An oil separator for an evaporator in a cooling system is installed between a capillary tube and the evaporator for separating oil from the refrigerant flowing into the evaporator. The oil separator comprises an inflow member connected to the capillary tube, for receiving the oil-containing refrigerant therefrom. A refrigerant outflow member is connected between the inflow member and an inlet of the evaporator, for conducting the refrigerant upward to the inlet of the evaporator. An oil outflow member is disposed between the inflow member and an outlet of the evaporator, for conducting the oil downward to an outlet of the evaporator. The oil separator prevents oil from flowing into the evaporator, thereby preventing accumulation of the oil inside the evaporator which could reduce the amount of oil disposed inside a compressor of the cooling system.

The present invention relates to an oil separator for an evaporator, and more particularly, to an oil separator for separating oil from refrigerant.
In such a product as a refrigerator or an air conditioner employing cool air, a cooling cycle including the processes of compressing, condensing and evaporating refrigerant is performed to generate the cool air.
Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, a cool air generating system typically includes a compressor 51, a condenser 53, a capillary tube 55 and an evaporator 57. The compressor 51 compresses a gaseous refrigerant to a high-temperature and high-pressure gas and the condenser 53 condenses the high-temperature and high-pressure gaseous refrigerant to a high-pressure liquid. The liquefied high-pressure refrigerant is depressurized while passing through the capillary tube 55 and the depressurized refrigerant flows into the evaporator 57 and is then vaporized. While being vaporized, the refrigerant absorbs heat from air around the evaporator 57 to generate cool air. The thus-generated cool air is supplied to a cold storage and a freezing compartment of a refrigerator or inside a room. The vaporized refrigerant returns to the compressor 51 from the evaporator 57 to be compressed into the high-temperature and high-pressure gas.
In such a cooling system, since the compressor 51 compresses the refrigerant by a mechanical operation thereof, lubricating oil for mechanical parts of the compressor is needed. The lubricating oil is inevitably mixed into the refrigerant during the cooling cycle, and the refrigerant containing the oil circulates through the cooling system. When the liquid refrigerant containing the lubricating oil flows into the evaporator 57 to be vaporized, the lubricating oil maintains the liquid state and is separated from the vaporized refrigerant in a separator 58. Thus, the lubricating oil remains and accumulates inside the evaporator 57. This phenomenon is severe in the case that an ester oil is mixed into an HFC-134a refrigerant. Especially, when a mineral oil which is mainly used at the time of assembling the compressor 51 is mixed with the ester oil in the evaporator, separation of the mixed oil from the refrigerant during the vaporization in the evaporator 7 is significantly remarkable, to thereby increase the accumulation of the oil inside the evaporator 57.
The accumulation of the oil inside the evaporator obstructs a sufficient heat absorption from air around the evaporator, thereby decreasing a cooling efficiency. Accordingly, the amount of the lubricating oil inside the compressor becomes decreased resulting in abrasion of internal parts of the compressor, thereby decreasing a compressing efficiency and affecting the entire operation of the cooling system.


The invention described herein is directed to different embodiments of a bi-pin dongle that in some embodiments is adapted to be received by a standard lamp holder to provide an electrical signal to a non-conventionally shaped lamp or other electronic device.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a device to electrically connect luminaires through standard lamp holders to non-traditionally shaped lamps via a bi-pin connector on a cable.
2. Description of the Related Art
Bi-pin lamp fittings are common and have been utilized for over 100 years. A "bi-pin" or "bipin" lamp fitting can be described as two short parallel conductors used in conjunction with a lamp base to deliver power to a lamp or luminaire. The bi-pin lamp fitting designs, shapes, and sizes are generally defined by international code, specifically IEC 60061-1 and its subsections.
Sizes of lamp fittings are generally given identifying alpha-numeric code in the format of GABCC.CC, where 'G' stands for "glass" and is a throwback to when all bulbs were made of glass. The letters 'A' and 'B' can be other various letters depending on the code and are defined per the IEC standard listed above. The 'C's are numbers and define the center-to-center spacing of the two pins and are normally given in millimeters. For example, G5 is a bi-pin connector with 5 mm pin spacing. G13 spacing is somewhat unique in that even though the pin spacing is 12.7 mm, or one half inch, the decimal is rounded up to the nearest integer.
Conventional lamp holders, of which there are various different types, are sufficient to support the weight of a lamp placed into it. This is accomplished primarily by compression on the bulb, spring and friction forces. For example, in small indicator lights, the friction caused by the contacts in the lamp holders (which tend to form springs) is sufficient to hold the light into place. Even in large lamps, the 8′ fluorescent tubes such as T8 or T12, the lamp is held by both the spring loaded contacts in the lamp holders and also by applying a compression force on the lamp by the lamp holders' spacing and orientation.
The voltage polarity and type of current applied through the lamp holder is not specified. That is to say that some lamps connect with DC, and some connect with AC. Lamps, such as tubular fluorescents, can connect to the supply from two pairs of bi-pin contacts, with polarity on one set of pins being the same, and the opposite polarity being delivered on the second set of pins with current flowing through the gas in the bulbs. In certain circumstances, such as with instant start electronic ballasts, multiple line voltages can be delivered through one lamp holder (600VAC and 120VAC).
Lamp holders tend to dictate the size, location, and power consumption of the lamp, and as such, lamp sizes and shapes have become standardized, as well as locations of lamps has become somewhat standardized.
Financial incentives (through return on investment via reduced power consumption and its associated decreased energy cost, and from governmental subsidies) to upgrade incumbent lights and lighting systems to more efficient light emitting diode (LED) luminaires are creating opportunity to design new luminaires for certain applications.
The directivity of LEDs and the control of that light can often require optical elements to re-direct the light towards the illumination target since the lighting or luminance requirements of new systems are similar or identical to the incumbent systems. In retrofitting a fixture with LED lights, the luminous flux from the source irradiates in different intensity profiles from traditional lamps. The addition of an optic element in an application specific luminaire can add weight to a luminaire, and also can result in a non-traditional, non-uniform size and shape.
Unique luminaire designs with increased weight and unconventional shapes, along with a variety of retrofitting applications, require a method to deliver power to the luminaires without excessive re-wiring, re-working, or excessive time consumed during installation, maintenance, and operation. Finally, a unique connection and mounting solution may create unintended safety concerns, which need to be addressed as they arise.


A feature for a mobile station, wireless network, and method of operating a wireless network for locating a misplaced mobile station and preventing its unauthorized use. The wireless network including a base station. The network and base station transmit a misplaced mobile station signal to a mobile station, causing a misplaced mobile station to ring at high volume, display a text message, emit an audio message, and deactivate normal mobile station functions.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of telecommunications. More particularly, the present invention relates to base stations, mobile telephone switching offices, mobile stations, and other wireless network systems or devices pertaining to a network based locator feature.
2. Background and Material Information
The use of wireless or mobile communication devices has increased greatly in recent years. Mobile and cellular telephones have enabled mobile station users to roam over large geographic areas while maintaining immediate access to telephony services. Mobile stations include portable units, units installed in vehicles and fixed subscriber stations. Cellular communication systems (wireless carriers) typically provide service to a geographic market area by dividing the area into many smaller areas or cells. Each cell is serviced by a radio transceiver (i.e., a transmitter-receiver base station or cell site). The cell sites or base stations may be connected to Mobile Telephone Switching Offices (MTSOs) or Mobile Switching Centers (MSCs) through landlines or other communication links, and the MTSOs may, in turn, be connected via landlines to the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN).
FIG. 1 illustrates the basic components of a conventional cellular network. As shown in FIG. 1, a mobile station 38 may place or receive calls by communicating with a cell site 30 or a cell site 40, depending upon the geographic location of the mobile station and the cell coverage area that is provided by each cell site (i.e., cell coverage area 35 of cell site 30 or cell coverage area 45 of cell site 40). For purposes of illustration, mobile station 38 is depicted in FIG. 1 as being able to communicate with either cell site 30 or cell site 40, even though the mobile station is not illustrated as being located within cell coverage area 35 or cell coverage area 45. Under normal operating conditions, the extent to which mobile station 38 will be able to communicate with cell site 30 or cell site 40 will depend on the geographic location of the mobile station and the size of the cell coverage area of each cell site. Further, although only two cell sites are depicted in FIG. 1, the entire cellular network may include, for example, more than two cell sites. In addition, more than one cell site may be connected to each MTSO 24, 28.
Mobile phones and other wireless communication devices have, in recent years, become smaller and smaller. This decreased size has numerous obvious advantages. However, the smaller size makes the mobile station easier to lose or misplace. Irrespective of size, once an owner has misplaced his mobile station he wants it back. In the past, a mobile phone or other wireless communication device owner would use another phone to call his lost or misplaced device. This would and still works for limited scenarios but is far from perfect. For example, if the mobile station has been set to quiet or silent mode or the mobile station 68 is out of audio range of the owner, then the ringing will be difficult or impossible to hear and the mobile station 68 will thus be hard to find. With the advent of voice mail, the user will also have a limited time in which to hear the call before the mobile station or mobile phone service transfers the call into voice mail. The present invention overcomes these limitations.
3. Acronyms
The written description provided herein contains acronyms which refer to various telecommunications services, components and techniques, as well as features relating to the present invention. Although some of these acronyms are known, use of these acronyms is not strictly standardized in the art. For purposes of the written description herein, the acronyms are defined as follows:    Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN)    Automatic Number Identification (ANI)    Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA)    Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS)    Customer Service Center (CSC)    Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM)    Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA)    Global System for Mobile communications (GSM)    Home Location Register (HLR)    Integrated Digital Enhanced Network (IDEN)    Interactive Voice Response (IVR)    Mobile Identification Number (MIN)    Mobile Telephone Switching Offices (MTSOs)    Mobile Switching Centers (MSCs)    Over the Air Activation (OAA)    Over the Air Programming (OAP)    Over the Air Activation Function (OTAF)    Personal Access Communications System (PACS)    Personal Communications Services (PCS)    Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs)    Personal Identification Number (PIN)    Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN)    Random Access Memory (RAM)    Service Control Point (SCP)    Short Message Peer-to-Peer (SMPP) protocol    Short Message Service (SMS)    Short Message Service Center (SMSC)    Service Switching Point (SSP)    Terminating Attempt Trigger (TAT)    Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)    Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA)    Universal Resource Locator (URL)

Network-based services for misplaced cellular mobile stations


A digital frequency synthesizer circuit with spur compensation includes a demodulator circuit (118) for demodulating the output signal (116) of the synthesizer's accumulator (108). Demodulator (118) also inverts the signal, and provides an inverted demodulated output signal (142) which is then coupled to the synthesizer clock (124) after passing through a gain stage (122) in order to modulate the synthesizer clock (124) with a compensation signal (146). The compensated clock signal (140) is then sent to accumulator (108) in order to substantially cancel out any jitter in the accumulator's output signal (116). The modulation signal (MOD IN) which is digitally applied to accumulator (108) is applied in analog fashion to the gain stage (122) in order to prevent the desired modulation signal (MOD IN) from being canceled in the output signal (116).

Conventional direct digital synthesizers (DDS) usually comprise at least a high speed clock, a programmable shift register and an N-bit accumulator which includes a carry out output. The carry out output signal from the synthesizer has an average frequency (Fo) equal to the clock frequency (Fc) divided by the accumulator length (2.sup.n) times the phase increment value (program value, P). The relationship can be stated mathematically as: EQU F.sub.o =(F.sub.c /2.sup.n)*P
where Fc/2.sup.n defines the resolution of the frequency output. For example, if we assume a clock frequency of 1 gigahertz and a accumulator having 32 bits the resolution can be calculated as: EQU 1 GHZ/2.sup.32 =0.2328 Hz.
A spectral analysis of a conventional DDS output signal would show that the output frequency Fo and its harmonics include sideband spurs (spurious emissions). These sideband spurs (or jitter) when viewed from a spectrum analyzer exhibit a pattern which resemble a Christmas-tree around each output frequency and their respective harmonics, at an offset frequency equal to the resolution of the accumulator, and also at harmonics of the offset frequencies. The sideband spur levels will vary according to the jitter pattern generated by the relationship of the value of "P" to the value of "2.sup.n " in the previously mentioned formula. These spurs typically make conventional DDS output signals unstable as low noise RF signal sources.
In DDS applications, where a sine wave or other periodic wave is generated, the amplitude quantization errors become highly correlated to the wave being generated, thus causing spurs to be generated along with the output signal. A need thus exists for a method and apparatus for minimizing the jitter in a direct digital synthesizer in order to provide for very low spurious output signals. This would in effect allow for a direct digital synthesizer to be used as a low spurious signal source for use in communication devices.

Compensated digital frequency synthesizer


A retard roller of an automatic document feeder provides a frictional force to separate plural documents from each other. The retard roller can provide a first damping torque and a second damping torque with different directions. The second damping torque is smaller than the first damping torque. As such, the frictional force exerted on the document is reduced for returning the document out of the automatic document feeder. A retard roller module having such a retard roller is also provided.

In the early stage, a scanning apparatus is used to scan the image of a single document. For scanning both sides of the document, the document should be manually turned over after one side of the document has been scanned in order to sequentially scan the other side of the document. For scanning a stack of documents, after one document has been scanned, the document should be removed from the scanning apparatus and then a next document could be placed on the scanning apparatus in order to be further scanned. Since the process of manually turning over the document or manually replacing the document is very troublesome, the conventional scanning apparatus is not feasible. Recently, an automatic document feeder is usually integrated into the scanning apparatus. The automatic document feeder is suitable to perform a duplex scanning operation and successively scan plural documents without the need of manually turning over or replacing the documents.
Generally, the automatic document feeder has a sheet input tray for placing a stack of documents. The automatic document feeder also has a sheet pick-up module for successively feeding the stack of documents from the sheet input tray to the internal portion of the automatic document feeder in a sheet-feeding direction. For allowing only one document to be fed into the internal portion of the automatic document feeder at each feeding time, the sheet pick-up module has a sheet separation roller and a separation pad. The separation pad is disposed under the sheet separation roller. The sheet separation roller may provide a frictional force to the document that is contacted with the separation pad. The frictional forces between the sheet pick-up module, the separation pad and the documents should be elaborately controlled. Generally, the frictional force between the sheet pick-up module and the document contacted with the sheet pick-up module is greater than the frictional force between the documents. In addition, the frictional force between the separation pad and the document contacted with the separation pad is also greater than the frictional force between the documents. As a consequence, only one document is allowed to be fed into the internal portion of the automatic document feeder at each feeding time. As the automatic document feeder is used for a long time, the separation pad is usually abraded, or even losses the function of separating documents. In this situation, the separation pad needs to be replaced with a new one. Since the separation pad is usually securely fastened on the automatic document feeder, the process of replacing the separation pad is very complicated.
For solving the above drawbacks, U.S. Pat. No. 6,659,450 disclosed an automatic document feeder with an easily disassembled separation pad and retard roller. During the sheet-feeding process, the retard roller generates a damping torque in a sheet-feeding rotating direction. In response to the damping torque, the retard roller provides a frictional force to the document. Although the separation pad and the retard roller of the automatic document feeder described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,659,450 are disassembled more easily when compared with the prior art, there are still some drawbacks. For example, after the retard roller is disassembled, the spring for providing a normal force on the retard roller is still retained in the automatic document feeder. During the process of assembling the retard roller, the retard roller needs to be installed in the automatic document feeder while aligning the retard roller with the spring. In other words, the retard roller needs to be precisely combined with the spring in order to achieve a normal function of the retard roller. The process of assembling the retard roller is not user-friendly.
Moreover, in a case that the documents are jammed in the internal portion of the automatic document feeder, the installation of the retard roller or separation pad incurs some drawbacks. For example, due to the frictional force between the jammed documents and the retard roller (or separation pad), the jammed documents fail to be pulled out of the automatic document feeder in a sheet-returning direction, which is opposed to the sheet-feeding direction. For releasing the jammed documents, the user needs to open the upper cover of the automatic document feeder to uplift the sheet pick-up module. As such, the sheet pick-up module is separated from the upper sides of the jammed documents and the frictional force between the jammed documents and the retard roller (or separation pad) is eliminated. Meanwhile, the jammed documents could be effectively released.
Since the process of removing the document from the automatic document feeder is very troublesome, there is a need of providing a retard roller for moving the document in the sheet-feeding direction and the sheet-returning direction without the need of opening the upper cover.

Retard roller and retard roller module having such retard roller


A light emitting diode (LED) device includes a stacked epitaxial structure, a heat-conductive plate and a seed layer. The stacked epitaxial structure sequentially includes a first semiconductor layer (N—GaN), a light emitting layer, and a second semiconductor layer (P—GaN). The heat-conductive plate is disposed on the first semiconductor layer, and the seed layer is disposed between the first semiconductor layer and the heat-conductive plate. Also, the present invention discloses a manufacturing method thereof including the steps of: forming at least one temporary substrate, which is made by a curable polymer material, on an LED device, and forming at least a heat-conductive plate on the LED device.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a light emitting diode device and a manufacturing method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
A light emitting diode (LED) device is a semiconductor luminescent device, providing many advantageous features such as low power consumption, long lifetime, short response time, and so on. The sizes of LED devices are so small that they are easily manufactured to very small devices. Thus, with the continuous improvement of the technology recently, applications of LED devices have been applied in indicator lights of computers or home appliances, back light units of liquid crystal display device, traffic signals, or indicator lights of cars.
According to the prior art, in order to improve luminescence efficiency of LED devices, metal reflective substrates are disposed on LED devices reflecting light to improve luminescence efficiency. However, there are some problems with such LED devices which need to be solved.
FIG. 1 shows the LED device disclosed in Taiwan Patent No. 0544958. The LED device includes a metal reflective substrate 801 and a stacked structure on the metal reflective substrate 801. The stacked structure sequentially includes a first reaction layer 802, a transparent bonding layer 803, a second reaction layer 804, a transparent conductive layer 805, a first contact layer 806, a p-type epitaxial layer 807, a light emitting layer 808, an n-type epitaxial layer 809, and a second contact layer 810. In addition, an electrode 811 and an electrode 812 are disposed on the second contact layer 810 and the transparent conductive layer 805, respectively.
The LED device is formed by bonding the first reaction layer 802 with the second reaction layer 804 through the transparent bonding layer 803 and bonding the metal reflective substrate 801 with the first reaction layer 802. However, since the transparent bonding layer 803 is made of plastic materials, the heat generated from the LED device can not transfer to the metal reflective substrate 801 and dissipate effectively. As a result, the efficiency of the LED device dramatically decreases when the heat inside the LED device continuously accumulates.
Additionally, in the dicing process, a plurality of LED devices are obtained by dicing the metal reflective substrate 801 and the stacked structure. However, the metal particle produced in the dicing process can adhere to the sidewalls of the stacked structure and thus increase the leakage current of the stacked structure.
FIG. 2 shows the LED device disclosed in Taiwan Patent No. 0543210. The LED device is formed by bonding a light emitting diode stacked structure 902 with a metal reflective substrate 903 through a metal bonding layer 901. The bonding of the metal bonding layer 901 with the metal reflective substrate 903 requires a high temperature and high pressure, which, however causes inter-diffusion between the light emitting diode stacked structure 902 and the metal reflective substrate 903. In addition, the leakage current of the light emitting diode stacked structure 902 can increase due to the dicing process.
The two conventional LED devices above are both fabricated by forming the stacked epitaxial structure on an epitaxial substrate, then disposing the stacked epitaxial structure on a glass substrate or an electroplating substrate through a replacement process, and then dicing into individual LED devices. Thus, while an additional dicing process is needed for the method described, the probability of metal particles adhering to the sidewalls of the stacked structure is high.

Light emitting diode devices and manufacturing method thereof


A non-contact power receiving apparatus includes a power reception unit for receiving electric power in a non-contact manner from a power transmitting apparatus external to a vehicle, and a control device for controlling the transmitted power from the power transmitting apparatus. The control device controls the transmitted power based on a monitoring result obtained by monitoring the surroundings of the vehicle, and an occupant detection result obtained by detecting whether or not an occupant enters the vehicle. When the monitoring result indicates the approach of a moving object to the vehicle, the control device causes the power transmitting apparatus to reduce the transmitted power. The power transmitting apparatus and the power reception unit transmit and receive electric power in a non-contact manner by electromagnetic field resonance.

In order to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide gas as a way to address global warming, there has been increasing development of vehicles configured such that a vehicle-mounted power storage device can be charged from outside, such as electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid vehicles.
Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2010-140451 (Patent Literature 1) discloses monitoring the approach of an object by a sonar with regard to a charging device for a vehicle-mounted battery in a plug-in hybrid vehicle and an electric vehicle. When an object comes within a prescribed distance, this technique generates a warning signal, gives an audio warning with a horn or a light warning with illumination, starts recording image information from a camera, and communicates with a set mobile network through a vehicle-mounted communication device.

Non-contact power receiving apparatus, non-contact power transmitting apparatus, and non-contact power transmitting and receiving system


A combined can stacker and spatial media advertising/instructional device facilitating the vertical stacking of similar plan-view shape cans two-at-a-time while also providing space on the panel side(s) of the device for either advertising or for instructions, such as, for example, securing two binary chemical cans together and providing instructions as to the proper mixing of said binary chemicals. For specific example, to provide instructions as to mixing car body compound contained in one first can with hardener contained in the second can, where the two cans are secured to each other with the device to form one vertically integral physical unit. Additional embodiments include having a section having a slot enterable from the top and having a windowed front within which replaceable indicia may be inserted, or a section having a frame of 3 sides molded onto the front within which indicia may be inserted into the open end of such a slideable indicia panel holder (such slide holder being enterable either by having a vertical or horizontal open end). Also a detachable indicia panel for information, coupons and the like can be connected to a section. For multiple page indicia, a pocket for inserting same can be thermoplastically or otherwise attached to a section. Additionally, the indicia may be formed during manufacture on a section or panel and thus provide a 3-dimensional effect (3-D).

The present invention relates to devices which both enable standard size cans or jars to be stacked vertically as well as provide a spatial medium for advertising or other message to be displayed to a consumer. Identical content cans can be adhered together two-at-a-time with this device or cans of identical lids but different contents can be adhered together two-at-a-time. For example, fiberglass autobody repair material can be in one can and its related chemical hardener in a second can, both with identical circumference/plan-shaped top and bottom and secured together with the device encompassed by the herein invention and having the brand name logo and/or instructions on the side of the device. Can stacking devices of minimal sides have been the objective and disclosure teachings of prior art in this area. Such adapters for adhering a plurality of cans together in selected configurations are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,593,818, 4,502,447, 2,912,139, 2,607,231, 1,757,192, German Offenlegungschrift 2,000,371 (FIGS. 1,2), Australia 236,771, UK 2,029,802, U.S. Pat Nos. 2,963,194, 4,415,077, 4,377,231 and 3,624,789. Can stackers generally are utilized where cans are assembled end-to-end with back-to-back/top-to-bottom/top-to-top/bottom-to-bottom adapters performing the adhering or securing of the cans to form a unitary physically secure unit (for example, a pallet unit). Thus, in general, the adapters engage the opposing rims of cylindrical cans and hold them solidly one upon the other. In the three known ring-type can stacker patents, U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,757,192, 2,912,139 and 4,593,818, various tab-like side pieces emanate inwardly from the ring and perform a gripping action on the engaging can. In the first two references cited, the devices are composed of somewhat flexible sheet metal while the third is composed of a flexible resilient split ring of elastic memory-retaining material such as rubber or plastic, with a member of separate, spaced generally-horizontal fins adapted collectively to hold and support a can.
In all of these prior art inventions, the vertical height of the side fins, vertical ring edge, or side tabs was designed to be as short as possible; most probably to permit the storage of the maximum number of these (can-stacker) devices in as small a volume as practicable. Thus, only the can stacking utility of these devices was their inventors' sole objective. Higher sides also add to the stability of the device when mechanical motion becomes involved (for example, an earthquake). However, in the present age of binary-chemical packaging or every form of overt or subliminal advertising, there is a need: to ensure that the consumer knows what product he is buying or should buy or directions to ensure a proper result in the case of multiple cans of distinct materials which under proper preparation and mixing produce a desired chemical product of reaction. The advertising-can-stacking device should be inexpensive, durable, simple and effective. Jars or other containers are within the meaning of the term "can" used in the description and claims of this invention.


A digital magnetic memory cell device for read and/or write operation includes a soft-magnetic read and/or write layer system and at least one hard-magnetic reference layer system formed as an AAF system. The AAF system includes an AAF layer composite and at least one reference layer. The reference layer system includes at least one ferromagnetic layer arranged adjacent to a magnetic layer of the AAF layer composite in which the thickness of the antiferromagnetic layer is dimensioned to have a uniaxial anisotropy.

A digital memory cell device of this type can magnetically store. An individual memory cell device is generally part of a memory device, often also called an MRAM (magnetic random access memory). A memory of this type can be used to carry out read and/or write operations. Each individual memory cell device comprises a soft-magnetic read and/or write layer system, which is separated by an intermediate layer from a hard-magnetic reference layer system formed as an AAF system. The magnetization of the reference layer of the reference layer system is stable and does not change in an applied field, while the magnetization of the soft-magnetic read and/or write layer system can be switched by an applied field. The two magnetic layer systems can be magnetized parallel or antiparallel with respect to one another. The two aforementioned states in each case represent a bit of information, i.e., the logic zero ("0") state or one ("1") state. If the relative orientation of the magnetization of the two layers changes from parallel to antiparallel, or vice versa, then the magnetoresistance across this layer structure changes by a few percent. This change in resistance can be used for the read-out of digital information stored in the memory cell. The change in the cell resistance can be identified by a voltage change. By way of example, the cell may be occupied by a logic zero ("0") in the event of a voltage increase and the cell may be occupied by a logic one ("1") in the event of a voltage decrease. Particularly large resistance changes in the region of a few percent have been observed when the magnetization orientation changes from parallel to antiparallel and vice versa in cell structures of the GMR type (giant magnetoresistance) or the TMR type (tunnel magnetoresistance).
An important advantage of such magnetic memory cells is that the information is stored in a persistent manner, and is stored without maintenance of any basic supply even with the device switched off and is immediately available again after the device is switched on, unlike in known conventional semiconductor memories.
A central component is the reference layer system formed as an AAF system (AAF=artificial antiferromagnetic). Such an AAF system is advantageous on account of its high magnetic rigidity and the relatively low coupling to the read and/or write layer system through the so-called orange peel effect and/or through macroscopic magnetostatic coupling fields. An AAF system generally comprises a first magnetic layer or a magnetic layer system, an antiferromagnetic coupling layer and a second magnetic layer or a magnetic layer system which is coupled by its magnetization, via the antiferromagnetic coupling layer, oppositely to the magnetization of the lower magnetic layer. Such an AAF system can be formed, e.g., from two magnetic Co layers and an antiferromagnetic coupling layer made of Cu.
In order to improve the rigidity of the AAF system, that is to say its resistance to external outer fields, it is customary to arrange an antiferromagnetic layer at the magnetic layer of the AAF system which is remote from the read and/or write layer system. By means of this antiferromagnetic layer, the directly adjacent magnetic layer is additionally pinned in its magnetization, so that overall the AAF system becomes harder (exchange pinning or exchange biasing).
The magnetic rigidity of the AAF system corresponds to the amplitude of the applied external fields, which is required for rotating the magnetizations of the two ferromagnetic layers in the same direction, i.e., for parallel setting. This limits the magnetic window for read and write applications of such a memory cell device.


A reagent and its method of production are provided. The reagent includes at least one zero-valent atom, whether metal, metalloid, or non-metal, in complex with at least one hydride molecule. The method of production includes ball-milling a mixture which includes an elemental (i.e. zero-valent) material and a hydride. In some cases, the elemental material is a non-metal such as carbon. The reagent can be useful as a reagent for the synthesis of elemental nanoparticles composed of zero-valent metal, metalloid, or non-metal.

Hydrides, compounds in which metals or metalloids are bound directly to hydrogen, are relatively energetic molecules with a large variety of known and developing applications in chemistry and energy technology. Such applications include uses as reducing agents, hydrogenation catalysts, desiccants, potent bases, components in rechargeable batteries, and potentially as solid hydrogen storage vehicles in fuel cell technology.
Metal nanoparticles, particles of elemental metal in pure or alloyed form with a dimension less than 100 nm, have unique physical, chemical, electrical, magnetic, optical, and other properties in comparison to their corresponding bulk metals. As such they are in use or under development in fields such as chemistry, medicine, energy, and advanced electronics, among others.
Synthetic methods for metallic nanoparticles are typically characterized as being "top-down" or "bottom-up" and comprise a variety of chemical, physical, and even biological approaches. Top-down techniques involve the physical breakdown of macroscale metallic particles, using a variety of energy inputs, into nanoscale particles. Bottom-up methods involve the formation of nanoparticles from isolated atoms, molecules, or clusters.
Physical force methods for top-down metal nanoparticle synthesis have included milling of macroscale metal particles, laser ablation of macroscale metals, and spark erosion of macroscale metals. Chemical approaches to bottom-up synthesis commonly involve the reduction of metal salt to zero-valent metallic element with nucleation seed particles or self-nucleation and growth into metal nanoparticles.
While each of these methods can be effective in certain circumstances, each also has disadvantages or situational inapplicability. Direct milling methods can be limited in the size of particles obtainable (production of particles smaller than ˜20 nm is often difficult) and can lead to loss of control of the stoichiometric ratios of alloys. Other physical methods can be expensive or otherwise unamenable to industrial scale. On the other hand, chemical reduction techniques can fail, for example in situations where metallic cations are resistant to chemical reduction. Mn(II) for example is virtually impervious to in situ chemical reduction, making this approach inapplicable to the preparation containing Mn0, or Mn0-containing, nanoparticles.
Non-metallic nanoparticles have been generally less well studied than metal nanoparticles, but techniques for synthesizing them have been developed in certain situations. Similar to metal nanoparticles, non-metallic nanoparticles also have spectroscopic and other properties differing substantially from those of the bulk elements, such as the fluorescence of carbon nanoparticles.
A single synthetic methodology, capable of producing high-purity elemental nanoparticles of any composition, whether metal, metalloid, or non-metal would be useful.

Stable complexes of non-metal elements and hydride as novel reagents

Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc.


A handwriting input device in which a handwriting input is possible to a touch panel which is superimposed on a display screen including: an inputted contents processing section for recognizing a content by the handwriting input and setting up a area on the display screen based on an recognition result; an application software determining section for determining an application software which should be started up based on the recognition result and starting up the application software; and a result processing section for inserting information acquired by the started application software into the area and displaying on the display screen.

In recent years, handwriting input devices such as a tablet terminal which equipped the ability to receive and interpret handwriting input, have spread. Various type of such handwriting input devices are equipped with various functions, such as a function for taking still picture and movie by built-in camera, a function for recording sounds by the built-in microphone, a function for searching place on a map, a function as a calculator. With the handwriting input devices, if application software for handwriting input is started up, icons for starling up application software which performs various functions etc. are displayed on the screen for handwriting input, and, desired application software is started up by touching the icon.
Although it is not the technology about the above-mentioned handwriting input device, for example, Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2000-194869 discloses the document creation device, wherein the document creation device processing; recognizing optically frame and character string on paper etc. by handwriting input; incorporating them into personal computer etc.; starting up automatically an application software which processes the data of the statement in frame when the incorporated portion of the frame on the document is specified by cursor; and, attaching the chosen data to the position of the frame when user chose the data for pasting. And, Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2006-119712 discloses the information control terminal device, wherein the information control terminal device processing; starting up the built in camera when pen pressure over a predetermined value is detected in the structure of Anoto Digital Pen; starting the reading of dot pattern of a paper; and, starting the reading the written-in character.
However, in conventional handwriting input device, the user has to do operation of choosing icon for starting up desired application software, copying the information acquired by application software, determining the size and position of a place on which the copied information and pasting it, when inserting the information acquired by application software into the predetermined place of screen for handwriting input, so the operation becomes complicated and was a problem.
In view of the problems described above, it is an object of the present invention to provide a handwriting input device and a handwriting input control program by which starting of application software and use of the information acquired by the application software was simplified.

Handwriting input device and handwriting input control program

KONICA MINOLTA BUSINESS TECHNOLOGIES, INC.


A rotor blade and an HDD (hard disk drive) having the same, wherein the rotor blade is mounted together with a disk-shaped data storing medium on a spindle motor of the HDD to rotate coaxially with the disk-shaped data storing medium. The rotor blade includes a plurality of blades to increase a floating force applied to a slider that records or reads data on or from the disk-shaped data storing medium by increasing a speed of an airflow in an inner region of the disk-shaped data storing medium.

1. Field of the Invention
The present general inventive concept relates to an HDD (hard disk drive), and more particularly, to a unit to increase a floating force that lifts a slider in an inner disk region and an HDD having the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
A hard disk drive (HDD) is an apparatus that uses a slider having a magnetic head to record data or read data on or from a disk-shaped data storing medium. The HDD is generally used as an auxiliary memory in a computer, an MP3 player, a mobile phone, etc.
FIG. 1 is a schematic plane view illustrating one example of a conventional HDD 10.
With reference to FIG. 1, the HDD 10 includes a disk 20, which is a data storing medium, a spindle motor 15 rotating the disk 20 at high speed, and an HSA (head stack assembly) 25, all of which are mounted in a housing having a base member 11, which is covered by a cover member (not shown). A slider 27 having a magnetic head (not shown) to record or read data is mounted on a front end of the HSA 25, and the HSA 25 records data on the disk 20 or reads the data recorded on the disk 20 by moving the slider 27 to a predetermined position of the disk 20. An FPC (flexible printed circuit) bracket 35 is arranged at a corner of one side of the base member 11 in order to connect an FPC 32, which is connected to the HSA 25, with a main circuit substrate (not shown) positioned under the base member 11.
When the disk 20 rotates counter-clockwise at high speed on the base member 11, airflow is generated in the same direction as the rotation direction of the disk 20, thereby lifting the slider 27. Thus, the slider 27 floats at a predetermined height above the disk 20, since a force generated by the airflow is equal to an elastic force of the front end of the HSA 25 that biases the magnetic head toward the disk 20. When the slider 27 is in a floating state, the magnetic head thereof records or reads data on or from the disk 20.
In general, a surface region of the disk 20 where data is recorded may be divided into three regions in a radial direction including an inner region ID, a middle region MD, and an outer region OD. When the disk 20 rotates, a ratio of linear velocities in the inner region ID and the outer region OD of the disk 20 reaches 2.5 to 3, because of the difference in the distances from a rotation center C. The difference between the linear velocities in the inner region ID and the outer region OD causes a difference between speeds of the airflow in the inner region ID and the airflow in the outer region OD, thereby reducing the floating force of the slider 27 when the slider 27 moves to the inner region ID. Consequently, as the floating state of the slider becomes unstable, the slider 27 and the disk 20 may collide with each other. For example, the slider 27 and the disk 20 can collide with each other even when a small external impact is applied to the HDD 10. As a result, a possibility of damaging the disc 20 and the magnetic head increases. The effects of this unstable floating state of the slider 27 are greater in a small-sized HDD with a diameter of 1 inch or less, where the rotation velocity of the disk 20 is relatively low.

Rotor blade and hard disk drive having the same


An energy efficient high pressure pump system includes a drive motor driving an eccentric transmission, which drives a reciprocation pump having a number of cylinders. The eccentric transmission transmits a torque demand from the reciprocating pump, which varies with time, to the drive motor such that the torque demand on the drive motor is substantially constant. The pump system includes an eccentric sprocket mounted on the output shaft of a drive motor and driving an eccentric sprocket on an idler which includes a concentric sprocket driving a concentric sprocket on the reciprocating pump with the eccentricity of the eccentric sprockets being proportional to the maximum and minimum torque demand characteristics of the reciprocating pump.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an energy efficient high pressure pump system applicable to paper manufacture and other uses.
2. Description of the Related Art
High pressure fluid is useful in many industrial applications. For example, in the paper industry, water and other fluids are used to shower, clean and otherwise treat papermaking fabrics used to form and dry a continuous paper sheet. These fabrics accumulate contaminants from the process, which must be removed, in addition to other deterioration in properties, which result from the applications and environment in which they are used. For example, a press fabric may be required to pass through one or more high pressure nips which apply great compressive pressure. The nip pressure causes the fabric to compress and close, affecting such operational characteristics as permeability of the fabric to water flow. These characteristics are critical to fabric operation.
There are essentially two basic methods to apply fluid to fabrics to affect operational characteristics. Low pressure, relatively high volume fluid can be applied to essentially flush contaminants away and flood or almost flood void volumes of fabrics. Higher pressure, lower volume flow can be applied, usually in concentrated streams, to apply power to the fabric and thus remove contaminants and mechanically affect other characteristics. In this regard see for example U.S. Ser. No. 08/498,909 entitled "Apparatus and Method of Fabric Cleaning", filing date Jul. 6, 1995 which has been allowed and which is commonly assigned and whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference.
Conventional pressures in papermaking seldom exceed 2,500 psi since the generation of high pressures (up to 5,000 psi) in incompressible fluids is expensive and requires apparatus of inherent limitations. The pumping of incompressible fluid may be accomplished in a large number of ways. Most conventional and efficient is a rotating vane pump. Such a pump generally depends on a rotary impeller imparting energy to a fluid via centrifugal force. These pumps are common, and exist in a myriad of forms. In conventional applications, they are typically limited, however, to pressures of much less than 1,000 psi. As applications vary there is usually slippage within the pump body, which generates heat. If the application flow is allowed to fall below a specific threshold, cavitation or media vaporization occurs. The conventional method employed to prevent the aforementioned situation from occurring is to insure sufficient flow through the pump cavity. This is accomplished with use of waste gates or combination recirculation and cooling loops.
In the case where higher pressures are desired, there are fewer alternatives. This usually involves a positive displacement apparatus. A positive displacement pump is most commonly a variation of a reciprocating piston and cylinder, the flow which is controlled by some sort of valving. Reciprocal machinery is however less attractive than rotary machinery because it is inherently more complicated and less reliable than the rotary type. More importantly the output of a reciprocal machine is cyclic. The cylinder alternately pumps or fills. Therefore, there are breaks in its output. This disadvantage can be overcome to a certain extent by using multiple cylinders, and by passing the pump output through flow accumulators, attenuators, dampers or, as commonly done, waste gate the excess pressure thereby removing the high pressure output portion of the flow.
In addition to uneven pressure and flow output, reciprocating pumps have another disadvantage. They have uneven power input proportional to their output. This causes excessive wear and tear on the apparatus, and is inefficient because the pump drive must be sized for the high torque required when the position of the pump connecting rod is at an angular displacement versus crankarm dimension during the compression stroke that would result in the highest required input shaft torque.
Moreover, if the demand of the application varies, complicated bypass, recirculation or waste gate systems must be used to keep the pump from "dead-heading." That is, if flow output is blocked when the pump is in operation, the pump will either break down by the increased pressure developed or stall. If stalling occurs, a conventional induction electric motor will burn out as it assimilates a locked rotor condition with full rated voltage and amperage applied. Typical hydraulic systems with fixed displacement pumps use a relief valve to control the maximum system pressure when under load. When the flow required by the application is less than that delivered by the pumping system, the excess flow is vented by use of a relief valve.
Therefore, the pump delivers full flow at full pressure regardless of the application. This is a prime example of how a large amount of power is wasted.
In this regard, certain prior art that attempts to address such problems in differing environments should be noted. U.S. Pat. No. 513,589 to Metz describes a gear-train for a bicycle wherein the driven wheel includes a circular sprocket driven through a chain by an elliptical sprocket of the crankshaft.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,906,801 to Mather describes a dyeing machine, which includes an intergearing of an elliptical winch and a circular winch by a chain drive to ensure uniform surface speeds of the winches.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,648,986 to Guyer describes a pump drive employing an eccentric hub for adjusting the position of the drive belt toward and away from the drive wheel. This adjustment provides for varying the speed of the pump by changing the level of the belt on the surface of the drive wheel. This adjustment also provides for using different sizes of belts.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,994,216 to Morton describes a laundry apparatus, which employs an elliptical sheave mounted eccentrically to the shaft of a basket and which rotates about the shaft at all times with the basket.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,064,487 to Warwick et al. describes an eccentrically adjustable pulley adapter on a motor base shaft to eccentrically shift a transfer pulley stud so that a desired tension in the belt can be obtained.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,190,149 to Gorfin describes a speed reduction drive mechanism for converting power at high speed and relatively low torque to low speed and relatively higher torque. An eccentric disk is rotated about a shaft axis, to drive a gear, which undergoes a combined oscillating and reciprocating motion. The gear then transmits power to a cylindrical drive element and hence to a pulley, which drives a drive belt.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,936,812 to Redmond describes a torque reactive tension mechanism wherein an eccentric gear set is used as a means for automatically adjusting for fluctuations in the center distance of a power transmission drive system.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,427,581 to McGrath et al. describes an independently steerable idler pulley wherein a non-concentric inner sleeve bushing is mounted within a pulley. As the bushing rotates about its axis, the skew angle is translated to the pulley, thereby maintaining a belt in its properly mounted position on the pulley during operation.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,540,627 to Miyata describes an auto-tensioner for applying tension to a transmission belt by a tension pulley and for damping reaction forces acting from the belt.

High pressure pump having an eccentric transmission


A propylene-ethylene copolymer composition is obtained which has good moldability and an excellent balance of rigidity, toughness, and impact-strength. The composition has a melt flow rate of 10 to 300 g/10 minutes and is obtained by producing 60 to 95% by weight, based on the weight of whole polymer, of a propylene polymer having a melt flow rate (ASTM D1238) in the range of 100 to 1,000 g/10 minutes and having a ratio (Cf) of integrated values of the propylene polymer dissolved in o-dichlorobenzene at a temperature of lower than 112.degree. C., and a temperature of 112.degree. C. or higher, respectively, of 0.5 or less, by carrying out polymerization of propylene in the presence of a highly stereoregular catalyst and hydrogen in a polymerization step (I), and then producing 5 to 40% by weight, based on the weight of whole polymer, of an ethylene-propylene copolymer by feeding ethylene and propylene to the propylene polymer to react so that the content of ethylene becomes 30 to 80% by weight. Also provided is a propylene-ethylene copolymer composition comprising the composition mentioned above and a .alpha.-crystal and/or .beta.-crystal nucleator added therewith.

Since polypropylene resins are comparatively cheap and have various superior characteristics, they have been used in diversified fields. However, improvement in the impact-strength, particularly impact-strength at low temperatures has been required of the resins. Many processes for solving the above problem have been proposed so far. In general, a process for producing a propylene block copolymer wherein a propylene homopolymer component is first formed and then a component of an ethylene-propylene random copolymer is introduced thereto has been used. Whereas the propylene block copolymer has an improved impact-strength as compared with propylene homopolymers, it has a lowered rigidity, hardness and heat-resistance. As the mean for improving the demerits, a method has been proposed in Laid-open Japanese Patent Publication No. Hei 5-117342 wherein the ratio of the melt flow rate of the polymer obtained in the first stage to that obtained in the second stage are specified, and they have been broadly employed in various industrial fields such as automobiles and household appliances.
In recent years, thinning and lightening of injection-molded products or extrusion-molded products have been required from the viewpoints of saving resources and energy. However, polymers having a superior moldability while satisfying characteristics such as rigidity, hardness, heat-resistance, and impact-strength have not yet been provided. In order to obtain thinned and lightened injection-molded products or extrusion-molded products, it is necessary to increase the melt-flow rate of propylene block copolymers. However, when the melt-flow rate was increased, such a problem was raised that the rigidity, toughness and impact-strength were reduced, while the moldability was improved. Even in the case of the Laid-open Japanese Patent Publication No. Hei 5-117342 mentioned above, improvement in this respect is insufficient. For instance, when MFR (i) exceeded 50 g/10 minutes, Izod impact strength was extremely lowered. It is evident that in order to increase the melt flow rate of propylene block copolymers, it is sufficient to use propylene polymers having a low molecular weight. However, the subject of keeping the copolymers, at the same time, from causing the decrease in rigidity, toughness, and impact-strength has not yet been solved.
On the other hand, a polypropylene resin containing a propylene polymer having a position of main dissolution peak (T max) according to a temperature-rise fractionation method of 117.degree. C. or 118.degree. C. or higher, and a half-value width (.sigma.) of the peak of 3.4 degree or 4.0 degree or lower has been proposed in Laid-open Japanese Patent Publication Nos. Hei 5-5010, Hei 5-9218, Hei 5-9219, and Hei 5-32723 with a purpose of improving the rigidity and heat resistance of polypropylene, and also it has been described therein that a nucleator (nucleating agent) may be blended in the resin, if necessary. However, it was unable to regard the impact-strength, toughness, and rigidity of the resulting polypropylene resin as sufficient.
The subject of the present invention is to provide propylene-ethylene copolymer compositions which have a high rigidity, a high toughness, and a high impact strength, and are superior in moldability, and to provide a process for producing such compositions.

Propylene-ethylene copolymer composition and process for producing the same


A computer implemented invention provides a system and method for receiving at a server computer system first signals containing a conditional acceptance of an offer in association with an identification of a first entity conditionally accepting said offer, said offer containing a price; checking signals received by said server computer system during a period from said date of conditional acceptance of said offer to determine if said signals contain an identification of said offer in association with an identification of a second entity and a contribution by said second entity to said price; and debiting accounts for the entity or the entities contributing to said price, thereby enabling a group on entities to contribute to satisfying the conditions of an offer.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of Internet marketing.
2. Discussion of the Background
With the increasing popularity of the Internet and the World Wide Web, it has become common for merchants to set up Web sites (server computer systems serving web pages to client computers) for marketing and selling goods. Via these web sites, users (i.e., people using client computers) can access and place orders for millions of products.
One problem commonly encountered by online merchants is an inability to effectively market goods via their Web sites. Web sites are designed to handle two party goods and service transactions where a user using a client computer purchases a good or a service from a merchant by sending instructions from the user's client computer to the merchant's server computer. These transactions typically involve additional parties enabling the crediting of the transaction. The additional parties are a credit card company providing the user a line of credit and a merchant account company authorizing or denying and accounting for the merchant's charges to user's credit cards.
Another problem commonly faced by online merchants is an inability to efficiently attract potential consumers to their Web sites. One way of attracting consumers has been to market the site through television, newspaper and Internet advertisements. However, advertising a site using conventional methods can be expensive, and can consume significant human resources. In addition, it is often difficult or impossible to evaluate the effectiveness of a given advertisement.
The present invention addresses these and other problems.

System and method for purchasing over the internet


A self-contained, remotely interrogatable, autonomously positionable, pressure probe and methods of manufacturing and using. The probe (10) includes (i) a hermetically sealed, flexible, gas impermeable sachet (50) capable of equilibriating to a surrounding pressure, (ii) an optically-active, target-analyte partial pressure sensitive material (20) within the sachet, and (iii) a gaseous headspace (58) within the sachet containing a known concentration of the target-analyte (A).

Solid-state polymeric materials based on oxygen-sensitive photoluminescent dyes are widely used as optical oxygen sensors and probes. See, for example United States Published Patent Applications 2009/0029402, 2008/8242870, 2008/215254, 2008/199360, 2008/190172, 2008/148817, 2008/146460, 2008/117418, 2008/0051646, and 2006/0002822, and U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,569,395, 7,534,615, 7,368,153, 7,138,270, 6,689,438, 5,718,842, 4,810,655, and 4,476,870. Such optical sensors are available from a number of suppliers, including Presens Precision Sensing, GmbH of Regensburg, Germany, Oxysense of Dallas, Tex., United States, and Luxcel Biosciences, Ltd of Cork, Ireland.
Such oxygen-sensitive photoluminescent dyes respond to the partial pressure of oxygen (PO2), and are widely used in pressure-sensitive paints that can be applied to the surface of an object and interrogated to determine pressure distribution on the surface of the object. See, for example United States Published Patent Applications 2007/112166, 2007/105235, 2006/101906, 2005/288475, 2004/0249593, 2004/091695, and 2003/175511, and U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,290,444, 7,176,272, 7,127,950, 5,965,642, 5,854,682, 5,818,057, 5,612,492, 5,359,887, 5,341,676, 5,307,675, and 5,186,046.
Manufacturers and suppliers of labile products, such as medical and biological products, pharmaceuticals and foodstuffs, typically package such products in a hermetically sealed package that has been flushed with an inert gas, such as nitrogen, for purposes of reducing the concentration of oxygen within the package and thereby increasing the shelf-life of the product. It is known to employ oxygen sensitive optical probes within such packaging for providing a quick, easy, reliable and non-destructive means for measuring the concentration of oxygen within the packaging, from which the manufacturer can evaluate the integrity of the packaging process and/or the shelf-life status of packaged product in inventory. See, for example United States Published Patent Application 2009/0028756.
Manufacturers and suppliers of such labile products also often desire to measure the pressure within the package instead of or in addition to measuring the concentration of oxygen, again for purposes of evaluating the integrity of the packaging process and/or evaluating the remaining shelf-life of packaged product in inventory (e.g., an increase in pressure within a bag of potato chips is indicative of deterioration of the chips and resultant loss of taste and shelf-life while a decrease in pressure within a bottle of a carbonated beverage is indicative of a loss of carbonation and resultant loss of taste and shelf-life). Unfortunately, the current methods available to manufacturers and suppliers for measuring pressure within a hermetically sealed package are prohibitively slow and cumbersome or destructive of the package being tested.
Hence, a substantial need exists for a quick, easy, reliable and non-destructive means for measuring the pressure within hermetically sealed packaging.


Method and structures are provided for conformal lining of dual damascene structures in integrated circuits. Trenches and contact vias are formed in insulating layers. The trenches and vias are exposed to alternating chemistries to form monolayers of a desired lining material. Exemplary process flows include alternately pulsed metal halide and ammonia gases injected into a constant carrier flow. Self-terminated metal layers are thus reacted with nitrogen. Near perfect step coverage allows minimal thickness for a diffusion barrier function, thereby maximizing the volume of a subsequent filling metal for any given trench and via dimensions.

When fabricating integrated circuits, layers of insulating, conducting and semiconducting materials are deposited and patterned to produce desired structures. "Back end" or metallization processes include contact formation and metal line or wire formation. Contact formation vertically connects conductive layers through an insulating layer. Conventionally, contact vias or openings are formed in the insulating layer, which typically comprises a form of oxide such as borophosphosilicate glass (BPSG) or oxides formed from tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) precursors. The vias are then filled with conductive material, thereby interconnecting electrical devices and wiring above and below the insulating layers. The layers interconnected by vertical contacts typically include horizontal metal lines running across the integrated circuit. Such lines are conventionally formed by depositing a metal layer over the insulating layer, masking the metal layer in a desired wiring pattern, and etching away metal between the desired wires or conductive lines.
Damascene processing involves forming trenches in the pattern of the desired lines, filling the trenches with a metal or other conductive material, and then etching the metal back to the insulating layer. Wires are thus left within the trenches, isolated from one another in the desired pattern. The etch back process thus avoids more difficult photolithographic mask and etching processes of conventional metal line definition.
In an extension of damascene processing, a process known as dual damascene involves forming two insulating layers, typically separated by an etch stop material, and forming trenches in the upper insulating layer, as described above for damascene processing. After the trenches have been etched, a further mask is employed to etch contact vias downwardly through the floor of the trenches and the lower insulating layer to expose lower conductive elements where contacts are desired.
Conductive elements, such as gate electrodes, capacitors, contacts, runners and wiring layers, must each be electrically isolated from one another for proper integrated circuit operation. In addition to providing insulating layers around such conductive elements, care must be taken to prevent diffusion and spiking of conductive materials through the insulating layers, which can cause undesired short circuits between among devices and lines. Protective barriers are often formed between via or trench walls and metals in a substrate assembly, to aid in confining deposited material within the via or trench walls. Barriers are thus useful for damascene and dual damascene interconnect applications, particularly for small, fast-diffusing elements such as copper.
Candidate materials for protective barriers should foremost exhibit effective diffusion barrier properties. Additionally, the materials should demonstrate good adhesion with adjacent materials (e.g., oxide via walls, adhesion layers, etch stop layers and/or metallic materials that fill the vias and trenches). For many applications, a barrier layer is positioned in a current flow path and so must be conductive. Typically, barriers have been formed of metal nitrides (MNx), such as titanium nitride (TiN), tantalum nitride (TaN), and tungsten nitride (WN), which are dense and adequately conductive for lining contact vias, wiring trenches, and other conductive barrier applications.
These lined vias or trenches are then filled with metal by any of a variety of processes, including chemical vapor deposition (CVD), physical vapor deposition (PVD), and electroplating. For effective conductivity and to avoid electromigration during operation, the metal of a contact or wiring layer should fill the via or trench without leaving voids or key holes. Completely filling deep, narrow openings with conductive material is becoming ever more challenging as integrated circuit dimensions are constantly scaled down in pursuit of faster operational processing speeds and lower power consumption.
As illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 2, utilizing a conductive barrier layer and/or other liners makes filling the trenches and vias of dual damascene processing even more difficult. FIG. 1 illustrates a dual damascene process in which an upper insulating layer 10 is formed over a lower insulating layer 12, which is in turn formed over a conductive wiring layer 14, preferably with an intervening dielectric diffusion barrier 15. This dielectric barrier 15 serves to prevent copper or other conductive material of the underlying runner 14 from diffusing into the overlying dielectric layer 12.
A mask is employed to pattern and etch trenches 16 in a desired wiring pattern. In the illustrated embodiment, the trench 16 is etched down to the level of an etch stop layer 19, which is formed between the two insulating layers 10, 12. This etch stop layer 19 is typically patterned and etched, prior to deposition of the upper insulating layer 10, to form a hard mask that defines horizontal dimensions of desired contact vias that are to extend from the bottom of the trench 16. Continued etching through the hard mask 19 opens a contact via 20 from the bottom of the trench 16 to the lower conductive wiring layer 14. FIG. 1 also shows an upper etch stop or chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) stop layer 21 over the upper insulating layer 10 to stop a later planarization step, as will be appreciated by the skilled artisan.
Protective liners 22, preferably formed of conductive material, are then formed on the exposed horizontal and sidewall surfaces. Typically, the liners 22 at least include a metal nitride, and may additionally include adhesion enhancing and seeding layers. For example, the liner 22 can comprise a tri-layer of Ti/TiN/Cu. In such a structure, the titanium layer serves to improve adhesion with exposed oxide sidewalls; the titanium nitride serves as a diffusion barrier; and a thin copper layer serves as a seed for later electroplating of copper. In other examples, the liners 22 can include tantalum nitride or tungsten nitride barriers.
Conformal deposition of the liners 22, however, is very difficult with conventional processing. For example, physical vapor deposition (PVD), such as sputtering, of a metal layer (for adhesion, barrier and/or seed layer) requires at least about 50 Å over all surfaces of the trench 16 and contact via 20. Unfortunately, PVD of metal into high aspect ratio voids necessitates much greater deposition on the top surfaces of the workpiece to produce adequate coverage of the via bottom. For example, typical state-of-the-art trench and contact structures for dual damascene schemes require about 500 Å PVD metal in order for 50 Å of metal to reach the bottom and sidewalls of the contact 20.
This poor step coverage is a result of the high aspect ratio of voids formed for dual damascene processing in today's integrated circuit designs. The aspect ratio of a contact via is defined as the ratio of depth or height to width. In the case of dual damascene contacts, the trench 16 and contact via 20 together reach through two levels of insulating layers 10, 12, such that the effective aspect ratio of the via 20 is very high.
Conventional deposition processes produce very poor step coverage (i.e., the ratio of sidewall coverage to field or horizontal surface coverage) of such high aspect ratio vias for a variety of reasons. Due to the directionality of PVD techniques, for example, deposition tends to accumulate more rapidly at upper corners 26 of the trench 16 and upper corners 28 of the via 20, as compared to the via bottom 30. As a result of the rapid build-up of deposited material the upper surfaces of the structure, the liners occupy much of the conductive line width in the trench 16 and even more, proportionately, of the contact via 20. These built-up corners 26, 28 then cast a shadow into the lower reaches of the structure, such that lower surfaces, and particularly lower corners, are sheltered from further deposition. Although PVD deposition can be directed more specifically to the via bottom, e.g., by collimation or by ionization of the depositing vapor, such additional directionality tends to sacrifice sidewall coverage.
Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) processes have been developed for certain metals and metal nitrides. CVD tends to exhibit better step coverage than PVD processes. In order for CVD processes to exhibit good step coverage, the reaction must be operated in the so-called "surface controlled" regime. In this regime, reaction species do not adhere to trench or via walls upon initial impingement. Rather, the species bounce off trench/via surfaces several times (e.g., 10-500 times) before reacting.
State-of-the-art CVD processes for depositing barrier layers at temperatures sufficiently low to be compatible with surrounding materials do not operate completely within the surface-controlled regime. Accordingly, even CVD processes, tend to deposit far less material at the bottom of a dual damascene contact 20 then on the upper surfaces and sidewalls of the structure. The upper corners of the trench 16 and the contact 20 represent a high concentration of surface area to volume. Deposition upon the horizontal upper surfaces and adjacent vertical sidewall surfaces merge together to result in an increased deposition rate near the corners 26, 28. Additionally, flowing reactants diffuse slowly into the confined spaces of the trench 16 and contact 20. Accordingly, the concentration of reactants reaching the via bottom 30 is far reduced relative to the concentration of reactants reaching upper surfaces of the structure. Thus, while somewhat improved relative to PVD, CVD step coverage of dual damascene structures remains uneven with most currently known low temperature CVD techniques.
In the pursuit of faster operational speeds and lower power consumption, dimensions within integrated circuits are constantly being scaled down. With continued scaling, the aspect ratio of contacts and trenches continues to increase. This is due to the fact that, while the width or horizontal dimensions of structures in integrated circuits continues to shrink, the thickness of insulating layers separating metal layers cannot be commensurately reduced. Reduction of the thickness in the insulating layers is limited by the phenomenon of parasitic capacitance, whereby charged carriers are slowed down or tied up by capacitance across dielectric layers sandwiched by conductive wires. As is known, such parasitic capacitance would become disabling if the insulating layer were made proportionately thinner as horizontal dimensions are scaled down.
With reference to FIG. 2, a scaled-down version of FIG. 1 is depicted, wherein like parts are referenced by like numerals with the addition of the suffix "a." As shown, continued scaling leads to a more pronounced effect of uneven step coverage while lining dual damascene structures. Material build-up at the corners 28a of the contact via 20a quickly reduces the size of the opening, even further reducing the concentration of reactants that reach into the contact via 20a. Accordingly, coverage of the via bottom surface 30a drops off even faster. Moreover, the percentage of the trench 16a occupied by the liner materials is much greater for the scaled down structure of FIG. 2. Since the lining material is typically less conductive than the subsequent filler metal (e.g., copper), overall conductivity is reduced. Worse yet, cusps at the corners 28a of the contact via can pinch off before the bottom 30a is sufficiently covered, or during deposition of the filler metal.
Accordingly, a need exists for more effective methods of lining trenches and vias in integrated circuits, particularly in the context of dual damascene metallization.

Conformal lining layers for damascene metallization


A power transfer device adapted for use in combination with a primary transmission for an automotive vehicle, including a housing, a first output shaft rotatably mounted on the housing and having an input end for drive connection to an output shaft of the power transmission and an output end for drive connection to a first set of road wheels, a second output shaft rotatably mounted within the housing in parallel with the first output shaft and having an output end for drive connection to a second set of road wheels, a drive member rotatably mounted on the first output shaft, a driven member mounted on the second output shaft for rotation therewith and being drivingly connected to the drive member, a center differential in the form of a planetary gear unit mounted on the first output shaft and having a first output element in drive connection to the first output shaft and a second output element for drive connection to the drive member, and a changeover mechanism arranged between the planetary gear unit and the drive member and mounted on the first output shaft to selectively connect the second output element of the planetary gear unit to the drive member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a power transfer device adapted for use in combination with a primary transmission for four-wheel drive vehicles.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 63-269729 is a power transfer device adapted for use in combination with a power transmission, which comprises a housing adapted to be secured to one end of the power transmission casing, a first output shaft rotatably mounted within the housing for drive connection to a set of rear road wheels, a second output shaft rotatably mounted within the housing in parallel with the first output shaft for drive connection to a set of front road wheels, a center differential in the form of a planetary gear unit mounted on the first output shaft to transfer input drive torque to the first and second output shafts, a drive sprocket rotatably mounted on the first output shaft and drivingly connected to a driven sprocket mounted on the second output shaft, and a changeover mechanism mounted on the first output shaft to selectively transfer the drive torque from an output element of the planetary gear unit to the drive sprocket. In the power transfer device, the planetary gear unit includes a carrier having a tubular hub portion arranged in surrounding relationship with the first output shaft and associated with the changeover mechanism, and the drive sprocket is arranged between the planetary gear unit and the changeover mechanism and rotatably supported on the tubular hub portion of the carrier. In such an arrangement, it is required to supply lubricating oil into double spaces among the first output shaft, the tubular hub portion of the carrier and the drive sprocket, and it is also required to assemble a bearing respectively within the double spaces among the first output shaft, the tubular hub portion of the carrier and the drive sprocket. This results in a complicated mounting construction of the drive sprocket.

Power transfer device for four-wheel drive


Hybrid Automatic Retransmit ReQuest-Acknowledgment (HARQ-ACK) index mapping and uplink resource allocation is performed and controlled for channel selection transmission. A method for transmitting HARQ-ACK information to an eNode-B (eNB) by a User Equipment (UE) includes identifying KPCell as a number of downlink subframe(s) of a Pcell associated with an uplink subframe and identifying KSCell as a number of downlink subframe(s) of an Scell associated with the uplink subframe; generating Discontinuous Transmission (DTX) response information for a cell having a smaller number of downlink subframes between the Pcell and the Scell; generating HARQ-ACK information including the generated DTX response information and response information on data received by the UE from the eNB; and transmitting the generated HARQ-ACK information to the eNB through the uplink subframe.

1. Field
The present disclosure relates to a method and an apparatus for controlling HARQ-ACK index mapping and uplink resource allocation for channel selection transmission in an inter-band Time Division Duplex (TDD) Mode. That is, the present disclosure relates to a method of mapping HARQ-ACK indexes, and transmitting Physical Uplink Control CHannel (PUCCH) ACK/NACK (A/N) in a state where TDD transmission modes between bands are different and scheduling between subcarriers is set, and apparatuses for implementing the method, and may overcome limitations in transmission/reception subframes.
2. Discussion of the Background
As communication systems have developed, various wireless terminals have been utilized by consumers, such as, enterprises and individuals. A current mobile communication system, for example, 3GPP, Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), and the like, may be a high capacity communication system capable of transmitting and receiving various data, such as, image data, wireless data and the like, beyond providing a sound-based service. Accordingly, there is a desire for a technology that transmits high capacity data comparable with a wired communication network. Large capacity data can be efficiently transmitted through a plurality of Component Carriers (CCs). Meanwhile, in a Time Division Duplex (TDD) system, Transmission (Tx) and Reception (Rx) are performed using particular frequency bands, and data can be transmitted and received based on divided time slots.
According to a channel selection and PUCCH format 3 transmission method in conventional (Release-10 (Rel-10)) Carrier Aggregation (CA) TDD, it is assumed that the number of Downlink (DL) subframes associated with PCell Uplink (UL) subframes are always the same, because Rel-10 CA TDD defines that all serving cells have the same TDD UL-DL configuration. However, in Rel-11 in which different TDDs configurations are made in different carriers, additional handling is used to support the Physical Uplink Control CHannel (PUCCH) transmission method. Accordingly, the present teachings disclose an additional handling method, which may solve errors in the PUCCH transmission method that are generated in such an environment.
That is, a method for solving problems of the conventional Rel-10 channel selection transmission method generated by different PDSCH HARQ timings between a PCell and an SCell and improving the Rel-10 channel selection transmission method is needed.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Methods for transmitting and receiving hybrid automatic retransmit request-acknowledgment (HARQ-ACK) index mapping and uplink resource allocation for channel selection transmission in inter-band time division duplex mode, user equipment to transmit HARQ-ACK, and eNode-B to receive HARQ-ACK


A system and method of recycling non-hazardous waste materials is provided, wherein the method first comprises reducing the size of said non-hazardous waste materials. The method further includes incinerating the non-hazardous waste material within an incineration unit having at least one hearth and a flue gas stack, and transferring the non-hazardous waste liquids and the water to a storage tank. The method further comprises providing a clean water source to a steam generation unit, wherein the steam generation unit receives heated flue gas from the incineration unit, and operating the steam generation unit to produce steam. The steam is directed through one or more heating coils within the storage tank and transfers heat from the steam to the storage tank. Additionally, the non-hazardous waste liquids and water can be recirculated through an evaporator to progressively remove undesired substances from the non-hazardous waste liquid and water, and a first portion of the non-hazardous waste liquid and water can be redirected to the incineration unit to control temperature within the incineration unit. Finally, steam and undesired substances from the evaporator can be redirected to the flue gas stack to flash off undesired substances.

I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to systems and methods used to dispose of and/or recycle non-hazardous waste, such as engine oil filters and oil-absorbent pads, and more particularly to such systems and methods which result in minimum adverse impact on the environment.
II. Background and Prior Art
Disposal of used engine oil filters and oil-absorbent pads presents a serious environmental problem for a number of reasons. First, these products retain residual oil which can contaminate soil in landfills or the like. Used motor oil contains toxic heavy metals such as lead, chromium and cadmium, and dangerous organic chemicals. It is estimated that every year, more than 170 million gallons of used oil is improperly disposed of. Because sewage plants are not designed to deal with used motor oil, such oil often passes through storm sewers directly into rivers, wetlands and the ocean, posing a threat to aquatic life, as well as to the drinking water sources. Further, the oil filters contain materials of different types such as metal and paper-like filter material which cannot be readily decomposed or which are difficult to decompose. For these reasons, and because most of the used motor oil comes from disposal of used oil filters from automotive vehicles and industrial machinery, there has been ongoing research for ways to easily reclaim the oil in used oil filters, and to reclaim the metals and used filter elements therefrom.
One method involves gravity draining the filters to remove a large portion of the oil, and then melting down the filters and recasting the metal as reinforcing bar. However, this type of program makes no use of the used filter elements, does not remove enough of the oil before the filters are melted down, and is an expensive process.
Another means of recycling used oil filters simply involves crushing of the filters after the oil is drained. This presents the problem of fumes from the oil left in the filters when further recycling takes place, as does the melting and recasting process previously described. Thus, there remains a need in the art for a clean economical method of recycling used oil filters.
Consequently, an improved system and method of recycling such waste materials are needed. In such an improved system, used oil filters and oil absorbent pads (the "non-hazardous waste material") would be collected and dumped into a containment sump area. Any used oil and oily water in the waste material would be pumped out of the containment sump area to used oil storage tanks for recycling. A conveyor system in the containment sump area will take the solid waste material (metal housings and absorbent filter materials) to a sheer shredder (or "size reduction unit") to provide a reduced sized waste material for processing. The shredded waste material will be conveyed to a dual-batching system for loading into the incinerator (sometimes referred to as the "energy recovery unit" or "ERU"). When the waste material is loaded into the incinerator, the unit must have a controlled temperature such that the metal materials are not melted. Oily water from the bottom of the used oil storage tanks would be sprayed into the incinerator during the incineration process to assist in controlling the temperature inside the incinerator hearths. Oily water would also be routed to an evaporator unit for the production of steam as will be further described herein. The steam from the boiler and evaporator would be used to provide heat to the used oil storage tanks to aid in the oil/water separation within the tanks. Any condensate from steam used in connection with the storage tanks would be re-routed back to the boiler for further production of steam.
As will be further explained below in connection with the preferred embodiments, the use of a dual-hearth system inside the incinerator would provide a cleaner and easier way to remove the fly ash and clean metal without interrupting the operation of the incinerator process. A vacuum system would also be employed to vacuum the fly ash from the hearth and the metal hopper system. Also, an overhead crane magnet would remove the clean metal from the hearth and would deliver the clean metal into a scrap metal hopper. The hopper may include a vibrating conveyor which delivers the clean metal to a scrap metal container. Preferably, the vibrating conveyor would be hooded such that the vacuum system may also remove any additional fly ash at that stage of the process.
Fully and properly implemented, it is anticipated that such a system and method would result in an essentially "zero discharge", environmentally sound process, wherein the usable products are a non-hazardous fly ash (sellable as a stabilization material), a clean scrap metal (sellable as a #1 scrap metal), and used oil fuel (sellable to used oil bunker fuel market).


A full-text lattice indexing and searching system and method for indexing word lattices using a text indexer to enable enhance searching of audio content. The system and method utilize a Time-Anchored Lattice Expansion (TALE) method that represents word lattices such that they can be indexed with existing text indexers with little or no modification. Embodiments of system and method include an indexing module for generating and indexing word lattices based on audio content and a searching module for allowing searching of a full-text index containing indexed word lattices. The indexing module includes a custom IFilter and a custom Wordbreaker. Embodiments of the searching module include an ExpandQuery function for decorating an input query and a custom Stemmer. Embodiments of the searching module also include a GenerateSnippets module that extracts information from the indexed word lattices to enable the creation of clickable snippets.

There has been a dramatic increase in the available audio content in the enterprise environment. Audio content includes both audio documents (streaming audio and audio recordings) as well as the audio portion of video documents (streaming video and video recordings). Audio content is contained in online lecture videos, archived meetings, archived conference calls, and voicemail.
Because there often is a great deal of audio content in the enterprise environments, it frequently is desirable to be able to search the audio content of documents. However, unlike Internet audio and video content, the enterprise setting offers little meta-data such as anchor text, surrounding text, closed captions. Thus, indexing such meta-data, while successful for Internet content, results in poor search accuracy in the enterprise context.
Another way to search enterprise audio content is by using text indexing. Typical text indexing uses speech-to-text (STT) algorithms and indexes the words that are output from these algorithms. However, for typical enterprise audio content, state-of-the-art speech recognition software achieves speech-to-text word accuracies of only about 50-60%. Thus, this direct speech recognition approach results in suboptimal search accuracy.
One way to substantially improve the search accuracy of speech-recognition based text indexing is by indexing "word lattices" instead of just single words. Word lattices are representations of alternative recognition candidates of a word that were also considered by the speech recognizer, but did not turn out to be the top-scoring candidate. This is a form of speech recognition results, but contains more information. In particular, each word lattice contains at least three types of information: (1) a possible replacement for the query word (or candidates for replacement); (2) time boundary information of the query word (a start time and an end time); and (3) a confidence level or score for the query word.
The use of word lattices improves accuracy in two ways. First, there are less false positives because word lattices provide confidence scores that can be used to suppress low-confidence matches. Second, there are less false negatives. This is because word lattices discover sub-phrases and AND matches where individual words are of low confidence. The fact that the individual words are queried together, however, allows the inference that they still may be correct. Using the lattice approach instead of only using speech recognition improves the accuracy of the audio content search by 60 to 140%. Thus, this lattice approach works well for indexing audio content.
There are problems, however, when trying to use lattice approach to deal with a real-world application. It is desirable to use existing text indexers to index the word lattices. However, text indexers are able to index only simple words and phrases, and lattice structures are quite complicated and contain additional information. For example, a Structured Query Language (SQL) full-text engine has no field in which to store a confidence level. Moreover, in SQL word positions are not sufficient because word alternates may be not aligned. For example, an alternate phrase may span two words. Further, the original text-ingestion plug-in interface (or IFilter) of the SQL full-text engine does not allow the output of more than one word for each word position. Thus, word lattices cannot be indexed by traditional text indexers.

Indexing and searching audio using text indexers