The objects of the present invention are to form MEMS structures of which stress is controlled while maintaining the performance of high-performance LSI, to integrate MEMS Structures and LSI on a single chip, to electrically and chemically protect the MEMS structure and to reduce the stress of the whole movable part of the MEMS structure. To achieve the above objects, a silicide film formable at a low temperature is used for the MEMS structure. The temperature at the silicide film deposition T1 is selected optionally with reference the heat treatment temperature T2 and the pseudo-crystallization temperature T3. T2, the temperature of manufacturing process after the silicide film deposition, is determined does not cause the degradation of the characteristics of the high-performance LSI indispensable. Thus, the residual stress of the MEMS structures may be controlled.

Micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) technology has lately been developed to form mechanical sensors of pressure, acceleration, micro switches, transducers and other micro mechanical parts and mechanical systems, by using fine processing technology of semiconductor integrated circuits.
The MEMS technology is roughly divided into bulk MEMS that is fabricated process the Si substrate itself and surface MEMS that is fabricated by deposition thin films on the surface of the Si substrate and repeating patterning processes.
In the application of the MEMS technology to sensors, mechanical transformation of a mechanism due to outside force is converted into electric signals as changes in piezoresistance or capacitance and to be outputted. And normally, the above-mentioned output is processed as signals by a semiconductor integrated circuit (LSI).
In the transducer application of the MEMS technology, the inputs and outputs signals of these transducers are connected with high frequency circuits. Thus, the MEMS structures are often used in combination with a LSI. When a MEMS is used in combination with a LSI for signal processing, each one constitutes a separate chip that making it difficult to fabricate the whole system compact. As both MEMS and LSI are normally fabricated on the Si substrate, it is natural to think of integrating them monolithically on a same substrate. This is already applied to some products, for example patent document 1, Non-patent Documents 1 and 2. These explain the method of fabricating a pressure sensor with MEMS structure in the middle of the process of manufacturing semiconductor device, to fabricate a LSI and a MEMS on a same chip.
On the other hand, the MEMS structure is not a continuous film structure from the Si substrate, unlike normal semiconductor device. Due to the presence of parts suspended in space of a single material film or laminated composite film constituting the MEMS, it is important to control the stress in the film of the MEMS structure part. It is known that, for example, if a tensile pressure is applied on a movable part independent from the periphery of which an end is fixed like a cantilever beam, the other end that is not fixed warps upward.
The Non-patent document 3 describes that, in a case of capacitance-type diaphragm, the area of a cavity part sandwiched between the upper and lower electrodes exceeds 1,500 μm2, (1) a very strong tensile stress exists on a diaphragm, the diaphragm itself is destroyed and the structure cannot be fabricated, (2) the compression stress is strong on a diaphragm, the diaphragm becomes uneven, (3) the tensile stress is within an appropriate range of 0 to 500 Mpa, it is possible to maintain the form of the MEMS diaphragm and to move it with a good linearity and sensitivity.
Generally, it is said that an effective means to maintain a form is to bring residual stress closer to zero. It is possible to control to some extent stress depending on the condition of fabricating the thin film that will be the materials for the structure and the heat treatment process subsequent thereto.
As a material for thin film MEMS structures, for example, polysilicon is widely used. Polysilicon fabricated usually at approximately 600° C. is faced with a strong residual stress. Therefore, the residual stress is released by a high temperature heat treatment of approximately 1,000° C.
In Patent Document 1, Non-Patent Documents 1 and 2, MEMS structures are with on a chip having a semiconductor circuit, poly-Si is used for the MEMS structures. MEMS structure parts are fabricated in the manufacturing process of the LSI devices, and film stress of poly-Si is released by high temperature heat treatment required for the manufacturing process of LSI.
However, CMOS LSI is fabricated only low temperature processes, about ˜450° C., to keep its high-performance. The MEMS structure is fabricated by devising a way of avoiding any damage on the LSI process, so that the MEMS structure and CMOS LSI are made on separate chips or pasted together to obtain a hybrid product.
SiGe is proposed as a low stress film to be applied for the MEMS. SiGe can be fabricated at a low temperature.
Metal alloy and silicide films, such as Cu, W, WSi and like, are also considered to be applied for MEMS structures. These material films can also be fabricated at a low temperature by sputtering. And it is possible to control film stress by adjusting the deposition conditions. FIG. 11 shows materials that can be used for fabricating MEMS in back-end of line process conveniently, after making the LSI circuit. W, Ta, Mo and other high-melting point metals are difficult to form thick films. Al is easy to corrode. Cu has many problems in the LSI process, because it is easily diffused and polluted in LSI structure and so that diffusion barrier of Cu is necessary.
Non-patent document 3 describes that the tungsten silicide (WSi) film used in the MEMS movable part. WSi is deposition at exceeding its crystallization temperature by CVD method. Temperature dependence of stress observed in the WSi film from the room-temperature to 900° C., as temperature rises. However, when the temperature returns to the room-temperature, the residual stress will be almost the same as before the measurement.
On the other hand, Non-patent document 4 describes that, WSi films is fabricated at a low temperature (150° C.), below the crystallization temperature by sputtering. It is measured that change in the film stress during heat cycle. The measured temperature is raised to 300° C., a hysteresis occurs, the film stress, after the heat cycle, shifts to the tension side as compared with before the rise (or fall) of temperature.
The MEMS structure is often located at a closer to the surface of the chip and is sometimes exposed to the outside depending on its use. Therefore various methods of protecting the MEMS structures from the outer environment have been developed. Normally, MEMS structures are sealed up. There is some cases that electromagnetic protection or shield is needed. The Patent Document 2 describes a capacitance-type pressure MEMS sensor. In this MEMS sensor, there is an electrostatic shield film on the top of the poly-Si MEMS diaphragm, and its fixed conductive film on the GND electric ground. In this case, poly-Si film stress is controlled residual by a high-temperature heat treatment. The electromagnetic shield is adhering to the MEMS or other structures, and it maybe necessary to control the residual stress of shield film.
[Patent document 1] U.S. Pat. No. 6,472,243 Specification
[Patent document 2] International Patent Laid Open WO01/014842 Brochure
[Patent document 3] JP-A No. 321612/1996
[Non-patent document 1] Klaus Kasten et al. "CMOS-compatible capacitive high temperature pressure sensors", Sensors and Actuators 85, 2000, pp. 147-152
[Non-patent document 2] Klaus Kasten et al. "High temperature pressure sensor with monolithically integrated CMOS readout circuit based on SIMOX technology", The 11th International Conference on Solid-State Sensors and Actuators (Munich, Germany Jun. 10-14, 2001) Collection of preliminary papers, pp. 510-513
[Non-patent document 3] T. Fujimori et al. "Fully CMOS Compatible ON-LSI Capacitive Pressure Sensor Fabricated Using Standard Back-End-of-Line Processes", The 13th International Conference on Solid-State Sensors, Actuators and Microsystems (Seoul, Korea, Jun. 5-9, 2005) Collection of preliminary papers, pp. 37-40
[Non-patent document 4] Muh-Ling Ger, et al. "Sputtered Wsix for micro mechanical structures," J. Mater, Res., vol. 10, No. 7, July 1995


A composition of matter, for making artificial fingernails, includes a mixture of protein and plastic. The preferred form of protein is gelatin. The preferred plastic is a plastic having a melting temperature of 500.degree. F. or less. In a preferred embodiment, one forms a mixture containing about 2-8%. gelatin (by weight), the balance being plastic. The components are mixed together, liquefied, and injection molded to form artificial fingernails. The artificial fingernails made according to the present invention are strong but flexible. When affixed to a natural nail, they have been found to strengthen the underlying natural nail after being worn for about 2-3 weeks.

This invention relates to the field of cosmetics, and provides a composition of matter which can be used to make artificial fingernails.
Women have commonly worn artificial fingernails which are much longer than the maximum practical length of a natural nail. Such artificial nails are secured to an underlying natural nail with an adhesive. The artificial nail may be made in a desired color, or a colorant may be applied after the artificial nail has been adhered to the natural nail.
A major problem caused by artificial nails is that they impair the health of the underlying natural nail. After having been covered by an artificial nail for an extended period, the natural nail becomes very thin, and is prone to breakage. When one needs to remove the artificial nail, part of the natural nail may break or peel off.
An artificial nail requires periodic maintenance. As the natural nail grows, the artificial nail is pushed outward, and the space created by the growth of the natural nail must be filled in. Also, an artificial nail tends to dry out, slightly changing its appearance. It therefore often becomes necessary for a nail technician to take steps restore the artificial nail to its original appearance. Such steps may include clipping the edges of the artificial nail. If the underlying natural nail is very thin, it may break during this maintenance process. As a result, the wearer often must either make a commitment to wearing artificial nails permanently, to conceal the unsightly condition of her natural nails, or else she must wait for an entire set of natural nails to grow in.
Thus, there is a need for an artificial fingernail which, while affixed to a natural nail, does not degrade the strength or health of the natural nail.
The present invention provides a composition for use in making an artificial nail, which composition promotes the strength of the underlying natural nail. The invention also includes a method for making an artificial nail having the above-mentioned advantages.


Disclosed in this specification is a multilayer, laminated busbar and a method for making the same. Two or more elongated conductors are stacked on top of each other to align their long and short edges. Portions of the surfaces of each conductor are covered with a continuous sheet of insulating material.

Electrical power distribution systems, such as bus bars for example, are used in a variety of applications from smaller, low voltage, computer, electronic, and telecommunications systems to larger, higher voltage transportation systems such as trains and electric vehicles. Bus bars are generally comprised of one or more conductive layers, levels, or elements formed of a conductive material such as copper, brass, nickel, aluminum, and/or a suitable alloy for example, which may be plated, and one or more layers of dielectric or insulating material disposed proximate each conductive layer. The insulating material can be an epoxy, powder coating, and/or laminate thin film material which can be attached by a variety of methods including a heat press, for example, as is known in the art.
Referring to FIG. 1A, a prior art bus bar is shown having multiple conductive and insulating layers. The insulating layers are shown as sheets cut to approximately the shape of each alternating conductive layer. The open laminated construction shown in FIG. 1A does not provide for insulation of edges of the conductive elements, a general requirement for a bus bar to operate for its intended purpose.
Accordingly, several prior art methods of edge sealing have been developed including the pinched or molded/sealed construction shown in FIG. 1B. The bus bar of FIG. 1B provides insulating layers which do not account for corners, require additional material, cost, labor, and time to produce, and result in bus bars of increased size due to extension of the laminate at the pinched location.
Referring to FIGS. 1C and 1D, edge sealing can be provided by insertion of an insulating material such as a glass, including and not limited to flame resistant 4 (FR4) epoxy-woven glass. FIG. 1D shows a hardened epoxy resin at the edges The process of edge sealing with epoxy requires increased material and substantial labor to insert the epoxy and time to cure the epoxy and is therefore not a cost-effective method of bus bar manufacture.
Referring to FIG. 1E, a powder-coated multilayer bus bar is shown. Epoxy powder coating can be used to coat both the one or more surfaces of the conductive layers and the edges as is known in the art. However, powder coating is time-intensive, can require multiple applications, and results in insulating layers of uneven thickness, a significant disadvantage.
Moreover, the bus bars shown in FIG. 1A-E are of simple, alternating layer construction without secondary features such as flangeconductors or terminations, for example. Providing one or more insulating layers for bus bars, particularly those with multiple layers, having secondary features is particularly challenging using any of the above.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for an efficient method of bus bar fabrication that provides for increased effectiveness of the dielectric insulation between conductive layers, particularly in multiple conductive layer applications, while reducing manufacturing cost and time.

Multiple wrapped laminated bus bar system and method


An ultrasonic/megasonic cleaning device includes a cleaning unit including an upper casing and a lower casing connected to form a hollow chamber, an ultrasonic/megasonic generator provided in the hollow chamber, and a bottom quartz component provided with a quartz rod array composed of a plurality of vertically arranged quartz rod-like structures; a spray arm connected to the upper casing; and an ultrasonic/megasonic frequency control unit connected between the at least one signal source and the ultrasonic/megasonic generator, for constantly varying a frequency of the electrical signal output from the at least one signal source and introducing the electrical signal into the ultrasonic/megasonic generator, so as to dynamically vary an oscillation frequency of the ultrasonic/megasonic wave generated by the ultrasonic/megasonic generator; wherein the ultrasonic/megasonic frequency control unit includes a frequency-switching timing control unit configured to trigger am ultrasonic/megasonic frequency switching control unit to switch the oscillation frequency of the ultrasonic/megasonic wave from a first frequency to a second frequency when the ultrasonic/megasonic wave has been generated at the first frequency for a time period, the time period being randomly selected within a time range.

With the continuous scale down of the critical dimensions of IC devices, the removal of the micro contaminants on wafer surfaces is becoming more difficult. Many new cleaning techniques have been applied to modern cleaning equipment. Among them, the most important one is the ultrasonic/megasonic cleaning technology. However, although the ultrasonic/megasonic cleaning technology can improve the removal efficiency of contaminants, it is prone to damage the pattern structures on the wafer.
China Patent Application No. 201510076158.1 discloses a non-destructive cleaning device for wafers, which comprises a hollow casing suspended above a target wafer, an ultrasonic generator provided inside the hollow casing, and a selective ultrasonic-energy removal mechanism connected with the lower end of the ultrasonic generator. The selective ultrasonic-energy removal mechanism comprises an array of multiple quartz rods of the same height which are vertically arranged in a spaced manner. The quartz rods extend out from the lower side of the casing to be submerged into a cleaning solution covering the target wafer, thus to selectively eliminate the ultrasonic energy generated from the ultrasonic generator which propagates in a direction non-vertical to the wafer surface and ensure the ultrasonic energy to be vertically propagated to the target wafer. As a result, damages to the patterns on the wafer surface during the ultrasonic cleaning will not occur, which achieves the non-destructive ultrasonic cleaning for the target wafer and effectively improves the removal efficiency of the contaminants on the wafer surface.
However, according to the above-described conventional ultrasonic/megasonic cleaning technique, the ultrasonic/megasonic energy is generated from a high-speed oscillation of an electrical signal of a single frequency introduced into a piezoelectric material of the ultrasonic generator. During the ultrasonic/megasonic cleaning, the ultrasonic/megasonic energy is refracted and reflected on the upper and lower surfaces of the target wafer, as well as at the contact surfaces of other different components within the cleaning chamber. These refracted and reflected ultrasonic/megasonic waves interfere with the ultrasonic/megasonic wave oscillating at the single frequency transmitted from the piezoelectric material, such interference may cause the energy in local areas of the wafer to be too strong, resulting in damages to the fine pattern structures on the wafer surface.
On the other hand, the ultrasonic/megasonic wave produces cavitation and acoustic streaming in the cleaning solution to accelerate the separation process of the particulate contaminants from the wafer surface, thereby improving the cleaning efficiency. However, from the practical experience in the industry, the physical energy caused by the implosion of the cavitation bubbles is difficult to control, which is prone to result in cavitation erosions to the fine pattern structures on the wafer surface. Therefore, the technical artisan in the industry would like to utilize the acoustic streaming to perform the non-destructive cleaning for the wafer.
Therefore, a new technical means to control the cavitation erosions is needed, in order to achieve a better non-destructive cleaning for the wafer.


The present technology is directed to implantable medical devices for draining fluid from a first body region to a second body region. Some embodiments of the present technology provide adjustable devices that are selectively titratable to provide various levels of therapy. For example, the adjustable devices can have a drainage element with a lumen extending therethrough, a flow control element, and an actuation assembly. The actuation assembly can drive movement of the flow control element to change a dimension of and/or a flow resistance through the lumen, thereby increasing or decreasing the relative drainage rate of aqueous from an eye. In some embodiments, the actuation assembly and the flow control element together operate as a ratchet mechanism that can selectively move the flow control element between a plurality of positions and lock the device in a desired configuration until further actuation of the actuation assembly.

Glaucoma is a degenerative ocular condition involving damage to the optic nerve that can cause progressive and irreversible vision loss. Glaucoma is frequently associated with ocular hypertension, an increase in pressure within the eye, and may result from an increase in production of aqueous humor ("aqueous") within the eye and/or a decrease in the rate of outflow of aqueous from within the eye into the blood stream. Aqueous is produced in the ciliary body at the boundary of the posterior and anterior chambers of the eye. It flows into the anterior chamber and eventually into the capillary bed in the sclera of the eye. Glaucoma is typically caused by a failure in mechanisms that transport aqueous out of the eye and into the blood stream.

Adjustable glaucoma treatment devices and associated systems and methods


A method of operating a roll stand arrangement composed of one or more roughing stands and a compact rolling group arranged downstream of the roughing stands and transversely offset relative to the roughing stands. The compact rolling group is connected to the roughing stands through roller conveyors and a transverse conveying unit. The compact rolling group is composed of a first and a second universal stand or two-high stand and an intermediate upsetting stand between the first and second stands. Preliminary sections arriving from a continuous casting plant are supplied directly or after intermediate storage to the roll stand arrangement. The rolling stock strand which has been rolled in the roughing stands is supplied optionally from a first entry side or a second entry side into the compact rolling group in dependence on the number of passes required by the respective rolling program.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of operating a roll stand arrangement which is composed of one or more roughing stands and a compact rolling group arranged downstream of the roughing stands and transversely offset relative to the roughing stands. The compact rolling group is connected to the roughing stands through roller conveyors and a transverse conveying unit. The compact rolling group is composed of a first and a second universal stand or two-high stands and an intermediate upsetting stand between the first and second stands. Preliminary sections arriving from a continuous casting plant are supplied directly or after intermediate storage to the roll stand arrangement.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a rule, roll stand arrangements of the above-described type are operated in such a way that the strand of rolling stock to be rolled in the roughing stands is deformed by rolling in the compact rolling group by carrying out an odd number of passes. It has also already been proposed to achieve an even number of passes through the compact rolling group by arranging the roughing stands relative to the continuous casting plant in such a way that the preliminary section is introduced into the roughing stands in a direction opposite the rolling direction and the strand is introduced with its rearward end first into the compact rolling grove.
Accordingly, in the compact rolling groups of the above-described type which include two universal stands, it is necessary, for four principal passes, to carry out two additional passes. On the other hand, if only one pass or two passes more than one pass are required, the compact rolling group is occupied for an unnecessary long time. In modern rolling mills of this type, the adjustment of the occupation of the compact rolling group to the output of the continuous casting plant producing the preliminary section of the rolling stock strand represents an essential factor with respect to the total output of the plant. This adjustment must be carried out in such a way that the output of the roll stand arrangement is always to a small extent greater than that of the continuous casting plant. This adjustment makes it possible in the total plant to avoid a cold intermediate storage between the continuous casting plant and the roll stand arrangement.

Method of operating a roll stand arrangement


A linear drive has a drive housing on which a carriage is able to run. For guiding the carriage two guide units are provided, which jointly lie in a guide plane extending perpendicularly to the upright axis of the drive housing. The guide units flank the carriage on the longitudinal side, the guide plane being arranged offset in the direction of the upright axis in relation to a drive space formed in the drive housing, drive means for the carriage being located in the drive space. At an edge section on the longitudinal side the carriage overlaps at least a part of the drive space.

The invention relates to a linear drive comprising a drive housing with longitudinal axis, a transverse axis and an upright axis in a Cartesian coordinate arrangement, such drive housing defining a longitudinally extending drive space arranged off center in the direction of the transverse axis and in which drive means are located able to be driven to perform a linear movement, such drive means being drivingly coupled with a carriage or slide adapted for linear movement externally on the drive housing and guided by way of a guide means, the guide means having two guide units which are parallel and arranged with a distance between them in a guide plane perpendicular to the upright axis, said guide units respectively including a guide track on the housing side.


A fuse indicator is disclosed for indicating the status of a fuse. The fuse indicator includes a conductive material adapted to extend between conductive ends of a fuse, and adapted to undergo a visible change in appearance upon being subjected to electrical current above a threshold. The fuse indicator further includes an adhesive for maintaining contact between the conductive material and the conductive ends of the fuse.

The invention relates to fuses, and particularly relates to fuse indicators for indicating the status of a fuse.
Although fuses are ubiquitous in electrical systems, serving to protect the electrical systems themselves as well as the safety of persons using the systems, the detection of whether a fuse has been overcharged, (or blown), is often expensive and time consuming, particularly if an electrical system includes numerous fuses. Many fuses undergo no physical change in appearance upon being overcharged. Moreover, sometimes the contacts within a fuse may separate due to the fuse having undergone too many cycles of on-off use or too many cycles between widely varying temperatures, leaving no visible indication of having developed an open circuit. Fuse indicators have been developed to permit more rapid identification of the status of a fuse, typically by visual inspection of an indicator portion of a fuse.
Conventional fuse indicators generally include either a current sensor circuit that provides a visible indication of whether current is flowing through the fuse, or include a second fusable conductor path in parallel with the fuse filament. Fuse indicators with current sensor circuits include those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,641,120 which discloses a current sensor circuit that uses the current flowing through the fuse to light a light emitting diode (LED), and U.S. Pat. No. 2,164,658 which discloses a current sensor circuit including a lamp and resistor in parallel with the fuse. Such fuse indicators, however, are typically expensive to manufacture and must be carefully handled so as to not disturb the current sensor circuit. Further, such fuse indicators require that the power to a circuit be on in order to identify whether the LED or lamp should be activated. This may be not only inconvenient, but dangerous as well.
Fuse indicators that include a second conductor path are typically designed such that the second conductor path has a higher resistance than the fusable filament, and the second conductor path undergoes a visible change when subjected to excess current. During use, when excess current flows through the fuse filament (i.e., when the fuse is activated by overheating, or blows), then the current will travel the second conductor path and immediately cause it to undergo the desired visible change as the second conductor path is overheated, leaving an open circuit. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 1,793,103 discloses a fuse indicator, including a fusible wire within a transparent glass tube. Such fuse indicators, however, are also generally expensive and require delicate handling to ensure that the second conductor path is not disturbed.
Although the above types of fuse indicators have been known for quite some time, the need remains for a fuse indicator that reliably indicates the status of a fuse, yet is inexpensive to manufacture, is easily handled, and is convenient to use.


A method for making curved panels including the steps cutting curved subunits to the appropriate size required to form the curved panel, applying adhesive to and assembling the plurality of curved subunits into a predetermined a unitary curved panel, and clamping the curved panel to a mold conforming in shape to curved panel. The mold and clamping provide for a flush curved surface upon bonding of the adhesive.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to lamination methods and more particularly to lamination apparatus and methods that are especially useful to create curved panels from materials such as wood.
2. Description of the Related Art
Furniture and functional accessories, such as "grandfather-type" clocks, are often embellished with curved panels. These panels may be inset, raised, or flat, depending on the appearance desired by the furniture designer. In any case, the formation of a curved panel often is a separate process from the manufacture of the rest of the furniture item and is carried out differently by individual furniture makers. Although general techniques are shared and well known in the industry, each maker develops personal tricks of the trade that are generally kept confidential.
Inasmuch as all curved panels are formed by bending a material, or by forming a curve from the assembly of smaller subunits according to some design configuration, the objective is the same for all makers. Yet the method by which the resulting curved panel is formed affects the curved panel's durability, strength and, ultimately, its appearance. Therefore, the process of making curved panels is very important toward the ultimate value of the crafted item, even though at first glance the initial results may seem indistinguishable.
In a typical lamination procedure, subunits (e.g., slats or ribs) must be cut to size according to a pattern and then fitted together to form the panel. Unless otherwise designed, the fit must be such that no fissures are left between subunits. Moreover, the assembly of the subunits must result in a panel of exact outer dimensions to fit within the intended space or overall body structure on the furniture or accessory. Finally, the curved panel must conform to a predetermined curved shape that resists warping or cracking. Therefore, the process of first cutting each subunit (for example, from lumber) in the required dimension and then connecting all subunits to form a curved panel such that each subunit is properly bonded and aligned with each other is difficult and time consuming.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved method for assembling subunits to form a curved panel.

Process for making laminated and curved panels


An assembled battery includes a conductive filler, a first cell, a second cell. The first cell includes a flat first electrode tab made of aluminum or an aluminum alloy. The second cell includes a flat second electrode tab made of aluminum or an aluminum alloy. The second electrode tab is electrically connected to the first electrode tab through the conductive filler intervening between the first cell and the second cell and through weld surfaces of the first cell and the second cell which are at least partly welded to each other.

In recent years, the performance of nonaqueous electrolyte secondary batteries has been improved. Consequently, high-output power supplies for a portable electronic appliance, a hybrid car, and an electrical car, and for electric power storage, have been realized. Thus, the development of techniques of reducing the resistance of an assembled battery having a large number of series-connected battery cells is a pressing problem. Generally, high-output secondary batteries capable of supplying a large current generate a large amount of heat at high-speed charging/discharging. Accordingly, the generation of heat can be suppressed by reducing the internal resistances of the assembled batteries. Consequently, the cooling of the batteries is facilitated. Thus, an increase in the lifetime of assembled batteries can be expected by reducing the generation of heat. Also, an increase in the energy density of assembled batteries can be expected by reducing the resistance thereof.
Meanwhile, a flat cell is an example of a battery configured by using an armoring member laminated with a resin layer, a metal layer, and a resin layer. This battery has a simple structure in which flat electrode tabs, for example, formed in strip-like shape are drawn out of the armoring member. Usually, when an assembled battery having flat cells is formed, these electrode tabs are connected to each other. Currently, various methods, such as a bolting method, a resistance welding method, a soldering method, a laser welding method, and an ultrasonic welding method (see, e.g., JP-A-2006-210312), are employed as the techniques of connecting electrode tabs to each other.
In current most common flat cells, a positive electrode tab is formed of aluminum. A negative electrode tab is formed of nickel. Therefore, in the case of manufacturing an assembled battery having these flat cells connected in series, the aluminum tab and the nickel tab are connected to each other.
Meanwhile, a negative electrode active substance of such a flat cell has an electric potential which is equal to or higher than that of a conventional negative electrode active substance. Accordingly, a flat cell using aluminum tabs as both the positive and negative electrode tabs is studied (see, e.g., JP-A-2006-92973).
In the case of manufacturing an assembled battery having series-connected flat cells, which use aluminum tabs as both positive and negative electrode tabs, the aluminum tabs are connected to each other. Generally, the electrode tab formed of aluminum has an advantage that corrosion of the tab due to electrolyte is hard to occur, whereas the electrode tab formed of aluminum has a disadvantage that the formation of an oxide film on a surface of the tab results in increase in the resistance thereof. Accordingly, the oxide film largely affects the connection between the aluminum electrode tabs. The resistance of the connection therebetween is higher than that of the connection between the aluminum tab and the nickel tab. More particularly, in the case of manufacturing a large battery which need to series-connect a large number of battery-cells, the contact resistances respectively corresponding to the connections of adjacent ones of the series-connected battery-cells are added and increase according to the number of the cells. Consequently, the oxide film greatly affects the resistance of the assembled battery.
Meanwhile, a method of connecting aluminum tabs to each other by ultrasonic welding is thought of as a most suitable method for connecting the aluminum tabs to each other. This is for the following reasons. That is, the tabs can be connected by welding, so that the resistance of the assembled battery is less affected by an increase in the resistance, which is caused due to the oxide film, and that battery materials are not heated and are less damaged. However, the ultrasonic welding is performed according to the principle that connection surfaces are connected to each other by being resonated. Therefore, it is difficult to connect surfaces having large areas to each other at a time. When the connection of the surfaces is performed by a commonly-used ultrasonic welder, the electrode tabs are connected to each other in a spot-like manner, that is, the electrode tabs are partly connected to each other. Thus, for example, only parts of the tabs, which are other than the surfaces thereof welded to each other by ultrasonic-welding, are put into contact with each other. That is, the contact between the tabs is insufficient. Additionally, an increase in the contact resistance between the tabs and the resistance of a connection portion between the electrode tabs are likely to be nonuniform. Further, in a case where the body of the battery is shaken for a long time so as to achieve sufficient contact therebetween, a burden is imposed on the connection portion between the electrode tabs. Consequently, a crack or a rupture has become increasingly likely to occur at the connection portion.
Therefore, in the case of the aluminum electrode tabs which are manufactured using a connection method such as the ultrasonic welding method, and which are partly welded to each other, it is difficult to reduce the resistance between the electrode tabs.


Embodiments of the present invention are directed to methods and systems for generating one or more real estate transfer and/or closing documents on a website with a set of information input by a user, using an unrelated website and/or application program. In particular, some embodiments apply such a method/system to generate one or more real-estate transfer/closing documents for a particular real-estate transaction on a website. For example, a method is disclosed for generating such documents which may include providing an application program for receiving first information from a user to post to an unrelated website. The application program may be operational on at least one of a user client computer or server computer and the website preferably includes functionality for generating one or more documents for a particular real-estate transaction. Moreover, the one or more documents preferably include at least a portion of the first information and the first information preferably include information directly related to the particular real-estate transaction. The method preferably also includes automatically generating the one or more real-estate transfer documents on the website using the application program.

For every real estate transaction, one or more legal documents are necessary to conduct the transaction. Such forms include contract of/for purchase forms, agreement of sale form, sales agreement, purchase contract, sales contract, title, and other miscellaneous forms such as transfer forms and tax forms.
In that regard, certain jurisdictions require the filing of certain forms for real-estate transactions. For example, New York City (NYC) requires that a real property tax return, a real property transfer report and a real estate tax return be filed with most real-estate transactions. In an effort to streamline the preparation and filing of such forms, NYC provides a website (ACRIS), which allows buyers/sellers to input property, grantee/grantor, legal representation, property information, as well as sales costs ("transaction information").
However, a problem exists with such a website (such as ACRIS) in that a user must input substantially the same data for a particular transaction multiple times. Thus, there exists a need for providing functionality to allow a user to input transaction information preferably a single time, to generate one or more forms.
Moreover, in using ACRIS, for example, a user must know exactly what forms to fill out and what data is required for a particular type of property conveyed, conditions of transfer, and the like.
In addition to the above-noted real-estate example, the problem also exists for other subject areas where the generation of forms occurs, and users must input substantially the same information for each generated form.

Method for generating real-estate transfer documents on an unassociated second website using single set of user provided information


The subject matter of this specification can be embodied in, among other things, a check valve that includes a valve body having a bore and a seat along the bore, a fluid inlet at a first end of the bore, and a fluid outlet a second end of the bore, a stopper selectively movable along the bore to contact the seat, the bore being occluded when the stopper is in contact with the seat, a first bias member on a first side of the stopper within the bore, the first bias member providing a first bias force upon the stopper in a first direction, and a second bias member on a second side of the stopper within the bore, the second side being opposite the first side, the second bias member providing a second bias force upon the stopper in a second direction opposite the first direction.

Some vehicles, such as buses and natural gas transport trucks use liquid natural gas (LNG) as the form of fuel storage used on the vehicle. The LNG is vaporized and warmed before it travels to the fuel system on the engine. LNG tank systems include a heat exchanger to vaporize cryogenic LNG from the liquid to gaseous state. In the event of a loss of engine coolant supply or catastrophic failure of the heat exchanger, cryogenic fuel can flow to the fuel system and flow through many components that are not rated to endure cryogenic temperatures, leading to possible LNG leakage and fire risk.
Some current methods for preventing flow of liquid LNG rely on temperature sensors to detect changes in gas temperature or coolant temperature in the heat exchanger in order to detect LNG heat exchanger abnormalities. In the event that an abnormality is detected, a shut-off valve rated at a sufficiently low temperature is used to stop the flow of gas or LNG to the engine fuel system. Such cryogenic rated sensors and valves are typically expensive, and are sometimes unable to detect and react to all failure modes in time to prevent downstream issues. These types of methods are expensive and may not guarantee proper detection of an unsafe condition. There are very few, if any, cryogenic rated sensors or valves that are cost appropriate for the on-highway LNG market.


A multilayer LC filter includes a terminal layer, and a plurality of capacitor electrode layers laminated together on the terminal layer. An inductor layer is disposed above the capacitor electrode layers to thereby form a laminated body. First and second strip-shaped side-surface electrodes are formed on opposite side surfaces of the laminated body, and are connected to input and output terminals of the terminal layer, respectively. The distal ends of the first and second strip-shaped side-surface electrodes extend to the corresponding side surfaces of the capacitor electrode layers, but do not reach the side surfaces of the inductor layer. Thus, the distances between the resonator inductors of the inductor layer and the strip-shaped side-surface electrodes are increased, and as a result, very little stray capacitance is generated between the resonator inductors and the side-surface electrodes.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multilayer LC filter to be used in mobile communication devices such as cellular phones.
2. Description of the Related Art
Miniaturized, low-loss multilayer LC filters which are suitable for mass production are conventionally used in mobile communication devices such as cellular phones. Such a multilayer LC filter is typically configured in such a manner that a plurality of electrodes are laminated with dielectric layers interposed therebetween. FIG. 6 shows a multilayer LC filter A of such a stacked or laminated configuration. The multilayer LC filter A of FIG. 6 includes a terminal layer c; a ground electrode layer d; an inductor layer e; capacitor layers f, g, h, i, and j; and a ground electrode layer k. These layers are laminated in this order from the bottom side, to thereby form a laminated body a containing a plurality of electrodes. Terminals m, such as an input terminal, an output terminal, and a ground terminal, are formed on the terminal layer c in an exposed condition so that electrical connections can be made thereto.
Further, as shown in FIG. 7, which depicts the assembled filter A, stripe-shaped side-surface or laterally disposed electrodes b are formed on the side surfaces of the laminated body a in such a manner that each of the side-surface electrodes b is connected to a corresponding terminal m. The stripe-shaped side-surface electrodes b extend to the top face of the laminated body a along the direction of lamination, in order to enable reliable mounting of the multilayer LC filter A onto a given mounting surface.
The above-described conventional multilayer LC filter of FIGS. 6 and 7 has frequency characteristics such that no proper or substantial attenuation peak appears on the higher-frequency side of the pass band, although a large attenuation peak appears on the lower-frequency side thereof. Therefore, there is a problem with providing sufficient attenuation on the higher-frequency side. Since the presence or absence of an attenuation peak on the higher-frequency side greatly affects the performance of the filter, a strong demand has arisen for an effective measure that would solve the problem of providing such an attenuation peak.
Conceivably, the above-mentioned problem of insufficient attenuation on the higher-frequency side occurs because the electrodes contained in the laminated body are close to the stripe=shaped side-surface electrodes formed on the outer surface of the laminated body, thereby resulting in the generation of distributed stray capacitance between these electrodes. In particular, stray capacitance is likely to be generated between the side-surface electrodes and each of the ground and inductor electrodes formed in a large area extending to the vicinity of the periphery of the laminated body. In order to solve the above problem, a construction may be employed wherein the distances between the electrodes contained in the laminated body and the side-surface electrodes are increased to a large as possible extent. For example, the dimensions of the laminated body can be maintained unchanged, while the electrodes contained in the laminated body are formed at a central portion of the laminated body such that the pattern area of each electrode is reduced. Alternatively, the pattern area of each electrode can be maintained unchanged, while the dimensions of the laminated body are increased. However, the former measure results in deterioration in the filter characteristics, and the latter measure results in an increase in the physical size of the multilayer LC filter.


A raised wall panel which includes a frame, a raised panel and a molding positioned between the two. The frame, having four frame members, is arranged in a "picture frame" configuration and attached to plywood fixed to a wall structure. The frame members are constructed of a base material, such as composition board or inexpensive plywood, which is covered by a decorative wood veneer. The raised panel is positioned within the frame using a spacing tool to ensure that the open area between the frame and the raised panel is uniform and the raised panel is attached to the plywood. The raised panel is also constructed of a base material which is covered by a decorative wood veneer. The molding has a built-up frame portion having a frame lip and a built-up panel portion having a panel lip. The molding is then positioned between the frame and the panel section such that the frame lip overlaps the frame member and the panel lip overlaps panel section. The frame lip and the panel lip cover the cut edges of both the frame and the raised panel, respectively, thus giving the appearance that the raised wall panel was formed from a piece of solid wood.

Decorative moldings have been applied to surfaces of various types of composite slabs such as wall panels, doors and the like. The purpose of the molding is to enhance the appearance of the slab such that when finished in either its natural finish or painted, a rich panel effect is created. Such a panel effect attempts to simulate the overall effect created by master woodworkers of old who would carve solid slabs of wood to create individual raised panels of stunning beauty. Of course, such woodcarving today is unheard of for a variety of reasons. For example, the cost of solid slabs of wood would be enormous and the time it would take to carve them by hand would be unreasonably long. Hence, modem building contractors have looked to substitute the solid slab construction with something more cost effective and timely.
In order to achieve the rich look of hand carved panels while maintaining a cost effective pricing structure, a variety of different combinations of base materials with veneers have been used. There are a number of varieties of base material sheets which are available at retail lumber yards and wholesale distributors which are covered with a variety of decorative wood veneers. For example, one common base material is composition board or particle board made of wood chips and/or other materials glued together to form a single sheet. Another common base material would be a single sheet of cheap plywood such as pine. The base material/veneer combinations are significantly less costly than solid sheets of quality wood such as walnut or oak, provide the same structural properties, and have the rich, opulent appearance of solid quality wood on the outer surface.
The problem with using sheets of base material with wood veneer is that cut edges are visible on the finished product. Visible cut edges reveal the true nature of the sheet, i.e., the base material/veneer combination, and the illusion of solid, quality wood panels is ruined. It is therefore necessary to devise a raised wood panel which is made from the base material/veneer combination but still gives the appearance of being constructed from a solid piece of quality wood.


In an image output calibrating system for cameras, a camera is supported so as to be directed at a plurality of different angles, and a light source is placed in front of the camera. A control unit associates the pan and tilt angles of the camera with corresponding positions of an image of the light source on the imaging device so that the relationship between each point on the object and the corresponding point on the image of the object formed on the imaging device of the camera can be identified. For initially placing the light source on the optical center line of the camera, the light source may be mounted on a carriage unit that can move the light source in three different directions.

In many applications of image capturing devices, it is necessary to establish an accurate relationship between the actual positions of a number of feature points of the actual object and the coordinates of the corresponding points of the captured image of the object. By doing so, it becomes possible to accurately identify the position of such points of the object by analyzing the captured image. This is highly important, for instance, in robotic applications where an object is required to be manipulated or otherwise acted upon according to the information gathered by capturing the image of the object.
The factors that prevent a predictable correspondence between the object and captured image include errors in the mechanical arrangement of the optical elements of the image capturing device, optical distortions that are intrinsic to the optical system of the image capturing device, optical distortions of the transparent shield which is placed in front of the image capturing device (diffractive aberration), and irregularities in the electronic imaging device that is used in the image capturing device, among other possibilities. It is known to capture the image of a grid pattern with the image capturing device, and compare the captured image with the original grid pattern so that the distortion caused by the image capturing device may be evaluated and this data may be used for calibrating the image capturing device. See Japanese patent laid-open publication No. 11-355813A.
The calibration can be in the form of a lookup table. However, a high level of resolution is normally required, and the lookup table requires a correspondingly large storage space. Alternatively, the-calibration can be effected by using high order mathematical functions for approximation. However, the handling of high order mathematical functions requires a large amount of computation for implementation. Therefore, this prior art is unsuitable for simple systems having a limited storage capacity and a limited computational capacity, and, more importantly, unsuitable for real-time applications that require prompt responses.
In a video camera for electronically recording or reproducing a color image of an object, typically, a color separation device is placed behind the lens for separating the image into the three basic colors of R (red), G (green) and B (blue), and the image signal for each of these basic colors is converted into an image signal before it is combined with the images signals of the other colors. The image signal for each color may be individually processed for a desired effect, and the combined image signals allow the color image to be stored and reproduced as required.
There are a number of ways to color separate an image. For instance, a dichroic prism having a number of reflective surfaces each consisting of a multi-layer optical interference film may be used for this purpose. Each reflective surface selectively reflects light of a prescribed color so that color separated images may be formed on separate electronic imaging devices such as CCD panels.
When a transparent shield is placed in front of such a camera, the shield may diffract different colors of the incident light differently, and various points of an object may be associated with the corresponding points on the imaging device differently depending on the color of each particular point. This can be considered as one form of chromatic aberration. In other words, when identifying the actual spatial position of each point on the object from the position of the corresponding point on the imaging device, some error may occur depending on the way the light passing through the shield is diffracted.
Japanese patent laid open publication No. 2-205187A discloses the use of separate chromatic aberration compensation circuits for different ones of the basic RGB color signals for the purpose of canceling the influences of chromatic aberration. For such compensation circuits to be effective in compensating chromatic aberration, it is necessary to compare each particular point on the object and the position of the corresponding point on the imaging device for calibration. Conventionally, such a calibration was executed by using an incandescent lamp that emits white light containing a wide range of wavelengths.
However, RGB colors that are color separated from the white light generally do not have a same energy level, and the amplification gains for the signals from the imaging devices such as CCD panels are required to be adjusted individually for each different basic color of the white light. Therefore, the calibration process tends to be both complex and time consuming.

Image output calibrating system for cameras


A combination penetration tool for access to the control system of a subsurface safety valve also has a lockout for the flapper that operates by latching into a nipple profile near its upper end as a series of collet fingers pass through a sleeve that is held in the locked position on the valve housing. One or more dogs on the collet fingers line up with the flapper already pushed open by the advancing collet fingers to push the flapper further back. A second series of dogs get past the sleeve after moving through it. With a jar up force the second series of dogs overcomes a lock on the sleeve and shifts the sleeve to overlap the open flapper and allow the lock ring that moves with the sleeve to latch into the housing. The second series of dogs is sheared off but retained by the tool for removal from the well. The penetrator portion of the tool is a known device that preferably works by jarring up.

SSSVs are normally closed valves that prevent blowouts if the surface safety equipment fails. Conditions can arise where the SSSV fails to function for a variety of reasons. One solution to this situation has been to lock open the SSSV and to gain access into the pressurized control system that is used to move the flow tube to push the flapper into an open position against the force of a closure spring that urges the valve into a closed position. Thereafter, a replacement valve is delivered, normally on wireline, and latched into place such that the newly formed access to the control system of the original valve is now straddled by the replacement valve. This allows the original control system to be used to operate the replacement valve.
There have been several variations of lock open devices in the past. U.S. Pat. No. 4,577,694 assigned to Baker Hughes teaches the use of a flapper lock open tool (FLO) which delivers a band of spring steel to expand when retaining sleeves on the FLO tool are retracted. The tool latches inside the SSSV and with the flow tube in the flapper-closed position the band is released. This design offered the advantages of the lockout device not being integral to the SSSV. Instead it was only introduced when needed through a wireline. Another advantage was that the release of the band did no damage to the SSSV or the FLO tool. The band expanded into a recessed area so as to allow full-bore through-tubing access. The flow tube did not have to be shifted so that no spring forces acting on the flow tube had to be overcome to actuate the FLO tool. Subsequently, when the SSSV was retrieved to the surface, the band was easily removed by hand without special tools. The FLO tool had safety features to prevent premature release or incorrect placement. The FLO tool did not require fluid communication with the control system, as its purpose was solely flapper lock out.
The FLO tool did have some disadvantages. One was that the band could become dislodged under high gas flow rates. The tool was complicated and expensive to manufacture. The expanding ring presented design challenges and required stocking a large variety to accommodate different conditions. The running method required two wireline trips with jar-down/jar-up activation.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,579,889 assigned to Camco, now Schlumberger, required latching in the SSSV and stroking the flow tube down to the valve open position. The flow tube would then be outwardly indented in the valve open position so that the indentations would engage a downwardly oriented shoulder to prevent the flow tube from moving back to the valve closed position. This design had some of the advantages of the Baker Hughes FLO design and could accomplish the locking open with a single wireline trip. The disadvantages were that the flow tube was permanently damaged and that the flow tube had to be forced against a closure spring force before being dimpled to hold that position. This made disassembly of the SSSV with the flow tube under spring pressure a potentially dangerous proposition when the valve was later brought to the surface.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,564,675 assigned to Camco, now Schlumberger, also involved forcibly pushing the flow tube against the spring to get the flapper into the open position. In fact, the flow tube was over-stroked to push the actuator piston out of its bore in the pressurized control system, at which point the piston would have a portion splay out preventing its re-entry into the bore, thereby holding the flow tube in the flapper open position. This design had the safety issues of disassembly at the surface where the flow tube was under a considerable spring force. Additionally, fluid communication into the control system was not an option when locking open using this tool.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,059,041 assigned to Halliburton uses a tool that forces the flow tube down to get the flapper in the open position. It then releases a band above the flow tube that lodges on a downwardly oriented shoulder to hold the flapper open. This system has the risk of a flow tube under a spring force causing injury when later disassembled at the surface. This tool is fluid activated and must overcome the spring force to get the flow tube to the flapper open position. Finally, the tool is fluid pressure actuated, which will require a long fluid column to eventually communicate with the formation, a particular disadvantage in gas wells. Also of interest in the area of lock open devices for SSSVs are U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,624,315; 4,967,845 and 6,125,930 (featuring collet fingers on the end of the flow tube that engage a groove in the SSSV body). More recently a combination tool has been disclosed that penetrates into an existing control system while locking the flapper open with a jarring force that moves a flapper base when the flapper is wide open so that the flapper becomes trapped in the housing in a retaining groove. This is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,902,006. It has a fairly complex system for locating it in the proper position and as a result is expensive to manufacture.
The present invention focuses on a one trip operation to penetrate and lock the flapper open. It doesn't require flow tube movement or deformation or shifting a base for a flapper to obtain the locked open position. It doesn't deliver a sleeve to the flapper from the surface. Rather, in the preferred embodiment, the safety valve is put in service with the sleeve locked in position. A tool lands and is locked in a nipple adapter at the upper end. The lower end passes through the sleeve and no-goes below it. A jar up force unlatches the sleeve and shifts it under the flapper whereupon its position is secured. The no-go shoulder also moves the sleeve and is sheared off and retained to the tool for removal from the hole. Centralizers are provided to the sleeve circumferentially in alignment with the bore in the safety valve so that passing tools or an insert safety valve can be installed without interference. Those skilled in the art will more readily appreciate the full scope of the invention from the more detailed description of the preferred embodiment that appears below with its associated drawings while recognizing that the full scope of the invention is to be determined by the appended claims.

Lock open and control system access apparatus for a downhole safety valve


The structured control instruction fetch unit is a structured instruction stream controller that processes expand (XP), expand register indirect (XPR), loop (LOOP), and break (BRK) instructions for structured control. The fetch unit processes stop bits that mark the end of instruction blocks. Any instruction can be marked with a stop bit to indicate that it is the last one in an instruction block. All instructions are encoded with a predicate to reduce the use of control instructions and to simplify the control. A control stack guides instruction fetching by storing return addresses, loop block addresses, loop predicates, and loop counters. Control instructions and stop bits manage operation of the control stack. An instruction unit feeds execution units and includes a set-associative instruction cache, a control stack, an instruction buffer that decouples instruction fetching from execution, instruction decoders, and program counter (PC) control logic.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to data processing systems, and particularly to a structured control instruction fetch unit that feeds structured control program instructions to a processor for execution.
2. Description of the Related Art
The problem of accessing instructions that are stored in a data store, such as memory, and providing them to a data processor has been addressed in a variety of ways. Dedicated local memory is fast, can provide a high bandwidth, is power efficient and readily available, but is costly in area. By contrast, on-die shared and/or arbitrated memory consumes more power and may not always be available or satisfy peak bandwidth requirements, but the cost of implementation is reduced. Off-chip memory is the cheapest, but suffers the largest penalty in power consumption, access latency and available bandwidth. Any limitation in memory access performance, either due to latency or bandwidth limitations, also inflicts a penalty in processor efficiency, as the processor will stall when the required instruction is not available. With respect to shared memory access, latency, bandwidth, and power consumption can be mitigated by providing an intermediate data store. In some systems, a program instruction cache is provided such that the instructions can be accessed from within the cache. This provides fast access of the instructions, but has the disadvantage of being a reactive mechanism, which makes autonomous decisions on which instruction to store based solely on the history of the instructions or instruction addresses being requested by the processor. To mitigate this disadvantage, caches are often equipped with complex prediction logic with the goal of maximizing the probability of keeping the requested instructions in its local store. As a consequence, such cache devices are very power hungry. This can be a particular disadvantage for lengthy programs having many stored instructions.
An alternative is to buffer the instructions prior to use in a FIFO buffer. This is cheaper than a cache, but has less flexibility. This lack of flexibility means that instructions have to be moved more often, which costs power and can also lead to stalling in the processor when an instruction is not available at the appropriate time.
Many of the above solutions are specific to particular architectures, so that a new architecture needs to be designed.
Thus, a structured control instruction fetch unit solving the aforementioned problems is desired.

Structured control instruction fetch unit

KING FAHD UNIVERSITY OF PETROLEUM AND MINERALS

KING ABDULAZIZ CITY FOR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY


An ultrasound diagnostic apparatus is provided. The ultrasound diagnostic apparatus includes an input device configured to receive an input to display a cross-section of a reference medical image, wherein the reference medical image identifies a location of the cross-section in relation to a subject, and includes a characteristic region, and a reference medical image display control device configured to display the cross-section of the reference medical image based on volume data of the reference medical image previously acquired, the cross-section displayed according to the input.

The present invention relates to an ultrasound diagnostic apparatus displaying an ultrasound image and a reference medical image. The present invention also relates to a method of displaying a medical image thereof.
A conventional ultrasound diagnostic apparatus can display a real-time ultrasound image based on an echo signal acquired by transmitting an ultrasound wave from an ultrasound probe. For example, WO2004-098414 discloses an ultrasound diagnostic apparatus which displays a real-time ultrasound image and a reference medical image such as an X-ray CT (Computed Tomography) image and an MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) image of the same cross-section in relation to a subject.
This ultrasound diagnostic apparatus identifies a region corresponding to a location of an ultrasound image and displays the reference medical image for the corresponding region in the volume data acquired by an X-ray CT apparatus and an MRI apparatus based on the location of an ultrasound probe detected by a location sensor. Thus, whenever the ultrasound probe is moved, the reference medical image and the ultrasound image are automatically and constantly displayed so as to follow the moving ultrasound probe. Therefore, the ultrasound image and the reference medical image can be easily compared.
However, in order to automatically display the real-time ultrasound image and the same reference medical image, it is necessary to identify a location relationship between an ultrasound image and a reference medical image about the coordinate systems. Therefore, a location alignment is performed to determine a location relationship between an ultrasound image and a reference medical image about the coordinate systems.
Hereinafter an example of aligning a location is explained. First, an arbitrary cross-section of a reference medical image is displayed by operating an operation device based on volume data of the reference medical image previously acquired from a subject. Ultrasound waves are transmitted to a subject, their echoes are received and a real-time ultrasound image of arbitrary cross-section is displayed.
Then, the operator tries to compare the real-time ultrasound image and the reference medical image, and moves the location of an ultrasound probe, and operates the operation device. Then the same cross-sections of the ultrasound image and the reference medical image finally are displayed. At this time, the displayed ultrasound image and reference medical image are the cross-sectional images of a characteristic portion, such as a branched region of blood vessel. Once the same cross-sections of the ultrasound image and the reference medical image are displayed, the operator indicates the characteristic portions of the ultrasound image and the reference medical image that seems to be indicating the same location on the subject with a cursor. Thus, the same portions of the coordinate systems of the ultrasound image and the reference medical image are identified, and the location relationship between the ultrasound image and the reference medical image about the same coordinate system is identified.
When the ultrasound diagnostic apparatus operator who is unaccustomed to the X-ray CT image or the MRI image performs such location alignment, one may not be able to grasp which section in the subject a reference medical image is even if the reference medical image is displayed. In some cases, finding a cross-section of the reference medical image having a characteristic region for location alignment takes a longer time, and displaying the same cross-sections of the reference medical image and the ultrasound image takes a longer time.

Ultrasound diagnostic apparatus and method of displaying medical image thereof


New anti-reflective or fill compositions having improved flow properties are provided. The compositions comprise a dendritic polymer dispersed or dissolved in a solvent system, and preferably a light attenuating compound, a crosslinking agent, and a catalyst. The inventive compositions can be used to protect contact or via holes from degradation during subsequent etching in the dual damascene process. The inventive compositions can also be applied to substrates (e.g., silicon wafers) to form anti-reflective coating layers having high etch rates which minimize or prevent reflection during subsequent photoresist exposure and developing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is concerned with new anti-reflective compositions and via fill compositions for use in the manufacture of microelectronic devices. These compositions include a dendritic polymer dispersed or dissolved in a solvent system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
1. Anti-reflective Coatings
Integrated circuit manufacturers are consistently seeking to maximize substrate wafer sizes and minimize device feature dimensions in order to improve yield, reduce unit case, and increase on-chip computing power. Device feature sizes on silicon or other chips are now submicron in size with the advent of advanced deep ultraviolet (DUV) microlithographic processes.
However, a frequent problem encountered by photoresists during the manufacturing of semiconductor devices is that activating radiation is reflected back into the photoresist by the substrate on which it is supported. Such reflectivity tends to cause blurred patterns which degrade the resolution of the photoresist. Degradation of the image in the processed photoresist is particularly problematic when the substrate is non-planar and/or highly reflective. One approach to address this problem is the use of an anti-reflective coating applied to the substrate beneath the photoresist layer.
In the semiconductor industry, two broad types of bottom anti-reflective coatings have been used: organic and inorganic. Inorganic bottom anti-reflective coatings like SiON and TiN are deposited by plasma-enhanced, chemical vapor deposition techniques (PEVCD). These inorganic films are conformal and difficult to remove after the photolithography step. On the other hand, organic bottom anti-reflective coatings are planarizing, are deposited by a cost-effective spin-coating process, and can be easily removed by dry etching or stripping using wet chemicals.
Organic bottom anti-reflective coatings are formulated based on linear chain polymers which have crosslinkable sites. Light attenuating chromophores are grafted to these linear polymers to absorb light at the exposure wavelengths. For example, linear chain acrylate polymers have been used as the basic structure to formulate bottom anti-reflective coatings. Aliphatic polyester polymers have also been used. One major drawback of linear chain polymers, however, is that they undergo chain entanglements, leading to poor flow properties, particularly when used as fill compositions as discussed below.
2. Fill Compositions
The damascene process, or the process of forming inlaid metal patterning in preformed grooves, is generally a preferred method of fabricating interconnections for integrated circuits. In its simplest form, the dual damascene process starts with an insulating layer which is first formed on a substrate and then planarized. Horizontal trenches and vertical holes (i.e., the contact and via holes) are then etched into the insulating layer corresponding to the required metal line pattern and hole locations that will descend down through the insulating layer to the device regions (if through the first insulating layer, i.e., a contact hole) or to the next metal layer down (if through an upper insulating layer in the substrate structure, i.e., a via hole). Metal is next deposited over the substrate, thereby filling the trenches and the holes and forming the metal lines and interconnect holes simultaneously, As a final step, the resulting surface is planarized (e.g., by the known chemical-mechanical polish (CMP) technique) and readied to accept another damascene structure.
During the dual damascene process, the contact and via holes are typically etched to completion prior to the trench etching. Thus, the step of trench etching exposes the bottom and sidewalls (which are formed of the insulating or dielectric layer) of the contact or via holes to over-etch which can deteriorate contact with the base layer. An organic material is typically used to partially or completely fill the via or contact holes and to protect the bottom and sidewalls from further etch attack. These organic fill materials can also serve as a bottom anti-reflective coating (as discussed above) to reduce or eliminate pattern degradation and linewidth variation in the patterning of the trench layer, provided the fill material covers the surface of the dielectric layer.
Fill materials which have high optical density at the typical exposure wavelengths have been used for the past several years. However, most prior art materials have limited fill properties. For example, when the prior art compositions are applied to the via or contact holes formed within the substrate, the films formed by the compositions tend to be quite thin on the substrate surface immediately adjacent the holes, thus leading to undesirable light reflection during subsequent exposure steps. Also, the flow properties of the composition tend to be lacking in that the composition does not completely flow into via and contact holes, resulting in inadequate protection of those holes.
There is a need in the art for contact or via hole fill materials which provide complete coverage at the top of via and contact holes. Furthermore, this material should properly flow into the via and contact holes to protect the base during etching and prevent degradation of the barrier layer and damage to the underlying metal conductors.

Gap fill materials and bottom anti-reflective coatings comprising hyperbranched polymers


Exemplary embodiments of the present invention include an electro-optical device including storage capacitors having excellent breakdown-voltage performance to function properly. Exemplary embodiments further include an electro-optical device including data lines, scanning lines, thin film transistors, and pixel electrodes formed on a substrate. The electro-optical device also includes storage capacitors composed of first electrodes electrically connected to the thin film transistors and the pixel electrodes, second electrodes that are arranged to face the first electrodes, and dielectric films arranged between the first electrodes and the second electrodes, and oxidation films obtained by oxidizing part or all of the surfaces of at least one of the first electrodes and the second electrodes.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to electro-optical devices such as an active-matrix-driving liquid crystal device, an electrophoresis device such as electronic paper, an electro-luminescent (EL) display device, and a device including an electron emission element such as a field emission display and a surface-conduction electron-emitter display, and to a method for manufacturing the same. Also, the present invention relates to electronic apparatus including the electro-optical device.
2. Description of Related Art
The related art includes electro-optical devices capable of active-matrix-driving. The related art electro-optical devices include pixel electrodes arranged on a substrate in a matrix, thin film transistors (TFT) connected to each of the pixel electrodes, and data lines and scanning lines connected to the TFTs and provided in parallel in column and row directions.
The electro-optical device of the related art further includes a counter substrate that faces the substrate, counter electrodes that face the pixel electrodes on the counter substrate, and a liquid crystal layer interposed between the pixel electrodes and the counter electrodes to thus display images. That is, the alignment of liquid crystal molecules in the liquid crystal layer properly changes according to a predetermined potential difference between the pixel electrodes and the counter electrodes, such that the transmittance of light that passes through the liquid crystal layer changes to display images.
Further, the related art electro-optical device may include storage capacitors connected to the TFTs and the pixel electrodes. The storage capacitors allow the electric potential applied to the pixel electrodes to be stored for a certain period of time, such that it is possible to improve potential storage characteristics.

Electro-optical device, method of manufacturing the same, and electronic apparatus


An ultrasonic transmitting and receiving apparatus in which scanning time is shortened by simultaneously transmitting plural ultrasonic beams in plural directions and separation among the plural ultrasonic beams is improved. The ultrasonic transmitting and receiving apparatus includes: an ultrasonic probe including plural ultrasonic transducers; a drive signal generating unit for generating plural drive signals for simultaneously transmitting in plural directions plural kinds of ultrasonic beams corresponding to plural kinds of spread spectrum signals obtained by adding at a predetermined rate frequency components which have been discretely selected from among plural frequency components having different center frequencies; and a reception side signal processing unit for performing plural kinds of phase matching so as to form plural reception focal points corresponding to a number of transmitted ultrasonic beams based on plural reception signals.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ultrasonic transmitting and receiving apparatus to be used for diagnoses of organs in a living body and nondestructive inspections by transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves.
2. Description of a Related Art
Generally, in an ultrasonic transmitting and receiving apparatus to be used as an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus and an industrial flaw detecting apparatus, etc., an ultrasonic probe is used which includes plural ultrasonic transducers having functions of transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves. Image information on an object to be inspected is obtained based on intensity of ultrasonic echoes by scanning the object with an ultrasonic beam formed by combining plural ultrasonic waves and receiving ultrasonic echoes reflected from inside of the object by using such an ultrasonic probe. Further, a two-dimensional or three-dimensional image on the object is reproduced based on the image information.
In the ultrasonic transmitting and receiving apparatus, as a method of transmitting and receiving an ultrasonic beam by using an ultrasonic transducer array formed by plural ultrasonic transducers, the following methods (1) and (2) are known.
(1) Method of Dividing Beams on Reception
FIG. 5A is a schematic diagram for explanation of transmitting an ultrasonic beam according to a conventional method, and FIG. 5B is a schematic diagram for explanation of receiving an ultrasonic beam according to the conventional method. In this method, ultrasonic pulses are intermittently transmitted from respective plural ultrasonic transducers 101 that form an ultrasonic transducer array 100 based on drive signals supplied from plural pulsers provided in a transmission system. Those ultrasonic pulses are transmitted from the ultrasonic transducer array 100 toward an object to be inspected as shown in FIG. 5A, and propagates within the object to form an ultrasonic beam 102.
The ultrasonic beam 102 gradually becomes narrower while it travels in a region at a short distance from the beam transmitting position, becomes narrowest at a focal point F, and gradually becomes broader afterwards. The ultrasonic beam is reflected by a reflector existing within the object so that an ultrasonic echo is generated. As shown in FIG. 5B, the ultrasonic echo is received by the ultrasonic transducer array 100. The plural ultrasonic transducers 101, which form the ultrasonic transducer array 100, output RF signals. Predetermined delays are given to the RF signals and the RF signals are added to each other. Thus the RF signals are subjected to reception beam forming processing by phase matching computing means provided in a reception system, and thereby, reception signals with respect to each ultrasonic beam are obtained. In this example, three reception ultrasonic beams 103, 104, and 105 are shown.
(2) Method of Simultaneously Transmitting Multidirectional Beams
FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram for explanation of transmission and reception of ultrasonic beams according to another conventional method. In this method, plural kinds of drive signals are simultaneously supplied from plural pulsers to ultrasonic transducers 101. For example, as shown in FIG. 6, two sets of timing pulses including "A" pulse and "B" pulse are applied to one set of elements so that an ultrasonic beam "A" and an ultrasonic beam "B" are generated. In the case where the "A" pulse and the "B" pulse overlap, they form a common pulse. Thus, plural ultrasonic beams are simultaneously transmitted in plural directions (two directions in FIG. 6).
When the ultrasonic beams are received, reception beam forming processing is performed on the RF signals outputted from the ultrasonic transducers 101 in accordance with the directions in which the ultrasonic beam "A" and the ultrasonic beam "B" have been transmitted, and thereby, the two ultrasonic beams are separated. However, since sufficient separation cannot be obtained in the case where the angular difference between the transmitted ultrasonic beam "A" and ultrasonic beam "B" is small, a scheme is required for distinguishing these ultrasonic beams.
As a related technology, Japanese Patent Application Publication JP-A-7-104063 discloses an ultrasonic object measurement apparatus having a relatively simple construction and capable of precisely measuring existence or nonexistence of an object and the distance by reducing (i) influence of surrounding ultrasonic noise and (ii) influences of occurrence of mutual interference and multiple reflection waves when plural ultrasonic converters are operated close to each other in parallel (page 1, FIG. 1). This ultrasonic object measurement apparatus performs spread frequency modulation on a tone burst wave by using a pseudo-noise signal and transmit the wave, and obtains cross-correlation between the signal generated by receiving and demodulating the reflection wave and the pseudo-noise signal used for the spread frequency modulation. The existence or nonexistence of reception of reflection signal from the object is determined according to a degree of the cross-correlation, and further, the distance is measured. Furthermore, plural tone burst waves are distinguished by sending out transmission tone burst wave by using spread frequency modulation signals distinguished by sequential switching among plural pseudo-noise signals.
JP-A-7-104063 discloses that plural M-sequences (maximal-length sequences) codes having different periods from each other are used as plural pseudo-noise signals. However, there is a problem that the crosstalk among the plural tone burst waves, which are respectively modulated by using the plural M-sequences codes, does not become smaller than a certain fixed value in the worst case.
Further, International Publication WO97/36188 discloses an ultra-wideband interference radar system for optimization of radio interference discrimination ability and evaluation of Doppler shift of reflection radar echo. In this radar system, the transmission and reception process is divided into multiple and continuous sub-processes, and each sub-process includes transmission and reception of a signal having a relative bandwidth of a part of one octave, subsequent thereto. The signals received by different narrow-band transmissions are used for reconstruction of wideband radar data in accordance with the pulse compression technology. However, there is a problem that time is required for data collection because the transmission and reception process is divided into multiple and continuous subprocesses.

Ultrasonic transmitting and receiving apparatus


A transceiver operable in both the cellular and PCS frequency bands which uses a single voltage controlled local oscillator in an intermediate frequency stage for both the cellular and PCS signals. The oscillator is operative for upconverting transmitter signals and downconverting receive signals for both cellular operation and PCS operation. A second voltage controlled local oscillator in a stage between the transceiver antenna and the intermediate frequency stage is operative for only PCS operation to upconvert PCS transmitter signals and to downconvert PCS receive signals. This is accomplished by the use of a switchable intermediate frequency local oscillator in the transmitter path of both the cellular and PCS signals.

This invention relates to telecommunications devices and, more particularly, to an improved transceiver operable in both the cellular and PCS frequency bands.
In recent years, portable handheld wireless communications devices have become increasingly popular. At the present time, cellular telephones operating in the frequency band of about 824 MHz through about 894 MHz are the most widespread type of such devices. However, the personal communications system (PCS) operating in the frequency band of about 1850 MHz through about 1990 MHz is gaining in popularity. Accordingly, equipment suppliers are developing portable handheld radio transceivers which operate in both these frequency bands. Thus, there exists a need for a transceiver capable of operating in both of the described frequency bands.
It would appear to be a fairly straightforward task to construct such a transceiver wherein signals in the two bands are carried over separate paths within the transceiver. However, such a design would result in a duplication of much of the circuitry. Accordingly, there exists a need for a transceiver capable of operating in both of the described frequency bands in which much of the signal processing circuitry for the two bands is shared, to provide a more cost effective transceiver construction.


A method for fabricating composite materials/devices comprising stacking together fibers or rods of at least two different materials and drawing the fibers or rods. Using this process, devices having nanoscale features can be readily fabricated.

The design and fabrication of micrometer scale surface relief elements is a mature and highly flexible technology. Current fabrication techniques involve laser writing and electron beam writing of masks, followed by photolithography and etching, or direct laser and e-beam writing. For example, Mohammad R. Taghizadeh et al, IEEE Micro Volume 14, Number 6, pp. 10-19, December 1994, describes a technique for making diffractive optical elements. However, these known techniques have limited resolutions. This means that many small-scale devices cannot be fabricated easily. In addition, most known technology is not suitable for relatively high throughput applications.


A bowling lane division capping assembly for attachment atop a division support, comprising an elongated lower member and an elongated upper cap member, the lower member comprising a bottom wall for attachment to the division support, a pair of side walls upstanding from said bottom wall, and the side walls having a pair of upper flanges protruding toward each other while defining a space of predetermined width therebetween allowing access to the bottom wall for insertion of fasteners, the upper cap member comprising an upper wall and a pair of spaced legs depending therefrom, the legs being spaced apart an amount about equal to the space width and having laterally outwardly offset detents spaced apart greater than the space width for engagement beneath the flanges to fasten the upper cap member to the lower member. A pair of elongated gutters astraddle the division support member each have an edge portion on the division support member, the elongated lower member being interfitted with the gutter edge portions.

This invention relates to division capping for bowling lanes in bowling entertainment centers. Bowling entertainment centers provide a plurality of adjacent bowling lanes, each having a pair of lane straddling gutters, as is well known. Between adjacent gutters of adjacent lanes is a separation wall known as a division. The division commonly has a dress capping such as that shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,801,143 and Design 301,909. The inventor herein determined that bowling lane division capping was needed allowing access to the interior thereof, yet having readily assembled components which can be disassembled when necessary.

Brunswick Bowling & Billiards Corporation


An apparatus for the convenient viewing of scribed numbers upon selected wafers is disclosed. The apparatus supports a wafer cassette and raises predetermined wafers and illuminates the identification numbers scribed thereon.

Modern integrated circuits are typically fabricated upon silicon wafers. The wafers are usually quite thin and easily susceptible to breakage. To reduce the risk of breakage and simplify wafer handling, wafers are frequently transported in cassettes. For example, FIG. 1 illustrates cassette 11 with a plurality of wafers 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16. Typically, a cassette may hold 25 wafers. As illustrated in FIG. 1, wafer 12 is supported in cassette with its flat side 17 protruding through the bottom 19 of cassette 11.
Often it is desirable to be able to read small numbers which may be scribed on the upper portion of wafers. For example, in FIG. 1, scribed numbers 20, 21, 22, 23, and 24 are positioned on the upper portion of wafers 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16 respectively. When the cassette is filled with wafers, unfortunately, it may be difficult to read the small numbers which are scribed upon the top edges of the wafers.
In the past, practitioners have placed the bottom of cassette 11 upon a solid wedge. The solid wedge forces the wafers upward through the cassette and makes viewing numbers 20-24 somewhat easier. On other occasions, a flashlight is placed under the cassette (without a wedge) to aid in number identification. However, as wafers become larger and scribed numbers become smaller, there remains a continuing need for methods and apparatus for easier viewing of scribed numbers upon wafers. (Only a partially-filled cassette has been shown for convenience.)


A branch device that may be operable to: request to initiate access to a cloud computing application; map or link service level agreement information associated with the cloud computing application to performance and uptime specifications associated with a policy engine; and communicate with a first computational node that runs a first instance of the cloud computing application. Also, the branch device may be operable to: compare the performance data and the uptime data retrieved from the first computational node against the specifications, respectively; direct a request to the first instance, where the performance data and the uptime data at least satisfies the specifications, respectively; and direct a request to a second instance of the cloud computing application running on a second computational node, where the performance data and the uptime data do not satisfy the specifications, respectively.

Cloud computing refers to providing computing and electronic storage as a service to a group of end-users. Typically, end-users access cloud computing based applications through a web browser, a remote or lightweight desktop, or a mobile application. In general, cloud computing provides computer implemented services while storing and executing a user's data and software over a network. A common embodiment of cloud computing is software as a service (SaaS).
A benefit of cloud computing includes running processor-intensive applications from a remote server that has more processing power than a typical client device. Also, cloud computing provides for improved manageability of software, since the software can be managed at one computational node of a network as opposed to managing it at multiple end-user client devices. This is especially useful considering fluctuation and specialization of software today.
In short, cloud computing takes advantage of sharing resources to achieve consistency and economies of scale over a network.