A dispensing system having a hopper with at least one wall moveable to form a dispensing opening at the base of the hopper. At least one air knife is provided which blasts air upwardly into the hopper to lift, levitate, and mix the product within the hopper. Upon termination of the air blast, the product falls downwardly into the base for the hopper, and a selected number of items fall through the dispensing opening. The remaining items tend to bridge the dispensing opening, thereby blocking further dispensing of the product. During subsequent air blasts, the product is repeatedly levitated, agitated, and allowed to drop through the dispensing opening to ultimately dispense the entirety of the product from the hopper.

This invention relates to methods and apparatus for material handling, and more particularly, for agitating and/or dispensing materials in a predetermined manner.
In the manufacture of products, it is often necessary to dispense and sort items, such as components used in assemblies or subassemblies, in some ordered manner, such that those items can then be used in subsequent manufacturing processes. These items might be delivered into containers, onto a conveyor belt, or directly to another machine. In other applications, it may be desirable to dispense and sort bulk granular or particulate materials. For the purposes herein, such components or other materials are collectively referred to for simplicity purposes generally as xe2x80x9citems,xe2x80x9d xe2x80x9cproducts,xe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cproduct.xe2x80x9d
In certain applications, it may be necessary to not only deliver items in batches of an approximate predetermined quantity, but also to orient those items as they are dispensed such that those items may be more easily manipulated by machines, such as perhaps robots, or by workers, for subsequent use. It may also be desirable to dispense the items into another feeding device, the first such dispensing device then essentially taking on the role of a pre-feeder. Further, if the items are of a mixed nature, for example having two or more different components in a batch, it may be necessary to differentiate and separate the items into groups of their own kind during the dispensing process.
Other problems may arise in dispensing items, particularly in a production environment. Such items may become entangled with one another, and thus frustrate dispensing of such items in a controlled manner. Also, depending on the product being dispensed, static electricity may build up such that the product clings to the hopper or other container in which the product is held. Moisture can also cause a problem with such product by increasing the likelihood of adhesion of the items in groups.
Further, mechanical agitation or vibration of the items, such as is found in certain conventional dispensing devices, could potentially damage delicate items prior to being dispensed for subsequent use.
A dispenser may also be used for dispensing parts or components for certain manufacturing processing steps, such as de-flashing, cleaning, drying, counting, visual inspection, random selection, testing, chemical treatment, painting, coating, labeling, recycling, crushing, etc.
Various material handling devices have been patented. U.S. Pat. No. 4,118,074, issued to Solt, discloses a pulsed air activated conveyor for transporting bulk material. U.S. Pat. No. 4,848,974, issued to Wayt, discloses a system for the fluidized conveyance of flat articles, such as lids or bottoms for cans. U.S. Pat. No. 4,182,586, issued to Lenhart also discloses an air operated material handler, wherein jets of air are used to separate and align bulk storage items such as containers. U.S. Pat. No. 4,578,001, issued to Ochs et al., discloses an air conveyor hopper having air nozzles positioned on a rotating feed disc for engaging and carrying items.
While the foregoing designs are known, there still exists a need for improved methods and apparatus to perform mixing and dispensing of product.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a dispensing system for dispensing products.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method of dispensing products.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for detangling products.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for orienting products.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for detangling and orienting products.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for sorting products.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for mixing products.
Generally, the present invention includes a dispensing apparatus for dispensing items from a plurality of items and comprises a container having a support surface for supporting the plurality of items, the container having an upper portion and an opening in the upper portion for receiving the plurality of the items. The container also has an open passageway in a lower portion thereof for dispensing items from the container. At least one pressurized fluid outlet is provided for delivering a pulse of pressurized fluid through the open passageway into the container of sufficient pressure to lift the plurality of items above the support surface, and at least one guide surface is provided for directing at least one of the plurality of items through the open passageway subsequent to the delivery of the pulse of pressurized fluid.
More specifically, the present invention includes an apparatus and methods for dispensing and/or mixing a variety of products on a predetermined or automated basis. The system uses pressurized fluid and a controller such as a programmable logic controller (xe2x80x9cPLCxe2x80x9d), microprocessor, or the like, to mix and/or dispense product upon application of compressed fluid pulses to the product. Products are xe2x80x9cfluidizedxe2x80x9d by the pulse of compressed fluid provided to the hopper, the compressed fluid preferably being a compressed gas such as air, although other gases or fluids, and in particular, inert gases could be used, depending on the specific application.
The present invention allows for products such as small components, parts, or particles to be dispensed from a batch contained in a compartment or hopper. Such products may be dispensed to containers, various types of conveyances, or other dispensers, feeders, magazines, cartridges, or another machine for further processing.
The pulse application of compressed air temporarily lifts and levitates the items in the hopper, while simultaneously blanketing them in the flow of air. Upon termination of the pulse, the items again drop, due to force of gravity, into the hopper, but due to the lifting and levitation of the items caused by the pulse, one or more items may be reoriented such that as the pulse flow ceases, such items are properly orientated to pass through a dispensing door or opening, such as a slot, in a lower portion of the hopper. The remaining items in the hopper, by their nature, may again become entangled or otherwise contact one another as they fall into place in the hopper after the pulse flow, such that such items bridge the dispensing slot to thereby prevent the remaining products from passing therethrough.
An analogous example of how the present invention operates is the shaking of the salt shaker in order to release salt on a food item. In certain instances, inverting the salt shaker will allow the flow of granular salt through tiny openings in the salt shaker. However, over time, the salt within the salt shaker may bridge the openings thereby preventing further flow of salt. This requires the salt shaker to again be either shaken, or reverted to its normal position and then reinverted in order to once again begin flow of the salt.
Products dispensed as a result of the pulse flow, or xe2x80x9cblast,xe2x80x9d are generally dispensed in a row which, if a conveyance such as a conveyor belt is used, could be oriented to be transverse to the direction of travel of the conveyor belt, or, in line with the conveyor belt travel to allow for a more continuous line of products to be provided on the conveyor belt.
Control may be maintained over the dispensing rate and distribution of products being dispensed and this allows for an approximate predetermined quantity of products to be dispensed with each pulse of pressurized fluid, in a manner which may be independent of actual pulse frequency.
The pulses can be programmed to be made infrequently, in a series of intermittent predetermined sequences, or continuously with the frequency of hundred, or perhaps a thousand or more, pulses per minute.
Further, the present invention can provide dispensing in synchronism with the movement and speed of other machines in response to signals of one or more sensors which may be provided on the present dispensing system, and, the system can be configured to dispense products and parts of similar shape and size oriented in a predetermined direction.


A polarizer film tool, for removal of polarizer film from an LCD panel, is provided. The tool includes a take-up cylinder whose rotational action pulls the film from the LCD and wraps the removed film around itself. Two padded rotating stabilization cylinders guide the LCD in a preferred path through the tool to equally distribute the force used to hold the LCD as the polarizer film is pulled from its surface. The padded cylinders allow for deviations in the preferred path to accommodate any discrete parts mounted on the LCD that have a higher profile than the LCD surface. A method for removing the polarizer film with the above-mentioned tool is also provided.

This invention relates generally to the fabrication of liquid crystal displays (LCDs) and, more particularly, to a system and method of peeling a sheet of polarizer film from an LCD display in a repair procedure.
Technological advances in design and fabrication have permitted LCDs to replace cathode ray tubes (CRT). The size, weight, and power consumption of the CRT have limited its use in both portable and large screen electronic products. The pixel resolution of the LCD continues to improve, making both large and small screen displays realizable. As LCD costs continue to decrease, it has increasingly become an economical competitor to the CRT.
LCDs operate by controlling the polarity of a light through a transmissive dual phase (liquid/crystal) medium. The LCD allows light of substantially only one polarity to pass through the display, the specific polarity varies for different systems. The liquid crystal molecules on one side of a display are aligned in a first direction, while the liquid crystal molecules on the other side of the screen are typically aligned in a perpendicular direction. Light must, therefore, undergo a 90 degree rotation in polarity as it passes through the display. Sheets of polarizing film are applied to the outside surface of the displays with a polarization matching the initial liquid crystal alignment. The LCD is designed to "twist" light 90 degrees, to pass through the display in one state, and to rotate the light an additional 90 degrees in a second state, so that light is absorbed by the polarizer. In this manner, the intensity of every pixel of light of the LCD is controlled.
A typical electronics device using an LCD undergoes many stages of fabrication and testing before the product is complete. It is not unusual for the pliable thin sheets of polarizer film covering the hard glass surfaces of the LCD to become damaged or scratched in production. Then, the damaged polarizer film must be removed and replaced with another film. Further, in use of the electronic product the polarizer film, or LCD may become damaged so that the polarizer film must be removed in the repair process.
Figs. 1a and 1b illustrate a tool 10 to remove a sheet of polarizer film 12 from an LCD 14 (prior art). An operator begins the process by pulling a corner of the film from the LCD, and inserting the corner into a slot 16 in tool 10 (Fig. 1b). The operator then rotates tool 10 to separate polarizer film 12 from LCD 14. Unfortunately, tool 10 provides no alignment between tool 10 and LCD 14, so that film 12 is pulled unevenly, or tool 10 directly touches areas of LCD 14. LCD 14 is often damaged as the unequal pressures applied during the removal of film 12 permanently disturb the alignment of liquid crystal molecules, or displace the cell gap between the two sheets of glass. This problem is exacerbated by the necessity of the operator to start and stop the film peeling process to re-grip the handle of tool 10 and to realign tool 10 with LCD 14.
It is well known to fabricate LCD 14 with discrete electronic components 18 placed around the periphery. Discrete components 18 are typically needed for functions requiring the high electron mobility of single crystal transistor devices. As is well known, LCDs are typically fabricated with amorphous or polycrystalline silicon that form transistors having poor electron mobility. Because of the high profile of discrete components 18, relative to the flat surface of LCD 14, discrete components 18 are often damaged by tool 10 in the process of removing film 12.
It would be advantageous if a tool could be developed to properly align an LCD with respect to the removal tool in the process of pulling a polarizer film from an LCD.
It would be advantageous if a process could be developed for protecting the surface of the LCD, and any peripherally mounted parts, when a polarizer film is removed from an LCD.
It would be advantageous if a film removal system could be developed to minimize or eliminate any direct pressure on the surface of the LCD in the process of peeling a polarizer film from the LCD surface.
It would be advantageous if a tool could be developed to peel the polarizer film from an LCD in one continuous motion to minimize the cell gap displacement between the two plates of LCD glass.
Accordingly, a system for peeling a sheet of polarizer film adhered to a liquid crystal display (LCD) panel, is provided. The system comprises a take-up roller having a rotational axis and a surface to accept polarizer film as it is peeled. The rotation of the take-up roller peels the polarizer from the LCD and advances the position of the LCD panel along a first plane tangent to the take-up roller surface. The system also comprises at least one alignment roller having a rotational axis parallel to the rotational axis of the take-up roller, and including a cylindrical non-compressible core with a surface. The first alignment roller also includes a cushioned tube having an inside surface adjoining the core and an outside surface. The first alignment roller aligns the LCD in the first plane, which is tangent to the compressed outside surface of the cushioned tube when the polarizer film is engaged with the take-up roller. In this manner, alignment in the first plane helps distribute forces on the LCD more equally as the polarizer is peeled.
The preferred embodiment of the invention further comprises a second alignment roller having a rotational axis parallel to the rotational axis of the take-up roller, and including a cylindrical non-compressible core with a surface. The second alignment roller includes a cushioned tube having an inside surface adjoining the core and an outside surface. The second alignment roller aligns the LCD in the first plane, which is tangent to the compressed outside surface of the second alignment roller cushioned tube when the polarizer film is engaged with the take-up roller. The second alignment roller acts to further distribute the forces on the LCD, and to control the alignment of the LCD in the first plane after it has passed the take-up roller and been stripped of polarizer. The first alignment roller acts to align the LCD in the first plane as it reaches the take-up roller.
The system also includes a slot along the surface of the take-up roller to accept a corner of the polarizer film, initializing the peeling process. A crank is attached to the take-up roller so that the rotational axis of the take-up roller is aligned with the rotational axis of the crank. The crank permits the operator to apply constant rotation to the take-up roller so that the LCD is not exposed to "jerky" start-and-stop motions which stress the LCD glass and liquid crystal medium by displacing the cell gap between the LCD glass sheets.
Typically, the first and second alignment roller cushioned tubes are polyethylene having an uncompressed thickness, between the inside and outside surfaces, of approximately 0.25 inches, to accommodate any peripheral parts along the edge of the LCD panel. Under compression, when the LCD is aligned in the first plane, the polyethylene compresses approximately 0.05 inches so that the shortest distance between the first plane, as it intersects either the first or second alignment roller, and the alignment roller core surface is in the range between 0.190 and 0.210 inches. In this manner, the cushioned tubes are compressed hard enough to distribute the forces along the LCD surface, but compressed light enough to accommodate the profile of peripherally mounted parts.
In a system including a take-up roller and at least one alignment roller having a rotational axis parallel to the rotational axis of the take-up roller, and including a cylindrical non-compressible core with a surface, and a cushioned tube having an inside surface adjoining the core and an outside surface, a method of peeling polarizer film adhered to an LCD panel, is provided. The method comprises the steps of:
a) engaging the polarizer film with the take-up roller; PA1 b) aligning the LCD on a first plane tangent to the take-up roller and to the compressed outside surface of the first alignment roller cushioned tube; PA1 c) rotating the take-up roller; and PA1 d) simultaneously wrapping polarizer film peeled from the LCD around the take-up roller, and pulling the LCD along the first plane past the take-up roller, whereby the alignment roller helps distribute the forces on the LCD as the polarizer is peeled.

System and method for peeling a polarized film


The present invention enables the production of improved high-reliability, high-density semiconductor devices. The present invention provides the high-density semiconductor devices by decreasing the size of semiconductor device structures, such as gate channel lengths. Short-channel effects are prevented by the use of highly localized halo implant regions formed in the device channel. Highly localized halo implant regions are formed by a tilt pre-amorphization implant and a laser thermal anneal of the halo implant region.

An important aim of ongoing research in the semiconductor industry is increasing semiconductor performance while decreasing power consumption in semiconductor devices. Planar transistors, such as metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFET) are particularly well suited for use in high-density integrated circuits. As the size of MOSFET and other devices decrease, the dimensions of source/drain regions, channel regions, and the gate electrodes of the devices, also decrease.
As the channel length decreases, short-channel effects increase. Short-channel effects include punchthrough and decreased threshold voltage at the gate edge in the off state (VT).
Halo implants eliminate short-channel effects by increasing VT at the gate edge and repeats eliminating punchthrough. Halo implants (also called pocket implants) are ring-shaped implants formed in the channel region, adjacent the source/drain regions. Halo implant regions are formed with a conductivity type opposite that of the source/drain regions. Halo implant regions prevent merger of the source/drain regions in the channel region. The halo implant regions provide an abrupt transition between the source/drain extensions and the channel region. Typically, halo implant regions have a lower concentration of dopant than the source/drain extensions.
One shortcoming of conventional halo implants is the difficulty in precisely controlling the location and boundaries of the halo implant region. As devices become smaller and channel lengths decrease, the location and the boundaries of the halo implant regions becomes more critical.
The term semiconductor devices, as used herein, is not to be limited to the specifically disclosed embodiments. Semiconductor devices, as used herein, include a wide variety of electronic devices including flip chips, flip chip/package assemblies, transistors, capacitors, microprocessors, random access memories, etc. In general, semiconductor devices refer to any electrical device comprising semiconductors.

Localized halo implant region formed using tilt pre-amorphization implant and laser thermal anneal


A retractable assembly and a sealing system, the sealing system comprising: an essentially hollow, cylindrical housing with an inner space and a peripheral groove open to the inner space in the housing. The peripheral groove defines a plane in the housing and the normal of the plane is parallel to the longitudinal axis of the housing. The groove includes at least one, preferably two, extension spaces expanding the groove. The extension space is arranged on the side of the groove facing away from the inner space. An annular seal corresponding to the groove is arranged in the groove. The annular seal is formed of at least a first section facing the inner space and a second section facing away from the inner space.

Retractable assemblies are manufactured and sold by the group of firms, Endress+Hauser, in a large multiplicity of variants, an example being "Cleanfit H CPA475".
Retractable assemblies are widely used in analytical measurements technology and process automation. They serve to withdraw probes from the process, and therewith from the medium, without process interruption and then to reintroduce them back into the process. The probes are held in an immersion tube and moved by means of a drive manually or automatically, for example pneumatically, axially between a process position (measuring) and a service position (maintenance, calibrating, rinsing, washing, probe replacement, etc.). These procedures occur periodically or as a function of other determinable or measured parameters.
Probes in the sense of this invention comprise probes with at least one receptacle for at least one sensor for measuring one or more physical or chemical, process variables.
The fields of use of retractable assemblies for measuring physical or chemical, process variables of a medium, e.g. of a fluid, especially a liquid, in process technology are many. The sensors are used for determining the process variables. The sensors can be, for example, pH-sensors, conductivity sensors, optical or electrochemical sensors for determining a concentration of a substance, e.g. O2, CO2, certain ion types, organic compounds, or the like, contained in the medium to be monitored.
If retractable assemblies are used for holding the sensor for determining at least one process variable, the sensor can in the service position be checked, calibrated, cleaned and/or replaced, wherein the sensor is, in such case, located in the housing interior of the retractable assembly, in the so-called service chamber. In order that the medium not be contaminated by the calibration-, rinse/wash- or cleaning liquid, in the service position the service chamber is so sealed relative to the containment, in which the medium is located, that no exchange of medium/liquid can take place. Usually, there is located for this purpose on the media end of the housing of the retractable assembly a seal, which in interaction with the end region of the immersion tube prevents an exchange of medium/liquid. This seal is located on the immersion tube or in the housing (service chamber). The seal is often embodied as an O-ring. The groove for the seal is, in such case, rectangularly shaped in cross section. In interaction with the circularly shaped O-ring, gaps result.
The gaps and edges form dead spaces, where then particles can easily deposit and scale and/or biofilms can form. These are undesirable, since then the performance of the retractable assembly suffers. In the worst case, germs and the like collect, multiply and so contaminate the medium and therewith render it unusable.

Sealing system and retractable assembly including such

Endress + Hauser Conducta Gesellschaft für Mess- und Regeltechnik mbH + Co. KG


An integrated data jitter generator for the testing of high speed serial interfaces is provided. A transmit timing generator for use in a transmit data path includes a high frequency clock generator such as a phase-locked loop or a delay-locked loop having an input for receiving an oscillator or reference clock input. A clock modulator receives both an existing low frequency modulation signal and a high frequency modulation signal. A high-speed modulated clock signal is generated to enable jitter testing by a downstream-coupled receiver. Fixed frequencies such as 3, 6, 125, 150, 250, 300, 750, or 1500 MHz are used for the high-speed modulation signal, but any high-speed modulation frequency can be used to generate the desired amount of jitter. Likewise, the amplitude of the high frequency modulation signal can also be varied as desired.

This invention pertains to high-speed serial interfaces, and, more particularly, to an apparatus and method for injecting controlled amounts and frequencies of timing jitter into the transmit data path of a serial data interface to allow for the convenient testing of jitter tolerance.
In serial interfaces, several parameters of the transmitter and receiver influence the capability of the serial data link to provide data with a very low number of errors over time. This description of the number of errors per number of data bits transferred is known as the "BER" or Bit Error Rate. One of these parameters is known as "receiver jitter tolerance". In high-speed electronic data systems, the parameter "jitter" or "timing jitter" refers to errors in the placement of a data or clock edge compared to its ideal location. The error can be random in nature or deterministic (having a bounded amplitude). The type of jitter depends on the sources of the jitter in the electronic system. Electronic thermal noise, circuit timing dependence on supply voltage noise, and electromagnetic coupling are some of the sources of this jitter. In general, a system will have a mixture of jitter components in its signals. The receiver jitter tolerance parameter describes how well a receiver can extract data with a low error rate from a digital data stream containing jitter.
Measuring the receiver jitter tolerance has been one of the more demanding measurements due to the equipment required to produce a data stream with known amounts and frequencies of jitter. The equipment needed to generate this jittered data must have higher performance capability than the data link being tested. The BAUD rate or frequency of the data being transferred is increasing rapidly over time to provide faster data operations. The evolution of serial data interfaces in computers is an example of this trend. This increase in operating speed requires higher performance, more advanced equipment to perform these tests. The equipment currently available for such testing is quite expensive and the availability sometimes lags the need for testing the data link. It is also desirable to test the receiver jitter tolerance when the high-speed serial interface is connected into an actual system such as computer or other data equipment. This is difficult to accomplish and prone to errors when using the present jittered data generation equipment such as serial data pattern generators.
Present transmitters for high-speed serial data interfaces do not have the means for providing known amounts and frequencies of jitter for receiver jitter tolerance testing. Some transmitters, such as those with SATA (Serial ATA, wherein "ATA" stands for Advanced Technology Attachment) interfaces have the means for modulating the transmit data stream with a 30 KHz 0% to −0.5% modulation, as is called out in the SATA specification for SSC (Spread Spectrum Clocking) transmission.
Referring now to FIG. 1, a block diagram of a prior art transmission path 10 is shown. An initial timing reference or Base Frequency Clock signal 14 is provided by an internal oscillator 12. The frequency of the clock signal 14 is determined by either a quartz crystal or ceramic resonator or alternately sourced by a reference clock available from the system. This base frequency clock signal 14 is increased in frequency consistent with the data transmission rate of the serial interface in the transmit timing generator 16. In the case of SSC transmission, clock signal 18 is additionally modulated typically at 30 KHz in the transmit timing generation block 16 in order to frequency modulate the data stream to help reduce EMI emissions. This modulated high frequency clock signal 18 is the timing source for the serializer block 13 that converts the parallel data stream 11 into a serial data stream 15 at the data rate determined by clock signal 18. This Serial Transmit Data signal 15 is buffered by a transmit buffer block 17 that provides the specific amplitude and output impedance as is required by a particular interface. In high-speed serial interfaces such as SATA interfaces, the final output signal 19 is differential.
Referring now to FIG. 2, a more detailed block diagram shows a possible prior art implementation 20 of the transmit timing generation block 16 shown in FIG. 1. The clock signal input 22 is input into a high frequency clock generator 24. The output 26 of the clock generator 24 is input into a clock modulator block 28, which provides the modulated clock output signal 23. A modulator command block 27 such as an SSC modulation command provides an output 25 coupled to the clock modulator block 28.
Referring now to FIG. 3, another prior art embodiment 30 of the transmit timing generator 16 of FIG. 1 is shown. Timing generator 30 includes a DLL (Delay Locked Loop) 34 for increasing the frequency of the base frequency clock signal 32 to a frequency consistent with the desired data rate. A clock modulator circuit 38, commanded by a modulation command block 37 modulates the clock signal 36 from the DLL at a 30 KHz rate to provide the SSC modulated high frequency clock output signal 33.
Referring now to FIG. 4, the detailed block diagram shows yet another prior art embodiment 40 of the transmit timing generation block 16 shown in FIG. 1. The detailed block diagram of FIG. 4 shows a similar topology except that the initial frequency multiplication provided by the DLL 34 previously shown in FIG. 3 is now provided by a PLL (Phase Locked Loop) 44.
Referring now to FIG. 5, the detailed block diagram shows an alternative prior art embodiment for the transmit timing generation block 16 shown in FIG. 1. Timing generation block 50 contains a modulated PLL 54 that provides both the frequency multiplication as well as the SSC modulation via modulation command block 58. Typically this can be accomplished by incorporating time varying modifications to the feedback path of the PLL 54.
Referring now to FIG. 6, the detailed block diagram shows yet another prior art alternative embodiment for the transmit timing generation block 16 shown in FIG. 1. Timing generation block 60 contains a modulated DLL 64 that provides both the frequency multiplication as well as the SSC modulation via modulation command block 68. Typically this can be accomplished by incorporating time varying modifications to the delay paths in the DLL 64 structure.
None of the prior art transmit timing generation blocks shown in FIGS. 1–6 has the ability to provide the high-speed jitter testing required by high-speed serial interfaces. Present test equipment for providing the function is extremely expensive, can be hard to obtain, and is difficult to use within operating systems. Lower cost solutions exist although the general prior art method of disturbing the data stream and using the coupled receiver to function as a limiting amplifier that is error prone requires an iterative adjustment and measuring process to get the level desired.
What is desired, therefore, is a method and apparatus for providing convenient high-speed jitter testing that does not have the performance limitations of the lower-cost prior art solutions or the expense and limitations of existing test equipment.

Integrated data jitter generator for the testing of high-speed serial interfaces


As described herein, a system, method, and computer program are provided for generating insights from home network router data. In use, network usage/connection data is collected from a home network router operating in a residential space. Additionally, the network usage/connection data is processed to generate insights for the network usage/connection data. Further, the insights are output for display to one or more users.

In the realm of network usage, insights refer to an understanding of the network usage in terms of various parameters such as location, time, bandwidth, etc. These insights are typically generated from a vast amount of network usage data collected across a network of a particular network provider, and are generally used by a network provider to identify poorly functioning areas of the network to improve performance of those areas. Thus, to date, systems for collecting network usage data and generating insights therefrom have been specifically configured for the large scale purpose of analyzing the network performance as a whole.
There is thus a need for addressing these and/or other issues associated with the prior art.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

System, method, and computer program for generating insights from home network router data


Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to methods, sensors, and systems for low power sensing. One method for low power sensing includes receiving a detection signal from a detector of a sensor to a delay flip flop (DFF). The method includes switching a DFF output state in response to a switching of the detection signal, when the DFF is reset, transmitting an event report signal from the DFF to a processor of the sensor when the DFF output state switches, and maintaining the DFF output in a steady state, when the DFF is not reset.

In the field of sensing systems, various sensing devices have been developed including motion sensors, vibration sensors, accelerometers, temperature sensors, and pressure sensors, among others. Such devices can often include a processor, e.g., a microcontroller that is signaled when a sensing event occurs.
Sensing events may be the detection of motion, temperature, pressure, etc. Sensing events can often be detected by logic, associated with the sensing device, as be controlled by the processor to transmit the occurrence of sensing events and other information to a base station receiver, for example.
Many current sensing devices and/or sensor systems are battery powered. The battery life in many sensing systems can vary depending on the power consumption, i.e., depending on how often or how long the sensors are activated, how often the processor is signaled, or "woken up," and/or how often the transmitter is operating, e.g., how often the sensor performs a radio communication, for example, in a system where such sensors communicate wirelessly. Reducing power consumption of battery powered sensors can increase battery life, and thus reduce replacement costs.
Some battery powered sensing devices can conserve power by being maintained in a low power state at times when the sensor elements are inactive, e.g., when the system is in a non-sensing mode. In such sensing devices, the sensing device consumes more power when in a sensing mode, e.g., when the sensor elements are active. Some sensor systems can include a clock that determines when to place the device in an active and/or inactive mode, e.g., at certain times of the day.
Sensing systems have been developed that use sensors within the home to monitor an individual within a dwelling. These systems can include motion sensors, for example, that are connected to a base control system that monitors areas within the dwelling for movement. In such sensing systems, the base control system can be signaled by the motion sensor when movement, e.g., a sensing event, is occurring within a room. For example, the base control system can be notified when an individual is walking around in the room. However, in such systems, continuous signals to indicate the motion of the individual may not be necessary or useful. For instance, if the system is used for monitoring whether or not an individual is active in the particular room, it may not be beneficial for the sensor to consume power by waking the processor and/or sending repeated signals to the base control system while the person is moving around while cleaning the room, for example.


Presented is a system and method for assessing the functional ability of a person to perform a task. The system comprises: a task identification unit adapted to identify the task to be performed by the person; and a task complexity unit adapted to obtain a task-specific complexity signal representative of a required level of functional ability to perform the identified task. A functional ability unit is adapted to obtain a functional ability signal representative of a determined functional ability of the person. An assessment unit is adapted to determine an ability of the person to perform the identified task based on the task-specific complexity signal and the functional ability signal.

Assessment or monitoring of a person's functional abilities (such as cognitive and/or physical abilities) is of primary concern in many branches of medicine, including geriatrics, rehabilitation and physical therapy, neurology and orthopedics, nursing and elder care.
Investigations have found that an individual's functional ability can actually be environment-specific, since function increases when subjects are in familiar surroundings due to reduced confusion. Also, one-time assessment of functional ability does not allow for assessment of variability of functional performance over the course of a day or several days, nor does it allow for assessment of change which is important in determining the adequacy of certain clinical services, care and treatments following functional reduction or loss.
A consensus therefore exists that it is preferable to assess or monitor independent functioning of a person at their home or within familiar surroundings.
A level of independent function is commonly indicated by the quality in which Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) are performed. ADLs refer to the most common activities that people perform during a day. Therefore, a reduced quality in the ADLs can be an indicator for care needed. For example, an anomaly in the regular performance of one or more ADLs can serve as warning for special attention.
Devices and systems have been developed to monitor the ADLs of individuals as they are living independently in their own home or within familiar surroundings. For example, one such known system for detecting activities of daily living of a person system comprises three main components: (i) a sensor system that collects information about the person's activities and behaviors; (ii) an intelligence (or information processing) system that interprets the sensor signals for the care needed; and (iii) a user interface system that enables care givers to inspect the interpreted (processed) information. The intelligence system typically makes use of computational techniques known in the art as artificial intelligence.

Assessing the functional ability of a person to perform a task


A method of controlling data flow in a network includes detecting a congestion condition in the network, sending a congestion message to one or more nodes upstream of the congestion condition, learning address information of one or more nodes pertaining to the congestion condition, sending another congestion message containing these learned MAC addresses and, via the nodes receiving the congestion message with the MAC addresses, controlling a flow of data associated with the learned address information from the congestion message. The learned address information may be the MAC address of a destination node to which the data is flowing towards or a MAC address pair of the nodes between which the data is flowing.

In networks, data is typically exchanged between communicating devices in the form of "frames." Frames include a source MAC address and a destination MAC address. A MAC address uniquely identifies a network device in a "Layer 2" communication protocol used in Ethernet and Token Ring LANs. A routing device (i.e., switch, bridge, or the like) connected between communicating devices uses the destination MAC address in an incoming frame generated by a source device and forwards the frame to the appropriate destination device.
Flow control of such frame-based data in a network using Ethernet protocol is achieved by either dropping packets or with a congestion avoidance mechanism such as back-pressure or pause. Either of these mechanisms is executed in a hop-by-hop method. A node in the network experiencing the congestion condition reacts in a manner such that a node that is upstream of the congested node receives a back-pressure or pause message that stops all transmission towards such congested node. Unfortunately, this type of messaging can propagate further in the network. That is, a distinction cannot be made among the different data flows between various nodes as to which flow is the cause of the congestion. Additionally, the back-pressure method may also propagate in such a way as to throttle traffic which might not be passing the congested node. Accordingly, Ethernet is inherently incapable of differentiating between problematic and acceptable traffic flows or streams in a network. In other words, Ethernet has no selective flow mechanism or capabilities.
This condition is further aggravated when Ethernet bridges are used to connect nodes (via pathways) because Ethernet bridges learn every MAC address that is passing therethrough. The Ethernet bridge is not capable of determining whether such MAC address resides one hop away or several hops away in another portion of the network either of which may or may not be contributing to part of the congestion pathways.

Method and apparatus for flow control of data in a network


A roll stamping apparatus includes sets of rollers rotating while facing each other so as to press opposite surfaces of a material which is continuously supplied to move between the rollers; and molding portions having a stamping structure applied to outer surfaces of the sets of rollers so as to mold the material, wherein a plurality of sets of rollers are disposed in a movement direction of the material, the molding portions of the sets of rollers are formed to sequentially change a cross section of the material in the movement direction of the material, wherein at least one of the sets of rollers before a final set of rollers through which the material finally passes is a set of over-molding rollers having molding portions of which a length in a circumferential direction is longer than a length of the molding portions of the final set of rollers.

In general, numerous sheet metal molding technologies have been developed to produce parts applied to an automobile, or the like.
First, a stamping method is most widely used, and such a stamping method includes an upper die, a lower punch disposed below the upper die, and a material holder disposed between the upper die and the lower punch. Here, the upper die is a mold member having a groove portion formed in a lower surface thereof, wherein the groove portion is fitted to a shape of an article to be molded, and the lower punch is a member disposed below the upper die and is driven upwardly to thereby upwardly push a material moving between the upper die and the lower punch to press the material onto the upper die.
Such a stamping method is a technology which is widely used to produce the molded articles, for example, parts of the automobile, but in recent years, there are a problem in which capacity of the apparatus should be increased in an application of high-strength steel, and a problem in that the material is broken due to vulnerable moldability of the high strength steel.
Next, a roll forming (RF) method is used. The roll forming method is configured so that a set of multistage fixed upper and lower rotating rolls is arranged and a coil or a cut material passes therebetween, and molds a molded article, a part having a long length while having a constant cross-section shape.
The roll forming method by the rolling forming apparatus as described above may be applied to the high strength steel by utilizing an apparatus having relatively small capacity, but has a limitation in that only a molded article having the constant cross-section shape may be produced.
Accordingly, a roll stamping method as disclosed in Patent Document 1 has been developed. In the roll stamping method, since a stamped structure is applied to a rotating roll which is rotated, the roll stamping method is a method of performing variable cross section roll forming while the material passes through the rotating roll.
However, in the roll stamping method as described above, there is a problem in that an undesirable shape, such as a distortion or the like, due to residual stress of a cross section changing portion and unbalance of force between the respective cross section changing portions within a part, may occur.
(Patent Document 1) KR1417278 B


A magnetic retaining device for attaching a work piece to a machine tool includes a magnetic housing having two housing members secured together and having different magnetic poles, and a magnetic core rotatably received in the magnetic housing and having two core members having different magnetic poles. The magnetic force of the housing members may be offset by the core members when the core members are received in the housing members of different magnetic poles, and may be increased when the core members are received in the housing members of the same magnetic poles, in order to selectively and stably retain the work piece to the machine tool.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a magnetic retaining or grasping device, and more particularly to a magnetic retaining or grasping device for stably grasping or holding or retaining work pieces to machines or machine tools, and for allowing the work pieces to be effectively worked or machined by the machines or machine tools.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Typical machines or machine tools may comprise one or more clamping vices or other retaining or grasping devices for grasping or holding or retaining work pieces to the machines or machine tools, and for allowing the work pieces to be worked or machined by the machines or machine tools.
However, it is required to thread and to unthread a number of fasteners, to clamp or secure the work pieces to the machines or machine tools, such that it is difficult and it may take a long time to secure and to disengage the work pieces from the machines or machine tools.
The other typical machines or machine tools may comprise one or more magnetic retaining or grasping devices for magnetically grasping or holding or retaining the work pieces to the machines or machine tools.
However, the typical magnetic retaining or grasping devices comprise one or more magnetic members secured together in series that may not be used to firmly attach or secure the work pieces to the machines or machine tools, such that the work pieces may be easily moved relative to the machines or machine tools and may not be effectively worked or machined by the machines or machine tools.
The present invention has arisen to mitigate and/or obviate the afore-described disadvantages of the conventional magnetic retaining or grasping devices.

Magnetic retaining device for machine tool


A process, system and sorbent for removal of mercury from a combustion exhaust gas stream in a combustion exhaust gas purification scheme that includes a combustion exhaust scrubber system that uses an aqueous liquid to remove acid gases from the combustion exhaust gas. A powdered mercury sorbent is used. The sorbent is introduced into the aqueous scrubber liquid in the scrubber system. After introduction of the mercury sorbent into the scrubber liquid, at least some of the mercury sorbent is separated from the scrubber liquid.

In recent years, research into the area of emissions from coal-fired utility boilers, cement plants, mineral ore processing, steel-making, gypsum wallboard production and waste-to-energy plants has shown that a large fraction of the input mercury (present as trace species in the feed materials) is emitted in the exhaust gases. Unlike most other metals, a large portion of the mercury volatilized into the vapor phase during high temperature processing does not condense onto particulates at the lower temperatures typically present in pollution control devices such as electrostatic precipitators and fabric filters. Therefore, it cannot be collected and disposed of along with particulate ash like the other metals. To complicate matters, mercury can exist in its oxidized (Hg2+) form, principally as mercuric chloride, (HgCl2), or in its elemental (Hg0) form as vaporous metallic mercury. The relative amount of each species appears to depend on several factors such as fuel type, plant operating conditions, the type of particulate collector installed, and various other factors.
In addition to particulate removal, several industrial processes also include scrubbers for removal of acid gases such as HCl and sulfur dioxide. HCL is typically removed by dissolution in water. The resulting liquor is then neutralized with a substance such as lime, and the solids are disposed of. One of the methods to remove sulfur dioxide is to employ a wet flue gas desulfurization (FGD) scrubber, wherein the flue gas containing sulfur dioxide is contacted with a spray of water droplets containing an alkaline component such as limestone, lime, dolomite, magnesium compounds or sodium compounds. In the scrubber, the alkaline component, such as limestone (CaCO3), reacts with the sulfur dioxide (SO2) to form a neutral compound such as gypsum (CaSO4.2H2O). Oxidized mercury (mainly mercuric chloride) present in the flue gas, which is highly water soluble, was expected to be captured with very high efficiency, while elemental mercury in the flue gas, which has a very low solubility in water, was expected to be captured with a very low efficiency. However, it has been determined that the elemental mercury has a negative capture efficiency, suggesting that a portion of the incoming oxidized mercury is reduced in the FGD system, and re-emitted as elemental mercury in the exhaust gases.
Field measurements carried out at several full-scale units demonstrate that elemental mercury concentrations do indeed increase across the wet FGD system for all cases (see Table 1), indicating re-emission of mercury across the FGD vessel.
TABLE 1Elemental Mercury Concentrations across Wet FGD Scrubbers(Miller et al. August 2006)FGDHg Removal if noFGD InletOutlet Hg0Hg0Total HgRe-emission HadYearHg0 Conc.Conc.Increase,RemovalOccurredSiteSampledμg/Nm3μg/Nm3μg/Nm3%%With upstream Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) SystemS220010.40.90.58995S220020.31.31.08496S420010.50.80.39094S420021.01.30.39193S520020.71.00.39193Without SCRS220013.45.01.65167S420015.67.11.54657S420025.78.02.34460S520024.76.11.45162
As the proportion of coal-fired power plants that will be equipped with wet FGD systems increases, correspondingly, the amount of FGD by-product solids (mainly gypsum) from these scrubbers also increases; it has been projected that FGD gypsum production will increase from 31 million tons in 2004 to 86 million tons by 2020. Continued regulatory characterization of FGD by-products as non-hazardous is a critical factor for its marketability for beneficial end-use, such as gypsum wallboard production, as well as for disposal. This means that the amount of mercury in FGD solids must be minimized, and any remaining mercury in the FGD solids must be rendered stable.
Nolan et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 7,037,474) describe the addition of aqueous sulfide species to the wet FGD scrubber solution to precipitate the soluble mercury species as a mercury sulfide precipitate. One of the disadvantages of this approach is that the aqueous sulfide species reacts with the scrubber liquids to form hydrogen sulfide (H2S) gas, creating objectionable H2S emissions, and objectionable odor. Another disadvantage is that a portion of the mercury sulfide that is precipitated reports to the gypsum phase, thus making the mercury available for leaching or thermal desorption when the gypsum is subsequently disposed or used.
Researchers have also tested an organo-sulfide compound, such as Degussa Corporation's TMT-15 (tri-mercapto-s-triazine, tri-sodium salt), to prevent re-emission of elemental mercury. TMT-15 has been used to prevent mercury re-emissions from wet FGD systems on municipal waste incinerators. Full-scale testing of TMT-15 at two coal-fired power plants showed only limited effectiveness, and in some cases, increased mercury re-emissions (Currie et al., Air Quality VI Conference, September 2007, Arlington, Va.).
US Patent Application publication 2005/0155934 describes a method and material for removing contaminants, such as mercury, from a flue gas stream using a magnetic removal adsorbent material that may be recovered and reused. The preferred adsorbent material comprises an iron-bearing activated carbon. The method introduces the mercury sorbent into the flue gas, and so does not address the issue of re-emission of mercury from a scrubber, nor separation of the mercury adsorbent from other solid components in the slurry.
US Patent application publication 2006/0076229 describes the use of magnetic powdered activated carbon to remove contaminants such as mercury from fluid streams including flue gases from a combustion plant. The method introduces the mercury sorbent into the flue gas, and so does not address the issue of re-emission of mercury from a scrubber, nor separation of the mercury adsorbent from other solid components in the slurry.

System and method for sequestration and separation of mercury in combustion exhaust gas aqueous scrubber systems


The invention is a circuit capable of being positioned in a variety of wireless projectile and of delivering a series of pulsed electric discharges in two wave frequencies so as to stun and disable a target individual. The projectiles are adapted to be discharged from a different types of devices and powered by explosive, pneumatic, or manual means. At least one mode includes the ability to deliver a stunning physical blow in addition to the electric shock. The device is sub-lethal, but totally disabling in effects on a target individual.

Recent acts of terrorism in the United States have generated renewed interest in and increased demands for devices or systems that are capable of disabling a target individual with sub-lethal force with emphasis on minimizing danger to innocent by-standers or damage to structures, particularly air craft. Prior to the terrorists' act of September, 2001, civilian law enforcement professionals recognized a need for a non-lethal device capable of disabling a target individual in a crowd while minimizing danger to by-standers in the event the device failed to hit the intended target. The United States military has similarly recognized the need for a wireless, stun projectile for riot control. Electrical devices have been used for such purposes with limited effectiveness.
An early use of electrical energy in weapons focused on the control of animals. U.S. Pat. No. 2,805,067 to Ryan issued Sep. 3, 1951 described increased effectiveness of an apparatus used in surprise attacks by combining a non-explosive missile with an electrical system capable of delivering a disabling to fatal shock to the target. The '067 patent claims anticipated applications only to animals, not to human targets. The shocking device was integrated with a hand-held device, such as a lance-like weapon.
Others have recognized the potential value of non-lethal types of devices. U.S. Pat. No. 3,921,614 to Folgelgren issued Nov. 25, 1975 describes and claims a compressed-gas operated hand gun capable of firing lethal and non-lethal projectiles. The '614 patent includes as an example one embodiment comprising a projectile that, on contact with a target, discharges one of several stunning substances, such as tear gas, flash powder, or wadding. The '614 patent fails to address the effect of the projectile glancing off of a target or otherwise failing to discharge the stunning material in an effective concentration in proximity to the target, or the impact on innocent by-standers.
The basic concept suggested in the '067 patent of electrical energy as an element of a stunning or disabling force to be delivered by a weapon re-emerged with significant effectiveness in what is known as Taser technology. The Taser is a hand-held, self-defense device that supplies a stunning electrical charge and the projectile that remains connected to the device. The electrical charge is delivered to the target by electrodes positioned in the projectile. The effective range of the Taser is limited to 4.5–6.7 m (about 12–15 ft). In addition the device or weapon is limited to a single shot because the projectile must remain wired to the power-source weapon. The basic power supply for the remote system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,253,132 issued Feb. 24, 1981 to Cover, and details of the power providing device and projectile firing weapon are described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,803,463 issued Apr. 7, 1974 to Cover.
Certain short comings and limitations of the Taser device are addressed by U.S. Pat. No. 5,698,815 issued Dec. 16, 1997 to Range and by U.S. Pat. No. 5,962,806 issued Oct. 5, 1999 to Coakley, et al. Both the '815 and '806 patents describe wireless projectiles capable of delivering a non-lethal, stunning shock of a single frequency at a relatively high voltage. The projectile of both the '815 and the '806 patents comprises a complex electrical system, including a power source to supply the relatively high voltage requirements. The shock is delivered through electrodes that do not penetrate the skin of the target individual. The 815 patent features an adhesive capsule that serves to secure the projectile to the clothing or skin of the target individual. The 806 patent depends on mechanical appendages of the projectile to secure the projectile to the clothing of the target individual.
The physiological fact that an electrical shock delivered in two bands, one causing pain and the other inducing paralysis of the nervous system is not recognized by the '816 patent, the '806 patent, or by the Taser technology. The fact that penetrating the skin allows effective use of significantly lower voltage to induce the stunning effects is not recognized.
A variety of non-lethal projectiles has been described. Many are well known to the military, to law enforcement agencies, and even to the public. They include devices such as rubber and relative soft synthetic bullets to be fired from standard fire arms, and bean bags (or soft, flexible containers of solid loosely packed pellets) adapted to be discharged generally from smooth bore weapons.
The '806 patent recognizes the importance of projectile stability in flight for accuracy in use and describes the projectile body as a cylinder made of plastic or resin impregnated cardboard. Similarly, the '815 patent describes the projectile housing or body as a single, molded piece of high-impact plastic. Neither the '806 patent nor the '815 patent address basic issues of projectile ballistics in any detail, including discharge velocities, projectile energy, and the potential stunning effects of the impact of the projectile on the target individual. Prior art related to sub-lethal devices ignores characteristics of projectiles that related to safety of use in certain confined areas, such as the cabin of an aircraft.
Accordingly, there remains room for improvement in an electrical circuit for a sub-lethal projectile to deliver an electrical shock in more that one frequency and deliver the shock by means of electrodes that penetrate the skin, thereby requiring greatly reduced electrical potential in the circuit. There also remains room for improvement in the design of sub-lethal, wireless projectiles capable of delivering a disabling shock in terms of the maximum impact on a target and in terms of safety of use in confined areas.

Sub-lethal, wireless projectile and accessories


Safety features for a crib mattress are described. One safety feature is designed to maintain airflow to a fan inlet despite the fan inlet being blocked by a mattress sheet. Another safety feature removes obstructions to airflow within the mattress so that air is dispersed more uniformly across the sleep surface which is formed by a taut sheet of fabric. Yet another safety feature is designed to help retain a fitted sheet on a mattress and make it difficult for the sheet to be inadvertently pulled off the mattress.

Carbon Dioxide (CO2) that is accumulated and rebreathed in the bedding of prone sleeping infants is believed to be a contributing factor to an elevated risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) in these infants. One approach that is believed to prevent or reduce the occurrence of SIDS is to use a ventilated mattress in which an airflow is created through the mattress to dissipate carbon dioxide accumulation adjacent the infant's nose and mouth.
In addition, during sleep, an infant may tend to roll and move to different sleep positions. This can lead to the crib sheet or other bedding being pulled out of position, increasing the risk that the infant can become entangled in the crib sheet or be suffocated by the bedding. Further, disruption of the bedding can create pockets for CO2 to accumulate.
The present invention relates to safety features that reduce the risk of re-breathing CO2 and reduce the risk of entanglement in crib sheet bedding.


A damper device for attachment to a shock-affected component, including a pair of elastic members for absorbing shock which may be applied to the shock-affected component, each of the elastic members taking the form of a block and having first and second sides which are opposite to each other, and a slit formed in the first side and extending into the interior of the elastic member, a support member for supporting the elastic members, the support member having a pair of spaced apart projecting pieces and an intermediate section interconnecting the spaced apart projecting pieces, each of the projecting pieces being formed to have a substantially inverted L-shape in cross-section, the intermediate section being adapted to be mounted on the shock-affected component, the elastic members being adapted to be supported to the support member by causing the elastic members to be fitted on tips of the projecting pieces through slits in the elastic members, and a pair of receiving plates adapted to be mounted on the shock-affected component close to second sides of the elastic members and elastically engaged with the second sides the elastic members and elastically engaged with the second sides of the elastic members, so that where the damper device is attached to the shock-affected component, the elastic members are securely supported to the shock-affected component through the support members and receiving plates without readily detaching from the shock-affected component.

Recently, a camping car or wagon car having a storage portion for housing various articles therein has been proposed. The storage portion is formed in a floor of such a car and has an opening for allowing the various articles to be put in or taken out of the storage portion therethrough. Lid means is removably fitted in the opening in order to cover the opening of the storage portion. Such lid means is generally known as "a cargo floor lid" and is provided with damper means for absorbing any shock which may be applied to the lid means and an edge of the opening of the storage portion.
Referring now to FIG. 1, conventional damper means of this type will be discussed in order to facilitate understanding of the present invention. The damper means includes a pair of block-like elastic members B of rubber for absorbing shock and a support member M attached onto a predetermined portion of a surface of a reverse side of a cargo floor lid L. The support member M includes a pair of projecting pieces P rising upwardly from the surface of the reverse side of the cargo floor lid L. Each of the projecting pieces P is formed to have a substantially inverted L-shape in cross-section. Each of the elastic members B has a slit S formed in one side thereof and extending into the interior of the elastic member. Each of the elastic members B is supported on a corresponding projecting piece P by causing the elastic member B to be fitted on a tip of the projecting piece P through the slit S in the elastic member B.
With the cargo floor lid L provided with the conventional damper means, when the cargo floor lid L is removed from the storage portion and/or is carried by a person, there is a possibility that one or both of the elastic members B will be easily detached from the cargo floor lid L due to elastic force thereof. At that time, there is a possibility that the detached elastic member (or elastic members) B will get lost.


A semiconductor device with a TFT includes a substrate, an island-shaped semiconductor film serving as an active layer of the TFT on or over the substrate, a pair of source/drain regions formed in the semiconductor film, and a channel region formed between the pair of source/drain regions in the semiconductor film. The pair of source/drain regions is thinner than the remainder of the semiconductor film other than the source/drain regions. The thickness difference between the pair of source/drain regions and the remainder of the semiconductor film is in a range from 10 angstrom (Å) to 100 angstrom. The total process steps are reduced and the operation characteristic and reliability of the device are improved.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device with Thin-Film Transistors (TFTs) and a method of fabricating the device. The semiconductor device according to the invention is applicable to circuit elements of Liquid-Crystal Display (LCD) devices, such as switching elements for the pixels, elements for the driver circuit, and so on. Here, it is preferred for the TFTs that the active layer is formed by a polycrystalline silicon (i.e., polysilicon) thin film.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, the LCD device comprises a substrate on which TFTs are arranged in a matrix array (which is termed the "TFT substrate" below), another substrate opposed to the TFT substrate at a predetermined gap (which is termed the "opposite substrate" below), and a liquid crystal layer located between the TFT substrate and the opposite substrate. With the fabrication processes of the TFT substrate, to ensure the fabrication yield and the TFT characteristics stability, it is important to correctly control the alignment between the patterns in each of the processes.
A conventional, popular method of fabricating the TFT substrate is as follows:
Specifically, first, an insulating backing film made of silicon dioxide (SiO2), silicon nitride (SiN), silicon oxynitride (SiON), or the like is formed on a glass plate and then, an amorphous silicon film is formed on the backing film by Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) or the like. "Amorphous silicon" may be simplified as "a-Si" below. Thereafter, a first photosensitive resist film is formed on the a-Si film, and the a-Si film thus formed is subjected to a selective exposure process and a development process, thereby forming a first mask with a pattern for first alignment marks. Using the first mask thus formed, the a-Si film is selectively etched to form first alignment marks. After that, the first mask is removed.
Next, the a-Si film (wherein the first alignment marks have been formed) is crystallized by the solid-phase growth, the excimer laser annealing, or the like, resulting in a polycrystalline silicon film (which may be simply termed a polysilicon film below). Then, a second photosensitive resist film is formed on the polysilicon film and is subjected to a selective exposure process and a development process, resulting in a second mask with a pattern for semiconductor islands and second alignment marks. In the selective exposure process of the second photosensitive resist film, alignment is carried out using the above-described first alignment marks.
Next, using the second mask thus formed, the polysilicon film is selectively etched. Thus, the polysilicon film is patterned to form semiconductor islands (i.e., polysilicon islands). At the same time, second alignment marks are formed by the same polysilicon film. Thereafter, the second mask is removed.
Subsequently, a third photosensitive resist film is formed and is subjected to selective exposure and development processes, thereby forming a third mask with a pattern for impurity implantation. Then, using the third mask thus formed, impurity or dopant ions are selectively implanted into source/drain formation regions (which are regions to be formed as source/drain regions later and which may be termed S/D formation regions below) of the island-shaped polysilicon film (i.e., the polysilicon islands). Thus, pairs of source/drain regions (which may be termed S/D regions below) are formed in the respective polysilicon islands. After the third mask is removed, the implanted impurity ions into the polysilicon islands are activated by an excimer laser annealing process, a thermal annealing process, or the like.
Thereafter, subsequent process steps for gate insulating film formation, gate electrode/line formation, interlayer insulating film formation, contact hole formation, and source/drain line formation are carried out successively, resulting in the TFT substrate.
As explained above, with the conventional fabrication method of a TFT substrate, to form the first alignment marks only, it is necessary to conduct five process steps of formation, exposure and development of the first photosensitive resist mask, etching of the a-Si film, and removal of the first photosensitive resist mask. Therefore, there is a problem that the total number of the necessary process steps increases and the fabrication cost becomes high. So, to reduce the total number of the process steps, various measures have been developed and disclosed, an example of which is disclosed in the Japanese Non-Examined Patent Publication No. 2003-332349 published on Nov. 21, 2003. The measure disclosed in the Publication No. 2003-332349 is as follows.
Specifically, in the step of forming the a-Si film on the insulating backing film formed on the glass plate, a region where the a-Si film is not placed (i.e., an a-Si film nonexistence region) is formed on the periphery of the glass plate and at the same time, a region where the a-Si film is placed (i.e., an a-Si film formation region) is formed on the inside of the a-Si film nonexistence region on the glass plate. The a-Si film nonexistence region is formed by concealing or covering the periphery of the glass plate in the step of forming the a-Si film. Then, a photosensitive resist film is formed on both the a-Si film nonexistence region and the a-Si film formation region and then, the photosensitive resist film thus formed is selectively exposed and developed, thereby forming a mask having a pattern for impurity implantation and a pattern for alignment mark formation. The pattern for impurity implantation is placed on the a-Si film formation region, and the pattern for alignment mark formation is placed on the a-Si film nonexistence region.
Subsequently, a predetermined impurity is selectively implanted into the a-Si film using the above-described mask, and then, the insulating backing film is selectively etched using the same mask. As a result, S/D formation regions are formed in the a-Si film formation region of the a-Si film and at the same time, alignment marks are formed by the insulating backing film in the a-Si film nonexistence region. After this etching process is completed, the mask is removed.
With the method disclosed in the Publication No. 2003-332349, the above-described five process steps for forming the first alignment marks in the above-described conventional method of fabricating a TFT substrate are omitted in the above-described way. Thus, the fabrication cost increase is suppressed.
Moreover, to omit the activation process for the implanted impurity into the a-Si film to thereby shorten the fabrication process sequence, the following method was developed. This method is disclosed in the Japanese patent No. 3211340 published on Jul. 19, 2001.
Specifically, an a-Si film is deposited on an insulating plate and then, a predetermined impurity or dopant is selectively implanted into S/D formation regions of the a-Si film, thereby forming impurity-doped regions in the a-Si film. Thereafter, an excimer laser beam is directly irradiated to the impurity-doped regions, thereby turning the a-Si film into a polysilicon film (i.e., crystallization of the a-Si film) and activating the impurity existing in the impurity-doped regions simultaneously. This method is termed the excimer laser annealing method. With this method, both the crystallization of the a-Si film and the activation of the doped impurity can be carried out simultaneously and therefore, the fabrication process sequence is shortened. Consequently, fabrication cost increase is prevented.
As clearly seen from the method disclosed in the Publication No. 2003-332349, to shorten the fabrication process sequence (i.e., to reduce the total number of the necessary process steps), it is effective to form the pattern for impurity implantation and the pattern for alignment mark formation through a single set of exposure and development processes, or to simultaneously conducting the crystallization of the a-Si film and the activation of the impurity implanted into the a-Si film. However, if the pattern for impurity implantation and the pattern for alignment mark formation are formed through a single set of exposure and development processes using the method disclosed in the Publication No. 2003-332349, the alignment marks are located only on the periphery of the glass plate. Thus, a disadvantage that alignment accuracy deteriorates in the middle area of the glass plate arises.
In addition, the region for forming the alignment marks needs to be provided on the periphery of the glass plate and thus, the region for forming TFTs is narrowed. As a result, another disadvantage that the fabrication cost increases arises.
Moreover, if, similar to the method disclosed in the Japanese patent No. 3211340, a desired impurity is selectively implanted into the S/D formation regions of the a-Si film and thereafter, the crystallization of the a-Si film and the activation of the impurity ions are carried out simultaneously by excimer laser irradiation, heavy-metal impurity (which is unavoidably implanted into the surface of the a-Si film along with the desired impurity) is likely to diffuse toward the inside of the a-Si film during the excimer laser irradiation. If so, a disadvantage that the heavy-metal impurity thus diffused degrade the characteristics and reliability of the TFTs to be formed using the said a-Si film will occur.

Semiconductor device with thin-film transistors and method of fabricating the same


A method for decolorizing a muscadine pomace grape extract by processing the clarified extract by ultrafiltration through a 500-5000 kDa microfiltration membrane to obtain a first permeate in which flavor components are removed. The retentate is subjected to ultrafiltration through a 25-100 kDa ultrafiltration membrane to obtain a second permeate and a second retentate. The polymeric condensed tannins are removed in the second retentate and the second permeate is the decolorized extract having increased levels of polyphenols and lowered levels of sugars and condensed tannins compared to the first retentate. The decolorized extract can be incorporated into skin care compositions, which can also include beta-glucan and grape seed extract. The skin care compositions can and applied to the skin to maintain healthy skin without discoloration, protecting against ultraviolet radiation, and inhibiting the production of anti-inflammatory mediators in skin cells.

Grape extracts are known to have beneficial antioxidant properties. Muscadine grapes, for example, contain several bioactive polyphenolic compounds, including flavonoids (such as flavonols, anthocyanins, and flavanones, as well as flavan-3-ols and oligomers thereof known as proanthocyanidins) and non-flavonoids (such as phenolic acids, tannins and stilbene derivatives, for example resveratrol). The protective and anti-inflammatory effects of the flavonoids are believed to be due to free radical scavenging, beneficial effects on cellular signaling pathways and gene expression, and selective interference with the cell division cycle of rapidly and abnormally proliferating mammalian cells.
The beneficial properties of grape extracts have led to their use in nutraceuticals. U.S. Pat. No. 6,190,716 disclosed a muscadine grape dietary supplement that was obtained by crushing and de juicing muscadine grapes then breaking down the pulp with heat and enzymes. U.S. Pat. No. 6,638,545 disclosed a grape extract having a rich polyphenol content for use as a dietary supplement and cosmetic composition. U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,568,804, 9,132,162 and 9,173,916 disclosed a composition in which a pomace extract of bronze and purple muscadine grapes was shown to have enhanced anti-oxidant activity.
Although it is recognized that muscadine and other red grape extracts have excellent antioxidant activities, their use in topical compositions has been limited by the elevated level of tannins in the extracts. The term "tannin" was originally applied to this class of compounds because of the use of astringent wood tannins to "tan" animal hides into leather. Red grape tannins taste dry and astringent, and the tannins impart color to wine. When included in topical grape extract preparations the tannins discolor the composition as well as the skin to which they are applied.
In terms of their chemical composition, tannins are divided into the hydrolyzable tannins and the condensed tannins or flavonoids. The hydrolyzable tannins are polymerized simple phenolic substances, such as esters of gallic acid and of dimers thereof (digallic acid, ellagic acid). The hydrolyzable tannin can be further divided into gallotannins that yield gallic acid after hydrolysis, and ellagitannins that release ellagic acid after hydrolysis. In contrast to the hydrolyzable tannins, the condensed tannins are not decomposable by hydrolysis. On the contrary, when subjected to heating in an acidic medium they progressively polymerize and form amorphous anthocyanin pigments, of red color, or insoluble yellow-brown products, of high molecular mass, called phlobaphenes.
In addition to their deep color, condensed tannins have more hydroxyl groups and a larger molecular structure than most other polyphenolic organic compounds, which enable them to effectively trap and retain malodorous molecules. This property has discouraged the use of grape extracts in topical preparations, such as antioxidant or cosmetic compositions.
The process of skin inflammation is complex. When the skin is exposed to a "triggering" stimulus, such as ultraviolet (UV) radiation, an irritant, or to allergens, the cells in the skin produce a variety of inflammatory cytokines and chemokines. These cytokines and chemokines bind to specific receptors on target cells and stimulate the production of additional inflammatory mediators, which cause vasodilation and activate nerve cells. The expression of cytokines and chemokines by inflammatory cells also results in the production of enzymes, free radicals, and other biological mediators that damage the skin. The end result of the initial triggering event is the amplification of a large inflammatory response that, while designed to help the skin fight infection from invading bacteria, actually causes considerable damage to the skin. A need remains for topical compositions that have reduced tannins and can be used to decrease skin inflammation.

Muscadine topical composition with low content of condensed tannin


Staggered consecutive Nyquist regions associated with differing DAC synthesizer clock rates (FCLK) avoids spectrum lost through disjoint guard bands at the end of or between adjacent Nyquist regions. The staggered consecutive Nyquist regions overlap by an amount at least as much as is consumed by the guard bands. Selectable reconstruction filters associated with each Nyquist region and its DAC clock rate are used to enforce the staggered Nyquist regions and their various guard bands.

The application of digital techniques to the creation of waveforms has allowed the development of equipment able to produce, with precision, a wide variety of waveforms that are difficult to produce with purely analog techniques. It is now routine for a 'function generator' to create, whether as single cycles or continuously, all manner of waveforms, such as sine, triangle, sawtooth and square wave, as well as instances of waveforms with an arbitrarily defined shape. Furthermore, whatever can be generated as a 'regular and periodic' waveform can also be the object of a swept format, where over some period of time whatever 'rates of change' might describe the waveform (periods or frequency, rise times) appear to vary in some controlled fashion. For example, the frequency of a sine wave might vary uniformly from F0−Δ to F0+Δ many times a second while an operator views a display of, say, the frequency response of some network. During this operation the operator may wish to vary the value of either of Δ or F0; in such a case the 'sweep' (variation of F by Δ) might best be linear with time. In another case the urge may be to sweep from F1 to F2, while still another it might be desirable if the change in F were logarithmic with time. Today's operators of function generators are accustomed to configuring all manner of such parameters (including triggering, phase control, etc.) merely by pressing a few controls on the front panel. Such flexibility (not to mention the issue of genuine precision) cannot be obtained in equipment produced for commercial use that employs purely analog techniques.
One of the most widely used digital techniques for the creation of waveforms is to have at hand a digitized version of the desired waveform and apply it to a DAC (Digital to Analog Converter). In principle, one could use computational resources to compute the digital values as they are needed, in real time at the rate they are needed. In other cases, pre-computed values (e.g., a generic sine, generic sawtooth, etc.) are stored ahead of time in a memory and merely accessed at the rate needed. In another setting, some existing analog signal of interest might first be digitized, perhaps operated upon, and the resulting sequence of digital values applied to the DAC.
There are a number of other digital synthesis techniques that might be used in function generators and for the generation of waveforms in other, non-test equipment, settings. But the one just mentioned is of particular interest, so we will dwell on it for a bit.
As a point of departure, let us imagine a fictitious simple case where a sine wave is to be generated for the first time ever, while using this technique. And while we might wish for anything we want, our labors are within the framework of some enterprise that has placed its own valuation upon the consumption of resources. We approach the powers that be and inquire about what 'clearly' ought to be (at least, so we think at present) the most important element of this synthesis scheme: "Say, Boss, what about the DAC we are supposed to use . . . ." We are told to keep costs under control, try eight or ten bits with good to excellent linearity, BUT, using production parts only (and NO selection of the best parts out of large lots, etc.). We shall assume that speed of operation is not a determinative issue by itself, and that if it costs more to use a fast DAC when fast is necessary, well then, that is just the way it is, and is understood and acceptable to our boss. To this point no one has provoked us with any rude questions about a filter, and we naively proceed without having considered any such issue.
It is clear that if we use, say, ten bit parts, the amplitude axis will be divided into 210, or one thousand twenty-four, full scale values. With an eye on the time axis, we also enquire about memory resources. It is suggested that what works for resolution in one axis should be an adequate minimum for another. So we compute one thousand twenty-four consecutive evenly spaced values for the sin(x) over one period, and put them into a table.
Some obvious issues emerge. The frequency of the resulting sine wave will depend upon how often we apply the next value to the DAC. So, if we run through all thousand twenty-four input values in one microsecond the output of the DAC for that microsecond will represent one cycle of a one megahertz sine wave. Clearly, we can create as much or as little of the 'template' stored in memory as desired: We can create any desired fraction of a single cycle, a single cycle that starts and stops at any desired location on the waveform, and continuous trains of consecutive cycles, all by proper sequencing of the addresses applied to the memory containing the template. To create a five megahertz sine wave we would speed things up by a factor of five. We need a way to scale the output, so as to be able to produce different amplitudes. We are suspicious of scaling the values before they are applied to the DAC, as this appears to waste available resolution. But control of the power supplies to the DAC, and variable gain amplification or variable attenuation of the DAC's output, are all fair game in this department, and it appears that they work just fine.
Some other issues arise, too. We give a prototype of our one megahertz sine wave generator to a friend in the next cube who also happens to have a state of the art spectrum analyzer. Half an hour later we hear her exclaim: "WOW! There's a huge family of harmonics in this thing right out to the microwave region, and some are only about fifteen dB down . . . did you guys do that on purpose?"
"Well, . . . no. We didn't."
Despite the fact that it is not easily seen on an oscilloscope, it does not take long to discover the source of the trouble: our DAC is creating a stair-step approximation of a sine wave, and even though they are small ( 1/1024 of full scale) the transitions are, in keeping with what is expected of a high quality DAC, very abrupt. Those sharp edges represent, or contain, high frequency components that are not properly part of our one megahertz signal. Clearly, we need to condition the output of the DAC with a suitable low pass filter. Much to our relief, a low pass filter does indeed clean up the output.
In fact, it would appear that, properly chosen, the filter does more than just get rid of pesky harmonics: a low pass filter is a transformative mechanism that progressively discriminates against frequency components according to the amount they exceed some cut-off frequency Fc. Let us suppose we are generating a pure sine wave at F1, and choose Fc to be a little above F1. The removal of those frequency components above F1 smoothes the output of the DAC, and in so doing provides an interpolation in real time of what would otherwise appear as the point-to-point 'corners' on the edge of the staircase. The unfiltered staircase shaped waveform laden with harmonics now becomes instead a sequence of smoothly connected ramp-like segments. For sine waves, measurable distortion can actually become quite low. Further inquiry and analysis leads us to appreciate that, for sine wave generation, we can indeed rely on the filter to a fairly large extent, and relax the number-of-bits/DAC-resolution. And for essentially the same reasons, we can also reduce the number of points along the waveform that are stored in memory. (We are now, however, informed by Nyquist and Fourier, and appreciate that such relaxations pertain only for frequencies at or above the highest frequency considered in a complex waveform's decomposition. And, we also remain mindful that modulated sine waves are indeed 'complex' and not 'pure' sine waveforms.) For these and other reasons, this form of waveform synthesis has since become quite popular, provided proper attention is paid to this notion of the highest frequency of interest in a complex waveform's decomposition.
Indeed, there are other applications besides test equipment-style 'function generation' where this architecture might be used to create waveforms. Say, for example as a modulator in a radio frequency communications system, such as may be found in cellular telephones. Cellular telephony, and various other classes of radio communication service, have long since abandoned simple AM (Amplitude Modulation) in favor of various other forms of modulation that are more complex, and that are also more suited to the digital representation of content. For example, one generalized form of modulation involves discrete variations in both the amplitude and phase of a carrier signal. There are various modulation components that accept a digital input and a carrier, and produce an amplitude or phase alteration of the carrier according to the applied digital input. As one example, a proper combination of these things will produce π/4 DPSK (pronounced "pi over four differential phase shift keying"). There are other flavors of complex modulation, and we needn't get too concerned about their details, although it is useful to appreciate the notion of out of band 'splatter.' (Splatter is the spurious generation/radiation of power at frequencies out of the band in use, and which rudely appears as extra noise within some other band.) To prevent splatter it is often necessary to limit the rate—by filtering—at which individual amplitude and phase changes are allowed to manifest themselves in the carrier. What we can say is this: whatever style of modulation is in use (including the notion of limiting rates of change for modulation), the final modulated carrier is ultimately just a continuous waveform, and one whose individual cycles are 'essentially' sinusoidal, at that (that is, as individual cycles they outwardly resemble a true sinusoid, but in actual fact, they are complex to the extent they exhibit the effects of some form of modulation). That means that if we could digitally represent those individual cycles of the modulated carrier, we could synthesize that carrier, just as we did one or more cycles of our one megahertz sine wave. So, for example, we imagine an ADC (Analog to Digital Converter) that continuously digitizes applied speech, or perhaps an imaging system that converts an applied image to a formatted digital representation (as with a digital camera), and we apply a continuous (for perhaps a long while) sequence of such digitized information to a "modulation daemon" whose task is, by computational means or by other algorithmic methods, to trade the incoming digitized program material for a digitized cycle by cycle representation of what a modulated IF (Intermediate Frequency) "carrier" should be (and already including any honoring of anti-splatter filtering). We then apply this to a suitably fast DAC whose output is low pass filtered and then supplied to some using environment. For example, we might then mix the IF up to some final RF frequency carrier and then amplify it.
As desirable as this waveform generation architecture is, it is not without its difficulties. Let's say we have a DAC whose clock frequency is Fs: that is, the DAC can accept a new digital input value (we might call it a 'sample' occurring at a 'sampling frequency' Fs) and produce a new output value once every 1/Fs seconds. This DAC can be used to generate a signal Fout whose frequency content can range from DC to (Fs/2)−Fg (within the First Nyquist region) or from (Fs/2)+Fg to Fs−Fg (within the Second Nyquist region). (Ideal) Nyquist regions are the consecutive Fs/2 intervals along the frequency axis. We have shown above a practical width of these Nyquist regions. Each has been reduced by Fg, where Fg is the width of a guard band that is needed because practical filters have skirts that are not vertical, as would be the case with a so-called (and essentially unrealizable) 'brick wall' filter. The following three paragraphs address this need for a guard band.
It will be appreciated that this method of 'constructing' a signal has elements of sampling, and that one method of mixing (heterodyning) two signals is to sample one at the rate of the other. We are not surprised, therefore, to discover (as will be illustrated in connection with FIG. 1) that while generating Fout an image Fs−Fout appears within the Second Nyquist region. When Fout begins to approach Fs/2 from below the image Fs−Fout will also approach Fs/2 from above: Fout and its image approach each other with Fs/2 as the midpoint of their difference. The image will be severely attenuated or removed by the low pass filter when Fout is well below Fs/2 (beneath the guard band). However, when it falls within the guard band (somewhere on the skirt of that filter), then there is a fight between the strength of the image and the efficacy of the filter, and the presence of the image is felt. Not only that, but a practical filter 'strong enough' to suppress an image just above Fs/2 will also proceed to partially attenuate the associated Fout just below Fs/2, which is rather inconvenient, to say the least.
The general term describing the presence of unwanted images is "aliasing," and in applications where a waveform is sampled to produce digital values (as in a Digital Sampling Oscilloscope) a filter used to suppress them is known as an 'anti-aliasing' filter. In the particular case we are interested in here (going from the digital samples to an analog waveform with a DAC) the corresponding filter is called a 'reconstruction filter.' In the case of waveform synthesis with a DAC the reconstruction filter removes the staircase transitions in the time domain, as well as the image in the frequency domain. This situation (the appearance of the in-band image when Fout is near Fs/2) is not unknown, and the usual solution for implementing the guard band is to not allow Fout to approach the filter's cutoff value by the width of the guard band. Say, for example, an upper limit for an Fout within the First Nyquist region might be set at about 70% or 80% of Fs/2.
Similar remarks pertain to the generation of signals within a Nyquist region above the First: there will be a guard band at each end, and the usable portion of the region is reduced by those guard bands.
It appears, then, that we are precluded from generating signals in the 'hole(s)' created by the guard band(s). It is as if the guard bands create a region of inaccessible spectrum.
It seems that our earlier (and fictitious) view that the DAC was essentially all we needed was both naive and incorrect. We will need at least a low pass filter even if we are operating within the First Nyquist region, and appropriate band pass filters for operation in higher Nyquist regions. It seems the filters are essential, since upon reflection we appreciate that, just as the images are there, each of the Nyquist regions 'is there', too, whether we intend to use them, or not! (They exist for essentially reasons similar to those explaining the images, and also stem from heterodyne theory.) Thus it is that we find conventional systems of this sort which achieve multi-region synthesis operation by switching between reconstruction filters, and these filters enforce guard bands. That works, but there is a nasty drawback: the synthesizer cannot generate signals that fall within, or approach too close to, the guard bands. So, even if we had a perfect DAC the frequency range of the system would still be limited by the guard bands in the filters to less than what is between any two consecutive Nyquist limits. We know better than to expect to have the services of a 'perfect' filter to reduce the width of the guard band(s) to 'zero'! We resent having obtained a first rate DAC only to be unable to use it to its full potential because of the need for significant guard bands. We appreciate that multi-region operation is possible through filter switching, and that such operation must be stay within the Nyquist region selected, and cannot span those regions. So be it. But must we suffer the loss of valuable spectrum at the end of a region or between regions (or limit bandwidth accordingly) on account of the 'holes' represented by the guard bands? It seems we need a way to outfox the tyranny of the Nyquist regions without offending Mother Nature. What to do?

Discrete synthesis using staggered Nyquist regions avoids guard band induced holes near a Nyquist limit