An inter-cylinder-injection fuel controller for an internal combustion engine maintaining stable operation performance at a low cost. The inter-cylinder-injection fuel controller comprises a control unit 8B for controlling the injectors in a mode of the compression stroke injection or in a mode of the intake stroke injection, wherein various sensors 20 include an amount-of-intaken-air sensor and a crank angle sensor, and said control unit includes change-in-the-running-speed suppressing portion 82, 83 for suppressing a change in the running speed caused by a change in the external load in the mode of the compression stroke injection by correcting the amount F of supplying fuel, a rich determining portion 85 for forming a rich signal RC when a target air-to-fuel ratio A/Fo based upon the corrected amount of supplying fuel is on the side more rich than a predetermined lower-limit value .alpha., an air-to-fuel-ratio clipping portion 86 for clipping the controlled air-to-fuel ratio to the lower-limit value in response to the rich signal, an amount-of-deviation operation means for operating the amount of deviation .DELTA.A/F between the lower-limit value and the target air-to-fuel ratio in response to the rich signal, and parameter correction portion 87, 88 for correcting the control parameters toward the direction of increasing the output depending upon the amount of deviation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fuel injection controller used for engines of ordinary automobiles, such as an inter-cylinder-injection fuel controller for controlling the torque produced by an engine by directly injecting the fuel into the cylinders. Particularly, the invention relates to an inter-cylinder-injection fuel controller for an internal combustion engine, which improves combustion and maintains operability without driving up the cost by correcting control parameters by clipping the air-to-fuel ratio to a lower-limit value, in order to suppress fluctuation in the engine running speed when an external load is exerted.
2. Prior Art
In internal combustion engines used for automobiles, in general, the fuel injectors are installed in an intake manifold of an intake pipe, so that the fuel is supplied into the cylinders together with the intaken air.
FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating the constitution of a conventional fuel controller for an internal combustion engine having injectors provided in the intake pipe.
In FIG. 7, an internal combustion engine 1 is constituted by a plurality of cylinders. Here, only one cylinder is shown for simplicity.
An intake pipe 1a and an exhaust pipe 1b are communicated with a combustion chamber of the engine 1, and a crank shaft 1c is coupled to an end of the engine 1.
The intake pipe 1a supplies the intaken air and fuel to the engine 1, and the exhaust pipe 1b exhausts exhaust gases after burned in the engine 1. The crank shaft 1c rotates being linked to the engine 1. The cooling water 1d surrounding the periphery of the engine 1 cools the engine 1.
An air flow sensor 2 provided in an inlet port of the intake pipe 1a measures the amount of the air intaken by the engine 1 as amount-of-intaken-air data Qa.
A throttle valve 3 provided in the intake pipe 1a is opened and closed being interlocked to an accelerator pedal (not shown) operated by a driver, to adjust the amount Qa of the air intaken by the engine 1.
A throttle opening sensor 4 provided for the throttle valve 3 detects a position of the throttle valve 3, i.e., detects a throttle opening degree .theta..
A crank angle sensor 5 provided in relation to the crank shaft 1c outputs a pulse signal or a crank angle signal SGT in synchronism with the revolution of the crank shaft 1c. The crank angle signal SGT represents the running speed data of the engine 1 and the angular position data of the crank shaft 1c.
A water temperature sensor 6 for detecting the temperature Tw of the cooling water 1d works as a means for detecting the warmed-up state of the engine 1.
An oxygen sensor 7 provided in the exhaust pipe 1b detects the oxygen concentration Do in the exhaust gases exhausted from the engine 1 into the exhaust pipe 1b.
A control circuit 8 constituted by a microcomputer receives data (Qa, .theta., SGT, Tw, Do, etc.) detected by various sensors mounted on various peripheral portions of the engine, outputs drive control signals to various actuators (spark plugs and injectors that will be described later) depending upon the operation conditions, and executes a variety of sequence drive control operations (ignition timing control operation and fuel injection control operation) for each of the cylinders of the engine 1. Thus, the engine 1 is driven by combustion at desired ignition timings and at a desired air-to-fuel ratio.
A spark plug 9 provided in the combustion chamber in the cylinder of the engine 1 is driven by a spark control signal P from the control circuit 8.
A by-pass passage BP is so provided for the intake pipe 1a as to by-pass the throttle valve 3.
An air by-pass valve 10 provided in the by-pass passage BP is driven by a by-pass control signal B from the control circuit 8, opens and closes the by-pass passage BP so as to adjust the amount of the air by-passing the throttle valve 3, thereby to control the torque while the vehicle is running and to control the running speed of the engine during the idling operation (when the throttle valve 3 is fully closed).
An injector 11 is mounted in the intake manifold at a position on-the downstream side of the intake pipe 1a, and is driven by an injection control signal J from the control circuit 8 to supply fuel into the engine 1.
An EGR (exhaust gas reflux) pipe EP communicating the intake pipe 1a with the exhaust pipe 1b sends the exhaust gases exhausted from the engine back again to the combustion chamber so as to burn the exhaust gases again in order to decrease harmful NOx.
An EGR valve 12 provided in the EGR pipe EP is driven by an EGR control signal E from the control circuit 8 to control the amount of the exhaust gases refluxed into the intake pipe 1a from the exhaust pipe 1b.
A cylinder identifying sensor 13 attached to the cam shaft of the engine 1 sends, to the control circuit 8, a cylinder identifying signal SGC for identifying the cylinder in which the combustion is taking place in synchronism with the operation of the intake valve of the engine 1.
Detection signals Qa, .theta., SGT, Tw, Do and SGC obtained from the sensors 2, 4 to 7 and 13 are input to the control circuit 8. Actuators 9 to 12 are driven by control signals P, B, J and E output from the control circuit 8.
In a conventional device constituted as shown in FIG. 7, when an injection control signal J is output from the control circuit 8, the injector 11 is driven depending upon the drive pulse width of the injection control signal J, and the fuel of an amount corresponding to the injection control signal J is injected into the intake pipe 1a.
When the fuel is injected on the outside of the cylinder, however, the fuel partly adheres onto the inner walls of the intake pipe 1a and onto the intake valves of the engine before it is intaken into the cylinder of the engine 1. The fuel adheres particularly when the temperature is low (at the start of the operation) in which the fuel is less vaporized or during a transient operation condition where a response for the amount of fuel is required, resulting in the emission of exhaust gases containing harmful components in large amounts.
Therefore, there has heretofore been proposed an inter-cylinder-injection fuel controller for directly injecting fuel into the cylinders of the engine.
The inter-cylinder-injection fuel controller is drawing attention as an ideal engine, and offers the following effects (1) to (4) when it is used for a gasoline engine for general automobiles.
(1) Reducing the amount of toxic gases in the exhaust gases. PA1 (2) Improving the fuel efficiency. PA1 (3) Increasing the output of the engine 1. PA1 (4) Improving the controllability. PA1 An inter-cylinder-injection fuel controller for an internal combustion engine according to the present invention comprises: PA1 various sensors for outputting data representing operation conditions of the internal combustion engine; PA1 injectors for directly injecting the fuel into the cylinders of the internal combustion engine; and PA1 a control unit for operating the amounts of fuel supplied into the cylinders based upon the operation conditions and for controlling the injectors in a mode of the compression stroke injection or in a mode of the intake stroke injection based upon the amounts of supplying fuel; wherein PA1 said various sensors include an amount-of-intaken-air sensor for outputting data that corresponds to the amount of the air intaken by the internal combustion engine, and a crank angle sensor for outputting data that correspond to the running speed of the internal combustion engine and to the crank angle; and PA1 said control unit includes:
The fuel is directly injected near the spark plug 9 (see FIG. 7) in the combustion chamber. Therefore, the air-to-fuel ratio can be decreased (lean burn) without the need of taking a delay in the transportation of fuel into consideration, making it possible to reduce the amounts of toxic HC gas and CO gas.
The fuel is injected depending upon the ignition timing just before the ignition. Therefore, an inflammable fuel is formed around the spark plug 9 at the time of ignition, and the distribution of the mixture gas containing fuel becomes nonuniform, making it possible to establish a stratified combustion. This makes it possible to greatly decrease the apparent air-to-fuel ratio (to make the air-to-fuel ratio lean) of the amount of the supplied fuel to the amount of the air intaken into the cylinder of the engine 1.
Owing to the stratified combustion, furthermore, the EGR (exhaust gas reflux) that is effected in large amounts does not so much adversely affect the combustion, making it possible to increase the amount Qa of the intaken air. Therefore, the pumping loss decreases and the fuel efficiency is improved.
The mixture air concentrates around the ignition plug 9 and, hence, the end gas (mixture gas in a region remote from the spark plug 9) which causes knocking decreases. Owing to the stratified combustion, therefore, knocking occurs less, and the compression ratio of the engine 1 can be heightened.
Furthermore, the fuel vaporizes in the cylinder, and the vaporized fuel robs the air in the cylinder of the heat of vaporization. Therefore, the density of the intaken air increases, the volume efficiency increases, and the engine 1 produces an increased output.
Since the fuel is directly injected into the cylinder, the time delay is shortened from when the fuel is supplied until when the engine 1 produces an output by burning the fuel compared with the case of the device of FIG. 7. This makes it possible to realize an engine that quickly responds to the request of a driver.
In the inter-cylinder-injection fuel controller, there exist a lean operation mode in which the fuel is supplied in a very small amount during the compression stroke to establish a very lean stratified combustion to improve emission and fuel efficiency, and a stoichiometric operation mode in which the fuel is supplied in a required amount during the intake stroke to produce an increased output relying upon the combustion of an ordinary homogeneous mixture gas.
In the mode of the compression stroke injection (lean operation), the operation is carried out on the lean side compared with the mode of the intake stroke injection (stoichiometric operation). Therefore, the air Qa must be supplied in an increased amount to the engine 1 relative to a given throttle opening degree .theta. (accelerator opening degree). Therefore, the amount Qa of the intaken air that is usually controlled by the acceleration work only by the driver must be increased by another system.
FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating the constitution of a conventional inter-cylinder-injection fuel controller of an internal combustion engine disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open (Kokai) No. 187819/1992, and wherein the same constituent elements as those mentioned above are denoted by the same reference numerals but their description is not repeated.
This publication introduces a countermeasure on the side of the body of the engine 1 in order to improve combustion.
In FIG. 8, the control circuit 8A operates, for example, the amount of supplying fuel and the injection timing, outputs an injection control signal J depending upon the operated result, drives the injector 11A during at least either the intake stroke or the compression stroke, thereby to inject the fuel. Here, a cylinder to be controlled is identified based on a cylinder identifying signal SGC, to control the injector 11A of each of the cylinders.
The injector 11A is not mounted in the intake pipe 1a but is directly mounted in the combustion chamber of a cylinder of the engine 1, and has been designed to operate at high speeds and under high pressures, in order to inject a high-pressure fuel within a short period of time during the intake stroke or the compression stroke.
An injector driver 14 inserted between the control circuit 8A and the injector 11A converts the injection control signal J from the control circuit 8A into an injection control signal K for high-speed and high-pressure operation to thereby drive the injector 11A.
In response to the injection control signal J from the control circuit 8A, the injector driver 14 outputs an injection control signal K of an amplified large electric power to inject the fuel with a pressure overcoming the pressure in the cylinder.
The air by-pass valve 10A works to control the torque during the lean operation inclusive of when the vehicle is running in addition to controlling the running speed of the engine during the idling condition in which the throttle valve 3 is fully closed, and has been so designed as to increase the range for controlling the amount of the intaken air through the by-pass passage.
Described below is the operation of the conventional inter-cylinder-injection fuel controller for an internal combustion engine shown in FIG. 8.
In the inter-cylinder-injection device as described above, a stratified combustion (ultra-lean mode) control operation is carried out to supply fuel into the cylinder (compression stroke injection) just before the ignition, and the air-to-fuel ratio A/F has been controlled to be not smaller than 30 which is on the ultra-lean side. However, the air-to-fuel ratio in the practical combustion portion is close to a stoichiometric air-to-fuel ratio (14.7).
Unlike the lean combustion (intake stroke injection mode in which the intaken air and the fuel are homogeneously mixed together and, then, the mixture gas is burned at an air-to-fuel ratio of about 20) in the conventional device shown in FIG. 7, therefore, the operation is carried out near the air-to-fuel ratio of 16 (at which NOx is emitted in large amounts). Therefore, the EGR is introduced in large amounts to suppress the emission of NOx.
In the inter-cylinder-injection fuel controller of FIG. 8 as described above, the stratified combustion that is realized based upon injecting the fuel and finely controlling the ignition timing, is combined with the introduction of EGR in large amounts that tends to deteriorate the combustion in the engine 1, in order to establish a lean combustion by the injection in the compression stroke.
In the operation mode in which a large engine output is required such as during the acceleration, on the other hand, a homogeneous-mixture combustion is executed like in the conventional engine of FIG. 7 based upon the stoichiometric (rich) combustion by the injection in the intake stroke.
When the operation condition changes from the state of injection in the compression stroke (ultra-lean combustion) to the state of injection in the intake stroke (rich operation), in general, not only the air-to-fuel ratio and the EGR amount are corrected but also the fuel injection timing and the ignition timing are corrected. In this case, furthermore, the air by-pass valve 10A is controlled to decrease the amount Qa of the intaken air in order to suppress a change in the torque (increase of output) caused by a change from the lean fuel to the rich fuel.
When the air-to-fuel ratio is instantaneously shifted into a rich value, furthermore, a shock is generated due to a change in the torque. To prevent this, in general, the air-to-fuel ratio is gradually lowered, by a transient control called tailing mode, down to an air-to-fuel ratio at which the combustion takes place in the mode of the compression stroke injection (lean), which is then changed into the mode of the intake stroke injection to make the air-to-fuel ratio more rich.
In shifting the operation mode (tailing mode) as described above, however, when an external load is exerted in a state where the air-to-fuel ratio is rendered to be rich to such an extent at which the combustion can take place, deterioration in the combustion must be avoided; i.e., it is not almost allowed to render the air-to-fuel ratio to become rich. Therefore, it becomes difficult to effect the correction against a change in the torque caused by the external load.
In the lean operation mode in which an ultra-lean stratified combustion is established by supplying the fuel in the compression stroke, on the other hand, there exists a correlation between the output of the engine 1 and the amount of supplying the fuel. Therefore, when the external load is exerted on the engine 1 and the engine running speed has dropped, a change in the running speed can be suppressed by rendering the air-to-fuel ratio A/F to be rich.
In the conventional engine, furthermore, it has been proposed to suppress a change in the running speed by correcting, for example, the ignition timing. In the compression stroke injection mode, however, a change in the ignition timing causes a change in the phase relative to the fuel injection timing resulting in a change in the state of combustion. That is, the correction is not possible relying upon the ignition timing and, hence, a change in the running speed is suppressed by correcting the fuel.
When the air-to-fuel ratio is rendered to be too rich in the mode of the compression stroke injection, however, the combustion loses stability. In order to suppress the change in the running speed caused by the external load, therefore, when the air-to-fuel ratio is rendered to be rich so as to plunge into a region of unstable combustion, then, the change in the running speed may further increase due to more unstable combustion.
In the conventional inter-cylinder-injection fuel controller for an internal combustion engine as described above, the air-to-fuel ratio is rendered to be rich to suppress a change in the running speed when the external load is exerted. Therefore, a change in the running speed is further promoted when the air-to-fuel ratio has plunged into a region of unstable combustion.

Inter-cylinder-injection fuel controller for an internal combustion engine


Disclosed is a liquid crystal display device having a signal line of low electrical resistivity and high adhesion with an underlayer, wherein a copper alloy film is formed on an underlayer, and an oxide film, silicide film or nitride film, which are additive metal elements of the copper alloy, is formed at the boundary between the underlayer and the copper alloy film whereby the signal line is formed with a multi-layer film of the copper alloy film and the oxide film, the silicide film, or the nitride film.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an active matrix type liquid crystal display device driven by a thin film transistor.
2. Description of the Related Art
Driving frequency has recently been made higher to improve motion picture quality in an active matrix type liquid crystal display device driven by a thin film transistor. Accordingly, it is essential to lower the resistance of signal lines. Further, the active matrix type liquid crystal display device is used for television receivers of a large size screen. Accordingly, reduction in cost is demanded and it is strongly required to keep production cost low.
To decrease the resistance of the signal line, a metal material of low electrical resistivity such as aluminum or copper may be used as a main wiring material. However, aluminum or copper cannot be used alone as the wiring material. For example, since aluminum cannot be in direct contact electrically with a transparent conductive film (generally, oxide mainly comprising indium) in a different layer and, accordingly, it is necessary to laminate a connection layer of molybdenum or titanium at the boundary between aluminum and the transparent conductive film. Further, since aluminum diffuses unnecessarily in silicon for forming a thin film transistor, it is necessary to laminate a barrier layer of molybdenum or titanium also to the boundary between aluminum and silicon. On the other hand, since copper also diffuses unnecessarily into silicon, a barrier layer has to be laminated at the boundary between copper and silicon. Further, since copper has weak adhesion force with an underlying layer, an adhesive layer has to be laminated at the boundary between copper and the underlayer.
As described above, when aluminum or copper is used as a material for signal lines of thin film transistor driven liquid crystal display devices, a barrier layer or an adhesive layer of molybdenum or titanium has to be laminated inevitably.
However, molybdenum and titanium not only contribute scarcely to the lowering of the resistance in the signal line but also are expensive compared with aluminum or copper. That is, they involve a problem not contributing to the reduction of the cost. Further, since a step of laminating the barrier layer or adhesive layer is necessary, this takes much time for film deposition treatment and requires expensive sputtering apparatus disposed additionally. Accordingly, this results in a drawback of increasing the installation investment in mass production factories.
An example of an aluminum alloy that can be used as a single layer signal line is disclosed in "Resource and Material" Vol. 120 (2004), p. 310. When the aluminum alloy is used for connection wiring between a thin film transistor and a pixel electrode in a liquid crystal panel, the productivity is improved. However, the lower limit of the electrical resistivity of the aluminum alloy is 3.7 μΩcm and it is difficult to further lower the electrical resistivity. Further, when the aluminum alloy is used alone, it cannot cope with a problem regarding long time reliability of signal lines such as stress migration.
WO 2006/025347A1 describes an example of a copper alloy that can be used as a single layer for a signal line of a liquid crystal display device. The absolute value of a Gibbs Free Energy of Formation of oxide or enthalpy of formation of oxide of additive metal element of the copper alloy is larger than that of copper, and the diffusion coefficient of the additive metal element in copper is larger than the self-diffusion coefficient of copper. The alloy film is annealed at 400° C., an oxide of an additive metal element is formed at a boundary with a silicon oxide as an underlayer. This improves the adhesion with the underlayer and the electrical resistivity which was higher before annealing can be lowered.
In WO 2006/025347A1, annealing is conducted at 400° C. However, the temperature in production process of a thin film transistor-driven liquid crystal display device using amorphous silicon is at about 300° C. or lower. Accordingly, it is necessary that the electrical resistivity is lowered sufficiently even by annealing at 300° C. An aimed value for the specific electrical resistivity is below 3.7 μΩcm which is the electrical resistivity of the aluminum alloy that can be used as a single layer described in "Resource and Material" cited above. The present inventors have made an experiment of conducting annealing at 300° C. As a result, the electrical resistivity of the copper alloy formed on the silicon oxide was not lowered sufficiently compared with that before annealing. If it is intended only to lower the electrical resistivity, the content of the additive metal element may be decreased, but this lowers the adhesion with the underlayer.
The present invention intends to provide, in a thin film transistor-driven liquid crystal display device, an interconnect structure capable of sufficiently lowering the electrical resistivity even by annealing at 300° C. and having high adhesion with an underlayer.

Liquid crystal display units with data and/or address lines being formed of copper alloy and method of fabricating the same


In a method for recording a new coded message in place of an old coded message recorded on a magnetic stripe carried by a support document by manual displacement of said document, the message being divided into a first part and a second part separated by a gap, the clock signal used to write the first part of the new message is a clock signal obtained by reading the second part of the old message. The clock signal used to write the second part of the new message is a clock signal obtained by reading the first part of the new message, newly written. The system for implementing this method comprises a write head between two synchronization heads and an electronic circuit which produces from the signals from the two synchronization heads a clock signal slaved to the speed of displacement of the support document. This clock signal is sent to a write signal generator connected to the write head. The write signal generator also receives the data to be recorded.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns a method for recording a new coded message in place of an old coded message recorded on a magnetic stripe carried by a support document by manual displacement of said document.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are many applications where a magnetic message is to be read and modified.
This applies to prepaid transport tickets, for example. It is advantageous if the ticket read-write system is a system relying on manual displacement of the ticket as this avoids the need for a drive system requiring complex mechanical parts. Also, a manual displacement system is less vulnerable to vandalism.
However, in a manual displacement system the problem arises of the linear density of the "bits" of the magnetic code at the time of writing which must be independent of the speed and variations in the speed with which the ticket is moved across the read-write system.
French patent 2 637 102 describes a system for reading and encoding a magnetic stripe by manual displacement of the support document.
The principle of the system is that the magnetic stripe comprises a fixed coded first message followed by a variable coded second message modified each time that the ticket is passed through the read-write system. By means of a read head the fixed first message is used to synchronize the writing of the second part of the magnetic stripe by a write head.
This system has the drawback that it enables "writing" only on the second part of the magnetic stripe, the message on the first part of the stripe being invariant and used to synchronize writing on the second part of the stripe.
An object of the present invention is to enable modifiable writing on all of the length of the magnetic stripe.

Method and system for recording a new coded message in place of an old coded message recorded on a magnetic stripe carried by a support document by manual displacement of the document

Compagnie Generale d'Automatisme CGA-HBS


A durable and waterproof spinnerbait storage container having storage bags secured to a rod extending across the length of an internal compartment of the storage container such that each storage bag may hold a spinnerbait lure separately from other spinnerbait lures.

Recreational fishing is an activity enjoyed by tens of millions of people each year. In fact, some reports estimate that nearly forty-six million Americans participate in fishing activities in any given year. An average fishing participant is estimated to fish approximately 19.4 outings per year, with total combined fishing outings estimated at approximately 893 million times per year. While many of these fishermen cite the rush of catching a fish, the joys of the sights and sound of nature, and spending time with family as the best things about fishing, many fishermen say that one of the worst things about fishing is not having the right equipment.
Fishing tackle, a broad term used to refer to the equipment or gear used for catching fish, is essential for successful fishing. One popular fishing tackle is known as the "spinnerbait," which get its name from metal blades that spin like a propeller when the lure is in motion in order to look like a live fish. Spinnerbaits are often considered one of the most versatile types of lures because they can be used in a variety of conditions. Spinnerbaits can be used in different seasons, different water temperatures, different water depths, and can even be used around various types of cover. While spinnerbaits are versatile, different types of spinnerbaits are especially suited for various fishing situations. For example, one type of spinnerbait may be better suited for fishing around grass or brush and another type may be better suited for use as a drop-bait. Given the number of different types of spinnerbaits, and the benefits of using different types of spinnerbaits in different fishing conditions, a storage box is a vital piece of equipment for people who engage in fishing activities.
Current spinnerbait storage boxes are bulky and awkward to store in a boat compartment. The current styles do not secure the bait and, if the box is tipped on its side or on its top, then all of the contents are spilled and become entangled. The styles currently being manufactured are made from a semi-transparent polypropylene, are poorly made, are fragile, and are not water-resistant or waterproof. As a result, baits easily become tangled, damaged, or are continuously covered in rust. An improved spinnerbait storage container is desired for reducing or eliminating tangling, damaging, and rusting of spinnerbait lures.

Container for storing spinnerbait fishing lure


Carriers (10) holding parts (50) for assembling complex MEMS devices are transported to a central assembly location. The parts are stacked in a pre-assigned order and later released from their carriers. Alternatively, they are positioned over the appropriate location and released so as to fall into position as needed. The assembly area (100) includes a cavity below the plane of the carriers such that the parts held within the carrier drop into the cavity. Heating elements are integrated into the cavity to assist in the release of the parts. The cavity is supplied with parts by one or more carriers which are move around by any number of MEMS drive systems (200, 250). The cavity and some of the MEMS assembled therein deliver with precision amounts of materials as required suitable for biomedical applications, or may be processed in-situ, as in an on-chip laboratory.

This invention generally relates to micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) devices, and more particularly, to the fabrication of self-assembling MEMS to facilitate their manufacture using current state of the art semiconductor fabrication processes.
Products using MEMS technology are widespread in the biomedical, aerospace, automotive and communications industries. Conventional MEMS require complex multilevel processing in order to produce even the simplest machines. Most entities that are interested in exploring the MEMS market have limited options for prototyping devices and little or no expertise. Often, the processes and materials required are not compatible with their current process flows.
Conventional MEMS typically utilize cantilever switches, membrane switches, and tunable capacitor structures. MEMS devices are manufactured using micro-electromechanical techniques and are used to control electrical, mechanical or optical signal flows. Such devices, however, present many problems because their structure and innate material properties require them to be manufactured in lines that are separate from conventional semiconductor processing. This is usually due to different materials and processes which are not compatible and, therefore, which cannot be integrated in standard semiconductor fabrication processes.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,994,159 to Aksyuk et al. describes a plurality of hinged plates attached to a support which upon actuation assemble into a final structure. Such a method is limited in its ability to build complex MEMS structures, since the movable parts are hinged and will not move, inherently requiring that the parts of the assembly be fabricated in-situ albeit in a different orientation. As MEMS become more complex with larger part counts, such a technique is no longer feasible.
In view of the foregoing drawbacks presently encountered in the industry, there is a need for a process that is capable of providing MEMS devices using established BEOL (Back-end of the line) materials coupled to processing that is fully integrated in order that these devices be manufactured either in conjunction with or as an add-on module to the conventional BEOL or interconnect levels.

Micro-electromechanical sub-assembly having an on-chip transfer mechanism

International Business Machines Corporation


A method and apparatus including a facsimile server for a local area network (LAN) configured to automatically transmit information including client addresses to facsimile terminals on public telephone networks. The facsimile server includes a memory configured to store an address list, entries in which contain a calling number, a local number, and a user name, each specifying a same information processing apparatus (e.g., client) on the LAN. The facsimile server is configured to respond to a request for sending the address list. When a source facsimile terminal sends image information to a client of the facsimile server without specifying a calling number for the client, the facsimile server detects that the calling number is missed and automatically sends the address list back to the facsimile terminal so that the facsimile terminal can properly retransmit the image information for a second time while identifying the client in the second transmission.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a facsimile server and method performed thereby, and more particularly to a facsimile server which is capable of automatically transmitting client address information to facsimile terminals.
2. Discussion of the Background
Recently, facsimile servers have been used to connect a local area network (LAN) to public telephone networks (e.g., public switched telephone network, PSTN, or the like). Generally, LANs interconnect a number of client information processing terminals, such as, for example, a personal computer (such as a Bravo 66/2 manufactured by AST corporation), a workstation (e.g., SPARC 20 manufactured by SUN Microsystems), and so forth. Also, each of such public telephone networks, such as, the PSTN, the integrated services digital network(ISDN), cellular networks (e.g., AMPS, and the like) and so forth, has a linkup of a larger number of facsimile terminals among other communication terminals such as a telephone, multifunction printer/scanner/fax/copier (such as Canon's Model 2500 multiscan) and so forth.
A main function of the facsimile server in a LAN is likely a gateway. More specifically, the facsimile server carries out sequential operations of temporarily receiving image information (e.g., a message) sent to "clients" (i.e., nodes on the LAN) from other facsimile terminals via the PSTN, and distributing the received image information to designated clients. In addition, the facsimile server provides a bi-directional function by relaying image information in the reverse direction (i.e., from clients to other facsimile terminals).
Conventionally, there have been introduced various ways for specifying clients on the LAN for the above-mentioned function of the facsimile server. An example is disclosed in the official gazette for Laid Japanese Patent Application TOKUKAI HEI 5-276197. This example uses a direct dial-in service, provided by the telephone network provider, for example, NIPPON TELEGRAM AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION (NTT), for specifying one client among other candidate clients on the LAN. Under this direct dial-in service, a telephone number is previously established to each candidate client on the LAN. A facsimile terminal uses the public telephone line resources to transmit image information using those telephone numbers to a facsimile server. In response, the image information is then transmitted through the facsimile server to a recipient client via the specified by the telephone number.
Another example as disclosed in Japanese Official Gazette for Laid Japanese Patent Applications, identified as TOKUKAI HEI 7-38604, utilizes a sub-address system defined by the ISDN standard to specify a client among information processing terminals on a LAN.
Another example teaches a use of a transmitting subscriber identification (TSI) field in a protocol defined by a Group 3 facsimile standard defined by CCITT (the Commute Consultant International de Telegraph and Telephonie) to specify a client among information processing terminals on a local area network.
Another example teaches a use of a dual tone multiple frequency(DTMF) to specify a client from among information processing terminals on a LAN.
Yet another example teaches a use of a confidential identifier under the protocol of any communication standard other than CCITT Group 3 facsimile standard to specify a client from among other terminals on a LAN.
Each of the above-mentioned facsimile servers are provided with a function for distributing facsimile image information sent from a facsimile terminal to a recipient information processing terminal.
However, a limitation with the above approaches, as identified by the Applicant, is when a source facsimile terminal transmits image information to a client from multiple terminals on a LAN, the source facsimile terminal must previously know (i.e., have apriori knowledge) of an identification of the intended destination information processing terminal, such as, for example, a telephone number under the direct dialing-in service, a sub-address of ISDN, and so forth, as described hereinbefore. When the source facsimile terminal does not have such identification, an operator usually needs to get in contact with a user at the recipient side to request to send an appropriate identification number. In this event, the operator of the source facsimile terminal must wait to receive such information for a relatively long time, which results in wasted time for operators at both the sending and receiving sites.

Facsimile server apparatus and method configured to automatically transmit client address information to facsimile terminals


A portable, hand-held computer functions as an intermediary between a database server and individual aircraft when the aircraft cannot be connected to the database server. By virtue of being portable and being locally linked (over time) to different aircraft, the intermediary computing device can provide the data upload validation and auditing for accurate billing of database usage for a flight database provided from the server. This ensures that each aircraft which receives an uploaded database is entitled to receive the upload based on a paid license. As a result, billing by the database vendor is based on usage. Licensing and data authentication is mediated by the intermediary computing device.

A modern aircraft, in flight, requires a navigational database (NAVDB in this document, sometimes referred to as "NDB" in the art) to provide essential data regarding airports, airways ("highways in the sky"), airport approaches (the "on-and-off ramps" to airports), terrain database(s), airport physical infrastructure, runways, navigational aids, gates, standard instrument departures (SIDs), standard terminal arrival routes (STARs), and similar data. This data is essential for safe landings and take-offs, and assists in avoiding conflicts with other air other traffic and with ground obstacles.
The NAVDB must be updated on a regular basis, on what is known as an "AIRAC cycle" which occurs every 28 days. These updates provide revised information for runway closures, airport maintenance, airport communication frequencies, standard instrument approaches, VHF and NDB (non-direction beacon) navigational aids, and other changes in the ground-based, aircraft-support infrastructure. (This updating may be viewed as being similar to the way car and truck drivers will update the GPS systems for their cars, and further to the way GPS updates are likely to be essential for self-driving cars in the future. Essentially, airplanes need the latest airway and airport data, as well as the latest flight procedures and rules.)
In current worldwide practice, various states (whole nations or states within nations) have government or civil organizations which publish appropriate navigation data and update the data on a regular basis. The updated data is then obtained by, and consolidated by, a handful of organizations or private companies (for example, Jeppesen, Lufthansa Systems FlightNav Inc., and others). The consolidated data is then sold in industry-standard formats to other large third-party suppliers of aircraft systems and vendors of aircraft navigational data, such as for example General Electric Aviation (G.E. AV). (For example, the license server 320 of exemplary system 300 (as illustrated in FIG. 3 below), and which provides an updated NDVDB 330 at regular intervals, may be a license server maintained by a vendor such as General Electric, Inc.)
Typically, aircraft data vendors such as G.E. AV will process the NAVDB data to compile the data in a GE-proprietary form. Compiling the data may entail, for example and without limitation: sub-setting the data based on memory-size constraints or other factors, and data compression. The compiled NAVDB is then distributed to each airline which pays the vendor (such as GE Aviation Systems (GEAS)) for the NAVDB, which is typically licensed on a fee per-aircraft basis. The NAVDB vendor will therefore typically maintain a database or listing of specific aircraft which are authorized (by contract and with a paid license fee) to receive the NAVDB updates.
In legacy systems (that is, current distribution systems), aircraft are typically not connected to the internet during time on the ground or in maintenance. Therefore, aircraft maintenance personnel use entirely local data means, such as floppy disks or Ethernet loaders, to load an updated NAVDB onto airplanes. These are direct electrical connections to a flight management system (FMS). This can cause delays in data loading, and also fails to provide any means to audit data uploads, to ensure that only properly licensed airplanes (as identified by their "tail numbers") can obtain the data. Currently, financial billing for data updates is performed on an "honor system" basis.
In legacy systems, data users (the airlines) report their fleet size to data vendors (for example, G.E.) on a cyclic basis, and data vendors such as G.E. then charged accordingly. This is a very error-prone, coordination-heavy billing process, and with the potential for errors compounded by the lack of per-aircraft authentication of the database upload. In the worst cases, there may be sloppiness in reporting, and potentially even under-reporting of data uploads (whether by error or intent).
What is needed then, is a system and method for reliably updating an aircraft database, such as an aircraft navigation database, with the update process having suitable updating monitoring, tracking, and auditing; and all of this being done while the aircraft does not normally have a connection to a remote update server.

Secure authentication for distribution of aircraft flight data


A grinding method of grinding a roller workpiece to be formed into a roller of a rolling bearing includes an outer peripheral face machining step. In the outer peripheral face machining step, an outer peripheral face of a regulating wheel that is rotating, is brought into contact with an outer peripheral face of the roller workpiece that is supported from below by a support member, to rotate the roller workpiece, and a grinding wheel is brought into contact with the outer peripheral face of the roller workpiece that is rotating to grind the outer peripheral face of the roller workpiece. In the outer peripheral face machining step, the outer peripheral face of the roller workpiece is ground with a reference member held in point contact with a center of an end face of the roller workpiece.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a grinding method of grinding a roller workpiece to be formed into a roller of a rolling bearing, and a grinding apparatus that grinds the roller workpiece.
2. Description of the Related Art
Rollers of a rolling bearing roll on the raceway surface of an inner ring and the raceway surface of an outer ring. Thus, the outer peripheral face of each roller is subjected to finish grinding. Further, the axial end face of each roller, which comes into sliding contact, for example, with a rib of the inner ring, is also subjected to finish grinding. Conventional methods of grinding the outer peripheral face of a roller include infeed centerless grinding in addition to through-feed centerless grinding described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2009-274192 (JP 2009-274192 A).
The infeed centerless grinding is performed as follows: a roller workpiece to be ground is supported from below by a blade (support member); the outer peripheral face of a regulating wheel is brought into contact with the outer peripheral face of the roller workpiece; the regulating wheel is rotated, which causes the roller workpiece to rotate about its central axis; and a grinding wheel is brought into contact with the outer peripheral face of the roller workpiece that is rotating, to grind the outer peripheral face of the roller workpiece. While the outer peripheral surface the roller workpiece is being ground, a reference member is held in surface contact with the axial end face of the roller workpiece. That is, the outer peripheral face of the roller workpiece is ground using the end face of the roller workpiece as the reference surface.
However, because the roller workpiece is formed through forging and heat treatment performed after the forging, the accuracy of its axial end face is low. Thus, when the roller workpiece is rotated with the reference member held in surface contact with the axial end face of the roller workpiece, the roller workpiece may move (although slightly) back and forth in the axial direction due to the runout of the end face. Grinding the outer peripheral face of the roller workpiece in such a state would result in a low finish accuracy of the outer peripheral face. Then, grinding the axial end face of the roller workpiece using the outer peripheral face of the roller workpiece as the reference surface would result in a low finish accuracy of the end face.
Therefore, grinding of a roller workpiece is performed as follows. First, as illustrated in FIG. 9A, an outer peripheral face 92 of a roller workpiece 90 is ground with a first reference member 95 held in surface contact with an axial end face 91 of the roller workpiece 90. In this case, due to the above-described behavior of the roller workpiece 90, that is, the roller workpiece 90's moving back and forth in the axial direction, the finish accuracy of the outer peripheral face 92 becomes low. In FIG. 9A to FIG. 9E, the surface to be ground is indicated by a triangle. When grinding of the outer peripheral face 92 is completed, as illustrated in FIG. 9B, a second reference member 96 is brought into surface contact with the outer peripheral face 92, and the roller workpiece 90 is rotated and the end face 91 is ground using the outer peripheral face 92 as the reference surface. Because the finish accuracy of the outer peripheral face 92 used as the reference surface is low as described above, the finish accuracy of the ground end face 91 of the roller workpiece 90 also becomes low. Therefore, as illustrated in FIG. 9C, the roller workpiece 90 is rotated and the outer peripheral face 92 is ground again with the first reference member 95 held in surface contact with the end face 91 of the roller workpiece 90. Then, as illustrated in FIG. 9D, the roller workpiece 90 is rotated and the end face 91 is ground again using the outer peripheral face 92 as the reference surface. If the accuracy of the outer peripheral face 92 still fails to reach the design value, as illustrated in FIG. 9E, the outer peripheral face 92 of the roller workpiece 90 is ground using the end face 91 as the reference surface.
In this way, a prescribed dimensional accuracy is secured by repeatedly performing the step of grinding the outer peripheral face 92 using the end face 91 of the roller workpiece 90 as the reference surface, and the step of grinding the end face 91 using the outer peripheral face 92 of the roller workpiece 90 as the reference surface.
In the conventional grinding method described above, increasing the dimensional accuracy of the outer peripheral face of the roller requires repetition of grinding of the outer peripheral face 92 and grinding of the end face 91. However, if these grinding steps are repeatedly performed, the number of man-hours increases and works such as interchanging the reference members 95, 96 and rearranging the roller workpiece 90 to be ground are involved in each step, leading to low productivity.

Grinding method of grinding roller workpiece and grinding apparatus for grinding roller workpiece


An image processing device for joining a plurality of images while preventing deterioration of a quality of joined images, and particularly for producing an entire image of a subject by joining a plurality of divided images produced from divided portions of the subject having partially overlapping portions, including a setting portion for setting a plurality of sets each including corresponding points in the two divided images having overlap regions overlapped together, a transforming portion for performing geometric transformation of one or the other of the two divided images based on the plurality of corresponding point sets, and a joining portion for joining the two divided images based on the plurality of corresponding point sets after the geometric transformation, wherein higher importance is placed on a specific portion of the overlapping regions compared with the other in the geometric transformation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing device, an image processing method and an image processing program. Particularly, the invention relates to an image processing device, an image processing method and an image processing program for producing an image of a high resolution by joining a plurality of images obtained from divided portions of a subject.
2. Description of the Related Art
Such a technique has been known that can obtain an image of high resolution by joining a plurality of partial images obtained from divided portions of a subject. This is an effective technique for obtaining high-resolution images in the case where a resolution of an acquirable image is restricted due to the number of pixels of a charge coupled device (which will be referred to as a "CCD" hereinafter) or the like. This technique is disclosed, e.g., in Japanese Patent Laying-Open Nos. 6-164890, 5-12430 and 6-98101.
In the joining techniques disclosed therein, characteristic points and a correlation in change of pixel values are detected, and positioning or registration is performed based on the relative positional relationship between the images thus obtained.
In the conventional joining technique, however, regions of the partial images to be joined may not accurately overlap with each other due to shift in position occurred at the time of taking partial images by the CCD or the like, distortions in lens, affine strain or the like. In this case, unnatural images or blurred images are formed in a joint or border between joined images, resulting in low image quality.
Such a problem also arises that long times are required for detecting corresponding characteristic points in the divided images to be joined and detecting the correlation in change of the pixel values.

Image processing device, image processing method and image processing program for joining a plurality of divided images


A method and computer system are provided for updating inventory data in an inventory management system through the use of a computer software application program. A request is initiated for receiving inventory models from an inventory management system. The inventory models may include default configuration data for inventoried equipment in the inventory management system. Next, the inventory model data is received from the inventory management system. Next, an inventory update form is generated for a selected inventory model. Then, the inventory update form is populated with updated inventory data. Finally, the updated inventory data is sent to the inventory management system to update the inventory. The updated inventory data may include specific configuration data for inventoried equipment in the inventory management system.

Many communications companies utilize inventory management processes for managing communications equipment in their networks. For example, a telecommunications company may maintain configuration data relating to vendor supplied central office equipment in an inventory management system. The inventory management system may include specific configuration data for a piece of equipment such as the equipment's location as well as the physical assignments (i.e., how the equipment is cabled) and operating parameters for the piece of equipment in the central office.
Often, due to increased capacity requirements, new pieces of equipment must be purchased from a vendor and inventoried before it is installed in the communications network. For example, typically, before a new piece of equipment is installed in a telecommunications network, a capacity manager or planner prepares an equipment update order form for the vendor which includes standard or model configuration data associated with the new piece of equipment. The model configuration data may include an equipment code, the location of the equipment in the central office, and cabling assignments. Once the planner completes the equipment update order form, it is typically sent to the vendor where the form is updated or customized with the specific operating parameters for the equipment. Once the vendor has updated the equipment update order form, it is typically sent back to the planner for approval after which the model and specific configuration data may be entered into a computerized inventory management system.
Current methods for updating inventory in a telecommunications network, however, suffer from several drawbacks. First, the equipment update order forms are typically prepared manually by planner and vender personnel increasing the likelihood of configuration data entry errors, which when discovered, take additional time to correct. Second, the communications of the forms themselves between the planners and vendors are often made via facsimile which may also lead to data entry errors resulting from a poor quality facsimile transmission. Finally, even after an inventory update form has been approved, it must still be manually entered into the inventory management system which again introduces human error in the data entry process.
It is with respect to these considerations and others that the present invention has been made.

Method, system, and computer-readable medium for updating inventory data in an inventory management system


This present invention relates to a new and improved reductive amination process for the preparation of 3-azabicyclo[3.1.0]hexane derivatives and pharmaceutical compositions comprising such derivatives. The invention particularly relates to using such derivatives to treat certain disorders and conditions, including, for example, irritable bowel syndrome, drug addiction or dependency, alcohol addiction or dependency, depression, and eating disorders.

Compounds that bind to opiate receptors (e.g. mu, kappa and delta opioid receptors) are likely to be useful in the treatment of diseases modulated by opiate receptors, for example irritable bowel syndrome; constipation; nausea; vomiting; and pruritic dermatoses, such as allergic dermatitis and atopy in animals and humans. Compounds that bind to opiate receptors have also been indicated in the treatment of eating disorders, opiate overdoses, depression, smoking and alcohol addiction and dependence, sexual dysfunction, shock, stroke, spinal damage and head trauma.
It is furthermore beneficial to obtain drugs that bind to opioid receptors which are not substrates of the enzyme CYP2D6. The presence of CYP2D6 enzyme among the human population is variable, and therefore it is easier to develop dosage schemes for a drug that are more generally applicable to a human population if the drug is not metabolized by CYP2D6.
Certain 4-arylpiperidine-based compounds are disclosed in European patent applications EP 287339, EP 506468 and EP 506478 as opioid antagonists. In addition, International Patent Application WO 95/15327 discloses azabicycloalkane derivatives useful as neuroleptic agents. 3-Azabicyclo[3.1.0]hexane derivatives useful as opioid receptor antagonists are also disclosed in WO 00/39089.
The synthesis, composition, and methods of use of certain 3-azabicyclo[3.1.0]hexane derivatives are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,313,312 and United States Patent Application 2003/0087898. The present invention provides an alternative route to these compounds with improved yield.
The aforementioned patents and patent applications are incorporated herein by reference therein in their entirety.

Preparation of 3-azabicyclo [3.1.0] hexane derivatives


A dye mixture having, at 780 nm, a real refractive index not less than 1.8, and an imaginary part not greater than 0.15 and comprising (a) a tetra dye having a metallized azo dianionic dye with a cationic dye counterion and (b) at least one other dye having the structure according to formula I: ##STR1## wherein: A may be equal to or different from A.sup.1, in which each represents an aryl group having 6 to 10 carbon atoms;. B may be equal to or different from B.sup.1, in which each ##STR2## R and R.sup.1 represent an alkyl group of C.sub.1 -C.sub.10 or an aryl group having 6 to 10 carbon atoms; and PA1 X represents halide, ClO.sub.4, BF.sub.4, PF.sub.6, tosylate and RCOO.

There are many types of known optical recording elements. In many of the elements, the mode of operation requires a recording layer having a high absorption and the recorded marks, often referred to as pits, have low optical density or high reflectivity. The high reflectivity pits are made by ablating away the high absorption recording material, usually exposing an underlying reflective layer.
One of the currently popular forms of optical storage of information is the compact disk or CD. Digital information is stored in the form of high optical density marks or pits on an otherwise reflective background, as read with a focused laser diode operating in the 780-835 nm spectral region. This is the exact opposite of the above described optical recording materials. In this format, the optical information is most often in the form of read only memory or ROM. Optical information is not usually recorded in real time but rather is produced by press molding. In a typical process, the optical recording substrate is first press molded with a master containing the digital information to be reproduced. The thus formed information is then overcoated with a reflective layer and then with an optional protective layer. In those areas having the deformations or pits, the optical density is higher than in those areas not having the deformations.
It is desirable to produce optical recording elements which, when recorded in real time, produce a record that mimics the conventional CD on read out by generating dark marks on a reflective background.
One recently disclosed system of this type is the so called "Photo CD". In this system, conventional photographic film is first processed in a conventional manner. Then, the images from the film are scanned and digitized. The digitized information is recorded in a CD readable form on an optical recording element. Images can then be played back on a CD type player into a conventional television.
Commercially useful materials of the type described in these references have stringent requirements. The recording layer must be able to couple with incident write laser irradiation to provide features having sufficient contrast. At the same time the unmarked portion of the disk must have sufficient reflectivity to conform to the 70% CD-ROM standard (ISO/IEC 10149). The layer must also have good stability towards light, heat and humidity for acceptable shelf life. Photo CD, for example, is a consumer product and it must be capable of withstanding extreme environments. Between the time the original images are recorded on the Photo CD and the time subsequent images are recorded, the CD might be placed in strong sunlight.
Thus, there is a continuing need for optical recording materials that have the necessary optical characteristics so that they are CD compatible, can couple with incident laser irradiation to form features with sufficient contrast, meet the minimum reflectivity standard, and yet are light stable. It is to a solution to this problem that the present invention is directed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,426,015 discloses optical recording elements having recording layers containing tetra dyes. These dyes comprise metallized azodianions with cationic dye counterions. These elements exhibit sensitivity that could be improved.

Tetra dye mixed with another dye or dyes for optical recording elements


An optical communication apparatus includes a variable resistor unit, a measurement unit, and a control unit. The variable resistor unit is arranged at a pre-stage of an electrical/optical conversion unit, which converts an electrical signal obtained by converting an input packet to an optical signal having a waveform corresponding to a potential difference between a positive phase component and a negative phase component of the electrical signal by using the potential difference. The variable resistor unit provides a resistor that varies a midpoint of potential of the positive phase component or the negative phase component. The measurement unit measures a ratio of a presence period, which is a period where the input packet is present, to a sum of the presence period and a non-presence period. The control unit controls a value of the resistor provided to the positive phase component or the negative phase component based on the ratio.

In recent years, in the field of optical transmission, there has been a demand of conversion technique to convert electrical signals to optical signals at a high speed due to expansion of the internet and increase of information amount to be handled. A conversion technique using a differential Electrical/Optical (E/O) converter is generally known as a high-speed conversion technique.
In the conversion technique using a differential E/O converter, an E/O converter of a transmitting optical communication apparatus converts an electrical signal to an optical signal having a waveform corresponding to a potential difference between the positive phase component and the negative phase component of the electrical signal obtained by converting an input packet by using the potential difference. An input packet may be an IP packet or the like that is input through, for example, 10G Ethernet (registered trademark). Then, the optical signal converted by the transmitting optical communication apparatus is transmitted to a receiving optical communication apparatus, and an O/E convertor of the receiving optical communication apparatus converts the optical signal to an electrical signal. The receiving optical communication apparatus determines data based on the waveform of the electrical signal obtained by converting the optical signal. For example, the receiving optical communication apparatus determines that data is "1" when the waveform of the electrical signal obtained by converting the optical signal is larger than a predetermined area and determines that data is "0" when the waveform of the electrical signal is smaller than the predetermined area (Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2012-124731).
However, in the conventional technique, improvement of a signal waveform that is deteriorated due to presence/non-presence of input packets is not considered.
That is, in the conventional technique, impedance of a capacitor of AC coupling that allows a positive phase component and a negative phase component to be input to the E/O converter becomes near zero and the midpoints of the potential of the positive and negative components match in a period where input packets to be input to the transmitting optical communication apparatus are present. On the other hand, in a period where no input packet to be input to the transmitting optical communication apparatus is present, impedance of a capacitor of the AC coupling that allows the positive phase component and the negative phase component to be input to the E/O converter becomes infinitely large and the midpoints of the potential of positive and negative components to be input to the E/O converter are apart in opposite directions. A case where the input packets are IP packets input through 10G Ethernet is assumed as an example. In this case, in an Inter-Frame Gap (IFG) that is a time period between an IP packet and another IP packet where no IP packet is present, the midpoints of the potential of an positive phase component and the midpoint of the potential of a negative phase component to be input to the E/O converter are apart in opposite directions. The E/O converter converts an electrical signal to an optical signal having a waveform corresponding to a potential difference between the positive phase component and the negative phase component that are apart in opposite directions using the potential difference. Therefore, a waveform of an optical signal output from the E/O converter of the transmitting optical communication apparatus may be deteriorated. A deteriorated waveform of an optical signal output from the E/O converter of the transmitting optical communication apparatus makes it difficult for the receiving optical communication apparatus to determine whether a waveform of an electrical signal obtained by converting an optical signal is larger than a predetermined area. Thus, the receiving optical communication apparatus may wrongly determine data.

Optical communication apparatus and control method thereof


The currents that m pieces of quasi control current output circuits formed with a polycrystalline TFT output have the dispersion. In the present invention, the averaged value of the output currents of these m pieces of the quasi control current output circuits is outputted from the output terminals of n (n represents a natural number of m or less) of the control current output circuit. For example, the output currents of these m pieces of the quasi control current output circuits are in turn exchanged and outputted from the n (n represents a natural number of m or less) pieces of the output terminals of the control current output circuits. Thus, the drive circuit, which has suppressed the dispersion of the output current, can be provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a driver circuit formed on an insulation surface. Further, it also relates to a display device having the driver circuit and a light emitting element provided on the insulation surface. Particularly, the present invention relates to an active matrix display having the driver circuit and a plurality of pixels which are arranged in matrix, and a switching element and a light emitting element are arranged in each pixel.
2. Description of the Related Art
An active matrix display device having a plurality of pixels in which a switching element and a light emitting element are arranged in each pixel, has advantages like superiority in response, operation with a low voltage and a wide view angle. Therefore, the active matrix display device comes under the spotlight as a next generation flat panel display.
Incidentally, the light emitting element means an element of which a luminance is controlled by electric current or voltage. For the light emitting element, electron source elements typified by an OLED (organic light emitting diode) element, a FE (field emission display) element, an MIM (Metal-Insulator-Metal) element and the like may be used.
The light emitting element comprises of an anode, a cathode, and a layer containing an organic compound (hereafter simply referred to as an organic compound layer) and sandwiched between the anode and the cathode. The light emitting element emits light according to a voltage applied between the anode and the cathode. Note that emitting the light emitting element is referred to as driving the light emitting element.
An organic compound layer usually has a lamination structure. A typical lamination structure thereof is one proposed by Tang et al. of Eastman Kodak Company and consisting of a hole-transporting layer, a light emitting layer, and an electron transporting layer. Other examples of the lamination structure include one in which a hole injection layer, a hole transporting layer, a light emitting layer, and an electron transporting layer are layered in order on an anode, and one in which a hole injection layer, a hole transporting layer, a light emitting layer, an electron transporting layer, and an electron injection layer are layered in order on an anode. A light emitting layer may be doped with a fluorescent pigment or the like. A given voltage is applied to the organic compound layer structured as above from a pair of electrodes (an anode and a cathode) to induce recombination of carriers in its light emitting layer. As a result, the light emitting layer emits light.
At this time, the emission luminance of the light emitting element is in proportion to the current flowing between the electrodes (the anode and the cathode). Accordingly, a pixel structure in which a current flowing to the light emitting element of each pixel is controlled by a current (hereafter referred to as control current) input to the pixel portion, is proposed. Such a pixel structure is referred as to current control type pixel.
An example of the structure of the current control type pixel in the active matrix display device is shown with FIG. 7.
As shown in FIG. 7, the current control type pixel comprises of a signal line 701, a scanning line 702, a power source line 703, a wiring 710, a light emitting element 709, a switching transistor 704, a current storage transistor 705, a current transistor 706 consisting of a current mirror circuit, a driver transistor 707 consisting of a current mirror circuit and using for driving the light emitting element, and a storage capacitor 708.
Either of a source electrode and a drain electrode of the switching transistor 704 is connected to the signal line 701, and the other is connected to a drain of the current transistor 706 and either of a source electrode and a drain electrode of the current storage transistor 705, further, the gate electrode of the switching transistor 704 is connected to the scanning line 702.
A source electrode of the current transistor 706 is connected to the power source line 703. A source electrode of the current storage transistor 705 or one side of a drain electrode of the current storage transistor 705 disconnected with the switching transistor 704 is connected to one of electrodes of the storage capacitor 708, a gate electrode of the current transistor 706 and a gate electrode of the driver transistor 707.
A side of the storage capacitor 708 disconnected with the current storage transistor 705 is connected to the power source line 703. A source electrode of the driver transistor 707 is connected to the power source line 703, while a drain electrode of the driver transistor 707 is connected to one of electrodes of the light emitting element 709.
Next, a driving method (operation method) in which a video signal is input to the pixel shown in FIG. 7 and the light emitting element emits light, will be described as below. Note that as the video signal input to the pixel, a current (signal current) having a current magnitude corresponding to the luminance represented by the pixel is input. In the pixel shown in FIG. 7, the control current which controls the current flowing to the light emitting element in each pixel is identical with the video signal (signal current).
A signal is input to the scanning line 702, thereby the switching transistor 704 is in state of ON, then, the signal current input from the signal line 701 is input to the pixel. At this time, the current storage transistor 705 is in state of conductive by the signal input to the wiring 710.
After the signal current is input to the pixel, as time sufficiently goes by, the signal current turns to flow between the source and the drain of the current transistor 706. At this time, in the storage capacitor 708, a gate voltage (a voltage between the gate and the source), in order that the current transistor 706 flows a signal current as a drain current, is retained. The signal of the wiring 710 changes thereafter, the current storage transistor 705 becomes in a non-conductive state.
In case that the characteristics of the current transistor 706 and driver transistor 707 are uniform, the drain current of the current transistor 706 is equal to the drain current of the driver transistor 707. At this time, a current equal to the signal current input from the power source line 703 thorough the driver transistor 707 is input to the light emitting element 709. After this manner, the light emitting element 709 emits light in a luminance corresponding to the signal current.
Note that even after the signal current is not input to the pixel, the driver transistor 707 flows a current equal to the signal current by the voltage retained in the storage capacitor 708.
FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an active matrix display device having the current control pixel illustrated in FIG. 7.
FIG. 8 illustrates a pixel portion 804, scanning driver circuits 803a, 803b which input signals to the scanning line of each pixel in the pixel portion 804, and a signal line driver circuit 802 which input signals to the signal line of each pixel in the pixel portion 804. The pixel portion. 804 and the scanning driver circuits 803a, 803b are provided on a substrate (hereafter referred to as pixel substrate) 801 having an insulation surface. The signal line driver circuit 802 which are out of a LSI chip 806 and the like, and the LSI chip 806 is attached to the pixel substrate 801 by a TAB 805.
Note that in the current control pixel shown in FIG. 7, the driver circuit input control current is denoted as a control current output circuit. In the configuration of the display device shown in FIG. 8, the control current output circuit corresponds to the signal line driver circuit.
Further, a wiring providing control current output from the control current output circuit to the pixel portion is denoted as a control current line. In the pixel portion shown in FIG. 7, the control current line corresponds to the signal line 701.
As shown in FIG. 8, the driver circuit (control current output circuit) inputting control current to the current control type pixel portion is formed from the LSI chip on a monocrystal substrate. The monocrystal substrate, in which the control current output driver circuit is formed, is attached to the pixel substrate by using the TAB and the like. In this way, the pixel portion can be electrically connected to the control current output circuit.
However, an area of overlap width is required when the control current output circuit is attached. Further, the wiring resistance and wiring capacitance between the control current output circuit and the pixel portion which are electrically connected with each other become large so that a low power consumption display device can't be realized.
Therefore, it is desirable to use a polycrystalline transistor to form the control current output circuit on the pixel substrate. Further, it becomes possible to set driver frequency highly by forming the control current output circuit with a polycrystalline transistor.
On the other hand, for the control current output circuit formed by using a polycrystalline, there is a problem with wide dispersion of output current due to influence of crystalline dispersion of channel formation region, etc. As described above, the light emitting element emits light in a luminance commensurate with the flowing current. Therefore, when dispersion exits among the pixels, a dispersion of luminance of light emitting element in pixel (hereafter also referred to as unevenness of display) is caused.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Drive circuit, display device using the drive circuit and electronic apparatus using the display device

Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.


Two different processing techniques are utilized to respectively form high resolution features and low resolution features in a critical layer of an electronic device, and in particular a large area electronic device. High resolution features are formed by soft lithography, and low resolution features are formed by jet-printing or using a jet-printed etch mask. Jet-printing is also used to stitch misaligned structures. Alignment marks are generated with the features to coordinate the various processing steps and to automatically control the stitching process. Thin-film transistors are formed by generating gate structures using a first jet-printed etch mask, forming source/drain electrodes using soft lithography, forming interconnect structures using a second jet-printed etch mask, and then depositing semiconductor material over the source/drain electrodes. Redundant structures are formed to further improve tolerance to misalignment, with non-optimally positioned structures removed (etched) during formation of the low resolution interconnect structures.

Large area electronic devices, such as flat panel displays, sensor arrays, and space antennas, typically include large area sensor or light-emitting electronic cells that are addressed and/or controlled by thin film transistors (TFTs) and other electrical and electronic devices (e.g., passives and photodiodes). Such large area electronic devices are expensive to make by conventional photolithography techniques due to the relatively large size of the electronic cell arrays (e.g., 1000 cm2 or larger), and the relatively large spacing between adjacent TFTs. Conventional photolithography equipment for fabricating typical (i.e., ˜300 cm2 or smaller) IC devices is typically constructed to receive and process a semiconductor wafer having a predetermined size, and such wafers are typically much smaller than the substrate of a large area electronic device. Therefore, specialized equipment for photolithography on large area substrates must be developed typically at great expense. Moreover, conventional photolithography equipment includes optical and other processing tools that are constructed to facilitate the formation of substantially smaller feature sizes than those required in many elements of large area electronic devices, thereby making the production of large area electronic devices using such photolithography equipment highly inefficient.
Jet-printing is an emerging technology that attempts to reduce the costs associated with IC production by replacing expensive photolithographic processing with simple printing operations in which layer structures are formed using materials ejected from a print head. By printing an IC pattern directly on a device substrate rather than using the delicate and time-consuming lithography processes used in conventional IC manufacturing, an IC printing system can significantly reduce IC production costs. The printed IC pattern can either comprise actual IC features (i.e., elements that will be incorporated into the final IC, such as the gates and source and drain regions of TFTs, signal lines, the semiconductor, opto-electronic components, etc.), or it can be a mask printed onto the substrate that is used for subsequent semiconductor processing steps (e.g., etch, implant, etc.). Such masks are referred to herein as "jet-printed etch masks".
Typically, jet-printing involves depositing a print solution (generally a material in a solvent or a liquid) by raster bitmap along a single axis (the "print travel axis") across a solid substrate. Print heads, and in particular, the arrangements of the ejectors incorporated in those print heads, are optimized for printing along this print travel axis. The solid substrate is mounted under the print heads, and either the substrate is moved relative to the fixed print head, or the print head is moved over the fixed substrate. In either case, printing of an IC pattern takes place in a raster fashion, with the print head making "printing passes" across the substrate as the ejector(s) in the print head dispense individual droplets of print solution onto the substrate. At the end of each printing pass, the print head makes a perpendicular shift relative to the print travel axis before beginning a new printing pass. The print head continues making printing passes across the substrate in this manner until the IC pattern has been fully printed. Once dispensed from the ejector(s) of the print head, print solution droplets attach themselves to the substrate through a wetting action and proceed to either dry by evaporation of a carrier solvent or solidify in place if a pure material is deposited.
Because jet-printing of etch masks where the pattern is stored on a computer, which is also referred to as "digital lithography", is not limited to a particular wafer size, it provides a promising technique for fabricating large area arrays of thin film transistors which are utilized, for example to drive large area displays or sensor arrays. However, at present, jet-printing is limited to producing relatively low resolution features (e.g., 30–50 microns), and therefore cannot meet all of the requirements for large area arrays. That is, much of the large area electronic device can be printed at low resolution (e.g., features) because wide metal lines are needed for interconnects. However, as discussed below, the transistors perform much better if they have very small features (e.g., approximately one micron), and are thus better suited to a high resolution printing process.
A problem with the large feature sizes produced by jet-printing techniques is that it places limitations on the speed and parasitic capacitance of TFTs forming the large area electronic device, and in many cases the high capacitance is the more serious problem. A generic design of the metal contacts to a TFT 1300 is shown in FIG. 13. TFT 1300 includes a gate region 1310, a source region 1320 and a drain region 1330, all formed from a conductive material, with source region 1320 and drain 1330 being separated from gate region 1310 by a dielectric layer (not shown). The conductance of TFT 1300 is proportional to W/L ratio formed by the source and drain structures of TFT 1300, where W is the width and L is the length of these structures. The area of TFT 1300 is W×L (width times length), the transit time is proportional to L2/mobility, and the parasitic capacitance is proportional to W×D, where D is the overlap distance of the gate and source regions and may be smaller than the feature size, but is of the same order of magnitude.
The operating speed of TFT 1300 is generally limited by RC time-constants, and ultimately by the RC time-constant of the TFT itself. A low resistance (high current) TFT requires a large W/L, but when fabricated with large feature sizes (e.g., a large D), this produces a high parasitic capacitance, which increases power consumption and reduces operating speed. In a simple approximation, the capacitance is proportional to the square of the feature size. As such, producing a large area electronic device using a relatively low resolution processing tool, such as jet-printing, results in relatively slow and inefficient TFTs. In particular, the jet-printing approach typically gives large feature sizes, and presently the size is 20–40 micron for conventional print-heads. The feature size can probably be reduced significantly, but it is doubtful whether it is possible to reach 1–2 micron, thus limiting the ability of jet-printing to produce low capacitance, high speed TFTs. However, jet-printing provides very good registration between different layers, because the accuracy of drop placement is limited only by the random variation in the drop ejection direction, and this can be reduced below 5 microns.
Soft lithography (a.k.a., stamping or microcontact printing) and imprint lithography are relatively high resolution printing techniques that facilitate the production of circuit structures having smaller features sizes (e.g., dimensions well below one micron have been demonstrated), and thus the production of much higher performance TFTs than those produced using jet-printing techniques. Soft lithography involves forming a printing press-like structure from a soft material (e.g., polydimethylsiloxane), which is referred to as a stamp, that prints a resist pattern directly onto a material (e.g., metal) layer deposited over a device substrate. The stamp is positioned (registered) over the desired substrate region using an appropriate X-Y positioning table, and then pressed against the device substrate with a predetermined force, thereby transferring a patterned resist layer onto the substrate. In another variation, a resist layer can be coated onto the substrate and embossed using the stamp in a process referred to as imprint lithography.
A problem with soft lithography is that the registration accuracy of different layers is relatively lower than that provided by jet-printing, and so the benefit of the small feature sizes is not realized in the production of large area electronic devices. Further, the production of large stamps (i.e., suitable for printing an entire critical layer of a large area electronic device) is difficult because of the potential for mechanical distortions in the features of the stamp.
What is needed is a method for producing ICs, and in particular, large area electronic devices, that includes both the cost efficiency of low resolution processing, but also provides the performance advantages associated with high resolution features.

Large area electronic device with high and low resolution patterned film features


The present invention concerns a composition prepared from a combination of non β-oxidizable fatty acid entities and a protein material, and the use of said composition for the preparation of a pharmaceutical or nutritional composition for the prevention and/or treatment of insulin resistance, obesity, diabetes, fatty liver, hypercholesterolemia, dyslipidemia, atherosclerosis, coronary heart disease, thrombosis, stenosis, secondary stenosis, myocardial infarction, stroke, elevated blood pressure, endothelial dysfunction, procoagulant state, polycystic ovary syndrome, the metabolic syndrome, cancer, inflammatory disorders and proliferate skin disorders. An alternative embodiment of the invention includes oil in the composition The present invention also concerns an animal feed prepared from a combination of a protein material and a compound comprising non β-oxidizable fatty acid analogues, the use of said feed for improving the body composition of an animal, and a product produced from said animal.

In earlier patent applications, the inventor has described beneficial applications of the non β-oxidizable fatty acid analogues of the present invention in the treatment and prevention of obesity (NO 2000 5461), diabetes (NO 2000 5462), primary and secondary stenosis (NO 2000 5463), cancer (NO 2002 5930), proliferate skin disorders (NO 2003 1080), inflammatory and autoimmune disorders (NO 2003 2054). In other earlier patent applications, the inventor has described beneficial applications of protein materials of the present invention, including a sine cell protein material (NO 2003 3082), and a fish protein hydrolysate (NO 2003 3078).
Surprisingly, the present inventors have shown that the use of a combination of non β-oxidizable fatty acid entities with a protein material has synergistic beneficial biological effects, The inventors show that the combination of non β-oxidizable fatty acid entities with a protein material lowers the concentration of plasma cholesterol, triglycerides and phospholipids, and increase fatty acyl CoA oxidase activity. In addition, the inventors describe how non β-oxidizable fatty acid entities and a protein material can be directly added to animal feed The feed is digestible, and has shown surprising effects on the fatty acid composition of the animals. Based on these unexpected findings, it is anticipated that the combination of non β-oxidizable fatty acid entities and a protein material will have an increased preventive and/or therapeutic effect on all the diseases the non β-oxidizable fatty acid entities are effective against, compared to that of the fatty acid entities alone.

Composition comprising protein material and compounds comprising non-oxidizable fatty acid entities


A method of ion implanting a substrate is disclosed, which includes providing a substrate having a surface. A sacrificial layer of semiconductor material is formed on the surface and resistlessly patterning to define masked and unmasked portions. The unmasked portions are etched away to form an implantation mask on the substrate. Ions are implanted in the substrate underlying the etched away unmasked portions and the sacrificial layer is removed.

In the semiconductor field it is common to sequentially perform various steps in the fabrication of a semiconductor device. The steps can include growing several different layers of semiconductor material and the use of various masks and etching steps to form the desired devices and terminals on the devices. In some methods, masking material, e.g. nitride/oxide or the like, is applied and semiconductor material is grown over masked and unmasked areas. The material on the masked areas is then removed by etching and lift-off. In some instances material is selectively grown in unmasked areas and the masking material is then removed. In some processes a photoresist mask is used to define and develop a hard mask, i.e. a metal mask, a nitride mask, etc.
Generally, in these prior art methods of fabricating semiconductor devices, etching is required to remove unwanted material and masks are removed by etching, solvent, or the like. During the etching and/or mask removal processes, the material of the semiconductor device has a high likelihood of being contaminated by the etchant, which contamination greatly reduces the life of the device, the operating characteristics of the device, and the reliability of the device. Further, the etching process severely damages semiconductor material adjacent the etched areas which further reduces life, operating characteristics, and reliability. Also, etching processes are very time consuming and difficult to perform.
Thus, these prior art techniques involve many process steps such as resist spinning, exposure, developing, cleaning and so on. All of these processes can introduce contamination, decrease yield, etc. A further problem that arises is that the structure or substrate (generally a wafer) must be removed from the growth chamber to remove the masking material. The structure is then masked again and re-introduced into the growth chamber for re-growth. Thus, the prior art techniques keep the wafer vacuum incompatible.
In addition to the masking and etching problems, all known prior art fabrication processes require many interspersed growing, masking and etching steps which greatly complicate and lengthen the process. For example, when epitaxial layers are grown, the wafers must be placed in a vacuum or pressure chamber to provide the atmosphere for the growth. Each time the wafer must be etched and/or masked, it must be removed from the chamber, resulting in large amounts of preparation time for each step. Also, each time wafers are removed from a chamber and subsequently replaced, the opening and preparation of the chamber (as well as the processing of the wafer) is an opportunity for additional impurities and contaminants to be introduced to the wafer.
Many of these problems have been overcome by the use of resistless patterning. However, in the resistless patterning approach the oxide mask formed is very thin. This thin oxide mask cannot serve as an implantation mask in normal processing.
Accordingly, it would be highly desirable to provide a new and improved resistless process for implantation.
It is a purpose of the present invention to provide a new and improved method of implantation having reduced steps.
It is another purpose of the present invention to provide a new and improved method of implantation which is vacuum compatible.
It is still another purpose of the present invention to provide a new and improved method of implantation which does not require the introduction of contaminants, such as photoresist, solvents and etchants.
It is a further purpose of the present invention to provide a new and improved method of implantation which is much simpler and includes less chance of contamination of the devices.
And a further purpose of the present invention is to provide a new and improved method of implantation which can be a completely dry process.

Method of resistless patterning of a substrate for implantation