The present invention provides a computer system with an interruption resistance which construction costs are greatly reduced by eliminating lock-run-out sequence when restarting is performed. In a computer system with an interruption resistance, comprising a check point restart function, special process for taking check points are respectively provided for processors included in the computer system. When taking a check point, the special process for taking check points is brought into an ready state by a wake-up portion. After the special process for taking check points takes a check point, the special process for taking check points is brought into a sleep state again. In this manner, check points are not taken when executing an arbitrary process, and therefore, lock-run-out can be eliminated when restarting is performed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a computer system having a check-point and restart function, and more particularly, to a computer system making it unnecessary to perform lock-run-out sequence at restart time since special process for taking check points is provided therein, and which can therefore be constructed at low cost.
The invention also relates to a computer system which comprises a multi-processor system having a check-point and restart function and in which, even if some of the processors incorporated in the multi-processor system fail to operate, the remaining possessors can operate continuously.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional computer system will be described, which is proceeding process while taking check points in a normally state and which is restarted from the last check point taken before a failure takes place, thereby to eliminate the failure.
In this computer system, process is executed while taking check points of the system during normal operation. Further, in the case where a failure or the like occurs, the system is returned to a point from a last check point taken.
These check points are taken in the following cases:
(1) where taking of a check point is clearly instructed in a code. PA1 (2) where a predetermined time period has passed after the last check point is taken. PA1 (3) where an event (interruption) occurs which demands taking of a check point.
The conditions as described above can occur at an arbitrary time point while executing a program. Conventionally, at the time when any of these conditions occurs, i.e., at an arbitrary time during execution of a program, the check points are taken.
FIG. 1 shows a state in which check-point processing is performed on a way while a processor executes normal processing. At time t1, in the interruption processing ((1) in FIG. 1) accompanying occurrence of an event which will demand taking of a check point during programs, check point processing ((2) in FIG. 1) is performed.
At time t2, the check point processing (i.e., (4) in FIG. 1) is performed during the timer interrupting process (i.e., (3) in FIG. 1) which is started upon a lapse of a predetermined time after the last check point has been taken. That is, the check points are taken during an arbitrary process.
FIG. 2 shows a state in which a failure occurs on the way of proceeding process while taking check points, and the process is re-executed from the last check point. If a failure occurs after check points are taken at the time t1 and time t2 ((1) in FIG. 2), the process is executed again from the check point (t2) taken last ((2) in FIG. 2).
In general cases, however, process normally includes "a processing portion to be treated as a certain set of units" in consideration of returning where a failure occurs. One of such processing portion is known as a "lock-run-out region".
The lock-run-out region means a block which must "run out" in failure recovery processing before the process recovers a regular condition in case where the system is started again from a check point taken during the region, although a check point can be taken therein. This is the block in which spin-lock is taken.
Process which is acquiring spin-locks cannot be preempted. When taking this spin-lock, attention must be paid such that no dead lock occurs. Normally, the system is designed, for convenience, such that a leveled lock class is added to each spin lock, and such that in the case where another spin lock is taken in a situation in which a spin lock has already been taken, only spin locks of those lock classes which are much lower than the lowest level among the levels of the lock classes of the spin lock which is presently taken. By controlling the acquisition of spin locks in this manner, the order of taking locks in each processor is guaranteed.
For example, in case where the levels of the lock classes are set as shown in FIG. 3, where "process A" and "process D" accompanied by lock operations are executed at the same time, and where both of the locks must be acquired overlapped at the same time, each processor must follows the order that a lock (level L5) of the "process D" is acquired, at first, and a lock of the "process A" is then taken.
The reason why it is necessary to make locks run out will now be explained with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5.
FIG. 4 shows an example in which a dead lock occurs since lock-run-out is not executed.
Here, it is assumed that a check point is taken in the situation that a process T0 and a process T1 are respectively executed in processors (0) and (1) and that the process T0 takes spin lock L5 and L3 while the process T1 takes the spin lock L4.
Further, consideration will be taken into a case in which a permanent failure thereafter occurs in a processor (0). In this case, the processor (1) is the only one processor which regularly operates, and therefore, the processes T0 and T1 must be executed by the processor (1). The spin locks which are currently acquired by the processes T0 and T1 can be recognized. However, it is not possible to predict how the processes T0 and T1 will then behave, i.e., how these processes will then acquire spin locks.
It is then supposed that recovery is executed and the process T0 which currently acquires a spin lock of a lower level is dispatched to the processor (1). Further, it is supposed that this process T0 releases the spin lock L3 which has already been acquired, and thereafter, is going to newly acquire a spin lock L4. However, since this spin lock L4 has already been acquired by the process T1 which had been executed before a failure occurred, the process T0 cannot acquire this spin lock eternally. Consequently, a dead lock occurs. This problem arises because the order of acquiring spin locks which has been guaranteed by each processor is broken since one processor is broken although the order of taking spin locks has been guaranteed by each processor.
A run-out function of a lock has been known as a method for solving this problem. This function operates to release all the spin locks acquired when a check point is taken before returning from the check point, and to bring all the processes into a condition not depending on any particular processor. This function operates in the following procedure.
(1) The one process is selected which has a spin lock of which level is lowest among levels of those spin locks which have been acquired, when taking a check point.
(2) A processor is assumed as the processor which has been carrying out the selected process, and the process is executed until the spin lock of this process is released.
(3) In the processing of releasing the spin lock, whether or not the process acquiring the spin lock still exists is investigated.
(4) If exists, the processing is repeated from the respect (1). If not, the processing of the lock-run-out is terminated.
Specifically, if spin locks are acquired as shown in FIG. 5A, the process T0 is selected at first (since the level of L3 is the lowest), and the process T0 is executed until the spin lock L3 is released.
In the next, the process T1 is selected which acquires L4 of which level is lowest (a s shown in FIG. 5B), and further, the process T0 is selected which acquires L5, after the releasing of the process T1 (as shown in FIG. 5C), thereby completing the lock-run-out. After the lock-run-out is completed, the system executes restarting.
In order to realize the lock-run-out processing executed in this procedure, the processing of releasing the spin-lock must be arranged so as to call a special dispatch mechanism during the lock-run-out processing.
Thus, in a conventional method of taking a check point, a processing portion such as a lock-run-out region is extracted in a software (OS: operating system), and the special dispatch mechanism as described above must be equipped in order to protect a "set of units" as also described above.
Therefore, if the manufacturing cost of the computer system unavoidably increases, the software installation will be limited.

Computer system having a checkpoint and restart function


A method and system for sending a voice message in a wireless communication network. A mobile station may encode an audio speech signal into a voice mail message and send the voice mail message through a wireless network to a voice mail server. An entity of the wireless network may first receive the message and determine if an intended recipient is another mobile station. If so, the entity may simply forward to voice mail message on to the voice mail server. If not, the entity may transcode the voice mail message into another format and then send the formatted voice mail message to the voice mail server, which stores the voice mail message for later delivery to the intended recipient.

In a typical wireless communication network, a subscriber may be authorized to use many different types of services. For instance, a subscriber may subscribe to a call forwarding or a text messaging service. Each of these services may provide specific features to a subscriber that may depend on the type of wireless device that the subscriber uses. For example, a user of a wireless cellular telephone may receive a text message as a short abbreviated sentence. And the same text message may be presented to a user of a wireless computing device as a full complete sentence.
Similar to text messaging, a subscriber may also subscribe to a voice mail message service. A voice mail message service allows a caller to leave a voice message for a callee. The voice message is typically referred to as a "voice mail message," since the voice message may be conceptually delivered to the callee similar to mail. The caller may record a voice message, which may then be stored within an entity of the wireless communication network, such as a voice mail server. And the callee may then access the voice message remotely by connecting to the voice mail server and listening to the voice message.
Unfortunately, however, when the caller sends the voice mail message to the server, and also when the callee retrieves the message from the server, the voice mail message is encoded several times to accommodate a desired format for transmission. These various encodings of the voice mail message while transferring the voice mail message from the caller to the voice mail server and from the voice mail server to a receiving mobile station introduce distortion into the speech signal of the voice mail message.

Method and system of sending a voice message in a wireless communication network


A circuit for compensating for a vertical distortion of images by modes includes: a compensation position regulator for regulating a pulse width of a horizontal output signal by varying an integration value of an output pulse width of a horizontal output circuit, for adjusting an output position of the horizontal output signal; a compensation size regulator for selectively amplifying the horizontal output signal voltage whose output position has been regulated by the compensation position regulator, for adjusting the voltage amplitude of the horizontal output signal; and a modulation circuit including a primary circuit for receiving the horizontal output signal whose output position and size are regulated by the compensation position regulator and the compensation size regulator, and a secondary circuit for receiving a vertical output signal having a period variable by modes through one terminal thereof, the modulation circuit modulating the vertical output signal selected by modes with the horizontal output signal to a vertical deflection coil connected to another terminal of the secondary circuit and outputting he modulated vertical output signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a circuit for compensating for a vertical distortion of images by modes in a display and, more particularly, to a circuit for compensating for a vertical distortion of images by modes, by varying the pulse width of a horizontal output signal to regulate the compensation position, selectively amplifying the voltage of the position-compensated signal to adjust the compensation size, modulating a vertical output signal varied by modes with the compensated horizontal output signal by using an E-I transformer, and applying the modulated vertical output signal to a vertical deflection coil.
2. Discussion of Related Art
In a monitor used as a display in a computer system, a computer includes a central processing unit (CPU) for processing a received keyboard signal and a video card for processing the output signal of the computer into picture signals R, G and B and for generating horizontal and vertical synchronizing signals H-Sync and V-Sync for processing.
The picture signals and the horizontal and vertical synchronizing signals are transferred to a monitor through a picture signal cable. A microcomputer receives the horizontal and vertical synchronizing signals through the picture signal cable to generate a control signal such as an image adjusting signal and a reference oscillation signal. A control button section generates screen control signals to operate the microcomputer. When a user selects an input signal, the control button section transmits the input signal to the microcomputer. A horizontal/vertical synchronizing output circuit receives the image adjusting signal and the reference oscillation signal generated by the microcomputer to synchronize a raster. A video circuit amplifies the picture signals transferred from the video card. A power supply circuit provides power to the microcomputer, the horizontal/vertical synchronizing output circuit and the video circuit.
The display CRT, connected to the video circuit, has electron guns for projecting the electron beams on a screen. As the electron beams are projected horizontally on the screen, an image is formed according to the concentration of the beams. Since the electric field formed by a deflection yoke deflects the electron beams, external factors affecting the electric field can change the deflection angle of the electron beams. The image displayed on the screen may be distorted by internal or external factors. The image may be formed horizontally or vertically in an unsymmetrical way when the electron beams are abnormally projected by the resistance of the image receiver itself as well as an image rotation effect caused by an external magnetic field. An unbalanced image can also be formed by an excessive current applied to the deflection yoke.
One distortion, called a side pin cushion, can be solved by varying the horizontal deflection output voltage and controlling the horizontal width with a pin cushion compensator. The vertical circuit transfers a sawtooth voltage to an integrating circuit and converts it into a parabolic voltage. The pin cushion compensator modulates the parabolic voltage supplied to the horizontal output circuit to adjust the compensation size and position.
The image can be vertically distorted by the generation of the parabolic waveform from the sawtooth oscillation output signal according to the charging and discharging time constant of an RC combination or by the non-linear characteristics of a transistor. Though applying a non-linear current may compensate for the vertical distortion of images, it is unfortunately not applicable to the earlier systems.

Circuit for compensating for vertical distortion of image by modes in display


An improved support apparatus such as a suspension apparatus for a vehicle is disclosed which has excellent response characteristics, can save power consumption and has excellent vibration-isolating capacity for isolating the transmission of high-frequency vibrations from a support member such as a road wheel to an object such as the body of a vehicle. To these end, in one embodiment, a linear motor is disposed between the object and the support member for telescopically supporting the object under magnetic effects. A position sensor senses the position of the object relative to a reference position. A low-pass filter filters high-frequency components of the output signal of the position sensor above a prescribed upper frequency limit. Based on the output signals of the position sensor and the low-pass filter, the current supply to the linear motor is controlled in such a manner as to offset a change in the output signal of the low-pass filter. In another embodiment, an elastic member is further disposed between the object and the support member in parallel with the linear motor for elastically supporting the object on the support member. A high-pass filter filters low-frequency components of the output signal of the position sensor below a prescribed lower frequency limit. Based on the output signal of the high-pass filter, a correction is calculated for offsetting a change in the operating force of the elastic member. The current supply to the linear motor is controlled based on a change in the output signal of the low-pass filter and the correction thus calculated.

The present invention relates to a support apparatus as a suspension apparatus for an internal combustion engine and the like for dampingly supporting an object on a support member. More particularly, it relates to such a support apparatus which has an improved vibration-absorbing characteristic in which transmission of high-frequency vibrations from the support member to the object can be effectively absorbed.
A typical example of a conventional support or suspension apparatus for a vehicle is shown in FIG. 8. In this FIG., the body 1 of a vehicle displaceably supports four axle shafts 2 (only one is illustrated), and a road wheel 3, being rotatable on the ground or the road, is fixedly mounted on a corresponding axle shaft 2. Each road wheel 3, acting as a support member, supports the vehicle body 1, acting as an object to be supported, through a support apparatus in the form of a well-known suspension apparatus S. The suspension apparatus S illustrated includes a shock absorber 5 such as an oil damper connected between the vehicle body 1 and the axle shaft 2 for absorbing and suppressing vibrations of the vehicle body 1, and a coiled spring 6 disposed under compression between a slidable member and a fixed member of the shock absorber 5.
The operation of the above conventional suspension apparatus S will now be described with reference to FIG. 9 which illustrates the vibration response characteristic of the vehicle body 1.
If the road surface 4, on which the vehicle is travelling, is irregular, the road wheel 3 is caused to move up and down, thus generating vibrations in the vertical direction. The vibrations of the road wheel 3 are transmitted to the vehicle body 1 through the suspension apparatus S, i.e., through the shock absorber 5 and the coiled spring 6. In this case, the vibration response characteristic of the vehicle body 1 in relation to the vibration frequency f due to the road surface irregularities is shown in FIG. 9.
In FIG. 9, the ordinate represents the ratio of the vibration amplitude of the vehicle body 1 to the magnitude or height of the road surface irregularities, and the abscissa represents the vibration frequency f of the road wheel 3. Also, the broken line, the solid line and the chain-dotted line represent different characteristic curves which are obtained by changing the damping force of the shock absorber 5 into a low, a medium and a high level, respectively. In addition, f.sub.1, f.sub.2 and A indicate the resonance frequency of the sprung portion or the vehicle body 1, the resonance frequency of the unsprung portion or the road wheel 3, and the discomfortable range of the vibration frequency in which the driver or passenger of the vehicle feels discomfort, respectively.
From FIG. 9, the following facts are shown.
(I) When the damping force of the shock absorber 5 is low or small, the vibration response of the vehicle body 1 (i.e., vibration of the vehicle body 1 responsive to that of the road wheel 3) is low in the discomfortable range A, but the amplitude of vibration of the vehicle body 1 at the resonance frequency f.sub.1 is great, as shown by the broken line. As a result, if the road wheel 3 rides on a projection or the like on the road, the resultant vibrations of the vehicle body 1, which ordinarily have vibration frequencies near the resonance frequency f.sub.1, are not attenuated or converged by the shock absorber 5 in a short time, so the attitude of the vehicle body 1 remains unstable for a relatively longer period of time, impairing the riding comfort. PA0 (II) When the damping force of the shock absorber 5 is great, there is substantially no resonance point in the vibration frequency so that the attenuation or convergence of vibrations of the vehicle body 1 in the relatively low frequency range is materially improved. In this case, however, the vibration response of the vehicle body 1 in the discomfortable range A increases, thus resulting in decreased riding comfort. PA0 1) The damping force is set to a high level if the vibration frequency f is less than the discomfortable range A (f<A). PA0 2) The damping force is set to a low level if the vibration frequency f falls within the discomfortable range A (f=A). PA0 3) The damping force is set to a medium level if the vibration frequency f is greater than the discomfortable range A (f>A).
Accordingly, in view of the riding comfort and the running stability of the vehicle, a compromise is made so that the damping force of the shock absorber 5 is set to be at a medium level between the small and the large level (I) and (II), as shown by the solid line in FIG. 9.
Next, the strength of the coiled spring 6 is considered. For example, a pitching moment will be applied to the vehicle body 1 as when the vehicle is braked, decelerated, or accelerated, and a rolling moment will be applied to the vehicle body 1 as when the vehicle is steered to turn. On these occasions, in order to maintain the attitude of the vehicle body 1 unchanged or at level against such a pitching and/or rolling moment, it is necessary to stiffen the coiled spring 6, i.e., to increase its spring constant k. However, as the spring constant k becomes greater, the resonance frequency f.sub.1 of the vehicle body 1 approaches the discomfort range A, thus impairing the riding comfort.
Consequently, for the purpose of coping with the above-described problem of reduced riding comfort, it is considered that the spring constant k of the coiled spring 6 be decreased and at the same time the damping force of the shock absorber 5 be set in such a manner as to change along the lowermost line in FIG. 9, i.e., to satisfy the following conditions:
It is, however, extremely difficult to change the damping force of the hydraulic shock absorber 5 such as an oil damper in the above manner depending upon the vibration frequency f because of the hydraulic nature thereof.
Furthermore, in order to decrease the strength of the coiled spring 6, some countermeasure must be taken for stabilizing the attitude of the vehicle body 1. To this end, for example, the coiled spring 6 may be replaced by a known pneumatic spring or the like, the spring constant k of which can be changed by controlling the quantity and/or flow of gas such as air filled therein. In this case, however, the response of the pneumatic spring is poor.
Moreover, it is considered that the shock absorber 5 is replaced by a hydraulic actuator, and that the thrust or operating force of the hydraulic actuator is controlled such that the cushioning force of the coiled spring 6 acting against the high-frequency vibrations of the unsprung portion or the road wheel 3 is offset by the hydraulic actuator while maintaining the height or attitude of the vehicle at a constant target level. In this case, however, a hydraulic actuator is generally superior in response to a pneumatic actuator, but a hydraulic fluid employed therewith is non-compressible, so there is the drawback that high-frequency vibrations of the road wheel 3 tend to be directly transmitted through the hydraulic actuator to the vehicle body 1.
Thus, the above-described conventional suspension apparatues generally have the problem that the vibration-absorbing capacity is relatively low, so vehicles equipped with such suspension apparatuses are poor in riding comfort.


A collapsible trailer including a base, a shell hingedly secured to said base, wherein said shell engages with said base to form a sealed vessel when said trailer is in a closed position, a rear wall hingedly secured to said base, wherein said rear wall is entirely contained within said shell and said base when said trailer is in said closed position, a rear deck hingedly secured to said base, wherein said deck is entirely contained within said shell and said base when said trailer is in said closed position, a coupling means secured between said rear wall and said rear deck for transferring forces between said rear deck and said rear wall, and wherein said rear wall, said shell, and said base generally define a first room when said trailer is in said open position.

Collapsible trailers are known in the art. Such trailers are desired because they can be compactly closed for storage or transport, and opened to increase the volume of the trailer. However, most collapsible trailers, even smaller models, are not easy to open or to keep open. Clearly, trailers suited to be a living space, such as for camping or the like, must be larger and heavier, and are therefore even more difficult to open, keep open, and to close. Thus, it becomes increasingly essential for large trailers to be designed to be easy to open, keep open, and close. Traditional collapsible trailers take several minutes to open, may require more than one person or complex mechanical components to open, and require latches, locks, or other securing mechanisms in order to keep the trailers open. Mainly for these reasons, collapsible trailers known in the art each comprise only a single room, as it becomes increasingly difficult to create a trailer large enough to include two rooms, which is still able to be opened and collapsed by users.
Thus, there is a need for a collapsible trailer that can be used as a living space while camping, for example, which is quick and easy to open, and includes a plurality of separate rooms.


An article of manufacture is provided where the article of manufacture comprises a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means therein. The computer readable program code means causes a computer to receive information, establish a molding profile based on the information, operate a molding machine to mold an article according to the molding profile, receive additional information corresponding to detected irregularities on the molded article, establish a modified molding profile based on the additional information received, and operate the molding machine to mold an additional article according to the modified molding profile. The additional information received by the computer which corresponds to detected irregularities on the molded article may be provided by a human operator, by a second computer, or by any other means.

The present invention relates generally to computer programs and methods of molding an article, and more specifically to computer readable program code which causes a computer to establish a modified molding profile based on information which corresponds to detected irregularities on a molded article, and to a method of molding an article where the method includes providing computer readable program code which causes a computer to establish a modified molding profile based on information which corresponds to detected irregularities on the molded article.
Typically, within an automated molding process, a computer is communicatingly connected to a molding machine having a mold unit which has a male mold section and a female mold section. When the male mold section and the female mold section come together, they form a mold cavity in which a plastic material is injected in order to mold an article. A computer program is typically run on the computer, and the computer program allows a human operator to set certain molding profile parameters. The parameters influence whether an article is molded perfectly by the molding machine. Among the parameters which the human operator typically sets via the computer are: the amount of plastic material to be injected, a plasticize profile, a backpressure profile, an inject profile, a valve gating profile, a valve gating temperature, and a mold temperature. If these parameters are optimally set by the human operator, the molding machine will perfectly mold an article. If the parameters are not optimally set by the human operator, it is possible that the molding machine will mold an article which is irregular. Common irregularities on a molded article include "voids" (locations on the molded article where the injected plastic never reached) and "flashes" (locations on the molded article where injected plastic material seeped out of the mold cavity because the mold sections of the mold unit moved slightly away from each other during molding). Because it is undesirable to mold an article which has irregularities, it is important that the human operator optimally set the parameters. However, usually an article is not molded perfectly on the first attempt. Therefore, generally the human operator will examine the irregular article and decide how to modify the parameters on a subsequent attempt to mold the article. Because there are so many parameters to set, frequently the human operator will have to attempt molding the article many times before the article is molded perfectly. Presumably, the more experienced the human operator, the less attempts the human operator needs to mold an article perfectly. This is because an experienced human operator knows, after examining an irregular article, what adjustments to make to the parameters so that the article will be molded perfectly on the subsequent attempt. In contrast, a more inexperienced human operator will typically need more attempts to mold an article perfectly. Therefore, it has been costly to have an inexperienced human operator set the parameters when molding an article.
The difficulties discussed hereinabove are substantially eliminated by the present invention.

Article of manufacture having computer readable program code for molding an article and method of molding an article by providing computer readable program code


After a power source is turned on, the motor stars by feeding a current to the auxiliary wiring for a first predetermined period. Then, a voltage induced in the auxiliary wiring is detected. Whether or not the detected inducted voltage is lower than a predetermined voltage is judged. The detected induced voltage is judged to be lower than the predetermined voltage when the shredder cannot cut the paper and the rotation speed of the motor is decreased. In this case, since the current is fed to the auxiliary wiring for a second predetermined period, the rotation speed of the motor is increased and an output torque is also increased, which leads to the cuttable state.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and a control circuit for controlling a drive of a phase splitting start single-phase induction motor. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and a control circuit for controlling a drive of a phase splitting start single-phase induction motor used in a shredder.
2. Description of Related Art
Sometimes, there is a shredder that uses a phase splitting start single-phase induction motor having a mechanical governor switch, as a driving source for a cutting mechanism. In such a shredder, at a time of a start, a current flows into a main wiring of the motor, and a current flows through a mechanical governor switch, which is on, even into an auxiliary wiring. Then, when a rotation speed of the motor is increased to a predetermined speed, the mechanical governor switch is turned off. As this result, since the current of the auxiliary wiring is shut off, the motor is then rotated only by the current flowing into the main wiring, and the cutting mechanism is driven.
FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B are timing charts showing the rotation speed of the motor when the conventional phase splitting start single-phase induction motor having the mechanical governor switch is used in the shredder (FIG. 1A) and the on/off state of the mechanical governor switch (FIG. 1B).
In the above mentioned conventional shredder, when a paper whose quantity exceeds the performance of the cutting mechanism is supplied while the paper is cut, the paper cannot be cut. In this case, as shown in FIG. 1A, the rotation speed of the motor is decreased. Then, when the rotation speed of the motor is decreased to a predetermined switching speed (at a point C) to be fed the current to the auxiliary wiring, the mechanical governor switch is again turned on, and the current again flows into the auxiliary wiring. Thus, the rotation speed of the motor is increased, and an output torque is also made larger (shown by a curve D between the point C and a point A), which enables the paper to be again cut.
Then, when the rotation speed of the motor is gradually increased and reaches the above mentioned switching speed (at the point A), the mechanical governor switch is again turned off. In this way, when the mechanical governor switch is again turned off, the output torque of the motor begins to be short (shown by a curve B between the point A and the point C). As this result, the paper again cannot be cut. In this case, the rotation speed of the motor is again decreased to the switching speed (at the point C). Hence, the mechanical governor switch is again turned on.
The conventional shredder has a problem of an occurrence of a chattering phenomenon where as mentioned above, the mechanical governor switch repeats the on/off state, as shown in FIG. 1B.
Also, when the chattering phenomenon is generated in the mechanical governor switch, the output torque of the motor is rippled. As this result, impact force is repeatedly applied to a cutter of the shredder. Thus, there is a problem that the cutter is deformed and a blade is spilled.
Also, in the above-mentioned situation, the mechanical governor switch repeatedly turns on and off the large load current flowing into the motor in the overload state. Thus, when contacts of the mechanical governor switch are opened (it is turned off), electric spark is generated between the contacts. This fact brings about a problem of parts life that the contact life of the mechanical governor switch is made shorter. Moreover, inside the shredder, there is a safety problem that the generation of paper dust causes the possibility of fire.
Also, there is a problem that the outer shape of the phase splitting start single-phase induction motor becomes larger when the mechanical governor switch is installed.
It is noted that the mechanical governor switch can be adjusted so as to determine the timing when the current flowing into the auxiliary wiring is shut off, in accordance with the rotation speed of the motor. However, in the case that the current again flows into the auxiliary wiring at the time of the overload, it is very difficult to adjust to the proper rotation speed so that the contacts of the mechanical governor switch are not chattered.
In view of the above-mentioned problems, instead of the mechanical governor switch, the use of a switching circuit of a non-contact type has been variously proposed as described below.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.59-28889 (1984) discloses a start control apparatus of a single-phase induction motor for cutting off an auxiliary wiring when a voltage induced in a main wiring becomes higher than that in an auxiliary wiring.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.2000-32786 discloses a starter for a single-phase induction motor for cutting off an auxiliary wiring based on an electromotive force induced in an auxiliary wiring.
Japanese Patent No. 2948902 discloses an electronic circuit for starting a single-phase induction motor which cuts off an auxiliary wiring at a predetermined time after a start.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-151625 discloses a governor switch for cutting off an auxiliary wiring based on a motor rotation speed.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 64-43081 (1989) discloses a motor start control circuit which carries out an acceleration or restart, by feeding a current into an auxiliary wiring, in a case of an overload state.
However, the above-mentioned problem that the contacts of the mechanical governor switch are chattered cannot be said to be solved by any of the conventional techniques.

Method and control circuit for controlling phase splitting start single-phase induction motor


A method of manufacturing a silicon carbide semiconductor device having a MOS structure includes preparing a substrate made of silicon carbide, and forming a channel region, a first impurity region, a second impurity region, a gate insulation layer, and a gate electrode to form a semiconductor element on the substrate. In addition, a film is formed on the semiconductor element to provide a material of an interlayer insulation layer, and a reflow process is performed at a temperature about 700° C. or over in an wet atmosphere so that the interlayer insulation layer is formed from the film and an edge portion of the gate electrode is rounded and oxidized.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a silicon carbide semiconductor device.
2. Description of the Related Art
US 2003/0013266 A (corresponding to JP 2003-69012 A) discloses a silicon carbide (SiC) semiconductor device, in which a face A having a (11-20) crystal face orientation is used as a channel. The SiC semiconductor device has a MOS (metal-oxide semiconductor) structure, and a channel mobility is improved by hydrogen anneal or being treated in a wet atmosphere that includes both of a hydrogen (H) atom and an oxygen (O) atom. Specifically, the channel mobility is improved by controlling a concentration or a temperature of the hydrogen anneal or the wet atmosphere.
However, further channel mobility is required for the SiC semiconductor device. US 2007/0045631 A (corresponding to JP 2007-96263 A) by the inventors of the present application discloses that a termination/desorption temperature is determined based on the wet atmosphere or a hydrogen atmosphere. The termination/desorption temperature is a temperature at which a dangling bond between SiC and a gate oxide layer is terminated by an element of hydrogen (H) or hydroxyl (OH), i.e., a temperature at which H or OH desorbs. Specifically, the desorption of H or OH mainly occurs at a temperature about in a range between 800° C. and 900° C., and the termination of the dangling bond by H or OH also occurs in the same temperature range. Therefore, the termination/desorption temperature is about in the range between 800° C. and 900° C. Thus, it is required for keeping the wet atmosphere or the hydrogen atmosphere until the temperature decreases at about 800° C. or lower, preferably at about 700° C. or lower, to terminate the dangling bond by H or OH.
Thus, in a manufacturing method of a SiC semiconductor device having a MOS structure disclosed in US 2007/0045631 A, when a heating process is performed at a temperature over about 800° C. (preferably over about 700° C.) after the gate oxide layer is formed, the heating process is performed in the wet atmosphere or the hydrogen atmosphere. For example, the heating process performed at a temperature over about 800° C. may include a round-off oxidation process for rounding a edge portion of a gate electrode so that an electric field is restricted from concentrating, a first reflow process for forming an interlayer insulation layer after a BPSG (boron phosphorus silicon glass) film is formed, and a second reflow process for rounding an edge portion of a contact hole provided in the interlayer insulation layer so that an electrode member implanted in the contact hole is prevented from cutting off, i.e., a step coverage is improved. Thus, these heating processes are performed in the wet atmosphere or the hydrogen atmosphere.
However, when the heating process is performed in the wet atmosphere, polysilicon that constitutes the gate electrode is oxidized. When an oxidized amount of polysilicon is large, the whole gate electrode may be oxidized and the gate electrode may not function or the gate electrode may not form an ohmic contact with other element.

Method of manufacturing silicon carbide semiconductor device


The present invention provides polynucleotides and polypeptides encoded thereby of human Type 2 RNase H. Methods of using these polynucleotides and polypeptides in enhancing antisense oligonucleotide therapies are also provided.

RNase H hydrolyzes RNA in RNA-DNA hybrids. This enzyme was first identified in calf thymus but has subsequently been described in a variety of organisms (Stein, H. and Hausen, P., Science, 1969, 166, 393-395; Hausen, P. and Stein, H., Eur. J. Biochem., 1970, 14, 278-283). RNase H activity appears to be ubiquitous in eukaryotes and bacteria (Itaya, M. and Kondo K. Nucleic Acids Res., 1991, 19, 4443-4449; Itaya et al., Mol. Gen. Genet., 1991, 227, 438-445; Kanaya, S., and Itaya, M., J. Biol. Chem., 1992, 267, 10184-10192; Busen, W., J. Biol. Chem., 1980, 255, 9434-9443; Rong, Y. W. and Carl, P. L., 1990, Biochemistry 29, 383-389; Eder et al., Biochimie, 1993, 75, 123-126). Although RNase Hs constitute a family of proteins of varying molecular weight, nucleolytic activity and substrate requirements appear to be similar for the various isotypes. For example, all RNase Hs studied to date function as endonucleases, exhibiting limited sequence specificity and requiring divalent cations (e.g., Mg.sup.2+, Mn.sup.2+) to produce cleavage products with 5' phosphate and 3' hydroxyl termini (Crouch, R. J., and Dirksen, M. L., Nuclease, Linn, S, M., & Roberts, R. J., Eds., Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Plainview, N.Y. 1982, 211-241).
In addition to playing a natural role in DNA replication, RNase H has also been shown to be capable of cleaving the RNA component of certain oligonucleotide-RNA duplexes. While many mechanisms have been proposed for oligonucleotide mediated destabilization of target RNAs, the primary mechanism by which antisense oligonucleotides are believed to cause a reduction in target RNA levels is through this RNase H action. Monia et al., J. Biol. Chem., 1993, 266:13, 14514-14522. In vitro assays have demonstrated that oligonucleotides that are not substrates for RNase H can inhibit protein translation (Blake et al., Biochemistry, 1985, 24, 6139-4145) and that oligonucleotides inhibit protein translation in rabbit reticulocyte extracts that exhibit low RNase H activity. However, more efficient inhibition was found in systems that supported RNase H activity (Walder, R. Y. and Walder, J. A., Proc. Nat'l Acad. Sci. USA, 1988, 85, 5011-5015; Gagnor et al., Nucleic Acid Res., 1987, 15, 10419-10436; Cazenave et al., Nucleic Acid Res., 1989, 17, 4255-4273; and Dash et al., Proc. Nat'l Acad. Sci. USA, 1987, 84, 7896-7900.
Oligonucleotides commonly described as "antisense oligonucleotides" comprise nucleotide sequences sufficient in identity and number to effect specific hybridization with a particular nucleic acid. This nucleic acid or the protein(s) it encodes is generally referred to as the "target." Oligonucleotides are generally designed to bind either directly to mRNA transcribed from, or to a selected DNA portion of, a preselected gene target, thereby modulating the amount of protein translated from the mRNA or the amount of mRNA transcribed from the gene, respectively. Antisense oligonucleotides may be used as research tools, diagnostic aids, and therapeutic agents.
"Targeting" an oligonucleotide to the associated nucleic acid, in the context of this invention, also refers to a multistep process which usually begins with the identification of the nucleic acid sequence whose function is to be modulated. This may be, for example, a cellular gene (or mRNA transcribed from the gene) whose expression is associated with a particular disorder or disease state, or a foreign nucleic acid from an infectious agent. The targeting process also includes determination of a site or sites within this gene for the oligonucleotide interaction to occur such that the desired effect, either detection or modulation of expression of the protein, will result.
RNase HI from E. coli is the best-characterized member of the RNase H family. The 3-dimensional structure of E. coli RNase HI has been determined by x-ray crystallography, and the key amino acids involved in binding and catalysis have been identified by site-directed mutagenesis (Nakamura et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 1991, 88, 11535-11539; Katayanagi et al., Nature, 1990, 347, 306-309; Yang et al., Science, 1990, 249, 1398-1405; Kanaya et al., J. Biol. Chem., 1991, 266, 11621-11627). The enzyme has two distinct structural domains. The major domain consists of four .alpha. helices and one large .beta. sheet composed of three antiparallel .alpha. strands. The Mg.sup.2+ binding site is located on the .beta. sheet and consists of three amino acids, Asp-10, Glu-48, and Gly-11 (Katayanagi et al., Proteins: Struct., Funct., Genet., 1993, 17, 337-346). This structural motif of the Mg.sup.2+ binding site surrounded by .beta. strands is similar to that in DNase I (Suck, D., and Oefner, C., Nature, 1986, 321, 620-625). The minor domain is believed to constitute the predominant binding region of the enzyme and is composed of an .alpha. helix terminating with a loop. The loop region is composed of a cluster of positively charged amino acids that are believed to bind electrostatistically to the minor groove of the DNA/RNA heteroduplex substrate. Although the conformation of the RNA/DNA substrate can vary, from A-form to B-form depending on the sequence composition, in general RNA/DNA heteroduplexes adopt an A-like geometry (Pardi et al., Biochemistry, 1981, 20, 3986-3996; Hall, K. B., and Mclaughlin, L. W., Biochemistry, 1991, 30, 10606-10613; Lane et al., Eur. J. Biochem., 1993, 215, 297-306). The entire binding interaction appears to comprise a single helical turn of the substrate duplex. Recently the binding characteristics, substrate requirements, cleavage products and effects of various chemical modifications of the substrates on the kinetic characteristics of E. coli RNase HI have been studied in more detail (Crooke, S. T. et al., Biochem. J., 1995, 312, 599-608; Lima, W. F. and Crooke, S. T., Biochemistry, 1997, 36, 390-398; Lima, W. F. et al., J. Biol. Chem., 1997, 272, 18191-18199; Tidd, D. M. and Worenius, H. M., Br. J. Cancer, 1989, 60, 343; Tidd, D. M. et al., Anti-Cancer Drug Des., 1988, 3, 117.
In addition to RNase HI, a second E. coli RNase H, RNase HII has been cloned and characterized (Itaya, M., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 1990, 87, 8587-8591). It is comprised of 213 amino acids while RNase HI is 155 amino acids long. E. coli RNase HIM displays only 17% homology with E. coli RNase HI. An RNase H cloned from S. typhimurium differed from E. coli RNase HI in only 11 positions and was 155 amino acids in length (Itaya, M. and Kondo K., Nucleic Acids Res., 1991, 19, 4443-4449; Itaya et al., Mol. Gen. Genet., 1991, 227, 438-445). An enzyme cloned from S. cerevisae was 30% homologous to E. coli RNase HI (Itaya, M. and Kondo K., Nucleic Acids Res., 1991, 19, 4443-4449; Itaya et al., Mol. Gen. Genet., 1991, 227, 438-445). Thus, to date, no enzyme cloned from a species other than E. coli has displayed substantial homology to E. coli RNase HII.
Proteins that display RNase H activity have also been cloned and purified from a number of viruses, other bacteria and yeast (Wintersberger, U. Pharmac. Ther., 1990, 48, 259-280). In many cases, proteins with RNase H activity appear to be fusion proteins in which RNase H is fused to the amino or carboxy end of another enzyme, often a DNA or RNA polymerase. The RNase H domain has been consistently found to be highly homologous to E. coli RNase HI, but because the other domains vary substantially, the molecular weights and other characteristics of the fusion proteins vary widely.
In higher eukaryotes two classes of RNase H have been defined based on differences in molecular weight, effects of divalent cations, sensitivity to sulfhydryl agents and immunological cross-reactivity (Busen et al., Eur. J. Biochem., 1977, 74, 203-208). RNase H Type 1 enzymes are reported to have molecular weights in the 68-90 kDa range, be activated by either Mn.sup.2+ or Mg.sup.2+ and be insensitive to sulfhydryl agents. In contrast, RNase H Type 2 enzymes have been reported to have molecular weights ranging from 31-45 kDa, to require Mg.sup.2+ to be highly sensitive to sulfhydryl agents and to be inhibited by Mn.sup.2+ (Busen, W., and Hausen, P., Eur. J. Biochem., 1975, 52, 179-190; Kane, C. M., Biochemistry, 1988, 27, 3187-3196; Busen, W., J. Biol. Chem., 1982, 257, 7106-7108.).
An enzyme with Type 2 RNase H characteristics has been purified to near homogeneity from human placenta (Frank et al., Nucleic Acids Res., 1994, 22, 5247-5254). This protein has a molecular weight of approximately 33 kDa and is active in a pH range of 6.5-10, with a pH optimum of 8.5-9. The enzyme requires Mg.sup.2+ and is inhibited by Mn.sup.2+ and n-ethyl maleimide. The products of cleavage reactions have 3' hydroxyl and 5' phosphate termini.
Despite the substantial information about members of the RNase family and the cloning of a number of viral, prokaryotic and yeast genes with RNase H activity, until now, no mammalian RNase H had been cloned. This has hampered efforts to understand the structure of the enzyme(s), their distribution and the functions they may serve.
In the present invention, a cDNA of human RNase H with Type 2 characteristics and the protein expressed thereby are provided.


Broadly speaking, the embodiments of the present invention fill the need by providing an improved chamber particle source identification mechanism. The in-situ chamber particle source identification method and apparatus can greatly shorten the time it takes to identify chamber particle source, which could improve the chamber throughput for production system. The method and apparatus can also be used to test components for particle performance during chamber engineering development stage. In one embodiment, an in-situ chamber particle monitor assembly for a semiconductor processing chamber includes at least one laser light source. The at least one laser light source can scan laser light in a chamber process volume within the processing chamber. The in-situ chamber particle monitor assembly also includes at least one laser light collector. The at least one laser light collector can collect laser light emitted from the at least one laser light source. The chamber particle monitor assembly also includes an analyzer external to the processing chamber that analyzes signals representing the laser light collected by the at least one laser light collector to provide chamber particle information.

Particle performance is of concern in processing semiconductor substrates such as silicon wafers due to reduction in yield caused by particles adhered to the surface of such substrates. Particles in the process chamber that fall on the substrate surface during or after substrate processing can reduce yield. Therefore, it is critical to control particle counts in the process chamber to the minimum to ensure good yield.
Particles in the process chamber can come from many sources. Process gases and substrate processing can generate particles. Films, either from process gases or from process byproducts, deposited on the components in the process chamber or on chamber wall(s) can also generate particles. Particles can also be introduced into the process chamber during chamber hardware maintenance by various mechanisms, such as cleaning solution residues remaining in the chamber when placing the component back into chamber. The O-ring on the chamber gate valve can also generate particles if the gate valve is clamped too tight or if the O-ring is of poor quality.
Traditionally, particle performance of a process chamber is monitored by measuring particle size and number (or count) on a substrate after the substrate is processed. The particle performance measurement can be done regularly to monitor the chamber performance or can be done after chamber hardware maintenance to qualify the process chamber. If a high particle count on the substrate is detected, the particle source(s) needs to be identified and the problem(s) needs to be solved before further substrate processing can be continued or before the chamber can be qualified.
Traditionally, particle source identification is done by running design of experiment (DOE) of various chamber processing and/or hardware parameters. Substrates processed with the DOE are measured for particle performance to determine which parameter(s) affects the particle size and counts. However, such a particle source identifying process is very labor and time intensive.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need for a method and apparatus that provides an improved chamber particle source identification mechanism to reduce the time and resources used to identify the particle source(s). The improved chamber particle source identification mechanism can improve overall chamber particle performance and throughput performance.


A steam turbine includes, in one exemplary embodiment, a rotor and a plurality of bucket stages coupled to the rotor with each bucket stage including a plurality of circumferentially spaced buckets coupled to the rotor. The steam turbine also includes a diaphragm assembly surrounding the rotor and the bucket stages, and an outer casing disposed about the rotor and diaphragm assembly. The diaphragm assembly includes a plurality of nozzle stages located between the bucket stages, a circumferentially extending groove, with the groove located upstream of one of the bucket stages and between that bucket stage and an adjacent nozzle stage, a circumferentially extending extraction chamber, and at least one first bore extending from the groove to the extraction chamber. The diaphragm assembly also includes at least one second bore extending from the extraction chamber through an outer surface of the diaphragm assembly.

This invention relates generally to steam turbines and more generally to methods and apparatus for low flow bucket tip cooling and moisture removal.
In known steam turbines low flow conditions (low VAN) sometime occur at startup and during high back pressure operation. The flow structure in the last stage of a steam turbine (L-0 stage) changes significantly during low VAN operation. This change is due to centrifugal forces acting on the buckets which can send steam upward, and can create tip and root recirculation zones along with the main steam flow. In the bucket root zone the flow is in a backwards direction, bringing cold and wet steam from the condenser into the steam path. In the tip (outer flowpath) steam recirculation provides significant heating impact on the bucket tip section due to "windage". During low flow, high speed, operation, the flow near the bucket tip can become trapped and subsequently the steam is heated due to the bucket tip doing work on the steam that is trapped. This "windage" heating primarily takes place under startup low VAN conditions.
When low VAN operation is the result of high back pressure, the flow in this tip zone can also be subject to flow instability (unsteadiness) and pressure pulsation, which result in the L-0 bucket dynamic stresses increasing. At steady state operation, moisture can accumulate at the L-0 nozzle outer sidewall. Removal of this moisture can reduce last stage bucket (LSB) erosion.
The low VAN conditions described above can have a detrimental effect on the last stage bucket. The heating of the bucket tip area can reduce bucket life and reliability. It can also reduce the ability to use a hybrid bucket construction (polymer filler in the outer bucket area). Also, the instability from the low VAN conditions can cause pressure pulsations that could affect the bucket reliability. Additionally, excess moisture in the last stages sometimes accumulates on the outer sidewall, among other locations, of the last stage nozzle which can cause erosion of the nozzle.

Method and apparatus for controlling the operation of a steam turbine


A blade member of a hockey stick defines a profile, and includes an elongated blade body having a front toe end, a rear heel end, a pair of attachment walls which laterally oppose each other and which respectively extend from the rear heel end toward the front toe end, two flange units that project outwardly and laterally from bottoms of the attachment walls to define two accommodating spaces above the flange units, and a connecting portion that extends integrally, rearwardly and upwardly from the rear heel end. A display sheet is disposed in one of the accommodating spaces to abut against one of the attachment walls, has an outer abutment face with a mark. A transparent sheath is produced by a process that includes: (1) preparing a mold having a molding cavity of a shape corresponding to the profile of the blade member; (2) placing an assembly of the blade body and the display sheet in the cavity in such a manner that the bottoms of the attachment walls and the flange units abut against the mold in the molding cavity, and that remainder of the assembly form clearances with the mold in the cavity; and (3) filling the clearances with a transparent plastic material so as to form the transparent sheath for viewing of the mark from an exterior of the blade member.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a blade member, more particularly to a blade member which is adapted to be connected to a handle portion of a hockey stick and which is provided with a visible mark that is protected against wearing.
2. Description of the Related Art
Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional blade member 2 for a hockey stick generally includes a rigid plastic blade body 2a and a covering sheath 2b. The blade body 2a has a front toe end, a rear heel end, a pair of opposing lateral walls 2d respectively extending from the rear heel end toward the front toe end, and a connecting portion 2c which extends integrally, rearwardly and upwardly from the rear heel end and adapted to be connected to a handle 1 portion.
The covering sheath 2b is sleeved from the front toe end so as to enclose the lateral walls 2d of the blade body 2a. The external surface of the covering sheath 2b is generally provided with some mark, such as by printing mark, for advertising purposes. However, the mark eventually wear off due to continued use of the conventional blade member 2.

Blade member of a hockey stick having a visible mark


A tool for the removal of paint and putty includes a semi-circular assembly housing including a semi-circular rigid collar. The tool also includes a disk-like abrading assembly rotatably and co-axially mounted within the semi-circular collar of the housing, the assembly including rigidly disposed abrading elements projecting both axially and radially, the assembly defining a plane of rotation. The tool further includes a motor for high speed rotation of the assembly, the motor located externally of the housing. The tool also includes bearings for establishing a fixed axial cutting depth relative to a primary work surface positioned thereagainst, in which the bearings function as a buffer between the abrading assembly and the work surface to thereby improve control and mobility of the assembly relative to the primary work surface. A platform is disposed between the assembly housing and the motor, in which the platform is preferably co-planer with the plane of rotation of the abrading assembly. The platform is rigidly secured to the motor. The tool yet further includes an element for tilting the assembly housing relative to the platform to expose a greater area of the abrading assembly to increase depth of cutting in an axial direction upon the primary work surface at that side of the abrading assembly which is tilted.

The prior art of removal of paint, putty and the like from a work surface has, historically, consisted of various types of scraping means, as is reflected in U.S. Pat. No. 3,028,152 (1962) to Scholl, entitled Resurfacing Tool, U.S. Pat. No. 3,613,147 (1971) to Norfleet, entitled Wall Surface Scraper Tool and, secondarily, such patents as U.S. Pat. No. 3,604,520 (1971) to Shato, entitled Sonically Driven Paint Scraper; U.S. Pat. No. 3,722,022 (1973) to Falleson, entitled Rotating Paint Scraper; U.S. Pat. No. 3,731,338 (1973) to Walsh, entitled Mechanical Paint Scraper; U.S. Pat. No. 4,554,957 (1985) to Zayat, entitled Rotary Resurfacing Tool; U.S. Pat. No. 4,559,661 (1985) to Tsais, entitled Paint Scraper; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,485,349 (1989) to Demetrius, entitled Sander Paint Scraper.
For purposes of the present application, the most applicable references comprise said U.S. patents to Scholl and Norfleet. By way of illustration, salient portions of the structure of Norfleet are shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 herewith. It may therein be appreciated that the structure of Scholl is one intended for the treatment of delicate flat surfaces such as work surface 20 in which all paint and the like have already been removed. As such, Scholl is not designed for heavy duty abrading of old paint and putty, as is the inventive structure set forth herein. This primarily due to the fact that cutter blades 54 of Scholl are pivotally mounted upon pivot points 55, the purpose of which is to enable blades 54 of Scholl to rotate off of the work surface if they encounter excessive resistance there from. As such, it is to be appreciated that Scholl is intended as a planning or refinishing tool to create smooth surfaces that are then ready for refinishing, not to effect removal of layers of hardened old paint. As such, Scholl may be understood as a low power, low rpm device, while the within system is that of a high power, high rpm device.
Further, Scholl, to control depth of the cut, uses a system of rings 56 (see FIG. 1). The effect of which is to produce a marginal, i.e., less than two percent, change in the angle of the plane of rotation of cutting assembly 57 thereof. In addition, Scholl does not employ any form of buffering means between cutting elements 54 and the work surface 20. Accordingly, other than the location of edge 58 of the structure of Scholl, there exists no mean of control, during the operation Scholl, of the interface between the cutting assembly and the work surface 20. In addition, the structure of Scholl is unable to provide a scraping, abrading or cutting function to an integral secondary surface such as transverse surface 42 which is shown in FIG. 1, this due to the fact that the cutting assembly 57 of Scholl is entirely enclosed within the peripheral ring structure 56 thereof. As such, no form of cutting outside of the periphery of ring structure 56 is possible.
With regard to the structure of Norfleet, the same is generally shown in the view of FIG. 3. Therefrom, it may be appreciated that the only form of control of depth that exists lies in the use of rollers 59 and slidable adjustment of the depth of cutting elements 60 thereof. As such, it is necessary to manually adjust each of these cutting elements (typically four in number) in order to adjust the depth of the cut relative to primary work surface 20. Apart from the above, the Norfleet gives rise to safety issues in that no housing or shroud exists about cutting assembly 61 thereof, such that material removed from the surface 20 will be uncontrollably ejected from the work surface, thereby generating hazardous dust and debris in the work area. Further, Norfleet, like Scholl, does not include any capability for simultaneously removing paint, putty and the like from an integral transverse secondary surface such as surface 42. In fact, due to the offset from cutting element 60 created by rollers 59, it is unlikely that the structure of Norfleet could effect any removal of material from the secondary surface 42.
In general terms, much of the offset prior art suffers from a lack of effectiveness in the desired function of paint removal as, particularly, is the case with sonically operated devices such as Sheeto.
Those paint removal devices of the rotating type are generally unacceptable for use upon any fine or quality work surface in that they create excessive gouging during the process of paint removal. In other words, in such devices, although the paint may be removed, the underlying work surface is so damaged that a repair of that surface is necessary before any painting can begin.
Other paint removal devices comprise in effect glorified sanding machines and, as such, make no contribution to the art of tools for paint removal. That is, sanding devices, when used for the purpose of paint removal, are only able to remove paint in a uniform fashion to a certain depth. Also, damage to the underlying wood, beneath the paint, is generally inevitable as is the creation of ridges within the wood caused by the edges of the reciprocating sanding tool. Other devices, such as that reflected in Zayat above, have application only to work surfaces of a particular geometry, e.g., shingles or clap boards in the case of Zayat.
There has accordingly long existed a need in the art for a power tool useful in the removal of paint from a work surface that will not damage the work surface, will function efficiently, is applicable to a variety of pipes and thicknesses of paint, and which can be integrated with state of the art vacuum debris removal means which are now an OSHA requirement with many industrial power tools.
The instant invention may therefore be viewed, as a response to the above long-felt need in the art.
The present tool for the removal of paint and putty includes a semi-circular assembly housing including a semi-circular rigid collar secured thereto. The tool also includes a disk-like abrading assembly rotatably and co-axially mounted within said semi-circular collar of said housing, said assembly including rigidly disposed abrading elements projecting both axially and radially therefrom, said assembly defining a plane of rotation. The inventive tool further includes a motor for high-speed rotation of said assembly, said motor located externally of said housing. The present tool also includes bearing means for establishing a fixed axial cutting depth relative to a primary work surface positioned thereagainst, in which the bearing means function as a buffer between said abrading assembly and said work surface to thereby improve control and mobility of said assembly relative to the primary work surface. A platform is disposed between said assembly housing and said motor, in which said platform is preferably co-planer with said plane of rotation of the abrading assembly. Said platform is rigidly secured to said motor. The inventive tool yet further includes means for tilting said assembly housing relative to said platform to thereby expose a greater area of said abrading assembly to increase depth of cutting in an axial direction upon the primary work surface at that side of said abrading assembly which is tilted thereby. The instant tool yet further includes means for selectably increasing the effective polar dimension of said semi-circular assembly housing to correspondingly decrease radial projection of radial cutting surface of said abrading element relative to a virtual circumference defined by an open polar segment of the semi-circular assembly housing.
It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide a power tool for the efficient removal of paint and putty from integral transverse work surfaces.
It is another object to provide a tool of the above type capable of removing paint from work surfaces without damage to the wood or other material beneath the paint thereon.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a tool of the above type in which the degree of abrasion or cutting of the paint upon the work surface can be regulated through control of both the axial position of the abrading elements and of a buffer means surrounding the same.
The above and yet other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the hereinafter set forth Brief Description of the Drawings, Detailed Description of the Invention and Claims appended herewith.

Tool for the removal of paint-like materials from work surfaces


A method and system are disclosed for updating announcements on a packet network site such as a website. An exemplary method includes receiving an announcement through an audio interface and storing the announcement on a website server. In accordance with the exemplary method, merchants without Internet access can now update announcements on their websites quickly and economically by using an audio interface such as a conventional telephone. The updated announcements may be either audio or data. If the announcement received in the exemplary method is an audio announcement, it is converted from a first audio format into a second audio format prior to the step of storing the announcement. Whether the announcements are audio or data, the merchants"" customers can then retrieve them by accessing the merchants"" websites via the Internet.

The present invention relates to the creation and retrieval of audio information and more specifically relates to audio capture and retrieval over a network utilizing an audio user interface.
The amount of information available over communication networks is tremendous and growing at a fast rate. The most popular of such networks is the Internet, which is a network of linked computers around the world. Much of the popularity of the Internet may be attributed to the World Wide Web (WWW) portion of the Internet. The WWW is a part of the Internet in which information is typically passed between server computers and client computers using Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). A server stores information and serves (i.e. sends) the information to a client in response to a request from the client. The client executes computer software programs, often called browsers, which aid in the requesting and displaying of information. Examples of WWW browsers are Netscape(trademark) Navigator(trademark), available from Netscape Communications, Inc., and the Internet Explorer(trademark), available from Microsoft Corporation.
Servers, and the information stored therein, are identified through Uniform Resource Locators (URL). URL""s are described in detail in Berners-Lee, T., et al., Uniform Resource Locators, RFC 1738, Network Working Group, 1994, which is incorporated herein by reference. For example, the URL http://www.hostname.com/document1.html, identifies the document xe2x80x9cdocument1.htmlxe2x80x9d at host server xe2x80x9cwww.hostname.comxe2x80x9d. Thus, a request for information from a host server by a client generally includes a URL. The information passed from a server to a client is generally called a document. Such documents are generally defined in terms of a document language, such as Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). Upon request from a client, a server sends an HTML document to the client. HTML documents contain information which is used by the browser to display information to a user at a computer display screen. An HTML document may contain text, logical structure commands, hypertext links, and user input commands. If the user selects (for example by a mouse click) a hypertext link from the display, the browser will request another document from a server.
A user may also access audio files through a browser. Conventional browsers typically include the capability to process and play audio files. Currently, the typical scenario for placing audio files on a server is that a web page creator (i.e., webmaster) would record a sound file on a computer (using microphone and sound card) and then place the file in the appropriate place on the server. Further, software has been written so that if a merchant (i.e., owner of content) has a computer and Internet access, he could record sound on his computer and upload it to the web server. However, many merchants do not have Internet access. These merchants therefore must work through a webmaster to make changes to the website. For businesses which require frequent updates to their websites, this can be a time consuming and expensive process.
A technical advance is achieved in the art by providing a method and system for updating announcements on a website. The method and system include receiving an announcement through an audio interface and storing the announcement on a website server. Merchants without Internet access can now update announcements on their websites quickly and economically by using an audio interface such as a conventional telephone. The updated announcements may be either audio or data. If the announcement is an audio announcement, it is converted from a first audio format into a second audio format prior to the step of storing the announcement. Whether the announcements are audio or data, the merchants"" customers can then retrieve them by accessing the merchants"" websites via the Internet.

Update of web audio messages via audio user interface


The present invention is directed to a hybridized polymer matrix, a method of making such, and products incorporating such a matrix. The hybridized polymer matrix comprises a solvent-free polymer matrix base, a hybridized matrix comprising one or more poly(1-vinyl-2-pyrrolidones) and dimethyl sulfoxide, and at least one active substance. The hybridized polymer matrix is useful in the preparation of transdermal therapeutic systems, particularly making possible the introduction of pharmaceutically active substances which are otherwise difficult to dissolve, such as ibuprofen, into a non-polar matrix.

In the formulation of medicinal products for the topical application of active substances the choice of excipients is of critical importance. It is known, for instance, that there is a correlation between the solubility of an active substance in a vehicle and its release from that vehicle. When a vehicle containing active substance is applied to the skin, an equilibrium is established in the partition of the active substance between vehicle and skin. The position of this equilibrium is determined by the solubility in both phases.
Transdermal therapeutic systems (TTS) for delivering active substances through the skin have been known for a long time. The topical application of drugs by way of active substance patch systems offers two main advantages: firstly this form of administration produces first-order release kinetics of the active substance, thereby enabling a constant level of active substance to be maintained in the body over a very long period. Secondly the path of uptake through the skin avoids the gastrointestinal tract and also the first liver passage. As a result, selected drugs can be administered effectively in a low dose. This is particularly advantageous when the drug is desired to act locally, with avoidance of a systemic effect. This is the case, for example, with the treatment of rheumatic joint complaints or muscular inflammation.
One embodiment of such transdermal systems which has been well described in the technical literature is that of matrix systems or monolithic systems in which the drug is incorporated directly into the pressure-sensitive adhesive. In the ready-to-apply product a pressure-sensitive adhesive matrix of this kind, comprising active substance, is equipped on one side with a backing, which is impermeable to the active substance, while on the opposite side there is a backing film equipped with a release layer, which is removed prior to application to the skin (Kleben & Dichten, No. 42, 1998, pp. 26 to 30). Thus mention is made principally of the use of polyacrylates and/or polyurethanes as a basis for the pressure-sensitively adhesive polymer matrix (Lambda, Woodhouse, & Cooper, "Polyurethanes in Biomedical Applications", CRC Press, 1998, p. 240) and WO 01/68060.
A problem associated with the production of transdermal therapeutic systems is the introduction of polar active substances into the generally non-polar polymer matrices. As a result it is possible for preferred active substances to be incorporated sometimes only with difficulty or only in a limited concentration into the polymer matrix. The risk exists, moreover, that because of the difference in polarity and insolubility of the active substances in the polymer matrix, the active substances will, over time, crystallize out of the polymer system. Long-term stability is therefore not ensured.
One proposal for solving these problems is provided by the addition of solvent. The incorporation of solvent into a polymer matrix, however, has a variety of drawbacks. These include the harmful nature of the generally organic solvents, high levels of technical effort involved in suction extraction and recovery, high costs for the high-purity solvents that are necessary, and, in particular, a very high level of effort required for removing solvent residues from the matrix.
These solvents are likewise absorbed through the skin, thereby lowering the solvent content of the TTS matrix. Additionally it has been found that water given off by the skin accumulates in the solvent, since it cannot be readily bound by the hydrophobic polymer matrix. Both mechanisms result in an adverse effect on the release of active substance.
WO 01/68060 A2 describes a transdermal therapeutic system of the matrix type, where polyacrylate polymers are mixed in the with the hydrophobic base polymers of the active substance-containing polymer matrix. The hydrophobic base polymers may be selected from the group consisting of polysiloxanes, polyisobutylene, polyisoprene, styrene-diene-styrene block copolymer or mixtures thereof. The polyacrylate polymers are said to avoid the drawback of the supersaturation of the active substance in the TTS as a result of the addition of solvent, and to prevent recrystallization prior to absorption through the skin.
WO 94/23713 describes anti-inflammatory drugs based on phenylpropionic acid and phenylacetic acid for topical application, comprising combinations of lipophilic and hydrophilic excipients. No details are given of the mode of action or function of said excipients.

Hybrid system for solubilizing pharmaceutically active substances in polymer matrices


A safety protector for application on vertical posts (6) tied-down to the ground and that constitute corrugated sheet supports with safety rail barrier functions, establishing a separation between its lower edge and the ground, through which a person involved in an accident due to sliding over the asphalt may impact on the corresponding section of the vertical support post (6). The safety support is constituted by an extruded profile (1) that is assembled to be adapted as a cover on post (6), the latter having internal partitions (1) and re-thickened zones, as well as an internal sinuous profile to be adapted on corresponding post (6), externally providing impact areas for persons involved in accidents that reduces the violence and diminishes the impact force, efficiently damping the latter.

Generally, the protection barriers between lanes that are set-up on roads are constituted by a stamped sheet or part with preferably corrugated configuration as safety rail element, that is placed at a certain height as regards the ground, and against which, vehicles can impact in case of accidents, in such a manner, that these corrugated plates or safety rails are attached by means of screws to vertical posts established on the ground, said posts having in some cases an "H" configuration and in other cases a "U" configuration.
This safety protection rail system is functionally effective, since it is constructed with an economic material, of proved efficacy, and since it is of metallic nature, its integrating parts provide the protection system or safety rail with extreme strength and toughness.
Therefore, these theoretical advantages related to its use, are minimized versus the lack of protection against particular accidents, specifically those produced by persons circulating on motorbikes and/or two wheeled vehicles, who, faced with an accident are logically propelled, impacting on the first obstacle found after sliding over the asphalt.
It is evident, that if this obstacle is one of the safety rails support posts, due to the profile design that constitutes the post and the high speed of movement of the person involved in the accident, the direct collision implies the practically certain death of the person in the accident, and in the best of cases, and with luck, the damage toll of an accident of these characteristics may be a traumatic amputation of a body-member.


A method for synchronizing media in a call includes receiving a first input stream of packets of a first media type at a first call resource, generating a first output stream in response to the media streams, receiving synchronization information from a second call resource, and communicating the output stream from the first call resource to a endpoint in synchronization with the second call resource. A video conference bridge includes a first interface operable to receive a video input stream, a processor operable to generate video output, and a second interface operable to receive synchronization information from an audio conference bridge.

Consumers in business continue to demand more sophisticated communication systems that allow increasing numbers of people to participate in conference calls using audio, video, and other data. In response to these demands, network endpoints have been designed with increasing capacity to send and receive various kinds of media. Call resources receive media from network endpoints and produce output streams which are then returned to endpoints. Different types of media require different call resources. More sophisticated conference calls involving a variety of media and endpoints present challenges for ensuring efficient use of high-capability resources.

Method and apparatus for adding functionality to an existing conference call


Provided are a dual damascene interconnection with a metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitor and a method of fabricating the same. In this structure, an MIM capacitor is formed on a via-level IMD. After the via-level IMD is formed, while an alignment key used for patterning the MIM capacitor is being formed, a via hole is formed to connect a lower electrode of the MIM capacitor and an interconnection disposed under the via-level IMD. Also, an upper electrode of the MIM capacitor is directly connected to an upper metal interconnection during a dual damascene process.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and a method of fabricating the same. More particularly, the present invention relates to a dual damascene interconnection with a metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitor and a method of fabricating the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
To improve the speed of semiconductor devices, there have been intensive studies on methods of reducing RC delays using low-resistance interconnections and low-k intermetal dielectrics (IMDs). Copper interconnections have a lower resistance than conventional aluminum interconnections and a relatively high resistance to electromigration, thus improving the reliability of semiconductor devices. Also, copper requires low power consumption and low price and thus has been widely used as interconnection material.
However, since copper is not easily etched, patterning a copper layer in a desired shape is very difficult. Thus, a damascene process is used. That is, after a groove is formed in an interconnection shape by patterning an IMD, copper is filled in the groove and then planarized using chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) to be on the same level with the IMD. In particular, a dual damascene process is widely used in which a via hole is formed and a line trench is formed over the via hole to overlap the via hole, and the via hole and the line trench are simultaneously filled with copper using a one-time deposition. By comparison, a via may be formed using a damascene process and then a line trench may be formed using another damascene process. In this case, the via and the line are each formed using a single damascene process.
Also, extensive studies have been made on metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitors, in which electrodes have no depletion and low-resistance metals are used, unlike conventional capacitors having an upper electrode and a lower electrode that are formed of polysilicon. However, when an MIM capacitor is formed in a conventional dual damascene interconnection, a dual damascene process has to be altered and the fabrication process becomes complex.
FIGS. 1 and 2 show conventional structures in which electrodes of an MIM capacitor are connected to interconnections using vias. To form these conventional structures, an MIM capacitor is formed before a via-level IMD is formed and an electrode of the MIM capacitor is connected to an interconnection by a via. However, in this case, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a via that will be formed on the MIM capacitor and a via that will connect upper and lower interconnections are formed to different depths. As a result, a dual damascene process needs an etch process having a very high etch selectivity.
To form the structure shown in FIG. 1, a lower metal interconnection 4 and a lower electrode 6 of an MIM capacitor are formed using a copper damascene process on the same level in an insulating layer 2. A capacitor dielectric layer 8 is coated on the resultant structure, and then an upper electrode 10 and a capping layer 12 are sequentially formed. Next, an IMD 14 is formed, and then a via 16a connected to the lower metal interconnection 4, a via 18a connected to the lower electrode 6, and a via 20a connected to the upper electrode 10 are formed using a dual damascene process. Thereafter, upper metal interconnections 16b, 18b, and 20b are formed on the vias 16a, 18a, and 20a, respectively.
In the structure shown in FIG. 1, the types of available dielectric layers 8 are limited. The dielectric layer 8 should function as both a capacitor dielectric layer and a diffusion barrier layer to copper that is used to form the lower electrode 6. Thus, the dielectric layer 8 is actually a silicon nitride layer. Also, since the lower electrode 6 is polished using chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) during the dual damascene process, its surface morphology is degraded. Thus, the characteristics of the MIM capacitor depend on the integrity of an interface between the lower electrode 6 and the dielectric layer 8. Also, the copper constituting the lower electrode 6 diffuses into the dielectric layer 8. Most seriously, the vias 16a and 18a connecting the upper and lower interconnections are formed to a different depth from that of the via 20a formed on the MIM capacitor. Thus, an etch process having a very high etch selectivity is needed during the dual damascene process. To form the vias 16a and 18a separately from the via 20a because of the etch selectivity, an additional mask is required. Thus, the dual damascene process must be modified.
In FIG. 2, only a lower metal interconnection 24 is formed in the insulating layer 22 using a copper damascene process. A diffusion barrier layer 25 is formed on the insulating layer 22, and a lower electrode 26 of an MIM capacitor is formed using, for example, TaN. Then, a capacitor dielectric layer 28 and an upper electrode 30 are sequentially formed on the resultant structure. A capping layer 32 and an IMD 34 are formed on the upper electrode 30. Thereafter, a via 36a connected to the lower metal interconnection 24, a via 38a connected to the lower electrode 26, and a via 40a connected to the upper electrode 30 are formed using a dual damascene process, and upper metal interconnections 36b, 38b, and 40b are formed on the vias 36a, 38a, and 40a, respectively.
In the structure shown in FIG. 2, since the lower electrode 26 is not formed of copper, the types of material used in the dielectric layer 28 are more numerous compared to the structure of FIG. 1. Thus, the dielectric layer 28 can be formed of even high-k dielectric material. Nevertheless, in this structure, three different-type vias 36a, 38a, and 40a are formed requiring an etch process having a high etch selectivity or an additional photolithographic process. Therefore, the dual damascene process must be modified.
FIG. 3 shows another conventional structure in which an MIM capacitor is connected to an AlCu interconnection. In this structure, lower interconnections 42a and 42b are formed of AlCu, and then an insulating layer 44 is formed. Next, vias 46a, 46b, and 46c are formed of W using a single damascene process, and a lower electrode 48, a dielectric layer 50, and an upper electrode 52 are formed on the vias 46a and 46b to complete an MIM capacitor. Thus, the lower electrode 48 is connected to the lower interconnection 42a by the vias 46a and 46b. Next, a first IMD 54 is formed, an AlCu interconnection 55 is formed using a single damascene process, and a second IMD 56 is deposited thereon. Similarly, through a single damascene process, a W stud 58a connected to the upper electrode 52 and a W stud 58b connected to the AlCu interconnection 55 are formed in the second IMD 56.
In this case, unlike the cases described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, problems of an etch process due to different types of vias can be solved. However, since the single damascene process is performed several times, the copper dual damascene process must be somewhat modified. Also, while the MIM capacitor is being fabricated, the via 46c is exposed to an etching atmosphere, thus degrading the yield and reliability of the via 46c. To solve these problems, the vias 46a and 46b formed under the MIM capacitor and the via 46c connecting the upper and lower interconnections 42b and 55 should be formed using separate processes. However, this case necessitates an additional photolithography process.

Dual damascene interconnection with metal-insulator-metal capacitor and method of fabricating


The glyphs of self-clocking glyph codes are written on regular hexagonal or pseudo-hexagonal lattice-like patterns of centers to reduce the risk of interglyph interference during the read process while also enabling the glyphs to be packed more densely while maintaining a given center-to-center spacing between them.

One and two dimensional symbologies have been proposed for optically recording machine readable digital information on plain paper documents and the like. The principal purpose of these symbologies is to establish reliable digital communication channels in the image domain. While 1-D symbologies still have an important role, there has been a shift toward 2-D symbologies because they tend to more fully respond to the demand for broader band width communication channels and to the related need for increased spatial bit density recording capacities.
The Xerox Dataglyph.TM. symbology is an especially promising 2-D symbology for optically recording machine readable digital information on traditional and not so traditional image recording media. Its spatial bit density recording capacity and its tolerance to image distortion and image degradation compare favorably with the best of the other known 2-D symbologies. Furthermore, the Dataglyph.TM. symbology is esthetically far superior to these other 2-D symbologies because of its substantially homogeneous visual appearance. Indeed, when used to record at higher spatial bit densities, the Dataglyph.TM. symbology has a unobtrusive, generally uniform grayscale visual appearance. This esthetic advantage is an important attribute, especially for applications that involve combining machine readable and human readable information on documents which are intended to favorably impress human readers.
Dataglyphs.TM. are based on relatively simple "self-clocking glyphs codes." In accordance with the Dataglyph.TM. symbology, such a code is composed of elongated slash-like symbols or glyphs which are written on a regular lattice of centers at tilt angles of approximately +45.degree. and -45.degree. from vertical for the recording of binary "0's" and "1's," respectively, No information is encoded in the spaces between the glyphs or in the relative spacing of the transitions between the glyphs and the background. Instead, each bit is independently and explicitly encoded by a glyph. The glyphs, therefore, provide a reliable clock for reading the bits out of the code, even in the presence of significant image distortion and/or image degradation (i.e., the bits are recoverable if the glyphs can be located and identified with sufficient precision to enable any errors to be corrected by the error correction protection, if any, that is provided).
Higher spatial bit density Dataglyphs.TM. conventionally are written on regular rectangular lattice-like patterns of centers by printers operating at printer resolutions on the order of 300-600 d.p.i. (dots/inch). In practice, the individual glyphs may be as small as 3-5 pixels long, and these glyphs may be written at a nominal center-to-center spacing of only about 5-7 pixels horizontally and vertically. The high spatial density at which the glyphs are written causes the recorded code to have a generally uniform grayscale appearance because the individual glyphs tend to blend together when viewed by the unaided human eye at normal reading distance under normal lighting conditions. However, there is a problem with the inter-glyph interference which can manifest itself in these higher density glyph codes.
Inter-glyph interference occurs when the ends of diagonally adjacent glyphs come into contact or near contact (i.e., such close proximity that the gap between them cannot be resolved by the scanner that is used to read the code). Such interference hinders the reading of the code by making it more difficult to accurately locate the centers of the individual glyphs and to unambiguously determine the values encoded by them. Thus, interglyph interference is a limiting factor on the density at which the glyphs can be recorded, scanned and read. It, therefore, would be beneficial to reduce the risk of interglyph interference, especially if this can be accomplished without sacrificing bit recording density.

Broad bandwidth image domain communication channel with symbol interference suppression