A method of making a through wafer via. The method includes: forming a trench in a semiconductor substrate, the trench open to a top surface of the substrate; forming a polysilicon layer on sidewalls and a bottom of the trench; oxidizing the polysilicon layer to convert the polysilicon layer to a silicon oxide layer on the sidewalls and bottom of the trench, the silicon oxide layer not filling the trench; filling remaining space in the trench with an electrical conductor; and thinning the substrate from a bottom surface of the substrate and removing the silicon oxide layer from the bottom of the trench. The method may further include forming a metal layer on the silicon oxide layer before filling the trench.

To increase the density of devices using integrated circuit chips it is desirable to allow interconnections to be made to both the top and bottom surfaces of the integrated circuit chip. This requires formation of through wafer vias from the top to the bottom surface of the integrated chip that are compatible with carrying both high frequency and DC signals. Many existing through via schemes are difficult to integrate into existing integrated circuit fabrication processes. Accordingly, there exists a need in the art to overcome the deficiencies and limitations described hereinabove.

International Business Machines Corporation


The present invention is directed to compounds, compositions thereof, and the use of the compounds and compositions for the treatment and prevention of breast cancer. In one embodiment, the present invention relates to the use of a substituted triphenyl butene or prodrug thereof for the treatment of breast cancer in mono-therapy or in combination therapy, or for a reduction in the recurrence rate of previously-treated breast cancer.

Among women in the U.S., breast cancer is the most common cancer and the second-most common cause of cancer death. Estrogen Receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer is treated with agents designed to block the pro-proliferative action of the estrogen receptor. One such agent is the antiestrogen tamoxifen.
Tamoxifen itself binds very poorly to the ER. However, when activated by metabolic action, tamoxifen gives rise to derivatives that bind very tightly to the ER and put it in an inactive state that prevents it from modulating transcription of pro-proliferative genes. The tamoxifen is activated to inhibit ER action by metabolizing enzymes that convert the tamoxifen to 4-hydroxy tamoxifen (4-OHT) or to 4-hydroxy N-desmethyl tamoxifen (also known as endoxifen). These later compounds bind with high affinity to the ER, with binding constants roughly equal to that of estradiol. See Jordan, V. C., "New insights into the metabolism of tamoxifen and its role in the treatment and prevention of breast cancer," Steroids, vol. 72, issue 13, pp. 829-842, November 2007.
Some women have defects in the activating enzymes of tamoxifen metabolism, especially the cytochrome p450 enzyme Cyp2D6, resulting in lowered levels of active tamoxifen metabolites in their circulation. See Lim, H.-S. et al., "Clinical Implications of CYP2D6 Genotypes Predictive of Tamoxifen Pharmacokinetics in Metastatic Breast Cancer," Journal of Clinical Oncology, vol. 25, no. 25, pp. 3837-3845, Sep. 1, 2007; Schroth, W. et al., "Breast Cancer Treatment Outcome With Adjuvant Tamoxifen Relative to Patient CYP2D6 and CYP2C19 Genotypes," Journal of Clinical Oncology, vol. 25, no. 33, pp. 5187-5193, Nov. 20, 2007; and Kiyotani, K. et al., "Impact of CYP2D6*10 on recurrence-free survival in breast cancer patients receiving adjuvant tamoxifen therapy," Cancer Science, Online Early Articles, pp. 1-5, published online Feb. 24, 2008. Women with such defects have a poorer response to tamoxifen therapy and reduced tumor-free survival. In contrast, women with super-fast metabolism of tamoxifen and increased endoxifen levels have a superior clinical response to tamoxifen. See Schroth, W. et al., "Breast Cancer Treatment Outcome With Adjuvant Tamoxifen Relative to Patient CYP2D6 and CYP2C19 Genotypes," Journal of Clinical Oncology, vol. 25, no. 33, pp. 5187-5193, Nov. 20, 2007. In addition to these genetic factors, it is also known that certain drugs, especially selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) such as PAXIL®, also interfere with Cyp2d6 activity including the conversion of tamoxifen to active metabolites (discussed in Jordan, V. C., "New insights into the metabolism of tamoxifen and its role in the treatment and prevention of breast cancer," Steroids, vol. 72, issue 13, pp. 829-842, November 2007).
The activity of tamoxifen, 4-hydroxytamoxifen, and endoxifen are affected by their rates of processing in the body. Endoxifen and 4-hydroxytamoxifen have hydroxy groups that are reported to be substrates for O-glucuronidation by two UGTs: 1A8 and 1A10. See Sun, D. et al., "Glucuronidation of Active Tamoxifen Metabolites by the Human UDP Glucuronosyltransferases," Drug Metabolism and Disposition, vol. 35, no. 11, pp. 2006-2014, November 2007. These enzymes are present in both the gut and liver as well as other extrahepatic tissues and may possibly inactivate endoxifen by O-linked glucuronidation at the hydroxyl group. For example, it has been reported that glucuronated endoxifen can no longer bind to the ER (Zheng, Y. et al., "Elimination of Antiestrogenic Effects of Active Tamoxifen Metabolites by Glucuronidation," Drug Metabolism and Disposition, vol. 35, no. 10, pp. 1942-1948, October 2007). Thus, the current treatment of breast cancer with tamoxifen has an uneven effect on different patients due in part to variations in the manner in which patients metabolize tamoxifen or its metabolite endoxifen.


An apparatus in one embodiment comprises a processing platform that includes a plurality of processing devices each comprising a processor coupled to a memory. The processing platform is configured to implement at least a portion of at least a first cloud-based system. The processing platform further comprises one or more integration adapters configured to implement multiple cloud resources onto the processing platform, a cloud services module configured to deploy one or more identified cloud services onto the processing platform, a processes module configured to deploy one or more identified business processes and one or more identified technical processes onto the processing platform, and an integration middleware configured to automate ad hoc execution of at least one of the one or more cloud services, the one or more business processes, and the one or more technical processes, in conjunction with at least one of the implemented cloud resources.

Information processing systems increasingly utilize reconfigurable virtual resources to meet changing user needs. For example, cloud computing and storage systems implemented using virtual machines have been widely adopted. Such cloud-based systems include, for example, AMAZON WEB SERVICES (AWS), GOOGLE CLOUD PLATFORM (GCP), and MICROSOFT AZURE. Despite the widespread availability of these and numerous other private, public and hybrid cloud offerings, there exists a significant problem in conventional practice in that there is no adequate mechanism available for planning, executing and optimizing cloud resources and cloud services in a coherent manner across multiple service providers within a single cloud infrastructure to establish a comprehensive end-to-end process in conjunction with both business and technical aspects of an enterprise.

Platform to deliver enterprise cloud resources and services using composable processes


The invention relates to a method and device for non-contact molding of fused glass or glass ceramic gobs by means of gas levitation, comprising the following method steps: a pre-form is generated, the pre-form is brought close to a molding tool, which may be connected to a compressed gas source on the open-pored region thereof facing the pre-form in order to generate a gas cushion between the molding tool and the pre-form and the molding tool is directly heated at least during a part of the molding phase.

The invention relates to a method and apparatus for producing objects of glass by using the so-called levitating method. A preform made of glass or glass ceramics is shaped by means of a shaping tool which is arranged as a porous membrane and comprises a gas connection. A gas cushion is built up by means of the gas connection between the surface of the levitation mold facing the preform and the preform per se. This avoids any direct contact between the preform and the levitation mold. This leads to numerous advantages. The gluing of the glass on the mold surface of the levitation mold is thus prevented, among other things.
EP 070 760 A shows and describes a method as well as an apparatus for producing a formed body made of glass. A gob of the hot melt is transferred to the mold The mold is arranged as a levitation mold The walls of the mold are thus porous. A pressure gas is connected to the levitation mold which emerges from the porous of the levitation mold below the preform and thus prevents any contact between the same and the shaping surface.
In the case of such a contactless shaping of gobs of molten glass by means of gas levitation the most homogeneous temperature in the glass is an important prerequisite for a perfect quality of the finished product. This is the case in particular when high-quality glasses are produced, e.g. for optical applications.
This goal is frequently not achieved The temperature distribution in the glass is in no way always homogeneous. This often caused by the fact that the levitation mold absorbs a part of the heat contained in the gob (especially by radiation) and that this heat absorption occurs in an uncontrolled fashion. The differences can occur from gob to gob, influenced by the different masses of these gobs. Differences in heat absorption can also occur within the gob due to the fact that the levitation mold is thicker at some places and thinner at others, which is the result of the shape of the levitation mold which is required for the shaping.

Method and device for non-contact moulding of fused glass gobs

Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Angewandten Forschung e.V.


A motor controller configured to control an SRM includes an inverter connected to an SRM, a torque and flux estimator configured to estimate a torque and a flux generated in the SRM as an estimated torque and an estimated flux, based on output from the inverter and a rotor angle of the switched reluctance motor, a switching pattern selector configured to select one of a plurality of switching patterns based on comparing a result of a reference torque and the estimated torque, comparing a result of a reference flux and the estimated flux, and a flux phase angle, and performing switching of the inverter in accordance with a selected switching pattern, and a reference flux calculator configured to obtain the reference flux from a flux trajectory and the rotor angle changing the flux trajectory, the flux trajectory indicating a relationship between the rotor angle and the reference flux.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a motor controller and more specifically to a motor controller configured to control a switched reluctance motor.
2. Description of the Related Art
Switched reluctance motors have been mentioned recently because of their advantage of low manufacturing costs and simple, rugged structure. A switched reluctance motor (hereinafter, referred to as "SRM") does not have a rotor winding or a permanent-magnet, and has excellent robustness at high speeds and a wide speed range. In an SRM, torque is generated by applying current to stator windings while inductance is changing. If current is applied when the inductance is increasing, positive torque is created, and if current is applied when inductance is decreasing, negative torque is created.
To control the SRM efficiently, individual algorithms are usually used in high, middle, and low speeds. For example, in a low speed, a chopping mode control is used, where a discrete constant current is applied to each phase. In a high speed, another control which is called angle control is used. The switching pattern of this control is called "single-pulse mode" where a single pulse is applied to each cycle of inductance. In a middle speed, a mixed control of low and high speeds is used.
To achieve the required current pattern for an SRM, various special inverters are proposed. For example, Zeljko et al. (A Novel Power Inverter for Switched Reluctance Motor Drives, Elec. Energ. Vol. 18, No. 3, December 2005, pp. 453-465) discloses a topology where four inverter legs are provided for a three-phase SRM supply. The fourth leg is utilized to connect a star point of a three-phase winding. Because of this topology, each phase can be controlled independently.
On the other hand, WO2011/65406 discloses a direct torque control (hereinafter, referred to as "DTC") system for an interior permanent magnet motor. In the DTC system, one of a plurality of switching patterns for the inverter is selected in accordance with a torque, a reference torque, a flux, a reference flux, a phase angle, and so on. The reference flux is obtained by referring to a flux trajectory which shows a relationship between a flux magnitude and a phase angle. The DTC system shown in WO2011/65406 varies the form of the flux trajectory between a circle and a polygon in accordance with a torque, a reference torque, a motor speed and a crossover speed.
Conventional inverters for an SRM have special topologies, therefore, the inverters should have discrete components. Using discrete components in an inverter instead of a single module increases cost, weight, size, assembling time, and complexity, and reduces reliability and ruggedness of the inverter. Further, because these inverters must have special topologies, they cannot be used for any other type of motors.
Furthermore, inverters for an SRM need individual algorithms for high, middle, and low speeds, which increase the complexity of the system and setting time.


An interconnection routing method for an intergrated circuit is applied to a channel area. The method includes the steps of calculating the length of each net in a given routing to thereby obtain a first set of nets having a long trunk. The nets in the first set are assigined to tracks in a central portion of the channel area to reduce crossings between the long trunk nets and other nets. The method further includes forming a second set for net pairs each running parallel in a long length with a small space therebetween. One of the net pairs in the second set is divided or doglegged to obtain a reduced coupled capacitance and crosstalk between the pairs. The present invention reduces crosstalk and coupled capacitance induced between parallel running interconnections or crossing interconnections.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an interconnection routing method for an integrated circuit, and more particularly, to an interconnection routing method for a high performance integrated circuit, by reducing electric interaction induced between the interconnections which has an influence on circuit performance, such as increase of crosstalk or coupled capacitance between the interconnections.
(b) Description of the Related Art
A conventional interconnection routing method for an integrated circuit generally involves manual modification (first method), after an optimized and detailed interconnection design is completed by a channel routing, in order to reduce the number of crossings between the interconnections.
Two other methods are further used, in addition to the first method as described above, in order to limit lengths of adjacent and parallel running interconnections. One is employed to increase the spacing between the interconnections using a compactor (second method) and the other is employed to permutate the tracks for the interconnections in a channel area (third method).
For example, those conventional methods are described in a document entitled "Minimum Crosstalk Channel Routing", IEEE ICCAD' 1993, Tong, Gao et al. p692-696.
The first method for the manual modification is carried out based on information for coupled capacitance and crosstalk obtained from the result of detailed interconnection routing given by the previous processing.
In detail, the modification is carried out by a partial permutation of the resultant nets of interconnections involving a layout problem. The modifications may include rip-up and reroute of target nets, or moving some of the resultant nets to enlarge the spacing therebetween.
Referring to FIGS. 1A and 1B, crosstalk induced between net a and net e is reduced in FIG. 1B by permutating the track for the net e, for a given detailed interconnection routing shown in FIG. 1A. Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 1C, the modification is carried out so as to reduce the crosstalk by inserting an empty track between the nets a and net e which are likely to cause a crosstalk problem, thereby enlarging the spacing therebetween.
The second method using the compactor is such that the process for enlarging the spacing between the nets in the manual modification as described above is carried out by an automated compaction process. In general, the compaction process is carried out in the procedure shown in FIG. 2 by a compactor.
In FIG. 2, the compaction process includes the steps S101 through S103. Step S101 involves extraction of information as to crosstalk in which a set P for net pairs (net n and net n') inducing crosstalk therebetween is extracted from a given interconnection routing such as shown in FIG. 1A. Step S102 involves constraint introduction as to spacing between the pair in which a constraint is introduced such that the spacing between the pair, e.g., net n and net n' is equal to or larger than a threshold, or a target spacing. Step S103 involves compaction processing in which the space between respective net pairs included in the set P is enlarged, in addition to a design rule not to violate vertical constraints. FIG. 1C shows the resultant interconnection routing obtained by the compaction process applied to the given interconnection routing shown in FIG. 1A.
In FIG. 1C, in a central portion of the channel area, the empty track is inserted between the tracks for net a and net e running adjacent and parallel to each other. The crosstalk induced between net a and net e is reduced accordingly.
The third method, in which adjacent nets inducing crosstalk therebetween are moved away from each other by permutating tracks assigned to whole interconnections using a known track assignment process, includes three steps as described below. FIG. 3 shows the process flow thereof.
In FIG. 3, step S201 involves extraction of adjacent nets in which a set R(n) of nets adjacent to a net n is formed from a given interconnection routing.
Step S202 involves calculation by a detailed function CT(n,m) for crosstalk, in which calculation by the crosstalk function CT(n,m) is executed based on the length l(n,m) of the path along which net n and net m run adjacent and parallel to each other and on the distance d(n,m) between the net n and net m, for the net m belonging to the set R(n) and running adjacent and parallel to a specified net n. For example, the crosstalk function CT(n,m) is represented by k.multidot.1(n,m)/d(n,m), wherein k is a constant.
Last step S203 involves permutation of tracks, in which the track number for each net is determined by calculation using a linear programming method so as to minimize the maximum value of the evaluation function CT for all the net pairs existing in the channel area.
By applying the third method to the given interconnection routing shown in FIG. 1A, the crosstalk is reduced through permutation of track 1 with track 2 to enlarge the spacing between the trunks of the net a and net e. The resultant routing is shown in FIG. 1D.
As described above, the conventional methods for the interconnection routing in the integrated circuit are employed to reduce electric interactions induced between the interconnections and causing increase of the coupled capacitance and the crosstalk, by limiting the lengths of adjacent and parallel running interconnections.
Reduction of the number of the crossings in an integrated circuit and limitation on the lengths of the adjacent and parallel running interconnections are important in order to avoid reduction in operation speed due to increase of the coupled capacitance or signal errors due to crosstalk. However, in the conventional methods, there are problems, such as errors in manual modification and increase in amount of processing time associated with after-treatment, resulting from repetitive practices directed to optimization after the compaction process.
Further, it is difficult to insure an optimal design for a final interconnection routing because of after-treatment executed for the optimized and given interconnection routing. There is also a problem that it is difficult to obtain an acceptable solution because of the vertical constraints.

Interconnection routing method for reducing crosstalk between interconnections


Systems and methods for preventing warpage of a semiconductor substrate in a semiconductor package. A continuous or uninterrupted stiffener structure is designed with a recessed groove, such that passive components, such as, high density capacitors are housed within the recessed groove. The stiffener structure with the recessed groove is attached to the semiconductor substrate using anisotropic conductive film (ACF) or anisotropic conductive paste (ACP). The stiffener structure with the recessed groove surrounds one or more semiconductor devices that may be formed on the semiconductor substrate. The stiffener structure with the recessed groove does not extend beyond horizontal boundaries of the semiconductor substrate.

Conventional semiconductor device packages comprise an integrated circuit or chip or die mounted on a substrate. Typically, the die is mounted on the substrate and interconnections are formed by wire bond and/or flip chip techniques as known in the art. In either case, the die does not cover the entire surface area of the substrate. Additional components such as decoupling capacitors or other passive circuit elements are also usually included within the package, typically on the substrate area surrounding the die, in order to reduce noise and high frequency transients on the die, for example. A stiffener is used to provide stability to the package elements, and prevent warpage due to thermal expansion.
Conventionally, the stiffener is mounted on the substrate using surface mount technology (SMT). Stiffeners can be made from metals such as Copper or Aluminum or a ceramic material. The coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of the stiffeners can be made to match that of the substrate in order to provide mechanical support and prevent warpage.
A schematic top view as well as a pictorial depiction of conventional package 100 is illustrated in FIG. 1. One or more dies, collectively depicted as die 104, is mounted on substrate 102. Substrate 102 may include passives 106 in an outer perimeter around die 104. Passive 106 and other components may be mounted on substrate 102 using SMT. Stiffener 108 surrounds substrate 102 in an outer ring. A horizontal portion of stiffener 108 overlaps the surface of substrate 102 and a substantial horizontal area of stiffener 108 lies outside the horizontal surface area of substrate 102 in order to provide mechanical stability. Stiffener 108 may also be attached or mounted on substrate 102 using SMT.
The structure of conventional package 100 suffers from many drawbacks. Stiffener 108 has a large horizontal area or thickness which extends beyond the horizontal area of substrate 102 in order to satisfy the requirements of protecting the package components (sometimes greater than 0.5 mm). This increases the overall footprint or horizontal surface area of the package. However, advancements in technology place demands on significant reduction in the size and area of packages, which in turn imposes a restriction on useful package area, i.e., package area not consumed by the stiffener. High end surface mount packaging, such as, the well-known flip chip ball grid array (fcBGA) are further seen to require smaller package thickness in order to maintain a thin package profile. Such technologies are seen suffer from the limitation on package components which can be included and also rising package thicknesses, owing to the conventional stiffener structures which are currently used.
Some conventional approaches attempt to overcome the above limitations by creating holes in the surface-mounted stiffener material in order to create room for integration of passive components in these holes. However, these holes disrupt continuity of the stiffener, which reduces the stiffener's effectiveness in providing mechanical stability and preventing warpage. Moreover, electrical connections to these passives formed within the holes in the stiffener, or other conventional placements of the passive components (e.g., passives 106) require careful and meticulous planning because of their scattered placement on the substrate, with a view to maximizing available surface area on the substrate. This also affects the power distribution network (PDN) design for the package, as expensive and often difficult wiring paths need to be created to accommodate such placement of the passives.
Accordingly, there is a need for overcoming the aforementioned problems associated with conventional stiffener structures, in order to achieve high quality stiffener structures which do not negatively impact the package sizes.

Stiffener with embedded passive components


An osmotic pump includes a capsule having at least one delivery port formed at a first end and a membrane plug retained in a second end of the capsule remote from the delivery port to provide a fluid-permeable barrier between an interior and an exterior of the capsule. The membrane plug has a columnar body and at least one slot formed in the columnar body to vent pressure from the interior to the exterior of the capsule when the columnar body extends a predetermined distance relative to the second end of the capsule, thereby preventing expulsion of the membrane plug from the second end.

The invention relates generally to osmotic pumps for delivering beneficial agents. More specifically, the invention relates to an osmotic pump having a membrane plug for controlling the delivery rate of a beneficial agent.
Osmotic pumps for delivering beneficial agents within the body of a patient are known in the art. For illustration purposes, FIG. 1A shows a cross-section of a prior-art osmotic pump 100 having an implantable capsule 102 with open ends 104, 106. A diffusion moderator (also called flow modulator) 108 is disposed in the open end 106 of the capsule 102. The diffusion moderator 108 has a delivery path 110 that terminates at a delivery port 112 and allows fluid from the interior of the capsule 102 to be transported to the exterior of the capsule 102. A membrane plug 114 is inserted in the open end 104 of the capsule 102. The membrane plug 114 is made of a semipermeable material and forms a fluid-permeable barrier between the exterior and the interior of the capsule 102. A piston 116 is disposed in the capsule 102. The piston 116 defines two chambers 118, 120 within the capsule 102. The chamber 118 contains an osmotic agent 122, and the chamber 120 contains a beneficial agent 124.
When the osmotic pump 100 is implanted in a patient, fluid from the body of the patient enters the chamber 118 through the membrane plug 114, permeates the osmotic agent 122, and causes the osmotic agent 122 to swell. The swollen osmotic agent 122 pushes the piston 116 in a direction away from the membrane plug 114, reducing the volume of the chamber 120 and forcing an amount of the beneficial agent 124 out of the capsule 102 through the diffusion moderator 108 into the body of the patient. The rate at which the osmotic pump 100 delivers the beneficial agent 124 to the body depends on the rate at which fluid permeates the membrane plug 114.
Typically, the membrane plug 114 is made of a hydratable compound that must hydrate in order for the osmotic agent 122 to begin absorbing moisture. The time to hydrate the membrane plug 114 and the osmotic agent 122 delays the start of ejection of the beneficial agent 124 from the chamber 120. During this startup phase, body fluid, usually water, can back-diffuse into the delivery port 112 of the diffusion moderator 108 and degrade the beneficial agent 124 or the vehicle carrying the beneficial agent 124. Some vehicles when they combine with water can plug the delivery path 110.
If the delivery path 110 or port 112 becomes plugged, for example, due to a lengthy startup, or if the piston 116 becomes stuck inside the capsule 102, there will be pressure buildup in the chamber 118, which may be sufficient to expel the membrane plug 114 from the capsule 102.
Various methods have been proposed for avoiding expulsion of the membrane plug 114 from the capsule 102. One method involves securing the membrane plug 114 to the capsule 102 using an adhesive. This method requires an additional operation to apply the adhesive to the membrane plug 114 and/or the capsule 102, and the adhesive may affect the permeability of the membrane plug 114. Another method for avoiding expulsion of the membrane plug 114 is to drill a hole in the end portion of the capsule 102 containing the membrane plug 114. FIG. 1B shows a hole 126 drilled in the capsule 102. As shown in FIG. 1B, the hole 126 is initially covered by the membrane plug 114, but as the membrane plug 114 is forced out of the capsule 102 due to pressure buildup in the chamber 118, the hole 126 will eventually become exposed, allowing pressure to be vented from the chamber 118 to the exterior of the capsule 102. In this manner, the membrane plug 114 is prevented from becoming separated from the capsule 102. This method requires an additional operation in the fabrication of the capsule 102 and increases the overall cost of the osmotic pump.

Osmotic pump with self-retaining, fast-start membrane plug


A button switch three-way valve includes a fixation unit disposed with an inlet waterway and two outlet waterways. A priority valve is disposed between each outlet waterway and the inlet waterway. The on-off of the outlet waterway to the inlet waterway is controlled by the sliding of the valve shaft in each priority valve. The fixation unit is disposed with two control surfaces opposite to each other, each disposed with lock grooves. A button is disposed between the two control surfaces, with a central part and two connection parts in the two sides of the central part. The central part is pivot joint to the fixation unit. Two connection parts are separately connected to the two valve shafts to control the sliding of the two valve shafts, the exterior sides of the two connection parts are disposed with lock tooth to couple to the lock grooves.

The existing three-way valve includes a body and a valve spool. The body is disposed with an inlet waterway and two outlet waterways. The two outlet waterways are connected to the inlet waterway. The valve spool is rotated and connected to the body inside. The two outlet waterways are switched to connect to the inlet waterway by the relatively rotation of the valve spool and the body. This kind of switch of waterways by rotating the valve spool has disadvantages as below: it needs large switch force, and the switch is inconvenient.

XIAMEN SOLEX HIGH-TECH INDUSTRIES CO., LTD.


An internal combustion engine that burns fuel from a fuel source, and an engine including a block assembly with a piston cylinder, a combustion chamber connected to the piston cylinder, and an air/fuel mixing area that communicates with the combustion chamber for delivering an air/fuel mixture to the combustion chamber. A fuel delivery system is connected to the block assembly, and the fuel delivery system is adapted to deliver a selected amount of fuel into the mixing area for mixing with air therein to provide an air/fuel mixture having an air-to-fuel ratio in the range of approximately 20:1 to 45:1, inclusive. A spark plug is connected to the block assembly and positioned to generate a spark in the combustion chamber to detonate the air/fuel mixture. The spark plug has a center electrode and a ground electrode axially spaced apart from each other by a spark gap in the range of approximately 1.8 mm to 3.0 mm. The center electrode of one embodiment is an Inconel 600 steel alloy electrode having a diameter in the range of 4.0 mm to 7.5 mm. In one embodiment, an electronic control module (ECM) is coupled to the engine to control operating parameters, and the ECM has a PROM that is programmed to control formation of the air/fuel mixture with the air-to-fuel ratio in the range of approximately 20:1 to 45: 1, inclusive.

In a conventional gasoline powered internal combustion engine, gasoline is channeled through a fuel injector or carburetor, and then mixed with air to provide an air-to-fuel ratio of approximately 10:1 to 14:7:1. The gasoline and air mixture is then delivered into a combustion chamber and ignited by a spark generated by a spark plug. The conventional engine configuration is such that a substantial amount of gasoline is contained in the air/fuel mixture delivered into the combustion chamber, and the gasoline is not all consumed upon ignition by the spark plug's spark. As a result, the engine discharges exhaust containing unburned gasoline and other emissions, such as carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, hydrocarbons, or nitrogen oxides (NO.sub.x), into the environment.
In most vehicles built after the late 1980s, a conventional on-board computer, also known as an electronic control module or ECM, is mounted to the vehicle and connected to the engine. The ECM controls and monitors a wide range of engine conditions, including the fuel flow and fuel delivery to the engine. The ECM also controls the air/fuel mixture's air-to-fuel ratio during different driving conditions. For example, the air-to-fuel ratio for normal driving when the throttle is partially open is 14.7:1. When additional power is needed and the throttle is wide open, such as when pulling a load up a hill, the ECM adjusts the air-to-fuel ratio to 12:1, so more fuel is used to achieve the necessary power increase. The ECM monitors multiple sensors in the engine and adjusts various operating parameters to maintain the air-to-fuel ratio at a selected value. The ECM also controls the engine's timing for spark generation to detonate the air/fuel mixture when the engine's pistons are at selected positions within the cylinders so as to achieve the desired power from the engine.
The ECMs have one or more computer chips, such as PROMs (Programmable-Read-Only Memory) that contain instructions and calibration data for operation of the engine. The computer chips provided by the vehicle's manufacturer, however, are programmed with factory settings for engine operation with conventional spark plugs to achieve an acceptable engine performance that provides sufficient power with reasonable fuel efficiency and acceptable engine emissions.
The conventional ECM has a computer chip or PROM that can be removed and replaced with a custom chip programmed with different instructions and calibration data to change and improve aspects of the engine's performance, such as power output. Other ECMs have reprogrammable PROM (e.g., Flash EEPROM) that can be reprogrammed with the different instructions and calibration data. For example, a custom computer chip or reprogramming includes instructions and calibration data for the ECM to increase the engine's power out, which typically results in decreased fuel efficiently and often unacceptably high engine emissions. Accordingly, these custom computer chips are typically illegal for street vehicles (e.g., non-racing or non-off road vehicles) unless expensive federal test procedures and other requirements are met.
The engine controlled by the ECM uses conventional spark plugs for ignition of the air/fuel mixture. The conventional spark plug has a 1.3 mm to 2.0 mm diameter center electrode that is spaced apart from a similarly sized ground electrode by approximately a 0.8 mm gap. The spark plug is connected to the vehicle's coil and when the voltage at the center electrode reaches the ionization point, the electrical charges jump the gap in the form of a spark. The spark plugs are typically driven by a conventional 15,000-30,000 volt coil which provides the necessary spark voltage that allows the spark to arc across the gap.
The conventional spark plug design is such that the spark generated is a relatively small, blue spark. This small blue spark usually provides enough heat to detonate the air/fuel mixture in the combustion chamber so as to drive one of the engine's pistons on the down stroke. While the conventional spark plugs allow the engine to run at what consumers consider acceptable levels, the spark plugs do not necessarily optimize the engine's performance. The spark plugs have relatively small gaps that requires less voltage to generate the spark, which results in a cool or lower power spark. This lower power spark ignites the air/fuel mixture with lower efficiency than a hot spark, so more fuel is required in the air/fuel mixture to achieve the desired power output from the engine. Accordingly, the engine operates with a lower fuel efficiency. In addition, the spark plugs inefficient ignition also results in an incomplete burn of the fuel, thereby resulting in higher engine emissions.
Many modifications to spark plugs and other engine components have been tried in an attempt to obtain increased power without unacceptable decreases in fuel efficiency and increases in emissions. As an example, Splitfire of Illinois, U.S.A. manufactures a spark plug having a standard center electrode that is spaced apart by a standard spark gap from a V-shaped ground electrode, which provides two areas to which a spark can arc. One goal of Splitfire's spark plug is to allow a spark to arc to each leg of the ground electrode to produce more spark for igniting the air/fuel mixture.
BERU of Germany produces for Nology Engineering, a Silverstone.TM. spark plug having a 2 mm diameter, silver center electrode for highly efficient conduction of current from the ignition coil through the spark plug. The silver center electrode is spaced apart from a standard ground electrode by a standard spark gap of approximately 0.8 mm. The Silverstone.TM. spark plugs are combined, however, with a higher voltage, retrofit ignition coil that provides an increased available spark voltage so as to create a more powerful and hotter spark than the thin blue spark of the other conventional spark plugs. Although the Silverstone.TM. spark plug provides a powerful and hotter spark, the spark plug requires the use of the higher voltage coil to obtain the greater power output by the conventional engine. A further drawback to the Silverstone.TM. spark plug is that the silver center electrode is relatively soft and generation of the more powerful, hotter spark results in a shorter useful life than other conventional spark plugs.
The conventional spark plug's center electrode also has a relatively small surface area from which sparks extend across the gap. The small surface area, however, is subject to more localized heat from spark generation during the spark plug's life, because the sparks can only be generated from that small area. As a result, the conventional spark plug's center electrode is worn over time, thereby reducing the spark plug's useful life.
The conventional spark plug's lower power spark and smaller surface area at the center electrode also results in a greater number of misfires. When the spark plug misfires, a proper spark is either not provided or the spark does not ignite the air/fuel mixture for that cycle. Accordingly, a misfiring spark plug reduces the engine's fuel efficiency and power output and increases the engine's emissions.
The conventional spark plug also causes relatively high exhaust temperatures, which causes the engine to run hotter, thereby requiring cooling systems and the like for the engine. These higher temperatures are caused by the spark plug because the lower power spark provides less heat, so less of the air/fuel mixture is ignited simultaneously at the beginning of the air/fuel mixture's detonation. As a result, the flame from growth through the air/fuel mixture is slower, so more time is required to detonate the mixture in the combustion chamber. This longer detonation period results in more heat energy that is not converted to kinetic energy, so the combustion exhaust is hotter, which results in higher engine operating temperature. These higher engine operating temperatures require that the engine's components be made of materials that can withstand the higher operating temperatures, which typically increase the engine's cost and weight.

Computer-controlled internal combustion engine equipped with spark plugs


An exemplary printed monopole multi-band antenna comprises a common radiator element, a first radiator arm connected to the common radiator element and a second radiator arm connected to the common radiator element. Electromagnetic coupling between the first radiator arm and the second radiator arm contributes to and/or shifts the resonance of the first radiator arm and the second radiator arm, thereby allowing the multi-band antenna to be tuned such that the first radiator arm is capable of resonating at a first frequency range and at a second frequency range, and the second radiator arm is capable of resonating at a third frequency range.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of wireless communication devices. More specifically, the invention relates to antennas for wireless communication devices.
2. Related Art
A typical wireless communication device, such as a mobile phone, comprises, among other things, a processor coupled to a memory and to a transceiver, each enclosed in a housing. A mobile power source, such as a battery, is coupled to and supplies power to the processor, the memory and the transceiver. A speaker and a microphone are also enclosed within the housing for transmitting and receiving, respectively, acoustic signals to and from a user of the wireless communication device. The wireless communication device communicates information by transmitting and receiving electromagnetic ("EM") energy in the radio frequency ("RF") band via an antenna coupled to the transceiver.
More recently, the demand for wireless communication devices to operate in a plurality of frequency ranges has grown. Multiple antennas, each capable of resonating at a different frequency range could be provided in such wireless communication devices for this purpose. However, multiple antennas necessitate increased material and manufacturing costs, which are undesirable. Consequently, multi-band antenna structures capable of resonating at a number of frequencies are strongly needed.
Traditionally, known multi-band antenna structures consume significant area and space within the wireless device. This results in large wireless communication devices, which are contrary to current consumer demand for smaller, more portable wireless communication devices. Other known multi-band antenna structures require expensive and space consuming matching circuits to provide support for the required frequency ranges, thereby further increasing material and manufacturing costs of such wireless communication devices.


A USB Plug protective cover configured for detachably covering a USB plug connector of an electronic device includes a base cover and an elastic piece. The base cover includes a covering end, the covering end defines an accommodating cavity recessed therein configured for accommodating the USB Plug therein. The elastic piece is assembled to the base cover and accommodated within the accommodating cavity. The elastic piece detachably latches with the USB plug connector to prevent the USB protective cover from loosening or separating from the USB plug connector.

1. Technical Field
The exemplary disclosure relates generally to protective cover structures, more particularly, to an universal serial bus (USB) Plug protective cover configured for protecting the USB Plug from contamination.
2. Description of Related Art
Universal serial bus (USB) plug connectors are widespread used in a great variety of electronic devices such as computers, notebooks, keyboards, portable memory devices etc. to fulfill the data transmission between electronic devices. Typically, an unprotected USB plug will be inserted into a USB jack that is often at least partially within and protected by the electronic device. When the USB plug connectors are not in use, the small-sized substances such as dust, moisture, etc. are prone to attach or enter into the interior of the USB plug connectors. Thus the utility of such USB plug connectors is affected by the possible contaminations.
In an effort to overcome this difficulty, a variety of protective covers have been introduced to provide a form of protection against the affection of substances. Such approaches provide hinged and sliding mechanical doors as well as removable covers and caps. While providing some degree of protection, known arrangements for attempting the provision of protection are overly complex and prone to failure. Many of the known arrangements have to be manipulated by the user for opening, closing, covering or uncovering before or after insertion of the plug into the connector. In those embodiments where caps or covers are used the caps and covers are prone to being loosen or lost by the user.
Therefore, there is room for improvement within the art.


A device for stabilizing boats and other watercraft that is generally blade-shaped and attaches to the body or hull of the boat. The stabilizing device projects generally outwardly and downwardly from the boat and is pivotally connected along the vertical axis at the attachment point to the watercraft. The device dramatically improves the stability of the boat and resists stops unwanted drift either from a stationary position or from a desired heading.

The present invention relates in general to a stabilizing device for watercraft, and more particularly to watercraft of the type used for water sports such as fishing. Even more particularly this invention relates to a stabilizing device that is attachable to a watercraft in such a manner as to prevent drifting or moving off course as a result of natural or unnatural forces, particularly the effects of currents and wind upon a watercraft that is either stationary or moving on a desired heading.
When stationary in or on the surface of a body of water, most water-borne vehicles provide large surface areas along the longitudinal axis that makes the vehicle susceptible to the effects of forces such as water currents and wind, among other things. Such forces can cause the vehicle to drift either away from the desired stationary position or off of the desired course heading. This creates a need for constant vigilance and re-positioning of adjustments to maintain the desired position and/or heading.
A common solution for boaters wishing to remain in a stationary position is to allow the engine to idle and make use of a small trolling motor to achieve the same effect, but must maintain constant maneuvering of the motor. Either solution is not an effective answer to the problem for several reasons. First, it requires the constant vigilance and attention of the boater, often at a time when they are focusing on the task at hand, such as fishing. It distracts them, and may require sacrificing a fish catch merely to adjust the boat's position. Secondly, it wastes either gas in an outboard engine or battery power in a trolling motor. Third, it creates noise and water turbulence that could negatively impact fishing results. Finally, it is not an efficient or effective way to counter forces that are directed at an angle to the longitudinal axis of the boat.
The same types of adjustments are often necessary to maintain a desired course heading in an underway boat. The need for such constant course corrections wastes time and fuel. The present invention is a simple and cost-effective solution to the above problems.


A keyboard device includes a circuit substrate, a control unit and plural touch key structures. The control unit is installed on the circuit substrate. Each touch key structure includes a base plate, a keycap, a connecting element and a touch-sensitive circuit layer. The base plate is detachably installed on the circuit substrate. The keycap is located over the base plate. The connecting element is arranged between the base plate and the keycap. The keycap is movable upwardly or downwardly relative to the base plate through the connecting element. The touch-sensitive circuit layer is arranged between the base plate and the keycap, and electrically connected with the control unit. After a touch signal is received by the touch-sensitive circuit layer, the touch signal is transmitted to the control unit, and the touch signal is converted into an input signal by the control unit.

With increasing development of science and technology, a variety of electronic devices are designed in views of convenience and user-friendliness. For helping the user well operate the electronic devices, the electronic devices are gradually developed in views of humanization. The input devices of the common electronic devices include for example mouse devices, keyboard devices, trackball devices, or the like. Via the keyboard device, texts or symbols can be inputted into the computer system directly. As a consequence, most users and most manufacturers of input devices pay much attention to the development of keyboard devices.
In recent years, with the vigorous development of touch sensing technology, more and more electronic devices are equipped with touch sensing elements and the input method is correspondingly changed. As a consequence, a touch keyboard device has been introduced into the market. In many situations, the conventional keyboard device is replaced by the touch keyboard device. The touch keyboard device is user-friendly and provides an aesthetic operating environment.
In a conventional touch keyboard device, a whole piece of touch-sensitive circuit layer is attached on the bottom surface of the keycap. However, this design may adversely affect the typing feel. Moreover, since the touch-sensitive circuit layer is not cost-effective, the competitiveness of this product pricing is not satisfied. In another conventional touch keyboard device, a whole piece of touch-sensitive circuit layer is placed on the base plate. This design can increase sensing distance and thus enhance the tactile feel of touching the key structure. Although the tactile feel of touching the key structure is enhanced, there are still some drawbacks. For example, the above two conventional keyboard devices adopt the irreversible design concepts. That is, during the process of designing the keyboard device, the region of the touch-sensitive circuit layer needs to be determined at first according to the touch control strategy (i.e., the whole-region touch control strategy or the partial-region touch control strategy). After the region of the touch-sensitive circuit layer is determined, the purpose of switching the touch-sensitive region can be achieved through the firmware control. However, this structural design cannot meet the requirements of the user. In case that the whole piece of touch-sensitive circuit layer is placed on the base plate, it is necessary to perform the jumper/insulation treatment because there are many overlap regions between the XY-matrix conductor lines. If the local insulation is not well done in the production process, the whole piece of touch-sensitive circuit layer needs to be discarded. In other words, the production yield is not satisfied.
Therefore, there is a need of providing an improved keyboard device in order to overcome the drawbacks of the conventional technologies.

Keyboard device and touch key structure thereof


Catheter management system including a housing having a proximal end, a distal end and a chamber extending therethrough. A side port extends from the housing. A proximal fitting couples to the side port. A distal fitting is provided for coupling the chamber in fluid communication with a guide catheter. A releasable seal is positioned within the distal fitting for sealing about a device passing therethrough. A catheter storage mechanism is located at the housing proximal end in communication with the chamber.

Intravascular diseases are commonly treated by relatively non-invasive techniques, such as percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA). PTCA is well known in the art and typically involves the use of a guide catheter, a guide wire and a balloon catheter, possibly in combination with other intravascular devices. A typical balloon catheter has an elongate shaft with a balloon attached proximate its distal end, and an inflation manifold attached proximate the proximal end. In use, the balloon catheter is advanced through a lumen in the guide catheter over the guide wire such that the balloon is positioned adjacent a restriction in a diseased vessel. The balloon is then inflated and the restriction in the vessel is opened.
One type of balloon catheter design is an over-the-wire type balloon catheter. An over-the-wire catheter typically includes a lumen extending therethrough adapted to receive a guide wire. Once a guide wire has been placed within a patient's vascular system, the over-the-wire type balloon catheter may be back-loaded onto the guide wire and advanced, tracking the guide wire, along the tortuous passages of a patient's vascular system until the balloon located at the distal end of the over-the-wire catheter is positioned across the stenosis.
The over-the-wire type intravascular catheter can be exchanged for a second balloon catheter without removing the guide wire. This allows an exchange of catheters without having to repeat the difficult and time consuming task of positioning the guide wire across a stenosis. In order to maintain the position of the guide wire within the patient's vascular system, a physician must hold onto a proximal end portion of the guide wire during the exchange procedure. To facilitate such an exchange procedure, a guide wire having a sufficiently long length (e.g., 300 cm) or a guide wire extension must be used such that the entire balloon catheter can be completely withdrawn over the guide wire, while maintaining position of the guide wire. The main disadvantage of this method is the length of the guide wire extending outside of the patient's body must be longer than the length of the balloon catheter being exchanged.
A variation of the over-the-wire balloon catheter which does not require such a long guide wire to facilitate the exchange of a first catheter with a second catheter is a balloon catheter having a single operator exchange type construction. A single operator exchange balloon catheter has at least one lumen extending over substantially the entire length of the catheter and a second shorter guide wire lumen. The second shorter guide wire lumen typically begins at a location close to a distal portion of the catheter, usually proximal of the balloon, and extends distally through the balloon and out an opening at the distal end of the balloon. With a single operator exchange type catheter, in order to maintain the position of the guide wire, it is only necessary that the length of the guide wire extending from the patient's body be longer than the length of the second guide wire lumen to facilitate an exchange procedure.
With the above described over-the-wire and single operator exchange type balloon catheters, a physician must still be able to handle the length of the balloon catheter removed from the patient's vascular system during exchange of a first catheter with a second catheter. A typical balloon catheter often exceeds 110 cm in length. It is often cumbersome for a physician and an attending assistant to maintain control of the length of the balloon catheter in exchanging a first balloon catheter for a second balloon catheter while holding the guide wire to maintain position of the guide wire across the stenosis.
Further, a PTCA procedure may be performed in either (or both) a proximal or distal portion of each of the coronary arteries, each requiring a different sized balloon catheter. There are anatomical differences between patients which may require a different shaped or different sized intravascular device for treatment.
To meet the above cited needs, balloon catheters are manufactured in various sizes and shapes as a total unit which is used once and discarded. However, often only a portion of each device is of different size or shape. For example, only the distal portion of a balloon catheter varies in shape and size depending on the given anatomical geometry to be navigated and the location of the stenosis receiving treatment, while the proximal portion of the balloon catheter is of the same size and is almost always a straight tubular member.
Accordingly, it is desirable to have a single operator exchange type balloon catheter which allows the use of a relatively short length of guide wire extending outside of the patient's body during a catheter procedure. It is desirable to have a catheter assembly which facilitates balloon catheter exchanges, wherein a distal portion of the balloon catheter may be changed to a different size as necessitated by the catheter procedure for use with a standard balloon catheter proximal portion. Further, it would be desirable to have a catheter management system which maintains organized control of the standardized proximal portion of the balloon catheter during exchange of an interchangeable distal portion in a balloon catheter exchange procedure.


A processing device of the invention includes a partition member partitioning a processing space and an external space, a frame body on which the partition member is mounted, a positioning unit for holding a workpiece at a predetermined position in the processing space, a processing unit for applying a predetermined process using a processing tool on the workpiece, an opening/closing member capable of opening/closing a first opening formed in the partition member, and an instrument attachment member to which a control instrument is attached, wherein the partition member has a plurality of uniform mounting sections on which the opening/closing member and the instrument attachment member are mutually selectively mounted.

In such a processing system, a plurality of processing devices are installed in a factory, a workpiece is sequentially transferred to the respective processing devices by a transfer device, and predetermined process is performed on the transferred workpiece in the processing devices. The predetermined process performed in the processing devices is automatically performed in accordance with a program.
Patent Document 1 discloses a workpiece automatic processing system including a plurality of workpiece automatic processing devices that define a plurality of work stations, and a conveying device that conveys a workpiece through the plurality of workpiece automatic processing devices. Each workpiece automatic processing device has a pair of fixed frames, a pair of movable frames, a pair of work heads, and control means. In the workpiece automatic processing system of Patent Document 1, as the components of the respective workpiece automatic processing devices are made common to each other, the overall system is simplified and a control sequence is simplified (standardized).
Patent Document 2 discloses a processing device in which a robot for performing work on a first workpiece and a second workpiece is surrounded by a protective fence. A second workpiece moving mechanism, which puts the second workpiece thereon and moves the second workpiece from the outside of the protective fence to an operating range of the robot, is attached to the protective fence. In the processing device of Patent Document 2, since the second workpiece moving mechanism is provided, a person does not need to enter the protective fence when the robot is made to perform work on the second workpiece. Accordingly, a sensor or a switch for detecting the person can be omitted, and the configuration of the processing device can be simplified.
In a factory in which the processing device is installed, structures, such as columns or walls, passages through which an operator passes, or the like become hindrances when installing the processing device, or existing objects that may degrade the workability in the factory as a result of the installation of the processing device are present. Such existing objects are disposed in a state where it cannot be said that the existing objects are necessarily regular in the factory, and the arrangement thereof also varies depending on factories. Particularly in a factory where long years have passed from the construction thereof, layout changes or reconstruction in the factory is performed. In order to install the processing device, it is actually necessary to check the installation location of the processing device in the factory. Additionally, in a case where the processing device is installed in a newly built factory, the installation location thereof is assumed from a drawing on the inside of the factory from before the completion of the factory, the processing device is designed and made in parallel with the construction of the factory, and the processing device is installed in the factory that has actually been completed. However, the installation location of the processing device in the completed factory may be different from that of the drawing.
In the workpiece automatic processing system disclosed in Patent Document 1, since the components of the respective workpiece automatic processing devices are made common to each other, respective parts of the workpiece automatic processing system are regularly arranged. However, since the existing objects in the factory are irregularly disposed, there are cases where the respective parts of the workpiece automatic processing system may interfere with the existing objects in their original forms and may not be able to achieve their original functions. In that case, it is necessary to partially change the shapes or structures of the respective parts of the workpiece automatic processing system so as not to interfere with the existing objects.
Even in the processing device disclosed in Patent Document 2, there is a case where the safe fence (protective fence) may not be able to be appropriately disposed because the existing objects in the factory interfere with a safety fence. For that reason, it is necessary to partially change the shape or arrangement of the safe fence so as not to interfere with obstacles.
Adding such partial changes may become the cause of increasing the cost required for the installation of the processing system into the factory and extending the installation time of the processing system.


A magnetic disk which includes a thin film magnetic layer resistant to thermal erasures caused by a rise in localized temperature in the disk due to head disk interference includes a substrate having a thermal diffusivity of less than about 2.times.10.sup.-6 m.sup.2 /sec and a magnetic layer for storing information which is subject to erasure upon such use in localized temperature generated by the head disk interference. An underlayer below the magnetic layer is provided for orienting crystalline structure of the magnetic layer, and the heat sink layer directly above the substrate and directly below the underlayer has a single material such as chromium. The heat sink layer has sufficient thermal diffusivity and sufficient thickness for dissipating heat generated by the rise in localized temperature caused by head disk interference to prevent the erasure of stored information in the magnetic layer.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to magnetic recording media and more particularly to a magnetic disk having a thin film magnetic layer thereon resistant to thermal erasures of stored information.
2. Description of the Prior Art and Related Information
A huge market exists for hard disk drives for mass-market host computer systems such as servers, desktop computers, and laptop computers. To be competitive in this market, a hard disk drive must be relatively inexpensive, and must accordingly embody a design that is adapted for low-cost mass production. In addition, it must provide substantial capacity, rapid access to data, and reliable performance. Numerous manufacturers compete in this huge market and collectively conduct substantial research and development, at great annual cost, to design and develop innovative hard disk drives to meet increasingly demanding customer requirements.
Each of numerous contemporary mass-market hard disk drive models provides relatively large capacity, often in excess of 2 gigabytes per drive. Nevertheless, there exists substantial competitive pressure to develop mass-market hard disk drives that have even higher capacities and that provide rapid access. Another requirement to be competitive in this market is that the hard disk drive must conform to a selected standard exterior size and shape often referred to as a "form factor." Generally, capacity is desirably increased without increasing the form factor or the form factor is reduced without decreasing capacity.
Satisfying these competing constraints of low-cost, small size, high capacity, and rapid access requires innovation in each of numerous components and methods of assembly including methods of assembly of various components into certain subassemblies. Typically, the main assemblies of a hard disk drive are a head disk assembly and a printed circuit board assembly. The head disk assembly includes an enclosure including a base and a cover, at least one disk having at least one recording surface, a spindle motor for causing each disk to rotate, and an actuator arrangement. The disk typically includes a substrate, an underlayer, a magnetic layer for storing information, and an overcoat layer for protecting the disk. The printed circuit board assembly includes circuitry for processing signals and controlling operations.
Actuator arrangements can be characterized as either linear or rotary; substantially every contemporary cost-competitive small form factor drive employs a rotary actuator arrangement. The rotary actuator arrangement typically includes a head stack assembly, a pivot bearing cartridge, and a permanent magnet arrangement. The head stack assembly typically includes a body portion having a bore for receiving the pivot bearing cartridge, a coil portion extending from the body portion, at least one actuator arm extending from the body portion in an opposite direction from the coil portion, and a head gimbal assembly attached to the actuator arm. The head gimbal assembly typically includes a load beam attached to the actuator arm, a gimbal attached to the load beam and a head attached to the gimbal.
In operation, when reading and writing data from and to the disk, the disk is rotated rapidly by the spindle motor which causes the head to "fly" (hence, the term "flying head") over the recording surface of the disk. Once the head is positioned over a particular track, the head is then used to read or write data on that track. A problem arises from the fact that due to the close proximity of the flying head to the recording surface while the disk is rotating, head disk interferences may occur. Head disk interference includes direct contact between the flying head and disk such as when shock is applied to a disk drive. Head disk interference also includes the instance when a particle is trapped between the flying head and disk such the particle contacts the disk. Such head disk interferences produce frictional heating which momentarily raises the localized temperature of the disk. Such a momentary rise in localized temperature on the disk is referred to herein as a "flash temperature."
In disks having substrates which are good conductors of heat such as an aluminum substrate, flash temperatures do not pose a problem since such flash temperatures are relatively low. However, in a disk having an insulating substrate such as a glass substrate, flash temperatures, if high enough, may erase stored information in the magnetic layer since glass is a poor conductor of heat.

Magnetic disk having a heat sink layer above the substrate and method of making


A conveyor belt for pipe conveyors is indicated which includes overlapping of the conveyor belt at the edges when the belt pipe is formed and which consists of rubber or rubber-like plastic material and a plurality of steel ropes, all being alike, embedded therein as tension carriers and extending in longitudinal direction of the conveyor belt. They all have the same mutual spacing in transverse direction of the conveyor belt and are especially rich in elongation. At the runing side of the conveyor belt a continuous, transversely stiff insert is provided in addition, it extends across the full width of the conveyor belt and comprises steel cords oriented in transverse direction. Another transversely stiff, textile insert is provided in addition at the supporting side of the conveyor belt, yet it is not located in the two edge regions of the conveyor belt which overlap when the belt pipe is formed.

With tubular belt conveyors, also referred to as hose-type belt conveyors or pipe conveyors, mechanical means are used to form the conveyor belt into a closed tube or pipe in the conveying zone proper, downstream of the loading area and up-stream of the discharge area. In the case of the more recent structures the closing of the "pipe" is accomplished by overlapping of the conveyor belt alongs both its edges. To permit the formation of the tubular belt, the conveyor belt structure must conform to high requirements not comparable with those of a normal conveyor belt. While requirements, such as good trough formation, high tensile strength, corrosion protection of the steel reinforcement, and resistance of the belt running and supporting sides are in the foreground with normal conveyor belts, it is additionally important with tubular belt conveyors to achieve the best possible formation of a circle with a tight overlap that does not protrude. To accomplish that, the external marginal zone of the conveyor belt must not tip outwardly and the internal marginal zone must not tip inwardly too much. Moreover, in spite of the pipe formation, the conveyor belt must remain well deflectable both in the vertical and horizontal planes, in other words in curves. This means that it must remain stable in shape and true to track no matter what the bending. Finally, no twisting should occur in the conveyor belt formed into a pipe in the sense that the overlap usually located at the top would shift more or less to one or the other side.
Usually the structure including embedded steel ropes as tension barriers is preferred if a conveyor belt has to accommodate high tensile forces either because of the great length of the conveying distance or due to high loading. In this context the small elastic elongation of the steel cords generally is regarded as being of particular advantage.
A pipe conveyor of the generic kind in question with overlapping of the conveyor belt at the edges when the belt pipe is formed is known from DE-OS 39 10 911. It consists of rubber or rubber-like plastic and a plurality of steel cords as tension carriers embedded therein and extending in longitudinal direction of the conveyor belt, the tension carriers being disposed so as to be distributed uniformly across the width of the conveyor belt. The steel cords of this known conveyor belt either have a smaller diameter in the region of overlap ("A") than in the remainder of the belt ("B"), or the steel cords have a different strength at those locations. This different design treatment of the conveyor belt structure is intended to meet at least some of the requirements explained above of a tubular conveyor belt. It was found, however, that this is possible only to a limited extent by means of that particular known structure, especially so as regards the curve negotiating characteristic of the conveyor belt with smaller radii of curvature and as regards the length of the trough formation. Furthermore, many times it is more expensive to produce a steel cord conveyor belt with different steel cords or with steel cords which are arranged so as to be distributed differently.


A flash memory controller having soft-decoding error correcting code (ECC) logic generates log likelihood ratio or similar ECC decoder soft input information from decision patterns obtained from reading data from the same portion of flash memory two or more times. Each decision pattern corresponds to a voltage region bordering one of the reference voltages. Each decision pattern represents a combination of flash memory bit value decisions for a cell voltage within the voltage region corresponding to the decision pattern when a corresponding combination of the reference voltages are used to read the cell. Numerical values are then computed in response to combinations of the flash memory bit value decisions represented by the decision patterns. The numerical values are provided to the soft-decoding ECC logic to serve as soft input information.

A flash memory is a non-volatile electrically erasable data storage device that evolved from electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM). The two main types of flash memory are named after the logic gates that their storage cells resemble: NAND and NOR. NAND flash memory is commonly used in solid-state drives, which are supplanting magnetic disk drives in many applications. A NAND flash memory is commonly organized as multiple blocks, with each block organized as multiple pages. Each page comprises multiple cells. Each cell is capable of storing an electric charge. Some cells are used for storing data bits, while other cells are used for storing error-correcting code bits. A cell configured to store a single bit is known as a single-level cell (SLC). A cell configured to store two bits is known as a multi-level cell (MLC). In an MLC cell, one bit is commonly referred to as the least-significant bit (LSB), and the other as the most-significant bit (MSB). A cell configured to store three bits is known as a triple-level cell (TLC). Writing data to a flash memory is commonly referred to as "programming" the flash memory, due to the similarity to programming an EEPROM.
The electric charge stored in a cell can be detected in the form of a cell voltage. To read an SLC flash memory cell, the flash memory controller provides one or more reference voltages (also referred to as read voltages) to the flash memory device. Detection circuitry in the flash memory device will interpret the bit as a "0" if the cell voltage is greater than a reference voltage Vref and will interpret the bit as a "1" if the cell voltage is less than the reference voltage Vref. Thus, an SLC flash memory requires a single reference voltage Vref. In contrast, an MLC flash memory requires three such reference voltages, and a TLC flash memory requires seven such reference voltages. Thus, reading data from an MLC or TLC flash memory device requires that the controller provide multiple reference voltages having optimal values that allow the memory device to correctly detect the stored data values.
Determining or detecting stored data values using controller-provided reference voltages is hampered by undesirable physical non-uniformity across cells of a device that are inevitably introduced by the fabrication process, as such non-uniformity results in the reference voltages of different cells that store the same bit value being significantly different from each other. The detection is further hampered by target or optimal reference voltages changing over time due to adverse effects of changes in temperature, interference from programming neighboring cells, and numerous erase-program cycles. Errors in detecting stored data values are reflected in the performance measurement known as bit error rate (BER). The use of error-correcting codes (ECCs) can improve BER to some extent, but the effectiveness of ECCs diminishes as improved fabrication processes result in smaller cell features.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, an MLC flash memory has four cell voltage distributions 102, 104, 106 and 108 with four respective mean target cell voltages Vtarget0 112, Vtarget1 114, Vtarget2 116 and Vtarget3 118. Such cell voltage distributions commonly overlap each other slightly, but such overlap is not shown in FIG. 1 for purposes of clarity. During a read operation, to attempt to characterize or detect the two bits of cell data (i.e., the LSB and MSB) a flash memory device (not shown) uses three reference voltages it receives from a flash memory controller (not shown): Vref0 122, Vref1 124 and Vref2 126. More specifically, the flash memory device compares the cell voltage with Vref1 124 to attempt to detect the LSB. If the flash memory device determines that the cell voltage is less than Vref1 124, i.e., within a window 128, then the flash memory device characterizes the LSB as a "1". If the flash memory device determines that the cell voltage is greater than Vref1 124, i.e., within a window 130, then the flash memory device characterizes the LSB as a "0". The flash memory device also compares the cell voltage with Vref0 122 and Vref2 126 to attempt to detect the MSB. If the flash memory device determines that the cell voltage is between Vref0 122 and Vref2 126, i.e., within a window 132, then the flash memory device characterizes the MSB as a "0". If the flash memory device determines that the cell voltage is either less than Vref0 122 or greater than Vref2 126, i.e., within a window 134, then the flash memory device characterizes the MSB as a "1".
The most commonly employed ECCs are hard-decoded codes, such as BCH codes. To improve BER beyond what is commonly achievable with hard-decoded ECCs, flash memory controllers may employ soft-decoded ECCs, such as low density parity check (LDPC) ECCs. Soft decoding is more powerful in correcting errors than hard decoding, but soft input information must be provided to the ECC decoding logic. The ECC decoder soft input information is commonly provided in the form of log likelihood ratio (LLR) information. Since a flash memory device conventionally only provides hard decision outputs, i.e., it characterizes each data bit that it reads as either a "1" bit or a "0" bit in the manner described above, employing soft decoding requires that the flash memory controller generate ECC decoder soft input information.
One method that has been employed for generating ECC decoder soft input information (e.g., LLRs) in an MLC flash memory controller involves computing a function of the reference voltages used to read the memory device and the means and variances of the four cell voltage distributions 102, 104, 106 and 108. A faster method that has been employed for generating ECC decoder soft input information in a flash memory controller has been to map a "1" bit (hard decision) to a first fixed or predetermined value and map a "0" bit (hard decision) to a second fixed or predetermined value. For example, a "1" bit may be mapped to a decimal value of "6", and a "0" bit may be mapped to a decimal value of "−6". Thus, such a flash memory controller's ECC decoding logic would use decimal "6" as soft input information in response to the flash memory device reading a "1" bit and would use decimal "−6" as soft input information in response to the flash memory device reading a "0" bit. The decimal value pair of "+6" and "−6" are still hard decision values in a strict mathematical sense, but it is understood that hard decision values are a special case of soft decision values.
Despite the benefits of employing soft-decoded ECCs, a page read sometimes fails. That is, the BER is so great that ECC decoding is unable to correct all erroneous bits. A common method for responding to such a page read failure is known as a "retry" or "read retry." In a read retry, the flash memory controller may adjust the reference voltage that was used to read the page and then try to read the page again using the adjusted reference voltage.
To improve BER, it would be desirable to provide an improved method and system for generating LLR information from flash memory device hard decision outputs.

Generating soft decoding information for flash memory error correction using hard decision patterns


A high frequency probe preparation method for making a high frequency probe for high frequency testing to assure signal integrity by means of making a sleeve assembly subject to the size of a predetermined bare needle and then sleeving bare needle by the sleeve assembly to form a high-frequency probe is disclosed to include the steps of: a) providing an insulated tube, and b) forming a conducting layer on the outer surface of the insulated tube which having a metal layer for grounding. The insulated tube and the conducting layer constitute the sleeve assembly. The metal layer is formed by means of physical deposition, chemical deposition, mixture of physical and chemical deposition or electrochemical deposition.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to probe card technology and more specifically, to a high frequency probe preparation method of making a probe for high-frequency testing.
2. Description of the Related Art
Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional probe for probe card comprises a coaxial cable segment 1 and a probe needle segment 2 bonded to the coaxial cable segment 1 by means of pin connection. According to this design, the configuration of the coaxial cable segment 1 keeps impedance matching for signal transmission by avoiding signal attenuation. Thus, the probe is practical for the application of high-frequency transmission.
However, the pin connection between the coaxial cable segment 1 and the probe needle segment 2 tends to cause a signal discontinuous interface, i.e., signal transmission non-integrity.
To avoid the aforesaid problem, a high-strength probe needle segment may be used as a core member for further processing to make a coaxial cable type probe needle that provides impedance matching for signal transmission and eliminates the problem of signal discontinuity. U.S. Pat. No. 6,727,716 discloses a similar design, entitled "Probe card and probe needle for high frequency testing". According to this design, the high frequency probe needle 630 comprises a conductor 640, a dielectric sleeve 650 surrounding at least a portion of the conductor 640, and a conductive cover 652 surrounding the dielectric sleeve 650. Thus, the high frequency needle 630 can be prepared without pin connection, eliminating the problem of signal transmission non-integrity.
However, during preparation of the probe needle 630, it is necessary to make the conductive cover 652 and the dielectric sleeve 650 at first, and then to sleeve onto the conductor 640. Inevitably, the structure of the conductive cover 652 and dielectric sleeve 650 will be bent somehow in the step of sleeving the conductor 640. Further, when the end of the probe needle 630 is pressed on the electronic device to be tested during operation of the probe card, the cantilever part of the probe needle 630 will be curved, too. If the conductive cover 652 does not have excellent bending extensibility, the conductive cover 652 may be forced to crack and even to drop from the dielectric sleeve 650 during bending of the structure of the conductive cover 652 and dielectric sleeve 650. By the way, the bending extensibility of the conductive cover 652 is inverse proportional to its thickness. According to this design, the conductive cover 652 has a thickness over 1.5 mils, or about 38.1 μm. In practice, the thickness of the conductive cover 652 is excessively high, and the bending extensibility of the conductive cover 652 is insufficient to prohibit the conductive cover 652 from cracking when forcing the probe needle 630 to touch the device, thereby affecting signal transmission performance. Moreover, the thickness of the conductive cover 652 has a great concern with the total thickness of the probe needle 630. Since the conductive cover 652 has an excessively high thickness, the probe needle 630 will not be practical for fine pitch devices under high frequency test, thus limiting the application of the probe needle 630.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a high frequency probe needle that eliminates the aforesaid problems.

Method of making high-frequency probe, probe card using the high-frequency probe


A non-pneumatic tire comprising a toroidal-shaped tube having inner and outer circumferential surfaces and opposite side surfaces collectively forming a hollow chamber therebetween, the tube having at least two openings proximate the inner circumferential surface, and a solid fill composition disposed in the hollow chamber of the tube. The non-pneumatic tire provides the benefits of a smooth, comfortable ride, durability, and lightweight with good load-carrying capability.

Pneumatic tires, which are pressurized air-filled tires, have proven valuable in providing a comfortable ride with optimal load-carrying capabilities for a variety of vehicles. Consequently, pneumatic tires have become the standard in virtually all passenger tire and high speed wheel applications, and more specifically, in almost every aircraft, automobile, truck, van, bicycle and the like, where ride quality and comfort is an important part of the performance of the vehicle. Pneumatic tires have also been successful in low speed applications, such as on tractors, carts, and the like, where load carrying capability is important. However, the tire carcass in pneumatic tires are susceptible to cracks, punctures and/or other damage causing release of the air trapped inside and resulting in the tire going flat. A flat tire may simply cause inconvenience, by requiring a repair and/or loss of use of the vehicle, or may render the tire unusable and cause more of a financial burden, particularly in industrial applications, by requiring costly tire replacement. The consequences of a flat tire might also be far more dire. For example, a tire suddenly going flat, such as a blow out, can be life threatening, particularly to passengers traveling in the vehicle at high speeds.
As an optional substitute to pneumatic tires, non-pneumatic tires have been developed and utilized in a wide variety of applications. Non-pneumatic tires are typically solid tires having no hollow or air-pressurized cavities or chamber(s) therein, as opposed to semi-pneumatic tires, which are partially filled with air. Being of zero pressure, a non-pneumatic tire is generally deflation-proof, due to the lack of air pressure. The first non-pneumatic tires developed were solid tires formed generally from natural rubber. However, rubber tires require thick walls and thick tread regions to provide load carrying capability comparable to pneumatic tires, and such added rubber results in an undesirable increase in the weight of the tire and a compromise in its ride quality.
More technically advanced non-pneumatic tires have been proposed utilizing various materials having greater performance characteristics than the previously developed rubbers. Particularly, solid non-pneumatic tires formed from polymeric materials, such as polyurethane, have been developed. However, while solid polyurethane tires are capable of carrying higher loads with a smoother ride, they are generally heavier and prone to faster wear and breakdown than pneumatic tires. In addition, solid polyurethane tires are subject to "chunking" (sections separating from the tire body) and are easily cut when used in aggressive applications and/or on rugged terrain. Further, solid polyurethane tires also have reduced traction characteristics as well as UV and ozone resistance when compared to pneumatic tires.
More recently, conventional pneumatic tire shells or casings have been filled with a solid composition, such as a polyurethane elastomer, to produce deflation-proof, non-pneumatic tires in an attempt to overcome the weaknesses of previously developed non-pneumatic tires. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,943,233, 4,855,096, and 5,906,836 all disclose the use of polyurethane foams as filling materials for a conventional pneumatic tire to produce a non-pneumatic tire, such as a bicycle tire.
In conjunction with producing such non-pneumatic tires, new methods and fill compositions have been proposed. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,187,125, issued to Rustad, discloses a fill composition and method for producing a non-pneumatic tire filled with the cured composition. The fill composition is a mixture of a polyisocyanate having an average functionality of at least 2.3; a high molecular weight polyol having a hydroxyol number in the range of about 20 to about 31 and having an actual functionality of greater than 2.1; 6 to 65 weight percent of a polar plasticizing extender oil; and optionally a polyamine in an amount less than 0.5 weight percent. The mixture is cured in the presence of a catalyst to form a resilient polyurethane elastomer having a vertical rebound of greater than about 60% based on ASTM D2632 and Durometer hardness in the range of about 5 to 60 (as measured by the Shore A method).
U.S. Pat. No. 6,450,222, issued to Fleming, discloses a non-pneumatic tire having an elastomeric portion encompassing the tread and a radially inward foam portion. The non-pneumatic tire may be formed from a multi-shot process in a spin cast procedure.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,080,737, issued to Shoner, discloses a method of filling a tire with a composite foam to eliminate rapid deflation "blow-outs". The composite foam tire filling is comprised of a multiplicity of preconstructed, hollow, pressurized elastomeric, one-piece, seamless cells bonded together into a configuration whereby substantially all of the exterior cell wall surface of all cells in the filling is engaged with portions of the exterior cell wall surfaces of the surrounding cells.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,229,047, issued to Becker, discloses a method and apparatus for producing foam elastomer tires for various uses including bicycles and wheel chairs. The method involves spin casting the tires in a mold and filling the mold with a preblended liquid foamable material that is poured directly into the mold or onto a surface immediately adjacent to the mold, prior to entry into the mold.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,094,353, issued to Ford, discloses a process for puncture-proofing a pneumatic tire mounted on a wheel rim comprising filling the tire with a cross-linked mixture of polyoxypropylene polyether polyol and diphenylmethane diisocyanate to form a resilient solid polyurethane fill material inside the tire.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,909,972, issued to Britz, discloses a method of making a solid core locatable between a wheel rim and a tire fitted to the rim, the core formed by introducing a foamable composition into a mold cavity having a substantially inflexible mold surface, and allowing the composition to foam and fill the cavity, prior to removal for placement in a standard tire carcass.
U.S. Publication No. 2002/0129883, issued to O'Coin, discloses a tire including a tread region, a rim region, and a further region between the tread and the rim region containing a foamed rubber.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,605,657, issued to Nybakken, discloses an industrial solid tire for heavy-load, off-road use having a heat-cured, silicone containing polyurethane therein, produced by a batch method.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,073,444, issued to Shanelec, discloses a molded polypropylene foam tire core suitable for all types of wheels. The core may be inserted, in one or more sections, into a pneumatic-type tire casing and mounted on a wheel rim to provide puncture-proof and rupture-proof internal support for said tire casing.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,681,411, issued to O'Coin, discloses a pneumatic tire having a plurality of layers of high density foam rubber formed therein and methods of manufacturing and installing the layers in the tire.
Despite generally having a harder ride and, in some cases, adding more weight to the vehicle in comparison to a pneumatic tire, the availability of deflation proof non-pneumatic tires is generally more economical and practical, relative to pneumatic tires, for many uses and applications in various industries including mining, scrap yards, military, and heavy construction. Non-pneumatic tires eliminate the problem of a flat and/or blowout by eliminating the need for pressurized air. Thus, non-pneumatic tires overcome the inherent problems with pneumatic tires, as discussed above.
However, many of the desirable performance characteristics found in pneumatic tires have not been duplicated in the previously proposed non-pneumatic tires. In particular, the performance characteristics of cushioning ability, roll ability, noise and vibration reductions have not been equaled. Thus, there is a desire to replicate the pneumatic tire characteristics and properties in a non-pneumatic tire. In addition, many of the compositions and methods previously proposed for producing non-pneumatic tires involve polymers which provide an advantage in one property while suffering from a weakness in another property. For example, one polymer may exhibit superior vibration and noise characteristics while possessing an inferior load carrying capacity. Further, the overall costs of previously proposed non-pneumatic tires by methods of producing same has generally increased with the added step of filling, containing and curing the fill material within a pneumatic tire shell. Also, many of the methods previously proposed are unreliable in that they fail to ensure a complete fill without voids, are relatively expensive, and/or raise various safety and/or environmental concerns.
Thus, there exists a need to provide non-pneumatic tires having performance characteristics similar to those of pneumatic tires without the disadvantage of flats and blow-outs. There is also a need to provide a high quality, zero pressure, air-free non-pneumatic tire with improved load handling capacity and without a significant compromise in ride quality. There is a further need to provide non-pneumatic tires having beneficial qualities in a more simplistic, convenient and cost effective manner than previously proposed methods.


A low-power charge pump regulator is provided. The low-power charge pump regulator may periodically turn off charge pumping portions of the charge pump circuitry to reduce power consumption. The charge pumping portions of the charge pump circuitry may then be turned on when they are needed to maintain the output of the charge pump regulator. In some embodiments, where the leakage off the voltage regulator output is small, the charge pumping portions of the charge pump circuitry may only need to be turned on for brief periods of time.

This invention relates to a low-power charge pump regulator.
A charge pump regulator may be used to provide a regulated voltage output that has a higher or lower voltage than the power supply voltage. Leakage currents within the charge pump regulator generally require the voltage of the charge pump to be constantly recharged (i.e., pumped) to maintain the regulated voltage output.
In some circuits, the charge pump regulator may not need to pump continuously in order to maintain the voltage level of the regulator output (i.e., the rate at which the voltage level leaks may be slow enough to permit some period of leakage before the voltage level is recharged). In these circuits, it would be desirable to reduce power consumption by not operating the charge pump continuously.
In view of the forgoing, it would be desirable to provide a low-power charge pump regulator.


A door opening/closing apparatus is provided with a motor, a first clutch which transmits power from the motor to a door opening/closing mechanism of a slide door when current is applied to the motor while breaking transmission of power to the door opening/closing mechanism of the slide door when current is not applied, and a second clutch which transmits power from the motor to a door opening/closing mechanism of a back door when current is applied while breaking transmission of power from the motor to the door opening/closing mechanism when current is not applied.

1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a door opening/closing apparatus, and in particular to a door opening/closing apparatus for a vehicle.
2) Description of the Related Art
Some vehicles have a door opening/closing apparatus that operates a sliding door to automatically open/close an opening formed on a side of a vehicle. Some other vehicles have a door opening/closing apparatus that opens/closes an opening formed on a rear of a vehicle. Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2001-10346 discloses a conventional art.
Conventionally, one actuator is provided for each door opening/closing apparatus. Therefore, if the vehicle has a number of doors, then a number of actuators are required and the cost of the vehicle disadvantageously increases.
Moreover, generally the door opening/closing apparatus of the rear opening is arranged in the roof of the vehicle. However, if the door opening/closing apparatus is arranged in the roof, the roof bulges. This reduces the space inside the vehicle. Moreover, the bulging becomes obstructs when putting in and taking out luggage. Further, when the door opening/closing apparatus is disposed in the roof, a bracket for mounting the door opening/closing apparatus is required, which increases the cost of the vehicle. In addition, when the door opening/closing apparatus is arranged in a roof of a vehicle having a so-called "three-row seats (a vehicle where two rows of seats are arranged along a longitudinal direction of the vehicle in a compartment behind a driver's seat)", the head of a passenger or a vehicle occupant sitting on the third row seat is positioned close to a bulging portion of the roof, which obstructs getting in and out of the vehicle.

Door opening/closing apparatus for operating multiple doors with one driving unit