A target has a front sputtering surface including an inner annular surface and an outer frustoconical surface which are concentric to an axis and adjoin at an angle to form a break. A ring of magnets and a first ring-like pole shoe outside the target, together with a second pole shoe inside the target and a yoke facing the back of the target, provide lines of flux through the target and arcuately over the front surface to form a first plasma ring over the break and a second plasma ring radially outside the break.

The invention describes an apparatus for cathode sputtering for the production of thin coatings on a substrate by means of a plasma in a vacuum processing chamber, consisting essentially of magnets, pole shoes, an anode, a target configured as a cathode of the material to be sputtered, and a masking system.
For the production of thin coatings on a substrate, especially for coating compact disks, many different solutions are known in the state of the art.
For example, EP 0 163 445 describes a target set for an apparatus for vacuum sputtering, having a first and second cathode element of sputtering material, the second surrounding the first. The geometries of the first and second element are such that, when they are in the vacuum, material can be sputtered from the emitting surface of the second element, which surface lies outside that of the first element. The first target element is a ring-shaped cathode and the initial emitting surface of the second element is frustoconical.
U.S. Pat No. 4,747,926, also discloses a frustoconical target for use in a magnetron sputtering apparatus. A one-piece target is fixed to a backing plate and has two surface areas which run parallel to the central region of a planar substrate, and a third inclined area which joins the first and second areas. A magnetic field produces two plasmas of different diameters.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,933,064 discloses a sputtering cathode on the magnetron principle, with a target having at least two concentric projections whose wall surfaces are perpendicular to the sputtering surface. A permanent magnet system has soft-magnetic pole shoes, from whose pole faces magnetic lines of force pass through the projections and cross the sputtering surface.
The described prior art apparatus have several disadvantages. First, they require a relatively high electrical power for supplying the sputtering current. Second, they achieve an unsatisfactory sputtering efficiency, i.e., too much target material is deposited on shielding and masks instead of on the substrate. Third, the mechanical structure of the cathode is too complicated. Fourth, the sputtering current supply (SSV) is prone to arcing, and consequently the SSV frequently shuts down.


A burner comprising channels for the separate supply of a liquid fuel and an oxygen-containing gas. The burner comprises a twin-fluid atomizer head comprising first flow-through passages fluidly connected to the supply channel for oxygen-containing gas and second flow-through passages fluidly connected to the fuel supply channel. The second flow-through passages exit into the first flow-through passages at a point before the first flow-through passages exit into a coaxial ring of orifices. A cooling jacket envelopes the supply channel walls. The orifices run through the atomizer head at a distance from the cooling jacket. The atomizer head can, for example, be made of a first metal, such as a copper alloy, and the cooling jacket can be made of a second metal with a lower thermal conductivity than the first metal, for example steel.

U.S. Pat. No. 2,414,459 discloses a fluid fuel burner atomizing the fuel in a thin-walled spray permeable by an airstream supplied to form a combustible mixture. The spray has a hollow frusto-conical form to afford a maximum amount of surface exposure to a surrounding envelope of combustion air. The burner is not cooled and could therefore not be used under high temperature loads.
WO-A-01/55640 describes a burner comprising at least two channels for separate supply of a liquid fuel and an oxygen containing gas. The burner has a twin fluid atomizer head fixed to the discharge end of the burner.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,266,552 describes a burner having a cooling jacket to protect the burner from the heat as created in the interior of a furnace.
To obtain gaseous fuels from solid carbonaceous materials, finely divided solid carbonaceous fuel carried by a gas carrier, for example pulverized coal carried by a gas carrier such as nitrogen gas and/or carbon dioxide, can be partially combusted in a gasification reactor using an oxygen-containing gas. Due to the incomplete combustion, the formed fuel gas is suitable for further combustion. The partial combustion processes can be used, for example for producing pressurized synthesis gas, fuel gas or reducing gas.
In the reactor a flame is maintained by reacting the fuel with the oxygen in the oxygen-containing gas at temperatures above 1300° C. In this reaction carbon monoxide and hydrogenare formed and at some temperatures it is also possible to form methane.
To start-up the gasification reactor, the temperature and the pressure are raised to a level sufficiently high to enable reaction of the fuel with the oxygen-containing gas. For combusting heavy, difficult ignitable fuels, such as pulverized coal, it is common practice to generate a relatively small start-up flame by using a fuel which is less likely to blow out. The small start-up flame is used for ignition of the main fuel flow. Means are needed for igniting the start-up flame and for maintaining a stable flame during temperature and pressure build-up and during ignition of the main fuel flow. If the combustion operation is to be carried out in a closed, confined and pressurized space, such as for example in coal gasification processes, the ignition is normally carried out in two steps. A first ignition flame is generated, which first ignition flame is used to ignite a gaseous or liquid fuel, thereby producing a second larger ignition flame, which in its turn is used to ignite the main fuel flow. The above process for igniting a fuel flow in a pressurized combustion chamber is normally carried out by means of an ignition device and a separate start-up burner operating on gaseous or liquid fuel. The start-up burner is not only used for igniting the main fuel flow but also for pressurizing and heating the combustion chamber before the main fuel is introduced.
It would be an advancement in the art to provide a burner for liquid fuels comprising atomizer units which can be used as a start-up burner for use in a reactor operated at very high temperatures and high pressure loads.


Oligomers having phosphonate internucleosidyl linkages mixed with non-phosphonate internucleosidyl linkages which hybridize to RNA target sequences and methods for their preparation are provided.

The present invention is directed to synthetic Oligomers having phosphonate internucleosidyl linkages mixed with non-phosphonate internucleosidyl linkages and to methods for their synthesis.
Oligomers having naturally occurring phosphodiester internucleosidyl linkages and certain other internucleosidyl linkages do not have chiral centers at the phosphorus atom (or other atom) of the internucleosidyl linkage.
Oligomers having an alkylphosphonate or alkylphosphonothioate internucleosidyl likages have chiral centers at the phosphorus atom of the internucleosidyl linkage. These Oligomers are capable of having either Rp or Sp chirality at each phosphorus, and a particular Oligomer theoretically can have 2.sup.n different diastereomeric forms where n is the number of phosphonate internucleosidyl linkages in the Oligomer. For example, an Oligomer having a total of 10 phosphonate internucleosidyl linkages theoretically has 1,024 diastereomers and an Oligomer having a total of 18 phosphonate internucleosidyl linkages theoretically has 262,144 diastereomers. Binding affinity of the oligomer to its target sequence has been reported to be affected depending on whether a phosphonate or phosphonothioate linkage has the Rp or Sp configuration.
The copending and commonly-assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/154,013, entitled "Chirally Enriched Synthetic Phosphonate Oligomers", filed Nov. 16, 1993, describes chirally enriched all-alkylphosphonate oligomers which were reported to have enhanced binding affinity for complementary RNA sequences. Synthesis of such chirally enriched oligomers may require special synthetic or purification procedures as compared with oligomers having alkylphosphonate linkages of undefined chirality ("racemic").
In a review article summarizing certain work on antisense agents, disadvantages of poorly hybridizing racemic oligodeoxynucleoside methylphosphonates in cell free extracts were said to be more or less balanced by their proposed advantages*/ in cell culture systems. It was noted that certain reports using a normal (deoxyribonucleoside) octamer with one methylphosphonate linkage found the Oligomer with an R bond to have a melting temperature higher than the Oligomer with an S bond. It was also noted that sequence dependence of methylphosphonate base pairing might be as important as chirality. (Wickstrom, "Antisense DNA Therapeutics Neutral Analogs and Their Stereo-chemistry" in Gene Regulation: Biology of Antisense RNA and DNA, 119 to 132 (Erickson and Izant, eds., Raven Press Ltd., New York (1992)) FNT */ Greater longevity, more efficient cellular uptake and lack of charge.
Kibler-Herzog et al., Anti-Cancer Drug Design, 8: 65-79 (1993) reported studies of melting curves for duplex and triplex formation using 19-mers having all-A or all-T sequences and alternating methylphosphonate phosphodiester, phosphodiester and predominantly methylphosphonate backbones.
Quantin and Wetmur, Biochemistry 28: 1040-1047 (1989) reported studies on the effect of ionic strength on hybridization of oligodeoxynucleotides having methylphosphonate linkages replacing certain numbers of phosphodiester linkages to unmodified oligodeoxynucleotides.
Akhtar et al., Life Sciences 49: 1793-1801 (1991) report studies on antisense DNA oligodeoxynucleotide analogs in certain cellular extracts. An oligonucleotide having alternating methylphosphonate and phosphodiester linkages was reported to have comparable stability, in terms of nuclease degradation, to the corresponding methylphosphonate and phosphorothioate oligonucleotides.
Agrawal et al, Tetrahedron Letters 28 (31): 3539-3542 (1987) reported that an oligodeoxynucleotide having two adjacent methylphosphonate replacing phosphodiester linkages at either end of an oligodeoxynucleotide increased resistance to certain nucleases.

Synthetic oligomers having phosphonate internucleosidyl linkages of undefined chirality mixed with non-phosphonate internucleosidyl linkages


A system records the movement of people carrying mobile devices within a specific area. A plurality of receivers distributed throughout the specified area monitor the area for wireless communication from a mobile device. Mobile devices are identified by way of a unique identifier, e.g. IMSI, IMEI, MAC address, or similar transmitted on a control channel or the like. Whenever such wireless communication is detected, the direction from which the signal is received is detected. The position of the mobile device (and hence the person carrying it) may be calculated by triangulating results from two or more receiving devices, and the results stored.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a system for monitoring the movement of mobile communication devices, and to a method of monitoring the movement of mobile communication devices.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Currently in areas where large numbers of people congregate it may be advantageous to know the paths people take through the area. However, the mobile telephone network operators can only calculate the position of a mobile device to within several hundred meters unless the people being tracked carry extra equipment. This path information can currently only be accurately gathered manually, which is time consuming, expensive and error prone.
Numerous prior publications address mobile device tracking or monitoring, but all of them require the use of special hardware or software on the mobile device. In the field of shopping, U.S. Pat. No. 5,295,064 outlines a method to track shoppers by adding geolocation hardware to shopping carts, which not only makes the trolleys much more expensive but would be unable to track the shoppers who do not use a shopping cart.
In the more general field of mobile device tracking there are also a number of prior publications, but again they all require some interaction with the mobile device. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,716,101, a paging signal is sent out to a mobile device and its response is used to calculate its position. This not only has the disadvantage of working only with devices that offer such paging facilities, but it also requires the transmitting of the paging signal, which could interfere with other communications. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,246,882, a method of using specialised mobile devices which transmit a position signal is suggested. This will only give a useful indication of the movement of a group of people if significant numbers of people within that group have such specialised devices.
In conclusion no monitoring device previously suggested allows the passive monitoring of peoples' movement, without the defect of requiring the people being monitored to carry specialised or adapted hardware.

Monitoring the movement of mobile communication devices


An image forming apparatus includes a disengagement unit that disengages all of plurality of image carrier gears and plurality of driving, gears, and allows an image carrier unit to be removed outside of an unit containing portion.

The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus including: an image carrier unit integrally having a plurality of image carriers, which respectively carries an image; and a unit containing portion which removably contains the image carrier unit. The present invention also relates to a technique associated with the image forming apparatus.
Some type of a conventional laser printer includes a photoreceptor unit, having a plurality of photoreceptor drums integrally aligned in one direction, and a unit containing portion, wherein the photoreceptor unit can be removably contained along the alignment direction of the photoreceptor drums.
In this type of laser printer, drum gears are provided and respectively connected to the photoreceptor drums so as to transmit driving force to the photoreceptor drums for rotating the drums. Moreover, a plurality of driving gears is provided in the unit containing portion. The driving gears are engaged with the respective drum gears so as to transmit driving force to the drum gears from a motor.
Generally, in this type of laser printer, when the photoreceptor unit is removed while a user lifting an end portion of the photoreceptor unit in a downstream side of the removal direction, the drum gears and the driving gears are disengaged in a consecutive manner from the downstream side.
The drum gears and the driving gears are formed in such a manner that the center of each circle works as the center of rotation. However, in a precise sense, the center of rotation slightly deviates from the center of the circles. Therefore, the displacement rate on the outer circumference of the gears at the time of rotation (the displacement amount on the outer circumference per unit time) is not constant.
When images, carried by respective the photoreceptor drums, are sequentially superposed on a sheet of paper conveyed in the above-described laser printer, the respective images are misaligned due to the dislocation of the center of gear rotation. A solution is required so as to inhibit misalignment of images carried by the photoreceptor drums.
For this purpose, in the above-described laser printer, a phase reference point is predetermined for the respective gears based on the dislocation of the rotational center, and the phase differences between the adjacent drum gears and between the adjacent driving gears are set so as to be respectively constant.

Image forming apparatus and image carrier unit with gears for driving image carriers


A battery module including a case having a wall disposed therein to form a channel along which a fluid circulates; and a plurality of battery cells disposed in the case, wherein the wall is disposed between a pair of neighboring battery cells among the plurality of battery cells, and the fluid flows in through an inlet of the case, circulates between the plurality of battery cells along the wall, and flows out through an outlet of the case.

As technology development and demand for a mobile device have increased, demand for a secondary battery as an energy source has rapidly increased. Conventionally, a nickel-cadmium battery or a hydrogen ion battery has been used as the secondary battery. However, a lithium secondary battery is recently widely used because charging and discharging is free due to rare memory effect in comparison with a nickel-based secondary battery, a self-discharge rate is very low, and an energy density is high.
The lithium secondary battery mainly uses a lithium oxide and a carbonaceous material as a positive electrode active material and a negative electrode active material, respectively. The lithium secondary battery includes an electrode assembly in which a positive electrode plate and a negative electrode plate, respectively coated with the positive electrode active material and the negative electrode active material, are arranged with a separator therebetween, and an outer member, that is a battery case, which seals and receives the electrode assembly together with an electrolyte solution.
The lithium secondary battery includes a positive electrode, a negative electrode, and a separator interposed therebetween and an electrolyte. Depending on which material is used for the positive electrode active material and the negative electrode active material, the lithium secondary battery is classified into a lithium ion battery (LIB) and a polymer lithium ion battery (PLIB). Generally, an electrode of the lithium secondary battery is prepared by applying the positive or negative electrode active material to a current collector made of aluminum or copper sheet, mesh, film, foil, or the like and then drying the same.
The lithium secondary battery is currently in the limelight due to its advantages such as high operating voltage and high energy density, but it is one of important tasks to cool the lithium secondary battery since heat is generated while the lithium secondary battery is being charged or used.
In relation to the prior art, Korean Unexamined Patent Publication No. 10-2014-0057696 discloses a structure in which an insulating liquid is filled in a battery case and is circulated to cool a battery module. However, in this document, battery cells are disposed at the center of the battery case, and the flow of the insulating liquid is disturbed since the insulating liquid collides with the battery cells while circulating. Thus, the insulating liquid may not circulate smoothly, and thus the cooling performance of the entire battery module is poor.

Battery module and battery pack including the same


There is provided a 5-thio-β-D-glucopyranoside compound of the following formula, which has an inhibitory effect on SGLT2 activity, or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof or a hydrate thereof. There is also provided a pharmaceutical preparation, particularly a prophylactic or therapeutic agent for diabetes, diabetes-related diseases or diabetic complications, which comprises such a compound as an active ingredient.

Chronic hyperglycemia is believed to reduce both insulin secretion and insulin sensitivity, which in turn will cause elevation of blood glucose levels and lead to exacerbation of diabetes. Drugs conventionally used as therapeutic agents for diabetes include biguanides, sulfonylureas, glycosidase inhibitors and insulin-resistance improving agents. However, adverse side effects of these drugs have been reported; for example, lactic acidosis for biguanides, hypoglycemia for sulfonylureas, and diarrhea for glycosidase inhibitors. It is therefore desirable to develop therapeutic agents for diabetes that depend on a new mechanism of action which is different from those conventionally proposed.
Phloridzin, a glucose derivative isolated from nature, has been identified as having a hypoglycemic effect by inhibiting excessive glucose reabsorption in the kidney to accelerate the glucose excretion (J. Clin. Invest., vol. 80, p. 1037, 1987; J. Clin. Invest., vol. 87, p. 1510, 1987). There have been indications that this glucose reabsorption event is mediated by sodium-dependent glucose transporter 2 (SGLT2) present at the S1 site of renal proximal tubules (J. Clin. Invest., vol. 93, p. 397, 1994).
Under these backgrounds, an increasing number of studies have been conducted to develop therapeutic agents for diabetes that depend on SGLT2 inhibition, and a large number of phloridzin derivatives have been reported.
By way of example, there has been reported an aryl β-D-glucopyranoside compound having the following formula:
(European Patent Publication No. EP0850948). In addition to this, other relevant compounds have also been disclosed (International Patent Publication Nos. WO0168660, WO0116147, WO0174834, WO0174835, WO0253573, WO0268439, WO0268440, WO0236602, WO0288157, WO0228872, WO0244192, WO0264606, WO0311880, WO0320737, WO0300712, etc.).
When administered orally, phloridzin derivatives are hydrolyzed at glycosidic linkages by the action of glycosidase present in the small intestine, thus resulting in low absorption efficiency of unchanged form and a weak hypoglycemic effect. For this reason, various attempts have been made, for example, to increase absorption efficiency by administering phloridzin derivatives in the form of prodrugs and/or to prevent digestion by synthesizing compounds replaced by carbon-carbon linkages instead of glycosidic linkages (U.S. Pat. Nos. 20010041674, 2002137903 and 20031143, International Patent Publication No. WO0127128 and International Patent Publication No. WO0283066).
However, since no chemical synthesis technique has been developed for β-selective glycosylation of 5-thioglucose derivatives in which the ring oxygen atom of glucose is replaced by a sulfur atom, there is no report on 5-thio-β-D-glucopyranoside compounds. Thus, there is also no report on the SGLT2-inhibiting effect of 5-thio-β-D-glucopyranoside derivatives.

Aryl 5-thio-β-d-glucopyranoside derivatives and therapeutic agents for diabetes containing the same


A medical device is configured to detect an atrial tachyarrhythmia episode. The device senses a cardiac signal, identifies R-waves in the cardiac signal attendant ventricular depolarizations and determines classification factors from the R-waves identified over a predetermined time period. The device classifies the predetermined time period as one of unclassified, atrial tachyarrhythmia and non-atrial tachyarrhythmia by comparing the determined classification factors to classification criteria. A classification criterion is adjusted from a first classification criterion to a second classification criterion after at least one time period being classified as atrial tachyarrhythmia. An atrial tachyarrhythmia episode is detected by the device in response to at least one subsequent time period being classified as atrial tachyarrhythmia based on the adjusted classification criterion.

During normal sinus rhythm (NSR), the heart beat is regulated by electrical signals produced by the sino-atrial (SA) node located in the right atrial wall. Each atrial depolarization signal produced by the SA node spreads across the atria, causing the depolarization and contraction of the atria, and arrives at the atrioventricular (A-V) node. The A-V node responds by propagating a ventricular depolarization signal through the bundle of His of the ventricular septum and thereafter to the bundle branches and the Purkinje muscle fibers of the right and left ventricles.
Atrial tachyarrhythmia includes the disorganized form of atrial fibrillation and varying degrees of organized atrial tachycardia, including atrial flutter. Atrial fibrillation (AF) occurs because of multiple focal triggers in the atrium or because of changes in the substrate of the atrium causing heterogeneities in conduction through different regions of the atria. The ectopic triggers can originate anywhere in the left or right atrium or pulmonary veins. The AV node will be bombarded by frequent and irregular atrial activations but will only conduct a depolarization signal when the AV node is not refractory. The ventricular cycle lengths will be irregular and will depend on the different states of refractoriness of the AV-node.
As more serious consequences of persistent atrial arrhythmias have come to be understood, such as an associated risk of relatively more serious ventricular arrhythmias and stroke, there is a growing interest in monitoring and treating atrial arrhythmias. Implantable cardiac monitors and implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) may be configured to acquire cardiac electrical signals that can be analyzed for detecting atrial arrhythmias.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Atrial arrhythmia episode detection in a cardiac medical device


An autonomous floor cleaner can include a housing, a drive system for autonomously moving the housing over the surface to be cleaned, and a controller for controlling the operation of the autonomous floor cleaner. The drive system can include at least one drive wheel for driving the housing across a surface to be cleaned. The drive wheel can be selectively moved from an engaged or in-use position to a disengaged or maintenance position. In the disengaged or maintenance position, the wheel is disengaged from the autonomously moveable housing such that it can be pivoted, extended, removed, or otherwise moved farther away from the autonomously moveable housing.

Autonomous or robotic floor cleaners can move without the assistance of a user or operator to clean a floor surface. For example, the floor cleaner can be configured to vacuum or sweep dirt (including dust, hair, and other debris) into a collection bin carried on the floor cleaner. The floor cleaner can move randomly about a surface while cleaning the floor surface or use a mapping/navigation system for guided navigation about the surface. Some floor cleaners are further configured to apply and extract liquid for wet cleaning of bare floors, carpets, rugs, and other floor surfaces.
Such floor cleaners include a drive system with one or more drive wheels for driving the floor cleaner across a surface to be cleaned. Hair and other dirt tend to become caught around the drive wheels, and over time can build up and prevent the drive wheels from functioning properly. A user must manually remove the buildup around the drive wheels, which is time consuming and undesirable. With wet cleaning robots, this problem is compounded by the hair and debris being wet, which makes the buildup harder to remove.

Autonomous floor cleaner with drive wheel assembly


The present invention discloses in detail a semiconductor device and a patterning method for the plated electrode thereof. By using the laser ablation method according to the prior art, the semiconductor substrate below the ARC is damaged by direct destructive burning. According to the present invention, an additional protection layer is inserted between the ARC and the semiconductor substrate. Then a laser is used for heating and liquefying the protection layer below the ARC, and thus separating the ARC from the liquefied protection layer underneath and forming pattered openings. Afterwards, by a plating process, nickel and copper can plated.

In semiconductor fabrication, the metal process is normally required. Because metals contact patterned regions only, the photoresist process and the lithography method are mostly adopted currently for achieving the purpose of patternization. For normal semiconductor fabrication, which has higher costs, although the patterning method adds some extra costs, it is still relatively acceptable. Nonetheless, for low-cost solar-cell fabrication, using the photoresist process will apparently increase the cost. Thereby, the photoresist is not suitable for defining metal patterns in solar cells.
For the current metal process of solar cells, the screen printing method is adopted to form metal electrodes. The screen printing process is very simple and fast. Nonetheless, as crystalline silicon solar cells are developing towards the two directions of low costs and high efficiency, forming silver electrodes by screen printing faces bottlenecks. It is difficult to make breakthrough.
The cost difference between copper and silver is enormous while their conductivity values are approximate. Accordingly, under the consideration of costs, the International Technology Roadmap for Photovoltaic (ITRPV) predicts that the metal silver currently in use will be replaced by the metal copper gradually. The plated nickel/copper electrode is regarded as the potential choice of positive electrodes for the next-generation solar cells. In addition, the plating process enables electrodes to have better aspect ratios and thus the efficiency can be improved by reducing the shading area of solar cells. Besides, the metal contact resistance between nickel and silicon substrate is also superior to the silver paste in the screen printing process. Thereby, the efficiency of solar cell can be enhanced as well.
The current bottleneck of nickel/copper electrode plating process is that the patterning method for metals is too complicated or the equipment is costly. Thereby, the competitivity of nickel/copper plated electrodes cannot surpass that of the screen printing process. Take the laser ablation for example. It uses laser to burn and remove the existing anti-reflection coating (ARC) on the surface of solar cells. Afterwards, the metal plating procedure is performed. The ARC is an excellent blocking layer for plating. The region with the ARC removed can be plated with metal, and thereby achieving the purpose of metal patternization with ease. The laser process has the advantages of simplicity and rapidity, making it suitable for low-cost mass production.

Semiconductor device and patterning method for plated electrode thereof

Atomic Energy Council—Institute of Nuclear Energy Research


A composition is described containing fine solid particles held in an encapsulation or dispersed in a matrix and which are inert towards the encapsulation or the matrix, whereby the encapsulation or the matrix consists of a homogeneous mixture of cellulose, tertiary amine oxide, water and, if necessary, other components. The compositions are suited for matting, pigmenting etc. of cellulose filaments, films and membranes.

The invention relates to a composition containing fine solid particles such as inorganic and organic pigments, synthetic polymers and the like, all of them held in an encapsulation or dispersed in a matrix whereby the encapsulation or the matrix consists of a homogeneous mixture of cellulose, tertiary amine oxide, water and, if necessary, other components.
Dispersions of solid particles such as pigments are needed for a wide variety of applications. A significant application is for example the mat-finishing of cellulose filaments.
It is practically impossible to distribute solid particles such as pigments, e.g., titanium dioxide, directly and uniformly into a spin mass. This applies also to the manufacturing of cellulose filaments according to the so-called NMMO process, a process whereby cellulose is dissolved in a mixture of N-methylmorpholine-N-oxide, water and, if necessary, additional components and is further processed into filaments by a method known per se. However, attempts to directly stir the pigments into the spin mass result in agglomerations. Therefore spinning disturbances are automatically programmed in. In addition uniformity of the filaments obtained suffers.
For this reason, a preventive measure is taken that results in the production of appropriate suspensions or pastes, i.e., masses containing a considerable portion of the pigment or other solid particles to be distributed, and the spin mass is doped with these pastes or suspensions.
A disadvantage of this process in the prior art is that on the one hand it is very laborious to manufacture such pastes and suspensions, and that even with extensive kneading and stirring the agglomerations of the solid particles cannot be fully destroyed, therefore making it necessary to filter the suspensions once again. On the other hand these processes use emulsifiers or stabilizers, which firstly should ensure a better distribution of the particles in the paste or suspension and secondly should improve the stability of the suspensions or pastes. Despite all of these efforts, signs of separation, sedimentation or reagglomeration continue to appear during storage so that the paste or suspension is no longer homogeneous, possibly leading to irregularities in the manufacturing.
Additionally, during the washing of the filaments, films and the like, which were manufactured using such pastes or suspensions, the emulsifiers and other additives are mostly washed out therefore further polluting the washwater so that additional problems occur during the reprocessing of the washwater and the solvent, especially the NMMO.
For this reason there is still a need for fine, dispersed or dispersible solid particles which do not possess the aforementioned disadvantages, can easily be manufactured, and can furthermore be employed in various applications.

Composition containing fine solid particles


In a method of distortion correction for gradient non-linearities in a nuclear magnetic resonance tomography apparatus, two auxiliary datasets h(x,), f(x,y) are measured that describe the shift of a measured location (x',y') relative to an actual location (x,y) of a signal origin. A corrected auxiliary dataset h(x+f(x,y), y) is produced from the auxiliary dataset h(x,y). A location correction in y-direction ensues in an image dataset upon employment of the corrected auxiliary dataset h(x+f(x,y), y). A first intensity correction also ensues. A location correction in x-direction subsequently ensues with a second intensity correction. Alternatively, the location correction can also ensue by Fresnel transformation of the raw dataset upon involvement of the corrected auxiliary data h(x+f(x,y), y).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a method of distortion correction for gradient non-linearities in nuclear magnetic resonance tomography apparatus.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As is known, inhomogeneities in the basic magnetic field and non-linearities of gradient fields lead to image distortions if there are no corrective or preventative measures in the standard MR imaging sequences. Pulse sequences currently utilized are generally based on a technique referred to as the "Spin Warp" method as disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,706,025. Each nuclear magnetic resonance signal is thereby phase-encoded in at least one direction before the readout and is frequency-encoded in another direction by a readout gradient during readout. A number of differently phase-encoded nuclear magnetic resonance signals are acquired. The nuclear magnetic resonance signals are sampled, digitized onto a grid in the k-space and entered into a raw data matrix in the k-space. A Fourier transformation in the phase-encoding direction as well as in the frequency-encoding direction is implemented in the raw data matrix for image acquisition.
A number of correction methods have been described in the literature wherein image distortions due to non-uniform magnetic fields are corrected by an after-processing (post-processing) of the raw data or of the calculated image data, for example, the article by J. Weis, L. Budinski, "Simulation of the Influence of Magnetic Field Inhomogeneity and Distortion Correction in MR Imaging" in Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Vol. 8, pp. 483-489, 1990. It is known from this reference to correct image distortions by after-processing of an image acquired in a conventional way (i.e. with at least two-dimensional Fourier transformation). The information about the magnetic field inhomogeneities that is thereby required, i.e. about the course of the basic magnetic field, is thereby acquired from the phase of separately registered spin echo images.
It is known from the article by C. -M. Lai, "Reconstructing NMR Images under Magnetic Fields with Large Inhomogeneities", in J. Phys. E: Sci. Instrum., Vol.15, 1982, pp.1093-1100, to involve inhomogeneities in the image reconstruction. This work is based on a technique that is no longer a standard projection reconstruction, whereby the known projection reconstruction algorithm is replaced by an algorithm wherein the previously identified magnetic field inhomogeneity is already taken into consideration in the image reconstruction.
If only inhomogeneities of the basic magnetic field are taken into consideration, these are relatively uncritical in the phase-encoding direction since the only concern is signal differences between the individual phase-encoding steps. In the direction of the readout gradient, however, the superimposition of the readout gradient with basic field inhomogeneities leads to distortions. In a method according to German OS 44 16 363, a conventional Fourier transformation is therefore implemented in the phase-encoding direction, whereas a generalized Fresnel transformation (wherein a previously identified location dependency of the basic magnetic field in readout direction is taken into account) is implemented in the readout direction.
If not only inhomogeneities of the basic magnetic field, but also non-linearities of the phase-encoding gradient are to be taken into consideration, then a correction must also be implemented in the phase-encoding direction. The outlay for the gradient coils can be reduced when a non-linear field course of the phase-encoding gradient is allowed in the examination field. A strong inducement to utilize non-linear gradients, or even a necessity to do so, exists in the case of the echo planar imaging (EPI) method. As is known, high-amplitude gradients must be switched extremely fast in EPI. This can lead to undesirable physiological stimulations of the patient, even pain in the extreme case. The problem is most serious at the edge of or at the outside the examination field since the largest gradient field swing occurs at those regions. This problem can thus be solved by causing the gradients to flatten toward the edge of the examination field, i.e., they are non-linear.

Method of distortion correction for gradient non-linearities in nuclear magnetic resonance tomography apparatus


A surface-hardened chain comprises a plurality of connected chain links, each of which links is made from a killed steel having a specified chemical composition and comprises a surface-hardened layer of a high carbon tempered martensite structure and a core layer of a low carbon tempered martensite structure.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a surface-hardened chain used as a load chain of an electric chain block or a pneumatic chain hoist, a chain of a chain conveyor or the like.
2. Description of Related Art
In this type of the chain, it is required to have higher wear resistance and fatigue resistance because a very large loading is applied to the chain and the frequency in use is high. And also, it is required to have higher strength and toughness because an impact load is applied to the chain. In the conventional chain, therefore, there has been used a surface-hardened chain link formed by subjecting a chain link to gas carburizing, quenching and tempering treatments.
As sectionally shown in FIG. 3, such a surface-hardened chain link is composed of an outermost surface layer 10, a hardened layer 11 enclosed with the outermost surface layer 10 and having a high carbon tempered martensite structure, and a core portion 12 enclosed with the hardened layer 11 and having a low carbon tempered martensite structure.
In the conventional surface-hardened chain, Mn-B steel (SAE15B24), Ni-Cr-Mo steel (JIS SNCM220, SAM8620), Ni-Mo steel (SAE4620), Ni-Cr-Nn-Mo-B steel (see JP-A-61-276956) and the like were generally used as a starting material.
However, the surface-hardened chains made frrm these starting materials were insufficient in the wear resistance, fatigue resistance, strength and toughness as mentioned below.
In the surface-hardened chain made from Mn-B steel, Ni-Cr-Mo steel, Ni-Cr-Mn-Mo-B steel or the like, oxidation at crystal grain boundary (intergranular oxidation) was caused in a surface layer of a chain link by gas carburizing, so that the wear resistance and fatigue resistance in the surface layer were considerably deteriorated to bring about the premature degradation of the surface layer and also the strength and toughness were poor.
In the surface-hardened chain made from Ni-Mo steel, retained austenite was existent in the surface layer and hence the wear resistance and fatigue resistance in the surface layer were considerably deteriorated to bring about the premature degradation of the surface layer and also the toughness in the surface layer was low.


The invention concerns a method of erecting a pylon of prestressed concrete finished parts and an apparatus for advantageously carrying out the method. In order to at least reduce the problems present in the state of the art when erecting a pylon, there is provided a funnel-shaped apparatus 8 for guiding a tensioning wire, the smaller cross-section 11 thereof being substantially the same as that of the jacket tube 7. There is further provided a seal 20 for producing a pressure-tight transition between two mutually superposed segments 4, 6, wherein the height of the seal 20 substantially corresponds to the intended spacing of the segments. Also provided is a prestressed concrete finished part 4, 6 in which the apparatus 8 according to the invention is integrated. Finally there is provided a method in which epoxy resin is used as a composite joining material 34 between two segments.

The use of restressed concrete finished parts, in comparison with erecting towers or pylons with a climbing or sliding concrete form or sheathing, has the advantage of an economically more favorable possible way of producing the finished parts, under predetermined conditions. In that way, a large part of the work involved can already be carried out far from the building site. In addition it is in that way better possible to satisfy predetermined quality requirements and to monitor the procedure to ensure that such requirements are met, and the pylon can then be erected on the building site in a short time.
For that purpose the prestressed concrete finished parts are assembled with jacket tubes, incorporated into the pylon wall, for the tensioning means, on the building site. In that case, to connect the individual finished parts together as segments of the pylon, a concrete mix is introduced into the joins between the segments in order to achieve a force-locking connection, over a surface area, between the finished parts. The tensioning means which are pulled into the jacket tubes are then tensioned and thereafter the jacket tubes are filled with a concrete slurry under high pressure and pressed in order to produce an intimate connection between tensioning means and pylon.
The operation of pressing the tensioning means in the jacket tubes must be effected under high pressure so that the concrete slurry can rise in the jacket tubes and fill them to the tip of the pylon, with the required pressure. That required pressure can certainly attain values of 200 bars, in the case of pylons which are 80 m high. In that respect it will be noted that the state of the art involves the problem that the concrete slurry which is under high pressure can escape at the junctions between the individual segments as the concrete therebetween is brittle and porous as a consequence of its material properties and therefore the transition between the segments is not reliably sealed off.
Therefore it may be necessary to provide an access for the injection of the concrete slurry, beginning with the lowermost segment and moving upwardly on the tower, at each junction between mutually superposed segments, and to feed the concrete slurry at such access points in order to press the jacket tubes of the respective segment disposed thereabove.
In Germany tensioning bars and tensioning wires are considered as tensioning means. The use of tensioning bars however is subject to the limitation that they can be used exclusively when dealing with straight tensioning paths. This means however that the options in terms of the contour of a tower comprising prestressed concrete finished parts are limited when using tensioning bars as they always have to be in a straight line. This means that the erection of a conical pylon with tensioning bars is possible as long as the cross-section of the pylon tapers in a rectilinear configuration.
Therefore only the use of a tensioning wire is considered for the purposes of erecting a conical pylon with a curved contour. The tensioning wire is pulled in either from the tip of the pylon into the jacket tubes of the segments continuously down to the base of the pylon or from the base of the pylon continuously up to the tip of the pylon. That procedure however suffers from the problem that the tensioning wire, from the tip of the pylon to the base region thereof along the curved contour, has to pass over the junctions between the individual segments. As a consequence of the curvature however, there is always the danger that the wire does not follow the curvature in particular at such a junction, but becomes jammed at the junction and can be moved along only at great cost.

Tower made of prestressed concrete prefabricated assembly units


A switchgear having a primary circuit breaker and a secondary circuit breaker respectively arranged on the primary side and secondary side of a load switch or a voltage and current transformer for an instrument, a primary grounding switch arranged between the load switch or voltage and current transformer for an instrument and the primary circuit breaker, and a secondary grounding switch arranged between the load switch or voltage and current transformer for an instrument and the secondary circuit breaker, wherein to the primary and secondary circuit breakers and grounding switches, connection means are respectively connected so as to move the moving electrodes of the circuit breakers and grounding switches and an operation device for operating the moving electrodes in connection with each other via the connection bars is included and a receiving transformation apparatus using it.

The present invention relates to a new switchgear and more particularly to a switchgear for a receiving transformation apparatus and a receiving transformation apparatus using it.
A device such as a load switch for breaking a load current or a trouble current requires periodic maintenance, so that particularly for a class of device not lower than a high-voltage system, a circuit breaker or disconnecting switch for separating from the circuit at the time of test or inspection and a grounding switch for grounding the separated part are generally installed.
When either the term "circuit breaker" or the term "circuit breakers" is used hereafter Applicants intend that these terms are also understood to mean "disconnecting switch" or "disconnecting switches", respectively, in accordance with their common usage in the relevant art.
FIG. 1 shows a single wire connection diagram of a switchgear composed of a load switch 1, a circuit breaker 2A, 2B, and a grounding switch 3A, 3B. In the prior art, the grounding switches on the primary and secondary sides of the load switch are used only at the time of inspection, so that as shown in FIG. 1, two grounding switches are mechanically connected and operated in connection with each other by one operation device.
In Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-open 6-74012, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 08-214425, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 09-28011, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 09-74620, and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 11-355926, a gas insulation switchgear that a circuit breaker operates in connection with a breaker is indicated.

Switchgear and receiving transformation apparatus using the same


A plurality of standard cells 10 are arranged to form a channel-less standard cell array 1, which has vertical and horizontal sides. A plurality of first proximity dummy cells 20 are arranged along each of the vertical sides of the standard cell array to form a first proximity dummy bands 20 such that the upper and lower sides of the first proximity dummy cells are in contact with each other and such that the left or right side of each of the first proximity dummy cells is in contact with the vertical side of the standard cell array 1. Furthermore, a plurality of second proximity dummy bands are arranged along each of the horizontal sides of the standard cell array to form a second proximity dummy bands such that the upper or lower side of each of the second proximity dummy cells is in contact with the horizontal side of the standard cell 1.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a layout method of a semiconductor integrated circuit, performed on a computer, a layout structure of a semiconductor integrated circuit designed with the layout method, and a photomask used for manufacturing a semiconductor integrated circuit having the layout structure.
2. Description of Related Art
For designing layouts of semiconductor integrated circuits, standard cell methods have been widely used with the advance of CAD (Computer Aided Design) tools. According to a standard cell method, a plurality of standard cells having circuit patterns for realizing basic logical functions such as an NAND gate, a flip-flop, and the like, are designed, and operations of the standard cells are verified beforehand. Thus, designed and verified standard cells are registered in a library. The user selects specific standard cells for realizing desired logical functions from the library, and arranges these cells so as to be electrically interconnected to one another on a CAD tool, whereby a semiconductor integrated circuit having desired logical functions is thus designed.
With conventional techniques, in general, a plurality of standard cell rows, each of which is formed of a plurality of standard cells, are formed. Then, the plurality of standard cell rows is arranged with wiring channels between them, whereby a two-dimensional array of the standard cells (which will be referred to as "standard-cell array" hereafter) is thus formed. However, recently available multilevel interconnections of five layers or more, for example, allows the interconnection of the standard cells without forming the wiring channels. Thus, "channel-less" type standard cell arrays, in which the standard cells are two-dimensionally arranged in rows and columns without the wiring channels are becoming widespread. See Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-313937 (Patent Document 1), for example.
Hereafter, the direction wherein a plurality of standard cells is arranged so as to form a standard cell row will be referred to as the horizontal direction in this application. Moreover, the direction perpendicular to the horizontal direction in the same plane, i.e., the direction wherein the plurality of standard cell rows are arranged so as to form a standard cell array, will be referred to as "vertical direction". Furthermore, the dimension of the standard cell in the horizontal direction will be referred to as a "width", and the dimension in the vertical direction will be referred to as "height" hereafter.
The standard cells forming a channel-less type standard cell array disclosed in Patent Document 1 have the same common height, and different widths that correspond to their functions. According to Patent Document 1, the standard cells are arranged along a plurality of parallel lines, whereby a plurality of standard cell rows with the same "width H" (which corresponds to the "height" in this application) are formed. The spaces between the adjacent standard cell rows are removed by sharing the power supply wiring and the ground wiring with the adjacent standard cell rows. Thus, a channel-less type standard cell array is formed.
On the other hand, the process margin is constantly decreasing with the rapid advance of fine patterning used for manufacturing semiconductor integrated circuits. In particular, while processing in an area where the patterns having the same dimension are arranged with a uniform density can be made with relative ease, it is generally extremely difficult to make processing in an area with sufficient precision where the patterns have low uniformity.
For example, the portion within a standard cell array contains device patterns of the standard cells, e.g., gate layer patterns, with high density. Accordingly, the patterns are arranged with high uniformity in this area. However, the patterns are arranged in the area outside of the standard cell array at a very low density compared with the area within the standard cell array. Accordingly, it is difficult to achieve processing of device patterns with sufficient precision in the outer-most portions of the standard cell array.
In a case where exposing light irradiates a semiconductor substrate having a positive-type photo resist layer, through a mask having a mask pattern, ideally, the exposing light does not irradiate the area where the mask pattern is provided. Therefore, the resist layer on these areas is not exposed.
However, in reality, some of the exposing light reaches even the area on the semiconductor substrate where the mask pattern is provided, due to scattering of the exposing light passing through the space between the mask patterns. As a result, the resist in the area, which is not to be exposed, is partially exposed. With the decrease of the pattern dimension, such unintended exposure of the resist layer becomes a significant problem.
Even in such a situation, the region having high uniformity of pattern density, e.g., the region within the inner portion of the standard cell array, can be processed with sufficient precision. That is, correction of the mask pattern by giving consideration to the resist pattern deformations due to the scattered light, or an optical proximity correction (OPC), can be effectively performed to the region having high uniformity of pattern density. In addition, the optimization of exposure conditions may also be effective for the region having high uniformity of pattern density.
However, at the outermost portion of the standard cell array, a greater amount of the unintended exposure occurs because of the scattering of the exposing light that passes through the area outside of the standard cell array, which has a low pattern density. As a result, a greater deformation of the resist pattern occurs at the outermost portion of the standard cell array compared to the internal portion. Even in such a region, the mask pattern could be extensively corrected correspondingly to the large resist pattern deformation. However, such extensive correction generally leads to a reduction of process margin. That is, this leads to the problem of the resist pattern becoming susceptible to significant dimensional deviation due to deviation in the exposure light intensity, the deviation of the focus, and so on, over the exposed area. As a result, the resist pattern formed at the outermost portion of the standard cell array has in general a much poorer precision compared to the inner portion of the standard cell array.
A technique is known in which "dummy" patterns are arranged in regions having small pattern density, i.e., the regions having no device patterns, in order to improve the flatness of the surface of a semiconductor integrated circuit. See Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-9161 (Patent Document 2), for example. The dummy pattern provides no logical function for the semiconductor integrated circuit.
With the technique disclosed in Patent Document 2, two data are separately created on a CAD tool. The first one is a data in which the dummy pattern cells each having a dummy pattern are arranged over the entire chip area where the device structures of the semiconductor integrated circuit is to be formed. The second one is a data in which device patterns for realizing logical functions of the semiconductor integrated circuit, such as active region patterns, well patterns, gate electrode patterns, and so on, are arranged in the same chip area. Subsequently, these two data of the chip area are superimposed by logical synthesizing, whereby a data of the chip area, in which both of the device patterns and the dummy cells are arranged, is created. It should be noted that, in the logical synthesizing, the dummy cells that overlap the device patterns are deleted. In general, on the chip area thus designed, the dummy cells are arranged so as to surround the device patterns.
However, in the technique disclosed in Patent Document 2, there is a need to maintain a margin between the dummy pattern and the device pattern for ensuring an electrical isolation between the two patterns and for accounting for any error in the mask alignment. Accordingly, dummy cells are deleted over a region larger than the region where the device patterns are arranged by a certain margin. This procedure leads to the creation of a gap between the device pattern and the dummy cell.
Furthermore, there is no relationship between the layout of the dummy cells and the layout of the device pattern. That is, there is no relationship between the grids used in the CAD tool on which the dummy cells are placed and the grids on which the device patterns are placed. Accordingly, the size of the gap between the device pattern and the dummy cell remaining after they are superimposed on each other differs for each device pattern.
Accordingly, even if the dummy pattern arranging technique disclosed in Patent Document 2 is applied to a standard cell array disclosed in Patent Document 1, gaps with varying sizes will be formed between the standard cells arranged in the outermost portion of the standard cell array and the dummy cells.
In such a layout, while the uniformity of pattern density is improved as compared to a layout having no dummy pattern, the uniformity is not enough to be used in advanced fine patterning technology. Accordingly, the combination of these conventional technologies presents difficulties in achieving processing with the high precision required for further advanced fine-patterning technology.
Furthermore, a great amount of calculations are required for the logical synthesizing in the technique disclosed in Patent Document 2. Accordingly, an extremely long time is required for the layout design.

Layout method of semiconductor integrated circuit, layout structure thereof, and photomask for forming the layout structure


This semiconductor integrated circuit is constituted by any one of a p-channel MOS transistor and an n-channel MOS transistor, and is connected between the control terminal and the common terminal so as to produce predetermined voltage. The comparing circuit is operated in response to a control voltage applied between the control terminal and the common terminal so as to compare the predetermined reference voltage with the current-detected voltage which is obtained from the current detecting circuit. The gate controlling MOS transistor controls a gate voltage of the power MOS transistor based upon the comparison output of the comparing circuit. Then, all of these structural members are formed on the same semiconductor substrate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a semiconductor integrated circuit. More specifically, the present invention is directed to a technique effectively adaptable to a power MOS transistor having a current control function such as an overcurrent protection. For example, the present invention is directed to such a technique advantageously adaptable to either a power MOS transistor equipped with a composite function or a semiconductor switch having a composite function.
2. Description of the Related Art
Power MOS transistors have been widely used as, for example, power switches interposed between power sources and loads, capable of ON/OFF-controlling currents flowing therethrough. Conventionally, semiconductor integrated circuits have been provided on which such a power MOS transistor is formed on the same semiconductor substrate in combination with current control circuits capable of protecting overcurrents. This type of semiconductor integrated circuit is also referred to as an MOS transistor equipped with a composite function or a semiconductor switch having a composite function. For instance, when this semiconductor integrated circuit is used, both a conventional mechanical contact type switch function and a fuse (or overcurrent breaker) function may be collected into a single element, and also may be replaced by this semiconductor integrated circuit.
In order to provide user-friendly operation of this semiconductor integrated circuit in such a case that, for example, this semiconductor integrated circuit is employed as a replacement component of a conventional mechanical contact type switch, or in order to provide user-friendly operation as a single body of a power MOS transistor, this semiconductor integrated circuit is constructed in such a manner that only limited numbers of external terminals thereof are provided with respect to users. Concretely speaking, this semiconductor integrated circuit owns three terminals as external terminals (user terminals), namely, an output terminal, a control terminal, and a common terminal. When the respective terminals of the semiconductor integrated circuit are defined in correspondence with electrodes of a single body of an MOS transistor, the output terminal corresponds to the drain of this MOS transistor, the common terminal corresponds to the source thereof, and the control terminal corresponds to the gate thereof. A user connects both the output terminal and the common terminal in series to a current supply path between the power supply and the load, and also applies a control voltage between the control terminal and the common terminal, so that the user may turn ON/OFF the above-explained current supply path.
Generally speaking, an overcurrent protection circuit is employed as the current control circuit formed on the above-described semiconductor integrated circuit. As represented in FIG. 11, this overcurrent protection circuit is arranged by a current detecting circuit 10, a reference voltage generating circuit 20, a comparing circuit 30, and a gate control circuit 40. The current detecting circuit 10 converts a load current flowing between an output terminal P1 and a common terminal P3 into a corresponding voltage so as to detect this load current. The reference voltage generating circuit 20 generates a predetermined reference voltage. The comparing circuit 30 compares the current-detecting voltage of the current detecting circuit with the reference voltage. The gate control circuit 40 controls a gate voltage of a power MOS transistor based upon the comparison output of the comparing circuit 30.
In this case, in the above-explained current detecting circuit 10, a voltage dividing resistor element (shunt resistor) is provided in a current supply path of the load current, namely between the output terminal and the common terminal in such a manner that this voltage dividing resistor element is connected in series to a channel of an MOS transistor Q1 so as to convert the above-described load current into the voltage for detection purposes. Then, a current-detecting voltage is obtained from both ends of this voltage dividing resistor element.
As a result, between the output terminal and the common terminal of the above-explained semiconductor integrated circuit, an internal resistance may appear which is obtained by adding an ON-resistance (channel resistance) of the power MOS transistor to the resistance value of the voltage dividing resistor element. However, since this internal resistance may cause a voltage loss in the load current supply circuit, the resistance value of this internal resistance should be made lower as being permitted as possible. Very recently, while ON resistances of power MOS transistors could be reduced on the order of several milli-ohms, a major portion of this internal resistance could occupy the resistance value of the above-described voltage-dividing resistor element. In order that the current control operation such as the overcurrent protection is carried out while this internal resistance is made lower as being permitted as possible, the above-explained reference voltage must be set to a low voltage.
As to the reference voltage generating circuit, for instance, as shown as a reference in FIG. 12, such a circuit using a zener diode Dz is usually employed. Normally, the reference voltage (zener voltage) obtained from the zener diode Dz is higher than, or equal to approximately 6V, and therefore, this zener voltage cannot be directly used as the above-explained reference voltage. As a consequence, as shown in FIG. 12, this zener voltage of the zener diode is subdivided by using resistance elements R11 and R12 so as to obtain a predetermined lower reference voltage. There is one method for using a forward direction voltage of a diode which is lower than a zener voltage. However, since this forward direction voltage is equal to approximately 0.5V to 1V, this forward direction voltage is sub-divided by a resistor in the case that a reference voltage lower than this forward direction voltage is required.
However, the Inventors of the present invention could find out such a fact that the above-described techniques own the below-mentioned problems.
That is, since either the zener voltage of the zener diode or the forward direction voltage of the diode owns the large temperature dependent characteristic, there is such a problem that the stable reference voltage could not be obtained, and this stable reference voltage is required in order to correctly perform the current control operation such as overcurrent protections. This temperature dependent characteristic may be canceled by using, for example, such a temperature compensation realized by a band gap circuit. However, such a temperature compensation method may cause another problem that the band gap circuit becomes complex. However, there is a further serious problem. That is, in the above-described semiconductor integrated circuit equipped with the current control circuit, this semiconductor integrated circuit is made of such a circuit format that the operation voltages of the reference voltage generating circuit and of the comparing circuit may depend upon the control voltage for ON/OFF operations which is applied between the control terminal and the common terminal, the following restriction may exit. That is, the necessary reference voltage must be produced within the range of this control voltage.
In order to realize such a user-friendly operation as either the MOS transistor equipped with the composite function or the semiconductor switch having the composite function, this control voltage could not be obtained such a high voltage. To the contrary, this control voltage should be desirably made lower as being permitted as possible. When these aspects are considered, there is another problem. That is, in the reference voltage generating circuit shown in FIG. 12 using either the zener voltage of the zener diode or the forward direction voltage of the diode, the input voltage Vin required to generate the reference voltage could not be sufficiently obtained.
The present invention has been made to solve the above-explained problems, and therefore, has an object to provide such a semiconductor integrated circuit having an output terminal, a control terminal, and a common terminal, and capable of performing a current control such an overcurrent protection. That is to say, this semiconductor integrated circuit turns ON/OFF a path between the output terminal and the common terminal by way of a control voltage applied between the control terminal and the common terminal, and also detects such a current flowing through the path between this output terminal and this common terminal. In such a semiconductor integrated circuit, while a voltage loss occurred between the output terminal and the common terminal can be reduced, and further a user-sided apparatus load required to perform ON/OFF control operations can be reduced, the current control operation such as the overcurrent protection can be correctly carried out under stable condition.
The above-described object, other objects, and features of the present invention may become apparent from a detailed description of the specification and the accompanying drawings.
As means capable of solving the above-described problems, typically-used means among the inventive ideas disclosed in the present invention will be given as follows:
A first means is featured by such a semiconductor integrated circuit having an output terminal, a control terminal, and a common terminal, in which any one conductivity type MOS transistors, i.e., any one of p-channel type MOS transistors and n-channel type MOS transistors are formed in an integrated manner, wherein: a power MOS transistor, a current detecting circuit, a reference voltage generating circuit, a comparing circuit, and a gate controlling MOS transistor are formed on the same semiconductor substrate; and wherein: a drain of the power MOS transistor is connected to the output terminal, a gate thereof is connected to the control terminal, and a source thereof is connected to the common terminal; and also the power MOS transistor controls a current supplied between the output terminal and the common terminal in response to a control voltage applied to the control terminal; the current detecting circuit converts the current into a voltage; the reference voltage generating circuit has one pair of MOS transistors which are commonly connected to each other in such a manner that at least gate-to-source threshold voltages are equivalently made different from each other, and drains and gates of the paired MOS transistors become the same potential to each other; while the drains of both the MOS transistors are commonly connected to each other, and also a common junction point thereof is connected via a current limiting circuit to the control terminal, drain currents are supplied from the control terminal to the respective MOS transistors, and a source of the MOS transistor whose gate-to-source threshold voltage is low is connected via an impedance circuit to the common terminal, and further, a source of the MOS transistor whose gate-to-source threshold voltage is high is connected to the common terminal, whereby a reference voltage is produced from both ends of the impedance circuit, while using a difference between the gate-to-source threshold voltages of the both MOS transistors as a parameter; the comparing circuit is operated in response to a control voltage applied between the control terminal and the common terminal so as to compare the reference voltage with the current-detected voltage which is obtained from the current detecting circuit; and the gate controlling MOS transistor controls a gate voltage of the power MOS transistor upon receipt of the comparison output of the comparing circuit.
Since the reference voltage which constitutes an operation reference of a current control operation such as an overcurrent protection can be set to a low voltage under stable condition by employing the above-described first means, a voltage loss occurred between the output terminal and the common terminal can be reduced, and a user-sided apparatus load required for executing ON/OFF operation can be reduced, and furthermore, a current control operation such as an overcurrent protection can be correctly carried out under stable condition.
A second means is featured by that in the first means, the semiconductor integrated circuit includes a current detecting MOS transistor connected to the power MOS transistor in a current mirror manner, for supplying the current in a preselected mirror ratio; and the current detecting circuit converts a mirror current flowing through the current detecting MOS transistor into a voltage corresponding to the mirror current. In accordance with this second means, a load current can be correctly converted into the voltage so as to detect this load current, while the current detecting circuit is not employed between the output terminal and the common terminal.
A third means is featured by that in either the first means or the second means, all of the transistors which are formed on the semiconductor substrate are equal to n-channel MOS transistors. As a result, the semiconductor integrated circuit can be manufactured in a simple manufacturing process and in low cost, as compared with that of a CMOS semiconductor integrated circuit.
A fourth means is featured by that all of the transistors which are formed on the semiconductor substrate are equal to p-channel MOS transistors. Also, in this case, the semiconductor integrated circuit can be manufactured in a simple manufacturing process and in low cost, as compared with that of a CMOS semiconductor integrated circuit.
A fifth means is featured by that in the first means, the comparing circuit contains a latch function capable of self-holding an output state thereof. As a result, the interrupt condition occurred due to the overcurrent can be held until the application of the control voltage is once removed.
A sixth means is featured by that in the first means, a resistance element is series-connected to the gate of the power MOS transistor, and also both the drain and the source of the gate controlling MOS transistor are connected between a gate-sided terminal of the gate series resistance element and the common terminal, whereby a circuit for controlling a gate voltage of the power MOS transistor is formed. As a result, the control operation for controlling the gate voltage of the power MOS transistor can be firmly and simply carried out by receiving the comparison result of the comparing circuit.
A seventh means is featured by that in the first means, the reference voltage which is produced based upon either the gate-to-source threshold voltages of the one pair of the MOS transistors or a difference between the gate-to-source threshold voltages in such a manner that the reference voltage generating circuit generates a preselected reference voltage by receiving an input voltage lower than such a minimum operation voltage of the comparing circuit. As a result, when the control voltage is externally applied, such a sequence operation can be automatically carried out, by which before the comparing circuit commences the operation, the reference voltage control apparatus outputs a predetermined reference voltage.
An eighth means is featured by that in the first means, the current limiting circuit is formed by a polycrystal silicon layer having a high resistance value. As a result, the current limiting circuit can be relatively easily formed.
A ninth means is featured by that in the first means, the power MOS transistor is formed by employing a polycrystal silicon gate. As a result, the semiconductor integrated circuit can be manufactured without changing the manufacturing process of the known MOS integrated circuit.
A tenth means is featured by that in the first means, impurity density of channel layers of the paired MOS transistors which constitute the reference voltage generating circuit is made different from each other, whereby different gate-to-source threshold voltages from each other are applied to the paired MOS transistors. As a result, the MOS transistor having the higher precision threshold value can be manufactured.
An 11-th means is featured by that in the first means, ratios of gate widths to channel lengths of the paired MOS transistors which constitute the reference voltage generating circuit are made different from each other, whereby different gate-to-source threshold values are applied to the paired MOS transistors. As a result, the MOS transistors having the different threshold values can be manufactured only by changing the design, not by changing the manufacturing process.
A 12-th means is featured by that in the first means, a resistor is series-connected to the drains of the paired MOS transistors which constitute the reference voltage generating circuit, whereby different gate-to-source threshold values are equivalently applied to the paired MOS transistors. As a result, while the same MOS transistors are employed, such MOS transistors having virtually different threshold voltages can be manufactured.
A 13-th means is featured by that in the first means, a temperature detecting circuit operated in response to a control voltage applied to the control terminal; a latch circuit which inverts an output state thereof so as to self-hold the state in the case that the temperature detecting circuit detects a temperature higher than, or equal to a predetermined temperature; and a gate voltage controlling MOS transistor for controlling the gate voltage of the power MOS transistor upon receipt of the held output of the latch circuit at the gate thereof are formed on the semiconductor substrate. As a result, the interrupt condition which occurs due to abnormal temperature increase can be maintained until the application of the control voltage is once removed.
A 14-th means is featured by that in the first means, in the reference voltage generating circuit, a back gate of one of the MOS transistor whose source is connected via the impedance circuit to the common terminal is connected to the common terminal at the same potential. As a consequence, both the stability characteristic and the reproducibility characteristic of the reference voltage can be improved, while eliminating the adverse influence caused by the stray bipolar transistor within the semiconductor substrate.
A 15-th means is featured by that in the first means, the output terminal is derived from the semiconductor substrate, and the common terminal is derived from an electrode layer on an insulating film which is formed on the power MOS transistor. As a consequence, the respective terminals can be derived in a simple manner.

Semiconductor integrated circuit having a current control function


Prioritizing crawled data in a document store for reprocess operations. Reprocessing occurs upon a triggering change to configurations. Prioritization is based on the status of the crawled data with respect to an ACL. During reprocessing, the crawled data is reprocessed in an order defined by assigned priority levels.

The present invention relates generally to the field of enterprise computing systems, and more particularly to reprocessing of crawled files in a document store.
An enterprise search is a search for documents or data in enterprise computing systems. A general web search is different in that the enterprise search is capable of performing a single search for documents and/or files in different types of content management systems and file servers.
A document-oriented database, or document store, is a computer program and data storage system designed for storing, retrieving, and managing document-oriented information, also known as semi-structured data. Documents are addressed in a document store, via a unique key that represents that document. The unique key is a simple identifier such as a string, a uniform resource identifier (URI), or a path. The key can be used to retrieve the document from the store. The store usually retains an index on the key to speed up document retrieval.
When a configuration of a converter or enrichment program is changed, the crawled data stored in a source document store is selected by the converter during a reprocessing to update an index including links to the source documents. An example of a configuration change of the converter is a change to a setting for making specific annotations or a change to a setting to allow for use with OCR (optical character recognition). An example of a configuration change of an enrichment is an update of user-defined dictionaries.
An access control list (ACL) is a table that tells a computer operating system which access rights each user or group of users has to a particular system object, such as a file directory or individual file. Each object has a security property that connects it to its access control list. The list has an entry for every user with access rights to the system. Typical privileges include the right to read a single file (or all the files) in a directory and to execute or write to the file or files in a directory.

Prioritized reprocessing of crawled files

International Business Machines Corporation


Tee-nut support assembly to supply Tee-nuts to the driver device of a Tee-nut setting apparatus, and a package of rolled Tee-nuts connected in a strip for such apparatus.

Threaded fastening devices known as Tee-nuts are widely used in the furniture and other industries for securing components of for example furniture together. Such Tee-nuts are formed of sheet metal, and incorporate a threaded sleeve or barrel, and an integral face flange, and spikes, which are embedded in the workpiece around a pre-drilled hole. They are used, for example, in the construction of beds, for securing legs to various furniture items.
Various forms of apparatus have been devised for the power-operated setting of such Tee-nuts at a high rate of speed. One example of such a Tee-nut setting apparatus is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,460,217.
The apparatus disclosed in that patent has operated satisfactorily for many years. In that apparatus, the workpiece was first of all placed on a lower working surface. Tee-nuts were fed from a hopper down a curved ramp, to a power-operated setting plunger located above the workpiece. The Tee-nut was held in registration with the bottom of the plunger, and when the plunger was operated downwardly the Tee-nut was released, and the plunger struck the Tee-nut forcing it downwardly into a hole in the workpiece.
One problem in the design of such earlier machines was that they required the use of a hopper, and a relatively expensive feed mechanism, for feeding the loose Tee-nuts. These requirements added to the complexity and hence the expense of such earlier apparatus. These factors had, in turn, limited the scope of the sales of such machines. In practice, they were economical only for relatively large scale manufacturing facilities.
A further proposal is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,821,940, granted to Allan C. Rotherham entitled Tee-nut Insertion Machine.
In this machine, a hopper and feed mechanism generally similar to that shown in earlier Tee-nut setting machines, was used. However, in this machine, the Tee-nuts were fed to a feed mechanism from which they were delivered one at a time to a plunger. The plunger in this case operated with an upward insertion stroke, so that the Tee-nut was forced upwardly into the workpiece.
Above the workpiece, a stationary anvil or support was located against which the workpiece was held, while the Tee-nut was forced upwardly. In this device, however, the Tee-nuts were simply placed loose in the hopper as in the earlier devices, and as a result, it was necessary to provide for a two position delivery system for delivering the Tee-nuts to the plunger.
The Tee-nuts were thus delivered to a preliminary delivery location, at which point they stopped. The endmost tee-nut was then moved over a step by a piston, one at a time, from the preliminary location, to the so-called extended location, in which position it was then held ready for insertion by the plunger.
Clearly, if a feed mechanism could be designed at a much lower cost and, in particular, without the use of an expensive and complex hopper and feed mechanism, and without the hopper and two-step feed mechanism of U.S. Pat. No. 4,821,940 then the sales of such a machine could be made on a much larger scale, to a much greater range of customers.
The setting machine may operate on the method of upward insertion of Tee-nuts, into a work-piece from below the work-piece, or by moving each Tee-nut downwardly, and in either case the feed mechanism will produce significant advantages over earlier systems.
Preferably also, the invention will provide for a new and unique package of such Tee-nuts arranged in a strip, for easy handling, and positioning in such a feed apparatus.

Tee-nut fastener feed means for tee-nut fastener setting apparatus


A ball transfer unit comprising a body in a seat face recessed in a semispherical shape is formed, a plurality of small balls rollingly in contact with the seat face of the body, a large ball rollingly in contact with the plurality of small balls, and a cover fitted to the body to hold the large ball and hold the small balls between the large ball and the seat face of the body. At least the body and the large ball are formed of either of PAI, PBI, PCTFE, PEEK, PEI, PI, PPs, melamine resin, aromatic polyamide resin, aluminum oxide, zirconium oxide, and silicon nitride.

A ball table having multiple ball transfer units arranged on a fixed disk or other support part is used to correct the transport position of a transported material on its transport path or to change the transport direction to the perpendicular direction. The ball transfer unit assembled in such a ball table has a main body having a seat surface recessed in a semispherical shape, multiple small balls rollingly in contact with the seat surface of the main body, a large ball rollingly in contact with the multiple small balls, and a cover installed on the main body to hold the large ball and to hold small balls between the large ball and the seat surface of the main body. In the aforementioned ball transfer unit, when the large ball rolls and the small balls having contact with the large ball and the seat surface of the main body roll between them along with movement of the transported material carried on the large ball, the static friction resistance between the transported material and the large ball can be reduced to a very low level.
Consequently, the transported material can be easily displaced with respect to external force in any direction on the transport surface of the transported material on the ball table. The transport position of the transported material can be corrected very easily on its transport path. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,641,187 disclosed the following technology. In this case, the side end acting as the positioning reference for automobile window glass with a large weight or other material transported on a ball table is pressed by an actuator against a positioning reference block fixed with respect to the ball table. In this way, the transport position of the transported material is corrected.
Japanese Kokai Patent Application No. Hei 7[1995]-164078 discloses a ball transfer unit, which is made of a plastic that is softer than metal to prevent scratches from forming on the surface of metal plates transported thereon, and is also self-lubricating to prevent lubricant from adhering to the metal plates.
For a production line used to form a circuit on a semiconductor wafer or a production line for a flat panel display, when transporting a semiconductor wafer or glass substrate, it is necessary to determine their positions in each specific step. The ball table can be used for such a positioning operation. When transporting a semiconductor wafer or a glass substrate for a flat panel display, it is necessary to prevent damage to the surface caused by friction and the attachment of foreign matter. Even if foreign matter is attached, it is necessary to make sure that it can be easily removed by means of washing.
In consideration of the aforementioned point of view, the conventional technologies disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,641,187 and Japanese Kokai Patent Application No. Hei 7[1995]-164078 have problems because these technologies will cause damage to the surface of the transported material, or will attach foreign matter that will cause defects in the transported material, or will attach foreign matter that cannot be removed by means of washing in a later step. For example, when the main body or the large ball is made of stainless steel or other metal, the metal powder generated as a result of abrasion will cause damage to the surface of the transported material or will be attached as foreign matter that cannot be removed by means of washing in a later step on the surface of the transported material. In the ball transfer unit made of polyurethane or polyacetal used in patent reference 2, the resin powder generated as a result of abrasion is fixed as clear traces on the surface of the transported material, which makes the washing operation in a later step very difficult.


The skin layer provides a neat appearance since it is integrally formed with a one-piece member, and prevents foreign materials of the prior art two-piece member from being introduced into the gap. In addition, there is an advantage of reducing the manufacturing costs since the mold for machining the skin layer is reduced, and a foam tape for fixing the inner and the outer skin layers is not used.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air bag door for an automobile, and more particularly, to an air bag door for an automobile capable of preventing damage to a cushion upon development of the air bag door and injury to a worker during assembling operation by forming a part for reinforcing its strength by bending an edge portion of the air bag door, and forming a hemming part folded to one side at a flange extending from the reinforcing part to an end part.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, an air bag for an automobile is a safety auxiliary device for preventing injury from occurring, due to a collision with a door handle, instrument panel or front window when a driver or passengers in their seats impact in car accident.
Performance of the latest automobile has been developed and the conditions of the roads has been improved to gradually raise the driving speed of automobiles, as a result, when a head-on collision accident involving automobiles occurs, the chance of inflicting a serious injury to the driver or passenger has increased. Therefore, an air bag of an automobile has been universally installed, as a result, the safety of a driver and a passenger in the automobile has increased.
Air bags are classified as follows: an air bag for a driver installed at the handle of the driver; an air bag for an passenger installed within the instrument panel at the upper side of the glove box to protect the passenger; a side air bag expandable from the door to protect the driver and passengers; and an air bag for protecting the knees of the driver.
FIG. 1 is a view for illustrating the interior structure of a general automobile; FIG. 2 is a perspective view for illustrating the structure of a prior art air bag door; and FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of line A—A in FIG. 1.
The prior art air bag has a structure in that an inner skin layer 4 and an outer skin layer 6 are separated at an indication line on the instrument panel 2, with first and second skin surfaces 3 and 7 being in contact with each other.
In addition, installed at the first and the second skin surfaces 3 and 7 is a foam tape 14 for fixing the inner skin layer 4 and the outer skin layer 6 to each other.
An inner cavity of the inner skin layer 4 and the outer skin layer is filled with a foam resin 16, and an air bag door 10 is adhered and fixed to an adhering part 17 through an air bag opening 19 of a centerpiece 18 at the bottom surface of the foam resin 16.
In addition, a core 20 is inserted to the bottom surface of the centerpiece 18 with a uniform thickness, and the cushion is located at the bottom surface of the air bag door 10 in a folded state and the air bag door 10 is pulled back and the foam resin 16 is incised while the cushion is expanded by an explosion device. Continuously, the inner skin layer 4 fixed by the foam tape 14 is incised with respect to the outer skin layer 6 to absorb an impact and prevent a collision accident as the cushion expands into the passenger.
However, the prior art air bag structure has a problem of lowering an external appearance quality since the inner skin layer 4 for dividing the air bag door 10 in the instrument panel 2 forms the indication line 5 incised with respect to the outer skin layer 6.
Further, there is a disadvantage in that protrusion heights between the inner skin layer 4 and the outer skin layer 6 become different as well as a gap in the indication line 5 is widened due to deformation between the inner skin layer 4 and the outer skin layer 6.
In addition, as the air bag door is formed flat, when the air bag door 10 is pulled back, the strength of the air bag door 10 can not be sufficiently maintained, and since the edge of the air bag door is adhered to the adhering part 17 of the centerpiece 18 in a sharp state, it causes the problem of inflicting injury to a worker's body.

Air bag door structure for an automobile


A method for real-time monitoring image transmission. First, the frame is divided into a plurality of sub-blocks and numbered in order. Then, a sub-block with variation is designated as a start sub-block, and sub-blocks adjacent to the start sub-block are searched and the sub-blocks with variation are grouped to generate at least one variant sub-block set, in which the variant sub-blocks in the set are connected to each other and form a rectangle. Thereafter, the compressed variant sub-block set and the corresponding numbers of each variant sub-block in the set are transmitted to the server. Afterward, the server replaces corresponding sub-blocks having the same numbers in an original frame with the received variant sub-blocks.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and system for real-time monitoring image transmission, and particularly to a method and system for real-time monitoring image transmission that reduces bandwidth used in transmission according to properties of image compression, thereby optimizing network traffic and speeding transmission.
2. Description of the Related Art
Using network techniques to monitor a remote computer or a peripheral device, such as a Keyboard, Video or Mouse (KVM) has become a common monitoring practice. FIG. 1 depicts a conventional remote image monitoring system, which manages clients via a KVM bus of a host 11 (server). Users can use server switches to monitor the image of the computer systems (clients 13 and 14) in the LAN (Local Area Network) and WAN (Wide Area Network) through a network interface 12.
The conventional system employs full screen transmission to transmit the monitored image, i.e., the client (13 or 14) transmits a full image (frame) with or without compression to the server 11 in a fixed frequency (frame/sec). Since the image data is always large, the transmission will need large network bandwidth, thereby resulting in slow network traffic. Thus, the remote object is hard to be real-time monitored.
In addition, another conventional method is performed by dividing a frame into several sub-frames (sub-blocks), and using a detection module to detect and calculate the variations (variant blocks or dynamics blocks) between any two successive frames, and then only transmitting the variation to the server.
For example, a frame of 1027*768 pixels can be divided into 256 sub-blocks, in which each sub-block is 64*48 pixels. FIG. 2A shows two connected variant blocks 21 and 22. In network transmission, if the variant blocks 21 and 22 are encoded individually, the variant blocks 21 and 22 processed under JPEG compression are 785 and 745 bytes respectively, and the amount of transmission is 785+745=1530 bytes. However, if the variant blocks 21 and 22 are combined and encoded, the combined block processed under JPEG compression contains 964 bytes. According to above, the JPEG overhead for each sub-block of 64*48 pixels is 1530−964=500 bytes. Therefore, the ratio of overhead to amount of transmission is 500/1530=33% if two variant blocks 21 and 22 are transmitted at one time, however, the ratio of overhead to amount of transmission is 500/(1530/2)=66% if two variant blocks 21 and 22 are transmitted individually.
FIG. 2B shows four connected variant blocks 21, 22, 23 and 24. Similarly, a frame of 1027*768 pixels is divided into 256 sub-blocks, and each sub-block contains 64*48 pixels. If the variant blocks 21, 22, 23 and 24 are individually encoded in the JPEG format, the variant blocks 21, 22, 23 and 24 will contain 785, 745, 1272, 840 bytes respectively, and the amount of transmission is 785+745+1272+840=3642 bytes. However, if the variant blocks 21, 22, 23 and 24 are combined and then encoded in the JPEG format, the combined block will contain 1966 bytes. In this case, the JPEG overhead can be reduced by 50% if the variant blocks 21, 22, 23 and 24 are combined and then encoded in the JPEG format. Therefore, the network bandwidth needed for transmission of several variant blocks transmitted simultaneously is less than that needed for these variant blocks to be transmitted individually.
Conventional methods do not fully utilize the above properties, and thus result in too much overhead in transmission. Since relationships or interactions may exist between variant blocks such that these variant blocks are connected, and able to be transmitted simultaneously, to reduce network bandwidth.

Method and system for real-time monitoring image transmission