A method is provided, the method comprising forming a first dielectric layer above a structure layer, the first dielectric layer having an upper portion. The method also comprises grading the upper portion of the first dielectric layer using at least one of monomethyl silane, dimethyl silane, trimethyl silane, and tetramethyl silane with helium (He) and at least one of nitrous oxide (N2O) and molecular nitrogen (O2).

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to semiconductor fabrication technology, and, more particularly, to techniques for filling contact openings and vias with copper and creating copper interconnections and lines.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is a constant drive within the semiconductor industry to increase the operating speed of integrated circuit devices, e.g., microprocessors, memory devices, and the like. This drive is fueled by consumer demands for computers and electronic devices that operate at increasingly greater speeds. This demand for increased speed has resulted in a continual reduction in the size of semiconductor devices, e.g., transistors. That is, many components of a typical field effect transistor (FET), e.g., channel length, junction depths, gate dielectric thickness, and the like, are reduced. For example, all other things being equal, the smaller the channel length of the FET, the faster the transistor will operate. Thus, there is a constant drive to reduce the size, or scale, of the components of a typical transistor to increase the overall speed of the transistor, as well as integrated circuit devices incorporating such transistors. Additionally, reducing the size, or scale, of the components of a typical transistor also increases the density, and number, of the transistors that can be produced on a given amount of wafer real estate, lowering the overall cost per transistor as well as the cost of integrated circuit devices incorporating such transistors.
However, reducing the size, or scale, of the components of a typical transistor also requires reducing the size and cross-sectional dimensions of electrical interconnects to contacts to active areas, such as N+ (P+) source/drain regions and a doped-polycrystalline silicon (doped-polysilicon or doped-poly) gate conductor, and the like. As the size and cross-sectional dimensions of electrical interconnects get smaller, resistance increases and electromigration increases. Increased resistance and electromigration are undesirable for a number of reasons. For example, increased resistance may reduce device drive current, and source/drain current through the device, and may also adversely affect the overall speed and operation of the transistor. Additionally, electromigration effects in aluminum (Al) interconnects, where electrical currents actually carry Al atoms along with the current, causing them to electromigrate, may lead to degradation of the Al interconnects, further increased resistance, and even disconnection and/or delamination of the Al interconnects.
The ideal interconnect conductor for semiconductor circuitry will be inexpensive, easily patterned, have low resistivity, and high resistance to corrosion, electromigration, and stress migration. Aluminum (Al) is most often used for interconnects in contemporary semiconductor fabrication processes primarily because Al is inexpensive and easier to etch than, for example, copper (Cu). However, because Al has poor electromigration characteristics and high susceptibility to stress migration, it is typical to alloy Al with other metals.
As discussed above, as semiconductor device geometries shrink and clock speeds increase, it becomes increasingly desirable to reduce the resistance of the circuit metallization. The one criterion that is most seriously compromised by the use of Al for interconnects is that of conductivity. This is because the three metals with lower resistivities (Al has a resistivity of 2.824xc3x9710xe2x88x926 ohms-cm at 20xc2x0 C.), namely, silver (Ag) with a resistivity of 1.59xc3x9710xe2x88x926 ohms-cm (at 20xc2x0 C.), copper (Cu) with a resistivity of 1.73xc3x9710xe2x88x926 ohms-cm (at 20xc2x0 C.), and gold (Au) with a resistivity of 2.44xc3x9710xe2x88x926 ohms-cm (at 20xc2x0 C.), fall short in other significant criteria. Silver, for example, is relatively expensive and corrodes easily, and gold is very costly and difficult to etch. Copper, with a resistivity nearly on par with silver, immunity from electromigration, high ductility (which provides high immunity to mechanical stresses generated by differential expansion rates of dissimilar materials in a semiconductor chip) and high melting point (1083xc2x0 C. for Cu vs. 660xc2x0 C. for Al), fills most criteria admirably. However, Cu is difficult to etch in a semiconductor environment. As a result of the difficulty in etching Cu, an alternative approach to forming vias and metal lines must be used. The damascene approach, consisting of etching openings such as trenches in the dielectric for lines and vias and creating in-laid metal patterns, is the leading contender for fabrication of sub-0.25 micron (sub-0.25xcexc) design rule Cu-metallized circuits.
However, the lower resistance and higher conductivity of the Cu interconnects, coupled with higher device density and, hence, decreased distance between the Cu interconnects, may lead to increased capacitance between the Cu interconnects. Increased capacitance between the Cu interconnects, in turn, results in increased RC time delays and longer transient decay times in the semiconductor device circuitry, causing decreased overall operating speeds of the semiconductor devices.
One conventional solution to the problem of increased capacitance between the Cu interconnects is to use xe2x80x9clow dielectric constantxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9clow Kxe2x80x9d dielectric materials, where K is less than or equal to about 4, for the interlayer dielectric layers (ILD""s) in which the Cu interconnects are formed using the damascene techniques. However, low K dielectric materials are difficult materials to use in conjunction with the damascene techniques. For example, some low K dielectric materials are susceptible to being damaged and weakened during the etching and subsequent processing steps used in the damascene techniques. In particular, the sidewalls of openings such as trenches and/or vias formed in low K dielectric materials are especially vulnerable. In addition, some low K dielectric materials, especially those with k less than or equal to about 2.5, are porous and are a weak and non-uniform substrate for the deposition of a barrier metal layer. In particular, after etching and ashing (to remove photoresist masks used for patterning), porous low K dielectric materials may have open pores (caused in part by air retained in the porous low K dielectric materials), which are undesirable in a substrate on which a barrier metal layer is to be deposited because of outgassing and surface roughness.
One or more barrier metal layers are typically used to protect material adjacent the copper (Cu) interconnects in the semiconductor devices from being poisoned by copper (Cu) atoms diffusing from the copper (Cu) interconnect into the adjacent material. For example, the barrier metal layer(s) may protect adjacent silicon-containing structures from being poisoned by copper (Cu) atoms diffusing from the copper (Cu) interconnect into the adjacent silicon-containing structures.
However, a diffusion barrier layer and/or an etch stop layer (typically silicon nitride, Si3N4, or SiN, for short, or amorphous silicon carbide, or some combination SiCxNyHz) formed above a low K dielectric layer typically does not adhere well. The adhesion of a diffusion barrier layer and/or a nitride etch stop layer to an underlying low K dielectric layer needs to be improved. Furthermore, during the integration of plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) low K dielectric films, it is frequently desirable to cap these plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) low K dielectric films with other plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) dielectric films. However, the initiation of the cap deposition process frequently leads to one or more physical and/or chemical changes in the upper portions of the low K dielectric films. These physical and/or chemical changes in the upper portions of the low K dielectric films may adversely affect the physical properties of the interface. For example, the adhesion between the low K dielectric film and the cap layer may be decreased, the effective dielectric constant of the low K dielectric film may be increased, increasing the capacitive coupling between neighboring copper lines and hence the RC delay times in the integrated circuit, and/or a current leakage route may be established at such an interface.
The present invention is directed to overcoming, or at least reducing the effects of, one or more of the problems set forth above.
In one aspect of the present invention, a method is provided, the method comprising forming a first dielectric layer above a structure layer, the first dielectric layer having an upper portion. The method also comprises grading the upper portion of the first dielectric layer using at least one of monomethyl silane, dimethyl silane, trimethyl silane, and tetramethyl silane with helium (He) and at least one of nitrous oxide (N2O) and molecular nitrogen (O2).
In another aspect of the present invention, a device is provided, the device comprising a first dielectric layer above a structure layer, the first dielectric layer having an upper portion, wherein the upper portion has been graded using at least one of monomethyl silane, dimethyl silane, trimethyl silane, and tetramethyl silane with helium (He) and at least one of nitrous oxide (N2O) and molecular nitrogen (O2)BRIEF

Graded oxide caps on low dielectric constant (low K) chemical vapor deposition (CVD) films


When a monochromatic image is reproduced, a user can select desired mixing coefficients of red, green and blue in order to control gradation data for the reproduction of a monochromatic image as well as a monochromatic reproduction color. When a document is automatically determined not to be a color document, the mixing coefficients of red, green and blue are changed according to the type of the document. If a monochromatic copy mode is selected, the mixing coefficients can be set manually. Preferably, in order to help a user to select mixing coefficients, a plurality of images of monochromatic colors of various mixing coefficients of red, green and blue can be printed on a single sheet of paper.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a full color digital image reproducing apparatus such as a full color copying machine which can also reproduce a monochromatic image in addition to a full color image.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A full color digital image reproducing apparatus, such as a full color copying machine, has a monochromatic color copy mode in addition to a full color copy mode. In the monochromatic color copy mode, gradation data are obtained from color data of red, green and blue, and a monochromatic image is reconstructed from the gradation data for color data of cyan or the like.
However, the monochromatic color mode has problems. Spectral luminous efficiency of human eyes corresponds to a mixing ratio of about 3:6:1 for three primary colors of red, green and blue. Then, yellow having a low mixing ratio becomes whitish yellow, and red becomes thin. Then, a reproduced image seems to be strange as compared to an actual image. Further, the reproduced image is insufficient even for reproducing monochromatic information and for communicating information in the image.
Then, it may be proposed to provide gradation data for flat or average frequency characteristic by using a mixing ratio of 1:1:1 for three primary colors of red, green and blue. However, in this case, differences in colors may not be reproduced as differences in gradations when various color information exists in a document. For example, even an image in a back face of a document may be reproduced, or a colored background may be reproduced for example when a document has a colored background.
Further, usually, a user selects a reproduction color by designating a name of the color. However, the name of the color does not necessarily agree with a color desired really by a user. Further, a color reproduced by a machine may not be necessarily kept the same when there is a change in an environment thereof.

Image reproducing apparatus for forming either of a color image or a monochromatic image


A method of generating a chronic myelogenic leukemia (CML) acquired chemoresistant culture model is provided. Such a method may comprise providing a naïve blast crisis CML cell line; administering/contacting the cell line with a mutation-inducing dose of imatinib; maintaining a culture of the treated cell line for a period of time until the treated cell line relapses and repopulates the culture; and determining the repopulated cell culture is a CML acquired chemoresistant cell line by detecting a BCR-ABL mutation, wherein the acquired chemoresistance is achieved by a BCR-ABL mutation.

Epigenetic disruptions of gene expression such as by DNA methylation and histone modifications are profoundly involved in tumorigenesis. For leukemia, the gene hypermethylated in cancer 1 ("HIC1") is unique because hypermethylation of the gene's promoter region occurs progressively towards the late phases of hematologic malignancies. HIC1 encodes a DNA-binding, zinc finger transcriptional factor that is essential for mammalian development. The HIC1 gene is inactivated but not mutated in certain human cancers such as chronic myelogeneous leukemia (CML) and relapsed acute lymphocytic leukemias following chemotherapy. Using mouse genetics, the importance of HIC1 in of tumorigenesis has recently been demonstrated. Germline disruption of one copy of HIC1 predisposes mice to a late on-set and gender-dependent spectrum of malignant tumors wherein promoter hypermethylation of the wild type HIC1 allele is associated with loss of function of this gene. It is also known that HIC1 plays a synergistic role with p53 in suppressing the development of age-dependent cancers. Germline disruption of one copy each of HIC1 and p53 on opposite (trans) chromosomes or same (cis) chromosomes in mice results in altered tumor spectrum, earlier appearance and increased prevalence and aggressiveness of osteosarcomas. Indeed, a low frequency of blast crisis megakaryocytic leukemia is found in cis HIC1 and p53 double heterozygous mice. See FIG. 1.
A key mechanism by which HIC1 suppresses tumorigenesis is through its regulation of the stress and DNA damage responsive gene, SIRT. SIRT1 is a mammalian orthologue of yeast silent information regulator 2 (Sir2) that is required for yeast lifespan extension upon calorie restriction (Lin et al., 2000). An extra copy of Sir2 extends life span in yeast, fly and worm. SIRT1 is a class III histone deacetylase whose enzymatic activity is dependent on cofactor NAD. SIRT1 is insensitive to histone deacetylase inhibitor trichostatin A (TSA) which inhibits class I and II deacetylases. SIRT1 is involved in regulation of a variety of cellular functions including survival, glucose homeostasis and fat metabolism through deacetylating histones and non-histone proteins (Saunders & Verdin 2007). SIRT1 levels increase in response to metabolic stresses such as calorie restriction and nutrient starvation (Cohen et al. 2004; Nemoto et al. 2004). The mammalian SIRT1 promotes cell survival under oxidative stress, genotoxic stress and DNA damage through multiple substrates including p53 (Luo et al. 2001; Vaziri et al. 2001), Ku70 (Cohen et al. 2004) and FOXO proteins. For example, SIRT1 promotes cell survival using p53 via a pathway that includes deacetylation of p53 and attenuation of its ability to activate downstream targets to control apoptosis. HIC1 forms a complex with SIRT1 protein. This HIC1/SIRT1 protein complex directly binds to the SIRT1 promoter in vivo to repress SIRT1 gene transcription. Loss of HIC1 expression by promoter hypermethylation upregulates SIRT1 in cancer cells, attenuates p53 activity by deacetylation and allows cells to bypass apoptosis and survive stress and DNA damage. Inhibition of SIRT1 function in cells without HIC1 abolishes the resistance to apoptosis.
Chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) is a fatal hematopoietic disorder resulting from malignant transformation of bone marrow progenitor cells. The disease progresses from chronic phase, to accelerated phase, to terminal blast crisis phase. CML is characterized by a reciprocal translocation of chromosome 9 and 22 that creates an oncogenic fusion gene, BCR-ABL. This gene produces a protein with deregulated BCR-ABL tyrosine kinase activity. Imatinib mesylate (also known as imitanib, Gleevac or STI-571) is a potent ABL tyrosine kinase inhibitor. In most chronic phase patients, treatment with imatinib results in complete cytogenic responses (CCR) or remission and infrequent relapse. However, in most blast crisis patients, there is a poor response to imatinib treatment and a high frequency of relapse in those patients having an initial response. The molecular mechanisms of the resistance to imatinib may consist of both BCR-ABL dependent and independent pathways. BCR-ABL dependent pathways are characterized by genetic alterations of the BCR-ABL gene.
The clinical resistance to imatinib treatment is mediated primarily by genetic mutations of the BCR-ABL kinase domain, and to a lesser extent, by amplification of the BCR-ABL gene. In relapsed CML patients, more than 15 BCR-ABL mutations have been identified. These mutations confer various degrees of resistance to imatinib. Mechanisms for formation of BCR-ABL mutations in CML are not clear. The vast majority of BCR-ABL mutations are detected in relapsed patients, but pre-existing mutations including a T315I mutation are also found in patients before imatinib treatment (Gorre et al., 2001; Shah et al., 2002). The T315I mutation has been identified thus far as being frequent and the most resistant mutation. Located in the center of the imatinib binding site is Thr315 and the T315I mutation blocks the drug from binding to the ABL kinase. In addition, imatinib suppresses proliferation of human CML leukemic progenifor cells, but cannot eliminate them in vivo. Thus, most subjects in CCR or remission continue to harbor residual leukemia cells (Bhatia et al. 2003). Similarly, imatinib treatment results in remission of CML in mouse models of the disease, but fails to eliminate leukemic stem cells (Hu et al. 2006; Neering et al. 2007). Because of this, in vitro studies of the process by which BCR-ABL is mutated in CML cells is difficult because, unlike what occurs in vivo, nearly all CML cell lines derived from blast crisis CML are sensitive to 1 μM STI-571 treatment. (Deininger et al. 1997). Nilotinib (AMN107) is a recently developed BCR-ABL inhibitor having greater potency. It inhibits most of the known mutants with the exception of the T315I mutation. Similarly, the potent dual SRC-ABL kinase inhibitor dasatinib (BMS-354825) inhibits 14 of 15 BCR-ABL mutants but not T315I. However, in vivo, CML patients with a T315I mutation do not respond to either nilotinib or dasatinib. Without further effective treatment, these blast crisis patients are terminal. Accordingly, a method of treating these relapsed patients or preventing formation of this resistant mutation is highly desired.
Several resistant CML cell lines have been developed by gradually exposing cells to increasing concentrations of STI-571 (Mahon et al., 2000). However, these resistant cell lines all have BCR-ABL gene amplification but lack mutations. This is opposite to the results seen in patients. Today, most in vitro mutation studies are carried out using murine cell lines such as Ba/F3 cells, a murine pro-B cell line transfected with genetically engineered BCR-ABL mutations. (La Rosee et al. 2002; Shah et al., 2004; von Bubnoff et al., 2006; von Bubnoff et al., 2005; Weisberg et al., 2005). Although these cell lines are important for addressing mutant kinase activity, they do not reflect in vivo mechanisms of BCR-ABL mutagenesis, and thereby cannot be used to address mechanisms of BCR-ABL mutagenesis in natural cellular and molecular contexts of CML, and cannot be applied to development of strategies for preventing such mutations. The use of these cells also excludes the possibility of studying other genetic and epigenetic alterations accompanying the BCR-ABL mutagenesis process in mutant CML cells. Thus, a CML cell line having one or more BCR-ABL mutations is also highly desired because it is useful as a model system for CML disease. Use of such cell lines will facilitate further study of the mechanism of disease development and progression and assist in the further identification of therapeutic treatments for this disease.

Cell culture model for acquired chemoresistance of chronic myelogenous leukemia and related methods for identifying agents to overcome resistance


A land grid array (LGA) socket apparatus includes an LGA socket, with two guide rails provided respectively on the inner sides of two opposite side walls of the socket. The height of the top surface of each guide rail from the socket's bottom is greater than the height of socket terminals from the socket's bottom. The length of each guide rail is smaller than the length of the sidewall's inner side. The guide rails support at least two protrusions provided at corners at opposite sides of an integrated circuit chip assembly when the assembly is slid into the socket from a side. The guide rails, when the assembly is slid to the end of the guide rail, enable the at least two protrusions to fall into the gaps between the ends of the guide rail and the respective socket end walls to install the assembly in the socket.

Land grid array (LGA) sockets are used to provide electrical and mechanical connections between processors and printed circuit boards (PCBs) in PCs or servers. An LGA socket has an array of tiny copper spring pins, or terminals, which are electrically connected to a PCB), and the bottom surface of a processor has a corresponding LGA. When the processor is installed on the LGA socket, the land grid array is pressed against the array of the spring pins to form a reliable electrical connection.


The present invention relates to a method for the controlled availability formulation components, such as organic catalysts, into a wash solution. More particularly, the present invention relates to products and bleaching compositions containing such formulation components and laundry methods employing such formulation components.

Oxygen bleaching agents have become increasingly popular in recent years in household and personal care products to facilitate stain and soil removal. Bleaches are particularly desirable for their stain-removing, dingy fabric cleanup, whitening and sanitization properties, as well as for dye transfer inhibition. Oxygen bleaching agents have found particular acceptance in laundry products such as detergents, in automatic dishwashing products and in hard surface cleansers. Oxygen bleaching agents, however, are somewhat limited in their effectiveness. Some frequently encountered disadvantages include color damage on fabrics and damage to laundry appliances. In addition, oxygen bleaching agents tend to be extremely temperature rate dependent. Thus, the colder the solution in which they are employed, the less effective the bleaching action. Temperatures in excess of 60° C. are typically required for effectiveness of an oxygen bleaching agent in solution.
To solve the aforementioned temperature rate dependency, a class of compounds known as "bleach activators" has been developed. Bleach activators, typically perhydrolyzable acyl compounds having a leaving group such as oxybenzenesulfonate, react with the active oxygen group, typically hydrogen peroxide or its anion, to form a more effective peroxyacid oxidant. It is the peroxyacid compound which then oxidizes the stained or soiled substrate material. However, bleach activators are also somewhat temperature dependent. Bleach activators are more effective at warm water temperatures of from about 40° C. to about 60° C. In water temperatures of less than about 40° C., the peroxyacid compound loses some of its bleaching effectiveness.
Attempts have been made as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,360,568, 5,360,569 and 5,370,826 all to Madison et al. to develop a bleach system which is effective in lower temperature water conditions. However, the dihydroisoquinolinium bleach boosters disclosed in these references, when combined with peroxygen compounds, undergo undesired decomposition, particularly when in the presence of wash solution components.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,576,282 and 5,817,614 both to Miracle et al. disclose additional attempts at developing a bleach system comprising organic catalysts which is effective in lower temperature water conditions and is safe on colors.
However, the prior art has failed to teach or disclose the delayed (controlled) addition of formulation components, such as organic catalysts, in accordance with the present invention.
In light of the foregoing, researchers have been pursuing a method to mitigate (or control) the decomposition of the organic catalyst, particularly prior to contact with the oxidizable stain.
Accordingly, the need remains for an effective method to deliver organic catalysts and compositions containing organic catalysts which provide effective bleaching even in lower water temperatures, provides improved stability toward unwanted organic catalyst decomposition, and maximizes peracid performance early in the wash cycle.

Controlled availability of formulation components, compositions and laundry methods employing same


A method and apparatus for operatively connecting a bipolar electrosurgical hand piece to a monopolar output of an electrosurgical unit wherein active components simulate expected impedance characteristics of monopolar return electrodes connected to a patient.

1. Field of the Invention (Technical Field)
Embodiments of the present invention relate to the general field of electrosurgical generators that are used to power devices, such as instrument probes, developed for use in surgical and medical procedures.
2. Description of Related Art
The use of electrosurgical instruments in various types of surgical procedures has become widespread and generally consists of a system whereby a treatment device probe is connected to an electrosurgical generator. The device probe delivers the energy from the electrosurgical generator to the tissue treatment site via electrodes to provide a therapeutic effect. Device probe and electrosurgical generator architecture have been developed for particular therapeutic needs, depending upon, for example, the goals of treatment, the tissue type to be treated, and the treatment environment. Most commonly, electrosurgical generators consist of either monopolar or bipolar configurations, or both, which have become well known in the art. Likewise, either monopolar or bipolar treatment device probes have been developed to connect to those types of electrosurgical generators via an electrosurgical generator output port, either monopolar or bipolar, respectively. Active (or working) and return (reference) electrodes then function in a variety of ways based upon, for example, configuration, architecture, and connection to the electrosurgical generator. In this manner, either a monopolar or bipolar output portal, or both, exists on the electrosurgical generator into which the device probe, either a monopolar or bipolar device respectively, is connected. A monopolar device is connected to a monopolar output portal on the electrosurgical generator and, likewise, a bipolar device is connected to a bipolar output portal on the electrosurgical generator. Typically, feedback from the treatment site is then managed by way of the relevant monopolar or bipolar circuitry within the electrosurgical generator and between the device probe electrodes that are connected to the electrosurgical generator accordingly.
More generally, and to date, the electrosurgical industry has provided a wide variety of products geared toward this single-mode of operation from specific electrosurgical generator output portals (monopolar or bipolar). Within this design limitation, specific control mechanisms, circuitry, and software algorithms have been developed and applied to the management of the variable feedback that can be obtained from a single portal output for any given device. Since device probe geometries tend to be more fixed than variable with respect to monopolar or bipolar configuration, the electrical signature of a given device is commonly treated as a constant within the context of an overall surgical procedure; i.e. a monopolar or a bipolar device.
The direct result of this prior art has been to provide specific output portals for the most common types of electrosurgery; those being monopolar and bipolar. Each of these output portals is designed to provide specific controls that limit the amount of maximum current, voltage or time-based modulations of current and voltage in response to the variations in factors at the treatment site. The result is intended to control the overall output to the active (working) end of the attached device probe and keep its general state of operation within a specified "safe-range" to avoid excessive heat, current, or current density from forming within the surgical site or elsewhere within the patient at the time of treatment.
Such circuitry for this monopolar or bipolar configured output portals is contained within the physical confines of the electrosurgical generator enclosure itself, proximal to the connection of the device probe, and is coupled to an electronic and software controller that monitors said variables and continually checks their time-varying values against preset performance limits. When these performance limits are exceeded, the controlling algorithm forces a safety trip, thus shutting down the primary RF-power output to the working end of the attached device. The specifics of these predefined software controlled trip points is that they are based on the electro physical constraints electrosurgical generator manufacturers have placed on the output portals, which as previously discussed, are configuration specific (monopolar or bipolar). Thus, the physical spacing of primary components such as the active (working) and return (reference) electrodes plays a paramount role in what those specific characteristics are that govern said trip points for safety control.
The overall industry result from this configuration model is a trajectory of "silo" thinking for each specific electrosurgical output portal, meaning that devices have been optimized for either the monopolar output portal or bipolar output portal of electrosurgical generators. Traditional thinking of the prior art has been that there is no advantage in shrinking the physical space of a given portals output for a specific mode, meaning that a monopolar procedure that involves a separated ground pad, typically placed at a great distance from the surgical site, has been thought to need such separation to operate effectively and that such separation is exactly why the procedure has been named "mono" polar as the electrical poles are separated by such large relative distances that only a single pole is effectively at work within the surgical site. On the other end of the spectrum is the "bi" polar method of electrosurgery which has drawn its name from the physical basis of active (working) and return (reference) electrode proximities to one and other. Thus, to date industry has remained ensconced in fixed paradigm of one treatment device probe configuration per output port of the electrosurgical generator; i.e. monopolar device to monopolar output port and bipolar device to bipolar output port.

Connection of a bipolar electrosurgical hand piece to a monopolar output of an electrosurgical generator


A primary test printing process of a plurality of copy-forgery-inhibited pattern images generated by changing one or both of print densities of the latent-image and background-image parts in a first pattern on the basis of a predetermined parameter is performed. The user selects one copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image which has the latent-image and background-image parts with approximate print densities from the plurality of copy-forgery-inhibited pattern images generated by the primary test printing process. A secondary test printing process of a plurality of copy-forgery-inhibited pattern images generated by changing one or both of print densities of the latent-image and background-image parts in a second pattern on the basis of the parameter used to determine the print densities of the latent-image and background-image parts of the selected copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image is performed. The user selects one copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image which has the latent-image and background-image parts with approximate print densities from the plurality of copy-forgery-inhibited pattern images generated by the secondary test printing process, and the parameter of the selected copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image is determined as a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern density parameter.

On some receipts, securities, and certificates, a special pattern which emerges as a character string or image when they are copied is printed on the background, so as to prevent them from being readily copied. Such special pattern is generally called a "copy-forgery-inhibited pattern", which applies a mechanism that does not allow an original to be readily copied, thus psychologically inhibiting a copy of an original.
This copy-forgery-inhibited pattern is formed of two regions, i.e., a region where dots remain after copying and a region where dots disappear after copying. These two regions have substantially the same densities, and a hidden character string or image such as "COPY" cannot be seemingly recognized macroscopically, but these regions microscopically have different properties. Note that the hidden character string or image will be referred to as a "latent-image" hereinafter.
For example, the region where dots remain after copying (to be referred to as a latent-image part hereinafter) is formed of groups of dots where dots are concentrated, and the region where dots disappear or become lighter than the density of the latent-image part of a copy after copying (to be referred to as a background-image part hereinafter) is formed of scattered dots. In this manner, the two regions which have substantially the same densities but different properties can be created.
The concentrated dots and scattered dots can be generated by halftoning using halftone dot screens with different screen ruling values or dithering using dither matrices having different features as an image process.
In halftoning, a halftone dot screen with a low screen ruling value is preferably used to obtain the concentrated dot layout, and a halftone dot screen with a high screen ruling value is preferably used to obtain the scattered dot layout.
In the dithering using a dither matrix, a dot-concentration dither matrix is preferably used to obtain the concentrated dot layout, and a dot-scattering dither matrix is preferably used to obtain the scattered dot layout.
Therefore, when a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image is generated using the aforementioned halftoning, halftoning with a low screen ruling value is suited to a latent-image part, and halftoning with a high screen ruling value is suited to a background-image part. When a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image is generated using the aforementioned dithering, dithering using a dot-concentration dither matrix is suited to a latent-image part, and dithering using a dot-scattering dither matrix is suited to a background-image part.
In general, a copying machine suffers a limitation on image reproduction performance depending on the input resolution upon reading small dots of a document to be copied or the output resolution upon reproducing small dots. Therefore, when a document includes isolated small dots beyond the limitation on the image reproduction performance of the copying machine, these small dots cannot be perfectly reproduced on its copy, and the isolated small dots disappear.
That is, when the background-image part of the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern is designed to exceed the limitation of dots that can be reproduced by the copying machine, large dots (concentrated dots) of the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern can be reproduced by copying, but small dots (scattered dots) cannot be reproduced. Hence, a hidden image (latent-image) emerges. Also, even when scattered dots do not completely disappear after copying, if they have an apparent density difference from concentrated dots after copying, a hidden image (latent-image) emerges.
In the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern, a technique called "camouflage" which makes it harder to recognize a hidden character string or image as a latent-image is well known. This camouflage technique is a method of laying out a pattern which has a density different from that of the latent-image part and background-image part on the entire copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image. This technique has an effect of macroscopically emphasizing the camouflage pattern with a density different from that of the latent-image part and background-image part, and further obscuring a latent-image at a glance.
The copy-forgery-inhibited pattern with the camouflage pattern has an effect of giving a decorative impression to a print compared to a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern without any camouflage pattern. Dots inside the camouflage pattern preferably disappear as much as possible so as to allow easy recognition of a latent-image after copying. In case of the simplest implementation, camouflage can be realized by printing no dots at positions corresponding to the camouflage pattern.
An overview of the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern has been explained.
Conventionally, a print paper vendor prints a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern including a character string or image (latent-image) such as "copy" or the like on dedicated sheets, and sells such sheets as copy-inhibition paper sheets. The government and other public offices, and companies buy such copy-inhibition paper sheets, and print documents whose authenticity is to be guaranteed on copy-inhibition paper sheets, thus inhibiting copies of prints.
Since the aforementioned copy-inhibition paper sheets are prepared by pre-printing a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern on dedicated sheets by a print paper vendor, they have demerits in terms of cost such as cost produced upon using dedicated sheets, cost produced upon preparing pre-print sheets more than necessary, and the like.
By contrast, in recent years, a technique for creating a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image by software, and outputting a document with that copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image on its background using a laser printer (to be referred to as "on-demand copy-forgery-inhibited pattern output method by printer" hereinafter) has been realized (e.g., see patent reference 1: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-197297).
With this on-demand copy-forgery-inhibited pattern output method by a printer, since a document with a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image on its background can be printed using plain paper, only a required number of documents with a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image on their backgrounds can be printed when needed. Therefore, copy-inhibition paper sheets need not be prepared more than necessary unlike in the conventional method. That is, the on-demand copy-forgery-inhibited pattern output method by a printer can greatly reduce cost of sheets compared to the conventional document copy-inhibition method using copy-inhibition paper sheets.
The user of the conventional copy-inhibition paper sheets can use only a hidden character string or image (latent-image) prepared in advance or a made-to-order hidden character string or image (latent-image).
However, with the on-demand copy-forgery-inhibited pattern output method by a printer, the user can generate a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image including an arbitrary hidden character string or image (latent-image) by a software process for each print, and can print it on-demand using a printer. Hence, the user can freely customize a hidden character string or image (latent-image).
By exploiting a merit of on-demand selection of a latent-image, not only a corporation logo mark or a character string of copy inhibition, which is used conventionally, but also various kinds of information such as a serial number or IP address used to identify an output printer, a computer name or IP address used to identify a computer that issues a print command, a user name or login name used to identify a user who issues a print command, a print job number, print date, print location, the file name of a digital document, and the like used to identify when and by whom a print process is done, and so forth can be selected as an image or character string to be embedded as a latent-image.
As a result, the on-demand copy-forgery-inhibited pattern output method by a printer can implement an advanced tracking function that cannot be implemented by the conventional pre-printed copy-inhibition paper sheets.
In the on-demand copy-forgery-inhibited pattern output method by a printer, variations of the densities of the latent-image part and background-image part depending on the printer engine characteristics, print environment (temperature and humidity), and the state of output paper sheets (media), and the like are predicted.
In order to lay out a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image on the background of a document whose copies are to be inhibited, and to implement a copy-inhibition effect, the densities of the latent-image and background-image parts of the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image must be appropriately adjusted, so that the latent-image and background-image parts of the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image have nearly equal densities, and the latent-image part in a copy emerges after copying. In this specification, parameters used to determine the print densities of the background and latent-image parts of a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image upon generating the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image will be referred to as "copy-forgery-inhibited pattern density parameters". Note that elements of the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern density parameters will be described in detail later.
As a method of finding out the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern density parameters, a test printing process is executed before a document and copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image are composited. The user checks this test print to visually find out a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image in which the latent-image and background-image parts have substantially equal densities upon printing, and a latent-image emerges after copying by a target copying machine. Then, parameters used upon generating the found copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image are determined as optimal copy-forgery-inhibited pattern density parameters. Such method is normally used. After that, a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image is generated based on the determined optimal copy-forgery-inhibited pattern density parameters, and is composited to the document who copies are to be inhibited, thus printing out a composite image.
However, some printers have largely different halftone reproduction characteristics of the latent-image and background-image parts due to the printer engine characteristics and individual differences. Also, the latent-image and background-image parts have different halftone reproduction characteristics owing to different types of output paper sheets. For example, in case of an ink-jet printer, the latent-image and background-image parts may have different halftone reproduction characteristics due to blurring of dots depending on the characteristics of output paper sheets. Some printers have large density variations depending on a print environment and aging. For example, in case of a laser printer, the electric field distribution of a photosensitive drum is susceptible to changes in the humidity and temperature. When the electric field distribution becomes broad and smooth, reproduction of scattered dots or isolated dots becomes unstable.
In general, in the test printing process of a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image, one or both of the densities of the latent-image and background-image parts must be changed little by little so that the density difference between the finally obtained latent-image and background-image parts is visually imperceptible, thus adjusting one or both densities.
When the halftone reproduction characteristics of the latent-image and background-image parts that depend on the printer engine characteristics, output paper sheets, and the like are determined, optimal copy-forgery-inhibited pattern density parameters can be determined in correspondence with a model or paper sheet involved.
However, upon finding out optimal copy-forgery-inhibited pattern density parameters in consideration of changes in densities of the latent-image and background-image parts depending on the print environment, aging, and the like, if a density change width produced as a result of a change in print environment or aging is also considered, a large number of combinations of copy-forgery-inhibited pattern density parameters are prepared by dividing a relative broad range from lower to higher densities in increments of a change width as slight as the density difference between the latent-image and background-image parts cannot be visually recognized, and undergo a test printing process, so as to find out optimal copy-forgery-inhibited pattern density parameters.
In case of a printer which suffers a large density variation width depending on a change in print environment or aging, the number of combinations of copy-forgery-inhibited pattern density parameters required to find out an optimal copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image increases inevitably according to the density variation width. It is possible to execute test printing processes of all copy-forgery-inhibited pattern density parameters, but many paper sheets are wasted by the test printing processes.
Therefore, in a printer which has unknown halftone reproduction characteristics of the latent-image and background-image parts depending on its engine characteristics or output paper sheets (e.g., a printer of an old generation or a printer in the future), or a printer which suffers a large density change of the latent-image and background-image parts depending on the print environment, aging, and the like, it is difficult to obtain an optimal copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image by a single test printing process. For this reason, in the on-demand copy-forgery-inhibited pattern output method by a printer, printers that can output a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image are limited.
However, if there is means for efficiently finding out optimal copy-forgery-inhibited pattern density parameters, and that means is provided to users who print a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern using a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern generated by the on-demand copy-forgery-inhibited pattern output method by a printer, there is a merit of generally applying the on-demand copy-forgery-inhibited pattern output method by a printer to more printers.
On a conventional copy-inhibition paper sheet, the densities of the latent-image and background-image parts are fixed, and the density of a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image cannot be changed in correspondence with document data. However, when the latent-image and background-image parts of a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern have nearly equal densities upon printing, and the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern has a nature that a latent-image emerges when that copy-forgery-inhibited pattern is copied by a target copying machine, the density can be freely selected.
Since the aforementioned on-demand copy-forgery-inhibited pattern output method by a printer can easily change the density of a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern, a creator of the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern can freely select the density of the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern as a merit.
For example, the density of the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern can be changed by increasing or decreasing the gray level of a multi-valued background before execution of halftoning or error diffusion using a scheme described in the on-demand copy-forgery-inhibited pattern output method by a printer described in patent reference 1. An application that composites and outputs a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern has a user interface that prompts the user to select the density of a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern, and makes the user select the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern density. The application executes a test printing process at the selected density, and can determine parameters which can make the densities of the latent-image and background-image parts nearly equal to each other upon printing.
However, in case of the above implementation, at the density of a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern selected by the creator of the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern from the user interface, the background may not disappear upon copying due to too high a density, or parameters at which a latent-image emerges upon copying may not be found due to too low a density. In this case, the creator of the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern must select another density of the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern, execute a test printing process, and copy the printed copy-forgery-inhibited pattern. Therefore, the sequence for finding out optimal copy-forgery-inhibited pattern parameters is troublesome for the creator of the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern.

Copy-forgery-inhibited pattern density parameter determination method, copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image generation method, and image processing


The present invention provides an internal combustion engine component, such as a cylinder head or tappet block, which is adaptable to a variety of pushrod positions and angles. A large pushrod aperture is formed in the engine component. The aperture is large enough to accommodate one or more pushrods passing therethrough at a variety of different angles and positions. A composite pushrod hole adapter plate is attached to the engine component over the aperture. The adapter plate has one or more pushrod holes machined therethrough at desired angles and positions. A counter bore is preferably formed around each pushrod hole to provide a seat for the end of a pushrod housing. A plurality of different adapter plates, having pushrod holes and counter bores formed therein at different angles and positions, may alternatively be attached to the engine component, thereby adapting the engine component for use in combination with various different engine designs. The component may be provided along with one or more adapter plates as a kit which may be assembled onto an internal combustion engine such that a pushrod passes coaxially through each pushrod hole in the adapter plate and an end of a pushrod housing is positioned in the counter bore around the pushrod hole to form a seal between the adapter plate and the pushrod housing.

A typical internal combustion engine includes a cylinder block through which one or more engine cylinders are machined. The cylinder is typically lined with a cylinder sleeve. A piston is mounted within the cylinder sleeve for reciprocal motion therein. A cylinder head is mounted at one end of the cylinder block. A portion of the bottom surface of the cylinder head combines with the cylinder to form a combustion chamber in a portion of the cylinder between the piston and the cylinder head. A crank case is mounted at the other end of the cylinder block from the cylinder head. The end of the piston opposite the combustion chamber is coupled by a connecting rod to a crank shaft located in the crank case. As the piston is reciprocated in the cylinder by combustion in the combustion chamber, the crank shaft is turned.
The cylinder head has intake and exhaust valves mounted therein which, respectively, allow air and fuel into the combustion chamber prior to combustion and allow combustion byproducts to be exhausted from the combustion chamber following combustion. The intake and exhaust valves are actuated by cams mounted on a cam shaft which is rotated by the rotating crank shaft. The cams are designed to open the valves at precisely the correct instant of piston travel, and hold them open long enough to obtain the most efficient filling and emptying of the cylinder. In many engine designs, the cam activates a pushrod which, in turn, activates a rocker arm in the cylinder head which pushes against the end of a valve stem, thereby opening the valve. The pushrod is coupled to the cam by a cam follower tappet mounted in a tappet block connected to the crank case. The pushrod, rocker arm, and valve are the primary components of the engine valve train in such engine designs.
In many engine designs, such as motorcycle engines, the pushrod extends from a pushrod hole in the tappet block connected to the crank case, runs along the outside of the cylinder block, generally parallel with the cylinder, and enters a pushrod hole in the cylinder head, wherein the end of the pushrod is in contact with the valve rocker arm. Between the tappet block and the cylinder head the pushrod is typically enclosed within a pushrod housing. The pushrod housing is typically mounted at each end thereof in counter bores formed around the pushrod holes in the cylinder head and tappet block. The pushrod housing seals the pushrod holes in the tappet block and cylinder head through which the pushrod passes and forms a chamber through which oil and gasses flow between the crank case and cylinder head to provide oil return and venting through the cylinder head.
For any particular internal combustion engine design, such as a V-twin motorcycle engine, a multitude of crank case designs are possible. For each different crank case design, each pushrod may emerge from a pushrod hole in the tappet block at a different angle with respect to the cylinder head from the pushrod angle of the corresponding pushrod in another crank case design. Thus, the angle and position at which a pushrod enters a pushrod hole in the cylinder head will depend upon the crank case design employed. The angle and position at which the pushrod holes and counter bores for the pushrod housing are machined in the cylinder head will thus depend upon the crank case design with which a particular cylinder head is to be employed.
This creates a challenge for those who manufacture and stock engine parts. In general, a manufacturer or supplier of cylinder heads will be required to manufacture or stock a variety of similar cylinder heads, each having pushrod holes machined therein at slightly different angles. Each such cylinder head is only compatible with a limited number of crank case designs. It is difficult for the manufacturer or supplier to estimate how many of each type of cylinder head to produce or have on hand. If the manufacturer or supplier overestimates the number of cylinder heads of a particular type to be produced or stocked, in order to ensure that customer demands will be satisfied, the cost of producing or stocking the entire cylinder head may be lost, or, at best, there will be a long delay in recovering these costs. Manufacturing and warehousing or stocking a multitude of slightly different cylinder heads can thus be an expensive proposition, the cost of which will be passed on to the ultimate consumer. Failure to have a desired cylinder head on hand, however, can lead to customer dissatisfaction.
Besides increasing the cost of cylinder heads, this problem can also more directly affect consumers. For example, a motorcycle owner may decide to change out the crank case on his motorcycle engine in order to improve engine performance. Typically, the motorcycle owner may also be required to purchase a new cylinder head having pushrod holes machined therein at an angle and in a position which will accommodate the new pushrod angle of the high performance case as well.
A similar problem can occur when a differently designed cylinder head, or other valve train component, is used to replace an existing cylinder head or valve train on an internal combustion engine. Such a changeout may affect the angle and position of the pushrod with respect to the tappet block, thereby requiring replacement of the tappet block with a new tappet block having pushrod holes machined therein at the appropriate angles.
The foregoing problems could largely be avoided if a single cylinder head and/or tappet block design could be fabricated to accommodate a wide variety of pushrod angles and positions.

Composite pushrod hole adapter plate for internal combustion engines


A system and method is provided in which at least two welding power supplies are coupled to respective weld torches where the power supplies each provide a pulse welding waveform to their respective weld torches such that the welding pulses are out of phase with each other such that the respective welding pulses do not overlap during welding. The system also includes a ground current switch which switches the ground current path during welding to minimize arc interference and arc blow.

1. Field of the Invention
Systems and methods of the present invention relate to welding and joining, and more specifically to tandem buried arc welding.
2. Description of the Related Art
As advancements in welding have occurred, the demands on welding throughput have increased. Because of this, various systems have been developed to increase the speed of welding operations, including systems which use multiple welding power supplies that direct their respective welding currents to the same welding operation. While these systems can increase the speed or deposition rate of a welding operation, the different welding arcs, created by the multiple power supplies, can interfere with each other causing arc blow and other problems during welding. Thus, improved systems are desired.


Method and apparatus for the testing of embedded memories in integrated circuits such as programmable logic devices are disclosed. In conjunction with a partial BIST engine, an external tester provides the embedded memories with test vectors. The on-chip partial BIST engine retrieves the test vectors from the embedded memories and compares them to corresponding expected test vectors supplied by the external tester. Based upon the comparison, the on-chip partial BIST engine forms comparison results indicating whether the retrieved test vectors differ from the corresponding expected test vectors. For programmable logic devices, a full BIST engine may be configured in the integrated circuit for generating the test vectors on chip.

High-density modern semiconductor processes allow designers to shrink what would have been a board-level system into just a single system-on-a-chip (SOC) integrated circuit. As part of this integration, memories that would have existed as separate integrated circuits become embedded memories within a SOC. Although the resulting integration provides a very compact design, the testing of SOCs becomes more and more challenging as the number of integrated components rises. This testing may be classified into two categories, namely that of testing logic and testing memory. Testing embedded memories, such as SRAM's, is more difficult than testing dedicated memory chips because of the relative inaccessibility of the embedded memory. This testing difficulty manifests itself in several ways, such as in memory writing, memory reading, and the memory data path width to the input/output (IO) facilities of the integrated circuit. Should the embedded memories be used as read-only memory (ROM), a user will also need to configure the memories before operation of the integrated circuit. The need to configure and test embedded memories exacerbates the already considerable die area demands of embedded memories.
Conventional approaches for testing embedded memories have included the use of on-chip hardware such as a built-in-self-test (BIST) engine. In a BIST engine, a BIST controller generates test patterns (typically denoted as test vectors) that are written to and read back from the embedded memories. The originally-written test vectors are compared to the read test vectors so that errors in the embedded memories may be identified. Although testing embedded memories with BIST engines is relatively fast, the BIST engine occupies substantial die area and hence raises the die cost. Moreover, the test patterns are limited to whatever patterns the BIST engine has been designed to generate, thereby limiting the resulting fault coverage as well as the failure analysis. Finally, the BIST engine itself could be faulty, thus lowering manufacture yield and increasing costs.
An alternative to the on-chip BIST engine embedded memory testing approach is the use of conventional external testers. These external testers generate the test vectors that make up the test pattern that is written to the embedded memory. In such an approach, the die demands from an on-chip BIST engine is eliminated. Moreover, the external tester has greater flexibility in the variety of test patterns/test vectors that may be generated. However, the external tester must retrieve the written test vectors that comprise a given test pattern from the embedded memory being tested and compare the retrieved test vectors to the expected values for the retrieved test vectors. To limit output pin demands, the retrieved data words are typically shifted off chip in a serial fashion. Accordingly, external testing approaches are necessarily slower than on-chip BIST engine implementations.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for improved testing and configuration capabilities for embedded memories.

Testing embedded memory in integrated circuits such as programmable logic devices


A system, which is configured to generate an action for controlling a business to be carried out by a business operation system, the system is configured to: obtain business data including a plurality of attributes relating to the business from the business operation system; identify target data to be analyzed based on a distribution of a relevant indicator; analyze the target data, to thereby calculate an awareness feature, which is likely to contribute to improvement of the business evaluation indicator; generate an action for improving the business evaluation indicator based on the awareness feature.

This invention relates to a system and method for generating an action.
In recent years, big data analysis has been widely used in various fields. For example, a method of using data accumulated in a business operation system operated in the retail industry, the distribution industry, and the like to extract valuable know-how for increasing performance is attracting attention.
For example, in JP 2014-81750 A, there is described a technology involving "defining three operators indicating a condition, a subject, and an arithmetic operation, which are variable generation conditions, in advance for data that is input to an analysis system, and using those operators to automatically generate a large number of explanatory variables". Factors hidden in a large amount of data and affecting the performance can be identified through use of the technology described in JP 2014-81750 A.

Data analysis system and method of generating action


A bone anchoring device is provided including a receiving part for receiving a rod, the receiving part having a longitudinal axis, a first bore coaxial with the longitudinal axis and a second bore; an anchoring element having a first end for insertion into a bone and a second end positionable within the second bore, the second end including a head. The anchoring element is movable relative to the receiving part in a limited angular range about the longitudinal axis, the angular range lying in a single plane. The bone anchoring device further includes a guiding member configured to rotate in the first bore, wherein the head of the anchoring element is connected to the guiding member and wherein a form-fit connection between the head and the guiding member limits the movement of the anchoring element to the single plane. A first locking element acts on the guiding member to fix the rotational position of the guiding member and a second locking element acts on the head to fix the head relative to the receiving part.

1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to a bone anchoring device, and more particularly to a monoplanar bone anchoring device with a selectable pivot plane. The bone anchoring device comprises a receiving part for receiving a rod, an anchoring element having a first end for insertion into the bone or into a vertebra and a second end including a head, wherein the anchoring element is movable relative to the receiving part in a limited angular range about the longitudinal axis, the angular range lying in a single plane. The bone anchoring device further comprises a guiding member configured to rotate in the receiving part, wherein a form-fit connection between the guiding member and the anchoring element limits the movement of the anchoring element to the single plane and wherein the single plane can be selected by rotating the guiding member. The orientation of the pivot plane is fixed by a first locking element that acts onto the guiding member and the angular position of the bone anchoring element is locked by a second locking element that also fixes the rod.
2. Description of Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 7,749,258 B2 describes a bone anchoring device including a receiving part for receiving a rod and an anchoring element being movable relative to the receiving part in a limited angular range about the longitudinal axis of the receiving part, wherein the angles are lying in a single plane.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,951,172 B2 describes a bone screw assembly including an anchor portion and a head portion, such as a rod-receiving portion, movably mounted to the anchor portion to allow for controlled angulation between the anchor portion and the head portion. The anchor portion is pivotable in one or more selected directions about an axis relative to the head portion. A restriction member prevents the anchor portion from pivoting in one or more different directions about another axis relative to the head portion and/or spinal fixation element received in the head portion. The restriction member may also serve as a compression member and/or rod seat for seating a spinal rod coupled to the bone screw assembly.
The bone anchoring devices described above all have one or more defined positions relative to the rod in which the shank can be pivoted in a single plane.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,766,944 B2 describes an anchoring element for fastening a rod of a device for adjusting a human vertebral column on a vertebra and having a retainer-receiving a rod, a securing element attachable on the retainer and acting against the rod, a fastening element for attachment to the vertebral body and a clamping device between the retainer and the fastening element including a ring-shaped mount, a partially spherical bearing and an intermediate element embedded in the mount and surrounding the bearing. The bearing comprises level guiding surfaces on opposite sides. The intermediate element has mating counter surfaces which enable the retainer to move in one axial direction only relative to the fastening element.

Monoplanar bone anchoring device with selectable pivot plane


A female terminal fitting (10) has a box-shaped main portion (11) with an open front end. A resilient contact piece (17) is formed in the main portion (11) for resiliently contacting a mating male tab (30). A protection wall (22) extends continuously from a bottom wall (11C) before a resilient contact piece (17) while leaving a clearance for entry of the male tab (30). Catches (23) are provided at the opposite side edges of the protection wall (22) and engage with catchable portions (24) at the side edges of the front end of the main portion (11) for resisting opening forces on the main portion (11).

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a female terminal fitting with a resilient contact piece.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-133355 and FIGS. 8 and 9 relate to a female terminal fitting. With reference to FIGS. 8 and 9, the female terminal fitting is formed by bending a metallic plate that has been stamped into a specified development. The female terminal fitting has a rectangular tube 1 with a bottom wall 2. A mating male tab 3 can be inserted into the main portion 1 and engages a resilient contact 4 that extends obliquely forward a base portion 5 at the rear end of the bottom wall 2. A fold 4A is folded from an intermediate portion of the resilient contact 4 and is turned toward the bottom wall 2. A leg 4B extends continuously in a returning direction from the fold 4A and is held in contact with the bottom wall 2. A protuberance 4E is provided near the fold 4A and can be brought into contact with the male tab 3. A protection wall 6 stands up to cover the fold 4A of the resilient contact piece 4 at the front surface of the main portion 1, and is continuous with the front end of the bottom wall 2. The protection wall 6 closes an opening at the front end of the main body 1 while leaving a clearance for receiving the male tab 3.
The male tab 3 is inserted into the main portion 1 of the female terminal fitting and contacts the protuberance 4E of the resilient contact 4. As a result, the resilient contact 4 is pressed down and resiliently deforms towards the bottom wall 2. However, an excessive force is exerted on the bottom wall 2, and offsets a balance of force trying to keep the main body 1 in box shape. As a result, there is a possibility of opening deformations of the main portion 1 from bending edges 7.
The bottom wall 2 of the main portion 1 could be folded into a double-wall structure that would be stronger and less likely to deform from the box shape. However, extra metallic plate material would have to be provided to make the bottom wall 2 into a double-wall structure. This double wall design would lead to a higher production cost, and hence is undesirable.
The present invention was developed in view of the above problem and an object thereof is to prevent opening deformations of a main portion.


A waveform shaping circuit for use in a function circuit is provided which minimizes interference with a feedback circuit of the function circuit and a load. The waveform shaping circuit disposed in the function circuit includes a voltage transfer unit and a voltage-to-current converter unit. The voltage transfer unit transfers a voltage at an output terminal of an operational amplifier to the converter unit in an electrically isolated condition. The converter unit has a predetermined threshold for the magnitude of the voltage at the output terminal. The converter unit supplies an inverting input terminal of the operational amplifier with a current having a magnitude depending on a relationship in magnitude between the voltage at the output terminal and the predetermined threshold. In one embodiment of the invention the waveform shaping circuit is used to prevent the onset of instability in a high order delta sigma modulator.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of waveform shaping circuits for performing a clip function, a limit function or any other function, and more particularly to a waveform shaping circuit suitable for use in a function circuit, especially in a delta sigma analog-to-digital converter.
2. Description of Related Art
Electric circuits often employ a variety of waveform shaping circuits including a clip circuit for setting an upper or lower limit of a signal waveform, a limiter circuit composed of a pair of clip circuits for setting both upper and lower limits of a signal waveform, and so on. A known limiter circuit comprises a pair of circuits, each including a diode and a series connected power supply for determining a limit level, connected in parallel with a load coupled between output terminals of a circuit, such that the paired circuits are arranged in parallel with each other with the polarities of their diodes being opposite to each other. To implement a limiter circuit as mentioned above in a semiconductor integrated circuit, diode-connected MOS (metal oxide semiconductor) transistors (hereinafter referred to as the "MOS diode") may be used as the diodes included in the paired circuits. For example, in a function circuit using an operational amplifier, the limiter circuit may be positioned in parallel with a load connected between the output terminal of the operational amplifier and ground, or, in parallel with a feedback circuit from the output terminal to a non-inverting input terminal of the operational amplifier. FIG. 16 illustrates the configuration of the latter circuit having a limiter circuit arranged in parallel with a feedback circuit of an operational amplifier. The illustrated circuit has an input circuit impedance Zin and a feedback circuit impedance Zf and a pair of N-type MOS diodes MD1P and MD2P constituting a limiter circuit as mentioned above is arranged in parallel with the feedback circuit including the feedback circuit impedance Zf. The illustrated limiter has limit levels determined by threshold voltages of the N-type MOS diodes themselves and functions to limit an output voltage of the operational amplifier within a range of a reference voltage (a potential at a non-inverting input terminal of the operational amplifier, for example, ground).+-. the threshold voltage.
In a limiter used in connection with an operational amplifier as mentioned above, an ON-OFF switching speed of a limiting operation is susceptible to the influence of the impedance of a circuit arranged in parallel with the limiter circuit, i.e., the feedback circuit impedance Zf in the example of FIG. 16. Such parallel impedance may cause a reduced switching speed of the limiter. In addition, an equivalent impedance of the MOS diodes acts on the parallel impedance, i.e., a load impedance or a feedback impedance which would result in changes in the impedance constant. The changes in the constant cause a problem that the function circuit using the operational amplifier derives inaccurate results of the functional operation. Furthermore, since the foregoing limiter is configured to directly limit the output voltage of the operational amplifier, the limiter is required to handle an output voltage having a large load driveability, i.e., a relatively large output current. This requires MOS diodes having a sufficiently large gate width to stand such a large current. However, a larger gate width implies a problem that a larger chip area is required when the MOS diodes are implemented in a semiconductor circuit. The problems associated with the limiter are commonly applied to clip circuits.
Analog-to-digital converters utilizing delta sigma modulators have used delta sigma modulators of orders higher than two because such higher order delta sigma modulators more effectively shift quantization noise to out-of-band frequencies. As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,012,244 (Wellard et al.) entitled "DELTA-SIGMA MODULATOR WITH OSCILLATION DETECT AND RESET CIRCUIT", extension to higher order delta sigma modulators results in stability problems. FIG. 21 herein labeled "prior art" shows the circuit in FIG. 1 of the Wellard et al. patent, in which the disclosed fourth order delta sigma modulator uses an oscillation comparator 30 to detect the signal at the output of the second integrator which, according to the Wellard et al. disclosure is the first one to approach an instability condition. If such instability condition is detected, the oscillation detect comparator short circuits the output of each of the four integrators to its respective input to thereby reset all four integrators and eliminate any accumulated information therein.
A problem with the circuit disclosed in the Wellard et al. patent is that instability of the delta sigma modulator loop does not necessarily always appear at the output of the second stage of integration 12, to which the input of the "oscillation detect comparator" 30 is connected. Consequently, an instability that occurs at the output of a subsequent integrator in the loop will not be detected. Another problem is that when the switches SW1-4 in FIG. 1 of the Wellard et al. patent close that effectively changes the delta sigma loop into a first order loop and the loop output becomes zero, requiring a considerable amount of time. This constitutes a drastic change in the delta modulator circuit during analog-to-digital conversion, and prevents continuous operation. Furthermore, the circuit required to generate the "oscillation threshold" voltage and the "oscillation detector comparator circuit" 30 will occupy an undesirably large amount of chip area.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,509,037 (Harris) entitled "ENHANCED DELTA MODULATION ENCODER" discloses a clipper circuit which is connected between the input and output of one of the integration stages of a high order delta sigma modulator, which, when large signals are present, shorts out the integrator to change the poles and zeroes and hence the characteristics of the filter system. The circuit for accomplishing this is shown in FIG. 3 of the Harris patent and in reproduced as FIG. 22 herein labeled "prior art". A problem of the circuit disclosed in the Harris patent is that the delta sigma modulator is necessarily changed to a first order delta sigma modulator loop when the singular clipping circuit connected between the input of the second integrator and the output of the Nth integrator (equal to the output of the spectrum tilter) is active, due to a phase lag of the output of the spectrum tilter. Therefore, a drastic change in the delta sigma modulator occurs when the clipping circuit turns on and off, and this prevents continuous operation.
Thus, there is an unmet need for an improved circuit and technique for avoiding instability in various circuits, including higher order delta sigma modulators.

Waveform shaping circuit for function circuit and high order delta sigma modulator


Use of an adaptive radiation therapy framework includes determination of a radiation beam size, radiation beam shape, and radiation beam position for delivering at least a portion of a prescribed radiation dose to a target volume based on first image data of a patient, and selection of one radiation therapy process from an available first process and second process. The first radiation therapy process comprises acquisition of two dimensional image data of the patient, determination of a position offset based on the two-dimensional image data and on the first image data, and movement of the patient based on the position offset. The second radiation therapy process comprises acquisition of three-dimensional image data of the patient, determination of a second position offset based on the three-dimensional image data and on the first image data, and movement of the patient based on the second position offset.

1. Field
The embodiments described below relate generally to the delivery of adaptive radiation therapy to a patient. In some embodiments, the degree and/or nature of such adaptivity are selectable and conform to a predefined framework.
2. Description
According to conventional radiation therapy, a beam of radiation is directed toward a tumor located within a patient. The radiation beam delivers a predetermined dose of therapeutic radiation to the tumor according to a treatment plan. The delivered radiation kills cells of the tumor by causing ionizations within the cells.
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional patient treatment process that includes radiation therapy. According to some examples of process 1, image data of a patient is acquired, and a target volume and critical internal structures are identified based on the image data. A radiation dose is prescribed for achieving desired results with respect to the target volume while minimizing damage to the critical structures. Next, a treatment plan for delivering the dose is determined.
The treatment plan is then delivered to the patient during several sessions, or "fractions", spaced over some period of days. Prior to each fraction, the patient is positioned as required by the treatment plan. Such positioning may involve the use of lasers, skin markers, etc. The relationship between skin markers and the target volume (and other critical structures) is tenuous and may change over time.
However, if relevant portions of the patient are not positioned exactly as required by the treatment plan, the goals of maximizing target radiation and minimizing healthy tissue radiation may not be achieved. More specifically, errors in positioning the patient can result in the delivery of low radiation doses to target tissue and high radiation doses to sensitive healthy tissue. The potential for misdelivery increases with increased positioning errors. Oncologists typically compensate for this potential misdelivery by determining treatment plans that specify lower doses or smaller beam shapes (e.g., beams that do not radiate edges of a tumor) than would be specified if misdelivery was not a consideration.
Systems have attempted to address various aspects of the foregoing. For example, an image of the target volume may be acquired before or after a fraction and reviewed to determine whether the treatment plan is providing the desired results. If not, the patient position or other aspects of the treatment plan may be modified. More efficient adaptation of radiation therapy is desired.

System and method utilizing adaptive radiation therapy framework


This invention is related to a wireless communication system for giga bit data rate and low power consumption, comprising a mobile communication terminal that transmits massive data to a display apparatus using a millimeter wave or terahertz wave band, a display apparatus that plays received massive data and a low speed wireless controller that controls the operation of the mobile communication terminal and the transmission of massive data from the mobile communication terminal into the display apparatus.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wireless communication technology for giga bit data rate, and more particularly, a wireless communication system that transmits massive data from a mobile communication device to a HD (high definition) display apparatus using a low speed wireless controller wherein compression, amplification and coding of the data are not required.
2. Description of the Related Art
It becomes possible to display videos of massive data on a mobile communication terminal thanks to the advance in high data rate transmission technology. However, it is required to displays videos of massive data in real time without delay on a large HD display apparatus rather than the mobile communication terminal with small screen.
Zigbee, Bluetooth, UWB, and WiFi technologies are applicable to the mobile communication terminal. The Zigbee technology supports a transmission data rate of up to 250 kbps, the Bluetooth technologies supports a transmission data rate of up to 3 Mbps, the UWB technology supports a transmission data rate of up to 480 Mbps, and the WiFi technology supports a transmission data rate of up to 600 Mbps. It is difficult to transmit HD videos of giga bit in real time without compression even if the fastest WiFi wireless transmission technology is used.
FIG. 2 shows a conventional technology that transmits massive data form a smartphone or a tablet PC to a HD display apparatus. Each appliance has a built-in wireless module 8 or a wireless dongle 9 that supports USB interface. The wireless module or the wireless dongle is commercialized such as miracast, digital living network alliance (DLNA), all share cast or wireless display (WiDi) using 2 GHz or 5 GHz WiFi technology. However, these commercial products use compression technique to transmit videos of massive data due to the limitation of data transmission rate.
FIG. 3 shows a block diagram of a compression technique for transmitting massive data. Due to the limitation of transmission speed, the existing wireless transmission technology have to use the compression technique for transmitting massive data as illustrated in FIG. 3. Also, the existing wireless transmission technology use channel coding technique for correcting errors under non-line-of-sight (NLOS) conditions. However, there is the limitation in data transmission in real time due to the delay of several hundred milliseconds to several seconds during the transmission from the mobile communication terminal to the display apparatus. Therefore, the compression technique cannot be applied to a 3D game, a real time recognition system related to car accident and medical surgery. Thus, the wireless transmission technology that is able to transmit HD videos for giga bit data rate without compression and channel coding is required.
Moreover, the conventional compression and channel coding techniques of HD videos may not apply to the mobile communication terminal because of high power consumption and high price. Thus, the need for the compression-free wireless transmission technique has been raised.
As conventional technologies that implement wireless giga bit transmission without compression are the 5 GHz band multiple input multiple output (MIMO) technique as shown in FIG. 4 and the millimeter wave wideband transmission technique as shown in FIG. 5. The representative standard of MIMO technology is IEEE 802.11ac. The MIMO technology of the IEEE 802.11ac with 5 GHz has a diffraction characteristic so that it enables transmission under NLOS conditions. However, it requires a high-power amplifier wherein linearity is enhanced by 256 QAM modulation technique and it also has a drawback in power consumption due to its large size with multiple transceivers.
Even though the millimeter wave wideband transmission technique has not yet been applied to the mobile communication terminal, it can secure the wireless transmission technique for giga bit data rate only with a single channel by low-order modulation and also can operate in low power consumption. However, it can operate only under line-of-sight (LOS) conditions because the millimeter wave has straight characteristics. To overcome the drawback of the millimeter wave wideband transmission technique, beam-forming technique that operates under NLOS condition has been developed, however, it has disadvantage in power consumption because it requires array antennas and each antenna requires a transceiver.
Currently millimeter wave or terahertz wave wireless technology supporting Gbps transmission for the mobile communication terminal has not been developed. Thus, new technology is required in order to apply wireless transmission of giga bit data rate to the mobile communication terminal
Korean published patent No. 10-2011-0096831 discloses an IP-settop for playing media contents of an individual portable device on TV screen through wireless interwork. However, it has limitation of data transmission speed by using WiFi technology.

Wireless communication system for giga bit data rate and low power consumption

Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology


Polyalkylene substituted carboxylic acylating agents which contain chlorine are synthesized by chlorine induced condensation of polyalkylenes and .alpha.-.beta. unsaturated carboxylic groups are treated with sulfur to reduce chlorine content of the carboxylic acylating agent.

It is by now well-known that carboxylic acylating agents produced by polyalkylene reactions with carboxylic-containing compounds when further reacted with (a) an amine having at least one H--N< group; (b) an alcohol; (c) reactive metal or reactive metal compound and (d) a combination of any two or more of (a)-(c), the components of (d) being reacted simultaneously or sequentially produce compositions having dispersing, fluidity or detergency properties or combinations thereof depending on the nature of the composition. In depth discussion of these compositions, their properties and modes of preparation and post treatments are discussed in detail in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,234,435; 5,041,622; and 5,230,714 which are herein incorporated by reference in their entirety, including references cited therein, for disclosure and examples and enablement related to this invention.
In the patents mentioned herein-above and references given therein, disclosure is made of reacting polyalkylenes with carboxylic-containing groups in the presence of chlorine to obtain substituted acylating agents. For such reactions conducted in the presence of bromine and/or chlorine, halogen is incorporated into the substituted acylating agent. A method of producing a chlorine free substituted acylating agent is to use a high vinylidene polyalkylene to react with maleic anhydride under thermal conditions without chlorine. High vinylidene polybutylenes and substituted acylating agents derived therefrom are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,152,499; 4,605,808; and 5,071,919 which are herein incorporated by reference. However, high vinylidene polyalkylenes are more expensive than polyalkylene such as polyisobutylene derived from acid catalyzed polymerization of a C.sub.4 -raffinate of a cat cracker or ethylene plant butane/butene stream, so there is a continued interest in using a chlorine-containing process to react polyalkylenes with maleic anhydrides to form polyalkylene substituted acylating compositions.

Low chlorine polyalkylene substituted carboxylic acylating agent compositions and compounds derived therefrom


A phosphor LED for emitting light emitting diode light may include an LED designed for emitting blue primary light; and an LED phosphor designed and arranged such that it is excited by the primary light during operation and emits secondary light as a consequence, said secondary light forming at least a portion of the LED light. The LED phosphor may include a green phosphor and a red phosphor. The green phosphor and the red phosphor may be provided in a ratio such that the light emitting diode light in the CIE standard chromaticity system has a color locus in the green which is spaced apart from the Planckian locus, to be precise by at least 0.01 in terms of absolute value.

One advantage of optoelectronic light sources (e.g. light emitting diodes, LEDs) may consist in an improved energy efficiency, for example, in comparison with conventional incandescent lamps. However, the emission spectrum of an LED may be comparatively narrowband compared with that of an incandescent lamp, which results in a poor color rendering, to be precise even in the case of light mixing. In this case, a plurality of LEDs are provided, which each emit LED light of a different color, and the mixed light resulting from the mixing of the LED light of the different colors is used.


An exercise apparatus includes a frame and handles mounted on the frame and moveable by a user in opposite directions. The handles are coupled to a transmission so that movement of the handles by a user create rotational movement of a transmission input, movement of the handles in one direction creating rotational movement of the transmission input in one direction and movement of the handles in the opposite direction creating rotational movement of the transmission input in the opposite direction. The transmission couples the transmission input to a resistance means, such as an eddy current resistance device, in a manner to provide a different resistance to rotation of the transmission input depending upon the direction of rotation of the transmission input. Thus, the resistance to rotational movement of the transmission input in one rotational direction is greater than it is in the opposite rotational direction. This coupling can be accomplished by converting rotational movement of the transmission input in opposite directions into an output having only one direction of rotation and coupling the output to a single resistance element, or the transmission can couple a shaft that rotates in opposite directions to two resistance elements so that rotation in one direction is resisted by one resistance element and rotation in the opposite direction is resisted by the other resistance element.

1. Field
The invention is in the field of exercise machines that provide two directions of resistance to movement of a user.
2. State of the Art
There are numerous exercise machines that provide handles to a user that are moved by the user in opposite, back and forth directions and which provide resistance to movement that the user overcomes in moving the handles to thus exercise parts of the user's body. Many of these devices provide for adjustment of the resistance to movement offered by the handles. In this way, a user can adjust the amount of resistance to adjust the exercise provided by moving the handles. Some of these exercise devices provide the resistance to movement in both directions of movement while other such devices provide resistance in only one or the other of the directions of movement. U.S. Pat. No. 6,736,766 provides an exercise apparatus wherein the user can not only adjust the amount of resistance to movement, but can also adjust whether the resistance is applied in only one or the other direction of movement or in both directions of movement. However, when adjusted to provide resistance in both directions of movement, the adjusted resistance is the same in both directions.
It is seldom that a user of exercise equipment will be able to move a handle in each of opposite directions with equal strength. For example, if a user is performing a shoulder press to lift handles upwardly against a resistance, and then is performing a lat pull to pull the handles downwardly against a resistance, the user will normally be able to pull downwardly with greater strength than the user can push upwardly. Thus, to exercise effectively, the user will want more resistance to downward pull than to upward push. With current exercise equipment, a user will generally perform shoulder presses separately from performing lat pulls. The equipment used for shoulder presses will generally provide resistance to upward movement of the handles and provide no resistance to the downward return movement after the shoulder press is completed. The user thus performs a repetition of shoulder presses. The user would then either move to a separate piece of equipment to perform lat pulls or have to adjust the equipment used for shoulder presses to change the mode of operation to perform lat pulls. The equipment would then allow unresisted upward movement of the handles and would be adjusted to provide the desired resistance to the downward lat pull. The user would then perform a repetition of lat pulls. Some current machines can provide resistance in both directions of handle travel, however, the resistance provided in each of the opposite directions is equal. Thus, the user would adjust the resistance to the desired resistance for performing the shoulder presses and this would then also be the resistance provided by the machine for lat pulls. However, since the user generally would need increased resistance for the lat pulls to adequately exercise the muscles involved, the resistance provided for the lat pulls would not provide the degree of exercise generally desired by the user.
It would be desirable to have an exercise machine that would provide a different desired resistance in each direction of handle movement, thus allowing the shoulder presses to be performed with the upward arm movement at one resistance setting and the lat pulls to be performed with the downward arm movement at a second resistance setting. The same need for different resistance settings for different directions of handle movement is present with most exercises. For further example, different resistances for different directions of handle movement would be desirable for machines on which a user can perform both chest presses and horizontal rowing, both biceps curls and triceps presses, both abdominal flexion and back extensions, leg extensions and leg curls, and total leg presses.

Bi-directional exercise machine with different resistances in different directions