The capacitance between the gate electrode film and the drain layer of semiconductor device is reduced while keeping the resistance low, with the breakdown voltage of the gate insulating film also being maintained at a sufficient level. A trench 10 is formed with the bottom of the trench at a comparatively shallow position in an N-epitaxial layer 18. The thickness of a bottom surface part 16 of a gate electrode film 11 is formed so as to be thicker than other parts of the gate electrode film 11. Also, when a P type body layer 19 is formed, an interface between the P type body layer 19 and an N-epitaxial layer 18 is located at a deeper position than a bottom end of the gate electrode film 11.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and a method of manufacturing the same. In particular, the present invention relates to a semiconductor device with a trench gate power MOSFET construction that is used in a power supply circuit or the like, and to a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Background Art
Trench gate power MOSFETs have been widely used in recent years in a variety of power supply apparatuses, such as DC-DC converters. FIGS. 51A and 51B show one example of a semiconductor device that has a trench gate power MOSFET construction according to the background art, with FIG. 51A being an overhead view of the semiconductor device and FIG. 51B being a cross-sectional view taken along the line A-A in FIG. 51A. In these drawings, numerals 100a to 100e are cells, numeral 110 is a trench, numeral 111 is a gate electrode film, numeral 117 is an N+ type silicon substrate, numeral 118 is an N− epitaxial layer, numeral 119 is a P type body layer, numeral 120 is a P+type diffusion region, numeral 121 is an N+type source region, numeral 122 is an interlayer dielectric, numeral 124 is a source electrode film, numeral 125 is a drain electrode film, numeral 127 is a gate insulating film, and numeral 141 is an upper insulating film.
As shown by the cells 100a to 100e in FIG. 51A, the present semiconductor device is formed with a large number of cells that are arranged in a hound's-tooth check-like pattern on the surface of the semiconductor device. As shown by cell 100a, for example, each cell is formed with an N+type source region 121 surrounding a P+type diffusion region.
As shown in FIG. 51B, the cross-sectional form of the present semiconductor device is such that an N− epitaxial layer 118 is formed on top of an N+ type silicon substrate 117, with a P type body layer 119 being formed on top of the N− epitaxial layer 118. P+type diffusion regions 120 and N+type source regions 121 are formed in this P type body layer 119. Trenches 110 that pass through the P type body layer 119 and are deep enough to reach into the N− epitaxial layer 118 are also formed between the cells 100a to 100e.
The trenches 110 provide an opening to the P type body layer 119 and reach into the N− epitaxial layer 118. A gate insulating film 127 is formed on the side surfaces and bottom surfaces of these trenches 110, with a gate electrode film 111 being formed in the spaces surrounded by the gate insulating film 127. An upper insulating film 141 is formed on top of the gate insulating film 127 and the gate electrode film 111. An interlayer dielectric 122 is also formed on top of the upper insulating film 141 and parts of the N+type source region 121.
A source electrode film 124 is formed on top of the P+type diffusion region 120, the N+ type source region 121, and the interlayer dielectric 122. A drain electrode film 125 is also formed on the other surface of the N+ type silicon substrate 117.
In a semiconductor device of the above construction, when a voltage is applied between the source electrode film 124 and the drain electrode film 125 and a voltage that is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold voltage is simultaneously applied between the gate electrode film 111 and the source electrode film 124, an inversion layer is formed in the P type body layer 119 in a boundary region adjacent to the gate insulating film 127, thereby creating a channel. As a result, an electric current flows through this channel from the drain electrode film 125 to the source electrode film 124.
On the other hand, with a semiconductor device of the above construction, the trenches 110 have to be deeply formed in order to make the bottom parts of the gate insulating film 127 thicker than the other parts and so ensure that a suitable breakdown voltage is achieved for the gate insulating film 127. For this purpose, as shown in FIG. 51B, the trenches 110 are produced with a large depth D so as to provide sufficient space for making the bottom parts of the gate insulating film 127 thick. If the trenches 110 are deeply formed, an increase can be made in the area of the outer surface of the gate insulating film 127, making it possible to reduce the On resistance Ron.
However, when the area of the outer surface of the gate insulating film 127 is increased, this also results in an increase in the capacitance Crss between the gate electrode film 111 and the N− epitaxial layer 118, which worsens the switching characteristics of the semiconductor device. Also, increasing the depth D can lead to problems such as an electrical field being concentrated at a specific part of the gate insulating film 127 when a voltage is applied between the source electrode film 124 and the drain electrode film 125.

Semiconductor device having shallow trenches and method for manufacturing the same

Shindengen Electric Manufacturing Co., Ltd.


The invention provides a curing resin composition to be used for a sealant or an end-sealing material for a display element, which comprises a curing resin together with a photopolymerization initiator and/or a curing agent and, has a carbonyl group derived from a (meth)acryl group together with an epoxy group and/or a hydroxyl group derived from an epoxy group and, a cured product of which has nitrogen atoms at a ratio of 3 to 10% by atom in the total of carbon atoms, hydrogen atoms and nitrogen atoms in the composition; a volume resistance of 1×1013 Ω·cm or higher; a dielectric constant of 3 or higher at 100 kHz; and a glass transition temperature of 80 to 150° C.

Conventionally, a liquid crystal display element such as a liquid crystal display cell is fabricated by setting two electrode-bearing transparent substrates face to face at a prescribed distance, forming a cell by sealing their surrounding with a sealant, injecting a liquid crystal into the cell through a liquid crystal injection inlet formed in a portion of the cell, and sealing the liquid crystal injection inlet by the sealant or an end-sealing material.
In this method, at first, a seal pattern having a liquid crystal injection inlet is formed on one of the two electrode-bearing transparent substrates by screen printing using a thermosetting sealant and then the solvent in the sealant is dried by pre-baking at 60 to 100° C. Next, the two substrates are set face to face while sandwiching a spacer between them, aligned, stuck to each other, and thermally-pressed at 110 to 220° C. for 10 to 90 minutes, and after the gap adjustment in the vicinity of the sealant, the sealant is partly cured by heating at 110 to 220° C. for 10 to 120 minutes in an oven. After that, a liquid crystal is injected through the liquid crystal injection inlet and finally the liquid crystal injection inlet is sealed by an end-sealing material to fabricate a liquid crystal display element.
However, there are the following problems in this fabrication method: displacement due to thermal press, unevenness of gaps, and deterioration of adhesion strength between a sealant and a substrate take place: foaming occurs by the thermal expansion of a remaining solvent to result in unevenness of gaps and sealant pass: it takes a long time for sealant curing: the pre-baking process is complicated: the usable time of the sealant is short owing to solvent evaporation: injection of a liquid crystal takes a long time: and the like. Above all, in the case of a recent liquid crystal display apparatus with a large size, it becomes a serious problem that injection of a liquid crystal takes rather a long time.
For that, a liquid crystal display element fabrication method, so-called one drop fill process, using a photocuring and thermocuring sealant has been investigated. In the one drop fill process, a rectangular seal pattern is formed at first in one of two electrode-bearing transparent substrates by screen printing. Next, fine droplets of a liquid crystal in an uncured state of the sealant are dropwise applied to the entire face of the entire frame of the transparent substrate and immediately the other transparent substrate is layered and UV rays are radiated to the sealed part to carry out temporal curing. After that, at the time of liquid crystal annealing, the curing is actually carried out by heating to fabricate a liquid crystal display element. If the substrates are stuck to each other in reduced pressure, the liquid crystal display element can be fabricated at an extremely high efficiency. In the future, this one drop fill process is expected to be a main stream of methods for fabricating liquid crystal display apparatus.
Sealants employed in conventional processes are, for example, adhesives mainly containing partly (meth)acrylated bisphenol A type epoxy resins disclosed in Japanese Kokai Publication Hei-6-160872, 1-243029, 7-13173, 7-13174, 7-13175, and the like and also liquid crystal sealants mainly containing (meth)acrylates disclosed in Japanese Kokai Publication Hei-7-13174.
However, these sealants tend to exhibit polarity values similar to those of liquid crystal materials and both have affinity to each other. Accordingly, in a liquid crystal display element assembled using such a sealant by the one drop fill process, a component of the sealant may be eluted in the liquid crystal to cause orientation disorder of the liquid crystal in the peripheral part of the sealant and result in defective display such as uneven coloration. Especially, since the one drop fill process involves a step of bringing the uncured sealant into direct contact with the liquid crystal, the liquid crystal pollution with such a component of the sealant has become a serious problem. Further, among the above-mentioned sealants, a sealant comprising a thermosetting component has a problem that it is considerably inferior in storage stability at a room temperature and therefore requires to be stored in a frozen state and being contaminated with water at the time of thawing or once being thawed, it becomes thickened at a room temperature and therefore has to be used in a short time. Moreover, in the case of a sealant to be cured only by light radiation, it is poor in humidity resistance and a part shielded from light is inferior in the curing ratio.
Further, there are other problems relevant to residues such as an un-reacted polymerization initiator and a curing agent contained in a sealant after curing; an ionic impurity such as chlorine or the like; and a silane coupling agent. Owing to applications of liquid crystal panels to mobile appliances with saved power consumption, a liquid crystal with low driving voltage (a low voltage type liquid crystal) tends to be used in these years. The low voltage type liquid crystal is easy to take in impurities attributed to a particularly high dielectric anisotropy and easy to cause orientation disorder and decrease of voltage holding ratio with time. That is, owing to intake of the residues such as an unreacted polymerization initiator and an initiator after curing contained in a sealant; an ionic impurity such as chlorine; and a silane coupling agent, problems such as orientation disorder and decrease of voltage holding ratio with time are caused.
For that, countermeasures such as decreasing the amount of a polymerization initiator contained in the sealant or making a polymerization initiator into a high molecular weight has been investigated. However, such a method is not only incapable of sufficiently suppressing the elution to the liquid crystal but also decreases the reactivity, resulting in requirement of a large quantity of light rays for curing the sealant or the like and adverse effects on the liquid crystal.
Further, with respect to ionic impurities, Japanese Patent Kokai Publication Hei-5-295087 discloses a method for removing ionic impurities by washing a sealant, an end-sealing material, and their raw materials with water or an organic solvent and carrying out reduced-pressure drying. However, such a method requires extremely complicated process and in addition, the method sometimes causes such problems that if the drying of the washed sealant or end-sealing material is insufficient, the solvent remains or that gelling occurs at the time of reducing the pressure in the drying step.
Curing resin compositions to be used for a sealant or an end-sealing material can be broadly classified into two-liquid type that is used by mixing a main agent and a curing agent and one-liquid type that contains a curing agent previously. Although the two-liquid type one can be cured at a room temperature, a curing resin (a main agent) and a curing agent should be separately stored and in the use, it is required to measure and mix the respective components and thus its storage and handling is complicated. Further, since the pot life is limited, a large quantity of the respective components cannot be mixed previously and frequent mixing is required to result in a low efficiency. On the other hand, with respect to the one-liquid type one, reaction occurs during the storage in some cases and it is desired to improve the storage stability. For that, in the case where an epoxy resin is used for the curing resin, an one-liquid type curing resin composition using a dicyandiamide as a curing agent has been known well. However, the resin composition requires a high temperature of not less than 160° C., for curing and cannot meet the requirement, "low temperature and short time curing", which has been required in recent years. As systems capable of satisfying "low temperature and short time curing", there are methods proposed as follows: Japanese Kokai Publication Sho-62-146915 proposes a method using an adduct of an amine and an epoxy compound as a curing agent: Japanese Kokai Publication Hei-2-292325 proposes a method using an imidazole encapsulated by poly(methyl methacrylate) as a curing agent: and Japanese Kokai Publication Sho-59-59720 proposes a method for making the surface of a powder amine compound inert by an isocyanate. However, these methods are very complicated and have a problem of considerable elution of un-reacted amines or the like to liquid crystals.

Curing resin composition and sealants and end-sealing materials for displays


Disclosed are an image sensor package and its manufacturing method. As an example, an infrared ray protection glass is positioned directly on an image sensing region of an image sensor die. An electrically conductive wire and so forth located outside the image sensing region are encapsulated. At this time, one surface of the infrared ray protection glass is exposed outwardly. A mount holder to which a barrel with lenses is coupled is adhered on a surface of the encapsulant outside the infrared ray protection glass. The mount holder has a similar width to that of the image sensor die. Accordingly, the overall width of the image sensor package can become reduced, and the electrically conductive wire is protected against oxidization because it is surrounded by the encapsulant.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image sensor package and its manufacturing method.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, an image sensor is a device for sensing subject information and converting the sensed subject information into an image signal. Such an image sensor is roughly divided into two types, that is, a camera tube and a solid image sensor; the former includes a vidicon, a plumbicon, etc., and the latter includes a Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS), a Charge Coupled Device (CCD) or the like. Among other things, the solid image sensor is currently manufactured in such a manner that a barrel having a lens is coupled to a CMOS image sensor die or a CCD image sensor die.
As an example, a conventional image sensor package includes a substrate, an image sensor die adhered on the substrate, electrically conductive wires for electrically connecting the substrate and the image sensor die to each other, a mount holder attached on the substrate along outer peripheries of the image sensor die and the wires, and a barrel having a lens and coupled to the mount holder.
Of course, an external image passes through the lens of the barrel and is then converted into an electrical signal in the image sensor die, and the converted electrical signal is delivered to an external device via the wires and the substrate.
In such a conventional image sensor package, however, there is a problem in that the image sensor die is wholly exposed to the outer atmosphere during sawing, die attaching and wire bonding processes, so that its optical performance becomes deteriorated. That is, during the sawing process in which a wafer is sawn into image sensor die pieces by a diamond blade, etc., many particles are generated and thus the image sensor die is contaminated with the particles, which results in lowering in optical performance of the image sensor die. The image sensor die is also contaminated with particles during the die attaching and wire bonding processes, in which it is attached to the substrate and wires are bonded between the image sensor die and the substrate, thereby becoming further deteriorated in its optical performance.
Moreover, the conventional image sensor package has another problem in that the whole package has a large width because the mount holder and the barrel are adhered on the substrate along the outer periphery of the image sensor die. In other words, the mount holder and the barrel, which are only secondary components, have larger widths than that of the image sensor die which practically processes the external image, thereby unnecessarily enlarging the width of the package.
Furthermore, the conventional image sensor package is less reliable because the wires are not encapsulated by an encapsulant, but exposed to air, so that they may be contaminated and easily oxidized.

Image sensor package and its manufacturing method


In some aspects, techniques for wireless signal decoding are described. In some instances, a number of superposition codes are computed based on a set of orthogonal binary codes. The set of orthogonal binary codes includes multiple subsets; each superposition code corresponds to one of the subsets and includes a combination of the binary codes in the corresponding subset. One of the subsets is selected based on a correlation between a wireless signal and the superposition code that corresponds to the subset. One of the binary codes is then selected from the selected subset based on a correlation between the wireless signal and the binary code. The wireless signal is decoded based on the selected binary code.

This specification relates to identifying a code for signal decoding.
Communication signals can be encrypted, orthogonalized, randomized, or otherwise manipulated using a large set of codes during transmission in a communication network. For example, scrambling codes can be used to distinguish the distinct transmitters of communication signals in a communication network. In the case of WCDMA uplink transmissions, users are assigned orthogonal scrambling codes derived from a very large set. A set can have a large number of codes (e.g., 224=16,777,216).


An arm of a hydraulic excavator is formed as a box-shaped structural body surrounded by left and right side plates, an upper plate joined to each of the upper end sides of each side plate, a lower plate joined to each of the lower end sides of each side plate, and a thick rear plate joined to each of the rear end sides of each side plate and the upper plate. The side plates are formed by joining a rear thick side plate and a front thin side plate. The upper plate is formed by joining two members, that is, a rear thick upper plate and a front thin upper plate, and the lower plate is formed by joining two members, that is, a rear thick lower plate and a front thin lower plate.

In general, a hydraulic excavator which is a typical example of a construction machine is composed of an automotive lower traveling structure and an upper revolving structure rotatably mounted on the lower traveling structure. On the front side of a revolving frame constituting the upper revolving structure, a working mechanism performing excavating work of earth and sand and the like is provided capable of moving upward/downward.
Here, the working mechanism of a hydraulic excavator is usually largely constituted by a boom having the base end side rotatably mounted on the revolving frame, an arm rotatably mounted on the distal end side of the boom, a working tool such as a bucket or the like rotatably mounted on the distal end side of the arm, and a boom cylinder, an arm cylinder, and a bucket cylinder driving the boom, the arm, and the bucket, respectively.
The arm constituting such working mechanism is usually formed as a lengthy welded structural body whose entire length is as long as several meters. That is, the arm is formed of left and right side plates, an upper plate joined to the upper end sides of these left and right side plates by welding, a lower plate joined to the lower end side of the left and right side plates by welding, and a rear plate joined to the rear end sides of the left and right side plates and the upper plate by welding. As a result, the arm is formed as a box-shaped structural body having a cross sectional surface of a square closed sectional structure.
On a rear part on the lower side of the arm, a boom connecting boss to be connected to the distal end side of the boom by using a connecting pin is provided, and on the rear end side of the arm, an arm cylinder bracket to which the arm cylinder is connected by using a connecting pin is provided. On the other hand, on the rear part on the upper side of the arm, a bucket cylinder bracket to which the bucket cylinder is connected by using a connecting pin is provided. Moreover, on the front end of the arm, a bucket connecting boss to which the bucket is connected by using a connecting pin is provided (Patent Document 1).

HITACHI CONSTRUCTION MACHINERY CO., LTD.


Finite element methods are unsuitable for a dispersed system. Particle methods suitable for a dispersed system are limited in their particle shapes of only spheres that require many particles to model a complicated shape especially in 3D. Proposed procedures for a particle method are roughly as follows. 1): Judging the existence of the contact between particles as that between mathematically-smooth closed surfaces representing particle shape and size. 2): Assuming an imaginary contact point and an imaginary contact plane the same as when both closed surfaces are reduced with the same scale to touch at one point. 3): Calculating imaginary contact area and imaginary contact stiffness using the above point and plane. Based on these procedures, particle shapes are not limited but smooth. Therefore, a more complicated shaped problem in a dispersed system can be analyzed with a smaller number of particles. Additionally, combined use with finite elements enlarges usability.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a computer program for the particle method in a broad sense, in which objects are modeled into (or using) particles whose displacements and/or deformations can be calculated, if necessary, considering transmission (or exchange) of force, heat or material between the touched particles.
2. Description of Related Art
In the finite element method (FEM), mainly physical relations between the elements are described as relations between the nodes by dividing the continuum into piecewise elements enclosed with the nodes. Therefore, analysis of a contact-involving problem using FEM requires treatment. For example, the treatment is a procedure to calculate force to compensate the element overlap (Japan Pat. No. 2,692,668), generating new elements between the touched surfaces (Japan Pat. No. 3,242,811), or imaging a touching plane with the averaged normal direction of both front planes on both elements (Japan Pat. Application No. 2001-27,470).
However, FEM using the treatment is fundamentally unsuitable for a dispersed system, because FEM is naturally for the continuum and treats partial contact between discontinued elements. Moreover, for instance with rectangular solids, the contact has various modes of not only plane-to-plane, but also plane-to-corner, ridge-to-ridge, and transition between them. Therefore, it is difficult to take account of these complex modes using FEM.
On the other hand, the particle method is fundamentally suitable for an analysis of a dispersed system. However, the particle shape is limited in sphere or no shape at present (for example, "Particle method", S. Koshizuka, 2005,, Maruzen, Tokyo, in Japanese). Therefore, there is a problem of requiring a large number of particles in modeling of a complicated shape using the particle method particularly in three dimensions (3D). Moreover, even if a large number of particles are used, there is a problem in that microscopic shape of the particles is remained and decides microscopically the contacting direction between assemblies of the particles.
In the mesh-free method, U.S. Pat. No. 6,718,291, discloses representing a geometry using implicit functions, representing the boundary conditions using similar functions, and solving coefficients of interpolating functions between these functions. However, the mesh-free method is based on the continuum and difficult to apply to a strongly nonlinear problem or shape changes.

Computer readable medium having a program using particle method


An electric hammer comprising a hammer bit (313) performing hammering work on a work, a drive motor, a hammering piece (334) driven by the drive motor to apply a hammering force to the hammer bit, and a mechanism (371) for damping vibration generated during hammering. The damping performance of the electric hammer is enhanced by causing the driving amount applied to the damping mechanism (371) to vary between a first mode where the damping mechanism (371) generates vibration of the hammer bit (313) subjected to an external force from the work during the load driving time and thereby optimizes the damping and a second mode where the damping mechanism (371) generates vibration corresponding to the vibration of the hammer bit (313) not subjected to an external force from the work during the no-land driving time and optimizes damping.

Japanese laid-open patent publication No. 2004-299036 discloses an electric hammer having a dynamic vibration reducer which forms a vibration reducing mechanism. In this hammer, a weight of the dynamic vibration reducer is actively driven by utilizing the pressure within the crank chamber, so that vibration caused during hammering operation can be reduced.
Further, Japanese laid-open patent publication No. 2004-216484 discloses an electric hammer having a counter weight which forms a vibration reducing mechanism. In this hammer, the counter weight is driven via a crank mechanism that converts the rotating output of the electric motor into linear motion, and it serves to reduce vibration caused in the hammer during hammering operation. However, further device improvement is desired in both of these known vibration reducing techniques.


Provided are a tool exchange device and a tool exchange system that enable management of a coupling state according to a tool to be fixed. A tool exchange device including a male member to be detachably attached to an apparatus side and a female member to be detachably attached to a tool side includes: a proximity sensor provided in the male member; and a target provided in the female member, the target corresponding to the proximity sensor, and the target is provided in the female member in such a manner that a distance between the target and the proximity sensor in a state in which the male member and the female member are coupled together is adjustable.

As tool exchange devices to be employed for various apparatuses, for example, industrial robots, those including a male member to be attached to the industrial robot side and a female member to be attached to the tool side are disclosed (for example, Patent Literature 1). In the tool exchange devices, upon a cam being engaged with an engaging component in a state in which a projection portion is inserted in a coupling hole, the male member and the female member are coupled together. Also, disengagement between the cam and the engaging component allows decoupling between the male member and the female member. In such a manner as above, the tool exchange devices enable exchange of tools attached to an industrial robot.
In such tool exchange devices, a proximity sensor may be provided in order to confirm that the male member and the female member are properly coupled together (for example, Patent Literature 1).

Tool exchange device and tool exchange system


A method of double patterning is disclosed. The method includes forming a first photosensitive layer; exposing the first photosensitive layer using a first reticle; developing the first photosensitive layer thereby forming a first image pattern including first elements; forming a second photosensitive layer; exposing the second photosensitive layer using the first reticle; and developing the second photosensitive layer thereby forming a second image pattern.

Embodiments of the invention relate to methods of double patterning, a method of processing a plurality of semiconductor wafers and a semiconductor device created by methods disclosed.
In general, such methods may be used in the manufacturing of dense patterns on a semiconductor surface. In double patterning two subsequent lithographic processing steps are performed. The present invention addresses, among others, issues such as improving alignment between subsequently exposed patterns and the efficient manufacturing of more complex structures.

Method of double patterning, method of processing a plurality of semiconductor wafers and semiconductor device


Protective window for an ornamental window in which the protective window has an outer frame, protective glazing and optionally mullions that protect the ornamental window while maintaining its beauty. The protective window has extension jambs on the frame that hide the structural portions of the building wall and any mullions in the ornamental window so the two windows have an attractive appearance undiminished by the sight of the edges of the building wall or undersides of the mullions between the two windows.

This invention relates to systems for protecting ornamental windows, and in particular to a protective window having protective glazing in a frame that overlies and conceals the structural support for the ornamental window so as to preserve the ornamental appearance thereof.
Many ornamental windows, such as stained glass windows, are quite expensive and may have values in the many thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars. The location of such windows in the exterior walls of buildings exposes the windows to damage by a variety of causes such as vandalism, wind-blown objects and weathering. Repair of damaged ornamental windows is also extremely expensive, especially if the windows must be removed to be repaired.
The need to protect ornamental windows has been long standing. But, ornamental windows are typically large and difficult to protect without substantially detracting from their beauty. Efforts to provide protection for ornamental windows have generally resulted in loss of the aesthetics of the windows and have been unsatisfactory.
An improved system is needed for protecting ornamental windows without significantly detracting from the beauty of the windows. A system is needed that can be used to protect large ornamental windows that may have one or more structural mullions between the glazing sections. An improved protective window is needed for ornamental windows which does not detract from the aesthetic appearance of the ornamental window from either the inside or outside of the building in which the ornamental window is mounted.

Protective windows for ornamental windows


A filter device has a frame, an optical filter, two magnetic members and two covers. The frame has a window and two rails attached to the opposite sides of the window. Each rail has two coil holding portions. The optical filter is able to slide between the rails and has at least one lens and two holders holding the magnetic members. The covers hold the optical filter between the rails. Thus the filter device is able to prevent the coils from wear-out failures with a simple and enduring structure.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a filter device, especially to a filter device with an optical filter.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A camera, especially a monitoring camera, comprises a camera lens, a photographic sensing device and a conventional filter device. The photographic sensing device provides an optical sensing element such as a negative or a charge-coupled device ("CCD"). The filter device is mounted between the camera lens and the sensing element of the photographic sensing device. The filter device is used to filter and adjust a light coming into the camera through the camera lens aiming for the sensing element of the photographic sensing device. The conventional filter device may have for example a transparent lens and a colored lens. The lenses selectively switch in daylight or at night so that the light passing through the lens exposes the sensing element of the photographic sensing device in a proper intensity.
The conventional filter device having multiple lenses is driven by a driving device to align a desired lens with the camera lens and the sensing element. An embodiment of the conventional driving device is a driving motor allowing lenses of the filter device to slide to a position for alignment. However, the size of the driving motor makes it infeasible to minimize the filter device.
Taiwan utility patents No. M253792 and M302047 provide minimized filter devices. The minimized filter device has a coil wound around the lenses and magnetic elements corresponding to the coil. The coil carrying electric currents generates magnetic flux and applies magnetic force on the magnetic elements to drive the lenses to slide. Thus desired lens is slide to a position allowing alignment with the camera lens and the sensing element. Such simple structure makes minimized filter devices possible.
However, abrasion occurs while the coil slide against other element within the minimized filter device. The coil may be worn-out and cause failure. Although the minimized filter device provided by the patent No. M302047 has an additional positioning track preventing the coil to break by yanking from an outer wire, the positioning track fail to prevent the coil from wearing-out. The worn-out failure problem of the minimized filter device is apparent.
In an ecological aspect, both the aforementioned conventional filter device and the minimized filter device require constant electric power supply during whole operating process. The driving motor and the coil consume power continuously even when they are not driving the lenses to slide. It is obvious that the current market goes for minimized and power-saving products. Solving the power-wasting problem is expected to bring commercial competitiveness and global good in the ecological aspect.
To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention provides a filter device to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.


An objective for use in photographic compact cameras has a relative aperture of 3.5 and a focal length of 35 mm, and is of the triplet type. The lens element on the object side is a cemented element. In order to achieve an extremely compact structural shape and balanced monochromatic correction, as well as a reduction in the chromatic magnification difference, the color coma and the color astigmatism, four design conditions are specified.

The invention relates to a photographic objective having a relative aperture 3.5 and a focal length 35 of the triplet type with a rear stop, which is provided especially for compact photographic cameras.
A photographic objective of the triplet type having a rear stop is disclosed in DE 24 24 343 C2, which contains three lens elements of which the front element is a positive meniscus lens which is convex on the object side, the central lens element is a hi-concave lens, and the rear lens element is a hi-concave cemented element consisting of two lenses of opposite refractive power.
DE-PS 544,329 discloses a photographic objective comprising a diverging lens and in each case one collecting lens element, arranged in front of and behind it, of which that on the object side is constructed as a cemented element with a positive overall refractive power. This known objective has a focal length of 100 mm; there are no statements on the position of the aperture stop.

Compact photographic objective of the triplet type having improved chromatic and monochromatic characteristics


A method and apparatus for measuring relative deflection of interspaced toothed wheels or their equivalents on a less than once per revolution basis. Deflection measurement errors due to wheel imperfections are measured and stored for each tooth pair and later used to correct deflection measurement on a tooth pair basis. The apparatus includes a sensing circuit which is operative to provide a signal when teeth pass a fixed position, a duty cycle to digital hardware circuit which is operative to measure the duration of the state of the sensing circuit signal, and a computer which is operative to compute, store, and apply correction factors in response to the duration of the state of the signal.

Blade pitch measurement is desirable for efficient operation of propeller driven aircraft. An aircraft propeller has a number of pitched blades which rotate around a hub to produce thrust. The amount of thrust produced by the propeller is a function of the rotational speed of the propeller and the pitch of the blades. In order to maintain an efficient rotational speed while changing the amount of thrust, the pitch of the blades must be adjusted. However, the blade pitch must be known to properly adjust the pitch of the blades.
It is known in the prior art to use toothed wheels or their equivalents to measure blade pitch. Typically, two toothed wheels--a reference wheel and a variable wheel--are used. Each wheel has corresponding sets of equally spaced teeth which serve as reference points. The reference wheel turns on a shaft at a known rotational speed and the variable wheel turns on another shaft at substantially the same rotational speed as the reference wheel. The variable wheel is connected to the propeller in such a way that as the blade pitch changes, the variable wheel advances or retreats, i.e., deflects, slightly relative to the reference wheel. Fixed position magnetic pick-ups located proximately to both wheels sense the passing teeth on the wheels. The magnetic pick-ups generate waveshaped pulses when the teeth pass by. Changes in deflection are reflected as changes in the timing between waveshaped pulses. Thus, blade pitch can be calculated from the relative deflection of the teeth of two toothed wheels.
Due to manufacturing constraints, the spacing between teeth on a wheel varies slightly. It is not possible to produce a perfect wheel. It naturally follows that it is not possible to produce two perfect wheels with equally spaced teeth to serve as a variable wheel and reference wheel.
Tooth spacing imperfections present a problem for blade pitch measuring systems. On a per revolution basis, the measurement errors caused by such spacing imperfections will cancel because every wheel has 360 degrees. In other words, even though tooth spacing may vary from tooth to tooth, the sum of all inter-tooth spacing measurements must still add up to 360 degrees. However, measuring on a per revolution basis results in an unsteady transient output. As the blade pitch changes, the measured relative deflection jumps from one reading to the next due to the time lag imposed by waiting for a full revolution. Uncorrected measurements taken on a less than once per revolution basis, i.e., including the error, provide both an unsteady steady-state and an unsteady transient output.

Measuring relative deflection of interspaced toothed wheels on a less than once per revolution basis


A control circuit for controlling an electron-emitting device is formed to draw, with a voltage applied, an excitation current being related to a number of electrons emitted. The inventive control circuit includes a first determinator for determining whether an amount of charge transported by the excitation current has reached a predetermined charge threshold value, a second determinator for determining whether a magnitude of the excitation current has reached a predetermined current threshold value, and a switch for switching off the excitation current as soon as the first determinator determines that the amount of charge has reached a predetermined charge threshold value, or as soon as the second determinator determines that the magnitude of the excitation current is smaller than the predetermined current threshold value. The control circuit allows the usage of, for example, CNT arrays for irradiation and operates on the basis of the current drawn by the electron-emitting device, which makes possible a simple setup.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a control circuit for controlling an electron-emitting device. In particular, the present invention relates to a control circuit suitable for controlling so-called carbon nano tubes arranged in an array.
2. Description of Related Art
The production of ever smaller structural sizes on a substrate becomes increasingly important with the development of IC (integrated circuit) technology. One of the basic technologies for producing ICs is lithography where a resist deposited on the entire area of a wafer is exposed using a mask which is opaque or transparent at certain positions. For this, a light beam having a predetermined wavelength is produced, is focused by a special assembly using optical lenses employing the phenomenon of light refraction and is then directed to the wafer to expose the resist deposited there. The resolution obtainable by means of this technology depends on the light wavelength. The smaller the light wavelength, the smaller the structural sizes obtainable. The light wavelength, however, cannot be reduced at will because of optical transmission features of the lenses used for focusing the light. In order to generate ever smaller structures despite this physical limit, technologies must be employed where, for example, electrons instead of light are used for irradiating the resist.
Here, electrons are emitted by a suitable electron-emitting device, are focused suitably and directed to the wafer. Since only a very small resist area (pixel) can be exposed punctually on the basis of a single electron-emitting device, it is of advantage to unite several electron-emitting devices to an array to be able to expose greater resist areas at the same time and selectively so that the desired small structures can be produced faster than when using only one electron-emitting device. If, for example, a cathode-ray tube was used for emitting electrons, it would be obvious for a person skilled in the art that only very coarse structures can be generated with the necessarily great physical dimensions of such areas. This is why electron-emitting devices having small dimensions, such as, for example, carbon nano tubes mentioned above, must be used here.
Carbon nano tubes (CNTs) basically are several mostly cylindrical carbon elements having a diameter of several nanometers, which are arranged on a substrate and have a control electrode. If an electrical control voltage of, for example, several 10V is applied to this control electrode, the CNTs will draw an excitation current. The field formed at the tip of these carbon elements causes a field emission of electrons.
Due to the small dimensions, CNTs are of advantage because an array of electron beams with the help of which the desired small structures can be generated faster compared to a single electron beam, can be produced since a CNT array can irradiate several pixels on a wafer at a certain time.
It is, however, a precondition for obtaining the desired structures using a CNT array for each pixel to be exposed by a precise radiation dose which may neither be exceeded nor fall below a certain value. If the dose is too great, too large a structural point will be generated. If, however, the dose is too small, the required energy dose for exposing the resist will not be obtained, i.e. the resist will not be exposed at this position and no structural point or too small a structural point will result.
Due to the manufacturing problems connected to producing nano structures, a CNT array, however, comprises great deviation as regards the electron dose emitted in the array. The result is that a CNT array, apart from functional CNTs, will also comprise some CNTs emitting too small an electron dose. Additionally, it is conceivable for some of the CNTs arranged in the array to be defect and not to emit any electrons at all. If a CNT array is used for irradiating a wafer, no points at all or too small or too big points will be produced apart from the points having the desired size. Due to these manufacturing problems and, connected thereto, the small resolution obtainable, a usage of CNT arrays—even if desired, as explained above—has not been possible for the purpose of irradiation requiring a high resolution.

Control circuit for controlling an electron-emitting device

Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der angewandte Forschung e.V.


Disclosed is a multi-wavelength light receiving element. The multi-wavelength light receiving element includes a first type substrate. A first intrinsic layer is positioned on the first type substrate. A heavily-doped second-type buried layer is positioned on the first intrinsic layer. A second intrinsic layer is positioned on the heavily-doped second-type buried layer. A plurality of heavily-doped first-type fingers are shallowly embedded in the second intrinsic layer. A first type has a doped state that is opposite to a second type.

1. Field of the invention
The present invention relates, in general, to a multi-wavelength light receiving element and a method of fabricating the same and, more particularly, to a multi-wavelength light receiving element, which is capable of detecting rays having various wavelengths so as to be useful as a light pickup in optical reproduction devices, such as CDs, DVDs, and BDs, and a method of fabricating the same.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In accordance with the recent development of the media industry, the demand for high-capacity storage devices is growing. Hence, compact discs (CD), which adopt a digital sampling method, have been used as a substitute for magnetic tapes conventionally used to record and replay music. Of the compact discs, a CD media, which has a diameter of 12 cm and uses a wavelength of 780 nm, achieves a capacity of 650 MB.
However, digital versatile discs (DVD), which use a wavelength of 650 nm, have been developed to meet the increased demand for digital videos, thereby realizing a capacity of about 4.7 GB. It is possible to record images, which have a quality that is on the level of super density (SD), for 2 hours or more using the DVDs.
Additionally, a photodiode, that is, a light receiving element, which converts received optical signals, having various wavelengths, into electrical signals, and a photodiode integrated circuit (PDIC), which amplifies the electrical signals generated from the light receiving element, have been studied so as to simultaneously accommodate CDs and DVDs.
FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a conventional 2-wavelength light receiving element, which is capable of simultaneously accommodating CDs and DVDs. FIG. 2 is a graph showing intensities of rays, having various wavelengths, as a function of a distance from a surface of a silicone substrate.
As shown in FIG. 1, the conventional 2-wavelength light receiving element comprises a silicon substrate 11, a heavily-doped P-type buried layer 12, a P-type epitaxial layer 13, an N-type epitaxial layer 14, and a heavily-doped N-type layer 15. The heavily-doped P-type buried layer 12, the P-type epitaxial layer 13, the N-type epitaxial layer 14, and the heavily-doped N-type layer 15 form a vertical PIN structure. The conventional 2-wavelength light receiving element absorbs wavelengths of 780 nm and 650 nm at a depletion region, which is formed by the P-type epitaxial layer 13 and the N-type epitaxial layer 14, and then converts the wavelengths into electric signals.
However, currently, there is growing demand for image quality that is on the level of high definition (HD) instead of SD and for sound quality that is the same as or superior to that of the DVD in broadcasts. To record and replay images at the HD level and sounds at the DVD level or higher, it is necessary to increase an optical storage density.
A BD (blue-ray disc) technology, in which a short wavelength laser (e.g. wavelength of about 405 nm) is employed and a numerical aperture of an object lens increases to minimize a spot size of a ray, has been studied so as to increase the optical storage density. As shown in FIG. 2, the short wavelength of about 405 nm is mostly absorbed at a distance of 0.1 μm from a surface of a silicon substrate.
However, since the conventional 2-wavelength light receiving element as shown in FIG. 1 has no electric field at a heavily-doped N-type layer, that is, a surface thereof, a movement speed of a carrier moving by diffusion is low, and an electron-hole pair dissipates because of surface recombination (e.g. the carrier is bonded to a dangling bond). Thus, disadvantageously, it is impossible to employ rays having a wavelength of about 405 nm.
An effective light receiving element using a short wavelength of about 405 nm has been studied to avoid the above disadvantages.
FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a conventional light receiving element for receiving blue rays, which is disclosed in Japanese Pat. Laid-Open Publication No. Hei. 9-298308.
As shown in FIG. 3, the light receiving element as disclosed in Japanese Pat. Laid-Open Publication No. Hei. 9-298308 comprises an N-type silicon substrate 21, an N-type epitaxial growth layer 22 formed on the N-type silicon substrate, a plurality of P-type dopant diffusion layers 23 formed in a light receiving part of the N-type epitaxial growth layer 22, and an insulating layer 24 (i.e. SiO2) having recesses. In the light receiving element of Japanese Pat. Laid-Open Publication No. Hei. 9-298308, a carrier, which is formed by absorbing the blue rays of about 405 nm, moves toward an inside instead of a surface of the element to generate electric signals, and thus, advantageously, the element is relatively effective with respect to blue rays having a wavelength of about 405 nm.
However, since the light receiving element of Japanese Pat. Laid-Open Publication No. Hei. 9-298308 has low absorptivity to wavelengths of 780 nm and 650 nm, it is difficult to accommodate CDs or DVDs using the above light receiving element.

Multi-wavelength light receiving element and method of fabricating same


A sensor integrated circuit including a regulator for generating a regulated voltage includes a digital load configured to draw a load current from the regulator in response to a clock signal during in situ operation and a comparator configured to determine the absence or presence of a fault during in situ operation. The load current is less than or equal to a predetermined level in the absence of a fault and is greater than the predetermined level in the presence of a fault. The comparator is responsive to the load current and to a threshold level and is configured to generate a comparator output signal having a level indicative of whether the load current is less than or greater than the threshold level in order to thereby determine the absence or presence of a fault during in situ operation, respectively.

Integrated Circuits (ICs) are used in a variety of sensing applications, many of which are have strict accuracy and reliability requirements due to their use in safety critical applications such as automotive applications. One example application is in sensing applications in which a circuit including one or more sensing elements (e.g., pressure sensing elements, temperature sensing elements, light sensing elements, acoustic sensing elements, and magnetic field sensing elements) is used to detect one or more parameters (e.g., pressure, temperature, light, sound, magnetic field). Magnetic field sensors, for example, are circuits including one or more magnetic field sensing elements, generally in combination with other circuit components (e.g., analog, digital and/or mixed signal components), and are used to detect a magnetic field.
In high precision applications such as automobiles, accuracy in magnetic field sensing, such as may be used to detect motion of a target object, can be critical. Engine ignition timing, for example, depends on consistent detection accuracy. As one example, when magnetic field sensing elements and/or other circuitry of a magnetic field sensor integrated circuit (IC) in an engine ignition timing system are damaged due to overstress conditions, detection accuracy by the magnetic field sensor IC, and the resulting accuracy or performance of the engine ignition timing system, can be negatively impacted. Furthermore, in safety critical applications such as automobiles, compliance with standards such as Automotive Safety Integrity Level (ASIL) standards, generally requires safety mechanisms to ensure accurate and reliable circuit operation.
As digital IC geometries become smaller and signal speeds become faster, fault testing becomes more challenging. Various fault conditions such as marginal contacts, vias, and/or interconnects can cause signal delay and other types of faults. Testing of digital circuitry can be complicated by the magnitude of logic gates and other circuitry and the resulting number of circuit nodes to be tested.
IC testing is often performed during manufacture, in a testing environment. Such testing includes exercising the circuitry in a manner intended to emulate in situ conditions (i.e., conditions to which the sensor is expected to be exposed in actual use in a particular application and environment).

Sensor integrated circuit load current monitoring circuitry and associated methods


A technique utilizes a well filter with a submersible motor-driven pump. The system comprises an elongated filter housing in which a cylindrical filtering element is installed. A fixture is provided for fastening the elongated filter housing to the pump. The filter housing also comprises at least one fluid intake port positioned to allow entry of fluid into the elongated filter housing. A deformable sealing element is installed along an outer surface of the elongated housing and serves to direct fluid flow.

A submersible motor-driven pump is often used for fluids removal/ production from wells after operation of perforation and/or formation fracturing. In such cases, rock debris and proppant particles often continue to penetrate the well from the fractured/perforates formation over a certain period of time. Small debris remaining after perforation typically enter the well from the formation over a rather short period of time; however, in case of the formation fracturing, the reverse flow of proppants could last over an extended period ranging from a few days to several weeks from the production start day.
Dependent of the pump position above the peroration site, some solid particles could reach the suction hole of the electrical submersible pump. Thereafter, they will start passing through the pump section carried by fluid. Since the fluid velocity in the pump system is rather high, these particles could cause a significant erosion of impellers and diffusers.
Following the perforation and before the installation of an submersible motor-driven pump pump, the stimulated well is typically subjected to cleaning.
In depleted formation, the lift technology is usually required. In these circumstances, wells can be cleaned through arranging the circulation of a fluid with desired composition via a flexible coil tubing; the said fluid can lift upward the suspended heavy particles. In other cases, a temporary submersible motor-driven pump is installed in the well to ensure hydrocarbons production alongside with the well cleanup (and fracturing). Meanwhile, it is known in advance that the installed temporary submersible motor-driven pump has to be replaced with a new submersible motor-driven pump following a rather short operating period (typically, several weeks).
The above-mentioned well cleanup technologies are expensive and require idling of the well (while the flexible coil tubing is in operation or submersible motor-driven pump is being replaced).
Electric submersible pumps are known to be damaged by small-sized particles in the course of operation. These damages limit the service life of submersible motor-driven pump and the pump should be replaced. The pump replacement procedure is rather expensive and required idling of the well (at least for a period when works in the well are performed).
To handle the problem of declining capacity of submersible motor-driven pump because of erosion by large-sized particles, the suction line of submersible motor-driven pump is sometimes furnished with filters. A typical issue that arises due to the filter operation is clogging after a certain period of operation; the filter clogging results in a reduced throughput or in a fully obstructed flow. So, submersible motor-driven pump and filters has to be removed from well for replacement and maintenance.
A wellbore fluid could contain (dependent on well type and treatment technology applied before the installation of an submersible motor-driven pump) three types of solid particles:                solid particles originating during perforation. These solid particles could be represented by small debris of perforation tools, casing and cement as well as by various-sized rock debris coming from the well walls immediately after perforation (or in first moments of hydrocarbons production following the perforation). In case if some perforation technologies (with a positive pressure drawdown and at a highly depleted formation) are employed, the above-mentioned solid particles can go into the productive flow right from the start of the submersible motor-driven pump operation;        proppant backflow. This issue emerges after the formation fracturing. Some proppant particles could be washed-out from the well at the initial stage of production. Information that at a total backflow of proppant in some wells in West Siberia could account for up to 2 tons (which corresponds to uncompacted 1 m3) is available. The proppant particle shapes could deviate from an ideal spherical shape, and some particles are crushed during the formation fracturing closing. This means that particles with broadly varied sizes could enter the well. The proppant backflow could last several weeks, while the concentration of solid particles, starting with the first day of production, typically reduces to negligible levels;        formation rock solid particles. These particles are rather small and are produced together with the formation fluid. A percent concentration of solid particles in the produced fluid could remain constant over a long period of time. The percentage could attain 200 ppm (which corresponds to a significant volume of a daily flow rate of particles in case of high-yield wells, e.g., those with a daily yield of 5,000 barrels and above). It is a challenging to handle that amount of solid particles.
A wellbore filter design comprising a casing with circulating passages, filtering element mounted on the casing and designed with stringers with a wire coiling placed on the said string, a supporting ring shroud to rigidly fix the end surface of the filtering element mounted at the casing, and a crossover shoe, is known (RU, patent No. 2102585). Besides, it is furnished with an enclosure that forms a ring chamber with the casing and the crossover shoe, and a sleeve with radial passages and supporting elements placed inside the said ring chamber; some supporting elements of the sleeve are placed in the bushing radial holes, while the remaining supporting elements of the bushing are installed in the slotted openings of the casing; the enclosure and the sleeve are connected by cut-off elements. A sophisticated structural design and a lack of packing between the filter housing and the wellbore walls are the disadvantages of this filter design.
A filter for downhole submersible motor-driven pump comprising a casing with filtering elements and a sealing element (gasket) mounted at the housing to separate the intake and discharge parts of the filter is also known (SU, authorship certificate No. 1660587).
A low strength of the sealing element (distorts during installation procedure and creates leakage) is the obvious shortcoming of this engineering solution.
The most similar analogue to the disclosed design is the strainer for downhole pumps (RU, patent No. 2217580), which includes a housing with filtering elements and a sealing element to put the boundary between the intake and discharge parts of the strainer; the said sealer is designed in the form of a bell filter with a spherical collar mounted on it, with the said sealing element hinged to the filter housing.
The rigid structure of the sealing element creates problems with lowering the strainer to the well and may cause the damage of the said strainer. This damage creates leakage in the top part of the strainer.
The way of resolving the engineering issue is development of a new design of the wellbore filter.

Wellbore filter for submersible motor-driver pump


The vacuum floor brush cleaner is generally in the form of a rectangular three sided tray into which a vacuum cleaner brush attachment or floor cleaning unit may be placed or rolled. The bottom inside surface of the tray may have protrusions extending therefrom which engage the brush attachment bristles to remove dirt, hair, thread and other such accumulated debris. The tray may have an adjustable wire bar with protruding wire elements which can be raised and lowered depending on the vacuum cleaner brush attachment. In the case of rotating roller brush units used in floor cleaning units, the wire elements are of a length such that when the wire bar is at the appropriate height the wire elements engage the hard surface of the roller to remove entangled thread and other such debris. Rotating handles and gears as well as levers and gears or cams may be used to raise and lower the wire bar.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to devices used to clean the brushes mounted in the floor cleaning attachments and rotating brush floor vacuum units of vacuum cleaners. The present invention may be used to clean hair, lint, carpet fiber, dirt and the like that collect in the bristles of the brushes as well as such material that builds up and becomes entangled around a rotating brush roller.
2. Description of Related Art
There are currently in use various means to clean the brushes of the floor element of a vacuum cleaner. The most common is for the user to simple use the fingers of the hand to clean hair, lint, dirt and carpet fiber from the brushes. In the instance of thread, hair or fiber wound around a rotating brush roller, the material may be so tightly affixed that resort to aids such as a knife may be necessary to remove such material.
For relatively loose material in the brushes, in those cases where the vacuum cleaner has a suction attachment that may be pressed against the brushes, such suction attachment may be moved over the brushes to suction loose material into the vacuum. This does not work for compacted or tightly wound material in the brushes or around a brush roller.
The present invention includes a primary and secondary set of brush cleaning elements which engage the vacuum cleaner floor brush bristles as well as the rotating brush roller element for such brush bristles when a roller element is present. The primary brush cleaning element is adjustable in height in order to engage the hard surface of the rotating brush roller. The cleaning element is constructed of rigid wire elements in order to engage and remove tightly attached thread and the like from the roller. The secondary brush cleaning element is comprised of short protrusions or wire elements in the bottom of the tray of the brush cleaner. As a vacuum cleaner brush element is pushed or rotated on these secondary brush cleaning element protrusions the dust, hair, thread and the like is knocked out of the vacuum brush bristles.
The brush cleaner tray may just be placed on the floor and a vacuum cleaner floor brush element moved into it for purposes of cleaning. The rotating portion of the vacuum cleaner floor element may be rotated in the tray to clean bristles as well as items entangled against the hard surface of the roller element. Regular use of the brush cleaner will prevent build up of debris on the vacuum brush roller which may then migrate to the bearings of the brush roller element. Removal of such debris helps prevent damage to the bearings or in more extreme cases where roller rotation is inhibited the end caps, main housing or vacuum motor may be damaged.


A recognizing target vocabulary comparing unit calculates a compared likelihood of recognizing target vocabulary, i.e., a compared likelihood of registered vocabulary, by using the time series of the amount of characteristics of an input speech. An environment adapted noise model comparing unit compares the time series of the amount of characteristics with one recognizing standard pattern or with two or more combined recognizing standard patterns one-by-one to obtain a likelihood that respective environment adaptive noise models coincide with the time series of the amount of characteristics. A rejection determining unit determines whether or not the input signal is noise by comparing the likelihood obtained by the recognizing target vocabulary comparing step with the likelihood obtained by the environment adaptive noise model comparing step. A noise model adapting unit calculates a first likelihood by comparing the time series of the amount of characteristics with recognizing standard patterns and orders the recognizing standard patterns in accordance with the size of the first likelihood. Thus, the environment adaptive noise model matches to a real environment and the rejection determination can be performed for a noise input with high accuracy.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a speech recognizing apparatus, a speech recognizing method, and a speech recognizing program which are preferable to reject environmental noises other than a recognizing target vocabulary.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, the improvement in performance of a speech recognizing technology causes the widely practical use of speech recognizing engine under a real environment. In particular, the case of limiting input devices in a car navigation system or a mobile device and the like increasingly requires the speech recognition. Under the above mentioned environment, a hand free function is raised as one of the functions strongly desired for the speech recognition, in order to continuously capture the speech and shift to predetermined processing only in the occasion when a previously registered vocabulary is inputted.
For example, in the car navigation system, various environmental noises such as noises generated by running, klaxon, and noises generated by another-vehicle running are inputted to the speech recognizing engine during continuously capturing the speech under the real environment. Thus, the speech recognizing engine requires a function for correctly recognizing the user's speech and rejecting non-speech such as the various environment noises.
The conventional speech recognizing apparatus compares a recognizing target vocabulary formed based on a phoneme model with the amount of characteristics extracted from an input speech, and outputs the highest value of the comparison result that respective recognizing target vocabularies coincide with the time series of the amount of characteristics (hereinafter, referred to as a likelihood) as a result of recognizing the speech. A likelihood of the input of environmental noises becomes relatively low comparing with the likelihood of the input of recognizing target vocabulary. Therefore, non-speech is rejected by setting a predetermined threshold. However, when the real environment is different from the environment under which the recognizing target vocabulary is formed, the likelihood of the inputted recognizing target vocabulary might become low and even the recognizing target vocabulary might be rejected too.
Then, a method for rejecting the input of a non-registered vocabulary to the speech recognizing engine is used on a certain occasion, as disclosed in "Rejection of unknown speech by correcting likelihood using syllable recognition" presented in the Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers (IEICE) transactions D-II, Vol. J75-D-II, No. 12, pages 2002-2009 (hereinafter, referred to as a first literature).
According to the method disclosed in the first literature, the likelihood is calculated by comparing the input speech against the recognizing target vocabulary and also the optimal phoneme series is obtained by using all phoneme models against a previously stored recognizing-unit, thus obtaining the likelihood. The likelihood as a result of comparing the input speech against the recognizing target vocabulary largely varies between the recognizing target vocabulary (registered vocabulary) and the non-registered vocabulary and; on the other hand, the variation of likelihood in the optimal phoneme series is small. Even when the real environment is different from an environment under which the recognizing target vocabulary and the phoneme model as the previously stored recognizing-unit are formed, the influence in environment caused in the input speech appears both in the likelihood of the optimal phoneme series and in the likelihood of the recognizing target vocabulary. Therefore, a value obtained by subtracting the likelihood as the result of comparing the input speech against the recognizing target vocabulary from the likelihood of the optimal phoneme series does not vary irrespective of the difference of the environment. Rejection is accurately performed by detecting the non-registered word depending on the difference between the likelihoods.
However, while an unknown input speech has no problem, in the case of input sound which is not included in the phoneme model such as klaxon, both the likelihood of the optimal phoneme series and the likelihood of the recognizing target vocabulary are extremely low. The difference between the likelihood of the optimal phoneme series and the likelihood of the recognizing target vocabulary sometimes happens to be relatively low. In such case, the rejection is impossible by determining the threshold.
Further, another method for rejecting the input of the non-registered vocabulary to the speech recognizing engine is used, as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 11-288295 (hereinafter, referred to as a second literature). In this proposal, words as the recognizing target vocabulary are previously stored and even words which are erroneously recognized as noises are stored as the recognizing target vocabulary including the environmental noise.
According to the method disclosed in the second literature, when a word having the maximum compared likelihood is included in the recognizing target vocabularies as a result of comparing the input speech against the stored recognizing target vocabulary, the recognizing result is outputted. On the contrary, when a word having the maximum compared likelihood is included in the recognizing target vocabularies containing the environmental noise, the input speech is determined as a noise and rejected.
However, the above-mentioned proposal of the second literature needs to store, as the recognizing target vocabulary including the environment noise, the words which are erroneously recognized as the noise in many cases. When the environment of the speech recognition is unspecified, the words which tend to be erroneously recognized as the noises in many cases cannot substantially be provided under any noise environment.
The above-mentioned speech recognizing apparatuses according to the first and second literatures have a problem in that the rejecting performance is not obtained for the input of only the environmental noise including no speech.

Speech recognizing apparatus with noise model adapting processing unit, speech recognizing method and computer-readable medium


Systems and methods of detecting emergent behaviors in communications networks are disclosed. In some embodiments, a method may include decomposing a plurality of data packets into a plurality of component data types associated with a candidate alert representing a potential security threat in a network. The method may also include retrieving, from a database, a count for each of a plurality of historical data types matching at least a subset of the component data types, each of the counts quantifying an amount of data of a corresponding historical data type previously detected in the network in a given time period. The method may further include calculating a score that indicates a discrepancy between an amount of data in each of the subset of the component data types and the counts for each corresponding historical data type in the same time period, and handling the candidate alert based upon the score.

An advanced persistent threat (APT) attack represents one type of cyber security attack that is difficult to detect using traditional intrusion detection techniques. An APT attack is a network attack in which an unauthorized person gains access to a network and stays there undetected for a long period of time. The goal of an APT attack is to steal data rather than to cause damage to the network. Therefore, APT attacks generally target organizations in sectors with high-value information, such as national defense, manufacturing and the financial industry.
In a simple non-APT attack, the intruder tries to get in and out as quickly as possible in order to avoid detection by the network's intrusion detection system. In an APT attack, however, the intruder's goal is not to get in and out, but rather to achieve ongoing access. To maintain access without discovery, the intruder may continuously rewrite code and employ sophisticated evasion techniques. Some APT attacks can be so complex that they require a full-time administrator.
An APT attacker often uses "spear fishing," a type of social engineering access to the network through legitimate means. Once access has been achieved, the attacker establishes a backdoor, gathers valid user credentials (especially administrative ones), and moves laterally across the network installing more backdoors. These backdoors then allow the attacker to install bogus utilities and create a "ghost infrastructure" for distributing malware that may remain hidden in plain sight.

Detecting emergent behavior in communications networks


A method and unit for wrapping packets of cigarettes, whereby a succession of packets is fed continuously along a wrapping path having a straight input portion and a substantially curved output portion substantially tangent to the input portion at a transfer station for transferring the packets; the input portion extends through a wrapping station where each packet engages a respective sheet of wrapping material, and folds the sheet into a U so that two end portions of the sheet project rearwards from the packet; and each packet, together with the respective sheet, is transferred, at the transfer station, from the input portion to the output portion so that the two end portions of the sheet are maintained projecting rearwards from the packet.

The present invention relates to a method of wrapping packets.
The present invention may be used to advantage on cigarette manufacturing machines, and in particular on packet cellophaning machines, to which the following description refers purely by way of example.
Packets of cigarettes are known to be wrapped in respective sheets of wrapping material using cellophaning machines by which the packets are fed continuously along a wrapping path, and which comprise a belt conveyor device and a wrapping conveyor device, in turn respectively comprising a straight conveyor belt and a wrapping wheel respectively defining a straight input portion and a circular output portion of the wrapping path.
Known cellophaning machines of the above type also comprise an intermediate transfer device interposed between the conveyor devices and in turn comprising a transfer wheel, which is tangent to the conveyor belt at a transfer station and to the wrapping wheel at a wrapping station, provides for receiving the packets from the conveyor belt and transferring them to the wrapping wheel, and defines a circular intermediate portion of the wrapping path.
The wrapping wheel normally comprises a number of folding seats, each of which comprises a peripheral opening facing radially outwards, and is supplied with a respective sheet of wrapping material over the peripheral opening, and with a respective packet which, as it is inserted inside the seat, engages and folds the sheet of wrapping material into a U.
The transfer wheel of cellophaning machines of the above type normally poses several drawbacks, both in terms of structure and operation: firstly, the cellophaning machine is structurally bulky and expensive to produce; and, secondly, each packet must be transferred at least twice before being wrapped, each of which transfer operations involves serious technical problems in the case of a continuously operating machine.


A vacuum heater assembly for heating fluids flowing within; the assembly comprises an inner member having a heating surface with an average cross-sectional area with an aspect ratio of at least 2. The inner member is disposed within an outer member and with a vacuum drawn in the space between the inner member and the outer member, the heat transfers toward the center of the inner member, heating the fluids flowing within.

In certain processes such as chemical vapor deposition (CVD) with chemical reactions of gases inside a high temperature furnace, pre-heating of source gases during delivery to the furnace is often needed to maintain the source gases at a certain temperature. Those processes are typically highly sensitive to contamination, especially when they are used for semiconductor manufacturing or other nano-technologies. Heating elements in the equipment that easily react, corrode, or generate particles affect the source gases and consequently lower the yield of the end products. Those processes often require a clean room environment where the space to install apparatuses is limited as the room size is an important factor that determines the running cost. Among the apparatuses that provide such a function, downsizing and contamination reduction are common goals.
At elevated temperatures, most of commonly used metal materials become a potential source of metal contamination. In such an environment, the use of quartz to encase a heater element is known in the art to overcome the contamination problem. U.S. Pat. No. 6,868,230 discloses a vacuum insulated heater assembly, wherein the heating element or heater is a quartz glass tube. The vacuum effectively insulates the heating part from the environment and protects the heating element from oxidation. However, the prior art quartz tube heater is quite often bulky and not energy-efficient. The heat transfer through the channel wall of the passage is not the most efficient since, with the tubular flow passage implied in the prior art, the bulk of the flow passes near the center of the tube where the flow is the furthest from the heated surface in the passage.
There is still a need for an improved heater assembly, wherein the heating element is self-contained within the vacuum insulated heater assembly. The invention relates to an improved vacuum heater which is energy efficient, providing heat to the source gases in a range of laminar flow with reduced risk of contamination.


A method of classifying objects within a vehicle (12) includes the detection of an object and the generation of an object detection signal in response to the detection. A range signal is generated in response to the object detection signal. An image detection signal is generated having an image representation of the object. The object detection signal is projected on an image plane (122) in response to the image detection signal to generate a fused image reference (120). A search region (144) is generated on the image plane (122) in the vicinity of the fused image reference (120). A vector of feature values is calculated via generation of a sum-array (152) and in response to the range signal and the image detection signal. The search region (144) is classified in response to the vector of feature values.

Collision warning and countermeasure systems are becoming more widely used. Collision warning systems are able to detect an object within proximity of a host vehicle and assess whether the object detected is an obstacle and poses a threat to the host vehicle. These systems also provide a vehicle operator knowledge and awareness of obstacles or vehicles within close proximity in time such that the operator may perform actions to prevent colliding with the detected obstacles. Countermeasure systems exist in various passive and active forms. Some countermeasure systems are used in the prevention of a collision; other countermeasure systems are used in the prevention of an injury to a vehicle operator.
Collision warning systems may be forward or rearward sensing. These systems can indicate to a vehicle operator that an object, that may not be visible to the vehicle operator, is within a stated distance and location relative to the host vehicle. The vehicle operator may than respond accordingly. Other collision warning systems and countermeasure systems activate passive countermeasures such as air bags, load limiting seat belts, or active vehicle controls including steering control, accelerator control, and brake control whereby the system itself aids in the prevention of a collision or injury.
A detected object of concern may be a real object or a false object. False objects may be detected for example, when there is a stationary roadside object that is foreseen as a true potentially collision-causing object. A false object may also be detected when a small object, that is not a potential threat, is in the path of the host vehicle and is identified and misclassified as a potentially collision-causing object. Another example situation of when a false object may be generated is when a ghost object is generated, which corresponds with an object that actually does not exist.
Also, standard object classification systems tend to detect or generate false objects, due to the highly variable ranges of vehicles and objects. A classification system that utilizes a fixed computing function can generate widely varying and essentially meaningless values for a particular object of interest, due to this variation alone.
The collision warning and countermeasure systems collect data from multiple sensors and associate, fuse, or combine the data to determine whether detected objects are real objects rather than false objects. Advantages of utilizing data from multiple sensors includes extended spatial and temporal coverage, increased accuracy in determining whether an object is a potential threat, and increased reliability in the detection of objects in close proximity of the host vehicle. The stated advantages provide a better assessment of the surroundings of the host vehicle.
There is a current interest in using vision detection sensors, such as cameras, in the detection and classification of objects. Unfortunately, current camera technology requires a large amount of processing power and time to compute relevant information required for in-vehicle use. For example, image processing from a charge coupled device (CCD) camera is time consuming due to the large amount of data collected for each image, approximately 640×480 pixels per frame at 30 frames per second. To accurately classify and track an object can require the acquisition of tens to hundreds of frames of data and each frame having a minimum desired resolution.
A desire exists to provide a safer automotive vehicle with increased collision warning and safety countermeasure intelligence to decrease the probability of a collision or of an injury. It is also desireable for a collision warning and countermeasure system to be time efficient and cost effective. Thus, there exists a need for an improved cost effective collision warning and safety countermeasure system that utilizes time and system resource efficient object detection and classification techniques with improved object classification performance.

Object classification system for a vehicle


A method and apparatus are disclosed for producing thermal slide transparencies. Receiver elements mounted in open slide frames are positioned on a platen in an exposure station, and donor elements in the form of cut sheets are positioned over the receiver element prior to exposure. A laser beam, modulated in accordance with an information signal, is scanned across the surface of the donor element in order to provide the necessary thermal energy to effect a transfer of dye from a donor element to a receiver element. The elements are moved in a cross-scan direction during exposure by means of a lead screw connected to the platen. In order to form a color slide, successive donor elements of the necessary colors are moved into register with the receiver element. After the image has been formed on the receiver element, the receiver element is moved to a fusing station where the image is fixed. Sections of the slide frame are then joined together to complete the slide.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method and apparatus for producing thermal slide transparencies, and more particularly, to such a method and apparatus which is particularly suitable for producing color slide transparencies.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In one type of thermal printer, a dye-donor element is placed over a dye-receiving element, and the superposed elements are supported for cooperation with a print head having a plurality of individual heating resistors. When a particular heating resistor is energized, it causes dye from the donor to transfer to the receiver. The density or darkness of the printed color dye is a function of the energy delivered from the heating element to the donor. One of the problems in printers of this type is that the thermal time constant of the resistors is quite long. As a result, the printing speed is relatively slow, and the image contrast is limited.
It is known in thermal printing to use lasers instead of resistors to effect the transfer of dye from a donor element to a receiver element. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,804,975, for example, there is shown thermal dye transfer apparatus which comprises an array of diode lasers which can be selectively actuated to direct radiation onto a dye-carrying donor. Radiation from the diode lasers is modulated in accordance with an information signal to form an image on a thermal print medium. The diode laser array extends the full width of the print medium. A donor element in the form of a web is supported in contact with a receiver element which is mounted on a rotatable drum for movement with the web. When such apparatus is used for making a color image, the donor web must include separate spaced sections, for example, cyan, magenta, and yellow sections, and these sections must successively contact the receiver in separate passes of the drum. One problem in using the continuous web for a donor element is that the supply and take-up rolls make the apparatus rather large and bulky. A further problem is that use of the continuous-web donor limits the flexibility of the apparatus in that it is normally possible to only produce one kind of image, for example, a color image or a black-and-white image.

Method and apparatus for producing thermal slide transparencies


The present disclosure provides an apparatus for handling a liquid sample, wherein the apparatus includes integrated sample processing and sample evaluating components. The sample processing and evaluating components can include solid matrices that allow for optical measurement of a sample, or for the removal of contaminants from a sample. Methods for using the apparatus to handle liquid samples and evaluate sample components are also provided.

In various research and testing fields it is necessary to accurately acquire fluid samples with volumes that may be as small as a few nanoliters. In these same fields, it is also often desirable to measure optical characteristics of the acquired fluid samples.
UV-Visible spectrophotometry provides a convenient analysis technique to determine the concentration, purity, and integrity of a biological sample. For instance, UV-Visible Spectrophotometry is commonly used to measure nucleic acid concentration. However, biological samples are often highly concentrated for downstream processing (such as microarray spotting or protein sample preparation for mass spectrometers). The absorbance of such samples can be above the saturation limit for typical spectrophotometers if the pathlength is about 10 mm. While the sample concentration range can be extended by diluting the sample, diluting a sample requires additional laboratory work and can result in errors. Other approaches are needed to extend the sample concentration range that can be evaluated by the instrument.
Sampling techniques used in conventional UV-Visible Spectrophotometers include utilizing a cuvette with an optical window and fixed optical pathlength that holds a sample in a semi-closed way, direct measurement of liquid sample in a sample container (e.g., a well) along with a real-time pathlength measurement, and using a cuvetteless sample held in semi-free space between optical fibers which define a light path from a light source to a detector.
The cuvette-based sampling technique is widely used in conventional UV-Visible spectrophotometers. Generally, a sample is pipetted into a cuvette that has either a 10 mm or 2 mm path length. This technique is limited for most biological samples since cuvettes typically used generally require a minimum of 1 mL sample, which is typically discarded after measurement. Large sample volume and loss is problematic for valuable biological samples which may be present in limited quantities. Further, transfer of relatively large sample quantities into a cuvette sometimes produces an air-bubble interface in the light path that can cause measurement error or void measurements. Additionally, a pathlength of 2 mm or 10 mm limits the sample concentration that may be measured to 1000 ng/ml for a DNA/RNA sample due to the limited dynamic range of absorbance of most spectrophotometers.
Cuvetteless sampling also suffers from drawbacks. For example, in cuvetteless sampling, typically a narrow beam of light is directed to a sample stage that consists of a 1-2 microliter liquid droplet suspended between two multi-mode optical fibers, one source-side fiber which provides light from a light source to the droplet and a detection-side fiber that guides light from the droplet to appropriate detection optics. The close proximity between the source-side and detection-side fibers allows enough of the light cone emanating from the source-side fiber to be collected by the detection-side fiber after passing through a liquid sample.
Cuvetteless instruments typically require a clamping surface that can be wetted with sample to avoid an air-bubble interface. Carry-over contamination from failure to completely remove previous samples is a source for error. Adding a small amount of sample (5 microliters) to the center of the clamping surface is also a complicated lab technique.
In summary, existing sampling techniques used in the conventional UV-Visible Spectrophotometers generally require too much sample, provide insufficient confidence in the sample application technique, may result in carry-over contamination, and may require pathlength determination and/or dilution of sample, over a range of solution concentrations. Additionally, the requirements of small sample collection, accurate path length determination, ease of handling and the ability to interface with other equipment pose conflicting demands on the design of any sampling apparatus.
There is, therefore, a need for a sampling apparatus that is capable of simultaneously meeting conflicting demands.


A water tank has a container, a micro switch, a limiting assembly and a float. The float is mounted slidably in the container. The limiting assembly has an actuating rod that slides in a direction perpendicular to the sliding path of the float. An inclined guiding track is mounted between the float and the actuating rod to convert the moving direction. Since the actuating rod utilizes the movement to switch the micro switch on and off, the actuating rod and the micro switch need no abutting structures. Therefore, when the actuating rod is moved by an accidental force, the actuating rod self-moves back to its original position once the accidental force is removed. Then the micro switch is switched on again so that the household appliance is restarted without any extra acts by a user.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a water tank, especially to a water tank for household appliances.
2. Description of the Prior Arts
Some household appliances such as dehumidifiers have water tanks to collect water. When the household appliance is operated, the moist air is drawn into the household appliance. Then the moist air is transformed into water and is collected in the water tank. When the water tank collects a certain amount of water, the household appliance stops operating until the user empties the water tank.
With reference to FIGS. 7 and 8, to stop the household appliance via change of the water level, a conventional water tank comprises a shell 600, a container 60, a float 70 and a micro switch 80. The container 60 is mounted slidably in the shell 600. The float 70 is mounted pivotally in the top of the container 60. The float 70 has an actuating rod 701 extending from one side thereof. The actuating rod 701 protrudes through the container 60. The micro switch 80 is mounted out of the shell 600 and has a pivoting lever 801. The pivoting lever 801 corresponds to the actuating rod 701.
In a normal status, the float 70 is positioned horizontally and the actuating rod 701 presses against the lever 801 such that the micro switch 80 is switched on and the household appliance is operated. Then water is collected continuously in the container 60.
When the collected water in the container 60 is gradually increased, the water lever raises to pivot the float 70 until the actuating rod 701 leaves the lever 801. The lever 801 is pivoted toward the container 60 and the actuating rod 701 abuts between the bottom of the lever 801 and the sidewall of the container 60. Then an open circuit is formed and the household appliance is stopped from operating and the water stops from flowing into the container 60. The user needs to pull the container 60 out of the shell 600 to empty the water inside so that the float 70 is allowed to pivot back to the horizontal status. Then the container 60 is pushed back into the shell 600 so that the actuating rod 701 presses the lever 801 again. The micro switch 80 is then on and the household appliance is restarted.
However, since the actuating rod 701 abuts between the bottom of the lever 801 and the sidewall of the container 60 when the float 70 is pivoted, if the float 70 is accidentally pivoted because the household appliance is placed upside down or is vibrated, the float 70 cannot self-pivot back to the original position. Even if the container 60 has no water inside, the actuating rod 701 may abut against the bottom of the lever 801 and cannot press the lever 801 to actuate the micro switch 80. Therefore, the user needs to pull out and push back the container 60 to restart the household appliance regardless that the container 60 is full or not.
To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention provides a water tank with a limiting assembly to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.