In a substrate processing system for processing a substrate, such as a wafer W, held by a substrate holding device rotatable about a vertical axis, such as a spin chuck, a jig is placed on the substrate holding device, and centrifugal acceleration imparted to a predetermined measuring position on the jig and an eccentricity of the measuring position from the rotation center of the spin chuck are determined. The position of the rotation center is determined on the basis of centrifugal accelerations imparted to the measuring position when the jig is placed at three different positions and eccentricities of the measuring position from the rotation center when the jig is placed at the three different positions. Data on a substrate placing position, the center of the substrate placed at which coincides with the rotation center, is stored as data of a substrate placing position at which a substrate is to be placed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique for transferring a substrate to and accurately positioning the same at a predetermined position on a substrate holding device included in a processing unit for processing a substrate held on a substrate holding device by a coating process for coating the substrate with, for example, a resist solution and a developing process.
2. Description of the Related Art
A photoresist process, which is one of semiconductor device fabricating processes, includes the steps of forming a thin resist film on a surface of, for example, a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter, referred to simply as "wafer"), exposing the resist film to light through a mask of a predetermined pattern, and developing the exposed resist film to obtain a predetermined mask pattern. Generally, these steps of the photoresist process are carried out by a processing system built by combining a coating and developing system and an exposure system.
To achieve high throughput and to minimize footprint, the substrate processing system includes a necessary number of processing units respectively including processing devices respectively for processing a substrate by different processes, such as a coating process, a developing process and a heating and cooling process, and stacked in layers, and substrate carrying means for carrying a substrate to those processing units.
Generally, a wet processing unit for carrying out coating and developing processes, among those processing units, carries out a spin-coating process by holding a wafer substantially horizontally by a spin chuck, namely, a substrate holding device, pouring a process solution, such as a resist solution or a developer, onto a substantially central part of the wafer, and rotating the spin chuck.
The wafer is required to be transferred to the spin chuck and to be accurately positioned at a predetermined position on the spin chuck to process the wafer accurately by the wet processing unit. For example, a coating unit that uses a resist solution, namely, a process solution, spreads the resist solution on a surface of a wafer by spin-coating, and executes an edge rinsing process to remove an edge part of a resist film by pouring a cleaning solution onto a peripheral part of the rotating wafer. If the wafer is eccentric with respect to the rotation axis of the spin chuck during the edge rinsing process, the resist film is not removed from some areas of the a peripheral part of the wafer and the wafer is removed excessively from some other areas of the peripheral part. Consequently, a defective resist film is formed on the wafer.
A teaching procedure is executed before starting the substrate processing system to teach a position on the spin chuck at which a wafer is to be placed to the substrate carrying means of the substrate processing system. A teaching procedure disclosed in JP-A 2005-19963 (Paragraphs 0035 to 0037, FIGS. 8 and 9) places a wafer marked with a printed, small circular mark on a spin chuck, images of the circular mark are obtained by CCD camera disposed above the wafer while the spin chuck is intermittently turn at angular intervals of 90°, determines the rotation center of the spin chuck on the basis of displacements of the circular mark, and teaches the carrying means placing a wafer on the spin chuck with the center of the wafer coincided with the rotation center of the spin chuck.

Substrate processing system, substrate placing position adjusting method and storage medium


A damper valve (100) comprises a controlled flow channel (115) between a valve inlet side (100.1) and a valve outlet side (100.2); a controlled valve (130) provided in the controlled flow channel; a movable valve body (120) acting on the controlled valve so as to change a closing force of the controlled valve; and a control chamber (126). The control chamber comprises a control chamber inlet (125) in fluid connection with the valve inlet side (100.1) upstream of the controlled valve (130); a configuration providing a variable volume of the control chamber, a change in volume of the control chamber acting to cause a movement of the movable valve body (120); and a pressure relief valve (160) to allow a relief fluid flow from the control chamber (126) to the valve inlet side (100.1) bypassing the flow restriction (160.1) of the control chamber inlet (125).

Dampers, or shock absorbers, are well known and widely applied in, for instance, a variety of vehicles like cars, truck, buses and trains. The dampers are designed to provide a desired damping behavior between parts moving with respect to one another. Damping can be chosen to be stiff or soft by the specific design of the damper. More advanced dampers have been proposed, which provide a frequency selective damping behavior to the damper. A frequency selective valve can be added to the damper to provide a desired frequency selective damping behavior. Such frequency selective valve can be added to or incorporated into known damper configurations to provide additional frequency selectivity. On the other hand, such frequency selective dampers can also be employed in their own right in certain applications that require frequency selective damping of a fluid flow between two (pressure) chambers.
A pressure or control chamber can be employed in frequency selective valves and dampers having such type of valve incorporated. Upon a fluid flow in the valve which is to be damped so as to provide the damping behavior, a part of the fluid flow can be branched off to increase a pressure inside the pressure or control chamber. An increase in pressure inside the control chamber then acts to increase a closing force on a controlled valve provided in the flow channel for the fluid flow that is to be damped. The closing force of the controlled valve controls the momentary damping behavior.
One likes to have a predetermined increase of the closing force as a function of time, such as, for instance, a proportional relation between closing force and time. However, a desired relation between closing force and time is not easily obtained, if at all, in the presently known configurations of frequency selective valves. The increase in closing force generally shows a strong non-linear dependence on the pressure increase in the control chamber and therefore a strong non-linear dependence of time. One would like to have various parameters available to tune the closing force as a function of pressure inside the control chamber and thus as a function of time.
A pressure increases in time inside the control chamber to control the closing force of the controlled valve so as to provide frequency selective damping. EP 1 442 227 A1 of applicant discloses a frequency dependent damper valve according to the field of the invention. Such damper valve proves to be very advantageous in, for instance, shock absorbers for cars to obtain a different damping behavior for movements associated with the car body and movements associated with the car wheels. However the pressure inside the control chamber does not go back again to a neutral level for a next fluid flow to be damped, such as during a next stroke of a piston in its cylinder, which is to be damped. Having the control chamber pressure maintained at some level above neutral strongly deteriorates the performance of the frequency selective valve. It is known to apply a pressure relief valve to reduce a pressure in pressurized chamber. However, the configuration of the damper valve disclosed does not provide a position to provide a pressure relief valve opening to the side of the damper valve which is upstream in a damping mode of the damper valve, especially not in view of the small dimensions of practical frequency dependent damper valves.
The presently known configurations further may show a strong dependence of individually manufactured valves on manufacturing tolerances. There is a need for a frequency selective valve configurations that is very robust to manufacturing tolerances so that any desired damping behavior will actually be achieved in any valve produced.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Frequency selective damper valve, and shock absorber comprising such damper valve


An improved structure of an ice cream scoop is disclosed. The ice cream scoop comprises a first part and a second part that integrate with one another. The improvement of the ice cream scoop comprises a neck portion in a bended shape for providing an auxiliary elastic force and enhancing the structural strength of the neck portion.

In the summer time, ice cream is one of favorite sweet foods of many people. The ice cream is basically composed of milk, butter, sugar, and other heavy additives. The ice cream is different from the general ice in that the ice cream provides with dense and luxuriant form and taste. In order to cater to various dietetic cultures or habits of eating ice cream, there are formed various ice cream scoops for ladling the ice cream in the form of a ball or a round mass. However, in view of the above description, the ice cream adheres to the ice cream scoop easily due to its dense and luxuriant properties. Therefore, many improved structures are provided to readily and quickly push out the ladled ice cream from the scoop after it is ladled.
Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional ice cream scoop 1 comprises a scoop part 11 and a handle part 12. The scoop part 11 comprises a push piece 13 mounted on an inner side thereof. The push piece 13 is connected to a press component 14 such that when a force is applied to the press component 14 the push piece 13 is raised from the inner side of the scoop part 11. Besides, an elastic device 15 abuts the press component 14 such that when the press component 14 is pressed the elastic property of the elastic device 15 enables the press component 14 and the push piece 13 to reset to their initial positions.
The drawbacks of the conventional ice cream scoop are that the elastic device 15 is an integral element since the push piece 13 and the press component 14 are connected with one another. Thus, it complicates the structure. Moreover, the elastic device 15 is separated from the push piece 13 and the press component 14. Therefore, the elastic device 15 is helpless for the structural strength of the push piece 13 and the press component 14.
Besides, the related references are listed as follows:
1. Taiwan patent publication No. 094,636, entitled "IMPROVED STRUCTURE OF PRESS TYPE ICE CREAM SCOOP".
2. Taiwan patent publication No. 080,712, entitled "ICE CREAM SCOOP".
3. U.S. Pat. No. 4,699,582.
4. U.S. Pat. No. 4,392,806.
5. U.S. Pat. No. 4,161,381.


A support assembly for loading and securing a tender including first and second subassemblies. The first assembly includes a winch assembly for positioning the tender on the support assembly and the second subassembly includes a releasable securing device. Both subassemblies include a series of pivotal shafts having rollers which help guide and support the tender into position.

Most large watercraft have a tender or dingy that is some how mounted to the watercraft that is used for moving people or various items to and from the watercraft. In general the tender or dingy can come in a variety of forms. They may be inflatable, motorized and in general are light weight. Depending on the weight of the tender they may be manually secured and raised onto the watercraft or they may be secured using some form of powered lifting mechanism. As the tender or dingy can come in a wide a variety of shapes and sizes, it is difficult to address all the different requirements for lifting, loading and securing the tender with ease, namely the weight of the tender or the presence of an outboard motor by way of example only. Furthermore depending on how the tender is secured to the watercraft, rough waves can actually lift the secured tender and may tear out the supporting struts of traditional platforms on the stern of the watercraft.
Prior art devices for loading and handling a tender for a watercraft have been devised to address the noted problems. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,636,587 issued on Jun. 10, 1997 to Klimowicz and relates to a watercraft carrier that is secured to a large watercraft having a transom. The carrier includes a mounting structure secured to the transom and a platform structure including a pair of laterally spaced platform units extending parallel to the transom and substantially in a horizontal plane above the water line of the large watercraft. The platform units each similarly include a support bar. A plurality of rollers are secured in longitudinally spaced relation along the bar. The rollers are formed of a resilient material or resiliently loaded to conform to the bottom of the personal watercraft. The personal watercraft has an inclined bow or front end and is self-propelled causing it to move upwardly out of the water onto the platform units in a highly safe and reliable procedure. Power is applied to the personal watercraft to move the hull upwardly on the entrance end and then the power is increased to cause the watercraft to move rapidly onto and in essence pop out of the water onto the platform units. The weight of the watercraft provides a firm support of the personal watercraft on the platform structure. Auxiliary securement lines may be interconnected between the personal watercraft and the larger watercraft.
Brown is the owner of U.S. Pat. No. 4,834,016 which issued on May 30, 1989 and this patent relates to a life raft deployment apparatus comprising a frame, a platform, and a life raft container receptacle. The platform is positioned within the frame and is movable between a life raft retention position and a life raft deployment position. The life raft receptacle receives containers of life rafts. The frame includes a first guide member and a second guide member which extend for the length of travel of the platform. The first guide member and the second guide member are parallel to each other. The frame further includes a stop at the ends of the travel of the platform. The platform includes a first angle member, a second angle member, and a plate extending between the angle members. The platform is mounted on a plurality of rollers. Lock members are included within the frame and the platform so as to fixedly maintain the platform in either the life raft retention position or the life raft deployment position.
Thus a device that handles, loads and secures a tender with ease, does not require the removal of the outboard motor, and is secured with is releasing assembly so as to avoid damage to watercraft is desirable.

Support assembly for loading and securing a tender


An optical pick-up to perform recording or reproducing for an optical recording medium is disclosed, which includes a light source configured to emit a light beam, an objective lens configured to focus the light beam onto the optical recording medium, and an aberration generation device provided between the light source and the objective lens, configured to generate coma aberration for the beam focused by the objective lens, based on a detected value from a device configured to detect a degree of tilt of the optical recording medium, wherein the tilt is compensated for by the coma aberration generated by the aberration generation device.

An optical recording medium such as a CD with a recording capacity of 0.65 GB and a DVD with a recording capacity of 4.7 GB as a medium for storing video information, audio information, or data on a computer is spreading among people. Then, recently and continuing, there is rising demand for further increasing the recording density and the capacity.
As a method for increasing the recording density of such an optical recording medium, it is effective to increase the numerical aperture (referred to as NA, below) of an objective lens or to shorten the wavelength for a light source in an optical pick-up for performing writing or calling of information for the optical recording medium, so that the diameter of a beam spot focused by the objective lens decreases which spot is formed on the optical recording medium. Accordingly, for example, while the NA of the objective lens and the wavelength for the light source are defined as 0.50 and 780 nm, respectively, for a "CD-type optical recording medium", the NA of the objective lens and the wavelength for the light source are defined as 0.65 and 660 nm, respectively, for a "DVD-type optical recording medium" having recording density higher than that of the "CD-type optical recording medium". Then, further increase of the recording density and capacity of the optical recording medium is desired as described above, and therefore, it is desired to make the NA of the objective lens be greater than 0.65 or to make the wavelength of the light source be less than 660 nm.
For such a high-capacity optical recording medium and an optical information processing apparatus, two specifications are proposed. One of them is a "Blue-Ray Disc" specification which satisfies the ensuring of a capacity of approximately 22 GB using a source of light in a blue wavelength region and an objective lens with an NA of 0.85 as disclosed in Masuo Oku et al., "The goal of Blue-ray Disc", Nikkei Electronics, pp. 135-150 (2003.03.31). The other is a "HD DVD" specification which satisfies the ensuring of a capacity of approximately 20 GB using a similar blue wavelength region and an objective lens with an NA of 0.65, as disclosed in Naoshi Yamada et al., "a next-generation specification derived from a DVD, "HD DVD"", Nikkei Electronics, pp. 125-134 (2003.10.13).
The former attains the capacity increase due to modifications such as the employment of wavelength shorter than that of DVD-type and a higher NA and the latter attains the capacity increase due to ingenious signal processing to allow the increase of linear recording density and the employment of land-groove recording to reduce a track pitch, instead of the employment of a higher NA.
As described above, the two specifications using the source of light within a blue wavelength region are proposed. However, it is desirable for a user to treat the optical recording media in accordance with the two specifications without distinction in a single optical information processing apparatus. As the simplest method for realizing it, there is provided a method of mounting plural optical pick-ups. However, it is difficult for this method to achieve miniaturization and reduced cost. Therefore, an optical pick-up that can perform recording or reproducing with a common light source and a common objective lens for the two blue-specifications is desired. However, the generation of aberration caused by tilt (inclination) of the optical recording medium or a thickness error of a transparent substrate is known as a problem of such an optical pick-up. The problem is such that the margins of the thickness error and the tilt are lowered in the case of shortening the wavelength for a light source and increasing the numerical aperture of an objective, that is, attaining higher density due to the reduction of the spot diameter of light focused on the optical recording medium.
First, spherical aberration caused by a thickness error of a transparent substrate of the optical recording medium is described. As the spherical aberration occurs, a spot formed on an information-recording surface of the optical recording medium deteriorates and, therefore, a normal operation for recording or reproducing cannot be carried out. Generally, spherical aberration caused by a thickness error of a transparent substrate of an optical recording medium is given by the following mathematical formula 1,
      W                          40                          rms    ≈            1              48                          5                      ·                            n          2                -        1                    n        3              ·          NA      4        ·                  Δ                                                  t            λ      wherein λ is a used wavelength, NA is the numerical aperture of an objective lens, n is an equivalent refractive index of the optical recording medium, and Δt is a shift along the direction of the optical axis from a spot position at which the spherical aberration is the minimum.
FIG. 1A shows respective aberration quantities caused by a substrate thickness error of the first optical recording medium with an NA of 0.85, a substrate thickness of 0.1 mm, and a used wavelength of 405 nm. In the figure, SA is spherical aberration, COMA is coma aberration, TOTAL is total amount of these secondary aberrations, and STREHL is the peak intensity of a spot. FIG. 1B shows respective aberration quantities caused by a substrate thickness error of the second optical recording medium with an NA of 0.65, a substrate thickness of 0.6 mm, and a used wavelength of 405 nm.
Commonly, the tolerance of W40 rms is necessarily half or less of approximately 0.07 λrms, since it is empirically known that the quantity of wavefront aberration is necessarily smaller than Marechal's criterion (0.07 λrms) in reading a signal from an optical recording medium and it is necessary to also include aberration of an objective lens and aberration caused by tilt of the optical recording-medium when the wavefront aberration is considered. Also, for a substrate thickness error of an optical recording medium, a molding tolerance of approximately ±10 μm is necessarily considered; therefore, compensation is needed for the first optical recording medium.
Second, coma aberration caused by tilt (inclination) of an optical recording medium is described. As the coma aberration occurs, a spot formed on an information-recording surface of the optical recording medium deteriorates and, therefore, a normal operation for recording or reproducing cannot be carried out. Generally, coma aberration caused by tilt of an optical recording medium is given by the following mathematical formula 2,
      W                          31                          rms    ≈                              n          2                -        1                    2                          n          3                      ·    d    ·          NA      3        ·          θ      λ      wherein n is the refractive index of a transparent substrate of the optical recording medium, d is the thickness of the transparent substrate, NA is the numerical aperture of an objective lens, λ is the wavelength for a light source, and θ is a tilt quantity of the optical recording medium.
FIG. 2A shows respective aberration quantities caused by tilting of the first optical recording medium in an optical system with an NA of 0.85, a substrate thickness of 0.1 mm, and a used wavelength of 405 nm. Similarly, FIG. 2B shows respective aberration quantities caused by tilting of the second optical recording medium in an optical system with an NA of 0.65, a substrate thickness of 0.6 mm, and a used wavelength of 405 nm.
Commonly, the tolerance of W40 rms is necessarily half or less of approximately 0.07 λrms, since it is empirically known that the quantity of wavefront aberration is necessarily smaller than Marechal's criterion (0.07 λrms) in reading a signal from an optical recording medium and it is necessary to also include aberration of an objective lens and aberration caused by a thickness error of the optical recording medium when the wavefront aberration is considered. Also, for the tolerance of manufacturing the optical recording medium and the precision of mounting the optical recording medium, the occurrence of tilt of approximately 0.3 degrees is necessarily considered; therefore, compensation is needed for the second optical recording medium.
As described above, it is necessary to compensate for the spherical aberration caused by a substrate thickness error of the first optical recording medium and the coma aberration caused by tilting of the second optical recording medium in an optical pick-up to perform recording or reproducing for both the first optical recording medium and the second optical recording medium. For the compensation, it is necessary to detect and dynamically compensate for the quantity of generated aberrations, but the simultaneous compensation of the coma aberration and the spherical aberration requires complex control. Also, to provide both a coma aberration compensation element and a spherical aberration compensation element causes an increase of both the number of components and the size of the optical pick-up.

Optical pick-up, method of generating aberration for compensation and optical information processing apparatus using the same


A voltage controlled oscillator comprising a substrate and a bilayer graphene transistor formed on the substrate. The transistor has two signal terminals and a gate terminal positioned in between the signal terminals. A voltage controlled PZT or MEMS capacitor is also formed on the substrate. The capacitor is electrically connected to the transistor gate terminal. At least one component is connected to the transistor and capacitor to form a resonant circuit.

I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to voltage tunable oscillators and, more particularly, to a voltage tunable oscillator using bilayer graphene and a lead zirconate titanate capacitor.
II. Description of Related Art
Current electronic oscillators typically utilize transistors based on the silicon germanium or III-V systems coupled with silicon based MIM capacitors. These electronic oscillators, however, all suffer from common limitations.
One disadvantage of these previously known oscillators is that the electron mobility in these electronic transistor device systems is limited to their intrinsic values. Similarly, the capacitance of the silicon based MIM (Metal Insulator-Metal) capacitors is also limited. Together, these limitations restrict the overall performance and tunability of the oscillator. Furthermore, it is difficult to readily integrate both the transistors and the silicon based MIM capacitors on a single flexible substrate. This also limits the overall performance of these oscillators.

Voltage tunable oscillator using bilayer graphene and a lead zirconate titanate capacitor

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army


A single pass, continuous, automated system for producing a pharmaceutical granulation includes multiple feeders to feed powders and liquids, a twin screw processor to granulate, a radio frequency or microwave based drying apparatus to dry the granulation, and at least one mill to process the dried granulation to desired particle sizes. The system incorporates means for monitoring key process parameters on-line, all of which are controlled by a controller provided with feedback at each component of the system. The granulation produced can be compressed into a tablet or incorporated into a capsule, both having a uniform distribution of the active ingredient. The system produces product having consistent properties even when production is scaled up for manufacture of the tablet in commercial volume.

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for producing a pharmaceutical granulation product which is typically compressed into tablets or filled into hard gelatin capsules. More particularly, it pertains to a single-pass automated system and an apparatus for continuous production of a pharmaceutical granulation which incorporates wet granulation, drying, and milling.
Granulation is a critical unit operation in the manufacture of solid oral dosage forms. Even with constant improvements in tableting equipment for automating production and increasing product output, powder granulations must still possess specific physical properties to ensure smooth operations in downstream processing. Thus, consistent product quality is often the most important motivation that guides advances in granulation techniques. Other significant goals are maintaining regulatory compliance, reducing cycle times, increasing process efficiency, and achieving production cost savings.
Advancements in wet granulation technology include high shear mixer granulators, single pot processing with a high shear mixer granulator and microwave drying, and a high shear granulator integrated with a fluid bed dryer, such as a semi-continuous multi cell apparatus. While these techniques provide some advantages over previously used granulation methods, there are specific shortcomings with each technique and, most importantly, none provide a true continuous granulation process starting with individual ingredients or a powder blend.
For example, in a single pot microwave based granulator using a high shear mixer, blending and agglomeration are accomplished by an impeller; while a chopper imparts high mechanical agitation to the blend of ingredients. Even though this granulator allows short processing time and the option of drying within the same equipment, the granulator is not efficient in granulating cohesive materials; it produces non-uniform shaped and sized granules; it degrades fragile granules; it allows uncontrolled granule growth; and it produces granules with low porosity.
In addition, Glatt GmbH (of Binzen Germany) has disclosed the use of a semi-continuous system (the xe2x80x9cGlatt Multicell GMCxe2x80x9d) in which small batches of raw materials are conveyed in successive batches into a high shear, mixer-granulator which mixes and granulates the materials. The wet granulation is sequentially vacuum conveyed through a series of three fluid bed dryers for drying. Each unit operation occurs sequentially as the mini-batch moves through the system.
For drying ingredients during the manufacture of pharmaceutical products, conduction and convection have been the two most prevalent heating methods used. For drying pharmaceutical solids, use of convection is preferred to use of conduction because conductive heat transfer requires temperatures that would potentially result in product degradation. Nevertheless, in convective drying, either a high volume of air flow or long residence times are required to achieve the required reduction in moisture levels. In some instances, vacuum conditions are used to further enhance the removal of the evaporated moisture. The high volume of air flow or long residence times from convective drying can degrade or otherwise damage a pharmaceutical product produced therefrom. To a lesser degree, microwave energy has also been used, but only in batch mode. At present, no conventional drying systems provide a true single pass drying process with a first in-first out principle.
Therefore, there exists a need for a granulation process, a drying process, and a single pass, fully automated, continuous system which enables production of pharmaceutical granulation with consistent physical properties.
The present invention provides a single pass continuous, automated process for producing a granulation product, which can be further processed to make a solid oral dosage form, such as a tablet or capsule.
In one embodiment, the present invention comprises a twin screw wet granulator-chopper (TSWGC), to which active ingredient(s) and solid and liquid additives are fed, which mixes, granulates, and wet mills those components to form a granulation product.
In another embodiment, the present invention comprises a drying apparatus which dries granulation using dielectric energy, such as radio frequency energy, low frequency (conventional) microwave energy, or high frequency (millimeter wave) microwave energy, in a continuous, single pass mode, optionally incorporating a product isolation tunnel.
In a further embodiment, the present invention comprises integrated, automated process control of the components of the system such that key process parameters and product properties are monitored along the length of the system; for example, the moisture content of the granulation and the uniformity of the distribution of active ingredient(s) are monitored on-line, and feedback is provided to the individual components which adjusts conditions to achieve optimal parametric release of the product.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary, but are not restrictive, of the invention.

Continuous production of pharmaceutical granulation


In one aspect, a method of manufacturing a touch screen panel including forming sensing electrodes for touch sensing on a substrate; forming metal patterns for electrical connection of the sensing electrodes on the sensing electrodes; forming a first protective layer including any one of silicon nitride (SiN) and silicon oxide (SiO) on the metal patterns; and forming a second protective layer including the other of the silicon nitride (SiN) and the silicon oxide (SiO) on the first protective layer is provided.

1. Field
The described technology generally relates to a manufacturing method of a touch screen panel, and more particularly, to a manufacturing method of a touch screen panel, which can improve adhesion between laminated layers constituting the touch screen panel.
2. Description of the Related Technology
A touch screen panel is an input device that allows a user's instruction to be inputted by selecting an instruction content displayed on a screen of an image display and the like with a user's hand or an object.
The touch screen panel may be formed on a front face of the screen to allow input of instructions by converting a contact position into an electrical signal. Here, the user's hand or object is directly in contact with the touch screen panel at the contact position. Accordingly, the instruction content selected at the contact position is inputted as an input signal to the image display.
Since such a touch screen panel can be substituted for a input device connected to an image display, such as a keyboard or mouse, its field of use has been gradually expanded.
Touch screen panels may be divided into categories including the following types: a resistive overlay touch screen panel, a photosensitive touch screen panel, a capacitive touch screen panel, and the like.
Among these types of touch screen panels, the capacitive touch screen panel senses a change in the capacitance of one conductive sensing electrode formed with another sensing electrode or ground electrode adjacent to the one conductive sensing electrode when a user's hand or object comes in contact with the touch screen panel, thereby converting the contact position into an electrical signal.
In general, a touch screen panel has a laminated structure. The laminated structure may include an indium tin oxide (ITO) layer that is a conductive sensing electrode, a connection pattern between sensing electrodes, a metal layer (Mo/MoNb) that is a wiring pattern, and an insulating protective layer such as silicon oxide (SiO2) which is formed on a substrate.
During operation different types of stress may be applied to the laminated layers constituting the touch screen panel.
Specifically, a compressive stress may be applied to the ITO layer, and a tensile stress may be applied to the metal layer. If a SiO2 insulation protective layer is grown on these layers, the compressive stress may be additionally applied to these layers, and therefore, a difference in stress between the layers may occur, thereby deteriorating the attachment and adhesion between the layers. Accordingly, exfoliation of the laminated layers may occur due to low adhesion in the process of a test (cross-cut tape exfoliation test or chemical resistance test).

Manufacturing method for touch screen panel


The subject invention provides novel compositions of biologically active macrolide compounds which can advantageously be used in blocking cellular proliferation, treatment of cancer, treatment of fungal infections and control of spoilage of food, cosmetic and other consumer items.

Of great importance to man is the control of pathological cellular proliferation such as that which occurs in the case of cancer. Considerable research and resources have been devoted to oncology and antitumor measures including chemotherapy. While certain methods and chemical compositions have been developed which aid in inhibiting, remitting, or controlling the growth of, for example, tumors, new methods and antitumor chemical compositions are needed. Anti-proliferative agents can also be useful in treating autoimmune diseases and inflammatory disease.
In searching for new biologically active compounds, it has been found that some natural products and organisms are potential sources for chemical molecules having useful biological activity of great diversity. For example, the diterpene commonly known as paclitaxel, isolated from several species of yew trees, is a mitotic spindle poison that stabilizes microtubules and inhibits their depolymerization to free tubulin (Fuchs, D. A., R. K. Johnson [1978] Cancer Treat. Rep. 62:1219–1222; Schiff, P. B., J. Fant, S. B. Horwitz [1979] Nature (London) 22:665–667). Paclitaxel is also known to have antitumor activity and has undergone a number of clinical trials which have shown it to be effective in the treatment of a wide range of cancers (Rowinski, E. K. R. C. Donehower [1995] N. Engl. J. Med. 332:1004–1014). See also, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,157,049; 4,960,790; and 4,206,221.
Marine sponges have also proven to be a source of biologically active chemical molecules. A number of publications disclose organic compounds derived from marine sponges including Scheuer, P. J. (ed.) Marine Natural Products, Chemical and Biological Perspectives, Academic Press, New York, 1978–1983, Vol. I–V; Uemura, D., K. Takahashi, T. Yamamoto, C. Katayama, J. Tanaka, Y. Okumura, Y. Hirata (1985) J. Am. Chem. Soc. 107:4796–4798; Minale, L. et al. (1976) Fortschr. Chem. org. Naturst. 33:1–72 Faulkner, D. J., Nat. Prod. Reports 1984, 1, 251–551; ibid. 1987, 4, 539; ibid 1990, 7, 269; ibid 1993, 10, 497; ibid 1994, 11, 355; ibid 1995, 12, 22; ibid 1998, 15:113–58; ibid 2000 17:1–6; ibid 2000 17: 7–55; ibid 2001, 18: 1–49; 2002, 19: 1–48.; Gunasekera, S. P., M. Gunasekera, R. E. Longley and G. K. Schulte (1990) J. Org Chem., 55:4912–4915. ; Horton, P. A., F. E. Koehn, R. E. Longley, and O. J. McConnell, (1994) J. Am. Chem. Soc. 116: 6015–6016.
The success of chemotherapy for the treatment of various cancers can be substantially negated though cellular mechanisms which have evolved to enable neoplastic cells to subvert the cytotoxic effects of the drug. Some cells have developed mechanisms, which confer resistance to a number of structurally unrelated drugs. This multi-drug resistance (or MDR) phenomenon may arise through a number of different mechanisms. One of these involves the ability of a cell to reduce intracellular concentrations of a given drug through efflux from cytoplasm through and out the cell membrane by a series of unique ATP-dependent transporter proteins called-P-glycoproteins (Pgp) (Casazza, A. M. and C. R. Fairchild [1996] "Paclitaxel (Taxol®): mechanisms of resistance" Cancer Treat Res. 87:149–171). The surface membrane, 170 kDa Pgp, is encoded by the mdr-1 gene and appears to require substrate binding before transport begins. A wide range of compounds, including a number of structurally unrelated chemotherapeutic agents (adriamycin, vinblastine, colchicine, etoposide and Taxol), are capable of being transported by Pgp and render the cell resistant to the cytotoxic effects of these compounds. While many normal cell types possess Pgp, in general, tumor cell lines, which possess high levels of mRNA specific for Pgp, also exhibit overexpression of membrane Pgp and demonstrate resistance to various drugs. This intrinsic resistance can be increased multifold by incubation of cells with stepwise increasing doses of a particular drug over a period of several months. This can be further facilitated by the addition of the MDR reversal agent, verapamil (Casazza, A. M. and C. R. Fairchild [1996] supra) in combination with the particular drug. Drug resistant cell lines produced in this fashion exhibit resistance to drug cytotoxicity from 20 to 500 fold, compared to parental cell lines.
An additional target for cancer drug discovery is a high molecular weight membrane protein associated with multi-drug resistance properties of certain tumor cells known as the multidrug resistance-associated protein (MRP). MRP is a 190 kD membrane-bound glycoprotein (Bellamy, W. T. [1996], Annu. Rev. Pharmacol. Toxicol., 36: 161–183. ) which belongs to the same family of proteins as the p-glycoprotein pump P-gp (Broxterman; H. J., Giaccone, G., and Lankelma, J. [1995], Current Opinion in Oncology, 7:532–540. ) but shares less than 15% homology of amino acids with P-gp (Komorov, P. G., Shtil, A. A., Holian, O., Tee, L., Buckingham, L., Mechetner, E. B., Roninson, I. B., and Coon, J. S. [1998], Oncology Research, 10: 185–192. ). MRP has been found to occur naturally in a number of normal tissues, including liver, adrenal, testis, and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (Krishan, A., Fitz, C. M., and Andritsch, I. [1997], Cytometry, 29: 279–285). MRP has also been identified in tissues of the lung, kidney, colon, thyroid, urinary bladder, stomach, spleen (Sugawara, I. [1998] The Cancer Journal, 8(2) and skeletal muscle (Kruh, G. D., Gaughan, K. T., Godwin, A., and Chan, A. [1995], Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 87(16): 1256–1258. ). High levels of MRP have been implicated in multidrug resistance (MDR) in cancers of the lung and pancreas (Miller, D. W., Fontain, M., Kolar, C., and Lawson, T. [1996]. Cancer Letters, 107: 301–306. ), and in neuroblastomas, leukemias and cancer of the thyroid (Kruh, G. D., Gaughan, K. T., Godwin, A., and Chan, A. [1995], Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 87(16): 1256–1258. ), as well as bladder, ovarian and breast cancers (Barrand, M., Bagrij, T., and Neo, S. [1997]., General Pharmacology, 28(5): 639–645. ). MRP-mediated MDR involves some of the same classes of compounds as those which are mediated by P-gp, including vinca alkaloids, epipodophyllotoxins, anthracyclins and actinomycin D (Barrand, M., Bagrij, T., and Neo, S. [1997]., General Pharmacology, 28(5): 639–645). However, the substrate specificity has been demonstrated to differ from that of P-gp (Komorov, P. G., Shtil, A. A., Holian, O., Tee, L., Buckingham, L., Mechetner, E. B., Roninson, I. B., and Coon, J. S. [1998], Oncology Research, 10: 185–192. ). Drugs which would inhibit or which are not substrates for the MDR pump would, therefore, be useful as chemotherapeutic agents.
Of further significant importance to man is the control of fungi which can cause human, animal and plant diseases as well as food spoilage. Considerable research and resources have been devoted to identifying antifungal agents. While certain methods and chemical compositions have been developed which aid in inhibiting or controlling the growth of fungi, new methods and antifungal compositions are needed.
Human mycotic infections may be grouped into superficial, subcutaneous, and deep (or systemic) mycoses. Superficial fungal infections of skin, hair and nails may be chronic and resistant to treatment but rarely affect the general health of the patient. Deep mycoses, on the other hand, may produce systemic involvement and are sometimes fatal.
The deep mycoses are caused by organisms that live free in nature in soil or on decaying organic material and are frequently limited to certain geographic areas. In such areas, many people acquire the fungal infection. A majority develop only minor symptoms or none at all, and only a small minority of infections progress to full-blown serious or fatal disease. The host's cell-mediated immune reactions are of paramount importance in determining the outcome of such infections.
Post-harvest losses during storage of plant produce are caused, interalia, by fungal and bacterial pathogens. Fungicidal compounds have long been used to increase yields and extend agricultural production capabilities into new areas. They have also been extremely important tools for ameliorating season-to-season differences in yield and quality caused by weather-driven variations in disease pressure.
Chemical fungicides have provided an effective method of control; however, the public has become concerned about the amount of residual chemicals which might be found in food, ground water and the environment. Stringent new restrictions on the use of chemicals and the elimination of some effective pesticides from the market place could limit economical and effective options for controlling fungi.
One example of the need to control post-harvest spoilage of agriculture products pertains to green and blue molds of citrus fruits caused by Penicillium digitatum and P. italicum. These molds cause severe damage during storage and shipping. The existing fresh-market industry relies completely on a combination of several chemical treatments to deliver sound fruit to distant markets over substantial periods of time without excessive damage caused by these molds. Unfortunately, there are increasing concerns about the safety of the chemicals currently used to control these fungal pathogens. Also, there are increasing problems with fungal strains with resistance to the most effective compounds.
In another example, powdery mildew of grapes caused by Uncinula necator can cause severe damage even in dry areas such as California. Traditionally this disease was controlled with applications of elemental sulfur, but this necessitates frequent, high volume applications of an irritating material. The introduction of ergosterol biosynthesis inhibiting fungicides (primarily triazoles) greatly simplifies control, but also selects for tolerant strains. Some of these compounds are also known to have potential teratogenic effects and very long soil residuals. In these and other examples, alternative control methods are in great demand—particularly methods which are safer or more environmentally benign.
To prevent fugal spoilage it is common practice in many countries to spray produce with systemic fungicides in the field and to dip harvested produce in fungicide solutions prior to storage. Since the oncogenic nature of many of the most commonly used fungicides is increasingly recognized and because the persistence of most fungicides is increased by the low storage temperatures the postharvest use of fungicides is of growing concern.
Additionally, resistance to the fuingicides, used has been reported and suppression of the main spoilage organism B. cinera by fungicides such as BENOMYL fungicide has been shown to result in increased population of A. brassicicola which causes a more penetrating rot of produce than B. cinera. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,869,038.
The future role of fungicides in agriculture is increasingly threatened by several factors including; the development of pest resistance, increasing concerns about food safety and environmental accumulation of toxic compounds. As older fungicides are removed from the market due to regulatory changes there is an increasing need to find new effective fungicidal compounds.
Lasonolides and other macrolides have previously been found to possess useful biological activities. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,478,861; 5,684,036; and 6,476,065.

Biologically active lasonolide compounds

Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution, Inc.


The present invention relates to a universal system for monitoring and controlling a plurality of individual food establishment monitoring and controlling system for a plurality of remotely located, separate food establishments. Each individual food establishment system includes a main computer with appropriate peripherals and an interface unit. The interface unit is connected to the main computer and is also connected to a plurality of monitoring devices, some of which monitor essential food establishment functions, such as temperatures, motion detectors, sanitary areas and the like, while others monitor employee activities. The interface unit is also connected to a plurality of control devices which both monitor and control essential activities, including sanitation, temperature, signals for smoke detection, pH levels, inventory and employee activities. Portable instruments are included with connection capabilities to the interface unit, and employee identification devices are also included.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to systems for monitoring food service operating, performances, safety and correction actions requirements at a plurality of food service establishments, each having their own monitoring and controlling system. More specifically, it relates to a universal system for monitoring compliance at a plurality of establishments with respect to food itself, as well as food storage and preparation and further includes monitoring of both employees and the facility physical conditions at such an establishment. The system includes both monitoring functions and control functions with interactive work stations.
2. Information Disclosure Statement
The following represents prior art which is representative of various types of food related and sanitation related monitoring systems:
U.S. Pat. No. 3,967,478 to Stanley G. Guinn describes an apparatus for unlatching a door to a hygienic area actuated by sensor electrodes in contact with the electrolytic residue of a cleansing agent upon the hand or limb of a person desiring access to the hygienic area.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,254,472 to Richard O. Juengel et al describes a remote metering system for monitoring, collecting, analyzing, transmitting and displaying data generated by a plurality of metering devices. A controller, preferably a microprocessor, stores the continually up-dated data, analyses it, and initiates transmission of the data to at least one remote data receiving device. The data transmission from the controller is in serial format and includes a plurality of different channels, with at least one channel corresponding to a combination of selected data associated with different metering devices. A scaling factor can be applied to particular metering data prior to transmission, for example, so as to provide cost analyses. The remote data receiving device includes the capability of receiving and displaying data corresponding to any of the output data transmission channels from the controller.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,325,223 to Robert J. Cantley describes a system and method for managing energy in large refrigeration systems and the like by continuously monitoring operating parameters and controlling to optimize the refrigeration system elements. A multiplicity of remote sensors is disposed at the appropriate points in the refrigeration system to produce analog electrical signals representative of various temperatures such as wet bulb temperature, dry bulb temperature, condensing temperature, evaporator air temperature, evaporator refrigerant temperature, and similar temperatures, and various pressures such as head pressure, booster suction pressure, intermediate suction pressure, and the like. A signal processor is provided to receive signals from the sensors, to condition the analog signals, convert to digital signals and to feed a digital computer which has a memory for storing system design parameters and refrigerant characteristics. The digital computer calculates the instantaneous system operating parameters from the digital signals, compares these parameters to the design parameters, and operates control relays to load and unload compressors to maintain optimum system pressures, to energize and deenergize fans and pumps in accordance with the system requirements, and to produce alarms when non-condensible gasses and/or fouled condensers are indicated in the refrigeration system. In systems subject to frost build up on the evaporator, defrost cycles are also controlled by the computer to occur only when necessary.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,375,637 to Paul A. Desjardins describes a fully integrated alarm, communication, and building management system having a central control station and a plurality of remotely located sensing and controlling devices. Each remote device has an individual digital address, which is a parallel address present on a plurality of parallel lines. The parallel address is converted to a serial address and sent to the various remote locations where it is then reconverted to a parallel address and decoded to determine the specific device being interrogated. A multiple amplifier system is provided at the central control unit and provides communication capability involving remotely located loudspeakers and microphones. The amplifiers are provided in a dual channel arrangement so as to provide a fail-safe arrangement and a failure detector is located in each channel such that if a selected amplifier channel fails, the back-up or redundant channel is immediately switched into use. A number of controlling devices or actuating devices may be employed which operate in conjunction with the sensing devices and a programmable read only memory, or a programmable multiplexer, located at the central control unit. Each remotely located controlling or actuating device also has associated with it an individual parallel digital address and upon the occurrence of a signal from a sensing unit indicating a condition other than a normal condition and a specific address programmed into the programmable read only memory or the multiplexer a command signal will be issued to the remotely located actuating or controlling device causing such device to operate in a predetermined manner.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,538,138 to Roy L. Harvey et al describes a security system continuously monitoring a plurality of spatially diverse events which are reportable to a central monitoring facility, the system including a controller for sequencing the performance of reporting and monitoring tasks according to the requirements of the events. The system also performs the tasks according to a predetermined priority, in particular, alarm message queuing. In addition, alarm conditions and system operation are verified by specified communication procedures and redundancies. Furthermore, system communications capabilities include keyboard entry and output display and an interrupt facility.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,567,557 to Martin J. Burns describes a building intelligence system is disclosed that is compact in construction and includes a single cabinet within which all of the operating components are housed. The system incorporates an uninterruptable power supply, a hard-wired input board, a relay output board and a power-line carrier transmitter output. A dedicated computer is programmable through a computer interface to provide a wide range of control to such functions as energy systems, security systems, appliances, lights and other electrical electro-mechanical systems that are present within the building.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,851,822 to James S. Barnett describes an electronic monitoring system for a refrigerated unit that has sensing means responsive to temperature within the unit, conditions of the engine driving a compressor, security controls of the unit, all interconnected with solid state programming means in order to provide visual, audio, and transponding alarms in the event of a malfunction within the unit.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,919,950 to Stephen M. Mak describes a computer controlled, fully automatic wok cooking system which prepares stir-fried, Chinese dishes according to arbitrarily selected customer orders entered at a point-of-sale computer. The computer integrates the operation of the conveyer, cooking, dispensing, and point of sale entry devices according to the order, menu and ingredients. A conveyor belt including a plurality of woks draws the woks through a plurality of cooking stations. Each station is provided with a burner or heating element and a dispensing station controlled by the computer according to the customer entered order. Oil or condiments are added at a first station by a corresponding plurality of dispensers and at subsequent cooking stations the food ingredients are either stirred or additional spices, food ingredients, and condiments added by corresponding dispensers. At the last cooking station additional food ingredients, such as vegetables, nuts or other ingredients requiring shorter cooking times, are added and cooking is completed. The completed short order stir-fried dish is then delivered to a serving container at a delivery station. The emptied wok is advanced by the conveyor system through a plurality of cleaning stations, where the wok is inverted, washed, scoured, rinsed and dried. The cleaned and dried wok is then returned by the conveyor system to the initial cooking station to begin the cooking process again according to the then appropriate customer order.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,920,333 to Robert Barr et al describes an alarm system for monitoring an entrance/exit from a premises is provided with a dead bolt switch, timing mechanism, alarm circuitry and alarm indicator. The alarm system is activated when the dead bolt is unlocked. The alarm circuitry determines if the unlocking of the dead bolt was authorized or unauthorized. If the unlocking was unauthorized, the alarm indicator is activated. If the unlocking was authorized, the timing mechanism is activated. If the dead bolt is not relocked within the time period preset into the timing mechanism, the alarm indicator is activated. The timing mechanism may be reset by authorized persons to allow the dead bolt to remain open for additional time periods, one period at a time.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,924,417 to Hayami Yuasa describes an environmental abnormality alarm apparatus which includes a plurality of terminals connected to a transmission line and a central processing unit. A specific address is assigned to each of the terminals. The central processing unit sequentially circularly accesses the addresses of the terminals and receives a signal corresponding to a physical change such as fire, gas leakage, or burglary supplied from each terminal. Each terminal includes an alarm determination reference setting unit, a comparator for comparing the physical change signal with an alarm determination reference value, and an output unit for supplying a comparison result from the comparator. The alarm determination reference value of the alarm determination reference setting unit is set by transmitting and receiving data to and from the central processing unit.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,006,976 to Larry O. Jundt describes a process control terminal that may be used in a computer network consisting of a process control network of process controllers and an application network of host computers. The process control terminal allows a process control operator to access to both process control functions and application programs being executed by a host computer. The process control terminal includes an Ethernet controller and it emulates a standard DEC terminal in order to facilitate its use in preexisting computer systems. The process control terminal displays information relating to process control functions in a first portion of its associated CRT screen and information relating to applications programs in a second portion of the CRT screen, the second portion being exclusive of the first portion so that process control information is not overwritten by applications information. The process control terminal also includes an automatic login feature that allows an operator to automatically login to an application program without typing a username or password.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,218,344 to James G. Ricketts describes a method and system for monitoring personnel in an institution such as a correctional facility, hospital, school, military installation, and the like, includes a computer connected with one or more stationary transceivers in a defined area of the facility, and a portable transceiver unit worn by each individual who is to be monitored. The computer sends command signals to the stationary transceivers, which broadcast interrogation signals to the portable units. The portable units are configured to respond only to interrogation signals unique to that individual, and upon decoding an interrogation signal incident thereon, broadcast a response signal to the stationary transceivers. The stationary transceivers relay corresponding data to the computer, where the data is analyzed to provide an indication of the number, location and identity of the individuals. The portable transceiver units have an emergency alarm button which may be actuated by the individual in the event of an emergency, and selected portable transceiver units may also be configured to be sensitive to proximity between them. In addition, the portable units may be coded for access to vending apparatus.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,309,351 to Joseph H. McCain et al describes a data and communication system including a hand-held unit and an infrared communication satellite is used to provide for the interchange of data between a host computer, individual personal computers, the hand-held computing unit, and factory machinery, including process controllers.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,321,629 to Shigenobu Shirata et al describes a facility inspection support apparatus having portable terminal equipment for collecting on the field basis a patrol inspection result at each site of plant facilities, and a processor for receiving the patrol inspection result data collected by the portable terminal equipment and performing a necessary data process. The processor includes a data base for storing in advance a plurality of patrol inspection routes, and discrimination information of patrol inspection items included in the inspection routes, and storing the patrol inspection result data collected by the portable terminal equipment, and facility management processor for deriving the discrimination information of a patrol inspection item designated by the interactive apparatus and a past patrol inspection result data for the designated patrol inspection item, out of the data base, and transferring the discrimination information and the past patrol inspection result data to the portable terminal equipment. The portable terminal equipment includes a data memory for storing the collected patrol inspection result data, and a display device for sequentially displaying the discrimination information of patrol inspection items and the past patrol inspection result data sent from the processor in the order following the patrol inspection route.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,375,150 to Kenneth Scarola et al describes the use of alarm indication on the overview (IPSO) display to initiate diagnosis of challenges to critical functions or unavailability of success paths, and further alarm-based guidance toward ultimate diagnosis.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,394,447 to Kenneth Scarola et al describes the content of a hierarchical access to three levels of display pages containing information on critical function monitoring and success path monitoring.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,465,082 to John Chaco describes a distributed data processing network which includes multiple memory card databases at terminal nodes of the network. The network is programmed to automatically perform routine communications operations such as conveying identification information between the terminal nodes and interior nodes. The network is implemented in a hospital environment and the databases include information on patients and hospital personnel. Using the automatic communications facilities of the network patient information from the database is displayed at a nurse station when the patient initiates a nurse-call or automatically when medication, also recorded on the card, is due. In addition, the system may be used to locate hospital personnel and equipment, to audit the use of controlled substances and to automatically assemble emergency response teams.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,497,141 to Marshall R. Coles et al describes an alert system for alerting a supervisor when an employee has worked beyond a predetermined time limit. The alert system comprises a time collection device that is interfaced with at least one alarm device. The time collection device is selectably operable to detect the input time when the employee clocks in and to generate an alert message when the employee works beyond a predetermined time limit. The predetermined time limit is set to a predetermined amount of time before a potential labor control violation, such as a violation of child labor laws or a violation of wage and hour laws, is about to occur. The time collection device comprises an input device interfaced with a controller which has the predetermined time limit stored in memory. The time collection device also includes a timer that is interfaced with the controller. The timer records the time that the employee clocks in and monitors the elapsed time after the input time. The alert system is operative to detect when the elapsed time exceeds the predetermined time limit and to send an alert signal from the controller to a selected alarm device.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,670,945 to Alan R. Applonie describes a self-monitoring, hand-sanitizing station having a basin capable of holding an antiseptic solution to be situated near the entrance to a food handling area. A first proximity detector determines when an individual is approaching both the basin and the entrance. The basin contains a first moisture-proof switch and a second moisture-proof switch the activation of which switches must be done simultaneously; these switches are situated so that a user cannot accomplish such simultaneously activation with a single hand. A second proximity detector determines when an individual has passed beyond the basin towards the entrance. And a logic unit receives electrical inputs from the first proximity detector, the second proximity detector, the first moisture-proof switch and the second moisture-prof switch to determine when an individual has approached both the basin and the entrance but passed beyond the basin toward the entrance without having simultaneously activated the first moisture-proof switch and the second moisture-proof switch. When such a determination is made, an output signal is generated by the logic unit, which output signal activates an alarm.
Notwithstanding the prior art, the present invention is neither taught nor rendered obvious thereby.

Integral master system for monitoring food service requirements for compliance at a plurality of food service establishments


A transmitter is provided with a distribution preserving Tomlinson coder which predistorts shaped data signals such that the power of each data signal exiting the coder is substantially similar to the power of the data signal entering the coder and such that upon transmission of the predistorted data signal over a channel, the effect of ISI of the channel is substantially removed. The transmitter is primarily intended for coded modulation systems utilizing a "coset" code, and the predistortion is preferably accomplished according to a linear function ##EQU1## where r.sub.k is a data signal entering the coder, a and.sub.i b.sub.i are the coefficients of polynomials relating to the channel impulse response, x.sub.k is the predistorted data signal exiting the coder, and s.sub.k is chosen to cause the signal power of x.sub.k on average to approximately equal the signal power of r.sub.k on average. Different methods for so choosing s.sub.k are disclosed. Receivers which cooperate with the provided transmitters are also provided.

This invention generally relates to the transmission and receipt of data over telecommunications channels via the use of modems. More particularly, this invention relates to apparatus and methods for modem equilization which predistort data signals in a transmitter prior to sending the signals over a channel.
Data signals which are sent over a channel from a transmitter to a receiver are often corrupted by the inherent characteristics of the channel. Those inherent characteristics include the inability of a channel to provide a perfect response to a signal; i.e. the state of the channel at a previous moment in time affects the response of the channel at a later moment in time. In the art, this is known as intersymbol interference or ISI. In addition to ISI, data signals are also subjected to noise. Both the noise and ISI reduce the ability of a receiver to determine exactly what was transmitted from the transmitter.
In attempting to correct for ISI, it is common in the art to supply an equalizer in the receiver. The function of the equalizer is to correct for the ISI of the received signals so that the initial data can be recovered. With an equalizer in the receiver, typically, a known sequence of data signals (i.e. a training sequence) is sent from the transmitter to the receiver. Being that the data signal sequence itself is known, and the signals being received are known, it is possible for the equalizer first to determine the effects of the channel (i.e. the channel coefficients) on the transmitted signals, and then to compensate for those effects via any of several processes such as linear equalization or decision feedback equalization. Linear equalization functions by multiplying the incoming signals by the inverse of the ISI. While the ISI is generally removed from the incoming signals in this manner, noise inherent in the data transmission is undesirably simultaneously amplified. Additional details of linear equalization may be obtained by reference to Lee, Edward A. and Messerschmitt, David G., Digital Communication; (Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1988).
Decision feedback equalization avoids the noise amplification problems of linear equalization. However, in recreating the ISI via feedback, decision feedback equalization runs the risk of error propagation, as any decision errors that are made are fed back. Additional details of decision feedback equalization may be obtained by reference to Lee, Edward A. and Messerschmitt, David G., Digital Communication; (Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1988).
In response to the problems of linear and decision feedback equalization, M. Tomlinson, "New Automatic Equalizer Employing Modulo Arithmetic"; Electronics Letters Vol. 7, (March, 1971) pp. 138-139, suggested that equalization occur in the transmitter rather than in the receiver. In other words, the signals should be predistorted in the transmitter in such a manner that would cancel out the ISI of the channel upon transmission. As a result, after travel through the channel, the signals being received by the receiver would correspond to those signals which were generated by the transmitter prior to the predistortion, except for noise. The noise accompanying the data would not be amplified.
In more mathematical terms, if a series of data points r.sub.k are to be sent from the transmitter to the receiver, the Tomlinson scheme precodes the data according to a linear function: ##EQU2## where x.sub.k is the ISI corrected (i.e. predistorted) signal which is transmitted over the channel, r.sub.k is the precorrected selected signal point, and h.sub.i are the coefficients of a polynomial which describes the channel's impulse response (i.e. ISI).
While Tomlinson precoding is generally effective, the manner in which Tomlinson processes the signals prior to transmission causes signals having a desired power distribution which provides coding gain (e.g. as seen in U.S. Ser. Nos. 07/535,329 and 07/640,260 which are hereby incorporated by reference herein) to lose that gain. In other words, if the Tomlinson precoding is to be used, there is no benefit in providing a signal constellation having a desired "shape" or power distribution, as the Tomlinson precoding substantially destroys desired power distributions of coded signals. While for certain data transmission schemes this feature is acceptable, in high speed modems (e.g. 19.2 kbits/sec) it is advantageous that any gain available be maintained.
Recently, in Forney Jr., G. David, "Trellis Shaping", IEEE Information Theory Workshop, CCITT Study Group XVII & Working Parties, Geneva 15-23 Oct. 1990 (Temporary Document 211-E), an in Forney Jr., G. David, "Trellis Precoding: Combined Coding, Precoding and Shaping for Intersymbol Interference Channels", IEEE Information Theory Workshop, CCITT Study Group XVII & Working Parties, Geneva 15-23 Oct. 1990 (Temporary Document 212-E), Forney proposed an equalization scheme which avoids the drawbacks of both the equalization in the receiver, and the Tomlinson precoding methods. As set forth in the Forney articles, Trellis encoded and modulated data signals are predistorted to account for ISI in a manner which simultaneously provides minimum possible energy of the transmitted signal. While the Forney method theoretically provides excellent results, it has several drawbacks. First, the shaping scheme of Forney adds considerable delay to the process of transmitting data. Second, the Forney method requires very complex processing.

Methods and apparatus employing distribution preserving Tomlinson precoding in transmission of digital data signals


A lens position control device for a rear-focus type zoom lens includes a rear-focus type zoom lens, an image pickup element for converting an optical image formed by the zoom lens into an electrical signal, a signal processing circuit for executing signal processing of the electrical signal so as to obtain an electronic zooming effect, a focus detection circuit for detecting a focus adjustment state of the zoom lens, a memory for storing information associated with movement of a focusing lens group according to lens positions of a variable magnification lens group and a focusing lens group of the zoom lens, and a control circuit for, when it is determined based on an output from the focus detection circuit that the zoom lens is in an in-focus state, moving the focusing lens group on the basis of the position of the variable magnification lens group and the information stored in the memory, and for, when it is determined that the zoom lens is in an out-of-focus state, performing a zooming operation on the basis of a signal processing result of the signal processing circuit, and moving the focusing lens group on the basis of information detected by the focus detection circuit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a photographing apparatus and, more particularly, to a photographing apparatus having an optical zoom function using a zoom lens, and a so-called electronic zoom function achieved by electrical processing of an image pickup means.
2. Related Background Art
Due to recent rapid spread of video cameras, the video cameras are required to have high performance, while the cameras are required to have zoom lenses having high zoom ratios, which can cope with various photographing situations. In recent years, zoom lenses having zoom ratios as high as .times.6 to .times.10 are provided, and zoom lenses having still higher zoom ratios are developed.
When a high zoom ratio is to be achieved by a zoom lens, the total length of the lens is normally increased, it becomes difficult to correct aberrations over the entire zoom area, and the cost of the lens tends to increase. For this reason, it is considerably difficult to provide a compact, low-cost zoom lens having a high zoom ratio.
In consideration of the above situation, there is proposed a technique associated with a so-called electronic zoom function for electrically enlarging an image on a monitor by processing electrical signals from an image pickup element such as a CCD, which function is added to a video camera so as to obtain a zooming effect in a wider range although the zoom ratio of an optical zoom function remains the same as a conventional one.
Japanese Patent Publication No. 52-15226 and Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 1-280709 disclose techniques associated with focusing lens position control of a so-called rear-focus type zoom lens having the following advantages. That is, a zoom lens can be rendered compact by operating as a focusing lens group at least a lens group after a variable magnification lens group, and a photographing operation up to a closest object can be performed. The present invention provides a photographing apparatus, which does not adopt a simple system for operating an electronic zoom function so as to cover a wider zoom area after a zooming operation for an optical zoom area is completed, but can utilize the features of the rear-focus type zoom lens when the so-called electronic zoom function is added to the rear-focus type zoom lens.
More specifically, in the rear-focus type zoom lens, a focusing lens must be moved upon zooming even when an object remains at a position of a given distance. In particular, the rear-focus type zoom lens has an optical nature in that a focusing lens group has different focus extension amounts at the wide-angle side and the telephoto side. Therefore, in order to perform moving control of the focusing lens, as disclosed in, e.g., Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 1-280709, information associated with the movement of the focusing lens is preferably stored in advance in a ROM (Read Only Memory) to move the focusing lens group according to the stored information, so that the focusing lens can trace a desirable cam path according to the lens positions of the zoom lens and the focusing lens.
In this case, the following problem is posed. That is, when the object distance abruptly changes during an optical zooming operation, the focusing lens traces a cam path for an object distance before the change, and always maintains an out-of-focus state. An AF (Auto-Focus) function may be adopted to attain an in-focus state. However, when the AF function cannot follow the zooming function, an in-focus state cannot be attained, either. In particular, a blurred state may be worsened in a zooming operation from the wide-angle side to the telephoto side even if the AF function is used.

Photographing apparatus and lens position control device


A storage element pending command queue prioritization system using multiple pending queues each assigned to a particular RAID command type. Pending commands from each of the queues are organized in such a way that lower priority commands are guaranteed a fixed amount of storage element bandwidth. Storage element throughput is optimized by limiting higher priority commands to a maximum service level and processing lower priority requests with the added storage element bandwidth, allowing lower priority requests to exceed their minimum service levels.

In conventional networked storage systems, large volumes of data are repeatedly recorded and retrieved. Due to the magnitude of data, large numbers of storage elements are employed to archive the information and make it readily available when requested. The sheer number of storage elements necessitates using precise and complex controllers to manage not only where specific data is stored but also the storage and retrieval process. The controllers act as a management layer to oversee storage operations and to offload the processing-intensive storage functions from the system hosts. This offloading of storage tasks allows the hosts to use more processing cycles for other primary functions. In this manner, hosts write data to and access data contained on storage elements through storage controllers.
In conventional storage controller architectures, storage element access commands (typically, data reads and writes to a hard disk drive or like device) are sent to a command pending queue. These queued commands are sent to their respective storage elements in the order received. The storage controller may generate storage element access commands to service different tasks, including a misread cache, no cache write (e.g., FUA), copy, flush cache, etc. Some commands, for example, a cache misread command, require the host to wait for the results, while others, for example, a flush cache command, may be administered as a background task. The tasks may have several different levels of priority, and those priority levels, both relative and absolute, may change over time.
In the most basic implementation of a command pending queue, the first commands into the queue are the first to be processed, and so on. The pending queue is a single list of various types of commands and may include time-critical tasks, i.e., in which the host is waiting for a response, or non-time-critical tasks. However, there is no prioritization to optimize storage element access command processing in such a way that latency due to critical storage element-dependent tasks is minimized.
Simple prioritization schemes, such as placing all high-priority tasks like cache misreads at the head of a given storage element queue, are possible; however, this solution has an inherent problem. In a storage controller use modality in which there is a significant percentage of high-priority tasks, the lower priority tasks may not get adequate servicing. For example, although flush cache tasks may be non-critical to host data latency, they must be performed relatively frequently to ensure non-volatile storage of data and efficient cache management. What is needed is a way to manage pending commands that allows command prioritization and provides minimal service levels for all commands.
An example method for prioritizing storage element commands is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,609,149, entitled, "Method and Apparatus for Prioritizing Video Frame Retrieval in a Shared Disk Cluster". The '149 patent describes how a first frame deadline is calculated and attached to an I/O request for prioritizing and retrieving video data frames from a shared disk cluster. Disk adapters queue video data frame requests according to the deadline incorporated in the frame requests. Data frames are transmitted to a requesting end user utilizing the attached deadline time to schedule the frames according to a time priority. A "slack" time is computed and utilized to determine when the first frame and subsequent frames of the requested video data may be retrieved from disk and present in the video server's memory in order to avoid a visible delay in sending that frame to the end user. Slack time is saved to each disk read request command packet and is equal to deadline time less the current time at which the command packet is sent to the disk adapter. The process next issues the disk read request to the disk adapter. The process continues to queue read commands in the disk adapter. While in the disk adapter queue, slack time of each read command is regularly decremented so that the waiting time of the read command in queue is reflected. The disk controller requests another command and the disk adapter sends a read command having the least slack time remaining.
Although the method described in the '149 patent provides a method of guaranteeing a minimum I/O bandwidth for each disk drive, it is specific to disk read commands (for a video on demand system) and does not provide an operational method for prioritizing other storage element commands such as write, rebuild, or copy, for example. The disk adapter described in the '149 patent prioritizes read commands based on latency requirements and sends read commands to the storage element in that order. The method described in the '149 patent does not teach one skilled in the art how to prioritize other types of system commands, conventionally used in a networked storage element array, without compromising storage element bandwidth for any commands. There is therefore, a need to provide higher and lower prioritization levels for various storage element commands and ensure that all priority level commands are processed with minimal latency.


According to one embodiment, there is provided a nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery. A positive electrode current collector comprises a coated portion on which the positive electrode active material layer is provided and a noncoated portion which is adjacent to the coated portion in a direction parallel to the first surface, in which the positive electrode active material layer is not present. A density of the positive electrode active material layer is within a range of 3.1 g/cc to 3.4 g/cc. A ratio W1/W2 of a mass of the coated portion per unit area (W1) to a mass of the noncoated portion per unit area (W2) is from 0.997 to 1.

In recent years, use of a nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery as a power source for hybrid electric vehicles or as an electric storage device for power generators using natural energy such as solar light and wind has been studied. A load on a power source for a vehicle is considerably fluctuated depending on a travelling state of the vehicle and the like. A power generation amount of a power generator is considerably fluctuated depending on environmental conditions. Therefore, the nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery is sometimes required to discharge or store a large current in a short time. Therefore, the nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery is desired to have an excellent large current property. However, in the case where an internal resistance of the battery is large, there is a problem that performance is deteriorated when charge-discharge is performed at a large current.

Nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery


An apparatus for operating a front door of a VCR to enable the front door to pivot inward and outward with respect to the VCR. The apparatus has a door supporting member integrally formed at ends thereof with a first pivot shaft and a second pivot shaft respectively, a first bracket for rotatably supporting the first pivot shaft, a second bracket for rotatably supporting the second pivot shaft, a first spring device for returning the door to an initial position where the door closes the cassette inlet, and a second spring device for pivoting the door inward. The first spring device has a first flange and a first spring, and the second spring device has a second flange and a second spring. The apparatus can simplify the structure of a VCR and can prevent a door and a VCR case from colliding with each other, thereby reducing the noise generated by the VCR.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a VCR, and more particularly to an apparatus for operating a front door of a VCR which allows the front door to pivot about pivot shafts lowered and outward with respect to the VCR.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, a VCR is a device for recording/reproducing a signal on/from a magnetic tape. A VCR comprises a loading mechanism for loading or unloading a cassette, a reel driving mechanism for running a tape, and a head section for recording/reproducing visual and sound signals on/from a magnetic tape.
The loading system of a VCR comprises a sensor which detects a cassette when the cassette enters a predetermined distance into the VCR and sends a signal to an ECU, a lever for pivoting a front door of the VCR, a cassette holder for settling the cassette in a loading position, and a loading motor. A cassette inlet is formed at the front wall of the VCR. The cassette inlet is opened/closed by a front door hinged to an upper end thereof so that damage to elements installed inside of the VCR caused by impurities is avoided. When the cassette is being inserted into the VCR, the door should smoothly pivot so that the cassette can be easily inserted into the VCR.
FIG. 1 shows an operating mechanism of a front door 4 for a conventional VCR. As shown in FIG. 1, the conventional VCR is formed at the front wall thereof with a cassette inlet 3 for inserting and withdrawing a cassette 2 which is shown in FIG. 2. A bracket 8 having a blind hole 9 is fixedly provided on an inner surface of a VCR case 1 adjacent to the upper portion of cassette inlet 3. A rotating shaft 5 is integrally formed with the top end of door 4, and a free end of rotating shaft 5 is rotatably inserted into blind hole 9, thereby supporting door 4.
Since the pivoting of the bottom end of door 4 is blocked by the inner lower surface of VCR case 1, door 4 can only pivot inward with respect to VCR case 1 about rotating shaft 5. A spring 6 is inserted around an end portion of rotating shaft 5. One end of spring 6 is supported at the inner surface of VCR case 1, and the other end makes contact with the inner surface of door 4, thereby forcing door 4 outward with respect to the VCR, that is, in the direction in which door 4 closes cassette inlet 3.
As shown in FIG. 2, a lever 10, which operates when cassette 2 is inserted into cassette inlet 3, is installed inside of the VCR. Lever 10 is integrally formed at a lead end thereof with a bending part 11. Door 4 is formed at the inner wall thereof with a latch 7 for latching bending part 11, and latch 7 is positioned in correspondence to a position of bending part 11.
While cassette 2 is being inserted into the VCR, door 4 makes contact with one end of cassette 2 so that door 4 is pivoted upward about rotating shaft 5. Accordingly, cassette inlet 3 is opened, thereby allowing cassette 2 to enter the VCR. Next, cassette 2 is caught by a cassette holder 13 installed inside of the VCR. When cassette 2 has entered a predetermined distance into the inside of the VCR through cassette inlet 3, a sensor (not shown) detects cassette 2 and sends a cassette detecting signal to an ECU. As a result, cassette holder 13 is driven so as to settle cassette 2 in a loading position. On the other hand, the movement of cassette holder 13 causes lever 10 to swing. Consequently, bending part 11 formed at the lead end of lever 10 is turned with respect to a hinge 12, and forces door 4 to pivot about rotating shaft 5 upward and inward with respect to the VCR, thereby opening cassette inlet 3 as shown in FIG. 3.
By the pivot movement of door 4, cassette 2 can easily enter into the inside of the VCR. In the above-mentioned state, door 4 is being forced downward by spring 6. When cassette 2 has been loaded, door 4 is pivoted downward by spring 6, thereby rapidly closing cassette inlet 3.
On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 3, when cassette 2 is withdrawn, cassette holder 13 is driven, and subsequently, lever 10 turns counter-clockwise, thereby pulling door 4 inward with respect to the VCR. In this state, cassette 2 is partially ejected through cassette inlet 3. Thereafter, when cassette 2 is entirely drawn out of the VCR, door 4 is again pivoted downward by spring 6, thereby closing cassette inlet 3.
However, the conventional door operating mechanism has a complicated construction inside of the VCR. For example, it requires a separate element, such as lever 10, to open cassette inlet 3 when cassette 2 is being ejected. That is, since the conventional door 4 can pivot only to the inside of the VCR, the conventional mechanism requires an element for maintaining open cassette inlet 3 when cassette 2 is to be ejected. Also, it is required that the pivot movement of door 4 must be synchronized with the unloading of cassette 2. Therefore, since lever 10 which is driven together with cassette holder 13 is required, the construction becomes complicated. And, there is a difficulty in designing the VCR so that the phase of movement of door 4 with respect to the rotating angle of lever 10 is firmly established.
In addition, in the above-mentioned door operating mechanism, door 4 is pivoted toward VCR case 1 at a relatively high speed by the resilient force of spring 6, so door 4 collides with VCR case 1, thereby generating a relatively loud noise.

Apparatus for operating a front door of a VCR


Methods, systems, and products are disclosed for presenting structured digital content items. A file is read that defines a hierarchical structure. A display region is divided into regions and each region is mapped to a category within the hierarchical structure. An x-coordinate and a y-coordinate, corresponding to a location on the display, are received. The category that maps to the x-coordinate and the y-coordinate is displayed.

Today, there are numerous situations in which digital content items (e.g., files, text, graphics, etc.) are arranged in a structured or hierarchical manner. For example, file directories provide a hierarchical structure in which files are organized. In a typical file directory viewing program, upon receiving a selection of a particular directory of the file directory, files and sub-directories of the selected directory are typically displayed on a user interface. A user may then either select a displayed file or select a displayed sub-directory. If a displayed sub-directory is selected, files and sub-directories of the selected sub-directory are typically displayed on a user interface. In this manner, a user may search through various layers a file directory that organizes files in a hierarchical structure.
Many other hierarchical structures exist for organizing digital content items. In the context of a business directory, for example, business names are arranged by categories and often, also by sub-categories. Examples of business categories include banks, hotels, restaurants, and the like. As an example of sub-categories, the restaurant category, may have sub-categories of Chinese restaurants, Italian restaurants, and the like. In this manner, business names may be organized into the hierarchical structure in a logical manner, allowing a user to more easily locate a desired business name.
Despite improvements in software, the presentation of structured digital content items is still a very time consuming process. For example, to view digital content to items in an advertisement compilation such as an electronic Yellow Pages telephone directory, a user may navigate through a series of complex screens and drop-down menus to find and view a particular advertisement. Alternatively, a user may search on particular keywords and then scroll through the search results to view a particular advertisement. This may take a multitude of keystrokes until the desired advertisement is found.
Further, with conventional systems and methods, the order of displaying categories and digital content items remains constant. That is, each time a user navigates through the series of complex screens and drop-down menus, the same ordering of categories and digital content items is used. Therefore, even if a user typically searches for and selects Italian restaurants, the user may have to spend a long time searching through the entire list of restaurant categories before reaching the Italian restaurant category. Each time the user searches for a particular category or digital content item, the user searches through the entire list of categories or digital content items in their original order.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need for a system and method for rapid presentation of structured content.

System and method for rapid presentation of structured digital content items