathway.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to devices and methods for selectively stimulating parts of the body, and more particularly to devices and method for selectively stimulating various nerves or selectively applying electrical stimulation to various other body parts.
2. Background Discussion
Women account for more than 11 million incontinence cases. One type of incontinence is stress urinary incontinence (SUI), where women experience involuntary loss of urine during normal daily activities and movements, such as laughing, coughing, sneezing and regular exercise. SUI may be caused by a functional defect of the tissue or ligaments connecting the vaginal wall with the pelvic muscles and pubic bone. Common causes include repetitive straining of the pelvic muscles, childbirth, loss of pelvic muscle tone, and estrogen loss. Such a defect results in an improperly functioning urethra. Unlike other types of incontinence, SUI is not a problem of the bladder.
Where stress incontinence is typically a result of an anatomical defect, another form of incontinence, urge incontinence, appears to be neurologically based and generally revealed as detrusor muscle instability or "bladder spasms." As such it is usually not conducive to surgical correction. Urge incontinence may or may not result in urine leakage, but both conditions otherwise have similar symptoms and similar forms of treatment, which generally include a combination of behavioral modification (learned strategies for reducing the urge sensation, scheduled voiding, avoidance of bladder-stimulating substances such as caffeine, and pelvic muscle exercises, with or without biofeedback) and drug therapy (typically anticholinergeic agents such as oxybutynin or tolterodine). These treatments require life-long therapy. Unfortunately, behavioral modification requires continuous effort to maintain results and the available drugs have significant side effects for many patients causing 80% to discontinue therapy within a year. The alternative therapy is to modify lifestyle to accommodate the condition—frequent urination to avoid "accidents" and wearing protective pads or undergarments, depending on the severity of the condition.
Another approach for treatment is stimulation of the sacral and/or pudendal nerve. The sacral spinal nerve roots separate in pairs to exit laterally through the nerve root foramina. The main destinations for these roots are the sacral plexus. Nerves from this plexus provide the motor and sensory innervation of the lower limbs and pelvic organs. Specifically, the sacral plexus splits into five sacral nerve pair, sacral spinal nerves S1 to S5. These nerves supply the thighs and lower parts of the legs, the feet, most of the external genital organs, and the area around the anus. The pudendal nerve is the largest branch of the pudendal plexus and is composed of somatosensory, somatomotor and autonomic elements derived from the anterior primary divisions of the second, third and fourth sacral nerves. The pudendal nerve affects the function of the bladder, urethral sphincter and genitals. Lower branches of the pudendal nerve contribute to peristalsis of the colon and anal sphincter contraction force. The pudendal nerve is closer to the bladder, and its stimulation innervates the bladder, thus eliminating or lessening its contractions. At least one known commercial device stimulates the sacral nerve through a needle extended into the sacral nerve bundle. This device, however, supplies a continuous signal to provide constant stimulation of the nerve. Various drawbacks of this device include its invasive nature, and unwanted stimulation effects on other areas of the body, since the sacral nerve as a whole is being stimulated and multiple other areas of the body are innervated by such stimulation (i.e., resulting in leg twitches or the like).
A company called Advanced Bionics has an implantable stimulation device that targets the pudendal nerve specifically rather than the sacral nerve. This device is implanted in the vicinity of the pudendal nerve, but also is invasive and supplies a constant signal as described above and therefore, has the same drawbacks.
In addition to incontinence, women can suffer from other diseases as well, often simultaneously with incontinence. Interstitial cystitis is a chronic bladder condition involving an inflamed or irritated bladder wall. Patients with this condition may experience mild discomfort, pressure, tenderness, or intense pain in the bladder and surrounding pelvic area. Other symptoms may include an urgent need to urinate (urgency), frequent need to urinate (frequency), or a combination of these symptoms. The inflammation can lead to scarring and stiffening of the bladder, less bladder capacity (the bladder is able to hold less urine), and pinpoint bleeding in the bladder lining. In rare cases, ulcers form in the bladder lining. Of the more than 700,000 Americans estimated to have interstitial cystitis, about 90 percent are women.
Treatments for interstitial cystitis include oral medicines, such as aspirin, ibuprofen, other painkillers, antidepressants and antihistamines. Another treatment is bladder instillation (a bladder wash or bath) in which the bladder is filled with a solution that is held for varying periods of time before being emptied. These treatments require life-long therapy. Sacral nerve stimulation implants are also used for the treatment of interstitial cystitis, but, as stated previously, its invasive nature and unwanted stimulation effects on other areas of the body make this treatment undesirable. Surgery, considered a treatment of last resort, does not necessarily improve symptoms.
Other diseases that may occur simultaneously with urinary incontinence include fecal and anal incontinence. Fecal incontinence is the inability to control the bowels, and can have several causes with constipation being the most common. Fecal incontinence can also be caused by injury to one or both of the ring-like muscles at the end of the rectum called the anal internal and/or external sphincters. In women, the damage often happens when giving birth. Hemorrhoid surgery can damage the sphincters as well. Fecal incontinence can also be caused by damage to the nerves that control the anal sphincters or to the nerves that sense stool in the rectum. Nerve damage can also be caused by childbirth, a long-term habit of straining to pass stool, stroke, and diseases that affect the nerves, such as diabetes and multiple sclerosis. In addition, rectal surgery, radiation treatment, and inflammatory bowel disease can cause scarring that makes the walls of the rectum stiff and less elastic. Abnormalities of the pelvic floor, which is typically caused by childbirth, can also lead to fecal incontinence. Examples of some abnormalities are decreased perception of rectal sensation, decreased anal canal pressures, decreased squeeze pressure of the anal canal, impaired anal sensation, a dropping down of the rectum (rectal prolapse), protrusion of the rectum through the vagina (rectocele), and/or generalized weakness and sagging of the pelvic floor. Treatment depends on the cause and severity of fecal incontinence, and may include dietary changes, medication, bowel training, or surgery. A last resort is a colostomy, which is the surgical creation of an opening between the large intestine and the abdominal wall. More than one treatment may be necessary for successful control since continence is a complicated chain of events.
One type of treatment typically cannot be used to treat the different conditions described above, and, as indicated above, many of the known treatments are invasive or have other negative side effects. Accordingly, what is needed is an improved device and method for simultaneously treating different diseases or conditions.

System and method for selectively stimulating different body parts


A conductive plastic tip rack for pipette tips includes a conductive outer shell formed around a support insert. The support insert serves as the skeleton for the tip rack, providing structural support to make the tip rack strong and sturdy. The conductive outer shell includes sidewalls depending from the sides of a face having a plurality of tip seats for receiving a plurality of pipette tips. The conductive outer shell is formed of an electrically conductive plastic. The conductive plastic rack is capable of sufficiently conducting or dissipating electricity such that static electricity existing on a pipette tip placed within the tip rack will flow out of the pipette tip and through the tip rack. By removing the static electricity from the pipette tips placed in the tip rack, static electricity is prevented from disturbing the tips seated in the tip rack.

The present invention relates generally to an electrically conductive plastic rack for pipette tips, and more particularly, it relates to an electrically conductive plastic rack for use with pipette tips following removal of the pipette tips from a plurality of pipettes.
Modem laboratory automation often involves conducting experiments using plates having multiple wells. These plates are known as "microplates". A typical microplate may contain three hundred and eighty four (384) wells or more. The microplate wells are used to hold specimens to be tested in a laboratory experiment. Pipettes are used to transfer liquids in and out of the microplate wells during the laboratory experiments. For example, the pipettes may transfer the initial specimens into the wells along with a number of different chemical reagents used during the laboratory experiment.
To prevent contamination of the pipettes when transferring liquid into and out of the microplate wells, a disposable polypropylene pipette tip is attached to the end of each pipette. The pipette tip carries all of the liquid to be transferred from one location to another, and prevents the actual pipette from contacting the liquid. After the transfer, the pipette tip is removed from the pipette and a new pipette tip is attached to the end of the pipette for subsequent transfers of different liquids. In this manner, precise concentrations, ingredient mixtures and amounts of liquids may be transferred using each pipette without the fear of contamination from a previous liquid transfer using the same pipette.
Multiple pipette devices are often used when conducting experiments using multiple well microplates. For example, a robotic device having three hundred eighty four (384) pipettes may be used when conducting experiments using a three hundred eighty four (384) well microplate. Such multiple pipette devices provide for the rapid removal or insertion of liquid into every microplate well. When using multiple pipette devices, tip racks are used to hold the pipette tips to be attached to the ends of the pipettes. The tip racks hold the tips in an organized fashion and allow the tips to be quickly inserted onto the pipettes or removed from the pipettes. Like the pipette tips, the tip racks are typically formed of polypropylene for ease of manufacture and cost savings. Because the tips and racks are both formed of relatively low cost polypropylene, it is customary in the industry to discard the tips and racks after a short period of time, or even after one use, for disposal and/or recycling.
With reference now to FIG. 1, the head 20 of a multiple pipette device 24 is shown. The head 20 holds three hundred eighty four pipettes 22 used to transfer liquid to and from a three hundred eighty four well microplate 50. Pipette tips 30 are shown inserted on each pipette 22 of the multiple pipette device 24. The pipette tips are positioned above a tip rack 40 used to hold the pipette tips 30 when they are removed from the pipettes 22 of the multiple pipette device 24.
Before the pipettes may be used to transfer liquid to and from the microplate wells, the tips 30 must be loaded onto the pipettes. A robotic arm (not shown) typically delivers a rack 40 full of tips 30 to the loading area 42. The head then positions itself directly above the rack 40 with each pipette in alignment with one of the tips 30. The head 20 then moves downward to bring the pipettes into contact with the tips 30. Each tip 30 is secured to a pipette with a friction-fit. Thus, the head must press (or be pulled) down with a substantial force to cause the tips to slide on to the ends of the pipettes. The sliding action of the polypropylene tips against the metal mandrels causes an electrostatic charge, i.e., triboelectricity, to develop on the exterior of the tips 30.
Once the tips are loaded onto the pipettes 22, the head 20 moves the pipettes and connected tips 30 to position the tips in the wells of the microplate 50. The pipettes then suck liquid from the wells and into the tips 30 for delivery to another location. After transferring liquid from one location to another (e.g., one microplate to another), the head returns to a position above the rack 40 so the head 20 is in position to return the used tips 30 to the rack. A shuck plate (not shown) then forces the tips from the pipettes, causing the tips 30 to fall into the tip rack 40 such that each tip is positioned in a tip seat on the tip rack. Of course, as the tips 30 are forced from the pipettes, they slide along the pipettes, once again causing an electrostatic charge to be generated and deposited upon the tips as a result of the rubbing action between the tips and the pipette. After the tips 30 are returned to the tip rack 40, the robotic arm may remove the rack full of tips for disposal or cleaning. Alternatively, the tips and rack may remain in place on the loading area for further use by the multiple pipette device.
Unfortunately, once the tips are returned to the rack, the triboelectric effect often creates a problem with the tips in the tip rack. In particular, when the polypropylene tips are returned to the polypropylene rack they each contain an electrostatic charge as a result of the rubbing action between the pipettes and tips during loading and unloading of the tips on the pipettes. The polypropylene tip rack does not conduct electricity. Thus, the static charges remain on the tips as they sit in the rack because there is no flow of the electric charge from the tips to the tip rack. The static charges on different tips and the rack itself cause some of the tips to repel away from each other and the rack. When the electrostatic charge is sufficient, this repelling action may cause one or more of the light-weight tips to become dislodged from the proper tip seats within the rack. In the worst situations, one or more tips may jump completely out of the tip rack as a result of the electrostatic forces between tips. When a tip becomes dislodged from a tip seat or jumps completely out of the tip rack, significant problems arise because loose tips may be lost and not properly discarded and removed from the testing area. Also, if in a subsequent step of a laboratory process the head is scheduled to return to the tip rack and once again join the pipettes to the used set of tips, an improperly seated tip on the tip rack may be crushed by the force of the head as the head moves the pipettes into position to pick up the tips. This may result in operational failure of the multiple pipette device and/or faulty experiment results.
For the foregoing reasons there is a need for a multiple pipette system that will prevent tips from becoming displaced in the tip rack as a result of the triboelectric effect during loading and unloading of the tips. In addition, there is a need for a tip rack for use with a multiple pipette system that will prevent electrically charged tips from becoming displaced within the rack.

Conductive plastic rack for pipette tips


The present invention provides a black and white photothermographic material having, on at least one surface of a support, an image forming layer containing at least a photosensitive silver halide, a non-photosensitive organic silver salt, a reducing agent for silver ions, and a binder, wherein 70% or more of a total projected area of the photosensitive silver halide is occupied by tabular grains having an aspect ratio of 2.5 or more, a mean projected area equivalent diameter of 0.5 μm to 8 μm, and a mean grain thickness of 0.02 μm to 0.2 μm, and a ratio of a number of sites capable of forming a development initiation point on a corner portion or a fringe portion of the photosensitive silver halide grain to all development initiation points is 50% or more. Also disclosed is an image forming method of forming a radiation image by using a fluorescent intensifying screen.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a black and white photothermographic material and an image forming method. More particularly, the invention relates to a black and white photothermographic material whose image tone is a preferable blue-black tone and which exhibits little change in color tone during image storage after a thermal developing process and an image forming method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, in the medical field and the graphic arts field, there has been a strong desire for a dry photographic process from the viewpoints of environmental conservation and economy of space. Further, the development of digitization in these fields has resulted in the rapid development of systems in which image information is captured and stored in a computer, and then when necessary processed and output by communicating it to a desired location where the image information is output onto a photosensitive material using a laser image setter or a laser imager, and developed to form an image at the location on the photosensitive material. It is necessary for the photosensitive material to be able to record an image with high-intensity laser exposure and that a clear black-tone image with a high resolution and sharpness can be formed. While various kinds of hard copy systems using a pigment or a dye, such as ink-jet printers or electrophotographic systems, have been distributed as general image forming systems using such digital imaging recording material, images in the digital imaging recording material obtained by such a general image forming system are insufficient in terms of image quality (sharpness, granularity, gradation, and tone) needed for medical images used in making diagnoses and high recording speed (sensitivity). These kinds of digital imaging recording materials have not reached a level at which they can replace medical silver halide film processed with conventional wet development.
A photothermographic material using an organic silver salt has already been known. The photothermographic material has an image forming layer including a reducible silver salt (for example, an organic silver salt), a photosensitive silver halide, and if necessary, a toner for controlling the color tone of silver, dispersed in a binder.
A photothermographic material forms a black silver image by being heated to a high temperature (for example, 80° C. or higher) after imagewise exposure to cause an oxidation-reduction reaction between a silver halide or a reducible silver salt (functioning as an oxidizing agent) and a reducing agent. The oxidation-reduction reaction is accelerated by the catalytic action of a latent image on the silver halide generated by exposure. As a result, a black silver image is formed on the exposed region. There is much literature in which photothermographic materials are described, and the Fuji Medical Dry Imager FM-DP L is a practical example of a medical image forming system using a photothermographic material that has been marketed.
Photothermographic materials utilizing organic silver salts incorporate all essential components in the film and have a characteristic of being able to provide an image by only heat treatment after exposure. However on the other hand, there are many technical problems to be solved.
The first is a problem regarding a color tone of the developed silver image. Because the image is composed of developed silver, the color tone of the developed silver is one of the important characteristics concerning the medical diagnosis quality of a final image. A clear and easy-to-read color tone suitable for diagnosis is preferred. Furthermore, doctors and technicians are accustomed to the images of conventional wet developing silver halide film for medical use. Therefore, similar color tone to that of the conventional wet film is preferable. However, color tone of a developed silver image is readily changed depending on the various thermal development conditions, and color tone may be changed to an unfavorable color when a composition of an image forming layer is changed to adjust the various photographic properties. Therefore, it is a very hard task to satisfy overall photographic properties while maintaining preferable color tone.
Another problem is that, because, in a photothermographic material, all silver halides and all components used for forming an image remain in the film after thermal development, the material has significant problems with regard to degradation of image quality during storage. In particular, even a slight change in color tone can be sensed visually, and this is an important problem, particularly in uses for medical diagnosis, because image quality may affect diagnostic performance.
On the other hand, attempts have also been made at applying the above-mentioned photothermographic material as photosensitive material for photographing. The "photosensitive material for photographing" as used herein means a photosensitive material on which images are recorded by a one-shot exposure through a lens, rather than by writing the image information by a scanning exposure with a laser beam or the like. Conventionally, photosensitive materials for photographing are generally known in the field of wet developing photosensitive materials, and include films for medical use such as direct or indirect radiography films, mammography films and the like, various kinds of photomechanical films used in printing, industrial recording films, films for photographing with general-purpose cameras, and the like. For example, an X-ray photothermographic material coated on both sides using a blue fluorescent intensifying screen, a photothermographic material containing tabular silver iodobromide grains described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 59-142539, and a photosensitive material for medical use containing tabular grains that have a high content of silver chloride and have (100) major faces, and that are coated on both sides of a support, which is described in JP-A No. 10-282606, are known. Double-sided coated photothermographic materials are also disclosed in other patent documents. However, these known methods for high sensitivity cause extreme deterioration in quality such as deteriorations in color tone of a developed silver image and image storability, and thus they are not usable for practical applications.

Black and white photothermographic material and image forming method


A method for automated channel installation comprises the following steps. In step (A), a frequency scanning operation is executed to lock on to a frequency. In step (B), it is determined whether the frequency scanning operation is complete, if so, the process proceeds to step (F), otherwise, to step (C). In step (C), it is determined whether the locked frequency corresponds to a reserved channel number, if so, the process proceeds to step (D), otherwise, to step (E). In step (D) the corresponding reserved channel number is assigned to the locked frequency, and then proceeds to step (A). In step (E), the locked frequency not corresponding to the reserved channel number is stored in a caching table, and then proceeds to step (A). In step (F), an unused channel number is assigned to the frequency stored, if any, in the caching table.

The present invention relates to automated channel installation, and more particularly, to automated channel installation systems and methods employed in display apparatuses.
Televisions (TVs) are typically equipped with an auto installation system and method to automatically search frequencies carrying signals and accordingly generate a channel list. A TV tuner may be directed to lock on to a particular frequency by switching to a channel in the channel list by a user. The auto installation method, however, may consume excessive time, decreasing user convenience.

Systems and methods for automated channel installation consuming less time and thus increasing user convenience