A welding assembly including a welding gun for providing spaced welds on opposite sides of members being welded. The welding gun includes two welding tips so that both welds can be formed without moving the gun or the members relative to each other. Preferably one weld tip is connected to a force applying mechanism such as a hydraulic cylinder to clamp the members together and improve the connection between the weld tips and the members. The weld gun can be used for making one or two welds while in the engaged position around the members being welded. Also, one of the weld tips can be replaced with a support that merely provides the force applying function.

Indirect spot welding devices typically comprise a single welding tip. During a welding operation, the single welding tip is brought into contact with one side of the members to be welded and a second contact is applied near the joining area to complete the circuit. Electrical current is then applied through the welding tip conducted out through the contact gun to form a single weld on one side of the members. Such spot welding devices are inefficient if a second spaced weld on an opposite side of the members is desired, since to produce the opposite weld requires that either the members being welded or the welding device itself be physically moved to properly locate the single welding tip on the opposite side of the members. Only after the prior art spot welding device has been moved relative to the members being welded can the second weld be created.
An example of a one-sided spot welding device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,708,248 to Poss et al., the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
Thus, there is a need for a welding device that can provide spot-welds on both sides of members being welded without moving the members or the welding device. The present invention addresses this need in the art as well as other needs, which will become apparent to those skilled in the art once given this disclosure.


In a shift register and LCD device having the shift register that may be employed in the liquid crystal display device having a large screen size and a large resolution, the shift register includes stages connected with each other and each of the stages have a carry buffer for generating a carry signal. The pull-down transistor of each of the stages of the shift register is divided into a first pull-down transistor and a second pull-down transistor. A power voltage Vona larger than the power voltage Von applied to a clock generator is applied to the shift register. A signal delay due to the RC delay of the gate lines may be minimized, the shift register is independent of the variation of the threshold voltage of the TFTs, and image display quality may not be deteriorated.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of driving a shift register, a shift register, and a liquid crystal display (LCD) device having the shift register. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method of driving a shift register that may be used in an a-Si thin film transistor liquid crystal display device (a-Si TFT LCD) having a large display screen, a shift register, and a liquid crystal display (LCD) device having the shift register.
2. Description of the Related Art
The TFT LCD device is classified into amorphous-Si TFT LCD (or a-Si TFT LCD) device and a poly-Si TFT LCD device. The poly-silicon TFT LCD (or poly-Si TFT LCD) device has lower power consumption and a low price, but is manufactured through complex processes compared with the a-Si TFT LCD device. Accordingly, the poly-Si TFT LCD is used in a display device having a small display screen such as a mobile phone.
The a-Si TFT LCD device may provide a large display screen and a high yield (or high productivity), and is used in a display device having a large display screen such as a laptop computer, an LCD monitor or a high definition television (HDTV).
FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a conventional poly-silicon thin film transistor LCD, and FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing a conventional a-Si thin film transistor LCD.
As shown in FIG. 1, the poly-Si TFT LCD device includes a poly-Si TFT pixel array formed on a glass substrate 10. A data driver circuit 12 and a gate driver circuit 14 are formed on the glass substrate 10. An integrated printed circuit board 20 is connected to a terminal part 16 by means of a film cable 18, so that the cost for manufacturing the poly-Si TFT LCD device may be reduced, the thickness of the poly-Si TFT LCD device may be reduce, and power consumption may be minimized because the data driver circuit 12 and the gate driver circuit 14 are integrated on the glass substrate 10.
However, as shown in FIG. 2, in the a-Si TFT LCD device, a data driver chip 34 is mounted on a flexible printed circuit board 32 via a chip on film (COF), and a data printed circuit board 36 is connected to a data line terminal on the a-Si TFT pixel array through the flexible printed circuit board 32. A gate driver chip 40 is mounted on the flexible printed circuit board 32 via the chip on film (COF), and a gate printed circuit board 42 is connected to a gate line terminal on the a-Si TFT pixel array through a flexible printed circuit board 40.
The a-Si TFT LCD device has an advantage in aspect of yield (or productivity), but has disadvantage in aspect of manufacturing cost and thickness.
In addition, in an a-Si TFT LCD device used for displaying an images on a large display screen having a high resolution, the gate driver circuit need to rapidly discharge electric charges accumulated (or charged) at the gate lines connected to pixels. The gate lines have a capacitive load.
However, deterioration of display quality may occur when the conventional gate driver circuit is used in the a-Si TFT LCD device having a large display screen.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method of driving a shift register, a shift register, a liquid crystal display device having the shift register


Systems and methods are provided to support multitenant data in an EclipseLink environment. EclipseLink supports shared multitenant tables using tenant discriminator columns, allowing an application to be re-used for multiple tenants and have all their data co-located. Tenants can share the same schema transparently, without affecting one another and can use non-multitenant entity types as per usual. This functionality is flexible enough to allow for its usage at an Entity Manager Factory level or with individual Entity Manager's based on the application's needs. Support for multitenant entities can be done though the usage of a multitenant annotation or <multitenant> xml element configured in an eclipselink-orm.xml mapping file. The multitenant annotation can be used on an entity or mapped superclass and is used in conjunction with a tenant discriminator column or <tenant-discriminator-column> xml element.

EclipseLink is an object-persistence and object-transformation framework that provides development tools and run-time capabilities which can reduce development and maintenance efforts, and increase enterprise application functionality. An implementation of the Java Persistence API (JPA) framework is provided by Eclipselink, which enables java classes and objects to be stored in data sources, allowing information to be used across sessions. Using EclipseLink, software applications can be built which store persistent object-oriented data in a relational database; and can be used to transform object-oriented data into either relational data or Extensible Markup Language (XML) elements.
Applications developed using EclipseLink can be configured to support multitenancy. In multitenant applications, multiple different users (i.e. tenants) can utilize the application. These different users may represent varied businesses with particular needs. A software application may be developed generically, with several default properties or attributes which are broadly applicable to many users. However, these default properties may be insufficient to adequately capture all of the data relevant to a particular user. Data for each tenant needs to be stored such that it remains tenant-specific, while not requiring complete reconfiguration of the multitenant system when tenants are added or removed.

Systems and methods for multitenancy data


The present invention provides a dynamic telephone configuration mode for users of a telephone system. In a virtual configure mode, a user inputs a virtual extension. The input virtual extension is associated with the physical extension of the telephone being dynamically configured. The DC telephone is then operated as if it were associated with the virtual extension input by the user. In the physical configure mode, a user inputs a physical extension. The input physical extension is swapped with the physical extension of the telephone being dynamically configured. The DC telephone is then operated as if it were associated with the physical extension input by the user.

A telephone system often has a number of telephones at a subscriber side. These telephones are coupled to a central office switch (CO) or private branch exchange (PBX). One or more trunk lines can couple the CO or PBX to a larger telephone network. A CO or PBX can serve one or more exchanges. An exchange is identified by a dialing prefix (3 digits are used in North America). Each telephone is assigned an extension (4 digits are used for an extension in North America). Typically these extensions are fixed during installation. See, Gilbert Held, Voice Over Data Networks, "Telephone Operations," Chapter 5, pp. 113–26 (McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.: U.S.A. 1998).
A number of services or features are available in today's telephone systems. These features include call forwarding, ringing, button-map assignments, voice mail and message retrieval delivery, and others. Information identifying the particular features available at a telephone is stored in a memory at the CO or PBX. For example, a table entry associated with a particular extension can include information identifying the features available at the telephone. User settings and choices such as ring style, customized button-map assignments, greeting information and call forwarding instructions are also associated with a particular telephone. Information identifying user settings and features may be stored in memory at the telephone set or at the CO or PBX.
Once set up, all of this configuration information for a telephone is associated with a particular extension and fixed. While this may be acceptable for a telephone user who uses the same telephone at the same location, it is limiting in a variety of applications and settings. The limitations are especially burdensome when users need to be able to access multiple telephones at multiple locations. The effort a user expends optimizing settings and features for a particular telephone is lost when the user needs to use a different telephone at another location. This can impair productivity as a user may not be able to leverage available telephone features effectively.
For example, in some workplaces, a user may often work at multiple locations splitting time between a private office and a laboratory. Both of these locations may have telephones; however in many cases, the user may not be able to configure the laboratory telephone because it is shared by multiple users. This can cause frustration and limit productivity as a user may not be able to leverage certain telephone features while in the laboratory at a different extension and telephone.
Similarly, in many environments, telephones may be used by a number of different people. For example, a realty company may have several different extensions available at an office. Because the number of realtors can exceed the number of telephones, it is often impractical to assign each realtor a dedicated extension and telephone. Instead, the realtors are expected to share telephones on an as needed basis as they are available. Realtors may access the telephones at different times depending upon their schedules, the availability of the telephone or the office associated with the telephone, etc. This means a realtor is unable to customize settings for a particular telephone because he or she must move across different telephones. Configuring a particular extension is then limited to a relatively generic set up that will be acceptable to many different users.


A light emitting device having a light extraction structure, which is capable of achieving an enhancement in light extraction efficiency and reliability, and a method for manufacturing the same. The light emitting device includes a semiconductor layer having a multi-layered structure including a light emission layer; and a light extraction structure formed on the semiconductor layer in a pattern having unit structures. Further, the wall of each of the unit structures is sloped at an angle of −45° to +45° from a virtual vertical line being parallel to a main light emitting direction of the light emitting device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a light emitting device, and more particularly, to a light emitting device having a light extraction structure, which is capable of achieving an enhancement in light extraction efficiency and reliability, and a method for manufacturing the same.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Light emitting diodes (LEDs) are well known as a semiconductor light emitting device which converts current to light, to emit light. Since a red LED using GaAsP compound semiconductor was commercially available in 1962, it has been used, together with a GaP:N-based green LED, as a light source in electronic apparatuses, for image display.
The wavelength of light emitted from such an LED depends on the semiconductor material used to fabricate the LED. This is because the wavelength of the emitted light depends on the band gap of the semiconductor material representing energy difference between valence-band electrons and conduction-band electrons.
Gallium nitride (GaN) compound semiconductor has been highlighted in the field of high-power electronic devices because it exhibits a high thermal stability and a wide band gap of 0.8 to 6.2 eV.
One of the reasons why a GaN compound semiconductor has been highlighted is that it is possible to fabricate a semiconductor layer capable of emitting green, blue, or white light, using GaN in combination with other elements, for example, indium (In), aluminum (Al), etc.
That is, it is possible to adjust the wavelength of light to be emitted, using GaN in combination with other appropriate elements. In other words, where GaN is used, it is possible to appropriately determine the material of the LCD in accordance with the characteristics of the apparatus to which the LCD is applied. For example, it is possible to fabricate a blue LED useful for optical recording or a white LED to replace a glow lamp.
By virtue of the above-mentioned advantages of the GaN-based material, techniques associated with GaN-based electro-optic devices have rapidly developed since the GaN-based LEDs became commercially available in 1994.
The brightness or output of an LED manufactured using the above-mentioned GaN-based material mainly depends on the structure of an active layer, the extraction efficiency associated with external extraction of light, the size of the LED chip, the kind and angle of a mold used to assemble a lamp package, the fluorescent material used, etc.

Light emitting device having light extraction structure


Various implementations are described. Several implementations relate to a refined depth map. According to one aspect, depth information for a picture in a set of pictures is accessed. Modified depth information for the picture is accessed. A refinement is determined that characterizes a difference between the depth information and the modified depth information. The refinement, and the depth information, is provided for use in processing one or more pictures in the set of pictures.

It has been widely recognized that Multi-view Video Coding is a key technology that serves a wide variety of applications, including free-viewpoint and three-dimensional (3D) video applications, home entertainment and surveillance. In addition, depth data may be associated with each view. Depth data is generally essential for view synthesis. In those multi-view applications, the amount of video and depth data involved is typically enormous. Thus, there exists at least the desire for a framework that helps improve the coding efficiency of current video coding solutions performing simulcast of independent views.
A multi-view video source includes multiple views of the same scene. As a result, there typically exists a high degree of correlation between the multiple view images. Therefore, view redundancy can be exploited in addition to temporal redundancy. View redundancy can be exploited by, for example, performing view prediction across the different views.
In a practical scenario, 3DV systems may encode partial views and the other views will be reconstructed using view synthesis. The residual signal for the skipped views may be sent if higher quality is required. Moreover, the synthesized pictures can serve as references to encode the subsequent pictures.


In a myringotomy, a selected amount of tympanic membrane tissues are removed from a patient by the application of laser energy to vaporize the tissues. An endoscope is inserted into the ear canal and used to visually detect and locate the cellular material to be removed The endoscope has a laser guide with a distal tip which extends beyond the distal end of the optical elements of the endoscope, thereby enabling placement, under direct visual observation, of the distal tip of the laser guide in contact with the tympanic membrane. A controlled amount of electromagnetic radiation is transmitted along the laser guide only after contact of the distal tip of the laser guide with the tissues to be removed.

This invention relates to a myringotomy operation and to an associated instrument.
Children frequently have an abnormal condition characterized by fluid in the middle ear cleft. In a myringotomy or tympanotomy operation, a surgical incision is made with a cutting blade in the tympanic membrane or the patient to allow the release of trapped fluid. Generally, a ventilation or pressure equalization tube is placed in the incision to drain the fluid and ventilate the middle car for a longer period than would be possible with only an incision of the ear drum. A myringotomy and tube placement is conventionally performed in a hospital operating room. This is an expensive procedure, owing to the necessary presence of several specialists (anesthesiologist, surgeon, etc.).
It is known to use a carbon dioxide laser to burn a hole in the tympanic membrane. This procedure is expensive, inasmuch as it requires expensive laser equipment and an expensive microscope. Moreover, the procedure produces an aperture of two millimeters in the tympanic membrane, which is too large to be useful for most myringotomies.

Contact laser surgical endoscope and associated myringotomy procedure


According to one embodiment, a sanitary washing apparatus includes a private part washing nozzle configured to wash a human body private part, a tube configured to supply water to the private part washing nozzle, an incoming water connection part connected to an upstream side of the tube and configured to supply water to the tube, a casing storing the private part washing nozzle, the tube, and the incoming water connection part, and a nozzle wash part configured to wash the private part washing nozzle. The private part washing nozzle is curved upward to be convex, and has a first region positioned frontward of the nozzle wash part in an advanced state in which the private part washing nozzle advances from the casing. The incoming water connection part is provided under the private part washing nozzle, and is rotatable.

Recently, a design of a lower silhouette than before has been demanded in a sanitary washing apparatus. In this status, a nozzle unit including a private part washing nozzle (hereinafter, referred to as simply "nozzle") which washes a human body private part limits a height of the sanitary washing apparatus.
As a method for lowering the height of the sanitary washing apparatus, it is conceived that the backward of a sit-down toilet (hereinafter, referred to as simply "toilet") is hollowed and the toilet and the sanitary washing apparatus are unified. However, with this method, the sanitary washing apparatus can be attached only with a dedicated toilet. For that reason, a sheet type sanitary washing apparatus is favorable, which can be attached to any toilet and provided on an upper surface of the toilet. For the nozzle unit installed on the sheet type sanitary washing apparatus, it is conceived to make the nozzle curved upward in a convex shape as a means corresponding to lower silhouette while keeping a conventional washing point, a washing angle, a nozzle orbit not interfering with a bottom, a nozzle advance point not submerged when washing the toilet, or the like.
However, when the nozzle is made upward in a convex shape, liquid waste or solid waste or the like adhered to the nozzle during private part washing may flow backward the nozzle along the outer surface of the nozzle after storing the nozzle. Thereby, for example, the liquid waste or the like may drip in an inner part (portion behind the nozzle) of a casing storing the nozzle, and dirt may accumulate around a functional unit or the like provided in the inner part.
A tube which supplies water to the nozzle is connected to the nozzle, and moves with the action of the nozzle. For that reason, when the liquid waste or the like is adhered to the tube, depending on a routing of the tube, the dirt may diffuse into the peripheral member or the inner part of the casing when the tube moves.


A conductive elastomer composition includes an ionic-conductive elastomer component, which contains an anion-containing salt having a fluoro group (F—) and a sulfonyl group (—SO2—). The conductive elastomer composition has a volume charge not more than 108.5 (Ω·cm) when the volume charge is measured at a voltage of 100V applied thereto in accordance with the method specified in JIS K6911. The conductive elastomer composition has a compression set not more than 30% when the compression set is measured at a temperature of 70° C. for 24 hours at a compressibility ratio of 25% in accordance with “the permanent set testing methods for rubber, vulcanized or thermoplastic” specified in JIS K6262.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a conductive elastomer composition, a conductive member such as a conductive roller and a conductive belt formed of the conductive elastomer composition, and an image-forming apparatus having the conductive member mounted therein.
More particularly, the present invention relates to the conductive elastomer composition which is used effectively for conductive rollers such as a development roller, a charging roller, a transfer roller, and a toner supply roller; and for conductive belts such as a transfer belt. The conductive rollers and the conductive belts are used in the image-forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a printer, a facsimile, and the like. In particular, the present invention provides the conductive elastomer composition which is ionic-conductive and has a much lower electric resistance than the conventional one.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is necessary to allow conductive members such as the charging roller, the development roller, the toner supply roller, the transfer roller, and the transfer belt used in the image-forming apparatus such as the copying machine, the printer, the facsimile, and the like to have an appropriate stable electric resistance value. As a method of allowing the conductive roller and the conductive belt to be conductive, the following two methods have been used: In one of the methods, an electroconductive elastomer composition containing a conductive filler such as powder of metal oxides or carbon black is used; and in the other method, an ionic-conductive elastomer composition such as urethane rubber, acrylonitrile-butadiene rubber (NBR), and epichlorohydrin rubber is used.
In the case where the electroconductive elastomer composition containing the conductive filler is used, the electric resistance thereof changes rapidly in a semi-conductive region owing to a slight change of an addition amount of the conductive filler. Thus it is very difficult to control the electric resistance thereof. In addition, because it is difficult to disperse the conductive filler uniformly in the elastomer composition, the electric resistance value has variations in the circumferential and longitudinal directions of the conductive roller and inside the conductive belt. Further the electric resistance value of the conductive roller and the conductive belt composed of the electroconductive elastomer composition depends on a voltage applied thereto and is not constant. The electroconductive elastomer composition containing carbon black shows this phenomenon outstandingly.
Thus as the recent tendency, the ionic-conductive elastomer composition is used rather than the electroconductive elastomer composition in the copying machine, the printer and the like required to form a high-image quality by using digital image processing technique and color image processing technique.
However, it is difficult for the conventional art to reduce the electric resistance value by using only the ionic-conductive elastomer. Thus addition of an ionic-conductive filler to the ionic-conductive elastomer component is proposed. For example, addition of metal ions and a quaternary ammonium salt to the ionic-conductive elastomer component are proposed because only the ionic-conductive elastomer composition such as urethane or NBR makes the electric resistance value too high. In addition, other proposals have been made.
For example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 2001-214050 and 2001-217009, there are disclosed a crosslinked polymeric solid electrolytic wall made of a conductive polymeric composition consisting of a copolymer containing ethylene oxide at a polymerization ratio not less than 85% and a salt of lithium ions such as a lithium imide salt added to the copolymer.
In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-226714, there is disclosed a polymeric electricity control rubber composition containing various elastomers and a specified amount of metal salts added thereto with the intermediary of a specific compound.
However, the conductive polymeric composition disclosed in each of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 2001-214050 and 2001-217009 is used for the wall of a battery. Since the polymerization ratio of ethylene oxide is not less than 85%, the conductive polymeric composition has a low water resistance and thus can be used in only a closed system such as the battery. That is, the conductive polymeric composition cannot be used for products such as the conductive roller, the conductive belt, and the like that are used in an open system having normal temperature and humidity. Since the polymerization ratio of the ethylene oxide is so high that the conductive polymeric composition has a high hardness or deterioration in its compression set. Thus it is difficult to use the conductive polymeric composition for general products or the conductive roller and conductive belt.
The polymeric electricity control rubber composition disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-226714 contains the specific low-molecular weight compound serving as a medium. Thus it does not have any problems so long as it is used for general-purpose rubber products. However, there is room for improvement in its compression set, stain of a photosensitive member, and the material cost in applying the electric resistance control rubber composition to products such as the conductive roller, the conductive belt, and the like for use in the copying machine, the printer, and the like.
There is a possibility that some kind of additives such as metal ions, quaternary ammonium salts, and the like deteriorate the compression set of the ionic-conductive elastomer composition or stain the photosensitive member and are incapable of reducing the electric resistance value of the ionic-conductive elastomer composition sufficiently. The additives such as the urethane, NBR, and the like have a high electric resistance value. Thus the use of these additives do not contribute to realization of such a low volume specific resistance value as that specified by the present invention. Therefore these additives are unsuitable for conductive members for use in the copying apparatus, the printer, and the like.
It is conceivable that the ionic-conductive elastomer composition having a lower electric resistance value than the urethane contains ionic-conductive additives such as metal ions and quaternary ammonium salts. But this method does not necessarily provide a sufficiently low electric resistance value because in dependence on the amount and kind of the ionic-conductive additive, there is much possibility that the property of the ionic-conductive elastomer composition such as its compression set may be deteriorated and the ionic-conductive additive causes stain of the photosensitive member. In dependence on the mixing amount and kind of the salt, electric resistance value of the ionic-conductive elastomer composition increases much in successive energization and cannot be put into practical use.
In addition, the conductive members installed on printers of various types are demanded to have various properties besides having a low electric resistance value: They are demanded to have favorable mechanical properties such as sufficient wear resistance and strength. Further when they are used in an electrophotographic system, the conductive members for charging toner and a photosensitive drum are demanded to have appropriate electrostatic property on the surfaces thereof. It is difficult to compose the rubber layer of the conductive member of only one ionic-conductive elastomer. Thus it is necessary to optimize the properties of the rubber layer by adding various elastomers to comply with performance demanded in dependence on use.
However, in the case where the above elastomers is added to the ionic-conductive elastomer obtained by the conventional art to impart the above-described demanded properties to the ionic-conductive elastomer composition, the conductive member composed of the mixture has a high electric resistance value. Therefore the elastomers are mixed with the ionic-conductive elastomer in a range in which the mixture satisfies a predetermined electric resistance value. Consequently the mixture is low in its strength and wear resistance.
The development roller and the charging roller are the central component part of a printer which forms images by utilizing a static electricity. Thus it is necessary to charge toner and the photosensitive member sufficiently. In addition, the development roller and the charging roller are demanded to have a low electric resistance value in terms of the construction of the printer. Therefore a sufficient amount of elastomers cannot be added to the ionic-conductive elastomer, as described above. Thus it is impossible to adjust the electrostatic property of the surface of the development roller, the charging roller, and the like appropriately. Consequently the toner and the photosensitive member cannot be sufficiently charged and hence an appropriate image cannot be obtained. Accordingly image deterioration occurs during the early stages in a long-term use of the printer.

Conductive elastomer composition, conductive member using conductive elastomer composition, image-forming apparatus having conductive member


The present invention relates to packaging combination for accommodating and dispensing a viscous or granular filling material. The packaging combination comprises a tubular casing having a first end and a second end, wherein the tubular casing is closed at its first as well as its second end by a closure means. The packaging combination further comprises a dispensing device having a passageway extending through the dispensing device with an inlet opening at its one end and a dispensing opening at its other end for guiding and dispensing the filling material in a dispensing direction, and being attached to the first end closed tubular casing.

The present invention relates to a packaging combination for accommodating and dispensing a viscous or granular filling material according to claims 1, 13 and 28. The present invention further relates to a dispensing device according to claim 26 or 42 for being attached to a tubular casing as well as to a tubular casing to which a dispensing device according to claim 26 or 42 may be attached.
In particular, the present invention relates to a packaging combination for accommodating and dispensing a viscous or granular filling material, the packaging combination comprises a tubular casing having a first and a second end, wherein the tubular casing is partially filled with filling material and closed at its first as well as its second end by a closure means, like a closure clip, and wherein the packaging combination further comprises a dispensing device.
In practice, packaging combinations comprising a tubular casing filled with filling material and closed at its ends by closure means, and a dispensing device are known. The tubular casings of said packaging combinations are filled with various pasty filling materials, e.g. food stuff, like sausage meat, or adhesives, like silicone, etc.
From EP patent application 1 988 032, a tubular or sausage-shaped packaging is known, being filled with sausage meat. The sausage-shaped product is produced by closing a tubular casing at one end, filling the sausage meat into said tubular casing and closing the filled tubular casing at its respective other end. In order to allow an easier opening of the sausage-shaped product, perforation lines including a number of weak locations are provided on the casing, along which the casing may be opened by pulling off the casing material and dispensing the sausage meat.
In US patent application 2008/0274313, a sausage-shaped product similar to that of EP 1 988 032 is disclosed. In order to allow an easier opening of the casing material, a handle in form of a tear stripe is attached to the casing, particular between the two overlapping longitudinal edges of the casing material. Two material weakenings are provided at both sides of the tear stripe facilitating the opening of the casing.
Moreover, German laid open document 38 31 225 discloses a device for dispensing the filling material stored in a tubular or bag-shaped packing. The device includes a rigid tube having a dispensing nozzle at its one end. A bag-shaped casing has then to be containing a pasty filling material, like an adhesive, has to be opened at one end and has then to be positioned in said rigid tube with its opened end facing the dispensing nozzle. A piston matching the inner diameter of the tube is pushed into the tube, thereby squeezing the bag-shaped packaging and dispensing the filling material through the dispensing nozzle.
With this known packaging combination, it is of disadvantage that the rigid tube has outer circumferential dimensions being such that the complete bag-shaped casing can be accommodated in said rigid tube. If this known packaging combination is provided as a disposable device, this solution is expensive due to the big rigid tube being made from relatively expensive plastics. If this known packaging combination used such that only bag-shaped casing is thrown away and the rigid tube is used several times, the bag-shaped casing must be opened outside the tube so that, when the opened bag-shaped casing is introduced in the rigid tube, filling material can accidently discharged and can pollute the environment.
Thus, it is an object of the present invention to provide a packaging combination, with which the above mentioned drawbacks have been overcome, and which allows an easy and save opening of the tubular casing.


The invention comprises a pair of dual stripe magnetoresistive (DSMR) sensor elements with aligned edges of a pair of patterned magnetoresistive (MR) layers within the pair of dual stripe magnetoresistive (DSMR) sensor elements. A first embodiment of the dual stripe magnetoresistive (DSMR) sensor element employs a patterned first magnetoresistive (MR) layer, a patterned inter stripe dielectric layer and a patterned second magnetoresistive (MR) layer which are areally co-extensive, and thus have all edges thereof fully aligned. A second embodiment of the dual stripe magnetoresistive (DSMR) sensor element employs a patterned first magnetoresistive (MR) layer, a pattern ed inter stripe dielectric layer and a patterned second magnetoresistive (MR) layer, where: (1) at least a portion of an edge of the patterned first magnetoresistive (MR) layer, the pattern ed inter stripe dielectric layer and the patterned second magnetoresistive (MR layer opposite an air bearing surface (ABS) of the dual stripe magnetoresistive (DSMR) sensor element are fully aligned; and (2) there is employed a patterned backfilling dielectric layer covering those fully aligned edges of the patterned first magnetoresistive (MR) layer, the pattern ed inter stripe dielectric layer and the patterned second magnetoresistive (MR) layer, where the patterned backfilling dielectric layer does not completely cover a top surface of the patterned second magnetoresistive (MR) layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to dual stripe magnetoresistive (DSMR) sensor elements employed in dual stripe magnetoresistive (DSMR) read-write heads for magnetic data storage and retrieval. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method for forming a self-aligned dual stripe magnetoresistive (DSMR) sensor element employed within a dual stripe magnetoresistive (DSMR) read-write head for magnetic data storage and retrieval.
2. Description of the Related Art
The recent and continuing advances in computer and information technology have been made possible not only by the correlating advances in the functionality, reliability and speed of semiconductor integrated circuits, but also by the correlating advances in storage density of direct access storage devices (DASDs) employed in digitally encoded magnetic data storage and retrieval. Storage density of direct access storage devices (DASDs) is typically measured as areal storage density of a magnetic data storage medium formed upon a rotating magnetic data storage disk within a direct access storage device (DASD) enclosure. The areal storage density is defined largely by the track width, the track spacing and the linear magnetic domain density within the magnetic data storage medium. The track width, the track spacing and the linear magnetic domain density are in turn determined by several principal factors, including but not limited to: (1) the magnetic read-write characteristics of a magnetic read-write head employed in reading and writing digitally encoded magnetic data into and from the magnetic data storage medium; (2) the magnetic domain characteristics of the magnetic data storage medium which is formed upon the rotating magnetic data storage disk; and (3) the separation distance of the magnetic read-write head from the rotating magnetic data storage disk.
With regard to magnetic read-write heads employed in reading and writing digitally encoded magnetic data into and from a magnetic data storage disk, it has become common in the art to employ magnetoresistive (MR) sensor elements, and in particular dual stripe magnetoresistive (DSMR) sensor elements, as read elements within those magnetic read-write heads since magnetoresistive (MR) sensor elements, and in particular dual stripe magnetoresistive (DSMR) sensor elements, provide high output digital signals, with good linear resolution, independent of the relative velocity of a magnetic data storage medium with respect to the magnetoresistive (MR) sensor element or the dual stripe magnetoresistive (DSMR) sensor element.
Although dual stripe magnetoresistive (DSMR) read-write heads employing dual stripe magnetoresistive (DSMR) sensor elements have thus become quite common in reading and writing digitally encoded magnetic data into and from magnetic data storage media, dual stripe magnetoresistive (DSMR) read-write heads are not entirely without problems. In particular, it is known in the art that dual stripe magnetoresistive (DSMR) read-write heads of optimal read performance are typically only obtained when there is a matching of electrical and magnetic properties between the two magnetoresistive (MR) layers within the dual-stripe magnetoresistive (DSMR) sensor element from which is formed the dual stripe magnetoresistive (DSMR) read-write head. In general, the factors which affect the matching of the two magnetoresistive (MR) layers within a dual stripe magnetoresistive (DSMR) sensor element include but are not limited to: (1) the physical widths of the two magnetoresistive (MR) layers; (2) the alignment of the two magnetoresistive (MR) layers; (3) the read widths of the two magnetoresistive (MR) layers; (4) the sheet resistances of the two magnetoresistive (MR) layers; and (5) the magnetic properties of the two magnetoresistive (MR) layers. As areal density of digitally encoded magnetic data increases, tolerances within the foregoing factors typically need to be minimized to assure optimal read characteristics of digitally encoded magnetic data read with dual stripe magnetoresistive (DSMR) read-write heads. In particular, it is desired in order to assure optimal read properties of a dual stripe magnetoresistive (DSMR) sensor element to eliminate or minimize the tolerance variations with respect to width and/or alignment between the two magnetoresistive (MR) layers within the dual stripe magnetoresistive (DSMR) sensor element. It is towards that goal that the present invention is directed.
A first object of the present invention is to provide a method for minimizing tolerance variations with respect to the width and/or alignment between the two magnetoresistive (MR) layers within a dual stripe magnetoresistive (DSMR) sensor element.
A second object of the present invention is to provide a method in accord with the first object of the present invention, which method is readily manufacturable.
In accord with the objects of the present invention, there is provided by the present invention a method for minimizing tolerance variations with respect to width and/or alignment between the two magnetoresistive (MR) layers within a dual stripe magnetoresistive (DSMR) sensor element, as well as the dual stripe magnetoresistive (DSMR) sensor element formed through the method. To practice the method of the present invention, there is first provided a substrate having formed thereupon a pair of patterned first conductor lead layers which in turn has formed and aligned thereupon a pair of patterned first anti-ferromagnetic longitudinal magnetic biasing layers, where the horizontal separation of the pair of patterned first conductor lead layers and the pair of patterned first anti-ferromagnetic longitudinal magnetic biasing layers defines a track width of the substrate. There is then formed upon the substrate layer a blanket first magnetoresistive (MR) layer, where the blanket first magnetoresistive (MR) layer contacts and completely covers the track width of the substrate and contacts and at least partially covers the pair of patterned first anti-ferromagnetic longitudinal magnetic biasing layers. There is then formed upon the blanket first magnetoresistive (MR) layer a blanket inter-stripe dielectric layer. There is then formed upon the blanket inter-stripe dielectric layer a blanket second magnetoresistive (MR) layer. There is then formed upon the blanket second magnetoresistive (MR) layer a first lift off stencil. The first lift off stencil comprises: (1) a first etched patterned soluble underlayer; and (2) a first patterned masking layer formed upon and overhanging the first etched patterned soluble underlayer, where the first lift off stencil completely overlaps the track width of the substrate and at least partially overlaps the pair of patterned first anti-ferromagnetic longitudinal magnetic biasing layers. There is then employed the first lift off stencil as a first etch mask in forming from the blanket second magnetoresistive (MR) layer, the blanket inter stripe dielectric layer and the blanket first magnetoresistive (MR) layer a patterned second magnetoresistive (MR) layer, a patterned inter stripe dielectric layer and a patterned first magnetoresistive (MR) layer with fully aligned edges. There is then employed the first lift off stencil as a first lift off mask to form a patterned dielectric layer over the substrate, where the patterned dielectric layer covers the fully aligned edges of the patterned second magnetoresistive (MR) layer, the patterned inter stripe dielectric layer and the patterned first magnetoresistive (MR) layer. There is then removed the first lift off stencil from the patterned second magnetoresistive (MR) layer. There is then formed a second lift off stencil upon the patterned second magnetoresistive (MR) layer. The second lift off stencil comprises: (1) a second etched patterned soluble underlayer; and (2) a second patterned mask layer formed upon and overhanging the second etched patterned soluble underlayer, where the width of the second lift off stencil is substantially equal to and substantially centered within the track width of the substrate. The second lift-off stencil is then employed as a second lift off mask in forming upon the patterned second magnetoresistive (MR) layer a pair of patterned second anti-ferromagnetic longitudinal magnetic biasing layers having formed and aligned thereupon a pair of patterned second conductor lead layers. After forming upon the patterned second magnetoresistive (MR) layer the pair of patterned second longitudinal magnetic biasing layers having formed and aligned thereupon the pair of patterned second conductor lead layers, the second lift off stencil is removed from the patterned second magnetoresistive (MR) layer.
A second embodiment of the present invention employs a third lift off stencil as a third etch mask for trimming and aligning mis-aligned portions of: (1) a patterned first magnetoresistive (MR) layer having formed thereupon a pair of patterned first conductor lead layers; and (2) a patterned second magnetoresistive (MR) layer having formed thereupon a pair of patterned second conductor lead layers, within a dual stripe magnetoresistive (DSMR) sensor element, where: (1) the patterned first magnetoresistive (MR) layer is separated from the patterned second magnetoresistive (MR) layer by an inter stripe dielectric layer; and (2) the mis-aligned portions of the patterned first magnetoresistive (MR) layer and the patterned second magnetoresistive (MR) layer are trimmed and aligned on the side of the dual stripe magnetoresistive (DSMR) sensor element opposite the air bearing surface (ABS) side of the dual stripe magnetoresistive (DSMR) sensor element. The third lift off stencil is then employed as a third lift off mask in backfilling with a patterned dielectric layer the exposed edges of the trimmed patterned first magnetoresistive (MR) layer and the trimmed patterned second magnetoresistive (MR) layer.
There is provided by the present invention a method for minimizing tolerance variations with respect to the width and/or alignment between the two magnetoresistive (MR) layers within a dual stripe magnetoresistive (DSMR) sensor element. The first embodiment of the method of the present invention achieves this goal through sequentially patterning, while employing a first lift off stencil as a first etch mask, a blanket second magnetoresistive (MR) layer, a blanket inter stripe dielectric layer and a blanket first magnetoresistive (MR) layer to form a patterned second magnetoresistive (MR) layer, a patterned inter stripe dielectric layer and a patterned first magnetoresistive (MR) layer with fully aligned edges, while subsequently employing the first lift off stencil as a first lift off mask in forming a patterned dielectric layer which covers the fully aligned edges of the patterned second magnetoresistive (MR), the patterned inter stripe dielectric layer and the patterned first magnetoresistive (MR) layer formed from the corresponding blanket layers. The second embodiment of the method of the present invention achieves this goal through trimming, while employing a third lift off stencil as a third etch mask, mis-aligned portions of: (1) a patterned first magnetoresistive (MR) layer having formed thereupon a pair of patterned first conductor lead layers; and (2) a patterned second magnetoresistive (MR) layer having formed thereupon a pair of patterned second conductor lead layers, where: (1) the patterned first magnetoresistive (MR) layer is separated from the patterned second magnetoresistive (MR) layer by an inter stripe dielectric layer; and (2) the mis-aligned portions of the patterned first magnetoresistive (MR) layer and the patterned second magnetoresistive (MR) layer are trimmed and aligned on the side of a dual stripe magnetoresistive (DSMR) sensor element opposite the air bearing surface (ABS) side of the dual stripe magnetoresistive (DSMR) sensor element.
The method of the present invention is readily manufacturable. The first embodiment of the method of the present invention provides a novel ordering of dual stripe magnetoresistive (DSMR) sensor element fabrication processes generally known in the art of dual stripe magnetoresistive sensor (DSMR) sensor element fabrication. Both the first embodiment of the method of the present invention and the second embodiment of the method of the present invention employ lift off stencils sequentially as: (1) etch masks for forming at least partially aligned magnetoresistive (MR) layers within dual stripe magnetoresistive (DSMR) sensor elements; and (2) lift off masks for forming patterned insulator layers covering the edges of the aligned magnetoresistive (MR) layers within the dual stripe magnetoresistive (DSMR) sensor elements. Since methods and materials through which lift off stencils may be formed are similarly generally known in the art of dual stripe magnetoresistive (DSMR) sensor element fabrication, the first embodiment of the method of the present invention and the second embodiment of the method of the present invention are readily manufacturable.

Dual stripe magnetoresistive (DSMR) head with co-extensive magnetoresistive (MR)/dielectric/magnetoresistive (MR) stack layer edges


The present invention provides a method for reusing and verifying electronic circuits, including the following steps of comparing company part numbers of new circuit design with company part numbers of previous circuit design; determining whether the company part numbers of the new circuit design are identical to the company part numbers of the previous circuit design; reporting the same company part numbers between the new circuit design and the previous circuit if the company part numbers of the new circuit design are identical to the company part numbers of the previous circuit design; determining whether the circuit fingerprints of the new circuit design match the circuit fingerprints of the previous circuit design; and verifying and reporting that the previous circuit design is reused in the new circuit design if the circuit fingerprints of the new circuit design match the circuit fingerprints of the previous circuit design.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic circuit design, and more particularly, to a method for verifying that portions of a previous electronic design are reused in a new electronic design.
2. The Prior Arts
With the rapid development of semiconductor technology and electronic circuit design techniques, a number of different and complex printed circuit boards (PCBs) have been designed in industry. PCBs include the placement of electronic components, such as resistors, capacitors, transistors and the metallic interconnect of these components laminated onto a non-conductive substrate, via conductive traces, pads and other features.
In response to the complex electronic circuit design and the design time requirement, Electronic Design Automation (EDA) software and Electrical Computer Aided Design (ECAD) software are widely used in the design, testing and verification of PCBs.
Each of the components includes a unique reference designator (such as U1, R1, C27, etc.) in the circuit design. Each of the components can be logically represented as a graphic symbol that shows the component, together with its pins. In addition, each pin may have a unique alphanumeric designation as well as a use description. The circuit designer may logically connect the pins of the various components to form electrical nets performing dedicated functions such as sending data bits, comparing two bits of data, a voltage amplifier etc. Each of the electrical nets performing such a function is known as a circuit. A number of circuits are connected together to form an electronic design. The connection between the components of electronic circuits along with their pins can be represented as a text file that may be exported from the EDA software and the ECAD software.
Each component has a manufacturer's part number. Companies that use these components in their PCB designs typically assign their own company part number to each component. The same components provided by different manufacturers often have the same form, fit and function, such that they will have the same company part number. Therefore, the same circuit design may use different manufacturers' parts for the same component number. Also, the company part numbers and pin numbers are included in their EDA software and ECAD software.
When creating a new electronic design, circuit designers typically reuse portions of previous electronic designs as those circuits may function correctly in the relevant applications. Additionally, only a small portion of the previous electronic design is often changed to create the new electronic design.
However, it is necessary to ensure that the new electronic design performs correctly while the reused portion of the previous electronic design is copied exactly to the new electronic design. Manually checking that the reused portion of the previous electronic design has been correctly copied is laborious, and will often miss errors.
For the sake of meeting the requirements of reducing design errors and shortening the development time of a new electronic designs, it is necessary to provide a method of automating the comparison between the previous electronic design and the new electronic design.

Method for reusing and verifying electronic circuits

Celestica Technology Consultancy (Shanghai) Co. Ltd.


The disclosure relates to a tubular component for a chassis of a vehicle, wherein the tubular component may include an extruded profile made of an aluminum alloy. The extruded profile may include a rounded extruded profile base and profile walls extending from the rounded extruded profile base and facing one another, wherein the profile walls are curved towards one another to form the tubular component.

The present disclosure relates to a tubular component for a chassis of a vehicle with an extruded profile, in particular with an extruded profile made of an aluminum alloy.
For stabilizing wheel suspensions in a chassis of a vehicle, longitudinal supports and transverse supports are used in order to provide an effective absorption of occurring forces.

Tubular component with an extruded profile


Various techniques may be implemented to isolate a receive signal from a transmit signal in an antenna. Signal isolation is desirable because it prevents interference of the signals with one another and minimizes signal noise, which reduces the signal quality. Some of the techniques are symmetry of at least two receive channels with regards to a transmit channel, using differential signals within the antenna, designing receive channel inputs to be orthogonal to a transmit channel, and designing a voltage controlled oscillator to be on the same substrate as the tuning circuitry of the voltage controlled oscillator.

Automotive radar products are typically made by assembling a number of discrete components on one or more printed circuit boards. Thus, automotive radar products are typically undesirably bulky. Moreover, existing automotive radar products tend to suffer from self-interference between a transmit signal and a receive signal of the radar device. To reduce the self-interference, radar product designs often incorporate several techniques that tend to increase the size and cost of the product. For example, the discrete components, or groups of discrete components, are somewhat isolated from each other by distance and/or other radio frequency (RF) isolation barriers configured to reduce the self-interference.
In traditional radar embodiments, and with reference to FIG. 1A, a transmitter and a receiver are made up of discrete components. Single signal lines connect the individual components to each other and a digital signal processor (DSP) module 110. Moreover, assembling discrete components results in an overall size increase in comparison to highly integrated circuit architecture.
Additionally, current narrowband frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) automotive radar products transmit a signal with a frequency ramp in discrete frequency steps. The discrete frequency steps are created using a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) integrated circuit 154 to tune a free-running voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) 101. With reference to FIG. 1B, the VCO 101 is typically built with a discrete GaAs FET and a discrete varactor diode. The DAC 154 is typically located on DSP module 110 and an analog tuning voltage control signal is communicated from the DSP module to an RF module 105 containing VCO 101. However, traversing a board-to-board connection makes the analog tuning voltage control signal more susceptible to noise. The source of tuning noise may be a PWM 152, DAC 154, an adder or summing circuit, or interface induced noise.
In this typical architecture of a board-to-board connection, DAC 154 is placed in close proximity to VCO 101 to limit noise coupling with the output of DAC 154. However, the proximity of DAC 154 to VCO 101 should also be limited due to digital noise from the DAC programming lines. The balancing of these two limitations commonly results in isolation of VCO 101 from DAC 154 using metal compartments, again causing the system to be larger and more costly.
Typically, making an automotive radar product smaller has the result of worsening the isolation between transmit and receive signals. Nevertheless, a need exists for a more compact radar embodiment having improved isolation of transmit and receive signals. This invention addresses these needs and others.


A transducer array comprises a conductive back plate 32, a conductive front plate 33 having openings 62, and a plurality of piezoelectric vibrator elements 31 located in an array between the plates. The vibrator elements 31 are two-layer elements which each include a metal portion 311 and a PZT element 312. These elements 311, 312 are in electrical contact with the respective plates. The vibrator elements 31 are attached to support elements 51 upstanding as part of the back plate 32. The transducer array can be formed as a batch process in which the vibrator elements 31 are formed simultaneously, and then simultaneously attached to the support elements 51.

It is well know in the art to use piezoelectric devices as ultrasonic transducers. For example ceramic-based piezoelectric lead zircomate titanate (PZT) is used in commercially available ultrasonic transducers. FIG. 1 illustrates a typical prior art PZT ultrasonic transducer, including a two-layer transducer element 10 with a poled PZT sheet 11 bonded with a metal sheet 12.
The transducer element 10 is fixed by silicone adhesive 14 on a ceramic support 13 within a case 18. A pair of pins 15 are electrically connected to the PZT layer 11 and are fixed in place though the ceramic support 13 by an adhesive 16. The transducer element 10 is deflected when an external voltage is supplied though the pins 15. This provides larger displacements around the centre of the element.
In order to intensify the transducer-to-air coupling efficiency, a lightweight cone 17 is attached to the centre of the transducer element 10. A number of sound emission holes 19 are provided in the case 18, in front of the cone 17. This device is good for many applications, but its parametric ability and maximum sound pressure level are limited due to its size.
When applied to a parametric audio system, such elements may be used in an array form using many elements for effective parametric conversion. FIG. 2 is an example of an ultrasonic transducer array employing this type of commercial PZT transducer elements for a parametric speaker. Four elements are displayed, all attached to one support frame 21 through pins 15. Electrical wiring is provided so that all the transducers 10 are connected in series, so they all respond equally and concurrently to an applied voltage. Building the ultrasonic transducer array in such a way is straightforward, but unfortunately there exist a few important technical problems.
Firstly, it is difficult to align all the transducer elements. Ideally the central axis (line c-c′ in FIG. 2) in each element would be perfectly perpendicular to the support frame 21 and all the elements would be at the same level. However since there are non-uniform adhesion points 16 sandwiched between the transducer's ceramic plate 13 and the support frame 21 this is highly difficult to achieve in practice. As a result, each transducer element has a slightly different phase which limits the overall performance.
Secondly, the case 18 or even the ceramic plate 13 of each transducer occupies substantial space, making it more difficult to provide a thin and compact array aperture for mobile device applications. Furthermore, the case 18 tends to increase the centre-to-centre distance between adjacent transducer elements, which is not conducive to suppressing the side-lobes of the transmitted ultrasonic wave.
Thirdly, placing commercial transducers onto a support frame one by one to form an array, and electrically connecting them one by one, limit manufacturability and decrease both uniformity and repeatability.

Ultrasonic transducer array and a method for making a transducer array


A data input device and method are provided. The data input device provides an input module, which may be applied to electronic devices or portable terminals, consisting of a number of separation pairs, and the input module includes a number of A separated indication positions and a number of B separated indication positions which are disposed as each A-B type based on a predetermined separation reference line, in two sides, that is, an A separated segment and a B separated segment which are ambilaterally divided based on the separation reference line, so that a data input may be individually or continuously performed by means of an input selection to the one or more separated indication positions.

Recently, electronic devices or portable terminals tend to be further miniaturized and handheld computerized due to a rapid development of hardware and software such as semi-conductor technologies, information processing technologies, communication technologies, etc. Therefore, a data input in various kinds of electronic devices or portable terminals gradually becomes more important. However, input devices in these electronic devices or portable terminals have some problems of inputting various kinds of data. For example, a keyboard type input device used in a Personal Computer (PC), a Notebook, a Netbook, etc. has a limit to reduce the size, so that there is a difficulty in miniaturization of the size of the electronic devices.
In addition, an input device of a touch screen type used in a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a Smart Phone, etc. has a difficulty in performing works requiring fast speed because its input speed is slow when various kinds of data are inputted during office work, web work, games, etc.
Furthermore electronic devices or portable terminals use a certain part of the screen in a display unit as an input interface at the time of input. Therefore, workability on the display unit screen becomes lower, which causes inconvenience.
Moreover, it is not easy that as soon as a finger is put on an input unit or an input surface of cellular phones, portable terminals, etc., whole input selecting positions of each input key or input button are recognized through a fingertip, so that users feel difficulty in easily and quickly performing a continuous input operation at the time of input.
Besides, when one phoneme or data input is performed in an input device through an one-time input operation, Hangeul, that is, the Korean alphabet, requires more than twenty four input keys or buttons for inputting characters to be arranged on the input device, English does more than twenty six input keys or buttons, and Japanese or other languages does input keys or buttons more than Hangeul or English. In addition, as miniaturized electronic devices or portable terminals are advancing to handheld POs, the electronic devices or portable terminals are increasingly demanded to have an input device which can input all the data of a conventional keyboard including characters, a variety of command keys such as Enter key, Space key, Shift key, Conversion key, etc., function keys (F keys), special keys, specific function keys, symbols, etc. Furthermore, the electronic devices or portable terminals, which are remarkably advancing day by day, are facing a more important problem in which a display unit screen and a configuration of an input device are in proper harmony together while at the same time size adjustment and disposition are achieved. Specifically, although it is preferred that small electronic devices or portable terminals, which are relatively smaller than fixed type electronic devices, configure a display unit screen to be larger as users increasingly make a demand for a larger screen when using multimedia or video data, an input device cannot be provided larger than a predetermined size so as to be suitable for portability.
For this reason, conventional cellular phones or portable terminals are so configured that finger-sized keys or buttons are arranged less than the number in a predetermined formation such as 4×3 or 5×3, etc., and a number of data of Hangeul, English, or other languages are respectively assigned to the input keys or buttons in an overlapping manner, so that users can input a data by repeatedly selecting a corresponding input key several times when inputting desired data.
For example, input methods such as Cheon-Ji-In Hangeul, EZ Hangeul, SKY Hangeul, etc. are developed and used. However, the Cheon-Ji-In Hangeul input method has an advantage that reduces the number of input buttons to which data are assigned because desired data are generated by means of a combination of predetermined basic data, and, conversely, a disadvantage that increases input time and typing errors according to a lengthened moving line because a data input is performed not by means of an input operation having a short moving line in a state in which whole input selecting positions are respectively recognized at the time of data input, but by means of an input operation continuously moving a finger to each corresponding input button among a number of the input buttons untouched to a finger.
In addition, although there has been suggested an input method technique such as a keyboard which can be carried with being rolled up or folded, this input device always carried, thereby causing great inconvenience.
Moreover, there has been suggested an input method technique such as a virtual keyboard performing an input by projecting a keyboard Image onto the position of a predetermined space and sensing input operations of fingers on the image in a three-dimensional way.
However, these kinds of input devices can perform a data input in a predetermined space or designated position only, thereby having a difficulty in being applied to mobile electronic devices which can perform an input work at anytime and anywhere.
As described above, electronic devices or portable terminals are required to make input devices to be more miniaturized or compact so as to be used more conveniently while in motion, and the needs of users to portability and convenience is more and more getting increasing. In other words, there is a growing demand of the input device which can use a whole screen of a display unit better and input the desired data more easily and quickly at the time of input.
Considering such a situation, the electronic devices or portable terminals are required to configure an input device providing an input unit in which en input surface having a number of input selecting positions is recognized as one input unit, and the whole input selecting positions are recognized around the middle of a fingertip when a finger is put on the input unit, so that each of the input selecting positions can be individually or continuously selected in an easy and quick manner by means of a short input moving line of a finger and an input operation according to the position recognition at the time of input.


A capsule endoscope includes a capsule portion. The capsule portion includes at least an observation optical unit having an image pick-up element and an optical lens that forms an objective optical system, an illuminating unit having an illuminating substrate, an electroluminescence light source, and a light-emitting control circuit, a peripheral-circuit part which forms various circuits having a signal processing circuit, a receiving and transmitting circuit, and a control circuit, and a power source unit which supplies power to the observation optical unit, the illuminating unit, and the peripheral-circuit part.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a capsule endoscope which picks up an image of the body cavity by introducing, in the living body, a capsule portion incorporating an observation optical unit and an illuminating unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, an endoscope apparatus has recently been used. In the endoscope apparatus, an observing unit arranged to an edge portion of an elongated inserting portion of an endoscope is inserted to an observed portion in the body cavity as a target. The observing unit faces the observed portion as the target and thus an observed image of the observed portion as the target is displayed on a screen of an observing device.
The endoscope in the endoscope apparatus comprises an observing unit which captures an image of a subject in the body cavity and an observing device which displays an observed image, which are connected by an elongated inserting portion. Therefore, the inserting portion needs to be inserted near the observed portion as the target so that the observing unit faces the observed portion as the target and the observed image is obtained. However, the inserting portion must be smoothly introduced near the observed portion as the target with skilled art.
In recent years, a capsule endoscope apparatus integrally having a capsule endoscope and an observing device has been proposed. The capsule endoscope integrally includes an observation optical unit, an illuminating unit, and a receiving and transmitting device in a capsule portion.
Therefore, the capsule portion is swallowed like a tablet and then the observed image of the subject captured by the observing unit is transmitted to the observing device as an external device via the receiving and transmitting device. Thus, the observed image of the subject captured by the observing unit in the capsule portion is displayed on a screen of the observing device.
For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2001-91860 discloses a capsule endoscope. The capsule endoscope includes an objective lens in an inner space formed by approximately semi-spherical transparent cover and a light emitting diode arranged to sandwich the objective lens. In the capsule endoscope, a subject is illuminated by the light emitting diode, an image of the subject is formed on an image sensor by an objective optical system, and the observed image is obtained.

Capsule endoscope with electroluminescence light source


An engine oil filter assembly and method for removing solid and liquid contaminants from engine oil. After solid contaminants are removed by passing the oil under engine pressure upwardly through a fibrous filter element within a lower portion of a canister, the oil is then forced through a separator after which the filtered oil under pressure decompresses. A lid having a downwardly sloping central portion is closely spaced above a similar sloping central portion of the separator to define a heating channel therebetween. A heating element in fluid isolation from the heating channel radiates heat through the central lid portion to vaporize liquid contaminants still in the oil, the vaporized contaminants discharging through a vapor vent in the lid, the decontaminated oil passing by gravity through the heating channel into a drain insert and back into the engine via an oil return port.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to bypass filtration units for internal combustion engines and more particularly to an engine oil filter which is preferably reusable and provides both solid and liquid contaminant removal from engine oil.
2. Description of Related Art
Filtration or the removal of solid contaminants from engine oil via a canister bypass or flow-through filter is well known. As engine oil is circulated throughout an operating engine, solid contaminants are picked up and carried within the engine oil and, if not properly removed, can result in excessive or premature wear of the closely fitting internal engine components. The engine oil, typically operating at a pressure of about 40 to 60 psi, will produce a substantial force driving the engine oil into and through such canister oil filters for return to the engine crank case leaving solid contaminants within the canister filter.
One previous bypass filter design included no means for preventing oil flow stoppage therethrough due to debris clogging of oil passages while leakage around the internal separator plate allowing the oil to circumvent the separator plate and to drain back out into the oil pan without proper filtration are well known problems therewith.
For those oil filter designs which do not include a check valve means in the oil inlet, contaminated oil could easily drain back into the engine oil pan causing a time delay before oil refills the oil filter. Such prior art oil filters also have to be mounted level for best performance, any off level installation likely leading to a collection of oil on the lower side of the separation plate decreasing the filtration efficiency and occasionally causing oil leakage.
Previous oil filters which included a cal rod heating element positioned such heating elements in the bottom surface of the lid exposed to engine oil, leading to leakage around the ring holding it in place. Oil would also seep out from the filter around the electric terminal openings in the lid.
The present oil filter resolves these problems by allowing the filter to be mounted at up to a 45° angle without loss of filtration efficiency or leakage and includes a heating element which is not exposed to engine oil but yet is effective by its close proximity to oil passing through the filter to vaporize liquid contaminants for vented removal from the filter.
The foregoing examples of the related art and limitations related therewith are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive. Other limitations of the related art will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon a reading of the specification and a study of the drawings.


Example embodiments may include one or more of receiving an electrical sound emission signal from a sound controller, interrupting reception of the electrical sound emission signal, by a sound emission interruption circuit connected to a sound emitter, and receiving an electrical ambient sound signal via a sound detection circuit, based on ambient sound sensed by the sound emitter when the reception of the electrical sound emission signal is interrupted by the sound emission interruption circuit.

There is an ongoing need to provide users of sound systems, such as sound masking systems, with an improved understanding of the acoustic environment in which the sound systems are used. In the field of sound masking, for example, in open-plan spaces, there is an ongoing need to improve the ability to make decisions to manage noise levels for increased productivity and privacy.

Acoustic monitoring using a sound masking emitter as a sensor


A connection between a side rail and a structural part at the front of a motor vehicle, the structural part having a top edge situated in the vicinity of a zone of the bodywork that might receive an impact from the head or the hip of a pedestrian, wherein the connection comprises force-opposing means enabling the side rail to oppose the vertical forces to which the part is subjected, and wherein said means are collapsible.

The top cross-member of a cooling unit or of an equipment front face is generally installed in such a manner as to present a hard point when subjected to an impact against the head or the hip of a pedestrian.
Such rigidity makes such a top cross-member dangerous for pedestrians in the event of an impact against the head or the hip since no energy-absorbing stroke is available. On the contrary, the cross-member is dimensioned to withstand a force of up to 3000 newtons (N) over the entire width of the vehicle. Thus, the cross-member contributes directly to ensuring that the structure of the vehicle is rigid.

Connection between a side rail and a structural part of the front of a motor vehicle


A method of printing with a fluid jet printer (10) is provided. The printer (10) has a printhead (12) with a fluid ejecting face (12a) facing a recording medium (14), the fluid ejecting face (12a) having at least one fluid ejector (18) arranged thereon. The method includes: imparting movement to at least one of the fluid ejector (18) and the recording medium (14) such that the recording medium (14) moves relative to the fluid ejector (18) along a fast scan direction (32) at a velocity (vm); and, selectively ejecting fluid from the fluid ejector (18) toward the recording medium (14) as the movement is being imparted, such that: (i) a main drop is formed and has a first velocity (vd) in a first direction; and, (ii) a satellite droplet is formed and has a second velocity (vs) in a second direction that forms an angle (θ) with respect to the first direction, wherein θ substantially satisfies the equation: tan θ=vm[1/(vs cos θ)−1/vd].

The present inventive subject matter relates to the imaging arts. It finds particular application in conjunction with ink jet image rendering devices, and will be described with particular reference thereto. However, one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that it is also amenable to other like applications.
Fluid ejector systems, such as drop-on-demand liquid ink jet printers, utilize various methods to eject fluids, including but not limited to piezoelectric, acoustic, and thermal methods. These systems often include a printhead having an ink ejecting face that faces a recording medium, such as a sheet of paper. Included in the printhead is an array of fluid ejectors from which drops of fluid are ejected towards a recording medium, substantially normal thereto.
In a printing operation, commonly, at least one of the printhead and recording medium are advanced such that they move relative to one another while the fluid ink is being ejected. Typically, the relative movement between the printhead and recording medium is along a so called fast scan direction which is substantially parallel to the plane of the recording medium and substantially perpendicular to the array of ejectors which are typically aligned in a so called slow scan direction. In some applications, a so called wide array printhead is employed where the ejectors are aligned along substantially the entire width of the medium which is typically advanced unidirectionally past the printhead. See, for example, the page width fluid ejector printer described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,192,959, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Typically, for each ejector, a channel or capillary is defined to contain the fluid ink. Propelling pulses are used to cause the drops of fluid to be expelled at desired times from orifices or nozzles that are located on the ink ejecting face of the printhead and that are defined at one end of each of the channels. A supply container supplies the fluid to the plurality of channels.
For example, in a thermal fluid ejection system, the propelling pulses are produced, for example, by resistive heaters that are selectively energized. A heater is typically provided for each of the channels. Each heater is typically individually addressable to heat and vaporize fluid in one of the channels thereby ejecting a drop from the nozzle of the channel coupled to the addressed heater.
Typically, in addition to the main drop formed and ejected, a satellite droplet is also formed and ejected. For example, this phenomena is described in a published U.S. Patent Application to Freire, et al., Pub. No. U.S. 2003/0179258, incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
The velocity of the satellite droplet is generally smaller than the velocity of the main drop. Accordingly, the relative movement between the recording medium and the printhead tends to result in the lagging satellite droplet landing on the recording medium in front of the main drop relative to the printhead fast scan direction. When the satellite droplets land on the recording medium outside the landing of their corresponding main drop, undesirable image artifacts can arise. For example, edges in the rendered image may appear ragged, or the effective area of ink coverage may be undesirably increased.
Accordingly, a new and improved apparatus and/or method for ink jet printing is disclosed that overcomes the above-referenced problems and others.

Controlling direction of satellite droplet ejection in ink jet printer


An inspecting method comprises the following steps. A plurality of defect inspection devices is formed on a wafer. Each defect inspection device comprises an insulating layer and a conductive layer stacked over the insulating layer. A defect inspection parameter is set and the wafer is scanned with an electron beam to obtain a plurality of defect signals. The number of defect signals is checked to determine if it is equal to the number of defect inspection devices. If the number of defect signals is smaller than the number of defect inspection devices, the defect inspection parameter is readjusted and the aforementioned step of performing an electron beam scanning and checking for equality between the number of defect signals and the number of defect inspection devices are repeated. The process is complete when the number of defect signals is at least equal to the number of defect inspection devices.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a defect inspection device and an inspecting method thereof. More particularly, the present invention relates to a defect inspection device and an inspecting method thereof with using an electron beam.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the continuous research in the technique of fabricating ultra large scale integrated circuits, the level of integration of integrated circuits on a wafer increases many folds. As circuits and devices are miniaturized, very small manufacturing defects have become a significant factor affecting overall quality of the product. In the past decade, defect inspection for detecting manufacturing defects has become a part of the standard manufacturing procedure. Typically, defect inspection is a statistical sampling procedure that applies to defect prone or defect sensitive manufacturing steps.
The conventional method of detecting defects on a wafer is basically a trial and error method. First, a defect inspection parameter is set and a wafer scanning is carried out. According to the defect signal, the operator singles out and opens up the defective device to perform an inspection to confirm if the device is really a defective device. If the device is really defective, the defect inspection parameter can be used to inspect the same batch of wafers. If the device is found not to be defective, the defect inspection parameter is reset and another inspection is performed until a device returning a defect signal is actually defective. Although the aforementioned trial and error method of finding the inspection parameter is effective, the procedure is long and tedious.
In another inspection method disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,451,185 B1, an optical inspection device is used to detect purposely laid defective elements on a wafer so that a suitable defect inspection parameter is obtained. The parameter is then applied to perform a subsequent inspection. However, the defective elements purposely laid on the wafer are subjected to certain character restrictions imposed by defect detection with an optical inspection device. For example, the defective element must have a reflective upper surface so that the type of material that can be used for forming the defective element is limited. Furthermore, the need to fabricate these defective elements increases the complexity of fabricating the original wafer.

Inspecting method of a defect inspection device


Systems, apparatuses, and methods for a handheld image translation device configured to detect an edge of a target print medium to prevent unintended deposition of a printing substance are described herein. The handheld image translation device, which may be a printing device, may include a print head, a position module, and a print module. The print head may be configured to deposit one or more printing substances onto a first surface such as a target print surface. The position module may be configured to receive data from navigation sensors indicating a first surface characteristic of the first surface, and to determine whether at least a portion of the print head is positioned over a second surface having a second surface characteristic different from the first characteristic, wherein the determination is made by detecting a characteristic other than the first surface characteristic as indicated by data received from the navigation sensors.

Traditional image translation devices including multifunction devices (e.g., print/fax/copy/scan devices) and single function devices, such as printing devices, rely on a mechanically operated carriage to transport a print head in a linear direction as other mechanics advance a print medium in an orthogonal direction. As the print head moves over the print medium an image may be laid down. Portable printers have been developed through technologies that reduce the size of the operating mechanics. However, the principles of providing relative movement between the print head and print medium remain the same as traditional printing devices. Accordingly, these mechanics limit the reduction of size of the printer as well as the material that may be used as the print medium.
Handheld image translation devices such as handheld printing devices have been developed that ostensibly allow an operator to manipulate the handheld device over a print medium in order to print an image onto the medium. However, these devices are challenged by the unpredictable and nonlinear movement of the device by the operator. The variations of operator movement, including rotation of the device itself, make it difficult to determine the precise location of the print head. This type of positioning error may have deleterious effects of the quality of the printed image.
Another issue that may arise when such handheld devices are used is the problem of unintentional or untended deposition of printing substances onto a surface other than the surface of the target print medium. That is, with conventional handheld devices, the current approach for determining the edge or boundary of the target print medium is to rely on users' own judgment to make such determinations. This may be a less than ideal solution for preventing the printing device from accidentally moving off the print medium and dispensing printing substances, such as, for example, ink, onto surfaces other than the surface of the target print medium.
For example, if the target print medium is a sheet of paper that has been placed on a table top, the user of such a handheld printing device could easily and unintentionally slide the printing device beyond the boundaries of the paper. This may result in the accidental and unintended deposition of the printing substance onto the underlying table top. This may be a particularly troublesome issue, for example, when the image to be created is bigger than the paper since the device will continue to dispense the printing substance even after the device has moved off the print medium. Thus, it may be particularly advantageous to have a handheld image translation device that can automatically determine the edge or the boundaries of the print medium.

Detecting edge of a print medium with a handheld image translation device


This invention relates to the preparation and purification of high-X (“chi”) diblock copolymers. Such copolymers contain two segments (“blocks”) of polymers with significantly different interaction parameters and can be used in directed self-assembly applications.

Directed self-assembly (DSA) is a technique in which diblock copolymers (BCP) containing dissimilar and non-intermixing blocks self-segregate into domains of homogeneous blocks. These domains may yield random patterns or, when directed, give well-defined and highly regular structures dictated by the molecular weight of each block. The ability of DSA to provide very small (sub-20-nm features) has quickly moved this technology into consideration as a viable option for integrated circuit production and semiconductor manufacturing processes.
DSA is also being investigated as a method for preparing nano-structured surfaces with unique surface physical properties. Possible applications include changing the hydrophobicity of surfaces due to incorporation of nano-structures and providing sites for unique chemical catalysts. DSA has promising applications in biomedical areas, including: drug delivery; protein purification, detection, and delivery; gene transfection; antibacterial or antifouling materials; and cytomimetic chemistry.
The ability to self-assemble is dependent on the Flory-Huggins Interaction Parameter (x). Higher values of x allow for lower molecular weight polymers to assemble, leading to smaller block domains and hence feature sizes, since the natural feature pitch (Lo) of lamellae-forming diblock copolymers is proportional to the degree of polymerization. It also allows for greater thermodynamic driving force to direct assembly onto either physically or chemically differentiated surfaces. To meet the needs of applications such as magnetic storage and semiconductor devices, many recent efforts have been aimed at achieving long-range ordering, good feature registration, and accurate pattern placement with very few defects. For example, a thin film of polystyrene/poly(methyl methacrylate) diblock copolymers can be spin-cast from a dilute toluene solution, then annealed, to form a hexagonal array of poly(methylmethacrylate) cylinders in a matrix of polystyrene (K. W. Guarini et al., Adv. Mater. 2002, 14, No. 18, 1290-4). Patterns of parallel lines have also been produced using PS-b-PMMA on chemically nanopatterned substrates (S. O. Kim et al., Nature, 2003, 424, 411-4).
Although there have been reports of using blends of diblock copolymers with the corresponding homopolymer(s) in forming patterns via directed self-assembly (e.g., US 2008/0299353), it is believed that there could be advantages in using block copolymers that are substantially free of homopolymer contaminants so that the composition of such blends can be more precisely controlled. However, it can be quite difficult to achieve the desired level of purity of the diblock copolymer without resorting to complex time- and resource-intensive procedures or sacrificing yield. Examples of attempts to achieve this desired end result are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,521,094; US 2008/0093743; US 2008/0299353; US 2010/0294740; and WO 2011/151109. However, none of these procedures produced a product suitable for DSA applications.
Therefore, there remains a need for scalable processes for separating homopolymer contaminants from the corresponding diblock copolymer.

Preparation, purification and use of high-X diblock copolymers