A canister assembly for use in an exhaust gas aftertreatment device comprises a cylindrical shell defining a cylindrical axis, a radial direction, and a circumferential direction, a top end and a bottom end. A flow tube is inserted into the top end of the cylindrical shell and terminates short of the bottom end of the cylindrical shell, defining an exit of the flow tube. A mixing bowl member including a symmetrical annular shape about the cylindrical axis and defining a mixing bowl pocket is attached at the bottom end of the cylindrical shell.

Internal combustion engines are routinely used in various industries to power machines and equipment. Examples of industries using such machines and equipment include marine, earth moving, construction, mining, locomotive and agriculture industries, etc. In certain markets and market segments, gasoline or diesel fuel powered engines are used. These engines often emit undesirable emissions such as particulate matter and NOx. Aftertreatment devices such as canister (CAN) assemblies that employ various technologies to reduce these emissions are also well known in the art. However, these known aftertreatment devices suffer from various deficiencies.
First, many of the prior aftertreatment devices are complex including many components such as flappers and fins that are disposed in the inlet flow tube of a CAN assembly to promote the mixing of an exhaust treatment fluid, such as DEF (diesel exhaust fluid), into a stream of exhaust gas so that the emissions are effectively reduced. If the mixing of the DEF into the exhaust gas stream is not sufficient, the desired reduction in emissions may not be achieved and/or the DEF may condense and crystalize on various parts of the CAN assembly. This may require the CAN assembly to be cleaned or to have other maintenance performed on the CAN assembly. This can be costly and time consuming. So, the need for effective mixing of DEF with exhaust gases is needed.
Second, the use of such flappers and fins may be costly to manufacture. When cost is of considerable concern, using complex features such as flappers and fins is not feasible. In traditionally low cost countries, such features may be omitted or aftertreatment may be omitted altogether when emissions standards are less stringent. However, there is now an increased awareness of the effects of emissions in even low cost countries, so that a more easily manufactured and low cost method and apparatus for providing aftertreatment of exhaust gases is becoming necessary. More specifically, the emissions standards in such low cost countries are becoming more stringent, making the provision of low cost aftertreatment necessary.
Third, the space taken up by aftertreatment devices may be greater than desired in some applications. Reducing the space taken up by aftertreatment devices may allow for improvements or additions to other systems such as the engine, etc. So, reducing the size of the aftertreatment device such as a CAN assembly may be useful.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,312,650 to Frederiksen et al illustrates a silencer or CAN assembly that is used to clean exhaust gases. The CAN assembly comprises an air-tight casing (1) connected to an exhaust inlet pipe (2) and to an exhaust outlet pipe (3) and contains at least two acoustic compartments (4 i , 4 ii) and one or more monolithic bodies (5) such as catalyzers or particle filters through which exhaust gases flow in a flow direction in longitudinal channels or porosities, and one or more pipes or channels (6, 7), at least one pipe or channel penetrating one or more of the monolithic bodies (5) and guiding exhaust gases in a flow direction which is opposite to the flow direction in the channels or porosities of the monolithic body (5), and at least one of the pipes or channels (6, 7) connecting the at least two acoustic compartments (4 i , 4 ii). The general flow direction is preferably reversed substantially immediately upstream of a penetrated monolithic body (5) and substantially immediately downstream of either the same monolithic body (5) or of another penetrated monolithic body. Solid particles active for catalytic reduction of NOx, or a spray of a liquid containing an aqueous solution of urea and/or ammonia, active for catalytic reduction of NOx, may be injected into the exhaust gases to impinge on a catalytic layer (35, 36) applied on a baffle (13), an end cap (11, 12) or a flow element being arranged so that said particles and/or droplets impinge thereon.
As can be seen, the design of Frederiksen et al does not address some of the current market demands such as having a reduced size and complexity while still ensuring sufficient DEF is mixed sufficiently into the exhaust gas stream produced by a diesel engine or the like. Accordingly, it is desirable to develop an aftertreatment device that has a reduced size and complexity while sufficiently mixing DEF or other exhaust gas treatment fluid into the stream of exhaust gas than has been yet devised.


A method and apparatus for accurately positioning the magnetic head of disk drives is disclosed. A recording medium is provided having two radial data structures formed thereon. Each radial data structure includes two parallel and adjacent data burst pattern trains. The first burst pattern is defined by a first side centrally aligned with a concentric data track and a second side opposed to the first side and centrally aligned with an adjacent concentric data track. The third burst pattern is defined by a third side spaced apart from the first side of the first burst pattern by a distance not greater than the read width of a magnetic head and a fourth side opposed to the third side and spaced apart from the second side by a distance not greater than the read width. The first radial data structure generates a first signal for positioning the magnetic head relative to the recording medium. The second radial data structure, parallel and offset from the first data structure, generates a second head position signal. Thus, the second head position signal is detected before the first head position signal becomes undetectable.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to a method and apparatus for accurately positioning the magnetic write/read head of a disk drive, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for accruately positioning write/read heads which provide a write gap and a shorter read gap relative to a recording medium having concentric data tracks and radial burst patterns recorded thereon for determining the position of the heads, wherein a second position signal is detected before a first position signal is discontinued.
2. Description of Related Art
On a magnetic disk such as a hard disk or a flexible disk, a plurality of data tracks is concentrically formed. When information is read from or written to the magnetic disk, the magnetic head is moved in the radial direction of the magnetic disk to face a specific data track (a so-called seek operation), and thereafter an information reading or writing operation is performed with respect to the specific data track.
The positioning of the magnetic head for causing the magnetic head to face the specific data track is performed by reading a burst pattern continuously recorded in the radial direction of the magnetic disk. For example, FIG. 9 (a) illustrates a typical burst pattern recorded on a magnetic disk.
In FIG. 9 (a), the magnetic disk rotates in the circumferential direction of the magnetic disk (the direction of arrow A in FIG. 9), and a magnetic head (not shown) moves in the radial direction of the magnetic head (the direction of arrow B or the opposite direction in FIG. 9). On the magnetic disk, a plurality of data tracks on which data is recorded 54N (N is a positive integer), 54N.+-.1, 54N.+-.2, 54N.+-.3, . . . , are concentrically formed, and a burst pattern 902 is recorded in the radial direction of the magnetic disk. The burst pattern 902 consists of a first burst pattern train 910 formed by arranging in the radial direction regions 912 in which data is recorded, a second burst pattern train 920 similarly formed by arranging in the radial direction regions 922 in which data is recorded, a third burst pattern train 930 similarly formed by arranging in the radial direction regions 932 in which data is recorded, and a fourth burst pattern train 940 similarly formed by arranging in the radial direction regions 942 in which a signal is recorded.
The size of each region constituting the burst pattern trains 910 and 920 in the radial direction of the magnetic disk is made to equal to the pitch (P) 960 of the data tracks, and these regions are staggered in the radial direction of the magnetic disk so that both edge sections thereof in the radial direction coincide with the central position of each of the data tracks. Also, the size of each region constituting the burst pattern trains 930 and 940 in the radial direction of the magnetic disk is made to equal the pitch (P) 960 of the data tracks, and these regions are staggered in the radial direction of the magnetic disk so that both edge sections thereof in the radial direction coincide with the central position between the respective data tracks.
If the burst pattern is read while the magnetic head is moved in the radial direction of the magnetic disk, a position detection signal is obtained. The position detection signal includes two types of signals. A first composite signal A/(A+B) is obtained by dividing the signal obtained by reading the first burst pattern train 910 (hereinafter referred to as signal A) by the signal obtained by adding to the signal A, a signal obtained by reading the second burst pattern train 920 (hereinafter referred to as signal B), and a second composite signal D/(C+D) which is obtained by dividing the signal obtained by reading the fourth burst pattern train 940 (hereinafter referred to as signal D) by the signal obtained by adding to signal 940, a signal obtained by reading the third burst pattern train 930 (hereinafter referred to as signal C).
The position detection signal A/(A+B) changes linearly when the gap center passes near the center of the data track 54N in the width direction thereof (the direction of arrow B in FIG. 9). Incidentally, the position detection signal A/(A+B) also changes similarly when the gap center passes the center of other data tracks 54N+1, 54+2, 54N+3, . . . in the width direction thereof. Also, the position detection signal D/(C+D) changes linearly when the gap center passes near the center between the data track 54N and 54N+1. In addition, the position detection signal D/(C+D) also changes similarly when the gap center passes near the center between other data tracks 54N+1, 54N+2, 54N+3, . . . .
Accordingly, based on the levels of the position detection signals A/(A+B) and D/(C+D), the position of the gap, namely, the position of the magnetic head can be determined and, based on the levels of the position detection signals, the magnetic head can be positioned so that the gap center is positioned at the center of the width of the data track. Thus, before the position of the magnetic head reaches the data track 54N+1 from the data track 54N, the position detection signal A/(A+B) is switched to the position detection signal D/(C+D) so that the position signal is not discontinued and the magnetic head can be positioned based on the position detection signal level.
More recently, magnetic heads have been proposed which read information using a magnetoresistance element (hereinafter referred to as an MR element). The MR element is an element which utilizes the magnetoresistance effect. Thus, if a semiconductor is placed in a magnetic field, the direction in which the electrons or positive holes in the semiconductor advance is changed by the magnetic field, whereby the traveling path becomes longer and the resistance value increases. In the magnetic head which uses the MR element to read information and uses a coil to write information, there are provided separately a read gap and a write gap. However, the longitudinal size of the read gap is shorter than the write gap. Accordingly, data is written wide and read narrow to decrease the crosstalk from other data tracks, thereby obtaining a position detection signal having a small S/N ratio. Thus, the recording density may be increased.
However, when the longitudinal size of the read gap is shortened and the read range is shortened as described above, a region 970 occurs in which the position detection signals A/(A+B) and D/(C+D) cannot be detected, as shown in FIG. 9 (b). If such a region 970 occurs, the position at which the magnetic head is currently located cannot be determined, and the magnetic head cannot be positioned.
In FIG. 9 (b), the abscissa represents the position of the magnetic head and, more specifically, the longitudinal center position (center) of the gap formed in the magnetic head.
If, on the one hand, the read range is widened to solve such problem, the primary object, writing data wide and reading it narrow to increase the recording density, cannot be accomplished.
On the other hand, as disclosed in PUPA No. 4-353679 official gazette, a burst pattern consisting of four special burst pattern trains formed by the respective regions having their length in the radial direction of the magnetic disk made shorter than the pitch of data tracks is prerecorded on the magnetic disk to solve the above problem. From a total of eight signals obtained by calculating the four signals obtained from the burst pattern, a single signal to be used as the position detection signal is switched according to the magnetic head position, thereby obtaining a position detection signal which changes linearly over a wide range of movement for the magnetic head.
Nevertheless, in the above approach the determination of signal switching and processes such as the calculation for obtaining a position detection signal is cumbersome. Further, the above approach requires the recording of a special burst pattern on the magnetic disk, in which special burst pattern the length of the respective regions in the radial direction of the magnetic disk is shorter than the pitch of the data tracks. Thus there is a problem in that labor and time must be taken to record the burst pattern. In addition, the above official gazette discloses that the addition or subtraction of a predetermined bias value with relation to the obtained signal can provide a position detection signal which changes linearly for movement of the magnetic head. However, the offset changes according to the voltage supplied to the magnetic head or the ambient temperature and, thus, even if a fixed value is given as the bias value, an unnatural section, or a so-called point of inflection, occurs in the position signal at a point where the signal used as the position detection signal is switched.
It can be seen then that there is a need for a magnetic head positioning method and apparatus wherein the positioning of the write magnetic head and the read magnetic head can be performed reliably.
It can also be seen that there is a need for a magnetic head positioning method and apparatus wherein data is written wide and read narrow to decrease the crosstalk from other data tracks, but gaps between regions which generate position detection signals are prevented.

Magnetic recording medium magnetic head positioning method, and magnetic recording apparatus

International Business Machines Corporation


A method of generating a layout pattern includes determining a first energy density indirectly exposed to a first feature of one or more features of a layout pattern on an energy-sensitive material when the one or more features of the layout pattern on the energy-sensitive material are directly exposed by a charged particle beam. The method also includes adjusting a second energy density exposed the first feature when the first feature is directly exposed by the charged particle beam. A total energy density of the first feature that comprises a sum of the first energy density from the indirect exposure and the second energy density from the direct exposure is maintained at about a threshold energy level to fully expose the first feature in the energy-sensitive material.

Lithography is used for patterning the surface of a semiconductor wafer that is covered by a resist material. The resist material is patterned so that portions of the resist material can be selectively removed to expose underlying areas of the semiconductor wafer for selective processing such as etching, material deposition, implantation and the like. Photolithography utilizes light energy, including the ultraviolet light or X-ray, for selective exposure of the resist material. Alternatively, charged particle beams, e.g., electron beams and ion beams, have been used for high resolution lithographic resist exposure.
Some of the electrons or ions entering the resist material that is being exposed may be scattered around and into neighboring areas. The scattering may cause electrons or ions to enter the resist material in areas outside of the resist material that is being directly exposed. The scattering may cause indirect exposure of the areas adjacent to the resist material that is being directly exposed. Thus, in an electron beam or ion beam energy delivery process, it is desirable to adjust the exposure time and the amount of the energy delivered to the resist material such that selected locations of the resist are fully exposed and neighboring areas are not significantly exposed.

Proximity effect correction in electron beam lithography

TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING CO., LTD.


A screeding machine for screeding an uncured concrete surface includes a wheeled unit having a plurality of wheels for moving the wheeled unit over a support surface. A screed head assembly includes a grade setting device and a vibrating member and is movable over the concrete area via the wheeled unit. The grade setting device includes an at least partially cylindrical concrete engaging surface, such as a roller that is rotatably mounted at the screed head assembly and rotatably driven about its longitudinal axis. The screed head assembly may include a wiper element disposed along the roller and configured to wipe or remove excess concrete from the roller during rotation of the roller about its longitudinal axis. The grade setting device or roller plow assembly may be provided as an aftermarket kit for attachment at a screed head assembly of a screeding machine.

Screeding devices or machines are used to level and smooth uncured concrete to a desired grade. Known screeding machines typically include a screed head, which includes a vibrating member and a grade setting device, such as a plow and an auger device. The screed head is vertically adjustable, such as in response to a laser leveling system, to establish the desired grade at the vibrating member. Examples of such screeding machines are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,655,633; 4,930,935; 6,227,761; 7,044,681; 7,175,363; and 7,396,186, which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.
The plow is disposed in front of the auger device, which is disposed in front of the vibrating member. The plow typically has a sharp edge that cuts into the uncured concrete surface to establish the desired grade ahead of the auger. Because of the tendency for the sharp-edged plow to catch and drag stones and aggregate, the plow height is typically about one half inch or more above the grade of the auger to limit any grooves or channels caused by the dragging stones from being too deep for the auger to correct.

Roller plow assembly for concrete screeding machine


Techniques are described for storing portions of files on different storage devices based on the devices' respective storage class. For example, different extents from a large file within a system, application, or database may be stored on different storage devices. The storage devices may be part of a single storage system that includes some storage devices that have different performance capabilities. The decision of where, within the storage classes, to store data may be based on the access patterns of the data. Access patterns regarding file extents are tracked using respective access bits, which are set when a memory block associated with an extent is accessed via an I/O operation. In one embodiment, an access bitmap is modified to account for cached blocks of file extents.

An application that contains a large amount of data may have some fraction of that data that is heavily used and some fraction that is infrequently used. Furthermore, legal requirements, such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, have increased the need for applications to retain data long after it has been accessed. Thus, there is a need for managing storage of data with different access patterns in the most cost-effective manner.
There are numerous commercial solutions that currently address the need for managing storage of data with different access patterns. These solutions are commonly referred to as "Hierarchical Storage Management" ("HSM"). Recently, some vendors have started marketing their solutions by referring to them as "Information LifeCycle Management" ("ILM"). All the current solutions have drawbacks, as described hereafter.
Various approaches to HSM allow administrators to specify criteria for migrating infrequently used data to secondary or tertiary storage (e.g., tape) that have less performance capabilities than primary storage. In all these systems, the granularity of migration is an OS file. A forwarding pointer is left in a file system, allowing the HSM system to semi-transparently recall the data. It is semi-transparent because the user is likely to notice the delay and an administrator may need to load the secondary media. However, in the context of a database, for example, there may be relatively few large files and there may be some data within a file that is frequently accessed and some other data within the same file that is infrequently accessed.
Existing approaches to HSM also do not allow segregation of data within primary storage devices and, therefore, do not provide direct access to data stored on secondary or tertiary storage devices. That is, data on the secondary or tertiary storage devices must be accessed via the forwarding pointers, in the primary storage, to the data stored on the lesser performing storage devices. For example, data in secondary storage may be only accessible via an NFS (Network File System) mount from the primary storage. One example of this type of approach allows for use of compressed disks (i.e., secondary storage), whereby an administrator is able to specify that infrequently used data be moved from primary storage disks to the secondary compressed disks. However, the data stored on the compressed disks is only accessible via primary storage. Furthermore, some data on the compressed disks may even eventually be moved to tertiary storage, such as tape. Another approach transparently moves infrequently used data from RAID-1 mirroring to RAID-5 protection, i.e., different disk systems with different storage characteristics. However, neither of these approaches provide for data storage on storage devices with disparate performance capabilities that logically operate as a single primary storage system and that, therefore, provide for direct access to all the data.
One approach to application data management software allows users to relocate a set of business transactional data. The granularity of relocation is not an OS file or database object, but a collection of records. Like HSM, the application's administrator defines the retention policies of a business transaction. This approach does not manage a system of disks, within a primary storage system, with different performance capabilities (it does not interface at the database or storage layer but at the SQL application layer), but the user can specify a slower storage configuration as the target for the relocation of data. Determining the relocation and retention policies for business transactional data requires careful analysis and planning. Hence, this approach is currently used with a small set of applications and databases and is not a general HSM solution. Further with this approach, the data management software is schema-specific and must be particularly configured for a particular application.
As described in "Implementing ILM in Oracle Database 10 g," available from Oracle Corporation, the partitioning functionality that some databases provide to manually divide the database schema into partitions based on the value of certain data can be used to store the data on different storage devices based on the partitions. For example, a common partitioning column would be a date column and a database record will be stored in a particular partition based on the value of the date column. Another common partitioning column is a status column. A record whose status has been changed to, for example, "PROCESSED", will be moved to a different partition than, for example, an "ACTIVE" partition.
The drawbacks of the forgoing approach are that it is applicable only to data stored in a RDBMS, the RDBMS schema must have a natural partitioning criteria (such as a date column or a status column), the schema has to be manually partitioned, and the partitions must be manually created in different disks based on expected usage. Furthermore, this approach is not completely automatic because it is state-driven. That is, because the partitioning is performed based on specific values in a column (e.g., put records with year value "2005" in one partition and records with all other year values in a different partition), certain uncontrollable changes may require updating the application (e.g., when the calendar year changes). This is not a general solution and may not be applicable in many scenarios.
Another approach is referred to as "tiered storage," where data from a particular database or particular application is stored on storage devices in one class of storage devices, whereas data from a different database or application is stored on storage devices in a different class of storage device. For example, a database used daily for transactional data operations may be stored on relatively fast storage devices of one storage class, whereas a separate database of historical data, which is only accessed quarterly or annually, may be stored on relatively slow storage devices of another storage class. One drawback to this approach is that the storage system is effectively segregated on a per-database or per-application basis. Consequently, data within a particular database or a particular application cannot be stored on storage devices having different storage classes.
The foregoing description provides an overview of just some of the many approaches and solutions for managing the storage of data. The approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section.

Storing information on storage devices having different performance capabilities with a storage system


An improved optical fiber connector design and associated manufacturing method which provides increased manufacturing throughput by molding connector bodies as a unitary molded part as joined back-to-back pairs of connector bodies.

This invention relates to optical fiber connectors and, more particularly, to an improved connector design and associated manufacturing method which provides increased manufacturing throughput.
Connectors for optical fibers must be manufactured in accordance with certain standards so that when a pair of connectors are mated the optical fibers contained in each connector are properly aligned for light transfer with the fibers in the other connector of the mated pair. One such type of connector is known as an MT (Mechanical Transfer) connector which is made in various sizes for up to twelve fibers in a linear array. This type of connector includes a substantially rectilinear body having a front mating face and a parallel rear face. The fibers enter the connector through the rear face as part of a fiber ribbon cable. The holes by means of which the individual fibers are exposed at the front mating face are formed with very precise tolerances and the front mating face, along with the ends of the fibers exposed thereat, is polished.
The MT connector bodies are typically manufactured by a transfer molding process in which the holes are formed by molding around precisely sized and positioned pins. After molding and curing, the pins are withdrawn to leave the precise holes for the fibers. The MT connector body is also formed with a cavity extending into the body from its upper surface and intersecting the precision holes. A further relatively large opening is formed through the rear face which also intersects the cavity. The ribbon cable is inserted through the opening in the rear face, and the forward ends of the fibers are stripped from the ribbon and are manipulated within the cavity into the precision holes, from which they extend outwardly beyond the front mating face. The fibers are then set in place by epoxy or other suitable adhesive, and the front mating face of the body, along with the fibers exposed thereat, is polished.
Because of the design of the connector block, until now molding has been accomplished on a one connector per cavity basis. It would be desirable to effect a change of design of the connector body so that the molding throughput can be increased.

Optical fiber connector and method for making same


A semiconductor radiation detector crystal is patterned by using a Q-switched laser to selectively remove material from a surface of said semiconductor radiation detector crystal, thus producing a groove in said surface that penetrates deeper than the thickness of a diffused layer on said surface.

The use of solid-state radiation detectors is based on exposing a semiconductor piece to incoming radiation. The interaction of a received photon with the semiconductor material creates a number of electron/hole pairs, also referred to as free charge carriers. At least one species of free charge carriers are accumulated to electrodes connected to the semiconductor material, and the amount of electric charge thus collected is measured. The total amount of collected charge reveals the original energy of the received photon. If the detector has spatial resolution, detecting the location at which the charge cloud was created enables using the measurement results for imaging. The semiconductor piece is often referred to as the crystal, because detectors of best quality require a single-crystal semiconductor piece with as few lattice faults as possible.
Patterning a detector crystal may have various aims. Dividing the detector crystal into discrete pixels enables making an imaging detector, in which the charge collected by each pixel can be read separately. Even if the detector is not meant for imaging, patterns on the crystal surface may be used as guard structures that control and limit the flow of charges in the crystal.
Known methods for patterning a detector crystal include at least photolithography and ion beam based methods. The former refers to a family of processes, the common features of which include depositing a photoresist on a surface to be patterned, selectively hardening the photoresist through exposure to light, and utilizing the chemical differences between hardened and non-hardened photoresist to etch out desired portions of the surface beneath the photoresist. Ion beam deposition may also use a photoresist, but the eventual mechanism of actual pattern production is not chemical etching but ions abrading away the areas not covered by the photoresist. Focused ion beam techniques are also available and can be used for example to directly inject new material onto the surface to be patterned.
The above-mentioned methods are not sufficient for good results in all patterning applications. As an example we may consider the case of FIG. 1, which shows a cadmium telluride (CdTe) detector crystal 101 with a diffused indium layer 102 on its back surface. The front surface has a thin contact layer 103 made of a metal, like gold, platinum or palladium. The terms "front" and "back" are here used in the conventional sense to tell that the radiation to be detected is meant to enter through that surface that has the metal contact layer 103. The thicknesses of the layers are not to scale. In practice, the thickness of the detector crystal 101 could be in the order of millimeters, the thickness of the diffused indium layer 102 could be in the order of tens of micrometers, and the thickness of the metal contact layer 103 could be in the order of nanometers.
It would be relatively easy to add spatial resolution to the detector of FIG. 1 by patterning the metal contact layer 103 with e.g. photolithographic methods. However, using the front surface for patterning would mean that also the readout electronics should be located on the front surface of the detector, where they may interfere with the incoming radiation. The diffused indium layer 102 is typically too thick (in the order of some tens of micrometers) to be patterned with e.g. photolithography.
Basically it would be possible to replace the thick diffused indium layer 102 with a thin metal contact also on the back surface, which thin metal contact could then be patterned. However, this would easily lead to an unacceptably high leakage current in the detector. The PN junction at the interface between cadmium telluride and indium is vital in curbing the leakage current.

Method for patterning detector crystal using Q-switched laser


A head transport mechanism for reciprocating a carriage in a radial direction of a disc using a linear motor as a drive source is disclosed. In the head transport mechanism, cylindrical projections are formed on a support plate, threads are cut on the inner surfaces of the projections, and cutouts are formed in the distal ends of bottom yokes. The cutouts are brought into contact with the outer peripheral surfaces of the projections so as to locate the bottom yoke. In addition, protrusions protruding outward from superposed portions of the bottom yokes and top yokes in a longitudinal and/or lateral direction of the bottom yokes are formed in at least one end of each of the bottom yokes so that the top yokes can be assembled with the protrusions pressed when assembling the head transport mechanism.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a head transport mechanism included in disc drive apparatuses, and more particularly, to a head transport mechanism for reciprocating a carriage in a radial direction of a disc using a linear motor as a drive source.
2. Description of the Related Art
For example, in a magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus for recording/reproducing information of a magnetic disc contained in a disc cartridge, a head transport mechanism for reciprocating a carriage in a radial direction of the magnetic disc is included. During the recording/reproducing, when the carriage is operated using a motor as a drive source, a magnetic head mounted on the carriage is reciprocated in the radial direction of the rotating magnetic disc.
Hitherto, a head transport mechanism using a linear motor as a drive source has been proposed, as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Publication No. 1-61877. In such a head transport mechanism, the linear motor is composed of yokes combining I-shaped yokes with U-shaped yokes, magnets fixed on the inner surface of the U-shaped yokes, and exciting coils disposed around the I-shaped yokes. Components of the yokes constituting a magnetic circuit of the linear motor are fixed on a support plate. Guide shafts are mounted to the support plate, a carriage having a head is guided by the guide shafts, and the exciting coils of the linear motor are fixed to both sides of the carriage.
In the thus constructed head transport mechanism, since propulsive force responsive to a direction of current flowing in the exciting coils is generated, the current flowing in the exciting coil is controlled, whereby the carriage is reciprocated in the radial direction of a disc along the guide shafts, so that information of the disc is recorded/reproduced by the head mounted on the carriage.
In the conventional head transport mechanism using the linear motor as the drive source, assembly steps are usually adopted such that the I-shaped yokes are inserted into the exciting coils fixed to the carriage after installing the carriage on the guide shafts and thereafter, the components of the magnetic circuit, including the I-shaped yoke, are secured on the support plate by screws.
However, since the head transport mechanism is disposed within a main chassis together with other components and the main chassis does not have enough space as is generally known, it is very difficult to adjust the I-shaped yokes to predetermined positions where they are secured by screws. In addition, when mounting the U-shaped yoke having magnets fixed on inner surfaces thereof, the I-shaped yokes are attracted by the magnets toward the U-shaped yokes so as to be brought into contact with the exciting coils, so that the exciting coils may be damaged.
In addition, when inserting the I-shaped yokes into the exciting coils, the exciting coils may be brought into contact with the I-shaped yoke and be damaged unless a lot of attention is paid. Thus, workability deteriorates.

Head transport mechanism for disc drive apparatus


A storage compartment cooling apparatus includes a liquid circulation system that circulates a liquid coolant, a heat exchanger that cools an interior of a storage compartment using the liquid coolant, a bypass line through which the liquid coolant selectively bypasses the heat exchanger, one or more valves that controllably increase and decrease the flow of the liquid coolant through the heat exchanger and the bypass line, and a controller that controls the one or more valves. A storage compartment cooling system includes a liquid coolant distribution loop that distributes a chilled liquid coolant to a plurality of the storage compartment cooling apparatuses coupled in series and a recirculation cooling device that includes a chiller that chills the liquid coolant to have a temperature lower than an ambient temperature and a circulation unit that circulates the chilled liquid coolant through the liquid coolant distribution loop. A method of controlling the storage compartment cooling system includes reversing a direction of flow of the liquid coolant in the liquid coolant distribution loop.

1. Field
Embodiments generally relate to refrigeration systems, and more particularly to aircraft galley refrigeration systems.
2. Related Art
Aircraft, especially commercial aircraft, typically include galleys equipped with galley refrigeration systems including storage cabinets for items requiring refrigeration, such as food and beverages. The galley refrigeration systems typically include galley refrigeration units, which may also be referred to as storage compartment cooling apparatuses (SCCA's). The SCCA's are typically used in galley or kitchen areas onboard an aircraft to keep items (e.g., food and beverages) cold. A typical SCCA includes a self-contained vapor cycle system configured to provide the cooling functionality of the SCCA. The vapor cycle system typically includes a compressor, condenser, and heat exchanger. Such refrigeration units may be fixed in place in the galley and integrated with the storage compartment, or may be fixed in place in the galley with ducts that removably couple with a galley cart or trolley that holds the storage compartment to be cooled.
The SCCA's are typically configured as line replaceable units (LRU's). In aircraft systems, LRU's are self-contained units (e.g., "black boxes") which may be quickly removed and replaced as a complete unit. By configuring the SCCA's as LRU's, the SCCA's may be easily replaced without extended removal of the aircraft from service or delays of scheduled flights. To facilitate quick and easy removal and replacement, the LRU's typically have a simple interface to other systems onboard the aircraft. For example, a typical SCCA's interface to other systems onboard the aircraft may simply be a connector to the power bus onboard the aircraft.
By being configured as an LRU, each SCCA is a self-contained unit and may operate independently, whether only one SCCA is installed or whether many SCCA's are installed onboard the aircraft. Therefore, components of the SCCA's which may, in principle, be shared, are instead duplicated. This duplication leads to additional weight and space utilization compared to having a single integrated SCCA providing the same functionality but without being configured as a collection of LRU's. Because multiple SCCA's are typically installed in each galley of an aircraft, many duplicate vapor cycle system components are installed as well. This duplication leads to increased weight and space utilization by the collection of installed SCCA's. Due to the relationships between fuel consumption, aircraft weight, maximum payload (e.g., passengers and luggage), and maximum travel distance, it is generally desirable to reduce the weight of components onboard the aircraft. Furthermore, due to the relationship between maximum passenger capacity and revenue generated per flight of the aircraft, it is generally desirable to maximize the space available for revenue generating passenger seats on commercial aircraft, for example by reducing the size (e.g., depth) of components onboard the aircraft.


A distributed aperture sensor system and sensing method comprising a plurality of sensors each having an aperture and window that provides electromagnetic interference shielding by a material with a bulk resistivity of less than or approximately equal to 10 ohm-cm that is substantially uniform throughout the window.

1. Field of the Invention (Technical Field)
The present invention relates to windows for distributed aperture sensors.
2. Description of Related Art
Distributed aperture sensors comprise a collection of sensors mounted either around a vehicle or co-located in one location where an unobstructed 360 degree line-of-sight (or other field of view requiring more than one sensor aperture) can be obtained. Each aperture will ordinarily comprise a window.
The electromagnetic (EM) capabilities of different window materials and resistivities play an important role in the EM compatibility of host vehicles and the performance of on-board sensors. In the mid-wave infrared, there is a trade between high and low bulk resistivity silicon (Si) windows. The former provides high transmission for optimal sensor performance, while the latter provides increased conductance for low radar cross sections (RCS). In the past, a relatively expensive compromise was utilized to provide the benefits of both types of materials by overlaying the bulk Si substrate material with a low resistivity epitaxial layer. These materials represented a major cost and schedule impact due to the number of steps and amount of material processing, the high degree of precision and the tolerances that had to be maintained, and the requirement for special handling and tools necessary for producing the finished product.
Recent advances in materials processing, however, have made available materials that can be better tuned for bulk resistivity. These bulk materials are readily available and can be readily provided at a substantially lower cost.
The present invention recognized that these bulk materials exhibit performance properties that make them candidates for a lower cost replacement for the epitaxial layer equipped window substrates for distributed aperture sensor windows. Results indicate that a simple, scaleable, readily available, cost and performance effective alternative exists to the traditional expensive, complex, multi-layer applications currently implemented.

Bulk material windows for distributed aperture sensors


In some embodiments, the invention provides a chip with at least one memory circuit that comprises a majority voter circuit with first and second digitally controlled variable delay elements. The first delay element is controlled by data bits that are to be written to a portion of the memory circuit. The majority voter circuit determines if the data bits are to be inverted prior to being written into the memory circuit portion.

Active and leakage power dissipation are important issues in modern large scale integrated circuit chips such as microprocessors. Single ended memories like register file circuits, read only memory (ROM) circuits and dynamic random access memory (DRAM) circuits are a significant component of the total active and leakage power dissipation in such chips. With technology scaling, such power consumption from memory circuits is increasing and proving to be a serious limitation, for example, in mobile application chips. Accordingly, improved circuits for reducing power in memory is desired.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Memory with spatially encoded data storage


A fluid ejection device includes: a fluid ejection unit that ejects a fluid in a pulsed manner; a fluid accommodation portion that accommodates the fluid at a predetermined pressure or higher; a fluid supply unit that supplies the fluid accommodated in the fluid accommodation portion to the fluid ejection unit; a connection channel that connects the fluid ejection unit and the fluid accommodation portion, and acts as a channel through which the fluid flows; an opening and closing unit that opens and closes the connection channel; and a control unit that sends an open signal for opening the connection channel to the opening and closing unit, and sends an ejection signal for ejecting the fluid to the fluid ejection unit. The control unit sends the ejection signal after a predetermined amount of time has elapsed from the sending of the open signal.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a fluid ejection device that ejects a fluid in a pulsed manner.
2. Related Art
In the related art, a fluid ejection device that incises or excises living tissues by ejecting a fluid in a pulsed manner at a high speed is known in the medical field. The following are examples of the fluid ejection device: a fluid ejection device (refer to JP-A-2013-213422) configured to include a fluid chamber, the volume of which is changed via the driving of a volume varying unit, a pulsation generator that ejects the fluid in a pulsed manner at a high speed, a fluid supply unit that supplies a fluid to the pulsation generator, and a connection tube, through which the pulsation generator and the fluid supply unit communicate with each other; and a fluid ejection device configured to include a vapor generation unit in a chamber, and to eject the fluid in a pulsed manner by using high pressure vapor bubbles generated by the vapor generation unit (refer to JP-T-2003-500098).
Meanwhile, the fluid ejection device in the related art ejects the fluid in a pulsed manner from a fluid ejection unit at the same time as opening a connection channel from the fluid supply unit to the fluid ejection unit. FIG. 11 illustrates a change in the pressure of the fluid ejected by the fluid ejection device in the related art.
From FIG. 11, it is known that when the connection channel is opened at a time of t, and concurrently, the fluid is ejected in a pulsed manner, pressure applied to the fluid increases temporarily. The high pressure causes a temporary high ejection force unintended by a practitioner.


In an optical information reader controlled by this controller, a laser beam originating in light emitted by a laser diode is reflected by a scan mirror to scan optical information of a bar code or the like, reflected light therefrom is received by a photodiode to be converted to an electrical signal, and the optical information is read by processing the signal. In the controller, a main amp having a characteristic that a gain changes according to a frequency of an input signal amplifies the electrical signal, a detector detects an analog signal resulting from the amplification, and from a. detection output thereof, a MPU (on/off frequency control circuit) detects level of the analog signal and adjusts the gain of the main amp by changing an on/off frequency of the laser diode caused by an APC circuit (light emission on/off circuit), according to the detected level.

As an optical information reader, bar code readers which read optical information of bar codes, two-dimensional codes, and the like indicating information such as names and prices of products are used widely by a distribution industry and a retail industry.
The bar code readers are roughly classified into hand-held ones held by one hand when in use and stationary ones, and the hand-held ones further include a pen type, a touch type, and a light beam scanning type (laser type).
A bar code reader of the light beam scanning type shapes light emitted by a light source such as a laser diode (LD) into a beam, deflects the light beam by a mirror so that the light beam hits on a bar code, and while rotating or vibrating (swinging) the mirror, scans the bar code so that the light beam moves across the bar code.
Then, reflected light from the bar code is condensed, and the condensed light is received by a light-receiving sensor such as a photodiode (PD), and is converted to an electrical signal. The electrical signal is coded after amplified and the resultant is output as bar code read information.
Such an optical information reader of the light beam scanning type is constituted as illustrated in FIG. 7 in a conventional example disclosed in, for example, PLT1.
The optical information reader illustrated in FIG. 7 includes a scanning/detecting part 50 having a laser diode LD and a photodiode PD, a scan mirror 60, and a signal processing part 70.
An oscillator 51 and a pulsed laser driver 52 in the scanning/detecting part 50 cause the laser diode LD to emit light with a predetermined frequency, and this laser light is passed through a collimator lens and an aperture, which are not illustrated, to be radiated as a laser beam. This laser beam is reflected by the scan mirror 60 which is vibrated back and forth by a drive circuit and a drive mechanism, which are not illustrated, and is made to scan a bar code 80 printed on a product or the like.
Reflected light from the bar code 80 is reflected again by the scan mirror 60, is condensed by a not-illustrated collector mirror or condenser lens, and is received by the photodiode PD of the scanning/detecting part 50. A current according to an amount of the received reflected light (light intensity) from striped light parts and dark parts of the bar code 80 flows in the photodiode PD, and its current output is converted to a voltage signal by a preamplifier 53.
This voltage signal is passed through a high pass filter (HPF) 54, and only a band component with a predetermined frequency or more is amplified by an AGC circuit 55, with a gain being automatically adjusted, and is detected by a synchronous detector 56 in synchronization with an oscillation cycle of the oscillator 51.
Its detection output signal is sent to the signal processing part 70 and is passed through a high pass filter (HPF) or a differential circuit 71, and only a high-frequency component is amplified again by an AGC circuit 72, with a gain being automatically adjusted, and becomes an analog output. The analog output of the AGC circuit 72 is passed through a low pass filter (LPF) 73, and the resultant becomes its control signal.
Further, the analog output is compared by a comparator 74 with a signal which is the same analog output having been smoothed by passing through a low pass filter (LPF) 75, and the result is binarized and is output as a binarized signal. Further, the same analog output is binarized by an edge digitizer 76 to be output as a binarized signal. These output signals are sent to a microcomputer (CPU), where the bar code is decoded (read).

Controller for optical information reader


A system for authorizing access to a secured device, such as an automated teller machine (ATM) or a pay telephone, without a key or combination for the secured device, and without a fixed communication link extending to the device. An encoded access message is produced which identifies a present access code previously stored at the secured device, the personal identification number (PIN) of a technician, and the identification number of a particular portable terminal. The technician manually enters the encoded access message and a PIN into the terminal, which verifies the identification number of the terminal and the manually-entered PIN against information encoded in the access message. If that information is authenticated, the portable terminal is connected to the secured device. The encoded access message is transferred from the terminal to the secured device, which compares an access code previously stored at that device with information contained in the access message. The proper PIN also is re-entered. Access is granted only if all information is verified by information in the encoded access message. If access is allowed, the access code at the secured device is replaced by a new access code from the encoded access message, and that new access code is stored for the next authorized access to the particular secured device.

There are many applications where amounts of money are kept in unmanned facilities that are open to public access. For example, cash-operated devices such as vending machines and pay telephones are available to the public and accrue varying amounts of cash as they dispense goods or services to customers. These machines periodically are serviced to remove the money and, in the case of vending machines, to replenish the supply of products. Persons authorized to service pay telephones or vending machines must carry keys permitting access to the coin box or other receptacle receiving money paid into the machine. Pay telephone coin boxes are serviced by a collector who periodically visits each pay phone. The collector unlocks an outer door to the phone using a key for that purpose, and then removes the coin box from within the phone and substitutes an empty coin box. If the collector is allowed to carry one or more master keys for servicing a number of telephones, the risk of loss by theft or misappropriation of a single key is apparent. On the other hand, requiring the collector to carry a separate key for each pay phone represents a significant inconvenience, particularly in areas such as airport terminals where large numbers of pay phones are located. Furthermore, the risk of loss through theft or misuse of individual keys still exists.
Automated teller machines (ATMs) are another example of machines containing cash and requiring periodic access for replenishing the cash supply or maintaining and repairing the machines. Because ATMs are capable of containing large amounts of money relative to most vending machines, they are more inviting targets for theft. For this reason, the cash within an ATM is contained within a small vault integral with the ATM and typically accessible only through a vault door having a combination lock, sometimes combined with a key access, for opening the vault door. Portions of the electronic controls for the ATM also may be located within the vault to prevent unauthorized cash dispensing by tampering with control circuits. Generally speaking, the cash within a locked ATM is secure from any unauthorized activity short of safecracking.
The need for periodic access to the vault of an ATM machine to replenish the cash supply, or to service equipment within the vault, constitutes a weak link in ATM security. If vault access is available only to technicians possessing the proper key or numerical combination to open the vault door, those technicians are vulnerable to being hijacked and forced to hand over the key or divulge the combination to open the vault. Furthermore, job turnover of ATM technicians makes it impractical to give each technician the combinations of ATM vaults, because of the need to reset those combinations whenever the technician left the job. For the same reason, key-only access to ATM vaults presents a problem when the technician leaves the job, due to the risk that the technician may not return the keys or may make an unauthorized copy of the keys while employed. Further yet, security considerations rule against allowing any technician to carry master keys capable of unlocking the vaults in a number of different ATMs, due to the risk of great loss if such master keys were stolen or otherwise came into the wrong hands.
Prior-art techniques are known for providing keyless access to ATMs or other machines containing significant amounts of cash. These techniques generally require an electronic link between the machine and a central office, and an arrangement for unlocking the vault whenever the proper signal arrives from the central office. To avoid the cost of providing dedicated lines between the central office and a great number of ATMs, these prior-art techniques usually rely on the public telephone network and a modem associated with each ATM, in order to communicate between the central office and a selected ATM. While these techniques relieve the service technician of the need to carry either access keys or combinations for the ATM vaults, it still leaves the technician subject to being hijacked by robbers who will then coerce the technician to request access from the central office. On a more sophisticated level, the use of conventional telephone lines for transmitting access signals to ATMs makes those signals subject to interception by wiretapping, leading to the fear that the access signals may be analyzed and then used by others for unauthorized access to ATM vaults. Moreover, the dial-up telephone line required for each ATM is an ongoing expense to the bank or other agency sponsoring the ATM.

Apparatus and method for controlled access to a secured location


A luminaire can comprise a frame that provides a cavity for emitting illumination towards a space to be illuminated. A light source, such as a row of light emitting diodes, can emit light into the cavity. The cavity can extend lengthwise between two end caps of the frame that are located at opposing ends of the luminaire. The frame can further comprise two bridges that are located adjacent the end caps, one at each end of the frame. Two rails that extend on opposing sides of the cavity can connect the two bridges to one another. A system of grooves and protrusions can interlock the rails to the bridges. A system of standardized interchangeable components that facilitates rapid manufacture of custom luminaires can comprise the bridges, the rails, and the end caps.

Interest is growing in luminaires that can be readily customized according to customer preferences and/or made on demand. However, fabricating small lots of custom luminaires can be expensive using traditional manufacturing approaches. Conventional luminaire fabrication methodologies are generally oriented towards mass production rather than fabricating on a build-to-order basis. Accordingly, conventional manufacturing typically offers relatively poor economics for the growing trend for customization.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for technology that can facilitate economical build-to-order luminaire production. Need also exists for technology to fabricate luminaires utilizing standardized components that can readily be cut-to-length or combined with other components that are cut-to-length. Further need exists for technology to manufacture luminaires utilizing mix-and-match components that support a wide range of product configurations. A capability addressing one or more such needs, or some other related deficiency in the art, would support improved illumination systems, for example illumination systems that are more economical, faster to manufacture, or more readily tailored to customer preferences.


A datum arrangement on the replaceable semi-permanent compact print cartridge includes three x-datums, one y-datum and two z-datums to assure proper seating of the print cartridge in the carriage as well as proper electric and fluidic interconnections.

Various problems present themselves in design of current inkjet printers, Modern inkjet printers print at very high resolution, for example, 600 or even 1200 dots-per-inch (DPI). As resolution increases, droplet size typically decreases. With increased resolution and decreased dot size. it becomes more important that the pens be precisely located in the carriage. To accomplish accurate positioning of the pen in the carriage, the pen typically has a set of physical X, Y, and Z datums that are seated against a corresponding set of datums in the carriage stall.
Modern inkjet printers typically print in color and have a plurality of color pens. usually printing in cyan, magenta yellow, and black It is often desirable to provide a different pen for each color, so that if a single pen goes bad, only that pen need be replaced. However, each pen must be precisely aligned with the other colors, or the print quality of the printed images will be degraded. Therefore, the system must not only accommodate precision placement of the pens in the stalls, but precise alignment among the colors.
In addition to the mechanical positioning of the pens within the carriage, the pens must be fluidically connected to trailing tubes. The pens usually interface with some type of valve on the ends of the tubes. The pens make connection with these valves when they are inserted into the carriage stall. However, if the pen and valve interface is not correctly designed, the forces exerted on the pen during fluid interconnection will counteract the precision positioning of the datums, resulting in the pens being misaligned. The fluid interconnection mechanism must be designed so as to not act against the precise positioning resulting from the interaction of the datums.
Recent advances in printhead construction have allowed printheads to be designed to be a permanent or semi-permanent part of the printer, with separate ink cartridges that are fluidically connected in some fashion to the printhead
Although the pens are preferably a permanent fixture in the printer, rather than being disposable, it is likely that many such pens will fail before the end of the life of the printer. Therefore, some provision must be made so that the pen can be removed and replaced with a new one. The mechanical datum system and fluid interconnect must also allow the new pen to be reliably and precisely positioned during such replacement. The system would be preferably designed so that installation and subsequent replacements could be done by a purchaser or by a field repair person away from factory conditions.
The invention provides an inkjet printing mechanism designed to receive an ink jet pen having a needle and a shroud surrounding the needle, the shroud attached to the pen by means of a neck, the pen also having pen datums configured for positioning the pen within a printer carriage. The printer includes a printer chassis and a media movement mechanism mounted to the chassis and constructed to position a print medium in a print zone. A carriage is mounted to the chassis and is constructed to receive the pen and to position the pen over the print zone. The carriage has a notch configured to receive the neck when the stall receives the pen. A valve is movably attached to the carriage and is configured to move with respect to the carriage to be received by the shroud when the notch receives the neck. A septum is positioned on the valve and configured such that when the valve is received by the shroud. the septum is pierced by the needle. A set of carriage datums is formed in the stall and configured to interface with the pen datums. A latching mechanism is associated with the carriage and constructed to seat the pen datums against the carriage datums to finely position the pen with respect to the carriage.
The invention also provides a method of installing an inkjet pen into a carriage of an inkjet printing mechanism. The method includes the steps of: placing the pen in a stall of the carriage to guide a neck on the pen into a notch formed in the carriage; moving the pen further into the stall and, by means of registration of the pen with walls of the pen stall, guiding a shroud on the pen over a valve; urging the pen further into the stall until pen datums formed on the pen come into contact with carriage datums formed in the stall; and seating the pen datums again carriage datums to finely position the pen within the carnage;
The invention thus provides for reliable insertion of inkjet pens within their respective carriage stalls. With successive guiding mechanisms for aligning various parts of the pen with corresponding parts of the carriage. The invention allows for installation or replacements of pens to be reliably and easily done by a purchaser or by a field repair person away from factory conditions.
A datum arrangement on the replaceable semi-permanent compact print cartridge includes three x-datums, one y-datum and two z-datums to assure proper seating of the print cartridge in the carriage as well as proper electric and fluidic interconnections.

Datum structure for compact print cartridge


A processor includes a register file and control logic that detects multiple different sets of sequential zero bits of a register in the register file, wherein each of the multiple different sets has a bit length that corresponds to a partial instruction width and operates at a first partial instruction width or a second partial instruction width with the register file depending on number of sets of zero bits detected in the register. In certain examples, the control logic causes operating at first instruction width that avoids merging of a first bit length of data in the register and operating at the second instruction width that avoids merging of a second bit length of data in the register. In some examples, a register rename map table incudes multiple zero bits that identify the detected multiple different sets of bits of sequential zeros.

Processors employ various structures to store data for use during processing activities. One type of data structure is a register file. The typical register file stores data in functional latches that are associated with an entry that may be written to or read from in parallel. Processor architectures, such as x86 architectures support execution of multiple types of vector arithmetic instructions: Streaming Single Instruction Multiple Data (SIMD) Extensions (SSE) and Advanced Vector eXtension (AVX) Instructions. SSE instructions manipulate 128-bit operands and AVX instructions manipulate 256-bit operands. AVX-512 instructions are 512-bit extensions to the 256-bit AVX SIMD instructions for X86 instructions set architecture (ISA). Accordingly, a processor that employs a register file with a 512-bit register width supports extension of both AVX and SSE instructions.
Some processors employ a shadow-latch configured floating point register file that employs register files with 256-bit registers that also supports 512-bit operations. Such shadow-latch register files include a storage latch, shadow latch and shadow multiplexer configuration to allow processing units in a processor, such as floating point units or other processing units, to process instructions that have different bit width operands. For example, such shadow-latch based register files are reconfigurable so that the register file employs registers with a bit width such as a 256-bit width or a 512-bit width based on the availability of shadow latches in a shadow-latch configured register file. As such, the floating point unit operates at a first bit width that is usable in a processor that operates at a second bit width. The shadow latches, regular latches and shadow select multiplexers that are used for bit width configuration during, for example, read and write data operations that utilize the floating point unit.
When processor employ different types of operand widths, merging of results in a register file is employed. For example, the SSE instructions have a merging behavior that allows the instructions to merge results into the upper bits of a 512-bit register. For example, when an add operation occurs for a 512-bit wide operation, a value is kept at the upper 384 bits. A 128-bit operation is allowed to use the lower 128-bits of the 512-bit register. As such, the result is merged so that the upper 384-bits of the registers are preserved and the 128-bit result from a current 128-bit operation is placed in the lower 128-bits of the register.
Also, architectural registers are renamed during arithmetic operations. However, with register renaming, the previous results of the register are put into a new physical register and the processor needs to write the 384-bits that are in the initial register to the new physical register to get full 512-bit operation. This can use additional power and processing time. Every time a write is made to a register, the processor assigns a new register and the information has to be copied. When changing from one instruction width to another, inefficiencies cause unnecessary power usage and can reduce performance.
In the following description, the use of the same reference numerals in different drawings indicates similar or identical items. Unless otherwise noted, the word "coupled" and its associated verb forms include both direct connection and indirect electrical connection by means known in the art, and unless otherwise noted any description of direct connection implies alternate embodiments using suitable forms of indirect electrical connection as well.

Method and apparatus for executing vector instructions with merging behavior


An apparatus including a circuit configured to determine a jitter of a first signal, and to determine a time interval between a feature in a second signal and a feature in the first signal based on the determined jitter.

There are many applications in which high resolution measurement of a time interval is useful. For example, accurate time interval measurement is often used in various high resolution measurement and instrumentation applications, in analog-to-digital converters based on pulse-width modulation, in phase detectors of digital phase-locked loops, and in mass spectrometer time-of-flight measurements. The industry-wide trend to replace more analog, mixed signal, and radio frequency functionality with increasingly faster digital solutions further enhances the need for high-resolution time measurement.
Time-to-digital converters (TDCs) are often used for such accurate time measurements. The resolution of state of the art in a contemporary 90 nm integrated circuit technology reaches values on the order of picoseconds.
The stop signal of a TDC is typically a periodic reference clock signal that is inevitably disturbed by jitter. If the jitter is on the order of the time resolution of the TDC, or even larger, the effective resolution is thus limited by the clock jitter. It is expected that the resolution may improve with further technology scaling resulting in the reduced gate delays. Unfortunately, clock jitter does not scale with technology. Thus, as the potential resolution of TDCs improves, the relative limiting effect of clock jitter increases.
In principle, it is possible to reduce clock jitter to some extent (although there are limitations because jitter cannot be reduced to zero). However, measures to reduce jitter usually involve a significant amount of added cost, both in terms of integrated circuit area used as well as power consumption. Thus, a more jitter-tolerant TDC may be desirable not only to push the absolute resolution limit of TDCs but also to relax the jitter requirements of the reference clock generator.

Determining a time interval based on a first signal, a second signal, and a jitter of the first signal


The present invention provides a visible and infrared light photographing lens system. A color separating prism or the like divides an object light entering a photographing lens and then passing through a focus lens, into an object light in a visible light region and an object light in an infrared light region. A visible light image pickup element and an infrared light image pickup element are used to pick up images of the respective object lights. Further, a compensation lens can be used to adjust a position where an image of the object light in the infrared light region is formed. Consequently, visible light photographing and infrared light photographing can be simultaneously carried out by focusing on an object at the same distance.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a visible and infrared light photographing lens system, and in particular, to a visible and infrared light photographing lens system which enables the same object to be photographed simultaneously using a visible light and an infrared light.
2. Description of the Related Art
If a television camera (for example, a CCTV camera) is used to photograph images for monitoring or other applications, the photographing is carried out with a visible light in a bright environment such as in the daytime and with an infrared (near infrared) light in a dark environment such as in the nighttime when an object cannot be observed.
In the prior art, a single camera may be used to carry out both visible light photographing and infrared light photographing. A camera is known in which a photographing lens installed in the camera main body need not be changed from one for a visible light to one for an infrared light. For example, if a photographing lens designed for photographing with a visible light is used directly for photographing with an infrared light, the infrared light may disadvantageously increase the magnitude of axis chromatic aberrations. In particular, if a photographing lens for a visible light having a zoom function is used for an infrared light, when a zoom magnification is changed, the object may be out of focus even if tracking adjustment (flange back adjustment) is carried out. Thus, disadvantageously, the tracking adjustment (flange back adjustment) cannot be effectively carried out.
Accordingly, if a photographing lens for a visible light is also used for photographing with an infrared light, the following method is applied: a method of optically reducing the magnitude of color aberrations down to an infrared wavelength region using low-dispersion glass such as fluorite or ED glass for a lens or a method of inserting an optical member (lens, prism) into an optical system of the photographing lens to compensate for the color aberrations.
Further, under a little dark photographing conditions such as in the evening, it may be desirable to simultaneously execute photographing with an infrared light which enables the object to be clearly photographed and photographing with a visible light which provides color information on the object. However, if a single camera is switched between visible light photographing and infrared light photographing, these photographing operations cannot be simultaneously preformed. Thus, in the prior art, two cameras for visible and infrared lights, respectively, may be used to execute simultaneous photographing. However, if the two cameras are used, they must be simultaneously operated in carrying out focusing, zooming, or the like so that their photographing distances (the distance to the object position at which the camera can be focused on the object (object distance)) or angles of view are equal to each other. This requires much time and effort. Further, the use of the two cameras may result in parallax between the cameras. In this case, the angle of view of a video photographed using a visible light may not be equal to the angle of view of a video photographed using an infrared light.
In contrast, Japanese patent application Publication No. 2003-69865 proposes an image pickup apparatus in which a half mirror divides an object light incident on a photographing lens, into an object light for a visible light and an object light for an infrared light which are used to pick up an image. This apparatus can make the angle of view of a video photographed using a visible light equal to the angle of view of a video photographed using an infrared light.
Alternatively, it is possible to use two cameras for visible and infrared lights, respectively, and divide an object light from an object to be photographed into an object light for a visible light and an object light for an infrared light using a mirror or a prism. In this case, the object lights obtained are allowed to enter photographing lens of the visible and infrared light cameras, respectively, so as to make the angle of view of a video photographed with the visible light camera equal to the angle of view of a video photographed with the infrared light camera.

Visible and infrared light photographing lens system


The present invention discloses a dense arrangement in the conductors of a package and the corresponding conductive pads of a circuit board. The conductors and the corresponding conductive pads are separated into at least a first group in a peripheral region of the grid array package, and a second group in another region of the grid array package. Most in the first group of conductive pads are apart at a first pitch, most in the second group of conductive pads are apart at a second pitch which is less than the first pitch. According to the shrinking in the conductive trace on a conductive layer and the shrinking in the through hole, the first pitch and the second pitch are optimized for the maximum conductors and the corresponding conductive pads.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to the arrangement of conductive pads on a package and the corresponding pads on a circuit board, especially to the arrangement of conductive pads on a grid array package and the corresponding pads on a circuit board.
2. Related Art
Typically, semiconductor chip is disposed on a package to electrically connect with a circuit board. The package provides the well protections against the chemistry, moisture, static-electric damage and other damages to prolong the lifetime of the chip. One common type of the packages is a ball grid array (BGA) package. A conventional grid array package 100 has a substrate 101, a chip 102 disposed on the substrate 101, a plurality of conductive wires 103 and a molding material 104. As shown in FIG. 1a, the package 100 is for example a BGA package using wire-bonding technology. The substrate 101 and the chip 102 are electrically connected through the conductive wires 103, and then the molding material 104 encapsulates the chip 102 and the conductive wires 103 for the well-protections. The package 100 further has a plurality of solder balls 105 disposed on a surface of the substrate 101 for the electrical connections with a circuit board 120.
Referring to FIG. 1b, the solder balls 105 are regularly disposed in rows and columns. One row of the solder balls 105 is apart from the adjacent row of the solder balls 105 at a pitch S0. Similarly, one column of the solder balls is apart from the adjacent column at the same pitch S0. Thus, the solder balls 105 disposed in the rows and columns are like a ball grid array on the bottom surface of the package 100. There are a plurality of virtual grids in the crossings of the rows and the columns, and the solder balls 105 are disposed on the virtual grids. The solders balls 105 are disposed in the pitch S0.
The grid array packages similar to the BGA package include, for example pin grid array (PGA) package and land grid array (LGA) package. Although these electrical connections between the package 100 and the circuit board 120 are different, all of the electrical connections are arranged in an array of rows and columns. Therefore, the solder balls 105 disposed on the package 100 and the conductive pads 125 disposed on the circuit board 120 are populated at the crossings of the rows and columns. However, BGA packages are widely used in current IC packaging industry because of the advantages of BGA packages, such as high reliability, good thermal and electrical performance, and mature manufacture process.
The solder balls 105 of the BGA package are used as the electric contacts with a circuit board 120. More particularly, one solder ball 105 is in contact with one conductive pad 125 disposed on the circuit board 120. In the other words, the arrangement of the solder balls 105 is the one-on-one mapping of the arrangement of the conductive pads 125. FIG. 1c shows the conventional arrangement of the conductive pads 125 on the circuit board 120 to connect with the grid array package 100. A plurality of conductive pads 125 respectively corresponding to the solder balls 105 of the package 100 dispose on a surface of the circuit board 120. Furthermore, the conductive pads 125 are electrically connected to other components disposed in the circuit board 120, such as the power/ground plane, the decoupling capacitor or other devices. Each conductive pad 125 disposed in the peripheral region is connected with a conductive trace 121 on the surface of the circuit board 120. The conductive trace 121 is extending toward the outer region on the circuit board 120 which is not under the package 100. Because of the limitation in the pitch S0 of two adjacent conductive pads 125, one conductive pad 125 disposed in the inner region of the conductive pads are electrically connected to the internal circuit of the circuit board 120 via a conductive trace 122 and a through hole 126 nearby.
The grid array package provides a high amount of contacts for the package and the circuit board comparing with the other package, such as the Quad Flat No-Lead (QFN) Package. As more functions are being integrated in the semiconductor chip, it is necessary to provide more contacts between the package and the circuit board. However, the available surface on a chip is shrunk as the development of the manufacturing process and the thirst for high performance. The arrangement of the conductive pads and the traces routing are more and more complex and difficult. It is thus imperative to provide a denser contacts in the same dimension for the grid array package is a serious challenge for the designers of circuit board and package.

Arrangement of conductive pads on grid array package and on circuit board


The present invention relates to a method to polymerize monomer comprising contacting one or more monomer(s) with a catalyst system in a gas phase reactor having a recycle system, for removing a recycle gas and unreacted monomer(s) from the reactor and returning the recycle gas and fresh monomer(s) to the reactor, and a plenum, the method comprising the steps of: (a) cooling the recycle gas to form a cooled recycle gas; (b) optionally combining the cooled recycle gas with additional recycle gas; and (c) injecting the cooled recycle gas into the gas phase reactor through the plenum.

The present invention relates to a method to improve a gas phase reactor polymerization process by injecting a cooled recycle gas directly into the plenum of a gas phase reactor, preferably during high levels of a condensing mode gas phase process.
Advances in polymerization and catalysis have resulted in the capability to produce many new polymers having improved physical and chemical properties useful in a wide variety of superior products and applications. With the development of new catalysts, the choice of polymerization conditions (solution, slurry, high pressure or gas phase) for producing a particular polymer has been greatly expanded. Also, advances in polymerization technology have provided more efficient, highly productive and economically enhanced processes. Especially illustrative of these advances is the development of technology utilizing bulky ligand metallocene catalyst systems in slurry or gas phase. There is a desire in the industry using this technology to reduce the complexity of the process, to improve the process operability, to increase product characteristics and to vary catalyst choices. Thus, it would be advantageous to have a process that is capable of improving one or more of these industry needs.
In particular there exists a need in the industry to improve gas phase reactor operations and operation costs and/or resin particle formation in gas phase systems that can polymerize olefins using a solution fed catalyst system.
The temperature of the plenum gas flow in a gas or slurry phase system affects the performance of the catalyst. If the temperature is too low, such as for example near or below the dew point of the cycle gas, the catalyst system injected into the region of the fluidized bed at the plenum takes longer to dry and in the presence of rapid polymerization systems may lead to the formation of small resin particle agglomerates of deficient size and morphology for optimal fluid bed operation. If the temperature of the plenum gas flow is too high, the spray or slurry containing the catalyst system may dry out too rapidly resulting in extremely fine resin particles or particles fusing together due to high temperatures and poor cooling during the initial stages of polymerization. Catalyst productivity may also be reduced by excessive initial temperatures of the plenum gas flow. It is desirable to control temperature of the plenum gas flow (particle deflecting gas) within a range that, depending upon the particular catalyst and process conditions, results in high catalyst activity and a resin morphology conducive to good mixing and operation of the fluid bed reactor.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,693,727 discloses plenum usage in gas phase polymerization where the recycle stream or a portion thereof is cooled and the recycle stream is returned directly to the reactor.
The instant invention provides a method to control plenum gas flow temperature by cooling a portion of the recycle gas and returning it to one reactor via the plenum.
This invention relates to a method to polymerize olefin(s) comprising contacting one or more monomer(s) with a catalyst system in a gas phase reactor having a recycle system, for removing a recycle gas and unreacted monomer(s) from the reactor and returning the recycle gas and fresh monomer(s) to the reactor, and a plenum, the method comprising the steps of: (a) cooling the recycle gas to form a cooled recycle gas; (b) optionally combining the cooled recycle gas with additional recycle gas; and (c) injecting the cooled recycle gas into the gas phase reactor through the plenum.


Graphite electrodes for the production of aluminum by carbothermic reduction of alumina are either submerged in the molten bath in the low temperature compartment or they are horizontally arranged in the side walls of the high temperature compartment. The electrodes are manufactured by using a mixture of coke particles covering the complete particle size range between 25 μm to 3 mm and by using an intensive mixer to effectively wet all coke particles with pitch. The electrodes have a flexural strength of at least 20 N/mm2. By using a complete range (continuum) of particle sizes in conjunction with an intensive mixer, the geometric packing of the particles is significantly improved, hence the material density is increased and thus a higher mechanical strength as well as improved electrical conductivity in comparison to conventional graphite electrodes is achieved.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to graphite electrodes for the production of aluminum by carbothermic reduction of alumina.
2. Description of the Related Art
For a century the aluminum industry has relied on the Hall-Heroult process for aluminum smelting. In comparison with processes used to produce competing materials, such as steel and plastics, the process is energy-intensive and costly. Hence, alternative aluminum production processes have been sought.
One such alternative is the process referred to as direct carbothermic reduction of alumina. As described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,974,032 (Grunert et al.) the process, which can be summarized with the overall reactionAl2O3+3C=2Al+3CO  (1)
takes place, or can be made to take place, in two steps:2Al2O3+9C=Al4C3+6CO  (2)Al4C3+Al2O3=6Al+3CO  (3).
Reaction (2) takes place at temperatures between 1900 and 2000° C. The actual aluminum producing reaction (3) takes place at temperatures of 2200° C. and above; the reaction rate increases with increasing temperature. In addition to the species stated in reactions (2) and (3), volatile Al species including Al2O are formed in reactions (2) and (3) and are carried away with the off gas. Unless recovered, these volatile species represent a loss in the yield of aluminum. Both reactions (2) and (3) are endothermic.
Various attempts have been made to develop efficient production technology for the direct carbothermic reduction of alumina (cf. Marshall Bruno, Light Metals 2003, TMS (The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society) 2003). U.S. Pat. No. 3,607,221 (Kibby) describes a process in which all products quickly vaporize to essentially only gaseous aluminum and CO, containing the vaporous mixture with a layer of liquid aluminum at a temperature sufficiently low that the vapor pressure of the liquid aluminum is less than the partial pressure of the aluminum vapor in contact with it and sufficiently high to prevent the reaction of carbon monoxide and aluminum and recovering the substantially pure aluminum.
Other patents relating to carbothermic reduction to produce aluminum include U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,486,229 (Troup et al.) and 4,491,472 (Stevenson et al.). Dual reaction zones are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,099,959 (Dewing et al.). More recent efforts by Alcoa and Elkem led to a novel two-compartment reactor design as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,440,193 (Johansen et al.).
In the two-compartment reactor, reaction (2) is substantially confined to a low-temperature compartment. The molten bath of Al4C3 and Al2O3 flows under an underflow partition wall into a high-temperature compartment, where reaction (3) takes place. The thus generated aluminum forms a layer on the top of a molten slag layer and is tapped from the high-temperature compartment. The off-gases from the low-temperature compartment and from the high-temperature compartment, which contain Al vapor and volatile Al2O are reacted in a separate vapor recovery units to form Al4C3, which is re-injected into the low-temperature compartment. The energy necessary to maintain the temperature in the low-temperature compartment can be provided by way of high intensity resistance heating such as through graphite electrodes submerged into the molten bath. Similarly, the energy necessary to maintain the temperature in the high-temperature compartment can be provided by a plurality of pairs of electrodes substantially horizontally arranged in the sidewalls of that compartment of the reaction vessel.
In the manufacturing of graphite products, large grinding, milling and sieving operations ensure that the required combination of compatible grain sizes of coke are formed into a blend which is then being mixed with binder pitch. In general, one blends a fraction of relatively large coke particles with another fraction of smaller coke particle to optimally fill out the gap between the large particles. The technical as well as economical requirements to establish and run such grinding, milling and sieving equipment are quite substantial, yet they are not in any case offset by the high quality properties of the finished graphite products.
In the context of the production of aluminum by carbothermic reduction, the requirements to the mechanical strength of the graphite electrodes submerged into the molten bath in the low temperature compartment and even more so to the electrodes horizontally arranged in the side walls of the high temperature compartment are challenging because the relatively long electrodes have to sustain the partially extensive movements of the molten bath which furthermore contains solid particles of carbon and slag a well as gas bubbles, all contributing to a mechanically demanding environment. To manufacture graphite electrodes that provide enough mechanical strength for this application requires careful selection of raw materials, especially of coke, and sophisticated particle sieving and blending efforts.

Method for using fracture resistant electrodes in a carbothermic reduction furnace


The shaft (16) goes through a hole in a wall (10). A bushing (26) is attached to the wall and carries a first gasket (28) adjacent to the wall and sealing against the shaft (16) and a lip seal (32) at a distance from the first gasket so that a toroidal chamber (34) is defined between the first gasket, the web, the bushing and the shaft. An inlet passage (44), preferably bored in the body of the bushing, connects said toroidal chamber (34) with a source of pressurized water, and an outlet passage (48), also preferably bored in the body of the bushing, drains the water from the toroidal chamber (34).

This invention is concerned with a sealing device for shafts of food processing machines, such as shafts bearing augers, rotary cutters, and the like, in machines such as cheese processing machines, bread kneading machines, mincers and mixers for sausage processing, etc.
In machines of the kind listed above, shafts bearing members such as augers, cutters and the like are driven by motor means external to the processing area, and enter the processing chamber through a bore in the chamber wall, with a sealing gasket preventing the processed matter from leaking out of the chamber. Such gaskets are a critical point in the machine, because they have unusual requirements. On the one hand, it is necessary to lubricate the gasket for a good mechanical operation, but, on the other hand, it is unacceptable to use a conventional lubricant such as oil or grease in an area which is in direct contact with food. Moreover, it often happens that fluid components of the food penetrate the interface between the gasket lip and the shaft and build dregs favoring bacterial growths, which will subsequently contaminate the inside of the processing chamber. Even the cleaning to which the machine is subjected at the end of a work session will not remove such dregs, because of the very sealing action yielded by the gasket itself: therefore, for an effective and thorough cleaning, the shafts have to be removed from their journals, with waste of time and work; moreover, disassembling a shaft is a delicate mechanical operation, requiring skill in the subsequent reassembly.
In summary, gaskets of operating shafts in food processing machines are a highly critical aspect of the machine, and in practice it has been necessary heretofore to use compromises between mechanical and sanitary requirements.

Sealing device for operating shafts in food processing machines

CMT Costruzioni Meccaniche E Technologia S.p.A.


Rotatable hand supports for performing advanced pushups on a floor or ground surface. The main handle of the supports has a grip portion constructed to be grasped by a user. The base has a bottom portion adapted to contact the floor, a top portion rotatably connected to the bottom portion, and a bearing assembly supporting the top portion on said bottom portion. A support connects the handle to the top portion of the base and supports the handle at an elevated position relative to the base and above the floor. A hand clutch extends from the main handle and can be squeezed to perform hand-grip exercises simultaneously with a pushup exercise.

The conventional pushup exercise has traditionally been used for strengthening arm muscles. A conventional pushup is performed by lying face down with palms to the floor and by pushing the body up and down with the arms.
Many types of handgrip devices are known for performing pushups. For example, Acs et. al, U.S. Pat. No. 3,115,338, disclose handles that are rigidly supported on stationary bases. The handles assist the user performing pushups by providing a more adaptable and natural hand gripping position. The handles allow the user to keep a straight wrist rather than a bent wrist. The handles also elevate the user's hands relative to the floor, thereby increasing the range of motion through which the user moves during the pushup exercise.
Other handgrip devices provide additional features to improve the muscle conditioning effect of performing pushups. For example, Swisher, U.S. Pat. No. 5,205,802, provides an elongate, elevated base and two hand grips. The invention allows the user to adjust the lateral space between grips for maximum comfort and to vary the range of motion of the exercise. Further, the hand grips are rotatable so that the user can rotate his hands and wrists through a mechanically limited range of motion.
Hill, U.S. Pat. No. 4,610,448, also discloses hand grips for performing pushups. The hand grips allow the user to rotate his hand about a horizontal axis in order to position the wrist at a comfortable position, and about a vertical axis in order to simultaneously rotate the arm while extending and contracting it.
Several of the devices in the prior art allow the user to rotate his hands about a vertical axis while performing pushups. Such devices comprise rotatably-connected, planar plates that are arranged in contact with one another. To rotate such devices, the user must overcome the frictional force between the plates, which may be excessive depending on the upper body weight of the user and the coefficient of friction between the plates. Further, rotation of the device may not be smooth due to variations in the force required to initiate rotation compared to the force required to maintain rotation. Therefore, it would be desirable to provide hand supports that can be easily and smoothly rotated about a vertical axis while performing pushups.
Several of the pushup devices in the prior art provide a handle having a cylindrical profile, which may be comfortable for some users but uncomfortable for others. Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a pushup device that has a plurality of interchangeable handles having grip profiles that are different from one another.
In the prior art, the various pushup devices vary greatly in size and complexity. However, even the smallest devices are prohibitively large to conveniently travel with in a briefcase, handbag or small luggage. Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a pushup device that is easily collapsible to a compact size so that the user can comfortably travel with the device.