A method is provided for fabricating an MOS transistor. The method includes providing a semiconductor substrate; forming a metal gate structure; and forming a source region and a drain region. The method also includes forming a contact-etch-stop layer; forming an interlayer dielectric layer on the contact-etch-stop layer and the metal gate structure; and forming a first opening in the interlayer dielectric layer with a portion of the sidewall spacer and the contact-etch-stop layer left on the bottom. Further, forming a first contact hole in the interlayer dielectric layer by removing the portion of the sidewall spacer and the contact-etch-stop layer. Further, the method also includes forming a first conductive via in the first contact hole.

With the development of integrated circuit (IC) technology, the integration degree of semiconductor devices has been consistently increasing, and the size of the semiconductor devices has become smaller and smaller. In order to lower the parasitic capacitances of the gate of MOS transistors and increase the device speed, high-K metal gate (HKMG) structures have been introduced in the MOS transistors. Conductive vias may often be used in the MOS transistors to form electrical interconnection structures. The conductive vias may usually be formed in source regions, drain regions and/or the surfaces of the HKMG structures. However, the size of the conductive vias may be difficult to further decrease because of process limitations, which may limit further size decreasing of the source regions, the drain regions, and the HKMG structures. Therefore, the integration degree of semiconductor devices may be unable to continuously increase.
In order to increase the integration degree, a shared via structure, i.e., the drain region and the HKMG structure share a same conductive via, has been developed. The shared via structure may reduce the size of the drain region and the HKMG structure.
FIGS. 1˜5 show semiconductor structures corresponding to certain stages of an existing fabrication process for forming an MOS transistor with a shared conductive via structure.
As shown in FIG. 1, a semiconductor substrate 10 is provided, and an HKMG structure 20 sequentially having a gate dielectric layer 21, a metal gate 22, and a sidewall 23 is formed on the semiconductor substrate 10. Further, a source region 30 and a drain region 40 are formed in the semiconductor substrate 10 at both sides of the HKMG structure 20. Further, a contact-hole-etch-stop layer 50 may be formed on the surface of the source region 30, the surface of the drain region 40 and the surface of the HKMG structure 20. Further, an interlayer dielectric layer 60 may be formed on the contact-hole-etch stop layer 50.
When the metal gate 22 is formed, because the metal may unlikely to avoid oxygen in the air, a metal oxide layer may be formed on the top of the metal gate 22 (not shown). The metal oxide layer may need to be removed before subsequently forming a conductive via.
Further, as shown in FIG. 2, a first contact hole 70 may be formed by etching the interlayer dielectric layer 60 and the contact-hole-etch-stop layer 50.
Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the metal oxide layer (not shown) on the top of the metal gate 22 may be removed by an argon sputter process. Because a metal silicide layer (not shown) may be formed on the drain region 40; and the metal silicide layer may protect the drain region 40 during the argon ion sputter process. Therefore, after removing the metal oxide layer by the argon sputter process, a portion of the semiconductors substrate 10 at the bottom of the HKMG structure 20 may be removed, and a depression 11 may be formed.
Further, as shown in FIG. 4, a second contact hole 80 may be formed by etching the interlayer dielectric layer 60 and the contact-hole-etch-stop layer 50.
Further, as shown in FIG. 5, a first conductive via 75 and a second conductive via 85 may be formed in the first contact hole 70 and the second contact hole 80, respectively, by filling the first hole 70 and the second hole 80 with a metal material. The first conductive via 75 is a shared via shared by the metal gate 22 and the drain region 40.
Referring to FIGS. 4-5, because the first conductive via 75 may penetrate into the semiconductor substrate 10 because of the existing of the depression 11, the distance between the source region 30 and the drain region 40 may be reduced, and it may be easy to generate a leakage current. Thus, the MOS transistor formed by the existing method may have a relatively large leakage current. The disclosed device structures and methods are directed to solve one or more problems set forth above and other problems.

MOS transistors and fabrication method thereof

SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING INTERNATIONAL (SHANGHAI) CORPORATION


The present invention relates to therapeutic compositions for treating or preventing obesity and obesity-related disorders in a subject using immunotherapy to target and eliminate adipocytes.

Obesity is a major public health problem in the United States and western countries and is associated with cardiovascular, endocrine and musculoskeletal disorders in humans. One cause of obesity is the accumulation of lipid material in adipocytes and this accumulation is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
Currently, no treatment for obesity exists that directly targets and eliminates adipocytes. Existing treatments for obesity rely on diet to reduce caloric intake and fat accumulation in adipocytes, drugs that reduce appetite, or exercise programs that accelerate metabolic rate. As the failure rate of current treatments is high, it is desirable to identify new ways of treating obesity.

The United States of America, as represented by the Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services


A method is provided for detecting and correcting improper operation of a lighting system including a solid state lighting load. The method includes detecting first and second values of a phase angle of a dimmer connected to a power converter driving the solid state lighting load, the first and second values corresponding to consecutive half cycles of an input mains voltage signal, and determining a difference between the first and second values. When the difference is greater than a difference threshold, indicating asymmetric waveforms of the input mains voltage signal, a selected corrective action is implemented.

Digital or solid state lighting technologies, i.e., illumination based on semiconductor light sources, such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs), offer a viable alternative to traditional fluorescent, high-intensity discharge (HID), and incandescent lamps. Functional advantages and benefits of LEDs include high energy conversion and optical efficiency, durability, lower operating costs, and many others. Recent advances in LED technology have provided efficient and robust full-spectrum lighting sources that enable a variety of lighting effects in many applications.
Some of the fixtures embodying these sources feature a lighting module, including one or more LEDs capable of producing white light and/or different colors of light, e.g., red, green and blue, as well as a controller or processor for independently controlling the output of the LEDs in order to generate a variety of colors and color-changing lighting effects, for example, as discussed in detail in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,016,038 and 6,211,626. LED technology includes line voltage powered luminaires, such as the ESSENTIALWHITE series, available from Philips Color Kinetics. Such luminaires may be dimmable using trailing edge dimmer technology, such as electric low voltage (ELV) type dimmers for 120VAC or 220VAC line voltages (or input mains voltages).
Many lighting applications make use of dimmers. Conventional dimmers work well with incandescent (bulb and halogen) lamps. However, problems occur with other types of electronic lamps, including compact fluorescent lamp (CFL), low voltage halogen lamps using electronic transformers and solid state lighting (SSL) lamps, such as LEDs and OLEDs. Low voltage halogen lamps using electronic transformers, in particular, may be dimmed using special dimmers, such as ELV type dimmers or resistive-capacitive (RC) dimmers, which work adequately with loads that have a power factor correction (PFC) circuit at the input.
Conventional dimmers typically chop a portion of each waveform of the input mains voltage signal and pass the remainder of the waveform to the lighting fixture. A leading edge or forward-phase dimmer chops the leading edge of the voltage signal waveform. A trailing edge or reverse-phase dimmer chops the trailing edges of the voltage signal waveforms. Electronic loads, such as LED drivers, typically operate better with trailing edge dimmers.
Unlike incandescent and other resistive lighting devices which respond naturally without error to a chopped sine wave produced by a phase chopping dimmer, LEDs and other solid state lighting loads may incur a number of problems when placed on such phase chopping dimmers, such as low end drop out, triac misfiring, minimum load issues, high end flicker, and large steps in light output. Some problems involve compatibility among components of the lighting system, such as the phase chopping dimmers and the solid state lighting load drivers (e.g., power converters), and exhibit corresponding symptoms that result in undesirable flicker in the light output. The flicker is typically caused by a lack of uniformity among the chopped sine waves of the rectified input mains voltage signal, where the waveforms are asymmetrical.
For example, FIG. 1A shows waveforms of an unrectified input mains voltage signal input to a phase chopping dimmer, where the unrectified input mains voltage signal has periodically occurring positive and negative half cycles. FIG. 1B shows chopped waveforms of the rectified input mains voltage signal output from the dimmer, where the dimming level is about 50 percent, as indicated by the relative position of the dimmer slider. More particularly, FIG. 1B shows a scenario in which the dimmer and the solid state lighting load driver are functioning correctly, and thus provide substantially uniform rectified chopped sine waves corresponding to the positive and negative half cycles. That is, the dimmed rectified input mains voltage signal has symmetrical chopping of both the positive and negative half cycles of the unrectified input mains voltage.
In contrast, FIG. 1C shows chopped waveforms of the rectified input mains voltage signal output from the dimmer, where the dimmer and the solid state lighting load driver are functioning incorrectly, and thus provide non-uniform rectified chopped sine waves. That is, the dimmed rectified input mains voltage signal has asymmetrical chopping of the positive and negative half cycles of the unrectified input mains voltage. This asymmetrical presentation in the chopped waveforms of the rectified input mains voltage signal results in flickering in the light output at the solid state lighting load.
The improper operation may result from multiple possible problems. One problem is insufficient load current passing through the dimmer's internal switch. The dimmer derives its internal timing signals based on the current going through the solid state lighting load. Because solid state lighting load may be a small fraction of an incandescent load, the current drawn through the dimmer may not be sufficient to ensure correct operation of the internal timing signals. Another problem is that the dimmer may derive its internal power supply, which keeps its internal circuits operating, via the current drawn through the load. When the load is not sufficient, the internal power supply of the dimmer may drop out, causing the asymmetries in the waveforms.
Thus, there is a need in the art to detect improper operation of lighting system components, such as the dimmer and/or the solid state lighting load driver, and to identify and implement corrective action to correct the improper operation and/or remove power to the solid state lighting load, to eliminate undesirable effects, such as light flicker.

Method and apparatus for detecting and correcting improper dimmer operation


Method and apparatus for conducting regional gravity surveys, comprising a gravimeter module suspended below a helicopter and adapted to be lowered to the earth's surface for generating gravimeter readings. The gravimeter module includes an automatic reading gravimeter sensor and a mechanism for self-levelling of the sensor. A ground contact sensor is provided for determining when the gravimeter module contacts the earth's surface as a result of being lowered thereto and for determining when the gravimeter module ceases contacting the earth's surface as a result of being raised therefrom. The ground contact sensor generates a time marker indicative of these events. A GPS receiver is mounted in fixed relationship with the helicopter for generating periodic position coordinates. A system is provided for receiving and recording the subsurface gravimeter readings, the periodic position coordinates, and the time marker on a common time base. The system further includes circuitry for calculating the position coordinates of the gravimeter module when the gravimeter module contacts the earth's surface and when the module ceases contacting the earth's surface, by means of interpolating between respective values of the periodic position coordinates at the generated time markers.

Gravimetry is a well known method of mapping subsurface geology utilizing potential fields, for resource development purposes. Although gravimetry is well known in the art, its application and use to date have been restricted by cost considerations relating to the cost of determining station elevation. Gravimeter measurements, per se, are largely meaningless unless accompanied by an accurate determination of the relative elevation of each station. To be consistent with the accuracy of modern first order gravimeters such as those manufactured by Scintrex Limited or La Coste, the determination of station elevation traditionally requires the application of optical levelling. Optical levelling is a slow process and is costly for determining the elevation of widely spaced stations (eg. 1 km or more apart), or when applied in rugged or forested areas. By way of contrast, gravimeter readings themselves are fast, typically requiring only 2-3 minutes per station, and they constitute only a minor portion of the total survey cost where optical levelling is employed. Other means of determining station elevation, such as the use of micro-barometric altimeters, result in much lower accuracy (typically .+-.1 m to .+-.3 m in elevation, equivalent to .+-.0.03 mGals to .+-.1 mGals in gravity).
Recent developments in the design of differential GPS (Global Positioning System) receivers has resulted in the ability to obtain high accuracy gravimeter station elevation calculations. For example, Fetherstone and Dentith, "Matters of Gravity: The Search for Gold", GPS World, July 1994, have shown that a standard deviation (SD) of a measurement of 2.2 cm can be realized by such means. In terms of speed and cost, this represents a major advance in the field of gravity surveying where the stations are more than 500 m apart.
The use of helicopters to transport and position gravimeter crews has also been well known in the art for several decades. The efficiency of this practice, however, relies heavily on the availability of suitable landing sites which are conveniently located in proximity to the desired station locations. This, unfortunately, is not always the case, particularly where the stations are located in rugged topography, water covered or in marshland, in closely spaced tree cover, etc. In some areas, there are prohibitions against landing, due to hazards or to protect delicate environmental biosystems, etc.

Method and apparatus for regional gravity surveys using a GPS receiver


A trigger mechanism includes a trigger assembly having a trigger nose and a preparator. A hammer includes a striking end. The hammer pivots about a hammer pivot between a cocked position of the hammer and a firing position of the hammer. The trigger assembly is mounted for movement between a charged stage, a partially discharged stage, and a fully discharged stage. The trigger nose is engaged to the hammer holding the hammer in the cocked position, in the charged stage. The trigger nose is released from the hammer, and the preparator is engaged to the hammer holding the hammer in the cocked position, in the partially discharged stage. The preparator is released from the hammer, in the fully discharged stage.

There are numerous trigger mechanisms capable of being locked in safe, semi-automatic, burst, and fully automatic operation. Different variations of rifles will allow some or all of the various modes of operation. Selector mechanisms have been developed for use with the trigger mechanisms to select between some or all of the various modes.
In firearms limited to safe and semi-automatic modes of operation, one of the drawbacks to the trigger mechanism occurs when the hammer is returned to the cocked position by the bolt carrier. After firing a round, the bolt carrier moves rearwardly, contacting the hammer and pivoting the hammer backwards into the cocked position. This action results in the sear hook at the striking end of the hammer directly striking the hammer-receiving surface of the disconnector and transferring energy to an operator's finger upon the trigger in the form of a sharp snap or forward movement of the trigger. After repeated firings of the weapon, this trigger snap can begin to cause bruising or other injury to the finger, making continued firing uncomfortable.
Another drawback to the trigger mechanism occurs after firing when the trigger nose resets into the trigger notch of the hammer to prevent forward motion of the hammer preparatory to firing by another trigger pull, where there is a substantial pause as the hammer travels rearwardly from the cocked position, to the past-cocked position, and then forwardly to the cocked position preparatory to firing by another trigger pull. This pause inherently limits the speed of repeated trigger pulls in the semi-automatic mode of operation, which, for many competitive shooters, is not satisfactory.
A further drawback to the trigger mechanism occurs during the pull of the trigger to initiate the firing of a round. In conventional trigger mechanisms, the pull of the trigger occurs in one, uncontrolled stroke. The trigger snap that inherently occurs during the trigger pull can compromise aim and lead to missed shots, especially when shooting at targets that at long distances downrange.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for trigger mechanisms that limit trigger snap and that improves the trigger-to-hammer reset between trigger pulls in the semi-automatic mode of operation, and that provides a staged trigger pull for providing a controlled trigger pull for improving accuracy downrange.


A method of interpreting data in a first version of a data structure, the method comprising determining if the first version of the data structure is different to a currently used version of the data structure; and if the versions are different, then for each field of the currently used version of the data structure, determining if a corresponding field is present in the first version of the data structure; and if not, adding data to the field in the currently used version of the data structure according to interpretation rules.

In a distributed system, two entities can communicate with each other using data structures. That is, for example, one of the entities constructs a block of data in which information is arranged in a predefined structure. This block of data is then sent to the other entity, which then interprets the information in the block of data. The entities may comprise, for example, processes in a distributed system that are using inter-process communication (IPC) techniques to communicate with each other.
One of the entities may undergo a version change that also changes the version of the data structure that it constructs and/or interprets. The other entity must therefore also undergo a version change so that both of the entities use the same version of the data structure for undisrupted communication.
It is an object of embodiments of the invention to at least mitigate one or more of the problems of the prior art.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP


This invention allows recording of moving images with a large number of pixels and high frame rate while suppressing the circuit scale and power consumption. A first processing circuit encodes a frame acquired from an image capturing device, records the resultant encoded data in a recording medium at a recording position received from a second processing circuit, and transmits a relevant data amount to the second processing circuit. The second processing circuit encodes a frame obtained from the image capturing device, records the resultant encoded data in the recording medium at a recording position determined in prior recording processing, determines a recording position for the first processing circuit, and transmits the determined recording position to the first processing circuit. Upon receiving information showing a data amount, the second processing circuit updates a recording position based on the received data amount.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an imaging apparatus that captures moving images.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, digital cameras and other imaging apparatuses are known that capture moving images and record the captured moving images in a recording medium such as a memory card (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-101835). In recent years, some consumer digital cameras can capture moving images with a large number of pixels. Furthermore, a frame rate of captured moving images (the number of frames per unit time) is increasing.
With an increase in the number of pixels and the frame rate of captured moving images, a data amount to be processed per unit time increases; this makes it necessary to process moving image data at a speed faster than ever.
Improvements in the processing ability for moving image data require a memory that has a large storage capacity and can be accessed at high speed, and a processing circuit that can process moving image data at a higher speed, such as a microcomputer.
However, the use of these high-performance memory and microcomputer leads to an increase in the circuit scale and the power consumption. Especially, with regard to consumer digital cameras, there is demand for a reduction in size and cost as well as maximum suppression of the power consumption, and therefore a high-performance memory and microcomputer cannot be used in some cases. This gives rise to the problem that moving images with a large number of pixels and a high frame rate cannot be captured.


A method and a device for measuring the dimensions of a constant velocity joint. In the method, for example, the cylindrical part of an outer member with a specified offset value is supported on the support part of a dimension measuring device for the outer member. On the other hand, a holding bar is inserted into a recessed part formed in the shaft part of the outer member. In this case, balls installed at the tip of the support part are inserted into the ball grooves of the cylindrical part. In this state, a rotating member is rotated to bring a probe into contact with the inside wall of the cylindrical part. The measurement core of a micro gauge is displaced according to the displacement of the probe, and the amount of the displacement thereof is displayed as the amount of the variation of the needle of the micro gauge.

FIG. 8 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a Barfield-type constant velocity universal joint (hereinafter referred to as "constant velocity universal joint") 10 which has heretofore been known. The constant velocity universal joint 10 has an outer member 12, an inner member 14, and rolling balls 16 interposed between the outer member 12 and the inner member 14.
The outer member 12 has a shank 18 and an open tubular member 20. The tubular member 20 has six angularly equally spaced ball grooves 22a through 22f defined in a curved inner wall surface thereof.
The inner member 14 is held by a retainer 24 and inserted in the tubular member 20. As shown in FIG. 9, the inner member 14 has as many inner ball grooves 26a through 26f as the number of the ball grooves 22a through 22f in the outer member 12, the inner ball grooves 26a through 26f being defined in a curved outer circumferential surface of the inner member 14 which projects radially outwardly. The inner member 14 also has a through hole 27 defined therein which extends from one end to the other end thereof. A drive shaft DS is fitted in the through hole 27.
The retainer 24 has windows 28 defined therein which extend from an inner wall surface to an outer wall surface thereof. The rolling balls 16 are accommodated respectively in the windows 28 and are inserted in the ball grooves 22a through 22f in the outer member 12 and the inner ball grooves 26a through 26f in the inner member 14.
If the central line L of the constant velocity universal joint 10 and a line drawn from the center of one of the balls 16 toward the central line L vertically cross each other at a point C, then it is ideal that the point A at the center of curvature (r) of the inner ball grooves 26a through 26f and the point B at the center of curvature (R) of the ball grooves 22a through 22f are spaced from the point C respectively, by equal distances, i.e., AC=BC is satisfied, or in other words, the point A and the point B are offset from the point C respectively, by equal distances. The point A is referred to as the center of a spherical inner surface, and the point C as the center of ball grooves.
The dimensions of inner members 14 that are successively produced by forging are not necessarily identical to each other, but tend to vary from reference values. Stated otherwise, AC=BC may not necessarily be satisfied.
Therefore, it is customary, for example, to measure the distances from an end surface of the inner member 14 (a surface facing a closed end surface in the tubular member 20 of the outer member 12) to the point A and the point B, and select the inner member 14 as a proper inner member if the measured distances fall within preset allowable ranges and select the inner member 14 as an improper inner member if the measured distances fall outside of the preset allowable ranges. Patent documents 1, 2 propose dimension measuring apparatus for use in such measurements.
The selecting process is also carried out in processes subsequent to the forging process, e.g., in a heating process and when a machining process such as a cutting process is finished.
A plurality of outer members 12 are also successively produced by forging. Consequently, as with the inner members 14, the dimensions of the outer members 12 are not necessarily identical to each other, but somewhat vary from reference values. It is also customary, after the forging process, the heating process, and the cutting process, etc. are finished, to measure the distances a, b from the closed end surface in the tubular member 20 to the point B and the point C, as shown in FIG. 8, subtract the distance a from the distance b to calculate an offset, and select the outer member 12 as a proper outer member if the offset falls in a preset allowable range and select the outer member 12 as an improper outer member if the offset falls outside of the preset allowable range.
Known apparatus for measuring the dimensions of outer members are described in Patent documents 3, 4 in addition to Patent document 1.
Patent document 1: Japanese Laid-Open Utility Model Publication No. 57-68505;
Patent document 2: Japanese Laid-Open Utility Model Publication No. 56-97701;
Patent document 3: Japanese Laid-Open Utility Model Publication No. 58-6205; and
Patent document 4: Japanese Laid-Open Utility Model Publication No. 56-169202.

Method and device for measuring dimension of constant velocity joint


Portable hybrid applications for AC/DC load sharing includes circuitry for simultaneously using at least one of external AC, internal DC power and/or external DC power. The apparatus also includes an input power receptacle for receiving at least one of AC power and external DC power. A power router inside the apparatus routes at least one of AC power, internal DC power, and external DC power to provide power for an application. An apparatus for providing DC to DC conversion includes a tip and a DC to DC whip connected to the tip. A male plug is connected to the second end of the whip. A buck converter within the male plug converts DC power to a DC power level associated with the whip and transmits the converted DC power along the DC to DC whip to the tip. Alternatively, an internal DC source provides internal DC power.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to applications of portable AC/DC power sharing. In particular, the present invention relates to methods and apparatuses for incorporating and using AC/DC power sharing in portable devices/products, such as being provided and embedded in laptop computers, handheld electronic devices, camping, recreational and marine products, or as provided and embedded in an appliance, such as personal desktop computers, work space desks and cubicles, microwave ovens, dehumidifiers, exterior landscape lighting or interior lighting, etc. For example, the present invention may relate to a DC hybrid environment which permits DC sources of renewable energy to be plugged into a home office, allowing for the DC distributed generation resource to be used in preference to AC grid-supplied power, in concert with back-up power as in a UPS.
2. Description of the Related Art
Office modules and office cubicles are most commonly used in conjunction with computer and other electronic equipment. Both communications and power lines are required to operate such equipment. Although the equipment itself is intrinsically DC, only AC power inputs are supplied to these modules.
The prior art illustrates some efforts to pre-wire these office modules for distribution of AC power and communications lines.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,595,495 of Johnson speaks to low voltage control of AC power in office partitions and wall systems.
Additionally, a control system for office equipment is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,289,365 of Caldwell et al.
Furthermore, U.S. Pat. No. 5,164,609 of Poppe describes a controllable power distribution system capable of supplying switched power to an individual work station or to an entire office.
Additionally, Mobility Electronics, Inc. of Scottsdale Ariz. provides buck converters with programmable voltage cord sets.
Moreover, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,786,642, 6,252,310 and 6,614,130 of Wilhelm describe modular power management systems sharing AC and multiple DC power sources to power DC compatible loads. Other features of these patents describe the combined distribution of AC and low voltage DC and their common availability at an ordinary duplex AC outlet. With the incorporation of a storage battery, these modular power management systems also provide the advantages of an uninterruptible power supply ("UPS").


An optical system for a projector is provided, which includes a solid-state light source module, an optical module, a phosphor element and a light relay module which are disposed sequentially. The light source module can generate a first beam, while the optical module can relay and uniformize the first beam so that the first beam is uniformly incident on the phosphor element. The optical module also makes the light spot of the first beam incident on the phosphor element into a predetermined shape and area, so that the phosphor element will emit a second beam by an emitting area. The light relay module can receive a part of the second beam, and the part of the second beam has a solid angle. An Etendue defined by the solid angle and the emitting area may be identical to the Etendue of a light modulator of the projector.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention provides an optical system, and more particularly, to an optical system for a projector.
2. Descriptions of the Related Art
Currently, more projectors are adopting a solid-state light source module in combination with a phosphor element in an optical system thereof to generate light of different colors. FIG. 1 shows that in such an optical system, a solid-state light source module 10A has a plurality of laser diodes 11A. Each of the laser diodes HA is adapted to generate a laser beam 12A respectively. The laser beams 12A are then converged by a lens 13A onto a phosphor element 20A so that the phosphor element 20A is excited to emit light beams 21A of a specific color (i.e. wavelength). However, this kind of optical system has at least the following two shortcomings.
First, the laser beams 12A that are converged by the lens 13A and the converged laser beams 12A are incident onto the phosphor element 20A, and the light intensity on phosphor element 20A could be not uniform because the laser beams 12A could be not well aligned in practical manufacture. In other words, some regions of the phosphor element 20A are irradiated by more of the laser beams 12A, while some other regions are irradiated by less of the laser beams 12A. In the regions of the phosphor element 20A that are irradiated by more of the laser beams 12A, the higher temperature may decrease the exciting efficiency of the phosphor element 20A. That is, the exciting efficiency of the phosphor on the phosphor element may degrade as the temperature increases and cannot achieve the optimal exciting efficiency.
Additionally, a light spot of the laser beams 12A incident on the phosphor element 20A is not appropriately designed in terms of the shape and area thereof. This often leads to an overlarge emission area of the phosphor element 20A. That is, the Etendue of emission light of the phosphor element 20A becomes larger than what is acceptable for the light modulator (not shown) of the projector. As a consequence, light is lost because a part of the excited light beams 21A cannot be utilized by the light modulator. It shall be appreciated that the Etendue is defined as the product of a light source area and the divergence solid angle and is used to represent the geometric properties of an optical system.
To make improvements on the aforesaid two shortcomings, the positions of the individual laser diodes 11A as well as the angles and directions of the laser beams 12A must be precisely tailored and, further, all optical components between the laser diodes 11A and the phosphor element 20A must be precisely aligned. With precise alignment, the laser beams 12A can be uniformly incident on the phosphor element 20A and form a light spot of an appropriated shape and an appropriate area on the phosphor element 20A. However, this consumes time and costs and is difficult to control in practice, which is unfavorable for the production of the projector. Therefore, cheap projectors will have phosphor elements with poor exciting efficiencies and big production tolerance, and will not be able to make optimal exciting efficiency of phosphor and efficient use of the excited light beams.
Accordingly, a need exists in the art to provide an optical system that can make an improvement on at least one of the aforesaid shortcomings.


There is provided an objective lens for an optical pick-up used for different types of optical discs. The objective lens has at least one surface on which a plurality of annular zones are formed. The at least one surface is divided into an inner area having a low NA and an outer area having high NA outside the inner area. Further, with regard to a light beam used for a second optical disc (e.g., a DVD), an optical path difference generated between at least one of steps formed between adjacent annular zones of the plurality of annular zones within the outer area is lower by a predetermined amount than an integral multiple of a wavelength of the light beam used for the second optical disc.

The present invention relates to an objective lens for an optical pick-up of an optical disc drive, which is capable of recording/reproducing data to/from a plurality of kinds of optical discs whose cover layers have different thicknesses.
In general, an optical pick-up for an optical disc drive is provided with a laser source such as a laser diode, an objective lens which converges the laser beam emitted by the laser source on a data recording layer of the optical disc to form a beam spot thereon, and a signal detecting system that receives the laser beam which is reflected from the data recording layer and passes through the objective lens. The signal detecting system produces various signals based on the received laser beam.
There are various types of optical discs on which digital information is recorded at various densities, respectively. For example, a DVD (digital versatile disc) has a recording density higher that that of a CD (compact disc) or a CD-R (CD Recordable) and has a cover layer thinner than that of the CD or CD-R.
When the recording/reproducing for the DVD having a higher recording density is performed, a smaller beam spot diameter is required on the data recording layer relative to the beam spot used for the CD having a lower recording density. For this reason, the optical pick-up is configured such that a NA (numerical aperture) is changed to a higher value to obtain a smaller beam spot diameter when the DVD is used and that the NA is changed to a lower value to obtain a larger beam spot diameter when the CD or CD-R is used.
In general, for the DVD, a laser beam having a wavelength range of 635–665 nm, which is lower than a wavelength range of 780–830 nm for the CD, is used because the beam spot diameter decreases as the wavelength of the laser beam decreases. When the CD-R is used, a laser beam having the wavelength of 780 nm is used due to reflectivity of a data recording layer of the CD-R.
As is well known, a condition of a spherical aberration in an optical system of the optical pick-up changes depending on a thickness of a cover layer of an optical disc being used. Therefore, it is required to correct the spherical aberration caused by replacement of optical discs having different thickness of cover layers.
Japanese Provisional Publication No. 2001-338431 discloses a CD/DVD compatible objective lens (i.e., an objective lens of an optical pick-up that can be used for both of the DVD and CD). The CD/DVD compatible objective lens has a diffracting structure on one of its lens surfaces. The diffracting structure has a plurality of concentric ring-shaped steps having a function of properly converging an incident beam on a data recording layer of an optical disc regardless of the thickness of a cover layer of the optical disc.
That is, the diffracting structure has wavelength dependence such that the spherical aberration changes depending on the wavelength of an incident beam. Consequently, the CD/DVD compatible objective lens is capable of supporting various types of optical discs having different thicknesses of the cover layers.
More specifically, a surface on which the diffracting structure is formed has an inner area which provides an NA required for an optical disc having relatively low recording density such as CD and has an outer area which is situated outside the inner area and which provides an NA required for an optical disc having relatively high recording density such as DVD.
The diffracting structure within the inner area has a function that a beam for CD is properly converged on the data recording layer of the CD and a beam for the DVD is properly converged on the data recording layer of the DVD. The diffracting structure within the outer area has a function that the beam for CD is not properly converged on the data recording layer of the CD and the beam for the DVD is most properly converged on the data recording layer of the DVD. Further, the diffracting structure within the outer area is configured such that a blazed wavelength is set substantially equal to the wavelength of the beam for DVD.
With the above mentioned structure, with regard to the beam for CD, only the beam for CD passed through the inner area properly converges on the data recording layer of the CD, while the beam for CD passed through the outer area diffuses on the data recording layer of the CD. Thus, the beam spot having relatively large diameter is formed on the data recording layer of the CD.
With regard to the beam for DVD, both of the inner and outer areas converge the beam passing therethrough on the data recording layer of the DVD. Thus, the beam spot having relatively small diameter is formed on the data recording layer of the DVD.
As described above, the CD/DVD compatible objective lens has excellent optical performance that it can be used for both of the DVD and CD and that the spherical aberration is corrected for both of the DVD and CD. However, the CD/DVD compatible objective has a problem that the beam for CD passed through the outer area of the objective lens may be detected by a detector of a servo mechanism after the diffused light is reflected from the data recording layer of the CD. If the diffused light reflected from the data recording layer of the CD is detected by the servo mechanism, a noise may be generated on a servo signal such as an AF (auto focus) signal, a TE (tracking error) signal and the like. In such a case, high-precision servo operation (i.e., optical pick-up operation) may be adversely affected.


A device for delaying signals received from elements of an array antenna by providing delay paths of selectable lengths between respective antenna elements and signal processing means. A plurality of first optical fibers are provided, each having a selected length. A plurality of second optical fibers having selected lengths are also provided. The first fibers are alignable with the second fibers to form respective delay paths. At least one of the set of first fibers and set of second fibers is moveable relative to the other so that when moved, selected first fibers are aligned with selected second fibers creating a delay path of a selected length from each antenna element to the signal processing means.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to array antennas and is particularly concerned with providing time delay steering to array antenna elements.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The antenna in radar systems and in many communications systems must face the microwave source to achieve the necessary signal to noise ratio, or to provide directional information. A parabolic dish with a receiver element at the focus is convenient to use for steering an antenna in a fixed direction. Moving dishes can be employed for moving sources or for radar systems, but moving dishes do not have the ability to change directions rapidly. Phased arrays may be used to rapidly change direction, however, such arrays are very complex and tend to be expensive. Furthermore, because the steering is determined by the element's spacing along the array, the relative phase shift imposed in the element signal and the frequency, phased arrays may only operate over a very limited bandwidth.
An array antenna consists of a group of antenna elements spaced apart usually at regular intervals to form an array. By either controlling the relative timing or the phasing of the common signal at the receiving elements, the antenna may be steered towards the microwave source.
The most common means of steering an antenna array is to control the relative phase of the signal at the elements. For the case of a flat antenna array, if a beam is pointed toward the array in the boresight direction, which is the direction perpendicular to the plane of the array all the elements will receive the signal in unison. If the beam is pointed (received) at some angle from the boresight direction, the signal is received along the face of the array with a linearly increasing phase shift. Each element is equipped with a phase shifter so that when a signal is received with an increasing phase shift, the phase at each element may be reconciled so that the total signal from each of the elements is in phase. The phase shifters may be "steered" so that a signal that arrives from a selected direction will be in phase.
Controlling the relative phase of each of the antenna elements requires that each element contain a phase shifting device and that an electronic control system be used to control the phase of each of the elements. However, the wide scale use of phased arrays has been limited by the high cost of their complex circuitry. Furthermore, if the phase shifting circuit is adjusted to steer the antenna in a particular direction, this setting will only be valid for a particular frequency. Therefore, known phase shifting techniques impose a limit on the frequency range of operation.
The use of fiber optics in communication systems is known. The optical fiber is usually used to connect two distant points so that communications can be conducted. For the conveyance of signals, commercially available laser unit is used to generate an optical signal. The optical signal travels through the optical fiber to where it is converted to a microwave signal by an optical detector and a microwave amplifier, which are commercially available. Fiber optic media offer the advantage of exceptional bandwidth as compared with other traditional transmission means such as copper wire.
Optical techniques have been suggested to control array elements. Schemes have been proposed to use a selection of optical fibers with lengths arranged in a binary or quadratic sequence and to switch in a series string combination to achieve a desired timing. This would result in a very complex control scheme employing thousands of optical fibers and optical switches for even the simplest phased array.

Receiver system employing an optical commutator


A computer system with vertically offset hard disk drives has a space in one side for containing the two vertically offset hard disk drives held by a mobile rack in a vertically offset manner. The mobile rack fixes the two hard disk drives with two vertically offset screw sets. A holding frame in the space of the computer system has two vertically offset connectors that allow the two hard disk drives to be connected at the same time when the mobile rack is completely inserted into the holding frame.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a computer system, and more specifically, to a computer system with vertically offset hard disk drives.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Due to the need for standardization and modularization, industry has drawn up standards that regulate specifications of network servers, including 1.75 inches as a standard height unit. A server conforming to this standard unit is called a 1U server. Because of this height regulation of servers, the heights of hard disk drives should also conform to the standard.
Prior art 1U servers can only accommodate standard 3.5-inch (width) hard disk drives since the height of the server is limited. Please refer to FIG. 1, which illustrates a prior art mobile rack with a single hard disk drive. The mobile rack carries a single hard disk drive and can be inserted into the prior art server. However, to meet the requirement of mass data processing, increasing the number of hard disk drives of a server has become an inevitable tendency, hence the 2U, 3U, and 4U server specifications to accommodate more hard disk drives have been developed. In these specifications, hard disk drives are vertically stacked inside a server. Another server design conforming to the 1U server specification has a plurality of hard disk drives installed in a juxtaposed manner. This server design includes a casing divided into four housing spaces by three partitions. Please refer to FIG. 2, which shows a design from U.S. Pat. No. 6,768,638 entitled "Server Contained Four Juxtaposed Hard Disk Drives" that improves the features of the partitions and uses a novel retrieval cradle such that the server can accommodate four juxtaposed hard disk drives in an inherent inner width of 17 inches. However, this design merely laterally improves the space utilization of a server by reducing the space needed by the partitions, contributing little improvement to overall space utilization.
A similar problem exists in notebook computers. To meet the requirement of portability, a notebook computer has similar restrictions as the above-described servers regarding space for a hard drive. The prior art notebook has space only for a single micro hard drive, which means there is room for improvement in notebook space utilization.

Computer system with vertically offset hard disk drives


A guiding device and method for inserting and advancing more than one catheter and/or guidewire through the vascular tree of a patient in endovascular treatments, particularly through tortuous blood vessels, the guiding device comprising an open or close guiding channel provided at a distal end of the catheter or guidewire, whereby the catheter or guidewire may be easily advanced through the vessel over a previously installed guidewire.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of endovascular treatments and, more particularly relates to a guiding device for helping in inserting and advancing catheters and/or guidewires into blood vessels of a patient during endovascular treatments, the invention also being related to a method for inserting and advancing such catheters and/or guidewires.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Angioplasty and other endovascular techniques are well know and broadly utilized medical processes consisting of inserting catheters and/or guidewires into the vascular tree of a patient with the purpose of reaching a remote blood vessel site having a lesion. The catheters and guidewires must be carefully maneuvered and steered through the patient""s vessels until reaching the site of the lesion. A premise and basic requisite in the handling of these techniques is to provide an accurate and non-traumatic positioning of the catheters and guidewires in the desired vessel site and in the advancing of the wires and catheters along the vascular tree.
Under predetermined circumstances two guidewires need to be inserted into a blood vessel under treatment in order to have one of the guidewires located in the desired site. When two guidewires are used, the exchange of the guidewires is performed by advancing a catheter over a first guidewire that had been previously inserted and located into the vessel. Once the catheter has reached the desired area the first guidewire is removed and a second guidewire is advanced through a lumen of the catheter so as to have the first guidewire replaced by the second guidewire.
Once the second guidewire is in position, the catheter is removed to leave the second guidewire in the desired position. Then, a preloaded guidewire, either carrying a stent or a stent-graft, may be inserted into the vessel along the guidewire already in the vessel. This operation is carried out with the purpose of installing a stent or a graft in the site with the lesion.
The above operations may be extremely cumbersome when the blood vessel defines a tortuous path for the guidewires and catheters. When a guidewire or catheter must be advanced through a tortuous artery, a second guidewire, parallel to the first one, must be inserted into the blood vessel to make the vessel straight in order to facilitate the advancing of the pre-loaded guidewire. The advancing of the second guidewire, however, entails the same difficulties like the advancing of the first guidewire.
There is therefore need for a new and improved guidewire and/or catheter guiding system and method which can overcome these difficulties.
It is therefore one object of the present invention to provide a guiding device and method for inserting and advancing one or more than one catheter and/or guidewire through the vascular tree of a patient in endovascular treatments, particularly through tortuous blood vessels, the guiding device comprising an open or closed guiding channel provided at a distal end of the catheter or guidewire, whereby the catheter or guidewire may be easily advanced through the vessel over a previously installed guidewire.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a guiding device for inserting and advancing more than one catheter and/or guidewire through the vascular tree of a patient in endovascular treatments, the device comprising a catheter shaft comprising a proximal end, a distal end and at least one fluid delivery lumen in fluid communication with the proximal end and the distal end, the distal end including a wire-guiding channel or conduit for slidably receiving a guiding wire whereby the catheter may be advanced through a vessel of the patient by slidably advancing the distal end of the catheter over the guiding wire.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a guiding device for inserting and advancing one or more than one catheter and/or guidewire through the vascular tree of a patient in endovascular treatments, the device comprising a flexible conduit defining a main guidewire comprising a proximal end, a distal end and at least one lumen in fluid communication with the proximal end and the distal end, the distal end including a guiding channel for slidably receiving an additional guidewire whereby the main guidewire may be advanced through a vessel of the patient by slidably advancing the distal end over the additional guidewire.
It is even another object of the present invention to provide a guiding device for inserting and advancing one or more than one catheter and/or guidewire through the vascular tree of a patient in endovascular treatments, the device comprising a metal guidewire with a distal end and a proximal end, the distal end including a guiding channel for slidably receiving an additional guidewire whereby the metal guidewire may be advanced through a vessel of the patient by slidably advancing the distal end over the additional guidewire.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a method for inserting and advancing one or more than one catheter and/or guidewire through the vascular system of a patient in endovascular treatments, the method comprising the steps of:
providing a catheter having a catheter shaft comprising a proximal end, a distal end and at least one fluid delivery lumen in fluid communication with the proximal end and the distal end, the distal end including a guiding channel for slidably receiving a guiding wire,
inserting the guiding wire into the channel of the catheter, and
advancing the catheter through a vessel of the patient by slidably advancing the distal end over the guiding wire.
It is even another object of the present invention to provide a method for inserting and advancing one or more than one catheter and/or guidewire through the vascular system of a patient in endovascular treatments, the method comprising the steps of:
providing a flexible conduit defining a guidewire comprising a proximal end, a distal end and at least one lumen in fluid communication with the proximal end and the distal end, the distal end including a guiding channel for slidably receiving a guiding wire,
inserting the guiding wire into the channel of the flexible conduit, and
advancing the flexible conduit through a vessel of the patient by slidably advancing the distal end over the guiding wire.
It is even another object of the present invention to provide a method for inserting and advancing one or more than one catheter and/or guidewire through the vascular tree of a patient in endovascular treatments, the method comprising the steps of:
providing a flexible metal guidewire comprising a proximal end and a distal end, the distal end including a guiding channel for slidably receiving an additional guidewire,
inserting the additional guidewire into the guiding channel of the flexible metal guidewire, and
advancing the metal guidewire through a vessel of the patient by slidably advancing the distal end over the additional guidewire.
The above and other objects, features and advantages of this invention will be better understood when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings and description.

Guiding device and method for inserting and advancing catheters and guidewires into a vessel of a patient in endovascular treatments


The invention provides methods and materials for using apatite chromatography supports to dissociate and remove contaminants that are complexed to biological products. The invention further provides materials and methods for dissociating aggregations of target biological molecules or improperly folded target molecules to improve purification of the target molecule.

The purification of biological molecules such as antibodies, other therapeutic proteins, virus and virus-like particles, and DNA plasmids for therapeutic or diagnostic purposes is hindered when the biological molecules to be purified are chemically complexed with contaminants. Complexed contaminants decrease the efficiency of the purification process, decrease the reproducibility of the purification process, and affect the stability and pharmacodynamics of the purified biological molecule.
In addition to or in combination with contaminant complexation, biological molecules such as antibodies and therapeutic proteins can also form aggregates. These aggregates render the molecules less biologically active and can increase the immunogenicity of the biological molecule.

Dissociation of product-complexed contaminants in chromatography


An electronic control device includes a multilayered flexible substrate and first to fourth spacers disposed in a casing. The multilayered flexible substrate, including first to third rigid substrate portions, is folded in a multilayered arrangement in such a manner that each rigid substrate portion is sandwiched between two spacers. The first rigid substrate portion is disposed at the lowest position to arrange a lowermost layer. The second rigid substrate portion is folded upward relative to the first flexible portion by 180 degrees to arrange an intermediate layer. The third rigid substrate portion is folded upward relative to the second flexible portion by 180 degrees to arrange an uppermost layer. The card edge connectors are laminated or layered with predetermined gaps and positioned in a case opening.

The present invention relates to an electronic control device having a casing accommodating a circuit substrate used for the control of an automotive vehicle or the like.
FIG. 25 shows a conventional electronic control device installed in an automotive vehicle or the like for various controls (refer to the Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2003-229678). This electronic control device P1 includes electronic components P2 and a heat sink P3 mounted on a circuit substrate P4 which are housed in a casing P5. A connector P6, as a separate member, is attached to the edge of the circuit substrate P4.
However, according to the above-described conventional electronic control device, the connector has a complicated arrangement and a large number of parts. Accordingly, the cost of this conventional device is high. Meanwhile, to respond to increasing requirements for various controls, the connector must have multiple electrodes. However, according to the conventional electronic control device, there will be no way to respond to such a requirement other than separately providing a larger multi-electrode connector. As a result, the arrangement of the device will be further complicated. The cost will increase. The size of the electronic control device will become bigger.
Furthermore, to respond to the requirements of the multi-electrode connector, it may be possible to downsize the connector by thinning the connector pins or reducing the gap between the connector pins. However, in such a case, there will be other problems such as a larger current drive control being unfeasible and the size of a connector casing is restricted.
In short, the conventional arrangement using a separate connector is not preferable in realizing effective downsizing of an electronic control device.


A touch-control display includes a first substrate having a first surface and a second surface opposite to the first surface, a display panel disposed on a side of the first surface of the first substrate, and a touch control panel disposed on a side of the second surface of the first substrate. The display panel includes a first transparent conductive layer disposed on the first surface of the first substrate, and the first transparent conductive layer is in contact with the first substrate. The touch control panel has a second transparent conductive layer disposed on the second surface of the first substrate, and the second transparent conductive layer is in contact with the first substrate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a touch-control display and a fabrication method thereof, and more particularly to a touch-control display with a thinner structure and its related fabrication method.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Touch panel, due to its human-machine interactive characteristic, has been widely used as the input interface of many apparatuses. Recently, since consumer electronic products are more and more popular, the category of applications of touch-control displays with the combination of touch-control function and display is continuously growing, such as mobile phone, global positioning system (GPS) navigator system, tablet PC, personal digital assistant (PDA) and laptop computer.
Based on the differences in structure of various types, the development of the out-cell type capacity touch-control displays is more matured. Conventionally, in the out-cell type touch-control display, sensing series are formed on a transparent substrate for fabricating a capacity touch panel, and then the capacity touch panel with the sensing series is attached onto the outer surface of a display panel for fabricating a touch-control display. Therefore, the touch-control display has several films, including one to two transparent substrates, one or several layers of sensing series of the capacity touch panel, one color filter substrate and one transistor substrate of the display panel, and polarizers, which limits the possibility of decreasing the whole thickness of the touch-control display. Furthermore, the stack of the several above-mentioned films also reduces the light transmittance efficiency and affects the display performance. As a result, it is till an important issue to design a thinner or lighter structure of touch-control display devices for manufacturers.

Touch-control display and fabrication method thereof


A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate having a first conductivity type. The semiconductor substrate includes a first diffusion region having the first conductivity type, a second diffusion region having the first conductivity type, and a channel region between the first diffusion region and the second diffusion region. The device further includes a control gate over the channel region and at least one sub-gate over the first and second diffusion regions.

Memory devices for non-volatile storage of information are widely used. Examples of such memory devices include read only memory (ROM), programmable ROM (PROM), erasable programmable ROM (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), and flash EEPROM. A flash memory generally refers to a flash EEPROM, which may be erased in blocks of data instead of one byte at a time.
A flash memory device generally includes an array of memory cells arranged in rows and columns. Each memory cell includes a MOS transistor structure having a gate, a drain, a source, and a channel defined between the drain and the source. The gate corresponds to a word line, and the drain or source corresponds to a bit line of the memory array. A conventional flash memory cell generally includes a trapping layer provided between the gate and the channel. The trapping layer may be a floating gate formed of polysilicon or a dielectric such as silicon nitride. When the gate, the drain, and the source of the memory cell are appropriately biased, charge carriers (electrons or holes) may be forced to tunnel or inject into the trapping layer, which traps the carriers. As a result, the memory cell is programmed or erased. The memory cell may be read or erased by applying different biases to the gate, the drain, and the source thereof.

Non-volatile memory device having improved band-to-band tunneling induced hot electron injection efficiency and manufacturing method thereof


An integrated circuit chip package having an electrical contact configurable for either signal or power/ground and a method for constructing the integrated circuit chip package are disclosed. The integrated circuit chip package includes a substrate for supporting an integrated circuit chip and a dedicated conductor for supplying voltage to the integrated circuit chip. A configurable contact is attached to a surface of the substrate. The integrated circuit chip package further includes a signal connection for electrically connecting a signal connector of an integrated circuit chip and the configurable contact. A removable connector electrically connects the configurable contact and the dedicated conductor, thereby enabling the configurable contact to be configured as either a signal or power/ground contact depending upon the absence or presence of the electrical connection between the configurable contact and the dedicated conductor provided by the removable connector.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to semiconductor devices and in particular to a semiconductor chip package and method for constructing a semiconductor chip package. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to a semiconductor chip package having one or more pads which can be configured as either signal, power, or ground and a method for making a semiconductor chip package having such configurable pads.
2. Description of the Related Art
Due to an ever-increasing demand for performance and miniaturization, semiconductor manufacturers are continually driven to produce smaller semiconductor devices. In order to reduce the size of semiconductor device packages, manufacturers have developed single and multichip modules (SCMs and MCMs) that efficiently house semiconductor chips having a large number of connections. A countervailing consideration in semiconductor device development is a desire to provide additional signal connections, particularly during the initial phases of product development and testing, in order to monitor or control the semiconductor chip. A larger substrate is often required to accommodate these additional signal connections. However, the cost of developing two different substrates--a larger substrate for use during development of a prototype semiconductor chip and a smaller substrate for use during production--is often greater than simply utilizing a larger substrate for both the development and production versions of the semiconductor device. Moreover, the two substrates may exhibit differing electrical characteristics, thereby making accurate prediction of the performance of the production substrate difficult.
One compromise between the conflicting design considerations described above is represented by Ackerman et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,975,765, "Highly Integrated Circuit and Method for the Production Thereof." Ackerman et al. disclose a semiconductor chip attached to a substrate having an edge that projects beyond the semiconductor chip on all sides. Signal connections required for full dynamic testing of the semiconductor chip are provided within the projecting substrate edge. Following testing of the semiconductor chip, the projecting edge of the substrate is trimmed off, resulting in a smaller substrate and therefore a smaller device package. Although providing a smaller substrate, the semiconductor chip package disclosed by Ackerman et al. does not enable further debugging or testing to be performed following the removal of the additional signal connections. Such testing is often helpful in failure analysis of defective devices returned by customers. Additionally, the utilization of different substrate sizes during the development/testing and production of a semiconductor device often changes the noise and performance characteristics of the semiconductor device, making it difficult to extrapolate the results of device testing and debugging to production devices. Furthermore, although a semiconductor substrate like that disclosed by Ackerman et al. could be employed to build a smaller semiconductor device, the manufacturer (and consequently the customer) still incurs the cost of the discarded portion of the larger substrate.
As should thus be apparent, a substrate design for a semiconductor chip package is needed which provides the signal connections necessary for testing and failure analysis and which enables a smaller substrate to be utilized during both product development and production.

Integrated circuit chip package having configurable contacts and method for making the same

International Business Machines Corporation


A drive-up mail distribution, storage and pick-up assembly comprising a plurality of mail boxes, the boxes arranged in horizontal rows and vertical columns and retained in the assembly in an outer frame, each box defined by a central storage container bound at opposite ends by a lockable front door and rear access opening, the front doors of the boxes facing outward at heights above ground accessible from the window adjacent the driver of the vehicle.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to the field of mail boxes. More particularly, the invention pertains to multiples of mail boxes arranged in a unique assembly and located in parking lots and other areas accessible by motor vehicle, wherein mail may be distributed to the boxes by postal or other employees, held therein for storage for eventual transfer to members of the public, and picked up by members of the public from inside their motor vehicle without having to exit the vehicle.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The day of the postman bringing mail to the occupant in a residence is swiftly coming to an end. To reduce costs and increase efficiency of postal transfer, postal authorities are moving toward distribution of mail to locations where many mail boxes are housed in a single structure to be stored therein awaiting pick-up by the public at their leisure, such as when going to work or coming home from work. In effect, the postal authorities have shifted the time used to transmit the mail from a centralized postal outlet to the addressee of the mail from the postal organization to the public. Where the resident or business person was used to merely walking outside their residence to their mailbox, located at or near the front door or front yard or parking lot, to get their mail, they now must walk or drive to an centralized post box facility to pick up their mail.
When a person goes to a post office to pick up their mail they open a mail box that is directly and fully accessible by a postal or other employee working directly behind the boxes. This requires the postal or other employee to be utilized in a direct relationship with the mail box renter and raises the cost of mail delivery. When using a drive-through mail pick-up system, there always needs to be a person working behind the window that, again, reduces efficiency and raises the price of postal delivery.
Present day post boxes may be located in a neighborhood, in structures where multiples of mail boxes are grouped for access by many neighbors, or may be located in post offices where other postal matters may be transacted, such as for using certified mail procedures and mailing packages by express mail, etc.
In each of these situations, not only is a large amount of time wasted by the public, but physically challenged persons, such as wheelchair-bound persons, are made to suffer because the trip undertaken by them to get their mail is unusually substantial in distance and extremely costly in time.
For instance, assuming approximately 250 trips to a rental mail box per year, the non-physically challenged user can access their rented postal box only by driving to the postal distribution office, parking their car in a crowded parking lot, walking to the building housing the box, accessing the postal box, and then returning to their car, and driving out of the parking lot. With an average of 10 to 12 minutes for this operation, on a good day, they spend upwards of 50 hours per year to accomplish this seemingly trifling task. When doubled or tripled the time for the wheelchair-bound person to perform the same operation, one can readily see that 150 hours per year becomes an odious task.
As matters stand, the parking spaces at postal offices and other rental distribution buildings, such as Mail Boxes U.S.A..RTM., are not used efficiently, and the postal authorities and franchisees are loath to purchase more land for expansion of their parking facilities. The hustle and bustle of driving to a post office parking lot, parking, walking to the post office box and retracing one's steps after obtaining the mail, has led to the aggravation of many persons and has done nothing to enhance the image of the postal system.
There has not been any recognition given to the fact that physically challenged persons have now conquered the transportation gap by being able to operate many motor vehicles with control devices especially designed for them. A great majority of wheel-chair-bound persons, young and old, are now able to drive cars about the streets and roads in the United States and have access to shopping, jobs, doctor visits, and vacations on their own without requiring the aid of others.
However, there has not been any development in the area of postal distribution, storage or pick-up by these persons other than to require them to park their vehicle in crowded parking lots with the related hazards contained therein, struggle out of their car and drive their wheel-chair across the lot and into the postal building, only to retrace their path after obtaining their mail. Satisfaction of the need to merge the benefits of motor vehicle operation with some sort of development in postal distribution will allow both normal and physically challenged persons to obtain their mail quicker than with the present system, without causing any delay or loss of efficiency on the part of the postal authorities.

Drive-up mail distribution, storage and pick-up assembly


Systems and methods for integrating mobile image capture with an internet browser application on a mobile device are provided, wherein a user viewing a web page via the internet browser application can initiate a mobile image capture process on the mobile device through the web page, capture images with a mobile image capture user interface, and then provide secure access to the captured images for the web page in order to utilize the content of the captured images. The mobile image capture process is accessible through any internet browser application via the mobile device and allows any service running on a web page to benefit from the ability to capture an image on the mobile device and obtain the content of the image through mobile image processing. The browser-based mobile image capture allows mobile devices which do not run certain third party applications to utilize mobile image capture and processing.

1. Field of the Invention
Various embodiments described herein relate generally to the field of image capture using a mobile device. More particularly, various embodiments are directed to integrating mobile image capture with an internet-browser application on the mobile device.
2. Related Art
Mobile phone adoption continues to escalate, including ever-growing smart phone adoption and tablet usage. Mobile imaging is a discipline where a consumer takes a picture of a document, and that document is processed, extracting and extending the data contained within it for selected purposes. The convenience of this technique is powerful and is currently driving a desire for this technology throughout financial services and other industries.
Numerous applications utilizing mobile image capture have been developed for various financial services such as check deposits, bill pay, credit card balance transfers, and insurance account services, to name a few. These applications rely on the use of a third party application running on the mobile device that is managed by the service provider, such as a bank, utility or insurance company. The mobile image capture process is built into the third party application and is often customized for the particular third party service through the use of specific user interfaces and image capture parameters that are designed to capture certain types of documents with known properties and content. The mobile image capture process is therefore limited to use only within the specific third party application and cannot be utilized for another purpose for which it has not already been integrated. This effectively prevents the use of mobile image capture for mobile devices which do not run these third party applications or for services which are accessed through a mobile web browser instead of the third party application that is resident on the mobile device.
Therefore, it is desirable to broaden the use of mobile image capture for use with additional services and platforms available on the mobile device.


In one aspect, a photonic band gap (PBG) structure comprises: a first conducting layer; a second conducting layer; and a nanocomposite layer between the first conducting layer and the second conducting layer, the nanocomposite layer comprising one or more composite materials and one or more nanoparticles dispersed within the one or more composite materials, with the one or more composite materials comprising a material that is optically transparent.

Photonic crystals may respond to incident light in a unique manner, exhibiting the presence of a "photonic bandgap" (PBG) in addition to tunable transmittance or reflectance. While light waves can propagate through a photonic crystal with a periodic dielectric structure, a periodic dielectric function (or index of refraction), called the photonic bandgap (PBG), may forbid propagation of light in certain directions and for certain ranges of wavelengths. Photonic crystals may be suitable for use in optical devices such as optical limiters, switches, diodes, and transistors.
PBG structures may serve as an alternative to conventional transparent materials. One-dimensional PBG materials are layered, periodic structures that include materials with different dielectric constants, and hence optical constants. The periodicity in the dielectric contrast for such structures gives rise to a PBG, the size of which depends on the dielectric contrast and the number and dimension of periods within the structure. A set of degenerate standing wave solutions to Maxwell's equations is obtained in the band edge regions such that, in the lower band edge, localization of the electric field intensity (of the incident electromagnetic wave) is maximized in the layer with higher dielectric constant (i.e., a higher refractive index), and vice versa for the higher band edge.
Metals, being conductive materials, with their free carrier plasma resonance or absorption frequencies usually inside the visible spectrum, are typically highly reflective and absorptive in all wavelength ranges of interest. Due to these characteristics, metals may be suitable for electromagnetic shielding applications, but less suitable for transparent conducting applications. However, when metal films are combined with dielectric materials that are transparent in a layered composite structure, the transparency or transmittance of the metal films can be enhanced by using a mechanism that has become known as optical resonant tunneling. In particular, if the thickness of the layers of the metal films and the dielectric materials is chosen such that, at the metal absorption frequency, the light and electric field is concentrated in the non-absorbing dielectric layers (e.g., when the metal absorption frequency is equal to the lower band edge frequency of the layered structure), then absorption by the metal films can effectively be suppressed. While these structures may conduct along the plane of the metal layers, out-of-plane or transverse conductance may be limited because of the presence of the insulating dielectric layers between the metal layers.

Photonic band gap structure with tunable optical and electronic properties


A spring buffer for a furniture item has a furniture body and a furniture part movable from a closed position in or on the furniture body. The spring buffer can be arranged relative to the furniture body and the furniture part such that the movable furniture part in its closed end position can be moved against the force of the spring buffer towards the direction of the furniture body. The spring buffer includes a buffer element for the movable furniture part and the buffer element is acted upon by a spring. The buffer element is movably arranged such that the distance covered by the buffer element against the force of the spring can be changeably adjusted.

The present invention relates to a furniture item having a furniture body and a furniture part being movable from a closed end position in or on the furniture body.
To make them easier to use, furniture items are frequently provided with ejection devices by means of which the movable furniture part can be ejected from a closed end position in or on the furniture body. Particularly in the case of movable furniture parts with no handles, the ejection devices are often arranged such that they are triggered (activated) by the movement of the movable furniture part from the closed stop position towards the furniture body (i.e., movement in a non-opening direction toward a triggering, or activating, position). This naturally requires a certain amount of play (activating distance) to be left for the movable furniture part in its closed end position.
The problem arising from this is that, when assembling the furniture item, on the one hand allowance must be made for the movement of the movable furniture part from the closed stop position towards the furniture body. On the other hand, particularly in the case of a furniture item with several movable furniture parts, or where several furniture items are placed side by side, the frontal surface must be uniform. This makes it more difficult to assemble this type of furniture, and can even limit the suitability of such furniture from incorporating an ejection device of the type described above.
It is an object of the invention to improve a generic furniture item avoiding these problems.


A thermospray probe assembly which allows for easy replacement or exchange the central capillary tube without requiring replacement of the entire probe assembly when the capillary tube becomes degraded and/or clogged. The replaceable capillary tube is secured at a tip end to a tip of the outer tubular member of the probe assembly by a set screw. The other end of the replaceable capillary tube is sealingly secured by a compression fitting in an adapter connected to the outer tubular member.

Thermospray is a practical ionization method for interfacing liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry. Since its introduction, a vast number of compounds that would otherwise have been very difficult to analyze using mass spectrometry have been successfully identified and quantified. Thermospray has been particularly useful in the analysis of drugs and metabolites from biological matrices.
One of the drawbacks associated with thermospray is that nonvolatile salts and other nonvolatile materials tend to degrade its performance, ultimately clogging the thermospray probe assembly and destroying it.
Several solutions to this problem have been proposed including the use of replaceable ceramic tips and sonication. Such solutions do not prevent the capillary tubing of thermospray probe assemblies from degrading and clogging. Once the capillary tubes become degraded and clogged, the entire probe assembly has to be replaced.
Since a considerable expense is incurred when the probe has to be replaced, there is a need for a thermospray probe assembly which includes a replaceable capillary tube.

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services


Methods and apparatuses are described for generating a recommended conversation topic flow. A server executes a topic modelling algorithm on voice call transcripts to determine a distribution of topics present in the transcripts. The server generates a historical topic flow for each transcript by determining topic-related words in text blocks in the transcript and assigning a score to each text block. The server categorizes each topic flow as positive or negative based upon outcomes associated with the transcript. The server trains a classification model using the categorized topic flows as input. The server captures a bitstream corresponding to a current voice call and converts the bitstream into unstructured text. The server executes the classification model on the unstructured text to determine whether a call topic flow is positive or negative. The server generates topic recommendations and transmits the recommendations to a second client device.

Recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI)-based computer technology enable systems to automatically parse large corpuses of unstructured computer text, convert the text into computer-readable representations, and execute one or more machine learning algorithms on the output to gain various actionable insights. One area where these techniques can be particularly useful is customer relationship management (CRM) and customer service. In one example, customer contact call centers often record most, if not all, incoming calls between a customer and an agent, and the corresponding call transcript is frequently converted into unstructured computer text and stored in a database for data analysis and data mining.
However, in a typical customer contact environment, where customers call in to speak with live agents, customers tend to be serviced with a one-size-fits all paradigm. For example, a customer service representative (CSR) generally speaks to all different customers in the same fashion—using the same tone of voice, the same speed, the same volume, the same word choice, and so forth. In addition, CSRs typically do not closely keep track of the topic flow of a conversation with a customer—with respect to the specific topics covered during an interaction, the transition between topics, the conversation style, and the identification of topics that drive a successful customer interaction (e.g., product adoption, customer engagement, etc.) or an unsuccessful one. As a result, it is difficult to recognize voice call topic flows that lead to successful customer interactions and to provide recommendations to CSRs—particularly during a live call—on how to adapt the conversation with the customer to improve the chance of success.
It would be beneficial to apply advanced artificial intelligence algorithms and methodologies to the large corpus of historical voice call transcript data in order to detect positive and negative topic flow patterns and corresponding call outcomes, then apply the learning from that analysis to provide real-time customer interaction and topic flow recommendations to live agents.

Analysis and classification of unstructured computer text for generation of a recommended conversation topic flow


A rivet stud bolt is disclosed. A rivet stud bolt for mounting an element to at least one panel includes a bolt portion to which the panel is assembled, a flange integrally formed to an end of the bolt portion, and a rivet portion integrally connected to the flange, in which at least two slits are formed, and the rivet portion is plastically deformed and connected to the panel.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a stud bolt. More particularly, the present invention relates to a rivet stud bolt (RSB) for mechanically assembling an element to a base such as a panel, and a panel joint structure with the rivet stud bolt.
(b) Description of the Related Art
In automotive industries, a weld bolt, a weld nut, a stud bolt, and so on are applied to mount an element such as an engine, a transmission, a steering system, and so on to a base such as a vehicle panel, a frame, and so on.
Generally, a stud bolt including a bolt portion and a flange is connected to the base by welding the flange to the base.
For example, the flange of the stud bolt is instantaneously melted by arc discharge then the flange is welded to the base.
However, in arc welding, soot is generated near the welding portion of the base and the flange portion, positions of the stud bolt are various, deformation of the welded portion may be generated, and the stud bolt may be easily disassembly due to weak connecting strength.
For overcoming the drawbacks described above, a stud bolt including a bolt portion, a flange and a rivet portion integrally formed for mechanical connection has been developed, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,287,944.
In mechanical connection using the stud bolt, an assembling hole is formed to a base, the rivet portion is inserted into the assembling hole, and then the rivet portion is plastically deformed by pressing the stud bolt to connect the stud bolt to the base.
In this case, the rivet portion shaped as a hollow cylinder is plastically deformed to fit the base.
For example, the rivet portion of the rivet stud bolt penetrates the hole of the base by a punch of a setting tool, is outwardly deformed by a forming groove of a die (also called an anvil), and then is press-fitted to the base.
However, the plastically deformed portion is deformed as a ring so that the connection strength of the rivet portion is not sufficient.
Therefore, the stud bolt may be rotated.
Also, since the end of the rivet portion is deformed as an annular edge, the setting tool requires a heavy load for plastically deforming the rivet portion.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.

Rivet stud bolt and panel joint structure of the same


The present invention provides a modified natural rubber that offers higher efficiency of graft polymerization or attachment of a polar group-containing compounds, and that possesses excellent low loss factor, wear resistance and fracture resistance when used as a rubber composition, a rubber composition using the modified natural rubber and a tire using the rubber composition. In the present invention, a polar group-containing compound is graft polymerized or attached under mechanical shear force to a natural rubber raw material having a nitrogen content of 0.4 mass % or less.

There is an increasing need for lower fuel consumption in automobiles and for tires with smaller rolling resistance. Thus, it is desirable to provide a rubber composition that has a low tan δ (hereinafter, referred to as a "low loss factor") and excellent low exothermic property as a rubber composition for use in tire treads, and so on. In addition, a rubber composition for treads is also required to have excellent wear resistance and fracture resistance in addition to the low loss factor. To this extent, it is effective to improve the affinity between a filler such as carbon black or silica and rubber components in a rubber composition for improved low loss factor, wear resistance and fracture resistance of the rubber composition.
For example, to improve the affinity between a filler and rubber components in a rubber composition and to enhance the reinforcing effect by the filler, a synthetic rubber with improved affinity for a filler by chain end modification, a synthetic rubber with improved affinity with a filler through copolymerization of functional group-containing monomers, and so on have been developed.
On the other hand, while natural rubber has been adopted abundantly making use of its superior physical properties, no technique has been established to improve natural rubber itself so that it has a greater affinity for a filler and to significantly enhance the reinforcing effect by the filler.
For example, some techniques have been proposed to epoxidize natural rubber, which, however, does not sufficiently improve the affinity between the natural rubber and a filler, and therefore fails to enhance the reinforcing effect by a filler adequately. In addition, other techniques are known to add a vinyl-based monomer to natural rubber latex for graft polymerization (see PTL 1-3 below), and the grafted natural rubber obtained by these techniques has already been produced as MG latex and the like. However, high purity latex is required to achieve high graft efficiency by these techniques. Accordingly, there is a problem that necessitates separate operation such as centrifugal separation, resulting in an increase in manufacturing costs.
As such, for the purposes of improving the reinforcing performance of and the affinity for a filler and reducing manufacturing costs, JP 2004-262973 A (PTL 4) discloses a rubber composition that is formed blending a modified natural rubber, which results from graft polymerization and subsequent coagulation and drying of a polar group-containing monomer onto natural rubber latex, with carbon black or silica. In addition, as a technique for reducing manufacturing cost, JP 2006-152171 A (PTL 5) discloses a modified natural rubber that is formed through graft polymerization or attachment of a polar group-containing compound to at least one natural rubber raw material selected from the group consisting of natural rubber under mechanical shear force, a natural rubber latex coagulation and a natural rubber cup lump.
The techniques disclosed in PTL 4 and PTL 5 allow production of a modified natural rubber at low cost that is capable of improving the low loss factor, wear resistance and fracture resistance of the rubber composition. However, the techniques of PTL 4 and PTL 5 need further improvement in terms of improvement of the efficiency of graft polymerization and attachment reaction between the natural rubber raw material and the polar group-containing compound.

Modified natural rubber and method of manufacturing the same, rubber composition and tire