A low voltage differential swing circuit includes a clamping circuit to prevent the output high voltage from exceeding a reference voltage. The low voltage differential swing circuit also includes a current source coupled to a control node and a current steering circuit coupled between the control node and first and second output nodes. The current source provides a constant drive current, and in response to first and second input signals, the current steering circuit generates first and second drive currents, wherein the first and second drive currents together form at the first and second output nodes a differential output signal. The clamping circuit comprises a operational amplifier and a shunting circuit. The operational amplifier senses the difference between a reference voltage and a voltage level at the control node, which voltage level varies in relation to the voltage level of the differential output signal. When the voltage level at the control node transcends the reference voltage value, the excess drive current, or overload current, is shunted away from the first and second output nodes by the shunting circuit. Thus, the overload current is prevented from reaching the first and second output nodes.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of transistor driver circuits and in particular, to a high voltage clamped circuit for low voltage differential swing applications in the case of overload.
2. Description of the Related Art
The constant need to transfer more information faster, accompanied by increases in data processing capability, necessitated an expansion to data transfer rates considerably higher than what was previously possible. As a consequence, a protocol referred to as 100 Base-T was developed for extending IEEE Standard 802.3 to accommodate data moving at an effective transfer rate of 100 Mbps through twisted-pair cables. Under the 100 Base-T protocol, certain control bits are incorporated into the data before it is placed on a twisted-pair cable. The result is that the data and control signals actually move through a twisted-pair cable at 125 Mbps.
One type of data transmission is differential data transmission in which the difference in voltage levels between two signal lines form the transmitted signal. Differential data transmission is commonly used for data transmission rates greater than 100 Mbps over long distances. Noise signals shift the ground level voltage and appear as common mode voltages. Thus, the deleterious effects of noise are substantially reduced.
To standardize such data transmission various standards have been promulgated. For example, one such standard is the recommended standard 422, RS422, which is defined by the Electronics Industry of America, EIA. This standard permits data rates up to 10 million baud over a twisted pair of signal lines. Driver circuits place signals on the lines. These drivers circuits must be capable of transmitting a minimum differential signal in the range of two to three volts on the twisted pair line which typically terminates in 100 ohms of resistance.
One problem with RS422 is that the twisted line pair is often used as a bus to which multiple driver circuits, sources of signal, are attached. In one type of conventional circuits, when multiple drivers are connected to a common bus, only one driver may transmit data at a time. The remaining drivers should be in a high impedance state so as to not load the bus. Since large positive and negative common mode signals may appear at the driver output terminals connected to a bus system, the maintenance of a high impedance over a wide common mode voltage range independent of whether the driver is powered or not, is desirable.
An example of a conventional low voltage differential swing (LVDS) driver circuit 100 is shown in FIG. 1. The difference in voltage between the output signals OUT+, OUT- on the output terminals 103, 105 form the pair of differential signals. A pair of differential signals means two signals whose current waveforms are out of phase with one another. The individual signals of a pair of differential signals are indicated by reference symbols respectively ending with "+" and "-" notation-e.g., S+ and S-. The composite notation "+/-" is employed to indicate both differential signals using a single reference symbol, e.g., S+/-.
The LVDS driver circuit 100 includes a direct current (DC) constant current source I1 coupled to voltage supply VDD, four n-channel metal oxide semiconductor (NMOS) switches M11-M14, and a resistor R1 coupled between the common node COM and voltage supply VSS. The four transistor switches M11-M14 are controlled by input voltage signals VIN1, VIN2 and direct current through load resistor Rt as indicated by arrows A and B. The input voltage signals VIN1, VIN2 are typically rail-to-rail voltage swings.
The gates of NMOS switches M11 and M14 couple together to receive input voltage signal VIN1. Similarly, the gates of NMOS switches M12 and M13 couple together to receive input voltage signal VIN2.
Operation of the LVDS driver circuit 100 is explained as follows. Two of the four NMOS switches M11-M14 turn on at a time to steer current from current source I1 to generate a voltage across resistive load Rt. To steer current through resistive load Rt in the direction indicated by arrow A, input signal VIN2 goes high turning ON NMOS switches M12 and M13. When input signal VIN2 goes high, input signal VIN1 goes low to keep NMOS switches M11 and M14 OFF during the time NMOS switches M12 and M13 are ON. Conversely, to steer current through resistive load Rt in the direction indicated by arrow B, input signal VINI goes high and is applied to transistor switches M11 and M14 to make them conduct. Input signal VIN2 goes low to keep NMOS switches M12 and M13 OFF during this time. As a result, a full differential output voltage swing can be achieved.
Differential LVDS driver circuit 100 works well as long as the output voltage swing stays within the allowable common mode voltage range, usually a few volts. In general, LVDS driver circuit 100 can provide current to resistive load Rt only over some finite range of load voltage. The output voltage range over which the LVDS driver circuit 100 can function properly is known as its output compliance.
However, the problem often arises when multiple LVDS driver circuits 100 are connected to one bus, such as a backplane bus, that there become excessive currents through the LVDS driver circuit 100. The output high voltage VOH is the voltage at the output of either output transistors M11 or M13, and this output high voltage VOH of each LVDS driver circuit 100 depends on the current furnished to resistive load Rt. When each of the multiple LVDS driver circuits 100 tries to communicate over the bus at one time, the voltage differential produces a direct current through the LVDS driver circuits 100. This direct current travels onto the bus, which terminates at resistive load Rt. As a result, the output high voltage VOH increases until eventually each of the LVDS driver circuits 100 are pushed out of voltage output compliance, which practically stops the flow of current to resistive load Rt.
Typically, there is a specification limit for the voltage output compliance. For example, the output high voltage VOH of each driver should not exceed 2.4 volts. When the output high voltage VOH of each driver does exceed 2.4 volts, the excess current is provided on the backplane bus. As a result, the device can become self-destructive and has poor reliability.
Another drawback with the LVDS driver circuit 100 is an unbalanced output impedance. The DC constant current source I1 at the top of the LVDS driver circuit 100 has a high output impedance. In contrast, resistor R1, which typically is a small value resistor, at the bottom of the LVDS driver circuit 100 has a low impedance. This impedance mismatch causes rise and fall time mismatches for the LVDS driver circuit 100 which in turn causes power to be reflected on the bus creating undesirable noise, such as electromagnetic interference (EMI) on the common mode voltage.
A further drawback is the slow rise time which reduces the switching speed of the driver circuit 100. When either of the output transistors M11, M13 are switched ON, the drain current responds slowly because DC current source I1 has a high output impedance. Thus, for example, when transistor M13 is switched ON, there is a significant delay in the time it takes for the drain of transistor M13 to be pulled up by the current source I1 to voltage supply VDD. Such delay is a result of the high output impedance of DC current source I1.
Therefore, a need exists for a LVDS driver circuit that limits the output current, eliminates impedance mismatch and reduces rise time so as to be useful in high speed operations.

Output high voltage clamped circuit for low voltage differential swing applications in the case of overload


An electronic device (60) including a first integrated circuit (IC) die (62) electrically connected to a first lead frame (64) and a second IC die (66) electrically connected to a second lead frame (68). The first lead frame (64) is electrically connected to the second lead frame (68) by at least one stud bump (72), which is selectively formed where an electrical connection between the first lead frame (64) and the second lead frame (68) is required. The first and second lead frames (64) and (68), the first and second IC dies (62) and (66), and the at least one stud bump (72) are encapsulated by a mold compound (74) to form a 3D package.

The present invention relates to the packaging of semiconductor devices in general and more specifically to a three-dimensional (3D) package and a method of forming the 3D package.
The number of transistors per square inch on integrated circuits (ICs) has been doubling approximately every eighteen (18) months in accordance with Moore's Law, making it possible to provide greater functionality with the same quantity of real estate. However, because the wiring capacity of printed circuit boards (PCBs) has not increased at a corresponding rate, system-level interconnect density is threatening to limit the added functionality attainable with the advances in IC technology.
To this end, 3D packaging has been developed to bridge the density differences between ICs and PCBs. 3D packaging involves either stacking two or more dies within a single package, or stacking and connecting completed packages. 3D packages offer significant size reductions compared to existing packages as they pack more silicon functions per square centimeter of board space and per cubic centimeter of application space. In light of these and numerous other advantages, 3D packages are capturing an increasing share of the market for IC packages. Thus, it would be desirable to have an inexpensive method of forming 3D packages having improved characteristics.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a 3D package having improved characteristics and an inexpensive method of fabricating such a package.


An apparatus and operating method of a Relay Station (RS) and a Base Station (BS) controller for a multi-hop relay communication in a broadband wireless communication system is provided. The method of the RS includes, when receiving at least one traffic Media Access Control (MAC) Protocol Data Unit (PDU) from a Mobile Station (MS) accessing the RS, extracting a Layer-3(L3) packet from the at least one traffic MAC PDU, generating a relay MAC PDU including the L3 packet, and transmitting the MAC PDU to the BS through an RS Service Flow (SF) which supports Quality of Service (QoS) required by an MS SF carrying the L3 packet.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a broadband wireless communication system. More particularly, the present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for multi-hop relay communication in a broadband wireless communication system.
2. Description of the Related Art
A fourth generation (4G) communication system, which is a next-generation communication system, has been introduced to provide users with services of various Quality of Service (QoS) levels at a data rate of about 100 Mbps. More particularly, 4G communication systems are advancing in order to support high speed services by guaranteeing mobility and QoS in Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) communication systems such as local area network systems and wireless metropolitan area network systems. Representative examples include an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.16 standard communication system. To support a broadband delivery network, the IEEE 802.16 standard communication system adopts Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM)/Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) scheme in a physical channel.
The IEEE 802.16 standard communication system ensures mobility of a Mobile Station (MS) and flexibility of the wireless network configuration, and to provide more efficient services in a radio environment under severe changes of traffic distribution or traffic requirement. One approach considers a communication system which adopts a multi-hop relay data delivery scheme using a Relay Station (RS). Using the RS in the broadband wireless communication system, coverage of a Base Station (BS) can be extended and its throughput can be enhanced. That is, by installing the RS in a particular area of poor channel environment, signals can be delivered. The MS traveling outside the coverage of the BS can communicate with the BS by installing the RS around the cell boundary.
To apply the multi-hop relay scheme as described above, the system needs to provide additional functions. For example, a scheduling method of the BS for controlling the RS, a scheduling scheme for guaranteeing the resource use of the RS, and a function for setting the access between the RS and the MS and the access between the RS and the BS are necessary. Therefore, it is impossible to utilize conventional equipment of the BS designed for a single-hop communication because there are difficulties in developing and deploying the multi-hop relay scheme.
Therefore, a need exists for an apparatus and method for utilizing a multi-hop scheme in a single-hop communication.

Apparatus and method for multi-hop relay communication in broadband wireless communication system


A patient-specific surgical guide for intra-operatively producing a patient-specific augment and a method for producing same are provided. The method includes planning a patient-specific augment using obtained patient imagery of a bone adapted to receive a prosthesis to determine a size and shape of the patient-specific augment corresponding to the bone, creating a model of the patient-specific augment having the determined size and shape, and providing a patient-specific surgical guide having cutting guide surfaces which are customized in position and orientation and configured to guide a surgical implement to form the patient-specific augment corresponding to the 3D model. The patient-specific surgical guide is then used intra-operatively create the augment corresponding to the 3D model.

During joint arthroplasty procedures, performed to repair a damaged bone of a joint for example, a surgeon may need to remove a quantity of damaged bone in order to prepare it for receiving the orthopedic prosthesis. For example, during a total or partial knee arthroplasty procedure, the surgeon may need to mill the distal femur to provide an attachment surface for receiving a distal femoral prosthesis. Alternately, during a shoulder arthroplasty procedure, the surgeon may need to mill the glenoid region of the scapula, in order to form a suitable attachment surface for receiving a glenoid prosthesis.
With particular reference to orthopedic shoulder arthroplasty, when a surgeon plans the surgery it may become evident that the glenoid is too deformed for an optimum placement with a standard glenoid implant. Certain surgeons more comfortable with such irregularities will plan for an artificial augment or a augment to be used, which is adapted to fit between the implant and the damaged bone to accommodate the deformed glenoid while providing a suitable surface for receiving a standard glenoid implant. However, the planning of such an augment or augment typically needs to be done intra-operatively, once the surgeon is able to see the state of the damaged scapula and thus determine what type and shape of augment or augment may be best suited to accommodate the particular anatomical features. As such, surgeons who perform such surgeries infrequently are less comfortable with performing these additional steps intra-operatively. This is particularly true if a augment is to be used, as it would need to be both planned and created intra-operatively, which can significantly add to the complexity of the surgery. Such surgeons less accustomed to these procedures may, instead, either refer the surgery to another more specialized surgeon or simply decide to place the glenoid implant in a position or orientation that is less than ideal. This can compromise the lifespan of the implant and lead to unwanted complications.
Despite the continuous development of patient-specific instruments and patient-specific implants (hereinafter "PSI"), i.e. instruments and/or implants that are specifically designed and produced to suit the unique anatomical structures of an individual patient (as opposed to generic implants/instruments which are intended for use on all or a large number of different patients), improvements are sought to be able to further personalize orthopedic procedures and systems, particularly with respect to the above-mentioned challenges relating to the intra-operative creation of augments or augments.

Patient-specific surgical guide for intra-operative production of patient-specific augment


In order to provide a signal measuring apparatus which satisfies multiple performances at a high level all together, the signal measuring apparatus includes: DC performance; noise performance; distortion performance; spurious performance; and the like, a signal measuring apparatus includes: multiple A/D converters which respectively have different conversion characteristics for converting from an analog signal outputted from a DUT to digital signals; digital circuits which are provided in correspondence with the A/D converters and which conduct predetermined operations based on the conversion characteristics of the A/D converters.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to both a signal measuring apparatus which measures analog signals such as signals output from a device under test and a semiconductor testing apparatus which includes the signal measuring apparatus.
Priority is claimed on Japanese Patent Application No. 2006-302639, filed Nov. 8, 2006, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
In conventional cases, a semiconductor testing apparatus such as a memory tester and a logic tester is used in order to test and/or check initial problems of devices under test. Such a semiconductor testing apparatus includes a signal measuring apparatus which provides an analog/digital converter (hereinafter, A/D converter) for converting analog signals output from the device under test to digital signals. The semiconductor testing apparatus conducts predetermined operations on the digital signals converted by the signal measuring apparatus in order to measure the analog signals output from the device under test.
Patent document 1 (Japanese Patent Application, First Publication No. H04-36672) discloses a semiconductor testing apparatus which tests multiple items in parallel with respect to a device under test which inputs and outputs mixed signals including various signals such as a DC signal, an analog signal and a digital signal.
Regarding the above-described semiconductor testing apparatus, it should be noted that there is an aspect in which an upper limit of a performance, ability or accuracy of measuring analog signals is mainly determined by a performance of the A/D converter. Therefore, with regard to the signal measuring apparatus included in the semiconductor testing apparatus which measures with high accuracy, it is necessary to provide an A/D converter with high performance. Here, with regard to the A/D converter which has high performance, there are various requirements such as ability to convert a DC (direct current) component of the analog signals with high accuracy (high DC performance), low noise (high noise performance), low distortion (high distortion performance), and low spurious component (high spurious performance). There are a very small number of the A/D converters which satisfy all of such requirements, and moreover, such A/D converters are very expensive.
For example, there are generally used A/D converters which are a delta-sigma (ΔΣ) A/D converter and a successive approximation A/D converter. In general, the delta-sigma A/D converter has an excellent noise performance, but the delta-sigma A/D converter has large distortions (has a high level at high harmonics), that is, there is a tendency in which the delta-sigma A/D converter has lower distortion performance compared to the successive approximation A/D converter. On the other hand, the successive approximation A/D converter has an excellent distortion performance, but the successive approximation A/D converter generates large noise, that is, there is a tendency in which the successive approximation A/D converter has lower noise performance compared to the delta-sigma A/D converter.
Therefore, in conventional cases, a user selects an A/D converter which has an excellent performance with respect to one point among the above-described requirements which is important for the user and applies the selected A/D converter to the signal measuring apparatus, or the user selects a well-balanced A/D converter which has good performances to some degree with respect to all of the above-described requirements and applies the selected A/D converter to the signal measuring apparatus. Moreover, there is a proposal of a conventional technique in which a band-elimination filter is provided at a former step (input side) of an A/D converter in order to achieve both lower noise and lower distortion, and the user applies the A/D converter to which such a conventional technique is used to the signal measuring apparatus.
Here, the above-described conventional technique applying the band-elimination filter uses characteristics of an A/D converter in which a large distortion is generated if a large voltage is applied to the A/D converter, and decreases the distortion by using the band-elimination filter which removes a fundamental wave component having a large signal level from signals received by the A/D converter in order to decrease a level of input voltage. Moreover, a frequency of the band-elimination filter is measured beforehand, and signals output from the A/D converter are corrected or adjusted based on the measured results. Therefore, a signal level which is reduced by the band-elimination filter is recovered.
In accordance with such a conventional technique, it is possible to achieve low noise and low distortion, but there is a problem in which a frequency of signals measured is limited by frequency characteristics of the band-elimination filter. There is a possibility in which it is possible to measure with regard to a wide frequency range if multiple band-elimination filters with different frequency characteristics are applied. However, there is another problem in which a size of a circuit increases along with an increase of a number of band-elimination filters. Moreover, in the above-described conventional technique, there is a precondition in which the band-elimination filter never generates distortions. However, in practical cases, there is a problem in which it is difficult to produce a band-elimination filter which generates low distortion.

Signal measuring apparatus and semiconductor testing apparatus


A fuel tank assembly includes a fuel tank, a bracket carried by the fuel tank and having a portion accessible from the outside of the fuel tank to permit the assembly to be mounted to a vehicle, and an outer layer disposed around at least part of the fuel tank and a portion of the bracket to connect the bracket to the fuel tank. In one implementation, the fuel tank includes layers of composite material that have fibers embedded in resin or the like. The bracket is carried or trapped between adjacent layers of the composite material so that the bracket is fixed to the tank. The bracket preferably is connected to the tank at one end and is flexible in at least one direction to accommodate changes in the shape or dimensions of the fuel tank.

There is an increasing demand for vehicles powered by fuels other than liquid gasoline. Common fuels proposed as alternatives to liquid gasoline include natural gas and hydrogen. Such fuels can be stored in liquid or in high pressure gaseous form. To provide a desired stored volume or capacity of compressed gaseous fuel, higher tank pressures are required. Accordingly, the fuel tank must be able to withstand the relatively high pressure of fuel to be stored therein, and also be of a suitable size and weight to facilitate carrying the tank or tanks on a vehicle.


This thermoplastic elastomer is present in a substantially solid state suitable for use as a binder for a propellant, explosive, and/or gas generant of a supplemental restraint system. The thermoplastic elastomer is formed from a composition including A blocks which are crystalline at temperatures below about 75° C. and B blocks which are amorphous at temperatures above about −20° C. The A blocks are derived from oxetane derivatives and the B blocks are derived from oxiranes and derivatives thereof. The A blocks and B-blocks are end-capped with a diisocyanate having a first isocyanate moiety that is substantially more reactive with the terminal groups of the blocks than the second isocyanate moiety, whereby the more reactive first isocyanate moiety is capable of reacting with the terminal groups of the blocks, leaving the less reactive second isocyanate moiety free and unreacted. The end-capped A blocks and the end-capped B blocks are linked together with a linking compound having two isocyanate-reactive groups which are sufficiently unhindered to react with the free and unreacted isocyanate moieties of the end-capped polymers.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to energetic thermoplastic elastomers which are useful as binders of high energy compositions, such as propellants, especially rocket propellants and gun propellants, explosives munitions, gasifiers of vehicle supplemental restraint systems, or the like, and to methods for synthesizing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Solid high energy compositions, such as propellants, explosives, gas generants, and the like comprise solid particulates, such as fuel particulates and/or oxidizer particulates, dispersed and immobilized throughout a polymeric binder matrix.
Conventional solid composite propellant binders utilize cross-linked elastomers in which prepolymers are cross-linked by chemical curing agents. As outlined in detail in U.S. Pat. No. 4,361,526, there are important disadvantages to using cross-linked elastomers as binders. Cross-linked elastomers must be cast within a short period of time after addition of the curative, which time period is known as the "pot life." Disposal of a cast, cross-linked propellant composition is difficult, and usually is accomplished by burning, which poses environmental problems. Furthermore, current state-of-the-art propellant compositions have serious problems that include their use of nonenergetic binders which have lower performance and high end-of-mix viscosities.
In view of the inherent disadvantages associated with the use of cross-linked elastomeric polymers as binder materials, there has been considerable interest in developing thermoplastic elastomers suitable as binders for solid, high energy compositions. However, many thermoplastic elastomers fail to meet important requirements expected of propellant formulations, particularly the requirement of being processible below about 120° C., it being desirable that a thermoplastic elastomeric polymer for use as a binder in a high energy system have a melting temperature of between about 60° C. and about 120° C. The melting temperature is desirably at least about 60° C. because the propellant composition may be subject to somewhat elevated temperatures during storage and transport, and significant softening of the propellant composition at such elevated temperatures is unwanted. The setting of the melting temperature at not more than 120° C. is determined by the instability, at elevated temperatures, of many components which ordinarily go into propellant compositions, particularly oxidizer particulates and energetic plasticizers. Many thermoplastic elastomers exhibit high melt viscosities which preclude high solids loading and many show considerable creep and/or shrinkage after processing. Cross-linkable thermoplastic elastomers typically obtain their thermoplastic properties from segments that form glassy domains which may contribute to physical properties adverse to their use as binders. Thermoplastic elastomers are block copolymers with the property of forming physical cross-links at predetermined temperatures. One thermoplastic elastomer, e.g., Kraton, brand TPE, obtains this property by having the glass transition point of one component block above room temperature. At temperatures below 109° C., the glassy blocks of Kraton form glassy domains and thus physically cross-link the amorphous segments. The strength of these elastomers depends upon the degree of phase separation. Thus, it remains desirable to have controlled, but significant, immiscibility between the two types of blocks, which is a function of their chemical structure and molecular weight. On the other hand, as the blocks become more immiscible, the melt viscosity increases, thus having a deleterious effect on the processibility of the material.
Above-mentioned U.S. Pat. No. 4,361,526 proposes a thermoplastic elastomeric binder which is a block copolymer of a diene and styrene, the styrene blocks providing a meltable crystal structure and the diene blocks imparting rubbery or elastomeric properties to the copolymer. The '526 patent states that this polymer is processed in a volatile organic solvent. Solvent processing is undesirable inasmuch as the dissolved composition cannot be cast in a conventional manner, e.g., into a rocket motor casing. Furthermore, solvent-based processing presents problems with respect to removal and recovery of solvent.
The preparation of energetic thermoplastic elastomers prepared from polyoxetane block copolymers has been proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,483,978 to Manser and U.S. Pat. No. 4,806,613 to Wardle ("the '613 patent"), the complete disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference to the extent that these disclosures are compatible with this invention. According to the latter, these materials overcome the disadvantages associated with conventional cross-linked elastomers such as limited pot-life, high end-of-mix viscosity, and scrap disposal problems.
The thermoplastic materials proposed by the '613 patent involve elastomers having both (A) and (B) blocks, each derived from cyclic ethers, such as oxetane and oxetane derivatives and tetrahydrofuran (THF) and tetrahydrofuran derivatives. The monomer or combination of monomers of the (A) blocks are selected for providing a crystalline structure at usual ambient temperatures, such as below about 60° C., whereas the monomer or combination of monomers of the (B) blocks are selected to ensure an amorphous structure at usual ambient temperatures, such as above about −20° C. Typical of these materials is the random block copolymer (poly(3-azidomethyl-3-methyloxetane)-poly(3,3-bis(azidomethyl)oxetane), also known as poly(AMMO/BAMO).
Although the materials described by the '613 patent can be synthesized to exhibit acceptable mechanical properties for use as binders in explosive and propellant formulations, they have somewhat low densities. For example, poly(AMMO/BAMO) has a density of around 1.2 g/ml, with the precise value depending upon the proportions of A/B blocks. Additionally, the materials described by the '613 patent also have lower oxygen balance and energetic performance than other thermoset and thermoplastic energetic materials. The less than desirable oxygen balance and energy density of the thermoplastic elastomers disclosed by the '613 patent is a consequence of the use of polymer segments rich in unsymmetrical poly(3,3-disubstituted oxetane) or non-energetic polyether as the softer B block. The B block typically constitutes approximately 65–85% by weight of the thermoplastic elastomer.
It would, therefore, be a significant advancement in the art to provide energetic thermoplastic elastomer binders that are solid at room temperature and exhibit the excellent mechanical properties of the materials disclosed in the '613 patent, while possessing higher densities and improved oxygen balance and energetic performance.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Synthesis of energetic thermoplastic elastomers containing both polyoxirane and polyoxetane blocks


An insulating glass unit (IGU) assembly line apparatus capable of interleaving double and triple pane IGUs in accordance with an IGU production schedule. Visual indicators or prompts instruct operators at the assembly line in configuring a sequence of IGUs. Triple pane IGUs are assembled with minimal contamination of a center glass lite. A non-contact Bernoulli pad is used to lift a glass lite off from a horizontal or vertical support that conveys it from a glass washer to an assembly station. Each of multiple pads has a capacity to lift approximately seven to ten pounds. Use of multiple pads per glass sheet or lite allows lites having dimensions up to 70 by 100 inches (assuming glass thickness of one quarter inch) to be assembled.

One construction of insulating glass units (IGU's) involves forming a spacer frame by roll-forming a flat metal strip, into an elongated hollow rectangular tube or "U" shaped channel. A desiccant material is placed within the rectangular tube or channel, and some provisions are made for the desiccant to come into fluid communication with or otherwise affect the interior space of the insulated glass unit. The elongated tube or channel is notched to allow the channel to be formed into a rectangular frame having a connecting tab at one corner. A sealant is applied to the outer sides of the spacer frame in order to bond two glass panes or lites to opposite side of the spacer frame. Existing heated sealants include hot melts and dual seal equivalents (DSE). This system is not limited to these spacer frame types; other spacer frame technologies that are generally known in the industry can also be used with this system. The pair of glass panes is positioned on the spacer frame to form a pre-pressed insulating glass unit. Generally, the pre-pressed insulating glass unit is passed through an IGU oven to melt or activate the sealant. The pre-pressed insulating glass unit is then passed through a press that applies pressure to the glass and sealant and compresses the IGU to a selected pressed unit thickness. The completed IGU is used to fabricate a window or door.
It is known to construct triple pane IGUs having three panes or lites. Two outer panes contact spacer frames which separate the outer panes from a center or inner pane. When assembling an IG unit, it is important that the glass surfaces that are on the inside airspace remain uncontaminated for two reasons (1) preventing visual defects that cannot be cleaned and (2) preventing contamination of the perimeter of the glass which needs to remain clean or else the adhesive bond between the spacer seal and glass can be compromised ultimately leading to a seal failure.
GED, assignee of the present patent application, currently manufactures an assembly system which conveys two lites of glass parallel to each other horizontally through a glass washer. One lite gets a spacer applied and the other passes through untouched. The two pieces of glass are conveyed and aligned onto a pair of vertical pivoting tables that bring the two pieces of glass together. The advantage to this system is that the glass surfaces that are on the inside of the IG are never touched by the conveyance system after the glass has left a glass washer, thus assuring the inside glass remains clean and contaminant free. This arrangement works very well for conventional dual glazed IG, but is not conducive for fabricating triple IG's. A current difficulty with assembling triple IG units is keeping all inside glass surfaces (Surfaces 2, 3, 4 & 5 on FIG. 4) contaminant free. With the current arrangement it is typical that the inner glass surfaces will make substantial contact with the glass handling system which presents a high risk of contamination of these surfaces.
Process Flow for Conventional (Dual) IG Units; FIGS. 1 & 3:                1. Lite A leaves a washer and is conveyed by conveyors 10, 12 to a spacer assembly station 20 where a spacer 22 gets applied to the sheet A.        2. Lite B leaves the washer and is conveyed down conveyors 30, 32, 34, 36 and waits for lite A.        3. When both lites are staged, conveyors move the corresponding lites to butterfly conveyors 40, 42.        4. The butterfly tables 50, 52 (FIGS. 13 and 14) pivot to vertical.        5. Glass or lite B on the conveyor 42 is pushed onto conveyor 40 against the lite having the spacer.        6. The butterfly tables pivot back to horizontal.        7. The assembled dual IG unit is conveyed out of conveyors 60, 62 and to an oven for downstream processing.
This process flow is well established. Note that each conveyor set (i.e. two adjacent conveyors) is split into separate drive zones. This facilitates the ability to simultaneously process smaller IG's. If a sensor detects an IG over a certain length, in this case over 49″, only one IG is processed at a time.

Apparatus for the efficient assembly of multi-pane insulating glass windows


A substrate for a display panel in which insulation breakdown of an insulating film can be prevented, a display panel having the substrate, a production process of the substrate and a production process of the display panel. The substrate includes an inspection line 123 for transferring a signal for inspection which includes a first section 1231 including a portion overlapping with and/or intersecting an input line 121 drawn from a data signal line in a display region III between which an insulating film 141 is sandwiched and a second section 1232 which includes a portion other than the portion overlapping with and/or intersecting the input line 121 which are formed to be electrically independent from each other and are arranged to be electrically connected by a conductor 128, wherein a difference between areas of the first section 1231 and the input line 121 is reduced.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a substrate for a display panel, a display panel having the substrate, a production process of the substrate and a production process of the display panel, and specifically relates to a substrate for a display panel such as a substrate for a liquid crystal panel having a layered structure which includes conductive films, semiconductive films and insulating films with given patterns, a display panel having the substrate, a production process of the substrate and a production process of the display panel.
2. Description of the Related Art
Some liquid crystal display panels include a TFT array substrate and a color filter which are disposed opposed to each other leaving a tiny space therebetween, and the space is filled with a liquid crystal.
On one surface of the TFT array substrate, thin films including conductive films, semiconductive films and insulating films with given patterns are stacked in a given order. These conductive films, semiconductive films and insulating films form TFTs (Thin Film Transistors) which are used for placing voltages to pixel electrodes. In addition, scanning signal lines (gate signal lines) which transmit scanning signals to gate electrodes of the TFTs, data signal lines (source signal lines) which transmit data signals to source electrodes of the TFTs, and other elements are made from the conductive films, and those elements are insulated from each other by the insulating films.
In addition to these elements, input pads for inspection (input terminals for inspection) with which an inspection probe is to be brought into contact at the time of lighting inspection of the liquid crystal display panel, and inspection line bundles which are to be used for connecting the input pads and the data signal lines or the source signal lines are sometimes provided on the TFT array substrate. The inspection line bundles are various in their structures, and one example thereof is a line bundle which straddles two conductive films between which an insulating film is sandwiched. To be specific, lines which make up the line bundle include sections made from one of the two conductive films between which the insulating film is sandwiched and sections made from the other conductive film. Contact holes are formed at given positions through the insulating film sandwiched therebetween, and the sections are electrically connected by the contact holes.
In the TFT array substrate having the above-described configuration, when the insulating film between the conductive films is broken and the conductive films are electrically connected at a position different from a designed position in a different manner, the TFTs, the data signal lines, the gate signal lines and other elements do not function sometimes as designed, which could cause display defects in the display panel. In addition, when the insulating film is broken in the inspection line bundles, the lighting inspection of the display panel cannot be performed successfully. As a result thereof, the presence of display defects in the display panel and their appearance cannot be detected accurately, and a problem therefore arises in quality control.
Causes of the break in the insulating film include electrical discharge resulting from a potential difference between the conductive films between which the insulating film is sandwiched. For example, in a production process of the substrate for a display panel, static electricity is built up in the conductive films in processes including sputtering and chemical vapor deposition (CVD) for depositing the conductive films and the insulating film, and in a sputtering process for patterning the deposited films. Also in other various processes, static electricity is built up in the conductive films. For example, peeling electrification occurs when the substrate is peeled from supporting tables (supporting stages) of various devices, and static electrification occurs from migration of static electricity which is built up in a human body when a worker touches the conductive films. After static electricity is built up in the conductive films, when the potential difference between the conductive films between which the insulating film is sandwiched goes beyond a withstand voltage of the insulating film, electrical discharge is made between the conductive films, and therefore insulation breakdown of the insulating film occurs.
In order to prevent the insulating film from being broken, the two conductive films between which the insulating film is sandwiched can be arranged to be short-circuited in a production process of a display panel (see Japanese Patent Application Unexamined Publication No. Hei05-303110). In Japanese Patent Application Unexamined Publication No. Hei05-303110, a configuration of a display panel is described in which an insulating film (a gate insulating film in this example) is formed on a transparent substrate on which scanning signal lines and gate electrodes of TFTs are formed such that one end of the formed scanning signal lines is exposed, and a conductive film which forms data signal lines, and source electrodes and drain electrodes of the TFTs is further formed on a surface of the insulating film. Then, in patterning the conductive film, a section which is in direct contact with a thin film pattern such as the scanning signal lines is left as it is. At a final stage of the production process of the TFT array substrate or the production process of the liquid crystal display panel using the TFT array substrate, the section is separated off.
By the configuration as described above, the conductive film which forms the data signal lines and other elements are electrically connected with the scanning signal lines and other elements at a stage of forming the conductive film, and the electrical connection is maintained until the electrically connected section is cut off. Thus, no potential difference arises between the scanning signal lines and other elements and the data signal lines and other elements, whereby insulation breakdown is prevented.
However, in the TFT array substrate having the above-described configuration, it is necessary that portions where source bus lines and gate bus lines are interconnected are placed on the substrate, so that design limitation is imposed on the substrate. In addition, it is necessary that gate metals are exposed in advance before patterning of the source bus lines.

Substrate for a display panel, a display panel having the substrate, a production process of the substrate, and a production process of the display panel


A self-diagnosing system for an encoder. The system includes an encoder circuit for outputting information detected by an encoder; a data preparing section provided in the encoder circuit and preparing data representing a state of an abnormal-state judgment factor in connection with at least one of the encoder and an electric motor combined with the encoder; a signal generating section provided in the encoder circuit and generating an abnormal-state signal when the data prepared in the data preparing section represents an abnormal state of the abnormal-state judgment factor; and a storage section provided in the encoder circuit and storing the data representing a state of the abnormal-state judgment factor when the signal generating section generates the abnormal-state signal. The storage section may store the data prepared in the data preparing section at a desired timing not later than the instant the signal generating section generates the abnormal-state signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an encoder for detecting the position and/or speed of an electric motor and, more particularly, to a self-diagnosing system for an encoder, which detects by a self-diagnosis the occurrence of a malfunction or abnormal state during operation of the electric motor.
2. Description of the Related Art
As is generally known, an encoder is widely used to detect, e.g., the position and/or speed of a servomotor that drives an axis (i.e., a control axis) of a machine tool or an industrial robot. In this configuration, a malfunction or abnormal state often occurs in the encoder itself or the electric motor due to various internal or external factors. Therefore, it has been conducted that the encoder performs a self-diagnosis on whether a malfunction or abnormal state has occurred in connection with a predetermined check item, and that, when the result of the self-diagnosis is obtained as to indicate the occurrence of a certain malfunction or abnormal state, the encoder transmits or transfers the result of the self-diagnosis to a control unit of the axis as alarm information. In this case, the alarm information transferred to the control unit is used for a maintenance service, such as a root cause analysis of the occurrence of the abnormal state.
However, the data (i.e., the alarm information) transferred from the encoder to the control unit is often insufficient to be used to elucidate the cause of the abnormal state occurring in the encoder or the electric motor, because of a limit in the data transferring capacity. In other words, the output from the encoder, as the alarm information transferred to the control unit when the abnormal state occurs, is generally only one self-diagnosis result concerning a check item showing the abnormal state (which means that one abnormal-state judgment factor shows the abnormal state), or the logical sum of a plurality of diagnosis results concerning the check item (which means that at least one abnormal-state judgment factor shows the abnormal state). Therefore, it is generally difficult to elucidate satisfactorily the cause of the abnormal-state occurrence, by using only the alarm information displayed or stored in the control unit.
In the case where an encoder falling into an abnormal state is replaced with another one and, at a later date, a specialty division investigates the cause of the abnormal state occurring in this encoder, the encoder sometimes does not manifest the phenomenon of the abnormal state when the encoder is operated again. In this case, the elucidation or the cause of the abnormal-state occurrence becomes more difficult.
It has been conventionally known that a storage section for storing information required to control an electric motor is incorporated into the encoder. For example, Japanese Utility Model Publication (Kokai) No. 1-143297 (JP-U-01-143297) discloses a servomotor with encoder, including a storage section for storing inherent information corresponding to the type of a servomotor. The storage section provided in this servomotor with encoder is used to store inherent information, such as identification (ID) information of the servomotor (such as specification data, date of manufacture, the serial number of the unit motor, etc.), and detection-precision correction data of the encoder. However, the storage section does not store internal information on the encoder (i.e., data indicating an abnormal state) at the instant a malfunction or abnormal state occurs in the encoder or the servomotor.
On the other hand, Japanese Patent Publication No. 3183427 (JP-B-3183427) discloses an abnormal-state detecting system, in which a storage section for storing data (i.e., alarm information) indicating an abnormal state at the instant an abnormal state occurs in the electric motor is incorporated into an encoder. This abnormal-state detecting system is not a self-diagnosing system, but one in which a driver (i.e., a control unit) detects an abnormal-state in the electric motor. When an abnormal-state is detected, the driver interrupts the power supply to the electric motor, and transmits alarm information indicating the motor malfunction to the encoder. Then, the storage section provided in the encoder stores the alarm information transmitted from the driver. The alarm information stored in the storage section can be read out through the driver, or through a suitable reading unit in a case where the driver is omitted.


A substantially non-aqueous liquid detergent composition is provided comprising a liquid phase and a particulate solid phase dispersed therein, said solid phase comprising from about 10% to about 60% by weight based on the total weight of the composition of substantially amorphous sodium metasilicate containing less than 6% by weight of water.

Non-aqueous detergent liquids have been proposed for a number of uses, such as fabric washing and dish-washing. They have advantages over powder products in that they are more rapidly dispersed in water. Further advantages over powder products are the possibility of automatic dosing and higher obtainable product densities resulting in lower transportation and packaging costs.
Non-aqueous detergent liquids have advantages over aqueous liquid products in that they are capable of including water-sensitive ingredients such as bleaches.
With regard to the use in industrial washing machines of non-aqueous liquid detergent composition containing a particulate solid phase dispersed in a liquid phase, it is important that the viscosity of such compositions should be as low as possible whilst still maintaining acceptable stability against separation of the suspended particulate solid material. The reason is that products used in industrial washing machines are usually pumped through long supply lines from the dosing equipment to the point of use inside the washing machine.
It has been described in WO 91/00282 that non-aqueous liquid detergent compositions comprising sodium metasilicate, having an improved stability against sedimentation of the particulate solid material suspended therein and having a reduced tendency to clear layer separation upon storage, can be formulated by including therein a metal oxide having a bulk density of 200 to 1000 g/l.
Detergent compositions suitable for use in industrial washing machines generally contain a considerable level of material which gives a high alkalinity in the wash liquor. This type of material is often referred to as either buffer salt or alkalinity booster, It is known that sodium metasilicate may effectively perform the function of both builder material and alkalinity booster. Therefore, sodium metasilicate is a preferred component of industrial detergent products. However, we have found that only anhydrous sodium metasilicate as a constituent of a non-aqueous liquid composition has resulted in a non-aqueous liquid with an acceptable viscosity so that it can be dosed without having to use complicated apparatus. Moreover, an acceptable viscosity of such non-aqueous liquids containing anhydrous sodium metasilicate could only be obtained at relatively low levels of particulate solids dispersed therein.
Hitherto, only crystalline forms of sodium metasilicate containing less than 5% by weight of water were applied in non-aqueous detergent product formulations. The use of an amorphous form of sodium metasilicate as a particulate solid constituent of a non-aqueous detergent liquid was considered undesirable because of the difficulty of milling non-aqueous liquids containing such sodium metasilicate. Therefore, this type of sodium metasilicate has never been used.
However, it has now surprisingly been found that incorporation of anhydrous substantially amorphous sodium metasilicate into a non-aqueous liquid detergent product results in a low viscosity, pourable, easy to process formulation. Furthermore, we have found that the use of anhydrous substantially amorphous sodium metasilicate as a component of non-aqueous liquids allows a larger amount of solids to be incorporated for obtaining formulations with a good viscosity and stability against sedimentation. In this context, substantially amorphous sodium metasilicate is defined as material which when using light or electron microscopy reveals little if any visual indication of crystals. More precisely defined, it is material that shows at most 10% by weight of material having crystalline order when applying X-ray crystallography techniques.

Lever Industrial Company, Division of Indopco Inc.


Cloned DNA encoding spider flagelliform silk proteins described. The translated amino acid sequence of the cloned cDNA shows that the flagelliform silk protein is composed largely of repeated motifs. The dominant motif of this protein is Gly-Pro-Gly-Gly-X, which can appear up to 63 times in tandem arrays. This motif likely forms Pro.sup.2 -Gly.sup.3 type II .beta.-turns. The resulting series of concatenated .beta.-turns are thought to form a helix (.beta.-spiral). The present inventors propose that this spring-like .beta.-spiral is the basis of the elasticity of silk.

Spider silks are an ideal system for exploiting the relationship between protein design and function. While silk production has evolved multiple times within arthropods, silk use is most highly developed in spiders. Spiders are unique both in their dependence on and ability to spin an array of silk proteins throughout their lifetimes. Each type of silk is secreted and stored by a different type of abdominal gland until extruded by tiny spigots on the spinnerets. These proteins are used singly or in combinations for draglines, retreats, egg sacs, or prey-catching snares. Given these specialized ecological roles, individual silks appear to have mechanical properties that correspond to their individual functions.
Most molecular and structural investigations on spider silks have focused on dragline silk and its extreme toughness (e.g. Xu & Lewis, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA 87, 7120-7124, 1990; Hinman & Lewis, J. Biol. Chem. 267, 19320-19324, 1992; Thiel et al., Biopolymers 34, 1089-1097, 1994; Simmons et al., Science 271, 84-87, 1996; Kummerlen et al., Macromol. 29, 2920-2928, 1996; and Osaki, Nature 384, 419, 1996). Dragline silk, often referred to as major ampullate silk because it is produced in the major ampullate glands, has a tensile strength (5.times.10.sup.9 Nm.sup.-2) similar to Kevlar (4.times.10.sup.9 Nm.sup.-2) (Gosline et al., Endeavour 10, 37-43, 1986; Stauffer et al., J. Arachnol. 22, 5-11, 1994). In addition to this exceptional strength, dragline silk also exhibits .about.35% elasticity (Gosline et al., Endeavour 10, 37-43, 1986). Thus a structure/function understanding of dragline silk must account for both strength and elasticity.
Silk strength is widely attributed to crystalline .beta.-sheet structures. Such protein domains are found in both lepidopteran silks (e.g. Bombyx mori, Mita et al., J. Mol. Evol. 38, 583-592, 1994) and spider silks (Xu & Lewis, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA 87, 7120-7124, 1990; Hinman & Lewis, J. Biol. Chem. 267, 19320-19324, 1992; Gosline et al., Endeavour 10, 37-43, 1986). In contrast, elasticity is generally thought to involve amorphous regions (Wainwright et al., Mechanical design in organisms, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1982). More precise characterization of these amorphous components can be revealed by molecular sequence data.
Based on the protein sequences of major ampullate silk proteins, a .beta.-turn structure was suggested to be the likely mechanism of elasticity (Hinman & Lewis, J. Biol. Chem. 267, 19320-19324, 1992). However, assessing this proposition was problematic because dragline silk is a hybrid of at least two distinctive proteins which must impart both strength and moderate elasticity.
To elucidate the basis of silk elasticity, the present inventors have cloned a component of the stretchiest of silks; the capture spiral of an orb-web. The capture thread has a lower tensile strength (1.times.10.sup.9 Nm.sup.-2) but several times the elasticity (>200%) of dragline silk (Vollrath & Edmonds, Nature 340, 305-307, 1989; Kohler & Vollrath, J. Exp. Zool. 271, 1-17, 1995). The capture spiral is formed from both flagelliform and aggregate gland silks. However, the present inventors focused on flagelliform silk because it is the core fiber of the spiral while aggregate silk provides a non-fibrous, aqueous coating. Thus, while aggregate silk is an integral part of the elastic capture spiral, it is flagelliform silk that must actually stretch. The present inventors report the cloning of substantial cDNA for this silk protein.

Extremely elastic spider silk protein and DNA coding therefor


A lockable cap is disclosed which includes a base having an opening penetrating through the base plate, an openable cover pivotably mounted on the base for releasably covering the opening, an elastic member for elastically thrusting the cover in an opening direction for exposing the opening, a latch member for retaining the cover in a closed position with respect to the base against elastic thrust applied by the elastic member, a key-operated lock disposed in the base, a key-for setting and opening the key-operated lock, and a latch releasing member attached to the key-operated lock for releasing the latch member to open the cover when the key is inserted into the lock to open.

The present invention relates to a lockable cap that is attached to a locking device mounted on a door plate or the like closure means, and allows setting and opening operation of the locking device when an openable cover of the cap is opened by opening a key-operated lock disposed in the cap for locking the cover.
Lockable caps are known as means that are attached to a locking device mounted on a door plate and allow setting and opening operation of the locking device when an openable cover of the cap is opened by opening a key-operated lock disposed in the caps for locking the cover. The lockable caps, when opened by opening the key-operated lock therein, expose an insertion opening, through which a lock operation means such as a detachable handle is inserted and rotated, to thereby lock or unlock the door.
With the conventional lockable caps of such a structure, however, the key slot of the key-operated lock extends horizontally, and the key is inserted into the key slot from the front side of the cap. This structure of the lock inevitably thickens the entire cap, and causes intrusion of water inside through the key slot, fomenting corrosion of the interior parts.
The present invention aims to solve the above problems of the conventional lockable caps. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a lockable cap having a reduced thickness of the entire structure including the key-operated lock.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a lockable cap that can prevent intrusion of water and dust inside.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide the lockable cap of the above type with a simple structure at low cost.
According to the present invention, there is provided a lockable cap comprising:
a base having an opening penetrating through said base plate,
an openable cover pivotably mounted on said base for releasably covering said opening,
an elastic member for elastically thrusting said cover in an opening direction for exposing said opening,
a latch member for retaining said cover in a closed position with respect to said base against elastic thrust applied by said elastic member,
a key-operated lock disposed in said base,
a key for setting and opening said key-operated lock, and
a latch releasing member attached to said key-operated lock for releasing said latch member to open said cover when said key is inserted into said lock to open.
According to this structure, insertion of the key into the key-operated lock causes the latch releasing member to advance with the key, which advancement in turn presses the latch member toward latch releasing direction to disengage the latch member from the openable cover, allowing the cover to open.
Then the elastic thrust of the elastic member assists in pivotally displacing the cover away from the base to expose the opening, thereby allowing insertion of a lock operation means through the opening for operating the locking device placed on the rear side of the cap to lock or unlock the door. The key may be drawn out of the lock when the key-operated lock is opened, and the latch member as well as the latch releasing member automatically returns to its initial position.
After the setting or opening of the locking device is completed, the lock operation means is drawn out of the opening. The openable cover is manually rotated for closing the opening, and pressed further downward against the thrust of the elastic member. The openable cover is then held in a closed state by the latch member, which state is kept even after the manual pressing is removed.
The lock operation means may be a conventional detachable handle having a boss or a recess of a variety of shapes including triangular, rectangular, or polygonal shape, and adapted to be inserted into an operation slot or fitted on an operation shaft of a locking device.
The elastic member may be an elastic seal in the form of a ring or plate capable of covering the free end or the entirety of the opening. The elastic member provides water-tight seal at the opening when the openable cover is closed, and elastic thrust for assisting in opening the openable cover, when the latch member is released, to the extent that the latch cannot re-engage with the cover.
The key-operated lock may be a lock of a key-insertion type containing pins or a corrugated plate. By structuring the lock to have the key inserted upwards from below the lock, the entire cap may be made thinner and intrusion of water and dust may be prevented.
Further, by providing in the key insertion port a shutter that can be opened upon insertion and draw of the key, the intrusion of water and dust through the key insertion port may be prevented more effectively.


A hammer-drill including a body in which is mounted a motor and a hammer mechanism which is driven by the motor; a tool holder mounted on the front of the body and which is capable of holding a cutting tool, the hammer mechanism being capable of imparting impacts to the cutting tool, when held by the tool holder; a rear handle, moveably mounted onto the rear of the body via at least one movement control mechanism and which is capable of moving towards or away from the body; a biasing mechanism which biases the rear handle away from the body.

A typical hammer drill comprises a body in which is mounted an electric motor and a hammer mechanism. A tool holder is mounted on the front of the body which holds a cutting tool, such as a drill bit or a chisel. The hammer mechanism typically comprises a slideable ram reciprocatingly driven by a piston, the piston being reciprocatingly driven by the motor via a set of gears and a crank mechanism or wobble bearing. The ram repeatedly strikes the end of the cutting tool via a beat piece. When the only action on the tool bit is the repetitive striking of its end by the beat piece, the hammer drill is operating in a hammer only mode.
Certain types of hammer drill also comprise a rotary drive mechanism which enables the tool holder to rotatingly drive the cutting tool held within the tool holder. This can be in addition to the repetitive striking of the end of the cutting tool by the beat piece (in which case, the hammer drill is operating in a hammer and drill mode) or as an alternative to the repetitive striking of the end of the cutting tool by the beat piece (in which case, the hammer drill is operating in a drill only mode).
EP1157788 discloses a typical hammer drill.
Hammer drills are supported by the operator using handles. In one type of hammer drill, there is one rear handle attached to the rear of the body of the hammer drill, at the opposite end of the body to where the tool holder is mounted. The operator pushes the cutting tool into a work piece by pushing the rear handle towards the body, which in turn pushes the body and the cutting tool towards the work piece.
A problem associated with hammer drills is the vibration generated by the operation of the hammer drill, and in particular, the vibration generated by the operation of the hammer mechanism. This vibration is transferred to the hands of the operator holding the handles of the hammer drill, particularly through the rear handle. This can result in the injury of the hands of the operator. As such, it is desirable to minimise the effect of vibration experienced by the hands of the operator. This is achieved by reducing the amount by which the handle vibrates.
There are at least two ways of reducing the amount by which the rear handle vibrates. The first method is to reduce the amount of vibration produced by the whole hammer drill. The second method is to reduce the amount of vibration transferred from the body of the hammer drill to the rear handle. The present invention relates to the second method.
EP1529603 discloses a dampening mechanism for a rear handle by which the amount of vibration transferred from the body to the handle is reduced.
The rear handle is slideably mounted on the body using connectors 230. Springs 220 bias the handle 202 rearwardly away from the housing 212, and which act to dampen vibration to reduce the amount transferred from the housing 212 to the handle 202. A movement co-ordination mechanism is provided, which comprises an axial 216, which interacts with the connectors 230 to ensure that the movement of the two ends of the handle are in unison.
The problem with the design of dampening mechanism disclosed in EP1529603 is that the movement co-ordination mechanism is located within the housing. As such, it takes up valuable space.
EP2018938 seeks to overcome this problem by placing the movement co-ordination mechanism in the handle.
However, in both EP1529603 and EP2018938, the designs of handle require a movement co-ordination mechanism which incurs extra cost and complexity.
In EP152603, there are provided two bars (230a, 230b) connected to the handle which slide within guides (232a, 232b) mounted on the housing. In EP2018938, there are provided two bars (24; 104) connected to the housing which slide within guides (26) mounted on the handle. In both designs, the amount of contact in the lengthwise direction between the bars and the guides remain constant at all times. The amount of contact is dependent on the length of the guide. This is regardless of the position of the handle versus the housing. As such, the amount of support for the bars against a bending force applied to the bars remains constant regardless of the amount of force applied to the handle to move it towards the housing. Only the position of the guides on the bars alters as the handle moves relative to the housing.
Furthermore, the guides are shown as making contact along the whole length of the part of the bars located inside of the guides. However, in reality, the inner surfaces of the guide and the external surfaces formed on the bar are not perfectly flat due to manufacturing tolerances and wear. Therefore, to ensure that the bars slide smoothly within the guides, the dimensions of the cross section of the bars are slightly less than that of the cross section of the passageways formed through the guides. This however, allows the bars to move by a small amount in a direction perpendicular to its longitudinal axis within the guide. This allows the handle to move sideways thus increasing the amount of vibration transferred to the handle.
EP 2289669 discloses a hammer drill in which a rear handle is moveably mounted on to the rear of a body via at least one movement control mechanism and which is capable of moving towards or away from the body, wherein each movement control mechanism comprises a first mount, a rod, having a longitudinal axis, rigidly connected at one of it ends to the first mount, and a second mount which slidingly engages with the rod at two distinct points only along its length to allow the rod to slide relative to the second mount in a direction parallel to the longitudinal axis whilst preventing the rod from moving relative to second mount in a direction perpendicular to longitudinal axis, wherein one mount is attached to the body and the other mount is attached to the rear handle.
As there are only two distinct points of contact, there is no contact between the rod and the second mount any where else. It will be appreciated that at each of the two points where they slidingly connect, a part of the second mount can slide along a part of the rod or that part of the rod can slide along a part of the second mount.
The use of two distinct points of contact only ensures that a good contact can be made with the rod at theses points in order to provide a strong sideways support for the rod against a bending force acting on the rod, thus preventing any sideways movement of the rod.


For the balancing of seismic streamer cables (1) circular ring or sleeve-shaped weighted bodies are adjustably attached at desired intervals on the cable. The weighted bodies can be resilient for temporarily enlarging an opening (3) to receive the cable therethrough and for closing onto the cable in use, or can be circular cross-sectional bodies formed by two parts (4, 5, 4', 5') partially connected together by a single pin (6, 6') and fastened together by a spring pin (7) or hook-shaped pivoted lever (8) engageable with a retainer pin (10).

The invention concerns a device for weighting of streamer cables.
During seismic surveys at sea a seismic vessel tows behind it an array of seismic energy sources which transmit seismic signals, and recording equipment for these signals in the form of hydrophones which are arranged in a so-called streamer or streamer cable. This streamer cable, which contains a row of hydrophones, should be kept at a determined depth in the water and should hold a course which is as rectilinear as possible, i.e. so that all the hydrophones are at more or less the same depth. For this purpose the cable must be balanced, in order to achieve the required balance between buoyancy and weight and the cable's depth position is determined by means of guiding wing devices called "birds", which are attached to the cable at regular intervals.
To date, in order to balance streamers weights have been fitted to the outside, and this weighting has consisted of lead pieces or lead plates which are taped to the cable manually. The positioning of these lead pieces has on the whole been based on a rough estimate and, in order to obtain the best possible adjustment of the cable, it has often been necessary to go out in a boat in order to tape on new weights or to move weights.
This method of balancing a streamer has a number of disadvantages. Firstly, the work of taping on the lead pieces is extremely time-consuming, while at the same time the tape dissolves or is destroyed by exposure to the water, causing weights to fall off, resulting in maintenance work and continual renewal of the tape. These materials are expensive, particularly tape of the required quality for use in seal water. Moreover, there is also a regular need to remove the weight, e.g. during transfer from one area to another. This involves a great deal of time-consuming and laborious effort for unwinding tape. It has to be unwound since cutting it off would be too risky as the flexible, soft streamer is easily damaged. The most serious disadvantage, however, is that loose tape or deformed tape generates severe noise and this noise has an extremely unfavourable effect on the recording equipment which is fitted inside the cable. This technical disadvantage combined with the major costs involved in constant renewal of the adhesion of the lead pieces has produced an obvious need for improvement in this stage of the process. In this connection it can also be mentioned that it can be a complicated process to tape on a piece of lead from a small boat in the water.


The present invention provides for atomic update primitives in an asymmetric single-chip heterogeneous multiprocessor computer system having a shared memory with DMA transfers. At least one lock line command is generated from a set comprising a get lock line command with reservation, a put lock line conditional command, and a put lock line unconditional command.

In conventional symmetric multiprocessor systems, that is, multiprocessors comprising a plurality of main processor units (MPUS), the MPUs have direct access to common shared memory through the employment of load/store instructions. In addition to these load/store instructions, "atomic" read/modify/write capabilities are frequently provided in order to control the synchronization and access to memory shared by programs executing on multiple MPUs. "Atomic" commands can generally be defined as commands which allow data in memory to be read, modified and written as if the sequence were a single operation with respect to other units potentially accessing that data area. This is traditionally done by a hardware sequence that either locks out other unit access to the memory area, until the entire sequence is done, or uses a more primitive load with reservation and conditional store technique. Generally, this is done to ensure that an area of memory is completely updated and consistent before being read or written to by another MPU or I/O unit with access to the memory—that is, the atomic command or update sequence is "finished" with that memory area.
Atomic commands frequently take the form of special instructions, such as "compare and swap," "test and set," "fetch and no-op," "fetch and store," and so on. An alternative technique is to provide a more fundamental "load and reserve" and "store conditional" instruction pair in an MPU which provides the capability to implement the atomic operation sequences in software. These techniques can work well in a symmetric multiprocessor system consisting of homogeneous MPUs.
In an asymmetric heterogeneous multiprocessor system, the MPUs are arranged in a conventional shared memory style. Specialized processors, attached processor units (APUs), have their own private instruction and data memory which have indirect access to the shared memory through a block move ordered by a direct memory access (DMA) engine. With a plurality of MPUs and APUs employing DMA engines accessing shared memory, as peers, there exists a need to extend an atomic update mechanism to the DMA engines. This is generally done in order to provide a facility to coordinate access to data in the shared memory. In an environment where multiple APUs exist without such a mechanism, using a master/slave approach of the MPUs parceling out work to each APU one at a time, through commands to the DMA engine, results in poor system utilization and efficiency due to idle time in the APUs and the MPU time that is used to assign work to individual APUs.
Therefore, what is needed is a DMA engine that can be employed by APUs to copy data between APU local storage and shared system memory while participating as a peer with other MPUs and APU/DMA engines in atomic updates of shared memory.

Method to provide atomic update primitives in an asymmetric heterogeneous multiprocessor environment

International Business Machines Corporation


After it is tightened with a snug torque TA, a bolt is tuned by a total turning angle θS equivalent to the sum of an initial-set turning angle θA and a corrective additional-turning angle (θB+θC). The corrective additional-turning angle (θB+θC) is the sum of a first corrective additional-turning angle θB and a second corrective additional-turning angle θC, the first corrective additional-turning angle θB being to compensate for a situation where a bolt turning angle θ22 corresponding to the snug torque θA on an extension line of the bolt tightening torque properties C2 in a late tightening stage II is different from a bolt turning angle θ11 corresponding to the actual snug torque TA, the second corrective additional-turning angle θC being to compensate for a decrease of an effective bolt axial force that is caused by an existence of the initial tightening stage I.

The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for tightening bolts. In particular, it relates to those that is suitably applicable to a bolt having bolt tightening torque properties, in which a torque gradient expressed in terms of the ratio of an additional tightening torque exerted on a bolt to its additional turning angle has a first torque gradient in an initial bolt tightening stage and a second torque gradient in a late bolt tightening stage subsequent to the initial bolt tightening stage, a magnitude of the second torque gradient being greater than that of the first torque gradient.
A bolt tightening method in which at first the bolt is tightening until a bolt tightening torque reaches (becomes) a predetermined snug torque and subsequently the bolt is turned by a predetermined initial-set turning angle (hereinafter, referred to as "torque+angle method") is well known.
This conventional torque+angle method (snug torque TA+initial-set turning angle θA) provides a relatively stable bolt axial force if relationships between the bolt turning angle θ and the bolt tightening torque T were substantially proportional, for example, as shown by tightening torque properties C1 in FIG. 10. However, when the conventional torque+angle method is applied to a case where the properties have bent properties, like C2 or C2′ in the figure, comprising an initial bolt tightening stage I having a smaller torque gradient and a late bolt tightening stage II having a larger torque (torque gradient being expressed in terms of the ratio of an additional tightening torque exerted on the bolt to its additional turning angle), there is a problem that the bolt axial force would scatter (become unstable) according to scattering of bent position of the properties.
The above-described properties like the property C2 appear in a case, for example, where an elastic deforming member is located between fastened members and these fastened members are fastened with the elastic deforming member, in which the elastic deforming member would be eliminated (crushed) in the above-described initial bolt tightening stage I.
Meanwhile, in a case where the fastened member are fastened with no elastic deforming member between them or the mount of the above-described elimination (crush) is almost zero, the properties would be like C1. If the elimination has a certain degree of amount, it would be like the properties C2, and if the amount of elimination is more than that, it would be like the properties C2′. Accordingly, since the bent position scatters according to changing of the amount of this elimination as shown in FIG. 10, the bolt axial force also scatters.
Further, part of the bolt axial force is consumed (used) for the elimination of the elastic deforming member in the initial bolt tightening stage I of the properties C2, C2′. As a result, there is a problem that the effective bolt axial force acting on the fastened members would decrease eventually.
Another method (hereinafter referred to as "seating-point angle method") that can solve the above-described problems, which is shown in FIG. 11, is also known (for example, see Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2-41830).
FIG. 11 is a graph showing the seating-point angle method. Herein, in the case of the bolt tightening torque properties C1 (the same as C1 of FIG. 10), the bolt is turned from a tightening start point (the bolt turning angle θ=0) to an initial-set turning angle θ91 (point P91).
In the case of the bent properties C2, C2′, meanwhile, at first the bolt is turned by the initial-set turning angle θ91 from respective theoretical seating points P93 (the bolt turning angle θ=θ93), P95 (the bolt turning angle θ=θ95) and subsequently it is further turned by respective additional-turning angle θC, θC′. Thus, the bolt tightening is finished (at points P97, P98).
Since the seating-point angle method is described in detail in the above-described publication, hereinafter the features of the method will be described briefly. The first feature of that is that the starting point of the bolt turning angle is shifted from its actual starting point (the bolt turning angle θ=0) to the theoretical seating points P93 (the bolt turning angle θ=θ93), P95 (the bolt turning angle θ=θ95) in the late bolt tightening stage II. The second feature is that the bolt is further turned by a specified angle (the corrective additional-turning angle θC, θC′) that is equivalent to the decrease amount of the effective bolt axial force acting on the fastened members due to the existence of the initial bolt tightening stage I (the crush of the elastic deforming member in the above-described example).
The theoretical seating point P93, which is a hypothetical point as a bolt tightening starting position when the bolt torque properties C2 is assumed to be substantially linear like the bolt torque properties C1, is defined as a point of intersection of an extension line of the bolt tightening torque properties C2 in the late tightening stage II and the line of the bolt tightening torque T=0. When the bent position of the bolt tightening torque properties C2 scatters and changes to the properties like the C2′, the theoretical seating point P93 shifts to the point P95 (the bolt turning angle θ=θ95) as shown in the figure. Because the theoretical seating point shifts accordingly even if the bent position of the properties scatters, an influence caused by this scatter of the bent position can be properly suppressed by setting the bolt turning angle to the theoretical seating point.
The corrective additional-turning angle θC of the second feature of the seating-point angle method is defined as an angle difference between the theoretical seating point P93 and the bent position P94 (the intersection point of the properties in the initial bolt tightening stage I and the properties in late bolt tightening stage II). The bolt tightening torque T94 corresponding to the bent position P94 is a bolt tightening torque that is equivalent to the decrease amount of the effective bolt axial force acting on the fastened members due to the existence of the initial bolt tightening stage I. Accordingly, this decrease of the effective bolt axial force can be compensated (corrected) by turning the bolt additionally by the angle θC corresponding to the bolt tightening torque T94 in the late bolt tightening stage II.
When the bent position of the bolt tightening torque properties C2 scatters and changes to the properties like the C2′, the bent position P94 shifts to the bent point P96 (the bolt tightening torque T=T96) as shown in the figure. T96 is greater than T94, which is influenced by the initial bolt tightening stage I. Meanwhile, the corrective additional-turning angle θC changes to θC′, which is increased from θC by a specified amount of angle that is proportional to the decrease amount of the effective bolt axial force acting on the fastened members.
Namely, by setting the corrective additional-turning angle θC this way, the decrease of the effective bolt axial force acting on the fastened member due to the existence of the initial bolt tightening stage I can be effectively compensated, and the proper additional-turning angle can be obtained regardless of a location of the bent position P94 of the bolt tightening torque properties C2.
Thus, according to the seating-point angle method, the bolt is turned until the bolt turning angle θ reaches a total angle of the bolt turning angle θ93 corresponding to the theoretical seating point P93, the initial-set turning angle θ91, and the corrective additional-turning angle θC. Then, the bolt tightening is finished at this point (the point P97). In the case of the properties C2′, the bolt is tuned until it reaches the point P98 as shown in the figure, where the bolt tightening is finished.
In both cases, the scatter of the bolt axial force due to the change of bent position can be suppressed eventually and the decrease of the effective bolt axial force acting on the fastened members due to the existence of the initial bolt tightening stage I can be compensated (corrected) properly as well.
As described above, according to the seating-point angle method disclosed in the above publication, the scatter of the bolt axial force due to the change of bent position can be suppressed and the decrease of the effective bolt axial force acting on the fastened members due to the existence of the initial bolt tightening stage I can be compensated properly even for the bolt having the bent tightening torque properties described above. However, most of the facilities or apparatuses that prevail nowadays are designed for the torque+angle method. Since the torque+angle method is considerably different from the seating-point angle method, it may not be so easy to apply the seating-point angle method to such facilities or apparatuses. Namely, the starting point of the bolt turning angle θ in the torque+angle method is a reaching point of the snug torque TA (the point P3 in FIG. 10) and the bolt turning-angle control starts from this point. In the seating-point angle method shown in FIG. 11, however, the bolt turning-angle control is required from the initial stage of the bolt turning. Thus, the control manners are considerably different from each other.
Accordingly, a new bolt tightening method has been desired, in which the torque+angle method is adopted basically so as not to need to remake the conventional facilities or apparatus greatly and the scatter of the bolt axial force due to the change of bent position can be suppressed and the decrease of the effective bolt axial force acting on the fastened members due to the existence of the initial bolt tightening stage I can be compensated properly even for the bolt having the bent tightening torque properties.

Bolt tightening method and bolt tightening apparatus


A ginseng processing method and a processed ginseng prepared by the processing method are provided. The ginseng processing method includes the steps of: mixing 10.about.99.5 wt % of grapes and/or wild grapes with 0.5.about.90 wt % of ginseng; adding water to the mixture of grapes and/or wild grapes with ginseng with a weight ratio of 1.about.10:1; heating the mixture at 45.about.130.degree. C. for 1.about.70 hours; and cooling the heated mixture to room temperature. According to the ginseng processing method using grapes and/or wild grapes, the side effects caused by taking only ginseng are decreased or eliminated. Also, the browning of the ginseng is facilitated, reducing the amount of effort and time required for processing the ginseng. Also, the processed ginseng is acceptable to many persons in taste, aroma and color, and can be used in various forms for various purposes.

Generally, ginseng is classified into green ginseng, white ginseng and red ginseng. Green ginseng is fresh ginseng which has not been dried after being dug from the ground, and white ginseng is obtained by removing fine root hair from the green ginseng, paring the ginseng, and then drying the pared ginseng in the sun. Red ginseng, the most significant among ginsen-related products, is obtained through a steaming process. Here, the color of the red ginseng is formed by a non-enzymatic browning reaction in the steaming process, particularly, an amino-carbonyl reaction and an automatic oxidation of polyphenol, and the above browning provide excellent characteristics to the ginseng.
According to a report by the World Health Organization (WHO), red ginseng, green ginseng and white ginseng commonly include 18 types of pharmaceutically effective components such as ginsenoside, Ro, Ra.sub.1, Ra.sub.2, Ra.sub.3, Rb.sub.2, Rb.sub.3, Rc, Rd, Re, Rf, Rg.sub.1, Rg.sub.2, Rg.sub.3, Gh.sub.1, 20glc-Rf, Q-R.sub.1 and N-R.sub.1. Also, malonyl-Rb.sub.1, malonyl-Rb.sub.2, malonyl-Rc and malonyl-Rd are known to be included only in green ginseng and white ginseng, and Rs.sub.1, Rs.sub.2, Rg.sub.3 (S), Rh.sub.2, N-R.sub.4, Rg.sub.2 (R), Rh.sub.1 (R) and Rh.sub.4 are known to be included only in red ginseng. Thus, it is regarded that the medicinal effects of ted ginseng originates from 8 types of these components newly synthesized from the components included in green ginseng and white ginseng.
Ginseng, which has been used as a tonic in the Far East for a long time, is used in more than 500 prescription drugs among about 2000 basic prescriptions in traditional herbal medicine. Also, research into the medicinal effects of the ginseng as a mysterious plant has been conducted for about 100 years. Full-scale research into ginseng began when it was discovered that the medicinal effects of ginseng originates from saponin.
Saponin including a sapogenin as a non-sugar component continuously generates foam when agitated in a solution, and causes hemolysis. Also, saponin may stimulate a mucous membrane depending on circumstances and acts as a harmful factor to a blood vessel by forming a complex with blood cholesterol.
Generally, saponin of the ginseng has a useful medicinal effect rather than a toxic effect unlike the above-described general characteristics of saponin. However, the saponin of ginseng may cause a side effect depending on the human being. In the field of traditional herbal medicine, the physical constitution of a human being is classified into several types and a specific physical constitution to avoid taking ginseng is prescribed. Also, western medicine has reported the side effects of ginseng. As an example, a species of ginseng includes epedrin which causes a rise in blood pressure, metrorrhagia, ventricular arrhythmia if taken for an extended period of time. According to a clinical study, it is reported that the above symptoms disappear when the intake of ginseng stops. Thus, the ginseng has been recognized as inappropriate for persons with high blood pressure.
Generally, bad feces, occurrence of fever, headaches or stimulation is known as side effects of ginseng. However, it has also been reported that the side effects of ginseng are considerably decreased through a process, e.g., a thermal process, compared with the case when ginseng is taken raw. Here, it is believed that this is because a high density component is changed into a low density component by the thermal process and side effects of various components of ginseng are neutralized by the thermal process.
Thus, when ginseng is processed, e.g, ginseng is boiled in water before being taken, troubles with digestion and metabolism can be slightly overcome while maintaining the medicinal effect of ginseng. However, the above processing method cannot solve the side effects of ginseng completely, so that traditional herbal medicine has prohibited patients with a cardiac disorder, a kidney disorder or allergies from taking ginseng. Also, research into materials which enable suppression of the side effects of ginseng by being used together with ginseng has not been conducted.
Also, generally, the ginseng is used and commercialized without being generally-processed and has a strong aroma. Thus, the ginseng may not be acceptable depending upon the race of the user. The acceptability of ginseng tea by human beings from all parts of the world was investigated twice. That is, the acceptability of ginseng tea in taste and aroma was investigated with respect to the visitors of the Geneva Invention Conference (1986) and Tokyo Invention Conference (1988). As a result, the acceptability with respect to taste and aroma of the ginseng tea was very low to Western people while acceptance was considerably high by the Japanese. Also, the acceptability by the Chinese was higher than that by the Japanese. Thus, it is difficult to commercialize the ginseng as a worldwide health food or a delicacy, without making the taste to be acceptable to persons of all race.
The Applicant has practiced traditional herbal medicine for about 30 years and has studied ginseng processing methods for about 10 years with confidence that the ginseng has favorable effects regardless of the physical characteristics of the human being. Also, the inventor has conducted research on a material which can be added in the processing of ginseng in order to suppress the side effects of the ginseng and offset the strong aroma. First, various edible plants were selectively added during the processing of the ginseng in order to find a material which can offset the strong aroma of the ginseng. Then, the ginseng processed together with the selected plant was taken by the human being exhibiting side effects of the ginseng, resulting in a remarkable effect.

Ginseng processing method and processed ginseng prepared by the same


A semiconductor device is disclosed. The semiconductor device includes: a substrate having a die region and a scribe line region defined thereon; and a bonding pad on the die region of the substrate and overlapping the scribe line region.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a semiconductor device, and more particularly, to a bonding pad structure overlapping die region and scribe line region.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Today the functionality and economics of many consumer products are being transformed by "system-on-chip" (SoC) technology. The continuing increase in the transistor densities means that it is now possible to integrate the processor, peripherals and some or all of the system memory on a single chip.
SoC is an idea of integrating all components of a computer or other electronic system into a single integrated circuit chip. It may contain micro processing core, MPEG core, memory, digital/analog circuits, mixed-signal circuits, and often radio-frequency functions—all on one chip. SoC is believed to be more cost effective since it increases the yield of the fabrication and also its packaging is less complicated.
In the design of SoC, the height difference between chip and substrate plays a critical role in the wire bonding process afterwards. Typically, after chip is fabricated a procedure is carried out to extend circuits from the chip to a lower surface of the substrate through re-distribution layer (RDL) for wire bonding process conducted afterwards. This approach not only increases the difficulty of the process but also consumes time and cost significantly. Hence, how to provide a more simplified design of the current architecture has become an important task in this field.

Semiconductor device and method for fabricating the same