An exterior distribution pedestal cabinet includes an enclosure having a top, a bottom and first and second sides extending between the top and the bottom, a door disposed on a front side of the enclosure, a cable management bracket within the enclosure, a plurality of splitter modules mounted within the enclosure at the cable management bracket, a connector holder bracket, a plurality of connector holders mounted at the connector holder bracket; and a pass-through connector adaptor plate.

1. Field
The present invention relates generally to an optical fiber distribution cabinet for use in a passive optical network (PON), and more particularly, to an optical fiber distribution cabinet for interconnecting optical fibers of a feeder cable with optical fibers of one or more distribution cables in the outside plant of a PON.
2. Related Art
For as long as fiber optics has existed, so has fiber management. The most sophisticated networks in the world would be useless if a thin filament of glass could not be properly routed, protected and traced from its origin to its destination. A passive optical network (PON) is a point-to-multipoint, fiber to the premises network architecture in which unpowered optical splitters are used to enable a single optical fiber to serve multiple premises. The PON architecture has gained worldwide acceptance and now underlies much of the growth of the telecommunications industry.
In applications employing PON technology, the difficulties of fiber management are further complicated by optical splitters and by the challenge of managing unknown take rates. In response to this complexity, a new system for managing outside plant was developed: what is commonly known as a fiber distribution hub (FDH).
Generally, a FDH is a simple box that houses multiple optical splitters, and to which multiple subscribers are routed for connection to those splitters. The FDHs are typically designed to be installed outdoors, but recently they have also been installed indoors for vertical multiple distribution units (MDUs). The FDHs are all passive devices (no power required), and most of them can be installed on a pole, on a pad/pedestal, or on top of a vault.
Most U.S.-based PON systems use a cabinet fiber distribution hub (CFDH) or a pedestal fiber distribution hub (PFDH) along with fiber distribution splitters. Although CFDHs and PFDHs meet Telecommunication (Telco) service provider network requirements, the typical FDHs and fiber distribution hub splitters use proprietary splitters and a fixed internal cabling methodology leading to difficulty in service. These FDH splitters typically have input and output pigtails. Due to variation in FDH configuration size and configuration, it is often necessary for a Telco service provider to stock FDH splitters optimized for a specific FDH model. Also, although a fiber distribution splitter may have one package size, there are multiple cabinet fiber distribution hubs and pedestal fiber distribution hubs specific variants with differing pigtail lengths for efficient fiber routing.
With a PFDH currently available in the market, another problem often arises because the connectors in the input and output distribution field are secured behind an interior bulkhead and are more difficult to clean and inspect connectors installed behind input and output distribution fields. In addition, in some of current CFDH or PFDH designs that use F1 and F2, a separate jumper is needed to connect the feeder and distribution cables.
In servicing the FDHs, field technicians frequently need to conduct maintenance or reassign copper or fiber optic circuits in outside plant cabinets. It is desirable that these cabinets have a design feature that holds the cabinet door in an open (maintenance) position or have a design feature that allows these doors to be easily removed and reinstalled to allow the field technician free access to the cabinet interior without interference from the door. There are three common methods to secure a cabinet door in a maintenance position.
First, there is a sliding bar latch with fixed slots to hold the cabinet door in various pre-assigned positions. This approach effectively holds a door in fixed positions but requires a fixed volume within the cabinet. As a practical matter, this design approach is not suitable for small cabinets due to the comparatively large percentage of cabinet interior volume required to implement.
Second, there is a use of removable door. With this method, the cabinet door can be easily removed and re-installable. This design approach is feasible in applications where the field technician is operating at ground level and no functional components are stored on the cabinet door.
Third, a removably attachable tether is used to hold the door open. To use this approach, the field technician must be able to secure the tether to the back of the cabinet or a nearby fixed structure.
Therefore, there is a need for providing external FTTP PON hubs which provide an easy way to configure for different combinations of feeder fiber cables and distribution fiber cables, an easy way to connect service to customers, and means for pass-through connections. Additionally, there is a need for an easy way to route feeder and distribution cables to the ports in the bottom of the external hub. There is also a need for cost-effective way to secure a cabinet door utilizing a minimal cabinet space. The present invention has been made with the forgoing situations taken into consideration.


Jointly encoding signals from multiple sources, by cooperating stations, with retransmission of those jointly encoded signals to receivers. A cooperating station decodes signals from multiple sources, jointly encodes them to form a joint protection signal responsive to the decoded signals from those multiple sources, simultaneously responsive to more than one of them. The cooperating station sends the protection signal to one or more receivers, which use that joint protection signal to decode those signals from multiple sources. More than one cooperating stations can each perform similar tasks. Each of those cooperating stations performs those tasks using a distinct protection code, such as a similar error-correcting code, but with distinct parameters. The cooperative stations use an error-correcting block code, including decoding data and parity values of the multiple signals; computing the error-correcting block code; and sending a differing portion of the computed block code.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to coded cooperative networking; in an aspect of the invention, not intended to be limiting in any way, signals from multiple wireless sources are jointly coded and decoded using multiple wireless receivers, with the effect of improved robustness to channel fades and reduced penalty in bandwidth utilization.
2. Related Art
In communication systems, one known problem is that receivers sometimes receive distorted versions of signals sent by senders. In wireless communication, this can occur because of fading, that is, substantial reduction in the received strength or SNR (signal to noise ratio) of the incoming signal or a portion of its frequencies.
One known solution to fading is called "diversity," in which the same data is sent using separate times, separate frequencies, or separate antennas. While this known solution reduces the effect of fading, it comes with a price: additional bandwidth use that might otherwise have been used for communication capacity. Moreover, in many wireless systems these diversity approaches are relatively inefficient, such as in the event that the maximum delay and bandwidth allowed by the system are relatively small, compared to restrictions imposed by the fading process coherence time and bandwidth.
A second known solution is called "cooperative diversity," in which transmission from a sender to its receivers is received, decoded, and retransmitted by more than one intermediate relay station; with the effect that fading from the sender to its receivers is at least partially overcome. While this known solution further reduces the effect of fading, it still comes with the same price: additional bandwidth use that might otherwise have been used for communication capacity.
Another known technique, used in switching networks, sometimes called "network coding", is performed in a switching network in which a digital message packet might be sent along multiple pathways from a source to a destination. While this technique improves the reliability of communication, it involves a switching network and not a broadcast network, it involves digital data and not analog signal information, and it involves multiple deliveries of the same data and no joint protective code.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide coding and decoding techniques, methods and systems, not subject to drawbacks of the known art.


A packing structure adapted to pack a plurality of objects. The packing structure includes a plurality of first dividing plates and two side plates. The first dividing plates are arranged with intervals to form a plurality of containing spaces. Each of the first dividing plates has two sides opposite to each other, each of the sides has two first inserting slots, and a positioning portion is formed between the two first inserting slots. The two side plates are disposed at the two sides respectively. Each of the side plates has a plurality of positioning slots, and the positioning portions are respectively inserted into the positioning slots of the corresponding side plate. An extending direction of each of the first inserting slots is perpendicular to the corresponding side plate. The objects are adapted to be located in the containing spaces respectively and between the two side plates.

1. Field of the Application
The invention relates to a packing structure and an assembling method thereof, and more particularly, to a packing structure having a plurality of containing spaces and an assembling method thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, along with the increasingly developments of the technology industry, electronic products such as smart phone, notebook computer, table PC, and thin client become more and more popular. The electronic products are developing towards convenient usage, multi-functions and aesthetically pleasing design direction so as to provide users with more option selections.
In general, during the manufacturing or shipment process, electronic devices and components thereof are required to be protected by packing structures before being transported. For environmental protection and cost considerations, the packing structures may be constituted of paperboards; however, since the paperboards are structurally fragile and easily be damaged, how to enable the packing structures to include favorable durability, convenience of assembly and protectively to the electronic products has become important issues for designing the packing structures.

Packing structure and assembling method thereof


Apparatus for providing data available interrupts that have a variable threshold for reading data from a receiver FIFO, and for selecting the depth of a variable depth FIFO for use as either the receiver or transmitter FIFO of a UART. The interrupt circuit determines if the FIFO data level is at or exceeds a preselected threshold value, and if it doesn't, triggers the reduction of the threshold level after a preselected period of time if there has been no access of the FIFO. If the data available level is still less than the reduced threshold value, the threshold value is again reduced by a preselected value following each elapse of a second preselected pause between each resetting of the threshold level until either a data available interrupt occurs, the threshold level is dropped to zero, or the FIFO is accessed. Whenever the receiver FIFO is accessed, the threshold level is reset to the original preselected level. The variable depth FIFO has a plurality of storage locations, and the depth of the storage locations is selected from fewer storage locations than the maximum number to the maximum number of the storage locations.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to data communications circuits and, in particular, to an asynchronous receiver/transmitter (UART), which is operable in alternate modes for use with a variety of CPU's and peripherals, and other applications where first-in, first-out memories are used.
2. State of the Art
Commercially available UARTs include a receiver FIFO memory and a transmitter FIFO memory with each of these FIFO memories, in actuality, comprising two or more FIFO memories each of a selected fixed length and depth to maximize the compatibility of the UART with other devices in different environments.
Similarly, multi-decisional interrupt circuits are included with a FIFO memory to insure the timely reading of the data stored in the FIFO. Each of the decision steps are implemented with a separate interrupt circuit.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,823,312 issued to Michael, et al. discloses a UART that has both of those functions, and more specifically each of the receiver FIFO memory and the transmitter FIFO memory includes a FIFO memory that performs the function of a buffer to store multiple bits of data. The number of bytes stored is selected as a trigger level at which a first of the decisional circuits generates an interrupt to the CPU to indicate that there is data available in the FIFO. With a large block of data, reading and writing continues until eventually the end of the block of data is reached. This results in there being data in the FIFO that is possibly below the selected trigger level. If that happens, there is no way for the CPU to know that there is still data in the FIFO without a second decisional interrupt circuit. Without the second decisional interrupt circuit that data would be lost.
The second decisional interrupt circuit that is incorporated into the prior art is a timing circuit that monitors the length of time since the FIFO has been accessed to either read from it or to write to it. If that time exceeds a selected period, a time-out interrupt is generated to the CPU to read the remaining data in the FIFO.
It would be desirable to have a UART that incorporates a variable length and depth FIFO to provide the maximum variability of the FIFO size to better match it to various applications without increasing the chip size for the overall device. Additionally, it would be desirable to minimize the size of the, and to have one, multi-decisional interrupt circuit to maintain control of the growth of the size of the semiconductor chip that the overall device requires. The improvements of the present invention provide both goals.

Variable sized FIFO memory and programmable trigger level therefor for use in a UART or the like


Methods of forming solder ball contacts having dimensions of approximately 2.5 microns in diameter for use in C4-type connections. The methods form solder ball contacts using selective deposition of solder on metal contact pads of a device. The metal contact pads have exposed portions at the bottom of through holes. The through holes define the dimensions of the exposed portions of the metal contact pads, and serve to limit the dimensions of the resulting solder contact by limiting the area upon which deposition preferentially occurs. Subsequent reflow of the deposited solder forms a solder ball contact. Various devices, modules, systems and other apparatus utilizing such methods of forming solder ball contacts.

The central processing units (CPUs) of most modern day computers are typically provided on large circuit boards (mother boards) populated with various integrated circuit (IC) components, such as microprocessors and memory devices. These components contain integrated circuits formed on semiconductor dies, generally for performing a specific function. The components work in conjunction with one another to perform the various functions of the computer. Contacts on the mother board are connected to contacts on the components by the use of multi-chip modules or directly by conventional means, such as solder. The components are connected to one another by metal patterns formed on the surface of the module, mother board or other support. These metal patterns provide a conduit for data exchange between the components.
There is a constant need for computers that operate at faster rates. In order to accommodate this need, various techniques have developed to increase the rate (bandwidth) at which data can be processed and transmitted. One of these involves increasing the circuit complexity of the integrated circuits which also often results in a larger package for the semiconductor die, and an increase in the number of input/output (I/O) terminals required for the semiconductor die. Since the amount of data that can be accessed from or transferred to a component is directly proportional to the number of I/O lines its semiconductor die contains, increasing the number of I/O terminals directly increases data transfer and processing speed.
Traditionally, semiconductor dies were connected to leads with fine wires (wire bonding). This method of connection was limited by the number of pads which could be placed on the periphery of the semiconductor die. Considerable progress has been made in reducing the semiconductor die pad size, thereby increasing the number of pads. However, this technology is still limited by the number of pads which can be formed on the die periphery, and therefore the number of I/Os on a die is likewise limited. Therefore, other techniques have been developed over the years to increase the number of available I/O terminals and while accommodating alignment problems.
One of these techniques, known as Controlled Collapse Chip Connection (C4), was developed in the 1960s to deal with the problems associated with alignment of semiconductor dies on a substrate. This process also sought to increase the number of I/O terminals which could be made available for each semiconductor die. The C4 process uses solder bumps deposited on flat contacts on the semiconductor dies to form the bond between the semiconductor die and the leads. The contacts and solder balls on the semiconductor dies are matched with similar flat contacts on the leads to form the connection. Once the die is placed on top of the contacts, the entire device is heated to a temperature which melts the solder. As the solder is allowed to set, a reliable bond is formed between the chip and the leads.
One of the main advantages of this process is that the semiconductor die self-aligns itself on the module substrate based on the high surface tension of the solder. In other words, the chip need not be perfectly aligned over the contacts of the substrate. As long as it is in close proximity, the melting of the solder will align the chip with the substrate contacts. The other advantage of this process is that an increased number of I/O terminals can be fabricated for each semiconductor die as bonding pads are not limited to the periphery of the die. This type of bonding process is also often referred to as "flip-chip" or "micro-bump" bonding. The process can be briefly explained with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.
FIG. 1 shows a side view of a semiconductor die 10 and a support 20. The semiconductor die 10 is fabricated with various metal pattern lines and contacts 50 imprinted on its last metal level, as shown in FIG. 2. Formed beneath the semiconductor die 10 is an array of solder balls 30. The support 20 includes metallized paths 60 for carrying signals from the semiconductor die 10 to other elements mounted on the support 20. These paths have contacts which match the contacts located on the underside of the semiconductor die 10. When the semiconductor die 10 is ready to be mounted, it is placed on top of the support 20 above the support contacts. The solder balls 30 attached to the contacts of the semiconductor die rest on the contacts of the support, as shown in FIG. 1. When the device is heated, the solder melts and the semiconductor die 10 self-aligns with the support contacts. The solder later hardens to form a reliable bond between the two sets of contacts. FIG. 3 shows the device after the solder has been heated and set.
Traditionally, the contacts and solder balls have been formed on the semiconductor die using metal mask technology. In this process, a metal mask (essentially a metal plate with a pattern of holes therein) is placed over a substrate containing many semiconductor dies for forming the contacts and solder balls. Then, contact material and solder are evaporated through the holes onto the wafer. The holes in the metal masks must be of sufficient size to prevent warpage and damage of the mask during use. Hence, the number of contacts that can be fabricated through use of a metal mask is limited because the holes in the mask must remain above a minimum size to prevent these problems. Consequently, the size of the solder balls that can be created is similarly limited.
The minimum diameter of a C4 solder ball commonly achieved using current techniques, such as metal mask, is approximately 100 microns. Since the size of the solder balls is directly related to the number and density of I/O terminals that can be fabricated on a given semiconductor die, a decrease in solder ball size would provide for an increase in the number and density of the I/O terminals. This would, in turn, allow for a significant increase in data transmission rates because of the increased number of I/O ports for the packaged IC component.
Hence, there is currently a need for a process for forming solder ball contacts which are less than 100 microns in diameter.

Selective deposition of solder ball contacts


A method to process soft-shelled turtle eggs into fine granules by rinsing and removing foreign matter from eggs, blending eggshells, and egg white and egg yolk; then having the harder eggshells separated from the softer mixture of egg white and yolk, and frozen to be separately ground before having granules of eggshells mixed with that of egg white and yolk ground once again into fine granules of final product.

(a) Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a granulation process of soft-shelled turtle eggs, and more particularly, to one that separates the hard eggshell and the soft egg yolk and egg white to be ground separately and then mix for further grinding and consistently mixed to achieve the fine granules of final product for better meeting the mouth and absorption of nutrients by human intestines.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
Eggs of soft-shelled turtle are believed to contain abundant nutrients. The shell, meat, and even eggs of the soft-shelled turtle have been already completely exploited in the orient. Whether they are cooked alone or added into oriental recipes, soft-shell turtle eggs help maintain one's good health.
Either consumed raw, or soaked into liquor for a certain period of time before being consumed, eggs of soft-shelled turtle can be processed into granules similar to power to facilitate oral taking. Soft-shelled turtle eggs in granules may be added with other natural food to reduce its offensive smell to be more acceptable by both of the adults and kids. Nonetheless, the soft-shelled turtle eggs are best consumed in the form of granules for the human intestines to fully absorb nutrients in the eggs.
In the prior art, eggs of soft-shelled turtle are rinsed, frozen and dehydrated to solidify egg white and yolk before being put into high-speed grinder by rotation. However, harder shells are also ground together with the softer egg white and yolk at the same time. Even having been solidified, egg white and yolk return to their liquid state when heated up by the thermal energy produced in the process of grinding at high speed. Accordingly, as the grinding process continues, shells are mixed with egg white and yolk to prevent shells from being ground into fine granules. It can be easily understood that either the hard shells or the softer egg white and yolk can not be consistently ground into the grain size as desired when both are mixed together for grinding. Therefore, residual larger granules from the shells are found in the final product making it awkward in meeting the mouth while preventing it from being well absorbed by human body.
Egg yolk of the soft-shelled turtle like that found with the ordinary eggs of chicken or duck contains certain fat, which serves as a natural lubricant. When shells of the soft-shelled turtle are crushed in the grinding process, the fat is released and gets accumulated to further prevent them from being ground to the grain size as desired and the soft nature of egg white and yolk further make the grinding process more difficult. Even the repeated grinding process fails to overcome the problem that certain parts of the shells are so stubborn to be ground into the grain size as desired.
To maintain the abundant nutrients contained in the eggs of the soft-shelled turtle and to solve the problem encountered in the grinding process, traders in the industry have been trying very hard to find a solution for consistently grinding both of the harder shells and the softer egg white and yolk into final product in grain size as desired.

Method of processing granulated soft-shelled turtle eggs


An underwater chain stopper and fairlead apparatus for offshore structures, drilling platforms, ships or other vessels. The apparatus comprises a mounting member, a fairlead member and a chain stopper member. The mounting member is attached to an underwater surface of the offshore structure or vessel and includes a bracket for coupling the fairlead member. The bracket may comprise a hinge allowing the fairlead member to pivot in an approximately horizontal plane. The chain stopper member is coupled to the fairlead member through a hinge which allows the chain stopper member to pivot with respect to the fairlead member in an approximately vertical plane. The chain stopper member includes a chain stopper flapper having a horseshoe shaped opening at one end. The other end of the flapper is connected to the chain stopper member through a hinge which allows the flapper to swing between an open position and a closed position. In the open position, the chain links for the anchor chain are allowed to pass by the horseshoe shaped opening on the flapper. The horseshoe shaped opening also includes a chain link seat which stops movement of the anchor chain through the chain stopper member when the flapper is in the closed position. The chain stopper flapper moves to the closed position under the force of gravity to provide a self-locking chain stopper. A latch mechanism is provided for latching the chain stopper flapper in an open position.

Offshore structures, such as floating production and drilling platforms are generally held in place using mooring or anchor chains attached to the floating structure by fixed chain stoppers. The chain stoppers are typically mounted on the deck of the floating structure with a bending shoe at the outboard edge of the deck. In some installations, the anchor chain is then guided down the side of the floating structure to a chain fairlead attached to the structure at or below the surface of the water.
The anchor or mooring chains are deflected below the water surface for two reasons. First, the mooring loads provide better stability and are more easily distributed over the floating structure, the lower the chains are attached to the structure. Secondly, there is less chance of other vessels colliding or hitting the mooring chains, the lower the mooring chains are positioned in the water.
A disadvantage in utilizing a chain fairlead is that the mooring chain must be deflected around the fairlead under extremely high mooring loads that are produced during operation of the floating offshore structure. This leads to premature chain wear and also excessive stress in the chain links.
Accordingly, there still remains a need for an improved chain stopper and fairlead device for mooring offshore platforms.

Underwater chain stopper and fairlead apparatus for anchoring offshore structures


This invention relates to the field of biotechnology, particularly as it pertains to the production of sterols in a variety of host systems particularly plants. More specifically, the invention relates to nucleic acid molecules encoding proteins and fragments of proteins associated with sterol and phytosterol metabolism as well as the encoded proteins and fragments of proteins and antibodies capable of binding to them. The invention also relates to methods of using the nucleic acid molecules, fragments of the nucleic acid molecules, proteins, and fragments of proteins. The invention also relates to cells, organisms, particularly plants, or seeds, or progeny of plants, that have been manipulated to contain increased levels or overexpress at least one sterol or phytosterol compound.

Sterols are a class of essential, natural compounds required by all eukaryotes to complete their life cycle. The types of sterols produced and predominantly present within each of the phylogenetic kingdoms varies. Plants produce a class of sterols called phytosterols. A phytosterol called sitosterol predominates. In animals, cholesterol is typically the major sterol while in fungi it is ergosterol.
Phytosterols from plants possess a wide spectrum of biological activities in animals and humans. Phytosterols are considered efficacious cholesterol-lowering agents (Pelletier et al., Annals Nutrit. Metab. 39:291–295 (1995), the entirety of which is herein incorporated by reference). Lower cholesterol levels are linked to a reduction in the risk to cardiovascular disease. Phytosterols can also block cholesterol absorption in the intestine, which would also lead to lower cholesterol levels. Thus, enhancing the levels of phytosterols in edible plants and seeds, or products derived from these plants and seeds, may lead to food products with increased nutritive or therapeutic value.
In one aspect, this invention provides these desirable plants and seeds as well as methods to produce them. Since, as will be discussed below, the genetic manipulation made possible by this invention involves families of related genes that cross phylogenetic boundaries, the effects are not limited to plants alone.
Biochemistry of Sterol Synthesis
A number of the important sterol biosynthetic enzymes, reactions, and intermediates have been described. Sterol synthesis uses acetyl CoA as the basic carbon building block. Multiple acetyl CoA molecules form the five-carbon isoprene units, hence the name isoprenoid pathway. Enzymatic combination of isoprene units leads to the thirty-carbon squalene molecule, which is the penultimate precursor to sterols.
Throughout plants, animals, and fungus, the reactions proceed as: acetyl CoA_HMGCoA, mevalonate, mevalonate 5 phosphate, mevalonate 5-pyrophosphate, isopentyl diphosphate, 5-pyrophosphatemevalonate, isopentyl pyrophosphate (PIP), dimethylallyl pyrophosphate (DMAPP), PIP+DMAPP, geranyl pyrophosphate+IPP, farnesyl pyrophosphate, 2 farnesyl pyrophosphate, squalene and squalene epoxide
From squalene epoxide, the sterol biosynthesis pathway of plants diverges from that of animals and fungi. In plants, cycloartenol is produced next by cyclization of squalene epoxide. The plant pathway eventually leads to the synthesis of the predominant phytosterol, sitosterol.
Animals go on to produce lanosterol from squalene epoxide, eventually leading to cholesterol, which is the precursor to steroid hormones and bile acids, among other compounds. In fungi, lanosterol leads to the production of the predominant sterol, ergosterol.
An important regulatory control step within the pathway consists of the HMGCoA_Mevalonate step, catalyzed by HMGCoA reductase, and the condensation of 2 farnesyl pyrophosphates_squalene, catalyzed by squalene synthase. An early, reported rate-limiting step, in the pathway is the HMGCoA reductase-catalyzed reaction.
A number of studies have focused on the regulation of HMGCoA reductase. HMGCoA reductase (EC 184.108.40.206) catalyzes the reductive conversion of HMGCoA to mevalonic acid (MVA). This reaction is the controlling step in isoprenoid biosynthesis. The enzyme is regulated by feedback mechanisms and by a system of activation kinases and phosphatases (Gray, Adv. Bot. Res., 14: 25 (1987); Bach et al., Lipids, 26: 637 (1991); Stermer et al., J. Lipid Res., 35: 1133 (1994), all of which are herein incorporated by reference in their entirety).
Another important regulation occurs at the squalene synthase step. Squalene synthase (EC 126.96.36.199) reductively condenses two molecules of FPP in the presence of Mg2+ and NADPH to form squalene. The reaction involves a head-to-head condensation and forms a stable intermediate, presqualene diphosphate. The enzyme is subject to regulation similar to that of HMGCoA reductase and acts by balancing the incorporation of FPP into sterols and other compounds.
The sterol pathway of plants diverges from that in animals and fungi after squalene epoxide. In plants, the cyclization of squalene epoxide occurs next, under the regulated control of cycloartenol synthase (EC 22.214.171.124). The cyclization mechanism proceeds from the epoxy end into a chair-boat-chair-boat sequence that is mediated by a transient C-20 carbocationic intermediate. The reported rate-limiting step in plant sterol synthesis occurs in the next step, S-adenosyl-L-methionine:sterol C-24 methyl transferase (EC 18.104.22.168) (SMTI) catalyzing the transfer of a methyl group from a cofactor, S-adenosyl-L-methionine, to the C-24 center of the sterol side chain. This is the first of two methyl transfer reactions. The second methyl transfer reaction occurs further down in the pathway and has been reported to be catalyzed by SMTII. An isoform enzyme, SMTII, catalyzes the conversion of 24-methylene lophenol to 24-ethylidene lophenol (Fonteneau et al., Plant Sci Lett 10: 147–155(1977), the entirety of which is herein incorporated by reference). The presence of two distinct SMTs in plants were further confirmed by cloning cDNAs code the enzymes from Arabidopsis (Husselstein et al., FEBS Lett 381:87–92(1996), the entirety of which is herein incorporated by reference), soybean (Shi et al., J Biol Chem 271: 9384–9389(1996), the entirety of which is herein incorporated by reference), maize (Grebenok et al., Plant Mol Biol 34: 891–896(1997), the entirety of which is herein incorporated by reference) and tobacco (Bouvier-Nave et al., Eur J Biochem 246: 518–529 (1997); Bouvier-Nave et al., Eur J Biochem 256: 88–96(1998), both of which are herein incorporated by reference in their entirety).
Later in the pathway, a sterol C-14 demethylase catalyzes the demethylation at C-14, removing the methyl group and creating a double bond. Interestingly, this enzyme also occurs in plants and fungi, but at a different point in the pathway. Sterol C14-demethylation is mediated by a cytochrome P-450 complex. A large family of enzymes utilize the cytochrome P-450 complex. There is, in addition, a family of cytochrome P450 complexes. Sterol C-22 desaturase (EC 22.214.171.124) catalyzes the formation of the double bond at C-22 on the side chain. The C-22 desaturase in yeast, which is the final step in the biosynthesis of ergosterol, contains a cytochrome P450 that is distinct from the cytochrome P450 participating in the demethylation reaction. Additional cytochrome P450 enzymes participate in brassinosteroid synthesis (Bishop, Plant Cell 8:959–969 (1996), the entirety of which is herein incorporated by reference). Brassinosteroids are steroidal compounds with plant growth regulatory properties, including modulation of cell expansion and photomorphogenesis (Artecal, Plant Hormones, Physiology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology ed. Davies, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, 66 (1995), Yakota, Trends in Plant Science 2:137–143 (1997), both of which are herein incorporated by reference in their entirety).
One class of proteins, oxysterol-binding proteins, have been reported in humans and yeast (Jiang et al., Yeast 10:341–353 (1994), the entirety of which is herein incorporated by reference). These proteins have been reported to modulate ergosterol levels in yeast (Jiang et al., Yeast 10: 341–353 (1994)). In particular, Jiang et al., reported three genes KES1, HES1 and OSH1, which encode proteins containing an oxysterol-binding region.
The present invention provides a gene, hes1, involved in plant phytosterol production. Expression of HES1 (protein) in organisms, such as plants, can increase phytosterol biosynthesis. The present invention also provides transgenic organisms expressing a HES1 protein, which can enhance food and feed sources.

Nucleic acid molecules and other molecules associated with sterol synthesis and metabolism


The LCD panel includes a first substrate having a first electrode, a second substrate having a second electrode and an opaque area, and a liquid crystal layer located between the first substrate and the second substrate. The opaque area is located within a vertical projection area projected by the first electrode. A protrusion structure is disposed on the first electrode or the second electrode. The protrusion structure is located within a vertical projection area projected by the opaque area. An alignment film is coated on a surface of the protrusion structure such that each liquid crystal molecule in the liquid crystal layer located between the first electrode and the second electrode has a pretilt angle. Through the above method, the present invention can increase the light transmittance, and reduce the number of the mask and the cost.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the liquid crystal display technology and more particularly to a liquid crystal display (LCD) panel and fabrication method for the same.
2. Description of Related Art
An LCD panel is widely used in various electronic display devices, such as a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a digital camera, a computer and a laptop. The electronic display devices are all use high resolution color displays. An LCD panel commonly includes a TN (Twist Nematic) display panel, a VA (Vertical Alignment) display panel, a MVA (Multi-domain Vertical Alignment) display panel or an IPS (In-plane switching) display panel. Wherein, the VA display panel has advantages of high aperture ratio, high resolution, and wide viewing angle such that the VA display panel has been widely used in the large-size liquid crystal display.
However, the VA display panel has not been widely used in the small-size liquid crystal display. As shown in FIG. 1, in a pixel structure of the conventional VA display panel, the pixel electrode 101 on the array substrate is usually designed as a fishbone shape and being divided into multiple domains to improve the viewing angle property. A common electrode 102 on the color filter substrate is a one-piece strip and transparent electrode. In an initial alignment of the liquid crystal molecules, the pixel electrode 101 having the fishbone shape is used for the alignment such that the liquid crystal molecules have multiple pretilt angles in different directions in order to improve the viewing angle characteristic. However, when using the pixel electrode 101 having the fishbone shape to drive the LCD panel to display, the middle area of the pixel electrode 101 generates two dark lines 201 and 202 which are perpendicular to each other as shown in FIG. 2. When the size of the display panel is smaller, the influence of the two dark lines 201 and 202 to the light transmittance is more significant. Therefore, the VA display panel is not suitable for a high resolution, small size, and portable display device.
To solve the above technical problem, the prior art usually utilizes a pixel structure shown in FIG. 3a and FIG. 3b in a small size VA display panel. In FIG. 3a, a display panel comprises an array substrate 31, a color filter (CF) substrate 32, and a liquid crystal layer 33 disposed between the array substrate 31 and the CF substrate 32. A pixel electrode 34 is disposed at a side of the array substrate 31 adjacent to the liquid crystal layer 33. A common electrode 35 is disposed at a side of the CF substrate 32 adjacent to the liquid crystal layer 33. As shown in FIG. 3b, the pixel electrode 34 does not have the fishbone shape structure. For performing the alignment of the liquid crystal molecules, a circular hole structure 351 is disposed on the common electrode 35 of the CF substrate 32. The circular hole structure 351 can generate a wedge-shape electric field such that the liquid crystal molecules can have multiple pretilt angles in different directions. In the pixel structure, the pixel electrode 34 on the array substrate 31 does not have the fishbone shape structure, a dark line is only generated at the location of the circular hole structure 351. Comparing to the conventional fishbone shape electrode, the present invention can avoid the light transmittance from decreasing because of the fishbone shape electrode. However, because the circular hole structure 351 is added at the CF substrate 32, an additional mask is required in the fabrication process to remove a portion of the electrode at the location of the circular hole structure 351 such that the cost is increased.

Liquid crystal display panel and fabrication method for the same

Shenzhen China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd


An apparatus for reducing undesirable powder accumulation on an electrostatic powder coating device is provided. The apparatus includes a pneumatic source for generating a pneumatic supply. The pneumatic supply is received and distributed by a pneumatic distribution device which provides the pneumatic supply to a pneumatic diffuser. The pneumatic diffuser directs a pneumatic stream at the electrostatic coating device such that undesirable powder accumulation on the electrostatic powder coating device is reduced.

1. Technical Field
The present invention generally relates to electrostatic paint application devices, and more particularly to an apparatus and method for reducing undesirable powder accumulation on electrostatic paint devices.
2. Description of Related Art
Electrostatic powder coating is routinely used in industry to coat an object with a paint that is applied in powder form. After the object is coated with a sufficient layer of powder, it is routed to an oven for the application of heat, which converts the powder coating into a homogeneous and strong paint layer as a result of the powder particles melting together, including polymerization.
Electrostatic paint application devices are used to apply powder paint. These devices typically use a rotating cup to disperse powder into a compressed air stream which is directed toward the target, in this case, an automotive body-in-white (an unpainted unadorned metal body). The face of the rotating cup typically has a metal plate, which, when electrically charged creates a corona field. This field is attracted to the closest electrical ground which is, not coincidentally, the automotive body-in-white, which is intentionally given an electric charge.
As powder particles are propelled by air, they pass through the corona field, where they accumulate charged ions. This effectively charges the paint particles. These charged paint particles are then physically, by means of the compressed air stream, and electrically, by means of the difference in charge, propelled to the surface of the body-in-white. However, not all paint particles acquire a charge for a variety of reasons, such as thermal and aerodynamic effects. Some particles thus do not make it to the body in white surface. This is typically referred to as stray powder.
Stray powder can, if not properly controlled, accumulate on the surface of the powder applicator. This powder may accumulate in large quantities and subsequently fall on the rotary bell cap and then onto the coated surface, causing undesirable paint defects. These defects typically require a manual sanding operation in order to remove them prior to application of a top coat (color and/or clear coat). The sanding of these defects generates contaminants, which can be extremely harmful to the appearance of the top coated article, as well as requiring significant labor and expenses. The powder accumulation on surfaces other than the object to be painted also causes numerous production interruptions to allow maintenance personnel to remove the undesired powder deposits, resulting in the reduction of production rates.
Known methods for cleaning the powder applicators described above generally require shutting down the system, manually applying low pressure air, and wiping applicable surfaces with rags to remove the deposits.
In view of the foregoing, it is one objective of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method for reducing undesirable powder accumulation on a powder application device.
It is an additional objective of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method for reducing undesirable powder accumulation on a powder applicator device which is easily assembled and installed.
Additional advantages and features of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent description and claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Air knife blow-off for maintaining cleanliness of rotary powder applications


A method and apparatus for doping a surface of a substrate with a dopant, with the dopant being for example phosphine or arsine. The doping is performed with a plasma formed primarily of an inert gas such as helium or argon, with a low concentration of the dopant. To provide conformal doping, preferably to form a monolayer of the dopant, the gas flow introduction location is switched during the doping process, with the gas mixture primarily introduced through a center top port in the process chamber during a first period of time followed by introduction of the gas mixture primarily through peripheral or edge injection ports for a second period of time, with the switching continuing in an alternating fashion as the plasma process.

Doping refers to the insertion of atoms into a substrate to achieve a change in the substrate material properties. The properties can include, e.g., electrical mobility, index of refraction, surface reactivity, mechanical properties or more specifically electrical band structure. The most common application of doping is the implant of donor and acceptor species into electrical devices such as gate sources and drains. The process of doping can include an atom infusion step followed by an electrical activation step including the application of heat. Plasma doping is an alternative to low energy ion implantation for the doping of fin structures or other non-planar electrical structures on semiconductor substrates being processed. Electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) plasma and inductively coupled plasma (ICP) plasmas have been used for plasma doping. More recently, microwave plasma sources, particularly surface wave based plasma sources have been used for plasma doping. Typically, plasma doping sources employ center and edge gas injection. This central or peripheral gas injection is employed because using gas injection from showerheads opposite the wafer/substrate is difficult to implement in ECR, ICP, or microwave driven sources.
In doping a substrate, problems can arise in providing conformal or uniform doping across the substrate such as where the surface of the substrate is non-uniformly saturated with dopant across the substrate surface. In certain areas excessive amounts of the dopant can be infused which can cause the dopant species to form clusters. Here, clusters refers to bonded multi-atom (>2) groups of dopant atoms formed on the substrate. Clusters may also be comprised of dopant atoms and other atoms such as oxygen. If clusters of the dopant were formed, they could easily be removed or sublimated after deposition when the substrate is annealed as they become volatile at low temperatures (e.g., about 460 C for Arsenic doping). The consequence is loss of dopant in localized regions and the surface resistivity of the substrate will be non-uniform across the substrate. In addition, if certain areas are insufficiently doped, the surface resistivity of the substrate will be non-uniform across the substrate. Further, certain doping techniques can result in excessively high ion energies, which can undesirably damage features formed on the substrate that are being doped. For example high energy ions can damage the corners of a Fin-FET (fin-like field effect transistors), or excessively penetrate into the substrate creating damaged material (silicon fin or gate structures). Although cleaning steps can remove some damage, excessive damage can exceed amounts that will be removed in cleaning steps, e.g., as used as part of masking n and p (donor and acceptor) regions of die.
Doping of non-planar surfaces is also challenging in part because of poor view factors or geometries. Conformal plasma doping typically uses a dopant flux with an isotropic angular distribution incident on the plane of the wafer or dopant flux with an anisotropic angular distribution typically at 30-45 degrees to the surface normal. For example, with conventional 30-45 degree implantation, equal fluxes of dopant are incident on vertical and horizontal surfaces. This is adequate for structures that are perfectly vertical and horizontal and with vertical surfaces that are not shadowed by neighboring vertical surfaces. Surfaces abutting valleys of aspect ratios greater than one or that are adjacent to relatively tall structures, however, receive relatively few dopants. Examples of these structures include Fin-FET devices, vertical NAND Flash memory structures, and CMOS image sensors. In addition, many structures are not planar and do not possess topographies normal or parallel to the substrate. Examples of these structures include image sensors, photonic devices with raised cylindrical structures, silicon nanowires or gate structures with recesses.

Pulsed gas plasma doping method and apparatus


Light flux levels sensed from a color LED array control both current availability to the array and disable/re-enable a current bypass switch to shunt stored-energy current to or away from a selected LED. In continuous mode, a single flux pulse is created for the duration of a pre-established period. Feedback from the flux sensor pulses current to an energy storage device to maintain the light flux at a predetermined set-point. A particular dimming level is achieved by establishing both the pulse period and the flux magnitude. In discontinuous mode, one or more short flux pulses are created. Both the turn-on and the turn-off time of each flux pulse is controlled by alternately removing and then re-establishing a current shunt from the energy storage device to ground. Flux pulse magnitude is controlled by recognizing when the flux pulse has reached a predetermined set-point and re-establishing the current shunt to abruptly turn off current to the selected LED.

Automotive LED application designs, such as LED illuminated micro-display console systems and Head-up Display (HUD) systems, face challenging requirements. These include extended operating temperature range, very wide dimming ratio (ratio of fullest brightness image for full sunlight to lowest brightness image for night darkness), and very tight/high quality color point control requirements.
Typical solutions use LED current as the primary feedback mechanism. Some solutions perform dimming by decreasing either amplitude or duration of current through one or more LEDs.
Texas Instruments DLP® DMD projection technology is a mature technology widely used in numerous display applications, hand held projectors, conference rooms, and digital theaters.

LED drive apparatus, systems and methods


An infant incubator having an infant compartment that contains the infant and which is set to a desired temperature above ambient by the user. The incubator has at least one access door that opens to allow the caregiver to perform an intervention on the infant and which is actively heated when in the open position. Thus, when the access door is again closed, the door is at an elevated temperature with respect to the ambient and less heating energy is needed to return the infant compartment back to the desired temperature.

The present invention relates to infant incubators and, specifically, to an improved incubator having an access door that is heated when in its fully opened position so as to reduce the disruption to the heated environment within the infant compartment when the door is again closed. Infant incubators, in general, provide a unique environment surrounding the infant and create a heated, humidified atmosphere to promote the well-being of the infant contained within the enclosure.
In general, such incubators comprise a base wherein various heating and other air conditioning components are located and which provides the heated, humidified supply of air to an infant compartment that contains the infant.
The infant compartment is normally enclosed by a hood which is transparent so that the caregiver can see the infant and ensure its safety. The temperature within the infant compartment is controlled to be at a set temperature established by the caregiver and it is important to maintain that set temperature constant throughout the time the infant is contained within the infant compartment.
With such infant compartments, however, it is normal to access the infant in order to carry out an intervention, that is to perform some procedure on the infant in furtherance of the care to that infant. At such times, the infant compartment or hood may be provided with one or more doors that allow the caregiver that access to the infant.
In general, the infant compartment has various doors for access to the infant. Generally, there is a relatively large door where total access is needed for the particular intervention and also, there are one or more smaller doors, referred to as handholes, that allow introduction of the arms of the caregiver and are used for lesser interventions and cause less disruption to the internal atmosphere. As used throughout the present description, the term door will be seen to refer to basically any access door to the internal environment of an infant compartment.
Obviously, when any such door is opened, there is an effect on the environment containing the infant since the open door invites the admission of external ambient air which, of course, is not heated and humidified to the extent of the desired atmosphere for the infant. The internal infant compartment environment is thus compromised and heat is lost to the external environment. The amount of heat loss depends, among other factors, on the surface area of the particular door and the amount of time consumed by the intervention. Accordingly, once the particular intervention has been completed and the door closed, the incubator must restore the internal environment of the compartment to the set point temperature as rapidly as possible.
As a further problem with respect to quickly recovering the temperature within the incubator, in general, the doors are swung outwardly and stay in that position until the intervention is completed. Thus the door itself is basically in the surrounding atmosphere which is at ambient temperature and which is lower that the temperature desired within the infant compartment. Whereas the environment within the incubator may be set at, for example, 90-100 degrees F., the ambient in a hospital is more likely to be at about 70 degrees F.
Accordingly, when the door is again shut after completion of the intervention, that door itself can further delay the time needed to bring the infant compartment back up to the desired set temperature since the surface of the door has been reduced to the ambient temperature and that large surface provides a cooling effect on the internal environment when in the closed position. Obviously, the internal atmosphere has been disrupted by having the open portal in the first place, however, the loss of heat is further compounded by returning the now cooled door to the closed position. Normally, when a door is opened, the consequent drop in temperature causes the heater to increase its energy to try to maintain the internal environment at the set temperature. Accordingly, when the door is again closed and is colder than the desired set temperature, the heater has to exert additional energy to maintain the temperature since heat is being lost to the cold door surface.

Heated, opened access door for incubator


This invention is directed to a system and method for monitoring the processes of a document processing peripheral, including unauthorized access thereof. More particularly, this invention is directed to a system and method for monitoring the processes of a document processing peripheral, detecting any unauthorized processes, operations, or usage levels of the document processing peripheral, and then generating a notification of such unauthorized process.

This invention is directed to a system and method for monitoring processes in a document processing peripheral. More particularly, this invention is directed to a system and method for detecting unauthorized processes, operations or usage levels, including unauthorized access to a document processing peripheral, and then sending a notification of such unauthorized process.
The management and control of a document processing device, such as a multifunctional peripheral device, is a major task. It is very important to detect any unauthorized processes being performed on a document processing device, including any unauthorized access by a user to a document processing peripheral, before such process damages or interferes with the proper functioning of the document processing peripheral or associated system. Further, it is also imperative to inform an associated system administrator of such unauthorized process as soon as possible so that corrective action may be taken.
The subject invention remedies the afore-noted problems, and provides a mechanism which monitors the processes of a document processing peripheral, detects any unauthorized processes of the document processing peripheral, and generates a notification of such unauthorized process.

System and method for monitoring processing in a document processing peripheral


A cigarette making machine includes a web roll (8) from which a web W having bands previously formed is drawn, and a suction brake (14) arranged between the web roll (8) and a garniture tape (2) of a wrapping section (6). When a band (B) for a cigarette (C) is out of a proper region (CR), the suction brake increases the tension to be applied to the web W to elongate the web to thereby bring the location of each band (b) back to within the proper region.

In recent years, various cigarettes with a desired property imparted are known. The wrapping paper of such cigarettes has a band for imparting a property, and the band is formed by applying one of materials, which vary in the property to be imparted, onto the wrapping paper.
For example, a cigarette disclosed in PCT Application Published Japanese Translation No. 2001-509366 has a low ignition propensity, and this low ignition propensity is imparted by a plurality of bands. The bands are formed on the wrapping paper, at predetermined intervals along the axial direction of the cigarette.
A cigarette disclosed in the pamphlet of International Publication No. 01/84969 has a property of improving burning by suppressing the production of an undesired substance or aldehyde at the time of ignition. This burning-improvement property is imparted by a single band. Specifically, the single band is formed on the wrapping paper to be located at the distal end (ignition end) of the cigarette.
Further, a cigarette may have a band for improving the taste and flavor thereof, and such band is also formed on the wrapping paper.
In order for a cigarette as mentioned above to fully show its property, it is desirable that a band be formed on the wrapping paper accurately. Particularly in the case of the cigarette disclosed in the above-mentioned pamphlet, unless the band is accurately located at the distal end of the cigarette, the band cannot impart the desired burning-improvement property.
However, in making cigarettes of this type, it is very difficult to locate the band accurately at the distal end of a cigarette. Specifically, the common cigarette making machine comprises a garniture tape for making a web of wrapping paper travel at a fixed speed, a wrapping section, and a cutting section. While passing through the wrapping section, cut tobacco on the traveling web is continuously wrapped in the web, and the wrapping section continuously delivers a resultant tobacco rod to the cutting section. Then, while passing through the cutting section, the tobacco rod is cut to a predetermined length, so that individual cigarettes are obtained.
If the bands are formed on the web at predetermined intervals in advance, and the garniture tape and the web are made to travel in an integrated manner, the common cigarette making machine can make cigarettes having an above-mention band, accurately.
While the tobacco rod is being formed, however, if a slip occurs between the web and the garniture tape, no matter how slight the slip is, the slip causes a band for a cigarette to displace from its desired position, so that the band cannot be accurately located at the distal end of a cigarette.
In order to obviate this problem, it is thinkable, in the cigarette making machine, to relatively change the traveling speed of the garniture tape with respect to the timing of cutting the tobacco rod, or in other words, change the advance phase of each band in traveling relative to the timing of cutting the tobacco rod.
However, in the cigarette making machine, high-speed and stable manufacturing of cigarettes is ensured by keeping the traveling speed of the garniture tape and the timing of cutting the tobacco rod constant. Therefore, it is not realistic to relatively change the traveling speed of the garniture tape or with respect to the timing of cutting the tobacco rod as mentioned above.


A lithography apparatus for performing pattern formation on a substrate includes a stage configured to hold the substrate and be movable, an optical system configured to irradiate the substrate with an energy beam for the pattern formation, and a controller configured to set an arrangement of first and second marks for overlay inspection, which is variable with respect to a first substrate for condition setting, and control the stage and the optical system so that first processing for forming the first mark on the first substrate without the pattern formation and second processing for forming the second mark on the first substrate with the pattern formation are performed based on the set arrangement.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lithography apparatus for performing pattern formation on a substrate, a lithography method, and a method of manufacturing an article.
2. Description of the Related Art
Candidates for a future lithography method (e.g., a lithography method for manufacturing a semiconductor device having a half pitch of 16 nm or less) include multiple electron beam lithography. In the multiple electron beam lithography, there is a concern that a large amount of power (energy) is incident on a substrate (e.g., a wafer). More specifically, it may be difficult to achieve required overlay accuracy due to thermal deformation of the wafer caused by the large amount of power. This concern may also exist in other lithography methods such as an argon fluoride (ArF) (immersion) lithography method and an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography method.
A measure against such thermal deformation includes a technique discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-128196. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-128196 discusses a technique for calculating and storing, from a calculation result of thermal deformation that will appear in a sample by irradiation with an electron beam, data required to correct an amount of deviation that will appear in an irradiation position of the electron beam, and correcting at least one of an irradiation amount and an irradiation position of the electron beam according to the data.
A substrate processing apparatus discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,897,942 measures positions of a plurality of targets (marks) formed on a substrate while it is being moved and processed (drawn). Deformation of the substrate being processed is compensated for through a process of curve fitting the shape of the substrate among the plurality of targets.
In an electron beam exposure method discussed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 05-044172, part of a mark for detecting an exposure deviation of a pattern due to electric charging of a resist has been previously formed by exposure at a plurality of positions within an exposure surface of a base material (substrate). Then, while the substrate pattern is exposed, the other part of the mark is sequentially formed by exposure to overlay the previously formed part at each of the corresponding positions. According to this method, the exposure deviation due to electric charging can be detected by detecting the mark for detecting an exposure deviation.
In the method discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-128196, the thermal deformation that will appear in a sample by irradiation with an electron beam is obtained through simulation. Accordingly, considering that a lithography apparatus forms various patterns for various samples, construction of a model suitable for the simulation and preparation of data therefor are significantly difficult or complicated. There may also be a change in condition, which affects overlay errors that will occur in the process of forming a pattern (a change in condition which reproducibly occurs), other than thermal deformation of a substrate (a change in shape or size by heat). However, the method discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-128196 cannot cope with such a change.
In the method discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,897,942, the positions of the targets on the substrate being processed are measured to compensate for the deformation of the substrate in real time. Therefore, when the deformation is large, it is difficult to measure and compensate for the deformation. Accordingly, only using this method may be disadvantageous in terms of overlay accuracy of a lithography apparatus.
The method discussed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 05-044172 is not sufficient to exhibit the overlay performance of a lithography apparatus because mark exposure positions are limited to specific one spot around a field (a shot) and there is no degree of freedom in the arrangement or the number of the mark exposure positions.

Lithography apparatus, lithography method, and method of manufacturing article


A solvent recovery system for an oil and grease test collects and condenses solvent vapors to recover solvent. A vessel having an inlet for sealingly receiving an outlet of a separatory funnel receives solvent from the separatory funnel. The solvent is filtered through a filter paper placed in a funnel integral with the vessel. The funnel has a lower tubular section protruding from the vessel. A vapor return tube, integral with the vessel, surrounds the tubular section providing an annular space between an inside wall of the vapor return tube and an outside wall of the tubular section. Filtrate flows downward through the funnel tubular section into an evaporation flask, where the solvent is heated and evaporated leaving an oil and grease residue. Solvent vapors flow upward through the annular space within the vapor return tube into the vessel. A condenser, integral with the vessel, receives and condenses the vapors forming a condensate that is collected in a solvent recovery flask.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an oil and grease analysis for wastewater, and more particularly, to recovery of solvent used in the oil and grease analysis.
2. Description of the Related Art
Wastewater discharged from industrial and municipal wastewater treatment plants is typically tested for oil and grease content. A standard method used in performing this test involves the intimate mixing of a sample of wastewater with a solvent for extracting oil and grease from the wastewater sample. The solvent presently used is heavier than water and readily separate from the water, settling to the bottom of the mixing vessel. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the mixing vessel used is typically a separatory funnel SF. The solvent and extracted oil and grease is filtered through a filter paper FP in a filter funnel FF and collected in a clean, dry collection flask CF of known weight. The solvent is evaporated in a hood H with solvent passing into the atmosphere via an exhaust opening EO, and the dry flask CF is then weighed again. The difference in the weight of flask CF is the oil and grease content, which remains in flask CF as a residue after the solvent is evaporated. The difference in the two weights, expressed as a ratio to the original sample weight, is the percentage of oil and grease in the wastewater.
Presently, the oil and grease tests are conducted according to United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Methods 413.1 or 5520B. The solvent used for Methods 413.1 or 5520B is a trichlorotrifluoroethane specifically, 1,1,2-trichloro-1,2,2-trifluoroethane, available from E. I. DuPont de Nemours & Company under the registered trademark FREON (referred to hereinafter as "chlorofluorocarbon"). Chlorofluorocarbon has been widely used as an effective solvent useful in the determination of oil and grease because of its solvent power for oils, greases, waxes and the like. However, chlorofluorocarbons in the atmosphere have been identified as a primary contributor to the degradation of an ozone layer in the earth's upper atmosphere. Chlorofluorocarbon is also quite expensive. So ongoing wastewater analysis for oil and grease content is somewhat expensive because the chlorofluorocarbon is evaporated to the atmosphere.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,294,553, assigned on its face to the EPA, is incorporated by reference herein for all purposes. The '553 patent discloses a review of technology available for the gravimetric determination of oil and grease. The EPA has recently published a Method 1664 which replaces chlorofluorocarbon in oil and grease analysis, with hexane as the solvent. Paragraphs 6.6 and 11.4 of Method 1664 call for recovering solvent during solvent evaporation using a distilling head claisen, a distilling adapter and a solvent collection flask. However, in this Method 1664, before the step of evaporation, hexane is drained openly from a separatory funnel through a filter funnel into a boiling flask. During this filtration step, solvent evaporates into the atmosphere, which both potentially exposes the analyst to the vapors and contributes to solvent losses. Consequently, a need remains for an apparatus and method for conducting oil and grease analyses, while minimizing solvent losses to the atmosphere.

Apparatus and method for recovering solvent


A field emission display includes: a cathode electrode (17); an anode electrode (20); a gate electrode (19) arranged between the cathode electrode and the anode electrode; a carbon nanotube array (15) electrically connected to the cathode electrode at a first end; and a spacer (14) insulatively separating the gate electrode from the cathode electrode. A second opposite end of the carbon nanotube array is flush with a top end of the spacer. An intermediate layer (11) having a precisely controllable thickness is arranged between the gate electrode and the spacer. The distance between the gate electrode and the carbon nanotube array is mainly controlled by the thickness of the intermediate layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to field emission displays, and particularly to a carbon nanotube-based field emission display.
2. Description of Related Art
Carbon nanotubes are very small tube-shaped structures having the composition of a graphite sheet rolled into a tube. Carbon nanotubes produced by arc discharge between graphite rods were first discovered and reported in an article by Sumio Iijima entitled "Helical Microtubules of Graphitic Carbon" (Nature, Vol. 354, Nov. 7, 1991, pp. 56-58). Carbon nanotubes are electrically conductive along their length, are chemically stable, and can have very small diameters (much less than 100 nanometers) and large aspect ratios (length/diameter). Due to these and other properties, it has been suggested that carbon nanotubes can play an important role in field emission display devices.
Referring to FIG. 14, U.S. Pat. No. 6,339,281 discloses a method for making a triode-structure carbon nanotube-based field emission display. The method comprises the steps of:    (1) forming a cathode electrode 2, a gate insulation layer 3 and a gate electrode 4 in sequence on a glass substrate 1;    (2) forming a gate opening (not labeled) in the gate electrode 4;    (3) forming a micro-cavity (not labeled) in the gate insulation layer 3;    (4) forming a separation layer 7 on the gate electrode 4 and forming a base layer 8 and 8′ on the separation layer 7;    (5) forming a catalyst layer 9 and 9′ on the base layer 8 and 8′; and    (6) forming a non-reactive layer 5 on the catalyst layer 9′ outside the micro-cavity; and growing carbon nanotubes 6 on the catalyst layer 9 within the micro-cavity by chemical vapor deposition.
However, in practice, there are the following persistent problems in fabricating carbon nanotube-based field emission displays by chemical vapor deposition:    1. In order to achieve a uniform illuminance, a distance between gate electrodes and carbon nanotubes should be kept uniformly constant over a large display area. However, it is difficult to assure desired uniformity of heights of the carbon nanotubes over a large area by chemical vapor deposition.    2. In order to lower a threshold voltage of the gate electrodes, the distance between the gate electrodes and the carbon nanotubes should be as little as possible. However, it is difficult to precisely control a height of the carbon nanotubes to a micro-scale level by chemical vapor deposition.    3. A carbon nanotube array formed by chemical vapor deposition invariably contains a layer of randomly distributed carbon nanotubes, catalyst particles and tiny amount of amorphous carbon, which impair field emission performance of the carbon nanotube arrays and reduce the field emission display's product life cycle.

Carbon nanotube-based field emission display


In a vehicular engine control apparatus, the engine is stopped upon fulfillment of a predetermined stopping condition even in the case where the shift position of the vehicle is a running position, and the engine is restarted afterwards upon fulfillment of a predetermined starting condition. The predetermined starting condition is switched depending on whether the detected shift position is a running position or a non-running position. This reduces a sense of incongruity or unpleasantness caused to the driver in stopping and starting an engine during operation of a vehicle and thereby improves driveability of the vehicle.

The disclosure of Japanese Patent Application No. 11-329889 filed on Nov. 19, 1999, including the specification, drawings and abstract is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an engine stopping/starting control apparatus and an engine stopping/starting control method employed in a vehicle in which the engine is stopped upon fulfillment of a predetermined stopping condition even if a shift position is a running position and in which the engine is started upon fulfillment of a predetermined starting condition.
2. Description of Related Art
In order to improve fuel consumption of a motor vehicle in response to a demand for conservation of resources, an apparatus which performs stopping/starting control of an engine during operation has been proposed. This apparatus is often employed in a so-called hybrid vehicle and the like. As will be described hereinafter, this apparatus temporarily stops the engine in a running state of the vehicle and thereafter restarts the engine.
FIG. 6 shows an example of a hybrid system 1 for a hybrid vehicle. The hybrid system 1 has an engine 2, a motor generator 6 coupled to a crank shaft of the engine 2, a transmission 4 coupled to an output shaft of the motor generator 6, a battery 8, and an inverter 10. The battery 8 and the inverter 10 exchange power with the motor generator 6.
The hybrid system 1 is a parallel hybrid system in which wheels can be driven by one or both of the engine 2 and the motor generator 6. If the wheels are driven only by the engine 2, the motor generator 6 functions as a dynamo. In this case, the vehicle can travel while charging the battery 8 through the inverter 10.
A stopping/starting control apparatus for the engine 2 employed in the hybrid system 1 is mainly realized through control performed by a controller 12. Even in the case where the shift position of the vehicle is a running position, the engine 2 is stopped upon fulfillment of a predetermined stopping condition and then restarted upon fulfillment of a predetermined starting condition. The controller 12 minimizes the operating period of the engine 2, and operates the engine 2 in its most efficient state, thereby improving fuel consumption and reducing concentrations of emission substances in comparison with a vehicle which is only equipped with an internal combustion engine. In addition, the apparatus eliminates restrictions on a traveling range or the trouble of external charging as in an electric vehicle whose wheels are driven only by a motor.
Conditions for stopping and restarting the engine 2 are determined, for example, from the sum of an electrical load (based on the driving of the motor generator 6, operation of an air-conditioner and the like) and a work by the wheels calculated from a depression amount of an accelerator pedal, a vehicle speed and the like (the sum will hereinafter be referred to as required power). If the required power has dropped below a threshold set as the stopping condition, the engine 2 is stopped. If the required power has exceeded a threshold set as the starting condition, the engine 2 is restarted.
As described above, if the engine 2 is stopped or started upon fulfillment of predetermined stopping/starting conditions even in the case where the shift position of the vehicle is a running position, the following problems may be caused.
For example, if the shift position of the vehicle is a running position and if the vehicle travels by being driven only by the motor generator 6 with the engine 2 out of operation, the engine 2 is restarted by the stopping/starting control apparatus upon fulfillment of a predetermined starting condition. Thus, oscillation of the vehicle resulting from the starting operation may adversely affect the driveability. Further, since a driving force of the engine 2 is added to a driving force of the motor generator 6, an acceleration shock (or a deceleration shock) may be sensed by the driver. Especially when the vehicle travels at a constant or low speed, the driver may keenly feel a sense of incongruity.
Furthermore, in the case where the vehicle speed is equal to zero (the vehicle is stopped) with the shift position being a running position, namely, where the brake has been depressed with the accelerator released, if the engine is restarted, the driver may sensitively respond to oscillation of the engine and feel a sense of incongruity. Further, a shock transmitted to the wheels in a stopped state of the vehicle may cause unpleasantness to the driver.
It is one object of the invention to mitigate to the utmost a sense of incongruity or unpleasantness caused to the driver by restarting an engine and to thereby improve the driveability of the vehicle.
In order to achieve the above-stated object, an engine control apparatus of one aspect of the invention includes a shift position detector that detects a shift position of a vehicle, and a controller. The controller stops the engine upon fulfillment of a stopping condition, and restarts the engine afterwards upon fulfillment of a first starting condition if the detected shift position is a running position and upon fulfillment of a second starting condition if the detected shift position is a non-running position.
In the aforementioned aspect of the invention, the first starting condition may make it more difficult to restart the engine than the second starting condition.
According to the aforementioned aspect of the invention, if the shift position is a running position, the engine is more unlikely to be started smoothly in comparison with the case where the shift position is a non-running position. Thus, the number of times for starting the engine in running positions can be minimized, and a sense of incongruity caused to the driver can be mitigated. That is, if the shift position is a running position, and if a driving force of the engine is directly reflected as a driving force for causing the vehicle to travel, the driver tends to feel unpleasantness. Thus, in such a state, a best possible attempt is made to avoid the starting of the engine. In a neutral position or the like in which the starting of the engine is not reflected as a driving force for the wheels by releasing a clutch or the like, it becomes relatively easy to start the engine.
Further, when the engine is started on the basis of the first starting condition, the controller may set a torque change rate of driven wheels of the vehicle to a predetermined value or less.
This mitigates an abrupt rise in torque of the driven wheels in restarting the engine, namely, an engine starting shock. Consequently, a sense of incongruity caused to the driver is further attenuated.

Engine control apparatus and engine control method


A semiconductor memory device includes a plurality of memory cell mats each comprising a plurality of normal memory cell arrays; and a redundancy memory cell array configured to replace a defective memory cell with a plurality of redundancy memory cells corresponding to a redundancy word line when the redundancy word line corresponding to one or more redundancy memory cell arrays is activated in response to an address corresponding to the defective memory cell among the plurality of normal memory cell arrays.

The present invention relates to a semiconductor design technology, and more particularly, to a semiconductor memory device that performs a data access operation by replacing a defective memory cell with a normal redundancy memory cell.
With rapid increase in integration density of semiconductor memory devices including double data rate (DDR) synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), tens of millions of memory cells are integrated into a single semiconductor memory device. Such memory cells constitute memory cell arrays arranged uniformly, and those groups are called a memory cell mat.
If a fail occurs in a memory cell in a semiconductor memory device, the semiconductor memory device may not normally perform a desired operation. As the fabrication technology of semiconductor memory devices has been advanced, defects occur in a very small number of memory cells. Thus, if semiconductor memory devices are discarded as defective items when defects occur in few memory cells, product yield suffers. To overcome such problems, redundancy memory cells are further provided within semiconductor memory devices, separately from normal memory cells. When defects occur in normal memory cells, those memory cells are replaced with the redundancy memory cells. Hereinafter, memory cells that must be replaced with the redundancy memory cells due to their defects will be referred to as "defective memory cells".
Meanwhile, memory cell architectures of the semiconductor memory devices may be classified into a folded bit line architecture and an open bit line architecture.
In the case of the folded bit line architecture, an active bit line (for example, a bit line) driving data, and a reference bit line (for example, a complementary bit line) are disposed in the same memory cell mat, with respect to a bit line sense amplifier disposed in a core region of the semiconductor memory device. Thus, the same noises are reflected on the bit line and the complementary bit line, and such noises offset each other. Due to such an offset effect, the folded bit line architecture ensures a stable operation with respect to noises. On the other hand, in the case of the open bit line architecture, a bit line and a complementary bit line are disposed in different memory cell mats, with respect to a bit line sense amplifier. Thus, noise occurring in the bit line is different from noise occurring in the complementary bit line, and the open bit line architecture is vulnerable to noises.
The folded bit line architecture is designed to have an 8F2 unit memory cell structure, and the open bit line architecture is designed to have a 6F2 unit memory cell structure. Those unit memory cell structures are a factor in determining the size of the semiconductor memory device. In comparison with the same data storage capacity, the semiconductor memory device having the open bit line architecture can be designed to be smaller in size than the semiconductor memory device having the folded bit line architecture.
Meanwhile, the semiconductor memory device stores or outputs data according to commands requested by a central processing unit (CPU) or the like. When a data access operation is requested by the CPU, a word line corresponding to a row address is activated, and a signal corresponding to a column address is activated. Then, the data access operation is performed on a corresponding memory cell. Semiconductor memory devices may have a different number of word lines. However, the number of word lines typically corresponds to the number of bit lines. For example, when the number of address bits is m, the semiconductor memory device is designed to have 2m word lines (where m is a natural number). Thus, the number of word lines corresponding to a single memory cell mat may be 256, 512, and so on. In this case, the number of word lines corresponds to the umber of memory cell arrays.
In the case of the open bit line architecture, however, the number of word lines corresponding to a single memory cell mat is designed to be in a range of greater than 2n and less than 2n+1 (where n is a natural number), for example, 384 or 420, considering the operating margin of the bit line sense amplifier, noise, and design efficiency. Therefore, compared with the folded bit line architecture designed to have 2m word lines, the open bit line architecture has unused memory cell arrays, that is, dummy memory cell arrays. The dummy memory cell arrays are included in the memory cell mat, but they are designed separately from 2m. The word lines connected to the dummy memory cell arrays are commonly grounded and are unused.
FIG. 1 illustrates a memory cell array architecture of a conventional semiconductor memory device.
Referring to FIG. 1, the semiconductor memory device includes a normal memory cell array in which a plurality of memory cells are arranged. For illustration purposes, the side above a bit line sense amplifier block 150 will be referred to as an even memory cell mat 110, and the side below the bit line sense amplifier block 150 will be referred to as an odd memory cell mat 130. The bit line sense amplifier block 150 includes a plurality of bit line sense amplifiers SA.
The even memory cell mat 110 and the odd memory cell mat 130 include a plurality of word lines WL, and a specific word line WL is activated in response to a data access operation, for example, a read or write operation. The bit line sense amplifier SA is connected to a bit line BLT and a complementary bit line BLB, and senses and amplifies a voltage difference between the bit line BLT and the complementary bit line BLB.
Another bit line sense amplifier block (not shown) performing the same function as the bit line sense amplifier block 150 is arranged above the even memory cell mat 110 and connected to the complementary bit lines BLB arranged in the even memory cell mat 110. Moreover, another bit line sense amplifier block (not shown) is arranged below the odd memory cell mat 130 and connected to the bit lines BLT arranged in the odd memory cell mat 130.
The data access operation of the semiconductor memory device illustrated in FIG. 1 will be described below.
When one word line WL is activated in the data access operation, the normal memory cell array connected to the activated word line WL is activated. That is, the normal memory cells connected to the activated word line WL are activated, and data stored in the normal memory cells are transferred to the corresponding bit lines.
If the word line WL provided in the even memory cell mat 110 is activated, data of the normal memory cells are transferred through the corresponding bit lines BLT to the bit line sense amplifier block 150. In this case, the complementary bit lines BLB provided in the odd memory cell mat 130 serve as a reference in sensing and amplifying the data transferred through the bit lines BLT. On the contrary, if the word line WL provided in the odd memory cell mat 130 is activated, data of the normal memory cells are transferred through the corresponding complementary bit lines BLB to the bit line sense amplifier block 150. In this case, the bit lines BLT provided in the even memory cell mat 110 serve as a reference in sensing and amplifying the data transferred through the complementary bit lines BLB.
FIG. 2 illustrates a dummy memory cell array and a redundancy memory cell array of a conventional semiconductor memory device.
Referring to FIG. 2, the semiconductor memory device includes a normal memory cell array 210, a dummy memory cell array 230, and a redundancy memory cell array 250. The normal memory cell array 210 and the dummy memory cell array 230 are designed within one memory cell mat, and the redundancy memory cell array 250 is designed separately from the memory cell mat. The dummy memory cell array 230 is provided separately from the address bits. A memory cell array corresponding to four dummy word lines DWL is exemplified in FIG. 2. The dummy word lines DWL of the dummy memory cell array 230 are connected to the ground terminal VSS.
The redundancy memory cell array 250 is provided for replacing defective memory cells among the normal memory cells. A memory cell array corresponding four redundancy word lines RWL is exemplified in FIG. 2. When the redundancy word lines RWL are activated, the corresponding redundancy memory cells of the redundancy memory cell array 250 are activated to transfer data through the bit lines BLT and the complementary bit lines BLB.
An operation of repairing a defective memory cell in the semiconductor memory device of FIG. 2 will be described below. For illustration purposes, it is assumed that the normal memory cell array 210 includes a defective memory cell.
When an address corresponding to a defective memory cell is applied in a data access operation, the semiconductor memory device activates a redundancy word line RWL corresponding to the address, instead of a word line WL corresponding to the address. Therefore, the data access operation corresponding to the address is performed on the redundancy memory cell included in the redundancy memory cell array 250 operating normally, instead of the defective memory cell included in the normal memory cell array 210. That is, since four redundancy word lines RWL are provided in FIG. 2, four defective memory cells that may occur in the normal memory cell array 210 can be replaced with four redundancy memory cells.
The dummy word lines DWL of the dummy memory cell array 230 are connected to the ground terminal VSS and, as mentioned above, no data access operation is performed on the dummy memory cell array 230.
Meanwhile, semiconductor memory devices has been manufactured for low power and high integration. Hence, voltages applied to semiconductor memory devices get lower, and capacitances of memory cells get smaller. As a result, memory cell characteristics related to a sensing margin or refresh are degraded. Those limitations may be solved by designing the memory cell having a large capacitance. However, this approach is not suitable because such a design will increase the size of the semiconductor memory device.

Semiconductor memory device having a redundancy memory cell array