A protection for ICs against ESD transients includes a circuit with a master circuit driving a slave circuit. The master circuit responds to ESD voltage V(t). The slave circuit comprises parallel shunt devices having common inputs. The output of the master circuit is coupled to the common inputs. As V(t) increases the master circuit applies a portion of V(t) to the input of the slave circuit shunt devices. The threshold voltage Vt1 at which the slave circuit shunt devices would otherwise turn on to a lower value Vt1′ closer to the holding voltage Vh of the shunt devices. All of the slave circuit devices turn on substantially simultaneously at about Vt1′ close to Vh, thereby shunting the ESD transient to ground at a lower value of V(t). The master and slave circuits are inactive during normal IC operation.

Semiconductor devices and integrated circuits are prone to damage from high voltage transients. These transients may arise from electrostatic discharge (ESD) or from other causes, as for example, an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) caused by a nuclear explosion, lightning or other terrestrial, atmospheric or space electromagnetic event. As used herein, and not intended to be limiting, the term electrostatic discharge and the abbreviation ESD are intended to include all of the above and any other form of potentially destructive electrical transient to which a device or circuit may be exposed, irrespective of the physical origin of the transient. Also, for convenience of explanation and not intended to be limiting, as used herein the term integrated circuit and the abbreviation "IC" are intended to include individual semiconductor devices, interconnected arrays of semiconductor devices on a monolithic or other substrate, discrete devices and monolithic interconnected device arrays on a circuit module or circuit board or flexible circuit tape, and combinations thereof.
ESD is a very common phenomenon that often arises when ICs are stored, shipped, handled and used. For example, without being aware of it, a person about to handle or use an IC may become electrostatically charged. When such person touches the IC, this stored electrostatic energy may suddenly discharge through the device or circuit. Unless provision is made to absorb this ESD energy and limit the voltage appearing at the external or internal nodes of the IC, damage may result. It is not uncommon to encounter ESD voltages of 103–104 volts whereas many ICs can be damaged by voltages of 102 volts or less. Low voltage ICs with normal operating voltages of only a few volts are especially vulnerable.
It has been commonplace for many years to include ESD protection devices or circuits in ICs, especially ICs that employ field effect transistors (FETs), such as for example, MOSFET and JFET devices. MOSFET devices are further subdivided into NMOS and PMOS types and further sub-types and combinations such as CMOS. These terms and abbreviations are well known in the art. ESD protection devices are usually provided at the input/output (I/O) connection pads of the IC since these nodes are most likely to receive an ESD pulse, but they can also be provided anywhere within or external to the IC. As used herein, the terms "pad", "I/O pad" and "I/O node" are indented to include any node within or on an IC desired to be protected from ESD. The ESD protection device is typically coupled between the I/O node and ground or other reference voltage line or substrate. As used herein, the term "ground" is intended to include any line, rail, bus, substrate or other connection used as a reference level for the IC irrespective of its actual voltage level.
During normal circuit operation, the ESD device is inactive and does not interfere with normal circuit operation. But when the I/O node receives an ESD pulse, the ESD protection device turns on to limit the voltage that appears at the protected node and associated devices internal to the IC that are coupled to this node, and to harmlessly dissipate the energy of the ESD pulse. As soon as the ESD pulse has passed, the ESD protection device once again becomes inactive. Thus, the ESD device functions as a transient voltage clipper that limits the ESD voltage appearing on the I/O pads or other nodes of the IC to a safe level and that provides a harmless current path to ground or the like.
As IC technology has advanced and individual devices within the IC made faster and smaller, the ESD protection problem has been exacerbated. For example, the use of solicited contacts, very short channel lengths and decreasing source/drain gate contact spacing, has drastically reduced the ability of NMOS output devices to inherently provide ESD protection. Various solutions have been proposed in the prior art, for example: (1) Duvvury and Diaz in a paper entitled "Dynamic Gate Coupling of NMOS for Efficient Output ESD Protection" published in the Proceedings of the IRPS in 1992, pp 141–150, describe the use of gate coupling to improve ESD protection in silicided and LDD technology devices; (2) Verhaege and Russ in a paper entitled "Wafer Cost Reduction through Design of High Performance Fully Silicided ESD Devices" published in the EOS/ESD Symposium Proceedings in 2000, pp 18–28, describe a multi-finger turn-on technique coupled with the use of back-end ballast segmentation for improving ESD protection, and (3) Mergens et al in a paper entitled "Multi-Finger Turn-on Circuits and Design Techniques for Enhanced ESD Performance with Width Scaling" published in the EOS/ESD Symposium Proceedings in 2001, pp 1–11, describe both domino and multi-finger turn-on devices with merged ballasts.
In many of these approaches, output NMOS device 9 shown in FIG. 1 operates as parasitic bipolar NPN device with N-type drain 13 as collector, P-type body 17 as the base and N-type source 15 as the emitter. The body can be, for example, the substrate in a CMOS bulk process, the P-well of an epi process or a P-well isolated by an N-type tub as in a BiCmos process. FIG. 1 also shows current-voltage characteristic 10 of a device of this type. As the voltage V(t) across the source- source-drain terminals of the device increases it is triggered into conduction at voltage Vt1 and current It1. Vt1 is the collector-base breakdown voltage of the parasitic NPN with the base connected to the emitter through the p-type base body resistance. The current increases and the voltage drops to holding voltage Vh along path 11.
During the ESD event the device operates mostly in "snapback" region 11, 12. At higher stress levels, the device approaches second breakdown at voltage Vt2 and current It2. The voltage across the device then drops again and the current rises very rapidly along lines 14, 16, indicating that some form of catastrophic failure has occurred. With very low current devices, by the time the voltage has reached Vt2, some damage to the device may already have occurred resulting in increased leakage even if normal operation resumes.
The slope of snapback region 12 is the dynamic conductance, that is (R−ON)−1. Generally, according to the prior art, to provide ESD protection while avoiding damage, the condition Vt2>Vt1 must be satisfied. It is common in the prior art to use multiple parallel devices, e.g., multi gate-finger NMOS output devices, that must all turn on in order to provide ESD protection and to employ ballast resistors for this purpose.
While these prior art approaches have been useful, they still suffer from a number of disadvantages well known in the art, as for example but not limited to some or all of: (i) use of breakdown induced ESD turn-on, (ii) larger than desired device and/or ballast resistor area, (iii) susceptibility to process fluctuations, (iv) poor turn-on efficiency, (v) higher than desired Vt1 and Vt2, and (vi) use of potentially destructive snap-back device functions and the like to trigger ESD protection. These disadvantages are particular troublesome with very low current devices where the increase in leakage currents that can result from dissipation of an ESD transient using prior art devices can cause circuit malfunction or loss of sensitivity when normal device operation resumes after the ESD transient has passed. Accordingly, there is an ongoing need for improved ESD means and methods for ICs, especially for ESD protection that allows Vh, Vt1 and Vt2 to be approximately equal, that has low ESD device propagation delay, that uses little chip area, that avoids the use of extra processing steps for silicide or LD blocks at the device, and that can handle very rapid rise time ESD pulses. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description of the invention and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background of the invention.

Destructive electrical transient protection


An optical device includes: wavelength selection elements; an optical switch that switches a propagation path of input light that is from an input port such that the input light propagates to one designated wavelength selection element among the wavelength selection elements; and a separation element disposed in the propagation path of the input light between the input port and the wavelength selection elements and that separates the input light into wavelength components.

WDM networks, which are communications networks using wavelength division multiplex (WDM) optical communications art, are known. Branch points of WDM networks are provided with an OADM (optical add-drop multiplexer) enabling branching/inserting optical signals.
Integration of a wavelength selective switch (WSS: wavelength selective switch) into terrestrial systems of WDM networks as a component of an ROADM (reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexer), which is a reconfigurable OADM, is proceeding (see patent document 1). The wavelength selection switch includes, for example, an MEMS mirror and spatial optical system electrically controlled by a controller and is configured to transmit an optical signal of any wavelength to any path.
However, there are significant barriers to integrating WSS into WDM network systems. In recent years, the number of optical submarine cable fiber pairs has been increasing in response to a marked increase in demand for data communications capacity. In accordance with this increase in the number of fiber pairs, a large number of WSSs is required to integrate WSS as a component of ROADM.
However, an ROADM including a WSS is more expensive than an OADM (see FIG. 11), which has a bandpass filter and coupler conventionally adopted in submarine systems as components. In addition, a WSS has a high power consumption and a high failure rate due to electrically driven mobile elements, such as an MEMS mirror.
Maintenance costs of submarine systems are much higher than that of terrestrial systems due to the peculiarity of the installation location thereof. Therefore, when integrating a WSS, which has a high failure rate, into a submarine system, the WSS must be installed redundantly for system reliability.
As mentioned above, a WSS is an expensive optical device, and thus the redundant WSS installation incurs significant WSS integration costs in submarine systems. In addition, it is not easy to increase power supply at the sea floor. Therefore, it is difficult to integrate a large number of WSSs, which have high power consumption, into a submarine system.
On the other hand, an OADM using a bandpass filter and coupler conventionally used in a submarine system is a non-reconfigurable OADM configured only from passive optical components, and the add (add) and drop (drop) operations of the WDM signal can be performed only for predetermined wavelengths. That is, a conventional OADM has no degree of freedom in wavelength selection.


An automatic electronic component-mounting apparatus is provided. A nut member is slidably arranged between a pair of rails. A head-lifting/lowering member is lowered and lifted with respect to the main block via the pair of rails and the nut member. A mounting head is attached to the head-lifting/lowering member. The head-lifting/lowering member is lowered and lifted to cause the mounting head to pick up an electronic chip component and then mount the electronic chip component on a printed circuit board. The head-lifting/lowering member is formed of a metal-ceramic composite material produced by combining a ceramic reinforcing material with a metal.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an automatic electronic component-mounting apparatus in which a mounting head is lifted/lowered to thereby pick up electronic chip components by vacuum and mount the components on a printed circuit board.
2. Prior Art
Conventionally, an automatic electronic component-mounting apparatus is known in which each electronic chip component is picked up from a component-feeding device by a vacuum nozzle arranged on a mounting head and mounted on a printed circuit board (as disclosed e.g. in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai;) No. 5-192824).
However, in the above electronic component-mounting apparatus, since each mounting head is mounted on an outer periphery of a rotary table via a guide rod having the mounting head attached thereto and extending through the rotary table, the rotary table is required to have a large radial dimension, which makes it impossible to reduce the size and weight of the apparatus. In mounting the mounting head on the rotary table, a ball holding-type linear guide (e.g. CAT-1777 or CAT-1770 produced by Nippon Thompson Co. Ltd.) can be employed. However, if the CAT-1777 type linear guide is used, the radial dimension of the rotary table is also required to be large, and besides, rigidity of the rotary table is not high enough. On the other hand, if the CAT-1770 type linear guide is used, adjustment by a setscrew for setting a preload is required. This makes the setting of the preload troublesome and difficult, and hence adjustment for the assembly takes too long time.
To overcome the above problems, there was proposed a technique by Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 8-195582, in which an electronic component-mounting apparatus is provided with a head-lifting/lowering mechanism having a pair of rails and a nut member which is slightly larger in thickness than the pair of rails and slidably arranged between the pair of rails, the nut member of the head-lifting/lowering mechanism being secured to the rotary table and the pair of rails being secured to a head-lifting/lowering member.
In the above device, when tact time of mounting each electronic component is reduced, i.e. when the cycle of operation of the head-lifting/lowering mechanism is shortened, the mounting head is lifted/lowered at high speed, with fast sliding of the nut member over the rails. As a result, the rails, the nut member, and the head-lifting/lowering member are heated to a high temperature. The nut member and rails are required to be sufficiently rigid for serving as a bearing, so that in general, they are formed of stainless steel. On the other hand, the head-lifting/lowering member, which is required to be light, is formed of aluminum. Therefore, if the members are excessively heated, a difference in the coefficient of thermal expansion between stainless steel and aluminum causes a considerable difference in thermal expansion between the nut member and rails and the head-lifting/lowering member, which hinders the speed of mounting of electronic components from being increased.
More specifically, since stainless steel has a smaller coefficient of thermal expansion than that of aluminum, the rails and the head-lifting/lowering member are deformed due to the bimetal effect. Further, since the head-lifting/lowering member is secured to the pair of rails, a distance between the pair of rails becomes larger than a width of the nut member, and hence gaps between the respective rails and the nut member expand. As a result, a preload applied by balls interposed between the nut member and the respective rails is decreased or even lost.
However, if the head-lifting/lowering member were also formed of a ferrous material, such as stainless steel, so as to avoid the above inconvenience, the weight of the head-lifting/lowering member would be increased, which also hinders high-speed mounting of electronic components.
It is an object of the invention to provide an automatic electronic component-mounting apparatus, which is capable of mounting electronic components at high speed without being affected by thermal expansion of the relevant components.
To attain the above object, the present invention provides an automatic electronic component-mounting apparatus including a main block, a pair of rails, a nut member which is slidably arranged between the pair of rails, a head-lifting/lowering member which is lowered and lifted with respect to the main block via the pair of rails and the nut member, and a mounting head attached to the head-lifting/lowering member, the head-lifting/lowering member being lowered and lifted to cause the mounting head to pick up an electronic chip component and then mount the electronic chip component on a printed circuit board.
The electronic component-mounting apparatus according to the invention is characterized in that the head-lifting/lowering member is formed of a metal-ceramic composite material produced by combining a ceramic reinforcing material with a metal.
According to this automatic electronic component-mounting apparatus, even when the rails and the nut members are formed of a ferrous material, such as stainless steel, which has a high strength, it is possible to provide a head-lifting/lowering member which has a coefficient of thermal expansion close to that of the ferrous material and is light in weight.
Preferably, the metal is aluminum or an aluminum alloy.
More preferably, a volume fraction of the ceramic reinforcing material is approximately 30%.
According to these preferred embodiments, it is possible to make the thermal expansion coefficient of the head-lifting/lowering member close to that of the ferrous material such as stainless steel and avoid degradation of machinability of the head-lifting/lowering member.
Preferably, the nut member is slightly larger in thickness than the pair of rails and is secured to the main block, and the pair of rails are secured to the head-lifting/lowering member.
According to this preferred embodiment, adjustment of a preload set by balls interposed between the rails and the nut member is facilitated, which contributes to reduction of time required for adjustment of the assembly.
Preferably, the main block comprises a rotary table, and a plurality of the head-lifting/lowering members arranged on a periphery of the rotary table.
According to this preferred embodiment, since the head-lifting/lowering members, which conventionally readily undergo thermal expansion when heated due to their frequent vertical sliding motions, are no longer susceptible to the problem of thermal expansion, it is possible to carry out the mounting of components at a high speed.
The above and other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Automatic electronic component-mounting apparatus


A method and apparatus for monitoring and controlling one or more aspects of one or more communication devices. In one embodiment the communication device is configured to transmit and receive packets of data via a packet-switched network. In one configuration the monitoring and controlling is performed by a command and control system (C/C system) that is configured to operate in conjunction with a communication device. In one configuration the communication device comprises an Interface device configured to Interface a voice communication network with a packet switched network. The C/C system may be configured to monitor or control aspects of the communication device including temperature, cooling device operation, security, drive operation, power supply output and power supply routing, system re-boots, or any other aspect of device operation. In one configuration the C/C system Interfaces with a remote location via a communication link, such as a packet switched network. Monitoring and control of various systems can be achieved from the remote location.

The worldwide demand for communication capability continues to increase due the advancement of areas undeveloped previously and the growth and expansion of businesses in already established areas. Moreover, homes or offices previously equipped with a single telephone line are now more likely to install two or even three lines to facilitate simultaneous communication by individuals or devices within the home or office.
At the same time, competition between long distance carriers has increased thereby reducing profitability in providing traditional long distance telephone service. There are also few market entrants due to this reduced rate of return in exchange for the large capital investment required to build out complex worldwide telephone transmission facilities. This further limits competition.
As is commonly understood, a caller intending to place a call, such as for example, a call from the West coast to the East coast utilizes traditional POTS to facilitate the call. As shown in FIG. 1, a caller utilizes a telephone 120 to gain dial-tone from a central office 122. One or more central offices serve a plurality of customers within a local access transport area (LATA) 140. The central office 122 provides dial tone to the caller. Upon receiving a request for a call, the central office decodes the dialed numbers. In this example the central office 122 detects a long distance call to a distant location and accordingly forwards the call to a toll office 126 to complete the call. The central office and toll office determine the long distance service provider associated with the caller and initiate proper billing and responsibility for the call. The toll office utilizes SS7 signaling on lines 130 to setup the communication channel to one or more other toll offices 132. As is known by those of ordinary skill in the art, SS7 or other similar signaling utilizes common channel signaling (CCS) to first obtain and dedicate voice trunks 130 to the dialed number via a second toll office 132, a second central office 142 to a remote telephone 144. After SS7 establishes a completed path of voice trunks to the dialed number, it activates the voice trunks, initiates the ring process of the dialed number and drops off the call to assist establishment of another call. It should be noted that after the SS7 dedicates the voice trunks and activates the voice channel, its interaction with the call is over and the call proceeds as a standard direct connection between two remote terminals. In this manner, the exchange of conversation or data may occur.
In many calls determined to be long distance, which is to say calls out of a LATA area 140, the call crosses one or more LATA lines 124. A LATA (Local Access and Transport Area) line 124 comprises a dividing line between one of the 196 arbitrarily designated zones in which a local telephone company, such as a Local Exchange Carrier, may originate and complete telephone calls. Calls that cross a LATA line have historically been required to be handled by a long distance telephone company, such as AT&T, MCI, or Sprint.
While such systems served their purpose well, the increased demand for telecommunication services has placed greater demands on the existing system. One drawback of the present telecommunication system operating under the SS7 standard is the poor utilization of available bandwidth on an active voice trunk. Once the prior art system establishes a voice channel, that particular voice channel is dedicated to a single particular conversation. Such a method of operation poorly utilizes voice channels, voice being a data stream in which long periods of silence occur and only requires limited bandwidth and which is greatly compressible.
Another drawback of prior art systems is the high cost of adding additional resources. To add additional voice channels additional cables must be installed and expensive equipment utilized to facilitate communication over each of the one or more newly installed cables. These costs can be substantial.
A further disadvantage to such prior art systems is their congregation in the control of a few large and powerful corporations. These corporations control the market on calls which must cross LATA lines because they have the facilities to complete these calls. For example, a telephone line subscriber may designate one of numerous small to mid-sized long distance carriers as the long distance service provider for a telephone line. The subscriber may select a particular carrier for any reason such as price, advertising, or other incentive. However, these long distance carriers are often organizations without actual long distance capability and hence must purchase long distance access in bulk from one of the large long distance service providers to complete calls that cross a LATA boundary. Because the large long distance service providers control the market, the small to mid-sized carrier may be forced to pay higher rates than the large long distance service providers. This is yet another factor that limits competition.
Yet another drawback to the prior art system of providing long distance communication service is one or more governmental fees that may be imposed as a result of governmental regulation.
While existing prior art systems could be expanded, such expanded systems would undesirably suffer from the drawbacks described above.
In response to these and other drawbacks, other methods and apparatuses have been proposed to facilitate local and inter-LATA communications. One such proposal is to transmit voice information in data packets, utilized by a packet-switched network, such as the Internet. As also shown in FIG. 1, the central office 122 may connect to an Internet Service Provider (ISP) which in turn connects to a worldwide configuration of computers 150. One example of such a worldwide configuration of computers is the Internet 150. In such a system a user at a first computer terminal 156 would dial-up an ISP 152 via a central office 122 in a manner known in the art. The first computer terminal 156 includes software and a voice input device to transform speech data to data in the form of data packets as is commonly utilized in an IP packet-switched network. The first computer terminal 156 transmits these packets to the ISP 152 wherein the packets are further transmitted via the Internet 150 to a second ISP 154 and then on to a computer terminal 158. Software and hardware on the second computer terminal 158 decode the incoming packets and regenerate a speech signal intended to resemble the original signal from a user at the first computer terminal 156. Conversation or other types of real time data exchange between parties is proposed to occur in this manner. This type of system is often referred to as voice-over-IP communication. Indeed, an entire standard has been dedicated to voice-over-IP, commonly referred to as H.323.
The voice-over-IP method of the prior art and the H.323 standard also suffer from numerous disadvantages. Most notably, prior art voice-over-IP systems provide unacceptable quality of communications because of data loss in packets progressing via the Internet and because of delays associated with transmission via the Internet.
Moreover, voice-over-IP requires special equipment by at least one of the participants in the exchange and subscription to an ISP. As a result, prior art voice-over-IP is prohibitively expensive, inconvenient, and is not available in most locations due to the requirement for specialized equipment.
The present invention overcomes the disadvantages associated with the prior art and provides a new method and apparatus to achieve communications.


An evaporative cooler 10 comprises a housing 12 defining an inlet 14 for air. An air cooling arrangement 16 located in the housing between the inlet and an inlet to a duct 18 extending to an air outlet 20. A bath 24 for water is located towards a bottom region of the housing. Ducting 22 extends from the bath to a liquid outlet 26 in a top region of the housing, for releasing liquid onto the air cooling arrangement. The bath is configured to capture the released liquid. A fan 30 cooperates with the duct 18 to draw air through the air inlet, the air cooling arrangement and into the duct towards the outlet. The same electrical motor 32 is used to drive both the fan and the rotor or impeller of a water pump 34 for moving the liquid from the bath to the liquid outlet.

This invention relates to an evaporative cooler. It also relates to an air and liquid moving assembly and a method of cooling air.
A known evaporative cooler comprises a housing defining an inlet for air, a filter and air cooling arrangement located in the housing between the air inlet and an inlet to a duct extending to an air outlet. A fan or blower is mounted in the housing to move air from the air inlet, through the filter and air cooling arrangement and into the duct. The fan is driven by a first electrical motor. The evaporative cooler further comprises a bath for water towards a bottom region of the housing. A submerged pump comprising a second electrical motor is provided in the bath to circulate water from the bath to a top region of the housing, where the water is released onto the filter and air cooling arrangement and allowed to move under the influence of gravity back into the bath. A problem with the known evaporative cooler is that at least a drive shaft of the second motor is exposed to debris in the water, so that the pump often fails. Maintenance is difficult, time consuming and disruptive.


An engine control system comprises a first control device which is associated with a first section of the cylinders, and a second control device which is associated with a second section of the cylinders. The first control device is designed in order to determine an intermediate required value (TQI_INT_SP_FAST) for a torque to be set quickly which is set by way of one or more final control elements for setting a quantity of fuel that is to be metered or an ignition angle. The intermediate required value (TQI_INT_SP_FAST) is determined depending on at least one operating variable of the internal combustion engine. The first control device is also designed in order to determine at least one correction value for the torque to be set quickly [lacuna] at least one operating variable. The first control device has a communications interface for communicating the intermediate required value (TQI_INT_SP_FAST) and the at least one correction value to a communications interface of the second control device. The second control device is designed in order to determine a required value (TQI_FAST2) of a fast torque to be set depending on the intermediate required value (TQI_INT_SP_FAST), the at least one correction value and at least one measured variable associated with the second control device, and in order to set the required value (TQI_FAST2).

A torque-based function architecture for engine control units is known from the German technical book entitled "Handbuch Verbrennungsmotoren" (handbook of combustion engines), 2nd Edition June 2002, publisher Richard van Basshuysen/Fred Schäfer, Friedrich Vieweg und Sohn Verlagsgesellschaft, Braunschweig/Wiesbaden, pp. 554 to 556. The engine control unit is implemented in order to interpret the driver's desired action as a torque request. This torque request can be changed by means of various control actions, such as regulation of the traveling speed, damping of the bonanza effect or by means of gearbox interventions for example. The torque resulting from this is simultaneously fed into two paths in the torque structure; these are the slow torque setting path, which is also referred to as injection path or slow air path, and the fast torque setting path, which is also referred to as ignition path or fast ignition path. Final control elements in the air path, such as a throttle valve for example, are controlled appropriately by way of the injection path in order to set the torque appropriately. The ignition angles, an air/fuel ratio and a cylinder shutdown are set by way of the fast torque setting path in accordance with the torque to be set. With regard to complex engine control units, the torque structure makes possible uniformly defined interfaces between the different functions of the engine control unit and thus a clear and easily understandable functional architecture within the engine control unit.

Engine control system for an internal combustion engine having a plurality of cylinders


A shoe having a stabilizer frame in combination with a midsole to provide stabilizing of the shoe and the user's foot when the shoe is weighted during the gait cycle. The stabilizer frame has a plurality of downwardly convex arch shaped load stabilizer elements which are closely fitted within seats formed in the sides of the midsole. The frame and load stabilizer elements are assembled in sandwich fashion between the midsole and an insole that is mounted with an upper on the shoe.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to athletic shoes, and more particularly to arrangements for the stabilization of athletic shoes.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional athletic shoes such as running or jogging shoes use various arrangements for controlling pronation during the gait cycle. Pronation is an inward roll toward the medial side of a shoe following heel contact with a running surface. This in turn causes the foot shod with the shoe to pronate inwardly. Over-pronation is undesirable and can lead to various foot problems, such as inflammation, swelling and pain in the knee, a condition commonly known as "runners knee". Some runners need a shoe which controls supination, which is an outward roll toward the lateral side of a shoe following heel contact.
Presently in an effort to control pronation, most shoe companies use a dense material on the medial side of the shoe. Another existing shoe design uses a nylon plate sandwiched between the midsole in a wave fashion, but the design does not provide forefoot protection from midsole breakdown. Other shoe designs use plastic strips attached to the medial side of the midsole, as in U.S. Pat. No. 5,279,051 to Whatley.
Despite the various shoes in the prior art that are designed to control pronation, there has not been a suitable solution to the foregoing problems and shortcomings of existing athletic shoes. It would be desirable to provide a shoe design which is more stable for controlling over-pronation and alleviating many of the undesirable consequences from such over-pronation.


When the analyzer provides the mass and composition formula of the product ion, which is probably produced in the process of a dissociation, through the input unit, based on known information, a composition formula list is created in the database. When a product ion is obtained in an MSn analysis, the data processor checks whether or not the ion's mass exists in the composition formula list, and in the case where it does, the composition formula corresponding to the mass is determined. Then, based the mass difference between the precursor ion and product ion or other factors, the precursor ion's composition formula is deduced, and if it is possible to ultimately narrow down the candidates for the target ion's composition formula, the analysis is terminated. Accordingly, if the composition formula list is available, the refinement operation for the candidates for the composition formula can be omitted.

In the field of mass analysis using an ion trap mass spectrometer or other apparatuses, a technique called the MS/MS analysis (or tandem analysis) has been recognized. In a general MS/MS analysis, an ion (target ion) having a specific mass-to-charge ratio (m/z) is first selected as a precursor ion from an object to be analyzed, and the precursor ion thus selected is dissociated by a collision-induced dissociation (CID) process. After that, a variety of product ions generated by the dissociation are mass analyzed to obtain the information on the mass and chemical structure of the target ion.
In recent years, samples having larger molecular weight than before have been analyzed with such an apparatus, and their chemical structures (compositions) have also tended to become more complicated. Hence, depending on the quality of the sample, ions are often not dissociated to have a sufficiently small mass by only a one-stage dissociation operation. In such cases, an MSn analysis may often be performed in which a dissociation operation is repeated multiple times (n−1 times) and the product ions finally generated are mass analyzed (refer to Patent Documents 1 and 2 for example). The mass analysis of a product ion by a single dissociation operation is an MS2 analysis, and a normal mass analysis without a dissociation can be described as an MS1 analysis.
In such an MSn analysis, the candidates for the molecular structure and composition of a target substance to be analyzed are narrowed down using basically both the composition formulae formed by the combination of elements deduced from the precursor ion's mass and the combinations of the elements deduced from the product ion's mass. However, even an apparatus capable of computing the mass with a certain level of high accuracy has the problem that, as the molecular weight of the target substance becomes larger, the refinement becomes more difficult and tends to leave more candidates, making it very difficult to ultimately determine the composition and structure of the target substance. In addition, if the number of candidates for a precursor ion and product ion is large during the process, it takes a very long time to perform an analysis to deduce the composition of the target substance.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. H10-142196
[Patent Document 2] Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2001-249114


The invention provides a silicone resin composition for producing a silicone laminated substrate by being impregnated in a glass cloth and cured therein, comprising: (A) an organopolysiloxane with a 3-dimensional network structure composed of an R1SiO1.5 unit and an R2SiO1.5 unit and a T unit represented by an RSiO1.5 unit; (B) an organohydrogenpolysiloxane composed of an R1SiO1.5 unit, an R12SiO unit and an R1aHbSiO(4-a-b)/2 unit; (C) a platinum group metal catalyst; and (D) a filler. There can be a silicone resin composition having a high glass transition temperature, a silicone laminated substrate excellent in properties such as heat resistance and weatherability having low thermal expansion coefficient and suppressed warp and deformation, a method for producing the same and an LED device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to silicone resin composition, silicone laminated substrate using the same, a method for producing the same and an LED device using the silicone laminated substrate.
2. Description of the Related Art
An epoxy resin impregnated in a glass cloth is frequently used as a mounting substrate such as an LED mounting substrate and electrical and electronic equipment. Unfortunately, such a mounting substrate can deteriorate due to a growing calorific value of an LED device itself from the use of a lead-free LED device and an increase in the luminance LED in the LED device. Accordingly, an LED device is required to have higher heat resistance and weatherability.
Additionally, introduction of more functional electronic devices leads to high density integration and high density mounting of an electronic component and thus development of a thinner laminated substrate. Despite this technical development, substrate thinning can cause warp and consequently such technical problems as connection failure. Warp of a substrate has generally been controlled by filling inorganic filler having small thermal expansion coefficient in large quantities to suppress the thermal expansion coefficient of the entire substrate. However, this method can cause many problems such as reduction in fluidity and reduction in drilling workability (Patent Document 1). Thus, improvement in resin composition is being examined to suppress thermal expansion coefficient.
It has recently been examined that a silicone laminated substrate excellent in properties such as heat resistance and weatherability is used as a mounting substrate such as an LED mounting substrate and electrical and electronic equipment (Patent Document 2). Nevertheless, a silicone resin having a lower glass transition temperature than an epoxy resin used in a conventional mounting substrate is prone to warp by substrate thinning.

Silicone resin composition, silicone laminated substrate using the same, method for producing the same, and LED device


A collapsible bullnose assembly may include a mandrel, a bullnose secured to a distal end of the mandrel, a lower ramp disposed about the mandrel adjacent the bullnose and having a first ramped surface, and an upper ramp slidably disposed around and releasably secured to the mandrel. The upper ramp may have a second ramped surface axially offset from the first ramped surface. The collapsible bullnose assembly may further include a collapsible guide member having opposing ends initially supported on the first and second ramped surfaces and protruding radially outwardly of the bullnose. The collapsible guide member may be actuatable to a radially collapsed orientation in response to axially shifting the upper ramp along the mandrel to a released position away from the lower ramp.

Intelligent well completion systems are used to remotely control and monitor reservoir zones in a well. Generally intelligent well completion systems include valves, sensors, as well as other features, configured to provide flow control within the well. Traditionally, feeding these components into a lateral leg of a multi-lateral wells may require a shearable shroud to help divert a bullnose assembly into a lateral leg. However, using a shroud may damage internal control valves, swellpackers, and/or control lines when passing through the shroud, which may lead to loss of communication to the internal control valves. Additionally, the internal control valves may be required to run in an opened position, which will not allow for any hydraulic activated mechanism to expand the bullnose such that that the bullnose requires a mechanically activated feature to expand.

Collapsible bullnose assembly for multilateral well


A method of managing a print job is disclosed, the method includes receiving a print job on an image forming apparatus; calculating an estimated processing time and an estimated delay to print time for each page of the print job; processing each page of the print job when the estimated processing time for a page of the print job and the estimated delay to print time for the page of the print job are equal; sending each of the processed pages of the print job to a print engine associated with the image forming apparatus for printing; and printing each of the pages of the print job on the image forming apparatus upon receipt by the print engine.

In today's print on demand, a print job can be generated, which may contain several pages of text and images of various complexities. These complex jobs can heavily require and occupy long processing time (i.e., raster image processing or "RIP" time) on the printing device. In sequences of print jobs, this can become a bottleneck for other jobs waiting to be processed or RIPped as the printing device has to complete ripping of the current complex job before it can proceed to the subsequent print job.
For example, a print job describes in a form of PDL (Page Description Language) such as PostScript language file, which contains sets of instructions telling the printer how to lay pixel or dots onto a page to be printed. The PDL file is processed by a RIP (Raster Image Processor) processor(s). RIP processed page is often called a rasterized page. Every rasterized page will be temporarily stored in print memory until release to print engine. Accumulation of rasterized pages can easily occupy large amount of memory space while waiting to be printed. This can occur on a print job which may contain many pages consisting of mixed data of text, images, graphics and colors of various complexities. For example, it is common to produce rasterized page the size of 100 MB which could be a thousand times larger than in its PDL form. In U.S. Patent Publication No. 2007/0052998 A1, the application discloses controlling the output timing of the rasterized pages to minimize down time of the print engine. While this approach can reduced print engine down time, there can be many rasterized pages being held temporarily which can occupy large amounts of memory space in the printer for the duration of the delay of the page output timing to the print engine.


An edge filter assembly is disclosed. The edge filter assembly may include a housing having an inlet and an outlet. The edge filter assembly may further include a filter element disposed within the housing including first and second filter plates and first and second spacers disposed between the first and second filter plates. The spacers and filter plates may be configured and arranged to form a flow channel extending generally radially within the housing and defined between the first and second filter plates and the first and second spacers. The flow channel may have an inner flow gate and an outer flow gate. The inner flow gate may be disposed radially inward of the outer flow gate and may have a different cross-sectional configuration than the outer flow gate. The first filter plate may have an axial projection extending therefrom generally aligned with a fluid path within the housing.

Several methods of filtering fluids using an edge filter have been used in the past. In general, an edge filter may include a rod, having specially milled surfaces, which is fit within a bore. Debris or particles, entrained within a fluid, are deposited on the milled surfaces as fluid flow transitions from straight tube flow geometry to annular flow geometry, for example. This type of edge filter, although effective in trapping and removing particles entrained within the fluid, undesirably limits flow and is prone to premature clogging. Moreover, many fluid control systems are adapted for precise fluid control, and employing a filter which is prone to clogging and unduly limiting flow is highly undesirable.
Edge filter designs have also become significantly complicated in that multiple components are typically required and very few, if any, are identical. Moreover, the manufacturing and assembly process required to complete such a filter has become cumbersome or requiring of expensive tooling and, as a result, the manufacturing and assembly process has become increasingly expensive. Consequently, the expense, due to filter complexity and increased assembly time, causes the filter to be uneconomical and undesirable for manufacturers seeking to implement fluid filtration systems at a reasonable cost.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,461,506 issued to Bradford discloses an edge filter assembly having a multi-faceted conical inner assembly. Additionally, this edge filter employs particle retention features which may cause significant flow limitation for the filter as debris begins to accumulate and block primary flow through the filter.
The subject invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the above mentioned disadvantages.


The present invention relates to a system and method for the deactivation of an alarm system situated within a home or business environment by the use of a sound-activated wireless key device. This present invention describes a wireless key that “hears” a pulsing, warning tone, identifies the tone and automatically sends out a signal to disarm the alarm system thus allowing for the automatic hands-free deactivation of the alarm system. The invention comprises “listening” circuitry that is able to identify the sound of the audio warning, even when the invention is located within clothing or a handbag.

Currently, when entering a residence or business protected by a home security system, an individual is confronted by a loud pulsating tone that is generated by the security system to remind the homeowner to disarm the security system. The security system can be disarmed by either entering in a multi-digit numeric security code, into a wall-mounted keypad, or by pushing a button on a handheld keyfob which generates a wireless, coded disarm message, which is transmitted to a receiver associated with the control panel.

Method and system for the sound triggered disarming of a security system


A distributed system that implements an online exchange may comprise a plurality of server nodes, each of which being configured to receive exchange transaction proposals from customers of the online exchange over a computer network and each being configured to store a copy of a blockchain distributed ledger of completed exchange transactions. A consensus engine may be coupled, over the computer network, to the plurality of server nodes and may receive a plurality of exchange transaction proposals from the plurality of server nodes. The consensus engine may be being further configured to achieve consensus on the plurality of exchange transaction proposals and to generate, in response, an ordering of agreed-upon exchange transaction proposals that includes the plurality of exchange transaction proposals on which consensus has been reached. This ordering of agreed-upon exchange transaction proposals is identically provided to each of the server nodes and specifies the order in which the server nodes are to execute exchange transactions and to update their copy of the distributed ledger. The ordering of agreed-upon exchange transaction proposals may optionally be re-ordered and identically provided to each server node to conform to the local orderings at the exchange transaction proposal's node server of origin.

The field of the embodiments disclosed herein includes distributed systems. In particular, embodiments are drawn to a distributed system (and the functionality enabled thereby) that uses instances of a distributed coordination engine to implement an online exchange over a Wide Area Network (WAN) that may include, for example, the Internet. Embodiments are also drawn to methods, devices and systems for maintaining consistency of distributed and/or replicated ledgers in such a distributed system over a WAN. Other embodiments include methods and systems to implement secure marketplaces or exchanges using distributed ledger or blockchain technology.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Methods, devices and systems for a distributed coordination engine-based exchange that implements a blockchain distributed ledger


In a communication system using an IP tunnel for communication between application processing apparatuses (hereinafter, processing apparatuses), an application can be moved to an arbitrary processing apparatus, update of tunnel tables included in the respective processing apparatuses is quickly performed, and a buffer for waiting for packets during the table update is made small. A redundancy managing apparatus manages a correspondence between a virtual IP address (VIP) of an application in a communication system and an IP address (RIP) of an processing apparatus to execute the application. The processing apparatus notifies the VIP of the communication partner application of the application to the redundancy managing apparatus. The redundancy managing apparatus notifies the VIP of the communication partner application of the moved application and the RIP of the processing apparatus to execute the communication partner application to the processing apparatus of the movement destination (failover destination) of the application.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a redundant failover system, a redundancy managing apparatus and an application processing apparatus, and particularly to a redundant failover system for performing redundant failover of an application processing apparatus in a communication system in which a plurality of application processing apparatuses cooperate with each other to perform communication control, a redundancy managing apparatus and an application processing apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an independent wireless system for disaster prevention or fire-fighting use, failure resistance against disaster or the like is very important. Thus, an inter-site redundancy technique as disclosed in, for example, non-patent document 1 is put to practical use. In the technique of non-patent document 1, circuit switches of a site A and a site B, which are geographically separated from each other, have one-to-one redundant structure. It is assumed that the circuit switch at the site A is in an active state, and the circuit switch at the site B is in a standby state. Each site contains lines from peripheral base stations, and in the site B, the line from the base station is connected to a relay line to the site A, not the circuit switch of the site B. The circuit switch of the site A controls all base stations in the independent wireless system. Here, it is assumed that an earthquake occurs at the site A, and a failure occurs in the circuit switch of the site A. In the site B, the line from the base station is connected to the circuit switch of the site B, not the relay line. In the site A, the line from the base station is connected to the relay line to the site B, not the circuit switch of the site A. The circuit switch of the site B is placed in the active state, and all the base stations in the independent wireless system are controlled in the site B.
On the other hand, as a failure resistance technique in an IP-based communication system, for example, there is a Linux Virtual Server (LVS). In the LVS, requests from an unspecified number of Web clients are processed by Web servers dispersed and arranged in a plurality of subnets. First, a Web client inquires of a DNS server about an IP address of URL which the client desires to access. The DNS server sends back the IP address of a load balancer. The Web client transmits an HTTP request packet to the IP address of the load balancer. The load balancer selects the Web server to process the HTTP request by the Hash value of the source IP address of the HTTP request packet. Then, the received packet is encapsulated by a packet addressed to the selected Web server and is transmitted. In all the Web servers, the IP address of the load balancer is set (that is, made effective) as one of IP addresses of the Web server itself. The Web server having received the encapsulated packet decapsulates the packet. Then, since the packet addressed to the IP address of the load balancer, that is, the packet addressed to the Web server appears, an application on the Web server processes the HTTP request. The application on the Web server transmits an HTTP response packet to the IP address of the Web client set in the source address of the packet. The source IP address is the IP address of the load balancer.
As described above, in the LVS, since an IP tunnel is used for the packet transfer from the load balancer to the Web server, the load balancer and the Web server, and the Web servers may be located in different subnets. Besides, the load server periodically transmits an HTTP request to each Web server in order to detect the failure of the Web server. When a response is not returned, the HTTP request from the Web client is made not to be transferred to the Web server. By doing so, also with respect to the Web client whose HTTP request has been transferred to the failed Web server, the HTTP request is transferred to a normal Web server.
Besides, as a technique in which an IP tunnel is used for communication between apparatuses, and an application uses a virtual IP address different from an IP address of the apparatus, there is a technique disclosed in, for example, non-patent document 2. According to the technique of non-patent document 2, a plurality of users on an IP network form a group and secure communication is performed in the group. Member information of the group and a virtual IP address space are previously registered in a DNS server. The user starts the login client in a user terminal, and transmits a login request to the DNS server. The DNS server identifies the group to which the user terminal belongs, and assigns a virtual IP address used by an application of the user terminal. When the application of the user terminal communicates with an application of a terminal of the same group, a packet is transmitted to the virtual IP address of the communication partner application. When it is not known that the destination address of the packet transmitted by the application is a virtual IP address on which terminal, the IPsec driver of the user terminal inquires of the DNS server, and knows the IP address of the communication partner terminal. An IPsec tunnel is established between the user terminal and the communication partner terminal, and the packet transmitted by the application is sent to the communication partner terminal.
[Non-patent document 1] "Large-Scale Fire-Fighting/Emergency Digital Wireless System" Hitachi Kokusai Denki Giho, 2006, No. 7
[Non-patent document 2] "Overlay Network Control System Suitable For Large-Scale Dynamic Group Communication", Denshi Jouhou Tsusin Gakkai, Singaku Giho, NS2004-95, 2004-09

Redundant failover system, redundancy managing apparatus and application processing apparatus


An ultrasound transmission circuit comprises a pulse generating circuit, a feedback circuit and a processing circuit. The feedback circuit outputs a trigger signal according to a first pulse signal arriving at an ultrasound transducer. The processing circuit records a first time point at which the first pulse signal is generated, and records a second time point at which the first pulse signal arrives the ultrasound transducer according to the trigger signal. The processing circuit adjusts a first delay value according to a variance between the first time point and the second time point to generate a second delay value, and drives the pulse generating circuit according to the second delay value to generate a second pulse signal.

An ultrasonic wave (ultrasound) is a mechanic wave generated by a piezoelectric crystal under an effect of an electric field. A sonic wave having a frequency over 20 kHz is regarded as an ultrasound. The ultrasound prevails in applications of examination, measurement and control purposes. For example, the ultrasound is applied for thickness measurement, distance measurement, medical treatments, medical diagnosis and ultrasound imaging (ultrasonography). Alternatively, by processing a material with the ultrasound, certain physical, chemical or biological properties or statuses of the material may be accelerated or changed.
An ultrasound imaging system is extensively implemented for biomedical detections. In ultrasonography, imaging is mainly achieved by pulse-echo. A principle of ultrasonography is summarized as below. A short pulse is transmitted by each array element of a transmitter. With beamforming, a time delay and a gain size of the pulses of each channel are adjusted to focus all the array signals at a position of a fixed depth on a scan line.
However, at signal transmission paths, RC delay errors resulted by hardware elements or at paths of printed circuit boards frequently demote beamforming effects from expected values. For example, complications such as lower side-lobe energy prior and subsequent to a focal point are incurred if the focal point has an excessively large radius, in a way that quality of an image converted from echo signals at a receiver is degraded.

Ultrasound transmission circuit and time delay calibration method thereof

INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH INSTITUTE


A membrane electrode assembly comprising an ionically conductive member and an electrode, wherein the electrode is a smooth, continuous layer that completely covers and supports the ionically conductive member. The electrode further comprises a central region and a peripheral region, wherein a gradient of electrochemically active material exists between the central region and the peripheral region such that a content of the electrochemically active material is greater in the central region than the peripheral region.

Fuel cells have been proposed as a power source for electric vehicles and other applications. One such fuel cell is the PEM (i.e. Proton Exchange Membrane) fuel cell that includes a so-called "membrane-electrode-assembly" (MEA) comprising a thin, solid polymer membrane-electrolyte having a pair of electrodes (i.e., an anode and a cathode) on opposite faces of the membrane-electrolyte. The MEA is sandwiched between planar gas distribution elements.
The electrodes are typically of a smaller surface area as compared to the membrane electrolyte such that edges of the membrane electrolyte protrude outward from the electrodes. On these edges of the membrane electrolyte, gaskets or seals are disposed to peripherally frame the electrodes. Due to the limitations of manufacturing tolerances, the seals, MEA, and gas distribution elements are not adequately closely aligned.
Further, due to the limitations of manufacturing tolerances, a flux of reactants can cross the solid polymer electrolyte from one electrode to the other electrode.

Catalyst layer edge protection for enhanced MEA durability in PEM fuel cells


Systems and methods for conducting automated skills mastery assessments in an e-learning environment may include assessing learner engagements with learning resources to produce mastery assessments, using historic interaction data derived through the engagements to train machine learning algorithm(s) to forecast evaluation outcomes of engagements based on engagement patterns indicative of skill fading, imparting learning, initial level of mastery, and/or a difficulty of acquiring mastery, applying the learning algorithm(s) to historic user interactions with learning resources to produce predicted evaluation outcomes, and, based on any differences between predicted outcomes and actual outcomes, refining parameter(s) of a mastery assessment parameter set used in calculating the mastery assessments, where a portion of the parameters correspond to attribute(s) of connections between the learning resources and skills of a skill hierarchy. The connections may be represented by logical indicators of relationships defined between the learning resources and the skills.

Digital learning systems present learning materials, such as text, video, audio, and/or interactive content, focused on teaching a learner about topics of interest. Some digital learning systems can dynamically change the presentation of content to the user based on the user's individual record of interacting with the digital learning system, thereby customizing content to the user's prior history with the digital learning system. Often, learning content is presented to users by a digital learning system, and, based upon user interactions with the content, the digital learning system will score or grade the user's accuracy or responses within the interactions. In illustration, a digital learning system may score a number of correct responses to an online quiz. However, this focus on a particular piece of content limits the ability to trace mastery of skills. The inventors recognized the need for an e-learning platform, systems, and methods providing the advantages of a traceable path toward mastery of skills through interactions with digital learning content.

Systems and methods for learner growth tracking and assessments


A method for monitoring a pollutant conversion capacity of a catalytically coated, oxidizing exhaust gas after-treatment component in an exhaust gas system of an internal combustion engine, wherein a capacity of the catalytic coating of the exhaust gas after-treatment component for oxidizing NO to NO2 is ascertained from the degree of efficiency of a downstream SCR catalytic converter, characterized in that operating conditions for said exhaust gas after-treatment component are set such that the effects on the SCR catalytic converter are maximized.

The present invention relates to a method for monitoring a pollutant conversion capacity of a catalytically coated, oxidizing exhaust gas after-treatment component in an exhaust gas system of an internal combustion engine as well as to an open- and closed-loop control device, a computer program and a computer program product according to the preamble of the respective coordinate claims. This type of monitoring is, for example, typically used with three-way catalytic converters.
Stricter laws in the area of diagnosis of emission related components by a vehicle's onboard diagnostics (OBD) require the monitoring of all components of the exhaust gas after-treatment systems for adherence to certain OBD limit values, which are for the most part stated as a multiple of the emission limit values. In order to achieve the exhaust gas limit values required by the government, complex exhaust gas after-treatment systems are employed.
SCR catalytic converters (selective catalytic reduction) are used among other things for the conversion of nitrogen oxides. A specific ratio of NO to NO2 in the exhaust gas is necessary for an optimal operation of the SCR catalytic converter. The NO2 proportion of the total NOx is frequently designated as the feed gas composition.
The NO2 proportion is as a rule considerably too low in the untreated emissions of the internal combustion engine. In order to provide a suitable NO2 concentration, an oxidation catalytic converter (DOC) is disposed in the exhaust gas after-treatment system upstream of the SCR catalytic converter. As an alternative, it is also possible for a particle filter (DPF), which is correspondingly catalytically coated, to be provided in order to oxidize NO to NO2. An increased NO2 concentration in the exhaust gas also promotes the regeneration of the particle filter by oxygen from NO2 molecules being consumed for the oxidation of the carbon of the embedded soot particles. A lower flow resistance and a longer loading phase are achieved by reducing the particle loading of the particle filter. Both have a positive effect on emissions.
Because the operability of the exhaust gas after-treatment components is important for the adherence to emission limit values, lawmakers have stipulated that the operation of said components is to be monitored over the service life of the motor vehicles. For example, the monitoring of the coating of the oxidation catalytic converter and the particle filter is required.
There is currently not a method known, which monitors the catalytically coated exhaust gas components for their capacity to convert NO to NO2.

Method for monitoring the pollutant coversion capacity in an exhaust gas after-treatment system


A system and method for virtual message packaging is described. A virtual package is collection of messages that share common characteristics and may be processed together. In one embodiment, messages are first grouped according to one or more rules at a client and then formed into a virtual package. In another embodiment, one or more messages are received at a server and then formed into a virtual package for later processing.

The term "Web services" is understood to mean a standards-based, service oriented architecture (SOA) than can be used to engage in business relationships (e.g., buying and selling) in a partially or wholly automated fashion over a public network such as the Internet ("the Web"). Standards bodies and interoperability organizations that have contributed to the Web services effort include the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS), the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and the Web Services Interoperability Organization (WS-I).
FIG. 1 shows a Web services model 100 that includes a registry 101, a service provider 102 and a service consumer 103. A service consumer 103, or "service requester", is generally understood to be an entity that seeks and (in cases where a suitable Web service is found) uses a particular Web service through a network 104. The registry 101 includes listings of various "available" services, and, may assist the service consumer 103 in searching for a suitable service provider based on the web servicing needs of the service consumer 103. A service provider 102 is the provider of one or more Web services that can be accessed over the network 104. Because of the vast expanse of the Internet and interest in automated business engagements, many registries, service consumers and service providers may be in operation at any instant of time.
Presently, the responsibilities of the most prevalent registry function 101 that is associated with the Web services effort are defined in various Universal Discovery, Description and Integration (UDDI) specifications provided by uddi.org. Besides providing listings of available services, a UDDI registry 101 may also make available to a service consumer 103 additional details that pertain to any particular Web service such as: 1) the location of the Web service (e.g., its URI specified by a specific network destination address or name); 2) the capabilities of the Web service (e.g., specific methods that are supported by the Web service and that may be called upon by the service consumer); and, 3) communication semantics needed for invoking the Web service through the network 104 (e.g., the structure of a messaging format and/or protocol needed to properly communicate with the Web service).
According to one widely adopted approach, such "additional details" are described in Web Services Directory Language (WSDL) text documents written in extensible Markup Language (XML). Here, for example, for each Web service that the registry 101 maintains a listing of, the registry 101 also maintains a WSDL document that describes the location, capabilities, and communication semantics of the Web service. Presently, a WSDL document for a particular Web service is expected to include an "abstract interface" description of the Web service (which includes the Web service's methods and the data passed between the Web service provider and Web service consumer) and a "concrete implementation" description of the Web service (which includes specific protocol and data format specifications for communicating with the Web service (referred to as a "binding") and the location of the Web service (referred to as a "port")).
According to another widely adopted approach, with respect to the actual communication that occurs between the service consumer 103 and the service provider 102, such communication is implemented through an exchange of Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) messages written in XML. A SOAP message includes an envelope 105 that further contains a header 106 (which may be optional) and a body 107.
For a particular Web service, the header 106 is typically used to pass "control" information associated with the consumer's Web service engagement with the Web service provider (e.g., information used for performing encryption/decryption and/or signature checking, information used to ensure proper ordering of SOAP messages, information that identifies the ultimate destination of the SOAP message, etc.). The body 107 is used to pass more "substantive" information associated with the service consumer's Web service experience (e.g., a specific method call from the service consumer to the service provider, or, a specific response generated by the service provider in response to a specific method call).
SOAP messages are typically deemed to be insensitive to the particular type of transport protocol used to transport them through the network 104. Thus, even though most SOAP messages are appended with an Hypertext Transport Protocol (HTTP) header, a header specific to a different type of transport protocol (e.g., HTTPS, SMTP, etc.) could be appended to the SOAP envelope 105 instead (e.g., if the service provider, service consumer and/or intermediary nodes were adapted to use the different type of protocol).
In basic cases where a service provider 102 receives a SOAP message sent by a service consumer 103, or, where a service consumer 103 receives a SOAP message sent by a service provider 102, the body of the SOAP message 107 essentially represents the purpose of the communication between the service provider 102 and service consumer 103. For instance, in the case of a SOAP message being sent by a service consumer 103 and received by a service provider 103, the purpose of the SOAP message may be that the service requester 103 desires that the service requester 102 perform a specific method. In this case, the body of the SOAP message 107 is apt to contain both a request to perform the specific method and any input parameters that are both needed by the method and determined by the service requester 103.
Presently, largely because of its versatility, the SOAP message is regarded as a primary unit of information transfer between a service provider 102 and a service consumer 103 in a Web services environment. Here, unlike many other kinds of messaging protocols, existing SOAP message specifications define a format that is relatively "abstract" in terms of its content and/or organizational requirements. Essentially, it is believed that a relatively abstract messaging format definition lends itself to having the versatility needed to support business relationship models of all different kinds (e.g., in terms of business relationship type and procedure), which, in turn, represents an overarching design goal of those designing the Web services infrastructure.
Nevertheless, for many types of business relationships, too much abstractness may correspond to the absence of specific structure deemed necessary to implement a truly workable automated business practice. For instance, a significant number of business models are expected to require confidentiality and/or assurances as to whom its SOAP message oriented communication is being entertained between. A significant number of business models are also expected to require guarantees that received SOAP messages will be processed in a specific order. Further still, a significant number of business models may desire to have the end-to-end communication path between service provider and service consumer be supported by different types of transport protocols (e.g., a first leg that is transported by HTTP and a second leg that is transported by SMTP).
FIG. 2 illustrates a prior art message transaction flow between a client and a server using a stateless HTTP connection. HTTP is a transactional protocol with the lifetime of a connection corresponding to a single request-reply sequence.
A client establishes a Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) connection with a particular port/socket of a server at 201. The server opens the connection on its end and waits for a request message from the client at 203.
A request message is transmitted to the server from the client at 205. This message may be one that is requesting a document, header, for some action to be performed, etc. The client waits for a response message to be sent from the server after sending this request message.
Upon receiving the request at 207, the server processes the request (including committing the request) at 209 and transmits a response message to the client at 211. The client receives this response message at 213.
Once the request-reply sequence is completed, the socket is closed. For example, as shown both the client and server close the connection at 215 and 217 respectively. However, either the client or the server can close the stateless connection at any time for any reason.
FIG. 3 illustrates a prior art message transaction flow between a client and a server using a stateful HTTP connection. While HTTP is normally a transactional protocol with the lifetime of a connection corresponding to a single request-reply sequence, HTTP may be adapted to use state information through the use of cookies. A cookie is a small segment of text sent by a server to a client and then sent back to the server by the client (either with changes or unchanged) each time it accesses that server. The server may add information to an existing cookie prior sending or re-sending it to a client. Cookies are used for authenticating, tracking, and maintaining specific information about users, such as site preferences and the contents of electronic shopping carts.
A client establishes a stateful Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) connection with a particular port/socket of a server at 301. A stateful connection in this scenario means that cookies will be used to save the state of the transaction. The server opens the connection on its end and waits for a request message from the client at 303.
A request message is transmitted to the server from the client at 305. This message may be a request for a document, header, some action to be performed, etc. The client waits for a response message to be sent from the server after sending this request message.
Upon receiving the request at 307, the server processes the request (including committing the request) and creates or edits a cookie associated with the client at 309, and transmits a response message (including cookie) to the client at 311. The client receives the response message at 313.
Once the request-reply sequence is completed, the socket is closed. For example, as shown both the client and server close the connection at 315 and 317 respectively. However, either the client or the server can close the stateful connection at any time. Like the stateless HTTP communication scheme, stateful HTTP communication ends after one request/response scenario, however, a state associated with the transaction is maintained in the form of a cookie and the next request/response cycle should include the cookie with all messages.
Transmitting, receiving, and processing a large number of messages (such as SOAP or HTTP messages) cause performance bottlenecks in the above prior art flows and architectures. For both the stateless and stateful communications, a message received by a server is committed and processed immediately. If there are a relatively large number of messages (for example, on the order of one-hundred or more) this processing may adversely tie up resources in the server. Additionally, if a group of messages is to be processed in a certain order, but the server does not receive these messages in that order, the server will not process the group correctly (as it processes the messages in the order that it receives them). This erroneous group processing will, at worst, require a rollback to the state prior to the reception of any member of the group. Additionally, there is no current standards acceptable way of packaging several messages together using Web services. An example of a bottleneck attributable to transmitting and receiving is the necessity of having to "log" onto a server every time a message is to be sent from a client to a server in a stateless communication.


A lens drive device for a zoom optical system drives first and second lenses along an optical axis with a single drive source. A transmission mechanism connects the drive source and the first and second lenses. The transmission mechanism transmits drive to the first lens during a first motion range and to the first and second lenses during a second motion range. A focal length of the optical system changes in the first motion range and a focal point position of the optical system changes in the second motion range. The first and second lenses respectively moves in response to movement of a first and second feed screw. A first gear transmits drive from the drive source to the first feed screw while a second gear intermittently transmits drive from the drive source to the second feed screw. A lock lever interlocks with the second gear in response to rotation of a large diameter section of the first gear to thereby arrest movement of the second gear and second feed screw. A spring urges the lock lever into contact with the second gear.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lens drive device which drives an optical system equipped with multiple lenses. More particularly, the present invention relates to a lens drive device which drives a zoom optical system.
2. Description of the Related Art
A number of conventional devices perform variable power operations and focusing operations in zoom optical systems. For example, Japanese Laid Open Patent Publication No. SHO 60-122931 ("the '931 publication") and Japanese Laid Open Patent Publication No. SHO 61-259210 ("the '210 publication") describe devices which perform the above operations while using a single drive source. In the '931 publication, the focal length is changed by inserting a supplementary optical system into the optical path of the main optical system while varying the focal length of the main optical system. The entire optical system is then driven in the direction of the optical axis to adjust focus for a set focal length.
In the '210 publication two lens groups are installed in a common cam cylinder. The cam cylinder is then set so that a variable power operation and a focusing operation occur in the two lens groups when the cam cylinder is continuously rotated in one direction. The focusing operation aligns the focal plane of the optical system for a desired subject with a specified position. The variable power operation changes the focal length of the optical system.
In the aforementioned conventional devices, because all lens groups are driven during the focusing operation, the required lens drive is large and the required drive time is long. Additionally, a larger lens barrel is required. In the case of the '210 publication, a need for cam cylinder adjustment requires a larger diameter lens barrel. Moreover, change between the variable power range and the focusing range require that a cam groove be changed when a cam is used. Accordingly, the shape of the cam groove becomes complicated thereby increasing manufacturing time and labor.

Lens drive device for zoom optical system


A vector is provided which contains a promoter construct linked to a heterologous gene encoding a selected biologically active molecule wherein the promoter construct is capable of directing urothelial expression of the heterologous gene. Methods of isolating biologically active molecules from urine of animals transfected with this vector and transgenic animals containing this vector are also provided.

Methods of producing biologically active molecules by transfer of recombinant genes into cell in culture and into live animals have been developed. For example, DNA molecules have been introduced into cultured cells by calcium phosphate precipitation or electroporations. Graham and Van der Ebb Virology 1973, 52, 456-467; Perucho et al. Cell 1980, 22, 9-17; Chu et al. Nucleic Acids Research 1987, 15, 1311-1326; and Bishop and Smith Molecular Biology Medicine 1989, 6, 283-298. DNA molecules have also been introduced into the nucleus of cells in culture by direct microinjection. Gordon et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 1980, 77, 7380-7384; Gordon and Ruttel Methods in Enzymology 1983, 101, 411-433; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,873,191.
However, there are two major problems of producing biologically active molecules such as protein products on a commercially viable scale via these methods. First, bacterial expression systems frequently fail to modify the proteins properly, i.e., by glycosylation, etc. Second, the subsequent isolation of gene products from the expression systems can be extremely difficult. In bacteria, yeast, and baculovirus systems the expressed proteins are most often purified from insoluble intracellular compartments. Secreted proteins in yeast require specialized protease-deficient strains coupled with appropriate vectors with secretion signals.
Retroviral vectors have also been used to introduce DNA molecules into the genome of animals. Jaenisch et al. Cell 1981, 24, 519; Soriano et al. Science 1986, 234, 1409-1413; and Stewart et al. Embo. J. 1987, 6, 383-388. Recombinant genes have been introduced into primary cultures of bone marrow, skin, fibroblasts, or hepatic or pancreatic cells and then transplanted into live animals. There has also been success in using mammary gland-specific promoters to drive the expression of foreign proteins in these secretory glands, ultimately leading to their secretion in the resultant milk. This method has been used commercially to express human growth hormone in cows and sheep. WO 94/05782. The copious volumes of milk produced by cows and sheep make this procedure attractive. However, this method suffers from several potential drawbacks: one being that the expressed protein even at relatively high levels must be purified away from a large amount of milk proteins such as caseins, immunoglobins, lactoferrins which may also entrap the desired valuable product; another being that certain protein products may be insoluble in the calcium-rich environment of milk fluid; and another being that this method requires the use of pregnant animals which are expensive and time consuming to produce.

Method and vector for expression and isolation of biologically active molecules in urine


A SIM card containment assembly eliminates the locking mechanism of the conventional arrangement and simplifies construction to thereby minimize parts and allow for easy access to the SIM card. The structure includes a SIM connector electrically coupled to the device PCB and engageable with the SIM card, and a SIM card door releasably engageable with the apparatus housing. The SIM card door, in a closed position, engages the SIM card and maintains the SIM card in engagement with the SIM connector. The SIM connector or the device housing itself preferably includes alignment structure that contains the SIM card laterally and ensures that the SIM card is properly aligned in the SIM connector.

The present invention relates to a subscriber identification module (SIM) card containment assembly and, in particular, to a SIM card containment assembly for an electronic apparatus such as a cellular phone that utilizes a simplified structure to secure the SIM card in its correct position with minimum parts while allowing easy access.
A subscriber identification module (SIM) card in a cellular phone is typically used for billing and security. The SIM card may also be used for storing operational data such as a phone book and/or quick dial numbers. With a SIM card, a user can operate various phones and still retain, for example, the same phone book and billing charge number. The SIM card thus eliminates the need to reprogram phone numbers and enables a single customer account for multiple phones.
The SIM card is typically mounted in the housing of the cellular phone and secured with a latching assembly. Various latching assemblies are known, however, they typically contain two or more distinct components. When the SIM card is located in a cosmetic region of the phone, a door is typically used to access the SIM card. A separate latching mechanism is integrated into the connector to securely hold the SIM card. In this arrangement, the user must open the door and then unlatch the card by sliding a locking mechanism and/or rotating the lock to gain access to the SIM card. This manipulation can be very difficult due to the small parts and intricate areas involved.


In an ATM relay system comprising an ATM network (30) and a plurality of private branch exchange systems each of which comprises a switching system (11, 12, 13) and an ATM multiplexing unit (21, 22, 23) connected to the ATM network (30), the switching system (12) comprises a central control unit 46 for delivering an interchange indication signal to said ATM multiplexing unit (22) on carrying out a relay connection from the ATM network (30) to the ATM network (30). Responsive to the interchange indication signal, the ATM multiplexing unit (22) carries out an interchange operation.

This invention relates to an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) relay system and, more particularly, to a private branch exchange system or a switching system connected to an ATM network.
An ATM relay system of the type described is disclosed in a report which is contributed by Masaharu Morikawa et al. to NEC technical report, Vol. 48, No. 4 (1995), pages 46-51, and which has a title of "ATM Multiplex System MM-Node 9510". According to this report, the ATM relay system comprises an ATM network and a plurality of private branch exchange systems. Each private branch exchange system comprises a switching system and an ATM multiplexing unit connected to the ATM network. The switching system is connected to the ATM multiplexing unit via a standard private line interface. It will be assumed that relay connection is made from the ATM network to the ATM network. In this event, the relay connection is carried out via a synchronous transfer mode (STM) link in the switching system. Under the circumstances, the ATM multiplexing unit must carry out cell assembly and disassembly therein. In other words, the ATM multiplexing unit must carry out ATM/STM conversion.
However, the conventional ATM relay system has troubles as follows. The cell assembly and disassembly must be carried out for the ATM/STM conversion in the conventional ATM relay system comprising a plurality of switching systems whenever the relay connection is carried out via the plurality of switching systems. As a result, delay of the cell assembly occurs. The delay of the cell assembly has adverse effect in speech communication owing to generation of echoes or the like. In addition, there is a case where a high efficient encoding such speech compression, silent compression or the like is carried out in the conventional ATM relay system. When multistage ATM/STM conversions are carried out for the relay connection with such a high efficient encoding carried out, degradation of speech quality becomes violent in the speech communication. For example, a trouble of no communication arises in facsimile communication or the like.

ATM relay system capable of carrying out relay connection on ATM cells as it is


An X-ray optical apparatus includes an illumination optical system, including (i) a deflection-scanning device for deflection-scanning an X-ray beam and (ii) a concave mirror for reflecting the deflection-scanned X-ray beam, for illuminating an object with the reflected X-ray beam, and a projection optical system for projecting an image of the object illuminated by the illumination optical system. Also disclosed is a device fabrication method for reduction-projecting a pattern of a mask onto a wafer to expose and transfer the pattern from the mask to the wafer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to (i) an X-ray optical apparatus preferably used for an X-ray exposure system for fabricating a semiconductor device and (ii) an X-ray microscope system.
2. Description of the Related Art
The X-ray exposure method is one of the methods for fabricating a micro device, such as a semiconductor circuit device, having a fine pattern. In the case of this method, a mask having a circuit pattern formed thereon is illuminated with X-rays, the image of the mask is reduction-projected onto the surface of a wafer, and a resist on the wafer surface is exposed to transfer the circuit pattern from the mask.
FIG. 11 is a schematic block diagram of a conventional X-ray exposure system. In FIG. 11, reference numeral 901 denotes an undulator light source for emitting a light beam such as an X-ray beam, 903 denotes an X-ray beam emitted by the light source 901, 904 denotes a total reflection mirror, 909 denotes a reflection-type mask, 910 denotes a mask stage, 911 denotes a projection optical system, 912 denotes a wafer, 913 denotes a wafer stage, and 916 denotes a vacuum vessel for containing the aforementioned elements in a vacuum ambience.
This exposure system comprises the undulator light source 901 serving as an X-ray source, the total reflection mirror 904 serving as an illumination optical system, the reflection-type mask 909, the stage 910 with the reflection-type mask 909 mounted on it, the projection optical system 911, the wafer 912, the stage 913 with the wafer 912 mounted on it, an alignment mechanism for accurately and relatively adjusting the position of the mask 909 and the wafer 912, the vacuum vessel 916 for keeping the entire exposure system in a vacuum state, in order to prevent X-rays from attenuating, and an exhauster (not shown).
The undulator light source 901 constitutes an X-ray source. The undulator light source 901 emits so-called pencil-beam-like X-rays 903 which are thin and parallel. The X-rays 903 are reflected by the total reflection mirror 904 to cut short-wavelength components and form the X-rays into an almost-monochromatic X-ray beam 905, and apply the beam 905 to the reflection-type mask 909. The light emitting point of the undulator light source 901 is close to a point light source, because it has a size of approximately a few hundreds of microns. Therefore, the spread of the angle of the X-rays applied to one point on the mask 909 is very small.
The reflection-type mask 909 is provided with an X-ray reflection film pattern corresponding to a circuit pattern to be transferred and X-rays incident on the mask are reflected and led to the projection optical system 911. Then, the image of the circuit pattern of the reflection-type mask 909 is reduction-projected onto the surface of the wafer 912 to expose the resist. The projection optical system 911 comprises a plurality of multilayer-film reflection mirrors to reduction-project a pattern on the mask 909 onto the surface of the wafer 912. The projection optical system 911 normally uses a telecentric system.
However, an illumination optical apparatus used for a conventional X-ray exposure system has the following drawbacks, which need to be improved. That is, when a very fine pattern on a mask is projected onto a wafer, the resolution and the focal depth are insufficient and therefore, it is impossible to transfer a pattern at an accuracy necessary for the fabrication of a next-generation device. Moreover, even when a phase shift mask is used, it is impossible to adequately obtain the desired imaging performance, which should be improved by using the phase shift mask. The reason for this is described below.
A coherence factor a is one of the parameters for demonstrating the characteristics of an illumination system. When it is assumed that the numerical aperture at the mask side of a projection optical system is NApl and the numerical aperture at the mask side of an illumination optical system is NAi, the coherence factor is defined by the following expression : EQU .sigma.=NAi/NApi.
The optimum value of the coherence factor a is determined by necessary resolution and contrast. In general, an interference pattern appears at the edge of the image of a fine pattern projected onto a wafer when the coherence factor .sigma. is too small, but the contrast of a projected image lowers when the coherence factor .sigma. is too large.
The case of the coherence factor .sigma. being 0 is referred to as coherent illumination. In this case, the optical transfer function (OTF) of an optical system shows a relatively large constant value up to a spatial frequency given by NAp2/.lambda. by assuming the numerical aperture at the wafer side of a projection optical system to be NAp2 and the X-ray wavelength of the optical system to be .lambda.. However, the OTF becomes 0 for a high frequency exceeding the spatial frequency and therefore, the fine pattern cannot be resolved. The case of .sigma. being 1 is referred to as incoherent illumination. In this case, the OTF decreases as the spatial frequency increases, but it does not become 0 up to a spatial frequency given by 2.times.NAp2/.lambda.. Therefore, it is possible to resolve up to a finer pattern. To transfer a pattern having a structure larger than a diffraction limit, it is preferable that the coherence factor a has a value closer to that providing coherent illumination. Moreover, also when a phase shift mask is used, the effect of the improved imaging performance may adequately be obtained when the coherence factor .sigma. has a value closer to that providing coherent illumination. However, to transfer a pattern having a fine structure close to the diffraction limit, it is preferable that the coherence factor .sigma. has a value closer to that providing incoherent illumination, from the viewpoint of contrast.
In the case of the conventional example discussed above, the coherence factor .sigma. has a value almost equal to the condition of the coherent illumination because the spread of the angle of X-rays for illuminating one point on a mask is very small and the value of the coherence factor .sigma. is close to 0. Therefore, there is a disadvantage that a fine pattern cannot be transferred. The present invention is made to solve at least this problem.

X-ray optical apparatus and device fabrication method