There are provided an image-forming method which is capable of improving image quality of a transfer image, and a transfer sheet film therefor, as well as an image-forming apparatus. An image is printed on at least one transfer sheet film provided for use on at least one of front and back surfaces of a print medium, by using sublimable dye ink, thereby causing the sublimable dye ink to be held in the transfer sheet film. The at least one transfer sheet film and the print medium are overlaid to each other such that a printing surface of the transfer sheet film faces the at least one surface of the print medium. The image is transferred by heating the transfer sheet film and the print medium overlaid to each other while applying pressure thereto and thereby causing diffusion of the sublimable dye ink held in the transfer sheet film in the at least one surface of the print medium for color development. Then, the transfer sheet film is removed from the print medium having the image formed thereon. The transfer sheet film is formed of a water-soluble and soft resin material, and the printing surface is formed to be a smooth surface.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an image-forming method using a print medium and a transfer sheet film, for thermally transferring an image printed by using a sublimable dye ink from the transfer sheet film onto the print medium, to thereby form the image on the print medium, and the transfer sheet film used therefor, as well as to an image-forming apparatus.
2. Prior Art
Conventionally, an image-forming method is known which transfers an image printed on a transfer paper by using a sublimable dye ink by one of various printing methods from the transfer paper to a print medium. This image-forming method overlays a printing surface of the transfer paper to a transfer surface of the print medium, heating the transfer paper and the print medium while applying pressure thereto e.g. by using a thermal press, thereby causing the sublimable dye ink held in the transfer paper to permeate from the printing surface of the transfer paper in a direction of thickness thereof into the transfer surface of the print medium through evaporation/diffusion to effect image transfer. Then, after completion of the image transfer, the transfer paper is peeled off the print medium.
In general, to transfer a high-quality image printed on a transfer paper onto a print medium while maintaining the high quality of the image, it is essential to press the transfer paper and the print medium against each other for intimate contact there between during the image transfer operation. However, the transfer paper has too coarse a printing surface to achieve complete and intimate contact with the print medium, so that minute gaps are produced between the transfer paper and the print medium, resulting in a transferred image with color irregularity. On the other hand, if a transfer sheet having a smooth and solid surface is used to overcome the problem, since the transfer sheet has no elasticity differently from the transfer paper described above, it is difficult to cause air to be expelled from between the surfaces of the transfer sheet and a print medium held in intimate contact with each other. Therefore, in this case as well, it is expected to produce a transferred image with color irregularity.
It is an object of the invention to provide an image-forming method which is capable of improving image quality of a transfer image, and a transfer sheet film therefor, as well as an image-forming apparatus.
To attain the above object, according to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided an image-forming method comprising the steps of:
printing an image on a printing surface of at least one sheet of a transfer sheet film prepared in a manner associated with at least one surface of a print medium, by using a sublimable dye ink, thereby causing the sublimable dye ink to be held in the at least one sheet of the transfer sheet film;
overlaying the at least one sheet of the transfer sheet film to the print medium such that the printing surface of the at least one sheet of the transfer sheet film faces the at least one surface of the print medium;
transferring the image by heating the at least one sheet of the transfer sheet film and the print medium overlaid to each other while applying pressure thereto, thereby causing diffusion of the sublimable dye ink held in the at least one sheet of the transfer sheet film into the at least one surface of the print medium for color development; and
removing the at least one sheet of the transfer sheet film from the print medium having the image formed thereon,
wherein the transfer sheet film is formed of a water-soluble and soft resin material, and the printing surface is formed to be a smooth surface.
According to the image-forming method, when an image is printed on the transfer sheet film, the sublimable dye ink is impregnated into the transfer sheet film and held in the same. Then, the transfer sheet film and the print medium are overlaid to each other such that the printing surface of the transfer sheet film faces the surface of the print medium, and then heated in this state, whereby the sublimable dye ink is transferred from the transfer sheet film deep into the surface layer of the print medium as migration particles having sizes at a molecular level and develops color to form an image thereon. Then, simply by removing the transfer sheet film from the print medium thereafter, the print medium having the image easily formed on the surface thereof is prepared.
In the present image-forming method, since the transfer sheet film formed of a water-soluble resin material is employed as a transfer medium, it is possible to maintain excellent ink absorbency during the printing process, which enables the sublimable dye ink to be stably impregnated into the transfer sheet film and held therein without being diffused. Therefore, when the transfer sheet film is heated in a state overlaid to the print medium with its printing surface facing the same, the sublimable dye ink is transferred directly onto the surface of the print medium without passing through the transfer sheet film or being hindered by air or the like trapped between the transfer sheet film and the print medium, so that the print image can be transferred faithfully. Further, since the printing surface of the transfer sheet film has smoothness, and the transfer sheet film is formed of a soft resin, when the transfer sheet film is pressed against the print medium, air trapped between the transfer sheet film and the print medium can be expelled easily, which ensures as intimate contact as possible between the transfer sheet film and the print medium. This makes it possible to form a clear and sharp transfer image without color irregularity on the print medium. It should be noted that the transfer sheet film is preferably formed of a material composed of a main component of PVA (polyvinyl alcohol) and an additive which exhibits slight tackiness when heated.
Preferably, the printing step includes printing images on respective printing surfaces of two sheets of the transfer sheet film prepared in a manner associated with front and back surfaces of the print medium, by using the sublimable dye ink, thereby causing the sublimable dye ink to be held in the two sheets of the transfer sheet film, the overlaying step including overlaying the two sheets of the transfer sheet film to the print medium such that the printing surfaces of the two sheets of the transfer sheet film face the front and back surfaces of the print medium, respectively, the transferring step including transferring the images by heating the two sheets of the transfer sheet film and the print medium overlaid to each other while applying pressure thereto, thereby causing diffusion of the sublimable dye ink held in the two sheets of the transfer sheet film into the front and back surfaces of the print medium for color development, and the removing step including removing the two sheets of the transfer sheet film from the print medium having the images formed thereon.
According to this preferred embodiment, an image is printed on each sheet of the transfer sheet film, whereby the sublimable dye ink is impregnated into the sheet of the transfer sheet film and held in the same. Then, the two sheets of the transfer sheet film and the print medium are overlaid to each other such that the respective printing surfaces of the two sheets of the transfer sheet film face the front and back surfaces of the print medium, and then heated in this state, whereby the sublimable dye ink is transferred from the sheets of the transfer sheet film deep into each surface layer of the print medium as migration particles having sizes at a molecular level and develop color to form an image thereon. Then, simply by removing the transfer sheet film from the print medium, the print medium having the images easily formed on the front and back surface thereof is prepared.
Therefore, this preferred embodiment provides the same advantageous effects as described above, and is capable of forming clear and sharp transferred images without color irregularity on both sides of the print medium.
More preferably, the transferring step includes simultaneously pressing and heating front and back surface sides of the print medium overlaid with the respective two sheets of the transfer sheet film.
According to this preferred embodiment, it is possible to increase heat efficiency. Further, since the front and back surfaces of the print medium can be treated under identical hating conditions, it is possible to fix ink uniformly on both the front and back surfaces as well as to prevent warpage of the print medium due to heating.
Preferably, the transferring step includes the step of pressing and the step of heating, these two steps overlapping each other in timing such thin the step of pressing starts before the step of heating starts, and the step of heating ends before the step of pressing ends.
According to this preferred embodiment, in the step of transferring the image, it is possible to heat the transfer sheet film and the print medium after removing air or bubbles trapped at the interface between (or between the contact surfaces of) the transfer sheet film and the print medium by pressing the transfer sheet film and the print medium against each other. In short, it is possible to carry out heat treatment after having placed the transfer sheet film and the print medium in complete and intimate contact, which ensures excellent transfer of the image. Further, since the step of pressing ends after heating is completed, it is possible to suppress warpage of the print medium due to heating.
Preferably, the image-forming method further includes the step of removing air from an interface between the print medium and the transfer sheet film overlaid to each other, between the overlaying step and the transferring step.
According to this preferred embodiment, before starting the step of transferring the image, it is possible to sufficiently remove a small amount of air or microscopic bubbles remaining in the interface between the print medium and the transfer sheet film, which ensures further reliable intimate contact between the two and excellent transfer of the image by the following heat treatment.
More preferably, the step of removing air includes overlaying a soft cushion sheet to the print medium and the transfer sheet film overlaid to each other, and pressing the transfer sheet film against the print medium via the cushion sheet.
According to this preferred embodiment, when pressed, the cushion sheet acts to extrude bubbles and the like, and hence it is possible to effectively remove bubbles trapped between the print medium and the transfer sheet film, thereby ensuring reliable intimate contact between the two. It should be noted that the cushion sheet is preferably formed of a material such as silicone, urethane, vinyl chloride, or the like.
Preferably, the image-forming method further includes the step of forcibly cooling the print medium between the transferring step and the step of removing air.
According to this preferred embodiment, after the image transfer is completed, the print medium is rapidly cooled. This makes it possible to properly prevent warpage of the print medium which might be caused owing to heating, and at the same time, there occurs no problem in handling the print medium after the image transfer since the print medium can be cooled sufficiently.
Preferably, the image-forming method further includes the step of forcibly cooling the print medium between ending of the step of heating and ending of the step of pressing in the transferring step.
According to this preferred embodiment, it is possible to rapidly cool the heated print medium after the image transfer, thereby reliably preventing warpage of the print medium due to heating.
Preferably, the step of removing the at least one sheet of the transfer sheet film includes dissolving the transfer sheet film in water.
According to this preferred embodiment, since the transfer sheet film can be dissolved by immersion in water, it is possible to remove the transfer sheet film from the print medium very easily. Further, since the original image faintly left on the transfer sheet film can be caused to completely disappear, it is possible to prevent forgery of the print medium.
Preferably, the printing step includes printing the image by an ink jet printing method.
According to this preferred embodiment, it is possible to print a clear image. Particularly in color printing, the ink jet printing method is more advantageous than the thermal sublimation printing method using ink films of the three primary colors, in that it is possible to reduce ink usage and increase printing speed as well as to obtain an image with high resolution.
Preferably, the transfer sheet film is formed of a material which exhibits slight curability when heated.
According to this preferred embodiment, it is easy to remove the transfer sheet film after the heat treatment. Further, even when pressed and heated, the transfer sheet film do not adhere to the press means, and hence it is possible to prevent degradation of quality of the transfer image.
Preferably, the print medium is a card.
According to this preferred embodiment, it is possible to form a high-quality image on the card. For example, a photographic image for use on a license or certificate can also be formed without color irregularity or blur.
To attain the above object, according to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided a transfer sheet film for use in an image-forming method comprising the steps of:
printing an image on a printing surface of at least one sheet of the transfer sheet film prepared in a manner associated with at least one surface of a print medium, by using a sublimable dye ink, thereby causing the sublimable dye ink to be held in the at least one sheet of the transfer sheet film,
overlaying the at least one sheet of the transfer sheet film to the print medium such that the printing surface of the at least one sheet of the transfer sheet film faces the at least one surface of the print medium,
transferring the image by heating the at least one sheet of the transfer sheet film and the print medium overlaid to each other while applying pressure thereto, thereby causing diffusion of the sublimable dye ink held in the at least one sheet of the transfer sheet film into the at least one surface of the print medium for color development, and
removing the at least one sheet of the transfer sheet film from the print medium having the image formed thereon,
wherein the transfer sheet film is formed of a water-soluble and soft resin material, and the printing surface is formed to be a smooth surface.
According to the second aspect of the invention, temporary impregnation of the transfer sheet film with ink can be achieved reliably and stably. Further, it is possible to improve intimate contact between the transfer sheet film and the print medium, thereby forming a high-quality transfer image.
To attain the above object, according to a third aspect of the invention, there is provided an image-forming apparatus comprising:
printing means for printing an image on a smooth printing surface of a transfer sheet film formed of a water-soluble and soft resin material, by using a sublimable dye ink, thereby causing the sublimable dye ink to be held in the transfer sheet film;
overlay means for overlaying the transfer sheet film to a print medium such that the printing surface of the transfer sheet film faces a surface of the print medium; and
heating and pressing means for heating the transfer sheet film and the print medium overlaid to each other while applying pressure thereto, thereby causing diffusion of the sublimable dye ink held in the transfer sheet film into the surface of the print medium for color development, to cause transferring of the image,
wherein the heating and pressing means comprises a thermal press for sandwiching and heating the transfer sheet film and the print medium overlaid to each other.
According to this image-forming apparatus, since the transfer sheet film formed of a water-soluble resin material is employed as a transfer medium, it is possible to maintain excellent ink absorbency in a printing process, which allows the sublimable dye ink to be stably impregnated into the transfer sheet film and held in the same without being diffused. Further, since the printing surface of the transfer sheet film has smoothness, and the transfer sheet film is formed of a soft resin, uniform pressure and efficient heat treatment can be applied onto the whole surfaces of the transfer sheet film and the print medium which are in as intimate contact as possible by the thermal press method. This ensures reliable achievement of quick and faithful ink transfer in a state of diffusion of the ink toward the periphery of the transfer sheet film being prevented. It should be noted that the transfer sheet film is preferably formed of a material composed of a principal component of PVA (polyvinyl alcohol) and an additive which exhibits slight tackiness when pressed and heated.
Preferably, the image-forming apparatus includes control means for controlling pressing operation and heating operation of the thermal press separately, and the control means controls the heating and pressing operation of the thermal press such that a start of heating is delayed in timing with respect to a start of pressing.
According to this preferred embodiment, it is possible to remove a small amount of remaining air or microscopic bubbles from the interface between (or between contact surfaces of) the print medium and the transfer sheet film before ink transfer by heating actually starts. As a result, in heat and press treatments for heating and pressing the print medium and the transfer sheet film, the ink is transferred in a state of the print medium and the transfer sheet film being held in highly intimate contact with each other, which makes it possible to more reliably prevent microscopic asperities from being produced on the transferred image, thereby giving a gloss to the image. It should be noted that heating temperature is preferably adjusted such that it increases progressively.
More preferably, the image-forming apparatus further includes a cooling fan under control of the control means, for cooling the print medium after the heating and pressing operation of the thermal press, and the control means causes the cooling fan to start operation, after causing the thermal press in pressure contact with the print medium to stop heating.
According to this preferred embodiment, the print medium having the image transferred thereto is cooled by the cooling fan in a state held in the thermal press. Therefore, it is possible to minimize waste of time and cool the print medium sufficiently. In addition, warpage of the print medium due to heating can be properly prevented.
Preferably, a pair of heat-resistant plates each having a flat shape are interposed between the thermal press and the print medium, for sandwiching the print medium, and the pair of heat-resistant plates have soft cushion sheets laminated on respective surfaces thereof opposed to each other.
According to this preferred embodiment, treatments by the thermal press are performed via the pair of heat-resistant plates and the cushion sheet. As a result, the print medium can be held by the pair of heat-resistant plates in a sandwiched manner even when a presser of the thermal press has been lifted after the heat treatment, so that it is possible to prevent warpage of the print medium effectively. It should be noted that each heat-resistant plate is preferably formed of a material having high thermal conductivity and diffusivity.
The above and other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Image-forming method and transfer sheet film therefor as well as image-forming apparatus


An interchangeable passenger seat for a vehicle having a seat-mounting surface includes a base frame having at least one end member attachable to the seat-mounting surface of the vehicle, and at least one cross-member extending generally perpendicularly from the end member. At least one back frame is removably attachable to the base frame. An adaptor bracket is disposed around the cross-member. The adaptor bracket has a plurality of locating structure along the length of the adaptor bracket for selectively locating and attaching components of passenger restraint systems.

Embodiments described herein relate generally to passenger seats for vehicles, and more particularly, to interchangeable passenger seats having differing restraining assemblies.
In buses and other heavy vehicles, passive restraint assemblies are commonly used. Passive restraint assemblies are restraints which do not positively restrain the occupant, but which impede the motion of the occupant within a compartment or space.
Recently, three-point belt assemblies have become more commonly incorporated on buses and other heavy vehicles. Three-point seat belt assemblies combine a lap belt and an upper torso belt. In these assemblies, the tongue is swung across the person and is engaged with a buckle affixed to the seat to position one portion of the belt across the lap and another portion of the belt across the upper torso.
In addition to passive restraint and three-point assemblies, a third type of assembly called "Integrated Child Restraint" is also being incorporated on buses. The integrated child restraint assembly typically includes a vehicle seat, a portion of which is pivotable to reveal a child seat contained within the seat.
Since a bus or other vehicle may transport passengers having differing demographics throughout its service life, the types of passenger seats may be changed to accommodate the changing passengers. For example, a bus may include seats having the integrated child restraints if the bus transports young kids, while the same bus may later in its service life transport adults and the integrated child restraints may be replaced with three-point belt assemblies. Further, many buses that were built prior to introduction of the three-point and integrated child restrain assemblies currently have passive restraint assemblies. These buses may have seats to be changed to three-point belt assemblies or integrated child restraints.

International Truck Intellectual Property Company, LLC


An injection molding machine includes a motor; a driver circuit; a rectifying part; a capacitor provided between the driver circuit and the rectifying part; a bridge circuit that converts direct electric power between the driver circuit and the rectifying part into alternating electric power; a harmonics component reducing part connected to an alternating side of the bridge circuit; and a regenerative line connected to the rectifying part in parallel, wherein the bridge circuit and the harmonics component reducing part are provided in the regenerative line, and plural switching elements of the bridge circuit are turned on or off such that electric power of the motor is regenerated when a voltage of the capacitor is greater than or equal to a predetermined value, and all the switching elements are turned off when the voltage of the capacitor is less than the predetermined value.

Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2005-223999 discloses an electric power control device which includes a rectifying part which converts alternating electric power of a power supply into direct electric power; a capacitor connected to the output side of the rectifying part; an inverter which converts the direct electric power of the capacitor into the alternating electric power; and a collective controlling part which includes a PWM switch circuit connected to the rectifying part in parallel, wherein the collective controlling part has a harmonics removing function and an electric power regenerating function. The collective controlling part functions as an active filter to remove the harmonics of the alternating electric power of the power supply if the voltage of the capacitor is lower than a predetermined value, and functions as a power regenerating converter to supply the electric power of the capacitor to the power supply if the voltage of the capacitor is higher than the predetermined value.
However, if the PWM switch circuit is simply connected to the rectifying part in parallel as is the case with the prior art described above, a return path of the current flowing through the rectifying part is formed in the PWM switch circuit. This current is called a circulating current, and the circulating current causes power loss.


An image forming apparatus and a control method enhancing ACR (Auto Color Registration) performance by optimizing ACR patterns are provided. The apparatus includes a photosensitive drum, an exposure unit to radiate the drum to form an latent image, a developing unit supplying color toner corresponding to the latent image, and a transfer belt to which the toner image is transferred. A pattern generating unit forms a latent image corresponding to a predetermined ACR pattern on the drum to form the ACR pattern on the transfer belt, and allowing amounts of gap changes of sub patterns, which form the ACR pattern, to have an average value of about 0, the gap change of sub patterns caused by an AC component generated from a rotation of the drum. A pattern detecting unit detects a pattern formed on the transfer belt, and an ACR executing unit calculates offsets to correct errors.

1. Field
Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to an image forming apparatus configured to form a color image through a single pass scheme, and a control method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
An image forming apparatus using an electro-photographic scheme such as a laser printer and a digital copier may be defined as an apparatus configured to radiate light on a photosensitive medium that is charged with a predetermined electric potential to form an electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive medium. After developing the electrostatic latent image to a visible image by supplying a toner, that is, a developing agent, to the electrostatic latent image, the visible image may be transferred and fixed to a paper, thereby achieving an image printing. A color image forming apparatus of an electro-photographic scheme may be configured to supply the toners having four types of colors, which are black 'K' (black), yellow 'Y' (Yellow), magenta 'M' (Magenta), and cyan 'C' (Cyan), to the photosensitive medium to form images having different colors to each other. By overlapping the images, a color image is produced.
At the color image forming apparatus, when the images having different colors to each other are overlapped, if the image of each different color is not overlapped at a correct position, the border portion of the image may appear blurry, and thus the quality of the image may be poor. This may occur as a result of a number of variable factors, such as a replacement of a developer or an increase in the number of prints. Thus, a color registration task, which is configured to align the images that are provided with different colors to each other, so that the images are overlapped at correct positions, is needed.
A color image forming apparatus of a single pass scheme may use four exposure units and four photosensitive drums. When a number of variable factors, such as a replacement of a developer or an increase in the number of prints occurs, the apparatus may be configured to perform an ACR (Auto Color Registration) to automatically perform a color registration. Thus, high-quality color images may be produced.
To enhance the performance of the ACR, in general, a method of increasing the number of ACR patterns is applied. But, when the number of the ACR patterns is increased, the performing time of the ACR may be increased. To increase the number of the ACR patterns, if the patterns are formed in an adjacent manner on the intermediate transfer belt, a possibility of the patterns being detected by a sensor while being mixed with the noise component generated by the scratch or the punching of the intermediate transfer belt may be increased. Thus a prediction of a correction value of the ACR may be less accurate, thereby reducing the performance of the ACR.
With respect to a process of transferring the ACR patterns from the photosensitive drum to the intermediate transfer belt, a periodic change of a linear speed by a rotation of the photosensitive drum generates an (Alternating Current) AC component, and thereby the accurate DC offset value may be difficult to determine.

Image forming apparatus to form an auto color registration pattern and control method thereof


The present invention is directed to a SOI type bipolar transistor and a method of making the transistor. The transistor comprises an element forming region, which is surrounded on its side portions and a lower surface portion by an insulating layer, an emitter region, a base region, a collector region, each of the emitter, base and collector regions being disposed within the element forming region, and a semiconductor layer formed on the element forming region at a portion corresponding to an opening portion of an interlayer and which becomes an emitter diffusion layer, so that a part of the semiconductor layer is grown under the condition that the semiconductor layer is overgrown over the interlayer in the lateral direction, a junction surface between the base region and the collector region exists under the overgrown portion of the semiconductor layer and the emitter region is surrounded on its side portions and its lower portion by the base region.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lateral type transistor in which an emitter region, a base region and a collector region are formed in the lateral direction within the element forming region of an SOI (silicon on insulator) substrate formed by some suitable process such as a bonding process or the like and a manufacturing method thereof.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As a future VLSI (very large-scale integrated circuit), a bipolar transistor having an SOI structure has received considerable attention because the SOI structure can prevent a latch-up and reduce a parasitic capacitance by a complete separation of an insulating material.
In particular, a lateral type bipolar transistor having an SOI structure can reduce the parasitic capacitance substantially so that it can be realized as an ideal device as much as possible. At present, a BiCMOS LSI has received considerable attention because of its high packing density, lower power dissipation and high speed equivalent to that of a bipolar transistor. If, however, the vertical bipolar transistor and a CMOS transistor are combined, then a resultant transistor becomes complicated in structure, which leads to the increased cost due to the increase of process steps, a decrease of yield or the like.
In this case, considering a CMOS transistor having an SOI structure and a lateral type bipolar transistor having an SOI structure, most of the manufacturing processes of the CMOS transistor and the lateral type bipolar transistor can be made common, thereby making it possible to manufacture a high performance BiCMOS transistor by a very simple manufacturing method. Because of these advantages mentioned above, it is expected that the lateral bipolar transistor having an SOI structure will receive considerable attention from now on.
When a conventional lateral type bipolar transistor having an SOI structure is manufactured, a substrate having an SOI structure (hereinafter simply referred to as an SOI substrate) is produced first. The SOI substrate is manufactured as follows.
Initially, there are prepared a substrate 3 in which an N-type epitaxial layer 2 is grown on a P-type silicon substrate 1 as shown in FIG. 1A of the accompanying drawings and another substrate 6 in which a thermal oxide layer 5 is formed on the surface of a silicon substrate 4 as shown in FIG. 1B of the accompanying drawings. These two substrates 3 and 6 are bonded together while the surface of the epitaxial layer 2 and the surface of the thermal oxide layer 5 are being opposed to each other, thereby manufacturing a bonded substrate 7 shown in FIG. 2 of the accompanying drawings.
Then, as shown in FIG. 3 of the accompanying drawings, the end face of the substrate 3 is ground and polished. Finally, the substrate 3 is treated by a selective etching process composed of the etching action and the mechanical polishing process to thereby remove a silicon substrate 1. Thus, an SOI substrate 8 in which the silicon layer 2 is formed on the insulating layer 5 is obtained.
When the lateral bipolar transistor is fabricated on the SOI substrate 8, as shown in FIG. 4A of the accompanying drawings, a field insulating layer 9 is selectively formed by utilizing a selective oxidation method (LOCOS (local oxidation of silicon)). At that time, a silicon layer surrounded by the field insulating layer 9 becomes an element forming region 10.
As shown in FIG. 4B of the accompanying drawings, after a thin thermal oxide layer 11 formed on the element forming region 10 was partly removed by the etching process, an offset region is provided on the element forming region 10 and an N-impurity-doped polycrystalline silicon layer is formed. An SiO.sub.2 layer 13 of the same pattern is formed on the polycrystalline silicon layer 12. Thereafter, by the ion implantation technique of P-type impurity, e.g., Boron (BF.sub.2.sup.+), a P-type base region 14 is formed within the element forming region 10 at its portion in which the polycrystalline silicon layer 12 is not formed.
As shown in FIG. 5 of the accompanying drawings, a side wall formed of SiN layer, for example, is formed on the side wall of a bilayer film formed of the polycrystalline silicon layer 12 and an SiO.sub.2 layer 13. Thereafter, by the ion implantation technique of N-type impurity, e.g., Arsenic (As.sup.+), an N-type emitter region 16 is formed within the element forming region 10 m thereby obtaining an SOI lateral bipolar transistor (see "A Thin-Base Lateral Bipolar Transistor Fabricated on Bonded SOI" SC-9-8, pp. 216 to 217, autumn meeting feld by Institute of Society of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers, 1991). In this case, the base is derived by means of a base deriving electrode region 17 continuously overgrown in the lateral direction as shown in a plan view of FIG. 6 of the accompanying drawings. The polycrystalline silicon layer 12 serves as a collector deriving electrode.
The above conventional SOI lateral bipolar transistor employs the bonded SOI substrate 8 so that a crystallizing property of the SOI substrate 8 itself is satisfactory. In addition, since the emitter region 16 and the base region 14 are formed by utilizing an LDD (lightly doped drain) structure of the MOS transistor, a base width Wb can be reduced and a cut-off frequency of f.sub.TMAX =4.5 GHz can be obtained.
In the conventional lateral type bipolar transistor, the base width Wb is determined by the width of the side wall 15 formed of the SiN layer. The width of the side wall 15 is determined by the thicknesses of the polycrystalline silicon layer 12 and the SiO.sub.2 layer 13 and the etching condition of the RIE process.
The polycrystalline silicon layer 12 and SiO.sup.2 layer 13 are generally formed by the CVD (chemical vapor deposition) method. When the layer is formed by the CVD method, a fluctuation of about 10% occurs in the thickness direction. Further, since a fluctuation of about 10% is caused by the etching process based on the RIE process, the width of the formed side wall 15 is also fluctuated considerably. As a result, control of the side wall width, i.e., base width Wb becomes unstable and a reduction of the base width Wb is unavoidably limited.
Furthermore, according to the conventional SOI lateral bipolar transistor, the base electrode is derived only from the longitudinal direction of the base region 14 so that a series resistance Rb of the base is increased, thereby decreasing the operation speed in a large current area.

Method for making SOI type bipolar transistor


A method of temporally adaptive filtering of the frames of an image sequence is disclosed. To filter the kth frame, first, the motion trajectories that transverse the pixel locations at the kth frame are determined using a motion estimation algorithm. Motion trajectories pass through a predetermined number of frames neighboring the kth frame. Image values at the neighboring frames, along motion trajectories are then evaluated. Temporally adaptive linear minimum mean square error (LMMSE) estimates of the image values at the pixel locations of the kth frame are determined using the image values along the motion trajectories. These steps are repeated for each of the other frames of the image sequence.

Motion estimation, being important in its own right in the broad area of computer vision, is of utmost importance in almost every aspect of image sequence processing. Interframe motion information allows the development of algorithms that take advantage of naturally existing redundancies among the frames of an image sequence. The difficulties inherent to the motion estimation problem, and developing novel strategies for utilizing the interframe motion information in the context of various processing tasks, pose challenges in the field of image sequence processing.
Image sequence processing is concerned with problems such as interframe motion estimation, temporal frame interpolation, noise filtering, restoration and data compression. The present invention is concerned with two of these problems in particular: motion estimation and noise filtering.
The importance of reducing the noise in image sequences is growing with the increasing use of video and television systems in numerous scientific, commercial and consumer-oriented applications. A human observer can potentially obtain more information from an image sequence when the noise is reduced. In cases where the noise is not visually perceivable, reduction of noise increases the efficiency of subsequent processing that may be applied to the image sequence, such as data compression.
There are two major temporal-domain approaches to image sequence filtering: (1) the motion-compensation approach, and (2) the motion-detection approach. In motion-compensated filtering, first a motion estimation algorithm is applied to the noisy image sequence to estimate the motion trajectories, i.e., locations of pixels (or subpixels) that correspond to each other at a predetermined number of contiguous image frames. Then, the value of a particular pixel at a certain frame is estimated using the image sequence values that are on the motion trajectory passing through that pixel. The estimation is performed using either an infinite impulse response (IIR) or a finite impulse response (FIR) filter structure.
In contrast, methods based on motion detection do not attempt to estimate the interframe motion. Instead, direct differences of pixel values at identical spatial locations of two adjacent frames are computed to detect the presence of interframe motion. An estimate of the pixel value at a certain location of the present frame is determined by applying an FIR or an IIR filter structure to pixels at identical spatial locations of a predetermined number of past and/or future frames. The filter coefficients are functions of the "motion-detection signal" which is defined as the difference between the pixel value of interest at the present frame and the pixel value at the same location of the previous frame. Certain IIR filter structures for temporal filtering on the basis of motion detection have been proposed in the prior art, as well as a variety of other motion-detection based filtering methods.
Generally speaking, the performance of these two approaches is determined by the filter structure, dependence of the filter structure to the motion-detection signal (in case of the motion-detection approach), and the performance of the motion estimation algorithm (in case of the motion-compensation approach). Motion-compensated filtering methods tend to be more complex due to interframe motion estimation. On the other hand, they are potentially more effective than those based on motion detection because they make use of the interframe motion information. In practice, however, the success of a motion-compensated method is strongly dependent on the success of motion estimation.
In an ideal setting, where the scene contents remain unchanged from one frame to another and the motion estimation algorithm is not affected by noise, direct averaging of image values over motion trajectories provides effective noise reduction. In fact, under independent white Gaussian noise assumption, the average is a maximum likelihood estimate of the pixel value. In practice, however, scene contents change from one frame to another, e.g., due to camera panning and existence of covered/uncovered regions. As a result, image values over an estimated motion trajectory may not necessarily correspond to the same image structure and direct averaging may result in oversmoothing of image details. Therefore, the noise filtering algorithm should be temporally adaptive. In one extreme, when the motion estimation is accurate, it should approach direct averaging. In the other extreme, when the motion estimation is inaccurate, it should not perform any filtering. Indeed, the motion estimation method should be able to provide good estimates in the presence of noise as well as in the case of varying scenes in order to allow for effective noise reduction.
The adaptivity requirement outlined above is satisfied when the local linear minimum mean square error ("LMMSE") point estimator that has been derived by Kuan, et al. and by Lee is applied in the temporal direction along the motion trajectories (See: D. T. Kuan et al., "Adaptive Noise Smoothing Filter for Images with Signal-Dependent Noise", IEEE Trans. Pattern Anal. Machine Intell., PAMI-7, pp. 165-177, March 1985; and Lee, "Digital Image Enhancement and Noise Filtering by Use of Local Statistics", IEEE Trans Pattern Anal Machine Intell., PAMI-2, pp. 165-168, March 1980.)
It was suggested by Martinez et al. ("Implicit Motion Compensated Noise Reduction of Motion Video Scenes", Proc. ICASSP, pp. 375-378, Tampa, Fla. 1985) to apply the adaptive LMMSE point estimator in the temporal direction. Due to the lack of motion estimators that are robust in the presence of noise, however, Martinez et al. used a cascade of five LMMSE estimators over a set of five hypothesized motion trajectories for each pixel, without estimating the actual motion. This approach can be regarded as a motion-detection approach rather than a motion-compensated approach since interframe motion is not estimated. Motion detection along a hypothesized trajectory is implicit in the adaptive nature of the estimator. Due to the adaptive nature of the estimator, filtering is effective only along the trajectory that is close to the actual one. This approach has been reported to be successful in cases where the hypothesized motion trajectories are close to the actual ones.

Method for temporally adaptive filtering of frames of a noisy image sequence using motion estimation


A refractive coating such as a white layer is disposed on a housing component of a portable electronic device. The refractive coating includes pigment particles such as titanium dioxide suspended in a carrier medium such as a polymer matrix. The pigment particles each define air pores or other voids formed by at least partially sintering the pigment particles. A difference in refractive index between the air pores and the pigment particles is greater than that between the carrier medium and the pigment particles. Incident light is refracted at interfaces between the pigment particles and the air pores, increasing light refracted by the refractive coating compared to refractive coatings including pigment particles lacking the air pores.

Optically refractive materials diffusely refract light by scattering or bending light waves incident thereon. The eyes of an observer perceive brightness associated with the amount of light scattered from the surface. Various devices or structures, such as portable electronic devices, may be coated with optically refractive materials for functional and/or aesthetic purposes. For example, white surfaces are often used to impart a clean look and feel to a device. The greater the amount of light scattered by the white surface, the brighter and whiter the white surface appears to the eyes of an observer.
A portion of light incident to an optically refractive material may be reflected by the material and a portion may penetrate the material. When light that penetrates encounters an interface between different materials (such as between a carrier medium of the material and tinting pigments or other particles suspended in the medium), the direction of the light changes. This scattering event refracts the light. The greater the difference or mismatch in the indexes of refraction of the different materials, the larger the angle of the light's changed direction. Larger angles as compared to smaller ones result in the light encountering fewer interfaces (e.g., less scattering events) and penetrating less deeply into the optically refractive material before being refracted back out. As a result, the optically refractive material absorbs less and scatters more light.

Refractive coatings for a colored surface of an electronic device


A lens member for projecting light from an LED in a square pattern includes a body formed of a light transmissive material. The body includes a base portion and a bulbous-shaped, light-directing lens portion extending upwardly from the base portion. A recess extending upwardly from a lower surface of the base portion and into the bulbous-shaped, light-directing lens portion continuously tapers from the base to a flat, circular surface below a top surface of the bulbous-shaped, light-directing lens portion. The lens portion has a horizontal cross-sectional shape that is substantially square at elevations between the base and the top surface of the lens portion.

The development of high-intensity LED bulbs and their improved energy efficiency per unit of illumination intensity has led to the development of LED fixtures for street lighting, parking lot lighting, interior lighting and other applications in which conventional sodium vapor, mercury vapor, fluorescent or incandescent lights were and still are being used. A problem with LED fixtures arises from the fact that a plurality of LED bulbs is required to provide illumination equivalent to a single mercury vapor, sodium vapor or incandescent bulb. LED bulbs and lens members for LED bulbs generally divert the light from the LED into a circular pattern. In order to illuminate a large area with LEDs, it is generally necessary to use a light fixture on which a plurality of LEDs are arranged in an array with corresponding lens members that direct the light from the LEDs into overlapping circular beams. Due to the high amount of overlapping area needed to cover an area that is to be illuminated with light beams projecting a circular pattern, use of LED fixtures has resulted in non-uniform illumination, including a patterned distribution of bright, over-illuminated areas and relatively darker, less illuminated areas. Additionally, although LEDs are energy efficient, the number of LEDs needed to provide a desired level of illumination to a given area from a lighting fixture can be reduced if the overlapping areas can be reduced or eliminated. This would reduce both the cost of manufacturing the fixture and the energy cost of operating the fixture.

Lens member for directing light in a square pattern


The invention relates to the technical field of artificial stone surfaces, in particular to an artificial glass surface, which is made from the following raw materials in parts by mass: 0-30 parts of a quartz material, 40-70 parts of a glass material, 5-15 parts of a modified silicone resin, 8-15 parts of an unsaturated polyester resin, and 5-14 parts of additional raw materials. The artificial glass surface employs recycled glass material as its main stone source, which contributes the conservation of mineral resources, and reduces production costs; the product is of higher quality.

In recent years, the manufacture and sales of artificial stones have gradually improved and matured. The term "artificial stones" usually refers to artificial stone solid surfaces, artificial quartz stones, and artificial granite stones, among others. There are many types of artificial stones, and different types of artificial stones have different components. However, most artificial quartz stones are produced using 70-95% of quartz, resin, pigments, and other additives including conditioners, adhesives or curing agents, and under vacuum, high temperature and pressure. Quartz sands and quartz powder in artificial quartz stones are produced by grinding mining products which are non-renewable. If the main stone source of artificial quartz stones is only quartz sand or quartz powder, their manufacturing cost would be high; in addition, such artificial quartz stones would have a poor decorative effect and poor material performance.
In the prior art, in order to control the production cost of artificial quartz stones and to conserve mineral resources, glass fragments are also added in production, during which they are directly mixed with quartz sand or quartz powder. However, for the glass fragments to exhibit good decorative effects and for the artificial stones produced to have good material performance, the size of the glass materials should not be too small. Glass fragments that are commonly employed have a lot of edges and corners, which leads to poor fluidity of the material. When pressed into a slate, the surface of the slate would appear uneven, or the thickness of the slate is inconsistent, which is due to uneven material texture as a result of unbalanced internal forces. The slate produced is prone to cracking or particles peeling off. Therefore, glass materials are not used as the main stone source of artificial stones in the prior art.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A recording and/or reproducing apparatus, such as a video tape recorder, comprises a drum having a peripheral surface on which a magnetic tape can be wrapped, and at least one head for recording signals on, reproducing signals from, the magnetic tape by helically scanning it. Grooves are formed in the peripheral surface of the drum to inhibit formation of a thin layer of water between the surface of the drum and the magnetic tape. The lengths of the grooves are substantially parallel to the direction of transport of the magnetic tape and each groove includes a wall portion disposed at an angle greater than 3 degrees to a line joining the crests of the grooves and normal to the direction of transport of the magnetic tape.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to recording and/or reproducing apparatus wherein a tape is wrapped on a peripheral surface of a drum and contacts at least one head for recording signals on, or reproducing signals from, the tape by scanning it.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a helical scanning type video tape recorder (VTR) it is necessary that the magnetic tape runs stably and smoothly at all times. However, in practice there is a tendency for frictional forces between the magnetic tape and the peripheral surface to increase when the magnetic tape has been running for some time and under certain conditions. This can result in stick/slip transport of the magnetic tape with consequent pulsating motion of the magnetic tape, or even complete sticking of the magnetic tape. Any such interference with free transport of the magnetic tape has a very adverse effect on recording and reproducing, and may easily result in damage to the magnetic tape.
There have been some prior proposals for overcoming this problem, and some of these proposals have included the provision of grooves on the peripheral surface of the drum, but these proposals seem to have been based on an imperfect understanding of the reasons why the frictional forces between the magnetic tape and the peripheral surface of the drum tend to increase, and these proposals have not resulted in any satisfactory solution to the problem.

Grooved drum for tape recording and/or reproducing apparatus


A method and apparatus is disclosed for interleaving the transfer of pixel data from a dual bank frame buffer to a memory display interface. The interleaved transfer of pixel data to the memory display interface enables upgrade of existing memory display interface designs to higher density VRAM chips in order to increase the capacity of the frame buffer.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the architecture of computer graphics display systems. More particularly this invention relates to a method and apparatus for interleaving pixel data transfer from a frame buffer to a memory display interface.
2. Art Background
In a typical computer graphics system, a video random access memory (VRAM) frame buffer stores pixel data for rendering images on a display device. A memory display interface may be employed to process the pixel data for the display device. The memory display interface processes the pixel data at programmable pixel rates and pixel depths, and implements special pixel functions. Pixel processing at programmable pixel rates enables support of display devices having differing characteristics (resolution, video timing, etc.), and support of VRAM frame buffers having differing access speeds. Processing of pixels having programmable pixel depths increases software compatibility.
The capacity of the frame buffer in existing systems can be increased by upgrading to higher density VRAM chips. The higher density VRAM chips require less space on a printed circuit board for a given frame buffer capacity. However, VRAM manufacturers have increased VRAM chip densities by increasing the number of bit planes in the VRAMs, rather than by increasing the depth of the VRAMs. For example, 256K by 4 bit VRAMs have evolved to 256K by 8 bit VRAMs to provide greater density. The 256K by 8 bit VRAMs reduce by one half the number of VRAM chips required for a given frame buffer capacity when compared with 256K by 4 bit VRAMs.
Unfortunately, the increased number of bit planes in the higher density VRAM chips requires an increase in the width of the video bus between the frame buffer and the memory display interface. For example, an existing system having eight 256K by 4 bit VRAMs may have a 32 bit video bus for transferring the pixel data from the frame buffer to the memory display interface. If the frame buffer capacity is doubled by upgrading to eight 256K by 8 bit VRAMs, the width of the video bus must increase to 64 bits to accommodate the increased number of bit planes. The increased width of the video bus requires a major redesign of the memory display interface, as well as major modifications to the printed circuit board layout. The major design modifications greatly increases the cost of upgrading existing systems.
As will be described, the present invention is a method and apparatus for interleaving pixel data transfer from a frame buffer to a memory display interface, which provides increased frame buffer capacity for existing memory display interface designs.

Interleaving pixel data for a memory display interface


A display includes a first reflecting surface, a second reflecting surface, and a beam splitter. The second reflecting surface is positioned parallel with respect to the first reflecting surface, and the beam splitter is disposed between the first and second reflecting surfaces. The beam splitter includes a first transmissive substrate having opposed first and second sides and a length extending from a first end to a second end. A first layer of material is disposed on at least one of the first or second sides of the first transmissive substrate. The first layer of reflective material extends from the first end of the first transmissive substrate to a location along the length of the first transmissive substrate.

Infinity displays are a class of viewing devices capable of displaying images or scenes as if they were set at or approaching, "infinity focus". Such displays are commonly used in aircraft flight simulators recreating aerial vistas at optical infinity, offering the trainee pilot a highly credible panorama. However, the optical components that constitute the prior art tend to be large and very expensive, hence infinity displays tend to be restricted to applications where space is not a significant issue and price gives way to necessity. Furthermore, such conventional infinity displays do not offer autostereoscopic views or motion parallax.


Provided are degradation-resistant fibrinogen sealants comprising a first composition comprising one or more of fibrinogen γA/γ′ heterodimers and/or fibrinogen γ′/γ′ homodimers and a second composition comprising thrombin and, optionally, degradation-resistant fibrinogen sealants disclosed herein may further comprise Factor XIII and calcium. Degradation-resistant fibrinogen sealants are suitable for the treatment of trauma, particularly vascular trauma.

Several publications and patent documents are cited throughout the specification in order to describe the state of the art to which this invention pertains. Each of these citations is incorporated herein by reference as though set forth in full.
Blood clot formation occurs through the conversion of fibrinogen by thrombin and Factor XIIIa to form a cross-linked fibrin polymer. Fibrinogen is a 340,000-Da dimeric glycoprotein composed of six disulphide-linked polypeptide chains: two Aα(Mr=65,000), two Bβ(Mr=56,000), and two γ(Mr=47,000). Fibrinogen is converted to fibrin through limited proteolysis by thrombin, which exposes polymerization sites in fibrinogen (Kudryk et al. (1974) J. Biol. Chem. 249:3322-3325). The fibrin monomers spontaneously associate with each other to form the web-like fibrin clot (Blombäck (1996) Thromb. Res. 83:1-75).
Factor XIIIa is a plasma transglutaminase that strengthens the fibrin clot by forming covalent bonds between adjacent fibrin monomers (Lorand et al. (1993) Methods Enzymol. 222:22-35). Plasma Factor XIII is a 320,000-Da tetrameric protein composed of two polypeptide a chains (Mr=83,000) and two polypeptide b chains (Mr=80,000; Schwartz et al. (1973) J. Biol. Chem. 248:1395-1407). Factor XIII normally circulates as an inactive proenzyme until it is activated by thrombin cleavage of a 4000-Da activation peptide from each a subunit, which is followed by the dissociation of the b subunits. Activated factor XIII, or XIIIa, catalyzes the formation of γ-glutamyl-ε-lysine bonds between polypeptide chains in fibrin (Chen et al. (1969) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 63:420-427). These cross-links strengthen the fibrin clot (Lorand (1972) Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. 202:6-30) and increase its resistance to lysis (Gaffney and Whitaker (1979) Thromb. Res. 14:85-94; Reed et al. (1992) Thromb. Haemostasis 68:315-320; Siebenlist and Mosesson (1994) J. Biol. Chem. 269:28414-28419).
Trauma is the leading cause of death for people between the ages of 1 and 44 in the United States (Bonne et al., eds. "Reducing the Burden of Injury: Advancing Prevention and Treatment." Committee on Injury Prevention and Control, Institute of Medicine (Washington, D.C., National Academy Press, 1999). The majority of deaths that occur during the first 48 hours following a traumatic event are the result of uncontrolled bleeding (Sauaia et al. (1995) "Epidemiology of Trauma Deaths: A Reassessment" J. Trauma 38:185-193). A common result of traumatic injury is disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC), in which the activation of fibrinolytic enzymes causes the clot to dissolve. Massive hemorrhage can be resistant even to high doses of recombinant factor VIIa. The primary treatment of such injuries is therefore surgical repair, which is often aided by the use of fibrin sealants to stop hemorrhage. Fibrin sealants, such as BERIPLAST-P™ (Aventis-Behring), CROSSEAL™ (Johnson & Johnson), and TISSEEL™ (Baxter) may be applied during surgery from a two-syringe system. One syringe contains the fibrin precursor protein, fibrinogen, and the other syringe contains the clotting factor thrombin. These two components may be forced into a mixing chamber and act much like a two-part epoxy resin in which fibrinogen serves as the resin and thrombin serves as the catalyst. The mixture coagulates within minutes and stops bleeding from the wound site.
Fibrinolytic enzymes that are activated in DIC can, however, digest the applied fibrin sealant, resulting in re-bleeding of the wound even after initial control of hemorrhage. Furthermore, inhibitors of the fibrinolytic enzymes that are sometimes added to fibrin sealant, such as aprotinin, can be immunogenic and cause anaphylactic reactions. Therefore, there is still a need for degradation resistant fibrin sealants which avoid these drawbacks.


Provided are an image correcting method and device capable of reducing power consumption necessary for correcting an image for a long-time use and a cathode ray tube display unit. A microcomputer 2 calculates a value of a correction current in such a manner that the correction current is more decreased monotonously as a time passes after a cathode ray tube is turned on. Drivers 3 to 7 and 22 generate and output the correction current according to the value of the correction current calculated by the microcomputer 2. A correcting device C is provided in the cathode ray tube and serves to correct an image displayed on the cathode ray tube on receipt of the correction currents from the drivers 3 to 7 and 22.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image correcting method and device for correcting an image displayed on a cathode ray tube (CRT), for example, and a cathode ray tube display unit to which they are applied.
2. Description of the Background Art
FIG. 24 is a block diagram showing an image correcting device according to the prior art. The image correcting device shown in FIG. 24 comprises a CR timer 1, a microcomputer 2a, drivers 3 to 7, first to fourth coils 8 to 11 for correcting landing (which will be hereinafter referred to as landing correcting coils), and a coil 12 for correcting convergence (which will be hereinafter referred to as a convergence correcting coil). The first to fourth landing correcting coils 8 to 11 and the convergence correcting coil 12 are fixed to a cathode ray tube (not shown).
When the cathode ray tube is turned on (the time that the cathode ray tube is turned on will be hereinafter referred to as xe2x80x9cpower ONxe2x80x9d), a deterioration in the landing and convergence of the cathode ray tube starts to be caused. When the cathode ray tube is turned off (the time that the cathode ray tube is turned off will be hereinafter referred to as xe2x80x9cpower OFFxe2x80x9d), the deterioration starts to be recovered. The CR timer 1 always operates also when the cathode ray tube is turned on and off. The CR timer 1 outputs a deterioration detecting signal TS according to the degree of the deterioration in the landing and the convergence.
The microcomputer 2a calculates an optimum correction current value from the deterioration detecting signal TS when a time passes after the power ON. The drivers 3 to 7 cause a correction current having the value calculated by the microcomputer 2a to flow to the first to fourth landing correcting coils 8 to 11 and the convergence correcting coil 12. The first to fourth landing correcting coils 8 to 11 and the convergence correcting coil 12 properly regulate the landing and the convergence according to the correction current.
As described above, the image correcting device automatically corrects the landing and convergence of an image displayed on the cathode ray tube by supplying the correction current to the cathode ray tube.
FIGS. 25 and 26 show a state obtained immediately after the power ON and conventional changes in the landing and the convergence to a state obtained after the time fully passes (for example, three hours) since the state obtained immediately after the power ON. As shown in FIGS. 25 and 26, the landing and the convergence are not deteriorated immediately after the power ON. Therefore, an image is displayed in a desired position (that is, a displacement from the desired position of the image is a minimum (zero)). Thus, a state in which the image is displayed in the desired position will be referred to as a xe2x80x9cjust statexe2x80x9d. The states of the landing and the convergence which are obtained at that time will be referred to as xe2x80x9cjust landingxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cjust convergencexe2x80x9d, respectively.
As the time passes after the power ON, the landing and the convergence are deteriorated and the image is shifted from the desired position and is displayed. When the time fully passes (for example, three hours) after the power ON, the deteriorations in the landing and the convergence are brought into a saturation state and the displacement from the desired position of the image becomes a maximum.
As shown in FIG. 25, for example, as the time passes after the power ON, an upper left portion of the image is shifted from the left to the right (in a direction F) from the desired position. In this case, if a proper correction current is caused to flow to the landing correcting coil provided for correction on the upper left portion of the image to move the upper left portion of the image in a direction reverse to the direction F, the just state can be obtained, that is, the image can be displayed in the desired position.
FIG. 27 shows a conventional relationship between a time (an elapsed time) which has passed after the power ON and a correction current and a displacement from a desired position of an image. As shown in FIG. 27, conventionally, the correction current has been increased with the passage of the time in order to keep the just state all the time.
However, after the time fully passes after the power ON, the correction current always flows at a maximum value. Accordingly, there has been a problem in that power is largely consumed when the cathode ray tube is to be used for a long time.
In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, it is an object of the present invention to provide an image correcting method and device capable of reducing power consumption required for correcting an image for a long-time use, and a cathode ray tube display unit.
A first aspect of the present invention is directed to a method for automatically correcting an image displayed on a cathode ray tube by supplying a correction current to the cathode ray tube, comprising the step of monotonously decreasing the correction current more as a time passes after the cathode ray tube is turned on.
A second aspect of the present invention is directed to the image correcting method, further comprising the step of reducing a rate of the decrease in the correction current more as a time passes after the cathode ray tube is turned on.
A third aspect of the present invention is directed to the image correcting method, further comprising the step of causing the correction current to approximate to zero after the cathode ray tube is turned on.
A fourth aspect of the present invention is directed to the image correcting method, wherein an object for automatically correcting the image includes at least one of landing, convergence and a horizontal image position.
A fifth aspect of the present invention is directed to an image correcting device for automatically correcting an image displayed on a cathode ray tube by supplying a correction current to the cathode ray tube, comprising a calculating circuit for calculating a value of the correction current in such a manner that the correction current is more decreased monotonously as a time passes after the cathode ray tube is turned on, a driver for generating and outputting the correction current in accordance with a result of the calculation obtained by the calculating circuit, and a correcting device provided in the cathode ray tube for correcting the image displayed on the cathode ray tube on receipt of the correction current from the driver.
A sixth aspect of the present invention is directed to the image correcting device, wherein the calculating circuit calculates the value of the correction current in such a manner that a rate of the decrease in the correction current is more reduced as a time passes after the cathode ray tube is turned on.
A seventh aspect of the present invention is directed to the image correcting device, wherein the calculating circuit calculates the value of the correction current in such a manner that the correction current is caused to approximate to zero after the cathode ray tube is turned on.
An eighth aspect of the present invention is directed to the image correcting device, wherein the correcting device includes at least one of a coil for correcting landing, a coil for correcting convergence and a yoke for correcting a horizontal image position.
A ninth aspect of the present invention is directed to the image correcting device, further comprising an external terminal for giving data necessary for the calculating circuit to calculate the value of the correction current from an outside.
A tenth aspect of the present invention is directed to a cathode ray tube display unit comprising the image correcting device according to any of the fifth to ninth aspects of the present invention, and the cathode ray tube.
According to the first aspect of the present invention, the correction current is more decreased as the time passes. Consequently, the power consumption necessary for correcting the image can be more reduced as the time passes. Therefore, the power consumption can be reduced for a long-time use.
According to the second aspect of the present invention, the characteristics of the cathode ray tube cause the rate of the increase in the deterioration to be more reduced as the time passes after the cathode ray tube is turned on. Correspondingly, the rate of the decrease in the correction current is more reduced as the time passes. Consequently, the image of the cathode ray tube can properly be corrected.
According to the third aspect of the present invention, the correction current becomes zero if the time fully passes after the power is turned on. Therefore, it is possible to cause the power consumption necessary for correcting the image to become zero.
According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, it is possible to reduce the power consumption necessary for correcting the landing, the convergence or the horizontal image position.
According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the driver further reduces the correction current as the time passes. Consequently, the power consumption of the correcting device can be more reduced as the time passes. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the power consumption for a long-time use.
According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, the characteristics of the cathode ray tube cause the rate of the increase in the deterioration to be more reduced as the time passes after the cathode ray tube is turned on. Correspondingly, the rate of the decrease in the correction current output from the driver is more reduced as the time passes. Consequently, the image of the cathode ray tube can properly be corrected.
According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, the correction current output from the driver becomes zero if the time fully passes after the power is turned on. Therefore, it is possible to cause the power consumption necessary for correcting the image to become zero.
According to the eighth aspect of the present invention, it is possible to reduce the power consumption of the coil for correcting landing, the coil for correcting convergence or the yoke for correcting a horizontal image position.
According to the ninth aspect of the present invention, the data corresponding to the cathode ray tube is given to the external terminal. Consequently, it is possible to perform optimal correction on the cathode ray tube.
According to the tenth aspect of the present invention, the power consumption of the cathode ray tube display unit can be reduced for a long-time use.

Image correcting method and device and cathode ray tube display unit

NEC-Mitsubishi Electric Visual Systems Corporation


A method for improving OpenCL hardware execution efficiency described in this invention comprises the following steps: compiling a kernel implemented in OpenCL, generating Verilog code with a high-level synthesis tool; analyzing the interfaces of auto-generated Verilog code, recording signals, timing sequence, and function of the interfaces; manually modifying and optimizing the Verilog code; inserting a file replacement command in the script responsible for flow control, replacing the auto-generated code with the optimized Verilog code; rerunning OpenCL compiler and generating an ultimate FPGA configuration file. The invention makes manual optimization of the auto-generated Verilog code becomes possible, by parsing the compilation flow of OpenCL environment and analyzing the structure and interfaces of the auto-generated Verilog code. It promotes the performance of kernels, by increasing working frequency, achieving more parallelism and taking full advantages of FPGA hardware resources, and improves the execution efficiency of OpenCL on FPGA platform significantly.

Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method for improving Open Computing Language (OpenCL) hardware execution efficiency, especially referring to a method for implementing cooperation between OpenCL software code and a high-efficient Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) hardware platform.
Description of the Related Art
Open Computing Language (OpenCL) is the first open and copyright royalty-free programming framework that builds a unified programming environment between heterogeneous systems. OpenCL allows users to develop cross-platform programs based on C programming language, targeting CPUs, GPUs, DSPs and FPGAs, etc. It is a programming model for software engineers and a design methodology for system architects. Compatible with ANSIC standard (C99), OpenCL provides parallel computation mechanisms based on task division and data division for various heterogeneous platforms. The host program communicates with each heterogeneous platform through the Application Program Interface (API) to ensure that the task scheduling is accomplished efficiently and evenly.
For example, developed by Altera Company, the tool Altera SDK for OpenCL (AOCL) is a programming development environment for Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) hardware platforms. The AOCL tool provides an OpenCL compiler and a high-level synthesis technology to convert OpenCL code to Verilog. It directly maps the high-level OpenCL code to FPGA platforms, and the workload of FPGA hardware coding can be reduced.
An OpenCL program is divided into two parts in AOCL environment, one part executed on the host and the other implemented in the hardware platform (i.e., the kernel). The code executed on the host is processed by a standard C compiler, and an executable program is generated in the x86 platform; the code implemented in the hardware platform is processed by the OpenCL compiler, and Verilog code is generated with the help of high-level synthesis technology. Then the physical synthesis tool Quartus II of Altera is called to process the subsequent implementation, placement and routing steps, and generates a downloadable FPGA configuration file. As a reference, FIG. 2 shows the flow diagram of the process above.
The direct mapping from the OpenCL code to the FPGA platforms shortens the time to market and reduces the developing difficulty of design schemes targeted at FPGA hardware platforms, which tremendously facilitates the spread of FPGA utilization among software engineers. In other words, design and programming for FPGA are able to be accomplished without a deep knowledge of FPGA hardware and Verilog. However, the performance of the FPGA platforms is sacrificed, as the Verilog code for FPGA programming is auto-generated by the high-level synthesis tool, which extensively uses templates, unified interfaces and buffers, and lots of FPGA resources have to be reserved for timing closure. Also, as the complexity of functions is increasing, the optimization efficiency of high-level synthesis tool decreases. Further, the more FPGA resources are used, the lower frequency the synthesized design achieves. Therefore, the performance would be unsatisfying low if the OpenCL code is too complex to optimize compared with Verilog design schemes.
There are various methods for improving OpenCL execution efficiency on FPGA hardware platforms, including optimizations in task scheduling, algorithm structures, compiling parameters, and hardware platforms, as described below:
In respect of task scheduling, developers could allocate certain types of accelerating tasks suitable for FPGA, such as logic operations ANDs or ORs, shifting and comparisons, as there are special components to efficiently process these tasks in FPGA hardware; and computational intensive tasks such as multiply-add operations of fixed and floating points can also be accomplished in FPGA as there are abundant DSP components which process data in parallel.
In respect of algorithm structure, developers could take full advantages of the special resources in FPGA, such as internal storage units, embedded peripherals, hardened floating-point DSP blocks, and shifting registers, to design an appropriate structure and data processing flow targeted at FPGA.
In respect of compiling parameters, developers could instruct the compiler by setting appropriate parameters for task scheduling and resource allocations. For example, defined by OpenCL standard, the parameter #pragma unroll is used for loop unrolling, and parameters num_computer_units and num_simd_work_items respectively set the numbers of computing units and parallel work items in the kernel. Currently, most OpenCL compilers for FPGA support these parameters, and with different parameters, the performance may differ significantly.
In respect of hardware platform, developers could choose different platforms according to the characteristics of the accelerating tasks, such as GPU, CPU or FPGA. For example, FPGA devices with huge logic resources and powerful DSP blocks are suitable for computational intensive tasks, while devices with high bandwidth and abundant interfaces are suitable for real-time and stream data processing.
The above methods for improving OpenCL execution efficiency on FPGA hardware platform all work at relatively coarse-grained levels, because users are unable to intervene the implementation of underlying hardware beyond the high-level synthesis tool. Therefore, these methods are limited to the disadvantages of high-level synthesis technology, namely the auto-generated code containing redundancy logic, using lots of buffers, and inferior to hand-coding Verilog code in working frequency and resource utilization. At present, it is impossible to optimize the kernel at the logic level for a specific goal, and the hardware efficiency of FPGA is not being used to its full potential with high-level synthesis tools.

Method for improving OpenCL hardware execution efficiency

HANGZHOU FLYSLICE TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD.


A method of fabricating a phase shifting reticle that can be used as a mask in photolithographic processes such as semiconductor wafer patterning. A transparent quartz substrate is subjected to high voltage ion bombardment to produce patterns of ion implant areas on the substrate. By carefully selecting the dopants for ion implantation and closely controlling the implantation process, areas on the substrate are produced having an absorption property for forming an opaque light blocking area or indexes of refraction different than the quartz substrate and selected to achieve a 0.degree. to 180.degree. phase shift area. This produces a repetitive pattern of alternating light transmission openings and phase shifters having opaque light blockers on either side. Additionally, tapered phase shifters may be implanted into the substrate to extend from a 180.degree. phase shift area into a light transmission opening at a 0.degree. phase shift.

As semiconductor manufacturing advances from very large scale integration (VLSI) to ultra-large scale integration (ULSI), the devices on semiconductor wafers shrink to sub-micron dimension and the circuit density increases to several million transistors per die. In order to accomplish this high device packing density, smaller and smaller feature sizes are required. This may include the width and spacing of interconnecting lines in the service geometry such as corners and edges, of various features.
The requirement of small feature sizes with close spacing between adjacent features requires high resolution photolithographic processes. In general, photolithography utilizes a beam of light, such as ultra violet (UV) waves, to transfer a pattern from a photolithographic mask to a photo resist coating through an imaging lens. The mask includes opaque and transparent regions such that the shapes match those openings in the resist coating in the desired or predetermined pattern.
Early prior art masks, and referring now to FIG. 1A-1D, were made by coating a quartz blank 10 with a chrome 12 or other light blocking material layer upon which was laid a coating of photoresist material 16. An electron beam 15 used to write the desired pattern on the photoresist coating 16 after which the photoresist is developed. Next, and referring to FIG. 1C, a chrome etch is performed on the exposed regions, after which the resist is stripped. As shown in FIG. 1D, a reticle having transparent openings 14 and opaque area 12 has been formed on the quartz blank 10. Unfortunately, reticles thus formed are limited in resolution capability due to the effects of diffraction.
One technique currently being investigated for improving the resolution of the photolithographic process is known as phase shift lithography. With phase shift lithography, the interference of light rays is used to overcome diffraction and improve the resolution and depth of optical images projected on to a target. In phase shift lithography, the phase of an exposure light at the object is controlled such that adjacent bright areas are formed preferably 180.degree. out of phase with one another. Dark regions are thus produced between the bright areas by disruptive interference even when diffraction would otherwise cause these areas to be lit. This technique improves total resolution at the object, providing a line/space resolution 50% to 70% greater than that possible using conventional transmission means.
An early patent in this field, U.S. Pat. No. 4,360,586 to Flanders et al, is directed to exposing periodic optical features on an object surface. The features were characterized by a spacial period "p". According to the invention, a source of radiant energy of wavelength illuminates a surface to be exposed through a mask having a spatial period separated from the surface by a distance approximately S.sub.n =P.sup.2 /.lambda., where n is an integer greater than 1.
With respect to semiconductor fabrication numerous laboratory techniques have been proposed to employ phase shifting in the photo patterning of semiconductor wafers. Most of the work in this area has centered around either "Alternating Phase Shifting", "Subresolution Phase Shifting", or "Rim Phase Shifting" experiments. In general, in each of these techniques a phase shift mask or reticle is constructed in repetitive patterns in three distinct layers of material. An opaque layer on the mask provides areas that allow no light transmission therethrough, a transparent layer provides areas which allow close to 100 percent of light to pass through and a phase shift layer provides areas which allow close to 100 percent of light to pass through, but phase shifted 180.degree. from the light passing through the transparent areas. The transparent areas and phase shifting areas are situated so that light rays defracted through each area is cancelled out in a darkened area there between. This creates the pattern of dark and bright areas which can be used to clearly delineate features of a pattern on a photopattern wafer.
"Alternating Phase Shifting" is a spatial frequency reduction concept similar to the method disclosed in the Flanders et al patent. It is characterized by a pattern of features alternately covered by a phase shifting layer. "Subresolution Phase Shifting" promotes edge intensity cut off by placing a subresolution feature adjacent to a primary image and covering it with a phase shifting layer. "Rim Phase Shifting" overhangs a phase shifter over a chrome mask pattern.
In general, these phase shifting techniques have not been adapted to large scale semiconductor manufacturing processes. One problem with applying phase shifting lithography into practical use, in manufacturing semiconductors, is the difficulty in reticle mask making, inspection, and repair. The process must be compatible with the manufacturing conditions, (ie. inexpensive, repetitive, clean) and prior art laboratory techniques have not heretofore met these criterion.
A representative state of the art semiconductor laboratory process for making a phase shift mask or reticle is the process generally disclosed in the Flanders et al patent. This process is shown in FIGS. 2A-2D and can be termed a "lift-off or additive process".
The "lift-off process" may be used to fabricate a reticle or hard copy of an individual drawing for a semiconductor circuit layout. The reticle may then be used directly as a mask in the photopatterning process or may be used to produce a photomask. As an example, the reticle may be used to pattern a wafer surface in a stepped pattern transfer. DRAMs and SRAMs because of their repetitive nature are adapted to manufacture in this manner.
Still referring now to FIG. 1D, with the lift-off process, a transparent quartz substrate 10 has a film of an opaque material 12 such as chromium (CR) pattern thereon. The chromium 12 may be deposited and patterned onto the substrate 10 by a conventional process such as electron beam lithography. In the example of FIG. 1D, the pattern is a periodic arrangement of chrome 12 and spaces 14 patterned on the quartz substrate 10.
Referring now to FIG. 2A, a thin film layer of phase shifter material such as (SiO.sub.2) is deposited over the pattern chrome 12 and spaces 14. The phase shift material is selected from those with suitable optical properties and is deposited with a thickness equivalent to a half wavelength (.lambda./2) at the exposure source of interest. Thus, the phase shift ultimately obtained as a function of the thickness "t" and refractive index of the phase shifter material, which are preferably selected to provide a 180.degree. phase shift.
Next, the phase shift material is coated with a resist 20 sensitive to electron beam exposure. The desired phase shift pattern is then written onto the resist 20 and the resist pattern thus obtained is developed and removed. Next, the phase shift film 18 is etched in the regions where the resist was removed. Following this step, the resist is then stripped, leaving a phase shifter 18 in every other opening 14 between the chrome 12. This provides an alternating phase shifting pattern as previously explained.
Problems with this "lift-off process" are that it is defect prone, inconsistent, a less manufacturable procedure and, thus, not as suitable for large scale manufacturing. Deposition of the phase shifter material is prone to particulate contamination. These contaminants may cause subsequent patterning errors of the finished wafer. Another problem with the "lift-off process" is that it is difficult to accurately control the thickness of phase shifter 18 uniformally across the quartz plate 10. A still further problem is the lack of an etch stop between the phase shifter film and the quartz substrate (particularly when SiO.sub.2 is used for both). A uniform timed etch accurate across the whole of the quartz plate is difficult to achieve.
In the finished reticle, each phase shifter 18 preferably has a thickness "t" (FIG. 2C) that produces a 180.degree. phase shift for light passing there through. This optimal thickness can be determined by the formula: ##EQU1## where t=thickness of phase shift material
i=an odd integer PA1 .lambda.=equals wavelength of exposure light PA1 n=refractive index of phase shifter material of the exposure wavelength
Any deviation from this optimal thickness adversely effects the phase shift ultimately obtained. An "edge effect" may occur, for example, at the edge of a phase shifter 18 deposited over the edge of a chrome light blocker 12. This may be due to the conformal deposition of the phase shifter material 18 over the chrome light blocker 12 which causes the phase shifter 18 to be slightly thicker at the edges.
Another prior art method for forming a phase shift reticle is shown in FIGS. 3A-3C. As before, a pattern of opaque light blockers 12 such as chromium (CR) is formed on a quartz substrate 10. As shown in FIG. 3A, photoresist 20 is then pattern on the chrome light blockers 12 in every other opening 14. As shown in FIG. 3B, openings 14 not covered with photoresist are then etched to form phase shifter openings 22 etched back to a depth "d" into the substrate of the quartz substrate 10. Light passing through an etched back phase shifter opening 22 is phase shifted relative to light passing through an adjacent transmission opening 14 which must travel through the full thickness of the quartz substrate 10.
This prior art reticle fabrication method is also subject to several disadvantages. First, the etch depth "d" into the quartz 10 requires a highly controlled uniform etch over a relatively large (example--5") reticle surface. Since it is necessary to phase shift within a margin of .+-.10.degree. or less, this translates to an etch tolerance of about 5%. This is difficult to achieve under manufacturing conditions.
Further, the prior art etch back technique shown in FIGS. 3A-3C causes a finite loss in light transmission due to the roughness of the exterior surface of the etch back phase shifter openings 22. Another disadvantage of this etch back technique is the difficult requirement of having to accurately pattern photoresist 20 over the topology of the opaque light blockers 12.
The process of the present invention is directed to a novel process that overcomes these prior art limitations. The process of the invention provides a clean, repetitive technique for forming accurate phase shifting reticles suitable for large scale semiconductor manufacturing. Moreover, the process of the invention can be used to provide phase shifters having a smooth and optically flawless surface.

Phase shifting reticle fabrication using ion implantation