A process for making a crystalline latex emulsion suitable for use in toner using phase invention emulsification (PIE) where solvent is reused is presented.

Latex emulsions may be produced using PIE in which resins are dissolved in a mixture of water, base and organic solvent(s) (e.g., methyl ethyl ketone (MEK), isopropyl alcohol (IPA) or both) to form a homogenous water-in-oil (W/O) dispersion (i.e., water droplets dispersed in continuous oil). Subsequently, water is added to convert the dispersion into a stable oil-in-water (O/W) latex. In embodiments, the solvents, distillates and liquids of a PIE process are collected and reused (solvent reuse or SR) in a subsequent PIE process.
Amorphous polyester latexes may be produced using SR PIE with methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) and isopropyl alcohol (IPA) as solvents. The organic solvents may be removed via vacuum distillation under mixing at elevated temperature. SR processes for amorphous polyester resins provide savings in raw materials cost and solvent disposal, leading to reduction in toner production cost. Particle size of amorphous resins in an SR PIE process using MEK and IPA correlates with the amount of IPA in the mixture. An SR PIE process for crystalline resins, if possible, would be desirable.

Crystalline polyester latex production by solvent reuse phase inversion emulsification


A process for expression of a protein product in Aspergillus oryzae is disclosed. The process comprises transforming Aspergillus oryzae with a vector system comprising DNA sequences encoding functions facilitating gene expression, a suitable marker for selection of transformants, and a DNA sequence encoding the desired protein product. The process enables industrial production of many different polypeptides and proteins in A. oryzae. Examples of such products are chymosin or prochymosin and other rennets, proteases, lipases and amylases. Also disclosed is an effective promoter for expression of a protein in Aspergillus. A preferred promoter is the TAKA-amylase promoter or functional parts thereof. There is also provided a process for the production of a recombinant Humicola lipase. The recombinant Humicola lipase from A. oryzae differs from the native lipase in having a greater glycosylation and in exhibiting an improved thermostability.

The present invention relates to a process for expression of protein products in Aspergillus oryzae, recombinant DNA vectors, a promoter for Aspergillus and transformed fungi.
In the past, numerous processes have been developed for the production of polypeptides or proteins by means of the recombinant DNA technology. The main interest has been concentrated on bacteria and yeast, e.g. E. coli, Bacillus subtilis and Saccharomyces cerevisiae being well characterized species as regards for instance expression and selection systems.
Besides the above mentioned microorganisms, filamentous fungi, such as Aspergillus niger, are attractive candidates as host microorganisms for recombinant DNA vectors being well-characterized and widely used microorganisms for the commercial production of enzymes. Efforts hav especially been concentrated on the development of transformation systems by which a selection marker permitting selection of transformants from the untransformed host microorganisms is used.
In the last few years different selection markers for the transformation of Aspergillus nidulans have been described and procedures have recently been developed for integrative transformation of the filamentous fungus Aspergillus nidulans for the purpose of investigation of the genetic and molecular processes controlling fungal cell differentiation.
Transformation of A. nidulans has been demonstrated by using plasmids containing the Neurospora crassa pyr-4 gene (Ballance, D. J. et al., Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 112 (1983) 284-289), the A. nidulans amdS gene (Tilburn, J. G. et al., Gene 26 (1983) 205-221), the A. nidulans trpC gene (Yelton, M. M. et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 81 (1984) 1470-1474) and the A. nidulans argB gene (John, M. A. and Peberdy J., Microb. Technol. 6 (1984) 386-389). The transforming DNA was found to be integrated into the host genome at rather low frequencies (typically <1000 transformants/.mu.g of DNA).
Very recently transformation of Aspergillus niger with the amdS gene of A. nidulans was described (Kelly, J. M. and Hynes, M. J., EMBO Journal 4 (1985), 475-479) and amdS was shown to be a potential selection marker for use in transformation of Aspergillus niger that cannot grow strongly on acetamide as a sole nitrogen source. Transformation of Aspergillus niger using the argB gene of Aspergillus nidulans has also been described recently (Buxton, F. P. et al., Gene 37 (1985), 207-214).
So far no methods have been developed for expression of foreign proteins in the filamentous fungi Aspergillus oryzae mainly due to insufficient knowledge of how to control gene expression in this fungus and due to the lack of suitable selectable genetic markers on cloning vectors and it is one aim of the present invention to develop such methods.
The present invention is furthermore related to a process for recombinant DNA production of Humicola lipases and a recombinant Humicola lipase.
Humicola lipases are obtainable from strains of thermophilic Humicola sp., including thermophilic Thermomyces sp., such as H. lanuginosa (Griffon and Maublanc) Bunce, H. stellata Bunce, H. grisea var. thermoidea, Cooney & Emerson, H. insolens, Cooney & Emerson, Thermomyces ibadanensis, Apinis & Eggins, H. hyalothermophila Moubasher, Mazen and Abdel-Hafez, H. grisea var. indica Subrahmanyam, H. brevis var. thermoidea, Subrahmanyam and Thirumalachar and H. brevispora Subrahmanyam and Thirumalachar.
H. lanuginosa has also been described under the synonyms Thermomyces lanuginosus Tsiklinsky, Sepedonium lanuginosum Griffon and Maublanc, Sepedonium thermaphilum cyclosporum and S. thermaphilum ovosporum Velich, Acremoniella sp. Rege, Acremoniella thermophila Curzi and Monotospora lanuginosa (Griffon and Maublanc) Mason.
Moreover, the species Scytalidium thermophilum (Cooney & Emerson) Austwich was by Hedger (1975, The ecology of thermophilic fungi in Indonesia. In Biodegradation et Humification. Rapport du l.sup.er Colloque Internationel--Nancy 1974 (ed. G. Kilbertius, O. Reisinger, A. Mourey & J. A. Cancela Da Fonseca), Sarreguemines: Pierron Editeur--57206) considered to belong to Humicola insolens.
Production of a Humicola lanuginosa lipase is described in Japanese unexamined patent publication No. 48-62990, and in EP patent application No. 87307684.8. The latter also teaches use of this lipase in lipolytic detergent additives.
Due to the world wide use of enzyme additives in detergents and due to the fact that Humicola lipases have turned out to be superior to known detergent lipases both as regards detergency and stability, commercial interest in such lipases is high.
In the production of industrial enzymes yields have always been important for the profitability of the production process. The traditional way of improvement is to mutate the wild strain so as to obtain higher yielding mutants. By means of recombinant DNA technology a further possibility is to transform the gene for the desired product into a host microorganism capable of producing higher yields than the wild strain or with other favourable characteristics.
Accordingly, another aim of the present invention to develop a method for the production of Humicola lipases by recombinant DNA-technology.

Methods for producing Humicola lipases in aspergillus


A load-bearing rail is provided for the cargo space of a motor vehicle, which is used for accommodating a load-bearing eyelet that can be guided therein in a movable and lockable manner. To provide a load-bearing rail for the cargo space of a motor vehicle, which may assume additional functions in order to both keep the weight low and to reduce the number of parts and thus to lower the cost of production, the load-bearing rail is provided with a bracket, which sticks out laterally and which serves as a support for a floor of the cargo space.

The invention relates to a load-bearing rail for the cargo space of a motor vehicle, which is used for accommodating a load-bearing eyelet that can be guided therein in a movable and lockable manner.
Such load-bearing rails are generally known. They are rigidly connected in the cargo space or rather trunk of a passenger vehicle. The function of these load-bearing rails is to lock in a movable manner load-bearing eyelets, which are also called load-securing eyelets and are often hook-shaped, in the trunk of a passenger vehicle. These load-bearing eyelets are used to secure objects by means of straps, thereby preventing the objects from sliding out of place during the trip. Such load securing is important because it has been demonstrated in the past that when heavy objects located in the trunk slide out of place during a trip, the result is a different driveability of the passenger vehicle—an effect that may be a problem especially in such extreme situations as fast driving in a curve. All this can be avoided by suitably securing the objects with straps at the load-bearing eyelets.
However, there is the drawback that the prior art load-bearing rails, which accommodate the load-bearing eyelets in a movable manner, represent an additional component. In addition to the load-bearing rails, a frame for accommodating the floor of the cargo space is needed. Therefore, the load-bearing rails represent a component that increases not only the overall weight of the passenger car and the number of parts, but also raises the cost of manufacturing the entire passenger car as a consequence of the additional costs of production and assembly for the load-bearing rails.
Therefore, one aspect of the present invention is to provide a load-bearing rail for the cargo space of a motor vehicle, which may assume additional functions in order to both keep the weight low and to reduce the number of parts, thus lowering the cost of production and assembly.
The present invention achieves this by providing a load-bearing rail for the cargo space of a motor vehicle, which is used for accommodating a load-bearing eyelet that can be guided therein in a movable and lockable manner, wherein the load-bearing rail is provided with a bracket, which sticks out laterally and which serves as a support for a floor of the cargo space. The inventive load-bearing rail has the advantage that the load-bearing rail no longer represents an additional component, but rather is used simultaneously to support the floor of the cargo space. Therefore, the costs of production and assembly, as well as additional working operations, are lowered.
The features, disclosed and claimed herein, make possible the advantageous further developments of the inventive load-bearing rail.
According to one advantageous design, the bracket is set back from the top side of the load-bearing rail by an amount equivalent to the thickness of the floor of the cargo space, so that the floor of the cargo space and the top edge of the load-bearing rail are in one plane. This is especially advantageous while loading, because the cargo space does not exhibit any protruding edges and/or corners, but rather forms in essence a planar surface.
On the side opposite the bracket, the load-bearing rail is provided advantageously with a receptacle for a side panel or the like. The result is another simplification of the assembly process, because the load-bearing rail may accommodate not only the floor of the cargo space, but also the side panel or the like so as to securely fix their position.
Each of the load-bearing rails is weakened in a defined manner such that in the event of a rear-end collision the load-bearing rails buckle at least once and deform towards the top and/or to the side.
According to one advantageous embodiment of the invention, the load-bearing rail exhibits a channel, the cross section of which is C-shaped and into which may be inserted a steel insert, the cross section of which is also C-shaped and the edges of which are provided with locking teeth for fixing the load-bearing eyelet in position. This offers the possibility of punching the locking teeth for the load-bearing eyelet directly into the inside profile. Furthermore, the external profile brings about the advantageous effect that the side panel can be fastened by way of the external profile; and the floor of the cargo space may be accommodated therein. Consequently, the result is a simplification of the attachment of the side panel and the cargo space floor in the cargo space of a vehicle, as well as an enhanced visual appearance.
For reasons relating to weight reduction, the load-bearing rail may be made advantageously of aluminum or the like.
Other advantages and features of the present invention are evident from the following detailed description of one embodiment of an inventive load-bearing rail in conjunction with the enclosed drawings.

Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft


A device (1) for covering a surface is provided. The device includes: (a) a cover (10) of which each longitudinal edge is provided with a bead (12); (b) a rotatably mounted drum (2) capable of winding or unwinding the cover, movable on rails placed on either side of said surface; and (c) a system for continuously locking/unlocking the bead in the rails during the translation of the drum.

Covers are applied to surfaces for reasons which are dependent on the nature of these surfaces. Thus, in the case of a basin such as a swimming pool the cover may prevent contamination with leaves or by animals, may allow savings on energy, water and reagents, and may or must afford the safety of individuals and particularly children. In the case of a desalination basin or basin used for other fluid treatments, a cover makes it possible to avoid the liquid becoming diluted with rainwater or excessive evaporation due to heat.
In the case of a sports ground such as a grass-court or clay-court tennis court, a cover affords protection against inclement weather, and in particular intermittent rain. Moreover, a vehicle body is covered notably to ensure that the load remains stable in the depression caused by the movement of the vehicle and to protect same against inclement weather. Covers are also used as blinds for greenhouses, conservatories or vehicle windows in order to prevent any overheating inside, and as sunscreens for patio awnings.
In all instances, the search is generally for a covering device that is economical allowing easy, dependable, repeatable and quick covering and uncovering, requiring a minimum of human intervention and, above all, that has the longest life possible. Numerous devices for covering a surface has been developed, ranging from basic models to more sophisticated ones. For example, a first entirely basic device used in the case of a swimming pool comprises a cover which may or may not be inflatable which is unrolled, stretched out and secured by hand to the edges of the pool. This type of device is illustrated for example in documents U.S. Pat. No. 6,691,334, GB2379163 and FR2652373. It is clear that, given the handling and storage requirements, these relate only to fairly small sized pools.
For surfaces of larger size recourse may be had to covering devices that also have a drum fixed to one of the transverse ends of the surface that is to be protected. The cover is deployed manually by pulling, unrolling from the drum, to cover the surface. The weight and dimensions of the cover entail the intervention of several individuals so that it can be set in place suitably. The cover is removed by rolling it up around the drum by rotation: the cover therefore removes itself from the surface by sliding along same. The rotation of the drum in order to remove the cover is performed manually or by means of an electric motor having enough power to pull the fully deployed cover. It should be emphasized that ease of deployment of the cover, particularly in the case of a swimming pool, is a contributory factor to safety because a device that is awkward to handle will not be readily used. The deployment (which means to say the unrolling from the drum) and the removal (which means to say the rolling back up on the drum) of the cover can be performed manually or automatically using a motor. Automatic covering devices are illustrated notably in the following documents: U.S. Pat. No. 3,574,979, GB2199741, US2005/0097834, CA2115113, US2001/0023506, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,930,848, 4,001,900 and on the web site www.aquatop.be. However, this type of covering device with a fixed drum as mentioned hereinabove has the major disadvantage of making the cover slide, as it is dragged over the surface that is to be protected while it is being deployed and removed, thus causing premature wearing thereof and additional work due to the friction thus generated.
In the present application, the terms "longitudinal" "transverse" and derivatives thereof refer respectively to the direction of travel of the drum and to the direction of the axis of revolution thereof.
In order to alleviate the disadvantages of fixed-drum devices, there is an alternative type of drum-operated covering device, in which the motorized drum is mounted on a longitudinal-translation mechanism. This mechanism moves the drum over the surface that is to be covered literally allowing the cover to be "laid" on the surface, as it deploys, by unrolling it from the drum simultaneously with the longitudinal movement thereof, and then lifted off, as it is removed, by simultaneously rolling it up on the drum. The cover therefore does not slide over the surface either when it is being deployed or when it is being removed. The covering device also comprises a system for securing the covering to one transverse end of the surface that is to be covered so that the translational and rotational movement of the drum cause the cover to be unrolled or rolled up over the surface that is to be covered. Examples of automatic devices of this type are disclosed for example in the following documents: WO2005/026473, FR2900951, DE2257231, FR2893651, FR2789425, FR2743502, EP1719858. Furthermore, a fully manual alternative form of a drum mounted with facility for longitudinal translation is illustrated in documents WO2007/036625 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,195,370.
The mobile-drum covering devices illustrated above plan only for one transverse edge of the cover to be secured to one transverse end of the surface that is to be covered, the opposite edge remaining attached to the drum. No system for securing the longitudinal edges of the cover is provided. In particular, in the case of a swimming pool, individuals encroaching upon the cover would not be held back by the longitudinal edges thereof and could thus be tipped into the water. Furthermore, the lack of sealing of the cover along its longitudinal edges could encourage the ingress of dirt, dead leaves and twigs into the pool, as well as small animals such as mice or snakes. More sophisticated devices have been proposed that allow the longitudinal edges of the cover to be secured reversibly as the cover is deployed, such as in document FR2803769 which provides a system for securing the longitudinal edges of the cover which system is made up of grid portions which are raised and then folded down portion by portion onto said longitudinal edges of the cover keeping these edges held down inside a channel as the cover is gradually unrolled. In this design, the longitudinal edges of the cover are trapped without being locked, thus affording a lower level of safety particularly in the case of swimming pools.
Another advantageous system which allows the longitudinal edges of the cover to be secured simultaneously with the deployment thereof and allows a transverse tensile force to be applied thereto in order to perfectly tension it as been described in WO2010/010152, WO2010/054960, WO2014/064138, WO2012/095264 and in Belgian patent application BE2012/0725. In these devices, the longitudinal edges of the cover are provided with a rod or bead which is introduced into the upward-facing opening of a U-section rail with one or two flanges partially closing said opening. The bead slips under a flange and is held in this position by suitable securing means that allow the longitudinal edges of the cover to be secured firmly. In such systems, deflection pulleys are generally used to guide and position the bead with respect to the opening in the corresponding rail during the translational movement in the first direction of the drum leading to the unrolling of the cover.
While such a type of locking system normally works well, it sometimes happens that the bead does not position itself correctly under the flange of the corresponding rail, thus not allowing the securing means to secure the relevant longitudinal edge of the cover securely. This situation is illustrated in FIG. 2 which in cross section shows a rail (6) in which the bead (12) of a cover (10) is inserted and fixed under a flange of the rail by securing means (31). FIG. 2(a) illustrates the securing system as it should work with the bead (12) arranged under the flange of the rail and blocked in this position by the securing means (31). FIG. 2(b) shows what might happen, particularly in the case of covers not subjected to transverse tensioning while they are deploying (for example in the case of floating covers for swimming pools). Although the bead has indeed slipped into the opening (14) in the rail, it is not arranged under the corresponding flange. As a result, the securing means (31) do not have enough space to be properly inserted and the longitudinal edge of the cover is not secured as firmly as it should be. This situation may prove dangerous, because, confident of the expected secureness of such a system, an individual many venture onto the cover the edges of which may become detached from the rails under the effect of the weight and their poor securing.
The present invention proposes a solution that makes it possible to guarantee correct securing of the longitudinal edges of a cover in the corresponding rails through systematic correct positioning of the beads of said longitudinal edges under the corresponding flanges of the rails.

Device for covering a surface including interlocking means


A load transfer structure in an A-pillar assembly for transferring force from a frontal impact to the vehicle rail, rocker and door reinforcement. The load transfer structure having a support wall, a pair of transverse walls, and a longitudinal wall and is disposed in a space within the A-pillar assembly. Accordingly, the load transfer structure reduces material required in conventional A-pillar assemblies while maintaining the same load transfer capabilities.

I. Field of the Invention
A load transferring structure for use in an A-pillar assembly in an automotive vehicle for transferring the force of a frontal impact to the vehicle rail, rocker, and door reinforcement.
II. Description of the Prior Art
An A-pillar assembly of an automotive vehicle provides structural support for the vehicle roof as well as other vehicle components, and also serves to transfer the load of a frontal impact to other vehicle structures. The A-pillar is generally disposed forward of the front passenger and driver doors.
A-pillar assemblies in automotive vehicles typically comprise an outer panel assembly and an inner panel assembly. The edges of the outer panel assembly are attached to the edges of the inner panel assembly, and a portion of the outer panel assembly is spaced apart from the inner panel assembly. The outer panel assembly can be further defined by an upper portion and a lower portion. The lower portion and upper portion of the outer panel assembly are both attached to the inner panel assembly such that part of the lower portion is inside the upper portion. Furthermore, the conventional construction of such outer panel assemblies has been to male the lower portion and upper portion generally the same width and profile as to increase the strength of the A-pillar assembly. However, such configurations use a lot of material which in turn increases the weight of the vehicle and cost of production. Accordingly, attempts have been made to reduce material while maintaining load transferring capabilities by utilizing a reinforcing structure.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,679,547 (Ju-Sik) discloses such a reinforcing structure for an A-pillar. The reinforcing structure is a bracket is fitted between the outer panel and the inner panel of an A-pillar assembly to provide structural support and load transfer capabilities. The bracket has a generally planar base with flanges extending outwardly from the base at an angle. WO2005/061309 (Anders et al.) discloses a reinforcement strut disposed over the A-pillar assembly and extending from the cowl to the door reinforcement
The reinforcement structure in Ju-Sik tends to bend at the flanges when influenced by a frontal impact and therefore loses some load transferring characteristics, and the reinforcement strut disclosed in Anders et al. requires additional material to extend from the cowl to the door reinforcement. Therefore, it is desirable to have an A-pillar assembly which utilizes less material to retain an efficient load transferring capability.

Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc.


The present invention provides for correcting excessive pulse widths using incremental delays. The pulse width is evaluated through a correction block and leak detector. An acceptable pulse passes through an interconnect directly to the clock output. Unacceptable pulses are sent through a block delay module that incorporates a series of delay sub-blocks that disconnect and reset in accordance with a pre-programmed total delay time. The conditioned clock pulse is resent through a node to the correction block and leak detector where it is reevaluated. If the pulse is acceptable, it is sent to the clock output. If the pulse is found unacceptable, it is recycled again. A high low clock pulse shuttle determines and alters the high or low state of the clock pulse to ensure a correct output to downstream dependent devices.

Many digital devices from the simplest gate array to the most complex circuit board can require one or more clocks, and one or more clocking signals, for a variety of routine and critical processes. An example of a critical process is the feeding of signals from a processor to a bus. Without a precise timing mechanism, synchronizing the signals in the bus would be impossible.
Another example is in memory arrays where nodes are pre-charged to a specific logic level. A clock signal is applied to access these nodes or to perform some other function. One concern circuit designers have is that if the clock signal is in the 'high' state for too long a duration, it can discharge these pre-charged nodes or cause charge sharing between nodes and the logic value can be lost. Therefore, the goal is to limit the maximum pulse width of such signals that operate on latches, memory, etc.
Duty cycle distortion (DCD) and pulse-width distortion (PWD) are different names for the same problem. PWD can be defined as the difference between the pulse width of a 'high' output (representing a "1") and the pulse width of a 'low' output (representing a "0"). PWD causes a distortion in the eye diagram, where the eye crossings are offset up or down from the vertical midpoint of the eye. (In digital communications, the "eye diagram" is used to visualize how the waveforms used to send multiple bits of data can potentially lead to errors in the interpretation of those bits).
PWD can be quantified by driving the system with a clock-like pattern (such as 1 0 1 0 . . . ), measuring the width of the 'high' and 'low' pulses, and then using the following equation:
  PWD  =            [                        (                      longer                                                                          pulse                    )                -                  (                      shorter                                                                          pulse                    )                    ]        2  The most common causes of PWD are voltage offsets between the differential inputs and differences between the rise and fall times in the system.
Deviation from a reference standard, usually expressed in ±ps (plus or minus picoseconds), can occur on the leading edge or the trailing edge of a signal. PWD can be induced and coupled onto a clock signal from many different sources and is usually not uniform over all frequencies. Excessive PWD can increase the bit error rate (BER) of a communication signal by incorrectly transmitting the data bit stream. This leads to a violation of frequency and amplitude, causing partial or complete circuit failure.
Previous attempts to solve PWD problems center on pulse width modulation (PWM), space vector modulation (SVM), feedback loops or signal clamping. Typically, these solutions contain a large number of discrete devices, and require one subsystem for controlling the pulse width and another for limiting the duty cycle. As a result, additional latency (time delay) is introduced in the overall circuit, offsetting some the gains in signal quality.
The newest generations of ultra high density circuits also mandate lower device counts because of the requirements for additional system features in the architecture, the emphasis on lower power usage at increasing frequencies, and the inevitable power dissipation (heat) problems. Problems of current leakage, capacitance and signal contamination are magnified in all superscalar architectures.
As a result, there is a need for a pulse width limiting method for maintaining peak clock performance that solves some of the limitations of previous designs. The ideal circuit would solve the pulse width problem and reduce the device count, all without substantial change to the system architecture. Limiting the number of devices also allows for an increase in clock frequency, and higher frequency clocks are more efficient.

Simplified method for limiting clock pulse width

International Business Machines Corporation


A pixel arrangement structure includes a plurality of pixel repeating units arranged in a matrix in a row direction and a column direction. Each of the plurality of pixel repeating units includes a first pixel unit and a second pixel unit sequentially arranged in the column direction. The first pixel unit includes a first sub-pixel, a second sub-pixel, a third sub-pixel, and a fourth sub-pixel which are sequentially arranged in the row direction. The second pixel unit includes a third sub-pixel, a fourth sub-pixel, a first sub-pixel, and a second sub-pixel which are sequentially arranged in the row direction. Each column of sub-pixels is divided into a first subset of sub-pixels connected to a first data line and a second subset of sub-pixels connected to a second data line.

Thin film transistor liquid crystal displays (TFT-LCDs) are widely used in mobile products such as mobile phones and tablet computers. In order to meet the demand for high brightness, various pixel arrangement structures have been proposed, among which is the so-called RGBW (Red, Green, Blue, and White). In such a pixel arrangement structure, the brightness of a display can be significantly improved when white sub-pixels are lit.

Method of driving pixel arrangement structure and display panel and display apparatus associated therewith

ORDOS YUANSHENG OPTOELECTRONICS CO., LTD.


The invention is related to a new technology for improving a flip chip package. It is characterized by that at least one pad and at least one lead are formed on the surface of one side of a chip, part of each lead is covered by liquid compound and whereby another part of said lead which is exposed beyond the surface of said liquid compound is available for electrical connection. According to the invention, wire bonding can be easily applied in forming leads for flip chip package, and better connection structure can be achieved, thereby the manufacturing process of integrating the chip and printed circuit board becomes easy. Furthermore the pad on the surface of the chip is thermally conductive, helping the conduction of heat from the chip to the printed circuit board, thereby promotes the effect of protecting the chip.

The progress in the manufacturing process of a semiconductor and the trend in promoting circuit function of chips have fostered circumstances of providing highly condensed IC accompanied with enormously increased input/output connection points, resulting in problems in packaging an IC chip and further difficulties in integrating chips and printed circuit boards. Various schemes have been suggested to provide solutions to these problems and difficulties, among which flip chip package has broadly drawn attention.
A conventional flip chip package is shown in FIG. 1 in which bumps or solders are formed, on the surface of one side of chip 10, as connection points 12, and corresponding bonding pad is formed on the surface of printed circuit board 14 for being welded with connection points 12.
There are many drawbacks with the above flip chip package, among which one is the indispensable requirement of higher accuracy in forming connection point 12 to avoid short circuiting or breaking in the process next to (or after) the formation of connection point 12. The short circuiting is usually caused by the excessive length of connection point 12 which, in case of being bent, tend to touch each other or another circuits. The breaking of connection point 12 results from weak resistance to external forces due to weak connecting structure between connection point 12 and chip 10. For example, the error in the alignment between connection point 12 and bonding pad on the surface of printed circuit board 14 may result in a breaking of connection point 12 caused by the dragging force inherent in welding process.
Another drawback with the above flip chip package is that the difference in coefficient of thermal expansion between chip 10 and printed circuit board 14 may be big enough to bring about different expansion between them due to temperature variation in the following manufacturing process, resulting in breaking of connections.
An improvement scheme had been suggested by conventional technology in which under-fill 16 is added between chip 10 and printed circuit board 14 after they are connected. The under-fill 16 is a kind of resin such as epoxy. However, the gap between chip 10 and printed circuit board 14 is usually so narrow that it is impossible to force epoxy resin into the gap by molding transfer process. Instead, epoxy resin must be painted around the edge of chip 10, thereby penetrate, based on capillary action, into the gap between chip 10 and printed circuit board. The scheme is accompanied with enormous time consuming, and can't control or detect the extent to which the epoxy resin penetrate into the gap, and may easily produce air bubbles. Another drawback is that reworking is not feasible afterwards.
It is critically important to choose a kind of material with less viscosity, in order to enable the flowing of epoxy resin into the gap between chip 10 and printed circuit board 14. However, material with less viscosity is usually less thermally conductive, thereby can't effectively help chip 10 to dissipate heat.
Therefore solutions to the problems and difficulties left by conventional schemes for improving flip chip package are now suggested by the present invention.


An electrode support structure comprises a distal hub and a proximal base aligned along a major axis with the distal hub. An array of generally flexible spline elements extend between the hub and the base. The spline elements each have an elongated axis that, at the base, extends generally parallel to the major axis and, at the hub, extends at an angle, measured relative to the major axis, of between 45.degree. and 110.degree.. The spline elements collectively define a distal surface lying within an envelope that approximates the curvature of endocardial tissue and within which envelope the distal hub lies. According to this aspect of the invention, the distal surface, when contacting endocardial tissue, increases in surface area in response to force applied generally along the major axis to mediate tissue pressure.

Physicians make use of catheters today in medical procedures to gain access into interior regions of the body to ablate targeted tissue areas. It is important for the physician to be able to precisely locate the catheter and control its emission of energy within the body during tissue ablation procedures.
The need for precise control over the catheter is especially critical during procedures that ablate endocardial tissue within the heart. These procedures, called electrophysiological therapy, are use to treat cardiac rhythm disturbances.
During these procedures, a physician steers a catheter through a main vein or artery into the interior region of the heart that is to be treated. The physician then further manipulates a steering mechanism to place the electrode carried on the distal tip of the catheter into direct contact with the endocardial tissue that is to be ablated. The physician directs energy from the electrode through tissue either to an indifferent electrode (in a uni-polar electrode arrangement) or to an adjacent electrode (in a bi-polar electrode arrangement) to ablate the tissue and form a lesion.
Physicians examine the propagation of electrical impulses in heart tissue to locate aberrant conductive pathways and to identify foci, which are ablated. The techniques used to analyze these pathways and locate foci are commonly called "mapping."
Conventional cardiac tissue mapping techniques introduce several linear electrode arrays into the heart through vein or arterial accesses. There remains a need for improved endocardial mapping techniques using three dimensional, multiple electrode structures.
An endocardial multiple electrode mapping structure can potentially remain in place within a heart chamber for ten thousand to twenty thousand heart beats. During this time, the powerful contractions of heart muscle constantly flex and stress the structure. The structure must be strong and flexible enough to survive introduction and fatigue in this dynamic environment. The structure also must be designed to keep the electrodes spaced apart both longitudinally and circumferentially without failure and without shedding parts. Though strong and durable, the structures also must cause no trauma when in contact with tissue.
While prior multiple electrode support structures may attempt to provided the requisite strength and flexibility, they have created envelopes with blunt, non-conforming contours that can poke into tissue and cause trauma during heart contractions.
It can be seen that providing economical, durable, and safe multiple electrodes in a package small enough to be deployed within the heart poses often conflicting challenges.

Multiple electrode support structures having optimal bio-mechanical characteristics


A communications system 1 has: an eNB 20 having a feedback conditions control unit 22 that controls feedback conditions in accordance with call priority and a control unit 21 that controls communications with a mobile station 10 on the basis of feedback information that includes reception quality in the mobile station 10 and decoding results for a received call, said feedback conditions being for determining whether or not transmission of the feedback information is necessary; and the mobile station 10 having a priority setting unit 13 that sets a priority level for the mobile station itself, a reception quality measuring unit 11 that measures the reception quality of reference signals from the eNB 20, and a feedback requirement determination unit 12 that determines whether or not transmission of feedback information is required, on the basis of the feedback conditions.

As a method for implementing group communication for establishing a call with a plurality of mobile stations in a radio communication architecture of an LTE system, a method is known in which a transmitter performs multimedia broadcast/multicast service (hereinafter referred to as MBMS) for performing communication by using a radio resource common to a plurality of mobile stations. For example, PTL 1 discloses a mobile communications system that performs multimedia broadcast/multicast service.
The mobile communications system disclosed in PTL 1 receives channel quality information about each of user terminals from a plurality of user terminals, in order that a base station controls transmission power of the plurality of user terminals for broadcasting. Further, the mobile communications system controls the transmission power of the base station by increasing or decreasing the transmission power of the base station, based on information about the poorest channel quality in the channel quality information received from the plurality of user terminals. In a sequence in the MBMS, a mobile station receives a reference signal constantly transmitted from the base station (evolved Node B (eNB)). The mobile station periodically feeds back, to the eNB, reception quality (channel quality indicator, hereinafter referred to as CQI) measured from the received downlink reference signal. The mobile station feeds back to the eNB by each different physical uplink control channel (PUCCH). Based on the CQIs received from all mobile stations, an MCS of a physical multicast channel (PMCH) or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) is determined, according to a mobile station with a lowest quality. The term "MCS" refers to a combination of a modulation method and a coding rate for error correction.
In addition, a method is known in which a transmitter establishes communication with each mobile station by a different radio resource using so-called unicast. In the unicast, a mobile station also receives a reference signal constantly transmitted from a base station (evolved Node B (eNB)), and periodically feeds back, to the eNB, a CQI measured from a downlink reference signal received by the mobile station by using a different physical uplink control channel (PUCCH). The eNB determines a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) of a PDSCH being transmitted to each of mobile stations, based on the CQI for each of mobile stations.
When group communication is transmitted from a transmitter, the eNB transmits a group communication call to mobile stations serving as receivers by using the determined MCS. When receiving the group communication call, each mobile station decodes the received call. Each of mobile stations feeds back an acknowledgement (Ack)/non-acknowledgement (Nack), as a decoding result, to the eNB by using each different PUCCH. The eNB determines whether to perform retransmission, based on Ack/Nack from all mobile stations. For example, when receiving Nack from a predetermined number or more of the mobile stations, the eNB performs retransmission.
Thus, in the group communication, all mobile stations feed back the CQI and Ack/Nack by using PUCCHs. Accordingly, the number of PUCCHs corresponding to the number of mobile stations is required, which leads to a shortage of radio resources for the PUCCHs. In addition, it is necessary for the eNB to perform processing of allocating radio resources for PUCCHs and processing of receiving PUCCHs on all mobile stations.
In order to solve this problem, a mobile communications system is proposed for performing control in such a way that mobile station(s) only for satisfying a feedback condition perform feedback in, for example, PTL 2. In the mobile communications system in PTL 2, each of the mobile stations includes a reception unit that receives multicast/broadcast data to be transmitted to a plurality of mobile stations from an eNB by using the same downlink radio resource. Further, in the mobile communications system in PTL 2, each of the mobile stations includes a transmission unit that transmits, to the eNB, feedback information about a downlink when a radio state between the mobile station and the eNB is lower than a threshold value, and a control unit that interrupts transmission of feedback information when the radio state is higher than a threshold value.

Communications system, base station, mobile station, and communications method


This disclosure relates to a novel process for atomizing a liquid material or a mixture of liquid materials. More specifically, this disclosure advances the art by utilizing the inertial forces created in an elevated acceleration environment to further miniaturize and enhance the characteristics of particles resulting from atomization. The key to this disclosure is to subject a melt material to an elevated acceleration and pass a fluid over the surface of the melt. The purpose of the elevated acceleration is to elevate the relative importance of gravitational forces in the melt thus miniaturizing any gravity influenced disturbance. This elevated acceleration environment leads to miniaturization of gravitationally dependent phenomena thus leading to smaller particle creation. The purpose of the atomizing fluid is to impart kinetic energy onto the melt thereby causing disturbances and to act as a heat transfer media to cool the particles. In other words, this disclosure teaches not only utilizing bursting bubbles, surface waves, and splashes to create fine particles by purposely introducing gas flow on the liquid material(s) to be atomized but further enhancing the process by facilitating that these material(s) are simultaneously at elevated acceleration. The novel aspects of this disclosure significantly enhance the physical characteristics of the resulting particles, by allowing smaller particles to be produced, by cooling the particles more rapidly and by reducing contamination threats by avoiding physical contact between the material(s) being atomized and any refractive materials.

Droplets are encountered in nature and a wide range of science and engineering applications. Naturally occurring droplets are found in dew, fog, rainbows, clouds/cumuli, rains, waterfall mists, and ocean sprays. Showerheads, garden hoses, hair sprays, paint sprays, and many other commonly accepted devices are used to facilitate a dispersion of droplets into the surrounding air. Additionally, a variety of important industrial processes involve discrete droplets, such as spray combustion, spray drying, spray cooling, spray atomization, spray deposition, thermal spray, spray cleaning/surface treatment, spray inhalation, aerosol (mist) spray, crop spray, paint spray, etc. The related industrial areas span automotive, aerospace, metallurgy, materials, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, paper, food processing, agriculture, meteorology, power generation. Not withstanding the natural aspects of droplets, it is the increased desire for finer or smaller particles in industrial applications that led to the present invention's improvement in the atomization process. (Science and Engineering of Droplets by Huimin Liu.)
In addition to the general discussion of the state of the art presented herein, attention is also directed to Science and Engineering of Droplets, Fundamentals and Applications, by Huimin Liu (ISBN 0-8155-1436-0). In this book Ms. Liu presents a good overview of some of the various techniques currently used to atomize liquids.
At the present time, various atomization processes manufacture most metal powders. The principle underlying these processes is often the same: a liquid metal placed in a distributor is forced through a nozzle to obtain a thin jet which is dispersed in the form of particles by the rapid motion of a gas or of a stream of liquid.
Three classes of atomization processes can be distinguished. According to a first class, the liquid metal, in most cases, is atomized at the time of the casting. In a particular case of the process, the disintegration of the liquid into particles is produced by the mechanical action of a rotating disc, but, in general, the atomization is produced by air, gas, water, and under vacuum by bursting of the liquid due to a great pressure difference and dissolved gases coming out of liquid solution. An improvement to this scheme is pulsed plasma atomization where a plasma shock tube is used to impart very high impulse loads on the descending melt leading to finer particles. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,935,461) Another recent development is to force molten material through small holes as in Pulsed Atomization. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,609,919) Spraying of solid particles has also been mentioned, but so far has been limited to the agglomeration of, or the introduction with, the dispersible liquid material.
Another class of processes has been developed a little more recently. This is atomization by centrifugal force which is applied according to two variants: either the melting electrode forms the starting material for obtaining the particles, or the distributor containing the liquid is subjected to a rotation which causes the ejection of the liquid in the form of drops against the cooled walls of a plant, thus enabling a powder to be recovered. In each of these cases atomization occurs when the centrifugal force of the particle exceeds the surface tension retaining force.
Finally, a last class consists of processes employing ultrasonic technology, a vibrating electrode, and cooled rolls that rotate. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,876,794)
There are some other "laboratory stage" methods of atomization. Papers have been presented (2002 World Congress on Powder Metallurgy and Particulate Materials June 2002) that included descriptions of Impulse Atomization, and Plasma Atomization. Exploding wire atomization is in commercial use at Argonide Nanomaterials Corp. Flame synthesis is used commercially by AP Materials (U.S. Pat. No. 5,498,446).
Impulse atomization is a technique where the melt is forced through holes in ceramic material. The size of the resulting powder is proportional to the size of the holes. It is believed that the smallest powders this technique could ever produce would be approximately 20 μm. Plasma atomization is a simple process where a sacrificial wire is subjected to the blast of a plasma jet (U.S. Pat. No. 5,707,419). This high temperature blast is strips off molten material that becomes powder.
There are also four patents and one published patent application that relate to this area of endeavor that may warrant attention relative to the present invention. While only the first is strictly an atomizer i.e. the material is melted, converted to smaller units then these smaller units are solidified, all relate to the manufacture of fine metal powders. The first (U.S. Pat. No. 5,935,461) outlines a technique where a pulsed plasma jet is used to blast a stream of molten material in a manner similar to gas atomization.
The next three involve techniques where the material(s) to be subdivided into particles are vaporized then condensed. The second, (U.S. Pat. No. 5,788,738) is such a device. The third, (U.S. Pat. No. 5,514,349) is a variation on that approach. The fourth, (U.S. Pat. No. 6,580,051) uses an electro thermal gun to improve the exploding wire technique. Lastly, U.S. patent application US20030126948A1 discloses a means of producing high purity fine metals, metal oxides, nitrides, borides, carbides and carbonitride fine powders using a high temperature chemical reaction/precipitation technique.
There are other methods of producing metal powders that use centripetal acceleration to enhance the process. These methods are outlined in Powder Metallurgy Science, German (ISBN 1-878954-42-3). The disk and cup methods require the liquid to be forced radially outward thus thinning the melt prior to release and atomization. The mesh and rotating electrode methods use centripetal acceleration to pull drops away from the parent material. Dr. Yunzhong Liu—National Institute for Materials Science (Japan) presented a paper at the 2002 World Congress on Powder Metallurgy & Particulate Materials conference where he described a hybrid gas and centrifugal atomization system.
The means to manufacture fine metal powders can be broken into two broad categories. First there are those methods that vaporize the material or some compound of the material then precipitate the material out of the vapor or gaseous form through either a chemical reaction or heat removal.
Those techniques of the second means spread a molten material into thin liquid layer until instabilities force the layer to disintegrate into smaller units. Due to surface tension these units quickly form spheres. Heat is removed resulting in powder. The invention we're attempting to protect falls into this second category.
Before the technical discussion of the present invention commences, it may be valuable to specifically identify at least one of the particular industrial applications that will be significantly benefited by the development of the present invention. Metal Injection Molding (MIM) is a manufacturing technique where a slurry of fine powdered metal and binder are forced into a metal cavity in a manner very similar to plastic injection molding. The slurry hardens in the mold and the hardened material (called a compact) is released. The binding agent is then removed from the metal by one of several different means. The remaining metal is placed in a furnace and sintered.
During sintering the compact shrinks as the individual powder particles join to one another ultimately reaching full density. The industry standard is to use powder of approximately 15 μm diameter for this application. This process can be improved by using smaller diameter particles. Smaller particles sinter more readily, which would enable the duration and/or the sintering temperature to be reduced. Smaller particles also reduce the surface roughness of the finished part.
The current commercial techniques for atomizing metals i.e. gas, water and centrifugal atomization, are, for the most part, mature technologies that are impractical techniques to produce the still smaller powders and particles needed to advance the industry. Something new is needed.
Diminishing the size of atomized metal powder serves two purposes: it permits more rapid and/or lower temperature sintering and it allows heat to be extracted from the atomized material more rapidly. These two effects are interrelated.
While the increased surface energy inherent to a smaller particle is not a trivial contribution to technology, the large contribution this invention offers is the ability to cool the particles quickly. High cooling rates lead to reduced particulate microstructure grain size and in extreme situations amorphous microstructures. Rapidly solidified (small grain size) alloys can lead to improved magnetic, electrical, mechanical, wear and corrosion properties (Powder Metallurgy Science—German ISBN 1-878954-42-3). Smaller crystalline grains lead to a greater portion of the solidified material being grain boundaries that enables elevated diffusion during sintering. Operationally, the elevated diffusion allows decreased sintering temperature and/or duration.
While the known atomization processes of the state of the art exhibit features that are not insignificant, such as, obtaining very dense and homogeneous particles with a good purity and an efficient control of the composition, in most cases, they cannot make very small particles, are uneconomical in doing so, or are incapable of making alloys.
The present invention overcomes the shortcomings of the existing technologies by introducing a novel and non-obvious process for manufacturing particles that are significantly smaller (finer) and cooled more quickly than currently possible through known atomization techniques. Without question, the availability of smaller finer particles through the atomization techniques of the present invention will allow noteworthy advancements in a variety of manufacturing environments, such as in MIM.
As stated earlier, the present invention relates to a novel process for atomizing a dispersible liquid material or a mixture of dispersible liquid materials. More specifically, the present invention utilizes bursting bubbles, surface waves, and splashes to create fine particles by purposely introducing gas flow on the liquid material(s) to be atomized while these material(s) are simultaneously at an elevated acceleration: thereby significantly enhancing the physical characteristics of the resulting particles, i.e. miniaturize, while reducing contamination threats by avoiding physical contact between the material(s) being atomized and any refractive materials. In other words, the present invention advances the art by utilizing the inertial forces of an elevated acceleration environment to miniaturize the process of atomization seen in nature.

Atomization technique for producing fine particles


A motor control apparatus includes a reference model unit configured to generate a model output, a feedback unit configured to generate a feedback, and an adder configured to add up the model input and the feedback and generate a control input to the controlled object. The reference model unit includes a storing unit configured to retain, as a vector, a present value of the target value and one or a plurality of past values of the target value, a numerical model configured to simulate a characteristic of the controlled object and generate the model output and a state variable on the basis of the model input, a model controller configured to generate the model input and a controller determining unit configured to determine the model controller.

It is desired that a motor control apparatus causes a motor position and speed to follow target values such as a position target value and a speed target value at high speed and high accuracy. To realize this, two degrees of freedom control obtained by combining feed forward control and feedback control is used. As a method of further increasing speed and accuracy, a control method for pre-reading and using not only a present target value but also a future target value is sometimes used. Further, simultaneously with the increases in the speed and the accuracy, it is also necessary to suppress residual vibration during a stop that occurs because of mechanical resonance and the like. Vibration suppression is realized by damping control for designing a feed forward control system to reduce a signal component at a vibration frequency (a resonance frequency) of an industrial machine.
Usually, to cause a motor to follow a target value at higher speed and higher accuracy, it is necessary to generate larger torque. When control for actively suppressing residual vibration during a stop is performed, larger torque is necessary and a change amount of the torque increases. However, there is a limit for a control input of torque that the motor can generate, and also for an electric current applied to the motor necessary for generating the torque, or the like. The change amount of the torque is closely related to a voltage generated in a motor control apparatus. When the change amount of the torque increases, the voltage increases and voltage saturation occurs. When the change amount of the torque increases, a shock given to a machine system also increases. Accordingly, there is also a limit in a change amount of the control input such as the change amount of the torque. Therefore, there is a desire for control that can follow a target value at high speed and high accuracy and suppress residual vibration during a stop while satisfying constraints on a control input and a change amount.
For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses an electric motor control apparatus that performs, using target values two steps ahead or four steps ahead, prediction control in which target values M (M>4) steps ahead are necessary. In the related art, a control operation is simplified by using only the target values two steps or four steps ahead. An overshoot during acceleration and deceleration is reduced and followability during fixed speed is improved by calculating speed feed forward and torque feed forward from these values and using the speed feed forward and the torque feed forward for control.
A servo control apparatus described in Patent Literature 2 includes a changeover switch and, when the changeover switch is ON, uses feedback control or two degrees of freedom control in which a prediction controller is used as a feedback controller and, when the changeover switch is OFF, switches the feedback control of only position proportional control to improve performance. In the related art, when a controlled object requests highly accurate followability, the servo control apparatus turns on the changeover switch. When a target command increase value changes, the servo control apparatus turns off the changeover switch. To make control inputs before and after the switching continuous, the servo control apparatus linearly interpolates the control inputs before and after the switching using a filter function unit.


A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device includes implanting gas ions in a donor wafer and bonding the donor wafer to a carrier wafer to form a compound wafer. The method also includes subjecting the compound wafer to a thermal treatment to cause separation along a delamination layer and growing an epitaxial layer on a portion of separated compound wafer to form a semiconductor device layer. The method further includes cutting the carrier wafer.

Semiconductor devices are produced on wafers with a typical size of 200 mm or 300 mm diameter. Some non-silicon based semiconductors like silicon carbide, gallium arsenide or gallium nitride are either not available in such a size or are expensive in the typical wafer size of 200 mm or 300 mm diameter due to much more difficult crystal growing.
Due to smaller wafer size, non-silicon semiconductor wafers are processed in separate manufacturing lines. Alternatively, the manufacturing lines needs to be adapted in a more or less extensive way before. Both methods implicate high costs. There is therefore a desire to provide improved manufacturing processes and to reduce production costs.

Method of manufacturing a template wafer


A method of assembling a gas turbine engine includes coupling an annular exhaust duct to the gas turbine engine, coupling a plurality of chevrons to the annular exhaust duct, and coupling a chevron actuation system to the annular exhaust duct such that selective operation of the chevron actuation system repositions the plurality of chevrons to adjust an amount convergence of the annular exhaust duct.

This invention relates generally to gas turbine engines, more particularly to methods and apparatus for operating gas turbine engines.
At least some known gas turbine engines include a core engine having, in serial flow arrangement, a fan assembly and a high pressure compressor which compress airflow entering the engine, a combustor which burns a mixture of fuel and air, and low and high pressure rotary assemblies which each include a plurality of rotor blades that extract rotational energy from airflow exiting the combustor.
Combustion gases are discharged from the core engine through an exhaust assembly. More specifically, within at least some known turbofan engines, a core exhaust nozzle discharges core exhaust gases radially inwardly from a concentric fan nozzle exhaust which exhausts fan discharge air therefrom for producing thrust. Typically, both exhaust flows have a maximum velocity when the engine is operated during high power operations, such as during take-off operations. During such operations, as the high velocity flows interact with each other and with ambient air flowing past the engine, substantial noise may be produced along the take-off path of the aircraft.
To facilitate reducing jet noise, at least some known turbine engine exhaust assemblies include a plurality of chevron nozzles to enhance mixing the core and bypass exhaust flows. Although the chevron nozzles do provide a noise benefit during take-off conditions, because the nozzles are mechanical devices which remain positioned in the flow path during all flight conditions, such devices may adversely impact engine performance during non-take-off operating conditions. Specifically, during cruise conditions, chevron nozzles may adversely impact specific fuel consumption (SFC) of the engine.

Methods and apparatus for operating gas turbine engines


Device including channel having channel input and output. Channel has interior channel surface extending along channel path from channel input to output. In one implementation, channel includes plurality of channel sections in serial communication along channel path. Each of channel sections includes first internal circumference spaced apart along channel path from second internal circumference, in each of channel sections the first and second internal circumferences being substantially different. Each of channel sections includes sub-surface of interior channel surface. At least region of sub-surface of each channel section includes distribution of raised micro-scale features. As another implementation, at least first region of interior channel surface includes distribution of raised micro-scale features interrupted by plurality of raised barriers spaced apart along channel path on interior channel surface. Each raised barrier extends on interior channel surface in directions partially transverse to and partially parallel to longitudinal axis. Method also provided.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to conduits for carrying a fluid from one location to another.
2. Related Art
This section introduces aspects that may help facilitate a better understanding of the invention. Accordingly, the statements of this section are to be read in that light and are not to be understood as admissions about what is prior art or what is not prior art.
Myriad types of conduits have been developed for carrying fluids from one location to another. Specialized conduits are available for moderating a pressure drop that is incurred by passing a fluid through a conduit. Despite these developments, there is a continuing need for improved conduits configured for enabling a fluid to be carried from one location to another.


A transport system for dry nanoparticles (18b). According to the invention, the nanoparticles (18b) are magnetized or electrically charged for transportation, a magnetic or electrical field is produced by a field generator (20a, 20) in the transport channel, and the nanoparticles (18b) migrate through the transport channel (12). The nanoparticles can be discharged through a discharge opening (13) which enables dosing to take place. In order to agglomerate the nanoparticles (18b) or to prevent attachment onto the inner wall (26), a coating (27) of the wall can be offset in oscillations by piezo electric actuators (28), the oscillations being transferred to the nanoparticles (18b). The dry nanoparticles can be handled in an advantageous manner due to the transport system, such that the dry nanoparticles need not be treated as a suspension.

DE 196 32 393 A1 discloses that these so-called nanopowders cannot be poured without problems, so that, for example, external feeding into a PVD process is problematic. Provision is therefore made for the powders not to be used as the source material for feeding into PVD processes but, in fact, for the nanoparticles to be produced in situ within the PVD process. For this purpose, suitable source substances must be fed into the PVD process (physical vapor deposition) for the nanoparticles to be produced.

Transport system for nanoparticles and method for the operation thereof


A tank for an agricultural field sprayer having a fill region and a first closure. To avoid costly connections for lines at the tank and to reduce the cost of manufacture of the tank, the first closure can be rigidly connected to the tank and provided with an opening uncovered by a second closure. The connections of the first closure are arranged on a region configured as a connecting region, so that an access to the fill region is made possible by the second closure, even if the sprayer is in operation, particularly in a washing-in operation or in a circulating operation.

Tanks are known in the state of the art, such as tanks for agricultural sprayers, particularly field sprayers, that are provided with a filling region engaged with an opening through which the tank can be filled with various materials to be sprayed including granular material or powder chemicals. Generally, the opening is provided with a closure or a cover, such as a folding cover, that must be opened by an operator. Usually the filling region is supplied with a filler line conducting a carrier fluid such as water into the tank to wash-in the material to be sprayed into the tank. Moreover, a return line or washing-out line or the like may also be provided. In order to avoid costly connections for the lines to the tank, the usual practice is to provide the connections directly on the cover.
A tank of this type is disclosed by DE 39 21 089 A. An agricultural field sprayer is described having an inlet opening equipped with a cover. To simplify fill line connections and a return line, the invention proposes that the connections be provided on the cover. The disadvantage of such an arrangement is that, for the filling process at the fill opening, an opening of the cover is possible only when the fill line and the return line are closed, or the lines are removed from the cover. In order to fill or refill with the material to be sprayed, for example, a circuit of the material to be sprayed must be interrupted for the filling process. Observation of the process of washing-in the material to be sprayed into the sprayer or of washing-out the material out of the tank through the fill opening is not possible.


An information processing system which has (a) a CPU that is operated in a normal mode during which the CPU is driven at a relatively fast operating clock rate, and a power saving mode during which the operating clock has a lower rate or is halted; (b) at least one peripheral device; (c) a bus for performing communication between the CPU and the peripheral device; (d) a termination detector detecting a completion of a predetermined transaction between the CPU and the peripheral device; (e) a time counter measuring a predetermined period of time after the completion of the predetermined transaction; and (f) a power saving control causing the CPU enter the power saving mode until the time counted by the time counting means reaches the predetermined period of time.

The present invention relates to an information processing system, such as a personal computer (PC), and in particular to an information processing system with a power saving function that, as needed, reduces the operating frequency of a processor (a so-called CPU or Central Processing Unit), or entirely halts the operation of the processor in order to reduce the power consumption. More specifically, the present invention pertains to an information processing system that satisfies both requests for power saving and for security of a system, and that can reduce the operating frequency of the CPU or can entirely halt the operation of the CPU even during a period in which asynchronous communication with a peripheral device is executed.
As progress in the current technique continues, various types of personal computers (hereafter referred to as "PCs" or "systems"), such as desktop and notebook computers, are being manufactured and widely sold. The notebook PCs that are compact and light, since for their design, portability and outdoor use are taken into consideration.
One of the features of notebook PCs is that they are "battery operable" and can be driven by an incorporated battery. Such a system can be used at sites where there are no commercially available power sources. A battery that is incorporated in a notebook PC is commonly formed as a "battery pack", which is a package that comprises a plurality of rechargeable battery cells (also called a "secondary cell"), such as Ni-Cd, NiMH, or Li-Ion. Although such a battery pack is reusable by being recharged, the battery duration is sufficient to supply power for only two to three hours of system operation time. Therefore, various ideas for power saving have been implemented to extend the time between charge periods for a battery. The introduction of the power saving function can constitute another feature for the notebook PCs.
At present, from an ecological point of view, the demand for power saving has increased even for desktop PCs that can be powered almost endlessly by commercially available power sources. And in June 1993, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) advocated the self-imposed regulations called the "Energy Star Computer program", and required that power consumed in the standby state be lower than a predetermined value (driving power is to be 30 W or less, or 30% or less than it is when the CPU is active). Computer makers have developed and manufactured products that conform to the suggested regulation. For example, desktop PCs that have a power saving function are already sold by IBM Japan, Ltd. (e.g., the PS/55E (for which "Green PC" is a common name), PC 750, and the Aptiva series ("Aptiva" is a trademark of IBM Corp.)).
Power saving with a PC can be accomplished by, for example, reducing operational power consumption by the individual electric circuits in a system. Power savings can also be provided by reducing or halting, as needed, the power supply to the individual electric circuits (or peripheral devices) in the system in accordance with the reduction of their operational state (activity). The latter power saving function may especially be called a "power management" function.
The power management modes of a PC are an "LCD backlight-OFF" mode and an "HDD-OFF" mode, which halts the power supply to devices, such as an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) and its backlight, or a rotary motor of an HDD (hard disk drive), that account for the greatest share of the total power consumption by a full system. The other example power management modes are a "CPU slow clock/stop clock" mode, in which the operating frequency of a CPU (Central Processing Unit) is reduced or the operation of the CPU is halted, and a "Suspend" mode, in which the power supply to all the electric circuits, except for a main memory, is halted after data required for resuming the task are saved in the main memory.
As is well known, CPU chips are the units that constitute the nuclei for the computations that are performed by computer systems. Recently, as production techniques for manufacturing semiconductor devices have improved, as is demonstrated by the reduction in the wiring width, the operating frequencies of CPUs have increased even more. For example, there have appeared CPU chips, such as the "Pentium" sold by Intel Corp. and the "PowerPC" (a trademark of IBM Corp. PowerPC is jointly developed by IBM Corp., Motorola Corp. and Apple Corp.), that can be driven at operating frequencies that exceed 100 MHz. The performance of a CPU and its operating frequency are very closely related. And as the operational speed of a CPU rises, the speed at which it performs calculations increases accordingly. A fast CPU demonstrates its excellent capabilities especially when running large application programs and when performing graphics procedures.
But as nothing is perfect, the high processing speed of the CPU brings with it several problems. One of the problems concerns the increased power consumption by the CPUs and the consequent heat generation. As the strength of a current that flows across a transistor gate (i.e., a resistor) per unit time increases, the power consumption and the heat generation also increase. Theoretically, the power consumption by a CPU is proportional to the operating frequency. Currently, the ratio of the power consumption by a CPU to the total power consumption by the system can not be ignored.
The power management functions of a CPU, such as the "CPU slow clock/stop clock", are provided to overcome the above described condition. The "slow clock" and the "stop clock" are modes in which, when the system determines that the CPU is in the standby state (i.e., the CPU is in the idle state: e.g., the condition that a predetermined time has elapsed since a last key/mouse input), power consumption is reduced by lowering the operating frequency of the CPU (i.e., the performance of the CPU is lowered), or by entirely halting its operating clock. It should be noted that the performance of the CPU is lowered only up to the point at which neither turn-around time (i.e., the time that elapses from the reception of a request until the generation of an affirmative response) nor through-put (the quantity of jobs per unit time) is deteriorated. The "slow clock" function and the "stop clock" function of the CPU will now be described.
The slow clock function of the CPU can be achieved by changing the frequency of a clock signal that is inputted by an external oscillator. This function can also be achieved by changing a CPU chip's internal operating frequency while maintaining a constant external input clock frequency. A high speed processing CPU ordinarily receives a relatively low clock signal (for example, 66 MHz) and internally increases the speed of an operating clock (to, for example, doubles the speed, 133 MHz) by using an incorporated PLL (Phase Lock Loop) circuit. It is difficult for this type of CPU to drastically change an input clock frequency to the CPU chip because of the characteristic of a PLL circuit (e.g., the inherent vibration count of the oscillator or a delay time (several msec) required until the phase locking is performed). Therefore, another design method is employed for a CPU chip that incorporates both a PLL circuit and a slow clock function (power management function) that internally switches an operating clock. According to this method, the incorporated PLL circuit usually increases an input clock speed while the internal slow clock function autonomously lowers the performance of the CPU in the chip.
FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating the internal arrangement of a CPU that incorporates a power management function. In FIG. 7, a CPU chip 11 comprises a functional unit 11a that actually performs computation; a PLL circuit 11b that transmits, to the functional unit 11a, an operating clock signal for synchronous driving; and a performance controller 11c that controls the performance of the functional unit 11a. The CPU chip 11 communicates with its peripheral devices (not shown) via a processor bus 12.
The function of a PLL circuit whereby the frequency of an input clock signal is multiplied is well known. The PLL circuit 11b doubles the speed (66 MHz, for example) of a relatively slow clock signal to obtain an operating frequency (133 MHz, for example), and transmits the doubled clock signal to the functional unit 11a.
The functional unit 11a can be divided into a computation unit (a double shaded portion in FIG. 7) and an internal cache/control unit. The computation unit is a section whose performance can, to a degree, be reduced in accordance with the activity of the system (it should be noted that the performance of the computation unit must be lowered only to the degree that the turn around time and the through-put are not deteriorated). The internal cache/control unit is a section that must respond to an external event, such as a cache snoop, an interrupt request (INTR/NMI/SMI), or a hold request (HOLD) of the bus 12, that occurs in a time critical manner and unperiodically, and thus, its performance can not be easily reduced regardless of the activity of the system.
The performance controller 11c controls the performance of the functional unit 11a in response to a control signal STPCLK# received from an external device. More specifically, while the STPCLK# is active (i.e., low), the controller 11c halts the supply of the operating frequency to the computation unit (the double shaded portion in FIG. 7) in the functional unit 11a. That is, the CPU chip 11 is so designed that its performance can be reduced locally. As a modification method, the STPCLK# inputted to the performance controller 11c is intermittently changed to active (i.e., goes low) to reduce the frequency of the operating clock transmitted from the PLL controller 11b. For example, if the STPCLK# is set active (i.e., goes low) according to a predetermined cycle and the frequency of the operating clock is reduced by one of n times, the performance and power consumption of the computation unit is reduced to about (n-1)/n. The function that intermittently affects the STPCLK# input operation is generally called "clock throttling" or "frequency emulation".
SL enhanced 486s, DX2s and DX4s, and Pentiums, which are chips that have succeeded the "80486" CPU chip from Intel Corp., have the power saving function that is shown in FIG. 7. These chips include STPCLK# as one of control signals along the processor bus 12.
The "stop clock" function completely suspends the input clocks supplied by the oscillator 40, and halts the entire functional unit 11a. The complete stopping of the operating clock can be accomplished by virtue of a fully static arrangement of the CPU chip 11 in which a storing and saving function is not required. In the "stop clock" mode, the power consumption by the CPU is, at most, several hundreds of mW. The stop clock function can be regarded as an ultimate power management operation.

International Business Machines Corporation


A battery (100) comprises an electrolyte in which a lanthanide and zinc form a redox pair. Preferred electrolytes are acid electrolytes, and most preferably comprise methane sulfonic acid, and it is further contemplated that suitable electrolytes may include at least two lanthanides. Contemplated lanthanides include cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, terbium, and dysprosium, and further contemplate lanthanides are samarium, europium, thulium and ytterbium.

Many types of batteries and other power cells are known, based upon a relatively wide range of electrical couples. Among the most popular electrical couples are those containing zinc. Zinc is regarded as the highest energy couple component that can be cycled in an aqueous room temperature battery and is therefore commonly used in numerous battery and power cell applications. Depending on the type of coupling partner such zinc containing batteries will exhibit various characteristic properties.
For example, zinc is coupled with carbon in most simple flashlight batteries to provide a relatively inexpensive and reliable power source. Although manufacture of Zn/C batteries is generally simple and poses only relatively little environmental impact, various disadvantages of Zn/C batteries exist. Among other things, the ratio of power to weight in commonly used Zn/C batteries is relatively poor. To improve the ratio of power to weight, alternative coupling partners and systems can be employed. For example, zinc can be coupled with mercury oxide or silver to achieve an improved power to weight ratio. However, the toxicity of mercury oxide is frequently problematic in manufacture and tends to become even more problematic when such batteries are discarded. On the other hand, while silver as a coupling partner for zinc is environmentally substantially neutral and significantly improves the power to weight ratio, the use of silver is in many instances economically prohibitive.
In still further known batteries and power cells, zinc is coupled with still other metals such as nickel, copper, or manganese to provide a specific desired characteristic. However, and depending on the particular metal, new disadvantages may arise and particularly include environmental problems with manufacture and/or disposal, relatively low power to weight ratio, and undesirably low open circuit voltage.
Moreover, halogens may be employed as a coupling partner for zinc, and most common zinc-halogen couples include zinc-bromine and zinc-chloride (e.g., for load leveling batteries). However, such battery configurations are often difficult to integrate into portable or miniaturized devices Moreover, such battery configurations typically require pumping systems and are often prone to leakage leading to significant problems due to the highly corrosive nature of halogens.
Alternatively, oxygen may be employed as a gaseous coupling partner for zinc, thereby generally avoiding problems associated with toxicity, excessive cost for coupling partners, or spillage. Among the various advantages in this configuration, using air (i.e., oxygen) as coupling partner for zinc typically results in a relatively high power to weight ratio. Moreover, the zinc-oxygen system typically provides a relatively flat discharge curve. However, reasonable shelf life of such batteries can often only be achieved by using an airtight seal. Furthermore, to provide continuous operation, air must have an unobstructed path through the battery to the cathode so that the oxygen in the air is available to discharge the cathode. Moreover, commercial applications of zinc-air batteries have previously been limited to primary or non-rechargeable types. Experimental rechargeable zinc-air batteries have been built for use in automotive applications and typically use a liquid electrolyte that is recirculated via a pump. However, such systems are often impractical for miniature consumer applications ranging from radios to portable computers because of their mechanical complexity and lack of leak resistance.
An additional problem with zinc-air batteries often arises from the use of an alkaline electrolyte, which is typically disposed between a porous zinc anode and an air cathode formed of a carbon membrane. Unfortunately, the use of alkaline electrolytes in such electrodes frequently leads to absorption of carbon dioxide, and consequently, formation of carbonates, which in turn tend to reduce conductivity and clog the pores in the active surfaces of the electrodes.
Thus, although there are numerous coupling partners for zinc in batteries and power cells known in the art, all or almost all of them suffer from one or more disadvantage. Therefore, there is still a need to provide compositions and methods for improved batteries.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


Systems and methods for detecting pose and force against an object are provided. A method includes receiving a signal from a deformable sensor comprising data from a deformation region in a deformable membrane resulting from contact with the object utilizing an internal sensor disposed within an enclosure and having a field of view directed through a medium and toward a bottom surface of the deformable membrane. The method also determines a pose of the object based on the deformation region of the deformable membrane. The method also determines an amount of force applied between the deformable membrane and the object is determined based on the deformation region of the deformable membrane.

Contact sensors are used to determine whether or not one object is in physical contact with another object. For example, robots often use contact sensors to determine whether a portion of the robot is in contact with an object. Control of the robot may then be based at least in part on signals from one or more contact sensors.

Deformable sensors and methods for detecting pose and force against an object


A stringed musical instrument device that functions as a peripheral for a computer or computing device, whereby electronic transducers placed inside and/or outside the instrument convert the vibrations of the strings and/or the instrument body from an analog electrical signals to digital signals. The digital signals are then transmitted via Class Compliant USB and/or FireWire-IEEE 1394 and/or IEEE 802.11 wireless and/or Bluetooth® wireless protocols to any computer or computing device that accepts data via those protocols. This device requires no external power, amplification, analog-to-digital conversion, software or hardware. This device is an improvement over the prior art in that it accurately and immediately represents on a computer or computing device the signals that are being sent from the instrument and reduces the number of devices needed to accomplish the task of sending digital signals to a computer or computing device.

Stringed musical instruments are commonly amplified by attaching an electronic transducer to the face or top of the instrument so that the transducer lies under the strings or inside the body of such instrument. The electronic transducer picks up the vibrations of the strings and transfers the energy in the form of an analog electrical signal. The electrical signal is then commonly output to a musical instrument amplifier which contains speakers and amplifiers to increase the electronic signal. The amplifier, depending upon its own features, adds various tones and effects via a preamplifier.
With the proliferation of personal computers and computing devices, musicians of all levels are frequently employing software on their computers and computing devices for many purposes including multi-track recording, editing, mastering, adding effects, composing, remixing, film scoring, and creating notation for musical instrument education and publishing exploitation. Furthermore, with the vast resources available on the Internet, musicians are able to use online music forums and online software to enhance, share and publish their musical performances.
While traditional musical instruments are designed to be readily used in a recording or live venue or other concert setting, these instruments are ill-equipped for usage with personal computers. Furthermore, traditional stringed instruments which transmit analog signals have disadvantages because the electric signal is subject to various degrees of output, degradation and distortion.
In order to overcome these obstacles, there have been prior art electrical guitars designed with hexaphonic pickups which send Musical Instrument Digital Information ("MIDI") signals to a computer. These musical instruments allow musicians to connect their instrument to a computer and for the computer to recognize the signals generated. However, MIDI signals are "command" signals, and the resulting sound rendered by the instrument is not always an accurate representation of the original sound generated by the musician's performance as translated to the strings of the musical instrument. In addition, tracking, or the simultaneous response from the musician's performance in triggering a sound through MIDI, often results in a time lag or a lack of accurate tracking.
Furthermore, many MIDI guitars require an external device which converts the electronic signal from the hexaphonic pickup into a MIDI signal. In these systems, the MDI signals generated by the external interface device are then sent from the external interface device to the computer. These systems have disadvantages because they require a relatively sophisticated external device which adds expense and which are frequently difficult to operate and cumbersome for the musician to use. Such external devices add more connections to the system of performance.
In order to send a more faithful representation of the sound from the musical instrument's strings to the personal computer, prior art devices have been developed wherein an interface device converts the analog electrical signal to a digital signal. For example, Patent Application No. 2003/0159570 (the "570 Application") discloses a digital interface for analog musical instruments that can be detachably mounted on the instrument wherein proper placement is crucial for accurate performance or undetachably integrated in the musical instrument body. The interface apparatus involved in the 570 Application converts the analog signal generated by the musical instrument into a digital signal. The interface apparatus then has connections to be able to connect into a personal computer allowing for the transmission of such digital data directly to the personal computer.
While these prior art devices can enable a musical instrument player to send an accurate representation of the initial electrical signal from the instrument pickup device to a personal computer, the disadvantage of these prior art devices is that it is difficult for the computer to recognize the information sent from the musical instrument in order to be able to process such information effectively. The musician requires specific drivers to be installed to allow the computer to recognize the information that is being sent from the musical instrument. Furthermore, the majority of the most popular musical instrument software programs do not recognize these prior art instruments without first running specific programs or "patches" for the prior art instruments.
The installation of software can be time consuming and complicated. Driver software often does not record the signal properly. Moreover, many patches or programs to allow these musical instruments to be properly recognized by a personal computer or a specific software application have not been created. Therefore, a disadvantage to the prior art devices is that a musical instrument player is often limited in the availability of software programs to use in connection with a prior art device.
Another disadvantage of the prior art devices is that it is often expensive to purchase additional software allowing the computer to recognize the guitar signals. Additionally, the installation of these programs can be complicated. Further, even upon successful installation, the user can still experience compatibility problems which can lead to errors within the computer and the software applications.
In addition, Patent Application No. 2004/0144241 (the "241 Application") relies almost entirely on an outboard device that will split the signal from the guitar. This outboard device, often called a "breakout box," only makes more complex the number of wiring connections necessary, while adding cost and the possibility of signal quality loss and/or output volume loss.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a stringed musical instrument device that overcomes the above-mentioned drawbacks and disadvantages.


A subassembly includes a supporting substrate having a V-shaped groove at which a member is disposed, a laser diode mounted at the supporting substrate, and a lens element, which includes a lens portion formed at a surface of an optical substrate and a projection portion having a contour which places the projection portion in contact with the V-shaped groove at the supporting substrate when the lens element is mounted, and which is positioned relative to the laser diode. An optical module includes the subassembly, a package used to package the subassembly and an interface. The interface includes an optical fiber to be optically coupled with the laser diode via the lens element and is positioned as it comes in contact with the package.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a subassembly and an optical module that are ideal in applications in optical communication systems and the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
An optical module in the related art is normally achieved by packaging a subassembly substrate at which a laser diode is mounted, a lens provided to achieve optical coupling and an optical fiber. The lens is constituted of a ball lens or an aspherical lens in most cases. Coaxial optical modules known in the related art include can-type optical modules, pigtail-type optical modules (see, for instance, Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 5-343709) and receptacle-type optical modules. The optical axes are adjusted for alignment by utilizing an aligning device while monitoring the light output.
The need for optical modules achieving a higher degree of coupling efficiency that can be, at the same time, offered at lower prices have risen in recent years. The semiconductor laser module disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 8-23138, for instance, is manufactured by using fewer parts and through a simpler alignment process in order to achieve a cost reduction. More specifically, a holder having a ball lens attached thereto is utilized, and the holder and the laser package are fixed. After a ferrule in which an optical fiber is housed is set against the holder, the ferrule is aligned along directions perpendicular to the optical axis.
In addition, an optical module equipped with an isolator has been often used in recent years to prevent return light from entering the laser diode. The isolator may be constituted mainly with a Faraday rotator and polarizers mounted on the two sides of the Faraday rotator, for instance. In some cases, magnets that apply magnetic fields to the Faraday rotator are disposed around the Faraday rotator and the polarizers. An optical module equipped with an isolator usually adopts a structure in which the isolator is located toward the optical fiber end with a small light flux diameter so as to acheive miniaturization of the isolator (see, for instance, U.S. Pat. No. 5,841,922). The miniaturization of the isolator is a crucial priority since it greatly contributes to lowering the cost of the optical module and also helps to achieve miniaturization of the optical module itself.