A semiconductor structure and fabrication method of forming a semiconductor structure. The structure is a MRAM element having a first conductive electrode embedded in a first interconnect dielectric material layer upon which a multi-layered magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) memory element is formed in a magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM) device area. The first conductive electrode includes a first end having a top surface of a first surface area and a second end having a bottom surface of a second surface area, the first surface area being smaller than the second surface area. The second end of the bottom electrode includes a barrier liner material including a metal fill material, and the first end of the bottom electrode is a pillar structure formed as a result of an etchback process in which the metal barrier liner is recessed relative to the metal fill material.

MRAM is a non-volatile random access memory technology in which data is stored by magnetic storage elements. These elements are typically formed from two ferromagnetic layers, each of which can hold a magnetization, separated by a thin dielectric layer. One of the two layers is a permanent magnet set to a particular polarity; the other layer's magnetization can be changed to match that of an external field to store memory. Such a configuration is known as magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ).
In leading-edge or neuromorphic computing systems, a MTJ structure (or pillar) is typically embedded within a back-end-of-the-line (BEOL) structure, a metal hard mask is typically formed above a multilayered MTJ structure, and the metal hardmask is used as an etch mask to provide the MTJ structure.
Current semiconductor manufacturing techniques of an MTJ bit, i.e., a MTJ stack, requires patterning of the fixed layer, free layer, and tunnel layer. However, current processing techniques for patterning of MTJ stacks encounter issues with redeposition, as the stack is often etched using physical sputtering.
Moreover, as MRAM is a viable memory option for stand alone and embedded applications for Internet-of-Things (IoT), Automobile, AI, etc., the size of the bottom electrode (BEL) plays a significant role on array yield loss due to partial metallic shorts, especially when the MTJ size is reduced to increase switching efficiency. A very small BEL is desired but resistance and metal fill are concerns related to this requirement.

Magnetic random access memory (MRAM) structure with small bottom electrode

International Business Machines Corporation


A puncture repair liquid holding container includes: a container main body provided with and opening portion and a holding portion where puncture repair liquid is held; and a cap attached to the opening portion; wherein a cross-sectional shape of the holding portion is non-true circular, and a metal reinforcing member provided around an entire circumference of the holding portion is provided on at least a portion of the holding portion in a height direction.

In recent years, when a tire mounted to a vehicle is punctured, flat tire repair liquid is injected into the tire via the tire valve to temporarily repair the puncture. An example of a device capable of the temporary repair includes a puncture repair kit. Employing such a flat tire repair kit eliminates the need to provide the vehicle with a spare tire, which enables resource saving and reduced weight of a vehicle. Furthermore, there is an advantage where a spare tire mounting space of a vehicle can be used for another purpose.
For example, a so-called force feed puncture repair kit where puncture repair liquid stored in a puncture repair liquid holding container is injected into a tire by compressed air supplied from an air compressor is known as the puncture repair kit (for example, refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2014-121863). The puncture repair liquid holding container used in the force feed puncture repair kit is primarily configured from a resin material, but the container is required to withstand the pressure of compressed air supplied from the air compressor. Therefore, the puncture repair liquid holding container used in the force feed puncture repair kit forms a cylindrical shape such that a cross-sectional shape basically forms a true circle with excellent pressure resistance.
However, the cylindrical container (where the cross-sectional shape is a true circle) has problems where the space occupied when mounted in a vehicle is large and storing properties are inferior as compared to a square tubular container (where the cross-sectional shape is not a true circle) with the same volume, for example. Furthermore, when considering the holding amount (in other words, holding efficiency) of the container with regard to the space occupied when mounted, the square tubular container (where the cross-sectional shape is not a true circle) can be said to be more excellent than the cylindrical container (where the cross-sectional shape is a true circle), for example. Therefore, making the cross-sectional shape of the container into a non-true circle such as an essentially square shape, elliptical shape, or the like is considered in order to enhance the storing properties and holding efficiency, but when the cross-sectional shape is not a true circle, linear sites or arcuate portions having a smaller curvature than other sites in a cross section on at least a portion of a container side surface are included, and therefore, problems exist where the sites are structurally weak, and pressure resistance is significantly more reduced than if the cross-sectional shape is a true circle. At this time, even in a case where the wall thickness of the container is thick in order to ensure pressure resistance, there is a possibility that storing properties are inhibited due to increased volume of the container, and storing efficiency deteriorates due to reduced capacity of the container, which is inconvenient. In addition, the weight of the container increases in conjunction with increased wall thickness, and therefore, reduction in weight of the puncture repair kit is difficult, and furthermore, reducing the amount of material used for configuring the puncture repair liquid holding container in an effort to save resources is difficult due to the need for achieving sufficient wall thickness.

Puncture repair liquid holding container and puncture repair kit


The present invention is a data buffering system for buffering information from an optical recording medium into a buffer memory. The information comprises a main data and a subcode. The system comprises a main target comparator, a correction target comparator and a transfer/buffer module. The main target comparator selects a start main data frame of the main data, and triggers a main data transferring procedure when detecting the start main data frame. The correction target comparator gets a correction main data frame by adding an additional value to the start main data frame, and trigger a subcode transferring procedure when detecting the correction main data frame. The transfer/buffer module transfers and buffers the subcode to the buffer memory and the main data according to the subcode transferring procedure and the main data transferring procedure, respectively.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a data buffering system and a method, and more particularly, to a data buffering system and a method for an optical recording device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An optical recording medium, such as audio compact disc (CD) and video CD, is for recording data. To use the data recorded in the optical recording medium, an optical reading/recording device is used with a data buffering procedure. The procedure is to read the data of the optical recording medium and to record the data into a buffer memory of the optical reading/recording device. And then a host reads and uses the buffered data from the buffer memory.
Referring to FIG. 1, FIG. 1 shows a data reading procedure of a data file in a conventional optical recording medium 10. The optical recording medium 10 can be a video CD. The optical recording medium 10 comprises a plurality of frames 12. Each of the frames 12 comprises a 1-byte subcode 14 and two 12-bytes main data 16a, 16b. There is a 4-bytes parity 18a between the main data frames 16a, 16b, and a 4-bytes parity 18b behind the main data frames 16a, 16b. Conventionally, before the optical reading/recording device receives an instruction from the computer host to read the data files of the optical recording medium 10, a microprocessor of the optical reading/recording device will read the frames 12 of the optical recording medium 10 first, designated as (a) in FIG. 1.
Next, the microprocessor of the optical reading/recording device diagnoses every frame 12, designated as (b). The diagnose procedure is first to diagnose two main data 16a and 16b of each of the frames one by one by using the parities, and then to combine two main data 16a and 16b into a 24-bytes main data 16.
After processing 98 frames, the microprocessor combines 98 frames 12 that have been diagnosed to become a block 20, designated as (c) in FIG. 1. Each of the 98 subcodes is combined into a subcode frame 22, and each of the 98 main data is combined into a main data frame 24. Every data file of the optical recording medium comprises a plurality of blocks 20 sequentially arranged. Each of the blocks 20 comprises a subcode frame 22 and a main data frame 24. The optical reading/recording device sequentially reads the data files of the blocks 20 of the optical recording medium 10.
As shown in FIG. 1, each of the data files of the optical recording medium 10 comprises a plurality of blocks 20 sequentially arranged. The main data frames 24 record the data files. Each of the blocks 20 comprises a subcode frame 22 and a main data frame 24. The subcode frames 22 record the address information and the data file information of the blocks 20, such as serial number, time, . . . etc of the data.
Referring to FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a data buffering system 30 in the conventional optical reading/recording device. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a main data stream A and a subcode stream B with time sequence read by the reading module 32 shown in FIG. 2. After the optical reading/recording device reads each of the blocks 20, input each of the blocks 20 sequentially to the data buffering system 30 to be used by the computer host.
As shown in FIG. 2, the conventional data buffering system 30 comprises a reading module 32, a transferring module of the main data 34, a transferring module of the subcodes 36, a target comparator 38, a transferring module 40, a buffer memory 42, and a microprocessor 44. The reading module 32 is used to execute the data reading procedure mentioned above, and to read the main data frames 22 and the subcode frames 24 of the sequentially arranged blocks 20 as a main data stream A and a subcode stream B, respectively (shown in FIG. 3). Each of the main data frames 22 and the subcode frames 24 has a frame code for identification. The frame codes are usually represented as minute/second/frame(MSF).
The transferring module of the main data 34 is used to transfer the main data recorded in each of the main data frames of the main data stream to the transferring module 40 in the FIFO (first in first out) sequence. The transferring module of the subcodes 36 is used to transfer the subcodes recorded in each of the subcode frames of the subcode stream to the transferring module 40 in the FIFO sequence.
The target comparator 38 inputs a target MSF of the main data from the microprocessor 44. The target MSF of the main data is a corresponding MSF of the start main data, and used to be the initial point when the transferring module 40 begins to transfer and buffer. When the target comparator 38 detects that the corresponding main data frames of the target MSF of the main data input into the transferring module 40, trigger a transferring procedure to transfer and buffer the data of the main data frames and the subcode frames that input in the transferring module 40 in the meantime into a corresponding recording unit of the buffer memory 42.
However, the main data frames and the subcode frames in the same data block will not be inputted into the transferring module 40 in the meantime, because the time needed for the reading module 32 to read the subcode frames 22 and the main data frames 24 are different. According to the prior art, because the data amount of the main data is higher and the diagnosing procedure is needed for the main data, the latency of the main data stream is more than that of the subcode stream about 1˜3 blocks. As shown in FIG. 3, in the main data stream A and the subcode stream B, the numbers in each squares represent the MSF of the main data frames or the subcode frames. For example, 2/3/5 in the main data stream means the main data recorded in the main data frames of 2/3/5.
As shown in FIG. 3, when the main data frames and the subcode frames of the same data block have the same MSF, then in the same time sequence, the main data stream A delays three more data blocks in comparison with the subcode stream B. Therefore, if the microprocessor 44 sets the target data blocks from 2/3/5 to 2/3/9, the transferring module will transfer the main data that recorded in the main data frames from 2/3/5 to 2/3/9 of the main data stream A, and the subcode which are inputted into the transferring module 40 in the meantime (T1 and T2) which are the subcode frames from 2/3/8 to 2/3/12 of the subcode stream B. Therefore, the same recording unit in the buffer memory 42 will record the data from the main data frame of 2/3/5 and in the subcode frame of 2/3/8, but not data from the main data frame of 2/3/5 and the subcode frame of 2/3/5 in the same data block.
In order to solve the problem that the main data and the subcode of the same recording unit belong to different block, the U.S. Pat. No. 6,058,453 provides a method for synchronous transferring the main data and the subcode. According to the U.S. Pat. No. 6,058,453, a target module of the subcode is added into the conventional data buffering system, so that the transferring module can transfer and buffer the main data frames and the subcode frames with the same MSF to the same recording unit.
There is a disadvantage of this method. Because it is not to buffer the main data frames and the subcode frames of the same data block into the same recording unit, but to buffer the main data frames and the subcode frames with the same MSF into the same recording unit. If the MSF of the main data and the MSF of the subcodes of the same data block are the same, then this method can achieve the objective to record the main data frames and the subcodes frames of the same data block to the same recording unit. However, for some reason, the MSF of the main data frames and the MSF of the subcode frames sometimes are not the same, in such situation the method disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 6,058,453 can no longer record the main data frames and the subcode frames of the same data block into the same recording unit.

Data buffering system and method for optical recording device


A bra includes two cups, and two bands, which are connected to respective ones of the cups at front ends thereof; each band has two supporting ribs thereon, which are used for helping keep the band smooth; furthermore, each band has a sustaining rib arranged between the two supporting ribs; when the bra is worn on a woman's body with the bands being stretched, passed across the woman's back, and joined together at rear ends, the sustaining ribs will prevent tensional force in the bands from causing deformation of the supporting ribs such that the bra bands will touch the wearer's body closely.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a band of a bra, more particularly one, which has two supporting ribs, and a sustaining rib between the two supporting ribs for reducing the effect of tension of the band on the supporting ribs such that the band will touch a wearer's body closely without having wrinkles or raised areas thereon.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
The main purposes of bras are to protect and shape the appearance of a girl's breasts. Good bras should also be comfortable to wear. When a bra is worn on a woman's body, the bands of the bra are prone to have wrinkles and raised areas owing to the tension therein. And, the wrinkles and raised areas of the bra bands will spoil the outline of the woman's back when she wears close-fitting clothes.
Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, a conventional bra 4 includes two cups 41, and two bands 42, which are connected to respective ones of the cups 41 at front ends thereof. Each of the bands 42 has two supporting ribs 432 thereon for helping keep the band 42 smooth. However, when the bra 4 is worn on a woman's body with the bands 42 being stretched, passed across the woman's back, and joined together at rear ends thereof, the tensional force on the bands 42 will cause deformation of the supporting ribs 43 because the tensional force is in the direction perpendicular to the supporting ribs 43, and because the middle portions of the bands 42 will be subjected to greater tension. Consequently, the bands 42 will have wrinkles and raised areas, which will spoil the outline of her back when she wears close-fitting clothes.


An adjustable height wafer box for the transportation of coin-stacked semiconductor wafers is disclosed. The adjustable height wafer box comprises a base plate, a cover plate, a plurality of ring insert plates and elastomer bumpers. The ring insert plates are stacked so as to successively engage one another, as well as engaging the base plate and the cover plate. The elastomer bumpers are engaged between successive ring insert plates and extend inwardly into the wafer containment space. The number of ring insert plates can be chosen to adjust the height of the wafer box in accordance with the number of coin-stacked semiconductor wafers to be shipped.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to a box for the transportation of semiconductor wafers. In particular, this invention pertains to such a box with walls that are adjustable in height so as to accommodate the number of coin-stacked wafers to be transported.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the prior art, there are many boxes for the transportation of coin-stacked semiconductor wafers. However, typical prior art wafer boxes have a fixed size for a fixed number of semiconductor wafers. As a result, the volume of shipping containers and dunnage material is the same regardless of the number of wafers enclosed within the wafer box. This can increase the shipping costs associated with a "partial run" which is typically defined as less than twenty-four wafers.
Examples of some prior art are U.S. Pat. No. 6,193,068 entitled "Containment Device for Retaining Semiconductor Wafers" issued on Feb. 27, 2001 to Lewis et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,286,684 entitled "Protective System for Integrated Circuit (IC) Wafers Retained Within Containers Designed for Storage and Shipment" issued on Sep. 11, 2001 to Brooks et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,003,674 entitled "Method and Apparatus for Packing Contaminant-Sensitive Articles and Resulting Package" issued on Dec. 21, 1999 to Brooks; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,724,748 entitled "Apparatus for Packaging Contaminant-Sensitive Articles and Resulting Package" issued on Mar. 10, 1998 to Brooks et al. Also of interest is U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/507,471 entitled "Wafer Box with Radially Pivoting Latch Elements" filed on Sep. 10, 2004 by Forsyth.


The object of the invention is a transmitter/receiver for transmitting and receiving of an RF signal in two frequency bands. In the solution according to the invention, a transmitter/receiver is used which is based on direct conversion and in it, when operating in both frequency bands, the mixing frequency is formed by means of the same synthesizer (340). This is implemented preferably in such a way that in the higher operating frequency, the frequency of the output signal of the synthesizer is used as such as a mixing frequency and when operating in the lower operating frequency, a mixing frequency is used which is obtained by dividing the frequency of the output signal of the synthesizer by two or a larger integer in the divider (311, 361). When the solution according to the invention is used, many synthesizers are not needed in the transmitter/receiver and no intermediate frequency components are needed.

The object of the invention is a transmitter/receiver for transmitting and receiving an RF signal in two operating frequency bands.
Mobile station systems have developed and expanded at an extremely rapid rate, which is the reason why a variety of systems using many different standards have been or are being constructed in many areas. This has generated the need for mobile stations which can use more than one system. As an example one could mention the digital GSM system and DCS that is PCN system which operate in different frequency bands but whose specifications are otherwise similar to each other.
From the published patent application EP 653851, a transmitter/receiver arrangement is known in which one local oscillator is used and its frequency has been selected between the lower operating frequency band and the higher operating frequency band in such a way that the same intermediate frequency can be used when operating in both operating frequency bands. The weak point of this solution is, however, that due to the need for these intermediate frequency stages, the implementation is extremely complicated and due to the great amount of components it requires, the manufacturing costs of such a device are high.
In a direct conversion receiver, that is in a zero intermediate frequency receiver, a radio frequency signal is converted directly to a baseband without there being any intermediate frequency. Since no intermediate frequency stages are needed, only a few components are needed in the receiver, which makes it a preferable solution for various applications. However, in mobile stations, direct conversion receivers have so far rarely been used.
FIG. 1 shows a prior known schematic block diagram of a transmitter/receiver of a mobile station and in this block diagram the receiver is a so-called direct conversion receiver. An RF signal received by an antenna 138 is conducted via a duplex filter 102 to a pre-amplifier 104. The purpose of the duplex filter is to permit the use of the same antenna both in transmitting and receiving. Instead of a duplex filter, also a synchronous antenna changeover switch can be used in a time-division system. The RF signal which is received from the amplifier 104 is low-pass pass or band pass filtered 106 and demodulated in an I/Q demodulator 108 into an in-phase signal 108a and into a quadrature signal 108b. A local oscillator signal 114b which is needed in the demodulation is received from a synthesizer 114. In block 110, removal of dc-voltage as well as automatic gain control AGC are carried out. Block 110 is controlled by a processing block 116 which may contain, for example, a microprocessor and/or a digital signal processor DSP. Automatic gain control is regulated by a signal 110a and removal of the offset voltage is regulated by a signal 110b. Signals received from block 110 are converted into digital signals in block 112 from which the signals are further transferred to digital signal processing circuits in the processing block 116.
The transmitter unit comprises an I/Q modulator 128. This takes an in-phase signal 128a and a quadrature signal 128b and creates a carrier frequency signal which is low-pass filtered and/or high-pass filtered by a filter 130. The carrier frequency signal is amplified by an RF amplifier 132 and the amplified signal is transferred via a duplex filter 102 to an antenna 138. A power control unit 134 of the transmitter controls the amplification of the RF amplifier 132 on the basis of the measured output power 136 and of the control 134a received from the processor.
FIG. 1 also shows, attached to the processing unit, a memory unit 126 and user interface means which comprise a display 118, a keyboard 120, a microphone 122 and an earpiece 124.
Practical solutions for the implementation of a direct conversion receiver have been described more closely, for example, in the following publications:
1! Microwave Engineering Europe, January 1993, pages 59 . . . 63, PA1 2! Microwave Engineering Europe, May 1993, pages 53 . . . 59 and PA1 3! published patent application EP 0 594 894 AI. PA1 said receiver comprises at least one RX mixer for mixing the received signal into a baseband signal, PA1 said transmitter comprises at least one TX mixer for mixing the baseband signal into a carrier frequency transmitting signal and PA1 the transmitter/receiver comprises synthesizer means for forming the first PX mixing signal to the RX mixer for mixing the signal which has been received in the first receiving frequency band into a baseband signal and for forming the first TX mixing signal to the TX mixer for mixing the first baseband TX signal into the first carrier frequency TX signal in the first transmitting frequency band, is characterized in that the transmitter/receiver comprises additionally PA1 the first conversion means for forming the second RX mixing signal from the first signal formed by said synthesizer means for mixing the signal which has been received in the second receiving frequency band to the second baseband RX signal and PA1 the second conversion means for forming the second TX mixing signal from the second signal formed by said synthesizer means for mixing the second baseband TX signal into the second carrier frequency signal in the second transmitting frequency band.
FIG. 2 shows a solution for the implementation of a transmitter/receiver which operates in two frequency bands. An RF signal received by the antenna is connected either to the DCS branch or to the GSM branch of the circuit via a switch 204. If a DCS frequency band signal is being received, the received signal is conducted to a band pass filter 206, to a low noise amplifier LNA 208 and to a band pass filter 210. Thereafter, components which are separated by a phase shift of 90 degrees are formed from the signal in block 212. The in-phase component I and the quadrature component Q are conducted further by switches 214 and 234 to mixers 216 and 236. A mixing signal for the mixers is obtained from a DCS synthesizer 240, the frequency of which corresponds to the received carrier frequency and then an in-phase and a quadrature component of a complex baseband signal are obtained as a result of this mixing process. The baseband signal is processed further in a processing unit of a received signal, which means an RX signal, block 239.
Similarly, when a GSM signal is being received, the switch 204 controls the received signal to the GSM branch in which there are, respectively connected in series, a band pass filter 226, a low noise amplifier 228, a band pass filter 230 and a phase shifter 232 which forms two signals which are separated by a phase difference of 90 degrees. The signals are conducted further, controlled by the switches 214 and 234, to the mixers 216 and 236 in which a signal selected by a switch 261 and obtained from a GSM synthesizer 250 is now used as mixing frequency. Signals obtained from the mixers are conducted further to the processing unit 239 of a baseband received signal, which means an RX signal.
The DCS synthesizer is formed, as known, from a phase locked loop PLL which comprises a voltage controlled oscillator VCO 241, the output signal of which is amplified by an amplifier 246 for forming an output signal. The frequency of a signal transmitted by the oscillator 241 is divided by an integer Y in a divider 242 and the resulting signal is conducted to a phase comparator 243. Similarly, the frequency of the signal formed by a reference oscillator 258 is divided by an integer X in a divider 244 and conducted to the phase comparator 243. The phase comparator produces a signal which is proportional to the phase difference of said two input signals and which has been conducted to a low pass filter LPF 245, and the filtered signal controls further the voltage controlled oscillator 241. The above described phase locked loop operates in a known manner so that the output frequency of the synthesizer becomes locked to the frequency which is led to the phase comparator from the reference frequency branch. The output frequency is controlled by changing the dividing number Y.
The GSM synthesizer 250 comprises respectively a voltage controlled oscillator 250, an amplifier 256, dividers 252 and 254, a phase comparator 253 and a low pass filter 255. The GSM synthesizer operates in a similar way as the above described DCS synthesizer but the output frequency of the GSM synthesizer corresponds to GSM frequency bands.
In the transmitting unit, the baseband complex transmitting signal, which means the TX signal, is processed in the processing unit of a TX signal and from there the in-phase and the quadrature component of the signal are conducted to mixers 262 and 282 in which a carrier frequency signal is formed by multiplying the input signal by the mixing signal. If the DCS frequency is used in the transmission, the output signal of the DCS synthesizer is selected via a switch 261 as a mixing signal. The carrier frequency signal is conducted via a switch 264 to the DCS branch in which a phase shift of 90 degrees is formed first between the in-phase component and the quadrature component, and after this, the received signals are summed, block 266. The formed DCS signal is conducted to a band pass filter 268, to an amplifier 270 and to a band pass filter 272. The formed RF signal is conducted further to an antenna 202 via a switch 280.
If the transmission takes place in the GSM frequency band, the output signal of the GSM synthesizer is used as the mixing signal. The received carrier frequency signal is conducted to the GSM branch in which a similar processing occurs as in the DCS branch in blocks 286, 288, 290 and 292. The formed RF signal is conducted to the antenna 202 via the switch 280. To permit the use of the same antenna 202 both in transmitting and in receiving, the transmitting and the receiving circuits have to be connected to the antenna, for example, via a Duplex filter as in the arrangement shown in FIG. 1. When operating in two frequency bands, filters are needed for each frequency band. Instead of the Duplex filter, also a synchronized antenna changeover switch can be used in a time-division system.
One disadvantage of the above described circuit arrangement is that it requires the use of two synthesizers, which increases considerably the complexity and the manufacturing costs of the transmitter/receiver.
Another problem connected to the above presented solution is achieving an adequate phase accuracy. The accuracy demand for the phase difference between the I and the Q components is only of a few degrees' magnitude. Since in conventional RC phase shifters, factors on which the phase shift depends include the frequency and the temperature of the components, it is difficult to achieve an adequate phase accuracy throughout the entire frequency band and in all operating conditions. In addition, operating in two frequency bands which are far from each other complicates the controlling of the phase accuracy.
One solution is to form signals in different phases of a higher oscillator frequency by dividing the signals in which case a better phase accuracy is achieved which is independent on the frequency. The disadvantage of this solution is, however, that when operating, for example, in the 2 GHz frequency band, one would need a synthesizer with an output frequency of 4 GHz which is such a high frequency value that the implementation of the synthesizer and the frequency dividers would become extremely complicated.

Transmitter/receiver for transmitting and receiving of an RF signal in two frequency bands


The present invention features low-temperature, self-encapsulated, copper interconnect lines on silicon substrates of Ultra-Large Scale Integration (ULSI) circuits. The interconnect lines are a product of a process that includes the following steps: (a) alloying the copper with titanium in an approximate 10 atomic weight percentage of titanium; (b) depositing a layer of the copper/titanium alloy upon a silicon dioxide/silicon substrate of a ULSI circuit; (c) patterning the copper/titanium layer to form interconnect lines on the substrate; (d) forming a titanium rich surface film on the copper interconnect lines by rapid heating of the copper/titanium interconnect lines at an approximate ramping rate of between 60.degree. and 80.degree. C./minute; and (e) nitriding the titanium rich surface of the interconnect lines in an ammonia atmosphere at low temperatures in an approximate range of between 450.degree. to 650.degree. C. for about 15 to 40 minutes, to form a titanium nitride encapsulating layer about said copper interconnect lines.

The fabrication of deep submicron Ultra-Large Scale Integrated (ULSI) circuits requires long interconnects having small contacts and small cross-sections. Copper is preferred over aluminum as the conductive element.
Many problems, however, are encountered in fabricating circuit interconnects with copper. Some of the major difficulties include: (a) the rapid diffusion of the copper to the silicon and silicon dioxide of the base; (b) the susceptibility of the copper to oxidize during interconnection fabrication; and (c) the poor adhesive characteristics of copper with dielectric films.
Barrier layers have been used to avoid the aforementioned problems. A layer of titanium nitride (TiN) has been suggested as a possible diffusion barrier due to its inert and conductive nature.
Although reactive sputtering is a common method of generating titanium nitride layers, this method provides very poor step coverage. In multi-level metallization processes utilizing copper, film conformality is critical. This is especially so for high aspect ratio contact, or with the use of holes.
Low Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition (LPCVD) can provide the titanium nitride films with conformality approaching 100%, as taught by U.S. Pat. No. 4,570,328, issued to Price et al. Unfortunately the titanium nitride film produced by this process has a high resistivity resulting from the residual chlorine within the film.
More recently, it has been proposed to provide a conductive and conformal barrier layer for the copper, by a self-encapsulating process. An anisotropic etching technique using molybdenum has been proposed to encapsulate the copper. D. Gardner et al, IEEE V-MIC, 99 (1991).
Still another proposed process suggests alloying the copper with titanium, and then annealing it in a nitrogen atmosphere at 800.degree. C. The high temperature annealing will chemically form a titanium nitride layer on the copper surface. K. Hosino et al, IEEE V-MIC, 226 (1989). This high temperature technique, however, is not practical for many applications.
The present invention is for a low temperature, self-encapsulating method of producing the copper interconnects in ULSI circuits.
The self-encapsulating process of the invention is characterized by three distinctive steps:
(a) alloying the copper with titanium for deposit as interconnect lines upon the substrate;
(b) after depositing the interconnect lines on the substrate, utilizing a fast heating rate to anneal the lines, so that surface diffusion dominates over internal nucleation, thus providing a surface rich in titanium; and
(c) utilizing an annealing ambient of ammonia below approximately 650.degree. C., to provide chemical formation of the titanium nitride film about the copper interconnect lines.
The critical step in the above-mentioned process is the heating rate of the copper/titanium alloy. The heating ramp which controls the quality of the resulting titanium nitride surface must be approximately between 60.degree. to 80.degree. C./minute, or higher.
The resulting titanium nitride film completely encapsulates the copper interconnect lines and exhibits good adhering properties to the copper. The encapsulating film also has resistance stability after in situ oxidation in air at 200.degree. C.

Process for fabricating copper interconnects in ultra large scale integrated (ULSI) circuits

International Business Machines, Corporation


A cutting tool includes a first and a second element having a handle in a first end and a cutting element in a second end. A spring element is arranged between the first and second element to move the handles away from each other, and an adjustment mechanism sets a maximum opening angle for the handles. The adjustment mechanism includes a groove in a side surface of the first element, an adjustment ring is arranged to a side surface of the second element, and a shaft which is rotatably arranged to protrude through a hole in the second element, a first end of the shaft engaging the engagement surface of the adjustment ring and a second end of the shaft having an eccentric part protruding into the groove in the first element.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a cutting tool, and more particularly to a solution for adjusting a maximum opening angle of the handles of a cutting tool.
2. Description of Prior Art
Previously there is known a cutting tool including a first and second element having a handle in a first end and a cutting element in a second end. The first and second elements are rotatably joined by a pivot such that when the handles are moved towards each other, also the cutting elements move towards each other in order to cut an object between the cutting elements.
In order to make it easier for the user to use the cutting tool, a spring is arranged between the first and second element to press the handles away from each other. Therefore once the user has pushed the handles towards each other to perform a cut, and then releases the handles, the spring pushes the handles apart from each other until they reach a maximum opening angle.
As a cutting tool may be utilized to cut objects of various sizes, it is advantageous to utilize an adjustment mechanism that allows the user to adjust the maximum opening angle. Such previously known mechanisms, however, require a lot of space in the cutting tool. Additionally, they are not very reliable.


A system, a method, and a computer program product for public exposed objects in packaged interfaces of business process applications are provided. A service provider of a service registers a public exposed object for use by a client of the service provider by identifying the public exposed object and associating a predetermined access protocol for accessing the registered public exposed object by the client. The registered public exposed object is accessible from the service provider only. The service provider provides the registered public exposed object to the client during a transaction. The client accesses the registered public exposed object using an identifier, an attribute, an access location of the registered public exposed object, and the predetermined access protocol.

Computing systems typically include a plurality of computers communicating via a computer network. The communication among computers can involve exchange of various information, data, instructions, commands, code and/or any other information. The computers can be interacting with one another to achieve some goal. An example of the computer network can be a World Wide Web.
The communication in the computer network can be governed by a particular software architecture. In case of the World Wide Web, such architecture can include Representational State Transfer ("REST") Web service design model, Simple Object Access Protocol ("SOAP") model, and/or any other models. REST can govern how the participants, e.g., origin servers, gateways, proxies and clients, of the computer network can behave. Clients can initiate requests to servers. Servers can process requests and return appropriate responses. Requests and responses can be built around a transfer of representations of resources. A resource can be any coherent and meaningful concept that may be addressed. A representation of a resource can be a document that captures the current or intended state of a resource. REST can facilitate a transaction between web servers by allowing loose coupling between different services. SOAP is a protocol specification for exchanging structured information in the implementation of Web Services in computer networks that relies on Extensible Markup Language ("XML") for its message format.


A mobile communication system and a method controls subscriber paging messages in a mobile communication system. The base stations of a mobile communication system are arranged according to their traffic load into paging groups with different priorities, so that base stations with a traffic load level lower than a predetermined threshold value have a higher priority in the selection of base stations for transmitting a paging message than base stations with a traffic load level higher than the threshold value. A paging message for a mobile station is first transmitted via the lightly loaded base stations of the location area of the mobile station.

The geographical area covered by a mobile communication system is divided into small radio cells in order to improve the utilization of frequencies. While in a cell, a mobile station communicates with the fixed network via the base station of the cell. Mobile stations can move freely from one cell to another within the system. An example of such a system is the digital mobile telephone system GSM. A mobile station is informed of incoming calls by transmitting via the cell base station a paging message to which the mobile station should respond. Since it is not reasonable to transmit the paging message via all the base stations of the entire system, the fixed network should know the location of the mobile station within a relatively small area. The fixed network typically knows the location of a mobile station within a larger area, generally called a location area, consisting of one or several cells. When the mobile station moves to a new location area, it is registered as a visiting subscriber in the subscriber database of the location area, i.e. in a visitor location register, and registration is simultaneously cancelled in the visitor location register of the previous location area. Furthermore, a mobile communication network usually comprises at least one centralized subscriber database, i.e. a home location register, which stores subscriber data permanently. When a new mobile station is registered in a visitor location register, the subscriber data concerning the subscriber of this mobile station is requested from the home location register, and the subscriber location data in the home location register is simultaneously updated, this data being maintained with an accuracy of a visitor location register. A visitor location register is usually integrated with a mobile services switching centre and it controls several location areas.
When the location of a mobile station is only known with an accuracy of a location area, the mobile station must be paged through all radio cells of the location area in order to establish an incoming call.
A basic problem of radio network planning is how to design base station equipment to correspond to the expected amount of telephone traffic within an area. The average amount of traffic in an area correlates to the average subscriber mobility and density in the same area. However, there may be great variation in the temporary subscriber mobility and subscriber distribution of an area depending on the time of the day.
Due to subscriber mobility, momentary overloading situations may arise at specific base stations, whereupon new calls cannot be established via these base stations. However, there may be base stations with a sufficient amount of free capacity in the same location area. In such a case, paging messages transmitted via overloaded base stations cause unnecessary signalling traffic between a base station and a mobile station in a situation where the base station cannot handle call establishment due to a lack of resources.

Subscriber paging control in a mobile communication system


Disclosed in the present application is a system for a storm water and traffic collector box culvert. The system may comprise a plurality of reinforced slabs with an upper slab that may be configured as a reinforced surface to collect storm water runoff. The plurality of slabs may be connected by a plurality of attachment mechanisms. Accordingly, the present system is directed to an environmentally friendly culvert design that can minimize the magnitude of earthworks required by traditional drainage systems while also providing increased drainage capabilities.

In many situations, urban infrastructure can negatively impact the living environment. For example, most modern infrastructure merely sits on top of the soil where the infrastructure is constructed. This continuously expanding soil covering can kill the surrounding natural environment. Without the runoff protection, offered by the natural environment, urban areas require expansive systems to compensate for the runoff associated with urban development. Thus, the conventional strategy is to design winding drainage systems, that while effective for capturing runoff, may become easily clogged due to the shape of the drainage system. Therefore, even minor rainstorms can turn into manmade floods that can lead to increased soil erosion and contamination of water and soil in the living environment. The extensive soil coverage in urban areas increases the need for these areas to rely more heavily on culverts and drainage systems.

Storm water and traffic collector box culvert


The invention relates to a wind turbine with internal transport devices which comprises: a power train including a generator (41) located in front of the rotor (15) and actuated directly by said rotor (15), a tower (11) and a supporting structure (13) mounted on the tower (11); the rotor (15), which is supported by a main non-rotating shaft (29) connected to the supporting structure (13) by means of at least one bearing, comprising a hub (17) and at least one blade; the generator rotor (45) being rigidly connected to the rotor hub (17) and the generator stator (43) being rigidly connected to the main shaft (29), the main shaft (29) being a hollow shaft which includes one or more transport devices, such as a device (61) for transporting hanging loads or a carriage (71) for making it easier to replace parts of the generator and/or to transport persons.

Wind turbines are devices that convert mechanical energy to electrical energy. A typical wind turbine includes a nacelle mounted on a tower housing a drive train for transmitting the rotation of a wind rotor to an electric generator and other components such as a yaw drive which rotates the wind turbine nacelle, several controllers and a brake. The wind rotor comprises a rotor hub supporting a number of blades extending radially therefrom for capturing the kinetic energy of the wind and causing the driving train rotational motion. The rotor blades have an aerodynamic shape such that when a wind blows across the surface of the blade, a lift force is generated causing the rotation of a shaft which is connected—directly or through a gearing arrangement—to the electrical generator. The amount of energy produced by wind turbines is dependent on the rotor blade sweeping surface that receives the power from the wind and consequently increasing the length of the blades leads normally to an increase of the power output of the wind turbine.
A variety of drive train configurations without gearbox are known in the art.
In one of these configurations, the tower is located between the rotor hub and the generator. One example of these configurations is disclosed in WO 01/94779 A1 in which the connecting arrangement between the rotor hub and the generator is a two-part axle supported by two bearing units. Another example is described in WO 02/33254 A1 in which the connecting arrangement between the rotor hub and the generator is a main shaft supported by means of two bearings arranged on a base at the top of the tower.
In another of these configurations, the generator, having a large-diameter rotor and stator, is located between the rotor hub and the tower and the connecting arrangement between the rotor hub and the generator is a hollow shaft supported by bearings on a tube member (interior to the hollow shaft) attached to the supporting frame of the wind turbine. One example of these configurations is described in US 2004/0108733 A1 in which the hollow shaft is supported by means of a single bearing which also carries moments on the tube member. This configuration is intended to reduce the size and the weight of the elements of the wind turbine which are to be mounted at the top of the tower but has the drawback of a costly maintenance in particular when the dismounting of components is needed.
DE 102004030929 B3 discloses another configuration having the generator placed upwind to the rotor. It is suggested that this configuration involves several advantages with respect to the configurations with the generator placed between the rotor hub and the tower such as, particularly, allowing the exchange of the generator without dismounting the wind rotor, reducing loads and lightening risks on the generator and facilitating the access to the rotor hub for maintenance purposes. It is not known however any commercial implementation because this configuration involves several problems.
One of them is that the replacement of small generator components such as fans or seals may require that service personnel has to access to the generator inside from the front side of the generator and thus also move the spare parts along this path. This means that service personnel has to climb on the outside of the wind rotor and generator rotor, an action that implies a number of problems and risks. The biggest risk is that personnel can fall down from the wind turbine, which has fatal consequences. Additionally the transfer of spare parts along this route is difficult.
This invention is intended to solve this problem.

Wind turbine having internal transportation devices specification identification


A method for planning left atrial appendage (LAA) occlusion for a patient includes obtaining acquisition data from a medical imaging system, and generating a 3D model of the left atrium of the patient. One or more left atrial anatomical landmarks are identified on the 3D model, and saved views of the 3D model are registered on an interventional system. One or more of the registered saved views are visualized with the interventional system.

The present disclosure relates generally to cardiac implant systems and, more particularly, to a cardiac imaging system and method for planning isolation of the left atrial appendage of the heart.
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is an arrhythmia in which the atria (upper chambers of the heart) stop contracting properly as they fibrillate, and is the most common of heart rhythm irregularities. It is estimated that over 2.2 million Americans have been diagnosed with AF, with over 140,000 new cases being diagnosed each year. Patients with AF have a high risk of stroke, and about 15 percent of all strokes occur in people with atrial fibrillation. Each year, about 600,000 Americans suffer a new or recurrent stroke. In 1991, the Framingham study showed that a diagnosis of AF increased the risk of stroke 3 to 5 times higher, rising from 1.5% in the fifth decade of life to over 23% by the eighth decade.
More specifically, previous studies indicate that more than 90 percent of nonrheumatic AF-related strokes result from a blood clot that forms in the left atrial appendage (LAA), a small, thumb-shaped pouch in the heart's left upper chamber. Such clots can block a blood vessel leading to the brain, thereby causing a stroke. Several large randomized trials have shown the efficacy of warfarin, a blood thinner, in reducing the risk of stroke. In clinical practice, however, in over 40 percent of patients the drug is contraindicated or cannot be used because of the side effects, such as bleeding. Another approach to treating AF is a surgical intervention, such as the Maze procedure, in which strategic placement of incisions in both atria stops the formation and the conduction of errant electrical impulses. The maze procedure channels the normal electrical impulse to travel in one direction from the top of the heart to the bottom by producing a scar tissue that permanently blocks the travel routes of the electrical impulses that cause AF, thus eradicating the arrhythmia. In such procedures, the LAA is routinely removed, as recommended in the American College of Cardiology-American Heart Association guidelines.
Recently, in order to provide still an alternative strategy for preventing stroke, minimally invasive techniques involving deliberate occlusion of the LM are being implemented. In particular, a catheter is used to place a blocking device at the mouth of the LAA. The blocking device is a self-expanding metal cage of nitinol that pops open as the metal warms up inside the body. The cage is covered with a membrane, which blocks the atrial appendage and allows normal tissue to grow into the device. In one study of this procedure, called PLAATO (percutaneous left atrial appendage transcatheter occlusion), the patients' implants ranged in diameter from 18 to 32 millimeters with the average procedure time being 92.7 minutes. However, in 25% of those patients, the initial device was removed and replaced with one of a different size. As such, there is a need for an improved system and method for determining an effective roadmap for LAA anatomy and, where appropriate, a roadmap for effective LAA isolation and/or occlusion.

Cardiac CT system and method for planning left atrial appendage isolation

GE Medical Systems Global Technology Company, LLC


Methods, articles, signals, and systems are provided for providing email message originators and distributors with default control over message removal at a message recipient""s location, regardless of whether the message has been opened. For instance, a self-removing message is designated as such by the message""s originator, and a self-removal enhancement is added to conventional message content before the message is transmitted over a computer network toward one or more recipients. At the recipient""s location, the message is automatically deleted without additional effort by the recipient, before or after being displayed, according to the originator""s instructions unless they are overridden by the recipient. ISPs and other message distributors may identify messages that should be self-removing, and make them self-removing if they are not. Thus, the burden of removing unsolicited email messages is transferred from recipients to the system and the message""s originators and/or to ISPs and other email distributors. Security of messages may also be enhanced.

The present invention relates to the technical goal of facilitating the use of email (electronic mail) and similar broadcast or targeted transmission mechanisms by automatically deleting information copies after their receipt.
Email is a very useful tool for promoting communication between people who are separated by distance, by different working hours, or both. However, email is sometimes inconvenient for recipients. This hinders the use of email as a mechanism for broad-casting information to many people and/or transmitting information to one or a few specific targets.
Email creates annoyances which have not been fully addressed. One common source of annoyance is xe2x80x9cspamxe2x80x9d email, namely, unsolicited email sent to multiple recipients. Unlike passive advertising, such as pop-up and banner ads on websites, and ads in more traditional print, radio, or television media, xe2x80x9cspamxe2x80x9d email seeks out its audience, and thrusts itself into the viewer""s field of attention without being invited. This can be very annoying because it interrupts other activities, consumes system resources, and perhaps most importantly, requires active efforts by recipients who want to dispose of these unwanted messages. An email recipient may delete unwanted messages manually by using an email Delete command in an email client (e.g., a desktop application program, or web mail pages in a web browser), by dragging the messages in question to a trash can, or by similar steps.
Some email systems provide filters that detect at least some incoming unsolicited email and either deletes it or, more typically, places it in a directory or folder reserved for such messages. But filters sometimes err, either by characterizing as unsolicited email a message that is not, or by failing to detect unsolicited email and letting it through with the normal correspondence from familiar senders. Thus, it would be helpful to provide some alternate or additional means for disposing of unsolicited email.
Some unsolicited email includes a statement that sending a reply with xe2x80x9cREMOVExe2x80x9d in the subject field will remove the recipient from the mailing list. It has been alleged, however, that any reply to some such unsolicited email will simply confirm that the address to which the unsolicited mail was sent is xe2x80x9cgoodxe2x80x9d (meaning someone actually looked at the unsolicited email) and that a reply asking to be removed from the mailing list may therefore have an effect opposite from the intended effect. If this is so, then only addresses from which no reply is received would have a chance of being removed from the list.
Moreover, even some mail which is unsolicited is of interest to the recipient only for a limited time. For instance, the fact that a recipient has voluntarily subscribed to an electronic newsletter, a news service, or a listserv list does not necessarily mean that the recipient wants to keep every message from that subscription after reading it. Indeed, despite having subscribed to the service, the recipient may not even want to read each and every message from the subscription service.
Television and radio xe2x80x9cspotsxe2x80x9d which broadcast an advertisement without taking up storage space on the receiver (televisions and radios generally lack permanent storage such as hard disks) are known, although this characterization of them as not requiring recipient storage resources and proactive deletion by the recipient may be new.
Accordingly, it would be an advancement to provide an improved approach to email and similar messaging which moves the email message disposal burden off the shoulders of the recipient. In particular and without limitation, it would be an advance to make public notices and news sent through email less onerous to recipients, and likewise to make email advertisements (including without limitation coupons, contact information, descriptions of goods and/or services, comparisons, and promotional materials) available to multiple recipients without requiring that recipients affirmatively remove unwanted advertisements from their computer systems or create a reply message having REMOVE or another keyword in the subject, to indicate their lack of interest in the subject matter being advertised.
Such approaches for improved email messaging are disclosed and claimed herein.
The present invention relates to methods, articles, signals, and systems for self-removing email messages. Self-removal of email (or other transmitted digital information presentations) can provide at least two advantages. First, self-removing email can be used to enhance the security of a system by reducing the number of message copies and the life span of those copies. Second, self-removing email can be used to reduce the inconvenience of unsolicited email by making it possible for officials, advertisers, and other broadcast email originators to present messages that do not have to be manually removed by the target audience. A given method, article, signal, or system may use self-removing email to enhance message security, to reduce recipient annoyance, or both.
In some embodiments, self-removing email messages are encrypted with conventional tools and techniques. To further enhance security, a message is closely coupled to executable code which reduces the number of copies of the message. Some versions of the code allow any given copy of the message to be viewed at most once.
In some embodiments, self-removing email messages contain advertisements, but the invention may also be used to broadcast or otherwise transmit self-removing email messages which contain other materials that, at least by default, are not stored long-term on the recipient""s hard disk or on other intervening nodes (the self-removal action may sometimes be expressly overridden). For instance, news items, confidential materials, and other materials directed to a limited audience such as public notices (changes in the law, election results, tax auction notices, public hearing announcements, and so on), private club notices, and materials intended for mature audiences, may also be transmitted in self-removing email messages.
Unlike traditional email, self-removing email places the burden of selecting messages for removal and then removing them on the software and on the message originator, instead of on the message recipient. xe2x80x9cSpamxe2x80x9d advertising methods become much less onerous to recipients if the email carrying the advertisements is as effortlessly ephemeral (from the recipient""s point of view) as a television or radio commercial. Other aspects and advantages of the present invention will become more fully apparent through the following description.

Self-removing email verified or designated as such by a message distributor for the convenience of a recipient


A method and apparatus for person identification by a smart device, wherein the method comprises: establishing a registration information base that corresponds to the new user, and completing registration information base that corresponds to each valid user, and the registration information base comprises a name, a characteristic and person relation structure data, and the person relation structure data record each person relation appellation and respective person name; receiving an interaction command inputted by a current user, and collecting characteristic information of the current user; searching the registration information base of each valid user, judging whether a valid user that matches the characteristic information exists, and if yes, determining the user name of the current user; searching the registration information base that corresponds to the determined user name, and identifying a corresponding target person.

Along with the development of artificial intelligence technique, increasingly more electronic devices have some personated settings. For new household consumer type electronic devices, usually one device may be registered with or personatedly know a plurality of users. However, in the prior art, the smart devices cannot understand the person relation between the registered users, and cannot intelligently identify the identity of the currently interacting user, which has poor user's experience.

Method and apparatus for person identification by a smart device


A slide rail assembly includes a first rail having a guiding portion, a second rail, a third rail having a hook portion, and an actuating member movably connecting to the second rail and having a contact portion. When the third rail is pulled with respect to the first rail with the contact portion engaging with the hook portion, the second rail synchronously moves along with the third rail to be moved to a predetermined position with respect to the first rail, and consequently, the actuating member rotates by an angle by guiding means of the guiding portion of the first rail to disengage the contact portion of the actuating member from the hook portion of the third rail.

Generally speaking, a server chassis is mounted on a rack by means of a pair of slide rail assemblies in server systems. The slide rail assembly is usually in a form constituted by two or three sections of rails to carry the server chassis. The difference is that three-section rails have longer extension lengths to meet actual specific requirements.
Among the technologies of three-section rails, the engagement between rails or the synchronous movement between rails along an extending direction has been common developed technologies, which also means that such related technologies have already become specific operational and commercial requirements. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,413,269 B2 and 6,997,529 B1 disclosed the engagement between engaging blocks and engaging holes (or engaging grooves) to ensure the positioning between rails and the synchronous movement.


Variable-gain amplifiers (VGAs) and/or continuous-time filters (CTFS) are implemented with circuitry that provides improved power-supply rejection. The power-supply rejection circuitry may include a current source and a diode-connected MOSFET that inhibit noise in the reference-voltage power supply from reaching the output nodes of the VGA or CTF. Although the present invention enables separate implementations of VGAs and CTFs, in one embodiment, a VGA function and a CTF function are implemented in a single set of (e.g., integrated) circuitry.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electrical signal processing, and, in particular, to circuitry that provides a variable-gain amplifier (VGA) function and/or a continuous-time filter (CTF) function.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 shows a schematic circuit diagram of a prior-art MOSFET open-loop variable-gain amplifier (VGA) 100. VGA 100 has two equivalent, differential transistor pairs M6, M7 and M8, M9 connected, on the drain side, to two equivalent transconductance load devices M4 and M5 and, on the source side, to two current sinks 102 and 104. The differential input signal VIP, VIN is applied to the gates of the differential transistor pairs, while the differential output signal VOP, VON is presented at the drains of the differential transistor pairs. In particular, VIP is applied to the gates of M6 and M9, VIN is applied to the gates of M7 and M8, VOP is presented at a node shared by the drains of M7 and M9, and VON is presented at a node shared by the drains of M6 and M8.
Each transconductance load device is a MOSFET whose source is connected to the drain of one of the transistors in each differential pair and whose source and gate are both connected to reference voltage VDD. In particular, the source of M4 is connected to the drains of M6 and M8, while the source of M5 is connected to the drains of M7 and M9.
Each current sink is connected between the sources of both transistors in one of the differential pairs and reference voltage VSS (e.g., ground). In particular, current sink 102 is connected to a node shared by the sources of M6 and M7, while current sink 104 is connected to a node shared by the sources of M8 and M9. The current through current sink 104 is Ineg, while the current through current sink 102 is Itotal-Ineg.
To achieve log-linear gain adjustment using VGA 100, the current Ineg is adjusted in a linear fashion (keeping Itotal constant), providing near exponential gain control. A single pole ωp at the output nodes is given by Equation (1) as follows:
                              ω          p                =                              g            mload                                C            l                                              (        1        )            where gmload is the output transconductance due to the load devices, and C1 is the sum of all parasitic capacitances at the output node VON.
As indicated by Equation (1), the bandwidth of VGA 100 is limited by the output transconductance and load capacitance. In addition, common-mode and power-supply rejection are limited by the direct connection of the gain terminals of transconductors M4 and M5 to the power supply or voltage reference VDD.

Rejection circuitry for variable-gain amplifiers and continuous-time filters


The present disclosure relates to systems, non-transitory computer-readable media, and methods for dynamically updating the connection pool for a web server without any interruption to the resource. In particular, in one or more embodiments, the disclosed systems can continuously monitor load data for various web servers. Further, the disclosed systems can utilize load data, historical load data, and/or user settings to predict a number of connections over a future time period and can determine an updated connection pool size for a web server based on that predicted number of connections. The disclosed systems can also dynamically modify the connection pool size for the web server based on the updated connection pool size without interrupting the resource or any of its ongoing connections in any way.

Recent years have seen significant improvements in the field of online resource management. Due to various advances, conventional online resource management systems are now able to service large numbers of connections at web servers. Conventional systems can utilize a configuration file to initialize settings for a web server. More specifically, conventional systems can utilize a configuration file to allot a number of allocated connections available for a web server at the time that the connections are initialized. Further, conventional systems are able to modify settings for web servers by taking the web server offline and manually modifying the configuration file. Then, when conventional systems re-start the web server, the updated settings are in effect.

Dynamic resizing of webserver connection pool size


The invention is a novel manufacturing method for making multi-junction solar cell circuits that addresses current problems associated with such circuits by allowing the formation of integral diodes in the cells and allows for a large number of circuits to readily be placed on a single silicon wafer substrate. The standard Ge wafer used as the base for multi-junction solar cells is replaced with a thinner layer of Ge or a II-V semiconductor material on a silicon/silicon dioxide substrate. This allows high-voltage cells with multiple multi-junction circuits to be manufactured on a single wafer, resulting in less array assembly mass and simplified power management.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to an improved method of manufacturing solar cells that results in an improved solar cells and solar cell arrays, more specifically to manufacturing multiple junction solar cell circuits on a single wafer, and most specifically to manufacturing multiple solar cells in series on a single wafer.
2. Description of the Related Art
Current multi-junction solar cell circuits for space missions employ Ge, GeAs, and/or InP wafer substrates sectioned from single crystal ingots. An alternative method of manufacture of such substrates is to grow the Ge, GeAs, or InP directly on silicon wafers (through a lattice mismatch process) by growing gradient that slowly matches the silicon lattice to the Ge, GeAs, or InP lattice. In order to promote such growth, relatively high temperatures, of between about 425° C. and 900° C., are required, depending upon the chemical compound being grown.
State of the art solar cells are triple junction solar cells, comprising three full junction layers manufactured on single crystal Ge wafers, that require by-pass diodes between each triple junction cell when assembled in series to prevent damage in case of shadowing. After the triple junction solar cells are formed an out-of-plane stress relief loop is arranged between each of the contacts/conductors interconnection on the cells.
In using this technique for manufacture, non-isolated multi-junction solar cells are manufactured on each Ge wafer. The solar cells are subsequently diced into single isolated cells. This is necessary due to the fact that the cells are connected in parallel on the wafer. End user of this technology generally require high voltage arrays resulting in the cells being connected in series, with by-pass diodes. These interconnects (for arranging the cell circuits in series to form a cell array) require a stress-relief loop as well as the diodes placement on or near the cells make arranging multiple cell circuits on a single Ge wafer problematic.
While multi-junction solar cells manufactured using the above described technique have a relatively high efficiency related to commercial, single junction solar cells, several problems related for use in space missions exist.
First, when arranging the cells into a cell array, a large surface area is required due to the economics (cost) of handling parts on a production line. Second, due to the potentially large differential in voltage across an array between cells, there is a tendency for arcing to occur when the arrays are exposed to a space environment. Third, each wafer, having only one solar cell circuit, can only produce voltages of about 2 volts.
Therefore, it is desired to provide a solar cell circuit using a manufacturing technique that will allow for multiple multi-junction circuits to be placed on one lightweight silicon wafer, producing a high voltage, and obviating the potential for arcing across a solar cell circuit array.

Solar cell circuit and method for manufacturing solar cells

The United States of America as represented by the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration


A method for modifying a user session lifecycle is provided. The method may include verifying a user session on a cloud service provider is valid. The method may also include monitoring a plurality of user behaviors exhibited during the verified user session. The method may further include determining a plurality of session data within an identity provider should be updated based on the monitored plurality of user behaviors and a policy within a database. The method may also include modifying the determined plurality of session data.

The present invention relates, generally, to the field of computing, and more particularly to information security.
In information technology, information security is vital to the structure of a network. Information security may relate to the process of protecting information from unauthorized users or entities. To assist in providing information security, cloud access security brokers may be utilized as cloud-based security policy enforcement tools that consolidate various types of security policy enforcement, such as authentication, single sign-on, and credential mapping.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Modifying a user session lifecycle in a cloud broker environment


The invention provides a gimbal support apparatus to support tools or other payloads for use during performance of tasks using those payloads. The payload can be selectively biased to achieve an optimum position for performance of the task. The gimbal support apparatus comprises rotationally connected gimbal arms that can be adjusted with respect to one another and to an equipoising support arm to attain the selected payload bias.

In many industrial, business and medical environments, workers are required to repetitively lift, position and orient tools and objects of significant weight, and deploy them anywhere within the reach of their arms, from low to overhead to extending out in front. The resulting stresses, particularly from overhead usages, or near-full extension of the arm, are a common cause of work-related shoulder and forearm injuries.
Ergonomic equipment supports are known in the art, including 'tool balancers' that suspend tools on wires from retractable reels, and articulated support arms that work in conjunction with two or three-axis gimbal attachments to provide angular freedom between the arm and the supported equipment. These support systems typically require the tool to be supported at its center of gravity. This can be a challenge because the center-of-gravity of a given tool is often located within a non-cylindrical section of the tool body, which may inhibit the installation of a gimbal bearing assembly of appropriate size. Also, it may be desirable for the various gimbal axes of rotation not to converge at the center-of-balance of a given tool, if the use of such tool would be facilitated by non-neutral balance, for example, by the tool hanging 'at rest' at a particular angle that helps accomplish the task.
Further, the existence of large-diameter gimbal rings may obstruct or inhibit the use of certain tools by blocking the operator's hands or sight-lines. In fact some tools have such limited and particular mounting opportunities (such as appropriate handles, bosses, brackets, etc.) that no concentric gimbal rings can usefully be attached.
It would therefore, be advantageous to provide an apparatus to selectively bias the 'resting' angle of a gimbaled tool to suit the user's preference, and further to include adjustable motion inhibiting devices such as friction components rotation stops, and pinch-point protection.
Accordingly, there is a need for a versatile, ergonomic, and angularly agile gimballed tool support system, which can accommodate tools of various sizes, shapes, configurations and internal distributions of mass, as well as varying operator access constraints, and which can preferably be simply, rapidly and accurately set up at the workplace.


Disclosed are novel species of cellulose acetate butyrates and propionates that have significant surface activity. The cellulose acetate butyrate/propionate contains 9-16 wt. % butyryl or propionyl, 6-11 wt. % acetyl, and 12-15 wt. % hydroxyl.

It is well known in the art that cellulose acetate with low degree of substitution have high affinity for water. C. J. Malm (British Patent 356,012 (1929)) disclosed the preparation of cellulose monoacetate by the sulfuric acid-catalyzed hydrolysis of cellulose triacetate in aqueous sulfuric acid. The product, having a DS of 0.6-0.8 acetyls (DS=number of substituents per anhydroglucose ring), was soluble in water. This process included long reaction times, and the necessity for continuous or sequential addition of water to maintain reaction rates, resulting in a dilute reaction mixture and difficulties in recovery of by-product acetic acid. Additionally, the sulfuric acid catalyst promotes rapid degradation of the molecular weight of the polymer.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,836,590 (1958) H. W. Turner discloses high temperature (>180.degree. C.) alcoholysis of cellulose acetate without the use of catalysts. At the temperatures disclosed by Turner, cleavage of the 1,4-glycosidic linkages of the cellulose ester backbone competes with the desired deacylation.
Russian workers studied the partial hydrolytic elimination of ester groups from cellulose acetate butyrate in acetic acid/water (78% acid) for the purpose of chemically crosslinking these materials with dimethylolethyleneurea. The cellulose acetate butyrate was hydrolyzed to a DS of 1.5 butyryl with no acetyl present. [Vasil'eva, G. G. and Petropavlovskii, G. A., Zhurnal Prikladnoi Khimii, 49, (pp. 622-26 Eng. Trans.) (1976)].
A reference to foaming tendency of benzene solutions of cellulose esters of the higher fatty acids (lauryl, dipalmityl, tripalmityl, and tristearyl cellulose) indicated that the surface tension of these solutions was not responsible for foam formation. [Lee, J. Soc. Chem Ind. Japan 40, Suppl. binding 459 (1937)].
Heretofore, cellulose acetate butyrates and cellulose acetate propionates that have significant surface activity and that form stable foams in aqueous systems have been unknown.


A circuit for generating a reference current, comprising a positive feedback loop, a negative feedback loop, and a floating current mirror coupled to the positive feedback loop. The negative feedback loop may operate to divert current directly from the floating mirror, and may also operate to divert current from the floating mirror by using a voltage follower. The circuit may operate with a minimum supply voltage of approximately the sum of the threshold voltage of a transistor plus three drain saturation voltages, in one example.

Current references are used in many electronic circuits to provide a steady known current as a reference to another circuit. For low power applications, low power current references are desirable as reduced power consumption results in longer operation time for battery powered devices. This is particularly important in mobile applications such as mobile computing, mobile telephony, and mobile gaming.
FIG. 1 shows a conventional implementation of a current reference circuit 30. This implementation comprises positive and negative feedback loops for generating the current reference. The positive feedback loop grows (i.e. amplifies) the current in the load resistor RL. The negative feedback loop keeps the load resistor voltage at approximately VTHN, which is the threshold voltage of an N-type transistor.
In FIG. 1, transistors M2, M4 and M5 and the load resistor comprise the positive feedback loop. For example, if the load resistor current rises, transistor M5 mirrors the current increase to transistor M4, causing an increase in the gate voltage of transistor M2 (shown as signal nn). This raises the load resistor voltage and causes a further increase in current. The positive feedback loop grows the load resistor current until restrained by the negative feedback loop. As such, the positive loop gain must be greater than one, or the loop current will never grow to the reference current. In addition, if the negative feedback loop has less gain than the positive feedback loop, the load resistor current will grow without bound (until the load resistor approaches the supply voltage).
In FIG. 1, the negative feedback loop comprises the load resistor, transistor M1, and transistor M2. For example, if the current through the load resistor rises, so does the gate-source voltage of transistor M1 (shown as the signal nbias). This causes transistor M1 to draw more current, pulling down the gate voltage of transistor M2 (signal nn) and, in turn, reducing the voltage and current across the load resistor.
At the circuit's primary operating point, the load resistor operates with the gate source voltage of transistor M1 across it. If transistor M1 is sufficiently large, the current through the load resistor will be approximately VTHN (the threshold voltage of the N type transistor) divided by R (the load resistor), i.e. current equals (VTHN/R).
As this is a self-generating current reference, this circuit also has a second stable operating point with no current flowing. A conventional startup circuit is required to ensure that the current flows in the circuit to put the circuit of FIG. 1 in the operating point where current is flowing.
In the circuit 30 of FIG. 1, the minimum supply voltage at which this circuit will operate can be characterized by:VPWR(minimum supply voltage)=2*VTH+3*VDSAT
As recognized by the present inventors, a disadvantage of conventional circuits such as the circuit 30 of FIG. 1 is the high supply voltage required. In FIG. 1, the minimum supply voltage may be defined by one of two paths in the circuit. No matter which path requires the larger minimum VPWR, shown in Equations 1 and 2, both paths require greater than two MOSFET voltage thresholds. This is a significant voltage level since, as CMOS processes shrink, the maximum supply voltages are shrinking faster than the MOSFET thresholds such that some of the most recent CMOS processes have supply voltages that are little more than two thresholds. Since gate overdrive or saturation voltages (VDSAT) of 100 mV or more are required to keep MOSFET transistors well in saturation, there is often less supply voltage range available than the conventional circuit requires to function.VPWR−MIN(1)=2VTHN−1,2+3VDSAT−1,2,4  (1)VPWR−MIN(2)=VTHN−1+VTHP−5+3VDSAT−1,2,5  (2)
Accordingly, as recognized by the present inventors, what is needed is a circuit and method for providing a current reference capable of operating with a reduced supply voltage. It is against this background that embodiments of the present invention were developed.

Circuit and method for implementing a low supply voltage current reference


A lock unit of an electric locking device comprises a lock housing, a keeper, an inhibitor and a latch bolt. A second end of the latch bolt is positioned outwardly and cooperates with the inhibitor when in a locked orientation. The keeper includes a keeper shaft having a shaft axis of rotation, wherein said keeper is rotatable about said keeper shaft between first and second rotational positions, wherein the keeper is movable between first and second directional positions relative to the lock housing, wherein the movement between the first and second directional positions is generally linear, wherein when the keeper is held in the first rotational position and the first directional position by the inhibitor, the door is secured to the door frame, and wherein when the keeper is in the second rotational position and the second directional position, the door is allowed to move away from said door frame.

Electromagnetic door locking devices are widely used in diverse electronic door applications. These locks typically use electromagnets attached to the door frame in conjunction with a ferromagnetic strike plate attached to the door, to hold the door firmly closed. When the electromagnet is energized and is in contact with the strike plate, the strike plate becomes an armature for the electromagnet, thus providing a mechanism for locking the door to the frame.
However, there may be some circumstances where a strike plate cannot be mounted onto a door, or such a fixture would be unseemly. One such circumstance would be glass panel doors. Typically, when mounting a strike plate to a door, one or more fasteners are passed through holes within the door. However, if the door is a glass panel, any holes drilled therethrough for fasteners would weaken the integrity of the glass making it susceptible to breakage should sufficient force be applied to the panel. Moreover, a mounted strike plate may disrupt the decorative aesthetic in which the glass door is situated.
Thus, what is needed in the art is an electric locking device, which may be used with glass panel doors that provides desired locking properties without comprising panel integrity or requiring mounting of a strike plate to the door panel.
What is also needed in the art is a latch assembly for an electric locking device that may be interchangeably used within locking systems designed for bi-directional swing doors, inswing doors and sliding doors.
It is the principal object of the present invention to provide these and other needs.


The present application provides an electroluminescent material, a method for manufacturing the electroluminescent material, and a light emitting device, the asymmetric monocyanopyrazine of the pyrene nucleus of the electroluminescent material is used as an acceptor, and the pyrene nucleus has a large plane and rigid P-type delayed fluorescence characteristic, which can combine triplet excitons via triplet excitons-triplet excitons to enhance utilization of excitons, thereby to achieve an electroluminescent material, a method for manufacturing the electroluminescent material, and a light emitting device, to realize an electroluminescent material and a light emitting device with a high quantum efficiency.

The present application relates to a lighting field, and particularly to an electroluminescent material, a method for manufacturing the electroluminescent material, and a light emitting device.
In prior art, for thermal activated delay fluorescent (TADF) materials, a small ΔEST and a high photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) are necessary conditions for manufacturing organic lighting-emitting diodes (OLED) with high efficiency. Currently, TADF materials with green light and sky blue light have achieved external quantum efficiency (EQE) of more than 30%, but TADF materials with red light and deep red light cannot achieve excellent device performances due to the energy gap law. It is necessary to provide a highly efficient electroluminescent material capable of emitting deep red light, a method for manufacturing the electroluminescent material, and a light emitting device.

Electroluminescent material, method for manufacturing same, and light emitting device

Wuhan China Star Optoelectronics Semiconductor Display Technology Co., Ltd.


A computer implemented method for sending context information between programs, the method including: displaying a graphical user interface including a plurality of selectable application icons; receiving a simultaneous selection of a first icon and a second icon from the plurality of selectable application icons; launching a first program associated with the first icon; launching a second program associated with the second icon; and sending context information between the first program and the second program.

An application or program can provide many functionalities to a user of a computing device. The functionalities of an application or program are accessible through, for example, a menu or other options within the application. However, applications are generally self-contained. Furthermore, the pages, menu options or content of an application are statically organized. A user therefore has to browse through menu options whenever they want to perform a specific action, reach specific content or see a particular application page.
Improved functionality of an application can be achieved by improving the performance of tasks or functions within said program or application.

Performing a context-dependent task in a program


Recloser apparatuses, methods and systems are disclosed. In one embodiment a recloser includes a vacuum interrupter coupled with first and second electrical terminals. A driving structure is coupled with the vacuum interrupter. An electromagnetic actuator is coupled with the driving structure and is moveable to a first position to open the vacuum interrupter and to a second position to close the vacuum interrupter. A mechanical opening/closing mechanism includes a handle and a mechanical connection driving structure. The handle is moveable to move the vacuum interrupter to the first position and the second position. A control circuit is provided in communication with the electromagnetic actuator and is operable to actuate the electromagnetic actuator to move the vacuum interrupter between the first position and the second position.

The present disclosure relates to recloser devices for power distribution systems. Electrical power distribution systems may include recloser devices configured to interrupt current transmission upon the occurrence and/or detection of certain conditions or events, including, for example, detection of a fault current, and to thereafter attempt to automatically reclose the circuit by operating an electromagnetic actuator. The operation of electromagnetically actuated reclosers is dependent on the availability of electrical energy. For example, operation of electromagnet actuators typically involves electrical energy being applied to the actuator that facilitates the opening and/or closing of the current interrupter of the recloser. In at least certain situations, the electrical energy applied to the electromagnetic actuator can be provided by one or more electrical storage devices of the recloser. When primary power is flowing through the recloser, a portion of the supplied primary power can be harvested and stored in capacitors, batteries or other electrical energy storing devices or components of the recloser. Accordingly, in the event that the recloser has been opened, electrical energy stored by the electrical storage devices can be applied to the recloser so that the recloser can be operated to return the recloser, at least momentarily, to the closed position. However, at least in certain situations, the recloser and associated electronics can cease to receive a supply of primary electrical power for relatively prolonged periods of time. Such unavailability of primary power can result in stored electrical power that was used by the recloser not being replenished, and/or the dissipation of at least a portion of the stored electrical power. The stored electrical power, if any, can thus become insufficient to effectuate operation of the recloser, which can result in the recloser remaining in the open position.

Mechanical closing of a current interrupter


A stretchable display panel, a method for compensating a threshold voltage of a transistor in the stretchable display panel, and a computer readable storage medium. The stretchable display panel includes: a base substrate; a transistor on the base substrate, the transistor includes a gate electrode layer and an active layer that are at least partially stacked; and a voltage compensation layer, the voltage compensation layer is located between the transistor and the base substrate, wherein the voltage compensation layer is applied with a compensation voltage that depends on a stretching amount of the stretchable display panel.

In OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) display panels, more and more flexible designs are expected to meet various requirements. For example, it is hoped that display panels may be stretched to a certain extent. In order to meet such a requirement, a stretchable display panel may need some anti-fracture design in its mechanical structure. However, researches and special designs of electrical properties of the stretchable display panel in a stretched state are still insufficient.

Stretchable display panel, method for compensating threshold voltage of transistor and computer readable storage medium