A live video insertion system efficiently places static or dynamic images into a live broadcast. The system initially identifies natural landmarks within the video scene that can be automatically identified and tracked as the field of view of the camera pans and zooms across the scene. The locations of the landmarks are mathematically modeled and stored as a constellation of locations on a mathematical grid. An arbitrary reference point, preferably not necessarily coincident with a selected natural landmark, is located within or without of the grid and used as an origin for the purpose of inserting the static or dynamic image within the field of view of the camera. For static images, it is frequently desirable to place an edge or border of the image to be inserted on the reference point. For dynamic insertions, the distance between the reference point and the inserted dynamic image is automatically changed from frame to frame in order to make the image appear as though it's translating or changing, or both.

1. Field of the Invention
A system and method facilitates the insertion of dynamic and static images and other indicia into live broadcast video images on a real time basis so that they appear to be part of the original broadcast.
2. Description of Related Art
The present invention represents a significant improvement over various prior art approaches to the problem of inserting images into a live video broadcast. In particular, the prior art techniques suffer from the inability to rapidly detect and track landmarks and insert a dynamic or static image into a live video broadcast in a realistic manner. Moreover, many prior art techniques are computationally intense and require cumbersome and complicated computer systems to achieve their goals.
An early approach to video insertion is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,539,585 entitled "PREVIEWER" and issued on Sep. 3, 1985 to Spackova, et al. According to that teaching, artificial landmarks, in the form of triangles, are placed on an individual. By lining up the artificial landmarks with corresponding points on an insertable image, it is possible to superimpose a variety of different inserts into the field of view. For example, it is possible, using the artificial triangle landmarks, to virtually place a variety of different clothing items onto a human model, presumably a prospective customer, so that he or she can preview the way he or she would look wearing that particular item of clothing. While the use of artificial landmarks may be acceptable in certain contexts, it does not work well where the background scene might be a large sports arena or the like because they must be large in order to be seen and, therefore, are cumbersome to install and may look strange in the context of a sporting event.
Another approach to the same problem is to place X and Y sensors on a camera. As the camera pans across a scene, the X and Y sensors track the position and movement of the camera. This technique has limited success in relatively small quarters, but if the field of view is a sports arena or like, the inherent error, or "jitter," in the X and Y sensors produces a noticeable, and unacceptable, error in the placement of the inserted image. This "jitter" is particularly objectionable during occlusion processing. U.S. Pat. No. 4,084,184 issued to David W. Crain on Apr. 11, 1978 demonstrates an early approach for using data obtained by sensors placed on or about a camera to aid in tracking images within a scene. In Crain, sensor means such as gyro compasses, potentiometers, inertial navigation instruments, and inclinometers are used to generate information regarding camera tilt angles, aperture angles, and the like. The use of X and Y encoders in the context of a video insertion system has also been described, among other places, in Patent Abstracts of Japan, "Picture Synthesizer," Vol. 15, No. 8 (E-1042) 8 Mar. 1991 and JP-A-02 306 782 (Asutoro Design K. K.) 20 Dec. 1990. It is also believed that the use of X and Y sensors has previously been used in Europe to assist in the placement of inserts into live video broadcasts.
More recently, efforts have been made to take advantage of pattern recognition techniques to identify landmarks that are naturally occurring within an insert target area. One of the earliest efforts to take advantage of improved pattern recognition techniques to identify natural landmarks on the edge or around an insert target area is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,264,933 entitled "TELEVISION DISPLAYS HAVING SELECTED INSERTED INDICIA" issued on Nov. 23, 1993 to Rosser, et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,264,933 was based, in part, on British Patent Application Serial No. 9102995.5 filed on Feb. 13, 1991 which was based on an earlier British Provisional Patent Application filed Feb. 14, 1990 which was further related to British Patent Application Serial No. 9019770.8 filed on Sep. 10, 1990 by Roy J. Rosser. U.S. Pat. No. 5,264,933 discusses, in detail, a method for placing a logo or other indicia into, for example, a tennis court during a live broadcast. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,264,933, a target zone is pre-selected for receiving insertable images into the broadcast image. The target zone is spatially related to certain landmarks that represent distinguishable characteristics of the background scene being captured by the camera. The system always looks for landmarks in the target zone but the patent also discloses the fact that landmarks outside of the target zone can be employed too. Landmarks identified by the processor during broadcast are compared against a reference set of landmarks identified in a reference image. When sufficient verification has occurred, the operator inserts an image into the pre-selected target zone of the broadcast image. For example, in a football game the target zone could be the space between the uprights of a goalpost. Or, in a baseball game, the target zone could be a portion of the wall behind home plate. A relatively exhaustive description of the prior art up to that date is set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 5,264,933 and the references cited therein. Some of the more relevant patent references cited in the foregoing patent include U.S. Pat. Nos: 3,731,188; 4,442,454; 4,447,886; 4,523,230; 4,692,806 and 4,698,843.
Rosser, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,264,933 describes, among other things, how the boundaries of a tennis court can be identified and used as landmarks for the purpose of inserting a commercial logo into a live broadcast. The landmarks are identified by means of a "Burt Pyramid." The Burt Pyramid technique is discussed in a number of patents, such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,385,322; 4,674,125; 4,692,806; 4,703,514 and 5,063,603, as well as in publications such as "Fast Algorithms For Estimating Local Image Properties," by Peter J. Burt, Computer Vision, Graphics and Imaging Processing, 21 pp. 368-382, 1983, and "Pyramid-Based Extraction of Local Image Features with Application to Motion and Texture Analysis" by Peter J. Burt, SPIE, Vol. 360, pp. 114-124. See also "Pyramidal Systems for Computer Vision," V. Cantoni and S. Levialdi, NATO ASI Series F, Vol. 25, Springer-Verlag, 1986; "Multiresolution Image Processing and Analysis," A. Rosenfeld, editor, Springer-Verlag 1984, and "Object Tracking With a Moving Camera: An Application of Dynamic Analysis" by P. J. Burt, et al., "Proceedings of the Workshop on Visual Motion," Irvine, Calif., Mar. 20-22,1989. The Burt Pyramid technique described above and known in the prior art involves the reduction of an image into decimated, low resolution, versions which permit the rapid location and identification of prominent features, generally referred to as landmarks. The Burt Pyramid is one of several well known, prior art, techniques that can be employed to identify landmark features in an image for the purpose of replacing a portion of the image with an insert in the context of a live video broadcast.
Luquet, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,353,392, discloses a system that is limited to modifying the same zone, referred to as a target zone, in successive images. Thus, by limiting the insertion operation to a pre-determined target area, Luquet '392 suffers from some of the same drawbacks as Rosser '933, namely, that the inserted image is tied to a fixed location, or target zone, within the overall image. The present invention, as discussed in the "Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiment" later in this disclosure, is capable of inserting an image virtually anywhere within the overall broadcast scene independent of the identification of a specific insertion or target zone.
Thus the basic concept for many recent prior art inventions, such as set forth in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,264,933 and 5,353,392 described above, is to replace a preselected region of the current image or an existing advertisement or target zone in the current image.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,107,252 entitled "VIDEO PROCESSING SYSTEM" and issued on Apr. 21, 1995, naming as inventors, Michael J. Traynar and Ian McNiel and assigned to Quantel Limited, Newbury, United Kingdom, is similar to these prior art approaches in that the edges of the insertion area itself are specifically identified with a stylus and thereby fixed in the scene.
Another system that is primarily directed towards the identification of at least some landmarks within a designated insertion area is described in PCT Application PCT/US92/07498 entitled "VIDEO MERGING EMPLOYING PATTERN-KEY INSERTION" claiming a U.S. priority date of Sep. 18, 1991 and an international filing date of Sep. 10, 1992 and listing as inventors Keith James Hanna and Peter Jeffrey Burt.
Zoom correction and occlusion processing are discussed in PCT application PCT/US94/11527 assigned to ORAD, Inc. According to that system sensors are placed on the periphery of the camera zoom lens. The sensors mechanically detect the rotation of the zoom lens and calculate a corresponding zoom factor. The zoom factor is then fed to a computer system to correct the size of the intended insert. Systems of this type suffer from mechanical drawbacks such as jitter which may introduce an error factor rendering the size of an insertable image unacceptably variable. The present invention overcomes such mechanical drawbacks by determining the changed positions of landmarks within the current image and automatically applying a corresponding zoom factor to the insertable image. The present invention relies on landmark positions within the current image and not on external factors subject to motion or jitter. Thus, any sudden, unwanted camera motion or lens movement will not affect the zoom adjustment calculations.
Other patents of possible relevance to the foregoing might include the following:
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,528,589; 4,792,972; 4,817,175; 5,099,319; 5,142,576; 5,233,423; 5,309,174; 5,436,672; and PCT/GB90/00925.
Although '933 discloses insertion of video images in the insert location, the above prior art is generally directed towards the insertion of a static image, i.e., non-moving image, into a live video broadcast. Therefore, being able to identify the boundaries of a particular insertion, or "target," area may be important. The situation becomes much more difficult if it is desired to place a static image someplace other than in the "target zone" or to insert a dynamic image, i.e., one that can move, into a live video scene. The insertable image may be dynamic either in the sense that the image moves across the scene or the image itself changes from frame to frame, or both. Imagine, for example, the difficulties of superimposing a rabbit, beating a drum, simultaneously moving across the field of view into a live video broadcast.
Insofar as understood, none of the prior art described above, nor any known to the applicants, can efficiently and satisfactorily solve the problem of inserting static and/or dynamic images into a live video scene in as realistic a manner as the present invention.

System and method for inserting static and dynamic images into a live video broadcast


Techniques to process metadata involve: in response to receiving a modification transaction for metadata on a computing device, acquiring information related to a busyness degree of the computing device; and according to at least a determination that the busyness degree is greater than a threshold degree, modifying the metadata in a metadata storage apparatus of the computing device directly without generating a log related to the modification transaction in a log storage apparatus of the computing device. Accordingly, such techniques can achieve good processing performance irrespective of a busy state or non-busy state of a computing device. In particular, when the computing device is in a busy state, a newly triggered modification transaction can still be timely executed, thereby improving IOPS performance of the computing device in a busy state.

In a legacy data storage system, data are divided into actual data and metadata. The actual data refers to real data (such as, documents, audios, videos, pictures, and the like) stored by users. The metadata refers to data for describing characteristics of actual data, such as access right, the owner of the actual data, distribution information of actual data blocks, and the like. There are a large number of operations for metadata including creating, deleting, updating/modifying metadata, and the like. The busyness degree of the computing device varies with the different tasks being executed. In particular when the computing device is in a busy state, the legacy metadata processing solution cannot achieve good processing performance. Therefore, it is desirable for an efficient and reliable mechanism for implementing maintenance of metadata.

Method, device and computer program product for processing metadata


A carrying bag (20) formed of flexible material includes an upper compartment (86) and a lower compartment (90) separated by a dividing wall (86). A zippered closure (27) extending around three sides of the bag allows access to the lower compartment and permits the upper compartment to be pivoted away from the lower compartment. The lower compartment includes a unitary, divided tray (84) for storing articles therein. A detachable article, such as a wearable pouch (42), is releasably attached to one side of the bag by means of quick-release clip locks (30). The pouch includes a pocket (65) for storing a strap assembly (68, 70) which may be deployed around the waist of a user to convert the pouch to a fanny pack.

Carrying bags, particularly of the soft-sided, lightweight type, have found increasing use in recent years. The popularity of these bags is partially due to the fact that they may be provided with strategically located, separate pockets and other features that allow a user to gain quick access to stored articles. Because of their lightweight, such bags have come to replace heavier, hard-sided containers which, in the past, have been used for a variety of specialized applications, such as tool boxes, fishing lure boxes, sports bags and the like.
Because of the tendency to store more and diverse articles in these lightweight, specialized bags, they have, in some cases, become rather heavy, large and bulky. Larger, heavier articles tend to move around and sometimes place stress concentrations on weaker portions of the bag. This is particularly true where the soft elements and hard elements of the bag are not firmly fixed together. These disadvantages limit the use of these bags for certain applications. It would therefore be desirable to provide a commodious bag for storing a large number of specialized articles, but which affords the user the option of detaching certain portions of the bag, or accessories mounted thereon, so that these items may be carried or worn by the user without the need for carrying the entire bag. It would also be advantageous to provide a bag of this type which structurally ties the soft and hard elements together into a unified assembly. The present invention is directed toward satisfying these needs.


Acoustofluidic systems including acoustic wave generators for manipulating fluids, droplets, and micro/nano objects within a fluid suspension and related methods are disclosed herein. According to an aspect, an acoustofluidic system includes a substrate including a substrate surface. The system also includes an acoustic wave generator configured to generate acoustic streaming within an acoustic wave region of the substrate surface. Further, the acoustic wave generator is controllable to change the acoustic streaming for movement of a droplet or other micro/nano object on a fluid suspension about the acoustic wave region.

Handling of liquids is essential in a majority of applications associated with chemical, biological, and biomedical protocols. Current automated fluid processing technologies have brought unprecedented accuracy, speed, and repeatability to biomedical research and the pharmaceutical industry, such as the preparation of sequencing libraries, clinical diagnostics, and large-scale compound screening. A myriad of different liquid handling mechanisms, including robotics, micro-droplets, pneumatic valves, electrical, acoustics, hydrodynamics, magnetics, and liquid marbles, have been applied to numerous fluid-processing scenarios. Among all these mechanisms, the robotic pipetting system (e.g., Cloud Lab available from Transcriptic Inc.) is, by far, the most widely adopted solution for automation, yet it requires considerable expense, space, and maintenance. Lab-on-a-chip solutions miniaturize the bulky wet lab onto a compact chip, but are generally optimized for specific reaction protocols and hence lack programmability and dynamic re-configurability since all channel designs are fixed after fabrication. Digital microfluidics offers an appealing solution for efficient automation by programmable manipulation of nano- to pico-liter droplets on a miniaturized device using electro-wetting forces. It has demonstrated remarkable programmability in terms of reaction automation, particularly for reaction protocols that require serial addition of reagents or precise temporal control.
Despite these strengths, most current methods suffer from a fundamental constraint. They generally rely on physical contact with a solid structure in order to contain, transport, or manipulate liquid reagents. Therefore, traces of a reagent inevitably adsorb onto the contact surface and can possibly later dissolve into another liquid sample. Thus, the risk of cross-contamination due to this undesirable "fouling of the surface" intrinsically limits the transport surfaces to a single type of working liquid plus reagent combination, and restricts the repetitive actuation of liquids with sticky biomolecules (e.g., undiluted blood). Thus, a matrix of successive cascading interaction experiments requires an exponential number of available channel paths, as well as a complex, multi-layered array of independently-actuated switches, to avoid cross contamination.
Contactless liquid-handling methods, in contrast, eliminate surface adsorption by employing long-range forces to isolate liquid reagents from solid structures, allowing for massively scalable, dynamic, multi-path fluidic processing due to the custom programmable and rewritable nature of the fluidic channels. The rewritability (i.e., the ability to reuse the same fluidic path without cross contamination) enables the use of multi-path routing and test optimization with respect to time and space when applied to the testing of large matrices of experimental variables. This advantage may be referred to as "droplet rewritability" since there can be many different possible reagent combinations within a droplet which is enabled by reusable paths for transportation or mixing, even with a small array of acoustic transducers. Recently, there has been renewed interest in acoustics as a straightforward and promising solution for liquid handling owing to its contactless operation, label-free selectivity, and high biocompatibility. An embodiment of contactless, acoustic-based liquid handling was in the form of ultrasonic levitation. This technique used a standing bulk acoustic wave to suspend liquid drops at pressure nodes in open air. These acoustic mechanisms have evolved to either holographic or digital manipulation of levitated objects or droplets. However, with its limited resolution, low controllability, and bulky transducer size, ultrasonic levitation is not suitable for manipulation in small scales. Not only does ultrasonic levitation have difficulties in accurately manipulating small objects (e.g., microparticles or nanoliter droplets), it also presents significant challenges when trying to load or collect these objects from the device.
In view of the foregoing, there is a continuing need for improved systems and techniques for digitally transporting, merging, mixing, and splitting reagents within aqueous droplets or other biosamples in a contamination-free, biocompatible manner.


A monitored static electricity dissipation garment which is to be connected to a voltmeter which is to display to the wearer of the garment the amount of static electricity that is on a human's body at any given instant. The monitor can be located separate from the garment or can be worn on the garment. When the monitor is worn on the garment, it is necessary that the human user wear electrically conductive boots that have electrically conductive soles which function to dissipate static electricity on an electrically conductive floor.

1. Field of the Invention
The field of this invention relates to garments and more particularly to a garment that is designed primarily to minimize static electricity generated in a controlled environment such as a clean room.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is well known that electrons repel each other. If enough electrons are present on a given object, the expulsion force may be so great that an escape path is created which is in the form of an arc. An electrostatic discharge, the arc, is basically a sudden and violent redistribution of electrons between two different bodies. On a human body, the electrostatic charge positions itself on the outside skin of the human body.
In the electronics industry, charged human bodies are the killer of components. Electronic components are becoming ever so more sensitive to static electricity. A human walking across the room would likely pick up hundred's of volts of static electricity. This would be a tremendously high voltage when dealing with present day electronic equipment Present day electronic equipment of more advanced type requires that voltage be less than one volt when building or working on the equipment. If the path of the sudden electrostatic discharge happens to include sensitive electronic devices, destruction or a significant amount of damage is quite common. In the manufacturing of some extremely sensitive computer hard drives, the manufacturers are experiencing up to seventy percent rejection because of damage due to static electricity.
In the past, there has been substantial effort expended to dissipate static electricity from workers. One of the common ways that static electricity is dissipated from a worker is by means of a conductive garment worn by the worker which is electrically connected to the exterior surface of the body of the worker. An electrical conductive grounding wire connects to the garment to electrical ground. Also, it is known for the workers to wear shoes or boots that have electrically conductive soles.
One of the disadvantages of the prior art static electricity dissipation garments is that the garment must be grounded in order for it to be effective. What is common is that the worker disconnects the ground wire to move to a different location, comes back to the first location and forgets to reconnect with the grounding outlet. Then when the worker goes back to work, static electricity flows through the electronic equipment which results in equipment damage.
Another disadvantage of the prior art static electricity dissipation garments is the lack of a positive connection between the garment and the boots. The garment is to be connected to an electrical ground and the boots are for the purpose of dissipating any static electricity in the areas of the worker's feet with this dissipation of static electricity being through the floor on which the worker is positioned. Even if the garment of the worker becomes disconnected from the electrical ground, so long as the garment is connected to the boots, there would be an electrically conductive path for the static electricity.
Another disadvantage of prior art static electricity dissipation garments is that the worker is not able to ascertain if there is an undesirable level of static electricity on the worker's body. In the past, there has been no connection of the garment to a voltmeter with this voltmeter to produce a reading which is to be displayed to the worker informing the worker that there is a potential damaging amount of static electricity on the worker's body.

Monitored static electricity dissipation garment


A closure (40) and container (10) combination which includes a closing and opening assist mechanism (22, 28, 28′, 30, 30′) which provides for spreading the locking mechanism (46) of the closure and causing a lifting movement of the closure to effect the removal of the closure from the container.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to packaging and more particularly to a combination of a container and an associated closure therefor capable of efficiently containing and storing various fluid products including liquids and fluent solid materials.
2. Description of the Prior Art
While the packaging industry is familiar with polygonally-shaped containers to obtain the most efficient utilization of shipping, storing and displaying space, the utilization of similarly configured closures providing ready access to the contents are not available. Closures adapted to be received by typical externally threaded finishes are well known and have been found to be generally acceptable, particularly where annular or round finishes are employed. However, it is considered that in many instances it would be desirable to utilize a polygonal container having a polygonal finish. Such a design provides for efficiency in packaging, shipping, storing, and displaying the product, but poses serious problems in respect of closure design. One of the types of closure for such finishes is the "press-on" or "snap-on" type.
Several types of "press-on" or "snap-on" container closures are presently known for the packaging of products. A common feature of these closures is that the closure and the associated finish are provided with cams, ribs, or threads that allow the closure to be "snapped" or "pressed" onto the container to a closed position over an opening in the top of the finish of the container.
The removal of the closure in "press-on" or "snap-on" container systems can occur in a variety of ways. A common method of removing the closure is to push or pull the closure off of an engaging rim of the container. The closure structure and means of removal are commonly employed in the construction of closures for aspirin containers. Another means for removing the closure involves pushing on the sides of the closure to deform the shape of the closure slightly so that ribs or cams on the closure are caused to be disengaged from those on the container, thus releasing the closure from the container. Another means employed for removing the closure involves twisting the closure about the vertical axis of the container to release ribs or threads. Generally, these twist-off systems require the user to push the closure downwardly while simultaneously twisting to disengage the threads or ribs on the closure from those on the container. In container systems not requiring the closure to be pushed downwardly during the twisting motion, the shape of the finish often requires that a relatively large twisting force be applied before the engaged cams, ribs, or threads will disengage to release the closure from the container.
Each of the aforementioned structures requires the user to apply a relatively large force to overcome the engaged relationship of the cams, ribs, or threads on the closure and container, or to apply a dual set of forces, such as in the combined push-and-twist removal system. Therefore, such container closures often pose difficulties for persons with little hand strength, such as the elderly and the disabled.
It would be advantageous to provide a container system that lacks the disadvantages of the container systems described above while simultaneously being attractive and of simple design, allowing for ease in manufacture.
It is an object of the present invention to produce a container and closure combination which includes an opening assist structure allowing the container to be opened readily with a minimum amount of force while not compromising the reliability of the closure when it is in an operative closed position on the container.
Another object of the invention is to produce a container and closure combination wherein both the container and the closure are provided with a plurality of cooperating locking tabs that reliably retain the closure over the finish of the container.
Still another object of the invention is to produce a container and closure combination which includes an opening assist structure permitting the closure to be easily opened with a minimum amount of force, without pressing downwardly or pulling upwardly, while maintaining the sealing reliability of the closure when in closed relationship with the container.
Another object of the invention is to produce a container and closure combination wherein the closure and container are provided with a means for lifting the closure and a means for spreading the skirt of the closure away from the finish of the container to provide a "snap-on/pop-off" feature of the container and closure combination.

Container and closure combination including spreading and lifting cams


Measurement accuracy in temperature of a substrate for an ink jet head is improved. A substrate for an ink jet head includes diode sensors and aluminum sensors and as plural kinds of substrate temperature sensing elements, each of which has an output voltage property different from each other. The diode sensors and have a property that the output voltage thereof decreases as temperature increases when a constant current is applied to the corresponding sensor. The aluminum sensors and have a property that the output voltage thereof increases as temperature increases when the constant current is applied to the corresponding sensor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording element substrate used in an ink jet head which performs recording by discharging ink droplets from discharging ports. The present invention further relates to a recording head having such a recording element substrate and an ink jet recording apparatus having such a recording head.
2. Description of the Related Art
A substrate for an ink jet head includes heaters (heating elements), drivers, a logic circuit, a substrate temperature sensing element, pads (external electrode terminals) and the like.
The heaters generate thermal energy for discharging ink. The drivers drive the heaters. The logic circuit controls the drivers. The substrate temperature sensing element senses a substrate temperature. The pads are used for electrical connection with the ink jet head or the ink jet recording apparatus.
The heaters are formed such that the number of the heaters is compatible with that of discharging ports. Therefore, the number of the drivers is also formed compatibly with that of the discharging ports. Such a substrate for an ink jet head is monolithically fabricated on a silicon semiconductor substrate through semiconductor device manufacturing techniques.
In addition, such an ink jet head is characterized in that temperature is closely related to a diameter and a discharging speed of an ink droplet, which affects an image density and exert an influence upon printing quality. Therefore, sensing of the substrate temperature plays an important role.
As a substrate temperature sensing element which is provided on a substrate for an ink jet head, a diode sensor and an aluminum sensor are adopted therein, each of which is formed on a silicon substrate through semiconductor manufacturing techniques.
The diode sensor senses temperature in accordance with temperature properties of forward voltage in a semiconductor diode. In addition, the aluminum sensor senses temperature in accordance with change in a resistance value caused by change in temperature.
Here, comparing the diode sensor and the aluminum sensor, the properties of the diode sensor are stable even if deviation in manufacturing processes is considered. On the other hand, in the aluminum sensor, the deviation occurs in the resistance value according to a film thickness and a line width of aluminum in manufacturing processes. For this reason, the diode sensor is excellent in view of the accuracy of the temperature sensing. In addition, in the aluminum sensor, high electrical resistance is required, and the line width has to be increases in order to reduce the deviation in processes. Therefore, such problem is dealt with by lengthening a layout distance of the aluminum sensor. The configurations proposed in U.S. Application Laid-open. No. 2002/0149657 or U.S. Pat. No. 6,945,629 have been known as a prior art for the above-mentioned techniques. In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 7,441,878 discloses a configuration such that temperature sensors are disposed at plural places of a substrate.
Sensing of a substrate temperature is important in order to enhance resolution in printing quality and an ink jet head is required to be long according to increase in printing speed. For this reason, the substrate for the ink jet head is configured to include the heaters to be arranged in a longitudinal direction of the substrate. At the same time, it is important that temperature measurement can be performed on a plurality of places including the vicinity of the center portion of the heater array as well as the temperature measurement is performed in the vicinity of end portions of the conventional heater array.
However, when the diode sensors for measuring the temperature near the end portion of the heater array are disposed not only on the end portion of the heater array but also on the center portion of the heater array to measure the temperature, the following problem occurs. That is, there is a problem in that sensitivity in the temperature measurement of the diode sensor which is disposed on the center portion of the heater array is degraded.
The causes of the problem are as follows.
FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view schematically illustrating the diode sensor. In FIG. 8, a diode for sensing the temperature is formed to have a PN junction structure which is schematically illustrated as a diode 206. That is, in order to form the diode for sensing the temperature, a p-type region 202 and an n-type region 203 are formed on a p-type semiconductor substrate 201, and an n+ region 204 and a p+ region 205 are formed within the n-type region 203.
When such a structure of a temperature sensor is used, a constant current is supplied from the p+ region 205 serving as an anode to the n+ region 204 serving as a cathode. At this time, by monitoring a forward voltage (Vf), change in temperature can be sensed because Vf has a temperature property of about −2 to −2.5 mV/° C.
The relationship between the change in temperature and an output voltage at the time of applying the constant current to the diode sensor has the feature illustrated in FIG. 9. That is, in the diode sensor, the output voltage decreases as the temperature increases.
In contrast, the relationship between the change in temperature and the output voltage at the time of applying the constant current to an aluminum wiring for electrically connecting the diode sensor or an aluminum sensor has the feature illustrated in FIG. 10. That is, in the aluminum wiring or the aluminum sensor, the output voltage also increases as the temperature increases.
Here, in order to dispose the diode sensor in the vicinity of the center portion of the heater array, first, the diode sensor is disposed in the vicinity of the center portion of the heater. Further, it is necessary to make longer the aluminum wiring from an input/output pad to the diode sensor in order to electrically connect the input/output pad and the diode sensor.
With the configuration described above, in terms of a value of the output voltage for sensing the temperature at the time of applying the constant current, when the temperature increases, a value of the output voltage of the diode sensor unit decreases, and on the contrary, a value of the output voltage of the aluminum wiring unit increases. That is, the values of the output voltages are changed so as to be canceled to each other. For this reason, an amount of change in temperature is sensed smaller than an actual amount of change, so that the sensitivity becomes degraded.
As a result, since accuracy of the temperature sensing in a high temperature of the ink jet head is lowered, it is impossible to properly perform driving control and the printing quality is often degraded due to variation in an image density.

Recording element substrate, recording head, and ink jet recording apparatus having the recording head


A method of GPS accuracy adjustment for an integrated INS/GPS navigation system which utilizes microelectro mechanical systems (MEMS) based inertial sensors to mitigate multipath problems arising when a vehicle is in an area with many high-rise buildings is disclosed. Even when GPS measurement output values are deviated from that expected, the INS/GPS navigation system uses as many measurement outliers as possible without discarding, unless they are obvious error values, thereby maintaining a practical level of accuracy. The measurement outliers typically occur when the integrated INS/GPS navigation system receives GPS signals which have transmitted through multipaths such as reflection by buildings, since the signal path lengths vary.

An inertial navigation system (INS) is a widely used technology for guidance and navigation of a vehicle. The INS is composed of an inertial measurement unit (IMU) and a processor where an IMU houses accelerometers and gyroscopes which are inertial sensors detecting platform motion with respect to an inertial coordinate system. An important advantage of the INS is independence from external support, i.e., it is self-contained. However, the INS cannot provide high accuracy at long ranges. Particularly, inertial sensors are subject to errors that tend to accumulate over time, i.e., the longer the drive time, the greater the inaccuracy.
More recent developments in global positioning system (GPS) have made high accuracy vehicle navigation possible at low cost. However, since the GPS relies on GPS satellites, it is susceptible to jamming, RF (radio frequency) interference and multipath problems. Although the GPS provides accurate position and velocity over longer time periods, the GPS involves occasional large multipath errors and signal dropouts. Therefore, efforts are made to develop an integrated INS/GPS navigation system by combining the outputs of a GPS and an INS using a Kalman filter to remedy performance problems of both systems.
Inertial sensors used to be expensive and bulky only used in precision application, for example, aerospace and military navigation. For establishing an IMU package in a compact and inexpensive manner, efforts have been made to develop microelectro mechanical systems (MEMS) sensors. When a ground vehicle is, for example, in a downtown area of a city where there are many tall buildings, the navigation system receives GPS signals not only through direct paths but also multiple paths because of reflections of the GPS signals by the buildings as shown in FIG. 1. Such multipath GPS signals present problems (hereafter "mutipath problems") in a navigation system because the time of arrival of the GPS signal varies depending on the length of the path taken until reaching the GPS receiver.
Numerous researchers are studying mitigation of GPS multipath problems for a GPS receiver all by itself. While many of them try to solve this problem by modifying the correlation process internally in a GPS receiver's algorithm, some propose handy logics using a receiver's output signals to eliminate measurements including multipaths. To the best of the inventor's knowledge, there is no economical and practical solution for multipath problems applicable to integrated INS/GPS systems where the worst case performance should fall in the INS-only performance when GPS performance degradation occurs.
Therefore, there is a need of a new method to solve the GPS multipath problems in an economical and practical way for a MEMS based integrated INS/GPS navigation system which is utilizing low-cost, small, but noisier MEMS inertial sensors.

GPS accuracy adjustment to mitigate multipath problems for MEMS based integrated INS/GPS navigation systems


Exhaust gases containing oxides of nitrogen and sulfur from a fired process heater, a fossil fuel fired boiler, or a chemical process are diverted from a stack prior to admission to the atmosphere through a duct system containing heat exchangers that reduce the exhaust gas from an elevated temperature, if any, to about ambient temperature. Any heat extracted from the exhaust gas may be transferred to the boiler feed water which would serve to reduce the energy cost of operating a boiler. Once the exhaust gas is cooled to about ambient temperature, the gas is then mixed with an oxidant, such as ozone, at a preselected molar ratio to transform the oxides to higher orders of nitrogen and sulfur oxides to increase the absorbability of the nitrogen and sulfur oxides in a reagent solution. The reagent absorbs the oxidized contaminants from the exhaust gas. The oxides are transformed to dilute acids which are then neutralized to form salts that are acceptable for discharge to a municipal waste water treatment plant. The treated exhaust gas is then emitted from an exhaust stack containing contaminants at a level meeting air quality standards. Additionally any heat recovered from the exhaust gas can be used to lower operating costs.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a process for separating contaminants from the exhaust gases generated from combustion of fossil fuels and from chemical processes, and more particularly, to the removal of nitrogen and sulfur oxides from a cold stream of gaseous combustion products such as the removal of nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides from exhaust gases.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Gas recovery devices are well known and in particular, devices associated with power generation plants and coal, oil or gas/fired boilers and chemical processes for removing NO.sub.x and SO.sub.x from the exhaust gas and fugitive gas recovery streams. An example of conventional devices that not only recover heat from flue gases but also remove the contaminants is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,121,541 where flue gases from a power generating plant are purified and heat is recovered from the flue gases. Flue gases from the boiler initially enter a heat exchanger, where they are cooled and thereafter contacted with cooling water to remove waste heat. Pollutants contained in the flue gases are partially absorbed by cooling water. Thereafter, the purified flue gas is released with ambient cooling air and to the surrounding atmosphere. This system is characteristic of a wet flue gas scrubber used to remove contaminants in the form of sulfur dioxide, fluorine compounds, nitrogen oxides, etc.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,784,835 discloses a gas scrubber and heat exchanger for removing contaminants from sulfurous flue gases, where a glass fiber mat electrostatic filter retains particles within tile flue gases. Other known devices for removing contaminants from exhaust gases emitted from power plants are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,473,298; 4,681,744; and 4,799,941. With these devices, the exhaust gases are first chilled with direct water sprays and thereafter solid contaminants and water soluble substances are removed from the gases by the contacting water. In a spray chamber the water combines with water soluble gases, such as SO.sub.x, contained in the gases to form sulfurous and sulfuric acids which are collected with the water spray in a chamber. It is also known as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,881,004 to recover nitric acid by scrubbing a tail gas with acid or alkaline solution and nitric acids which minimize the discharge of nitrogen oxides to the atmosphere.
While heat recovery devices or economizers are well known, their efficiency needs to be improved because it has been determined that up to 16% of heat escapes uncovered from the stacks equipped with economizers. This in part can be attributed to admitting the exhaust gases at a relatively high exit temperature. Also, in the case of "mass transfer" heat recovery devices the primary function is to recover heat. Generally, the removal of the contaminants from tile flue gas stream is incidental. When scrubbing operations are combined with heat removal operations, the process becomes less efficient at heat transfer because a portion of the heat is lost in an effort to remove contaminants.
It is generally recognized that wet scrubbers are designed primarily to remove contaminants and are not efficient in recovering waste heat. Heat removal is considered incidental and adds to the expense of the pollution abatement operation. In many instances after wet scrubbing, flue gas must be reheated to rise up and out of the boiler chimneys. As a result, boilers equipped with gas scrubbing equipment are expensive to maintain and to operate. While it has been suggested by the prior art devices to remove contaminants in the form of NO.sub.x and SO.sub.x emissions from flue gases, the known devices are expensive to operate and waste a substantial amount of energy in the loss of heat that could be otherwise recovered from the flue gases in the process of removing the contaminants from the flue gases.
Therefore, there is need to provide apparatus for removing contaminants, specifically NO.sub.x and SO.sub.x emissions, from exhaust gases that allows for the efficient use of recovered waste heat, while at the same time reducing the content of the contaminants in the exhaust gases to the required levels as prescribed by air quality regulations. Improved emission equipment is therefore required that not only brings the content of the contaminants in the exhaust gases into compliance with regulated air quality standards, but also lowers the cost of the treatment process by recovering heat from the treated exhaust gases to lower the operating cost of the combustion or chemical processing unit generating the exhaust gases.

Process for removing No.sub.x and So.sub.x from exhaust gas


[Object] To provide an antenna device which has a radiation pattern of wide angle, does not generate nulls in the vicinity of a front of an antenna, and has a high radiation efficiency.

Applications of radars for detecting human/object or the like are spreading in various fields. Among others, in order to aid safe driving of automobile, developments of devices for monitoring an obstacle or the like (target object) existing in the periphery of an automobile using a radar are in progress. As such an automobile peripheral monitoring radar, BSD (Blind Spot Detection) aiding blind spot detection, and CTA (Cross Traffic Alert) which generates an alarm when a person, an oncoming car, or the like exists at an intersection, and the like are being brought into practical use. Among these automobile peripheral monitoring radars, there are ones required to detect a target object in the range of a substantially fan shape constituted of a range of certain angle (for example, in a wide angle range of about −60° to +60° with the front of a radiation direction being a center). On the other hand, other than automobiles, there are cases where a wide-angle detection range is required similarly as an application example to an infrastructure intended for security purpose or monitoring purpose. In any case, increase in angle range is necessary, but simultaneously there may be cases where ones having no drop in characteristics within the angle range and ones which have symmetrical detection ranges are preferred.
Patent Document 1 discloses an array antenna with plural radiation patterns having main lobes in which radiation intensity peaks in plural directions and a sensor detecting a predetermined wide angle direction. For is this array antenna, there is presented a case example of power feeding in reverse phase as a feeding condition and about 0.5 and 0.2 as an amplitude ratio, where it is possible to form a radiation pattern in a wide angle direction instead of directivity toward the front.
Further, Patent Document 2 discloses a microstrip array antenna in which plural radiation elements are coupled by a directional coupler of ¼ wavelength side coupling form. As disclosed in the "Prior Art" section in this Patent Document 1, when a T-branched line of simple structure is used to constitute a power feeding circuit, due to the influence of radiation elements or reflection waves of power feeding lines, power distribution characteristics of the T-branched line deviates from a desired value, and an excitation distribution of respective radiation elements is disturbed from the desired value, which can deteriorate radiation characteristics of the antenna. However, the technology described in Patent Document 2 allows preventing such deterioration in radiation characteristics.

Abstract: [Organization] An array antenna device 1 having a plurality of radiation elements has: a dielectric substrate 2; two or more series array antennas 10, 20 which are formed on the dielectric substrate and to which the plurality of radiation elements 11 to 13, 21 to 23 are connected in series by conductor lines 15, 25; a distributor 30 formed in a layer different from a layer of the dielectric substrate where the series array antennas are formed, the distributor distributing power via capacitive coupling to the two or more series array antennas; and a phase adjuster (conductor lines 34 to 37) adjusting a phase of power distributed by the distributor.


A torque detecting device includes a permanent magnet; a first magnetic yoke; a second magnetic yoke; two magnetic elements; a terminal; a case; and an external housing. The two magnetic elements are electrically connected to the terminal. The case accommodates the two magnetic elements and the terminal. The external housing accommodates the permanent magnet, the first magnetic yoke, and the second magnetic yoke, covers an outer side surface of the case, and is formed integrally with the case.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a torque detecting device that includes a magnetic element, and an electric power steering system including the torque detecting device.
2. Description of Related Art
A conventional torque detecting device includes a magnetism collecting unit and a sensor unit. The magnetism collecting unit is integrated with a pair of magnetism collecting rings through resin molding. The magnetism collecting unit includes a fitted recessed portion and a flat plate-shaped fitting portion that surrounds the fitted recessed portion. The sensor unit includes a magnetic element. The sensor unit includes the magnetic element, a fitted protruding portion with a cylindrical shape that holds the magnetic element, a flat plate-shaped fitting portion that surrounds the fitted protruding portion, and a seal member that is fitted to the fitted protruding portion. The respective fitting portions of the magnetism collecting unit and the sensor unit are fastened to each other by using a plurality of fixing screws in a state where the fitted protruding portion is inserted into the fitted recessed portion. Thus, the relative positions of the element facing portion of the magnetism collecting ring and the magnetic element are determined. The seal member is disposed between the fitted recessed portion and the fitted protruding portion. The seal member seals a gap between the fitted recessed portion and the fitted protruding portion. Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2008-249598 (JP 2008-249598 A) shows an example of the configuration of the conventional torque detecting device.
In the conventional torque detecting device, the seal member needs to be provided, for example, between the fitting portion of the sensor unit and the fitting portion of the magnetism collecting unit so that the waterproof performance for the magnetic element is ensured, or the fitting portions need to be fastened by using the plurality of fixing screws so that a gap between the fitting portions is decreased. Accordingly, the number of components may increase, which may increase weight and cost.

Torque detecting device and electric power steering system


A method, apparatus and computer program product for fusing information, to be performed by a device comprising a processor and a memory device, the method comprising: receiving one or more distance readings related to the environment from a Lidar device emitting light in a predetermined wavelength; receiving an image captured by a multi spectra camera, the multi spectra camera being sensitive at least to visible light and to the predetermined wavelength; identifying within the image points or areas having the predetermined wavelength; identifying one or more objects within the image; identifying correspondence between each of the light points or areas and one of the readings; associating the object with a distance, based on the reading and points or areas within the object; and outputting indication of the object and the distance associated with the at least one object.

Most modern cars come installed with cameras, and in particular cameras installed on the dashboard and thus referred to as dash cams. These cameras are mostly used for capturing the surrounding of the car from within the car. Additional cameras are sometimes used for capturing areas not easily seen by the driver, such as areas behind or to the side of the car.
The images captured by the cameras are often stored but not used, unless a specific need for display arises, since the captured objects are also seen by the driver in real-time, thus giving the views as captured by the cameras little added value.
Fusing information may prove useful. One such usage is displaying the image with the information to a person, such as the driver. Another usage relates to operating driving or driving-assisting systems, such as advanced driver assistant systems (ADAS), whether such systems are part of an autonomous car or are used to provide safety and convenience features in regular cars.

System and method for fusing information of a captured environment


An automated self-service pizza process and system comprises a vending machine with self-contained cooking and processing equipment to rapidly prepare delicious pizza. The stand-alone unattended process and system visually displays pizzas with choices of different toppings for selection by a customer who can pay for the pizza by credit card, debit card, prepaid card, bank card, or by paper money or other cash. Pizza crust can be moved to an assembly area by a robot. In the assembly area, the selected toppings are automatically dispensed on the pizza crust. The pizza is then conveyed to an oven where it is cooked and discharged into a cardboard box or other suitable container. The type of pizza and customer's name can be printed on the box with an ink jet printer.

This invention pertains to pizza and, more particularly, to an automatic process and system for producing pizza.
Pizza is a very popular food in the United States and elsewhere. Pizzas are typically individually prepared and sold in pizza restaurants or pizzerias. Making pizzas is very labor intensive. In larger pizza restaurants, one person kneads, rolls, twirls, spins and cuts the dough to prepare pizza crust. Another person grates the cheese, slices the sausage or pepperoni and other pizza toppings, and individually places the toppings on the pizza with their fingers. The pizza is carried to the cook who places the pizza in the oven with a shovel or giant spatula. After the pizza is completely cooked in the oven, the pizza is removed by the cook with the shovel or spatula and manually sliced with a knife or a pizza cutter comprising a circular blade or table disc with a sharp edge. The sliced pizza is then manually placed on a plate or in a cardboard box for carry-out. A waiter or waiters will carry the pizza to the customer. The customer typically pays for the pizza at a cashier.
The number of people associated with making pizza in restaurants greatly increases the costs of the pizza. Labor costs associated with preparing and delivering pizzas include: wages, medical benefits, vacation benefits, holiday pay, sick pay, health insurance, automobile insurance for deliveries, and workmen compensation claims. Other labor costs include the costs and time for hiring and training new personnel.
While pizza restaurants are very popular, they are often placed in remote locations, which are not readily accessible or close to offices, college dormitories, schools, motels, hotels, etc. Furthermore, because the employees of pizza restaurants usually work 8-10 hours per day, pizza restaurants are only open for limited times, i.e., 8-10 hours per day. Many pizza restaurants are only open 5 to 6 days per week. Students and guests at motels who get hungry for pizza late at night are usually unable to satisfactorily obtain a pizza at nearby locations.
Pre-made frozen pizzas are available, but they have to be stored in a freezer and subsequently thawed and cooked in a microwave oven or a kitchen oven. Freezers and ovens are not always available to students, motel guests, office workers, etc. Furthermore, many customers do not care for the taste of frozen pizza and prefer freshly made pizza.
It is, therefore, desirable to provide an improved process and system for preparing and providing pizza, which overcomes most, if not all, of the preceding problems.


A one-piece metal cartridge loop has no welds and no overlapping parts. The cartridge loop includes a plurality of locking tabs for positioning a cartridge therein. One end of the cartridge loop includes a coupling interface and another end of the cartridge loop includes a coupling support. A method of making the non-welded cartridge loop is disclosed.

The invention relates in general to apparatus for transporting ammunition cartridges through a gun firing system and, in particular, to a transport apparatus that uses loops and couplings.
To convey ammunition cartridges, for example, 40 mm cartridges, through a weapon, a transport means is necessary to position and guide the cartridges through the gun firing system. The transport means may include couplings and loops. The cartridges are positioned in the loops and the couplings link the loops together. FIG. 1 shows cartridges 10 disposed in loops 12 that are connected by a coupling 14. FIG. 2 shows two loops 12 without the cartridges 10. The couplings and loops are physically shocked, pulled and distorted throughout the firing cycle and, therefore, require a certain strength to function properly.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a known loop 50 prior to assembly. Loop 50 comprises two parts 52 and 54. Part 52 includes a coupling interface 56 and side members 62. Part 54 includes a coupling support 58 and side members 60. FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the known loop 50 after assembly. In the known loop 50, the two parts 52, 54 are overlapped and then joined by welding. The side members 62 overlap the side members 60 and are projection welded in place, as at 64. There are also projection welds 64 on the opposite side members, although they are not visible in FIG. 4.
The weld joints 64 are one source of operational and production problems. During surface preparation, the assembled part 50 is bathed in cleansers, such as acid. The acid seeps between the overlapped side members 60, 62 and cannot be fully rinsed away. During long-term storage, the acid etches away at members 60, 62 and projection welds 64 and may ultimately cause failure of the loop 50.
The weld joints 64 are also prone to failure because of variables in the projection welding process, such as amperage, projection weld contact variations and surface preparation variation. The welded loops 50 must be surface finished, i.e., phosphated after welding. The weld joint 64 is difficult to phosphate. The strength of the weld 64 varies from vendor to vendor and set-up to set-up. Long-term storage of the welded loops 50 is affected by the lack of consistent coating at the weld joint 64, allowing rust to develop and degrade the weld strength. Manufacturers continually increase the price for the loops 50 because of welding and finishing difficulties.

Method of making a one-piece loop for ammunition cartridge

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army


A semiconductor device and a method for fabricating the same which improve characteristic of stand-by current of an SRAM cell is disclosed in the present invention. The semiconductor device comprises a semiconductor substrate in which a peripheral area and a cell area are defined, a first and second gate insulating layers on the semiconductor substrate of the peripheral area and the cell area, first and second gate electrodes on the first and second gate insulating layers, respectively, first and second heavily doped source/drain regions in the semiconductor substrate at both sides of the first gate electrode and the second gate electrode, respectively, first and second lightly doped source/drain regions in the semiconductor substrate, adjacent to the first heavily doped source/drain regions and the second heavily doped source/drain regions, respectively, wherein the first and second lightly doped source/drain regions have a different length, and a silicide layer on the first and second gate electrodes and in the first and second heavily doped source/drain regions.

This application claims the benefit of Korean Application No. P2000-41369 filed Jul. 19, 2000, which is hereby incorporated by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device, and more particularly, to a semiconductor device and a method for fabricating the same which improve the characteristic of stand-by current of an SRAM cell.
2. Background of the Related Art
A related art semiconductor device and method for fabricating the same will be described with the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a related art semiconductor device, and FIGS. 2A to 2D are cross-sectional views showing fabricating process steps of the related art semiconductor device. In the drawings, left sides are cross-sectional views of a transistor formed in a peripheral area of an SRAM while right sides are cross-sectional views of a transistor formed in a cell area of the SRAM.
As shown in FIG. 1, a cell area and a peripheral area of the SRAM are defined in a semiconductor substrate 101. A gate electrode 103 is formed on the semiconductor substrate 101, and a gate oxide film 102 is interposed between the semiconductor 101 and the gate electrode 103. In both the cell area and the peripheral area, heavily doped source/drain regions 106 are formed in the semiconductor substrate 101 at predetermined depths with the same distance from the gate electrode 103. Subsequently, lightly doped source/drain regions 110 are formed in the semiconductor substrate 101 between the gate electrode 103 and the heavily doped source/drain regions 106 at predetermined depths.
The lightly doped source/drain regions 110 of the peripheral area and the cell area are formed with the same length as shown in portions A and B of FIG. 1.
Afterwards, a cobalt silicide layer 109 is formed on surfaces of the gate electrode 103 and the heavily doped source/drain regions 106.
Now, a method for fabricating the aforementioned related art semiconductor device will be described with reference to FIGS. 2A to 2D.
The transistor of the cell area and the transistor of the peripheral area are formed at the same time.
As shown in FIG. 2A, the cell area and the peripheral area are defined in the semiconductor substrate 101 and the gate oxide film 102 is formed on the entire surface of the semiconductor substrate 101. Then, a polysilicon layer for gate electrode is deposited on the gate oxide film 102.
Afterwards, the polysilicon layer and the gate oxide film 102 are selectively removed by photolithography and etching processes to form the gate electrode 103 on the semiconductor substrate 101 of the cell area and the peripheral area.
A titanium nitride(TiN) layer is then deposited along the surfaces of the gate electrode 103 and the semiconductor substrate 101 by chemical vapor deposition (CVD). A silicon oxide (SiO2) layer is deposited on the TiN layer.
The silicon oxide layer and the TiN layer are etched back to remain on both sides of the gate oxide film 102 and the gate electrode 103 as well as on the semiconductor substrate 101 adjacent to both sides, so that a nitride film spacer 104 and an insulating spacer 105 are formed thereon.
As shown in FIG. 2B, the insulating spacer 105 is removed, and then heavily doped impurity ions are injected into the entire surface of the semiconductor substrate 101 using the nitride film spacer 104 as a mask, so that the heavily doped source/drain regions 106 are formed in the semiconductor substrate 101 at both sides of the gate electrode 103 and the nitride film spacer 104 at predetermined depths.
As shown in FIG. 2C, a cobalt layer 107 and a TiN layer 108 are sequentially deposited on the entire surface of the semiconductor substrate 101 including the gate electrode 103. At this time, instead of Co of the cobalt layer 107, any one of refractory metals such as W, Ti and Mo may be used.
As shown in FIG. 2D, a cobalt silicide layer 109 is formed on the surfaces of the heavily doped source/drain regions 106 and the gate electrode 103 by a rapid thermal annealing (RTA) process. The cobalt silicide layer 109 includes a cobalt silicide which is a material obtained by reacting silicon of the heavily doped source/drain regions 106 and the gate electrode 103 with cobalt of the cobalt layer 107.
Afterwards, the TiN layer and the cobalt layer 107 which remain without reacting with silicon are removed and then a secondary RTA process is performed for stabilization of the cobalt silicide layer 109.
The nitride film spacer 104 is then removed. Subsequently, as shown in portions A and B of FIG. 2D, the lightly doped source/drain regions 110 having the same length in the peripheral area and the cell area are formed in the semiconductor substrate 101 in which the cobalt silicide layer 109 is not formed, at both sides of the gate electrode 103 by injecting lightly doped impurity ions using the cobalt silicide layer 109 as a mask. Thus, the related art semiconductor device is completed.
However, the related art semiconductor device and method for fabricating the same the following problems.
Since the distance between the gate electrode and the heavily doped source/drain regions formed in the cell area is equal to the distance between the gate electrode and the heavily doped source drain regions formed in the peripheral area, it is difficult to reduce lateral field of the transistor of the cell area. This results in leakage of stand-by current such as gate induced drain leakage (GIDL) when the SRAM cell is not operating.
An object of the invention is to solve at least the above problems and/or disadvantages and to provide at least the advantages described hereinafter.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a semiconductor device and a method for fabricating the same that substantially obviate one or more of the problems due to limitations and disadvantages of the related art.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a semiconductor device and a method for fabricating the same which improve characteristic of stand-by current of an SRAM cell.
Additional advantages, objects, and features of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and in part will become apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned from practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained as particularly pointed out in the appended claims.
To achieve at least these objects and other advantages in a whole or in part and in accordance with purposes of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described, a semiconductor device according to the present invention comprises a semiconductor substrate in which a peripheral area and a cell area are defined, a first and second gate insulating layers on the semiconductor substrate of the peripheral area and the cell area, first and second gate electrodes on the first and second gate insulating layers, respectively, first and second heavily doped source/drain regions in the semiconductor substrate at both sides of the first gate electrode and the second gate electrode, respectively, first and second lightly doped source/drain regions in the semiconductor substrate, adjacent to the first heavily doped source/drain regions and the second heavily doped source/drain regions, respectively, wherein the first and second lightly doped source/drain regions have a different length, and a silicide layer on the first and second gate electrodes and in the first and second heavily doped source/drain regions.
In another aspect, a method for fabricating a semiconductor device according to the present invention comprises the steps of defining a peripheral area and a cell area in a semiconductor substrate to form a first and second gate electrodes in the peripheral area and the cell area, respectively, forming a first insulating spacer having a first length on both sides of the first gate electrode and on the semiconductor substrate, forming a second insulating spacer having a second length longer than the first length on both sides of the second gate electrode, forming first and second heavily doped source/drain regions in the semiconductor substrate at both sides of the first and second insulating spacers, forming a silicide layer on surfaces of the first and second heavily doped source/drain regions and the first and second gate electrodes, removing the first and second insulating spacers, and forming lightly doped source/drain regions in the semiconductor substrate corresponding to a portion where the first and second insulating spacers are removed.
In another aspect of the invention, a method for fabricating a semiconductor device comprises the steps of defining a peripheral area and a cell area in a semiconductor substrate, forming a first gate electrode and a second gate electrode on the cell area and the peripheral area, respectively, forming a first and a second insulating spacers over the first gate electrode and the second gate electrode, respectively, partially removing the first and the second insulating spacers so that the first insulating spacer has a first length, and the second insulating spacer has a second length longer than the length of the first insulating spacer, forming first and second heavily doped source/drain regions in the semiconductor substrate at both sides of the first and second insulating spacers, forming a silicide layer on surfaces of the first and second heavily doped source/drain regions and the first and second gate electrodes, removing the first and second insulating spacers, and forming lightly doped source/drain regions in the semiconductor substrate corresponding to a portion where the first and second insulating spacers are removed.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.

Semiconductor device and method for fabricating same

Hyundai Electronics Industries Co., Ltd.


A contact structure for electroconductively connecting between an electronic part and a board includes a contact member, which is provided between the electronic part and the board, having a leg portion for electroconductively connecting between the electronic part and the board. The leg portion of the contact member can be bent and deformed in a simple and reliable manner by utilizing internal stress even if the contact member is formed very fine corresponding to forming the electronic part very fine, and thus, the leg portion of the contact member can appropriately serve as an elastic contact member The contact member can absorb distortion due to thermal expansion coefficient differences between the electronic part and the board, thereby ensuring electroconductive connection between the electronic part and the board.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a contact structure to be attached to an electronic member such as an IC for example, and more specifically relates to a contact structure capable of electroconductively connecting between electronic members in an excellent manner even in the event of reduction in size of electronic members to very small sizes, and the manufacturing method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
A configuration has been conceived for electroconductively connecting an IC or the like on a board in the event that there are great differences between the thermal expansion coefficients of both electronic members, wherein a spring member with a spring-like shape or the like is provided underneath of the terminals of the IC to appropriately absorb distortion caused due to the thermal expansion coefficient differences, for example.
Now, the spring member needs to be reduced in size so as to match the size of the electronic member, and particularly, the more ultra-fine the electronic member is, the more the spring member itself needs to be made extremely small. At this time, the smaller the spring member is, the more difficult it is to form the spring member in a three-dimensional manner such as a spring-like shape. In addition, unless the spring member has a certain level of elastic force, the distortion due to the thermal expansion coefficient differences cannot be appropriately absorbed using the spring member.
The invention regarding the manufacturing method of a thin-film structure is disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3,099,066. Of the several manufacturing methods disclosed, a thin-film structure wherein a thin-film is caused to curve by utilizing internal stress is disclosed (see claim 5 and description of FIGS. 17 through 22).
However, Japanese Patent No. 3,099,066 neither mentions nor suggests employing the thin-film structure as a contact structure between electronic members. Similarly, with Japanese Patent No. 3,366,405, the manufacturing method of an ultra-fine structure to be formed with metal is described, but there is no description of employing the ultra-fine structure as a contact structure, and also the ultra-fine structure is not formed in a three-dimensional manner such as in a spring shape.

Contact structure and manufacturing method thereof, and electronic member to which the contact structure is attached and manufacturing method thereof


The present invention provides an OLED package method and an OLED package structure. The method comprises steps of: step 1, providing a package cover plate (1), and a substrate (5), and the package cover plate (1) is formed with a spreading location (8) for spreading sealant (2); step 2, manufacturing a seal ring (7 or 7′) on the package cover plate (1) outside the spreading location (8); step 3, spreading the sealant (1) in a round on the spreading location (8) of the package cover plate (1); step 4, oppositely attaching the package cover plate (1) and the substrate (5); step 5, employing an UV light source to irradiate and curing the sealant (2) to accomplish the package to the substrate (5) with the package cover plate (1).

In the display technology field, the flat panel display technologies, LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) and OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) have been gradually replaced the CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) displays. The flat light source technology is a new type light source and its skill development has been reached up for the mass production level of the market. In the flat panel display and flat light source technologies, the attachment of two sheet glasses is a very important skill. The package result directly influences the performance of the elements.
The ultra-violet light curing technology is the most earliest and most common skill employed for the LCD/OLED packages. It possesses properties below: no solvent or little solvent is required, which diminishes the pollution of the solvent to the environment; the energy consumption is less and low temperature curing is possible which is suitable for heat sensitive material; the curing speed is fast and efficiency is high which can be applied to the high speed production line. The occupied space of the curing apparatus is small. Nevertheless, the UV glue is organic material. The molecular clearance after curing becomes larger. The water vapor and the oxygen can easily pass through the media and reach to the inside of the sealed space. Therefore, the technology should be suitable for the application field which is not sensitive to the water vapor and the oxygen, such as LCD. The OLED elements are highly sensitive to the water vapor and the oxygen. When the UV package is applied, dryer can be generally arranged inside the elements to eliminate the water vapor passing through the media and reach the inside of the sealed space for extending the usage lifetime of the OLED elements.
The main research target of the present UV package for the OLED is to seek the UV glue with the lower permeability of the water vapor. This demands that the accumulation of the UV glue organic molecules gets more compacted after curing. Accordingly, the permeating path of the water vapor among the molecules becomes narrower. The permeability of the water vapor gets smaller.
Frit package technology is a new type panel glass package skill under development now. In China, almost no related documents are published. It is to mix the glass powder to be a solution with a certain viscosity. The solution is coated on the package glass and heated to remove the solvent. Then, after the glasses to be package have been attached, the laser is activated to burn and melt the frit glass powder instantly. Ultimately, the two sheet glasses are attached and bonded together. The Frit skill uses the inorganic package media. Therefore, the capability of resisting water vapor and oxygen is so strong. For now, the skill patents of the frit package are monopolized by only few foreign companies.
Mostly, the present UV package method of OLED is merely coating the UV glue on the surface of the package cover plate, and then, the package cover plate is oppositely attached to the TFT substrate. With the UV light irradiation, the UV glue is solidified. Thereby, the package of the TFT substrate with the package cover plate is accomplished. However, the OLED element on the TFT substrate is highly sensitive to the water vapor and the oxygen. The capability of the present UV package method to resist the water vapor and the oxygen is so poor that the arrangement of the dryer is required to reduce the water vapor that pass through the UV glue and reaches to the inside of the sealed space and to extends the usage lifetime of the OLED element. Nevertheless, the present UV package method only can be applicable to the bottom emitting OLED element structure. The package result of the Frit package good but the process is complicated and the equipment is amazingly expensive.

OLED package method and OLED package structure

Shenzhen China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd


An alarm clock is provided which coordinates mechanical motion or action with a distinctive sound, when the alarm clock reaches a set alarm time. The action alarm clock includes an elongated base defining a linear track for movement of an object such as a train engine between end stops when the alarm clock reaches the set alarm time. Such movement is accompanied by an audible sound comprising a novelty sound chosen to correspond with the nature of the moving object. When the moving object reaches a front end stop, the sound is terminated and a regular alarm clock signal is enabled.

Alarm clocks are the bane of most working people. Most work on the principle that when a set alarm time is reached, an alarm or music sounds. Manufacturers try to make the alarms so annoying that they cannot be ignored. Once the stop button is depressed, the alarm/music immediately discontinues.
Some alarm clocks are equipped with the ever-popular "snooze" button, depression of which also immediately shuts off the alarm allowing one to "snooze" a few more minutes until the alarm sounds again. Unfortunately, depression of the snooze button becomes so automatic and repetitive that the original set alarm time becomes meaningless. People also can become so accustomed to the alarm/music that they sleep through it. As a result, appointments, deadlines, and schedules are often missed.
The present invention provides an alternative alarm clock including a moving object which travels along a track to a destination when a set alarm time is reached, and wherein this motion is accompanied by a distinctive sound correlated with the moving object. This distinctive sound is sustained over a period of time until the moving object has reached its destination, at which time a normal clock alarm is activated.


An object of the invention is to provide a resistor element that makes it possible to adjust the resistance value of a precursor easily in producing a resistance element having a target resistance value from the precursor, as well as to the precursor and a related resistance value adjusting method.

As disclosed in the following Patent document 1, for example, a precursor of a resistance element is known that is applied to a thin-film temperature sensor. This precursor of a resistance element which is applied to a thin-film temperature sensor is produced by evaporating a platinum film on an alumina substrate by sputtering and patterning the platinum film into a prescribed pattern by photolithography.
Patent document 1: Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. Sho 63-187303

Resistance element, its precursor, and resistance value adjusting method

Abstract: A precursor 70 has a meandering resistance pattern formed on a front surface 11 of a substrate 10 as well as at least three trimming lines. The precursor 70 is configured so as to be defined by a geometric sequence that satisfies Inequality 0.5αk<αk+1<αk, where αk is the general term of the sequence that is obtained by arranging, in descending order, resistance value increases of the precursor at the time of cutting of the respective trimming lines and normalizing the thus-arranged resistance value increases by an initial resistance value of the precursor in a state that none of the trimming lines are cut.


An iron including an additive reservoir and a device for spreading the additive onto an article. The reservoir contains at least one additive packaged in the form of microcapsules in suspension in a liquid, the microcapsules having membranes made of a material that is chemically compatible with the materials of the device used for spreading the additive.

The present invention relates to a clothes pressing iron and more particularly to an iron that includes a device for supplying an additive to articles being ironed.
Patent documents FR 2 804 137 and EP 0 554 166 disclose irons that include an additive reservoir associated with a spray device enabling an additive to be sprayed onto articles being ironed in order to supply a fragrance, improve the sliding behavior of the iron, or improve properties of the article, e.g. in order to soften it or improve its strength.
In order to be usable with such spreading, or spraying, devices, the additive must possess a viscosity that is compatible with the spreader device, must be chemically neutral relative to the materials of the spreader device, and in particular relative to the reservoir, and should preferably be soluble and concentratable in water. Such constraints present the drawback of considerably restricting the choice of additive and excluding otherwise more effective additives.
In addition, when the additive used is a fragrance, spraying the fragrance on the article leads also to strong diffusion of the fragrance into the atmosphere, which can lead to the atmosphere becoming fragrant with an intensity that can be disagreeable to those present.


The welding contact tips presented herein include contoured inner bores that include a front inner bore section and a back inner bore section. In certain embodiments, the front inner bore section is approximately 0.3-0.6 inches long and includes an inner wall having a substantially constant inner diameter. The back inner bore section is configured to conform to the specific welding wire used with the welding contact tip. In particular, the back inner bore section includes an inner wall having an inner diameter that is substantially larger at an axial end of the welding contact tip than at an axial transition location where the front and back inner bore sections abut. As such, the welding contact area between the welding contact tip and the welding wire is enhanced in the front inner bore section, especially when the welding wire twists inside the contact tip and the welding torch.

The present invention relates generally to contact tips (e.g., contact tubes) for gas metal arc welding applications.
A range of welding applications and apparatus are known in the field, typically adapted for a particular type of welding operation. For example, in certain operations commonly referred to as gas metal arc welding (GMAW) or metal inert gas (MIG) welding, a wire is fed from a spool or drum through a welding torch. An electrical charge is placed on the wire via the torch and, as the wire approaches a grounded work piece, an arc is formed. The arc heats the work piece as well as the wire, melting the weld location and adding the wire to the weldment. A shielding gas is applied via the torch that surrounds a progressive weld pool to aid in the formation of the weld and to protect the weld during solidification of the molten metal. Various arrangements and applications exist for wire feed welders. In general, these arrangements and applications function similar to the GMAW and MIG systems described above.
In all GMAW techniques, a persistent problem exists in maintaining good electrical contact between the wire and the charged portions of the torch. That is, the torch typically includes a series of electrically coupled conductive elements that convey charge to the wire as it passes through the torch. One of these elements is a contact tip, the main function of which is to transmit electrical current from the torch to the passing wire. However, because the wire must generally freely pass through the torch as it is driven by a motor and drive mechanism from a spool, less than optimal contact may be made at certain points in the operation. If contact is lost or temporarily interrupted between the contact tip and the wire, a degraded weld may result.
Various arrangements have been devised in attempts to maintain improved contact between the contact tip and welding wire. Certain proposed mechanisms include spring-enhanced contact tips, which tend to be relatively fragile and relatively expensive to manufacture. In addition, other proposed mechanisms include enhanced contacting mechanisms that include several opening slots on the surface of the contact tip. These designs are not practical insofar as welding spatter tends to get into the opening slots and can contaminate the contact tip-to-wire interface. Also, for all of these designs, the friction forces between the contact tip and wire are significantly increased, which can be a big challenge for GMAW on soft wires such as aluminum. There is a need, therefore, for improved techniques for maintaining good electrical contact between the contact tip and the welding wire.


Methods and apparatus are provided for preparing sensing fingers for use in a highly integrated accelerometer. The method includes steps for forming a tungsten/tungsten silicide coating on a silicon finger. The tungsten/tungsten silicide coating adds mass to the silicon finger. The method includes steps of forming silicon fingers from layers of silicon, oxides, and capping material. The silicon fingers are then exposed to tungsten containing gases under conditions to promote the formation of a tungsten silicide seed layer on the exposed silicon surfaces. The tungsten layer is then grown to a desired thickness through a growth step. The coated silicon fingers display improved resistance to stiction as compared to uncoated silicon fingers.

MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems) accelerometers, also sometimes referred to as Highly Integrated Accelerometers (HIA), are used in a variety of applications including as triggering sensors for air bag deployment. An HIA is designed to sense changes in acceleration at a defined sensitivity threshold. Events that satisfy the defined acceleration criteria electronically activate a signal, which in turn is used to initiate a desired device response, such as, for example, inflation of a safety air bag.
A MEMS accelerometer typically includes structures known as sensing fingers. In a common design, the sensing fingers are fabricated of silicon from the underlying silicon substrate of the electronic device. A sensing finger is a three dimensional structure, typically with high aspect ratio, and in the general shape of a wall. A sensing finger is designed to deflect physically in response to a sensed acceleration. Thus, it is typically desired to fabricate a sensing finger, or preferably an array of sensing fingers, with a given spacing and resistance to deflection.
Typically, an array of sensing fingers is integrally created in an HIA. Electrical charge in the finger array creates a capacitance between adjacent fingers. Rapid accelerations of the HIA result in a physical deflection of neighboring fingers. This physical deflection affects the capacitance of the array. The device to which the array is attached senses the change in capacitance, and this initiates the device signal.
One drawback to current methods of fabricating sensing fingers is finger stiction. If two or more fingers bend or deflect, they may come into contact with one another. The contact can also result in the fingers adhering to each other. This is finger stiction. Stiction can arise for a variety of reasons including capillary forces, electrostatic forces, and Van der Walls attraction. Stiction is undesirable for the reason that it leads to failure of the accelerometer. Contact between fingers can cause an electrical short thereby upsetting the designed electrical function of the device. Additionally, the result of two fingers in contact results in a mechanical stiffening of the structure, which may itself affect the designed deflection resistance of the device.
There is a further movement in the design of HIAs and MEM accelerometers to increase the aspect ratio of the silicon fingers such that the fingers grow in height for a given width. This trend results from a desire to decrease the footprint of the finger array on a base without decreasing the capacitance area in the array. One way to achieve this is to increase the vertical height of a silicon finger. However, finger elongation further aggravates stiction problems; it creates a physical setting in which any bending of the silicon fingers are additionally susceptible to stiction. The geometry of elongated fingers lowers the threshold at which bending or warping places adjacent fingers in contact.
It is further desired to improve the sensitivity of HIAs. As these devices are often used in the triggering of safety equipment, it is desired to improve the functional sensitivity if possible. Generally sensitivity of a finger array is a function of displacement/acceleration. Additionally the sensitivity may be characterized as mass of the finger/finger spring constant. Thus, adding mass to silicon fingers has the added benefit of improving the device sensitivity.
Accordingly, it is desirable to redesign currently used accelerometers. In particular it is desired to design and manufacture an accelerometer so as to reduce finger stiction. In addition, it is desirable to design an accelerometer with improved sensitivity. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description of the invention and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background of the invention.


A circuit for preventing the false detection of vertical sync pulses included in a video signal which also includes copy guard signals inserted in predetermined intervals thereof, including signal generating circuitry which is responsive to vertical sync pulses separated from the video signal for generating a corrected vertical sync signal, and inhibit circuitry for rendering the signal generating circuitry non-responsive to the separated vertical sync pulses during the predetermined intervals of the video signal, thereby preventing any falsely detected vertical sync pulses due to misinterpretation of the copy guard signals from being included in the corrected vertical sync signal. The inhibit circuitry preferably functions to count a predetermined number of horizontal sync pulses also included in the video signal before allowing any change in the output of the signal generating circuitry. The predetermined number is selected to ensure that the time required to count the predetermined number of horizontal sync pulses is greater than the predetermined intervals of the video signal corresponding to the repetition rate of the copy guard signals.

The present invention relates generally to video screen display drivers, and more particularly, to a vertical sync pulse detector therefor which functions to prevent false detection of vertical sync pulses due to the presence of a copy guard signal in a video signal being displayed on the video screen display by the video screen display driver.
In general, video screen display drivers include a vertical sync pulse detector which detects vertical sync pulses included in a video signal (e.g., an NTSC composite video signal). The detected vertical sync pulses are then extracted and separated from the video signal and utilized to properly synchronize the operation of the video screen display driver (e.g., the vertical sweep circuit thereof). If this synchronization is not accurate, the on-screen video display will be distorted.
In order to prevent the unauthorized copying of video signals (e.g., video stored on a videotape) by means of a videotape recorder (VTR) , a copy guard signal is included in the video signal supplied to the VTR. The copy guard signal is generally inserted in 21 horizontal sync intervals of the video signal.
A problem which has arisen as a result of the utilization of such copy guard signals is that the vertical sync pulse detector circuit misinterprets the copy guard signal as a vertical sync pulse, thereby upsetting the synchronization of the video screen display driver, and consequently, distorting the on-screen video display.
Based on the above, it can be appreciated that there presently exists a need for a video sync pulse detector circuit which eliminates the above-identified problem with presently available video sync pulse detector circuits. The present invention fulfills this need.

Circuit for preventing false detection of video sync pulses in a video signal which also contains copy guard signals