Broadly speaking, the invention comprises systems and methods that use the number of mobile stations, denoted by N, communicating with a base station, as a variable that determines the optimum induced change rate, R, and the antenna beam width, W, of a time-varying base station antenna gain pattern used in conjunction with a forward power modulation (FPM) or a similar scheme to maximize the overall data throughput from the base station by taking advantage of multi-user diversity. In one embodiment, the FPM scheme is turned off if N is below a lower threshold. If N is above this threshold, the FPM scheme is turned on with R and W set to appropriate values. Generally, higher values of N correspond to higher values of R and lower values of W.

In a cellular wireless data communication system, a base station is associated with a sector. Mobile stations within the sector may access the Internet or other data networks via the base station. Typically, each mobile station only communicates with a single base station (strictly speaking, the mobile stations may be in handoff with several base stations, however such details are outside the scope of this disclosure and do not prevent the applicability of the invention). The base station, however, must be able to communicate with all of the mobile stations within its sector.
The connection between a base station and a mobile station comprises a "forward link" (FL) which refers to the flow of information from the base station to the mobile station, and a "reverse link" (RL) which refers to the flow of information from the mobile station to the base station. The information transmitted on the forward and reverse links mostly consists of user data (such as web pages, electronic mail, etc.) encoded and modulated appropriately, but it also includes control information (such as power control, data rate control, etc.)
The terms "capacity" or "(overall) throughput" from a base station refers to the amount of user data bits transmitted per second (measured in units of bits per second) on the forward link to all mobile stations in the sector. A similar definition also holds for the reverse link capacity or throughput.
Contrary to a cellular wireless voice communications system which requires equal amounts of throughput on the forward and reverse links, a cellular wireless data communication system usually requires higher throughput on the forward link. This is because a typical Internet access usually involves "downloading" web pages or computer files from the Internet to the user's mobile station (such as a laptop equipped with proper hardware), although "uploading" large files (such as large electronic mail attachments) are also very common. The fact that the Internet is an extremely large source of information is the main reason for asymmetrical throughput requirements on the forward and reverse links.
Another important difference between a voice communications system and a data communications system is that in data communications, the delay in receiving data can be tolerated to a much larger degree than the delay in voice communications. With this flexibility, a data-only communications system may provide much better throughput than a system that transmits data over a voice-optimized network.
One such cellular wireless data communications system is the cdma2000 1×EV-DO system (also known as IS-856), an evolution of IS-95 family of CDMA standards, designed in particular for wireless Internet access. The name "1×EV-DO" refers to the relation to the cdma2000 family ("1×") and the evolution of the standard ("EV") for data optimized ("DO") operation. The 1×EV-DO system is optimized for wireless Internet access, for which a high data throughput on the Forward Link is desirable. Furthermore, the Forward Link data transmissions are not as delay-sensitive, as compared to a voice transmission system. As a result, the base station can transmit data to individual mobile stations discontinuously in a time-division multiplexed manner. The 1×EV-DO system provides a 1.25 MHz channel, and utilizes the same RF components as used in the existing IS-95 networks and devices. 1×EV-DO has the same coverage as IS-95 and cdma2000 networks.
The 1×EV-DO system defines 12 different data rates (and the corresponding data packet structures, such as packet duration, modulation type, etc) on the forward link ranging from 38.4 kbps to 2.4 Mbps (in addition to the null rate). Although the invention will be mostly described in the context of a 1×EV-DO system in this disclosure, it may also be applied to certain other systems.
In the 1×EV-DO system, the data rate at which a mobile station is served is determined by the mobile station, based on the quality of the received signal from the base station. The quality of the received signal is typically measured in terms of the signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio (SINR). As the SINR level of transmissions received by a mobile station increases, the mobile station becomes capable of successfully receiving data at higher data rates. The mobile station predicts the maximum data rate that it can reliably receive based on its measurements and predictions of the SINR conditions, and requests this maximum data rate from the base station via the reverse link data rate control (DRC) channel. The SINR, however, typically fluctuates in time over a wide range. This is mainly due to the movement of the mobile station and the surrounding objects. Consequently, the maximum data rate that a mobile station can reliably support is dynamically determined based on the channel conditions. For this purpose, the 1×EV-DO system allows the requested data rate to be updated as often as 600 times per second.
In the 1×EV-DO system, the mobile stations are served in a time-division multiplexed manner. Unlike a classical time-division multiple access (TDMA) system, however, the time intervals over which a mobile station is served are not pre-allocated. Rather, the base station dynamically makes scheduling decisions to determine which mobile station to serve at a given time based on the periodically received DRC information from all mobile stations.
The base station may accomplish scheduling decisions for data transmissions to the mobile stations in its sector by utilizing a scheduling algorithm. One type of scheduling algorithm is referred to as a "proportional fair scheduler". A proportional fair scheduler is designed to balance the often conflicting requirements of fairness of service among the mobile stations against the maximization of the overall forward link sector throughput. More specifically, the proportional fair scheduler performs scheduling decisions by selecting the mobile station for which a certain decision metric is maximized. The decision metric for a given mobile station is the ratio of the requested data rate by that mobile station to a weighted average of the data throughput transmitted so far by the base station to that mobile station.
The effect of using the proportional fair scheduler is to schedule mobile stations when their SINR values are large with respect to their average values, thus increasing the overall throughput of the base station while achieving fairness among the mobile stations. As a result of the SINR fluctuations seen independently by each mobile station, the scheduler tends to distribute service among the mobile stations, each at or close to its peak supportable data rate.
With the use of the proportional fair scheduler, the overall throughput of the base station increases in general with the increasing number of mobile stations in the sector. This is because of the fact that, at any given time, the probability of finding a mobile station that requests a very high data rate relative to its own average throughput increases as the number of mobile stations in the sector increases. The gain in the overall base station throughput as a function of the number of mobile stations is referred to as the "multi-user diversity gain". Multi-user diversity gain generally increases when the number of mobile stations in the sector increases, and also when the dynamic range of the SINR fluctuations seen by each of the mobile stations increases (even when the average SINR may remain the same).
While it may not be practical to increase the number of mobile stations in the sector, there are ways to artificially increase the dynamic range of the SINR fluctuations seen by the mobile stations. One way to accomplish this is to use a forward power modulation (FPM) scheme that induces SINR fluctuations. In one such scheme, a two-element antenna array is utilized to form a highly directional antenna gain pattern (also referred to as a "beam"). The two antennas are placed sufficiently close to each other and their boresights are aligned. The power gain of the second antenna is kept at a certain fixed fraction of the first antenna. The phase of the second antenna relative to the first antenna is, however, varied linearly in time at a fixed rate, such as 2 cycles per second. The result is a time-varying antenna gain pattern where the highly directional beam sweeps across the sector periodically.
In another embodiment, an antenna system by which a FPM style approach can be developed may comprise an array of highly directional antenna elements, each directed towards a fixed sub-sector of a given sector and forming a beam sub-pattern. The antenna gain sub-patterns are non-overlapping to a large degree, alleviating the need to control relative phases of the array elements. The power gains of each element, however, can be individually controlled with the only restriction being that the total transmitted power from the antenna array is maintained at a fixed value and the power transmitted from individual array elements are maintained between a lower and an upper level to avoid excessive interference to other sectors. In such a system, an FPM method would be based on periodically changing each element (such as a few hundred milliseconds in every second) of the array and setting its power gain at a high value while setting the remaining element power gains to some predetermined levels. Such a scheme would also result in a highly directional overall antenna gain pattern periodically sweeping across the sector. In such a case, the index of the antenna to which the highest power gain is allocated would be the controlling parameter (as opposed to the previously described two antenna case in which the phase of the second antenna was the controlling parameter).
In all of the above described FPM schemes, the highly directional antenna gain pattern periodically sweeps across the sector. As the beam sweeps over a particular mobile station, the SINR value for that mobile station tends to peak and then fall off. Similar approaches to artificially induce SINR fluctuations include opportunistic beam forming (OBF), and various schemes based on other antenna structures.
In this disclosure, we will often use the term "rotating a beam" to refer to varying the parameters of a directional antenna gain pattern in time so as to vary the antenna gain pattern and provide a high signal strength to various regions of the sector in a time-varying (periodic or aperiodic) manner. The term is used for conciseness, and does not necessarily imply an actual rotation of a fixed shaped beam at a fixed angular velocity. In one embodiment, the directional antenna gain pattern may consist of multiple local peaks that sweep a sector in time.
It should be noted that another advantage of FPC, OBF, and similar methods of artificially inducing SINR fluctuations is that especially if properly coordinated among all base stations, these schemes may also improve average SINR received by a mobile station (especially one that is in handoff between two or more sectors) by reducing the interference received from other sectors while the desired base station is beam forming to the mobile station.
The FPM scheme and similar schemes work well if there are a large number of mobile stations distributed throughout the sector, because it becomes more probable, as the number of mobile stations increase, that at least one of them will be receiving a high SINR level at any given time and will therefore be selected by the scheduler. If, however, there are only a few mobile stations in the sector, the FPM scheme and similar approaches may not perform well. This is because there are periods of time when the beam is not directed to any of the mobile stations, so they all have relatively low SINR levels and therefore request low data rates from the base station. Thus, no multi-user diversity gain is achieved. In fact, if the number of mobile stations is low enough, the FPM scheme and similar schemes may actually cause a degradation in the overall data throughput from the base station.

System and method for selectively forming and rotating a transmission beam


The invention relates to antioxidants that make effective use of acerola seeds, which have conventionally been discarded, that have high safety and excellent antioxidative effect in skin preparations for external use, cosmetics, and food, and that contain acerola seed extract as an active component. The invention also relates to skin preparations for external use, cosmetics, and food containing the antioxidant.

Articles such as food, cosmetics, and medicines, that contain oils and fats, suffer from oxidation or peroxidation of the oil and fat components caused by atmospheric oxygen, which is the most serious problem in storage, preservation, and processing of such articles. Unsaturated fatty acids contained in oils and fats, such as linoleic and linolenic acids, are known to be particularly prone to peroxidation by oxygen to generate lipid peroxides, free radicals, or even carcinogenic substances. Oxidation and peroxidation cause not only coloration, discoloration, denaturalizaton, abnormal odor, or decrease in effective nutritional value of the articles, but also generation of toxic substances, which results in deterioration of product quality.
In order to inhibit such oxidation and peroxidation of unsaturated fatty acids, and to prevent deterioration of product quality, various antioxidants have conventionally been used. Antioxidants act on peroxide radicals, which are generated in oxidation, to terminate chain oxidation, or alternatively act on free radicals to terminate oxidative reaction. Commonly used antioxidants are synthetic antioxidants, such as butylhydroxyanisol (BHA) and butylhydroxytoluene (BHT). Recently, however, safety of synthetic antioxidants has come to be questioned as their use expands, and consumers are presenting growing rejections, which results in decrease in their amount of use. Further, synthetic antioxidants are oil soluble, and thus are hard to use in aqueous solutions.
On the other hand, as natural antioxidants of high safety, natural vitamin E (α-tocopherol), vitamin C, and the like are known. However, these natural antioxidants are extremely fat- or water-soluble, so that their applications are limited. The natural antioxidants also have disadvantages in that their activity cannot be maintained stably for a prolonged period of time.
There is thus a strong demand for natural antioxidants having strong antioxidative activity, high water-solubility, and long-term stability in antioxidative activity.
Collagen and hyaluronic acid are known to have effects on moisture retaining property, softness, and elasticity of skin. Collagen constitutes 90% of dermis of skin and is distributed all over the dermis to give appropriate elasticity and strength to the skin. Hyaluronic acid is widely distributed over living organisms such as skin, synovial fluid, corpus vitreum, ligament, and the like, and contributes in skin to cell adhesion, cell protection, formation of skin tissues, retainment of tissue moisture, and maintenance of softness. Collagen and hyaluronic acid are known to be decomposed in vivo with enzymes called collagenase and hyaluronidase, respectively. It is said that, when these enzymes decompose collagen and hyaluronic acid to decrease their amounts, skin loses moisture and tension, and develops wrinkles and sagging, which are typical symptoms of skin ageing.
In expectation of anti-ageing and anti-wrinkle effects on skin, it is proposed to add substances that inhibit activities of these enzymes, to skin preparations for external use and various cosmetics, and various collagenase inhibitors and hyaluronidase inhibitors have been developed to date.
Recently, acerola fruit has come to be known as a vitamin C-rich plant, and has now been used in beverages and health foods around the world. The vitamin C-rich acerola fruit has also been in use in cosmetics for the expected antioxidative effect of vitamin C in the fruit extract (JP-2814094-B (JP-2-200610-A), JP-2000-212026-A, JP-2000-212027-A, and JP-2000-212032-A).
However, only the pulp of acerola fruit, which has a high vitamin C content, is used in cosmetics and food, and the seeds hardly find effective use and are mostly discarded. A cosmetic composition is recently proposed containing a steam distillate of plant seeds containing acerola seeds for improving skin feel (JP-2001-226218-A). Further effective use of acerola seeds is desired.
Incidentally, the constituting elements, effects, and the like of acerola seeds are hardly known yet.

Antioxidant, skin preparation for external use, cosmetic and food


A semiconductor device includes: a semiconductor substrate made of a hexagonal Group III nitride semiconductor and having a semi-polar plane; and an epitaxial layer formed on the semi-polar plane of the semiconductor substrate and including a first cladding layer of a first conductive type, a second cladding layer of a second conductive type, and a light-emitting layer formed between the first cladding layer and the second cladding layer, the first cladding layer being made of Inx1Aly1Ga1-x1-y1N, where x1>0 and y1>0, the second cladding layer being made of Inx2Aly2Ga1-x2-y2N, where0≦x2≦about 0.02 and about 0.03≦y2≦about 0.07.

The present disclosure relates to a semiconductor device, and more specifically the disclosure relates to a hexagonal Group III nitride semiconductor device.
Laser diodes are presently utilized in numerous technical fields, and in particular, the laser diodes are indispensable optical devices in the field of image display units, for example, televisions and projectors. In the application of laser diodes to this field, laser diodes emitting light of respective light's primary colors, i.e., red, green, and blue are typically used, and an improvement in laser characteristics are also desired.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-335052 discloses a nitride-based laser diode device used in a short wavelength region of about 375 nm or less and having a configuration in which a nitride semiconductor layer including Al and In is formed in one or both of two cladding layers sandwiching an active layer (a light-emitting layer). In Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-335052, for example, an n-side cladding layer and a p-side cladding layer are made of InAlGaN and AlGaN, respectively, to achieve suppression of crystallinity deterioration and an improvement in device characteristics.
Red and blue laser diodes have been already practically used, and in recent years, green laser diodes (with a wavelength of about 500 nm to about 560 nm both inclusive) have been actively developed (for example, refer to Takashi Kyono, et al., "The world's first true green laser diodes on novel semi-polar {2, 0, −2, 1} GaN substrate I", Jan. 2010, SEI Technical Review, Vol. 176, pp. 88-92, and Masahiro Adachi, et al., "The world's first true green laser diodes on novel semi-polar {2, 0, −2, 1} GaN substrate II", January 2010, SEI Technical Review, Vol. 176, pp. 93-96). In Takashi Kyono, et al. and Masahiro Adachi, et al., there is proposed a Group III nitride laser diode (a green laser diode) in which an n-type cladding layer, a light-emitting layer including an active layer made of InGaN, and a p-type cladding layer, that is, laser components are laminated in this order on a {2, 0, −2, 1} semi-polar plane of an n-type GaN substrate. It is to be noted that, in this specification, plane orientation of a hexagonal crystal is represented by {h, k, l, m}, where h, k, l, and m are plane indices.
In Takashi Kyono, et al. and Masahiro Adachi, et al., a green laser diode having superior crystal quality while suppressing an influence of a piezoelectric field is achieved through forming an epitaxial layer on the semi-polar plane of a GaN substrate by crystal growth. However, in a laser diode device in which a device is formed on a semi-polar plane of a semiconductor substrate, characteristics of the substrate and characteristics of the epitaxial layer formed on or above the substrate are different from those in a laser diode device in which a device is formed on a polar plane of a semiconductor substrate. Therefore, further development of laser diodes using a semi-polar plane of a semiconductor substrate is desired.


A polycrystalline diamond (PCD) composite compact element has a body of polycrystalline diamond material and a cemented carbide substrate bonded to the body of polycrystalline material along an interface. The cemented carbide substrate has tungsten carbide particles bonded together by a binder material, the binder material including an alloy of Co, Ni and Cr. The tungsten carbide particles form at least 70 weight percent and at most 95 weight percent of the substrate and the binder material has between about 60 to 90 wt. % Ni, between about 10 to 40 wt. % Co, and about 0.25 to 1.0 wt % Cr3C2.

Polycrystalline diamond (PCD) is a super-hard, also known as superabrasive, material comprising a mass of inter-grown diamond grains and interstices between the diamond grains. PCD may be made by subjecting an aggregated mass of diamond grains to an ultra-high pressure and temperature. A material wholly or partly filling the interstices may be referred to as filler material. PCD may be formed in the presence of a sintering aid such as cobalt, which is capable of promoting the inter-growth of diamond grains. The sintering aid may be referred to as a solvent/catalyst material for diamond, owing to its function of dissolving diamond to some extent and catalysing its re-precipitation. A solvent/catalyst for diamond is understood to be a material that is capable of promoting the growth of diamond or the direct diamond-to-diamond inter-growth between diamond grains at a pressure and temperature condition at which diamond is thermodynamically stable. Consequently the interstices within the sintered PCD product may be wholly or partially filled with residual solvent/catalyst material. PCD may be formed on a cobalt-cemented tungsten carbide substrate, which may provide a source of cobalt solvent/catalyst for the PCD.
PCD may be used in a wide variety of tools for cutting, machining, drilling or degrading hard or abrasive materials such as rock, metal, ceramics, composites and wood-containing materials. For example, PCD elements may be used as cutting elements on drill bits used for boring into the earth in the oil and gas drilling industry. Such cutting elements for use in oil and gas drilling applications are typically formed of a layer of PCD bonded to a cemented tungsten carbide-cobalt substrate and, in many of these applications, the temperature of the PCD material may become elevated as it engages a rock formation, workpiece or body with high energy. Unfortunately, mechanical properties of PCD such as hardness and strength tend to deteriorate at high temperatures, largely as a result of residual solvent/catalyst material dispersed within it. Another major problem experienced with such cutters is the relatively low erosion resistance of the carbide substrate of the cutter. This may result in the carbide substrate being eroded very quickly during the drilling process due to mud forming from the coolants used in the drilling process and penetration of abrasive particles from the drilled rock into the carbide substrate. A worn and eroded carbide substrate cannot support the PCD layer attached thereto, with the result that the whole cutter may fail.
Furthermore, current market conditions are dictating that drill bits are pushed further and harder with the ability to re-use a cutter at least once (preferably twice) being required. Erosion to the cutter substrate results in an irregular fit between cutter and the pocket in the drill bit into which the cutter is brazed, and this irregular fit may affect the braze bond and therefore cutter retention. Severe erosion may therefore prevent the re-use (spinning) of cutters which has the downstream effect of deteriorating the rental economics for the bit manufacturer.
The practical use of cemented carbide grades with substantially lower cobalt content as substrates for PCD inserts is limited by the fact that some of the Co is required to migrate from the substrate into the PCD layer during the sintering process in order to catalyse the formation of the PCD and a reduced amount of cobalt in the substrate has conventionally therefore been considered disadvantageous as it may adversely affect the sintering of the PCD, thereby weakening the inter-bonding of the diamond grains. For this reason, it has been conventionally more difficult to make PCD on substrate materials comprising lower Co contents, even though this may be desirable.
There is therefore a need for cemented carbide substrates for attachment to a body of PCD material having improved erosion and/or corrosion resistance that do not have an adverse effect on the sintering quality of the PCD.

Polycrystalline diamond composite compact elements and methods of making and using same


A semiconductor device with an improved contact capable of improving junction breakdown voltage and junction leakage current by forming a contact at an active region without damaging bird's beak portions of its element-isolation oxide films and a method of making this semiconductor device. The semiconductor device comprises element-isolation oxide films formed on a semiconductor substrate, an etch barrier material film formed on bird's beak portions of element-isolation oxide films, an insulating film formed over the element-isolation oxide films and the etch barrier material layer, and a conductive material layer formed over the insulating film and in contact with the active region. In order to prevent the bird's beak portions of element-isolation oxide films from being damaged upon the formation of contact hole, the etch barrier material film has an etch selectivity different from that of a silicon oxide film formed on the active region.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device with an improved contact obtained by an etch selectivity difference between its polysilicon film and its oxide film and a method of making the same.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As the integration degree of semiconductor devices becomes high, the cell size is gradually reduced. All known techniques for forming active regions and element-isolation regions encounter a difficulty in obtaining sufficient areas for active regions, since the element-isolation oxide films form structures having a bird's beak shape with a certain size. This results in a difficulty in forming contacts at active regions.
Referring to FIGS. 1A to 1D, there is illustrated a conventional method of forming contacts.
In accordance with this method, first, on a semiconductor substrate 1a, element-isolation oxide films 1b having a bird's beak shape with a certain size are grown which define an active region and an insulating isolation region, as shown in FIG. 1A. In the active region, impurity ions are implanted so as to form a first diffusion region 2.
On the upper surface of the resulting entire structure including the active region and the insulating region are then deposited an insulating film 3 with a proper thickness and a photoresist 4, in this order, as shown in FIG. 1B. In FIG. 1B, the photoresist 4 is shown as having been patterned.
Using the pattern of the photoresist 4 as a mask, the insulating film 3 is then subjected to etching, so as to form a contact hole, as shown in FIG. 1C. At this time, each element-isolation oxide film 1b is also partially etched at its portion having the bird's beak shape.
As shown in FIG. 1D, a conductive material layer 5 is then deposited on the upper surface of the resulting entire structure such that the contact hole is filled with the conductive material layer 5. Since each element-isolation oxide film 1b is partially etched at its portion having the bird's beak shape, the conductive material layer 5 is deeply diffused at edges of the first diffusion region 2. As a result, a second diffusion region 6 which is unnecessary is formed.
Where the active region is wide, the element-isolation oxide films are not damaged by forming the contact hole at their portions having the bird's beak shape, as shown in FIG. 2, so that a normal contact can be obtained. In cases of highly integrated devices with narrow active regions above-mentioned, however, the element-isolation oxide films are partially etched at their bird's beak portions each positioned at a boundary between the active region and the element-isolation oxide film, thereby causing the impurity junction structure at the etched region to be weak. As a result, there are problems of a weakness in junction breakdown voltage and an increase in junction leakage current.

Semiconductor device with improved contact and method of making the same

Hyundai Electronics Industries Co., Ltd.


The present invention relates to novel bacteria inhibiting halitosis or oral malodor. In particular, the present invention relates to novel lactic acid bacteria belonging to the genus Weissella, which can inhibit the proliferation of anaerobic bacteria producing volatile sulfur compounds by interacting with them and generating hydrogen peroxide under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. These lactic acid bacteria of the present invention are isolated from lactic acid bacteria naturally existing in the oral cavity of a person, and identified and deposited as Weissella cibaria CMU (Accession No.: KCTC 10650BP), Weissella cibaria CMS-1 (Accession No.: KCTC 10678BP), Weissella cibaria CMS-2 (Accession No.: KCTC 10679BP) and Weissella cibaria CMS-3 (Accession No.: KCTC 10680BP), respectively. The present invention provides the lactic acid bacteria and foods comprising the same for effectively inhibiting the proliferation of halitosis-inducing anaerobic bacteria without corrosion at teeth by using these Weissella cibaria lactic acid bacteria strains.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to novel bacteria inhibiting halitosis or oral malodor emanating from the oral cavity. More specifically, the present invention relates to novel lactic acid bacteria that are isolated among microorganisms normally existing in the oral cavity of a person. These lactic acid bacteria are novel lactic acid bacteria belonging to genus Weissella that inhibit the proliferation of anaerobic bacteria producing volatile sulfur compounds by interacting with them and producing hydrogen peroxide under aerobic and anaerobic conditions.
2. Description of the Background
Halitosis or oral malodor is bad breath derived from the oral cavity and organs adjacent thereto, and many people suffer from halitosis in everyday life. About 85 to 90% of halitosis is originated from the oral cavity, especially, a rear part of the tongue. Major components of halitosis are volatile sulfur compounds, and about 90% of the total volatile sulfur compounds consist of hydrogen sulfide made from cysteine and methyl mercaptan made from methionine. These compounds are produced by anaerobic bacteria, and the rear part of the tongue is the most important inhabitation for the anaerobic bacteria. Since it is impossible to completely clean this part with saliva and there are many small crevices, the anaerobic bacteria can continuously survive in the rear part of the tongue. Although the production of volatile sulfur compounds by anaerobic bacteria is a major cause of halitosis, halitosis may also be caused by oral diseases such as tooth decay and periodontitis. Bacteria that produce hydrogen sulfide from cysteine include genus Peptostreptococcus, genus Eubacterium, genus Selenomonas, genus Centipeda, genus Bacteroides and genus Fusobacterium; and bacteria that produce methyl mercaptan from methionine include genus Fusobacterium, genus Bacteroides, genus Porphyromonas and genus Eubacterium. Especially, Fusobacterium nucleatum, Prevotella intermedia and Porphyromonas gingivalis are frequently found in the oral cavity of a halitosis patient. Genus Bacteroides, genus Porphyromonas and genus Prevotella are too similar to one another to such an extent that they have been previously known as belonging to the same genus. Many kinds of anaerobic bacteria are responsible for halitosis, but the representative bacteria for the development of halitosis are Fusobacterium nucleatum and Porphyromonas gingivalis.
Since the most effective way to prevent halitosis is to inhibit the proliferation of anaerobic bacteria producing volatile sulfur compounds known as major components of halitosis, a method for removing tongue fur with a tongue scraper to eliminate substrates for the bacterial proliferation from the tongue, or for treating the tongue with a metal salt such as zinc chloride or a disinfectant such as alcohol or chlorhexidine to inhibit the production of volatile sulfur compounds by anaerobic bacteria has been previously employed. However, there are problems in that the metal salt and disinfectant inhibit the growth of other harmless oral microorganisms as well as halitosis-inducing anaerobic bacteria. Since they are not swallowed into the gullet, they do not reach a rear part of the tongue that is a place of concern in the development of halitosis. They are merely gargled in a front part of the oral cavity and then spat out of the mouth. Thus, there is a problem in that they cannot clean the rear part of the tongue which is the main place for the proliferation of halitosis-inducing anaerobic bacteria. Further, since they are diluted with saliva and swallowed into the gullet together with the saliva, their cleansing effects in the oral cavity last only for 20 minutes to 2 hours. Thereafter, anaerobic bacteria proliferate again in the oral cavity, thereby inducing halitosis again. Therefore, the metal salt and disinfectant used for decreasing halitosis are effective only in a short period of time.
Recently, there has been an attempt to inhibit the proliferation of anaerobic bacteria using lactic acid bacteria in vitro. The lactic acid bacteria are bacteria producing lactic acid as a final product by fermenting a carbohydrate, exist in the oral cavities and digestive tracts of a person and an animal, and are typically used for manufacturing a fermented food such as Kimchi or yogurt. The lactic acid bacteria used for the food industry include genus Enterococcus, genus Lactobacillus, genus Lactococcus, genus Leuconostoc, genus Streptococcus and genus Weissella. However, since these lactic acid bacteria are diluted with saliva and directly swallowed into the gullet when orally administered, there is a problem in that they are difficult to remain in the oral cavity. Further, lactic acid bacteria such as Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus casei and Lactobacillus salivarius can inhibit the in vitro proliferation of anaerobic bacteria by producing a strong acid, but this strong acid produced by the lactic acid bacteria is neutralized by the buffering function of saliva in the oral cavity of a healthy person. Accordingly, it is hard to inhibit the bacterial proliferation. Furthermore, since the strong acid causes dental caries, the continuous administration of these bacteria may give rise to problems in oral hygiene.

Lactic acid bacteria inhibiting halitosis

Industry Foundation of Chonnam National University


A method of manufacturing a pixel structure is provided. A gate, a scan line, and at least one first auxiliary pattern are formed on a substrate. A gate insulating layer is formed on the substrate to cover the gate and the scan line and expose the first auxiliary pattern and a part of the scan line. A channel layer is formed on the gate insulating layer over the gate. A source, a drain, a data line, a top electrode, and at least one second auxiliary pattern are formed, wherein the data line is electrically connected to the exposed first auxiliary pattern and the second auxiliary pattern is electrically connected to the exposed scan line. A passivation layer and a pixel electrode are formed, and the pixel electrode is electrically connected to the drain and the top electrode.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a manufacturing method of a pixel structure. More particularly, the present invention relates to a manufacturing method of a pixel structure suitable for a large-size display panel.
2. Description of Related Art
In modern society, well-developed multimedia technology has mostly benefited from the advance of semiconductor devices or display devices. As for displays, thin film transistor liquid crystal displays (TFT-LCDs) with the advantages of high picture quality, preferable space utilization efficiency, low power consumption, and no radiation have become a mainstream product in the market, such that TFTs have been widely used in the TFT-LCDs.
Generally, a TFT-LCD includes a plurality of pixels, wherein each pixel is driven by a data line and a scan line. When the size of LCDs becomes larger, the length of data lines and scan lines are increased correspondingly, which results in an increase of the resistance values of the data lines and scan lines. Furthermore, the increase of resolution of display panels incurs an increase in parasitic capacitance of the lines, thus resulting in an obvious RC delay effect. In other words, the charging time of the pixel structure close to a signal input end is apparently different from that of the pixel structure away from the signal input end, and thus problems of flickering of display, nonuniform brightness, or different charging rates occur, and the display quality is degraded.


A method for processing a substrate in a plasma processing chamber is provided. The substrate is disposed above a chuck and surrounded by a first edge ring. The first edge ring is electrically isolated from the chuck. The method includes providing a second edge ring. The second edge ring is disposed below an edge of the substrate. The method also includes providing a coupling ring. The coupling ring is configured to facilitate RF coupling from an ESC (electrostatic chuck) assembly to the first edge ring, thereby causing the first edge ring to have an edge ring potential during substrate processing and causing the RF coupling to be maximized at the first edge ring and minimized at the second edge ring during the substrate processing. The method also includes providing an insulator ring, wherein the second edge ring is disposed above the insulator ring.

Growth in the semiconductor industry has been driven by advances in plasma processing. Due to the highly competitive nature of the semiconductor, device manufacturers may want to maximize yield and efficiently utilize the real estate available on a substrate. During plasma processing of the substrate, a plurality of parameters may need to be controlled to ensure high yield of devices being processed. A common cause of defective devices is the lack of uniformity during substrate processing. Factors that may affect uniformity are substrate edge effects. Another cause of defective devices may be due to polymeric by-products flaking off from the backside of one substrate onto another substrate during transport.
Current fabrication technologies are challenged by the demand for higher performance devices, the pressure to further reduce substrate feature sizes, as well as the implementation of newer optimized substrate materials. For example, it is becoming increasing difficult to maintain the uniformity or process results from the center to the edge of larger substrates (e.g., >300 mm). In general, for a given feature size, the number of devices on the substrate near the edge increases as the size of the substrate becomes larger. Likewise, for a given substrate size, the number of devices on the substrate near the edge increases as the feature size of the devices decreases. For example, often over 20% the total number of devices on a substrate are located near the perimeter the substrate.
FIG. 1 shows a simplified diagram of a capacitively-coupled plasma processing system with a single hot edge ring. In general, a source RF generated by source RF generator 112 is commonly used to generate the plasma as well as control the plasma density via capacitively coupling. Certain etch applications may require upper electrode to be grounded with respect to a lower electrode, which is RF powered. The RF power is at least one of 2 MHz, 27 MHz, and 60 MHz. Still other etch applications may require both the upper electrode and the lower electrode to be RF powered using similar RF frequencies.
Generally, an appropriate set of gases is flowed through an inlet in an upper electrode 102. The gases are subsequently ionized to form plasma 104, in order to process (e.g., etch or deposit) exposed areas of substrate 106, such as a semiconductor substrate or a glass pane, positioned with a hot edge ring (HER) 116 (e.g., Si, etc.) on an electrostatic chuck (ESC) 108, which also serves as a powered electrode.
Hot edge ring 116 generally performs many functions, including positioning substrate 106 on ESC 108 and shielding the underlying components not protected by the substrate itself from being damaged by the ions of the plasma. Hot edge ring 116, as shown in FIG. 1, is disposed under and around the edge of substrate 106. Hot edge ring 112 may further sit on coupling ring 114 (e.g., quartz, etc.), which is generally configured to provide a current path from chuck 108 to hot edge ring 116.
In the example of FIG. 1, insulator rings 118 and 120 are configured to provide insulation between ESC 108 and ground ring 122. Quartz cover 124 is disposed on top of ground ring 122. Material for coupling ring 114 may be quartz or appropriate material to optimize RF coupling from ESC 108 to HER 116. For example, quartz may be employed as coupling ring 114 to minimize RF coupling to HER 116. In another example, aluminum may be employed as coupling ring 114 to get increase RF coupling to HER 116.
Due to substrate edge effects, such as electric field, plasma temperature, and the loading effects from process chemistry, the process results near the substrate edge may differ from the remaining (center) area of the substrate during plasma processing. For example, the electric field around substrate 106 edge may change due to changes from RF coupling to HER 116. The equipotential lines of the plasma sheath may become disrupted, causing non-uniform ion angular distribution around the substrate edge.
Generally, it is desirable for the electric field to remain substantially constant over the entire surface of the substrate in order to maintain process uniformity and vertical etch profiles. During plasma processing, RF coupling balance between substrate 106 and HER 116 may be optimized by design to maintain process uniformity and vertical etch. For example, RF coupling to HER 116 may be optimized for maximum RF coupling to get uniform etching. However, the RF coupling balance to maintain process uniformity may come at a cost to beveled edge polymer deposition.
During the etch process, it may be common for polymer byproducts (e.g., fluorinated polymers, etc.) to form on the substrate backside and/or around the substrate edge. Fluorinated polymers generally are comprised of photo resist material previously exposed to an etch chemistry, or polymer byproducts deposited during a fluorocarbon etch process. In general, a fluorinated polymer is a substance with a chemical equation of CxHyFz, where x, z are integers greater than 0, and y is an integer greater than or equal to 0 (e.g., CF4, C2F6, CH2F2, C4F8, C5F8, etc.).
However, as successive polymer layers are deposited on the edge area as the result of several different etch processes, organic bonds that are normally strong and adhesive will eventually weaken and peel or flake off, often onto another substrate during transport. For example, substrates are commonly moved in sets between plasma processing systems via substantially clean containers, often called cassettes. As a higher positioned substrate is repositioned in the container, a portion of a polymer layer may fall on a lower substrate where dies are present, potentially affecting device yield.
FIG. 2 shows a simplified diagram of a substrate in which a set of edge polymers have been deposited on the planar backside is shown. As previously stated, during the etch process, it may be common for polymer by-products (edge polymers) to form on the substrate. In this example, the polymer by-products have been deposited on the planar backside, that is, the side of the substrate away from the plasma. For example, the polymer thickness may be about 250 nm at about 70° 202, 270 nm at about 45° 204, and about 120 nm at 0° 206. In general, the greater the thickness of the polymer, the higher the probability that a portion of the polymer may become dislodged and fall onto another substrate or the chuck, potentially affecting manufacturing yield.
For example, RF coupling to HER 116 may be optimized for minimal RF coupling to reduce polymer by-products deposition on beveled edge. However, the RF coupling balance to minimize beveled edge polymer deposition may come at a cost to maintain process uniformity at substrate edge.
Hence, aforementioned prior art methods require RF coupling balance between the hot edge ring and the substrate to trade-off between optimizing for edge uniformity or beveled edge polymer deposition. In addition, arcing between the wafer edge and hot edge ring may cause pitting on substrate edge and damage to the devices, thereby reducing yield.

Apparatus and methods for edge ring implementation for substrate processing


A trim and tilt apparatus for a marine vessel propulsion machine includes: a cylinder having a cylinder chamber; a piston rod that is telescopically inserted into the cylinder chamber; and a hydraulic oil supply and discharge device that supplies and discharges hydraulic oil to and from the cylinder chamber, the trim and tilt apparatus allowing the marine vessel propulsion machine to perform a trim operation and a tilt operation, and the hydraulic oil supply and discharge device includes: a plurality of discharge units for simultaneously discharging the hydraulic oil; and a switching unit for switching between a case where the cylinder chamber is supplied with the hydraulic oil discharged by a part of the plurality of discharge units, and a case where the cylinder chamber is not supplied with the hydraulic oil discharged by the part of the plurality of discharge units.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a trim and tilt apparatus for a marine vessel propulsion machine.
2. Description of the Background Art Japanese Patent No. 2963511 describes a trim and tilt apparatus for a marine vessel propulsion machine which allows the marine vessel propulsion machine to perform a trim operation and a tilt operation. Specifically, the trim and tilt apparatus for the marine vessel propulsion machine described in Japanese Patent No. 2963511 includes a large-diameter cylinder and a small-diameter cylinder formed in series and in communication with each other. During a trim-up operation, hydraulic oil discharged by a pump is supplied to the large-diameter cylinder to push a large-diameter trim piston in the large-diameter cylinder up toward the small-diameter cylinder. During a tilt-up operation, after the trim piston reaches a maximum trim-up position, the hydraulic oil discharged by the pump is further fed to the large-diameter cylinder. The hydraulic oil then flows through a through-path provided in the trim piston and is filled into the small-diameter cylinder located below a tilt piston. The hydraulic oil thus moves only the tilt piston to a maximum tilt-up position.
[Patent Literature 1] Japanese Patent No. 2963511
The trim and tilt apparatus for the marine vessel propulsion machine described in Japanese Patent No. 2963511 has the following problems.
(1) During the tilt-up operation, the hydraulic oil discharged by only one pump is supplied to the small-diameter cylinder. This increases time needed to fill the small-diameter cylinder with the hydraulic oil and thus increases a tilt operation duration until the maximum tilt-up.
(2) At the end of the tilt-up operation, the pressure of the hydraulic oil acting to push the trim piston up toward the small-diameter cylinder is not applied. Thus, to retain the trim piston at a stroke end in a trim-up direction after the tilt-up operation ends, trim piston push-up means such as spring force or gravity is needed which constantly pushes up the trim piston toward the small-diameter cylinder.
An object of the present invention is to provide a trim and tilt apparatus for a marine vessel propulsion machine which serves to reduce the tilt-up operation duration until the maximum tilt-up and which allows the piston to be retained at the maximum tilt-up position at the end of the tilt-up operation without using the piston push-up means.

Trim and tilt apparatus for marine vessel propulsion machine


A method, a terminal, and a storage medium are provided for controlling a functional circuit. In the method, the terminal acquires sensor data information of a sensor. Further, the terminal wakes up the functional circuit in the terminal to receive an ultrasonic signal in response to determining that the acquired sensor data information meets a preset condition.

In a related art, terminal devices such as mobile phones have increasingly more functions like data receiving and processing, expense payment and so on. For the purpose of implementing these functions, for example, implementing the expense payment, the terminal device is in a receiving state all the time necessarily, which causes the very large power consumption. Or, the terminal device is processed manually to turn on a payment interface for payment, which causes the poor user experience.
To provide a method for quickly and conveniently controlling a functional module is a problem to be solved urgently.

Waking up a terminal to receive an ultrasonic signal in reponse to sensor data

Beijing Xiaomi Mobile Software Co., Ltd.


A shift range switching device is provided to a shift-by-wire system for an automatic transmission device. The shift range switching device includes a range switching unit for switching a shift range of the automatic transmission device between a P range and the other range. The shift range switching device further includes an actuator including an electric motor and a reduction device. The reduction device transmits driving force of the electric motor to the range switching unit for actuating the range switching unit as instructed. The reduction device has a variable reduction ratio. The reduction device transmits the driving force in switching of the shift range from the P range to the other range at a reduction ratio, which is greater than a reduction ratio in switching of the shift range from the other range to the P range.

In recent years, a shift-by-wire system is generally used in a vehicle. For example, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,857,981 (JP-A-2004-52928), a shift-by-wire system includes an electric motor for actuating a range switching unit to switch a shift range of an automatic transmission device, in accordance with an instructed shift range selected by a vehicular occupant.
In switching of the shift range of the automatic transmission device, a torque required for actuating the range switching unit differs depending upon the shift range to be switched. Specifically, the required torque becomes the maximum when the shift range is switched from a P range to another range, such as an R range. In particular, when the shift range is switched from the P range to the other range in a condition where the vehicle is parked on a sloping road, a torque required for bringing a parking lock mechanism into the unlocked state thereof becomes large. In this state, the required torque becomes still further greater.
Therefore, the shift range switching device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,857,981 includes a reduction device for transmitting the power of the electric motor to the range switching unit. The reduction device is selected to be in one gear ratio for producing the torque required in the switching from the P range to the other range.
The parking lock mechanism is provided for bringing the output shaft of the automatic transmission device into the locked state thereof in conjunction with the switching actuation of the range switching unit to the P range. Alternatively, parking lock mechanism brings the output shaft of the automatic transmission device into the unlocked state thereof in conjunction with the switching actuation to the other range.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,857,981, the P range can be reliably switched to the other range when the gear ratio of the reduction device is selected to produce the torque required in the switching from the P range to the other range. However, the range switching unit is actuated at a large gear ratio, even in any other switchings when such a large torque is not necessary. Consequently, actuations of the range switching unit in the other switchings becomes slow, and response of the range switching unit is impaired.

Shift range switching device and method for switching shift range


An improved capillary pumped loop evaporator includes circumferential grooves formed in the outer heat exchanger portion of the evaporator. The grooves open to the interface existing between the heat exchanger and a centrally positioned tubular wick. Axially extending vapor channels are formed in the wick and also open onto the interface. The circumferential grooves continuously communicate with the interface and provide a vapor escape to the vapor channels which direct vapor passage from the evaporator. By shortening the vapor path from the interface, a thinner vapor barrier is possible at the interface which results in more efficient heat transfer.

Space vehicles customarily employ heat pipes for achieving heat transfer from temperature-sensitive components such as electronic circuits. Heat pipes are passive devices with no moving parts and are therefore very reliable. However, because the wick in a heat pipe must be continuous and extend over its entire length between the evaporator and condenser, fluid pressure drops become excessive with power levels beyond a few kilowatts. For larger loads, mechanically pumped two-phase thermal control systems (TCS) are ideal and are considered for installations which are manned. This is due to the fact that the systems use mechanical components such as pumps and valves, which consume vehicle electric power and require maintenance and redundancy to achieve long orbital life.
In the case of space platforms, power requirements (5 to 15 kw) are too large to be handled by conventional heat pipes and too small to require a mechanically pumped two-phase loop. The prior art includes a device known as a capillary pumped loop (CPL) which has been recently developed for NASA by the OAO Corporation of Maryland. Such a device could satisfy the needs of moderate power space platforms. The CPL utilizes a very fine wick structure to provide a high pumping potential. Because the wick is only located in the evaporator, the rest of the loop can be made using simple (unwicked) tubing so that the system pressure drop will be small. An electrically heated accumulator is needed to allow loop operation at the desired temperature. Thus, the CPL offers a reliable moderate power capability thermal control system that is passive, i.e. having no moving parts, and operates with the same vibration-free characteristic as conventional heat pipes.


Provided is a semiconductor device which can achieve a reduction in its area, reduction in power consumption, and operation at a high speed. A semiconductor device 10 has a structure in which a circuit 31 including a memory circuit and a circuit 32 including an amplifier circuit are stacked. With this structure, the memory circuit and the amplifier circuit can be mounted on the semiconductor device 10 while the increase in the area of the semiconductor device 10 is suppressed. Thus, the area of the semiconductor device 10 can be reduced. Further, the circuits are formed using OS transistors, so that the memory circuit and the amplifier circuit which have low off-state current and which can operate at a high speed can be formed. Therefore, a reduction in power consumption and improvement in operation speed of the semiconductor device 10 can be achieved.

1. Field of the Invention
One embodiment of the present invention relates to a semiconductor device including a memory circuit and an amplifier circuit
Note that one embodiment of the present invention is not limited to the above technical field. The technical field of one embodiment of the invention disclosed in this specification and the like relates to an object, a method, or a manufacturing method. In addition, one embodiment of the present invention relates to a process, a machine, manufacture, or a composition of matter. Another embodiment of the present invention relates to a semiconductor device, a display device, a lighting device, a power storage device, a memory device, or a driving method or manufacturing method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
A dynamic random access memory (DRAM) is a volatile memory capable of high-speed writing and reading of data, which is widely used for various memory devices. Cost reduction is desired for an increase in the capacity of a DRAM and research and development have been actively performed on the increase in the capacity of the DRAM by changing the layout of a memory cell, miniaturizing an element included in the memory cell, and the like.
In a general DRAM, a memory cell is connected to a sense amplifier. A minute difference in voltage that is generated when a charge held in the memory cell is discharged to a bit line is amplified by the sense amplifier, whereby data stored in the memory cell can be read out.
Patent Document 1 discloses a technique in which the area of a sense amplifier region is reduced for a reduction in the area of a chip in a structure where the sense amplifier region is provided between a plurality of memory cell array regions.

Semiconductor device and electronic device

Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.


Methods, systems and apparatus for obviating redundant actions in a network are provided. A data packet is tagged with a label at a transmitting end, based on a set of labels registered with a receiving end. This label indicates a set of actions performed on the data packet at the transmitting end, and is used to determine another set of non-redundant actions that have to be performed on the data packet at the receiving end. Thereby, obviating redundant actions, a found appropriate.

1. Field of Present Invention
Embodiments of the present invention relate, in general, to networking. More specifically, the embodiments of the present invention relate to methods and systems for obviation of redundant actions in a network.
2. Description of the Background Art
In a typical network, data is transferred between network devices. Examples of network devices include personal computers, servers, mobile phones, etc. Examples of networks include Local Area Networks (LANs), Wide Area Networks (WANs), Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs), and the Internet. Since data transferred across such networks may be accessed by unauthorized users, it is preferred to transfer data in an encrypted form. A Virtual Private Network (VPN) can be used for a secure transfer of data, which can also be transferred in an encrypted form in the VPN. The VPN is a network that uses a public network, like the Internet, to connect remote sites or users. These sites are herein referred to as VPN sites. In a typical VPN, only specified users are allowed to access the data transferred in the VPN. This access can be provided on the basis of a user identification code and password. Security mechanisms, such as authentication and encryption, are used to create a secure tunnel between two VPN sites. Such secure tunnels facilitate secure transfer of data within a VPN.
Further, a VPN site includes a security device, such as a firewall, to control access. Firewalls enforce security actions on incoming and outgoing data packets, based on certain policies defined within the VPN site. These policies include rules on the basis of which certain actions are performed on the incoming and the outgoing data packets.
It can be possible for these policies to be uniform among all the VPN sites within a VPN. This can result in the same action being performed by more than one VPN site. For example, the action can be first performed on the outgoing data packets when they are inspected by the transmitting VPN site's firewall. Further, the same data packets enter a receiving VPN site, where its firewall can enforce the same action.
Enforcing the same action more than once on a data packet makes the action redundant. The enforcement of repeated redundant actions results in wastage of time and other resources, and places unnecessary burden on the system that is performing these redundant actions.

Method and system for obviating redundant actions in a network


Methods for handoff of a multimode mobile station (MS). The MS, in connected mode, moves from a cell of a legacy base station to a cell of an ABS and scans base stations from a list of neighboring base stations, wherein at least the ABS is listed as another legacy base station in the list of neighboring base stations. The MS performs the handoff to connect to a legacy zone of the ABS. Further, the multimode MS switching from the legacy zone of the ABS to a advanced zone of the ABS based on a Zone Switch request or command is triggered by either the multimode MS or the ABS. The Zone Switch request is triggered after detecting capabilities of either the multimode MS or the ABS that they support advanced zone. The capabilities are detected by using MAC versions of the multimode MS and the ABS or an indicator for the advanced zone. The multimode MS can also performs handoff to the advanced zone from the cell of the legacy base station by receiving one or more information for ranging in the advanced zone from the ABS during the handoff.

Continuously emerging user needs have contributed to the rapid development of various 'Mobile Broadband Wireless Access' (herein after 'MBWA') technologies. As the demand for high speed data services increases while a user is on move, many MBWA technologies are being upgraded to cater to this demand. For example, one of the early MBWA technologies based on IEEE 802.16e standard, which is widely known as Mobile-WiMax, is being upgraded based on IEEE 802.16m standard. The 'Base Station's (herein after 'BS') in the upgraded or enhanced network are known as 'Advanced Base Station's (herein after 'ABS') that supports both the IEEE 802.16e standard and the IEEE 802.16m standard. The ABS thus enables smooth functioning of a legacy (that is, IEEE 802.16e standard compliant) Mobile Station (MS), a multimode (that is, IEEE 802.16e/16m standard compliant) MS, and an IEEE 802.16m standard compliant MS in these networks.
The multimode MS, when in connected mode, may move across the cells/sectors of the enhanced network that may be based on different revisions of the MBWA standard. As per the existing standard, when a multimode MS in connected mode moves from the cell of a legacy network to the cell of an enhanced network, the connection gets disrupted during the transition. Also when a multimode MS, either in idle mode or in connected mode, attempts to move from the cell of a legacy network to an enhanced network, the MS wastes considerable amount of power in scanning, which is necessary for the MS to find the legacy zone under the ABS of the potential target cell in its neighbourhood to get connected to the ABS of the target cell of the enhanced network.
Further, as per existing state of art, though the multimode MS in connected mode moves from the cell of a legacy network to the cell of an enhanced network, the multimode MS is unable to utilize the additional features of the enhanced network. After the handoff, the multimode MS connects to the legacy zone of the ABS and continues its data service with the ABS using the 802.16e (hereinafter '16e') protocols of the legacy network as specified in IEEE 802.16e standard. Such a system, limits the utility of a multimode MS in the enhanced network despite the system's capability.
Thus a scope is identified to improve the handoff functioning of a multimode MS in an MBWA standard compliant communication system when the multimode MS, in connected mode, is moving from a cell of a legacy network to the cell of an enhanced network. Further, another scope is identified to improve the functioning of a multimode MS after the handoff when the MS has moved from the cell of a legacy network to the cell of an enhanced network.

Method for handoff during connected mode of a multimode mobile station in mixed deployment


A system which provides a graphical user interface for monitoring operational status of the tools in the factory is provided. In a factory where many manufacturing tools having individual status reporting formats are operated, the system collects reports from the tools in different formats, translates these into one of ten newly defined statuses, then displays the statuses in a single display monitor so that a supervisor of the manufacturing tools can comprehend these statuses immediately and can take necessary actions appropriately.

The present invention relates to a method and system for supervising manufacturing tools in a factory, and more specifically to software which provides a graphical user interface for monitoring operational status of the tools in the factory.
Semiconductor device manufacturing generally includes integrating of various on-wafer processes integrations such as isolation, well formation, gate insulator formation, source/drain formation, plug formation, low-k layer structure formation, wiring and passivation. Further, the respective process integrations comprise unit processes including cleaning, heat treatment, thin layer formation, impurity implantation, lithography and planarization. Accordingly, a number of manufacturing tools are necessary for semiconductor manufacturing.
In typical manufacturing facilities, a plurality of production lines engaged in the manufacture of a variety of different products are maintained, and the number of production lines is constantly increasing. Therefore, the number of manufacturing tools is constantly increasing. For example, a certain semiconductor factory is equipped with three hundred or more tools for the above described unit processes, and the number of subunits, included in the tools, for managing raw materials reaches nine hundred.
The production lines, as well as associated manufacturing tools, are monitored and supervised by distributed or centralized systems provided for the respective production lines.
However, from the aspect of facility and resource management in the entire factory, supervision across production lines of the manufacturing tools may be more desirable because there are tools used in common by several production lines and therefore a status change of a certain manufacturing tool for one line may affect other lines.
In providing a cross-production-line supervising system, a supervisor of the manufacturing tools would find it difficult to monitor the status of the tools, because typically the tools have different status reporting systems where reporting formats are different from each other depending on the types and manufacturers of the tools. As a result, it is difficult to comprehend the operating status of the tools in a factory and take appropriate action immediately.
Accordingly, it is desired to prepare a system for efficiently reporting the status of many tools so that a supervisor of the tools can comprehend the status instantly.

Method and apparatus for supervising manufacturing tools

International Business Machines Corporation


In the recycling of used nickel/metal hydride storage batteries, the battery scrap is dissolved in sulphuric acid after mechanical separation of the coarse constituents by magnetic and air separation. A solvent extraction is performed with the digestion solution, from which the rare earths (from the hydrogen-storage alloys in the negative electrodes) and iron and aluminum have been selected by precipitation, under conditions pH, choice of solvent, volumetric ratio of the phases) which are such that the aqueous phase contains nickel and cobalt in the same atomic ratio as that in which they were present in the scrap. This makes possible a joint recovery by simultaneous electrolysis, in which process the deposition product forms a master alloy which can be used, together with the precipitated rare earths which have been electrometallurgically reprocessed as misch metal, for the production of fresh hydrogen-storage alloys.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a process for the recovery of metals from used nickel/metal hydride storage batteries, in which, after separating the rare earth metals as double salts from an acid digestion solution of the storage battery scrap and subsequent removal of the iron by raising the pH, the filtrate from the iron precipitation is subjected to a liquid/liquid extraction with an organic extractant for the purpose of recovering further metals, such as zinc, cadmium, manganese, aluminium and residues of iron and rare earths.
2. Description of the Related Art
Nickel/metal hydride storage batteries are electrochemical energy stores which, compared with other storage batteries such as, for example, the lead storage battery or the nickel/cadmium storage battery, have a higher storage capacity. These storage systems are therefore increasingly widespread not only for the mains-independent supply of energy to appliances in entertainment electronics, toys and the like, for example in the form of button cells, but also in vehicle drives in large-size battery casings.
The gastight casing, formed from sheet steel, of nickel/metal hydride storage batteries accommodates one or more positive electrodes, one or more negative electrodes and separators, seals and electrolyte.
A positive electrode is conventionally composed of a support and the active mass. Depending on electrode type, gauzes, expanded metal, perforated metal sheet, nonwoven fabric or highly porous metal foams are common as supports. The support material is nickel or nickel-plated iron. The active mass is a mixture of nickel hydroxide and cobalt oxide and, possibly, cobalt. In addition to binders and conducting agents, the mixture may contain further metals, including zinc, as hydroxides in lesser amounts.
A negative electrode is likewise composed of support and active mass. In this case, the latter is a hydrogen-storage alloy. Hydrogen-storage alloys are intermetallic compounds which can be assigned to a AB.sub.5 type on the basis of the simple starting alloy LaNi.sub.5 or to an AB.sub.2 type in accordance with the simple alloy TiNi.sub.2.
Hydrogen-storage alloys of the AB.sub.5 type for nickel/metal hydride storage batteries are conventionally composed of 45-55% Ni, 30-35% rare earths (REs), 5-15% Co, 2-5% Mn and 1-4% Al.
The valuable content substances of said storage batteries make their recovery from waste batteries a particularly urgent requirement.
Many processes are already known for processing used storage batteries, directed in particular at the acidic lead storage batteries. Of these, the processing methods for lead/acid storage batteries are of little interest here because they are remote from the subject of the invention.
Common to most of the other recycling processes, however, are the preparatory steps which comprise pre-sorting the battery scrap supplied in accordance with certain criteria such as cell size, cell shape (round cells, prism-shaped cells, button cells), that it is comminuted mechanically by shredding, that the iron (and the nickel) originating from the casings is separated from the comminuted and optionally washed scrap material, and that the shredder material is finally dissolved in acid for the purpose of wet-chemical further processing. The metals present are then separated in a sequence of fractionated precipitations and extraction processes from this digestion solution or solution of valuable substances and, finally, recovered by electrolytic deposition.
A very complicated separation process which, because it proceeds from unsorted battery scrap and consequently also has to take substances such as copper and mercury, which are absent in alkaline storage batteries, into consideration is described in German Docket Specification 42 24 884. In this process use is made of a liquid/liquid extraction for the selective separation of Zn ions from a fraction of the digestion solution, an organic extractant being fed into a mixer/settler unit as selection phase. Ni and Cd remain behind in the Zn-free solution.
The liquid/liquid extraction also plays an important part, however, in other known processes which were specifically developed for the waste disposal of nickel/cadmium batteries.
According to PCT Publication No. WO 92 03853, the filtered digestion solution, acidified with HCl, of Ni/Cd battery scrap is freed from Cd by counter-flow solvent extraction with 75% by volume of tributyl phosphate (TBP) and 25% by volume of aliphatic hydrocarbon and the Cd is made accessible to electrolytic deposition by so-called stripping (transfer to an aqueous acidic phase).
European Patent EP-A-585 701 provides a separate extraction of Ni and Cd from a fine fraction dissolved in HCl, which fine fraction is obtained, in addition to a magnetic fraction (Fe and Ni) and a light fragment formed from polymers (from casings, separators, bindings) by air separation.
A recycling process which relates specifically to the recovery of rare earths and transition metals from used alloys is the subject of U.S. Pat. No. 5,129,945. In the latter, a solvent extraction is also carried out for the purpose of separating Fe residues from the digestion solution, which Fe residues have entered the filtrate from the preceding hydroxide precipitation. In this case, Co is left behind in the aqueous phase.
In all these known processes, measures are taken which are intended to isolate the metallic constituents, as far as possible individually, in a systematic separation process and to recover the pure metal from the metal compound separated as salt or hydroxide using a reducing agent. Suitable for this latter step are metallothermic or electrolytic processes.
In this way, the iron is indeed returned to the steel industry again; nickel, cobalt and cadmium each return to the production of the battery manufacturer, but each metal is separated separately so that, to produce fresh electrode material, suitable mixtures composed of the refined materials have to be preprocessed again.

Process for the recovery of metals from used nickel/metal hydride storage batteries


The invention is directed to a method and a mold for forming a zinc collar on an insulator metal cap. The zinc collar forming mold is composed of a setting section for setting the metal cap in position on the mold and an upwardly opening cavity defined around the periphery of the setting section. For molding a zinc collar, the metal cap is immersed in a molten zinc, and the metal cap is set upright on the setting section of the mold with the lower half thereof being still in the molten state. Subsequenctly, a molten zinc is poured from the upper opening of the mold, and upon solidification of the molten zinc, a zinc collar can be formed around the external circumference of the metal cap.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method of forming a zinc collar on an insulator metal cap and a mold therefor.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Suspension insulators are generally used in the form of an insulator string comprising a multiplicity of serially connected insulators interposed between transmission lines and the arms of steel towers for supporting the transmission lines in order to secure insulation to the earth. However, if the surfaces of these suspension insulators are polluted and wetted, leakage current flows over the ceramic surfaces of the suspension insulators, whereby the metal caps undergo electrolytic corrosion to cause thinning thereof. Accordingly, the metal caps come to have reduced strength and they may occasionally be damaged by the load of the transmission lines.
With a view to overcoming the above problems, a suspension insulator, for example, of the structure shown in FIG. 4 has been proposed. This type of conventional suspension insulator has a pin 2 in the cavity of the head 1a of the insulator body 1 and fixed with a cement 3, and also has a metal cap 4 having a socket 4a. The metal cap 4 with which a pin 2 of another insulator unit can be engaged is fixed with a cement 5 over the circumference of the head 1a of the insulator body 1, wherein a zinc collar 6 is integrally formed on the metal cap 4 from the lower external circumferential edge to the bottom for the purpose of preventing such electrolytic corrosion of the metal cap 4.
In forming such zinc collar 6, the following method has conventionally been employed, wherein a metal cap 4 molded through casting of a metallic material such as iron is subjected to pretreatment (degreasing and acid washing) and then to galvanizing, followed by solidification of the thus deposited molten zinc with water cooling. The thus treated metal cap 4 is then dipped upright in a molten zinc 11 as shown in FIG. 5 so that approximately the lower half of the entire cap height may be immersed in the molten zinc 11, and removed therefrom to allow approximately the lower half of the metal cap 4 to be soaked with the molten zinc. Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 6, the metal cap 4 is set on a preheated mold 12 which can be separated into halves. A molten zinc 13 is poured from a sprue 12b of the mold 12, which passes through a gate 12c and flows into a zinc collar molding cavity 12a, followed by solidification of the molten zinc 13 to form a zinc collar 6 on the metal cap 4 from the lower external circumferential edge to the bottom.
Nevertheless, in the above conventional zinc collar forming method, the mold requires a high-accuracy approaching/separating mechanism, since the zinc collar 6 is designed to be formed using a pair of separable die halves, so that the mold assembly comes to have an extremely complicated structure. Moreover, since when the metal cap is released from the mold, the solidified zinc is snatched off at the gate 12c, burrs are formed on the zinc collar surface along the gate 12c, requiring intricate procedures such as deburring and subsequent finish polishing. Further, the molten zinc 13 also stays in the sprue 12b and the gate 12c, extra amount of zinc must be used. For such reasons, production costs inevitably jump up disadvantageously.
In the conventional molding method, the zinc collar molding cavity 12a of the mold 12 has a closed structure, so that the solidification of the molten zinc 13 poured into the cavity 12a proceeds from the external and internal circumferential surfaces of the zinc collar 6 toward the internal portion thereof. Thus, voids (micro-pores) are liable to be formed in the internal portion of the zinc collar 6 and products can be formed in very low yield, disadvantageously.

Mold for forming a collar on an external periphery of a metal cap


A process for producing bis(fluorosulfonyl) imide includes providing a solution comprising fluorosulfonic acid and urea, the solution maintained at a solution temperature from about 0° C. to about 70° C.; reacting the solution in the presence of a reaction medium at a reaction temperature from 80° C. to about 170° C. to produce a product stream including bis(fluorosulfonyl) imide, ammonium fluorosulfate and the reaction medium; separating the ammonium fluorosulfate from the product stream to produce an intermediate product stream; and separating the intermediate product stream into a concentrated product stream and a first recycle stream, the concentrated product stream including a higher concentration of bis(fluorosulfonyl) imide than the first recycle stream.

Bis(fluorosulfonyl) imide (HFSI) is a key raw material in the production of lithium bis(fluorosulfonyl) imide (LiFSI), which is used in lithium ion batteries. HFSI can be prepared by several methods. For example, HFSI can be prepared by the reaction of urea with fluorosulfonic acid shown in Equation 1:5HSO3F+2CO(NH2)2→HN(SO2F)2+2CO2+3NH4SO3F.  Eq. 1
U.S. Pat. No. 8,337,797 to Honda et al. discloses a two-step batch process for producing HFSI from urea and fluorosulfonic acid. In the first step, the urea is dissolved in the fluorosulfonic acid at a temperature low enough to prevent the reaction of Equation 1 between the urea and the fluorosulfonic acid. In the second step, the urea/fluorosulfonic acid solution is slowly added to separate reaction vessel including a reaction medium heated sufficiently for the reaction of Equation 1 to proceed. The controlled addition permits the heat generated by the exothermic reaction of Equation 1 to be controlled. U.S. Pat. No. 8,337,797 discloses that the heated reaction medium can be fluorosulfonic acid or HFSI, but it is preferable to use a mixture of fluorosulfonic acid and HFSI, with the HFSI serving to further control the reaction, especially at the beginning, when the urea/fluorosulfonic acid solution is first added to the heated reaction medium. However, the batch process as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,337,797 is not suitable for producing HFSI on an efficient, commercial scale.
International publication WO2011/111780, also to Honda et al., further discloses a recovery process to continuously remove reaction liquid from the reaction vessel, such as through an overflow outlet, continuously discharging the reaction liquid in a slurry state (including the ammonium salt byproduct). The process disclosed is done in production batches, with product HFSI added back to the reaction vessel ahead of the reaction for the next production batch.
Thus, there is a need to develop a more efficient process that may be scaled to produce commercial quantities of HFSI.

Integrated processes for producing bis(fluorosulfonyl) imide


A mirror package is provided which can reflect a laser to an external screen according to a video signal when the laser enters from outside, and a method of manufacturing the mirror package. The mirror is packaged with a glass to protect from external contamination, an inlet and an outlet are formed by, for example, an anisotropic etching on the glass and blocks a reflected light reflected from the glass. The mirror package is formed as a set, combined on a wafer using a wafer level package and diced to individual chips. Subsequently, a productivity is improved and a ghost image or phenomenon is removed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mirror package and a method of manufacturing the same and, more particularly, to a mirror package which can effectively remove a ghost image by blocking a reflected light of a laser reflected from a glass, and prevent the reflected light from being emitted externally, and also can be easily manufactured on a wafer level, and a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Conventional Art
Currently, a need for a large size display has increased due to an increase in a standard of living and an arrival of a multimedia era. Accordingly, various types of large size displays are being rapidly developed and a laser television (TV) is presented as a next generation display which is inexpensive, large, and also can achieve a high resolution.
A laser TV is provided with an optical scanner scanning a laser beam projected from a laser module in a horizontal and a vertical direction according to an RGB (Red Green Blue) video signal. The optical scanner includes a mirror which is manufactured on a basis of MEMS (Micro-Electro Mechanical System) technology. A laser is reflected by the mirror and projected to an external screen.
The mirror is packaged using a glass and the like, for protection from humidity and external dust. Structurally, the mirror reflects an external laser. In this instance, a ghost image creating an unwanted image along with a desired image may occur by a projection of a reflected light on a screen via a glass.
A ghost may be a noise that an image which is identical with or different from a desired image continuously occurs on an area of a TV screen. The ghost image occurs due to refractive index differences of glass and a reflection property of a laser, and due to the fact that a light interferes with a reflected light, generating an unwanted image.
Conventional art will be further described in detail with reference to FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram illustrating an optical scanner 10 with a mirror 30 according to a conventional art. As shown in FIG. 1, with reference to the optical scanner 10, the entering laser 12 from the light source 11 is projected to an inside of the mirror package 20 including the mirror 30. The entering laser 12 is reflected as at 15 from the mirror 30 and creates an image on an external screen 40 of the mirror package 20. In this instance, the mirror 30 vibrates on two axes to make the entering laser 15 reach a desired point on the screen. For the mirror 30 to vibrate on two axes, a vibrating unit 31 of a first axis and a vibrating unit 32 of a second axis perpendicular to the first axis are utilized. For convenience, a more detailed description related thereto will be omitted herein.
The mirror 30 is sealed with a glass 21 for protection from external dust and the like, the entering laser 12 reaches the mirror 30 via the glass 21. In this instance, with reference to the entering laser 12, a ghost image occurs due to a first reflected light 13 from a front surface of the glass 21 and a second reflected light 14 from a back surface of the glass 21, creating an unwanted image on the screen 40.
In order to remove the ghost image, a method of controlling an angle of a reflected and refracted light by tilting the glass 21 to a predetermined angle is provided, however, the manufacture of an apparatus utilizing this method may not be easy and an additional design may be necessary. Also, in the case of manufacturing the glass 21 to be tilted, a wafer level package may not be possible so that productivity may be severely hampered as every chip may be required to be individually packaged.
Also, while a method of a surface treatment, such as a non-reflection coating or the like on a surface of the glass 21, is taken into consideration, the method may not completely remove a ghost image and may increase a manufacturing process and a manufacturing cost.

Mirror package and method of manufacturing the mirror package


A disk mower moveable in a cutting direction includes a mower cutter support and a plurality of mowing disks mounted on the cutter support, the mowing disks being aligned in a direction generally perpendicular to the cutting direction. Each of the mowing disks rotate within a working circle having a working circle diameter, the working circle diameter of at least one of the mowing disks being different from the working circle diameter of at least one other mowing disk.

German 44 01 500 C1 discloses a plate mower with several identical mowing plates which are adjacent to one another in a direction at right angles to the driving direction and driven in groups in the same direction and for which the central mowing plates of adjacent mowing disks are equipped with conveying devices and/or conveying elements. At the same time, the conveying elements, constructed as conveying ramps, have a constant radius which is larger than the small radius of the elliptically constructed mowing plate. The conveying ramps are firmly connected with the mowing plate and the conveying device and are located in the transition region between the large and the small radius of the elliptically shaped mowing plate.


A shadow fairytale projector for providing images of a fairytale, comprises: a head part having a first lens module which protrudes from an outer side surface; a slit part where a perforated hole overlapping with the first lens module is formed, where the slit part comprises a first engagement rotation module for rotating a pack inserted into the pack slit and a film formed inside the pack, a fixing protrusion module for fixing the pack, and a discriminant protrusion module; and a body part which comprises a drive module connected to the first engagement rotation module to drive the first engagement rotation module, a control module, a speaker module connected to the control module to receive the sound signal and generate sound, and a battery for applying electrical energy to the drive module, the control module, and the speaker module.

The present invention relates to a technology of toys for children. Thus, the present invention pertains to the field of toys.
A fairytale helps children enhance the capability to use their imagination and widen their understanding. In the past, three-dimensional children book having moving pictures were developed and became common. That is, three-dimensional books like a book disclosed in Korean Patent Application Publication No. 10-2016-0055452 were made.
Nowadays, such three-dimensional books have been developed into sound books which provide sound of pictures included in the books. The sound books have been gaining popularity in that children is able to feel pictures in a book three-dimensionally.
With the popularity of sound books, more and more parents are looking for a device which reads a fairytale and shows scenes thereof and furthermore explains each of the scenes.


A dental power tool is provided with a guard device incorporating a guard plate for keeping a possible obstacle, e.g. the tongue or a part of the inside wall of a lip, aside during the dental treatment.

The present invention relates to a dental power tool of e.g. air turbine operated or contra-angle type for cutting a decayed tooth.
For treatment on a decayed tooth, a combination is commonly utilized of a dental tool for cutting a decayed tooth, a vacuum nozzle for removing a pool of oral liquid produced during the treatment, and a mirror for keeping an obstacle, e.g. the tongue or a part of oral body, from disturbing the treatment.
More specifically, as shown in FIG. 54, the dental tool A and the mirror B are held by both the hands C, D of a dentist for treatment on a decayed tooth E while the vacuum nozzle F is gripped by the hand of a hygienist. This is a troublesome task and requires considerable cost. Also, appropriate cooperation between the dentist and the hygienist is essential for carrying out a dental treatment at efficiency.
However, the hygienists are substantially limited in number and not easily available because of today's labor shortage. For compensation, the dentist attempts to use the vacuum nozzle F for acting as the mirror B to keep the obstacles aside during cutting a decayed tooth or place it on the lip end of a patient. As a result, the pool of oral liquid will be removed unsuccessfully and/or the patient to be treated will feel unpleasant.


An optical fiber ribbon includes a plurality of optical fibers, each includes a glass optical fiber coated with a fiber coating, that are arranged in parallel, and a ribbon coating that coats the optical fibers arranged in parallel. The optical fiber ribbon has a thickness equal to 300 μm or less. The fiber coating is made of a non-flame-resistant ultraviolet curable resin. The ribbon coating has a thickness equal to 40 μm or more and is made of a flame resistant resin.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a flame resistant optical fiber ribbon.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, an optical interconnection system using optical fibers for wiring has been attracting attention as a technology for sending a signal in a transmission device. Usually, such optical fibers are used in a form of an optical fiber ribbon. An optical fiber ribbon is formed by arranging in parallel optical fibers, each obtained by forming a fiber coating made of, for example, an ultraviolet curable resin around the circumference of a glass optical fiber, and then coating the optical fibers at the same time with a ribbon coating made of, for example, an ultraviolet curable resin. A conventional optical fiber ribbon used for the optical interconnection system is formed by, for example, arranging in parallel 12 optical fibers, each having an outer diameter of 250 μm and obtained by forming a fiber coating including a primary layer and a secondary layer on the circumference of a glass optical fiber having an outer diameter of, for example, 125 μm, at a pitch of 250 μm and then integrating the optical fibers with a ribbon coating. The conventional fiber ribbon has a thickness of about 300 μm and a width of about 3.1 mm.
To improve efficiency in installing wiring of this type of optical fibers in a transmission device, techniques for reducing the diameter of an optical fiber and the thickness of an optical fiber ribbon are under development. In addition, there has been an increasing demand for flame resistance as one characteristic of this kind of optical fiber ribbon. For example, US Patent Application No. 2006/0034575 discloses an optical fiber ribbon coated with a ribbon coating of flame resistant ultraviolet curable resin.
However, if a fiber coating and a ribbon coating are formed thinner to reduce the diameter of an optical fiber and the thickness of an optical fiber ribbon, favorable flame resistance and screening characteristics cannot be obtained.