Some embodiments of the present disclosure provide a semiconductor device including a substrate and a gate structure on the substrate. A first well region of a first conductivity type is in the substrate, close to a first sidewall of the gate structure. A second well region of a second conductivity type is also in the substrate close to the second sidewall of the gate structure. A conductive region is disposed in the second well region. The conductive region can be an epitaxy region. A chemical composition inside the second well region between the conductive region and the gate structure is essentially homogeneous as a chemical composition throughout the second well region.

High-voltage metal-oxide-semiconductor (HVMOS) devices are commonly used in many electrical devices, such as integrate circuits, power supplies, power management systems, or analog to digital converters.
Under high voltage operating condition, HVMOS with heavily-doped source/drain adopted an extended drain for withstanding strong breakdown behavior. For annealing with high temperature activation, doping profile for HVMOS became difficult to control. Therefore, extra STI or counter doping was commonly inserted between gate and drain. These structures significantly extend carrier's path and improve breakdown voltage behavior. However, it also leads to a large device size and complicated processes. Since size reduction of IC devices continues to improve through advance technologies, a large HVMOS transistor structure may complicate an overall device miniaturization process.

Semiconductor structure and manufacturing method thereof

TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING COMPANY LTD.


A thermistor includes a thermistor element, a protective film formed on the surface of the thermistor element, and electrode portions formed on both end portions of the thermistor element, in which the protective film is formed of silicon oxide, and, as a result of observing a bonding interface between the thermistor element and the protective film, a ratio L/L0 of a length L of an observed peeled portion to a length L0 of the bonding interface in an observation field is 0.16 or less.

The thermistor described above has a characteristic by which the electrical resistance thereof changes according to the temperature and is applied in the temperature compensation of various electronic devices, in temperature sensors, and the like. In particular, recently, chip-type thermistors mounted on circuit boards have been widely used.
The thermistor described above has a structure formed of a thermistor element and a pair of electrode portions at both ends of the thermistor element.
The thermistor element has characteristics of being weak against acids and alkalis and being easily reduced. When the composition thereof changes, there is a concern that the characteristics thereof may change. For this reason, for example, as shown in Patent Document 1 and 2, a technique for forming a protective film on the surface of the thermistor element was proposed.
There is a demand for the protective film to have resistance to a plating solution, environmental resistance, insulation, and the like, in order to suppress deterioration of the thermistor element during subsequent steps and use.
Here, in Patent Document 1 and 2, a protective film formed of glass is formed by coating a glass paste on the surface of the thermistor element and firing the glass paste.
In addition, a method for forming a protective film formed of SiO2 on the surface of the thermistor element by a sputtering method has also been proposed.
In a case where a protective film is formed on the surface of the thermistor element, electrode portions are formed at both ends of the thermistor element on which the protective film is formed. Here, the electrode portions are formed by coating, for example, a metal paste on both ends of the thermistor element and firing the metal paste. For this reason, the thermistor element on which the protective film is formed is heated to, for example, 700° C. or higher.

Thermistor and method for manufacturing thermistor


Provided are techniques for detecting a type of storage adapter connected to an Input/Output (I/O) bay and miscabling of a microbay housing the storage adapter. Under control of an Input/Ouput (I/O) bay, cable sidebands are driven high for a predetermined period of time. It is determined whether a cable sidebands response has been detected that indicates that the cable sidebands have been driven low. In response to determining that the cable sidebands response has been detected, it is determined that the I/O bay is connected to a first storage adapter supporting a first protocol for the cable sidebands. In response to determining that the cable sidebands response has not been detected, it is determined that the I/O bay is connected to a second storage adapter supporting a second protocol for the cable sidebands. Moreover, I/O bay and port numbers stored by the microbay are used to determine miscabling.

A storage controller manages physical disk drives and presents them to a host computer as logical units. The storage controller may include an I/O bay with two ports that are each coupled to a microbay housing a storage adapter.
There may be difficulty detecting whether the I/O bay is coupled to a microbay storing a current storage adapter or coupled to a different storage enclosure storing a previous Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks (RAID) adapter. The RAID adapter is used for accessing RAID storage. In particular, the two ports in the I/O bay are the same ports used in a previous version of the storage controller for a previous RAID adapter (i.e., a different type of storage adapter). In the previous version of the storage controller, the two ports on the I/O bay are connected to the previous version of the RAID adapters, which are embedded within the previous model storage enclosure, instead of the microbays.
Also, there may be difficulty determining whether the I/O bay ports are coupled to the correct microbays or whether there has been miscabling. In particular, there is a possibility of miscabling with the introduction of the new microbay. Within an I/O bay, the cables coming from the I/O bay's ports designated for a storage adapter connection may be connected to the wrong microbay as a result of a mistake made during replacement of an I/O bay or during machine install.

Detecting a type of storage adapter connected and miscabling of a microbay housing the storage adapter

International Business Machines Corporation


A compliant workpiece support assembly for a microrobotic apparatus for aligning three workpieces and welding them into an assembled package, includes a lower support assembly having a ball and socket joint with a polymer ball seat cast around the ball. The ball has a radial bore containing a lower collet axially movable in the bore to grip one of the workpieces. The other two workpieces are held in telescoping arrangement, respectively in inner and outer collets of an upper support assembly, the collets being disposed coaxially one within the other and respectively having camming housings for opening and closing the collets. The outer collet housing supports the entire upper support assembly and is axially driven so that when the outer collet bottoms on the outer workpiece the continued movement of the outer housing closes the collet to grip the workpiece. The inner collet is closed over the inner workpiece by a pneumatic piston. When the upper support assembly is lowered over the lower support assembly to bring the workpieces together, the force drives the lower collet into the ball to close the collet over the lower workpiece. Pneumatic clamps are provided for locking the lower collet closed and for locking the ball against rotation. A pneumatic clamp floats on the upper support assembly to lock the outer collet closed. The inner collet assembly is movable axially relative to the outer collet assembly for axial adjustment of the positions of the two upper workpieces relative to each other.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to coupling assemblies and, specifically, to microminiature coupling assemblies designed to align and join together the component parts of an optoelectronic package or module. The invention relates particularly to microrobotic devices for very high precision alignment and positioning of the parts of the module.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the manufacture of optoelectronic modules, such as laser diode packages, it is essential that the light source or laser diode portion and the light receiving optics portion be carefully aligned with each other to optimize light coupling between the two portions. Thus, in the assembly of the parts, a coupling position must be arrived at and maintained with very high precision, typically in the sub-micron range, to ensure optimal light coupling. Various types of alignment apparatuses have been provided to adjust the positions of optoelectronic parts relative to one another so as to assure optimum alignment. However, it has been extremely difficult to maintain this alignment while the parts are joined together to complete the package or module.
One type of package or module may include a base or header portion and a cap portion, each of which is provided with an annular flange defining a planar surface, the planar surfaces of the two flanges being brought together in face-to-face abutting relationship to join the parts together, such as by laser welding. During the welding operation, it is extremely important that the two surfaces that are going to be welded be virtually coplanar, i.e., that they be in contact and parallel within zero to five microns. The surfaces may be held out of parallelism by more than five microns by minute imperfections in the surfaces themselves, by air gaps therebetween and the like. If they are the slightest bit out of parallelism when welded, the welding operation will tend to draw them together to eliminate any gaps or imperfections and thereby destroy the pre-welding alignment which had been achieved. Such minute misalignments can sometimes be corrected, such as by remedial weld applications, but such techniques are time consuming and expensive and, if they fail, the result is a worthless module. This may result in considerable waste, since the components of the package or module themselves can be quite expensive to manufacture.
Minute imperfections and air gaps between the mating surfaces can be eliminated by pressing the surfaces together with sufficient force, but if the parts are not in essentially perfect parallelism before application of the force, it may distort or deform the surfaces, which may itself result in misalignment of the parts or damage thereto.
While a number of systems are known to provide accurate positioning of parts in an X-Y plane, it is sometimes necessary to position parts along the Z axis also. This may occur, for example, in the case of a three-part assembly, wherein two of the parts must be precisely positioned relative to each other along the Z axis and those combined parts must then be precisely positioned relative to a third part along X and Y axes. There is a need for apparatus which can effectively handle and adjust the alignment of parts in all three axes simultaneously prior to joinder of the parts.

Workpiece support assembly for microrobotic apparatus


Circuit boards capable of receiving different sets of electrical devices are fabricated from raw boards of the same type by forming respective networks of electrically conductive traces with a common layout on the raw boards, including open circuits within the networks. Electrical device receivers and controllers are then loaded on the boards, and some of the open circuits are closed such that some of the boards have different patterns of closed circuits and thereby different interconnections. Some of the receivers can accommodate two different types of electrical devices, with some of the boards configured to support one type and the others another type. The loading of receivers and controllers, and the closing of open circuits, can be performed simultaneously with the placement of zero ohm resistors used for circuit closings. Numerous different circuit board configurations can thus be supported from a common supply of raw boards.

Local buses have been developed so that the system buses of a computer system can be accessed at speeds close to that of the microprocessor. Of these, the PCI local bus is now the most widely accepted and implemented expansion system. This local bus is a high performance 32-bit or 64-bit bus with multiplexed address and data lines, and is intended for use as an interconnect mechanism between highly integrated peripheral controller components, peripheral add-in cards and processor/memory systems. The bus allows burst mode data transfer and bus mastering, and is usable with many different kinds of add-in cards, such as graphical user interfaces, modems, network cards, sound, video capture and SCSI cards. Some of the cards are 32-bit, operating at 33 MHz, while others are 64-bit, operating at either 100 MHz or 133 MHz. The 32-bit bus is designated PCI, while the 64-bit is designated PCI-X. A different controller is required for each bus, such as the ICH4 32-bit controller and P64H2 64-bit controller by Intel Corporation.
Personal computer (PC) mother boards can have numerous different configurations, depending upon the type of circuit cards they are set up to receive. For example, if all of the cards for which they system is designed are 32-bit cards, then a number of receivers (commonly called "slots"), each designed to receive the 120 edge pins of a 32-bit card, would be provided on the board, along with an ICH4 controller connected to each of the slots in parallel. If, on the other hand, only 64-bit cards need to be accommodated, a different board with slots for the 368 edge pin 64-bit cards would be used, together with an appropriate number of P64H2 controllers (in general, one P64H2 controller is required for each two 64-bit cards operated at 100 MHz, and an individual controller for each 64-bit card operated at 133 MHz).
If, as is frequently the case, some combination of 32-bit and 64-bit cards are to be accommodated, separate boards with appropriate arrays of 32-bit and 64-bit slots and controllers are provided for each different combination. In general, each different board design is considered as a separate part, with separate order and fabrication sequences. Thus, it may be necessary for a manufacturer to inventory a large number of different boards, each with a different combination of slots and controllers, and to order new raw boards separately for each different design. The separate board designs can lead to a relatively large number of orders for relatively low volumes of boards each, which does not offer the opportunity to maximize volume discounts.
Different types of mother boards have conventionally been characterized by different numbers of circuit card slots associated with the ICH4 and P64H2 controllers, and also by the number of P64H2 controllers and whether their associated slots are intended for 133 MHz or 100 MHz operation. This type of characterization has resulted in a proliferation of different types of circuit boards, with separate inventories of raw boards for each type. New raw boards are generally acquired only when the stock of raw boards for one particular type of mother board needs to be replenished. Thus, while the collective number of raw circuit boards purchased for all types of mother boards over a given period of time may be large, the number of boards purchased with each individual order will generally be much smaller, with a corresponding loss of volume discounts and economies of scale. Mother boards with different configurations of slots controlled by the ICH4 and P64H2 controllers require different interconnection networks between the controllers and slots; the different interconnection networks emphasize the tendency to consider each different combination of slots as a separate part requiring a separate board inventory and fabrication process.

Configurable circuit board and fabrication method

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


Systems and methods for controlling motion of a vehicle in a group of vehicles. In one embodiment, the system includes a communication interface, a vehicle platform for travelling among the group of vehicles, and an electronic processor. The electronic processor is configured to determine a local virtual tracking error signal and a controller state signal. The electronic processor is also configured to determine a self-navigation input control signal based on the local virtual tracking error signal and the controller state signal. The self-navigation input control signal is for navigating the vehicle platform. A trajectory of an exosystem is based on a boundedness condition. The vehicle communicates with other vehicles in the group of vehicles via a fixed augmented directed connected communication graph topology. Each vehicle in the group of vehicles is stabilizable and satisfies a transmission zero condition. Design matrices of the vehicle satisfy an internal model principle.

Heterogeneous multi-agent systems formed by networks of agents having different dynamics and dimensions present a significantly broader class of multiagent systems than their heterogeneous and homogeneous counterparts that consist of networks of agents having different dynamics with the same dimension and identical dynamics, respectively. Therefore, the distributed control of this class of multiagent systems has been an attractive research topic in the systems and control field.
In particular, the cooperative output regulation problem of heterogeneous (in dynamics and dimension) linear time-invariant multiagent systems, where the output of all agents synchronize to the output of the leader, over general fixed directed communication graph topologies have been recently investigated. This problem can be regarded as the generalization of the linear output regulation problem to multi-agent systems. Therefore, distributed control approaches to this problem can be classified into two types: feedforward design methodology and internal model principle. With the former methodology, the feedforward gain of each agent relies on the solution of the regulator equations; hence, this methodology is known to be not robust to plant uncertainties. On the other hand, the latter methodology is robust with respect to small variations of the plant parameters. However, it cannot be applied when the transmission zero condition does not hold.
The common denominator of these results is that an exosystem, which has an unforced linear time-invariant dynamics, generates both a reference trajectory and external disturbances to be tracked and rejected by networks of agents. Specifically, the system matrix of the exosystem is explicitly used by controllers of all agents in some systems and a proper subset of agents in other systems; or each agent incorporates a p-copy internal model of this matrix in its controller. In practical applications, however, it can be a challenge to precisely know the system matrix of the exosystem, even the dynamical structure of the exosystem; especially, when an external leader interacts with the network of agents or a control designer simply injects optimized trajectory commands to the network based on, for example, an online path planning algorithm. To allow ultimately bounded tracking error in such cases, an alternative, generalized definition is needed for the cooperative output regulation problem.

Distributed control of heterogeneous multi-agent systems


An automotive lane deviation prevention (LDP) apparatus includes a control unit detecting whether a host vehicle is in a specific state where the host vehicle is traveling on road-surface irregularities formed on or close to a lane marking line. The control unit actively decelerates the host vehicle when the host vehicle is in the specific state where the host vehicle is traveling on the road-surface irregularities.

In recent years, there have been proposed and developed various automatic lane deviation prevention (LDP) control technologies and vehicle dynamics control (VDC) technologies. An LDP control system often uses a steering actuator for lane deviation avoidance. In the steering-actuator equipped LDP control system, lane deviation is prevented by producing a yaw moment by way of steering-torque control whose controlled variable is determined depending on a host vehicle's lateral displacement or a host vehicle's lateral deviation from a central axis (a reference axis) of the current host vehicle's driving lane. One such steering-actuator equipped LDP control system has been disclosed in Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 11-180327 (hereinafter is referred to as JP11-180327).
LDP control systems as disclosed in JP11-180327 generally use a vehicle-mounted charge-coupled device (CCD) camera and a camera controller as an external recognizing sensor, which functions to detect a position of the host vehicle within the host vehicle's traffic lane and whose sensor signal is used for the lane deviation avoidance control or lane deviation prevention control. Within the camera controller, on the basis of an image-processing picture image data in front of the host vehicle and captured by the CCD camera, a white lane marking, such as a white line, is detected and thus the current host vehicle's traffic lane, exactly, the current position information of the host vehicle within the driving lane, in other words, information regarding whether the host vehicle tends to deviate from the driving lane, is detected.

Automotive lane deviation prevention apparatus


A gas-powered paint ball gun in which a magazine is attached tangentially to a firing chamber or barrel. An opening is provided in the magazine so as to release back-pressure. Paint balls are fed into the firing chamber through the magazine in a direction tangent to the firing chamber and in a direction perpendicular to the radial direction of the firing chamber or barrel. The paint balls being loaded into the firing chamber each have a limited radial distance to travel and therefore have a limited travel period. The unique configuration enables each paint ball being loaded into the chamber to come to rest in the firing chamber more rapidly and thereby reduces the risk of the gun becoming jammed. Further, this configuration enables the gun to be fired more rapidly and with greater assurance that the gun will not jam.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to mechanical guns, and more particularly to a magazine assembly for gas-powered guns. The present invention is especially useful for semi-automatic paint ball guns.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It has been well-known to use marking guns for wild animal management and in strategic or tactical games, such as paint ball games. The marking gun generally uses a liquid-containing frangible projectile commonly known as a paint ball. The paint ball is designed to be broken upon impact with an intended target. A player in a paint ball game generally fires a large quantity of paint balls in rapid succession. Because of the rapid discharge of the paint balls, several feed mechanisms have been devised. One such feeding mechanism is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,633,838 issued Apr. 7, 1953 to Seward. Seward discloses a magazine placed parallel to the barrel of the gun. This parallel displacement requires a user to arduously slant the gun in order to load a projectile.
An alternative feeding device is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,936,282 issued Jun. 26, 1990 to Dobbins et al. Dobbins discloses the magazine attached perpendicularly to the barrel. The magazine contains a column of paint balls which are aligned in a radial direction relative to the barrel. Through gravitational force, a paint ball drops into the barrel when the bolt of the gun is retracted. The retraction of the bolt creates back-pressure whereby the external air is sucked into the gun through the barrel. The back-pressure moves the column of paint balls upwardly and away from the barrel. Consequently, it takes more time to load a paint ball into the barrel which is sometimes longer than time required to reset the bolt. This increases the risk of the bolt rupturing the paint ball thereby jamming the gun.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,447,527 issued Jun. 3, 1969 to Cermak et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 4,602,608 issued Jul. 29, 1986 to Lacam et al. each disclose a magazine located below and attached perpendicularly to a barrel. A column of projectiles are biased toward and loaded into the barrel by a spring. This type of gun does not use gravitational force to load each paint ball, and is more complicated in construction.
Another patent which may be deemed of interest is U.S. Pat. No. 3,911,888 issued Oct. 14, 1975 to Horvath which discloses a pneumatic ball thrower.
Applicant's instant invention is a magazine assembly comprising a magazine and a collar which may be slidably attachable to the barrel of a paint ball gun or a magazine which may be fixed to the barrel of a paint ball gun. The magazine is orientated tangential to the barrel, not perpendicular or parallel. A ball drops into the barrel at an angle 90.degree. with respect to the magazine. This reduces the travel of the paint ball being loaded into the barrel and therefore, reduces the risk of the bolt rupturing the paint ball and jamming the gun. The magazine uses gravitational force to load each paint ball, and thus achieves a simple construction.

Magazine assembly for gas-powered gun and combination thereof


An adhesive dispenser for iteratively dispensing a controlled amount of an adhesive from a reservoir, by iteratively applying a pressure to the adhesive stored in the reservoir such that the controlled amount of adhesive is released from a nozzle connected to the reservoir via a supply passage and is applied to an object, the adhesive dispenser including at least one of an adhesive-temperature control device which controls a temperature of the adhesive present in the supply passage, by supplying a fluid to a first space at least partly surrounding at least a portion of the supply passage, and a pressure control device which is switchable to at least a pressing state thereof in which the pressure control device supplies a pressurized gas to a second space above the adhesive stored in the reservoir and a sucking state thereof in which the pressure control device sucks the gas from the second space.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an adhesive dispenser and particularly to the art of controlling the amount of adhesive dispensed from the dispenser.
2. Related Art Statement
There is known an adhesive dispenser which iteratively dispenses a controlled amount of an adhesive from a reservoir therefor, by iteratively applying a pressure to the adhesive stored in the reservoir such that the controlled amount of adhesive is released from a nozzle connected to the reservoir via a supply passage and is applied to an object. In the known adhesive dispenser, the pressure applied to the adhesive is increased by supplying a pressurized gas to a space above the adhesive stored in the reservoir, and is decreased by communicating the space with the atmosphere. In the pressing state in which the pressure applied to the adhesive is increased, the adhesive is released from the nozzle and, in the gas-releasing state in which the air is released from the space above the adhesive to the atmosphere, the releasing of the adhesive is stopped. Accordingly, if the pressing state and the gas-releasing state are iteratively switched to each other in an appropriate manner, the adhesive can be applied in suitably controlled amounts to objects.
Since the viscosity of adhesive influences the amount of application of adhesive, the temperature of adhesive is maintained at an appropriate value, when the adhesive is applied. To this end, the whole dispenser is covered by a cover member, and the temperature of an entire inner space of the cover member is controlled by a cooler including a compressor, or a coil heater. That is, the temperature of adhesive is controlled by changing the temperature of the entire inner space of the cover member.
After the adhesive is applied to the object, the known dispenser is switched from the pressing state to the gas-releasing state. In the gas-releasing state, however, the pressure in the space above the adhesive cannot be quickly decreased down to values at which the releasing of adhesive stops. Thus, the releasing of adhesive cannot be quickly stopped. That is, the known dispenser cannot accurately control the amount of application of adhesive.
In addition, the known dispenser needs a long time for controlling the temperature of adhesive to a desired value, because the temperature of the inner space of the cover member must be controlled and additionally there is a time lag after the inner space is controlled to the desired value and before the temperature of adhesive in the reservoir is changed to the desired value. Moreover, much energy is needed for controlling the adhesive to the desired temperature. The cover member employed for covering the whole dispenser results in increasing the overall size of the dispenser.


Oligonucleotide primers and polynucleotide probes provide selective amplification and detection of Id genetic sequences and are selected both (1) to provide the desired specificity so that they amplify only the specific Id type to which they are targeted; and (2) to introduce terminal restriction endonuclease cleavage sites into the amplicon that facilitate the incorporation of the amplicon into plasmid-based vectors. Detection of Id genetic sequences can be carried out using the labeled-amplicon by reamplifying the amplicon with the primers in the presence of labeled, for example radiolabeled, deoxynucleotide triphosphates. The probes of the invention correspond in sequence to the amplicons produced using the primers of the invention, after cleavage at the restriction endonuclease sites.

This application relates to oligonucleotide primers and nucleic acid probes that are useful for amplification and/or detection of human inhibitor of DNA-binding (Id) genetic sequences, and in particular for selective amplification and/or detection of human Id1, Id2 and Id3.
Inhibitor of DNA-binding (Id) proteins are transcription factors and are members of a subfamily of Helix-Loop-Helix (HLH) proteins. These proteins contain a motif that consists of two segments capable of forming amphipathic alpha helices connected by a nonconserved loop. Other members of the HLH family (basic HLH, or bHLH proteins) also contain a basic region just to the amino terminal side of this motif that consists of two to three clusters of basic amino acid residues. Various proteins containing the bHLH motif can form homodimeric and heterodimeric complexes with other bHLH proteins and it is through the basic region that these complexes bind to the target DNA (Murre et al., Cell, 1989, 56, 777-783; Murre et al., Cell, 1989, 58, 537-544). The Id proteins containing the helix-loop-helix domain, but are lacking the basic region. These Id proteins are still able to form heterodimers with other bHLH transcription factors affecting transcription, but they lack DNA-binding ability and are therefore negative regulators of the bHLH transcription factors.
Four members of the Id family have been identified in mammals and the first, Inhibitor of DNA binding-1 (Id-1), originally isolated in the mouse, has been shown to exist in two forms in the human as a result of alternative splicing (Benezra et al., Cell, 1990, 61, 49-59; Deed et al., Biochim. Biophys. Acta., 1994, 1219, 160-162; Hara et al., J. Biol. Chem., 1994, 269, 2139-2145; Nehlin et al., Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 1997, 231, 628-634; Zhu et al., Brain Res. Mol. Brain Res., 1995, 30, 312-326).

Primers and probes for amplification and detection of human inhibitor of DNA-binding

Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research


A pulsed transversely excited gas laser device includes a pair of main electrodes having main surfaces opposing each other across a main discharge gap and extending along the optical axis of the laser. A corona discharge preionizer for radiating ultraviolet radiation is substantially accommodated within a recess formed on the main surface of one of the main electrodes at an upstream side of the foot of the main discharge 3. The corona discharge preionizer is separated from the inner wall and bottom surface of the recess except at a surface portion thereof which is in contact with a projection extending sideways from a side wall of the recess next to the main discharge. The corona discharge generated over the preionizer radiates ultraviolet radiation to preionize the laser gas.

This invention relates to discharge excitation pulsed laser oscillation devices (pulsed transversely excited gas laser devices), and more particularly to the electrode structure of the discharge excitation pulsed laser oscillation devices.
FIG. 2 is a schematic sectional view of a conventional discharge excitation pulsed laser oscillation device (pulsed transversely excited gas laser device), showing a section thereof perpendicular to the optical axis of the laser. The device is disclosed in: R. Marchetti and E. Penco, "A new type of corona-discharge photoionization source for gas lasers", Journal of Applied Physics 56(11), December 1984, pp. 3163-3168. In FIG. 2, a pair of main electrodes 1 and 2 opposing each other extend parallel to the optical axis of the laser. Across the main electrodes 1 and 2 is formed a main discharge 3. A laser gas flow 4 is supplied from a laser gas supply device (not shown), along a direction perpendicular to the optical axis of the laser, to the region between the main electrodes 1 and 2.
A pair of preionizers 5 disposed on the upstream and the downstream side (with respect to the direction of the laser gas flow 4) of the main electrodes 1 and 2 preionize the laser gas between the main electrodes 1 and 2 such that the main discharge 3 is generated. Each preionizer 5 consists of: a hollow dielectric pipe 6, an auxiliary electrode 7 inserted into the bore of the dielectric pipe 6, and a conductor wire 8 which is attached over the outer surface of the dielectric pipe 6 and is kept at the same potential as the main electrode 2.
Next, the operation of the discharge excitation pulsed laser oscillation device of FIG. 2 is described. First, the laser gas is supplied from a laser gas supply device to the region between the main electrodes 1 and 2. When a voltage is applied across the main electrode 2 and each of the auxiliary electrodes 7, the corona discharge 9 starts from the point at which the conductor wire 8 and the dielectric pipe 6 are in contact and covers the outer surface of the dielectric pipe 6. The ultraviolet radiation radiated from the corona discharge 9 preionizes the laser gas between the main electrodes 1 and 2. Next, upon application of a voltage across the main electrodes 1 and 2, the preionized laser gas begins to discharge, and the main discharge 3 is generated across the main electrode 1 and main electrode 2. The laser gas is excited by the main discharge 3, such that the laser commences to oscillate in a direction perpendicular to the surface of the drawing in FIG. 2.
In the case of the discharge excitation pulsed laser oscillation device of FIG. 2, the discharge remnants, such as the ions and metastable gas molecules and atoms generated by the main discharge 3, and particles sputtered out from the electrodes, are carried downstream with the laser gas flow 4. By the time when the next main discharge 3 is started by the subsequent voltage pulse, the new laser gas is supplied to the region between the main electrodes 1 and 2 and the ultraviolet radiation is radiated thereto from both sides. Thus, the number of preionized electrons (photoelectrons) remains constant and the distribution thereof is symmetric for the upstream and the downstream side (with respect to the laser gas flow 4) in the region between the main electrodes 1 and 2. Thus, the main discharge 3 is maintained constant throughout the operation.
FIG. 3 is a schematic sectional view of a conventional discharge excitation excimer laser oscillation device. The device is disclosed in: T. S. Fahlen, "HIGH-AVERAGE-POWER EXCIMER LASER", DOE/SF/90024-T2,1977, United States Energy Research and Development Administration. A tube 1a having an outer diameter of 1/4 inches is mounted on an end of a main electrode 1 opposing the other main electrode 2. The preionizer 5, including a hollow dielectric pipe 6 and an auxiliary electrode 7 which consists of a wire inserted into the bore of the dielectric pipe 6, is disposed at the downstream side (with respect to the laser gas flow 4) of the main electrode 1 such that the dielectric pipe 6 is partly in contact with the main electrode 1.
The operation of the laser device of FIG. 3 is similar to that of the laser device of FIG. 2. After the laser gas is supplied to the region between the main electrodes 1 and 2, a voltage is applied across the main electrode 1 and the auxiliary electrode 7, such that the corona discharge 9 is generated from the point where the main electrode 1 and the dielectric pipe 6 are in contact, and thence covers the whole dielectric pipe 6. The laser gas between the main electrodes 1 and 2 is preionized by the ultraviolet radiation radiated from the corona discharge 9. When a voltage is applied across the main electrodes 1 and 2, the preionized laser gas commences to discharge, thereby generating the main discharge 3. The laser gas is excited by the main discharge 3, such that the laser oscillates in the direction perpendicular to the surface of the drawing. The preionizer 5 is disposed only at the downstream side of the main electrode 1. Thus, this excimer laser device has a simplified structure.
The above conventional laser devices have the following disadvantages.
In the case of the device of FIG. 2, the preionizers 5 are disposed on both the upstream and downstream side (with respect to the laser gas flow 4) of the main electrodes 1 and 2. However, the ultraviolet radiation radiated from the preionizer 5 at the downstream side is absorbed by the discharge remnants generated by the main discharge 3. Thus, as the oscillation frequency increases, the center of the distribution of preionized electrons (photoelectrons) is shifted to the upstream side. Thus, as shown in FIG. 4, the central position of the laser beam is also shifted to the upstream side (with respect to the laser gas flow 4) as the oscillation frequency increases.
On the other hand, in the case of the laser device of FIG. 3, the preionizer 5 is disposed only at the downstream side (with respect to the laser gas flow 4) of the main electrodes 1 and 2. The ultraviolet radiation radiated from the preionizer 5 is absorbed by the discharge remnants generated by the main discharge 3. Thus, as the oscillation frequency increases, the number of preionized electrons decreases, and the homogeneity of the main discharge 3 is deteriorated. As a result, the energy is not effectively deposited into the laser gas. Thus the laser oscillation efficiency deteriorates and the output power decreases. Thus, it is necessary to substitute the laser gas between the main electrodes 1 and 2 by a new volume of the laser gas by the time when the next main discharge 3 is generated. To accomplish this, a laser gas supply device of large capacity becomes necessary.

Discharge excitation pulsed laser oscillation device


A self-indexing vise 10 for clamping an angled workpiece 47 includes a pair of jaws 20, 32 capable of relative movement, a semi-cylindrical jaw insert 54 received in a recess 52 in one of the jaws 20, 32 and capable of pivoting to automatically conform to the contour of an angled workpiece 47. The jaw insert 54 is sized slightly larger than the recess 52 in which it pivots such that when the vise 10 is loaded, a press fit forms between recess 52 and jaw insert 54 which locks the insert 54 into position.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a vise for clamping a workpiece and more particularly to a vise capable of clamping a workpiece having an angularly disposed member wherein the angled portion of the workpiece is clamped between a curvilinear surface and a pivotable surface.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are a variety of clamping devices available in the art for clamping a workpiece during machining or other manufacturing operations. Most of these devices secure the workpiece by clamping it between two or more jaws which are capable of movement relative to one another. The jaws may have fixed or moveable bearing surfaces which contact the workpiece. Where moveable bearing surfaces are utilized, they are typically designed to pivot in some fashion to conform to irregularly shaped workpieces.
Angled extrusions, such as those frequently seen in aircraft structural parts, present a particularly difficult clamping task to the machinist. If the base of an angled extrusion is to be machined, the angled portion of the extrusion must be clamped. For accurate machining, the base of the angled extrusion must remain parallel to and flush with the sacrificial material that is typically inserted between the vise jaws and the angled extrusion base. Ordinary vises tend to impart clamping forces at different locations on the angled portion of the angled extrusion, thereby creating a net moment which will tend to move some portion of the base out of parallel with the sacrificial material. Angled extrusions also typically require the machinist to manually adjust the vise jaws to approximately conform to the angle of the angled portion of the extrusion. This is a tedious time consuming process which, depending upon the size of the workpiece and vises involved, may involve a blind operation since the machinist may not be able to visually verify that the jaws have closely matched the angle of the extrusion. Even if the operator carefully manually positions the vise jaws to secure the angled extrusion in a vise which has pivoting bearing surfaces, the pivoting bearing surfaces may have a tendency to rotate during machining which will cause misalignment of the workpiece.


An OLED display comprising a plurality of pixels, first, second, and third reference voltage generators; and a data driver, all formed on the same substrate is disclosed. Each pixel includes a subpixel of a first color, a subpixel of a second color, and a subpixel of a third color. The first reference voltage generator generates first reference voltages corresponding to a subpixel of the first color, the second reference voltage generator generates second reference voltages corresponding to a subpixel of the second color, the third reference voltage generator generates third reference voltages corresponding to a subpixel of the third color, and the data driver converts digital video signals corresponding to the subpixels of the first, second, and third colors into data voltages, and transmits the data voltages to the subpixels of the first, second, and third colors, respectively.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates generally to an organic light emitting diode (OLED) display, and more particularly, to a display device having a peripheral circuit and a display area formed on the same substrate.
2. Description of the Related Art
Active driving or active matrix is a well known method for driving an OLED display using active drive elements. Recently, thin film transistors (TFT) formed by deposition of an insulating substrate on a semiconductor layer has been used as the active drive element. In this way, TFTs have been formed on the insulating substrate to provide a circuit (e.g., driver) formed on an area other than the display area on the insulating substrate. A system formed with a display area and a peripheral circuit (e.g., a driver) together on an insulating substrate is referred to as a system-on-panel (SOP).
In the display device, gamma correction depends on the characteristics of a panel to which a video signal is input. Gamma correction is often a problem when the display device is an organic light emitting diode (OLED) display. An OLED display uses three different organic light emitting materials for each of the respective colors, red (R), green (G), and blue (B), because each organic light emitting material has different characteristics. Therefore, gamma correction is ideally independently applied for each of the R, G, B input signals.
The visibility of an image displayed by a light emitting display device is dependent on the brightness of the ambient environment. Ideally, the light emitting display device should output a brighter image when the ambient environment of the light emitting display device is bright, and output a darker image when the ambient environment of the light emitting display device is dark.
The brightness of an output image of the light emitting display device may be controlled by different methods depending on the brightness of the ambient environment, for example, by gamma correcting each color. However, conventional gamma correction methods use a common reference voltage without regard to the characteristics of the organic light emitting materials of the respective colors (R, G, and B), and accordingly, gamma characteristics cannot be accurately changed to correspond to changes in brightness of the ambient environment.
In the development of the SOP, many attempts have been made to form several circuits on the insulation layer together with the driver. To date, a gamma correction circuit has not been formed on the same insulating substrate.
The information disclosed in this Background section is provided only to enhance understanding the background of the invention and is not an admission that the information is prior art known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.


A gamma voltage generator for a liquid crystal display (LCD) capable of removing residual images by compensating a gamma voltage is presented. The gamma voltage generation apparatus adjusts the common voltage by the kickback voltage for the intermediate gray level, and tunes the gamma voltages other than the intermediate gray level gamma voltage. The adjustment of the gamma voltages other than the intermediate gray level gamma voltage is achieved in such a manner that the difference between the intermediate gray level kickback voltage and the kickback voltage at one of the gray levels other than the intermediate gray level is equal to half of the difference between the sum of the two inverted gamma voltages representing the intermediate gray level gamma voltages and the sum of the two inverted gamma voltages corresponding to the selected gray level.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display, and in particular, to a gamma voltage generator of a liquid crystal display (LCD) that is capable of removing a residual image by compensating a gamma voltage.
(b) Description of the Related Art
Typically, a liquid crystal display uses a thin film transistor as a switching element for applying an analog gray voltage to a pixel so as to display an image. The number of the gray voltages is limited to 64 or 256 according to the types of digital analog converter (DAC) provided in a source driver. The DAC produces 64 or 256 gray voltages by selectively switching 6 bit or 8-bit red (R), green (G), and blue (B) digital data from an external source, and supplies the gray voltages to the pixels via data lines in an LCD panel assembly.
FIG. 1 is an equivalent circuit diagram of a typical pixel; and FIG. 2 is a graph showing typical waveforms of a gate voltage, a data voltage, and a pixel voltage.
A gray voltage generated by a DAC for supply to a data line is expressed as a data voltage Vdata in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2. The data voltage Vdata becomes a pixel voltage Vp after passing through a TFT which is turned on by a high state VgH of a gate voltage Vg. The voltage difference between the pixel voltage Vp and a common voltage Vcom applied to a liquid crystal capacitor Clc determines the transmittance of light. Since the common voltage Vcom has a fixed value or swings between two fixed values, the pixel voltage Vp substantially determines the light transmittance.
Under the high value VgH of the gate voltage Vg of the TFT, the pixel voltage Vp reaches the data voltage Vdata. The pixel voltage Vp drops by as much as a kickback voltage Vk due to parasitic capacitors (Cg, Cgd) after the gate voltage Vg becomes low VgL.
The kickback voltage Vk is determined by the following equation:
      Vk    =                                                                                (                                      Vcom                    -                    Vp                                    )                                                                  (                                      Clcon                    -                    Clcoff                                    )                                            +                                                                                Δ                                                                                VgCgd                            +                                                (                                      VgH                    -                    Vp                                    )                                                                  Cg                  /                  2                                                                                Cgd        +        Clcoff        +        Cst              ,where Clcon is the capacitance of a charged liquid crystal capacitor when the pixel is charged, Clcoff is the capacitance of a completely discharged liquid crystal capacitor, Cg is a parasitic capacitance between a channel and a gate of the TFT, and Cgd is a parasitic capacitance between the gate and a drain of the TFT.
As shown by the equation, the kickback voltage Vk varies significantly depending on the voltage difference between the pixel voltage Vp and the common voltage Vcom, as shown in FIG. 4, as well as depending on the pixel voltage Vp itself. It is because the capacitance of the liquid crystal capacitor Clc depends on the voltage across the liquid crystal capacitor Clc due to the dielectric anisotropy of liquid crystal. FIG. 3 shows the dielectric constant which increase as the magnitude of the bias voltage across the liquid crystal capacitor Clc. Therefore, it is hard to compensate the kickback voltage Vk using the gray voltages.
To prevent the typical distortion of the pixel voltage Vp due to the kickback voltage Vk, it is suggested that the intermediate grays where the pixel voltages Vp are about 1.8 V are compensated by adjusting the common voltage Vcom, although the white and the black grays are not completely compensated. However, when an image including black and white grays is displayed for a long time, and thus a DC bias voltage having a value as much as the difference between the kickback voltage Vk and the intermediate gray voltage is applied for a long time, this causes a defect in the LCD panel assembly referred to as image sticking.


A method of controlling controlled elements of a rail vehicle, in which method descriptive geometrical characteristics of the rail track are calculated by measuring inertial values on board the vehicle and control set points for said controlled elements are generated from said characteristics, characterized in that it includes the steps of:

The present invention relates to a method of controlling controlled elements of a rail vehicle, in particular a method of controlling elements intended to improve the comfort of passengers, and also relates to a control device for controlled elements which is adapted to implement the method.
At present there are two main techniques for controlling controlled elements of a rail vehicle which are essentially used to control controlled elements controlling the inclination of a tilting vehicle.
A first technique consists of measuring inertial values, in particular the transverse acceleration, the roll velocity of the vehicle and possibly the yaw velocity of the bogie, calculating from those values geometrical characteristics descriptive of the track on which the vehicle is traveling, and generating control set points from those characteristics, such as the angle of inclination in the case of a tilting train.
The above technique generates relatively accurate angle set points. It has a number of drawbacks, however, in particular because the inclination of the vehicle is out of phase with the curves negotiated by the vehicle in that it does not take account of the time-delay inherent to the processing of the inertial values or the time-delay generated by operation of the tilt drive systems equipping each body of the vehicle and to which the angle set points are transmitted.
The time-delay can be clearly perceptible at speeds from 160 kph in the case of a train with a motor car at the front.
Another prior art technique, which was developed to overcome the above drawback, consists of equipping the rail tracks with beacons for accurately determining the location of the rail vehicle on the track on which it is travelling and transmitting control set points, in particular inclination angle set points in the case of a tilt system, in advance, to compensate the time-delays inherent to the operation of such systems.
The above tilting technique effectively compensates the centrifugal force to which the passengers on the vehicle are subjected because tilting can be applied in phase with the curve being negotiated. It nevertheless has the drawback of making it necessary to equip with beacons all rail tracks of a rail network on which operation in tilt mode is authorized, and its cost is therefore prohibitive.
What is more, it cannot be used on sections of the network that are not equipped with the beacons.
The object of the invention is to overcome these drawbacks by proposing a method of controlling controlled elements of a rail vehicle which enables the controlled elements to be controlled in advance so that their reaction is in phase with the geometry of the rail track, without necessitating additional rail track equipment, in order to be simple and economical to put into practice.
The invention therefore provides a method of controlling controlled elements of a rail vehicle, in which method descriptive geometrical characteristics of the rail track are calculated by measuring inertial values on board the vehicle and control set points for said controlled elements are generated from said characteristics, characterized in that it includes the steps of:
determining the location of the vehicle on the rail track on which it is travelling by comparing calculated geometrical characteristics with geometrical characteristics stored in a database and obtained by a learning process;
extracting geometrical characteristics corresponding to the next curve from the database; and
generating control set points for the controlled elements in advance from the extracted characteristics.
The method according to the invention can further include one or more of the following features, individually or in all technically feasible combinations:
before generating the control set point(s) of the controlled elements, at least one of the geometrical characteristics calculated is compared to a window for validating the location of the rail vehicle generated from the respective data extracted from the database and corresponding to the presumed location of the rail vehicle and in that if there is no correspondence between the geometrical characteristic(s) calculated and the validation window control set point(s) for the controlled elements are generated from the calculated geometrical characteristics;
determining the location of the vehicle includes the steps of identifying the rail track on which the vehicle is travelling by comparing the geometrical characteristics calculated with characteristics stored in the database and calculating the distance to the next curve from a measured speed of the rail vehicle and the length of a straight section preceding said curve extracted from the database;
at least on leaving each curve the location of the vehicle on the rail track is corrected by comparing geometrical characteristics calculated while negotiating the curve with characteristics stored in the database;
it further includes a step of transmitting the control set point(s) to the controlled elements equipping each car of the rail vehicle at times enabling compensation of the time-delays generated in the operation of said controlled elements and depending on the location of each car in the vehicle;
the controlled elements are elements of an active suspension;
the controlled elements are elements controlling the position of orientable axles of a bogie;
the controlled elements are elements controlling the tilt of a tilting rail vehicle and the control set points are inclination angle set points;
a weighting coefficient for the inclination of the rail vehicle for each curve extracted from the database is applied to the angle set point(s).
The invention also provides a device for controlling controlled elements of a rail vehicle, of the type including means for measuring inertial values and a computer adapted to calculate descriptive geometrical characteristics of the rail track on which the vehicle is travelling from the measured inertial values and to generate control set points for the controlled elements from the geometrical characteristics calculated, characterized in that the computer includes means for determining the location of the rail vehicle by comparing the geometrical characteristics calculated with geometrical characteristics stored in a database stored in the computer and obtained beforehand by a learning process, the inertial values used to generate the control set point or points corresponding to the next curve being generated in advance from characteristics of that curve extracted from the database in order to control said controlled elements in phase with the curve.
The device according to the invention can further include one or more of the following features, individually or in all technically feasible combinations:
the controlled elements are elements controlling the inclination of a tilting rail vehicle and the control set points are inclination angle set points for the rail vehicle;
the controlled elements are elements of an active transverse suspension;
the controlled elements are elements controlling the position of orientable axles of a bogie.

Method of and device for controlling controlled elements of a rail vehicle

Abstract: determining the location of the vehicle on the rail track on which it is travelling by comparing calculated geometrical characteristics with geometrical characteristics stored in a database (16) and obtained by a learning process;

Abstract: extracting geometrical characteristics corresponding to the next curve from the database (16); and


An improved HVAC air handler and control system adapted for measuring and monitoring operating characteristics, the leakage of supply and return ducts to which it is connected, the infiltration leakage of the building it serves, the blockage of air return paths and the watts drawn and air flow generated by its blower. Leakages are measured by blocking outlets of all supply ducts or all return ducts, opening one side of the air handler to outdoor air, running the air handler blower, and measuring the air flow. Airflow may be measured by opening or closing orifices mounted in plenums attached to the air hander or built into the air handler cabinet, or by varying the speed of the blower motor, in connection with an integrated manometer. Thermostat firmware controls all functions.

This application relates to advanced control systems for HVAC systems that integrate testing of forced air duct leakage and building envelope infiltration, the monitoring of energy efficiency in the conditioning of buildings, the prediction of financial costs or savings from thermostat setting changes, and the monitoring of ongoing operating parameters and space conditioning costs.
Envelope infiltration and duct leakage are recognized as two of the largest wastes of energy in U.S. homes and other buildings. Infiltration in older homes is typically several times what is needed for healthy ventilation. The average California forced air duct system leaks 30%. Reducing these expensive and carbon-generating forms of leakage is universally recognized as being among the most cost effective energy retrofit measures in existing buildings and a requirement for new construction also. Testing duct leakage and infiltration against standards is becoming universal in an era of global climate change and rising energy costs, but currently require expensive equipment and a trained technician.
The 2012 versions of the International Residential Code, adopted in 49 states and the International Energy Conservation Code, adopted in 46 states, as state-wide building codes, require that both infiltration and duct leakage be measured and verified to be within strict limits, in new construction. The same standards have been widely adopted globally. Under the 2013 California Title 24 standards, duct leakage must be tested and proven less than 6% of nominal airflow and infiltration must be tested and verified to be under a limit. Other standards, such as ASHRAE Standard 152, and ASTM Standard Test Method for Determining Air Leakage Rate by Fan Pressurization, ASTM E 779, specify how leakage should be tested in new and existing buildings. The present system addresses the unrecognized problem of reducing the costs of this mandated testing.
Studies of duct sealing retrofits have shown reductions in heating costs of 16-18% at relatively low cost. However, programs to retrofit existing buildings have reached only a small fraction of the base of residential construction. In 2009, the US Census Bureau reported housing units totaling 130,159,000 of which very few have been tested, much less retrofitted. The large federal weatherization assistance program (WAP), which provides energy retrofits completely free to low income homeowners, has reached only 6.4 million low-income households during the past 33 years. New approaches are needed to assure building energy efficiency in many more existing buildings
The measurement of both forms of leakage currently requires test equipment costing thousands of dollars, and hours of a specially trained and certified technician, who typically makes a special visit just to conduct the tests. Most HVAC installation companies in the U.S. do not even own the necessary test equipment, and the job is left to HERS raters in new buildings and energy auditors for existing buildings. When buildings fail the tests as they often do, repeat testing is required. The most effective method of fixing leaks includes using the test equipment to continuously monitor sealing progress and to conduct "post" tests, involving hours more of skilled labor often needed at times when the test equipment and technician may not be available. Scheduling the equipment and technician can result in expensive project delays. The unrecognized problem solved by the present system, is that the expertise to audit and improve the efficiency of houses and other small buildings needs to be simplified, made more accessible and shared more widely. Also, the system permits personnel installing HVAC to pre-test for leakages to insure that an official test by a certified person will be passed.
It has been well documented for many years that even well-designed buildings have significant inefficiencies due to lack of regular testing, maintenance and repairs. Contributing to this problem is the lack of low cost monitoring and alerting technology. Gross problems leading to poor efficiency can persist for many years undetected. The present system is a solution to this long unsolved problem by monitoring of HVAC operating parameters and overall heating and cooling efficiencies, issuing specific alerts when equipment or the building space itself needs attention.
Studies have shown that proper use of nighttime setbacks in programmable thermostats is capable of saving up to 15% of heating and cooling costs. However, many other studies that indicate the few thermostats are property programmed to achieve such savings. The present system encourages the use of setbacks by improving the user interface, predicting the financial savings that are possible for specific setbacks, using cost information derived by logging past building energy use and costs and volunteering suggestions for energy savings.
The three novel sets of features: for leakage testing, maintenance alerts, and energy cost prediction are combined into a single integrated system—a programmable thermostat with advanced energy saving features with improvements to the air handler it controls. A wide range of embodiments can implement some or all of the novel features.

Method and system using an HVAC air handler and thermostat for building energy loss testing, monitoring and cost control


A disk drive includes a cast base upon which is mounted the disk stack-spindle assembly and the actuator assembly and a cover that is loosely received by the cast base to form the head-disk enclosure. The cover is secured and sealed to the cast base by a malleable metal foil tape that surrounds the enclosure and continuously overlies the interface between cover and base. The tape complies with the surface irregularities and does not creep, to provide permanent shielding and sealing between base and cover. Further, cables exiting the enclosure may be sealed using a piece of double sided adhesive which is interposed between cable and casting followed by application of the malleable foil tape thereover. Thus in a compact device, no significant thickness is added to the enclosure wherein a maximum available height is used to house the stack of disks while providing noise and EMC shielding in addition to securing and sealing the cover.

To maintain the required clean environment within the head-disk enclosure of a magnetic disk storage device it is necessary that all interfaces between components forming the enclosure be sealed. As the effort is made to maximize the volumetric density of a magnetic disk drive, it is necessary to place as many disks as possible on a spindle. This reduces the space available to seal the unit using the heretofore conventional methods including elastomeric gaskets with clamping devices and providing for cable exits. Providing the sealing, shielding and retaining function while occupying a minimum of space is mandatory, but even more important, the system used to seal the device must not impose forces on the enclosure components that create even minute distortions.
Construction of a disk drive requires that the unit must be sealed and pressure tested as a part of the build process. Drives that utilize large rubber cover gaskets normally pinch flex cables between the gasket and the corresponding sealing surface. Any alternative sealing and retaining system must also accommodate cable exits for the sealed enclosure.

Head-disk enclosure seal for magnetic disk storage device

International Business Machines Corporation


A wrench socket retaining and releasing storage apparatus has a body with a base, a shank and a square drive retaining end, slide key fitting in a channel positively locks the socket in place by displacing lock balls transversely, the slide key being manually releasable by action of a sleeve that moves the slide key against a lock spring thereby urging the slide key upward, with the lock spring also urging a rail engaging tension ball downward, this releasing enabling a tapered spiral ejector spring to both urge the socket off the end, and through the tightest, lower coil of the spring, retain the entire assembly together thereby enabling both firm and fixed storage and ease of removal.

This disclosure relates to a storage rail and individual storage connectors for ratchet wrench sockets which retain sockets using a wedge locking and releasing mechanism.
Ratchet socket wrenches are well known and socket wrenches and their accessories have significant advantages in strength, utility and efficiency for the mechanic, such as when compared to non-ratcheting wrenches such as open end or box end wrenches. Maximum utility in a socket wrench set inherently requires a plurality of sockets of different sizes. Indeed, the well equipped mechanic will have many different sizes and also multiple configurations, such as deep well sockets, six and twelve point sockets as well as English and Metric sizes.
Because of the multiplicity of sockets in a typical tool set, there is a need to store sockets in sets, in order and to have the sockets in an easy to locate and easy to inspect configuration.
Typical socket storage devices utilize an inverted "hat" section metal rail, with metal spring clips that capture the edges of the rail, and extend upwardly in a configuration that fits a socket's drive portion. The spring clips impose an imprecise, often large force that can make sockets difficult to remove, especially by a mechanic who may have grease, oil or other lubricant on the hands. Conversely, the spring material is also subject to bending, flexing and distortion which often undesirably permits the sockets to fall off at which time they may be lost, or under circumstances such as tools kept in a vehicle, can actually provide undesirably mobile objects in the vehicle.
Plastic equivalents, with retaining members carried on rails, have similar disadvantages of imprecise forces and wear induced looseness. Other plastic solutions have long posts to hold sockets in cylindrical recesses, or even magnets. Magnets provide additional disadvantages, including the unwanted magnetization of the sockets, as well as adverse results from use in the vicinity of electronics or magnetic media.
The wrench socket retaining and releasing storage apparatus uses a moving slide key to positively lock the socket in place, against an ejector spring, with manual release accomplished by manually actuating a release sleeve against a lock spring to move the slide key, thereby enabling both firm and fixed storage and ease of removal.
The operation of a control bar in a channel acting on retainer balls to hold a ratchet wrench socket on a socket wrench extension is taught in my U.S. Pat. No. 4,768,405, issued Sep. 6, 1988, U.S. Pat. No. 4,480,511, issued Nov. 6, 1984 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,938,107, issued Jul. 3, 1990, which patents are incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein.

Storage rail connectors for ratchet wrench sockets


A stent includes a bioabsorbable metal, a hydrothermal conversion film covering the bioabsorbable metal, and a coating covering the hydrothermal conversion film. A method for manufacturing a stent includes forming a stent body comprising a bioabsorbable metal, forming a hydrothermal conversion film over surfaces of the stent body, and coating the hydrothermal conversion film with an overcoat.

A stent is typically a hollow, generally cylindrical device that is deployed in a body lumen from a radially contracted configuration into a radially expanded configuration, which allows it to contact and support a vessel wall. A plastically deformable stent may be implanted during an angioplasty procedure by using a balloon catheter bearing a compressed or "crimped" stent, which has been loaded onto the balloon. The stent radially expands as the balloon is inflated, forcing the stent into contact with the body lumen, thereby forming a support for the vessel wall. Deployment is effected after the stent has been introduced percutaneously, transported transluminally, and positioned at a desired location by means of the balloon catheter.
Stents may be formed from wire(s) or strip(s) of material, may be cut from a tube, or may be cut from a sheet of material and then rolled into a tube-like structure. Magnesium alloys are being investigated as a material for a bioabsorbable stent due to their biocompatibility and ability to degrade in vivo. A three to six month period of mechanical integrity is desired, with complete degradation within twelve months. Magnesium alloys generally corrode too quickly to be used bare. Many methods that may be used to slow corrosion, such as anodization, have not been effective and are also typically work/time intensive processes.
Hydrothermal treatment is one option to slow corrosion of magnesium alloy stents. During the hydrothermal process, a hydrothermal conversion film (hydrothermal film) is formed on the surface of the metal sample and acts as a barrier to slow down the rate of corrosion of the metal sample. Although hydrothermal films have been used for various applications in the past for relatively large metal samples with simple geometries, hydrothermal films have not been used on complex geometries with high surface area to volume ratios, such as stents.
The hydrothermal films reported in the literature typically have large thicknesses and their corrosion prevention effectiveness has been demonstrated under static conditions. Hydrothermal films have not been considered to be applicable to stents, where a very thin layer of film is desired due to the small size of a stent, as well as the need to withstand bending and other dynamic conditions. Hydrothermal films are also not typically utilized for samples that must withstand corrosion while implanted in the human body. New coating technologies are needed to delay magnesium corrosion for up to three months, as well as to provide a more uniform corrosion throughout the stent.

Bioabsorbable stent with hydrothermal conversion film and coating


An electronic device includes a display assembly for displaying images and including a first part and a second part disposed at different sides of a first deformable part of the display assembly, where a first deformability of at least a part of the display assembly includes capability to change a relative angle between the first part and the second part; and a fixing assembly coupled to the display assembly for fixedly connect the display assembly, the fixing assembly including at least a first fixing element. At least a part of at least one of the first fixing element or the display assembly has a second deformability including capability to change a length in a preset direction.

As the display technology advances, more and more electronic devices are equipped with a flexible display screen, such that the flexible display screen of the electronic devices is bendable to satisfy user's diverse display requirements. When the flexible display screen is bended, a part of the flexible display screen overlaps with another part of the flexible display screen. However, during operation of the flexible display screen of the existing electronic devices, a bending region of the flexible display screen often has a high failure rate. Thus, the reliability of the flexible display screen of the electronic devices needs to be improved.


A plasma display panel includes a first substrate and a second substrate facing each other to provide a discharge space between the first substrate and the second substrate, a scan electrode and a sustain electrode both provided on the first substrate, a dielectric layer for covering the scan electrode and the sustain electrode, and a protective layer provided on the dielectric layer. The protective layer includes MgO, at least one element of Si, Ge, C and Sn, and at least one element of fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh group elements of a periodic table. This plasma display panel performs stable discharge characteristics, such as a driving voltage, thereby displaying an image stably.

Various types of display devices, such as a cathode ray tube (CRT), a liquid crystal display (LCD), and a plasma display panel (PDP), which are to be used for a high-definition and large display television, have been developed.
The PDP includes phosphor layers for emitting three primary colors, red (R), green (G), and blue (B) so as to perform full color display by adding and mixing three primary colors (red, green, and blue). The PDP has a discharge cell, and generates visible light by exciting phosphor layers with ultraviolet rays generated by a discharge in the discharge cell, thereby displaying an image.
In an AC type PDP, an electrode for main discharge is generally covered with a dielectric layer, and performs memory driving to reduce a driving voltage. When the dielectric layer deteriorates due to an impact of ions generated by the discharge and hitting the layer, the driving voltage may increase. To prevent this increasing, a protective layer for protecting the dielectric layer is formed on a surface of the dielectric layer. For example, a protective layer made of material having high sputtering resistance, such as magnesium oxide (MgO), is disclosed in pp. 79-80 in "ALL ABOUT PLASMA DISPLAY" co-authored by Hiraki Uchiike and Shigeo Mikoshiba, published by Kogyo Chosakai Publishing Inc. in May 1, 1997.
The protective layer made of MgO provides the following problems. MgO generally tends to be charged in positive. Mg has positive divalency, a strong ionicity, and a high secondary electron emission coefficient (γ-coefficient), hence decreasing a discharge voltage of the PDP. However, MgO having such a high γ-coefficient has a lot of crystal defects, particularly oxygen defects, and may absorb H2O, CO2, and hydrocarbon gas in the defects. This may decrease initial emission of electrons, make the discharge unstable, raise the driving voltage, or increase a variation of temperature characteristics of the PDP. (For example, see "PLASMA DISPLAY" published by Kyoritsu Shuppan Co., LTD, pp. 48-49, or "VACUUM" vol. 43, No. 10, 2000. p. 973.)
Pure MgO, which is divalent oxide, has a strong ionicity and a lot of the oxygen defects, and thus tends to be charged positively. (For example, see "SOLID-STATE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY" published by J. Electrochem. Soc. pp. 841-847, April, 1986.) Therefore, MgO may easily adsorb water or carbon dioxide gas. Just after being deposited in a vacuum chamber, MgO hardly absorbs impurity gas, such as water, carbon dioxide gas, or hydrocarbon gas. However, MgO may absorb the impurity gas during a period when the panel is taken out from the vacuum chamber to proceed a subsequent process, during the sealing of the panel, or during a later aging process. This is caused by oxygen defects produced in MgO crystal. Mg element provided on a boundary is coupled with hydroxyl group (OH) or CHX group in air through the oxygen defects and is stabilized.

Matsushita Electrical Industrial Co., Ltd.


A wireless communication system which performs data transmission from a first terminal including N antennas to a second terminal including M antennas using spatially multiplexed streams (N and M are integers larger than or equal to 2 and N<M) is disclosed. The system includes training request means, training means, channel matrix preparing means, transmission weight matrix computation means, and beamforming means.

1. Technical Field
The invention relates to a wireless communication system, a wireless communication apparatus and a wireless communication method using spatial multiplexing, and more particularly, to a wireless communication system, a wireless communication apparatus and a wireless communication method, in which a transmitter and a receiver share channel information to perform closed loop type spatial multiplexing transmission.
In particular, the invention relates to a wireless communication systems a wireless communication apparatus and a wireless communication method, which perform beamforming by obtaining a channel matrix on the basis of training series transmitted from a receiver when a transmitter transmits a packet, and more particularly, to a wireless communication system, a wireless communication apparatus and a wireless communication method, which perform beamforming using the training series transmitted from the transmitter to the receiver when the number of antennas of the transmitter which is a beamformer is smaller than that of the receiver which is a beamformee.
2. Background Art
As a system for removing wire in an existing wired communication method, a wireless network is attracting attention. A standard of the wireless network may be the IEEE (The institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) 802.11 or the IEEE 802.15.
For example, in the IEEE 802.11a/g, as a standard of a wireless LAN, an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) modulation method which is one of a multi-carrier method is employed. In the OFDM modulation method, since transmission data is distributed to a plurality of carriers having orthogonal frequencies and is transmitted, the band of each carrier becomes narrow, frequency use efficiency is very high, and resistance to frequency-selective fading interference is strong.
In addition, in the IEEE 802.11a/g standard, a modulation method for accomplishing a communication speed of a maximum of 54 Mbps is supported, but a next-generation wireless LAN standard for realizing a new high bit rate is required.
As one of a technology of realizing a high speed of wireless communication, multi-input multi-output (MIMO) communication is attracting attention. This is a communication method in which both a transmitter side and a receiver side respectively include a plurality of antennas to realize spatially multiplexed streams. The transmitter side performs spatial/temporal encoding and multiplexing of plural pieces of transmission data and distributes and transmits the plural pieces of transmission data to N transmission antennas through channels. The receiver side performs spatial/temporal decoding of reception signals received by M reception antennas through the channels to obtain reception data without crosstalk between the streams (for example, see JP-A-2002-44051 (Patent Document 1)). Ideally, spatial streams corresponding to the smaller number (MIN [N, M]) of the transmission and reception antennas are formed.
According to the MIMO communication method, a transmission capacity can increase according to the number of antennas and a communication speed improvement can be realized, without increasing a frequency band. Since the spatial multiplexing is used, frequency use efficiency is high. The MIMO method uses channel characteristics and is different from a simple transmission/reception adaptive array. For example, in the IEEE 802.11n which is the extension standard of the IEEE 802.11a/g, an OFDM_MIMO method using OFDM in primary modulation is employed. Currently, the IEEE 802.11n is being standardized in a task group n(TGn) and a specification established therein is based on a specification established in Enhanced wireless consortium (EWC) formed on October, 2005.
In the MIMO communication, in order to spatially divide a spatially multiplexed reception signal y into the stream signals x, a channel matrix H is acquired by any method and the spatially multiplexed reception signal needs to be spatially divided into a plurality of original streams using the channel matrix H by a predetermined algorithm.
The channel matrix H is obtained by allowing a transmitter/receiver side to transmit/receive existing training series, estimating the channels by a difference between the actually received signal and the existing series and arranging propagation channels of a combination of transmission and reception antennas in a matrix form. When the number of transmission antennas is N and the number of reception antennas is M, the channel matrix is M×N (row×column) matrix. Accordingly, the transmitter side transmits N training series and the receiver side acquires the channel matrix H using the received training series.
A method of spatially dividing a reception signal is largely classified into an open loop type method in which a receiver independently performs spatial division on the basis of the channel matrix H and a closed loop type method in which a transmitter side gives transmission antenna weights on the basis of the channel matrix to perform adequate beamforming toward a receiver to form an ideal spatial orthogonal channel.
As an open loop type MIMO transmission method, there is a zero force (for example, see A.Benjebbour, H.Murata and S.Yoshida, "Performance of iterative successive detection algorithm for space-time transmission", Proc. IEEE VTC Spring, vol. 2, pp. 1287-1291, Rhodes. Greece, May 2001 (Non-Patent Document 1)) or a minimum mean square error (MMSE) (for example, see A.Benjebbour, H.Murata and S.Yoshida, "Performance comparison of ordered successive receivers for space-time transmission", Proc. IEEE VTC Fall, vol. 4, pp. 2053-2057, Atlantic City, USA, September 2001 (Non-Patent Document 2)). The open loop type MIMO transmission method is a relative simple algorithm for obtaining reception weight matrix W for spatially dividing the reception signal from the channel matrix H, in which a feedback operation for sharing the channel information between the transmitter and the receiver is omitted and the transmitter and the receiver independently perform spatial multiplexing transmission.
As an ideal one of a closed loop type MIMO transmission method, a singular value decomposition (SVD)-MIMO method using SVD of the channel matrix H is known (for example, see http://radio3.ee.uec.ac.jp/MIMO(IEICE_TS).pdf (as of Oct. 24, 2003) (Non-Patent Document 3)). In the SVD-MIMO transmission, a numerical matrix having channel information corresponding to antenna pairs as elements, that is, a channel information matrix H, is subjected to the singular value decomposition to obtain UDVH. A transmitter side uses V in a transmission antenna weight matrix and transmits a beamformed packet to a receiver and a receiver side typically gives (UD)−1 as a reception antenna weight matrix. Here, D is a diagonal matrix having square roots of singular values λi corresponding to qualities of the spatial streams in diagonal elements (the subscript i indicates an ith spatial stream). The singular values λi are arranged in the diagonal elements of the diagonal matrix D in ascending order and power ratio distribution or modulation method allocation is performed according to communication quality represented by the level of the singular value with respect to the streams such that a plurality of spatial orthogonal multiplexed propagation channels which are logically independent are realized. The receiver side can extract a plurality of original signal series without crosstalk and theoretically accomplish maximum performance.
In the closed loop type MIMO communication system, adequate beamforming is performed when the transmitter transmits the packet, but information on the channel information needs to be fed back from the receiver side for receiving the packet.
For example, in the EWC HT (High Throughput) MAC (Media Access Control) Specification Version V1.24, two kinds of procedures, that is, "implicit feedback" and "explicit feedback", are defined as the procedure for feeding back the information on the channel matrix between the transmitter and the receiver.
In the "implicit feedback", the transmitter estimates a backward channel matrix from the receiver to the transmitter using training series transmitted from the receiver, and a forward channel matrix from the transmitter to the receiver is computed to perform beamforming on the assumption that bidirectional channel characteristics between the transmitter and the receiver are reciprocal. Calibration of an RF circuit in a communication system is performed such that the channel characteristics are reciprocal.
In the "explicit feedback", the receiver estimates a forward channel matrix from the transmitter to the receiver using training series transmitted from the transmitter and returns a packet including the channel matrix as data to the transmitter, and transmitter performs the beamforming using the received channel matrix. Alternatively, the receiver computes a transmission weight matrix for allowing the transmitter to perform the beamforming from the estimated, channel matrix and returns a packet including the transmission weight matrix as the data to the transmitter. In the explicit feedback, since the weight matrix is computed on the basis of the estimated forward channel matrix, it may not be assumed that the channels are reciprocal.
In view of packet transmission, the transmitter is an initiator and the receiver is a receiver. However, in view of beamforming, the initiator for transmitting the packet is a beamformer and the receiver for receiving the beamformed packet is a beamformee. Communication from the beamformer to the beamformee is referred to as "forward" and communication from the beamformee to the beamformer is referred to as "backward".
For example, when an access point (AP) transmits a data frame to a client terminal (STA) as the beamformer, according to the implicit feedback, the client terminal as the beamformee may only return the training series to the access point for beamforming.
A frame exchange procedure for transmitting the beamforming from the access point to the client terminal by the implicit feedback will be described with reference to FIG. 12.
First, the access point requests the client terminal to transmit the training series. According to the EWC MAC specification, a link adaptation control field (see FIG. 13) in the HT control field (see FIG. 14) of an MAC frame includes a bit called training request (TRQ) and arranging of 1 in this bit corresponds to the transmission request of the training series.
The client terminal returns a sounding packet. The sounding packet includes the training series corresponding, to the number N of transmission antennas of the access point and the number M of reception antennas of the client terminal. The access point can estimate an N×M backward channel matrix when receiving the sounding packet. The access point computes a forward transmission weight matrix for beamforming using the SVD, an Eigen value decomposition (EVD) or the other matrix decomposition and multiplies transmission signal from the antennas by the transmission weight matrix such that the beamformed packet can be sent to the client terminal. By the beamforming, communication can be performed at a high transmission rate even in a place where the packet was hard to be received in the past.
Subsequently, an operation for allowing the beamformer to perform the beamforming using the training series from the beamformee according to the implicit feedback will be described with reference to FIG. 15. In the same drawing, a STA-A having three antennas is the beamformer and a STA-B having two antennas is the beamformee. In the below-described description or equations, a subscript AB indicates forward transmission from, the STA-A to the STA-B and a subscript BA indicates backward transmission from the STA-B to the STA-A. A numerical subscript corresponds to the antenna number of the corresponding terminal. It is assumed that the channels between the STA-A and the STA-B are reciprocal. Accordingly, a backward channel matrix HBA becomes a transposed matrix of a forward channel matrix HAB (HBA=HABt).
The training series transmitted from the antennas of the STA-B are (tBA1, tBA2) and the signals received by the antennas of the STA-A through a channel HBA are (rBA1, rBA2, rBA3), the following equation is obtained.
                              (                                                                      r                                      BA                                                                                1                                                                                r                                      BA                                                                                2                                                                                r                                      BA                                                                                3                                                                                )                =                              H            BA                                          (                                                                                t                                          BA                                                                                1                                                                                t                                          BA                                                                                2                                                                                )                                              Equation                                                  1
where, the channel matrix HBA is a 3×2 matrix and expressed by the following equation. But, hij is a channel characteristic value of jth antenna of the STA-B to ith antenna of the STA-A.
                              H          BA                =                  (                                                                      h                  11                                                                              h                  12                                                                                h                  21                                                                              h                  22                                                                                h                  31                                                                              h                  32                                                              )                                    Equation                                                  2
When the channel matrix HBA is subjected to singular value decomposition, the following equation is obtained. Here, UBA is a matrix having an inherent normalized vector of HBAHBAH, VBA is an inherent normalized vector of HBAHHBA and DBA is a diagonal matrix having a square root of an inherent vector of HBAHBAH or HBAHHBA as the diagonal elements. In addition, UBA and VBA are unitary matrices and complex conjugate transposed matrices thereof become inverse matrices.HBA=UBADBAVBAH   Equation 3
The transmission weight matrix necessary for performing beamforming of the frame transmitted from the STA-A to the STA-B is the matrix VAB obtained by performing the singular value decomposition with respect to the forward channel matrix HAB. Here, since the channels between the STA-A and the STA-B are reciprocal and the backward channel matrix HBA becomes the transposed matrix of the forward channel matrix HAB, the singular value decomposition of the channel matrix HAB is computed as follows.HAB=UABDABVABH=VBA*DBAUBAT   Equation 4
When the reciprocity of the channels is used, a desired transmission weight matrix VAB is expressed by the following equation.VAB=(VABH)H=(UBAT)H=((UBAT)T)*=UBA*   Equation 5
That is, it is possible to perform the beamforming using the complex conjugate matrix of UBA obtained by performing the singular value decomposition with respect to the channel matrix estimated on the basis of the training signal from the STA-B.
If the transmission signal of the STA-A is x and a reception signal from the. STA-B is y, the reception signal becomes Y=HABX in a case where the beamforming is not performed (un-steered), but the reception signal y becomes the following equation in a case where the beamforming are performed by the transmission weight matrix VAB (steered)y=HABVABX=(UABDABVABH)·VABX=UABDABX   Equation 6
Accordingly, the STA-B can perform spatial division of the original stream by multiplying the reception signals by DAB−1UABH as a reception weight.
As described above, according to the implicit feedback, since the burden on the beamformee due to the feedback is reduced, it is suitable for a case where the access point (AP) transmits a data frame to the client terminal STA as the beamformer. However, in this case, the terminal which is the beamformer computes the transmission weight matrix for beamforming by performing the singular value decomposition or the other calculation with respect to the channel matrix estimated from the received training series. This calculation has a high load and the processed load increases depending on the number of streams of the training series transmitted from the beamformee.
In an example shown in FIG. 15, since the number N (=3) of antennas of the STA-A is larger than the number M (=2) of antennas of the STA-B, no problem is caused in the processing capability for beamforming. This is because the STA-A is designed to include the processing capability corresponding to the number N of its own streams and the training series of the spatial streams of N or less are divided, an N×M channel matrix is constructed from the divided training series, and the matrix for beamforming is computed based on the N×M channel matrix.
However, in a case of N<M, that is, the number of antennas of the beamformee is larger than that of the beamformer, problems may be caused because the beamformer does not include the processing capability which exceeds the number of its own spatial streams. When the STA-A can process only streams of N which is equal to the number of antennas, M stream trainings may not be divided or the matrix for beamforming may not be obtained from the N×M estimation channel matrix.
As a method for solving such problems without deteriorating the beamforming characteristic, it may be considered that a channel estimation maximum dimension Mmax corresponding to a rated maximum number of antennas is given to the STA-A as the beamformer (for example, if it is based on the IEEE specification, Mmax=4) and the processing capability for computing the transmission weigh matrix for beamforming is given to the obtained N×Mmax estimation channel matrix.
For example, when the number of antennas of the STA-A is N=2 and the rated maximum number of antennas is Mmax=4, the STA-A can compute only a 2×2 matrix in consideration of the communication with the terminal having the same number of antenna, but needs to compute a 2×4 matrix. In this case, since calculation or processing circuit needs to be doubled, miniaturization or low cost of the apparatus is hard to be realized.

Wireless communication system, wireless communication apparatus and wireless communication method