The present invention pertains to pharmaceutical formulations and systems for delivery of active agents, wherein a first fraction of an active agent is suspended in a vehicle and a second fraction of active agent is solubilized in the vehicle, with the suspended fraction representing about 5 wt. % to about 80 wt. % of the active agent and the second fraction representing about 20 wt. % to about 95 wt. % of the active agent. One or more additional active agents, which may be fully solubilized, partially solubilized, or suspended, may also be present. The first and second fractions of the active agent may or may not have different release profiles. Generally, a significant fraction of the solubilized drug will release rapidly, providing for rapid onset, while the suspended drug may be formulated for delayed and/or sustained release.

Those working in the fields of pharmaceutical formulation and drug delivery continue to be limited by a number of difficulties presented by different active agents. It has proved particularly problematic to provide therapeutically effective formulations for administration of drugs exhibiting low bioavailability and absorption. A well-designed formulation must, at a minimum, be capable of presenting a therapeutically effective amount of the active agent to the desired absorption site, in an absorbable form. Even this minimal functionality can be difficult to achieve, however, e.g., when delivery of a hydrophobic active agent requires interaction with aqueous physiological environments, such as gastric fluids and intestinal fluids.
A number of approaches to formulating active agents having low aqueous solubility are known. One well-known approach uses surfactant micelles to solubilize and transport the therapeutic agent. Micelles are agglomerates of colloidal dimensions formed by amphiphilic compounds under certain conditions. Micelles, and pharmaceutical compositions containing micelles, have been extensively studied and are described in detail in the literature; see, e.g., Remington: The Science and Practice of Pharmacy, Nineteenth Ed. (Easton, Pa.: Mack Publishing Company, 1995). In aqueous solution, micelles can incorporate hydrophobic therapeutic agents in the hydrocarbon core of the micelle, or entangled at various positions within the micelle walls. Although micellar formulations can solubilize a variety of hydrophobic therapeutic agents, the loading capacity of conventional micelle formulations is limited by the solubility of the therapeutic agent in the micelle surfactant. For many therapeutic agents, such solubility is too low to offer formulations that can deliver therapeutically effective doses.
Another conventional approach takes advantage of the increased solubility of hydrophobic therapeutic agents in lipids, particularly oils, i.e., triglycerides. However, traditional lipid-based formulations are generally limited by a low drug loading capacity, which in turn precludes delivery of a therapeutically effective amount of an active agent in a single unit dosage form, a significant drawback in terms of patient compliance. For example, the administration of vitamins typically requires multiple dosage units, as does the administration of a number of pharmacologically active agents (e.g., ritonavir and various other antiviral agents). Furthermore, the properties of oil-based formulations are determined by such factors as the size of the triglyceride/therapeutic agent colloidal particles and the presence or absence of surfactant additives. Although triglyceride-based pharmaceutical compositions are useful in solubilizing and delivering some hydrophobic therapeutic agents, such compositions are subject to a number of significant limitations and disadvantages. Emulsions are thermodynamically unstable, and colloidal emulsion particles will spontaneously agglomerate, eventually leading to complete phase separation. The tendency to agglomerate and phase separate presents problems of storage and handling, and increases the likelihood that pharmaceutical emulsions initially properly prepared will be in a less optimal, less effective, and poorly-characterized state upon ultimate administration to a patient. Uncharacterized degradation is particularly disadvantageous, since increased particle size slows the rate of transport of the colloidal particle and digestion of the oil component, and hence the rate and extent of absorption of the therapeutic agent. These problems lead to poorly-characterized and potentially harmful changes in the effective dosage received by the patient. Moreover, changes in colloidal emulsion particle size are also believed to render absorption more sensitive to and dependent upon conditions in the gastrointestinal tract, such as pH, enzyme activity, bile components, and stomach contents. Such uncertainty in the rate and extent of ultimate absorption of the therapeutic agent severely compromises the medical professional's ability to safely administer therapeutically effective dosages. A further disadvantage of triglyceride-containing compositions is the dependence of therapeutic agent absorption on the rate and extent of lipolysis. Although colloidal emulsion particles can transport hydrophobic therapeutic agents through the aqueous environment of the gastrointestinal tract, ultimately the triglyceride must be digested and the therapeutic agent must be released in order to be absorbed through the intestinal mucosa. The triglyceride carrier is emulsified by bile salts and hydrolyzed, primarily by pancreatic lipase. The rate and extent of lipolysis, however, are dependent upon several factors that are difficult to adequately control.
Hydrophilic active agents, however, also present formulation problems, and although readily dissolved in the gastrointestinal environment, simple dissolution is not sufficient to provide efficient bioabsorption of the therapeutic agent. Barriers to absorption are presented by the mucous layer, the intestinal epithelial cell membrane, and the junctional structure such as tight junctions between the epithelial cells. Due to the presence of the negatively charged mucosal layer, significant electrostatic binding or repulsion of charged molecules can be encountered. The epithelial cell membranes are composed of phospholipid bilayers in which proteins are embedded via the hydrophobic segments. These bilayers at the apical and/or basolateral cell surface represent very strong barriers for transport of hydrophilic substances, including peptides and proteins. Frequently, hydrophilic therapeutic agents are also subject to enzymatic attack and are degraded before they can be presented to the absorption site.
Much effort has been expended to develop methods of overcoming these absorption barriers, in order to enhance the bioavailability of hydrophilic active agents. For example, the enzymatic barrier can be attacked by administering enzyme inhibitors to prevent or at least lessen the extent of presystemic degradation in the gastrointestinal tract (see, e.g., Bernkop-Schnurch (1998), "The use of inhibitory agents to overcome the enzymatic barrier to perorally administered therapeutic peptides and proteins," Journal of Controlled Release 52:1-16). Other efforts have focused on, for example, the use of absorption promoters to enhance epithelial permeability (e.g., LeCluyse and Sutton (1997), "In vitro models for selection of development candidates. Permeability studies to define mechanisms of absorption enhancement," Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews 23:163-183). However, the effectiveness of absorption enhancers such as permeability enhancers or enzyme inhibitors depends upon the ability of a pharmaceutical carrier to effectively present the absorption enhancers and the hydrophilic therapeutic agent to the absorption site, and prior efforts have not provided carriers which can do so efficiently. Moreover, maintaining effective carrier concentrations at the epithelium is not easily controlled in vivo. Too little carrier, or carrier concentrations only briefly maintained, may be ineffective. Too much carrier, or carrier concentrations maintained for too long, may result in compromised safety.
Traditional pharmaceutical suspensions of drugs are primarily composed of an aqueous continuous phase with little or no solubilized fraction. However, there are a few nonaqueous compositions on the market, e.g., Prometrium® (Solvay), an encapsulated formulation of micronized progesterone for oral administration, Accutane® (Roche), an encapsulated formulation of isotretinoin (cis-retinoic acid, indicated for treatment of severe nodular acne), also for oral administration, and Depo Provera® (Pharmacia), an injectable medroxyprogesterone acetate suspension. These nonaqueous dispersions have a very small fraction of drug in the dissolved state, typically far less than 10% of the total drug in the formulation. Moreover, because these traditional compositions lack any therapeutically significant solubilized fraction of drug, they are incapable of either enhancing the rate and extent of absorption or rapidly providing a therapeutically effective blood level of drug. For many types of drugs, these are significant limitations.
Current sustained release dosage forms provide a longer duration of action; however, their therapeutic utility is limited by the failure to provide any rapid onset, in turn a result of slow dissolution, low solubility, and the lack of any significant fraction of predissolved drug. For many therapeutic indications, such as pain, there is a need for both rapid onset of action and a longer duration of action.
With fundamental limitations presenting such enormous challenges for those attempting to formulate effective drug delivery systems, more complex formulation aspects have largely been ignored. For example, it would be highly desirable to provide a drug delivery system that not only provides for enhanced bioavailability and absorption of an active agent, but also exhibits long-term chemical and physical stability, and that, furthermore, may be readily tailored during manufacture to provide any of a number of unique drug release profiles, e.g., immediate release combined with delayed and/or sustained release, pulsatile release, targeted release, and the like.

Pharmaceutical formulations and systems for improved absorption and multistage release of active agents


A new and distinct cultivar of Dahlia plant named ‘Dapasuje’ characterized by its dark red and orange-bicolored flowers, medium green-colored foliage, good basal branching character, and moderately vigorous, upright growth habit.

The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Dahlia plant botanically known as Dahlia variabilis and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name 'Dapasuje'.
The new cultivar originated in a controlled breeding program in Rijsenhout, the Netherlands during May 2000. The objective of the breeding program was the development of freely flowering Dahlia cultivars with large flowers and a moderately vigorous growth habit.
The new cultivar is a naturally occurring sport of Figaro™ Orange Shades, an unprotected seed propagated variety, characterized by its orange-colored flowers, medium green-colored foliage, and moderately vigorous, upright growth habit. The new cultivar was discovered and selected by the inventor on May 1, 2000 in a controlled environment at Rijsenhout, the Netherlands.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by terminal stem cuttings since May 2000 at Rijsenhout, the Netherlands and West Chicago, Ill. has demonstrated that the new cultivar reproduces true to type with all characteristics, as herein described, firmly fixed and retained through successive generations of such asexual propagation.


A motion device for a virtual reality interaction includes a core, a running belt carried by the core and a frame. The running belt is configured to wrap the core and capable of sliding on the outer surface of the core. The running belt includes a number of running belt units. A surface of each running belt unit facing the core is provided with a number of grooves, and each groove of each running belt unit is connected with a corresponding groove of an adjacent running belt unit through an elastic strap. The frame is located at a periphery of the running belt and is configured to carry the running belt and the core. A number of first balls are arranged between the frame and the running belt.

Virtual reality technology is a kind of computer simulation technology that can create and experience a virtual world. By generating an interactive three-dimensional dynamic visual scene with a computer, users can immerse themselves in a virtual environment and dual experience of hearing and touch can be realized.
At present, when a virtual reality motion device realizes interaction between virtuality and reality through motions of lower limbs of a user, the user's experience through the mode of realizing the interaction between the virtuality and the reality is very poor due to limited motion range of the lower limbs of the user. Currently, virtual reality motion devices capable of realizing omni-directional motion experiences are generally complex in structure and poor in practical operability.

Motion device for virtual reality interaction and virtual reality system

BEIJING BOE DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.

BEIJING BOE TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT CO., LTD.


The present invention provides a contents managing system, a contents managing methods, and a program are provided, by which a communication fee required to distribute such contents which will not be probably utilized is reduced when contents are distributed via a network. An image owner performs a user registration with respect to an image managing server 2 by employing an image owner terminal. After the user registration, an image purchaser makes an order of an image with reference to a trial image produced by the image owner terminal. The image owner as to this ordered image uploads actual image data to the image managing server, whereas the image purchaser downloads the actual image data which is uploaded.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a contents managing system, a contents managing method, which manage data of contents, while having a purpose to distribute contents, and also related to a program for executing the contents managing method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Very recently, since data communication speeds of the Internet are largely increased, such data as images, moving pictures, and music can be downloaded without giving stress to users. As a result, contents services capable of selling and/or distributing the above-explained data on Web sites are gradually increased.
For instance, in conventional image sales services, images are sold in accordance with the following method. That is, when an image purchaser (image buyer) selects a desirable image on such a Web site that trial images such as images having lower resolution than that of actual images can be viewed, actual image data of this selected desirable trial image is distributed via the Internet and the like to this image purchaser. In these conventional image sales services, the trial images are produced from the actual images on the distribution side of the image data. As a consequence, image supply sources upload the actual image data of the image to be marketed to a server provided on the image data distributing side.
While all of these images which have been uploaded to the server provided on the image distributing side are not always purchased, there are some images which are not purchased at all. However, as to such images, the actual image data thereof should be uploaded to the server provided on the image distributing side in the conventional image sales services. As a result, there is a problem that an extra communication fee is required, since this extra communication fee is used to upload the actual image data of the images which are not actually purchased.

Contents managing system, contents managing method, and program


An interlock connection is provided for use in conjunction with a high voltage electrical system. The interlock connection includes a male portion, a resilient member, and a female portion adapted to receive the male portion therein. The female portion includes an access hole through which the resilient member is accessible when the male portion is received in the female portion. The resilient member is coupled to the male portion and configured to engage the female portion to prevent disconnection of the male portion from the female portion until the resilient member is deformed.

Hybrid, electric, and fuel cell vehicles generally employ a high voltage electrical system, which includes at least one high voltage power source, such as a battery, a fuel cell, a generator, or the like. Before a person (e.g., a technician) may make physical contact with a current-carrying component of the electrical system (e.g., the interlock connection terminals), the high voltage power source should be disconnected and any localized electrical energy discharged. For this reason, the high voltage electrical system may employ a high voltage interlock (HVIL) control circuit that initiates discharge (or disconnection) of the power source when attempted access to the interlock connection terminals is detected.
After an HVIL control circuit has initiated discharge of the high voltage power source, a few seconds may elapse before the high voltage power source is sufficiently discharged. It thus becomes desirable to equip a high voltage electrical system with at least one mechanical barrier (referred to herein as a time-delay feature) that prevents a technician from accessing the interlock connection terminals until discharge is complete. For example, one high voltage connection system employs a threaded fastener, which secures an access cover to a high voltage device. The threaded fastener is covered by a shroud, which is electrically coupled to an HVIL control circuit. To disconnect the threaded fastener and remove the access cover, a technician first moves the shroud to an open position. This is detected by the HVIL control circuit, which initiates disconnection and discharge of the high voltage power source. A few seconds elapse as the technician removes the threaded fastener thereby permitting the power source time to discharge to an acceptable level before the access cover is removed.
Although high voltage connection systems employing conventional time-delay features are generally effective, they are still limited in certain respects. For example, high voltage connection systems of the type described above (i.e., systems employing a threaded fastener to secure an access cover) do not require reinstallation of the fastener to reconnect the high voltage interlock connection. As a result, a technician may not reinstall the threaded fastener after servicing, which may render the time-delay feature ineffective when the high voltage terminals are again accessed at a later time.
It should thus be appreciated that it would be desirable to provide a high voltage connection system employing a time-delay feature that prevents access to the interlock connection terminals until the high voltage power source is substantially discharged. It would further be desirable if such a high voltage connection system required reinstallation of the time-delay feature to reconnect the interlock connection. Other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.


A communication terminal includes: a power supply unit: a sensor: a wireless communication unit that transmits a detected value detected by the sensor to an external device in a wireless manner; and a control unit that sets one of a first mode and a second mode as an operation mode of the communication terminal, acquires the detected value detected by the sensor, and controls electric current to be supplied from the power supply unit, the electric current to be supplied to part of the control unit and the wireless communication unit in the second mode being made lower than in the first mode, wherein, when a difference between a present detected value detected by the sensor and a previous detected value detected by the sensor is smaller than a threshold value, the control unit sets the second mode as the operation mode of the communication terminal.

Attention is being drawn these days to the use of beacon terminals that utilize the Bluetooth (registered trademark) Low Energy wireless technology in sensing impacts at times of machine management or shipment at factories, and in acquiring environmental data outdoors. For example, a beacon terminal is installed in a factory, and acquires temperature or acceleration data. The data is transmitted to a central unit such as a smartphone or a tablet terminal. The central unit analyzes the data, and notifies the user of the result of the analysis.
There is also a known wheel condition acquiring device that includes: a first sensor unit that includes a first sensor that senses the condition of a wheel, and is in an operation mode that is a normal mode or a sleep mode; and a second sensor unit that includes a second sensor that senses the condition of a different wheel from the wheel to be sensed by the first sensor, and switches operation modes of the first sensor unit in accordance with the wheel condition sensed by the second sensor (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-298147, for example).
Further, there is a known wireless tag that minimizes the intervals of tag information transmission in a case where the acceleration detected by an acceleration sensor is equal to or higher than a threshold value, and widens the intervals of tag information transmission in a stepwise manner in a case where the acceleration detected by the acceleration sensor is lower than the threshold value (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2013-114345, for example).


An exposure apparatus of a semiconductor device may include an exposure light source; an asymmetric adjustment filter for asymmetrically adjusting intensity of a light which passes through the exposure light source; a photomask for passing the light of which intensity is adjusted by the asymmetric adjustment filter; a projection lens for projecting the light passing through the photomask; and a wafer stage for mounting a wafer on which an image is formed by the light from the projection lens.

The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and, more particularly, to an exposure apparatus.
A photolithography process uses a photomask with different patters to form patterns on a wafer. The photolithography process projects the patterns formed on the photomask onto a photoresist film deposited over the wafer by using an exposure apparatus. A development process is then applied to the photoresist film to form photoresist patterns on the wafer.
However, when the wafer is exposed during the photolithography process, light intensity which directly comes from an exposure light source can be different from light intensity projected on the wafer after the light passes through the photomask. For example, although the distribution of light intensity is uniform before the light emitted from the exposure light source passes through the photomask, the projected light intensity passing through the photomask is not uniform because of various optical phenomena of light passing through the photomask. Since the uniformity of light intensity is different at different positions of the photomask, line widths (CD) of the patterns formed on the wafer can be differently formed.
Also, the uniformity of the line widths of the patterns formed on the photomask affects the uniformity of circuit patterns formed on the wafer. Thus, the uniformity of the patterns of the photomask is very important. For example, if an exposure process of the wafer is performed by using the photomask having a low pattern uniformity, the intra-field uniformity of the wafer can also be lowered by such a low pattern uniformity of the photomask. Particularly, if the line widths of the patterns within the wafer field are asymmetrically non-uniform due to the pattern uniformity of the photomask and the uniformity of an exposure slit, a problem occurs in that a non-uniformity of the line widths of the wafer patterns cannot be corrected by the current exposure apparatus. Accordingly, studies of the line width correction of the wafer patterns have been conducted in case that the line widths of the patterns within the wafer field are asymmetrically non-uniform.

Exposure apparatus capable of asymmetrically adjusting light intensity


An apparatus includes a memory and a controller. The memory includes a plurality of memory devices. Each memory device has a plurality of page types. The plurality of page types are classified based on error rate variations. The controller may be configured to write user data and error-correction data to the memory. The user data and the error-correction data are organized as a super-page. The super-page includes a plurality of sub-pages. The plurality of sub-pages are written across the plurality of memory devices such that the plurality of sub-pages are stored using more than one of the plurality of page types.

As NAND flash memory continues to be scaled down, reliability of flash memory continues to decrease. Conventional RAID (redundant array of independent drives)-like technology selects a page of the same page number in a number of memory blocks from different dies to form a super-page (S-page). Part of the S-page is user data and part of the S-page structure is parity data, which is calculated from the user-data to protect the user data. By leveraging error rate variations of different dies, the worst die can be largely protected if the whole physical flash page on the worst die fails to be corrected. A potential problem with the conventional technique is that the physical flash pages taken from different dies to form the S-page are in the same relative location inside the respective blocks. Because the "sub-pages" of a conventional S-page are in the same location inside the respective blocks, the physical layout architecture is the same and programming order is also the same. Thus, the error rate of different sub-pages in different dies can still have some correlations. In particular, the sub-pages may suffer from the same program interference and the same circuit level noise due to the same design layout architecture. For example, error rates for border pages, even/odd pages, and least significant bit/most significant bit (LSB/MSB) pages are different, which could cause the codeword failure rate to be different.
It would be desirable to have a method and/or apparatus for distributing user data and error correction data over different page types by leveraging error rate variations.

Method to distribute user data and error correction data over different page types by leveraging error rate variations


Each instruction thread in a SMT processor is associated with a software assigned base input processing priority. Unless some predefined event or circumstance occurs with an instruction being processed or to be processed, the base input processing priorities of the respective threads are used to determine the interleave frequency between the threads according to some instruction interleave rule. However, upon the occurrence of some predefined event or circumstance in the processor related to a particular instruction thread, the base input processing priority of one or more instruction threads is adjusted to produce one more adjusted priority values. The instruction interleave rule is then enforced according to the adjusted priority value or values together with any base input processing priority values that have not been subject to adjustment.

A number of techniques are used to improve the speed at which data processors execute software programs. These techniques include increasing the processor clock speed, using cache memory, and using predictive branching. Increasing the processor clock speed allows a processor to perform relatively more operations in any given period of time. Cache memory is positioned in close proximity to the processor and operates at higher speeds than main memory, thus reducing the time needed for a processor to access data and instructions. Predictive branching allows a processor to execute certain instructions based on a prediction about the results of an earlier instruction, thus obviating the need to wait for the actual results and thereby improving processing speed.
Some processors also employ pipelined instruction execution to enhance system performance. In pipelined instruction execution, processing tasks are broken down into a number of pipeline steps or stages. Pipelining may increase processing speed by allowing subsequent instructions to begin processing before previously issued instructions have finished a particular process. The processor does not need to wait for one instruction to be fully processed before beginning to process the next instruction in the sequence.
Processors that employ pipelined processing may include a number of different pipeline stages which are devoted to different activities in the processor. For example, a processor may process sequential instructions in a fetch stage, decode/dispatch stage, issue stage, execution stage, finish stage, and completion stage. Each of these individual stages may employ its own set of pipeline stages to accomplish the desired processing tasks.
Multi-thread instruction processing is an additional technique that may be used in conjunction with pipelining to increase processing speed. Multi-thread instruction processing involves dividing a set of program instructions into two or more distinct groups or threads of instructions. This multi-threading technique allows instructions from one thread to be processed through a pipeline while another thread may be unable to be processed for some reason. This avoids the situation encountered in single threaded instruction processing in which all instructions are held up while a particular instruction cannot be executed, such as, for example, in a cache miss situation where data required to execute a particular instruction is not immediately available. Data processors capable of processing multiple instruction threads are often referred to as simultaneous multithreading (SMT) processors.
It should be noted at this point that there is a distinction between the way the software community uses the term "multithreading" and the way the term "multithreading" is used in the computer architecture community. The software community uses the term "multithreading" to refer to a single task subdivided into multiple, related threads. In computer architecture, the term "multithreading" refers to threads that may be independent of each other. The term "multithreading" is used in this document in the same sense employed by the computer architecture community.
To facilitate multithreading, the instructions from the different threads are interleaved in some fashion at some point in the overall processor pipeline. There are generally two different techniques for interleaving instructions for processing in a SMT processor. One technique involves interleaving the threads based on some long latency event, such as a cache miss that produces a delay in processing one thread. In this technique all of the processor resources are devoted to a single thread until processing of that thread is delayed by some long latency event. Upon the occurrence of the long latency event, the processor quickly switches to another thread and advances that thread until some long latency event occurs for that thread or until the circumstance that stalled the other thread is resolved.
The other general technique for interleaving instructions from multiple instruction threads in a SMT processor involves interleaving instructions on a cycle-by-cycle basis according to some interleaving rule (also sometimes referred to herein as an interleave rule). A simple cycle-by-cycle interleaving technique may simply interleave instructions from the different threads on a one-to-one basis. For example, a two-thread SMT processor may take an instruction from a first thread in a first clock cycle, an instruction from a second thread in a second clock cycle, another instruction from the first thread in a third clock cycle and so forth, back and forth between the two instruction threads. A more complex cycle-by-cycle interleaving technique may involve using software instructions to assign a priority to each instruction thread and then interleaving instructions from the different threads to enforce some rule based upon the relative thread priorities. For example, if one thread in a two-thread SMT processor is assigned a higher priority than the other thread, a simple interleaving rule may require that twice as many instructions from the higher priority thread be included in the interleaved stream as compared to instructions from the lower priority thread.
A more complex cycle-by-cycle interleaving rule in current use assigns each thread a priority from "1" to "7" and places an instruction from the lower priority thread into the interleaved stream of instructions based on the function 1/(2|X−Y|+1), where X=the software assigned priority of a first thread, and Y=the software assigned priority of a second thread. In the case where two threads have equal priority, for example, X=3 and Y=3, the function produces a ratio of ½, and an instruction from each of the two threads will be included in the interleaved instruction stream once out of every two clock cycles. If the thread priorities differ by 2, for example, X=2 and Y=4, then the function produces a ratio of ⅛, and an instruction from the lower priority thread will be included in the interleaved instruction stream once out of every eight clock cycles.
Using a priority rule to choose how often to include instructions from particular threads is generally intended to ensure that processor resources are allotted based on the software assigned priority of each thread. There are, however, situations in which relying on purely software assigned thread priorities may not result in an optimum allotment of processor resources. In particular, software assigned thread priorities cannot take into account processor events, such as a cache miss, for example, that may affect the ability of a particular thread of instructions to advance through a processor pipeline. Thus, the occurrence of some event in the processor may completely or at least partially defeat the goal of assigning processor resources efficiently between different instruction threads in a multi-thread processor.
For example, a priority of 5 may be assigned by software to a first instruction thread in a two thread system, while a priority of 2 may be assigned by software to a second instruction thread. Using the priority rule 1/(2|X−Y|+1) described above, these software assigned priorities would dictate that an instruction from the lower priority thread would be interleaved into the interleaved instruction stream only once every sixteen clock cycles, while instructions from the higher priority instruction thread would be interleaved fifteen out of every sixteen clock cycles. If an instruction from the higher priority instruction thread experiences a cache miss, the priority rule would still dictate that fifteen out of every sixteen instructions comprise instructions from the higher priority instruction thread, even though the occurrence of the cache miss could effectively stall the execution of the respective instruction thread until the data for the instruction becomes available.

Apparatus and method for adjusting instruction thread priority in a multi-thread processor

International Business Machines Corporation


A refrigeration apparatus includes a refrigerant circuit with a compressor, a power module, a refrigerant cooler in contact with the power module, and an IPM motor which drives the compressor. A refrigerant in the refrigerant circuit flows through the refrigerant cooler, and cooling of the power module is performed by dissipating heat to the refrigerant flowing in the refrigerant cooler. A controller in the refrigeration apparatus outputs a driving signal to a drive circuit to reduce the number of switching operations of switching elements by performing overmodulation control such that there exists a carrier cycle in which no switching is performed.

A refrigeration apparatus which performs a vapor compression refrigeration cycle by circulating a refrigerant includes an electric circuit, such as an inverter circuit, to control an operation state of an electric motor of a compressor. In general, a power element which generates high heat is used as the inverter circuit. Thus, a means for cooling the power element is provided to prevent the power element from generating heat higher than an operable temperature of the power element (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
Patent Document 1 discloses a refrigerant cooler through which a refrigerant flowing between the expansion valve of the refrigerant circuit and the outdoor side heat exchanger flows. The refrigerant cooler is brought into contact with a power element to cool the power element by the refrigerant flowing in the refrigerant cooler.


A shaping material for a powder bed fusion method, including a powder of a fluororesin, wherein the fluororesin has a D50 of 30 μm or more and 200 μm or less, and the fluororesin has a D10 of 12 μm or more.

In recent years, an interest in a three-dimensionally shaping apparatus, a so-called 3D printer, has increased as a technique of shaping a three-dimensional structure. As a system regarding three-dimensional shaping, for example, a vat photopolymerization method of performing shaping by irradiating a monomer of a photocurable resin in a vat with light, a material extrusion method of performing shaping by extruding a flowable material from a nozzle to stack the flowable material, a binder injection method of performing shaping by injecting a binder into a powder material to bind the powder material, an inkjet method of performing shaping by injecting a liquid resin and curing the injected liquid resin, and a powder bed fusion method of performing shaping by irradiating a powder material with an energy ray to fuse and cure or sinter the powder material selectively, and the like are known. Among others, an interest in the powder bed fusion method has increased in recent years.
Shaping by the above-described powder bed fusion method is generally performed in such a way that a powder material stored in a powder material storage container is pushed and taken out with a recoater and is carried onto a shaping stand to form a thin layer of the powder material, and this thin layer is irradiated with an energy ray to perform fusion. By repeating this operation, a three-dimensional structure is shaped. A production method and a production apparatus using such a powder bed fusion method are described in, for example, Patent Literatures 1 and 2.


A gum and denture cleaning system for cleaning adhesive from the gums and dentures of a denture wearer thereby increasing the wearer's comfort and increasing the effectiveness of new adhesive applied to the dentures. The gum cleaning system cleans and stimulates the gums of the user leaving the gums feeling cleaner and refreshing. The inventive device includes a base, a handle pivotally connected to a side of the base, and a plurality of cleaning bristles projecting from the base opposite of the handle. The bristles contain a depression having a substantially V-shaped cross section concentrically positioned. The gums or dentures of the user are cleaned by the bristles engaging and removing the denture adhesive from them. In a second embodiment, a denture cleaner comprises a gripping member, an elongated member, a ring support a plurality of outer bristles and inner bristles which define a circular channel. The dentures are positioned within the channel between the outer bristles and the inner bristles whereby the denture adhesive is removed from the user agitating the dentures within the channel.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to brush devices and more specifically it relates to a gum and denture clearing system for cleaning adhesive and other debris from the gums and dentures of a denture wearer thereby increasing the wearer's comfort and increasing the effectiveness of new adhesive applied to the dentures. The gum cleaning system stimulates the gums during and after cleaning leaving the gums of the user feeling clean and refreshing.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are numerous brush devices. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,796,325 to Bortman; U.S. Pat. No. 4,757,570 to Haeusser et al; U.S. Pat. No. 4,610,045 to Rauch; U.S. Pat. No. 5,491,866 to Simonds; U.S. Pat. No. 3,994,039 to Hadary; U.S. Pat. No. 4,783,874 to Perches et al; U.S. Pat. No. 4,033,007 to Hadary; U.S. Pat. No. 4,488,328 to Hyman; U.S. Pat. No. 4,370,773 to Hadary; U.S. Pat. No. 5,572,763 to Eguchi; U.S. Pat. No. 369,243 to Hunt; U.S. Pat. No. 5,324,129 to Root; U.S. Pat. No. 5,247,718 to Victorian; U.S. Pat. No. 5,528,786 to Porat et al are illustrative of such prior art.
Bortman (U.S. Pat. No. 4,796,325) discloses an angularly adjustable double headed toothbrush which a brush portion pivotally connected to the handle. The head portion of Bortman may be provided with a pair of opposing brushes for simultaneously brushing both sides of a tooth. Bortman does not disclose a brush for brushing three sides of the gums of a denture wearer.
Haeusser et al (U.S. Pat. No. 4,757,570) discloses a toothbrush for simultaneous cleaning of teeth on both sides. Haeusser discloses a handle, a bristle holder having a U-shaped cross section, and a plurality of bristles in the bristle holder facing inward. Haeusser does not disclose a pivoting means for allowing the bristle holder to remain parallel to the teeth during cleaning.
Rauch (U.S. Pat. No. 4,610,045) discloses a toothbrush with a teeth brushing surface and two gum treatment brush surfaces for massaging the gums during casual brushing. Rauch does not disclose a pivoting means for allowing the bristle holder to remain parallel to the teeth during cleaning.
While these devices may be suitable for the particular purpose to which they address, they are not as suitable for cleaning adhesive from the gums and dentures of a denture wearer thereby increasing the wearer's comfort and increasing the effectiveness of new adhesive applied to the dentures. None of the prior art discloses a brush capable of effectively cleaning the dentures from a denture adhesive. Further, none of the prior art discloses a brush capable of massaging and cleaning all three sides of the gums while maintaining a parallel position of all of the bristles with respect to the gums of the user.
In these respects, the gum and denture cleaning system according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in so doing provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of cleaning adhesive from the gums and dentures of a denture wearer thereby increasing the wearer's comfort and increasing the effectiveness of new adhesive applied to the dentures.


The present invention is a chipset for an isolated power supply having an innovative oscillator. Preferably, the present invention includes a primary controller and a secondary controller. The primary controller can have the control and drive circuitry for the chipset. The secondary controller can provide rectification signals that can be synchronized with a power MOSFET.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a chipset for isolated power supplies and, more particularly, to primary and secondary side devices in a chipset for isolated power supplies with programmable synchronization architecture.
2. Description of Related Art
Primary and secondary controllers can be used for isolated power supplies. Indeed, MAXIM® MAX5042/MAX5043, which is a two-switch power integrated circuit with integrated power MOSFETs and hot-swap controller, and MAX5058/5059, which is a parallelable secondary-side synchronous rectifier driver and feedback-generator controller integrated circuit, are primary and secondary controllers, respectively, for isolated power supplies and can be used together. The MAXIM chipset enables synchronous rectification in isolated powers supplies using widely available MOSFETs (Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistors). Unfortunately, the MAXIM chipset is not programmable, nor does it configure inductors to deliver current to a load.
What is needed is a programmable synchronous rectifier. Moreover, there is a need for the programmable synchronous rectifier to have a configuration of an inductor to deliver current to a load, while the chipset has a whole chipset configuration having the functions required for an isolated power supply. It is to such a device that various embodiments of the present invention are directed.

Chipset for isolated power supply with new programmable synchronization architecture


A method and arrangement for storing on tape information produced by a switching exchange system, by reading data into an intermediate file for increasing the number of records to be stored to an amount suitable for the capacity of the recorder used; copying the intermediate file into a backup storage; and emptying the intermediate file to a tape for a new read cycle of information produced by the switching exchange system.

The invention relates to a method and arrangement for storing on tape information produced by a switching exchange system. The requirements for storing data in exchange systems vary widely. Charging data and different traffic measurement reports are stored by magnetic tape recorders. In addition, backup copies of disk files are usually stored on magnetic tape. It is worth storing data on magnetic tape if larger amounts are to be stored into a portable permanent storage.
Charging data are produced as a switching exchange switches calls. Charging data is stored on magnetic tape almost in real time, and thus the amount of data to be stored at a time may be small. In addition, data storage is periodic and non-predefined, as the frequency for storing data depends on the number of calls.
The requirements set by switching exchange systems on storage of charging information are continuously increasing. The required traffic volumes grow. In addition, the trend is increasingly toward call-by-call charging, in regard to which records to be stored on tape are produced from each call. The amount of data to be stored is so large that the capacities of conventional start/stop-type recorders currently used in storing charging information are insufficient with high traffic. On the other hand, streamer-type recorders are too slow with low traffic.
Magnetic recorders are classified in two categories based on the storage type: start/stop-type recorders and streamer-type recorders. Start/stop recorders start tape movement always when the recorder receives a data block to be stored and stop the tape after storing the data block. Streamer-type recorders do not stop the tape between data blocks if a new block reaches the recorder soon enough.
Start/stop recorders are faster than streamer recorders when data are stored in relatively small amounts at a time, as in start/stop recorders stopping and starting the tape is mechanically realized significantly faster than in streamer recorders. If data can be stored on tape as a continuous data stream so that the recorder does not have to stop the tape before a new data block to be stored reaches the recorder, a streamer recorder is faster. In this case, storage rate is about equal to that of hard disks. In addition, the storage capacity of streamer recorders is usually considerably higher, around several gigabytes, than that of start/stop recorders, which is below 100 megabytes. If a streamer recorder is used for storing small amounts of data so that the recorder stops the tape before the next data to be stored reaches the recorder, one storage may, depending on the recorder, require even 15 seconds, if the length of the data to be stored is less than 1 kB.
The total storage capacity of streamer recorders decreases the more frequently the tape has to be stopped during storage. During stop and start the tape moves considerably before the speed of the tape is adequate for storage or until the tape has stopped. This part of the tape cannot be used for storage of useful data. The mechanics of start/stop recorders prevent a corresponding long interval, where no useful data can be stored, from being created on the tape.

Method and arrangement for storing on tape information produced by a switching exchange system


A dental implant fixture comprises: a body; a continuous thread part including a continuous thread continuously formed in a spiral shape along an outer circumferential direction of the body; a bone damage prevention part formed at one end portion of the body and preventing an alveolar bone existing in an opening area of a hole where the body is implanted from being damaged due to the continuous thread part; and an entrance guide part provided at the other end portion of the body and guiding the body in an initial implantation entrance direction. The entrance guide part comprises; a flat portion of horizontal flat; an inclined portion extending upward from a circumferential surface of the flat portion with an upwardly increasing radius; and a rounded portion connecting the inclined portion and the continuous thread part and having at least one area inwardly rounded toward the centerline of the fixture.

In principle, an implant means a substitute configured to restore damaged human tissue. However, in dentistry, an implant means a series of medical procedures for implanting an artificial tooth. In the medical procedures, a fixture, which is a dental root formed of such rejection-free material as titanium to replace a damaged dental root, is implanted into an alveolar bone where a tooth was pulled out, and then a dental implant is fixed to restore functions of the tooth.
Typical prostheses or dentures may hurt adjacent teeth and bones with time. However, an implant does not hurt adjacent tooth tissue, and may be used semi-permanently since it causes no tooth decay while having the same function and shape as a natural tooth.
In the medical procedures, also referred to as an implant or implant procedures, a designated drill is used to bore a hole at an implant location, and then a fixture is implanted into and osteointegrated with an alveolar bone, although the procedures may be different depending upon a variety of types of the fixture. Then, in general, an abutment is coupled with the fixture, and a finishing prosthesis is applied to the abutment to finish the procedures.
An implant may restore a single missing tooth, increase the functions of the dentures of a patient with partial or complete anodontia, improve the appearance of a dental prosthesis, disperse the excessive stress upon adjacent supporting bone tissue, and help stabilize a set of teeth.
In general, such an implant includes a fixture which is an artificial dental root to be implanted, an abutment coupled with the fixture, an abutment screw fixing the abutment to the fixture, and an artificial tooth coupled with the abutment. Here, a healing abutment (not shown) may be coupled with the fixture to maintain the coupled state before the abutment is coupled with the fixture, i.e., until the fixture is osteointegrated with an alveolar bone.
A fixture, which is a part of an implant, is implanted into a drilled hole in an alveolar bone where the medical procedures are to be applied, and acts as an artificial dental root. Therefore, a fixture needs to be firmly implanted in the alveolar bone.
Thus, a thread part (thread) may be disposed on the outer surface of a fixture so that the fixture is firmly coupled with the inner sidewall of an alveolar bone where a drilled hole is formed. The thread part is led into the alveolar bone so that the fixture and the alveolar bone are firmly coupled with each other, and strengthens the force with which the fixture fixes the alveolar bone by increasing the contact area of both.
Meanwhile, as described above, an implant surgery is carried out by forming a hole with a drill in an alveolar bone, implanting a fixture in the hole, coupling the fixture with an abutment when osteointegration progresses, and then applying an artificial tooth to finish the procedures. In such an implant surgery, fixtures with different sizes (maximum thread diameters) may be used depending upon operation conditions. Then, different drills need to be used. Usually, a large-scale drill is used for a large fixture, and a small-scale drill is used for a small fixture since the bodies of the fixtures vary depending on the sizes of the fixtures.
However, a cumbersome operation may be entailed when a drill corresponding to the size of a fixture needs to be selected, or when an additional boring is required for implanting a larger fixture with a hole for fixture implanting already formed in an alveolar bone. Especially, when another fixture is implanted after an initial implanting failed, an additional boring with an additional drill is necessary since the sizes of the bodies of the fixtures are different. Therefore, the development of a new implant system is required for more convenient implant procedures.
On the other hand, in a typical conventional dental implant fixture, a certain section of a thread part is discontinued, that is, the thread part does not continue, and a cutting edge portion is formed in the discontinued area to make a fixture easily implanted. However, the cutting edge portion formed by discontinuing the thread part may misalign the fixture with a desired implantation direction and thus a solution for this issue is needed.
Also, in the conventional dental implant fixture, since the thread part is formed across the entire area of an outer surface of a body of the fixture, when an entrance of a hole is relatively narrow, for example, a bone (an alveolar bone) existing in an opening area of the hole may be damaged due to the thread part formed in the entire area of the outer surface of the body. As a result, an implant surgery may fail and thus a solution for this issue is needed.

Fixture for a dental implant and an implant system comprising the same


The present invention relates to a heat storage material composition comprising 20 to 100% by weight of a heat storage material, 80 to 0% by weight of crystalline polyolefin (B) and 50 to 0% by weight of an elastomer (C), and the heat storage material described above contains a side chain-crystalline polymer (A), wherein the heat storage material described above comprises preferably a higher α-olefin polymer (a) containing 50 mole % or more of higher α-olefin having 10 or more carbon atoms and a petroleum wax (b) in which a melting point (Tm) is higher by 10° C. or more than that of the polymer (a). Provided is a heat storage material composition which has less bleeding and stickiness and is excellent in stability at high temperature and which can meet a change in temperature such as a difference in room temperature when applied to a material for floor heating and can avoid a heating state deviated to high temperature or low temperature.

The present invention relates to a heat storage material composition, specifically to a heat storage material composition which has less bleeding and stickiness and is excellent in stability at high temperature. The present invention can also meet a change in temperature such as a difference in room temperature when applied to a material for floor heating and can avoid a heating state deviated to high temperature or low temperature.


A receptacle apparatus for a compact electronic module for effectuating data communication between the module and an interface circuit. The receptacle apparatus includes a cover arrangement and a combined locking and communication effecting structure. The receptacle apparatus is also designed in various embodiments to be installed on a removeable cover of a system so as not to hamper with removal of that cover.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to receptacles for electronic modules. More particularly, the present invention relates to receptacles that facilitate data transfers involving touching, holding, and/or interrogating electronic modules.
2. Description of Related Art
Many modern electronic systems are constructed of modules. Use of modules is widely perceived to simplify and facilitate system construction, improvement, and repair. The electronic modules themselves may be incorporated onto board-like substrates that comprise internal sub-systems of a complex electronic device. Alternatively, the electronic modules may be portable and externally connectable, thereby permitting increased user-selectable functionalities, such as access control, software identification, electronic verification of data transfer, personal data identification and privileged on/off switching of a device.
One of the practical concerns regarding the use of electronic modules is availability of mechanisms adapted for effectuating data transfer between the electronic modules and interface circuits, i.e., circuits for reading from or writing to modules. To address such concerns, Dallas Semiconductor. Corporation ("Dallas Semiconductor"), a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the State of Delaware, and having its principal place of business at 4401 S. Beltwood Parkway, Dallas, Tex., has developed a series of probes and wands that are designed to electrically interact with a series of electronic modules designed and marketed by Dallas Semiconductor under the trademark Touch Memory.TM.. These Touch Memory.TM. products consist of a semiconductor chip secured within a substantially token-shaped, or button-shaped, stainless steel container. Further details and variations are discussed at length in the related applications, the subject matter of which is incorporated herein.
Although the probes and wands, identified above, are operable for effectuating data transfers not requiring more than 150 milliseconds, they are generally unreliable for data transfers requiring longer time intervals because an electronic module, such as a Touch Memory.TM. product, is presented to a probe or wand by a human operator for a brief time period only. It is commonly understood in the industry that a more secure arrangement for presenting an electronic module is required for achieving reliable data transfers with longer time intervals. One of the ways by which such a secure arrangement may be realized is by using a receptacle wherein an electronic module may be placed for longer time periods. However, because compact electronic modules are a novel product in and of themselves, there have heretofore been no simple, yet reliable means capable of receiving and removably locking an electronic module into an electrically conductive relationship with an interface circuit.
Yet another concern regarding receptacles is functional attractiveness. For example, it is desirable that receptacles that need to be prominently displayed on consumer electronics be attractive, that is, not simply an unsightly bare hole with visible contacts. It is also desirable that receptacles be "covered" when not in use, to ensure that dust and other debris does not collect within them.
An additional concern that is germane to the use of electronic modules is that if a receptacle is mounted on a removable cover of the housing of a device such that it is hard-wired to an internal interface circuit, the ability to remove the cover is severely limited. This makes it harder for a user to service and replace the inner circuitry of the device. With some devices, such as personal computers, inability to easily remove the cover is a severe shortcoming.
Based upon the foregoing, it should be perceived that there are a number of shortcomings and deficiencies of prior art receptacles. There is no simple, yet reliable and attractive, prior art receptacle capable of securing for extended periods and interacting during such periods with Touch Memory.TM. or similar products. There is also no wholly unlimiting method for conveniently attaching such a Touch Memory.TM. receptacle to many devices, such as personal computers having removable covers.

Receptacle apparatus for electronic modules


In the distributed enterprise application integration system, modularized components located on multiple hosts are centrally managed so as to facilitate communication among application programs. Collaboration services traditionally associated with a central server, such as, for example, message queues, message publishers/subscribers, and message processes, are instead distributed to multiple hosts and monitored by a central registry service. This system allow configuration management to be performed in a central location using a top-level approach, while implementation and execution tasks are distributed and delegated to various components that communicate with the applications.

The increased growth of the software industry has made a large variety of applications available to the public, and the public has learned to rely heavily upon these applications. Furthermore, it is common for businesses to employ multiple applications within their companies for day-to-day activities. Because these applications are provided by various vendors, coordination to support routine business operation becomes a daunting task often requiring manual labor provided by resources that could be used elsewhere. Thus, it is important for businesses to enable their applications to communicate and share information in an efficient and secure manner.
While businesses need the ability to integrate their applications to coordinate and share information, it is often difficult to allow such integration. One common problem with conventional approaches is that they require businesses to employ new solutions every time the business changes or needs to make changes to its existing applications. Such approaches are extremely costly, cause extensive interruption to the business, often fail to meet the business's expectations, and do not offer solutions for the future.
Another common problem with conventional approaches is that they require the customization of each application so that the application can communicate with the business's other applications. This approach also is costly in terms of both time and money. Furthermore, this approach affords little if no flexibility when the business needs to update, add to, or alter its applications.
An additional problem with conventional approaches is that they rely upon a central component to manage and process all inter-application communication. This "hub and spoke" model leaves the business vulnerable to a single point of failure in that if the central component goes down, the entire business goes down. Furthermore, the central component may also produce a bottleneck effect in situations where the central component is overworked and unable to keep up with the demanding workload.

Systems and methods for providing centralized management of heterogeneous distributed enterprise application integration objects


A method for producing a measurement probe 30 inspection path on a machine tool is disclosed which includes the step of running a program e.g. a modified CAM editor program 44 which allows the selection of geometric features of a workpiece 34 to be inspected. Once selected the program will generate a measurement probe path which is included in software for loading into the numeric controller (NC) of the machine tool. The software can have cutting commands together with inspection path instructions either readable by the NC or written as unreadable instructions for use with a p.c. 20 connected to the NC controller and preferably operating at the same time as the NC.

This invention relates to the control of machine tools having a numeric controller (NC) or the like together with ancillary software, and particularly but not exclusively the control necessary for on-machine measurement.
Conventional NC machine tools make programming for the control of machine movements relatively easy. Programs for operations like cutting are used to control the operation of the NC machine. The programs are most commonly constructed from commands in a low level language i.e. commands that are interpretable directly by the motion control system or other ancillary control system of an NC machine into motion control commands and other ancillary control commands. Examples of low level language command sets are known as a G codes or ISO codes. Ancillary software (e.g. program editors) may be used to aid the generation of such cutting programs. For example, so called CAD/CAM software is available which can generate cutting paths based on the nominal dimensions of a part which is represented in software. A sequence of machine operations is generated by the CAD/CAM or some other editor software in the form of high level language instructions i.e. instructions which are not necessarily interpretable directly by the NC control system. These instructions are turned into G codes that the NC can understand by means of further (post) processing. The exact cutting program resulting from post processing is dependent on the type of NC machine being controlled. Other program editors allow low-level language commands to be generated directly, thereby negating post processing.
It is known to use these low level commands to perform inspection of workpieces. Commonly, the commands cause the machine to pick up an inspection probe rather than a cutter, and to travel to the surface of the workpiece and touch the workpiece to generate a signal. In general the inspection commands are either separate NC programs or sub-programs called from within the cutting program or are input into the high level language instructions by means of specific low level instructions.
CAD/CAM and like editors are also capable of feature based generation of cutting paths. This is a function whereby the programmer need only select a geometric feature e.g. a bore or a flat surface, and the editor will generate a cutting path automatically based on known nominal data for that feature and other available data such as cutter sizes and the amount of material that can be removed at one time. So a bore might be produced by moving a small cutter downwardly in a spiral, and a flat surface might be produced by linear movements of the cutter back and forth. The programmer need not specify the specific cutter movements, just the finished feature.

Method for producing a measurement probe path on a numerically controlled machine tool


An interactive input system comprises an optical waveguide, a radiation source directing radiation into the optical waveguide, the radiation undergoing total internal reflection within the optical waveguide in response to at least one touch input on a surface of the optical waveguide. At least one imaging device is positioned adjacent to the waveguide, the at least one imaging device having a field of view looking inside the optical waveguide and capturing image frames thereof. Processing structure processes the image frames captured by the at least one imaging device to determine a location of the at least one touch input based on a frequency of reflections of the radiation appearing in the image frame.

Interactive input systems that allow users to inject input (eg. digital ink, mouse events etc.) into an application program using an active pointer (eg. a pointer that emits light, sound or other signal), a passive pointer (eg. a finger, cylinder or other suitable object) or other suitable input device such as for example, a mouse or trackball, are known. These interactive input systems include but are not limited to: touch systems comprising touch panels employing analog resistive or machine vision technology to register pointer input such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,448,263; 6,141,000; 6,337,681; 6,747,636; 6,803,906; 7,232,986; 7,236,162; and 7,274,356 assigned to SMART Technologies ULC of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, assignee of the subject application, the entire contents of which are herein incorporated by reference; touch systems comprising touch panels employing electromagnetic, capacitive, acoustic or other technologies to register pointer input; tablet personal computers (PCs); laptop PCs; personal digital assistants (PDAs); and other similar devices.
Above-incorporated U.S. Pat. No. 6,803,906 to Morrison et al. discloses a touch system that employs machine vision to detect pointer interaction with a touch surface on which a computer-generated image is presented. A rectangular bezel or frame surrounds the touch surface and supports imaging devices in the form of digital cameras at its corners. The digital cameras have overlapping fields of view that encompass and look generally across the touch surface. The digital cameras acquire images looking across the touch surface from different vantages and generate image data. Image data acquired by the digital cameras is processed by on-board digital signal processors to determine if a pointer exists in the captured image data. When it is determined that a pointer exists in the captured image data, the digital signal processors convey pointer characteristic data to a master controller, which in turn processes the pointer characteristic data to determine the location of the pointer in (x,y) coordinates relative to the touch surface using triangulation. The pointer coordinates are conveyed to a computer executing one or more application programs. The computer uses the pointer coordinates to update the computer-generated image that is presented on the touch surface. Pointer contacts on the touch surface can therefore be recorded as writing or drawing or used to control execution of application programs executed by the computer.
Multi-touch interactive input systems that receive and process input from multiple pointers using machine vision are also known. One such type of multi-touch interactive input system exploits the well-known optical phenomenon of frustrated total internal reflection (FTIR). According to the general principles of FTIR, the total internal reflection (TIR) of radiation traveling through an optical waveguide is frustrated when an object such as a pointer touches the waveguide surface, due to a change in the index of refraction of the waveguide, causing some radiation to escape from the touch point. In a multi-touch interactive input system, the machine vision system captures images including the point(s) of escaped radiation, and processes the images to identify the position of the pointers on the waveguide surface based on the point(s) of escaped radiation for use as input to application programs.
One example of interactive input system based on FTIR is disclosed in United States Patent Application Publication No. 2008/0179507 to Han. Han discloses a multi-touch sensing display system 50 shown in FIG. 1, employing an optical waveguide 52, a light source 54, light absorbing surface 56 and an imaging sensor 57, such as a camera. Light emitted from light source 54 undergoes total internal reflection within optical waveguide 52. When an object, such as a finger F, is placed in contact with a contact surface of the optical waveguide, total internal reflection is frustrated thus causing some light to scatter from the optical waveguide. The contact will be detected by the imaging sensor. Moreover, a diffuser layer 58 is further disposed on the rear side of the waveguide for displaying images projected by a projector 59 arranged alongside the imaging sensor 57.
United States Patent Application Publication. No. 2008/00284925 to Han discloses an optical waveguide in the form of a clear acrylic sheet, directly against a side of which multiple high-power infrared LEDs (light emitting diodes) are placed. The infrared light emitted by the LEDs into the acrylic sheet is trapped between the upper or lower surfaces of the acrylic sheet due to total internal reflection. A diffuser display surface or a LCD panel is disposed alongside the non-contact side of the acrylic sheet with a small gap between the two in order to keep the diffuser from frustrating the total internal reflection. Imaging sensors mounted orthogonally relative to the waveguide or on the side of an optical wedge beneath the waveguide detects the light escaped from the waveguide. Multi-touch detections are achieved.
United States Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0252091 to Ma et al. discloses a multi-touch interactive input system. Light from two or more light sources mounted on the corner or midpoint of the edge of a touch panel are coupled into a waveguide by a prism to sustain transmission through the waveguide by total internal reflection. The transmitted light is detected by arrays of light detectors around the periphery of the waveguide opposite to each light source. Contacts of objects on the touch panel cause two or more intersecting light beams having known end points to be attenuated, enabling a processor to determine the position and size of the contacts.
United States Patent Application Publication No. 2009/0027357 to Morrison discloses a system of detecting contact on a display employing FTIR. The system includes a planar waveguide associated with a display and includes at least one edge facet and opposing surfaces. The system also includes one or more light emitting diodes such as LEDs coupled to the at least one edge facet for transmitting an optical signal into the waveguide such that the transmitted optical signal is totally internally reflected between the at least one edge facet and opposing surfaces. At least one optical sensing device, such as a camera, positioned substantially to face at least a portion of the edge facet, has a field of view of the entire top surface of the waveguide. Images of the top surface of the waveguide are analyzed to determine the location of contact on the display.
U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/239,057 to McGibney et al., the content of which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses an interactive input system with improved signal-to noise ratio and image capture method. The interactive input system is shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, and includes an optical waveguide 60 associated with a display having a top surface with a diffuser 62 on it for contact by an object, such as a finger F. The system also includes two light sources. Light from the first light source 64 is coupled into the optical waveguide and undergoes total internal reflection within the waveguide. Light from second light source 66 is directed towards another surface opposite to the top surface (the back surface). At least one imaging device, such as a camera 68, has a field of view looking at the back surface of the waveguide and captures image frames in a sequence with the first light source and the second light source being turned alternately on and off. In this way, processing of images in the sequence can be conducted in a manner that improves the signal-to-noise ratio of the system, so that pointer detected is improved. Like other interactive input systems, with the pointer(s) having been detected, the interaction with the touch surface can be recorded as handwriting or drawing to control execution of the application program, such as the images projected on the diffuser layer 62 by the projector 70.
United States Patent Application Publication No. 2009/0122020 to Eliasson et al. discloses a touch pad system including a radiation transmissive element. The transmissive element includes a first surface being adapted to be engaged by an object so as to reflect/scatter/emit radiation into the element, and a second surface opposite to the first surface. A detecting means is provided on either surface of the transmissive element. A modulation means is provided and adapted to prevent at least part of the reflected/scattered/emitted radiation by the object such that radiation from an object is detected by the detecting means after special modulation of the modulation means. Positions of contact on the surface of the transmissive element can be determined.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,442,914 to Eliasson et al. describes a method and a system for determining the position of a radiation emitter, which radiation emitter may be an actively radiation emitting stylus, pen, pointer, or the like or may be a passive, radiation scattering/reflecting/diffusing element, such as a pen, pointer, or a finger of an operator. Radiation from the emitter is reflected from its position toward the detector by a reflecting element providing multiple intensity spots on the detector thereby providing sufficient information for determining the position. From the output of the detector, the position of the radiation emitter is determined.
Although there are various configurations for an interactive input system to detect touch contact using FTIR technology, most of systems have detecting means such as a camera looking at the back surface of the touch screen, and they require a projector to project images. As a result, such systems are typically very large, are heavy, and are not considered portable.
It is an object of at least one aspect of the present invention to provide a novel interactive input system that can be constructed compactly.


A method of producing semiconductor devices is provided, which makes it possible to bury a silicon oxide without shape deterioration in device isolation trenches. The method comprises the steps of: forming an etching resistive mask over a semiconductor substrate; etching the semiconductor substrate through an opening in the etching resistive mask to form a device isolation trench; forming a coat of a silazane perhydride polymer solution over the semiconductor substrate having the device isolation trench formed therein; vaporizing a solvent from the coat and then subjecting the coat to chemical reaction to form a film of silicon oxide; removing said film of the silicon oxide leaving a residue inside said device isolation trench; and heating said silicon oxide left in said device isolation trench for densification.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of producing semiconductor devices, in particular to a method of forming device isolation structures.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, STI (Shallow Trench Isolation) is widely employed for device isolation in a semiconductor device. This is a method of forming a trench in a device isolation region on a semiconductor substrate and burying a device isolation insulator film such as a silicon oxide film in this trench. For burying in the device isolation trench, a film of silicon oxide formed by the high-density plasma CVD (HDP) is commonly employed because it can be buried excellently. When the device isolation trench has a size of 0.1 μm or below as a result of progress in technology of miniaturization, it is difficult to bury the trench sufficiently even with HDP method.
To the contrary, as a trench burying method that does not depend on HDP, there is another method that employs a coat. For example, there is a proposed STI trench burying method that employs a solution of a silazane perhydride polymer (see Japanese Patent 3,178,412 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,191,002). This method includes coating the silazane perhydride polymer solution over a semiconductor substrate that has device isolation trenches formed therein; modifying the coat into a silicon oxide through chemical reaction; performing densification; and removing undesired portions to bury the silicon oxide in the trenches.
Specifically, the chemical reaction in the coat of the silazane perhydride polymer solution is performed by heating in a water vapor ambient, after vaporizing a solvent from the coat. During the heating, the silazane perhydride polymer [(SiH2NH)n] reacts with oxygen resulted from decomposition of the water vapor, gets denatured into the silicon oxide, and produces ammonia. The silicon oxide is then subjected to heating in an inert ambient at 700–100° C. to remove impurities such as ammonia and water for densification.
This method can be applied to burying in a fine device isolation trench with a width of about 0.1 μm. More specifically, (a) the silicon oxide can be buried without generation of voids. In addition, (b) no crack arises because modification from the silazane perhydride polymer into the silicon oxide causes no volume shrink. Alternatively, (c) the silicon oxide to be buried has a high etching resistance that causes no recess during useless etching in the step of wet etching of silicon nitride, for example.
The device isolation trench burying method using the silazane perhydride polymer can be hopefully applied to further fine-patterned LSI (Large Scale Integrated circuits). According to the studies by the Inventors et al., however, there are problems remained to be solved. One of them is a variation caused, corresponding to the width of the trench, in resistance against the wet etching of the silicon oxide buried in the device isolation trench.
Specifically, at a portion where the device isolation trench is narrower in width, an etching rate cannot be reduced sufficiently in the wet etching of the buried silicon oxide. As a result, a surface height of the silicon oxide is lowered compared to a portion where the trench is wider in width. Therefore, the silicon oxide with a uniform thickness cannot be buried in device isolation trenches with various widths.
Another problem is a low wet etching resistance at a portion where the silicon oxide formed by chemical reaction contacts the silicon nitride. The silicon nitride is employed as a mask for forming device isolation trenches and then held until the silicon oxide is buried in the trenches. The coat of the silazane perhydride polymer solution is modified into the silicon oxide through the chemical reaction, then the densified silicon oxide is buried in the trench through CMP (Chemical Mechanical Polishing) process. There are additional steps of removing the silicon nitride using a phosphoric acid and removing the silicon oxide using a buffer hydrofluoric acid. In the step of wet etching using the buffer hydrofluoric acid, the silicon oxide buried in the trench at a portion adjacent to the silicon nitride has a high etching rate, which causes a recess at the boundary around the device isolation region.
FIG. 15 specifically shows a film of silicon oxide 4 buried in device isolation trenches with different widths by the above-described conventional method. The silicon oxide 4 is obtained through densification at 900° C. or below after reaction. In a state shown in FIG. 15, the silicon oxide 4 is densified, then planarized by removing undesired portions using CMP process, and etched using the buffer hydrofluoric acid. As shown, the height of the buried silicon oxide 4 varies depending on the width of the device isolation trench. The device isolation trench with a width as narrow as 0.1 μm causes a recess at a portion of the silicon oxide 4 adjacent to a film of silicon nitride 3 because the portion is etched greatly.
The present invention has an object to provide a method of producing semiconductor devices, which makes it possible to bury a silicon oxide without shape deterioration in device isolation trenches.

Method of producing semiconductor devices


A wearable time-telling device that indicates the passage of time as a tactile sensation moving across the surface of the wearer's skin is disclosed. The wearable device does not require a person's vision in order to perceive the current clock time, and the device can even be discreetly used by a person who is blind or visually impaired.

Embodiments of the invention described in this specification relate generally to tactile stimuli and feedback devices, and more particularly, to a wearable time device that provides a tactile sensation indicating the passage of time.
To find out the time from a wrist watch, one typically needs to look down at the watch. An ordinary watch provides no unobtrusive indication of the passage of time without requiring the wearer to disrupt their visual attention. As a result, current time-telling devices require users to constantly check the time visually.
Existing wrist watches and cell phones provide us with information visually, but our sense of vision is frequently obstructed or needed to perform other tasks. A person may not be able to look at the time as displayed on a wrist watch, for example, when engaged in a sports activity, while driving a vehicle, or when doing anything that requires visual focus and attention. By doing so, the person would unnecessarily increase the likelihood of bad outcomes. Even if the person is able to divert his or her visual focus for only a short amount of time (e.g., a second or two to look down at a wrist watch), the resulting exposure to a bad outcome may be unjustifiably high. For instance, a vehicle collision or a big sports play can occur in an instant of time. Thus, unnecessary risk or loss of attentive engagement results when the person diverts visual attention to any existing wrist watch or wearable time device.
Therefore, what is needed is a way to provide temporal information through tactile stimuli that can be received by a person wearing a wearable device even when he or she is looking elsewhere or which can inform a person who is blind or visually impaired of the temporal information.

Wearable device that indicates the passage of time as a tactile sensation moving across the surface of a person's skin


A sterilizing container is provided with a seal. The container has a lower part, a cover sealingly placeable thereon, and a closure for securing the cover on the lower part. A seal secures the closure in the closed position. The seal is formed in a planar substrate, such as paper or paperboard, and includes a bar or finger insert element that is insertable into a loop that projects from the closure of the container. The seal is provided with a region adjacent to the free end of the insert element that is coated with contact adhesive. This region is foldable along a fold line to form an unreleasable seal with the free end of the insert element.

The invention relates to a seal for a sterilizing container for receiving surgical instruments or the like, comprising a lower part, a cover sealingly placeable thereon, a closure means securing the cover on the lower part as well as a seal for securing the closure means in the closed position, wherein the seal comprises a bar-like or finger-like insert element insertable into a loop of the closure means and a connector connected to the rear end of the insert element not inserted into the loop and unreleasably connectable with the end of the insert element protruding through the loop.
In the case of sterilizing containers care must be taken that the container is not opened unintentionally following sterilizing so that the sterility of the contents is ensured. In order to achieve this, it is known to seal the closure means of such sterilizing containers, using, for example, wire seals or plastic seals in the manner of cable binders. The known seals are attached by the insert element being locked in position on a connector by deformation, form-locking or a detent connection after its insertion into a loop of the closure means. This connection can no longer be released, i.e. this is possible only by breaking the seal.
The closure means of the sterilizing container cannot be opened as long as the seal is attached so that any opening of the closure means presupposes that the seal has been broken. This is easily recognizable from the closure means of a sterilizing container and so an undamaged seal is a sign that the container has not been opened unintentionally.


A locking mechanism for male and female coupling members for use in undersea production and drilling applications is disclosed. At least one pin extends radially from the female member. Each pin enters a slot in a guide sleeve extending longitudinally from the male member. The guide sleeve also contains a spring and spring plate. The female member is inserted into the guide sleeve, compressing the spring, and the pin enters the first longitudinal portion of the slot. The female member may be rotated with respect to the male member when the pin is in the circumferential portion of the slot. The pin then may enter the second or third longitudinal portion of the slot. When the pin is in the second portion of the slot, the female member is "parked" or secured to the male member while coupling member valves remain closed, and when the pin is in the third portion of the slot, the valves are open. When the female member is released, the spring urges the female member outwardly from the bore and the pin reaches the end of the second or third portion of the slot, at which time the coupling members are locked together. The present invention allows locking and unlocking of undersea hydraulic couplings with a "one hand" ROV operation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to hydraulic couplings used in undersea drilling and production applications. More particularly, the invention involves a locking mechanism for restraining axial movement of male and female coupling members used in undersea applications.
2. Description of the Related Art
Subsea hydraulic couplings are old in the art. Subsea hydraulic couplings are shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,694,859 to Robert E. Smith III, and other patents assigned to National Coupling Company, Inc. of Stafford, Tex. The couplings generally consist of a male member and a female member with sealed fluid passageways connecting therebetween. The female member generally is a cylindrical body with a relatively large diameter longitudinal bore at one end and a relatively small diameter longitudinal bore at the other. The small bore facilitates connections to hydraulic lines, while the large bore seals and slidingly engages the male member of the coupling.
The male member includes a cylindrical body having an outer diameter approximately equal to the diameter of the large female bore, and a connection at its other end for hydraulic lines. When the cylindrical body of the male member is inserted into the large bore of the female member, according to various embodiments of the device, fluid flow is established between the male and female members.
The male member and female member are generally connected to opposing junction plates of a manifold and are held together by bolts or hydraulic members attached to the plate. The male member is commonly attached to one junction or manifold plate, while the female member is attached to an opposing plate so as to face the male member and align with it. The male and female members may be attached to the junction or manifold plates using various means such as set screws or threads.
Typically, several subsea hydraulic couplings are grouped together on each junction or manifold plate. For example, between 10 and 30 coupling members may be attached to each opposing plate. In the subsea environment, a diver may be required to connect the opposing plates together, and thereby connect the opposing coupling members on the plates. The coupling members are simultaneously connected and the opposing plates are locked together. U.S. Pat. No. 4,915,419 to Robert E. Smith III, assigned to National Coupling Company, Inc. of Stafford, Tex. discloses a sliding lock plate used for connecting together subsea hydraulic couplings.
Attempts have been made in the past to eliminate or reduce the problems of high separational forces of the couplings due to high pressure in the hydraulic system, by individually locking together the male and female members in each coupling. In the subsea environment, however, individually locking each of the hydraulic coupling members together has been a difficult undertaking.
A proposed solution was the use of lock sleeves for subsea hydraulic couplings. The lock sleeve is pulled back axially to release balls inside the female coupling member. After the male member has entered and seated in the female member, the lock sleeve is released, allowing the balls to reposition in the female and lock the male member and female member together. However, the lock sleeve has a number of disadvantages. It is relatively heavy and bulky, which is undesirable in the subsea environment. Additionally, the lock sleeve requires substantial vertical clearance sufficient to allow for the longitudinal movement necessary for connection or disconnection. Other problems are caused by a build up of silt, ocean debris and marine growth in the lock sleeve. The build up may result in jamming the lock sleeves and especially the locking balls. The couplings require high longitudinal thrust and cannot be disconnected without great difficulty after a period of time subsea.
A reliable solution is needed for locking together subsea couplings that can be easily handled in the subsea environment. In undersea drilling and production applications at increasingly greater depths, it is desirable to connect and/or disconnect the coupling members with robotics or other diverless apparatus. A simple mechanism for connecting and locking together subsea hydraulic coupling members is needed that can be operated without a diver.
In subsea hydraulic applications, remote operating vehicles (ROVs) are needed to grip one of the coupling members (typically the female member) subsea and connect that member to the opposing coupling member. Preferably, the number of different discrete motions required of the ROV should be minimized. Additionally, in order to reduce the complexity of connecting and/or disconnecting coupling members subsea, it is preferable that the ROV connect the couplings in a so-called "one handed" manner by gripping only one of the coupling members, rather than gripping two components such as both coupling members.
It also is desirable to discontinue flow of hydraulic fluid in the coupling by closing the valves in the male and female coupling members, without disconnecting and retrieving one set of members (i.e., the female coupling members). For example, because of adverse weather conditions, strong currents and potential damage to the hydraulic system, it is necessary to shut off the flow of hydraulic fluid to prevent leakage and ensuing damage to the subsea environment. Rather than retrieve the female coupling members while the male coupling members remain subsea, a reliable solution is needed for temporarily "parking" the female coupling members subsea when the valves in the coupling are closed.

Undersea hydraulic coupling with locking mechanism