A recording method is provided for recording data into an information recording medium, in which the number of data rewrites into the same area is limited. The recording method comprises the steps of (a) performing a search for unallocated areas in an information recording area and retaining, in a memory, unallocated area identifying information for identifying at least one unallocated area found by the search, (b) determining whether or not an unallocated area satisfying a record request is present among the at least one unallocated areas identified by the unallocated area identifying information, and (c) when an unallocated area satisfying a record request is present among the at least one unallocated areas identified by the unallocated area identifying information, allocating the unallocated area as an area for recording data and recording data into the allocated area.

Optical discs are information recording media having a sector structure. Recently, the density and capacity of optical discs are becoming higher and higher. There is also an increasing demand for an improvement in physical characteristics of optical discs. In particular, if an optical disc has a limitation on the number of data rewrites in the same area, it is necessary to avoid repeated recording of data into a particular area of the optical disc. In order to avoid the repeated recording of data, a sequential recording method has been studied.
FIG. 14 is a diagram for explaining the principle of the sequential recording method.
In an example shown in FIG. 14, for the sake of simplicity, an information recording area on an optical disc is divided into 6 areas (A1 to A6). It is assumed that one hour of video data can be recorded in each of the 6 areas (A1 to A6) and the allowable number of rewrites on the optical disc (cycleability) is 1,000. For example, when 10-Mbps (Mega Bits/Second) video data is recorded onto a 27-GB (Giga Byte) optical disc, about 6 hours of video data can be recorded onto the optical disc.
A portion (a) of FIG. 14 shows a recording operation in which one hour of video data is repeatedly recorded into the area A1 1,000 times. A portion (b) of FIG. 14 shows a state of an optical disc that as a result of the recording operation of a portion (a) of FIG. 14, the area A1 is disabled due to rewrite fatigue attributed to physical characteristics of the optical disc. Since the area A1 is disabled, only 5 hours of video data can be recorded onto the optical disc which could otherwise store 6 hours of video data.
A portion (c) of FIG. 14 shows a sequential recording operation. In the sequential recording operation, video data is recorded in each area in order from the area A1 to the area A6; when the recording of video data reaches the end of the information recording area (i.e., the end of the area A6), the recording of video data returns to the start of the information recording area (i.e., the start of the area A1) and continues in order from the area A1 to the area A6.
A portion (d) of FIG. 14 shows a state of the optical disc that video data is rewritten into each of the area A1 to the area A6 167 times as a result of the sequential recording operation of the portion (c) of FIG. 14. Thus, the sequential recording operation averages the number of rewrites over the entire information recording area, thereby making it possible to reduce rewrite fatigue per area (e.g., per sector). As a result, even if one hour of video data is recorded 1,000 times, the time length of video data which can be recorded onto the optical disc is not reduced.
A data processing apparatus is known, in which an address indicating the starting position of a search for unallocated areas is recorded on an optical disc and an unallocated area (blank area) is searched for from the position indicated by the address in a direction from the inner area to the outer area of the optical disc (e.g., see Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 4-120634).
However, in the case of applications in which a large volume of data, such as audio data or video data, is recorded, when rewrite is concentrated, such as repeated on the same area, a large area is no longer available. Therefore, there has been a demand for a recording method for avoiding the concentration of rewrites as maximally as possible. An information recording medium supporting defect management (e.g., a linear replacement method, etc.) has a problem that when the amount of disabled area is increased, a defect management list overflows, so that a defect management mechanism possessed by a recording apparatus (e.g., a drive, etc.) cannot work. Particularly, in the above-described conventional apparatuses, since data deletion is not taken into consideration, rewrite operations are likely to occur in data deleted areas. Further, since ECC blocks are not taken into consideration, rewrite operations disadvantageously occur in ECC blocks containing the end positions of data-recorded areas. Furthermore, since a specialized address indicating the starting position of a search for unallocated areas has to be recorded on an optical disc, a file system which does not have such a specialized address (e.g., an existing standard file system (e.g., UDF™ issued by OSTA, etc.) cannot handle the optical disc.
The present invention is provided to solve at least one of the above-described problems.

Recording method and recording apparatus that limits number of rewrites to the same storage area

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


The performance of an analyzer is checked on by use of a performance check cartridge which has the same external shape as a reagent cartridge for analyzing samples has; the performance check cartridge holds reagents for checking on the performance of the analyzer, and concurrently holds process conditions and determination conditions for checking on the performance of the analyzer in the form of two-dimensional dot codes; in accordance with the process conditions recorded in the performance check cartridge, the automated analyzer determines the absorbance by use of the reagents filled in the performance check cartridge, and compares a result of the determination with the determination conditions recorded in the performance check cartridge, thereby checking on the performance of the analyzer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automated analyzer capable of automatically performing a plurality of assays on a specimen collected from a subject.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As apparatuses each for analyzing a specimen, such as urine and blood, collected from a patient and for thus providing data for a diagnosis by a doctor, there are automated analyzers. A type of automated analyzer is described in JP-A-Hei. 5-232123. This type of automated analyzer makes determination respectively of a plurality of types of samples of a patient which are set in a rack provided with the ID number of the patient. The automated analyzer combines determined data from a plurality of assays, and logically checks on the data. Thereby, the automated analyzer detects a malfunction of the analyzer and an abnormality of the patient while separating the malfunction and the abnormality from each other. Another type of automated analyzer is described in JP-A-2000-258430. This type of automated analyzer holds a plurality of specimens each with a specimen ID in each of specimen racks each with a rack ID. The automated analyzer reads the specimen IDs and the rack IDs, and thus transfers each of the racks to an analysis module corresponding to a requested assay. In each of the analysis modules, a specimen sample and a reagent are pipetted into a reaction vessel, and thereby a determination is made. JP-T-2002-503346 describes an analysis system which includes a plurality of chambers or cuvettes, and which uses a system reagent carrier.


A method for generating a prosody model that predicts prosodic parameters is disclosed. Upon receiving text annotated with acoustic features, the method comprises generating first classification and regression trees (CARTs) that predict durations and F0 from text by generating initial boundary labels by considering pauses, generating initial accent labels by applying a simple rule on text-derived features only, adding the predicted accent and boundary labels to feature vectors, and using the feature vectors to generate the first CARTs. The first CARTs are used to predict accent and boundary labels. Next, the first CARTs are used to generate second CARTs that predict durations and F0 from text and acoustic features by using lengthened accented syllables and phrase-final syllables, refining accent and boundary models simultaneously, comparing actual and predicted duration of a whole prosodic phrase to normalize speaking rate, and generating the second CARTs that predict the normalized speaking rate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to text-to-speech generation and more specifically to a method for predicting prosodic parameters from preprocessed text using a bootstrapping method.
2. Discussion of Related Art
The present invention relates to an improved process for automating prosodic labeling in a text-to-speech (TTS) system. As is known, a typical spoken dialog service includes some basic modules for receiving speech from a person and generating a response. For example, most such systems include an automatic speech recognition (ASR) module to recognize the speech provided by the user, a natural language understanding (NLU) module that receives the text from the ASR module to determine the substance or meaning of the speech, a dialog management (DM) module that receives the interpretation of the speech from the NLU module and generates a response, and a TTS module that receives the generated text from the DM module and generates synthetic speech to "speak" the response to the user.
Each TTS system first analyzes input text in order to identify what the speech should sound like before generating an output waveform. Text analysis includes part-of-speech (P0S) tagging, text normalization, grapheme-to-phoneme conversion, and prosody prediction. Prosody prediction itself often consists of two steps: First, a symbolic description is generated, which indicates the locations of accents and prosodic phrase boundaries (or simply "boundaries"). More information regarding predicting accents and prosodic boundaries or pauses may be found in X. Huang, A. Acero, H. Hon, Spoken Language Processing, Prentice Hall, 2001, pages 739–782, incorporated herein by reference.
Frequently, the symbols used for prosody prediction are Tone and Break Indices ("ToBI") labels, which are also an abstract description of an F0 (fundamental frequency) contour. See, e.g., K. Silverman, M. Beckman, J. Pitrelli, M. Osterndorf C. Wightman, P. Price, I. Pierrehumbert, and I. Hirschberg, "Tobi: A standard for labeling English prosody," in Proc. Int. Conf on Spoken Language Processing, 1992, pp. 867–870, incorporated herein by reference. The second step involves using the ToBI labels to calculate numerical F0 values and phone durations. The rational behind this two-step approach is the belief that linguistic features are more strongly correlated with symbolic prosody than with the acoustic realization. This not only makes it easier for a human to write rules that predict prosody, it also makes it easier for a machine to learn these rules from a database.
Unfortunately, ToBI labeling is very slow and expensive. See, A. Syrdal and I. Hirschberg, "Automatic ToBI prediction and alignment to speed manual labeling of prosody," Speech Communication, Special Issue on Speech Annotation and Corpus Tools, 2001, no. 33, pp. 135–151. Having several labelers available may speed it up, but it does not address the cost factor and other issues such as inter-labeler inconsistency. Therefore, a more automatic procedure is highly desirable.
FIG. 1 illustrates a known method of prosody prediction using ToBI prediction and alignment. This method involves receiving speech files annotated with orthography (words and punctuation), pronunciation (phones and their duration, word and syllable boundaries, lexical stress and other parts of speech (102). Other linguistic features are added that are relevant to prosody such as "is a yes/no question?" (104). For each word or syllable, the method predicts symbolic prosody (e.g. ToBI) by applying a rule set such as a classification and regression tree (CART) (106). For each phone, the method predicts its duration by applying a rule set (108) and for each syllable, predicts parameters describing the syllable's F0 contour (110). Finally, from the contour parameters and phone duration, the method involves calculating the actual F0 contour (112).
Known prosody-prediction modules are based on a rule set that are manually written or generated according to machine learning techniques by adapting a few parameters to create all the rules. When the rules are derived from training data by applying machine learning methods, the training data needs to be labeled prosodically. The known method of labeling the training data prosodically is a manual process. What is needed in the art is a method of automating the process of creating prosodic labels without expensive, manual intervention.

System and method for predicting prosodic parameters


A driver of a vehicle that is going to enter a loop intersection is allowed to perceive vehicles traveling on a loop road and vehicles that are going to enter the loop intersection from separate roads. Infrared ray sensors for detecting vehicles in the loop intersection, and infrared ray sensors for detecting vehicles that are going to enter the loop intersection from the roads. Billboards equipped with display units at places that can be seen from the roads to display the vehicles that are detected by the infrared ray sensors. Transmitters transmit, to a unit mounted on the vehicle, information related to the detected vehicles, so that the vehicles are displayed on a display unit of the vehicle.

As one of traffic intersections, a loop intersection (ring road or runabout) is known. An intersection usually stands for a point where a plurality of roads meets together, and an intersection where a plurality of roads meets together along a circle or ring road is called loop intersection. The loop intersection is one-way, i.e., the loop road is one-way. A vehicle that enters the loop road from a given road connected to the loop road travels the loop road in a predetermined one direction and is allowed to go to any desired road.
A system is proposed for preventing the collision of vehicles in an intersection. In this system, a signal at the intersection is provided with a distance-measuring device, and a device to which the distance is to be measured is mounted on a vehicle that is going to enter the intersection. The distance-measuring device provided on the signal measures a distance between the signal and the other vehicle approaching the intersection, and an alarm is generated in the vehicle when the other vehicle approaches the intersection within a predetermined distance (for example, JP-A-2001-167395).
Another system is proposed for preventing a head-on collision that may happen as vehicles meet together by informing, in real time, all vehicles traveling on the roads and approaching the intersection of the position information and speed information of all vehicles traveling on the road and approaching the intersection (for example, JP-A-2001-143197).
In a loop intersection in many cases, trees are planted and signboards are erected at places surrounded by a loop road. With trees being planted and signboards being erected at places surrounded by the loop road, a driver of a vehicle entering the loop road cannot see the conditions of the loop road on the opposite side since his visual field is interrupted by the trees and the signboards.
Further, if two vehicles enter the loop road from separate roads, the vehicle subsequently entering the loop road may fail to notice the other vehicle that has already entered the loop road and is traveling thereon.

Vehicle information system for a loop intersection


An improved lubricant for coating moving webs is provided. The lubricant includes a chemically modified lecithin, such as hydroxylated or acethylated lecithin, and a fatty ester to completely eliminate the need for a surfactant in the composition. The mixture avoids foaming while maintaining the coating structure, even at high speeds found in modern printing equipment and processes. The lubricant improves coating rheology and maintains coating structure. The lubricant maintains a homogeneous coating, even at high speeds, thus resulting in superior coating and paper characteristics.

The present invention relates generally to lubricants for coating moving webs. More specifically, the present invention relates to an improved lubricant for coating webs moving at very high speeds.
In the paper manufacturing industry, paper and paper board web material is frequently coated to improve properties such as appearance and printability. The coating process involves applying a coating mixture to the paper as it moves at high speed through a coating apparatus. These coatings are typically composed of: (1) pigments, such as Kaolin clay, titanium dioxide, calcium carbonate or silicates; (2) adhesive binders, such as starches, styrene butadiene latex, or polyvinyl acetates; and (3) additives, which improve or modify specific properties and characteristics of the coating mixture.
A number of chemical phenomena and physical forces (particularly shear forces) can have a detrimental effect, e.g., destroying the integrity and uniformity of both the coating mixture and the coating as it is applied to the paper sheet. When this occurs, costly problems develop both in the application of the coating and in the finish quality of the coated paper. These problems are widely known to manufacturers of coated papers.
These problems are greatly magnified as the speed of the web moving through the coating apparatus is increased, causing increased shear forces on the coating mixture being applied. Increased speed causes problems in viscosity control, calcification, streaking, whiskering, and generally poor "runnability" (performance) of the coating. These problems ultimately result in a poor quality coated sheet and costly rejections. Uniformity of the coating mix at these high shear levels is critical.
Typically, lubricant additives, such as calcium stearate dispersions or polyethylene emulsions, have been used as an additive to the coating mixture to improve the performance and uniformity of the coating and the overall integrity of the coating mixture. The main function of a lubricant additive in a coating mixture is to increase the lubricity of the coating. However, many other effects of lubricants are known to the art of coating paper. For example, such characteristics as rheological properties, plasticity, smoothness, coating gloss, anti-dusting and improved printing qualities, can be affected by the use of coating lubricants.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,766,015, issued to Nikoloff et al., attempts have been made to provide a lubricant with superior rheological properties. However, such prior art attempts do not adequately address the needs and related problems associated with high-speed printing on modem machines. The additive mixture of Nikoloff '015 includes a fatty acid, a surfactant and a crude lecithin component. However, since a fatty acid and crude lecithin are employed, a surfactant must also be employed for the mixture to be dispersible and lubricated enough to function properly as a paper coating mixture.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,200,551, issued to Orthoefer, describes a chemically modified lecithin concentrate where various crude lecithins and surfactants are blended to form a water dispersible lecithin. Other types of chemicals modifications are also made to form hydroxylated lecithin, acetylated lecithin and others. The chemically modified lecithins disclosed in Orthoefer are particular well suited to the food industry due to the improved water dispersion properties.
The need for a superior lubricant is evident where the solid's density in a coating structure typically runs from 20.0-23.0 pounds per gallon while the liquid density typically runs from 8.0-9.5 pounds per gallon. The challenge lies in the ability to maintain the two densities in a coating structure together in one homogeneous coating even at the high speeds of greater than 6000 fpm. The modern, high-speed coating processes and equipment described above generates higher velocities than ever experienced before during application which, in turn, creates a centrifugal force that makes it more difficult to develop a stable clay coating. Therefore, there is a need to address the problems associated with the centrifugal force at which the coating is exposed during its application in maintaining the two densities together at high speed and velocities.
Recently, the foregoing concerns regarding paper coatings have become more and more important in light of modern, high-speed printing processes that have placed more and more demands on the performance of coated paper. In particular, over the last decade, the speed at which clay coatings are applied to paper have almost doubled and created the need for a better lubricant in coating moving webs. The demands of these new high-speed printing and coating processes have necessitated a change in the lubricants over the standard phospholipid (lecithin), calcium stearate or polyethylene used in the prior art. Since the speeds of modern printing processes often reach 6000 fpm, and possibly greater, superior lubricants are required to maintain the coating structure particularly where the coating colors are applied via the modem clay coating equipments. Such a superior lubricant is required to maintain the efficiency, economy and high quality from the manufacturers of coated paper while still maintaining the required optical properties of brightness, opacity and smoothness. However, there are no prior art lubricants which accomplish these goals and accommodate the modem printing equipment and processes. Therefore, an improved lubricant additive which accommodates these modem, high-speed printing machines and processes is desired to address those needs not found in the prior art.

Surfactant-free lubricant for coating moving webs


Systems, bone screws, and methods for delivering a treatment agent into or near a bone, such as a vertebra are provided. The system include a hollow prosthetic vertebral body having one or more fenestrations and a liner containing a treatment agent disposed within the hollow prosthetic vertebral body. The liner is designed to provide for the controlled release of the treatment agent. Also provided are refillable cannulated bone screws having a resealable seal for delivering a treatment agent to a bone.

Degenerative disc disease, spinal trauma and tumors are common and painful conditions suffered by a significant portion of the population. In some instances, the pain and complications caused by these conditions may be bad enough to require that one or more vertebra, facet joints and/or intervertebral discs be removed from the spinal column. In these instances bone fusions, prosthetic discs, prosthetic vertebral bodies, and spinal stabilizing systems, including rods and plates, may be implanted in a patient to alleviate the pain and complications. In addition, disease, trauma and tumors affecting bones, such as vertebra, often require delivery of treatment agents, including therapeutic agents, diagnostic agents and imaging agents to the area of the bone. Unfortunately, the bone implant devices, and in particular the spinal implants, that have been proposed to date do not provide a simple mechanism for combining bone stabilization, repair and/or replacement with treatment agent delivery. Thus, a need exists for devices that combine bone stabilization, repair and/or replacement with treatment agent delivery.


A wireless telephone backup device for landline telephone equipment that may be located on the customer side of the landline service connection, typically in a restricted access location, such as an attic, basement, or utility closet. An interconnection circuit in the backup device detects service interruptions in the subscriber's landline connection and, in response, powers on a wireless communication device to provide backup telephone service to the customer premises equipment. The interconnection circuit also provides the other features standard landline telephone service, including dial tone, ring voltage, and normal dialing for outgoing calls. The backup device also forwards incoming landline calls to the wireless unit in the backup device, and may send a message notifying a maintenance center of the service interruption. Further, the backup device may initiate an indicator in an alarm system at the site of the customer premises equipment to notify the subscriber of the service interruption.

Telephone service in the North America is one of the most reliable communications systems in the world. The public switched telephone network (PSTN), or landline network, uses copper and fiber optic land-based telephone lines as the standard for connecting end-user telephone equipment to the network. Landline telephone equipment, known in the art as customer premises equipment (CPE), receives and sends telephone calls through the landline network. The reliability of the landline network creates a consumer expectation of trouble-free, uninterrupted telephone service. Nevertheless, landline telephone service occasionally becomes interrupted, primarily due to damage caused to overhead landlines during severe weather.
For example, landline telephone service often becomes interrupted during extreme weather events, such as hurricanes, floods, and ice storms. Because these weather events often coincide with electric power outages and very difficult traveling conditions, many subscribers, such as the elderly, immobile persons, persons caring for young children, and persons relying on home-based medical equipment may find that these extreme weather events are the most important occasions to have telephone service available. Emergency response personnel, private contractors specializing in tree removal, insurance adjusters, government officials, and utility personnel may also have an increased need to maintain telephone service during extreme weather events. Though no system can be guaranteed 100 percent reliable, these and other subscribers may be willing to pay for any gain or increase in reliability of their telephone service.
In addition, when landline telephone service becomes interrupted, a delay in the repair time may occur if the service provider is not notified as soon as possible. In some cases, the consumer may not realize that his or her telephone service has been interrupted for an extended period, and the service provider will not be able to react until the consumer notifies the service provider of the interruption. For example, if a subscriber's home telephone service becomes interrupted while the subscriber is at work, the subscriber might not learn of the interruption until returning home from work several hours later.
Moreover, the telephone network is often relied on for security systems, such as burglar alarms, fire alarms, home-based medical monitoring systems, home-arrest prisoner monitoring systems, and the like. In other words, the current landline telephone system serves as the communication infrastructure for a large part of the remote monitoring and security systems for businesses and homes by police, fire, emergency medical personnel, and private security providers. For instance, many homeowners use burglar alarms programmed to call the police or an alarm monitoring company when the alarm is triggered. These burglar alarms, in turn, use the landline telephone system to communicate the alarm notifications to the proper authorities. As a result, intentionally cutting the landline providing telephone service to the home defeats the notification feature of the alarm system.
One approach for solving the problems described above would be to issue a conventional wireless telephone to each landline subscriber. However, this approach would allow each subscriber to use both the landline equipment and the wireless telephone at the same time. This type of increase in telephone service typically involves a monthly service charge that many subscribers may be unwilling to pay. In addition, assigning a second wireless directory number for each existing landline directory number would consume a large number of directory numbers, which could deplete the number of available directory numbers in some areas. Alternatively, upgrading the telecommunications infrastructure to allow wireless telephones to use the same directory numbers as landline telephones on a large scale basis would require a significant investment in the existing telecommunications infrastructure.
Thus, there is a need for devices to increase the reliability of landline telephone service. In particular, there is a need for a device capable of backing up landline customer premises equipment during landline telephone service interruptions. There is a further need for a technically and economically feasible mechanism for backing up landline telephone service without unnecessarily depleting the supply of directory numbers or significantly increasing the existing telecommunications infrastructure.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Wireless backup telephone device and associated support system


This invention relates to a packaging method using lead-free solder, characterized by including a reflow-soldering step in which a surface mount device is soldered to a circuit board with a lead-free solder paste; an inserting step in which the lead or terminal of a insertion mount device is inserted into the circuit board; a step in which a warp preventing jig is attached to the circuit board; a flux applying step in which flux is applied to the foregoing circuit board; a preheating step in which, after applying flux, the lower surface of the circuit board is preheated; a flow-soldering step in which the upper surface of the circuit board the lower surface of which was preheated in the preheating step is heated, and by applying lead-free solder paste to the lower surface of the circuit board, the lead or terminal of the insertion mount device is flow-soldered to the circuit board; and a temperature controlling step where temperatures of both surfaces of a circuit board are adjusted, the upper surface of the circuit board is cooled or heated and the lower surface of the said circuit board is cooled, immediately after soldering in the flow-soldering step.

This invention relates to a packaging method using lead-free solder alloy metal the toxicity of which is minor, a soldering system, and a mounting structure in which the packaging method and soldering system are used. This lead-free solder alloy metal can be applied to connect an electronic device to a circuit board of an organic board and the like, and is used as a substitution of Sn-37Pb (Unit: Mass %) which is used for a soldering at about 220° C.
A conventional method to solder a device to a circuit board made of an organic material and the like of electric appliances comprises a reflow-soldering step in which hot air is blown against the circuit board, solder paste printed on electrodes is molten, and thus, a surface mount device is soldered, and a flow-soldering step in which a molten solder jet is caused to come into contact with a circuit board, and thus, some surface mount devices such as a insertion mount device, a chip device and the like are soldered.
And, this soldering method is called a packaging method.
Now, it has been requested to use lead-free solder alloy metal the toxicity of which is minor for both the solder paste used in the reflow-soldering step and the molten solder jet used in the flow-solder step.
As the prior arts related to this packaging method using lead-free solder, Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 10-166178 (Prior Art 1), No. 11-179586 (Prior Art 2), No. 11-221694 (Prior Art 3), No. 11-354919 (Prior Art 4), No. 2001-168519 (Prior Art 5), and No. 2001-36233 (Prior Art 6) and the like have been known.
In the prior art 1, for the lead-free solder, Sn—Ag—Bi system based solder or Sn—Ag—Bi—Cu based solder alloy metal is mentioned. In the prior art 2, it is mentioned that solder of Sn—Ag—Bi system which leads as a lead-free solder is connected to an electrode the surface of which is treated with a layer of Sn—Bi system. In the prior art 3, it is mentioned that electronic devices are reflow-soldered to both the 1st and 2nd surfaces of an organic board with lead-free solder which contains Sn as the main component, 0 to 65 mass % of Bi, 0.5 to 4.0 mass % of Ag, and total 0 to 3.0 mass % of Cu and/or In. In the prior art 4, it is mentioned that solder is cooled under an about 10 to 20° C./s cooling velocity in a method by which electronic devices are connected to a circuit board with Bi containing lead-free solder. In the prior art 5, it is mentioned that, in a method by which an electronic device is surface connected and mounted on surface A of a board by means of a reflow-soldering, and then a lead of the electronic device inserted from the surface A side is flow-soldered on surface B of the board, the solder used for the reflow-soldering in the surface A side is a lead-free solder of such a composition as Sn (1.5 to 3.5 wt %), Ag (0.2 to 0.8 wt %), Cu (0 to 4 wt %), and In (0 to 2 wt %), and the solder used for the flow-soldering in the surface B is a lead-free solder of such a composition as Sn (0 to 3.5 wt %), Ag (0.2 to 0.8 wt %), and Cu. In the prior art 6, it is mentioned that, when flow-soldering by using a lead-free solder of an eutectic crystal composition the melting point of which is higher than that of a conventionally used Sn-37Pb, it is so intended that a temperature difference between an organic board and an electronic device main body will not increase while cooling the board after flow-soldering by using a heat conducting material in a space between a device main body and a board.
In this packaging method, as mentioned in the prior Art 6, in case of a flow-soldering in which molten solder jet was caused to come into contact with the lower surface of a circuit board, a case in which soldering was made under a temperature higher than that of a conventional method by using a lead-free solder of an eutectic crystal composition with a higher melting point than 183° C. melting point of the Sn-37Pb (Unit: Mass %) or using a lead-free solder of a similar composition was considered.
However, the following points were not taken into considerations in anyone of the above-described prior arts 1 through 6.
In a packaging method, when preheating was made rapidly to shorten circuit board soldering time, or when a large volume of a component such as Pb which caused solder composition in a connected portion after the connection to considerably deviate from the eutectic crystal composition was contained in plating of an electrode, there was a possibility to cause the following three types of faulty soldering.
First of all, when flow-soldering a insertion mount device to a circuit board, a phenomenon called "lift off" in which a solder in the insertion mount device connected position is peeled off from an electrode on the board due to a heat capacity difference of each insertion mount device occurs.
Secondary, the solder in an already connected surface mount device is molten again, causing the surface mount device to be peeled off.
Tertiary, because of a heat capacity of the already connected surface mount device, a component with a low melting point on the side near the board causes segregation in the solder in a connected portion when cooling the board after a flow-soldering, causing the reliability to drop down remarkably not only at the time of a connection by means of soldering but also after the connection.
Further, when conducting a rapid preheating to shorten circuit board soldering time, the above describing three types of faulty soldering are likely to occur.
Furthermore, in a conventional flow-soldering step, the soldering condition must be changed after all the flowing boards are carried out, and in particular, when manufacturing small batches of a variety of products, the loss of much time occurs.


A method for setting a mask pattern and an illumination condition suitable for an exposure method for using plural kinds of light to illuminate a mask that arranges a predetermined pattern and an auxiliary pattern smaller than the predetermined pattern, so as to resolve the predetermined pattern without resolving the auxiliary pattern on a target via a projection optical system includes the steps of forming data for the predetermined pattern, forming data for the auxiliary pattern, and setting the illumination condition for defining an effective light source of illumination using the plural kinds of light.

The present invention relates generally to methods for setting a mask pattern and an illumination condition optimal to the mask pattern, and more particularly to a method for setting a mask pattern and its illumination condition suitable for an exposure method for illuminating a mask that arranges a desired pattern and an auxiliary pattern or dummy pattern (these terms are used interchangeably in this application) smaller than the desired pattern, using plural kinds of light so as to resolve the desired pattern without resolving the auxiliary pattern on a target via a projection optical system.
A projection exposure apparatus has been used for the photolithography to manufacture devices such as ICs, LSIs, and liquid crystal panels. The projection exposure apparatus has generally shortened an exposure wavelength and/or enlarged a numerical aperture (NA) of its projection optical system to achieve high resolution.
Although the resolution generally improves with the shorter exposure wavelength and the larger NA, the projection exposure apparatus has, from its nature, patterns that are easily resolved and patterns that are hard to be resolved. Generally speaking, a line and space pattern ("L/S pattern" hereinafter) is more easily resolved than a contact hole pattern ("C/H pattern" hereinafter), and thus the C/H pattern is usually made wider than the L/S pattern for use with semiconductor chips. Therefore, there has been a problem to manufacture a minute C/H pattern in the fine lithography.
While an attempt to insert a dummy pattern into a desired C/H pattern has been proposed to change the pattern transfer performance, the dummy pattern has been inserted mainly to improve the depth of focus. In addition, an illumination system has conventionally used an annular or quadrupole shape as an effective light source shape for this case.
The instant inventors have discovered that the way of inserting the dummy C/H pattern would change an imaging state of a desired C/H pattern. The instant inventors have also discovered an insertion rule of a dummy C/H pattern based on a size, period, arrangement of a desired C/H pattern, etc. The instant inventors further discovered that a certain insertion method of a dummy pattern would improve not only the depth of focus but also the resolution, and that the optimal illumination system is neither the annular illumination nor the quadrupole illumination. In particular, according to the experiences of the instant inventors, the quadrupole illumination is seldom useful when k1 is 0.25×√2 or smaller, where k1 corresponds to a half pitch of a mask pattern that arranges the dummy pattern. Here, k1 is a factor expressed by k1=R·NA/λ, where R is the resolution, NA is a numerical aperture, and λ is a wavelength of an exposure light source. In addition, the prior art has inserted a dummy pattern into a desired pattern only when the desired pattern has a certain period. However, desired patterns do not always have certain periods in an actual mask pattern, and thus the prior art has limited applicability. The instant inventors have also discovered that a desired pattern on a mask is sometimes not successfully reproduced even when a dummy C/H pattern follows the insertion rule and the illumination system is set to be suitable for the mask pattern. In this case, the desired pattern should be corrected.

Method for setting mask pattern and illumination condition


A coupling member for detachably connecting together two sections of air brake hose between railroad cars. Each coupling member has a hollow tubular body with one end attached to a section of hose and with an opposite end having an arcuate body portion extending circumferentially about and outwardly of the tubular body, and has an arcuate locking lug with a guide and protection surface followed by a locking surface extending generally axially from the body concentric with and projecting along substantially the entire arcuate body portion. An L-shaped arcuate flange projects outwardly and forwardly from a rear portion of the tubular body and is provided with a lip which engages a similar lip formed on the arcuate locking lug of the other of two coupling members to secure the members in coupled position where the lip projects from only a locking portion of the lug while a guide portion has a smooth surface. An blastomeric gasket is mounted within the bore of the tubular body and forms an airtight seal with a similar gasket mounted on the other coupling member. A finger is pivotally mounted within a radially extending slot formed in an arcuate end body and above the guide portion of the lug portion of the tubular body. A protective flap is secured over the finger to protect the finger from weather related and environmental hazards, while providing a slit to allow for locking and unlocking motion.

Technical Field
The invention relates to the coupling of two similar coupling members for detachably connecting the ends of air brake hoses for trucks or railroad cars to form an airtight connection. More particularly, the invention relates to an improved air brake hose coupling member having an extended lip and a protective cover over the finger lock. Specifically, the invention relates to an improved air brake hose coupling member having both (1) an extended lip that both (a) protects the finger lock from environmental hazards including rocks and debris on the rail bed should the coupling member be dragged by the train and (b) improves the ability of the to-be-coupled couplings to align with the ramped entrance angles of the opposing coupling, and (2) a flexible protective cover over the finger lock for protecting the finger when locked from the environment including ice buildup.

Air brake hose coupling member having an extended locking lug


An oil spill containment collar system for aquatic vessels. A deployable flotation collar and apron apparatus automatically surrounds the periphery of the vessel to be contained. This continuous collar only takes a few minutes to become fully functional. The collar is stored inboard of gunnel above the deck, and is lowered into the water by a gear or spring-torsion driven pivot arms that lift the collar from the deck area and up over the gunnel. The collar is inflated after lowering over gunnel, encircling the entire vessel and giving vertical support to an attached apron. The top edge of the apron is maintained level with the surface of the oil spill, by means of the attached and inflatable collar.

(a) Field of the Invention
Leakage of ship's oil or spillage of oil tanker cargo has increased in severity and frequency over the years. This is a result of ships gradually changing from coal to fuel oil for propulsion. The increase in oil spillage can also be attributed to a greater number of tankers having a larger capacity to carry oil, which, in turn, allows a greater quantity of oil to be shipped from distant oil fields and refineries, leaving a higher probability of oil spillage.
Large oil spills can cause permanent damage to the aquatic environment. The oil also gets into the aquatic food chain, and directly contaminates fish and shellfish. Estuaries, where various species breed, also important links in the food chain, have become contaminated. In addition, fish, water foul, and mammals living in the water can face damage and destruction.
There is also the potential for damage to the sea shore, such as beaches and waterfront property. This is due to the accumulation of heavy weight oils, such as crude oil. The only effective way to deal with this situation is to attempt to minimize the quantity of oil spilled.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
Various techniques have been devised for controlling the spread of oil spills and removing them from the surface of the water. The following techniques may be relevant to various aspects of the present invention.
Towed barges or self propelled vessels fitted with scoop type skimming structural arrangements have been brought into the region where the spill has occurred and are used to skim the water surface, removing oil therefrom. Depending on the quantity of the oil spilled, the recovered oil can either be stored temporarily on board the recovery vessel or pumped directly to another holding means.
Another method, that can be incorporated with the first method or used by itself, is to deploy a flotation barrier for confining the spread of oil. Aprons of varying depth are attached to the flotation barrier to form a dike that blocks or at least retards the oil from spreading. See Blockwick, U.S. Pat. No. Re 28,966.
Both the first and second techniques require transporting the required containment and recovery equipment to the site of the spill. For spills that occur near coastal areas, a delay of hours to days can be experienced in getting the equipment to the site of the spill. Rapidly shifting tides, currents, and wind driven seas can quickly spread the oil over large areas, rendering it even more difficult or impossible to contain and remove the oil before widespread permanent damage has occurred.
Oil spillage in the open ocean and seaways is essentially impossible to combat, because rescue equipment typically cannot be brought to the site of the spill before the oil is essentially dispersed. Since speed of action is required in minimizing the spread of an oil spill, equipment not immediately available at the spill site cannot be of assistance for this problem.
One prior art attempt which has addressed the aforesaid problem is disclosed in Bouvier, U.S. Pat. No. 4,249,834, which proposes carrying an oil spill containment device, storage tank, pumps, etc., on board the vessel. However, the device proposed by Bouvier is not believed to have been adopted in practice due to the fact that it is impractical to install on a ship, since it hangs over the side and is subject to damage alongside piers and is unprotected from the open ocean environment.


The reservation communication information is generated based on terminal identification information for identifying a transmission terminal that is currently participating in a session based on reservation of communication, which at least indicates whether a counterpart transmission terminal that is scheduled to participate in the session based on the reservation of communication is currently participating in the session based on the reservation of communication. The reservation communication information may be output for display at a request transmission terminal that may request to start communication with the counterpart transmission terminal based on the reservation of communication.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an apparatus, system, and method of generating information regarding communication based on reservation, for output to a transmission terminal that is scheduled to start communication based on the reservation, and a reservation communication information generating program stored in a non-transitory recording medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the need for reducing costs or times associated with business trips, more companies are moving towards data transmission systems provided with teleconference or videoconference ("conference") capabilities. The transmission systems allow transmission of contents data such as image data and/or sound data among a plurality of transmission terminals that are remotely located from one another to facilitate communication among the plurality of transmission terminals through a communication network.
When communication is managed using a management server, for example, as described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2005-109922-A (Registration No. 4292544), the user cannot freely change the time to start or end, as the management server manages communication based on the scheduled information. While the management server can allow the user to freely change the time to start or end the conference without requiring the user to change the scheduled information, for example, as described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2011-199845-A, the management system may not be able to manage communication based on the scheduled information, as communication may not be based on the scheduled information.

Apparatus, system, and method of managing data transmission, and recording medium storing transmission management program


A method for forming a pattern of a liquid crystal display (LCD) device includes providing a cliché having at least a first groove structure having a first width and a second groove structure having a second width equal to at least a multiple of the first width and an interval, filling a resist material into the first and second groove structures of the cliché, and applying the resist material filled into the first and second groove structures of the cliché onto an etching object layer of a substrate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for forming a pattern, and more particularly, to a method for forming a pattern of a liquid crystal display device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Cathode ray tube (CRT) monitors have been commonly used for displaying information on television and computer displays. Although the CRT monitors have high image quality and brightness, as sizes of image screens increase, a depth of the CRT monitor increases to occupy very large volumes. In addition, the weight of the CRT monitors has always been problematic in portable devices.
Flat panel display devices, such as liquid crystal displays, plasma display panels, organic electro luminescence displays, light emitting diodes, and field emission displays, have been used to replace the CRT monitors. Among these different flat panel display devices, the liquid crystal display (LCD) devices are commonly used as monitors of notebook and desktop personal computers because of their low power consumption.
FIG. 1 is a cross sectional view of an LCD device according to the related art. In FIG. 1, the LCD device includes a lower substrate 10, an upper substrate 20, and a liquid crystal layer 15 formed in between the upper and lower substrates 10 and 20. A thin film transistor T and a pixel electrode 7 are formed on the lower substrate 10, wherein the thin film transistor T include: a gate electrode 1 to which scan signals are supplied, a semiconductor layer 3 for transmitting data signals corresponding to the scan signals, a gate insulating layer 2 for electrically isolating the semiconductor layer 3 and the gate electrode 1, a source electrode 4 formed on an upper part of the semiconductor layer 3 for supplying the data signals, and a drain electrode 5 for supplying the data signals to the pixel electrode 7. The semiconductor layer 3 comprises an active layer 3a formed of amorphous silicon (a-Si), and an n+ doped ohmic contact layer 3b formed on both upper sides of the active layer 3a. A passivation layer 6 and the pixel electrode 7 are formed on the thin film transistor T, and a first alignment layer 4a formed for aligning liquid crystal molecules is formed on an upper part of the pixel electrode 7. The pixel electrode 7 is formed of a transparent conductor, such as indium tin oxide (ITO) or indium zinc oxide (IZO), so that the light can be transmitted through the pixel electrode 7.
A black matrix 12 is formed on the upper substrate 20 for preventing the light from leaking between adjacent pixels, and color filters 11 of red (R), green (G), and blue (B), for producing colored light, are formed on the black matrix 12. A flattening layer (not shown) can be additionally formed on the color filter 11 for flattening the color filter and for improving an adhesive bond to a common electrode 13 subsequently formed on the color filters 11, wherein the common electrode 13 applies a voltage to the liquid crystal layer 15 and is formed of a transparent conductor, such as ITO or IZO. In addition, a second alignment layer 4b, for aligning the liquid crystal molecules, is formed on the common electrode 13.
During fabrication of the LCD device, several steps of thin film deposition and photolithographic processes should be performed. For example, in order to fabricate the thin film transistor T, the color filters 11, and the black matrix 12, photoresist patterns are formed by application of a photoresist material, exposure and strip processes using a mask from the photoresist patterns, and an etching process using the photoresist patterns as a mask. However, the photoresist forming process involves complex fabrication processes and is not suitable for a large area display device. Thus, a printing method by which patterned photoresist can be formed simply without the exposure process has been developed.
FIGS. 2A to 2C are schematic cross sectional views of a fabrication process according to the related art. In FIG. 2A, a cliché 24 with a concave groove 23 formed at a position corresponding to a pattern desired to be formed on a substrate is prepared. Then, a resist 31 is deposited on a surface of the cliché 24. Next, a doctor blade 32 is placed in contact with the surface of the cliché 24 and flattens the resist 31 across the surface of the cliché 24. Accordingly, the resist 31 fills the groove 23 while the resist remaining on the surface of the cliché 24 is removed.
In FIG. 2B, the resist 31 filled in the groove 23 of the cliché 24 is transferred onto a surface of the printing roll 33 as the print roll 33 rotates across the surface of the cliché 24. The printing roll 33 is formed having the same width as a width of a panel of a display device desired to be fabricated, and has a circumference equal to a length of the panel. Accordingly, the resist 31 filled in the groove 23 of the cliché 24 is transferred onto the printing roll 33.
In FIG. 2C, the resist 31 previously transferred onto the printing roll 33 contacts a surface of the substrate 30 as the printing roll 33 is rotated. Then, the resist 31 is transferred from the printing roll 33 onto the surface of the substrate 30. Next, the applied resist 31 is UV-irradiated or heated to be dried to form a resist pattern.
However, in the LCD devices, pattern sizes differ according to different layers that are to be formed, and differ for the same layers. In addition, although the pattern sizes determine a viscosity of the resist to be used, resists of different viscosities cannot be printed at one time. Thus, a resist having viscosity suitable for a pattern of a corresponding size has to be selected. When using a resist suitable for a relatively small pattern, when the resist is filled into the grooves of the cliche and flattened by the doctor blade, the resist is removed more easily at a center portion of the cliché than at edge portions of the cliché. Accordingly, the thickness of a pattern is not uniform.
FIGS. 3A and 3B are schematic cross sectional views comparing resist patterns according to the related art. In FIG. 3A, a normally printed resist pattern 35a is formed on the substrate 30. In FIG. 3B, an inferior resist pattern 35b is formed on the substrate 30. As shown, the normally printed resist pattern 35a has a uniform thickness, wherein thicknesses of the inferior pattern 35b varies at the ends and middle portions. As a result, the inferior resist pattern 35b causes fabrication of a defected LCD device.

Method for forming pattern of liquid crystal display device


A system can include a rigid or semi-rigid container, a caddy and a cart. A connector can be provided which is operable to provide for a first connection between the cart and the container and a second connection between the container and the caddy. At least one of the first connection and the second connection is a releasable connection. The container is also releasably attachable to said cart. Also provided is a method of using the components of the system. The system and method are well suited for application in shopping environments.

Traditionally, customers have used shopping carts comprising a relatively deep wire basket on a wheeled frame to convey groceries or other goods from their location on self-serve shelves in a store to a check-out station. Once the customer arrives at the check-out station, the groceries are unloaded from the shopping cart by the customer onto a conveyor belt. The groceries are then typically passed over a bar code scanner or weighed by a cashier, and placed onto a receiving table. The groceries are then loaded into paper or plastic bags by the cashier, or alternatively "bagged" by the customer or a bag boy. The bags of groceries are then often placed back into the shopping cart, and the shopping cart is pushed by the customer or the bag boy to the shopper's vehicle. At the customer's vehicle, the bags of groceries are unloaded from the shopping cart and placed into the vehicle for transportation to the customer's premises where they are unloaded.
The use of a traditional shopping cart in combination with plastic or paper bags as described above entails a number of inconveniences. In the case of shopping carts having relatively deep wire baskets, occasionally softer grocery items placed near the bottom of the baskets are crushed or otherwise damaged by heavier items placed thereon. Having to unload the grocery items one-by-one from the basket onto the check-out belt is a time consuming process, and often the cashier begins ringing up the customer's order before the customer finishes his unloading task, leaving the customer no opportunity to observe the cashier. Sometimes an experienced cashier is able to organize the groceries to some extent as they are being bagged, but often the groceries are placed into bags in an unorganized fashion. Further, when the bags of groceries are loaded into or unloaded from the customer's vehicle, the bags of groceries from time to time tip over or rip, spilling their contents. And from the store's point of view, providing an endless supply of plastic or paper bags is costly and detrimental to the environment.
The present assignee is the owner of an invention related to an improved shopping cart and container system for transporting merchandise such as groceries in or about a store, and between the store and the customer's vehicle. Such cart, container and related system is disclosed in assignee's prior U.S. Pat. No. 5,203,578, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein.
The system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,203,578 comprises a plurality of containers and a shopping cart having an elongated, wheeled base. The cart has a frame extending upwardly from the base and a handle coupled to the frame for pushing the cart. The frame has at least one rack, and the rack includes shelves for supporting at least one of the containers. A securing/mounting mechanism is provided for releasably securing or mounting the containers to the shelf.
The securing/mounting mechanism can comprise at least one projection or pin extending generally upwardly from each rack and at least one aperture, preferably in a lip or rim of the container, configured to mate with the pin. The securing/mounting mechanism also preferably comprises at least one lug spaced from the pin and which extends upwardly from the shelf. An aperture or cavity is provided in the bottom of the container dimensioned to mate with the lug. The lug and cavity interaction improves the stability of the container-shelf interconnection.
The securing/mounting mechanism may comprise a pair of spaced pins and a pair of lugs spaced forwardly from the pins and extending upwardly from each rack, and a number of mating apertures in the containers. Preferably, the lip of each container is provided with a pair of spaced end wall apertures, each dimensioned to mate with one of the pins. The pair of side wall apertures can be spaced apart so as to fit over the pair of pins when the container is placed sidewise on the shelves. A pair of bottom apertures can be provided, symmetrically offset from the center of the container such that one of the bottom apertures mates with one of the lugs when a container is placed lengthwise on a shelf. This structure allows two containers to be placed lengthwise side-by-side on the shelf and be releasably secured thereto. Each container can then be secured by one of the pins and one of the lugs. Alternatively, one container may be placed sideways on the shelf and releasably secured thereto by the pair of pins.
The foregoing system is particularly useful for transporting goods around the store and then transferring the goods from the shopping cart and into an automobile.
There are, however, customers who do not have their own personal automotive transportation to transport their purchased goods home or elsewhere. Many customers travel to and from the store either on foot and may employ public transportation for at least part of the journey. For such customers the foregoing shopping container system of the present applicant has not, until now, been particularly well suited. Customers not using their own automotive transportation, will not be able to make full use of the applicant's existing container system, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,203,578. That system does not provide a method and system of transporting the containers, once removed from the shopping cart, other than by an automobile or the like.
Typically, customers will have to use traditional methods to transport their goods home, often using the flimsy paper or plastic bags provided by the store, and/or using some additional type of carrier device such as a separate canvas bag or knapsack. Some customers use wheeled, wire meshed caddy devices with some kind of retaining mechanism for holding the paper or plastic bags provided by the store. But there are significant drawbacks to those methods and systems.

Container apparatus and related systems and methods


An antenna mounted on a supporting system primary structure of a vehicle, in which the supporting system primary structure has an indentation. The antenna includes an EM functional core incorporated into the indentation of the supporting system primary structure, and a cover plate forming one of an upper and outer cover of the EM functional core that is structured and arranged as a conformal outside. Furthermore, boundary areas of the cover plate are connected with the supporting system primary structure. The instant abstract is neither intended to define the invention disclosed in this specification nor intended to limit the scope of the invention in any way.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an outside structure conformal antenna and in particular, to a flat broadband antenna in a supporting structure of a vehicle and more specifically an aircraft, whereby the supporting structure is in particular a supporting system primary structure.
2. Discussion of Background Information
The term "aircraft" relates to all conceivable devices that can be propelled through the air by any drives, devices such as airplanes, helicopters, airships, drones, rockets, and the like. The example of rockets shows that the invention can also relate to aircraft or missiles that are suitable to fly both in the air and in space.
The increasing number of avionic functions in aircraft, in particular in airplanes, also causes the required number of antennae to rise correspondingly. Today, up to 60-antennae systems and more are no longer a rarity. This problem requires new ways of mounting or housing antennae, e g., in airplanes. A potential solution of this problem is the integration of the antennae into the supporting structures of vehicles and/or aircraft.
For the solution of the stated problem it must also be taken into account that the use of future airborne data transmission systems requires a large high frequency (HF) bandwidth because of immense amounts of data. For this reason, increasingly higher frequencies are used. At present, the market largely offers systems in the X or Ku band.
In addition to the demand for a large bandwidth, naturally a long data transmission range is demanded. This can only be achieved by antennae with a correspondingly big aperture or with arrays that are composed of several individual radiators. Airborne pivoting reflector antennae are now available as commercial products. Their housing, however, is usually a problem. Therefore, consideration has also already been given to using parts of, e.g., the airplane surface as a radiating aperture instead of using a relatively big reflector antenna.
Up to now, e.g., an airplane structure has had the exclusive function of fulfilling load-carrying and aerodynamic tasks. The structural surface correspondingly has had to withstand various mechanical loads.
With the expansion of the function of the structural surface of aircraft to act also as an antenna, additional problems arise in terms of the stability of the structures. For electronic reasons, suitable materials must be used for the antennae; thereby, however, the load-carrying function of the structure must not be affected adversely.
For the aforementioned reasons, the experts are increasingly refraining from building or using antennae that stand out from the structure or the outer shell of vehicles and/or aircraft in the form of rods, spirals, horn parts or other shapes. Thus, flow resistances can be diminished, and the danger of purely mechanical damage to the antennae can at least be reduced somewhat.
The mentioned problem led to the development of outside structure conformal antennae and to their alignment with the predetermined form of structures in vehicles and/or aircraft as far as possible or in an optimal, i.e., identical manner.
For the known prior art in this matter, reference is made to a publication by Dipl.-Ing. Robert Sekora et al. with the title "Conformal Airborne Array Antenna for Broad Band Data Link Applications in the X-Band." This treatise essentially shows the differences between conventional and more up-to-date outside structure conformal antenna systems that are closely aligned with the structure—in this case that of airplanes.
Another pertinent prepublication, also by Dipl.-Ing. Robert Sekora, entitled "Strukturintegrierte Flugzeugantenne für Breitbandanwendungen im X-Band." In this publication, the author explains the structural integrability of an array antenna. Furthermore, the structural setup in terms of its electromagnetic function is confirmed.

Outside structure conformal antenna in a supporting structure of a vehicle


A stacked semiconductor chip package comprising a first semiconductor chip having an upper surface, a lower surface opposed to said upper surface, and a plurality of conductive metal lines formed on said upper surface of said first semiconductor chip; a plurality of metal elements each having a first arm portion located on said upper surface of said first semiconductor chip and connected electrically to a corresponding one of said metal lines, a second arm portion located on said lower surface of said first semiconductor chip; and a second semiconductor chip having a lower surface and a plurality of conductive bumps provided on said lower surface, and mounted on said upper surface of said first semiconductor chip in such a manner that said solder bumps of said second semiconductor chip is electrically connected to said corresponding conductive metal lines on said upper surface of said first semiconductor chip.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a stacked semiconductor chip package, and more particularly, to a low profile stacked semiconductor chip package.
2. Description of Related Art
Recent trends in electronics have been developed toward miniaturization, i.e., smaller and thinner chips. To satisfy these demands, chip scale packaging technology and chip stacking technology have been introduced. For a stacked semiconductor chip package, the memory capacity of the stacked semiconductor chip package is doubled if two chips with the same size and capacity are stacked. However, the height of the stacked semiconductor chip package will also be increased, thereby conflicting with the trend of miniaturization.

Low profile stacked semiconductor chip package


A conventional network file server has a file system that permits file attributes and file data to be written in any order. The conventional network file server may also support an asynchronous write protocol, in which file attributes and file data need not be written to disk storage until a client sends a commit request. This asynchronous write protocol has a data security problem if the attributes are written before the data and the server crashes before completing the writing of the data to disk storage. This security problem is solved by adding a file system cache and following a protocol that writes the attributes to storage after writing the data to storage. For example, the attributes and data are stored in the file system cache and are not written down to storage until receipt of a commit request. When the commit request is received, the data is sent first from the file system cache to storage. Then the attributes are sent from the file system cache to storage. Then the file server acknowledges completion of the commit operation. In a preferred embodiment, storage is provided by an integrated cached disk array (ICDA) having a buffer cache and an array of disk drives, and the file system cache is distributed in a plurality of data mover computers interfaced to the ICDA. The addition of the file system cache to solve the security problem also reduces the burden on the buffer cache in the ICDA.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to file servers, and more particularly to a file server providing an asynchronous write capability.
2. Background Art
A popular, industry standard network file access protocol is NFS. NFS Version 2 has synchronous writes. When a client wants to write, it sends a string of write requests to the server. For each write request, the server writes data and attributes to disk before returning to the client an acknowledgement of completion of the write request. The attributes include the size of the file, the client owning the file, the time the file was last modified, and pointers to locations on the disk where the new data resides. This synchronous write operation is very slow, because the server has to wait for disk I/O before beginning a next write request.
NFS Version 3 has asynchronous writes. In the asynchronous write protocol, the client sends a string of write requests to the server. For each write request, the server does a "fast write" to random access memory, and returns to the client an acknowledgment of completion before writing attributes and data to the disk. At some point, the client may send a commit request to the server. In response to the commit request, the server checks whether all of the preceding data and attributes are written to disk, and once all of the preceding data and attributes are written to disk, the server returns to the client an acknowledgement of completion. This asynchronous write protocol is much faster than a synchronous write protocol.

File server having a file system cache and protocol for truly safe asynchronous writes


A silencer panel includes an acoustic absorbing material; and an enclosure surrounding the acoustic absorbing material. The enclosure includes at least one plastic, perforated side wall.

The disclosure relates generally to acoustic attenuation, and more particularly, to a silencer panel and system including an enclosure having at least one plastic perforated side wall.
Noise reduction systems are used on a large variety of industrial machines such as turbomachines to reduce the acoustic impact to surrounding areas. In gas turbine systems, for example, noise reduction systems may be employed in the inlet duct, gas turbine enclosures and barrier walls. Traditionally, to attain the necessary acoustic reduction requirements, silencer panels and acoustically treated walls are used in the noisy areas. One mechanism to reduce acoustic impact is to treat walls with acoustic absorbing material. Another mechanism is to place silencer panels in areas where noise reduction is required, such as a working fluid flow path in an intake system duct to prevent noise escaping.
With regard to silencer panels, each panel typically includes an acoustic absorbing material such as mineral/glass wool positioned by a metal supporting member and surrounded by an enclosure including stainless steel perforated sheets on the sides thereof. The sheets are held together by stainless steel end caps. The stainless steel perforated sheets are typically welded to the supporting members that hold the acoustic absorbing material. The perforated stainless steel sheets hold the acoustic absorbing material intact with the supporting members and propagate the sound waves through the perforations into the acoustic absorbing material. Use of stainless steel enclosures presents a number of challenges. For example, the enclosures are very heavy, and are also difficult and costly to manufacture due to the cost of the material and the need for welding to form the panels. In addition, the steel construction must be welded in place to the surrounding duct and must be custom fit for a particular sized duct.

Silencer panel and system having plastic perforated side wall


A method and apparatus are provided that use narrowband data and wideband data to train a wideband acoustic model.

The present invention relates to speech recognition. In particular, the present invention relates to training acoustic models for speech recognition.
In speech recognition, speech signals are compared to acoustic models to identify a sequence of phonemes that is represented by the speech signal. In most such systems, the comparison between the speech signal and the models is performed in what is known as the cepstral domain. To place a speech signal in the cepstral domain, the speech signal is sampled by an analog-to-digital converter to form frames of digital values. A Discrete Fourier Transform is applied to the frames of digital values to place them in the frequency domain. The power spectrum is computed from the frequency domain values by taking the magnitude squared of the spectrum. Mel weighting is applied to the power spectrum and the logarithm of each of the weighted frequency components is determined. A truncated discrete cosine transform is then applied to form a cepstral vector for each frame. The truncated discrete cosine transform typically converts a forty dimension vector that is present after the log function into a thirteen dimension cepstral vector.
In order for speech decoding to be performed in the cepstral domain, the models must be trained on cepstral vectors. One way to obtain such training data is to convert speech signals into cepstral vectors using a high sampling rate such as sixteen kilohertz. When speech is sampled at this high sampling rate, it is considered wideband data. This wideband data is desirable because it includes information for a large number of frequency components thereby providing more information for forming models that can discriminate between different phonetic sounds.
Although such wideband speech data is desirable, it is expensive to obtain. In particular, it requires that a speaker be in the same room as the microphone used to collect the speech data. In other words, the speech cannot pass through a narrowband filter before reaching the microphone. This requirement forces either the speaker or the designer of the speech recognition system to travel in order to collect training speech.
A second technique for collecting training speech is to collect the speech through a telephone network. In such systems, people are invited to call into a telephone number and provide examples of speech.
In order to limit the amount of data passed through the telephone network, it is common for telephone network providers to sample the speech signal at a low sampling rate. As a result, the speech received for training is narrowband speech that is missing some of the frequency components that are present in wideband training speech. Because such speech includes less information than wideband speech, the models trained from such narrowband telephone speech do not perform as well as models trained from wideband speech.
Although systems have been developed that attempt to decode speech from less than perfect data, such systems have operated in the spectral domain and have not provided a way to train models from less than perfect data. Because the Discrete Cosine Transform that places vectors in the cepstral domain mixes frequency components, and often involves a truncation of features, such systems cannot be applied directly to training cepstral domain acoustic models.
The discussion above is merely provided for general background information and is not intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.

Training wideband acoustic models in the cepstral domain using mixed-bandwidth training data for speech recognition


A mode control circuit receives a row address strobe signal and a column address strobe signal and generates a normal mode signal when the row address strobe signal is received before the column address strobe signal is received. The mode control circuit generates a refresh mode signal when the row address strobe signal is received not before the column address strobe signal is received. A row addressing circuit addresses a first number of rows of data in response to the normal mode signal and a second, greater number of rows of data in response to the refresh mode signal.

The present invention is directed to computer memories and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for refreshing a dynamic random access memory (DRAM).
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a typical DRAM memory cell 10 coupled to a sense amplifier 22. Memory cell 10 includes a capacitance 14 and an FET (NMOS) transistor 18. NMOS transistor 18 has a gate terminal 34 coupled to a word line 38, a first current flowing terminal 30 coupled to a terminal 26 of capacitance 14, and a second current flowing terminal 42 coupled to a bit line 46. The other terminal of capacitance 14 is coupled to a fixed voltage V.sub.x. Bit line 46 is coupled to one input terminal 50 of sense amplifier 22. Another input terminal 54 of sense amplifier 22 is coupled for receiving a reference voltage potential (V.sub.ref). Sense amplifier 22 also includes a feedback line 58 coupled to bit line 46. The data stored in memory cell 10 is determined by the charge on capacitance 14. For example, a +5 volt signal on terminal 26 may indicate a "1," and a 0 volt signal on terminal 26 may indicate a "0."
To read the data stored in memory cell 10, a signal is provided on word line 38 for turning on NMOS transistor 18 and communicating charge between capacitance 14 and bit line 46. The capacitance of bit line 46 typically is much larger than that of capacitance 14, so the voltage on bit line 46 changes only slightly. For example, if terminal 26 of capacitance 14 is at +5 volts, and if bit line 46 is initially at +2.5 volts, then, when NMOS transistor 18 turns on, the voltage on bit line 46 may rise to approximately +2.6 volts. On the other hand, if terminal 26 of capacitance 14 is at 0 volts, then, when NMOS transistor 18 turns on, the voltage on bit line 46 may fall to approximately +2.4 volts. The voltage on bit line 46 is then compared by sense amp 22 to the reference voltage applied to input terminal 54. The reference voltage may be, for example, +2.5 volts. If the voltage on bit line 46 is above the reference voltage, then a +5 volt signal is provided on feedback line 58 for raising the voltage on bit line 46 to +5 volts, thus restoring the signal on terminal 26 of capacitance 14 to +5 volts. Of course, word line 38 must be above +5 volts to charge node 30 to +5 volts. On the other hand, if the voltage on bit line 46 is less than the reference voltage, then a 0 volt signal is provided on feedback line 58 for lowering the voltage on bit line 46 to 0 volts, thus restoring the signal on terminal 26 of capacitance 14 to 0 volts. In any event, the resulting voltage on bit line 46 indicates the value of the data stored in the memory cell to the rest of the system, and the cell voltage is returned to its original condition.
Since the charge on capacitance 14 is used to indicate the value of the data stored in each memory cell 10, and since undesired leakage current slowly discharges each memory cell, it is necessary to ensure that the charge does not dissipate to a level which causes improper operation of sense amp 22. To maintain the charge at the proper level, a special cycle, termed a "refresh cycle," is performed to periodically restore the charge on capacitance 14 of all cells sharing a common word line. The refresh cycle can be simply a normal read or write cycle. That is, a signal is provided on word line 38 for turning on NMOS transistor 18, followed by sense amp 22 generating the +5 volt or 0 volt signal on bit line 46 for restoring the (previously somewhat decayed) charge on capacitance 14.
FIG. 2 is block diagram of a typical DRAM 70 which incorporates a plurality of the memory cells 10 shown in FIG. 1. DRAM 70 includes a plurality, e.g., 16 memory arrays 74A-P, a decode circuit 78, an internal signal generator 82, a multiplexer 86, and a row refresh address counter 90. Each memory array 74A-P includes a plurality of memory cells -0, each located at the intersection of word lines 38A-P and bit lines 46A-P. Only one word line and one bit line are shown for each array, and the corresponding FET transistors and capacitances are not shown for clarity. In this embodiment, there are 256 word lines and 1024 bit lines coupled to each word line per array. Thus, DRAM 70 has a total of 4,194,304 memory cells.
Internal signal generator 82 receives row address strobe (RAS) signals on a line 94, column address strobe (CAS) signals on a line 98, and external address signals on a bus 102. lnternal signal generator 82 provides the external address signals to multiplexer 86 through a bus 110. A mode control circuit 114, which may be a part of internal signal generator 82, determines whether DRAM 70 is in a normal (data reading or data writing) mode or in a refresh mode and provides address select signals to multiplexer 86 through a bus 118 and counter incrementing signals to counter 90 through a bus 122. Counter 90 provides a count value to multiplexer 86 through a bus 128. The count value functions as an address during refresh cycles, thus relieving the programmer of the duty of keeping track of which row to refresh. Multiplexer 86 thus provides the external address or the counter value to decode circuit 78 through a bus 132 in response to the address select signals received on line 118. Decode circuit 78 communicates with memory arrays 74A-P through corresponding buses 80A-P. The phantom line shown in FIG. 2 is not part of the prior art and will be discussed below.
FIG. 3A is a timing diagram showing a typical read cycle for obtaining data from DRAM 70. As usual, address multiplexing is employed to address the 4,194,304 memory cells in DRAM 70. That is, the 22-bit address is supplied in two groups of 11 bits each. Initially, the RAS signal goes low, and 11-bits of the external address (termed the "row address") are supplied on address bus 102 and latched in the DRAM. Thereafter, the CAS signal goes low, and the remaining 11 bits of the external address (termed the "column address") are supplied on address bus 102 to select one of the bit lines coupled to a selected word line. Since the column address has 11 bits, there must be 2.sup.11 bits of data to choose from. That is, at least 2048 separate bits must have been selected, sensed, and refreshed as a result of the RAS signal being activated. Thus, two word lines of 1024 bits each are selected by the row address, one in each of two of the memory arrays 74A-P. Write cycles are handled the same way.
FIG. 3B is a timing diagram showing one method for executing a refresh cycle. In this method, the CAS signal goes low before the RAS signal. Mode control circuit 114 detects the early CAS signal and generates a signal on line 118 so that multiplexer 86 provides the counter value (count N) as the row address to decode circuit 78. Decode circuit 78 decodes the counter value to activate 2 word lines, thus refreshing 2048 memory cells. Mode control circuit 114 also generates a signal on line 122 for incrementing (or decrementing) counter 90 (e.g., to count N+1). Typically, all memory cells are refreshed once every 16 milliseconds. Thus, as long as the programmer executes 2048 CAS-before-RAS cycles every 16 milliseconds, the DRAM will be fully and systematically refreshed, since the eleven-bit counter increments on each CAS-before-RAS refresh cycle. Of course, the programmer may forego the benefit of counter 90, systematically provide external addresses on address bus 102, and refresh DRAM 10 via 2048 normal read cycles every 16 milliseconds.
As technology advances, there is constant pressure to increase the number of normal read or write cycles available per unit of time to provide increased data flow. Accordingly, prior art DRAM's have been modified so that four word lines are activated per cycle (during both normal and refresh cycles) so twice as many memory cells (4096) are refreshed in every refresh cycle. Thus, only 1024 refresh cycles are needed every 16 milliseconds instead of 2048, allowing the DRAM to do useful read or write cycles during the time otherwise occupied by the extra refresh cycles. Unfortunately, almost twice as much power is consumed per cycle, and larger power supplies are needed. Furthermore, as memory speeds increase, the average power consumption becomes excessive, and the memory chips are unable to dissipate the heat without adding complex cooling systems.

Method and apparatus for refreshing a dynamic random access memory


A dithered ring laser gyroscope is mounted upon a support, and a pickoff is positioned between the gyro and the support to produce signals representative of rotation angle between the support and the gyro. A correction means is used to subtract out the effect of the dither from the output signal to the gyro. The correction means includes feedback means in the correction-producing apparatus. That feedback means includes tracking compensation for both gain and phase variation of the pickoff and pickoff electronics. To prevent constant or slowly varying signals from affecting the operation of the apparatus, the invention uses a differentiator or a high pass filter between the compensated output signal and the feedback loops.

This invention pertains to a servo means for correcting the output of a ring laser gyro by removing a properly scaled signal from its output signal to compensate for dithering of the gyro.
A frequent technique for using the ring laser is to superimpose a portion of the two counterpropagating beam modes to produce lines or bars that move across the field of an optical sensor. The optical sensor converts the interference lines or bars into electrical signals that are counted. Periodically, the count is latched, and that count is a measure of the incremental rotation angle sensed by the gyro.
When small angular velocities are measured, the beam frequencies of the two counterpropagating beam modes tend to lock together. To avoid mode frequency locking, it is customary to rock or dither the ring laser about its sensing axis. The dither motion between the ring laser and its mount is sensed, and it is subtracted from the total motion sensed by the ring laser gyro to obtain a measure of some external angular motion.
While the gyro is sensing angular motion, a pickoff, for example a magnetic or piezo-electric pickoff, senses the instantaneous angular position of the ring laser relative to the instrument mount. The sensed signal is converted into a digital signal, and it too is latched to get an instantaneous reading of the angular motion of the instrument relative to the instrument support. The difference between the signal from the ring laser and the signal from the pickoff is a measure of the angular motion of the instrument support about the sensor sensing axis relative to inertial space.
Errors are introduced by changing scale factors in the electronics and in the angular pickoff. Electrical, usually electronic, apparatus are used to modify the signals to compensate for such errors. Other approaches include optical detection which is not sensitive to dither motion. A more cost effective approach, which has been used successfully, consists of digital compensation of the gyro output signal using the system computer. The gyro dither pickoff signal is converted to a digital form which is easily manipulated by the computer. The digital signal is appropriately scaled and phase compensated, and it is then subtracted from the digital gyro counts to form a dither compensated signal. Servo loops in the computer track both the gain and phase of the pickoff signal to maintain their compensation. Unfortunately, when the gyro senses low frequency oscillatory angular motions or constant angular motions, a large signal is channeled through the feedback paths of the gain/phase tracking controller. The presence of such large or low frequency signals disturb the pickoff correction parameters, and it can cause the entire system to be unstable, failing to eliminate the interference of the gyro dither in the output signal of the gyro.

Apparatus for compensating for change in laser gyro dither pickoff scale factor


A display case having lenses mounted in the case that distribute or direct light emitted by fluorescent tubes located near the ends of display shelves toward the shelves in order to provide a more uniform light distribution along the length of the shelves. The lenses facilitate the illumination of items placed on the shelves near the front and middle of the shelves. Light-directing portions of the lenses distribute or direct light emitted from the fluorescent tubes located inside the lenses toward the display case shelves.

The present invention relates generally to lighted display cases, and more particularly to display cases having light sources that direct light toward the display case shelves.
In the past, a variety of shelves have been used inside display cases for the purpose of displaying different items in supermarkets, or other retail establishments. Items for sale are typically placed on top of the shelves in rows or columns. For example, dairy products in a supermarket may be placed on shelves inside a refrigerated display case with the older dairy products, which need to be sold first, located near the front and middle of the shelves where the products may be easily picked up by customers. However, problems are encountered in lighting such products.
Products located near the middle of display shelves are difficult to light when vertical, fluorescent tubes or other lights located near the ends of the shelves are used to light or illuminate the interior of a display case. In such a case, the products located near the lights receive more light or illumination than products located near the front and middle of the shelves. As a result, products near the middle of the shelves are insufficiently illuminated.


A snare drum includes a strainer system which switches the position of a snare wire between an OFF position spaced from a lower drumhead and an ON position in contact with the lower drumhead. The strainer system includes a frame to which the snare wire is attached, and a pair of link mechanisms which are joined to the respective end portions of the frame and attach the respective end portions of the frame to a shell of the snare drum. After switching the position of the snare wire to the ON position, the position of the snare wire with respect to the lower drumhead is adjusted by operating an adjust screw of the second link mechanism.

The present invention relates to a strainer system of a snare drum and a snare drum with the strainer system.
A snare drum includes a cylindrical shell, a pair of drumheads fitted to the upper and lower open ends of the shell, and a snare wire tensioned along the surface of the lower drumhead. The snare wire vibrates when the drumhead is beaten in contact with the snare wire. As a structure for holding this snare wire with respect to the shell, a structure using a belt or a string is known. As defects of this holding structure, the tension of the snare wire and the contact pressure of the snare wire with respect to the drumhead cannot be adjusted separately, and the tension of the snare wire makes it difficult to operate the strainer. If the snare wire is spaced from the drumhead, the tension of the snare wire cannot be maintained, and noise easily occurs from the snare wire. To eliminate these defects, for example, Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 43-22073 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,981,220 each disclose a method in which a snare wire is attached to a frame and the frame is fitted to a shell. However, according to the methods disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 43-22073 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,981,220, the frame is held with respect to the shell by using a belt or a string, so that although the snare wire can be brought into uniform contact with the drumhead, operations for, for example, removing and fitting the frame from and to the shell for replacement of the drumhead are troublesome. To solve this problem, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Utility Model Publication No. 60-163499, Japanese Laid-Open Utility Model Publication No. 60-163500, and Japanese Patent No. 3902213 disclose strainer systems which include a frame holding mechanism for holding the frame with respect to the shell.
When playing the snare drum, to improve the sound response and tone of the snare wire, it is preferable that the snare wire is brought into uniform contact with the surface of the drumhead. However, in some cases of the strainer systems disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Utility Model Publication No. 60-163499, Japanese Laid-Open Utility Model Publication No. 60-163500, and Japanese Patent No. 3902213, the snare wire cannot be made parallel to the surface of the drumhead, and the snare wire cannot be brought into uniform contact with the surface of the drumhead. Therefore, adjusting mechanisms which adjust the positions of a first end portion and a second end portion of the frame with respect to the drumhead are provided corresponding to the respective ends of the frame. According to this type of strainer system, to adjust the contact pressure of the snare wire with respect to the drumhead, it is necessary to adjust the position of the frame by operating the adjusting mechanisms at the two positions. However, this operation is troublesome for a player, and it is difficult to adjust the position of the frame.

Strainer system of snare drum and snare drum with the strainer system