FinFET semiconductor devices with local isolation features and methods for fabricating such devices are provided. In one embodiment, a method for fabricating a semiconductor device includes providing a semiconductor substrate comprising a plurality of fin structures formed thereon, wherein each of the plurality of fin structures has sidewalls, forming spacers about the sidewalls of the plurality of fin structures, and forming a silicon-containing layer over the semiconductor substrate and in between the plurality of fin structures. The method further includes removing at least a first portion of the silicon-containing layer to form a plurality of void regions while leaving at least a second portion thereof in place and depositing an isolation material in the plurality of void regions.

In contrast to traditional planar metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs), which are fabricated using conventional lithographic fabrication methods, nonplanar MOSFETs incorporate various vertical transistor structures, and typically include two or more gate structures formed in parallel. One such semiconductor device is the "FinFET," which takes its name from the multiple thin silicon "fins" that are used to form the respective gate channels, and which are typically on the order of tens of nanometers in width.
A FinFET is a type of transistor that lends itself to the dual goals of reducing transistor size while maintaining transistor performance. The FinFET is a three dimensional transistor formed in part in a thin fin that extends upwardly from a semiconductor substrate. Transistor performance, often measured by its transconductance, is proportional to the width of the transistor channel. In a FinFET, the transistor channel is formed along the vertical sidewalls of the fin, so a wide channel, and hence high performance, can be achieved without consuming a relatively large area of the substrate surface required by the transistor.
FinFET semiconductor devices often are fabricated using semiconductor (or silicon) on insulator (SOI) substrates. There are significant advantages, however, to fabricating FinFET semiconductor devices on a bulk semiconductor substrate, including significantly lower cost of fabrication and higher crystalline quality of the bulk semiconductor substrate compared to a SOI substrate. Some problems that are easily solved when using SOI substrates must be addressed when fabricating FinFET semiconductor devices on a bulk semiconductor substrate. One of those problems involves electrical isolation between adjacent fins and between adjacent active areas. When using a SOI substrate, electrical isolation between fins is achieved by etching away all of the semiconductor material between the fins, leaving the fins extending upwardly from the underlying insulating material. Fabrication of FinFET semiconductor devices on bulk semiconductor substrates, however, requires the formation of insulator filled trenches, commonly referred to as shallow trench isolation (STI) features.
As semiconductor devices are scaled smaller and smaller, it becomes more difficult to fabricate the STI features between increasingly narrow trenches. For example, with smaller spacing between fins, the prevalence of "seams" or "voids," which are essentially open spaces in an otherwise continuous material layer, increases as it becomes more difficult to deposit the isolation material between the fins. If the isolation feature contains any such defects, there is a possibility that electrical isolation between transistors may not be provided as desired, potentially resulting in a device failure. Prior art solutions have attempted to employ more "flowable" isolation materials, such as flowable silicon oxides, that are less susceptible to forming seams or voids. However, these flowable materials have an undesirable side effect of causing excess stresses on the fin structures, which can cause fin bending and degraded fin performance.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide methods for fabricating FinFET integrated circuits on bulk semiconductor substrates that provide the necessary electrical isolation between fin structures. It is further desirable to provide such methods that are not susceptible to fin bending. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present disclosure will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background.

FinFET semiconductor devices with local isolation features and methods for fabricating the same


The present invention generally provides methods and apparatus for reducing noise in a detected electromagnetic wave used to telemeter data during a wellbore operation. In one embodiment, two surface antennae are placed on opposite sides of the wellbore and at the same distance from the wellbore. The signals from the two antennae are summed to reduce the noise in the electromagnetic signal transmitted from the electromagnetic downhole tool.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to wireless data transmission systems. Particularly, the present invention relates to methods for increasing the reliability of detected electromagnetic waves. More particularly, the present invention relates to methods for reducing noise in a detected electromagnetic wave used to telemeter data from a drilling operation.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many operations in the drilling, evaluation, completion, and producing of oil and gas wells require communication between the surface of the earth and various devices located within the well borehole.
During the drilling operation, various formation and drilling parameters including, among others, the weight on the drill bit, downhole pressure, and borehole directional orientation, are commonly monitored. It is known to include instruments in the drill string to measure these various earth formation properties as the drill bit penetrates the formation. This is commonly referred to as logging-while-drilling ("LWD") or measurement-while-drilling ("MWD"). In addition to making measurements, these processes also involve the transmission of the measured parameters to the earth's surface.
A variety of data transmission systems have been used to transmit data between downhole and surface equipment. Probably the most common data transmission system is a "hard wire" or wireline system using conductor electrical cable, coaxial cable, or fiber optic cable. Generally, a wireline system includes a measuring instrument or "tool" conveyed along a borehole using a cable made of a single electrical conductor, multiple electrical conductors, one or more fiber optic conductors, or combinations thereof. The cable also functions as a means for communicating between the downhole tool and equipment at the surface. Data transmission rates can be very high using the hard wire transmission system. However, wireline systems, in general, can not be used during drilling operations. Therefore, wireline logs are typically run after a well has been drilled, or at intermediate steps in the drilling of the well with the drill string removed from the borehole. Other disadvantages of the wireline system include damage to the cable due to exposure in the wellbore, reduction of operating clearances for other operations, and complication of the tubular connection process.
Wireless systems for transmitting data have been developed to overcome the problems encountered with the wireline system. One example of the wireless system is the "mud pulse" system, which utilizes the drilling fluid as the transmission medium. As the drilling fluid is circulate in the wellbore, the flow of the drilling fluid is repeatedly interrupted to generate a varying pressure wave in the drilling fluid as a function of the downhole measured data. A drawback of the mud pulse systems is that the data transmission rates are very slow. Transmission rates are limited by poor pulse resolution as pressure pulsed attenuates along the borehole and by the velocity of sound within the drilling mud.
Another wireless data transmission system used in the industry is an electromagnetic ("EM") telemetry system. FIG. 1 shows a conventional EM telemetry system used in a drilling operation. The drill string 10 is separated into two portions by an insulating gap ring 32. The lower portion of the drill string 10 may include a drill bit 20, EM transmitter 35, and other instruments such as a MWD tool 30. Drilling and geological data acquired by the MWD tool 30 is relayed to the transmitter 35, which broadcasts the data in the form of a low frequency EM wave 15. Specifically, voltage applied between the upper and lower portions of the drill string 10 generates the EM wave 15 that propagates outward and upward towards the surface 3. The EM wave 15 travels through the earth to the surface 3 where a receiver 70 may measure the potential difference between a receiver 60 located proximate the blow out preventer 25 and an antenna 50 located at a predetermined distance away from the blow out preventer 25.
Date transmission via an EM telemetry system relies on the accurate detection of weak electrical signals by the receivers located at the surface. As such, stray surface noises or other ambient noises may interfere with the accuracy of the detected signals. For example, the rig 5 itself may produce noises having a frequency of 60 Hz. Thus, data extracted from the EM signal using the EM system in FIG. 1 may be compromised by the rig noise. However, because rig noise frequency is typically higher than the EM wave, this noise may be easily removed by using notch filters.
Another source of noise arises during drilling. Drill pipes are often inspected before deployment. Part of the inspection process may require the drill pipe to be magnetized. It is believed that electrical induction from rotation of magnetized drill pipe adjacent the BOP may produce a low frequency noise. Unlike rig noise, drill pipe noise may fall within the same frequency band as the EM signal, thereby making noise rejection more difficult.
There is a need, therefore, for a method for reducing the signal noise in a detected EM wave used to telemeter data during wellbore operations. There is also a need for a method for increasing the accuracy of telemetering data in real time between the surface and a downhole equipment.

Methods and apparatus for reducing electromagnetic signal noise


Certain aspects are directed to downhole power delivery tools using hydrostatic pressure within the wellbore. In one aspect, a downhole power delivery tool is provided that can be disposed in a wellbore through a fluid-producing formation. The downhole power delivery tool includes a body defining an inlet proximate to a chamber in the body, an actuation mechanism in the body and adjacent to the inlet, and a piston proximate to the chamber. The actuation mechanism can allow communication of hydrostatic pressure via the inlet to the chamber from an annulus external to the body in response to an actuation force being applied to the actuation mechanism. The hydrostatic pressure communicated to the chamber applies a first force to the piston. The piston applies a second force to a rod movable relative to the body in response to the first force being applied to the piston.

Various devices can be utilized in a well traversing a hydrocarbon-bearing subterranean formation. Many such devices are configured to be actuated, installed, or removed by a force applied to the device while disposed in the well. In one example, a packer device may be installed in production tubing in the well by applying a force to an elastomeric element of the packer. The elastomeric element may expand in response to the force. Expansion of the elastomeric element may restrict the flow of fluid through an annulus between the packer and the tubing. In another example, a force may be applied to a removable plug device to withdraw the plug from an installed position in the wellbore.
As the depth of a well increases, corresponding increased temperatures may hinder the operation of various devices due to temperature limitations of components of the devices. At some depths, a device may experience greater pressure exerted upon the device by fluids in the wellbore. Actuating such a device may require applying sufficient amounts of force to overcome the force exerted by wellbore fluids to actuate, install, or remove the device.

Downhole power delivery tool powered by hydrostatic pressure


An optical disk apparatus is downsized. The optical disk apparatus comprises an optical disk drive mechanism having a rotating mechanism for rotating an optical disk and an optical head for optically reading data on the optical disk, and a circuit board. An analog circuit and a digital circuit are mounted upon a single surface on one side of the circuit board of the optical disk drive mechanism. This analog circuit includes a drive circuit for driving the optical head, and a read circuit for creating read data from detection signals of the optical head. The digital circuit includes a one chip LSI circuit having a processor for executing the main control, a memory connected to an internal address/data bus and used for processing of the processor, a logic circuit connected to the internal address/data bus for creating a timing gate for transmitting and receiving the data to and from the optical head, and a controller connected to the internal address/data bus and for performing interface control with a host apparatus.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an optical disk apparatus including an optical disk drive mechanism and a circuit board mounted with a control circuit and, more particularly, to an optical disk apparatus constructed to decrease a thickness of the apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
An optical disk apparatus has been utilized as a storage apparatus in a computer system. Such an optical disk apparatus has been required to increase in storage capacity and to be downsized. For example, it has been required that the optical disk apparatus be incorporated into a lap-top type computer.
FIG. 6 is a view showing a construction in the prior art. FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a circuit in the prior art. FIGS. 6 and 7 exemplify a magneto-optic disk apparatus by way of an optical disk apparatus.
As illustrated in FIG. 6, a control circuit of the magneto-optic disk apparatus is constructed as follows. To be specific, a microprocessor (MPU) 61 executes main control of the apparatus. A random access memory (RAM) 65 is a memory used for processing of the MPU 61.
A read-only memory (ROM) 66 is a memory for storing the control program executed by the MPU 61. An optical disk controller (ODC) 63 carries out the interface control with a host apparatus, and also encodes/decodes the data. A random access memory (RAM) 67 is used as a buffer memory for read/write data.
A digital signal processor (DSP) 64 effects servo control of the optical head of the optical disk drive mechanism. A control logic circuit 62 is a group of logic circuits for transmitting and receiving digital signals to and from the optical head of the optical disk drive mechanism. The control logic circuit 62 creates a timing gate signal for transmitting and receiving the data between the optical head and the processor 61.
Such digital circuits 61, 65, 63, 64, 66 are connected via a common address/data bus 68. Analog circuits are provided in addition to these digital circuits. The analog circuits consist of a read circuit 69, a write circuit 71, a drive circuit 72 and a signal amplifier circuit 75.
The read circuit 69 amplifies an output of an optical detector 90 of the optical head and thereafter generates data pulses. The thus generated pulses are outputted as read data to a controller 63. The write circuit 71 pulse-drives a laser diode 91 of the optical head with a predetermined power in accordance with the write data. The data are thereby written onto the optical disk.
The drive circuit 72 drives the drive mechanism 92 of the optical head in accordance with a servo signal given from the DSP 64. The drive mechanism 92 of the optical head may include a focus actuator of the optical head, a track actuator of the optical head, and a moving motor of the optical head.
A servo AGC circuit 81 creates a focus error signal and a track error signal from detection outputs of the optical detector 90 within the optical head, and outputs them to the DSP 64.
An explanation will be given with reference to a circuit block diagram of FIG. 7.
As illustrated in FIG. 7, the MPU 61 and the control logic circuit 62 are formed on one chip. Then, a clock source 73 is connected to this one-chip LSI. The RAM 67 and a terminal resistor 74 of a host interface are connected to the optical disk controller 63. The RAM 65 and the ROM 66 are connected to the MPU 61 via the address/data bus 68.
The optical head 80 is provided with a write LSI circuit 71 and a pre-amplifier servo AGC circuit 81. The write LSI circuit 71 performs read/write light emission control of the laser diode (light emitting element) 91. The write LSI circuit 71 is connected to the control logic circuit 62, and performs read/write light emission control of the laser diode 91 in accordance with an indication from the MPU 61.
After converting a detection current of the optical detector 90 of the optical head 80 into a voltage, the pre-amplifier servo AGC circuit 81 generates a regenerative signal, a focus error signal and a track error signal. The focus/track error signals are outputted to the DSP 64.
The read circuit (LSI) 69 generates a data pulse from of the regenerative signal of the pre-amplifier servo AGC circuit 81, and outputs the pulsed read data to the optical disk controller 63. Note that an analog switch 69-1 and an inverting circuit 69-2 are provided for the read circuit 69.
The analog LSI circuit 75 is constructed by integrating analog circuits such as an operational amplifier and a comparator that are used within the apparatus. The analog LSI circuit 75 filters and amplifies the focus/track error signals.
An amplifier 76 is an operational amplifier for analog filtering. The amplifier 76 filters an output of the pre-amplifier servo AGC circuit 81. An amplifier 77 is an operational amplifier for analog filtering and further filters the output from the analog LSI circuit 75.
A mechanism 82 of the optical disk drive is provided with a lens position detecting circuit 93 for detecting a lens position of the optical head 80. An AGC amplifier 70 is a circuit for effecting a current/voltage conversion of a sensor signal of the detecting circuit 93.
Further, the mechanism 82 of the optical disk drive is provided with a focus actuator 92-1, a track actuator 92-2 and a voice coil motor 92-3 as drive mechanisms of the optical head 80.
The focus actuator 92-1 drives the lens of the optical head 80 in a focusing direction, thereby adjusting a focus position of light beams. The track actuator 92-2 drives the lens of the optical head 80 in a track traversing direction, thereby adjusting a track position of the light beams. The voice coil motor 92-3 moves the optical head 80 in the track traversing direction on the optical disk.
The DSP 64 executes a variety of servo control processes in response to the focus/track error signals transmitted from the analog LSI circuit 75, and the lens position detecting signal from the AGC amplifier 70. That is to say, the DSP 64 performs focus servo control, track servo control and seek control as well.
The DSP 64 has a group of A/D converters for executing analog-to-digital conversions of the focus/track error signals and the lens position detecting signal. Then, the DSP 64 calculates servo control values (a focus servo control value, a track servo control value and a seek servo control value) on the basis of these A/D converted signals.
The DSP 64 has a group of D/A converters for converting the various servo control values into analog servo control values. A drive circuit 72 for the servo control and the seek control is connected to the DSP 64.
This drive circuit 72 is constructed of a focus driver circuit 72-1 for driving the focus actuator 92-1 in accordance with a focus servo control quantity, a track driver circuit 72-2 for driving the track actuator 92-2 in accordance with a track servo control quantity, and a VCM driver circuit 72-3 for driving a voice coil motor 92-3 in accordance with a seek servo control quantity.
Further, the mechanism 82 is provided with an eject motor 93-1 for ejecting the optical disk cartridge out, and a spindle motor 93-2 for rotating the optical disk.
The eject driver circuit 78-1 drives the eject motor 93-1 in accordance with an indication of the MPU 61 via the control logic circuit 62. The spindle driver circuit 78-2 drives a spindle motor 93-2 in accordance with an indication of the MPU 61 through the control logic circuit 62.
Provided further is a bias magnetic field coil 94 for applying a magnetic field across the optical disk. The bias driver circuit 79 drives the bias magnetic field coil 94 in accordance with an indication of the MPU 61 via the control logic circuit 62. The bias magnetic field coil 94, through which predetermined currents in positive and negative directions flow, thereby generates the magnetic fields of positive and negative polarities.
An amplifier 79-1 is an operational amplifier for detecting the bias drive current. A comparator 79-2 is a comparator for setting a bias drive current value.
A dip switch 75 is a switch for setting addresses from outside. A flip-flop 76 holds set values of the dip switch 75. The dip switch 75 and the flip-flop 76 are provided for an SCSI interface.
FIGS. 8 and 9 are diagrams (part 1, and part 2) showing a construction in the prior art. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a construction in the prior art.
FIG. 8 is the diagram of a circuit board 86 as viewed from above. FIG. 9 is the diagram of the circuit board 86 as viewed from under. According to the prior art, as illustrated in FIG. 8, respective ICs and LSIs are mounted on the upper surface of the single circuit board 86. Then, remaining ICs and LSIs 65, 66, 67-2 are mounted on the lower surface of the circuit board 86 is, as illustrated in FIG. 9. Incidentally, 84-1 to 84-5 in FIGS. 8 and 9 designate connectors for connections to the optical disk drive mechanism. Additionally, the numeral 85 represents an interface connector consisting of an SCSI interface connector.
Referring to FIG. 9, areas 87, 88, 89 defined by dotted lines on the circuit board 86 are classified as wiring areas for an address/data bus, etc. The areas elevated by the bias coils of the optical disk drive mechanisms 80, 82 do not have a height enough to mount the parts. Parts can not be mounted on these areas and these areas are therefore provided with the address/data bus.
As shown in FIG. 10, the circuit board 86 is fixed onto the optical disk drive mechanism 82 with screws. The circuit board 86 is fixed to the optical disk drive mechanism 82 so that its lower surface, upon which is mounted a comparatively small number of parts, faces to the optical disk drive mechanism 82.
In recent years, there has been demanded an expansion of a field where the optical disk apparatus is utilized. The optical disk apparatus is required to be used as a substitute for, e.g., a floppy disk apparatus of a lap-top type computer. The lap-top type computer has a slot for a 3.5 inch. floppy disk apparatus that is approximately 17 mm thick, 102 mm wide and 140 mm deep.
Accordingly, it is required that the optical disk apparatus be constructed of a size small enough to enter this slot in order to incorporate the optical disk apparatus into the lap-top type computer.
There arises, however, a problem inherent in the prior art, wherein both surfaces of the circuit board 86 are mounted with the parts such as ICs in the prior art, and hence the optical disk apparatus can not be reduced in thickness.
Further, the control circuit of the optical disk apparatus has a multiplicity of digital LSIs connected to a common bus. Then, these components are connected to each other via the common bus, and therefore the bus on the circuit board needs to be made relatively long. The common bus can not be normally arranged at random, but is required to be arranged in parallel. Therefore, the bus on the circuit board is a large obstacle against the layout of the parts. Another problem is that it is difficult to mount a one-sided surface of a small circuit board with the parts.
Furthermore, a multiplicity of analog circuits exist in the control circuits of the optical disk apparatus. Those analog circuits are not so resistant to outside noises. On the other hand, since the digital circuit makes high-frequency signals run through the common bus, the noises are caused from the bus. There must be a problem in which those noises exert adverse influences on the analog circuits mounted on the circuit board.
Besides, the circuit board is required to be mounted with the multiplicity of ICs, and this mounting is time-consuming. Moreover, both surface of the circuit board are mounting with and parts, and therefore are required to be reflow-soldered. This results in such a problem that the manufacturing costs increase.

Downsized magneto-optical disk drive device


The invention provides a method for detecting the presence of altered serum proteins in an Hepatitis B Virus (HBV)-infected patient with liver inflammation, comprising: obtaining a sample of serum from the patient; subjecting the sample to protein gel electrophoresis to separate proteins contained therein; staining proteins separated on the electrophoresis gel with silver nitrate solution; scanning the images of stained proteins into an image analysis scanner to obtain gel images; comparing the gel images to control samples of electrophoresis gels prepared from serum of normal patient and serum of HBV-infected patient with liver inflammation to determine whether the sample of serum from the patient contains specific serum proteins. This invention also provides serum protein biomarkers for the diagnosis of patients with HBV infection and liver inflammation.

Hepatitis B virus (HBV), a serious infectious and widespread human pathogen, represents a major health problem worldwide. Chronic HBV infection has a very high risk of evolving into hepatocellular carcinoma. Although considerable progress was made during the past several years, the pathogenesis of HBV infection is still elusive and a definite diagnosis of HBV-infected liver information still relies on biopsy histological test.
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is one of the most common viral infections in humans with approximately 2 billion people infected [1]. Among them, 350 million became chronically infected. This is of particular concern in Asia-Pacific areas such as Southern China [2]. Around 25-40% will eventually die of liver disease (viz. cirrhosis with or without hepatocellular carcinoma); the death rate being 50% for males and 15% for females. Epidemiological studies reveal that HBV infection is a complicated condition and the pathogenesis of the infection is still not fully defined [2, 3]. Although many HBV markers such as hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), hepatitis B surface antibody, hepatitis Be antigen, hepatitis Be antibody, hepatitis B core antigen, hepatitis B core antibody, IgM and IgG have been identified and used in diagnosing and monitoring the progress of disease, no single serological test can unequivocally diagnose the infection [4]. For example, positive HBsAg is a hallmark for HBV, but negative HBsAg cannot exclude HBV infection [4]. Up to now, a definite diagnosis of HBV-infected liver inflammation still relies on a combination of serological, biochemical and histological examination.
Presently two classes of drugs are used for the treatment of chronic HBV [5, 6]. The first is a class of immunomodulators that act by modulating the immune response of the host to the HBV antigens. The second is a class of viral suppressors. The current best immune modulating drug, interferon α2b, only has limited effectiveness, especially with Asian patients. The viral suppressing agents need to take a long time to effectively decrease the level of HBV. Obviously, more specific and effective diagnosis and treatment methods are needed.

Serum biomarkers of Hepatitis B Virus infected liver and methods for detection thereof


The invention may be embodied in a disk drive for use in a mobile device. The mobile device may be a hand held computing device such as a personal digital assistant (PDA) or a mobile terminal such as a cellular telephone. The mobile device includes a host processor for accessing data on the disk drive. The disk drive has a rotating disk media and a moveable read/write head disposed over the disk media. The disk media is divided into a first data storage zone and a second data storage zone. The data storage zones are radially disposed in discrete areas of the disk media and each zone has a plurality of tracks for storing data. The mobile device may read data from the first data storage zone when the mobile device is in a mobile environment. The mobile device may read data from the second data storage zone only when the mobile device is in a non-mobile environment and may not read data from the second data storage zone when the mobile device is in a mobile environment.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to digital data storage, and more particularly, to a hard disk drive for use in a mobile device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A hard disk drive provides digital data storage on a magnetic media that is accessed using a flying head that precisely floats over the media. Use of a hard disk drive in a hand-held portable device is generally problematic because the device may be subjected to fairly high shock levels. A shock delivered to the disk drive may cause the head to contact or "slap" the disk media surface or cause the head to move off track and damage adjacent track data during a write operation.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a relatively rugged disk drive for use in a mobile device. The present invention satisfies these needs.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Mobile device and disk drive restricted from reading a data storage zone in a mobile environment


Semiconductor devices, such as LDMOS devices, are described that include an interlayer-dielectric layer (ILD) region having a thickness of at least two and one half (2.5) microns to increase the maximum breakdown voltage. In one or more implementations, the semiconductor devices include a substrate having a source region and a drain region formed proximate to a surface of the substrate. A gate is positioned over the surface and between the source region and the drain region. An ILD region having a thickness of at least two and one half (2.5) microns is formed over the surface and the gate of the device. The device also includes one or more field plates configured to shape an electrical field generated between the source region and the drain region when a voltage is applied to the gate.

Laterally diffused metal oxide semiconductor (LDMOS) devices are used in power application devices because the devices are easily integrated in BIPOLAR-CMOS-DMOS (BCD) processes and can extend the voltage capability of the technology with the laterally diffused junction device. For example, high voltage LDMOS devices may be used in lighting, motor control and switch-mode power supply applications. LDMOS devices rely on a shallow conduction layer formed under a LOCOS ("local oxidation of silicon") region or a STI (shallow trench isolation) region to handle the higher drain voltage, when the device is biased.
The on-state resistance ("RON") and the maximum breakdown voltage ("BVDSS") of the device are two (2) important characteristics of LDMOS designs. These characteristics are important for the operating parameters for the LDMOS devices, which dictate the applications in which the devices may be used. On-state resistance is typically dependent upon the design/layout of the device, the process condition, temperature, diffusion length, and the various materials used to fabricate the devices. Breakdown voltage is defined as the largest reverse voltage that can be applied to a diode (e.g., a p-n junction) without causing an exponential increase in the current of the diode.

LDMOS with thick interlayer-dielectric layer


A multilevel signal transmitting apparatus determines a voltage level indicating an original data signal, and generates a multilevel data signal including a plurality of unit time intervals each having the determined voltage level. The multilevel signal transmitting apparatus assigns an even number of voltage levels to each unit time interval, assigns a smaller number of voltage levels than a maximum number of voltage levels, to a unit time interval next to a unit time interval to which the maximum number of voltage levels are assigned, and determines one of the assigned voltage levels, as the voltage level indicating the original data signal. A multilevel signal receiving apparatus detects the voltage level of the multilevel data signal, and reproduces the original data signal, based on the assigned voltage levels and the detected voltage level.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a multilevel signal transmitting apparatus, a multilevel signal receiving apparatus, and a multilevel signal transmission system, for transmitting multilevel data signals with a plurality of voltage levels equal to or more than four. The present disclosure also relates to a multilevel signal transmission method using such a multilevel signal transmitting apparatus and a multilevel signal receiving apparatus.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, as the video quality of digital contents improves, the bit rate and size of video data increase, and as a result, the data amount to be transmitted between apparatuses also increases. In order to transmit a large amount of data between apparatuses connected through a digital interface, a frequency of signal transmission is often increased. However, if the frequency is increased, the signal transmission becomes difficult due to attenuation in a transmission line. In order to avoid this problem, there is the multilevel signal transmission scheme in which data is multiplexed by transmitting a multilevel data signal with a plurality of voltage levels equal to or more than three, without increasing a frequency of signal transmission.
For example, the inventions of Japanese Patent laid-open Publication No. H03-109842 A and Japanese Patent laid-open Publication No. 2004-080827 A are known as examples of transmission system using a multilevel signal.

Multilevel signal transmission system capable of transmitting multilevel data signal without signal distortion and correctly determining voltage level

Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.


The present invention provides an amorphous alloy containing at least one element of Fe, Co, and Ni as a main component, at least one element of Zr, Nb, Ta, Hf, Mo, Ti and V, and B, wherein the temperature width .DELTA.Tx of a supercooled liquid region expressed by the equation .DELTA.Tx=Tx-Tg (wherein Tx indicates the crystallization temperature, and Tg indicates the glass transition temperature) is 20.degree. C. or more. The amorphous alloy has excellent soft magnetic properties and high hardness, and can suitably be used for a transformer, a magnetic head, a tool, etc.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a high-hardness amorphous alloy and a high-hardness tool using the same or an amorphous alloy having soft magnetism, and particularly to an amorphous alloy which has a wide overcooled liquid region and which can be obtained in a thick shape.
2. Description of the Related Art
Some of conventional multi-element alloys are known as amorphous alloys (glassy alloys) having a wide supercooled liquid temperature region before recrystallization. This type of amorphous alloy is also known to be formed a bulk shape thicker than an amorphous alloy ribbon produced by a conventional known melt quenching method.
Conventional known amorphous alloy ribbons include ribbons of Fe-P-C amorphous alloys produced in the 1960s, (Fe,Co,Ni)-P-B system and (Fe,Co,Ni)-Si-B system alloys produced in the 1970s, (Fe,Co,Ni)-M(Zr,Hf,Nb) system alloys produced in the 1980s, and (Fe,Co,Ni)-M(Zr,Hf,Nb)-B system alloys. All these alloy ribbons must be produced by quenching at a cooling rate at the level of 10.sup.5 .degree. C./S, and the produced ribbons have a thickness of 50 .mu.m or less.
However, all of these conventional known amorphous alloys have no magnetism at room temperature, and when these alloys are considered as magnetic materials, there is a large industrial limit from this point of view. Also the amorphous alloys do not have sufficient hardness, and are thus insufficient for practical use.
Therefore, research and development have conventionally progressed for amorphous alloys which have magnetism at room temperature and which can be obtained in a thick bulk shape.
Although alloys having various compositions exhibit a supercooled liquid region, the temperature width .DELTA.Tx of the supercooled liquid region, i.e., the difference between the crystallization temperature (Tx) and the glass transition temperature (Tg), i.e., the value of (Tx-Tg), is generally small, and these alloys have the low ability to form an amorphous phase and are thus impractical. Considering this property, alloys which have a wide supercooled liquid region, and which can form amorphous alloys by cooling can overcome the limit to the thickness of a conventional known amorphous alloy ribbon, and thus should attract much attention from a metallurgical stand point. However, whether such alloys can be developed as industrial materials depends upon discovery of an amorphous alloy exhibiting ferromagnetism at room temperature.
As amorphous alloys having magnetism, Fe-Si-B system alloys are conventionally known. This system of amorphous alloy has a high saturation magnetic flux density, but has problems in which magnetostriction is at the level of as high as 1.times.10.sup.-5, sufficient soft magnetic characteristics cannot be obtained, heat resistance is low, electric resistance is low, and an eddy-current loss is large when the alloy is used as a core material for a transformer. On the other hand, Co-based amorphous alloys have excellent soft magnetic characteristics, but have problems in which heat stability is poor, electric resistance is not sufficiently high, and thus an eddy-current loss is large when the alloys are used as core materials for transformers. In addition, in the Fe-Si-B system and Co-based amorphous alloys, a amorphous phase can be formed only under the conditions of quenching from a melt, as described above. The formation of a bulk solid thus requires this system of alloy to be passed through the step of grinding the ribbon obtained by quenching a melt and sintering under pressure, thereby causing the problems of requiring a large number of steps and embrittling moldings.
On the other hand, a high-hardness tool comprising a base material and a high-hardness thin film of a carbide, a nitride, a boride or diamond, which is formed thereon, is frequently used. Although the iron group alloys, Mo, ceramics, cemented carbides, cermet and the like are conventionally used as the base material, these materials are unsatisfactory in point of any one of hardness, toughness, and adhesion between the base material and the high hardness thin film, and a base material having further excellent properties is required for a high-hardness tool.

Soft magnetic amorphous alloy and high hardness amorphous alloy and high hardness tool using the same


An anti-electrostatic discharge photomask blank for fabrication of an anti-electrostatic discharge photomask is disclosed. The anti-electrostatic discharge photomask blank includes a mask substrate, a conductive layer provided on the mask substrate and an opaque patterning layer provided on the conductive layer. The conductive layer prevents charges of opposite polarity from accumulating on a photomask fabricated from the photomask blank, thus preventing electrostatic discharges on the photomask.

The fabrication of various solid state devices requires the use of planar substrates, or semiconductor wafers, on which integrated circuits are fabricated. The final number, or yield, of functional integrated circuits on a wafer at the end of the IC fabrication process is of utmost importance to semiconductor manufacturers, and increasing the yield of circuits on the wafer is the main goal of semiconductor fabrication. After packaging, the circuits on the wafers are tested, wherein non-functional dies are marked using an inking process and the functional dies on the wafer are separated and sold. IC fabricators increase the yield of dies on a wafer by exploiting economies of scale. Over 1000 dies may be formed on a single wafer which measures from six to twelve inches in diameter.
Various processing steps are used to fabricate integrated circuits on a semiconductor wafer. These steps include deposition of a conducting layer on the silicon wafer substrate; formation of a photoresist or other mask such as titanium oxide or silicon oxide, in the form of the desired metal interconnection pattern, using standard lithographic or photolithographic techniques; subjecting the wafer substrate to a dry etching process to remove the conducting layer from the areas not covered by the mask, thereby etching the conducting layer in the form of the masked pattern on the substrate; removing or stripping the mask layer from the substrate typically using reactive plasma and chlorine gas, thereby exposing the top surface of the conductive interconnect layer; and cooling and drying the wafer substrate by applying water and nitrogen gas to the wafer substrate.
During the photolithography step of semiconductor production, light energy is applied through a photomask onto the photoresist material previously deposited on the wafer to define circuit patterns which will be etched in a subsequent processing step to define the circuits on the wafer. Because these circuit patterns on the photoresist represent a two-dimensional configuration of the circuit to be fabricated on the wafer, minimization of particle generation and uniform application of the photoresist material to the wafer are very important. By minimizing or eliminating particle generation during photoresist application, the resolution of the circuit patterns, as well as circuit pattern density, is increased.
A reticle is a transparent plate patterned with a circuit image to be formed in the photoresist coating on the wafer. A reticle contains the circuit pattern image for only a few of the die on a wafer, such as four die, for example, and thus, must be stepped and repeated across the entire surface of the wafer. In contrast, a photomask, or mask, includes the circuit pattern image for all of the die on a wafer and requires only one exposure to transfer the circuit pattern image for all of the dies to the wafer. Reticles are used for step-and-repeat steppers and step-and-scan systems found in wafer fabrication.
Reticles and photomasks must remain meticulously clean for the creation of perfect images during its many exposures to pattern a circuit configuration on a substrate. Reticles and photomasks may be easily damaged such as by dropping, by the formation of scratches on the reticle or photomask surface, electrostatic discharge (ESD), and particles. ESD can cause discharge of a small current through the chromium lines on the surface of the reticle or photomask, melting a circuit line and destroying the circuit pattern. The terms "photomask" and "reticle" shall be used interchangeably herein.
A photomask blank 10 shown in FIG. 1A is used to fabricate a conventional photomask 10a shown in FIG. 1B. As shown in FIG. 1A, the mask blank 10 includes a transparent mask substrate 12 which is typically quartz or fused silica, an opaque patterning layer 14 such as chromium provided on the mask substrate 12, and a photoresist layer 16 on the patterning layer 14. Throughout fabrication of the photomask 10a, the photoresist layer 16 is exposed, baked and developed, respectively, to form exposure openings (not shown) therein. A patterned layer 14a, having exposure openings 15 as shown in FIG. 1B, is formed by etching the patterning layer 14 according to the circuit pattern of the overlying photoresist layer 16.
Throughout the course of using, transferring or storing a reticle or photomask in a semiconductor production facility, static electricity has a tendency to accumulate and form an electric field on the mask. Voltage differences are frequently established between adjacent portions of a patterned chromium layer on a photomask, resulting in electrostatic discharges on the photomask. These electrostatic discharges on the surface of the photomask may burn or melt the patterned chromium layer. Consequently, the circuit pattern image transferred through the mask can be distorted, compromising pattern reliability and causing severe yield loss.
Accordingly, a novel anti-ESD photomask blank having a conductive layer for the fabrication of anti-ESD photomasks is needed to maintain all portions of a patterned chromium layer on a photomask at the same voltage potential and prevent electrostatic discharges from occurring on the photomask.


A system for monitoring a portable article. The system has a housing, a detectable signal generator on the housing, a detection circuit on the housing, and a jumper element having first and second ends. The jumper element has a) an operative state wherein the first and second jumper element ends are electrically connected to the detection circuit at first and second locations and the jumper element defines a conductive path electrically connecting between the first and second locations on the detection circuit and b) a disabled state. In the disabled state, one of i) the first end of the jumper element is disconnected from the detection circuit at the first location ii) the second end of the jumper element is disconnected from the detection circuit at the second location and iii) the jumper element is severed between the first and second ends, so that the conductive path between the first and second locations is interrupted. The first and second ends of the jumper element are releasably connectable to the detection circuit to allow the jumper element to be selectively removed and either reinstalled or replaced by another jumper element.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a system and method for monitoring portable articles so as to avoid unauthorized removal thereof from a prescribed area.
2. Background Art
Theft of portable articles from point of purchase displays has reached epidemic levels worldwide. Extreme competition for sales has caused purveyors to display articles with such accessibility that they are highly vulnerable to being removed by unauthorized personnel. Point of purchase displays are tending more and more towards allowing unencumbered inspection and operation of portable devices, such as electronic devices, to allow customers to make informed purchasing decisions. Inherently, by making the articles so convenient for inspection, they likewise become prone to being absconded with by persons that are not easily distinguishable from legitimate purchasers.
The security industry has developed myriad systems for securing and monitoring portable articles, as at point of purchase displays. These systems range from simple mechanical tethers to sophisticated, programmable electronics, with high level monitoring capabilities. Some of these systems rely on mechanical and/or electromechanical cables to confine articles within a prescribed area, as dictated by the lengths of the cables. Another type of system uses a tag that is secured to an article and that is detected by scanners, which are strategically placed near exit doors. These systems are generally designed so that at the checkout counter the tag is either disarmed or removed from the article so that the scanner at the exit will not cause a detectable signal to be generated, as the article is removed from the premises. These systems offer the advantage that the articles are essentially unencumbered so that they can be inspected and used in normal fashion, yet will be protected against unauthorized removal from a prescribed area.
One form of the last-described system that has been utilized in recent years is a reusable system that has both a tag, which will be detected by a scanner, and an audible alarm that is activated in the event that the system is removed from the article being monitored. In one exemplary form, a housing is provided with a chamber within which electronic components and a power supply are provided. A detection circuit can be armed by initially establishing a conductive path through a jumper element. The jumper element has an end that is selectively operatively attached to complete a circuit path and separable from a component on the housing. In the former state, the jumper element and housing define a closed loop that can be formed around any appropriate part of an article to be secured, such as a handle on a tool box or a piece of luggage, a finger opening on a power tool, etc. By using an authorized operating key, the end of the jumper element can be secured and the system armed so that a break in continuity of the path defined by the jumper element will cause the alarm to be activated. This construction avoids undetectable removal of the armed system from an article being monitored in the absence of the system being disarmed through the use of the key. At the same time, with the system operatively attached to an article, the tag will be detected by a scanner, should an individual attempt to remove the article without the system being appropriately disarmed or removed.
While these systems are effective in terms of their security capability, they represent a significant financial investment to those businesses that use them. One advantage afforded by this construction is that the systems are readily reusable. Checkout personnel can use the authorized operating key to disarm the system and separate the same from the article. The removed system can then be placed on another article by performing relatively simple re-assembly and re-arming steps.
One of the biggest problems with the above types of systems is that severance of the jumper element by a thief precludes re-use of the system. In a conventional construction, one end of the jumper element is permanently electrically and mechanically attached to and within the housing. Once the jumper element is severed or damaged, it is not economically practical to repair or reconstruct the system, even though the jumper element itself represents a relatively insignificant part of the overall expense of the system.
Consequently, those using these types of systems in the past have had to make decisions with respect to investment in security by comparing anticipated losses in dollars in the absence of their use, versus costs of such security systems, factoring in the need to replace the same each time a jumper element is compromised. In some situations, the shop owner may be inclined to forego using this effective type of security system only to be required to make a later future investment when theft losses accumulate. A failure to use appropriate security may make a business an inviting target for thieves.

System and method for monitoring a portable article


A people conveyor (1) comprises a band (12) of conveyance elements (13) connected to and driven by at least one drive chain (15, 27) comprising a plurality of chain links (34, 36). The people conveyor (1) further comprises at least one inductive sensor (40, 41) arranged laterally next to the at least one drive chain (15, 27) and configured for monitoring the chain links (34, 36) passing by the at least one inductive sensor (40, 41).

The invention relates to a method of monitoring chain defects in a people conveyor. The invention further relates to a people conveyor with a drive chain and at least one sensor configured for monitoring said drive chain.
People conveyors such as escalators and moving walkways comprise a band of conveyance elements, such as steps or pallets, moving in a conveyance direction. Said conveyance elements are connected with and driven by an endless conveyance chain acting as a drive chain. The conveyance chain may be a first drive chain which is driven by a motor via a second driven chain.
In order to avoid additional damage or severe safety issues resulting from operating the people conveyor with a damaged drive chain, it would be beneficial to be able to detect damages of the drive chain at an early stage.

Chain defect monitoring in a people conveyor


A band adapted to be worn on a limb of a person or animal includes a fabric member and an elastic member attached to the fabric member. A first half of a fastening system is attached to an inner surface of the elastic member, and a second half of the fastening system is attached to the fabric member on the outer surface thereof only around a portion of its perimeter so as to define a space between the outer surface of the fabric member and the second half of the fastening system, the space adapted to be used as a pocket. The band is adjustable to accommodate limbs of various sizes by adjusting a position along the second half of the fastening system where the first half of the fastening system is detachably connected.

Bands which are worn on the limb of a person or animal are widely used to serve various functions. For example, bands on the arm, wrist, leg, or ankle have been used to allow easy identification of the wearer, to increase the wearer's visibility in certain conditions, and to carry articles. Nevertheless, there are deficiencies in this general area in that no bands satisfactorily perform all of these functions.
In general, bands are used most often by people engaged in an activity that requires the use of both hands or where having both hands free is preferred, for example, during exercise activities. In these situations, a person often desires to carry small articles such as keys, money, and/or identification. In cases when an activity is performed near automobile traffic, a person often desires to wear reflective material that will make him or her highly visible in an automobile's headlights. Additionally, for some organized sporting events, such as marathons and other races, it is necessary to provide the participants with lightweight, unobtrusive means of identification. Ideally, all of these ends could be achieved by a single band.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,671,481 to Giard discloses a wristband consisting of moisture-absorbent material with a pocket for carrying small articles. The wristband is composed of two, three, or more plies of fabric. The pocket is formed between two of these plies of fabric. The band is folded along its long dimension and has fasteners at two ends to provide for connecting the ends and wearing around the wrist. Due to its design, however, this wristband suffers from limited adjustability. Because it is composed of fabric that is not elastic, the wrist band will not be able to be worn on the upper arm or leg. Also, the wristband disclosed in Giard is relatively complex in design and appears to be disadvantageously difficult to don.
Many other US Patents involve means for including a pocket on a band of some kind, for example U.S. Pat. No. 6,443,341 to Rittmann, U.S. Pat. No. 6,227,424 to Roegner, and U.S. Pat. No. D373,900 to Montgomery, Sr. However, all of these designs suffer from the disadvantage of excessive complexity in creating the pocket structure. Many also involve relatively expensive components such as zippers or snap fasteners. These things contribute to the overall size and weight of the band. Because bands are most often used during exercise activities, it is important that the size and weight of the band be minimized so as to interfere with the wearer as little as possible.
What is desired, therefore, is a band to be worn by a person or animal that is highly adjustable for use on limbs of various sizes, that allows the wearer to easily carry small articles, that is lightweight, of minimal size and bulk, that permits the application of reflective material and/or an identification placard, and that is simple in design and easy to produce.


A method of facilitating the contracting of agricultural products using the Internet is used for providing buyers and sellers with real time information relating to the type and amount of agricultural products available for contract. The invention includes a relational database for the storage and retrieval of information. One or more end use buyers can store information in the database relating to a desired type and quantity of agricultural products. Agricultural producers, such as farmers, can view listings of agricultural products desired and the system can facilitate the contracting between the buyers and producers for the agricultural products. The system can display in real time the quantity and types of agricultural products under contract and available for contract. The system can manage delivery preferences, quality data and determine contract pricing based on these criteria.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to contracting between producers (such as farmers) and grain elevators, processors and end-use buyers (such as food companies). More particularly, though not exclusively, the present invention relates to method for electronically initiating and managing agricultural production contracts.
2. Problems in the Art
Typically, end-use buyers (for example, food processing companies) have contracted with grain producers to grow agricultural products (for example, high-oil corn varieties or other crops), often using seed from a number of seed firms. However, most forward contracting between end-use buyers and individual grain producers is labor-intensive and expensive.
At least one automated prior art system exists in the cotton trading industry. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,063,507 and 5,285,383 describe commodity trading systems having a centralized computer database including title information for bales of cotton. The systems are used for assigning and transferring title to the goods, and for assigning an electronic warehouse receipt to the goods. The essence of these prior art systems resides in electronic title for each bale of cotton. This is possible because cotton markets assign unique ownership and quality control information to each bale. However, the notion of "title" is irrelevant to the system of the present invention (described below).
Other prior art patents of interest include: U.S. Pat. No. 5,678,041, METHOD FOR RESTRICTING USER ASSESS RIGHTS ON THE INTERNET; U.S. Pat. No. 5,706,502, INTERNET-ENABLED PORTFOLIO MANAGER SYSTEM AND METHOD; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,701,451, METHOD FOR FULFILLING REQUESTS OF A WEB BROWSER.
Above mentioned U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,063,507, 5,285,383, 5,678,041, 5,706,502 and 5,701,451 are incorporated by reference herein.
Features of the Invention
A general feature of the present invention is the provision of a method for electronically initiating and managing agricultural production contracts which overcomes problems found in the prior art.
A further feature of the present invention is the provision of a method for electronically initiating and managing agricultural production contracts using the Internet and commercially-available Internet Web browsers and Internet Web servers.
A further feature of the present invention is the provision of a method for electronically initiating and managing agricultural production contracts which allows parties to enter and view information relating to the contracts.
Further features, objects, and advantages of the present invention include:
A method for electronically initiating and managing agricultural production contracts which allows commodity suppliers to search for contract or program opportunities in a database that contains lists of contract types, end-buyers, crop varieties wanted or geographical locations of delivery including by zip code, county or other geographical descriptors.
A method for electronically initiating and managing agricultural production contracts which provides electronic allocation of target production quantities that are subsequently reduced as production contracts are completed.
A method for electronically initiating and managing agricultural production contracts in which delivery dates and methods from supplier to intermediary or end-buyer are electronically initiated and managed.
A method for electronically initiating and managing agricultural production contracts which allows contract parties to specify a contract as "pending" prior to a definite program market starting date at which time it will become legally binding.
A method for electronically initiating and managing agricultural production contracts in which quality measures of contracted and delivered product, determined by sampling and testing of lots either growing in the field or delivered, may be electronically entered and managed by suppliers, elevators or end-use buyers.
A method for electronically initiating and managing agricultural production contracts in which the price paid to the supplier is determined by measures of product quality or the delivery time and method which are agreed upon and entered electronically into the database.
A method for electronically initiating and managing agricultural products may be electronically contracted, including corn, soybeans, canola, sunflowers, wheat, cotton, beef, pork, poultry, fish, fruits, vegetables, honey, beets, horticultural varieties and other crops. For purposes herein, the terms agricultural commodities or agricultural products are intended to be broad and include plants, animals, or other products produced by persons or entities in the agribusiness and food industry.
A method for electronically initiating and managing agricultural production contracts which uses software-level security for accessing various parts of the contracting program application and databases.
A method for electronically initiating and managing agricultural production contracts which uses an RDMS (relational data base system) in conjunction with an Internet Web server.
These as well as other features, objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following specification and claims.

Method for electronically initiating and managing agricultural production contracts


A method for decoding a video signal in which the decoding operation is completed within a predetermined time irrespective of the presence of an error which is generated on a bit strings. In the case where a bit strings formed by coding a video signal for each of predetermined blocks, the decoding operation is suspended upon the detection of the presence of an error in the bit strings followed by resuming the decoding operation from any of the synchronous codes present on the bit strings. At this time, it is judged on the basis of the position of the error detected from the bit strings as to from which synchronous code out of the synchronous codes present on the bit strings the decoding operation is resumed thereby completing within a predetermined time the decoding operation of a series of data groups including an error part of the bit strings.

Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a video signal decoding apparatus, and more particularly, is preferably used in a recording and reproducing apparatus for recording and reproducing a moving picture signal on a recording medium such as a magneto-optical disc and a magnetic tape, and in a receiving apparatus of a television conference system for sending and receiving the moving picture signal via a transmission line.
Conventionally, in a system of transmitting a moving picture signal to a remote place, such as a television conference system, video telephone system, a broadcasting system or the like, a method is adopted for compressing and coding the video signal by using a line correlation and a correlation between frames to use the transmission line very efficiently. For example, when the line correlation is used, the video signal can be compressed by using orthogonal transform coding processing (for example, discrete cosine transform (DCT)). Furthermore, when the correlation between frames is used, the video signal can be further compressed.
Normally, frame images adjacent to each other in terms of time do not show a large change. In other words, when a difference between the images is calculated, the difference signal becomes a small value. Then the difference signal is coded to compress the code amount. However, the original image cannot be restored only by sending the difference signal. Consequently, a method is adopted for compressing and coding the video signal by converting each frame image into either of three kinds of frame format, an I picture, a P picture, and a B picture.
The coding method is shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B. In the compressing and coding method, a series of frame group is processed in a unit of seventeen frames (frame F1 through F17). The unit of processing is referred to as a group of pictures. The group of pictures is coded into an I picture, a B picture, and a P picture respectively from the frame F1. After that, the frames F4 through F7 after the fourth frame are alternately coded into the B picture and the P picture.
Here, the I picture is a picture obtained by coding one frame portion of video signal as it is. Further, as shown in FIG. 1A, the P picture is basically a picture obtained by coding a difference in the video signal with respect to the I picture located ahead in time or a difference in the video signal with respect to the P picture located ahead in time. In addition, as shown in FIG. 1B, the B picture is basically a picture obtained by coding a difference in the video signal with respect to an average value between the frame located ahead in time and the frame located at the back in time. This coding method is referred to as a bidirectional prediction coding.
For reference, with the B picture, three kinds of coding methods are actually used in addition to the bidirectional coding method. In a first processing method, the original frame F2 is transmitted as it is as a transmission data item. This method is referred to as an intra coding which method is the same as the I picture. In the second processing method, a difference from the frame F3 located at the back in time is calculated to transmit the difference. This is referred to as a backward prediction coding.
Furthermore, in the third processing method, a difference with the frame F1 located ahead in time is transmitted. This is referred to as a forward prediction coding.
Then at the coding time, data coded in a method in which the transmission data reduced to the least amount is adopted as the B picture out of the aforementioned four coding methods.
In the actual coding apparatus, the video signal in these frame formats (I picture, P picture, or B picture) is further converted into a block format signal to be transmitted as a bit stream.
This block format is shown in FIGS. 2A to 2C. As shown in FIGS. 2A to 2C, the frame format video signal comprises a collection of V lines of lines comprising H dots per line.
One frame video signal is segmented into N slices with no definite length by setting sixteen lines as one unit. Each slice comprises M macro blocks. Each macro block comprises a luminance signal corresponding to 16.times.16 pixels (dots). The luminance signal is segmented into blocks Y1! through Y4! having 8.times.8 dots as one unit. Color signals Cb and Cr having 8.times.8 dots correspond to the luminance signal having 16.times.16 dots.
The decoding apparatus is constituted to obtain a video signal by receiving and decoding the bit stream converted into the block format via the recording medium and the transmission line.
By the way, in the case where some errors are present in the received bit stream, the decoding apparatus inserts the error start code D.sub.ES into the bit stream to provide this data to the variable length decoding circuit on the rear stage.
The variable length decoding circuit is operated so that the circuit analyzes and decodes the bit stream normally subsequently input to provide the decoded bit stream to the rear stage circuit, and provides each kind of control parameter to each part on the rear stage. The variable length coding circuit is constituted so that the decoding operation is suspended in the case where such an error start code D.sub.ES is detected.
The variable length coding circuit proceeds to an operation of retrieving the subsequent synchronous code from the bit stream, at the same time as the suspension, to jump the reading of the decoding operation of the bit stream subsequently input up to a position where the synchronous code is detected. Then the variable length coding circuit is constituted so as to resume the decoding operation when the synchronous code is detected.
This state will be explained by using FIG. 3. As shown in FIG. 3, the bit stream of the image data comprises a header part and a data part. Here, the frame header denotes the header of the frame while the slice header denotes the header of each slice which constitutes this frame. Furthermore, a macroblock (MB) header denotes a header of each macro block which constitutes each of these slices. Then the following block data denotes actual data in each block.
The synchronous code is inserted into the slice header and the frame header. The synchronous code is not included in the macroblock header. Consequently, the unit in which the variable length decoding circuit resumes the decoding operation is normally slice or frame.
At this time, the address in the vertical direction of the screen has been inputted in the slice header. Then, the address in the horizontal direction of the screen has been inputted in the macroblock header at the head of the slice. Consequently, when the decoding operation is resumed, the position on the screen of the reproduced image can be correctly judged.
However, in the case where an error is detected in the decoding operation, it is difficult to judge from what position of the bit stream an error is present in the decoding operation. Consequently, it is impossible to judge whether the decoding operation at that time is correct or not. Since the bit stream is a data item whose variable length is coded, an error cannot be detected soon even when an error is generated in the bit because the pattern fits into the variable length.
For example, there is a bit stream of "00111011101." In the case of variable length decoding processing, the bit stream is to be originally decoded in such a manner as "001" "101" and "1101". However, because of the error generated in the bit stream, in the case where the bit stream is given as "0111011101", the bit stream is variably coded in such a manner as "01," "11," "01," "11". . . .
However, even when the bit stream is variably decoded by mistake, it is impossible to judge from which position the variable length decoding processing is wrong. In other words, even when an error is generated, the error cannot be always detected soon.
Consequently, there is a case in which the decoding operation is completed within the time allocated to the data processing of one frame depending on the state of the error position and the detection position. This fact will be explained by using FIGS. 4A to 4D.
In the beginning, as shown in FIG. 4A, in the case where, for example, the error generation is detected as an error, and as shown in FIG. 4B, in the case where the error is detected soon after the error is generated, the image can be reproduced without interrupting processing time when the decoding operation is resumed from the following synchronous code. For reference, in an example shown in FIG. 4B, the case in which "the error is detected soon after the error is generated" means that the image data obtained by the variable length decoding until the error detection belongs to the inside of the slice where an error is present. Consequently, time required for decoding up to this time is within the time required for the decoding of the slice.
However, as shown in FIGS. 4C or 4D, in the case where the pixel number of the image data decoded until it is detected after the error generation exceeds the pixel number which belongs to the original slice, namely in the case where the process has progressed to a place which should be decoded after the position segmented by the subsequent synchronous code, there is a problem in that the image data located at the same position where the decoding operation is resumed from the position of the synchronous code detected next from the error detection is decoded in a repeated manner so that the time required for the decoding operation becomes insufficient.
This one example is shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B. The slice part constituted of the macroblocks numbered 40th to 50th is decoded in such a manner that the macroblocks after 50th are present because of an error of the variable length decoding operation. In the case of this example, the variable length decoding circuit detects the error at the time when the 53rd macroblock is obtained. Then, the synchronous code provided on the subsequent slice header is detected to resume the decoding operation. At this time, in the slice head, the storage of the macroblocks after the 51st macroblock is recorded as the macroblock address. The 51st macroblock, 52nd macroblock . . . are subsequently decoded at the same time when the decoding operation is resumed. In other words, time required for the processing of the 51st macroblock, the 52nd macroblock and 53rd macroblock will be doubled.
However, time required for the decoding of one frame image is originally determined. In this manner, it sometimes happens that the decoding operation is not completed within the time of decoding one frame by overlapping the image in the same part on the screen.

Method and apparatus for decoding video signal


The invention provides a solid filter body for a filter unit, including a sintered composition of adsorbing materials containing activated carbon having a particle size in the range of from 4 to 100 mesh, and a binder in the form of thermoplastic powder having a particle size in the range of from 10 to 250 mesh, the ratio of binder to adsorbent being less than 25% by weight, and the composition being sintered at a temperature below 250xc2x0 C. The invention further provides a fluid filter unit including a casing having inlet and outlet openings housing the solid filter body and a method for manufacturing the solid filter body.

The present invention relates to a filter body, a sintered filter unit and to a method for the manufacture of a filter body and filtering unit. More particularly, the invention relates to a reliable, mobile and easily handled sintered filter unit to be used in systems for protecting enclosed spaces such as rooms, shelters, vehicles, tents, containers and the like, against the penetration of contaminated fluid.
As is known, air and other gases are usually filtered continuously, by causing the gas to pass through a thick filter medium by application of pressure or vacuum. In household applications, air filters are used in which the medium in the filter units may be glass fibers impregnated with oil for retaining removed dust particles. These filter units are replaced when they become clogged.
Filters may be classified according to the nature of the driving force causing the filtration, such as gravity filters, pressure filters and vacuum filters.
Many types of filters are known for filtering gases. One such filter, described in German Patent Application No. 3204022, uses a loose filling of granules of an adsorbent medium such as activated carbon, placed between a pair of porous walls that retain the granular material. The drawback of such a filter is the fact that there is no internal cohesion of any kind, neither of the granulate, its flow, nor its filtering properties in use; the problems of granulating the activated carbon, its flow and its filtering properties in use also being difficult to check.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,645,072, there is described a filter formed by bonding and molding a granular activated carbon with a frame having U-shaped channels. The bonded, activated carbon body may be reinforced with a wire or other net, and may contain areas with reduced thickness in order to minimize pressure drop.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,505,892, there is described a process for the manufacture of a filter unit made from a molded adsorbent element which is permeable to gases. Standard gas/liquid filters are made from a housing containing a loosely filled, mechanically compressed granulate. Granules of an adsorbent medium, preferably activated carbon, are mixed with a granular organic thermoplastic binder medium in a dry state. The resultant dry, granular mixture is put in a mold, compacted, and heated while substantially excluding air from it, to a temperature above the plastic range of the binder medium.
Standard gas/liquid filters are made of a rigid housing, containing loosely filled, mechanically compressed, fixed adsorbent granulate. The granulate is held under pressure between screens, using any spring system which requires a rigid, therefore quite expensive, housing. Such housings are usually made of metal. Furthermore, these filters must be installed only in a particular configuration, determined by the respective orientation. Normally, these filters are also sensitive to shock and other mishandling.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a simple, compact filter unit which can be safely and reliably used, even by untrained persons.
It is another object of the present invention to use known, standard materials which can be easily obtained.
In accordance with the present invention, there is therefore provided a solid filter body for a filter unit, comprising a sintered composition of adsorbing materials containing activated carbon having a particle size in the range of from 4 to 100 mesh, and a binder in the form of thermoplastic powder having a particle size in the range of from 10 to 250 mesh, the ratio of binder to adsorbent being less than 25% by weight; said composition being sintered at a temperature below 250xc2x0 C.
The invention further provides a fluid filter unit, comprising a casing having inlet and outlet openings housing a solid filter body made of a sintered composition of adsorbing materials containing activated carbon having a particle size in the range of from 4 to 100 mesh, and a binder in the form of thermoplastic powder having a particle size in the range of from 10 to 250 mesh, the ratio of binder to adsorbent being less than 25% by weight; said composition being sintered at a temperature below 250xc2x0 C.
The invention still further provides a method of manufacturing a solid filter body, said method comprising providing granulated adsorbing material containing activated carbon having a particle size in the range of from 4 to 100 mesh; providing a binder in the form of thermoplastic powder having a particle size in the range of from 10 to 250 mesh, the ratio of binder to adsorbent being less than 25% by weight; and sintering said adsorbing material and said binder at a temperature below 250xc2x0 C.

Filtering device and cartridges for fluids and gases


A data processing chip with a flexible timing system and method for supplying clocks to a digital data processing system useful for power conservation. A phase locked loop generates a master clock from which a core clock and a system clock are derived. The frequency of each of the core and system clocks is independently controllable relative to the master clock and can be changed on the fly with glitch free and jitter free operation. The data processing chip is well suited for use in hand held electronic devices where power management is a concern. Power can be saved by lowering the frequency of the core clock, even for short intervals of time.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates generally to computer data processors and more specifically to clock or timing circuitry of such processors.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Computer data processors are widely used in modern electronic systems. For example, most desktop computers are built around a microprocessor chip. The microprocessor chip is a computer data processor that can be programmed to perform many data processing functions. Microprocessors perform arithmetic operations or logical operations which can be combined into many types of programs, such as those used to do accounting or word processing.
Other computer data processors are designed for specialized functions. One example is a digital signal processor (DSP). A digital signal processor is conceptually similar to a general purpose microprocessor. However, a digital signal processor is configured to quickly perform complex mathematical operations used in processing of digital signals.
One important use of computer data processors is implementing the signal processing and control functions of cellular telephones and other portable electronic devices. Fast computation is important in these applications. Moreover, because these data processors are used in devices that derive power from a battery, it is desirable for the data processors to use as little power as possible.
FIG. 1 shows a high level a block diagram of a computer data processor chip 100. FIG. 1 could represent a general purpose computer data processor or it could represent a special purpose data processor, such as a digital signal processor. Within processor chip 100 is a microprocessor core 110. In operation, microprocessor core 110 reads instructions from memory 112 and then performs functions dictated by the instruction. In many cases, these instructions operate on data that is also stored. When an operation performed by microprocessor core 110 manipulates data, the data is read from memory (e.g., memories 116 and 150) and new data is generally stored in memory after the instruction is executed.
FIG. 1 shows that processor chip 100 includes an on-chip instruction memory unit 112 and an on-chip data memory unit 116. Both the instruction memory unit 112 and data memory unit 116 are controlled by a memory management unit (MMU) 114. Instruction memory unit 112 and data memory unit 116 each contain memory that stores information accessed by microprocessor core 110 as instructions or data, respectively.
However, it is generally impossible to build a processor chip with enough on-chip memory to store all the instructions or all the data needed to run a complex program because of lack of sufficient area. Therefore, integrated circuit 100 includes a memory interface 122 that can read or write instructions or data in off-chip memory 150.
Memory 150 could, for example, be DRAM semiconductor memory located on a printed circuit board on which processor chip 100 also is located. However, memory 150 need not be semiconductor memory. Off-chip memory 150 could be an optical or magnetic disk drive or even a magnetic tape, or some combination of storage elements. Regardless of the specific types of memory used to implement off-chip memory 150, it is likely that access time for the off-chip memory and other peripherals is longer than the access time for on-chip memory.
Processor chip 100 also contains interface circuitry that can interface to other off-chip devices. For example, serial interface 134 is shown. Serial interface 134 communicates with microprocessor core 110 via internal bus interface circuitry 130 and internal bus 138. In many cases, the off-chip devices operate at a lower frequency than microprocessor core 110 and other circuitry on processor chip 100.
It is traditional for a processor chip to contain a clock generator 160 that generates at least two clocks, which we call a CCLK and an SCLK. The CCLK signal is at a higher frequency than the SCLK signal. The CCLK signal provides timing to circuitry in the microprocessor core and related circuitry on the integrated circuit 100 that runs at the same clock rate as the core. In contrast, the SCLK signal is used to clock circuitry that interfaces to external memory and other circuitry that runs at a slower rate.
Traditionally, the CCLK and SCLK signals are synchronized so that circuitry clocked by the CCLK signal can communicate with circuitry clocked by the SCLK signal. Synchronization is achieved by having the SCLK signal derived from the CCLK signal. For example, a clock divider has been used to generate the SCLK from the CCLK signals.
We have recognized that prior art clock generation circuitry could be improved by providing greater flexibility in setting the frequencies of the SCLK and CCLK signals. We have recognized it would also be desirable to have a timing system in which the frequency of either clock might be changed on the fly with no jitter or spurious pulses.


In its various aspects, the present invention addresses the many challenges associated with making timing measurements involving multifarious radio links. Such measurements are referred to herein as “enhanced” to connote that such timing determinations are being made across multifarious radio links. Here, a radio link will be understood as connecting two radio nodes, and two radio links are considered to be multifarious with respect to each other if they are opposite in terms of uplink and downlink transmit directions, and further if they are associated with different cell identifiers and/or if the two links are between different pairs of radio nodes. In this context, the teachings herein disclose the sharing of “enhanced timing measurement” capability information, e.g., between radio nodes and positioning nodes. Such information indicates the enhanced timing measurement capability of a radio node. Sharing such information enables another node, e.g., a positioning node, to determine an enhanced timing measurement configuration to be used by a radio node. Further, additional teachings herein disclose advantageous configurations for making enhanced timing measurements, and techniques for compensating timing measurements determined from multifarious radio links, e.g., compensating for frequency-dependent propagation time differences.

Timing measurements are used in various types of wireless communication networks, for a variety of purposes. For example, Timing Advance (TA) measurements are used in certain types of wireless communication networks, such as those based on the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) and Long Term Evolution (LTE) standards. While substantive details are available in the relevant Technical Specifications, e.g., TS 36.133 and TS 36.321 for the LTE case, it may be helpful to explain the basics of TA. A User Equipment (UE) initiates a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection with a supporting LTE network by sending a Random Access Preamble to an eNB, i.e., an LTE base station, also referred to as an eNodeB. The eNB uses the transmission from the UE to estimate the one-way propagation time for the transmission from the UE and sends a corresponding TA value to the UE, for use by the UE in time aligning its transmissions. In particular, the UE adjusts its uplink transmission timing a defined number of subframes after receipt of the TA value in a given sub-frame.
Of course, TA determination is only one of many examples. Both mobile wireless communication devices (e.g., UEs) and base stations, e.g., eNBs, make various timing measurements, including timing-based range measurements at various times and for various reasons, including for positioning. The various examples of timing-based range measurements include receive-transmit time difference measurements. At a UE, for example, the Receive-Transmit (Rx-Tx) time difference measurement is defined as the time difference between the receive timing of downlink radio frame #i at the UE, and the UE transmit timing of uplink radio frame #i. At the eNB, the Rx-Tx time difference is defined as the difference between the receive timing of uplink radio frame #i (for the path that is first detected in time) and the transmit timing of the downlink radio frame #i. See TS 36.214 for more detailed timing measurement examples in the LTE context.
The current version of TS 36.133 also specifies requirements on UE capabilities for support of event triggering and reporting criteria. The current requirements are primarily defined for the mobility measurements. The requirements include: a set of reporting criteria categories; the number of reporting criteria per category that UE shall be able to support in parallel; and the maximum total number of reporting criteria. The current set of reporting criteria in Rel. 9 includes three measurement categories used for mobility: intra-frequency, inter-frequency and inter-RAT measurements, as well as for legacy positioning measurements, namely OTDOA RSTD and UE Rx-Tx time difference measurements.
For the intra-frequency category, measurements for up to nine E-UTRAN intra-frequency cells may be configured in parallel. For the inter-frequency category, measurements of up to seven E-UTRAN inter-frequency cells and four positioning measurements may be configured in parallel. And for inter-RAT, up to five parallel measurements per supported RAT are supported. The maximum total number of reporting criteria is currently twenty-five. This means that, depending upon the UE capability (e.g. inter-RAT capabilities), an eNode B can configure a UE to perform up to twenty-five measurements in parallel. As long as the measurement configuration does not exceed the reporting criteria requirements above, the UE is required to meet the relevant performance requirements, e.g., measurement reporting delay, measurement accuracy of the configured measurements, etc.
Although these and other example timing measurements are well known in the wireless communication arts, the continuing evolution of wireless communication networks presents numerous issues, which are not well understood in the context of, for example, multipoint transmission/reception scenarios, including Distributed Antenna Systems (DAS), service involving multiple Remote Radio Heads (RRH), Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output (MIMO) service, in at least some cases, Coordinated Multipoint (CoMP) service scenarios, and diversity transmission scenarios. Complications not addressed in conventional approaches to timing measurements also arise in Carrier Aggregation (CA) service scenarios.
CA, also referred to as multi-carrier service, allows a UE to receive and/or transmit data simultaneously over more than one carrier frequency. Each carrier frequency is often referred to as a component carrier (CC) or simply a serving cell in the serving sector. Notably, CA is supported for both contiguous and non-contiguous component carriers, and component carriers originating from the same eNB need not provide the same coverage.
CA is used in both LTE and High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), and when CA is in use, a UE will have a primary serving cell (Pcell) and one or more secondary serving cells (Scells) operating on a secondary carrier frequency or frequencies. For the downlink, the carrier corresponding to the Pcell is the Downlink Primary Component Carrier (DL PCC), while in the uplink it is the Uplink Primary Component Carrier (UL PCC). Depending on UE capabilities, the Scells and the Pcell form a set of serving cells for the UE.
The above scenarios all may be regarded as involving "multifarious" radio links. One radio link is multifarious with respect to another radio link if the two links are opposite in terms of uplink and downlink transmit directions and further if they connect different pairs of radio nodes, i.e., the two links are not between the same pairing of two radio nodes in a network, and/or if they are associated with different cell identifiers. Different cell identifiers for two radio links implies two base stations that are geographically separated and/or implies the use of different carrier frequency bands for the two radio links. The use of multifarious radio links introduces significant challenges with respect to timing measurements, including the various timing-based range measurements associated with, e.g., mobile device positioning.

Method and apparatus for configuring enhanced timing measurements involving multifarious radio links


Method for controlling the speed of horizontally rotatable supply turntables for tape material. In such a method for controlling the speed by measurement on a moving tape, especially on a film tape (3) in cinema show operation by removal from the inside convolution (4) of a reel (2) resting horizontally thereupon, the lead-in angle in front of a lead-in point (6) fixed in location is contactlessly measured by reflection of infrared light on both sides of the film strip (5) fed in. In case of deviations of the measurement signal from a nominal value, the reel drive is corrected. A dual infrared LED with reflection light barriers (11, 12) arranged offset in angle and height and approximately focused on the lead-in point (6) is used.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for controlling the speed of horizontally rotatable supply turntables for tape-shaped material which is taken from the inside convolution of a tape reel, by means of contactless detection of the position of the tape removed, and to a device for carrying out the method.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The speed of horizontally rotatable supply turntables for tape-shape material must be continuously corrected during the unwinding of the tape strip from the inside convolution of the reel resting thereupon if the speed of the tape strip removed must be kept constant during the unwinding process. In addition, fine regulation of the speed is required if the point of separation of the tape strip removed at the inside convolution fluctuates or twists in the direction of the circumference of the rotatable supply turntable. The motor drive for the supply turntable must be controlled in accordance with the required speed control.
The invention especially relates to a device for carrying out this method during the removal of a film tape, to be shown in a film projector, at the inside convolution of a film tape reel placed on a film turntable disc, in which arrangement the film strip removed can be supplied in the form of a tape loop to an insertion unit arranged centrally fixed in location concentrically with the turntable disc.
From DE 85 12 510 U1, a device for guiding out a film tape is known in which a horizontally deflectable load arm has at its free end two tape guides between which the tape removed at the inside convolution is fed in. The load arm swivels from its radially aligned starting position in accordance with the respective point of separation of the film tape from the reel and during this action operates, depending on the shape of the tape loop and on the direction from which it is fed in leading or lagging, one of two microswitches arranged on the insertion unit at a distance from its center axis. The microswitch operated in each case controls the electric motor driving the film turntable disc, in such a manner that the speed of the film turntable disc is increased or reduced until the tape loop is fed in radially once more.
The disadvantageous factor in this known type of construction is that the film turntable device must be constructed absolutely horizontally and that the microswitches must be accurately adjusted and frequently readjusted. Since, furthermore, the film strip taken from the reel must mechanically move a lever, the latter must be supported for easy movement.
From German patent specification 12 37 893, a device for simultaneously winding up and unwinding a film tape to be shown in a film projector and having a speed control is known, in which, on a stationary central support disc, two light barriers with an angular offset of about 90.degree. and thus arranged with mutual spacing are provided in its circumferential area. The film strip passes either one or the other light barrier, depending on the point of separation of the tape loop from the inside convolution, and there triggers a corresponding switch contact for correcting the servo motor for the film turntable disc.
Such an arrangement of light barriers disadvantageously leads to misinterpretations in the event of a disturbed feed-in of the film strip, for example if more than one turn becomes detached from the reel due to splices in the film. Novel polyester film also leads to disturbances.
From U.S. Pat. No. 3,823,890 it is known to control the speed of a turntable disc for reels resting thereupon in dependence on the tension of the tape which is determined via the contactlessly sensed swivel position of a lever guiding the tape.