A solid-state image sensing apparatus having a three-dimensional structure whose manufacturing process can be simplified is provided. A solid-state image sensing apparatus formed by bonding a first member and a second member is provided. The first member has a first surface on the side of the bonding interface between the first member and the second member and a second surface on the opposite side of the bonding interface. The second member has a third surface on the bonding interface side and a fourth surface on the opposite side of the bonding interface. The first member includes photoelectric conversion elements which are formed on the first surface before the first member is bonded to the second member. The second member includes circuit elements which are formed on the third surface before bonding.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a solid-state image sensing apparatus and a method of manufacturing the same and, more particularly, to a solid-state image sensing apparatus formed by bonding a plurality of members including a first member and a second member, and a method of manufacturing such an apparatus.
2. Related Background Art
As solid-state image sensing apparatuses, CCD image sensors and CMOS image sensors are widely used. In a solid-state image sensing element, along with a great increase in pixel density, the occupation ratio of interconnections and transistors serving as switches in each pixel increases. The ratio (aperture ratio) of the light-receiving area decreases, and accordingly, the light-receiving sensitivity becomes low. To avoid this problem, there is employed a technique for mounting a microlens in each pixel or a technique for decreasing the interconnection ratio by using a micropatterning process.
One of application purposes of a solid-state image sensing element is a retina chip. For this application purpose, an advanced function for processing input information for each pixel or high-speed processing is required. Since a memory and a signal processing circuit are added to each pixel, the aperture ratio further decreases. A promising measure against this problem is thought to be employing a so-called three-dimensional circuit element structure in which a solid-state image sensing element and a control processing circuit are stacked.
A prior-art reference about a three-dimensional circuit element is Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-17107. A three-dimensional circuit element manufacturing method described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-17107 includes steps of forming a porous layer on a semiconductor substrate, forming a single-crystal semiconductor layer on the porous layer, forming a first two-dimensional circuit element on the single-crystal semiconductor layer, bonding the first two-dimensional circuit element to a support substrate and then removing the semiconductor substrate from the bonded body so as to transfer the first two-dimensional circuit element from the semiconductor substrate to the support substrate, and bonding the support substrate to which the first two-dimensional circuit element is transferred to a substrate having a second two-dimensional circuit element.
The three-dimensional circuit element manufacturing method described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-17107 will be described below.
First, as shown in FIG. 5A, a porous layer 2 is formed on a semiconductor substrate by anodizing. A single-crystal silicon layer 3 is formed on the porous layer 2.
As shown in FIG. 5B, a first two-dimensional LSI 4 is formed on the single-crystal silicon layer 3 formed on the porous layer 2. The two-dimensional LSI 4 includes an element isolation oxide film 5, MOSFET 6, polysilicon interconnection 7, interlayer dielectric film 8, via hole 8a, upper surface metal interconnection 9, and interlayer dielectric film 10.
As shown in FIG. 5C, polyimide 11 is applied to the surface of the two-dimensional LSI 4. A support substrate 12 is bonded to the polyimide 11.
As shown in FIG. 5D, the two-dimensional LSI 4 supported by the support substrate 12 is separated from a single-crystal silicon substrate 1.
As shown in FIG. 5E, a through hole 13 that reaches the polysilicon interconnection 7 is formed in the single-crystal silicon layer 3 and element isolation oxide film 5 on the lower surface side of the peeled two-dimensional LSI 4. An oxide film 14 is formed in the through hole 13. The oxide film 14 is partially removed by etching to expose the polysilicon interconnection 7 again. A lower surface metal interconnection 15 which comes into contact with the polysilicon interconnection 7 is formed. Polyimide 16 is applied. An Au/In pool 17 is formed in the recessed portion of the lower surface metal interconnection 15.
On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 5F, a porous silicon layer 22 and single-crystal silicon layer 23 are formed on another single-crystal silicon substrate 21 in the same way as described above. A two-dimensional LSI 24 is formed on the single-crystal silicon layer 23. The two-dimensional LSI 24 includes an element isolation oxide film 25, MOSFET 26, polysilicon interconnection 27, interlayer dielectric film 28, via hole 28a, upper surface metal interconnection 29, interlayer dielectric film 30, via hole 30a, and tungsten plug 31.
As shown in FIG. 5G, the upper surface of the two-dimensional LSI 24 shown in FIG. 5F is bonded to the lower surface of the two-dimensional LSI 4 shown in FIG. 5E via the polyimide 16 and 30.
In the same way as in FIG. 5D, the two-dimensional LSIs 4 and 24 are separated from the single-crystal silicon substrate 21.
When a necessary number of thin-film two-dimensional LSIs each formed on a single-crystal silicon layer are sequentially bonded in the above-described way, a desired three-dimensional VLSI can be completed.
In the above-described three-dimensional LSI manufacturing method, the two-dimensional LSI 4 formed on the porous layer 2 is bonded to the support substrate 12. After that, the two-dimensional LSI 4 supported by the support substrate 12 is separated from the single-crystal silicon substrate 1. A semiconductor process is executed for the separation surface to form the lower surface metal interconnection 15. The surface of the two-dimensional LSI 24 formed on another single-crystal silicon substrate 21 is bonded to the lower surface metal interconnection 15. After that, the support substrate 12 is removed by polishing or etching. That is, the layer formation process is complex.

Method of manufacturing an image sensing apparatus in which two members are bonded together


A robust hinge has a redundant positioning capability, is mounted between a cover and a base and has a keyed pivot pin, a rotating leaf, a stationary leaf and a spacer assembly. The rotating leaf is attached to the keyed pivot pin and connects to the cover. The stationary leaf is mounted around the keyed pivot pin, connects to the base and has a primary stationary positioning element. The spacer assembly is mounted around the keyed pivot pin and has primary and secondary rotating positioning elements and a secondary stationary positioning element. Each stationary positioning element has a detent. Each rotating positioning element has a protrusion corresponding to the detent. The protrusions engage the detents to provide the redundant positioning capability to keep the cover form hitting the base. Two pairs of protrusions and detents provide the redundant positioning capability.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hinge, especially to a robust hinge that has a redundant positioning capability.
2. Description of the Prior Arts
An appliance with a base and a cover has a hinge, for example notebook computers, foldable cellular phones, etc. The hinge is mounted between the base and the cover to open or close the cover by pivoting the hinge. To keep the cover from hitting the base, the hinge has a positioning capability. A conventional hinge has a stationary positioning element and a rotating positioning element. However, the stationary and rotating positioning elements rub against each other when the hinge is pivoted. The friction between the stationary and rotating positioning elements causes the stationary and rotating positioning elements to wear and break easily.
To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention provides a robust hinge that has a redundant positioning capability to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.


According to one embodiment, in an isolator, a first capacitive element is arranged on a first signal line. The first capacitive element has one end electrically connected to an input side circuit and having another end electrically connected to an output side circuit. A second capacitive element is arranged on a second signal line. The second capacitive element having one end electrically connected to the input side circuit and having another end electrically connected to the output side circuit. A first inductive element has one end electrically connected to a first node between the first capacitive element in the first signal line and the output side circuit. A second inductive element has one end electrically connected to a second node between the second capacitive element in the second signal line and the output side circuit.

A capacitively coupled type isolator is configured by electrically inserting a capacitive element on a signal line between an input side circuit and an output side circuit. At this time, it is desired to appropriately perform signal transmission from the input side circuit to the output side circuit through the capacitive element.

TOSHIBA ELECTRONIC DEVICES & STORAGE CORPORATION


Systems and methods for performing semantic segmentation of three-dimensional data are provided. In one example embodiment, a computing system can be configured to obtain sensor data including three-dimensional data associated with an environment. The three-dimensional data can include a plurality of points and can be associated with one or more times. The computing system can be configured to determine data indicative of a two-dimensional voxel representation associated with the environment based at least in part on the three-dimensional data. The computing system can be configured to determine a classification for each point of the plurality of points within the three-dimensional data based at least in part on the two-dimensional voxel representation associated with the environment and a machine-learned semantic segmentation model. The computing system can be configured to initiate one or more actions based at least in part on the per-point classifications.

Semantic scene understanding is valuable for a wide range of applications in fields such as graphics, human-computer interaction, image search, autonomous driving and many others. For example, an autonomous vehicle can observe its surrounding environment using a variety of sensors and can attempt to comprehend the environment by performing various processing techniques on data collected by the sensors. Semantic understanding of such an environment can help the vehicle navigate.

Semantic segmentation of three-dimensional data


Multi-layer polyelectrolyte membranes are described wherein at least one of the layers contains at least one acrylic resin or vinyl resin having at least one ionic or ionizable group, and at least one additional polymer. The polymer has small or large domain sizes with respect to the acrylic resin or vinyl resin that is present in one or more layers. The polymer preferably has improved conductivity when formed into a film. The membranes are useful in batteries, fuel cells, and the like.

The present invention relates to multi-layer polyelectrolyte membranes containing polymeric resins, for instance and more specifically to fluoropolymer and non-perfluorinated polymeric resins containing ionic and/or ionizable groups (also referred to as a "polyelectrolyte"), which are useful in a variety of products such as fuel cells and the like. The present invention further relates to methods of making these multi-layer polyelectrolyte membranes.
Perfluorocarbon ionic exchange membranes provide high cation transport, and have been extensively used as ionic exchange membranes. Polymeric ion exchange membranes can be referred to as solid polymer electrolytes or polymer exchange membranes (PEM). Because of the severe requirements for fuel cell applications, the most commonly used membranes, and commercially available, are made from perfluorosulfonated Nafion®, Flemion® and Aciplex® polymers. However, reports and literature describe these membranes as working well but show several limitations that prevent developing the technology further to commercialization. Additionally, they work better with gaseous fuels than with liquid fuels which may be mainly due to liquid fuel crossover that diminishes cell performance. A membrane's chemical resistance and mechanical strength are important properties for fuel cell applications. Indeed, the membrane is often subjected to high differential pressure, hydration-dehydration cycles, as well as other stressful conditions. Also, mechanical strength becomes important when the membrane is very thin such as less than 50 microns. Further, when used with fuel cells or battery applications, the membrane sits in a very acidic medium at temperatures that can reach 200° C., in an oxidizing and/or reducing environment due to the presence of metal ions and sometimes the presence of solvents. This environment requires that the membrane be chemically and electrochemically resistant, as well as thermally stable.
Currently, many fluorine-containing membranes can suffer from one or more of the following short comings:                i) high liquid and gas crossover through the membrane;        ii) heterogeneous blending between the fluorinated polymer and other polymers that leads to inferior properties;        iii) insufficient chemical resistance in the presence of some liquid fuels;        iv) poor electrochemical resistance;        v) lack of heterogeneous distribution of sulfonated groups;        vi) poor mechanical properties; and/or        vii) poor thermal stability.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,295,952 to de Nora et al. relates to cationic membranes which have partly sulfonated tripolymers of styrene, divinylbenzene, and at least one of 2-vinylpyridine, 4-vinylpyridine, and/or acrylic acid.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,679,482 to Ehrenberg et al. relates to fuel cells incorporating an ion-conducting membrane having ionic groups. The polymer forming the membrane contains styrene which has been sulfonated using a sulfonation agent. The sulfonation can take place with the monomer or polymer.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,795,668 describes a fuel cell containing a MEA with a reinforced polymeric ion exchange membrane (PEM) using Nafion® type polymers. The PEM is based on a fluorinated porous support layer and a reinforced ion exchange membrane with an equivalent weight of about 500 to 2000 and a preferred ion exchange capacity of from 0.5 to 2 meq/g dry resin. The porous support layer is made of certain PTFE and PTFE copolymers. The membrane is a perfluorinated polymer with side chains containing —CF2CF2SO3H. It is known from the literature that Nafion® type polymers can have mechanical failure in methanol fuel cells as well as problems with liquid crossover.
WO 97/41168 to Rusch relates to a multi-layered ion-exchange composite membrane having ionic exchange resins, such as fluorinated or non-fluorinated polystyrene based sulfonates and sulfonated polytetrafluoroethylenes.
WO 98/20573 A1 describes a fuel cell containing a highly fluorinated lithium ion exchange polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM). The PEM is based on an ion exchange membrane which is imbibed with an aprotic solvent.
WO 98/22989 describes a polymeric membrane containing polystyrene sulfonic acid and poly(vinylidene fluoride), which provides reduced methanol crossover in direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) use. However, the polymer blending process described does not provide an acceptable blend and the sulfonation steps are complicated.
Holmberg et al., (J. Material Chem. 1996, 6(8), 1309) describes the preparation of proton conducting membranes by irradiation grafting of styrene onto PVDF films, followed by sulfonation with chlorosulfonic acid. In the present invention, a sulfonation step is not required since the sulfonated group can be incorporated using a sulfonated monomer.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,252,000 relates to a blend of fluorinated ion exchange/non-functional polymers. Specific examples include perfluorinated sulfonyl fluoride polymer/poly(CTFE-co-perfluorodioxolane) blends.
WO 99/67304 relates to an aromatic perfluorinated ionomer prepared by the copolymerization of sulfonated aromatic perfluorinated monomer with acrylic monomers. The sulfonated group that is present is in the fluorinated aromatic chain of the polymer.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,025,092 relates to a perfluorinated ionomer wherein a VDF monomer is polymerized with a sulfonated monomer.
Moore et al., (J. Membrane Sci., 1992, 75, 7) describes a procedure for preparing a melt-processable form of perfluorosulfonate ionomers utilizing bulky tetrabutyl ammonium counterions as internal plasticizers to yield the desired melt-flow properties.
Boucher-Sharma et al., (J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 1999, 74, 47), describes the application of pervaporation of aqueous butenol solutions using a thin film composite composed of PVDF coated with a sulfonated poly(2,6-dimethyl-1,4-phenylene oxide)polymer. The polymer is then ion exchanged with quaternary ammonium cations having aliphatic substituents of varying chain lengths.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,011,074 relates to use of quaternary ammonium cations to enhance the ion-exchange properties of perfluorosulfonated ionomers.
Berezina et al. (Russian J. Electrochemistry, 2002, 38(8), 903), describes the effect of tetraalkyl ammonium salts on the transport and structural parameters of perfloronated membranes including Nafion®-117 and MF4SK. They observe that specific adsorption of organic ions makes the water clusters of the polymers disintegrate and the elasticity of side segments diminish thereby significantly decreasing the proton conductivity of the polymer films.
Pasternac et al., (J. Polym. Sci., A: Polym. Chem., 1991, 29(6), 915) relates to the application of pervaporative membranes for C2-C4 alkanes, and demonstrates that when Nafion®-117 is treated with tetraalkyl ammonium bromides, the separation factor increases with increasing counterion organic chain length.
Smith et al. in European Patent No. 143,605 A2 describes a process where the membrane is cation exchanged with tetraalkyl ammonium ions and expanded by dry stretching to yield a membrane useful for electrolysis.
Feldheim et al., (J. Polym. Sci., B: Polym. Physics, 1993, 31(8), 953) shows a strong dependence of Nafion® thermal stability on the nature of the counterion. Metal salts and alkyl ammonium salts were studied. The thermal stability of the membrane is shown to improve as the size of the counterion decreases. This inverse relationship of thermal stability with counterion size is attributed to an initial decomposition reaction which is strongly influenced by the strength of the sulfonate-counterion interaction.
The neutralization of Nafion® by tetrabutyl ammonium hydroxide was further studied in various publications by Moore et al. See, for example, Polymer Chemistry, 1992, 31(1), 1212; Polymer Chemistry, 1995, 36(2), 374, J. Polym. Sci. B: Polym. Physics, 1995, 33(7), 1065, and Macromolecules, 2000, 33, 6031.
Furthermore, sulfonated acrylic or sulfonated vinylic polymers are described for use in superabsorbents, diapers, and contact lenses, for instance. (See J. Mater. Chem., 1996, 6(a), 1309 and Ionics, 1997, 3, 214.) However, such types of products have not been described for application as membranes for polyelectrolyte membranes and the like. All patents, publications, and applications mentioned above and throughout this application are incorporated by reference in their entirety and form a part of the present application.
Thus, there is a need to overcome one or more of these limits and to develop a membrane that can be used for applications in fuel cells, such as liquid fuel cells. More particularly, there is a need to develop a polyelectrolyte to make membranes directly from aqueous or non-aqueous dispersions or solutions. Also, there is a need to provide compositions and methods of synthesis as well as methods of using water or non-aqueous dispersions of polyelectrolyte having sulfonated or other functionalities. Further, there is a need to provide a method that is easier and environmentally friendly. In addition, those skilled in the art would prefer a polyelectrolyte membrane having a higher chemical resistance and mechanical strength.


The present invention is drawn to a method for removing colloidal titanium dioxide and titanium oxychloride from by-product hydrochloric acid. The method includes adding phosphate ion source and quaternary amine to the by-product acid to cause the titanium dioxide and the titanium oxychloride to form a precipitate. The precipitate can then be separated from the acid, thus producing a decontaminated hydrochloric acid product with reduced levels of titanium.

Certain processes for producing titanium dioxide generally rely on the use of chlorine, hydrochloric acid or sulfuric acid. As such, a waste stream of by-product hydrochloric acid or by-product sulfuric acid is produced. A by-product hydrochloric acid contains a variety of contaminants including colloidal silica, colloidal titanium dioxide, titanium oxychloride, and lesser amounts of other trace and heavy metal impurities. Currently, there is approximately 105,959,800 gallons (523,000 short tons) of by-product hydrochloric acid produced annually in the United States and Canada alone. Typically, this by-product acid is disposed of as waste due to the great amounts of contaminants preventing further use of the by-product acid.
An example process for manufacturing titanium dioxide consists of heating an ilmenite ore or a rutile titanium oxide containing sand ore, and coke to a controlled roasting temperature of approximately 1000° C. A stream or current of chlorine gas is passed into the heated carbon ore, at which point titanium tetrachloride, silicon tetrachloride, iron chloride, cadmium chloride and other trace inorganic chloride gases are formed. The lower volatile inorganic chloride gases with any of the other unreacted beginning materials are removed by condensation. The titanium tetrachloride and a very small fraction of some of the lower volatile compounds are oxidized with oxygen at 1400° C. to 1600° C. to form SiO2 and crystals of rutile TiO2 (the desired titanium dioxide) product of a required size. The titanium dioxide crystals are removed in the vapor phase, and the remaining vapors are quenched with water. The quenching produces by-product hydrochloric acid that contains contaminants of titanium dioxide, titanium oxychloride, silica and small amounts of acid soluble chlorides, e.g. iron chloride.
These contaminants generally prohibit the re-use of the hydrochloric acid in other processes. For example, the concentration levels of contaminants such as silica and titanium dioxide in the hydrochloric acid stream render the acid unusable for most steel pickling processes and chemical manufacturing processes. Instead, the acid streams are disposed as waste, stored indefinitely, and/or possibly subjected to a variety of reclamation processes that can be time-intensive and costly. Often, the waste streams are neutralized, such as with caustic soda or hydrated lime, to form a brine solution for disposal.

Removal of contaminants from by-product acids


A die coater for applying a material to a web is provided including a die for applying the material to the web in an application region; and a plurality of interconnected rolls selectably positionable in the application region to serve as a backup roll for the web for the application of the material. In addition, or in the alternative, the die coater includes a plurality of interconnected dies selectably positionable in the application region for applying the material to the web; and a backup roll for the web in the application region, wherein a selected one of said interconnected dies selectably positioned in said application region is adjustable to adjust an angle at which said material is applied to said web through said selected die.

Die coaters for dispersing or otherwise forming a layer of material on a sheet or web are known in the art. For example, die coaters are used often in the production of pressure sensitive materials such as labels. In such case, a die coater is used to apply an adhesive layer on a web of liner material in the construction of the pressure sensitive material. The adhesive can be a liquid adhesive, an emulsion based adhesive, solvent based adhesive, or a solid hot melt adhesive, for example.
In a conventional type of die coater, a web material is run along a backup roll as a die applies a material such as an adhesive on the surface of the web. The die is located adjacent the backup roll and includes a slot through which the material to be applied is extruded. As the material exits the slot, the material is applied to the web which is supported by the backup roll. Typically, die coaters are designed to operate at high speeds on the order of 1000 to 1500 feet of web per minute or even higher.
The width of the web and the type of material which is to be applied to the web can vary from job to job. Typically, the backup roll preferably has a width which is approximately equal to the width of the web. As a result, different width webs require different width backup rolls. Moreover, oftentimes different materials which are to be applied through the die are non-compatible. It is therefore necessary to clean the die thoroughly prior to introducing a different, non-compatible, material into the die.
The task of replacing the backup roll with a backup roll having a different width has required significant down time in the past. The running of the web must be stopped and the labor intensive task of replacing the backup roll must be carried out prior to restarting the web run or beginning a new web run. This typically involves physically removing the original backup roll and replacing it with another backup roll. The web must then be rerouted through the die coater prior to restarting the coating process. This procedure for changing the backup roll can take an hour or more and results in a severe reduction in production efficiency.
Similarly, if it becomes necessary to switch from applying one material through the die to another material which is non-compatible with the original material, it has been necessary in the past to shut down the die coater in order to clean out the die. Again production efficiency suffered as a result. An option in the past has been to remove the original die and to replace it with a clean die for applying the non-compatible material. Unfortunately, this also required that the die coater be shut down for a substantial amount of time. Furthermore, in a die coater the alignment between the backup roll and the die is important to the operation of the apparatus. Thus, the replacement die must be carefully aligned to ensure proper alignment with respect to the backup roll. This results in additional down time to perform the adjustments necessary to ensure such alignment.
The amount of down time associated with changeovers between backup rolls and/or dies in conventional die coaters has become an even more serious problem in view of an increase in the industry in short orders, i.e., short runs of web. This has resulted in a need for more frequent changeovers between roll widths and/or dies.
Often an oven is used to cure the web and adhesive thereon. Nonuniform heating and possibly damage to the web and/or coating can occur if the time in the oven changes, e.g., due to down time while a roll or die is being changed or adjusted. Overcuring during down time can cause the web to become brittle resulting in web breaks and reduced production.
Efforts to eliminate the down time associated with changing rolls and/or dies have included the development of modular based die coater systems. In conventional modular systems, the backup roll remains in a main frame while the die for applying the material is housed in a removable module. Different modules including different dies can be exchanged with one another in the main frame. A drawback with such modular systems is that there still is substantial downtime associated with removing one module from the main frame and inserting another. Furthermore, the modules can weigh on the order of three thousand pounds to five thousand pounds and are difficult to maneuver even in the event the modules are mounted on casters. Also, the repeated removal and insertion of the modules can result in the die becoming misaligned relative to the backup roll.
Other known modular systems have attempted to overcome the misalignment problem by including the backup roll and the die together in a removable module. Again, however, changing the backup roll and die module requires substantial down time. Moreover, it is necessary to cut the web first in order to remove the module, and to splice or refeed either the previous web or a new web through the die coater after the new module has been inserted. It is not possible to avoid having to cut the web when changing modules and simply splice a new web material as is often desired. This system also has the same problems as above in relation to non-uniform heating due to down time.
In view of the aforementioned shortcomings associated with conventional die coaters, it will be appreciated that there is a strong need in the art for a die coater which does not involve substantial down time when changing over between backup rolls and/or dies. In particular, there is a strong need in the art for a universal die coater which changes between different backup rolls and/or different dies rapidly and automatically while preserving the precision alignment therebetween. Moreover, there is a strong need for a die coater which does not require that the web be cut and rerouted through the die coater during a changeover of the dies or rolls or require that the web run be stopped during a changeover.

Die coater and method for applying materials to webs


A variable valve assembly, engine valve control system, and method of operation wherein the valve is hydraulically controlled and includes a valve piston subjected to fluid pressure acting on surfaces at both ends of the valve piston. The cavity at one end of the valve piston is connected to a source of high pressure fluid while the cavity at the other end is connected to a source of high pressure fluid and a source of low pressure fluid, and disconnected from each through action of controlling means such as solenoid valves. The valve assembly includes a damper to limit the velocity of the valve during a portion of the travel of the piston, particularly as the valve head lands on the valve seat.

The enhancement of engine performance attained by being able to vary the acceleration, velocity and travel time of the intake and exhaust valves in an engine is well known and appreciated in the art. However, the technology for providing a straight-forward, relatively inexpensive and highly reliable system has not been forthcoming. Further, increased use and reliance on micro electronic control systems for automotive vehicles and increased confidence in hydraulic as opposed to mechanical systems is now making substantial progress possible. Prior developments in the area of intake and exhaust engine valves are largely dependent upon sophisticated mechanical systems such as mechanically varying phase shift and other aspects of valve timing. Increased use of multiple valve per cylinder engines is also being promoted.
The use or adoption of hydraulically controlled engine valves has been quite slow. Examples of known systems include those as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,915,052; 3,240,191; 3,361,121; 3,534,718; 3,926,159; 3,963,006; and 4,200,067. In some instances, such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,361,121 a poppet valve is biased in a closed position by a mechanical coil spring, and utilizes a hydraulic actuator to bias the valve in the open position. Several of the aforementioned patents also disclose the use of a rotary distributor valve to alternately couple the hydraulic actuator ports of the valves to a source of pressurized fluid, such as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,915,052 and 4,200,067. In certain of the aforementioned patents, it is also shown that the hydraulic fluid system is used to both open and close the engine valve, such feature being shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,915,052 and 3,963,006.
However, none of the aforementioned systems provide a variable engine valve control system offering the simplicity, reliability, flexibility and efficiency believed most desirable for use in the high production, high performance automotive engines being produced today and those that will be required in the near future.
Furthermore, when employing hydraulically controlled valves as opposed to mechanical systems, additional noise may be created due to an increased landing velocity of the valve on the valve seat during the valve closing operation if proper control of the valve landing velocity is not maintained by the valve control system.

Variable engine valve control system with hydraulic damper


Transgenic nonhuman mammals, such as transgenic mice, which lack erythropoietin expression, in which the erythropoietin receptor is deleted, which carry a heterologous erythropoietin receptor (e.g., a chimeric receptor); constructs useful for producing such transgenic nonhuman mammals, embryonic stem cells containing the constructs, a method of producing the transgenic nonhuman mammals and a method of identifying erythropoietin mimics or mimetics.

Erythropoietin (EPO), a 34 kd glycoprotein hormone produced primarily by the kidney, is the principal factor regulating erythropoiesis and plays a key role in stimulating erythrocyte formation in higher organisms. It serves as both mitogen and survival factor which acts on erythroid progenitors, such as erythroid colony-forming units (CFU-E), to promote these cells to proliferate and, possibly, to maturate. EPO is necessary for the replacement of erythrocytes which must occur on an ongoing basis because mature erythrocytes cannot grow or divide and have a limited lifespan. EPO can be used therapeutically for treatment of anemia.
The function of EPO in erythropoiesis is mediated by its cellular receptor (EPOR), a 507 amino acid polypeptide with a single transmembrane domain. Although the EPOR is expressed in a cell type-restricted fashion, i.e., in cells of erythroid lineage, its transcripts have also been etected in non-erythroid cell types such as megakaryocyte, ast cells, umbilical vein endothelial cells and cells with euronal characteristics.
The present invention relates to transgenic nonhuman ammals and their progeny, such as transgenic mice and their progeny, in which expression of erythropoietin is lacking (e.g., deleted); the endogenous (naturally occurring) erythropoietin receptor is deleted; the endogenous erythropoietin receptor is replaced by a heterologous erythropoietin receptor (i.e., one not present in the corresponding nontransgenic or wild type mammal); erythropoietin expression is lacking and the erythropoietin receptor is deleted; or erythropoietin expression is lacking and the erythropoietin receptor is replaced by a heterologous erythropoietin receptor. Transgenic mammals in which EPO expression is lacking or the EPOR is deleted (i.e., transgenic nonhuman animals carrying null mutations in the Epo gene or EpoR gene) are produced by knocking out (deleting or otherwise disabling) the endogenous EPO gene (Epo) or the endogenous EPO receptor gene (EpoR), respectively, using methods described herein and known to those in the field. Transgenic mammals in which the endogenous EPOR is replaced by a heterologous EPOR can carry a chimeric EPOR, such as a human/mouse chimeric EPOR, or an EPOR of another species, such as the human EPOR present in a mouse. Transgenic mammals in which EPO expression is lacking and the EPOR is lacking or is a heterologous EPOR are produced by breeding mice which lack EPO expression (EPO gene knockout mice) with mice in which, respectively, the EPOR is lacking or is a heterologous EPOR. For example, transgenic mice in which EPO expression is lacking and the mouse EPOR (mEPOR) is replaced with the human EPOR (hEPOR) are produced by breeding mice which are EPO gene knockouts with mice carrying the hEPOR gene. The transgenic mice or other nonhuman transgenic mammal can be heterozygous or homozygous for the knockout or deletion.
A further subject of the present invention is mammalian, nonhuman embryonic stem (ES) cells or cell lines in which the EPO gene or the EPOR gene has been knocked out (deleted or otherwise disabled) by the methods described herein and embryonic stem cell lines in which the EPOR gene has been replaced by a gene encoding a heterologous EPOR, which is a chimeric (e.g., human-mouse) EPOR or an EPOR which is not chimeric and is an EPOR from another animal (e.g., a gene encoding the hEPOR replacing the mEPOR).
The present invention also relates to nucleic acid constructs, particularly DNA constructs, useful for producing the transgenic nonhuman mammals, such as transgenic mice, described herein. It also relates to methods of identifying or designing agents or drugs, such as small molecules, which mimic the effects or activity of EPO. In a method of the present invention, a candidate agent is administered, for example, to a transgenic mouse and the effect of the agent on erythropoiesis is assessed. The transgenic mouse can, for example, lack EPO expression and carry a human/mouse chimeric EPOR in which the extracellular domain is the human EPOR extracellular domain, the transmembrane domain is either the mouse or the human EPOR transmembrane domain and the intracellular domain is the mouse EPOR intracellular domain. If, after the candidate agent is administered to the transgenic animal, the animal displays effects associated with administration of EPO (e.g., enhanced erythropoiesis, treatment of anemia), the agent is EPO-like in its effects; such an agent is referred to as an EPO mimic or EPO mimetic. An agent shown to have EPO-like effects in a transgenic animal in which the EPOR extracellular domain is human is particularly desirable because it has a demonstrated effect on the human EPOR. The present invention further relates to EPO mimics or mimetics and their use. Such EPO mimics can be used prophylactically or therapeutically in any context in which EPO can be used (e.g., to prevent or treat anemia, such as the anemia associated with renal failure).

TRANSGENIC MAMMALS LACKING EXPRESSION OF ERYTHROPOIETIN OR OF ERYTHROPOIETIN RECEPTOR, TRANSGENIC MAMMALS EXPRESSING CHIMERIC ERYTHROPOIETIN RECEPTORS, CONSTRUCTS FOR PRODUCING THE TRANSGENIC MAMMALS AND USES THEREFOR

Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research


An antireflective film comprising a transparent substrate and a low refractive index layer formed by coating a low refractive index layer-forming composition, wherein the low refractive index layer-forming composition contains at least one of a hydrolysate of an organosilyl compound represented by the following formula (1) and a partial condensation product of the hydrolysate, and an outermost face of the antireflective film has a centerline surface roughness Ra of from 0.005 to 0.20 μm:R11mSi(X11)n  (1)wherein X11 represents —OH, a halogen atom, —OR12 or —OCOR12 in which R12 represents an alkyl group; R11 represents an alkyl group, an alkenyl group or an aryl group; and m and n are each a positive integer provided that m+n is 4.

An antireflective film is employed in general to lower the refractive index with the use of the optical interference principle so as to prevent a decrease in contrast or image transfer caused by the reflection of outside light in image display units such as a cathode-ray tube (CTR), a plasma display panel (PDP), an electro luminescence display (ELD) and a liquid crystal display (LCD). Various attempts have been made to achieve display performance with lessened glare by, for example, forming an antiglare layer having patterned indented surface so as to scatter reflected light, or employing particles having a refractive index different from a binder so as to diffuse light inside an image display unit and enlarge the viewing angle.
Since image display units are to be used over a long time under various environments, they should be highly durable. In the case where the refractive index is lowered with the use of optical interference, there arises a problem that deterioration in the optical interference layer would cause worsening in the effect of lowering the refractive index. Moreover, nonuniform deterioration in an optical thin film results in surface irregularities thereby causing noticeable defects. Since an antireflective film is to be employed as the outermost face, it is expected that such an antireflective film also serves as a protective film of an image display unit. That is, it should be highly resistant to the sticking of dust and debris and have excellent scratch resistance.
As a protective film having excellent scratch resistance, it has been known to use a sol-gel film of hydrolytic condensation product an alkoxysilane. For example, JP-A-10-728 discloses an antireflective film of the three-layered optical interference type, JP-A-63-21601 discloses a method of lowering refractive index by forming a sol-gel film on a plastic substrate, JP-A-8-211202 discloses a sol-gel film containing an alkoxysilane and inorganic fine particles having a low refractive index, JP-A-2002-275403 discloses a sol-gel film of an organosilyl compound containing ethylenically unsaturated group, JP-A-2002-277604 discloses the combination of a sol-gel film with an antifouling layer, and JP-A-2002-265866 discloses a low refractive index coating agent comprising a fluorinated organosilane.
Although sol-gel films generally have favorable initial strength, they suffer from such problems as being fragile and frequently fouled. Moreover, they are insufficient in the durability under storage conditions with, in particular, a high humidity or wide temperature swings or in an ozone-containing atmosphere and, therefore, it has been required to overcome these problems. Although the antifouling properties can be improved by using a fluorinated organosilyl compound together, there arise some troubles in this case, for example, lowering in film strength, increase in electrostatic charge or serious sticking of dust and debris.

Antireflective film, polarizing plate including the same, image display unit including the same and method for producing antireflective film


A card (12) is inserted by pushing against a rubber roller (44) at the leading end of the card (12). The action of the rubber roller (44) pivots an actuation lever (24) to actuate a switch (36), which, in turn, starts a motor (16). The card (12) is moved inwardly by the rotation of the rubber roller (44) thereby pushing the card against support legs (62) causing a pinion (58) to engage with a rack (56) mounted on a card holder (48). The card holder (48) then holds the card (12) and is driven by the pinion (58) causing hook portions (84a, 84b) of pushing arms (72a, 72b) to engage the trailing edge (12b) of the card (12) thereby connecting the card (12) with contact pins (22) of an electrical connector (20) by pushing the card at its trailing edge.

Generally, it is conventional to load (insert) and unload (eject) a card in a personal computer or the like by manual means. In the case of loading a card in a connector, a user uses fingers to push a card 41 into a connector 42 for making electrical connection as shown in FIG. 4. On the other hand, in the case of unloading the card 41, an ejection lever 43 is depressed in the direction of an arrow, which in turn pushes one end 46 of an ejection arm 45 by an end portion 44 of the ejection lever 43, which in turn causes the ejection arm 45 to pivot clockwise about a shaft 47. A projection 49 at the other end 48 of the ejection arm 45 abuts against an insertion edge 50 of the card 41, thereby pushing it in the direction to eject the card 41 from the connector 42 as shown by a double-chain line.
Unfortunately, however, such a conventional manual loading/unloading mechanism has a security problem because even a card containing data of confidential nature can be freely ejected by simply actuating the ejection lever by anybody and at any time. Also, the ejection may be effected while the computer is accessing the card, thereby destroying the data in the card and the computer. Additionally, the card loading stroke is large and there requires a relatively large insertion force to the connector. In other words, relatively poor feeling to the operator to indicate when the card is fully inserted or loaded along with a possible biased force to the card tends to accompany an unduly strong force to be applied to the card, which may break or damage the card. It is therefore a feature of the present invention to provide a unit capable of loading and unloading a card reliably and smoothly by electrical power.
EP-A-0,232,115 discloses an electrically powered loading/unloading unit including a feed roller and a card holder with a rack. The roller and rack are operated by a rotary driving means energized by a separate sensor. WO 94/27343 discloses the use of a solenoid to operate a locking means to secure a card in a manually operated loading/unloading unit.


A fully integrated small size implantable sensing device is described, which can include a sensor and an electronic circuit to interface with the sensor and communicate with an external device. Various fabrication methods for the sensing device are described, including provision of wells, created using same fabrication technology as the electronic circuit, to contain electrodes of the sensor and corresponding functionalization chemicals. Such implantable sensing device can be used for a variety of electrochemical measuring applications within a living body as well as actuation by injecting a current into the living body.

The measurement of biological indicators is of interest for a variety of medical disorders. Various systems have been developed to measure biological indicators from within the living body of various animals (e.g. mammals) via an implantable device.
Existing implantable devices have the potential to create high local temperatures inside the living body. Often power provided from external sources results in an increase in local temperature around the implantable device. Often transmission of information from the implantable device results in an increase in local temperature around the implantable device. The living body, however, cannot tolerate high internal temperatures. High internal temperatures often lead to tissue death [e.g. reference 5, herein incorporated by reference in its entirety].
Another issue facing implantable devices is the formation of a foreign body capsule in the tissue of the living body around the implantable device. Fibrogen and other proteins bind to the device surface shortly after implantation in a process known as biofouling. Macrophages bind to the receptors on these proteins releasing growth factor β and other inflammatory cytokines. Procollagen is synthesized and becomes crosslinked after secretion into the extracellular space gradually contributing to formation of a dense fibrous foreign body capsule. The dense capsule prevents the implantable device from interfacing with the living body and thereby often hinders the operation of the implantable device [e.g. reference 6, herein incorporated by reference in its entirety].
These issues have been addressed to some extent by a miniaturized implantable electrochemical sensor device disclosed in afore mentioned related U.S. application Ser. No. 14/174,827, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. However, such miniaturized implantable electrochemical sensor is not fully integrated (e.g. monolithically integrated) as some of its elements are glued onto the device.
In particular, fully wireless implants are being considered as the future of health care system. These implants can improve the health care system in many aspects. The ultra-small scale design of these devices promises many advantages compared to their macro counterparts. This size scale is perceived to minimize the foreign body response to an implant. It would also enable easy implantation and explantation procedures. Finally, such implants can minimize the permanent risk of infection and irritation associated with wired systems currently being used, such as transcutaneous continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) systems. In many situations, CGM system being a relevant example, a remotely powered implanted sensor can monitor levels of signals of interest and transmit data to an external receiver avoiding risks associated with such wired implants. To allow for reliable power delivery as well as minimizing foreign body response, both the sensor's size and power dissipation can be minimized. The smallest reported system up to now occupies approximately 8×4×1 mm3 [e.g. reference 2, herein incorporated by reference in its entirety]. A wirelessly powered contact lens based CGM sensor has also been reported that consumes about 3 μW [e.g. reference 3, herein incorporated by reference in its entirety]. It follows that the present disclosure provides methods and devices which can be used to fabricate miniature size implantable devices for applications related to measurement of body fluids and which are not limited to measurement in a specific environment and can be used for a broad range of applications.

Fabrication of implantable fully integrated electrochemical sensors


A crankshaft structure includes a crank pin section, a crank journal section, and a counter weight section arranged between the crank pin section and the crank journal section in a direction of a crankshaft. A crank arm section connecting the crank pin section and the crank journal section is formed with each of lateral edge portions extending substantially along a circumscribed tangential line connecting a base of the crank pin section and a base of the crank journal section when viewed in the direction of the crankshaft. Each of the lateral edge portions of the crank arm section includes an edge groove having a length extending between a central axis of the crank pin section and a central axis of the crank journal section when viewed in a direction to cross the crankshaft. The edge groove has a groove bottom portion formed between two reinforcing ribs.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a crankshaft structure which is reduced in weight.
2. Description of Related Art
A crankshaft structure in which a crank arm holding a crank pin section is formed with cutouts at both lateral edge portions thereof on each of the crank pin section side and a crank journal section side so as to be reduced in weight is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. H04-262147, for instance. However, further weight reduction of a crankshaft while increasing strength and rigidity of the crankshaft is required.


A silicone composition comprising (A) an organopolysiloxane having at least one lower alkenyl group in a molecule, (B) an organohydrogenpolysiloxane having at least two SiH groups in a molecule, (C) a platinum catalyst, and (D) at least one compound selected from among indoline, 1,2,3-triazole, 1,2,4-triazole, imidazole, indazole, benzoxazole, 2-hydroxybenzoxazole, 5-benzyloxyindole, 1,2-benzisoxazole, 2,1-benzisoxazole, and 1,3-benzodioxole cures effectively into a transparent rubbery or gel product having flame retardance.

A number of techniques are known in the art for rendering flame retardant addition curing silicone rubber compositions which cure into elastomers. The most basic technique is the addition of platinum compounds to organopolysiloxanes. The addition of benzotriazole, hydrazine or the like is also known effective for improving flame retardance. Fumed titanium oxide, cerium oxide, cerium hydroxide, iron oxide and carbon powder are also ascertained to be effective. All the silicone rubber compositions to which these compounds are added are also filled with reinforcing inorganic fillers such as fumed silica and ground quartz.
Among transparent materials based on organopolysiloxane, it is known to use silicone gel as a filler in members associated with optical equipment, as a protective material for hybrid integrated circuits used in electric and electronic parts for automobiles, and as a protective sealant for commercial power modules. Flame retardance is required in these applications as well. Flame retardance is developed by the addition of amine compounds as disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 2,864,944 corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 5,516,838 or by the addition of phosphorus compounds as disclosed in JP-A 8-231858.
For more efficient working on the user side and from the characteristics of IC chips to be protected, silicone compositions are recently required to be curable at lower temperatures than in the prior art and ven at room temperature, and be formulated as one package. However, compositions using amine compounds as disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 2,864,944 are very difficult to cure at low temperatures and even at room temperature while maintaining flame retardance.


The present invention is a vertical wind tunnel amusement device. The device comprises a flight chamber wherein a user may experience a freefall through the atmosphere from the safety of an enclosed flight chamber. Airflow sufficient to fully support a user within the flight chamber is induced by a plurality of fans connected above the flight chamber through a duct. A staging area having openings to the flight chamber is adjacent to the flight chamber. A user may enter or retreat from the flight chamber at will through the staging area openings without significantly adjusting the airflow velocity in the flight chamber. A control room is adjacent to the fight chamber whereby an operator may observe a user or users within the flight chamber and thereby safely control the operation of the fans. A projection room is also adjacent to the flight chamber whereby a video of a skydiving experience may be displayed to a user within the flight chamber. A telemetry backpack may be worn by a user or users in the flight chamber so the user can interact with or choose the scenes being projected on the flight chamber.

Wind tunnels are well known in the art. Wind tunnels are available in many types and styles depending upon the needs of the user. These include subsonic wind tunnels with and without return flow, transonic wind tunnels with and without return flow, vertical subsonic wind tunnels with and without return flow, supersonic and hypersonic wind tunnels with and without return flow, and compressible flow wind tunnels.
The majority of the wind tunnels are used for research and testing purposes. These include testing of conventional aircraft, helicopters, parachutes and other aerodynamic devices, wing surfaces, control surfaces, submarines, rockets and other launch vehicles, ground vehicles, buildings and other basic flow investigations.
The wind tunnels are generally owned by major defense oriented corporations, the Federal government, or educational institutions and universities. Although vertical wind tunnels are available for use by persons for various types of atmospheric freefall training, these wind tunnels are also generally controlled by the foregoing institutions for use only by authorized personnel. As a result, access to the wind tunnels is limited at best. These wind tunnels are not generally designed nor intended to be used by persons for the purpose of enjoyment or for learning to skydive. Consequently, none of these wind tunnels are used for general amusement purposes. None of these wind tunnels are available for use by essentially untrained people or by those with limited instruction. None of these wind tunnels are available to the public for use as an amusement ride. Further, the design of these prior art wind tunnels are not "user-friendly" for the purposes of use and enjoyment by users such as those who frequent amusement parks and the rides they offer. The prior art wind tunnels do not offer any means of enhancing the ride experience such as with a concurrent/interactive video presentation, nor do they offer a means of airflow control adopted to meet the needs of an operator providing thrill rides to the public.
Representative of the art is:
U.S. Pat. No. 2,486,287 to Jackson discloses an adjustable nozzle of a supersonic wind tunnel having fixed and moveable walls.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,560,634 to Colley discloses a Venturi tube having means for varying the throat area while the venturi is being used.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,788,020 to Davie discloses a linkage for effecting adjustment of a wind tunnel nozzle having moveable, flexible walls.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,799,161 to Greene et al. discloses trisonic wind tunnel having facilities for testing in subsonic, transonic, and supersonic speed ranges.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,933,922 to Davis discloses flexible nozzles for wind tunnels.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,308,748 to Jacocks discloses a wind tunnel having adjustable slats allowing close matching of the streamlines within the wind tunnel.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,487,410 to Sassak discloses an amusement apparatus comprising a spherical passenger holding body, and a vertical tube having a diameter sufficient to receive the body in a vertical path of motion.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,046,358 to Wulf et al. discloses a deformable plastic wall for use in a wind tunnel.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,417,615 to Beard discloses an air driven amusement ride which propels a passenger vehicle upward along a guide cable out of an acceleration tube by a blast of pressurized air within the tube under the vehicle.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,452,609 to Bouis discloses a wind tunnel having a plurality of wall surrounding a test section. The walls have a plurality of longitudinal slots, each channel created thereby having a flexible bottom.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,655,909 to Kitchen et al, discloses a skydiving trainer wind tunnel having a vertical air chamber with a video projection system on an interior wall.
University of Maryland, Glenn L. Martin Wind Tunnel Brochure.
Calspan Report No. WTO-300; 8-Foot Transonic Wind Tunnel; Calspan Corporation, Buffalo, N.Y.
Compressible Flow Wind Tunnel; Lockheed Aeronautical Systems Company, Marietta, Ga.
AGARD Memorandum; Advisory Group for Aeronautical Research and Development, Paris France, 1954.
Guide for Planning Investigations in the Ames 40- by 80-ft Wind Tunnel; NASA Ames Research Center; Moffett Field, Calif., 1984.
What is needed is a vertical wind tunnel amusement ride having a flight chamber on the inlet side of the fans for improved airflow control and stability. What is needed is a vertical wind tunnel amusement ride having an adjacent staging area. What is needed is a vertical wind tunnel amusement device having a plurality of fans. What is needed is a vertical wind tunnel amusement ride having a single pass non-return airflow. What is needed is a vertical wind tunnel amusement device having transparent windows looking into the flight chamber. What is needed is a vertical wind tunnel amusement device having transparent windows looking into the staging area. What is needed is a vertical wind tunnel amusement device having return air ducts with dampers to control the temperature of the airflow. The present invention meets these needs.

Abstract: In alternate embodiment, return air ducts are used to return air from each fan to the wind tunnel inlet. Dampers are included on each return air duct thereby allowing the temperature of the airflow in the wind tunnel to be adjusted for user comfort.


A device-implemented method of data communications in a communications network is provided. A particular node which has data information to send is granted a turn when an incoming request signal is in an "off" state. An empty frame is captured and a frame of data information is sent in a downstream direction on the communication network when the particular node is granted a turn. An outgoing request signal is set in an "off" state when the empty frame is captured. The outgoing request signal is set in an "on" state when the empty frame is not captured and a turn has been granted. The outgoing request signal is set in an "on" state when the incoming request signal is in an "on" state and an incoming frame is not empty. The outgoing request signal preferably is sent in an upstream direction on the communication network where the upstream direction is different from the downstream direction on the communication network. A data communication network node and a communication network, which operate in accordance with the above-described method, also are provided.

As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, communication networks and their operations can be described according to the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model which includes seven layers including an application, presentation, session, transport, network, link, and physical layer. The OSI model was developed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and is described in "The Basics Book of OSI and Network Management" by Motorola Codex from Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc., 1993 (First Printing September 1992).
Each layer of the OSI model performs a specific data communications task, a service to and for the layer that precedes it (e.g., the network layer provides a service for the transport layer). The process can be likened to placing a letter in a series of envelopes before it's sent through the postal system. Each succeeding envelope adds another layer of processing or overhead information necessary to process the transaction. Together, all the envelopes help make sure the letter gets to the right address and that the message received is identical to the message sent. Once the entire package is received at its destination, the envelopes are opened one by one until the letter itself emerges exactly as written.
In a data communication transaction, however, each end user is unaware of the envelopes, which perform their functions transparently. For example, an automatic back teller transaction can be tracked through the multilayer OSI system. One multiple layer system (Open System A) provides an application layer that is an interface to a person attempting a transaction, while the other multiple layer system (Open System B) provides an application layer that interfaces with applications software in a bank's host computer. The corresponding layers in Open Systems A and B are called peer layers and communicate through peer protocols. These peer protocols provide communication support for a user's application, performing transaction related tasks such as debiting an account, dispensing currency, or crediting an account.
Actual data flow between the two open systems (Open System A and Open System B), however, is from top to bottom in one open system (Open System A, the source), across the communications line, and then from bottom to top in the other open system (Open System B, the destination). Each time that user application data passes downward from one layer to the next layer in the same system more processing information is added. When that information is removed and processed by the peer layer in the other system, it causes various tasks (error correction, flow control, etc.) to be performed.
The ISO has specifically defined all seven layers, which are summarized below in the order in which the data actually flows as they leave the source:
Layer 7, the application layer, provides for a user application (such as getting money from an automatic bank teller machine) to interface with the OSI application layer. That OSI application layer has a corresponding peer layer in the other open system, the bank's host computer. PA1 Layer 6, the presentation layer, makes sure the user information (a request for $50 in cash to be debited from your checking account) is in a format (i.e., syntax or sequence of ones and zeros) the destination open system can understand. PA1 Layer 5, the session layer, provides synchronization control of data between the open systems (i.e., makes sure the bit configurations that pass through layer 5 at the source are the same as those that pass through layer 5 at the destination). PA1 Layer 4, the transport layer, ensures that an end-to-end connection has been established between the two open systems and is often reliable (i.e., layer 4 at the destination "confirms the request for a connection," so to speak, that it has received from layer 4 at the source). PA1 Layer 3, the network layer, provides routing and relaying of data through the network (among other things, at layer 3 on the outbound side an "address" gets slapped on the "envelope" which is then read by layer 3 at the destination). PA1 Layer 2, the data link layer, includes flow control of data as messages pass down through this layer in one open system and up through the peer layer in the other open system. PA1 Layer 1, the physical interface layer, includes the ways in which data communications equipment is connected mechanically and electrically, and the means by which the data moves across those physical connections from layer 1 at the source to layer 1 at the destination.
The particular focus of the following discussion is on media access control (MAC) for communication networks which is performed in the OSI network and data link layers. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various applications and components operating in the other OSI layers may be interchangeably used with the particular MAC described below so long as these applications and components adhere to the OSI design structures. For example, many different OSI physical layer components (e.g., a parallel bus, a serial bus, or a time-slotted channel) can be used in conjunction with the same MAC so long as each of the OSI physical layer components passes the particular information required by OSI design parameters to the OSI data link layer.
One particular type of communication network is the ring network. Ring nets use a series of point-to-point cables, either twisted pair or coaxial, connected between consecutive stations. The interfaces (i.e., nodes) connected to the ring nets are active (i.e., not passive like carrier sense networks).
A major issue in the design and analysis of ring nets is the "physical length" of a bit. If the data rate of the ring is R Mega bits per second (Mbps), a bit is emitted every 1/R microseconds (.mu.sec). Bits are transmitted serially, just as with the Ethernet. With a typical signal propagation speed of 200 meters/.mu.sec, each bit occupies 200/R meters on the ring. This means, for example, that a 1 Mbps ring whose circumference is 1000 meters can contain only 5 bits on it at once. The implications of the number of bits on the ring will become clearer later.
In all rings there is a need for the conceptual equivalent of a master clock telling each station to read one input bit and write one output bit. This master clock typically is implemented as clock signal line having encoded 0 bits as a positive pulse followed by a negative pulse, and encoded 1 bits as a negative pulse followed by a positive pulse (or vice versa). This way an idle ring still has a well defined bit pattern on it (all zeros), and timing is provided by the leading edges of the data bits themselves, without the use of a master clock.
The oldest and most popular kind of ring net is a token ring. In this kind of ring a special bit pattern, called the token, circulates around the ring whenever all stations are idle. Typically, the token will be a special 8-bit pattern, for example, 11111111. Bit stuffing is used to prevent this pattern from occurring in the data.
When a station wants to transmit a packet, it is required to seize the token and remove it from the ring before transmitting. To remove the token, the ring interface, which connects the station to the ring, must monitor all bits that pass by. As the last bit of the token passes by, the ring interface inverts it, changing the token (e.g., 11111111) into another bit pattern, known as a connector (e.g., 11111110). Immediately after the token has been so transformed, the station making the transformation is permitted to begin transmitting.
This organization has several important implications for the ring design. To start with, after reading all but the last bit of a (potential) token, the interface must be able to read the last bit and decide whether or not to invert it before forwarding any part of the bit. If the preceding bit pattern is a token, the final bit must be inverted. However, if the final bit shows that the bit pattern is not a token, that is, it is just some data, the final bit must not be inverted. This requirement means that each arriving bit must be stored in its entirety, and then a new bit generated, thereby creating a 1-bit delay in each ring interface. If there are many stations on the ring, the cumulative effect of these 1-bit delays has an important impact on the performance of the ring.
Another implication of the token ring design is that the ring itself must have a sufficient delay to contain a complete token to circulate when all stations are idle. The delay has two components: the 1-bit delay introduced by each station, and the signal propagation delay. In almost all rings, the designers must assume that stations may be powered down at various times, especially at night. If the interfaces are powered from the ring, shutting down the station has no effect on the interface, but if the interfaces are powered externally, they must be designed to connect the input to the output when power goes down, thus removing the 1-bit delay. The point here is that on a short ring an artificial delay may have to be inserted into the ring at night to ensure that a token can be contained on it.
Ring interfaces have two operating modes, listen and transmit. In listen mode, the input bits are simply copied to output, with a delay of one bit time. In transmit mode, which is entered only after the token has been seized, the interface breaks the connection between input and output, entering its own data onto the ring. To be able to switch from listen to transmit mode in 1 bit time, the interface usually needs to buffer one or more packets itself rather than having to fetch them from the station on such short notice.
As bits that have propagated around the ring come back, they are removed from the ring by the sender. The sending station can either save them, to compare with the original data to monitor ring reliability, or discard them. This ring architecture puts no limit on the size of the packets, because the entire packet never appears on the ring at one instant. After a station has finished transmitting the last bit of its packet, it must regenerate the token. When the last bit of the packet has gone around and come back, it must be removed, and the interface must switch back into listen mode immediately, to avoid removing the token or connector that follows.
It is straightforward to handle acknowledgments on a token ring. The packet format need only include a 1-bit field for acknowledgments, initially zero. When the destination station has received a packet, it need only invert the bit. Of course, if the acknowledgment means that the checksum has been verified, the bit must follow the checksum, and the ring interface must be able to verify the checksum as soon as its last bit has arrived. When a packet is broadcast to multiple stations, a more complicated acknowledgment mechanism must be used (if any is used at all).
When traffic is light, the token will spend most of its time idly circulating around the ring. Occasionally a station will convert it to a connector, followed by a packet and then a new token. However, when the traffic is heavy, so that there is a queue at each station, as soon as a station finishes its transmission and regenerates the token, the next station downstream will see and remove the token. In this manner the permission to send rotates smoothly around the ring, in round-robin fashion. Since there is only one token, there is never any contention as in the Ethernet. Higher level protocols decide whether a station must regenerate the token after one packet, or whether it may empty its entire queue first.
Although the token ring and Ethernet differ in many details, they also have many things in common. Since they use similar technologies, they can operate at similar data rates. In both cases stations must first acquire the channel before transmitting, with channel acquisition done by waiting for the token in one case and by contention in the other. Both systems have a channel efficiency determined by this wait time and transmission time. As the data rate is dramatically increased, say by using a fiber-optics medium, both networks' channel efficiency drops toward zero, because the channel-acquisition time in both cases depends on signal propagation speed, and this is not affected by increasing the data rate. Because the propagation time enters into the channel-acquisition time, both networks suffer from increased cable length, Ethernets due to increased contention slot size and token rings due to increased walk time. Under conditions of heavy load the ring operates as a round-robin, as do most of the Ethernet protocols, although the Ethernet protocols must be quite sophisticated to achieve this effect, whereas it happens automatically on the ring.
As long as 100% of the hardware and software functions flawlessly, the token ring works fine. However, if the token is ever accidentally lost, the system is in deep trouble. The traditional approach to solving the missing-token problem is to have each interface start a timer immediately prior to its searching for a token. The timer must be set to the worst case, namely all N=1 other stations have a maximum length packet to transmit. If the timer goes off, the interface knows that there has been a mishap, so it puts a token onto the ring and hopes for the best. Unfortunately, two or more interfaces may put tokens onto the ring at the same time, making the problem even worse.
The regeneration of lost tokens is essentially the same arbitration problem as channel allocation in the Ethernet. Another kind of ring net, called a contention ring, utilizes a contention mechanism, required for token recovery, to eliminate the channel-acquisition delay when the load is light.
Unlike the token ring, which contains a circulating token when there is no traffic, the contention ring contains nothing at all when there is no traffic. In this respect it is like the Ethernet. When a station has a packet to transmit, it checks to see if a bit is currently passing through its interface. If there is not traffic, it just starts transmission. At the end of its packet, it puts a token onto the ring, just as the token ring does. However, unlike the token ring, it also removes the token when the packet comes around again.
Now consider how a station behaves when it notices traffic on the ring at the time it wants to send. It just waits for the token, and as in the token ring, inverts the last bit, thus converting it to a connector. Directly following the connector it begins transmitting its own packet. Since the token is now missing, no other station can seize it, so there is no contention. Once the ring is completely full of bits (e.g., when the load is high), no station will ever transmit unless it has acquired the token. Consequently, under conditions of high load, the contention ring acts just like a token ring.
If exactly one station decides to begin transmitting onto an idle ring, then one station puts data onto the ring and the same station removes it. However, trouble occurs when two stations simultaneously decide to transmit onto an idle ring. In this case, the data that each station absorbs is the data the other station put onto the ring. Depending on the positions of the two stations, the packet may well be removed before it gets to the destination, hardly an acceptable situation. Fortunately each station can recognize that what it is receiving is not what it sent, especially if packets begin with the sender's address. When a station detects that such a collision has occurred, it terminates its transmission but keeps on absorbing data until there is no more. Eventually, the ring becomes quiet again, both stations wait random amounts of time, and the contention begins anew.
In summary, the contention ring has low channel-acquisition delay when it is lightly loaded, and the properties of the token ring when it is heavily loaded, the price paid being the occurrence of contention even when the hardware is functioning properly. Another point is the inability of a station to know whether or not it has acquired the channel until its first few bits have passed all the way around, been absorbed, and analyzed. In contrast, a token ring station knows immediately when it has captured the token, and an Ethernet station knows whether it has been successful within one round-trip propagation time of the Ethernet due to the 1-bit delays in each station, so the contention ring has the longest channel-acquisition time of the three systems. A plus point for the contention ring over the Ethernet is that it uses only digital logic. It detects collisions by looking at bit patterns, not by analyzing analog waveforms as the Ethernet does.
Each of the previous rings normally operates with one packet on the ring. The next two rings normally operate with multiple packets on the ring. The first of these is the slotted ring, so-called because it is slotted into a number of fixed-size packets. Unless the physical distance around the ring is very large or there are many stations, it is unlikely that there will be enough delay to hold several packets, so artificial delays are needed. These can be obtained easily by putting shift registers in the ring interfaces. Instead of the 1-bit delay as in the other ring nets, there are multiple-bit delays.
Each packet slot contains a bit that tells whether the slot is full or empty. When a station wishes to transit, it simply waits for an empty slot to come around, marks it as full, and puts its data in the slot. Of course, packets must be small enough to fit in a packet slot, in contrast to the token and contention rings, both of which support packets of arbitrarily large size.
The last kind of ring, the register insertion ring, is a more sophisticated version of the slotted ring. The interface contains two registers, a shift register and an output buffer. When a station has a packet to transmit, it loads the packet into the output buffer. Packets may be variable length, up to the size of the output buffer.
When the ring is started up, the input pointer points to the rightmost bit position in the shift register, meaning that all the bit slots including and to the left of where it is pointing are empty. When a bit arrives from the ring, it is placed at the position pointed to by the input pointer, and the pointer is moved 1 bit to the left. As soon as the address field of the packet has arrived, the interface can determine whether or not the packet is addressed to it. If so, the rest of the packet is diverted to the station, removing the packet from the ring. The input pointer is then reset to the extreme right.
If, however, the packet is not addressed to the location station, the interface begins forwarding it. As each new bit arrives, it is put in the place pointed to by the input pointer. The entire contents of the shift register is then shifted right one position, pushing the rightmost bit out onto the ring. The input pointer is not advanced. If no new input arrives, for example due to an interpacket gap, the contents of the shift register can be reduced by 1 bit and the input pointer moved right one position.
Whenever the shift register has pushed out the last bit of a packet, it checks to see if (1) there is an output packet waiting, and (2) the number of empty slots in the shift register is at least as large as the output packet. Only if both conditions are met can output proceed, in which case the output switch is flipped and the output buffer is now shifted out of the ring, 1 bit at a time, in synchronization with the input. New input is accumulated in the shift register, which is why there must be enough empty slots there to accommodate all the input while the output buffer is being emptied. Not all the slots may be needed, since an interpacket gap may arrive during output, but the interface must be prepared for the worst case. As soon as the output buffer has been emptied, the switch is flipped again, and the shift register is emptied (if it has anything in it).
An interesting property of this ring architecture is the way it prevents a station from monopolizing the ring. If the ring is idle, the shift register will be empty when an output packet has been finished, so the next output packet can be sent as soon as it can be loaded into the output buffer by the station. In effect, if the ring is idle, any station can have the entire bandwidth it so desires. If the ring is busy, however, after sending a packet the station will not be allowed to send another one because there will usually be insufficient empty slots in the shift register. Only when enough interpacket gaps have been saved up can output occur again. In essence, to send a b-bit packet, the interface must accumulate b bits worth of empty space on the ring in which to insert the packet. The b bits need not be consecutive, however, because the interpacket gaps are accumulated in the left-hand portion of the shift register.
Slotted rings are particularly suitable for high speed local area networks (LANs) and may work in some wide area network (WAN) environments.
One particular slotted ring is an Orwell ring. The Orwell ring has the most efficient access protocol of all the slotted rings due to the destination release of the slots.
The basic access mechanism (AM) (i.e., the basic MAC protocol) of Orwell consists of having a ring partitioned into equal length slots. Slots circulate around the ring and can be empty or full. A full slot is occupied by a mini-packet (i.e., a MAC protocol data unit (PDU)). Stations (nodes) are actively coupled to the ring. They repeat or modify the slots. An empty slot may be filled by a mini-packet, if there is one. A full slot circulating around the ring, reaches the destination station which reads it and passes it on to a higher OSI layer. Each station is capable of using every empty slot that arrives and of reading every slot destined to itself.
There are two classes of basic slotted ring AMs depending on which station empties a full slot; the source station, or the destination station. After emptying the slot there are two possibilities: the slot can be used by the station that empties it, or it must be passed to the next downstream station.
Orwell implements the following basic AM. The destination station releases a slot that was full and the next downstream station may use it. More than one slot at a time can be carrying mini-packets from the same source.
The Orwell MAC protocol recognizes two service classes: class 1 for delay sensitive services, requiring a guaranteed bandwidth, e.g., synchronous traffic, and class 2 for the delay tolerant services, e.g., asynchronous data. Access is organized in intervals. Each station on the ring has a counter indicating the number of packets allowed to be sent during the interval. This way load control is provided.
Another ring network, called a Cambridge ring, maximizes the timing tolerance and minimizes the delay at the source and destination. In the Cambridge ring, the leading bit is always a one and is followed by a one and is followed by a bit to indicate whether the slot is full or empty. A control bit follows that is used by the monitor station (node) to mark as empty packets which are circulating indefinitely due to an error in the full/empty bit. This is followed by 4 eight bit bytes the first two of which are used for destination and source addresses and the last two for data. Finally there are two control bits used for acknowledgment purposes and a parity bit used for ring maintenance.
When a station (node) has a packet ready for transmission in its shift register it waits until the beginning of the next slot. It now reads the full/empty bit and at the same time writes a one at the output. If the full/empty bit was a zero it transmits the packet, if however the full/empty bit was a one the slot is already occupied and the algorithm is repeated for the next packet. This scheme minimizes the delay at each node.
The transmitted packet makes its way to the destination where the control bits are set on the fly to indicate accepted, busy, or rejected. It now returns to the source where the slot is marked empty. If the packet returns with the control bits unchanged it was not recognized by any destination. Each station knows the total number of slots in the ring and can thus clear the full/empty bit immediately.
Thus, on transmission, the packet is delayed until an empty slot is found but then the transmission is rapid. This is in contrast to the register insertion scheme where the delay around the ring can be large but the initial delay before the register is inserted is small. As the destination does not explicitly signal when it is ready to receive the next packet, the ring can easily become clogged with packets returning marked busy when devices with varying speed characteristics are being interconnected. In order to overcome this, the following algorithm is incorporated in the hardware to reduce the number of busies. If a source transmits a packet and it returns marked busy, then it is not allowed to retransmit it until some time later. This additional delay is dependent on ring loading and is approximately the time to acquire the next empty slot. If any further retransmissions are attempted, the extra delay is increased to about 16 times the original delay. Thus, the number of busies is decreased and performance is improved.
Each station possesses a station select register which is initialized by the host. This register can be set to accept or to reject all packets, or to receive from one source only. When combined with a time out mechanism it can be used to allocate resources on the ring.
A need exists for a MAC protocol of a slotted ring that is ideally suited for broadband communication networks. These networks require a high throughput data bus that can handle traffic loads that are both uniformly and geometrically distributed on the network. These broadband networks (e.g., high speed packet switching, real time video compression, real time multimedia coding, and real time security algorithm processing) have transfer rates approaching 1 gigabyte per second and as such require new solutions to remove processing bottlenecks. Since, the processing power of current processors is limited, many of these tasks need to be parallelized to multiple processors. Thus, a better MAC protocol and system for using the protocol are needed which are both efficient and cost-effective and can be used as an interconnection network for high speed multiprocessor applications.
The present invention provides a solution to these and other problems, and offers other advantages over the prior art.

Frame synchronized ring system and method


An adaptive tuning circuit to maximize the output signal amplitude of a band-pass amplifier, comprising a control circuit to tune the peak frequency of the amplifier by monitoring the change in the output signal amplitude over two successive time sampling intervals. In some embodiments, the control circuit comprises an envelope detector and a switched capacitor circuit to provide voltages indicative of the difference in the output signal amplitude over two successive time intervals. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Band-pass amplifiers are used in a wide variety of electronic systems. In particular, inductor-load amplifiers may be used to receive and amplify narrow band clock signals in high-speed serial input-output communication links. It is desirable for the peak of the response of the amplifier to match the center frequency of the narrow band clock signal. However, the peak of the response may depend upon the inductance of the inductor-load, as well as the capacitance of capacitors connected in parallel with the inductor-load. Accordingly, once a band-pass amplifier has been fabricated in an integrated circuit process technology, it would be useful to provide a control circuit to adaptively tune the band-pass amplifier when used in a system, so as to match the center frequency of a received narrow band clock signal.

Adaptive tuning circuit to maximize output signal amplitude for an amplifier


Disclosed are a solar cell module and a method of fabricating the same. The solar cell module includes a support substrate, solar cells at an upper portion of the support substrate, bus bars electrically connected to the solar cells, a junction box connected to the bus bars, and an upper substrate at an upper portion of the solar cells. The junction box is formed therein with pad electrodes connected to the bus bars.

Recently, as the lack of an energy resource such as petroleum or coal is expected, the interest in the substitute energy has been more increased. In this regard, a solar cell converting solar energy into electrical energy is spotlighted.
A solar cell (or photovoltaic cell) is a core element in solar power generation to directly convert solar light into electricity.
For example, if the solar light having energy greater than band-gap energy of a semi-conductor is incident into a solar cell having the PN junction structure of a semi-conductor, electron-hole pairs are generated. As electrons and holes are collected into an N layer and a P layer, respectively, due to the electric field formed in a PN junction part, photovoltage is generated between the N and P layers. In this case, if a load is connected to electrodes provided at both ends of the solar cell, current flows through the solar cell.
The current generated from the solar cell is connected to a junction box through a bus bar. In general, in order to connect the bus bar formed on the top surface of a solar cell panel to the junction box, holes having positive and negative polarities are formed in a solar cell substrate. In order to form the holes, an additional process is required for the substrate, and the number of the processes may be increased. In addition, the solar cell substrate may be damaged due to the cracks between the holes.

Solar cell module and method of fabricating the same


The disclosure pertains to a scratch effect controller for use by a disk jockey, wherein at least one electromagnet creates the slippage tension or friction effect between the user manipulated disc, which includes a vinyl-like surface thereby simulating a vinyl record, and the rotatable or fixed platter. The strength of the electromagnet is variable so as to create a variable slippage tension or friction effect.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to a device for use by a disk jockey, wherein electromagnets create the variable slippage tension or friction effect between the user manipulated vinyl-like surface (simulating a vinyl record) and the platter, which may be rotatable or fixed.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Disk jockeys (DJs) traditionally entertain their audiences by manipulating the speed and direction of a vinyl record used on phonographic turntables to produce various effects including the well known "scratch effect". The turntable has been replaced by CD players that have jog wheels in the form of a turntable like platters that can be turned by the DJ to produce the scratch effect and simulate other characteristics of manipulating a vinyl record on a traditional phonographic turntable.
An improvement on this is to rotate the platter by means of a motor and to provide a separate vinyl-like surface that the user manipulates. Between the motorized platter and vinyl-like surface is a slip disc made of plastic or felt. As the DJ moves the vinyl record-like surface, the slip disc allows the user to move the record independently of the rotating platter. U.S. Pat. No. 6,985,418 entitled "Optical Disk Reproducing Apparatus" to Hori teaches a device that includes an optical disc player, a user manipulated surface and driven rotating surface where there is some type of encoding mechanism to detect the speed and direction of both the user surface and the rotating surface.
The next evolution beyond the moving platter CD player for DJs is the moving platter computer interface control surface. Many DJs desire to use a phonographic turntable-like control surface to manipulate music on their computer. U.S. Pat. No. 6,541,690 entitled "Scratch Effect Controller" to Segers, for example, teaches such a device that manipulates an audio stream on a personal computer using a device that includes a rotating platter, a user manipulated surface (encoder disc), and a slip disc.
One problem with this combination of motorized platter and vinyl-like surface is cost. It is desirable to have a CD player with some of the characteristics of the vinyl-like surface and motorized platter without the platter being motorized.
Another problem not addressed by any of the prior art is the fact that each user may have a different preference as to the feel of the slippage between the vinyl-like record and the rotating platter. On a traditional phonographic turntable, the user may choose from different various slip discs made from a variety of different materials. This does not always produce the most desirable results. All of the above motorized and non-motorized CD players and DJ control surfaces have a similar limitation.

Variable slippage control for a disc jockey control surface


A compound represented by Formula 1 below and an organic light-emitting device including the compound are provided:

Field
One or more embodiments relate to a compound for organic light-emitting devices, and an organic light-emitting device including the compound.
Description of the Related Technology
Organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs), which are self-emitting devices, have advantages such as wide viewing angles, excellent contrast, quick response, high brightness, excellent driving voltage characteristics, and can provide multicolored images.
A typical OLED has a structure including a substrate, and an anode, a hole transport layer (HTL), an emission layer (EML), an electron transport layer (ETL), and a cathode which are sequentially stacked on the substrate. In this regard, the HTL, the EML, and the ETL are organic thin films formed of organic compounds.
An operating principle of an OLED having the above-described structure is as follows.
When a voltage is applied between the anode and the cathode, holes injected from the anode move to the EML via the HTL, and electrons injected from the cathode move to the EML via the ETL. The holes and electrons recombine in the EML to generate excitons. When the excitons drop from an excited state to a ground state, light is emitted.
Conventional light-emitting devices using an organic unimolecular material for an electron transport layer have a short lifetime, poor storage durability, and low reliability. These drawbacks are caused from physical, chemical, photochemical, or electrochemical changes of the organic material, and oxidation, delamination, and poor durability of the anode.

Compound with electron injection and/or electron transport capabilities and organic light-emitting device including the same

Abstract: Substituents in Formula 1 are the same as defined in the specification.