A controller and a display device are connected to each other by a network. The controller comprises a network control program which controls a network control section to communicate with the display device for each of a plurality of operation modes, including an initialization mode, a normal action mode, and an alarm mode. Various data, such as operation mode information for the controller, are transmitted to the display device connected by the network through the network control section and display data is displayed on the display device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display system for a controller for controlling a machine, in which a display device and the controller are connected to each other by a network.
2. Description of the Related Art
Already known is a system in which a controller for controlling a machine tool or the like and a personal computer used as a display device are connected to each other by a network. For example, there is a system (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-5812) in which screen data to be displayed on a display device of a numerical controller can be displayed on a screen of a personal computer that is connected by a network. In another known system (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-53106), a numerical controller and a computer are connected to each other by a network so that the computer can monitor a display screen of the numerical controller without the use of a display control section.
Also known is a system (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-111680) in which a controller, a display device for controller, and a host device are connected to one another by a network. In this system, the display device for controller makes a conversion between a data representation format in a data column transferred by communication between the host device and itself and a data representation format in a data column transferred by communication between the controller and itself, thereby relaying the communication between the controller and the host device.
According to the conventional system in which the controller and the display device are connected by the network, display data of the controller can be displayed only during normal operation in which the controller is normally initialized and a communication function is performed. Therefore, the display data cannot be displayed at the time of initialization of the controller or in case of system alarm.
If the network conditions are poor, although the controller is in the normal operation, moreover, error detection with a normal communication time-out function for the communication function is time-consuming, and a function to check the communication status is unsatisfactory. Accordingly, it takes time to be allowed to conclude that the display device is not operating correctly. Thus, maintenance work to cover malfunction of the controller or solve network problems requires a separate display device that is connected by video signals or the like.


A method and apparatus for printing vertically and horizontally aligned features having reduced, substantially equal, critical dimensions on a photoresist-coated semiconductor wafer are disclosed. Radiant energy is passed through a pattern transfer tool to irradiate a first region of the wafer when the wafer is at a first position relative to the pattern transfer tool. The wafer is then positioned at a second position relative to the pattern transfer tool offset from the first position by a first distance along an axis aligned with the horizontal features and by a second distance along an axis aligned with the vertical features. The second distance is different from the first distance by a compensation distance. Radiant energy is then passed through the pattern transfer tool to irradiate a second region of the wafer region defining a second side of each of the horizontally and vertically aligned features.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of microcircuit fabrication. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for microlithographic printing.
(2) Art Background
Microlithographic Process
FIG. 1A illustrates a microlithographic printing process. A pattern transfer tool 130 is interposed between a source of radiant energy 105 and a semiconductor wafer 101. The semiconductor wafer 101 includes a film 110 disposed between a semiconductor substrate 100 and a layer of photoresist 120. Herein, film 110 is described as being a layer of polysilicon 110, but may also be a metal, an interlayer dialectric (ILD) or any other film in which features are to be patterned. The pattern transfer tool 130, which may be a mask or reticle, includes a pattern 135 of opaque regions 131 and 132 disposed thereon. Radiant energy 105 striking the pattern transfer tool 130 is blocked at opaque regions 131 and 132, but otherwise passes through the pattern transfer tool to irradiate regions in the photoresist layer 120 of the wafer 101. As FIG. 1A illustrates, the effect of exposing the wafer 101 to radiant energy 105 through the pattern transfer tool 130 is to irradiate regions of the photoresist layer 120 in a pattern defined by the opaque regions 131 and 132 on the pattern transfer tool 130. The features defined by opaque regions 131 and 132 on the pattern transfer tool 130 are said to be "printed" on the wafer surface and the process of exposing the photoresist-coated wafer 101 to radiant energy 105 is referred to herein as "printing".
The photoresist of layer 120 includes a photoactive compound which chemically reacts when exposed to radiant energy, typically actinic light. In one type of photoresist, known as negative photoresist, irradiation induces a "crosslinking" chemical reaction to render the irradiated regions in the photoresist insoluble in a solvent called "developer". After application of developer, referred to as the "development step", non-irradiated regions 121 and 122 of photoresist layer 120 are removed. Consequently, the pattern formed in the negative photoresist layer is the negative of the pattern defined by the opaque regions 131 and 132 of the pattern transfer tool 130.
FIG. 1B illustrates the state of the semiconductor wafer 101 after irradiation and development of a positive photoresist. Irradiation of positive photoresist induces a chemical reaction to render the irradiated regions of the positive photoresist soluble in developer. As FIG. 1B illustrates, after the development step, only regions 121 and 122 remain of the photoresist layer 120 depicted in FIG. 1A. Thus, the pattern formed in the positive photoresist is a positive image of the opaque regions 131 and 132 on the pattern transfer tool 130 of FIG. 1A. Due to resolution limitations inherent in presently available negative photoresist materials, positive photoresist is used almost exclusively in microlithographic printing of submicron features. For this reason, the present invention is discussed primarily in terms of microlithographic printing in positive photoresist. It will be appreciated, however, that the apparatus and method of the present invention may be used to print features in either positive or negative photoresist.
After the wafer has been developed to the state shown in FIG. 1B, an etching compound is applied to etch away the regions of polysilicon layer 110 not covered by the remaining regions of photoresist 121 and 122, thereby revealing regions of the substrate 100. The result, shown in FIG. 1C, is a reproduction of the image on the pattern transfer tool in the polysilicon layer (element 110 of FIGS. 1A and 1B). At this point, the remaining photoresist regions 121 and 122 can be stripped away leaving only features 111 and 112 in what was the polysilicon layer 110 of FIGS. 1B and 1A. When surrounded by wells of appropriately doped substrate, the polysilicon features 111 and 112 define gates of field-effect transistors (FET).
The Critical Dimension
The minimum width of an isolated line that can be printed by a microlithographic process, referred to as the "critical dimension", is one of the process's most important characteristics. The smaller the isolated linewidth, the narrower the FET gate that can be formed. Since a FET's maximum switching frequency and area-density both increase as the gate is narrowed, the ability to reduce the width of the isolated line translates directly into the ability to produce faster, more densely populated integrated circuits.
Microlithographic Printing Machines
Microlithographic printing is performed by a machine known as an "aligner" for its ability to align a wafer to a pattern transfer tool. The manner in which the wafer is aligned to the pattern transfer tool depends on whether the pattern transfer tool is a mask or a reticle. If the pattern transfer tool is a mask, the wafer is aligned to the mask once, then all of the wafer die are exposed at the same time. However, if the pattern transfer tool is a reticle, the reticle pattern is transferred to only one (or a few) wafer die per exposure. After each exposure, a stage to which the wafer is mounted is stepped to align the next die for exposure through the reticle and the print is repeated. Such aligners are referred to as "step and repeat aligners," "steppers" or, in some cases, "scanners" (a scanner is stepper in which exposure through the reticle is achieved by scanning the reticle with the radiant energy source. Herein, the term stepper is used to mean any step and repeat device, including a scanner). Since the step and repeat print process must be performed potentially as many times as there are die in the wafer, the step and repeat process is considerably more time consuming than a single-exposure mask process. However, since a much smaller area of the wafer is printed per exposure, the reticle pattern may be an enlargement of the pattern to be printed and therefore easier to fabricate. Also, stepping each die allows wafer distortion to be compensated on a die by die basis.
Modern microlithographic printers are said to be diffraction limited. That is, diffraction of light passing through clear regions within a pattern transfer tool such as a mask or reticle, and not defects in the elements of the optical path, limit the minimum isolated linewidth achievable with a given machine. Radiation spreads out from the individual slits on the pattern transfer tool to regions on the wafer that are not intended to be exposed. At some point, the slits, or clear regions, of the pattern transfer tool become so close together that their resultant images cannot be resolved on the wafer surface. The minimum distance between pattern transfer tool features has been shown to be proportional to the wavelength of light used to irradiate the wafer and inversely proportional to the numerical aperture (NA) of the objective lens used to collect light diffracted from the pattern transfer tool and focus it onto the wafer.
Reducing minimum feature size by increasing the NA of the objective lens is difficult and involves tradeoffs in other aspects of the fabrication process. The depth of focus of a lens, for example, is inversely proportional to the square of the lens NA so that increased NA results in exponentially decreased depth of focus. If the depth of focus becomes too small, variations in wafer flatness can render regions of the wafer outside the focal plane. Aside from the depth of focus problem, increased lens NA generally requires a larger diameter lens, meaning that lens NA can be increased only up to a practical limit.
Reducing minimum feature size by shifting the irradiating wavelength deeper into the UV region also presents difficulties. As the irradiating wavelength is shortened, the brightness of existing light sources is severely reduced and the optical elements in the printer absorb more of the energy passing through them. As a consequence, the total energy incident on the resist is reduced. Longer exposure times are required resulting in reduced throughput.
Since the irradiating wavelength and the lens NA are generally fixed for a given printer, the printer is subject to rapid obsolescence as feature sizes shrink. Consequently, printers incorporating the latest technology and purchased at enormous cost may become unable to support fabrication of flagship products within just a few years.
Systematic Difference in Critical Dimension
It is common for features printed using a particular microlithographic printing process to exhibit systematic differences in critical dimension. The systematic critical dimension difference is usually most noticeable between horizontally and vertically aligned features and typically ranges from 10 to 30 nm. For features having critical dimensions greater than roughly one micron, a 10-30 nm critical dimension difference can be ignored. As feature critical dimensions drop below one micron, however, a 10-30 nm vertical/horizontal critical dimension difference begins to be substantial. Since, as stated above, device characteristics are fundamentally affected by the critical dimension of polysilicon gates, a substantial difference in critical dimension results in a noticeable performance inequality between vertically and horizontally aligned features.
It would be desirable, therefore, to provide a method and apparatus for printing horizontally and vertically aligned features on a semiconductor wafer having reduced, substantially equal, critical dimensions.

Method and apparatus for reducing the critical dimension difference of features printed on a substrate


A dual-band antenna with little limitation on the mounting space, which allows two antenna elements coping with different frequency bands to be laid out at a narrow space, and a portable wireless device having the same are provided. A band-like first antenna element, a sheet-like dielectric element, and a band-like second antenna element are fitted in a groove of a support member. The end portion of the second antenna element overlaps with the end portion of the first antenna element, and the dielectric element is sandwiched therebetween. The sandwiched dielectric element constitutes a capacitor, and first antenna element, the capacitor and the second antenna element are connected in series. The other end portion of the second antenna element is connected to a circuit in a bottom casing, and power is supplied through the other end portion thereof.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an antenna which can cope with different frequency bands, and a portable wireless device having the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is necessary for recent portable wireless devices, in particular, cellular phones to cope with radio waves of different frequency bands because of diversified and multifunctional communication. For example, in Japan, the band of 800 MHz and the band of 2 GHz are allocated as communication frequency bands for cellular phones, and when a communication carrier which provides a cellular phone communication service uses both the frequency bands for communications, a cellular phone must have antennas coping with the respective frequency bands. Meanwhile, there are cellular phones which have a function of receiving a radio wave used for a PHS (Personal Handy-phone System), a radio wave used for the Bluetooth (registered trademark) or the like, and have a function of transmitting/receiving a radio wave of a TV signal, a radio wave of a radio signal, a radio wave of a GPS (Global Positioning System) signal or the like, and such cellular phones must have antennas corresponding to the respective added functions.
It is desirable that a portable wireless device which transmits and receives radio waves of different frequency bands should have antenna elements of the respective frequency bands connected to a circuit board through a common terminal from the standpoint of the limitation of the wiring patterning of the circuit board, i.e., it is desirable that the portable wireless device should have a dual-band antenna or the like. Unexamined Japanese Patent Application KOKAI Publication No. 2002-64329 discloses plural types of antennas formed of a conductive pattern, as dual-band antennas.
One of the antennas is a meander line antenna (8) which has two meander line sections (8A, 8B), which have different meander intervals, formed in series on the internal surface of a flipper attached free to open or close to the body of a cellular phone, with the end portion of a first meander line section (8A) whose meander interval is broader connected to a circuit board. This meander line antenna (8) has electrical lengths and meander patterns set for the first meander line section (8A) and for the second meander line section (8B) respectively, such that the first meander line section (8A) and the second meander line section (8B) function as antenna in the band of 800 MHz, and such that only the first meander line section (8A) functions as antenna in the band of 1.9 GHz.
The other one of the antennas is an antenna (21) which has a ¼-wavelength antenna element (21A) coping with the 800 MHz band and a ¼-wavelength antenna element (21B) coping with the 1.9 GHz band formed in parallel on the internal surface of the flipper, with the end portion of the antenna element (21A) and the end portion of the antenna element (21B) connected to a circuit board to be simultaneously supplied with power.
Unexamined Japanese Patent Application KOKAI Publication No. 2005-269301 discloses an antenna formed of a metallic plate, as a dual-band antenna. This antenna has two antenna elements (a ¼-wavelength antenna element 1 coping with the 900 MHz band, and a ¼-wavelength antenna element 2 coping with the 1.8 GHz or 1.9 GHz band), each of which is formed by bending a metallic plate into a reversed-L shape such that each has a horizontal portion (1a, 2a) and a vertical portion (1b, 2b), and the two antenna elements are arranged such that the horizontal portions face each other with a predetermined gap therebetween, and such that the end portions of the vertical portions are connected in common to be simultaneously supplied with power.

Casio Hitachi Mobile Communications Co., Ltd.


A wavelength multiplexed holographic system includes a wavelength tunable blue-violet laser and a controller for wavelength multiplexing. A method of holographic data recording includes providing a holographic medium, providing a tunable blue-violet laser for wavelength multiplexing, and tuning the laser wavelength to record a hologram at a set wavelength and recording holographic data at the set wavelength on the holographic medium. A method for retrieving holographic data includes providing a holographic medium, providing at least one tunable blue-violet laser, tuning the blue-violet laser to a set wavelength, and retrieving holographic data at the set wavelength.

The invention relates generally to holographic devices. The invention particularly relates to wavelength multiplexed holographic devices.
An alternative approach to traditional surface-based storage systems like compact discs (CDs) or digital versatile discs (DVDs) is volumetric storage technology, in which the full volume of a storage medium is used to increase data capacity. Holographic storage is one type of volumetric storage technology. Holographic storage has the potential to provide relatively high data density and short access times as compared to conventional optical storage technologies.
In conventional volume holographic storage, or page based holographic storage, laser light from two beams, a reference beam and a signal beam containing encoded data, overlap within the volume of a photosensitive holographic medium. The interference pattern resulting from the overlap of the two beams creates a change or modulation of the refractive index of the holographic recording medium. Multiple bits are encoded and decoded together in pages, or two-dimensional arrays of bits. Multiple pages can be stored within the volume by angular, wavelength, phase-code, or related multiplexing techniques. Each page can be independently retrieved using its corresponding reference beam. The reference beam interacts with the stored refractive index modulation and reconstructs the signal beam containing the encoded data. The parallel nature of this storage approach allows high transfer rates and short access times.
In bit-wise volume holography, data are stored bitwise in a photosensitive volume as microscopic reflection gratings called microholograms. A single micro-hologram corresponds to a single bit, where the presence or absence of a microhologram corresponds to a "1" or a "0" (or vice-versa). Overlapping microholograms can be stored in the same volume element by using multiplexing techniques, such as angle multiplexing or wavelength multiplexing. Such storage of multiple bits in the same volume element of the disk increases the storage capacity and potentially also the data transfer rates by the multiplex factor.
There is a constant requirement to find ways to increase the data storage density of holographic media. It is therefore desirable to find holographic systems and methods of using such systems, which help increase the data storage density.

Method and apparatus for holographic recording and retrieval


A gear transmission permits an increased flexibility in the layout of shift gears and reduces the axial size of the transmission by providing an engaging portion on a specific one of the shift gears. The gear transmission includes a main shaft having drive gears, a countershaft having driven gears adapted to be respectively driven by the drive gears to set predetermined shift positions, and shifters engageable with specific gears of the drive gears and the driven gears. The specific gears respectively have engaging portions for engaging the shifters, whereby the main shaft rotationally drives the countershaft through any one of the shifters and any one of the specific gears at any one of the predetermined shift positions. Of the engaging portions, the outer diameter of the engaging portion is larger than the outer diameter of a toothed portion of the drive gear as one of the specific gears.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle gear transmission including a main shaft having a predetermined number of drive gears, and a countershaft having a predetermined number of driven gears adapted to be respectively driven by the drive gears so as to set a predetermined number of shift positions. The gear transmission also includes a shifter engageable with the drive gears or the driven gears so that the main shaft rotationally drives the countershaft at any one of the shift positions.
2. Description of the Background Art
A conventional gear transmission is known to include a main shaft having a plurality of drive gears, a countershaft having a plurality of driven gears, and a shifter adapted to be moved on the main shaft or the countershaft. In the conventional transmission, the shifter is engageable with the drive gears or the driven gears so that the main shaft rotationally drives the countershaft at any one of a plurality of shift positions set by the combination of the drive gears, and the driven gears respectively driven by the drive gears. Such a transmission is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-205352.
The shifter in such a gear transmission is axially moved on the main shaft or the countershaft. Accordingly, the drive gears or the driven gears (both of which will be hereinafter generically referred to as "shift gears") engageable with the shifter have engaging portions axially projecting toward the shifter. However, in a small-diameter gear of the plural shift gears, the radial width of a disc portion of the small-diameter shift gear is small, so that it is difficult to form the engaging portion on the disc portion. Herein, a disc portion of the shift gear corresponds to the annular portion formed between a toothed portion of the shift gear and the main shaft or the countershaft. Accordingly, the engaging portion is usually formed on a large-diameter shift gear meshing with the above small-diameter shift gear.
However, the large-diameter shift gear which includes the engaging portion is increased in weight, and the weight of the shifter may be increased in proportion thereto. Further, in some circumstances, an increased number of shifters must be provided according to the layout of the shift gears, causing an increase in weight of the transmission or an increase in axial size of the transmission.
Further, the first speed drive gear on the main shaft is usually formed integrally with the main shaft by directly working a large-diameter portion of the main shaft into a gear, and the second and higher speed drive gears are mounted from an axial end of the main shaft toward the first speed shift gear. However, in a transmission having two shift clutches (twin clutch), the main shaft is provided by a shaft having a double structure such that the shaft is composed of a first shaft, and a hollow second shaft that is fitted to the outer circumference of the first shaft. In addition, the first speed drive gear is formed integrally with the first shaft. In the case that an axially positioning portion (e.g., projecting portion) is provided on the first shaft so as to prevent the axial movement of the second shaft, there is a possibility that the second and higher speed drive gears cannot be mounted between the first speed drive gear and the axially positioning portion.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to increase the flexibility of layout of the shift gears and reduce the axial size of the transmission by providing an engaging portion on a specific one of the shift gears. It is another object of the present invention to make it easy to manufacture the specific gear having the engaging portion. It is a further object of the present invention to prevent an increase in axial size of the transmission.

Gear transmission including improved shifter engaging structure, and vehicle including same


A network system is provided allowing easy communications with another apparatus via NAPT, as well as a communication method, an information processing apparatus and method, and a program. A local communication apparatus acquires a service providing packet from an apparatus service providing apparatus via a port of a relay apparatus, acquires a service providing packet from another apparatus service providing apparatus via another port of the relay apparatus, calculates a difference value between two pieces of global address information contained in the service providing packets, and predicts that a third port is the port to be used for the next communication. The system, apparatus and methods described can be applied to an instant message service system.

The present invention relates to a network system and a communication method, an information processing apparatus and method, and a program, and more particularly to a network system and a communication method, an information processing apparatus and method, and a program, suitable for use with the case wherein communication with another apparatus is performed via NAPT.
In the Internet, an Internet Protocol (hereinafter called IP) is currently used as a routing protocol. The version of the most popular IP is presently "4" (hereinafter called IPv4), and the number of bits of a transmission source address and a transmission destination address used by this version is "32". In a global network, typically the Internet and the like, a 32-bit address (hereinafter called an IPv4 address) is uniquely assigned to each communication terminal so that it is possible to identify a transmission source address and a transmission destination address of communication data of communications among these apparatuses.
However, because of a rapid increase in Internet use, there is a fear that there will be an insufficient number of IPv4 addresses. In order to solve this, the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) has proposed an IP version "6" (hereinafter called IPv6) and has started promoting it. However, actually, in order to transfer the routing protocol used by the Internet completely to IPv6, a large amount of time and cost will be required and it is difficult to perfectly solve this problem.
In order to solve this problem, techniques called UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) have been studied. If a router compatible with UPnP is used as a relay means, it is anticipated that a large amount of time and cost will be required. It is also necessary that a number of already existing routers incompatible with UPnP will be required to be replaced with routers compatible with UPnP. Therefore, it is not realistic to perfectly solve the above-described problem by this method.
As an approach to utilizing already existing IPv4 and expanding its addresses, a method has been proposed which uses an address space "private address" having specific properties.
Different from the IPv4 address (hereinafter called a global address) which is uniquely assigned to each terminal apparatus in a global network, the private address is assigned to each terminal in a predetermined limited area (local area). Therefore, when a communication terminal apparatus in a local area communicates with another communication terminal in the Internet having a global address by using its private address, it will be necessary to execute a process of translating the private address into the global address. A method of realizing this may be NAT (Network Address Translation).
If NAT is used, it is necessary to provide a correspondence between one private address and one global address. If there are a plurality of communication terminal apparatuses in a local area, only one of the communication terminal apparatuses can be connected to the Internet.
A method has been considered which utilizes a port which is a subsidiary (auxiliary) address provided under an address. More specifically, if this method is used, a private address assigned to a communication terminal apparatus and a port (i.e., socket) used for communication are translated into a global address and a port. This method is a method called NAPT (Network Address Port Translation) or IP masquerade. By utilizing NAPT, a plurality of communication terminal apparatuses each having a private address and a port can communicate with other communication terminal apparatuses each having a global address and a port.
However, as described above, when a communication apparatus accesses a communication terminal apparatus in a private network using NAPT for communications, from the outside of the private network, the communication apparatus cannot know the private address and port of the communication terminal apparatus before translation by NAPT, and the above-described communication is not possible unless some countermeasure is incorporated.
In contrast with this, there is a method whereby a router is made to identify an identifier of a communication terminal apparatus connected to a private network as a sub-address, and when a communication apparatus outside of the private network accesses the communication terminal apparatus, the communication apparatus specifies the communication terminal apparatus used as the communication partner by using the sub-address (for example, refer to Japanese Laid-open Publication No. 2001-345841 (pp. 9 to 16, FIG. 3 and FIGS. 6 to 8).
However, if the above communication method is used, it is necessary to use a router having the above-described function capable of using the sub-address. This leads to the issue that a communication apparatus cannot access a communication terminal apparatus in a private network via an already existing router not compatible with sub-addresses.
Further, if the above communication method is used, there arises another issue that a communication apparatus cannot access another communication apparatus via a plurality of routers.
Furthermore, if the above communication method is used, there arises a further issue that if a router for relaying communication increments a port, particularly increments a port by two or more, to be used for communication by a communication terminal apparatus, each time the address and port of a communication destination of the communication terminal apparatus change, it is difficult to specify the port of the communication terminal apparatus set by the router and a communication apparatus cannot access the communication terminal apparatus via a router of this kind.

Network system and communication method, information processing apparatus and method, and program


Wafer-level stage testing of semiconductor lasers can be facilitated by directing a light beam emitted from the semiconductor laser toward a direction different from a path of the light beam as originally emitted from the laser. A test structure can be coupled to a back facet of the laser and can include a first region separated from a second region by an inclined interface. When a light beam is emitted from the laser, the light beam can be received on the inclined interface and then directed toward a light detector for detection and evaluation.

Semiconductor lasers are commonly used as light sources in applications involving optical communications. Such lasers can generate light in response to an application of an electrical signal. A common laser structure is called an "edge-emitting laser" that usually includes a flat junction formed between two pieces of semiconductor material, each having been treated with a different type of impurity. When an electrical current is passed through the laser, light emerges from a plane of the junction region, at an edge of the laser. Examples of such a laser include the Distributed Feedback (DFB) laser, the Fabry-Perot laser, and the Distributed Bragg Reflector Laser (DBR).
A completed semiconductor laser is generally made in four phases, similar to other semiconductor devices. A first phase involves an extraction and purification of raw semiconductor materials, such as sand for silicon. Next, a method called "crystal growth and wafer preparation" is used to form wafers, which are thin disks of semiconductor material. In a third stage, "chip fabrication" , a plurality of lasers are created in and on the wafer surface. After chip fabrication, the lasers on the wafer must be tested. The electrical test (also called a "wafer sort") may be part of the last step of chip fabrication or an initial step in the packaging process, which involves separating the wafer into individual lasers (or "chips") and placing them into protective packages
A large problem with semiconductor lasers is a high cost of manufacturing associated with them. In order to confirm that a laser is properly functioning, an individual laser must first be cut from the wafer, separated, and at least partially packaged before it can be tested. If a laser is found to be defective, it is discarded. The yield of a wafer may be a key indicator of costs, and often times the yield may be low. Costs become much more problematic especially since the overall costs may include packaging costs for what tests ultimately determine to be a defective chip.
One response to this problem, has been the creation of the Vertical Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser (VCSEL), which in contrast to the edge-emitting laser, can emit light from the wafer perpendicular to the plane of the junction region. A light output perpendicular to the surface of the wafer allows VCSELs to be tested at the wafer-level stage by the monitoring of emitted light. In contrast, it is difficult to test an edge-emitting laser at the wafer-level stage, because the laser light is not accessible until the lasers have been cut from the wafer, since the individual placement of the individual lasers on the wafer does not provide sufficient room to insert light monitoring devices between each laser.
In summary, the horizontal emission of light by edge-emitting lasers make it difficult to perform testing at the wafer-level stage. As a result, edge-emitting lasers must be partially packaged before test, resulting in additional costs for the manufacturer that are eventually passed on to consumers. Competing lasers, such as the VCSEL, have a testing advantage over the edge-emitting laser, but cannot replace the edge-emitting laser in many applications.

Wafer-level test structure for edge-emitting semiconductor lasers


A power steering device capable of improving both operability of a vehicle and a feeling of the steering. The power steering device includes an association mechanism for mechanically associating a handle with wheels, a power cylinder for generating assisting force, and a control valve connected to the power cylinder and adapted to be changed over depending on torque inputted thereto from the handle and kept at a neutral position unless the torque is inputted thereto. The control valve functions to control the amount of fluid fed to the power cylinder when it is changed over and close a cylinder port connected to the power cylinder when it is at the neutral position.

This invention relates to a power steering device, and more particularly to a power steering device suitably used for a forklift and adapted to hold a steering angle when an operator looses his hold from a handle.
Conventionally, a vehicle such as a forklift or the like is generally mounted thereon with a power steering device of the full-hydraulic type generally constructed in such a manner as shown in FIG. 8. More particularly, the conventional power steering device includes a piston 101, which is operatively associated or connected at both ends with or to wheels (not shown) and arranged in a cylinder 102 in a manner to be slidable therein. The cylinder 102 has cylinder chambers 102a and 102b defined therein with the piston 101 being interposed therebetween. The cylinder chambers 102a and 102b are connected to cylinder ports 104a and 104b of a change-over valve 103.
The change-over valve 103 is provided with a pair of communication ports 105a and 105b, which are commonly connected to a trochoidal pump 106. The trochoidal pump 106 is operatively associated with a handle (not shown). When the handle is turned, the trochoidal pump functions to introduce fluid through a pressure port 106a or 106b thereinto and discharge fluid in an amount proportional to the number of turnings of the handle through the pressure port 106b or 106a.
Also, the change-over valve 103 includes a pump port 107 connected to a pump P and a tank port 108 connected through a filter 109 to a tank T.
In the change-over valve 103 thus constructed, the cylinder ports 104a and 104b are kept closed when the valve 103 is at a neutral position shown in FIG. 8.
The change-over valve 103 may comprise a rotary valve associated with the handle. The valve 103 may be constructed so as to be changed over depending on torque inputted thereto from the handle and kept at the neutral position unless torque is inputted thereto from the handle.
When the handle is operated to change over the change-over valve 103 to a change-over position 103a, the pump port 107 is permitted to communicate with the communication port 105a, so that fluid may be introduced from the pump P to the trochoidal pump 106. Then, the trochoidal pump 106 discharges fluid in an amount proportional to the number of turnings of the handle from the pressure port 106b.
Fluid discharged from the trochoidal pump 106 through the pressure port 106b is guided to the communication port 105b. The change-over position 103a permits the communication port 105b to communicate with the cylinder port 104b, so that fluid discharged from the trochoidal pump 106 is fed to the cylinder chamber 102b of the cylinder 102.
Also, the the change-over position 103a permits the cylinder port 104a connected to the chamber 102a of the cylinder 102 to communicate with the tank port 108, so that fluid in the chamber 102a is discharged to the tank T.
Such feeding of fluid to the chamber 102b and discharge of fluid in the chamber 102a lead to movement of the piston 101, to thereby generate power assisting force for steering of the wheels.
When an operator looses his hold of the handle while keeping the wheels at a position thus steered, the change-over valve 103 is held at a neutral position. Such holing of the valve at the neutral position causes the cylinder ports 104a and 104b to be closed, so that fluid is confined in the chambers 102a and 102b. This results in the steered position of the wheels being maintained against self aligning torque, to thereby permit the wheels to maintain a steering angle thus obtained even when any external force is applied to the wheels.
When the handle is turned in a reverse direction, the change-over valve 103 is changed over to a change-over position 103b and fluid is discharged through the pressure port 106a of the trochoidal pump 106. The fluid thus discharged is then fed to the chamber 102a of the cylinder 102 and fluid in the chamber 102b is discharged to the tank T.
In the conventional power steering device thus constructed, the trochoidal pump 106 associated with the handle is arranged for the purpose of metering the amount of fluid fed to the cylinder 102.
Unfortunately, such a trochoidal pump inherently causes leakage of fluid therefrom due to its inherent structural defect. When it is not possible to carry out steering of the wheels as seen during rest swing locking, the fluid leakage affects the handle, to thereby cause turning of the handle to continue.
Thus, the conventional power steering device of the full-hydraulic type often causes the handle to be turned independently from the wheels. This leads to misregistration between a neutral point of the handle and that of the wheels, so that an operator often fails to appropriately judge the neutral position of the handle based on a position of the handle.
Also, in the conventional power steering device, turning of the handle causes fluid in an amount proportional to the amount of turning of the handle to be suddenly fed from the trochoidal pump 106 to the cylinder 101, resulting in a feeling of the steering at the time when application of assisting force is started being deteriorated.


A machine or board for sliding over snow, such as a ski, monoski, snow surfer, sledge, sleigh, . . ., has a sole provided with longitudinal scores. The scores are not rectilinear, but present an undulated form, typically of sinusoidal appearance, which gives this machine or board a much improved slide characteristic.

The phenomena associated with the slide of the plastic sole of a ski over snow are still barely known. Contrary to what may be thought a priori, a totally smooth sole does not slide well over the snow, most probably by reason of the films of water which tend to form on this plastic sole by the friction of the ski over the snow or ice.
This has mot escaped the specialists and a large number of Patents have been filed within the last ten years or so, describing, in ever greater detail, the possible use of skis whose plastic sole, which forms the slide surface, is provided with longitudinal rectilinear scores.
By way of illustration of this state of the art, the following documents may be cited, in chronological order clearly showing the historical development of these proposed skis with grooved sliding sole: CH-A-161.592, AT-A-182.997, FR-A-1.102.116, DE-A-1.108.599, FR-A-2.314.739 and FR-A-2.654.005. In all these documents, the scores are longitudinal and rectilinear.
One highly probable explanation for the use of these scores is that they allow evacuation and break of the films of water which form beneath the sole of the ski when it slides over snow or ice.
It has generally become apparent that the sliding of a ski was strongly influenced by the roughness Ra of its sole, the creation of straight, longitudinal scores having, among other beneficial effects, that of increasing, in manner easily adjustable when machining the sole, the roughness of said sole, all this being, moreover, most probably linked with the above-mentioned phenomenon of formation of films of water beneath this sole.
However, in Applicants' opinion and taking into account the increasing requirements of skiers who are constantly seeking to improve their performances, such straight scores have not appeared to provide an increase in the sliding performances sufficient to satisfy present requirements, particularly in competitive ski-ing.

Ski or other machine or board for sliding over snow, with scored sole


A phase-locked loop according to the present invention includes first and second frequency demultipliers, and a plurality of phase/frequency detectors. The first and second frequency demultipliers divide frequency of first and second signals by a predetermined number. Each of the plurality of phase/frequency detectors compares two signals supplied from the first and second frequency demultipliers. In accordance with a comparison result of the plurality of phase/frequency detectors, phase of the second signal is adjusted to be synchronized with the first signal.

A phase-locked loop is widely used in technical fields, such as frequency control, frequency synthesizing, FM (frequency modulation) demodulation, data recovery, signal synchronization, etc. One of the applications of the phase-locked loop is a jitter attenuator for removing jitter which is fluctuation of phase carried on a clock signal.
A first conventional phase-locked loop includes a phase/frequency detector for comparing phases between an input signal and an output signal, a loop filter for supplying a control signal in accordance with a signal supplied from the phase/frequency detector, and a voltage controlled oscillator. The voltage controlled oscillator adjusts a phase of the output signal in accordance with the control signal supplied from the loop filter in order that the input signal and the output signal are synchronized.
When a phase-locked loop is used for a jitter attenuator, it is necessary that a loop bandwidth thereof is narrower than a frequency component of jitter to be removed. Therefore, a phase difference between an input signal having jitter and output signal having no jitter becomes large. In such a phase-locked loop, it is necessary that a tracking range is wide in order to keep synchronism between an output signal and an input signal without phase slip.
Such a phase-locked loop having a wide tracking range has been proposed in a report "JITTER ATTENUATION PHASE LOCKED LOOP USING SWITCHED CAPACITOR CONTROLLED CRYSTAL OSCILLATOR" IEEE 1988 CUSTOM INTEGRATED CIRCUIT ITS CONFERENCE.
Next, a second conventional phase-locked loop shown in the above report will be explained. The second conventional phase-locked loop includes, in addition to the first conventional phase-locked loop, first and second frequency demultipliers for dividing frequency of input signal and output signal into a predetermined number (N).
According to the second conventional phase-locked loop, the divided signals are compared by a phase/frequency detector, so that tracking range of the phase-locked loop is expanded.
However, loop gain and loop bandwidth are decreased, and pull-in time is long. Further, jitter is increased at low frequencies of the output signal.


Merging of overlapping two-dimensional (2D) images that are formed by an image pick-up device as projections of a three-dimensional (3D) scene includes image registration by projective transformation of one of the 2D images. The transformation is derived from corresponding feature points found in both images. In order to achieve improved accuracy and stability, the coordinates of the corresponding feature points are translated so that, on average, the numerical ranges of coordinate values are minimized. An apparatus for performing the merging of overlapping 2D images includes an appropriately configured image processor or computer with an attached image acquisition device. In one embodiment, the apparatus is a diagnostic x-ray apparatus.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to image processing, in particular to methods and apparatus for registration and merging of a plurality of overlapping two-dimensional (2D) images of three-dimensional (3D) scenes, especially in cases where the 2D images are related to the 3D scenes by a projective (or camera) transformation. The invention also relates to apparatus for performing the disclosed image processing.
2. Description of the Related Art
In many fields of art and technology imaging of scenes that are too extended to be captured in a single camera image is important. Composite images of such scenes must be merged from individual overlapping images of more limited fields of view. One example of where image composition is useful is the formation of an image of an extended scene from the limited fields of view of a digital camera suitable for a PC. Another example is the formation of an image of an extended region of a patient from individual x-ray images which are usually of more limited fields of view.
In many cases, such as in the previous two examples, since individual 2D images are related to the 3D scene by projective transformations, pairs of the individual images to be merged are also related to each other by projective transformations. Consequently, as part of the image merging process, it is important to identify the best projective transformation relating each pair of overlapping 2D images so that by use of this transformation the images of the pair can be brought into registration.
Accordingly, methods have been developed and are known for determining such projective transformations. Typical of these methods is that disclosed in Schultz et al., 1999, IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing, vol. 4, pp. 3265–3268. Here, much attention is paid to automatically determining a plurality of pairs of corresponding points, one point of each pair being in each image, that is typically input in order to find the parameters of the projective transformation relating the images. Once the pairs of corresponding points in the two image are identified, actual determination of the projective transformation is disclosed to be routine.
However, merely routine determination of a projective transformation from a plurality of pairs of corresponding points has been discovered to often not be sufficiently stable or accurate. The relevant arts need a simple and accurate method of determining such projective transformations.
Citation of a reference herein, or throughout this specification, is not intended to be construed as an admission that such reference is prior art to the Applicant's invention of the invention subsequently claimed.

Method and apparatus for merging images into a composite image


A method for producing a rechargeable button cell having a negative electrode composed of a lithium/indium alloy, a positive lithium/intercalating electrode and an organic electrolyte, a lithium layer and an indium layer are introduced into a negative housing half-section. The positive electrode material is introduced into a positive housing half-section. The two housing half-sections are beaded to form the button cell once the organic electrolyte has been added and a separator has been placed in between, with a seal being inserted between the housing half-sections. A lithium-indium alloy is formed from the lithium layer and the indium layer by storage or a subsequent charging/discharge cycle.

One problem that occurs when using lithium as the negative electrode material in rechargeable electro-chemical elements is that lithium forms dendrites during charging and discharging. Thus, in electrochemical elements such as these, lithium/aluminium alloys or lithium/indium alloys are used as the active negative electrode material. DE 3816199 A1 discloses that the negative electrode can be in the form of a two-layered structure and comprises a layer of a lithium/aluminium alloy and a layer of aluminium.
It would accordingly be advantageous to simplify the production process for such electrochemical elements and, in particular, production of the negative electrode of the element.

Method for producing a rechargeable electrochemical element


To prevent correlated data from being inadvertently altered by subsequent modifications or additions, changes to correlated data are automatically detected. Corrections may be automatically applied to data to preserve data correlation. Change detection data is determined from an initial correlation between source data and dependent data. The change detection data is stored in association with the dependent data. A subsequent evaluation of the data defines a current correlation between the source data and the dependent data. The current correlation is evaluated with the change detection data to determine if the current correlation differs from the initial correlation. If the current correlation between source data and dependent data does not match the initial correlation, the current correlation is reevaluated using topological; geometric, or other analysis techniques. The reevaluated correlation can be provided as part of the authored state of a computer graphics component.

The present invention relates to the field of computer graphics, and in particular to methods and apparatus for creating, modifying, and using components to create computer graphics productions. Many computer graphic images are created by mathematically modeling the interaction of light with a three dimensional scene from a given viewpoint. This process, called rendering, generates a two-dimensional image of the scene from the given viewpoint, and is analogous to taking a photograph of a real-world scene. Animated sequences can be created by rendering a sequence of images of a scene as the scene is gradually changed over time. A great deal of effort has been devoted to making realistic looking and artistically compelling rendered images and animations.
Computer graphics images, animations, and other productions involving computer graphics, such as interactive entertainment software, are created from a number of different components. Generally, components include any data and instructions used to create products and applications that include computer graphics. Components can include three-dimensional models of geometry; texture maps, other arrays of data, lighting, and shading programs used to determine the visual appearance of models; and animation data and deformer functions used to specify changes and motion over time.
Digital production pipelines include modeling, shading, articulation, animation, simulation, layout, lighting, and rendering. Modeling is the creation of the three-dimensional geometry of characters, sets, props, and other objects. Shading is the specification of optical attributes of the surface and interior of objects. Articulation is the specification of joints and other moveable elements of objects. Animation specifies the motion of objects over time in one or more scenes, often with reference to the objects' articulation. Simulation specifies the motion, appearance, and/or behavior of objects. Layout specifies the arrangement of objects and cameras in one or more scenes. Lighting defines the location and other attributes of light in one or more scenes. Rendering produces images or animation from the components.
Users at each stage of the digital production pipeline create or modify numerous components to be used in creating a computer graphics image, animation, or other type of production using one or more software application tools. Components are typically combined during rendering to produce an animated sequence. For example, geometric models, shading programs and data, lighting, animation data, and deformers all need to be combined correctly to produce a rendered image or scene.
Often, components have complex relationships. For example, the geometry of a model may be defined as a mesh of connected points. Deformer components define the movement and deformation of these connected points. The effect of a deformer component may vary at different points of a mesh. To implement this, the points of a mesh are assigned different weight values. Each point's weight modulates or changes the effect of a deformer component on its respective point. The association between points and their deformer weights is an example of correlated data.
In a collaborative environment, different users may asynchronously create and/or modify correlated data. For example, a modeling user may specify mesh points, and an articulation user may specify deformer functions and deformer weights for these mesh points. In another example, a layout user may specify the placement of objects in a scene, and a lighting user may specify the influence of lights on these objects.
One problem with correlated data is that a user may change one component and inadvertently break the correlation with another component. For example, if a user modifies model geometry by adding or removing mesh points, this may cause the deformer weights previously specified to become invalid. For example, if a mesh point is deleted, a deformer weight may become assigned to a non-existent point or inadvertently associated with the wrong part of the mesh. This problem is especially acute in collaborative environments, where different users author components independently of each other and often unaware of the precise relationships between components.

Preserving data correlation in asynchronous collaborative authoring systems


A system for electrical heating of risers or pipes has at least two concentric layers of metal wires adapted to be used for low-voltage direct electric heating (LV-DEH), each pair being provided to heat a specific segment of a riser or a pipe. The system can be used for both the pipeline and the riser up to a top side.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of subsea electrical power cables. More specifically, it relates to a system for low voltage direct electrical heating (DEH) of a coaxial pipe or riser.
2. Description of the Related Art
The temperature of the oil or condensate in the underground reservoirs is typically about 90° C. The oil or condensate well stream contains several liquid substances that freeze when the temperature drops. This is a problem when the pipes are cooled in seawater, particularly during a shutdown of production, which causes the flow in the line to be impeded or even blocked due to the formation of hydrates or wax plugs. To solve this problem chemical treatments are mainly used. However, this has considerable operational costs and presents a risk to the environment should a leakage occur. Chemicals are used to prevent hydrate or wax formation during production shut-downs.
As an alternative to chemical treatment, hot water lines and electric heating has been in use for some years. Early ideas on how to extend DEH to include the production riser are all focused on utilizing one and the same electrical current, which invariably results in the need for high-voltage (HV) insulation in the riser.
Indirect heating using hot water or electrical heating cables will not dissipate heat at the optimal position within the riser. In addition, hot water will loose temperature with increasing depth and distance to a topside host. Use of chemicals is generally unwanted, mainly due to logistics and cost. Series connection with an existing DEH system, using a piggyback cable, would result in a need for high-voltage insulation, and also introduce uncontrolled current flow from sea water to topside structure.
In a paper, ISOPE 2000 (Halvorsen, Lervik and Klevjer), are described some different DEH-concepts. Three DEH-concepts are illustrated in FIG. 4 of said paper (not attached here) where:
a) is a common DEH-concept (DEH-a) for heating of a flowline and where the riser is excluded from the DEH. This concept is how DEH is utilized today. In operation, a current flows from a 50 (or 60) Hz alternating current (AC) power source on a platform, down to an isolated forward cable from the platform further down to and along the pipeline laying on the sea bed fastened to the pipeline as a piggyback cable and grounded at a far end. The current flows through this cable and returns via the pipeline to the point where the riser is connected to the pipeline. From this point the current is led through a separate return cable up and back again to the power source on the platform. Because the pipeline is grounded at both ends, a parallel current is flowing in the water surrounding the pipeline on the sea bed.b) is a DEH-concept (DEH-b) where DEH is extended to cover the pipeline as well as the pipeline on the sea bottom. A current flows from a 50 (or 60) Hz AC power source on a platform, along a piggyback cable downwards along the riser and further along the pipeline. The piggyback cable is connected to the pipeline and to ground at a far end. The current returns via the pipeline and further on to the end of the pipe in the riser. At the platform, the current is led back again to the power source on the platform. Because the pipeline and the pipe in the riser are grounded at their ends, parallel currents are in this configuration flowing in the water surrounding the pipeline and surrounding the pipe in the riser. Electrical current flowing in the pipe in the riser will generally be different from the current flowing in the pipeline on the sea bottom, with the current difference flowing in sea water.c) is a DEH-concept (DEH-c) where DEH is extended to cover the pipeline as well as the pipeline on the sea bottom like in DEH-c, but where the riser/flowline connection is insulated and not grounded at this point. This forces the same electrical current to flow in the pipe in the riser and in the pipeline on the sea bottom.
A problem with the DEH-a is that the last part of the pipeline e.g. the riser, umbilical or stiff pipe, is not getting heated by the DEH.
A problem with the DEH-b is that the high voltage and the resulting not well controlled current in the surrounding water are potential threats to safe operation. Depending on the construction, high-voltage (HV) insulation will probably be required in the riser. Said not well controlled current may potentially amount to several hundred amperes. DEH-b will therefore hardly get accepted for use in the oil industry. For dynamic/free-hanging risers, another problem is related to the need to attach the piggyback cable to the dynamic riser. A piggyback element like this will generally result in unpredictable dynamic behavior of the dynamic riser, and may adversely influence clashing and/or fatigue properties of the riser.
DEH-c has the same drawbacks regarding security as DEH-b, the only functional difference being that the electrical current flowing through the riser is the same as that flowing through the pipeline on the sea bottom. Whether the current to be transferred from sea water to production unit (offshore platform or onshore) is larger or smaller than for DEH-b depends mainly on differences in geometry and material properties between riser and pipeline on sea bottom.
A direct heating system is based on the fact that an electric current in a metal conductor generates heat due to ohmic losses. In US2002122664 to Nexans, a system for heating a flow line including an umbilical is presented. In this application, the pipeline itself is used to dissipate ohmic losses and therefore also acts as a heating element. A separate insulated conductor is used to supply forward current. In this system, the far end related to a production platform, is the ground reference which is in electrical contact with the sea. The other end is insulated from the sea. This results in the voltage difference between the production line and the sea is increasing when moving from the far end and towards the platform. A disadvantage with this system is that the voltage difference between the sea and the pipeline will result in the need for high voltage (HV) insulation at the platform and some distance along the pipeline.
GB2435347 and GB2437161, both to Nexans, describe two other systems for DEH which are based on separate piggyback cables. GB2457791, also to Nexans, introduces yet another system with a piggyback cable. This application describes a system where the pipeline and the piggyback cable are placed together inside a magnetic core.

Low-voltage direct electrical heating LVDEH flexible pipes risers


An engine lubricant formulated as a complete crankcase motor oil or additive concentrate composed of a combination of chemical constituents including a base oil selected from a synthetic oil, a mineral oil or semi-synthetic base oil (hydrogenated oil) or combination thereof, an oil soluble molybdenum additive, a dispersant inhibitor containing zinc dithiophosphate, and viscosity index improvers and one or more seal swelling agents to lubricate the engine and recondition the seals of new and/or high mileage engines. Addition of a polyalphaolefin and/or one or more esters such as a diester or polyolester may also be utilized therein. The lubricant may be formulated as a complete engine oil crankcase lubricant, or concentrated into an additive for addition to conventional mineral oil based engine oil, synthetic engine oils, or blends thereof in an effective amount of up to 30 percent volume percent, typically from 20 to 25 percent by volume.

This is a Continuation-In-Part application of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/520,738 filed on Mar. 7, 2000, now abandoned filed as a Continuation-In-Part of U.S. Pat. No. 6,034,038 which issued on Mar. 7, 2000 from U.S. application Ser. No. 08/836,083 filed on Aug. 27, 1997 as a national application of PCT/US96/14186 claiming priority from U.S. Pat. No. 5,763,369 which issued on Jun. 9, 1998 from application Ser. No. 08/334,513 filed on Nov. 4, 1994 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,641,731 from U.S. application Ser. No. 08/455,353 filed on May 31, 1995 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,962,377 which issued on Oct. 5, 1999 from U.S. application Ser. No. 881,415 on Jun. 24, 1997 all of which are incorporated by reference herein.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Ashland Licensing and Intellectual Property, LLC


A computer program for rendering a magnified graphic user interface (GUI) establishes an initial magnification level for the graphic user interface and the pointing indicia. The GUI and the pointing indicia are magnified in synchronization until the magnification convergence point is reached. At magnification levels above the convergence point, magnification of the GUI and the pointing indicia becomes decoupled, and only GUI is magnified while the pointing indicia remain at the convergence magnification level. If the GUI magnification level falls below the convergence point, the magnification of GUI and the pointing indicia is recoupled and magnification becomes synchronized. Floor and ceiling magnification values for the pointing indicia may also be established.

Low vision individuals often require magnification of computer screen interfaces to discern text and images. Magnification systems may be built into the operating system itself or may comprise feature-rich, third-party products such as those sold under the MAGIC brand manufactured by Freedom Scientific, Inc., based in St. Petersburg, Fla.
A deficiency in the current state of the art is the over-magnification of the pointing indicia. Low vision users are often limited in the magnification they can impose because the pointing indicia are magnified in step with the entire GUI. Thus, at high magnification levels (i.e., exceeding 16-fold) pointing indicia become so large they obscure much of the GUI itself.
Another deficiency exists in the current state of the art wherein low vision users, depending on the application and their own preferences, may desire a larger or smaller cursor or caret to enhance productivity. For example, a low vision user might desire a mouse pointer for a spreadsheet application to be magnified to 2-fold while the same mouse pointer in a word processing application is easier to use at 4-fold magnification.

Magnification interface with independent pointer sizing


A waveform synthesizing circuit comprises a plurality of signal output switching means for outputting predetermined magnitudes of voltage or current signals when a voltage or current value of an input pulse reaches preliminarily assigned comparing reference values, a signal summing means for superimposing output signals from a plurality of signal output switching means for summing, and a comparing signal switching means detecting the rising and falling of the input pulse, providing the comparing reference values with given differences between a plurality of signal output switching means according to an order of operation of a plurality of signal output switching means upon the detection of a rise, and providing the comparing reference values, which are different from those for rising, with given differences between a plurality of signal output switching means according to an order of operation of a plurality of signal output switching means upon the detection of a fall.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a waveform synthesizing circuit. More specifically, the invention relates to a waveform synthesizing circuit to be employed in a transceiver or so forth for LAN (Local Area Network) for waveform shaping. Particularly, the invention relates to a waveform synthesizing circuit provided in parallel formation with a plurality of current switching circuits for outputting a predetermined magnitude of current when a voltage value reaches a preliminarily assigned comparing reference voltage, and output with superimposing currents output from a plurality of current switching circuits for summing.
2. Description of the Related Art
For establishing mutual communication between wordprocessors, personal computers or intelligent terminals installed within a relatively limited area, such as within a house or so forth, using a local area network system (LAN).
In FIG. 1, a basic construction of the Ethernet is illustrated as a typical example of a bus type LAN.
In FIG. 1, a coaxial cable 3 is used as a transmission cable. At both ends of the cable, 50 .OMEGA. of terminal resistors are provided for impedance matching. On the other hand, depending upon necessity, transceivers 2 are provided in the transmission path of the coaxial cable 3 for enabling communication with various terminals connected to the coaxial cable 3. To each transceiver 2, various terminals, such as a personal computer 6, a file server 5, printer 4 and so forth are connected, and mutual communication is performed between personal computers 6. Also, by the personal computers 6, the file server 5, the printer 4 or so forth are used in common. It should be noted that, in the case of Ethernet, a so-called CSMA/CD (carrier sense multiple access/collision detection) system is used to perform high speed communication with 50 ns or 100 ns of transmission pulse width employing a manchester code in the transmission signal.
For the circuit of the transceiver 2 connecting the terminal equipments 4 through 6 to the coaxial cable 3, the international standard IEEE 802.3 is applied to make the waveform of the pulse current waveform smooth by suppressing high harmonics so as to avoid noise on the transmission path and restrict degradation of the transmission waveform. In order to satisfy this requirement, a waveform synthesizing circuit is incorporated in the circuit of the transceiver 2.
One example of the conventional waveform synthesizing circuit is illustrated in FIG. 2. This circuit is provided with a plurality of current switching circuits (five, a through e in the shown embodiment) in parallel formation that output predetermined magnitudes of currents when the voltage value of an input pulse input to an input terminal (IN1) 11 reaches respective preliminarily assigned comparing reference voltages V.sub.ra through V.sub.re. The currents output from respective plurality of current switching circuits (a) through (e) are superimposed for summing, and the summed current is output from an output terminal OUT 12 as the output current. For example, the comparing reference voltages V.sub.ra through V.sub.re provided for respective plurality of current switching circuits (a) through (e) are determined by a predetermined current of a constant current circuit comprising a voltage control setting terminal (VCS) 19, a transistor 20 and a resistor 21, voltage drops at breeder resistors R1 through R5 by the predetermined current, and forward voltages between bases and emitters of the emitter follower transistors 13 to 17, which serve as low impedance buffers. As an example of an assignment of the comparing reference voltage V.sub.ra through V.sub.re, V.sub.re is a value V.sub.re =-5.95 V determined by the summing of voltage drops at the resistor R1 for the base-emitter forward voltage of the transistor 18 and the base-emitter forward voltage of the emitter follower 17 from the ground potential. For subsequent reference voltages, by summing respective voltage drops at respective resistors R2 to R5, the reference voltages become V.sub.rd =-6.0 V, V.sub.rc =-6.40 V, V.sub.rb =-6.56 and V.sub.ra =-6.70 V.
Operation in this case will be discussed with reference to the current switching circuit (e). When the pulse voltage input to the input terminal IN1 drops below the potential of V.sub.re =-5.95 V, an operational transistor 22 at IN1 side among operational transistors 22 and 23 of the current switching circuit e turns OFF, and the transistor 23, to which the V.sub.re is applied, turns ON to output (draw) current to the output terminal 12. Next, when the pulse voltage at the input IN1 reaches V.sub.rd =-6.08, then the current switching circuit d becomes active so that both currents of the current switching circuits (d) and (e) are superimposed for summing to be output. Similarly, the currents of respective current switching circuits (c) to (a) are summed so that a synthesized waveform, in which output transition waveforms are synthesized in a stepwise fashion, is output. Subsequently, while the input pulse voltage is rising, the output transition waveforms are synthesized in a stepwise fashion in opposite order. Accordingly, the synthesized waveform, in which the pulse transition waveform is dulled during an input pulse voltage transition period (for example, passing period of Vra through Vrd) passing through respective comparing reference voltages V.sub.ra through V.sub.re in order. This output pulse is smoothed for the stepwise transition component by a simple low pass filter at the next stage. Therefore, the pulse waveform having a smooth transition configuration at the leading and trailing edge can be obtained.
However, the above-mentioned waveform synthesizing circuit has the following problem.
FIG. 3 shows an output current in the case that the above-mentioned waveform synthesizing circuit is employed.
FIG. 3(A) shows a waveform of the input pulse (t) at the input terminal IN1, FIG. 3(C) shows an ideal output current waveform of the waveform synthesizing circuit relative to the input pulse. As shown in FIG. 3(C), the waveform required is a symmetric waveform with smooth transition portions.
However, in practice, the waveform output from the conventional waveform synthesizing circuit is as illustrated in FIG. 3(B). In the case of this waveform, variation immediately after the rising and falling is sharp and asymmetric between left and right. Therefore, it cannot be said that the output waveform is satisfactorily shaped, because of the wiring capacity on the circuit board or the LSI chip or the output impedance of the output terminal OUT 12. When an attempt is made to reduce current consumption and make the circuit into LSI, the above-mentioned waveform (FIG. 3(B)) becomes more remarkable. In this case, a high harmonic component forming the abruptly varying portion is included in the output waveform to easily generate high harmonic noise in the transmission path. Therefore, the signal waveform propagating through the transmission path can be substantially degraded.
Therefore, in view of the above-mentioned problem, it is an object of the present invention to provide a waveform synthesizing circuit that is unaffected by the capacity of wiring or so forth, satisfies the requirements for reduction of power consumption, and provides smooth output current waveform and a high harmonic component with reduced magnitude.


A wellhead system comprising a high pressure housing having a retractable ring and a casing hanger having an activation ring configured to be engaged by the retractable ring when the casing hanger is lowered into the high pressure housing. An expandable load member is carried by the casing hanger into the high pressure housing. When the activation ring is engaged by the retractable ring, the activation ring is blocked from further downward motion. The activation ring and the body of the casing hanger cooperate with the load member to expand the load member outward into engagement with the high pressure housing as the casing hanger is lowered further into the high pressure housing. The outer surface of the load member and the inner surface of the high pressure housing are configured so that the high pressure housing supports the casing hanger when the load member is expanded into engagement with the high pressure housing.

The invention relates generally to wellhead casing assemblies. In particular, the invention relates to a wellhead casing assembly having a casing hanger actuated by a contractible ring disposed in a wellhead housing.
Casing is strong steel pipe that is used in an oil and gas well to ensure a pressure-tight connection from the surface to the oil and/or gas reservoir. Casing serves many purposes in the well. It can protect the wellbore from caving in or being washed out. It can also confine production to the wellbore; so that water does not intrude into the wellbore or drilling mud intrude into the surrounding formations. It can also provide an anchor for the components of the well. Production tubing, such as coiled tubing, typically is used to transport oil to the surface.
Several sections of casing joined together end-to-end are known as a "casing string." Because casing serves several different purposes, it is typical to install more than casing string in a well. Casing strings typically are run in a concentric arrangement with each inner casing string extending progressively deeper into the ground. For example, typically, the outermost casing string extends to the shallowest depth in the ground and the innermost casing string extends to the deepest depth.
A casing hanger is a device that is used to support a casing string from a wellhead housing or other structure within the well. In addition, the casing hanger serves to ensure that the casing is properly located in the well. When the casing string has been run into the wellbore, the casing string is hung, or suspended, in the well by the casing hanger. Multiple casing hangers may supported by the wellhead housing.
Typically, the casing hanger rests on a landing shoulder inside the wellhead housing. In one type of wellhead housing, the load shoulder is permanently formed in the bore during manufacturing. This permanent load shoulder reduces the effective diameter for objects that are desired to be inserted in the wellbore below the casing hanger. For example, it may be desired to suspend one or more casing hangers from casing below the wellhead housing. In some instances, it may be desired that the casing hangers suspended below the wellhead housing take advantage of the full bore of the casing below the wellhead housing for the entire length of the bore.
A number of techniques have been developed to enable full bore access to components below the wellhead housing. However, these techniques typically use complicated load ring systems to support the casing hanger within the wellhead housing.
Therefore, an improved technique for supporting casing with a wellhead is desired. In particular, an improved technique for supporting a casing hanger in a wellhead while providing full bore access below the wellhead is desired.

Well assembly having a casing hanger supported by a load member actuated by a retractable member disposed in the wellhead


A connecting tape made of insulating material is adhered between a stage unit 21 and a stage unit 22. The stage units 21 and 22 form united stage units by that. Therefore, edge parts 211 and 221 of the stage units 21 and 22 are bound by the connecting tape 41 and of which movements are restricted. The united stage units 21 and 22 are securely supported by support units 31 and 32 and support units 33 and 34. As a result, number of the support units is reduced and inner lead 12 consumed.

A) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a lead frame to be mounted to a semiconductor chip.
B) Description of the Related Art
For example, a semiconductor chip formed by a photolithography process is packaged via bonding after mounting to a lead frame. Recently a multi-chip package that mounts plurality (two or more) of the semiconductor chips on a single lead frame is widely used. In the multi-chip package, plurality of stage units to be mounted onto these semiconductor chips corresponding to the numbers of the semiconductor chips are equipped (Refer to JPA H01-308058). Each stage unit is supported by a frame unit on the outskirt by a supporting unit for supporting.
When the plurality of the stage units are equipped, there is a risk for each stage unit to be deformed in following processes such as a packaging process, etc. For example, when resin is injected in the packaging process, each stage unit may be buffeted by the flow of the resin. If the stage is buffeted, an electrical damage such as cut in a bonding wire may occur. Therefore, in the multi-chip package, each of two stage units is supported by a supporting unit independently. Moreover, two stage units are connected by a united connection unit to reduce deformation of the stage unit (refer to JPA 2005-64076).
However, when each stage unit is supported by the supporting unit, it is necessary to equip at least a supporting unit extending from each angled part of the stage units to the frame units in order to support the stage units stably. On the other hand, plurality of inner leads to be connected with the semiconductor chips mounted on the stage units are equipped on the frame unit. Therefore, a unit of the inner leads is used as the supporting unit, and the inner leads that can be usable for connecting with the semiconductor chips will decrease. As a result, it may cause large sizing of the frames in order to reserve predetermined number of the inner leads.
Moreover, in the multi-chip package, for example, a signal-type large scale integrated circuit (LSI) driven at a low voltage of about several volts for processing signals and a controlling-type switching element for a controlling system driven by this signal-typed LSI at a high voltage of from about several tens volts to several hundreds volts are mounted on the same lead frame. In this case, difference in electric potentials between the stage unit mounting the signal-typed LSI and the stage unit mounting the controlling-typed switching element becomes large. Therefore, it is necessary to insulate the two stage units. As a result, if the two stage units are connected by a united connection unit as disclosed in JPA 2005-64076, there will be a problem that it is impossible to insulate the two stage units.