A semiconductor integrated circuit includes a circuit block whose operation is controlled by a inverted control signal whose significant potential level is set at a ground potential, and a wiring for transmitting a control signal for controlling the operation of the circuit block. An inverting circuit provided near the circuit block inverts the control signal and then supplies the inverted signal to the circuit block via a wiring. The inverter includes a first capacitor connected between the power source terminal and a node which is set at a high potential level in the inverter circuit when the control signal is set at the non-significant potential level and a second capacitor connected between a ground potential terminal and a node which is set at a ground potential level when the control signal is set at the non-significant potential level.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a semiconductor integrated circuit, and more particularly to a semiconductor integrated circuit capable of preventing occurrence of erroneous operation due to noise.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the conventional semiconductor integrated circuit, for example, EPROM, write enable signal WE of active-low (that is, which becomes active at a low level) is supplied from write-in control circuit 51 to circuit block 52 as shown in FIG. 1 in view of the arrangement of the memory blocks. Data write-in operation is effected in circuit block 52 in response to signal WE.
FIG. 2 shows the schematic construction of the circuit block 52 of a conventional electrically data programmable nonvolatile semiconductor memory (EPROM). In FIG. 2, memory cells MC1 to MCn are each formed of a memory cell transistor. FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view showing the construction of memory cell MC1. Source 72 and drain 73 formed of n+-type diffusion regions are formed in the surface area of p-type substrate 71, floating gate 74 is formed above that portion of the substrate which lies between the source and drain, and control gate 75 is formed above the floating gate. The film thickness of that portion of insulation film 76 which lies between substrate 71 and floating gate 74 is set to tox1 and the film thickness of that portion of insulation film 76 which lies between floating gate 74 and control gate 75 is set to tox2.
Since the EPROM is a nonvolatile memory, data programed into memory cell MC1 can be permanently stored unless all the stored data is erased by application of ultraviolet rays. In this case, the "data programming" means that electrons are injected into floating gate 74 of memory cell MC1 and data of the memory cell is set to "0". That is, memory cell MC1 having data of "1" is not programmed and set in the erasing state in which no electron is injected into floating gate 74 of the memory cell MC1. For this reason, in order to program data into the memory cell, high voltage for programming is simultaneously applied to drain 73 and control gate 75 of the memory cell which is desired to store data "0", thereby causing hot electrons to be injected into the floating gate from the channel between drain 73 and source 72. As a result, the threshold voltage of the programmed memory cell transistor is raised and thus data is programmed into memory cell MC1 of the EPROM. The programming operation is effected by use of an exclusive-use device which is called an EPROM writer. The EPROM is mounted on a device using the EPROM after the programming operation.
In the readout mode, voltage Vcc of 5 V, for example, is applied to control gate 75 to read out data stored in memory cell MC1.
As described above, in the EPROM, the level of a voltage applied to control gate 75 when data is programmed into data storing memory cell MC1 is different from that applied when data is read out from the memory cell. For example, voltage Vcc (5 V) is applied in the data readout operation, and voltage Vpp (12.5 V) is applied in the data programming operation. Therefore, it is necessary to provide a switching circuit for switching voltages Vcc and Vpp in addition to externally supplied power source voltages Vcc (5 V), Vpp (12.5 V) and Vss (0 V).
As shown in FIG. 2, the switching between voltages Vcc and Vpp is effected by use of voltage switching circuit 102. Switching circuit 102 is supplied with normal data readout voltage vcc via terminal 142 and data programming high voltage Vpp via terminal 144 and selectively supplies voltage Vcc or Vpp as voltage SW according to an programming control signal (write enable signal). Voltage Vpp is also supplied to programming control section 104. Programming control section 104 includes transistor 134 whose drain and source are respectively connected to terminal 144 and column selection gate circuit 108 and programming control buffer 132 connected to receive voltage vpp as a power source voltage for controlling the gate voltage of transistor 134 according to programming data Din.
Column decoder 106 decodes a column address included in the input address to output the decoded result to column selection gate circuit 108. Circuit 108 includes a plurality of N-channel MOS transistors and selects memory cell MC1 based on the decoded result of decoder 106. Row decoder 110 decodes a row address included in the input address to output the decoded result to row address buffer 112. Buffer 112 is supplied with voltage SW from circuit 102 as the power source voltage and supplies a voltage to control gate 75 of memory cell MC1.
The drain and source of memory cell MC1 are respectively connected to ground voltage terminal Vss and bit line 120. Bit line 120 is connected to one input terminal of sense amplifier 116 via a plurality of transistors of column selection gate circuit 108. Sense amplifier 116 senses "1" or "0" of data stored in memory cell MC1 by comparing the potential of bit line 120 varying according to data stored in one of memory cells MC1 selected by row decoder 110 and column decoder 106 with an input reference voltage to be described later.
Reference voltage generation circuit 122 supplies a reference voltage to sense amplifier 116. Circuit 122 includes dummy cell DC constructed by the same memory cell transistor as memory cell MC1, dummy bit line 118 and column selection gate circuit 114 having normally turned-on transistors of the same number as the transistors series-connected in column selection gate circuit 108. The level of the reference voltage is determined by turning on dummy cell DC. In order to obtain a stable reference potential, it is necessary to design the transistor characteristics of memory cell MC1 and dummy cell DC equal to each other.
With the above construction, when data is programmed into memory cell MC1, high voltage Vpp is supplied as voltage SW from power source switching circuit 102 to row address buffer circuit 112. At the same time, high voltage Vpp is supplied from programming controlling buffer 132 to the gate of programming controlling transistor 134. If the threshold voltage of transistor 134 is Vth, a voltage of (Vpp-Vth) is supplied to the drain of memory cell MC1 via column selection gate circuit 108. Further, high voltage Vpp is supplied from row address buffer 112 to the control gate of memory cell MC1. As a result, current flows in the source-drain path of memory cell MC1, causing hot electrons to be injected into floating gate 74 to raise the threshold voltage of memory cell MC1. In this way, data is programmed into memory cell MC1.
When data is read out from memory cell MC1, voltage Vcc is supplied as voltage SW from power source switching circuit 102 to row address buffer 112. At this time, voltage Vcc is supplied from row address buffer 112 to the control gate of memory cell MC1, permitting a voltage corresponding to data stored in memory cell MC1 to be supplied to sense amplifier 116 via column selection gate circuit 108. A reference voltage is also supplied from reference voltage generating circuit 122 to sense amplifier 116. Then, sense amplifier 116 compares the voltage supplied from memory cell MC1 with that supplied from dummy cell DC and outputs the comparison result as readout data to the data line.
It is necessary to remove the EPROM into which data has been written or programmed from the socket of the writer and insert the same into the socket on a board of a device on which the EPROM is to be mounted. In this case, an electrostatic serge may be applied to pins of the EPROM while the EPROM is removed from the socket, transferred and inserted into another socket. A protection circuit is provided to protect the internal circuit from being damaged by an externally applied serge. However, there is a possibility that data may be erroneously programmed into the memory cell in a case where a surge is applied to a vpp power source pin. Now, the erroneous data write-in or programming is explained.
FIG. 4 shows the construction of power source switching circuit 102 provided in circuit 52 of FIG. 2. MOS transistors 53 and 54 are each formed of a depletion type N-channel MOS transistor. The drains of transistors 53 and 54 are respectively connected to Vpp power source terminal 144 and Vcc power source terminal 142, and the sources thereof are commonly connected to node 23. As described before, voltage SW at node 23 is applied to the control gate of memory cell MC1 and the like. Signal SW is directly supplied to the gate of transistor 54 and to the gate of transistor 53 via potential conversion circuit 58. Potential conversion circuit 58 serves to convert a Vcc system signal ("H"=5 V, "L"=0 V) into a Vpp system signal ("H"=Vpp, "L"=0 V) and is supplied with Vpp and ground voltage Vss (0 V) as a power source voltage.
One of Vpp and Vcc power source voltages is selected by means of voltage switching circuit 102 in response to signal WE. In voltage switching circuit 102, signal WE is set at logic level "L" and an output of potential conversion circuit 58 is set to logic level "H" in the data write-in mode. As a result, high voltage Vpp is applied to the gate of transistor 53 to turn on the same. Further, signal WE of logic level "L" is directly applied to the gate of transistor 54 to turn off the same. Therefore, high voltage Vpp is transmitted to node 23 via transistor 53, thereby applying high voltage Vpp to the control gate of memory cell MC1. In contrast, in the readout mode, transistor 54 is turned on and transistor 53 is turned off, causing voltage Vcc to be supplied to node 23 via transistor 54. As a result, voltage Vcc is applied to the control gate of memory cell MC1.
Assume now that a serge is applied to the Vpp power source terminal and the potential thereof is raised when all the pins of the EPROM are set in the electrically floating state. In this case, in power source voltage switching circuit 102 of FIG. 4, parasitic capacitor C1 exists between the drain and gate of transistor 53 and therefore the gate potential of transistor 53 is also raised to a high potential by capacitive coupling. As a result, transistor 53 is turned on to raise the potential of node 23. Further, since parasitic capacitor C2 exists between the source and gate of transistor 54, transistor 54 is also turned on in the same manner as in the case of transistor 53 and the potential of power source Vcc supplying terminal 142 which is externally set in the floating state is raised to a high potential level.
When a voltage at terminal 142 is raised to a certain level, for example, 2.5 V, the internal circuit starts to effect the normal operation. Even when the internal circuit starts to effect the normal operation and a high voltage is applied to terminal 144, the write-in mode cannot be always set because the other control pins are still in the floating state and the potential thereof is not determined. However, the potential level to which the potential of each node of the internal circuit is transiently set by means of the above-described parasitic capacitor of the transistor when the potential of terminal 142 is raised cannot be determined, and there is a possibility that the internal circuit is set into the write-in mode irrespective of the input potential of the control pins. In this case, the potentials of the drain and control gate of a memory cell designated by an address which happens to be internally set up are raised to a high potential level, causing electrons to be injected into the control gate and effecting the data write-in operation.
Application of a serge is effected instantaneously and therefore time in which the memory cell is kept in the write-in state cannot be always sufficiently long in comparison with the ordinary write-in time. Further, the potential of node 23 cannot be always sufficiently high for the data write-in operation depending on the potential level by which the potential of the gate of transistor 53 is raised. However, even if the write-in time, and the potentials of the drain and control gate of the memory cell are insufficient, the threshold voltage of the memory cell will be changed if electrons are injected into the floating gate. In this case, if variation in the threshold voltage is large so that data "1" can be stored into the memory cell, data of the memory cell which should be set in the erased state is changed to "0", causing a serious error. Further, even if variation in the threshold voltage is small, it becomes difficult to read out data "1", causing the access time in the data readout mode to be degraded.
The above problems may easily occur in a case where signal WE whose "L" level is significant (active) is supplied to a circuit block. As the length of a wiring for transferring signal WE becomes longer, the capacitor between the wiring and the substrate becomes larger. As a result, the potential of the wiring tends to be pulled down to the substrate potential or ground potential by means of the capacitive coupling between the wiring and the substrate. Therefore, when the length of the wiring is long, even if write enable signal WE is set to "H" level, signal WE tends to be pulled down to the ground potential, thereby setting the write enable state. As a result, there is a high possibility that the internal circuit is set into the write-in state when the internal circuit is instantaneously operated by a serge as described before.
Further, in an ordinary semiconductor integrated circuit as well as an EPROM, a control signal whose "L" level is set as a significant potential level tends to be pulled to "L" level potential by the capacitive coupling between the wiring and the substrate in a case where the control signal of "H" level is transmitted along the wiring formed on the substrate set at the ground potential and in this case the internal circuit may be erroneously operated.

Semiconductor integrated circuit capable of preventing occurrence of erroneous operation due to noise


A new and distinct cultivar of Agastache plant named ‘AGA 404’, characterized by its compact, upright, outwardly spreading and open plant habit; freely branching habit; relatively large and dense inflorescences with small violet-colored flowers; freely and continuous flowering habit; and good garden performance.

The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Agastache, botanically known as Agastache hybrida and hereinafter referred to by the same 'AGA 404'.
The new Agastache is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Hann. Münden, Germany. The objective of the breeding program was to create new Agastache cultivars with large and dense inflorescences and attractive flower coloration.
The new Agastache originated from an open-pollination during the summer of 2003 in Hann. Münden, Germany, of an unnamed selection of Agastache hybrida, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with an unknown selection of Agastache hybrida as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Agastache was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a single flowering plant within the progeny of the stated open-pollination in a controlled environment in Hann. Münden, Germany during the summer of 2004.
Asexual reproduction of the new Agastache by vegetative cuttings in a controlled environment in Hann. Münden, Germany during the winter of 2004, has shown that the unique features of this new Agastache are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.


A liquid crystal display device includes a liquid crystal panel, a backlight unit that faces the liquid crystal panel and that includes a light source, a light guide plate, and an optical sheet unit, a mold frame that encloses the backlight unit and that includes a main body part and a protrusion, which protrusion is disposed between the liquid crystal panel and the backlight unit and protrudes from the main body part in a lateral direction, and an adhesive member that bonds the mold frame to the liquid crystal panel.

Display devices for displaying an image are used in electronic devices, such as portable communication terminals, digital cameras, notebook computers, TVs, and the like. As a display device, a flat panel display device, which is thin and lightweight, has recently been widely used.
Flat panel display devices include various devices, such as liquid crystal display devices, organic light-emitting display devices, and plasma display devices. Among these flat panel display devices, liquid crystal display devices have been widely used in various applications due to their advantages of being light weight, having a thin profile, and enabling operation with low power consumption.

Liquid crystal display device and method of manufacturing the same


A grease composition for constant velocity joints which comprises the following components: (a) a base oil, (b) a thickener, (c) a montan wax, (d) a zinc sulfonate, and (e) a sulfurized molybdenum dialkyldithiocarbamate.

In the recent automobile industry, the number of front-engine front-drive (FF) vehicles is rapidly increasing for realizing environmentally friendly vehicles (CO2 emission reduction) by the weight reduction and ensuring the living space. With the rise of the FF vehicles, the constant velocity joint (CVJ) essential for the FF vehicles is widely used. The constant velocity joint, especially a plunging type constant velocity joint, in particular, a tripod constant velocity joint (TJ), a double offset constant velocity joint (DOJ) or the like performs complicated rolling/sliding motions at a certain angle during the driving cycle. This causes a sliding resistance in the axial direction. The sliding resistance will lead to vibrations during the idling mode and swaying of the vehicle at the time of starting and accelerating, and become a source of vibrations to generate the beat noise or the booming noise in the interior of a vehicle at particular speeds. There are various improvements in the structure of the constant velocity joint to solve the above-mentioned problems. However, those improvements are restricted in light of the space and the weight of the joint and also from the viewpoint of cost. Therefore, a grease composition excellent in the performance of reducing vibrations is demanded.
In response to such a demand, there is proposed a grease composition for the constant velocity joint, comprising a base oil, a urea thickener, molybdenum disulfide, and at least one selected from the group consisting of calcium salts of oxidized wax, calcium salts of petroleum sulfonic acid, calcium salts of alkyl aromatic sulfonic acid, calcium salts of salicylate, calcium salts of phenate, overbased calcium salts of oxidized wax, overbased calcium salts of petroleum sulfonic acid, overbased calcium salts of alkyl aromatic sulfonic acid, overbased calcium salts of salicylate and overbased calcium salts of phenate (JP Hei 9-194871 A). Another grease composition for the constant velocity joint is proposed where a metal-free sulfur-phosphorus extreme-pressure agent and molybdenum dithiocarbamate are added to the components of the above-mentioned grease composition (JP Hei 9-324189 A). Further, there is proposed a composition for the constant velocity joint, comprising a base oil, diurea thickener, molybdenum disulfide, molybdenum dialkyl dithiocarbamate sulfide, a calcium salt of petroleum sulfonic acid, a sulfur-phosphorus extreme-pressure agent, and a vegetable fat or oil (JP 2006-96949 A). To meet the recent request for more quietness, there is proposed a grease composition for the constant velocity joint, comprising a base oil, diurea thickener, molybdenum dialkyl dithiocarbamate sulfide, zinc sulfonate, a sulfur-phosphorus extreme-pressure agent, and a vegetable fat or oil (JP 2011-37950 A).
In line with the increased engine power and the higher performance of vehicles, more comfortable ride and more quietness are requested, so that the demands for decrease in the vibration resulting from the constant velocity joint and decrease in the vibrations caused with time are increasing. However, the current grease compositions for the constant velocity joint have the problem that the demand for reduction of the vibrations caused with time cannot be satisfied. The grease composition for the constant velocity joint is required to meet the demand for keeping the quietness.


A pet washing and drying apparatus which can wash and dry a pet simply in a short period of time, and with a simplified structure to reduce costs.

1. Field of the Invention
The field of this invention relates to a pet animal washing and drying apparatus. In particular, the invention is concerned with an enclosed apparatus to automatically wash and dry a pet, such as a dog or cat.
2. Background
In order to maintain the health of a pet, such as a dog or cat, a certain level of exercise is fundamentally required, and daily walks should be performed and are indispensable. These walks, however, are often postponed because the dog would get dirty if it was let outside, especially on rainy days. One of the main reasons for this is that washing of the dog is time-consuming as it can take as much as two hours to wash and then dry the dog using a hair dryer and a brush, not to mention the difficulties required in restraining the dog. Pet owners may not want to waste this amount of time, and, therefore, they avoid taking the dog out for a walk. However, if the dog is not exercised sufficiently, stress might accumulate, causing the pet to be irritable or ill.
Many different forms and shapes of pet washing devices are known. Generally, a pet washing device is constructed in such a way as to be a fixed length for the width of the washing and drying area that holds the blower and nozzle attachment. Due to the variety among the anatomy of pets, however, it is difficult to completely wash and dry the pet, especially on the side of the neck or on the stomach of the animal. Normally, as the drying process ends after a given period, it is common to see dogs emerging after the period with fur that is still wet. A truly effective and encompassing pet washing device has not been developed.
Thus, a need exists for a pet washing device to perform a thorough and complete washing and drying in a short period of time.


A trailer adapter hitch suitable for converting a manually operated two wheeled barrow to a two wheeled trailer for use with a motorized vehicle is the subject of the present invention. The trailer adapter hitch is generally linear in shape and is light weight, having a trailer hitch at one end for attaching to the pulling hitch of a motorized vehicle and means for attaching securely at two points on the frame of a two wheeled barrow.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to accessory equipment for lawn tractors and, more particularly, to an adapter designed to convert a manually operated barrow into a tow-behind trailer for use with a tractor.
2. Description of the Background
Two wheeled barrows and carts for manual pushing or pulling find many uses in residential and commercial settings. Indeed, mankind's earliest vehicles were single- and multi-wheeled barrows, and a great variety of these are used today for construction, lawn care, landscaping, etc. The predominant design of the common wheel barrow includes rearwardly extending and diverging handlebars, a single wheel positioned between the handlebars toward the front of the barrow, and two rear-mounted, vertical legs on which the barrow rests/balances when not in motion. Motion occurs when an operator, standing behind the barrow between the handlebars, lifts the handlebars and pushes/pulls the barrow. Variations on this basic design are found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,052,079 to Lehman, U.S. Pat. No. 4,789,171 to Porter, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,149,116 to Donze et al. While one advantage of this design is the ability to dump the barrow's contents forward or to either side, the fact that the operator must hold the handlebars in a raised position while walking forward/backward is problematic. When heavy loads are involved, the act of lifting and holding the legs off of the ground while moving the barrow subjects the operator to various forms of back injury.
There are alternative designs that place two wheels directly underneath the cargo receptacle or toward the back end of the barrow, with the legs up front. This way, the user need only balance the barrow instead of lifting. An operator moves (i.e. pushes/pulls) a barrow of this type by exerting downward force on the rearwardly extending handle assembly in order to raise the balancing legs off of the ground. The barrow is emptied by tilting or pivoting it forward on its legs to discharge the cargo over the front lip or leading edge. Examples of this concept are found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,888,501 to McChesney and U.S. Pat. No. 4,629,203 to Ballard. A further example is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,193,319 by Kielinski.
These "rear wheel" or "balanced fulcrum" designs have become very popular in recent years because, unlike "front-wheel" barrows, the operator does not have to lift a significant percentage of the total weight of the barrow and cargo. Again, the center of the entire barrow/cargo combination can be located almost directly over the wheels. This makes the barrow much easier to use. However, users must still push or pull the barrow up or down hills and this can be a trying affair, especially with a heavy load.
Many homeowners who use such barrows also have a garden tractor on hand for mowing their lawn. Most conventional garden tractors are easily adaptable for transporting the same type of loads. Indeed, there are a variety of tow-behind carts that are commercially available and which incorporate an integral trailer hitch for coupling to a tractor. These tow-carts are excellent for towing a heavy load up or down hills via the tractor. However, the hitch is a dedicated tractor hitch and these carts cannot be operated manually and are thus unsuitable for smaller jobs such as moving items around in a garage. Thus, given a dual need to transport cargo manually and by motorized vehicle, it was heretofore necessary to keep and maintain two separate pieces of equipment, the barrow and the tractor-towed cart.
There would be a significant consumer demand for a device to serve both purposes, and specifically for an adaptable trailer hitch which would allow the homeowner to hitch a barrow to a motorized vehicle when needed for the extra pull, effectively converting the conventional two wheeled barrow into a tow cart for hauling by a motorized vehicle such as a garden tractor and avoiding the need for a separate tractor cart.


The invention provides an angled joint component for joining together components of a construction formed from cardboard. The joint is preferably folded from a single piece of cardboard and comprises a plurality of layers held in juxtaposition. The joint may be included in a desk formed from cardboard top and leg sub-assemblies.

Constructions formed from cardboard are well known and include a multitude of packaging applications and point of sale materials. There is now a trend to manufacture from cardboard constructions which are to be subject to relatively high working loads but which are also required to be aesthetically pleasing. Such constructions include furniture and one such example of an item of furniture is a desk.
One problem often encountered in cardboard construction is providing stable right-angled joints. Typically where, for example, a leg attaches to an underside of a surface, the surface must overlie the leg joint to a considerable extent to ensure the resulting connection is well supported against bending around the joint, and is stable. As a result, aesthetic and dimensional limitations may arise.
It is an object of the invention to provide a component for use in cardboard construction and/or an article including such a component which will go at least some way in addressing the aforementioned drawbacks; or which will at least provide a novel and useful choice.


As Internet packet flow increases, the demand for high speed packet filtering has grown. The present invention introduces a high-speed rule processing method that may be used for packet filtering. The method pre-processes a set of packet filtering rules such that the rules may be searched in parallel by a set of independent search units. Specifically, the rules are divided into N orthogonal dimensions that comprise aspects of each packet that may be examined and tested. Each of the N dimensions are then divided into a set of dimension rule ranges. Each rule range is assigned a value that specifies the rules that may apply in that range. The rule preprocessing is completed by creating a search structure to be used for classifying a packet into one of the rule ranges in each of the N dimensions. Each search structure may be used by an independent search unit such that all N dimensions may be searched concurrently. The packet processing method of the present invention activates the N independent search units to search the N pre-processor created search structures. The output of each of the N search structures is then logically combined to select a rule to be applied.

The Internet is a global interconnection of computer networks that share a set of well-defined data communication protocols. Specifically, most computer networks coupled to the global Internet communicate using the Transport Control Protocol (TCP) and Internet Protocol (IP).
A very large portion of the computers communicate on the global Internet are coupled to a local area network (LAN) that is coupled to the global Internet with an Internet gateway. The Internet gateway handles all communication between computers on the local area network and computers out on the global Internet. The Internet gateway may perform many different functions such as network address translation, network caching, routing, and packet filtering.
Packet filtering is the task of examining each packet to apply a set of filtering rules. Each packet filtering rule specifies a particular packet filtering policy. For example, all packets incoming from the Internet that are destined for vulnerable server ports may be discarded in order to protect the internal servers on the local area network.
The number of packet filtering rules that are needed depends on the particular application. In simple packet filtering routers for small or home routers, the number of packet filtering rules is relatively small. However, an internet service provider (ISP) that provides classes of service for the internet service provider's customers, the internet service provider will need many thousands of packet filter rules to implement the class of service priority and other customer features.
There are several different current implementations of packet filtering rule processors. The simplest implementation of a rules processor is a linear searching rule processor. In such an implementation, the linear rule processor tests each received packet against each rule in the list of packet filtering rules. The time required to perform this type of rule processing is directly proportional to the number of packet filtering rules. This type of linear rule processing is not feasible for any system with a large number of packet filtering rules.
To provide faster rule processing, improved methods of applying packet filtering rules were introduced. One improved method is known as "rule splitting" A rule splitting system divides the rules into several different sets of rules. When a packet is received, one or more aspects of the packet are examined to determine which subset of rules should be applied. For example, a rule splitting type of rule processor may only examine the Source and/or Destination ports of each packet in order to determine which set of rules to apply. Rule splitting type of rule processors are difficult to implement because rules have ranges associated with them.
Search trees provide another method of improving rule processing speed. Search trees divide the rules into a preprocessed organized format that improves the rule processing to a speed that is a logarithmic function of the number of rules in each dimension. This type of searching works well, but still does not provide a solution that is viable for high-speed network applications that require many thousands of rules. It would therefore be desirable to have an improved network rule processor that can process thousands of network rules.

Method and apparatus for high-speed network rule processing


A system and method for optically setting a pace for an athlete is presented. The method sequentially places a first group of lights and a second group along a path travelled by the athlete. The first group of lights are sequentially lit one after another one at a time with a first predetermined delay between the lighting of each of the lights. After all the first group of lights have been lit, the second group of lights are similarly sequentially lit in sequence with a second predetermined delay between each of the lights. The first and second predetermined delays can be the same if the athlete desires to run several consistent laps of the same speed. However, the athlete may desire to run one part of the laps fast and the another part slower by setting one predetermined delay longer than the other predetermined delay.

1. Field of Invention
The current invention relates generally to apparatus, systems and methods for training athletes. More particularly, the apparatus, systems and methods relate to pacing athletes while training. Specifically, the apparatus, software systems and methods provide for illuminating lights to set a pace for an athlete.
2. Description of Related Art
Often athletes such as runners, swimmers, skaters, skiers, bikers and the like will often run, swim, skate, ski, bike or otherwise propel themselves forward and often repeatedly complete multiple laps. Coaches and trainers currently yell out times often read from a stop watch. Alternatively, it is up to the athlete to carry or locate a fixed clock so that they might have some idea what their pace and/or current time might be. Often when an athlete travels longer distances, these few and often sporadically yelled out and/or manually read times by the athlete provide limited use for that athlete to exactly determine their pace within the context of their training. Additionally, having to process a time and determine what pace the athlete is on is disruptive to their concentration and form. What is needed is a better way for athletes to know their pace when training.


An electrically driven toothbrush has a brush holder that is arranged to rotationally vibrate and carry a number of bristles interspaced with arcuate membranes. The membranes serve to aid cleaning of the teeth and to polish the teeth surfaces during use of the toothbrush.

The invention relates to toothbrushes.
The invention relates more particularly to electrically driven toothbrushes in which brush bristles are arranged to move relative to an elongate toothbrush handle such that the bristles rotate about an axis generally at right angles to a longitudinal axis of the handle. The bristles may rotate completely or preferably oscillate as fully described for example in U.S. Pat. No. 5,625,916.
In certain conditions, the overall cleaning effect of such brushes is not wholly satisfactory, especially for polishing the teeth or removing stains.
It is an object of the invention to overcome or to at least reduce this problem.


A system and method is disclosed for moving between delay sensing and packet loss based congestion control states. In connection with communicating over a network by sending and receiving data, one or more network devices automatically selects between a first and a second congestion control state for the sending and receiving of the data based a predetermined algorithm. The devices move between the first and the second congestion control states to maintain a bit rate associated with the sending and receiving at a predetermined threshold according to the predetermined algorithm.

Today's internet equipment (modems, routers, firewalls etc) have some amount of buffers, the amount of memory has increased much faster than the bandwidth they serve, this might introduce significant network delay, and thus a bad user experience especially for real-time application such as video conferencing. Many of these real-time application have built various different delay sensing methods, but the issue is that when they compete with a protocol that only reacts to packet loss, they are loosing out and end up using less than their fair share of the network resources.


A device for controllably dispensing a flowable food product from a squeezable container includes a blade elongated between a hollow base extremity and a distal extremity. The blade is bounded by opposed flat side surfaces and top and bottom edges. The bottom edge has an elongated slot opening. A channel communicates between the base and the elongated slot. A threaded bore in said base facilitates attachment to the exit opening of the container.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention concerns a device for dispensing a flowable food product from a container and controlling the placement of the dispensed product.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Numerous food products are available in flowable paste-like or viscous liquid forms, exemplary products including: margarine, butter, mayonnaise, honey, mustard, syrups, cheese formulations, peanut butter, ketchup, confectionery paste, and pureed products such as tomato paste and baby foods.
It is often difficult to remove and dispense the aforesaid food products from standard containers. Those products which are non-pourable are often packaged in wide mouth containers, requiring removal by the usual eating utensils. Such action often causes contamination of the product in the container and requires cleaning of the utensils. Products which are pourable can be packaged in narrow mouth containers. However, dripping and uncontrollable flow is often encountered, resulting in inaccurate placement of the food product, and necessitating cleaning of the exterior of the container.
The use of plastic squeeze containers is well established for the commercial packaging of flowable food products of relatively low viscosity or thin consistency such as mustard and ketchup. However, the squeeze containers are not effective with products of heavier consistency such as peanut butter. Also, the squeeze containers cannot provide a uniform thinly spread layer on a piece of bread. Although some squeeze containers employed for the commercial packaging of food products can be refilled by the user after all the original contents have been dispensed, such action will generally entail some effort and inconvenience. The general intent, however, of commercial squeeze containers for food products is that the container serves a one-time use as a storage container and dispensing device.
Applicator devices for dispensing barely flowable substances such as toothpaste, adhesive, caulking, grease and other paste-like substances have earlier been disclosed comprised of a squeezable container equipped with removable closure means adapted to spread or otherwise direct the placement of the extruded material. Typical of such devices are those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,716,251 to Pearce, U.S. Pat. No. 2,930,063 to Stull, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,387,044 to Accardo. The aforesaid applicator devices are designed to dispense material in a continuous straight line path in the axial direction of movement of the device. None are specifically designed to spread dispensed material in reciprocal strokes transverse to the axis of the device.
It is accordingly and object of the present invention to provide a device for controllably dispensing a flowable food product from a squeeze container.
It is another object of this invention to provide a device as in the foregoing object which is removably associated with said container.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide a device of the aforesaid nature of streamlined construction which facilitates cleaning and re-use.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a device of the aforesaid nature to facilitate the spreading of a flowable food product in a path transverse to the direction of emergence of said food product from a squeezable container.
It is a still further object of this invention to provide a device of the aforesaid nature of monolithic construction amenable to low cost manufacture.
It is an additional object of the present invention to provide apparatus for storing and dispensing a flowable food product.
These objects and other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description.

Device for dispensing flowable food products


A software analysis system having a filter for selectively collecting tags generated by a target system during execution of a software program under analysis in accordance to a programmable filtering criteria. The system includes a decoder for decoding the tag type of the tags captured from the data bus of the target system, and a comparator for comparing the tag types to the programmable filtering criteria to determine whether the tag should be collected. The programmable filtering criteria may be programmed by collecting filter tags from the target system, or directly programmed by a software developer using a filtering user interface. The programmable filtering criteria is implemented by a filter table that stores a flag associated with each tag type. The flag is indicative of whether tag data of a respective tag type should be collected. Tag data of the tag types meeting the programmable filtering criteria have timestamp information appended to the tag data and are collected in a tag buffer.

Creating executable software code typically involves a software developer first creating a source code program with a text processing program, followed by compiling and linking the source code to create executable code for a specified computer processor. The executable code is subsequently stored in an executable file. The executable code can then be debugged by the software developer by executing the executable file on the specified computer processor to determine if the software performs its tasks correctly, or if instead one or more errors occur during execution. If the executable code has errors, the software developer can modify the source code in an attempt to remove the errors, recompile the source code, and then link the recompiled code to produce a new executable file for debugging. For large software programs, this process is repeated several times until all known errors are removed.
The debugging process, which is quite often a very involved process, many times requires the software developer to locate the cause of an error from executing the executable file. Various methods exist for a software developer to identify errors. In one such method, a software developer adds print statements throughout the source code so that as the executable file is executing, the corresponding executable print instructions are also executed to report the current progress of the execution. Knowledge of the current execution progress assists the software developer to identify the section of the code that is executing when an error occurs. Additionally, print statements can be used to also display the current value of variables or source code expressions at specified points throughout the execution. Since the print statements are part of the original compilation and linking process, the variables and expressions that are part of the print statements are evaluated in the context of the current variable scope, as would any other compiled code statement. An example of this is using the value of a local variable in a currently executing function rather than a variable with the same name in a different non-executing function.
In addition to print requests, application programs known as debuggers may be also used by the software developer to assist with locating errors in the executable code. A debugger loads executable code into memory and provides additional control over execution of executable files. For example, the software developer can use the debugger to execute one executable code instruction at a time. Alternately, the debugger may be used to execute the executable code continuously until a break point, designated by the software developer within the debugger, is reached. When execution of the executable code is stopped, a user can interact with the debugger to view current values of variables and expressions. Some debuggers can also reconstruct the source code from information stored in an executable code file during the compiling and linking steps, and display the source code lines that correspond to the instructions in the executable code. The display of the source code facilitates control by the software developer of the execution of the executable code.
Software developers debugging source code written for embedded systems face particular challenges when trying to analyze the performance of the software. An embedded system may be characterized as one whose primary purpose is to perform a specific function rather than to perform general computational functions. A microprocessor-based microwave oven controller, a microprocessor-based automobile ignition system, and a microprocessor-based telephone switching system are all examples of embedded systems. The techniques of debugging software discussed above are not easily applied to software written for embedded systems. One reason is that many embedded systems include only a central processor and limited memory, and do not include access to other standard computer system input or output devices, such as a keyboard or display. As such, it is often difficult for a software developer to debug or analyze the performance of software written for these types of systems using the conventional techniques. However, fortunately for the software developer, there are several alternative techniques, and software analysis equipment, that are more suited for analyzing software written for and executed in these types of systems.
One such technique uses executable code marker statements inserting into spaces created in the source code during compilation. That is, the source code is prepared for debugging by compiling the source code and inserting empty spaces following each function of the source code. The empty spaces are reserved for inserting the code markers during an analysis phase by the software developer after the source code has been compiled and linked. The inserted code markers are captured by a debugging system during the execution of the modified compiled source code, and the results from the collection of code markers are used as a means of determining the performance of the software program. For example, each tag statement may write a value to a respective address so that the identity of the address containing that value provides an indication of which tag statements were executed. The data is collected by the host system and displayed in a manner that assists the software developer with debugging and evaluating the performance of the software. A more detailed description of this technique and analysis system is provided by U.S. Pat. No. 5,265,254, to Blasciak et al.
Another technique and analysis system employs a host system coupled to the microprocessor of an embedded system. Executable tag statements inserted into a source code are executed along with the compiled and linked source code. Each of the tag statements cause the microprocessor to write a tag to a predetermined address location in a memory of the embedded system. A probe coupled to the external terminals of the embedded system monitors an address bus for the predetermined address, and when detected, latches data provided by an executed tag statement from a data bus. Based on the value of the data latched, the analysis system is able to determine the location in the source code being executed. A more detailed description of this technique and analysis system is provided by U.S. Pat. No. 5,748,878, to Rees et al.
Although the aforementioned techniques and analysis systems provide the software developer with powerful tools for debugging and evaluating the software for embedded systems, it is difficult in these systems to modify the type of data collected during the execution of the instrumented source code. These systems typically allow the software developer to manually insert a limited number of executable statements into the executable code after compilation and linking. However, where the modifications to the executable statements are extensive, or the source code is long, such a technique is inefficient and impractical. Thus, adding or deleting executable statements from the executable code often requires the software developer to instrument, compile, and link the source code each time changes are made.

Software analysis system having an apparatus for selectively collecting analysis data from a target system executing software instrumented with tag statements and method for use thereof


The present invention aims to provide a polyrotaxane composition having excellent storage stability. The present invention relates to a polyrotaxane composition comprising: a polyrotaxane containing a cyclodextrin, a polyethylene glycol which is included in the cavities of the cyclodextrin molecules in a skewered manner, and a capping group that is placed at each end of the polyethylene glycol and prevents dissociation of the cyclodextrin molecules from the polyethylene glycol; and a polyphenol antioxidant.

"Slide-ring gels", new gels different from physical gels and chemical gels, have been developed in recent years. A compound that is used for such slide-ring gels and is drawing attention is a crosslinked polyrotaxane.
Crosslinked polyrotaxanes are produced by crosslinking polyrotaxanes in which a capping group is introduced at each end of a pseudopolyrotaxane. In the case that a pseudopolyrotaxane is formed from a polyethylene glycol (hereinafter, also referred to as a "PEG") having a reactive group at each end and a cyclodextrin that includes the PEG, for example, the resulting crosslinked polyrotaxane has a structure in which linear molecules of the PEG are threaded through cyclodextrin molecules in a skewered manner and the cyclodextrin molecules are movable along the linear molecules (has a pulley effect). The pulley effect allows the crosslinked polyrotaxane to uniformly distribute tensile force applied thereto. The crosslinked polyrotaxane is therefore not likely to have cracks or flaws, i.e., has excellent characteristics that conventional crosslinked polymers do not have.
Polyrotaxanes used for production of a crosslinked polyrotaxane typically contain isolated cyclodextrin molecules (hereinafter also referred to as "free cyclodextrin molecules"). These free cyclodextrin molecules deteriorate the characteristics of a crosslinked polyrotaxane. Hence, polyrotaxanes need to be purified by a method such as reprecipitation such that free cyclodextrin molecules are removed.
Patent Literature 1 describes a method for producing a polyrotaxane which includes mixing a carboxylated polyethylene glycol and a cyclodextrin molecules to obtain a pseudopolyrotaxane with a carboxylated polyethylene glycol included in the cavities of the cyclodextrin molecules in a skewered manner, and capping each end of the pseudopolyrotaxane with a capping group.
In the production method described in Patent Literature 1, the obtained polyrotaxane is purified by washing the polyrotaxane with a dimethylformamide/methanol mixed solvent, dissolving the polyrotaxane in dimethyl sulfoxide, dropping the resulting solution in water to precipitate the polyrotaxane, and separating the solid and liquid phases by centrifugation, whereby free cyclodextrin molecules which deteriorate the characteristics of a crosslinked polyrotaxane are removed.


A device and a process for manipulation of a liquid, the ability of a liquid to flow from a first channel section in a second channel section being temporarily stopped by means of a capillary stop before it flows from the first channel section into the second channel section. Control which is accurate in time is easily enabled by the two channel sections being moved relative to one another for bridging or cancelling the capillary stop, especially being brought into contact.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a device and a process for manipulation of a liquid which can flow from a first channel section to a second channel section and which can be temporarily stopped by means of a capillary stop before overflowing from the first channel section into the second channel section.
2. Description of Related Art
This invention relates to microfluidic systems and devices. The following text relates to devices in which capillary forces act and are decisive especially for operation.
In order to move liquids from one location to a next in a time controlled manner, so-called capillary stops are known, as disclosed, for example, in European Patent Application EP 1 441 131 A1 and corresponding U.S. Patent Application Publication 2004/0206408. In this connection, the liquid is temporarily stopped in a channel or in a wide chamber due to the sudden increase of capillary force. For example, the capillary stop can be formed by an especially trough-like control channel which runs transversely. When the control channel is flooded, for example, by a control liquid or by the liquid itself, the liquid can overcome the capillary stop. Accuracy in time and/or location is critical in this connection. When there is no tapering of the channel cross section in the area of the capillary stop, starting of the liquid defined in time over the entire channel cross section can only be achieved with difficulty or not at all. When the channel in the area of the capillary stop is tapered to obtain better time control or definition, the previously wider liquid front is narrowed and then often widened again, and as a result of diffusion processes, the local resolution of the study can be significantly adversely affected. Another problem consists in flooding the control channel quickly in an exactly controlled manner with respect to time.
European Patent Application EP 1 419 818 A1 and corresponding U.S. Patent Application Publication 2004/0096358 discloses stepwise controlling the transport of a liquid, especially temporarily stopping it, using so-called selective venting. This is done by stopping the air displacement in the channel to be flooded. Opening of the vent allows the liquid to continue to flow. The problem here is the hardware cost. Furthermore, the same problems arise with respect to time and/or local definition as in the aforementioned capillary stop with a control channel.
Moreover, external triggers, such as electrical and/or magnetic fields, surge waves or pressure waves are known to temporarily stop a liquid or to start liquid transport. In this connection, the hardware complexity, and thus, the costs are high.

Device and process for manipulation of a liquid


The present invention provides a preparation method of hyperbranched polycarboxylic acid type copolymer cement dispersant, including: Monomer A, B and C undergo a free radical copolymerization in an aqueous medium. The molar ratio of Monomer A, Monomer B and Monomer C conforms to B/A−A−2−10 and C/(A+B−C)−0.02−0.08. Monomer A is expressed by General Formula (1), where, R1 is H or a methyl; X1═O, CH2O, CH2CH2O; m is an integer from 5 to 200.

Cement dispersants (water reducers) can be absorbed on cement particles to inhibit the condensation of cement particles and improve the dispersion of concrete in use. There are many substances used as cement dispersant, including lignosulphonate, naphthalene sulfonate/formaldehyde condensation polymer, phenol/p-aminobenzene sulfonic acid/formaldehyde condensation polymer, melamine sulfonate/formaldehyde condensation polymer and comb-shaped polycarboxylic acid type copolymer, etc. From the perspective of the structure, the former cement dispersants mainly take sulfonyl as the absorbing group, so having the disadvantages of lack of effective side chains providing a steric hindrance, simple molecular structure, poor adjustability, limited dispersion effect on cement, high dosage and low water reduction. The comb-shaped polycarboxylic acid type copolymer, with both the main chains rich in absorbing groups providing absorption function and the side chains having good hydrophilicity providing steric hindrance function, can improve the cement's dispersion greatly. Although the comb-shaped polycarboxylic acid type copolymer makes greater improvements in respect of comonomer and copolymerization technology with the development of concrete towards high performance, it still cannot satisfy the needs of modern constructional engineering for the high-performance cement dispersant. To develop polycarboxylic acid type copolymers with new structure has become one direction to improve the performance of polycarboxylic acid type cement dispersant. The new structures, for example, star-shaped, hyperbranched and tree-shaped, not only greatly increase the number of the absorbing groups in the molecular structure of polymer, but enhance the steric hindrance provided by the hydrophilic side chains in the comb-shaped structure. Patent CN101580353 reported a hyperbranched polycarboxylate high-efficiency water reducer and its preparation method. The preparation method includes two step: Step 1, take N,N-dimethylformamide as the dissolvent, and copolymerize acrylic ester, sodium methylacryl sulfonate and allyl polyethenoxy ether sulfate to form the main chain of the polymer, wherein ACVA is used as the initiator and the carboxyls are introduced into the end of the polymer chain; Step 2, graft the hyperbranched polyamide structures to the ends of the main poly-chains by taking advantages of the amidation between the quadrol and the carboxyl, and Michael addition reaction between the amido and the double bonds of acrylic acid successively. Moreover, with the carboxyl at the end of the hyperbranched polyamide structures, the absorbing groups in the molecular structure of the polymer are greatly increased. However, this method can only be used to introduce the hyperbranched structure to both ends of polymer chains, and a high amount of organic solvent N,N-dimethylformamide is required due to complicated synthetic procedure, which results in environmental pollution. In addition, some materials and the initiator are expensive, so the cost is high. Hence, it is imperative to develop a simple, economic, high-performance hyperbranched polycarboxylic acid type copolymer cement dispersant and its preparation method.

Preparation method of hyperbranched polycarboxylic acid containing copolymer cement dispersant

Abstract: Monomer B is expressed by General Formula (2), where, R2 is H or COOM; R3 is H or CH3 and M is H, Na, K or NH4;

Abstract: Monomer C is expressed by General Formula (3), where, R4 is H or methyl; X2═O, CH2O, CH2CH2O; Y═CH2, CH2CH2, CH(CH3), CH2CH2CH2, CH(CH3)CH2, C(CH3)2 and n is an integer from 5 to 200.


The invention relates to a device production process for forming a circuit pattern on a substrate such as semiconductor device. To enable a stable inspection of a minute foreign particle and a pattern defect occurring in manufacture of a device at a high speed and with a high sensitivity, an object to be inspected on which a transparent film is formed, is irradiated with a beam which is emitted from an illuminator whose illumination direction and illumination angle are selected from a plurality of choices to be optimum, so that scattered reflected light from a minute foreign particle defect on the object or the transparent film is effectively detected by eliminating a noise from the pattern formed on the object, and a detection optical system is optimized by evaluating and adjusting, with an image forming performance checker, an image forming performance of the detection optical system included in an inspecting apparatus.

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for inspecting, in a process of manufacturing a semiconductor device, foreign particles or a state of occurrence of defects, which method and apparatus is relevant to a step of detecting, analyzing, and taking measures against a foreign particle on a thin film substrate, semiconductor substrate, photomask, and other objects that are produced in manufacture of a semiconductor chip or a liquid crystal product, as well as a defect in a circuit pattern in the thin film substrate, semiconductor substrate, photomask and others.
In a process of producing a semiconductor device, a foreign particle present on a semiconductor substrate or a wafer leads to a defect such as defective insulation of wiring and short-circuit. With a recent trend of miniaturization of semiconductor devices, a minute foreign particle could be a cause of defective insulation of a capacitor or damage of a gate oxide film or others. Such a foreign particle is produced and introduced in various ways. For instance, the foreign particle may come from a movable portion in a feeding device or a human body, may be generated as a reaction product in a processing apparatus during a process using a process gas, or may come from chemicals or materials.
Similarly, in a process of producing a liquid crystal display element, when a defect is caused in a pattern by the foreign particle introduced in the above-described manner, the finished display element does not work. With a process of producing a printed circuit board or a printed wiring board, the circumstances is the same, namely, introduction of a foreign particle causes a short-circuit in a pattern or a bad connection. Hence, in manufacture of semiconductor devices, one (or more in some situations) foreign particle inspecting apparatus is disposed in each production line so as to detect a foreign particle at an early stage and feed back a result of the detection, in order to improve the yield rate.
One of techniques of this kind to detect a foreign particle on a semiconductor substrate is disclosed in JP-A-62-89336, which teaches to irradiate a semiconductor substrate with a laser beam and detect scattered light from a foreign particle adhering to the semiconductor substrate. The result of the inspection is compared with a result of an inspection last performed for the same kind of semiconductor substrate, so as to eliminate the possibility of misdetection of a pattern and enable a highly sensitive and reliable inspection of foreign particle defects. Disclosed in JP-A-63-135848, there is known another technique in which a semiconductor substrate is irradiated with a laser beam and scattered light from a foreign particle adhering to the semiconductor substrate is detected, and the detected foreign particle is analyzed by a method such as laser photoluminescence spectroscopy and secondary X-ray analysis (XMR).
As a technique to inspect foreign particles as mentioned above, there is known a method such that a wafer is irradiated with coherent light, and light emitted from a repetitive or periodic pattern on the wafer is removed by a spatial filter so that a foreign particle and a defect that are irregular or not periodic are emphasized to be detectable. Further, JP-A-1-117024 discloses a foreign particle inspecting apparatus where light is emitted toward a circuit pattern on a wafer in a direction 45-degree inclined with respect to directions of straight segments of principal groups in the circuit pattern and the zeroth-order diffraction light from the straight segments of the principal group is prevented from entering an aperture of an objective lens. The publication JP-A-1-117024 also teaches to block light emitted from straight segments of the other group than those of the principal groups by a spatial filter.
A technique related to an apparatus and method for inspecting a defect such as presence of a foreign particle is disclosed in JP-A-1-250847 and JP-A-2000-105203. The publication JP-A-2000-105203 teaches to change a pixel size at which detection is performed, by enabling switching associated with the detection optical system used for the detection, and to inspect a foreign particle by illuminating a substrate with light condensed in one direction. JP-A-2001-60607 discloses a technique to measure a size of a foreign particle.
However, any of the above-described conventional techniques does not succeed to detect with ease, at a high speed, and with a high sensitivity, a minute foreign particle or defect on a substrate on which a periodic pattern and a non-periodic pattern are present in a mixed manner. That is, the conventional techniques can not solve a problem that at a portion other than a periodic pattern such as memory cell portion, the detection sensitivity is low, or a minimum particle size detectable is large. Further, according to the conventional techniques, the detection sensitivity for a minute foreign particle or a defect on the order of 0.1 μm in an area where the pattern density is high is low. Still further, the detection sensitivity is low for a foreign particle or a defect that causes a short-circuit between wires, and for a foreign particle in the form of a thin film. The conventional technique disclosed in JP-A-2001-60607 has drawbacks that the measuring accuracy and precision for a foreign particle or a defect is low, and the detection sensitivity for a foreign particle on a wafer coated with a thin transparent film is low.

Method and apparatus for inspecting foreign particle defects


A system for measuring the flow of a fluid in a pipe that is one of a plurality of different sizes. The system employs a pair of transducers mounted on the pipe in an upstream-downstream relationship, Each transducer is excited by one of a pair of oscillators to transmit a sonic signal though the fluid to the other transducer. Transit times of the sonic signals are measured. A microprocessing network computes the flow rate of the fluid based on the measured transit time in the pipe. The system has a signal transit time between transducers equal to the time elapse of N cycles of the frequency emitted by the oscillators. The value of N, as computed by a microprocessor, relates to the size of the pipe.

This invention relates generally to transit-time sonic flowmeters used to measure the flow of liquids in full pipes and more particularly concerns an autoranging flowmeter that automatically determines pipe inside diameter and uses the diameter value in calculations of flowrate.
A typical transit-time sonic flowmeter is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,720,105, Acoustic Flowmeter, issued to Uldis Cirulis and is further described in an article by Ellis M. Zacharias and Donald W. Franz entitled "Sound Velocimeters Monitor Process Streams" published in the Jan. 22, 1973 issue of Chemical Engineering (pages 6-8 and FIG. 5 of article reprint).
In a typical sonic flowmeter two transducers are positioned so that they may communicate by alternately sending and receiving acoustic signals through the liquid that flows through the pipe. The transducers are so positioned that the line between them usually intersects the pipe axis at an angle of 45 degrees, but the angle may vary from 30 to 60 degrees, depending upon the circumstances. A small angle is desirable because it will result in better flow sensitivity. The transit time of an acoustic signal between transducers will depend on transducer spacing, the velocity of sound in the liquid and the rate of flow of the liquid. Thus, if the spacing and sound velocity are known, the rate of flow can be determined.
There are several problems inherent in the known acoustic flowmeter systems. For example, the transducers are generally recessed back from the inside wall of the pipe. Therefore, the time T it takes an acoustic signal to traverse the path from one transducer to the other includes the times through the non-flowing column of liquid in each recess as well as the time through the liquid flowing in the pipe T.sub.p. Inaccuracy in compensating for these time components results in inaccuracy in the metering system. Another problem with known systems is that a different pair of transducers is generally dedicated to monitor each flow station, resulting in higher system costs. In addition, for very narrow pipes, problems ensue because the separation between transducer faces is minimal and the transit time is brief. When the transit time is brief, a transducer may assume the role of a receiver before it has become quiet following excitation as a transmitter and the self noise that results may create an error in the determination of arrival time of an acoustical signal from the opposing transducer. Finally, most systems require a relatively high voltage source because a low voltage excitation signal results in a proportionately smaller acoustic signal, which in turn decreases the signal-to-noise ratio at the receiving transducer, making it difficult to use the flowmeter on larger diameter pipes.
It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide a sonic flowmeter which determines pipe size by measuring the transit time and subtracting out those components of transit time that are not pipe diameter dependent. It is a further object of this invention to provide a sonic flowmeter which contains acoustic windows that permit the transducers to be withdrawn and used elsewhere. It is also an object of this invention to provide a sonic flowmeter in which a single transmission is followed by a waiting period prior to an opposite transmission to reduce noise problems in the system, or, as an alternative, to provide a sonic flowmeter in which each transducer may transmit a succession of signals before reverting to the role of a receiver. And it is an object of this invention to provide a sonic flowmeter which generates a comparatively high (80 volts) transducer excitation from a low voltage (9 volt battery) source.


According to aspects of the embodiments, there is provided an apparatus and method for driving a laser imaging module (LIM) that includes an adjustment current to have all laser diodes emitting the same amount of output so that the diodes can be connected in series on a single high current power source. Fine tuning can be done by a dedicated low current controllable power source connected directly to each laser diode. A series connected LIM uses only two heavy gauge wires so total power loss and heat stress on the LIM and module drawer connectors will be significantly reduced. Additional fine tuning can include an electronic gate so that individual diodes could be quickly turned off independently from each other.

Conventional lithographic printing techniques cannot accommodate true high speed variable data printing processes in which images to be printed change from impression to impression, for example, as enabled by digital printing systems. The lithography process is often relied upon, however, because it provides very high quality printing due to the quality and color gamut of the inks used. Lithographic inks are also less expensive than other inks, toners, and many other types of printing or marking materials.
Ink-based digital printing uses a variable data lithography printing system, or digital offset printing system, or a digital advanced lithography imaging system. A "variable data lithography system" is a system that is configured for lithographic printing using lithographic inks and based on digital image data, which may be variable from one image to the next. "Variable data lithography printing," or "digital ink-based printing," or "digital offset printing," or digital advanced lithography imaging is lithographic printing of variable image data for producing images on a substrate that are changeable with each subsequent rendering of an image on the substrate in an image forming process.
For example, a digital offset printing process may include transferring ink onto a portion of an imaging member (e.g., fluorosilicone-containing imaging member, imaging blanket, printing plate) that has been selectively coated with a fountain solution (e.g., dampening fluid) layer according to variable image data. According to a lithographic technique, referred to as variable data lithography, a non-patterned reimageable surface of the imaging member is initially uniformly coated with the fountain solution layer. An imaging system then evaporates regions of the fountain solution layer in an image area by exposure to a focused radiation source (e.g., a laser light source, high power laser) to form pockets. A temporary pattern latent image in the fountain solution is thereby formed on the surface of the digital offset imaging member. The latent image corresponds to a pattern of the applied fountain solution that is left over after evaporation. Ink applied thereover is retained in the pockets where the laser has vaporized the fountain solution. Conversely, ink is rejected by the plate regions where fountain solution remains. The inked surface is then brought into contact with a substrate at a transfer nip and the ink transfers from the pockets in the fountain solution layer to the substrate. The fountain solution may then be removed, a new uniform layer of fountain solution applied to the printing plate, and the process repeated.
The formation of the image on the printing plate is done with imaging modules each using a linear output high power infrared (IR) laser to illuminate a digital light projector (DLP) multi-mirror array, also referred to as the "DMD" (Digital Micromirror Device). The mirror array is similar to what is commonly used in computer projectors and some televisions. The laser provides constant illumination to the mirror array. The mirror array deflects individual mirrors to form the pixels on the image plane to pixel-wise evaporate the fountain solution on the silicone plate. If a pixel is not to be turned on, the mirrors for that pixel deflect such that the laser illumination for that pixel does not hit the silicone surface, but goes into a chilled light dump heat sink. A single laser and mirror array form an imaging module that provides imaging capability for approximately one (1) inch in the cross-process direction. Thus a single imaging module simultaneously images a one (1) inch by one (1) pixel line of the image for a given scan line. At the next scan line, the imaging module images the next one (1) inch by one (1) pixel line segment. By using several imaging modules, comprising several lasers and several mirror-arrays, butted together, imaging function for a very wide cross-process width is achieved.
Due to the need to evaporate the fountain solution, in the imaging module, power consumption of the laser accounts for the majority of total power consumption, which correlates with heat generation, of the whole system. It is therefore vital to scheme how much electric power of the laser and the electronics is saved in terms of realizing power saving of the whole system. Such being the case, a variety of power saving technologies for the imaging modules have been proposed.
An over looked area of power consumption and heat generation is the operation of the lasers in the digital lithographic printing process. As the conventional module has 15 laser diodes 30 heavy gauge cables carrying 150 A each are required to power this module. Although heavy copper wires are used a lot of heat is generated by these wires. This results in poor efficiency and significant energy loss. Another problem is caused by the connectors which are needed to connect the laser module to the main system. Due to the high current a lot of heat is concentrated in these connector modules which significantly impact their reliability and life expectancy.
It would therefore be a significant advance in the art of digital offset printing if the amount of heat and or power consumption which is used in the marking process could be reduced without disrupting the operation of the printing process.

Single current source with local fine tuning for multi beam laser imaging module in a lithography printing system


An imprinter includes a printing base for mounting a card and a print paper to be imprinted on a predetermined area thereof, a carriage that is movable above the printing base, a roller includes a hard material and is provided as is housed within the carriage for transcribing the information represented as embossed on a card, a roller shaft for fixedly supporting the roller, bearings for rotatably supporting the roller shaft at a position of a predetermined height from the card mounting surface of the printing base, and an elastic mechanism provided between the bearings and the roller shaft, the elastic mechanism being radially deformed during an imprinting operation to cause the roller to radially move relative to the bearings so that the embossed information of the card may be transcribed onto the print paper.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an imprinter for imprinting or transcribing onto a print paper including the books and debit slips the information represented as convexly embossed on a card. The imprinter is generally provided with a roller of hard material which is moved as is rolled on the card when the transcription is carried out while the roller is kept in point contact with the information represented as embossed on the card which is placed as fixed, so that a clear and high quality transcription of information may be obtained without necessity of any specific adjusting operation on the side of the user.
2. Description of the Related Art
The literature that is Japanese Patent Application laid open 2006-150828 and/or another literature that is Japanese Patent Application laid open 2002-370438 disclose the imprinters respectively, the imprinters being substantially composed of a base for supporting a card having embossed parts formed thereon, a carriage that is substantially U-shaped straddling the base and is movable on the base, the carriage rotatably supporting an ink roller above the base and rotatably supporting a backup roller extended in parallel with the ink roller below the base and further composed of a mechanism provided on the carriage for adjusting the distance between the ink roller and the backup roller. The adjusting mechanism is operated to adjust the distance between the ink roller and the backup roller before the imprinter is shipped so that the ink roller may be positioned at the height substantially corresponding to the height of the embossed parts of the cvard to give an optimum printing pressure. The adjusting mechanism is further operated to make a final fine adjustment as to the position of the ink roller at the stage of actual use of the user in reference to card that is practically used by the user so as to obtain an optimum quality of transcription.
Further an ink roller of elastic material such as a hard gum is used in the conventional imprinter. The literature that is Japanese utility Model Application laid open Sho 56-104963 discloses a printing roller 22 which may be adjustable as to the height so as to obtain an optimum transcription. Further the literature that is Japanese Patent Application laid open Sho 57-138975 discloses printing roller 30 that is ink impregnated or no ink impregnated and is adjustable as to the vertical position by way of elastic members 37.

Imprinter including an elastic member for elastically supporting the roller shaft


There are provided a substantially cylindrical optical component, a method for connecting the same, and an optical module having the optical component, whereby adequate gripping force can be exerted during positioning or fixing, and the position in the azimuthal angle about the cylinder axis can be easily aligned. The optical component comprises a substantially cylindrical elongated member, an outer peripheral portion of which includes a cylindrical portion and a side plane portion that has a flat surface, the flat surface being parallel to a central axis to the elongated member. The optical module is composed of a planar light circuit device connected to a rod lens or capillary. With the method for connecting the optical component, the optical component of the present invention is positioned using the side plane portion as a reference, and is connected to another optical component.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical component having a substantially cylindrical external shape, to a method for connecting the same, and to an optical module having the optical component.
2. Description of the Related Art
A capillary for an optical fiber is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 11-160563 as an example of an optical component used for connecting an optical fiber to another optical fiber or optical device in the field of optical communications. An optical fiber is positioned so that the optical fiber optically connects with another optical fiber or optical device while the glass portion thereof is being inserted in the capillary. The capillary is generally cylindrical in shape, and is formed from ceramics or glass. A capillary formed from glass can be manufactured at low cost and with good precision of dimensions and symmetry by extending cylindrical glass tube to a small diameter. Such cylindrical optical component can be easily positioned with respect to all degrees of freedom other than the azimuthal angle about the cylinder axis, using the lateral surface of the cylinder as a reference.
While a cylindrical optical component such as the one described above is polished on the end face thereof or positioned with respect to another optical component or optical device, the lateral surface of the cylinder is gripped by a gripping member. Since the optical component and the gripping member come into contact with each other only at a point or a line parallel to the cylinder axis on the lateral surface of the cylinder, it is difficult to obtain a gripping force (frictional force) sufficient to position or fix the optical component. The optical component then comes out of position while polishing its end face, and polishing cannot be performed correctly, and the component becomes misaligned during connection to another optical component or optical device due to shrinkage of the adhesive when cured. When the force with which the optical component is gripped is increased in order to obtain adequate gripping force, the optical component may be damaged if it is composed of glass or another fragile material.
With an optical component whose end face is polished at an inclination angle with respect to the plane orthogonal to the cylinder axis, or an optical component such as one in which a plurality of optical fibers are inserted, its azimuthal angle about the cylinder axis must be aligned when the component is to be connected to another optical component or optical device. However, since the external peripheral shape of a cylindrical optical component is rotationally symmetrical with respect to the central axis of the cylinder, it is impossible to align the azimuthal angle about the cylinder axis using the external periphery as a reference.

Optical component, method for connecting the same, and optical module having the optical component


A method of manufacturing a package carrier is provided. An insulation cover is provided. The insulation cover has an inner surface and an outer surface opposite to each other, a plurality of openings, and a containing space. A patterned metal layer is formed on the outer surface of the insulation cover. A surface treatment layer is formed on the patterned metal layer. A heat dissipation element is formed in the containing space of the insulation cover and structurally connected to the insulation cover. A thermal-conductive layer is formed on a surface of the heat dissipation element, and a portion of the thermal-conductive layer is exposed by the openings of the insulation cover.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a semiconductor structure and a method of manufacturing the same. More particularly, the invention relates to a package carrier and a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
A chip package provides a chip with proper signal and heat transmission paths and protects the chip structure. A leadframe often serves as a carrier of the chip when a conventional wire bonding technique is applied. As contact density in the chip gradually increases, the leadframe is no longer able to further improve the contact density and thus can be replaced by a package substrate which can achieve favorable contact density. Besides, the chip is packaged onto the package substrate by conductive media, such as metal conductive wires or bumps.
In the most common light emitting diode (LED) package structure, an LED chip need be packaged before the LED chip is used, and the LED chip generates a significant amount of heat when emitting light. Given that the heat cannot be dissipated and continues to accumulate in the LED package structure, the temperature of the LED package structure is increasingly raised. As such, the overly heated LED chip may have luminance decay, shortened life span, or even permanent damages. Therefore, heat sinks are usually configured in the existing LED package structure, so as to dissipate heat of the LED chip.
The conventional package substrate is comprised of a plurality of patterned conductive layers and at least one insulation layer. The insulation layer is configured between two adjacent patterned conductive layers for electrical insulation. A heat sink is fixed onto a bottom surface of the package substrate through an adhesive layer. In most cases, the LED chip is electrically connected to the package substrate, and heat generated by the LED chip can be conducted from the patterned conductive layers and the insulation layer to the heat sink. Since the thermal conductivity of the adhesive layer and the insulation layer is unfavorable, thermal resistance increases when the heat generated by the LED chip is conducted to the heat sink through the insulation layer and the adhesive layer, which leads to unsatisfactory heat dissipation. Hence, how to dissipate the heat generated by the LED chip to the external surroundings in an efficient manner has become a focus to researchers and designers in this field.

Method of manufacturing a package carrier


A fastening device is provided for cooling the light source in a backlight module. The fastening device includes a frame for clipping the edge of a light source and a cooling unit disposed between the frame and the light source. The cooling unit is not only utilized for cooling, it also utilized for preventing the oscillation that affects the emitting efficiency and the operating stability of the light source.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fastening device, and more particularly to a fastening device including a cooling unit made of an elastic material with a high thermal conductivity, wherein the fastening device is used for a backlight module.
2. Description of Related Art
The development of the digital technology affects the work and the life of people living in the 21 century. One kind of digital technology instrument, i.e. liquid crystal display equipment, is popularly applied to the daily life. The liquid-crystal panels of the liquid crystal display industry can be applied to notebook computers, liquid-crystal monitors, portable consumable image products, music products, cell phones and liquid-crystal televisions.
A backlight module of an LCD device is a common structure for providing the uniform light. The backlight module has many advantages of, e.g. a stable emitting efficiency and a long operational life. However, most of the light sources of the backlight modules are made of glass and produce a lot of heat while the light source is operated. The operated light source has to be cooled for maintaining the stability of the emitting efficiency and the operational life.
Referring to FIG. 1A, which illustrates a vertical view of a conventional bottom-lighting LCD device 10. A light source 101 and other optical elements (not shown) such as a diffusing plate, a reflecting plate, and a polarizing plate are assembled within the case 111 of the LCD device 10. And the edge of the light source 101 is clipped by an upper frame 103 (or is called "front frame") and a lower frame 105 (or is called "back frame") to ensure that the light will emit along a designed direction, such as the direction indicated by the arrows in FIG. 1A. Besides, in order to cool the heat produced by the light source 101, a cavity 107 are formed to allow the air circulating through the cavity 107.
However, cooling the light source 101 by providing the cavity 107 between the upper frame 103, the lower frame 105 and the light source 101 is not effectively. Furthermore, the quality of the LCD device is affected because the dust may drop in the cavity 107 and interfere the light emitting from the light source 101.
Another conventional LCD device is shown in FIG. 1B. Elastic element such as resin (not shown) or a slice of rubber 109 is provided and stuffed between the frame 103 and the light source 101 to ensure that the light will emit along a designed direction, such as the direction indicated by the arrows in FIG. 1B and to absorb the oscillation arising from external force.
However, the rubber 109 does not have a high thermal conductivity. The quality and the operational life of the light source 101 is decreased because there is not enough space for cooling.
Thus it is necessary to develop a fastening device to overcome the disadvantage of the prior art for radiating the heat from the light source more effectively, and preventing the oscillation that affects the operating stability of the light source, the quality of the light, and the operational life of the light source.


A protocol gateway for setting up multimedia sessions between a first terminal, using a first protocol (for example H.323), and a second terminal, using a second protocol, said first protocol requiring the determination of a master, which protocol gateway is characterized in that it has available to it means for forcing said first terminal to assume the role of master.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to telecommunication networks, and more specifically, it concerns the management of multimedia sessions set up on top of a data network. This data network may be compliant with the TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) family of protocols, and it may in particular be the Internet.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hereinafter, "multimedia session" refers to the transmission of data between two or more terminals involving several media types, in particular, most often voice and/or video. These multimedia sessions are commonly called VoIP for Voice over IP (Internet Protocol).
Prior to setting up the actual multimedia session, the terminals involved must exchange information in order to, in particular, set certain parameters of the multimedia session.
These parameters relate, for example, to characteristics of the medium (voice encoding format, video format, etc.). These characteristics may be determined according to the capabilities of the terminals participating in the multimedia session.
This setup phase of the multimedia session takes place in accordance with a particular protocol.
However, these protocols are quite varied. In particular, mention may be made of the H.323 protocol defined by the ITU-T (International Telecommunication Union Telecommunication Standardization Sector) and the SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) defined by RFC 2543 (Request For Comments) of the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force).
With the aim, in particular, of hiding these differences and enabling terminals using different protocols to coexist, as is known from the prior art, protocol gateways can be placed between the various terminals.
Typically, these protocol gateways form part of call centers or controllers.
FIG. 1 schematically illustrates an example of setting up a multimedia session between two telecommunication terminals.
Terminal TA is the initiator of the multimedia session. It therefore initiates a multimedia session setup negotiation mA with the call center CC that has a protocol gateway. This multimedia session setup negotiation contains, in particular, information on the media characteristics which terminal TA can handle (video format, voice encoding type, etc.) and is compliant with the H.323 protocol.
The call center CC then negotiates with the recipient of the multimedia session, that is terminal TB, by exchanging messages mB according to the SIP protocol, and then it sets up the multimedia session MS between the two terminals TA and TB.
If necessary, if the two terminals cannot agree upon media characteristics to communicate (for example, they do not support any common video encoding format), the call center may set up the multimedia session using a media gateway.
However, there is a problem if one of the two terminals uses the H.323 protocol and the other terminal (or the other terminals in the case of a multimedia session between more than two participants) uses a protocol other than H.323 (for example, the SIP protocol).
This is because the H.323 protocol includes a phase to determine a "master" terminal and a "slave" terminal. The protocol assumes that each terminal can take on either role. The determination depends on a classification, established beforehand, of various types of terminal: the most powerful terminal takes on the role of "master" and for equal power, an arbitrary choice is made to determine which of the two terminals will assume the role of master.
This role of master is taken into account in the event of conflicts or problems. It involves a significant degree of complexity in the terminal implementing it.
In the case in which a multimedia session is set up via a protocol gateway and in which only one terminal uses the H.323 protocol, a problem arises since the phase for determining the "master" and "slave" roles can take place only between the terminal using the H.323 protocol and the protocol gateway.
Referring again to the example of FIG. 1, this means that the determination of the "master" and "slave" roles must take place between terminal TA and the call center CC containing the protocol gateway.
In accordance with the H.323 protocol, this mechanism therefore assumes that the protocol gateway can take on the role of "master". The gateway must therefore support all the protocol and software mechanisms inherent to this function.
Since these mechanisms are complex, this type of solution involves an increase in processing resources required to enable the protocol gateway to function (memory resources, CPU (Central Processing Unit), etc.).
Moreover, since this protocol gateway is typically included in a call center, this use of resources can be to the detriment of other functions in the call center.
Furthermore, the architecture of Internet type data networks involves, generally, minimizing the processing resources required within the network, since the lifetime of the hardware within the network is assumed to be greater than that of the terminals and any increase in resources required and any update is expensive and to be avoided.
Thus, in Internet type networks, a large part of the intelligence is transferred to the terminals.
The result of this is that the increase in complexity of the protocol gateway is a major drawback.

Protocol gateway between an H.323 terminal and another terminal, without master role implementation