A tub cover which is mounted on an upper opening of a tub of a washing machine, includes a case shoulder and an inner cover having a condenser with the inner cover hinged with the case shoulder. The condenser comprises a steam inflow opening for enabling the upward passing steam from the tub, a water container member having a plurality of heat-exchanger plates, for heat-exchanging with steam entering therein, and a steam outflow opening for passing outward steam heat-exchanged in the container water member. The heat-exchanger plate comprises a plurality of orifices provided in a plurality of convex portions, and a water container formed between the convex portions.

A washing machine for boiling clothes is provided with a tub mounted in a vertical axis, in which there is an electrical heater for boiling water installed therein. The washing machine selectively performs a combination of the washing, boiling, rinsing and spinning cycles of operation with boiling water as well as cold and warm water controlled by a predetermined time cycle. Furthermore a tub cover is placed over an opening of an upper portion of the tub to prevent the discharge of steam from the tub. Along the side wall of the tub an overflow pipe is provided for discharging a portion of the steam.
One difficulty that sometimes occurs during use of the washing machine is that an abundant amount of steam is insufficiently discharged from the tub. That is, since the washing machine by structure enables the steam to rise until prevented from rising by the tub cover, at which point the steam is then discharged through an overflow pipe. However, due to the structure of the tub, the steam can not immediately flow out of the tub. Thus, the steam pressure builds up in the tub to a predetermined value, causing the steam to be discharged through an aperture in the tub cover, resulting in damage to the electrical parts of the washing machine. Another common problem is that the user may be burned by the steam when discharged through the aperture of the tub cover. Furthermore, the steam has a high temperature and the loss of the heat of the steam being discharged from the tub decreases the efficiency of the washing machine.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a tub cover for a washing machine having a condenser which prevents damage to the electrical parts of the washing machine as a result of having steam discharge from the tub.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a tub cover having a condenser which protects the user from being scalded by steam discharged through an aperture in the tub cover.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a tub cover having a condenser which increases the efficiency of the washing machine.

Tub cover having a condenser of a washing machine


A capacitive keyboard device with a keystroke triggering threshold adaptively adjustable capability is proposed, which is designed for integration to an electronic unit, such as PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) computers, mobile phone unit, and calculator, for use as a data input device for the electronic unit. The proposed capacitive keyboard device is characterized by the operation of a triggering threshold adaptive adjustment function that can adaptively adjust the keystroke triggering threshold of the capacitive keyboard device in response to the user's habitual key-pressing action during each use, which also takes account of all internal factors (such as decay of the capacitor structure) and external factors (such as physical characteristics of the user's fingers). This feature allows the capacitive keyboard device to be reliable in operation for long period of use.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to electronic circuit technology, and more particularly, to a capacitive keyboard device which is designed for integration to an electronic unit, such as mobile phone or calculator, for use as a data input device, and which has a keystroke triggering threshold adaptively adjustable capability that can adaptively adjust the keystroke triggering threshold of the capacitive keyboard device.
2. Description of Related Art
Capacitive keyboards are a type of data input device that operates on a change in capacitance to determine whether a key has been pressed down by the user. This data input function is based on a compressible capacitor structure whose capacitance can be changed to a smaller value when compressed. Therefore, when a key is pressed down by the user, the capacitor will be compressed and thus reduced in capacitance, resulting in a change in the voltage charged on the capacitor, thus triggering the generation of a key strobe signal.
In construction, all the structural and electronic parts of a capacitive keyboard are covered under a thin plastic sheet. This feature allows the capacitive keyboard to be well protected against external contamination and abrasion. Moreover, since the capacitive keyboard has no moving parts as conventional mechanical-type of keyboard, it can be constructed with a smaller size. This feature allows capacitive keyboards to be particularly welcome and widely used on small-size portable devices.
In practical application, however, one drawback to the capacitive keyboard is that its keystroke triggering threshold to the user's key-pressing actions might be unreliable for long period of use, due to the reason that the rated capacitance of the capacitor structure might gradually decay to a smaller value by some internal and external factors, such as long time of use, abrasion, decay of the capacitor structure, temperature and humidity, and noise interferences. Moreover, the keystroke triggering threshold of the capacitive keyboard can also be influenced by various user factors, such as user's finger size, user's habitual key-pressing actions, and water or oil moistened on the user's finger.
All of the above-mentioned factors would affect the keystroke triggering threshold of a capacitive keyboard. There exists therefore a need in the electronic industry for a new technology that can adaptively adjust the keystroke triggering threshold of the capacitive keyboard in despite of the influencing factors mentioned above.

Capacitive keyboard device with a keystroke triggering threshold adaptively adjustable capability


Whether or not a density of black is a predetermined value or more is judged, and when it is judged to be the predetermined value or more, a resolution characteristic is changed to an improved resolution characteristic compared to the resolution characteristic used in a case in which a judgment result shows a value under the predetermined value. When the density of black is deeper, the resolution characteristic is improved, and therefore black is prevented from becoming in a so-called void state. Accordingly, the color close to black such as four-color black can be stably and excellently formed. In addition, when the density of black is the value under the predetermined value, the resolution characteristic lower than this value is used, and therefore dots can be stably formed and an excellent gradation property can be achieved.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming method and apparatus for forming an image with an electrophotographic method on a medium (recording paper) to be recorded by using toner. More specifically, the present invention relates to an image forming method and apparatus for forming an image in accordance with image data corresponding to black and other plurality of colors and a predetermined resolution characteristic.
2. Description of Related Art
As a conventional image forming apparatus of this kind, there is given examples such as an image forming apparatus comprising: a latent image forming unit for forming an electrostatic latent image corresponding to each color on an image carrier, in accordance with image data corresponding to black and other plurality of colors (such as yellow, magenta, and cyan) and a predetermined resolution characteristic; a developing unit for developing the electrostatic latent image formed on the image carrier by the latent image forming unit by adsorbing toner of each color thereon; and a transfer unit for transferring the toner adsorbed to the image carrier by the developing unit, to a medium (recording paper) to be recorded.
According to the conventional image forming apparatus thus constituted, in accordance with the image data corresponding to the aforementioned each color and the resolution characteristic (such as a dither matrix), the latent image forming unit forms the electrostatic latent image on the image carrier, and the developing unit performs development by adsorbing the toner of the aforementioned each color on the electrostatic latent image. In this way, by transferring the toner adsorbed on the image carrier to the medium (recording paper) to be recorded by the transfer unit, toners of the aforementioned each color are arranged on the medium to be recorded in a predetermined positional relation, and a color image is formed on the medium to be recorded.
In addition, the conventional image forming apparatus of this kind proposes that beam diameters for forming the electrostatic latent image is differentiated between a case of forming black color (referred to as three-color black hereafter) by transferring three colors of yellow, magenta, and cyan to adjacent positions on the medium to be recorded, and a case of forming black color (referred to as monochromatic black hereafter) by transferring only toner of black to the medium to be recorded (for example see Japanese Patent Application laid-Open No. 2000-62250).
Incidentally, a combination of the aforementioned three-color black and the monochromatic black can be considered. Specifically, there is a conceivable case such that after forming three-color black by transferring yellow, magenta, and cyan to the adjacent positions, the toner of black is further transferred thereon to obtain high density black color (referred to as four-color black hereafter). However, a problem is involved in this case as follows. Namely, since the toner of each color are generally charged with the same polarity, when the toner of black is transferred on the three-color black, electrostatic repulsion of the toners of yellow, magenta, and cyan is exerted on the toner of black. Therefore, a density of black is deteriorated in a portion where the toner of black is flipped by the aforementioned repulsion.

Image forming method and image forming apparatus


Structures including non-volatile memory elements and methods of forming such structures. The structure includes a first non-volatile memory element, a second non-volatile memory element, and temperature sensing electronics coupled to the first non-volatile memory element and the second non-volatile memory element.

The present invention relates to integrated circuits and semiconductor device fabrication and, more specifically, to structures including non-volatile memory elements and methods of forming such structures.
On-chip temperature sensors are being developed to provide temperature readings absent off-chip components. One type of on-chip temperature sensor relies on inverters including field-effect transistors formed by complementary-metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) processes. Field-effect transistors formed by CMOS processes may include performance variations arising from process-related variations, such as variations in gate dielectric thickness and channel doping. Because of these performance variations, CMOS temperature sensors require multiple point calibration in order to provide a high sensing accuracy. Another type of on-chip temperature sensor relies on bipolar junction transistors. However, sensors that rely on bipolar junction transistors require high-precision readout circuits.
Improved structures including non-volatile memory elements and methods of forming such structures are needed.

On-chip temperature sensing with non-volatile memory elements


An electrochemical cell system including an anode compartment and a cathode compartment separated by a membrane and electrode structure. This structure has an anode surface with a plurality of anodes in a side-by-side arrangement exposed to the anode compartment and a cathode surface with a plurality of cathodes in a side-by-side arrangement exposed to the cathode compartment. The anodes and cathodes are separated by a layer of ion exchange polymer and register with each other so that opposing pairs of anodes and cathodes form cells. The membrane and electrode structure further includes a plurality of current collector screens. The current collector screens have an anode contact area in contact with the anode, a cathode contact area in contact with the cathode and a feed through area extending between cells and crossing from the anode contact area to the cathode contact area to connect the anode and cathode of adjacent cells. The invention provides a polymer electrolyte membrane electrochemical cell system which can be less complicated, lighter in weight and/or is easier to manufacture that existing stack designs.

Polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrochemical cells employ a membrane of an ion exchange polymer which serves as a physical separator between the anode and cathode while also serving as an electrolyte. These cells can be operated as electrolytic cells for the production of electrochemical products or they may be operated as fuel cells for the production of electrical energy. Membranes of highly fluorinated polymers such as perfluorinated sulfonic acid polymer membranes are particularly well-suited for use in such cells due to excellent chemical resistance, long life, and high ionic conductivity.
PEM electrochemical cells typically employ a bipolar plate "stack" design in which a number of conductive bipolar plates in a parallel arrangement serve as current collectors and separators for adjacent cells. For H.sub.2 /O.sub.2 fuel cells and other cells using gaseous reactants, the bipolar plates usually also define a number of flow channels for distribution of the hydrogen and the air or oxygen to a porous gas diffusion backing in contact with the electrodes of the cells. Such cell stacks also include rigid end plates and tie rods which maintain the stack in compression. Consequently, the stacks and associated fuel and oxygen manifolds are usually complicated, expensive and difficult to manufacture. Moreover, for most portable and transportation applications, the weight contributed by the bipolar plates, the end plates and the tie rods is higher than is desired.

Electrochemical cell system with side-by-side arrangement of cells


A technology which can realize a high-performance multiband operation in a compact circuit configuration and is advantageous for a wireless terminal of GSM system for which the further increase of the demands is expected in the future is provided. Provided is a multiband switch type antenna duplexer adopted in a mobile phone used in TDMA system such as the GSM system, in which the signals of respectively different first to fourth frequency bands (GSM 850, EGSM, DCS, PCS) share a single antenna, wherein switching elements such as receive filters and diodes are combined in various ways to perform the high-performance band switch with the minimum number of switching elements. The circuit of this antenna duplexer can realize not only the size reduction of the multiband switch antenna duplexer but also the size reduction and performance improvement of the wireless terminal itself.

Conventionally, when realizing the multiband operation in a wireless terminal in the TDMA system, an antenna switch module in which a plurality of switches for selecting the transmitting and receiving frequency signals corresponding to each band are provided right behind the antenna has been used. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, the demand from the dual-band terminal of the 900 MHz EGSM (Extended GSM) and the 1.8 GHz DCS (Digital Communication Systems) to the triple-band terminal obtained by adding the 1.9 GHz PCS (Personal Communication Service) and to the quad-band terminal obtained by further adding the 850 MHz GSM has been increasing.

Antenna duplexer and wireless terminal using the same


Disclosed are an inductor for a semiconductor integrated circuit, which provides a wider cross-sectional area, significantly reduces the resistance to improve the Q value and has a highly uniform film thickness, and a method of fabricating the inductor. A spiral inductor is formed on a topmost interconnection layer of a multilayer interconnection layer formed by a damascene method. This inductor is formed by patterning a barrier metal layer on an insulation film, on which a topmost interconnection is formed, in such a way that the barrier metal layer contacts the topmost interconnection, then forming a protective insulation film on an entire surface of the barrier metal layer, forming an opening in that portion of the protective insulation film which lies over the barrier metal layer, forming a thick Cu film with the barrier metal layer serving as a plating electrode, and performing wet etching of the Cu film. This process can allow the inductor to be so formed as to be thick and have a wide line width.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an inductor which is formed in a semiconductor integrated circuit and a method of fabricating the inductor.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional inductor provided in a semiconductor integrated circuit is formed on the same layer as the interconnection of the topmost layer of a multilayer interconnection formed by a damascene process (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-267320). FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a semiconductor integrated circuit including a conventional inductor. Wells 2 and 3 are formed in the surface of a substrate 1, and a pair of high-concentration diffusion layers 6 of an MOS transistor and a low-concentration diffusion layer 7 lying between the diffusion layers 6 are formed in an area which is defined by device isolation regions 4 and 5 on the surface of the well 2. A gate insulation film 8 is formed on the substrate between the diffusion layers 6, and a gate electrode 9 and a side-wall insulation film 10 on the sides of the gate electrode 9 are formed on the gate insulation film 8. This provides an MOS transistor with an LDD (Lightly Doped Drain) structure.
A multilayer interconnection is formed on the substrate 1. Specifically, a first interlayer insulation film 11 is formed on the substrate 1, and a first interconnection layer 12 is formed on the first interlayer insulation film 11. The first interconnection layer 12 is formed by the following process. First, as shown in FIG. 2A, after a contact hole 21 is formed in the first interlayer insulation film 11, an insulation film 11a is formed on the first interlayer insulation film 11. Then, as shown in FIG. 2B, a groove 22a for an interconnection 22 is formed in the insulation film 11a by forming a resist pattern on the insulation film 11a by photolithography and then dry-etching the insulation film 11a with the resist pattern as a mask.
Next, as shown in FIG. 2C, a thin metal film 32 (TaN film or the like) to be a plating electrode is formed on the surface of the bottom and sides of the groove 22a for the interconnection 22 by sputtering or the like, and a barrier metal layer 23 is formed on the bottom of the groove 22a after which Cu is buried in the groove 22a for the interconnection 22 by plating Cu with the metal film 32 as a cathode. In this case, Cu is also deposited on the insulation film 11a.
Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 2D, Cu on the insulation film 11a is removed by CMP (Chemical Mechanical Polishing) to expose the insulation film 11a and planarize the surface of the insulation film 11a and the surface of the Cu buried in the interconnection groove 22a. As a result, a buried interconnection 22 is formed in the first interconnection layer 12.
Using the damascene method, likewise, a second interlayer insulation film 13 is formed on the insulation film 11a, a contact hole 24 is formed in the second interlayer insulation film 13, and an interconnection 25 of a second interconnection layer 14 is formed on an insulation film 13a formed on the second interlayer insulation film 13. Further, a third interlayer insulation film 15 is formed on the insulation film 13a, a contact hole 26 is formed in the third interlayer insulation film 15 and an interconnection 27 of a third interconnection layer 16 is formed on an insulation film 15a formed on the third interlayer insulation film 15. Furthermore, a fourth interlayer insulation film 17 is formed on the insulation film 15a, a contact hole 28 is formed in the fourth interlayer insulation film 17 and a topmost interconnection 29 of a topmost interconnection layer 18 is formed on an insulation film 17a formed on the fourth interlayer insulation film 17. The barrier metal layer 23 is also formed on the bottom of the topmost interconnection 29 and another barrier metal layer 31 is formed on the top of the topmost interconnection 29. A protective film 19 is formed on the entire surface of the resultant structure.
In a semiconductor integrated circuit which has the conventional inductor, therefore, the coil-like inductor 30 is formed simultaneously at the time of forming the topmost interconnection 29 of the topmost interconnection layer 18. That is, at the time of patterning the groove for the topmost interconnection 29 of the topmost interconnection layer 18 in the insulation film 17a by photolithography, the groove for the inductor 30 which is a coil-like interconnection is patterned simultaneously. Then, after a thin film for the plating electrode is formed by sputtering, the Cu film is formed by electrolytic plating in such a way as to be buried in that groove, then the surface is subjected to CMP to planarize the surface.
In the conventional semiconductor integrated circuit, the inductor 30 is formed together with the topmost interconnection 29 on the topmost interconnection layer 18 of the multilayer interconnection layer, formed by the damascene method, in the above-described manner.
Because the inductor 30 is formed at the same time as the topmost interconnection 29 by the damascene method in the conventional semiconductor integrated circuit, however, the thickness of the inductor 30 is limited by the thickness of the topmost interconnection layer 18. There is a limit to the thickness of the topmost interconnection layer 18 due to the restrictions on the fabrication process. As shown in FIG. 2D, "dishing", a phenomenon which produces a recess portion as the center of the surface of the interconnection is etched, occurs in the above-described CMP process in the damascene method. The wider the interconnection is, the more noticeable this "dishing" becomes. This puts some restriction on the width of the interconnection of the inductor 30.
Because of the restrictions on the interconnection width and the film thickness, the conventional inductor cannot have a large cross-sectional area. The conventional inductor disadvantageously has a high resistance which makes it difficult to improve the Q value that indicates the performance of the inductor.
Further, the surface, 33, of the interconnection 22 undergone CMP is recessed by dishing as shown in FIG. 2D, resulting in poor film planarization. Due to a variation in conditions for CMP, the uniformness of the film thickness of the inductor is poor, which is likely to cause a variation in the characteristics.

Inductor for semiconductor integrated circuit and method of fabricating the same


Side curtains for golf carts are provided using transparent flexible plastic sheets that are selectively retractable into or under a roof of a golf cart.

Golf carts usually have a roof to shield a user of the golf cart from rain. Quite often golf carts also have a windshield. Most golf carts do not have rear windows or side windows however, though the prior art shows some structures for keeping rain from the rear and/or sides of a golf cart.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,795,205 to Gerber discloses a retractable windshield for a golf cart, but uses flexible curtains to prevent rain from entering the rear and parts of the sides of his golf cart. U.S. Pat. No. 8,292,355 also discloses a retractable windshield, but for an all terrain vehicle.
Published U.S. Patent Application No. 2010/0276961 to Haagenson shows removable side curtains for a golf cart, which side curtains can be used when rain seems likely or possible, but are not permanently attached to the golf cart for times when the user thinks it is unlikely to rain.
The prior art side curtains are cumbersome, difficult to see through, appear as a temporary accessory instead of a permanent solution and are generally not aesthetically pleasing to the eye of traditional golfers.
Accordingly, there is a need for a better solution to keeping a golfer dry when the golfer is using a golf cart on a golf course than solutions available in the past.

Transparent retractable curtains for a golf cart


A battery powered wireless audio speaker comprising a passive radiator is disclosed. The perimeter portion of the passive radiator is sandwiched between the speaker chassis and the retention gasket that resides between an external overlying perforated cover to firmly secure the passive radiator. The construction is capable of being well suited to enhance and improve integrity to the seal between the passive radiator and the speaker chassis in strenuous environment conditions such as when a speaker is submerged in water.

Conventional speakers are generally comprised of an internal compartment defined by a chassis or from having one or more main drivers ("active driver") mounted thereon. Often electronic circuitry that controls the speaker is contained within the internal compartment. Some speakers also employ a passive radiator (or a drone cone) that is also mounted on the chassis. The passive radiator is typically the same or similar to the main driver, but without a voice coil and magnet assembly. When the main driver and the passive radiator are both mounted to a sealed speaker compartment, the movement of the main driver fluctuates the internal air pressure within the compartment resulting in the passive radiator to fluctuate with sound.
In order to have a consistent and desired tune, the passive radiator needs to be properly mounted to the chassis in a manner that maintains the integrity of the compartment seal so that the pressure differential required to fluctuate the passive radiator in the desired manner is maintained. In conventional manufacturing constructions, the outer perimeter portion of the passive radiator is efficiently mounted to the speaker chassis with an adhesive. The adhesive secures the inner side of the perimeter portion of the passive radiator to an underlying corresponding perimeter support structure on the chassis. A sealed internal compartment is thus formed between the chassis and the passive radiator. The seal internal compartment serves the dual purpose of protecting the external electronics from exposure to the environment while also allowing the active driver to fluctuate the air pressure within the internal compartment to energize the passive radiator.
These days wireless speakers, often battery powered such as those marketed by applicant under the BRAVEN brand, are common. Such speakers are being used more and more in various indoor and outdoor environments including camping, hiking, travel, leisure, beach, boating, and other rugged and potentially weather and water prone environments. Applicants here have found that overtime, perhaps as a result of use and/or environment, a portion of the passive radiator may detach from the speaker chassis. This may be caused, for example, by water pressure on the passive radiator when the speaker falls or is otherwise submerged in water. Detachment of the passive radiator can result in damage to the electrical components (e.g., voice coil and magnet assembly of the active driver and other control circuitry located in the enclosure) and poor performance. Accordingly, as recognized by applicants, there is a need to improve the integrity of the attachment of the passive radiator while also allowing the speaker to be efficiently manufactured and assembled.

Audio speaker with externally reinforced passive radiator attachment


A scroll compressor is provided with a cavity in its back pressure chamber to increase a volume of the back pressure chamber. In this manner, at start-up, the back pressure chamber will not be effective to bias the two scroll members together until this enlarged volume is filled with a compressed refrigerant. This reduces the load on the electric motor at start-up.

This application relates to a scroll compressor, wherein a back pressure chamber is provided with a large cavity to reduce the start-up load on the motor. The large cavity must be filled with pressurized fluid as the compressor starts up before the scroll members can move into engagement with each other.
Scroll compressors have become widely utilized in refrigerant compression applications. In a typical scroll compressor, a first scroll member includes a base with a generally spiral wrap extending from the base. A second scroll member also has a base and a generally spiral wrap extending from its base. The two wraps interfit to define compression chambers. One of the two scroll members is caused to orbit relative to the other, and as they orbit, the size of the compression chambers is decreased, compressing an entrapped refrigerant.
A separating force is created by the compressed refrigerant that tends to push the two scroll members away from each other. To entrap and define a compression chamber, the wrap of each scroll member must be in contact with the base of the other scroll member. The separating force tends to move the wraps out of engagement, and thus prevents compression.
To address this separating force, scroll compressors have utilized a back pressure chamber defined behind the base of one of the two scroll members. A compressed refrigerant is tapped into this chamber, and creates a force tending to hold the two scroll members in contact with each other.
One challenge with scroll compressors is that at start-up the motor must begin to drive a shaft to cause the scroll member to orbit. At start-up, the load on this motor to begin the rotation of the shaft is relatively large. It would be desirable to reduce this start-up load.

Scroll compressor with back pressure chamber cavity for assisting in start-up


Techniques are disclosed for forming contacts in silicon semiconductor devices. In some embodiments, a transition layer forms a non-reactive interface with the silicon semiconductor contact surface. In some such cases, a conductive material provides the contacts and the material forming a non-reactive interface with the silicon surface. In other cases, a thin semiconducting or insulating layer provides the non-reactive interface with the silicon surface and is coupled to conductive material of the contacts. The techniques can be embodied, for instance, in planar or non-planar (e.g., double-gate and tri-gate FinFETs) transistor devices.

Increased performance of circuit devices including transistors, diodes, resistors, capacitors, and other passive and active electronic devices formed on a semiconductor substrate is typically a major factor considered during design, manufacture, and operation of those devices. For example, during design and manufacture or forming of metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) transistor semiconductor devices, such as those used in a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS), it is often desired to increase movement of electrons in N-type MOS device (NMOS) and P-type MOS device (PMOS) contact regions. Such increased mobility can be achieved by reducing contact resistance.
At the contact regions of the source and drain a conductive material is deposited on the doped surface providing contacts. The interaction of the conductive material and the doped silicon substrate produce a silicide region. The resulting silicide region produces a Schottky barrier. Conduction of electrons through the Schottky barrier is limited by the barrier height and results in a contact resistance (Rcontact) as shown in FIG. 1. Accordingly, improved methods or structures are needed to overcome the limitations of conventional source/drain contacts.


A reciprocating hydraulic motor and pump assembly includes a cylinder and a piston disposed for reciprocation in the cylinder. The piston includes a stem having a bore extending longitudinally in the stem and a piston head connected to one end of the stem. The piston head includes a cavity communicating with the bore. A spool is slidably mounted in the stem bore and the piston head cavity. A magnetic latching assembly is disposed in the piston head cavity. A displacement rod is fastened to the piston rod. The hydraulic motor and pump assembly is used in an airless paint sprayer system.

The present invention relates to improvements in a hydraulic motor. More specifically, the present invention relates to a hydraulic motor coupled to a pump employing a reciprocating piston. One use for such motors is to supply slurries of paint or other coating compositions to the several spray heads of an airless paint sprayer system.
Hydraulic motors used with reciprocating pistons for airless paint sprayers have been employed in the past. One known manufacturer of such a hydraulic motor is The Speeflo Division of Titan Tool, Inc. of Roslyn, N.Y. Other known manufacturers of hydraulic motors for airless paint sprayer systems include Graco, Inc. of Minneapolis, Minne., Durotech Co. of Moorpark, Calif. and Airlessco of Orange, Calif. A known Speeflo pump design of Titan employs a differential area piston with a spool valve to drive the pump up and down. Hydraulic pressure is always directed to the bottom side of the piston, and the valve alternately applies and removes pressure from the larger top side of the piston. A pair of ball detent latching mechanisms serves to maintain the spool valve in one of two possible end positions.
One of the problems with the known Speeflo pump design is that the spool rides in a spool sleeve which must match the spool diameter within about 0.0003 inches. When any wear occurs at the interface between the spool and the sleeve, leakage from the high pressure supply side to the no pressure exhaust side increases rapidly. This leakage causes frictional heating of the hydraulic fluid and lowers the pump's performance, i.e. its maximum pressure and flow rate. In addition, the ball riding over the detent ridge on the spool causes wear on both parts. The springs loading the ball eventually also fail, generating debris which can damage the spool valve. Typically, two balls are used in opposition to each other on the spool. While this keeps the spool centered between the two--and is a better design than employing a single spring loaded ball valve--the two balls still try to force the spool to move off axis, in a direction perpendicular to the ball loading. Such angulation causes wear on both the spool and the sleeve.
In addition, whether the spool needs replacing due to wear on its detent ridge from the ball, or due to scoring from debris, both the spool and the sleeve must be replaced as a set. In order to achieve the tight clearance that is necessary between the spool and the sleeve, they need to be made in sets.
Ideally, the shift distance for the pump should be as small as possible in order to maximize efficiency, limited only by the flow area requirements for fluid passages and to allow for a seal between the two sides. However, the use of a ball detent increases the minimum shift distance due to the space required for the ball to be in both the up and the down positions and the size of the detent ridge. Larger balls in the ball detent mechanism and larger detent ridges are desirable to lower the stresses on and to improve the life of the latching mechanism. But, they also lengthen the shift distance and reduce the efficiency of the pump. In addition, the movement of the ball during the shift from one end position to the opposing end position in the pump, as the trip rod spring loads up, contributes to a longer shift time, during which the spool is not in either a fully up or a fully down position.
Another known hydraulic motor for an airless paint sprayer system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,785,997 dated Nov. 22, 1988 and assigned to Durotech Co. of Moorpark, Calif. This hydraulic motor includes a releasable stop means having balls and grooves wherein the construction of the same will assure a rotation of the balls to prevent uneven wear of the balls and the grooves. However, since this known arrangement also employs balls and grooves, it has the same disadvantages as mentioned above with regard to the Speeflo design.
Accordingly, it is desirable to develop a new and improved hydraulic motor which would overcome the foregoing difficulties and others while providing better and more advantageous overall results.

Hydraulic motor for use with airless paint sprayer system


An internal combustion engine includes: a combustion chamber surrounded by a cylinder bore wall, a piston crown part, and a cylinder head wall; a spark plug arranged at the cylinder head wall and having a spark generating part; and a partitioning wall part partitioning the combustion chamber into a main combustion chamber at which the piston crown part is exposed and an ignition chamber at which the spark generating part is exposed, the partitioning wall part being formed with a plurality of through holes connecting the main combustion chamber and the ignition chamber. The axes of the plurality of through holes are formed so that at predetermined regions from ignition chamber side opening parts of the plurality of through holes, the directions toward the ignition chamber side opening parts all are substantially the same.

In one of the conventionally known internal combustion engines (below, also referred to as a "conventional engine"), an ignition chamber starting to burn an air-fuel mixture by a spark produced by the spark plug is formed inside a combustion chamber by a plug cover covering an ignition point of a spark plug (spark generating part). The part of the combustion chamber other than the ignition chamber will be referred to for convenience as the "main combustion chamber".
In a conventional engine, in the intake stroke, fuel is injected from a fuel injector to the ignition chamber. Part of the injected fuel passes through through holes formed in the plug cover together with the air in the intake stroke, and is exhausted to the main combustion chamber. As a result, the air-fuel mixture is supplied to the ignition chamber and the main combustion chamber, and the air-fuel mixture is compressed in the compression stroke. At the time of the compression stroke, part of the air-fuel mixture in the main combustion chamber passes through the through holes and again flows into the ignition chamber. Then, near compression top dead center, the air-fuel mixture inside the ignition chamber is ignited by the spark for ignition generated from the spark plug, and a flame is generated by the start of combustion of the air-fuel mixture. This flame is ejected from the ignition chamber through the through holes to the main combustion chamber. Due to this injected flame, a large disturbance of the air flow is caused inside the main combustion chamber, and the air-fuel mixture remaining inside the main combustion chamber is ignited rapidly by the ejected flame and burned in a short time.
As prior art of an internal combustion engine having an ignition chamber, a conventional engine ejecting an air-fuel mixture starting to burn in an ignition chamber from the ignition chamber to a main combustion chamber through a plurality of through holes formed radially in a plug cover is known (for example, see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2009-197704).


A package of folded absorbent pants includes a housing portion with a front wall having a transparent window region. A plurality of absorbent pants are disposed within the housing portion. At least one of the pants is a display pant having a first folded configuration and being positioned within the housing portion to be at least partially visible through the transparent window region. A portion of the pants have a second folded configuration and are aligned in facing relation to define a first stack. The display pant is positioned within the housing portion such that the longitudinal direction of the display pant is aligned in a first direction and the first stack longitudinal direction is aligned in a second direction that is different than the first direction.

People rely on disposable absorbent garments in their everyday lives, including such garments as adult incontinence products, enuresis pants, training pants, and diapers. Many manufacturers seek to better meet the needs of users of such products. With certain products, such as adult incontinence underwear and enuresis pants, it is important that the garments look and feel as much as possible like "regular" underwear to promote an improved sense of normalcy to the wearer who suffers from incontinence or enuresis. Thus, there is a need for a package of incontinence or enuresis underwear that better resembles a package of durable underwear so as to improve the feeling of normalcy for the purchaser/user. There is also a need for a package of incontinence or enuresis underwear that allows the potential purchaser to see selected features of the underwear, such as, for example, cloth-like material used to make the underwear and elastic waistbands.

Package of folded disposable absorbent pants


A blasting apparatus for blasting a predetermined portion of a work by spraying a powder to the work in a blasting chamber. The blasting apparatus includes a work bed for placing the work thereon, a spray nozzle for spraying the powder onto the work, a first driving section for linearly moving the work bed in a first direction, and a second driving section for linearly moving the spray nozzle in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction. Accordingly, the blasting apparatus can be reduced in size.

The present invention relates to a blasting apparatus for blasting a predetermined portion of an object or workpiece (hereinafter referred to as a work) by spraying a powder thereagainst.
A blasting apparatus is known as an apparatus for blasting a work by spraying or fusillading a powder of metal or inorganic material (particulate matter) against the work using high-pressure air. This technique is used to form minute blind holes or through holes in a circuit board, for example.
Such a blasting apparatus includes a work bed which receives a work thereon, a spray nozzle for spraying a powder against the work which is placed on the work bed, and means for moving the work bed. The work is previously masked so as to expose only those portions which are to be blasted. The work is moved in X and Y directions while the powder is sprayed against the work by the spray nozzle, thus effecting the blasting of the predetermined portion of the work.
However, in this type of conventional blasting apparatus, the spray nozzle is fixed and the work bed is moved in the X and Y directions. Therefore, the blasting apparatus is required to have an area in plan almost four times that of the work placed on the work bed, thus causing an enlargement in size of the blasting apparatus.

Blasting apparatus using mixture gas and powder


A method and device for processing a service in a mobile communication system based on SDN technology are provided. The method of controlling access caches in a communication network includes receiving information about contents requested by a user equipment (UE) connected to a first base station. The method also includes transmitting a forwarding request that requests to control at least one switch in order for an access cache that has the contents and that interworks with a second eNB to transfer the contents to the first eNB.

Software-Defined Networking (SDN) can be networking technology that enables a data plane to perform simple traffic forwarding and that enables a central controller to determine a transmitting location and method of traffic by separating a control plane and the data plane and concentrating a control area to a controller. Particularly, by providing various Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) through a northbound API and enabling programming using the various APIs, the controller can perform various traffic controls based on network information. An OpenFlow protocol can be a protocol that supports the SDN to operate and that transfers forwarding information between the controller and a switch and that transfers a state of the switch or traffic information to the controller.
An OpenFlow protocol to be a base of SDN technology has been already standardized in the Open Networking Foundation, and a patent has been applied in relation thereto. However, in standardization and a patent application, a method of transmitting traffic can be discussed and defined. For example, U.S. Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2011/0261825 in which a patent can be applied to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/176,619 by Kiyohisa Ichino (NEC Corporation), and laid-opened with a title of an invention "OpenFlow Communication System and OpenFlow Communication Method" relates to a specification of an OpenFlow protocol. The patent application describes OpenFlow technology and generally discloses operation of OpenFlow and an operation method in a switch to which OpenFlow can be applied.
A method of using an OpenFlow protocol has been discussed. For example, U.S. Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2012/0300615 in which a patent is applied to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/536,838 by four persons (Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson) other than James Kempf and laid-opened with a title of an invention "Implementing EPC in a Cloud Computer with OpenFlow Data Plane" suggests a method of using OpenFlow in a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network. The patent relates to a method of embodying an Evolved Packet Core (EPC) in cloud and describes an example of applying OpenFlow to necessary technology when virtualizing the EPC.
Content caching technology provides contents in which a user equipment (UE) of a mobile communication system requests. An access cache and a core cache provide a content caching function in an eNB and a core. For contents in which a UE requests, it can be first determined whether the same content is stored at an access cache located at an eNB site, and if the same content is stored at an access cache, a corresponding content can be transferred to the UE. In this case, a method of transferring traffic may be changed according to a method of embodying the core cache and the access cache. As a method of transferring traffic, for example, byte caching technique and object caching technique may be used. Such existing content caching technology can exhibit effect only when a content in which the UE requests is stored at an access cache installed at an eNB site. When a corresponding content is not stored at an access cache interworking with an eNB to which the UE can be accessed, but when a corresponding content is stored at an access cache interworking with an adjacent eNB, there can be no method of transferring the content to the UE. Therefore, when a content in which a UE requests is not stored at an access cache interworking with an eNB to which the UE is accessed, but when a corresponding content is stored at an access cache interworking with an adjacent eNB, a method of effectively transferring the content to the UE can be requested.

Method and device for processing service in software-defined networking system


This is a device that is designed as a conveyance system for use in the interior of any type of vehicle and other myriad uses such as a home, warehouse, closet, etc. The conveyance system is anchored to the interior roofline of a vehicle; it has a conveyor such as a pulley, track or slide, a holding apparatus such as a basket or similar object for stowing items in, and a method of moving the conveying device and basket from the front of the vehicle to the rear of the vehicle.

As any parent or caretaker with small children knows, keeping your eyes on the road while operating a motor vehicle, and attending to the small children in the rear of the vehicle can be quite a taxing challenge. To that end, any parent or caretaker of a small child would be benefited with a system to assist moving items from the front of a vehicle to the rear of the vehicle with the minimal distraction.
Thus was born the Delivery System for use in Motor Vehicles device. It is simple in concept and can be adapted to a wide variety of usages and configurations. The inventor initially installed two weighted stanchions in the front and rear or his van. Strung between the two stanchions was a simple "clothesline" like rope and pulley system. A basket was attached to the lower portion of the rope. When his children requested something from the front seat, such as juice boxes, snack or books the inventor simply put the requested item in the basket and let the children "pulley" it back to them where they could extricate the requested item. Since that time many other methods of employing the device have been contemplated. For instance, one could employ a lead screw design and a molded plastic sheath for said lead screw that could be easily retrofitted to the roof of any vehicle. Other methods include a pneumatic tube, or chain drive, or belt drive, or other such means of delivery.

Delivery system for use in motor vehicles


Compositions including a core particle including at least one fertilizer nutrient and a shell substantially covering the core particle, wherein the shell includes at least one polymer layer or wax layer and one or more species of microbes (such as a population of cells from at least one species of microbes) are provided. In some embodiments, at least one of the polymer layer and/or the wax layer includes the one or more species of microbes. In other examples, the one or more species of microbes are included between layers, for example, between two polymer layers, between two wax layers, or between a polymer layer and a wax layer. Methods of preparing the compositions are also provided. Methods of using the disclosed compositions that include contacting soil, plants, plant parts, or seeds with the composition are provided.

The use of dry, chemical fertilizers or plant growth promoting chemicals is common practice in agriculture worldwide. Controlled-release dry chemical fertilizers contain one or more plant nutrients in a form that makes it/them unavailable for immediate plant uptake after the fertilizer is applied. However, the bioavailability of these dry-formulated fertilizers (such as ammonium nitrate, urea, ammonium phosphate, or potassium chloride) is significantly increased over their quick release counterparts. Controlled-release fertilizers (CRF) are typically coated or encapsulated with inorganic or organic materials that control the rate, pattern, and duration of plant nutrient release into the rhizosphere as the crop is prepared to take up and utilize these nutrients. The coating serves to protect the applied nutrient, such as nitrogen in the form of urea, from becoming unavailable to the crop due to leaching, denitrification or other soil-related factors. In addition, the release rate of a CRF fertilizer is designed to meet crop nutrient requirements over time.
The use of microbe-based plant growth promoting formulations is also common practice. Microbe-based plant biostimulants offer sustainable agriculture practices that protect the health of the ecosystem. Moreover, supplementation of the plant and soil microbiome with beneficial microorganisms (such as Rhizobacteria) has potential in promoting plant growth and plant fitness, increasing productivity (Kloepper and Schroth, Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Plant Pathogenic Bacteria, Vol. II, pp. 879-882, 1978; Lugtenberg and Kamilova, Ann. Rev. Microbiol. 63:541-556, 2009; Vessey, Plant Soil 255:571-586, 2003), improving soil fertility and reducing chemical inputs (Adesmoye et al., Microb. Ecol. 58:921-929, 2009), resulting in more sustainable agricultural practices.

Microbial coating of controlled-release fertilizers


A detection system for determining material level in a container where the container has an opening and an optical window mounted to the opening. A sensor element is mounted to the container adjacent the window. The sensor element has an optical emitter and an optical receiver positioned to form a triangular vertex with the material surface level within the container.

The present invention relates generally to a system for detecting the material level in a container, and more particularly to an optical non-contact sensor system for measuring the volume of material within a container.
Conventional storage vessels, such as propane tanks, are beneficial both for their mobility and for their suitability to the energy needs of remote locations where access to other forms of energy is often unavailable or costly. It is desirable to be able to detect the volume of liquid in such a vessel at any specific time so as to schedule re-supply (sometimes referred to as re-charging) of the tank thereby to prevent emptying of the vessel (sometimes referred to as "running dry".) Sensors for measuring the elevation of the upper surface of liquid contained in a vessel are known. In operation, such a sensor generates an electrical signal indicative of the quantity of liquid in the vessel. The signal is transmitted to an interface located externally of the vessel which communicates to a user the quantity of liquid in the vessel.
One such type of internal sensor is a float-type gauge. Such a gauge normally has limited accuracy because it contains moving parts such as the float and associated linkage for sensing vertical displacement of the float as the upper surface of the liquid rises and falls. With movement comes associated friction to which the moving parts are subjected thereby causing wear to the gauge and eventual degradation. Additionally, a float-type gauge includes fragile portions, such as the linkage connected to the float which must be sufficiently delicate to translate vertical displacement of the float to the stationary base of the gauge for measuring the displacement. The fragility of the moving parts makes them susceptible to damage.
Alternatively, a computer may be used to estimate the level, i.e., elevation, of the liquid in a vessel relative to the interior bottom surface of the vessel. In particular, specially designed software may be used to monitor usage and predict when refill or recharging is necessary. Previous liquid usage patterns are considered, as well as weather and other data. While of some use, computers have been found to have limited reliability in predicting the amount of liquid in the vessel at a specific time and, in particular, the time when the vessel will become completely empty if not recharged. Such prediction may be especially difficult when the usage patterns are variable.
While these prior art systems have addressed some of the problems in the art, these systems are expensive to manufacture and greater accuracy is still desired. Therefore, there exists a need in the art to address these deficiencies.
An object of the present invention is to provide a detection system that is more accurate in measuring the material level of a container.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a detection system that is more economical to manufacture.
A still further objective of the present invention is to provide a detection system that provides information for a variety of uses.
These and other uses will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art based upon the following written description.

Optical non-contact sensor for detecting material level in a container


A semiconductor device according to the present invention comprises a fuse provided on a substrate, a first insulating layer formed on the substrate and the first insulating layer, a first wiring formed on the first insulating layer, a second insulating layer formed on the first wiring, the second insulating layer including a plurality of insulating films including a water absorptive overcoat, a second wiring formed on the second insulating layer, an opening portion formed in a portion of the second insulating layer corresponding to the fuse by selectively removing the portion and having a side face formed by an exposed portion of the second insulating layer and a bottom face formed by the exposed first insulating layer, a side wall film formed of the same material as that of the second wiring and covering the exposed side face of the opening portion and a passivation film formed on the second insulating layer, the second insulating layer and the side wall film.

The present invention relates to a semiconductor device having an opening portion for breaking a fuse and, particularly, to a structure of the opening portion. Description of the related Art
It has been known that some of semiconductor devices such as DRAMs, SRAMs or ROMs, etc., are constructed such that, in order to improve the yield of products, extra memory cells, that is, redundancy memory cells in addition to a predetermined number of memory cells are provided and, when a specific memory cell of the memory cells, whose performance is not acceptable, is found in a fabrication thereof, the specific memory cell can be replaced by one of the redundancy cells.
In such semiconductor device, in order to replace such defective memory cell by the redundancy memory cell, redundancy fuses for replacement of the usual memory cell by the redundancy memory cell are buried therein so that the defective memory cell is disconnected by cutting away a redundancy fuse corresponding to the defective memory cell by laser light, etc., and the redundancy memory cell is connected in place.
On the other hand, in the semiconductor device having the redundancy fuses buried therein, a multi-layer wiring has been employed in order to accommodate it to the increased integration and density. When the multi-layer wiring is employed, an overcoat covering the multi-layer wiring should be as flat as possible in view of prevention of breakage of wiring. Therefore, the overcoat is usually formed by an SOG (Spin On Glass) film, that is, a silica film, which is superior in flatness and covering ability. As such, in a semiconductor device which uses an SOG film as the overcoat film between wiring, an opening portion is formed on an insulating film of BPSG, etc., formed on a redundancy fuse buried therein, which opening portion has a depth not enough to expose the redundancy fuse, to facilitate the breakage of the redundancy fuse by laser light. In such case, a portion of the SOG film is exposed on a side face of the opening portion on the redundancy fuse.
However, the SOG film itself has a tendency of absorbing water with which it expands. When the SOG film on the side face of the opening is kept exposed, it absorbs water and expands during a use thereof, resulting in cracks in the wiring, etc. Further, there may be a case of wiring corrosion due to existence of water.
In order to prevent the SOG film from absorbing water, a semiconductor device has been proposed, in which the exposure of an SOG film is prevented by providing an insulating side wall of SiN on the exposed side face of the opening portion on an area in which the redundancy fuse is buried.
In the latter case, the formation of the SiN insulating side wall on the exposed portion of the SOG film is performed by forming an SiN film on a whole surface of a wafer including the opening portion and etching it back to remove a portion of the SiN film left on the wafer except the side face portion of the opening portion.
Therefore, in this example, in addition to the step of patterning a cover resist painted to form the opening, the step of depositing an insulating film of such as SiN which has no relation to the wiring and the step of etching back the insulating film are required in order to form the side wall on the SOG film. The latter two steps for forming the insulating film for covering the exposed portion of the SOG film are performed separately from the steps for forming the wiring. Therefore, there is a defect in that the fabrication of the semiconductor device becomes complicated.
Further, in order to prevent water permeation from the exposed SOG film in the opening portion into internal wiring, a semiconductor device having a dummy wiring surrounding the opening portion has been proposed. In such construction, it is possible to form the dummy wiring and other wiring on a single and same layer, so that the fabrication of the semiconductor device can be simplified. However, in order to prevent the water permeation from the exposed SOG film in the opening portion, it is necessary to make a width of the dummy wiring larger to provide a sufficient margin. Therefore, an increase of area due to the dummy wiring having large width is indispensable. Even so, however, it has been observed that water still permeates from the exposed portion of the SOG film along the SOG film into the wiring.

Semiconductor device having opening portion for fuse breakage


A fluid supply device such as a fuel pump has an impeller 24 on which vanes and vane grooves are arranged alternately on its outer circumference. All adjacent groove angles, each of which is defined by the adjacent two vane grooves, are different from each other. Among the arrangement of the vane grooves, a sum Sm of the angles of the vane grooves which are adjacent in succession in the number of m=n/k (k=2, 3 and 4) is determined. If the number n/k is not an integer, at least (n/k)+1 between n/k and (n/k)+1 is set as m. The sum Sm is determined n-times by shifting the vane groove, from which the sum is determined each time, in the circumferential direction one by one. The arrangement in which the sum Sm of each time satisfies the following relation is adopted: (360/k)-10.ltoreq.Sm.ltoreq.(360/k)+10.

The present invention relates to a fluid supply device which has vanes and vane grooves on an outer circumferential periphery of a rotary member.
It is proposed in JP-A 60-85288 that a fluid pump as a fluid supply device has an impeller on which vane grooves having different groove widths are provided on its outer circumferential periphery. More specifically, a set of vane grooves of different groove widths are arranged in a predetermined pattern on a part (fixed pitch) of the outer periphery of the impeller, and the set of vane grooves are arranged in repetition over the entire outer periphery of the impeller. This arrangement reduces peak of sound pressure generated at high frequencies corresponding to the product of the number of vanes and the rotational speed of the impeller.
However, because the set of vane grooves in the predetermined pattern appears repeatedly or regularly in one rotation of the impeller, a low frequency noise sound is generated each time the impeller rotates by the fixed pitch of pattern repetition. Thus, if this type of pump is used as an in-tank fuel pump for an internal combustion engine, the low frequency sound is likely to resonate with the fuel tank and generate a low frequency noise sound.

Fluid supply device having irregular vane grooves


An electric connection box provided with a circuit structure, a casing for accommodating the circuit structure therein, a plurality of bus bar terminals disposed on a cabling path crossing the casing in a horizontal direction and electrically connecting the circuit structure and an external connecter to each other, and a terminal support portion for supporting a horizontal portion crossing the casing in the horizontal direction in the plurality of bus bar terminals from below, in which a first rib capable of contact with the horizontal portion from below are projected on a surface opposite to the horizontal portion in the terminal support portion, and a space between the first rib is a first groove portion recessed downward.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electric connection box.
2. Description of the Related Art
An electric connection box mounted on an automobile or the like, as described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-40873, is known. This electric connection box is provided with a circuit board to which a bus bar is bonded and a case for accommodating this circuit board. A plurality of fuse connection terminals and signal terminals are formed on the bus bar. The fuse connection terminals are extended from an upper end of the circuit board and disposed along an upper end face of an intermediate case with their tip ends formed to project upward. On the other hand, the signal terminals are extended from a lower end of the circuit board and disposed along a bottom surface in the intermediate case with their tip ends formed to project downward.
In the above structure, if water caused by rain, washing, etc., enters the case, the water might contact the upper or bottom surface of the intermediate case, which could result in a short circuit within the plurality of terminals. Particularly, these terminals are often positioned very close to each other due to limitations of space, and in such a case, the above short circuit problem becomes noticeable.


A system, method and software product determine detail of analysis in a circuit design. Pull-up driver transistors of at least one stage of the circuit design are identified. Pull-down driver transistors of the stage are identified. Configuration commands associated with control signals of the pull-up and pull-down driver transistors are processed to determine if the pull-up driver transistors and pull-down driver transistors are tied on or tied off. A determination is made whether the stage has drive fight and switching current. A detailed analysis is performed of the stage of the stage has drive fight or switching current.

An electronic computer aided design ("E-CAD") tool is utilized to construct a Very Large Scale Integration ("VLSI") circuit design. The VLSI circuit design consists of a netlist that identifies electronic design elements (e.g., capacitors, transistors, resistors, etc.) and their interconnectivity (e.g., signal nets) within the VLSI circuit design. A significant characteristic of VLSI and other types of circuit design is a reliance on hierarchical description. A primary reason for using hierarchical description is to hide the vast amount of detail in a design. By reducing the distracting detail to a single object that is lower in the hierarchy, one can greatly simplify many E-CAD operations. For example, simulation, verification, design-rule checking, and layout constraints can all benefit from hierarchical representation, which makes them more computationally tractable. Since many circuit designs are too complicated to be easily considered in their totality, a complete design is often viewed as a collection of design element aggregates that are further divided into sub-aggregates in a recursive and hierarchical manner. In VLSI circuit design, these aggregates are commonly referred to as design blocks or cells. The use of a cell at a given level of hierarchy is called an 'instance'. Each cell has one or more 'ports', each of which provides a connection point between a signal net within the cell and a signal net external to the cell.
A signal net is a single electrical path in a circuit design that has the same electrical characteristics at all of its points. Any collection of wires that carries the same signal between design elements is a signal net. If the design elements allow the signal to pass through unaltered (as in the case of a terminal), then the signal net continues on subsequently connected wires. If, however, the design element modifies the signal (as in the case of a transistor or logic gate), then the signal net terminates at that design element and a signal new net begins on the other side. Connectivity in a circuit design is typically specified using a netlist, which indicates the specific nets that interconnect the various design elements.
A signal net may be divided into signal net 'pieces', each of which is part of a Highest Level Signal Name ("HLSN"). A HLSN is the unique signal name that identifies a collection of signal nets or 'hierarchical signal net pieces', which are the small pieces of intermediate wire (signal nets) in each hierarchical design block of a circuit design.
A design engineer uses the E-CAD tool to analyze the VLSI circuit design during development. The E-CAD tool typically selects a sub-circuit (known as a 'stage') within the circuit design for analysis. Each stage in the circuit design may have instantiation-specific configuration information (e.g., switching frequencies, activity factors and scaling factors of the design elements) that is used by the E-CAD tool during analysis of the stage. For example, the E-CAD tool may sum certain information (e.g., FET size, current, capacitance, or wire width) and utilize the instantiation-specific configuration information to determine overall analysis result.
FIG. 1 shows one exemplary stage 10 that includes two driver FETs 12 and 14, two receiver FETs 26 and 28, three control signal nets A, B, I, and one output signal net C. Stage 10 is used in the following example to illustrate switching current and drive fight.
Source terminals of driver FETs 12, 26 connect to power rail Voltage-Drain-Drain (VDD) by a signal net 16. A drain terminal of FET 12 connects to a source terminal of driver FET 14, and to gate terminals of receiver FETs 26 and 28 by control signal net I. Drain terminals of driver FET 14 and receiver FET 28 connect to a ground power rail (GND) by signal net 18. Control signal net A connects to a gate terminal of FET 12 and control signal net B connects to a gate terminal of driver FET 14. Receiver FETs 26 and 28 are connected to operate as an inverter that inverts control signal I to drive output signal O.
In an exemplary analysis of stage 10, current through receiver FETs 26 and 28 are not included during current simulations of stage 10. Nonetheless, FETs 26 and 28 create capacitive load on control signal I; this capacitive load is illustratively represented by a capacitor COUT shown connected between control signal I and GND. When control signal net A is low and control signal B is high, driver FET 12 is turned off, driver FET 14 is turned on, and control signal I is pulled to GND, thereby discharging capacitance COUT through driver FET 14 (i.e., control signal I is at GND potential). When control signal A is high and control signal B is low, driver FET 14 is turned off and driver FET 12 is turned on, pulling control signal I to VDD, thereby charging capacitor COUT through driver FET 12 (i.e., control signal I is at VDD potential). Each transition of control signal I between GND and VDD draws current from VDD through driver FET 12 to charge capacitor COUT. Each transition of control signal I between VDD and GND sinks current to GND through driver FET 14. These currents are thus known as 'switching' current since they derive from control signal I switching states.
If a control signal does not switch states, it is known as a 'tied' signal (e.g., the control signal may be 'tied' high or low). Where a control signal for a driver FET (e.g., driver FETs 12 and 14) is tied, the driver FET remains either on or off, and is known as a 'tied' FET. If all driver FETs within a stage are tied FETs, the stage is known as a 'tied' stage and draws zero switching current.
If a signal is driven by two FETs, and one FET attempts to pull the signal to VDD and the other FET attempts to pull the signal to GND, a situation known as 'drive fight' occurs. For example, in stage 10, drive fight occurs when driver FET 12 and driver FET 14 are simultaneously turned on (e.g., input A and input B are both high). Control signal I is then simultaneously pulled high, by driver FET 12, and pulled low, by driver FET 14, causing current to flow continuously between power rail VDD and power rail GND through driver FETs 12 and 14.
If input A is tied high and input B is tied low, stage 10 is a tied stage with no drive fight, and thus draws zero current. Similarly, if input A is tied low and input B is tied high, stage 10 is a tied stage with no drive fight, and thus draws zero current. Even though no current is drawn, the E-CAD tool still performs time consuming detailed analyses of stage 10 to determine this zero current situation.
If the VLSI circuit design has billions of design elements, such analyses can take hours or even days of processing time to complete, resulting in lost productivity. Lost productivity due to lengthy engineering development slows technology advancement and can result in significant costs, as well as lost business.

System and method for determining detail of analysis in a circuit design

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A viewfinder having a high magnification ratio permits satisfactory correction of aberration in spite of its compact and simple structure. An objective lens group of the viewfinder includes a first lens unit having negative refractive power, a second lens unit having positive refractive power, and a third lens unit having negative refractive power and varies magnification by moving at least the second lens unit. Moreover, the first lens unit includes at least one negative lens, the second lens unit includes at least two positive lenses, and the third lens unit includes at least one negative lens. Furthermore, the positive lens is formed so that an object-side surface is aspherical and a predetermined condition is satisfied.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a viewfinder with a high magnification ratio. In particular, the present invention relates to a variable magnification viewfinder for a lens-shutter camera or an electronic still camera.
2. Description of Related Art
In a Keplarian viewfinder composed of an objective lens having positive refractive power and an eyepiece lens having positive refractive power, a field frame or a reticle is disposed in the vicinity of a focal point of the objective lens. As a result, a region to be photographed or indications of various types of information can be viewed clearly. Thus, the Keplarian viewfinder is especially applicable as a viewfinder in a high-class lens-shutter camera.
Moreover, in the Keplarian viewfinder, an entrance pupil thereof is disposed inside of the viewfinder or on the object-side of the viewfinder. Therefore, there is an advantage in that a diameter of the objective lens does not become very large even when it is utilized in a so-called zoom viewfinder in which magnification of the viewfinder can be continuously varied and when the viewfinder is made to have a wider angle. Accordingly, the Keplarian viewfinder is often particularly used as a zoom viewfinder.
A Keplarian viewfinder including an objective lens having a first lens group with negative refractive power, a second lens group with positive refractive power, and a third lens group with negative refractive power has been used widely. This is because this type of viewfinder has high performance in spite of a compact and simple structure. This type of viewfinder has been disclosed, for example, in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication Nos. 3-233420 and No. 6-242377.
In a conventional viewfinder having a high magnification ratio, a field frame is disposed in the vicinity of a real image of an object which is formed via the objective lens, thereby providing a viewer with a clear field at an eyepoint. Therefore, a viewfinder having a high magnification ratio has been widely used in optical products, such as for example, a zoom viewfinder in a compact camera.
However, in a conventional viewfinder having a high magnification ratio, the magnification ratio is, at a maximum, about three. Therefore, the conventional viewfinder cannot go along with recent requirements for increased magnification ratios in the compact cameras.

Viewfinder having a high magnification ratio


A glass substrate with an antifouling layer includes: a glass substrate which has a pair of principal surfaces facing to each other; a cohesive layer provided on the side of one principal surface of the glass substrate; and an antifouling layer provided on a surface of the cohesive layer, wherein the cohesive layer has a layer, the layer is in contact with the antifouling layer, contains mainly a silicon oxide, and contains carbon atoms at a concentration of 5×1018 atoms/cm3 to 5×1019 atoms/cm3.

Conventionally, a cover glass has been used as a front plate of a touch panel and a display panel used for a display device or the like of a smartphone, a tablet PC, and a car navigator. Human fingers or the like are in touch with these touch panel and display panel when they are used, and therefore, fouling due to fingerprints, sebum, sweat, and so on are easy to adhere thereto. Once the fouling adheres, the fouling is difficult to be removed, and is stood out due to scattering of light and difference in reflection between a part where the fouling adheres and a part where the fouling does not adhere. Accordingly, there has been a problem that the fouling spoils visibility and beauty. There is therefore known a method using a glass substrate, as a cover glass, where an antifouling layer made of a fluorine-containing organosilicon compound is formed at a part where the human fingers or the like are in touch.
High water repellency or high oil repellency are required for the antifouling layer to suppress the adhesion of the fouling, and abrasion resistance is required for repeated wiping to remove the adhered fouling, and therefore, a method to increase durability of the antifouling layer has been conventionally studied.
As the glass substrate with the antifouling layer where the durability of the antifouling layer is increased, there have been proposed a glass substrate with an antifouling layer where the antifouling layer is formed on a surface of the glass substrate having a concave-convex shape (for example, refer to Patent Document 1), and a glass substrate with an antifouling layer including a low-reflection film between the glass substrate and the antifouling layer (for example, refer to Patent Document 2). As stated above, improvement in the abrasion resistance of the antifouling layer has been required for the glass substrate with the antifouling layer.

Glass substrate with antifouling layer and front plate for display


An endodontic instrument extractor tool is configured for removing a fragment of a broken endodontic instrument that has become lodged within a root canal of a tooth. The extractor tool comprises an elongate shaft, including a hollow gripping body at a distal end, and a proximal handle portion. The hollow gripping body includes an inside diameter that is initially greater than a cross-sectional dimension of a fragment of a broken endodontic instrument to be removed from a root canal of a tooth. The inside diameter of the hollow gripping body defines a hollow interior cavity portion into which at least a portion of the fragment is receivable. At least the hollow gripping body of the body is formed of a shape memory alloy (e.g., nickel-titanium) or polymer in an expanded configuration so that upon heating, the shape memory alloy or polymer returns to its unexpanded configuration, tightly gripping around a proximal end of the fragment.

1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to procedures that employ endodontic instruments in preparing a root canal of a tooth for receiving a sealer and/or filler material. More particularly, the invention relates to devices, kits, and methods for removing a portion of an endodontic instrument that has broken off the main shaft and become lodged within the root canal being prepared.
2. The Relevant Technology
When a root canal of a living tooth becomes infected or abscessed, discomfort and, in many cases, severe pain can result. In the early days of dentistry the only solution was to pull the tooth. More recently, however, dental practitioners have learned to successfully remove the pulp material that forms the nerve of the tooth, which has become infected. After careful preparation of the canal that contained the nerve material, the canal is refilled with an inert filling material, such as gutta percha. This process allows the patient to retain the tooth.
To achieve a successful root canal restoration, the dental practitioner must carefully and, as completely as possible, remove the infected pulp material. The removal process typically includes shaping the root canal so that it can be effectively and successfully filled and sealed with an inert material to reduce the possibility of further infection.
Cleaning and shaping the root canal in preparation for receiving a sealing and/or filling material is achieved by the use of metal endodontic instruments that include cutting surfaces for removing tissue in the root canal. Since root canals are seldom straight, often having bends and twists, at least some endodontic instruments are flexible so as to allow the instrument to follow the curvature of the root canal. Currently preferred materials of construction include stainless steel and super-elastic alloys, e.g., some nickel-titanium (Ni-Ti) alloys. Although such instruments generally exhibit good flexibility, resilience, and strength, they can sometimes fail during use within a root canal of a tooth, resulting in a broken instrument fragment becoming tightly lodged within the root canal of a tooth.
The consequences of leaving and/or bypassing broken instrument fragments within the root canal can be serious. In some cases, leaving the broken instrument in the tooth can result in later complications that require extraction of the tooth. Because of this, it is generally preferred that the broken instrument be removed from the root canal, if possible, to prevent additional future problems. Still, it has generally been very difficult to remove broken instrument fragments. In particular, most broken instruments are files, drills, bores, or other cutting instruments that broke after becoming wedged inside the structure of the root. Therefore, the very fact that the instrument was broken generally indicates that the instrument became stuck in the tooth structure and could not be easily pulled free. In addition, the instrument often breaks at a point deep within the canal, not easily visible or accessible to the practitioner.
Until now, there has been a lack of simple, efficient, and effective means for removing the broken instrument fragment in order to complete the endodontic procedure, which would be advantageous as removal and subsequent filling and sealing the root canal would minimize the possibility of later infection and/or loss of the tooth. Therefore, what is needed is an extraction tool, related kit, and method that would facilitate simple, efficient, and effective removal of the broken instrument fragment from the root canal.

Endodontic instrument extractor tool manufactured from a shape memory material and related kits and methods


A device receives, from mobile devices, scheduling requests for voice packets, and assigns grants to the scheduling requests. The device further determines whether there is network congestion in a network associated with the device. The device also selects a grant, from the grants, when there is network congestion, and drops a voice packets associated with the selected grant. The device assigns physical resource blocks (PRBs) to one or more of the grants that are associated with one or more of the voice packets that are not dropped.

Wireless communication services, such as voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and voice over long term evolution (VoLTE), continue to increase in popularity, leading to increasing numbers of users requesting these services. Mobile communication devices access these services via a long term evolution (LTE) network. A mobile communication device connects to the LTE network via a particular base station, such as an evolved Node B (eNB), when the mobile communication device is within a geographic area associated with the particular base station. Currently, a LTE network prioritizes voice traffic over all other types of traffic in order to provide an almost lossless service quality for the voice traffic. During network congestion, an increasing number of data packets, associated with data services (e.g., web applications), are dropped because the LTE network is trying to guarantee that no voice packets are dropped for voice traffic. As a result, transmission of data traffic and a user's data services experience can suffer considerably.

Optimizing capacity during network congestion


Multi-component barrier layers include formation of a GaAs layer and at least one adjacent GaAsN layer. The resulting multi-component barrier layer shape can provide enhanced (extended) offset for capture of holes and enhanced electrons. Other benefits include: a small amount of strain compensation; poorer spatial overlap of higher confined states reducing parasitics at high bias, with some small effect on the lowest confined states. Quantum wells and associated barriers layers can be grown with combinations of gallium, (Ga), arsenic, (As), nitrogen (N), aluminum (Al), antimony (Sb), phosphorous (P) and/or indium (In) placed within or about a typical GaAs substrate to achieve long wavelength VCSEL performance, e.g., with wavelengths over 1200 nm. Layers of strained quantum well material can also be supported by mechanical stabilizers.

1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to systems and methods for producing vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs). The present invention is also related to utilizing combinations of nitrogen (N), aluminum (Al), antimony (Sb), phosphorous (P) and/or indium (In) as a material system and as a means to increase VCSEL device wavelength longer than 1200 nanometers (nm) using ordinary MOCVD or MBE equipment. The present invention more particularly relates to development of a VCSEL using migration enhanced epitaxy (MEE) in processing InGaAs, InGaAsN, InGaAsNSb, GaAsNSb AIGaAsNSb and/or other combinations.
2. The Relevant Technology
Solid-state semiconductor lasers are important devices in applications such as optoelectronic communication systems and high-speed printing systems. There has been an increased interest in VCSELs although edge emitting lasers are currently used in the vast majority of applications. A reason for growing interest in VCSELs is that edge emitting lasers produce a beam with a large angular divergence, making efficient collection of the emitted beam more difficult. Furthermore, edge emitting lasers cannot be tested until the wafer is cleaved into individual devices, the edges of which form the mirror facets of each device. By contrast, not only does the beam of a VCSEL have a small angular divergence, a VCSEL emits light normal to the surface of the wafer. Additionally, because VCSELs generally incorporate mirrors monolithically in their design, they allow for on-wafer testing and the fabrication of one-dimensional or two-dimensional laser arrays.
VCSELs are typically made by growing several layers on a substrate material. VCSELs include a first mirrored stack formed on the substrate, an active region formed on top of the first mirrored stack, and a second mirrored stack formed on top of the active region. By providing a first contact on top of the second mirrored stack, and a second contact on the backside of the substrate, a current is forced through the active region, thus driving the VCSEL.
The active region is further made up of one or more quantum wells sandwiched between two spacer cladding regions. Inside the spacers, the active region is sandwiched by confining layers. The confining layers or regions are used to provide electrical confinement of minority carriers. By selecting the appropriate materials for the quantum well, the confining layers, and the barrier layers, a VCSEL generally may be grown or fabricated that generates light at a desirable, predetermined wavelength. For example, by using InGaAs quantum wells on GaAs substrates, longer wavelength VCSELs can be produced. The use of InGaAs quantum wells, however, causes strain in the quantum wells. If the quantum wells are grown past their critical thickness, they can relax by creating dislocations, and thus a poor quality active region results.
VCSELs made with GaAs and that emit light in the 850 nanometer range are known in the art. Because the quantum well for the short wavelength 850 nanometer VCSEls is made from GaAs (the same material as the substrate) the various epitaxially deposited layers, whose thickness is related to wavelength, are able to maintain the minimal mechanical strain without mechanical relaxation. If one were to use InGaAs in the active region at the larger 1.3 μm wavelength device range (e.g., 1200-1650 nm), however, the lattice mismatch is generally such that large layers would tend to relax their strains and suffer dislocations, produce slip lines or develop island growth, which would interfere with proper lasing.
In order to go to the proper bandgap for what is referred to in the art as a 1.3 μm wavelength (i.e. greater than 1200 nm) semiconductor laser, one generally uses InGaAs, GaAsSb or some combination thereof instead of GaAs in the active layer. Indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs) and gallium arsenide antimonide (GaAsSb), however, do not possess the same lattice constant as GaAs at the compositions useful for 1.3 micron lasers. This makes it very difficult to build a proper quantum well structure.
The thickness of the various layers in the active region while not arbitrary have some flexibility within the constraints of the design and the process. The combined thickness of the spacers, the confining layers, the barriers and the active regions sandwiched by the mirrors must be such that a Fabry-Perot resonator is formed. The quantum wells should generally be positioned so that they are roughly centered at an antinode of the optical electric field. These two requirements define the spacer thickness in terms of the other layer thicknesses.
The barrier layer thicknesses between the quantum wells need to be thick enough to adequately define the quantum wells, but thin enough that the quantum well positions are not excessively far from the antinode of the electric field. The thickness of the barrier layers at the boundaries of the quantum well regions has some flexibility. Optimally they need to be at least thick enough that the energy levels of each of the quantum wells are nominally the same. They can be thicker if material quality issues require this.
The confining layers are often one and the same with the spacers. Sometimes the confining layers and barrier layers are made from the same compositions, but this is not optimal for carrier confinement and is usually a compromise made for processing reasons.
The thickness of the quantum well is related by quantum mechanics to the well and barrier compositions, the desired emission wavelength, and the density of states. With a higher density of states, narrower quantum wells can be optimally used.
What is needed in the semiconductor laser, e.g., VCSEL, arts are devices that achieve long wavelength quantum wells normally fabricated on GaAs substrates. It is therefore very desirable to come up with a quantum well (i.e. the active layer and the barrier layers surrounding it) making use of materials such as GaAs, InGaAs or GaAsSb in construction of a VCSEL operational above the 1200 nm range.

Multicomponent barrier layers in quantum well active regions to enhance confinement and speed