It is an object of the invention to provide a transfer sheet which is suitable for forming high-precision patterns for electrode layers, dielectric layers, barrier layers, etc. in the process of fabricating plasma display panels, image display devices, thermal heads, integrated circuits, etc., and which enables fabrication times to be reduced with improved yields, and has improved surface smoothness, a uniform thickness and good profile precision, and a pattern-forming method. The transfer sheet of the invention comprises a base film 11 having a concave pattern formed on one side thereof and an ink layer 13 filled in the concave pattern portion 12 in the base film 11, said ink layer being composed of an inorganic component comprising at least a glass frit and a resinous component that is to be removed by firing. Preferably, a second ink layer is stacked on the concave pattern with the ink layer filled therein, and a third ink layer is stacked on the second ink layer. In the pattern-forming method of the invention, the transfer sheet is laminated from an ink layer side thereof on an associated substrate to transfer the concave pattern onto the associated substrate, and the associated substrate having the concave pattern is then fired.

The present invention relates to a transfer sheet suitable for forming high-precision patterns for layers such as electrode layers, dielectric layers and barrier layers in plasma display panels (hereinafter PDPs for short), field emission displays (FEDs), liquid crystal display devices (LCDs), vacuum fluorescent displays, hybrid integrated circuits, etc., and a pattern-forming method.
As well known so far in the art, such patterns are formed by the pattern-wise coating of an ink for conductors or insulators on a suitable substrate of such as a glass or ceramic substrate by means of screen printing, and the firing of the substrate, thereby obtaining a thick pattern in close contact with the substrate. According to this technique, for instance, fine lines having a line width of 100 .mu.m and a height of 100 .mu.m are formed by repeating superposition printing plural times.
However, the method of forming a pattern by repeating screen pattern printing many times have several problems. First, the expansion and contraction of the screen used for printing occurs unavoidably. In most applications where various patterns are formed while they are superposed one upon another, they are susceptible to misalignment. Second, the screen used as a printing plate tends to give rise to pattern distortions, so making it difficult to form micro patterns. Third, wiping is necessary for each printing because of the migration of the pattern-forming material to the back side of the screen plate; that is, automation is difficult. Fourth, pattern size achievable by screen printing is at most about 100 .mu.m for width, and pattern shape is about 0.5 as expressed by a half width-to-bottom width ratio, where the half width is a width of a pattern-forming layer at a position half the height of the pattern-forming layer. For a barrier layer in a PDP which should be coated at an as-dried thickness of about 150 .mu.m to about 200 .mu.m, for instance, it is required to increase its bottom area, and so it is impossible to form any fine pattern. For a multilayer pattern, layers are stacked one upon another while alignment is carried out per layer because it cannot be formed in one operation. However, this offers a problem that it is difficult to improve alignment precision. Further, it is impossible to form a thick pattern having a high aspect ratio because the ink tails due to its fluidity. Furthermore, difficulty is involved in condition controls for the purpose of preventing contamination with foreign matters or the like because operations must be carried out in an open system, and so much time is needed for pattern fabrication.
There is also known a so-called sand blasting technique wherein a pattern-forming layer is solid coated on a substrate by repeating screen printing many times, then using a photosensitive resist to form a sand blasting mask on the pattern-forming layer, and finally jetting an abrasive for the patterning of the pattern-forming layer.
However, a pattern-forming method making use of this sand blasting technique, too, has a problem that a superposition printing step is not only time-consuming but also condition controls are difficult to perform because operations must be carried out in an open system. Further, coating and drying must be repeated for each layer to be formed, followed by patterning. This leads to another problem that much installation cost is not only needed but also much space is need for such installations.
A first object of the present invention is to provide a transfer sheet suitable for forming micro patterns for electrodes, resistors, barriers, etc. in image display devices such as PDPs and liquid crystal displays, thermal heads, integrated circuits and the like.
A second object of the present invention is to provide a pattern-forming method of forming a pattern having improved surface smoothness, a uniform thickness and high profile precision for a reduced time of period in high yields.

Transfer sheet, and pattern-forming method


In order to reduce noise appropriately according to scaling factor and a degree of motion of an image and to suppress degradation in image quality resulting from the noise reduction to a negligible level, a noise reduction control section outputs a noise detection instruction, a noise detection threshold instruction and a filtering mode instruction based on a scale factor output from a scale factor calculating section and a motion detection result output from a motion detecting section. A mosquito noise reducing section and a blocking artifact reducing section in a noise reducing section adaptively conducts an appropriate noise reducing process using noise detection sensitivity and the number of filter taps and a filter coefficient of a smoothing filter according to these instructions.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a noise reducing apparatus for reducing a noise component included in a digital video signal. More particularly, the present invention relates to reduction of a noise component included in a digital video signal obtained by compressively encoding image data on a block-by-block basis by an encoder and then decoding the resultant image data by a decoder.
2. Description of the Related Art
A digital video signal resulting from decoding of image data by a decoder includes random noise and encoding noise which is introduced in encoding process. The random noise results from degraded quality of a material image itself to be encoded by an encoder. The encoding noise is generated by, e.g., quantization error caused upon encoding. The encoding noise is thus specific to an encoding/decoding system.
Specific examples of the encoding noise include mosquito noise and blocking artifact. For example, the mosquito noise is generated in a flat region near the edge of the image within a 8×8 pixel encoding block. The blocking artifact appears as distortion at the boundary of an encoding block. These noises are generally reduced or reduced by a smoothing process. Since the noise reducing process is a process that damages the original image in a sense, it involves degradation in image quality more or less. Therefore, the noise reduction level in the noise reducing process is generally determined so as to balance the noise reducing effect with the influence of degradation in image quality.
With recent diversification of image information and display devices, the original image data is increasingly scaled for display rather than being displayed in its original size. For example, the display image size on a display device may vary depending on the areas (e.g., the European countries and the US). Even in the same area, the display image size (aspect ratio) may vary like 4:3 and 16:9 depending on the display devices. Some display devices are capable of scaling the displayed image through operation of the user. Moreover, devices capable of recording and reproducing the image of various sizes such as a DVD player/recorder are becoming widespread. Such an image scaling process is conducted by performing a prescribed operation (a kind of filtering process) on the pixel data of each pixel and its neighboring pixels.
Conventionally, however, since the noise reducing process and the scaling process are independent processes having completely different purposes from each other, the balance between the respective influences of the processes has not been considered particularly. This may result in failing to obtain a sufficient noise reducing effect or may result in degraded image quality (other than noise) when the image data is subjected to such a noise reducing process and scaling process. In other words, even if the noise reducing process is conducted so as to balance the noise reducing effect with the influence of degradation in image quality as described above, the balance is not necessarily retained even after the scaling process. For example, if a smoothing process for noise reduction results in less sharp edges, the edges of the image may get much less sharp as a result of the enlarging process. On the contrary, even if the noise reduction level is increased, the subsequent scaling process (a kind of filtering process) may degrade the image quality rather than improving it.
Similar problems regarding the balance between the noise reducing effect and the influence of degradation in image quality are also caused by the difference in magnitude of the motion in the image. More specifically, the conventional noise reducing apparatus has a fixed, preset noise reduction level. Therefore, if the noise reduction level is set so that noise is sufficiently reduced from a fast-moving image (i.e., an image that reduces human eye's visual sensitivity to degradation in image quality), degradation in image quality is more likely to be perceived in a slow-moving image (i.e., an image that increases the human eye's visual sensitivity thereto) than the noise reducing effect. On the other hand, if the noise reduction level is set so that the slow-moving image is not noticeably degraded in quality, the noise reducing effect on the fast-moving image is not likely to be perceived.

Noise reducing apparatus and noise reducing method

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


An emitted light in a scintillator element is sufficiently diffused in the scintillator array to be inputted into a photo multiplier tube (PMT) using a side face light guide that is optically coupled with respect to a side face of a scintillator array, except for in an end area. In the end area, the emitted light in the scintillator element is sufficiently diffused also in the side face light guide to be inputted into the PMT. In this way, also in the scintillator element in the end area, the emitted light is sufficiently diffused in the side face light guide, and thereby the precision of separation of a position calculation map in the end area may be improved, resulting in improved discriminating ability of a position in the end area.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a radiation detector that is used for medical field, industrial field, nuclear field, etc., and the present invention particularly relates to a technique of a scintillator array having a plurality of three dimensionally disposed scintillator elements.
(2) Description of the Related Art
Radiation detectors have scintillators that convert radioactive rays into a light using an emitted light generated by incidence of radioactive rays; light guides that guide the light converted by the scintillator; and photo multiplier tubes that multiply the guided light to convert into electrical signals (for example, refer to Japan Patent No. 2602287 specification (page 4, FIG. 1). Radiation detectors used for nuclear medicine diagnosis apparatuses, such as PET (Positron Emission Tomography) apparatuses need high discriminating ability for discriminating positions of incidence of radioactive rays in the scintillator. Therefore, adopted are measures for improving the discriminating ability by increasing the number of scintillator elements that constitute the scintillator arrays. In recent years, DOI detectors enabling discrimination of the position of the light source (DOI: Depth of Interaction) that has given interaction, in particular, in a depth direction are developed by laminating scintillator elements also in a depth direction. (For example, refer to JP-A No. 2004-279057 (pages 1 to 13, FIG. 1).)
Here, disclosed is a radiation detector that disposes the first light guide on a side face of a scintillator, that disposes a photo detection means (that is, photoelectric conversion element) for detecting a light in the first light guide, that disposes the second light guide on a surface opposite to a plane of incidence of the scintillator into which radioactive rays enter, and that disposes a photo detection means to the second light guide (for example, refer to JP-A No. 2000-346947 official report (page 1 to 10, FIGS. 1 to 18)). This radiation detector has outstanding discriminating ability of a position in a large area, and enables background compensation.
However, the precision of separation of a position calculation map at an end area will drop in a two-dimensional position calculation map of the radiation detector of the above-described JP-A No. 2004-279057 official report, and as a result the position discriminating ability at the end area also reduces.


A method of early detection of scaling on internal surfaces of conduits of water processing equipment, is provided herein. The method includes: transmitting ultrasonic signals through the wall of the conduits; deriving data samples from received ultrasonic signals or reflections thereof; calculating a moving average of the scatter of the ultrasonic signals, over time, based on the data samples; applying a statistical operand to the moving average, to yield a statistical distribution metric; determining a dynamic window defined by: (i) an upper boundary being the moving average plus at least a fraction of the statistical distribution metric and (ii) a lower boundary being the moving average minus the at least a fraction of the statistical distribution metric; generating a trend line being a smooth fitting of the derived samples; and monitoring the trend line within the window to detect a crossover of the trend line at either of the boundaries.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to water processing systems and more particularly, to an early detection of scaling processes in such systems, using statistical methods.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
There are many water treatment processes involving the flow of aqueous streams in opaque conduits wherein scaling of internal structures of said conduits will cause damage to the process or increase the resources needed to carry out such processes. Examples of such conduits with internal structures are heat exchangers containing heat transfer surfaces and pressure vessels containing membrane elements for water treatment.
The scaling referred to herein is the precipitation of sparingly soluble salts (including but not limited to sulfates of calcium, barium and strontium, calcium carbonate, silica and calcium fluoride) on the internal surfaces of these conduits due to the creation of supersaturation conditions on these internal surfaces by temperature or concentration gradients. By the time that the effects of such scaling are detected from process parameters such as from changes in temperature decreases or higher heating or cooling duties in a heat exchanger, or from product water flux-decline or increased applied pressure in membranes, irreversible damage could be caused to the equipment. At the least it could require costly downtime to repair the equipment. If there were an early warning system that would allow treating the equipment with preventative steps, it could be possible to keep the equipment operating without costly downtime or damage.
Because sparingly soluble salts usually have an induction time between the time that supersaturated conditions are obtained and the time that scaling of internal surfaces begins, one can take preventive actions just before, or at the end, of such an induction time by a variety of approaches. One example is the use of osmotic flushing to periodically sweep away supersaturated solutions and other foulants in reverse osmosis (RO) processes. Another example is the use of blowdown in cooling towers and flushing of heat exchangers with undersaturated solutions. Another solution is the use of flow reversal to replace supersaturated concentrate solution with undersaturated feed solution next to a desalination membrane. The problem is that if the early warning is too early and sensitive, then the preventative treatment sequence can be too frequent resulting in unnecessary use of chemicals, loss of production, or wear of equipment.
Because the equipment is inside an opaque conduit, it is not possible to visually inspect the equipment in real time during operation to determine when scaling occurs. One approach to overcoming the lack of optical transparency is to use an external device placed downstream of the equipment that is at risk to scaling and then optical units can be used to observe the onset of scaling. A similar known device monitors the flux decline in an external device downstream of the pressure housings containing membrane desalination modules. The disadvantage of such devices is that they are unable to exactly reproduce the conditions in the equipment in terms of flow patterns and supersaturation conditions, and can be either too sensitive (if they generate greater supersaturation than the actual equipment) or not sensitive enough (if they generate less local supesaturation than the actual equipment).
Another option is to use devices that do allow sampling of the conditions of the internal surfaces of an opaque conduit containing water processing equipment. A well known example is the use of ultrasound, which is used for detecting defects in welding in pipes and leaks inside conduits in the chemical-processing industry. A known method detects the presence of mineral deposits on water treatment membrane surfaces in both opaque flat sheet and commercial spiral wound pressure vessels. However, the methodology involved collecting the data and then analyzing the complex wave-forms generated offline due to the extensive analysis required. While this approach was effective as a diagnostic, it was not effective as an on-site early warning device that could be used for triggering process changes and preventive steps in real time. Part of the reason for this, is that enough time must pass for the signal to significantly deviate from the background signal and by direct inspection this often requires so much time that scaling has already proceeded to a much greater extent. Therefore this becomes a problem of statistically identifying a signal deviating from background noise.

Analyzing ultrasonic signals using a dynamic window for an early detection of scaling in water processing equipment

THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO, A BODY CORPORATE

BEN-GURION UNIVERSITY OF THE NEGEV RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY


A system and method is provided for acquiring flow encoded data from a subject using a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system. The method includes acquiring flow encoded (FE) data with alternating encoding polarities and along two of three orthogonal directions through the subject over at least two cycles of the flow within the subject; and separating the FE data into directional FE datasets using a temporal filter that separates the FE data based on temporal modulation of the FE directions caused by the alternating encoding polarities extending over the at least two cycles of the flow within the subject that shift the Fourier spectrum of velocity waveforms corresponding to the FE data. The method also includes using the directional FE datasets to generate an image of the subject showing flow within the subject caused by the at least two cycles of flow within the subject.

When a substance such as human tissue is subjected to a uniform magnetic field (polarizing field B0), the individual magnetic moments of the nuclear spins in the tissue attempt to align with this polarizing field, but precess about it in random order at their characteristic Larmor frequency. Usually the nuclear spins are comprised of hydrogen atoms, but other NMR active nuclei are occasionally used. A net magnetic moment Mz is produced in the direction of the polarizing field, but the randomly oriented magnetic components in the perpendicular, or transverse, plane (x-y plane) cancel one another. If, however, the substance, or tissue, is subjected to a magnetic field (excitation field B1; also referred to as the radiofrequency (RF) field) which is in the x-y plane and which is near the Larmor frequency, the net aligned moment, Mz, may be rotated, or "tipped" into the x-y plane to produce a net transverse magnetic moment Mt, which is rotating, or spinning, in the x-y plane at the Larmor frequency. The practical value of this phenomenon resides in the signal which is emitted by the excited spins after the excitation field B1 is terminated. There are a wide variety of measurement sequences in which this nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) phenomenon is exploited.
When utilizing these signals to produce images, magnetic field gradients (Gx, Gy, and Gz) are employed. Typically, the region to be imaged experiences a sequence of measurement cycles in which these gradients vary according to the particular localization method being used. The emitted MR signals are detected using a receiver coil. The MRI signals are then digitized and processed to reconstruct the image using one of many well-known reconstruction techniques.
Magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) and, related imaging techniques, such as perfusion imaging, use the NMR phenomenon to produce images of the human vasculature or physiological performance related to the human vasculature. There are three main categories of techniques for achieving the desired contrast for the purpose of MR angiography. The first general category is typically referred to as contrast enhanced (CE) MRA. The second general category is phase contrast (PC) MRA. The third general category is time-of-flight (TOF) or tagging-based MRA.
To perform CE MRA, a contrast agent, such as gadolinium, is injected into the patient prior to the magnetic resonance (MR) angiogram to enhance the diagnostic capability of the MR angiogram. Perfusion imaging is employed to assess the viability of tissues. A contrast agent is administered to the subject and a series of MR images are acquired as the contrast agent perfuses into the tissues of interest. From this series of contrast-enhanced MR images hemodynamic parameters such as blood flow, blood volume, and mean transit time may be computed.
While CE MRA is a highly effective means for noninvasively evaluating the vascular and physiological performance, for example, by studying perfusion, the technique suffers from several additional drawbacks. First, the contrast agent that must be administered to enhance the blood vessel carries a significant financial cost. Second, contrast agents such as gadolinium have recently been shown to be causative of a debilitating and potentially fatal disorder called nephrogenic systemic fibrosis (NSF). Third, CE MRA, may not provide accurate or sufficient hemodynamic information, so that it is not always feasible to determine if a stenosis is hemodynamically significant or to assess the perfusion in a clinically useful manner.
As such, non-contrast enhanced (NE) MRA methods have become more prevalent. For example, TOF imaging techniques do not require the use of a contrast agent and do not rely on potentially-precarious velocity encoding sensitivities. Contrary to CE-MRA, which relies on the administered contrast agent to provide an increase in measured MR signal, TOF MRA relies on the inflow of blood into an imaging volume to increase the signal intensity of the vasculature as compared to the stationary background tissues. This is achieved by the application of a number of RF excitation pulses to the imaging volume that cause the magnetization of the stationary background tissues to reach a saturation value. Since inflowing blood entering the imaging volume is not exposed to the same number of RF excitation, it will provide higher MR signal intensity than the background tissue. The differences between the signal intensity of the stationary background tissues and the inflowing blood thus provide a contrast mechanism exploited by TOF MRA.
In an effort to increase contrast attributable to the relatively small signal levels or weight particular signals, for example, those attributable to cerebral blood flow (CBF) or another measurable mechanism, various "tagging" or "labeling" methods have been developed. One such method is referred to as the arterial spin labeling (ASL) family of techniques.
Phase contrast (PC) MRA techniques utilize the change in the phase shifts of the flowing protons in the region of interest to create an image. Spins that are moving along the direction of a magnetic field gradient receive a phase shift proportional to their velocity. Specifically, in a PC MRA pulse sequence, two data sets with a different amounts of flow sensitivity are acquired. This is usually accomplished by applying gradient pairs, which sequentially dephase and then rephase spins during the sequence. The first data set is acquired using a "flow-compensated" (FC) pulse sequence or a pulse sequence without sensitivity to flow. The second data set is acquired using a "flow-encoded" FE pulse sequence designed to be sensitive to flow. The amount of flow sensitivity is controlled by the strength of the bipolar gradient pairs used in the pulse sequence because stationary tissue undergoes no effective phase change after the application of the two gradients, whereas the different spatial localization of flowing blood is subjected to the variation of the bipolar gradient. Accordingly, moving spins experience a phase shift. The raw data from the two data sets are subtracted to yield images that illustrate the phase change, which is proportional to spatial velocity.
Although PC-MRI is typically performed with FE gradients applied in the slice direction in 2D acquisitions, the FE gradients can also be applied in more than one orientations, such as in 2D tissue phase mapping or 4D flow, to capture the blood flow/tissue motion in slice, phase-encoding, and frequency encoding directions. For these applications, the temporal resolution is typically poorer than conventional 2D PC-MRI due to the need to acquire the FC data and FE data in three directions for each cardiac phase. It has been shown that temporal resolution and temporal footprint of PC-MRI may affect the measurement accuracy of maximum peak velocity, which is an important index for diagnosis of a number of clinical diseases, such as carotid artery stenosis. Low temporal resolution and long temporal footprint can result in under-estimation of the maximum peak velocity as well as pressure gradients across valves or stenoses. Reducing views-per-segment, such that the number of k-space lines acquired for each cardiac phase within a single cardiac cycle is reduced, may improve temporal resolution. However, doing so it requires increased total image acquisition time.
Fast MRI techniques such as non-Cartesian sampling, parallel imaging, k-t space acceleration, and compressed sensing techniques have been developed to effectively reduce the total acquisition time of PC-MRI or to improve the temporal resolution. The temporal resolution may also be improved by several other techniques. A recently proposed shared velocity encoding (SVE) technique, as described in Lin H-Y, Bender J A, Ding Y, Chung Y-C, Hinton A M, Pennell M L, Whitehead K K, Raman S V, Simonetti O P. Shared velocity encoding: A method to improve the temporal resolution of phase-contrast velocity measurements. Magn. Reson. Med. 2012; 68:703-710. doi: 10.1002/mrm.23273, uses interleaved two-sided velocity encodings and sliding window subtractions, doubling the temporal resolution. However, the temporal footprint of each cardiac phase in the SVE technique is the same as traditional 2D PC-MRI, despite improved temporal resolution through view-sharing. Furthermore, the implementation of the SVE technique in three-dimensional PC-MRI implies even longer temporal footprint (=6*TR*views-per-segment) than conventional 4D flow acquisition (=4*TR*views-per-segment). The issue of temporal footprint is mitigated by the so-called FCVS technique, as described in Wang D, Shao J, Rapacchi S, Middione M J, Ennis D B, Hu P. Phase contrast MRI with flow compensation view sharing. Magn. Reson. Med. 2015; 73:505-513. doi: 10.1002/mrm.25133, where the FC data is under-sampled and view shared based on the assumption that the FC background phase data do not change as fast in time as the FE data.
Therefore, it would be desirable to have a system and method for providing the clinically-required information upon which clinicians have come to rely on PC MRI, but with improved temporal resolution and temporal footprint, particularly, within the context of 4D flow acquisitions.

System and method for phase-contrast MRI with hybrid one-and two-sided flow encoding and velocity spectrum separation (HOTSPA)

The Regents of the University of California


A method for fabricating contact holes in a semiconductor body proceeds from a structure in which: a plurality of trenches isolated from one another by mesa regions are provided in the semiconductor body, and electrodes are provided in the trenches, which electrodes are electrically insulated from the semiconductor body by a first insulation layer, and the upper ends of which electrodes are situated at a deeper level than the upper ends of the trenches. The method comprises the steps of: producing a second insulation layer by subjecting parts of the surface of the structure to a thermal oxidation process, and carrying out a planarization process in such a way that the semiconductor body is uncovered in the region of the mesa regions, and forming the contact holes in the mesa regions using the residues of the second insulation layer remaining after the planarization process as a contact hole mask.

The fabrication of large scale integrated semiconductor devices requires fabrication methods having small tolerance ranges. Thus, when fabricating trench transistors, by way of example, care must be taken to ensure that contact holes which are formed in mesa regions situated between the trenches (that part of the semiconductor body—in which the trenches are formed—which is situated between the trenches) are at a defined distance from the trenches. If this is not the case, then the threshold voltage of the trench transistor is subject to large fluctuations.
The fabrication of contact holes in mesa regions is generally effected using so-called "spacers". The spacers are fabricated before the formation of the contact holes and define the later spacing between the trenches and the contact holes to be fabricated. Several methods are taken into consideration:
In the document DE 40 42 163 C2 the spacers are fabricated using complicated masks.
In the document DE 102 45 249 A1 the spacers are fabricated using insulation structures which have to be produced separately.
In the document U.S. Pat. No. 5,385,852, the spacers required for producing the contact holes are produced using a trench mask.
In the document US 2002/0008284 A1, the spacers are produced by means of a mesa region etching-back process.
Furthermore, reference shall be made to the document U.S. Pat. No. 5,801,417, in which the spacers are fabricated using a hard mask.
The methods described above have the disadvantage that the tolerances which occurred during the fabrication of the spacers are relatively large. Moreover, masks are additionally required for fabricating the spacers.

Method for fabricating contact holes in a semiconductor body and a semiconductor structure


A seat reclining device includes: a first bracket including an accommodating portion being open to an outer side of a seat in a width direction; a second bracket rotating with respect to the first bracket; a cam rotating with respect to the first bracket; a spring accommodated in the accommodating portion and biasing the cam; a pawl moved in a radial direction of the first bracket based on the rotation of the cam and engaged with the second bracket; and a cover covering the spring, wherein the cover is mounted on the accommodating portion and an outer surface of the cover on the outer side corresponds to an outer surface of the first bracket on the outer side or is positioned inside the outer surface of the first bracket in the width direction of the seat.

A device that is described in, for example, JP 2013-100021A (Reference 1) is known as a seat reclining device for maintaining a seat back at a predetermined angle with respect to a seat cushion of a seat.
The seat reclining device is provided with a first bracket that is mounted on the seat cushion, a cam that rotates with respect to the first bracket, a pawl that is moved in a radial direction of the first bracket by the rotation of the cam, and a second bracket that is mounted on the seat back and rotates with respect to the first bracket. The pawl is moved outwardly by the rotation of the cam and external teeth of the pawl are engaged with internal teeth that are disposed on an outer circumferential wall of the second bracket so that the rotation of the second bracket is blocked. In this manner, the second bracket is maintained at a predetermined angle with respect to the first bracket.
In addition, the cam is biased, by a spiral spring, in a predetermined direction of rotation so that the engagement between the external teeth of the pawl and the internal teeth of the second bracket is maintained. The spiral spring is, for example, accommodated in an accommodating portion that is disposed in the first bracket.
In Reference 1, the accommodating portion is open to an outer side. Accordingly, dust or the like may infiltrate into the accommodating portion. Regarding this point, techniques for covering the spiral spring by using a cover have been known (refer to JP 2013-215269A (Reference 2)).
In the case of Reference 2, however, the cover is mounted outside the first bracket, and thus it is difficult to mount the first bracket on a fixing member (for example, a frame that constitutes the seat cushion).


The present invention represents a significant advancement in the field of cooling systems for computer hardware. In one embodiment, a system for cooling a heat-generating electronic device is provided. The system is mountable to a first side of a circuit board. The system includes a first set of fins, a fan operable to force air through the first set of fins, and a first heat pipe to conduct heat from the heat-generating electronic device to the first set of fins. One advantage of the disclosed cooling system is that it more equally distributes heat across the fins and more equally distributes airflow across surfaces of the fins. Thus, the design increases the effective area of the fin surfaces used in for transferring heat from the heat-generating electronic device to the air, resulting in a more efficient cooling system.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to cooling systems for computer hardware and more particularly to a bi-directional thermal solution for computer hardware.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 is an isometric view illustrating a prior art cooling system 100 used, for example, to cool heat-generating electronic devices in a computer system, such as a graphics processing unit (GPU). As shown, cooling system 100 characteristically includes a blower/fan 106, fins 109 and a bottom plate 111. Typically, cooling system 100 is thermally coupled to the GPU, for example using thermal adhesive or grease having thermal properties that facilitate transferring heat generated by the GPU to the bottom plate 111. Cooling system 100 may also include a heat sink lid (not shown), which, among other things, prevents particles and other contaminants from entering blower/fan 106 and air blown from blower/fan 106 from escaping cooling system 100. The heat sink lid, together with the fins 109 and the bottom plate 111, define a plurality of air channels 108.
Blower/fan 106 is configured to force air through air channels 108 over bottom plate 111 such that the heat generated by the GPU transfers to the air. The heated air then exits cooling system 100, as depicted by flow lines 114, thereby dissipating the heat generated by the GPU into the external environment. This process cools the GPU, preventing the device from overheating during operation. Persons skilled in the art will understand that air channels 108 typically are configured to direct air blown from blower/fan 106 over bottom plate 111 and into the external environment in a manner that most efficiently removes heat from the GPU.
FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a computing device 200, such as a personal computer, server, or mainframe, within which a conventional cooling system 100 for cooling the GPU 216 is incorporated. As shown, computing device 200 includes a housing 201, within which a motherboard 204 resides. Mounted on motherboard 204 are a central processing unit (CPU) 206, a processor cooler 208 for cooling CPU 206, a system fan 210 for removing heat from computing device 200 and one or more peripheral component interface (PCI) cards 212, each interfaced with a slot located in the back part of housing 201. Motherboard 204 further incorporates a graphics card 202 that enables computing device 200 to rapidly process graphics related data for graphics intensive applications such as gaming applications. Graphics card 202 comprises a printed circuit board (PCB) upon which a plurality of circuit components (not shown), such as memory chips and the like, are mounted. In addition, graphics card 200 includes GPU 216, mounted to one face of graphics card 202, for processing graphics related data.
Because the computational requirements of GPU 216 are typically quite substantial, GPU 216 tends to generate a large amount of heat during operation. If the generated heat is not properly dissipated, the performance of GPU 216 degrades. For this reason, cooling system 100, which is configured to remove heat from GPU 216, is coupled to GPU 216.
One drawback to using cooling system 100 is that the blower/fan 106 generates an unequal velocity profile through the fins 109 such that more air passes over the middle portion of each fin 109 as compared to the upper and lower portions of each fin 109. This results in poor heat transfer from the upper and lower portions of each fin to the air leading to a lower overall efficiency of the cooling system 100.
Another drawback is that the size of the dedicated blower/fan within cooling system 100 is such that the blower/fan must be operated at a relatively high speed to generate the necessary airflow over the heat transfer surface area of cooling system 100. High speed operation tends to produce a substantial amount of unwanted acoustic noise, which is annoying to users of computing device 200.
Yet another drawback is that conventional cooling systems employing blowers/fans are proving inadequate to meet the ever increasing heat dissipation requirements resulting from the rapid progression of graphics card capabilities. Further compounding this issue is the fact that while graphics cards are becoming more powerful, the available space for cooling systems remains the same. Thus, substantial improvements in the efficiency of cooling systems are required to maintain pace with the evolution of graphics cards. It is envisioned that extensive modifications or even a redesign of the conventional cooling system may be in order.
Therefore, there exists a need in the art for a more efficient cooling system for high-performance heat-generating electronic devices, such as GPUs.


In a document processing apparatus wherein a format of a document or the like is set, a plurality of possible format patterns are simultaneously displayed, and a selection of a desirable format pattern among said format patterns is made so as to perform a format setting operation. Displays of the format patterns are subdivided into a plurality of screens based on a purpose or usage of a document to be formed. After selecting or designating the purpose or usage of the document, the above-described format pattern is displayed. The document format setting operation which was cumbersome in prior art can be readily performed by selecting a desirable format sample from the format samples which have been categorized based upon the usage thereof, and also by adding an item capable of freely setting a format into the format samples.

The present invention generally relates to a document processing apparatus having both an editing function and a display function for a document and the like. More specifically, the present invention is directed to a document format setting method capable of readily recognizing a sequential process for setting a format or the like of the document to be formed, and also of easily setting this format.
In, for instance, a conventional wordprocessor, when a document is newly formed with a desirable format, a format setting operation of this document is carried out in the following method. That is, as a first setting method, for example, a format setting menu is displayed which offers such format setting items as size of paper, direction of paper, direction of printing, size of characters, and column indexing Then, the chosen format setting items are confirmed, and when the desired format at setting items are not offered a user selects or newly enters the desirable format setting item by way of the input device such as the keyboard for the setting operation.
As a second conventional setting method, several sorts of standard format patterns are previously prepared which are so-called "style sheet" and are used frequently, and also are displayed in a visible form. Then, the most proper format pattern is selected so as to be set.
The above-described former setting method is complicated when the desired format is not offered and the desired format setting items must be selected or newly inputted thereby increasing the total number of the setting operations. It is difficult for a beginner to judge whether or not the selected format setting item adheres to the desired format based upon only the information about this format setting item and such formatting can not be confirmed without actually printing the format. Further complicating the formatting process, there are some desirable formats that cannot be set with only one setting operation.
As to the latter setting method, the total number of available prepared formats can be so great that it is not possible to display all of these available formats on the same screen. Thus, the screen must be changed to display the available formats and the desirable format cannot be easily selected.
Then, if only the frequently utilized format patterns in frequent are displayed, quite often desired format is not present in the selected formats.

Document format setting method and apparatus


A combined pair of work trousers and safety harness includes a safety harness secured on a liner in the form of innerwear trousers. The buttocks support band of the harness has end portions which spiral up around the wearer's lower torso to above the wearer's waist in front and project out through slots below a waist belt in a pair of outerwear trousers. The buttocks support band ends are provided with structures which permit the harness to be attached to a safety line. Near those ends, the buttocks support band is secured to a waist belt of the outerwear trousers.

The present invention relates to a pair of work pants having a built-in safety harness.
The term "working trousers" is used herein as a synonym for work pants.
An example of earlier known working trousers combined with a safety harness is described in French Patent Specification No. 2,292,492. The trousers according to this Patent Specification are combined with a safety harness, which according to one alternative can be fastened to the inside of the trousers as an integrated part thereof. The harness straps may be firmly glued, sewn or welded to the inside of the trousers in a manner such that when putting on the trousers, the harness straps will lie in their readiness-positions around the body of the wearer. The harness has coupling devices which are intended to be coupled to a safety line and which are readily accessible on the front of the trousers for connection to the safety line as required.
The object of such a safety harness is that it shall always be found in position around the body of the wearer when the wearer puts the trousers on.
A safety harness intended for a similar purpose is also known from U.S. Pat. No. 2,382,816. This patent, however, does not relate to a pair of working trousers, but to a jacket with a built-in parachute harness. Comprehensive constructional changes would be required in order to alter this jacket into a pair of working trousers with a built-in safety harness intended, for instance, for building workers. Among other things, it would be necessary to cut the American jacket in its waist region and extend its leg openings with trouser legs, such as to form working trousers with legs. It would also be necessary to cut the shoulder straps supporting the harness at the waist strap. The lining of the jacket is sewn firmly to the jacket waist band. It would also be necessary to extend the waist band and provide said band with a buckle so as to provide a tightenable waist belt. The axle straps merge with a transverse strap having a rearwardly located centre part to which the ends of thigh straps are fastened, said thigh straps forming forwardly located parts of adjustable lengths and are fastened to the shoulder straps. This centre part of the strap is not fastened to the lining.
Neither are the tie scraps of the American harness sewn firmly to the lining, but lie freely in tunnels provided on the rear side of the jacket and formed by folding-over and sewing collars on the rear side of the lining.
In the case of the American jacket, it is necessary to extend the leg openings of the lining with leg portions which extend down into the trouser legs
Other alterations must be made in order for the American jacket to correspond to the type of working trousers of the present invention in order to ensure that the safety harness of the trousers will adopt a close position relative to adjacent parts of the body and therewith prevent excessive, free movement of harness parts before the parts come into contact with adjacent body parts. This greatly reduces the risk of jolting which is liable to occur with wide working trousers provided with known built-in safety harnesses.
Working trousers are normally spacious, with wide legs, to afford the wearer the best possible freedom of movement. Consequently, the safety harness fastened to the inside of the trousers must be adapted to the size of the trousers concerned, which in turn means that the harness will be larger than is desired with respect to the fact that the different strap-parts around the thighs and hips of the wearer will not need to move freely to an excessive extent prior to being brought into abutment with respective parts of the body. This free movement namely enables the various parts of the harness and the trouser parts to which they are fastened to be placed in different positions against respective parts of the body and in some cases to be so wrongly positioned that the harness can cause injury to the wearer should he/she fall unintentionally or be brought to a halt by the harness.

Combined working trousers and safety harness


High pressure natural gas enters the regulator at the inlet port and is directed through a filter to a passage in the valve body and into the inner chamber of the valve body. The valve means which controls the high pressure gas as it expands past a valve seat and into the low pressure chamber of the regulator body, is spring mounted in a bushing to prevent undesired vibrations. The expanded and colder low pressure natural gas is directed through a nozzle to the outlet port of the regulator body. The outlet port has a bypass orifice that leads to the diaphragm chamber. Pressure variations in the diaphragm chamber control the movement of the valve means coupled to the diaphragm means.

This invention relates to a pressure-reducing regulator for compressed natural gas (CNG), and more particularly to an improved CNG regulator for vehicular engines.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,285,810, issued Feb. 15, 1994, there is described a pressure-reducing regulator having a balanced valving element arrangement with minimal friction drag. The valving element cooperates with internal structure to provide seating and sealing areas between high and low pressures of the natural gas, and the magnitudes and directions of the differential pressures are balanced at the seating and sealing areas.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,381,819, issued Jan. 17, 1995, was a division of application Ser. No. 08/016,376 which issued as U.S. Pat. No. 5,285,810. In this patent there is described another embodiment of the balancing valve in which the natural gas can flow directly to an outlet port rather than have the gas work against the diaphragm. This is beneficial where there are high flow rates of the natural gas and the possibility of diaphragm oscillation or instability.
In application Ser. No. 08/230,587, filed Apr. 21, 1994, which was a continuation-in-part of copending application Ser. No. 08/143,010, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,381,819, there is described a regulator having a valving element that is positively tied to the pressure-sensing and pressure-responsive diaphragm. The arrangement permits relative angular displacement between the valving element and the diaphragm and prevents cocking of the element in its axial movement. This regulator arrangement, although an efficient and uncomplicated design and effective in vehicle applications, may under certain flow rates generate an unwelcomed low level audible noise. While such a noise does not effect performance, reliability, or safety, it could raise an unnecessary concern for the vehicle operator.
Accordingly, the potential for audible noise generation which could arise under certain regulator conditions is eliminated by the improved regulator of the invention.


An ASIC includes a first-wire extended in a first-direction and a second-wire extended in a parallel direction to the first-wire and both are placed on a first-wire layer; and a third-wire placed on a second-wire layer above the first-wire layer and is extended above the wire and above the second-wire in a second-direction which intersects the first-direction and passing through a first via-hole is connected to the first-wire, and a fourth-wire separated from the third-wire extended in a parallel direction above the first-wire and above the second-wire and a fifth-wire separated from both the third-wire and the fourth-wire and extended in a parallel direction in a smallest space and passing through a second via-hole is connected to the second-wire, wherein, one end of the fifth-wire is extended to the center between the second-wire and the first-wire from above the second-wire.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention is related to an application specific semiconductor integrated circuit (ASIC) and its manufacturing method thereof, and in particular is related to an application specific semiconductor integrated circuit which uses an automatic placement and routing system which automatically places a wire as well as a via-hole which connects circuits using a computer, and its manufacturing methods.
2. Description of the Related Art
An application specific semiconductor integrated circuit is a semiconductor device which is best suited to a high mix low volume production. In the application specific semiconductor integrated circuit, an automatic placement and routing system using a computer, is used in the placement of wires which carry out wire connection and the placement of a via-hole which connects upper and lower wires within the placement of a circuits (function block) such as a logical circuit or memory circuit manufactured by a floor plan.
Recently, as the miniaturization of line and space, which refers to the relationship between the width of wires and the interval between wires, as well as the miniaturization of the semiconductor elements which make up a circuit, progresses, there is a tendency for design rules which are handled in an automatic placement and routing system to become more complex. For example, there is a tendency for a multi-space rule in which an adjacent wire interval changes in accordance with a wire width, or a contact overlay margin rule in which the size of the contact overlay margin area around a via-hole changes in accordance with a wire width, are to be included as new rules.
These rules which are included in design rules are important rules when actually manufacturing an application specific semiconductor integrated circuit using a production mask which is made for use in production from mask data which is produced based upon an automatic placement and routing system. A wire which is automatically placed using an algorithm of an automatic placement and routing system is placed in high density (dense) in the central part of an application specific semiconductor integrated circuit and in low density (non-dense) in the surrounding part. In the manufacture of an actual application specific integrated circuit, an aluminum alloy film, for example, is used in a wire, and this aluminum alloy film is patterned by etching and using a photo-mask which is produced by photo lithography technology after the film is formed by a spattering method. If the density of the wires is different a change occurs in the wrap-around of the development solution when a photo-mask is manufactured and in the etching solution when patterning the aluminum alloy film. Usually, the width of a wire which is placed in the part where wire density is high increases because the wrap-around of the developing solution or etching solution is insufficient. However, the width of a wire which is placed in the part where wire density is low decreases because the darting of the developing solution or etching solution is sufficiently carried out.
The multi space rule is a rule in which a wire interval between a wire with a large width and an adjacent wire is increased and a wire interval between a wire with a small width and an adjacent wire is reduced in order to resolve defects during this type of manufacture process. Alternatively, the contact overlay margin rule is a rule in which the wire width around a via-hole of a wire in which poor conduction can easily occur is increased in the case where an adjacent wire interval is wide.
Further, this kind of application specific semiconductor integrated circuit and its manufacturing methods are disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-85614.
However, in the application specific semiconductor integrated circuit and its manufacturing methods previously stated, the following points were not considered. In an automatic placement and routing system the multi-space rule fixes the wire width and wire interval and the contact overlay margin rule fixes the contact overlay margin size around the via-hole of the wire. It is preferred that uniform design rules are adopted. However, in whichever wire placement pattern or via-hole placement pattern, in the case where a design rule is selected so that a deign rule check (DRC) error does not occur, the wire layout area after wire placement increases and because the number of wires which can be placed per area unit therefore decreases, the integration of the application specific semiconductor integrated circuit decreases.

Application specific semiconductor integrated circuit and its manufacturing method thereof


A fuzzy logic based control method reduces the amount of water used by a washing machine or dishwasher during a cycle. A sensor detects when the washer has adequate water by monitoring the behavior of the washer pump motor as fresh water is coming in. There is a characteristic oscillation of the magnitude of the motor current as the pump cavitates during this operation, which diminishes when the washer is properly filled. By using fuzzy logic to sense this point of diminished or ceased cavitation and shutting off the incoming water, substantial savings of water can be achieved.

This invention relates to fuzzy logic control in general and more specifically to a method of using a fuzzy logic controller in a washing machine, dishwasher, or any other device for washing articles, to reduce the amount of water used in a wash cycle. As an example, most of the energy consumed by a dishwasher is in heating incoming water from the nominal home water supply temperature of 50.degree. F. to the inlet temperature of 120.degree. F. required by a dishwasher. Thus, reducing the amount of water used by a dishwasher during a cycle can be directly translated to energy savings. In current dishwashers the amount of time allowed for a fill (when the inlet valve is held open) is a predetermined fixed amount. The fill time is longer than required to ensure that there is enough water in the pump assembly to ensure a proper wash. Thus, some extra, and unnecessary water is admitted to provide a safety margin to compensate for variations in house water pressure and aging of system components. What is needed therefore is a method of sensing when the pump assembly has sufficient water to terminate the fill operation.

Fuzzy logic control method for reducing water consumption in a machine for washing articles


The present invention describes security paper and security items in general containing at least one security element having at least one photoluminescent segment characterized by a linearly polarized photoluminescence and/or a linearly polarized absorption. The present invention also describes a method of producing such security items as well as the use thereof.

It is generally known that security elements may be used for security papers and security items in general, for example, for bank notes, checks, stocks and bonds, securities, identification cards, passports, drivers licenses, admission tickets, stamps and similar documents or for bank cards, credit cards and the like, for the purpose of said security elements is to prevent or interfere with counterfeiting of these objects by unauthorized parties (R. van Renesse, Optical Document Security (1997), Artech House, Boston). Likewise, such security elements are used to identify the validity or authenticity of objects or to permit or facilitate identification of objects in general.
For example, it is a widespread practice to use security threads or strips which may consist of a metal-coated plastic, for example, in security papers, in particular for use in bank notes and similar valuable papers. If these security threads or strips are embedded in the security paper, for example, which is subsequently printed at any rate, these security elements cannot readily be seen when the object is observed in reflection. However, when light is passed through the object, these security elements appear as a dark shadow and therefore can be observed in transmission. In particular to guarantee protection against counterfeiting of security items such as security papers, many proposals have been made in recent times for providing security elements with certain properties so that not only the presence of security elements per se but also in particular the presence of specific properties should guarantee the authenticity of the object thus secured (U.S. Pat. No. 4,897,300; U.S. Pat. No. 5,118,349; U.S. Pat. No. 5,314,739; U.S. Pat. No. 5,388,862; U.S. Pat. No. 5,465,301; German Patent Application 1,446,851; British Patent 1,095,286). For example, a security thread having a multicolor micro-printing is known from German Patent Application 1,446,851; the printing ink may also be fluorescent in this case. The surfaces printed with different colors are so small or so close together in the case of this thread that they can hardly be differentiated with the naked eye and therefore appear to the observer as a single-color pattern. However, the micro-printing and the different colors can be observed with the help of a magnifying glass or a microscope. A similar security element is described in British Patent 1,095,286, where the micro-printing claimed in the aforementioned patent specification consists of characters and patterns. U.S. Pat. No. 4,897,300, however, describes a security paper in which are embedded several security threads which are printed with different luminescent dyes. In the unexcited state, the latter are colorless or the same color as the paper and therefore are difficult or impossible for the observer to see. Due to excitation, e.g., irradiation with ultraviolet (UV) light, the security threads assume a luminescence of an extent that permits detection by the naked eye. In addition, characteristic mixed colors are formed by overlapping of security threads of different colors. To further increase the security of security papers, especially bank notes, a security thread or strip of plastic is also integrated into the paper so that the "window" in the paper surface allows a direct view of parts of the surface of the security element, as described in British Patent 1,552,853, British Patent 1, 604, 463 or European Patent 0,059,056, for example.
However, one serious disadvantage of all these known security elements is that either the characteristic authenticity features are relatively difficult for a layperson to discern or they require complex equipment for detection, or on the other hand, an easily detectable authenticity feature may be counterfeited relatively easily. However, it is in the nature of the matter that security items are often replaced by newer products with newer security elements after a comparatively short period of time, in particular to prevent counterfeiting and other forms of abuse. Therefore, there has been an urgent need for new, secure and easily discernible security elements for security papers and for security items in general.
One solution that is interesting in this regard has already been described in International Patent Application WO-A-98 01817, where photoluminescence polarizers, where the emitted luminescence light is linearly polarized, are used as security elements for security objects. When this light is observed through a polarizer and the polarizer is rotated, the result for the observer is a light-dark effect because of the luminescence light which is either transmitted or not transmitted through the polarizer, depending on the rotational position. Although U.S. Pat. No. 5,284,364 uses polarizers for security purposes, they are "ordinary" polarizers such as λ/2 layers and are not photoluminescence polarizers.

Antifalsification paper and other antifalsification items


A first embodiment of a word line voltage boosting circuit for use with an array of non-volatile memory cells has a capacitor, having two ends, connected to the word line. One end of the capacitor is electrically connected to the word line. The other end of the capacitor is electrically connected to a first voltage source. The word line is also connected through a switch to a second source voltage source. A sequencing circuit activates the switch such that the word line is connected to the second voltage source, and the other end of the capacitor is not connected to the first voltage source. Then the sequencing circuit causes the switch to disconnect the word line from the second voltage source, and connect the second end of the capacitor to the first voltage source. The alternate switching of the connection boosts the voltage on the word line. In a second embodiment, a first word line is electrically connected to a first switch to a first voltage source. An adjacent word line, capacitively coupled to the first word line, is electrically connected to a second switch to a second voltage source. A sequencing circuit activates the first switch and the second switch such that the first word line is connected to the first voltage source, and the second word line is disconnected from the second voltage source. Then the sequencing circuit causes the first switch to disconnect the first word line from the first voltage source, and causes the second word line to be electrically connected to the second voltage source. The alternate switching of the connection boosts the voltage on the first word line, caused by its capacitive coupling to the second word line. A boosted voltage on the word line may be used to improve cycling and yield, where the memory cells of the array are of the floating gate type and erase through the mechanism of Fowler-Nordheim tunneling from the floating gate to a control gate which is connected to the word line.

Non-volatile memory integrated circuit chips are well known in the art. One type of a non-volatile memory cell is of a split gate type, see for example U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,029,130 and 5,572,054, whose disclosures are incorporated herein in their entirety. In these references, each memory cell is a split gate floating gate type cell. A semiconductor substrate is of a first conductivity type. A cell has a first region in the substrate of a second conductivity type. The cell further has a second region in the substrate of the second conductivity type, spaced apart from the first region, to define a channel region therebetween. A floating gate is insulated and spaced apart from a first portion of the channel region and controls the conduction of current through that portion. A control gate is spaced apart from the floating gate and is insulated and spaced apart from a second portion of the channel region and controls the conduction of the current through that portion. The cell is erased by the mechanism of Fowler Nordheim tunneling of charges from the floating gate to the control gate.
The control gates of all the cells lying in the same row are connected together to form a word line. Thus, erasure occurs by applying an erase voltage to one or more word lines erasing all the cells connected to that word line(s).
In the prior art it is also known that such split gate memory cells can be weakly erased, caused by process variation. The weakly erased cells can cause yield loss, data retention, and cycling problems.
In the prior art, one solution to fix the problem of weakly erased cells is to provide for redundant rows or sectors of cells to replace the rows or sectors containing the weakly erased cells. However, redundant rows or sectors is costly in that they occupy precious die area. In addition, they may not be enough if the failure rate of weakly erased cells is high.
In another prior art solution, the weakly erased cells are subject to further repeated erase operation interspersed with a verification (or read) operation to determine if the weakly erased cells have been fully erased. Thus, the operation of erase, verify, erase, verify is repeated. This "solution," however, takes longer time.
Finally, the prior art teaches the mapping out of the weakly erased sectors or rows containing the weakly erased cells, and not using those sectors or rows. This has the disadvantage of reducing the size of the memory that is available for usage.
Accordingly, there is a need to solve the problem of weakly erased cells, without considerable cost, or taking a long time, or reducing the capacity of the memory array.

Word line voltage boosting circuit and a memory array incorporating same


A time-of-flight or electrostatic trap mass analyzer is disclosed comprising: an ion flight region comprising a plurality of ion-optical elements (30-35) for guiding ions through the flight region in a deflection (x-y) plane. The ion-optical elements are arranged so as to define a plurality of identical ion-optical cells, wherein the ion-optical elements in each ion-optical cell are arranged and configured so as to generate electric fields for either focusing ions travelling in parallel at an ion entrance location of the cell to a point at an ion exit location of the cell, or for focusing ions diverging from a point at the ion entrance location to travel parallel at the ion exit location. Each ion-optical cell comprises a plurality of electrostatic sectors having different deflection radii for bending the flight path of the ions in the deflection (x-y) plane. The ion-optical elements in each cell are configured to generate electric fields that either (i) have mirror symmetry in the deflection plane about a line in the deflection plane that is perpendicular to a mean ion path through the cell at a point half way along the mean ion path through the cell, or (ii) have point symmetry in the deflection plane about a point in the deflection plane that is half way along the mean ion path through the cell. The ion-optical elements are arranged and configured such that, in the frame of reference of the ions, the ions are guided through the deflection plane in the ion-optical cells along mean flight paths that are of the same shape and length in each ion-optical cell.

Time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometers having a folded flight path (FFP) for the ions are known. These are promising instruments for achieving high mass resolution at high sensitivity and high speed of analysis. There are two main types of folded flight path TOF mass spectrometers. One type comprises two opposing ion mirrors and reflects the ions between the ion mirrors multiple times so as to provide a relatively long flight path length for the ions in a relatively small size instrument. GB 2080021 and SU 1725289 disclose examples of such instruments.
Another type of folded flight path TOF mass spectrometer comprises electrostatic sectors for bending the flight path of the ions so that a relatively long flight path can be provided in a relatively small instrument. Sakurai et al (Nucl. Instrum. Meth. A427, 1999, 182-186) and Toyoda et al (J. Mass Spectrom. 38, 2003, 1125-1142) disclose examples of such instruments.
It may be preferred to use sector-based folded flight path TOF mass spectrometers rather than ion mirror based instruments, because sector-based instruments need not have ion reflecting regions and thus may provide an order of magnitude higher space-charge tolerance. Also, sector-based instruments are able to use fewer power supplies.
On the other hand, it may be preferred to use ion mirror based folded flight path TOF mass spectrometers rather than sector-based instruments, because ion mirrors provide relatively high order time per energy focusing and thus provide the instrument with a relatively high energy acceptance. This may be important, for example, when analyzing ions from some pulsed ion sources. In contrast, conventional sector-based instruments possess only first order time per energy focusing, thus inhibiting use of sector-based analyzers in combination with some ion sources and high-field pulsed ion converters.
Another drawback of conventional sector-based folded flight path TOF mass spectrometers is that they have a relatively small spatial acceptance, i.e. the product of the accepted packet size and divergence angle is relatively small. This is especially restrictive for some instruments, for example, when used in combination with pulsed linear ion trap converters in which the phase space of the ion beam may reach 10 mm×mrad or more, even after accelerating the ions to relatively high energy.
Also, conventional sector-based folded flight path TOF mass spectrometers possess only first order time of flight focusing with respect to the spatial spread in the plane of ion deflection. In other words, the term 'isochronous ion transport' typically used when describing ion-optical properties of sector-based folded flight path TOF mass spectrometers, in practice, always means first order isochronous ion transport, e.g., as described by Sakurai et al (Int. J. Mass Spectrom. Ion Proc., 63, 1985, 273-287).
Another drawback of sector-based folded flight path TOF mass spectrometers is that they require relatively complex devices for ion confinement in the direction orthogonal to the plane of the curved mean ion trajectory. Conventional systems employ either toroidal sector fields or complex quadrupolar lenses. In addition to these devices being complex, they prevent operation of the instrument in many useful modes that would increase sensitivity and mass resolving power. For example, such sectors prevent the operation in an 'open trap' mode as described in US 2013/056627 or with reversing direction of drift in the direction perpendicular to deflection plane, similar to that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,017,780 for mirror-type sector-based folded flight path TOF mass spectrometers.
Thus, there is a need for development of simpler and less expensive sector-based folded flight path TOF mass spectrometers with increased spatial and energy acceptance and improved mass resolving power.
The present invention provides an improved mass analyser and an improved method of mass spectrometry.

Mass analyser having extended flight path


An isolated semiconductor circuit comprising: a first sub-circuit and a second sub-circuit; a backend that includes an electrically isolating connector between the first and second sub-circuits; a lateral isolating trench between the semiconductor portions of the first and second sub-circuits, wherein the lateral isolating trench extends along the width of the semiconductor portions of the first and second sub-circuits, wherein one end of the isolating trench is adjacent the backend, and wherein the isolating trench is filled with an electrically isolating material.

Many products requite multiple CMOS circuits or transistors that operate at different voltages. Sometimes, the voltage difference between these multiple circuits can be quite large. Accordingly, to prevent damage to electronic circuits or to prevent unsafe operation of electronic circuits, high voltage isolation may be required. Circuits manufactured using standard CMOS processing may not offer high voltage isolation, so if more than approximately 20 V of isolation is required, then special processes are or may be required that incorporate isolation using silicon on insulator (SOI) substrates, or junction and medium trench isolation. The cost per wafer area of these processes and substrates is high, the area taken by the isolation regions is large, and these processes may require long development times. For this reason they are usually not available until long after the state of the art of CMOS manufacturing has advanced. For example, this may lead to high voltage CMOS transistor circuits that are manufactured using manufacturing processes that are 5-10 years behind the current state of the art CMOS processing techniques.

Integrated circuits separated by through-wafer trench isolation


A method and apparatus includes an infant holding area, a display area, a heating system for warming the infant holding area, an environmental sensor, a physiological sensor, and a processor. The processor is configured to receive an environmental sensor input from the environmental sensor and a physiological sensor input from the physiological sensor. The processor is configured to determine a recommended skin temperature based on the environmental sensor input and the physiological sensor input. The processor is configured to display the recommended skin temperature on the display area.

Body temperature is one of the four main vital signs that must be monitored to ensure safe and effective care. Temperature measurement is recommended by the National Institute of Clinical Excellence as part of the initial assessment in acute illness in adults (NICE, 2007), and is regarded as an important clinical measurement in all patients of any age including infants. Despite applying in all healthcare environments, wide variations exist on the methods and techniques used to measure body temperature.
It is not always practical, safe, or desirable to monitor a patient's core temperature, particularly while providing care for an infant. Core temperature is an invasive parameter, and it may be difficult or even dangerous to monitor when dealing with a higher-risk patient. For example, it may not be desirable to frequently monitor core temperature for infants that are born significantly premature and/or underweight, or for infants with one or more vital signs that are unstable or outside of an accepted range. Even for healthy infants, it may not be desirable to constantly monitor core temperature. However, it is desirable for the health and safety of infants to maintain a recommended core body temperature, even if the core body temperature is not directly measured. Conventional methods have attempted to use a difference between skin temperature and core temperature, but these techniques have not been sufficiently accurate due to the large number of variable that could potentially affect the difference between skin temperature and core temperature for a particular infant. For at least these reasons, there is a need for an improved method and apparatus for providing a recommended skin temperature for use in warming an infant.

Method and apparatus for providing a recommended skin temperature


The present invention relates to an anisotropic conductive film with two or more adhesive resins simultaneously formed thereon, such that the two or more adhesive resins are simultaneously formed on a substrate of a flat panel display so as to connect various kinds of devices and flexible circuit boards thereto, thereby reducing the size of a non-display region of the substrate and reducing the number of steps of a manufacturing process. Moreover, with the use of an anisotropic conductive film with two layers of adhesive resins with different conductive particles, an excellent bonding force thereof enables a device or flexible circuit board to be stably mounted on a narrow area.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an anisotropic conductive film and a flat panel display using the same, and a method for manufacturing the same. More particularly, the present invention relates to an anisotropic conductive film with two or more adhesive resins simultaneously formed thereon, a flat panel display using the anisotropic conductive film, and a method for manufacturing the anisotropic conductive film and the flat panel display.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, with the development of portable apparatuses such as cellular phones, personal digital assistants ("PDAs"), portable multimedia players ("PMPs") and MP3 players, techniques for reducing the weight, thickness, size and the like of such portable apparatuses have been actively developed.
In such portable apparatuses, one of the elements occupying a large area of the portable apparatus is a display. Among various kinds of displays, a liquid crystal display ("LCD") includes a first substrate formed with pixel electrodes and thin film transistors ("TFTs"), and a second substrate formed with color filters and transparent electrodes. Each of the substrates has a display region for performing display functions thereon and a non-display region. One of the recent critical issues involving such displays is to reduce the area of the non-display region.
Flexible circuit boards and devices for driving the display are mounted on the non-display region. The devices for driving the display and the flexible circuit board are mounted after an adhesive resin containing conductive particles is first formed on the non-display region.
An adhesive resin containing conductive particles is formed on the non-display region by using an anisotropic conductive film. The anisotropic conductive film is manufactured by evenly mixing the adhesive resin with the conductive particles at a predetermined ratio, applying the mixture of the adhesive resin and the conductive particles to a base film by using rollers, and slitting and rolling the base film into reels.
In order to manufacture a flat panel display, a first substrate formed with pixel electrodes and a second substrate formed with color filters and transparent electrodes are bonded to each other. Then, after forming the adhesive resin containing the conductive particles on a portion of a non-display region of the first substrate, devices for driving the display are fixed on the adhesive resin through heating and pressing. Next, after forming the adhesive resin containing the conductive particles on another portion of the non-display region of the first substrate, a flexible circuit board is fixed on the adhesive resin through heating and pressing.
Since the adhesive resin for use in mounting the device and the adhesive resin for use in mounting the flexible circuit board are separately formed in the flat panel display manufactured by the aforementioned method, there is a problem in that a wide gap exists between the device for driving the display and flexible circuit board, resulting in an increase in the size of the non-display region of the substrate.
Further, since the adhesive resin is formed twice on the non-display region of the first substrate, the manufacturing process is complicated and production costs increase.

Anisotropic conductive flame and flat panel display using the same, and method for manufacturing the same


The method for producing a granulated powder of the present invention includes the steps of: preparing an R—Fe—B alloy powder; and granulating the alloy powder using at least one kind of granulating agent selected from normal paraffins, isoparaffins and depolymerized oligomers, to prepare a granulated powder. The produced R—Fe—B alloy granulated powder is excellent in flowability and compactibility as well as in binder removability.

A sintered magnet (permanent magnet) of a rare earth alloy is generally produced by compacting powder of the rare earth alloy, sintering the resultant powder compact and subjecting the sintered body to aging. At present, two types of magnets, samarium-cobalt magnets and neodymium-iron-boron magnets, are extensively used in various fields. Among others, neodymium-iron-boron magnets (hereinafter, referred to as "R—Fe—B magnets" where R is any of the rare earth elements including Y, Fe is iron and B is boron) are higher in maximum energy product than any of other various types of magnets, and yet relatively inexpensive. Therefore, the R—Fe—B magnets find positive applications to various types of electronic appliances.
The R—Fe—B sintered magnet is essentially composed of a major phase of an R2Fe14B compound of tetragonal system, an R-rich phase made of Nd and the like, and a B-rich phase. A transition metal such as Co and Ni may substitute for part of Fe, and carbon (C) may substitute for part of boron (B). R—Fe—B sintered magnets to which the present invention is suitably applied are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,770,723 and No. 4,792,368, for example.
To prepare an R—Fe—B alloy from which the magnet described above is produced, an ingot casting process has been conventionally employed. In a normal ingot casting process, rare earth metal, electrolytic iron and a ferroboron alloy as starting materials are subjected to high-frequency melting, and the resultant melt is cooled relatively slowly in a casting mold, to thereby obtain an alloy ingot.
Recently, a rapid cooling process such as a strip casting process and a centrifugal casting process has attracted much attention in the art. In the rapid cooling process, a molten alloy is brought into contact with a single roll, a twin roll, a rotating disk, the inner wall of a rotating cylindrical casting mold or the like, to permit comparatively rapid cooling of the molten alloy and in this way, prepare a solidified alloy thinner than an alloy ingot from the molten alloy (hereinafter, such a solidified alloy is called "alloy flakes"). The alloy flakes prepared by such a rapid cooling process normally have a thickness in the range of about 0.03 mm to about 10 mm. According to the rapid cooling process, the molten alloy starts to be solidified from a surface thereof brought into contact with the chill roll (roll contact surface), and crystals grow in a columnar shape in the thickness direction from the roll contact surface. The resultant rapidly solidified alloy, prepared by the strip casting process or the like, has a structure essentially composed of an R2Fe14B crystalline phase, having a minor-axis size of about 0.1 μm to about 100 μm and a major-axis size of about 5 μm to about 500 μm, and an R-rich phase dispersed in the grain boundary between the R2Fe14B crystalline phases. The R-rich phase is a non-magnetic phase including a rare earth element R in a relatively high concentration, and has a thickness (corresponding to the width of the grain boundary) of about 10 μm or less.
Compared to an alloy prepared by the conventional ingot casting process (die casting process) (hereinafter, such an alloy is called an "ingot alloy"), the rapidly solidified alloy has been cooled in a relatively shorter time (cooling rate: 102° C./sec to 104° C./sec). Accordingly, the rapidly solidified alloy has features that the structure is fine and the crystal grain size is small. In addition, the area of the grain boundary is large and the R-rich phase is dispersed broadly in the grain boundary. Therefore, the rapidly solidified alloy has another feature of excelling in the dispersiveness of the R-rich phase. By using the rapidly solidified alloy having these features, a magnet with excellent magnetic properties can be produced.
An alloy preparation method called a Ca reduction process (or reduction-diffusion process) is also known. This process includes the following steps. First, metal calcium (Ca) and calcium chloride (CaCl) are added to either a mixed powder including at least one kind of rare earth oxide, iron powder, pure boron powder and at least one kind of ferroboron powder and boron oxide at a predetermined ratio or a mixed powder including alloy powders or mixed oxides of these constituent elements at a predetermined ratio. The resultant mixture is subjected to reduction-diffusion treatment in an inert atmosphere. The resultant reaction product is put into a slurry state, and the slurry is then treated with water, to thereby obtain a solid of an R—Fe—B alloy.
A block of a solid alloy is herein called an "alloy block". The "alloy block" will be any of various forms of solid alloys including not only solidified alloys obtained by cooling melts of an alloy ingot prepared by the conventional ingot casting process, alloy flakes prepared by the rapid cooling process such as the strip casting process and the like, but also a solid alloy prepared by the Ca reduction process.
An alloy powder to be compacted is obtained by coarsely pulverizing an alloy block in any form by a hydrogen pulverization process, for example, and/or any of various mechanical milling processes (for example, using a disk mill), and finely pulverizing the resultant coarse powder (mean particle size: 10 μm to 500 μm, for example) by a dry milling process using a jet mill, for example.
The R—Fe—B alloy powder to be compacted should preferably have a mean particle size of 1.5 μm to 5 μm from the standpoint of the resultant magnetic properties. "The mean particle size" of a powder herein refers to a mass median diameter (MMD) unless otherwise specified. A powder having such a small mean particle size is however poor in flowability and compactibility (including cavity loading capability and compressibility), and thus poor in productivity.
To solve the above problem, coating alloy powder particles with a lubricant has been examined. For example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 08-111308 and its corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 5,666,635 (Assignee: Sumitomo Special Metals Co., Ltd.) disclose the following technique. A lubricant of at least one kind of fatty ester in a liquid form is added in an amount of 0.02 mass % to 5.0 mass % to a rough powder of an R—Fe—B alloy having a mean particle size of 10 μm to 500 μm, and the resultant mixture is pulverized with a jet mill using an inert gas, to prepare a fine powder having a mean particle size of 1.5 μm to 5 μm.
A lubricant improves the flowability and compactibility of powder, and also functions as a binder for imparting rigidity (strength) to a compact. The lubricant however remains in a sintered body as residual carbon causing degradation of magnetic properties, and is therefore required to have good removability. For example, Japanese-Laid Open Patent Publication No. 2000-306753 discloses, as a lubricant having good removability, a depolymerized polymer, a mixture of a depolymerized polymer and a hydrocarbon-based solvent, and a mixture of a depolymerized polymer, a low-viscosity mineral oil and a hydrocarbon-based solvent.
Use of a lubricant described above contributes to some degree of improvement, but fails in imparting sufficient compactibility. In particular, a powder prepared by the strip casting process, which is not only small in mean particle size but also narrow in particle size distribution, is especially poor in flowability. This causes problems such that the amount of powder loaded in a cavity tends to vary beyond an acceptable range, and that the loading density in the cavity tends to lack uniformity. As a result, the mass and size of the resultant compact may vary beyond an acceptable range, and chips and fractures may be formed in the compact.
As another method for improving the flowability and compactibility of a R—Fe—B alloy powder, use of a granulated powder has been attempted.
For example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 63-237402 discloses that compactibility can be improved by use of a granulated powder obtained by adding a mixture of a paraffin mixture that is in the liquid state at room temperature and an aliphatic carboxylic acid in an amount of 0.4 to 4.0 mass % with respect to a powder, and kneading and then granulating the resultant mixture. A method using polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as a granulating agent is also known. Like the lubricant, the granulating agent functions as a binder imparting strength to a compact.
The granulating agent disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 63-237402 described above is poor in removability. Therefore, in the case of production of an R—Fe—B sintered magnet, the magnetic properties disadvantageously degrade due to carbon remaining in a sintered body.
In the method using PVA, a granulated powder prepared by a spray dryer process using PVA has strong binding force. The resultant granulated powder is too rigid to disintegrate under application of an external magnetic field. Therefore, alloy particles (crystals) fail to be sufficiently aligned in the magnetic field, and as a result, no anisotropic magnet excellent in magnetic properties is obtainable.
PVA is also poor in removability. Therefore, carbon derived from PVA tends to remain in the resultant magnet, causing degradation in magnetic properties. Debindering may be performed in a hydrogen atmosphere. Even with this treatment, however, it is difficult to sufficiently remove the carbon. Also, due to the excessively strong binding force of PVA, the granulated powder fails to disintegrate under application of a magnetic field and therefore finds difficulty in being aligned.
As described above, although various granulating agents have been examined so far, there has not yet been succeeded in development of a granulating agent that has moderate binding force and is excellent in removability. Under this circumstance, a method permitting industrial-scale production of a granulated powder suitably usable for production of an R—Fe—B sintered body has not yet been attained.
Needs for smaller/thinner magnets with higher performance have grown. In this situation, development of a method permitting production of small/thin magnets with high performance with high production efficiency is desired. In general, when an R—Fe—B alloy sintered body (or a magnet obtained by magnetizing the alloy sintered body) is machined, the magnetic properties of the machined product degrade due to machining strain. This degradation of the magnetic properties is not negligible for small magnets. In view of this, as the magnet is smaller, it is desired more strongly that a sintered body in a final use shape should be produced with a level of size accuracy high enough to substantially require no machining. Under this circumstance, also, the demand for an R—Fe—B alloy powder material excellent in flowability and compactibility has been increasingly intensified.

Method for producing granulated powder of R—FE—B type alloy and method for producing R—FE—B type alloy sintered compact


The disclosed invention relates to novel aromatic polyamide compositions with a fullerene component and fibers therefrom which have improved torsional strength and a process for preparing said fibers.

This invention relates to polymeric compositions of aromatic polyamides with a fullerene component, and fibers therefrom which have improved torsional strength and a process for preparing said fibers.
Since the isolation of fullerenes by Kratschmer et al., Nature, Vol. 347, pp. 354-358 (1990), the chemistry surrounding fullerenes has been the focus of intense research. Fullerenes have been studied per se and in combination with other substances with the goal of modifying the properties of the resulting compositions.
Copending, commonly assigned, application Ser. No. 07/954,181 describes the use of fullerenes to provide improved photoconductive compositions from both photoconductive and non-photoconductive polymers.
The present invention is directed to providing novel composition of aromatic polyamides and fullerene compounds which form fibers having improved processability and compression strength as measured by torsional modulus. Of particular commercial importance are aromatic polyamides, processed as fibers, which have uses such as: in composites, cut-resistant gloves, clothes, and cables.

Aromatic polyamide compositions and fibers


In a receiver comprising a receiver filter (12) with a frequency attenuation band and a pilot oscillator (25) for generating a pilot oscillation signal with a pilot frequency in the frequency attenuation band, a coupler (26) couples the pilot oscillation signal and a filtered receiver signal of the receiver filter to form a coupled signal. A low noise amplifier (13) amplifies the coupled signal into an amplified signal which comprises an amplified receiver signal component derived from the filtered receiver signal and an amplified pilot oscillation signal component derived from the pilot oscillation signal. A branching filter (27) branches the amplified signal into the amplified receiver signal component and the amplified pilot oscillation signal. A pilot signal component detector unit (28) detects the amplified pilot oscillation signal component to produce a direct pilot signal. A failure monitoring unit (29) monitors the direct pilot signal to produce a fault signal when the direct pilot signal is found faulty.

This invention relates to a receiver which can detect a failure in a receiver amplifier.
A conventional receiver of the type described, comprises an antenna, a receiver filter, a low noise amplifier, and a comparator. The receiver filter is supplied with an input receiver signal from the antenna and filters the input receiver signal into a filtered receiver signal. The low noise amplifier comprises a plurality of amplifier elements. Naturally, electric power is consumed in the low noise amplifier. Therefore, a consumption current is indispensable in the low noise amplifier. The low noise amplifier is supplied with the filtered receiver signal from the receiver filter and amplifies the filtered receiver signal into an amplified signal. The comparator is supplied with a reference signal of a reference level and the consumption current of a consumption level. The comparator compares the consumption level with the reference level to produce a fault signal when the consumption level is lower than the reference level. As will later be described in more detail, the conventional receiver is incapable of reliably detecting a failure in the low noise amplifier.

Receiver capable of reliably detecting a failure

Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corporation