A zinc/air button cell, wherein the cell has a single casing, namely, the anode can. A substantially flat metal support disk is employed, to close the open end of the anode can, thus eliminating the need for the conventional cathode can. The metal support disk is locked in place within the open end of the anode can with insulating sealing material therebetween. The sealing material abuts a greater portion of the inside surface of the anode can than the outside surface of said can. A layer of cathode material comprising a manganese oxide, underlies the metal support disk. The cathode is locked in place against the metal support disk. The open end of the anode can is crimped axially and radially over the metal support disk with insulating sealing material therebetween. A tight seal results and the cell capacity is increased, since the cathode can has been eliminated.

Zinc/air depolarized cells are typically in the form of miniature button cells which have particular utility as batteries for electronic hearing aids including programmable type hearing aids. Such miniature button cells typically have a disk-like cylindrical shape of diameter between about 4 and 20 mm, typically between about 4 and 16 mm and a height between about 2 and 9 mm, preferably between about 2 and 6 mm.
The miniature zinc/air button cell typically comprises an anode casing (anode can), and a cathode casing (cathode can). The anode casing and cathode casing are in the shape of separate cans each having a closed end, an open end, and integral side walls extending from the closed end to the open end. The anode casing is fitted with an insulating seal ring which tightly surrounds the anode casing side wall. Anode material is inserted into the anode casing. Air diffuser, electrolyte barrier material, and cathode assembly are inserted into the cathode casing adjacent air holes in the cathode casing. The open end of the cathode casing is then typically pushed over the open end of the anode casing so that the cathode casing side walls overlaps essentially the entire anode casing side wall with insulating seal therebetween. The anode and cathode casing are then interlocked in a second step by crimping the edge of the cathode casing over the insulator seal and anode casing side wall. During the crimping procedure (or in a separate step) radial forces are also applied to the cathode casing walls to assure tight seal between the anode and cathode casings.
Representative zinc/air button cells showing the conventional configuration with separate anode and cathode casings each in the form of "cans" having a closed end and opposing open end are shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,897,265; 5,279,905; and 6,830,847 B2. As seen in each of these representative patents, the anode can and cathode can each have a closed end with opposing open end and integral side walls therebetween. After cell contents are inserted, the cathode can side wall is pushed over essentially the entire anode can side wall with insulating sealing ring therebetween. The peripheral edge of the cathode can side wall is crimped over the peripheral edge of the anode can side wall with the insulating sealing ring therebetween. Such configuration is designed to produce a durable cell with reduced chance of electrolyte leakage.
The anode casing of zinc/air button cells may be filled with a mixture comprising particulate zinc. Typically, the zinc mixture contains mercury and a gelling agent and becomes gelled when electrolyte is added to the mixture. The electrolyte is conventionally an aqueous solution of potassium hydroxide. The closed end of the cathode casing (when the casing is held in vertical position with the closed end on top) may have a flat raised portion near its center. This raised portion forms the positive terminal and typically contains a plurality of air holes therethrough. In this design, the cathode casing closed end also typically has an annular recessed step which surrounds the raised positive terminal. Alternatively, the closed end of the cathode casing may be completely flat across its diameter, that is, without any raised portion at its center. In such design the central portion of such flat area at the closed end of the cathode casing typically forms the cell's positive terminal. In either case, the closed end of the cathode casing of button zinc/air cells is punctured with one or more small air holes to allow air to enter the cell. Such air then traverses an air diffusion layer (or air diffuser) in order to reach the cathode disk.
The air diffuser material is normally composed of one or more sheets of air permeable paper or porous cellulosic material. Such permeable paper or porous cellulosic material allows incoming air to pass uniformly to the cathode assembly and also may serve as a blotter to absorb minor amounts of electrolyte which may leak into the air inlet space. The air diffuser is normally placed uniformly within the air inlet space (plenum space) between the closed end of the cathode casing and cathode assembly. The air diffuser material fills such air inlet space and covers the air holes in the closed end of the cathode casing. Commercial button size zinc/air cells which are commonly used in hearing aid devices may have only one air hole or may have a plurality of small air holes, for example, between 2 and 6 air holes and even more depending on cell size.
Catalytic material typically comprising a mixture of particulate manganese dioxide, carbon, and hydrophobic binder can be compacted into a disk shape forming a cathode disk within a cathode assembly. The cathode assembly with cathode disk therein can then be inserted into the cathode casing over the air diffuser on the side of the air diffuser that faces away from the air holes. Typically a cathode assembly is formed by laminating a layer of electrolyte barrier material (hydrophobic air permeable film), preferably Teflon (polytetrafluoroethylene), to one side of the catalytic cathode disk and an electrolyte permeable (ion permeable) separator material to the opposite side of the catalytic cathode disk. The cathode assembly with cathode disk therein is then typically inserted into the cathode casing so that its central portion covers the air diffuser and a portion of the electrolyte barrier layer rests against the inside surface of the step. The cathode disk in the final cell contacts the cathode casing walls around its perimeter.
The cathode assembly may have a flat or domed shape. The flat cathode assemblies are preferred, since they are easier and more economical to fabricate. Representative zinc/air button cells with flat cathode assemblies are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,279,905; 6,602,629 B1; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,830,847 B2.
If the cell is not adequately sealed, electrolyte can migrate around the catalytic cathode assembly and leak from the cathode casing through the air holes. Also electrolyte leakage can occur between the crimped edge of the cathode can and insulator if this area is not tightly sealed. The wall thickness of commercial zinc/air button cells are typically greater than about 6 mil (0.152 mm), for example, between about 6 and 15 mil (0.152 and 0.381 mm). The potential for leakage is greater when the anode casing and cathode casing is of very thin wall thickness, for example, between about 2 and 5 mil (0.0508 and 0.127 mm). Such low wall thickness is desirable, since it results in greater internal cell volume. But there are limits to how thin the anode and cathode can side walls can be made without sacrificing cell integrity.
After the cell is assembled a removable tab is placed over the air holes on the surface of the cathode casing. Before use, the tab is removed to expose the air holes allowing air to ingress and activate the cell.
It is desired to improve cell capacity of zinc/air button cells by increasing the available anode can internal volume for insertion of anode material therein for any given size cell.
Specifically, it is desired to increase the available anode can internal volume for insertion of anode material therein for any zinc/air button cell of given overall cell diameter and height.
It is desired that the overall cell construction result in a durable cell having a tight seal which resists electrolyte leakage.


A semiconductor device includes: memory blocks each having groups of memory cells that are connected to word lines; select gates for selecting the groups of memory cells; and an apply circuit that applies, at the time of reading data, a back bias to the select gates of unselected memory blocks.

1. Field of the invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and a method of controlling the semiconductor device.
2. Description of the Related Art
NAND flash memories and AND flash memories are widely used as flash memories for storing data. Examples of NAND flash memories that have floating gates (FG) as charge accumulation layers are disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-308209 and Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2001-518696.
FIG. 1 illustrates the array structure of a conventional FG-type NAND flash memory. In FIG. 1, WL000 through WL031 indicate word lines that are provided for one unit block, BLm indicates bit lines, and M indicates memory cells. The bit lines BLm are connected to page buffers 100 through 10m. Every thirty-two memory cells M are connected in series so as to form one memory cell string for each bit line BLm in each one unit block. One end of each of the memory cell strings M000 through M031, . . . , Mm00 through Mm31 is connected to an array Vss line ARVSS via select source gates SSG00 through SSG0m corresponding to the potential of a select line SSG0. The other end of each of the memory cell strings M000 through M031, . . . , Mm00 through Mm31 is connected to the bit lines BL0 through BLm via select drain gates SDG00 through SDG0m and drain contacts 220 through 22m corresponding to the potential of a select line SDG0. A desired block is selected by controlling the select gate based on an address signal, and the other blocks remain unselected. The memory cells connected to each one unit in each block form one group (a memory cell group).
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional FG-type NAND flash memory. In FIG. 2, memory cells are denoted by M, the bit line is denoted by BL, the select source gate is denoted by SSG, the select drain gate is denoted by SDG, a source diffusion layer is denoted by 11, a diffusion layer is denoted by 12, a drain diffusion layer 13 is denoted by 13, and a drain contact is denoted by 22. The line width of the select drain gate SDG is denoted by W_SDG, the line width of each memory cell M is denoted by W_WL, the gap between the select line SDGn and the adjacent word line WL is denoted by S_SDG-WL, and the gap between each two neighboring word lines is denoted by S_WL-WL. The relationship between the select drain gate SDG and the line width of each memory cell is expressed as W_SDG>W_WL. The relationship between the gap between the select line SDGn and the adjacent word line WL and the gap between each two neighboring word lines WL is expressed as S_SDG-WL>S_WL-WL.
FIG. 3A is a cross-sectional view of a cell of the FG-type NAND flash memory, and FIG. 3B is a cross-sectional view of a select gate. As shown in FIG. 3A, the memory cell M has a structure in which a tunnel oxide film 32, a polycrystalline silicon floating gate 33, an oxide film 34, a nitride film 35, an oxide film 36, and a control gate 37 are stacked in this order on a silicon substrate 31. As shown in FIG. 3B, the select gates SSG and SDG each have a structure in which an oxide film 42 and a gate electrode 43 are stacked in this order on a silicon substrate 41. Here, the relationship between the line width of each memory cell M W_WL and each line width of the select gates SSG and SDG is expressed as W_WL<W_SSG, W_SDG. Each of the line widths W_SSG and W_SDG is greater than the line width of each memory cell M W_WL, so that leakage can be prevented in the gate portion at the time of reading or programming. Also, the gap S_SDG-WL between the select gate and the adjacent word line is greater than the gap between each two neighboring word lines S_WL-WL, so that all the word lines WL have the same widths when being processed.
FIG. 4 shows the Vt distribution of the FG-type NAND flash memory. In an erasing state (data 1), the threshold value of a FG-type NAND flash memory cell is set to a negative value. In a writing state (data 0), the threshold value of a FG-type NAND flash memory cell is set to a positive value.
In recent years, NAND flash memories of a SONOS (semiconductor-oxide-nitride-oxide-semiconductor) type have been developed. A SONOS-type NAND flash memory stores information, using a nitride film as a charge accumulation layer, instead of a floating gate. This technique is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-204000. In a non-volatile semiconductor memory having a SONOS structure, multi-value information can be held by performing charge injection into a gate insulating film from the source side or the drain side.
In a conventional NAND cell array, blocks (erasing units) are divided using select gates, and various operations are performed with a selected one of the blocks. The unselected blocks are prevented from disturbance caused by the selected block.
However, as higher integration and lower voltages are being achieved, leakage current caused in unselected blocks at the time of reading or programming has become a problem, as accurate reading cannot be performed. Also, a core cell array has each one NAND string formed with thirty-two cells for higher integration these days. However, in a SONOS-type NAND flash memory, it is preferable to form a core cell array with sixteen cells, so as to reduce adverse influence of disturbance. In such a case, the number of drain contacts and source diffusion lines, as well as the number of select gates, becomes larger with respect to the memory cell region, compared with a conventional case. As a result, the entire device region becomes larger. Particularly, as illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3, the line widths of the conventional select gates SDG and SSG are greater than the line widths of the memory cells. Therefore, the circuit size cannot be reduced as the number of select gates becomes greater.

Semiconductor device and method of controlling said semiconductor device


A method and apparatus for reconstructing a low-resolution image is provided. The method includes magnifying a low-resolution image; extracting a high frequency component and a texture component from the pre-magnification low-resolution image; and reconstructing an image by synthesizing the extracted high frequency component and texture component with the magnified low-resolution image. The method and apparatus synthesizes only image components without a separate external DB, making it possible to enhance sharpness of the outline of images and thus effectively reconstruct fine texture components.

1. Field
The present inventive concept relates generally to a method and apparatus for displaying images, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for reconstructing images.
2. Description of the Related Art
Images may suffer from a loss of frequency components in their compression and scaling process. Due to the loss of frequency components, images with fine textures may deteriorate into images with coarse and plain textures, resulting in poor visual impressions. Many methods have been developed to compensate for this degradation. Among them, image reconstruction-based methods reconstruct the deteriorated frequency components by way of a modeling a process in which a best solution is found for images which are deteriorated. Sharpening-based methods, which are heuristic methods, amplify a magnitude of the frequency components. Although both the image reconstruction-based methods and the sharpening-based methods improve the overall image sharpness by virtue of the amplification of frequency components, there are limitations on reconstructing the high-frequency components that have already been lost, having difficulty in reconstructing even the fine textures of the original images.
FIG. 1 illustrates an image reconstruction-based method proposed by Freeman.
In FIG. 1, YLR denotes a low-resolution image, YILR denotes a magnified (or up-scaled) low-resolution image, YILR,HF denotes a high frequency component of the magnified low-resolution image, and YDB,HF denotes a high frequency component stored in a database (DB).
Referring to FIG. 1, information relating to a previously learned pair of image patches of an intermediate frequency and a high frequency are stored in an external DB, and an intermediate frequency component of an initially magnified image is replaced by a high frequency component through the use of the DB. That is, a high frequency component YDB,HF is read from the external DB, and a blurred frequency component YILR,HF of a magnified image is replaced by the read high frequency component YDB,HF. In this method, the number of pieces of data to be previously learned in the DB is more than 0.2 million, and a memory for storing the learned data is required. In addition, a computation for comparing YILR,HF of the magnified image with all high frequency components YDB,HF in the DB to find an optimal patch in every reconstruction is required even in a process of reconstructing an image, which are considerably complex. Even in terms of reconstruction performance, the image reconstruction-based method has limitations on reconstructing statistical components having a low correlation with surroundings, such as a texture, because it uses a Markov random field that analogizes and estimates a brightness value of a current location based on previously reconstructed surrounding brightness values. The sharpening-based method also has limitations on reconstructing high frequency components, since it is a method of amplifying frequency components.

Method and apparatus for reconstructing an image


An apparatus (100) for making flexible packaging containers (20, 70, 84) and inserting and sealing discs (22) within the containers in one continuous operation includes a nip roll indexer (116) which intermittently advances free ends of a first web (108) and a second web (110) a distance defining at least a width of a container, a die cut press (112) for forming partially separable flaps in the first web, first and second ultrasonic welders (220, 226) which concurrently seal together the first and second webs along a first longitudinal seal line (258) and at least one transverse seal line (252) so as to create in the webs a series of disc-receiving areas (40) each defined by the first longitudinal seal lines together with two of the transverse seal lines and having an open edge adjacent second longitudinal edges (256) of the webs, a disc inserting apparatus (120) adapted to insert a disc into a disc-receiving area, a third ultrasonic welder (380) which seals the webs together along a second longitudinal seal line (390) adjacent and parallel to the second longitudinal edges of the webs, and a separating station (126) which cuts the webs along a cut line adjacent and parallel to one of the transverse seal lines to create discrete containers each having a disc sealed inside.

Compact discs have become a popular recording medium for digital information including audio program material as well as other data such as computer software and the like. A compact disc (CD) includes a reflective optical surface which is encoded with the digitally encoded data. The optical surface is read with the aid of a laser, which impinges a beam onto the optical surface. Reflections of the beam are captured and converted into digital signals representing the digital information on the disc. Thus, it will be appreciated that faithful reproduction of the information on the disc may be impaired by scratches, dust, or other imperfections introduced into the optical surface during shipping, storage, or handling of a CD.
Because of the need to protect the optical surface of a CD, various CD storage devices, both rigid and flexible, have been developed. An example of a rigid storage container is the jewel box, which consists of two pieces of molded polycarbonate hingedly connected along one side. A styrene tray with a center hub is snap fit inside one of the polycarbonate pieces, the center hub being formed to engage the center aperture of a CD and hold the CD with the optical surface not in contact with any portion of the box. Jewel boxes have an advantage of being suitable for holding a CD not only during shipment from a manufacturer, but also for after-market storage by the consumer. However, although the jewel box serves to protect the CD, it suffers from several disadvantages. The box is difficult to open, and it is difficult to remove the CD from the center hub without bending the CD. The box is also relatively fragile, resulting in breakage of the hinges or the polycarbonate pieces when accidentally dropped. Furthermore, the jewel box is expensive to manufacture because of the three-piece construction and the need to manually assemble the parts. Finally, the jewel box is relatively bulky, generally having a thickness many times the thickness of the CD itself.
As an alternative to the jewel box, various types of flexible CD storage containers have been developed. One example of a flexible CD container is shown in my U.S. Pat. No. 5,462,160, which is incorporated herein by reference. The container is comprised of a first flexible sheet to which is joined a nonwoven fabric sheet, with an overlying second flexible sheet joined along its edges by heat lamination to the first flexible sheet through the nonwoven fabric to create a CD storage area. Access to the storage area is provided by a flap cut into the second flexible sheet within the boundary of the bond to permit insertion of a CD into the storage area so that the optical surface contacts the nonwoven fabric. Although the container described in the '160 patent provides excellent storage protection for the CD, it has at least two notable drawbacks. First, the container is primarily useful as an after-market storage container. It is not well suited for use as a shipping container, because a manufacturer would have to resort to a relatively expensive procedure of manually inserting a CD into the container. Second, the heat lamination process for bonding the edges of the sheets together tends to introduce distortion into the sheets, resulting in a somewhat wavy appearance.
Yet another flexible CD container is marketed by the assignee of the present application under the trademark "ADHESIVEPAK". The container is comprised of three sheets joined along three common edges, the top edges of the sheets being left unbonded. This container has a first pocket defined by a first sheet and an intermediate sheet and a second pocket defined by the intermediate sheet and a second sheet. A CD is stored in the first pocket with the optical surface in contact with the intermediate sheet. Graphics material may be stored in the second pocket. The first sheet is transparent to permit viewing of graphics printed on the non-optical surface of the CD, and has a perforated cut line wider than a CD diameter to define a flap which may be partially separated from the remainder of the first sheet to create an opening for insertion and removal of a CD. At one side of the bottom of the cut line, the line is fully cut to form a tab portion of the flap which may be grasped and pulled to initiate breaking of the perforations. The intermediate sheet is a composite of a flexible layer bonded to a nonwoven fabric layer, with the nonwoven fabric facing the first sheet. The second sheet is a composite of an adhesive-backed vinyl layer and a paper layer having a glossy surface in contact with the adhesive side of the vinyl layer. The paper layer may be peeled off to expose the adhesive side of the vinyl layer, so that the container may be pasted onto a page in an album, book, or the like. Openings to the first and second pockets are defined by slits in the intermediate and second sheets, respectively, which slits are spaced inward of a top edge of the container. A strip of adhesive runs adjacent to the top edge, so that when the container is pasted down onto a page, the openings to the pockets are effectively closed. The ADHESIVEPAK container is primarily intended as an after-market storage device, and the operation of pasting the container onto a page is intended to be carried out by the end user or purchaser of the container. After the container has been pasted down onto a page, a CD is then inserted into or removed from the first pocket by breaking the perforations of the flap cut line to create an opening in the first sheet. However, since a CD may be inserted into the container without disturbing the perforations of the flap cut line, the ADHESIVEPAK container could also be used as a shipping container. Nevertheless, the container has the disadvantage that the CD storage area remains open at its top opening until the container is pasted onto a page, which may allow the CD accidentally to slip out of the container during shipping. The unsealed opening may also permit infiltration of foreign material into the container during shipping or after-market storage and handling of the container, which may lead to scratching of the CD optical surface.
Thus, prior flexible containers for compact discs have not been amenable to being formed, filled with a CD, and sealed closed on all edges in one continuous automated operation.

Apparatus and methods for forming flexible packaging containers for discs


A wireless earpiece includes a wireless earpiece housing, a processor, and a transceiver configured to produce electromagnetic pulses capable of reaching a brain of a user. A method of stimulating the brain of the user using the wireless earpiece includes receiving a request at the wireless earpiece and generating an electromagnetic pulse in response to the request.

Transcranial stimulation is a medical technique used to evaluate motor function or brain damage resulting from a stroke, motor neuron disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or other neurodegenerative disease or disorder. Transcranial stimulation has also shown potential efficacy in helping people with depression or neuropathic-related pain. Recently, transcranial stimulation has shown promise in improving memory recall. Transcranial stimulation may be achieved by stimulating a user's brain with electromagnetic pulses. Therefore, what is needed is a wearable device capable of providing transcranial stimulation as needed for treatment.

Wireless earpiece with transcranial stimulation


Integration of laser sources into optoelectronic integrated circuits requires that the laser do not operate using two cleaved end facets. Unfortunately, replacing of one of the end facets results by either a dry etched mirror or by a corner reflectors results in undesirable performance of the laser source since a gain coefficient for the laser source is lower than that for a dual cleaved end facet laser source. A modified waveguide is thus proposed which serves to reduce the undesirable effects found when a corner reflector is used by providing an improved waveguide region between the cleaved end facet and the corner reflector that facilitates excitation of a single optical mode within a laser cavity formed between the corner reflector and the cleaved end facet.

Fibre optic communication systems have gained widespread acceptance over the past few decades. With the advent of optical fibre, communication signals are transmitted as light propagating along a fibre supporting total internal reflection of the light propagating therein. Many communication systems rely on optical communications because they are less susceptible to noise induced by external sources and are capable of supporting very high speed carrier signals and increased bandwidth. It was found that single mode optical communications systems support a higher rate of data transfer over longer distances. Consequently, single mode optical fibre is now a standard medium for transferring optical signals. Unfortunately, optical fibre components are bulky and often require hand assembly resulting in lower yield and higher costs. One modern approach to automating manufacture in the field of communications is integration. Integrated electronic circuits (ICs) are well known and their widespread use in every field is a clear indication of their cost effectiveness and robustness.
Presently, there is substantial promise in implementing waveguides and optical components within integrated waveguide material. These materials allow for integration of active and passive devices within a same physical substrate. These waveguides are typically formed in semiconductor material where they are often produced using layers of different material to provide a refractive index contrast between the waveguide core and its cladding. Alternatively, relative differences in dopant concentrations can provide small index differences that can be sufficient to provide guiding of an optical signal within a waveguide so formed.
Amongst the active devices that are manufactured into a same physical substrate as optical waveguides are laser sources. These laser sources are manufactured within the same substrate as the waveguide and thus advantageously allow for direct coupling from the laser source to the waveguide. Unfortunately, difficulties arise when these laser sources are manufactured within a same substrate. One such difficulty is forming end facets with the necessary optical qualities. Typically, the end facets of the laser are cleaved which provides a very high quality surface. Unfortunately, cleaving the laser to provide high quality end facets defeats the advantages sought in producing an integrated semiconductor optoelectronic circuit.
It would therefore be advantageous to provide a replacement for the cleaved end facet of the laser source to permit integration of the laser source within an optoelectronic substrate as well as to provide an improved reflection coefficient from the replaced end facet.

Waveguide structure having improved reflective mirror features


A combination of a compass and a connective arrangement for facilitating connection of the compass to a firearm or other portable object. The connective arrangement includes a one or two part elongated and hollow sleeve having an interior opening therein opening outwardly at opposite first and second ends. A housing containing the compass works is received in the first end of the sleeve. The interior opening at the second end of the sleeve has an internal thread threadedly secured to an externally threaded screw to thereby facilitate the connection of the compass works containing housing to the firearm or other portable object.

Hunters hunting in a strange territory often lose their sense of direction and are unable to find their way back to the point from which they started. As a result, it has been found to be advantageous to provide a compass on a gun so that the compass will be readily available to the hunter at all times. One example of a gun mounted compass is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 2,653,390. However, orienting the compass at the very end of the gun stock is not always convenient for the hunter to view the compass.
Normally, when a hunter moves about the terrain, the gun is usually held in a horizontal position ready to be quickly brought up to the shoulder and fired should game suddenly appear within range. In this ready position, the butt end of the gun stock is not readily visible to the hunter.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a connective arrangement for connecting a compass onto a firearm so that the compass will be readily visible to the hunter at all times during a movement about the terrain that is being hunted.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a connective arrangement, as aforesaid, which is attachable to an existing piece of structure on the mounting structure for a telescopic gun sight mounted on a firearm and without requiring any modification to the existing structure of the firearm with telescopic gun sight.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a bracket attachable to a firearm, which bracket has the requisite connective arrangement thereon to facilitate a mounting of the compass to the bracket.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a connective arrangement, as aforesaid, which is weather tolerant.


An electronically tunable quad-band antenna which includes a tunable high band antenna tuned by at least one tunable varactor associated therewith; the tunable high band antenna further includes a substrate, a patch element on said substrate, at least one voltage tunable varactor associated with the patch element, a DC bias point on the patch element, an RF input on the patch element, and a temperature sensor associated with the high band pass antenna. Also included in a preferred embodiment of the electronically tunable quad-band antenna of the present invention is a tunable low band antenna tuned by at least one tunable varactor associated therewith, the tunable low band antenna further including a substrate, a patch element on said substrate, at least one voltage tunable varactor associated with said patch element, a DC bias point on said patch element, an RF input on said patch element, and a temperature sensor associated with said low band pass antenna.

The present invention relates generally antennas and more specifically to tunable antennas and still more specifically to tunable quad-band antennas for handset applications.
The current trend in mobile communications is in providing more and better services to the subscribers. Modern multi-mode, multi-band mobile phones will give better coverage and provide more data rates. This puts very stringent requirements on the components of the transceivers, including the antennas, which must handle these new features.
A Quad-Band handset radio transceiver is an example of a multi-mode, multi-band system. It covers the following frequency bands and standards:    824-894 MHz;    880-960 MHz;    1710-1880 MHz;    1850-1990 MHz;    GSM850;    EGSM;    GSM 1800; and    PCS 1900.
In order to provide for quad-band antennas the need exists to provide a good match to the transmit and receive modules over more than 15% of their frequency bands. This may not always be achievable without utilizing sophisticated and expensive antennas. Using expensive and sophisticated antennas with consumer handsets is problematic. Therefore, a strong need in the industry exists for quad-band antennas with excellent performance and is cost effective.

Electronically tunable quad-band antennas for handset applications

Abstract: Also included is a controller receiving control data, and receiving output information from said low band antenna and output information from said high band antenna and controlling a first bias voltage for biasing the at least one voltage tunable varactor associated with the high band antenna and a second bias voltage for biasing the at least one voltage tunable varactor associated with the low band antenna. The bias voltages can be provided by a DC to DC converter regulator.


An application that consumes key management information (e.g., keys and certificates) through a conventional keystore API is configured to recognize a new keystore type. In addition, the services of that API are pointed to a management server component associated with a key management protocol (e.g., KMIP), and a client component of the key management protocol is instantiated as a “semi-remote” keystore in association with the application. Once configured to use the new keystore type, the consuming application uses the keystore API in a conventional manner, but calls to the new keystore type are directed to the KMIP client. The client intercepts these calls and then interacts with the KMIP server on behalf of the consuming application, and without the application being aware of the interaction over the KMIP client-server API. This approach enables the consuming application to take advantage of the full benefits provided by the key management protocol transparently.

Technical Field
This disclosure relates generally to cryptographic key lifecycle management.
Background of the Related Art
Business data is growing at exponential rates, and along with that growth is a demand for securing that data. Enterprises have responded by implementing encryption at various layers, such as in hardware, on the network, and in various applications. This response has resulted in a series of encryption silos, some of which hold confidential customer data, with fragmented approaches to security, keys and coverage. Further, different applications across the enterprise often employ different encryption methods. Thus, for example, some departments in the organization may use public-key cryptography while others use secret-key or hashes. Still others do not encrypt data while it is at rest (such as when it is stored on a device or in a database) but only when the data is in motion, using virtual private networks (VPNs) to secure the data pipeline. Key management for these encryption approaches is often similarly fragmented. Sometimes key management is carried out by department teams using manual processes or embedded encryption tools. Other times, the key management function is centrally managed and executed. In some cases, no formal key management process is in place. This fragmented approach to key management can leave the door open for loss or breach of sensitive data.
Key Management Interoperability Protocol (KMIP) is a relatively new standard for key management sponsored by the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS). It is designed as a comprehensive protocol for communication between enterprise key management servers and cryptographic clients (e.g., from a simple automated device to a sophisticated data storage system). By consolidating key management in a single key management system that is KMIP-compliant, an enterprise can reduce its operational and infrastructure costs while ensuring appropriate operational controls and governance of security policy.
While KMIP provides significant advantages, the approach (and other cryptographic key management services like it) requires users to adapt to a remote protocol for accessing the materials retained therein. This requirement often dictates that code changes be implemented on the part of the using (consuming) applications.
To enable broader use of KMIP services, it would be desirable to enable users and applications to access these (and similar types of key management) services without forcing code changes by the consuming applications.
The subject matter of this disclosure addresses this need.

Using key material protocol services transparently

International Business Machines Corporation


A device for ignition control in a cylinder of an internal combustion engine includes an ignition coil which has a connected primary winding and a secondary winding, which is connected to a spark plug. The device also includes an ignition control unit, which connects the primary winding by way of a first line and is connected to the secondary winding by way of a second line. The second line supplies an ionic current signal emitted from the spark plug to the ignition control unit. A single line is used as the first line and the second line. The active direction of the line can be adjusted by different levels of voltage applied to the line.

The present invention relates to an ignition control system for the ignition control in a cylinder of an internal-combustion engine, having an ignition coil whose primary winding is switched and having a secondary winding connected with a spark plug. The ignition control unit switches the primary winding by way of a first line and is connected with the secondary winding by way of a second line, the second line feeding an ionic current signal originating from the spark plug to the ignition control unit. A system of this type is known from German Patent document DE 101 38 976 A.
It is thus known to use the spark plug as a sensor for the ionic current, which is caused as a result of the combustion of an air-fuel mixture within the cylinder of the internal-combustion engine. The intensity of the ionic current significantly changes as a function of the combustion condition within the combustion chamber. By utilizing this effect, the combustion condition within the respective cylinder can be identified, and also the occurrence of a misfiring or knocking combustion in the internal-combustion engine can be determined.
If the primary winding and the secondary winding are components of a normal single-coil ignition system, that is, a system consisting of the respective spark plug and a pertaining ignition coil, which system is switched by the ignition control unit, at least four electric connecting contacts are obtained between the ignition control unit and the single-coil ignition system, specifically for the two potentials of the on-board power supply, the control of the primary winding, and the return of the ionic current signal.
In contrast, only three connecting contacts are required in the case of a conventional ignition control having a single-coil ignition system, that is, an ignition control without taking into account the ionic current signal. With respect to an internal-combustion engine having several cylinders, taking the ionic current signals into account leads to a basically different wiring construction. In addition, there are contact problems, which occur with each connecting contact and which rise proportionally with the number of connecting contacts.
It is an object of the invention to provide a system of the above-mentioned type, in which the number of the connecting contacts (and of the contact problems connected therewith) are kept to a minimum.
This object is achieved by the system for the ignition control in a cylinder of an internal-combustion engine, having an ignition coil whose primary winding is switched and having a secondary winding connected with a spark plug. The ignition control unit switches the primary winding by way of a first line and is connected with the secondary winding by way of a second line, the second line feeding an ionic current signal originating from the spark plug to the ignition control unit. A single line is used as the first and the second line. The operating direction of the line can be adjusted by different voltage levels applied to the line.
The invention utilizes a single electric line, which exists between the ignition control unit and the single-coil ignition system, as a current interface, which is operated in two directions. A current interface is always insensitive to ground offsets between the engine block and the ignition control unit. A ground offset is the difference of the reference potential (0V) between two spatially mutually separated electric circuits caused by electromagnetic radiation and/or current flow in connection with the impedance of the ground connection. A current interface normally has a current source (transmitter) and a current drain (receiver). By the establishment of two operating modes by way of the voltage levels, information can be transmitted in two directions successively with respect to time. As a result, only three connecting contacts are required between the ignition control unit and the single-coil ignition system.
The operating mode is differentiated by a voltage level which is clearly above or below 4 V. When the ignition control unit operates as a transmitter, that is, when it controls the primary winding of the ignition coil for the triggering of the ignition spark, it actively pulls the level of the line to the ground (OV) or leaves the line open passive, 4V or 0 mA). A switching circuit logic disposed in front of the ignition coil differs by way of the current occurring on the line with respect to an active or a passive line. A digital signal can thereby be transmitted to the switching circuit logic, by which the ignition is triggered.
Inversely, for transmitting the ionic current to the ignition control unit, the voltage level of the line is adjusted to 8V. Then, in the ignition coil, the switching circuit logic impresses the ionic current on the line. The engine timing gear can determine and process this current by way of a precision resistor. This differentiation of the two line signals between analog and digital additionally facilitates the recognition of the operating direction of the current interface.
If the ionic current is additionally detected in the switching logic, the resistance to interferences will clearly be improved because the ionic current situated in the uA range is already treated close to the spark plug.
For this purpose, it may be advantageous to additionally provide an amplifier circuit in the switching logic for the ionic current signal originating from the secondary winding. As a result, the lowest ionic currents can also be detected.
A further improvement is obtained when the amplifier circuit is controlled in its amplification factor corresponding to the intensity of the ionic current. This control can advantageously be carried out from the ignition control unit. The amplification is the greater, the weaker the ionic current signal is at first.
For this purpose, the amplification factor is defined as a digital signal by the ignition control unit. This signal is therefore digital like the ignition signal and differs from the latter essentially with respect to the point in time at which it is emitted.
If this digital signal is emitted by the ignition control unit at the start within a power cycle for a cylinder, a danger of a collision with the ignition control signal is averted.
The amplification factor itself may be determined by the intensity of the ionic current signal in the preceding power cycle of the cylinder. Since the already amplified ionic current signal arrives at the ignition control unit and the ignition control unit knows the amplification factor used as the basis, it can, in each case, adapt the factor when the amplified ionic current signal changes. In this manner, the ionic current signal arriving in the ignition control unit can be kept in an optimal modulation range with respect to the signal-to-noise ratio without encountering the modulation limits.
Furthermore, the amount of the measuring voltage, as described above for the amplification factor, can also be defined as the digital signal by the ignition control unit.
As a result, when the ionic current signal is sufficiently high, the measuring voltage can be reduced in order to keep the power loss to a minimum when generating the measuring voltage. In addition, with a lower measuring voltage, less energy is also withdrawn from the ignition spark. Since the measuring voltage is added to the secondary high switch-on voltage occurring when the primary winding is switched on, the resulting voltage over the spark plug is unnecessarily increased, whereby the danger of undesired pre-ignitions is reduced.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft


A composition is disclosed having minimum halogen content, fire-retardance and/or drip-resistant characteristics. The composition comprises an effective amount of a polycarbonate, a glass fiber, a polysiloxane-polycarbonate copolymer, and a synergistic combination of an aromatic sulfone sulfonate such as potassium diphenylsulfone sulfonate with an aromatic sulfonate such as sodium salt of toluene sulfonic acid, optionally in the presence of an anti-drip agent. The polycarbonate composition is useful for manufacture of electronic and mechanical articles, among others.

This disclosure relates, in various exemplary embodiments, to polycarbonate compositions and articles formed from such compositions having minimum halogen content and improved fire-retardance and/or drip-resistant characteristics, as well as uses thereof. For example, the disclosure relates to glass fiber reinforced polycarbonate based resin compositions having robust thin-wall fire-retardance, acceptable impact resistance, and good manufacturing and processing characteristics.
With their strength and clarity, polycarbonate (PC) and copolycarbonate resins offer many significant advantages and are utilized for a number of different commercial applications. Polycarbonate materials are playing a vital role today in applications including electronic engineering ("E&E") parts, mechanical parts and so on. Unfortunately, polycarbonate resins are inherently flammable and can drip hot molten material causing nearby materials to catch fire as well. Thus, in order to safely utilize polycarbonates in many applications, it is necessary to include additives which retard the flammability of the material and/or which reduce dripping.
A variety of different materials have been described for use in producing fire-retardant (FR) and/or drip-resistant polycarbonates. Exemplary of these are the materials described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,971,756; 4,028,297; 4,110,299; 4,130,530; 4,303,575; 4,335,038; 4,552,911; 4,916,194; 5,218,027; and, 5,508,323.
Fire-retardance additives applied today typically include various sulfonate salts, phosphorus acid esters, brominated and/or chlorinated flame retardants, etc. Moreover, the phosphate additives, which are used at relatively high loadings (>5% and around 10% to produce similar V0 performance) will deteriorate overall material mechanical performance. Furthermore, brominated and chlorinated additives, and even some fluorinated additives at certain loadings are prohibited by various NGO's and environmental protection rules, such as Blue Angle, TCO'99, DIN/VDE, etc. Consequently, sulfonate salts have become fairly widely used in the industry to produce fire-retardant polycarbonate materials.
Examples of such sulfonate salts are perfluoroalkane sulfonates, such as potassium perfluorobutane sulfonate ("KPFBS", also known as "Rimar salt") and potassium diphenylsulfone sulfonate ("KSS"). For example, the use of perfluoroalkane sulfonates in polycarbonate resins is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,775,367. Also, U.S. Pat. No. 6,353,046 discloses that improved fire properties can be imparted to polycarbonate resin compositions by incorporating into the polycarbonate, potassium perfluorobutane sulfonate, and a cyclic siloxane, such as octaphenylcyclotetrasiloxane.
For KSS, only limited fire-retardance performance can be obtained when it is used alone. The conventional means for enhancing the fire-retardant properties while retaining transparency has been the incorporation of soluble organic halogen additives with KSS. For example, commercial grades of LEXAN® (General Electric Co.) polycarbonate resins (e.g. 940A, 920A) contain a combination of KSS (0.3 phr) and a tetrabromo-bisphenol/bisphenol A copolymer (0.5 phr, net 0.13 phr bromine content). Without the bromine, the 920A and 940A grades have inconsistent/unreliable performance in the UL94 VO 125 mil flammability test that these grades are designed to meet.
On the other hand, environmental concerns and guidelines directed to these issues are of particular importance today. Such regulations and guidelines include Blue-Angel, TCO99, and DIN/VDE. For example, current "eco-FR" LEXAN®, which is mostly loaded with Rimar salt at a level of 0.05-0.08%, is not Blue Angel conforming because of the fluorine content. Moreover, Rimar can generate bubbles that cause haze under higher processing temperatures. The brominated additive used in conjunction with KSS is not suitable for consumer products which are subject to "ECOs-friendly" standards, since these standards prohibit the inclusion of bromine or chlorine based fire-retardance additives.
Additionally, it is known that glass fiber reinforced polycarbonates have been widely used for their good combination of mechanical properties and heat resistance, and grades of such polycarbonates with fire retardance are playing a vital role today in various applications including E&E parts, mechanical structure parts and so on. Use of these resins has been increasing rapidly in recent years with related industrial development. Moreover, there are increasing market needs for new formulations with high FR ratings, and thinner gages.
An issue with manufacturing such glass fiber reinforced polycarbonate compositions is, however, that they do not have robust fire retardance performance, particularly with the inclusion of rigid particles, such as titanium oxide.
There accordingly remains a need in the art for the production of polycarbonate compositions with certain amounts of glass fiber that can readily produce an article of manufacture with minimum content of halogen, such as bromine and chlorine. These compositions also need to exhibit good fire-retardancy and drip-resistance, in a cost-effective manner, have thinner gages, and good manufacturability characteristics, among others.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Polycarbonate compositions and articles formed therefrom


An elastic modulus of an element of a material including fibers in a selected direction is determined as follows. First, a parallel elastic modulus, an orthogonal elastic modulus and fiber orientation of the material are stored. The elastic modulus of the element is determined based on the first elastic modulus, the second elastic modulus and an angle between the fiber orientation of the element and the selected direction such that the elastic modulus is determined as a function of the angle between the fiber orientation of the element and the selected direction when the selected direction is neither parallel nor orthogonal to the fiber orientation of the element.

1. Field of the invention
The present invention generally relates to structural analysis of materials and, in particular to an elastic modulus determination method of a composite material including fibers.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has been proposed a three-dimensional structural analysis method in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 5-223711 using a finite element method of a honeycomb structure model to analyze the mechanical characteristics of synthetic resin foam when an impact deformation occurs. According to this method, a stress component corresponding to a strain component in each direction can be calculated using the same maximum stress-strain curve. This allows the honeycomb structure model to be treated as a structural model having isotropic mechanical characteristics similar to an actual synthetic resin foam.

Elastic modulus determination of composite material


The present disclosure relates to an actuator element for a motor vehicle cover. The actuator element includes a plunger, which is axially guided on a guide. A slotted link guide with a sliding element and a control surface for guiding the sliding element, positively couple the plunger and the guide. A spring element, elastically couple the plunger and the guide in axial and rotational direction. The control surface includes a first loading section for rotating the plunger as a consequence of an axial movement in closing direction subject to axial and rotational loading of the spring element.

From US Pat. App. Pub. 2009/0139991 A1 an actuator element for the alternating opening and closing of a motor vehicle tank cover as a consequence of successive actuations in closing direction it is known that if the closed cover is pushed down in closing direction, cams of a plunger are rotated through sloping ramp surfaces of a guide and engage in long axial grooves of the guide when released, so that an axial spring can drive out the plunger against the closing direction and open out the cover. Through renewed pressing down the cams are rotated further and engage in short axial grooves of the guide when released, which prevent an extension of the plunger. Through successive actuations in closing direction, the cams thus rotate endlessly in a rotational direction and alternately engage in the short and long axial grooves, which for this purpose alternate in circumferential direction.

Actuator element for a motor vehicle cover


Eyeglasses include a frame, and two lenses; the frame has a streamline shape, and a relatively large curvature as compared with the lenses, and has a joining portion protruding downwards from a middle portion thereof, and grooves extending from two sides of the joining portion to an upper portion of an inward side thereof; each of the lenses includes a body, and a connecting plate, which is secured on the body, and has the same curvature as the body of the lens; the lenses are firmly joined to the frame with the connecting plates being inserted in respective ones of the grooves of the frame.

1. Field of the invention
The present invention relates to a kind of eyeglasses structure, more particularly one, which includes lenses, and a frame having a streamline shape, larger curvature than the lenses, and grooves; the lenses each have a connecting plate secured thereon, and are joined to the frame with the connecting plates being inserted in the grooves of the frame.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
People usually wear eyeglasses to correct their vision errors caused by nearsightedness, farsightedness etc, and wear sunglasses to protect the eyes from the sun's glare, which also can be used as a personal adornment. People will also wear safety glasses/sport and leisure glasses to protect their eyes when they are engaged in certain activities. And, sunglasses and sport glasses usually have a streamline and fancy shape and a relatively large curvature to make the wearers' faces more attractive.
However, it is relatively difficult for sight-assisting eyeglasses such as those for shortsighted persons to have a streamline shape and large curvature because the lenses of such sight-assisting eyeglasses will have a wrong focal distance, and be unable to produce the proper sight-assisting effect if they are formed with a large curvature in order to be capable of being joined to the above-mentioned curved frames.


A medical device includes a barrel with proximal and distal ends. A needle extends from the distal end of the barrel and terminates in a point. A shield is coaxially and rotationally mounted on the barrel. This shield is axially movable between a retracted position in which the needle point is exposed and an extended position in which the needle point is covered. The device includes locking elements associated with the barrel and the shield. These locking elements are responsive to a combined rotational and axially distal movement of the shield, when the shield is at an extended and unlocked position, for locking the shield on the barrel at the extended position. These locking elements prevent subsequent rotational and axial movement of the shield on the barrel.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a medical device of the type having a needle and a shield for covering a point of the needle after the device is used. The present invention more particularly concerns a syringe-type device with a shield for the needle, the shield being operatively attached to the syringe so that it may be locked in a position which covers the needle point thereby protecting personnel who work with these types of medical devices.
2. Background Description
Personnel in hospitals, medical laboratories, doctors offices and the like face the risk of being stuck with sharp points on needles, blades and other devices used for bodily invasive purposes. After any of these sharp-pointed devices are used in an invasive procedure, they may be contaminated as a result of any infectious diseases or conditions carried by the patient. The infectious disease may be transmitted to any person who is working with these devices and who inadvertently or carelessly gets stuck.
Many sharp-pointed medical devices, such as needles, are originally packaged with a cover which is removable just prior to use. Problems have arisen in the past when medical personnel have attempted to re-shield the device after use. Medical personnel frequently have stuck themselves while attempting these re-shielding procedures and, as a result, re-shielding is not recommended in most of these procedures. To avoid these circumstances, sharp-pointed medical devices are being designed with built-in shields. These shields are normally attached to, but moved out of the way of, the sharp point during use of the medical device. After use, the shield is generally movable, in some fashion, to cover the sharp point so that no one may be stuck.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,053,018, a syringe device is described which includes a movable needle shield. In this patent, the shield is locked at the extended position at which the shield covers the needle. The benefits of using a rotational movement to lock the shield in place are explained in this patent.
Although medical devices have been described with lockable shields, in which the shield is movable in one or more directions, further improvements are still being sought and are needed in this field. These sought-after needs include improvements in ease of use, efficiency of manufacture and assembly, lower costs of manufacture and packaging and compatibility with existing procedures in the various medical facilities. The present invention represents such an improvement.

Medical device with a lockable needle shield


Liquid is pumped through a specially designed wand to create a hole in the ground. The wand is pushed downward into the hole to a selected depth. The wand is then pivoted about a vertical axis through 90.degree. during a period of five seconds. The wand is then pushed downward an additional one foot during a ten second period. The steps of the method are repeated until the wand has reached a selected maximum depth. The wand has a body with a vertical nozzle exiting through the bottom, and four horizontal nozzles exiting through side surfaces. Intermediate surfaces are interspersed between the side surfaces, giving the body of the wand a hexagonal cross section.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to methods and apparatus for injecting liquids into the ground. In particular, the relates to a method and a wand for injecting a liquid into the ground in order to stabilize the soil.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Liquids are injected into the ground for many different reasons. For many years lime has been injected into the ground in order to stabilize clayey soils. A combination of water and sulfuric acid may also be injected into a soil for stabilization. Clay is very expansive, and can be destructive to overlying structures, if it is not stabilized.
As an alternative to stabilization, water may be injected into a clayey soil to pre-swell the soil. The preswollen soil will not expand later.
Another liquid that is sometimes injected into the ground is grout. Grout may be injected into a clayey or sandy soil to harden and reduce the permeability of the soil.

Method and wand for injecting a liquid into the ground


An integrated circuit system provides a precursor for an integrated wire bond and flip chip structure. The precursor has a plurality of contact pads thereon. A layer of titanium is deposited on the precursor. A layer of nickel-vanadium is deposited on the layer of titanium. A layer of copper is deposited on the layer of nickel-vanadium. A mask is formed on at least a portion of the layer of copper. Portions of the layers of copper and nickel-vanadium not protected by the mask are removed to expose portions of the layer of titanium. The exposed portions of the layer of titanium are etched with an etching solution consisting of an etchant, a viscosity modifier, and an oxidizer.

In the manufacture and assembly of electronic devices, two high-density interconnection techniques—wire bond and flip chip—are commonly used to mount and electrically connect semiconductor dies (or "chips") on interconnection substrates. The wire bond technique presents wire bond pads (typically formed from aluminum ("Al")) on the substrate surface. The flip chip technique presents solder pads (typically formed as solder balls) on the substrate surface.
Flip chip interconnections provide the shortest electrical connecting paths, and therefore the highest electrical performance and speed. Flip chip interconnections also accommodate the greatest number of chips and chip connections within a given space because the flip chip technique can present area arrays at any location, including the center area of the die. In contrast, the wire bond technique is a perimeter method only, and is therefore more limited.
Flip chip is therefore increasingly the interconnect method of choice for high performance semiconductor devices. However, wire bonds have the important ability to "program" the wiring locations and eliminate expensive manufacturing tooling. The wire bond connection method has also been known and used for a much longer time and is much more popular. Wire bond is therefore expected to continue to be a principle interconnection method.
Input/output ("I/O") pads for flip chips can be configured as peripheral arrays, area arrays, or both, and are given a final finish of solder-wettable metal because solder bumps are subsequently formed or connected to the I/O pads. While techniques have been tried for soldering directly to the Al pads of the underlying integrated circuit, it is well known and accepted that Al is a difficult and undesirable material for soldering. A conventional solution has therefore been to apply a finish of a different metal, or several metals, to the Al pads prior to providing the solder bumps (i.e., prior to "bumping"). Since this additional metal finish ends up under the solder bumps, it is referred to as under-bump metallization ("UBM").
A typical UBM metal stack consists of metallic adhesion, barrier and wetting layers. One such structure that meets these requirements is a composite of layers of titanium ("Ti"), nickel-vanadium ("NiV"), and Cu. Ti is deposited first to adhere to the underlying Al pads, and typically is deposited on and adheres as well to the exposed passivation surface of the substrate outside the Al pad contact areas. Ti is known to adhere well to various materials such as Al, polyimide, benzocyclobutene ("BCB"), silicon nitride ("SixNx"), and silicon oxide ("SiOx").
Next, NiV is deposited onto the Ti layer to barrier the diffusion of Cu into the Ti. Cu is then deposited last, onto the NiV layer.
Once the UBM metal layers have been formed, the portions thereof outside the UBM contact areas must be selectively removed in order to define the desired contact patterns. Two known removal methods have been used in forming UBM pads on wafers that are also to have Al wire-bonding pads. One method is the lift-off technique; the other is the etch-back process.
The lift-off technique involves using a shadow mask prior to formation of the UBM layers. The mask is typically a photo resist, which is an organic material. One process for depositing the UBM metals is sputtering, and, due to the organic photo resist, the lift-off technique requires rigorously controlling the sputtering temperature during deposition of the UBM metals. Unfortunately, some sputtering tools do not have sufficient temperature control capability for sputtering the relatively thick UBM metal layers. In addition, the lift-off method is often not cost effective. For example, as compared with the etch-back process, more metals are required for sputtering onto the substrate because of the shadow effect of the mask.
The etch-back process uses an etching mask following formation of the UBM layers, so no such sputtering temperature controls are required. The UBM stacks are then defined by wet etching or dry etching the deposited UBM metals that are exposed (unprotected) by the mask.
However, the etch-back process has certain limitations as well. One such limitation is selectivity. In integrated wire bond and flip chip designs, the Al pads need to be exposed for wire bonding. It is therefore important to have an etchant that selects for the UBM metals but does not select for Al. In the case of UBM structures formed of Ti/NiV/Cu, the wet etching of the Ti/NiV/Cu layers is not a problem with respect to the UBM layers, but it is a problem with respect to exposed Al wire-bonding pads due to possible poor selectivity, particularly during the Ti etching phase.
Dry etching of Ti has better selectivity over Al. However, dry etching of Ti contaminates the process chamber quickly and attacks the polyimide surface of the passivation layer. As a consequence, if the sputtering tool is not capable of supporting the lift-off technique, the wet etching of the Ti is usually the only reasonable option.
When a Cu layer is present, a typical Ti etching solution used in the semiconductor industry is a mixture of hydrofluoric acid ("HF") and de-ionized ("DI") water. However, Al is an amphoteric metal that can be dissolved in both acid and base. Consequently, common Ti etchants such as this typically have poor selectivity over Al, typically over 1:10 (Ti:Al). During the etching of the Ti, the Al wire-bonding pads can therefore be seriously attacked, to the extent that they become disconnected from their circuits in the die.
Another problem with respect to such wet etching with HF is that the presence of Cu and NiV in the etching process causes a residue of Ti to be left on the polyimide surface. This residue shows up only after a follow-up plasma treatment of the surface.
Still another problem with respect to wet etching is endpoint detection for the etching process. In the conventional wet etching process of Ti, at the end of the etching of the thin and shining Ti layer, the layer disappears suddenly with a lot of bubbles. This makes it hard to detect the endpoint of the entire process because the sudden disappearance of the Ti layer does not mean that the Ti on the underlying passivation layer has been cleared or removed.
Thus, a need still remains to integrate both wire bond and flip chip methods and techniques together on chips and/or their substrates. A need also remains for an effective Ti etchant for such integrated wire bond and flip chip designs. In view of the ever-increasing need to save costs and improve efficiencies, it is more and more critical that answers be found to these problems.
Solutions to these problems have been long sought but prior developments have not taught or suggested any solutions and, thus, solutions to these problems have long eluded those skilled in the art.


A cooling tower is provided for industrial process cooling as well as air conditioning systems. The cooling tower includes a base that has a bottom for supporting the base on a substrate and a plurality of support posts extending away from the bottom. The main body includes a top wall with at least one fan aperture and a plurality of side walls extending downwardly from the top wall. The side walls are dimensioned and configured to telescope onto upper ends of the support posts. Thus, areas beneath the main body and between the support posts define inlets for accommodating airflow generated by the cooling fan mounted in the top wall.

1. Field of the Invention
The subject invention relates to cooling towers for air conditioning systems and industrial process cooling.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Air conditioning systems for large buildings employ cooling towers for carrying out a portion of the heat exchange that is essential to the cooling process. Industrial processes (e.g., chemical production, metals industry, plastics industry, food processing, etc.) generate heat that must be disposed of, often by use of cooling towers. The cooling tower is a housing that channelizes air in proximity to a heat exchange fluid. For example, a heat exchange fluid may be circulated through the cooling tower, and at least one fan may be mounted on the cooling tower to generate a flow of cooling air in proximity to the heat exchange fluid. Heat is transferred from the heat exchange fluid to the air, largely through the evaporation of a small percentage of fluid which substantially lowers the temperature of the primary heat exchange fluid. The cooled heat exchange fluid can then return to the process to perform a heat exchange function for either industrial process equipment or commercial air conditioning system.
The efficiency of an air conditioning system depends, in part, upon the heat exchange carried out in the cooling tower. Large buildings require large cooling towers, and in many instances an array of large cooling towers. Industrial processes depend on cooling towers to prolong the life of other equipment as well as produce top quality production.
The majority of prior art cooling towers are assembled from a plurality of pieces of sheet metal that are mounted to a metallic support frame. These prior art cooling towers typically are manufactured at a location remote from the installation site, and then are shipped to the installation site in a substantially assembled form. These large metallic prior art cooling towers are fairly heavy, and therefore require extensive structural support and greater transportation costs. Furthermore, the size and weight of prior art cooling towers complicates the hoisting and installation of the cooling tower onto the roof of the building. Costs of prior art cooling towers also are adversely affected by the labor intensive process for manufacturing and assembling the various metallic components of the prior cooling tower.
In addition to the cost penalties, the metallic sheet material used in prior art cooling towers generates significant vibration related noise due to the rotation of the fans and due to the flow of air through the cooling tower. Noise pollution often requires noise abatement measures that complicate the installation process and that further add to costs.
Prior art metallic cooling towers also are subject to corrosion or rust. Thus, prior art cooling towers have a relatively short life. Corrosion and rust problems can be avoided or deferred by employing corrosion or rust resistant alloys. However, these metallic materials further add significantly to the cost of the prior art cooling tower.
The prior art includes two types of cooling towers made with plastics. The first type of prior art plastic cooling tower is fabricated from a plurality of fiberglass reinforced polyester (FRP) panels that are fastened together. These plastic towers gain strength through the supplemental glass fiber in the plastic. FRP towers are generally more costly than the galvanized metal towers. Additionally these prior art towers have to be caulked at the seams, require many fasteners to hold the tower together and can develop leaks at the many joints.
The other type of prior art plastic towers are vertically oriented unitary cylinders. These towers can be very tall, with heights up to 19 feet. The ratio of the height to the cross-sectional area limits the cooling capability of the tower since cross-sectional are is more determinant of cooling capacity. The excessive height of these towers requires these prior art towers to be shipped with the axis of the cylinder oriented horizontally, which complicates off-loading and installation. These units have also been limited to one fan assembly per cylindrical unit.
In view of the above, it is an object of the subject invention to provide a cooling tower that is lighter weight and more durable than prior art cooling towers.
It is another object of the subject invention to provide a cooling tower that substantially avoids complex and costly assembly of components.
It is an additional object of the subject invention to provide a cooling tower that produces low levels of vibration related noise.
It is also an object to provide a unitary molded plastic tower that is not cylindrical and allows a much higher ratio of cross-sectional area to overall height.
It is also an object to provide a cooling tower that can be shipped fully assembled and upright to ease off-loading and installation.
Still a further object of the subject invention is to provide a substantially corrosion resistant cooling tower.
The subject invention is directed to a cooling tower that is made substantially from plastic. More particularly, a major portion of the cooling tower is defined by a tower shell that is unitarily molded from a suitable plastic, such as polyethylene. The unitarily molded tower shell may be formed by rotational molding. The tower shell may be molded to include air inlet louvers that are unitarily molded with the body of the tower shell. Additionally, short cylindrical flanges may be molded at the top of the tower shell for accommodating fans and necessary support housings for the fans. Apertures may be molded into the tower shell or may subsequently be cut into the tower shell for accommodating fluid pipes and/or conduits for electric cables. Separate fittings may then be mounted to these molded or cut apertures to accommodate connections with pipes or conduits. These separate fittings may be plastic or metal depending upon specifications of the heat exchange system.
The tower shell preferably is elongated and of polygonal cross-sectional shape, such as an octagonal cross-sectional shape. Thus, the cooling tower may include substantially parallel top and bottom surfaces that are aligned or alignable substantially horizontally. The tower shell may further include at least one vertically aligned or alignable side wall that is unitarily formed to extend continuously around the periphery of the tower shell. Angled connecting walls extend between the side walls and the respective top and bottom walls.
Tower shells in accordance with the subject invention may be of different respective lengths to accommodate different cooling demands. However, all of the tower shells may be of substantially constant longitudinal cross-sectional size and shape. Thus, a larger tower shell may differ from a smaller tower shell primarily by the length and by the number of cooling fans accommodated along the length. This use of a uniform cross-sectional shape for all tower shells enables the tower shells to be manufactured in the same or similar rotational molds. The molds may be rotatable about a horizontal axis and may be adapted to adjust the length of the mold by merely repositioning end wall portions of the mold.
The polygonal cross-section of tower shells in accordance with the subject invention enables a uniform width and depth for the fill material that performs the mass transfer function within the tower shell. Additionally, the tapered bottom portion of the polygonal tower shell defines a concave water sump at the bottom of the tower, while the tapered top section achieves an efficient exit air flow.
The tower also has several strengthening posts designed to provide structural stability where needed. These posts are a corrugated shape that provides more strength than a straight wall. Additional strength is created by conical ends that help support fan systems on the top of the tower.
Strength also is achieved by the rotational molding. In particular, the rotational molding of a structure as large as the subject cooling towers results in greater thicknesses at locations where surfaces meet at an angle. These greater thicknesses effectively define unitary fillets that add to the strength and vibration resistance. The fillets are particularly helpful at the peripheries of the top and bottom walls at the louvers, at the reinforcing flanges and where the fan-mounting flanges meet the top wall. Thus, the subject cooling towers avoid the complex assembling inefficiencies of the prior art and simultaneously enhance strength and efficiency at critical locations.
An alternate cooling tower employs the above-described rotational molding techniques, but is formed from two separately molded parts that can be assembled to one another. More particularly, the alternate cooling tower includes a base unitarily rotationally molded from a plastic material, such as polyethylene, and a main body unitarily rotationally molded from a plastic material, such as polyethylene. The base preferably includes a bottom wall, a side wall enclosure extending up from the bottom wall and an upwardly concave sump wall connecting upper ends of the side wall enclosure. The sump wall is spaced from the bottom wall in most locations to provide a double wall construction. However support ribs may extend between the bottom wall and the sump wall at selected locations. The base further includes a plurality of support posts projecting unitarily upwardly from the side wall. Each support post preferably is hollow and has a selected cross-sectional shape to achieve sufficient rigidity in the presence of loads applied thereto by the main body and the fans and to support external loads due to vibrations and wind. The posts are spaced from one another to define air inlets between the respective posts. Portions of each post remote from the side and bottom walls of the base or sump define outwardly and upwardly facing steps for supporting the main body.
The main body of the cooling tower in accordance with the second embodiment includes a top wall and a side wall enclosure extending downwardly from the top wall. The top wall preferably includes upper and lower panels and at least one fan support opening. The fan support opening preferably is characterized by a substantially cylindrical flange extending between the panels of the top wall. Fans can be mounted to the flange substantially as described with respect to the first embodiment. The side wall enclosure of the main body also may have inner and outer panels and a bottom edge remote from the top wall. The side wall enclosure is dimensioned to telescope over the top ends of the posts so that the bottom edge of the side wall enclosure can be supported on the steps at the top ends of the posts. Additionally, recesses may be molded between the inner and outer panels of the side walls adjacent the bottom edge for receiving portions of the posts that extend upwardly from the steps.
The side wall enclosure of the main body is further molded to include a plurality of reinforcing ribs or channels. The reinforcing ribs or channels are defined by a plurality of intersecting side wall panels that meet at selected angles. The rotational molding creates unitarily fillets similar to the fillets described with respect to the first embodiment. The fillets have a greater thickness of plastic material. Therefore the fillets provide reinforcement against vibration and enhanced structural rigidity. The reinforcing ribs or channels preferably are disposed to align with the support posts of the base.
The cooling tower of the second embodiment is assembled by positioning a fill material on the top of the posts. The fill material may be any conventional material used for cooling towers, and preferably is a high efficiency spiral wound PVC formed to include a plurality of corrugations that define complex flow channels. The main body then is telescoped onto the upper ends of the posts so that the bottom edge of the side wall enclosure of the main body is supported on the outwardly and upwardly facing steps defined on the respective posts. The portions of the posts spaced inwardly and upwardly from the steps slide into engagement with the recesses formed in the bottom edges of the side wall enclosure on the main body. Bolts or other fastening means can be directed through the side wall enclosure of the main body and into portions of the posts upwardly from the steps to securely fasten the main body to the base or sump portion of the cooling tower.
The double-panel construction and the recesses and support channels unitarily molded into the base and main body provide resistance against loads applied to the cooling tower, such as wind loads and vibration loads attributable to the rotation of the fans and the airflow created by the fans. The load resistance attributable to the recesses in the base and the channels in the main body is enhanced by the fillets created by the rotational molding process employed for both the base and the main body of the cooling tower. The cooling tower also provides a large inlet area between the posts for an inflow of air.


A highly temperature-resistant glass fiber and a preparation method therefor. The glass fiber comprises 62-66 wt % of SiO2, 14-19 wt % of Al2O3, 15-20 wt % of CaO, 0-2 wt % of MgO, 0-3 wt % of Fe2O3, and 0-1.2 wt % of TiO2, the total content of Na2O and K2O is 0.1-0.8 wt %. By precisely controlling the mixture of the components, the glass fiber has good resistance to high temperature and formability, and significantly increases the high-temperature softening point. The glass fiber has a forming temperature of not exceeding 1380° C., an upper limit temperature of devitrification of lower than 1280° C., and a high temperature softening temperature of 950° C. or above.

Glass fiber is an inorganic non-metallic material with excellent performance, which has many advantages such as high specific strength, high specific modulus, good electrical insulation, high heat resistance and good corrosion resistance, etc., is currently the most widely used reinforcing substrate in the resin-based composite materials, and the use ratio thereof exceeds 90%.
The main components of glass fiber are silica, alumina, calcium oxide, boron oxide, magnesium oxide, sodium oxide, etc., which can be divided into alkali-free glass fiber (sodium oxide 0%-2%, belonging to aluminoborosilicate glass), medium alkali glass fiber (sodium oxide 8%-12%, belonging to soda-calcium silicate glass containing or not containing boron) and high alkali glass fiber (sodium oxide 13% above, belonging to soda lime silicate glass) according to the alkali content in the glass, wherein the most widely used of which is alkali-free glass fiber, also known as E-glass fiber.
With the continuous development of the application field of glass fiber composite materials, the performance requirements of E-glass fiber in the industry are also constantly increasing, especially in the fields of aerospace, military, automobile, etc., and they have stricter requirements on the high temperature resistance and molding performance of the materials, but existing E-glass fiber generally has problems of low softening temperature and excessive high molding temperature.

Highly temperature-resistant glass fiber and preparation method therefor

CHONGQING POLYCOMP INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION


The document specifies a method for determining field strength which can be used in mobile radio systems, such as Bluetooth. The principle proposed involves alternate transmission and reception in the mobile radio system, with each timeslot comprising at least one time interval for transmitting/receiving a data block (RX, TX). The reception field strength (RSSI) is measured directly before (A, B) or directly after (C, D) transmission or reception of the data block (RX, TX). This allows the number of locking operations required in a PLL to be reduced and still allows adaptive channel adjustment to be performed, for example in a “frequency hopping method”, by measuring all channels without reducing the net data rate.

In modern mobile radio systems, such as in the Bluetooth system, the frequency is spread, in addition to time duplexing, "TDD", Time Division Duplex, by transmitting and receiving on different channels, which is also referred to as frequency hopping, FH. This does not involve transmitting and receiving in a constant physical channel, but rather the frequency of the transmission channel is changed after every timeslot in the data transmission.
If some of these transmission channels contain spectral interference, then it is desirable not to use these channels for the frequency hopping method and instead to move to the remaining channels. Such interference may also be caused by virtue of the physical radio channel in question having already been engaged by another radio system.
In adaptive frequency hopping (AFH) methods, the channels which are subject to interference or are already engaged are suppressed automatically. There are two approaches to doing this:
In a first alternative, the mobile radio connection to be aligned, for example a Bluetooth connection, is influenced such that no interference is produced for another radio connection, such as a wireless local area network (WLAN) connection.
In a second alternative, the radio connection to be aligned is altered such that possible interference by another connection has as little unwanted interfering influence as possible.
In the second case, this can be done using, by way of example, an assessment of the bit error rate or packet error rate on the channels. In the first case, by way of example, the reception field strength can be determined at times at which the radio connection to be aligned is not active, so as to obtain information about the use of these channels by another radio system or about the presence of other unwanted sources of channel interference.
An adaptive frequency hopping method of the type outlined above, which, moreover, works in a time division multiplexing mode, involves transmission and reception only at particular times in "timeslots". In this case, it is usual for reception slots and transmission slots to alternate. In principle, the periods, that is to say the length of the individual timeslots, are of the same length. However, in packet oriented transmission methods, which allow higher data rates, there may also be packets for which the reception or transmission period extends over a plurality of slots. These are called multislot packets.
To implement the first alternative, outlined above, of channel qualification, it is normally assumed that transmission or reception is not permanent, that is to say that data are not exclusively interchanged at the highest data rate, but rather that there are also timeslots which are unused for user data transmission. In this case, these timeslots for which it is known that no data interchange is intended to take place at this point could be used to determine the current field strength of the channel. However, this method has the drawback that the receiver in the radio system needs to be on at the times at which the field strength is intended to be determined. Beforehand, it is additionally necessary to activate the reception-end frequency synthesizer, which also needs to have locked onto the currently active channel frequency at which the evaluation is to take place. In the case of a receiver with a homodyne architecture, the synthesizer needs to lock precisely onto the reception carrier frequency, and in the case of a heterodyne system, which operates at an intermediate frequency, or in the case of a "low IF system", in which the intermediate frequency is particularly low, the evaluation is naturally performed on a channel which is offset by the intermediate frequency. This additional locking of the reception-end synthesizers, normally implemented as a phase control arrangement, and the subsequent activation of the components required for determining field strength in the receiver results in a significant increase in the power consumption, however. This is a disadvantage particularly when, as is usual in modern radio systems, at least one remote station is in the form of a mobile appliance and is battery powered.
If the field strength is supposed to be determined in this outlined manner even at a very high data rate, that is to say with practically exclusive utilization of all the available timeslots by user data, the data rate which can effectively be attained would be reduced with further disadvantage.
To ensure the change between the physical frequencies from timeslot to timeslot in a frequency hopping method, it is usual to provide a predetermined period within each timeslot in which, when a data block's reception or transmission phase has taken place, the reception-end synthesizer can lock onto the new frequency which is desired for the subsequent timeslot.
It is an object of the present invention to specify a method for determining field strength which can be used in a mobile radio system which uses time division duplexing and a frequency hopping method and which has a relatively low power requirement without reducing the effective data rate which can be attained.


The anisotropic scattering device is intended to make an attempt of realizing higher luminance of a liquid crystal display by using an anisotropic scattering device in which an anisotropic scattering particle is arranged. The anisotropic scattering particle is dispersed in a liquid crystal matrix, and the particle is arranged in the same direction as a stretching direction of a liquid crystal molecule. Furthermore, the anisotropic scattering particle is oriented in one direction by mixing the anisotropic scattering particle with a resin, followed by stretching. A scattering particle having an aspect ratio of 1 or more shows an anisotropy to a polarizing component. These anisotropic scattering devices are used in combination so that a scattering axis thereof is allowed to intersect perpendicularly to a polarized light axis on the side where light is incident on a liquid crystal panel from a light source.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an anisotropic scattering device, and a liquid crystal display wherein back light can be effectively used.
2. Prior Art
Heretofore, the brightness of a liquid crystal panel has been reduced to half or less because the liquid crystal panel has a polarizing plate. Actually, since two polarizing plates are used on the surface and the back surface of the liquid crystal panel, the brightness of the plate has been reduced to 30 to 40% of the original brightness. In order to obtain a liquid crystal panel having higher luminance, some attempts of carrying out polarization conversion to compensate for these drawbacks have been made and are as follows.
(1) A method by means of a polarized beam splitter (hereinafter abbreviated to "PBS") (reference; ASIA DISPLAY'95, page 731);
(2) A method by means of cholesteric polarization conversion (reference; ASIA DISPLAY'95, page 735); and
(3) A method using a composite of a liquid crystal and a polymer (reference; Japanese Patent Application No. 6-208319).
However, in the aforementioned methods, the following problems arise.
(1) In the method by means of a prism, when light from a light source is parallel light, a loss is small. On the other hand, when the light has an angle, the polarization conversion efficiency is deteriorated. Therefore, an angle dependency or a wavelength dependency can cause a problem. Furthermore, since the prism is used, there arises a problem that the light weight and the compact size are insufficient.
(2) When a cholesteric film is used, there arises a problem that a cholesteric spiral pitch must have a definite distribution so as to cover the whole wavelength range, and a very complicated method for production is required.
(3) When the composite of the liquid crystal and the polymer is used, the refractive index of the composite is limited by the liquid crystal material. Consequently, there arises a problem that large anisotropic scattering cannot be obtained and, therefore, the large polarization conversion efficiency cannot be obtained. In the production, a technique such as phase separation, etc. is required so that the method becomes complicated.

Anisotropic scattering device and its use

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


In one embodiment, the present invention includes a multicore processor having a plurality of cores, a shared cache memory, an integrated input/output (IIO) module to interface between the multicore processor and at least one IO device coupled to the multicore processor, and a caching agent to perform cache coherency operations for the plurality of cores and the IIO module. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

In modern multiprocessor (MP)-socket computer systems, various topologies are possible. Such systems often include many different semiconductor components realized as integrated circuits (ICs). The ICs include processors, memories, chipsets, input/output hubs (IOHs) and so forth.
As process nodes advance, greater amounts of functionality can be incorporated into a single semiconductor die. One integration trend is to integrate an IO component such as functionality of an IOH into a central processing unit (CPU) die. The main motivation for doing so is to reduce the bill of material (BOM) cost of a computer system, and enable small form factors while reducing overall power consumption.
But problems arise once an IO component is integrated on the same chip with a multiprocessor. Traditional IO integration treats the IO component as a separate caching agent, meaning that dedicated logic is associated with the IO component to handle cache coherency operations. When an IO agent is performing read/write operations to main memory, it has to snoop the CPU side cache to maintain cache coherency. In MP systems, this becomes a major scaling problem. For example, in an 8 socket system, there are effectively 16 caching agents in the system, which can degrade performance. And the efforts to scale up a system to support these many caching agents are not trivial.

Providing common caching agent for core and integrated input/output (IO) module