A multiple use adhesive dispenser facilitates precise, extended dispensing for a surgical procedure by sequentially positioning an ampoule containing a flowable material, such as a polymerizable monomer compound such as a cyanoacrylate adhesive. In one version particularly suited to an open surgical procedure, the ampoules are affixed to a tape substrate that is unreeled from an internal storage reel and transported proximate to an ampoule gripping mechanism with an underlying tape substrate peeled away and internally stored as each ampoule is positioned for dispensing. Actuating an ampoule advancement handle positions the next ampoule and squeezing a movable handle toward a fixed handle effects dispensing. Another version has an elongate shaft that internally augers each ampoule in succession into a pair of spaced jaws that are pinched together by actuating rods to dispense adhesive.

Numerous swabs, applicators, dispensers and kits for dispensing and applying various materials, including adhesive materials, are known. However, these known arrangements possess various shortcomings that make them undesirable in many applications.
Monomer and polymer adhesives are used in both industrial (including household) and medical applications. Included among these adhesives are the 1,1-disubstituted ethylene monomers and polymers, such as the X-cyanoacrylates. Since the discovery of the adhesive properties of such monomers and polymers, they have found wide use due to the speed with which they cure, the strength of the resulting bond formed, and their relative ease of use. These characteristics have made the .alpha.-cyanoacrylate adhesives the primary choice for numerous applications such as bonding plastics, rubbers, glass, metals, wood, and, more recently, biological tissues.
Medical applications of 1,1-disubstituted ethylene monomer adhesive compositions include use as an alternate or an adjunct to surgical sutures and staples in wound closure as well as for covering and protecting tissue wounds such as lacerations, abrasions, burns, stomatitis, sores, and other open surface wounds. When such an adhesive is applied, it is usually applied in its monomeric form, and the resultant polymerization gives rise to the desired adhesive bond.
Applicators for dispensing a polymerizable and/or cross-linkable material, such as a 1,1-disubstituted ethylene formulation.
In general, many different 1,1-disubstituted ethylene formulations are known for various applications, for example, cyanoacrylate formulations used as fast-acting surgical adhesives, sealants, bioactive agent release matrixes and implants utilized in medical, surgical and other in vivo applications.
However, due to the need to apply the adhesive in its monomeric form, and due to the rapid polymerization rate of the monomers, it has been very difficult to design effective and commercially viable applicators and/or dispensers. Such applicators and/or dispensers must counterbalance the competing requirements that the monomer not prematurely polymerize, that the monomer be easily applied, that the monomer polymerize at a desired rate upon application, and that the sanitary and/or sterile properties of the monomer and applicator—whether real or perceived—be maintained. This latter requirement, that the actual or perceived sanitary and sterile condition of the monomer and applicator be maintained, is particularly important in medical applications, where the user and/or the patient desires a clean product so as not to introduce further bacteria or foreign matter into a wound site.
Recently, a DERMABOND PROPEN applicator system by CLOSURE MEDICAL CORPORATION, Raleigh, N.C. has become available that dispenses a high viscosity DERMABON™ topical skin adhesive product, available from ETHICON, INC. (Somerville, N.J.). Aspects of such applicators are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Appln. 2004/0190975 A1 "Applicators, dispensers and methods for dispensing and applying adhesive material" to Goodman published 30 Sep. 2004; U.S. Pat. Appln. 2003/0044219 A1 "MICROAPPLICATORS, DELIVERY SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR ADHESIVES AND SEALANTS" to Quintero published 6 Mar. 2003; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,340,097 to D'Alessio, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety. These applicator systems substantially increase ease of use, adhesive control, expression efficiency, and precision placement over generally known surgical adhesive appliers. However, improvements are yet desired to further enhance these attributes and to incorporate additional advantages.


An integrated circuit and fabrication method includes a vertical transistor for a memory cell in a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) or other integrated circuit Vertically oriented access transistors are formed on semiconductor pillars on buried bit lines. Buried gates and body contacts are provided for each access transistor on opposing sides of the pillars. Buried word lines extend in first alternating trenches orthogonal to the bit lines. The buried word lines interconnect ones of the gates. Buried body lines extend in second alternating trenches orthogonal to the bit lines. The buried body lines interconnect body regions of adjacent access transistors. Unitary and split-conductor gate and body lines are provided for shared or independent signals to access transistors on either side of the trenches. In one embodiment, the memory cell has a surface area that is approximately 4 F2, where F is a minimum feature size. Bulk-semiconductor and semiconductor-on-insulator (SOI) embodiments are provided.

The present invention relates generally to integrated circuits, and particularly, but not by way of limitation, to semiconductor memories such as a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) having a memory cell with a vertical transistor and buried word lines and body lines.
Semiconductor memories, such as dynamic random access memories (DRAMs), are widely used in computer systems for storing data. A DRAM memory cell typically includes an access field-effect transistor (FET) and a storage capacitor. The access FET allows the transfer of data charges to and from the storage capacitor during reading and writing operations. The data charges on the storage capacitor are periodically refreshed during a refresh operation.
One consideration in using such access FETs is in providing a body bias voltage to the body portion of the memory cell access FET to improve memory cell operation. The body bias voltage allows the memory cell to operate from a low power supply voltage, such as 1.5 volts, from which a gate voltage controlling the access FET is derived. Turning the access FET on to transfer data to or from the storage capacitor requires a gate voltage in excess of a turn-on threshold voltage. However, low power supply voltages, such as 1.5 volts, may not provide sufficient overdrive voltage in excess of the threshold voltage to fully turn on the access FET. The gate voltage required for turning on the access FET can be reduced by controlling the body bias voltage. When the access FET is turned off, the body bias voltage also controls a subthreshold leakage current of the access FET. The access FET is turned off during a time period when data is stored as charge on the storage capacitor. During the time period when the access FET is turned off, the subthreshold leakage current removes some of the stored data charges from the storage node of the storage capacitor. The body bias voltage value controls the threshold voltage of the access FET that is coupled to the storage node. By increasing the threshold voltage of the access FET when it is turned off, the subthreshold leakage current is reduced. Without a proper body bias voltage, the subthreshold leakage current would lead to short data retention times.
Providing the body bias voltage to the memory cell access FETs requires a conductive body line that interconnects body contacts to the access FET body regions that receive the body bias voltage. The body line, as well as bit line, word line, and other such conductors all occupy integrated circuit surface area. To increase DRAM data storage density, the surface area of each memory cell, referred to as its xe2x80x9cfootprintxe2x80x9d, must be minimized. However, conventional memory cells typically require bit, word, and body lines on the upper surface of the memory cell, requiring surface area in addition to that of the memory cell storage capacitor.
Memory density is typically limited by a minimum lithographic feature size (F) that is imposed by lithographic processes used during fabrication. For example, the present generation of high density dynamic random access memories (DRAMs), which are capable of storing 256 Megabits of data, typically require an area of 8F2 per bit of data. There is a need in the art to provide even higher density memories in order to further increase data storage capacity and reduce manufacturing costs. Increasing the data storage capacity of semiconductor memories requires a reduction in the size of the access FET and storage capacitor of each memory cell. However, other factors, such as subthreshold leakage currents and alpha-particle induced soft errors, require that larger storage capacitors be used. Thus, there is a need in the art to increase memory density while allowing the use of storage capacitors that provide sufficient immunity to leakage currents and soft errors. There is also a need in the broader integrated circuit art for dense structures and fabrication techniques. There is a further need in the art to increase integrated circuit density while providing body bias voltage signals that are capable of improving the characteristics of both xe2x80x9conxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9coffxe2x80x9d access FET switching devices.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides an integrated circuit including a pillar of semiconductor material that extends outwardly from a working surface of a substrate. The pillar has a number of sides. A transistor is formed having body and first and second source/drain regions within the pillar. The transistor includes a gate and a body contact that are each associated with a side of the pillar.
The invention also provides a memory device including an array of memory cells. Each cell includes a transistor. Each transistor includes a semiconductor pillar forming body and first and second source/drain regions. The transistor also includes a gate and a body contact disposed adjacent to opposing sides of the pillar. The memory device also includes a plurality of substantially parallel word lines. Each word line is disposed orthogonally to the bit lines in a trench between columns of the memory cells. Each word line allows addressing of gates of the transistors of the memory cells that are adjacent to the trench in which the word line is disposed The memory device also includes a plurality of substantially parallel body lines. The body lines are interdigitated with the word lines. Each body line is disposed orthogonally to the bit lines in a trench between columns of the memory cells. Each body line provides a signal to body regions of the transistors of the memory cells that are adjacent to the trench in which the body line is disposed. A plurality of bit lines is provided, proximal to the substrate. The bit lines interconnect ones of the first source/drain regions of ones of the memory cells. In one embodiment, the pillars extend outwardly from an insulating portion of the substrate. In another embodiment, the pillars extend outwardly from a semiconductor portion of the substrate.
The invention also provides a method of fabricating an integrated circuit. According to one embodiment of the method, a substrate is provided, and a plurality of bit lines are formed on the substrate. A plurality of access transistors are formed on each of the bit lines. Each access transistor includes a first source/drain region shared by at least a portion of the bit line. Each access transistor also includes a body region and second source/drain region formed vertically on the first source/drain region. A plurality of isolation trenches are formed in the substrate, orthogonal to the bit lines. Each trench is located between access transistors on the orthogonal bit lines. A word line is formed in a first one of the trenches. The word line controls conduction between first and second source/drain regions of access transistors that are adjacent to a first side of the first trench A body line is formed in a second one of the trenches. The body line interconnects body regions of access transistors that are adjacent to a first side of the second trench.
In one embodiment, the word line also controls conduction between first and second source/drain regions of access transistors that are adjacent to a second side of the first trench. In another embodiment, the body line also interconnects body regions of access transistors that are adjacent to a second side of the second trench.
In a further embodiment, another word line is formed in the first trench, for controlling conduction between first and second source/drain regions of access transistors that are adjacent to a second side of the first trench. In yet a further embodiment, another body line is formed in the second trench, which interconnects body regions of access transistors that are adjacent to a second side of the second trench.
Thus, the invention provides high density integrated circuit structures and fabrication methods, such as for DRAM memory cell arrays and other semiconductor devices. One aspect of the invention allows for buried bit, word, and body lines, providing high integration density. Each memory cell can be fabricated in a surface area that is approximately 4F2, where F is a minimum lithographic feature size. In one embodiment, a common word line is shared by all of the access FETs that are located along both sides of the trench in which the word line is located. In another embodiment, a common body line is shared by all of the access FETs that are located along both sides of the trench in which the body line is located. In a further embodiment, split word lines are provided in first alternating trenches, and the split word lines provide separate addressing of gate regions of access FETs on opposite sides of the trench. In yet a further embodiment, split body lines are provided in second alternating trenches, and the split body lines provide separate interconnection of body contacts to body regions of the access FETs on opposite sides of the trench. Each of the unitary and split word and body line embodiments can be fabricated on a bulk semiconductor substrate, or on a semiconductor-on-insulator (SOI) substrate that results from using an SOI starting material, or by forming SOI regions during fabrication. The SOI embodiments provide greater immunity to alpha-particle induced soft errors, allowing the use of smaller storage capacitors.

Memory cell with vertical transistor and buried word and body lines


A use of the invention permits to increase the transmission rate of existing communication lines or their capacity. The method is in that, at the transmitting side: a first and second analog signals are formed from a first and second sequences of digital information samples, the first analog signal being formed from a difference of values of digital information samples of the first sequence and values of digital information samples of the second sequence taken in points of digital information samples of the first sequence, and the second analog signal being formed from digital information samples of the second sequence taken in points of digital information samples of the second sequence, which are between the points of digital information samples of the first sequence, after which the first and second analog signals are summed, and the summary analog signal is transmitted to a communication line; and at the receiving side: the first sequence of digital information samples is restored by means of sampling the summary analog signal with a clock frequency, then the first sequence of digital information samples is converted to the analog signal of the first sequence using the predetermined sampling function, said analog signal of the first sequence is subtracted from the summary analog signal, and the second sequence of digital information samples is restored from the obtained difference analog signal.

There is a problem of limiting transmission speed when transmitting a discrete information over communication lines.
The greatest possible transmission speed C in a communication line could be determined in accordance with the Shannon's formula:
                              C          =                                    Π              ·                              log                2                                                                                P                  C                                +                                  P                  Π                                                            P                Π                                                    ,                            (        1        )            where Π is a bandwidth of communication line, KHz; PC is a power of signal being transmitted, dB; PΠ is a power of interference in the communication line, dB.
For a telephone line having a bandwidth Π 3.1 KHz (300 Hz−3.4 KHz) and a ratio PC/PΠ=10000 (which corresponds to 40 dB), a greatest theoretically possible speed of transmission (and reception) of discrete information isC=3.1·103·log210000=40 Kbit/s.
Modem telephone modems of firms "Robotics" and "Motorola" ensure the information transmission and reception speed up to 33.6 Kbit/s at the ratio PC/PΠ=10000 (corresponding to 40 dB), which is indicative of implementing the transmission speed close to the potentially possible in accordance with the Shannon's formula.
Known is the method of information transmission, including steps of: at the transmitting side, forming an analog signal by means of converting a sequence of discrete digital information samples to the analog signal using a predetermined sampling function, and transmitting the formed analog signal to a communication line; and at the receiving side, receiving the transmitted analog signal from the communication line, and restoring from it the original sequence of discrete digital information samples (JP 10-098497 A, Int. Cl. H 04 L 27/10, 14.04.1998).
The information transmission and reception speed in such a method for transmitting an information depends on a method for converting a sequence of discrete digital information samples to an analog signal at the transmitting side, and a method for restoring from the analog signal the original discrete digital information samples at the receiving side, and this speed is limited by the utmost capacity of pulse-code modulation (PCM) equipment existing in the communication line.
When transmitting over a single communication line simultaneously two analog signals of the same power PC1=PC2 (i.e., in the case of decompression into two similar powers), the equation (1) could be rewritten as follows:
  C  =                    Π        ·                  log          2                                                        P                          C              1                                +                      P            Π                                    P          Π                      +                  Π        ·                  log          2                                                                      P                              C                2                                      +                          P              Π                                            P            Π                          .
Then it follows that at a fixed power
  P  =                    P                  C          1                    2        +                            P                      C            2                          2                          (                              i            .            e            .                    ,                                    at                                                                                P                                  C                  1                                                      =                          P                              C                2                                                    )            the maximum information transmission and reception speed could be brought to C=3.1·103·log2 5000+3.1·103·log2 5000≈73 Kbit/s. Hence, in telephone lines, the decompression into two powers allows to increase the information transmission and reception speed and to realize the utmost capacity of existing pulse-code modulation (PCM) equipment, which is 64 Kbit/s.


A method for patterning film layer, a metal wire grid polarizer and a manufacturing method thereof are provided. The method includes: forming an imprint adhesive layer on a metal layer; imprinting the imprint adhesive layer to form a groove so that part of the metal layer is exposed from the bottom of the groove; performing a surface treatment on the exposed metal layer to form an etching-resist layer on the surface of the exposed metal layer, the etching-resist layer containing an element contained in the metal layer; and etching the imprint adhesive layer and the surface-treated metal layer to remove the imprint adhesive layer and the metal layer whose surface is not formed with the etching-resist layer, to obtain a patterned metal layer, thereby reducing cost and time of the metal layer patterning and improving the patterning accuracy.

A wire grid polarizer (WGP) is an optical device composed of a plurality of parallel metal lines. The width of the metal lines in the WGP is nanometer scale, and the length of the metal lines therein is in macroscopic scale, which makes the WGP have a polarizing function. In order to reduce a thickness of a device, an existing liquid crystal display device may use a WGP integrated in a substrate to replace a polarizer additionally attached to the substrate, thereby improving product performance.
An existing method for manufacturing WGP includes: forming a metal layer on a glass substrate; fabricating a SiO2 layer on the metal layer; forming a layer of imprint adhesive on the SiO2 layer; applying a soft template to the imprint adhesive for imprinting and curing, so as to form a plurality of parallel stripe-shaped grooves on the imprint adhesive; dry-etching the SiO2 layer not covered by the imprint adhesive, so as to remove the SiO2 layer not covered by the imprint adhesive and form a SiO2 mask; and etching the metal layer not covered by the SiO2 mask, and then removing the SiO2 mask to obtain a WGP.
In the above process of patterning the metal layer, it is time-consuming and laborious to fabricate a SiO2 mask, and the pattern accuracy of the SiO2 mask is determined by two steps of imprinting and etching of the SiO2 layer. Thus, the accuracy is low, resulting in a low accuracy of the final formed metal layer pattern.

Method for patterning film layer, wire grid polarizer and manufacturing method thereof


A resin composition, excellent in a physical property balance between chemical resistance and impact strength, obtained by mixing at least one graft copolymer selected from the group consisting of a graft copolymer in which a copolymer rubber of an alkyl acrylate and a conjugated diene is used, a graft copolymer in which a rubber prepared by seed rubber polymerizing an alkyl acrylate with a conjugated diene rubber is used and a graft copolymer in which a rubber prepared by seed rubber polymerizing an alkyl acrylate with a polyorganosiloxane rubber is used, with a graft copolymer in which a conjugated diene rubber is used, and optionally with a rigid thermoplastic resin.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention provides a thermoplastic resin composition excellent in chemical resistance and impact resistance and used as resin parts for home appliances, vehicles, etc., which are in an environment exposed to chemicals such as detergents and machine oil.
2. Description of the Related Art
Rubber reinforced styrene resins represented by ABS resin have been used as parts for home appliances, vehicles, etc., in a wide range of fields due to its excellent impact strength. As a result, the parts may sometimes be exposed to chemicals. For example, resin products such as wash stands and tap handles and shower heads in bath rooms are exposed to detergents; resin parts used in automobiles can be in contact with machine oil and wax removers; and resins used as handles and door caps of refrigerators can be exposed to flon chlorofluorocarbons which are foaming agents for urethane during the production of heat insulating materials for refrigerators. The resin products are often cracked, or fine cracks form on the surface thereof, under such circumstances.
The phenomenon, termed environmental stress cracking, appears when residual strain in the interior of molded rubber reinforced styrene resin products is partially released by contacting chemicals therewith, and is often observed when the resin products are contacted with chemicals having a low solubility in the resin.
There is a method for improving the chemical resistance (tendency towards environmental stress cracking) of the rubber reinforced styrene resin wherein crosslinked alkyl acrylate rubber is used as the rubber component. An example of the rubber reinforced styrene resin is AAS resin obtained by graft copolymerizing acrylonitrile and styrene with crosslinked butyl acrylate rubber. However, since AAS with crosslinked butyl acrylate rubber. However, since AAS resin has a disadvantage that it has a low degree of impact strength, its use in resin products is markedly restricted. Though there may also be adopted means in which the rubber content is increased for obtaining a high degree of impact strength manifestation, the resultant resin products have lowered surface hardness and rigidity, and are easily scratched and deformed. Accordingly, the means is not preferable. The realization of rubber reinforced styrene resin excellent in both chemical resistance and impact strength manifestation has, therefore, been desired.


Packets transmitted in an automatic packet transmission system each have an information part and a header part. The heater contains virtual channel information (vci), identifying the virtual transmission channel and/or the group of virtual transmission channels via which the packet is being transmitted. The transmitted system at a junction point comprises 94 access control system including a counter-and-threshold access control device (3) controlling a switch (2) for granting or refusing packets access to the downstream part of the transmission system, depending on the arrival rate of incoming of packets of the respective packet types identified by their virtual channel information. An error reporting device (4) records per vci the arrival rate of packets which are refused access downstream when a first threshold arrival rate is exceeded. Arrival rates and arrival rate thresholds are measured by a "leaky bucket" method for each packet type. When the arrival rate of packets which are refused downstream access exceeds a second threshold value the error reporting device prevents excessive processing of access refusals in overloaded virtual channels and sends an error message for attracting the attention of supervisors or users of the transmission system.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a transmission system for transmitting packets which comprise an information word group and a control word group (header), the control word group comprising an identification of the packet type such as an identification of the virtual transmission channel and/or of the group of virtual transmission channels via which the packet is being transmitted, which transmission system comprises access control means for granting or refusing said packets access to the part of the transmission system situated downstream of the access control means, depending on the incoming volume of packets.
2. Prior Art
Within the field of ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode), such a transmission system is generally known. Inter alia, such a transmission system has been described in the reference mentioned under C.
In the known transmission systems of the abovementioned type, packets (data cells) are therefore admitted, or not admitted, to the downstream part of the transmission system on the basis of, for example, the mean arrival frequency of said packets or on the basis of another criterion. Preferably, the transmission of packets per transmission channel (or group of channels) is monitored, a certain limit therefore being imposed per transmission channel (or group) on the number of packets which, for example, are transmitted per unit of time to the downstream system. A drawback of the known transmission systems is that, as soon as the number of packets (for example of a particular sort, a particular channel) becomes too large, the packets are discarded. Said discarding of said packets is, however, entirely to be approved since (normally) it could have been prevented by the provider of the packets, the user of the relevant transmission channel: the user must not, for example, exceed a particular maximum frequency, on pain of losing packets. A drawback of the known transmission systems of the type mentioned is, however, that there is in fact no control at all on the discarding of packets. The transgression of the maximum permitted packet input frequency may in fact be the consequence either of a deliberate attempt by the user to transmit more packets per unit time than he is permitted or of a lack of checking on his part on the possible transgression of the maximum. It may also be important to know if a transgression is occasional and of little significance or is frequent and appreciable. Especially if the transgression is appreciable and prolonged, there is a very real ,chance that the transgression is the consequence of a technical fault in the user's equipment or in the equipment of the transmission system manager.

Transmission system with recording of untransmitted packets


Containers for holding goods are provided with a relay conductive structure for relaying RFID tags signals from one side of the container to another. The conductive structure includes a first antenna on the first side of the container, a second antenna on a second side of the container and a transmission line connecting the antennas. When the containers are arranged in a stack, the relay of RFID signals past each row of containers enables the interrogation toward the rear of the stack without disassembling the stack of containers.

This invention relates to RFID tags for use in identifying packages and the contents thereof. It is currently known to use RFID tags for purposes of identifying packages, containers, and the like. Such identification TAGS can provide the user of an RFID reading device with data which can be correlated to information about the contents of a container. The information may be stored in digital form as part of the RFID response code, or alternately may be maintained in a computer database with a correlation to the RFID identification sent by the tag in response to an interrogation signal. FIG. 1 shows an arrangement of containers 20 having RFID tags 22. The stack of containers 20 may be arranged, for example, in a warehouse or on a pallet for shipment. In connection with identifying the content of the containers or locating a particular container, it is possible to use an RFID interrogator to interrogate the tags 22 on the face layer of boxes 20. However, depending on the contents of the boxes and the number of layers of boxes in the stack, no assurance can be given concerning the interrogation of tags at the center or rear of the stack.
It is an object of the present invention to provide packaging containers which enable an RFID signal to penetrate a stack of containers so that containers located at the center or rear of the stack can be interrogated without moving the containers arranged in the front of the stack.


A signal propagation time in an integrated circuit can be calculated based on a signal delay time in each of the cells composing the integrated circuit. The signal delay time in each cell can be calculated from the load capacity of a wire connected to an output terminal of the cell and from the slew of the waveform of an input signal. To calculate the slew of the waveform of the input signal, it is required to trace back the path of the input signal. When a feedback loop exists in the integrated circuit, the process of tracing back the path of the input signal may result in an endless loop. To prevent the occurrence of the endless loop, if an input terminal for a clock signal is present in a cell having an output terminal at which a signal waveform is not calculated, the signal waveform at the output terminal is calculated based on the waveform of the clock signal. In addition, a directory in which the correspondence of the output terminal and the input terminal is recorded is produced so that the signal waveform at the output terminal can be calculated based on the signal waveform at the corresponding input terminal recorded in the directory.

The present invention relates to logic simulation of semiconductor integrated circuits. More particularly, it relates to a signal-waveform calculating method and apparatus for calculating the slew or the like of a signal waveform on the rising or falling edge in a CMOS circuit and to a signal-propagation-time calculating method and apparatus based on the signal waveform.
As higher-speed, lower-voltage operation has been required of integrated circuits in recent years, logic simulation in the design stage has increased in importance. As a result, logic simulation technology with higher accuracy has been in increasing demand.
In conventional logic simulation, a signal delay time in each cell of a semiconductor integrated circuit has been calculated in accordance with a linear expression using the load capacity of a wire connected to the cell.
As a technique for improving the accuracy of logic simulation, there has been proposed a method whereby a signal delay time in each cell of a semiconductor integrate circuit is calculated in consideration of the waveform of an input signal. An example of the calculation method is disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication HEI 1-271869.
A signal delay time in a cell greatly varies according to whether an input signal has a waveform with a small slew which entails a short rise or fall time or a waveform with a large slew which entails a long rise of fall time. Accordingly, in the foregoing method, the load capacity of a wire connected to an output terminal of a cell and the rise time of an input signal are calculated such that a signal delay time is calculated based on the calculated load capacity and rise time of the signal, thereby providing a value closer to an actual delay time.
A signal waveform at an input terminal of a cell of concern is influenced by a signal waveform at an output terminal of a cell in a previous stage connected to the input terminal of the cell of concern. Moreover, the signal waveform at the output terminal of the cell in the previous stage is also influenced by a waveform at an input terminal of a cell in a further previous stage.
For example, when cells 51 and 52 are connected in series as shown in FIG. 8(a), if the waveform of an input signal port 50 changes, a signal delay time in the cell 51 changes. Since a signal waveform at an output terminal of the cell 51 changes, the signal waveform at an input of the cell 52 also changes, which changes a signal delay time in a cell 52. Thus, as shown in FIG. 8(b), the respective signal delay times in the cells 51 and 52 change with the changing of the waveform of the input signal port 50. To calculate a signal delay time in each cell, therefore, it is required to trace back the path of the input signal and calculate its previous waveforms.
However, the conventional method has the following problems.
As described above, to calculate a signal delay time in each cell, it is required to trace back the path of the input signal and calculate its previous waveforms. In this case, if the circuit is composed only of cells connected in series, there should be no problem. However, if the circuit includes a feedback loop as shown in FIG. 3, an endless loop may occur in the process of tracing back the path of the input signal and calculate its previous waveforms.
If a cell has a plurality of input terminals, on the other hand, the slews of signal waveforms at respective input terminals of the cell are generally different from each other. As a result, the slews of the signal waveforms at an output terminal of the cell are different from each other depending on the input signals that have changed the signal waveforms. In a cell having a plurality of input terminals, the slew of a signal waveform at the output terminal has conventionally been calculated by using a maximum, minimum, or mean value of the slew of signal waveforms at the input terminals. Consequently, if the waveforms are greatly different from each other depending on the input signals, the delay time cannot be calculated with accuracy. To improve the accuracy with which the delay time is calculated, there has also been proposed a method whereby a set of two delay times are calculated by using both the maximum and minimum values of the slew of a signal waveform at an input terminal of a cell. However, the method is not satisfactory since it involves an increased amount of calculation.

Method and apparatus for calculating slew rates and signal propagation times for signal waveforms

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A low frequency vibrator has a stator member with a cylindrical, central chamber, a cylindrical, tubular liner of low friction, non-ferromagnetic material positioned in the chamber to form a bearing and a cylindrical, ferromagnetic, reciprocating piston slidably mounted in the liner. The stator has a pair of coils and a permanent magnet is positioned centrally in the reciprocating piston. A ferromagnetic flux conductor surrounds the coils and extends between opposite ends of the chamber. This structure creates a magnetic spring, having a spring constant K. The ratio of K to the mass M of the reciprocating member is made substantially equal to the square of a radian frequency in the operating frequency range of the vibrator.

1. Field Of The Invention
This invention relates generally to electromagnetic transducers for converting electrical signals to mechanical vibrations, and more particularly relates to a vibrator for operating at very low frequencies and applying sufficient power to a sounding board structure for enhancing the simulated realism of attending a live, musical or other audible event.
2. Description Of The Related Art
The experience of live music and other audible events includes not only the sensation of sound as sensed by human ears, but additionally includes the sensation of low frequency vibrations through portions or all of the human body. Consequently, reproduction of a faithful simulation of an audible experience includes not only reproduction of the sound through conventional sound transducers, such as speakers, but additionally includes reproduction of the low frequency vibrations by imparting such vibrations to a sounding board structure, such as a floor or wall of a room, or to articles, such as furniture within the room, so the sensation of physical motion at low frequencies may be perceived by the listeners.
Digital audio and high fidelity film and video monitor soundtracks are capable of recording these low frequency signals. However, modern bass speaker systems are expensive if they are capable of reproducing those sub-bass and sub-audio frequencies which are generated in live performances, movie sound tracks, and events. Practical bass speaker systems are designed to faithfully reproduce sound within an operating range of frequencies, but this range does not extend sufficiently low to also reproduce those frequencies which are the subject of this invention.
Prior art workers have proposed designs for vibratory transducers capable of operating in a low frequency operating range. Vibrators proposed for these purposes include those shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,424,592; 3,178,512; 4,914,750; 4,788,968; and 4,675,947. These prior designs, however, suffer from one or more disadvantageous characteristics. One problem is that they exhibit an insufficient frequency response at the very lowest frequencies in the range below 30 Hz. Another major problem arises because such devices include mechanical springs which are required to both resonate a reciprocating mass and to hold the reciprocating mass in place within the device.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,424,592 utilizes planar springs. However, planar springs inherently have a limited range of translation because of their structure. Beyond their limited range, their spring constant K increases non-linearly. Consequently, they have a narrow range of permissible deflection and therefore permit insufficient maximum amplitudes of oscillation of the reciprocating mass to which they are attached.
Still other vibrators, such as that shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,675,907, utilize an elastomeric material as a spring, but this too has a very narrow band of permissible translation. Although coil springs might be used, these would greatly increase the length of the vibrator along its axis of reciprocation. Furthermore, all mechanical springs suffer from fatigue and heating and resulting power loss when subjected to large amplitudes of oscillation.
Finally, the prior art vibrators which have previously been proposed tend to utilize relatively complicated structures which are therefore expensive to manufacture and expensive to assemble.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a mechanical vibrator which utilizes very simple structures which are easily assembled and which do not require a mechanical spring, and yet provide a strong centering spring force by a spring structure which is not subject to fatigue.
It is a further object and feature of this invention to provide a vibrator structure which has a very low ratio of spring constant to reciprocating mass, and therefore can exhibit a large amplitude, low frequency response, while, at the same time, permitting large translations, a large spring constant and large mass. The larger these latter three parameters are, the more energy storage in the oscillating, mechanical system, and therefore the more force and power applied to an attached sounding board structure where the audio experience is being reproduced.


A device and method for immobilizing a portion of the epicardium without interrupting the beating of the heart, which includes a frame that can be temporarily anchored to the epicardium and one or more expandable members attached to the frame which, upon inflation, temporarily occlude the passage of blood through the vessel or vessels in the operational field defined by the frame.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to devices used and methods employed in connection with surgical procedures affecting the heart and, more specifically, relates to an epicardial immobilization device and method of use, the principal purpose of both being to reduce the movement of, or to immobilize, a region of the cardiac epicardium during surgery to permit the heart to be operated on while it is beating.
2. Description of the Related Art
Surgical treatment and repair of vital organs, especially of the heart, requires a high degree of precision on the part of the physician and surgical team, and such precision heretofore has been difficult to achieve when the organ is functioning, because movement of the organ can compromise the accuracy and relative safety with which an operation successfully can be accomplished. Accordingly, and with respect to cardiac cases in particular, it has been conventional to temporarily stop the heart from functioning to effectively immobilize it while an operation is being performed. Most commonly, this is accomplished by diverting blood flow to the heart through the use of an external pump, such as with a device referred to as a "heart-lung machine," which is intended to substitute for the function of the organ so that blood can be sufficiently oxygenated and circulated through the body during surgery. The heart thus effectively will be immobilized, and the physician and the surgical team can render treatment on particular parts of the heart, or the vessels supplying or leading to or from it, with greater precision than would be possible if the heart were beating.
Clearly, though, it easily is appreciated that diverting the function of a vital organ to an artificial mechanical substitute can entail significant trauma under any circumstances and, depending on the overall condition of a particular patient, the prospect of such trauma can be such as to contraindicate life-sustaining or quality-of-life-enhancing treatment. Thus, there has been an effort to develop surgical techniques which obviate the need to resort to a heart-lung replacement pump, so as to allow an operation for treatment or repair of the heart or of its associated vessels while the heart is functioning and beating. The class of patients for which such techniques have been deemed appropriate, however, has been limited by the precision implicated by a particular procedure, because of the challenges inherently presented by a beating heart. Continuous movement of the heart renders any surgical operation performed on it or its associated vessels more complicated and more difficult than would be experienced if the organ were non-functional and, hence, effectively immobilized. Accordingly, use of techniques which involve surgical treatment of a beating heart has been limited.
One device that has been employed to immobilize the beating heart during surgery comprises a supporting ring in the shape of an open "O" and having an attached rigid arm. The supporting ring includes a base provided with a plurality of vacuum cups that are connected to a pneumatic circuit. The vacuum cups, when supplied with a suctioning force, are used to temporarily secure the device to the epicardium. Experience with this device has been less than optimum, insofar as post-surgical lesions and hematomas have been detected that are associated with the areas of the epicardium to which the vacuum cups were attached. It also is of some significance that this device is relatively expensive to use.
When an object of the surgery is treatment of the vessels of the heart muscle (e.g., the coronary arteries), another complication often is encountered due to the presence in the vasculature of occlusions, such as atheromatous plates or other restrictions, that result from atherosclerosis or another disease or condition known to cause vascular obstruction. Because these vessels carry blood (except when totally occluded), blood flow through the vessels must be curtailed while the surgery is being performed, such as operations to suture venous or arterial bridges, in order to prevent obscuring the surgeon's view of the operational field.
In the past, blood flow through the vessels of interest temporarily has been prevented through the use of ligatures, sutures or clamps which, when tightened, close off the vessel. When occluded vessels, such as coronary arteries exhibiting atheromatous plates, are involved, great care must be taken in choosing the site along the vessel at which to place a ligature, suture or clamp. This is the case because, if the compression associated with the tightening of such a ligature, suture or clamp is applied to an area in the vessel that is affected by an occlusion, the tightening force can cause the occlusion to fracture. Such fracture then might result in the partial dislodgement of the occlusion when the compressing device is removed, the dislodged portions can cause further obstructions to blood flow, such as clot formation, or other problems as the portions move through the vasculature of the patient.
In an attempt to reduce the risk that the ligatures, sutures or clamps used to temporarily prevent blood flow will cause the fracture of atheromatous plates, before placing the compressing devices, surgeons have relied on palpating the vessels before the ligatures, sutures or clamps are positioned, in order to make sure that the intended site of placement is flexible rather than rigid, which would be the expected condition of the vessel if it were characterized by an occlusion. Palpation is effective for detecting plates when the plates are present in the epicardial, or outer, surface of the lumen of a vessel, but is a less effective technique when the plates are disposed in the vessel laterally. Palpation is not an especially useful method of locating plates when the same are present in the endocardial, or inner, surface of the vessel lumen.
The devices to temporarily prevent blood flow in the vasculature of interest, however, commonly have been applied to regions of the vessels that are more distal to the heart than is optimum, owing to the fact that presence of atheromatous plates is more difficult to discern in those regions.
What has been needed, then, and what heretofore has been unavailable is an apparatus and method which permit a beating heart to be held effectively immobile while a surgical operation is being performed while concurrently allowing the operating field to be kept free of obscuring blood with a reduced risk of dislodging vascular occlusions as a result of the temporary prevention of blood flow through the vessels supplying the heart. The present invention satisfies these needs.


A method to fabricate a transistor includes implanting dopants into a semiconductor to form a drift layer having majority carriers of a first type; etching a trench into the semiconductor; thermally growing an oxide liner into and on the trench and the drift layer; depositing an oxide onto the oxide liner on the trench to form a shallow trench isolation region; implanting dopants into the semiconductor to form a drain region in contact with the drift layer and having majority carriers of the first type; implanting dopants into the semiconductor to form a body region having majority carriers of a second type; forming a gate oxide over a portion of the drift layer and the body region; forming a gate over the gate oxide; and implanting dopants into the body region to form a source region having majority carriers of the first type.

LDMOS (Laterally Diffused MOSFET) devices find wide applications in high power or high voltage circuits, such as for example switching DC-to-DC voltage converters. A STI (Shallow Trench Isolation) region is usually formed in the drift layer of an LDMOS. For good performance, it is important that an LDMOS not exhibit hot carrier shifts, where for example electrons in an n-channel LDMOS are injected into the STI region. Furthermore, in many applications, it is desirable for an LDMOS to operate in high voltage environments, and yet still have relatively low ON resistance.

Transistors with oxide liner in drift region


A tandem rigid rotor system has a first rigid rotor system and a second rigid rotor system connected by a fuselage. The fuselage has at least one framing member connected between the first rigid rotor system and the second rigid rotor system, such that the framing member is torsionally flexible for controlling yaw of the tandem rigid rotor system. In certain embodiments, multiple framing members are connected between the first rigid rotor system and the second rigid rotor system in parallel. In certain embodiments, the torsional flexibility allows up to 20 degrees of movement away from the lateral axis. In certain embodiments, framing members are vertically and laterally rigid.

Rotor systems are used along with a controller to provide the lift and directional control necessary to fly a helicopter. Rotor systems have developed with increasing complexity over time. Some of the most common types of rotor systems include rigid, semi-rigid and fully articulated systems. These systems facilitate various types of movement of the rotor blades, and as the number of movements allowed by the system increases, the complexity of the rotor system also increases. Generally, the types of movements available for a rotor blade includes feathering which is a twisting or pitching of the blade about the pitch axis to change lift, flapping which is an upward and downward movement of the blade, and lead/lag which allows the blade tip to seek forward and backwards along the tip plane. Rigid rotor systems are fairly simple systems that actuate rotor blades to feather. In rigid systems, the blade roots are rigidly attached to the hub of the rotor, and the blades are relatively flexible to accommodate loads by bending. Semi-rigid rotor systems are more complex, and have mechanisms for actuating rotor blade feathering and flapping. Fully articulated rotor systems typically allow control and actuation of rotor blade feathering, flapping, lead and lag. Although not as complex as semi-rigid or fully articulated rotor systems, the advantages of rigid rotors are well established. Rigid rotors are less complex having fewer parts, are easier to maintain, and are less expensive than the more complex rotor designs. Rigid rotors also provide a high and crisp control response for greater agility and control of power.
Yaw control is a directional flight control that is fundamental for proper application of the rotor systems described above, and it controls the left or right nose rotation of the helicopter in flight about the helicopter's vertical yaw axis. Traditionally, for single rigid rotor helicopters, yaw control is directed through the utilization of a tail rotor. However, tandem rotor helicopters, which have a front and back set of rotor blades, do not have a tail rotor to control yaw. Instead, tandem rotor helicopters typically rely on fully articulating rotor systems for controlling yaw through a concept known as differential cyclic. To provide yaw control during flight, differential cyclic is implemented by tilting the front and back rotor blades in opposite directions, which turns the nose of the helicopter by spinning the helicopter about its center axis. While not as agile as a rigid rotor, the fully articulating rotor heads have three hinges per rotor blade that act to provide yaw control, while also reducing oscillating loads on the rotor. Although conventional tandem systems utilizing fully articulating rotor heads can produce adequate thrust vectoring for rotating the aircraft and maintain overall flight control, fully articulating rotor heads are more complex, have more parts, are more expensive to buy or build, and are difficult to maintain. In addition, fully articulating rotor heads are less responsive, less agile, and provide less control than rigid rotors systems.
In addition, tandem rotor helicopters are more susceptible to fuselage fatigue. Tandem rotor helicopters are typically designed with a very stiff fuselage because torque forces from each of the tandem rotors transfers down to the fuselage, resulting in a twisting force that is exerted on the fuselage structure. Conventional fuselage materials and geometries are designed to strengthen the fuselage so that it is rigid and it will withstand any tendency for torque forces to twist the frame. In tandem rotor helicopter design, one issue involved with substituting fully articulated rotors with rigid rotors is that is that rigid rotors would twist the fuselage of the aircraft rather than changing the resultant thrust vector of the rotor planes. The twisting forces would cause structural fatigue in the fuselage, which can have a catastrophic effect after repeated fatigue cycles on the fuselage over a period of time.
The lack of yaw authority and the issues surrounding structural fatigue have previously prevented the use of rigid rotors on a tandem rotor helicopters. Thus, what is needed in the art is a tandem rigid rotor system and method that is capable of controlling yaw while maintaining the structural integrity of the fuselage.


An X-ray imaging machine is configured such that a three-dimensional blood-vessel information creating unit creates information concerning a three-dimensional blood-vessel core line and a position of a plaque in a subject blood vessel based on three-dimensional volume data obtained from an image taken by an X-ray computed tomography apparatus. A plaque-depth information image creating unit creates a plaque-depth information image on which the plaque is differently displayed in accordance with whether the plaque is present in front of or in the back of the three-dimensional blood-vessel core line with respect to a projection direction, based on the created information concerning the three-dimensional blood-vessel core line and the position of the plaque. An X-ray image display unit displays the created plaque-depth information image over an X-ray image in a superimposed manner.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an X-ray apparatus, such as an X-ray angiographic apparatus, an image processing display apparatus, and a computer program product, and particularly relates to a technology for assisting a treatment that is performed by inserting a linear structure, such as a guide wire, into a blood vessel.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there has been a treatment method for expanding a narrowed portion or a blocked portion of a coronary artery by inserting a linear structure, such as a guide wire or a catheter, into a coronary artery of a heart. Such treatment is called as Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI). According to the PCI treatment, an X-ray apparatus, such as an X-ray angiographic apparatus, is used. The X-ray angiographic apparatus displays an X-ray perspective projection image (hereinafter, "X-ray image") during a PCI treatment as a guide image when inserting a guide wire to a lesion-site (coronary artery coarctation).
Moreover, as a method for diagnosing a coronary artery, clinical application software for an X-ray CT apparatus, so-called coronary-artery analysis software has been known (for example, see JP-A 2004-283373 (KOKAI)). The coronary-artery analysis software has a function of obtaining three-dimensional data of a blood-vessel core line, a blood-vessel inner wall, and a presumed-normal blood-vessel inner wall by using three-dimensional volume data of a heart area.
Under the PCI treatment, it is difficult to grasp a lumen form in a coronary-artery coarctation area only by referring to an X-ray image as a guide image, consequently, accuracy of operation may be sometimes decreased in some cases. In such case, an operator is assisted by displaying an image of a coronary-artery inner wall obtained by using the coronary-artery analysis software onto a separate device different from the X-ray angiographic apparatus, or by developing the image onto a film and referring it.
However, it is sometimes difficult to move the guide wire ahead in a blood vessel during a PCI treatment in some cases even by using the coronary-artery analysis software.
For example, when moving the guide wire ahead of a coarctation, the head of the guide wire sometimes comes in contact with a blood-vessel lesion-site (for example, a plaque (such as an arteriosclerotic plaque)) in the coarctation, and the guide wire may not be moved further in the blood vessel in some cases. FIG. 26 is a schematic diagram for explaining relation between the direction of a guide wire and a coarctation. For example, as shown in the upper section of the figure, when a blood-vessel lesion-site is formed on a inner wall of a coronary artery, as the guide wire is turned as shown in the middle section of the figure, the head of the guide wire can be passed through as shown in the lower section of the figure.
However, for example, if the coronary artery is imaged from the direction of an arrow shown in the upper section of the figure, an operator cannot grasp whether the blood-vessel lesion-site is present in front or in the back. In such case, the operator cannot determine to which direction the guide wire is to be turned, and cannot move the guide wire ahead inside the blood vessel.
Moreover, when moving the guide wire to a coarctation, if the head of the guide wire does not face to the running direction of the blood vessel, the head of the guide wire may hit a blood-vessel wall in some cases, consequently the guide wire cannot be moved ahead inside the blood vessel. FIG. 27 is a schematic diagram for explaining relation between the direction of the guide wire and the running direction of a blood vessel. For example, as shown in the left section of the figure, when a blood vessel turns from the front to the back at a forward area of the guide wire, as the guide wire is turned as shown in the middle section of the figure, the guide wire can be moved ahead as shown in the right section of the figure.
However, for example, if the coronary artery is imaged from the direction of an arrow shown in the left section of the figure, the operator cannot grasp whether the running direction of the blood-vessel goes to the front or the back. In such case, similarly, the operator cannot determine to which direction the guide wire is to be turned, and cannot move the guide wire ahead inside the blood vessel.
Primarily to avoid such situation, the coronary-artery analysis software is used. However, according to the conventional technology, as described above, because the image of the coronary artery is displayed on a separate device, or developed on a film to be referred, it is difficult to grasp relation between the X-ray image and the position and the direction of the blood vessel. Furthermore, during a treatment, because the operator is operating the guide wire while watching the X-ray image, the operator has no time to see a separate image. Thus, the conventional technology cannot assist the operator sufficiently in some cases.

X-ray apparatus, image processing display apparatus and computer program product


This invention relates to a cooling apparatus for a microwave oven using lighting lamps as a heat source other than microwaves. According to this invention, the microwave oven comprises a pair of lighting lamps set on the upside and downside of a cavity and a pair of cooling fans to supply airflow for cooling the lighting lamps. The airflow by the cooling fan goes towards the inner part of the microwave oven from its outer part, thereby primarily cooling the lighting lamps. In addition, part of the airflow cooling the lighting lamps is exhausted from the microwave oven through the inside cavity of the microwave oven inner air of cavity in harmony.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a cooling system for a microwave oven, and more particularly to an apparatus for cooling a microwave oven having lighting lamps inside the cavity.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A microwave generates microwaves out of used electricity. The microwaves imping into a food product, causing molecular motion in the interior product, thus heating the food product. The microwave oven has been widely used for melting frozen food product or heating food products to a desired degree because of its inherent ability to rapidly heat a food product.
However, the microwave oven has some disadvantages caused by its heating method, and it has some limitions caused by its own generating capacity as well. So, it is not altogether appropriate for heating food product. The conventional microwave oven cannot provide a good quality of cooking with rapidity because it uses microwave as its only a heat source; that is the conventional microwave ovens has only show a single way of heating and a limited output of power.
For example, when food products are heated by microwaves, it is done advantageously both internally and externally, but this advantage still turns out to be a comparative disadvantage depending on the food product. Particularly the products like pizza are considered inappropriate to cook in a microwave oven because of its nature. Also, it is pointed out that heating by the microwave oven may also remove too much water from food products.
Relating to that microwave oven's and now in common use, a different type of microwave oven one has been known to make use of a heat source other than microwaves.
However, it is also true that the microwave oven as a heat source does not include various functions as a whole because the heater, even the microwave oven having a heater, functions simply as an additional heat source.
For example, in order to cook products like pizza properly, its crust must be cooked unitl it is crispy in nature but, without driving too much water out of food product. But the microwave oven caused a difficult problem in practical cooking property.
In case of using microwave only as a heat source, several disadvantages are exposed there is; a restriction to a single way of heating by microwaves, a weakness in generating power, and evaporation of water. Also, as stated above, even an additional heater cannot solve those problems in general even when it is mounted inside of the microwave oven.
Unlike conventional microwave ovens as mentioned above, another cooking apparatus, simply using radiant energy of light as a singular heat source, was disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,517,005, dated May 14, 1996, for "visible light and infra-red cooking apparatus" to Westerberg et al. The cooking apparatus has a property heating the inside and outside of food appropriately by impinging high-intensity visible and infrared rays upon the food. Yet, this apparatus does not disclose a cooling fan means capable of regulating the heat of the light. Accordingly, it is necessary to propose a microwave having a cooling system capable of proportionally heating using both light energy and microwaves.
To use lighting lamp as additional heat source, the microwave oven must provide lighting lamps with a high voltage to be able to cook foodstuff within a short time. But, this high voltage lighting lamp generates heat as much as a high voltage, which can heat stuff in a short time. Accordingly, it is necessary to propose an apparatus for cooling the lighting lamp sufficiently. For example, this apparatus for cooling the lighting lamp prevent damage to the lighting lamp and its respective parts. Also, it is necessary to propose the apparatus for cooling the heating part sufficiently.
The conventional microwave oven comprises a magnetron for generating the microwave and a cooling fan for cooling heat generating from a high voltage transformer so as to supply a high voltage to the magnetron.
As above mentioned, in case of mounting the lighting lamp inside the microwave oven, it is impossible for the conventional apparatus to solve the heating problem in relation with lighting lamps.

Cooling apparatus for a microwave oven having lighting lamps


Stripping paper which serves as a member for protecting the adhesive of an adhesive sheet is capable of being recycled and effectively used as a material of regenerated paper after stripped when the adhesive sheet is used, and permits beautiful printing thereon. It also provides an adhesive sheet having the stripping paper attached thereto and exhibiting new additional printing effects. In the stripping paper comprising a substrate 10, a coating layer of mineral substance 12 and a silicone film layer 13, the substrate 10 is made of relatively long fiber material, the coating layer 12 provides a smooth surface suitable for application of printing on the substrate 10 and comprises relatively fine mineral particles 11 to substantially prevent infiltration of the silicone 13a into the substrate (FIG. 1).

By being pasted on the back of a sheet material such as label and transfer paper via an adhesive layer, the prior art stripping paper is primarily intended to protect said adhesive as it is releasably adhered to the adhesive. The stripping paper is coated with a polymer silicone film or special resin film over the entire surface on the side which contacts said adhesive in order to achieve such effect.
As the prior art stripping papers coated with a silicone film, there have been known those having substrates made of densely arranged short fibers such as specially treated kraft paper and super-calendered glacin paper which can prevent a large amount of relatively expensive silicone from infiltrating into the tissue of the paper, and can save the amount of silicone.
As another example of the prior art stripping paper, it is known to laminate a polyethylene film of about 12-14 .mu.m thickness on a sheet of kraft paper to prevent infiltration of silicone into the tissue, to cut down cost and to improve the product quality.
As a stripping paper for adhesive labels is releasably adhered to the label by a stripping layer such as a silicone film and a special film, it is essentially expected to function as a support for the label until the label is peeled off and pasted on an object article, and is therefore made to be easily stripped off from the silicone film or the adhesive on the label. After the label is pasted on an object article, the stripping paper will no longer have its use and is usually discarded and put to incineration.
In an attempt to allow an adequate amount of expensive silicone to be impregnated or to prevent wasteful use of such expensive silicone or high quality paper as the substrate that are often used in a stripping paper, extra treatment such as laminating a polyethylene film is conducted, entailing far greater production cost than is required in the manufacture of ordinary paper products. It is therefore a grave problem in terms of effective utilization of resources that such expensive stripping paper is discarded wastefully after a label to which the stripping paper is bonded is put to use.
Therefore, a means or method of some sort should be developed to make full use of the stripping paper, and there are two conceivable means. For one, left-over stripping paper may be recycled and used as a regenerated paper after an adhesive sheet such as a label is used. Alternatively, a stripping paper which has heretofore been discarded as a blank sheet without being used as a medium for printing may be printed with information to be conveyed to consumers, like the labels.
Recycling of prior art stripping paper for use as regenerated paper is disadvantageous in that it is very difficult to dissolve the recycled stripping paper during regeneration process when compared with other types of paper because glacin paper or kraft paper of relatively short fibers used as substrate is calendered during the manufacturing process to compact the fibers to impart it an adequate strength and to thereby minimize infiltration into the substrate of expensive silicone which is coated on the surface.
Even if the stripping paper comprising a substrate of such quality paper does become dissolved, short fibers easily get washed off during the regeneration process, significantly lowering the fiber recovery ratio and thus the yield of regeneration.
To ensure firm adhesion of silicone layer on the substrate made of compacted short fibers, an intermediate bonding layer of relatively coarse mineral particles having the particle size of about 2.0 .mu.m such as particles of kaolin (:H.sub.2 Al.sub.2 Si.sub.2 O.sub.8 H.sub.2 O) or calcium carbonate (:CaCO.sub.3) is applied on the surface of the substrate, and silicone is applied on this mineral particle layer. Because of relatively large particle size, the resulting interlaminar layer has a sufficient thickness, and when liquid silicone is applied on the surface of this mineral particle layer 2 to form a silicone film layer 3 as shown in FIG. 5, the liquid silicone would infiltrate into the tissue of the substrate 1 through the interstices between the particles and form branches 3a of silicone to bite into the tissue and enhance bonding of the silicone layer 3 with the substrate 1. This biting and bonding of the silicone into and with the substrate fibers makes it more difficult to dissolve the fibers during the regeneration process.
Moreover, a polyethylene film laminated on the surface of the substrate would remain as a foreign matter when the stripping paper is being treated for regeneration. Because of these problems, the prior art stripping paper has been considered totally unsuitable for recycling and regeneration and has therefore been disposed of by incineration.
Use of a stripping paper as a medium for printing is practically impossible as the silicone or polyethylene film is applied on the surface. Although it is possible to print on the surface of the substrate before applying a silicone film layer thereon as far as printing is concerned, the prior art stripping paper is, as described above, provided with a coating layer of relatively large mineral particles to give adequate bonding strength between the silicone film and the substrate which is made of compacted fibers, and the mineral coating layer lacks surface smoothness as the particle size of the mineral is relatively large, and when printed, the resultant printed surface becomes inferior in quality.

Stripping paper and adhesive sheet with stripping paper


The invention is an extendable police baton, which preferably includes several of the tools often needed by police personnel. In one embodiment, the baton comprises an extendable portion, flashlight, pepper sprayer and glass breaker with an integral, orthogonal handle, wherein the orthogonal handle contains the sprayer. In another embodiment without an orthogonal handle, the baton comprises a pepper sprayer which is located in the same end of the baton as the flashlight. Preferably, more than one handle/sprayer unit can cooperate with the same extendable baton/glass breaker unit, so that the user may select the style particularly advantageous for the user or the service in which it will be used.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to law enforcement equipment. More specifically, this invention relates to different combinations of a flashlight, pepper sprayer and glass breaker in an extendable policeman""s baton, with or without an orthogonal handle.
2. Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 3,737,649 (Nelson et al.) discloses a combination baton-flashlight.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,776,429 (DeLucia) discloses a combination flashlight and propellant discharge device.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,186,851 (Cantor), and U.S. Pat. No. 4,223,804 (Morris et al.) disclose a pepper spray cannister in a flashlight. U.S. Pat. No. 5,446,985 (Chen), U.S. Pat. No. 5,683,168 (Teig et al.), and U.S. Pat. No. 5,795,054 (Bootv. Jr.) also disclose a pepper spray cannister in a flashlight.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,086,377 (Roberts) discloses a combination baton and propellant discharge device.
U.S. Pat. No. 401,374 (Lum) discloses ornamental features for a combination flashlight and propellant discharge device in a police baton with a bolt-on orthogonal handle.
In addition, Armament Systems and Procedures, Inc. (A.S.P.) of Appleton, Wis., U.S.A. offers a Tac-Lites(copyright) combination flashlight and extendable baton.
Still, there is a need for a compact but effective combination extendable police baton with special features of a flashlight, pepper sprayer and optional glass breaker. Also there is a need for such a combination baton with or without an integral orthogonal handle. This invention addresses that need.
The invention is a combination extendable police baton that may serve an officer""s need to have various features and options quickly at hand, while keeping the officer""s gun hand free. In one embodiment, the baton comprises a flashlight, pepper sprayer and optional glass breaker with an integral, orthogonal handle. In this embodiment, the pepper sprayer or other deterrent sprayer is preferably in the orthogonal handle. In another embodiment without an orthogonal handle, the baton comprises a pepper sprayer which is located in the same end of the baton as the flashlight.
The invented combination baton allows several important devices to be easily at hand for a policeman or policewoman, in a single unit, which only needs to be help with one hand, thus leaving the gun hand free. Also, the invented combination baton places both defensive and offensive tools together in the user""s hand, along with a flashlight. The user keeps a light, pepper spray, and a baton for offensive or defensive action all in a ready position in one hand, while the gun hand is free. Thus, a police officer has all the commonly-used tools ready at a given time, which greatly increases his options when dealing with the uncertainties of a suspect""s behavior. The officer may approach a suspect with the invented baton in one hand and his other hand ready at his gun, and he may respond to the suspect""s behavior as appropriate. The user need not whisk out a pepper spray container or a baton is he senses they may be needed, which actions can be threatening and confrontational and can escalate the situation. Instead, he can hold and use the combination baton as a flashlight, which are non-threatening actions, while having the other defensive and offensive tools ready for use. Thus, the invented combination baton allows the user to be more in control of the situation, and ready for many turn of events.
Another object of the invented combination baton is to eliminate the need for several different objects (spray, baton, flashlight) to be clipped separately onto an officer""s belt. This eliminates the xe2x80x9cclutterxe2x80x9d of the separate objects, and reduces total weight because the invention may weigh significantly less, by about 2 or 3 pounds, than the total of the separate objects. Also, for a female officer with a small waist, it is difficult to position the separate objects around her belt.


A method of manufacturing an image display device, having a plurality of spacers for keeping a gap between a pair of substrates, includes the steps gripping each of the spacers at both ends in a longitudinal direction of each spacer, installing the plural spacers on one of the pair of substrates while exerting a tensile force to the gripped plural spacers, and applying an adhesive to the plural spacers installed on the one substrate, to tentatively fix by the adhesive the plural spacers to the one substrate. The adhesive is heated so that the plural spacers tentatively fixed to the one substrate are finally fixed to the one substrate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing an image display device and more specifically to a spacer installing method using a hand for gripping a long spacer in a method of manufacturing a flat panel display with a long spacer (atmospheric pressure support member) interposed between a pair of substrates (a face plate and a rear plate) that constitute a display panel.
2. Description of the Related Background Art
A conventional flat panel display has a pair of substrates (plates) composed of a face plate and a rear plate, and forms and displays an image by projecting electron beams, which are emitted from electron-emitting devices forming a matrix pattern on the rear plate side, at phosphors, which are formed on the face plate side. In this image display device, a space between the pair of plates is kept at a vacuum and therefore several long spacers are provided at regular intervals in order to support an atmospheric pressure applied to the plates.
Manufacture of this type of flat panel display, one with a plurality of long spacers interposed between a pair of plates, employs a method in which the long spacers are picked and installed one at a time in order to join the long spacers with high accuracy. In a different technical field, a method of simultaneously gripping plural objects with an array of hands for a given work (e.g., transporting and boxing plural objects at once) has been disclosed (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H07-6142, for example).
The technique of the prior art example, which uses object gripping hands to grip plural objects simultaneously for a given work, is unfit to be used in manufacture of a flat panel display as the one described in the above since it is difficult for the technique to meet the following requirements:
1) Both ends of a long spacer, which is a long, pliant object, are gripped.
2) The long spacer is given a certain level of tension.
3) The hands on both end sides of the long spacer conform to irregularities of a surface on which the long spacer is to be placed.
4) A load that is in contact with the surface on which the long spacer is to be placed is necessarily minimized.
5) A plurality of hands that meet the above requirements 1) through 4) are lined up to simultaneously grip a plurality of long spacers and install the long spacers at once with high accuracy (in a pitch direction).
The object gripping hands of the above-described prior art example fall short of satisfying the above requirements, and it is particularly difficult for the conventional hands to meet the requirement 5) concerning high precision installation.

Method of manufacturing image display device


A method comprising administering by ocular route a dose of a glycol ether effective to induce retinal detachment.

Retinal detachment is generally regarded as a negative ophthalmic event to be avoided. Nevertheless, retinal detachment has recently been used as a method with which to treat retinal damaged, such as macular degeneration. In macular degeneration, photoreceptor cells that allow detailed vision degenerate in one focal area of the macula. The formation of this macular damage to photoreceptors results in a loss of sight in the afflicted subject.
One procedure to treat this disease is to surgically induce a retinal detachment. In one form of this procedure, a nick is surgically introduced into the retina of a subject. Subsequently a small amount of fluid is then introduced between the retina and the retinal space. The introduction of this fluid causes the separation of the retina from the retinal pigment epithelium. Once the retina is separated from its support layer it is then manually moved into a new position of the retina where photoreceptor cells are healthy and allow detailed vision, and is then reattached. Unfortunately, there are a number of complications with this procedure.
One complication resulting from the surgical detachment of the retina is that retinal pigment epithelia cells (RPE cells) are released into the vitreous humor. The introduction of these cells into the vitreous humor can lead to retinal damage by causing proliferative retinopathy and subretinal fibrosis.
Another complication arises during the manipulation of the detached retinal tissue as it is moved into a desired position. The retinal tissue is extremely fragile and surgical manipulations often will result in unintended tears in the retina. These tears reduce any therapeutic advantages that might result from the translocated retinal tissue.
In view of these limitations, what is needed is a non-surgical method of inducing retinal detachment.

Compositions and methods for the induction of retinal detachments


A packet radio system encapsulates data packets of external data networks by a point-to-point protocol PPP (FIGS. 4A, 4B), and passes them through one or more sub-networks to a point which supports the protocol of the encapsulated data packet. In addition, a special radio link protocol of the packet radio network is required on the radio interface between a mobile data terminal equipment and a support node. PPP packets are encapsulated in data packets of said radio link protocol. The disadvantage of the arrangement is that the data packets of both the PPP protocol and the radio link protocol contain protocol-specific fields, which reduces the transmission capacity of user information. Therefore, a PPP packet is compressed (FIG. 4C) before the encapsulation (FIG. 4D) by removing therefrom the unnecessary control fields. After having been transferred over the radio interface, the PPP packet is decompresssed into its original format (FIGS. 4F, 4G).

Mobile communication systems have been developed because there has been a need to free people to move away from fixed telephone terminals without this hindering their reachability. While the use of different data transmission services in offices has increased, different data services have also been introduced into mobile communication systems. Portable computers enable efficient data processing everywhere the user moves. As for mobile communication networks, they provide the user with an efficient access network for mobile data transmission, such an access network providing access to actual data networks. In order to do this, different new data services are designed for existing and future mobile communication networks. Digital mobile communication systems, such as the pan-European mobile communication system GSM (Global System for Mobile Communication), support particularly well mobile data transmission.
General Packet Radio Service GPRS is a new service in the GSM system, and it is one the items of the standardization work of the GSM phase 2+ in ETSI (European Telecommunication Standard Institute). The GPRS operational environment consists of one or more sub-network service areas, which are interconnected by a GPRS backbone network. A sub-network comprises a number of packet data service nodes, which are referred to as GPRS support nodes (or agents) in this context, each packet data service node being connected to a GSM mobile communication network in such a manner that it is capable of providing a packet data service for mobile data terminal equipments via several base stations, i.e. cells. The intermediate mobile communication network provides circuit switched or packet switched data transmission between a support node and mobile data terminal equipments. Different sub-networks are connected to an external data network, such as a public switched packet data network PSPDN. The GPRS service thus produces packet data transmission between mobile data terminal equipments and external data networks, a GSM network acting as an access network. One aspect of the GPRS service network is that it operates almost independently of the GSM network. One of the requirements set for the GPRS service is that it must operate together with external PSPDNs of different types, for instance with Internet or X.25 networks. In other words, the GPRS service and a GSM network should be capable of serving all users, irrespective of which type of data networks they want to register in via the GSM network or which protocols are used in a data terminal equipment. This means that the GSM network and the GPRS service have to support and handle different network addressings and data packet formats, and be prepared for new (future) data network protocols.

Packet radio system, and a terminal equipment for a packet radio system


A coding method, decoding method, coding system, and decoding system for efficiently variable length coding and variable length decoding quantized data compared with existing ones. Input data is variable length coded by using a variable length coding table 23C or 23D selected among a plurality of variable length coding tables 23C and 23D prepared in accordance with a coding efficiency. Thereby, it is possible to further improve a variable length coding efficiency compared with a case for using only one variable length coding table. As a result, when generating information content equal to that generated by using only one variable length coding table, it is possible to process data quantized with smaller quantized size and further improve the quality of information transmitted as coded data.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a coding method and a coding system, and a decoding method and a decoding system, and is applicable to for example, a variable length coding method and a variable length coding system as well as a variable length decoding method and a variable length decoding system for orthogonally transformed picture signals.
2. Description of the Related Art
Heretofore, there have been constructed video signal transmission systems for transmitting video signals representing motion pictures to remote places, such as a video conference system and videophone. In the video signal transmission systems, video signals are coded by using the line correlation and inter frame correlation of the video signals in order to efficiently use a transmission path, thereby improving the transmission efficiency of significant information.
For example, intra frame coding uses the line correlation of video signals. Therefore, as shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, when transmitting pictures PC1, PC2, PC3, . . . at time points t=t.sub.1, t.sub.2, t.sub.3, . . . , constituting a motion picture sequence, the picture data to be transmitted is one-dimensionally coded in the same scanning line before transmission thereof.
Inter frame coding improves compressibility by using the inter frame correlation of video signals to obtain picture data PC12, PC23, . . . having differences in pixel data between successively adjacent pictures PC1 and PC2, PC2 and PC3, . . . .
Thereby, the video signal transmission system is constituted to code the picture data for pictures PC1, PC2, PC3, . . . , with high efficiency into digital data of much less quantity than the uncoded picture data, and to send the digital data to a transmission path.
FIG. 2 shows how a picture sequence is intra frame coded or inter frame coded and transformed into three types of frames (macroblock) such as an intra frame predicted frame, frame, and forward, backward, and bidirectional inter frame predicted frame. In FIG. 2, 15 frame periods (frames F0 to F14) are used as one unit for coding.
For this example, the frame F2 is intra frame coded and is called "an intra picture". The frames F5, F8, F11, and F14 are predicted only from the frames F2, F5, F8, and F11 located ahead of the above frames respectively, and are called "predicted pictures".
The remaining frames F0, F1, F3, F4, F6, F7, F9, F10, F12, and F13 are predicted by frames located ahead of the above frames, those located behind the above frames, or those located at the both sides of the above frames as well as inter frame coded, and are called "bidirectional pictures".
FIG. 3 shows a video signal transmission system. The video signal transmission system 1 has a coding device 1A for transmitting data and a decoding device 1B for receiving coded data.
After the coding device 1A converts an input video signal VD via a preprocessing circuit 2 into a luminance signal SY and color difference signal SC, these are converted into an 8-bit digital luminance signal DY and color difference signal DC by the analog to digital conversion circuits 3 and 4.
Then, in the coding device 1A the digital luminance signal DY and digital color difference signal DC are written into a luminance signal frame memory 5A and color difference signal frame memory 5B of a frame memory 5, respectively, and thereafter the picture data is transformed from a frame format into a block format in a format conversion circuit 6.
In the coding device 1A the picture data transformed into the block format is input to an encoder 7, and the picture data is highly efficiently coded to generate a bit stream which is transmitted to a decoding device 1B via a communication path and recording media 8.
The encoder 7 is composed of a hybrid coder 7A for discrete cosine transforming the intra frame or inter frame coded (forward, backward, or bidirectional predicted) picture data, and thereafter quantizing the picture data, as well as a variable length coding apparatus 7B for variable length coding and outputting the quantized data.
The decoding device 1B decodes the bit stream taken from the recording media 8 by performing an inverse procedure to the coding device 1A. That is, the decoding device 1B inverse transforms the bit stream decoded by a decoder 9 so as to restore it, and transforms it from the block format into the frame format in a format transform circuit 10.
Then, in the decoding device 1B the digital luminance signal DY and digital color difference signal DC transformed into the frame format are written into a luminance signal frame memory 11A and a color difference signal frame memory 11B, respectively.
Thereafter, in the decoding device 1B, the above signals are converted into analog signals SY and SC via digital to analog conversion circuits 12 and 13, and the decoding device 1B inputs the signal to a post processing circuit 14 to obtain an output picture and output it as an output video signal VO.
The video signal transmission system 1 is constituted so as to transmit or receive data through a series of such processes.
In this connection, the video signal transmission system 1 processes the data of a frame picture in the structure shown in FIGS. 4A to 4C. First, the data for a frame picture is divided into N slices as shown in FIG. 4A. Each slice includes M macroblocks as shown in FIG. 4B and each macroblock includes luminance signal data Y1 to Y4 corresponding to 8.times.8 pixels and color difference data Cb and Cr corresponding to the total pixel data as shown in FIG. 4C.
In this case, the picture data stream in each slice is arranged so that picture data follows in macroblocks of 16.times.16 pixels, and also follows in microblocks of 8.times.8 pixels in each macroblock in order of raster scanning.
The macroblock uses picture data (Y1 to Y4) for 16.times.16 pixels following in the horizontal and vertical scanning directions for a luminance signal as one unit, but uses one microblock Cr or Cb assigned to the data for 16.times.16 pixels as a unit, because the data quantity is decreased and thereafter time base multiplexed for two color difference signals corresponding to the picture data (Y1 to Y4) for 16.times.16 pixels.
For the coding device 1A, only one type of variable length coding (VLC) apparatus 7B of the encoder 7 for high efficiency coding picture data is given as a conversion table (hereinafter referred to as "VLC table") used for variable length coding quantized data independent of the type of picture processed. For the encoder 7 based on MPEG1 (Moving Picture Experts Group 1), for example, the VLC table is constituted in accordance with the quantized data generated through inter frame coding.
However, the quantization data generated by inter frame coding does not always have the same frequency distribution as the quantization data generated by intra frame coding. That is, when considering the quantized data generated by intra frame coding as a macroblock, it is very similar to the quantized data generated by inter frame coding in composition, but a considerably large difference is found between them in the overall composition (or inclination). Therefore, a high efficiency coding cannot be expected merely from directly applying the VLC table prepared for inter frame coding when processing the quantized data generated through intra frame coding.

Coding method and system, and decoding method and system


A safety system for automotive vehicles to automatically detect and monitor various movements of a driven vehicle and automatically communicate such movements to others and to the police. Among others, the system detects violations of the traffic laws, including speeding, running stop signs, aggressive driving, tail gating and others. It also detects turns, lane changes, U turns, accelerations, decelerations, proximity to other vehicles, slow driving, weaving from lane to lane and and others. Where a pattern of vehicle movements demonstrates aggressive driving of the vehicle a warning is given to other vehicles. The detected movements may be recorded and/or transmitted by wireless to the Police to enforce penalties against traffic violations. Warnings and other communications may be provided inside of the monitored vehicle to remind the driver and discourage fixture improper conduct and to assist impaired drivers that may lose concentration or hand-eye coordination in control of the vehicle. The exterior communication to others may include flashing lights, horn soundings, sirens and other. The interior communication to the monitored vehicle""s driver may be by a visual display, audible announcement, or other.

This invention generally relates to promoting greater safety in the operation of automotive vehicles, and more particularly to systems for warning drivers and others of both the safe and unsafe movements of other vehicles to avoid dangers to themselves and to others.
There are presently about 220 million automobiles in the United States, almost one vehicle for every man, woman, and child, regardless of age. Many metropolitan areas are congested with excessive auto volume resulting in long delays during travel and often requiring frequent detours away from a desired destination. Even normally careful drivers proceed unsafely at times to shorten travel times, whereas aggressive drivers frequently proceed recklessly in disregard for the safety of themselves and others. Still other drivers are fully or partially impaired as a result of aging, use of alcohol, or for other reason, operating their vehicles with deminished hand-eye coordination constituting a hazard to others.
According to the the present invention there is provided a system for continually monitoring various movements of a vehicle to alert others of such movements that may otherwise be unexpected and unsignaled by the drivers. Such warnings may include reckless driving, overly aggressive driving, erratic driving, unexpected vehicle movements, and others, thereby enabling other drivers to be warned and to avoid such improperly driven vehicles. Certain of the monitored movements may in themselves be unlawful, such as speeding beyond the speed limit, or not stopping at stop unlawful, such as speeding beyond the speed limit, or not stopping at stop signs. Other monitored movements may not be unlawful, in themselves, but collectively demonstrate an unlawful pattern of reckless driving. Further according to the invention, such monitored vehicle movements are communicated to the police, with a record being made for later prosecution of unlawful conduct in the operation of the vehicle.