This invention refers to a process for the preparation of a 1,3-butadiene and styrene copolymer, containing a random section in its main chain, followed by a block with a structure differentiated from the main chain, homopolymeric or copolymeric, functionalized, and the product obtained from this.

Obtaining materials that are perfectly adaptable in their usage has been a constant challenge for science and technology in recent years. The growing demand for materials that have an appropriate balance of important and specific properties, added to the ecological restrictions of utilization, has produced great efforts from scientists in the search for innovative solutions to these challenges.
The science of polymers has made a decisive contribution to this process. Due to intensive research and the use of sophisticated processes of polymerization, new products have been obtained, with a combination of properties that until now were not found in traditionally known materials. The emphasis with respect to the environment has guided this research and generated processes and products that are increasingly ecologically appropriate.
Among the wide variety of polymers, the elastomers are the best known. Due to their large capacity to deform elastically when submitted to tension and then return spontaneously to their original form when the tension ceases, elastomers can be employed to obtain many important products when correctly used in the form of vulcanized compounds. Among these products are mainly tires, in all their complexity, including their constituents such as the tread, sidewalls etc, as well as mats, straps and a wide range of technical products.
These rubber or elastomeric products, in determinate applications, need to present a series of properties, which cannot always be combined simultaneously. In the case of tires for automobiles, the following properties are required; elasticity, low abrasion wear, good adhesion on different surfaces, and wet skid resistance, in low and high temperatures. Performance improvement in one of these properties normally results in a decrease in the performance in one of the others. This is equally undesirable and most of the time it becomes impossible to optimize all the properties.
A number of solutions have been used by tire manufacturers, with the objective of combining and improving the different properties of their products. This has essentially consisted in the combined use of different elastomers in the utilization of different reinforcement loads, which interact physically and chemically with the elastomers, and in the use of compatible additives in the preparation of the vulcanized rubber compounds.
For example, tires manufactured with elastomers of the type SBR (copolymers 1,3-butadiene-styrene), including those produced in a cold emulsion (E-SBR) and those produced in a solution (S-SBR), with a chemical content of combined styrene of approximately 23%, present a high wet skid resistance, and also a high rolling resistance. The tires that are manufactured with conventional elastomers such as the 1,4-Cis BR (polybutadiene High Cis), NR (Natural Rubber) and IR (Polyisoprene), present low rolling resistance and low wet skid resistance (P. L. A. Coutinho, C. H. Lira, L. F. Nicolini, A Ferreira; Elastomers for the "Green Tire", 1st Chemical and Petrochemical Industry Congress of Mercosur, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1998). The appropriate combination of these different elastomers, in vulcanized compounds, allows the production of tires with an improved balance of properties.
Moreover, the use of compatible additives, utilized in the preparation of vulcanized compounds, or even the employment of modified elastomers in the polymeric structure, including the incorporation of specific functional groups, increases the miscibility between the different elastomers, as well as their interaction with the reinforcement loads, which markedly improves the resulting properties of the tire.
As has been described in other researches, an increase in the chemical content of the 1,2-vinylic units, in the polydienic sections of the elastomers of type S-SBR, results in an increase of its glass transition temperature Tg), which provides an improvement in the skid resistance properties of the vulcanized compounds for tires. (C. H. Lira, L. F. Nicolini, G. Weinberg, N. M. T. Pires, Coutinho—Elastomers For High Performance Tires—Presented at a Meeting of the Rubber Division, American Chemical Society, Cleveland, Paper No 112, 2001).
Moreover, it was demonstrated that a higher chemical content of these units assists the solubility of the elastomers of type S-SBR in other elastomers, such as 1,4 Cis-BR and NR (R. H. Schuster, H. M. Issel and V. Peterseim—Selective Interactions in Elastomers; A Base for Compatibility and Polymer-Filler Interactions; Rubber Chem. Technol., 69, 5, 1996).
Therefore, any structural modification that can be incorporated into the different elastomers that assists the miscibility between them, besides providing an improved compatibility with the different reinforcement fillers employed in the vulcanized elastomeric compounds, also improves the resulting properties of the tires.
There is a special interest in the tread, the part of the tire where the main mechanical forces are concentrated and where the properties with respect to safety, such as wet/icy skid resistance, are demanded.
The elastomeric compounds used in the production of tires, especially in the tread, are normally composed of copolymers, formed by a conjugated diene and a monomer with an aromatic vinyl structure.
Elastomers of type S-SBR are mainly used. These copolymers present a predominantly random distribution of their constituent mers along their polymeric chains and can also present sections with blocked distribution, or a mixture of random and blocked distribution. They are decisive in the obtainment of the final properties of the tire. The following material deals with the current state of the art and is incorporated in its entirety as a reference.
As has been previously stated, the state of the art with respect to tires, especially the tread, requires a level of development that allows the employment of new materials, or rather polymers, which provide tires (and the tread) with a high performance, in view of given vehicle and tire performance conditions.
In the documentation of patent EP 0929582 (U.S. Pat. No. 6,013,718) and EP 1110998 (U.S. Pat. No. 6,667,362 B2), there is a description of the preparation and use of polydienes and copolymers resulting in the copolymerization between the conjugated dienes and a monomer with an aromatic vinyl structure (e.g.: S-SBR), which contains functional groups of siloxane and silanol in the end section of the polymeric chains. These groups interact with the silica used in the vulcanized compounds, improving its properties. The patents display the comparative results obtained from the employment of these elastomers in several vulcanized elastomeric compounds.
The patent GB 2368069 describes the process of the preparation of the functionalized polymers in both the extremities of the polymeric chains. Its structure is essentially that of a triblock, where the intermediary section can be a polydiene or a copolymer, resulting from the copolymerization between the conjugated diene and a monomer with an aromatic vinyl structure (e.g.: S-SBR), where the end sections are preferentially polydialkylsiloxanes.
The patent EP 0849 333 B2 describes the use of siloxanes substituted in the preparation of the polydienes or copolymers, resulting from the copolymerization between the conjugated dienes and a monomer with an aromatic vinyl structure. The use of these functionalized polymers in vulcanized elastomeric compounds and their observed properties are also presented.
In view of the abovementioned state of the art developments, this invention provides a product and a process of preparation of a new family of elastomers of type S-SBR, designed principally for the production of high performance tires. The production of these elastomers uses advanced processes of polymerization, allowing larger control over the macrostructure and microstructure of the polymer.
The elastomeric product thus produced allows for the production of tires with highly desirable performance specifications, particularly with respect to the tread.

Process for the preparation of a 1,3-butadiene and styrene copolymer containing a random section in its main chain followed by a block with a structure differentiated from the main chain, homopolymeric or copolymeric, functionalized and the product obtained from this


An apparatus for cleaning paint guns and related accessories includes a housing defining a washing chamber, a fluid manifold located within the washing chamber having fluid jets attached thereto, a solvent storage tank, an air-flow system and a fluid distribution system for driving the solvent from the storage tank to the manifold for washing the parts mounted on the fluid jets. A timer is provided for control of the washing cycle time and a preset time may be used which is greater than the time required to empty the storage tank thereby providing a drying cycle. In one aspect, the solvent storage tank is provided with a movable barrier dividing the tank into an air chamber and a solvent chamber with the air-flow system coupled to the air chamber so that when pressurized the movable barrier drives the solvent through the fluid distribution system to the manifold. A removable solvent tank is included which is coupled to the solvent chamber by the fluid distribution system. The air-flow system is provided with an air control system which is responsive to the level of the solvent in the solvent storage container and provides for pressurization of the storage container for discharging the solvent, and for sucking solvent from the removable solvent tank to fill the storage container to a predetermined level.

Paint shops in general and particularly those doing high volume work require rapid and efficient cleaning procedures for cleaning paint equipment. Devices such as spray guns must be cleaned immediately after use in order to avoid drying of paint in the inner mechanism of the guns, as this leads to clogging of narrow channels and orifices therein. The chemicals generally employed in paint cleaning are highly volatile and flammable organic solvents which may present a health hazard upon direct exposure to either the liquid itself or the vapours thereof.
Presently available parts washers for cleaning paint spray guns and associated accessories are of several general types. One type utilizes a solvent pump for circulating paint removing solvent between a collection chamber and a washing chamber with the former situated substantially below the latter. There are two drawbacks to this type of arrangement. Firstly, the rate of solvent circulation is fixed by certain inherent properties of the pump including the internal dimensions of the fluid flow path through the pump and the speed of the solvent circulation means, usually a reciprocating piston. Secondly, since the solvent recirculation process involves drawing the solvent from the collection chamber through the pump and discharging it into the washing chamber, the pump intake in communication with the collection chamber is usually provided with a filter. This is necessary in order to prevent the intake of paint chips and other debris into the pump which would lead to clogging and loss of pumping efficiency over time. While the pump intake is usually positioned above the bottom of the collection chamber where the bulk of the paint debris collects, the pumping action of the pump will draw material into the filter thereby clogging the filter and hence slowing down the pumping rate over time. Accordingly there is a need to provide a parts washer with a solvent circulation system with greater pumping speeds and requiring minimal maintenance.
A second type of parts washer uses pressurized air to pressurize a solvent storage tank or holding tank, flowing the solvent under pressure to the washing chamber and using gravity to flow the paint saturated solvent back to the holding tank. Filters are arranged in the solvent return path for filtering out paint chips and other debris. Over time these filters must be removed and cleaned which can be a time consuming procedure. A difficulty with this type of parts washer is that it must be manually operated, and as such may, due to operator miscalculation, be run for too short a period of time resulting in the articles being improperly cleaned.
The build-up of solvent vapours within the washer during the cleaning procedure is circumvented in some cases by flowing compressed air through the working chamber following the solvent washing cycle. This serves to dry the cleaned parts in addition to reducing the build-up of vapours but is accomplished by manually opening an air valve after the washing cycle thereby necessitating the presence of an operator during the cleaning procedure.


An electric tool includes: a motor configured to be driven by PWM controlling a semiconductor switching element; a trigger configured to adjust startup and rotation of the motor; a changeover switch configured to switch a rotation direction of the motor between a forward rotation and a reverse rotation; a power transmission mechanism configured to rotate a tip tool by the motor, and a controller configured to control rotation of the motor. When the reverse rotation is set by the changeover switch, the controller PWM controls the semiconductor switching element at a high duty ratio after the trigger is pulled to drive the motor, and thereafter drives the motor at a state where the high duty ratio is changed to a low duty ratio.

Regarding a hand-held electric tool, a cordless impact tool that is driven by the electric energy accumulated in a battery is widely used. In the impact tool where a tip tool such as a drill or a driver is rotationally driven by a motor to thus perform a required operation, the battery is used to drive a brushless DC motor, as disclosed in JP-A-2008-278633, for example. The brushless DC motor refers to a DC (direct current) motor that has no brush (brush for rectification). The brushless DC motor employs a coil (winding) at a rotor-side and a permanent magnet at a stator-side and has a configuration where power driven by an inverter is sequentially energized to a predetermined coil to thus rotate the rotor. The brushless DC motor has higher efficiency than a motor having a brush and can obtain a high output while using a rechargeable secondary battery. Since the brushless DC motor includes a circuit on which a switching element for rotationally driving the motor is mounted, it is easy to achieve an advanced rotation control of the motor by an electronic control.
The brushless DC motor includes a rotor having a permanent magnet and a stator having multiple-phase armature windings (stator windings) such as three-phase windings. The brushless DC motor is mounted with a position detecting element configured by a plurality of Hall ICs that detects a position of the rotor by detecting a magnetic force of the permanent magnet of the rotor and an inverter circuit that drives the rotor by switching a direct current voltage supplied from a battery pack and the like with semiconductor switching elements such as FET (Field Effect Transistor) or IGBT (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor) and changing energization to the stator winding of each phase. The inverter circuit is controlled by a microcomputer and sets energization timing of the armature winding of each phase on the basis of position detection results of the rotor by the position detecting elements such as Hall ICs.


This drip-irrigation device has plate-shaped inflow parts, an emission-rate control part, and a first groove section. The long direction of each inflow part is parallel to the lengthwise direction of a circulation tube that has a bottom surface joined to the inside surface thereof and a top surface opposite said bottom surface. The inflow parts are laid out on said top surface and cause an irrigation liquid inside the circulation tube to flow into channels. The emission-rate control part controls the rate with which said irrigation liquid is emitted, via the channels, from emission holes. The first groove section is formed as a recess in the aforementioned top surface, from one lengthwise end thereof towards the other lengthwise end, and is shaped such that the width and depth thereof gradually decrease with decreasing distance from said other lengthwise end.

Drip irrigation systems have been used to supply water and/or irrigation liquids such as liquid fertilizer to the plants grown on the soil in the agricultural land, plantation and the like.
Such a drip irrigation system includes a pump for pumping up water from the water source, a filter, a fertigation device (chemigation device if necessary), a back flow prevention device, a main pipe, an elongated drip watering tube connected to the terminal of the main pipe, and the like. The drip watering tube is laid on the soil on which plants are grown.
The drip watering tube is configured to eject a predetermined amount of irrigation liquid in the tube main body per unit time (i.e., at a predetermined ejection rate) from a plurality of ejection ports bored in the elongated tube main body at predetermined intervals along the length of the tube main body, to slowly supply the irrigation liquid (i.e., to perform drip irrigation) to the soil outside the drip watering tube.
The use of the drip watering tube enables one not only to save water and fertilizer but also to supply water at a moderate supply rate. In addition, the oxygen required for plant roots can be ensured in the soil. Thus, growing of plants can be favorably managed.
In such a drip watering tube, a plurality of drip irrigation drippers for controlling the ejection amount of the irrigation liquid from each of ejection ports per unit time are provided at the respective ejection ports.
In this drip irrigation dripper, water flowing in the tube main body flows into the drip irrigation dripper through the inflow port and flows through a pressure reduction channel (labyrinth) inside the drip irrigation dripper in such a manner that the pressure of the irrigation liquid is reduced, and then, the irrigation liquid is ejected from the ejection port communicated with the downstream side of the pressure reduction channel.
Some drip irrigation drippers are provided with a so-called differential pressure control mechanism (pressure correction function). Such drip irrigation drippers of this type have for example a three-component structure in which an elastic film (for example, silicone rubber) such as a diaphragm is sandwiched by an inflow side member and an ejection side member, as with the drip irrigation dripper (emitter unit) disclosed in PTL 1.
As disclosed also in paragraph [0004] of PTL 1, the drip irrigation dripper of this type is designed such that the ejection amount of the irrigation liquid from the drip irrigation dripper (emitter) has substantially no relation with the variation in pressure of the irrigation flow supplied to the drip irrigation dripper.
Therefore, the drip irrigation dripper of this type has been expected to suppress non-uniformity in the ejection amount of the irrigation liquid between the drip irrigation drippers disposed on the upstream side (high pressure side) and those disposed on the downstream side (low pressure side) in the tube main body, to thereby equalize the grow rate of plant on the entire soil. cl CITATION LIST

Drip-irrigation emitter and drip-irrigation device provided therewith


A method and a device for setting a flight route are provided. The method comprises acquiring route data of an aerial vehicle, determining waypoint coordinates in the route data, configuring a route display interface according to maximum distances between the determined waypoint coordinates, displaying a route of the aerial vehicle in the configured route display interface according to waypoint coordinates in the route data, and resetting the route displayed in the route display interface according to edit information corresponding to a received edit operation to obtain updated route data of the aerial vehicle.

An aerial vehicle, such as an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) capable of flying by remote controlling, can be controlled to reach many locations where human beings could not reach, to perform tasks such as filming or detecting a special region or from a particular angle or the like.
Currently, a flight of an aerial vehicle may be controlled manually or automatically. With the manual control, a user may control the aerial vehicle to fly in a certain region using an apparatus such as a remote controller. With the automatic control, the user may input one or more GPS coordinates using an apparatus such as a remote controller, to control the aerial vehicle to automatically pass by locations of these GPS coordinate values one after another in the course of flight.
For the manual control, the user needs to pay attention to a status of the aerial vehicle at any moment, otherwise it is possible that a flight accident occurs or a specified flight task cannot be completed. This is time and effort consuming. For the automatic control, inputted data could not be fed back to the user intuitively. As a result, the user may not know whether a fight task controlled based on the inputted data is accurate or reasonable, and thus the user's time may be wasted.

Method and device for setting a flight route


The flowmeter includes a planar wire grid immersed in the fluid flow perpendicular to the direction of fluid flow. Capacitors discharge an electrical current through the wire grid to heat the wire grid and thereby produce, by heat conduction, a thermopulse in the fluid. Temperature detectors are provided on both sides of the wire grid to detect the thermopulse. A timing device is provided for measuring the time interval between production of the thermopulse and detection thereof by the detectors. The time interval is representative of the flow rate of the fluid flow.

Various flow meters have been developed for the purposes of detecting and measuring water flow through and between boreholes to thereby determine the hydrology in surrounding geologic formations. However, such devices have been found to be generally unsatisfactory for measuring slow to medium fluid flow rates in low to medium viscosity fluids.
An example of a flowmeter in common use is the "spinner" flowmeter (reported by Keys, W. S., and MacCary, L. M., in 1971 in "Application of borehole geophysics to water resources investigations," U.S. Investigations, Book 2, Chapter E1, p. 109). However, the spinner flowmeter has a minimum flow velocity sensitivity of about 2 to 4 feet/minute (1 to 2 mm/sec) in wells of 4-inch or larger diameter and as high as 10 feet/minute in 2-inch diameter wells and, thus, the spinner flowmeter is not capable of measuring slow fluid flows.
Other examples of flowmeters include gas anemometers and other continuous heat-transfer devices. See, for example, Chapman, H. T., and Robinson, A. E., 1962, "A thermal flowmeter for measuring velocity of flow in a swell": U.S. Geological Survey Water-Supply Papter 1544-E, 12 p.; and Morrow, T. B., and Kline, S. J., 1971, "The evaluation and use of hot-wire and hot-film aneomometers in liquids": Standord, Calif., Stanford University, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Thermosciences Division, Report MD-25, 187 p. Although some such devices are sensitive to slow fluid flow, none can be relied upon as an accurate quantitative flowmeter under normal borehole conditions. In particular, such devices must be recalibrated frequently if the sensing surface of the device becomes coated by a substance such as mud, lint, or a mineral deposit.
Further examples of flow measuring techniques include fluid-temperature and fluid-resistivity or fluid-conductivity logs Sorey, M. L., 1971, "Measurement of vertical ground-water velocity from temperature profiles in wells": Water Resources Research, v. 7, no. 4, p. 963-970. Such techniques are useful in locating the entrance and exit of contrasting fluids in a borehole but provide little quantitative information relating to the velocity or volume of flow.
Another class flowmeters are the "tag-trace" flowmeters wherein a detectable "tagging" solution or gas is deposited in the fluid flow to be measured. The fluid flow rate is then determined by monitoring the movement of the solution or gas carried by the fluid. Tracer sensing is accomplished by means, dependent upon the nature of the "tagging" solution, such as fluid resistivity detectors, radio-active radiation detectors, florescence detectors, etc.
Of "tag-trace" flowmeters, the most commonly used are radioactive-tracer/gamma-ray detector techniques described by Bird, J. R. and Dempsey, J. C., 1955, "The use of radioactive tracer surveys in water-injection wells": Lexington, Ky. Geological Survey Special Publication 8, 10 p.; and Edwards, J. M., and Holter, E. L., 1962, "Applications of a subsurface solid-state isotope injector to nuclear-tracer survey methods": Journal of Petroleum Technology, v. 14, no. 2, p. 121-124; and brine-tracer/fluid-resistivity detector techniques described by Patten, E. R., and Bennett, G. D., 1962, "Methods of flow measuement in well bores": U.S. Geological Survey Water-Supply Paper 1544-C, 28 p. 1971; and the Keys and MacCary reference mentioned above. See, as examples, U.S. Pat. No. 4,507,552 (Roesner et al) which describes a system employing a radioactive tracer element and U.S. Pat. No. 4,805,450 (Bennett et al) which describes a system employing a tracer gas. However, such techniques are slow and are therefore expensive to perform. Also, a difference in density between the "tagging" fluid and the borehole fluid causes an uncertainty in the measurement of slow velocity flows. This uncertainty frequently exceeds the actual fluid velocity thus rendering the results completely unreliable.
A thermal-pulse borehole flowmeter was developed by "Dudgeon, C. R., Green, J. J., and Smedmore, W. J., 1975, "Heat-pulse flowmeter for boreholes": Medmenham, Marlow, Bucks, England, Water Research Centre Technical Report TR-4, 69 p; (1975) which used a tag-trace technique with a heated "tagging" solution better adapted to measuring a slow flow velocity. However, it was found that this device is not capable of withstanding the high pressure associated with deep boreholes. Further, resistance variations, occurring in a connecting cable used to connect the probe of the flowmeter to a surface station, adversely effects the measurements received by the ground station. Stray electrical currents, commonly occurring in the geologic strata surrounding a borehole, also adversely effect the measurements received by the surface station. Other disadvantages include the necessity of using a 6-conductor cable to connect the flowmeter probe to the surface station and the necessity of using a hydraulically powered centering device including a hydraulic line connecting the probe to the surface.

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Interior


The semiconductor device comprises a capacitor electrode defining openings which are made in each insulating layer, are communicated with one another and have different diameters at least at their coupling portions, the capacitor electrode is formed to extend along the surfaces of the openings.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and a method of manufacturing it, and more particularly to a semiconductor device provided with a capacitor having a large capacitance in a form that the surface area of an opening where a capacitor electrode is formed is increased, and a method of manufacturing such a semiconductor device.
2. Description of the Related Art
The semiconductor device having a capacitor such as DRAM has a problem that a capacity of the capacitor decreases with development of downsizing of an element. In recent years, in order to solve this problem, various capacitors have been proposed. One of them is a cylindrical capacitor. FIGS. 29A and 29B are a sectional view and a plan view each showing a part of a conventional semiconductor device having the cylindrical capacitor.
Referring to FIG. 29, a gate wiring(s) 103 is formed on a semiconductor substrate 101 through a gate insulating film not shown. On the upper surface and side surface of the gate wiring 103, a silicon oxide film 105 and a nitride film side wall 107 are formed, respectively. Further, on the oxide film 105, a nitride film 109 is formed as an etching stopper film. On the gate wiring 103, an insulating film 111 having an opening(s) 113 which reaches the semiconductor substrate 101 is formed through these insulating film. The openings 113 are filled with conductive layers 115 and 116 which are electrically connected to the semiconductor substrate 101.
On the insulating film 111, an interlayer insulating film 121 including a bit wiring 125 is formed. In the interlayer insulating film 121, an opening(s) 123 communicating with the openings 113 is formed. The opening 123 is filled with a bit wiring 125 which is connected to the semiconductor substrate 101 through the conductive layer 115. An opening 135 is formed to passe through between the bit wirings 125 and to communicate with the opening 113. The opening 135 is filled with a conductive layer 137 which is connected with the semiconductor substrate 101 through the conductive layer 116.
On the interlayer insulating film 121, an interlayer insulating film 139 having a cylindrical opening 143 communicating with the opening 135 is formed. Within the opening 143, a cylindrical capacitor 159 is formed along inner wall of the cylindrical opening 143. The cylindrical capacitor 159 includes a capacitor lower electrode 152, a capacitor dielectric film 154 and a capacitor upper electrode 156. The capacitor 159 is electrically connected to the semiconductor substrate 101 through the conductive layer 137 and the conductive layer 116.
Referring to sectional views showing a manufacturing process in FIGS. 30 to 38, an explanation will be given of a method of manufacturing the semiconductor device described above.
First, referring to FIG. 30, on a semiconductor substrate 101, gate wirings 103 each covered with an oxide film 105 as a hard mask is formed. A side wall film 107 made of a nitride film is formed on a side surfaces of the gate wirings 103. On the gate wirings 103, an etching stopper 109 made of a nitride film and an insulating film 111 made of an oxide film are formed successively.
Referring to FIG. 31, using a resist film 113 as a mask, the insulating film 111 and etching stopper 109 are etched to expose the semiconductor substrate 101 so that openings 113 are formed.
In this case, owing to this etching, a modified layer is formed on the surface of the semiconductor substrate 101. This modified layer is removed by dry etching.
Referring to FIG. 32, a conductive layer 115 is formed within each of the openings 113 by etch-back technique or CMP (Chemical Mechanical Polishing) technique.
Referring to FIG. 33, an insulating film 118 made of an oxide film is formed on the insulating film 111. On the insulating film 118, a resist film 173 having a desired pattern is formed. Thereafter, using the resist film 173 as a mask, the insulating film 118 is etched to make an opening 123 which reaches the conductive layer 115.
In this case, since a modified layer due to the dry etching is formed on a surface of the conductive layer 115 within the opening 123, this modified layer is removed by dry etching.
Referring to FIG. 34, a bit wiring 125 is formed on the insulating film 118 so as to be embedded in the opening 123.
Referring to FIG. 35, an insulating film 120 made of an oxide film is formed on the bit wiring 125. A resist film 183 having a desired pattern is formed on the insulating film 120. Thereafter, using the resist film 183 as a mask, an interlayer insulating film 121 including the insulating films 120 and 118 is etched to form an opening 135 which reaches the conductive layer 116. In this case, since the modified layer due to the etching is formed on a surface of the conductive layer 116, the modified layer is removed by the dry etching.
Referring to FIG. 36, a conductive layer 137 is formed within the opening 135 by the etch-back technique or CMP technique.
Referring to FIG. 37, an interlayer insulating film 139 is formed on the interlayer insulating film 121. Further, a resist film 177 having a desired pattern is formed on the interlayer insulating film 139. Thereafter, using the resist film 177 as a mask, the interlayer insulating film 139 is etched to form a cylindrical opening 143 which reaches the conductive layer 137. In this case, since the modified layer due to the etching is formed on a surface of the conductive layer 137, the modified layer is removed by the dry etching.
Referring to FIG. 38, a polysilicon film 151, oxide/nitride film 153 and polysilicon film 155 are formed on the interlayer insulating film 139 and along the inner wall of the cylindrical opening 143.
Finally, referring to FIG. 29 again, the polysilicon film 151, oxide/nitride film 153 and polysilicon film 155 which are located on the insulating film 139 are removed by the etch-back technique or CMP technique. Thus, a capacitor 159 which comprises the capacitor lower electrode 152, capacitor dielectric film 154 and a capacitor upper electrode 156 is formed to complete a semiconductor device.
However, in the above described conventional technique, when downsizing further proceeds, the cylindrical opening may be deepened in order to assure a necessary capacitance. This makes it very difficult to form the cylindrical opening. In addition, it is difficult to remove completely the modified layer produced due to etching to form the opening. The residue provides an increased contact resistance which leads to reduction of a response speed of the device.
The present invention has been accomplished to solve the problems described above.
A first object of the invention is to provide a semiconductor device which can increase the area of a capacitor electrode without greatly changing a conventional structure, thereby assuring sufficient capacitance of a capacitor.
A second object of the invention is to provide a semiconductor device which reduces the resistance between a capacitor electrode and a semiconductor substrate and have great reliability in electricity.
A third object of the invention is to provide a method of manufacturing the above described semiconductor device.
The semiconductor device having a capacitor, comprises:
a semiconductor substrate;
a plurality of insulating layers formed on the semiconductor substrate;
a plurality of openings formed in each of the insulating layer so as to communicate with one another, the openings having different diameters at least at each of coupling portions;
a conductive layer formed partially or substantially entirely in the opening in a lowermost layer of the multi-layer insulating layers in contact with the semiconductor substrate, and the conductive layer electrically connected to the semiconductor substrate;
a capacitor lower electrode formed to extend on the conductive layer and along the surfaces of the openings formed in each of the insulating layer; and
a capacitor upper electrode formed on the capacitor lower electrode through a capacitor insulating film.
The semiconductor device having a capacitor, comprises:
a semiconductor substrate;
a first insulating layer formed on the semiconductor substrate, including a first wiring and having a first opening which reaches the semiconductor substrate;
a second insulating layer formed on the first insulating layer, including a second wiring and having a second opening which communicates with the first opening;
a third insulating layer formed on the second insulating layer, and having a third opening which communicates with the second opening;
a capacitor lower electrode formed on a surface of the first, second, and third openings; and
a capacitor upper electrode formed on the capacitor lower electrode through a capacitor dielectric film,
wherein the openings have different diameters from each other at least at each of their coupling portions, respectively.
The capacitor lower electrode is electrically connected to the semiconductor substrate through a conductive layer formed partially or substantially entirely in the first opening.
The first opening comprises the first insulating film and an etching stopper film formed on a surface of the first wiring.
The second opening comprises the second insulating film and an etching stopper film formed on a surface of the second wiring.
The method of manufacturing a semiconductor device having a capacitor, comprises the steps of:
forming, on a semiconductor substrate, a first insulating layer including a first wiring and having a first opening which reaches the semiconductor substrate;
forming, in the first opening, a first conductive layer electrically connected to the semiconductor substrate;
forming, on the first insulating layer, a second insulating layer including a second wiring;
forming, in the second insulating layer, a second opening communicating with the first opening and having a diameter different from that of the first opening at their coupling portion;
forming, in the second opening, a second conductive layer electrically connected to the first conductive layer;
forming a third insulating layer formed on the second insulating layer;
forming, in the third insulating layer, a third opening communicating with the second opening and having a diameter different from that of the second opening at their coupling portion;
removing at least the second conductive layer through the third opening;
forming, on a surface of the first, second, and third openings, a capacitor lower electrode electrically connected to the semiconductor substrate; and
forming, on the capacitor lower electrode, a capacitor upper electrode through a capacitor dielectric film.
In the step of forming the second conductive layer, the second conductive layer is formed to extend onto the second insulating layer.
In the step of removing the second conductive layer, a part of the first conductive layer is removed, and the capacitor lower electrode is electrically connected to the semiconductor substrate through the first conductive layer.
The method of the manufacturing the semiconductor device having a capacitor, further comprises the steps of forming the first opening in a self-aligned manner using an etching stopper film formed on the first wiring.
The method of the manufacturing the semiconductor device having a capacitor, further comprises the steps of the second opening in a self-aligned manner using an etching stopper film formed on the second wiring.

Semiconductor device and method of manufacturing the same


A management system includes: a setting unit that performs administrator setting; a storage unit that stores therein administrator setting information, program information specifying a program corresponding to an image processing device, and customization information indicating how to change a setting of the program in accordance with an administrator setting; a generation unit that generates a program file based on the administrator setting information and the program information, and generates a customization file based on the administrator setting information and the customization information; and an installation control unit that installs the program in an information processing device based on the program file, and changes the setting of the program to adapt to the administrator setting based on the customization file.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a management system, an information processing device, a server, a management method, and a management program.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a system including an image processing device such as a printer, a copying machine, or a multifunction peripheral, and an information processing device such as a personal computer (PC), typically, a driver for controlling the image processing device and a program such as accessory software for supporting image processing are installed in the information processing device. In this case, a setting of the program to be installed is required to be adjusted in accordance with use environment.
For example, to enable a large number of users to extract content set by one user, known is a driver including, among a group of driver configuration files before installation, a driver initialization file, the text of which can be edited, for controlling a setting of the driver after installation, (Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2002-334047).
In the system as described above, an administrator setting (for example, prohibition of color printing) may be performed in the image processing device for limiting an executable function of the image processing device. When such an administrator setting is performed, a setting of a program to be installed in each information processing device is required to be changed to adapt to the administrator setting. Such a change in the setting of the program depends on an operation performed by a user of the information processing device in many cases.
There is a need to adapt the setting of the program to be installed in the information processing device to the administrator setting performed in the image processing device without putting an operational burden on the user.

Management system, information processing device, and management method


A vibration element includes a detection signal electrode provided in a detection vibrating arm, a detection signal terminal which is provided in a support portion and electrically connected to the detection signal electrode, and a detection ground terminal provided in the support portion, and the detection ground terminal is disposed between a first connection portion which is a connection portion with a beam portion of the support portion and a second connection portion which is a connection portion with a beam portion, and is provided to extend to the outside of the first connection portion, and the detection signal terminal is provided between the detection ground terminal and an end portion of the support portion.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a physical quantity detecting vibration element, a physical quantity sensor, an electronic apparatus, and a moving object.
2. Related Art
As a vibration device for detecting, for example, angular velocity, a vibration element having a base portion which is positioned at a central portion, a pair of detection arms extending from the base portion to both sides in a y-axis direction, a pair of connection arms extending from the base portion to both sides in an x-axis direction, a pair of drive arms extending from a tip portion of the connection arm on one side to both sides in the y-axis direction, a pair of drive arms extending from a tip portion of the connection arm on the other side to both sides in the y-axis direction, a pair of support portions disposed to face each other in the y-axis direction with the base portion interposed therebetween, a pair of beam portions connecting the support portion on one side and the base portion, and a pair of beam portions connecting the support portion on the other side and the base portion is known (refer to, for example, JP-A-2010-256332).
In such a vibration element, a detection signal terminal, a detection ground terminal, and a drive signal terminal are disposed at the support portion on one side, and a detection signal terminal, a detection ground terminal, and a drive ground terminal are disposed at the support portion on the other side. Further, the respective terminals provided in the support portions are aligned with each other to have substantially the same size. Further, a detection ground electrode capable of functioning as a shield layer which can reduce the incorporation of noise to the detection signal terminal or the drive signal terminal is positioned between connection portions with the pair of beam portions of the support portion. For this reason, it is not possible to sufficiently widely form the detection ground terminal, and therefore, it is not possible to sufficiently exhibit a function even as a shield layer.
Further, in such a vibration element, the detection signal terminal and the drive signal terminal are disposed to extend over the lower surface and the upper surface of the support portion. In this manner, the detection signal terminal and the drive signal terminal are disposed to extend over the lower surface and the upper surface of the support portion, whereby the areas of these terminals are increased. Therefore, noise is easily incorporated from the detection signal terminal and the drive signal terminal, and thus there is a problem in that detection accuracy decreases.

Physical quantity detecting vibration element, physical quantity sensor, electronic apparatus, and moving object


An interrupting layer of inorganic powder other than diamond is formed on the surface of a substrate and a surface of the interrupting layer is contacted with excited raw material gases containing a carbon source, under conditions suited to depositing of diamond on the interrupting layer. The diamond which is synthesized is separated from the substrate. The use of the interrupting layer, composed of the inorganic fine powders, allows ready separation of the diamond from the substrate and the diamond separated is suitable for diaphragms for speakers, heat conductive plates, cutting tools, semiconductors, etc. by appropriately choosing shapes of the substrate. Further, the resulting diamond film can be pulverized, thereby yielding diamond powders which are useful for abrasive tools, cutting tools, etc.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for the preparation of diamond. More particularly, the present invention relates to a process for the preparation of diamond capable of preparing diamond in a film form applicable to film bodies for diaphragms for speakers, heat conductive plates, cutting tools, semiconductors and so on and capable of applying pulverized film bodies to abrasive, cutting tools and so on.
2. Description of Related Art
Diamond film can be utilized for various uses due to its superior characteristics such as hardness, heat resistance, rigidity, etc. Hence, research and development have been made for commercializing the diamond film in various fields.
Generally, the diamond film may be employed in a state in which it is formed on a substrate or it may be employed as a free-standing diamond film without the substrate. For example, a proposal has been put forward for using the diamond film as diaphragms for speakers and so on by taking advantage of its high rigidity. In this case, removal of the substrate is required from the diamond film formed on the substrate. However, there are many instances in which the diamond film is employed in such a state that it is formed on the substrate, so that demands have heretofore been made to improve adhesion of the diamond film to the substrate. Little research has been made so far on technology of readily separating the diamond film from the substrate on which the diamond film is formed or technology of readily removing the substrate from the diamond film formed thereon, and only some proposals have been put forward so far as will be described hereinafter.
For instance, Japanese Patent Publication (kokoku) No. 57,399/1988 discloses technology of separating a diamond film from a substrate with a small thermal conductivity, on whose surface the diamond film is directly formed, by heating the diamond film with heating light and taking advantage of difference in thermal expansion between the diamond film and the substrate.
Further, Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication (kokai) No. 143,498/1984 discloses technology which involves forming a diamond film directly on the surface of metallic substrate and treating the metallic substrate with NaOH or mixed acids consisting of hydrochloric acid, hydrofluoric acid and nitric acid, thereby dissolving the metallic substrate and removing it.
However, the technology as disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication (kokoku) No. 57,399/1988 cannot always achieve ready and uniform separation of the diamond film from the substrate because it takes advantage of the difference in thermal expansion between the diamond film and the substrate. Further, it may present the problem that the separation of the diamond film from the substrate causes distortion. In other words, as the diamond film is formed at temperatures as high as approximately 1,000.degree. C. and then cooled to approximately room temperature, the diamond film may be delaminated partially during the course of cooling the diamond film to approximately room temperature. Another problem is that selection of the substrate is restricted to certain materials because a large difference in thermal expansion is required between the diamond film and the substrate.
Further, the technology as disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication (kokoku) No. 143,498/1984 requires special chemicals for dissolving the metallic substrate, so that it suffers from the disadvantage that it is not efficient due to requirements for after-treatment such as washing, etc. Further, this technology presents the same problem that separation of the diamond film may cause distortion prior to treatment with the chemicals, as the aforesaid technology does.
On the other hand, Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication (kokai) Nos. 161,897/1986 and 161,898/1986 propose technology of using the diamond film in a multi-layer state in which it is integrally formed on a substrate such as alumina, Si.sub.3 N.sub.4, etc., without separation or removal of the diamond film from the substrate.
However, this technology cannot take advantage of or demonstrate the excellent characteristics inherent in the diamond film, so that it suffers from the disadvantage that such diaphragms for speakers as employ the diamond film in the multi-layer state are poorer in performance than those employing a free-standing diamond film.
In addition to the diamond film, diamond powders are suitable for use is abrasives and sintered bodies of the diamond powders are employed for cutting tools and so on.
Heretofore, the diamond powders have been prepared by synthesizing diamond under high pressure, pulverizing it into the particle sizes required, and then classifying it.
This process, however, has the drawbacks that an apparatus for synthesizing the diamond is too complicated and the resulting diamond powder contains impurities.
Recently, the synthesis of diamond by means of low-pressure vapor phase method using plasma has been established, thereby making it possible to prepare the diamond films of high quality.
Further, many attempts have been made to prepare diamond powders of high quality by taking advantage of the low-pressure vapor phase method.
For instance, Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication (kokai) No. 36,112/1986 proposes a process which involves scratching a surface of the substrate on which diamond is formed upon synthesis from vapor phase, arranging for the surface of the substrate to have a given degree of surface irregularity so as to form plural sites from which the diamond starts depositing, forming diamond particles on the substrate, and then separating the diamond particles from the substrate.
In this process, however, it is extremely hard to control the sites from which the diamond starts depositing. Further, adhesion of the diamond particles to the substrate is so strong that the substrate is required, for instance, to be dissolved with aqua regia or the like in order to provide the diamond particles only.
Further, Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication (kokai) No. 155,295/1986 proposes a method which involves scattering finely pulverized powders of at least one member of metallic silicon, an alloy thereof or a compound thereof to be employed as the nuclei for depositing the diamond on the surface of the substrate and using them for the CVD diamond synthesis method. This process can produce fine diamond particles on the surface-treated substrate with high productivity and at arbitrary density.
This process has the object to provide diamond film with good adhesion to the substrate, so that it presents the problem that the difficulty resides in separating the diamond from the substrate because the resulting diamond is in direct contact with the substrate.
On the other hand, a process for preparing fine diamond powders is proposed in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication (kokai) No. 156,009/1988, which involves introducing a nucleus for synthesizing diamond into a plasma without forming the diamond directly on the substrate.
However, this process suffers from the difficulties that, since a large number of nuclei for forming the diamond are formed, only fine particles having particle sizes ranging from 0.3 micron to 0.5 microns can be formed. This use is restricted, and control over the particle size of the resulting diamond is hard.
Furthermore, Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication (kokai) No. 231,494/1985 proposes a process for preparing superfine diamond powders characterized by suspending inorganic fine particles, which are not caused to melt in plasma, in a reactor, and Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication (kokai) No. 137,311/1984 proposes a process for synthesizing diamond particles while vibrating and fluidizing powders of the metallic fine particles functioning as nuclei, such as metal fine particles.
This process, however, requires control over both of the state in which the powders functioning as nuclei flow and the reactive state, for example, in which plasma is generated. It is difficult to control both of the fluidizing conditions and the reactive conditions at the same time. Further, this process cannot produce diamond particles of high purity consisting of diamond alone, because the diamond is formed on the nuclei.
A further process for preparing diamond particles is proposed in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication (kokai) No. 111,707/1989, which involves synthesizing the diamond particles on surfaces of fibrous metal or fibers such as glass fibers, carbon fibers or the like and removing, by dissolving, the fibers.
This process, however, has the drawbacks that it requires a large amount of fibers and the fibers become too bulky, so that the production efficiency of diamond particles is poor from the industrial point of view.
In other words, conventional processes are hard in controlling the synthesis conditions for the preparation of diamond particles or in controlling particle sizes for providing the diamond particles with given particle sizes. Further, they are very difficult to provide the diamond powders of high purity and of high strength.


A parallel plate waveguide structure may be configured to suppress spurious propagating modes by including a lossy frequency selective surface (FSS) formed from a resistive film. The electromagnetic material properties of individual layers disposed between the conductive plates of the waveguide may be engineered to extend the suppression band of the fundamental TE mode up to the cutoff frequency of the second TE mode, and to simultaneously create a multi-octave TM mode suppression band. Applications include, for example, cavity mode suppression in microwave and millimeterwave assemblies at the board, package, and chip level.

FIG. 1(a) illustrates a generic microwave or millimeterwave integrated circuit (MMIC) package fabricated as a shielded package and containing at least two microstriplines 140 and 150. This package also includes a cover 110 and a substrate 120 with conductive sidewalls 165 which, when sealed together with a conductive seal 130, create an enclosed cavity 115 of sufficient volume to accommodate one or more MMICs. The substrate and cover are dielectric materials of relative permittivity ∈r5 and δr1 respectively. The cavity formed therebetween may be an air filled region where the permittivity of the air is denoted as ∈o. Package materials may include semiconductors (Si, SiGe, GaAs), ceramics (Al2O3, AlN, SiC, BeO), metals (Al, Cu, Au, W, Mo), and metal alloys (FeNiCo (Kovar), FeNiAg (SILVAR), CuW, CuMo, Al/SiC) and many others. The substrate and cover need not be made of the same materials.
The package may be shielded with conductive surfaces 160, 170 to prevent radiation from internal sources (transmitters) and to protect internal circuits from undesired coupling with fields external to the package. The conductive surfaces 160, 170 form a parallel-plate waveguide (PPW) that allows a quasi-TEM (transverse electromagnetic) mode to be supported inside the package. The TEM mode has a vertical (z-directed) electric field which propagates in any x or y direction inside the package, and has a phase velocity of (ω/c)√{square root over (∈eff)} where ω is the angular frequency, c is the speed of light in a vacuum; and, the effective dielectric constant of the PPW is given by
      ɛ    eff    =                    t        1            +              t        3            +              t        5                                      t          1                /                  ɛ                      r                                                                          1                              +              t        3            +                        t          5                /                  ɛ                      r                                                                          5                              where t1, t3, and t5 are the thicknesses of the cover, air region, and substrate, respectively. A parasitic or unintentional PPW mode may be excited at discontinuities of the microstriplines such as at ends, gaps, and bends. This results in crosstalk between otherwise isolated microstriplines. The parasitic modes will also reflect at the sides of the package and result in undesired package resonances or parasitic resonances. Package resonances may exist in an empty rectangular package at frequencies near
      f    nm    =            c              2                π                                      ɛ            eff                                                                        (                                          m                                                                                π                            W                        )                    2                +                              (                                          n                                                                                π                            L                        )                    2                    where W and L are the width and length of the rectangular package. The addition, for example, of an integrated circuit die into the package can dramatically lower the frequency of such resonances.
A conventional means of suppressing the parasitic resonances is to add lossy ferrite-loaded materials as thin layers inside the package. This is a relatively expensive method of mode suppression. Also, the ferrite layers need to be adhesively attached to a conductive surface to obtain the expected attenuation, and conducting surfaces may not be readily available inside of every package. Millimeterwave packages tend to be very small which exacerbates the assembly challenges of installing ferrite-loaded materials.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Apparatus and method for broadband electromagnetic mode suppression in microwave and millimeterwave packages


A receptacle for replaceably holding a replaceable fuse in an electrical circuit includes a forwardly inwardly tapered tubular member closed at its front end by a contact-defining metal cap and provided at its rear end with an internally threaded enlarged section, a contact-defining metal collar telescoping the rear of the tapered tube forward of the enlarged section and having a terminal tab projecting outwardly through an opening in the enlarged section. An externally threaded closure plug separably engages the tubular member threaded section and has in its front face a well whose axis is transversely offset from the plug axis and whose peripheral face is rearwardly inwardly tapered. A transversely crescent shaped wedge member projects forwardly from the well border and is integrally formed with the plug and has a tapered inside face coplanar with the well peripheral face.

The present invention relates generally to improvements in electrical devices and it relates particularly to an improved receptacle for replacing housing and holding in an electrical circuit a cylindrical type fuse having metal cap terminals at opposite ends.
Many electrical devices such as electric motors, lamps, generators, transducers, batteries of various types, amplifiers and other electronic networks and the like are often provided as a safety measure with a replaceable fuse which is commonly of the cylindrical type provided with terminal-defining metal end caps. Many structures have been heretofore employed and proposed for replaceably housing such fuses and electrically engaging the end terminals thereof. However, these prior structures possess many drawbacks and disadvantages. They are generally relatively complex and expensive structures, often awkward, inconvenient and difficult to employ, of little versatility and adaptability and otherwise leave much to be desired.


Disclosed herein are systems and methods for detecting a signal to provide a detected data sequence, comprising providing a plurality of candidate data sequences, computing baseline wander estimates associated with respective ones of the candidate data sequences, comparing a signal to each of the respective ones of the candidate data sequences, wherein the comparisons are compensated by corresponding ones of the baseline wander estimates, and choosing, based on the comparisons, one of the plurality of candidate data sequences to be the detected data sequence.

Embodiments of the invention generally pertain to systems and methods for processing signals and/or data sequences that correspond to signals for applications including data recording and data communication.
In particular, embodiments of the invention pertain to systems and methods for estimating the baseline wander of a signal, and for compensating for the baseline wander of the signal during detection of the signal.
Many data recording and data communication systems include processing stages for performing a variety of data processing and/or signal processing functions on a signal. These processing stages are often alternating-current (AC) coupled for reasons that may include practical circuit design or fundamental physics considerations. By way of example, AC coupling is sometimes used in digital circuitry to couple a first digital processing stage having a certain voltage level corresponding to a logical "high" to a second digital processing stage having a different voltage level corresponding to a logical "high" so that the two digital processing stages can be used in sequence to digitally process the signal.
When the signal includes low frequency components, such as direct current (DC) components, the AC-coupling can suppress or eliminate the low frequency components in the signal, which distorts the signal. The distortion of the signal can result in fluctuation of the signal's moving-average amplitude. As used herein, a signal's moving-average amplitude, also known as its DC component, is generally referred to as the signal's "baseline" or "baseline component," and fluctuations of the baseline are generally referred to the signals "baseline wander." Thus, the above-described distortions of the signal result in baseline wandering.
In addition to AC-coupling, there are other sources of baseline wander including other processing stages, communication channels, and/or storage channels that take on high pass filter (HPF) characteristics, which distort the signal by suppressing low frequencies thereby resulting in baseline wander.
To mitigate baseline wander, designers sometimes include specialized encoders. The encoders encode an input sequence of data such that when the encoded sequence of data is modulated into a signal, the signal will have a baseline that is low in magnitude. Thus, baseline wander does not have a significant impact on the overall signal.
However, these encoders and their associated decoders add complexity to transmitter and receiver structures, and even when such encoders are used they typically do not remove all of the signal's baseline component. Thus, it would be desirable to provide improved systems and methods that estimate baseline wanders in signals and compensate for the baseline wanders when detecting the signals. It is preferable that the methods have low latency, so that compensating for the baseline wander in the signal does not add significant delay to the detection of the signal. Furthermore, it is preferable that the signal is compensated for baseline wander as it is being detected, resulting in zero or near-zero latency.

Low-latency baseline-wander compensation systems and methods


This invention relates to an apparatus for maintaining the desired temperature of a fluid, or more specifically, to reducing the temperature of the fluid to a desired level. The apparatus generally relates to one including a heat exchange coil through which the fluid to be cooled passes and over which an air stream is moved to absorb heat from the coil. In such an arrangement, it is common to increase the heat transfer efficiency of the coil by maintaining the same in a wet condition by means of a water spray or cascade, for example. In this manner, evaporation of the water causes an accelerated transfer of heat from the fluid in the coil for a given amount of air flow thereover than would be the case if the coil surface was not drenched. The present invention is directed to the disposition of a propeller air moving means sufficiently downstream of the cooling coil so as to be substantially free of air flow obstructions. In addition, the usefulness and efficiency of the apparatus is improved by the inclusion of a novel air recirculation damper having an air foil configuration which is pivoted about its trailing edge.

This invention relates to apparatus for maintaining the desired temperature of a fluid, and more particularly, is shown as an example of its use, as embodied in a heat exchanger for reducing and maintaining the temperature of a fluid to a desired level. Specifically, the present invention relates to a wet surface, air cooled heat exchanger wherein an air moving means induces an air flow over a heat exchange element such as a tube bundle or coil through which the fluid to be cooled passes.
An air cooled heat exchanger consists generally of a tubular heat transfer surface and a fan. The fluid passing through the tubes surrenders heat to air propelled by the fan over the external tube surface. The heat energy of air passing over the tubes increases in the same amount as the heat energy loss by the fluid, when assuming that no other heat losses occur. As known to those skilled in the art, a reduction of the air mass passing over the heat transfer surface will reduce the amount of absorbed heat by a proportionate amount. Therefore, the cooling capacity can be controlled by varying the air mass passing over the tubular heat transfer surface.
It is known to vary the air mass passing over a heat transfer surface by, for example, reducing the speed of an air moving fan or by decreasing the pitch of the propeller blades of a fan, if propeller fans are utilized. The air mass flow could also be throttled by a damper, for example.
It is also possible to vary the heat transmission rate from the heat transfer surface by returning a portion of the exhausted air which has passed over the heat transfer surface to the heat transfer surface again, while commensurately reducing the air entering from the outdoors, for example, by the amount of air which is returned or recirculated. A reduction in the recirculated air, as well known in the art, will increase the amount of heat surrendered to the air in a proportionate manner. Accordingly, the cooling capacity can be also controlled by varying the amount of recirculated exhaust air, while keeping the air mass passing over the heat transfer surface generally constant. This method is known as capacity control by proportioned air recirculation.
In order to achieve capacity control by proportioned air recirculation, known practices require a system of coordinated dampers to vary the amount of air to be exhausted, the amount of air to be recirculated and the amount of fresh outside air to be combined with the recirculated air for passage over the heat transfer surface. Of course, the use of multiple dampers results in considerable air turbulence and a resulting reduction in efficiency of the entire apparatus.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,296,946; 2,321,933 and 2,445,199 are exemplary of recirculation arrangements including multiple dampers. The dampers at the fresh air inlet and exhaust outlet ports must function in unison and their positions must be inversely proportional to the position of the damper at the recirculation port, the dampers in all three ports to open and close in a coordinated manner. Thus, if the fresh air inlet and exhaust outlet were wide open, the air return or recirculation means would be closed and, of course, if the air inlet and exhaust openings were closed, the recirculation duct would be open. The present invention is concerned with the use of a single damper blade in lieu of multiple damper blades to achieve proportioned air recirculation, with greater simplicity of design and dependability of operation.
The prior art has also considered various means or, more specifically, linkages for operably positioning multiple damper assemblies and single damper assemblies, an example of the latter being disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,379,932. All of the dampers used in the type of apparatus referred to are subjected to various degrees of buffeting by the air impinging thereagainst. The configuration of the damper disclosed by the present invention substantially reduces buffeting and corresponding turbulence. Most importantly, this damper will be entirely out of the air stream whenever all air is exhausted for maximum capacity. In this regard, the present invention is also concerned with a unique, pneumatically actuated linkage system for positioning the damper of the present invention.
Another substantial problem encountered in prior art air cooled heat exchangers involves the fact that the same discharge air upwardly into the atmosphere to dissipate the absorbed heat. This practice has been undertaken with a view towards allowing the heat-laden air stream to follow a natural updraft path. However, in order to recirculate a portion of the exhaust or discharge air, it must then be channelled from a point above the heat transfer surface to a point below it. With the admission of fresh outside air below the heat transfer surface, the same must be proportionately reduced by a damper in the same measure as the amount of recirculation air increases. Necessarily, a failure to do so would cause excess outside air to be admitted below the tubular surface by a natural updraft of air past such surface, possibly aided by wind blowing against the fresh air inlet opening. Such excess outside air would then escape at the air discharge. The updraft of excess outside air past the heat transfer surface is particularly undesirable if no cooling is required, and the air moving means has been stopped. For example, such exposure to a potential updraft of outside air would increase the possibility of damage from freezing. Therefore, known practices placing the heat transfer surfaces in a natural updraft depend on a damper at the fresh air inlet below the heat transfer surface. This measure has only a limited effectiveness since the natural air updraft promotes the entrance of outside air by leakage.
Furthermore, it is known practice to discontinue wetting the heat transfer surface in cold weather when all air passing over the heat transfer surface is recirculated, and the air moving means is stopped. However, such periodic interruption of wetting the heat transfer surface promotes the formation of scale as the minerals dissolved in the wetting water dry on the metallic heat transfer surface.
In contrast, the disclosed arrangement, having only a single damper blade to recirculate a portion or all of the exhaust air does not promote the passage of cold outside air over the heat transfer surface by a natural updraft and does not require an additional coordinated damper at a fresh outside air inlet. In addition, a massive drenching of the heat transfer surface does not have to be interrupted in sub-freezing weather.
The present invention is also concerned with the use of a propeller fan as an air mover for recirculated and fresh outside air passing over a heat transfer surface. It is known in the prior art to utilize propeller fans generally for this purpose as, for example, illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 2,379,932 to Schoepflin et al. However, in the Schoepflin et al. arrangement, the heat transfer surface is disposed immediately downstream of a propeller fan so as to disturb the normal flow pattern of air from the propeller fan--the flow of air discharged by a propeller fan being normally directed towards the fan axis. Necessarily, such disturbance to the propeller air flow presents a substantial inefficiency. Such inefficiency is of increasing concern when large air volumes are involved.


This brake comprises a housing (1) intended to be mounted preferably close to the rear crossmember of the vehicle and which contains a gearwheel (2), a nut (3) fastened axially through the wheel, able to move in translation on either side thereof, and profiled so that it can be driven in rotation by the wheel, cables (8,9) connected to the braking members passing through the housing on each side of the nut and connected to the latter so that the rotation of the nut in one direction or the other gives rise to the application or release of the braking members; an electric motor (16) for driving the wheel in rotation is connected to a control button (17) which can be actuated from the driving position of the vehicle. This brake allows a gain in storage space and habitability of the vehicle, eliminates the need for adjustments upon assembly or during the life of the vehicle, guarantees a balanced distribution of the brake-application force between the two members and reduces the length of the cables.

The subject of the present invention is a motor vehicle parking brake.
Hitherto, manually-controlled parking brakes have been made using a lever handle usually placed between the two front seats, or using a specific pedal situated close to the pedals.
These brakes have a significant overall size, require long cables and a balance bar system which have to be fitted between the driving position and the rear axle assembly. They also require adjustment upon assembly and/or during the life of the vehicle, and their optimum effectiveness depends on the physical force of the driver and on the dimensional constraints which result from the vehicle aesthetics choices made by the constructor.
The object of the invention is to provide a parking brake which is designed to avoid these drawbacks.


An automotive power steering gear has a pair of permanent magnet driving discs supported on a housing of the steering gear and continuously rotated in opposite directions corresponding to right and left turn rotation of an output shaft of the steering gear. A soft, magnetically permeable driving disc is supported on the housing between the driving discs for rotation and for bodily shiftable movement toward and away from respective ones of the driving discs. The driven disc is drivingly connected to the output shaft of the steering gear. When steering effort is applied at a steering wheel connected to an input shaft of the steering gear, a cam and follower apparatus bodily shifts the driven disc toward the one of the driving discs rotating in the direction corresponding to the direction of the applied effort. The rotating magnetic flux field of the driving disc intercepts the driven disc and induces thereon a magnetic steering assist torque in the direction of the applied effort.

Hydraulic power steering gears for automobiles typically include a steering gear housing containing a steering assist fluid motor and a control valve for selectively connecting the motor to a pump. Usually, a torsion bar between input and output members of the steering gear centers the control valve in a neutral position when no steering effort is applied, as in straight-ahead driving, and simulates road feel when a driver applies manual effort to a steering wheel. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,886,137 and 4,886,138, issued Dec. 12, 1989 and assigned to the assignee of this invention, describe electro-hydraulic power steering gears in which electromagnetic apparatus varies the effect of the torsion bar as a function of vehicle speed to achieve variable effort power steering. Also, power steering gears have been proposed in which an electric motor is the power source for steering assist. An automotive power steering gear according to this invention is a novel alternative to hydraulic, electro-hydraulic and electric power steering gears.


A connector has a connector body, at least one contact and at least one bimetal stripe. One end of the contact is fixed to the connector body and another end of each contact extends from a surface of the connector body forming a springy contact. One end of the bimetal stripe is fixed in the connector body and another end of the bimetal stripe extends from the surface of the connector body. The bimetal stripe is arranged for moving the contact in a first or second position depending on the temperature of the bimetal stripe.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector and, in particular, to a connector used in the field of electric circuit modules for a board to board or cable to board connection.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional connectors used in the field of electrical circuit modules for board to board or cable to board connections comprise two connector parts. Each connector part is mounted on a board or fixed to a cable and provides an electrical connection to the board or cable. At a plug-in side, each connector part comprises electrical contacts. An electrical and mechanical connection is achieved, by plugging the two connector parts together, such that the electrical contacts of the connector parts come together. To keep the connection, a connection force is necessary. There are two different ways to generate the connection force.
Zero insertion force (ZIF; ZIF=zero insertion force) connectors do not require a plug-in force to plug the two connector parts together. The necessary connection force is achieved by a mechanical scheme with toggles or screws. This complicated mechanical scheme to provide the connection force results in high costs and makes the connector difficult to handle. To protect the electrical contacts against corrosion, expensive contact materials, like gold are required.
Another type of connector requires a plug-in force to plug the two connector parts tight together. This tight connection results in a continuing connection force which keeps the two connector parts together. Besides the need for protection against corrosion, this connector type has the disadvantage that the connection force is very small and therefore the connector is sensitive to vibrations. This implies a low reliability of the connection.


A system identifies unconnected content items of high quality and provides the unconnected content items for display to a user. The method comprises receiving several content items posted on pages of a social networking system. The system then determines a subset of those content items (e.g., high quality content items). A topic is then extracted from each of the subset of content items. The topic is mapped to one or more related pages of the social networking system that represent an expanded set of pages associated with the content item. For each of the related pages, a user is identified who is connected to the related page. Finally, the content item (e.g., a high quality content item) is provided to the user for display in the user's newsfeed.

This invention relates generally to the selection of content for presentation to a user of a social networking system.
A user of the social networking system may like or follow a page in which he is interested, in order to receive updates in his newsfeed when the page posts new content. For example, if a user is a fan of a particular public figure, he might choose to fan a page of a public figure, and as posts are made on that public figure page, the user can receive updates about those posts. Other pages that are related to the followed page may exist on the social networking system. The user may not be aware of the other pages but may still be interested in receiving updates from the other pages because the posted content from the other pages is relevant to the followed page. For example, there might be other pages that have regular posts about the public figure, and the user may not be connected to these other pages, but might be interested in following them if he was aware of these pages. Therefore, a method is needed to identify content related to a user's interest and to provide the related content to the user.

Determining stories of interest based on quality of unconnected content


A method of retrieving and manipulating electronic information that relates to a printed document. Each printed document contains an initialization marking that is recognizable by an external sensory device and unique to the printed document. When a reader of the printed document desires to retrieve and manipulate electronic information that relates to the printed document, the reader initializes the system by using the sensory device to recognize the initialization marking. The sensory device transfers a code embedded in the initialization marking to a computing device. This configures the computing device to access the stored data and instruction sets associated with the printed document. In addition to the initialization marking, areas throughout the printed document (e.g., text, tables, figures, etc.) also contain markings that are recognizable by the external sensory device. The reader of the printed document uses the sensory device to recognize the markings and transfer the code embedded in the markings to the computing device. The computing device uses the code to retrieve and display the electronic information that relates to that area of the printed document.

A book is a still unsurpassed information package, the basic design of which has survived unchanged for hundreds of years. Unlike many electronic media, books have a "display" that performs better with increasing environmental light, do not require batteries or electricity, are highly portable, are impervious to shock, and are resistant to water splashes, temperature extremes, and humidity. On the other hand, the range of information contained within a single book is inherently limited, the information content is often obsolete the moment the book is printed, the book cannot be easily indexed or searched, and the information obtained from it must be physically manipulated in some way before it can be sent to remote recipients (e.g. by copying followed by faxing or mailing or by electronic scanning and transmittal). Conversely, a desktop computer with an internal information base, including CD-ROMs, or a connection to the Internet, company intranet, or any other external information depository, provides virtually unlimited and fast information access. The desktop computer is frequently bulky, however, and is difficult to move within the office or home because of necessary power and communications connections (needing to be near a phone line or network connection, for instance). It is also uncomfortable to most users to read longer documents on the desktop's display because of insufficient contrast, flicker, low resolution and a relatively small display space, the latter in particular creating difficulty in scanning back to review passages recently read. A portable computer with wireless Internet, intranet, or database access can be used to solve the bulk and transport problems associated with a standard desktop computer while still allowing fast and convenient access to vast quantities of information, but comes with its own unique set of problems. Among these are the facts that the display of a portable computer generally works best in dim or dark conditions and is tiresome to look at for prolonged periods, its batteries are short-lasting, it suffers greatly when dropped, and its resistance to water, temperature extremes, and humidity is generally extremely limited.
Traditionally, interfaces between electronic and printed media are unidirectional, either translating electronic information to printed material, such as with a printer, or translating printed material to electronic, such as with one-dimensional or two-dimensional scanners. The few prior art systems attempting to link the two types of media have done so in a very restricted and limited way, such as the "Interactive Talking Book and Audio Player Assembly" taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,884,974 (DeSmet, 1989) or the bar code VCR systems developed in the late 1980's. Bar codes are a well-known mechanism in the art for inputting identification information to an automated system, and can also be used for specifying a particular action to be taken, as taught, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,288,976 (Citron et al., 1994).
In the DeSmet system, a bar code present on each page is used to trigger the system's audio player to play the recorded version of the words on that page. This triggering occurs automatically when the bar code is exposed to ambient light by the turning of the page; no user decision or selection is either required or possible. The recorded message is fixed at the time the system is made, presenting no opportunity for the information presented to be updated or altered. Functionally, the DeSmet system is therefore similar to the older "talking book" systems that required the user to perform a particular action, such as pushing a button or pulling a string, in order to hear the recorded version, with the exception that the DeSmet system uses the bar code device to trigger message playback automatically.
In the bar code VCR systems, the VCR is programmed by running a wandlike tool, such as a light pen, across a set of pre-provided printed bar codes specifying particular days of the week, times, and channels. The wand reads the information contained within the bar codes and then programs the VCR to record the specified channel on the specified day and time. The user must first look at the TV listings and identify the desired program to be recorded, select the bar code or codes that correspond to the day, time, length, and channel of the desired program from among those that are provided either with the VCR or within the TV listings, and then run the wand across the code(s) in order to program the VCR. If the user selects a wrong bar code from the set, such as by incorrectly calculating the necessary day, time, length, or channel, or by simply running the wand over the wrong bar code in the set, the desired function will not be performed; i.e. the program will not be properly recorded. As with the DeSmet system, the action performed in response to the reading of a particular bar code is fixed at the time the system is made, presenting no opportunity for the action performed to be updated or altered.
Neither of these systems provide the ability to perform a variable action or present potentially updated data in response to the reading in of a particular bar code or other mark. The DeSmet system further does not allow the user any control over the actions of the system (other than by turning the page), while the bar code VCR system does not allow the user to perform the desired action in a single mistake-proof step. What has been needed, therefore, is a new type of interface between printed and electronic media that allows convenient two-way access between electronic and printed information, combining the advantages and minimizing the disadvantages of the traditional one-way information interfaces, while providing both flexible information access and one-step convenience to the user.
One such system has been proposed by Wellner (U.S. Pat. No. 5,640,193). In the system of Wellner, marks are used on paper or other objects to control the selection of electronic services.
Accordingly, a primary object of the present invention is to facilitate "anytime, anywhere" information access by providing a seamless interface between large volumes of printed and electronic media. In particular, an object of the present invention is to provide a convenient access to in-depth, up-to-date information on a subject of choice, regardless of whether the information is maintained in electronic or printed form. A further particular object of this invention is to provide an interactive electronic index to printed information. Yet another particular object of this invention is to provide a way to easily and instantly electronically transfer information from a printed medium to a remote recipient.

Retrieval and manipulation of electronically stored information via pointers embedded in the associated printed material


A method for finding a trading ad on a network includes steps of receiving a query, devising a query string from the query, sending the query string to a search engine of the network, searching via the search engine to find the trading ad, returning a search result by the search engine, sifting and extracting the trading ad from the search result, and matching and ranking the trading ad with respect to the query. A trader performs the steps of receiving, devising, sending, sifting and extracting, and matching and ranking. The trader is scalable such that the network can be the Internet, and the trader can be a computer software program.

The present invention relates generally to computers and networks and, more particularly, relates to network query and matching of widely distributed objects, such as over the Internet.
In common computing and software parlance "objects" are units of code that are discrete software components. These objects often model real-world objects, although sometimes programmers create objects specifically for things that it is desired to compute. Conventionally, each object is made according to a template of a generic class of object, the template being defined so that objects can share models and reuse the class definitions in their code. Each object is an instance of a particular class or subclass with the class's own methods or procedures and data variables. Other software components send messages to objects with requests. The objects send other messages back with their responses. In order to assure that disparate objects on disparate systems and platforms will interact together in a useful way, a standardized object programming architecture and interface, such as the Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) and the Interface Definition Language (IDL) each of the Object Management Group (OMG), has been defined.
In CORBA and IDL, a software system known as a "trader" is sometimes employed. The trader matches queries with resources. In operation with CORBA objects, for example, a CORBA Trader allows a client to dynamically query for provider resources. The query searches the provider resources for occurrence of certain object characteristics, as specified in the particular query, and returns objects having the certain characteristics. With the disparate clients and provider resources, having disparate architecture and systems, of most CORBA environments, the CORBA and IDL standard allows for interoperability of the objects, and requisite communicability among systems for such interoperability.
Although CORBA provides certain advantages in conventional object-oriented environments, many other environments, which are traditionally not strictly object-oriented in conformance to particular object standards (e.g., non-CORBA objects), would benefit from interoperability of models and schemes and trading of resources for such interoperability. Furthermore, it would be advantageous in such environments to allow for client queries with provider resources dynamically, so that hardcoded bindings in the client can be avoided, thus making clients more flexible and open to change in themselves or their operating environments. Another advantage would be presented if such trading can involve many different forms of data and information, for example, trading of data sources, such as databases, files, and images, as well as open-ended resource trading. Such trading would also be advantageous if it is not computing and communication resource intensive, yet employs scalable mechanisms. Such advantages would be highly beneficial to trading of resources over distributed networks, such as the Internet and the World Wide Web.
The present invention is an improvement and advance in the technology and art. It provides the foregoing advantages and others, including by serving as an agent for programs to find on the Internet and other distributed networks, various software components, data sources, or other objects the programs can connect to or make use of in some way.

Network query and matching system and method


A method of optimizing a pick list using image data from a barcode scanner. An example method includes comparing a reference background image captured by a scanner to an image of a produce item to be purchased, calculating attributes from the image, comparing the calculated attributes to reference produce attributes in a produce database, selecting reference produce attributes associated with reference produce items that are closest to the calculated attributes as the top candidates in the pick list.

This present invention relates to displaying images of one or more candidate items to assist operators with identification of an item to be purchased during a transaction at a checkout station, and more specifically to a pick list optimization method.
Barcode readers are well known for their usefulness in retail checkout and inventory control. For example, an imaging barcode reader typically includes one or more cameras which capture images of an item, including a barcode on the item. The imaging barcode reader decodes the barcode to obtain information identifying the item.
In the case of items that don't easily lend themselves to being labeled with barcodes, retail checkout systems typically display lists of candidate items to assist an operator in making a proper identification of such items. The lists are often called "pick lists" and may include images of the items to aid identification. A common example of such an item is a produce item.
Even with a pick list of candidate items, some operators may still have trouble identifying produce items. There may be many candidate images that appear similar to the item to be purchased. Further, the candidate images may not be accurate enough.
Therefore, it would be desirable to optimize the pick list. It would be further desirable to optimize the pick list based upon information captured from the item to be purchased by a scanner.