A MEMS device package and a method of manufacturing the same. The MEMS device package includes a device substrate having a surface on which a MEMS active device is formed, and multiple sealing pads arranged around the MEMS active device so that the sealing pads provide electric paths for the MEMS active device. In addition, the MEMS device package may include a cap substrate bonded to the device substrate through the multiple sealing pads, the cap substrate including a trench, within which the MEMS active device is positioned, and via holes. One or more outer electrode pads may be formed on one surface of the cap substrate to be electrically connected with the multiple sealing pads through the via holes. Because there are several bonding and sealing areas between the device substrate and the cap substrate, the sealing intensity is strengthened.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a MEMS (Micro Electro-Mechanical System) device package and a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
The field of MEMS is a technical field for processing sensors, micro-actuators, gyroscopes, or parts for precise machines using a semiconductor processing technique. Therefore, the use of MEMS is considered as a technique for improving performance and reducing costs as the precise workability, uniformity between products, superior productivity, etc., of the semiconductor technique can be applied to MEMS.
MEMS devices, for example, accelerometers, angular velocity sensors, resonance type gyroscopes, etc. are packaged for the purpose of enhancing protection and/or sensitivity thereof. As high densification and miniaturization of MEMS devices are realized due to the rapid development of techniques for manufacturing MEMS devices, it is also required to miniaturize packages of the MEMS devices. For this purpose, a WSP (Wafer Scale Package) technique is frequently attempted, which performs packaging of devices while the devices are in a wafer condition.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing an example of a conventional MEMS device package. As shown in the drawing, a device substrate is provided with a MEMS active device 2, and a covering glass substrate 3 is joined to the device substrate 1 for protecting the MEMS active device 2. The MEMS active device 2 generally comprises a spring structure and a stage supported by the spring structure.
In addition, inner electrode pads 4 are provided on the opposite side portions of the device substrate 1, in which the inner electrode pads are electrically connected with the MEMS active device 2. Furthermore, a trench 5 is formed in the covering glass substrate 3 to provide a space in which the MEMS active device 2 is positioned, and the covering glass substrate 3 and the device substrate are anodic-bonded to one another.
Furthermore, via holes 6 are formed through the opposite side portions of the covering glass substrate 3 and outer electrode pads 7 are formed through the via holes 6, in which the outer electrode pads 7 are connected with the inner electrode pads 4. Here, the outer electrode pads 7 are formed by filling metal (typically, aluminum (Al)) in the via holes 6 through a sputtering process. The outer electrode pads 7 are each connected with a signal line on a circuit board (not shown) via a wire, a bump or the like.
In the above-mentioned conventional MEMS device package, there is no way to avoid the increase in thickness of the covering glass substrate 3 because a structure and a manufacturing process that the glass-based covering substrate 3 and the silicon-based device substrate 1 are bonded to one another through anodic-bonding are adopted. In addition, there is a limit in reducing the size of the package because the via holes 3 are formed through the glass substrate 3. Consequently, the above-mentioned conventional package contributes to an obstruction in miniaturizing an appliance which employs such a MEMS package, because it is high and large in size and thus occupies a large volume in the appliance.
Furthermore, by employing the glass-based covering substrate 3, the above-mentioned conventional MEMS device package has a problem in that the processes for forming the via holes 6 for electrode-wiring and the outer electrode pads 7 are very complicated and require a lot of time, thereby causing a drop in yield and productivity. The conventional MEMS package also has a problem in that the MEMS active device 2 may be deformed or damaged due to high temperature at the time of anodic-bonding (typically, about 460° C.) and inherent stress is included due to the difference in thermal expansion coefficient between the covering glass substrate 3 and the device substrate 1.
In addition, the circuit connection between the inner electrode pads 4 formed from silicon and the outer electrode pads 7 formed from a metallic material such as aluminum (Al) may present a problem in terms of reliability of the device because such a circuit connection generates very high inductance in connection with the electric contact resistance at the contact areas and RF of high frequency, thereby causing a great signal loss.
Meanwhile, existing bonding materials such as SnPb are spread out laterally when bonding a wafer and a glass material, whereby uniformity may be deteriorated or poor quality may be frequently caused in forming a rim of the package.

MEMS device package and method of manufacturing the same


The invention provides a force detector in which power consumption is suppressed. Four electrodes E11 through E14 are formed on a substrate, and an elastic deformable body formed of a rubber film is disposed thereon. A conductive coating is applied on the lower surface of the elastic deformable body to provide a displacing conductive layer 26. Four capacitance elements C11 through C14 are comprised by the electrodes E11 through E14 and the displacing conductive layer 26 opposed to the electrodes. The capacitance values thereof are converted into voltage values V11 through V14 by C/V converter circuit 50, and based on operation by signal processing circuit 60, an external force applied to the elastic deformable body is detected. A pair of contacting electrodes E15 and E16 are formed on the substrate, and when an external force with a predetermined strength or more is applied, the elastic deformable body deforms, and the displacing conductive layer 26 comes into contact with both electrodes E15 and E16, simultaneously. The potential of the electrode E16 is taken-in from the terminal T5, and when said potential is Vcc, the C/V converter circuit 50 is operated in a standby mode with less power consumption, and when said potential is GND, the circuit is operated in a normal mode.

The present invention relates to a force detector using capacitance elements or variable resistance elements and, more specifically, to a force detector suitable for being applied to an input device which obtains operational inputs indicating predetermined operation amounts into an electronic apparatus such as a portable telephone, game machine, or the like which executes predetermined processing based on predetermined programs.
In an electronic apparatus such as a portable telephone, game machine, or the like, a predetermined operational input by a user is accepted, and based on this operational input, an execution of program proceeds. Normally, such an operational input is accepted while a user looks at a cursor or other objects displayed on a display screen, and an input indicating one of four directions including upward, downward, rightward, and leftward directions, or one of eight directions including diagonal directions as well are generally required. A device called a joystick has been used for executing such an input with directivity. Such type of device normally includes a built-in two-dimensional force detector which detects a direction and an operation amount of the applied operational input by independently detecting a component in the X-axis direction and a component in the Y-axis direction. For example, an operational input with a +5 component in the X-axis direction indicates an operation amount of 5 in the rightward direction, and an operational input with a −8 component in the Y-axis direction indicates an operation amount of 8 in the downward direction. Of course, detection of an operational input applied diagonally is also possible by carrying out an operation for composing the component in the X-axis direction and the component in the Y-axis direction, and so forth.
In an electronic apparatus such as a portable telephone, game machine, or the like, a clicking input is required as well as the abovementioned operational input with directivity. This clicking input is basically an input indicating a binary condition of ON/OFF, and it is important to provide an operator with a clicking sensation through this input. Therefore, a reaction force must be applied with respect to a pressing force applied from the operator's finger while securing some degree of stroke. As a switch suitable for such ON/OFF inputs with a clicking sensation, switches using elasticity of elastic materials such as rubber and metals have been generally used, and force detectors with a function for making operational inputs in predetermined directions as well as clicking inputs have been made practicable.
As relatively inexpensive input devices for electronic apparatuses, force detectors using capacitance elements have been frequently used. For a force detector using a capacitance element, a structure in which the distance between a couple of electrodes is changed by externally applied forces is employed, and by electrically detecting this electrode distance as a capacitance value for the capacitance element, the externally applied forces can be determined. Thus, basic components of a force detector using a capacitance element are a pair of electrodes, wherein advantages of a simple structure and low parts costs can be obtained. Therefore, a force detector using a capacitance element has been widely used as an input device for an electronic apparatus such as a portable telephone, game machine, or the like.
As a method for electrically detecting a capacitance value C of a capacitance element, a method using a C/V converter circuit for converting the capacitance value C into a voltage value V and a method using a C/f converter circuit for converting a capacitance value C into a frequency f have been generally known. However, general C/V converter circuits and C/f converter circuits have oscillation circuits inside, so that power consumption during operation is relatively great. Therefore, if conventional force detectors using such capacitance elements are installed into various electronic apparatuses, power consumption increases as a whole. Particularly, a design in which battery consumption is reduced as long as possible has been demanded for electronic apparatuses such as a portable telephone, game machine, or the like which are operated by built-in batteries. Therefore, a force detector using a capacitance element is disadvantageous in terms of power consumption although it is advantageous in terms of manufacturing costs.
Of course, a measure for reducing the entire power consumption by intermittently operating a C/V converter circuit or C/f converter circuit with great power consumption can be taken. For example, if an intermittent operation with 200 msec periods is carried out in which the circuit is operated for 20 msec and then stopped for the next 180 msec, five measurements per second are possible while the power consumption is reduced to be one tenth. However, even by taking this measure, wasteful power consumption cannot be completely suppressed. Considering the actual use pattern of a portable telephone or the like, the period of input operation for cursor movements or the like is very short, so that operation of circuits with great power consumption while an operator does not carry out operational inputs at all is not efficient.
Also, in Japanese Patent Application No. 2000-132012, a force detector using a variable resistance element is proposed. In this detector, a variable resistance element whose resistance value changes in accordance with applied pressures is used, and externally applied forces can be detected by detecting changes in resistance value of this variable resistance element.
In this force detector using the variable resistance element, to obtain a detection value of an applied force, a measurement of electric resistance of a resistor is essential. However, to measure the electric resistance of the resistor, it is necessary to make a current flow in the resistor, and some degree of power consumption is inevitable during the measurement. Therefore, if the abovementioned force detector using the variable resistance element is installed into various electronic apparatuses, power consumption increases as a whole.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


Light-weight VRLA batteries comprise a thin lead substrate that is supported by non-conductive, preferably plastic frames that provide structural stability to accommodate stress and strain in the bipole assembly. In particularly preferred batteries, the plastic frames are laser welded together and phantom grids and electrode materials are coupled to the respective sides of the lead substrate. Where the phantom grid is an ultra-thin lead grid, the lead grid is preferably configured to provide a corrosion reserve of less than 10 charge-discharge cycles and the bipole assembly is charged in an in-tank formation process. Where the phantom grid is a non-conductive grid, the lead grid is preferably a plastic grid and the bipole assembly is charged in an in-container formation process. Consequently, weight, volume, and production costs are significantly reduced while specific energy is substantially increased.

Increased demands on battery performance and economics of battery manufacture as well as recent advances in battery technology have provided new momentum to the development and production of bipolar lead acid batteries. However, despite various improved compositions and methods, various fundamental problems in the manufacture of substrates and current collectors remained. Moreover, despite various advances in bipolar battery design, relatively lame quantities of metallic lead are still required to retain structural stability during manufacture and repeated charge/discharge cycles.
For example, it is known in the art to weld together pure lead grids and pure lead plates to form a composite collector structure with relatively low internal impedance and at least somewhat increased oxidation and corrosion resistance as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,806,696. This and all other extrinsic materials discussed herein are incorporated by reference in their entirety. Where a definition or use of a term in an incorporated reference is inconsistent or contrary to the definition of that term provided herein, the definition of that term provided herein applies and the definition of that term in the reference does not apply.
However, where such batteries are subject to deep cycling, a PbSO4/PbOx layer is formed that will act as an insulator and so leads to premature capacity loss of the battery. Alternatively, various lead alloys (e.g., lead-calcium alloy) can be used together with a pure lead substrate as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,620,551 to so avoid formation of the insulating layer. Unfortunately, as the conductive grid is in most cases laminated to the lead substrate, delamination will ultimately reduce the lifetime of such batteries. Moreover, and regardless of the type of lead grid material, significant weight is added to the battery by virtue of having a conductive grid.
Similarly, where the substrate is a lead plate or a lead-coated plate, electrolyte creep from one cell to is often unavoidable and will internally short circuit the battery. In the same manner, difficulties with assembly of bipole elements into a bipolar battery stack remain. For example, it is known to stack and seal cells using certain sealants or sealing devices. While such approach tends to increase complexity in manufacture, it still often provides undesirable results, especially where the battery is run over numerous cycles. To overcome at least some of the problems associated with known sealants or sealing devices, bipoles may be pressed together to improve sealing of the gap. However, over-compression will negatively affect battery performance.
Therefore, even though numerous devices and methods of lead acid bipolar batteries are known in the art, all or almost all of them suffer from various disadvantages. Thus, there is still a need to provide improved lead acid bipolar batteries and production processes.

Light-weight bipolar valve regulated lead acid batteries and methods therefor


A recessed downlight mounting fixture having a fixture plate formed from a blank, the fixture plate having at least one aperture for receiving a lamp housing, a junction box formed from said the blank and foldably integral with said the fixture plate, at least one junction box door formed from the blank with the fixture plate, and, at least one mounting bar bracket formed from the blank.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recessed downlight mounting FIXTURE. More specifically, the present invention relates to recessed downlight mounting fixture comprising a plurality of parts defining an assembly which are simultaneously formed from a single tooling.
2. Background of the Invention
Recessed downlighting has been ever increasing in popularity for use in both commercial and residential structures and as a result, competition has increased dramatically in this lighting area. To that end, manufacturers continue to search for ways to decrease costs for manufacturing and assembly in order to increase profits and decrease consumer costs.
Current recessed lighting frames are assembled utilizing various parts which are typically formed in separate manufacturing procedures and by separate tooling devices. Since the parts are formed separately, the material costs are expensive due to the large amounts of waste generated in producing each part separately. As a result, the costs for manufacturing includes a large amount of wasted material as each part is formed separately and adds to the overall cost of purchasing the parts. In addition, separate tooling costs associated with forming parts separately further increase costs associated with manufacturing and therefore purchase of a recessed downlight. Further, the parts which may be manufactured separately must be shipped to a single location for manufacturing.
Given the foregoing deficiencies, it will be appreciated that a recessed downlight mounting fixture is needed which is formed by a single tooling and from a single blank layout which therefore minimizes wasted material.


A Yagi-Uda monopolar antenna configured to be mounted on the conductive surface of a vehicle, especially an aircraft. The antenna comprises: a radiating element, taking the form of a conductive plate, for example one having the shape of a disc, which plate is equipped with a return conductor; a reflecting element; and at least one directing element taking the form of a monopole that is folded on itself. The various elements are mounted on a substantially planar surface such as the skin of the fuselage of an aircraft. The antenna simultaneously has a wide operating band, a good compactness and a good directivity. It may especially serve as joint antenna for a plurality of air-ground communication systems of an aircraft.

The increasing number of communications systems installed on-board vehicles requires it to be possible to transmit and receive in a plurality of frequency bands, this generally requiring as many antennas to be installed on a vehicle as it comprises separate communication systems, this multiplication of antennas representing a source of complexity both with respect to installation and with respect to maintenance. It may thus be advantageous, a fortiori, when the intended recipients of these communications are co-located or close in terms of angle of sight, to use a joint antenna common to all of these communication systems. Thus, for example, on-board an aircraft, a plurality of air-ground communication systems using separate frequency bands may share one wideband joint antenna. Another advantage of such sharing is a smaller protrusion at the surface of the aircraft and therefore a lower drag.
Moreover, it is often preferable for on-board antennas to have a high directivity and therefore a high gain, so as to decrease power consumption and to increase signal-to-noise ratio. Generally, since the gain of an antenna is proportional to the effective aperture cross-sectional area of the antenna, which itself is proportional to the area of the antenna in the plane orthogonal to the direction of the main lobe, the search for high-directivity antennas leads to antennas with large dimensions in the plane orthogonal to that of the emission direction. In the aforementioned case of communications between an aircraft and ground, the main lobe of the antenna must have a small angle of elevation and the aperture area of the antenna must therefore be large in a plane orthogonal to the longitudinal axis of the aircraft, this increasing drag and therefore fuel consumption.
The Yagi-Uda antenna, which was initially developed for the aeronautical field and which has since been universally used as a TV antenna, is an antenna having both a good directivity and a relatively small aperture area. Specifically, it is known to those skilled in the art that this type of antenna is composed of a half-wave linear dipole, which is generally folded, of a reflecting parasitic element located behind and of one or more directing parasitic elements located in front of this dipole, all of these being mounted on the same boom, the direction of the main lobe being given by the direction of the boom. The reflecting element has a larger lateral extent than that of the dipole, the latter having a larger lateral extent than that of the directing elements. The reflecting and directing parasitic elements act as radiating dipoles that are fed by induction by the half-wave dipole, which is alone wire-fed. The Yagi-Uda antenna may be likened, to a first approximation, to an antenna array, the elements of which are fed by mutual induction. By suitably choosing the position and spacing between the various elements, the waves emitted by the various elements add constructively in the direction of the boom and destructively in the inverse direction.
However, one major drawback of Yagi-Uda antennas is their narrow-band operation, making them unusable as a joint wideband antenna in the preceding sense. Specifically, their fractional bandwidth, or in other words the ratio between their bandwidth and their central frequency, is about 10%.
One objective of the present invention is therefore to provide an antenna possessing a small effective aperture cross-sectional area while nonetheless having a wide operating band and a high directivity.


A static memory device comprises a memory cell array having of a plurality of sections, each including a plurality of memory cells. A selection signal for selecting one section is generated in accordance with a data writing or reading operation. First and second potentials of high level are generated, and one of the potentials are selectively supplied to pairs of bit lines in one of the plurality of sections. In a data writing operation, the pairs of bit lines are precharged to the first potential, e.g., the supply voltage V.sub.cc, and in a data reading operation, the pair of bit lines is precharged to the second potential, e.g., V.sub.cc -2V.sub.f, where V.sub.f is a forward voltage of a diode.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a static memory device, and more particularly to a static memory device which writes and reads data at a high speed.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a static random access memory (hereinafter referred to as a SRAM), data is transmitted from a write circuit through a bit line and written in a memory cell selected on the basis of a row selection signal output from a row decoder and a column selection signal output from a column decoder.
In a data reading operation, data is read from a memory cell selected in the same manner as described above. The data is supplied through a bit line to a sense amplifier and amplified therein. Recently, some BICMOS circuits consisting of CMOS FETs and bipolar transistors have a sense amplifier formed of bipolar transistors.
In a conventional SRAM using a CMOS FET and a bipolar transistor, the potential of a bit line is precharged to a value V.sub.BL =V.sub.cc -2V.sub.f or V.sub.cc -V.sub.f because of the use of bipolar sense amplifier, where V.sub.cc denotes a supply voltage and V.sub.f denotes a base-emitter forward bias voltage and the emitter of the bipolar transistor. Therefore, when data is written, the voltage margin to correctly write data is small and a write time is long.
When data writing and data reading are consecutively performed, the time required to read data through a pair of bit lines connected to a memory cell in which data has just been written is different from the time required to read the data through another pair of bit lines. More specifically, when the later pair of bit lines is accessed, the two bit lines are precharged to a potential of V.sub.BL (e.g., V.sub.cc -2V.sub.f), and accordingly, data can be read out in a relatively short period of time. However, when the pair of bit lines connected to the memory cell in which data has just been written is accessed again to read data from another memory cell (or the same memory cell), a relatively long period of time is required. For example, in one write cycle, one of the pair of bit lines is set at the potential of V.sub.cc -2V.sub.f and the other bit line is set at a lower level. When a data reading operation starts, it takes a considerable period of time to return the lower potential level of the pair of bit lines to the level of V.sub.BL. In addition, it requires much longer time to read data in a memory cell of a high level through a bit line which is set at a low level in previous write cycle, since the potential of the bit line must be inverted.


A system for and method of performing laser assisted surgery is disclosed. Laser radiation is preferably delivered to a target area of tissue using a Er:YAG laser source. The laser radiation is delivered to the target area in bursts of laser radiation comprising sets of laser pulses. The bursts of laser radiation are preferably delivered to the target area at a repetition rate in a range of 10 to 40 Hz and with sufficient pulse fluences to cut and/or dissect. In accordance with a preferred embodiment, interchangeable and flexible endo-probes are configured with shield features. The shield features control the emission of laser radiation from the optical fiber while bending the flexible probes allow surgeons to access a range of approach angles for the laser treatment of biological tissue enclosed or within a cavity of a body. The probes can also be configured with mechanical cutters or other structures which allow for the mechanical manipulation of tissue during laser treatment. The system for and method of performing laser assisted surgery is particularly well suited for treating fibrous and/or fibro-vascular membranes (FVMs) on ophthalmic tissue during vitreoretinal surgery.

Proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) and proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR) are the most common causes of permanent or severe visual loss associated with retinal detachment. At the core of visual loss in both of these diseases is the growth of fibrous and/or fibro-vascular membranes, referred to generally herein as FVMs. The FVMs grow or develop on or near the surface of the retina. The growth of FVMs causes tractional retinal detachments, combined tractional-rhegmatogenous retinal detachments, and vitreous hemorrhages. Prior to the development of vitrectomy, severe cases of proliferative vitreoretinopathy that underwent conventional scleral buckle failed to reattach the retina in up to 70% of cases (Yoshida et al., 1984; Grizzard and Hilton, 1982). With the advent of photocoagulation and vitrectomy, great progress has been made over the past 30 years in treatment and management of proliferative diabetic and vitreoretinopathy. Success of reattaching retinal tissue with patients having severe PVR has been reported between 36 and 80% overall (Machemer and Lagua, 1978; Aaberg 1988; Hanneken and Michels, 1988; Fishe et al., 1988; The Silicon Oil Study Group, 1992). Success rates were decreased when eyes had already failed vitrectomy or when anterior membranes were present (Lewis and Aaberg, 1991). In diabetics the prognosis is even worse. When eyes with vitreous hemorrhage and preoperatively attached maculas undergo vitrectomy to remove blood 5 to 17% of eyes are reported to lose light perception and only 40–62% regained visual acuity of 20/200 or better (DRVS 1985 and 1990; Machemer and Blankenship, 1981; Michels et al., 1983; Thompson et al., 1987; Rice et al., 1983). In eyes with traction retinal detachment of the macula 20/200 vision was regained in 21 to 58% and loss of light perception occurred in 11 to 19% (Aaberg 1978; Aaberg and Van Horn, 1978; Hutton et al., 1980; Rice et al., 1983). When retinal detachment was both rhegmatogenous and tractional only 25 to 36% regained 20/200 or better vision and loss of light perception ranged from 9 to 23%.
In order to repair retinal detachments caused by PDR and PVR the surgeon must relieve traction and close all breaks. Some residual traction outside the macula is acceptable provided that it does not prevent the surgeon from closing a break. During vitreoretinal surgery, FVMs are removed from the surface of the retina by careful mechanical dissection. The surgeon has several tools at his or her disposal to aid in the removal of fibrovascular tissue from the retina. These tools include various scissors, knives, picks, forceps and other cutting devices (e.g. vitrector). This process is tedious, time consuming and very labor-intensive. Further, mechanical dissection exerts traction on the retina and can lead to complications like hemorrhage, resulting in the formation of a retinal hole, failure to remove enough of the FVM tissue or failure to close a retinal break.
Many of these complications are a direct result of the mechanical nature of the dissection of FVMs. For example cutting FVMs with scissors often results in bleeding which reduces visibility and results in clot formation. The clots can adhere to the surface of the retina and FVMs and cause traction or reduce visibility. To control bleeding requires that the surgeon elevate the intraocular pressure and slowly lower it back to normal while waiting for the bleeding to stop. The surgeon must usually change instruments to clear the hemorrhage before resuming the operation. Also, a retinal break sometimes forms when adherent FVMs are removed from the delicate retinal surface. When this happens all traction near the break must be relieved, the break must be marked and treated with a laser once the retina is reattached. These complications can occur numerous times during the course of a single surgery adding to the time required to complete the procedure. Increased surgical time results in increased fatigue, increased risk of surgical error, increased risk of surgical failure, increased need for re-operation, increased likelihood of severe vision loss, and increased cost to the healthcare system and society. Further, there is an increased risk to the patient from the prolonged exposures to general anesthesia.
Many types of lasers have been tried in the search for more effective means of removing membranes from the surface of the retina including Excimer (ArF), Carbon Dioxide CO2, Holmium:YAG, Erbium:YAG, and other infrared lasers (Hemo et al., 1997; Lewis et al., 1992; Palanker et al., 1994; Tsubota 1990; Peyman and Katoh, 1987; D'Amico et al., 1994; Bende et al., 1989; Walsh et al., 1989; Cummings and Walsh 1993 Karlin et al., 1986; Bridges et al., 1983; Meyers et al., 1983; Miller et al., 1980; Borirakchanyavat et al., 1991;). However, to date laser systems and methods have not been discovered which are suitable for routine laser assisted vitreoretinal surgery.
The Excimer laser, or argon fluoride laser, with a wavelength of 193 nm has been evaluated for vitreoretinal surgery in both air and fluid filled eyes (Hemo et al., 1997; Lewis et al., 1992; Palanker et al., 1994). The Excimer laser is capable of extremely precise ablation of retinal tissue with apparently few complications. However, difficulties with size, cost, maintenance, delivery systems and possible mutagenicity of ultra violet wavelengths have hampered development of Excimer and other similar lasers for vitreoretinal surgery (Pellin et al., 1985; Marshall and Sliney, 1986).
Because of the numerous shortcomings of the currently available laser systems and methods, what is needed is a laser system and method which allows vitreoretinal surgeons to cut and cauterize FVMs while reducing traction on the retina and also removing adherent FVMs by ablation.

Laser system and method for treatment of biological tissues


A cardiac rhythm management (CRM) system includes a programming device that identifies the device type of an implantable medical device, selects a predetermined questioning sequence based on the device type, and interacts with a user through a user interface screen by conducting a question-and-answer session according to the predetermined questioning sequence. After displaying a question and receiving an answer to the question, the programming device sets one or more programmable parameter values and/or displays a follow-up question in response to the answer. The programming device also allows the user to enter one or more programmable parameter values directly during or after the question-and-answer session. The implantable medical device is programmed to operate in one or more operational modes based on at least the answers received from the user during the question-and-answer session and the parameter values entered by the user, if any.

Implantable CRM devices such as pacemakers and defibrillators are used to treat cardiac arrhythmias, heart failure, and other cardiovascular disorders by delivering electrical energy to the heart. Advances in biomedical technology have provided implantable CRM devices with increasingly sophisticated features and operational modes adaptive to a patient's changing physiological conditions and individualized lifestyle. As a consequence, programming an implantable CRM device has become an increasingly complicated task for the users including healthcare professionals.
To operate in a patient after implantation, an implantable CRM device is programmed by a user using an external programming device. The programming device includes a user interface that allows the user to observe the patient's conditions indicated by signals acquired by the implantable CRM device and to program the implantable CRM device by entering or selecting a series of programmable parameters. Such parameters include, but are not limited to, therapy modes and quantitative parameters required for operating in each therapy mode, special features and quantitative parameters required for utilizing each special feature, and various therapy activation or feature activation criteria. Additionally, devices of different types, as well as some devices of the same type, require different programmable parameters and/or different programming procedures. The user may have to receive extensive training on how to program each specific type of implantable CRM devices and may have to spend months or even years before being able to optimally utilize many advanced features. Introductions of new device features, while providing the users with additional power in treating cardiovascular diseases, tend to make the programming of implantable CRM devices more intimidating. One undesirable consequence is underutilization of available device features and capabilities. If properly utilized, such underutilized device features and capabilities will potentially provide substantial additional benefits to many patients who have already benefited from implantable CRM devices.
For these and other reasons, there is a need to provide healthcare professionals with a user-friendlier device for programming implantable CRM devices.

Method and apparatus for question-based programming of cardiac rhythm management devices


A beverage container (10) is disclosed as including a body (12) with a top end and a cooling device (20) detachably engageable with the body (12), in which the body (12) is adapted to hold a beverage, and the cooling device (20) is adapted to contain a cooling agent, e.g. water and when the cooling device (20) is engaged with the body (12), at least a major portion of the top end of the body (12) is closed and at least part of the cooling device (20) extends into an interior cavity of the body (12), and the cooling device (20) includes a vessel (22) and a top (24) removably engageable with each other. A method of using such a beverage container is also disclosed.

There are in existence a number of pitchers with detachable chiller device. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,732,567 issued to Anderson discloses a chiller device for a pitcher which holds a beverage. The chiller comprises a sealed container with a freezable coolant, and a structure for maintaining the sealed container within the body of the pitcher. A major disadvantage associated with this prior art chiller device is that the open top end of the pitcher is not covered. The chilling effect of the chiller device will therefore be compromised as the beverage held by the pitcher is exposed to the outside environment.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,472,274 issued to Baillie discloses a container for cooling and stirring a beverage. The container includes a pitcher for receiving the beverage and a lid detachably coupled to a top end of the pitcher. A cooling cylinder assembly for receiving ice cubes is mounted to a bottom surface of the lid and extends into contact with the beverage, thus cooling the beverage in the container. A shortcoming associated with this prior art container is that once the ice cubes have melted into liquid water, the water has to be poured out from the cooling cylinder assembly, and new ice cubes introduced into the cooling cylinder assembly. Such is a cumbersome operation.
Other prior art beverage containers include China Patent for Utility Model Nos. ZL 92217483.0 published under No. CN 2128715Y, ZL 97221836.X published under No. CN 2303541Y and ZL 95246684.8 published under No. CN 2256686Y.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a beverage container with a cooling member in which the aforesaid shortcomings are mitigated, or at least to provide a useful alternative to the public.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method of using such a beverage container.

Beverage container and a method of using same


An apparatus for hardening logic circuitry against a Single-Event-Effect condition and for providing immunity to an overshoot and undershoot condition is provided. The apparatus includes undershoot-blocking and overshoot-blocking modules that are configured to be coupled to overshoot-insensitive and undershoot-insensitive nodes of the logic circuitry, respectively. The undershoot-blocking module is operable to (i) receive from a first node of the logic circuitry a first signal event having a undershoot condition impressed thereon, and (ii) block it from passing to the overshoot-insensitive node. The overshoot-blocking module is operable to (i) receive from the first node a second signal event having an overshoot condition impressed thereon, and (ii) block it from passing to the undershoot-insensitive node. As such, further propagation of the overshoot and undershoot conditions are prevented.

1. Field
The following relates to integrated circuitry, and more particularly, to Single Event Effect ("SEE") hardened circuitry for use with integrated circuitry, such as data storage circuitry. The following is directed toward reducing and/or eliminating the sensitivity of logic circuitry to SEE conditions, and to increasing the immunity of the logic circuitry to undershoot and/or overshoot conditions.
2. Related Art
Integrated circuits used in devices that operate in intergalactic space, earth orbital space, and high atmospheric altitudes (e.g., commercial flight altitudes) generally have to be highly reliable and operate using very low levels of power. Along with these necessities, space, weight and cost limitations generally cause these integrated circuits to be very densely populated and highly complex.
As a consequence of operating in intergalactic space, earth orbital space, and high atmospheric altitudes, however, the integrated circuits are exposed to a large amount of radiation, which can effect their operation and, in turn, their reliability. Because the Earth's magnetic field deflects most outer space radiation, terrestrial-based integrated circuits are not normally exposed to large amounts of radiation. Recently, however, several radiation-laden atmospheric storms, which emanated from a coronal mass ejection of the sun, expanded into space, penetrated the Earth's magnetic field, and disrupted a significant amount of terrestrial-based devices that use integrated circuits.
The disruptions caused by the radiation events are believed to result from Alpha particles (hereinafter "radiation particles") interacting with the semiconductor materials (e.g., silicon) that make up the integrated circuits. These radiation particles are by-products of the natural decay of elements, and/or energetic protons, neutrons, electrons, and all the natural elements. The radiation particles are abundant in a wide range of energies in intergalactic space, earth orbital space, high atmospheric altitudes (e.g., commercial flight altitudes), and, as noted above, terrestrial space.
When a radiation particle interferes with an integrated circuit, it can slow the circuit's performance and even upset circuit operation. For example, a radiation particle can change the conductance of a metal-oxide-semiconductor ("MOS") transistor by changing its threshold voltage Vt). In Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) circuits, radiation particles can also generate significant transient voltage and current disturbances on internal (e.g. power and ground) nodes.
A radiation particle striking and passing through the structure of a transistor (or any semiconductor device) creates hole-electron pair separation along its path or "track." The electrons separated by the radiation particle will migrate towards a high-voltage-state node of the transistor, resulting in a discharging current on the high-voltage node. If the discharging current exceeds, for example, the current holding the high-voltage state on the node, then the high-voltage-state node will transition to an undesired low state. Similarly, holes will migrate towards a low-voltage-state node of the transistor, resulting in a charging current on that node. If the charging current exceeds the current holding the low-voltage state on that node, then the low-voltage-state node will transition to an undesired high state. The result of the flip-flopping of the states of the high-voltage-state and low-voltage-state nodes is that an output of the transistor, and in turn, a larger system into which the transistor is integrated (e.g., a logic gate) may undesirably change.
The number of hole-electron pairs separated along the track length of the radiation particle, however, is finite, so that the nodal voltage disturbances may be temporary or have only a transient effect. In addition, the density of the radiation particles striking the integrated circuit is generally small enough that the disturbances caused by the radiation particles are treated as single events in time. Such transient disturbances are known as single-event transient (SET) conditions.
After experiencing a SET condition, transistor nodes typically return to their desired voltage states. Consequently, the SET condition might not be a problem in and of itself. The consequence of having a temporary voltage disturbance on the transistor node, however, may be problematic because the SET condition may be propagated through the larger system.
For example, if one of the transistor nodes affected by a radiation particle is in a clock network, then the SET condition can generate a false clock pulse in the clock network portion of the system, thereby throwing off the timing of the larger system. If, for example, one of the transistor nodes affected by a radiation particle is in a data storage element, then the SET condition can flip a storage bit of the data storage element to an opposite state. Consequently, the contents of the data storage element are undesirably changed.
When one of the transistor nodes is in a logic device that feeds data to an input of a latch (or flip-flop, register, etc.), there may or may not be a consequence from the SET condition. For example, if the data recovers to a valid state from a SET condition before the latch closes, it may be of no consequence. If, however, the data does not recover to the valid state before the latch closes, then the wrong data state may be loaded into the latch. In any the above examples and/or other cases where the SET condition propagates through a larger system and causes an undesirable change in the state of the larger system, it may be referred to as a Single-Event Upset (SEU) condition.
SEU conditions can be corrected, and thus, are generally called soft errors. The rate at which the soft errors accumulate is called the soft error rate (SER) and is generally equivalent to the SEU rate. If an integrated circuit has more than one sensitive node (i.e., a node that can change states and cause an SEU condition in response to a radiation particle strike), then the SER for each node is summed to define the total SER for the integrated circuit.
For each sensitive node within an integrated circuit, there is a maximum deposited charge that a transistor or set of transistors (and nodal capacitance) can absorb while maintaining the integrated circuit in a desired state. If a charge induced by a radiation particle exceeds the maximum charge threshold for the transistor and/or set of transistors, a change in the state of the integrated circuit can result. The maximum charge threshold for the most sensitive node or nodes is called the critical charge of the circuit.
To evaluate the SER of a logic circuit, it is necessary to consider the maximum current-carrying capability of its transistors. When a radiation particle traverses a node within the logic circuit, it may force the node from its original state to the opposite state for some period of time. If this node is held in the opposite state for a period longer than a delay to trigger the logic circuit's next stage, then this next stage may undesirably switch states.
The length of time that the node is held in its opposite state may depend on several factors. These factors include the total charge deposited on the node, the conductance of the logic circuit's transistors connected to the node, and the delay between a first stage and second stage of the circuit. One way to reduce the chance of having a SEU condition is to increase the conductance of the transistors, and therefore, increase the size of the transistors. This unfortunately increases the size of logic circuit, which is often undesirable, particularly with data-storage elements that are duplicated many times over.
Another way to reduce the chance of having a SEU condition is to add delay time between the stages of the logic circuit. By increasing the delay, an "ON" transistor is given more time to remove the deposited charge before a voltage-state change can propagate sufficiently through the logic circuit to establish a SET condition, and result in a SEU condition.
The delay can be increased by inserting resistors into the path between stages, such as shown in a cross-coupled data storage circuit in FIG. 1. The cross-coupled resistors have proven effective in increasing the critical charge of a latching-type logic circuit, such as data storage circuit. Thus, the cross-coupled data storage circuit provides some tolerance or immunity to SET and SEU conditions (collectively referred to as Single-Event Effects ("SEE")). That is, the cross-coupled data storage circuit is to some extent "radiation hardened." Other equivalent phrases include "radiation hard" or "rad-hard."
However, because the resistors increase the delay in a data storage circuit feedback loop, the time required to deliberately write the data storage circuit is also increased. To overcome a typical SEU condition, the resistors must be of a size that increases the write time by as much as 5 times the write time of a data storage circuit without the cross-coupled resistors. This is a significant performance penalty.
Another limitation of using cross-coupled resistors is that the material of choice is often polysilicon, often with a sheet resistance of about 100 k-ohm/square. In this region, the temperature coefficient of the polysilicon material is typically large. The temperature coefficient can cause write times to change radically with temperature. As known in the art, such radical changes are undesirable in a stable and reliable system.
In the past, increased write time increases were acceptable, but as the number of logic circuits (and the number of transistors thereof) proliferate, the resulting incremental write time increases are unacceptable from a system perspective. Furthermore, the SERs in these larger systems need to decrease to have a stable and reliable system. Removing the cross-coupled resistors to protect for faster write times will only increase the SERs.
In an alternative approach, the delay in the logic circuit can be increased by inserting cross-coupled transistors, which are turned on during a write operation. A RAM-type data storage circuit having two cross-coupled transistors is shown in FIG. 2. The source of each cross-coupled transistor is connected to the output of one of the data storage circuit inverters. The drain of each cross-coupled transistor is connected to the input of the other one of the data storage circuit inverters. Finally, the gate of each cross-coupled transistor is connected to a word line.
The operation of the cross-coupled transistors is similar to a standard data storage circuit with the following exception. When the word line is high, i.e., the cross-coupled transistors are selected and the resistance of the cross-coupled transistor is low because the transistors are "ON." Thus, the cell can be written relatively quickly. When the word line is low, the resistance of the cross-coupled transistors is high because the transistors are "OFF." When the cross-coupled transistors are "OFF," the critical charge of the data storage circuit is increased, thereby providing some level of radiation hardening.
Unfortunately, the cross-coupled transistors must typically be sufficiently "leaky" when turned "OFF" to function properly. Otherwise the data storage circuit would not remain in its desired state without requiring refresh. To make the cross-coupled transistors sufficiently leaky, a resistive element (see FIGS. 3–4) may be coupled in parallel with the cross-coupled transistors. The resistive element must be large enough to provide the necessary SEU hardness for the data storage circuit. When the data storage circuit is to be written to, the resistive element is shorted out by the cross-coupled transistor.
Another approach is suggested by U.S. Pat. No. 6,058,041; issued on May 2, 2002 and entitled "SEU Hardening Circuit" In U.S. Pat. No. 6,058,041, a SEU hardening circuit consisting of a bypass circuit in the form of a transmission-gate-bypass circuit in parallel with a highly-resistive resistor may be inserted between the first and second stages to reduce the SEE.
This bypass circuit and the previously discussed circuitry, however, may be sensitive to voltage overshoot and/or voltage undershoot conditions. Such overshoot or undershoot conditions can occur, for example, on the input terminal of the SEU hardening circuit as a result of an SET condition upstream from (i.e., before) the bypass circuit. The consequences of such conditions can forward bias a diode and/or turn on one of the transistors in the bypass circuit, thereby undesirably performing the function of bypassing or shorting out the high resistance portion of the circuit. Overshoot and undershoot conditions become more problematic as (i) technology scales down transistor feature sizes, (ii) diode forward bias voltages remain roughly constant, and (iii) transistor turn-on thresholds decrease below diode forward bias voltages. As such, an overshoot or undershoot condition with a magnitude of a forward-bias-diode voltage drop can undesirably turn on the transistors. This, in turn, reduces the logic circuitry's immunity to SEE conditions.
What is needed, therefore, is a system and method that reduces or eliminates the sensitivity to overshoot and undershoot conditions, while increasing the SEE immunity of the circuitry.

Single event upset hardened circuitry without sensitivity to overshoot and/or undershoot conditions


A multi-beam image forming apparatus and a method using the same. The image forming apparatus includes: an image process module to divide first image data into a plurality of second image data; a light scanning unit to scan the plurality of second image data using a plurality of laser beams; and a controller to control the formation of an electrostatic latent image of the first image data on a photosensitive body in an overlapping manner, using at least two of the plurality of laser beams.

1. Field of the Invention
The present general inventive concept relates to an image forming apparatus and image forming method, and more particularly, to a multi-beam image forming apparatus and a method of forming an image using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
An image forming apparatus such as a laser printer, a digital copier, etc., includes a laser scanning unit to emit a laser beam that forms an electrostatic latent image on a photosensitive body.
The laser beam emitted from a semiconductor laser located in the laser scanning unit is reflected by a polygonal mirror onto a photosensitive body moving with a predetermined speed. As the polygonal mirror rotates, the reflected laser beam scans a direction (main-scanning direction) perpendicular to the moving direction (sub-scanning direction) of the photosensitive body. The laser beam is modulated corresponding to the input image so that the corresponding electrostatic latent image is formed on the photosensitive body.
Recently, a multi-beam image forming apparatus using a light scanning unit having a plurality of laser beams has been developed in order to increase the printing speed. When the light scanning unit includes only one laser beam, one main-scanning line is formed on the photosensitive body during the scanning process in the sub-scanning direction. When the light scanning unit includes a plurality of laser beams, the laser beams form a plurality of lines on the photosensitive body during the scanning process in the sub-scanning direction. Therefore, the printing speed of the multi-beam image forming apparatus is much higher than that of a single beam image forming apparatus. An example of the multi-beam image forming apparatus is disclosed in Korean Patent Laid-open Publication No. 1999-49598.
In addition to increasing the printing speed, various methods for improving resolution using a multi-beam image forming apparatus have been proposed. A multi-beam image forming apparatus for improving resolution is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2004-223754, entitled "Image Forming Apparatus", filed by Tsuruya. According to Tsuruya, overlapping laser beams are applied sequentially in different main-scanning directions. The respective laser beams are scanned onto the photosensitive body in a dot shape having a certain size, and the dots overlap to thereby improve resolution.
However, it is difficult to precisely control the time intervals between scanning in different main-scanning directions with the plurality of laser beams. The printing speed decreases when this method is used to improve the resolution, since it is time-consuming for the plurality of laser beams to be scanned to form one main-scanning line,

Multi-beam image forming apparatus and image forming method using the same


A system mountable in a motor vehicle. The system includes a camera and a processor configured to receive image data from the camera. The camera includes a rolling shutter configured to capture the image data during a frame period and to scan and to read the image data into multiple image frames. A near infra-red illuminator may be configured to provide a near infra-red illumination cone in the field of view of the camera. The near infrared illumination oscillates with an illumination period. A synchronization mechanism may be configured to synchronize the illumination period to the frame period of the rolling shutter. The frame period may be selected so that the synchronization mechanism provides a spatial profile of the near infra-red illumination cone which may be substantially aligned vertically to a specific region, e.g. near the center of the image frame.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to driver assistance systems in motor vehicles, and in particular to providing a system and a method for night vision using a near infra red (NIR) Illumination and a rolling shutter for driver assistance systems (DAS) applications.
2. Description of Related Art
During the last few years camera based driver assistance systems (DAS) have been entering the market; including lane departure warning (LDW), automatic high-beam control (AHC), traffic sign recognition (TSR) and forward collision warning (FCW).
Lane departure warning (LDW) systems may be designed to give a warning in the case of unintentional lane departure. The warning is given when the vehicle crosses or is about to cross the lane marker. Driver intention is determined based on use of turn signals, change in steering wheel angle, vehicle speed and brake activation. There may be various LDW systems available. One algorithm for lane departure warning (LDW) used by the Applicant/assigne (Mobileye Technologies Ltd., Nicosia, Cyprus, hereinafter "Mobileye") of the present application is predictive in that it computes time-to-lane crossing (TLC) based on change in wheel-to-lane distance and warns when the time-to-lane crossing (TLC) is below a certain threshold. Other algorithms give a warning if the wheel is inside a certain zone around the lane marker. In either case, essential to the lane departure warning system is the lane marker detection algorithm. Typically, the lane markers may be detected in the camera image and then, given the known camera geometry and camera location relative to the vehicle, the position of the vehicle relative to the lane is computed. The lane markers detected in the camera image may be then collected over time, for instance using a Kalman filter. Wheel-to-lane marker distance may be given with an accuracy of better than 5 centimeters. With a forward looking camera, wheel-to-lane marker distance is not observed directly but is extrapolated from the forward view of the camera. The closer road markings may be observed, less extrapolation is required for determining wheel-to-lane marker distance and more accurate estimates of wheel-to-lane marker distance may be achieved especially on curves of the road. Due to the car hood and the location of the camera, the road is seldom visible closer than six meters in front of the wheels of the car. In some cars with longer hoods, minimal distance to visible road in front of the car is even greater. Typically the lane departure warning system of Mobileye works on sharp curves (with radius down to 125 m). With a horizontal field of view (FOV) of 39 degrees of the camera, the inner lane markers may be still visible on curves with a radius down to 125 meters. In order to correctly perform lane assignment on curves, lane markings may be detected at 50 meters and beyond. With a horizontal field of view (FOV) of 39 degrees for the camera, a lane mark of width 0.1 meters at 50 m distance corresponds in the image plane to just under two pixels wide and can be detected accurately. The expectation from the lane departure warning systems is greater than 99% availability when lane markings may be visible. Expectation with 99% availability is particularly challenging to achieve in low light conditions when the lane markings may be not freshly painted (have low contrast with the road) and the only light source is the car halogen headlights. In low light conditions, the lane markings may be only visible using the higher sensitivity of the clear pixels (i.e. using a monochrome sensor or a red/clear sensor). With the more powerful xenon high intensity discharge (HID) headlights it is possible to use a standard red green blue (RGB) sensor in most low light conditions.
Traffic sign recognition (TSR) modules may be designed typically to detect speed limit signs and end-of-speed limit signs on highways, country roads and urban settings. Partially occluded, slightly twisted and rotated traffic signs may be preferably detected. Systems implementing traffic sign recognition (TSR) may or should ignore the following signs: signs on truck/buses, exit road numbers, minimum speed signs, and embedded signs. A traffic sign recognition (TSR) module which focuses on speed limit signs does not have a specific detection range requirement because speed limit signs only need to be detected before they leave the image. An example of a difficult traffic sign to detect is a 0.8 meter diameter traffic sign on the side of the road when the vehicle is driving in the center lane of a three lane highway. Further details of a TSR system is disclosed by the present assignee in patent application publication US20080137908.
A typical automatic headlight or high/low beam control (AHC) system detects the following conditions and switches from high beams to low beams: headlights of oncoming vehicles, taillights of preceding vehicles, street lights or ambient light indicating that high beams may be not required and a low vehicle speed. The host vehicle lights may be switched back to high beams when none of these conditions exist (often after a specified grace period). One approach for detecting taillights is to compare images from two sensors: one with a red filter and the second with a cyan filter. The cyan filter responds to non-red light sources and will give zero response to red light. By comparing corresponding pixels from two imaging sensors one can detect the color of the light source. The number of pixels of each color above a certain intensity is counted and if the count is above a threshold the systems switches to low beams. The use of color filters with imaging sensors may preclude the simultaneous use of the same image frames for other driver assistance applications.
A second approach for automatic high-beam control (AHC) uses an RGB sensor to give better color differentiation. Typical light sources can be located in the full CIE color space as defined by the International Commission on Illumination. This approach distinguishes between green, yellow and red lights. A powerful green traffic light is not confused with an oncoming vehicle. Since a single sensor with a color mosaic filter i.e. Bayer pattern mosaic is used, the lens is defocused so as to spread a light source over multiple pixels. The use of the color mosaic filter reduces both the effective image sensor resolution (by 50%) and the intensity response (to less than one third). The color mosaic filter may preclude the use of the same sensor for traffic sign recognition (TSR) or lane departure warning (LDW) because of the intensity response penalty.
Ego-motion estimation is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,704,621 by Stein. Image information is received from images recorded as the vehicle moves along a roadway. The image information is processed to generate an ego-motion estimate of the vehicle, including the translation of the vehicle in the forward direction and the rotation.
Some driver assistance systems may rely on changing camera exposure parameters (e.g. aperture, exposure, magnification). The use of a color camera equipped for instance with an RGB (red/green/blue) filter and an infrared filter achieves good spectral separation for detecting taillights or brake lights but reduces imaging sensitivity by a factor of six or more. A reduction in sensitivity by such a factor has an adverse impact on other vehicle control application such as LDW performance in dark scenes. The presence of an infrared filter also negates the use of the camera as a near infrared sensor for applications, such as pedestrian detection. Thus, a brake light detection system which uses color or spectral analysis in the captured images may be less compatible with other driver assistance systems without sacrificing performance.
The core technology behind forward collision warning (FCW) systems and headway distance monitoring is vehicle detection. Assume that reliable detection of vehicles in a single image a typical forward collision warning (FCW) system requires that a vehicle image be 13 pixels wide, then for a car of width 1.6 m, a typical camera (640×480 resolution and 40 deg FOV) gives initial detection at 115 m and multi-frame approval at 100 m. A narrower horizontal field of view (FOV) for the camera gives a greater detection range however; the narrower horizontal field of view (FOV) will reduce the ability to detect passing and cutting-in vehicles. A horizontal field of view (FOV) of around 40 degrees was found by Mobileye to be almost optimal (in road tests conducted with a camera) given the image sensor resolution and dimensions. A key component of a typical forward collision warning (FCW) algorithm is the estimation of distance from a single camera and the estimation of scale change from the time-to-contact/collision (TTC) as disclosed for example in U.S. Pat. No. 7,113,867.

Bundling night vision and other driver assistance systems (DAS) using near infra red (NIR) illumination and a rolling shutter


A method for cutting a pipe made of thermoplastic material including, in combination, the following steps: feeding a continuous pipe made of thermoplastic material; localised and circumferential heating of a first localised axial portion of the pipe for a predetermined time using a heating unit; cutting without removal of chippings, using a cutting unit, of the first heated axial portion, to obtain a piece of the pipe; localised and circumferential heating of a second localised axial portion of the pipe, for a predetermined time, the second axial portion being placed at a predetermined distance from the first portion.

Pipes made from thermoplastic material are used, for example, as rigid pipes for sanitary purposes, for outdoor rainwater pipes, for water distribution and drains.
Pipes made from thermoplastic material are produced by an extrusion process, in a plant which pushes the material in the plastic state, using a screw that rotates inside a cylinder, through a mould of suitable shape and dimensions.
The pipe production plant, known as the extrusion line, comprises a plurality of apparatuses, each designed for a specific function and, amongst these, generally located at the end of the line, an apparatus known as the "cutter", designed for cutting the pipe into pieces of pipe of precise and predetermined length.
This apparatus comprises a cutting unit installed on a movable carriage synchronized with the pipe and equipped with clamping means, designed for coupling with the pipe during the cutting operation.
With reference to the motion of the processing tool relative to the axis of the pipe, there are two different types of cutter apparatus: the shearing cutter apparatus and the planetary cutter apparatus.
The shearing cutter machines are characterised by a working motion of the cutting tool with direction of movement perpendicular to the axis of the pipe, whilst the planetary cutters are characterised by a working motion of the cutting tool with a circular movement relative to the axis of the pipe.
With reference to the cut, there are cutting techniques without removal of material and cutting techniques with removal of material.
The cutting techniques without removal of material are mainly used only for materials which are tough and with limited hardness, that is, materials characterised by high resistance to dynamic stresses and poor resistance to penetration of cutting tools, such as, for example PE, PP and PB thermoplastics.
More specifically, these materials can be cut with cutting tools designed as blades with one or more cutting edges or with circular disk blades rotating freely about a respective axis or with guillotine blades.
It should be noted that these cutting techniques can be used with pipes having relatively small wall thicknesses; on the other hand, with pipes having particularly large wall thicknesses, the same cutting techniques are difficult to carry out because the cutting tool (generally in the shape of a circular disk) is subject to high levels of stress which favour deformation.
For materials with a particularly high hardness and a fragile-type mechanical behaviour the above-mentioned cutting techniques without removal of material are not practicable as they could easily cause failure of the pipe during cutting (with possible damaging of the tool) and, in any case, the cut would be imprecise; in that case, the pipe is normally cut using cutting techniques with removal of material.
The cutting apparatus for these techniques comprises metal circular saws which are multi-serrated or have a surface coating of abrasive material.
It should be noted that the cutting by removing material generates large quantities of chippings which must be immediately removed from the cutting area to avoid malfunctioning of the cutting machine and/or other apparatuses located nearby.
Moreover, the cuttings produced are harmful for the user and can electrostatically charge and adhere to the walls of the pipe making the subsequent processing of the pipe difficult.
It should also be noted that cutting techniques with removal of material also generate harmful vibrations which are transmitted to the machine components.
In light of the above, the need was felt to provide a method and an apparatus capable of cutting without removal of material even pipes with particularly large wall thicknesses and/or pipes of particular high hardness and fragile mechanical behaviour.
Patent document WO 2013/140208, in the name of the same applicant as this invention, provides a method and a relative apparatus for cutting the end of pipes made of thermoplastic material which is able to overcome the above-mentioned drawbacks with reference to the prior art and respond to the need felt in the trade.
The method mentioned above comprises, before cutting the pipe, a prior localised heating of the pipe itself at the zone to be cut.
The method adopted teaches to place in succession, on a carriage movable in the feed direction of the pipe, a heating unit and, downstream thereof, a cutting unit.
The solution just described, even though absolutely effective in terms of cutting the pipe, has not been seen to be entirely satisfactory relative to the production capacity of the line in which is integrated, as well as with reference to the overall dimensions of the relative apparatus.
Further, the prior art cutting solutions have not always been found to be satisfactory in terms of versatility of use.

Method and apparatus for cutting a pipe made from thermoplastic material


A high temperature substrate having improved properties. The substrate is a polymer substrate having a glass transition temperature greater than about 120xc2x0 C., and at least one first barrier stack adjacent to the polymer substrate. The barrier stack includes at least one first barrier layer and at least one first polymer layer. A method for making the high temperature substrate with improved properties is also disclosed.

The present invention relates generally to polymer substrates, and more particularly to high temperature polymer substrates having improved properties.
There is a need for versatile visual display devices for electronic products of many different types. Although many current displays use glass substrates, there is a trend toward the use of plastic substrates. Plastic substrates are critical to future generations of electronic products and associated technologies because they are light weight, impact resistant, and cost effective. However, temperature limitations and gas and liquid permeation limitations of plastics have prevented their use in most displays.
Many processes in the manufacture of displays, such as flat panel displays, require relatively high temperatures that cannot be tolerated by most polymer substrates. For example, the recrystallization of amorphous Si to poly-Si in thin film transistors requires substrate temperatures of at least 160xc2x0-250xc2x0 C., even with pulsed excimer laser anneals. The conductivity of the transparent electrode, which is typically made of indium tin oxide, is greatly improved if deposition occurs above 220xc2x0 C. Polyimide curing generally requires temperatures of 250xc2x0 C. In addition, many of the photolithographic process steps for patterning electrodes are operated in excess of 120xc2x0 C. to enhance processing speeds in the fabrication. These processes are used extensively in the manufacture of display devices, and they have been optimized on glass and silicon substrates. The high temperatures needed for the processes can deform and damage a plastic substrate, and subsequently destroy the display. If displays are to be manufactured on flexible plastic materials, the plastic must be able to withstand the process conditions, including high temperatures over 100xc2x0 C., harsh chemicals, and mechanical damage.
Flexible plastic materials having a high glass transition temperature hold great promise for use in displays. As used herein, the term polymers having a high glass transition temperature is defined as those with a glass transition temperature greater than about 120xc2x0 C., preferably greater than about 150xc2x0 C., and most preferably greater than about 200xc2x0 C. Examples of such polymers include, but are not limited to, polynorbornene (Tg: 320xc2x0 C.), polyimide (Tg: 270-388xc2x0 C.), polyethersulphone (Tg: 184-230xc2x0 C.), polyetherimide, (Tg: 204-299xc2x0 C.), polyarylate (Tg: 148-245xc2x0 C.), polycarbonate (Tg: 150xc2x0 C.), and a high glass transition temperature cyclic olefin polymer (Tg: 171xc2x0 C., sold under the trade name Transphan(trademark), available from Lofo High Tech Film, GMBH of Weil am Rhein, Germany). Because of their temperature stability and high glass transition temperature, these materials offer promise in overcoming the temperature limitations of existing commodity polymers, such as polyethylene terephthalate (Tg: 78xc2x0 C.), and polyethylene naphthanate (Tg: 120xc2x0 C.).
However, polymers having high glass transition temperatures are often inherently mechanically weak, easily scratched, low in chemical resistance, and possess high oxygen and water permeability. Their poor properties make processing difficult. In addition, their high oxygen and water permeation rates, and poor surface finish preclude their use as substrates for sensitive display devices.
Many different display devices are presently being used, including liquid crystal displays (LCDs), light emitting diodes (LEDs), light emitting polymers (LEPs), electronic signage using electrophoretic inks, electroluminescent devices (EDs), and phosphorescent devices. Many of these display devices are environmentally sensitive. As used herein, the term environmentally sensitive display device means display devices which are subject to degradation caused by permeation of environmental gases or liquids, such as oxygen and water vapor in the atmosphere or chemicals used in the processing of the electronic product.
The gas and liquid permeation resistance of plastics is poor, often several orders of magnitude below what is required for sustained device performance. For example, the oxygen and water vapor permeation rates for polynorbornene and Transphan(trademark) are over 1000 cc/m2/day (at 23xc2x0 C.). The rate required to provide a sufficient lifetime for an organic light emitting device has been calculated to be approximately 10xe2x88x926 cc/m2/day (at 23xc2x0 C.). The environmental sensitivity of the display devices limits the lifetime, reliability, and performance of devices constructed on plastics, which has retarded the development of display devices made with plastic substrates.
Thus, there is a need for a high temperature substrate having improved properties, including ultra-low gas and liquid permeation, scratch resistance, and chemical resistance, which can be used as a support for display devices, and for methods for making such substrates.
The present invention meets these need by providing a high temperature substrate having improved properties and a method for making such a substrate. The substrate includes a polymer substrate having a glass transition temperature greater than about 120xc2x0 C., and at least one first barrier stack adjacent to the polymer substrate. The barrier stack includes at least one first barrier layer and at least one first polymer layer. The high temperature substrate optionally includes an environmentally sensitive display device adjacent to the first barrier stack and at least one second barrier stack adjacent to the environmentally sensitive display device. By adjacent, we mean next to but not necessarily directly next to. There can be additional layers intervening between the adjacent layers. The second barrier stack includes at least one second barrier layer and at least one second polymer layer.
Preferably, either one or both of the first and second barrier layers of the first and second barrier stacks is substantially transparent. At least one of the first barrier layers preferably comprises a material selected from metal oxides, metal nitrides, metal carbides, metal oxynitrides, metal oxyborides, and combinations thereof.
Either one of the first and second barrier layers can be substantially opaque, if desired. The opaque barrier layers are preferably selected from opaque metals, opaque polymers, opaque ceramics, and opaque cermets.
The polymer layers of the first and second barrier stacks are preferably acrylate-containing polymers. As used herein, the term acrylate-containing polymers includes acrylate-containing polymers, methacrylate-containing polymers, and combinations thereof. The polymer layers in the first and/or the second barrier stacks can be the same or different.
The high temperature substrate can include additional layers if desired, such as polymer smoothing layers, scratch resistant layers, antireflective coatings, or other functional layers.
The present invention also involves a method of making the high temperature substrate having improved properties. The method includes providing a polymer substrate having a glass transition temperature greater than about 120xc2x0 C., and placing at least one first barrier stack on the polymer substrate. The barrier stack includes at least one first barrier layer and at least one first polymer layer.
The barrier stack can be placed on the substrate by deposition or by lamination. The deposition is preferably vacuum deposition, and the lamination can be performed using an adhesive, solder, ultrasonic welding, pressure, or heat.
An environmentally sensitive display device can be placed on the first barrier stack, either by deposition or lamination. A second barrier stack can be placed on the environmentally sensitive display device. The second barrier stack includes at least one second barrier layer and at least one second polymer layer. The second barrier stack can be deposited on the environmentally sensitive display device, preferably by vacuum deposition.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a high temperature substrate having improved properties, and to provide a method of making such a substrate.

Smoothing and barrier layers on high Tg substrates


This invention relates to detecting a pilot tone in an optical fiber. In the method described in the invention, computational complexity is reduced significantly by almost completely removing the need to carry out multipli-cations. To calculate certain spectral components of DFT (Discrete Fourier Transform) only a few multiplications are required. The idea is that for de-tecting one pilot tone, it is adequate to calculate one spectral component of DFT if a specific ratio can be chosen between the pilot tone frequency and the sample rate of the receiver.

In optical telecommunication transport networks different optical wavelength channels can be multiplexed into a single fiber. FIG. 1 shows a transmitting node (1) with a multiplexer (MUX) and transmitters (3) for inserting desired data and pilot signals into the fibers. The figure also shows a receiving node (2) with a demultiplexer (DEMUX) and receivers (4). Optical wavelength channels carrying data can be dropped or added in the nodes of the network, i.e. the nodes comprise transmitting and receiving elements. For monitoring which channels are present at a given place in the network, pilot tones specific to each wavelength channel can be superimposed (3) on the wavelength carriers. The carriers can be detected by tapping (5) a portion of the light, typically 10 percent, in a given place into a photodetector. To be more precise, the optical tap (5) diverts a small part of the optical power for extracting desired pilot tones (or a tone). The optical tap (or taps) can be located before (5) the demultiplexing (2) of the channels, after the demultiplexing, but before the receivers, or in the receivers.
FIG. 2 shows an example of an arrangement for detecting a pilot tone in the fiber (6). The pilot tone can be detected by filtering the signal obtained from a photodetector (13) through an optional bandpass filter (8) tuned to let through the frequency range of the pilot tones and to block most of the telecommunications data signals. It is also possible to tune the filter for letting only the desired pilot tone through. Usually, the signal from the photodetector is amplified (7) before the bandpass filter. If the pilot tone has a known modulation depth, the power of the optical carrier can be measured by measuring the amplitude of the pilot tone. Often, the measuring device (11) is a piece of digital equipment, such as a digital signal processor. Due to this the signal from the bandpass filter must be converted to a digital format. The converter (9) used gets a sampling rate from an adjustable oscillator (10). The management system (12) can use the measured amplitude of the pilot tone for any purposes required. Using pilot tone facilitates the detection of any purposes required. Using pilot tone facilitates the detection of the presence or absence of wavelength carriers, because neither optical filters nor the examining of the telecommunication data signal are required if pilot tones are used.
The pilot tone amplitude has to be low so as not to disturb the data signal. In addition, the data signal itself requires a broad frequency spectrum, starting from a few tens of kilohertz up to a few gigahertz. Furthermore, there can be tens or hundreds of wavelength channels of different power levels. Detecting weak pilot tones in an aggregate signal incorporating a multitude of other pilot tones, as well as noise due to the numerous data channels, is a challenge to the detection system. Since multiple fibers are connected to each node, the detection system should be as simple as possible.
A very sensitive method for detecting a pilot tone is to use a phase-locked loop in a receiver containing a local oscillator that is tuned to the pilot tone frequency. The signal from the photodetector multiplied by the local oscillator yields, after low-pass filtering, the amplitude of the pilot signal. By using the product signal as feedback into the local oscillator, the phase of the local oscillator can lock onto the pilot tone phase. In this solution, detecting tens of channels may be problematic because it takes time for the receiver to lock onto the phase of the received signal.
Another method is to sample and digitize the signal. The Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) technique is then applied on the data to extract the pilot tone amplitudes. Normally, calculating fast Fourier transform requires quite great processor power because a significant number of multiplications have to be carried out. For example, for a data set of 4096 samples, 49000 multiplications (with complex numbers) have to be carried out. If a powerful processor were not needed, cost savings would be obtained.
The objective of the invention is to avoid these drawbacks by minimizing the number of calculations while maintaining high sensitivity for detecting a pilot tone. This is achieved in a way described in the claims.

Method of detecting pilot tones in a noisy signal


A control and/or management system for a vehicle includes at least one of: (A) at least two redundant vehicle management computers configured to generate system control commands for each maneuvering actuators and for each system actor based on the data acquired by the sensors; (B) at least two redundant remote interface units for interconnecting a sensor or a system actor with a vehicle management computer; (C) at least two redundant actuator control computers configured to generate control commands for each maneuvering actuator based on received maneuvering commands; and (D) a common interface for connecting an external computer, the common interface being directly connected to at least two redundant computers.

In particular, a long endurance unmanned aerial vehicle may have to be highly optimized with respect to its shape, weight, fuel consumption, etc. to achieve the required time on station. As a consequence there are only small control surfaces (such as ailerons and rudders) attached and there is only little space and limited electrical power available for the vehicle management, the system services, the communication and the mission avionics systems.

System for a vehicle with redundant computers


A knitted glove including a thumb and a body, a crotch defined between the thumb and the body, and a thickened knitted portion along at least a portion of the crotch. The present invention is further directed to a method and apparatus for forming such a knitted glove.

In many applications, work gloves are exposed to an inordinate amount of wear in the area between the thumb and index finger. As a result, this area is often the primary wear point of the glove so that wear through at this point becomes the failure mechanism of the glove. This is particularly true in the case of knit gloves. A method which has been used with some degree of success to extend the life of work gloves is to sew the front and back plies of the glove together along the crotch between the thumb and the fourth finger and/or upper palm. In this way, additional fabric is provided in the wear zone.
The method of sewing as described above suffers from several significant drawbacks. The added step of sewing adds significant time to the manufacturing process and requires additional sewing equipment. The placement of the sewn seam is typically done manually so that the placement of the seam is inconsistent. Often, this gives the appearance of inferior quality. Moreover, a margin of error is needed for the sewing operation to ensure that all of the stitches enter both plies of the fabric. As a result, the seam is generally located farther inwardly from the edge of the fabric than is necessary, resulting in an inefficient use of the overlap of the plies and unneeded and cumbersome bulk.
Thus, there exists a need for a work glove having reinforcement in the crotch area between the thumb and index finger, which may be efficiently and cost effectively manufactured. Such a glove should preferably have the reinforced sections appear well integrated with the remainder of the glove and not be unnecessarily bulky. Further, there exists a need for a method of making such a glove which provides for consistent results and which does not substantially increase the time or equipment required to form the glove. Moreover, there exists a need for an apparatus for forming such a glove which accomplishes the above advantages. Preferably, the apparatus would allow the retrofit of existing, conventional glove machines to produce gloves having the above-noted features and advantages.


A flash memory device controls a common source line voltage and performs a program verify method. A plurality of memory cells is connected between a bit line and the common source line. A data input/output circuit is connected to the bit line and is configured to store data to be programmed in a selected memory cell of the plurality of memory cells. The data input/output circuit maintains data to be programmed within the data input/output circuit during a program verify operation, and decreases noise in the common source line by selectively precharging the bit line based on the data to be programmed.

1. Technical Field
The present invention is related to a flash memory device, and more particularly, to a flash memory device capable of reducing noise in common source line, a program verify method thereof, and a memory system including the same.
2. Discussion of Related Art
The semiconductor memory device may be generally divided into a volatile memory device, for example, DRAM and SRAM, and a non-volatile memory device, for example, EEPROM, FRAM, PRAM, MRAM and flash memory. A volatile memory device loses stored data when power supply is cut off, but a nonvolatile memory device retains stored data even when power supply is cut off. A flash memory has characteristics such as high programming speed, low consumption of power, and large capacity data storage. Flash memory is therefore used widely as a storage means in computer system and the like.
A flash memory includes a memory cell array that stores data. A memory cell array includes a plurality of memory blocks. The memory blocks each include a plurality of pages. The pages each include a plurality of memory cells. The memory cells may each be either an on-cell or an off-cell according to a threshold voltage distribution of the cell. An on-cell may be considered an erased cell, and an off-cell may be considered a programmed cell. A flash memory performs an erase operation in units of a memory block. This means that in order to erase a memory cell, an entire memory block of memory cells must be erased. A flash memory performs a write or read operation in units of a page. This means that in order to write or read a memory cell, an entire page of memory cells must be written or read.
A flash memory has a cell string structure. A cell string includes a string selection transistor connected to a string selection line SSL, a memory cell connected to a plurality of word lines WL0-WL31, and a ground selection transistor connected to a ground selection line GSL. The string selection transistor is connected to a bit line BL and the ground selection transistor is connected to a common source line CSL.
A flash memory may be able to store either a single bit of data in each memory cell or multiple bits of data may be stored in each memory cell, depending on the type of memory cells used. In general, a memory cell that stores single bit data is called a Single Level Cell (SLC), and a memory cell that stores multiple bits data is called a Multi Level Cell (MLC). The Single Level Cell has an erase state based on threshold voltage and one program state. The Multi Level Cell has an erase state based on threshold voltage and a plurality of program states.
In a flash memory having a Multi Level Cell, margins between each of the states are provided by narrowing the width of the threshold voltage distribution of each state. Noise generated in the common source line CSL may cause the threshold voltage distribution width of each state to be widened and this may reduce or eliminate the margins between each of the states and may therefore reduce reliability. Noise occurs when voltage drops due to resistance in the common source line CSL.
The common source line CSL is generally connected to a ground terminal via a metal line. A voltage drop occurs when current flows through the common source line CSL due to resistance on the metal line. The voltage drop in the common source line CSL is proportionate to the current that flows through the common source line CSL. Accordingly, the voltage drop increases when the current flow increases, and the voltage drop decreases when the current flow decreases. When a common source line voltage is generated due to voltage drop in the common source line CSL, the threshold voltage distribution of the memory cell may be widened.

Flash memory device reducing noise of common source line, program verify method thereof, and memory system including the same


A method includes selecting a model for a simulation of hydrocarbon recovery from a reservoir having a plurality of fractures during injection of an injected gas into the plurality of fractures. Selecting the model includes determining a flux ratio of a convection rate to a diffusion rate for the reservoir, determining whether the flux ratio is less than a threshold, and in response to the flux ratio being less than the threshold, selecting the model that includes diffusion. Selecting the model includes performing the simulation of the hydrocarbon recovery from the reservoir based on the model.

The disclosure generally relates to data processing for hydrocarbon recovery, and more particularly, to reservoir simulation for hydrocarbon recovery.
Reservoir simulations can predict the flow and phase behavior of the fluids in a reservoir to forecast production and injection quantities that include incremental hydrocarbon recovery, miscible-solvent requirement, solvent utilization efficiency, etc.
Reservoir simulations can assist to evaluate the enhanced oil recovery (EOR) processes including gas injection and chemical flooding. Gas injection in general is a promising option for EOR, particularly for fractured reservoirs, where there is a large contact area between the injected gas and fluid in place.
During gas injection recovery schemes, pressurized gas or fluid can be communicated from a wellbore into the reservoir at high pressure, and the pressurized gas displaces oil within the reservoir rock. The displaced oil and the injected gas can then be produced in production wellbores. Building a reliable model to represent these processes requires special features in the simulation. For example, the simulation can require models for molecular diffusion between the injected gas inside fractures and the fluids stored in the reservoir rock. However, the calculation of the molecular diffusion is usually an expensive and complicated process during simulation.

Diffusion flux inclusion for a reservoir simulation for hydrocarbon recovery


A position tracking system for determining a position of a vehicle. The position tracking system invention includes at least two position-enabled mesh nodes mounted to the vehicle and a mesh network operatively associated with the at least two position-enabled mesh nodes mounted to the vehicle. The mesh network is configured to determine a position of the vehicle based on signals received from the at least two position-enabled mesh nodes mounted to the vehicle. The position tracking system also includes a display system, which is operatively associated with the mesh network and which displays the position of the vehicle.

The 802.11s network communication standard is a wireless, broadband communication standard that addresses and rectifies certain limitations associated with earlier 802.11 standards (a, b, and g). A network system operating in accordance with 802.11s standard is often referred to as a mesh network, as each node in the network is capable of communicating with every other node in the network, either directly, or via one or more intermediate nodes. Earlier 802.11 standards (i.e., a, b, and g) must break connectivity with one node prior to negotiating and establishing a connection with a new node. Consequently, critical data and control commands can be lost while a connection to a new node is established. The 802.11s standard solves this issue by establishing a back-up connection prior to disconnecting. The 802.11s standard essentially maintains two simultaneous connections so that when the signal strength or bandwidth through a specific connection degrades, the communication system automatically switches to the back-up connection, drops the original connection, and establishes a new back-up connection.
A second significant difference between the newer 802.11s standard and the older standards is the manner in which data are transmitted to the back haul layer. Under the older standards (a, b and g), a wireless node communicates directly to all access point that is either directly connected to the back haul layer (e.g., by a fiber optic link), or has line-of-sight to another access point that is connected to the back haul layer. Thus, if the wireless node loses line-of-sight contact with the access point, data cannot be transmitted and have the potential to be lost. While wireless nodes operating in accordance with the 802.11s standard still have line-of-sight limitations, any 802.11s device or node can be used as a repeater to transmit data to the back haul layer. Devices operating in accordance with the 802.11s standard may also transmit on up to three channels simultaneously to maximize the number of possible routes data can take to the back haul.

Position tracking and proximity warning system