A cedar chest lock remains unlocked unless positive actuation of a strike engaging member is effected. The lock includes a strike member projecting from the chest lid for cooperation with a locking latch plate retained in a housing mounted in the side wall of the chest. The housing thus has an opening for receipt of the strike member. A latch plate is pivotally mounted in the housing and is spring biased to a position which avoids engagement with the strike member upon insertion of the strike member through the housing opening. A push button in the housing may be actuated to engage and position the latch plate for cooperation with the strike member. Actuating the push button and subsequent positioning of the strike member through the opening in the latch housing permits the latch plate to engage the strike member thereby locking the chest lid in a closed position. The push button may include a key operated lock.

This invention relates to an improved lock construction and more particularly to a lock which may be incorporated with a chest or the like to provide a safety locking feature.
The use of a chest for storage of clothing and other materials is quite common. Typically, the chest will include a lock or latch so that the contents, such as blankets or the like, may be securely stored within the chest. A problem may result, however, in the event that a small child enters the chest and lowers the lid. The latch mechanism may catch thereby preventing egress from the chest.
To overcome this potential problem, the chest may include a handle or key operated catch. To open the lid of the chest, the catch is disengaged and maintained in a disengaged position from the strike member. Various prior art patents disclose this and similar types of latches and locks utilized for chests and similar enclosures:
______________________________________ Reg. No. Inventor Title Issue Date ______________________________________ 1,094,773 Beehler Box Lock or Fastener 4/28/14 1,759,401 Hogan Lock 5/20/30 1,830,281 Loftin Aroma Tight Lock 11/03/31 1,918,979 North Lock 7/18/33 2,161,519 Loftin et al Lock 6/06/39 3,339,956 Bencene et al Cabinet Cover Latch 9/05/67 3,743,335 Reilhac et al Lock with a Staple- 7/03/73 Type Bolt ______________________________________
In general, these prior art patents disclose a spring biased latch member which cooperates with a strike member. The latch member is generally operated by a push button or some other actuating device to release the latch.
The present invention contemplates utilization of a similar latch mechanism with the additional feature that the latch mechanism will engage the strike member only if the push button actuator is operated prior to positioning of the strike member within the latch housing. In this manner, the safety features of a catch are combined with the appearance and operating characteristics of a spring latch.


An oral hygiene system comprising a hand-held instrument attached to a mobile cart by an accessory hose. The instrument has two main components: a pistol-grip hand-piece, and an individualized patient attachment. The pistol-grip hand-piece includes irrigation, suction and brush speed controls, as well as an adjustable swivel piece for changing the orientation of the attachment. Inside the hand-piece is a light source with fiberoptic tubing which channels light to the attachment, and a two speed electric motor which powers a rotary brush. The attachment itself is a relatively inexpensive component, one of which is assigned to each patient. It is cylindrical with a right angle curve at the distal end, to which is attached a disposable rotary brush. An orifice for the suction, and irrigation portal, and the fiberoptic lighting are also located at the distal end of the attachment. The proximal end of the attachment attaches to the hand-piece at the swivel piece and a disposable, clear, plastic shield attaches to the attachment mechanism to protect the hand-piece from splatters.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of oral hygiene systems, and more particularly to a system suitable to care for institutionalized individuals.
2. Description of Related Art
As can be seen by reference to the following U.S. Pat. Nos. D397,788; 5,062,796; 5,183,035; 5,344,317;5,503,553 and 5,634,791, the prior art is replete with myriad and diverse oral hygiene devices.
While all of the aforementioned prior art constructions are more than adequate for the basic purpose and function for which they have been specifically designed, they are uniformly deficient with respect to their failure to provide a simple, efficient, and practical oral hygiene system designed to provide adequate care to institutionalized individuals.
The methods used to provide oral hygiene to an institutionalized individual have remained essentially unchanged for many years and have proven to be inadequate even when administered conscientiously. This consists of a staff person using a conventional toothbrush and a dentifrice at the patient's bedside, or at a lavatory if the patient is not bedfast. Some commonly encountered problems using this method are: inadequate lighting for proper visualization of tooth surfaces; inadequate visualization due to accumulation of saliva, food debris, blood and toothpaste because the patient is unable to expectorate; the patient choking on salivary accumulations and/or toothpaste; the patient "pouching" food in the vestibule between the cheek and gums; inability to rinse a patient's mouth at the completion of the procedure; and staff non-compliance due to difficulty of the procedure.
As a consequence of the foregoing situation, there has existed a longstanding need for a new and improved oral hygiene system and the provision of such a construction is a stated objective of the present invention.


The present invention relates to a method for recovery of rare earth metals (REM) from diluted aqueous acidic solutions comprising steps of liquid-phase extraction of REM into an organic phase and re-extraction of REM from the organic phase. The re-extraction is carried out by precipitation of REM as a solid phase in the form of a poorly soluble salt of a strong acid (pKa<0). Recovery of REM into the concentrate is up to 99% in the course of one stage of the re-extraction.

Liquid extraction processes are widely used for recovering and concentrating valuable components, in particular REM.
Isolation of REM concentrate from nitrate solutions using organic extractants based on neutral organophosphorous compounds (preferably tributylphospate—TBP) and isolation of REM concentrate from chloride solutions using organic extractants based on organophosphorous acids (preferably di-(2-ethylhexyl)phosphoric acid—DEHPA) is disclosed in the art (e.g. Chemistry and technology of rare and trace elements (rus). Part 2. Ed. Bolshakov K. A., Moscow, High School, 1976, p. 360; Slavetsky A. I. etc. Extraction of REM by DEHPA and TBP. Radiochemistry (rus), 1989, No. 1, p. 25-31; Stryapkov A. V., Salnikova E. V. Influence of amine nature on REM extraction by a mixture of amines and alkylphosphorous extractants. Vestnik OGU (rus), 2004, No. 5, p. 121-124).
The researchers pay considerable attention to the transfer of certain compounds from aqueous solutions into organic (extraction processes) and substantially less attention to the reverse processes (re-extraction processes).
A method for extracting rare-earth elements from phosphogypsum by treatment with nitric acid and subsequent extraction of rare earth elements (REE) by phosphine oxide is described in Martynova I.N. et al. Research of distribution of REE in the course of extraction from acidic nitrate-phosphate solutions. Collected articles "Processing and physico-chemical properties of compounds of rare elements. Apatity, 1984, pp. 6-8 (Rus). The disadvantage of this method is the need for expensive trialkyl phosphine oxide and the impossibility of complete liquid-phase removal of REE from the organic phase. Furthermore, because of the high loss of trialkyl phosphine oxide with the aqueous phase, this method is uneconomical and requires additional facilities for trialkyl phosphine oxide utilization.
A method for extracting rare metals from mixtures thereof using countercurrent re-extraction with a mineral acid solution, in particular distilled water acidified to a concentration of 0.05 mol/L with HNO3 or acidified to a concentration of 1.0 mol/L with hydrochloric acid is described in RU patent 2049133. The disadvantage of this method is incomplete REM recovery and obtaining REM in form of a dilute solution of low concentration.
A method for processing phosphate rare earth concentrate comprising treatment of the concentrate by heating in the presence of an excess of oxalic acid to precipitate oxalates of REM is described in RU patent 2344079. However, this method is limited due to use of expensive oxalic acid.
Thus, REM re-extraction is usually carried out with concentrated acids, water (in particular, at an elevated temperature), carbonate or alkaline solutions. Liquid phase re-extraction with concentrated acids is suitable for processes with organic extracts having a high content of REM. If the REM concentration in the organic phase is low, as often happens at the extraction of the target component from dilute salt solutions having a high content of impurities, acid re-extraction allows solutions of low concentration up to 10 g/L of REM to be obtained.
Re-extraction with carbonate or alkaline solutions allows one to obtain a concentrated precipitate of REM, however it is associated with losses of acid passed into the organic solution during the REM extraction step, significant consumption of re-extractant, the appearance of large volumes of solutions of alkali metal salts or ammonium salts, with increased losses of the organic extractant due to its increased solubility in an aqueous phase. Water re-extraction possesses all these disadvantages, and re-extraction with oxalate solutions is limited due to the use of expensive oxalic acid.

Method for re-extraction of rare-earth metals from organic solutions and preparing concentrate of rare-earth metals

Opened Joint Stock Company “United Chemical Company Uralchem”


An anesthesia gas delivery system including a patient circuit implemented primarily by a detachable structural portion and a control system implemented primarily by a permanent structural portion. The patient circuit includes a variable volume patient reservoir and a patient overflow tube. The control system includes a subsystem for preventing gas flow out of the overflow tube until the patient reservoir is full except when a pediatric breathing circuit is being used.

U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,814,091 and 3,901,230 disclose anesthesia rebreathing systems characterized by a geometry which preferentially vents expired alveolar gas, rich in carbon dioxide (CO.sub.2), while retaining fresh gas and initially expired dead space gas, rich in oxygen (O.sub.2), for rebreathing by the patient to thus minimize the need for CO.sub.2 absorption. More particularly, the systems comprise a patient circuit incorporating an overflow tube whose entrance is located very close to the patient. The overflow tube exits at a patient overflow (commonly referred to as "Pop-Off") valve which is located close to an anesthesia machine where it can be conveniently controlled by an attending anesthetist. By locating the overflow tube entrance close to the patient, it functions to preferentially vent alveolar gas through the patient overflow (i.e. Pop-Off) valve and save dead space and unbreathed gas within the tubing and reservoir of the patient circuit. The Pop-Off valve is operable in two different modes, i.e., (1) as a manually controlled variable orifice for spontaneous, manually assisted or controlled ventilation and (2) as an automatically Controlled Valve responding to a positive control pressure for manually assisted or controlled ventilation or mechanically controlled ventilation.
The enhanced system described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,901,230 can be viewed as functionally including (1) a patient circuit and (2) a ventilator/isolator (V/I) circuit for controlling gas volume and pressure in the patient circuit. The preferred embodiment can be viewed as structurally including (1) a single use portion and (2) a reusable portion. The embodiment is configured so that the single use portion forms most of the patient circuit with the reusable portion forming the V/I circuit and part of the patient circuit, e.g. the patient Pop-Off Valve. The V/I circuit includes a constant volume (e.g. rigid) container (forming part of the system's reusable portion ) within which a variable volume patient breathing reservoir (e.g. a flaccid bag) (forming part of the single use portion ) is accommodated. The pressure within the rigid container is controlled (1) during manually assisted or controlled ventilation, by an attending anesthetist squeezing an outside bag and (2) during mechanically controlled ventilation by a conventional MECHANICAL VENTILATOR. The pressure variations in the rigid container are applied to the patient circuit via the flexible walls of the patient bag. Crosscontamination is eliminated in the disclosed preferred embodiment because the patient expired gas cannot come into contact with the reusable portion components exposed to inspired gas.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,991,576 discloses an anesthesia rebreathing system which retains the advantages of the systems disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,814,091 and 3,901,230 and which incorporates additional features to enhance ease of use and safe operation.
In accordance with U.S. Pat. No. 4,991,576, instead of using multiple independently operable user controls, an integrated control knob is provided whose position determines the system operating mode. Thus, in a first disclosed embodiment, the user control knob can be rotated to any one of the following mutually exclusive positions:
1. AUXILIARY OUTLET PA1 2. OFF PA1 3. MECHANICAL VENTILATOR MODE PA1 4. MANUAL BAG MODE
Position 3 is used to ventilate the patient with a MECHANICAL VENTILATOR. Position 4 is used to allow the patient to breath spontaneously or to manually control or assist ventilation. In a second disclosed embodiment, the four aforementioned positions are supplemented by an automatic bag mode position (i.e. position 5) at which the system self adjusts without requiring Manual Valve adjustment of a V/I Circuit Overflow Valve during spontaneous and manually assisted or controlled ventilation.
The first and second embodiments of U.S. Pat. No. 4,991,576 additionally differ from one another in that the first embodiment uses overflow gas from the patient circuit as working gas for the V/I circuit. In the second embodiment, V/I working gas is derived from a high pressure gas source (preferably dry medical grade oxygen).
The preferred single use portion of U.S. Pat. No. 4,991,576 includes a connector body configured to be detachably seated on the reusable portion for operative mating to the V/I circuit. A sensor means is coupled to the aforementioned control knob for preventing it from being moved to any of the aforementioned ventilating mode positions unless the connector body is properly seated on the reusable portion. Latching means configured to allow the connector body to be readily manually seated prevent it from being inadvertently unseated while the system is in a ventilating mode. In order to unseat (i.e., detach) the latched connector body, an unlatching means, operably coupled to the control means and actuatable only when the control knob is not in a ventilating mode position, e.g. the off position, functions to both unlatch and eject the connector body.


An arcing fault protection assembly in an electrical device, and corresponding methods determine whether arcing is present in the device. The assembly comprises a sensor, a broadband noise circuit, and a controller. The sensor detects a current and develops a corresponding sensor signal. The broadband noise circuit determines the presence of broadband noise in the sensor signal and produces a corresponding output signal. The controller processes the sensor signal and the output signal in a predetermined fashion to determine whether an arcing fault is present. The sensor, broadband noise circuit, and controller are mounted to the device.

The present invention relates to the protection of electrical circuits and, more particularly, to the detection of arcing faults in an electrical assembly for mounting on device.
The electrical systems in residential, commercial and industrial applications usually include a panelboard for receiving electrical power from a utility source. The power is then routed through protection devices to designated branch circuits supplying one or more loads. These protection devices are typically circuit interrupters, such as circuit breakers and fuses, which are designed to interrupt the electrical current if the limits of the conductors supplying the loads are surpassed.
Although circuit breakers are a preferred type of circuit interrupter because they protect a number of outlets simultaneously, ground fault detectors in electrical plugs, have become increasingly popular for devices used in areas where a short circuit caused by contact with water is a possibility, e.g., for hairdryers, which tend to be used in bathrooms.
Typically, ground fault detectors interrupt an electric circuit due to a disconnect or trip condition, such as a current overload or ground fault. The current overload condition results when a current exceeds the continuous rating of the breaker for a time interval determined by the trip current. A ground fault trip condition is created by an imbalance of currents flowing between a line conductor and a neutral conductor which could be caused by a leakage current or an arcing fault to ground.
Arcing faults are commonly defined as current through ionized gas between two ends of a broken conductor or at a faulty contact or connector, between two conductors supplying a load, or between a conductor and ground. Arcing faults may not, however, cause a conventional circuit breaker to trip. Arcing fault current levels may be reduced by branch or load impedance to a level below the trip curve settings of the circuit breaker. In addition, an arcing fault which does,,not contact a grounded conductor, object or person will not trip a ground fault protector.
There are many conditions that may cause an arcing fault, for example, corroded, worn or aged wiring, connectors, contacts or insulation, loose connections, wiring damaged by nails or staples through the insulation, and electrical stress caused by repeated overloading, lightning strikes, etc. These faults may damage the conductor insulation and cause the conductor to reach an unacceptable temperature.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an arc fault detection system and method which reliably detects arc fault conditions which may be ignored by conventional circuit interrupters.
Another object of the invention is to provide an arc fault detection system which utilizes highly reliable electronic signal processing components, so as to be relatively simple and yet highly reliable in operation. More particularly, since some electrical systems do not include circuit breakers with arc fault detection systems, the present invention provides an arc fault detection system mounted to a device to protect the device, and anything downstream from the device, from arcing faults.
Other and further objects and advantages. of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the present specification taken with the accompanying drawings and appended claims.
In accordance with one aspect of the invention, there is provided an arcing fault protection assembly comprising a sensor, a broadband noise circuit, and a controller. The sensor detects a current flowing at a device and develops a corresponding sensor signal. The broadband noise circuit determines the presence of broadband noise in the sensor signal and produces a corresponding output signal. The controller processes the sensor signal and the output signal in a predetermined fashion to determine whether an arcing fault is present. The sensor, broadband noise circuit, and controller are mounted to the device.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of determining, at a device, whether arcing is present. The method comprises the steps of sensing a current at the device and developing a corresponding sensor signal, determining the presence of broadband noise in the sensor signal and producing a corresponding output signal, and processing the sensor signal and the output signal in a predetermined fashion to determine whether an arcing fault is present.
The above summary of the present invention is not intended to represent each embodiment or every aspect of the present invention. This is the purpose of the Figures and detailed description which follow.


A transdermal absorptive drug formulation containing 3-isobutyryl-2-isopropylpyrazolo [1,5-a ]pyridine as active ingredient effective for bronchial asthma and cerebrovascular disorder is provided. The formulation affords excellent sustained releasing and long acting characteristics with substantially reduced side-effects such as nausea and vomitting.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a transdermal absorptive drug formulation containing 3-isobutyryl-2isopropylpyrazolo-[1,5-a ]pyridine ( hereinafter referred to as ibudilast according to its international nonproprietary name) which is an improving drug for bronchial asthma and cerebrovascular disorder.
2. Description of the Related Art
Ibudilast is well known as a chemical compound developed by Irikura et al. (Japanese Patent Publication Sho 52-29318, corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 3,850,941, U.K. Patent 1,378,375 and so on) and has been proved by clinical tests to be useful for preventing and treating bronchial asthma, and still more its utility as an improved drug for cerebrovascular disorder has been reported. When the ibudilast is orally administered to human in a dosage form having no substantial release, a rapid absorption from alimentary tract will produce a steep rise of serum concentration, resulting in side-effects such as nausea and vomitting. Therefore, as far as oral drugs are concerned, sustained release capsules, tablets and the like are proposed for the compound (Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application Sho 60-193913, corresponding to EP-A-0 156 243). Also the compound has been successfully prepared for rectal administration because of finding out bases for preventing a rapid increase in the serum concentration (Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application Sho 60-193913).
Since bronchial asthma and cerebrovascular disorder are often found among children and senile patients, respectively, it has been strongly desired that the development of a dosage form of ibudilast which is more easily administered.


A flush toilet apparatus for discharging waste by a jet pump action is disclosed. The flush toilet apparatus has an overflow portion configured to overflow a portion of flush water flowing from a throat pipe into a water conduit into a reservoir tank so that when the flow rate of water flowing inside the throat pipe exceeds a predetermined specified flow rate, the flow rate of water supplied from the water conduit to a bowl portion is reduced to less than a predetermined specified flow rate.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a flush toilet apparatus, and in particular to a flush toilet apparatus for discharging waste with flush water supplied by a jet pump action.
Related Art
Conventionally, as described for example in JP2015-86687A, there are known flush toilet apparatuses comprising a pump unit capable of continuously supplying high force water to a toilet bowl surface.
The toilet spouts flush water from a jet nozzle directly connected to a utility water pipe; the spouting causes water in a reservoir tank to be suctioned into a throat pipe, so that a large flow rate of flush water is supplied to the toilet. In such jet pump units, a constant flow rate valve is installed on the upstream side of the jet nozzle, and the flow rate of water supplied to the jet nozzle is a predetermined rate.
A problem arises, however, in that the flow rate of water supplied to the jet nozzle varies as it passes through the constant flow rate valve, due to conditions such as the utility water pressure at the site, etc. With a jet pump unit, when there is variability in the flow rate supplied to the jet nozzle, flush water in the reservoir tank is suctioned out and supplied to the toilet using flush water discharged from the jet nozzle, therefore variability in the volume of water discharged from the jet nozzle increases even more. Therefore the amount of flush water supplied to the toilet also varies greatly.
As a result, when the flow rate of water supplied from a constant flow rate valve to a jet nozzle increases due to that variability, the flush water volume supplied to the toilet also increases, leading to the problem that water overflows from the bowl surface.
To address the problem, a solution has been conceived whereby a setting is used so that the flow rate of water supplied to the jet nozzle is reduced from the beginning, preventing overflow from the bowl surface when the flow rate of water supplied by the constant flow rate valve to the jet nozzle increases due to that variability. In that case, however, if the flow rate of water supplied from a constant flow rate valve to a jet nozzle is reduced due to that variability, the amount of water supplied to the toilet will decrease even further.
The leads to the problem of reduced flushing performance and poor toilet flushing.


By dispersing within an image magnified pixels subjected to magnification correction with the use of pseudorandom numbers, an occurrence of a moire pattern in an image is suppressed.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods of correcting magnification in the main scanning direction in image forming apparatuses, such as multi-function printers (MFPs) and the like.
Description of the Related Art
A conventional image forming apparatuses includes an optical scanning device that emits a laser beam for scanning a photosensitive member. The optical scanning device includes a laser light source that emits a laser beam and a deflection unit (e.g., rotatable polygon mirror) that deflects the laser beam emitted by the laser light source so as to scan the photosensitive member with the laser beam. The laser beam deflected by the deflection unit is imaged on the photosensitive member through an optical lens, such as an f-theta (fθ) lens, designed such that the scanning speed on the photosensitive member is substantially constant.
Although the optical lens is designed with high precision, it is not possible to fabricate an optical lens with precision that satisfies the precision of the design, and thus there is often a small error in the optical performance of the optical lens. Therefore, if that error is not corrected, the magnification of an image in each of a plurality of regions in the main scanning direction may vary.
In order to address such errors, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2013-22913 discloses an image forming apparatus that corrects driving data for driving a laser light source in units of smaller than one pixel. With the image forming apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2013-22913, the magnification of an image in the main scanning direction may be obtained without errors.
In the meantime, there is an increasing demand for cost reduction of an optical scanning device in order to further reduce the cost of an image forming apparatus. One way to achieve cost reduction of an optical scanning device is to design an optical scanning device that is not provided with a scanning lens or to design an optical scanning device provided with a less expensive scanning lens that is inferior to a conventional optical lens in terms of the optical performance.
However, an optical scanning device that is not provided with a scanning lens or an image forming apparatus that is provided with an inexpensive scanning lens may not satisfy the requirements for high-quality imaging.
FIG. 13 illustrates a variation of the image magnification in the main scanning direction (variation in the scan width per unit time) in an optical scanning device that is not provided with a scanning lens. The main scanning direction corresponds to the direction in which a laser beam scans a photosensitive member. In FIG. 13, the horizontal axis represents the position in the main scanning direction (main scanning position/image height). The vertical axis in FIG. 13 represents the magnification of the image.
In the optical scanning device that is not provided with a scanning lens, the scanning speed of the laser beam is higher toward an end portion of the photosensitive member. Therefore, when a laser light source is driven in a condition in which the number of pieces of bit data per pixel in each region is set to be constant and the bit data is output to a laser driver in accordance with a clock signal of a constant cycle from a controller, the magnification of the image increases toward the end portion of the photosensitive member, as illustrated in FIG. 13. For example, in some image forming apparatuses, the correction magnification at positions that are ±150 mm from the respective end portions of the photosensitive member is as high as 30%, as illustrated in FIG. 13. The width of the image at each scanning position can be made substantially uniform by electrically correcting the image width by a reciprocal of the image magnification illustrated in FIG. 13.
Digital pulse width modulation (PWM) is a known method for correcting scan unevenness such as pixel magnification at positions away from the respective end portions of the photosensitive member. In the digital PWM correction method, a bit pattern containing a plurality of pieces of bit data is generated, for example, by changing the number of bits in a bit pattern, which is multi-valued image data indicating the density of an image. The bit data contained in the generated bit pattern is binary data that turns ON or OFF the laser light source. The image forming apparatus outputs the bit data contained in the bit pattern, one bit by one bit, in synchronization with an image clock of a constant frequency, and controls ON/OFF states of the laser light source. Processing for correcting the magnification of an image by changing the number of pieces of bit data contained in a bit pattern in accordance with the scanning position in the main scanning direction is performed according to the digital PWM.
For example, an image forming apparatus that converts image data corresponding to one pixel to a bit pattern that contains 24 pieces (N=24) of bit data and that corrects the number of pieces of bit data in this bit pattern will be considered. This image forming apparatus corrects the magnification M of each pixel in the main scanning direction in a range of 1≦M≦1.33. The correction of magnification for each pixel is defined by (N+D)/N=M. Here, N is the number of pieces of bit data corresponding to one pixel, D represents the number of pieces of bit data to be added to the bit pattern of the one pixel, and M is the magnification of the one pixel as function of its position along the main scanning direction. D is set to any one of the integers in a range of 0≦D≦8 in accordance with the position of the pixel in the main scanning direction. Desired magnification correction can be achieved by varying D for each pixel. For example, when D is 0, the magnification turns out to be (24+0)/24=1. When D is 8, the magnification turns out to be (24+8)/24=1.33. Accordingly, the data that indicates the correction magnification for each pixel may contain the bits in a number that can represent the number of integers that D can take. In the foregoing example, the number of integers that D can take is nine ranging from 0 through 8, and thus the data set can be expressed in four (≧log29, and integer) bits.
As illustrated in FIG. 13, for an image forming apparatus including an optical scanning device that is not provided with a scanning lens, the correction magnification needs to be determined in accordance with the pixel position in the main scanning direction (horizontal axis in FIG. 13). However, moire pattern may be generated when similar magnification correction is carried out on each pixel in a plurality of lines.
FIGS. 14A-1 through 14B-2 illustrate examples in which moire is produced. Each block in FIG. 14A-1 corresponds to one pixel, and each pixel is constituted by a bit pattern represented by a 24-bit data set. FIG. 14A-2 illustrates an image formed when a PWM signal is generated through the bit patterns illustrated in FIG. 14A-1 and a laser light source is driven by this PWM signal. Meanwhile, each block in FIG. 14B-1 corresponds to one pixel, and each pixel is constituted by either a bit pattern of 24-bit data set or a bit pattern of a 25-bit data set. The 25-bit data set bit pattern is a data array obtained by adding, through magnification correction processing, one piece of bit data to the bit pattern that corresponds to one pixel and that is originally constituted by a 24-bit data set. FIG. 14B-2 illustrates an image formed when a PWM signal is generated through the bit patterns illustrated in FIG. 14B-1 and a laser light source is driven by this PWM signal.
FIG. 14B-1 illustrates an example in which pixels that have been subjected to magnification correction are included periodically in the main scanning direction. FIG. 14B-2 indicates, as shown with a white triangle, that the width of some lines is not uniform.
The present invention is directed to providing high quality correction of image magnification that makes moire generated through interference between the periodicity of magnification correction and the periodicity of an image pattern less visually noticeable.

Image forming apparatus having image magnification correction


A polymer thick film ink which exhibits PTC behavior comprising an organic polymer which is crystalline, an active solvent suitable for dissolving the polymer, and carbon black which has a pH of less than 4.0. The ink is particularly useful in producing electrical devices such as heaters and circuit protection devices.

Field of the Invention
This invention relates to conductive polymer compositions for use as polymer thick film inks and methods of making said inks.
Thick film inks for use as resistors, connectors and other electrical components are known. These conventional inks normally exhibit ZTC behavior (zero temperature coefficient of resistance), i.e. they maintain a relatively constant resistance value over a temperature range of interest. The inks are usually applied via screen-printing or other means to a rigid substrate, e.g. alumina, beryllia, or glass; the rigid substrate serves to minimize any resistance change due to volume expansion of the substrate. Thick film inks usually comprise a conductive filler, e.g. graphite, ruthenium, or silver, in a glass, ceramic, or polymer binder. The binder acts as a matrix for the conductive filler and other components. Those inks in which the binder is a polymer are known as polymer thick film inks (PTF inks).
For some applications, e.g. self-regulating heaters or circuit protection devices, materials exhibiting PTC behavior (positive temperature coefficient of resistance) are preferred. Conductive polymer compositions which exhibit PTC behavior and electrical devices comprising them are well-known. Reference may be made, for example, to U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,793,716, 3,823,217, 3,858,144, 3,861,029, 3,914,363, 4,017,715, 4,177,376, 4,188,276, 4,237,441, 4,242,573, 4,246,468, 4,286,376, 4,304,987, 4,318,881, 4,330,703, 4,334,148, 4,334,351, 4,388,607, 4,400,614, 4,425,497, 4,426,339, 4,435,639, 4,459,473, 4,514,620, 4,520,417, 4,529,866, 4,534,889, 4,543,474, 4,545,926, 4,547,659, 4,560,498, 4,571,481, 4,574,188, 4,582,983, 4,631,392, 4,638,150, 4,654,511, 4,658,121, 4,659,913, 4,661,687, 4,667,194, 4,673,801, 4,698,583, 4,719,335, 4,722,758, 4,722,853, and 4,761,541, European Patent Publication No. 38,718 (Fouts et al), International Application No. PCT/US88/00592 (McMills et al.) filed Feb. 24, 1988, and copending, commonly assigned application Ser. Nos. 818,846 (Barma) filed Jan. 14, 1986 now abandoned, 53,610 (Batliwalla et al.) filed May 20, 1987 now U.S. Pat. No. 4,777,351, 75,929 (Barma et al.) filed Jul. 21, 1987, 115,089 (Horsma et al.) filed Oct. 30, 1987 now abandoned, 124,696 (Horsma et Nov. 24, 1987 now abandoned in favor of three continuation applications, Ser. Nos. 455,715, 456,015, and 456,030, all filed Dec. 22, 1989, 150,005 (Fahey et al.) filed Feb. 4, 1988 now U.S. Pat. No. 4,780,598, 189,938 (Friel) filed May 3, 1988, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,882,466, 202,165 (Oswal et al.) filed Jun. 3, 1988, now U.S. Pat. 4,910,389, 202,762 (Sherman et al.) filed Jun. 3, 1988, 209,761 (Hughes et al.) filed Jun. 22, 1988 now abandoned, 210,054 (McMills et al.) filed Jun. 22, 1988, now abandoned 219,416 (Horsma et al.) filed Jul. 15, 1988, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,967,176 and 247,059 (Shafe et al.) filed contemporaneously with this application, abandoned in favor of a continuation application, Ser. No. 416,748, filed Oct. 3, 1989, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,980,541, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. The majority of these materials are not suitable for use as inks; rather they are melt-processed or sintered to produce self-supporting articles which have a thickness greater than about 0.002 inch (0.005 cm). The resulting articles may be inflexible and are generally unsuitable for configuration into the intricate or very thin shapes often desirable for use on flexible substrates or printed circuit boards.
U. S. Pat. No. 4,722,853 (Batliwalla et al.) discloses a method of applying a PTF ink to a substrate. For these inks, at room temperature the organic polymer binder is in the form of solid particles, i.e. not dissolved, and the solvent is a "latent" solvent, rather than a "true" solvent, for the binder.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,628,187 (Sekiguchi et al.) discloses a planar resistive heating element in which a conductive paste is screen-printed between an electrode pattern onto an insulating substrate. The conductive paste, which exhibits PTC behavior, comprises a mixture of ethylene/vinyl acetate copolymer, graphite, flame retardant, inert filler, and solvent. A phenolic resin layer deposited over the resistive element provides protection to the element and increases its resistance to thermal degradation when heated to a temperature greater than the melting point of the polymer binder.

Method of making an electrical device comprising a conductive polymer composition


Systems and methods for near-field, interferometric microscopy are disclosed in which a mask having an array of sub-wavelength apertures is used to couple near-field probe beams to a sample. The periphery of the mask further includes one or more larger apertures to couple light to the sample that forms the basis of an interferometric signal indicative of the relative distance between the mask and the sample. The interferometric signal can be the basis of a control signal in a servo system that dynamically positions the mask relative to the sample.

This invention is related to optical imaging and metrology of semiconductor, data-storage, and biological materials, structures, and devices.
The near-field scanning probe is typically a sub-wavelength aperture positioned in close proximity to a sample; in this way, sub-wavelength spatial resolution in the object-plane is obtained. An aperture smaller than a free space optical wavelength of an optical beam used in a near-field microscopy application is hereinafter referred to as a sub-wavelength aperture.
Positioning the near-field scanning probe in close proximity, preferably in a non-contact mode, is known in the field as xe2x80x9cthe approach problem.xe2x80x9d
The invention features systems and methods for near-field, interferometric microscopy in which a mask having an array of sub-wavelength apertures is used to couple near-field probe beams to a sample. The periphery of the mask further includes one or more larger apertures to couple light to the sample that forms the basis of an interferometric signal indicative of the relative distance between the mask and the sample. The interferometric signal can be the basis of a control signal in a servo system that dynamically positions the mask relative to the sample. In some embodiments, light coupled to the sample though the large aperture is scattered by the sample and detected through one of the sub-wavelength aperture and mized with a reference beam component to produce interferometric control signal. In general, the systems may operate in either reflective or transmissive modes, and may be used to investigate the profile of a sample, to read optical date from a sample, and/or write optical date to a sample.
In general, in one aspect, the invention features an interferometric optical microscopy system for imaging an object. The system includes: a beam splitter positioned to separate an input beam into a measurement beam and a reference beam; a measurement beam source array positioned to receive the measurement beam; a reference beam source array positioned to receive the reference beam; a multi-element photo-detector; and imaging optics.
The measurement beam source array includes a mask having an array of measurement apertures and a control aperture adjacent one of the measurement apertures, wherein the control aperture has transverse dimensions larger than the transverse dimensions of the adjacent measurement aperture. Each of the measurement apertures and the control aperture is configured to radiate a portion of the measurement beam to the object. The object interacts with the radiated measurement beam portions and in response directs signal radiation back through the measurement apertures to define a measurement return beam. The transverse dimensions of the control aperture are selected to cause the signal radiation directed back through the measurement aperture adjacent the control aperture to be dominated by radiation derived from the control aperture. The reference beam source array includes an array of elements each configured to radiate a portion of the reference beam, the radiated reference beam portions defining a reference return beam.
The imaging optics are positioned to direct the measurement and reference return beams to the photo-detector and configured to produce overlapping conjugate images of the array of reference elements and the array of measurement apertures on the photo-detector. The conjugate image for each measurement aperture overlaps with the conjugate image of a corresponding reference element to produce an optical interference signal indicative of a particular region of the object.
Embodiments of the microscopy system may further include any of the following features.
The system may further include a positioning system for supporting the object relative to the measurement beam source array, and an electronic controller coupled to the photo-detector and the positioning system. During operation the electronic controller causes the positioning system to adjust the separation between the measurement beam source array and the object in response to a control signal derived from the interference signal corresponding to the measurement aperture adjacent the control aperture.
The mask may include multiple control apertures each adjacent one of the measurement apertures, wherein each control aperture has transverse dimensions larger than the transverse dimensions of the corresponding adjacent measurement aperture. For example, the multiple control apertures may surround the periphery of the array of the measurement apertures.
The system may further include a source for providing the input beam. Furthermore, each of the measurement apertures may have a transverse dimension less than a vacuum wavelength of the input beam provided by the source. Moreover, the control aperture may have a transverse dimension greater than or equal to the vacuum wavelength of the input beam provided by the source.
The control aperture may be located at the periphery of the array of measurement apertures. Furthermore, an end of each measurement aperture adjacent the object, other than the measurement aperture adjacent the control aperture, may lie in a first common plane, and an end of each of the control aperture and the measurement aperture adjacent the control aperture may be displaced relative to the first common plane. For example, such ends of the control aperture and the measurement aperture adjacent the control aperture may lie in a second common plane parallel to the first common plane. The system may further include a source providing the input beam, wherein the first common plane is displaced from the second common plane by an amount equal to about twice the wavelength of the input beam.
The system may further include a pinhole array positioned adjacent the photo-detector, wherein each pinhole is aligned with a separate set of one or more detector elements, and wherein the imaging system causes the conjugate image for each measurement aperture to align with a corresponding pinhole of the pinhole array.
The mask in the measurement beam source array may further include an array of measurement scattering elements, wherein each measurement scattering element is adjacent a corresponding one of the measurement apertures and has transverse dimensions comparable to the corresponding measurement aperture. Each measurement scattering element scatters a portion of the measurement beam. In such cases, the measurement return beam further includes the portions of the measurement beam scattered by the measurement scattering elements. The imaging optics are further configured to produce a conjugate image of the array of measurement scattering elements that overlaps with the conjugate image of the array of reference elements, wherein the conjugate image for each measurement scattering element overlaps with the conjugate image of a corresponding reference element to produce an optical interference signal indicative of scattering from the adjacent measurement aperture.
Furthermore, in embodiments involving the scattering elements, the control aperture may located at the periphery of the array of measurement apertures, and an end adjacent the object of each measurement aperture and each measurement scattering element other than the measurement aperture adjacent the control aperture and the measurement scattering element adjacent the measurement aperture adjacent the control aperture may lie in a first common plane, and wherein an end adjacent the object of each of the control aperture, the measurement aperture adjacent the control aperture, and the measurement scattering site adjacent the measurement aperture adjacent the control aperture may be displaced relative to the first common plane. Furthermore, the ends of the control aperture and the measurement aperture adjacent the control aperture may lie in a second common plane parallel to the first common plane. Also, the system may further include a source providing the input beam, and the first common plane may be displaced from the second common plane by an amount equal to about twice the wavelength.
Furthermore, in embodiments involving the scattering elements, the system may further include a positioning system for supporting the object relative to the measurement beam source array, and an electronic controller coupled to the photo-detector and the positioning system. During operation the electronic controller causes the positioning system to adjust the separation between the measurement beam source array and the object in response to a control signal derived from the interference signal corresponding to the measurement aperture adjacent the control aperture and the interference signal corresponding to the measurement scattering site adjacent the measurement aperture adjacent the control aperture.
Furthermore, in embodiments involving the scattering elements, the system may further including a pinhole array positioned adjacent the photo-detector. Each pinhole is aligned with a separate set of one or more detector elements, and the imaging system causes the conjugate image for each measurement aperture and each measurement scattering element to align with a corresponding pinhole of the pinhole array.
Each reference element may include a reflective element.
Each reference element includes a transmissive aperture.
In general, in another aspect, the invention features, a source array for illuminating an object. The source array includes: a mask positioned to receive a measurement beam, the mask having an array of source apertures and a control aperture adjacent one of the source apertures. The control aperture has transverse dimensions larger than the transverse dimensions of the adjacent source aperture. Each of the source apertures and the control aperture is configured to radiate a portion of the measurement beam to the object. The object interacts with the radiated measurement beam portion from the control aperture to direct control signal radiation back through the source aperture adjacent the control aperture.
Embodiments of the source array may further include any of the following features.
The mask may include multiple control apertures each adjacent one of the measurement apertures, wherein each control aperture has transverse dimensions larger than the transverse dimensions of the corresponding adjacent measurement aperture. For example, the multiple control apertures may surround the periphery of the array of the measurement apertures.
The system may further include a source for providing the measurement beam. Furthermore, each of the measurement apertures may have a transverse dimension less than a vacuum wavelength of the measurement beam provided by the source. Moreover, the control aperture may have a transverse dimension greater than or equal to the vacuum wavelength of the measurement beam provided by the source.
The control aperture may be located at the periphery of the array of measurement apertures. Furthermore, an end of each measurement aperture adjacent the object, other than the measurement aperture adjacent the control aperture, may lie in a first common plane, and an end of each of the control aperture and the measurement aperture adjacent the control aperture may be displaced relative to the first common plane. For example, such ends of the control aperture and the measurement aperture adjacent the control aperture may lie in a second common plane parallel to the first common plane. The system may further include a source providing the input beam, wherein the first common plane is displaced from the second common plane by an amount equal to about twice the wavelength of the measurement beam.
The mask in the measurement beam source array may further include an array of measurement scattering elements, wherein each measurement scattering element is adjacent a corresponding one of the measurement apertures and has transverse dimensions comparable to the corresponding measurement aperture.
In another aspect, the invention features a system for illuminating an object, the system including: the source array described above; a positioning system for supporting the object relative to the source array; and an electronic controller coupled to the positioning system, wherein during operation the electronic controller causes the positioning system to adjust the separation between the measurement beam source array and the object in response to a control signal based on an interference signal derived from the control signal radiation.
In general, in another aspect, the invention features a method for illuminating an object with multiple sources, the method including: positioning a mask adjacent the object, wherein the mask has an array of source apertures and a control aperture having transverse dimensions greater than the transverse dimensions of each of the source apertures; directing radiation to the mask to cause each of the source apertures and the control aperture to radiate a portion of the radiation to the object; producing an optical interference signal derived from radiation directed to the object from the control aperture; and repositioning the mask relative to the object in response to a control signal derived from the optical interference signal. The method may further include features corresponding to any of the features described above for the microscopy system and the source array.
Confocal and near-field confocal, microscopy systems are also described in the following, commonly-owed provisional applications: Ser. No. 09/631,230 filed Aug. 2, 2000 by Henry A. Hill entitled xe2x80x9cScanning Interferometric Near-Field Confocal Microscopy,xe2x80x9d and the corresponding PCT Publication WO 01/09662 A2 published Feb. 8, 2001; Provisional Application Serial No. 60/221,019 filed Jul. 27, 2000 by Henry A. Hill and Kyle B. Ferrio entitled xe2x80x9cMultiple-Source Arrays For Confocal And Near-Field Microscopyxe2x80x9d and the corresponding Utility application Ser. No. 09/917,402 having the same title filed on Jul. 27, 2001; Provisional Application Serial No. 60,221,086 filed Jul. 27, 2000 by Henry A. Hill entitled xe2x80x9cScanning Interferometric Near-Field Confocal Microscopy with Background Amplitude Reduction and Compensationxe2x80x9d and the corresponding Utility application Ser. No. 09/917,399 having the same title filed on Jul. 27, 2001; Provisional Application Serial No. 60/221,091 filed Jul. 27, 2000 by Henry A. Hill entitled xe2x80x9cMultiple-Source Arrays with Optical Transmission Enhanced by Resonant Cavities and the corresponding Utility application Ser. No. 09/917,400 having the same title filed on Jul. 27, 2001; and Provisional Application Serial No. 60/221,295 by Henry A. Hill filed Jul. 27, 2000 entitled xe2x80x9cDifferential Interferometric Confocal Near-Field Microscopyxe2x80x9d and the corresponding Utility application Ser. No. 09/917,276 having the same title filed on Jul. 27, 2001; the contents of each of the preceding applications being incorporated herein by reference. Aspects and features disclosed in the preceding provisional applications may be incorporated into the embodiments described in the present application.
Embodiments of the invention may include any of the following advantages.
One advantage is the control of position and orientation of an array of wavelength and sub-wavelength apertures in a non-contact approach to a sample being imaged.
Another advantage is the control of position and orientation of an array of wavelength and sub-wavelength apertures in a non-contacting close proximity to a sample being imaged.
Another advantage is the control of position and orientation of an array of wavelength and sub-wavelength apertures in a non-contacting close proximity scan across a sample being imaged.
Another advantage is the control of position and orientation of an array of wavelength and sub-wavelength apertures in a non-contacting close proximity scan across a sample being imaged wherein the sample surface has departures from a flat surface.
Another advantage is the mapping of a surface profile in real time during a scan of the surface for control of position and orientation of an array of wavelength and sub-wavelength apertures in non-contacting close proximity to the surface.
Another advantage is that information for control of position and orientation of an array of wavelength and sub-wavelength apertures in a non-contacting close proximity scan across a sample being imaged is obtained with a subset of the array of wavelength and sub-wavelength apertures.
Other aspects, features, and advantages follow.

Control of position and orientation of sub-wavelength aperture array in near-field microscopy


Apparatus is provided for projecting a television image to a distant screen using a lens which is not color corrected. Three separate images of different primary colors are produced by three kinescopes. The images are directed by a set of dichroic mirrors to a projection lens. A single image is thereafter projected by the lens to a distant screen. Color correction of the optics is achieved by altering the relative position of the kinescopes with respect to the dichroic mirror assembly and altering the magnitude of deflection signals supplied to each kinescope.

This invention relates to the projection television receiver art. Specifically, apparatus is provided for projecting a TV image derived from three kinescopes to an exterior screen.
Projection television receivers are old in the art. It has been known that color projection television receivers may be manufactured by using three separate kinescopes. Each kinescope is used to project an image comprised of one of the primary colors to a set of crossed dichroic mirrors. The kinescope images are transmitted through the dichroic mirrors and combined at a common point. The image thus located may be magnified and transmitted to a distant screen by use of a lens.
In the past, the lens used for transmitting and magnifying the recombined image has been color corrected. The color correction is required because light of different wave lengths will be magnified to different degrees since the focus of a lens is different for different wave lengths of light. The color correction techniques employed in many lenses are expensive and do not always provide the degree of compensation necessary. The excessive cost of color correcting a lens for projecting the television image reduces the commercial market for projection TV receivers.
Therefore, a projection TV system which would not require a color corrected lens for projecting a resulting image produced by the dichroic mirrors would be desirable.

Projection television receiver having dichroic mirrors and a projecting lens with three different focal points


A method for metallizing a through silicon via feature in a semiconductor integrated circuit device substrate. The method comprises immersing the semiconductor integrated circuit device substrate into an electrolytic copper deposition composition, wherein the through silicon via feature has an entry dimension between 1 micrometers and 100 micrometers, a depth dimension between 20 micrometers and 750 micrometers, and an aspect ratio greater than about 2:1; and supplying electrical current to the electrolytic deposition composition to deposit copper metal onto the bottom and sidewall for bottom-up filling to thereby yield a copper filled via feature. The deposition composition comprises (a) a source of copper ions; (b) an acid selected from among an inorganic acid, organic sulfonic acid, and mixtures thereof; (c) an organic disulfide compound; (d) a compound selected from the group consisting of a reaction product of benzyl chloride and hydroxyethyl polyethyleneimine, a quaternized dipyridyl compound, and a combination thereof; and (d) chloride ions.

The demand for semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) devices such as computer chips with high circuit speed and high circuit density requires the downward scaling of feature sizes in ultra-large scale integration (ULSI) and very-large scale integration (VLSI) structures. The trend to smaller device sizes and increased circuit density requires decreasing the dimensions of interconnect features and increasing their density. An interconnect feature is a feature such as a via or trench formed in a dielectric substrate which is then filled with metal, typically copper, to yield an electrically conductive interconnect. Copper, having better conductivity than any metal except silver, is the metal of choice since copper metallization allows for smaller features and uses less energy to pass electricity. In damascene processing, interconnect features of semiconductor IC devices are metallized using electrolytic copper deposition.
A patterned semiconductor integrated circuit device substrate, for example, a device wafer or die, may comprise both small and large interconnect features. Typically, a wafer has layers of integrated circuitry, e.g., processors, programmable devices, memory devices, and the like, built in a silicon substrate. Integrated circuit (IC) devices have been manufactured to contain small diameter vias and sub-micron sized trenches that form electrical connections between layers of interconnect structure. These features have dimensions on the order of about 150 nanometers or less, such as about 90 nanometers, 65 nanometers, or even 45 nanometers.
Plating chemistry sufficient to copper metallize small size via and trench features has been developed and finds use in the copper damascene method. Copper damascene metallization relies on superfilling additives, i.e., a combination of additives that are referred to in the art as accelerators, levelers, and suppressors. These additives act in conjunction in a manner that can flawlessly fill copper into the interconnect features (often called "superfilling" or "bottom up" growth). See, for example, Too et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,776,893, Paneccasio et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,303,992, and Commander et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,316,772, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated as if set forth in their entireties. Currently available electrolytic copper deposition systems that rely on superfilling additives can fill small size features at current densities as high as 6 A/dm2 and in as little as 20 seconds, 10 seconds, or less.
In another form, a wafer may be constructed to comprise one or more large diameter via. This type of via architecture is known in the art as "through silicon via" (TSV). In some devices, through silicon via allows electrical interconnection between 2 or more wafers bonded to each other in a three-dimensional wafer stack. After being formed, the 3D wafer stack may be diced into stacked dies ("chips"), each stacked chip having multiple tiers ("layers") of integrated circuitry. Depending on where and when the vias are made, they can be characterized as "Via First—Before FEOL," or "Via First—After BEOL." In both cases, the vias are made before wafer/die attachment or bonding. The third category of TSV is via last, which means that the via is constructed after wafer/die attachment or bonding.
Through silicon vias are critical components of three-dimensional integrated circuits, and they can be found in RF devices, MEMs, CMOS image sensors, Flash, DRAM, SRAM memories, analog devices, and logic devices.
The depth of a TSV depends on the via type (via first or via last), and the application. Via depth can vary from 20 microns to 500 microns, typically between about 50 microns and about 250 microns. Via openings in TSV have had entry dimensions, such as the diameter, on the order of between about 200 nm to about 200 microns, typically between about 25 microns and about 75 microns.
Filling large size through silicon via in commercially practicable durations is a barrier to the commercial feasibility of devices employing TSV. Experimental data obtained to date suggests that conventional electrolytic copper deposition methods employing compositions appropriate for damascene metallization (i.e., the composition comprises the three component superfilling additives including accelerator, suppressor, and leveler) are current density limited (such as about 0.10 A/dm2 or less to get defect-free fill) and may require plating durations as long as 20 hours to completely metallize large dimension (e.g., greater than 50 micron diameter openings) through silicon via.
Available prior art in the field of through silicon via filling has not, to date, suggested methods and compositions capable of rapidly filling through silicon via in a commercially practicable deposition period.
For example, Arana et al. (U.S. 2007/0001266, Intel Corporation) disclose a method for filling through silicon via by incorporating particles into the copper metallization, the particles having a different coefficient of thermal expansion than the copper matrix. The stated purpose is to reduce stress variations between the copper metallization matrix and the silicon possibly caused by the differing bulk CTE of the respective materials. Notably, the reference does not include actual electrolytic copper plating chemistry, nor does the reference state that their electrolytic plating method incorporating particles in the deposition composition reduces through silicon via fill time.
Lane et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 7,081,408, Intel Corporation) disclose a method for filling through silicon via features. Although they discuss filling the through silicon via with copper metallization by any suitable process, for example, electrolytic deposition, Lane et al. do not disclose actual electrolytic copper plating chemistry, nor do they disclose the duration necessary to achieve copper filling.
Copper plating is also known from, e.g., also Eilert (U.S. Pat. No. 7,111,149); Rumer et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 6,924,551); Shi et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2007/0085198); Ramanathan et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2007/0117348) Heck et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2006/0264029); Williams et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2006/0273455); Rangel (U.S. Pub. No. 2006/0278979); and Savastiouk et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2005/0136635). But none of these references, which relate to through silicon via architectures and methods, disclose applicable copper metallization chemistries or plating durations sufficient to fill through silicon via features.
Given the current state of the art, it is apparent that there is a distinct need for applicable methods and compositions sufficient for copper metallization of through silicon via features in a commercially practicable manner.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


This invention provides methods for obtaining targeted gene modification in vertebrate cells using parvoviral vectors, including adeno-associated virus (AAV). The parvoviral vectors used in the methods of the invention are capable of targeting a specific genetic modification to a preselected target locus in a cellular genome by homologous pairing.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to the field of targeted modification of cellular DNA in vertebrate cells by homologous pairing using parvoviral vectors, including vectors based on adeno-associated virus (AAV).
2. Background
Previously known methods for introducing defined mutations into mammalian chromosomes by gene targeting involve transfection, electroporation or microinjection (Smithies et al. (1985) Nature 317: 230-234; Thomas et al. (1986) Cell 44: 419-428). These methods, except for microinjection, produce homologous recombination events in only a small fraction of the total cell population, on the order of 10−6 in the case of mouse embryonic stem cells (Doetschman et al. (1987) Nature 330: 576-578; Thomas and Capecchi (1987) Cell 51: 503-512). Thus, the routine use of these methods requires preselection of transformed cells, making it difficult to apply the techniques to normal cells and in vivo applications.
Attempts to use transducing viral vectors to overcome these limitations and achieve chromosomal gene targeting experiments have been performed with retroviral and adenoviral vectors, but the results were not significantly better than can be obtained by transfection, with homologous recombination occurring in 10−5 to 10−6 cells (Ellis and Bernstein (1989) Mol. Cell. Biol. 9: 1621-1627; Wang and Taylor (1993) Mol. Cell. Biol. 13: 918-927).
Adeno-associated virus 2 (AAV) is a 4.7 kb single stranded DNA virus that has been developed as a transducing vector capable of integrating into mammalian chromosomes (Muzyczka (1992) Curr. Top. Microbiol. Immunol. 158: 97-129). Two thirds of integrated wild-type AAV proviruses are found at a specific human chromosome 19 site, 19q13-qter (Kotin et al. (1991) Genomics 10: 831-834; Kotin et al. (1990) Proc. Nat'l. Acad. Sci. USA 87: 2211-2215; Samulski et al. (1991) EMBO J. 10: 3941-3950). The site-specific integration event is a non-homologous recombination reaction that appears to be mediated by the viral Rep protein (Giraud et al. (1995) J. Virol. 69: 6917-6924; Linden et al. (1996) Proc. Nat'l. Acad. Sci. USA 93: 7966-7972). While this feature could prove useful in some applications, AAV vectors with deletions in the viral rep gene have not been found to integrate at this same locus (Russell et al. (1994) Proc. Nat'l. Acad. Sci. USA 91: 8915-8919; Walsh et al. (1992) Proc. Nat'l. Acad. Sci. USA 89: 7257-7261). Southern analysis of integrated rep− AAV vector proviruses suggests that integration sites are random (Lebkowski et al. (1988) Mol. Cell. Biol. 8: 3988-3996; McLaughlin et al. (1988) J. Virol. 62: 1963-1973; Russell et al. (1994) supra.; Walsh et al. (1992) supra.) and sequencing of integrated vector junction fragments has confirmed that integration occurs by non-homologous recombination at a variety of chromosomal sites.
Although the development of integrating vectors based on eukaryotic viruses has made possible the efficient introduction of genes into mammalian chromosomes, there are many situations where it would be preferable to modify specific chromosomal sequences. Rather than, for example, introducing a corrected version of gene at a chromosomal location other than the native locus for the gene, one could correct the defective allele at the native locus. This ability could eliminate unwanted chromosomal genotypes and avoid position effects on gene expression. The need for such an ability to modify a preexisting locus is particularly acute in gene therapy, where mutant genes can have dominant effects and tissue-specific controls on expression are often critical.
Thus, a need exists for methods of obtaining specific genetic modification at selected target sites in vertebrate cellular genomes at high frequencies. The present invention fulfills this and other needs.

Targeted gene modification by parvoviral vectors


The present disclosure discloses a dockless vehicle-based electric fence control method. The method comprises: demarcating and forming, by a backend server, a non-parking area and/or a riding boundary of a vehicle by using a map engine tool, wherein longitude and latitude coordinates at which the non-parking area and/or the riding boundary is located is stored into a database of the backend server; when ride comes to an end, sending, by a mobile terminal or intelligent hardware installed in a ridden vehicle, the parking position coordinates of a current vehicle to the backend server; and receiving, by the backend server, parking position coordinates of the vehicle, comparing the parking position coordinates of the vehicle with the database, determining whether the parking position coordinates of the current vehicle are located in the non-parking area or beyond the riding boundary, and feeding back a determining result to the mobile terminal and/or the intelligent hardware. According to the present disclosure, existing problems that shared vehicles are inappropriately parked and placed and there is no riding boundary, which hinder management and operation of vehicles, are solved. By setting a virtual electric fence, as well as related non-parking areas and riding boundaries, parking of vehicles is regulated, and management is strengthened.

Shared bicycles refer to a bicycle sharing service provided by enterprises in campuses, at metro stations and bus stations, and in residential areas, business districts, common service areas, and the like, in a new form of sharing economy. Enabling a bicycle-sharing app, a user can view a diagram of distribution of nearby rentable bicycles and make a reservation. After finding a bicycle, the user can unlock the bicycle by scanning a QR code with a mobile phone and ride the bicycle. When the riding comes to an end, the user parks the bicycle freely, locks the bicycle, and the using process is then finished. Compared with docked public bicycles, this "dockless" concept that bicycles can be used and parked readily brings about great convenience to citizens, but at the same time it makes the phenomena that the bicycles disorderly occupy the road and are randomly parked more common. This affects urban space management and urban beautification, and makes them more difficult to implement. To solve the problem that the shared bicycles are parked disorderly, currently, the RFID technology and the Bluetooth technology are used to define parking areas in public places, and the shared bicycles near the places need to be placed in the defined areas. However, these technologies definitely deprive the parking convenience of the "dockless" shared bicycles, and make the "dockless" shared bicycles inconvenient the same as the previous-generation docked shared bicycles. Since the shared bicycles are provided with electric docks and become docked vehicles, it is still inconvenient for users to use. In addition, to date, a large number of shared bicycle products are not controlled within a riding boundary. This causes the emergence of a large number of zombie bicycles and an increase in operation costs, and hinders management and operation of the vehicles.
Therefore, how to design a dockless electric fence control method for controlling random parking of the shared bicycles and controlling riding within certain coverage now becomes a technical problem that needs to be urgently solved.

Electronic fence (E-Fence) control technology for dockless sharing vehicles

CHINA SUPEROO NETWORK TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


A first stage SCUBA diving regulator has a removable cartridge containing the pressure regulating mechanism and a plurality of intermediate pressure outlet ports extending at acute angles from the body of the regulator. A plurality of rotatable intermediate pressure outlet ports are provided in one embodiment.

It has been the practice in the prior art to mount a first stage pressure regulator directly on the neck of an associated air tank and to provide two or three fixed outlet ports on the regulator for coupling the regulator to the second stage regulator, a pressure gauge, and a buoyancy vest or jacket. As other instruments and devices which depend on air from the air tank are added to the medley of devices carried by the diver, "Y" and "T" connectors have been connected to the outlet ports of the first stage regulator to connect each of the outlet ports to more than one device. This has resulted in a large number of hoses being connected at approximately the same place on the regulator, making it difficult if not impossible to prevent the connecting hoses from becoming entangled with one another. Where additional outlet ports have been provided they have been located for convenience of manufacture rather than for convenience of use by the diver.
Another characteristic of most present day first stage pressure regulators is the fact that maintenance and repair of the valve mechanism has required considerable expertise in disassembly and reassembly of the mechanism. It would be desirable to provide a first stage regulator in which the entire pressure regulating mechanism could be easily removed and replaced when in need of repair.

Pressure regulator for underwater breathing system


An implantable medical device, which comprises a device substrate, a coating on the substrate which includes a drug, and a protective layer which overlies the coating. The protective layer comprises a polymer selected from the group consisting of polylactic acid, polyglycolic acid and a lactic acid/glycolic acid copolymer having a weight average molecular weight of not more than 40,000.

It is desirable to control infection at the site of implantation of a medical device. In surgical procedures for the replacement of an orthopaedic joint, it is known to provide an antibiotic material within a bone cement composition.
It is known to provide an antibiotic material in a coating on the surface of a medical device. US-A-2007/0050010 discloses a vascular implant such as a stent having a coating which can contain a drug. A protective polymer layer can be provided on the coating to prevent degradation of the drug coating. The polymer can control the rate at which the drug in the coating is absorbed into the patient's bloodstream.


The present invention provides such a data storing format that is effective for solving problems which may arise when regenerating video data in a video data storage and communication system. A channel data demultiplexing portion splits a multiplexed input into audio/video and other components. An error correction portion corrects an error of the video data output from the channel data demultiplexing portion. A video frame extracting portion extracts a video frame output from the error correction portion. A packet assembling portion assembles a packet from the video data output from the video frame extracting portion and the audio data output from the data demultiplexing portion. A storage portion stores therein the packet output from the packet assembling portion. Consequently, video data can be stored by video frames.

The present invention relates to a image-information storage regenerating device, and more particularly to a video communication system which can collect and store multiplexed data of audio/video and other information from video data communication terminals (e.g., visual telephone sets) according to the recommendation by ITU (International Telecommunication Union) and which allows users to regenerate the stored data through their terminal sets. More particularly, the present invention is related to a video data storage control device for regenerating a video data file stored in a storing/regenerating center (storage device) for video data, and more particularly to a video data regeneration control device which is capable of transmitting stored coded video data from a video data storage and regeneration center (storage device) to an audio-visual (AV) terminal and enabling the terminal to decode the received coded video data and reproduce images thereat, and which is also capable of transmitting stored therein coded video data to a receiving terminal and enabling the terminal to decode the received coded video data and reproduce therefrom the video data.
Recently, besides conventional interactive communication services using telephones and facsimiles, such a communication service has been provided that audio data stored at a center of communication network can be always regenerated through users' terminal sets. On the other hand, with improvement and development of digital communications networks, e.g., ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network), it has been possible to use video communication services, e.g., visual telephone service. On such background, there is an increasing demand for video delivery services using a database of video information. Such communication services have been locally realized for practical use.
Recently, with improvement and development of digital transmission channels and advancement of image processing technique, it has been expected to develop a method allowing one to effectively use image-information services over high-speed digital transmission networks, a representative of which is ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network), by applying advanced high-speed digital-signal processing and related LSI technology. Representative image communication services such as visual telephone services and video conference services have been already realized and practically utilized. Lately, such an information delivery service for supplying information to many unspecified users at unspecified times has been expected to appear in practice as a new business.
To supply information to many unspecified users, it is necessary to store information in a storage (recording device), e.g., a host center, and to provide a control system for regenerating information at the many unspecified audio-visual terminals and storing information from the audio-visual terminals into the storage. This system is represented, for example, by an image-information regeneration control device that controls regeneration of image-information from the host center to the audio-visual terminals.
In a conventional image-information regeneration control device, coded image-information is stored with screen (frame) numbers and is transmitted with the same screen (frame) numbers to an audio-visual terminal at which the coded image-information is then decoded and regenerated according to the screen numbers.
The image-information communication service may often transmit a interactive-mode screen (e.g., a service menu or guidance for user) and coded data of different object images in succession to a user terminal and continuously regenerate them at the terminal.
In a conventional image-information transfer system, a center control unit negotiates with a terminal as to decoding capability of the terminal before transmitting coded image-information thereto and, only in case of the terminal having a sufficient decoding capability, it reads and transmits the coded image-information stored together with their screen (frame) numbers to the terminal.
Japanese laid-open patent publication No. 62-188579 describes a stored video data regenerating device for use in a packet communication network for transmitting moving picture information from a moving picture database, which converts video data into video signals adapted to be easily received by user's terminal sets by absorbing variations of delay in transmission of packets over the packet communications network and allows user to get desired video information from the data base at any desired time.
Japanese laid-open patent publication No. 3-132128 describes a stored video data regenerating device that allows for storing messages of video and audio data composed of still-pictures and recorded pictures inputted from users through their terminal devices and allows each user to reproduce a message corresponding to his request on a display screen of his terminal.
Japanese laid-open patent publication No. 4-79655 describes a stored video data regenerating device that has means to register conditions of collecting information from a user's terminal having functions for inputting and outputting video/audio and characters, and that calls the terminal according to the registered information and automatically receives information and stores the collected information as requested by a client.
As a conventional stored image regenerating device there may be designated a device that is described in a reference paper titled "Prototyping of PC-Videophone with Built-in Codec based on Open Architecture" (by Ichizo KIMURA and 7 et al.), the journal of the Institute of Image Electronics Engineers of Japan, 1993, Vol. 22, No. 4, pp. 355-367.
The above-mentioned reference describes how to store and regenerate audio/video data, indicating two possible methods: the first method is directed to store the multiplexed audio/video data as unchanged and the second method is directed to disassemble multiplexed data and store audio/video data as separated from each other. However, the conventional systems prefer the first method from the view point of easier processing of multiplexed data at a center device and describes necessary functions of this method and how to realize said functions.
The present invention pointed out problems of the conventional method of storing audio/video as multiplexed data and provides a novel method that separates media, particularly video (image-information), and stores them as separated from each other in order to solve the problems involved in the conventional systems. Furthermore, the present invention discloses that an excellent video communication system can be constructed by applying therein several new techniques. Practically, the data storage and regenerating device according to the present invention is featured by new functions such as data management by frames, synchronizing by time stamps and adjustment of information amount by inserting fill bits, and which realizes, thereby, so flexible and so high leveled functions that can not be attained by the conventional multiplexed data storing system.
Accordingly, it may be clearly understood that the present invention in its basic conception quite differs from the conventional systems, and it also discloses novel and useful art to solve the problems of the conventional systems.
As described above, the conventional system stores data as multiplexed by the method adopted as an international standard. The data display at the terminal device is, therefore, conducted usually after synchronization of a FEC-frame (forward error correction frame) is established. Namely, an image can not immediately be displayed. The initial. Image is not always encoded by intra-frame mode and may not be self-contained for decoding. Furthermore, the terminal may not well reproduce images because of occurrence of underflow or overflow of its buffer, which may result from that the Storing buffer condition differs from the regenerating buffer condition.
The video data are stored under the control of encoded information amount according to buffer condition of a terminal. The conventional method can not assure the same condition of buffer of a terminal device when storing data and when regenerating data. Any terminal may encounter overflow or underflow of its buffer when regenerating stored video data. Furthermore, in the conventional video regenerating device, such a problem may arise that stored video data can not be regenerated at a terminal if the channel transmission rate to which the terminal is adapted is not compatible with the channel rate at which the data were stored. For instance, said problem may occur when video data stored by a terminal adapted only to a channel rate of B using a basic interface of ISDN is regenerated at a terminal adapted only to a channel rate of 2B.
In video data storing, a transmitting AV-terminal according to the recommendation H.261 encodes successive objective frames by motion compensative inter-frame prediction and sends the encoded video data. When an video data storing center starts storing operation, coded video data by screens, for example, B.sub.o -B.sub.n are read-out and stored in a storage such as a host machine. In this case, the screen B.sub.o is encoded by prediction with reference to the frame B.sub.-1.
In image reproduction, the coded video data, e.g., frames A.sub.-3 -A.sub.1 and B.sub.o -B.sub.n stored subsequently to the screen A.sub.-1 are successively read from the video data storage center by the host machine and sent to an AV-terminal. These data maintain an integrity as successive coded video frames and they are, therefore, normally decoded at the AV-terminal.
While the screen B.sub.o is, however, predicted with reference to the screen B.sub.-1 at the time of data storing (i.e., coding), it will be decoded with reference to the screen A.sub.-1 that relates to a preceding object in the order of coded video data. Namely, the screen B.sub.o is predicted according to different screens at coding and decoding. As the result, the screen B.sub.o can not normally be reproduced and displayed at the AV-terminal. Furthermore, this may affect the subsequent screens since screens B.sub.1 -B.sub.n have been dependently coded in succession by inter-frame prediction. The desplayed screen videos may be damaged.
In the conventional image-information regeneration control device, as described above, a screen number (frame number) of video data (frame data) to be transmitted and received by an audio-visual terminal is the same as that of the corresponding video data stored in a storage. Namely, the stored video data with its unchanged screen (frame) number are transmitted to the terminal. For example, when video data are stored in the order of screen (frame) numbers "10, 12, 15, 17 . . . ", corresponding video data to be transmitted are given the same frame numbers "10, 12, 15, 17 . . . ". Accordingly, when such video data are regenerated in succession to a currently displayed image or video data of different object, a discrepancy of screen numbers may occur at a junction between two different image sequences.
For instance, in case of continuously displaying the stored video data in succession to a sequence of screen images, jointed screen (frame) numbers are described as "screen-image (1), screen-image (3), screen-image (5), video data (10), video data (12), video data(15) . . . " which is transmitted without any modification. This causes the audio-visual terminal to regenerate the received video data in the order of their screen (frame) numbers with a discrepancy of screen (frame) numbers between "screen-image (5)" and "video data (10)", i.e., a frame interval corresponding to a split of image sequences. In this case, video data behind the frame interval is regenerated with a delay time.
As described above, the conventional image-information regeneration control device has such a drawback that when a screen-image and/or different kinds of video data are successively transmitted, discontinuity of screen numbers occurs at a junction of the transmitted video data between the last screen (frame) of a preceding video data and the top screen (frame) of a subsequent video data, causing a delay time between the preceding video data and the succeeding video data when they are regenerated at the terminal.
The conventional image-information regeneration control device has to first negotiate with a receiving terminal whether the terminal has sufficient capability to decode the coded video data stored in the device or not. When the decoding capability of the terminal is insufficient, i.e., a minimal frame interval of video data to be decoded by the terminal is, for example, 2/29.97 seconds (hereinafter described as 2/30 sec.) which is more than a frame interval of the coded video data stored in a storage of the device, which stores the video data encoded at a frame interval 1/29.97 seconds (hereinafter described as 1/30 sec.) according to a coding method based upon recommendation H.261 of ITU (International Telecommunications Union), screen numbers (frame numbers) of the video data(frame data) to be received by the terminal must be "0, 2, 4, 6 . . . " which differ from screen numbers "0, 1, 2, 3 . . . " of the stored coded video data. Consequently, the center control device can not supply the terminal with the coded video data as be unchanged.
The center control device may transmit stored video data only by odd number frames (1, 3, 5 . . . ) to get frame numbers "0, 2, 4, 6 . . . ", but the terminal can not correctly regenerate images because information of each frame is coded as closely related with information of precedent and subsequent frames by inter-frame prediction coding.
As described above, the conventional video data regeneration control device involves a problem that its center control device can not communicate with a terminal not having sufficient decoding capability.
As described above, the conventional multiplexed data storing and regenerating device separates multiplexed data into audio/video and other information, processes respective data and stores or regenerates the data, resulting in arising of a differential delay between audio/video data at the time of their regeneration.

Image-information storage regenerating device


Methods and systems are provided for a dual loop coolant system used to control an engine temperature. In one example, cooling capacity is transferred from a low temperature loop to a heat exchanger, and cooling capacity stored in the heat exchanger is transferred to a high temperature loop (e.g., an engine coolant loop). The flow of coolant from the dual loop coolant system to the heat exchanger may be regulated responsive to a temperature of the coolant in each of the low temperature loop and the high temperature loop.

A dual loop cooling system in a vehicle may include a low temperature coolant loop and a high temperature coolant loop. Typically, the low temperature coolant loop is designed to meet the cooling requirements of a charge air cooler, for cooling a condenser of an air conditioner of the vehicle, for transmission oil cooling, etc. The low temperature coolant loop may have adequate cooling capacity to cool the components at extreme temperature and/or operating conditions. The high temperature coolant loop may be an engine coolant system configured to decrease temperature of an engine block for maintaining the engine temperature for optimal engine functioning. The high temperature coolant loop may include a radiator, a water pump, coolant hoses, and other components.
The cooling capacity available in the high temperature coolant loop, especially during extreme temperature, may be limited. In one example, approach described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,941,245, this limitation of cooling capacity while cooling the engine may be handled by derating engine torque at extreme temperature and operating conditions.
However, the inventors herein have recognized potential issues with such systems. As one example, derating the engine torque to regulate engine temperature may compromise vehicle performance and diminish customer satisfaction.
The inventors herein propose systems and methods to address the above-described issues. In one example, a system includes a first coolant loop, a second coolant loop, separate from the first coolant loop, a heat exchanger configured to transfer heat between the first coolant loop and the second coolant loop, a bypass valve positioned between the first coolant loop to the heat exchanger, and a control valve positioned between the second coolant loop and the heat exchanger. The first coolant loop may be a low temperature coolant loop (for example, a liquid coolant loop for an air conditioner condenser) and the second coolant loop may be a high temperature coolant loop (for example, an engine coolant system). In one example, when additional cooling capacity is available in the first coolant loop, the bypass valve may direct coolant flow from the first coolant loop to the heat exchanger to transfer the additional cooling capacity to the heat exchanger. When additional cooling capacity is desired in the second coolant loop, the control valve may direct coolant flow between the heat exchanger and the second coolant loop to transfer the additional cooling capacity from the heat exchanger to the second coolant loop (e.g., to absorb heat from the second coolant loop).
In this way, a dual loop cooling system may transfer additional cooling capacity available in a low temperature loop to a high temperature loop through a heat exchanger or a thermal storage device without derating the engine, and thus maintaining optimal engine and vehicle operation. Additionally, use of a liquid coolant in the low temperature loop (instead of a refrigerant that needs a compressor), simplifies and reduces the cost and complexity of the dual loop cooling system.
It should be understood that the summary above is provided to introduce in simplified form a selection of concepts that are further described in the detailed description. It is not meant to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, the scope of which is defined uniquely by the claims that follow the detailed description. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any disadvantages noted above or in any part of this disclosure.

Dual loop cooling system energy storage and reuse