A modular frame system for support of pressure vessels used in water treatment systems comprising a plurality of frame cells is disclosed, where each frame cell is releasably attachable to other frame cells in a variety of relationships. The frame cells may be attached horizontally, vertically, or side-by-side. The frame cells are designed to accommodate a variety of pressure vessels having different sizes and weights, and having different connections for connection to other pressure vessels.

Water treatment describes processes used to make water more acceptable for a desired end-use. These can include treatment of water for use as drinking water, or for industrial, medical or other uses. The goal of water treatment is to remove existing contaminants in the water, or to reduce the concentration of such contaminants so the water becomes fit for its desired end-use.
Reverse osmosis (RO) is one method of water treatment. In general, RO is a membrane-technology filtration method that removes many types of large molecules and ions from solutions. Solutions are made up of a solute which is a substance that is dissolved in another substance, called the solvent. By applying pressure to the solution when it is on one side of a selective membrane, the solute is retained on the pressurized side of the membrane and the pure solvent is allowed to pass to the other side of the membrane. The membrane that is used in RO should not allow large molecules or ions through the pores (holes), but should allow smaller components of the solution (such as the solvent) to pass freely.
In the normal osmosis process, the solvent naturally moves from an area of low solute concentration (High Water Potential), through a membrane, to an area of high solute concentration (Low Water Potential). The movement of a pure solvent to equalize solute concentrations on each side of a membrane generates osmotic pressure. Applying an external pressure to reverse the natural flow of pure solvent, thus, is reverse osmosis. The process is similar to other membrane technology applications. However, there are key differences between reverse osmosis and filtration. The predominant removal mechanism in membrane filtration is straining, or size exclusion, so the process can theoretically achieve perfect exclusion of particles regardless of operational parameters such as influent pressure and concentration. Reverse osmosis, however, involves a diffusive mechanism so that separation efficiency is dependent on solute concentration, pressure, and water flux rate.
Other water treatment processes that utilize membrane technology for filtration are nano filtration, and ultrafiltration. These technologies also utilize membrane technology but the membrane has a smaller nominal pore size.
Industrial and commercial reverse osmosis water treatment systems are widely available. All systems treat the water in pressure vessels, where the size and construction of the pressure vessels vary according to capacity (throughput) of the system and the design of the pressure vessel by the specific manufacturer. Thus, a commercial or industrial reverse osmosis system may be made up of a plurality of pressure vessels which may be connected lengthwise or horizontally. This requires that adjacent vessels be connected to each other. The fittings for connecting adjacent pressure vessels vary according to manufacturer. Additionally, the pressure vessels can be 4-31 feet in length and weigh several hundred pounds apiece.
Reverse osmosis water treatment systems will be designed differently based on the specifications needed for an application and the physical plant design. Accordingly, the plurality of pressure vessels will be connected in varying arrangements. Typically, a frame must be custom built for each system. This is costly as the frame is custom built for a particular system, and economies of scale cannot be achieved.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,282,823 to Acernese et al. and titled LIGHTWEIGHT MODULAR WATER PURIFICATION SYSTEM WITH RECONFIGURABLE PUMP POWER OPTIONS, the contents of which are incorporated in their entirety by reference, discloses a modular water purification system using a pump component that is mountable by standardized fittings into alternative prime mover modules that can receive and power the pump. The pump can be interchangeably mounted on an internal combustion engine module or an electric motor module. The pump is enclosed and protected by a frame with end plates, elongated bar handles and a standardized base that fits into and is fixed by a sliding flange and clamping structure, locating the pump precisely to engage a rotational fitting on the pump shaft with a complementary fitting coupled to the prime mover.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,326,325 to Liang et al. and titled APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR CONNECTING WATER TREATMENT DEVICES, the contents of which are incorporated in their entirety by reference, discloses a method and apparatus for associating water treatment modules. A bracket may be used to provide support for one or more water treatment modules. The bracket may be permanently or removably attached to a module or housing or may simply support the module or housing without being attached to it. A bracket may be constructed and arranged to mate or join with another bracket that may be different or similar or identical to the first bracket. By joining two or more brackets together, different modules may be associated with each bracket, and the modules may be immobilized with respect to each other.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,811,042 to Kelly et al. and titled MODULAR RACK, the contents of which are incorporated in their entirety by reference, discloses a stackable storage unit may be vertically stacked for storage and transportation of storable members. The storage unit comprises at least one pair of rails extending in a first direction and having a contoured surface for supporting a surface area of a generally cylindrical storable member. At least two generally vertical walls extend in the first direction on opposing ends of the storage unit. The walls comprise a flat top surface with a plurality of alignment openings therein. A plurality of alignment tongues extending from the bottom of the wall are positioned and configured to engage corresponding alignment openings in an underlying storage unit. A rib structure underlies the rails and connects the walls to the rails. Feet extend below the bottom of the alignment tongues and support the storage unit on a generally flat surface or fit inside the walls of an underlying storage unit.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,199,070 to Magnussen, Jr. and titled MODULAR RACK, the contents of which are incorporated in their entirety by reference, discloses a modular component of a rack for storing articles comprising: (a) a longitudinally elongated body having opposite sides, a longitudinally elongated boundary, longitudinally spaced segmented boundaries laterally spaced from the longitudinally elongated boundary, and longitudinally spaced laterally extending boundaries at longitudinally opposite ends of the body, (b) the body having tongue and groove connections at certain of the boundaries, the connections defining guide shoulders extending widthwise between said opposite sides for guided connection with like tongue and groove connections on a like modular component, (c) and the body defining through openings extending widthwise between said sides, those openings sized to receive said articles which are elongated in said widthwise direction, the through openings being longitudinally spaced between the laterally extending boundaries, the openings located generally between the segmented boundaries, and the openings having longitudinally and laterally extending sides.

Modular frame system for pressure vessels used in water treatment systems


The authentication of users on networks is performed more easily and efficiently, as follows:. Authentication data sent from the application client 20 is relayed to a verification server 30 by the application server 10. The verification server 30 maintains a database of valid authentication data, against which it verifies received authentication data. Verification results are sent to the application server 10, which then processes users on the basis of these results. As a result, the configuration of application servers 10 is simplified. Verification servers or servers 30 can be used by a plurality of application servers 10, allowing for the efficient use of resources on a network.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a verification server used as a means for the authentication of application users, and in particular for the authentication of users on a network.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In banking and other service industries, establishing the identities of clients, in other words, authentication, is an extremely important problem. Proper authentication is required in order to protect against any attempts by an impostor to withdraw or deposit money from another person's account.
The standard means of authentication is to ask to see some form of identification card, such as a driver's license. However, with the proliferation of automatic teller machines and other automatic devices in recent years, different means of authentication using magnetic cards and passwords have come into widespread use.
Some means of authentication is also necessary in fields other than banking. For example, at research institutions, in order to prevent secrets from being leaked, often only those with the proper clearance are permitted to enter certain restricted areas. Private membership clubs also often require some means of identification and authentication to prove membership. At these research institutions and clubs, the use of magnetic membership cards and passwords, is quite common. However, magnetic cards can be lost, and passwords can easily be forgotten. Thus, other means of establishing the identity of an individual using biometric physical quantities such as fingerprints, retinal patterns, etc. as data for authentication (hereinafter, authentication data) have also been proposed.
The use of signatures, an individual physical quantity, in the endorsement process for electronic business documents for identification and approval is a natural continuation of the signatures use on paper documents. In recent years the use of computer graphic systems in business has been growing, and signature data can be stored in the form of an image and can be pasted onto other computer data to indicate approval.
With the development of networks, it is now possible to provide a variety of services to a very large number of users on a network. The internet, for example, provides a wide spectrum of multimedia services, such as the WWW (World Wide Web). In some cases, as with services in banking, etc., access to these network services is granted only to individuals with proper identification, and therefore authentication is also an extremely important issue in providing network services.
However, for authentication of the identities of individuals on a network, use of the above-mentioned biometric authentication data is generally extremely difficult. For example, it would be necessary to install devices to read retinal patterns, fingerprints or palmprints at each and every terminal, and a system for relaying the data for such physical quantities over the network would have to be devised.
As a result, attention is focusing on the use of signature data as an individual physical quantity that can be used for verification on networks. Signature data has some advantages. For example, a signature can be easily input using a so-called tablet. The data may include not only the two-dimensional image data, but also changes in stylus pressure as well as the writing speed in order to establish the identity of the individual. A further characteristic is that tablets are available at a reasonable price, so that the cost of terminals can be kept low.
Recently, the biometric authentication data and signature data described above are being used in some networks as a means of authentication.
However, at the same time, the size of networks is increasing, the types of application servers providing services is increasing, and the number of clients receiving such services is reaching an extremely large scale. In particular, in networks like the Internet which is on a worldwide scale, there are many cases where the application server and the clients receiving its services are separated by extremely large distances. In such cases, the increase in traffic on the network resulting from exchanges of these more complex authentication data can be a large problem.

Verification server for use in authentication on networks


An appliance for preventing snoring and sleep apnea includes a headgear and a mouthpiece. The headgear includes an adjustable headband encircling the upper portion of a user's head at the forehead; an adjustable chin strap passing over the crown of the head and under the chin of the user to maintain the user's mouth closed about the mouthpiece; a back strap passing from the forehead over the crown of the head and down the back of the user; a means secured to the rear end of the back strap for exerting a restraining force on the back strap and the upper portion of the headgear to keep the user's head from slouching forward; and an object secured to the rear end of the back strap for making it uncomfortable for the user to lie on his/her back. The mouthpiece includes a thin, flexible front sheet extending across the front of the user's mouth in front of the user's teeth to prevent breathing through the mouth and a thin, flexible back tab extending from an inner upper portion of the flexible sheet to behind the user's lower front teeth for pulling the user's lower jaw forward.

The present invention relates to an appliance for preventing snoring and obstructive sleep apnea, and in particular, to an appliance which utilizes a headgear and mouthpiece that function as a unit to provide the necessary relief from snoring and obstructive sleep apnea.
As discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,551,473, one of the most misunderstood ailments of man is the noisy breathing pattern that occurs in some persons during sleep. Afflicted persons may create so much sonic disturbance that they prevent sleep in bed partners, roommates, and sometimes persons several rooms distant. Throughout history snorers have been ridiculed, harassed and subjected to mounting hostility of other household members. As might be expected, an almost endless variety of well meaning or defensive attempts have been made to control snoring. Most such devices function by subjecting the unfortunate person to unpleasant mechanical or electrical stimuli as soon as snoring commences and are successful only to the degree that the snorer is kept from sleeping.
As has been pointed out a paper by David N. F. Fairbanks, M.D. ("Snoring: Not Funny-Not Hopeless", HOSPITAL MEDICINE, March, 1984), the noise of snoring comes from vibrations of soft tissues in the collapsible part of the upper airway, involving the soft palate, uvula, tonsils and tonsillar pillars, base of the tongue, and pharyngeal muscles and mucosa. Other medical literature expresses the opinion that, for most persons, snoring is caused by muscle relaxation that occurs during sleep. It is postulated that, as the muscles of the mouth, nose, and throat relax, the negative pressure that occurs during inspiration encourages the tongue to fall backward into the airway and vibrate against a relaxed and floppy soft palate and uvula. At the same time, the lateral pharyngeal structures are drawn inward, further constricting the airway and increasing the speed of air flow pat the vibrating structures.
The following conditions have been found to increase the problem of snoring and obstructive sleep apnea. Obesity further constricts the airway, increases the work of breathing and further compounds the problem. Temporary swelling caused by hay fever, inflamed sinuses, etc, also narrow the air passages and cause snoring in a person normally free from that affliction. However, the use of antihistamines promotes drying of the mucous membranes and further promotes vibration in the relaxed structures. Smoking, two byproducts of which are carbon monoxide and formaldehyde, tends to stimulate snoring by drying or irritating the air passages, inducing hypoxemia, and even causing the swallowing muscles to spasm. When an afflicted person uses central nervous system depressants, such as alcoholic beverages or tranquilizers before retiring, it has been found that the tendency to snore is exacerbated.
As socially unattractive as snoring may be, sleep apnea, which frequently accompanies snoring, is much more dangerous. In some cases, the relaxed tissues of the airway may so effectively seal off the passage of air to the lungs as to completely prevent inspiration. Persons suffering from this problem may actually stop breathing 30 to 300 times per night for periods of ten seconds to two minutes (three minutes may be fatal). Consequently, such persons spend as much half of their sleep time with abnormally low blood oxygen levels. Such persons resume normal breathing, albeit briefly, when they wake into a lighter sleep stage, causing the relaxed muscles to tense sufficiently to relieve the obstruction. As will be appreciated, persons with obstructive sleep apnea spend an insufficient portion of their nighttime hours in the deep sleep stages that are essential for good rest, awakening unrefreshed and feeling sleepy much of the day. In addition to the above, cardiac arrhythmias may occur during apneic episodes that can possibly lead to death in sleep.
One method of curing the related problems of snoring and obstructive sleep apnea has been the surgical removal of what has been considered excess tissue in the air passageway by means of palatopharyngoplasty. Although effective in many instances, the operation is painful, expensive, and fraught with the dangers accompanying any operation in the blood rich throat area. Other attempts to cure the problems of snoring and obstructive sleep apnea have involved the use of medications, such as the muscle relaxants referred to in U.S. Pat. No. 4,551,473. Other methods of treating snoring and/or sleep apnea have involved the use of mouthpieces, such as the mouthpieces of U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,169,473; 4,304,227; 5,506,534; 5,117,816; 5,277,202; 5,313,960; 5,316,020; 5,365,945; 5,373,859; 5,427,117; 5,462,066; 5,465,734; 5,467,783; and 5,499,633.
In addition to the other methods for treating snoring and obstructive sleep apnea discussed above, constant, positive air pressure machines (CPAP machines) are sometimes used to treat snoring and obstructive sleep apnea by providing constant positive air pressure to the nostrils. The machine includes a hose, leading from a fan, to a headgear that holds the hose outlet near the nose. The nose is either covered with a mask or has inserts in the nostrils so that air under pressure passes from the hose into the nostrils. The pressurized air passing into the nostrils causes an air stint that holds the soft palate and uvula up from the windpipe so that strangulation does not occur. However, CPAP machines: make disturbing low humming noises; the excess air introduced into the nose and mouth dry out the mouth and may cause choking; and for a person who is claustrophobic, the placement of the equipment over the face and nostrils may create a horrendous feeling of anxiety.
Thus, there has been a need to provide a means for preventing snoring and obstructive sleep apnea that is effective, inexpensive, easy to use, and overcomes many of the problems associated with treatments for snoring and obstructive sleep apnea used in the prior art.

Appliance for preventing snoring and obstructive sleep apnea


A method of operating a tape drive which includes a pair of tape spool supports, upon one of which a supply spool is mountable and upon a second one of which a take up spool is mountable, each tape spool support being driveable by a respective motor to transfer tape between the spools, the tape drive further including a controller to control each of the motors, wherein the method includes reducing tension in tape extending between the two spools during a period when the tape is substantially stationary.

In a so called thermal transfer printing apparatus, the printhead includes a plurality of thermal heating elements which are selectively energisable by a controller during printing to warm and soften pixels of ink from the tape and to transfer such pixels to the substrate. The printhead presses the tape against the substrate such that the pixels of ink contact the substrate before the web of the tape is peeled away, thus transferring the pixels of ink from the tape to the substrate.
Such printing apparatus includes drive apparatus for moving the tape relative to the printhead, to present fresh tape, from which pixels of ink are yet to be removed, to the printhead, such that successive printing operations can be carried out. It has long been known to provide tape drives which include two spool supports, one of which supports a supply spool on which unused tape is initially wound, and the other of which supports a take-up spool, onto which the tape is wound after it has been used. Tape extends between the spools in a tape path.
Each of the spool supports, and hence each of the spools of tape, is drivable by a respective motor.
It is known to provide thermal transfer printing apparatus in two different configurations. In the first, so called "intermittent" configuration, the substrate to be printed and the tape are held stationary during a printing operation, whilst the printhead is moved across the area of the substrate to be printed. Once the printing operation is complete, the printhead is lifted away from the tape, and the tape is advanced to present a fresh region of tape to the printhead for the next printing operation.


An inkjet printer 1 has an elastic ink pack 10 that holds ink, and an ink supply mechanism 5 that pressurizes the ink pack 10 and supplies ink to the ink path 4 side. The ink supply mechanism 5 has a pressure pump 15; a remaining ink monitor 52 that watches if the ink in the ink pack 10 has dropped to a specific remaining ink level; a first pressure control unit 56 that drives the pressure pump 15 until the pump pressure reaches a preset first set pressure P1 when the remaining ink has not reached the specific remaining ink level; and a second pressure control unit 57 that drives the pressure pump 15 until the pump pressure reaches a second set pressure P2 that is higher than the first set pressure P1 when the remaining ink has reached the specific remaining ink level.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to an ink supply control method of an inkjet printer that pressurizes an elastic ink pack with a pressure pump and supplies ink from the ink pack to an ink path that communicates with an inkjet head, and to an inkjet printer.
The present application is a continuation application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/051,961, filed on Oct. 11, 2013, which is scheduled to issue on May 19, 2015 as U.S. Pat. No. 9,033,475. The present application claims priority based on and incorporates by reference the entire contents of Japan Patent Application No. 2012-225748 filed in Japan on 2012 Oct. 11,and Japan Patent Application No. 2012-226677 filed on 2012 Oct. 12.
2. Related Art
An inkjet printer according to the related art is described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Appl. Pub. JP-A-2009-190410. An ink cartridge used in the inkjet printer disclosed in JP-A-2009-190410 has an elastic ink pack that holds ink, a rigid case that holds the ink pack, and a pressure chamber formed between the case and the ink pack. The inkjet printer applies pressure to the ink pack by feeding air into the pressure chamber by means of a pressure pump, and pressure feeds ink from the ink pack into the ink path.
The pressure pump used in JP-A-2009-190410 has a pressure sensor for detecting the pump pressure. The pressure sensor has an intake chamber to which air fed from the pump unit to the pressure chamber is introduced, a diaphragm that is a wall of the intake chamber and is displaced by the pressure inside the intake chamber, and an optical sensor unit that detects displacement of the diaphragm. When the diaphragm is detected by the optical sensor unit to have displaced to a position pushed to the outside of the intake chamber, the pressure sensor detects that the pressure of the pressure pump is at a first pressure sufficient to pump ink through the ink path. When the diaphragm is detected by the optical sensor unit to have displaced to a position collapsed to the inside of the intake chamber, the pressure sensor detects that the pressure of the pressure pump is at a second pressure, which is lower than the first pressure.
The pressure of the pressure pump drops over time. The pressure of the pressure pump also drops with consumption of ink by the inkjet head, that is, as the amount of ink in the ink pack decreases. Because ink in the ink pack cannot be supplied to the ink path when the pressure of the pressure pump drops enough, the inkjet printer disclosed in JP-A-2009-190410 drives the pressure pump and pumps air into the pressure chamber when the pressure of the pressure pump is detected to have dropped to the second pressure.
The pressure applied to the ink pack to feed ink into the ink path (that is, the pressure of the pressure pump) is set so that the first pressure, which is the sum of the ink meniscus pressure formed in an ink nozzle of the inkjet head and the pressure of the pressure pump, is greater than the second pressure, which is the sum of the potential head of the ink pack, the back pressure of the ink pack, and the dynamic pressure of the ink path.
The back pressure of the ink pack rises rapidly when little ink is left in the ink pack. Therefore, when the pressure pump is set to a low pressure, ink inside the ink pack cannot be sufficiently pumped into the ink path, and the amount of ink left in the ink pack instead of being pumped into the ink path increases. However, if the pressure pump is set to a high pressure, the amount of residual ink can be decreased but the service life of the pressure pump is shortened because the drive time of the pressure pump is increased.
When print data is not supplied to the inkjet printer from an external device for a certain period of time, control may go to a power conservation mode that stops supplying power to the motors and sensors and provides power only to the CPU or other control unit. If the pressure of the pressure pump is managed based only on output from the pressure sensor in this type of inkjet printer, the pressure of the pressure pump cannot be determined while in the power conservation mode. For example, if operation continues in the power conservation mode for an extended time, the pressure of the pressure pump may drop below the second pressure over time. However, because there is no output from the pressure sensor while in the power conservation mode, the control unit cannot determine the pressure in the pressure pump. Because driving the pressure pump cannot be controlled based on output from the pressure sensor, keeping the pressure of the pressure pump above the second pressure level during the power conservation mode is difficult.
If print data is supplied from an external device while the inkjet printer is in the power conservation mode, the inkjet printer must exit the standby mode and resume the normal operating mode. Once the normal operating mode is resumed, the inkjet printer drives the pressure pump until the first pressure is reached so that ink can be pumped from the ink pack into the ink path, and then starts printing the print data. If the pressure of the pressure pump is significantly below the second pressure at this time, the pressure pump must be driven a long time to reach the first pressure, and the delay between receiving the print data and starting to print the print data increases.

Ink supply control method for an inkjet printer, and an inkjet printer


It is an object to provide an insulating film having a very low dielectric constant and a great mechanical strength. Moreover, it is another object to provide a semiconductor device capable of reducing both a capacity between wiring layers and a capacity between wirings also in microfabrication and an increase in integration in the semiconductor device. In order to attain the objects, there is provided an inorganic insulating film comprising a porous structure having a skeletal structure in which a vacancy is arranged periodically and a large number of small holes are included.

In order to increase a speed and to reduce power consumption in a semiconductor device, it is an important object to decrease the dielectric constant of an interlayer insulating film. Various designs have been made in order to decrease the dielectric constant. In a conventional semiconductor device, there have been proposed methods of:
(1) adding fluorine to a silica film to be an inorganic insulating film;
(2) forming an organic insulating material having a low dielectric constant as a host material; and
(3) intentionally forming a porous film.
In the method (1), however, the fluorine can be added in an element ratio of approximately several % at most because the heat resistance of the insulating film is deteriorated. For this reason, there is a problem in that a specific dielectric constant can be reduced by only 10% to 15% as compared with a conventional silica based interlayer insulating film.
In the method (2), moreover, a moisture resistance and a mechanical strength are deteriorated more remarkably as compared with the conventional silica based interlayer insulating film because of an organic material. Consequently, there is a problem in that the reliability of a semiconductor device is deteriorated.
In the method (3), furthermore, a porous structure is random. Therefore, the mechanical strength of an interlayer insulating film is remarkably reduced so that the interlayer insulating film is apt to be broken in packaging. For this reason, the reliability of the semiconductor device is deteriorated.
In many cases, moreover, the porous structure is not closed. If the porous structure is not closed, the moisture resistance of the interlayer insulating film is remarkably reduced so that the reliability of the semiconductor device is deteriorated.
With microfabrication and an increase in integration in a semiconductor device, furthermore, a capacity between wirings raises serious problems in addition to a capacity between wiring layers.
In the conventional insulating film, thus, a dielectric constant cannot fully be decreased. Moreover, there is a problem in that a mechanical strength cannot sufficiently be obtained.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Semiconductor device comprising an inorganic insulating film and method of manufacturing the same


The present invention is directed toward apparatus and methods of testing and assembling bumped die and bumped devices using an anisotropically conductive layer. In one embodiment, a semiconductor device comprises a bumped device having a plurality of conductive bumps formed thereon, a substrate having a plurality of contact pads distributed thereon and approximately aligned with the plurality of conductive bumps, and an anisotropically conductive layer disposed between and mechanically coupled to the bumped device and to the substrate. The anisotropically conductive layer electrically couples each of the conductive bumps with a corresponding one of the contact pads. In another embodiment, an apparatus for testing a bumped device having a plurality of conductive bumps includes a substrate having a plurality of contact pads distributed thereon and substantially alignable with the plurality of conductive bumps, and an anisotropically conductive layer disposed on the first surface and engageable with the plurality of conductive bumps to electrically couple each of the conductive bumps with a corresponding one of the contact pads. Alternately, the test apparatus may also include an alignment device or a bumped device handler. In another embodiment, a method of testing a bumped device includes engaging a plurality of contact pads with an anisotropically conductive layer, engaging the plurality of conductive bumps with the anisotropically conductive layer substantially opposite from and in approximate alignment with the plurality of contact pads, forming a plurality of conductive paths through the anisotropically conductive layer so that each of the conductive bumps is electrically coupled to one of the contact pads, and applying test signals through at least some of the contact pads and the conductive paths to at least some of the conductive bumps.

The present invention relates to apparatus and methods of testing and assembling bumped die and bumped devices using an anisotropically conductive layer, suitable for testing, for example, flip chip die, chip scale packages, multi-chip modules, and the like.
Bumped die and other bumped devices are widely used throughout the electronics industry. As the drive toward smaller electronics continues, the pitch (or spacing) of solder bumps on such bumped devices continues to decrease. The increasingly finer pitches of the solder bumps on bumped die and bumped devices raise concerns about the reliability of these devices. These concerns are being addressed by testing.
A die (or chip) is typically tested during the manufacturing process to ensure that the die conforms to operational specifications. Solder bumps (or balls) are then formed on bond pads of the die using a solder deposition device, such as a solder ball bumper. The solder bumps are typically formed with a height of from 25 xcexcm to 75 xcexcm. The bumped die are then tested by placing conductive test leads in contact with the solder bumps on the die, applying a test signal to the bumps via the test leads, and determining whether the bumped die responds with the proper output signals. If the bumped die tests successfully, it may be installed on a printed circuit board, a chip scale package, a semiconductor module, or other electronics device.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a bumped die 10 engaged with a test carrier 20 in accordance with the prior art. In this typical arrangement, the bumped die 10 includes a substrate 12 with a plurality of bond pads 14 thereon. A solder bump 16 (or other suitable conductive material) is formed on each of the bond pads 14. The test carrier 20 has a plurality of contact pads 22 thereon, each of the contact pads 22 being electrically coupled with a test lead 24. For testing of the bumped die 10, the solder bumps 16 engage the contact pads 22 of the test carrier 20, and the appropriate test signals are applied to the bumped die 10 through some of the test leads 24. Output signals from the bumped die 10 are monitored through other test leads 24 to determine whether the bumped die 10 is functioning to specifications. Test carrier apparatus of the type shown in FIG. 1 for testing unpackaged die are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,519,332 to Wood et. al., incorporated herein by reference.
Testing of the bumped die 10 generally includes four levels of testing. A first or xe2x80x9cstandard probexe2x80x9d level includes the standard tests for gross functionality of die circuitry. A second or xe2x80x9cspeed probexe2x80x9d level includes testing the speed performance of the die for the fastest speed grades. A third or xe2x80x9cbum-in diexe2x80x9d level involves thermal cycling tests intended to drive contaminants into the active circuitry and to detect early failures. And a fourth or xe2x80x9cknown good die (KGD)xe2x80x9d level includes testing to provide a reliability suitable for final products.
To ensure proper transmission of the test signals and output signals, the solder bumps 16 may be temporarily connected with the contact pads 22 by reflowing the bumps, thereby soldering the bumps to the contact pads. After the testing is complete, the solder bumps 16 may be reflowed to disconnect the bumps from the contact pads. Connecting and disconnecting the solder bumps 16 from the contact pads 22, however, involve time consuming processes and may damage the solder bumps 16 or the contact pads 22.
Another problem with soldering the solder bumps 16 to the contact pads 22 is that the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of the bumped die 10 may be appreciably different from the CTE of the test carrier 20. During burn-in die testing, the bumped die 10 and test carrier 20 are placed in a burn-in oven and subjected to temperature cycling (e.g. xe2x88x9255xc2x0 C. to 150xc2x0 C.) for a time period of from several minutes to several hours or more. Due to the different CTE of the bumped die 10 and the test carrier 20 and the rigidity of the solder connections, significant stresses may develop throughout the components. These stresses may result in delamination or other damage to the bumped die 16 or the test carrier 20, and may degrade or damage the connection between the solder bumps 16 and the bond pads 14.
An alternate approach to soldering is to simply compress the solder bumps 16 into engagement with the contact pads 22. Ideally, only a small compression force is needed to engage the solder balls 16 against the contact pads 22 so that tests may be conducted. Methods and apparatus for testing die in this manner are fully described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,634,267 to Farnworth and Wood, incorporated herein by reference. The applied compression force, however, must be kept to a minimum because larger forces may damage the circuitry of the bumped die 10 or the test carrier 20.
A problem common to both the solder reflow and the compression force methods of engagement is that the solder bumps 16 are not uniformly shaped. As shown in FIG. 1, the solder bumps 16 are usually of different heights. Using typical manufacturing methods and solders, the nominal variation between the tallest and shortest bumps (shown as a distance d on FIG. 1) is presently about 10% of the average solder ball height. Therefore, when the bumped die 10 is placed on the test carrier 20, the shorter solder bumps may not touch the corresponding contact pads. In some cases, especially for very fine pitch solder bumps, the gaps between the shorter solder bumps and the contact pads may be too large to overcome using solder reflow (because of the small volume of solder in each bump) or by using compression force (because of possible damage to the bumped die).
The variation in solder bump height also creates uncertainty in the final assembly of electronics components that include bumped devices. As the number of bumps on the bumped device increases, the failure rate of the assembled package increases due to solder bump non-uniformity.
FIG. 2 is a partial cross-sectional view of the bumped die 10 of FIG. 1 engaged with another conventional test carrier 40. The test carrier 40 includes a test substrate 42 having a plurality of pockets 44 disposed therein. As shown in FIG. 2, the pockets 44 have sloping sidewalls 46, and a pair of contact blades 48 project from opposing sidewalls 46 into each pocket 44. Conductive test leads 50 are formed on the test substrate 42, including on the sidewalls 46 and contact blades 48 of the pockets 44.
During testing, the solder bumps 16 at least partially engage the pockets 44 of the test carrier 40 with the sharp contact blades 48 partially penetrating the solder bumps 16. The solder bumps 16 may also contact the sloping sidewalls 46 of the test carrier 40. Thus, the desired electrical connection between the solder bumps 16 and the test leads 50 may be achieved despite the variation in the solder bump height.
Although the test carrier 40 having pockets 44 with contact blades 48 addresses solder bump height variation, testing solder bumps with the test carrier 40 has several disadvantages. For example, because the contact blades 48 penetrate the solder bumps 16, the solder bumps may be cracked, chipped, or otherwise damaged by the contact blades. The solder bumps 16 may also become stuck to the contact blades 48, requiring additional time and effort to disengage the bumped die 10 from the test carrier 40. Furthermore, the test carrier 40 with the plurality of pockets 44 is relatively costly to fabricate and more difficult to maintain than alternative test carriers having flat contact pads.
FIG. 3 is a partial cross-sectional view of the bumped die 10 of FIG. 1 engaged with another prior art test carrier 60. In this example, the test carrier 60 includes a test substrate 62 having a plurality of pedestals 64 formed thereon. Test leads 66 are disposed on the test substrate 62, each test lead 66 terminating in a contact pad 68 on the top of each pedestal 64. A plurality of projections 69 project from each contact pad 68. Apparatus for testing semiconductor circuitry of the type shown in FIG. 3 are more fully described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,326,428 to Famworth et. aL, U.S. Pat. No. 5,419,807 to Akram and Famworth, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,483,741 to Akram et. al., which are incorporated herein by reference.
To conduct a test of the bumped die 10, the solder bumps 16 engage the contact pads 68 so that the sharp projections 69 at least partially penetrate the solder bumps 16. The projections 69 may be properly sized to penetrate into the taller solder bumps, allowing the shorter solder bumps to at least contact the projections of the corresponding contact pad 68.
One of the drawbacks of testing bumped die using the carrier 60 having projections 69 is that the projections (like the contact blades 48 described above) may damage the solder bumps 16. Furthermore, the projections 69 are relatively expensive to manufacture, particularly when the projections must be sized to account for a nominal 10% variation in the solder bump height.
The present invention is directed toward apparatus and methods of testing and assembling bumped devices using anisotropically conductive layers. In one aspect of the invention, a semiconductor device comprises a bumped device having a plurality of conductive bumps formed thereon, a substrate having a plurality of contact pads distributed thereon and approximately aligned with the plurality of conductive bumps, and an anisotropically conductive layer disposed between and mechanically coupled to the bumped device and to the substrate. The anisotropically conductive layer electrically couples each of the conductive bumps with a corresponding one of the contact pads, providing electrical contact between the conductive bumps and the contact pads despite variation in conductive bump height, and without damaging the conductive bumps.
In another aspect, an apparatus for testing a bumped device having a plurality of conductive bumps includes a substrate having a plurality of contact pads distributed thereon and substantially alignable with the plurality of conductive bumps, and an anisotropically conductive layer disposed on the first surface and engageable with the plurality of conductive bumps to electrically couple each of the conductive bumps with a corresponding one of the contact pads. Alternately, the test apparatus may also include an alignment device. In another aspect, the test apparatus may include a bumped device handler. The test apparatus provides for rapid and efficient engagement, testing, and disengagement of the bumped device.
In another aspect of the invention, a method of forming a semiconductor device includes providing a bumped device having a plurality of conductive bumps formed thereon, providing a substrate having a plurality of contact pads distributed thereon, forming an anisotropically conductive layer between the conductive bumps and the contact pads, approximately aligning the plurality of conductive bumps with the plurality of contact pads, and engaging the plurality of conductive bumps and the plurality of contact pads with the anisotropically conductive layer to electrically couple each of the conductive bumps with a corresponding one of the contact pads.
In yet another aspect of the invention, a method of testing a bumped device includes engaging a plurality of contact pads with an anisotropically conductive layer, engaging the plurality of conductive bumps with the anisotropically conductive layer substantially opposite from and in approximate alignment with the plurality of contact pads, forming a plurality of conductive paths through the anisotropically conductive layer so that each of the conductive bumps is electrically coupled to one of the contact pads, and applying test signals through at least some of the contact pads and the conductive paths to at least some of the conductive bumps. Alternately, the method further includes at least partially curing the anisotropically conductive layer. The method advantageously reduces the time, effort and expense involved in connecting and disconnecting the conductive bumps from the contact pads, reduces the potential for damage to the conductive bumps or the contact pads, and accommodates variation in the heights of the conductive bumps.

Apparatus and methods of testing and assembling bumped devices using an anisotropically conductive layer


A primer (16) for forming a resin frame (17) is formed on an outer end portion (16p) of a separator (1) of a fuel cell. An electrodeposition coating device (2) includes an upper frame (21) and a lower frame (22), and covers only the outer end portion (16p) of the substrate (11) with a center portion (12) of the substrate (11) left uncovered. When the substrate (11) is sandwiched between the upper frame (21) and the lower frame (22) of the electrodeposition coating device (2), an annular electrodeposition chamber (31) is formed with the outer end portion (16p) of the substrate (11) located in the electrodeposition chamber (31). Then, the electrodeposition chamber (31) is filled with an electrodeposition coating solution (32), and electrodeposition coating is performed. Then, cleaning is performed by using purified water, and drying is performed by using hightemperature air.

As conventional methods for forming a coating on a surface of a member, for example, a dipping method, a spray method, and an electrodeposition coating method are known. For example, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. JP 09-262519 A discloses a technology in which a coating is formed on only a predetermined portion by performing electrodeposition coating after masking the other portion by using UV cured resin.
When coating is performed by the dipping method or the spray method, it is difficult to form a coating having a uniform thickness on side surfaces of a platy member, and portions of a first surface and a second surface (a surface on the side opposite to the first surface) of the platy member, which are close to end portion of the platy member. In contrast to this, the thickness of a coating is likely to be made uniform when coating is performed by the electrodeposition coating method. However, it is difficult to form a coating on only a part of a member. Therefore, a portion on which coating is not performed is masked in advance, and the mask is removed after a coating is formed. These steps make the production process complicated.

Method for producing separator and electrodeposition coating device


Fixed station equipment automatically determines whether a telephony user is in close proximity to the station and then automatically adopts a profile that properly directs calls according to whether the user is “in-office” or is “away.” Call controls are automatically set corresponding to predetermined profiles of the user, and the station includes a computing device and a fixed telephone outlet. It is detected whether a short range, mobile transmitter corresponding to the user is within a predetermined distance of the station. When the transmitter is within the predetermined distance, then a near-station profile is adopted for the user, wherein the near-station profile directs calls within the IP telephony system to the fixed telephone outlet. When the transmitter is not within the predetermined distance, then an away profile is adopted for the user, wherein the away profile directs at least some calls within the IP telephony system to the user via a wireless communication system.

The present invention relates in general to call management in Internet Protocol (IP) telephony, and, more specifically, to automatically switching between various call profiles according to the presence or absence of a user at a certain location.
Telephony services that had been circuit based (e.g., over the Public Switched Telephone Network, or PSTN) are increasingly being transported over packet-based IP networks or combinations of packet-based and circuit-based networks. Benefits of IP telephony include increased efficiency of transport resources, lower system deployment and operation costs, easier system modifications (e.g., added or modified phone numbers), and opportunities for providing improved user features. Enterprises (e.g., businesses, educational institutions, and governmental organizations) can obtain IP telephony network services using private, internally operated network infrastructure (e.g., an IP PBX solution) or can outsource the IP telephony infrastructure to an outside provider (e.g., an IP Centrex solution).
In IP Centrex or IP PBX systems, call management is typically performed using one or more servers (e.g., an IP telephony application server) for controlling call set up, routing, tear down, and other signaling functions. Each user of the system who is capable of receiving a call has at least one corresponding profile stored in the server so that an incoming call to the user may be properly directed within the packet network. Certain aspects of a profile may be customizable by the user so that the destination of incoming calls can be modified. For example, the user has been able to access a web portal on the IP application server using a web browser to modify how various incoming calls are directed. A fixed telephone installation on the enterprise network could be specified or calls could be directed (or redirected when there is a no answer or a busy condition) to an alternate destination such as a specific telephone number or a voice mail server to allow the calling party to record a message. A user profile can also specify special handling of calls from certain calling parties (e.g., family members or co-workers) which may be determined using automatic number identification or caller ID functions as known in the art, whereby these calls may be forwarded to a mobile telephone number while other callers are directed to voice mail, for example.
A telephone service user typically has a primary station where they maintain a fixed telephone instrument that is used during their times of normal availability for telephone calls. In a work setting, for example, this primary station may be a desk in an individual or shared office or may be a rotating workstation in certain workplaces such as a hospital ward. When the user is at their primary station then they typically desire that all their calls be routed to a fixed telephone outlet at the station, such as a desk phone. When they are away from the primary station then they may, desire to have at least some calls forwarded to a mobile (e.g., cellular or PCS) wireless phone. Changes to a user's profile to accomplish the desired call direction have required manual intervention by the user at the time that they arrive at or depart from the primary workstation. Many users, however, find the required manual intervention to be impractical. Even if profile changes could be set up to occur at specified times of day or days of the week, the profile changes would not accurately reflect the random comings and goings of the user within close proximity of the primary station (e.g., an office worker leaving their office to attend a meeting elsewhere in the building or a doctor leaving their office or a treatment area in a hospital to visit a laboratory or the office of another doctor).

IP telephony with user localization for call control management


A solid oxide fuel cell having a coupling structure, the solid oxide fuel cell including a plurality of cells, each cell having a cell cap at an end thereof; and the coupling structure, the coupling structure connecting the plurality of cells, wherein the coupling structure includes a connector, the connector including an insulating portion at a center thereof, and coupling portions adjacent to the insulating portion at respective sides of the insulating portion and coupled to the cell caps.

1. Field
Embodiments relate to a solid oxide fuel cell including a coupling structure.
2. Description of the Related Art
A solid oxide fuel cell may be used in consideration of its capacity. In the solid oxide fuel cell, one unit cell may be formed by connecting a plurality of sub-cells; and a bundle or stack may be manufactured by connecting a plurality of such unit cells. Accordingly, a connection structure between unit cells may be an important factor considered in the solid oxide fuel cell.

Solid oxide fuel cell including a coupling structure


A weaving rotor for a series shed weaving machine has shed holder elements arranged on the surface of the weaving rotor, with at least some of the shed holder elements arranged following one another in the circumferential direction of the weaving rotor being displaced in the axial direction with respect to the weaving rotor.

The invention relates to a weaving rotor for a series shed weaving machine.
Known series shed weaving machines comprise a rotatable rotor which has shed holder elements arranged so as to be aligned in the direction of rotation. A disadvantage of this arrangement is to be seen in the fact that a complicated and expensive laying-in device is required in order to lay in warp threads correctly into the shed holder elements in such a manner that the warp threads laid into the weaving rotor form an open shed for the insertion of a weft thread.

Shed holder arrangement for a weaving rotor in a series shed loom


The invention presents new and useful improvements in the mechanical design of control elements of a reciprocating piston engine. The camshaft is replaced by electric magnetic solenoids that operate a single poppet valve for each cylinder. The invention also includes an air injector combined with a fuel injector, mounted through the engine block and into the cylinder. The injectors are located in the lower ⅓ of the piston stroke area of said cylinder. The ability of the air injector to force air into the cylinder while the poppet valve is open will clean the cylinder of all exhaust gases. With the poppet valve closed the air and fuel injectors can inject any amount of air fuel mixture that is desired into the cylinder, resulting in the possibility of a power boost equal to that of a supercharged engine.

The invention relates to the intake of air and fuel mixture process of a piston driven internal combustion engine which operate on either the two stroke principle or the four stroke principle. In particular, the invention provides an unique way to improve performance and economy of piston driven internal combustion engine. In the design of most standard engines, two valves are employed in the cylinder head to control the unidirectional flow through their corresponding parts and are thus able to regulate the flow of air charge to the engine cylinder and flow of combustion gas from the engine cylinder. The newer high performance engines in use today's automobiles now contain as many as four such poppet valves per cylinder. This has been done primarily to improve volumetric efficiency. However on the intake stroke of the engine, the piston still has to draw fuel from the intake manifold into the cylinder through the intake valve opening of the engine. A unique feature of the invention is seen in its ability to provide relief to the engine by injecting an air and fuel mixture into the cylinder at the discretion of the amount of pressure placed on the air injector along with the amount of pressure on the fuel injector, and not depending on the amount of the vacuum created by the down stroke of the piston. The amount of air fuel mixture could be raised to that of a supercharger with out the use of a supercharger. By keeping the high pressure on the fuel injector will reduce the size of the fuel droplets, which will increase the economy of the engine.
Another unique feature of this invention is the use of Electric Magnetic Solenoid to operate the single valve in place of the conventional camshaft. It could operate as four stroke internal combustible engine or a two stroke internal combustible engine. In addition, if the valve is held open and the fuel injector is shut down it would reduce the engine of that cylinder. Another unique feature of this engine is that the automobile manufacturer could reduce to the need of only one engine for all cars or trucks. For example, if a five cylinder engine were used it could be boost to a engine producing 400 or 500 horse power at the same time reduce the use of cylinders to a 3 cylinder or 4 cylinder engine increasing the fuel mileage to a very high degree.

Internal combustion engine having an electric solenoid poppet valve and air/fuel injector


The present subject matter relates to article carriers for use in grading apparatus and in particular, but not exclusively, for use in grading fruit. The present subject matter provides an article carrying apparatus comprising a plurality of carrier lanes each for receiving and conveying a number of articles; one or more diverters arranged to control the distribution of received articles into the lanes; a sensor arranged to determine a capacity use parameter for each lane; and a controller arranged to control the position of each diverter dependent on a difference between combined determined capacity use parameters and combined target capacity use parameters for lanes to one side of said diverter.

Processing lines for articles such as fruit often require different quality articles to be separated. This is an important commercial function, which may be used for example, to distinguish between fruit destined for export and fruit destined for the local market. Manually grading articles is costly, slow and prone to inaccuracies. Thus, automated methods and apparatus for grading articles have been developed. Known sorters can grade and sort produce by weight, color, blemish, dimensions, shape, density, internal taste/quality, etc.
The use of one or more video cameras is one known method of automatically sensing characteristics of articles. For example, the method and apparatus described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,825,068, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, uses a video camera in conjunction with mirrors to obtain a picture of each article as it travels past the line of sight of the mirrors. The mirrors enable a larger portion of the article, which is typically generally spherically shaped, to be simultaneously viewed by the camera.
Article carriers are used to transport articles such as fruit through various measurement stages for grading purposes and to eject fruit at a required location dependent on the result of the grading process. Such article carriers usually include an endless circuit of carriers or cups on a conveyor chain with the cup situated to unload fruit at one of a plurality of stations. There is also often a requirement to carry large numbers of incoming fruit using a plurality of parallel carriers. Typically such article carrier apparatus having multiple conveyor chains or belts are arranged to receive individual fruit articles into respective cups, the fruit being delivered on an adjacent infeed shelf.
The infeed shelf receives fruit and is typically inclined downwardly towards the plurality of article carriers, and may narrow in order to concentrate received fruit towards the article carriers. Some infeed shelves incorporate diverters which are typically blunt protrusions extending perpendicularly from the infeed shelve and angled to guide the fruit articles towards the incoming cups of the article conveyor chain. The diverters may also be used to balance the numbers of fruit directed to each article carrier to ensure high capacity carriage on each of the article carriers, for example, by ensuring that sufficient numbers of fruit articles are delivered to the article carriers at the outer ends of the parallel article carriers. The diverters are typically fixed and may be integral with the infeed shelf, however manual alignment or angling of the diverters may be provided in some infeed shelves.
Throughout this specification, any reference to items of prior art is in no way to be deemed as an admission that such prior art constitutes part of the common general knowledge.


An electromagnet and method for producing the electromagnet. The electromagnet is intended to maintain pretensioning force of fastening by a force acting on a yoke over intended operating time under changing operating temperatures. The yoke encloses an armature that is provided with a flange, which conducts magnetic flux from a housing to the armature, the housing being connected on the one hand to a flange of the yoke and on the other hand to a core flange in a material-bonding manner by welding. The electromagnet can be used for actuation of valves, couplings or other electromechanical adjusting elements.

This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
Electromagnets of the generic type described have long been known and are widely used. They are used for example for actuating valves, couplings or other electromechanical adjusting elements.
Documents DE 601 03 199 T2, DE 10 2005 049 663 DE 10 2012 022 254 B3, DE 10 2005 048 732 A1 and DE 10 2013 226 619 A1 disclose electromagnets of the generic type referred to that are used for actuating valves of vehicle transmissions.
Such an electromagnet consists at least of a magnetic coil wound on a coil core, a housing, a pole core, an armature, an armature rod and a yoke.
If such an electromagnet is fastened to a vehicle transmission in a low-cost way by being pressed against the transmission by means that act on the yoke from outside, the holding force is transmitted to the vehicle transmission by at least two different fluxes of force, to be specific an internal flux of force through the magnetic coil and a further flux of force through the housing.
The magnetic coil is encapsulated with a plastics compound, and in some embodiments this plastics compound also bridges the gap between the pole core and the yoke of the electromagnet. The plastic has the tendency to gradually deform plastically under load. As this happens, the pretensioning, and consequently the holding force, of the fastening is reduced if the flux of force through the magnetic coil makes up a predominant part of the overall flux of force with respect to the vehicle transmission. If the armature of the electromagnet is mounted in a pole tube, which supports the pole core against the yoke, only a small part of the flux of force referred to passes through the plastics compound, but if the axial gap between the pole core and the yoke is bridged only by the plastics compound, the plastics compound must transmit the flux of force.

Electromagnet and method of making the electromagnet


An electrode plate for a battery is constructed from a porous metal body having at least one low-porosity part selectively arranged therein. A porous resin core is coated with a paste having a metal component, passed through rolls provided with at least one recess to thereby form at least one low-porosity part and sintered. The resultant electrode plate for battery is not only ensured with respect to strength and capable of improving battery performance but also advantageous in that it is available at lowered cost and free from apprehension of supply of raw materials.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrode plate suitable for use in alkali storage batteries such as nickel-cadmium, nickel-zinc and nickel-hydrogen batteries and in a secondary Li battery.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Lead and alkali storage batteries are used as power sources in various fields. Of these, a small-size alkali storage battery has widely been used in various portable devices and a large-size alkali storage battery in industrial uses because of the anticipated high reliability of the alkali storage batteries and because of the possibility of miniaturization and weight reduction thereof. In this alkali storage battery, the negative electrode is composed of not only cadmium but also zinc, iron or hydrogen. However, the positive electrode is mostly composed of nickel although positive electrodes respectively composed of air and silver oxide have been studied in some proposals. The use of the alkali storage battery has been expanded in accordance with the improvement of properties attained by the change from the pocket type to the sintering type and in accordance with the realization of sealing.
However, in the conventional powder sintering method, an increase of the plate porosity to 85% or higher leads to a substantial deterioration of strength, so that the filling of the active substance encounters a limit. Thus, the increase of the battery capacity encounters a limit. In substitution for the sintered plate, foamed or fibrous plates each having a porosity increased to 90% or higher have been proposed, some of which have been put into practical use. In this connection, processes have long been proposed in which a foamed resin is coated with a metal paste and sintered to thereby obtain a sintered body having a high porosity. For example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 17554/1963 disclosed a process comprising rendering metal powder muddy, impregnating a urethane foam with the muddy metal powder, carbonizing the resin in hydrogen and converting the metal to the half molten state, thereby obtaining a porous metal body.
For example, a porous metal body having a porosity as high as at least 90% can be produced by providing powdery nickel as metal powder in the form of a paste, impregnating a foamed resin with the paste and conducting sintering in hydrogen, thereby enabling production of a high-capacity electrode as a battery base. However, the resultant porous metal body is poor in mechanical strength, for example, tensile strength because of the high porosity and because of the absence of a porous core material such as punching metal employed in the conventional powder sintering product.
Therefore, when the porous metal body is filled with an active substance in a hoop-like form, it has the danger of being deformed or broken by the load applied during carriage thereof. Further, the electric resistance of the resultant base is slightly increased, so that a voltage drop is caused to occur especially at the time of high discharge.
Generally, a terminal strip is secured to the electrode by spot welding. The high porosity and the absence of any core material increase the probability of breakage of the spot-welded part. Further, in the method known as the tabless method in which a circular terminal is welded to an upper part of an electrode with a cylindrical structure, the upper part of the electrode has such a poor strength that this arrangement can hardly be employed.
In a large-size battery for use in, for example, an electric vehicle, its large electrode surface area increases the electric resistance of the electrode plate and hence increases the voltage drop at the time of high-rate discharge, so that the battery encounters a limit in available output. Moreover, a voltage distribution occurs in the electrode surface with the result that the charge efficiency is deteriorated.
Although the contribution of the use of the porous Ni body as an electrode plate of battery toward the enhancement of the battery capacity is great as mentioned above in the prior art section, metallic nickel is expensive and further its resource has a problem since the consumption thereof is foreseen to be enormous when the above alkali storage batteries are employed in electric vehicles, etc. in the future.

Electrode plate for battery and process for producing the same


A film for lamination comprising a polyester resin containing a polyfunctional component in an amount of 0.01 to 0.50 mol % and having a melt tension of not smaller than 50 mN. Even when laminated on a metal plate by a high-speed extrusion lamination method, the film can be applied onto the metal plate maintaining a uniform thickness and good adhesiveness without undergoing oscillation or pulsation. Being blended with a copolymerizable component in an amount of 10 to 20 mol %, in particular, the laminated member coated with the film features excellent adhesiveness of the coating. By further laminating a layer of another polyester resin on the above film, the flavor-retaining property can be imparted as well.

As means for imparting corrosion resistance to metal materials, it has heretofore been widely attempted to coat the surfaces of metals with a resin layer. As coating methods used for this technology, further, there have been known a method of coating the surfaces of a metal with a solvent in which there has been dispersed a thermosetting resin such as epoxy resin, phenol resin, acrylic resin or polyester resin, and a method of sticking a film that has been formed in advance such as polyester film, olefin film or polyamide film onto a metal substrate via an adhesive such as isocyanate adhesive, epoxy adhesive or phenol adhesive.
It has further been widely known to utilize the heat-melting property of the thermoplastic resin for sticking the metal substrate and the thermoplastic resin together. For this purpose, there have been known a method of sticking a film that has been formed in advance using a thermoplastic polyester resin or the like onto a metal plate by heat-adhesion, and a method of sticking a thin molten film of a thermoplastic polyester resin that is extruded onto a metal plate.
The latter method of sticking onto the metal plate based on the extrusion lamination is capable of executing the treatment at a very high speed offering an advantage of decreasing the amount of work involved in the formation of films and decreasing the cost.
As the extrusion lamination method, there has generally been employed a T-die method using an extruder and a T-die. The T-die method, however, involves unstable flow in the extruder and in the die and, besides, an air gap exists to some extent between the T-die and the metal plate. When a generally employed polyester is used, therefore, the film oscillates and pulsates making it difficult to form a coating on the metal plate maintaining stability, uniform film thickness and good adhesion. These phenomena occurs particularly when the resin is taken up at an increased speed, making it very difficult to laminate the polyester resin at high speeds.
In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, there have been proposed various methods such as the one taught in JP-A-10-86308 filed by the present applicant, which discloses a laminate having a ratio of melt viscosities at a temperature of melt extrusion (melt viscosity η12.2 at a temperature of extruding the polyester and at a preceding stage rate of 12.2 sec−1/melt viscosity η1216 at the temperature of extruding the polyester and at a shearing rate of 1216 sec−1) of not smaller than 2.0, and a melt viscosity η1216 of not smaller than 500 poises, wherein the resin layer is melt-extruded and is, then, quickly cooled, the polyester resin used therein containing an ethylene oxide adduct of bisphenol or a trifunctional or more functional polybasic acid and a polyhydric alcohol, the laminate exhibiting a suppressed draw resonance phenomenon and forming a coating having excellent homogeneity and adhesiveness relying upon a high-speed lamination.
JP-A-2001-72747 discloses a polyester having a melting point of not lower than 220° C. comprising chiefly an ethylene terephthalate containing a compound that has three or four ester bond-forming functional groups in an amount of 0.1 to 2.0 mol %, the polyester having a die swell ratio of not smaller than 1.3 as measured at a temperature of the melting point of the polyester plus 40° C. and exhibiting excellent extrusion workability.

Film for lamination and laminated member using the film


A device, system, and method to enable the automatic search of personal profiles in the context of on-line dating that includes the ability to select personal profile images which a likelihood of being perceived as attractive to the person conducting the search. Additionally, by way of further non-limiting example, the device, system, and method is useful in applications such as automatically searching hundreds of actor or model headshots and selecting the ones the director/photographer will approve of for a particular photoshoot, film, or commercial.

The invention pertains to digital data processing and, more particularly, to analysis of facial images. The invention can be used, by way of non-limiting example, to facilitate online dating, talent searching, staffing and human resources, among other applications.
For centuries, humanity has tried to uncover what makes a face attractive, and while there are many theories (e.g. the Golden Ratio), ultimately, what a given person finds attractive remains deeply subjective. As a consequence of this and of shortcomings in the prior art, dating and other services typically defer when it comes to finding candidates attractive to a given user, instead, requiring the user to make that selection for him or herself from among tens or hundreds of candidate images.
Nonetheless, those prior art dating services tasked with automatically finding attractive candidates must resort to finding lookalikes. To that end, they rely on technology, e.g., like that disclosed in U.S. Patent 2006/0018522 A1. Unfortunately, searching for potential dates who are lookalikes of celebrities or others improves the seekers chances of finding someone they find attractive only slightly.
The invention seeks to improve on the foregoing by providing improved systems and methods for automatically finding images of candidates that are likely to be attractive to users, e.g., of a dating site, a talent search agency, or otherwise.

Methods and systems for automated attractiveness prediction


A data storage device is disclosed wherein a first 2D data dependent noise whitening (DDNW) filter is configured to perform 2D DDNW of first and second 2D equalized samples to generate first 2D noise whitened samples. A second 2D DDNW filter is configured to perform 2D DDNW of the first and second 2D equalized samples to generate second 2D noise whitened samples. A 2D sequence detector is configured to detect a first data sequence recorded in a first data track from the first and second 2D noise whitened samples and to detect a second data sequence recorded in a second data track from the first and second 2D noise whitened samples.

Data storage devices such as disk drives comprise a disk and a head connected to a distal end of an actuator arm which is rotated about a pivot by a voice coil motor (VCM) to position the head radially over the disk. The disk comprises a plurality of radially spaced, concentric tracks for recording user data sectors and servo sectors. The servo sectors comprise head positioning information (e.g., a track address) which is read by the head and processed by a servo control system to control the actuator arm as it seeks from track to track.
FIG. 1 shows a prior art disk format 2 as comprising a number of servo tracks 4 defined by servo sectors 60-6N, wherein data tracks are defined relative to the servo tracks 4. Each servo sector 6i comprises a preamble 8 for storing a periodic pattern, which allows proper gain adjustment and timing synchronization of the read signal, and a sync mark 10 for storing a special pattern used to symbol synchronize to a servo data field 12. The servo data field 12 stores coarse head positioning information, such as a servo track address, used to position the head over a target data track during a seek operation. Each servo sector 6i further comprises groups of servo bursts 14 (e.g., A, B, C and D bursts), which comprise a number of consecutive transitions recorded at precise intervals and offsets with respect to a servo track centerline. The groups of servo bursts 14 provide fine head position information used for centerline tracking while accessing a data track during write/read operations.
Data is typically written to data sectors within a data track by modulating the write current of a write element, for example, using a non-return to zero (NRZ) encoding where a binary "1" is written using positive write current (+1) and a binary "0" is written using a negative write current (−1), thereby writing magnetic transitions onto the disk surface. A read element (e.g., a magnetoresistive (MR) element) is then used to transduce the magnetic transitions into a read signal that is demodulated by a read channel. The recording and reproduction process may be considered a communication channel, wherein communication demodulation techniques may be employed to demodulate the read signal.
A common demodulation technique employed in disk drives is known as partial response maximum likelihood (PRML), wherein the recording channel is equalized into a desired partial response (e.g., PR4, EPR4, etc.), the resulting read signal sampled, and the signal samples demodulated using a ML data detector. The ML data detector is commonly implemented using the well known Viterbi data detector which attempts to find the minimum distance sequence (in Euclidean space) through a trellis. The accuracy of a Viterbi data detector matches a true ML data detector only if the signal noise is time invariant (data independent) and white (statistically independent) with a Gaussian probability distribution.
In the magnetic recording channel of a disk drive, the signal noise is neither data independent nor white, and therefore signal processing techniques have been employed to improve the accuracy of the ML data detector by compensating for the data dependent, non-white noise in the read signal. For example, the prior art has employed a bank of data dependent noise whitening filters in front of the ML detector that each attempt to whiten the signal noise based on an optimal noise-whitening function for each possible recorded data sequence. The output of each data dependent noise whitening filter is then used to compute the corresponding branch metrics in the ML detector (e.g., for each branch corresponding to the data sequence assigned to each data dependent noise whitening filter). Since the noise correlating effect of the recording channel (including the equalizer filter) is essentially infinite, the performance of each data dependent noise whitening filter increases as the length of the corresponding data sequence increases. However, the number of data dependent noise whitening filters also doubles with each additional bit in the data sequence (e.g., there are 2N data dependent noise whitening filters where N is the length of the data sequence).

Data storage device comprising two-dimensional data dependent noise whitening filters for two-dimensional recording