A photoresist composition containing a polymer (A) containing an alkali-soluble constituent unit (a1) containing an alicyclic group having both a fluorine atom or a fluorinated alkyl group (i) and an alcoholic hydroxyl group (ii), whose alkali-solubility is changeable by an action of an acid; an acid generator (B) which generates an acid by light irradiation; and a dissolution inhibitor (C) having a fluorine atom(s) and/or a nitrogen-containing compound (D) selected from a tertiary amine (d1) having a polar group, a tertiary alkylamine (d2) having 7 or more and 15 or less of carbon atoms or an ammonium salt (d3). The composition has a resist property capable of accomplishing line and space (1:1) of 90 nm or less in good shape as a pattern processing accuracy of a semiconductor integrated circuit by lithography.

It is not an exaggeration to say that microfabrication of semiconductor integrated circuits has been accomplished by progress of photolithography and its peripheral technology. This photolithography is supported by broadly divided two technologies as well-known. One is a exposure wavelength and numerical apertures of a reduced projection exposure apparatus called a stepper and a scanner, and the other is a resist property which is mainly transfer resolution of a photoresist composition, where a mask pattern is transferred by the reduced projection exposure apparatus. These have interacted as if both wheels of a vehicle to improve processing precision of semiconductor integrated circuit patterns by photolithography.
A wavelength of a light source used for the reduced projection exposure apparatus has been shortened more and more because of request for high resolution of the circuit pattern. In general, at a resist resolution of about 0.5 μm, g-ray having 436 nm of a major spectrum of a mercury lamp is used; at about 0.5 to 0.30 μm, i-ray having 365 nm of the major spectrum of the mercury lamp is used; at about 0.30 to 0.15 μm, KrF excimer laser light of 248 nm is used; and at 0.15 μm or less, ArF excimer laser light of 193 nm is used. For more finely shortening, the use of F2 excimer laser light of 157 nm, Ar2 excimer laser light of 126 nm and EUV (extreme-ultraviolet radiation, wavelength 13 nm) has been investigated.
Meanwhile, with respect to photoresist compositions, at present, combined organic or inorganic anti-reflection films and innovated lighting systems are available, lifetime of photoresists for KrF is prolonged in lithography using the KrF excimer laser light, and development of photoresist compositions which bring about 110 nm of λ/2 or less has been conducted. In the lithography using the ArF excimer laser light, it has been desired to provide photoresist compositions for ArF, which is suitable for future mass production of about 90 nm nodes or less. The lithography using the F2 excimer laser light attracts the attention as one which takes on future microfabrication technology of 65 nm or less, and the development of photoresist compositions capable of significantly applying to the microfabrication by the lithography using this F2 excimer laser light has been also advanced.
As well-known, in the lithography, light with short wavelength is irradiated (exposure) on a photoresist layer applied on a laminated semiconductor substrate through a mask which reflects a negative or positive image pattern of the semiconductor integrated circuit pattern to be realized. The photoresist composition contains a photosensitive polymer as a major ingredient, which reacts with the irradiated light to become insoluble (negative) or soluble (positive) in alkali. Heating (post exposure bake, also abbreviated as "PEB") to assure the reaction of the resist layer by the exposure after the irradiation of pattern light is conducted, and subsequently development is conducted to remove a soluble portion, thereby forming a photoresist pattern layer which accurately reflects the circuit pattern to be realized on the laminated semiconductor substrate. Thereafter, the patterned photoresist layer is sufficiently cured by heating (post bake) to give resistance to etching at next step in some cases. In the etching step, a surface layer or an upper layer of the laminated semiconductor substrate is dry-etched along the pattern using the patterned photoresist layer as the mask.
Therefore, major properties required for the photoresist composition are, first to obtain the resolution, therefore to have "transparency for irradiated light" where the pattern irradiated light can reach not only a surface portion of the resist layer but also a bottom portion of the substrate side and the resist layer can be significantly exposed over a whole thickness to the bottom portion, and to obtain the pattern with high resolution by an alkali developer by definitely differentiating an alkali soluble portion and an alkali insoluble portion after being irradiated with the pattern light. When the resist composition corresponding to the irradiated light with shorter wavelength than the above is developed, it is of course important to assure these major properties. High transparency at 157 nm which is a major spectrum of F2 excimer laser light is required for a base polymer of the resist composition usable for the lithography by the F2 excimer laser light which will become the light source of the stepper in next generation. However, existing resist materials have an absorbance just at this wavelength of 157 nm, i.e., no resist composition in the next generation can be obtained from the existing resist materials because the transparency is low for the irradiated light with a wavelength of 157 nm.
This way, in the technical field to provide the photoresist compositions, the development of a novel polymer having the high transparency at this wavelength of 157 nm is currently a problem. Up to now, the transparency for the irradiated light whose major spectrum is 157 nm is assured by introducing fluorine (F) and silicon (Si), as well as the development of novel polymers which combine resist performances such as alkali solubility, pattern transfer resolution and etching resistance, which affect a development property after the exposure has been advanced. As promising base polymers, numerous polymers such as fluorine-containing norbornene polymers (Non-patent Document 1 [M. K. Crawford, et al., "New Material for 157 nm Photoresists: Characterization and Properties" Proceedings of SPIE, Vol. 3999, (2000) pp 357-364] and Patent Document 1 (International Publication WO 00/67072 Pamphlet), fluorine-containing monocyclic polymers (Patent Document 2 [JP 2002-90997 A] and Non-patent Document 2 [Shun-ichi Kodama, et al., "Synthesis of Novel Fluoropolymer for 157 nm Photoresists by Cyclo-polymerization" Proceedings of SPIE, Vol. 4690, (2002) pp 76-83)]), tetrafluoroethylene copolymers (Non-patent Document 1 and Patent Document 1), and fluorine-containing monocyclic polymers (Non-patent Document 2) formed by cyclic polymerization of 1,1,2,3,3-pentafluoro-4-trifluoromethyl-4-hydroxy-1,6-heptadiene have been reported.
The fluorine-containing norbornene polymer (abbreviated as a conventional polymer A) disclosed in Patent Document 1 and Non-patent Document 1 and the fluorine-containing monocyclic polymer (abbreviated as a conventional polymer B) disclosed in Patent Document 2 and Non-patent Document 2 are believed to be promising as the base polymer for the photoresist composition in the next generation.
In the Non-patent Document 1, as specific examples of the conventional polymer A, a copolymer (abbreviated as a conventional polymer A1) composed of tetrafluoroethylene (49% by weight)/norbornene (51% by weight), a ternary copolymer (abbreviated as a conventional polymer A2) composed of tetrafluoroethylene (41% by weight)/norbornene (46% by weight)/vinyl acetate (12% by weight), a ternary copolymer (abbreviated as a conventional polymer A3) composed of tetrafluoroethylene (43% by weight)/norbornene (38% by weight)/vinyl acetate (20% by weight), a ternary copolymer (abbreviated as a conventional polymer A4) composed of tetrafluoroethylene (43% by weight)/norbornene (28% by weight)/vinyl acetate (29% by weight), a ternary copolymer (abbreviated as a conventional polymer A5) composed of tetrafluoroethylene (36% by weight)/norbornene (47% by weight)/t-butyl acrylate (17% by weight), a ternary copolymer (abbreviated as a conventional polymer A6) composed of tetrafluoroethylene (28% by weight)/norbornene (38% by weight)/t-butyl acrylate (34% by weight), and a ternary copolymer (abbreviated as a conventional polymer A7) composed of tetrafluoroethylene (42% by weight)/norbornene (41% by weight)/5-norbornene-2-carboxylate t-butyl ester (17% by weight) are disclosed.
This Non-patent Document 1 has taught that it is necessary to make an absorption coefficient (optical constant) of a resist film with normalized film thickness be 2.5 (μm−1) or less in order to obtain the sufficient pattern transfer resolution by the exposure light with a wavelength of 157 nm. The measured optical constants of the aforementioned polymers are 1.3 (conventional polymer A1), 2.0 (conventional polymer A2), 2.1 (conventional polymer A3), 2.6 (conventional polymer A4), 2.4 (conventional polymer A5), and 3.6 (conventional polymer A6), which are almost good values (conventional polymer A7 is not measured). Therefore, this conventional polymer A is acceptable as the base polymer of the next generation resist composition in terms of transparency when the laser light with a wavelength of 157 nm is exposed.
Meanwhile in Patent Document 1, as specific examples of the conventional polymer A, many examples are disclosed, and examples thereof may include a binary copolymer (conventional polymer A8) composed of tetrafluoroethylene (0.3 mol)/hexafluoroisopropanol substituted norbornene (0.2 mol) as the binary copolymer, and a ternary copolymer (conventional polymer A9) composed of tetrafluoroethylene (46 mol %)/hexafluoroisopropanol substituted norbornene (27 mol %)/OCH2C(CF3)2OCH2OCH3 substituted norbornene (27 mol %) as the ternary copolymer. The absorption coefficient of the conventional polymer A8 in the irradiated light with a wavelength of 157 nm is 1.27 μm−1 (film thickness 67.5 nm) and 1.40 μm−1 (film thickness 52.3 nm), which is preferable. The absorption coefficient of the conventional polymer A9 at a wavelength of 157 nm is 2.40 μm−1 (film thickness 69.2 nm) and 2.17 μm−1 (film thickness 54.9 nm), and the transparency of the both is acceptable as the base polymer for the next generation resist composition. Furthermore, in this Patent Document 1, using the resulting conventional polymer A as the base polymer, a photoresist composition was prepared, this was applied on a substrate to make a resist film, and a pattern was formed on this film to examine the pattern resolution. For example, in the photoresist composition using the conventional polymer A8 as the base polymer, 1.800% by weight of 2-heptanone, 1.648% by weight of cyclohexanone, 0.080% by weight of t-butyl lithocholate and 0.160% by weight of triphenylsulfonium triflate (5% by weight of cyclohexanone solution) were added to 0.312% by weight of conventional polymer A8. The resist film was formed from this photoresist composition, and the patterned light with a wavelength of 157 nm was irradiated to form a resist pattern. For the conventional polymer A9, using this polymer as the base polymer, the resist film was formed similarly, and the patterned light with a wavelength of 157 nm was irradiated to form a resist pattern. For the polymers of the other compositions, likewise, the formation of the resist film and patterning thereof were attempted. However, in Examples for patterning, it is not disclosed at all to evaluate how degree of the resolution was realized.
Therefore, in this Patent Document 1, although it can be confirmed that the transparency of the conventional polymer A is good for the light with a wavelength of 157 nm and that the conventional polymer A is promising as the base polymer of the photoresist composition for fine lithography using the irradiation light with a wavelength of 157 nm, the pattern resolution is not unknown, i.e., it is unknown whether a line width of the resist pattern required for the actual pattern of the semiconductor integrated circuit in the next generation has been accomplished or not and that if accomplished, whether the pattern shape is good or not.
However, it is described that the tetrafluoroethylene copolymer (conventional polymer A) disclosed in the above Non-patent Document 1 and Patent Document 1 is excellent in transparency for the wavelength of 157 nm, has plasma etching resistance, has a high glass transition point and is compatible with 0.26 N tetramethyl ammonium hydroxide developer commonly used, and thus the conventional polymer A is believed to be promising as the base polymer for the photoresist compositions in the next generation.
On the other hand, the conventional polymer B disclosed in Patent Document 2 is a fluorine-containing monocyclic polymer containing a repeat unit of a cyclic structure where a monomer unit (a) of a diene type monomer composed of a compound represented by the following formula (9) or a derivative thereof and a monomer unit (b) of a fluorine-containing vinyl monomer are cyclized, and having a blocked acidic group derived from the fluorine-containing vinyl monomer.
CH2═CH—X—CH═CH2 (9), wherein X represents a methylene group or an oxygen atom. It is described that the derivative of the above (a) contains an alkyl substituent and a hydroxyl group substituent, and that the substituted alkyl group is preferably a lower alkyl group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms.
In Patent Document 2, as specific examples of the conventional polymer B, four synthesis examples are disclosed.
In the synthesis example 1, 13.6 g of CH2═CHCH2CH═CH (represented by a monomer 1), 136.0 g of CF2═CFOCF2CF2C(CF3)OCOC(CH3)3 (represented by a monomer 2) and 10 mL of 10% by weight of diisopropyl peroxycarbonate in trichlorotrifluoroethane solution were added into 0.3 L of trichlorotrifluoroethane solvent, heated and polymerized to yield 17.4 g of the conventional polymer B (represented by a conventional polymer B1). In this conventional polymer B1, a ratio of the monomer 1 unit/monomer 2 unit is 35/65 (mol %) and a number average molecular weight in terms of polystyrene is 10,200.
In the synthesis example 2, 14.0 g of CH2═CHOCH═CH2 (represented by a monomer 3), 36.08 g of the monomer 2 and 10 mL of 10% by weight of diisopropyl peroxycarbonate in trichlorotrifluoroethane solution were added into 150 g of trichlorotrifluoroethane solvent, heated and polymerized to yield 12.2 g of the conventional polymer B (represented by a conventional polymer B2). In this conventional polymer B2, a ratio of the monomer 3 unit/monomer 2 unit is 31/69 (mol %) and a number average molecular weight in terms of polystyrene is 14,500.
In the synthesis example 3, 16.8 g of CH2═CHCH(OH)CH═CH2 (represented by a monomer 4), 150.5 g of the monomer 2 and 10 mL of 10% by weight of diisopropyl peroxycarbonate in trichlorotrifluoroethane solution were added into 150 g of trichlorotrifluoroethane solvent, heated and polymerized to yield 10.8 g of the conventional polymer B (represented by a conventional polymer B3). In this conventional polymer B3, a ratio of the monomer 4 unit/monomer 2 unit is 38/62 (mol %) and a number average molecular weight in terms of polystyrene is 12,300.
In the synthesis example 4, 13.6 g of the monomer 1, 117.9 g of CF2═CFOCF2CF2C(CF3)(CH3)OCOC(CH3)3 (represented by a monomer 5) and 10 mL of 10% by weight of diisopropyl peroxycarbonate in trichlorotrifluoroethane solution were added into 150 g of trichlorotrifluoroethane solvent, heated and polymerized to yield 9.4 g of the conventional polymer B (represented by a conventional polymer B4). In this conventional polymer B4, a ratio of the monomer 1 unit/monomer 5 unit is 39/61 (mol %) and a number average molecular weight in terms of polystyrene is 11,800.
Furthermore in this Patent Document 2, using the resulting conventional polymer B as the base polymer, a photoresist composition was prepared and applied on a substrate to make a resist film, and a pattern was formed on this film to examine the pattern resolution. That is, 100 parts by weight of each conventional polymer B1 to B4 and 5 parts by weight of trimethylsulfonium triflate were dissolved in 700 parts by weight of propyleneglycol monomethylether acetate to obtain a resist composition, this composition was uniformly applied on a silicon substrate by spin coating, and heated at 80° C. to obtain a resist film of 0.3 μm (300 nm). Values of a transmittance of the irradiation light with a wavelength of 197 nm through the resist films corresponding to the conventional polymers B1 to B4 are described to have been 72%, 68%, 65% and 71%, respectively. For the resolution thereof, it is described that dimensions of 0.25 μm (250 nm), 0.25 μm (250 nm), 0.24 μm (240 nm) and 0.24 μm (240 nm) were possible in line and space pattern.
This way, in Patent Document 2, the resolution of the line and space pattern with 0.24 to 0.25 μm (250 nm) at a resist film thickness of 0.3 μm (300 nm) has been obtained, but no exposure by the light with a wavelength of 157 nm of F2 excimer laser was conducted, and the transparency (optical constant) for the light with a wavelength of 157 nm and the resolution of the resist pattern have been unknown. An assumed resist film thickness when using the F2 excimer laser is 120 to 150 nm, and the desired resolution when the line and space pattern is formed is 150 nm or less, and preferably 100 nm or less. With respect to a desired transparent degree of the resist film, as described in the Non-patent Document 1, it is necessary to make an absorption coefficient (optical constant) of a resist film with normalized film thickness be 2.5 (μm−1) or less in order to obtain the sufficient pattern transfer resolution by the light exposure with a wavelength of 157 nm.
Therefore, in this Patent Document 2, although it can be confirmed that the transparency of the conventional polymer B is preferable for the light with a wavelength of 193 nm and that the conventional polymer B is promising as the base polymer of the photoresist composition for fine lithography using the irradiation light with a wavelength of 193 nm, the pattern resolution is not unknown, i.e., it is unknown how degree of the transparency for the irradiation light with a wavelength of 157 nm required for the actual pattern of the semiconductor integrated circuit in the next generation is, whether the line width of the desired resist pattern can be accomplished by this irradiation light with a wavelength of 157 nm, and that if accomplished, whether the pattern shape is good or not.
In Non-patent Document 2, for the fluorine-containing monocyclic polymer formed by cyclic polymerization of 1,1,2,3,3-pentafluoro-4-trifluoromethyl-4-hydroxy-1,6-heptadiene, the absorption coefficient, Tg, solubility in the developer and solubility in the resist solvent were evaluated, it was confirmed that such properties were preferable, and the resist composition was prepared to form the resist pattern of 100 nm.
From these results, it can be confirmed that the polymer is promising as the base polymer of the photoresist composition for the fine lithography using the irradiation light with a wavelength of 157 nm, as is the case with the conventional polymer A.
On the other hand, in Patent Document 1, it is described to add publicly known dissolution inhibitor such as tert-butyl ester of lithocholic acid.
However, even though the resist patterns of 90 nm and 80 nm may be resolved using the above conventional polymer A or B and the certain dissolution inhibitor in combination, the resist pattern shape is insufficient because a resist top portion becomes round. As described in the conventional art, practical application of the resist pattern of 70 nm or less is aimed because the lithography using the F2 excimer laser attracts the attention as one which will take on the micro fabrication technology of 65 nm or less in future. However, in the resist pattern of 80 nm or less, roundness of the resist top portion will be further worse. Therefore, it is an important subject to solve the problem.
On the other hand, it is described that the tetrafluoroethylene copolymer (conventional polymer C) disclosed in the above Non-patent Document 1 and Patent Document 1 is excellent in transparency for the wavelength of 157 nm, has plasma etching resistance, has a high glass transition point and is compatible with 0.26 N tetramethyl ammonium hydroxide developer commonly used, and thus it is believed to be promising as the base polymer for the photoresist compositions in the next generation.
In the Non-patent Document 1, as specific examples of the conventional polymer C, a copolymer (conventional polymer C1) composed of tetrafluoroethylene (49% by weight)/norbornene (51% by weight), a ternary copolymer (conventional polymer C2) composed of tetrafluoroethylene (41% by weight)/norbornene (46% by weight)/vinyl acetate (12% by weight), a ternary copolymer (conventional polymer C3) composed of tetrafluoroethylene (43% by weight)/norbornene (38% by weight)/vinyl acetate (20% by weight), a ternary copolymer (conventional polymer C4) composed of tetrafluoroethylene (43% by weight)/norbornene (28% by weight)/vinyl acetate (29% by weight), a ternary copolymer (conventional polymer C5) composed of tetrafluoroethylene (36% by weight)/norbornene (47% by weight)/t-butyl acrylate (17% by weight), a ternary copolymer (conventional polymer C6) composed of tetrafluoroethylene (28% by weight)/norbornene (38% by weight)/t-butyl acrylate (34% by weight), and a ternary copolymer (conventional polymer C7) composed of tetrafluoroethylene (42% by weight)/norbornene (41% by weight)/5-norbornene-2-carboxylate t-butyl ester (17% by weight) are disclosed.
This Non-patent Document 1 has taught that it is necessary to make an absorption coefficient (optical constant) of a resist film with normalized film thickness be 2.5 (μm−1) or less in order to obtain the sufficient pattern transfer resolution by the exposure with a wavelength of 157 nm. The measured optical constants of the aforementioned polymers are 1.3 (conventional polymer C1), 2.0 (conventional polymer C2), 2.1 (conventional polymer C3), 2.6 (conventional polymer C4), 2.4 (conventional polymer C5), and 3.6 (conventional polymer C6), which are almost preferable values (conventional polymer C7 is not measured). Therefore, this conventional polymer C is acceptable as the base polymer for the next generation resist composition in terms of transparency when the laser light with a wavelength of 157 nm is exposed.
Meanwhile in Patent Document 1, as specific examples of conventional polymer C, many examples are disclosed, and examples thereof may include a binary copolymer (hereinafter, described as conventional polymer C8) composed of tetrafluoroethylene (0.3 mol)/hexafluoroisopropanol substituted norbornene (0.2 mol) as the binary copolymer and a ternary copolymer (hereinafter, described as conventional polymer C9) composed of tetrafluoroethylene (46 mol %)/hexafluoroisopropanol substituted norbornene (27 mol %)/OCH2C(CF3)2OCH2OCH3 substituted norbornene (27 mol %) as the ternary copolymer. The absorption coefficient of the conventional polymer C8 in the irradiated light with a wavelength of 157 nm is 1.27 μm−1 (film thickness 67.5 nm) or 1.40 μm−1 (film thickness 52.3 nm), which is preferable. The absorption coefficient of the conventional polymer C9 at a wavelength of 157 nm is 2.40 μm−1 (film thickness 69.2 nm) or 2.17 μm−1 (film thickness 54.9 nm), and the transparency of the both is acceptable as the base polymer for the next generation resist composition. Furthermore, in this Patent Document 1, using the resulting conventional polymer C as the base polymer, a photoresist composition was prepared, this was applied on a substrate to make a resist film, and a pattern was formed on this film to examine the pattern resolution. For example, in the photoresist composition using the conventional polymer C8 as the base polymer, 1.800% by weight of 2-heptanone, 1.648% by weight of cyclohexanone, 0.080% by weight of t-butyl lithocholate and 0.160% by weight of triphenylsulfonium triflate (5% by weight of cyclohexanone solution) were added to 0.312% by weight of the conventional polymer C8. The resist film was formed from this photoresist composition, and the pattern light with a wavelength of 157 nm was irradiated to form a resist pattern. For the conventional polymer C9, using this polymer as the base polymer, the resist film was formed similarly, and the light with a wavelength of 157 nm was irradiated to form a resist pattern. For the polymers of the other compositions, likewise, the formation of the resist film and patterning thereof were attempted. However, in the Examples for patterning, it is not disclosed at all to evaluate how degree of the resolution was realized.
Therefore, in this Patent Document 1, although it can be confirmed that the transparency of the conventional polymer C is preferable for the light with a wavelength of 157 nm and that the conventional polymer C is promising as the base polymer of the photoresist composition for fine lithography using the irradiation light with a wavelength of 157 nm, the pattern resolution is not unknown, i.e., it is unknown whether a line width of the resist pattern required for the actual pattern of the semiconductor integrated circuit in the next generation has been accomplished and that if accomplished, whether the pattern shape is good or not.
In Non-patent Document 2, for the fluorine-containing monocyclic polymer (hereinafter, described as conventional polymer D) formed by cyclic polymerization of 1,1,2,3,3-pentafluoro-4-trifluoromethyl-4-hydroxy-1,6-heptadiene, the absorption coefficient, Tg, solubility in the developer and solubility in the resist solvent were evaluated, it was confirmed that such properties were preferable, and the resist composition was prepared to form the resist pattern of 100 nm.
From these, it can be confirmed that the polymer is promising as the base polymer of the photoresist composition for the fine lithography using the irradiation light with a wavelength of 157 nm, as is the case with the conventional polymer A.
On the other hand, in the following Patent Document 3 (JP 2003-2925 A), it is described to add a publicly known nitrogen-containing compound to a resist for F2.
However, even though the resist patterns of 90 nm and 80 nm may be resolved using the above conventional polymer C or D (hereinafter, conventional polymers C and D and the conventional polymers A and B are collectively referred to as "conventional polymers") and the certain nitrogen-containing compound in combination, the resist pattern shape is insufficient because a resist top portion becomes round. As described in the conventional art, practical application of the resist pattern of 70 nm or less is aimed because the lithography using the F2 excimer laser attracts the attention as one which will take on the microfabrication technology of 65 nm or less in future. However, in the resist pattern of 80 nm or less, roundness of the resist top portion further worsens. Therefore, it is an important subject to solve the problem.
On an inorganic substrate having nitrogen-containing film such as SiON and a substrate provided with an organic anti-reflection film, the resolution and the pattern shape are insufficient in some cases.

Photoresist composition and resist pattern formation method by the use thereof


One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that optimizes synchronization between monitored signals in a computer system. During operation, the system receives a number of monitored signals. The system then forms a number of signal pairs by grouping each signal with every other signal. Next, the system optimizes synchronization between the signals by iteratively perturbing the timing of each signal in an attempt to increase the value of an objective function which reflects the overall synchronization between all the signals.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to techniques for enhancing the reliability of computer systems. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for optimizing synchronization between monitored signals within a computer system.
2. Related Art
As electronic commerce grows increasingly more prevalent, businesses are increasingly relying on enterprise computing systems to process ever-larger volumes of electronic transactions. A failure in one of these enterprise computing systems can be disastrous, potentially resulting in millions of dollars of lost business. More importantly, a failure can seriously undermine consumer confidence in a business, making customers less likely to purchase goods and services from the business. Hence, it is critically important to ensure high availability in such enterprise computing systems.
To achieve high availability in enterprise computing systems, it is necessary to be able to capture unambiguous diagnostic information that can quickly pinpoint the source of defects in hardware or software. If systems have too little event monitoring, when problems crop up at a customer site, service engineers may be unable to quickly identify the source of the problem. This can lead to increased down time, which can adversely impact customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Fortunately, high-end computer servers, such as those manufactured by SUN Microsystems, Inc. of Santa Clara, Calif., are now equipped with over 1000 sensors that measure variables such as temperature, voltage, current, vibration, and acoustics. Furthermore, software-based monitoring mechanisms monitor system performance parameters such as processor load, memory and cache usage, system throughput, queue lengths, I/O traffic, quality of service, security, etc. In addition, many high-end computer servers have embedded diagnostic systems and online statistical process control techniques that collect and analyze process variables in real time. For example, SUN Microsystems, Inc. is developing a variety of tools for monitoring high-end servers.
These monitoring tools provide proactive fault monitoring based on telemetry signals. However, in many high-end servers, the monitored signals are non-synchronous. Processes can speed up and slow down depending on many factors. Over time, signals generated by different processes can drift even further out of synchronization, which can greatly complicate the process of correlating the signals. This is problematic because most types of statistical pattern recognition mechanisms require input data streams to be synchronized.
Hence, what is needed is a method and an apparatus for optimizing synchronization between the telemetry signals from a computer system.

Optimizing synchronization between monitored computer system signals


The present invention provides an apparatus and method for storing a particle-containing liquid. The storage apparatus comprises a microfluidic convoluted flow channel having a plurality of particle capture regions. The storage channel is preferably an isotropic spatially periodic channel. Sedimented particles can be resuspended following storage. This invention further provides a microfluidic analysis cartridge having a convoluted storage channel therein. The sample analysis can use optical, electrical, pressure sensitive, or flow sensitive detection. A plurality of analysis channels can be included in a single cartridge. The analysis channels can be joined to reagent inlets for diluents, indicators or lysing agents. A mixing channel can be positioned between the reagent inlet and the analysis region to allow mixing and reaction of the reagent. The cartridge can include additional valves and pumps for flow management. The analysis cartridge can be a self-contained disposable cartridge having an integral waste storage container. This invention further provides a sheath flow assembly. The sheath flow assembly includes a sample channel and first and second sheath fluid channels positioned on either side of and converging with the sample channel. The assembly also includes upper and lower sheath fluid chambers positioned above and below and converging with the sample channel. The flow cartridges of this invention can be formed by molding, machining or etching. In a preferred embodiment they are laminated. This invention further provides a method of fabricating a laminated microfluidic flow device. In the method, flow elements are formed in rigid sheets and abutting surfaces of the sheets are bonded together.

With the advent of micro-machining technology, microfluidic devices have proliferated (for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,637,469 to Wilding et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,983,038 to Ohki et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,963,498 to Hillman et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,250,263 to Manz et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,376,252 to Ekstrom et al., E.P. Patent Publication 0381501B1, and Petersen, E. (1982) Proc. of the IEEE, vol. 70, No. 5, pp. 420–457). A practical limitation for particle-containing liquids such as blood is the sedimentation of particles within the device. Following loading the liquid in the device, appreciable particle sedimentation can occur within the time required to position the device in a measurement apparatus. For example, if the sample flow is slowed or stopped, blood cells can measurably settle out of plasma within 20 seconds. Without a sample management method and apparatus for sedimentation mitigation, quantitative analysis, especially using more than one analysis method sequentially, is impractical. Moreover, if samples are first collected and then transported to a measurement apparatus, as in a clinical setting or in field sampling, particle sedimentation can make accurate analysis impossible.
Microfluidic devices having sample storage reservoirs are known in the art (for example, E.P. Patent Publication 0381501B1). Because of particle sedimentation, these devices are useful only for samples without particles. Flow cytometric microfluidic devices are also known in the art (for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,983,038 to Ohki et al.). Flow cytometric measurements are specifically applicable to particle-containing liquids. However, without sedimentation mitigation the measurements can be performed only immediately following sample collection.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


The present invention belongs to the field of diagnosis and treatment of tumors, and relates to a HIF-2α small-molecule inhibitor and use thereof in treatment of tumors such as breast cancer and ovarian cancer. The small-molecule inhibitor is a compound represented by formula (I) or a stereoisomer, pharmaceutically acceptable salt, solvate or prodrug of the compound represented by formula (I). The small-molecule inhibitor mainly inhibits the proliferation of tumor cells by inhibiting HIF-2α protein, and can also inhibit the growth of CSCs with high expression of HIF-2α. The small-molecule inhibitor can be used as a novel anti-tumor drug to completely eliminate tumors and stem cells, and has broad application prospects.

Cancer is a malignant tumor, which generally refers to abnormal cell differentiation and proliferation, and out-of-control growth of normal cells in a body due to external stimuli and has invasion and metastasis. Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are also known as "tumor initiating cells". CSCs have been found in a wide variety of tumors such as breast cancer and ovarian cancer. CSCs are the seeds of tumor occurrence and recurrence, have strong self-renewal ability and multidirectional differentiation potential, and are the root cause of tumor drug resistance. Because CSCs are in a dormant state, their ability to both divide and proliferate is weak. However, current radiotherapy and chemotherapy are mainly aimed at cells at a high proliferation and division stage, so CSCs cannot be effectively targeted and killed, thus resulting in tumor cell metastasis and recurrence.
Paclitaxel is a common chemotherapeutic drug for the treatment of breast cancer, and cisplatin is a common chemotherapeutic drug for the treatment of ovarian cancer. However, long-term treatment with chemotherapeutic drugs such as paclitaxel and cisplatin may induce the production of CSCs and mediate drug resistance. Therefore, targeting CSCs to develop novel drugs against tumors such as breast cancer and ovarian cancer is of great significance for improving the clinical treatment of tumors.
Solid tumors such as breast cancer and ovarian cancer exist in a hypoxic microenvironment. The hypoxic microenvironment can mediate tumor cell resistance to radiotherapy and chemotherapy by promoting tumor angiogenesis and inducing CSCs-like phenotypic transformation. Hypoxia inducible factor (HIFs) oxygen content-sensitive a subunit isomer HIF-1/2α is degraded by means of ubiquitination in normoxia. Moreover, under hypoxic conditions, HIF-1/2α is stably incorporated into the nucleus to initiate transcriptional expression of downstream target genes, thereby enabling tumor cells to tolerate the hypoxic environment. Recent studies have shown that HIF-2α plays an important role in maintaining the sternness and undifferentiated state of tumor cells. The development of targeted inhibitory drugs for HIF-2α is of great significance.
At present, there are few reports on HIF-2α inhibitors. Only Cho et al. found small-molecule PT2399 that can have targeted inhibition of pVHL-deficient renal carcinoma cells HIF-2α, but there are no reports of HIF2-α inhibitors for other tumors such as breast cancer and ovarian cancer. Therefore, developing a novel inhibitor that can target specifically and highly expressed HIF-2α in tumor stem cells has very important clinical significance for inhibiting tumor occurrence, metastasis and recurrence.

HIF-2a small-molecule inhibitor and use thereof


Conventional hot-melt adhesive compositions for the coating of textile sheet structures exhibit problems in respect of resistance to washing and cleaning. The presence of an epoxide in hot-melt adhesive composition enables the production of cleaning-resistant laminated materials having a particularly high level of wash resistance.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to hot-melt adhesive compositions for the coating of sheet structures, for example textiles, leather, foam materials or polymer films. The present invention relates in particular to hot-melt adhesive compositions for the patternwise coating of bondable interlining materials for the clothing industry, especially for outer clothing.
2. Discussion of the Background
Hot-melt adhesive compositions are known which are preferably applied in a pattern, in the form of an aqueous paste, to a sheet structure to be coated. Drying and sintering are then carried out. The sintered product constitutes the hot-melt adhesive composition. The coated sheet structures are laminated, in sheet form or cut to shape, with other sheet structures in sheet form or cut to shape, under the action of pressure and a comparatively mild temperature to give cleaning-resistant laminates having a particularly high degree of wash resistance and adhesion.
Numerous hot-melt adhesive compositions having cleaning-resistant properties are known for use in screen-printing. These are principally formed from aqueous-pasty mixtures comprising fine hot-melt adhesive powders, which can also be employed per se, in coarser granular form, directly for coating by the scatter or powder dot method. The cleaning-resistant hot-melt adhesive compositions most in use today are based on copolyamides, copolyesters or low-pressure polyethylene. Other hot-melt adhesive compositions which are likewise used are not resistant to cleaning.
To form a paste from the fine hot-melt adhesive powders, in order to produce the adhesive layer, special suspension agents or dispersants are used which allow the pastes to be printed cleanly without reducing the resistance to cleaning. In addition, dispersants are intended to give rise to particular features in terms of properties, for example the prevention of sedimentation of the powders incorporated by mixing, a print with well-defined contours, controlled penetration of the hot-melt adhesive paste, prevention of penetration by the outer material, the avoidance of recoiling in the course of bonding, or the prevention of the edges becoming welded together while the sheet structures are being cut to shape. Examples of such dispersants have been described, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,956,213, 4,237,040 and 4,272,566. Plasticizers can be added to the dispersants. In many cases, further additives comprising high molecular weight polyethylene oxide are added, which increase the spreadability of the paste.
For coating in a pattern by the screen-printing technique, screen-printing stencils are used which have a regular or irregular arrangement of perforations through which hot-melt adhesive compositions are pressed onto the interlining material using an internal doctor blade. Whereas, formerly, screen stencils were used which had a comparatively wide spacing and large apertures, for example 17 mesh, in recent times coatings of increasing fineness have been carried out with a close sequence of smaller apertures, for example 30 mesh, with the formation of small, closely adjacent dots of hot-melt adhesive. Moreover, the interlining materials have become more lightweight, finer and more open. The problems associated with coating have grown as the patterns have become finer, and the cleaning and washing problems have increased at the same time, since the larger pattern arrangement with larger individual dots produced a greater adhesive strength than the finer pattern arrangement with relatively small individual dots.
However, the use of interlining materials has also experienced a gradual change. For reasons of fashion and, probably, of environmental protection as well, there is increasing use in articles of clothing of interlining materials which have been or are to be washed rather than cleaned, for example interlinings for leisure wear.
This change in trends has led to the gradual replacement of copolyamide hot-melt adhesives which were originally used exclusively for articles of outer clothing by copolyesters, since copolyesters--although not having the particularly good dry-cleaning resistance of the copolyamides--nevertheless possess a better resistance to washing. Low-pressure polyethylenes are excluded because of the excessive bonding temperatures.
Costs and quality issues have dictated a marked reduction in the quantity of coating which is applied per m.sup.2 of interlining material. Whereas, formerly, add-ons of from 18 to 25 g/m.sup.2 were common, they are nowadays from 7 to 15 g/m.sup.2, to meet the need for a soft, flowing drape of the bonded articles of clothing.
In order to solve the problems relating to the reduced washing and cleaning resistance and to the weaker adhesion, improved hot-melt adhesive compositions and also improved coating technologies were developed. Dual-dot or double-dot coatings are described, for example, in patents DE-B 22 14 236, DE-B 22 31 723, DE-B 25 36 911, and DE-B 32 30 579. Moreover, patents EP-A 0 219 376 and EP-A 0 365 711, describe an indirect coating method.
The coating substrates were improved by using finer yarns having individual fibers of finer denier, ranging down to the microfiber region, and synthetic yarns, for example high-bulk acrylic yarns and crimped polyester yarns. Moreover, the fabrics originally used have been replaced by other sheet structures, for example by weave-knit products or by weave-knit bonded fibre webs and stitch-bonded webs, the latter materials representing a combination of bonded fibre webs with knitted fabrics.
Deficiencies which continue to exist are seen, in particular, in a stiffening and in a reduced crease-resistance of a bonded laminate of interlining and outer material, especially in the case of finely patterned coatings. A factor regarded as being particularly negative, however, is that, in fine-coated interlining materials on fine outer materials, for example blouse outer materials, and despite the use of polyesters, the wash resistance of the bonded laminate is no more than moderate and in many cases is even deficient. There therefore continues to be a considerable need for an interlining of low coating weight which can be applied by hot pressing at the mild fixing temperatures which are nowadays conventional and which imparts a soft bonded handle, can be washed without any problems and retains a high adhesive strength after the washing procedure.
In particular, there is a great need for such interlinings in women's outer wear. Here in particular, depending on fashions, outer materials which lend themselves very unreadily to bonding, such as silk, polyester viscose georgette and siliconized or fluorocarbonized outer materials, are processed. The current interlinings achieve very good primary adhesion, but after washing or cleaning complete detachment occurs. Even complex coating methods such as the traditional double dot and indirect coating techniques bring hardly any success in this context.

Hot-melt adhesive composition for the coating of interlining material


The present invention relates to the formulation of stable, aqueous, concentrated built liquid detergents containing a hydrophilic copolymer and biodegradable chelant.

The incorporation of major amounts of builders in liquid detergent compositions poses a significant formulating challenge since the presence of major amounts of builder inevitably causes the detergent composition to phase separate. Builders such as sodium citrate, citric acid, sodium carbonate, and/or alkali metal silicates can only be incorporated in minor amounts in liquid detergent compositions, such amounts being typically below the concentration levels that would cause separation of the surfactant phase. U.S. Pat. No. 5,536,440 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,534,183 (both assigned to BASF) disclose the use of novel hydrophilic copolymers for stabilizing such concentrated built liquid detergent compositions.
Further, liquid detergent formulators are also concerned with metal ions as they diminish the effectiveness of many detergent formulations. Chelating agents are typically employed to complex the metal ions and thereby significantly improve the performance and efficiency of such formulations. Examples of such chelating agents are the polyphosphates such as potassium diphosphate, sodium tripolyphosphate, aminocarboxylates such as nitrilotriacetate, ethylene diamine tetraacetate, diethylene triamine pentacetate, hydroxycarboxylates such as citric acid, gluconic acid, phosphonates such as amino trimethylene phosphonate and ethylene diamine tetramethylene phosphonate. While the chelating agents listed above have moderate to good complexing power, a number of them have limited utility in commercial cleaning compositions. The major limitations are that chelating agents can cause eutrophication even though they have very good metal complexation properties, while others have poor biodegradability. Another drawback with chelating agents is that incorporation of chelating agents in significant amounts in liquid laundry formulations poses a serious formulating challenge. Chelating agents by virtue of their strong ionic character would typically salt out the surfactant in liquid laundry formulations or cause stability problems in formulating liquid laundry compositions. See, DE 4319935 which discloses the preparation and use of carboxylmethylglycine derivatives as comaplexing agents and WO 96/11253 which discloses a sequestering agent comprising amino acids useful in granular peroxy bleach formulations, and JP 0061637 which discloses carboxymethylamino acids as builders in detergent formulations. Currently, the art is faced with the problem of how to incorporate chelating agents into built liquid detergents.
Applicants have surprisingly discovered that biodegradable chelants can be successfully incorporated into built liquid detergent formulations containing Applicants' hydrophilic copolymer. The resultant built liquid detergent formulation is stable.

Concentrated built liquid detergents containing a biodegradable chelant


A circuit structure having at least one MOS transistor whose source/drain regions are doped by a first conductivity type and whose gate electrode is doped by a conductivity type which is opposite to the first. The gate electrode has a lower dopant concentration at at least one of its edges than in its center. In the ON state, the gate electrode is driven to accumulation, with the result being that no gate depletion occurs. Such a circuit structure is also suitable for CMOS circuits containing PMOS transistors having an n-doped gate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a circuit structure having at least one MOS transistor in which the MOS transistor has both an improved gate oxide reliability and improved leakage current behavior in conjunction with a low resistance of the gate electrode.
2. Description of the Prior Art
MOS transistors having a short channel length are required for various technical applications, particularly in connection with low voltage/low power applications. Many such MOS transistors have gate electrodes made of heavily doped polysilicon. However, n+-doped silicon and p+-doped silicon differ by 1.1 eV in terms of their work function. As such, in a MOS transistor having a gate electrode made of heavily doped polysilicon, this work function difference results in an increase in the electric field strength between the gate electrode and the drain-side pn junction when the conductivity type of the gate electrode differs from the conductivity type of the source/drain regions. This applies both to MOS transistors having an n+-doped gate electrode and p+-doped source/drain regions and to MOS transistors having a p+-doped gate electrode and n+-doped source/drain regions. This increase in the electric field strength leads to a reduction in the reliability of the gate oxide.
The increase in electric field strength becomes particularly problematic in the case of MOS transistors having channel lengths of less than 0.25 um, such as are used for low voltage/low power applications with supply voltages of less than 3 volts. In such cases, the thickness of the gate oxide is less than 5 nm, since the work function difference is constant and does not scale with the supply voltage.
The leakage current behavior is also impaired as a consequence of this increase in the electric field strength. Indeed, the gate-induced drain leakage current (Gate Induced Drain Leakage GIDL) rises because the band-to-band tunneling probability increases owing to the increased electric field strength.
The increased electric field strength between the gate electrode and the drain-side pn junction can be diminished or removed by using a different material for the gate electrode, this material having a lower or even no work function difference with respect to the material of the source/drain region. It has been proposed to form the gate electrode of a MOS transistor from doped polysilicon which is doped by the same conductivity type as the transistor's source/drain regions (see C. Parrillo, IEDM '85, p. 398). It has also been proposed to form the gate electrode from tin (see, for example, J. M. Hwang et al., IEDM '92, p. 345) or tungsten (see, for example, N. Kasai et al., IEDM '88, p. 242). However, there is a risk of gate oxide damage associated with the use of metal-containing materials in forming gate electrodes. In CMOS circuits, for example, which include both n-channel transistors and p-channel transistors, the use of doped polysilicon of the same conductivity type as the source/drain regions for the gate electrode leads to (1) more complicated process control, (2) the boron penetration effect., (3) lateral dopant diffusion in continuous n+-type/p+-type gate lines, and (4) sensitivity to the gate depletion effect.
Furthermore, it has been proposed to modify the work function of n+-doped or p+-doped polysilicon by means of additional doping with germanium (see, for example, T. J. King et al., IEDM '90, p. 253). This measure, too, leads to complicated process control since, on the one hand, special equipment is required and, on the other hand, it is necessary to adapt the process steps to the altered material properties; for example, during etching.
Most recently, in EP-A-0 657 929, it has been proposed, for the purpose of improving (1) the short-channel effects, (2) the leakage current behavior and (3) the reliability of the gate oxide, that the n+-doped gate electrode be counter-doped by means of additional boron implantation in the case of p-channel MOS transistors having an n+-doped gate electrode. Such counter-doping alters the work function of the gate electrode without altering its conductivity type. The dopant concentration in the gate electrode is changed as a result of this measure. Accordingly, the resistance of the gate electrode rises, which then leads to a voltage drop across the gate electrode.

Circuit structure having at least one MOS transistor and method for its production


An advanced IPMI system with multi-message processing and configurable performance and method for the same, optimally used among message sources, i.e. a host system and/or an operating terminal, to process IPMI messages from said message source is disclosed. The IPMI system includes an IPMI message subsystem, an IPMI core subsystem, and a central message buffer unit. The central message buffer unit provides a pointer to a corresponding address for temporary storage of each IPMI message. Each said subsystem each time just transmits the pointer, without a copy of the IPMI message, when transmittal of IPMI message is needed, for reducing times of reading IPMI message. The IPMI message subsystem utilizes multiple programmable-configured message processing units to concurrently multi-process lots of IPMI messages, in compliance with modular design of most units of said subsystems, for raising the implementing performance of the IPMI system.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an advanced IPMI system with multi-message processing and configurable performance and method for the same, and more particularly, to an IPMI system and method for the same for server management.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As known in the art, when remote servers, such as telecommunications equipment, computer stations, and especially ISP servers are out of order, a system manager must go to the server's location to fix the breakdown. This requires a lot of manpower and time. To solve this issue, management technology for remote servers, such as an intelligent platform management interface (IPMI), has gradually been developed.
The IPMI mainly comprises a hardware structure, i.e., a micro-controller having a baseboard management controller (BMC) and firmware embedded in the BMC. The IPMI is actually a server management subsystem operating independently from server hardware such as the central process unit (CPU), basic input/output system (BIOS), and software such as the operating system (OS) and system management software (SMS). The IPMI controls the system management software and the interface of the platform management hardware, especially when failure of the CPU, the BIOS, and/or the OS of the server occurs.
Most of the BMC micro-controllers of the IPMI integrate with an A/D converter for monitoring voltage, a fan speed counter, and an IO and a bus for a sensor. As a watchdog timer of the IPMI detects a fault of the CPU, BIOS, OS, or application program of the servers, the IPMI provides a platform event filter (PEF) to correct a fault or follow instructions from the operating terminal on fault correction. Moreover, the IPMI automatically provides system status detection of software/hardware of the servers, an event diary log, system rebooting control, automatic alarm for the event, and auto-system control (such as system power off). For example, the BMC micro-controller of the IPMI utilizes an I2C digital sensor to obtain by polling the measurement of the host system to monitor the system voltage, temperature, and fan speed variations of the remote host system. The IPMI then decides whether the monitored data exceed the default range and sends an I2C sensing data (an IPMI message) through an intelligent platform management bus (IPMB) or communicates with the host system through a system management bus (SMBus) interface. Any system exception will be immediately recorded in a system event log (SEL) and the IPMI will call for the PEF to find a response action that matches the exception, for instance, cutting off the power supply, re-plugging in the power, rebooting, sending/broadcasting a warning, and so forth.
The IPMI can further allow a remote operating terminal for transmitting through a local area network (LAN) an IPMI message packet conforming to remote mail checking protocol (RMCP) and user datagram protocol/internet protocol (UDP/IP) or remotely monitoring/controlling servers with serial messages of serial modem (such as a universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter, UART) interface protocol for accessing the monitored data for immediate fault correction to a critical event. When the temperature of said server over-ranges significantly, the IPMI keeps track of the event log for future reference and automatically exterminates the problem by speeding up the system fan for more heat dissipation and sending a broadcast caution on local area network (LAN), that is, sending to the remote operating terminal a simple network management protocol (SNMP) trap of platform event traps (PET) or a caution of a serial modem. The operating terminal, host system, or BMC controller of the IPMI receives/sends an IPMI channel message for the firmware of the IPMI to process and respond through some different fixed channels, such as intelligent platform management bus (IPMB), keyboard control style application interface (KCS), intelligent chassis management bus (ICMB), universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter (UART), or local area network (LAN).
What needs to be noticed is that the IPMI system cannot directly access hardware data of a sensor unit such as an I2C sensor but accesses said data by generating a sensor command such as 'Get Sensor Reading' through a sensor management unit such as a management controller.
However, firmware design of the generic IPMI is still not perfect and some drawbacks exist:
(1) As an IPMI massage passes through a module or a unit of the firmware, the module or unit itself needs to allocate a dedicated local memory to copy the passing IPMI message for later passing, queuing, using, and implementing the IPMI message. This requires higher memory cost and lowers the IPMI performance since reading/copying the IPMI message occurs in all steps, increasing the overall system execution time.
(2) The execution unit of the prior art IPMI firmware deals with one IPMI message at a time and the rest of the IPMI messages wait in queue for the next response, dropping even more IPMI performance.
(3) Because of the interdependence of the prior art IPMI firmware units, replacement of any individual unit is unlikely, especially when the operator needs some changes of the firmware functions. Nothing can be changed unless rearranging the overall IPMI structure; therefore, no expandability and programmability is allowed to the user.
(4) The prior art IPMI firmware requires a sensor management unit such as a management controller to access a sensing event in an electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM) of a sensor unit. However, the access speed of the EEPROM is pretty low. The EERPOM will be busy and then jammed in the data bus if lots of IPMI messages are in queue. Especially when the EEPROM shares the data bus with other devices, lots of data collisions will make the system even more sluggish.
(5) The prior art IPMI firmware is unable to automatically coordinate with too many different types of hardware such as BMC controllers or different types of operating systems (OSs).

Advanced IPMI system with multi-message processing and configurable performance and method for the same


Modular switchgear and methods for manufacturing the same. The modular switchgear includes a vacuum interrupter assembly, a source conductor assembly, and a housing assembly. The vacuum interrupter assembly includes a bushing, a fitting, and a vacuum interrupter at least partially molded within the bushing and including a movable contact and a stationary contact. The source conductor assembly includes a bushing, a fitting, and a source conductor molded within the bushing. The housing assembly includes a housing defining a chamber and a drive shaft and conductor positioned within the chamber. The housing assembly also includes a first receptacle for receiving the fitting of the vacuum interrupter assembly and a second receptacle for receiving the fitting of the source conductor assembly. The vacuum interrupter assembly, the source conductor assembly, and the housing assembly are coupled without molding the assemblies within a common housing.

Solid dielectric switchgear typically includes a source conductor and a vacuum interrupter with at least one stationary contact and at least one movable contact. Switchgear also includes a contact-moving mechanism for moving the movable contact included in the vacuum interrupter and an operating rod (e.g., a drive shaft) that connects the mechanism to the movable contact. In addition, switchgear can include one or more sensors, such as a current sensor, a current transformer, or voltage sensor. All of these components are commonly over-molded in a single epoxy form. Therefore, the vacuum interrupter, contact-moving mechanism, operating rod, and any sensors are molded within a single coating or layer of epoxy to form integrated switchgear.
The single epoxy form provides structural integrity and dielectric integrity. In particular, the components of the switchgear are over-molded with epoxy that has high dielectric strength. The molded epoxy also can be formed into skirts on the outside of the switchgear that increase the external creep distance. The single epoxy form also protects against environment elements.


Fluid jet systems, components and related methods are provided which are well adapted for processing workpieces under particularly work-friendly conditions. Embodiments include fluid jet systems and related methods that reduce, minimize or eliminate a gap between a workpiece being processed and jet receiving devices that receive and dissipate the energy of a fluid jet passing through the workpiece. Other embodiments include fluid jet systems and related methods involving fluid jet processing of workpieces in a submerged condition. Still further embodiments include fluid jet systems and related methods involving position and orientation adjustment of a fluid jet receptacle to coordinate the path of an incoming fluid jet with a central axis or other feature of the fluid jet receptacle.

Technical Field
This disclosure is related to fluid jet cutting systems, components and methods, and, in particular, fluid jet cutting systems, devices and methods that facilitate improved work environments.
Description of the Related Art
Fluid jet or abrasive-fluid jet cutting systems are used for cutting a wide variety of materials, including stone, glass, ceramics, composites and metals. In a typical fluid jet cutting system, a high-pressure fluid (e.g., water) flows through a cutting head having a cutting nozzle that directs a cutting jet onto a workpiece. The system may draw or feed abrasives into the high-pressure fluid jet to form an abrasive-fluid jet. The cutting nozzle may be controllably moved across the workpiece to cut the workpiece as desired. After the fluid jet, or abrasive fluid jet, generically referred to hereinafter as a "fluid jet," passes through the workpiece, the energy of the fluid jet is often dissipated by a relatively large volume of water in a catcher tank that may also be configured to support the workpiece. Systems for generating high-pressure fluid jets are currently available, such as, for example, the Mach 4™ five-axis waterjet system manufactured by Flow International Corporation, the assignee of the present application. Other examples of waterjet cutting systems are shown and described in Flow's U.S. Pat. No. 5,643,058, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Examples of catcher tank systems for supporting workpieces and dissipating energy of a waterjet after it passes through a workpiece are shown and described in Flow's U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/193,435, filed Jul. 28, 2011, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Although many fluid jet cutting systems feature a catcher tank arrangement having a relatively large volume of water contained therein to dissipate energy of the fluid jet during use, other known systems utilize compact or relatively compact fluid jet receptacles which are positioned opposite a cutting head and moved in unison with the same to catch the jet after it is discharged from the cutting head and acts on a workpiece. Examples of such receptacles (also referred to as catcher cups) and other related devices are shown and described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,435,902; 4,532,949; 4,651,476; 4,665,949; 4,669,229; 4,698,939; 4,799,415; 4,920,841; and 4,937,985.
Known fluid jet systems, however, can suffer from several drawbacks. For example, many fluid jet systems may be configured such that they generate excessive noise and/or other conditions that provide less than an ideal work environment.


Optical fiber and cable management apparatus includes a base for mounting on a wall or other surface at a subscriber premises, and a drum region extending axially upward from the base. The drum region includes an outer cylindrical wall for supporting a length of a first fiber optic cable wound about the outer wall, an inner cylindrical wall disposed radially inward of the outer wall to define an annular fiber routing region between the two walls, and a cable entry port in the outer wall for receiving an end portion of the first fiber optic cable so that fibers of the cable may be routed through the fiber routing region. An interface compartment disposed atop the drum is constructed to interface a first set of fibers routed within the compartment, with a second set of fibers associated with a second fiber optic cable that is routed to the apparatus.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to drop boxes or enclosures for managing fiber optic cables in the deployment of fiber optic networks at subscriber premises.
2. Discussion of the Known Art
The deployment of fiber optic networks at multi-dwelling units (MDUs) and other subscriber premises, requires the use of so-called cable drop boxes which are designed for mounting on walls or other structures at the premises. Current industry practice calls for the boxes to have a cable entry port at the left side of the box for receiving a fiber optic cable originating from the network provider, and one or more ports at the right side of the box through which a number of fibers associated with individual subscribers at the premises are routed to connect with fibers in the provider cable. See, for example, Corning Cable Systems, Wall-Mountable Connector Housings, at <www.corningcablesystems.com>, and ADC Telecommunications, Indoor Fiber Distribution Terminals—Customer Premises Equipment (CPE), at <www.adc.com/productsandservices/>. See also, 2007 Multilink Catalog, vol. 24, at pages 87-94, disclosing a family of wall mountable fiber optic cable enclosures available from Multilink, Inc., of Elyria, Ohio, USA.
Installation of the known cable drop boxes by a single worker at a subscriber premises can be difficult and time consuming, however. Further, the known boxes are dimensioned to accommodate older types of fiber optic cables which can not tolerate bend diameters of less than three inches (76.2 mm) without impairing cable performance. Accordingly, the currently available drop boxes are relatively large, and are not well-suited for widespread deployment of fiber optic networks at multi-dwelling units or other kinds of premises without significant expenditures of time and labor.

Wall-mountable optical fiber and cable management apparatus


A first cryptographic communication system is disclosed. The first cryptographic communication system includes a common hardware module configured to receive local cryptographic signals and coalition cryptographic signals that includes a transmitter, a receiver, a common router, a trusted router, and a data loader. The first cryptographic communication system further includes a local cryptographic assembly and a coalition cryptographic assembly each including and end cryptographic unit communicatively coupled to the trusted router, a cross domain guard communicatively coupled to the end cryptographic unit and the trusted router, and a general purpose security module communicatively coupled to the cross domain guard. The first cryptographic communication system further includes a data recoding module communicatively coupled to the data loader that includes local and coalition data recording devices. A cryptographic communication networking is also disclosed that includes the first cryptographic communication system and a second cryptographic communication system.

Communication between coalitions of mission participants require multilevel security systems. These security systems handle information with different classifications (e.g., different security levels), permitting access by participants/applications with different security clearances, and prevent participants/applications from obtaining access to information for which they lack authorization. Information handled within these security systems are often encrypted via cryptographic systems that enable mission participants to exchange information (e.g., test data, training data, and/or live virtual constructive data (LVC)) at different classification levels/algorithms. For example, a mission participant may utilize a specific encryption level/algorithm for domestic-only communication, and a different encryption level/algorithm for international communication.
Encryption units within multilevel security systems are required to support cryptographic systems from differing entities, which requires evaluation and/or certification by multiple mission participants. Current encryption units are limited in their interoperability, or efficiency of interoperability, with multilevel security systems that encrypt information under differing cryptographic systems. Thus, it is desirable to provide a system or method that avoids the shortcomings of conventional approaches.

Domain isolated processing for coalition environments


Novel designs for printed circuit board transformers, and in particular for coreless printed circuit board transformers designed for operation in power transfer applications, are disclosed in which shielding is provided by a combination of ferrite plates and thin copper sheets.

This invention relates to a novel planar printed-circuit-board (PCB) transformer structure with effective (EMI) shielding effects.
Planar magnetic components are attractive in portable electronic equipment applications such as the power supplies and distributed power modules for notebook and handheld computers. As the switching frequency of power converter increases, the size of magnetic core can be reduced. When the switching frequency is high enough (e.g. a few Megahertz), the magnetic core can be eliminated. Low-cost coreless PCB transformers for signal and low-power (a few Watts) applications have been proposed by the present inventors in U.S. patent applications Ser. No. 08/018,871 and U.S. Ser. No. 09/316,735 the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
It has been shown that the use of colorless PCB transformer in signal and low-power applications does not cause a serious EMC problem. In power transfer applications, however, the PCB transformers have to be shielded to comply with EMC regulations. Investigations of planar transformer shielded with ferrite sheets have been reported and the energy efficiency of a PCB transformer shielded with ferrite sheets can be higher than 90% in Megahertz operating frequency range. However, as will be discussed below, the present invention have found that using only thin ferrite materials for EMI shielding is not effective and the EM fields can penetrate the thin ferrite sheets easily.
FIGS. 1 and 2 show respectively an exploded perspective and cross-sectional view of a PCB transformer shielded with ferrite plates in accordance with the prior art. The dimensions of the PCB transformer under test are detailed in Table I. The primary and secondary windings are printed on the opposite sides of a PCB. The PCB laminate is made of FR4 material. The dielectric breakdown voltage of typical FR4 laminates range from 15 kV to 40 kV. Insulating layers between the copper windings and the ferrite plates should have high thermal conductivity in order to facilitate heat transfer from the transformer windings to the ferrite plates and the ambient. The insulating layer should also be a good electrical insulator to isolate the ferrite plates from the printed transformer windings. A thermally conductive silicon rubber compound coated onto a layer of woven glass fibre, which has breakdown voltage of 4.5 kV and thermal conductivity of 0.79 Wmxe2x88x921Kxe2x88x921, is used to provide high dielectric strength and facilitate heat transfer. The ferrite plates placed on the insulating layers are made of 4F1 material from Philips. The relative permeability, xcexcr, and resistivity, xcfx81, of the 4F1 ferrite material are about 80 and 105xcexa9m, respectively.
According to the present invention there is provided a planar printed circuit board transformer comprising at least one copper sheet for electromagnetic shielding.
Viewed from another aspect of the invention provides a planar printed circuit board transformer comprising,
(a) a printed circuit board,
(b) primary and secondary windings formed by coils deposited on opposed sides of said printed circuit board,
(c) first and second ferrite plates located over said primary and secondary windings respectively, and
(d) first and second copper sheets located over said first and second ferrite plates respectively.

Planar printed-circuit-board transformers with effective electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding


Methods and systems for branch printing. A secure print path to a remote printer can be configured from a device from which a print job originates. The secure print path is configured to include secure device communications and secure job spooling. The print job can be routed via port forwarding to the remote printer for rendering (e.g., printing) at the remote printer. Configuring the secure print path can involve employing an SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) and an IPP (Internet Printing Protocol) over an SSL (Secure Socket Layer) to train a print server to determine the optimal pooling path for the secure print path.

As computers become smaller and more portable, it has become desirable to have increased ability to print to different printers from a portable computer. For example, with handheld computers approaching the size of a mobile phone, these computers and their users may often be in the vicinity of a printer that the user would like to print to, but cannot easily access. This may occur anytime the user is located away from their residence or typical workplace. One example may be the case of a user who has traveled to a different state to attend a conference and wishes to print to a printer at her hotel as well as to a printer at the conference center.
Another example involves branch printing, which is a form of printing in which a user at one location (e.g., a company headquarters) desires to print documents at a remote or branch location. Electronically sending print jobs to satellite or branch locations is a challenging task without additional support infrastructure at each location. Because such remote locations do not offer an IT footprint, it is often the requirement of the customer to enable the printing service without additional IT assets or infrastructure, which requires expensive and time-consuming maintenance.
An ideal candidate for branch printing is a business or organization that has many branches, but no centralized network to manage the print assets in each location, with each location containing a single print resource. This is seen in many places such as, for example, hospitality businesses/hotels, Internet cafes, air travel, and other businesses where small branches or satellite locations may be present.

Method and system for secure branch printing


A carrier composition, including a particulate magnetic material; and a layer located on a surface of the particulate magnetic material, wherein the layer is formed by heating a mixture containing a metal alkoxide; a resin having a hydroxyl group reacting with the metal alkoxide; and a particulate inorganic material.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a carrier providing a charge to a toner by frictionizing the toner, a developer including the carrier and a toner, and a process cartridge and an image forming apparatus using the developer.
2. Discussion of the Background
An electrophotographic image forming method typically forms an electrostatic latent image on a photoconductive image bearer; provides a charged toner to the electrostatic latent image to form a visual image; transfers the visual toner image onto a transfer medium such as papers; and fixes the visual toner image on the transfer medium with a heat, a pressure or a solvent vapor, etc.
The electrophotographic image forming method is broadly classified to a two-component developing method wherein a toner is charged by mixing the toner with a carrier and a one-component developing method wherein a toner is charged without using a carrier.
The one-component developing method is broadly classified to a magnetic developing method and a non-magnetic developing method according to whether a toner is magnetically borne by a developing roller.
Conventionally, the two-component developing method which has good charge stability and build ability of the toner and stably produces quality images for long periods is mostly used for printers, copiers and complex machines which are required to have high-speed printability and quality image reproducibility; and the one-component developing method is mostly used for small printers and facsimiles which are required to be space-saving and low-cost.
Recently in particular, color images are produced more, and therefore high-quality images and stability of image quality are demanded more than ever.
The two-component developing method stably produces good images by mixing and stirring a toner and a carrier to charge them as mentioned above, but the carrier deteriorates and a mixing ratio between the toner and carrier varies. Since the mixing ratio between the toner and carrier, i.e., a toner concentration affects image density, the toner needs to be supplied as needed to produce stable images. Further, when the toner and carrier are mixed and stirred, a pressure is applied thereto, and therefore a surface of the particulate carrier is abraded and the toner is spent thereon, which cause deterioration and instability of friction chargeability of the carrier, resulting in deterioration of image density and quality.
In addition, recently, both copiers and printers are required to save space, and to meet this requirement, a toner including a release agent is used in many cases because a fixer becomes small by saving a fixing oil and applying a small amount thereof. The release agent on the surface of the toner tends to be spent on the carrier.
In addition, since a toner having a small particle diameter has a large specific surface area, a surface energy thereof increases and the toner tends to adhere to neighboring materials, resulting in deterioration of fluidity thereof. When the fluidity of the toner deteriorates, the toner is not smoothly supplied to an image developer, and is not fully mixed with the carrier to sufficiently be charged. Therefore, a large amount of a fluidizer is added to the toner to impart fluidity, and further to impart mixability thereto to be uniformly mixed with the carrier in a short time. When the amount of the fluidizer is large, an existential status thereof changes as time passes, resulting in variation of the fluidity and frictional charge quantity of the toner and carrier.
In addition, a particulate inorganic material is often used as the fluidizer, and such a particulate material abrades other contact members, resulting in acceleration of abrasion of a coated layer of the carrier.
Therefore, the following technologies are disclosed to protect a photoreceptor from being damaged or abraded by the fluidizer, and to control charge polarity and charge quantity thereof.
For example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2-131250 discloses a two-component developer comprising a carrier and a toner, wherein the carrier has a ceramic coating of a specific metal alkoxide, having a thickness of from 0.05 to 5 μm.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 7-295303 discloses a coating agent for an electrophotographic carrier, including a specific organopolysiloxane.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publications Nos. 7-181743 and 7-181744 disclose an electrophotographic carrier coated and hardened with a partial hydrolysis sol formed of at least one of Si alkoxide, Ti alkoxide, Al alkoxide and Zr alkoxide.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 7-181745 discloses an electrophotographic carrier coated and hardened with a partial hydrolysis sol formed of at least one of Si alkoxide, Ti alkoxide, Al alkoxide and Zr alkoxide, and including an inorganic oxide powder having an average particle diameter of from 1 to 100 nm and a hydroxyl group on a surface thereof.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 8-006309 discloses a carrier for developing an electrostatic latent image, having a metal oxide layer including at least one of aluminum, magnesium, zinc and lead on a core material.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 8-030039 discloses a carrier for developing an electrostatic latent image, wherein a particulate core material is coated with a metal oxide formed by a sol-gel method.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 11-202561 discloses a coating agent for a charging member, including a product from a reaction at a specific ratio between a silicone resin having a specific composition and an acrylic resin polymerized with at least one radical polymerizing vinyl monomer as a main component.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2000-172020 discloses a carrier particles including a chemical compound selected from the group consisting of monomeric polyfunctional organosilanes, hydrolyzates of monomeric polyfunctional organosilanes, reaction products of monomeric polyfunctional organosilanes and heteroatom-containing organosilanes, wherein the reaction products of monomeric polyfunctional organosilanes and alkoxides further includes 5-50 wt. % silicon atom-free polymeric compound.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2000-162827 discloses a magnetic carrier for an electrophotographic developer, formed of a particulate magnetic powder having an average particle diameter of from 10 to 200 μm including a particulate magnetic core material coated with a resin composition formed of a metallic hardener, a silane coupling oligomer and a silicone resin.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2001-272826 discloses an electrophotographic carrier prepared by applying the following coating agent on a surface of a core material comprising a magnetic material. The coating agent includes a composite material produced from an organic compound having two or more functional groups, a compound and/or its hydrolyzed condensed product and a compound having a functional group which can react with the functional group of the organic compound and having a functional group which can react with the compound. The composite material consists of two or more kinds of composite components having different contents of nonvolatile components measured by the weight reduction by heating at 900° C. in air.
On the other hand, when a toner has a smaller particle diameter, the toner has a larger specific surface area. Although a charge quantity of the toner per unit area does not change, a charge quantity thereof per unit volume increases in terms of results.
A toner quantity forming an image depends on a toner quantity according to a latent image formed on an image bearer. Therefore, when a charge quantity of the toner per unit volume is too large, a sufficient toner quantity to form an image cannot be prepared and higher image quality with a toner having a small particle diameter is not always realized.
To secure a sufficient toner quantity on the image bearer, there is a method of enlarging a contrast of the latent image. However, in this case, the image bearer needs to have a sufficiently large charge potential, which tends to be disadvantageous in terms of consumed energy, temporal stability and electrostatic fatigue.
The above-mentioned technologies improving surface strength of the carrier and preventing a spent toner thereon cannot be expected at all to have effects on increase of charge quantity of the toner having a smaller particle diameter.
Besides, (1) abrasion of a surface of a carrier, (2) peeling of a surface coated layer of a carrier, (3) breakup of a carrier and (4) toner constituents adhered (spent) onto a carrier cause deterioration of chargeability, gradation from a desired electrical resistance, and tips and abrasion powders of foreign particles, resulting in deterioration of image density and image resolution, foggy background, physical/electrical damage to an image bearer and durability of the carrier. To solve these problems, various suggestions have been made in terms of materials for the carrier.
However, the suggestions cannot be expected to have sufficient effects in an environment wherein a fixing temperature is further lowered and a carrier is expected to have a longer life.
For examples, in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publications Nos. 8-6308, 9-269614, 9-311504 and 10-239913, a matrix resin alone covers almost all the surface of a carrier, and therefore prevention of adherence of a toner mostly depends on a coverage of the matrix resin over the carrier and sufficient spent prevention is not always activated. When a toner capable of having a low-temperature fixability is used, in a method disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 10-198078, a part of the carrier, having the same component as that of the binder resin of a toner, tends to a base the toner particles adhere to and the toner occasionally has a low charge quantity.
In addition, it has been suggested many times that a silicone resin having comparatively a low surface energy is coated on a carrier. However, the silicone resin does not adhere to a core material of the carrier well due to its low surface energy.
Besides, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 58-108548 discloses a carrier coated with a specific resin material, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publications Nos. 54-155048, 57-40267, 58-108549, 59-166968 and 6-202381, and Japanese Patent Publication No. 1-19584 disclose a carrier coated with a specific resin material further including various additives, and Japanese Patent No. 3120460 discloses a carrier coated with a specific resin material, which an additive adheres to. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 8-6307 discloses that a benzoguanamine-n-butylalcohol-formaldehyde copolymer is used as a main component of a carrier coating material, and Japanese Patent No. 2683624 discloses that a crosslinked product between a melamine resin and an acrylic resin is used as a carrier coating material. Still, these carriers do not have sufficient durability.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publications Nos. 2001-117287, 2001-117288 and 2001-188388 disclose that a thermoplastic resin is used as a coating resin, and a coated layer including a particulate material larger than a thickness of a binder resin.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 9-319161 discloses a method of dispersing a specific thermosetting particulate resin in a matrix resin, wherein a carrier has a coated layer having a property equivalent to that of the initial coated layer even after abraded. However, the abrasion itself is not sufficiently decreased. Japanese Patent No. 2998633 discloses a method of dispersing an electroconductive particulate powder together with the specific thermosetting particulate resin in a matrix resin. However, the abrasion itself is not sufficiently decreased, either.
Because of these reasons, a need exists for a carrier suitable for producing high-quality images, having stable properties without overcharging a toner for long periods.

Carrier, developer including the carrier, and image forming apparatus using the developer


A non-contact voltage tester has a self-test feature so that when a switch clip of the tester is actuated, light and sound indicator devices are energized to give a single blink and beep, respectively, following which the tester is ready for probing for a voltage. The light and sound indicator devices also indicate the presence of a voltage when the switch is actuated and a voltage is detected at the probe tip of the tester.

This invention relates to hand held non-contact voltage testers, and particularly to such a device with a combination of features which facilitates the use of the device.
Hand held non-contact voltage testers of the type to which the present invention relates are well known. For example, they are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,822,598; 3,919,631 and 5,103,165. Such devices are typically pen-like pocket held and battery operated, and have a number of uses.
Such devices are used to detect whether a voltage is present at the location or wire being probed. If there is a voltage present, the device either lights and/or an alarm sounds off, repeatedly or continuously for as long as the probe tip is held in the vicinity of the voltage, to signal the operator that a voltage is present. Knowing a voltage is present, the operator will exercise caution around the location or handling the wire, or will turn the voltage off, for example at a circuit breaker panel.
If a location or wire is probed and the device does not light up or sound off, the operator may assume there is no voltage present and may exercise less caution than if a voltage was indicated. In fact, there may be a voltage present, and the reason for the device not indicating the voltage is that the batteries are dead, or the light or sound indicating device are non-operational.
Therefore, there is a need for a non-contact voltage tester which gives the operator an indication of whether it is operable.


A data communications device, such as a router, is configured for use in an outdoor environment. The router includes wireless communications circuit boards mounted within an environmentally sealed housing. The housing protects the circuit boards from exposure to extreme environmental conditions such as relatively high temperatures, rain, or snow to maintain the operability of the router. The router also includes a thermal transfer assembly disposed within the sealed housing that conducts heat away from the router's circuit board components. Because the thermal transfer assembly operates using conduction rather than convection, the data communications device does not require the use of a fan assembly to remove heat from the circuit board components. This minimizes the overall size and weight of the data communications device, allowing the device to be deployed in a variety of outdoor locations, such as traffic signal poles, curb side cabinets, or vehicles.

Conventional networks typically include data communications devices that transmit data packets from one or more sources to one or more destinations. Certain data communications devices, such as routers, receive packets containing data and control information at input ports, and, based on destination or other information included in the packets, route the packets to appropriate output ports that lead to either another router or to the packet's final destination.
Conventional routers are designed for use within environmentally controlled locations. For example, low capacity routers are typically used in home networks to route data among personal computers. High-performance routers, commonly used within enterprises such as telecommunication companies and Internet service providers, provide relatively high bandwidth packet routing and can process packets for many thousands of different end users. In either case, the routers operate indoors under conditions of substantially controlled temperature and controlled humidity which helps to maintain the operability of the devices.
Additionally, conventional routers typically include certain cooling mechanisms, such as fan assemblies, that remove heat from the router's circuit boards and circuit board components via convection. The fan assemblies help to maintain the temperature of the router's components below a particular threshold to maintain the router's operability during use.

Portable data routing device and method of use


The invention relates to an optical viewing system and a method of aligning an eyepiece image and an image of a camera that is part of an optical viewing system, which enables both the observation of an optical image with one eye and the capturing of the optical image with the camera. The optical viewing system comprises an optical device, an eyepiece with field diaphragm, a beam splitter, and a camera with image capturing level.

Optical devices designed for visual observation, such as microscopes, endoscopes, camera viewfinders and binoculars, are often used in combination with a camera with beam splitter, thereby enabling simultaneous visual and video observation. For this purpose, the camera image should preferably be set up such that the visual eyepiece image and the video image of the camera are compatible. Due to mechanical tolerances and the magnification on the camera and eyepieces, the camera image and the eyepiece image are usually not mechanically aligned with each other in a sufficiently centric manner, and the exact size of the field of view of the eyepiece is not always known. A respective adjustment is complex and requires experience in the adjustment of optical devices.

Abstract: According to the method, an image mask is adjusted to the eyepiece image for the camera image of the camera as follows:                The eyepiece is illuminated from its side facing away from the optical device, and light passes through the eyepiece to the beam splitter so that the light is partially reflected from the first semi-reflective surface to the second semi-reflective surface and from the second semi-reflective surface to the camera, resulting in the camera capturing an image of the field diaphragm of the eyepiece as a light spot on the image capturing level.        The position of the center point of the light spot on the image capturing level is determined.        The image mask is aligned based on the position of the center point of the light spot on the image capturing level.