An arrangement for operating a cochlear implant system is described. Stimulation signals are applied to stimulation electrodes in a cochlear implant electrode with an initial signal format using biphasic electrical stimulation pulses. One or more undesired somatic responses to the stimulation pulses are identified. The one or more undesired somatic responses are reduced by selecting an adapted signal format using charge-balanced triphasic electrical stimulation pulses to apply stimulation signals to one or more of the stimulation electrodes.

A normal ear transmits sounds as shown in FIG. 1 through the outer ear 101 to the tympanic membrane (eardrum) 102, which moves the bones of the middle ear 103 (malleus, incus, and stapes) that vibrate the oval window and round window openings of the cochlea 104. The cochlea 104 is a long narrow duct wound spirally about its axis for approximately two and a half turns. It includes an upper channel known as the scala vestibuli and a lower channel known as the scala tympani, which are connected by the cochlear duct. The cochlea 104 forms an upright spiraling cone with a center called the modiolar where the spiral ganglion cells of the acoustic nerve 113 reside. In response to received sounds transmitted by the middle ear 103, the fluid-filled cochlea 104 functions as a transducer to generate electric pulses which are transmitted to the cochlear nerve 113, and ultimately to the brain.
Hearing is impaired when there are problems in the ability to transduce external sounds into meaningful action potentials along the neural substrate of the cochlea 104. To improve impaired hearing, auditory prostheses have been developed. For example, when the impairment is related to operation of the middle ear 103, a conventional hearing aid may be used to provide acoustic-mechanical stimulation to the auditory system in the form of amplified sound. Or when the impairment is associated with the cochlea 104, a cochlear implant with an implanted electrode contact can electrically stimulate auditory nerve tissue with small currents delivered by multiple electrode contacts distributed along the electrode.
FIG. 1 also shows some components of a typical cochlear implant system which includes an external microphone that provides an audio signal input to an external signal processor 111 where various signal processing schemes can be implemented. The processed signal is then converted into a digital data format, such as a sequence of data frames, for transmission into the implant 108. Besides receiving the processed audio information, the implant 108 also performs additional signal processing such as error correction, pulse formation, etc., and produces a stimulation pattern (based on the extracted audio information) that is sent through an electrode lead 109 to an implanted electrode array 110. Along the elongate axis of the electrode array 110 on its surface are multiple electrode contacts 112 that provide selective stimulation of the cochlea 104.
The standard stimulation pulses in cochlear implants are biphasic. As shown in FIG. 2, such biphasic stimulation pulses have a negative half-wave (cathodic phase) and a charge-balanced positive half-wave (anodic phase). The net charge of a given half-wave pulse corresponds to the product of its current amplitude A and its pulse duration T. To ensure that no DC components are transmitted to the auditory nerve, the biphasic stimulation pulse includes an opposite phase half-wave pulse of equal duration and opposite amplitude to the first half-wave pulse. In specific pulsatile stimulation strategies, sequential or parallel pulses can be generated at different stimulation electrodes.
Sometimes, depending on the propagation of the electrical stimulation field and the specific anatomical situation, other nerves may be stimulated inadvertently. Such collateral stimulation can result in unintended side-effects such as twitching of the eye or a burning sensation in the tongue or in the throat. These unpleasant side-effects increase in intensity with increasing charge. In some cases, this situation can prevent setting the stimulation intensity sufficiently high for effective hearing via the cochlear implant. If only one or a few stimulation electrodes are affected, these stimulation electrodes can be deactivated. But this change in the operation of the cochlear implant may have other undesirable consequences for the patient. If a considerable number of or all of the stimulation electrodes are affected, the cochlear implant may not be usable for hearing in extreme cases.
When setting the stimulation parameters in a patient fitting process, the fitting audiologist can try to change various stimulation parameters such as pulse width, stimulation rate and compression to provide a louder auditory sensation and reduce the side-effects. Re-implantation with a cochlear implant with a differently arranged reference electrode also has been attempted by placing separate ground electrodes at very specific locations. EP 0959 943 mentions that facial nerve stimulation is an unwanted somatic effect. US 2012/0143284 also discusses the problem of undesirable facial nerve stimulation and other unwanted side-effects. But throughout these documents this issue is always discussed in connection with extra-cochlear electrodes which are considered the source of these effects.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,601,617 describes selecting complex stimulus waveforms including triphasic pulses based on the "response" of the stimulated tissue. Generally the discussion assumes that this is the perceptive response and there is no mention of mitigating adverse stimulus effects.

Triphasic pulses to reduce undesirable side-effects in cochlear implants


The discharge lamp has a discharge vessel (10) and a socket (20) made of an electrically insulating material. Two electrodes (12, 13) project into the discharge vessel (10), with which electrical lines (16,17) are connected, which are conducted through the socket (20). A first electrically conductive component (22) is connected with the one line (16), and a second electrically conductive component (26) is connected with the other line (17), surrounds the first component (22) and is separated from it by the insulating material of the socket (20). The two components (22, 26), together with the insulating material of the socket (20), constitute a capacitive component, which is switched in parallel between the two lines (16,17), thus preventing or at least reducing the spreading of electromagnetic interference along the lines (16,17).

The invention relates to a discharge lamp, in particular for vehicle lighting systems.
Such a discharge lamp is known from DE 36 03 743 A1. This discharge lamp has a discharge vessel with two electrodes arranged inside. In addition, the discharge lamp has a socket made of electrically insulating material, through which electrical lines are conducted to the electrodes. Discharge lamps are commonly operated at high voltage and it has been shown that electromagnetic interference along the electrical lines to the lamp tends to occur during operation. In DE 43 10 307 it is suggested to place a filter circuit into a housing near the discharge lamp in order to prevent or at least reduce the spreading of electromagnetic interference. The filter circuit has a condenser among other things, which is connected in parallel with the electrical lines to the discharge lamp. However, this additional filter circuit represents a large expenditure and creates additional costs.


A switch-mode self-coupling power device additionally increases a set of high voltage auxiliary winding in the transformer and increases a control circuit and an energy transmitting circuit in the primary side circuit of the conventional circuit. When the load is too low, the control circuit may control the energy transmitting circuit according to the variation of the load so that the voltage of the high voltage auxiliary winding can be transmitted to a controller for operation through the energy transmitting circuit. Therefore, the design of PWM controller (pulse width modulation controller) auxiliary power circuit according to the present invention, which is not limited by the magnitude of a dummy load at the secondary side of the transformer, can conform to international regulations and is a product with industrial purpose and conforming to green mode.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a switch-mode self-coupling auxiliary power device, which is an assistant power device providing an enough voltage power to a controller under a low load.
2. Description of Related Art
According to the tendency of information appliances, in addition to powerful functions and low price, power saving is an important subject. For conforming to the requirement for power saving, many standards have are established; for example, GEEA of Europe stipulates that a power converter for a LCD TV should have a standby power of less than 1 W, and ENERGY STAR of U.S.A. also stipulates that a power converter with an output power ranging between 10 to 250 W should have a no-load power less than 0.75 W. Therefore, when improving the material used by the manufacturer for achieving a power-saving effect, the power converter is also an important key point in power saving. However, when the conventional power supplier containing a PFC (Power Factor Correction) is used with information appliances, conformation to the power saving standards does not always occur, so as to cause a lot of bother.
References are made to FIGS. 1A, 1B and 1C which are schematic views showing the circuits of the conventional power converter. The power converter circuit utilizes an isolation function of a transformer T to divide the transformer T into a primary side circuit 10 and a secondary side circuit 20. A controller 108 in the primary side circuit 10 can control the switch action of a power switch Q10 such that the input electricity may discontinuously pass through the transformer T for providing the secondary side circuit the load.
The controller 108 is used to control the switch action of the power converter. However, the controller 108 needs a supplying voltage to support a normal action of an internal control circuit thereof. As shown in FIG. 1, once the input voltage VIN is applied to the power converter, a voltage will be induced on an auxiliary winding Na of the transformer T, and the induced voltage on the auxiliary winding Na will charge a maintaining capacitor C28 for provision to the controller 108.
In the market, for conforming to the request of power saving, the controller 108 of the power converter mostly uses a variable frequency to achieve the green mode. In other words, when the load of the secondary side circuit is under different conditions, the power converter may be automatically adjusted to have a best frequency according to the variation of the load for achieving a best power saving efficiency. Therefore, when outputting a full load, the power converter may need a high efficiency, and when outputting no load, it may want to lower the loss. However, according to the present technology, when the output load of power converter is very low, the controller 108 always controls the switch behavior of the power switch Q10 in a burst mode such that the power converter can automatically reduce a switching frequency of the power switch Q10 and therefore reduce the loss at low load condition. The switching frequency in no-load is determined by the designer; in some examples, it may even be less than 500 Hz for conforming to the manufacturers' demands.
For current technology, the reason why power saving has a threshold is that the auxiliary winding Na of the transformer T provides the working voltage to the controller 108. Therefore, if some unnecessary dummy loads in the secondary circuit of the transformer T are reduced, for example, reducing the illumination of LED power indicator and adjusting an IC peripheral resistor parameter used in the secondary side circuit of the transformer T, then it may only need the necessary current for maintaining a normal function of IC so as to reduce unnecessary losses. However, this method may induce a voltage lower than the normal working voltage of the controller 108 on the auxiliary winding Na of the transformer T so as to cause a vibration of the output voltage. The reason is since all the energy is transmitted by one identical iron core of the transformer T, when the secondary side current of the transformer T becomes smaller, the induced current of the auxiliary winding Na may also induce a smaller current so as to cause the current charging the maintaining capacitor C28 to become smaller (namely, Vc28 is reduced). Therefore, using the conventional power supplying circuit to supply the controller 108 for power saving will necessarily suffer some congenital limits.

Switch-mode self-coupling auxiliary power device

Li Shin International Enterprise Corporation


A tined implement coupled to front arms of a front end loader includes a hitch quick-coupler mechanism, a body, at least one tine and a plurality of arm coupling brackets. The body is coupled to the quick-coupler mechanism and defines a plurality of apertures each having tine bearing surfaces. The at least one tine is coupled to the body and positioned within one of the tine bearing surfaces. The plurality of arm coupling brackets are coupled to the quick-coupler mechanism. The brackets are rotatably coupled to the front arms of the front end loader.

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
Typically, implements, such as landscape rakes, augers and various blades are arranged to be pulled behind a tractor by attaching the implements to a rear end of a tractor via a three-point hitch. To facilitate attaching the implements to the three-point hitch, commonly a quick-hitch apparatus is attached to a pair of outer or draft links and an upper center link of the three-point hitch. The quick-hitch apparatus has hooks adapted for quick attachment to three-point hitch attachment locations on the implement. Unfortunately, this configuration does not allow for the easy manipulation of the implement once coupled to the tractor.
Additionally, these implements typically have fixed specialized hardware with very defined uses. While it is sometimes possible to use one implement for several tasks, the nature of the farming industry requires safety, flexibility, and efficiency. These requirements lead equipment users to purchase multiple implements for use with their tractors.


A split radio access architecture comprises a packet processing node and one or more baseband processing nodes. The packet processing node receives, from a baseband processing node, first feedback corresponding to air interface congestion between the baseband processing node and a wireless device receiving packets from the baseband processing node. The packet processing node also receives, from the baseband processing node, second feedback corresponding to transport network congestion of a transport interface between the packet processing node and the baseband processing node. The packet processing node transmits user data to the baseband processing node based on the received first and second feedback.

The solution presented herein generally relates to congestion control for any data system with traffic sent between at least two nodes, and more particularly to congestion control for the 5G split architecture concerned with both air interface congestion and transport network congestion. The solution presented herein may also be used for other systems with two or more nodes and a non-ideal data transport between, for example, WCDMA.
The 5G split architecture divides the LTE Digital Unit into 2 nodes: a packet processing unit (PPU) and one or more baseband processing units (BPUs), as shown in FIG. 1. It will be appreciated that the PPU and BPU may also be referred to as the Central Unit (CU) and Distributed Unit (DU), respectively, e.g., as for 3GPP. Each (radio) bearer will have one bearer buffer in the PPU. User data is then scheduled from the bearer buffer in the PPU via one or more BPUs and down to the UE. The difference compared to the traditional LTE eNB is that the 5G split architecture RAN will include a front-haul transport.
The transfer of data over the front-haul is controlled for best performance. This means that the bottleneck buffer is controlled at least when in congestion. Conventional congestion control solutions may achieve a high data throughput, e.g., using multi-leg transfers as with Dual Connectivity, or may be Internet/TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) compatible. Both goals, however, are currently not achievable. Thus, there remains a need for improved congestion control solutions, particularly in split architecture systems.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A chip package for an image sensor includes a first semiconductor chip having a first surface where a photographing device and a first circuit pattern are formed and a second surface that is opposite to the first surface where a second circuit pattern is formed. The first and second circuit patterns are electrically connected. The chip package further includes a second semiconductor chip attached to a second circuit pattern on the second surface of the first semiconductor chip. A printed circuit board faces the second surface of the first semiconductor chip and transfers an electric signal between the first and second semiconductor chips and externally. A housing accommodates the first and second semiconductor chips. The housing allows light to pass through to the photographing device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a chip package for an image sensor and a manufacturing method thereof, and more particularly, to a chip package for an image sensor which reduces the volume of a camera module including an image sensor, a digital signal processor, a memory, and a PCB by combining the above parts into a single package, and a manufacturing method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
An image sensor is a device that changes light indicating an image of an object into an electric signal for each pixel. An image sensor is used for small electronic products capable of photographing still images and motion pictures, for example, digital cameras, mobile phones, PDAs (personal digital assistants), rear view monitoring cameras included in bumpers, and interphones. The image sensor includes a charge coupled device (CCD) and a complementary MOSFET oxidized semiconductor (CMOS). The image sensor is a type of semiconductor chip.
A semiconductor chip is packaged for protection from external shocks, the environment and the exchange of electric signals with the outside. An image sensor chip is connected to a digital signal processor (DSP) to process an electric signal output from the image sensor chip and to a memory to store image information. Also, the image sensor chip is electrically interconnected to a flexible printed circuit board (FPCB) and a hard printed circuit board (HPCB) to exchange electric signals with an electronic device outside a camera module.
FIGS. 1 and 2 are sectional views showing conventional chip packages for an image sensor. Referring to FIG. 1, an image sensor chip 1 is wire-bonded to the upper surface of an HPCB 6 via a metal wire 3. A DSP 7 is electrically connected to the HPCB 6 by being flipchip bonded to the lower surface of the HPCB 6. An infrared (IR) cut filter 9 to cut an unnecessary infrared ray is arranged above an image sensor 2. Since the DSP 7 is located at the lower surface of the HPCB 6, it is difficult to reduce the volume of the chip package so that the miniaturization of electronic products is difficult.
Referring to FIG. 2, the image sensor chip 1 is arranged at the lowermost position of a housing 4. A peripheral part of the upper surface of the image sensor chip 1 is electrically connected to the FPCB 8 via flip chip bonding 1a. The DSP 7 is located at a portion of the FPCB 8 positioned outside the housing 4. Thus, it is difficult to reduce the volume of the chip package and thereby reduce the size of an electronic product, such as a camera, containing the chip package.

Chip package for image sensor and method of manufacturing the same


Cryptography is used to generate a token that both authorizes request processing and establishes constraints on that authorization. A mobile communications device user or client subscribes to an information service of a content provider. A description of the subscribed service is generated. The client applies a digital signature to the description and optionally encrypts the signed description. A token is generated based on the signed description. The content provider presents the token to the request processing entity of a mobile service provider in order to establish trust between the content provider and the request processing entity. The request processing entity decrypts the token and verifies the signature of the client. The request of the content provider is validated through a comparison of the request with the constraints indicated in the decrypted token. Valid requests are processed. For example, a request for location information about the client is fulfilled in order for the content provider to push a local weather report to the mobile device of the client.

Users can subscribe to a service to receive location-sensitive content delivered to a mobile device, such as a mobile telephone or personal digital assistant. For example, based on such a subscription, every day, within a subscription period, whenever certain pre-defined conditions are satisfied, information is transmitted or pushed to the device of the user. For instance, a user or client might subscribe to a service (either via a mobile device, such as a mobile phone or electronic organizer, or from a computer), by visiting a web page of a content provider. The web page enables the user to subscribe to weather forecasts, for example, every day at 8 a.m. The content provider locates the client every morning at 8 a.m. and pushes location-specific content (e.g., a weather forecast at his current location) to his mobile device. Even if the user travels, the user gets weather forecasts for the current location of the user every morning.
For services such as the above to work, two levels of subscription are required, especially if the content provider and a mobile communications link provider (or service request processor) are different business entities. For example, consider the situation where a server that is external to a mobile communications provider (say a server that belongs to weather.com) is the one serving weather content. The client or user registers for the service with the external third party content provider for the location-specific information. Currently, the client would also have to register with the mobile phone service provider so that the mobile phone service provider is aware that the weather application from the third party (weather.com) is authorized to access the client's location information, for example, every day at 8 a.m. Only after both these registrations have been processed, can the daily service be successfully provided.
This scenario does not work with a single subscription. For example, if the client were to register only with the third part content provider, the mobile phone service provider has no easy means of authorizing the content provider. The mobile phone service cannot easily determine that the client did indeed request the subscription and wants the content provider to be provided the client's location information. This is important, for otherwise, a devious content provider might register a hundred end users as clients, and then subsequently sell their location information to unscrupulous third parties.
If, on the other hand, the client registered the subscription only with the mobile phone service provider, unless that subscription percolated down into the appropriate content provider server, the content provider would not commence serving the client. Such a percolation is only practical where the mobile phone service provider has knowledge of, and perhaps a prior business relationship with, the content provider. Therefore, in this case, the customer has lesser control on which content provider to pick to service a given content request. For example, if two content providers, such as, for example, weather.com and cnn.com/weather provide similar forecast pushing services, the mobile phone service provider might favor one over the other (say the first over the second). However, given the nature of the service the client is subscribing to, the client might actually prefer the latter, since the latter offers the client features that are of greater interest to him.
Having to manually provision for a service with two different service providers can be frustrating to clients. Therefore, there is a desire for a simple, efficient and scalable mechanism to transparently handle a two-step subscription process. Preferably, with such a mechanism, the content provider server and the communications service provider Request Processing Entity (RPE) mutually authenticate before an authorization step is performed. For example, the authenticated identity of the remote party or client is used in the authorization step to ensure that the remote party or client is indeed who they say they are. The RPE may be, for example an MPC (Mobile Positioning Center) in North American markets, or a GMLC (Gateway Mobile Location Center) for EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Asia).

Streamlined service subscription in distributed architectures


The present aspects relate to techniques of timing synchronization of audio and video (AV) data in a network. In particular, the techniques for a AV master to distribute AV data encoded with one or more time markers to a plurality of processing nodes. The one or more time markers may be indexed to a precision time protocol (PTP) time stamp used as a time reference. In one technique, the nodes extract the time markers to determine an offset value that is applied to a PLL to synchronize AV data packets at a distribution node or a processing node. In another technique the distribution node or the processing node determines the worst case path, which corresponds to a system offset value. The distribution node then reports the system offset value to the AV master, which in turn adjusts the phase based on the report.

Television broadcasting involves sending video from a broadcast facility for distribution to receivers in a broadcast network. Within a media production facility that sends a television broadcast, video and audio signals from multiple sources may be managed by productions switches and then encoded for transport to a distribution network. A long standing problem for media broadcasting is to tune and sync frequency and phase of a decoder at a media device (e.g., a distribution node or a processing node such as a video receiver) to a master media timing source (e.g., a transmitter at the source of the media transport). Propagation delays due to electrical connections, device processing, and conductor impedance of network links contribute to phase offset at downstream media devices. As the evolution of broadcasting progressed from analog to digital domain and across various protocols (e.g., MPEG-2, Internet Protocol (IP), IPTV, Ethernet), various techniques have been developed to manage the frequency and phase sync. Local clock references, such a program clock reference (PCR) time stamp or a presentation time stamp, provide no reference to real time. Other protocols, such as precision time protocol (PTP), provide time stamps infrequently, and are slow to converge on a precise phase lock due to the low refresh rate of the time stamp values. Compounding these potential problems with time stamps is where multiple unique time stamps may need to be applied independently to over a hundred audio and video feeds, each having different clock rates and phases.
As such, an efficient method for synchronizing the frequency and phase of devices in a media network that distributes audio and video data packets, such as for live broadcast television programming is desirable.


A double filtration sediment control device to improve sediment removal from stormwater. A sheet of filtering geotextile is sewn to form a sleeve and a leading flap. An elongated flat, flexible frame is bent longitudinally to form an arch that is inserted into the geotextile sleeve. After insertion, the frame expands against the sleeve to support the sleeve in an arched orientation with an uphill leg and a downhill leg. The outside of the uphill leg is a first filtering surface, and the inside of the downhill leg is a second filtering surface. The flap is covered with soil to direct water through the device, and the device is anchored with sod staples driven through the flap. The frame provides a height and functional rigidity to the assembly. The second filtering surface may be a finer filter than the first filtering surface.

Field of the Invention
A sediment control device is used to intercept sediment-laden stormwater runoff and to remove the sediment that would otherwise pollute downslope areas and waterways. More particularly, the device includes a frame and a filtering fabric with two filtering surfaces.
Prior Art
Sediment laden stormwater runoff from construction sites is a major contributor to pollution of waterways and receiving bodies of water. The common practice is to treat stormwater runoff from construction sites by installing silt fences around the perimeter of the site and along downstream portions of the site to retain the sediment on-site. Silt fences are often ineffective at controlling sediment loss from sites due to a number of factors including: improper design, improper installation and maintenance or the ineffectiveness of the silt fence device itself. In many cases, the silt fence fabric does not allow proper filtration or becomes clogged and rather than filter stormwater, the stormwater is ponded behind the silt fence causing disruption of the drainage patterns which can lead to further soil erosion, transport of sediment and increased downstream pollution. Another shortcoming of current devices is that they must be removed and replaced during various phases of construction to allow for construction access, leaving the construction sites unprotected.
A typical silt fence consists of a synthetic filter fabric (geotextile) stretched between wooden or metal fence stakes along horizontal control level. The stakes are installed on the downhill side of the fence and the bottom edge of the fabric is trench into the soil and backfilled on the uphill side. The stormwater slowly passes through the fence while depositing the sediment on the uphill side of the fence. Stronger silt fences are created by reinforcing the filter fabric with a wire mesh backing
Another product that is utilized is a sediment filter sock or tube. These devices consist of a tube or sock of permeable netting with an inner core of synthetic or organic filter material. These devices are typically placed In a slight depression that is formed in the ground and secured with wood or metal stakes that are driven through the tubes or are driven behind the tubes and connected to the tubes with wire, ropes or similar devices. Much like typical silt fences these filter socks or tubes can be ineffective due to typical poor flow-through characteristics and difficulties associated with ineffective installations.

Double filtration tension frame sediment control filter


A method of fabricating a semiconductor device and a semiconductor device fabricated by the same method are disclosed. The method includes: depositing a silicon layer containing amorphous silicon on a substrate using any one of a plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) method and a low pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) method; annealing the silicon layer in an H2O atmosphere at a certain temperature to form a polycrystalline silicon layer; forming a gate insulating layer on the polycrystalline silicon layer; forming impurity regions in the polycrystalline silicon layer to define source and drain regions; and activating the impurity regions. Thus, it is possible to provide a semiconductor device, in which the substrate is prevented from being bent and polycrystalline silicon constituting a semiconductor layer is excellent.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of fabricating a semiconductor device and, more particularly, to a method of fabricating a semiconductor device by which a substrate may be prevented from being bent, and a semiconductor device fabricated by the same method.
2. Description of Related Art
Polycrystalline silicon is used in an active device for an organic light emitting display device, normally, thin film transistors (TFTs), which is used to supply current to pixel regions and peripheral driving regions.
In general, the polycrystalline silicon is formed by crystallization of amorphous silicon.
Normally, methods for the crystallization may be largely classified into a low-temperature crystallization method and a high-temperature crystallization method depending on a crystallization temperature, for example, with reference to about 500° C.
An excimer laser annealing (ELA) method using an excimer laser is mainly used as the low-temperature crystallization method. The eximer laser annealing method may use a glass substrate since it is carried out at a crystallization temperature of about 450° C. However, manufacturing cost is high and the substrate is constrained in an optimal size, thereby increasing total cost to fabricate a display device.
The high-temperature crystallization method includes a solid phase crystallization method, a rapid thermal annealing method, and the like. A low-cost annealing method is widely used as the high-temperature crystallization method.
However, since the solid phase crystallization method requires heating at a temperature of more than 600° C. for 20 or more hours for crystallization, many crystal defects are included in the crystallized polycrystalline silicon. Accordingly, sufficient electric field mobility cannot be obtained, the substrate is prone to deform during an annealing process, i.e., a heat treatment process, and lowered crystallization temperature degrades productivity. Because the solid phase crystallization method is also performed at high crystallization temperature, a glass substrate may be used.
Meanwhile, although the rapid thermal annealing (RTA) method may be accomplished in relatively short time, the substrate is prone to deform due to severe thermal shock and the crystallized polycrystalline silicon has poor electrical characteristics.
Consequently, a low-cost high-temperature annealing method may be required to be used upon the crystallization in order to reduce cost to fabricate the active device. Moreover, there is a need for a high-temperature annealing method using an inexpensive glass substrate, by which the glass substrate is not bent and crystallinity is excellent.

Method of fabricating semiconductor device and semiconductor fabricated by the same method


A method includes receiving a command to operate a power load of a power system at a command output power while operating the power load at a reference output power; operating a gas turbine engine of the power system in a maximum regulator mode to increase a power generation of the gas turbine engine when the command output power is greater than the reference output power or in a minimum regulator mode to decrease the power generation of the gas turbine engine when the command output power is less than the reference output power; and coordinating an electric machine power draw from the gas turbine engine with a change in power generation of the gas turbine engine to maintain a rotational speed parameter of the gas turbine engine substantially constant while operating the gas turbine engine in the maximum regulator mode or in the minimum regulator mode.

Certain power systems include a gas turbine engine driving an electrical machine to generate electrical power to drive a power load. For example, when the power system is a propulsion system, the power load may be an electrical propulsion engine. Further, with such a configuration, during operation of the propulsion system it is not uncommon for the electrical propulsion engine to require different amounts of electrical power based on e.g., thrust needs for a vehicle including the propulsion system. For example, the variations in the amount of electrical power required for the electrical propulsion engine may result from the different operating conditions of the vehicle including the propulsion system (such as takeoff, climb, cruise, step-climb, descent, etc. when the vehicle is an aeronautical vehicle).
As noted, the electrical power is drawn from the gas turbine engine driving an electric machine. The inventors of the present disclosure have found that varying a power draw from the gas turbine engine may create speed droops within the gas turbine engine, which may lead to less efficient operation, and in extreme cases stall. Accordingly, a power system, and method for operating a power system, for providing a desired amount of electrical power for a power load of the power system without negatively affecting the gas turbine engine would be useful.

Power system with a coordinated power draw


The multifunctional chopsticks comprise an intelligent control device having a sensor module, a pressure induction module, a timing module, a voice module, a communication module and a power module; the sensor module is arranged at one end of the chopstick body and connected with the timing module, the pressure induction module is arranged on the middle upper portion of the chopstick body and also connected with the timing module; the voice module, the communication module and the power module are arranged at the other end of the chopstick body; the voice module is connected with the sensor module, the timing module and the pressure induction module; and the voice module is connected with the communication module and the power module. The pair of multifunctional chopsticks for children can help the children to use the chopsticks correctly, enables parents to learn about the children's dining habits and obtain specific food information.

Existing chopsticks on current market only have a single function. There are no other functions in addition to pick up food. Parents tend to repeat teaching their children how to use chopsticks properly during mealtime, while since children cannot concentrate and they always focus on some other things during mealtime, the mealtime length could be very long, or children may not like eating because they don't think eating is an interesting thing to do, which has no benefit to children's health, and also increases the burden on parents. In addition, parents usually add salt, sugar, oil, and other seasoning during cooking based on their personal experience, but may not be well informed of the specific food information, or know about children's dining status in details.

Multi-functional chopsticks for children


The disclosure is directed to a memory storage apparatus having a dynamic data repair mechanism. The memory storage apparatus includes a connection interface; a memory array; and a memory control circuit configured at least to: receive, from the connection interface, a write command which includes a user data and an address of the user data; encode the user data as a codeword which includes the user data and parity bits; write the codeword, in a first memory location of the memory array, as a written codeword; perform a read procedure of the written codeword to determine whether the written codeword is erroneously written; and store a redundant codeword of the user data in a second memory location in response to having determined that the written codeword is erroneously written.

Generally, a user data to be written into a rewritable non-volatile memory (NVM) may be encoded into a codeword according to a particular error correcting codes (ECC) scheme. A codeword typically includes a user data to be stored, parity bits which correspond to the particular ECC scheme, and optionally other miscellaneous flag bits. The codeword read from the rewritable non-volatile memory may also be processed by a corresponding decoding procedure to restore to the original user data.
As the NVM is approaching an end of a life cycle, errors may occur during a write process. The NVM would need a way to repair the user data written on the NVM when errors were to occur in order to extend the life of the NVM.
When the NVM is still being tested in the factory, a re-write process which is without any time limit could be implemented if an error is detected. Further, the NVM may re-write an entire row or an entire column while the NVM is still in the factory.
However, once the NVM leaves the factory and is fully operational, the NVM is bound by a factory specification to finish the write process within the factory specification during each write cycle. Moreover, rewriting an entire row or an entire column is not an option since doing such would erase other user data that are already in storage. Therefore, a more sophisticated data repair mechanism used by the NVM while it is fully operational could be used to dynamically repair errors on the fly.

Memory storage apparatus with dynamic data repair mechanism and method of dynamic data repair thereof


A process of forming burned patterns and a burning pattern sheet for use in the process are disclosed, the process comprising forming patterns composed of a burning ink on one surface of a tacky member composed of a flexible base material and an adhesive layer or between both the layers, adhering the tacky member to an article through the adhesive layer, and burning the assembly to form a burned pattern product fixed to the surface of the article.

While production systems are changing into systems of producing many kinds but small amount of products, an identification, which is used for the management of products, semi-products, parts, etc., composed of metals, glass, or burned ceramics, etc., has been required to be excellent in heat resistance and durability and capable of being easily and directly adhered to even a curved surface of a desired article.
Hitherto, as an identification which is excellent in heat resistance and durability and can be directly fixed to an article, there is known a plate type identification composed of a metal, a porcelain enamel, or a burned ceramic. However, in the conventional identification, there are various problems that screwing is required for fixing the identification plate, which makes the fixing procedure troublesome, fixing of the identification plate to a curved surface of an article is difficult due to the poorness in flexibility, and it is difficult to make labels by forming patters in place as occasion may demand.
On the other hand, it is known a process of forming burned patterns by directly coating a pasty ink composed of glass powder, pigment(s), etc., with a binder on an article by a screen printing system, etc., or by once coating the ink on a transfer paper and transferring the coated patterns onto an article, followed by burning the coated patterns. However, in this process, there are problems that coating of the pasty ink on a curved surface is difficult, the amounts of screens, etc., being previously prepared in a system of producing many kinds but small amounts of products become huge, and also a long time and a great deal of work are required in the preparation of them. In addition to the aforesaid problems, in the case of transferring the pattern from a transfer paper to an article, there is a problem that the patterns transferred to the article are liable to fall off.


A power steering fluid system is filled through port (56) in the direction of normal circulation of the fluid (24).

Fluid systems are used in a wide variety of applications, particularly in the automotive field. For example, fluid systems are used to transfer power (e.g., automotive brakes), boost power (e.g., automotive power steering), and provide cooling (e.g., automotive radiator system or air conditioner). Fluid systems use a working fluid to transfer forces used in such applications. When in the confines of a closed loop fluid system, the working fluid is under pressure and is in a liquid form.
When filling a fluid system with a working fluid for the first time, it is important to remove as much air from the system as possible. Traditionally, initial working fluid introduction is performed by first evacuating air from the system through a port using a vacuum or similar device. The working fluid is then introduced into the system under low pressure (e.g., under its own weight). With a standard automotive power steering system, the evacuation and fill procedure can take up to about two minutes or more.
During the filling process, air can sometimes become trapped within the system. In most closed loop fluid systems, the presence of air in the system is undesirable. For example, in power steering systems air can cause the pump motor to burn out prematurely, and in brake systems air can cause decreased responsiveness of the brakes. In an attempt to remove trapped air from the system, a newly-filled system is typically "burped" by running the system through a number of cycles to force air trapped in the system to be brought to the surface of the fluid reservoir. The system is then topped off with an additional amount of working fluid to replace the air that has been removed. It is not uncommon for it to take 4 to 6 hours to adequately burp a closed loop fluid system.

Method and valve for filling fluid system


There is provided a multi-layered thermally conductive sheet having superior thermal conductivity and flame retardancy as well as superior handleability and adhesion even without using any of a halogen-containing flame retardant, red phosphorous, and silicone resin. The sheet includes a first acrylic thermally conductive sheet layer, and a second acrylic thermally conductive sheet layer disposed on one or both surfaces of the first layer. The first layer has an Asker C hardness of 60 or more and is obtained by curing a composition containing a metal hydrate at a content of 10% by volume or more, and the second layer has an Asker C hardness of 50 or less and is obtained by curing a composition containing a metal hydrate at a content of 5% by volume or more. The first layer has half or less thickness with respect to thickness of the whole sheet.

A thermally conductive sheet is used in such a condition that it is arranged to be in contact with a heat-generating body such as electronics. Therefore, a thermally conductive sheet is required to have superior thermal conductivity and high flame retardancy. The flame retardancy is desired to correspond to "V-0" level in UL Flameproof Test Standard UL-94 (Underwriters Laboratories, Inc. Standard No. 94) "flammability test of plastic materials for devices and electronic parts (hereinbelow referred to as "UL-94 flammability test")."
On the other hand, with recent miniaturization and high integration of electronics, requirement for a thermally conductive thin sheet having a thickness of below 1 mm has been increasing. As a binder constituting a thermally conductive sheet, a silicone resin has recently been used. However, there is an indication that siloxane gas generated from the silicone resin causes a contact failure in electronics. Therefore, it is preferred to use a non-silicone resin.
However, it has been difficult for a conventionally-known thermally conductive sheet containing a non-silicone resin as a binder to have a flame retardancy corresponding to V-0 in UL-94 flammability test when the sheet has a thickness of less than 1 mm. In addition, when a thermally conductive sheet is made so thin, the thermally conductive sheet has relatively low strength. Therefore, it has been difficult to simultaneously achieve superior adhesion with electronics, or the like, and handleability of the thermally conductive sheet. Incidentally, it is possible to blend a halogen-type flame retardant (retardant containing halogen) or a red phosphorous with the binder to enhance flame retardancy while the thermally conductive sheet is kept thin (refer to JP-A-2003-238760). However, there is a request of avoiding such a halogen-containing flame retardant by the industrial world in consideration of influence on the environment. In addition, use of a red phosphorous is not always preferable in view of safety.
Related prior arts are disclosed in, for example, JP-B-3283454 and JP-A-63-118392. In addition, a radiating sheet which comprises an elastic substrate and an adhesive layer, each containing a filler having high thermal conductivity is disclosed in, for example, JP-A-11-74667. However, since the adhesive layer constituting the radiation sheet is unvulcanized, it is prone to cause a flame drip in a perpendicular flaming test such as UL-94 flammability test. Therefore, it has been difficult to achieve flame retardancy corresponding to V-0 in UL-94 flammability test when the radiating sheet is made to have a thickness of below 1 mm. Further, the unvulcanized adhesive layer sometimes causes adhesive transfer when the sheet is peeled off from the object since the adhesive layer is unvulcanized. In addition, the radiation sheet disclosed in JP-A-11-74667 has insufficient thermal conductivity because of a low coefficient of thermal conductivity thereof.
In addition, an adhesive tape which comprises an elastic substrate and an adhesive layer, each containing a filler having thermal conductivity and electrical insulation, is disclosed in, for example, JP-B-2003-160775. However, the adhesive tape has a problem of not showing sufficient flame retardancy in UL-94 flammability test. In addition, the adhesive tape disclosed in the document has insufficient thermal conductivity because of a low coefficient of thermal conductivity thereof.

Multi-layered thermally conductive sheet


The present invention relates to a wireless access system, and more particularly, to a method for saving power of a femto base station. The present invention includes obtaining reference synchronization information used in a prescribed area to enable a first femto base station to perform a sleep mode operation, shifting to a sleep mode if a mobile station does not exist within the first femto base station, and enabling the first femto base station to be synchronized with at least one second femto base station belonging to the prescribed area using the reference synchronization information, wherein each of the femto base stations included in the prescribed area achieves synchronization of the sleep mode operation using the reference synchronization information. Accordingly, it is able to minimize power consumption of a femto base station and interference with a macro cell in a wireless access system supporting a femtocell. And, a mobile station within a femtocell is able to perform reliable communications.

In the following description, a femtocell is schematically explained.
First of all, 'femto' indicates a very small unit of 10 to 15. According to the meaning, a femtocell means a ultra-small/low power, home/business indoor base station. The femtocell is used in a meaning similar to that of a picocell but is used in a meaning of a further advanced function. The femtocell is a small cellular base station connected to a wideband router and is able to connect speech and data of the 3G system as well as the conventional 2G system to a backbone network of a mobile communication service provider through DSL link or the like.
The femtocell provides the following advantages.
First of all, many attentions are paid to the recent report saying that a femtocell accelerates the 3G propagation and triggers of extending indoor coverage. It is expected that the number femtocell terminal users will be incremented up to 102,000,000 and that the number of installed access points (AP) will reach about 32,000,000. And, Stewart Callow, first analyst of ABI Research said, "In aspect of technology, the indoor coverage reinforcement of technology such as W-CDMA, HSPDA, EVDO and the like plays a very important role in providing service." And, Stewart Callow also said, "Femtocell performs routing on traffics through IP network to considerably reinforce network quality and capability. Simultaneously, OPEX invested to backhaul dedicated lines by mobile carriers is reduced to provide great benefits in strategic and economic aspects."
The femtocell is able to improve cell coverage and is also able to enhance a quality of voice service. The mobile carriers expect that subscribers will be completely adaptable to 3G by providing data services via femtocells. The femtocell can be called a femto base station (hereinafter abbreviated FBS) or a femto base transceiver station (hereinafter abbreviated BTS).
In summary, the femtocell provides the following advantages.
1. Cell coverage improvement
2. Infrastructure cost decrease
3. New service offering
4. FMC (fixed mobile convergence) acceleration
At least one femtocell is grouped per specific service or region to construct a femtocell group. For instance, a femtocell group granting an access to a specific mobile station only can be called a closed subscriber group (hereinafter abbreviated CSG). A femto base station (FBS) checks a CSG ID of a mobile station and is then able to grant an access to a mobile station having subscribed to a CGS only.
FIG. 1 is a diagram for an example of a network structure including a femto base station (FBS) according to a related art.
First of all, a femto base station is an entity newly added to a conventional network. As the femto base station is used, there are some addable or modifiable matters for an overall network structure. The femto base station directly accesses Internet and is then able to perform almost every function of a base station. Therefore, the femto base station is able to perform almost every function of a general macro base station. Moreover, the femto base station receives data from a general macro base station and is then able to play a role in relaying the received data to a mobile station.
FIG. 1 shows that a femto network gateway (FNG) is added to a conventional network structure. The FNG is able to communicate with an ASN (access service network) gateway and a CSN (connectivity service network). The FNG uses an Rx interface to communicate with the ASN and is also able to use an Ry interface to communicate with the CSN.
The femto base station directly access TCP/IP interne network and is then able to receive a service from the CSN via the FNG. A mobile station connected to the femto base station is able to receive a service of such function as authentication, IMS (IP multimedia subsystem) and the like from the FNG or CSN.
The femto base station is connected to a base station via R1 interface. This indicates that the femto base station is able to receive a downlink (DL) channel of a macro base station. And, the femto base station is able to transmit a control signal to the macro base station.

Method for saving power of a femto base station using sleep period synchronization


A support housing is disclosed for use with a turbocharger. The support housing may have an end wall, a semi-cylindrical protrusion extending from the end wall in a first direction, and a plurality of side walls extending from the end wall in a second direction. The plurality of side walls together with the end wall may form a generally hollow enclosure. The support housing may also include a mounting flange disposed at distal edges of the plurality of side walls, and a center opening disposed in the end wall. The support housing may further include a collection cavity formed at a gravitationally lowest corner of the end wall below the center opening and substantially isolated from the enclosure formed by the plurality of side walls and the end wall, and a gutter passage formed in the end wall and extending from the center opening to the collection cavity.

Internal combustion engines such as, for example, diesel engines, gasoline engines, and gaseous fuel powered engines are supplied with a mixture of air and fuel for subsequent combustion within the engines that generates a mechanical power output. In order to increase the power generated by this combustion process, each engine can be equipped with a turbocharged air induction system.
A turbocharged air induction system includes a turbocharger that uses exhaust from the engine to compress air flowing into the engine, thereby forcing more air into a combustion chamber of the engine than could otherwise be drawn into the combustion chamber. This increased supply of air allows for increased fueling, resulting in an increased power output. A turbocharged engine typically produces more power than the same engine without turbocharging.
A conventional turbocharger includes a compressor wheel centrally disposed within a housing and driven to rotate by a connected turbine wheel. The compressor wheel, turbine wheel, and an associated shaft that connects the two wheels together are supported with the housing by way of one or more bearings. During operation of the turbocharger, these bearings heat due to friction and must be cooled to maintained desired operation of the turbocharger. Cooling of the turbocharger bearings is generally accomplished by way of lubricating oil that is continuously supplied to the bearings.
During normal operation of the turbocharger, the lubricating oil drains under the force of gravity from the bearings down through a support housing and into a sump for recirculation to the bearings. However, in some situations, this natural draining can be hindered. For example, when the engine and connected turbocharger are tilted, some drain paths of the oil can be interrupted, causing oil to pool in undesired locations. The pooling oil, if left unchecked, could result in too little oil within the sump and, subsequently, an inadequate supply of oil to the bearings. In these situations, the bearings can overheat, causing damage to the turbocharger. Additionally or alternatively, the pooling oil, if in contact with rotating elements of the turbocharger (e.g., gears), could result in frothing of the oil, which can also be damaging to the bearings. Further, pooling oil, if in contact with seals, can cause the seals to become ineffective and leak, possibly increasing exhaust emissions or causing other problems.
The turbocharger support housing of the present disclosure addresses one or more of the problems set forth above and/or other problems of the prior art.

Turbocharger support housing having improved drainage


A composite is described having a three dimensional distribution of carbon nanotubes. The critical aspect of such composites is a nonwoven network of randomly oriented fibers connected at their junctions to afford macropores in the spaces between the fibers. A variety of fibers may be employed, including metallic fibers, and especially nickel fibers. The composite has quite desirable properties for cold field electron emission applications, such as a relatively low turn-on electric field, high electric field enhancement factors, and high current densities. The composites of this invention also show favorable properties for other an electrode applications. Several methods, which also have general application in carbon nanotube production, of preparing these composites are described and employ a liquid feedstock of oxyhydrocarbons as carbon nanotube precursors.

This application relates to carbon nanotubes. More particularly, it relates to structures and their preparation containing 3-dimensional distributions of carbon nanotubes, where the number density of the carbon nanotubes per unit volume far exceeds that previously possibly by prior art methods. Our application specifically relates to the preparation of carbon nanotubes on and within a nonwoven network of small diameter interconnected fibers, including novel general methods of carbon nanotube preparation, the structures resulting therefrom, and some selected properties of these novel structures.
Although graphite and diamond have long been known as structures available to elemental carbon, the preparation of carbon structures in the form of C60 and other fullerenes has sparked intense investigation of even more novel molecular carbon structures. An early discovery was that of carbon nanotubes (S. Iijima, Nature 354, 56 (1991)), which are helical microtubules of graphitic carbon. The simplest carbon nanotubes are single-walled, i.e., a tube formed from a graphitic sheet rolled up on itself with a helical pitch and joined seamlessly at the edges. Usually such tubes are capped at the end to afford a closed tubule with a conical cap. Diameters of 10-20 Angstroms are common.
Multi-walled carbon nanotubes are one step up in complexity and consist of a multiplicity of concentric tubes, each formed by closure of a graphitic sheet, with the distance between concentric tubes being about 0.34 nm, which is the spacing between sheets of graphite. Multi-walled carbon nanotubes may contain only 2 concentric tubes, or may contain 50 or more concentric tubes.
The preparation of carbon nanotubes is possible using diverse methods; see C. Journet and P. Bernier, Appl. Phys. A 67, 1-9 (1998), for a review of preparative methods. Electric arc discharge is perhaps the most widely used technique to produce nanotubes and is based on an electric arc discharge generated between two graphite electrodes in an inert atmosphere such as helium or argon. A plasma, with a temperature on the order of 4000xc2x0 K, is created between two closely spaced electrodes and carbon is sublimed from the anode onto the cathode. Normally only multi-walled carbon nanotubes are formed by this method, but if a metal is introduced as a catalyst (e.g., Co, Ni, Fe, Lu, and combinations thereof) single-walled carbon nanotubes also may be formed.
Laser ablation, the first technique used to generate fullerene clusters in the gas phase, may be used to vaporize graphite in an inert atmosphere. In this method a laser beam is scanned across a heated graphite target area over which flows an inert gas such as helium or argon. Carbon species produced are swept by the gas onto a cooled target, e.g., copper. Where the graphite is heated to 1200xc2x0 C., closed multi-walled carbon nanotubes with 2-24 graphitic layers and a length of up to 300 nm were formed. However, when a small amount of a transition metal is added to graphite, single-walled carbon nanotubes are the predominant product. These tend to organize into rope-like crystallites 5-20 nm in diameter and up to several hundred microns long. An advantage of this method for production of single-walled carbon nanotubes is that very little soot accompanies nanotube formation.
High-temperature gas phase decomposition of hydrocarbons also can be utilized to form carbon nanotubes. For example, nitrogen containing 10% acetylene passed over a catalyst of, e.g., Co or Fe at 500-1100xc2x0 C. results in the formation of multi-walled carbon nanotubes. However, encapsulated metal often is found inside the tubes. One feature when using a support of, e.g., silica or a zeolite, is that the carbon nanotubes formed are not covered by amorphous carbon, as is the case with many other methods. In the work of A. Fonseca and coworkers, Appl. Phys. A 67, 11-22 (1998), ion-exchanged Coxe2x80x94Y zeolite was inactive in the formation of carbon nanotubes, whereas Co-impregnated Y zeolite was quite effective in carbon nanotube production. This showed that carbon nanotubes were formed on the zeolite surface, not in the pores, and thus carbon nanotube deposition (being only at the zeolite surface) can be viewed as having only a two-dimensional distribution. This is an important observation to which we shall return.
Carbon nanotubes have received a great deal of attention in part because of their interesting and sometimes unique properties which make them attractive in many potential applications. Their high strength-to-weight ratio makes carbon nanotubes one of the stiffest materials ever made. Whereas traditional carbon fibers have a strength-to-weight ratio about 40 times that of steel, carbon nanotubes have a strength-to-weight ratio of at least 2 orders of magnitude greater than steel. Carbon nanotubes also show outstanding flexibility and elasticity. Theoretical studies suggest a Young""s modulus as high as 1-5 Tpa, and some measurements have provided an average value of 2 Tpa. Being graphitic, one can expect carbon nanotubes to show high chemical and thermal stability. Recent oxidation studies have shown that the onset of oxidation shifts by about 100xc2x0 C. to higher temperatures in carbon nanotubes compared to graphite fibers. Theoretical considerations predict that carbon nanotubes will show high thermal conductivity in the axial direction.
Whether carbon nanotubes are conductors or semiconductors depends upon the helical pitch of the graphitic sheets forming the nanotube. One of the most important properties of carbon nanotubes in this invention is that of field emission of electrons. Because of the small radius of curvature of the end caps in carbon nanotubes, electrons can be easily extracted into a vacuum by a relatively small external electric field. Since carbon nanotubes may be deposited on large substrates, this makes them suitable for applications such as flat panel displays. Compared with other carbon-based cold cathode electron field emission materials, carbon nanotubes have relatively low turn-on electric field and high current density, arising mainly from the high field enhancement factor introduced by their very high aspect ratio and small curvature.
In cold field emission applications, it should be clear that it is highly desirable to obtain maximum electron flux from a given material Where carbon nanotubes are the emission source, it thus follows that what is required are structures having the largest possible number of nanotubes per unit cathode surface area that actually emit electrons. We have previously noted that although prior methods produce large numbers of carbon nanotube deposition in a 2-dimensional distribution, i.e., on the surface of whatever material is used as a substrate, only a very small faction of the carbon nanotubes contribute to electron field emission. Only those carbon nanotubes that are taller than others and therefore at a smaller distance to the anode are subjected to the higher electric field necessary for electron field emission. When the applied voltage is increased in order to raise the local electric field at the tips of those shorter carbon nanotubes, the electric field becomes too high for taller carbon nanotubes causing them to be damaged by overheating because too high a current is forced to flow through too few carbon nanotubes. Using a porous substrate such as silica or a zeolite provides no exception; nanotube formation is limited to the substrate surface and fails to occur within the substrate pores. Clearly, then, what is needed is a substrate which provides the macroporosity requisite for a 3-dimensional deposition of carbon nanotubes. The resulting material has a sponge-like structure with carbon nanotubes distributed throughout the material, rather than solely on the surface. By suppressing the growth of carbon nanotube on the surface of the substrate and allowing carbon nanotubes to grow inside the pores of the macroporous substrate or by removing carbon nanotubes that stick out of the macroporous substrate surface, only carbon nanotubes residing below the macroscopic substrate surface are contributing to the electron emission. This method minimizes the burnout of longer or taller carbon nanotubes as it would occur in the case when carbon nanotubes are allowed to grow only on the surface of the cathode as explained previously. As a result, the number of electrons emitted per unit macroscopic cathode surface area is maximized. Our invention affords just such a sponge-like material using a broad class of substrates with varying properties.
Another important property of the sponge-like carbon nanotube structure described in this invention is the extremely large effective surface area per unit volume as well as per unit weight. This property is highly desirable for electrode applications that require as large an electrode surface area as possible. The sponge-like carbon nanotube can serve as highly effective electrodes for a super-capacitor, a high energy density battery, and a high density catalyst support applications, to name a few.
In particular, our invention uses a 3-dimensional nonwoven network of interconnected randomly oriented fibers as a substrate. Such a substrate has high macroporosity arising from the interstices between the fibers and affords many places where carbon nanotubes can grow. Additionally, the nanotubes grow on the fiber surfaces, generally perpendicular to, but sometimes at an angle to, the fiber axis, so that there results a high density of formed carbon nanotubes per unit volume. We also have provided several methods of producing such carbon nanotubes on our substrate so as to provide several optional preparative methods, each with their own advantages. These preparative methods, even though particularly valuable to production of our sponge-like materials, have general applicability to carbon nanotube formation and may be advantageously utilized with substrates different from ours.

Structures with high number density of carbon nanotubes and 3-dimensional distribution


An abnormality diagnosis apparatus for an electric pump prevents an erroneous decision that a normally functioning electric pump has an abnormality. When a motor is driven by a current of the driving motor using an upper limit current Iα before a predetermined time T1 passes, it is decided that there is a probability that an abnormality occurs in the pump and the decision is reported to an external device when the number of rotations of the motor is less than the lower limit number of rotations set under lower limit temperature of a hydraulic oil. When the motor is driven by limiting the current of the motor by Iβ and Iγ (<Iα) after T1 passes, it is decided that there is a probability of occurrence of an abnormality when rotation of the motor stops and the decision is reported to the external device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an abnormality diagnosis apparatus and to a method for an electric pump which supplies a working fluid to, for example, a driving system of a vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
With regard to this type of an electric pump, in a technique disclosed in, for example, Japanese Laid-open (Kokai) Patent Application Publication No. 2006-25493, protection control for limiting a current value with respect to a pump driving motor is performed based on a component temperature and a continuous operation time so as to prevent an abnormality caused by heat generation.
According to the disclosure of Japanese Laid-open (Kokai) Patent Application Publication No. 2006-25493, the electric pump is controlled such that an actual number of rotations tracks a commanded value of the number of rotations (the target number of rotations) of the pump driving motor given from an external device irrespectively of a state of the pump side. Therefore, in some cases, the actual number of rotations cannot track the commanded value by way of the protection control.
However, conventionally, according to abnormality diagnosis of the electric pump of this type, it is decided whether or not an abnormality occurs based on tracking (deviation) of the actual number of rotations with respect to the commanded value, and therefore, even if the electric pump is functioning normally, there is a probability that erroneous decision that an abnormality occurs is made.
Furthermore, when an extremely high commanded value is given due to, for example, an abnormality to generate a commanded value or a communication abnormality between the external device and the electric pump (motor driving circuit), the actual number of motor rotations cannot track the commanded value, and thus, in the same way as the above, even if the electric pump is functioning normally, there is a probability that an erroneous decision that an abnormality occurs will be made.

Abnormality diagnosis apparatus for electric pump


A nonvolatile memory device includes a floating gate for storing a charge carrier during programming, a program gate coupled to the floating gate and performing programming by injecting the charge carrier induced from the outside during programming into the floating gate, an erasure gate coupled to the floating gate and emitting the charge carrier stored in the floating gate to the outside during erasure to outside, a control gate coupled to the floating gate and controlling an amount of the charge carrier provided from the program gate to the floating gate during programming, and a transistor coupled to the floating gate and verifying the amount of the charge carrier provided form the program gate during programming, the transistor including a channel region and source and drain regions.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device, and more particularly to a nonvolatile memory device. Although the present invention is suitable for a wide scope of applications, it is particularly suitable for reducing a cell size.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Nonvolatile memory devices, such as flash EEPROMs and flash memory cards, are one of the most active areas in research and development throughout the semiconductor industry.
Generally, in using nonvolatile semiconductor memory devices, such as EEPROM and flash EEPROM, as mass storage media, one of the serious drawbacks is a high cost-per-bit of the memories. Furthermore, when the nonvolatile memories are applied to portable products, low power consumption is required to be used in nonvolatile memory chips. Thus, a multibit-per-cell has been studied to lower the cost-per-bit in the nonvolatile memory device.
The data density of a conventional nonvolatile memory lies in a one to one fashion to the number of memory cells. However, since a multibit cell stores two-bit data or more in one memory cell, it enhances the density of data on the same chip area without increasing size of the memory cell.
In order to implement the multibit cell, more than three threshold voltage levels should be programmed on each memory cell. For instance, in order to store two-bit data in every cell, the respective cells must be programmed with four (2.sup.2 =4) threshold levels. The four threshold levels correspond to logic states 00, 01, 10, and 11, respectively.
In the multi-level program, the most critical problem is that the respective threshold voltage levels have a statistical distribution. A typical distribution value is about 0.5V.
When the distribution is reduced by precisely adjusting the respective threshold levels, more levels can be programmed so that the number of bits per cell is increased. A method of programming using repeated programming and verification is generally used to reduce the voltage distribution.
According to this method, a series of voltage pulses are applied to the cells in order to program the nonvolatile memory cell at intended threshold levels. To verify whether a cell reaches an intended threshold level, a reading operation is performed between the respective programming voltage pulses.
During verification, when the verified threshold level reaches the intended threshold level, programming stops. However, the method of repeated programming and verification is not able to reduce the error distribution of the threshold level due to the limited pulse width of a programmed voltage. In addition, since the algorithm of repeated programming and verification is implemented with an additional circuit, the area of peripheral circuits of the chip is increased. Furthermore, the repetitive method prolongs the programming time. In order to solve such a drawback, R. Cernea of SunDisk Co., Ltd. suggested a method of simultaneous programming and verification in U.S. Pat. No. 5,422,842 issued on Jun., 6, 1996.
FIG. 1A illustrates a symbol and circuit diagram of a nonvolatile memory, proposed by Cernea. As shown in FIG. 1A, the nonvolatile memory cell includes a control gate 1, a floating gate 2, a source 3, a channel area 4, and a drain 5.
When voltages sufficient to cause programming are applied to the control gate 1 and the drain 5, a current flows between the drain 5 and the source 3. The current is compared to a reference current. When the current reaches a value equal to or smaller than the reference current, a programming completion signal is produced.
The above-mentioned procedure is illustrated in FIG. 1B. An auto-verification of a programmed condition with same time programming can compensate for the disadvantage of the repetition of the program verification to some extent. However, R. Cernea suggests using neither a separate program gate for programming operation nor a structure having separated paths for programming and sensing (or verifying) current. Moreover, the threshold level cannot be adjusted by a voltage applied to the control gate of the memory cell. Therefore, separate optimization of the operations for programming and sensing is not feasible. Since the programming current and the monitoring current are not separated from each other, it is hard to directly control the threshold voltage of cell.
On the other hand, U.S. Pat. No. 5,043,940, issued on Aug. 27, 1991, discloses a method of executing a multi-level programming where voltages applied to each terminal of the memory cell are fixed while reference currents for respective levels are varied. However, even in this method, as shown in FIG. 1B, the relation between the reference currents for detection and the cell threshold voltages is neither explicit nor linear.
Therefore, the aforementioned prior art such as a current controlled type programming method still has a disadvantage in that a direct and effective multi-level control is not easy.
In order to eliminate these problems, a programming method of a voltage control type controlling the threshold voltage of a cell by means of a voltage applied to the control gate of the cell has been disclosed in copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/542,651, filed Oct. 13, 1995, which is hereby incorporated by reference. According to this method, a shift of the threshold voltage of a cell is identical to a shift of the control gate voltage. Therefore, the threshold voltage is adjusted precisely.
Cell structures of EEPROM and flash EEPROM can be classified into two kinds depending upon the position of a floating gate on a channel region.
One is a simple stacked gate structure in which the floating gate fully covers the channel region and the other is a split-channel structure in which the floating gate covers only a portion of the channel region between source and drain. The channel region without the floating gate is called a select transistor. The select transistor and the floating gate transistor are included in a memory cell and connected in series with each other.
The split-channel type cell is also classified into two types depending upon methods of forming the select transistor; a merged-split-gate and a split-gate-cell.
In the merged-split-gate cell, a control gate electrode of the floating gate transistor and a gate electrode of the select transistor are integrated into one, whereas the control gate electrode of the floating gate transistor and the gate electrode of the select transistor are separated from each other in the split-gate-cell. The select transistor has been introduced to prevent a problem of over-erasure and to make the formation of contactless virtual ground array easily. Besides, the split-gate-cell makes a hot electron injection from a source side easier.
FIG. 2A illustrates a diagram of a conventional nonvolatile memory cell of the simple stacked gate type, and FIG. 2B illustrates a diagram of a conventional nonvolatile memory cell of the split channel type. FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate structures of conventional nonvolatile memory cells together with erasure and programming processes. As shown in FIG. 2A, the simple stacked gate type memory cell includes a control gate 6, a floating gate 7, a source 8, a drain 9, and a channel region 10. As shown in FIG. 2B, the split channel type memory cell includes a control gate 13, a floating gate 14, a source 15, a drain 16, a channel region 17, and a gate 18 for erasure.
Referring to FIG. 2B, since the erasure gate 18 is not needed during the programming operation, each of the conventional cells shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B actually becomes a structure the same as a double polygate structure.
In summary, in considering all of the prior art up to now, since a programming has been executed only with electrodes of the control gate, the source and/or the drain, it is difficult to separate paths for programming and verifying (or sensing) current within a memory cell. Therefore, a direct and effective multi-level control is difficult in memory cell.
While the merged-split-gate cell employs a drain side hot electron injection mechanism as a programming method, the split-gate cell employs a source side hot electron injection mechanism as a programming method. Like other EEPROMs, FN (Folwer-Nordheim) tunneling is employed for erasure.
The split-channel cells, using hot electron injection mechanism, need more power consumption in programming than in tunneling. In hot carrier injection, the merged-split-gate cell cannot easily execute two different kinds of ion injection into the drain region, whereas there are problems in optimizing an oxide film thickness between the select transistor and the floating gate transistor as well as preventing degradation of the read current caused by degradation of the oxide film in the split gate cell.
In the conventional split-channel cell, the electron injection(programming and data writing) has been carried out by hot carrier injection through a gate oxide film adjacent to the channel, and the electron erasure(deletion of data) has been carried out through a third gate, a control gate, or a gate oxide film adjacent to a channel.
Since the nonvolatile memory device disclosed in the previously mentioned application Ser. No. 08/542,651 employs a program gate as well as a gate oxide film for erasure, the gate oxide film must be formed with a thickness of 10 nm or below and requires an additional process for forming the high purity gate oxide film. In addition, ONO (Oxide/Nitride/Oxide) structure is required between the floating gate and the control gate so as not to reduce coupling due to such an erasure method. Thus, by employing the program gate for erasure, writing operations in the polyoxide film is improved.


A radio frequency (RF) identification tag including a substrate, a planar antenna, an RF chip, a plurality of signal conductors and a plurality of ground conductors is provided. The RF chip receives an RF signal from the planar antenna to generate an identification code. The signal conductors are coupled to the planar antenna. The ground conductors, interlaced on two opposite sides of the signal conductors, and the signal conductors are adjacent to each other and disposed on the substrate to form a coplanar waveguide structure which includes an impedance match portion and a transmission portion. The impedance match portion has an input end coupled to the signal conductors and a ground plane coupled to the ground conductors. The RF chip is disposed between the input end and the ground plane. The transmission portion is connected between the impedance match portion and the planar antenna.

1. Technical Field
The disclosed embodiments relate in general to a diaper, an absorber and a wetness sensing system, and more particularly to a radio frequency (RF) identification tag with coplanar waveguide structure, and a diaper, an absorber and a sensing system using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, diapers and urine pads, whether being used by infants, the elder with disabilities, or even the invalid, must be replaced frequently, otherwise the users may be susceptible to diaper rash or skin disease, which may even progress into a urinary tract infection. A long-term care institution, overcrowded with those under care and suffering from a shortage of nursing personnel, is incapable of immediately identifying which of those under care needs to change his/her diaper, and the risk of urinary tract infection is thus increased. On the other hand, a center-wide, manual check-up is far inefficient.
When a conventional disposable paper diaper or paper urine pad gets wet, one must typically touch the diaper or pad to determine whether the diaper or the urine pad is too wet and needs to be replaced. Currently, some paper diapers have a color rendering structure which develops a specific color or pattern when the paper diaper gets wet. One can determine whether to change the paper diaper according to the developed color or pattern without having to touch the diaper physically. For all currently available paper diapers, inclusive of the diapers with color rendering structure, one still has to take initiative to check frequently whether urine wetness is indicated, and this is indeed a great burden and pressure to the parents or caregivers. It is desired to provide a diaper or urine pad system that overcomes these or other disadvantages.

Radio frequency identification tag and diaper, absorber and sensing system using the same

INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH INSTITUTE


An antiperspirant composition in the form of an oil-in-water emulsion includes a PEG-free emulsifier system including selected polyglycerol citrate esters and an N-acylglutamate.

There are numerous possibilities for applying cosmetic compositions onto the skin for skin care and body care. Creams, salves, and lotions are usually taken out of a jar, a tube, or a pump dispenser and applied and rubbed on by hand. Dimensionally stable stick compounds are wiped over the skin out of a stick dispenser until an effective quantity is applied. Gels and creams can also be applied using stick-like dispensers that are wiped over the skin with a dispenser surface. Numerous different application forms have been developed in particular for perspiration-inhibiting and/or deodorizing compositions for the armpit region; besides those already recited, these are chiefly the sprays that include and are free of greenhouse gases, and roll-on compositions. In the case of the latter, a slightly thickened liquid is applied from a reservoir container via a rotatably mounted ball, by rolling it over the skin. Numerous cosmetic active agents, among them the perspiration-inhibiting aluminum salts, are water soluble, and release thereof on the skin could be delayed by oil and fat constituents of the cosmetic. As an entirely aqueous product, however, the product would be almost impossible to dispense and thus would be unacceptable to the consumer. Slight thickening, however, allows such a composition to be used conveniently with a roll-on applicator. Polymeric thickening agents are often employed. A disadvantage here is that in the required concentrations, most polymeric thickening agents generate a very sticky skin feel. In addition, many of these thickeners have no additional cosmetic care-providing effects. Emulsions having a low oil and fat content represent an advantageous alternative to this. Emulsion formation already results in a rise in viscosity even without polymer thickeners, or with only small quantities thereof. The oil and fat portion of the emulsion furthermore provides a skin-care-providing effect.
Unlike microemulsions, emulsions are thermodynamically unstable. The thermodynamically stable microemulsions can usually be stabilized only by a relatively high emulsifier agent concentration. A high concentration of emulsifier agents, however, can in the least favorable case have a skin-irritating effect and is therefore avoided if at all possible. In addition, microemulsions often form only in a very narrow mixing range of the individual components. For cosmetic compositions having multiple constituents, it can therefore sometimes be very difficult in terms of development engineering to establish suitable microemulsion ranges. Emulsions are stable for a certain time because coalescence of the dispersed droplets is kinetically inhibited. This kinetic inhibition can be overcome by storage at high temperatures (relevant in particular for production and marketing in hot countries), or when stored in a context of large temperature fluctuations (e.g. in insufficiently climate-controlled sales areas, when transported over long distances). The high salt concentration in antiperspirant compositions, due to the relatively high concentration of perspiration-inhibiting active agents, can also promote emulsion destabilization (e.g. due to salting-out effects).
Typical antiperspirant roll-on emulsions are stabilized with polyethylene-glycol-including emulsifier agents, in particular with combinations of an emulsifier agent having a low HLB value, such as Steareth-2, and an emulsifier agent having a high HLB value, such as Steareth-20 or Steareth-21. The majority of the deodorant or antiperspirant roll-on formulations on the market having aluminum salts (aluminum chlorohydrates; aluminum zirconium chlorohydrates) in the form of oil-in-water emulsions include ethoxylated (=polyethylene-glycol-containing, PEG-containing) fatty alcohols or fatty acids as emulsifier agents, and propoxylated (=polypropylene-glycol-containing, PPG-containing) oils (usually ethers) as co-emulsifiers. As in other cosmetic sectors, opportunities for replacing EO/PO adducts (EO=ethylene oxide, PO=propylene oxide) are being sought in the deodorant and antiperspirant sector as well.

Peg-free antiperspirant oil-in-water emulsions having improved feel


An air impeller with both sound attenuation and vibration isolation means in a compact assembly. Three muffler chambers are provided preceding the inlet to the impeller each with sound absorbing foam material and vibration isolators are provided at both inlet and discharge sides of the impeller.

This invention related to sound attenuation and vibration isolation in high speed fluid moving devices such as air impellers and the like
It is the general object of the invention to provide a compact assembly of relatively simple design which is highly effective in both sound reduction and vibration isolation and which can yet be manufactured at low cost.


A method for fabricating an external element or a timepiece dial from non-conductive material, by performing or repeating a basic cycle of making a base from a non-conductive, or ceramic, or glass. or sapphire substrate; dry coating the base with a first sacrificial protective metal layer; etching a decoration with an ultrashort pulse laser to a depth at least equal to the local thickness of the first layer; dry coating the decoration and the remaining part of the first layer with a second metal and/or coloured decorative treatment layer; chemically removing each first layer; and before or after chemical removal of each first layer, mechanically levelling on the upper level of the base the compound thus formed.

To fabricate two-coloured components, there is a known method consisting in:                placing a sacrificial protective layer (photosensitive resin, varnish, adhesive, polymer film) over the entire surface of a blank;        selectively etching the protective layer, possibly also etching the substrate;        performing a decorative treatment (galvanoplasty, vacuum deposition, varnish, lacquer);        removing the protective layer (chemical etch, dissolution, ion bombardment, mechanical action).
Unless photosensitive resin is used, the definition of contours is not very good.
Moreover, the material of the sacrificial protective layer may exhibit a degassing phenomenon during any subsequent vacuum treatment, especially to perform the decorative treatment by a metallizing process.
JP Patent Application No. H05156425A in the name of SEIKO EPSON Corp. discloses the forming of a hollow letter, or more generally a pattern, coated with a coloured film, on the surface of a basic material, such as a sintered hard alloy, an alloy of platinum or of white gold, of ceramic, by a dry film forming method. The surface of the material is coated with a coloured film as first layer, a hollow pattern having a depth greater than the thickness of the first layer is formed on the part concerned by laser beam machining, the coloured film having a different composition from that of the first layer is applied as second layer by a dry film forming process, then the first and second layers are removed, except from the area including the pattern.
EP Patent Application No. 3067220A1 in the name of ROLEX discloses a method for decorating a timepiece element, with deep etching of a surface of the element to be decorated using a femtosecond laser; and surface structuring of the surface of the timepiece element to be decorated, these two decorations being at least partially superposed on one another.

External element or timepiece dial made of non-conductive material


A header plate has a central portion in which at least one row of holes are formed. The heat exchanger includes tubes which are fitted in these holes, and each hole is made in a press-formed element which comprises at least two raised elements aligned with each other. The respective dimensions of these raised elements are predetermined, and they are adapted to be pierced individually or in combination by means of perforating tools having different characteristic dimensions in at least the direction in which the raised elements are aligned with each other. Tubes of different dimensions in at least this alignment direction can be introduced into the holes.

The parallel holes, the profiles of which are matched to those of the tubes which are to extend through them, are generally formed in press-formed elements or deformations by means of a piercing operation. In order to manufacture such a heat exchanger, it is necessary to start with a workpiece in the form of a pressing, which may also be referred to as a medallion. In a first step of the operation, this workpiece is press-formed using a first tool, in order to form a set of parallel press-formed elements.
A second stage of the operation is the piercing operation in which the holes are formed. One of these holes is formed in each of the press-formed elements of the workpiece. The forms and dimensions of the holes are matched to the transverse cross section of the tubes which are to be subsequently introduced into the holes. The press-forming operation of the first step in the process is only able to correspond to a single type of tube having preselected dimensions. In consequence, if it is desired to make a heat exchanger having tubes of dimensions which are substantially different from each other, it is necessary to take a fresh workpiece which is innocent of any deformations or press-formed elements, and then to form the latter by stamping with another press-forming tool, the press-formed elements being finally pierced to form the holes using another piercing tool which represents yet another tool.
Accordingly, there is therefore no standard type of header plate in existence that could be matched to the dimensions of tubes having different cross sections.
Consequently, one of the objects of the invention is to provide a header plate which does not have this drawback of the header plates in the prior art.

Header plate for a heat exchanger, especially for a motor vehicle


A hair clip having a first lever member with a first jaw portion, a first actuator portion and an intermediate portion joining the first jaw portion and the first actuator portion; and a second lever member having a second jaw member, a second actuator portion and a second intermediate portion joining the second jaw portion and the second actuator portion. A hinge connects the first intermediate portion to the second intermediate portion and the first and second jaw members are shaped and arranged such that closure movement between the first and second actuator portions produces separating movement of the first and second jaw members. A spring member exerts a separating force between the first and second actuator portions and a closure force between the first and second jaw portions. Attached to and movable with at least one of the first and second actuator portions is a cover mechanism which substantially covers and conceals the spring member.

The present invention relates generally to hair clips and, more particularly, to hair clips formed by pivotable lever members.
Prior art hair clips usually have a first jaw operable by a first opening lever and a second jaw operable by a second opening lever. Intermediate connecting areas of the first and second levers are hinged together to allow the first and second jaws to pivot relative to each other about a transverse axis between an open position and a closed position. A spring urges the first and second jaws into their closed position.
In most such prior art hair clips, the spring is a metal wire coiled around the transverse pivot axis. A first end of the metal wire is extended radially away from the axis and bears against the inside surface of the first opening lever. The second end of the metal wire extends radially away from the axis and bears against the inside surface of the second opening lever. Because the spring is prestressed, its two projecting ends urge the opening levers away from each other and so urge the jaws towards their closed positions. A typical such hair clip is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,549,127. Although, functionally effective, these prior hair clips exhibit certain undesirable characteristics. For example, the employed spring members are unsightly and during use can become entangled in hair.
The object of this invention, therefore, is to provide an improved hair clip with pivotally attached lever members.