Systems, tools, and methods are provided in which a first signal is transmitted from a tool to a Fab indicating that all substrates to be processed have been removed from a specific carrier and that the specific carrier may be temporarily unloaded from a loadport of the tool. A second signal is transmitted from the tool to the Fab indicating that the specific carrier may be returned to the tool. While the carrier is unloaded from the tool, other carriers may be loaded on the vacated loadport. Numerous other features and aspects of the invention are disclosed.

Manufacturing of electronic devices typically involves performing a sequence of procedures with respect to a substrate such as a silicon substrate, a glass plate, semiconductor substrate, etc. (Such substrates may also be referred to as wafers, whether patterned or unpatterned.) These steps may include polishing, deposition, etching, printing, photolithography, heat treatment, and so forth. Usually a number of different processing steps may be performed in a single processing system or "tool" which includes a plurality of processing chambers. However, it is generally the case that other processes are required to be performed at other processing locations within a fabrication facility, and it is accordingly necessary that substrates be transported within the fabrication facility from one processing location to another. Depending upon the type of electronic device to be manufactured, there may be a relatively large number of processing steps required to be performed at many different processing locations within the fabrication facility.
It is conventional to transport substrates from one processing location to another within substrate carriers such as sealed pods, cassettes, containers and so forth. It is also conventional to employ automated substrate carrier transport devices, such as automatic guided vehicles, overhead transport systems, substrate carrier handling robots, etc., to move substrate carriers from location to location within the fabrication facility or to transfer substrate carriers from or to a substrate carrier transport device.
For an individual substrate, the total fabrication process, from formation or receipt of the virgin substrate to cutting of semiconductor or other devices from the finished substrate, may require an elapsed time that is measured in weeks or months. In a typical fabrication facility, a large number of substrates may accordingly be present at any given time as "work in progress" (WIP). The substrates present in the fabrication facility as WIP may represent a very large investment of working capital, which tends to increase the per substrate manufacturing cost. It may therefore be desirable to reduce the amount of WIP for a given substrate throughput for the fabrication facility. To do so, the total elapsed time for processing each substrate should be reduced.

Methods and apparatus for enhanced operation of substrate carrier handlers


The invention is directed to mixtures comprising C10-C13 alkylphenyl sulfonates having alkyl groups in a particular distribution (e.g., bimodal, peaked, and skewed). These C10-C13 alkylphenyl sulfonates are optionally renewable and unexpectedly provide superior results when used in consumer product cleaning and personal care compositions (e.g., dishcare, laundry, hard surface cleaners, shampoos, conditioners, and soaps). The invention is further directed to a method of making a mixture of partially or wholly renewable C10-C13 alkylphenyl sulfonates having a particular alkyl group distribution.

Surfactants are the single most important cleaning ingredient in cleaning products. Environmental regulations, consumer habits, and consumer practices have forced new developments in the surfactant industry to produce lower-cost, higher-performing, and environmentally friendly products. Examples of developments in the surfactant industry are described by J. Scheibel in the Journal of Surfactants and Detergents, "The Evolution of Anionic Surfactant Technology to Meet the Requirements of the Laundry Detergent Industry," volume 7, number 4, October, 2004 ("Scheibel JSD Article" hereinafter), which is incorporated herein by reference. Today, challenges facing the surfactant industry include colder wash temperatures, less efficient builders, liquid products without calcium control, and a push for reduced surfactant use overall because of the perceived environmental impact of surfactants.
Alkylphenyl sulfonates are surfactants derived from tetrapropylene that have very complex branching structures (e.g., 3 or 4 branches per molecule). The structure below illustrates one example of a hard alkylphenyl sulfonate molecule, which has branching near the polar head group and in the middle of the surfactant.

ABS surfactants were prominent until the early 1960s when they were subjected to environmental regulations for being poorly biodegradable. Alkylphenyl sulfonate surfactants were then replaced with the readily biodegradable linear alkylphenyl sulfonate (LAS) surfactants, which are easily obtainable and currently in use today. Use of LAS surfactants and other similar linear surfactants is limited because they have poor solubility in cold water and hard water conditions. In fact, more than half of the LAS detergent in products may be lost during use due to the formation of multilayered vesicles that resemble large onion-like structures. Formulators can increase the solubility of linear surfactants, for example, by introducing cosurfactants or by using linear alcohol ethoxylated sulfates (AES). However, AES surfactants have lower surface activity, as well as lower mass efficiency than LAS surfactants. Further, the use of cosurfactants or AES surfactants limits formulation flexibility and can add substantial cost to the detergent. ABS, LAS, and AES surfactants are described in detail in the Scheibel JSD article.
Surfactants with light, mid-chain branching, such as highly soluble alcohol sulfate (HSAS) surfactants derived from petroleum feedstocks, were then developed for use in consumer products. HSAS surfactants are illustrated in the Scheibel JSD article, as well as U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,020,303; 6,060,443; and 6,335,312; and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0137649, each incorporated herein by reference. The structure below illustrates one example of a HSAS surfactant, showing a single methyl branch near the mid-point of the surfactant.

Although the HSAS surfactants provide good cleaning ability in cold and hard water, have high solubility, good grease removal properties, and good biodegradability, too much branching prevents them from packing efficiently at the air-water interface. Also, if the total carbon chain length is too long, insufficient foam volume will be generated because bubble size will be greatly diminished. These two factors can severely limit the foamability of the technology. In some cases foamability and stability of foam are critical to the consumer goods application, such as in dishwashing liquids, hand wash detergents, and shampoos.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,306,817, incorporated herein by reference, describes alkylphenyl sulfonates that have light chain branching on their alkyl groups. According to the disclosure, these surfactants have superior cold water solubility, for example, for cold water laundering; superior hardness tolerance; and excellent detergency, especially under low temperature wash conditions. These surfactants also provide reduced build-up of old fabric softener residues from fabrics being laundered, and improved removal of lipid or greasy soils from fabrics.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,566,319, incorporated herein by reference, describes a method of making a mixture of C11-C14 alkylphenyl sulfonates using alkene feedstocks having particular chain lengths (e.g., an alkene feedstock with a total of 5, 6, and 7 carbon atoms, an alkene feedstock with a total of 5 and 7 carbon atoms, an alkene feedstock with a total of 6 and 7 carbon atoms, an alkene feedstock with a total of 6 or 7 carbon atoms). The process of the '319 patent is advantageous because it allows some degree of control over the chain length of the alkyl group on the alkylphenyl sulfonate. The method does not allow for specific alkyl chain distributions of the alkylphenyl sulfonate or for renewable alkylphenyl sulfonates.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to find detergent formulations that deliver even better performance and better value to the consumer, and to produce these formulations simply, efficiently, and in a controlled, cost effective manner. In view of the very large tonnages of alkylphenyl sulfonate surfactants and detergent formulations used worldwide, even modest improvements in performance of the basic alkylphenyl sulfonate detergent would have a significant impact.

Mixtures of C10-C13 alkylphenyl sulfonates


A surface mounted electric strike for use with an exit device such as a rim panic exit device. The electric strike has a housing with at least one keeper pivotally mounted to the housing. Each keeper has an associated cam with a detent. Release pawls engage detents on the cam in the locked position. A solenoid-operated unlock bar has stops, the position of which establishes whether the keepers are in a locked or unlocked position. The electric strike can be installed in either a fail safe or fail secure mode by locating the stops when the solenoid is de-energized in either a position which blocks or releases the release pawls. Other arrangements for establishing a selected operational mode include use of dual solenoids, use of dual locking bars and reversible release pawls.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,390,520, assigned to Hanchett Entry Systems, Inc., describes a surface-mounted electric door strike which provides the capability of releasing a door latch of the type normally used by a rim panic exit device. The name for this particular lock set is derived from the fact that it is mounted on an exit door, has a latch that engages with the rim portion of the door jamb and is used for egress especially in panic situations. The above-mentioned patent uses transmission and release levers mounted to the housing to accomplish release or locking of the keeper or keepers.
In addition, this patent incorporates fail safe and fail secure modes of operation, the switching between which is accomplished by resetting the starting position for the release lever and repositioning the actuating coil thus giving a three state; locked, unlocked, and locked capability.
The device set forth herein provides a simplified method of controlling the locked, or unlocked state of the keepers while maintaining the capability of providing fail safe or fail secure operation.

Surface mounted electric strike for releasing remote panic exit devices


A capsule preparation system includes a syringe holder for retaining a syringe, the syringe holder configured for operating a plunger of the syringe, a supply vial for storing a volume of radiopharmaceutical, and a capsule holder for capturing a capsule wherein the capsule holder is configured for selectively releasing the capsule from the capsule holder. At least a portion of the syringe holder is movable along a first direction and a second direction to position the syringe relative to the supply vial and the capsule.

The present invention relates to a capsule preparation system, and in particular, an automated system to fill capsules with radiopharmaceuticals.
Radiopharmaceuticals are often delivered to a patient in capsule form. To prepare the delivery capsule, a small quantity of radiopharmaceutical is manually drawn from a vial and injected into a powder pill capsule. The manual process uses small syringes and small quantities of liquid, which must be precisely measured and injected into the capsule. The manual process results in inefficient, expensive and time-consuming preparation of the capsules.
Radiation exposure to personnel preparing capsules from a bulk packaged radiopharmaceutical is high, especially to the hands, when currently available methods and equipment are used. This problem is especially critical with use of high energy radiopharmaceuticals, such as iodine, because of the high energy photons associated with the radionuclides and its extremely short life. With currently available equipment, an operator must draw the dose, remove the syringe from the drawing shield, move the syringe to a dose calibrator, measure the dose in a dose calibrator, replace the syringe in the drawing shield, and then inject the dose into the capsule. Oftentimes, the capsule is injected several times to attain the correct dosage. Repeating this process multiple times using current methods and equipment causes additional radiation exposure to an operator. Adding radiation exposure from these drawing operations to the already high dose received by the operator is dangerous and considered unacceptable. Commercially available equipment for safely preparing radiopharmaceuticals is not available or prohibitively expensive.


A pressure sensor package is claimed. The pressure sensor package includes a pressure sensor base having a cavity, a pressure sensor diaphragm positioned over the cavity, and a pressure sensor cap positioned over and secured to the pressure sensor base. The pressure sensor cap further includes a deformed portion securing the cap to the base, an engaging portion adapted to allow engagement of the cap when the deformed portion is being deformed around the base, an upper portion between the engaging portion and the diaphragm, and a lower portion between the engaging portion and the deformed portion, wherein the upper portion is longer than the lower portion. The engaging portion may extend radially outwardly from the cap, such as in the form of an annular ledge.

Pressure sensors are used in a variety of areas, such as automotive and industrial applications, to provide an electrical signal corresponding with a measured fluid pressure. For example, pressure sensors can be used to measure automotive oil pressure and hydraulic fluid pressure.
One type of pressure sensor includes a solid state pressure sensing bridge, or chip, for generating an electrical signal corresponding with fluid pressure applied to the chip. Typically, the chip is mounted within a cavity of a base, and a fluid medium (e.g., silicone gel) is placed within the cavity to cover the chip. A diaphragm is secured to the base over the cavity to secure the gel within the cavity, and to create a sealed pressure sensor package. Alternatively, the gel can be injected into the cavity through a separate port after the diaphragm is secured to the base. In operation, pressure applied to the diaphragm deflects the diaphragm, is transmitted by the medium, thereby resulting in pressurization of the chip.
The diaphragm is commonly secured to the base by welding. Welding provides an adequate seal, but the operation can only be performed if both the base and the diaphragm are made of compatible metallic materials. In addition, the welding operation can be expensive, and can cause heat distortion of the components. Also, the welding typically must be done without the fluid medium in the cavity, thereby requiring the extra operations of injecting the fluid medium into the cavity and thereafter sealing the cavity without causing an unacceptable pressure offset pressure in the cavity.


A blended wing-body aircraft includes a central body, a wing, and a transition section which interconnects the body and the wing on each side of the aircraft. The two transition sections are identical, and each has a variable chord length and thickness which varies in proportion to the chord length. This enables the transition section to connect the thin wing to the thicker body. Each transition section has a negative sweep angle.

The present invention relates generally to aircraft and, more particularly, to a spanwise transition section having a negative sweep angle which interconnects the body and the wing of a blended wing-body aircraft.
There are primarily two types of aircraft configurations: the more common (conventional) configuration which includes a tail section comprised of vertical and horizontal stabilizers located at the aft end of a tubular fuselage; and the tailless configuration. As to the latter, there are two sub-types: a first type which has no central body, commonly known as a "flying wing," and a second type having a central body which is blended into laterally extending wings, commonly referred to as a "blended wing-body" aircraft.
A generic example of a conventional aircraft having a tail section is schematically shown in FIG. 1, and designated as aircraft 20. Aircraft 20 includes tubular fuselage 21, wing 23, horizontal stabilizer 25, and vertical stabilizer 27. When loaded, aircraft 20 has center of gravity 29. Horizontal stabilizer 25 controls the rotation of aircraft 20 about the pitch axis passing through center of gravity 29. Vertical stabilizer 27 controls the rotation of aircraft 20 about the vertical, or "yaw," axis passing through center of gravity 29.
The vector L represents the lift generated by wing 23. The additional lift generated by fuselage 21 is small in comparison to the lift generated by wing 23, and will be ignored for the limited purpose of this brief discussion. The vector l represents the lift generated by horizontal stabilizer 25. L acts in the upward, or positive direction, while l acts in the opposite, or negative direction. L has a magnitude much larger that of l. The angle of attack of aircraft 20 is controlled and stabilized by the pitch moments about center of gravity 29 generated by L and l.
The necessary presence of horizontal stabilizer 25 and vertical stabilizer 27 causes a significant increase in the drag coefficient for aircraft 20 in comparison to what the drag coefficient would be in the absence of the two aforementioned control elements. Another drawback inherent to aircraft 20 is the weight of fuselage 21, which serves to provide a pitch moment arm of sufficient length to allow the pitch rotation of aircraft 20 to be controlled by the lift l generated by horizontal stabilizer 25, as well as to provide a yaw moment arm of sufficient length to allow the yaw rotation of aircraft 20 to be controlled by the force vector generated by vertical stabilizer 27.
Also, in order to sustain flight, L must have a magnitude sufficient to lift both wing 23 and fuselage 21. L must thus exceed the weight of wing 23. As a consequence, wing 23 will be subjected to a resultant upward force equal to L minus the weight of wing 23. This resultant force subjects wing 23 to a bending moment, with the maximum moment occurring at the wing root where wing 23 joins fuselage 21.
Wing 23 must be designed to withstand this bending moment induced by the resultant force, in addition to the dynamic forces and moments created by aircraft maneuvers. More particularly, wing 23 must be designed stronger than would be the case in the absence of the aforementioned resultant force, and this strengthening requires more structural weight than would otherwise be required. The strengthening of wing 23 also typically takes up additional volume that might otherwise by utilized to carry fuel. Both of the foregoing factors reduce the range of aircraft 20.
The foregoing drawbacks inherent to conventional aircraft designs exemplified by aircraft 20 have led aeronautical engineers to consider tailless designs. A perspective view of tailless aircraft 30, a generic example of a tailless aircraft, is shown in FIG. 2. Aircraft 30 includes main wing section 31, deflectable reflexes 33, deflectable flaps 35, wing tip 37, and center of gravity 39.
FIG. 3 provides a side view of wing tip 37 and depicts reflex 33 in greater detail. Main wing section 31 generates upward, or positive, lift vector L, whereas each reflex 33 generates a lift vector l acting in the opposite, or negative, direction. The flight of tailless aircraft 30 is controlled and stabilized by the appropriate deflections of flaps 35 and reflexes 33.
As may be discerned by cursory inspection of FIG. 3, tailless aircraft 30 has no horizontal and vertical stabilizers projecting into the ambient airstream, and thus has a lower drag coefficient than aircraft 20. Moreover, since the flight of aircraft 30 is controlled and stabilized without horizontal and vertical stabilizers, it does not require the moment arm to the aforementioned stabilizers otherwise provided by a fuselage. The absence of a fuselage further lowers the drag coefficient and weight of tailless aircraft 30 in comparison to aircraft 20. Wing section 31 also realizes a savings in weight compared to wing 23 of aircraft 20 because it need not be designed to withstand the moment generated by having to lift a fuselage in addition to its own weight.
Though offering the aforementioned advantages over aircraft having fuselages and tail sections, tailless aircraft suffer from several inherent design problems. To begin with, with the tailless aircraft 30, the pitch moment arm from center of gravity 39 to the negative lift l generated by reflexes 33 is shorter than the corresponding pitch moment arm for conventional aircraft 20 between center of gravity 29 and the negative lift l generated by horizontal stabilizer 25. This renders aircraft 30 more sensitive to changes in the axial station of center of gravity 39, for example, due to a shift in the location of cargo or fuel during flight, or the placement of cargo during loading on the ground.
Alternatively stated, the aerodynamic envelope for stable and controlled flight for tailless aircraft 30 is narrower and thus will tolerate less movement of loaded center of gravity 39, in comparison to the wider envelope for conventional aircraft 20. This characteristic makes it more challenging to design a commercial airliner using a tailless aircraft because it is difficult to consistently and accurately predict the load and to control the seating location of the passengers on a commercial passenger flight, in comparison to a flight carrying only cargo, weapons or military personnel.
Tailless aircraft share a further shortcoming that arises from the commercial realities facing airlines and the designers and builders of commercial airliners. More particularly, modem commercial airliners are typically designed and built as one model in a family of derivative configurations. For conventional aircraft exemplified by aircraft 20, each model varies primarily in the length of its tubular fuselage, with the various family members sharing a similar wing and avionics. By using different members of a manufacturer's family of airliners, the airline company's pilots, mechanics, and other support personnel need only acquire detailed knowledge of one model in the family. They are subsequently able to fly, maintain and repair another model in the same family with substantially less instruction and training than would be required to acquire proficiency with a completely new and unfamiliar aircraft.
The primary means of creating a new model from an existing aircraft is by inserting a hollow axial plug having the identical diameter of the original fuselage, into the fuselage. This increases the size of the original aircraft and avoids the significant investment necessary to develop a completely new model. An airline company will select a model based on the predicted passenger load and the length of the route the aircraft is to service.
Since a tailless aircraft obviously does not have a fuselage whose length can be readily changed, this design does not lend itself to such a relatively straightforward modification which would allow a manufacturer to inexpensively modify a tailless base model and develop a family of airliners to satisfy the market driven requirements of the airline companies. The foregoing characteristic inherent to the configuration of tailless aircraft has impeded the commercial development of a tailless aircraft in spite of its considerable aerodynamic efficiency.
Based on the foregoing, it can be appreciated that there presently exists a need for a tailless aircraft which overcomes the above described disadvantages and shortcomings of the tailless aircraft of the prior art. The present invention facilitates the design of such an aircraft, and thereby fulfills this need in the art.

Spanwise transition section for blended wing-body aircraft


A device and a method are disclosed for providing a pointer for a terminal with a touch screen, which can easily select an intended item displayed on the touch screen by accurately pointing to the intended item through the pointer displayed on a screen when a pointer activating mode is selected by a user and performing an operation according to the selected item so that input errors are reduced by allowing a user to provide accurate input.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pointing device, and more particularly to a pointing device used for a terminal having a touch screen and a method for using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Among conventional methods for inputting letters in a mobile terminal using a touch screen, a soft keyboard method refers to a method of inputting letters by displaying an input window in the form of a keyboard on a touch screen. Pen-clicks may be inputted thereon in order to solve a problem relating to portability of a keyboard and a mouse of a mobile terminal. Currently, such touch screens have been used for various terminals, such as cellular phones, smart phones, automatic teller machines (ATMs), palm PCs, personal digital assistants (PDAs), etc., as input apparatuses. In particular, examples of mobile terminals having such touch screens are electronic notebooks, cellular phones, PDAs, etc.
Conventionally, a touch screen provides an interface allowing a user to input a command and information to a terminal by touching a finger or a stylus pen to an icon displayed on the touch screen, mobile terminals have become smaller having light weight, so these touch screens must be miniaturized with light weight corresponding to that of the mobile terminals. Accordingly, mobile terminals such as a PDA, etc., provide a user interface through an image on a touch screen as a substitute for a keyboard. If necessary, a stylus pen may be used to activate the keyboard.
A soft keyboard on a screen is displayed as shown in FIG. 1 in order to input letters on a touch screen miniaturized as described above. FIG. 1 shows a screen used according to a conventional soft keyboard input method. In the soft keyboard input method, since all keys of a keyboard must be displayed on a screen of a mobile terminal, an area assigned for each key button is very small. For example, in a PDA having a screen of 3.5 inches, an area of each key button is about 4×4 mm. Also, in currently-used mobile terminals, all keys for inputting letters are displayed on a miniaturized touch screen as a soft keyboard.
Therefore, a screen for displaying a keyboard for inputting letters must be larger. Consequently, the size of a section for displaying outputted letters must be reduced. Also, since all icons having various functions must be displayed on the same screen, the size of a section for displaying each icon is reduced. Accordingly, an assistance tool can be required in order to input letters or select icons displayed on a screen. The assistance tool may include a stylus in the form of a writing instrument having a sharpened tip part. A user can carry the stylus or the stylus can be fixed on a rear side of a terminal body to allow the user to easily locate and use the stylus.
However, currently-used touch screens are very small and have very slippery surfaces. Therefore, when using a stylus pen on a touch screen, unintended commands may be executed due to the stylus slipping to an unintended command or selection on the slippery surface of the touch screen. Accordingly, inconvenience may occur in that a user must re-input an intended command. In other words, when performing an operation requiring accurate pointing through a mobile terminal having a touch screen, it is difficult to accurately select intended icons or letters without using assistance tools such as a stylus, etc.
As described above, conventionally, when a user inputs letters, etc., through a touch screen by using a finger without using an assistance tool such as a stylus, since the user presses small buttons of a keyboard displayed on a miniaturized touch screen, the user may mistakenly press unintended buttons next to intended buttons. Accordingly, inconvenience is incurred, in that the intended buttons must be re-inputted. That is, if an area of a finger touching a touch screen is wider than areas of displayed icons, etc., it is impossible to accurately point to the displayed icons. Accordingly, problems are incurred, in that unintended icons being frequently inputted.
Accordingly, if a user is not using a stylus, the user must use his/her finger to touch a screen by repeatedly performing trial and error until an intended operation is achieved. Also, if the user performs an operation by frequently using assistance tools such as an automatic pencil, etc., a problem is incurred in that a surface of a screen may be damaged.

Pointing device for a terminal having a touch screen and method for using the same


The present application provides a 3D printing method. The present application can provide as a method for efficiently performing 3D printing, for example, a 3D printing method capable of more rapidly and efficiently producing a three-dimensional shape precisely realized up to a fine portion.

3D (three dimension) printing is a variety of manufacturing processes that typically form a 3D object through a process of stacking layers of a series of materials.
As the 3D printing method, a stereolithography method employing an ultraviolet (UV) laser for processing a photosensitive resin, an inkjet printer method using an ultraviolet lamp for processing a photosensitive resin, a plastic extrusion molding method and a liquid binder deposition method, and the like are known.
The 3D printing can be applied to fields such as product development, data visualization, production and manufacture of specialty fields. Applicable fields are multifaceted including construction, architecture (AEC), industrial design, automobile, aerospace industry, engineering, dental and medical industry, biotechnology (human tissue supplement), fashion, footwear, jewelry, eyewear, education, geographic information system, food or many other fields.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


An object of the present invention is to provide a carbonaceous material used for an electric double layer capacitor having a high electrostatic capacity and capable of maintaining the high electrostatic capacity and energy density over a long period and a method for producing the same. The present invention relates to a carbonaceous material having a specific surface area of 1,200 m2/g to 1,800 m2/g according to a BET method, an R-value of 1.2 or more and a G-band half-value width of 70 cm−1 or more according to a Raman spectrum.

An electric double layer capacitor is an electric storage device storing an electric charge in an ion adsorption layer, i.e., an electric double layer, formed on a pore surface in a porous carbon electrode of activated carbon etc. and can repeatedly be used. Because of a long life and high output, this electric double layer capacitor is widely used as a back-up power source of a memory of a computer or a backup power supply at the time of an instantaneous power failure and is recently rapidly attracting attention as an electric power storage system mounted on a railway car and an auxiliary power source of a hybrid vehicle.
To improve the energy density of the electric double layer capacitor, recently developed hybrid capacitors utilize not only activated carbon electrodes but also active materials of lithium ion secondary batteries as electrode materials. One of the hybrid capacitors is a lithium ion capacitor. In this lithium ion capacitor, activated carbon is used for a positive electrode, a carbon material for a lithium ion battery negative electrode is used for a negative electrode, and an organic electrolytic solution for a lithium ion battery is used for an electrolytic solution.
The electric double layer capacitor is charged by connecting a power source between respective activated carbon electrodes of the positive electrode and the negative electrode immersed in an electrolytic solution and applying a voltage. During charging, electrolyte ions are adsorbed on the electrode surface. Specifically, anions in the electrolytic solution and cations in the electrolytic solution are attracted on the positive electrode and the negative electrode, respectively, to form an electric double layer. This state is maintained even when the power supply is removed, and a charged state is maintained without using a chemical reaction. At the time of discharge, the adsorbed cations and anions are desorbed from the respective electrodes. As described above, the process of charging and discharging is associated with no change in capacitor materials, and therefore, heat generation and deterioration due to a chemical reaction do not occur, so that a long life can be ensured.
The electric double layer capacitors generally have characteristics such as (1) charge and discharge at high speed, (2) a long cycle life, and (3) environment-friendliness resulting from the absence of the use of heavy metal in electrodes and electrolytes, as compared to secondary batteries. These features are derived from the fact that the capacitors operate according to physical absorption and desorption of ions and are not accompanied by an electron transfer reaction of chemical species.
Regarding development of electric double layer capacitors, for example, Patent Document 1 discloses that a carbon fiber woven fabric is subjected to an activation treatment followed by heat treatment at 700 to 1,000° C. under an inert gas atmosphere to remove moisture and surface functional groups adsorbed on an activated carbon fiber woven fabric, thereby providing an electric double layer capacitor with high withstand voltage and excellent long-term reliability.
In an example disclosed in Patent Document 2, based on the idea that decomposition of an electrolyte solution is caused by an acid resulting from moisture generated inside a positive electrode, various antacids are added to an activated carbon polarizable electrode.
In an example disclosed in Patent Document 3, based on the idea that decomposition of an electrolyte solution is caused by hydrogen ions resulting from electrolysis of generated moisture, for example, aluminum powder reactive with hydrogen ions or absorbing hydrogen ions is added to the inside of an electrode.
Patent Document 4 discloses that surface functional groups of a carbonaceous material serving as a main component of a polarizable electrode are reacted with an organic silicon compound and capped by chemical bonding to prevent the surface functional groups from generating a gas and reacting with an electrolytic solution.

Carbonaceous material, and electrode material for electric double layer capacitor, electrode for electric double layer capacitor and electric double layer capacitor that contain carbonaceous material


A method, apparatus, and article of manufacture for providing co-browsing by users shopping over a computer network, such as an internet. The method comprises: providing a network site offering items for sale; providing to a first user of the network site capability to inform the network site of interest in co-browsing with a second user; providing to the second user of the network site capability to inform the network site of interest in co-browsing with the first user; and providing a capability for communication between the interested first and second users while they continue to shop. Users are provided with a window for interfacing with the network site, wherein the window comprises a first pane that displays items for sale and a second pane that displays content of the communication between the first and second user. A proxy server protects identity of the users. The browsing pattern of at least one of the first or second users can be monitored, and users of a common browsing pattern can be identified and informed of the common browsing pattern. The first user can be provided with capability to inform the network site of subject matter of interest to the user. The second user can then be selected based on characteristics the second user shares with the first user, and notified of the characteristics shared with the first user. The capability to inform the network site of interest in co-browsing comprises capability to inform the network site of conditions required for co-browsing.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to electronic commerce, and more particularly, to co-browsing in an electronic commerce system.
2. Description of Related Art
As an increasing number of consumers use computers for shopping via electronic commerce ("e-commerce") stores, there is an increasing desire to provide facilities to bring the consumer closer to the conventional shopping experience. For example, e-commerce web sites offer virtual shopping carts, to which a buyer adds items to be purchased while continuing to shop, and express check out options for quick exit from the site when orders are small and fixed.
A familiar scenario in conventional stores, such as bookstores and video stores, includes shoppers browsing on the same aisle who engage in conversation. The shoppers may consult one another for suggestions or comments regarding recommended titles or products. The shoppers might help one another find an item of interest, or engage in discussion stemming from their common interest in a particular category of products.
As the geographical location of stores becomes mostly irrelevant in the web retail environment, and as the number of e-commerce shoppers increases, competition increases. There is a need in the art for methods and systems to attract and retain e-commerce customers, such as by offering attractive shopping environments that introduce elements of more conventional and personalized shopping experiences into the electronic marketplace.

Method and system for co-browsing in electronic commerce

International Business Machines Corporation


Subscriptions for object updates to be transmitted to a client device may be dynamically managed based on the occurrence of one or more trigger events at the client device, which causes the client device to transmit subscription modification requests to a computing platform configured to dynamically maintain object subscription lists for each of one or more client devices based at least in part on subscription modification requests received from each of the one or more client devices, to determine whether subscribed objects for a particular client device are current at the client device, and to transmit updates of subscribed objects in real-time upon determining that the particular client device does not comprise current object data.

Systems have been provided for disseminating published updates to objects among a plurality of client devices via an at least partially centralized messaging system.
Through applied effort, ingenuity, and innovation many deficiencies of such systems have been solved by developing solutions that are in accordance with the embodiments of the present invention, many examples of which are described in detail herein.

Dynamic object update subscriptions based on user interactions with an interface


A method of fabricating BEOL interconnect structures on a semiconductor device having a plurality of via contacts with low via contact resistance is provided. The method includes the steps of: a) forming a porous or dense low k dielectric layer on a substrate; b) forming single or dual damascene etched openings in the low k dielectric; c) placing the substrate in a process chamber on a cold chuck at a temperature about −200° C. to about 25° C.; d) adding to the process chamber a condensable cleaning agent (CCA) to condense a layer of CCA within the etched openings on the substrate; and e) performing an activation step while the wafer remains cold at a temperature of about −200° C. to about 25° C. The via contacts are very stable during thermal cycles and during operation of the semiconductor device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to integrated circuits (ICs). More particularly, the present invention relates to interconnect structures, including multilevel interconnect structures fabricated by damascene methods in which the via contact resistance must be low. The present invention describes various methods and tooling for making improved interconnect structures based on copper damascene wiring having a reduced via contact resistance and stable resistance both during IC operation and reliability stress of the IC device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, semiconductor devices include a plurality of circuits, which form an integrated circuit fabricated on a silicon single crystal substrate. A complex network of signal paths will normally be routed to connect the circuit elements distributed on the surface of the substrate. Efficient routing of these signals across the device requires the formation of multi-level or multi-layered interconnection schemes, such as, dual damascene wiring structures based on copper. Copper based interconnects are desirable due to their efficacy in providing high speed signal transmission between large numbers of transistors on a complex semiconductor chip.
Within the interconnection structure, metal vias run perpendicular to the silicon substrate and metal lines run parallel to the silicon substrate. Further enhancement of the speed of signals and reduction of interaction of signals in adjacent copper lines (known as "cross-talk) is achieved in new IC product chips by surrounding the copper lines and vias in a low k or ultralow k dielectric.
Presently, interconnect structures formed on an integrated circuit chip includes at least about 2 to 10 wiring levels fabricated at a minimum lithographic feature size designated about 1× (referred to as "thinwires") and above these levels are about 2 to 4 wiring levels fabricated at a larger size (referred to as "fatwires"). In one class of prior art structures, the thinwires are formed in a low dielectric constant (k) material having a dielectric constant between about 2 and about 3.5.
However, fabrication problems are associated with these prior art structures. For example, the via contact resistance is high in prior structures due to contamination at the via to line interface. Contamination primarily includes oxygen and/or carbon and is in the form of copper oxide (Cu Oxide) or a carbon based residue (polymeric or amorphous carbon). The carbon residue commonly contains H or F and other undesired elements may be present at the via to line interface.
Another problem associated with these prior art structures is poor adhesion at the via contact, which leads to increased via resistance after the structure is cycled in temperature or after long periods of field operation. The extreme case of increased via resistance is an open via with no contact to the line below, a fatal IC failure mode. Poor adhesion is also due to the same contamination described above.
A further problem during interconnect fabrication is that the shapes and dimensions of the etched via and trench openings are correct after etch, but the shapes and dimensions are distorted, enlarged, degraded or roughened during via cleaning. This problem is most acute when low modulus ultralow k (ULK) dielectrics (k<about 2.7) are used and the via cleaning includes Ar+ bombardment. The Ar+ ions enlarge the via dimensions and erode the bottom of the trenches and even cause roughening of the trench bottom. Pores in the ULK dielectric make this problem severe.

Formation of low resistance via contacts in interconnect structures


Methods and systems are provided for converting an asymmetric degradation response of an exhaust gas sensor to a more symmetric degradation response. In one example, a method includes adjusting fuel injection responsive to a modified exhaust oxygen feedback signal from an exhaust gas sensor, the modified exhaust oxygen feedback signal modified by transforming an asymmetric response of the exhaust gas sensor to a more symmetric response. Further, the method may include adjusting one or more parameters of an anticipatory controller of the exhaust gas sensor based on the modified symmetric response.

An exhaust gas sensor having an anticipatory controller may be positioned in an exhaust system of a vehicle to detect an air-fuel ratio of exhaust gas exhausted from an internal combustion engine of the vehicle. The exhaust gas sensor readings may be used to control operation of the internal combustion engine to propel the vehicle.
Degradation of the exhaust gas sensor may cause engine control degradation that may result in increased emissions and/or reduced vehicle drivability. Accordingly, accurate determination of exhaust gas sensor degradation and subsequent adjustments to parameters of the anticipatory controller may reduce the likelihood of engine control based on readings from a degraded exhaust gas sensor. In particular, an exhaust gas sensor may exhibit six discrete types of degradation behavior. The degradation behavior types may be grouped into filter type degradation behaviors and delay type degradation behaviors. Further, the degradation behavior types may either be symmetric or asymmetric around stoichiometry. An exhaust gas sensor exhibiting an asymmetric filter type degradation behavior may have a degraded time constant of the sensor reading in only one transition direction of the air-fuel ratio (e.g., rich-to-lean transition or lean-to-rich transition). In response to sensor degradation, anticipatory controller parameters may be adjusted to maintain stability of the closed-loop system operation.
Previous approaches to adjusting parameters of the anticipatory controller of an exhaust gas sensor, responsive to degraded behavior, include adjusting anticipatory controller gains only in the direction of the degradation. As a result, an engine controller may respond asymmetrically to deliver more or less fuel in the direction of the degradation. This asymmetric operation may cause an increase in CO emissions (lean-to-rich filter) or an increase in NOx (rich-to-lean filter).
The inventors herein have recognized the above issues and identified an approach for adjusting fuel injection to an engine responsive to a modified exhaust oxygen feedback signal from an exhaust gas sensor, the modified exhaust oxygen feedback signal modified by transforming an asymmetric response of the exhaust gas sensor to a modified more symmetric response, for example a modified symmetric response. For example, the asymmetric response may be an asymmetric filter degradation response wherein a response rate of the response is degraded in only one transition direction, or degraded to a greater extent in one direction than another. In one example, transforming the asymmetric response to the modified symmetric response may include filtering a non-degraded portion (e.g., transition direction) of the asymmetric response by an amount based on a time constant of a degraded portion of the asymmetric response. After transforming the asymmetric response, one or more parameters of an anticipatory controller of the exhaust gas sensor may be adjusted based on the modified symmetric response. For example, one or more of a proportional gain, an integral gain, a controller time constant, and a controller time delay may be adjusted and applied in both transition directions of the exhaust gas sensor response. In this way, a technical effect of the anticipatory controller being able to operate symmetrically may be achieved, thereby reducing calibration work of the controller and reducing NOx and CO emissions of the engine.
It should be understood that the summary above is provided to introduce in simplified form a selection of concepts that are further described in the detailed description. It is not meant to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, the scope of which is defined uniquely by the claims that follow the detailed description. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any disadvantages noted above or in any part of this disclosure.

Exhaust gas sensor controls adaptation for asymmetric degradation responses


A method of treating patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease by locating the areas of the brain affected by Alzheimer's disease and acting on the aforementioned areas of the patient's brain by laser energy through coronary blood vessels located adjacent to the aforementioned areas. The laser energy is delivered to the affected area through a set of microcatheters insertable sequentially and coaxially into each other and having diameters that allow insertion into distal coronary blood vessels.

In recent years the number of cases of Alzheimer's disease has noticeably increased, and according to the forecast of scientists, the number of people suffering from this disease may reach 50 million in near decades.
Alzheimer's disease is one of most widely spread forms of acquired dementia that affects the population of developed countries. In the USA alone the number of people suffering from this disease is about 4.5 million, and it is very difficult to diagnose this disease in its early stage.
Alzheimer's disease is a degenerative disease of the brain that manifests itself in progressive loss of memory and intellect and, in the long run, leads to complete degradation of personality. Until the present time, etiology of this disease has not been completely known, and it is not infrequent that this disease has an inheritable nature.
In the Alzheimer's disease, main structural changes are revealed in the surface structures of the brain (cerebral brain cortex) and in the hippocampus, which is located in the depth of the hemispheres and plays an important role in memory and processes of memorization. Microscopic observations show that these changes are characterized by the presence of so-called neurofibrillar glomerules that consist of pathologically changed neurons (nerve cells) that contain specific fibrillar proteins and neuritic plaques that comprise deposits of amyloids, i.e., protein-hydrocarbon complexes, in an intercellular space of the brain. At the same time, one can observe a reduction of the capillary bloodstream in the frontoparietal part with development of multiple arteriovenous shunts.
At the present time Alzheimer's diseases is treated mainly by symptomatic methods based on introduction of acetylcholine and psycotropic preparations designed for correcting behavioristic deviations.
At the present time, Alzheimer's disease is treated mainly on the basis of symptomatic methods relating to introduction of acetylcholine and psycotropic preparations designed for correcting behavioristic deviations. For example, an article by Jacobsen, F. M. and Comas-Diaz, L. in (http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=1997195) describes the use of donepezil for treating psychotropic-induced memory loss. Donepezil is an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor marketed for treatment of memory loss and behavioral deterioration associated with the acetylcholine deficit of Alzheimer's disease. The authors investigated the utility and tolerability of donepezil in nongeriatric-affective illness for treatment of psychotropic-induced memory loss, dry mouth, and constipation. Nondemented outpatients with stabilized DSM-IV-affective illness took 5 mg/day of donepezil for three weeks and then increased to 10 mg/day in open trials. Self-rating scales of target symptoms were completed by patients before and three to four weeks after starting each dose. Patients who chose to continue donepezil therapy returned for clinical monitoring every four to eight weeks. Results showed that 11 women and 11 men (mean±SD age=45.4±8.5 years) completed donepezil trials. Nineteen patients with memory loss rated improvement while taking 5 mg/day of donepezil (p<0.001); subsequently, six patients rated further improvement with
10 mg/day (p=0.057). Donepezil, 5 mg/day, also reduced ratings of dry mouth (N=16; p<0.001) and constipation (N=11; p<0.05). Side effects included insomnia, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea; surprisingly, two bipolar patients became manic within hours of starting donepezil. Sixteen patients (72%) continued donepezil for an average of seven months. Consideration of family histories suggested that donepezil response in affective illness may be an early indicator of vulnerability to dementia of the Alzheimer's type.
However, even though donepezil can reduce memory loss, dry mouth, and constipation in nongeriatric-affective patients, the authors, themselves, state that use of this preparation may trigger mania and may have other side effects.
Physicians at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine have surgically implanted genetically modified tissue into the brain of an Alzheimer's patient. This launches the first phase of an experimental gene therapy protocol for Alzheimer's disease. The 11-hour procedure was performed at UCSD's John M. and Sally B. Thornton Hospital in La Jolla on a 60-year-old woman in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease. The authors reported that the patient was recovering well. The authors also stated that the proposed gene therapy is not expected to cure Alzheimer's disease, but they hope that it might protect and even restore certain brain cells and alleviate some symptoms, such as short-term memory loss, for a period that could last a few years. This procedure targets a class of cells located deep within the brain in an area called the cholinergic system, important for supporting memory and cognitive function.
The cholinergic system profoundly degenerates in the course of Alzheimer's disease. These cells have been shown to respond to the implanted genetically modified tissue in primate studies, and the researchers hope that preventing extensive loss of these cells may slow intellectual decline seen in Alzheimer's patients.
Also known in the art are some other surgical methods for treating Alzheimer's disease. For example, neurologists at Emory University (Atlanta, Ga., USA) are studying a possible new treatment for Alzheimer's disease using a device called the COGNIShunt, which is designed to drain cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from the skull into the abdominal cavity. Doctors are hopeful that by reducing the buildup of CSF around the brain, this device will help to stabilize the disease.
CSF is the fluid that fills the empty spaces around the brain and spinal cord. The body naturally produces, absorbs, drains, and replenishes the fluid; however, with age, the replenishing process slows. Shunting has long been used as treatment for hydrocephalus, a condition in which an abnormal accumulation of CSF causes neurological problems, including dementia, problems walking, and incontinence. In the Emory study, surgeons surgically implant the COGNIShunt into a normal cavity, or ventricle, in the brain. Then they tunnel a tube through the neck and into the abdominal cavity for proper drainage. This procedure is a relatively short and common procedure that usually requires a one- to two-day hospital stay. However, the results of this study are yet unknown, and there are some risks associated with implanting the device. The risks include infections, bleeding, or a chance that the shunt or tube could stop working.
On the other hand, known in the art is the use of endovascular catheters for internal treatment of patients suffering from vascular disorders. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,048,719 issued in 2006 to Richard R. Monetti discloses the use of endovascular microcatheters to deliver embolic devices useful in occluding blood flow through a patient's vasculature. Blood flow occlusion may be useful in controlling vascular bleeding, controlling blood supply to tumors, and to occlude vascular aneurysms, including intracranial aneurysms. Microcatheters can be used when treating blood vessels of extremely small size, for example, intracranial blood vessels. In particular, the aforementioned patent discloses a resheathing apparatus useable to resheath an elongate member such as a catheter, embolization member deployment apparatus, or other elongate structure. The resheathing apparatus comprises a guide that has one or more lumens extending from the proximal end to the distal end of the guide. The guide also may have a branch extending away from the lumen of the guide. The branch is structured to fit in a sheath that may be disposed around the deployment structure. The branch is oriented to direct the sheath onto or off the deployment structure, depending on whether the deployment structure is to be resheathed or desheathed, respectively. The resheathing apparatus may also comprise a guide tube disposed over the branch of the guide to facilitate movement of the sheath over the branch of the guide and over the deployment structure.
The endovascular catheter of the type shown in the above patent can be used for angioplasty and for delivery of embolic devices useful in occluding blood flow through a patient's vasculature. Blood flow occlusion may be useful in controlling vascular bleeding, controlling blood supply to tumors, and to occlude vascular aneurysms, including intracranial aneurysms. Microcatheters can be employed when treating blood vessels of extremely small size, for example, intracranial blood vessels.
In spite of all known attempts aimed at treating Alzheimer's disease and attempts as described above, the inventor herein is not aware of surgical methods and devices for treating this disease based on restoring surrounding brain tissue by improving microcirculation and collateral bloodstreams in the brain.

Method and device for endovascular treatment of the Alzheimer's disease


An input termination circuit includes a first and a second resistor each having a terminal respectively coupled to a first and a second input terminal of the input termination circuit, a first and a second transistor coupled in series between the first resistor and the second resistor, and a third transistor having two terminals respectively coupled to the control circuit and a node between the first and the second transistor. The gate of the third transistor is coupled to ground. The gates of the first and the second transistor are coupled to a control circuit that is adapted to provide a control signal to turn the first and the second transistor on or off.

More and more people are relying on the Internet to conduct financial transactions, make telephone calls, and perform video conferences. Loss of data could have a devastating effect including loss or delay of critical financial transactions, interference from annoying noises from the telephone lines, or distortion in video clips. To address these problems, redundancy protection may be built into communication systems. One type of redundancy protection that can be utilized at an input terminal for terminating transmission lines of the communication system employs a hardware protection scheme using a primary line interface unit (LIU) card and a secondary or backup LIU card. In the event that there is a primary card failure, data transmission can be switched to the backup card and data transmission can be continued. One type of switching scheme is called hitless protection switching (HPS), where framing synchronization is not lost in the switch between the primary card and the backup card.
The transmission of information over transmission lines also requires an input termination impedance at the receiving side that matches the characteristic impedance of the transmission line. For example, in T1/E1/J1 long haul/short haul communication systems, the impedance matching requires that the termination impedance of the primary card and the backup card be selectable from line terminating impedances 75 Ohm, 100 Ohm, 110 Ohm, or 120 Ohm (T1:100, J1:110, E1:75/120).
In an application such as a HPS, the primary and backup cards are coupled together. In normal operation, the primary card is set to the desired impedance, and the backup card is required to be in a high impedance state whether the power on the backup card is on or off. An exemplary backup card circuit is shown in FIG. 3 (discussed further below). Typically, if the backup card is powered on, high resistance can be achieved by purposefully cutting off the conductive circuit on the backup card. However, when the backup card is powered off (which happens in circumstances such as replacing a LIU card in the system and the like), a low impedance conductive loop may be formed through the backup card (which will be described in detail below), and that low impedance loop may affect the function of the primary card.
Typically, there are two connection modes between the primary card and the backup card. One type of connection is the line connection mode. As shown in FIG. 1, in the line connection mode, a primary card 120 and a backup card 122 are both coupled to the same input line through transformers 124 and 126. The other connection is the pin-pin connection mode. As shown in FIG. 2, in the pin-pin connection mode, backup card 122 and primary card 120 are both coupled to the output terminals of a transformer 128. In either connection mode, a low impedance loop may be formed through the backup card at power off.
FIG. 3 shows a simplified circuit diagram of a traditional input termination circuit 100 that can be used in backup card 122. Input termination circuit 100 can be set to provide high impedance between terminals RTIP (receiver differential tip positive input) and RRING (receiver differential ring negative input) when power is on, and also can be set to provide a low impedance termination during an operational mode, i.e., when circuit 100 becomes a primary card.
As shown in FIG. 3, the input termination circuit 100 includes terminals RTIP and RRING, a common mode voltage (VCM) buffer circuit 102, a termination impedance matching circuit 104, a control circuit 106, and a bias circuit 108. Input termination circuit 100 is coupled to an internal circuit (not shown) (e.g., a device that processes the signals received through input termination circuit 100) through monitor switches 132 and 134.
VCM buffer circuit 102 includes a reference voltage Vref, an amplifier 103, a PMOS (denoted as PM2) and an NMOS (denoted as NM2) coupled in series between a power supply VDD and ground. Vref is coupled to an input of amplifier 103 and transistors PM2 and NM2 having their gates respectively coupled to two outputs of amplifier 103. In some embodiments, Vref can be about 1.5 V. Bias circuit 108 includes two resistors R3 and R4 coupled in series between RTIP and RRING. Resistors R3 and R4 are usually at least about 10K Ohm. When power is on, VCM buffer provides a 1.5 V bias voltage to a node 302 between resistors R3 and R4.
As shown in FIG. 3, control circuit 106 includes two transistors, a PMOS (denoted by PM3) and an NMOS (denoted by NM3) coupled between VDD and ground. Transistors PM3 and NM3 have their gates coupled to a register configuration circuit 107, which may provide a control signal to turn transistors PM3 and NM3 on or off. Termination impedance matching circuit 104 includes a transistor NM1, which can be an NMOS transistor, and two resistors R1 and R2. Resistors R1 and R2 each have a resistance of about half of a line termination resistance, which may be selected from 75 Ohm, 100 Ohm, 110 Ohm, or 120 Ohm depending on the standard. Transistor NM1 is controlled by a control signal CTL generated by control circuit 106 at a node 304 between the two transistors PM3 and NM3 of control circuit 106.
In line connection mode, as shown in FIG. 1, primary card 120 and backup card 122 are respectively coupled to transmission lines through transformers 124 and 126. Backup card 122 may employ input termination circuit 100 as shown in FIG. 3. Transformers 124 and 126 isolate DC signals and couple AC signals to primary card 120 and backup card 122. Typically, primary card 120 is operating and, in backup card 122, control circuit 106 provides a negative control voltage CTL, which turns off transistor NM1. The circuit between RTIP and RRING in circuit 100 has high impedance corresponding to R3 plus R4. However, when backup card 122 is powered off (i.e., VDD on control circuit 106 and VCM buffer circuit 104 is 0 V), the control voltage CTL on the gate of transistor NM1 provided by control circuit 106 has a zero potential. The transient AC signals at terminals RTIP and RRING of the backup card may provide a negative voltage to terminals RTIP and/or RRING. The negative voltage at terminal RTIP or RRING may be clamped by ESD transistors (not shown) coupled to terminals RTIP and RRING to −VD, where VD is the threshold voltage of the ESD transistor. The negative potential is applied to the drain and/or source terminal of transistor NM1 through resistors R1 and/or R2. Because the gate potential is 0 V, transistor NM1 may be turned on by the voltage across the gate and the drain or source terminal. Thus, a low impedance circuit may exist in backup card 122 when the power is off.
In the pin-pin connection mode as shown in FIG. 2, primary card 120 and backup card 122 are coupled to transmission lines through one transformer 128. Terminals RTIP and RRING of backup card 122 are coupled to terminals RTIP and RRING of the primary card 120. Primary card 120 may include a VCM buffer circuit as shown in the circuit in FIG. 3. When primary card 120 is operating, the VCM buffer circuit of primary card 120 provides a DC bias to primary card 120. The DC bias also applies to backup card 122 through terminals RTIP and RRING of backup card 122. When backup card 122 is powered off, a DC current path may be formed through resistors R3 and R4. Another DC current path may also be formed through the monitor switches 132 and 134 and internal circuit coupled to monitor switches 132 and 134. A DC current path may also be formed through a neighboring channel (not shown) which can be coupled to backup card 122 through a monitor switch 136. Those DC current paths may affect the potential on RTIP and RRING of backup card 122, and may make the potential on RTIP and RRING far below Vref. Upon receipt of a full range of AC signals from the transmission lines, potentials at terminals RTIP and RRING may become negative, which may be clamped by the ESD protection circuit to −VD. Transistor NM1 is then turned on and a low impedance differential signal path appears between RTIP and RRING. The low impedance path may affect the function of primary card 120.
Therefore, there is a need for a simple and efficient input termination circuit that presents high impedance at power off and that is applicable for both line connection mode and pin-pin connection mode.

Input termination circuitry with high impedance at power off


A process for the preparation of targeting nanoparticles of a poly(alkyl cyanoacrylate) homopolymer or copolymer, wherein said method comprises, in a single step, the anionic polymerisation of an oil-in-water miniemulsion as herein defined. The invention also relates to nanoparticles produced from said process and to their use in medicine.

The use of nanotechnology in medicine offers many exciting possibilities with potential in a number of medicinal applications envisaged. In particular, nanomedicine is expected to lead to big improvements in the treatment of complex diseases. Two areas in which the use of nanoparticles has begun to demonstrate particular value are drug delivery and molecular imaging.
Nanoparticles for the delivery of therapeutic agents have the potential to circumvent many challenges associated with traditional delivery approaches, including lack of patient compliance to prescribed therapy, adverse side effects and poor clinical efficacy due to lack of targeted delivery. Important technological advantages of nanoparticles for drug delivery include the ability to deliver water-insoluble and unstable drugs, incorporation of both hydrophobic and hydrophilic therapeutic agents and the ability to utilise various routes of administration. Nanoparticle delivery systems may also facilitate targeted drug delivery and controlled release applications, enhancing drug bioavailability at the site of action, reducing dosing frequency and overall dosage size, thereby minimising side effects. As a result of these potential advantages, a variety of nanoparticulate systems have been investigated for use as drug delivery vehicles. These include polymeric micelles, polymers, liposomes, low-density lipoproteins, solid-lipid nanoparticles, dendrimers, hydrophilic drug-polymer complexes and ceramic nanoparticles.
Nanoparticle-based imaging agents may have increased circulation time and altered water-solubility, thereby avoiding rapid clearance. Many of the particulate imaging systems used to date are designed exclusively for blood pool and lymphatic system imaging. The use of targeting imaging systems has the potential to increase accumulation at the target site, leading to a higher sensitivity and thus enabling molecular imaging outside the blood pool and lymphatic system. It is envisaged that targeted nanoparticles which contain both therapeutic and imaging agents could enable the use of a single vehicle for diagnosis, treatment and follow-up monitoring of a disease.
Polymeric nanoparticles have received a great deal of attention in the field of medicine, in particular those comprising biodegradable polymers such as poly(lactic acid), poly(glycolic acid) and poly(alkyl cyanoacrylate), however those developed to date have limited effectiveness because of high clearance rates and their propensity to distribute through the whole body, including into healthy tissue. Controlled delivery of an active agent using nanoparticles therefore remains a challenge and there is a need for the development of biocompatible compositions capable of extended delivery of active agents which provide prolonged circulation time and increased stability compared to administration of the active agent alone.
Long circulating nanoparticles, i.e. those with enhanced stability in the circulatory system, have been investigated in this regard and go some way to addressing these issues. These types of nanoparticles have a hydrophilic shell around the nanoparticles, known as a stealth corona, which is typically provided by a hydrophilic polymer and leads to an increase in the blood circulation half-life of the nanoparticle, vastly increasing circulation times. The hydrophilic shell mimics water and acts as an immunoprotective layer, rendering the nanoparticles relatively "invisible" to the immune system, enabling them to avoid uptake by phagocytic cells. Stealth-structured nanoparticles are well known and have been prepared with a variety of nanoparticle cores and with a range of polymeric shells, as discussed in Nicolas and Couvreur in Rev. Nanomed. Nanobiotechnol., 2009, 1, 111-127, Storm et al., Adv Drug Deliv Rev 1995, 17: 31-48 and Stolnik, Illum & Davis, Adv Drug Deliv Rev 1995, 16: 195-214. Their use in the encapsulation of therapeutic agents has also been described in, for example, US 2002/0034474. A commercially available example is Doxil®, which comprises pegylated liposomes containing doxorubicin.
However, there remains a need to combine these extended circulation times with targeted delivery so that accumulation in healthy tissue is minimised, thus reducing adverse side effects. The incorporation of targeting moieties onto the surface of stealth nanoparticles is not a simple feat, however, because the presence of these additional groups has the potential to disrupt the stealth structure. As a result, known methods for the preparation of stealth nanoparticles are not easily adapted to successfully produce targeting stealth nanoparticles.
Many methods for preparing nanoparticles are known, such as emulsion polymerisation and nanoprecipitation. Anionic emulsion polymerisation is described in, for example, US 2008/0138418.
Miniemulsion processes are known for the production of nanoparticles with average sizes typically in the range 1-1000 nm, most typically 50-500 nm as disclosed e.g. in Landfester in Macromol. Rapid Comm. 2001, 22, 896-936 and Landfester et al in Macromolecules 1999, 32, 5222-5228. The method was first described in 1972 by Ugelstad and Vanderhoff. The miniemulsion technique for the preparation of polymeric nanoparticles is a technology by which a dispersion is prepared, by converting a stable nanoemulsion of a dispersed phase in a continuous phase into a nanoparticle dispersion by polymerisation reactions. The technology involves mixing the various components in the dispersed phase before emulsification with the continuous phase takes place, resulting in the production of an emulsion in which each droplet has an identical composition of active agent and monomers. All types of polymerisation reactions may be applied in these droplet nanoreactors. In the case of the present invention, oil-in-water miniemulsions and anionic polymerisation at the droplet interface, commonly started by adding an initiator to the continuous phase, are the preferred embodiments. The particles formed are typically identical or almost identical to the droplets from which they are prepared, in terms of size and size distribution, resulting in high reproducibility of the process.
Miniemulsions are usually stabilised by a surfactant and a co-stabiliser, the latter often referred to as "hydrophobe". The co-stabiliser contributes to the osmotic stabilisation of the emulsion by increasing the osmotic pressure, which counteracts the capillary or Kelvin pressure due to surface tension of the droplets and reduces Ostwald ripening by minimising diffusion of the monomer from small to large droplets.
In conventional emulsions, the polymers are directly formed from the solution containing monomers, while, in a miniemulsion process, two liquid phases are first brought into contact and an emulsion is formed subsequently. Another difference is that conventional emulsion polymerisation processes result in suspensions containing only about 1% of nanoparticles, while the miniemulsion process allows a solid content of nanoparticles of 15-25% or more, which is important in terms of up-scaling and production costs. Conventional emulsion processes result in nanospheres, which are matrix systems, where the drug is physically and uniformly dispersed in the polymer, while miniemulsion processes combined with interfacial polymerisation reactions result in nanocapsules, which are vesicular systems in which the drug is solubilized in a liquid core, surrounded by a thin polymer layer. It should therefore be appreciated that conventional emulsions and miniemulsion processes are quite different and that the products produced therefrom are structurally distinct.
In US 2008/182776 and US 2010/015165 miniemulsion polymerisation processes for the preparation of poly(alkyl cyanoacrylate) nanoparticles are described. The polymerisation initiators used are surfactants (pluronics) and primary or secondary amines, respectively, although, in general, any nucleophilic compound, containing for example hydroxyl or amino groups may be used. Examples of initiators include sodium hydroxide, amino acids (e.g. glycine) and polyethyleneglycols. Initiation may also take place via alteration of the pH as discussed in, for example, US 2009/0297613.
Most of the known processes for the preparation of targeting stealth nanoparticles and the only known process for the preparation of targeting stealth nanoparticles of polyalkyl cyanoacrylates involve several consecutive steps: encapsulation of the active agent together with the introduction of the stealth layer, followed by introduction of targeting moieties which is usually by way of activation and coupling steps. Alternatively, the targeting moiety may be added to the component which will form the stealth layer separately prior to nanoparticle formation. See, e.g. US 2010/0104645. Precise control of biomaterial structure and composition, in addition to complete characterisation of the products of each step in the synthesis is required in order to comply with the necessary regulations governing clinical acceptance. As a result, these conventional preparation methods are very costly and time consuming.
It is therefore desirable, and hence an object of the present invention, to develop a new, more efficient method for the preparation of targeting, stealth nanoparticles which are capable of delivering a therapeutic agent to a desired target without compromising the longer circulation times associated with the stealth structure. In particular, a process which involves fewer steps would be desirable. Ultimately, it is desired if the process is suitable for commercial applications.
The present inventors have surprisingly found that this may be achieved by utilising a miniemulsion process in combination with a particular class of polyalkylene glycol derivatives. Specifically, they have developed a process in which at least one polyalkylene glycol covalently attached to a targeting moiety is used, preferably in combination with a polyalkylene glycol not attached to a targeting moiety, thus enabling the simultaneous introduction of a targeting group and formation of a stealth corona. Unexpectedly, this was possible in a single polymerisation step, thereby reducing characterisation and production costs remarkably, ideally without compromising the long-circulating properties of the nanoparticle.

Process for preparing stealth nanoparticles


A map in a cloud service stores physical objects previously detected by other vehicles that have previously traveled over the same road that a current vehicle is presently traveling on. New data received by the cloud service from the current vehicle regarding new objects that are being encountered by the current vehicle can be compared to the previous object data stored in the map. Based on this comparison, an operating status of the current vehicle is determined. In response to determining the status, an action such as terminating an autonomous navigation mode of the current vehicle is performed.

A user of a vehicle can be a driver in the case of a manually-driven vehicle. In other cases, such as for an autonomous vehicle, the user of the vehicle typically performs fewer control actions than a "driver" as regards the operation of the vehicle. For example, in some cases, the user may simply select a destination to which the vehicle travels, but without performing any directional or other control of the immediate movement of the vehicle on the roadway.
Recent developments in the technological area of autonomous driving allow a computing system to operate, at least under some conditions, control elements of a vehicle without the assistance from a user of the vehicle. For example, sensors (e.g., cameras and radars) can be installed on a vehicle to detect the conditions of the surroundings of the vehicle on a roadway. One function of these sensors is to detect objects that are encountered during travel of the vehicle.
Autonomous vehicles use a variety of sensors and artificial intelligence algorithms to detect these objects and to analyze the changing environment around the vehicle during travel. Objects that are encountered may include, for example, traffic lights, road signs, road lanes, etc. Failing to detect certain of these objects could cause an unexpected or undesired behavior of the vehicle, and in some cases could expose passengers of the vehicle and/or others outside of the vehicle (e.g., in the immediate area surrounding the vehicle) to danger.
During normal operation of a vehicle, the various sensors are used to operate the vehicle. For example, a computing system installed on the vehicle analyzes the sensor inputs to identify the conditions and generate control signals or commands for the autonomous adjustments of the direction and/or speed of the vehicle, without any input from a human operator of the vehicle. Autonomous driving and/or advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) typically involves an artificial neural network (ANN) for the identification of events and/or objects that are captured in sensor inputs.
In general, an artificial neural network (ANN) uses a network of neurons to process inputs to the network and to generate outputs from the network. Each neuron m in the network receives a set of inputs pk, where k=1, 2, . . . , n. In general, some of the inputs to a neuron may be the outputs of certain neurons in the network; and some of the inputs to a neuron may be the inputs to the network as a whole. The input/output relations among the neurons in the network represent the neuron connectivity in the network.
Each neuron m has a bias bm, an activation function ƒm, and a set of synaptic weights wmk for its inputs pk respectively, where k=1, 2, . . . , n. The activation function may be in the form of a step function, a linear function, a log-sigmoid function, etc. Different neurons in the network may have different activation functions.
Each neuron m generates a weighted sum sm of its inputs and its bias, where sm=bm+wm1×p1+wm2×p2+ . . . +wmn×pn. The output am of the neuron m is the activation function of the weighted sum, where am=ƒm(sm).
The relations between the input(s) and the output(s) of an ANN in general are defined by an ANN model that includes the data representing the connectivity of the neurons in the network, as well as the bias bm, activation function ƒm, and synaptic weights wmk of each neuron m. Using a given ANN model, a computing device computes the output(s) of the network from a given set of inputs to the network.
For example, the inputs to an ANN network may be generated based on camera inputs; and the outputs from the ANN network may be the identification of an item, such as an event or an object.
For example, U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2017/0293808, entitled "Vision-Based Rain Detection using Deep Learning", discloses a method of using a camera installed on a vehicle to determine, via an ANN model, whether the vehicle is in rain or no rain weather.
For example, U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2017/0242436, entitled "Road Construction Detection Systems and Methods", discloses a method of detecting road construction using an ANN model.
For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 9,672,734 and 9,245,188 discuss techniques for lane detection for human drivers and/or autonomous vehicle driving systems.
In general, an ANN may be trained using a supervised method where the synaptic weights are adjusted to minimize or reduce the error between known outputs resulted from respective inputs and computed outputs generated from applying the inputs to the ANN. Examples of supervised learning/training methods include reinforcement learning, and learning with error correction.
Alternatively or in combination, an ANN may be trained using an unsupervised method where the exact outputs resulted from a given set of inputs is not known a priori before the completion of the training. The ANN can be trained to classify an item into a plurality of categories, or data points into clusters.
Multiple training algorithms are typically employed for a sophisticated machine learning/training paradigm.
The disclosures of the above discussed patent documents are hereby incorporated herein by reference.

Determining autonomous vehicle status based on mapping of crowdsourced object data


A light emitting diode (LED) driver includes an inverter for converting a DC input signal to a pulsating signal. A multiple output multi-resonant converter generates a first LED string current in response to the pulsating signal, and also generates a second LED string current in response to the pulsating signal. A transistor that may be a FET or BJT operating in its linear region regulates the second LED string current independent of the first LED string current without sacrificing efficiency of the overall power train.

The subject matter of this disclosure relates generally to multi-resonant LED drivers, and more particularly, to a system and method for achieving precise regulation of multiple outputs in a multi-resonant light emitting diode (LED) driver stage.
Multi-resonant converters and variants thereof are a very efficient means for controlling a wide range of currents through an LED load. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a basic LED drive 10 that is implemented with a multi-resonant variant converter 12. The LED drive 10 can drive a single string of LEDs, or series-parallel arrangements of LEDs that are represented in FIG. 1 by a single diode (D1) 14. The single diode 14 can be replaced by a string of LEDs in series or by series parallel arrangements of LEDs. The LED current 15 is usually sensed with a sense transformer placed at a current sense point 16 on the secondary side of the multi-resonant converter 12. The main isolation transformer 18 is represented as element T1 in FIG. 1. Although such converters may be useful to provide precise regulation through a load, known multi-resonant converters and their variants are not capable of providing precise regulation of multiple outputs such as required for multi-stringed LEDs without sacrificing efficiency or the undesirable addition of a significant number of parts.
FIG. 2 is a simplified schematic diagram illustrating a basic half bridge resonant converter 100 with a multi-resonant drive 102. The half bridge resonant converter 100 can drive a single string of LEDs, or series-parallel arrangements of LEDs that are represented in FIG. 2 by a single diode 104. The single diode 104 can be replaced by a string of LEDs in series or by series parallel arrangements of LEDs. The LED current is usually sensed with a sense transformer placed at a current sense point on the secondary side of the multi-resonant drive 102. Although such converters may be useful to provide precise regulation through a load, these known multi-resonant converters and their variants are not capable of providing precise regulation of multiple outputs such as required for multi-stringed LEDs without sacrificing efficiency or the undesirable addition of a significant number of parts, as stated herein.
Mixed light systems, such as blue mixed with red LEDs, often require precise control over a second output while maintaining control of the first output. It would be beneficial and advantageous to provide a system and method that employs a multi-resonant converter in which a second output can be regulated without sacrificing the efficiency of the overall power train.

System and method for achieving precise regulation of multiple outputs in a multi-resonant LED driver stage


A writing instrument having an elongated barrel comprised of an outer portion and an inner portion, rotatable relative one to the other. The point or writing tip is fixed to the barrel inner portion, disposed at an angle to, and may be offset from, the centerline of the barrel outer portion. The barrel inner portion is caused to rotate relative to the barrel outer portion by pressure on the writing instrument or weights attached to the barrel inner portion to bring the point into desired alignment during the writing process.

The present invention relates to an instrument having a working point which is applied to a surface, and more particularly to a manually-manipulated instrument wherein the working point is offset axially from the centerline of the instrument body.
Various instruments having a point which is applied to a surface are available on the market. These instruments include, but are not limited to, writing systems, such as fountain pens, ballpoint pens, as well as correction fluid applicators and the like. The writing instruments, as a general rule, comprise a writing tip or point which extends from the barrel containing the ink supply, the instrument being held in the hand of the user during the writing process. In most of these writing instruments, particularly ballpoint pens, the writing tips are known to function more effectively if retained in a perpendicular position relative to the surface being written on. However, in most instances the writing instrument is not applied vertically during the writing process, but is inclined to the writing surface by the user at an angle which is generally in the vicinity of 60.degree. to the writing surface.
In the case of a ballpoint pen, typically applied to the writing surface at about a 60.degree. angle, the rim surrounding the ball may contact the writing surface and interfere with the smooth operation of the ball. A danger also exists that application at a 60.degree. angle may provide wear to the ball to the extent that the ball becomes loosened.
In view of the above, it has been proposed that the point or ball-carrying portion of the ballpoint pen be oriented such that it extends at an angle to the axis of the writing instrument barrel to compensate for the tilting of the barrel during the writing process. A pen which is typical of this type of instrument is shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,012,663, issued to Robert L. Brown and assigned to the assignee of the present invention.
It has, however, been found that in employing a pen of the type described above, wherein the point is disposed at an angle with the barrel longitudinal axis, orientation of the point is often difficult and may result in a poor quality of writing being produced. If the point is not oriented such that it lies at right angles to the writing surface, the user will have to re-orient the writing instrument or writing will proceed on the rim of the point.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a writing instrument wherein the point extends at an angle to the longitudinal axis of the barrel wherein proper orientation of the point to the writing surface is ensured.
Another object of the invention is to provide a writing instrument of the type set forth above which provides proper orientation of the point to the writing surface prior to the start of the writing process.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a writing instrument of the type set forth above which is simple in construction and easily manufactured.


The present invention discloses a portable communication device with slot-coupled antenna module the slot-coupled antenna module comprises: a dielectric substrate, radio module, ground plane, air substrate, and patch radiator. The radio module contains a feed line and stub that are coupled on the surface of the dielectric substrate and extending along the long side of the dielectric substrate in parallel. The ground plane with slot-coupled structure is coupled on the other surface of the dielectric substrate, the feed line and stub pass through the intersect portion of the coupled slots. The air gap is therefore formed between the ground plane and the patch radiator, and the patch radiator is substantially parallel with the ground plane and locating substantially on the position of the coupled slots.

For the development of technology and progress of communication, people could never be stratified with the wired network again. Besides, the users of wireless network keep increasing with the popularization of mobile devices, such as the mobile phone, the notebook and the PDA.
WiFi, provided by Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance (WECA), also the alternative name of IEEE 802.11, is a short range communication technique, which could support the network receiving frequency signals within several hundreds feet. Such type of technique might be realized easily in high speed network. With the prompt progress in communication technology as well as the coming of standards IEEE 802.11a,b,g and n, a great amount of wireless radio frequency techniques have been proposed and utilized. However, the standardization is accelerated since the users of the wireless network are quickly raised. In view of the application, all of the ordinary hand-held communication devices are required to be compatible with the 802.11 devices.
The wireless RF and antenna modules are usually included in the hand-held communication devices that are capable of providing 802.11 communication functions, such as PDA, mobile phone, portable media player, game console and other communication devices supporting WiFi protocol. In general, the antenna module includes a conductive patch radiator for promoting radio efficiency. The conductive patch radiator is conventionally: (1) attached or printed inside or outside the dielectric housing; (2) built in the dielectric housing; or (3) sandwiched or stacked up to be the inner layer of the two outer layers of the dielectric housing.
The feed line or short conductor connecting the radiator and the radio module on the PCB is absent in above antenna module. In addition, the radio module is usually constituted with the discrete or integrated circuits.
There are following disadvantages in traditional antenna:                (1) Common antenna is directly fixed or connected on the PCB. Therefore, the performance of the antenna will be influenced or interference by other components on the PCB, such as the battery, the keyboard, the LCD panel, the connector, the speaker, the lens, the microphone, the push bottom switch, the wire harness and the LED.        (2) The antenna is usually directly disposed on the housing, and connected to the PCB by the cable or adapter. Consequently, there would be shortcomings, such as cable loss of transmission, non-reliability of cable connection, and difficult assembling and trouble-shooting.        (3) Since the antenna is disposed outside the housing, the cable or adapter through the housing is utilized to connect the antenna to the PCB. Accordingly, the signals would lose or the surface of housing would be rugged and rough.        (4) Since the antenna is disposed in a standalone and outside the housing, the cable or adapter through the housing is utilized to connect the antenna to the PCB. Accordingly, the signals would lose and better mounting knowledge is required.
In conclusion, an improved hand-held communication device should be provided to rid of these disadvantages.

Portable communication device with slot-coupled antenna module