Bushings anchored in cavities in the rear edge of a shelf to allow the shelf to be mounted horizontally flush against a wall with the bushings concealed, wherein screw heads projecting from the wall fit into seats in the bushings which resist straight-line horizontal displacement of the bushings from the screw heads but allow removal by lifting of the shelf so that the screw heads are released from the seats, and wherein a glue-filled annular groove or backwardly bent fins are formed on the exterior of the bushing to anchor the bushing in the cavity.

Brackets for securing shelves horizontally to a wall are well known in the prior art, as for example those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,299,367 and 4,871,136. No conventional shelf bracket or mounting means has been available, however, in which the rear edge of the shelf can be mounted flush against the wall with the mounting means totally concealed and with the shelf readily removable simply by lifting and withdrawing it away from the wall.
Various forms of mounting means are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,460,146 which allow a bracket secured to a shelf to fit over and behind the head of a screw projecting from the wall but in that disclosure the bracket is either interposed between the shelf and the wall to prevent the shelf from being mounted flush against the wall or the bracket is quite visible on the underside of the shelf or in the angle between the shelf and the wall. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,398,691 a wall bracket is disclosed in which a deformable annulus around the head of a screw projecting from a wall is inserted into a cavity in the rear edge of the shelf. However, an elastic hook on that annulus is snapped into a step in the cavity and cannot be released from the shelf without the use of a special tool.
The principal object of the present invention is to provide shelf mounting means which are totally concealed when the shelf is mounted, which allow the shelf to be mounted flush against the wall surface and which permit easy removal simply by lifting the shelf and then displacing it horizontally away from the wall. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,487,446 and 3,580,535 disclose mounting bushings which are of a structure and function distinguishable from the shelf mounting means of the invention but in some respects generally related thereto.


The invention relates to an electrolyte for an electrochemical device. This electrolyte includes an ionic metal complex represented by the general formula (1):

The present invention relates to an electrolyte including an ionic metal complex having a novel chemical structure, an ionic conductor including the electrolyte, and electrochemical devices including the electrolyte, such as lithium cells, lithium ion cells, electrical double-layer capacitors.
Accompanying the evolution of portable equipment in recent years, there has been active development of electrochemical devices utilizing electrochemical phenomena, such as cells for use as their power supplies and capacitors. In addition, electrochromic devices (ECD), in which a color change occurs due to an electrochemical reaction, are examples of electrochemical devices for uses other than power supplies.
These electrochemical devices are typically composed of a pair of electrodes and an ionic conductor filled between them. The ionic conductor contains a salt (AB) as an electrolyte, which is dissolved in a solvent, polymer or mixture thereof such that the salt is dissociated into cations (A+) and anions (Bxe2x88x92), resulting in ionic conduction. In order to obtain the required level of ion conductivity for the device, it is necessary to dissolve a sufficient amount of this electrolyte in solvent or polymer. In actuality, there are many cases in which a solvent other than water is used, such as organic solvents and polymers. Electrolytes having sufficient solubility in such organic solvents and polymers are presently limited to only a few types. For example, electrolytes having sufficient solubility for use in lithium cells are only LiClO4, LiPF6, LiBF4, LiAsF6, LiN(CF3SO)2 and LiCF3SO3. Although the cation type of the electrolyte is frequently limited by the device as is the case with the lithium ion of lithium cells, any anion can be used for the electrolyte provided it satisfies the condition of having high solubility.
Amidst the considerable diversity of the application range of these devices, efforts are made to seek out the optimum electrolyte for each application. Under the present circumstances, however, optimization efforts have reached their limit due to the limited types of available anions. In addition, existing electrolytes have various problems, thereby creating the need for an electrolyte having a novel anion portion. More specifically, since ClO4 ion of LiClO4 is explosive and AsF6 ion of LiAsF6 is toxic, they cannot be used for reasons of safety. Since LiN(CF3SO2)2 and LiCF3SO3 corrode the aluminum collector inside the cell when a potential is applied, their use presents difficulties. Even the only practical electrolyte of LiPF6 ends up decomposing at temperatures of 70xc2x0 C. and above, having problems including heat resistance and hydrolysis resistance.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a useful novel electrolyte, a novel ion conductor containing the electrolyte, and a novel electrochemical device containing the ion conductor.
According to the present invention, there is provided an electrolyte for an electrochemical device. This electrolyte comprises an ionic metal complex represented by the general formula (1):
wherein M is a transition metal selected from the group consisting of elements of groups 3-11 of the periodic table, or an element selected from the group consisting of elements of groups 12-15 of the periodic table; Aa+ represents a metal ion, onium ion or proton; a represents a number from 1 to 3; b represents a number from 1 to 3; p is b/a; m represents a number from 1 to 3; n represents a number from 0 to 4; q is 0 or 1; X1 represents O, S or NR5R6; each of R1 and R2 independently represents H, a halogen, a C1-C10 alkyl group or C1-C10 halogenated alkyl group; R3 represents a C1-C10 alkylene group, C1-C10 halogenated alkylene group, C4-C20 aryl group or C4-C20 halogenated aryl group; R4 represents a halogen, C1-C10 alkyl group, C1-C10 halogenated alkyl group, C4-C20 aryl group, C4-C20 halogenated aryl group or X2R7; X2 represents O, S or NR5R6; each of R5 and R6 represents H or a C1-C10 alkyl group; and R7 represents a C1-C10 alkyl group, C1-C10 halogenated alkyl group, C4-C20 aryl group or C4-C20 halogenated aryl group.
According to the present invention, there is provided an ion conductor for an electrochemical device. This ion conductor comprises the electrolyte; and a member selected from the group consisting of a nonaqueous solvent, a polymer and a mixture thereof, said member dissolving therein said electrolyte.
According to the present invention, there is provided an electrochemical device comprising (a) first and second electrodes; and (b) the ion conductor receiving therein said first and second electrodes.
An electrolyte according to the present invention has high heat resistance and hydrolysis resistance as compared with conventional electrolytes. Thus, the electrolyte can advantageously be used for electrochemical devices such as lithium cell, lithium ion cell and electrical double-layer capacitor.
According to the invention, the alkyl groups, halogenated alkyl groups, aryl groups and halogenated aryl groups, which are contained in the ionic metal complex and the raw materials for synthesizing the same, may be branched and/or may have other functional groups such as hydroxyl groups and ether bonds.
The followings are specific nine examples of the ionic metal complex represented by the general formula (1) of the present invention.
Here, although lithium ion is indicated as an example of Aa+ of the general formula (1), examples of other cations that can be used other than lithium ion include sodium ion, potassium ion, magnesium ion, calcium ion, barium ion, cesium ion, silver ion, zinc ion, copper ion, cobalt ion, iron ion, nickel ion, manganese ion, titanium ion, lead ion, chromium ion, vanadium ion, ruthenium ion, yttrium ion, lanthanoid ion, actinoid ion, tetrabutylammonium ion, tetraethylammonium ion, tetramethylammonium ion, triethylmethylammonium ion, triethylammonium ion, pyridinium ion, imidazolium ion, proton, tetraethylphosphonium ion, tetramethylphosphonium ion, tetraphenylphosphonium ion, triphenylsulfonium ion, and triethylsulfonium ion. In the case of considering the application of the ionic metal complex for electrochemical devices and the like, lithium ion, tetraalkylammonium ion and proton are preferable. As shown in the general formula (1), the valency (valence) of the Aa+ cation is preferably from 1 to 3. If the valency is larger than 3, the problem occurs in which it becomes difficult to dissolve the ionic metal complex in solvent due to the increase in crystal lattice energy. Consequently, in the case of requiring solubility of the ionic metal complex, a valency of 1 is preferable. As shown in the general formula (1), the valency (bxe2x88x92) of the anion is similarly preferably from 1 to 3, and a valency of 1 is particularly preferable. The constant p expresses the ratio of the valency of the anion to the valency of the cation, namely b/a.
In the general formula (1), M at the center of the ionic metal complex of the present invention is selected from elements of groups 3-15 of the periodic table. It is preferably Al, B, V, Ti, Si, Zr, Ge, Sn, Cu, Y, Zn, Ga, Nb, Ta, Bi, P, As, Sc, Hf or Sb, and more preferably Al, B or P. Although it is possible to use various elements for the M other than these preferable examples, synthesis is relatively easy in the case of using Al, B, V, Ti, Si, Zr, Ge, Sn, Cu, Y, Zn, Ga, Nb, Ta, Bi, P, As, Sc, Hf or Sb. In addition to ease of synthesis, the ionic metal complex has excellent properties in terms of low toxicity, stability and production cost in the case of using Al, B or P.
In the general formula (1), the organic or inorganic portion bonded to M is referred to as the ligand. As mentioned above, X1 in the general formula (1) represents O, S or NR5R6, and is bonded to M through its hetero atom (O, S or N). Although the bonding of an atom other than O, S or N is not impossible, the synthesis becomes extremely bothersome. The ionic metal complex represented by the general formula (1) is characterized by these ligands forming a chelate structure with M since there is bonding with M by a carboxyl group (xe2x80x94COOxe2x80x94) other than X1 within the same ligand. As a result of this chlelation, the heat resistance, chemical stability and hydrolysis resistance of the ionic metal complex are improved. Although constant q in this ligand is either 0 or 1, in the case of 0 in particular, since the chelate ring becomes a five-member ring, chelating effects are demonstrated most prominently, making this preferable due to the resulting increase in stability. In addition, since the negative charge of the central M is dissipated by electron attracting effects of the carboxyl group(s) resulting in an increase in electrical stability of the anion, ion dissociation becomes extremely easy resulting in corresponding increases of the ionic metal complex in solvent solubility, ion conductivity, catalyst activity and so forth. In addition, the other properties of heat resistance, chemical stability and hydrolysis resistance are also improved.
In the general formula (1), each of R1 and R2 is independently selected from H, halogen, C1-C10 alkyl groups and C1-C10 halogenated alkyl groups. At least one of either R1 and R2 is preferably a fluorinated alkyl group, and more preferably, at least one of R1 and R2 is a trifluoromethyl group. Due to the presence of an electron-attracting halogen and/or a halogenated alkyl group for R1 and R2, the negative charge of the central M is dissipated. This results in an increase of the anion of the general formula (1) in electrical stability. With this, the ion dissociation becomes extremely easy resulting in an increase of the ionic metal complex in solvent solubility, ion conductivity, catalyst activity and so forth. In addition, other properties of heat resistance, chemical stability and hydrolysis resistance are also improved. The case in which the halogen is fluorine in particular has significant advantageous effects, while the case of a trifluoromethyl group has the greatest advantageous effect.
In the general formula (1), R3 is selected from C1-C10 alkylene groups, C1-C10 halogenated alkylene groups, C4-C20 aryl groups and C4-C20 halogenated aryl groups. R3 is preferably one which forms a 5 to 10-membered ring when a chelate ring is formed with the central M. The case of a ring having more than 10 members is not preferable, since chelating advantageous effects are reduced. In addition, in the case R3 has a portion of hydroxyl group or carboxyl group, it is possible to form a bond between the central M and this portion.
In the general formula (1), R4 is selected from halogens, C1-C10 alkyl groups, C1-C10 halogenated alkyl groups, C4-C20 aryl groups, C4-C20 halogenated aryl groups and X2R7. Of these, fluorine is preferable. X2 represents O, S or NR5R6 and bonds to M through one of these heteroatoms (O, S and N). Although the bonding of an atom other than O, S or N is not impossible, the synthesis becomes extremely bothersome. Each of R5 and R6 is selected from H and C1-C10 alkyl groups. Each of R5 and R6 differs from other groups (e.g., R1 and R2) in that the former is not required to be an electron attracting group. In the case of introducing an electron attracting group as R5 or R6, the electron density on N of NR5R6 decreases, thereby preventing coordination on the central M. R7 is selected from C1-C10 alkyl groups, C1-C10 halogenated alkyl groups, C4-C20 aryl groups and C4-C20 halogenated aryl groups. Of these, a C1-C10 fluorinated alkyl groups is preferable. Due to the presence of an electron-attracting halogenated alkyl group as R7, the negative charge of the central M is dissipated. Since this increases the electrical stability of the anion of the general formula (1), ion dissociation becomes extremely easy resulting in an increase of the ionic metal complex in solvent solubility, ion conductivity and catalyst activity. In addition, other properties of heat resistance, chemical stability and hydrolysis resistance are also improved. The case in which the halogenated alkyl group as R7 is a fluorinated alkyl group in particular results in even greater advantageous effects.
In the general formula (1), the values of the constants m and n relating to the number of the above-mentioned ligands depend on the type of the central M. In fact, m is preferably from 1 to 3, while n is preferably from 0 to 4.
The anion of the ionic metal complex represented by the general formula (1) is stabilized by having therein a halogenated alkyl group with strong electron attraction, and particularly a trifluoromethyl group (CF3 group) and carbonyl group (Cxe2x95x90O group), thereby facilitating dissociation of the ionic metal complex into the anion and cation. This is extremely important in the case of using as the electrolyte of an electrochemical device. Although there are an almost infinite number of salts referred to as electrolytes, the majority dissolve and dissociate in water, and thereby are ion conductive. Many of such salts do not even dissolve in organic solvents and so forth other than water. Such aqueous solutions are used as an electrolytic solution of electrochemical devices. However, due to the low decomposition potential of water as a solvent and its susceptibility to oxidation and reduction, there are many restrictions on its use. For example, in a lithium cell and so forth, since the potential difference between the electrodes of the device is 3 V or more, water ends up being electrolyzed into hydrogen and oxygen. There are many organic solvents and polymers that are insusceptible to oxidation and reduction as compared with water due to their structures. Therefore, they are used in devices requiring higher voltages such as lithium cells and electrical double-layer capacitors.
In comparison with conventional electrolytes, the electrolyte of the present invention is extremely soluble in organic solvent and dissociates more easily due to the above-mentioned effects of CF3 groups and Cxe2x95x90O groups and a large size of the anion of the ionic metal complex. Consequently, an electrolytic solution containing an electrolyte of the ionic metal complex dissolved in an organic solvent can be used as a superior ion conductor of electrochemical devices such as lithium cells. Complexes of organic substances and metals are typically susceptible to hydrolysis and there are many that are chemically unstable. Since the electrolyte of the present invention, however, has a chelate structure, it is extremely stable and resistant to hydrolysis and so forth. In addition, that having fluorine within the chemical structure represented by the general formula (1) is particularly preferable since it further increases chemical stability such as oxidation resistance due to the effect of the fluorine.
Optimization of the chemical structure of the general formula (1) makes it possible to obtain an electrolyte that dissolves in organic solvents in which conventional electrolytes do not dissolve, examples of which include toluene, hexane and fluorine-containing organic solvents such as fluorohydrocarbons.
Although the electrolyte of the present invention is used as the electrolyte of electrochemical devices such as lithium cells (cells), lithium ion cells (cells) and electrical double-layer capacitors, examples of its other applications include catalysts of organic synthesis reactions, polymerization catalysts and co-catalysts (auxiliary catalysts) of olefin polymerization.
There are no particular restrictions on the process for synthesizing the electrolyte of the present invention. For example, an ionic metal complex (electrolyte) having the following formula can be synthesized by reacting LiB(OCH3)4 with a stoichiometric amount of HOC(CF3)2COOH.
In the case of preparing an electrochemical device using an electrolyte of the present invention, its basic structural elements are ion conductor, negative electrode, positive electrode, collector, separator, container and the like.
A mixture of electrolyte and non-aqueous solvent or polymer is used as the ion conductor. If a non-aqueous solvent is used, the resulting ion conductor is typically referred to as an electrolytic solution, while if a polymer is used, it is typically referred to as a polymer solid electrolyte. Non-aqueous solvent may also be contained as plasticizer in polymer solid electrolytes. It is possible to use one type or a mixture of two or more types of an electrolyte of the present invention. In the case of mixing, it is necessary that one type be an electrolyte of the present invention, while examples of other electrolytes that can be used include lithium salts such as LiClO4, LiPF6, LiBF4, LiCF3SO3, LiN(CF3SO2)2 and LiSbF6.
There are no particular restrictions on the non-aqueous solvent provided it is an aprotic solvent that is able to dissolve an electrolyte of the present invention, and examples of this non-aqueous solvent that can be used include carbonates, esters, ethers, lactones, nitrites, amides and sulfones. In addition, the solvent can either be used alone or in the form of a mixture of two or more types of solvent. Specific examples of the solvent include propylene carbonate, ethylene carbonate, diethyl carbonate, dimethyl carbonate, methylethyl carbonate, dimethoxyethane, acetonitrile, propionitrile, tetrahydrofuran, 2-methyltetrahydrofuran, dioxane, nitromethane, N,N-dimethylformamide, dimethylsulfoxide, sulfolane and xcex3-butyrolactone.
There are no particular restrictions on the polymer to be mixed with the electrolyte of the invention provided it is an aprotic polymer that can dissolve the electrolyte. Examples of such polymer include polymers having polyethylene oxide on their main chain or side chain, homopolymers or copolymers of polyvinylidene fluoride, methacrylate polymers and polyacrylonitrile. In the case of adding plasticizer to these polymers, the above-mentioned aprotic non-aqueous solvent can be used. The concentration of the electrolyte of the present invention in these ion conductors is preferably 0.1 mol/dm3 or more up to the saturated concentration, and more preferably from 0.5 mol/dm3 to 1.5 mol/dm3. If the concentration is lower than 0.1 mol/dm3, ion conductivity may become too low.
There are no particular restrictions on the negative electrode material for preparing an electrochemical device. In the case of lithium cell, lithium metal (metallic lithium) or an alloy of lithium and another metal can be used. In the case of a lithium ion cell, it is possible to use an intercalation compound containing lithium atoms in a matrix of another material, such as carbon, natural graphite or metal oxide. This carbon can be obtained by baking polymer, organic substance, pitch or the like. In the case of electrical double-layer capacitor, it is possible to use activated carbon, porous metal oxide, porous metal, conductive polymer and so forth.
There are no particular restrictions on the positive electrode material. In the case of lithium cell or lithium ion cell, lithium-containing oxides such as LiCoO2, LiNiO2, LiMnO2 and LiMn2O4; oxides such as TiO2, V2O5 and MoO3; sulfides such as TiS2 and FeS; and electrically conductive polymers such as polyacetylene, polyparaphenylene, polyaniline or polypyrrole can be used. In the case of electrical double-layer capacitor, activated carbon, porous metal oxide, porous metal, electrically conductive polymer and so forth can be used.

Abstract: wherein M is an element of groups 3-15 of the periodic table; Aa+ represents a metal ion, onium ion or proton; X1 represents O, S or NR5R6; each of R1 and R2 independently represents H, a halogen, a C1-C10 alkyl group or C1-C10 halogenated alkyl group; R3 represents a C1-C10 alkylene group, C1-C10 halogenated alkylene group, C4-C20 aryl group or C4-C20 halogenated aryl group; R4 represents a halogen, C1-C10 alkyl group, C1-C10 halogenated alkyl group, C4-C20 aryl group, C4-C20 halogenated aryl group or X2R7; X2 represents O, S or NR5R6; each of R5 and R6 represents H or a C1-C10 alkyl group; and R7 represents a C1-C10 alkyl group, C1-C10 halogenated alkyl group, C4-C20 aryl group or C4-C20 halogenated aryl group. The electrolyte has high heat resistance and hydrolysis resistance as compared with conventional electrolytes.


A method of reporting an event to a monitoring station in a network of communication switching exchanges comprised of monitoring in each exchange for events to be reported, upon detection of the event, the exchange in which the event occurred automatically dialing a gateway network node to which a network monitoring station is connected, upon the network node responding to the automatic dialing, sending at least one DTMF signal containing a report of the nature of the event and an identification of the exchange in which the event occurred to the network node for provision to the network monitoring station.

One of the functions of switching system network management is to provide the capability of central alarm monitoring for all of the switching exchanges connected in the network. Ideally this would provide real time or near real time notification of alarm conditions occurring in each switching system to a central monitoring station. It should also provide accurate indication of what the alarm is, and not to consume excessive trunking resources.
Central alarm monitoring has generally been solved in one of four ways.
Using a packet switching backbone network, the nodes (switching machines) of the network are interconnected thereby to a central alarm monitoring system. When an alarm transition is detected by a network node, the node sends an information packet addressed to the central monitoring system via the backbone. The packet switching backbone assures that the information packet reaches its desired destination.
However this approach is expensive for those networks which are not already equipped with packet switching capability, e.g. circuit switched networks which only handle voice traffic or circuit switched data calls.
A second system uses polling without dedicated circuit switched links. In this case, a central monitoring system continuously polls each node in the network to collect alarm status information. The current information is compared against the previous, and if not equivalent, the monitoring system considers that an alarm transition has occurred. After collecting information from one or from N nodes, (N nodes may be polled simultaneously, depending on the configuration of the polling system), the next one or N nodes is polled. When N equals the number of nodes in the network, the third type of system described below exists.
This approach has two major deficiencies. In order to meet the requirement of real time or near real time performance, polling must occur frequently. It utilizes valuable trunk circuitry each time polling occurs. Also, depending on the number of network nodes being monitored and the number of nodes that can be polled simultaneously, this solution may not be able to provide real time or near real time performance requirements.
A third approach uses polling with "nailed-up" (dedicated) circuit switched links. In this approach, the central monitoring system has a dedicated circuit switch connection to each node in the network. Periodically, current alarm information is compared against the previous and, if not equivalent, the monitoring system considers that an alarm transition has occurred.
This approach monopolizes valuable trunk circuitry without properly utilizing the bandwidth. Depending on the number of nodes being monitored, the cost of the trunk circuitry may be prohibitive.
In a fourth approach, there is automatic dial-back occurring with switch contact closures. In this approach, the network nodes are hard-wired to additional hardware. When certain hard-wired conditions occur, the attached hardware dials a remote location to report the hard-wired condition.
This approach has two major deficiencies. It requires additional hardware in the network, thereby increasing cost of the solution and the number of hardware components that might fail. It also does not provide adequate resolution for alarm conditions which can occur within a complex network node since it is not an integrated solution. For instance, it may be able to detect and signal that the node has experienced a power outage, but would not be able to detect and signal that e.g. 20% of the trunking resource has been taken out of service, unless this condition was associated with a contact closure, which would be unlikely.

Network node event notification in circuit switched environments


A semiconductor laser source, including a stack of semiconductor laser diodes each including at least one active region. The active region includes a series of semiconductor layers located between an ohmic contact layer and a substrate which also assumes the function of an ohmic contact layer. Pressure keeps the diodes in contact with one another by way of their ohmic contact layers. Each diode has dimensions, especially in their thickness, so that the transient heating in each diode is as small as possible and so that the average heating in the stackable diodes does not exceed a predetermined value.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a semiconductor laser source and, in particular, to a structure of elementary modules assembled by mechanical clamping.
2. Discussion of the Background
Since the 1970s, it has been proposed to exploit the advantageous properties of laser diodes (ease of fast direct modulation, high efficiency in the conversion of electrical energy into light energy in a narrow spectral band etc.) to produce devices capable of generating high power densities per unit area. To this end, monolithic elementary laser diodes were assembled by soldering in the form of stacks, as schematized in FIG. 1 in the case of four elementary diodes. It can be seen that, all other things being equal, the emitted power density is inversely proportional to the height H of the elementary diode.
Devices of this type were marketed in the 1970's by the company Laser Diode Laboratories, with a number of variants, differing by the number of stacked elements and the number of assembled stacks. The elementary laser diodes were single-heterojunction diodes which had a threshold current density of the order of 10.sup.4 A/cm.sup.2, which entailed operation in short pulses (typically 100 ns) with low recurrence frequencies (typically 1 kHz). Assemblies of this type could deliver peak powers of several kW; one intended application, among others, was the pulsed illumination of scenes in the near infrared.
The development of quantum-well laser diodes in the 1980s made it possible to improve considerably their properties, threshold current and differential efficiency, and consequently to increase the energy conversion efficiency, which may be up to 50% in long pulse operation (several hundreds of .mu.s) or in continuous operation.
These new characteristics have stimulated the application of laser diodes to the pumping of solid-state lasers, in particular YAG:Neodymium lasers, by replacing flash or other lamps, with an increase in the "take-up" efficiency of these lasers by a factor of more than 10. This increase is essentially due to the small spectral width (3 nm) of the laser diodes, compared with that of "white" sources. The typical operating mode, referred to as "quasi-continuous" or QCW, consists of "long" pulses (a few hundred .mu.s), and it is also beneficial to increase the recurrence frequency beyond the 100 Hz obtained with flash lamps. Products are marketed, for example by the company Spectra Laser Diodes, in the form of hybrid stacks as described in the document J. G. Endriz et al., High power diode laser arrays, IEEE J. Quantum Electron., 28(4), 952-965, April 1992, the design of which has the clear aim of allowing operating at High frequency, and consequently at high mean power. To this end, monolithic diodes in arrays, typically of 1 cm width, are soldered onto supports made of a material with high thermal conductivity, in the form of elementary modules which are themselves assembled by soldering on a common support, in a number depending on the power to be obtained, and are electrically connected in series.
This type of assembly has two drawbacks:
the cost of the assembly is high; PA1 the emitted power density is geometrically limited by the height of an elementary module.
The object of the invention is firstly to overcome the drawback of the cost for certain applications, pumping solid-state lasers, which require large numbers of stacks and will consequently be economically viable only with a substantial reduction in the fabrication costs, but do not require pulsed operation whose recurrence rate is high. The invention furthermore has the advantage of allowing an increase in the power density emitted.
The cost can be analyzed into two components.
1. The "front end", all the collective technologies (material epitaxy, microlithography, electrical contact metallization), has a cost per elementary device which decreases very rapidly as the quantities produced increase, as found throughout the history of silicon technology. This will inevitably be the case for diode laser arrays.
2. The cost of the "back end", all the assembly and encapsulation technologies, therefore becomes increasingly dominant as the functions fulfilled become more complex. This is the case for the stacks marketed today.


Provided are a recorded content display program and a recorded content display apparatus which effectively display the recorded contents of video image recording apparatuses connected in plural. To display the recorded contents of the images when the image recording apparatuses for recording the images taken by a camera are connected in plural, the image retaining ranges for the image recording apparatuses connected in plural are arranged and shown on the one screen with the horizontal axis determined as a time direction. And, the image retaining ranges for the image recording apparatuses are displayed with their displays varied visually depending on a frame rate.

The present invention relates to a recorded content display program, apparatus and method, and more particularly to a recorded content display program and a recorded content display apparatus and method for effective display of the recorded content of an image recording apparatus.
FIG. 1 shows component elements of a network digital recorder (NDR). The NDR is a registered trademark of the assignee of the present application.
A network 2 is a computer network which connects plural computers and communicates signals such as control signals and data. Internet protocol (IP) cameras 3 (3-1 to 3-m) are cameras which output the shot video image data to the network. Client PCs 4 (4-1 to 4-n) are common personal computers with a web browser connected through the network.
An NDR 1 is connected to the IP cameras 3 (3-1 to 3-m) and the plural client PCs 4 (4-1 to 4-n), which are used to view the video image data and to set the NDR 1, through the network 2.
The NDR 1 has component elements such as a computer board 10 and a recording device 11. The computer board 10 has thereon connected a network interface (Network I/F) 101, a recording device interface (recording device I/F) 102, a memory 103, a Central Processing Unit (CPU) 104 and a clock 105 through a control bus 100.
The memory 103 has on its part a RAM disk (not shown) which has a file system mounted. The memory 103 stores information necessary for communications with the IP cameras 3. For example, it stores an IP address (URL) 61, a port number 62 and a connection channel number 63 for each camera. It also functions as a recording apparatus by a software program which is stored on the memory 103 and operated by the CPU 104. The operation program has a Disk I/O (Disk Input/Output) portion 50 to perform writing to and reading from the disk, a receiver portion 51 for receiving video image data from the IP cameras 3, a transmission portion 52 for transmitting video image data to the client PCs 4, and a management portion 53 for notifying activation/termination/setting changes of the above three programs.
The recording device 11 has therein camera recording areas 110 in number equivalent to that of the cameras for recording. The camera recording areas (110-1 to 110-m) are areas for recording the video image data from the IP cameras 3.
Roles of individual component elements are described with reference to a flow of video image data.
The IP camera 3 compresses the taken video images one frame at a time by an image compression technique such as JPEG and transmits to the network 2 in an HTTP format and to the NDR 1 in an IP packet format. The video image data sent from the IP camera 3 is transmitted to the network I/F 101 of the NDR 1 through the network 2 in the IP format.
The network I/F 101 converts the received IP format video image data into a format for transmission onto the control bus 100 and delivers the video image data to the receiver portion 51 for software which operates on the CPU 104. The receiver portion 51 takes only the video image data portion from the received HTTP format video image data and transfers the video image data to the Disk I/O portion 50. The Disk I/O portion 50 stores the video image data in the memory 103 to accumulate data of about 10 to 100 frames, calculates the stored position on the recording device 11 and stores in the recording device 11. The accumulated video image data is stored on the camera recording area 110 via the recording device I/F 102.
The video image data of the IP camera 3-1 is stored on the camera recording area 110-1, and the video image data of the IP camera 3-mis stored on the camera recording area 110-m. Thus, the video image data from the IP camera 3 is stored on the corresponding recording area. When recording is performed, information required for the recording operation is stored on the memory 103 of the NDR 1.
A user desiring to watch the video images recorded in the NDR 1 activates NDR reproduction software on the client PC 4. The NDR reproduction software obtains video image data from the NDR 1 and performs displaying and reproduction processing of the video images on the screen of the client PC 4. The NDR reproduction software on the client PC 4 transmits an IP format video image delivery request to the NDR 1 through the network 2. The video image request is made by use of the HTTP. For the video image request parameter, a CGI parameter format is used.
The video image delivery request sent from the client PC 4 is transmitted in the IP format to the network 2 to reach the network I/F 101 of the NDR 1. The network I/F 101 converts the received IP format video image delivery request into a format to transmit onto the control bus 100 and transmits to the transmission portion 52 of software which operates on the CPU 104. The transmission portion 52 analyzes a common gateway interface (CGI) parameter format of the HTTP, confirms that it is a video image request and transmits the video image request to the Disk I/O portion 50. According to the video image delivery request, the Disk I/O portion 50 reads the video image data from the camera recording area 110 via the recording device 102 and sends it back to the transmission portion 52.
The transmission portion 52 gives an HTTP header to the video image data received from the Disk I/O 50 to have an HTTP format and sends the video image data in the IP format from the network I/F 101 to the client PC 4 through the network 2. The NDR reproduction software on the client PC 4 decodes the received video image data and displays on the screen.
Here, the camera recording area 110 is generated before starting to obtain the video images by an NDR 1 setting authorized person from the client PC 4 by using an area securing setting screen. The NDR 1 setting authorized person considers a frame rate and recording time at a time of recording by the connected IP camera 3 to decide a bite size of the camera recording area.
As shown in FIG. 2, the video image data is recorded into the camera recording area 110 by starting to record from the head of the area to reach the end, and then overwriting is started again from the head. At the time of video image recording, automatic capacity enhancement is not performed but circulation recording is performed in a previously secured area.
Management numbers (independent sequential numbers starting from 1 for the individual cameras) for individual frames are allotted to the obtained video image data. Such numbers are called "frame numbers". To record the video image data into the recording device 11, video image time and frame number are allotted to the video image data before storing. To obtain one frame of video image data from the client PC 4, the target video image data can be obtained by designating it with reference to the time or frame number. The video image request from the client PC 4 to the NDR 1 is performed in unit of one frame. An instruction is issued in the HTTP format. For details, refer to JP-A-2004-355724 and JP-A-2005-92679.
The client PC 4 is an ordinary personal computer which is operated by a Graphical User Interface (GUI). Reproduction software of the NDR 1 is application software which operates on the client PC 4 connected to the NDR 1 through the network 2.
FIG. 3 shows a screen (application screen 40) of the reproduction software of the NDR 1.
An end button 4001 is a button to terminate the application software. A connection address input combo box 4002 is an input column for an IP address to designate the NDR 1 to be connected. A channel number input combo box 4003 is an input column for a channel number in the NDR 1 designated by the connection address input combo box 4002. A video image display area 4004 is an area obtained from the NDR 1 and displays extended video image data.
A reproduced state 4005 displays a reproduced state. When connection to the NDR 1 is successive and video images are being reproduced, the reproduced state 4005 shows reproduced state-indicating character strings "Stop", "Uniform forward reproduction", "Uniform reverse reproduction", "L-time speed forward reproduction", "L-time speed reverse reproduction" (L at the time of fast forward and fast rewinding is an integer, L at the time of slow reproduction is a fraction or a decimal), and "Live". If the connection with the NDR 1 fails, a character string indicating it is displayed.
A video image time 4006 indicates the obtained time, recorded time or image-taking time of video image data shown in the video display area. It shows "year/month/day and hour: minute: second and millisecond" values.
An earliest video image time 4007 indicates the earliest time in the video image data which is held by the channel of the connection destination NDR 1 designated in the box 4002 and the box 4003. A latest video image time 4008 indicates the latest time in the video image data held by the channel of the connection destination NDR 1 designated in the box 4002 and the box 4003.
A reproduction speed designation combo box 4009 designates the video reproduction speed.
When an earliest point shifting button 4010 is depressed, the earliest video image data of the channel of the connection destination NDR 1 designated in the boxes 4002 and 4003 is shown. When a reverse designated speed reproduction button 4011 is depressed, reverse reproduction is performed at the speed designated in the box 4009. When a reverse uniform reproduction button 4012 is depressed, reverse uniform reproduction is performed (the same operation as when a one-time speed is designated in the box 4009 and the button 4011 is depressed). When a pause button 4013 is depressed, the video image reproduction is paused. When a uniform forward reproduction button 4014 is depressed, the uniform forward reproduction is performed (the same operation as when the one-time speed is designated in the box 4009 and a forward designated speed reproduction button 4015 is depressed). When the forward designated speed reproduction button 4015 is depressed, the forward reproduction is performed at the speed designated in the box 4009. When a latest point shifting button 4016 is depressed, the latest video image data of the channel of the connection destination NDR 1 designated in the boxes 4002 and 4003 is displayed.
When a Live reproduction button 4017 is depressed, the latest video image of the connection destination NDR 1 designated in the boxes 4002 and 4003 is reproduced.
Year, month, day, hour, minute and second are designated by time designation combo boxes 4020 to 4025, and a retrieval execution button 4026 is depressed to show the video image data of the designated time.

Recorded content display program and recorded content display apparatus


A method for increasing the number of channels amplified by an optical amplifier arrangement is provided. The optical amplifier arrangement includes at least one optical amplifier stage amplifying a first number of channels at a given average gain level. The method begins by selecting a second number of channels to be amplified by the optical amplifier arrangement. At least one additional optical amplifier stage is serially coupled to an input or output of the at least one optical amplifier stage to form a multistage optical amplifier arrangement. The gain shape of the multistage optical amplifier is adjusted to maintain, at the given average gain level or greater, a prescribed degree of gain flatness over an operating bandwidth in which the second number of channels are located.

In current optical communication systems, signals are transmitted long distance using multiple wavelengths of light passing through optical fibers. Each optical carrier wavelength (or channel) can be encoded with a unique set of information. The broader the optical bandwidth of the transmission system, the more information can be transmitted using more wavelength-division multiplexed (WDM) signals. Such WDM optical systems use optical fibers, which produce some level of optical loss, typically in the range 0.15-0.3 dB/km. Additionally, components used in these systems to perform signal enhancement or signal processing functions such as dispersion compensation or dynamic equalization, add optical loss. In order to overcome these losses and maintain the optical signal to noise ratio (OSNR) of each channel, optical amplification is required periodically. Such optical amplification must be broadband, at least as broadband as the wavelength range of signals to be transmitted and its gain must be close to constant for all signal wavelengths (gain flat) so that all signals experience nearly the same gain. Additionally, the amplification must not add much noise to the amplified signal, as represented by a low amplifier noise figure (NF).
Unfortunately, the gain of most optical gain media is not flat across a wide range of optical wavelengths. However, gain flatness can be achieved using an optical gain flattening filter (GFF), which is a device that creates a predetermined wavelength-dependent optical loss to perfectly compensate for any gain flatness error. Such a filter is typically placed within an amplifier to achieve gain flatness to some tolerance level.
A characteristic of optical fiber is its optical chromatic dispersion, which is a measure of the difference in propagation speeds of different wavelengths of light in the fibers. Too much dispersion leads to a spreading of pulses and a degradation of the optical signal to noise ratio (OSNR). Too little dispersion can lead to degradation caused by nonlinear optical effects. To tailor the dispersion for optimal performance, systems are often designed containing devices that compensate for dispersion, so that all wavelengths contained in a signal arrive at the receiver at the same time. These dispersion-compensating modules (DCMs) create optical loss and are often added within the system inside the optical amplifier or between stages of amplification, a design decision that is known to advantageously minimize the accumulation of optical noise.
While optical gain is possible in many different gain media, in most currently deployed optically amplified communication systems, the gain medium consists of erbium ions doped into a silica-based fiber. Such Erbium-doped Fiber Amplifiers (EDFAs), when provided with sufficient optical pump radiation from available pump diodes, can provide efficient low noise amplification at the low loss window of optical transmission fibers, namely near 1550 nm. EDFAs can produce gain across a 40 nm window from 1525-1565 nm (called the C-band) or can be designed differently to produce gain from 1565-1605 nm (called the L-band). In both bands, the gain is not adequately flat for most WDM optical communications systems without the inclusion of some filtering, and the shape of the gain varies with operating condition.
As part of the expansion of the information carrying capacity of optical networks, it is necessary to install additional equipment to add capacity to the amplifiers (optical repeaters) in the optical transmission path. This generally will require additional wavelength carrier channels, possibly operating at higher data rates, which need to be amplified within the network optical path. In addition this may require the addition of signal conditioning components such as gain flattening and dispersion compensation to properly handle the larger bandwidth of the network.
Current methods to expand channel capacity in a currently installed system are: 1. New Amplifier Design: Design a new amplifier to handle the higher channel count (and data rates) to replace the lower channel count amplifiers in the network, or 2. Parallel Expansion: Break out the channels into parallel banded regions of the optical spectrum (consisting of 1 to as many as 40 or more channels) Each band can then be amplified by a separate amplifier which is gain flat in a specific narrow band and then the bands can be recombined for transmission in the network. The new design approach is expensive and is customized to each expansion of the channel capacity. Parallel expansion of the channel count means that banded groups of channels must be broken out (de-multiplex) from the transmission path and then each banded group requires a unique amplifier. For example, sub-bands each consisting of 4 channels, and 40 total channels used in the network this means that 10 separate amplifiers are required for a fully utilized network. Such an example of using the parallel band expansion of system channel capacity is shown in FIG. 1. The signals in the network transmission fiber must be demultiplexed into N sub-band groups. Each sub-band group is then amplified independently. As additional capacity is required in the network more sub-band paths are added to the system. Spectral guard bands are generally necessary to avoid interference between sub-bands which means that some of the bandwidth capability of the EDFA's is not used in this approach. The channels must then be recombined (multiplexed) back into the transmission fiber path.
In general the up front costs are high for the banded parallel expansion strategy since the channel breakout for the anticipated capacity of the system is almost always installed when the system is built. Building additional breakout capacity as needed could be even more expensive and add loss (a detriment to NF performance) to the channel paths. In addition the need to design amplifiers for each banded set of channels adds more complexity and cost to the system.
Signal conditioning elements such as DCMs or GFFs are not shown in the example of the parallel approach in FIG. 1. Signal conditioning could be done at the sub-band level, which require that N DCMs and GFFs for a fully utilized system. Signal conditioning that needs to be performed on the transmission fiber level can require an additional amplification stage, adding more cost to the system.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide an optical amplifier arrangement that can be expanded to handle additional network capacity that is simpler and less expensive than current approaches.

Article comprising a series expandable erbium-doped fiber amplifier (SE-EDFA)


Filters for semiconductor tool and clean room applications to control airborne molecular contamination. The filter cartridge system includes a filter cartridge having a non-woven fiber and at least one adsorbent. In some embodiments, the filter cartridge is constructed of substantially combustible materials to support its end of service destruction.

Many semiconductor tools and clean rooms are situated in locations, such as in particular Taiwan, in which landfill space and disposal of manufacturing equipment is expensive. Because the available landfill space is very limited, the Taiwan Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has adopted a strategy favoring combustion as the primary method of municipal solid waste treatment to be complemented by land-filling. Therefore, starting from 1991, the Taiwan government set up a long term plan for the construction of WTE (Waste to Entergy) plants. According to the Engineering Project for the Construction of WTE plants in Taiwan, 21 WTE plants were to be constructed by the government by 2005.
Plastic has a very high heat value, and therefore it is very wasteful to bury it in landfill. However, in general, Airborne Molecular Contamination (AMC) filters used in semiconductor tool and clean room applications are typically constructed of absorbing media permanently bonded to metal housings, which makes it difficult to dispose of recycle or reuse such filters. Conventionally, labor is expended in separating the metal cases of such filters from the glued-in filter media.
Some filter designs attempt to address the need for re-usability by using loose granular adsorbent, which is re-used by pouring the granular adsorbent out of a re-used metal housing and pouring in fresh adsorbent. Other attempts have been to regenerate filter media.
There is, however, an ongoing need to address concerns and reduce costs involved in the disposal of AMC filters for semiconductor tools and clean room applications.

Airborne molecular contamination filter cartridge system with combustible filter cartridge and reusable frame


The present invention relates to a system and method for using a place and route CAD tool for locating scan elements within a functional block of an integrated circuit (IC) in proximity to a clock trunk line to enable efficient transmission of scan data out of the IC for diagnostic purposes. A scan enable signal is preferably directed in a direction opposite the direction of scan data propagation to ensure that a scan element in a scan chain is emptied of its data before new data is written to that element. This process of reverse scan enable signal propagation direction is preferably practiced for all elements in the scan chain. The inventive approach preferably enables automated design to be employed in the placement and routing of the scan elements while still preventing race conditions, thereby enabling a single clock to be employed for the scan chain.

This invention relates in general to designing integrated circuit processors which incorporate diagnostic characteristics and in particular to generating element layouts within an operational block of an integrated circuit for improved diagnostic operations.
Testability (the ability to perform diagnostic operations) is of high and growing importance in the field of integrated circuit (IC) design and production. Testability generally affects the design and manufacturing costs of ICs as well as the reliability of the final product supplied to customers. Various prior art approaches to incorporating diagnostic ability or testability in IC design have generally been limited by IC performance. Scan chains have generally been used to present a digital xe2x80x9csnapshotxe2x80x9d or status of a chip at a particular moment. It is generally desirable when conducting debugging operations to provide such status information to external equipment in order to evaluate the performance, functionality, and/or electrical robustness of an integrated circuit or portion thereof.
Integrated circuits are commonly designed employing xe2x80x9cplace and routexe2x80x9d build tools in order to compose a chip prior to actual fabrication of the chip. Such place and route tools may involve either manual or automatic placement of functional elements, such as state elements and scan elements, within a functional region of an IC. Another variable in the design of testability in ICs is the design choice of employing either single clocks or non-overlapping clocks for scanning data out of an IC for diagnostic operations. The selection of manual or automated design as well as the selection of either single or non-overlapping clocks in the prior art each have their advantages and disadvantages which are discussed below.
Herein, a xe2x80x9crace conditionxe2x80x9d is a condition wherein the relative placement of certain elements may cause the outcome of a logical operation to change and present an erroneous result based upon the rate of travel of various signal through the IC. Generally, careful design of the layout of elements in an IC may operate to prevent race conditions. An uncured race condition may operate to render an IC inoperative because of the attendant unreliability of data within such an IC.
Generally, employing manual operation permits the designer to acquire a large measure of control over the placement of various elements within the IC. This high level of control generally enables race conditions to be avoided through a careful placement of functional elements within an IC. Where race conditions are avoided through the use of careful manual design, single clocks may be employed scanning data out of the IC for diagnostic purposes. However, manually placing the elements within an IC is generally extremely expensive and time consuming and is generally cost prohibitive once the IC surpasses some reasonable threshold of complexity. Therefore, it is a problem in the art that the benefit of careful manual placement of scan elements within an IC generally imposes an unacceptable cost.
Generally, using automated design tools to place and route the various elements in an IC is far more rapid and less expensive than performing the operation manually. However, using automated design generally presents the prospect of a large number of race conditions among the elements because of the lack of control of element placement and wiring. Generally, non-overlapping clocks may be deployed to address the race conditions created through the use of automated design. However, the use of non-overlapping clocks to coordinate the scanning of data out of an IC for diagnostic purposes generally presents the problems of requiring the implementation of more complex wiring, a greater total quantity of wiring, hotter operation of the IC, greater power consumption by the IC, and slower processing speed of the IC.
In the prior art, control of race conditions and clock skew could be accomplished via the use of balanced clock trees and clock grids. However, the use of balanced clock trees tends to require an inordinate input of Engineering work effort. Moreover, use of a clock grid tends to require excessive power input. Accordingly, the use of balanced clock trees and/or clock grids does not present attractive solutions for the problems of clock skew and race conditions.
Accordingly, it is a problem in the art that the benefit of careful placement of scan elements within an IC arising from manual design generally requires excessive design time and excessive cost.
It is a further problem in the art that the use of automated design tools for the placement of scan elements in an IC generally presents the problem of race conditions which generally requires deployment of non-overlapping clocks.
It is a still further problem in the art that deploying non-overlapping clocks for the purpose of addressing race conditions causes the IC to operate hotter, slower, and to consume more energy than ICs employing single clocks.
The present invention is directed to a system and method which partitions an IC or functional block of an IC into clock regions and locates scan elements within these regions with each such region having a dedicated clock trunk line. Sequences of scan elements within each region may be connected to form scan chains along which scan data may be propagated. A plurality of such scan chains may be daisy chained in sequence so as to provide a single resulting scan chain.
In a preferred embodiment, within each clock trunk line, a scan enable signal is preferably propagated in a direction opposite the direction of propagation of scan information from the various scan elements to thereby prevent the generation of race conditions. Employing the inventive approach, each scan element will preferably transmit data to a downstream scan element (in the direction of scan chain data propagation) before data from an upstream scan element is transmitted into that scan element, thereby avoiding any accidental overwriting of data in the scan element.
Preferably, the one or more clock trunk lines are associated with a single clock, thereby enabling the IC to have a smaller quantity of wiring and reduced wiring complexity in comparison with systems employing non-overlapping clocks. Moreover, an automated design tool is preferably employed to provide initial placement of the various scan elements and to provide subsequent relocation or xe2x80x9csnappingxe2x80x9d of the scan elements to an appropriate clock region, thereby providing the time and cost savings of automated design over manual design.
Herein, the term xe2x80x9cstate elementxe2x80x9d generally refers to an element of an IC capable of storing a state for at least one clock cycle, the term xe2x80x9cscan elementxe2x80x9d generally refers to an element which participates in a diagnostic operation pertaining to the IC by having its state scanned out of the IC to external equipment for diagnostic purposes, and the term xe2x80x9cscan chainxe2x80x9d generally refers to a sequence of devices along which scan data is transmitted.
In a preferred embodiment, a functional clock is employed to control the transmission of functional signals through elements of integrated circuits, such as, for instance, signals pertaining to mathematical operations. Scan clocks are preferably employed to control the transfer of scan data along a chain of scan elements, or scan chain.
In a preferred embodiment, scan elements are provided with an initial timing driven placement within an IC, or functional block within an IC, by an automated design tool. The design tool then preferably relocates, or xe2x80x9csnapsxe2x80x9d the various scan elements to the closest of one or more pre-placed clock lines. Preferably, the above approach minimizes clock skew and clock routing inside the block. The scan chain is then preferably partitioned according to the clock regions associated with the pre-placed clock lines or clock trunk lines.
Accordingly, it is an advantage of a preferred embodiment of the present invention that a scan operation employing a single clock may be combined with automated design while avoiding race conditions, thereby enabling improved cost and time efficiency in the design of an IC.
It is a further advantage of a preferred embodiment of the present invention that partitioned scan chains allow designers to explicitly control the scan routing direction and eliminate race conditions in an integrated circuit.
It is a still further advantage of a preferred embodiment of the present invention that scan chains are partitioned according to clock region in order to minimize the scan routing distance.
It is a still further advantage of a preferred embodiment of the present invention that the use of a partitioned scan chain allows designers to buffer enable signals without modifying the place and route results which generally allows for faster turnaround time in converting a schematic into artwork suitable for fabricating the IC.
It is a still further advantage of a preferred embodiment of the present invention that race conditions and clock skew may be controlled without the inordinate Engineering input required for a balanced clock tree or the excessive power requirements of a clock grid.
It is a still further advantage of a preferred embodiment of the present invention that partitioning according the clock region or xe2x80x9cregioningxe2x80x9d enables wire lengths between various scan elements to be reduced.
It is a still further advantage of a preferred embodiment of the present invention that regioning avoids noise and drive strength issues.
The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technical advantages of the present invention in order that the detailed description of the invention that follows may be better understood. Additional features and advantages of the invention will be described hereinafter which form the subject of the claims of the invention. It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the conception and specific embodiment disclosed may be readily utilized as a basis for modifying or designing other structures for carrying out the same purposes of the present invention. It should also be realized by those skilled in the art that such equivalent constructions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims. The novel features which are believed to be characteristic of the invention, both as to its organization and method of operation, together with further objects and advantages will be better understood from the following description when considered in connection with the accompanying figures. It is to be expressly understood, however, that each of the figures is provided for the purpose of illustration and description only and is not intended as a definition of the limits of the present invention.

Place and route scan chain partitioning by clock regions


An ultrasonic capacitance transducer having a sealed membrane supported above a conductive substrate by thin insulating material to form a sealed evacuated cavity whereby the transducer can operate immersed in fluid.

Ultrasonic transducers are used to emit and detect ultrasonic waves in particular media of interest. Ultrasonic waves are used in various applications, including nondestructive evaluation, medical imaging, ranging, and signal processing (filters, delay lines, convolvers, etc.). Depending on the application, the ultrasonic waves need to be excited in and detected from either solids, liquids, or gases. Piezoelectric transducers work very well with solids. However, due to the acoustic impedance mismatch between piezoelectric ceramics and less dense media such as liquids and gases, piezoelectric devices are not the optimal performers in many applications. Capacitive transducers are a better alternative in airborne ultrasonic applications, and if they can be microfabricated, have distinct advantages in fluid immersion applications.
The fabrication of microfabricated ultrasonic transducers which operate on an electrostatic principle is described in co-pending patent application Ser. No. 08/327,210 filed Oct. 21, 1994 and a broadband version of such transducers is described in patent application Ser. No. 08/739,446 filed Oct. 29, 1996 (filed simultaneously herewith).
Applications where ultrasound is used in liquid media are currently very significant. From medical ultrasound to industrial cleaning, fluid coupled ultrasound is used in most economically important applications. Because of the fabrication advantages inherent in microfabricating and because of the increased transmission power and receive sensitivity of capacitive transducers, there is a need for microfabricated fluid immersion capacitive transducers.

Microfabricated ultrasonic immersion transducer

The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University


An apparatus has a main display screen and an auxiliary display screen being smaller in size than the main display screen, and a received mail is displayed on a scroll basis on the auxiliary display screen and is outputted in form of a voice reading aloud the received mail in synchronism with the display.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus for indicating information, a control apparatus for controlling the information processing apparatus, a program that causes a computer to operate as the information processing apparatus and the control apparatus, and a recording medium recording such a program.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, a communication by an electronic mail via a communication line is in great vogue. When a communication by an electronic mail is performed using a personal computer, there is adopted such a scheme that a program for transmitting and receiving an electronic mail is initiated to display a screen for electronic mail, and when an electronic mail is transmitted, a sentence is inputted and sent, and when contents of a received mail are confirmed, the received mail is displayed on the screen to confirm the same. Further it is known that the personal computer has a function of reading the received mail in order to confirm the received mail.
In the event that an electronic mail is received in the mid way that an image plane, which is different from an image plane for electronic mail, is displayed on a display screen to perform a work, it is troublesome that the received electronic mail is displayed on the same display screen, or alternatively it may be obliged to interrupt a work now carried out. Thus, in order to avoid such a problem, it is known that there is provided a small auxiliary display screen in addition to the display screen, and it is displayed on the auxiliary display screen that an electronic mail is received.
In the event that receiving of an electronic mail is informed using the auxiliary display screen, it is also known that even if a power source of the computer turns off, the power source turns on for only the necessary portion to inform of receiving of the electronic mail.
Of various schemes of informing reception of an electronic mail, a scheme, in which an auxiliary display screen is provided in addition to a main display screen, and it is displayed on the auxiliary display screen that an electronic mail is received, has many advantages that there is few possibility that an operator, who works while looking at the main display screen, encounters troublesomeness, or the operator is obliged to interrupt working. And in case of such a type of personal computer, for example, a so-called notebook type of personal computer, in which a display panel having a main display screen is folded when it is unused, a provision of the auxiliary display screen at a position out of a portion covered by the display panel makes it possible to display a reception of an electronic mail even in a state that the main display screen is folded.
It is noted that the auxiliary display screen is not restricted to one that is fixed on a main body of a personal computer, and it is acceptable that the auxiliary display screen is provided in form of one that is independently of the main body wherein it is connected with main body on a cable basis or a radio basis.
In order to enhance the convenience of the auxiliary display screen, it is considered that not only a reception of the electronic mail, but also contents of the received electronic mail per se are displayed on the auxiliary display screen.
However, it often happens that an auxiliary display screen is restricted to a display screen small in size generally in view of the cost and the installing space. In this case, there is associated with such a problem that the number of displayed characters is restricted to a remarkably less number of characters and thus it is difficult to display an electronic mail having a usual length of sentence.
Further, the auxiliary display screen is used for displaying contents (string of characters) Web pages obtained from a predetermined WWW server and contents notification of a private schedule as well as displaying an electronic mail.

Information processing apparatus, control apparatus and recording medium


A process for heating an asphalt surface and an apparatus therefor. The process comprises the steps of: igniting in a burner (30) a combustible mixture comprised of a fuel (50) and oxygen (60) to produce a hot gas; and feeding the hot gas to an enclosure having a radiative face (200) disposed above the asphalt surface (280). The asphalt surface heating apparatus comprises a hot gas producing burner (30) and an enclosure (25) comprising an inlet (120) for receiving hot gas from the burner and a radiative face (200) having a plurality of apertures. The apertures in the radiative face are of a dimension such that the hot gas: (i) heats the radiative face to provide radiation heat transfer to the asphalt surface; and (ii) passes through the apertures to provide convection heat transfer to the asphalt surface.

As used herein, the term asphalt also comprises macadam and tarmac. Asphalt paved road surfaces typically comprise a mixture of asphalt cement (typically a black, sticky, petrochemical binder) and an aggregate comprising appropriately sized stones and/or gravel. The asphalt concrete mixture is usually laid, compressed and smoothed to provide an asphalt paved road surface.
Over time, an asphalt paved road surface can deteriorate as a result of a number of factors. For example, seasonal temperature fluctuations can cause the road surface to become brittle and/or cracked. Erosion or compaction of the road bed beneath the road surface may also result in cracking. Moreover, certain of the chemical constituents incorporated in fresh asphalt are gradually lost over time or their properties changed with time, further contributing to brittleness and/or cracking of the road surface. Where concentrated cracking occurs, pieces of pavement may become dislodged. This dislodgement can create traffic hazards, and accelerates the deterioration of adjacent pavement and highway substructure. Even if cracking and the loss of pavement pieces do not occur, the passage of traffic can polish the upper highway surface, and such a surface can be slippery and dangerous. In addition, traffic-caused wear can groove, trough, rut and crack a highway surface. Under wet highway conditions, water can collect in these imperfections and set up dangerous vehicle hydro-planing phenomena. Collected water also contributes to the further deterioration of the pavement.
Prior to about the 1970's, available methods for repairing old asphalt-paved road surfaces included: spot treatments such as patching or sealing, paving with new materials over top of the original surface, and removal of some of the original surface and replacement with new materials. Each of these methods had inherent drawbacks and limitations.
Since about the early 1970's, with increasing raw material, oil and energy costs, there has been a growing interest in trying to recycle the original asphalt. The world's highways have come to be recognized as a very significant renewable resource.
Early recycling techniques involved removing some of the original surface and transporting it to a centralized, stationary recycling plant where it would be mixed with new asphalt and/or rejuvenating chemicals. The rejuvenated paving material would then be trucked back to the work site and laid. These techniques had obvious limitations in terms of delay, transportation costs and the like.
Subsequently, technology was developed to recycle the old asphalt at the worksite in the field. Some such processes involved heating and are frequently referred to as "hot-in-place recycling" (hereinafter referred to as HIPR).
This technology comprises many known processes and machines in the prior art for recycling asphalt paved surfaces where the asphalt has broken down. Generally, these processes and machines operate on the premise of (i) heating the paved surface (typically by using large banks of heaters) to facilitate softening or plasticization of an exposed layer of the asphalt; (ii) mechanically breaking up (typically using devices such as rotating, toothed grinders; screw auger/mills; and rake-like scarifiers) the heated surface; (iii) applying fresh asphalt or asphalt rejuvenant to the heated, broken asphalt; (iv) distributing the mixture from (iii) over the road surface; and (v) compacting or pressing the distributed mixture to provide a recycled asphalt paved surface. In some cases, the heated, broken material can be removed altogether from the road surface, treated off the road surface and then returned to the surface and pressed into finished position. Much of the prior art relates to variations of some kind on this premise.
Over time, HIPR has had to address certain problems, some of which still exist today. For example, asphalt concrete (especially the asphalt cement within it) is susceptible to damage from heat. Thus, the road surface has to be heated to the point where it was sufficiently softened for practical rupturing, but not to the point of harming it, Furthermore, it was recognized that asphalt concrete is increasingly hard to heat as the depth of the layer being heated increases.
Many patents have attempted to address these problems. See, for example, the following patents, each of which is incorporated herein by reference:
U.S. Pat. No. 3,361,042 (Cutler) U.S. Pat. No. 3,970,404 (Benedetti) PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,843,274 (Gutman et al.) U.S. Pat. No. 3,989,401 (Moench) PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,011,023 (Cutler) U.S. Pat. No. 4,124,325 (Cutler) PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,129,398 (Schoelkopf) U.S. Pat. No. 4,335,975 (Schoelkopf) PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,226,552 (Moench) U.S. Pat. No. 4,534,674 (Cutler) PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,545,700 (Yates) U.S. Pat. No. 4,711,600 (Yates) PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,784,518 (Cutler) U.S. Pat. No. 4,793,730 (Butch) PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,850,740 (Wiley) U.S. Pat. No. 4,929,120 (Wiley et al.) PA1 igniting in a burner a combustible mixture comprised of a fuel and oxygen to produce a hot gas; PA1 feeding the hot gas to an enclosure having a radiative face disposed above the asphalt surface, the radiative face having a plurality of apertures; and PA1 selecting the dimension of the apertures such that the hot gas: (i) heats the radiative face to provide radiation heat transfer to the asphalt surface; and (ii) passes through the apertures to provide convection heat transfer to the asphalt surface. PA1 =the convection heat-transfer coefficient; PA1 A=the total surface area of the heater; PA1 T.sub.1 =the temperature of the hot gas; and PA1 T.sub.2 =the temperature of the asphalt surface. PA1 .epsilon.=the total emissivity of the radiative surface; PA1 .sigma.=the proportionality (Stefan-Boltzmann) constant; PA1 A=the total surface area of the heater; PA1 T.sub.1 =the temperature of the radiative face of the enclosure; and PA1 T.sub.2 =the temperature of the asphalt surface.
Regardless of the specific technique used, commercially successful asphalt surface recycling is largely dependent on the ability to heat the old asphalt surface to be recycled in an efficient manner. Generally, efficient heating is achieved when the asphalt surface is heated to the desired temperature (eg. 300.degree. F.) both quickly and without substantial scorching or overheating.
It is conventional in the art to utilize a heater to soften the asphalt thereby facilitating recycling thereof. The heater may be a radiant heater (e.g. infrared heater), a hot air heater, a convection heater, a microwave heater, a direct flame heater and the like.
By far the most popular commercially utilized heater is a radiant heater emitting infrared radiation. Generally, such a heater operates by igniting a fuel/air mixture over a metal (or other suitable material) screen resulting in combustion of the mixture. The heat of combustion is absorbed by the metal screen which, in most cases, results the metal screen glowing red and radiating the asphalt surface with heat (i.e. infrared radiation). One of the significant limitations of conventional radiant heaters is the source of fuel. Specifically, since the fuel/air mixture must be combusted of the entire radiative surface of the heater, the fuel must be of a nature which enables it to be readily mixed with air and distributed substantially evenly over the radiative surface up to the point of ignition. The result of this is that virtually all commercially available radiation heaters are fuelled by propane or butane. Propane and butane are gases which may be readily mixed with air for use in this application.
Unfortunately, propane and butane are very hazardous materials to handle and use since they are typically stored under pressure which can lead to a dangerous explosion in the event of an accidental spark. Further, there are a number of countries in the world in which propane and/or butane are: (i) unavailable, (ii) prohibitively expensive, and/or (iii) unattractive in the face of other available lower cost liquid fuels such as diesel fuel. Indeed, one or more of these problems exist in most countries in the world outside North America, Europe and Australia. With regard to (iii), liquid fuels (i.e. fuels which are liquid at ambient temperature and pressure) are unsuitable for use in conventional radiation heaters due to the difficulties associated with atomizing such fuels in air and distributing the fuel/mixture substantially evenly over the radiative surface of the heater. The net result of this is that HIPR is commercially impractical in most countries in the world outside North America and Europe.
Further, with conventional radiation heaters, the temperature of the radiative surface can easily reach 2000.degree. F. or more. This results from the need to heat the surface as quickly as possible so that the progression of all vehicles associated with the recycling system is not delayed. This, coupled with the need to heat the surface of the asphalt to a temperature of 300.degree. to 400.degree. F. with the ultimate goal of attaining an average temperature of about 250.degree. F. a depth of at least 2 inches, can often lead to scorching or overheating of the asphalt surface. Unfortunately, attempts to obviate this effect simply by lowering the temperature of the radiative surface, leads to even poorer efficiencies in the overall recycling process and thus, is not consideration a commercially viable alternative. A further problem associated with conventional radiation heaters is the high potential for non-uniform heating. Typically, this results from certain areas in the asphalt surface attracting radiation (e.g. oil spots) and other areas reflecting radiation (e.g. light coloured aggregate). The problem is exasperated in areas of the asphalt surface attracting radiation since this typically leads to severe smoking and/or ignition of the asphalt surface thereby creating a significant environmental concern.
As alluded to above, a conventional asphalt surface heater is a hot air heater. Such a heater is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,561,800 Hatakenaka et al. (Hatakenaka)!, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference. Hatakenaka teaches a method of and an apparatus for heating a road surface, in which hot air controlled to a predetermined temperature is blown against the road surface so as to heat the road surface. The apparatus includes a hot air generator provided with a burner and a thermal control unit, and a number of ducts formed with blowing pores for blowing the hot air against the road surface. Hatakenaka purports that the apparatus facilitates reducing the amount of smoke produced during heating of the asphalt surface. A principal consideration in Hatakenaka is the ability to control the temperature of the hot air. Thus, the essence of Hatakenaka is the provision of hot air at a controlled temperature which hot air is used as the means by which the road surface is heated. Hatakenaka asserts that one of the advantages of the invention is the ability to adjust the "thermal capability" of the heater simply by adjusting the temperature of the hot air itself. This underlies the notation that, for all intents and purpose, Hatakenaka relates to an apparatus which provides substantially all heat by convection.
One of the principal difficulties with hot air and convection heaters generally, and the apparatus taught by Hatakenaka specifically, used in asphalt surface recycling relates to the inability to convey sufficient amounts of the hot air to the asphalt surface to enable heat transfer to take place to the desired temperature and depth in the asphalt surface. The principal reason for this is the size and hot air throughput (e.g. cubic feet per minute or "cfm") necessary to expose the asphalt surface to sufficient heat for a sufficient period of time to heat the surface at a commercially viable rate of speed (e.g. 10-30 feet/minute) makes it impractical and/or prohibitively expensive to build a commercially useful apparatus. The result of this is that, in the asphalt surface recycling art, hot air and convection heaters are not commercially viable when compared to radiation heaters.
It would be desirable to have a method and apparatus for heating an asphalt surface which method and apparatus overcome or reduce at least one of the above-identified disadvantages of the prior art.

Process for heating an asphalt surface and apparatus therefor


A microphone contains a capacitor in a capsule with a diaphragm serving as one of electrodes of the capacitor. The microphone is mounted on a mounting board when external terminals installed on an external surface of a circuit board which closes an opening of the capsule are connected face to face with connection terminals on the mounting board. A sound hole is formed in the circuit board and through-hole is formed in the mounting board, being placed in such a position as to avoid overlapping each other when the microphone is mounted. An enclosed space which communicates the through-hole and sound hole is formed when the external terminals are connected with the connection terminals on the mounting board.

Downsizing, ease of mounting, and reduced requirements for mounting space are demanded of microphones to be mounted in such small equipment as cell phones.
Electret condenser microphones (ECM) are commonly used as such microphones that are provided with good characteristics, easy to handle because of their simple structure, and easy to downsize. They are mounted on a target mounting-board (board of a target equipment) using a surface-mount technique.
FIGS. 11A and 11B show a perspective view and sectional view of a configuration described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-192180 (hereinafter referred to as patent literature 1) as an example of a mounting structure for use to mount a microphone on a mounting board. In the figures, reference numeral 10 denotes a microphone and 20 denotes a mounting board (board of a target equipment). Incidentally, internal structure of the microphone 10 is not shown in FIG. 11B.
In this example, as shown in FIG. 11B, no sound receiving sound hole is formed in a capsule 11 which provides a shell of the microphone 10, but a sound hole 13 is formed in a circuit board 12 which covers an opening 11b of the capsule 11. External terminals 14 and 15 are formed on an external surface of the circuit board 12, and soldered to a terminal pattern (not shown) formed on the mounting board 20, thereby mounting the microphone 10 to the mounting board 20. Reference numeral 16 in FIG. 11B denotes a solder layer.
A sound receiving through-hole (sound hole) 21 is formed in the mounting board 20, and the microphone 10 is mounted with the sound hole 13 in the circuit board 12 aligned with the through-hole 21 in the mounting board 20.
With the mounting structure in this example, sound waves from a sound source are captured into inner space of the microphone 10 through the through-hole 21 in the mounting board 20 and the sound hole 13 in the circuit board 12. Thus, in this example, the mounting board 20 can be placed in the equipment in such a way that a parts-mounting surface 20a will face inward in the equipment.
That is, if a sound hole is formed in a front plate 11a on the opposite side of the capsule 11 from the circuit board 12 rather than in the circuit board 12, it is necessary to place the mounting board 20 inside the equipment so that the parts-mounting surface 20a will face the sound source (turn outward) because the sound hole must face the sound source to capture the sound waves from the sound source. In that case, it is necessary to provide a space large enough to accommodate height of the microphone between the mounting board 20 and a housing of the equipment. However, the configuration shown in FIGS. 11A and 11B eliminates the need for such a space, and thus requires less space in order to mount the microphone.
However, with the conventional mounting structure shown in FIGS. 11A and 11B, the sound hole 13 in the circuit board 12 of the microphone 10 and the through-hole 21 in the mounting board 20 are superimposed one upon the other, i.e., the sound hole 13 is placed at a location onto which the through-hole 21 is projected in a height direction of the microphone 10, making it easy for foreign matter such as dust and water droplets to get into the inner space of the microphone 10.
Also, since the positions of the sound hole 13 and through-hole 21 coincide, any foreign matter entering the through-hole 21, for example, during an assembly process or the like may damage a diaphragm in the microphone.
Furthermore, the sound waves, which enter the diaphragm directly through the through-hole 21 and the sound hole 13, are liable to cause pop noise.

Microphone and microphone mounting structure


A diffusion material includes a prescribed scattering S(λ) of respective fine particles that are determined by Mie theory for all plural kinds of fine particles at a wavelength λ of an incident light. The diffusion material includes plural kinds of fine particles having different refractive indices, dispersed into a matrix. Each particle providing light intensity attenuating rate C(λ) in the diffusion material, and chromaticity variations Δx and Δy of the incident light. The diffusion power of the diffusion material by using determined chromaticity variations Δx and Δy; the diffusion material that is evaluated by this evaluation method and can emit illumination light free from wavelength unevenness. The diffusion material includes a blending the fine particles to provide the prescribed diffusion and uniform illumination.

A material for diffusing light has recently found use in a variety of fields. For example, in the case of interior illumination, the quantity of emitted light is uniformized by passing the light through a diffusion panel instead of directly illuminating a room with a fluorescent lamp. In addition, a direct type backlight unit to be used as the backlight unit of a large liquid crystal television set is also converted into a uniform planar light source by placing a diffusion panel on a fluorescent tube to alleviate brightness unevenness.
A light diffusion material as exemplified by such diffusion panel produces a diffusion effect by adding materials such as fine particles having different refractive indices to a matrix to induce a light scattering phenomenon.
However, the light scattering phenomenon has wavelength dependency as typified by the blue sky, so a light scattering material involves the following problem: the wavelength dependency of a white light source changes, and white light is observed to be color unevenness.
JP 11-153963 A (Cited Document 1) proposes a diffusion material for improving the uniformity of a color tone to solve the problem. The diffusion material disclosed in Cited Document 1 is a light scattering light guide the inside of which is provided with scattering power by dispersing, in a medium having a predetermined refractive index (a matrix or a matrix), scatterers such as spherical fine particles each having a refractive index different from that of the matrix. The diffusion material is used in a light source device which: is provided with light supplying means for supplying visible light including a long wavelength region and a short wavelength region from a side end face portion of the light scattering light guide; and causes incident light to outgo from an outgoing surface formed in at least a side portion of the light scattering light guide. In addition, Cited Document 1 discloses that evaluation for the scattering power imparted to the light scattering light guide can be performed by using scattering efficiency Q(λ) (λ: wavelength) determined from the theory of Mie scattering. That is, the scattering power imparted to the light scattering light guide of Cited Document 1 is as follows: a relationship between scattering efficiency Q(R) in a long wavelength region (long wavelength visible region typified by a red color) and scattering efficiency Q(B) in a short wavelength region (short wavelength visible region typified by a blue color) is balanced so that the color temperature of outgoing light from the outgoing surface at a position close to an incident side end face portion and the color temperature of the light at a position distant from the position are substantially equal to each other.
In addition, Cited Document 1 further discloses that a control ratio k for balancing the scattering efficiency Q(λ) represented by a ratio between the scattering efficiency Q(B) in a short wavelength region and the scattering efficiency Q(R) in a long wavelength region is preferably adjusted to satisfy the following range:k=Q(B)/Q(R)0.75≦k≦1.25where B=435 (nm) (blue color) and R=615 (nm) (red color).
In addition, the document discloses that the shape of the light scattering light guide is preferably a plate shape, a wedge shape (which tends to be thinner as it is more distant from a side end face portion), or a rod shape.
As a result, in Cited Document 1, a problem concerning color unevenness occurring in a light source device using a light scattering light guide is solved, the nonuniformity of the color tone of outgoing light depending on whether the light is distant from or close to a light supply end is alleviated, and the uniformity of a color tone, for example, in the backlighting of any one of various displays such as a liquid crystal display or in any one of the other various lighting units can be easily improved.    Patent Document 1: JP 11-153963 A

Diffusion material, diffusion material evaluating method, blending method for fine particles in the diffusion material, and production method for the diffusion material