An abrasive tool and a method for its manufacture is provided in which the structural body of the tool, including both the central core and the outer, abrasive-containing portion, is fabricated of a homogeneous material, with abrasive particles dispersed throughout the consumable abrasive-containing portion to grindingly remove workpiece material during rotation of the structural body. A porous lattice of diamond grains encased in a cladding material is first formed by sintering as a continuous annulus or as arcuate segments. The skeletal lattice is then placed in a mold and a homogeneous material in liquid state is introduced into the mold to simultaneously form the central core and to flow into at least a portion of the porous lattice of clad diamond grains to provide an integrally molded, unity tool when the core material solidifies.

This invention relates to an abrasive tool for cutting, sawing, boring, grinding and similar material removal operations. More particularly, the invention relates to an abrasive impregnated tool such as a saw blade, core bit, grinding wheel or shaping tool, and the method for making such abrasive tools.
Abrasive tools, such as saw blades for example, are known to have hardened particles embedded in the outer rim to cut extremely hard surfaces, such as concrete, masonry, metallic materials and the like. These tools are typically formed with a steel core and a continuous or segmented rim formed of metal powders and a mixture of hardened particles, such as diamond, cubic boron nitride, tungsten carbide, polycrystalline diamond, and polycrystalline cubic boron nitride, most often referred to simply as a "diamond" segment.
In the process for manufacturing the diamond containing rim, a metal powder and diamond grit mixture may be hot pressed at high temperatures to form a solid metal alloy known in the industry as a "matrix" in which the diamond grit is dispersed. The diamond containing rim, fabricated either as a continuous annulus or as arcuate segments, must then be securely fixed to the central core or disc to form the saw blade. In the prior art, the composition of the metal forming the matrix is different from the metal forming the core. The circular core for a diamond saw blade is characteristically precision-made steel for strength and rigidity. The matrix metal, on the other hand, is intentionally consumable so that fresh diamond chips will continuously become exposed to aid in the cutting or grinding operation.
To attach the diamond rim or segments securely to the steel core, several different processes have been used in the past. In a brazing operation, silver solder is placed between the diamond segment and the core. At high temperatures, the solder melts and bonds the two parts together. Alternatively, the diamond segment and steel core can be fused together by an electron beam or laser beam. Mechanical bonds are also known in which a notched, serrated or textured blade core may be used along with brazing or other metallurgical bonding processes to lock the diamond rim or segments onto the core.
As a result of the extreme conditions and applications of abrasive tools in cutting hard substances such a rock, concrete, tile and masonry products, numerous problems have been encountered relating to cutting efficiency, tool life and operator safety. Overheating of the abrasive tool and the differences in the thermal properties of the diamond-containing matrix from the structural core of the tool seem to explain many of the difficulties which are experienced.
Techniques have been developed for manufacturing diamond blades which attempt to facilitate heat dissipation. These blades are separable into two primary types, blades formed with a continuous outer rim and blades formed with a segmented outer rim. Continuous rim blades are used in applications where chipping is critical, but blade speed is not, such as when cutting tile. Overheating of the continuous rim blade can result in cracking of the rim, excessive wear, distortion of the blade shape, and a safety threat if any portion of the blade breaks away. The continuous rim may therefore to manufactured in a castellated shape, such as a trapezoidal or square wave form when viewed on edge, to space apart successive portions of the diamond containing rim for heat dissipation and thermal expansion.
Segmented rims are typically used in applications where chipping is not critical, but blade speed is critical, such as when cutting concrete. As the blade speed increases, the operating temperature increases significantly. When sufficiently heated, the outer diamond segments will expand. The core may therefore be manufactured with notches between the segments to permit the segments to expand into the notches and to facilitate removal of material from the cut. Overheating of the segmented blade can result in excessive wear, segment cracking, breaking the bond between the segment and the core, loss of the segment and a safety threat to workmen.
The previously described principles of abrasive tool construction and manufacturing techniques are exemplified in the following prior patents.
To construct a continuous rim blade, one method (U.S. Pat. No. 3,369,879) has been proposed in which an annular grinding member is affixed to a copper ring which is affixed to a steel core of the blade. The steel core is centered within a mold, the core's perimeter is coated with solder, the copper ring is pressed onto the core and bonded thereto with the solder. Next, a mixture containing diamond particles is poured into a cavity in the mold surrounding the copper ring. After the mold is closed, heat and pressure are applied to the mixture to "hot press" the rim. This combination of heat and pressure forms a rigid grinding rim and secures the outer rim to the copper ring.
Alternative methods have been proposed for bonding the abrasive rim to the central core (U.S. Pat. No. 2,189,259; U.S. Pat. No. 2,270,209 and Reissue U.S. Pat. No. 21,165). In the method of the '259 patent, the core and the outer rim are separately poured into respective central and outer cavities of a mold. These cavities are separately closed and then aligned with one another and heated and compressed to hot press to the outer rim onto the core. In the method of the '209 patent, a steel central core is centered in the mold and the outer rim mixture is poured into a cavity surrounding this steel core. The mixture is hot pressed directly onto the core. In the method of the '165 reissue patent, the abrasive rim is welded or soldered to the central core.
As to the second type of blades, previous methods (U.S. Pat. No. 3,590,535) have been proposed to construct segmented outer rims. In the method of the '535 patent, a plurality of diamond bearing outer segments are formed from a mixture of diamond dust, copper powder and tin powder. Each outer segment is separately press molded onto a corresponding steel underlying segment. The steel underlying segments are machined to fit the contour of the core and subsequently welded thereto.
In an alternative method (U.S. Pat. No. 3,048,160) a blade for cutting hard materials is formed by initially molding a plurality of abrasive cutting segments. As originally formed, each segment includes a serrated bottom surface which is welded to the perimeter of the core by heating and applying radial pressure against an outer surface of each segment. An alternative method (U.S. Pat. No. 2,818,850) has been proposed in which the cutting segments are hot pressed such that the included diamond dust is concentrated near the outer surface of the cutting segment. Once hot pressed, an inner surface of the cutting segments are ground to provide a curved surface thereon which substantially corresponds to the outer arc of the blade core. Next, each segment is brazed to the disc core.
However, each of the above methods has only met with limited success. As to the latter group of methods, which separately fasten multiple segments to the core, each of these methods require separate manufacturing and repeated handling of each segment. Next, each segment must be deburred along its outer surface and ground along its inner surface to form a concave surface thereon, the radius of which substantially corresponds to that of the steel core. Then, each segment must be separately bonded to the core.
Further, this latter group of methods experience extreme difficulty in bonding each segment to the steel core. The diamonds within each segment interfere with this bonding process. To overcome this problem, the '535 patent uses an underlying diamond face or backing layer molded to the diamond section and welded to the core. The '160 patent forms a serrated surface on each segment to effect bonding. The '850 patent utilizes a special molding technique to concentrate the diamond segments proximate the rim's outer surface.
The outer rims also create problems during the welding process due to the presence of the copper and diamond particles. When a welding beam contacts a copper particle, it is partially reflected and consequently less effective at heating the region of the abrasive segment surrounding the copper particle. Also, if the temperature of the welding beam is excessive and the beam contacts a diamond particle, the beam causes carbonization of the diamond particle. Ultimately, the carbonized diamond particle detaches from the segment. Diamond particles within the back side of each segment inhibit the radiusing process in which the concave surface on each segment is machined to match the core. To minimize the effects of the diamond particles upon the grinding and welding processes, a bonding or backing material is formed along the back side of the diamond segment. This backing material is easily ground to the desired radius and easily welded to the core.
Further, diamond blades formed by methods within the former group are void of notches within the core. These notches reduce heating of the blade and help clear foreign particles from the cut during operation. Consequently, blades formed by methods within the former group have more limited applications. As previously mentioned, if overheated, the continuous rims expand, crack and often fail.
In addition to the foregoing tool configurations to alleviate heat related problems, operating methods may influence heat dissipation. The use of water to cool the outer, cutting portion of abrasive tools has long been known as one method to help minimize overheating and the attendant dangers to personnel and damage to equipment. Of course, the use of water is not always an acceptable option and represents its own set of safety concerns and potential property damages.
Heretofore, it has been impossible to construct a rotatable abrasive tool without separately forming and then securely attaching the abrasive-containing rim or segments to the central core. The need remains in the industry for an economical, safe and long lasting rotatable abrasive tool and for an improved method for manufacturing abrasive tools having these characteristic. The primary goal of this invention is to meet these needs, and to overcome the drawbacks previously experienced.


An adapter and method for retrofitting a round door knob with a lever attachment including a lever arm portion and a door knob receiving portion wherein the door knob receiving portion may be fitted to the door knob while the door knob remains in place on the door assembly. The door knob receiving portion of the lever attachment has first and second bores of different diameters which allows the door knob to be abuttingly received within the door knob receiving portion and fixed in place therein by securing elements which project through a plurality of bores provided in the door knob receiving portion of the lever attachment.

The present invention is drawn to a method and apparatus for retrofitting a round or cylindrical shaped door knob with a lever type handle.
In the past numerous door knobs have been employed which require a person to grip the knob by hand and rotate the knob clockwise or counter-clockwise to operate the knob and lock mechanism. While the door knobs operate in an apparent simple and easy manner, in many cases handicapped persons may lack the ability to grip and rotate such a knob. Accordingly it has become desirable to replace or retrofit the cylindrical or ball shaped door knob with a lever type handle which is more easily actuated by all including the handicapped.
The prior art is replete with devices for adapting conventional door knobs to lever type handles. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,397,489 discloses an adapter for providing a lever attachment to a round door knob which has a hollow threaded cylinder fitted with a lever which cylinder slides over the knob and is frictionally secured to the knob by compressing the knob between one end of the cylinder and a tightened split ring threaded into the other end of the cylinder. Elastomeric material placed on either or both sides of the knob increase the friction and prevent slipping of the adapter on the knob after tightening. This adapter is extremely complex in structure due to its numerous parts. In addition, the door knob and shank must be disassembled from the door lock system in order to secure the device to the knob. Both of these disadvantages render the device unsuitable for commercial use. U.S. Pat. No. 4,223,931 discloses a device for converting a door knob to a lever operated door knob wherein the device comprises a mounting portion for mounting the operating lever to a doorknob; a lever secured to the mounting portion; the mounting portion being secured to the back face of a conventional door knob; and the mounting portion partially surrounding the stem of the doorknob. Again the door knob must be removed from the door unit to retrofit same. U.S. Pat. No. 4,648,643 discloses a multi-piece retrofit lever assembly which comprises a lever assembly of two principal parts: a lever with a circular aperture to engage the shank of a door knob, and a retaining plate, for fastening thereof to the lever, having a projecting cog. The cog engages a knob catch slot in the door knob shank. Accordingly, as the lever is rotated/manipulated, it turns the door knob through the engagement of the cog with the slot, and the fastening of the plate to the lever. The assembly accommodates retrofitting thereof to doors having round door knobs. Again, this assembly is complex in structure, expensive to produce and difficult to retrofit.
Naturally, it would be highly desirable to provide a retrofit device for converting a round door knob to a lever action door knob which is readily assembled onto a door knob in situ on the door.
Accordingly, it is the principle object of the present invention to provide a device for adapting a round door knob to a lever handle door knob which is of simple, economic construction and easily assembled to the round door knob without removing the door knob from the door.
It is a particular object of the present invention to provided a method for retrofitting a round door knob with a lever assembly which insures secure fit.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a lever handle door knob attachment which meets local fire code requirements and is aesthetically pleasing.
Further objects and advantages of the present invention will appear hereinbelow.


A circuit for retiming asynchronous data. A sampling clock is derived in which the system clock frequencies are no higher than that of the data frequency. The leading edge of the signal from a received data-to-clock position circuit and a bias distortion circuit are combined and decoded to determine the center of the received data to select the proper sampling clock for the received data.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a means of retiming asynchronous data requiring system clock frequencies no higher than that of the data frequency. This invention is intended for use in local area networks or wherever it is necessary to sample and retime asynchronous data.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Local area networks which permit digital data communications between personal computers, printers and similar data stations, are commonly used in offices, factories and other locations. These networks allow digital data communications, typically over coaxial cable or twisted pairs of transmission lines, between different computers and associated peripheral work stations at spaced locations within the office or factory facility.
The two most popular methods of transmitting and receiving data in local area networks in use today are the asynchronous method and the synchronous method. The most common asynchronous method is known as the Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter circuit (UART), while the most popular synchronous method utilizes Manchester Encoded transmitted data and Phase-Lock Loop (PLL) circuits. A disadvantage associated with these two methods is their limitations at high frequency data rates.
A UART circuit converts data from a parallel format to a serial format for transmission over a communications line. The UART requires clock frequencies of sixteen times that of the data rate. The method used by the UART to sample the Received Data (RD) using clock frequencies 16 times higher than the data bit rate is this: when the RD changes from a Mark to a Space (a Mark being a high and a Space being a low), a spike detection circuit in the UART counts eight clocks of the 16.times. clocks (one-half a bit time), then samples the data again to determine if the line is still in the low state. If the RD is still low the bit is considered a valid Start bit. This condition enables a counter in the UART which divides the 16.times. clock by 16 to produce a sampling clock at the center of each bit time.
The received data bits, the Mark and Space, are also known as Stop and Start bits respectively. A data word consists of one Start bit, five to eight character bits, one parity bit and one, or one and a half, Stop Bits. The UART is seldom used at frequencies above 1 MHZ which is due to the high frequency system clock requirement of the 16.times. clocks. A UART designed with this philosophy would require a 16.times. clock frequency of 320 MHZ to transfer data at a 20 MHZ data rate.
The synchronous method, on the other hand, requires a forced mid-bit transition to convey the inherent timing information of the data. In the synchronous method, the clock defines the transmission time for the data, such that the frequency of the data to be equal to that of the transmitter clock. Start and Stop bits for each character are not needed in the synchronous system, providing greater transmission band width for message bits.


A device for producing a polymerizable synthetic material optical lens, including a closure member (12) that is adapted to grip two molding shells (14A, 14B) circumferentially to define a molding cavity (15) in conjunction with the shells (14A, 14B), the closure member (12) including a synthetic material wall (123) adapted to come into contact with the molding shells (14A, 14B) and the closure member (12) incorporating a molding material introduction passage (125) discharging into the molding cavity (15) through a casting opening (126); characterized in that the closure member (12) includes a seal (40) that forms the contact wall (123) and the introduction passage (125), which joint (40) is formed of an elastomer material and of a rigid insert (43) at least part of which has the elastomer material molded over it, the introduction passage (125) being inside the insert (43).

Various devices for producing an optical lens made from this kind of material are already known in the art that include a closure member adapted to grip two molding shells circumferentially to define a molding cavity in conjunction with said shells. In some devices, the closure member is an adhesive tape applied to the edges of the two molding shells. In other devices it is an annular elastomer seal.
International application WO 93/21010 describes a device in which the closure member is a flexible annular seal fitted around one of the molding shells with a rigid clamp fixed around the flexible seal to reinforce it. The second molding shell is then inserted in the flexible seal by a carriage which positions it at the required distance from the first shell, the carriage then being locked in position. A source of molding material is connected to the molding cavity by a flexible conduit having a frustoconical end engaged in a small hole formed in the lower portion of the seal.
International application WO 03/078144 also describes a device in which the closure member is a flexible annular seal incorporating a hole for filling the molding cavity, this hole being formed in the upper portion of the seal and receiving a nozzle for introducing the molding material, to be more precise an assembly comprising the nozzle for introducing the polymerizable material and another nozzle that is used at the end of filling to aspirate surplus polymerizable material.
There is also known from European patent EP 0 715 946, and from its counterpart U.S. Pat. No. 5,547,618, a device described hereinafter with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3 of the appended drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the device;
FIGS. 2A, 2B, 2C and 2D are views to a smaller scale similar to that of FIG. 1 showing successive operations of using the device; and
FIG. 3 is a perspective view to the same scale as FIG. 1 showing the removal from the mold of the optical lens produced by the device.
The lens 10 shown in FIG. 3 is produced by the device 11. It is a blank for eyeglass lenses, for example, and would subsequently have its periphery trimmed to the required shape for fitting it into an eyeglass frame.
Here the general contour of the lens or blank 10 is circular.
The device 11 includes two jaws 12′ and 12″ which are adapted to grip conjointly between them the edges of two molding shells 14A and 14B disposed substantially parallel to each other, to constitute a mold 13, forming with respect to these molding shells 14A and 14B a closure member 12 defining with them the required molding cavity 15.
Here the jaw 12′ is fixed and the jaw 12″ is mobile.
The molding shells 14A and 14B have internal surfaces (which face each other when the mold is assembled) whose geometry corresponds to that required for the lens to be produced.
Let EA and EB be the thicknesses of the molding shells 14A and 14B along their edge 16 and let EC be the distance between them required to constitute the molding cavity 15.
The interior surface 18 of each of the jaws 12′ and 12″ is generally semicylindrical, following the radius of the peripheral contour of the molding shells 14A and 14B.
The jaws 12′ and 12″ are interengaged with a common frame 19, formed here by two lateral flanges 20 and a crossmember 21 connecting the lateral flanges 20 together at one of their ends. The lateral flanges 20 extend vertically and parallel to each other, and the crossmember 21 extends horizontally at their upper end.
The two jaws 12′ and 12″ are staggered vertically on the frame 19, along the lateral flanges 20, the axis of their interior surfaces 18 therefore being horizontal.
The mold that the jaws 12′ and 12″ form with the shells 14A and 14B therefore also has a horizontal axis.
The jaw 12′ is fixed to the frame 19, here screwed to it, and the jaw 12″ is slidably interengaged with grooves 22 provided for this purpose on the frame 19, to be more precise on the internal face of the lateral flanges 20.
Each of the jaws 12′ and 12″ is formed by a solid metal block.
The interior surface 18 of each of the jaws 12′ and 12″ has a synthetic material covering 23 that is fixed by means of a semicircular clamp 24 provided at each of the curved ends of the surfaces 18.
The distance D between the two clamps 24 is greater than the sum of the thicknesses EA and EB of the molding shells 14A and 14B and the distance EC between them.
The lower jaw 12′ has a bore 25 passing completely through it, forming a casting opening 26 for the molding cavity 15 where it opens onto its interior surface 18. The upper jaw 12″ also has a bore 28 passing completely through it and forming a vent.
Here, the casting opening 26 is at the lowest point on the interior surface 18 of the lower jaw 12′ and the bore 28 in the upper jaw 12″ opens onto the interior surface 18 of that jaw at its highest point.
The jaw 12″ is driven by two double-acting cylinders 29 disposed parallel to each other.
The body 30 of each cylinder 29 is carried by the crossmember 21 of the frame 19 and its piston rod 31 is coupled to the mobile jaw 12″.
The bore 25 in the fixed jaw 12′ is connected to a pipe 32 for connecting the molding cavity 15 to any kind of supply of molding material (not shown).
The use of the device 11 is described next.
Initially, the mold 13 is assembled.
To this end, the upper jaw 12″ is moved away from the lower jaw 12′, the molding shells 14A and 14B are fitted to the lower jaw 12′ by simply nesting them in the interior surface 18 of that jaw, on edge, spaced from each other and parallel to each other, the distance EC between them corresponding to that required for the molding cavity 15 to be formed (FIG. 2A).
Merely nesting the molding shells 14A and 14B in the interior surface 18 of the jaw 12′ is sufficient to retain them.
The double-acting cylinders 29 then lower the jaw 12″ until its interior surface 18 presses on the edge of the molding shells 14A and 14B (FIG. 2B).
With the mold 13 closed in this way, it can be filled via the pipe 32, the necessary quantity of molding material being introduced into it by pumping means adapted to ensure a continuous feed, i.e. a smooth feed, of molding material to the molding cavity 15.
Polymerization of the material placed in the mold in this way is then initialized by exposing it to light.
To this end the device 11 is associated with a source 33 of radiation that is offered up in line with one of the molding shells 14A and 14B, here the shell 14A (FIG. 2C).
Here the radiation source 33 is a source of ultraviolet radiation and the molding shell 14A is of glass at least partially transparent to ultraviolet radiation.
When at least initial polymerization of the optical lens 10 to be obtained has been effected, the mold 13 is opened by raising the upper jaw 12″ by means of the double-acting cylinders 29, after which the block 34 consisting of the optical lens 10 and the shells 14A and 14B gripping the lens 10 is removed from the lower jaw 12′ (FIG. 2D).
After completion of polymerization of the molded material, if necessary, the molding shells 14A and 14B are removed from the optical lens 10 (FIG. 3).
There are known from European patent applications 1 440 780 and 1 440 788 and from corresponding US patent applications 2004/0150125 and 2004/0262792, respectively, a device similar to the device 11 that has just been described but which includes, for connecting the molding cavity 15 to the supply of molding material, instead of a simple bore 25 to which the pipe 32 is directly connected, a filler device including a valve and a nozzle: the valve is mounted underneath the jaw such as 12′ and the nozzle is disposed in the jaw, the valve having a flow passage for the molding material whose inlet orifice communicates with the pipe such as 32 and whose outlet orifice communicates with the nozzle, which has an interior passage having the same function as the bore 25.
There is finally known in the art a machine conforming to European patent applications EP 1 440 780 and EP 1 440 788 just referred to in which the assembly of the nozzle and the covering such as 23 of the jaw such as 12′ is effected by adhesive bonding, the covering such as 23 being cut to form a casting opening such as 26 in line with the interior passage of the nozzle.

Device for producing a polymerizable synthetic material optical lens

Essilor International (Compagnie Generale d'Optique)


A light guiding body that guides light includes, a light guiding portion, and an introducing portion including a plane of incidence and a curvature surface connected to the plane of incidence to guide the light to the light guiding portion by being connected to the light guiding portion, wherein an angle θ1 formed by a line segment connecting a first point on the plane of incidence and a second point on the curvature surface and a normal of the curvature surface at the second point satisfies θ1≧sin−1(1/n), where n is an index of refraction of the light guiding body.

There is a type of LED illumination in which light from an LED is guided into a light guiding body and at the same time, the light is diffused and emitted to the outside by a diffuser included in the light guiding body.
For example, a system that uses an LED as a light source and guides light from the light source to a light guiding body using a reflector is known. Based on such a structure, direct light from the LED can be blocked. Thus, glare of direct light can be reduced. However, the reflector made of metal absorbs about 10% of light in one reflection, leading to a lower light output ratio. On the other hand, if the light guiding body is made thicker, the plane of incidence of the light guiding body is increased and the light output ratio can be improved. However, if the light guiding body is made thicker, the weight thereof increases correspondingly and also material costs increase and therefore, a thinner light guiding body is desired.


Disclosed herein are a method and an apparatus for preparing a metal composite powder by using gas spraying. The method of preparing a metal composite powder by using gas spraying includes introducing a matrix phase in a chamber, including a reinforcing phase in the chamber, melting the introduced matrix phase to form a melt, adding the reinforcing phase in the melt, stirring the melt with the added reinforcing phase to form a melt mixture, atomizing the melt mixture together with a gas to form a metal composite powder containing the reinforcing phase, and collecting the metal composite powder formed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to a production method and production device for a composite metal powder using gas spraying method.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a milling method milling solid metals, a wet method through a chemical process such as precipitation, and an spraying method atomizing molten metals by using an atomizing nozzle after melting metals are used as the methods of preparing metal powders.
Among the foregoing methods, the spraying method may be classified as water spraying using a liquid such as water and gas spraying using gas, according to a cooling medium used therein.
A method of preparing metal powders by typical gas spraying generally prepares metal powders by injecting inert gas such as argon or nitrogen at room temperature while allowing molten metals to flow through an atomizing nozzle. An average particle size of the prepared metal powder is about 100 μm.
Metals may be classified as a metal with a low melting point such as zinc (Zn), aluminum (Al), or tin (Sn), a metal with a high melting point such as stainless steel, copper (Cu), iron (Fe), nickel (Ni), or cobalt (Co), and a multi-component alloy, according to a melting point.
Meanwhile, metallic materials classified as various types as described above include reinforcing phases such that characteristics thereof are improved. The metallic materials containing such reinforcing phases are usually prepared through a melt casting method after mainly introducing the reinforcing phases.
However, with respect to the metallic material prepared through the foregoing melt casting method, near net-shape processing of the prepared product is difficult because the reinforcing phases may separate along interfaces and a separate melt mixing process, in which a matrix phase, i.e., a low melting point material, and a reinforcing phase, i.e., a high melting point material, are mixed together, is added.
Also, non-uniform distribution of the reinforcing phase occurs in a metallic material prepared through melt casting including the foregoing mixing process due to the agglomeration of the reinforcing phase when the reinforcing phase and the matrix phase are mixed. Accordingly, there are limitations in that controls of the amount, size, shape and distribution of the reinforcing phase are difficult and control of the size of the metallic material containing the reinforcing phase is also difficult.

Production method and production device for a composite metal powder using the gas spraying method

Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials


A method for dynamically varying a threshold voltage of a complimentary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) includes providing a substrate pickup formed a semiconductor material type which is complimentary to the semiconductor material type of a well thereof, so as to define a diode. The diode is at least partially turned on, so as to increase the potential of a substrate of the complimentary metal oxide semiconductor and thus reduce the turn-on threshold voltage thereof. The turn-off threshold voltage is approximately unchanged.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to semiconductor fabrication methods and, more particularly, to a method for dynamically varying a threshold voltage of a complimentary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) or the like so as to reduce the turn-on threshold voltage thereof while leaving the turn-off threshold voltage thereof approximately unchanged.
2. Description of Related Art
A dynamic threshold voltage metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (DTMOS) is a well known type of metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET). DTMOS field effect transistors require a lower threshold voltage (Vt) to turn on (when the substrate thereof is appropriately biased, as discussed below) than do standard metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors. Thus, DTMOS field effect transistors may advantageously be used in the construction of complimentary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) devices and the like.
DTMOS field effect transistors have different voltage thresholds for turning the device on and off. The lower turn on voltage threshold facilitates a desirable increase in the on current of the device. The generally unchanged turn off threshold voltage facilitates normal turning off of the device.
When a DTMOS field effect transistor is turned on, the substrate is forward biased, such that a reduced threshold voltage is required for turn on. This reduced turn on threshold voltage inherently results in a corresponding increase in source to drain current (Ion). As those skilled in the art will appreciate, such increased source to drain current is desirable in many applications.
When a DTMOS field effect transistor is off, the substrate bias is zero and the device therefore maintains the original (standard MOSFET) threshold voltage. The source to drain current in the off state is approximately zero. Dynamic DTMOS field effect transistors thus provide desirably increased source to drain current for the on state (Ion), while not undesirably compromising source to drain current for the off state (Ioff).
The substrate of a DTMOS field effect transistor must thus be forward biased during turn on, so as to reduce the turn on threshold voltage. Conversely, the substrate must be zero biased during turn off, so as to keep the turn off voltage threshold approximately unchanged (the same as for a standard MOSFET).
The above described reduction in threshold voltage for turning on a DTMOS field effect transistor desirably facilitates the use of such devices in low voltage and low power applications. As those skilled in the art will appreciate, the continuing drive to increase the device density of integrated circuits necessitates that each device generally operate at lower power, so as to mitigate the heat extraction requirements of the integrate circuit. That is, it is generally necessary to reduce the power consumption of metal oxide semiconductor devices in order to increase their density on an integrated circuit chip. Reducing the voltage required to turn on individual devices tends to mitigate the overall power consumption, and consequently the heat extraction required, for a given integrated circuit chip.
One contemporary attempt to provide a DTMOS field effect transistor involves forming the device with the gate and body thereof electrically tied together. However, this approach undesirably requires that the drain voltage (Vdd) be limited to approximately 0.6V, so as to avoid inadvertent turn on of the parasitic substrate diode defined by such construction. Thus, this contemporary device is only suitable for ultra-low voltage operation.
Another contemporary attempt to provide a DTMOS field effect transistor involves the use of an additional circuit to control the body bias of the device. However, in this instance the additional circuitry inherently increases the complexity of circuits using the device. Such increased complexity undesirably increases costs, decreases yield, and decreases reliability of the integrated circuit chip using the device.
A need thus exists in the prior art to provide an improved DTMOS field effect transistor which does not require a strict limitation on the drain voltage and which does not require the use of additional circuitry.

Low voltage CMOS structure with dynamic threshold voltage


A wiping member is described for slidingly cleaning a discharge port face of an ink jet recording apparatus, wherein electrothermal convertors generate heat energy causing film boiling in the ink so that the ink is discharged from the discharge ports. By reducing the simultaneous contact area of the wiping member which can slide on the discharge port face, as well as moving successively the contact area, the deformation or distortion of the wiping member, is deminished. The entire area thus can be wiped uniformly even if the array of discharge ports is longer. The wiping member comprises a cylindrical support rotated in a direction perpendicular to the array of discharge ports, and wiper portions made of a rubber elastic material arranged in a spiral or stagger form which are secured on the peripheral face of the cylindrical support, with a wiper cleaner which is an ink absorber to make contact with the wiper portions being disposed near the wiping member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cleaning device for cleaning the discharge port face of an ink jet head which performs the recording by discharging the ink from recording means onto the recording medium, and an ink jet apparatus with the cleaning device mounted, and more particularly to a cleaning device with improved cleaning performance and an ink jet apparatus with the cleaning device mounted.
2. Related Background Art
Recording apparatuses having the features of printer, copying machine and facsimile, or recording apparatuses for use as the output device for a composite equipment or a work station containing a computer, a word processor and so on are configured to record the image (including characters or symbols) onto the recording sheet (recording medium) such as a paper or a plastic thin plate (e.g., OHP), based on image information. Such recording apparatuses can be classified into an ink jet system, a wire dot system, a thermal system, a thermal transfer system and a laser beam system, depending on the recording method for recording means used.
In a serial type recording apparatus which takes the recording system of scanning in a direction crosswise to the conveying direction of recording sheet (sub-scan direction), the image can be recorded on a desired range of the recording sheet in such a way as to, after setting the recording sheet at a predetermined recording position, repetitively perform the operation of recording the image (including characters or symbols) by recording means (recording head) mounted on a carriage moving (scanning) along the recording sheet, including recording one line, then feeding (sub-scanning) the sheet by a predetermined amount, and recording (scanning) the image at the next line. On the other hand, in a line type recording apparatus which performs the recording only by the sub-scanning of feeding the recording sheet in a conveying direction, the image is recorded over the recording sheet in such a manner as to set the recording sheet at a predetermined recording position, and then consecutively perform the operation including recording one line at a time, and feeding the sheet by a predetermined amount (pitch feeding).
Among them, an ink jet system (ink jet recording apparatus) which performs the recording by discharging the ink from recording means (recording head) onto the recording sheet has the advantages in which recording means can be made compact, the higher definition image can be recorded at a higher speed, the ordinary paper is usable for recording without needs of any special treatment, the running cost is low, there is less noise owing to the non-impact method, and the color image is easily recorded by using color inks. In particular, a line-type recording apparatus using recording means of the line type in which a number of discharge ports are arranged in a direction of the sheet width allows the recording to be made at higher speed.
Specifically, recording means (recording head) of the ink jet system of discharging the ink by the use of heat energy can be easily fabricated with an arrangement of liquid paths (discharge ports) at high density by forming electrothermal converters, electrodes, liquid path walls, and a ceiling plate as the film on a substrate through the semiconductor fabrication process including etching, vapor deposition and sputtering, and thus can be made more compact. Also, by utilizing the merits of the IC technology or micro-process technology, recording means can be easily lengthened, and readily made a full-multi configuration or higher density packaging.
In an ink jet recording apparatus which performs the recording by discharging the ink through fine discharge ports onto the recording sheet, the condition of the discharge port face of the recording head on which a plurality of discharge ports are arranged in a predefined array may have significant effects on the recording quality. That is, if the discharge port face is wet with the ink or water droplets, or has adherent foreign matter, ink droplets discharged may be deflected in the discharge direction, drawn by the wetting or foreign matter, or the normal discharge is prevented, resulting in a discharge failure (including undischarged). To remove such ink or foreign matter adhering to the discharge port face, it is common practice to wipe and clean the discharge port face with a wiper formed of a plate-like rubber elastic member at predetermined timings.
By the way, in the conventional ink jet recording apparatus, a blade made of rubber elastic material in a flat plate form disposed in parallel to the discharge port array is placed into contact with the discharge port face, and either the recording head or the blade is moved in parallel in a direction perpendicular to the discharge port array to cause the blade to slide on the discharge port face in a direction transverse to the discharge port array, thereby enabling the wiping operation. Therefore, at the wiping, the entire area of the discharge port array is brought into contact with the blade at the same timing, and cleaned off.
However, in such conventional ink jet recording apparatus, since the end face of blade is simultaneously brought into contact with the entire area of the discharge port array, it is considered that if there are more discharge ports and the blade (wiping member) is longer, as with the line recording head, for example, the blade is prone to deformation or distortion which makes it difficult to cause the blade to slide on all the discharge ports uniformly (evenly), thereby degrading the wiping function of the blade (wiping member).
Namely, unless the parallelism between the discharge port face of recording head and the contact face of blade is secured with high precision, the blade may not be placed evenly into contact with all the discharge ports of the lengthy head, resulting in unevenness of cleaning, or if the cleaning is repetitively executed over the long term, it may possibly have some effects on the condition of the discharge port face.

Spiral staggered cleaning member for a full-width array ink jet apparatus


A device includes a first data terminal, a second data terminal, a first switching buffer coupled between a data node and the first data terminal and a second switching buffer coupled between the data node and the second data terminal. The first switching buffer and the second switching buffer are arranged such that a distance between the first switching buffer and the second data terminal is shorter than a distance between the second switching buffer and the second data terminal and that a distance between the first switching buffer and the first data terminal is shorter than a distance between the second switching buffer and the first data terminal.

Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a semiconductor device, in particular, a semiconductor device that has a plurality of memory cell arrays.
Description of the Related Art
In a semiconductor device, such as DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory), a memory cell array is divided into multiple regions and data input/output terminals, data buses, etc., are arranged between the divided memory cell array regions in many cases (see patent document 1).
[Patent document 1] Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 8-139287
However, some methods of assigning memory cell array regions and data buses and of laying out data buses pose various problems, such as a shift in data input/output timing between memory cell array regions, an increase in the number of necessary shield lines, and a change in data input/output timing depending on operation modes.

Device having multiple switching buffers for data paths controlled based on IO configuration modes


The present disclosure includes a discussion of a method of and apparatus for channel quality estimation (CQE) in a receiver. Each channel is divided into observation intervals and sub-intervals. The duration of the sub-interval is chosen as the largest interval in which the channel is essentially static. The CQE collects error information for each symbol of the sub-interval, forming a sub-interval error value. The CQE maps the sub-interval error value into a sub-interval bit error rate (BER) estimate. The mapping is a non-linear function dependent on the specific radio system. Then, the CQE averages the sub-interval BER estimates over the entire observation interval, forming an interval BER estimate. Finally, the CQE compares the interval BER estimate to a predetermined threshold, forming a channel quality estimation decision for each observation interval.

It is beneficial to estimate the quality of the receiving channel in a radiotelephone system. A radiotelephone system typically contains multiple fixed-site transceivers which are capable of serving multiple radiotelephones. The quality of service between each of the fixed-site transceivers and the particular radiotelephone varies. If the radiotelephone can estimate the quality of the receiving channel, then the radiotelephone system can choose the most appropriate fixed-site transceiver.
Several different conventional methods of estimating the quality of the receiving channel exist. Typically, the estimate of the channel quality includes an estimate of the bit error rate (BER). A particular time division multiple access (TDMA) radiotelephone system divides time into superframes, frames and timeslots as shown in FIG. 13. The system specification requires a channel quality estimation (CQE) for each superframe. Each superframe is referred to as an observation interval. The radiotelephone shall identify one of four possible performance categories, with each category corresponding to a specified range of channel BERs as illustrated in Table 200 of FIG. 2. Moreover, the specification requires that the radiotelephone identify the correct performance category at the standard BERs in 40 Hz flat Rayleigh fading.
The accuracy of conventional channel quality estimation techniques is insufficient because of the limited number of bits within the CQE observation interval in the aforementioned TDMA system requiring a CQE each superframe. "Techniques for Estimating the Bit Error Rate in the Simulation of Digital Communications", IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications, VOL. SAC-2, No. 1, January 1984 may be referenced to determine the proper number of bits to observe for an estimated BER with a desired confidence level.
A superframe in this system includes 36 frames. A frame contains 140 symbols assigned to each radiotelephone. Thus, a radiotelephone receives 5040 symbols every superframe. Each symbol contains two bits. Two conventional CQE techniques include (1) counting bit errors over known portions of the frame (e.g., sync words, preambles, etc.), and (2) re-encoding the decoded data bits and comparing the resulting bitstream against the received channel bits. This second technique operates only on forward error corrected (FEC) bits. Both of these techniques are inappropriate for this particular system because the number of bit errors observed over a superframe would be insufficient to provide the desired accuracy.
CQE accuracy can be improved using soft error information available at the output of the demodulator. Phase error information is a particular type of soft error information. Accumulating the phase error magnitude (or squared phase error magnitude) over the CQE observation interval and comparing the result against a pre-determined set of thresholds would improve the CQE. However, this technique is too sensitive to the channel fading rate and provides different results for static and fading environments. This is a result of the detector error magnitude (or squared error magnitude) being a non-linear function of the channel bit error rate.
An accurate CQE is desirable for use in a TDMA receiver. The CQE should be accurate to a predetermined confidence level in both a fading and static environment for an observation interval having a limited number of observation bits.

Method and apparatus of estimating channel quality in a receiver


A wall-mounted back massager adapted to allow a user to self-administer a massage is disclosed. The inventive wall-mounted back massager comprises: an elongated wall mount track vertically positioned on a wall; a vertically adjustable elongated base member slidably engaged to the wall mount track; a plurality of swivel head assemblies attached in series along the elongated base member; and at least first and second pairs of spaced apart and axially aligned wheels rotatably attached to each of the plurality of swivel head assemblies by respective first and second wheel axles. Each swivel head assembly is pivotably between first and second swivel head positions. In this configuration, vertical movement of a person's back due to bending and straightening of their knees effects movement of the swivel head assemblies and attached wheels relative to the person's back, thereby allowing the person to enjoy a self-administered massage.

As is appreciated by physical therapists, massage involves the manipulation of muscle and connective tissue to enhance the function of those tissues and promote relaxation and well-being. Therapeutic massage can ease tension and reduce pain, and can also be highly effective for reducing the symptoms of arthritis, back pain, and other disorders of the muscles and/or nervous system. Massage is generally administered either by another person (such as, for example, a masseuse or a masseur) or is self-administered by means of a mechanical massaging device.
Over the years, a variety of massaging devices have been invented and marketed to those desirous of self-administered massage. Exemplary in this regard are the various massage contraptions disclosed in following U.S. patents and patent publications:
U.S. Pat. No. 5,174,282 to Bleggi discloses a back massage apparatus for use by a user while in a standing position on a floor in close proximate relation to a fixed vertical surface. The back massage apparatus comprises a plurality of spaced elastomeric balls (for alternately applying and releasing pressure on the back muscles of the user) rotatably supported by a carrier system that is attached to the fixed vertical surface. The balls are positioned between the user's back and the vertical surface with the balls orientated on opposite sides of the spinal column. Vertical movement of the user's back due to bending of the knees effects movement of the balls relative to the user's back.
U.S. Patent Application No. U.S. 2002/0013541 to Marcantoni discloses a massaging device (to be inserted in the back of a massage chair or the like) that comprises a frame suitable to support massage wheels which are rotationally actuated by at least one gearmotor. The massage wheels are directly connected to the shaft of the gearmotor by way of an element suitable to produce an oscillation of the massage wheels so that the longitudinal axis of the massage wheels oscillates, during the rotation of the wheels, with respect to the axis that passes through the center of the wheels.
U.S. Patent Application No. US2002/0193715 to Slack discloses a wall-mounted back massager that comprises a stationary hardwood ball vertically positioned at a user selected height. The user is thus able to press and move their back against the ball, and is doing is able to apply therapeutic pressure to relieve back, shoulder and neck tension.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,808,500 to Cheng-Yi et al. discloses a roller massager that comprises a seat body, a drive motor, a sliding seat, a second drive motor and rocker arm Ape massaging roller sets. The massaging roller sets are pivoted at the ends of a drive rod and is driven by the second drive motor indirectly, which is characterized by two pilot end heads eccentrically fitted at the two ends of the drive rod respectively, while a pilot end head at one end is provided with a radial slot, together with a bolt installed on the drive rod, that pilot end head can rotate itself depending on the different rotating directions of the drive rod, thus change the relative attitude to the pilot end head at another end. In this configuration, the roller sets call achieve motions of rising and sinking, as well as automatic switching between two massaging modes of rocking and kneading.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,832,991 to Inada et al. discloses a massaging apparatus in which the position of a specific portion of a user's body (such as a user's shoulder) with respect to the massaging apparatus can be determined automatically and accurately in a simple construction. The massaging apparatus includes a supporting arm having a therapeutic member pivotally supported thereon and freely movable along the user's body. The position of the specific portion of the user's body with respect to the massaging apparatus is determined from the relation between the vertical position of the supporting arm and the pivotal position of the supporting arm. A pivotal movement detecting system is provided that detects when the supporting arm reaches a prescribed range of pivotal movement.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 2005/0148912 to Liao discloses a massaging wheel assembly that comprises two base frames pivotally connected in parallel to a sliding carrier slidably movable in a sliding track, each base frame having a wheel axle at the front end and a pivot pin at the rear end, two supplementary frames respectively pivoted to the pivot pins at the rear ends of the base frames, each supplementary frame having two wheel axles at the ends, two main massaging wheels respectively pivoted to the wheel axles at the front ends of the base frames, and four supplementary massaging wheels respectively pivoted to the wheel axles at the ends of the supplementary frames.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,014,620 to Kim discloses a lie-down massager that comprises a frame having an elongated top panel with an elongated opening, a rider below the top panel, a guide member movably engaged between the frame and the rider to enable the rider to make a horizontal reciprocation relative to the frame, a lifter moving vertically relative to the rider, and a roller gear engaged to the rider. The roller gear is engaged to a vertical rack gear in an opening of an engagement body extending from the lifter so the roller gear rotation enables the lifter to make a vertical reciprocation. Massage bumps attached to the top portion of the lifter move vertically and/or horizontally along the elongated top opening of the elongated top panel of the frame by the lifter and the rider.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,081,098 to Kim discloses a lie-down massager that comprises a base frame having a top panel, a rider provided below the top panel of the base frame, a guide member movably engaged between the base frame and the rider to enable the rider to make a horizontally reciprocal movement relative to the base frame, massage bumps that move vertically along an elongated top opening of the elongated top panel of the base frame, and a litter that holds the massage bumps and adjusts the height of the massage bumps. The lifter includes a top plate, a bottom plate, a fluid operated cylinder fixed to the bottom plate, and a spring fixed between the top plate and the bottom plate. The fluid operated cylinder has a cylinder shaft that is moved by pressurized fluid overcoming the force of the spring, and a guide shaft and a guide bearing that have a square cross section.
Although a vast variety of self-administered back massagers are known to exist, there is still a need in the art for new and improved back massagers, especially in terms of back massagers that have reduced size, bulkiness, cumbersomeness, and cost. There is also a need ill the art for new and improved back massagers that are gearless and motorless. There is still a further need in the art for back massagers that are readily attachable to a fixed vertical surface, and are readily adjustable to a user selected height. The present invention fulfills these needs and provides for further related advantages.

Wall-mounted back massager including wheels


Provided is a semiconductor device package. The semiconductor device package includes: stacked semiconductor chips having bonding pads; a PCB (printed circuit board) mounting the stacked semiconductor chips thereon, and including bonding electrodes that correspond to the bonding pads; and interposers respectively covering the stacked semiconductor chips and interposed between the stacked semiconductor chips. The interposers comprise wire patterns connecting the bonding pads with the bonding electrodes, and connecting the interposers to each other.

1. Technical Field
The present invention disclosed herein relates to a semiconductor device package, and more particularly, to a semiconductor chip stacked package.
2. Description of the Related Art
Packaging technology for integrated circuits has been under continual development to meet requirements for miniaturization and packaging reliability in the semiconductor industry. For example, the requirement for miniaturization has accelerated technological progress related to a package having a size close to that of a semiconductor chip, sometimes referred to as a chip scale package (CSP). Moreover, the packaging reliability requirement raises the importance of a packaging technology that is capable of improving the efficiency of packaging processes and the mechanical and electrical reliability after packaging.
Also, as further miniaturization and higher performance of electronic equipment is required, various technologies are under development to provide high-capacity semiconductor products. One method of providing the high-capacity semiconductor products includes improving the capacity of a memory chip, i.e., providing a high degree of integration in the memory chip. A higher number of cells is directly integrated in the limited space of the semiconductor chip to achieve the high degree of integration.
However, the high degree of integration in the memory chip requires the use of more advanced technology, including a very accurate and fine line width, and a greater time for development. Accordingly, stacking technology has been proposed as another method to provide high-capacity semiconductor products.
The term "stack" in the semiconductor industry refers to stacking at least two semiconductor chips or semiconductor device packages. According to the stacking technology, a 128 MB dynamic random access memory (DRAM) may include two stacked 64 MB DRAM, or a 256 DRAM may include two stacked 128 MB DRAM. Additionally, the stacked semiconductor device packages have advantages including increased memory capacity, mounting density, and efficiency of mounting density and mounting area usage. Accordingly, research and development related to the stacked semiconductor device package has been increasing.
FIGS. 1 and 2 are cross-sectional views of a conventional semiconductor device package.
Referring to FIG. 1, a semiconductor device package includes stacked semiconductor chips 10a, 10b, and 10c, a printed circuit board (PCB) 20, bonding wires 35a, 35b, and 35c, a molding material 50, and solder balls 60.
The stacked semiconductor chips 10a, 10b, and 10c may respectively include bonding pads 12a, 12b, and 12c at active regions of their upper surfaces. Adhesive materials 40a and 40b are provided between the stacked semiconductor chips 10a, 10b, and 10c for adhesion therebetween. The stacked semiconductor chips 10a, 10b, and 10c may be mounted on the PCB 20 with an upper insulation layer pattern 24u using a mounting adhesive material 15.
The PCB 20 has a main body of a core material 22, and includes the upper insulation layer pattern 24u with bonding electrodes 26 and a lower insulation layer pattern 24l. The PCB 20 may include the bonding electrodes 26 corresponding to the bonding pads 12a, 12b, and 12c at an upper part.
The bonding wires 35a, 35b, and 35c may electrically connect the bonding pads 12a, 12b, and 12c with the corresponding bonding electrodes 26. The molding material 50 seals the PCB 20, the stacked semiconductor chips 10a, 10b, and 10c, and the bonding wires 35a, 35b, and 35c. The solder balls 60 disposed at a lower part of the PCB 20 are connected to an inner wire (not shown) of the PCB 20 such that connection for an external circuit such as a system board can be provided. Reference number 37 represents a connection ball that is formed during a wire bonding process in order to electrically connect the bonding pads 12a, 12b, and 12c with the corresponding bonding electrodes 26.
The above semiconductor device package has a structure in which the semiconductor chips 10a, 10b, and 10c having substantially the same size are stacked therein. There may be a spacer or an interposer in addition to the adhesive materials 40a and 40b between the stacked semiconductor chips 10a, 10b, and 10c. Furthermore, due to the bonding wires 35a, 35b, and 35c that electrically connect the bonding pads 12a, 12b, and 12c with the bonding electrodes 26, a minimum interval is required between the stacked semiconductor chips 10a, 10b, and 10c in order to accommodate the wires. Accordingly, this places a limitation on the ability to reduce the thickness of the semiconductor device package.
Referring to FIG. 2, a semiconductor device package includes stacked semiconductor chips 10d, 10e, and 10f, a PCB 20, bonding wires 35a, 35b, and 35c, a molding material 50, and solder balls 60.
The semiconductor chips 10d, 10e, and 10f may respectively include bonding pads 12d, 12e, and 12f at active regions of their upper surfaces. Adhesive materials 40c and 40d are provided between the stacked semiconductor chips 10d, 10e, and 10f for adhesion therebetween. The stacked semiconductor chips 10d, 10e, and 10f may be mounted on the PCB 20 with an upper insulation layer pattern 24u using a mounting adhesive material 15.
The PCB 20 has a main body of a core material 22 and includes the upper insulation layer pattern 24u with bonding electrodes 26 and a lower insulation layer pattern 24l. The PCB 20 may include the bonding electrodes 26 corresponding to the bonding pads 12d, 12e, and 12f at an upper part. The bonding pads 12d, 12e, and 12f and the bonding electrodes 26 may be electrically and sequentially connected or the bonding pads 12d, 12e, and 12f may be electrically connected to the bonding electrodes 26.
The bonding wires 35a, 35b, and 35c may electrically connect the bonding pads 12d, 12e, and 12f with the corresponding bonding electrodes 26. The molding material 50 seals the PCB 20, the stacked semiconductor chips 10d, 10e, and 10f, and the bonding wires 35a, 35b, and 35c. The solder balls 60 disposed at a lower part of the PCB 20 are connected to an inner wire (not shown) of the PCB 20 such that connection for an external circuit such as a system board can be provided. Reference number 37 represents a connection ball that is formed during a wire bonding process in order to electrically connect the bonding pads 12d, 12e, and 12f with the corresponding bonding electrodes 26.
The above semiconductor device package has a structure in which the semiconductor chips 10d, 10e, and 10f, having the respectively different sizes, are stacked therein. The sizes of the stacked semiconductor chips 10d, 10e, and 10f decrease from a lower part toward an upper part of the package. Unlike FIG. 1, there are only adhesive materials 40c and 40d between the stacked semiconductor chips 10d, 10e, and 10f. Accordingly, intervals between the stacked semiconductor chips 10d, 10e, and 10f are small compared to FIG. 1. However, the stacked semiconductor chips 10d, 10e, and 10f have sizes that decrease from the lower part toward the upper part such that mounting density of the semiconductor device package and the efficiency of mounting area usage are decreased.
The above described semiconductor device packages have a structure in which the bonding pads of the semiconductor chips are electrically connected to the bonding electrodes of the PCB through the bonding wires. Therefore, there is a limitation in stacking the semiconductor chips due to loop heights of the bonding wires. Furthermore, since intervals between the semiconductor chips are necessary, the thickness of the semiconductor device package increases as the number of stacked semiconductor chips is increased. Additionally, defects such as shorts between the bonding wires, opens of the bonding wires, shorts between the bonding wires and the adjacent bonding pads, and cracks of the semiconductor chips may occur during a wire bonding process. Furthermore, sweeping of the bonding wires may occur during a molding process. The present invention addresses these and other disadvantages of the conventional art.


A method that uses at least one hydrogen ion beam for alignment of liquid crystal molecules is proposed in the present invention. The method of the present invention is proposed to resolve the problems of physical destruction and surface deterioration of the alignment films caused by the conventional method using argon ions beams. The method of the present invention directly uses at least one hydrogen ion beam to impact the alignment film. Hence, the physical destruction of the alignment film is reduced. In addition, via the reaction between hydrogen ions and the alignment films, the quality of the alignment film is improved.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a method for alignment of liquid crystal molecules, and more particularly, to a method that uses a hydrogen ion beam for alignment of liquid crystal molecules.
2. Description of Related Art
In convention, ion beam bombardment for alignment of liquid crystal molecules is achieved by using an argon ion beam. The related technologies are already disclosed in many issued patents. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,153,529, "Means and method for inducing uniform parallel alignment of liquid crystal material in a liquid crystal cell," is the first patent about using ion beams for alignment of liquid crystal. This technique is applied mainly for inorganic alignment films, including carbon alignment films. The thickness of the alignment films is about 100-5000 A and the energy of the ion beam is about 1-3 keV.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,020,946, "Dry processing for liquid-crystal displays using low energy ion bombardment," which belongs to IBM Corporation, also discloses the technique about using ion beams for alignment of liquid crystal. The main difference between this patent and the previous patent, i.e. U.S. Pat. No. 4,153,529, is that the thickness of the alignment films and the energy of the used ion beam are different. The thickness of the alignment films disclosed in this patent is about 10-100 A and the energy of the used ion beam is about 75-200 eV.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,030,322, "Method of forming orientation film of liquid-crystal display device," issued in 1991 and owned by Sharp Corporation discloses the technique about using ion beams for alignment of liquid crystal. This technique is applied mainly for organic alignment films that are made of polyimide (PI), polyurethane (PU), or polyamide (PA).
U.S. Pat. No. 5,770,826, "Atomic beam alignment of liquid-crystals," owned by IBM Corporation discloses the application of ion beams on organic alignment films that are substantially made of PI. The energy is limited to a level below 200 eV to mitigate the surface deterioration of the organic alignment films caused by high-energy ion beams.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,485,614, "Method to stabilize a carbon alignment layer for liquid crystal displays," IBM Corporation proposed a technique of performing a hydrogen process on the alignment films after the alignment process is performed by using ion beams. This technique is used mainly to passivate dangling bonds.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,665,033, "Method for forming alignment layer by ion beam surface modification," owned by IBM Corporation also discloses a technique about passivation of dangling bonds. The difference between this patent and U.S. Pat. No. 6,485,614 is that the ion beams can be combined with reactive gases, such as silane, tetrafluoromethane (CF4), nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen, and fluorine, for in-situ passivation of dangling bonds.
Reference is made to FIG. 1, which is a schematic diagram showing an argon ion beam impacting an alignment layer in accordance with the prior art. It shows a device having a glass substrate 10, a conductive layer 12 formed on the glass substrate 10, and an alignment layer 14 formed on the conductive layer 12. An argon ion beam 16 is used to impact the alignment layer 14 and thus causes chemical and physical destruction 18 on the surface of the alignment layer 14.
In the above-mentioned literatures, argon ion beams are used for alignment process. However, since the argon ion beams have low chemical activity and large particles, serious physical destruction is easy to occur on the surface of the alignment films and deteriorates them. The physical and chemical destruction may act as the active sites for ions trapping and problems of image flicker and image sticking thus happen. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,485,614 proposed by IBM Corporation, an argon ion beam is used to impact an alignment film and then hydrogen atoms are used to passivate dangling bonds. In another patent proposed by IBM Corporation, i.e. U.S. Pat. No. 6,665,033, reactive ions are applied on dangling bonds to form a passivation layer.
Accordingly, as discussed above, the prior art still has some drawbacks that could be improved upon. The present invention aims to resolve the drawbacks of the prior art.

Method for alignment of liquid crystal molecules by using hydrogen ion beam in an amount greater than one hundred times that of non-hydrogen ions

Industrial Technology Research Institute


The invention relates to a carrier for transporting "tip-up" devices used by ice fishermen. The invention includes a pair of opposite side supports having aligned inclined slots for receiving engagement of a plurality of ice fishing "tip-ups". The pair of side supports also include a plurality of aligned apertures for receiving engagement of a line for holding bobbers and/or sinkers. The carrier includes a handle attached to and traversing between the top of the side supports. The carrier also includes a base having braces affixed to the side supports proximal to the foot portions of the invention. The carrier provides an ice fisherman with the ability to transport a plurality of "tip-up" devices for use in fishing without fear of entanglement of the "tip-ups" to each other or the invention.

The present invention relates to a carrier for use in the transportation of "tip-up" devices as used by ice fisherman. The transportation of these types of fishing apparatus is difficult. During transportation, the line of a "tip-up" will frequently become tangled with other "tip-up" devices. In addition, a "tip-up" is frequently dropped during relocation as a result of the bulky and cumbersome shape of the device.
Generally, a "tip-up" ice fishing device includes a rectangular base and a spring loaded arm member having a flag. The arm member is released to an upright configuration upon the striking of the bait by a fish. The spring loaded arm member and the line of the "tip-up" renders transportation of the apparatus very inconvenient.
No carrier, as known, exists to easily and expediently organize a number of "tip-up" ice fishing units during transportation. The present invention provides a convenient carrier for a plurality of "tip-up" ice fishing devices. The invention prevents entanglement between the transported devices which significantly improves the utility to an ice fisherman.

Carrier device for ice fishing apparatus


Disclosed are a mobile terminal and controlling method thereof, by which geographical information including POI (point of interest) of a user can be displayed. The present invention includes a memory storing at least one of a POI (point of interest) information including a POI time information and a geographical information, a display unit configured to display the POI information and the geographical information, and a controller, if a command for displaying the geographical information and the POI information is received, searching the memory for the POI information and the geographical information in a prescribed distance with reference to random reference coordinates, the controller controlling the display unit to display the found POI information and the found geographical information.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile terminal, and more particularly, to a mobile terminal and controlling method thereof. Although the present invention is suitable for a wide scope of applications, it is particularly suitable for displaying geographical information including POI (point of interest) of a user.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Generally, terminals can be classified into mobile/portable terminals and stationary terminals. The mobile terminals can be further classified into handheld terminals and vehicle mount terminals according to possibility of user's direct portability.
As functions of the terminal are getting diversified, the terminal tends to be implemented as a multimedia player provided with composite functions such as photographing of photos or videos, playback of music or video files, game play, broadcast reception and the like for example.
Beyond the stage of simply delivering audio, the technological developments of a mobile terminal enable various kinds of application programs to be installed on the mobile terminal to meet the demands of users and also enable the mobile terminal to use various data related to the installed application programs. And, the scope of the data can cover various fields including personal information (e.g., SMS (short message service) reception/transmission history, etc.) saved in the mobile terminal, self-created data (e.g., photo/video created using a mounted camera, etc.), contents (e.g., an e-book downloaded from a server of a mobile communication service provider, picture friends, bell sounds, MP3, etc.) and the like. In this case, the mobile terminal may include one of a mobile communication terminal (i.e., a wireless terminal), a PDA (personal digital assistant), a PMP (portable multimedia player), and the like.
Recently, a mobile terminal equipped with a GPS function as well as a map function having geographical information tends to be increasingly used. And, the demand for necessity of a technology for providing a user with geographical information on an area of interest efficiently is rising.

Mobile terminal and controlling method thereof


A structural analysis apparatus automatically sets a boundary between an entire model and a detailed model to thereby obtain a highly accurate solution without intervention by an operator and with fewer man-hours and shorter calculation time. An iso-surface creation step creates a field iso-surface from an analysis result of a mesh model. A detailed mesh model creation step uses the field iso-surface created by the iso-surface creation step to create a detailed mesh model of a part of the mesh model. An analysis step uses the analysis result of the mesh model to perform analysis of the detailed mesh model created by the detailed mesh model creation step. An analysis evaluation step evaluates the analysis result of the detailed mesh model based on the analysis result obtained by the analysis step and analysis result of the mesh model.

1. Field
The present invention relates to a numerical analysis method represented by a structural strength evaluation and, more particularly, to a structural analysis apparatus, a structural analysis method, and a structural analysis program that evaluates the strength of a structure in a development process of, e.g., a portable electronic device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In structural simulation which is taken as an example of structural analysis, an accurate result cannot be obtained in the case where a maximum stress occurring when a load is applied to a structure is calculated, unless the mesh of a stress concentration zone is sufficiently dense. On the other hand, in the case where a part to be actually evaluated in a to-be-modeled area is very small due to a limitation of a restraint condition or loading condition, if the entire evaluation part is divided into meshes of very small size for sufficient evaluation, a calculation amount becomes large. In light of this, a calculation is performed, in two stages, for an entire model. The first stage is performed on a relatively rough model, while the second stage is performed on a detailed model obtained by partially modeling (zooming) the part being evaluated.
Therefore, when numerical analysis of a detailed partial structure (detailed model) is performed for an entire structure (entire model) in a conventional structural analysis, extraction of the detailed model, that is, which part of the entire model is zoomed is manually performed by operators according to their individual judgment.
As a technique related to the prior art, there is known a technique in which analysis is performed by using the entire model of a structure to be analyzed. A partial model is obtained by extracting a part of the entire model of the structure. The detailed partial model is used for analysis of the extracted part and a difference between the analysis results of the partial model and detailed partial model is calculated (refer to, e.g., Patent Document 1: Jpn. Pat. Appln. Publication No. 11-149466).
Further, there is known a technique that allows a mesh with less distortion to be created for a regional model cut out from the entire model easily and immediately (refer to, e.g., Patent Document 2: Jpn. Pat. Appln. Publication No. 7-55656).
When the detailed model is calculated for the abovementioned extraction process, a boundary value of the detailed model which has been calculated for the entire model is used as a boundary condition. At this time, modeling needs to be performed such that the boundary value is not changed due to a difference in the shape between the detailed model and entire model. However, the boundary of the detailed model must be set in advance. Therefore, in the case where an operator arbitrarily sets the boundary of the detailed model as in the conventional way, there is a high possibility that the boundary value is changed due to a difference in the shape between the detailed model and entire model. Further, it is difficult to determine whether the result obtained in the detailed model is sufficiently accurate or not, so that recalculation must be made using the detailed mesh model for verification.

Structural analysis apparatus, structural analysis method, and structural analysis program


A device for splaying a plurality of pole members from a generally axial orientation to a generally radial orientation, the device including a pair of generally parallel disc-like transverse members, each pole member having a first end pivotally mounted on one of the transverse members and a lever and cam mechanism for urging the transverse members axially together to clamp the first end of each pole member in a generally radial orientation.

In one form of construction of a tent or other temporary shelter, flexible poles are inserted into one or more locating sleeves formed along at least two diameters of a generally dome shaped shell of the tent wall fabric so that the poles extend from the apex of the dome to slightly beyond the periphery of the wall of the tent. The tent is erected by laying the fabric out flat and inserting a pole into the appropriate sleeve or sleeves so that the pole extends diametrically across the laid out fabric. Second and subsequent poles are inserted into other sleeves to form a radiating series of poles crossing at the apex of the tent. The foot of one pole is then inserted into a pocket formed at or adjacent the periphery of the wall at that diameter. The other end of that pole is inserted into a pocket located at or adjacent the periphery of the wall at a position diametrically opposed to the first pocket. Since the length of the diameter across the tent fabric is less than that of the pole, this causes the pole to bow and tension the fabric of the tent wall along that diameter. This operation is repeated with the other poles to give a semi-rigid, stable, dome-like structure in which the fabric of the tent wall is held taut by the bowed poles without the need for any internal struts or supports.
Such tents are in theory simple to produce and erect and find widespread use. They can be produced in a number of different forms and sizes for different end uses; for example as a single man tent to provide cover for beach fishermen or bird watchers, as larger polygonal shaped tents to house several people, or as small units to serve as cloches for the growing of plants. For convenience, the term dome tent will be used herein to denote in general structures which comprise a flexible wall member which is tensioned by bowing a series of radially arranged pole members supporting the wall fabric. Such a tent employing a tensioning arrangement is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,966,178 issued Oct. 30, 1990 to Eichhorn.
However, such dome tents suffer from the problem that they are assembled from a number of component parts and can be difficult to erect single-handedly since it is necessary to insert opposed ends of the poles into the pockets and at the same time to lift the poles so that they adopt their bowed configuration. Furthermore, even when two or more people work together in erecting such a tent, difficulties are still encountered in that once the first pole has been bowed, a structure is formed which can be caught by the wind before further poles can be put in position and the erected tent secured to the ground.
We have now devised a method for splaying the poles in a dome tent which reduces the above problems and which provides a structure which can be rapidly and simply erected single-handedly.


Processing the pixel value of at least one image pixel contained in a current frame of a video sequence includes constructing an individual motion trajectory including motion-shifted versions of the at least one image pixel over a plurality of preceding and/or subsequent frames, and processing the pixel value based on the individual motion trajectory. Constructing the individual motion trajectory includes choosing the at least one image pixel of the current frame as a start pixel of the individual motion trajectory, and adding motion-shifted versions of the at least one image pixel of preceding and/or subsequent frames to the individual motion trajectory. For each of the plurality of preceding and/or subsequent frames, at least two motion-shifted versions of the at least one image pixel are determined, and one of the at least two motion-shifted versions of the at least one image pixel is selected and added to the individual motion trajectory.

An in-loop filter for processing video sequences is described in [1]. This filter provides adaptive de-blocking and has shown to improve both the subjective and the objective quality of a decoded video sequence.
The concept of motion compensated temporal filtering was first introduced in [2]. The notion of a motion trajectory and its applications to video coding were first described in [3], which was extended to a temporal filtering approach in [4]. Approaches with a similar aim have been presented in [5] and [6].
Even though most of the mentioned prior art filters provide quite good results, better performance is still desirable for many of today's video applications.

Method and device for processing pixels contained in a video sequence


A memory cell includes first and second data holding portions for holding stored data and its inverted data. First and second p channel TFT compensate for charges leaked from first and second capacitors, respectively. A first (second) access transistor has first and second gate electrodes connected to a first (second) word line and to a second (first) node, respectively. The first (second) access transistor discharges the charges leaked from a power supply node via the first (second) p channel TFT in the OFF state in the leakage mode where the first (second) word line is inactivated and the second (first) node is at an H level.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to semiconductor memory devices, and more particularly to a semiconductor memory device which stores stored information according to whether a charge holding circuit is holding charges or not and for which a refresh operation is unnecessary.
2. Description of the Background Art
A dynamic random access memory (DRAM), one of typical semiconductor memory devices, has a memory cell formed of a transistor and a capacitor and the structure of the memory cell in itself is simple. Such a DRAM is most suitable for realizing higher integration and larger capacity of a semiconductor device, and thus has currently been used for various electronic apparatuses.
In a memory cell of the DRAM, charges of the capacitor, corresponding to stored data, would leak due to various factors and are lost gradually. It means that the stored data is lost over time. Thus, in the DRAM, a "refresh operation" is performed with which data is once read and rewritten before it becomes impossible to detect a voltage change appearing on the bit lines corresponding to the stored data at the time of data reading.
As such, the DRAM, for which the refresh operation should be performed constantly and periodically for every memory cell, is inferior in terms of a high-speed operation and low power consumption to a static random access memory (SRAM) that does not require the refresh operation. The DRAM, however, has a simple memory cell structure and enables higher integration as described above. It has a cost per bit considerably lower than those of the other memory devices, and thus is now dominant in the RAMs.
On the other hand, the SRAM, also one of the typical semiconductor memory devices, does not require the refresh operation indispensable for the DRAM, as described above.
A memory cell of the SRAM has a configuration where a flip flop having two inverters cross-coupled to each other is connected to a bit line pair via transistors. The data stored in the flip flop is in a bistable state, and maintains the state as long as a prescribed power supply voltage is supplied. In this point, the SRAM is completely different from the DRAM in which charges accumulated in the capacitor are lost over time.
The SRAM requiring no refresh operation consumes less power, with which an operation of higher speed than that of the DRAM is expected.
A memory cell of the SRAM, however, generally includes six bulk transistors. It has four bulk transistors even in the case where the load element is formed of a thin film transistor (TFT) (hereinafter, the thin film transistor is also referred to as "TFT"). Herein, the term "bulk" is used to express a transistor that is formed within a silicon substrate, in contrast to the TFT formed on a substrate. Hereinafter, a transistor that is formed within the silicon substrate is referred to as the "bulk transistor", in contrast with a thin film element formed on a substrate, as is the TFT.
As such, a memory cell of the SRAM including six or four bulk transistors is large in size compared to a memory cell of the DRAM having one bulk transistor, with their difference in area being as large as about tenfold.
As a semiconductor memory device that can realize lower power consumption and higher integration than a DRAM, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 7-307445 discloses a technique concerning a semiconductor memory device having a memory cell requiring no refresh operation and operating at a low voltage, where a conductive sidewall is configured for use as a gate electrode, and Coulomb barrier is utilized.
As described above, although the currently dominant DRAM is suitable for higher integration and larger capacity because of its simple memory cell structure, it requires the refresh operation, hindering a high-speed operation and low power consumption.
On the other hand, although the SRAM does not require the refresh operation, it requires six or four bulk transistors. Further, for stabilization of an operation of the SRAM, the current driving capability ratio (also referred to as "cell ratio" or "β ratio") between the driver and access transistors should be maintained at 2 to 3 or more, and the driver transistor should be designed to have a large gate width, which also causes an increase in size of the memory cell of the SRAM. As such, higher integration and larger capacity cannot be expected with a conventional SRAM.
As such, the conventional DRAM and SRAM both have advantages and disadvantages in terms of properties and structures. With further advance of the IT technologies expected in the future, there is a great expectation for a semiconductor memory device that can satisfy higher performance (higher-speed operation and lower power consumption) as well as higher integration and larger capacity.
Moreover, although the semiconductor memory device disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 7-307445 may allow lower power consumption and higher integration than a DRAM, it would be much more beneficial from the standpoints of development cost, manufacturing cost, compatibility and many other aspects if a semiconductor memory device that can solve the above-described problems can be developed based on the currently dominant DRAM and SRAM and by applying the techniques cultivated in the relevant field.

Semiconductor memory device having memory cells requiring no refresh operation


An apparatus that includes a vibration sensor and a circuit. The vibration sensor provides an indication of vibration sensed in a motorized vehicle. The circuit determines a remedial action to be taken for the motorized vehicle based at least in part on the sensed vibration.

An onboard diagnostic system of a motorized vehicle typically provides a snapshot of the current state of the vehicle. For this purpose, the vehicle may have sensors to measure various parameters, such as fluid levels, voltages, temperatures and pressures. The information that is acquired by the onboard diagnostic system may be used, for example, by personnel of a repair shop to diagnose the underlying cause of a problem that prompted the vehicle owner to bring the vehicle to the shop for service.

Determining a remedial action for a motorized vehicle based on sensed vibration

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP