Provided is a method for interactive emergency information and identification. The method may comprise receiving a notification concerning an emergency situation. The notification may include a location of the emergency situation. A geo-fence associated with the location of the emergency situation can be defined based on the location of the emergency situation. Additionally, location information associated with the locations of a plurality of user devices is received, and a position of an individual within the geo-fence is determined based on the location information of the user device associated with individual. The individual may be informed about the emergency situation via a user interface of the user device. Furthermore, functionality for a user to give feedback is provided to the individual.

During a catastrophic event people rely on TV, radio and other forms or "media" related devices for immediate information on all aspects of the event. This includes the locations, people involved, responding agencies and victims. With this the average system has no "immediate" flow of information of the event to the individual person, employee or management in a controlled environment in the vicinity of the event. However, timely response in emergency situations depends on accurate and up-to-date information about the emergency situation itself, affected persons, and their state. Prompt acquisition and exchange of such data can be essential in such situations. Audiovisual surveillance systems may require thorough analysis for detecting all affected persons. Additionally, deployment of surveillance systems is associated with high investments and, generally, negatively perceived by the public. Historically, state, local, and federal agencies use systems based on radio communications (to include mobile data terminals (MDTs) in emergency response vehicles). They rely on witnesses on scene to provide "approximate data" for correlation to the event that has just occurred.
Moreover, conventional systems cannot provide personalized information and guidelines to individuals affected by an emergency situation or request and receive information related to the emergency situation from the individuals.

Interactive emergency information and identification


There is a strong demand for facilitation of management of storage region for DB data is required in a computer system combining an apparatus having the DBMS and virtualization function and software. In order to realize such requirement, the requirements for system management regarding a newly created DB and the information about the function to be set for the DB data are given to a system management server. The system management server detects a data structure of DB from such information and sends independently instructions to virtualization apparatuses to create virtual volumes or the like to which the data of each data structure is stored separately and set the function to the virtual volume as required. Thereafter, the system management server also issues an instruction to the DBMS to create a DB to store the data of data structure to the corresponding virtual volume.

With increase in amount of data used and accumulated in a computer system, storage capacity of a storage unit included in the computer system increases. In order to save the cost of instruction, maintenance and management cost of the storage unit having larger capacity, the storage unit has been centralized by utilizing a SAN (Storage Area Network) which is an exclusive network for storage. Moreover, various techniques for the SAN have been introduced (for example, refer to Marc Farley, "Building Storage Networks, Second Edition", Osborne/McGraw-Hill, 2001, pp. 86–90, pp. 515–516.).
Marc Farley's reference describes, in its pages 86 to 90, the technique referred to as "virtualization". With this technique, virtual storage units are created in place of a physical storage unit to store data and provided to the computer and application programs to be executed by this computer. In this reference, it is also described that virtualization may be realized in many layers and the virtualization consists of several functions such as a function to summarize a plurality of physical storage units into a virtual memory region and a function to divide a physical storage unit into a plurality of virtual storage regions.
This Marc Farley's reference also describes, in its pages 515 to 516, the technique to employ an access model which is different from that in the prior art and which is referred to as the "Object-Based Storage(OBS)". With the hard disk drive of the prior art, a computer calculates a logical block address and designates a memory region for access using such calculated logical block address. Meanwhile, in the OBS, an access destination (address) is designated using storage location information required for calculation of memory region of storage unit in which data is stored. Accordingly, calculation cost of logical block address in computers can be saved.
As another design goal of OBS, realization of storage unit holding the self-management function may be listed. The OBS realizes the storage unit with the data management function for the local region of storage unit by utilizing file system attribute or the like. As an example of this data management function, error correction, memory region management, backup, mirror and data migration may be listed.
When application software to be executed on the computer system using a SAN is considered, many application softwares use the data stored in a database (DB) as the basic data and therefore a database management system (DBMS) which is software to perform a series of processes and management in regard to DB is extremely important.
Here, a function to facilitate management of data storage region in the DBMS is known (for example, refer to "Oracle9i Database Administrator's Guide Release 1 (9.0.1)", Oracle, Part No. A90117-01, 2001, Chapter 3 Using Oracle-Managed Files.). The Oracle's Guide describes the automatic management function of data storage region referred to as Oracle-Managed Files (OMF). In the OMF, it is assumed that data is stored in a data file created by utilizing the standard file system interface. When a storage region is newly required for every predetermined external storage region management structure (such as tablespace) the data file storing data is automatically expanded and a new data file is generated. Moreover, the data files which are no longer required are deleted adequately.

Method for creation and management of virtual volumes for DBMs


A mascara application device, comprising a container for mascara a manually operable actuator, feed mechanism carried by the container to feed mascara to a loading station, in response to operation of the actuator, a belt having applicator brushes to receive mascara at the loading station as the actuator is operated, guide means to guide actuator induced belt displacement relative to the container to position the brushes for mascara application to eye lashes.

This invention relates generally to controlled feeding application of cosmetic liquid, such as mascara, to eye lashes or to other facial zones; and more particularly relates to an improved device to feed mascara from a container onto brushes on a belt, at controlled rate, as for example as related to desired delivery of mascara to eye lashes.
There is need for simple, compact, easily manually controlled and operated devices that accurately delivers mascara to eye zones, at controlled rates. Prior devise lacked the related integrated improvements, in a highly compact assembly characterized by the present invention.


An object of the present invention is to provide, as a method for immobilizing a protein molecule, protein immobilization method and means in which orientation of a molecule to be immobilized can be controlled, the molecule can be stably immobilized without a complicated process and a chemical group used for immobilization does not affect the activity and the function of the protein. Specifically, the present invention relates to a method for immobilizing a molecule including the steps of forming a labeled molecule by attaching a label peptide sequence comprising a hydroxyl group-containing amino acid to a molecule; and bringing a molecule having a phenylboronic acid group into contact with the labeled molecule, to capture the labeled molecule by the molecule having a phenylboronic acid group.

Some protein immobilization methods are conventionally known. In order to industrially utilize enzymes (namely, proteins), some methods for immobilizing protein molecules on various solid supports by forming a bond between a highly reactive side chain of various amino acid residues contained in proteins and a functional group present on a solid support have been developed. Among these methods, widely used methods in which a reaction can be easily caused and a protein molecule can be reacted under gentle conditions without denaturation are an amine coupling method and a surface thiol coupling method.
The amine coupling method is a method in which a carboxyl group precedently immobilized on a solid support is converted into succinimidyl ester by using N-hydroxysuccinimide and 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)-carbodiimide for activation, and a protein is added to be covalently bound thereto via an amino group on the surface of the protein molecule (Non Patent Literature 1).
The surface thiol coupling method is a method in which a thiol group is precedently introduced onto a solid support via a spacer, and an activated protein is added thereto to be covalently bound (Non Patent Literature 2). Specifically, this method is performed as follows: First, a carboxyl group of a protein molecule is allowed to react with 2-(2-pyridinyldithio)ethylamine in the presence of 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)carbodiimide, so as to be converted into a derivative having an active disulfide bond. Next, cystamine is added to a solid support having been activated by the same method as in the amine coupling method and subsequently reduced to be derivatized to a thiol group. The precedently derivatized protein is added to this solid support for forming a covalent bond through disulfide exchange, and thus, immobilization is completed.
In both of the amine coupling method and the surface thiol coupling method, a specific chemical group (that is, an amino group (—NH2) in the amine coupling method and a thiol group (—SH) in the surface thiol coupling method) is used for the immobilization, and for immobilizing a protein molecule, the chemical group on an immobilization substrate is reacted with a functional group of a specific amino acid side chain of the protein molecule. Since a typical eucaryote-derived protein molecule has a molecular weight of approximately 50,000, 400 to 500 amino acid residues are contained therein, and accordingly, multiple amino acids of the same type are present in various directions on the surface of the molecule. Therefore, when a protein molecule is immobilized, the molecule orientation is ununiform. Accordingly, a protein may be immobilized in orientation unsuitable to an interaction analysis subsequently performed or an enzyme reaction performed on the solid support in many cases.
In order to avoid such ununiformity in the orientation occurring in the immobilization, an immobilization method utilizing a specific interaction between biopolymers has been developed (Non Patent Literature 3). A system applying an avidin-biotin interaction is put to practical use widely because these molecules are stable and spontaneously bound to each other in the vicinity of a neutral pH. The crystal structure of an avidin-biotin complex has already been elucidated, and the pattern of the interaction at the atomic level has been clarified.
It has been found, based on a three-dimensional structure of a complex in which a biotin molecule is bound to the base protein avidin, that the biotin molecule is bound to a widely exposed region on the surface of the avidin molecule. Therefore, the function of a macromolecule (such as a protein molecule) modified by the biotin molecule is not inhibited by steric exclusion, which is one of reasons why this method has been widely applied. Furthermore, since a biotinylation sequence can be introduced to a specific position in a protein molecule, the molecule orientation can be made uniform in the immobilization of the protein molecule.
In this method, however, it is necessary to modify a target molecule (protein) with biotin prior to the immobilization, and in addition, it is also necessary to precedently immobilize an avidin molecule somehow on a solid support on which the protein is to be immobilized, and thus complicated processes are required. Furthermore, it is necessary to introduce, for biotin modification, an amino acid sequence of more than ten residues into a target protein, which may damage the essential function of the target protein. Moreover, since it is necessary to immobilize a macromolecule like avidin on a solid support, the molecular weight involved in the whole system is increased, and therefore, if it is necessary to measure charge transfer or slight molecular weight change after the immobilization, this method is not suitably employed.
As an immobilization method in which the orientation of a protein molecule on a solid support can be controlled and merely small change in molecular weight is caused by a chemical group introduced into a system, a method utilizing a histidine tag can be employed (Patent Literatures 1 to 3). A histidine tag is a peptide sequence containing 4 to 6 histidine residues, and this site can be used for chelating a metal ion. Since this sequence can be introduced to any position in a protein molecule, the orientation of the protein molecule can be controlled in the immobilization onto a solid support. Furthermore, since the peptide sequence contains 4 to 6 residues and the molecular weight of a cyclic ligand holding a metal ion on the solid support is approximately 200 at most, the increase in molecular weight in the whole system is small.
In the method utilizing a histidine tag, however, since a coordinate bond formed by chelating a metal ion is employed for binding, the bond stability and the bond strength are lower than those of a covalent bond, and hence, the bond is liable to be affected by pH change or ambient salt concentration change and can be easily dissociated. The stability as a solid support for use in protein immobilization is poorer than that attained in the aforementioned three methods.
Besides, a method in which a polypeptide having unnatural amino acid incorporated therein and a molecule having a functional group specifically interacting with a side chain of the unnatural amino acid are used for detecting the polypeptide (Patent Literature 4), and a method in which a polypeptide having unnatural amino acid incorporated therein is attached to a solid support via the unnatural amino acid (Patent Literature 5) to prepare a solid support-binding protein have been reported.
On the other hand, poly((2-methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine)-co-(n-butyl methacrylate)-co-(p-vinyl phenylboronic acid)) (hereinafter designated as "PMBV") is a polymer consisting of three units. The respective units are designated as MPC, BMA and VPBA, and play individual roles.
A phosphorykholine group of the MPC unit is known as one of hydrophilic groups present in a lipid bilayer of a cell membrane in vivo. Since a lipid bilayer forms a boundary (cell membrane) of a liquid-liquid interface in vivo, most biopolymers are made not to be adsorbed non-specifically onto this boundary surface. In this manner, the MPC unit prevents a biopolymer such as a protein from being non-specifically adsorbed onto the PMBV polymer, and thus plays a role to improve biocompatibility of a substrate coated with the PMBV polymer (Non Patent Literature 4).
The BMA unit plays a role to suppress too much increase of the polymerization speed in polymer synthesis. Furthermore, since the MPC and the VPBA are extremely hydrophilic (MPC) and hydrophobic (VPBA), if merely the MPC and the VPBA are contained, formation of a granular aggregate having the MPC disposed outside and the VPBA disposed inside is accelerated. Since the BMA has, however, an intermediate hydrophilicity between the MPC and the VPBA, the BMA plays, when added, a role to suppress the formation of the aggregate and to uniformly develop the polymer in an aqueous solution.
The VPBA unit is an active residue having a reaction activity to form a covalent bond with another molecule. The PMBV polymer has a function to increase the biocompatibility of a substrate as a coating agent by itself. When reacted with another polymer, however, it may be processed into a gel or a sheet, so as to be used by itself as a biocompatible substrate. Here, if the PMBV polymer is reacted with a polymer, such as polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), having a flexible structure in which a plurality of —OH groups contained in a molecule can be close to one another within a given distance, a boronic acid group contained in the VPBA is reacted with the plural —OH groups, so that a bivalent covalent bond can be formed. In this manner, the PMBV can be easily processed into the form of a gel or a sheet when reacted with the PVA, and the moisture content and the hardness can be adjusted by changing the composition ratio among the respective units in the PMBV (Non Patent Literature 5).
An MPC polymer containing the MPC as one component is used for coating an artificial vessel or an artificial joint by utilizing its bioinert characteristics owing to a phosphorylcholine group derived from a cell membrane component, and thus, the coated artificial vessel or joint can be used for a long period of time (Non Patent Literatures 6 and 7). By using its property of being easy to form a gel through a reaction with the PVA or the like, application to a technique to independently culture individual cells within a gel has started (Non Patent Literature 5). This technique is expected as indispensable elemental technology for single cell analysis presumed to be widely spread in the future.

Oligopeptide sequence specifically bonding to phenylboronic acid group


A computer-implemented method for viewing experimental data is provided. In certain embodiments the method comprises: a) inputting genomic array data and cytogenetic data into a computer memory; and b) producing a graphical user interface comprising: i) a chromosomal map of the genomic array data comprising a first positional indicator that indicates a position on the chromosomal map; and ii) a cytogenetic map of the cytogenetic data comprising a second positional indicator that indicates a position on the cytogenetic map.

Genomic instability leads to complex patterns of chromosomal rearrangements in certain cells, e.g., cancer cells. These events are associated with copy number changes as well as translocations and rearrangements affecting multiple chromosomes in a single cell. Array CGH (aCGH) is a widely used technology for investigating genomes of interest. However aCGH data is typically plotted across normal reference chromosomes and does not represent the in vivo structures of chromosomes in cancer cells. Thus structural lesions frequently seen in cancer cells, such as derivative and marker chromosomes, inversions and ring chromosomes cannot be identified in aCGH assays. In addition many of the translocations reported in cancer cells appear to be balanced at the level of resolution provided by the light or fluorescent microscope. Thus the absence of copy number change associated with these lesions obscures them from detection by CGH analyses. In addition to somatically acquired genomic changes recent investigations have identified naturally occurring copy number variants (CNVs) in the human genome that may mediate human variation and disease. These CNVs include duplications, inversions and deletions of variable sizes ranging from cytogenetic bands to individual genes. Although aCGH can measure the copy number variations associated with CNVs, in certain cases it cannot determine the orientation and relative positions of each copy of these variations in a genome.
Cytogenetics is typically used for identifying balanced translocations, marker chromosomes, and other genomic structures present in a sample of interest. Standard cytogenetic assays, such as Giemsa (G) banding have identified numerous cancer-specific translocations and chromosome abnormalities in cancer cells such as the Philadelphia (t9,22) chromosome. Improvements in cytogenetic banding and visualization such as M banding and spectral karyotyping (SKY) have enabled detailed analyses on a chromosome by chromosome basis of inversions and translocations, as well as the identification of regions of losses in cancers of interest. Furthermore these assays provide an assessment of chromosome copy number as well as structural integrity on a cell-by-cell basis in a sample of interest.

Methods and system for viewing genomic data


A display system, including an optical transmitter configured to optically transmit digital image information associated with an image to be displayed. The system also includes an active display including a decoder electrically coupled with a plurality of display elements that are configured to produce visible light in response to electrical stimulation. The decoder is configured to receive the digital image information and in response produce a control signal for each of the display elements, the control signals being usable to individually control visible light produced by the display elements so as to cause display of the image.

Various techniques exist for displaying still and moving images. One such technique involves the use of passive optical projection systems, which commonly employ a projector in connection with a passive display screen. In passive systems, all of the optical energy to display an image is typically generated by the projector. This often requires use of expensive bulbs or lamps that can consume a significant amount of power and generate excessive heat. Many systems employ cooling fans to dissipate the excess heat. The cooling fans often produce undesirable noise, in addition to adding to the manufacturing expense and complexity of the projection system. In addition, passive systems commonly employ mirrors, color wheels, polarizers and other optical components between the light source and the display screen. These components can increase the expense of the system, degrade image quality, and make it difficult to maintain image quality when producing images of varying size and/or brightness.

Active display system and method with optical addressing

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A mobile platform for use in a mobile communications network. The mobile platform includes an alphanumeric input device adapted to receive alphanumeric input from a user as an input alphanumeric string; memory; and a processor coupled to the alphanumeric input device and the memory. The processor receives the input alphanumeric string; replaces one or more characters within the input alphanumeric string with its numeric equivalent to generate an output numeric string; and initiates a dialed call using the output numeric string.

The world is currently experiencing a telecommunications revolution. The days of everyone communicating solely over land lines, i.e. the public switched telephone network or PSTN, have long past. Mobile telecommunications has established itself as the future of telecommunications. With this evolution in telephony comes a need to change the way that people interact with telephonic devices.
The standard PSTN terminal, the desktop telephone with the familiar 12 key dial pad, was the paradigm for which initial mobile devices were built. Since the 1980's cellular telephones have been built around the 12 key dial pad comprising the digits 0–9 and the characters, "*" and "#". The digits on the dial pad are respectively associated with three or more alphabetic characters. For example, the number 2 is associated with the characters "A", "B", and "C". This is a useful feature for those wishing to provide a simple to remember word for their telephone number. For example, AT&T long distance uses the phone number 1-800-225-5288 which is the equivalent of 1-800-CALL-ATT.
While it is easy to remember this phrase for reaching AT&T, dialing the number required a user to pay careful attention to the small alpha characters on the keypad in order to enter the telephone number. This is enough of a challenge on a standard desktop phone, but when this must be performed on a small mobile telephone keypad, the task becomes much more difficult.
As mobile device design shifts away from the desktop paradigm, the keypad is often being replaced or augmented by other text entry methods. For example, many mobile platforms today have a full alphanumeric keypad installed or permit entry of text via pen strokes, e.g. a graffiti entry system on PalmOS mobile devices. Although these modem mobile platforms have the alternate entry means of an alphanumeric keypad or graffiti, users are still required to utilize the 12 digit keypad to painfully, manually convert text based phone numbers to numeric phone numbers.
The present invention is directed to overcoming the one or more problems identified above.

System and method for text to dialable number conversion in a mobile platform


Data transmission system comprising a plurality of Local Area Networks (LANs) (10-1 to 10-4) interconnected by a hub (12) including the same plurality of LAN adapters (16-1 to 16-4) respectively connected to the LANs and a packet switch (14) comprising at least a packet switch module interconnecting all LAN adapters wherein a packet transmitted by any adapter to the packet switch includes a header containing at least the address of the adapter to which the packet is forwarded. The system comprises a memory block located at each cross point of the switch module including a data memory unit for storing at least a data packet and memory control means for determining from the header of the received data packet whether the packet is to be forwarded to the output port associated with the cross point and for storing the packet into the data memory unit and a scheduler for causing at each clock time a data packet stored in a data memory unit of a memory block among all memory blocks corresponding to the output port to be forwarded to this output port.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the transmission of data packets such as ATM packets between Local Area Networks (LAN) interconnected by a switch engine and relates in particular to a data transmission system including a self-route expandable multi-memory packet switch.
2. Background of the Invention
Local Area Networks (LAN) such as Ethernet or token-ring networks, are generally interconnected through hubs. The hub is a system consisting of LAN adapters that communicate together through a switch card containing a switch engine. Such a switch engine can be either a shared memory switch or a crossbar switch.
The shared memory switch is a device wherein the packets received by the input ports are stored into a memory at locations the addresses of which are determined by queues containing the packet destination addresses, the packets being transmitted on the output ports as the destination addresses are dequeued. Although such a switch enables to incur a very low cell-lost rate, it presents a bottleneck due to the requirement of the memory bandwidth, the segregation of the memory space and the centralized control of the memory which causes the switch performance to degrade as the size of the switch increases. A traditional approach to design a large shared memory switch has been to first design a feasible size shared memory switch and then to interconnect a plurality of such modules in order to build a large switch. This general scheme of switch growth is known to cause degradation in performance of shared memory architecture as the switch grows in size insofar as the memory access controller will have to increase the number of all centralized control functions and memory operations thereby reducing drastically the access to the shared memory. A growable switch approach packet switch architecture is a plurality of shared memory switches organized in a single stage preceded by a buffer-less interconnection network. This approach does not allow global sharing of memory space along all its inputs and outputs. It is known that this approach does not provide the best memory utilization as possible for a memory belonging to a group of output ports to overflow under unbalanced or bursty traffic conditions.
The other technique, the crossbar switch, does not use a shared memory to store the data packets. In such a switch, the data are stored in the adapters and the switching data connection is established by sending requests to a control module which determines whether it is possible to satisfy the requests taking into account an algorithm defining the best data connection to establish at each time.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Self-route expandable multi-memory packet switch

International Business Machines Corporation


A spinning machine drafting device includes a pressure roller loaded against a lower roller such that a fiber structure is conveyed between the roller pair. The pressure roller has an outer circumferential layer disposed around an inner circumferential layer of different low friction material as compared to the outer layer. The outer layer is thinner than the inner layer and disposed around the inner layer so as to slide relative to the inner layer upon rotation of the pressure roller in operation of the drafting device.

During the drafting of fiber bands in drafting devices, the clamping action of the roller pairs plays a decisive part for the transfer of the drafting forces onto the fiber band. The roller pairs of the drafting device therefore consist of a fluted steel cylinder, the so-called lower cylinder, and of a pressure roller, the so-called upper roller, that is pressed by load onto the steel cylinder. As a rule, this pressure roller comprises an elastic covering so that no clamping line is produced but rather a clamping surface formed by the deformation of the elastic covering, which surface brings about a significantly better fiber retention. A good clamping action is exerted on the fiber structure without damaging the fibers. Experience has shown that soft roller coverings therefore yield better drafting results since the softer the covering is, the greater is the clamping surface. However, soft roller coverings have the disadvantage that they wear down very rapidly and that grooves are produced in particular in the area of the fiber passage. This so-called "shrinking" is eliminated by buffing over the entire covering surface. This alters the geometry of the drafting device rollers and therewith also the covering properties, which for its part has a disadvantageous effect on the drafting conditions and thus on the yarn values. In addition, the regrinding of the roller coverings is a quite expensive measure.
The attempt has therefore already been made to counteract this disadvantage by means of a multi-layer roller covering. DE 1 815 739 U teaches a pressure roller whose elastic jacket is subdivided into at least two layers of which the outer layer is designed as an elastic casing consisting of a thin hose that can be drawn over the elastic jacket of the pressure cylinder. The designing of the outer layer as a hose makes it easy to draw a cover over the elastic jacket and also to easily remove it from the latter when this outer circumferential surface has become worn. The fixing of the elastic hose is ensured by the natural friction between rubber and rubber. This known design does make it possible to readily replace the elastic outer layer; however, it was not able to solve the problem of the rapid wear and of the shrinking.
DE 1 685 634 A1 teaches a covering for drafting device rollers of spinning machines which covering is composed of two superposed cylindrical layers of which the outer layer is harder and has a thinner wall than the inner layer. The two layers are adhered to one another. As a result thereof, very different materials can be combined with each other in order to avoid the formation of windings and electrostatic charging. However, it turned out that the problem of a good drafting ability and of wear were not satisfactorily solved. In addition, as a consequence of the adhesion the changing of the outer layer is expensive.

Deutsche Instistute fur Textil-und Faserforschung Stuttgart Stiftung des offentlichen Rechts


This invention provides a display system that receives an image signal containing a binary data of N bits, wherein N is a positive integer, for displaying an image with a grayscale corresponding to the binary data. The display system further includes a data converter for converting M-bit of the N bits of the binary data into a non-binary data, wherein M is a positive integer and N≧M, for applying the non-binary data as a sub-frame in controlling the gray scale in displaying the image. In an exemplary embodiment, the data converter converts consecutive M-bit of the N bits of the binary data into the non-binary data. The display system further includes a spatial light modulator (SLM) having a plurality of pixel elements and the SLM receiving the non-binary data of M bits for controlling the pixel elements.

Even though there are significant advances made in recent years on the technologies of implementing electromechanical micromirror devices as spatial light modulator, there are still limitations and difficulties when the image display system implements the electromechanical micromirrors as spatial light modulator to provide high quality images display. Specifically, when the micromirrors are implemented as the spatial light modulator for a color sequential display system to project the display images, the images have an undesirable "rainbow" effect.
Particularly, the rainbow effects become even more pronounced in the display system based on the HDTV format. The HDTV display format becomes popular while the image size for display on a screen becomes ever bigger such as exceeding 100″ in diagonal size. The pixel size on the screen is more than 1 mm when specification is that 100″-size image includes 1920×1080 pixels. Similarly for image displayed on a screen of 50″ diagonal-size according to the XGA format, the pixel size is also 1 mm. For such larger size of display pixels, an observer can see each of the pixels on the screen. For these reasons, the display systems require a high number of gray scales of more than 10 bit or 16 bit in order to eliminate the rainbow effect to provide a high quality display system. Furthermore, when the display images are digitally controlled, the image qualities are adversely affected due to the fact that the image is not displayed with sufficient number of gray scales.
Electromechanical micromirror devices have drawn considerable interest because of their application as spatial light modulators (SLMs) that can be conveniently digitally controlled. A spatial light modulator requires an array of a relatively large number of micromirror devices. In general, the number of devices required ranges from 60,000 to several millions for each SLM. Referring to FIG. 1A for a digital video system 1 disclosed in a reference U.S. Pat. No. 5,214,420 that includes a display screen 2. A light source 10 is used to generate light energy as an illumination light source for displaying an image on a display screen 2. The light 9 projected from the light source is further focused and directed toward a lens 12 by a mirror 11. Lenses 12, 13 and 14 function as a beam columnator to columnate the light 9 into a column of light 8. A spatial light modulator 15 is controlled by a computer through data transmitted over a data cable 18 to selectively redirect a portion of the light from a path 7 toward a lens 5 to displaying on a screen 2. The SLM 15 has a surface 16 that includes an array of switchable reflective elements, e.g., micromirror devices 32, such as elements 17, 27, 37, and 47 as reflective elements attached to a hinge 30 shown in FIG. 1B. When element 17 is in one position, a portion of the light from the path 7 is redirected along a path 6 to lens 5 where it is enlarged or spread along a path 4 to impinge on the display screen 2 so as to form an illuminated pixel 3. When element 17 is in another position, the light directed away from the display screen 2 and hence pixel 3 is dark.
The on- and off-states of micromirror control scheme as implemented in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,214,420 and by most of the conventional display system impose a limitation on the quality of the display. Specifically, an application a conventional configuration of a control circuit is faced with a limitation that the gray scale of conventional system with the micromirrors controlled by applying a pulse-width modulation (PWM) between an ON and OFF states, is limited by the minimum controllable amount of incremental illumination determined by the LSB (least significant bit, or the least pulse width). Due to the On-Off states implemented in the conventional systems, there is no way to provide shorter pulse width than LSB. The least amount of incremental brightness controllable by the spatial light modulator determines the resolution of the gray scale and that in turn is determined by the light reflected during the length of time controlled by the least pulse width. The limited gray scales lead to degradations of image display.
Specifically, FIG. 1C shows an exemplary circuit diagram of a prior art control circuit for a micromirror according to a U.S. Pat. No. 5,285,407. The control circuit includes memory cell 32. Various transistors are referred to as "M*" where "*" denotes a transistor number and each transistor is an insulated gate field effect transistor. Transistors M5 and M7 are p-channel transistors; and transistors, M6, M8, and M9 are n-channel transistors. The capacitances C1 and C2 represent the capacitive loads presented to memory cell 32. Memory cell 32 includes an access switch transistor M9 and a latch 32a, which is the basis of a static random access switch memory (SRAM) design. Each of the access transistors M9 in a row receives a DATA signal from a different bit-line 31a. Turning on a row select transistor M9 by using the ROW signal applied to a wordline enables an operation for writing data to the memory cell 32. Latch 32a is formed from two cross-coupled inverters, M5/M6 and M7/M8, which permit two stable states. State 1 is Node A high and Node B low and state 2 is Node A low and Node B high. The dual state switching operations are carried out by the control circuit to control the micromirrors to move to a position either at an ON or OFF angular orientation as shown in FIG. 1A. The brightness, i.e., the gray scales of display for a digitally controlled image system is determined by the length of time the micromirror stays at an ON position. The length of time a micromirror is controlled at an ON position is in turn controlled by a multiple-bit word. For simplicity of illustration, FIG. 1D shows the "binary time intervals" when controlled by a four-bit word. As shown in FIG. 1D, the time durations have relative values of 1, 2, 4 and 8 that in turn define the relative brightness for each of the four bits where the "1" is for the least significant bit and the "8" is for the most significant bit. In accordance with the control mechanism as shown, the minimum controllable difference between gray scales for showing different brightness is a brightness represented by a "least significant bit" that maintains the micromirror at an ON position.
When adjacent image pixels are displayed with a great degree of different gray scales due to a very coarse scale of controllable gray scale, artifacts are shown between these adjacent image pixels. That leads to image degradations. The image degradations are specially pronounced in bright areas of display when there are "bigger gaps" of gray scales between adjacent image pixels. It was observed in an image of a female model that there were artifacts shown on the forehead, the sides of the nose and the upper arm. The artifacts are generated by a technical limitation that the digitally controlled display does not provide a sufficient number of gray scales. At the bright spots of display, e.g., the forehead, the sides of the nose and the upper arm, the adjacent pixels are displayed with visible gaps of light intensities.
As the micromirrors are controlled to have a fully ON and fully OFF positions, the light intensity is determined by the length of time the micromirror is at the fully ON position. In order to increase the number of gray scales of display, the speed of the micromirror must be increased to the extent that the digitally controlled signals can be increased to a higher number of bits. However, when the speed of the micromirrors is increased, a stronger hinge is necessary for the micromirror to sustain a required number of operational cycles for a designated lifetime of operation. In order to drive the micromirrors supported on a further strengthened hinge, a higher voltage is required. The higher voltage may exceed twenty volts and may even be as high as thirty volts. The micromirrors manufactured by applying the CMOS technologies probably is not suitable for operation at such higher range of voltages and therefore the DMOS micromirror devices may be required. In order to achieve higher degree of gray scale control, a more complicated manufacturing process and larger device areas are necessary when DMOS micromirror is implemented. Conventional modes of micromirror control are therefore faced with a technical challenge that the gray scale accuracy must be sacrificed for the benefits of smaller and more cost effective micromirror display due to the operational voltage limitations.
There are many patents related to a light intensity control. These patents include the U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,589,852, 6,232,963, 6,592,227, 6,648,476, and 6,819,064. There are further patents and patent applications related to different shapes of light sources. These patents include the U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,442,414, 6,036,318 and Application 20030147052. The U.S. Pat. No. 6,746,123 discloses special polarized light sources for preventing a light loss. However, these patents or patent application do not provide an effective solution to overcome the limitations caused by insufficient gray scales in the digitally controlled image display systems.
There are several patents related to display systems that apply non-binary data for image control. These patents include the U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,315,540, 5,619,228, 5,969,710, 6,052,112, 6,970,148, and US Patent Application US 2005/0190429. Furthermore, there are many patents related to a spatial light modulation that includes the U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,025,143, 2,682,010, 2,681,423, 4,087,810, 4,292,732, 4,405,209, 4,454,541, 4,592,628, 4,615,595, 4,728,185, 4,767,192, 4,842,396, 4,907,862, 5,214,420, 5,287,096, 5,506,597, 5,489,952, 5,827,096, 6,064,366, 6,535,319, 6,719,427, 6,880,936, and 6,999,224. However, these inventions do not address or provide direct resolutions for a person of ordinary skills in the art to overcome the above-discussed limitations and difficulties.
Therefore, a need still exists in the art of image display systems applying digital control of a micromirror array as a spatial light modulator to provide new and improved systems such that the above-discussed difficulties can be resolved.


Techniques for sending Compute Express Link (CXL) packets over Ethernet (CXL-E) in a composable data center that may include disaggregated, composable servers. The techniques may include receiving, from a first server device, a request to bind the first server device with a multiple logical device (MLD) appliance. Based at least in part on the request, a first CXL-E connection may be established for the first server device to export a computing resource to the MLD appliance. The techniques may also include receiving, from the MLD appliance, an indication that the computing resource is available, and receiving, from a second server device, a second request for the computing resource. Based at least in part on the second request, a second CXL-E connection may be established for the second server device to consume or otherwise utilize the computing resource of the first server device via the MLD appliance.

Disaggregated composable servers in data centers are becoming a reality due to the introduction of Compute Express Link (CXL) technologies in the processor complex. Among other things, CXL-based fabrics enable disaggregated composable servers in data centers to share resources between hosts and servers/targets offering resources. Although CXL-based fabrics offer many advantages, several challenges still remain to be solved to enable disaggregated composable servers in data centers.

Unlocking computing resources for decomposable data centers


A system can include a semiconductor die having a first side and a second side opposite the first side. The system can also include a first slug coupled to a portion of the first side of the die. The system can further include a second slug coupled to a portion of the second side of the die. The system can additionally include an insulating material voidlessly encapsulating the die. The first slug can include a first portion having a first width in proximity to the die and a second portion having a second width. The first portion can be closer than the second portion to the die and the first width can be smaller than the second width.

1. Field
Certain embodiments of the present invention may relate generally to semiconductor dies, packages including such dies, and systems, components, and devices incorporating such dies and packages, as well as to methods for assembling such dies, packages, systems and the like. For example, rectifier, Zener, transient voltage suppressor or Schottky diodes may include voidlessly encapsulated semiconductor mesa dies.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 illustrates a mesa die 110 in a double-plug package according to the prior art. As shown in FIG. 1, a mesa die 110 can include a junction 130 in a plateau section of the mesa die 110 with passivation layers 140 at the perimeter on one end side of the mesa die 110. A first slug 120 and a second slug 125 can sandwich the mesa die 110. The first slug 120 and the second slug 125 can be identical to one another and can be made of Molybdenum or Tungsten. To achieve the plateau shape, the mesa die 110 can be etched or otherwise patterned. The mesa die 110 can be encapsulated by glass sleeve body 150. The term double plug can refer to the pair of slugs, thus interchangeably utilizing the words plug and slug.
The double plug or slug diodes with a silicon mesa die may be relatively easy to assemble with adjoining plugs since the entire cylindrical diameter of the plug can cover the mesa contact region of the die. As a result, no orientation is needed and the glass body only needs to flow in towards the edge of the die or mesa perimeter to become voidless.
The above assembly is quite useful for mesa dies, however it is not easily adaptable for use with planar shaped dies, such as those common with silicon carbide devices.

Voidlessly encapsulated semiconductor die package


The present invention relates to cyclic cationic peptides and their use in the treatment of microbial infections.

Antimicrobial peptides (AMP) form the cornerstone of eukaryotic immunity and provide a first line of defense against breach of the skin and mucosal surfaces by micro-organisms. Examples of natural AMP include the defensin and cathelicidin families of peptides. These AMP are heterogeneous in length, sequence and structure, but common to most is their small size, net cationic charge and amphipathic structure. Small, cationic antimicrobial peptides have also been isolated from many bacteria, fungi, plants, invertebrates and vertebrates and would therefore appear also to play a role in prokaryotic defenses.
Natural AMP exhibit broad-spectrum activity against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, yeasts, fungi and enveloped viruses. Microbial pathogens do not seem to acquire resistance to these cationic peptides and as such, AMP have been conserved as a vital innate immune host defense molecules through millennia of evolution. It is not surprising therefore that AMP have been implicated as potential targets for therapeutics for a wide range of infections. However, the fact that they are technically challenging and costly to produce in recombinant systems and have potent chemotactic and inflammatory biological functions rules out natural AMP forms for use as therapeutics.
In our co-pending application we have shown that linear peptides rich in certain basic residues such as lysine or arginine possess antimicrobial activity, and, in particular, anti-fungal activity. There remains, however, a need for further agents that can be used in the treatment or prevention of microbial infections.

Treatment of bacterial infections with cyclic antimicrobial peptides


Programming nonvolatile memory cells is affected by the program disturb effect which causes data accuracy issues with nonvolatile memory. Rather than masking the voltage conditions that cause the program disturb effect, voltages are applied to neighboring nonvolatile memory cells, which takes advantage of the program disturb effect to program multiple cells quickly.

1. Field of the Invention
The present technology relates to nonvolatile memory cells, and in particular to nonvolatile memory cells subject to the program disturb effect.
2. Description of Related Art
The program operation of a nonvolatile memory cell is complicated by the program disturb effect. Programming refers to adding charge to, or removing charge from, selected memory cells of a memory array, unlike the indiscriminate erase operation which resets typically an entire sector of memory cells to the same charge storage state. The invention encompasses both products and methods where programming refers to making the net charge stored in the charge trapping structure more negative or more positive, and products and methods where erasing refers to making the net charge stored in the charge trapping structure more negative or more positive. In the program disturb effect, programming of a selected cell leads to unwanted programming of unselected memory cells adjacent to the selected cell. In particular, the program disturb effect leads to unwanted programming of memory cells that are: 1) located in columns adjacent to the column including the selected cell and 2) connected to the selected row line (the word line providing a gate voltage to the selected cell). The integrity of the memory array is adversely affected by these problems.
A prior approach of addressing the read disturb effect alleviated the conditions giving rise to the unwanted programming of unselected memory cells. Unselected memory cells are programmed because of an unwanted voltage difference across the bit lines connected to the unselected memory cells which are in the column adjacent to the column including the selected cell. For example, if a bit line voltage is raised to program a memory cell positioned on one side of the bit line, the program disturb effect tends to program the adjacent memory cell on the other side of the bit line as well. The unwanted programming of unselected memory cells is prevented by decreasing the magnitude of the unwanted voltage difference across the bit lines connected to the unselected memory cells which are in the column adjacent to the column including the selected cell. For example, of the two bit lines that are used for accessing the column adjacent to the column including the memory cell selected to be programmed, when a program voltage is applied to one of those two bit lines to program the selected memory cell, the voltage of the other bit line is changed to decrease the unwanted voltage difference.
This prevention mechanism masks the underlying tendency towards the program disturb effect, but does not prevent the underlying tendency leading to the program disturb effect. Because the program disturb effect is an intrinsic effect of many programming mechanisms, it would be advantageous to somehow take advantage of the program disturb effect, rather than simply applying voltages to other bit lines for the sole purpose of counteracting the voltage conditions that give rise to the program disturb effect.

Method and apparatus for programming nonvolatile memory


A posture support system, which may alternatively act as a structural support for a backpack and/or be incorporated in a body garment or undergarment, employs a pair of contoured cap sleeves which cradle the humeral heads so as to extend over the scapulas and down over the humerus. The forward end extends as a strap under one of the armpits and connects at its end to the top of a vertically extending central strap extending over the spine. The central strap connects to a waist encircling lumbar support strap. The posterior strap-like ends of the shoulder caps extend over the back and also connect to the top of the spinal strap. By use of adjustable connections to a central disk at the top of the back strap and elastic fabrics in the straps, the shoulders are pulled rearwardly and downwardly so that the body weight is supported over the hips.

Prior art back braces or backpack structural supports typically include straps that extend over the wearer's shoulders midway between the neck and the top of the arm bone (humerus). This contact on the trapezius muscle results in chronic straining of the trapezius and the levator scapulae muscles. The straining of these muscles causes spasms and eventually weakening of the muscle between the shoulder blades, the rhomboid and teres muscles, whose job it is to keep the shoulder blades flat on the back. This imbalance of muscle tensions creates a worsening of stooped shoulder, head forward posture, rather than improving posture, and often creating pain, headaches and diminished breathing capacity. In order to correct stooped shoulder/head forward posture, it is necessary to draw the shoulders rearwardly and downwardly. If this support is to be used for a backpack, it is necessary to distribute the weight to the hips.

Posture retaining back brace, backpack structural support or body garment


An aluminum alloy chain is formed from welded loops of aluminum rod that constitute the individual links of the chain. During welding, a weld bead is produced by fusing opposed ends of bent aluminum alloy rod stock and pressing the ends together while fused to create a weld bead that extends beyond the perimeter of the rod stock, at least in a direction towards the inside of the link. The aluminum alloy chain can be anodized entirely or at selected intervals to provide a colorful chain or to provide a measurement of the length of the chain. The chain is particularly adapted for use with anchors used in connection with nautical vessels.

This invention is concerned primarily with aluminum alloy chains used for hoisting anchors used on ships. In the prior art, it is known to use nylon ropes or iron chains for this purpose. However, nylon ropes, while lightweight, do not function well with automatic reeling systems due to slippage, etc. Iron chains, while enabling the use of a sprocket reel for automatic hoisting of the anchor, are quite heavy, particularly when long chains are used. Aluminum chains generally are considered to lack sufficient strength for use as anchor chains. Accordingly, there exists a need for a strong aluminum alloy chain that would be lightweight and enable the use of a sprocket automatic reeling device for hoisting an anchor.
However, it is a well-known theorem that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. With aluminum chains, the problem encountered in manufacturing a uniformly strong chain is creating uniformly strong welds in every single link of the chain, which is normally manufactured by forming a loop of aluminum alloy rod stock with the ends of the loop unconnected, and then fusion welding the ends of the loop together using any appropriate fusion welding process. Due to the large number of links that normally constitute a chain, it is quite difficult normally in a manufacturing process to obtain an optimum weld for each weld in the links. Essentially, it was previously virtually impossible to detect by visual inspection whether or not sufficient weld penetration of the base metal occurred during any weld so as to ensure optimum strength for the particular weld being inspected. That is, a poor weld would appear visually just as acceptable as a very strong weld.
It is therefore highly desirable to provide a system for welding aluminum alloy chain links in a manner that will permit simple visual inspection to determine if adequate weld penetration of the base metal has occurred to thereby produce a weld that is at least as strong from a tensile strength standpoint as the base metal.

Aluminum alloy chain and method of making same


A communication control apparatus includes an observed data rate acquiring unit configured to acquire observed data rates indicating input data rates of queues, the observed data rates being observed in a layer 2 switch, a threshold value storage unit configured to store predetermined threshold values of the queues, a shaping rate determination unit configured to determine a shaping rate of each queue based on both observed data based on an observed data rate of the observed data rates acquired by the observed data rate acquiring unit and a threshold value of the predetermined threshold values stored in the threshold value storage unit, and a shaping rate setting unit configured to set, in the layer 2 switch, the shaping rate of each queue determined by the shaping rate determination unit.

In recent years, a centralized radio access network (C-RAN) configuration has been studied for the purpose of efficiently accommodating increasing mobile traffic (see Non Patent Literature 1). In a C-RAN, a large number of pieces of radio equipment (RE) are arranged at a high density and are connected to radio equipment controls (RECs) that are arranged in an aggregated manner. In IEEE802.1CM, studies are underway to accommodate fronthaul traffic in an L2 network (see Non Patent Literature 2). On the other hand, studies are underway to accommodate, in an access network, traffic tolerant of delay (delay-tolerant traffic) represented by a part of the Internet of Things (IoT). In view of this, a study on a multi-service accommodation access network (multi-service network) in which delay-tolerant traffic is accommodated in the same L2 network in addition to fronthaul and backhaul has been reported on (see Non Patent Literature 3).
In a service that flows through a multi-service network, a large number of terminals may connect to an application server on the network simultaneously. This may increase data flows (hereinafter referred to as "flows") and apply a load to a server and an L2 network to which the terminals connect.
On the other hand, each L2 switch generally shapes a flow flowing through the L2 switch such that an unexpected load is not applied to the server and the L2 network.

Communication control apparatus and communication control method

NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION


A pen with push button is a pen which has a button on its barrel to control the exposure or closure of its pen point. When the button is pressed down by a finger, a thimble will retract to expose the pen point; when it is released, the thimble will close the pen point. The pen has an extending and retracting mechanism composed of a thimble, a button, and a spring.

Nowadays almost everyone has to use a pen, especially a ball point pen, to write a report, a memo, an article, or to draw a sketch and picture in his daily life. To write with a pen is more convenient than to write with a computer. However, when a person uses a pen, he may use his body language at the same time, and so he may draw lines on his own or others' body or clothes, and that may cause some trouble, too. It is better to improve the pen to prevent clothes from being drawn upon by a pen.


A deformable label for application to a surface comprises a film containing from about 50 wt. % to about 70 wt. % high density polyethylene; from about 5 wt. % to about 15 wt. % filler; from about 5 wt. % to about 10 wt. % polypropylene or an ionomer resin derived from a copolymer of ethylene and methacrylic acid; and from about 5 wt. % to about 15 wt. % colorant.

Plastic containers are used extensively in the packaging industry to contain fluids such as beverages, soaps and oils. These containers are typically formed from polyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride, and other flexible plastics. The containers are deformable in that their shape may be changed when a force is applied. When the force is removed, the containers return to their original shape.
Conventional paper labels are not suitable for the plastic containers because such labels cannot expand and contract with the container during hot filling operations or deform during use without wrinkling, tearing, or otherwise damaging the label. Plastic labels made from vinyl or low density polyethylene are available. However, polyvinyl chloride labels are deformable but are not recyclable.
U.S. Pat. No. Re. 32,929 discloses deformable, recyclable labels formed from low and medium density polyethylene. The polyethylene has a density of from about 0.91 g/cm.sup.3 to about 0.94 g/cm.sup.3, preferably from about 0.915 g/cm.sup.3 to about 0.935 g/cm.sup.3. Labels formed from high density polyethylene are also described but are not deformable. When applied to a flexible container, the high density polyethylene label wrinkles, lifts, bubbles and creases when the container is squeezed.
The high density polyethylene labels of the present invention are deformable. The labels can expand and contract with the container during hot filling operations and deform during use without wrinkling, tearing, lifting, bubbling, creasing or otherwise damaging the label. The labels die cut easily because of their low elongation in the transverse direction.
The labels of the present invention have several advantages over low or medium density polyethylene labels. High density polyethylene labels withstand more heat during hot filling operations. The labels can be used with packages that contain oily products without decomposing while low or medium density polyethylene labels would soften and eventually decompose. Furthermore, the labels of the present invention are more compatible for recycling since most of the containers on which the labels are applied are made of higher density materials. The labels are also dispensed automatically at a faster rate than low density polyethylene labels because of their stiffness.


A vehicle wheel bearing apparatus has an outer member, an inner member, double row rolling elements freely rollably contained between outer and inner raceway surfaces of the outer and inner members, and seals mounted within annular openings formed between the outer and the inner members. A backup seal is arranged radially outward of an outer side seal of the seals. The backup seal has a sealing lip inclined radially outward toward the outer side. The sealing lip slidingly contacts an annular metal member that is pressed from a steel sheet having preservation properties. The annular metal member is bolted on a side face of the wheel mounting flange of the inner side.

The wheel bearing apparatus for supporting a vehicle wheel that freely rotatably supports a wheel hub for mounting a wheel, via a rolling bearing, is used for driving wheels and driven wheels. For structural reasons, the inner ring rotation type is used for driving wheels and both the inner ring rotation type and the outer ring rotation type are used for driven wheels. In such a wheel bearing apparatus, a double row angular contact ball bearing is widely used. The double row angular contact bearing has several merits, such as a desirable bearing rigidity, a high durability against misalignment, and a small rotational torque resistance contributing to improved fuel consumption. On the other hand a double row angular contact tapered roller bearing is used for heavy weight vehicles such as off-road cars and trucks, etc.
These types of wheel bearing apparatus are arranged at places liable to be splashed by muddy water. Thus, they are provided with a sealing apparatus to seal spaces between outer and inner members. In general, a sealing member with sealing lips, of the sealing apparatus, is mounted on the outer member to form a secured member. The sealing lips are adapted to be in sliding contact with an outer circumferential surface of the inner member. Several mechanisms to improve sealability have been used, especially in vehicles used in severe circumstances such as off-road cars and trucks, etc.
One example of such wheel bearing apparatus is shown in FIG. 23. The wheel bearing apparatus includes a knuckle 51 secured on a chassis. An axle 52 extends through the knuckle 51. A wheel hub 54 is mounted on the axle 52. A wheel (not shown) is fastened via bolts 53 to the wheel hub 54. A wheel bearing 55 rotationally supports the wheel hub 54 and the axle 52. A clutch 56, controlled by pneumatic pressure, engages and disengages the axle 52 and the wheel hub 54.
An annular chamber (vacuum chamber) 57 is formed between the knuckle 51 and the axle 52 and communicates with the clutch 56 arranged within a sealed chamber 58, of the outer side (right-hand side in FIG. 23). A negative pressure acts on the clutch 56 and the clutch 56 acts to engage the axle 52 and the wheel hub 54 when the pressure within the annular chamber 57 is lower than atmospheric pressure. The clutch 56 acts to disengage them when the annular chamber 57 is at atmospheric pressure. The annular chamber 57 communicates with a vacuum pump (not shown) via a vacuum passage 59 that obliquely extends through the knuckle 51.
The wheel bearing 55 is a double row tapered roller bearing with an outer member 60 formed on its outer circumference with a body mounting flange 60b that is mounted on the knuckle 51. Its inner circumference has double row tapered outer raceway surfaces 60a, 60a. Inner rings 61, 62 are formed on their outer circumference, with tapered inner raceway surfaces 61a, 62a that oppose the double row outer raceway surfaces 60a, 60a, respectively. Double row tapered rollers 63, 63 are contained between the outer and inner raceway surfaces 60a, 60a: 61a, 62a. Cages 64, 64 freely rollably hold the double row tapered rollers 63, 63.
The wheel hub 54 has a wheel mounting flange 65 integrally formed at one end. A cylindrical portion 54a axially extends from the wheel mounting flange 65. The wheel bearing 55 is press fit onto the cylindrical portion 54a of the wheel hub 54. It is axially immovably secured by a securing nut 66. A sliding bearing 67 is arranged between the axle 52 and the wheel hub 54 to allow a relative rotation between the two.
Seals 68, 69 are arranged at both ends of the wheel bearing 55. They seal openings of the annular spaces formed between the outer member 60 and the inner rings 61, 62. Also, the seals isolate the annular chamber 57 from the surrounding circumstances. The seal 68 includes an outer case 70 press fit into the outer member 60 and an inner case 71 press fit onto the inner rings 61. Sealing lips 70a, 71a are integrally bonded to an inner circumference of the outer case 70 and an outer circumference of the inner case 71 so that they slidingly contact the case 71 and the outer case 70, respectively. These sealing lips 70a, 71a can be deflected by a pressure difference between the inside of the wheel bearing 55 and the annular chamber 57. This discharges air within the inside of the wheel bearing 55 to the annular chamber 57. Accordingly, the pressure of the inside of the wheel bearing 55 becomes the same pressure as that in the annular chamber 57 when the annular chamber 57 is evacuated.
The seal 69 includes an outer case 72 press fit into the outer member 60. An inner case 73 is press fit onto the inner ring 62, as shown in FIG. 24. A sealing lip 72a slidingly contacts the inner case 73. A side lip 72b slidingly contacts a side face of the wheel mounting flange 65. Both are integrally bonded to both ends of the outer case 72. In addition, a sealing lip 73a is integrally bonded to an outer circumferential edge of the inner case 73. This seal 69 functions to apply a pressure difference so that the inside of the wheel bearing 55 can be held at a predetermined reduced pressure. This prevents rain water or dusts from entering into the inside of the wheel bearing. Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. 2001/510534
In the prior wheel bearing apparatus, it is possible to have excellent sealing properties since a side lip 72b is provided in sliding contact with the side face of the wheel mounting flange 65. In addition, sealing lips 72a, 73a are in sliding contact with the inner and outer cases 72, 73, respectively. However, since it is configured so that the side lip 72b is in direct sliding contact with the side face of the wheel mounting flange 65, the side face of the wheel mounting flange 65, with which the side lip 72b contacts, should be finished to have a predetermined surface roughness. This increases the machining steps and thus the manufacturing cost. Furthermore, corrosion would be easily generated on the surface of the wheel hub 54 made of carbon steel. Accordingly, it is difficult to keep a stable seal for a long term in the structure where the side lip 72b directly contacts the side face of the wheel mounting flange 65. The side lip 72b is prematurely deteriorated by the corroded side surface of the wheel mounting flange 65.


Disclosed is a method for monitoring an internal control signal of a memory device and an apparatus therefore. The method includes (a) generating a first signal having a first pulse width by a burst operation command, (b) receiving the first signal, and generating N−1 (where, N is a burst length) second signals having a second pulse width, (c) receiving the first signal and the second signals, and outputting a third signal by changing the first pulse width of the first signal and the second pulse width of the second signals in accordance with a variation of a frequency of a clock signal of the memory device, (d) outputting the third signal to an external pin of the memory device and monitoring the third signal, and (e) adjusting a pulse width of a signal that controls an operation of a data bus connecting a bit-line sense amplifier and a data sense amplifier using the third signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for monitoring an internal signal for controlling the operation of a sense amplifier of a memory device and an apparatus therefor, and more particularly to a method for monitoring an internal signal for controlling the operation of a sense amplifier of a memory device and an apparatus therefor that can control the operation section of the sense amplifier in accordance with a variation of the operating frequency of the memory device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
FIG. 1 is a view explaining read/write operations of a general memory device.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, in a write operation, data applied through an input/output (I/O) data pad is transferred to a bit-line sense amplifier through a data input buffer, a data input register, and a data driver. In a read operation, cell data amplified by the bit-line sense amplifier is transferred to the I/O data pad through a data sense amplifier, a pipe register, and a data output buffer.
In FIG. 1, a Signal Yi is a pulse signal for controlling column lines, which controls the operation of a data bus connecting the bit-line sense amplifier and the data sense amplifier. While the Signal Yi for controlling the data bus is enabled, write data is transferred from a write driver to the bit-line sense amplifier, and read data is transferred from the bit-line sense amplifier to the data sense amplifier.
Accordingly, in order to transfer valid data in an active operation (i.e., in a read or write operation), it is favorable to widen the pulse width of the Signal Yi. The wide pulse width of the Signal Yi heightens the data restore under the condition of the same tDPL (which is a time period from the time point that a CAS (Column Address Strobe) pulse signal is internally generated by a write command to the time point that a pre-charge pulse signal is internally generated by a pre-charge command).
Accordingly, it is general to first set the pulse width of the Signal Yi as wide as possible within a permitted limit and then to reduce the pulse width as needed. For reference, as the operating frequency of the memory device is increased (i.e., as the clock period is reduced), the permitted pulse width of the Signal Yi becomes reduced.
Meanwhile, the Signal Yi as described above is made by receiving a read/write strobe pulse signal rdwtstbzp13 output from a read/write strobe pulse generating circuit, and thus the read/write strobe pulse generating circuit will be explained hereinafter.
FIG. 2a is a circuit diagram of a conventional read/write strobe pulse generating circuit, and FIG. 2b is a waveform diagram of signals appearing in the circuit of FIG. 2a.
Referring to FIG. 2a, a pulse signal extyp8 and a pulse signal icasp6 are signals for making data transmission lines of a memory cell array and data transmission lines of a peripheral circuit short or open in order to read and provide data stored in the cell array (i.e., core region) of the memory device to the peripheral circuit or to write data applied to the peripheral circuit in the memory cell array. For convenience in explanation, the region that includes the memory cell and the bit-line sense amplifier is called a core region, and the remaining region is called a peripheral circuit.
More specifically, the extyp8 signal is a pulse signal generated in synchronization with a clock signal if a read or write command (i.e., burst command) is applied from an outside. The icasp6 signal is a signal used to operate the memory device by creating a self burst operation command as long as a burst length determined by an MRS (Mode Register Set) from a clock that is one-period later than a clock at which the read or write command is applied from the outside.
The read/write strobe pulse signal rdwtstbzp13 is a signal that is activated in synchronization with burst operation commands (External=extyp8 & Internal=icasp61) whenever these signals are activated and as long as the burst length determined by the general MRS. That is, the rdwtstbzp13 signal is a signal that reports the time point of activation of an input/output sense amplifier used to sufficiently amplify data transmitted from the core region to the peripheral circuit and to transmit the amplified data to a data output buffer. After the data is amplified and transmitted, the rdwtstbzp13 signal is used to reset the data transmission lines of the peripheral circuit.
A pwrup signal is a signal for setting an initial value, which is first in a high level, goes to a low level, and then is kept in the low level. A term_z signal is a signal used in a test mode, and is kept in a low level during its normal operation. A tm_clkpulsez signal is a signal used in a test mode. The signals as described above will be explained in more detail later.
The operation of the circuit illustrated in FIG. 2a will now be explained with reference to a waveform diagram of FIG. 2b.
As can be seen in FIG. 2b, if a read/write command is applied in synchronization with a clock signal, a pulse signal extyp8 is generated. If the extyp8 signal is generated, plural pulses icasp6 are sequentially generated in synchronization with the next clock. As illustrated in FIG. 2b, the read/write strobe pulse signal rdwtstbzp13 is generated in synchronization with a rising edge of the pulse signals extyp8 and icasp6.
It can be seen from the conventional circuit of FIG. 2a that a pulse width adjustment unit 200 for determining the pulse width of the read/write strobe pulse signal rdwtstbzp13 is fixed irrespective of the operating frequency of the memory device. That is, because a delay time obtained through a delay unit 20 of the pulse width adjustment unit 200 is fixed, the pulse width of the signal output from the pulse width adjustment unit 200 is just constant.
If the operating frequency of the memory device is varied, however, it becomes necessary to adjust the pulse width of the read/write strobe pulse signal rdwtstbzp13.
Conventionally, if the operating frequency of the memory device is varied, the delay time of the delay unit 20 is adjusted by correcting a metal option during a FIB work. However, this requires plenty of cost and time.
The conventional circuit also has the problems in that it is not easy to monitor the internal voltage of the memory device after a packaging process of the memory device.

Method for monitoring an internal control signal of a memory device and apparatus therefor


An Alternating Current (AC) and Direct Current (DC) coupled electronic receiver system including a receiver, an AC-coupling capacitor between an input of the receiver system and the receiver, a bypass switch configured to selectively bypass the AC-coupling capacitor to DC-couple the input to the receiver, a bypass switch driving circuit configured to cause the bypass switch to switch ‘ON’ and thereby DC-couple the input to the receiver, and cause the bypass switch to switch ‘OFF’ and thereby AC-couple the input to the receiver, and a voltage-following transistor between a source and a gate of the bypass switch configured to maintain an ‘OFF’ state of the bypass switch while the input is AC-coupled.

Contemporary electronic-communication systems provide high-speed data-communication between two devices, e.g. between transmitter and receiver (e.g., in the order of gigahertz frequency range). For such purposes, the communication system usually comprises a transmitter at a first-device and a receiver at a second-device. In operation, the transmitter transmits high-speed data to the receiver over one or more channels. For example, the first and second devices may be on separate chips mounted on a board, in which the communication system comprises a differential channel and AC-coupling capacitors on the board. In this example, the transmitter may transmit high-speed data to the receiver over the differential channel and AC-coupling capacitors.
When it comes to a combination of AC and DC coupling, a serial input/output (I/O) receiver may be provided with both AC-coupling and DC-coupling mode reception through two different-paths, one for AC mode reception and one for DC mode reception. The use of separate-paths is normally addressed by combining both AC and DC paths through a bypass-switch across the AC-coupling capacitor. The coupling-interface to the receiver may be ground-terminated or supply-terminated.
For the receiver with grounded-termination or supply termination, the bypass-switch suffers from shortcomings. As indicated in FIG. 1, in AC coupling mode with grounded termination, the bypass switch does not get completely turned OFF for negative-inputs or positive excursion (whichever applicable), which alters an average of the received input signal, thereby leading to wrong or inaccurate-reception. The same has been depicted with respect to FIG. 1, wherein it is clear that gate-voltage with respect to the bypass-switch does not follow the AC input signal. Accordingly, the bypass switch automatically turns ON during negative input, thereby resulting in corrupted AC output (e.g. distorted average). Likewise, for the receiver with supply-termination, the bypass-switch exhibits similar shortcomings during the positive excursions.
Further, during the DC-mode and in respect of ground-termination, the bypass switch is ON and there always remains a limit on a higher-value of input voltage for reliability of operation of the bypass-switch. Such constraint is also observed for AC-coupled systems especially when the bypass switch remains ON for bypassing the internal-AC coupling or the AC capacitor. Likewise, for the receiver with supply-termination, the present bypass-switch exhibits similar shortcomings during the DC mode.
In order to address the aforesaid constraint, FIG. 2 illustrates a prior art serial I/O receiver with a common path for AC & DC coupling and having referenced-termination. The same involves generation of a higher receiver (Rx) common mode using a regulator-amplifier. More specifically, a finite bias (Vb) is used to increase the input common mode to avoid negative signal-excursion. The present scheme of FIG. 2 relies on the common mode voltage support based on the supply voltage. The shift in common mode affects the positive input as well. Hence there is always a limit to the common mode applied. The output impedance of the buffer is low because the buffer is in series with the receiver termination of 50 Ohms. Overall, the prior art mechanism uses an additional voltage regulator and limitation on the input-swing. More specifically, the prior art scheme incurs additional ON-chip area and consumes substantial power.
Another prior art mechanism has been illustrated in FIGS. 3A and 3B, wherein the serial I/O receiver with a common path for AC and DC coupling is provided with grounded termination with a C-R filter equipped bypass switch. The C-R filter couples both source and gate of the bypass NMOS switch to turn the gate-source voltage to zero, which in turn suppresses a negative-pulse. More specifically, with the grounded termination system, the addition of a C-R high pass filter (shown in FIG. 3B) between i) the bypass switch, and ii) source to gate terminals addresses negative-excursions. However, such scheme uses higher-silicon area for lower data rates and ends up occupying high ON chip area. Higher capacitance on the DP/DN lines impact the return loss and degrades the receiver performance for high speed modes of operation. There is limitation on the lower data-rate supported as the capacitance value increases based on the filter cut-off.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to achieve area and power advantages with respect to conventional serial I/O receivers incorporating single path AC-DC coupling.
It would be desirable to achieve said serial I/O receivers as independent of input operating data-rate and thereby support higher input-swings.

Receiver systems and methods for AC and DC coupling of receiver


The present invention includes a radiopaque stent comprising a cylindrical main body. The tubular main body comprises a cobalt chromium alloy that comprises cobalt, chromium and one or more radiopaque materials.

The present invention relates to a radiopaque intraluminal stent comprised of a cobalt chromium alloy with one or more radiopaque elements and to a method for making the radiopaque intraluminal stent.
Intraluminal stents implanted with percutaneous methods have become a standard adjunct to procedures such as balloon angioplasty in the treatment of atherosclerotic disease of the arterial system. Stents, by preventing acute vessel recoil, improve long term patient outcome and have other benefits such as securing vessel dissections.
Intraluminal stents comprise generally tubular-shaped devices which are constructed to hold open a segment of a blood vessel or other anatomical lumen. Intraluminal stents are used in treatment of diseases such as atherosclerotic stenosis as well as diseases of the stomach and esophagus, and for urinary tract applications. Adequate stent function requires a precise placement of the stent over a lesion or site of plaque or other lumen site in need of treatment. Typically, the stent is delivered to a treatment site by a delivery catheter that comprises an expandable portion for expanding the stent within the lumen.
One delivery catheter onto which the stent is mounted is a balloon delivery catheter similar to those used for balloon angioplasty procedures. In order for the stent to remain in place on the balloon during delivery to the site of damage within a lumen, the stent is compressed onto the balloon. The catheter and stent assembly is introduced within a patient's vasculature using a guiding catheter. The guidewire is disposed across the damaged arterial section and then the catheter-stent assembly is advanced over the guidewire within the artery until the stent is directly within the lesion or the damaged section.
The balloon of the catheter is expanded, expanding the stent against the artery. The artery is preferably slightly expanded by the expansion of the stent to seat or otherwise fix the stent to prevent movement. In some circumstances during treatment of stenotic portions of the artery, the artery may have to be expanded considerably in order to facilitate passage of blood or other fluid therethrough. In the case of a self expanding stent, the stent is expanded by retraction of a sheath or actuation of release mechanism. Self expanding stents appose themselves to the vessel wall automatically and require a dilatation balloon only for post dilatation.
These manipulations are performed within the body of a patient by an interventionalist who relies upon both placement markers on the stent catheter and on the radiopacity of the stent itself. The stent radiopacity arises from a combination of stent material and stent pattern. After deployment within the vessel, the stent radiopacity should allow adequate visibility of both the stent and the underlying vessel and/or lesion morphology under fluoroscopic visualization.
Other conventional stents incorporate materials, such as tantalum, that aid in identifying the location of the stent within a vessel but illuminate so brightly under fluoroscopy that the underlying vessel morphology is obscured, thereby impairing the ability of the interventionalist to repair the lesion. Other stents incorporate radiopaque markers that facilitate stent location, but do not allow adequate stent visualization to assist determination of optimal deployment.


A usage control device is mounted in an electro-developing type camera with an electro-developing recording medium, by which an image is electronically developed. The electro-developing recording medium has an image recording area and a data recording area. The image is electronically developed and recorded in the image recording area. Data which indicates the number of times that a recording operation of the electro-developing recording medium has taken place, is magnetically recorded in the data recording area. The data recording area is composed of a magnetic recording medium, such as a magnetic tape.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a camera using a recording medium in which an object image obtained through a photographing optical system is electronically developed, and more particularly, to a device for controlling the frequency of times that the object image has been recorded in the recording medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 5-2280 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,424,156, a photographic material which is directly electronically developed so that the developed visible image can be immediately obtained is known. In this specification, such a recording medium is referred to as an electro-developing recording medium, and an electronic still camera using the electro-developing recording medium is referred to as an electro-developing type camera.
An image recorded in the electro-developing recording medium can be erased by heating the recording medium a predetermined temperature. However, if recording and erasing operations to the electro-developing recording medium are repeatedly carried out, a problem can occur in which the electro-developing recording medium deteriorates. Thus a clear image cannot be recorded thereon. Further, a problem can occur in which a clear image cannot be recorded on the electro-developing recording medium.


A semiconductor device includes at least one defect-free epitaxial layer. At least a part of the device is manufactured by a method of fabrication of defect-free epitaxial layers on top of a surface of a first solid state material having a first thermal evaporation rate and a plurality of defects, where the surface comprises at least one defect-free surface region, and at least one surface region in a vicinity of the defects, the method including the steps of selective deposition of a second material, having a high temperature stability, on defect-free regions of the first solid state material, followed by subsequent evaporation of the regions in the vicinity of the defects, and subsequent overgrowth by a third material forming a defect-free layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention pertains to the field of semiconductor devices. More particularly, the invention pertains to fabricating defect-free epitaxial layers for semiconductor device applications.
2. Description of Related Art
Propagating defects, including threading dislocations, screw dislocations, stacking faults, and antiphase boundaries, play a negative role in semiconductor devices, often limiting or even ruining their performance. Propagating defects can act as strong scattering centers for carriers, thus reducing their mobility and limiting the performance of many semiconductor devices. Some of these devices include heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBT), field effect transistors (FET), and high electron mobility transistors (HEMT). Propagating defects can also act as centers of non-radiative recombination, thus ruining performance of light-emitting devices like light emitting diodes (LED), optical amplifiers, and semiconductor diode lasers. During device operation, particularly at elevated temperatures or at high power of light, defects can propagate through the device structure and multiply themselves, thus reducing the operating lifetime of the device.
Some reasons for the extended defects in a semiconductor heterostructure include, but are not limited to:                lattice mismatch between an epilayer and a substrate (for example in the case of an epilayer having a thickness exceeding the critical thickness against plastic relaxation);        precipitates of point defects and impurities (in the substrates);        statistical irregularities during crystal growth (in both the substrate and the epilayer);        dirt on the substrate surface (generating defects in the epilayer);        nucleation of surface defects (for example "oval defects" in molecular beam epitaxy) due to local surface oxidation or statistical formation of droplets of source materials at the growth surface; and        difference in thermal expansion coefficients between the substrate and the epilayer.
Several approaches have been proposed to reduce the density of dislocations and other defects in epitaxial layers.    Liu et al. proposed the use of Sb as a surfactant during the growth of Si0.5Ge0.5 on Si by molecular beam epitaxy in order to reduce the density of threading dislocations ("A surfactant-mediated relaxed Si0.5Ge0.5 graded layer with a very low threading dislocation density and smooth surface", Applied Physics Letters, 75 (11), 1586–1588 (1999)).    Takano et al. used low temperature growth of InGaAs layers on misoriented GaAs substrates by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy aimed to reduce the density of non-radiative recombination centers and improve the photoluminescence properties of the layers ("Low temperature growth of InGaAs layers on misoriented GaAs substrates by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy", Applied Physics Letters, 80 (12), 2054–2056 (2002)).    Manfra et al. used a double-stage growth of a GaN buffer layer in the growth of AlN/GaAlN heterostructures on a sapphire substrate by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy, attempting simultaneous optimization of threading dislocation density and surface morphology ("Dislocation and morphology control during molecular-beam epitaxy of AlGaN/GaN heterostructures directly on sapphire substrates", Applied Physics Letters 81 (8), 1456–1458 (2002)). Nitrogen stabilized conditions were used in the first step, which resulted in a roughened, three-dimensional growth morphology. This morphology appeared to increase dislocation interaction and thus, reduced the number of dislocations, which propagated to the surface. Metal stabilized growth conditions were applied in the second step, which resulted in smoothening of the growth surface.    Contreras et al. used Si delta-doping in the epitaxial growth of GaN on a Si (111) substrate by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition ("Dislocation annihilation by silicon delta-doping in GaN epitaxy on Si", Applied Physics Letters 81 (25), 4712–4714 (2002)). This led to bending of screw dislocations and "pairing" with equivalent neighboring dislocations with opposite Burgers vectors. This resulted in the formation of square dislocation loops. However, edge dislocations remained unaffected by silicon delta-doping.    Capewell et al. used the terrace grading profile to produce SiGe virtual substrates. ("Terrace grading of SiGe for high quality virtual substrates", Applied Physics Letters 81 (25), 4775–4777 (2002)).    However, none of these approaches have been very cost-effective or successful in reducing dislocations sufficiently to create a defect-free epitaxial layer.
There is a need in the art for an improved method for selective etching off of defect-rich regions and application of this method to different materials systems and different semiconductor devices.

Defect-free semiconductor templates for epitaxial growth


A process for separating an ionic liquid from hydrocarbons employs a coalescer material having a stronger affinity for the ionic liquid than the hydrocarbons. The coalescer material can be a high surface area material having a large amount of contact area to which ionic liquid droplets dispersed in the hydrocarbons may adhere. The process includes feeding a mixture comprising ionic liquid droplets dispersed in hydrocarbons to a coalescer comprising the coalescer material. The process further includes a capture step involving adhering at least a portion of the ionic liquid droplets to the coalescer material to provide captured droplets and a coalescing step involving coalescing captured droplets into coalesced droplets. After the capture and coalescence steps, the coalesced droplets are allowed to fall from the coalescer material to separate the ionic liquid from the hydrocarbons and provide a hydrocarbon effluent.

An alkylation process, which is disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Publication 2006/0131209 ("the '209 publication"), involves contacting isoparaffins, preferably isopentane, with olefins, preferably ethylene, in the presence of an ionic liquid catalyst to produce gasoline blending components. The contents of the '209 publication are incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
An ionic liquid catalyst distinguishes this novel alkylation process from conventional processes that convert light paraffins and light olefins to more lucrative products such as the alkylation of isoparaffins with olefins and the polymerization of olefins. For example, two of the more extensively used processes to alkylate isobutane with C3-C5 olefins to make gasoline cuts with high octane numbers use sulfuric acid (H2SO4) and hydrofluoric acid (HF) catalysts.
Ionic liquid catalysts specifically useful in the alkylation process described in the '209 publication are disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Publication 2006/0135839 ("the '839 publication"), which is also incorporated by reference in its entirety herein. Such catalysts include a chloroaluminate ionic liquid catalyst comprising a hydrocarbyl substituted pyridinium halide and aluminum trichloride or a hydrocarbyl substituted imidazolium halide and aluminum trichloride. Such catalysts further include chloroaluminate ionic liquid catalysts comprising an alkyl substituted pyridinium halide and aluminum trichloride or an alkyl substituted imidazolium halide and aluminum trichloride. Preferred chloroaluminate ionic liquid catalysts include 1-butyl-4-methyl-pyridinium chloroaluminate (BMP), 1-butyl-pyridinium chloroaluminate (BP), 1-butyl-3-methyl-imidazolium chloroaluminate (BMIM) and 1-H-pyridinium chloroaluminate (HP).
However, ionic liquid catalysts have unique properties making it necessary to further develop and modify the ionic liquid catalyzed alkylation process in order to achieve superior gasoline blending component products, improved process operability and reliability, reduced operating costs, etc.
There is a need for an effective and efficient process for removing ionic liquid from the hydrocarbon phase after ionic liquid catalyzed alkylation. In general, the process should be simple and efficient enough to be used to separate any ionic liquid, not just an ionic liquid catalyst, from hydrocarbons where the density of the hydrocarbons is less than the density of the ionic liquid.

Liquid-liquid separation process via coalescers


A method includes forming a first dielectric layer over a conductive pad, forming a second dielectric layer over the first dielectric layer, and etching the second dielectric layer to form a first opening, with a top surface of the first dielectric layer exposed to the first opening. A template layer is formed to fill the first opening. A second opening is then formed in the template layer and the first dielectric layer, with a top surface of the conductive pad exposed to the second opening. A conductive pillar is formed in the second opening.

Metal-to-metal bonding (also sometimes referred to as direct bonding) and solder bonding are commonly used bonding methods in the packaging of integrated circuits. In the direct bonding, the bond pads of two wafers or chips are bonded together without solder disposed in between. For example, the direct bonding may be a copper-to-copper bonding or a gold-to-gold bonding. In a typical direct bonding process, the metal bumps of a device die are aligned to, and are placed against, the metal bumps of a package substrate. A pressure is applied to press the device die and the package substrate against each other. During the bonding process, the device die and the package substrate are also heated. With the pressure and the elevated temperature, the surface portions of the metal bumps of the device die and the package substrate inter-diffuse, so that bonds are formed.

Forming bonding structures by using template layer as templates

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