A plurality of light receiving detectors receive a plurality of segments of a beam returning from an optical disc when a reading beam of light is radiated to the optical disc. An optical pickup assembly produces a plurality of signals from the beam segments in accordance with, for instance, optical intensities of the beam segments. A level adjusting circuit adjusts signal levels of these signals such that each of the signal levels of the signals becomes equal to a reference level. The reference level is determined from at least one of the signal levels of the received beam segments.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for recording signals on an optical disc and reproducing signals from the optical disc, and more particularly to an apparatus for synthesizing signals derived from an optical disc.
2. Description of the Related Art
When an optical disc is used to record and reproduce an information signal, a beam of light is radiated on a recording layer of the optical disc and a returning beam is received by a plurality of light receiving planes (detectors) to obtain a plurality of signals. Each light receiving plane (detector) receives part of the returning beam. The part of the returning beam is referred to as a returning beam segment in this specification. The signals prepared by the light receiving planes are synthesized to create a so-called RF signal used for reproduction of the information signal, a servo signal used for focusing and tracking, or a detection signal used for detection of a pre-pit. A signal synthesizing apparatus is employed when synthesizing the signals returning from the recording layer of the optical disc.
One example of such signal synthesizing apparatus is disclosed in Japanese Patent Kokai (Laid-Open Publication) No. 2000-132835. The signal synthesizing apparatus uses a plurality of light receiving planes to capture a returning light beam. It is therefore ideal that all the light receiving planes have the same light receiving characteristics. In reality, however, it is impossible for the light receiving planes to have the same light receiving characteristics. In order to deal with this problem, the signal synthesizing apparatus of Japanese Patent Kokai No. 2000-132835 relies upon variable gain amplifiers to adjust signal levels of the returning light beam segments such that the signal levels of the returning light beam segments become equal to a predetermined reference value.
Practically, however, a plurality of light receiving elements which constitute each light receiving plane have great variation in optical and physical characteristics. In addition, the reference value mentioned above cannot be separated from the signal levels of the returning light beam segments in order to insure an appropriate functioning of the variable gain amplifiers. This imposes considerable limitations on determination (selection) of the reference value and design of a feedback circuit including the variable gain amplifiers.

APPARATUS FOR ADJUSTING SIGNAL LEVELS DERIVED FROM AN OPTICAL DISC TO BECOME EQUAL TO A REFERENCE LEVEL DETERMINED FROM AT LEAST ONE OF THE SIGNAL LEVELS OF THE SIGNALS AND FOR SYNTHESIZING THE SIGNALS


A rapid sensor calibration technique applied prior to each Sensor 9 measuring a beverage in which water (zero Brix), at same temperature as beverage, is drawn from a Water Supply 3 via Valve 6 and passed over the fixed optic Sensor 9 in order to reference out any sensor temperature changes or beverage temperature changes or sensor surface fouling by the dispensed beverage. This technique of continuous and multiple calibrations, provides an enhanced xe2x80x9cbeverage dispensing systemxe2x80x9d calibration beyond that achievable using known calibration methods associated with automatically sensing and controlling beverage quality for soft drinks from a fountain dispenser using, for example, water at a specific temperature to initially calibrate Sensor 9, or using a high quality beverage, from a bottle, for example, at a known Brix level to initially calibrate Sensor 9.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to sensor systems and more particularly, to a method for implementing rapid calibration of a beverage dispensing machine to ensure the quality of beverages such as soft drinks.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Without limiting the scope of the invention, the background set forth herein below is described in connection with sensing and controlling the quality of beverages such as soft drinks. It should be appreciated by one skilled in the art that the term beverages refers to a variety of fluids and other media, and that the principles of the present invention are applicable to a variety of media.
The dispensing of fountain beverages is presently generally accomplished using either premix systems in which a finished beverage is delivered to a proprietor from a bottler, and postmix systems in which flavored syrup is delivered to the proprietor and mixed with water at the point of delivery.
A premix system generally utilizes product containers filled with finished soft drinks that may be under carbon dioxide pressure. In these systems, the product is normally delivered to the consumer via a single orifice dispensing valve. Premix systems are also used in bottling plants that typically operate at extremely high flow rates. These systems are relatively expensive installations and are unsuitable for most typical restaurant settings.
A postmix system generally utilizes flavored syrup combined with carbonated or still water at a prescribed ratio and delivered through a dispensing valve at a fountain having passages for both syrup and water. The valve combines the syrup and water immediately before delivery into a cup on an individual serving basis. The valves are typically adjusted periodically to alter the mix ratio of the ingredients of the beverage.
In the restaurant industry, the valves that control the delivery of the beverage constituents are typically manually adjusted after a taste test of the finished beverage or a customer""s complaint, for example. The decision to alter the composition of the beverage is a highly subjective one, and is typically based on the operator""s subjective preference regarding the desired taste or sweetness of the beverage. In addition, the manual adjustment of the valves significantly lacks precision and accuracy. It is furthermore highly susceptible to human error, and is therefore inherently unreliable and inaccurate. The manual adjustments are also time-consuming and cumbersome.
Various attempts at maintaining a consistent ratio of the components of the beverages offered at a soft drink fountain dispenser have been made in the prior art. In one method, predetermined volumes of syrup and carbonated water are measured in a container called a Brixing cup. xe2x80x9cBrix,xe2x80x9d as understood by those skilled in the art, is the percent concentration of sugar. Proper Brixing is determined by ratio marks on the Brixing cup.
The Brixing method must be periodically repeated in order to account for any long term changes in the pressures or viscosities of the dispensed fluid. Short term variations in flow rates during a single dispensing operation, or between individual dispensing operations, cannot be accounted for by periodic manual adjustments.
In another method, the rate of flow of the syrup and carbonated water are measured with flow meters. The flow rates are adjusted and operate at a prescribed ratio. A flexible flow washer may be positioned in a flow line, and variations in fluid flow rate cause the opening of the washer to become enlarged or constricted. This method is flawed in that it does not account for factors contributing to variations in the accuracy of the mix ratio, such as changes in fluid viscosity. This method also lacks any significant degree of accuracy and is therefore unreliable.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/549,287, entitled System and Method for Sensing and Controlling Beverage Quality, filed Apr. 14, 2000 by Melendez et al., and assigned to the assignee of the present invention, discloses among other things, use of a surface plasmon resonance sensor to implement a closed loop monitor and control system to maintain precise control of the beverage constituent concentrations associated with a product dispensed from a beverage dispensing machine. In practice, the beverage temperature is not well controlled and can vary greatly (e.g., 3xc2x0 C.-25xc2x0 C.). When this occurs, both the beverage temperature and the sensor temperature change unpredictably during operation, greatly affecting the refractive index measurements associated with a surface plasmon resonance sensor. Further, natural products from the beverage can foul the sensing surface of the sensor such that the sensor will generate erroneous readings.
Any inaccuracy in the ratio of the beverage constituents dispensed from a beverage dispensing machine results in inconsistency and undesirable variations in the quality and taste of the beverages. For example, dispensers that have poor accuracy and reliability may dispense a beverage that is too sweet or not sweet enough, or a carbonated soda that is flat. Variations from the desired mix accuracy also result in uneconomical use of the syrup.
In practice, the beverage temperature from dispensing system is not well controlled. It can vary from near 3xc2x0 C. to 25xc2x0 C. The dispense pattern, i.e., dispense time, the time between each dispense, is also irregular. These limitations, among others, can cause the beverage and sensor temperatures to change unpredictably during operation, which affects the refractive index sensor measurements associated with measuring the beverage quality. For example, the temperature change of a fixed optic sensor such as a surface plasmon resonance sensor will greatly affect refractive index reading. There is no existing method to measure this temperature change and, even if such a method existed, corrected for temperature-change-induced sensor variability would be difficult. Also, the temperature of beverage on the fixed optic sensor such as a surface plasmon resonance sensor will also affect refractive index reading because the measured refractive index of the beverage varies with temperature. Additionally, when the sensor is exposed to beverage, the nature product in the beverage will contaminate (i.e., foul) the sensor surface. These limitations, among others, can generate erroneous readings.
A need has therefore arisen for a method of sensing and controlling the quality of beverages that overcomes the limitations in the prior art. A method that provides for rapid calibration of the fixed optical sensor, to more accurately monitor beverage quality, would have great advantages over the prior art.
The present invention, according to one embodiment, comprises a method of automatically sensing and controlling beverage quality dispensed from a beverage dispenser, comprising the steps of a) supplying a first fluid, wherein the flow of the first fluid is controlled by a first valve; b) supplying a second fluid; c) mixing the first fluid and the second fluid (this mixture is called xe2x80x9cbeveragexe2x80x9d); d) calibrating a fixed optic sensor via passing a fluid with well-known properties, such as zero-Brix water, (dispensed by the beverage dispenser) onto the sensing surface of the fixed optic sensor; the zero-Brix water must be at the same temperature as the beverage; e) passing a sample of beverage onto the sensing surface of the fixed optic sensor subsequent to calibrating the fixed optic sensor; f) measuring one or more properties of the beverage; g) controlling the first valve based on the one or more properties to ensure proper beverage quality; h) repeating steps a-g to maintain a desired ratio of the fluids; and i) dispensing the mixture into a receptacle.

Method for rapid calibration of beverage dispensing machine


Method and apparatus of charge distribution analysis insulating and semiconducting dielectric materials to measure by using a Coulomb Balance surface/subsurface space charge layers and the sign, mobility and polarizability of charge carriers. The technique includes measuring the force, attractive or repellent, between a bias electrode to which a voltage is applied and a dielectric material in a condensor half cell arrangement. An apparatus is provided for heating a sample for causing the generation of surface/subsurface charges, and then for applying an external potential while the sample is maintained at a high temperature. The effective mass of the sample is detected by determining the amount of force necessary to restore a balance arm, by which the sample is supported, to its original position, the alteration in position being due to attractive or repulsive electrostatic forces between the sample and the electrodes. The effective mass reflects the amount of peroxies or impurities within the sample, and the method and apparatus may be used for scientific mineral composition analysis, quality control of the purity of semiconductors, and in other applications. The heating of the sample may by a combination of any of conductive, convective and radiative means. In a preferred embodiment, the sample is supported on a vertically-disposed beam.

The present invention is directed to a new apparatus and method of charge distribution analysis, or CDA, to measure surface and/or subsurface charge layers, the sign of dominant charge carriers, and their mobility in--as well as the dielectric constant of--insulating and semiconducting dielectric materials.
The existence of surface/subsurface charge layers has been theoretically predicted on the basis of fundamental thermodynamic laws, specifically for ionic insulators. For instance, discussions of such charge layers may be found in the following articles: K. Lehovec, J. Chem. Phys. 21, 1123 (1953); K. L. Kliewer and J. S. Koehler, Phys. Rev. 140A, 1226 (1965); and W. D. Kingery, J .Am. Ceram. Soc. 57, 1 (1974) and 57, 74 (1974). A discussion of oxide insulators with electronic defects is found in the article by B. V. King and F. Freund, Phys. Rev B29, 5814 (1984). The presence of such charge layers has been concluded from a variety of indirect observations such as the preferred segregation of certain aliovalent cations to surfaces and/or grain boundaries (Kingery 1974 articles cited above), the deflection of low energy electron or ion beams from surfaces, the energy dispersion of photoelectrons emitted from surfaces and many manifestations of electrostatic adhesion. Each of the above references is hereby incorporated herein by reference.
However, no method has existed until now for directly measuring and quantifying surface/subsurface charge layers, and for determining the sign and mobility of the dominant charge carriers.
Prior methods such as the measurement of cation surface or grain boundary segregation in ceramics are indirect and limited to high temperatures. They require thermal pretreatment of the samples, extensive sample preparation for observation of frozen-in disequilibrium states by microanalytical techniques (Kingery 1974) or extremely clean surface conditions in ultrahigh vacuum. Prior methods such as the deflection or energy dispersion of low energy charged beams, both electrons and other particles, inherently require high or ultrahigh vacua, and are restricted to very thin surface/subsurface layers due to the limited depth of penetration or escape depth of low energy electron or ion beams.
Prior methods such as based on electrostatic adhesion are qualitative at best, giving no or very limited information about the strength of the effect, about the concentration and the nature of the dominant charge carriers.

Method and apparatus for charge distribution analysis


A telephone services functionality is disposed in a telecommunications network to ensure that a telephone call is processed in accordance with the telephone services respectively subscribed to by the calling and called parties. In addition, the functionality retains control over the call so that it may respond to service requests entered by either the calling or called party at any point following establishment of the call connection.

Telecommunications networks presently offer a number of different services to their subscribers. Such services (and their features) include, for example, 800 service (automatic call distribution, call queuing, interactive announcements, digit collection, etc.), virtual private networks (abbreviated dialing, authorization codes, caller privileges, etc.) and plain old telephone service (call waiting, call forwarding, automatic call back, etc.).
Currently, a switch in a telecommunications network processes a telephone call in accord with the services associated with only one of the parties involved in the telephone call. For example, if a called party is a subscriber of a particular service, e.g., an 800 service, then the switch processes the call in accord with that service without considering the telephone services subscribed to by the calling party.

Telephone call processing arrangement based on calling and called party telephone services


An image forming apparatus with reduced momentary current consumption is provided. The apparatus includes: a plurality of drive waveform generating circuits; a circuit selection device which selectively switches the drive waveform generating circuits for applying the drive signal waveforms to pressure generating elements; a power source which supplies power to the pressure generating elements via the drive waveform generating circuits; and a control device which selects a first drive waveform generating circuit used for driving each of the pressure generating elements, with respect to each of the pressure generating elements, of the plurality of drive waveform generating circuits, in such a manner that no drive waveform generating circuit in which an amount of momentary current consumption exceeds a prescribed tolerable value, of the plurality of drive waveform generating circuits, exists.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, and more particularly, to an image forming apparatus which carries out printing by using a liquid ejection head having pressure generating elements corresponding to a plurality of nozzles.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, in an inkjet type recording apparatus (inkjet printer), ink droplets are ejected at prescribed timings, respectively, from the nozzles of the recording head, on the basis of the dot pattern data (also called "dot data" or "print data") developed from image data for printing which has been input from a host computer, and printing is carried out by means of these respective ink droplets landing on and adhering to a recording medium, such as recording paper.
As a method of the recording head, for example, a method is known which ejects ink droplets by causing a change in the volume of pressure chambers (pressure generating chambers) connected to nozzles. In a recording head of this kind, a diaphragm which is elastically deformable in the outward direction is formed on a portion of the circumferential walls which demarcate the pressure chambers, and the volume of the pressure chambers is changed by causing this diaphragm to vibrate by means of pressure generating elements which are represented by piezoelectric elements.
Usually, a plurality of nozzles are formed in a recording head, and a pressure chamber and a piezoelectric element are provided for each nozzle. All of the piezoelectric elements are electrically connected in parallel between a common power supply and ground wire, and a switching element is electrically connected in series to each of the piezoelectric elements. Signals (drive waveform) for driving the piezoelectric elements are generated by a drive waveform generating circuit, and they are distributed and supplied selectively to the piezoelectric elements via power supply lines and switching elements. More specifically, when a prescribed switching element is selected and switched on, on the basis of the print data, then a drive waveform is applied to the piezoelectric element, via a power supply line, and an ink droplet is ejected from a prescribed nozzle corresponding to the piezoelectric element to which the drive waveform has been applied.
In an inkjet recording apparatus which uses piezoelectric elements as described above, generally, a common drive circuit system is adopted, which uses one common drive waveform that combines a plurality of drive waveform elements for ejecting a plurality of types of ink droplets of different ink volumes (for example, a large dots, a medium dot, and a small dot), the required waveform portion being applied selectively to each of the piezoelectric elements, by means of switching elements. This system has benefits in that, since a common drive waveform is applied simultaneously to a plurality of piezoelectric elements, there is no need to prepare drive waveform generating circuits individually for each of the piezoelectric elements, and therefore the number of high-voltage high-precision analogue circuits, and the number of wires, can be reduced.
On the other hand, in recent years, with the object of increasing printing speed, and the like, printers based on a line head system (or array system) have been proposed, in which a very large number of nozzles are prepared, ink being ejected simultaneously from a large number of nozzles in such a manner that printing is carried out at high speed. If the common drive circuit system described above is applied directly to a line type of recording head having a plurality of nozzles, then the load of each drive circuit is high, and therefore the drive waveform is distorted. Consequently, not only does ink ejection become instable, but also, the current passing through all of the piezoelectric elements exceeds the drive capability of the drive circuits, and the heat generated by this may possibly lead to break down of the circuits.
One technique for resolving a problem of this kind is a method which drives the ejection of the piezoelectric elements at staggered timings. However, there is a problem with this method in that it impairs the high-speed printing capability which is a characteristic feature of a line type of recording head.
As a further possible solution, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2005-59440 discloses a method (circuit division method) which divides a very large number of piezoelectric elements into a plurality of groups and then drives the piezoelectric elements by means of drive circuits which are separated according to the groups in such a manner that the drive circuits respectively drives the groups. According to this method, the load is divided between a plurality of drive circuits, and the required current and heat generation in each drive circuit is reduced. Therefore, the high-speed characteristics of the line head system can be utilized. However, although the composition described above is extremely beneficial with respect to the drive capacity, heat generation and power consumption of the drive circuits, it has the following problems. More specifically, in a line head system in which a plurality of nozzles are arranged in an array configuration, it is necessary to drive ejection of ink from a very large number of nozzles, simultaneously, and therefore, the momentary current consumption of the print system as a whole may become problematic, depending on the timing of the drive waveforms generated by the plurality of drive circuits. When a plurality of piezoelectric elements are driven simultaneously, a current flows momentarily, and therefore it is necessary to prepare a drive circuit having a high drive capacity, or an appropriate number of drive circuits, in order to handle a large current. In addition to this, excess capacity is required in the power source which supplies power to the drive circuits, and it is difficult to supply the power from a wall socket or distribution panel. Furthermore, even supposing that an extremely large power source can be prepared so that the prescribed power can be supplied to the drive circuits, not only does the output voltage of the actual power source fall momentarily as a result of the momentary current, but also, a voltage drop is caused by a pattern in the power lines from the power source to the piezoelectric elements, impedances of wiring such as FPCs, or the electronic components such as transistors and resistances. Therefore, the voltage of the drive waveform ultimately applied to the piezoelectric elements falls, and it becomes difficult to eject ink appropriately. Therefore, image quality is degraded.
A method for improving the aforementioned circuit division method is known, in which the momentary current and the momentary power are restricted by controlling the timings of the drive waveforms (in other words, the phases of the drive waveforms) from a plurality of drive circuits. However, it is difficult to restrict the momentary current simply by staggering the phases of the drive waveforms, and furthermore, the time taken for printing is lengthened in accordance with the amount by which the phases are staggered. Therefore, the high printing speed which is characteristic of a line head system is impaired. Moreover, displacement of the deposition positions (landing positions) of the ink droplets may occur, and this may be visible as displacement of the pixels.
Furthermore, in a recording head, there is some, albeit slight, variation in the nozzle shapes, and this may give rise to variation in the deposition positions of the ink droplets. In particular, in a recording head having a plurality of nozzles, such as a line head, variation in the deposition positions caused by variation in the nozzle shapes is unavoidable, and there is a high possibility that this leads to be visible in the form of non-uniformities in the image.

Image forming apparatus with reduced momentary current consumption


There is provided a thyristor having emitter shorts, wherein in an orthogonal projection onto a plane parallel to a first main side, a contact area covered by an electrical contact of a first electrode layer with a first emitter layer and the emitter shorts includes areas in the shape of lanes, in which an area coverage of the emitter shorts is less than the area coverage of emitter shorts in the remaining area of the contact area, wherein the area coverage of the emitter shorts in a specific area is the area covered by the emitter shorts in that specific area relative to the specific area. The thyristor of the invention exhibits a fast turn-on process even without complicated amplifying gate structure.

A thyristor, sometimes also referred to as silicon controlled rectifier (SCR), is a switching device which can be turned on in a forward direction, i.e. when being forward biased, by supplying a positive gate trigger current pulse to a gate terminal. The thyristor is then said to be in a forward conducting state or on-state in which a current can flow in a forward direction from an anode to a cathode. On the other hand, the thyristor can also be in a forward blocking state, also referred to as off-state, meaning that a high positive voltage in the forward direction can be blocked. In a reverse direction opposite to the forward direction, the thyristor cannot be turned on. A thyristor may be reverse blocking, which means that it can block at least approximately the same voltage in the reverse direction as in the forward blocking state, or asymmetric, which means that it has virtually no blocking capability in the reverse direction. Since phase control applications commonly require reverse blocking capabilities, a phase control thyristor (PCT) is typically reverse blocking.
In FIG. 1 there is schematically shown a cross-section of a known thyristor 100. The thyristor comprises a semiconductor wafer, in which a thyristor structure comprising four semiconductor layers having alternating conductivity types, i.e. an n-p-n-p layer stack structure is formed. In an order from a cathode side 102 to an anode side 104 of the thyristor 100, the thyristor structure comprises an n+-doped cathode emitter layer 106, a p-doped base layer 108, an n−-doped base layer 110, and a p-doped anode layer 112. The n+-doped cathode emitter layer 106 is electrically contacted by a cathode metallization 114 formed on a cathode side surface of the semiconductor wafer to adjoin said n+-doped cathode emitter layer 106. The p-doped anode layer 112 is electrically contacted by an anode metallization 116 formed on an anode side surface of the semiconductor wafer to adjoin said p-doped anode layer 112. The p-doped base layer 108 is electrically contacted by a gate metallization 118 formed on the cathode side surface of the semiconductor wafer to adjoin said p-doped base layer 108.
A contact region between the n+-doped cathode emitter layer 106 and the cathode metallization 114 will be referred to as a cathode region, and a contact region between the p-doped base layer 108 and the gate metallization 118 will be referred to as a gate region.
When a positive voltage or forward voltage below the breakdown voltage VBO of the thyristor is applied between the anode metallization 116 and the cathode metallization 114, the thyristor 100 may be switched between the forward blocking state and the forward conducting state by supplying a gate trigger current pulse to the gate metallization 118. As long as no gate trigger current pulse is supplied to the gate metallization 118 the thyristor will remain in the blocking state. However, when the thyristor 100 is triggered by supplying a gate trigger current pulse to the gate 118, electrons will be injected from the cathode metallization 114, flow to the anode where they will lead to hole injection, and an electron-hole plasma will form in the p-doped base layer 108 and n−-doped base layer 110 which may switch the thyristor 100 into the forward conducting state. The forward conducting state may be maintained as long as the forward voltage is applied and will be stopped when the forward voltage applied between anode metallization 116 and cathode metallization 114 is switched off or changed to a reverse voltage. Upon applying a reverse, negative voltage between the anode metallization 116 and the cathode metallization 114, the thyristor 100 goes into a reverse blocking state and may be switched to the forward conducting state by again applying a forward voltage and another gate trigger current pulse. To obtain a full blocking state of the thyristor 100, the reverse voltage has to be applied for a certain duration called quiescence time tq such that the electron-hole plasma previously injected may disappear due to recombination processes, thereby re-enabling the forward blocking capacity of the device.
To trigger thyristor 100 shown in FIG. 1, a substantial gate current is required. A known measure to facilitate triggering of a thyristor is the integration of an auxiliary thyristor 120 together with a main thyristor 126 as in the thyristor 100′ shown in FIG. 2. The auxiliary thyristor 120 is also often referred to as pilot thyristor. An anode metallization 116′, p-doped anode layer 112′, an n−-doped base layer 110′ and a p-doped base layer 108′ of the thyristor 100′ are all shared by the auxiliary thyristor 120 and the main thyristor 126 as shown in FIG. 2. The auxiliary thyristor 120 comprises a gate metallization referred to as auxiliary gate metallization 130, which contacts the p-doped base layer 108′ in the region of the auxiliary thyristor 120. The auxiliary thyristor 120 also comprises an n+-doped emitter layer referred to as auxiliary n+-doped emitter layer 122. The auxiliary n+-doped emitter layer 122 is contacted by a cathode metallization of the auxiliary thyristor 120, which is referred to as auxiliary cathode metallization 124.
The auxiliary cathode metallization 124 is internally connected to the gate metallization of the main thyristor 126, which is referred to as main gate metallization 118. The main gate metallization 118 contacts the underlying p-doped base layer 108′ in a region of the main thyristor 126. The contact region between the p-doped base layer 108′ in the region of the main thyristor 126 and the main gate metallization 118 is again referred to as gate region. Preferably, a single, contiguous metallization serves as both, as the auxiliary cathode metallization 124 and as the main gate metallization 118. An n+-doped emitter layer 106 is comprised in the main thyristor 126 and is contacted by the cathode metallization 114 of the main thyristor 126, wherein a contact region between the n+-doped emitter layer 106 and the cathode metallization 114 in the region of the main thyristor 126 is again referred to as cathode region. Typically, the auxiliary cathode metallization 124 is not accessible from outside of the thyristor 100′, i.e. no terminal exists which would allow for a direct electric connection from the outside to the auxiliary cathode metallization 124.
Small area devices can be triggered properly by a relative moderate current applied to a small gate region in the center of the device. For large-area devices of similar gate design, a significantly higher current would be required. To improve the turn-on behavior of large area devices it is known from WO 2011/161097 A2 to distribute the auxiliary thyristor structure over the whole thyristor area, thus accelerating the spread conducting region during turn-on. This reduces turn-on losses and allows higher di/dt ratings as compared to simple central-gate structures.
For high power applications, thyristors have been developed based on circular semiconductor wafers having a diameter of e.g. 4 or 5 inches. However, advanced thyristor applications require even larger thyristor designs based e.g. on 6 inch wafers. It has been observed that for such large thyristor designs, it may not be sufficient to simply scale-up previous smaller thyristor designs. With increasing thyristor diameter, further effects may gain influence on thyristor operation. For example, a larger thyristor for higher nominal current with equivalent forward blocking capacity or turn-on characteristics as well as cooling characteristics during thyristor operation may not simply be achieved by proportionally scaling thyristor dimensions.
A thyristor 100′ as described above with a homogeneously n+-doped cathode emitter layer 106 as shown in FIG. 2 may be very sensitive to transients with positive voltage variations dV/dt, which may give rise to so called dynamic voltage triggering, which is caused by a charging current occurring during build-up of a depletion layer in n−-doped base layer 110′, which thus forms a drift region. Said charging current is amplified in a partial transistor formed by the emitter, base and drift layers of the thyristor 100′. Without impeding the forward characteristics significantly, this disadvantage may be mitigated by distributing a plurality of discrete emitter shorts 128 across the cathode region. The main purpose of the emitter shorts 128 is to allow for removal of a leakage current which occurs during the forward blocking state of the thyristor 100′, and which may lead to unintentional turning on of the thyristor. The emitter shorts 128 are formed by small through holes or vias in the cathode emitter layer 106 through which the p-doped base layer 108 may reach the cathode side surface 102 metallized with the cathode metallization 114 as shown in FIG. 3. The p-doped regions with missing n+-doping on the cathode side 102 thus formed are sometimes also referred to as cathode emitter shorts or cathode shorts as they may short-circuit the cathode junction. The emitter shorts 128 may form an ohmic short-circuit across a junction between p-doped base layer 108′ and n+-doped cathode emitter layer 106, and may conduct a significant portion of the current at low current densities, i.e. in all phases where forward blocking is required.
From EP 0 002 840 A1 there is known a thyristor exhibiting improved maximum current rise rates as a result of the relocation of the ignition front from the edge of the cathode emitter zone to inner cathode emitter areas. This relocation is effected by providing a relatively light doping of the anode zone beneath the thyristor gate and cathode emitter edge, and a relatively higher anode zone doping opposite and outside of the cathode edge, while not applying an anode electrode metal coating to the lightly doped area of the anode zone. The thyristor utilizes cathode emitter short circuit rings arranged such that the ignition front which occurs at thyristor triggering bypasses the short circuit ring immediately adjacent the cathode emitter edge, thereby increasing the thyristor voltage rise velocity, dU/dt.
From JP S53 92391 U and from JP S54 46488 A there is respectively known a thyristor device with emitter shorts, wherein no emitter shorts are provided in longitudinal areas extending in a direction away from a gate contact.
From JP S54 46488 A there is known thyristor device comprising emitter shorts, wherein the emitter shorts are arranged around the gate contact at a smaller pitch than in the remaining emitter contact area.
According to WO 2011/161097 A2 an emitter shorts pattern of a thyristor should be as uniform and homogenous as possible, ideally with a constant density of shorts, as shown in FIG. 4 in a partial top view, over the whole cathode region, and all subregions thereof, in particular in cathode regions close to the gate structure to achieve a high lateral plasma spread velocity and a high maximum current change dI/dt.
The shorting pattern controls the spread of plasma in lateral direction. The quality of shorting pattern design reflects in the relevant dynamic parameters like critical rate of rise of forward voltage dVDM/dt and critical rate of rise of reverse voltage dVRM/dt, circuit commutated recovery time tq, etc. It also impacts static parameters like gate non-trigger current IGD, gate trigger current IGT, on-state voltage VT, etc. It also strongly affects the overall reliability of a thyristor.

Thyristor with improved plasma spreading


The disclosure relates to drilling fluid compositions, and their method of use, comprising a non-toxic and low cost-to-produce mineral base oil comprising 90 to 100% branched and cyclic-paraffins and virtually aromatic free. The disclosed base oils are suitable to replace diesel oil and distillates in any drilling operation and offers a reduced environmental impact and improved health and safety of employees.

In rotary drilling wells (e.g., oil, gas, geothermal wells and the like), a drilling fluid is typically pumped downwardly through a string of hollow drill pipe to, and outwardly through, a drill bit connected at the bottom end of the drill pipe string. The drilling fluid—commonly referred to as a drilling "mud"—is circulated, by injection-pump pressure, back upwardly from the bottom of the drill pipe string, through the annular space formed between the drill pipe and the surrounding well bore and/or casing, to thereby transport drilled cuttings and other well debris out of the borehole.
The following important functions are served by the drilling fluid, or mud: to clean the bit and bottom of the borehole so that the bit can drill; remove and transport drilled cuttings to the surface; cool and lubricate the bit and drill string; maintain pressure balance between the geological formations and the wellbore thereby preventing the loss of well control (blowouts) and mitigating the caving in of the borehole in weak formation regions; seal porous formations; and provide, with routine testing of the mud, information about the formation penetrated. Various materials are added to prepare and condition drilling muds.
The term "mud" applied to drilling fluids contrasts with the fact that drilling fluids are typically quite complex, specially-formulated fluids which play an important, if not critical, role in rotary well drilling operations, especially those in which deep oil or gas wells are being drilled. Drilling muds are, as an illustration, usually formulated to have: (i) a comparatively low viscosity at all temperatures normally encountered, from the surface to the bottom of the borehole, so as to minimize lost circulation problems and costs; (ii) a sufficient density and rheological characteristic to keep drilled cuttings in suspension, to thereby prevent settling of the entrained cuttings in the borehole; and (iii) a relatively high flash point so as to reduce the risk of fires and explosions which might otherwise be caused by use of the drilling mud.
Typically, the base fluids selected for drilling muds are water or oil. Oil base drilling fluids provide many advantages over water base drilling fluids because of their excellent shale inhibition, high penetration rate, temperature stability, and lubricating characteristics. They are typically based on mineral oils containing aromatics, diesel oil, distillates or synthetic oils with the addition of additives therein to effect an emulsion in which the oil provides a continuous phase, e.g., a water in oil invert emulsion drilling fluid. However, the human health risks and environmental pollution caused by the use of diesel, distillates and some mineral oils have become increasingly objectionable because the oils tend to come into contact with workers and escape into the environment, contaminating both the land and the water. This has led to the imposition of strict regulations for the protection of workers and the environment. Spent drilling fluids and drilled cuttings are thus among the most significant waste streams from oil and gas exploration and production operations, and pose a serious and costly disposal problem for onshore and offshore operators. For example, offshore operators must barge spent mud and cuttings to shore for land disposal if the materials do not meet EPA discharge limitations or permit requirements. Due to problems of toxicity and persistence which are associated with these oils, considerable effort and expense has been made by the industry to develop alternatives to such aromatic-containing oils in drilling muds. More recently, highly refined relatively low aromatic mineral oils have been used as the oil phase of drilling fluids. These are of much lower toxicity, but are much more expensive than diesel fuel and distillates and are produced from petroleum feedstocks by a variety of processes which reduce the concentration of aromatics and especially polynuclear aromatics.
There exists a need for less expensive non-aqueous drilling fluid alternatives, particularly those that decrease the health and safety risks posed to employees and the environment and that retain or improve on the rheological characteristics of the more conventional oil base drilling fluids, e.g., diesel oil.

Non-toxic, inexpensive, low viscosity mineral oil based drilling fluid


An impulse body module a turbine stage of a gas turbine includes a holder component of one-piece construction, with a base and surrounding side walls arranged at the base, wherein the side walls and the base define a holding chamber; an insert component, of one-piece construction, which is inserted into the holding chamber of the holder component, wherein the holder component and the insert component accommodated therein define a number of mutually separated cavities, and wherein an impulse body, in particular a sphere, is accommodated in each cavity; and a closure component of one-piece construction, which is joined to the holder component in a material-bonded manner where the holding chamber is closed and the insert component is surrounded by the holder component and the closure component. The holder component has at least one base projection in the region of its base, which extends away from the holding chamber.

The present invention relates to an impulse body module for a turbomachine, in particular a turbine stage of a gas turbine, comprising; a holder component of one-piece construction with a base and surrounding side walls arranged at the base, wherein the side walls and the base define a holding chamber; an insert component of one-piece construction, which is inserted into the holding chamber of the holder component, wherein the holder component and the insert component accommodated therein are constructed in such a way that together they define a plurality of mutually separated cavities, and wherein, in each cavity, an impulse body, in particular a sphere, is accommodated; and a closure component of one-piece construction, which is joined to the holder component in a material-bonded manner in such a way that the holding chamber is closed and the insert component is surrounded by the holder component and the closure component. Coming into consideration as methods for creating the material-bonding or substance-bonding, for example, are additive methods, such as, in particular, laser melting methods, in addition to conventional welding.
Blade or vane arrangements, in particular rotating blade arrangements, of gas turbines tend to undergo oscillations because of their elasticity and excitation due to the operating fluid or gas flowing around them and due to vibrations. Natural frequencies of the blades can thereby be excited, wherein the resonances that hereby result can lead to damage to the gas turbine and, in particular, to the blade arrangement.
For damping and, in particular, for so-called detuning of oscillations or vibrations, the applicant has proposed, in place of hitherto conventional dissipative frictional dampers, a concept disclosed in WO 2012/095067 A1, in which impulse bodies in a rotating blade influence the vibrations through impact contacts, in particular when the frequency attains nearly the natural frequency.
The applicant has further elaborated concepts for housings, in which a plurality of impulse bodies are accommodated, and the housing, together with the impulse bodies, is fastened in place in a corresponding installation space of a rotating blade arrangement. In this connection, reference is made to an earlier application DE 102016207874.7, in particular, which had not yet been published on the date of filing of the present application.

Pulse body module with bearing protection


A device is provided for maintaining the upper and lower jaws of an animal separated from one another, which does not interfere with an endotracheal tube during an intubation procedure. A stationary retainer and a movable retainer are biased apart from one another by at least one spring. Two separator rods are provided which maintain the retainers in alignment with one another. The device is especially useful for retracting the mouth of an animal which does not have protruding canine teeth.

It is a time-honored practice in experimental surgery research and teaching that the dog is the laboratory animal of choice. But this practice has been changing over the last fifteen years. As the use of swine increased as the laboratory animal of choice, the use of dogs decreased substantially. Reasons for this decrease in the use of dogs in surgical research and teaching include the following: 1) studies show that the dog is the most liked animal in the United States, and therefore there is a public sentiment against the use of dogs in the laboratory; 2) there is a dwindling availability of dogs in areas where the use of pound dogs in the laboratory has been restricted by legislation; 3) commercial swine can be readily obtained more cheaply than dogs in many areas of the United States; and 4) the physiologic and anatomic structures of swine are more similar to man than dogs.
Other biomedical researchers also have looked to other animal species on which to conduct research. These animal species include, but are not limited to, sheep, goats, miniature swine, rabbits and ferrets. All these animals, when under general anesthesia, require an endotracheal tube.
Placing an endotracheal tube into and down the trachea of an anesthetized animal is very difficult to do by oneself. In the standard two-person technique, a designated assistant opens and retains open an animal's mouth by applying tension on gauze loops over the upper and lower jaws. A second person inserts an endotracheal tube into and down the trachea of the animal. Intubating an animal of any size, whether in ventral or dorsal recumbency, with the two-person technique presents a difficult task.
One known animal mouth retractor works well on dogs. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the known retractor comprises a pair of spaced elongated arms 1 and 2 having holes 3 and 4, respectively, formed therethrough. These holes have a substantially square cross-section at a first end thereof and slidably receive a retainer rod 5 which has a complementary square cross-section. A compression spring 6 surrounds retainer rod 5 and has the opposite ends thereof in engagement with facing surfaces 7 and 8 of the two arms. Opposite ends of the rod are provided with threaded holes (not shown) which receive threaded bolts 9 and 10 therein. Washers 11 and 12 surround the bolts and are positioned between the ends of rod 5 and the heads of the bolts. The bolts and washers prevent the ends of the rod from passing through holes 3 and 4 and maintain spring 6 under compression.
Each of arms 1 and 2 have holes formed through the ends opposite the first ends thereof, which holes receive inserts 13 and 14, respectively. These inserts have holes formed therein for receiving the canine teeth of a dog and are formed of suitable material to prevent damage to the teeth.
The manner in which the retractor works is illustrated in FIG. 2 wherein the upper and lower canine teeth at one side of the dog's mouth are received within the inserts in the arms. The arms are urged apart by spring 6 to hold the jaws of the dog in spaced relationship.
Devices of the aforementioned type have been especially useful in experimental surgery research and teaching conducted on dogs. However, due to the reasons mentioned above, the use of dogs in surgical research and teaching has decreased while the use of swine and other animal species has increased. These other animal species include, but are not limited to, sheep, goats, cats, rabbits and ferrets. Since these alternative animals, unlike the dog, do not possess protruding canine teeth, the prior art mouth retractor shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 cannot be used. A need therefore exists for an animal mouth retractor which can be used on animals that do not possess protruding canine teeth. A need also exists for an animal mouth retractor which can be used on animals of different species and on animals of different sizes having different sized upper and lower jaws.


A recovery routine enables data to be read from a sector of an optical data disk in the presence of damaged or missing syncs. If a sync is found, a "sync found" signal is generated to designate a normal read operation, and blocks of data read from the sector are aligned to resyncs distributed in the data stream. If a sync is not found, a pseudo sync is generated to designate a data recovery operation, and blocks of data are aligned to resyncs found in the data stream during a single pass or during separate passes through the sector at the user's option. The syncs and resyncs are searched using windows of programmably variable size for the read and recovery operations.

Optical disk media are capable of storing a considerable amount of data in the form of small marks or holes in the surface of the disk, each representing a bit of data. The marks, burned into the surface of the disk by a laser, are arranged along spiral tracks, each divided into a number of sectors.
FIG. 1 is a diagram of an apparatus 10 for reading data prerecorded on an optical disk 12. The disk 12 is rotated by a disk servo 14 comprising a precisely controllable DC motor. A laser 16 irradiates the surface of the disk 12, and light reflected from the disk impinges on the surface of a detector 18. An optical head 20, located between the disk 12 and laser/detector 16, 18, is positioned by another servo (not shown) to read data from a desired track. Writing is carried out using similar optics, with the optical medium being preheated to enable light from laser 16 to form surface marks corresponding to data. The servos and laser/detector are controlled by a processor unit 22.
The components comprising apparatus 10 shown in FIG. 1 typically are arranged within a common housing, such as provided by SCSI (Small Computer System Interface) resident at a personal computer or other computer requiring storage of a large quantity of data.
Data read and write logic, implemented by processor unit 22 in the representative illustration of FIG. 1, has been carried out by commercially available special function integrated circuits, such as the AM95C96 optical disk controller (ODC), manufactured by Advanced Micro Devices of Sunnyvale, Calif. A system implementing the AM95C96, shown in FIG. 2, comprises ODC 24 reading data through an encoder/decoder (ODE) 28 and a phase locked loop (PLL) 30 off the optical disk and writing to the optical disk. A CPU 32 controls seeking to the desired location on the disk. The ODC/ODE 24, 28 interfaces with CPU 32, working memory 34 and a disk interface 36 to process the applied data signals and transfer commands for compliance with particular specifications such as the X3B11 continuous composite servo (CCS), WORM/ERASABLE optical format developed by ANSI.
The ODC 24 is interfaced to a system bus by host interface unit 38, and is supported by buffer memory 40 and error processor 42. General operation of the system shown in FIG. 2, being known to the prior art, is not described in detail. An improvement integrating the ODC/ODE 24,26 as a single functional element is described in copending application Ser. No. 7/813,275, entitled "Single Chip Data Controller for Optical Devices," filed concurrently herewith by the common assignee and incorporated herein by reference.
FIG. 3 depicts the layout of tracks on an optical disk. The tracks are arranged along a spiral path on the surface of the disk 12, with each turn of the spiral being treated as a separate track. In one example, the optical disk may be 90mm in diameter, and may contain 10,000 tracks (numbered 0-9999 in FIG. 3); each track is divided into twenty-five (25) sectors. Each sector in turn will carry 725 bytes of unformatted data. The optical disk in this example is capable of storing 181,250,000 bytes of data, or about 100,000 pages of text. Modifications include implementing more densely packed sectors, larger diameter disks and/or double-sided storage for enhanced information storage capacity.
FIG. 4 is a field diagram of the X3B11 format, comprising a header area that is "pre-stamped", followed by a data area for receiving data for storage. The first field of the header is a sector mark (SM) having a special redundant pattern. This field identifies the start of a sector. The SM field as well as the other fields constituting the X3B11 format is summarized below in Table I.
TABLE I __________________________________________________________________________ NAME FUNCTION PATTERN __________________________________________________________________________ SM Sector Mark 80 channel bits (5 bytes) Special Redundant Pattern = 5 3 3 7 3 3 3 3 5 long burn followed by 0010010010 = 1111111111000000111111000000000000001111110000001111110000001111111111 0010010010 VFO1.2.3 Lock up field for PLL Continuous Pattern VFO1 = 01001001001 . . . 010010 VFO2' = 10010010010 . . . 010010 VFO2" = 00010010010 . . . 010010 VFO3 = 01001001001 . . . 010010 Note: VFO2 varies depending on previous pattern in CRC. AM Address Mark (Bit/Byte Sync) 0100 1000 0000 0100 16 Channel bits. (1 byte) ID Track No. (2 bytes) High order/Low order Sector No. (1 byte) bits 7-6 = ID Number (ID 0-2) bit 5 = 0 Reserved bits 4-0 = Sector Number CRC ID Field Check Bytes (2 bytes) CRC Polynominal seed = 1's
Postamble (one byte) Allows last CRC and Data byte closure under RLL (2,7) modulation ODF Offset Detection Flag (one byte) Not written. no grooves GAP Gap (Splice) Unformatted area FLAG Indicate Written Block Continuous Pulse (5 byte area. decision by majority) 100100100100100100100100100 . . . ALPC Auto Laser Power Control Blank 2 bytes zone SYNC Redundant Sync for Data Triple sync pattern 0100 0010 0100 0010 0010 0010 0100 0100 1000 0010 0100 1000 DATA User Data, Control, CRC, ECC See FIGS. 1.6 and 1.7. and RESYNC bytes. BUFFER Used for RPM timing margins Not Written area RESYNC Data Field byte sync 0010 0000 0010 0100 16 Channel bits (1 byte) __________________________________________________________________________ NOTE: All bit patterns show channel code bits in RLL (2,7) modulation.
During both reading and writing operations, ODE 26 or the ODE section of the IODC described in the copending application, detects sector mark (SM) once within each sector. Referring to Table I, the sector mark comprises 80 bits arranged as a long burn followed by a transition pattern. Sector mark decoding is carried out by monitoring the long burn pattern of the track, and identifying a pattern characteristic of the sector mark. An algorithm for this purpose is described in my copending application Ser. No. 7/810,574, entitled "Sector Mark Detection in Long Burn Pattern for Optical Data Disks," (hereinafter referred to as "sector mark copending applications"), filed concurrently herewith and incorporated by reference.
Detection of the sector mark pattern is a prerequisite to the reading of data from the corresponding sector. It identifies the region of each sector from which data is to be read because the data field is displaced from the sector mark by a defined number of bytes depending upon the particular standard involved. For example, in conventional X3B11 format, shown symbolically in FIG. 4, the pre-stamped, or read only (RO), region extends 47 bytes beyond the sector mark field SM, followed by a magneto-optic region (MO) upon which data can be written once (the MO region is also termed a "WORM", or write once-read many, region). The data region of a 90 mm, 512 byte sector size by convention follows the RO region by ODF and GAP bytes. The next sector mark field follows the data field by a buffer region of 13 bytes for timing margins.
Another prerequisite of reading data from the disk is byte and bit alignment of data taken off each sector for decoding. In the X3B11 specification shown in FIG. 4, a synchronization mark (hereinafter termed "sync") of 3 bytes, signifying the start of the sector data field, follows VFO3. There are also several resynchronization marks ("resyncs") of one byte each at regular intervals to ensure byte alignment throughout a read operation. Following a successful header operation, the VFO3 field is searched for presence of the sync. Upon detection of the sync, a "sync found" signal is generated by the ODE and the incoming data stream is decoded one block at a time while data synchronization is maintained by alignment to the resyncs.
In case of sync misdetection as a result of a defect in disk medium or dirt, the sector data will not be able to be read reliably because there is no synchronization of the data stream. Even if the sync is found, failure to detect resyncs will cause the data stream not to byte align properly throughout the read operation. Although a few misaligned blocks of data can be corrected, several misalignments may exceed the allowable data correction capability of available error correction circuitry. Searching for the resyncs using conventional windowing techniques tends to be inaccurate because the size of the search window does not always conform to the probability that a resync will be found.
Accordingly, one feature of the invention recovers sector data in the absence of a sync and aligns data to resyncs distributed in the data field of a sector. Another feature searches for resyncs by windowing in such a manner as to take into account the probability finding resyncs in the designated region of a sector.

Recovery of data from optical data disk sectors having missing or defective synchronization information


The present invention relates to a stable pharmaceutical formulation of solid dosage forms for oral administration comprising a therapeutically effective amount of a triazole antifungal agent or pharmaceutical acceptable salt thereof, in particular Voriconazole and an effective amount of a solubility enhancing agent. It also relates to a process for the preparation thereof.

Voriconazole is a broad spectrum, triazole antifungal agent that is generally used to treat serious, invasive fungal infections including invasive aspergillosis, esophageal candidiasis, and infections caused by Scedosporium apiospermum (asexual form of Pseudallescheria boydii) and Fusarium spp. including Fusarium solani.
Like the other triazole antifungals, Voriconazole exerts its antifungal activity by inhibition of 14-alpha-lanosterol demethylation, which is mediated by fungal cytochrome P450 enzymes. This inhibition is more selective for fungal than for mammalian enzyme systems. The accumulation of 14-alphamethyl sterols results in a decrease in ergosterol, which is an essential component of fungal cell wall formation.
First generation triazole agents, such as fluconazole and itraconazole, have revolutionised the treatment of serious fungal infections. However, neither was an ideal agent. Itraconazole was plagued by absorption problems; fluconazole had a limited spectrum of antifungal activity and resistance was soon noted in immunosuppressed hosts who received long-term treatment. Voriconazole is a second generation triazole agent. Replacement of one of the triazole rings with a fluorinated pyrimidine and the addition of an α-methyl group resulted in expanded activity, compared with that of fluconazole and itraconazole.
The chemical name of Voriconazole is (2R,3S)-2-(2,4-difluorophenyl)-3-(5-fluoropyrimidin-4-yl)-1-(1H-1,2,4-triazol-1-yl)butan-2-ol and its molecular formula is C16H14F3N5O corresponding to a molecular weight of 349.31. It is a white to almost white powder. It is very slightly soluble in water and freely soluble in acetone and dichlorometane.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,962,522 B discloses a method for increasing bioavailability of an orally administered pharmaceutical compound comprising orally co-administering Voriconazole and propyl gallate.
EP 1753402 B1 discloses a composition comprising Voriconazole and hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose acetate to improve physical stability.
WO 2006/084174 A2 discloses a composition comprising a molecular complex formed between Voriconazole and at least one agent selected from the group consisting of a hydroxy acid, a polyhydroxy acid, a related acid, a lactone form of these acids, and mixtures thereof to provide improved bioavailability.
Although each of the patents above represents an attempt to provide stable Voriconazole compositions for oral administration, there still remains the need in the art for alternative formulations with enhanced dissolution and adequate chemical and physical characteristics.

Pharmaceutical composition comprising a triazole antifungal agent and method for preparation thereof


A welding sleeve for armored cables including a first sleeve part arranged to receive an armored cable, wherein the first sleeve part has a perimeter surface for welding armoring wires of an armored cable thereto, a second sleeve part arranged to receive an armored cable, wherein the second sleeve part has a perimeter surface for welding armoring wires of an armored cable thereto, wherein the first sleeve part is arranged to receive the second sleeve part, the second sleeve part being axially displaceable relative to the first sleeve part, along a common central axis, between an extended position and a retracted position, in which retracted position the first sleeve part receives a greater portion of the second sleeve part than in the extended position, and a rotation preventing arrangement arranged to prevent rotational motion of the first sleeve part relative to the second sleeve part.

The coiling of armoured cables refers to a storage method where the cable is laid down on a fixed coil pad or in a fixed coil tank, i.e. no rotating turntable is used. The coil pad can for example be a circular or oblong area on the ground. The cable is lowered from above and forms turns around the fixed coil pad or fixed coil tank.
While the cable is laid around the fixed coil pad/tank it is subjected to torsion around its longitudinal axis. For each complete turn around the fixed coil pad/tank the internal twist amounts to 360°. If the cable is unable to accept a 360° twist along each turn around the coil pad it will inevitably form screws, loops or kinks. The twisting hence causes deformations in the cable which can be temporary or permanent. The amplitude and character of the deformations are decisive for the ability of the cable to be coiled. The coiling parameters should be such that all deformations disappear during final installation. The critical issue is the behaviour of the armouring wires under coiling.
FIG. 1 shows the longitudinal cable axis and two cross section planes 3 and 5 of an armoured cable. One armouring wire 1 is visible with an armour angle α measured against the cross sectional plane 3. The armouring wire layer has the diameter DA. During coiling, the two cross sectional planes 3, 5 are rotated by a small angle β with respect to each other. The armouring wire 1 changes its lay angle from α to α′ with α′>α. The armouring wire 1 aligns itself closer to the longitudinal axis A. As a result, the armouring wire 1 occupies a longer length l′ of the cable and the cable therefore has to absorb an additional length Δl=l′−l. The magnitude of Δl depends, among other things, on the induced twist in the cable, the armouring pitch length and the diameter DA of the armouring layer.
The generated additional length of the armouring wire can result in one or a combination of the following: 1) the armouring wires expand from a helix with a first diameter to a larger helix with a second diameter, outwards against the retaining force of the polypropylene yarn of the cable. If the diameter grows too much the yarn can break. 2) If there is little friction between the wires and other cable components the wires can start to migrate longitudinally in the cable. Compression forces in the wires are accumulated until there is an inhomogeneity in the force balance between wires and polypropylene yarn. The yarn can break which results in the formation of a radial protrusion of the armour wires creating a so-called bird cage. Alternatively, if the yarn is intact and the compressive stress in the armour wires becomes too large it can result in Euler buckling and the wires form Z-kinks. 3) The cable experiences a de facto elongation against the retaining force of the conductor.
In the best case the twisting obtained from coiling is equally distributed along the cable. However, if the mechanical properties of the cable are not uniform weak points such as those containing a discontinuity in the armour wires, such as a weld or repair, are more sensitive and may therefore become mechanically overstressed. A welding sleeve is used to repair the amour wire or for jointing the armour layers when jointing two cable lengths. The sleeve is a rigid steel ring onto which the armour wires from each length are welded. The ring prevents the wires from moving radially thereby increasing the stress in the area around the weld when the cable undergoes twisting.
To reduce the risk of deformation, the diameter of the coiled cable has to be increased along a section containing a welding sleeve, e.g. for repairing armouring wire of a cable or for jointing two cables. This complicates the coiling operation, increasing the time, and also the risk of damage. The situation becomes even more complex if coiling or semi-coiling is performed onto a vessel with a limited amount of available space.


A system that can monitor motion and establish haptic feedback to promote rehabilitation and/or strength training is provided. The innovation can be applied at any point along a rehabilitative progression continuum to provide computer-regulated (e.g., virtual, remote) training and/or coaching. For example, the innovation can be employed to actively drive a limb, provide force feedback to promote wellness, passively monitor motion of a limb or even to establish resistance to encourage strength training. The modular components of the system promote adaptability to users of all shapes and sizes.

Physical therapy refers to a service industry where health-care professionals render services to patients in an effort to establish, maintain, rehabilitate or restore motion and functional ability. Oftentimes, physical therapy is used as a result of an injury (e.g., automobile accident, sports injury). In other instances, physical therapy is used in aging patients to regain or maintain motion or functional ability.
Throughout the process of physical therapy, oftentimes orthopedic devices such as braces are employed to promote healing and to prevent further damage to bones, muscles or ligaments. For example, knee braces are often used to restrict motion of a knee joint following an injury or surgery. These braces are available in a variety of types such as elastic braces, hinged braces, magnetic braces, neoprene braces, etc. As well, braces are specifically sized for comfort and performance based upon a particular patient.
A physical therapist is much like a coach in that they provide hands-on therapy, or coaching, during the process of therapy. These therapists are persons trained or certified by a state or accrediting body to design and/or implement physical therapy programs. Physical therapists work in a large range of environments that include a hospital or clinic, a school to provide assistance to special education students or even as an independent contractor, for example, to a sports team. While the services provided by these therapists is essential to the well-being of their patients, these services are very expensive, oftentimes not covered by insurance carriers. Further, oftentimes geographic limitations further inhibit the ability to provide or receive effective treatment on a regular basis.

Haptic support and virtual activity monitor


Method and apparatus for marine seismic data collection and high resolution imaging is described. A marine seismic surveying flotilla is described for acquiring seismic data from both beneath an obstruction and in unobstructed water using a configuration of floating energy source vessels and a floating acquisition vessel towing an array of parallel seismic streamers. Different energy sources can be disposed on or towed by floating vessels that are not the floating acquisition vessel, with these energy sources maintained at a preset radius from a center of the array of parallel seismic streamers.

The present invention is related to marine seismic data acquisitions and processing, which generate a profile or image of a geological structure under the seafloor. The invention relates to a method of providing a high resolution image of structures under the sea floor.
The present embodiments meet these needs.
The present embodiments are detailed below with reference to the listed Figures.

Marine seismic survey system for generating and collecting data and forming a seismic image


A ceramic green sheet for making a laminated ceramic capacitor is formed on an upper surface of a carrier film and carried onto a surface plate while maintaining adhesion between the carrier film and the ceramic green sheet. Thereafter a cutting line having a closed outline is defined in the ceramic green sheet, and a cut sheet enclosed by the cutting line is removed from the green sheet by a pickup apparatus having a punching edge at its periphery and provided with a suction head at a portion of the pickup apparatus enclosed by the punching edge.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of cutting out a cut sheet having constant dimensions from a weak sheet, and more particularly, it relates to a method of cutting out a cut sheet from a ceramic green sheet which is to be employed for making a laminated ceramic capacitor, for example.
2. Description of the Background Art
In general, a laminated ceramic capacitor comprises a plurality of stacked ceramic sheets, a plurality of internal electrodes which are opposed to each other on opposite sides of the respective ceramic sheets and a pair of external electrodes provided on a pair of opposite end surfaces of the laminate formed by the plurality of ceramic sheets. The plurality of internal electrodes are electrically connected to respective ones of the external electrodes in an alternate manner.
A conventional laminated ceramic capacitor has been generally manufactured in the following manner: A ceramic material in the form of slurry is applied onto a carrier film (base film) of polyester, for example, by a coating method, such as a doctor blade method in uniform thickness. Then the ceramic material provided on the carrier film is dried. Thus, a ceramic green sheet is formed on the carrier film. Then, an internal electrode is printed on the surface of the ceramic green sheet by screen printing. Then the internal electrode, the carrier film and the ceramic green sheet are passed through a drying furnace to be dried. Thereafter the ceramic green sheet 3 is separated from the carrier film 1 by a suction roller 2, as shown in FIG. 4. The separated ceramic green sheet 3 is placed on an endless belt 4, which is partially shown in FIG. 4, and carried along as indicated by arrow 5, to be then positioned on a surface plate 6. The belt 4 is formed by a thin plate of a metal such as nickel, and provided with a large number of pores 7, as shown in FIG. 5. The surface plate 6 is provided with a plurality of suction holes 8. Negative pressure is applied to the suction holes 8 to draw the ceramic green sheet 3 downward by suction provided through the pores 7, thereby to locate the ceramic green sheet 3 securely on the surface plate 6.
As shown in FIG. 4, a vertically movable pickup apparatus 10 is positioned above the ceramic green sheet 3. The pickup apparatus 10 has a punching edge 11 at its periphery and is provided with a suction head 12 in a portion thereof enclosed by the punching edge 11. The suction head 12 is provided with a plurality of suction holes 13.
When the pickup apparatus 10 is downwardly moved as shown in FIG. 5, the punching edge 11 defines a cutting line having a closed outline, that is, a continuous cut, in the ceramic green sheet 3. Then the pickup apparatus 10 is upwardly moved so that a cut sheet 3a, which is in contact with the lower surface of the suction head 12 and enclosed by the aforementioned cutting line, is taken out from the remaining part of the ceramic green sheet 3.
Thereafter a prescribed number of such cut sheets 3a are stacked and then pressure is applied thereto. A laminate of the sheet cuts 3a thus obtained is cut in dimensions for providing an individual capacitor, if necessary. Then this laminate is fired. Silver paste members are applied to opposite end surfaces of the fired laminate and then baked, thereby to form a pair of external electrodes. A desired ceramic laminated capacitor is obtained in such a manner.
Alternatively, the internal electrode may be alternatively printed after the cut sheet 3a is obtained, by performing cutting as shown in FIG. 4.
In the aforementioned method, the ceramic green sheet 3 is necessarily independently suspended as it is transferred to the belt 4 after being separated from the carrier film 1. That is, the ceramic green sheet 3 is in an unsupported, independent state on both the upstream and downstream sides of the suction roller 2 in the example shown in FIG. 4. As a result, the ceramic green sheet 3 may be deformed, broken or wrinkled if the same is thin, i.e., mechanically weak. Thereafter, it is difficult to obtain the cut sheet 3a with high dimensional accuracy, and hence the production yield of laminated ceramic capacitors is reduced as the result.
Further, this method requires great accuracy of the straightness of the punching edge 11, which is directly brought into contact with the surface of the belt 4 of nickel or the like in order to cut the ceramic green sheet 3. If the punching edge 11 is inferior in straightness, it is not possible to completely cut through the ceramic green sheet 3. Further, the life of the punching edge 11 is reduced since the same is brought into contact with the hard belt 4 when cutting the ceramic green sheet 3 is cut. If the punching edge 11 is chipped, metal scraps may be mixed into the ceramic green sheet 3.

Method of cutting out a portion of a weak sheet


A system may send a request for video content to a server device; obtain, in response to the request, control information, associated with the video content, where the control information may include one or more digital versatile disc (DVD) features that correspond to one or more portions of the video content; and present the control information, for display, via a user interface, where presenting the control information for display may enable a user, of the video client device, to interact with the control information as though the video content was being played by a DVD player. The system may also receive selection of a DVD feature, of the one or more DVD features; and obtain, from the server device, a portion of the video content, of the one or more portions of the video content, that begins at a point that corresponds to the selected DVD feature.

User devices may obtain interactive video content from a digital versatile disc (DVD) and may play the interactive video content on the user devices. The user devices may obtain, from the interactive video content, DVD features that allow users, of the user devices, to use DVD features when the user devices are playing the interactive video content. The user devices may provide the DVD features using the DVD features, which may include displaying a menu, a page, a user interface, etc. that allows the users to select from a number of scenes to be played, to set preferences (e.g., closed captioning, languages, etc.), to control playback (e.g., fast forward, rewind, pause, etc.). When the user devices obtain Video On-Demand (VOD) content, from a network, the VOD content may not include the DVD features and/or may be played, by the user devices, without the DVD features.

Provisioning interactive video content from a video on-demand (VOD) server


A method and system for allocating agents possessing predetermined qualifying attributes to an outbound telephone call campaign is disclosed. The method includes the steps of assigning qualifying attributes to agents of a telephony system and further include the step of generating requests for agents possessing specific qualifying parameters within campaign call scripts. Agents meeting the agent request parameters are allocated to the outbound telephone call campaign for servicing call records within the outbound telephone call campaign.

Many business and customer services organizations utilize automated call distribution systems which route incoming calls to operators or agents in one or more various departments. Such systems efficiently screen incoming calls and are capable of providing initial, preliminary information to the customer by automated voice in response to system prompts. As a need for an agent occurs, the inbound telephone system distributes the incoming call to an agent based on availability.
Additionally, credit collection agencies and other types of businesses utilize outbound automated dialing systems to efficiently reach customers by automatically dialing telephone numbers contained within a preselected group of call records. Upon detecting a voice or answering machine, the automated dialing system connects the call to an agent, typically based on availability.
However, agents receive incoming or outbound calls without consideration of their capabilities or experience, thereby presenting instances in which assigned agents are incapable of servicing calls. Placing the call on hold while a more suitable agent is located is time consuming and cost inefficient, resulting in lost or abandoned calls.
In an attempt to direct specific incoming calls to selected agents, prior art systems utilize agent splits or hunt groups. These systems require incoming call campaigns to be preset such that specific calls are directed to preselected agents.
However, these systems are limited in that agents are not selected dynamically as the call campaign is active based on their attributes. Rather, agents are bound to the incoming call campaign prior to activation of the call campaign.
Other prior art systems utilize specific outbound dialing campaigns for directing predetermined outbound calls to preselected agents. These systems are limited in that the agents are assigned predetermined attributes and attached to specific campaigns. Generation of new campaigns are required to meet alternate attributes of an agent, thereby defeating the benefits associated with automated dialing systems.
Accordingly, what is needed is a method for allocating agents to service telephone call campaigns based on their experience and expertise, and not solely on first availability. Further, what is needed is a method for assigning agents to call campaigns as the campaign is active and in response to the campaign's requirements. Further, a method for modifying the agent's attributes after the campaign has started is needed.

Method and system for allocating agent resources to a telephone call campaign


A viscous coupling has a casing having a fluid chamber defined therein, and a plurality of first plates and a plurality of second plates, the first and second plates being rotatable about a common axis and disposed in the fluid chamber. The first and second plates drivingly interconnect the casing and at leest one rotatable member. A viscous fluid introduced into the fluid chamber through an inlet port defined in one end wall of the casing flows circumferentially in and along an annular groove defined in an inner surface of the end wall. Each of the first and second plates has a plurality of holes defined therein and spaced circumferentially thereof. The viscous fluid flows through these holes into spaces between adjacent ones of the first and second plates. The other end wall of the casing has an air vent hole defined therein which allows air to escape from the fluid chamber when the viscous fluid is charged into the fluid chamber.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a viscous coupling, and more particularly to a viscous coupling for connecting a vehicular drive shaft and a differential to each other and transmitting torque between a plurality of plates by utilizing shearing forces of a viscous fluid filled in the casing of the viscous coupling.
2. Description of the Relevant Art
One conventional viscous coupling has an enclosure comprising inner and outer cylindrical walls disposed concentrically with each other and rotatable relatively to each other, and end walls closing the opposite ends of the inner and outer cylindrical walls, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,022,084, for example. The inner and outer cylindrical walls are drivingly coupled to respective two rotatable members of the differential. The enclosure is filled with a viscous fluid, and houses two sets of annular inner and outer interleaved plates alternately arranged at certain spaced intervals. The annular inner and outer plates are rotatable about a common axis, and are also movable axially to transmit torque therebetween through the utilization of shearing forces of the viscous fluid.
Each of the inner and outer plates has a plurality of holes defined therein for providing fluid communication between the spaces on the opposite sides of the plate. When the viscous fluid is introduced into the enclosure through an inlet in one end wall, the viscous fluid flows toward the other end wall through the holes in the inner and outer plates, but the viscous fluid flow has no directivity. The amount of the viscous fluid which flows through the holes in the plates is small, and most of the viscous fluid spreads radially outwardly from the inlet in the end wall and flows through a labyrinthine gap formed between the plates. It takes some time to supply the viscous fluid uniformly between the plates.


A light receiving section 27b receives a measurement beam, which is cast from a light projection section 27a and partially blocked by cream solder 19 scraped up by a squeegee 16, whereby a sensor 27 measures a one-dimensional size of a predetermined region of a cross sectional profile of the cream solder 19 as a cross sectional paste length and takes the cross sectional paste length as an index for an amount of residual cream solder 19. The amount of residual cream solder 19 can be numerically grasped at all times, so that versatility and accuracy in detecting the amount of residual cream solder 19 can be assured.

Screen printing has been used in an electronic component mounting step as a method for printing a substrate with paste, like cream solder and a conductive paste. The method includes setting a substrate on a screen mask with pattern holes opened and aligned with locations of print targets and slidably moving a squeegee over the screen mask supplied with paste, thereby printing the substrate with the paste through the pattern holes. During screen printing, the paste fed over the screen mask is consumed as a result of repeated performance of squeegeeing action for slidably moving the squeegee, which decreases an amount of paste remaining on the screen mask. The paste is replenished at timing when the amount of residual paste falls short of a specified amount of paste.
In order to adequately set the paste replenishment timing, a hitherto-known screen printer has a paste detection function for detecting whether or not a specified amount of paste still exists on a screen mask (see; for instance, Patent Document 1). According to the related art described in connection with the patent document, an amount of paste remaining on the screen mask is detected on the basis of whether or not a sensor placed at a fixed position previously set as a point of detection detects paste.

Screen printer and method for detecting amount of residual paste

Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.


A method of masking interruptions in the playback of received radio signals is provided, in which lengthy interruptions are allowed only when modulation of the radio broadcast program currently being received is recognized as speech, and a modulation pause in the received radio signal is detected. This method permits essentially complete masking of lengthy interruptions in playback or making them inaudible, in which these interruptions are necessary, e.g., for analysis/testing for a transmission frequency of transmitted RDS information to be used as an alternative to a transmission frequency currently being received.

Modern radio receivers, for example, radio receivers intended for mobile use, such as car radios, permit automatic switching to an alternative transmission frequency which may be received better and on which the same program is transmitted. If an alternative transmission frequency is receivable at the receiver's location, a switchover is made if the reception of a radio transmission frequency currently being received deteriorates, e.g., due to increasing distance of the receiver's current location from the radio transmitter.
To perform the switchover, radio receivers may include a decoder for analysis of information transmitted over a received radio transmission frequency in addition to the actual audio broadcasting program. This information may be transmitted, for example, by the Radio Data System (RDS). This information may include, for example, lists of alternative frequencies (AF) over which the same program is transmitted, the transmission frequency currently being received, and program identification codes (PI), which permit unambiguous identification of a program transmitted on a received transmission frequency. A description of a Radio Data System is referred to, for example, in "Specifications of the Radio Data System for VHF/FM Broadcasting," European Broadcasting Union, Brussels, March 1984.
Before the radio receiver may switch from a radio transmission frequency currently being received to an alternative transmission frequency, e.g., on the basis of AF information, first the reception quality of the alternative transmission frequency should be tested. To do so, the radio receiver is tuned from the current radio transmission frequency to the alternative transmission frequency and the reception quality of the alternative transmission frequency is then determined, e.g., on the basis of the reception field strength or, e.g., on the basis of the error rate of the radio data signal, or on the basis of other criteria. If the reception quality of the alternative transmission frequency is better than that of the transmission frequency originally set, the alternative transmission frequency may be retained as the current transmission frequency. Otherwise, the radio receiver is tuned back to the transmission frequency originally set and/or additional alternative transmission frequencies are checked.
When switching from the current transmission frequency to an alternative transmission frequency, the reception quality of the alternative transmission frequency may not be known, e.g., the alternative frequency may have severe interference and the program may only be receivable with a high noise level. Also, the playback of the audio broadcast program transmitted over the set transmission frequency may be interrupted while the reception quality of the alternative transmission frequency is being checked. For simple tests, e.g., of only the reception field strength of the alternative frequency, the alternative frequency need be set only very briefly, i.e., in the range of a few milliseconds, so that an interruption of playback of the audio broadcast program may hardly be perceptible by a listener. For more complex tests, however, e.g., of the error rate of the radio data signal or the PI code of the alternative frequency, prolonged switching to the alternative frequency with correspondingly long playback interruptions in the range of at least a few tens of milliseconds up to a few hundreds of milliseconds may be necessary, these interruptions resulting from the time required for synchronization of the receiver to the RDS data stream and for analysis of the same. These interruptions may be audible and perceived as annoying by the listener, if suitable masking measures are not performed.
Various approaches have been researched and implemented, permitting switching to alternative reception frequencies without these interruptions being noticed.
European Patent No. 0 497 115 describes a radio receiver, which has a memory device for continuously receiving an audio broadcast program signal being played back. In the case of an interruption in playback of the audio broadcast program due to temporarily switching to an alternative radio broadcast signal for testing purposes, this interruption is masked by input of stored signal sections obtained from the audio broadcast program played back directly prior to the playback interruption.
European Patent Application No. 0 459 360 describes an RDS radio receiver having two receiving parts, a first receiving part tuned to a current radio broadcast frequency and the audio broadcast program transmitted on this radio broadcast frequency being played back. The second receiving part is tuned successively to alternative transmission frequencies for determining their reception quality, and the alternative transmission frequencies are stored in a list where they are sorted according to their reception quality. By constantly updating this list, the alternative frequency having the best reception may be inaudibly switched to, if a change in reception frequency becomes necessary because of a deteriorating reception of the current reception frequency.
German Patent Application No. 197 01 042 describes a method of analyzing RDS signals of an alternative transmission frequency to a radio transmission frequency currently being received, in which the radio receiver is switched by a high-speed phase locked loop from the current frequency to the alternative frequency within the duration of a single bit of the RDS signal, a data sample is taken from the RDS data stream of the alternative frequency, and finally, the radio receiver is switched back to the current transmission frequency. By repeated temporary switching and bit sampling, a section of the RDS signal of the alternative transmission frequency, which is sufficient for analysis, is input. The brevity of switching to the alternative transmission frequency and of the playback interruption associated with it result in these interruptions being largely inaudible. Since the samples taken are only fractions of the duration of an RDS data bit, they are sensitive to interference due to disturbances in reception. Therefore, a plurality of sections may be input and a largely interference-free section of the RDS signal of the alternative transmission frequency may be obtained by averaging.
German Patent Application No. 197 39 396 describes a modification of this procedure in that, in the case of temporary switching to the alternative transmission frequency, a plurality of directly successive bits of the RDS signal are input. This results in increased reliability of the input RDS data at the expense of longer playback interruptions, as well as longer periods of time for input of a section of the RDS signal sufficient for analysis, because the lengthier switchings need not be performed in direct succession to not be perceived as interfering.

Method for masking interruptions on playback of received radio signals


A non-volatile memory apparatus including a non-volatile storage circuit, a main memory and a controller, and an operating method thereof are provided. Each of a plurality of logical block address groups includes a plurality of logical block addresses. Each of the logical block address groups is assigned with a group age parameter. The adjusting of the group age parameters is triggered by a writing instruction of a host. When an age parameter of the group age parameters exceeds a predetermined range, the controller performs a scanning operation to the non-volatile storage blocks of the non-volatile storage circuit corresponding to a corresponding logical block address group of the age parameter, so as to check an error-bit quantity. The controller decides whether the storage block data-moving operation is performed to the non-volatile storage block corresponding to the corresponding logical block address group based on the results of the scanning operation.

Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a memory apparatus, and particularly relates to a non-volatile memory apparatus and an operating method thereof.
Description of Related Art
Generally, during an operating process of a solid state disk/drive (SSD) or a memory disk, a mapping table is adopted to record a mapping relationship (or a transforming relationship) between logical addresses and physical addresses. The logical address may include a logical block address (LBA) and/or a logical page address, and the physical address may include a physical block address (PBA) and/or a physical page address. A host generally accesses data stored in the SSD or the memory disk according to variety of modes including page mapping, block mapping, a replacement block or log block, etc. Although the content stored in the mapping table is varied along with the different modes, when the SSD or the memory disk receives an access instruction from the host, the SSD or the memory disk is required to transform a logical address of the access instruction into a physical address of a flash memory in the SSD or the memory disk according to the mapping table, and then the access instruction is executed to a physical memory (a physical block or a physical page) corresponding to the transformed physical address.
During the process of continually executing a plurality of access instructions of the host, the mapping relationship between the logical addresses and the physical addresses can be correspondingly changed, so that the content of the mapping table can be constantly updated. The mapping table is generally stored in a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) to facilitate accelerating an access speed. When a power-off procedure is executed to the SSD or the memory disk, the mapping table is stored in the flash memory of the SSD or the memory disk to avoid losing the content of the mapping table due to the power-off. When the SSD or the memory disk is powered, an initialisation procedure is executed to the SSD. In the initialisation procedure, the SSD or the memory disk may read the mapping table from the flash memory to write back the mapping table to the DRAM.
Generally, a floating gate of a memory cell of the flash memory has a current leakage phenomenon. In case that a writing operation is not performed to the memory cell, along with increase of time, the current leakage phenomenon of the floating gate of the memory cell becomes more and more severe. The current leakage phenomenon of the floating gate of the memory cell may cause an error of bit data. Regarding a physical page of the flash memory, in case that the writing operation is not performed to the physical page for a long time, along with increase of time, an error-bit quantity of the physical page is increased. Generally, the flash memory is configured with an error checking and correcting (ECC) mechanism. When the error-bit quantity in each unit bit quantity (for example, 1K Bytes, or a bit quantity of one physical page) of data is smaller than a certain tolerance quantity, the ECC mechanism may correct the error bits, such that the flash memory may provide correct data to the host. When the error-bit quantity in each unit bit quantity is greater than the tolerance quantity, the ECC mechanism cannot correct the error bits. When the error bits have a large quantity and cannot be corrected, it represents that the data is lost.

Non-volatile memory apparatus and operating method thereof