A process for protecting against fraudulent transactions entails comparing a first serial code with a second serial code, as well as comparing a first user identification with a second user identification. An additional comparison between a first stock keeping unit code and a second stock keeping unit code can also be made. If any of the compared data items do not match, then a notice of denial is issued for the transaction. Exceptions can be made, for example by comparing a first listing timestamp with a second listing timestamp to determine that a second transaction is occurring within a defined time period such as a return period. Data is recognized by an optical reader utilizing optical character recognition, with read data being saved to a data record. Serial codes can be directly printed on products or instead applied as a tamper evident sticker.

This invention provides a series of identification tools that can help reduce improper or even fraudulent product returns. Retailers often lose revenue due to the misuse of return policies and subsequently pass lost revenue back to the customer in the form of price increases. These issues can be addressed by either capturing or affixing unique alphanumerical codes to product that are sold using the invention and subsequently assigning unique seller account identification code to each user, i.e. a "user identification" while maintaining a database of the transactions of each of the products identification codes and the identification of the user offering the sale of the product. A mechanism is then provided to store these identification codes and the identifications of the user submitting the code attached to the product whenever a transaction occurs.
The system can evaluate a return transaction (e.g. such as a purchaser returning a product to a seller) by comparing its identification code to the product code, entered into the system, prior to the sale of the product to the purchaser. The system will alert the user who is entering the product description with a notice of approval as long as there are no discrepancies with the product identification code. Discrepancies can be set as policies where the system can accept or reject the placement of the product into the sales management system, as well as reject the authorization of the product return based upon the policies set by the sales administrator.
Policies can be set to include mismatching identification codes, tampered with products, or materially different products that have had identifiers removed by the purchaser prior to returning the product to the seller. Additional information, including a stock keeping unit code, a listing timestamp, and a product photo can be employed for making additional comparisons which help to further identify potential misuse of return policies.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to utilize and compare product-associated information in order to evaluate transactions to ensure that marketplace return policies are not being violated.

Method of comparing product-identifying serial codes


Provided is an austenitic stainless steel foil that demonstrates a high degree of stretch formability and little deformation anisotropy with respect to stretch forming despite having a sheet thickness of 60 μm or less. The austenitic stainless steel foil of the present invention has a sheet thickness of 5 μm to 60 μm, a recrystallization rate of 90% to 100%, and a texture in which the total of the area ratio of a crystal orientation in which the difference in orientation from the {112}<111> orientation is within 10°, the area ratio of a crystal orientation in which the difference in orientation from the {110}<112> orientation is within 10°, and the area ratio of a crystal orientation in which the difference in orientation from the {110}<001> orientation is within 10°, in a measuring field thereof, is 20% or less.

Batteries such as lithium ion batteries installed in numerous electronic devices are required to have compact size and light weight in response to the increasingly high levels of portability and mobility of these devices accompanying reductions in size and weight. The reductions in battery size and weight required by electronic devices such as smartphones in particular require leading-edge specifications.
The battery cases of lithium ion batteries currently available for use in smartphones use a can-shaped aluminum thin sheet or aluminum foil laminated with a resin film. Resin film-laminated aluminum foil is frequently used for the purpose of improving capacity density per volume in particular. More recently, even thinner cladding materials are being required for the purpose of further reducing size and weight. However, when the thickness of the aluminum foil serving as the base material is reduced, problems occur such as increased susceptibility to the occurrence of pinholes during the course of production, being unable to ensure moisture impermeability, reductions in puncture strength and rigidity, and being unable to ensure adequate strength with respect to external impacts and internal expansion of the battery. Consequently, aluminum foil is considered to have reached its limit with respect to further reductions in thickness.
Therefore, attention has been focused on the use of foil made of stainless steel (stainless steel foil) since it demonstrates higher rigidity and strength than aluminum. However, since stainless steel has higher specific gravity than aluminum, in order to apply stainless steel to battery cases required for use in increasingly compact and lightweight electronic devices, stainless steel foil is required that has an extremely thin sheet thickness (such as 60 μm or less). In order to increase battery capacity in particular, stainless steel foil is required that it should enable high processability in terms of, for example, demonstrating uniform formability when formed into the shape of a square can despite having a sheet thickness of 60 μm or less.
Stainless steel foil having a thickness of 25 μm or less is disclosed in Patent Document 1 as an example of ultrathin stainless steel foil. When the thickness of stainless steel is made to be extremely thin, voids form accompanying the formation of cracks extending from etched edges in the direction of rolling. The invention disclosed in Patent Document 1 solves this problem by limiting the number of inclusions that measure 5 μm or larger in size.
In addition, examples of applying stainless steel foil to a battery case are disclosed in Patent Documents 2 to 4. Patent Document 2 discloses an example of a battery outer jacket member formed by pressing stainless steel foil having a thickness of 20 μm to 100 μm, Patent Document 3 discloses that an example of a battery jacket material formed by pressing stainless steel foil having a thickness of 100 μm, and Patent Document 4 discloses that an example of a battery jacket material formed by pressing stainless steel foil having a thickness of 40 μm to 150 μm.

NIPPON STEEL & SUMIKIN MATERIALS CO., LTD.


A wellbore is at least partially obstructed with a partition or obstruction member. A fluid slurry of an aggregate mixture of particulate matter is pumped into the wellbore adjacent the partition or obstruction member. The aggregate mixture of particulate material contains at least one component of particulate material, and each of the at least one particulate material components has an average discrete particle dimension different from that of the other particulate material components. Fluid pressure then is applied to the aggregate material and fluid is drained from the aggregate material through a fluid drainage passage in the partition or obstruction member. The fluid pressure and drainage of fluid from the aggregate mixture combined to compact the aggregate mixture into a substantially solid, load-bearing, force-transferring, substantially fluid-impermeable plug member, which seals a first wellbore region from fluid flow communication with a second wellbore region. The plug member is easily removed from the wellbore by directing a high-pressure fluid stream toward the plug member, thereby dissolving or disintegrating the particulate material of the plug member into a fluid slurry, which may be circulated out of or suctioned from the wellbore.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to methods and apparatuses for forming downhole pressure plugs in a wellbore. More particularly, the present invention relates to methods of forming downhole plugs to seal the wellbore and to transfer stress from a wellbore tool to the wellbore itself.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is conventional in the oil and gas industry to seal wellbores using packers, bridge plugs, and the like. Typically, a wellbore tool, such as a packer or bridge plug, is run into the wellbore to a desired location therein. The packer or bridge plug is inflated or otherwise actuated into sealing engagement with the wellbore. Such a seal may be effected to separate regions in the wellbore, to contain fluid pressure either above or below the wellbore tool for fracturing or other well treatment operations, or other conventional reasons.
Conventional wellbore tools have a force threshold beyond which the wellbore tool will fail mechanically, or will lose gripping and sealing engagement with the wellbore, which tends to cause undesirable movement of the wellbore tool within the wellbore. The force threshold typically is defined in terms of a maximum or limiting differential pressure across the wellbore tool that the wellbore tool can withstand without failure or movement in the wellbore.
If the force threshold is exceeded, mechanical failure of the wellbore tool or undesirable movement of the wellbore tool may result. Mechanical failure may result in at least partial inoperability of the wellbore tool. If the wellbore tool is rendered inoperable, the wellbore may be undesirably obstructed, requiring expensive fishing remedial operations. Mechanical failure at least will require expensive and time-consuming repair or replacement of the wellbore tool.
Even if the wellbore tool does not fail and is not otherwise damaged, the wellbore tool may be moved or displaced within the wellbore if the force threshold is exceeded. Such movement or displacement is undesirable because the positioning of the wellbore tool within the wellbore frequently is of great importance. Also, movement or displacement of the wellbore tool could damage other wellbore tools or the producing formation itself, thereby necessitating fishing, workover, or other remedial wellbore operations.
In secondary recovery operations, such as formation fracturing, reliable and dependable packers and bridge plugs frequently are necessary. Many secondary recovery operations require sealing off or packing a selected formation interval, and introducing extremely high pressure fluids into the selected interval. High-pressure fluids exert extreme axial forces on the packers or bridge plugs used to seal off the interval. Thus, the possibility of exceeding the force threshold of such wellbore tools is very great in formation fracturing, and requires the use of expensive, reinforced, high-pressure rated wellbore tools. High-pressure wellbore tools typically have relatively large cross-sectional diameters, precluding their use in through-tubing operations or operations in otherwise reduced-diameter or obstructed wellbores.
An alternative to high-pressure rated wellbore tools is to plug or seal the wellbore with cement. Cement plugs have a number of drawbacks. Expensive and specialized cementing equipment usually is required to pump cement into the wellbore to form a cement plug. Also, a significant time period must elapse to permit a cement plug to harden or set into a sealing or load-bearing cement plug. Another drawback of cement plugs is that they are relatively permanent, and require expensive and time-consuming milling operations to remove them from the wellbore.

Method and apparatus for sealing and transferring force in a wellbore


Disclosed herein is a new and distinct variety of Catharanthus plant having vigorous, upright plant characteristics, abundant branching, especially basally branching, developed from the base of the plant throughout the growing season, great profusion of single, red-pink flowers, the whole bush remaining in bloom for a considerable period of time and deeply bitten petals, shaped of hastate, incurvated.

The present invention relates to a new and distinct variety of Catharanthus plant, which is hereinafter referred to by the name of 'Suncatha 2243'.
Catharanthus roseus, which is also known as Vinca rosea, is a very popular plant that is used for flower bedding and potting in the summer and autumn season.
The purpose of this invention is to obtain a new Catharanthus cultivar having vigorous, upright plant characteristics, abundant branching, especially basally branching, developed from the base of the plant throughout the growing season, great profusion of single, red-pink flowers, the whole bush remaining in bloom for a considerable period of time and irregularly incised petals, shaped of hastate, incurvated.
The new Catharanthus plant was originated from a cross-pollination of the female parent 'MC21-52' and the male parent 'MC21-5'. The female parent 'MC21-52' (unpatented) used in the crossing of 'Suncatha 2243' is a strain of applicant's breeding lines (i.e., proprietary Catharanthus roseus selection), having pink petals, and the male parent 'MC21-5' (unpatented) used in the crossing of 'Suncatha 2243' is a strain of applicant's breeding lines (i.e., proprietary Catharanthus roseus selection), having deep purple petals. The cross-pollination was conducted in August, 2011 at Yame-gun, Fukuoka, Japan.
In February 2012, the seedlings obtained by the crossing were planted in field, and some seedlings were selected in view of growth habit, flower size and color thereof. In August 2012, the stem tip culturing was carried out, and then the propagation was started.
In July 2013, the cultivation of the seedlings was repeated. The botanical characteristics of that plant were then examined, using similar varieties 'Daiichi-MC21-41' and 'Daiichi-MC21-25' for comparison. As a result, it was concluded that this Catharanthus plant is distinguishable from any other variety, whose existence is currently known, and is uniform and stable in its characteristics.
The new variety of Catharanthus roseus plant is named 'Suncatha 2243'.


A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device 28 in which a plating mask 38, 39 having a noble metal plating layer 35 as an uppermost layer is formed at a predetermined portion on an obverse surface side or a reverse surface side of a leadframe material 10, and the leadframe material 10 is consecutively subjected to etching by using the plating mask 38, 39 as a resist mask, so as to form external connection terminal portions 22 which electrically communicate with a semiconductor element 18 disposed in an interior of an encapsulating resin 21, and which project downwardly. Base metal plating or noble metal plating 33 exhibiting etching solution resistance is provided as a lowermost layer of the plating mask 38, 39.

The present invention relates to a semiconductor device of a chip size package type (hereinafter called as "CSP type"), and more particularly to a semiconductor device in which external connection terminal portions project from a bottom surface side of an encapsulating resin as well as a method of manufacturing the same.
Tape CSP type semiconductor devices using polyimide resin tape and solder balls and bump chip carrier type (hereinafter called as "BCC type") semiconductor devices using a base metal are known, reflecting demands for the miniaturization of semiconductor devices. However, the tape CSP type semiconductor devices have problems in that the polyimide resin tape is expensive, and that the polyimide resin tape is not suitable for strip transport since it is soft. Meanwhile, the BCC type semiconductor devices have a problem in that after the base metal is removed by etching, discrete devices are left, so that their molded surfaces need to be fixed by pressure sensitive adhesive tape, resulting in high cost. Accordingly, the present assignee earlier proposed a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device disclosed in patent document 1.
An example of this method of manufacturing a semi-conductor device is shown generally in FIGS. 7A to 7J. However, as explained below, certain of the steps shown in FIGS. 7A-7J were not practiced in the noted prior art. As further explained below, certain component compositions were not used in the prior art. After a resist film 11 is coated on the overall obverse and reverse surfaces of a leadframe material 10 constituted of Cu, a Cu alloy, or an iron-nickel alloy (e.g., 42 alloy), the resist film 11 is exposed with a predetermined lead pattern, and development is then carried out, thereby forming an etching pattern 12 of the plating mask. Then, the leadframe material 10 is subjected to all-over plating, and if the resist film 11 is removed, plating masks 13 and 14 are formed on the obverse and reverse sides (steps A to D).
Next, after the entire lower surface (i.e., the reverse surface side) is coated with another resist film 15, in a manner not performed in the noted prior art, the upper surface side (i.e., the obverse surface side) is subjected to half etching by using the plating mask 13 as a resist mask. In this case, since that portion of the surface of the leadframe material 10 which is covered by the plating mask 13 is not etched, an element mounting portion 16 and wire bonding portions 17 formed in advance by the resist film ultimately project. It should be noted that the surfaces of the element mounting portion 16 and the wire bonding portions 17 are covered by the plating mask 13 (steps E and F).
Next, after removing the resist film 15 on the lower surface side, a semiconductor element 18 is mounted on the element mounting portion 16, and electrode pad portions of the semiconductor element 18 and the wire bonding portions 17 are wire bonded, the semiconductor element 18, bonding wires 20, and the wire bonding portions 17 are resin encapsulated. Reference numeral 21 denotes an encapsulating resin (steps F and H).
Subsequently, the reverse surface side is subjected to half etching. At this time, the portion of the leadframe material 10 where the plating mask 14 is formed remains without being etched since the plating mask 14 acts as a resist mask. As a result, reverse surfaces of external connection terminal portions 22 and the element mounting portion 16 project. Since the external connection terminal portions 22 and the wire bonding portions 17 communicate with each other, the respective external connection terminal portions 22 (and the wire bonding portions 17 communicating therewith) are made independent and are electrically connected to the respective electrode pad portions of the semiconductor element 18. Since these semiconductor devices 23 are generally arranged in grid form and are manufactured simultaneously, they are diced and separated (discretized), thereby manufacturing individual semiconductor devices 23 (steps I and J).
[Patent Document 1] JP-A-2001-24135
However, with the above-described semiconductor devices, the corresponding plating masks 13′ and 14′ are conventionally formed, as shown in FIG. 8. Namely, the plating masks 13′ and 14′ are formed by providing, for instance, an Ni undercoat 24′ with a thickness of 1 μm on the surfaces (including the reverse surface) of the leadframe material 10′, and by further providing thereon noble metal plating (e.g., Au) 25′ with a thickness of approx. 0.2 μm. Since the noble metal plating 25′ on the upper layer side (a layer farther from the leadframe material 10′ is referred to as the upper layer, and a layer close thereto is referred to as the lower layer) has etching solution resistance, the noble metal plating 25′ is not eroded during etching, but the leadframe material 10′ formed of copper or a copper alloy and the Ni undercoat 24′ on the lower layer side are eroded by an etching solution, as shown in FIG. 9A. Hence, the periphery of the noble metal plating 25′ assumes a foil-like shape, and is adhered to the periphery of each of the wire bonding portions 17′, the element mounting portion 16′, and the external connection terminal portions 22′, thereby forming plating burrs (plating foils) 26′.
If such plating burrs 26′ are present, the plating burrs 26′ are exfoliated in the wire bonding process, the resin encapsulating process (i.e., molding process), and the like, causing defects in semiconductor devices including faulty wire bonding, and short-circuiting between terminals, and the like.

Semiconductor device and manufacturing method thereof


A system and method for automatically roaming with a wireless device. A signal strength of a first wireless signal is sampled at a time interval. A determination is made whether the signal strength is less than a threshold for a predetermined duration. The wireless device is set to roam on a second wireless signal in response to the signal strength of the first wireless signal being less than the threshold for the predetermined duration. The wireless device is reset to a default setting for communication after a predetermined duration.

The use of and development of wireless communications has grown nearly exponentially in recent years. The growth is fueled by larger networks with more reliable protocols and better communications hardware available to service providers and consumers. Despite the vast improvements, wireless systems and devices still have distinct limitations. In particular, almost all wireless users have experienced a poor or inadequate signal environment in which a calling party and/or a receiving party are unable to carry on a conversation because of dropped calls, errors, unintelligible voice communications, dropped packets, and other similar results of a weak or poor signal.
A weak signal may result because of a geographic location, such as buildings and topography, inadequate signal strength or hardware, or a myriad of other factors that may or may not be controllable by the wireless service provider. Some wireless service providers are reluctant to allow their customers to roam to other wireless service providers because of increased costs, perception of poor coverage or poorly designed networks and systems. As a result, many wireless users experience poor wireless service based on the available settings, options, and software.

System and method for enhanced automatic roaming


In accordance with the present invention, a circuit provides a bias voltage V1 which is substantially insensitive to variations of a power supply voltage powering the circuit. The circuit includes a detector circuit for generating a signal from the power supply voltage and the bias voltage V1, wherein the signal is substantially insensitive to variations in the power supply voltage while being responsive to the bias voltage V1. The circuit further includes a voltage generator circuit for generating the bias voltage V1 wherein the voltage generator is responsive to the signal such that the detector circuit and the voltage generator maintain the bias voltage V1 at a substantially constant value over power supply voltage variations. The detector circuit also includes a circuit for allowing bias voltage V1 to get arbitrarily close to the ground voltage but not allowing the bias voltage V1 to become positive.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to providing voltages.
2. Description of Related Art
Voltage generating circuits are widely used in electrical and electronic devices. For instance, substrate bias generator circuits, also referred to as back-bias generators, are used in semiconductor devices which require the substrate region to be biased to a predetermined voltage. For example, in dynamic random access memories (DRAM) the substrate region is negatively biased to prevent the DRAM cells from losing the stored information. The back-bias generator includes a voltage multiplier circuit, commonly referred to as charge pump, for providing the negative Back-Bias Voltage (V.sub.BB). The charge pump is usually accompanied by a V.sub.BB detector circuit. The detector circuit regulates the charge pump such that V.sub.BB is maintained as close to a target V.sub.BB value as possible.
The detector circuit constantly senses the V.sub.BB voltage level, and if V.sub.BB becomes more negative than the target V.sub.BB, the detector circuit turns off the charge pump thereby allowing V.sub.BB to drift back to the target V.sub.BB ; and if V.sub.BB becomes less negative than the target V.sub.BB, the detector circuit turns on the charge pump to pump V.sub.BB back to the target V.sub.BB.
FIG. 1 shows a conventional V.sub.BB detector circuit 17. Serially connected resistors R1 and R2 are coupled between the power supply Vcc and V.sub.BB terminal 15. Vcc is provided by a power supply external to the device, and V.sub.BB is generated internally by a charge pump (not shown). Inverter 12 has its input terminal connected to node 11 which is the node between R1 and R2. The output terminal of inverter 12 also provides the output terminal Q10 of the detector circuit 17. Output terminal Q10 is connected to the charge pump.
Vcc, R1, R2, and V.sub.BB form a voltage divider which sets the voltage V.sub.A at node 11 in accordance with the following equation: EQU V.sub.A =[(R2.times.Vcc)+(R1.times.V.sub.BB)]/(R1+R2) (1)
Resistors R1 and R2 are selected so that, for the nominal Vcc value and target V.sub.BB, the voltage V.sub.A equals the trip point of inverter 12. If the charge pump causes V.sub.BB to become more negative than the target value, V.sub.A drops below the trip point of inverter 12 causing Q10 to go high. The high level at Q10 turns off the charge pump, allowing V.sub.BB to increase back to the target value. Alternatively, if V.sub.BB becomes less negative than the target V.sub.BB, V.sub.A rises above the trip point of inverter 12 causing Q10 to go low. The low level of Q10 turns on the charge pump causing V.sub.BB to become more negative. Thus, V.sub.BB is maintained at the target value.
Circuit 17 however, suffers from a number of drawbacks, one of which is that V.sub.BB varies with changes in Vcc. In particular, as shown by equation (1), if Vcc increases, V.sub.BB has to become more negative to keep V.sub.A at the trip point of inverter 12 (this assumes that inverter 12 is designed so that its trip point is insensitive to Vcc). This increases junction leakage as explained in more detail below. The increased junction leakage adversely impacts the operation of the device. For example, in a DRAM the increased junction leakage can cause loss of information stored in the memory cells; and more generally, the high leakage current results in higher static power consumption, e.g., high stand-by current (I.sub.SB).
As both Vcc and .vertline.V.sub.BB.vertline. increase, leakage current increases across the junction between Vcc-biased n+ diffusion regions in the V.sub.BB -biased P-type substrate. This is more clearly illustrated in FIG. 2. FIG. 2 shows a P-type substrate 23 biased to V.sub.BB through the p+ diffusion region 22. The n+ diffusion region 21 represents one of many n+ diffusion regions biased to Vcc. The pn junction formed by the P-substrate 23 and the n+ diffusion 21 is reverse biased since a positive voltage Vcc is applied to the negatively charged n+ diffusion 21 and a negative voltage V.sub.BB is applied to the positively charged P-type substrate 23.
In accordance with the I-V characteristics of a pn junction, as the reverse voltage across the pn junction approaches the junction break down voltage (V.sub.BD), larger leakage current flows through the junction. Therefore, an increase in Vcc and the resulting more negative V.sub.BB, combine to cause a greater reverse voltage across the junction formed by the n+ region 21 and substrate 23.
The undesirable effects of the large leakage currents, such as high I.sub.SB and data loss in DRAM cells, are magnified as technology moves to smaller geometries and memory devices move to higher densities.
Another drawback of circuit 17 (FIG. 1) is that it does not prevent V.sub.BB from becoming positive. If V.sub.BB becomes positive by as little as 0.8V, junctions formed by Vss-biased n+ regions and the V.sub.BB -biased substrate become forward biased. This can lead to latch-up which may destroy the device.
FIG. 3A shows a prior art detector circuit 37 which prevents V.sub.BB from becoming positive. Circuit 37 is identical to circuit 17 of FIG. 1 except that NMOS transistor M30 is connected between node 11 and R2. With the gate of M30 connected to Vss, M30 turns off when its source (lead 33) reaches minus one threshold voltage (-V.sub.TN), V.sub.TN being that of M30. When M30 turns off, V.sub.A rises to Vcc. This causes the charge pump to turn on and pump V.sub.BB to a more negative voltage.
It is desirable to provide an improved V.sub.BB detector.

Power supply insensitive substrate bias voltage detector circuit


An information processing system includes a first information processing terminal and an information processing apparatus coupled to the first information processing terminal. The information processing system includes a storage unit configured to store codec data indicating a codec that can be used for performing communication between the first information processing terminal and a second information processing terminal other than the first information processing terminal; and a determining unit configured to make a first determination of determining whether there is a codec that can be used by both the first information processing terminal and the second information processing terminal, based on the codec data.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing system, an information processing apparatus, and an information processing method.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the related art, there is known a method of performing a so-called TV conference by transmitting images, etc., to each other, at multiple locations.
For example, there is known a method of temporarily connecting a new TV conference terminal during a TV conference, in order to determine whether to allow the new TV conference terminal to participate in the TV conference. Specifically, first, during a TV conference, a temporary connection process is performed with the new TV conference terminal, and inter-terminal communication is established with the new TV conference terminal. Next, a TV conference terminal sends an own image to the new TV conference terminal, and the own terminal sending the own image switches to a mode of receiving an image sent from the new TV conference terminal. Next, when it is determined to allow the participation of the new TV conference terminal, an additional process is performed. On the other hand, when it is determined not to allow the participation of the new TV conference terminal, a disconnection process is performed (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. H10-51557

Information processing system, information processing apparatus, and information processing method


Inventive subject matter disclosed herein includes a device that includes a hollow tube having a tapered distal end, sized to fit within a blood vessel. The device also includes a tether positioned within the hollow tube and an actuator effective for moving the tether forward and backward with respect to the hollow tube. The device also includes a compliant mesh balloon having proximal end and a distal end, wherein the proximal end is attached to the hollow tube and the distal end is affixed to the tether wherein forward movement of the tether by movement of the actuator elongates the mesh balloon for travel through the blood vessel.

The prior art includes methods for occluding vessel openings. However, the methods are catheter based and employ a very thin wall compliant balloon on a distal tip of the catheter to achieve occlusion. These devices also require the use of a guidewire to track to a desired location. In addition, because of the thin wall, when the distal balloon is inflated with contrast media, the balloon is susceptible to rupture as well as being susceptible to rupture in use.

Guidewire/ partial occluder for intraluminal travel


The invention involves a cell which may be used for producing molten aluminum by electrolysis of aluminum oxide in a molten bath. The cell includes a cathode and an anode, a bar and a hanger. The bar is connected at an upper end to the hanger and at a lower end to the anode. Flexible means is provided for supplying electrical current through the bar to the anode. A jack means raises and lowers the hanger and thus the anode. Included in the invention, the hanger is mounted at at least two separated points, one higher than the other, in encompassing, sliding relationship, on a single, upright, circular cross-sectioned post passing through the hanger. By this technique, the hanger is constrained to move up and down, without relation about horizontal axes.. The invention additionally involves a clamp including means for providing a backing against which articles to be clamped can be placed, gate means mounted for pivoting about an axis into and out of confrontation with the backing means, the pivot axis passing through the gate means, and means for forcing the gate means toward the backing means at least when the gate means is in confrontation with the backing means. Included in the invention, at least the portion of the gate means at said axis moves toward the backing means during operation of the forcing means in forcing the gate means toward the backing means.. Also provided is a tool capable of operating such a clamp. The tool includes a means for operating the forcing means and a means for pivoting the gate means.

In one anode mount including means for lifting and lowering an anode, an aluminum or copper bar is connected at its lower end to the carbon anode and at its upper end to a hanger. Flexible, electrical current conductor means is connected to the hanger for supplying electrical current for electrolysis down through the bar to the anode. A jack screw, universally jointed to a drive motor, cooperates with a nut in the hanger to lift and lower the hanger and thus the bar and anode. The hanger is guided, toward the goal of keeping the anode in a straight up-and-down path, by T-members, whose legs extend into slots in the hanger.
Concerning the clamping of anodes in anode mounts, one clamp is shown in FIG. 10 at page 147 of Light Metals, Metallurgical Society of AIME, Volume I, 1976. Such a clamp utilizes a pivotable gate. When the gate is in its down position, it can be forced against an anode bar by the turning of a tightening screw acting on the end of the gate farthest from the pivot. This forces the anode bar against a bus bar for transfer of electrical current and for securement of the anode in a suspended position in the molten bath.


A system is provided at the emergency pressure release in an air conditioning refrigerant system. The system protects the environment from venting of the pressurized refrigerant. The system also permits recovery of the refrigerant for subsequent use or for environmentally safe disposal.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to control systems for recovery of refrigerant from air conditioning systems.
2. Description of Prior Art
Fluorocarbons have been widely used as the refrigerant in chiller units for air conditioning, or HVAC, systems. Some of the most widely used fluorocarbons have been types of chlorinated fluorocarbon (CFC) sold under the trademark FREON.RTM.. In recent years, environmental concerns have arisen about fluorocarbon or CFC refrigerants and their possible harmful effects on the earth's atmosphere. Although until recently only disfavored for environmental reasons, it has now become unlawful to purposefully vent chlorinated fluorocarbon refrigerants to the atmosphere. For this and other reasons, the cost of such refrigerants has increased significantly. Although accidental leakage from system failures or breakdowns is not unlawful, it has become a very expensive and undesirable situation.
Generally, existing HVAC units have a graphite rupture disk on a centrifugal chiller unit as a portion of the original equipment. The disk has been designed to rupture when the system refrigerant pressure reached a specified excess pressure limit, typically 15 psig or so. In the past, refrigerant which escaped in the event of disk rupture was vented into the atmosphere.
Certain types of systems are available which attempt to limit or reduce the venting of refrigerant. These systems use a relief valve which opens at the excess pressure limit and closes again at a certain fraction or percentage (such as two-thirds) of the pressure limit. However, these systems allow repeated cycles of opening the relief valve, to vent refrigerant at the excess pressure limit, with subsequent closing of the relief valve. Eventually, unless the excess pressure problem was corrected, the entire charge of refrigerant could be vented in increments to the atmosphere.

Emergency refrigerant recovery activation system


A means of power management and control via a reverse link of a CDMA or LTE network is disclosed. The protocol is set to superimpose itself in an agnostic way to the power management as one more layer of freedom is added. The adjustment depending on the power control is then derived by mismatch if too much power or antenna tuning to enhance the power. This is also following a table in the device that will adjust ECC in case of a MIMO transmission such as LTE as well as SAR. This will generate also a mean of a soft-handoff and load control on the base station.

With today's advanced networks and the proliferation of smart phones and other devices adapted for multi-media and other applications, consumer demand for data bandwidth is rapidly increasing, such that there is a need for dynamic management and control of network resources, including data transfer rate and the like.
Current wireless networks, such as 3G code division multiple access (CDMA), 4G long term evolution (LTE), and other network structures, are capable of adjusting signal characteristics such as signal direction, antenna gain, and other characteristics at the base transceiver system (BTS), or cell site, such that a robust signal link may be maintained with connected devices. Generally, adjacent BTS's utilize distinct frequency channels for communicating with wireless devices within each cell. Furthermore, each channel generally comprises two frequencies; one for voice transmission (speaking), and one for reception (hearing). Each BTS is capable of communicating with a plurality of wireless devices at any given instant in time. As wireless devices translate geographically, a hand-off is effectuated from a first BTS to a second BTS in such a manner as to maintain data transfer between the mobile wireless device and the network. During a handoff, the mobile device is configured to change frequencies such that communication can be effectuated with an adjacent BTS.
Cellular BTS's generally transmit over relatively low frequencies, allowing low power transmission effectively maximizing the operational use of a mobile device battery. In the US, such frequencies for use with wireless communications include 850 MHz and 1.9 GHz. Additionally, subsequent to establishing a connection with a BST, individual wireless devices are generally instructed by the BST to reduce power such that interference over the network is minimized and overall communication quality is improved.
Certain modern wireless systems, however, are limited in the amount of available channels (frequency pairs), power, and data transfer that may be administered between linked devices within the cell. The total communication threshold for a given BTS can be referred to as its link budget. For example, in a 3G CDMA network, a BTS may be configured to provide a data rate of about 3 Mbps to a linked device. By way of example, a 3-minute MP3 song may be downloaded in about 15 seconds at a data rate of 3 Mbps. These data transfer rates are accomplished by several complex digital compression and modulation techniques. As media requirements continue to grow, more users are requiring access to data transfer resources as demand for multimedia downloads increases over wireless networks.
Furthermore, there are often multiple BTS's located within proximity to an individual mobile wireless device at any given time. However, until now there has yet to be provided a system adapted to direct one or more mobile devices from a first BTS to a second BTS for the purpose of managing system resources such as bandwidth. In this regard, a first BTS might operate over a first group of frequencies, whereas a second BTS might operate over a second group of frequencies. It would be beneficial to provide a wireless device configured to "tune" from the first BTS to the second BTS upon a change in the antenna frequency response. This sort of power management handoff will require certain modal antenna technology, and software programmed between the wireless device and BTS for effectuating the handoff.
Certain platforms exist which enable improvements over current wireless schemes. For example, previously proposed in the art was a method for communicating power management data to a mobile device across a CDMA network. Specifically, U.S. Pat. No. 5,621,723, titled "POWER CONTROL IN A CDMA NETWORK" describes a modulated signal comprising forward packet data and forward packet control information over a forward link in a packet-switched CDMA network; the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference. According to the '723 patent, a method includes carrying the packet data on the in-phase component of a quadrature-carrier signal, and carrying the packet data control information on the quadrature component of the quadrature-carrier signal. The '723 patent does not disclose antenna systems for processing the modulated signal. As such, there is a continued need for antenna systems adapted to utilize these and other signaling methods such that dynamic power management may become a reality across CDMA, LTE, and future networks.
Furthermore, commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 7,911,402, titled "ANTENNA AND METHOD FOR STEERING ANTENNA BEAM DIRECTION" discloses multi-mode antennas for use in mobile wireless devices wherein said antennas are adapted to vary one or more signal characteristics, such as the antenna radiation pattern; the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
With the advent of improvements in the field of wireless communications such as those described above, there is a need for development of specialized antenna systems adapted for power management and control over a wireless communication network, such as CDMA, LTE, and other wireless network platforms, such that data transfer and download speeds can become dynamically adjusted and optimized for mobile wireless devices over a robust network link. Other benefits would include power adjustment across multiple antenna modes for minimizing device interference and thereby improving network communications, and for dynamically adjusting specific absorption rate (SAR). It would be of further benefit to provide antenna systems adapted to hand-off those mobile wireless devices across multiple BTS's where there is a need for improved data transfer rates and where another BTS may provide an increase in power, and thus available bandwidth. Still further, there is a need to optimize and dynamically control network resources within localized cells for improving data access over a given network.

Power management and control synchronization within in a wireless network using modal antennas and related methods


An image forming apparatus includes a main body; a process cartridge being detachably mounted to the main body along a direction perpendicular to a rotational axis direction, the process cartridge including a photosensitive member, and a charger facing a surface of the photosensitive member; and an exposure device including a plurality of light emitting devices arranged along the rotational axis direction, and a facing part. The facing part is a part of the exposure device that is positioned closest to the photosensitive member and faces the surface of the photosensitive member when seen from the rotational axis direction, at a state in which the process cartridge is mounted, and the charger is positioned at an opposite side of the exposure device with respect to a second line which is parallel with the mounting direction and passes the facing part when seen from the rotational axis direction.

In an image forming apparatus of an electrophotographic type, a photosensitive drum, for example, is uniformly charged by a charger. The charged surface of the photosensitive drum is exposed by light from an exposure device, so that an electrostatic latent image is formed thereon. The electrostatic latent image on the surface of the photosensitive drum becomes a developer image as developers are supplied thereto. After that, the developer image is transferred onto a sheet.
In the image forming apparatus, as the exposure device, there has been known an exposure device having an exposure head. Also, an image forming apparatus has been known in which a process cartridge having a photosensitive drum is detachably mounted to the image forming apparatus. The exposure head has a plurality of light emitting devices consisting of organic EL (Electro Luminescent) devices or LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) and lenses, which are arranged in an array shape on a part facing a surface of the photosensitive drum. The lights from the light emitting devices are imaged on the surface of the photosensitive drum by the lenses, so that an electrostatic latent image is formed on the surface of the photosensitive drum.
Since the exposure head has a short lens focal length, it is necessary to arrange the exposure head adjacent to the surface of the photosensitive drum. Therefore, the exposure head may interfere with the attaching and detaching operations of the process cartridge.
Accordingly, related-art describes a configuration in which the exposure head (LED array head) is contacted and separated to and from the photosensitive drum in conjunction with opening and closing operations of an exterior cover provided to a front face of an apparatus main body. Specifically, the LED array head is fixed to an upper end portion of an arm-shaped holder that extends in an upper-lower direction. The arm-shaped holder is rotatably mounted to the apparatus main body. As the arm-shaped holder is rotated in conjunction with opening and closing operations of a top cover, the LED array head of the holder is contacted and separated to and from the photosensitive drum.

Image forming apparatus having detachably mounted process cartridge and fixed exposure device


The present invention provides a kind of liquid crystal aligning film composition used for liquid crystal display (LCD), in which the liquid crystal aligning film composition used for LCD is a polyimide resin oligomer (A) having the structural formula (I) as shown in the following: wherein m is an interger of 1, 2, and 3, R is selected one of from aromatic and cyclicaliphatic, X is selected from the group containing amide, ester, and ether etc., Y is the group of containing cholesterol structure; this polyimide resin oligomer (A) and the second reagent (B) are mixed together, through an induced process (C), to produce a thin film for aligning liquid crystal molecule.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention is to provide a kind of liquid crystal aligning film composition used for LCD, in which the liquid crystal aligning film composition used for LCD is a containing cholesterol structure of polyimide resin oligomer (A) mixed with the second reagent (B), through an induced process (C), to produce a thin film for aligning liquid crystal molecule.
2. Description of the Prior Art
LCD plays an extremely important role in the electroptical industry; especially, it was developing very quickly in recent years. According to the application of electrical devices is widely developed, demands of LCD are also increasing fast, small size panel such as a personal celluar telephone and a personal digital assistant (PDA), large size panel such as a notebook computer and liquid crystal monitor (LCD monitor), and the like. In recent years, due to the promotion of manufacturing technique and the participation of related material industry the application of LCD is developing to the more advanced level, and the prospect is very positive.
At present, the aligning method most widely used in LCD industry is to rub the coated aligning film substrate plate toward to one direction with a mechanical force, and liquid crystal molecule can be generated the uniform and stable aligning effect, said as rubbing treatment. The advantages of this method are effective mass production as well as stable aligning effect. However, at present, since the aligning polymer film has no sufficient toughness, after rubbing, it is easily separated from the substrate plate or causes crack. After assembling to LCD, this kind xe2x80x9cinjuredxe2x80x9d aligning film can absorb ionic charge with giving voltage; and after relieving voltage, the residue voltage can be accumulated. Residue voltage causes to the image sticking effect in the picture and contrast decreasing. In addition, since the aligning film is not capable of rubbing resist, it produces a lot of tiny particles and dust, and it causes to the partial discharge effect during giving voltage, and it would hurt the aligning film itself and indium tin oxide (ITO) electrode or thin film transistor (TFT). Also, the formation of defects on the surface of aligning film would cause phase distortion and light scattering to lower down the display quality.
Especially, in the super twisted nematic liquid crystal display (STN-LCD) manufacturing process it needs much stronger rubbing treatment and larger allowed margin, therefore, the rubbing resistibility for aligning film is more critical.
In general, LCD aligning agent is almost made of polyimide material, which is obtained from dianhydride and diamine via polymerization addition, and the components what they are used are in accordance with the characteristics of obtained polyimide products.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,698,135 discloses a kind of improved rubbing resistibility of aligning film by using several aliphatic dianhydrides. However, the claimed aliphatic anhydride has no good reactivity to cause the synthetic reaction be difficult.
Japan Patent 9-185065 discloses a kind of increasing rubbing resistibility of aligning film by using thermal crosslinking compound, however, the residue voltage is still too high, and it is unsuitable for high grade LCD.
It desires to reach much better requirements of electrical property for aligning film such as high voltage holding ratio (VHR), low charge-accumulation by a direct current voltage, and the like. It refers to Japan Patent 64-4720, Japan Patent 10-183118, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,858,274 and 5,954,999, which disclose the method, e.g. mixing a polyamic acid resin and a solvent-solube polyimide resin solution with an appropriate ratio, according to the characteristic of material itself polyamic acid possesses low direct current residue voltage, rubbing resistance,low image sticking, and good printing properties; and a solvent-soluble polyimide possesses the advantages of high voltage holding and low baking temperature, after mixing, it would to promote the electrical properties; however, since the portion of a solvent-soluble polyimide is less rubbing resistance, therefore, it still has serious problems of powder dust and film stripped off etc. In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 5,954,999 discloses a kind of controlling pretilt angle method, in which a long-chain alkyl group is subjected to a solvent-soluble polyimide, the drawback of this method is that since a long-chain alkyl group is not able to give steric hindrance effectively to cause the problems, e.g. the long-chain itself easily rotates, the pretilt angle is unstable, and aligning uniform decreases. Also, the difficulty control the pretilt angle of LC cell is very worried about to.
Hence, the primary object of the present invention is to solve the drawbacks described above. In order to avoid the presence of the drawbacks described above, the present invention is to provide a kind of liquid crystal aligning film composition used for LCD, which is not easily to cause the rubbing injure and powder dust. The other object of the present invention is to provide a kind of liquid crystal aligning film composition used for LCD, which can keep high voltage holding ratio and low charge-accumulation by a direct current voltage.
The other object of the present invention is to provide a kind of liquid crystal aligning film composition used for LCD, which is no image sticking.
The other object of the present invention is to provide a kind of liquid crystal aligning film composition used for LCD, which can fit to the high and/or low pretilt angle for various display application.
The other object of the present invention is to provide a kind of liquid crystal aligning film composition used for LCD, which is easy for the synthetic reaction process.
In order to reach the objects described above, the present invention is referred to that a containing cholesterol structure polyimide resin oligomer (A) and the second reagent (B) are mixed together, through an induced process (C), to produce a thin film for aligning liquid crystal molecule, which can be easily synthesized, has high rubbing resistance, and can fit to the high and/or low pretilt angle for various display application.

Industrial Technology Research Institute


A fault-tolerant code semiconductor memory storage device includes a array of individual multi-level storage devices arranged in a prescribed sequence. A controller is provided for programming the array with sequential data. The controller detects an occurrence of a faulty storage device in the array during a programming of the array with the sequential data. The controller further codes the occurrence of the faulty storage device in a subsequent storage device in the sequence of devices using a fault-tolerant code. A method of fault-tolerant coding of a semiconductor memory storage device is also disclosed.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a semiconductor memory devices, and particularly, to a fault-tolerant method and apparatus for multi-level semiconductor memory arrays.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Large memory arrays suffer from the problem that some devices in the array will be bad, i.e., faulty. As a result, those devices which are bad cannot be correctly programmed. An ability to tolerate faults in a memory array, corresponding to a fault tolerance, would be desirable. A classical solution for providing fault tolerance to such memory arrays has been to add repair columns and/or rows to the array. In other words, redundant columns and/or rows are included in the memory array. A row (or column) containing a bad device can be disabled and a repair row (or column) can be activated to "fill in" for the disabled row (or column). A disadvantage of the use of such a repair row (or repair column) is that each bad device results in an entire row (or column) of devices being disabled. In the case of large memories with a large number rows (e.g. 256) and a large number of columns (e.g. 256), the latter solution of fault tolerance becomes inefficient and expensive.
A multi-level memory array is similar in structure to a typical memory array for non-volatile storage, however, the multi-level memory array is able to store a higher density of data. Storing higher density is achieved by storing between 2 and 8 bits of data for a single memory device of the memory array (i.e., 2-8 bits per single memory cell). For 2-bits of data, 2.sup.2 or 4 levels of charge can be stored per device. For 4-bits of data, 2.sup.4 or 16 levels of charge can be stored per device. Alternatively, for an n-bit storage cell, where n is an integer, 2.sup.n levels of charge can be stored per device.
With respect to multi-level and analog storage, the term multi-level storage refers to the storage, for example, of two bits (corresponding to four storage levels) per memory device in a memory array. Multi-level storage technology has been employed for both Flash-EEPROM, as well as DRAM. Multi-level storage for DRAM is discussed, for example, in the article entitled "A 4-Level Storage 4 Gb DRAM," Tatsunori Murotani et al., ISSCC97, paper TP 4.6, pages 74-75. Multi-level storage can reduce an effective cell size since it allows the storage of multiple voltage levels in a single memory cell functioning as a multi-bit memory. When four levels are stored in a single memory cell, the effective cell size is halved. With respect a multi-level storage DRAM, FIG. 1 illustrates the four-level storage concept (i.e., coding of a 2-bit memory and corresponding levels) in addition to conventional 2-level storage. With the four-level storage concept, a single memory cell stores four levels which corresponds to 2-bit data of "11", "10", "01", and "00". In conventional 2-level storage, the signal charge is one-half the maximum stored charge but in 4-level storage, the signal charge is one-sixth of the maximum stored charge.
Analog storage refers to the storage of more bits per device in a memory array, typically four to eight (4-8) bits (corresponding with 16-256 levels). Analog storage techniques have also been applied to both Flash-EEPROM, EEPROM, and specialized DRAM memories. With an analog flash memory, four to eight (4-8) bits of data can be stored on a single flash storage device, the storage device including, for example, a floating gate MOSFET. An example of a multi-level flash memory is described, for example, in the article "A Multilevel-Cell 32 Mb Flash Memory," M. Bauer et al., ISSCC95, paper TA 7.7, pages 132-133. A flash memory with multilevel cell significantly reduces the memory per-bit cost. For instance, a 32 Mb multilevel cell (MLC) Flash memory storing two bits of data per cell achieves 32 Mb memory storage capacity using 16M Flash memory cells. In MLC operation, the logical Flash memory cell achieves two bits per cell using four possible states, defined by four Flash cell threshold voltage ranges. The relationship between the threshold voltage ranges stored in the Flash memory cell and the corresponding logic levels is shown in FIG. 2. FIG. 2 illustrates a plot of four threshold voltage distributions (Vt), each with a separation range. The threshold voltages of read reference cells (R1, R2, and R3) are placed in the separation ranges between states. During read operations, read reference cells (not shown) are used in a binary search sensing scheme (BSSS). Threshold voltages of program verify reference cells (PV1, PV2, and PV3) are placed at the lower Vt edge of the various states. During program operations, the program verify cells are used to determine the lowest threshold voltage for states 2, 3 and 4. The maximum threshold voltage of state 0 (the erase state) is determined by the threshold voltage of an erase verify cell (EV) used during erase operations. Furthermore, programming of the memory cells to the various states is accomplished using an on-chip algorithm that applies a series of programming pulses to the Flash cell to adjust the threshold voltage by a predetermined amount. Typical threshold voltage distribution width for a state, shown in FIG. 2, is approximately 500 mV. After each program pulse, a program verify is performed by sensing the threshold voltage level of a cell using the BSSS with the program verify reference cells (PV1, PV2, and PV3) replacing the read reference cells (R1, R2, and R3).
In the article "A 3.3V 128 Mb Multi-Level NAND Flash Memory for Mass Storage Applications," Tae-Sung Jung et al., ISSCC96, Paper TP 2.1, pages 32-33, a 128 Mb multi-level NAND flash memory stores two bits per cell by tight programmed cell threshold voltage (Vth) control. Program states have 0.4V Vth distribution and a 0.8V separation gap. Incremental-step pulse programming (ISPP) gives narrower Vth distribution with a smaller stepping voltage. In addition, in the article "A 98 mm.sup.2 3.3V 64 Mb Flash Memory with FN-NOR Type 4-level Cell," Masayoshi Ohkawa et al., ISSCC96, paper TP2.3, pages 36-37, a 64 Mb flash memory with a multi-level cell and 64-memory-cell parallel programming is described. Drain-voltage controlled multilevel programming (DCMP) is used for simultaneous multi-level programming in the flash memory chip. To implement the DCMP, a parallel multi-level verify (PMV) circuit and the compact multi-level sense amplifier (CMS), which enable a 64-memory-cells parallel programming operation (program/program verify), are used. Additional discussion and details may be found in the cited articles, and thus not further discussed herein.
As discussed above, a prescribed number of levels, corresponding to bits of data, can be stored using a single flash storage device of an analog flash memory. Analog flash memory thus allows a significantly denser memory structure than that possible using conventional digital or multi-level memory techniques.
FIG. 3 illustrates a floating gate MOSFET device 10 having a source 12 and drain 14 region formed in a bulk silicon substrate 16. A channel region 18 extends between the source and drain regions. The floating gate MOSFET device 10 further includes a floating gate 20 and a control gate 22 positioned over the channel 18, separated from one another and the bulk silicon via an insulative layer (not shown). An electrical schematic of the floating gate MOSFET device is illustrated in FIG. 4. In addition, an exemplary electrical circuit 30 for use in reading a stored value from the floating gate MOSFET device using conductance is shown in FIG. 4. In the circuit 30 of FIG. 5, an analog-to-digital converter 32 converts an analog value into an appropriate digital value corresponding to the value stored in the floating gate device 34. Circuit 30 further includes an op-amp 36 and a current source 38. Floating gate MOSFET storage devices are known in the art and thus only briefly discussed herein.
Still further, the use of floating gate technology for long-term analog storage is known in the art, for example, as discussed in "Flash-Based Programmable Nonlinear Capacitor for Switched-Capacitor Implementations of Neural Networks," A. Kramer et al., IEDM 94-449, pages 449-452. In addition, an example of an electrically erasable non-volatile memory cell (FLASH EEPROM) designed for use in analog computing devices in the charge domain is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,592,418, assigned to the assignee of the present invention, incorporated herein by reference.
In view of prior methods as discussed above for providing fault tolerance to memory arrays, it would thus be desirable to provide an improved method and apparatus for handling defective devices of a memory array, especially with respect to a sequential access array.

Fault-tolerant codes for multi-level memories


A single-lens reflex camera is provided with a data recording device which comprises a member carrying data to be photographed, a data illuminating optical system, means for directing and focussing data carrying light onto a film and an externally operable light path changing member. The data carrying member carries at least two groups of data positioned in respectively relative horizontal and vertical directions. The data illuminating optical system illuminates similar selected sets of data from the two groups and the light path changing member blocks the light from the selected data set oriented in an undesired direction while allowing the passage of light from the other desirably oriented data set alone to be focussed on the film for data recording. A mechanism is provided for selecting the selected group orientation in response to the camera orientation.

The present invention relates generally to improvements in cameras provided with a data recording device which records on the film such data as a date or the like and it relates more particularly to an improved camera in which the orientation of the image of data to be recorded on the film may be varied relative to the camera.
Data recording devices heretofore used in cameras are invariable in the directional position or orientation of the image of the data to be recorded on the film, the image of the object and the image of the data being matched in directional position only when the camera is held horizontally for photographing. Accordingly, such cameras have the disadvantage in that it is often difficult to read the data recorded on the film, because the image of the data is positioned in horizontal direction while the image of the object is positioned vertically when photographed with a camera held vertically, both images being unmatched in directional position.

Camera provided with a data recording device


A method is provided in one example and includes receiving a request to initiate a communication flow associated with a subscriber and identifying one or more parameters to be monitored for the communication flow. The method further includes extracting one or more bits from packets associated with the communication flow; the bits are used to determine an operating system associated with the communication flow. A policy decision can be executed for the communication flow based on the operating system associated with the communication flow. In more specific examples, the bits are sent to a next destination in response to a threshold being reached for at least one of the parameters. The parameters can be associated a volume parameter or a time parameter. The policy decision could include blocking traffic associated with the subscriber, initiating billing, redirecting the communication, managing a quality of service level for the communication flow, etc.

Networking architectures have grown increasingly complex in communication environments. As the subscriber base of end users increases and/or becomes mobile, proper routing and efficient management of communication sessions and data flows becomes critical. Typically, subscribers seek to access content from various locations in the network. Subscribers may be provided connectivity or services based on some type of policy or agreement that involves a service provider. The service provider relationship commonly dictates the terms under which subscribers operate in the network. The ability to properly manage policies and financial commitments for the subscriber presents a significant challenge to system designers, component manufacturers, network operators, and system administrators.

System and method for reporting packet characteristics in a network environment


A portable device assembly comprising a first housing portion defining a plurality of a snap retention features, a frame that supports electrical components, and a second housing portion secured to the frame with fasteners. The frame has a plurality of snap features that mate with the plurality of snap retention features so as to secure the frame to the first housing portion.

Portable data terminals (PDTs) are a type of data collection device used to collect, interpret, process, and ultimately transfer data to a larger data processing system. PDTs generally comprise a mobile computer, a keypad, and a data acquisition device. The mobile computer generally comprises a hand held (or "pocket") computing device, such as those available from INTEL, PALM, HEWLETT PACKARD, and DELL. Keypads come in a variety of alpha-numeric and numeric configurations. The data acquisition device generally comprises a device that captures data from, for example, radio frequency IDs (RFID), images, and bar codes. Data may also be captured via keypad entry and utilization of a touch pad associated with the mobile computer. PDTs are available from several sources, including HAND HELD PRODUCTS, INC.
PDTs may be ruggedized for use in industrial environments. Such ruggedization may be varied depending on the intended environment—the tougher the environment, the tougher the PDT. For example, a light industrial PDT needs to be robust enough to continue functioning after numerous falls from a height of five feet or less. A major factor affecting the ruggedness of PDTs is how well the internal components are packed within the body of the device. To make a PDT more robust and resistant to damage, internal components such as circuit boards, keypads, and display screens must be packed and secured tightly inside the PDT.
Traditional plastic enclosures generally comprise at least two housing components. At least one of the housing components typically includes a series of molded bosses which may have screw inserts threaded therein. A screw is driven through an opening in one of the housing components into the molded boss or threaded insert thereof) of the other housing component. Issues commonly associated with this process include: ultrasonic assembly control issues, thermal assembly control issues, and insert assembly depth control, etc. . . . Such issues may lead to unsatisfactory performance, e.g. boss failure due to overstress, etc. . . . Furthermore, during assembly (including initial and any reassembly following repair activity) over torquing, boss strip, etc., are common.
Hence, there exists an unsatisfied need for a portable data terminal with a more rugged method of securing the PDT's internal components and a more rugged method of securing the PDT's housing by using a combination of securing methods.

Portable data terminal internal support structure


A heat treatment device including a handling chamber that has a carriers feed in/out opening for carriers holding plural sheets of objects to be treated parallelly vertical, a vertical heat treatment furnace for heat treating the objects and a posture changer for swinging the carriers near the carriers feed in/out opening of the handling chamber on a rotational center into a territory of lower sides of the carriers to change the posture of the objects to be treated from the vertical position to the horizontal position. The heat treatment device also has a carriers storage unit disposed above the posture changing means for storing a plural number of posture changed carriers, conveying device for conveying the carriers between the storage unit and the posture changing device and the heat treatment furnace side. Also, provided is a transferrer for transferring the objects-to-be-treated to/from an objects-to-be-treated holder for loading and unloading into/out of the heat treatment furnace side. The posture changer swings the carriers on the rotational center to sides of the carriers to change the carriers' posture from vertical to horizontal so the carriers have postures changed along a swing track of a minimum radius with small bulge amounts and a minimum moving amount. Thus, a conveying distance and a conveying time for conveying the posture changed carriers to the upper storage unit be reduced, and the heat treatment device can be smaller-sized and have improved processing efficiency.

The present invention relates to a heat treatment method and device.
Semiconductor device fabrication processes generally include steps in which various treatments, such as oxidation, diffusion, CVD, etc. are made on semiconductor wafers, objects to be treated. Various treatment devices have been already proposed from the viewpoint of higher throughputs of such treatment steps, cleanness, space savings, etc. (see, e.g., Japanese Patent Publication No. 27121/1992, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 133422/1992, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 148717/1992, etc.)
The treatment device described in, e.g., Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 148717/1992 has, as shown in FIG. 20, a vertical heat treatment furnace 2 in a box-shaped handling chamber 1, and a carriers feed in/out opening 8 in the front side of the handling chamber 1, through which carriers 7 each holding a plurality of semiconductor wafers W vertical enter and exit the handling chamber 1. In this case, the semiconductor wafers W held vertical in the carriers must be horizontally transferred onto a wafer boat 5 which is an objects-to-be-treated holder to be loaded into and unloaded out of the vertical heat treatment furnace 2. To this end, as shown in FIG. 21, near the carriers feed in/out opening 8 there are provided posture changing mechanisms each comprising a mount 10 for a carrier to be mounted on and which is swung on the rotational center to thereby change the postures of the carrier 7 thereon so that the semiconductors wafer W held on the carrier 7 have its vertical posture and horizontal posture.
The posture changing mechanisms 9 swing the mounts 10 by 90 degrees into empty spaces S1 defined below the mounts 10 to thereby change the posture of the carriers. The thus-posture changed carriers by the posture changing mechanisms 9 are conveyed by conveying mechanisms 51 into an upper accommodation portion in a number necessary for a treatment. The carriers in the accommodation portion are conveyed one by one to the side of the heat treatment furnace, and the semiconductor wafers W in the carriers taken out one by one by a transferring mechanism 52 onto the wafer boat.
In this conventional treatment device, the mounts are swung downward to change the posture of the carriers, and sufficient empty spaces for the mounts to be swung downward is needed. In addition, a sufficient space to keep the conveying mechanisms from interfering with the carriers projecting on the swing along a set swing trajectory when the mounts are swung is needed on the side of the conveying mechanisms. Thus the conventional treatment device has a limit to space saving and accordingly to down-sizing. Long distances of the swing and the conveyance of the carriers make treatment times longer, which is a limit to improvement of throughputs, i.e., efficiency of treatments.
In the handling chamber of the conventional treatment device there are provided a first air cleaning unit which injects clean air let in at the top of the handling chamber from the outside, a second air cleaning unit which draws the clean air injected by the first air cleaning unit and injects the clean air downward along the carrier opening, and a third air cleaning unit which draws the clean air which has been injected by the second air cleaning unit and reached below is drawn through a bottom duct and injects the clean air horizontally from one side wall of the heat treatment furnace to the other side wall thereof, and an exhaust duct which exhausts outside at a back side the clean air which has arrived at the other side wall. An atmosphere in the treatment furnace is thus cleaned to reduce dust, whereby adhesion of particles to the semiconductor wafers W can be suppressed with a result that yields of semiconductor devices which tend to be increasingly micronized can be improved.
But in the conventional treatment device, clean air is several times passed through the air cleaning units, which makes it impossible to sufficiently prevent contamination of semiconductor wafers W by dust. Furthermore, impurity gases of organic compounds, such as boron compounds, etc. generated by the dust removing filters of the air cleaning units tend to increase although in small amounts. Preventive measures to this are needed.
Furthermore, because clean air is uninterruptedly circulated sequentially throughout the handling chamber, it is difficult that an atmosphere in the handling chamber cannot be confined separately in the carriers handling space and in the wafers handling space (objects-to-be-treated handling space) in which the heat treatment furnace is housed, and the semiconductor wafers W are transferred between the carriers and the wafer boat.


A new motion estimation technique is described herein which directly detects the number of bits required to be transmitted to convey the difference between the predicted video data and the current video data, where a fewer number of bits used to convey the difference corresponds to better motion estimation. The search criterion for the best estimate of movement of a block is the minimum number of bits for conveying this difference instead of minimizing the mean squared error (MSE) or mean average difference (MAD). Thus, complex calculations involving MSD or MAD are avoided. The motion estimator of the preferred embodiment uses a look-up table to convert motion compensated difference signals for a block of pels into the number of bits required to be transmitted to convey the difference signals. When it has been determined that a certain estimated displacement of a block would require the fewest number of bits to be transmitted, that displacement is selected as the best estimate, and the corresponding motion vector is transmitted along with a motion compensated difference signal containing the fewest number of bits.

Video signals for transmission typically originate from video cameras. The bandwidth of these non-compressed video signals is substantial and, consequently, numerous attempts have been made to reduce the bandwidth of the signals for transmission without unduly degrading the images. Typically, to reduce bandwidth, the frames of video signals are encoded, and redundancies in consecutive frames of the encoded signals are extracted and deleted. Only the differences between consecutive frames are then transmitted. Various techniques are used in the art depending on the particular application. One of the techniques for further reducing the bandwidth of moving images is generally referred to as motion compensated predictive coding.
FIG. 1 illustrates one type of conventional video coder which utilizes motion compensation. Video signals in digital form are received at input 10. It will be assumed for FIG. 1 that the video data applied to input 10 is in a well known block format wherein blocks of 8.times.8 picture elements (pels) in an image are sequentially applied to input 10. The pels in a block are applied to input 10 in a raster scan type sequence.
A subtractor 12 outputs the difference between the current video signal and a predicted video signal from a predictor 14. Predictor 14 includes a first frame buffer containing the reconstructed previous frame of video data. Thus, the difference between the current video frame applied to input 10 and the predicted video frame outputted from predictor 14 is outputted from subtractor 12. The difference signals for an entire block are then transformed by a processor/quantizer 18 to generate transform coefficients using, for example, discrete-cosine transformation, and the coefficients are then quantized. The quantized coefficients are then encoded by a coder 20 to be in a conventional variable-length type code for additional compression of the video signal. The resulting difference signal is then outputted at output 21 for transmission to a receiver.
Motion estimator 16 compares the current block of video data received at input 10 with the data in a search window of the previous frame (in predictor 14) to identify that region or block of the reconstructed previous frame which the current block most closely resembles. The search window (e.g., 16.times.16 pels) takes into account the anticipated worst-case motion of a block from one frame to another. The search window is centered at the same location in the previous frame as the current block location in the current frame. Within this search window, the pels of the current block are successively compared to other pels in a block within the search window to find a matching block. The shift of the current block which gives the best match to the corresponding block in the previous frame is deemed to be the best estimate of the displacement of the block between frames. This best estimate is usually determined based on a mean squared error (MSE) or mean absolute difference (MAD) criteria. The amount of this best estimate shift, called the motion vector, is then transmitted to the receiver/decoder.
This motion vector is also applied to the address generator controlling the addressing of the first frame buffer in predictor 14 so that the block of pels outputted by predictor 14 corresponds to the displaced block of pels applied to input 10. Thus, the pels outputted by predictor 14 are motion compensated before being compared with the incoming block of pels, thereby making the predictor 14 output a better prediction of the current frame. This results in the difference outputted by subtractor 12 being, on average, smaller, and permits the coder 20 to encode the picture using a lower bit rate than would otherwise be the case.
Motion estimator 16 may, instead of performing block-matching motion estimation, use a well-known pel recursive technique, which generates motion vectors to minimize the prediction error at each pel. This is more computationally intensive than the block-matching technique.
After the motion vector and coded difference signal are transmitted, the receiver then updates the previous frame (already stored at the receiver) using the transmitted motion vector and difference signal. Two frame buffers at the receiver may be needed to avoid altering search windows for neighboring blocks in the previous frame. One frame buffer would contain the previous frame, and the other frame buffer would store the motion compensated data.
The difference signal outputted by processor/quantizer 18 is also fed back to a second frame buffer in either predictor 14 or motion estimator 16 through an inverse processor/quantizer 22 and adder 24. The output of adder 24 is the motion compensated predicted frame in the first frame buffer plus the difference signal. Thus, the second frame buffer in predictor 14 or motion estimator 16 now stores essentially the current frame of the video image (identical to that stored at the receiver), while the first frame buffer still stores the previous frame.
For the next frame applied to input 10, the functions of the second frame buffer (now storing the previous frame) and the first frame buffer are reversed, so that the second frame buffer outputs blocks of pels to subtractor 12. The above-described block-matching process is then repeated for the next frame.
If a determination is made that the pels of the block have not changed as compared with the previous frame (which is usually the case), a signal is transmitted which signifies to the receiver/decoder that it needs to merely repeat the pels of that block from the previous frame to obtain the pels for the current block.
The primary goal of a video coder is to minimize the resultant transmitted bit rate of a video signal. Thus, a criterion for determining whether the motion estimator 16 has identified the best estimate for the movement of the block being analyzed is the entropy of the displaced block-difference, given a certain constraint on the block-difference quantization distortion. In other words, the better the motion estimate by motion estimator 16, the smaller the number of bits resulting from encoding the block difference, given a certain constraint on the quantization distortion generated.
The above "best estimate" techniques performed by conventional motion estimators are relatively complex and fairly expensive to implement as an integrated circuit. This complex circuitry frequently requires the motion estimator to be formed as a separate integrated circuit, thus amounting to about one-half of the video coder. What is needed is a motion estimation method and structure which uses as much conventional circuitry (and algorithms) as possible but which results in a less expensive, smaller, and simpler video coder/decoder (codec) having motion estimation.

Motion estimation with bit rate criterion


A magnetic jumper for bypassing electrical circuits. The jumper includes a magnet at each end of a wire. Each magnet can be attached to a terminal of a low voltage electrical circuit in order to bypass that circuit for testing and troubleshooting purposes. The magnetic jumper works with almost any terminal that has steel screws.

Alligator clip jumpers are used today to clip onto terminals in order to bypass electrical circuits for testing and troubleshooting purposes. Alligator clips have several disadvantages. They pop off easily and cannot be clipped onto recessed terminals as are found on thermostat sub-bases, for example.
Also known in the prior art is a test lead for a meter, the test lead having only one magnetic end, in a flush configuration. This lead also cannot be used with recessed terminals.
No jumpers having magnets at both ends are known to exist in the prior art, and no prior art jumpers suitable for use with recessed terminals are known to exist.

Magnetic jumper for bypassing electrical circuits


A dampening assembly for a printing press has its components including the water tray, fountain roller and ancillary parts mounted on a frame which is supported from the press frame by means of parallel arms. A piston or comparable device is used to swing the arms about their pivotal connections to the machine frame so as to swing the dampening assembly between an operative elevated position and a lower laterally displaced servicing position to provide access to the interior of the press for quick change-over of the printing plate and for maintenance. The supporting arms are shaped and dimensioned so as to remain parallel to one another as the assembly is moved between its two positions, thereby to maintain the assembly frame and particularly the water tray thereon substantially horizontal to avoid spillage of water.

This invention relates to a roller dampening assembly for an offset printing press. It relates more particularly to an assembly of this type which can easily be moved away from its contacting plate cylinder to an accessible location to permit quick plate change-over for successive jobs and servicing of the plate cylinder and other ancillary press parts and to facilitate maintenance of the dampening assembly.
Offset presses require a dampening assembly to moisten the surface of the press plate cylinder. There are many different types of dampening systems used on offset printing presses. A typical dampening assembly includes a rotating water fountain roller which picks up water from a fountain pan and transfers it as a film to an adjacent contacting metering roller which, in turn, applies a water film of the desired thickness to an ink and water roller. That roller also receives ink from a contacting ink roller and transfers ink and water films to the print cylinder. The water adheres to the "no print" areas of the print cylinder while the ink which is hydrophobic adheres to the "print" areas thereof. The printed matter on the cylinder is thereupon transferred to a blanket cylinder which contacts the web to be printed. Of course, there are other types of dampeners using ductors which apply moisture to plate cylinder rather than to an ink and water roller.
In a vertical press, the paper moves vertically and printing cylinders and rollers are located on both sides of the web path. This configuration results in the dampener assembly blocking access to the plate cylinder. Thus, for plate change-over to run different jobs, the operator is required to go under the plate cylinder and dampener assembly. This makes the plate change-over time-consuming and inefficient.
In order to allow access for plate change-over, the dampening assembly has heretofore been mounted on rollers permitting it to be rolled out laterally from the press. Such roll-out dampening assemblies tend to be relatively expensive. Also space must be available to accommodate the rolled out assembly. Finally those prior assemblies have various components which are prone to wear. This not only increases maintenance down time but also creates tolerance problems which make it more difficult to properly position the dampening assembly at its operative location in the press.


A circuit board film-plated against corrosion of conductive traces comprises a substrate, at least one conductive circuit layer attached to the substrate, at least one plating film attached to a surface of the conductive circuit layer away from the substrate, and a covering film. Each of the at least one plating film comprises a surface away from the conductive circuit layer, and at least one side surface. The circuit board defines at least one through hole. Each of the at least one through hole passes through substrate, conductive circuit layer, and the plating film. The covering film covers the conductive circuit layer, the side surface of the plating film, and the through hole. The film-covered conductive circuit layer and the film-covered side surface of the plating film cannot be corroded. A method for making the circuit board is also provided.

Circuit board includes a copper conductive circuit layer, and a plating film attached to the copper conductive circuit layer. The plating film includes a nickel layer attached to the copper conductive circuit layer, and a gold layer attached to the nickel layer. The plating film can have fractured surface. Sometimes the fractured surface exposes the copper conductive circuit layer, the nickel layer, and the gold layer. When the fractured surface is exposed in a damp H2S gas atmosphere, the copper will react with the H2S as follows: H2SH++HS−, Cu+O2→Cu2+O, Cu2+O+H2S→Cu2S↓+H2O, Cu2+O+O2→CuO, CuO+H2S→CuS↓+H2O, thus the copper conductive circuit layer will be corroded. Galvanic cell effect can occur at the interface of gold and nickel, and an interface of nickel and copper, to cause the nickel layer and the copper conductive circuit layer to corrode, thus the gold layer will fall off. Thus a new circuit board in which the nickel layer and the copper conductive circuit layer cannot be corroded is preferred.

Circuit board and method for making the same

HongQiSheng Precision Electronics (QinHuangDao) Co


A method and apparatus for calibrating the output signal of a linear position detector without accessing the interior of the detector housing is provided. According to one exemplary embodiment, a magnet is selectively movable toward and away from the exterior of the electronics housing, and a sensor is provided within the housing for sensing the presence of the magnet. According to this embodiment, the linear position detector is calibrated by setting a movable marker at the desired position and pushing the magnet toward the housing. The sensor then detects the presence of the magnet, and a processor saves the position of the marker as a reference point. All future positions of the marker can then be scaled based upon the reference point. Thus, the linear position detector can be calibrated without the need for opening the electronics housing and potentially exposing the electronics components to moisture, contaminants, and/or static electricity. Preferably, the magnet is connected to a push button on a base, and the base includes an attachment mechanism, such as a clip for example, to attach the base to the position detector.

A magnetostrictive linear position detector typically includes a magnetostrictive waveguide wire which is housed in a protective waveguide housing about which a magnet is slidingly engaged. A current pulse is sent through a wire near the waveguide (or through the waveguide itself), and this pulse interacts with the magnetic energy of the magnet to induce a torsional strain wave in the magnetostrictive waveguide at the location of the magnet. The strain wave travels along the length of the waveguide and passes through a mode convertor, such as a pickup coil, which converts the mechanical wave into an electrical signal. To obtain the location of the magnet, the time between the transmission of the current pulse and the reception of the signal from the coil can be measured and converted to a distance, because the speed that the torsional wave will travel along the waveguide is known. Accordingly, when the magnet is connected to a movable mass, such as a liquid level quantity in a storage tank, or a movable element in a machine tool for example, the exact position of the mass can be measured and monitored.
In more advanced magnetostrictive linear position detectors, the ability to set reference points along the measurement stroke is provided. For example, in some such sensors, the magnet can be positioned at any location along the waveguide housing, and a button or buttons can be pressed to save the current position of the magnet in memory so that this position can be used as a reference point. In some systems, the output signal to be provided at this reference point car be assigned, such as by manipulating the programming buttons. Additional reference points can also be assigned and utilized in a similar manner.
Such calibration systems allow the output of the transducer to be changed from the original setup provided by the manufacturer. For example, while the manufacturer might configure the transducer to provide a 0 volt output when the magnet is at one end of the waveguide housing and a 10 volt output when at the opposite end, the ultimate user of the transducer may desire different settings. With such a calibration system, the user could assign any possible voltage output to any of the possible magnet positions. For example, the user may wish that a position 2 inches (50.8 mm) from the first end provides a 0 volt output, and that a position 3 inches (76.2 mm) from the opposite end provides a 10 volt output. By using such a calibration system, these reference points can be assigned the desired outputs. Once the reference points are assigned, the system can then be set up to scale all subsequent magnet positions based upon the reference points.
Accordingly, the programmability or adjustability of reference points allow the user to customize the sensor to provide the desired output range over the desired measurement stroke. Thus, a reference point can be, for example, an endpoint of the stroke.
However, such calibration systems are not without disadvantages. For example, such systems can expose the electronics to potential damage. More specifically, to access the programming buttons, screws or other covers on the electronics housing must be removed, and the buttons can then be depressed by extending a pin or screw driver through the resulting access openings. However, providing such access openings, even when sealed off by screws and the like, can compromise the ability of the housing to seal off moisture and other contaminates which can damage the delicate electronic components inside. In many applications, an excellent watertight seal is required, such an IP67 rated seal, and access openings generally diminish the ability of the housing to achieve and maintain such a seal.
Moreover, if the screw or cover is lost or is not properly replaced over the access opening after the desired programming has been conducted, the seal is again compromised or lost. In addition, the device used to depress the programming buttons, such as a screwdriver, pin, or finger, can carry electrostatic charge which can itself damage electronic components within the housing.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a system and method for calibrating a linear position detector which does not affect the ability of the transducer's electronics housing to protect against undesirable ambient and external moisture, contaminates, and electrostatic discharge, and which does not require opening and closing or other physical access through the housing for programming the detector.

Method and apparatus for calibrating the output signal of a linear position detector


A light emitting panel according to this embodiment includes a plurality of light emitting modules, and the plurality of light emitting modules each include: a first insulation film that is light transmissive; a second insulation film which is disposed so as to face the first insulation film, and which is light transmissive; a conductive layer formed on at least either one of the first insulation film or the second insulation film; and a plurality of light emitting elements which is disposed between the first insulation film and the second insulation film, is disposed so as to form a predetermined pattern, and is connected to the conductive layer.

In recent years, reduction of an energy consumption amount is becoming important. In view of such a background, Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) that have relatively little power consumption are getting attention as a next-generation light source. LEDs are small, have a little heat generation amount, and have an excellent response. Hence, LEDs are widely applied for various optical apparatuses. For example, in recent years, a module that has a light source which is LEDs disposed on a flexible and light transmissive substrate has been proposed.
It is difficult to densely dispose LEDs in comparison with pixels of a liquid crystal, etc. Moreover, when the LEDs are disposed on a light transmissive substrate, a constraint for wiring increases. Accordingly, in order to express various patterns using LEDs mounted on a light transmissive substrate, a devisal is necessary.

Light emitting panel comprising a plurality of light emitting modules