A method and system for decreasing processing time in multi-corner static timing analysis. In one embodiment, slack cutoff values are assigned across a parameter process space. For example, a slack cutoff value is assigned to each parameter in a process space by determining an estimated maximum slack change between a starting corner and any other corner in a corresponding process sub-space. In another embodiment, parameters are ordered in a parameter order by decreasing magnitude of impact on variability of timing.

Static timing analysis (STA) is utilized to verify integrated circuit design and analyze circuit performance. In circuit design, one signal may need to arrive at a particular point in a circuit path at a particular time with respect to another signal. A timing test with respect to a pair of timing test points is typically to compare two signals to determine whether a particular requirement on their relative arrival time is met. The difference of the relative arrival time of two signals at the timing test point is referred to as "slack". Two paths on which signals propagate to arrive at the pair of timing test points (e.g., clock and data pins of a flip-flop circuit) are often referred to as racing paths. Timing of integrated circuits may vary due to the effects of environmental and process variation parameters. In multi-corner static timing analysis, each source of variation to be analyzed is modeled as a parameter having an impact on a delay of a circuit path and/or a circuit. Example sources of variation include, but are not limited to, voltage, metal width, temperature, transistor channel length, transistor threshold voltage, gate oxide thickness, other process controlled performance changing parameters. In one example, each of the parameters is used to model process, environmental conditions, and aging affects in static timing analysis can be toggled between its extreme distribution endpoints. Any combination of fixed parameter values is referred to as a corner. In one example, a parameter may be set to one of its extreme values (e.g., a 3SIGMA extreme value). In such an example, one parameter setting provides a fastest signal propagation checked in a timing analysis and the other corner provides a slowest signal propagation in a timing analysis as a function of this parameter. A static timing analysis may start with each parameter in a set having its values set to a particular extreme, called a starting corner.
Parameters for analysis in timing tests typically can be independent or dependent. In one example, an independent parameter allows for a given path to be evaluated at the values of that parameter irrespective of the value settings of other process variable/parameters. However, dependent parameters typically must be evaluated with respect to settings of other parameters. In such an analysis, testing of combinations of multiple parameter settings may occur in a multi-corner timing analysis. In such an analysis with n parameters, there may be 2n extreme corner combinations that require evaluation in order to determine the worst slack across all process corners. As the number of parameters to test increases and the complexity of integrated circuit designs continues to grow, the analysis of the large number of extreme corner combinations for each path of an integrated circuit becomes difficult, if not impossible, to perform in a reasonable amount of time. Reduction of the number of paths requiring full multi-corner analysis at all 2n process corners can reduce the time required to perform a full chip analysis within a reasonable runtime.
One manner to reduce the number of paths to analyze in a multi-corner analysis involves comparing a slack value obtained from a starting corner analysis to an initial threshold, often referred to as a slack cutoff. In one example, a slack cutoff threshold may be determined empirically for a given integrated circuit technology and/or set of environmental conditions (e.g., process variations) that apply to the integrated circuit by identifying an upper bound on the slack change of any path going from a starting corner to any other corner in the process space. If a starting corner slack determined for a path passes a chosen slack cutoff value, it is estimated that the path would pass all corner analyses. Thus, any path that has a starting corner slack that is above a starting corner slack cutoff can be removed from analysis as it will likely pass multi-corner analysis. This can reduce the number of paths for multi-corner analysis. However, in order to reduce the possibility of having paths that potentially have a timing failure from erroneously being removed from analysis, the slack cutoff value is often set at a fairly high value. This, in turn, may lead to an undesirably low reduction in the number of paths that require full multi-corner analysis.

Variable threshold system and method for multi-corner static timing analysis

International Business Machines Corporation


A portable simplified image display apparatus and a receiving system are provided, which can sensuously know the state of received strength of radio signals transmitted from a body-insertable apparatus, in either case of before examination or during examination. A viewer (7) includes a detector that detects received strength of a radio signal transmitted from a capsule endoscope (2) and a notifying unit that notifies the detected state of received strength in a display pattern such as a picture display of a capsule (41). Therefore, in either case of before examination or during examination, the state of received strength of radio signals transmitted from the capsule endoscope (2) can be sensuously known according to the notification result of the state of received strength. If it is during examination, supplementary observation can be performed based on an excellent received image by searching a site having strong received strength, thereby enabling contribution to satisfactory examination.

Recently, in the field of endoscope, a capsule endoscope equipped with an imaging function and a radio communication function has appeared. This capsule endoscope has a configuration of moving in the internal organs (body cavity) such as esophagus, stomach, and small intestine with peristalsis during an observation period after it is swallowed from a mouth of an examinee as a subject of observation (examination) until it is naturally discharged from a living body (human body) of the examinee, and sequentially taking pictures at a predetermined imaging rate by using the imaging function.
During this observation period while the endoscope is moving in the internal organs, image data acquired in the internal organs by the capsule endoscope is sequentially transmitted to the outside of the examinee by the radio communication function such as radio communications, and stored in a memory provided in an external receiving device. If the examinee carries the receiving device having the radio communication function and the memory function, the examinee swallows the capsule endoscope and then can freely move without any inconvenience even during the observation period until the endoscope is discharged (see Patent Document 1).
When the image data is received, generally in the receiving device, a plurality of antennas is distributed and arranged outside of the examinee for receiving an image signal transmitted from the capsule endoscope, and one antenna having a strong received strength is selected and changed over, to receive the image signal. For example, a receiving device is described in Patent Literature 1, which switches reception of antennas arranged outside of the examinee, to detect the position of the capsule endoscope in the examinee, which is a transmission source of the image signal, based on an electric field strength received by each antenna.
In such a capsule endoscope system, after a series of an imaging operation by the capsule endoscope has been completed, the image data stored in the memory of the receiving device is generally transferred to a workstation or the like, and examination of the image is performed afterwards. However, there are strong demands from doctors for real-time examination of the images of sites such as esophagus and stomach or concerned sites, since the capsule endoscope passes these sites within short time. A system including a simplified image display apparatus that displays images on a real-time basis based on the radio signal transmitted from the capsule endoscope has also been proposed.
A conventional simplified image display apparatus has a configuration capable of electrically connecting to the receiving device, as the simplest configuration, and includes a small display unit and a predetermined signal processor. By having such a configuration, the simplified image display apparatus can input a signal having subjected to reception processing by the receiving device, and after having performed predetermined processing based on the input signal, the simplified image display apparatus displays images taken by the capsule endoscope on the small display unit.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2003-19111

Portable simplified image display apparatus and receiving system


Disclosed is a method and system for performing a partial-sum query in a database in which the data is represented as a multi-dimensional data cube. The data cube is partitioned into multi-dimensional blocks. One or more covering codes are then selected for each block, and a group of partial-sums is computed for each block based on its covering codes. At query time, the query result is generated by combining the partial-sums for those blocks that intersect with the query subset. To improve the query response time and reduce system storage requirements, the covering codes are preferably augmented as single-weight extended covering codes or composition-extended covering codes. Also, a second partial-sum may also be computed for each block to efficiently find its partial sum, based on the block's first partial-sums and the bit-position differences between selected codewords for the block and bit strings representing the cell indexes of the blocks intersecting with the query subset.

On-Line Analytical Processing (OLAP) has recently emerged as an important business application of aggregate databases built from data warehouses. The output from the OLAP application may be used for synthesizing new data or extracting useful patterns from the database, as in data mining applications. An increasingly popular data model for OLAP applications is the multi-dimensional database (MDDB), also known as data cube. The data cube model is described, for example, by J. Gray et al. in "Data Cube: A Relational Aggregate Operator Generalizing Group-bys, Cross-tabs and Sub-totals," Proc. of the 12th Int'l Conf. On Data Engineering, pp. 152-159, 1996.
To build an MDDB from a data warehouse, certain attributes (typically from 5 to 10) of the data records are selected. Each data record of the MDDB contains a value for each of the data attributes. One of these attributes is typically chosen as a metric of interest and referred to as a measure attribute. The remaining attributes, say d of them, are referred to as functional attributes which correspond to the dimensions of the data cube. The measure attribute values of all the records having the same combination of functional attributes are combined (e.g., summed up) into a single value. Thus, an MDDB can be viewed as a d-dimensional array, indexed by the values of the d functional attributes, whose cells contain the values of the measure attribute for the corresponding combination of the functional attribute values.
For example, a data cube representing data for an insurance company may have four dimensions corresponding to the functional attributes age, year, state, and insurance type, respectively. Assuming that the domain of age is from 1 to 100, of year is from 1985 to 1996, of state is the 50 states in U.S., and of insurance type is the set {home, auto, health} representing the type of insurance purchased by a customer. The data cube thus has 100.times.12.times.50.times.3 cells, with each cell containing the total revenue (the measure attribute in this case) for the corresponding combination of age, year, state, and type attribute values.
Furthermore, the above data cube may be extended by augmenting the domain of each functional attribute with an additional value, denoted by "all", to store the values of the measure attribute in all of the cells along that functional attribute. In the above example, the data cube will be extended to include 101.times.13.times.51.times.4 cells. With this extension, any query of the form (age, year, state, type), where the queried value for each attribute is either a single value in its domain or all, can be answered by accessing a single cell in the extended data cube. For instance, the total amount of revenue for the auto insurance in the whole U.S. in 1995 is a query specified by (all, 1995, all, auto), which can be answered in one cell access. Such queries are referred to as singleton queries.
An important class of queries in multi-dimensional databases involves the SUM aggregation of a group of cells selected from the data cube, where the values of interest for some functional attributes are specified as subsets, not necessarily in contiguous ranges, in their domains. These are referred to as partial-sum queries, and are frequently applied to categorical attributes due to their lack of natural semantics in ordering. For instance, the 50 states in the United States may be ordered alphabetically. However, a query may select the top 10 states with the largest populations, all states that are in the Pacific Standard Time zone, or all states that have one or more NFL football teams. In all these cases, the selected values of the functional attribute state are not contiguous because the states of interest are not necessarily in an alphabetical order.
The partial-sum queries may also apply to numeric attributes. For instance, if the functional attribute year is changed to year-quarter or year-month, then a query may select all first quarters from the past 10 years, or may select all December months from the past 10 years. In both cases, the selected values of the functional attributes year-quarter or year-month are not contiguous.
In an interactive exploration of the data cube, which is the predominant OLAP environment, it is essential that the query system produces a result with an almost instantaneous response time. It is thus desirable to have a method that can generate a partial-sum from the data cube quickly, regardless of the size of the region of the data cube being queried upon and without naively summing the necessary cells one-by-one.
In the assignee's pending patent application Ser. No. 08/764,564, a method is described for generating a range-sum query in a data cube, where the query ranges are contiguous. The method comprises the steps of selecting a subset of the data cube dimensions, computing a set of prefix-sums along the selected dimensions using the aggregate values, and generating a range-sum based on the computed prefix-sums. However, such a method cannot be applied to partial-sums because in many partial-sum query instances, the selection over the domain of a functional attribute is not necessarily contiguous.
In another pending application of the assignee, Ser. No. 08/808,046, a method is described for performing a range max/min query in a database represented as a multi-dimensional data cube. The method comprises the steps of: (i) partitioning the data cube into a multi-level structure of d-dimensional blocks, (ii) representing the blocks as a multi-level tree structure where the tree nodes correspond to the blocks, (iii) for each block, determining the index to the cell with the maximum or minimum value, (iv) storing the cell indexes in the corresponding nodes, and (v) generating the range max/min result from the values of the cells selected from those in the query region. However, the method described there requires that the selection over a functional attribute be contiguous and that the aggregation operator is MAX or MIN, rather than SUM or other similar binary operators. Therefore, this method cannot be used for a partial-sum query.
In the paper "Implementing Data Cubes Efficiently," Proc. of the ACM SIGMOD Conf. on Management of Data, June 1996, V. Harinarayan et al. describe techniques for efficiently constructing a data cube by determining what subset of the data cube to pre-compute in answering a singleton query. Since many data cells must be examined in a typical partial-sum query, as opposed to a single cell access in a singleton query, the methods described by Harinarayan et al. are not suitable for answering a partial-sum query.
Still other methods for processing multi-dimensional aggregates are described by J. Srivastava et al. ("TBSAM: An Access Method for Efficient Processing of Statistical Queries," IEEE Transaction on Knowledge and Data Engineering, 1(4), 1989). These methods, however, are designed for indexing the pre-computed aggregates or for incrementally maintaining them, but not for efficiently performing partial-sum queries over multiple dimensions of the data cube.
Therefore, there remains a need for an efficient method for performing partial-sum queries in a database in which data is represented as a multi-dimensional data cube. The method allows queries with a selection of cells, not necessarily contiguous, over multiple attribute dimensions to be processed quickly, and takes advantage of an inverse aggregate operator in processing the queries.

Method and system for performing partial-sum queries on a data cube

International Business Machines Corporation


A removable cover protects an electric fan when it is stored or not in operative use. The removable fan cover is fabricated of flexible machine-washable material which protects the fan blade structure from dust, dirt and moisture accumulation during its storage or non-use. One or more closure fasteners, such as snaps or two-way zippers, are utilized to secure the rear section of the cover whereby the cover is maintained in a firm and snug relationship around the fan blade structure.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a protective cover for a portable electric fan. More specifically, the present invention relates to a removable fan cover fabricated of a flexible machine-washable material for protecting the fan blade structure when the fan is not in operative use.
2. Description of Prior Art
Fan covers are old in the prior art, especially wire fabric fan covers for protecting users during operation of the fan, as exemplified by the following patents.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,489,704, issued on Apr. 8, 1924 to Frank P. Kleshick, describes a portable fan cover which covers the entire fan, except its supporting base. U.S. Pat. No. 1,751,793, issued on Mar. 25, 1930 to Emma K. Cook, discloses a fan cover made of a wire screening material. U.S. Pat. No. 2,036,478, issued on Apr. 7, 1936 to Charles E. Hoff, describes a wire guard for a motor driven fan. U.S. Pat. No. 2,763,428, issued on Sep. 18, 1956 to Robert D. Selah, describes a fan safety guard of wire mesh. U.S. Pat. No. 2,812,900, issued on Nov. 12, 1957 to Charles L. Matthews, describes a protective guard made of cotton mesh for an electric fan. U.S. Pat. No. 2,958,357, issued on Nov. 1, 1960 to Harry Vorgan, discloses a collapsible plastic cover for enclosing and protecting a phonograph record player and the like. French Patent Document Number 803,089, dated Sep. 22, 1936, shows an attachment for a table cover. British Patent Document Number 782,709, dated Sep. 11, 1957, shows a cover for a crated carboy. Netherlands Patent Document Number 3,722, dated Nov. 15, 1916, appears to show a fan cover. However, none of the above prior art patents describe or suggest the use of a removable fan cover which is fabricated of a flexible machine-washable material and which protects the fan blade structure from dust, dirt and moisture accumulation when the fan is not in operative use.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.

Protective cover for a portable electric fan


An improved electrical connector for use in both a communications card or a communication or computing device for fusibly interfacing between a media connector and a downsized computer or communication device is provided. In a first embodiment, the communications card comprises a retractable access portion and a fixed portion. In a second embodiment, the fixed portion is a communication or computing device without an intermediary communication card. The retractable access portion has an aperture formed therein configured to receive the media connector. A fusible link is formed by a fusible pin block which includes a conductive terminal having a first and a second end mates with both the retractable access portion and the fixed portion. The first end makes electrical contact with the media connector while, simultaneously, the second end slidingly makes electrical contact with the fixed portion as the retractable access portion is extended beyond the computer housing during use. The conductive terminal has a fuse region within the pin block that can be formed by necking-down the conductive terminal to create a current restriction. Alternatively, a fuse material having fixed fusing characteristics may electrically bridge a first end portion and a second end portion of the conductive terminal. The fusible link protects equipments and persons from spurious electrical conditions introduced into the communications card via the media connector.

1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the interface between physical/electrical media connectors and a communications card in a computer system and to communication devices capable of receiving a media connector. More specifically the present invention relates to an improvement in the electrical connection therebetween.
2. The Relevant Technology
The field of transmission of data by phone lines or network cables is a rapidly expanding field. Users of personal computers in particular are finding such practice to be of great value.
For example, there are numerous public and private networks and databases which store data or programs. Absent the ability to send and receive data over telephone lines through a modem, a user is relegated to relying upon the exchange of discs or tapes in order to receive data suitable for use with their computer.
Similarly, companies performing tasks that are integrated are aided by local area networks ("LANs") which permit personnel to exchange electronically retrievable data. The ability to freely transfer data and information from one computer to another computer over a telephone line may dramatically increase productivity and reduce overall production time.
To translate the binary code utilized by a computer into signals capable of being transmitted over the telephone lines, modems have been developed to translate and reconfigure binary signals into analog signals capable of being transmitted over telephone lines. For conversion of signals to take place, a modem must be placed between the computer generating the binary signals and the telephone line capable of carrying the analog signals.
Typically, in today's practice, a modem at the transmitting computer end of a telephone line receives binary digital data from the computer and converts the binary code received from the computer into modem frequency signals. These modem frequency signals are then transmitted over the telephone lines to a receiving modem at the receiving computer.
The modem at the recipient's end then converts the modem frequency signal back to binary digital data characters and inputs the data characters to the input port of the receiving computer.
As today's modems serve to provide a compatible interface between the phone lines and the computer, the Federal Communications Commission ("FCC") and telephone companies require an interface to moderate all signals or energy being input into the phone lines. This interface protects the phone lines and systems from damage, thereby ensuring the integrity and quality of transmissions over the phone lines.
A required part of this interface is a Data Access Arrangement ("DAA") circuit. The DAA circuit provides an impedance match and also serves to isolate the modem and the computer from transient signals and other disturbances coming in over the phone line. The DAA also protects the phone line from disabling influences emanating from the computer or the modem.
For example, damage would occur to the telephone system if instead of transmitting frequency signals, DC power was transmitted over the phone lines. Because the modem is attached directly to the phone line, the modem must incorporate the required FCC interface and must comply with any requirements imposed by local telephone companies.
The ubiquity of the telephone and the need for interactive systems throughout the world have caused standards to be established for the components of a telephonic system. Standardization allows telephone systems and devices using those systems to be interchangeable. The components of the telephone that are most thoroughly standardized are physical/electrical media connectors.
Physical/electrical media connectors are used by almost all telephone companies throughout the world for many applications, the most important of which is interconnection of telephones with telephone lines. For this reason, stringent standardization of connectors is required if compatibility and interactivity is to be realized.
One popular physical/electrical media connector used in the United States of America is the RJ-11 4-position miniature modular plug physical/electrical media connector. The RJ-11 is used between the telephone line and the telephone itself
Unfortunately, because of the physical and electrical differences between the many pins of the peripheral ports associated with the central processing unit of a computer and the 4 pins of the RJ-11, direct physical or electrical connection of the RJ-11 to the computer is not possible.
Consequently, it has been found necessary to employ modems or similar input/output devices or cards to effect communication between computers and telephone lines. Modems reconfigure binary data from the central processing unit of the computer as received through the multi-pin peripheral port. The reconfigured data is then transmitted in analog form through the RJ-11 physical/electrical media connector into the telephone line.
In contradistinction to the development of telephone lines, transmission lines used in LANs have been developed specifically for the transmission of computer generated signals. Because of the recent development of these transmission lines, a variety of internal configurations for transmission lines have been developed to accomplish the transmission of computer data between computers.
A typical local area network comprises several computers at remote locations throughout a building interconnected with unshielded twisted pair cable utilizing RJ-type physical/electrical media connectors. The network is typically connected to a file server. A file server is a computer providing shared access to a file system, printer, electronic mail service, or modem. The file server is a combination of hardware and software that contains files shared by everyone connected to the LAN.
As LANs utilizing unshielded twisted pair cable are capable of transmitting signals at a higher rate than signals traveling through telephone lines, the requirements of the devices used to translate and reconfigure signals from the computer for transmission through lines have consequently been developed with different requirements.
The counterpart to the modem in telephonic communications is the LAN adapter card or data communications card. In a similar fashion to a modem, these communications cards reconfigure the parallel data produced by the computer into a serial form and back. These cards also provide buffering, encoding and decoding, cable access, and transmission.
As the use of LANs increases, it has become increasingly more beneficial for users of portable computers to have the ability to interact with several local area networks at different locations. For example, information at one location may be downloaded to a portable computer that allows a user to manipulate the data during a business trip and load the manipulated data onto the network at a destination. Diagnostics and maintenance are also made easier through the use of common connectors.
As the popularity of twisted-pair cable has increased, the popularity of the most frequently used physical/electrical media connector, the 8-pin miniature modular plug, has also increased. This increase in popularity of the 8-pin miniature modular plug has introduced the same problems and solutions into LANs as will be discussed regarding the RJ-11 physical/electrical media connector in the development of modems.
Many modems in use today are configured as external accessory units, housed in their own cases, and attached to the computer. Typically, external modems are electrically connected to the telephone with a telephone extension line utilizing physical/electrical media connectors at each end. External modems are often employed by users of personal computers because they can easily contain a substantial amount of electronic circuitry or hardware, as well as executable programs or software.
With the advent of downsizing technology in computer components, however, smaller portable computers (often referred to as laptop or notebook computers) have taken the place of many of the desktop models which use external modems. With the new-found portability available with laptop or notebook computers, the size of external modems has proved cumbersome and been rendered obsolete in keeping with the portability that buyers of these downsized computers desire.
To overcome the inconvenience and physical limitations of external modems, smaller modems have been developed that are small enough to be built integrally within the housing of a portable computer. As a result, integral internal modems that interface with the ubiquitous RJ-11 system provides users of portable computers with internal modems having a uniform standard interface for media access devices such as modems. Now, modem manufacturers can build products capable of accepting the RJ-11 media connector with confidence that their product can be used in a wide geographical area. Because modems can be built to the RJ-11 uniform standard, consumers benefit from the ability to interchange and interconnect media access devices without the need for adapters for products made by different manufacturers.
As computer housings have continued to be downsized, internal spatial restrictions have required the establishment of standards for the internal accessories of the computer. One set of standards applicable to memory cards has been developed by the Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA). This organization is comprised of hundreds of manufacturers of memory cards and related peripheral equipment. By convention, the PCMCIA has determined that the spatial standard for all memory cards used in down-sized computers should be restricted to a rectangular space approximately 55 mm in width, 85 mm in length, and 5 mm in depth.
In keeping with the PCMCIA standards for memory cards, internal modem manufacturers have adopted the same spatial standards for use with their down-sized communications cards such as a communications card 12 of FIG. 1. By complying with the standards established by PCMCIA for memory cards, communications card manufacturers have assured themselves of compatibility and spatial conformity with a computer 10 utilizing the new PCMCIA standards.
The constraints imposed by this new PCMCIA standard have resulted in the development of "credit card" communications cards. Most of the components formerly housed within a modem are now contained within a credit card-sized device. Although many of the communication cards serve the functions of a modem, a similar card has been contemplated for use in LANs. Nonetheless, the problem will hereinafter be addressed in terms of the PCMCIA standard communications card.
Since the depth of a PCMCIA standard communications card is limited to 5 mm and the depth of a typical media connector, such as the RJ-11 type or 8-pin miniature modular plug, is approximately 8-12 mm, the typical media connector exceeds the depth restrictions imposed by the PCMCIA standards for internal computer components.
While many prior art devices have tried to solve the depth incompatibility problem between the PCMCIA standard communications card and the media connector, a "pop-out" or sliding interface device 14 has emerged as a popular solution. The pop-out interface device, known commonly as the XJACK.RTM. initially produced by MEGAHERTZ Corp., now owned by 3 Com Corp., solves many of the interface problems posed by prior art devices. Such solved problems include, but are not limited to: (i) the elimination of carrying along an extra interfacing device compatible with both the media connector and the PCMCIA communications card; (ii) the elimination of ensuring a DAA in the interfacing device is compatible with the computer; (iii) the elimination of physical interference between adjacent PCMCIA communication cards in adjacent slots when the PCMCIA communication card has an enlarged portion thereof larger than the conventional 5 mm thickness; (iv) the elimination of potential breakage of the interface connector when not in use; and (v) the elimination of protrusions beyond the normal dimensions of the computer so that the computer portfolio is more compatible with devices typically transporting laptop computers.
With reference to FIG. 2, a typical embodiment of a sliding interface device in the form of a conventional 5 mm thick PCMCIA-architecture style communications card for directly interfacing with a media connector is depicted generally as 20. The communications card 29 defining the interface device 20 has a retractable access portion 22 and a fixed portion 24.
The fixed portion 24 is in electrical communication with a computer (not shown) by means of electronic circuitry connected on a printed circuit board (PCB) housed internally within the communications card 29. For brevity, fixed portion 24 may sometimes be referred to as the PCB 24 although the fixed portion includes more than just the PCB and electronic circuitry. The retractable access portion 22 is in electrical communication with the fixed portion 24 through a flexible wire ribbon 30. During use, in means well known in the art, the retractable access portion 22 slides in and out of a slot 32 formed within the PCB 24. The retractable access portion 22 is urged out of the slot 32 by a spring 34 biased, in a direction external to the computer housing, by a ledge 36 connected to the PCB 24. Although not shown, the computer housing during use is substantially parallel to an edge 37 of the communications card 29. A limiting notch 42 engaged by a biased lever 40 is used to restrict the travel distance of the interface device to a predetermined distance when the retractable access portion is urged in a direction external to the computer housing by the spring 34. After use, a retention notch 38 in combination with the biased lever 40 is used to retain the retractable access portion 22 within the housing of the computer.
An aperture 44 having a plurality of walls 46 is formed within the retractable access portion 22. The aperture 44 is so sized and shaped as to be capable of receiving a physical/electrical media connector. Formed within aperture 44 by means of walls 46 is a broad retention clip groove 48, a narrow retention clip groove 50, and a retention ridge 52. These structures within aperture 44 provide for the retention of a connector pin block of a physical/electrical media connector. A guide track 54 is formed within communications card 29 protruding upwardly from the bottom of communications card 29. Guide track 54 is interengaged with a corresponding guide groove formed in the bottom of retractable access portion 22.
When a user desires to connect a telephone line to the communications card, biased lever 40 is manipulated out of retention notch 38. As retractable access portion 22 is released from the grip of biased lever 40, tension applied by spring 34 urges retractable access portion 22 out of slot 32. The progress of retractable access portion 22 is guided by guide track 54 and is halted when biased lever 40 engages limiting notch 42. A user then inserts a physical/electrical media connector into aperture 44 to provide an electrical connection between communications card 29 and the telephone line. When a user no longer desires to access the retractable access portion 22, the user merely presses retractable access portion 22 back within the confines of the computer housing until the retention notch 38 is engaged by biased lever 40.
While the example as described has been effective as a media interface connection, safety precautions and requirements frequently emerge as products gain widespread public acceptance and safety consciousness increases. It is well known that public telephone transmission lines and electrical power transmission lines either share common conduction line supports such as "utility poles" or are adjacently positioned on individual utility poles. Additionally, both electrical and telephonic transmission lines are adjacently located as they enter into an end user's structure such as a home or business. As such, there exists the potential for both conduction lines to contact each other when in their conductive state thereby causing interruptive and dangerous conditions on the other's conduction lines. For example, telephonic lines, and in particular Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) lines, generally transmit signals using Direct Current (DC) signalling using approximately 48 volts with current levels around 120 m A or less. In contrast, electrical or power conduction services generally transmit power using Alternating Current (AC) techniques and utilize voltage signal levels of hundreds and even millions of volts with current levels in the hundreds to millions of amperes range. In the eventuality that both the electrical or power transmission lines were to contact the telephonic transmission lines, large and hence dangerous signal levels on the telephone lines could subject individuals and equipments such as modems and computers to injurious and fatal conditions.
Other potentially dangerous failure modes include spurious lines conditions that exceed expected transmission ranges. For example, the telephonic transmission lines of the PSTN system, as described above, accommodate a voltage in the range of 0-200 volts when the "ring voltage" is sent across the lines. Equipments such as communications cards are designed to accept such signal levels. However, when acts, including acts of nature such as lightning strikes, introduce transient conditions in excess of hundreds and even thousands and millions of volts that reach injurious levels for both humans and equipments.
To moderate such occurrences, requirements by safety agencies have been promulgated to manufactures of interface devices such as communication cards, including modem and network cards, to provide protection against injury and damage from such calamity. In many instances, the safety requirements are scheduled to be in place on communications cards by the year 2000. On such safety requirement dictates that end user equipment such as communication cards must provide a removable fusible link that will activate upon the occurrence of conditions commensurate with 600 volts and 40 amperes. Such requirements accommodate the typical operational conditions utilizing the PSTN standard and other similar defined standards. While the precise specifications of the safety requirements vary between countries and agencies, the general nature of the regulations includes providing a spurious line condition protection mechanism for the protection of both the human communications card end user as well as the communications card equipment itself.
Accordingly, it would be an advance to provide an improved electrical connection between the media connector, such as the telephone or network interface, and the communications card or communication or computing device that substantially provides the protection to both end users and the equipment itself as requested by safety regulations.

Electrical connector having a fusible link for use between media connectors and computer communications cards


A method and a computer data signal including instructions for processing printed unit orders for printing on printers adapted for printing N pages across a print web. The orders are grouped based on page type (e.g., size, thickness, color) and binding type into print batches. These print batches are sorted, processed and then sent to the printer. Printed units may be organized with N single printed units printed in parallel across the web, a single printed unit sorted into N sections printed in parallel across all of the webs, or in super batches including multiple printed units, with N super batches printed in parallel across the web.

In digital printing, a known tradeoff exists between printing efficiency and printing flexibility. Digital printing (as opposed to offset printing) may involve the use of printers having printable page or web widths large enough to accommodate multiple publication pages side-by-side, referred to as N-up printing. N is the number of columns printed across the width of a web or other print medium. For example, if the web width can accommodate two publication pages side-by-side, this is referred to as 2-up; three pages side-by-side is referred to as 3-up, etc. The pages from the printer are then directed into a finishing device which separates (slits) publication page "columns" and then cuts the publication pages from each other, and then sorts and stacks the pages.
If the publication pages across the web are from a single copy of a single publication, the finishing device performs an operation referred to as slit-merge and all of the publication pages from the N-up web are sorted and ordered into a single stack for binding. Slit-merge refers to a method of finishing that accepts N-up web print output, cuts (slits) the web into pages, merges these pages into a single stack, and outputs this single stack with physical offsetting representing a logical break in output (e.g., a book, set of books).
If the publication pages across the web are from different publications or parallel copies of the same publication, the finishing device performs an operation referred to as slit-stack and the publication pages from the N-up web are sorted into N stacks. Slit-stack refers to a method of finishing which accepts N-up web print output, cuts (slits) the web into pages, and outputs N stacks of output, each stack representing a logical break in output (e.g., a book, set of books, or portion of a book).
For on-demand printing of single copies of individual publications (quantity 1, Print on Demand or POD), it would be desirable that slit-merge finishing be used so that these single copies could be sequentially printed, slit, sorted and segregated by the finishing device. However, current slit-merge finishing devices and methods are limited to 2-up printing. For 3-up printing, only slit-stack finishing technology is available. Consequently, there is no efficient method of performing on-demand printing of single copies of individual publications in an N-up mode where N is greater than 2. In addition, slit-stack technology is much less complex and paper-handling intensive than slit-merge technology. Therefore, as printer manufacturers support wider print webs, finishing equipment manufacturers develop slit-stack finishing technology for higher "N-up" values long before they develop slit-merge finishing technology for the same "N-up" value.
To provide efficient and cost effective high volume POD manufacturing, several technological advancements have been developed by digital printer hardware and finishing hardware manufacturers, including high volume POD production control and printer management and wide (e.g., 19″+) paper web support. However, printers have not been able to realize the full potential of these advances because they have been limited to 2-up slit-merge printing, 2-up slit-stack printing, and 3-up slit stack printing.


An optical waveguide type optical terminator forms an optical waveguide structure including at least an optical absorption core (103) which is formed on a clad layer (102) and includes a portion composed of silicon in which an impurity of 1019 cm−3 or more is doped, and is used by being optically connected in series with an optical waveguide including a core (105) composed of silicon. The optical absorption core (103) is sufficient provided that, at least, an impurity of around 1019 cm−3 is doped therein. For example, its impurity concentration is sufficient provided that it falls within a range of 1019-1020 cm−3. The existence of this impurity causes absorption of light in the optical absorption core (103).

Information and telecommunications networks including the Internet as a representative thereof have been widely deployed all over the world as an infrastructure essential to people's lives. As technologies supporting the traffic of the Internet, there have been optical communication technologies each utilizing an optical fiber. An optical communication device employing a silicon platform, which can deal with a band of 1.3 μm and a band of 1.55 μm among optical fiber communication wavelength bands, has been expected as one which makes it possible to realize a high-density optical integrated circuit by utilizing a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) fabrication technology.
As a particularly important technology among such optical communication technologies, there is an optical waveguide device fabrication technology. An optical waveguide device makes it possible to, unlike an optical device fabricated by splicing discrete optical parts, integrate a large number of optical devices. Accordingly, a design flexibility regarding optical devices is significantly improved. Moreover, fabrication technologies for semiconductor devices can be utilized, and thus, low-cost and large-scale-integrated devices can be achieved.
Examples of such an optical waveguide device include an optical splitter, an optical coupler, a wavelength multiplexer/de-multiplexer, an optical switch, an optical modulator and a variable optical attenuator. Nevertheless, there has been a problem that, when stray light or leakage light occurs inside such an optical waveguide device, it gives adverse effects on the characteristics of the optical waveguide device, such as an extinction ratio, cross talk and the like. Moreover, not only for a single device, but also for a device including a large number of optical devices integrated therein, there has been a problem that stray light or leakage light from a device gives adverse effects on the characteristics of another optical device.
As a specific example of such a case, an optical switch realized by employing a Mach-Zehnder interferometer is exemplified here. As shown in FIG. 13, this optical switch, which is constituted by a Mach-Zehnder interferometer, turns on/off of each of light rays outputted from output ports 1306a and 1306b by causing a directional coupler 1302 to split a light ray from an input port 1301 into two light rays, causing a phase shifter 1304 to control a light phase difference between light rays having passed through two arms 1303a and 1303b, and then, causing a directional coupler 1305 to merge the light rays having passed through the two arms into a light ray again. At this time, although, normally, there is no input and output light at a dummy port 1307, leakage light from the dummy port 1307 of a device is likely to arise when a light reflection point has arisen inside the device for some reason.
There arises a problem that re-coupling of this leakage light with the waveguide degrades the characteristics of the optical device, such as an extinction ratio and cross talk, and thus, it becomes necessary to completely quench light at the dummy port 1307 in some way.
Among optical terminators having been proposed so far, there is an optical terminator which is structured such that a slot with an angle relative to a waveguide is provided at an edge portion of a dummy port, and afterwards, this slot is filled with an optical absorption material, such as carbon black (refer to PTL 1 and PTL 2). However, this method makes fabrication processes therefor more complex because of additional processes of forming a slot, filling the formed slot with an optical absorption material, and the like, and further, the fabrication processes therefor becomes more difficult because of the occurrence of exfoliation thereof and the like. Thus, this method results in high cost, and further, problems in reliability, a variation of performance and the like have been significant problems.
Further, it has been proposed to fabricate a structure for scattering light at an edge portion of a dummy port (PTL 3). In this proposal, nevertheless, there has been a significant problem that this scattering of light results in the occurrence of stray light, so that this stray light gives adverse effects, such as the lowering of an extinction ratio and the occurrence of cross talk, on other optical devices. Further, even if light can be scattered not within a face on which an optical device is mounted but in an upward and downward direction relative to the face, the scattered light is likely to be coupled with an optical receiver and the like installed in a package containing the optical device, and thus, this has been a significant problem.
Further, there has been proposed a structure which allows light to leak from a core included in a waveguide connected to a dummy port by causing the core to be of a forward tapered shape, and allows a metallic material or the like covering the surrounding of the core to optically absorb the leaked light (PTL 4). In this technology, nevertheless, there has been a problem that conditions for a fabrication process of causing the core included in the waveguide to be of the forward tapered shape are so severe that it is difficult to fabricate such a taper of the forward tapered shape.

Optical waveguide type optical terminator


Silver electroplating compositions deposit silver with low coefficients of friction on substrates, such as nickel, copper and copper alloys. The silver deposits have coefficients of friction of less than or equal to 1 in contrast to many conventional silver deposits which typically have coefficients of friction greater than 1, such as 1.5. The silver deposits also have improved wear resistance in contrast to silver deposited from many conventional silver electroplating baths. The low coefficients of friction and improved wear resistance of silver deposited from the silver electroplating compositions is especially suitable for connectors and electronics finishes. Preferably, the silver electroplating compositions are cyanide-free silver electroplating compositions.

Silver films are very susceptible to poor wear performance due to low hardness, poor resistance to lateral displacement, and significant degrees of cold welding, a phenomenon in which two silver contacts can bond under usage conditions to hinder removal. For connectors in which repeated mating and un-mating cycles are necessary, poor wear performance is detrimental. Furthermore, as interconnects become denser and finely pitched, the force required to insert and mate electronic components scales with the natively high coefficient of friction (COF˜1.5) of silver. This can cause pin failure, especially as pins become smaller and densely spaced. Despite these challenges, silver has the potential to be a very attractive connector finish. Silver natively has one of the lowest contact resistance values among pure metals, and it is significantly cheaper than gold (the leading industry alternative). Thus, to effectively utilize silver, wear and cold-welding resistant silver finishes with low COF is highly desirable.
Therefore, there is a need for a silver electroplating composition which is stable and deposits silver which has a low coefficient of friction and improved wear resistance.

Silver electroplating compositions and methods for electroplating silver with low coefficients of friction

ROHM AND HAAS ELECTRONIC MATERIALS LLC (RHEM)


An engine unit that has a throttle valve driving actuator securely fixed thereto, and in which the vibration caused on the actuator is small. The engine unit includes a V-type engine and a throttle body assembly. The throttle body assembly has first and second front and rear throttle bodies, an actuator, a transmission gear mechanism, and a casing that houses the actuator and the transmission gear mechanism. The casing has a first casing portion that is fixed to the first front and rear throttle bodies, and a second casing portion that faces the first casing portion in a width direction and is fixed to at least one of the second front and rear throttle bodies.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an engine unit for a vehicle that has a V-type engine and a throttle body assembly.
2. Description of Related Art
Various types of throttle body assemblies used for V-type engines are known. For example, FIG. 13 depicts a throttle body assembly 100 of a V-type engine disclosed in JP-A-2002-256900. As shown in FIG. 13, throttle body assembly 100 is provided with a motor 102 for driving a throttle valve 101. Motor 102 is disposed in an area enclosed by a total of four throttle bodies 103 and 104 in a plan view. Motor 102 is housed in an aluminum die cast housing 105. Housing 105 is attached and fixed to throttle bodies 103 and 104 in a suspended manner by a stay (not shown) that is suspended over throttle bodies 103 and 104.
As is disclosed in JP-A-2002-256900, housing 105 of motor 102 is attached and fixed to throttle bodies 103 and 104 by the stay in a suspended manner. Therefore, the strength of attachment of motor 102 can be ensured and the strength of the connection of throttle bodies 103 and 104 can be increased.
However, throttle body assembly 100 is disposed in the vicinity of an engine, which is a source of strong vibrations. Therefore, motor 102 cannot be fixed securely enough only by fixing motor 102 by the stay that bridges between throttle bodies 103 and 104. Accordingly, there is a problem that vibration occurring in motor 102 cannot be reduced enough.
Furthermore, when vibration occurs in motor 102, a load is applied to a deceleration gear mechanism that connects motor 102 and a valve shaft 107. Due to this, there is also a problem that the durability of throttle body assembly 100 is reduced.

Engine unit and vehicle including the same


A seat and backrest is provided for mounting onto a vehicle's tailgate and which moves with the tailgate without obstructing the tailgate's motion. The seat and backrest may be easily removed from the tailgate and later replaced, so as to enable the vehicle to be used without the invention acting as an obstruction to loading and unloading the vehicle. A hinged cover panel is incorporated for providing a table surface and a cover for the seating surface.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to vehicle seating, and more particularly to a seat apparatus make as a part of or in combination with a vehicle tailgate.
2. Description of Related Art
The following art defines the present state of this field:
Lewis, U.S. Pat. No. 5,039,154 describes a mounting system for a conventional tailgate of a pick-up truck that is capable of situating the tailgate so as to minimize drag and at the same time provide effective use of the tailgate. Two mounting brackets are each structured to include a base for being mounted upon the top tend of a respective sidewall of a pick-up truck cargo bed. Each of the mounting brackets is further structured with a particular fitting for interfacing with reciprocably shaped fittings on the tailgate to removably secure, in a selectively lockable manner, the tailgate to the fittings, in the same manner that the tailgate conventionally attaches to the conventional fittings located at the inside wall of the sidewalls of the pick-up truck.
Denvir, U.S. Pat. No. 5,352,008 describes a tailgate plate that is arranged for displacement from a vertical position extending over an entrance opening of a vehicular truck bed, wherein the tailgate is arranged for displacement to a second position orthogonally and forwardly oriented relative to the first position permitting access of air movement through the entrance opening of the truck bed to improve aerodynamics and increase the fuel efficiency of the truck, and wherein the tailgate is arranged for displacement to a third position orthogonally and rearwardly oriented relative to the first position and in the same plane as the truck bed floor, allowing cargo to be loaded and unloaded in the accustomed manner.
Hicks, U.S. Pat. No. 4,125,284 describes a self-propelled vehicle for transporting personnel and/or small cargoes including a seat for the driver and a cargo-carrying bed or floor located rearwardly of the seat. The floor includes a stationary, generally flat first platform and a movable section including a generally flat second platform and a rear wall member extending generally perpendicular to the second platform. The movable floor section is supported from the rear portion of the vehicle frame for selective pivotal movement between a raised or cargo-carrying position where the second platform is generally coplanar with the first platform and the rear wall member serves to confine cargo on the floor and a lowered or passenger-carrying position where the rear wall member can serve as a step for a passenger to step up and sit on the stationary platform and also serve as a foot rest for a rearward-facing passenger(s) sitting on the stationary platform. The movable floor section is releasably held in the raised position by a pair of laterally spaced arms, each of which, at the outer end, is pivotally supported from the movable floor section and, at the inner end, is provided with a detent notch which is biased into releasable engagement with a pin located on the vehicle frame beneath the stationary platform by a spring connected between the inner end of the arm and the vehicle frame.
Cavanaugh, U.S. Pat. No. 5,533,774 describes a seat for supporting an individual relative to an exterior panel of the vehicle. The inventive device includes a seat assembly pivotably mounted within an aperture in an exterior body panel of a vehicle. A latch assembly retains the seat assembly within the body panel and can be selectively actuated to permit releasing of the seat assembly into a horizontal position, whereby an individual can be supported relative to the vehicle exterior.
The prior art does not teach a tailgate seating apparatus of the type shown herein. The prior art, in Cavanaugh does teach a panel seat for a truck. However, the prior art does not teach that a seating apparatus may be made integral with a tailgate to provide the improvements taught in the present disclosure and having the related advantages as described in the following summary.


An interrupt system having three tiers is provided. The first tier includes individual interrupt and enable registers, each of which provides multiple local interrupt signals in response to various events in a multiport switch. Local enable signals are supplied to the individual interrupt and enable registers to enable the local interrupt signals to be written into a global interrupt status register that provides the second tier of the interrupt system. The global interrupt status register produces several global interrupt signals, each of which represents one of the individual interrupt and enable registers. The third tier of the interrupt system includes a switch command register that generates an interrupt pending signal if any one of the global interrupt signals is produced. A global enable signal provided by the host processor enables the switch command register to produce an interrupt request signal to be supplied to a host processor.

The growth in computer applications that require heavy data traffic and the increasing availability of high-speed transmission lines and intelligent communication switches create a need for computer systems able to manage a huge amount of data at high rates. For example, high-speed communication systems may require processors to be interrupted at rates of 20,000-100,000 interrupts per second in response to hundreds various events.
It would be desirable to create a multi-tiered interrupt system that makes easier for a host processor to detect a particular event causing an interrupt.
Further, to prevent processing bottlenecks created by a processor, the number of interrupts should be reduced. Accordingly, it would be desirable to create an interrupt system that eliminates repeated interrupts caused by the same event to reduce the number of interrupts.

Multi-tiered interrupt structure with global interrupt enablement


A tactile sense presenting device that includes a control unit, a driving unit, and a vibrating device. The vibrating device includes a diaphragm, a piezoelectric film that is bridged over the diaphragm and stretches and contracts in a planar direction, and spacers that are provided in a gap portion, in which the piezoelectric film and the diaphragm face each other, and are fixed to the diaphragm.

Conventionally, a vibrating device that vibrates a diaphragm by driving a film such as a piezoelectric film is widely used. Such vibrating devices can be used, for example, for a flat speaker or a haptics device (tactile sense presenting device). For example, Patent Document 1 (identified below) discloses a flat speaker that vibrates a diaphragm by stretching and contracting a piezoelectric film.
FIG. 9 is a side view of a vibrating device 101 according to Patent Document 1. As shown, the vibrating device 101 includes an exciter film 102, a diaphragm 103, frame members 104 and 105, and a piezoelectric film 106.
The piezoelectric film 106 is attached to a surface of the exciter film 102 that faces the diaphragm 103. The frame members 104 and 105 are provided between the both ends of the exciter film 102 and the both ends of the diaphragm 103, respectively. The center of the diaphragm 103 warps so as to separate from the piezoelectric film 106 and the exciter film 102. As a result, the diaphragm 103 pulls the piezoelectric film 106 and the exciter film 102 outward in a length direction with the frame members 104 and 105 interposed therebetween.
In the vibrating device 101, when a drive voltage is applied to the piezoelectric film 106, the piezoelectric film 106 stretches and contracts in the planar direction. Then, as the piezoelectric film 106 stretches and contracts, the tension of the exciter film 102 fluctuates and the diaphragm 103 vibrates.    Patent Document 1: WO 2012/157691 A.
The conventional vibrating device 101 illustrated in FIG. 9 can also be configured as a haptics device (tactile sense presenting device). For example, in the tactile sense presenting device, a touch sensor (not illustrated) that detects a user's touch operation is provided to the diaphragm 103, and the touch sensor detects the user's touch operation on the diaphragm 103. Then, when the touch sensor detects the touch operation, the tactile sense presenting device applies a drive voltage to the piezoelectric film 106. As a result, the piezoelectric film 106 stretches and contracts in the planar direction, the tension of the exciter film 102 fluctuates, and the diaphragm 103 vibrates. Consequently, it is possible to give a tactile sense feedback to the user who touches the diaphragm 103.
In this regard, when the user's force to press the diaphragm 103 is strong, the diaphragm 103 is pushed and a gap between the diaphragm 103 and the film is crushed in some cases. Then, the diaphragm 103 hardly warps, and it becomes difficult to give the tactile sense feedback to the user who presses the diaphragm 103.

Vibrating device and tactile sense presenting device


An electrostatic chuck system comprising a chuck body 1 having a clamping face 4 for electrostatically clamping a substrate 5, an electrode portion 2 generating a clamping force on the clamping face 4, a temperature-regulating portion 3 regulating the temperature of the substrate 5 to maintain it at a predetermined level, and a controller 10 controlling the voltage applied to the electrode portion 2, wherein, prior to completion of the electrostatic clamping of the substrate 5 to the chuck body 1, a voltage waveform obtained by superimposing a first waveform, which changes in a stepwise, rectilinear, or quadratic manner between a first level and a second level having a larger absolute value than the first level, and a periodic second waveform, which may be any of a rectangular wave, a triangular wave, a saw-tooth wave, or a sine wave, is applied by the controller 10 to the electrode portion 2.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an electrostatic chuck system used in semiconductor fabrication processes involving substrate heating or cooling and to a semiconductor fabrication device equipped therewith.
2. Background Art
Semiconductor fabrication devices include devices that control substrate temperature to maintain it at a predetermined level. Such devices are provided with heating and cooling means for controlling substrate temperature. Depending upon the configuration of the devices, there are devices having only heating or only cooling means, and devices having both heating and cooling means. Well-known examples of specific semiconductor fabrication devices include sputtering devices, thin film deposition devices, and ion implanters.
When temperature control is performed with the aim of controlling the temperature of a substrate (for example, a semiconductor wafer made of silicon, silicon carbide, gallium nitride, indium phosphide, and the like, an article obtained by forming a film on the front and back surfaces of said wafer, or a glass substrate) in order to maintain it at an elevated or low level, the larger the difference between the target preset temperature and room temperature, the greater the warpage generated in the substrate. The extent of such warpage varies with the type and dimensions of the target substrate.
In many semiconductor fabrication devices, a substrate is electrostatically clamped to a stage using an electrostatic chuck and the electrostatically clamped substrate is then processed. In devices that process substrates after setting the temperature of the substrates to an elevated or low level, normal processing of substrate surfaces to be treated (e.g., surfaces subjected to ion implantation treatment) may be prevented by the warpage generated in the substrates.
Technology used to mitigate such substrate warpage is described, for instance, in Patent Citation 1. According to Patent Citation 1, when a substrate is disposed on a base member with a built-in heater and the substrate is electrostatically clamped, the rate of substrate temperature rise is smoothed out by changing the clamping voltage in a stepwise manner. This makes it possible to reduce substrate warpage in comparison with approaches in which a high clamping voltage is applied from the very beginning.

Electrostatic chuck system and semiconductor fabrication device


A system and method for recovering from logical path failures is set forth. More specifically, when a host detects a logical path failure, the host enters a path discovery mode of operation. If the host continues to detect a logical path failure while operating in the logical path discovery mode of operation, the host removes the logical path from a logical path mask, and the host does not use the removed logical path again. Additionally, the system and method facilitates recovery of the failed logical paths by using a plurality of logical path masks. A first mask is referred to as an intermediate failure logical path mask and a second mask is referred to as a permanent failure logical path mask.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method, system, and article of manufacture for recovering from grouped logical path failures.
2. Description of the Related Art
In certain computing environments, a host computer may communicate with a storage control unit, where the storage control unit controls physical storage. The physical storage that is controlled by the storage control unit may be represented logically as a plurality of logical path resources within the storage control unit. Applications in the host computer may perform input/output (I/O) operations with respect to the logical path resources of the storage control unit. For example, an application in the host computer may write to logical path resources of the storage control unit. The storage control unit may maintain a correspondence between the logical path resources and storage media in the physical storage via logical and physical volumes. While data may be physically written to the storage media in the physical storage under the control of the storage control unit, as far as an application in the host computer is concerned, the application performs write operations with respect to the logical path resources in the storage control unit.
Logical path resources may be added, deleted, or otherwise modified within the storage control unit. Certain modifications to the logical path resources of the storage control unit, such as addition of a logical path resource when no path resources are available, may cause a failure of I/O operations that are sent from the host computer to the storage control unit.
It is known for a host to use logical paths to communicate with a storage controller. A host usually has multiple paths to access devices in a storage controller. The multiple path capability of a host comes into play after the host system performs an initial program load (IPL) operation, and the logical paths are grouped per each device in a logical subsystem. A host may group between two and eight logical paths to any given device of a logical subsystem of a storage controller.
As long as the logical paths are available during a host input/output (I/O) operation, there is no problem. However, if a logical path failure occurs, the host enters into a path failure mode of operation. A logical path failure can be temporary or permanent. A temporary logical path failure may last between a few milliseconds to one or two seconds. In certain systems, for direct connect links, any error that lasts less than one and a half seconds is considered to be a nonpermanent error. When a loss of a light condition is detected, the channel starts a timer. If the link returns to operational within 1.5 seconds, the logical paths associated with that link are not removed. For switched links, the time-out period is the time needed for the state change to be propagated to the host from the switch. The hosts, such as a system 390 type host, then wait for 2 seconds before removing logical paths from the available paths.
When a permanent logical path error is identified, this condition essentially lasts forever as far as the host is concerned. The consequence is thus removal of the logical path from the available logical paths. For direct connect links, if the link is in a failure condition for over one and half seconds, the channel removes all logical paths on that physical link. For switched links, the time-out period is approximately two seconds before the channel will begin removing logical paths. One result of a temporary or permanent failure is an inability of a host to access devices via the failed logical path. Because the host does not have any knowledge of the failure type, the host retries the I/O operation. For temporary failures, the host might be able to retry the I/O operation successfully and the host can continue performing I/O operations to the device. For temporary failures or for permanent failures, a host may exceed a predetermined number of allowed retries within the failure window, and the host removes the logical path from its working logical path mask.
When a host detects a logical path failure, the host enters a path discovery mode of operation. If the host continues to detect a logical path failure while in the path discovery mode of operation, the host removes the logical path from its logical path mask, and the host does not use the logical path again. For each failure the host detects on a logical path, the host enters the path discovery mode of operation, and path removal from its mask if the logical path fails in the discovery process. It is possible, and it has been observed, that a loss of access to the device may occur because the host loses access to a device via all the logical paths of a path group. In a System 390 type environment this case is called boxed device.
In a zSeries type environment, if a boxed device occurs on a system pack (for example the IPL device), this condition can result in an outage for the host and can result in requiring another IPL operation. The IPL operation also clears the boxed device condition if paths are physically available. If not, the IPL operation fails and can result in an extended outage of the computing environment. If the boxed device occurs on an application volume, often the device must be unboxed manually by the operator and the application must be recovered. Unboxing a device can be accomplished on a z/OS type system via, e.g., a VARY PATH or VARY ON-LINE command if the paths are physically available.

Method to recover from logical path failures


A fuel nozzle for use in a gas turbine combustor is provided having the capability of injecting multiple fuel types as well as steam for NOx reduction. Combustion dynamics within a combustor due to the mal-distribution of steam are controlled by the placement of a meterplate at the steam inlet, such that the meterplate reduces steam velocity and increases steam pressure drop. A higher pressure drop reduces the sensitivity of the combustion process to upstream steam supply variations. A method for providing uniform steam flow to a plurality of fuel nozzle assemblies about a gas turbine engine is also disclosed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to fuel nozzles for gas turbine combustors and more specifically to fuel nozzles that utilize multiple fuel types and have the capability for steam injection to control emissions of oxides of nitrogen (NOx).
2. Description of Related Art
Land based gas turbine engines typically include at least one combustor for producing hot gases necessary to drive the turbine section of the engine. Each combustor contains at least one fuel nozzle for injecting fuel to mix with compressed air from the engine compressor and react to form the hot gases. Depending on engine operating requirements and environmental issues, the fuel nozzles can inject multiple fuel types, including gaseous fuel and liquid fuel. In recent years, reductions in emissions levels, especially with respect to NOx and carbon monoxide (CO), have been the main focus of equipment manufacturers, especially since the operation of these types of engines are regulated primarily by their emissions output.
A well-known means to minimize NOx formation in a combustor having a dual fuel nozzle involves injecting steam, from the fuel nozzle, into the combustion chamber. NOx formation in a combustor is a function of flame temperature, where higher flame temperatures create higher levels of NOx emissions. Steam injection reduces the overall flame temperature, thereby creating lower NOx levels. However, if the steam is not injected with a high enough pressure drop across the steam circuit or at too high of a velocity, flow mal-distributions can occur where some regions of a combustion system receive excessive amounts of steam and other areas not receiving enough steam, thereby resulting in high combustion dynamics. High levels of combustion dynamics have been known to significantly reduce hardware life.
Therefore, what is needed is a fuel nozzle capable of injecting liquid fuel, gaseous fuel, or both simultaneously, along with steam, where the flow of steam through the nozzle to the combustor is regulated to reduce undesirable combustion dynamics.

Apparatus and method for improving combustion stability


A monolithic oscillator having dual programmable fixed frequency outputs includes crystal-less oscillator circuitry utilizing frequency-locked feedback to generate ai signal having a select frequency, the frequency being stabilized over temperature and voltage by compensation circuitry associated with the crystal-less oscillator circuitry. A programmable prescaler is coupled to the crystal-less oscillator circuitry for varying the frequency of the signal generated by the crystal-less oscillator circuitry by a select amount. The monolithic oscillator further includes inputs for receiving an external signal, such as an external reference signal, or for connection to a crystal for providing an alternative frequency reference. A multiplexer is used to select either the external signal (or crystal) or the signal from the crystal-less oscillator circuitry to be used for the output signal. Monolithic oscillator further includes a programmable frequency divider coupled to the multiplexer to vary the frequency of the signal from the multiplexer by a select amount to one of the dual outputs. The other output being used as a reference output.

There is a wide commercial market available for the use of high performance electronic real time clocks. One significant feature requirement of high performance electronic real time clocks is the use of a crystal to generate the time base for the oscillator circuitry. For example, a conventional prepackaged crystal oscillator includes a quartz crystal to provide the frequency reference, and an oscillator amplifier to excite the crystal to resonance, while other crystal oscillator circuit packages utilize an external quartz crystal. However, as the consumer need for more smaller and less expensive electronic systems continues to be a driving force behind the development of many new products and systems that don't need quite the accuracy of a crystal oscillator but do need a relatively precise oscillator, the cost and size of conventional crystal oscillator real time clocks make them prohibitive.
One solution to the conventional crystal oscillator has been through the use of the RC oscillator circuit. Although this has proven to be a somewhat acceptable solution for systems which require low performance oscillator circuits, it has fallen short for systems requiring more precise oscillator circuits. This is primarily because current RC oscillator circuits are not very stable during operation. The reason current RC oscillators are not very stable is because there is no stable oscillator element for the circuit to phase-lock to or to count down from. As with crystal oscillator circuits, another problem with conventional RC oscillator circuits is they take up too much valuable pc-board space.
Accordingly, based upon the foregoing, it should be understood and appreciated that there is a need for a low power, programmable, monolithic crystal-less integrated circuit oscillator that provides an output signal having a select stable frequency approaching the stability of conventional crystal oscillators, and includes circuitry that provides compensation for the temperature coefficients of the frequency determinative elements therein.

Monolithic oscillator utilizing frequency-locked loop feedback network


Systems, methods, and instrumentalities may be provided for determining whether to bypass bi-directional optical flow (BDOF) if BDOF is used in combination with bi-prediction with coding unit (CU) weights (e.g., generalized bi-prediction (GBi)). A coding system may combine coding modes, coding techniques, and/or coding tools. The coding system may include a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU). For example, the coding system may combine BDOF and bi-prediction with GU weights (BCW). BDOF may include refining a motion vector associated with a current CU based at least in part on gradients associated with a location in the current CU. The coding system may determine that BDOF is enabled, and/or that bi-prediction with CU weights is enabled for the current CU. The coding system's determination that bi-prediction with CU weights is enabled and/or that BDOF is enabled may be based on one or more indications.

Video coding systems may be used to compress digital video signals, e.g., to reduce the storage and/or transmission bandwidth used for such signals. Video coding systems may include block-based, wavelet-based, and/or object-based systems. The systems employ video coding techniques, such as bi-directional motion compensated prediction (MCP), which may remove temporal redundancies by exploiting temporal correlations between pictures. Some techniques may increase the complexity of computations performed during encoding and/or decoding.


A holding device in which two side parts are provided which lie against one another with one edge region of each side part being encircled by an elastic ring or rubber band that is detachably fixed in the noted edge region. Furthermore, each of the side parts has at least one recess whose contour corresponds substantially to the contour of an object to be held, and heightwise corresponds in the vertical direction to the dimensions of the object, or is larger than the latter, while at least sections of the at least one recess are dimensionally smaller in a horizontal or widthwise direction than the corresponding dimension of the object to be held.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a holding device for voluminous objects, in particular containers of all kinds.
2. Description of Related Art
Holding devices of this type are known, for example, as so-called displays in which the object to be held is laid out, exhibited, or made available for viewing.
Other holding devices of the type mentioned are holders or stands for individual bottles, vases, bowls, lamps, etc.


The present invention introduces a method of implementing micro BGA. More specifically, the present invention discloses a method of packaging an integrated circuit into an integrated circuit assembly. The method of the present invention first mounts polyimide tape to a lead frame. The polyimide tape serves as a substrate for the integrated circuit package. Next, a piece of elastomer is coupled to said polyimide tape. Then an integrated circuit die is attached to said elastomer. Lead beams are then bonded from bond pads on said die to said lead frame. Solder balls are attached to said lead frame. The attached solder balls may be located beyond the area of said die.

1. Field Of The Invention
This invention relates to a package for an integrated circuit. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method of implementing micro BGA(trademark).
2. Description Of Related Art
As semiconductor devices become more and more complex, electronics designers are challenged to fully harness their computing power. Some of today""s products can feature millions of transistors and device count is expected to continue increasing in the future. With a greater number of functions integrated on a die or chip of silicon, manufacturers and users face new and increasingly challenging electrical interconnect issues. To tap the power of the die efficiently, each level of electrical interconnect from the die to the functional hardware or equipment must also keep pace with these revolutionary devices.
Today, sub-micron feature size at the die level is driving package feature size down to the design rule level of the early silicon transistors. At the same time, electronic equipment designers are shrinking their products, increasing complexity, and setting higher expectations for performance. In order to meet these demands, package technology must deliver higher lead counts, reduced pitch, reduced footprint area, and significant overall volume reduction. Package technology has responded to these challenges with a number of concept changes and improvements. For instance, in response to the need for increasing number of leads or pins required for packages, ball grid array interconnects have been used to increase the density of contacts. This approach has not only helped to control package size, but also to enhance electrical performance by reducing trace length.
Integrated circuits (IC) are typically housed within a package that is mounted to a printed circuit board. The package has conductive leads or pins that are soldered to the printed circuit board and coupled to the integrated circuit by a lead frame. One kind of package commonly referred to as a ball grid array (BGA) is an integrated circuit package which has a plurality of solder balls that interconnect the package to a printed circuit board. The solder balls are attached to a polyimide based flexible circuit board which has a number of conductive traces and accompanying solder pads. The integrated circuit die is connected to the solder pads of the flexible circuit by wire bonds and electrically coupled to the solder balls through conductive traces routed across the flexible circuit.
However, customers in applications such as handheld communications such as cellular phones, Personal Communications Service (PCS) pagers, computing, PCMCIA (Personal Computer Memory Card International Association) I/O cards, and other small form factor system have different miniaturization goals and needs. Fit, form, and function tend to be market specific. In addition, IC manufacturers have recognized that existing surface-mount packages such as the Thin Small Outline Package (TSOP) do not take full advantage of the semiconductor process lithography improvements that were driving smaller integrated circuit die sizes. The die cost typically has the most impact on the total manufacturing cost. In order to drive down the cost of the final product, semiconductor manufacturers continually migrate to state-of-the-art processes to reduce die size.
Another type of integrated circuit package is the micro ball grid array(trademark) (xcexcBGA(trademark)) package. xcexcBGA is a registered trademark of Tessera, Inc. of San Jose, Calif. The xcexcBGA package enables IC manufactures to respond to customer needs for smaller and thinner components. The xcexcBGA package is considered a chip size package (CSP). A chip size package is generally defined as a package which does not exceed the die size by greater than 20%. However, the xcexcBGA package does not allow a smaller die to be placed in the same package without affecting package dimensions. Hence, smaller die generally result in a smaller xcexcBGA package and usually a finer ball pitch.
Since the package size and pitch change with die size, semiconductor manufacturers and customers may need to retool handling and testing equipment each time the die size changes due to die shrinks. Furthermore, the smaller solder ball pitch may require more complicated and expensive printed circuit board technologies and surface mount technologies.
Hence it would therefore be desirable to have a package and method for producing a xcexcBGA package which has a uniform size regardless of the size of the die contained in the package.
The present invention introduces a method of implementing micro BGA. More specifically, the present invention discloses a method of packaging an integrated circuit into an integrated circuit assembly. The method of the present invention first mounts polyimide tape to a lead frame. The polyimide tape serves as a substrate for the integrated circuit package. Next, a piece of elastomer is coupled to said polyimide tape. Then an integrated circuit die is attached to said elastomer. Lead beams are then bonded from bond pads on said die to said lead frame. Solder balls are attached to said lead frame. The attached solder balls may be located beyond the area of said die.
Other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the accompanying drawings and from the detailed description that follows.

Implementing micro BGA(trademark) assembly techniques for small die


A flange includes a housing having a body with a reinforcing member encased within the housing. The flange can be configured to house a bearing. The flange can alternatively be configured to act as a leveler for machinery. The flange is formed by a) preparing a mold for the housing, b) preparing a metallic band for insertion into a space in the mold, c) suspending the band within the mold, d) introducing a thermosetting material into the mold to encase the band, and e) cooling the thermosetting material.

The present invention relates generally to assembly lines and conveyor systems, and, in particular, to a flange bearing for supporting a rotatable shaft.
In manufacturing, assembly lines and conveyor systems commonly utilize flange bearings to support cylindrical shafts upon which manufactured products are transported. The bearings are mounted to a support structure which forms a track or bed along which the products are conveyed. Each shaft is received in a bearing insert of a housing for the flange bearing. The flange bearing might comprise a square housing mounted using four bolts, one at each corner. Alternatively, the flange bearing might comprise an eye-shaped housing utilizing two bolts for mounting.
Cast iron was the common material used for manufacturing early flange bearing housings which were mounted by either two or four bolts. A solid body was formed which easily withstood the stresses imparted by the heavy and/or cyclic loads from the shaft supported therein. Further, the cast iron housing was usually either metal-plated or painted to resist corrosion from exposure to water, cleaning chemicals, spilled products or other contaminates, especially in the food processing industry. However, the housing exterior would eventually deteriorate or become unsightly, especially since stringent cleaning was required to meet sanitation specifications in the aforementioned industry.
A more recent type of flange bearing comprises an injection-molded plastic housing. In particular, if the housing is injection molded in the form of solid plastic, the housing would disadvantageously shrink and deform unpredictably upon cooling. In order to provide an injection-molded housing of the equivalent strength of cast iron with repeatable dimensional stability, it is necessary to increase the overall geometry slightly for strength and incorporate a ribbed structure for dimensional stability. the result is an xe2x80x9cengineered plasticxe2x80x9d housing providing the desired positional geometry incorporating ribs and cavities. In an engineered plastic housing, the ribs provide strengthening to resist stress fractures of the housing from the shaft loading, while maintaining the desired shape during the molding process.
In addition, the cavities of the engineered plastic housing are more difficult and time consuming to clean satisfactorily than a solid body housing. Plugs created to fill the cavities, thereby making cleaning easier, tend to settle after time and during temperature changes so that the outer surface of the housing body is no longer flush, and the same cleaning difficulties remain. Plugs are often made of a different material than the housing and consequently expand and contract at a different rate than the housing causing undesirable cracks, crevices and uneven surfaces.
In view of the foregoing, a need exists for an improved bearing housing that overcomes the problems mentioned.
The present invention overcomes the aforenoted disadvantages by providing a housing having a lightweight, substantially solid body including an encased reinforcing member. This member provides additional strength and aids in transmitting loads from a shaft supported by the housing radially outwardly to fasteners which are used to mount the housing. The body does not have recesses formed on its mounting surface which could harbor contaminates, and therefore thorough cleaning of the housing is made easy.
The reinforcing member is preferably a loop formed from a band of metal which surrounds the bolt holes and shaft opening of the housing. Ends of the metallic band may be fastened using a screw engaged through holes on the band ends. Alternatively, the band ends may be spot-welded together, or the band may be formed in a continuous loop. In another embodiment, the reinforcing member may comprise one or more substantially straight metallic strips encased within the body material.
An important feature of the present invention is the use of the reinforcing member to provide additional strength to a lightweight body. Stress fractures from heavy and/or cyclic loading from a shaft supported by the housing are less likely to occur as a result of the presence of the reinforcing member in the body. The member may be suspended within the housing material and helps provide transmission of the loading radially outwardly from the shaft to the fasteners.
Another important feature of the present invention is the formation of a substantially solid body which does not include recesses or cavities for the accumulation of dirt, grease or other contaminates. Thus, cleaning the housing to meet sanitation specifications is readily accomplished.
In one preferred embodiment, the housing comprises a generally parallelogram shaped flange bearing. Two bolts in holes in narrow portions of a housing body mount the bearing to a conveyor structure. A rotatable shaft is supported in a bearing insert received in an opening in the housing body. A cover is optionally placed over one end of the shaft to protect passersby and to warn of the moving part contained therein. Alternatively, the housing may comprise a substantially square flange bearing having four bolts for mounting.
A preferred method of manufacturing a reinforced housing of the present invention comprises the steps of:
a) preparing a mold for the housing including desired openings for receiving one or more fasteners and a shaft;
b) preparing a metallic band for insertion into a space of the mold, with the band forming a shape smaller than the mold""s outer shape;
c) suspending the band within the mold;
d) pouring a thermosetting material into the mold to encase the band; and
e) cooling the material thereby creating a substantially solid yet lightweight body reinforced by the band contained within. In this method, Step b) may comprise using a screw engaged through holes in the ends of the band which is shaped into a loop. Alternatively, Steps b) and c) may comprise suspending one or more substantially straight metallic strips in the space of the mold as the reinforcing members, instead of a loop.
Further advantages and applications will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description and the drawings referenced herein.

Flange bearing having reinforced molded housing