A method and an apparatus thereof display a key pad and solve the trouble and difficulty of a user in selecting the key pad displayed in a terminal having a touch screen. The method detects a touch gesture with respect to the touch screen; determines whether the detects touch gesture is zoom-out; displays thumbnails representing key pads, respectively, when the detected touch gesture is the zoom-out; and displays a key pad of a selected thumbnail when one of the displayed thumbnails is selected by a user.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for displaying a key pad, and more particularly, to a method for displaying a key pad for data input in a terminal having a touch screen, and an apparatus thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, with the significant development of information and communication technology and semiconductor technology, supply and use of all types of portable terminals have rapidly increased. In particular, recent portable terminals have developed to a mobile convergence stage including traditional unique fields and other terminal fields. Further, a portable terminal in the prior art may include a touch screen and performs various functions in response to a touch gesture.
The portable terminal stores various key pads such that a user may input various data through a touch screen. Here, the key pads may be classified by types of data. That is, the key pads may be classified into a character key pad, a numeric key pad, and a sign or symbol key pad. Further, the key pads may be classified by forms. That is, the key pads may be classified into a QWERTY key pad, a 3*4 key pad, and a split key pad. In addition, in the prior art, the portable terminal separately displays a button or a menu screen for selecting a key pad. That is, a user touches the button or the menu screen to select a desired key pad. Further, the portable terminal in the prior art displays a key pad selected by the user among the key pads as described above. However, since there are various key pads, it is inconvenient and complicated for a user to select a specific key pad. That is, to call or access a desired key pad, the user repeatedly touches a selection button of the key pad or repeatedly calls or accesses the menu screen. This may be a cumbersome procedure.

Method and apparatus for displaying keypad in terminal having touch screen


An earphone with a sound guiding tube is provided. The sound guiding tube has an external chamber beside the ear. Compared with a conventional earphone which transmits sound directly into the ear, the earphone of the present invention has a external chamber which forms sound field outside the ear and then transmits the sound into the ear through a sound guiding tube in a particular angle. The earphone of the invention is suitable for stereo sound source or multiple-channel sound sources and will reduce damage caused by wearing the earphone for a long time.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an earphone. More particularly, the present invention relates to an earphone with a sound guiding tube which can form sound in the chamber of the sound guiding tube and transmit the sound into listener's ears.
2. Description of Related Art
The conventional earphone is to transmit the sound of a speaker directly into a listener's internal ears in 180°. If worn for a long time, the listener's internal ears may be damaged, for example, the audition of the listener may be impaired etc. FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional earphone. Referring to FIG. 1, according to the conventional earphone 100, the speaker is disposed on the earphone case 120 and connected to the sound source through the signal circuit 130. When the earphone 100 is used, the earphone case 120 and the speaker 110 thereon are inserted into the ear. Since the speaker 110 and part of the earphone case 120 have to be placed into the ear, the chamber size the speaker 110 can have in the earphone case 120 is strictly limited, thus, the sound effect of large space or multiple-channel sound effect cannot be achieved.
If a user wants to have the sound effect of large space or multiple-channel effect, large non-plug headphone can be used, as shown in FIG. 2. According to the conventional headphone 200, one or multiple speakers (not shown) are disposed in the large volume cases 210 and 220, and the headphone covers 212 and 222 transmit the sound into the listener's ear after signals are transmitted to the internal speakers through the signal circuit 230. However, compared to the earphone, such conventional headphone 200 is too large and is not suitable for today's popular portable music player or video player. Thus, how to allow a user to carry a small-sized and light-weighted portable music player or video player with a small-volume earphone having the effect of large space and multiple-channels has become the main objective of the industry.


A process for producing organic acid di- or tri-esters, particularly citric acid tri-esters, with the available acid groups esterified using countercurrent reactive distillation using acid catalysts in a structured packing is described. In the reactive distillation an organic acid di- or tri-ester is formed by chemical reaction and purified to its final state within the single column. Organic acid di- or tri-esters are produced at relatively low cost, with less waste production in by-products of the reaction, and in a less complicated manner than prior processes. Organic acid di- and tri-esters have uses as solvents, as plasticizers and in conversion products.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a process for the countercurrent, reactive distillation, esterification of organic di- and tri-acids with lower alcohols (C1 to C8) with the available acid groups esterified. Specifically, the present invention relates to citric acid tri-esterification using reactive distillation with the alcohols, particularly ethanol.
(2) Description of the Related Art
There has been considerable interest in the development and use of biorenewable-based chemicals. This interest is fueled by ever-rising global crude oil prices, the increasing desirability to reduce dependence on petroleum-based industries, and potential environmental benefits. Bio-based chemicals are environmentally friendly because they often degrade into benign products, making them prime candidates for replacement of petroleum-based products. The esters of bio-based organic acids fall into the category of benign or "green" solvents and are promising replacements for halogenated petroleum-based solvents in a wide variety of uses.
Citric acid can be esterified with alcohols such as ethanol and n-butanol to yield triethyl citrate and tri-n-butyl citrate, respectively. Both tri-ethyl citrate and tri-n-butyl citrate are used as non-toxic plasticizers in toys, medical products (e.g. as enteric coatings for controlled release drug delivery systems), printing ink coatings, cosmetics, etc. These plasticizers are suitable as food additives such as whipping agents for dried egg whites, food flavorings, or food packaging materials. Citrate esters rapidly metabolize in the body via liver and blood serum enzymes to liberate the citrate ion which is disposed of through the usual biochemical pathways.
Tri-ethyl citrate is a water soluble plasticizer while tri-butyl citrate is a water insoluble plasticizer. The global market for citrate plasticizers has been estimated at around 11 billion pounds per year and according to 2003 statistical data, the U.S. share of this market is 2.4 billion pounds.
Citric acid is a tri-basic acid. Upon esterification with an alcohol such as ethanol or n-butanol, it forms, through a series of reactions, a mixture of mono-alkyl, di-alkyl and tri-alkyl citrates as shown in FIG. 1.
The esterification of citric acid is an equilibrium-limited process. Such processes, when carried out in conventional reactors, suffer from limited conversion. To overcome this equilibrium limitation, continuous removal of one of the products of the reaction mixture is essential in order to drive the reaction to completion. One technique available for doing so is through the use of continuous reactive distillation.
There are other di- and tri-organic acids. These include succinic acid, maleic acid, glutaric acid, adipic acid, malonic acid and pimelic acid which are diacids. It also applies to other tri-acids which need to be esterified.
Reactive Distillation
Reactive distillation (RD) is a multifunctional process where chemical reaction and distillation occur simultaneously in a single vessel. The numerous advantages arising from the synergistic interaction of unit operations in a single unit over the conventional, sequential operation of a reactor followed by a distillation column include overcoming limitations of some equilibrium-limited chemical reactions (as in methyl acetate and MTBE production), improved selectivity by removal of the products from the reaction zone, thereby limiting by-product formation, "reacting away" some of the azeotropes present in conventional distillation processes, and utilizing the exothermic heat of reaction for vaporization and avoidance of hot spot formation. These potential advantages of reactive distillation lead to lower capital and operating costs as well as reduced environmental impact. The major shortcomings of reactive distillation are requirements for much greater complexity in design and process control, often involving multiple steady states, and high process non-linearity due to the strong interaction between process variables. The operating window of reactive distillation processes has to be compatible with the thermal stability of the catalyst in order to ensure a long catalyst life since frequent catalyst change over is an expensive proposition. Reactive distillation requires a significantly greater research effort, in both experimental and in mathematical modeling, in order to develop a feasible process.
Reactive distillation was first reported by Backhaus (Backhaus A. A. Continuous Process for the manufacture of Esters. U.S. Pat. No. 1,400,849 (1921)). The subject has witnessed an explosion of interest in the last ten years since its commercial application to MTBE and methyl acetate production. Reviews on reactive distillation are available from Sharma and Mahajani (Sharma, M. M., Mahajani, S. M. Industrial Application of Reactive Distillation in Reactive Distillation Edited by Sundmacher K. and Kienle A., Wiley VCH, Germany, 1 (2003)); Mahajani and Chopade (Mahajani, S. M.; Chopade, S. P. Reactive Distillation: Process of Commercial Importance. Encyclopedia of Separation Science Edited by Wilson I. D., Edlard T. R., Poole C. A. and M. Cooke, Academic Press, London UK, 4075 (2001)), Taylor and Krishna (Taylor, R., et al., Modelling Reactive Distillation. Chem. Eng. Sci., 55, 5183 (2000); and Modelling of Homogeneous and heterogeneous Reactive Distillation Processes, Chapter 9 in "Reactive Distillation" Editors: K. Sundmacher, A. Kienle, pp. 217-240, Wiley-VCH, Mannheim (2003) and Hiwale et al (Hiwale, R. S., et al., Industrial Application of Reactive Distillation: Recent Trends. Int. J. of Chem. React. Eng., 2, Review R1 (2004)). Reactive distillation in the presence of solid acid catalyst, also commonly referred to as catalytic distillation, has come a long way since its inception by Spes (Spes, H., Katalytische Reaktionen in Ionenaustaucherkolonnen unter Verschiebung des chemische Geleichgewichts. Chemiker Atg/Chemische Apparatur, 90, 443-446 (1966)). Industrially applied reactive distillation processes are rather limited in number currently, especially in comparison to potential applications (Stankiewicz and Moulijn, 2000).
The degree of complexity in reactive distillation processes increases with use of solid catalysts, but the development of modern structured column packings makes the use of such catalysts viable. Katapak-S structured packing (Sulzer), used in this invention, is a well-known and highly versatile packing consisting of vertically-oriented enclosures filled with catalyst particles. Fluid dynamic properties and use of Katapak-S in reactive distillation systems have been described in the open literature by Moritz and Hasse (Chem. Eng. Sci. 54, 1367-1374 (1999), Hanika et al (Chem. Eng. Sci. 54, 5205-5209 (1999), Van Baten et al (Catalysis Today, 69, 371-377 (2001), Gotze et al (Catalysis Today., 69, 201-208 (2001), Van Baten and Krishna (Catalysis Today, 69, 371-377 (2001), Smejkal et al (Chem. Eng. Sci., 56, 365-370 (2001), Ratheesh and Kannan (Chem. Eng. Ji., 104, 45-54 (2004), Kolodziej et al (Chem. Eng. Proc., 43, 457-464 (2004), Schmitt et al (Chem. Eng. Proc., 43, 397-409 (2004) and Schmitt et al (Chem. Eng. Proc. 44, 677-685 (2005).
Citric Acid Esterification Via Reactive Distillation
Synthesis of organic acid esters by reactive distillation is well established, but in most applications the ester has either the highest volatility of the reagents present (e.g., methyl acetate) or the lowest volatility, with water as the most volatile component (Schmitt et al., Chem. Eng. Proc. 43, 397-409 (2004)). In these cases, recovery of 100% pure ester is straightforward via optimization of column operating conditions. Tri-ethyl citrate production via reactive distillation does not fit into either of these categories. Formation of tri-ethyl citrate proceeds through a series of reactions yielding mono- and di-ethyl citrate as intermediate products. Since tri-ethyl citrate has a volatility that is lower than ethanol and water but higher than citric acid, mono- and di-ethyl citrates (those are essentially non-volatile). Therefore, it is only possible to isolate the pure product if complete conversion of citric acid and the intermediate products mono-ethyl citrate and di-ethyl citrate are achieved within the reactive distillation column. The primary challenge is therefore to achieve sufficiently rapid esterification kinetics so as to ensure complete conversion to the desired product triethyl citrate. Example of previous experimental work on similar esterification systems has been described by Bock et al (Chem. Eng. Prog. 36, 101-109 (1997)) for the synthesis of isopropyl myristate, and in Applicants' parent application Ser. No. 10/894,307, filed Jul. 19, 2004 for synthesis of ethyl lactate which is incorporated herein in its entirety. In both of these systems excess ethanol is used, which distills along with water as the top product. Omota et al (Chem. Eng. Sci., 58, 3159-3174 (2003)) have described a reactive distillation system for synthesis of fatty esters where an immiscible two-phase water-alcohol mixture distills as the top product.
Prior information on the kinetics of citric acid esterification with ethanol or n-butanol is confined to mainly the Chinese and German patent literature. Joerg et al. (Application WO 2003008369 A1 (2003)) describes a process for synthesis of tri-ethyl citrate by a three stage batch process. Tao (Tao, X., Huazue Shijie, 39(6), 302-304 (1998)) discusses the synthesis of tri-ethyl citrate in the presence of p-toluenesulfonic acid as catalyst and removal of the formed water. Frappier et al (WO 9851657 (1998)) discusses a process for synthesis of tri-ethyl citrate from citric acid containing fermentation broths. Some of the recent references on synthesis of tri-butyl citrate have been described by Nong (Nong, L., Synthesis of Tributyl Citrate with Aluminum Phosphotungstate Supported on activated Carbon. Jingxi Huagong Zhongjianti, 34, 50-52 (2004)) using an aluminum phosphotungstate supported catalyst, Shi et al (Synthesis of tributyl citrate catalyzed by solid superacid S2O82−/TiO2/SiO2. Yingyong Huagong Keji, 33, 41-43 (2004)) using a solid super acid catalyst, Zheng et al (Synthesis of tributyl citrate catalyzed by tetrabutyl titanate. 34, 28-30 (2004)) using tetrabutyl titanate, Deng et al. (The synthesis of tributyl citrate catalyzed by sodium hydrogen sulfate. Jingxi Huagong Zhongjianti, 33, 49-50 (2003)) using sodium hydrogen sulfate, Song et al. (Catalytic synthesis of tri-n-butyl citrate with aluminophosphate solid acid catalyst. 11, 6-8 (2003)) using an aluminophosphate solid acid catalyst, Liu et al (Catalytic synthesis of tri-butyl citrate with dealuminated USY zeolite. 11, 175-177 (2003)) using a dealuminated USY Zeolite, Meng et al. (Synthesis of tributyl citrate catalyzed by the nanosolid superacid SO42−/Fe2O3. Hebei Shifan Daxue Xuebao, Ziran Kexueban. 27, 64-66 (2003)) using a nanosolid superacid SO42−/Fe2O3, Zhao et al. (Synthesis of tributyl citrate catalyzed by complex solid superacid WO3/TiO2/SO42−. Huagong Keji. 10(5), 11-13 (2002)) using WO3/TiO2/SO42− super acid catalyst, Meng et al. (Synthesis of tributyl citrate with p-toluene sulfonic acid catalyst. Hecheng Huaxue Ji Suliao, 19(2), 16-18 (2002)) using p-toluenesulfonic acid catalyst and Fu et al. (Synthesis of tributyl citrate catalyzed by SO42− modified zirconium cross-linked solid clay. Jingzi Huagong. 19(1), 28-31 (2002)) using SO42− modified zirconium crosslinked clay catalyst.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,008,046 to Bremus et al. describes a reactive distillation process using a column with plate type column with an acid catalyst under pressure. U.S. Pat. No. 5,536,856 to Harrison et al. describes a similar column wherein resin acid catalyst particles were supported by a tray on the column. The use of columns with trays is quite expensive.
While the related art teaches organic acid esterification processes, there still exists a need for improved continuous processes for di- and tri-organic acid, particularly citric acid esterification.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Process for reactive esterification distillation

Board of Trustees of Michigan State University


A headphone includes a speaker unit, a baffle plate, an ear pad, and a grille. The baffle plate is configured to support the speaker unit. The ear pad is configured to surround an acoustic space in which a sound emitted from the speaker unit is transmitted toward an ear of a listener. The grille is configured to cover the speaker unit. The grille has a hole and a cavity connected to the hole.

There is a noise cancelling headphone provided with an active noise cancelling device. In the noise cancelling headphone, a microphone is provided in a housing in addition to a speaker unit that functions as a sound emitting body of a normal headphone. In the active noise cancelling device, the microphone collects a noise sound and generates a noise sound signal and an acoustic signal from the noise sound signal. The acoustic signal for emitting a cancelling sound having a phase opposite to a phase of the noise sound in the vicinity of a sound receiving point from the speaker unit is supplied to the speaker unit. In this manner, the noise sound and the cancelling sound are cancelled out in the vicinity of the sound receiving point, and the noise sound is suppressed.
However, when a frequency of the noise sound is high, since a wavelength in this frequency is reduced, a delay of a series of processings, for example, the microphone generates a noise sound signal, generates an acoustic signal from the noise sound signal, and emits a sound from the speaker unit, cannot be ignored in the active noise cancelling device. Therefore, in a band of a certain frequency or higher, the cancelling sound cannot be maintained at a phase opposite to a phase of the original noise sound. As a result, there is a problem that a noise sound to be suppressed diverges in reverse. Therefore, there are many cases in which a noise sound in a high frequency band relies on passive noise cancelling in which the sound is insulated and absorbed by another unit, that is, an ear pad or the like.
When a sound is insulated by an ear pad, the sound leaks into the headphone through a gap between a head of a listener and the ear pad. In this case, in a specific frequency band, an external ear serves as a wall surface and standing waves are generated in the headphone, specifically, in a space surrounded by the speaker unit, an ear, the ear pad, and a baffle plate, and a phenomenon in which a noise sound is enhanced occurs.
FIGS. 7 and 8 are diagrams showing acoustic analysis results when a sound leaks and enters a headphone internal space surrounded by an inner wall surface 3a of the ear pad from a gap of a part of the ear pad in front of an ear 7. FIG. 7 shows a sound pressure distribution in the headphone internal space as viewed from the speaker unit side. FIG. 8 shows a sound pressure distribution in a cross section taken along a line I-I′ of the headphone internal space shown in FIG. 7. In FIGS. 7 and 8, a sound pressure of each portion in the headphone internal space is indicated by a density of dots.
In FIG. 7, a sound pressure is increased in a region A1 in which a gap is formed between the ear pad and the head of the listener. It is considered that this is because a noise sound leaks from the outside into the headphone internal space through the region A1. As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, in the headphone internal space, it can be confirmed that a sound pressure in a region A2 in the vicinity of the external ear 7 rapidly increases, and a sound pressure level in the vicinity of an eardrum increases (that is, a noise increases). This is because the ear is close to the speaker unit, the headphone internal space is substantially divided into two spaces by the external ear 7, and standing waves are generated in each of the two spaces in which the external ear 7 serves as a wall. It is confirmed that standing waves are generated in a frequency band around about 1 kHz to 3 kHz in a normal headphone although it depends on a shape of the headphone.
It is difficult for the active noise cancelling device to suppress standing waves in a high frequency band. An existing earphone, discloses a technique for forming a resonance space having an opening portion that is opened in an annular protective member that protects a diaphragm and is opened toward a sound channel through which a sound generated by the diaphragm passes. According to the existing earphone, a Helmholtz resonator is formed by the opening portion and the resonance space, and generation of an unpleasant sound is suppressed.
However, the existing earphone does not have an element corresponding to an ear pad of a headphone. Therefore, the technique disclosed in the existing earphone cannot solve the problem of suppressing standing waves generated in a headphone due to a noise sound that leaks and enters the headphone through a gap between an ear pad and a head of a listener.


A chassis assembly for computers is disclosed. In the chassis assembly, the main chassis and bottom chassis are suitable for being manually assembled and disassembled, thus allowing a user to easily handle the assembly with improved work efficiency while repairing or upgrading a computer. The main chassis, having front and rear panels, is open at the bottom between the lower edges of the front and rear panels. The bottom chassis is detachably mounted to the open bottom of the main chassis. The chassis assembly also has a lock unit which is mounted to the rear portion of the bottom chassis. The lock unit normally retains the position of the bottom chassis relative to the main chassis and selectively allows the bottom chassis to be manually removed from the main chassis.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to chassis assemblies for computers and, more particularly, to a chassis assembly for tower desktop computers, including a bottom chassis and main chassis suitable for being manually assembled and disassembled, thus allowing a user to easily handle the assembly with improved work efficiency while repairing or upgrading a computer.
2. Related Art
An exemplary chassis assembly for tower desktop computers comprises two chassis: a main chassis and a bottom chassis. The main chassis is open at the top and one side and is closed at the front and back, thus having front and rear panels. The bottom chassis is integrated with the main chassis across the bottom between the front and rear panels. The main chassis provides a mounting area for a plurality of auxiliary units, such as a power supply, a hard disc drive, a floppy disc drive and a compact disc drive, while the bottom chassis provides a mounting area for a mother board. An option board is installed in the main chassis at a position perpendicular to the mother board. Formed on the option board are a plurality of expansion slots for mounting option cards to the main chassis. The above chassis assembly is covered with a detachable cover.
However, such a chassis assembly is problematic since the main and bottom chassis and are integrated into a single structure. The chassis assembly, with the integrated main and bottom chassis, can be produced through two methods. That is, the integrated bottom chassis can be formed by bending the lower portion of the front or rear panel of the main chassis. Alternately, such a bottom chassis can be formed separate from the front or rear panel prior to being integrated with the lower edges of the front and rear panels into a single body through a riveting or spot welding process. Since the chassis assembly has an integrated structure as described above, the cover has to be removed from the chassis assembly when it is necessary to repair or upgrade the computer. The typical chassis assemblies thus reduce work efficiency while repairing or upgrading a computer and are inconvenient to users.
Particularly when the bottom chassis is formed separate from the main chassis and is integrated with the main chassis into a single body through a riveting or spot welding process, the process of producing the chassis assembly is complicated, reducing productivity of the chassis assembly. When the bottom chassis is integrally formed with the main chassis through a pressing process, the size of the main chassis is enlarged, resulting in time consumption while preparing metal molds for the main chassis.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,159,528 to Murphy, entitled Modular Personal Computer, discloses a modular personal computer and U.S. Pat. No. 5,271,152 to Murphy, entitled Process For Making A Computer Tower Chassis Using modules, discloses a process for making a computer tower chassis using modules. These U.S. patents to Murphy disclose a computer tower chassis having a base system unit and a main circuit board subassembly, with the base system unit including a base system frame having a front panel and a rear panel and a supporting frame therebetween. The main circuit board subassembly includes a main circuit board, an input/output board and cable, speaker and cable, fan assembly and cable, keyboard cable, expansion card and expansion card guides.
Also, U.S. Pat. No. 5,175,670 to Wang, entitled Housing Structure For A Computer, discloses a housing structure for a computer. Wang discloses a high capacity computer case that includes a front case plate, a rear case plate, three reinforced rods, a computer locking plate, a bottom plate, and a slot clip member. Located between the front case plate and the rear case plate in a parallel manner are the three reinforced rods. The computer locking plate is disclosed as being arranged at the lower half portion of one side of the computer case, with both ends of the locking plate, in conjunction with the three reinforced rods, being spot welded to the front and the rear case plates. The bottom plate is disclosed as being welded respectively to the front case plate, the rear case plate, and the three reinforced rods. A slot clip member of rectangular construction is disclosed as being a supplementary device including at one end thereof two lugs having thereon arresting portions and at other end thereof a predetermined number of clip grooves for disposing a longer expansion slot card.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,227,957 to Deters, entitled Modular Computer System With Passive Backplane, discloses a modular computer chassis with a passive backplane that is provided for a personal computer system with a plurality of open-ended and vertically or horizontally interconnectable bays, or a single case with bays, for slidably receiving component trays each having a printed double sided bus direction adaptor board with a bus connector at one end and a female bus connector mounted to the top surface for attaching an expansion card parallel to the board. Also, a front cover, or individual tray covers, cover the front of the chassis as a locking and security mechanism.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,417,012 to Brightman et al., entitled Equipment Cabinet Door Mountable On Either Side And Having A Central Latch, discloses an equipment cabinet door mountable on either side and having a central latch. The equipment cabinet is disclosed as employing a rack-mountable equipment enclosure surrounded by a base, a cap, and front and rear covers. Each cover consists of a bezel and a door reversibly mounted thereon via removable hinge pins. The bezels have sidewalls that rest against ledges on the edges of the enclosure to receive support therefrom, and the door has a centrally-located latch, with the latch having a pawl with an eccentric catch portion that engages a latch opening on a ledge extending from the bezel. The pawl also has a tab that rests between the ends of an arcuate raised portion on the rear of the door to limit the rotational travel of the pawl.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,491,611 to Stewart et al., entitled Aligned Quick Connect Cover For A Computer System, discloses an aligned quick connect cover for a computer system. A computer system is disclosed having a cover for a frame, whereby the cover has a user panel and a service panel each including a plurality of inwardly extending and angled slots to be aligned with rearwardly facing tabs on the frame to facilitate a quick sliding connection of the cover to the frame.
Also, U.S. Pat. No. 5,717,570 to Kikinis, entitled Enhanced Mini-Tower Computer Architecture discloses an enhanced mini-tower computer architecture. A computer enclosure is disclosed that has a drive bay for multiple hard disk drives implemented in the rear panel rather than in the front, providing sufficient storage capacity for use as a file server in a mini-tower architecture. In an alternative embodiment, Kikinis discloses the side panels are designed for quick removal by moving a panel against a spring element for release. Also, in an embodiment Kikinis discloses access to the drive bay in the rear panel is controlled by a security door with a lock, and security screws for the removable side panels are located behind the security door.


The present invention provides auto-stopping CMP slurry compositions that minimize post-CMP non-uniformity and also extend the time that polishing can be continued beyond the end point without the risk of over-polishing the dielectric silicon dioxide film. Auto-stopping CMP slurry compositions according to the invention include ceria abrasive particles and an effective amount of a polyalkylamine such as polyethyleneimine dispersed in water. The methods of the invention include polishing a topographic dielectric silicon dioxide film layer using the auto-stopping CMP slurry compositions to obtain a dielectric silicon dioxide surface having a desired predetermined minimum step height.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to auto-stopping slurry compositions for polishing topographic dielectric silicon dioxide film layers and a method of planarizing topographic dielectric silicon dioxide film layers using the same.
2. Description of Related Art
One of the primary applications for chemical-mechanical polishing ("CMP") in integrated circuit ("IC") fabrication is the planarization of topographic dielectric silicon dioxide film layers (e.g., to form inter-level dielectric ("ILD") layers and as a first step in shallow trench isolation ("STI") processing). For purposes of illustration, the ILD CMP process is schematically depicted in FIGS. 1-3.
FIG. 1 shows a side sectional view of a portion of an IC device 10 prior to ILD layer formation. The IC device 10 includes a plurality of features 20 formed on a dielectric substrate 30, which is typically elemental silicon or a previously formed ILD layer. In the illustrated embodiment, the features 20 (which are also sometimes referred to in the art as device elements) are metal wires. It will be appreciated that other features such as resistors, capacitors, transistors, etc. will typically be present in an IC device. Although all of the features 20 shown in FIGS. 1-3 are of the same height above the dielectric substrate 30, it will be appreciated that various features will often be of different height in actual IC devices.
FIG. 2 shows the next step of the process of forming an ILD layer in which the features 20 and dielectric substrate 30 have been covered with a dielectric silicon dioxide film 40, which is typically formed via a chemical vapor deposition ("CVD-SiO2") process. It will be appreciated that the dielectric silicon dioxide layer 40 can be formed by other processes The dielectric silicon dioxide film 40 covers both the features 20 and the dielectric substrate 30, thereby generally duplicating their surface topography. Thus, the top surface of the dielectric silicon dioxide film 40 is "topographic", meaning that the top surface of the dielectric silicon dioxide film includes both elevated up areas 50 and recessed down areas 60.
FIG. 3 shows the IC device 10 after ILD CMP. Ideally, the up areas 50 have been removed at a substantially greater removal rate than the down areas 60 during ILD CMP, thereby producing a substantially planar surface 70 on which additional features can be formed. Preferably, the post-ILD CMP dielectric silicon dioxide film layer 40 exhibits a substantially uniform and desired thickness.
The conventional ILD CMP process does not utilize a stop layer to prevent over-polishing of the dielectric silicon dioxide film. The conventional ILD CMP process utilizes endpoint detection techniques or predetermined fixed-time polishing techniques to determine when to stop polishing. Both of these polishing stop techniques can produce non-uniformities across the polished silicon dioxide surface due to within-die topography variations and/or within-wafer polishing rate variations. In addition, over-polishing, meaning polishing beyond the end point, tends to rapidly remove the dielectric silicon dioxide film layer thereby disadvantageously thinning the resultant ILD layer.

Auto-stopping slurries for chemical-mechanical polishing of topographic dielectric silicon dioxide


In a chain drive system, initial calibration or adjustment for take-up or compensation of the manufacturing and assembly tolerances is achieved by an adjustment device that comprises a fixed block (12) and a spring-loaded moveable pad or snubber member (14), which, after initial positioning for take-up of tolerances, is fixed in position on the body. The adjustment device(10) can generally be positioned on the tight portion of the chain and can be an independent device or it can be combined with a traditional hydraulic or mechanical tensioner for taking up slack due to wear.

The present invention relates to a tensioning device for a power transmission chain system. More particularly, the present invention relates to a tensioning device having an adjustable snubber for eliminating the decrease in chain tension on the tight side of a chain system caused by manufacturing tolerances in the chain components.
Power transmission chain systems for automotive applications typically include at least two sprockets and an endless chain wrapped around the sprockets. As the driving sprocket transmits power to the chain, which then transmits power to the driven sprocket, a tight side and a slack side of the chain is formed in the span or length of chain between the sprockets.
In a chain drive system, a tensioning device is generally provided for taking-up or compensating for looseness on the slack side of the chain. The slack take-up device, or tensioner, is generally in one of two categories: a hydraulic tensioner made up of a hydraulic cylinder piston assembly which carries on its moveable member a tensioner arm or pad designed to contact the chain and resist inward movement of the chain by spring and hydraulic pressure; a mechanical tensioner which, on the other hand, exploits the action of a helical or leaf spring that causes the tensioner arm or chain guide to move outward and eliminate slack in the chain.
The tensioner device takes up both the slack due to the wear of the chain and the sprockets, and the slack or the tolerances due to any initial errors in assembly. As a result, however, the moveable member of the tensioner, in order to have a desired effect, must have a considerable range of movement. Another result is that sometimes an initial adjustment, or a take-up of initial assembly tolerances, when they are significant, jeopardizes the possibility of compensating wear during the later stages of the life of the chain, in that the range of movement of the tensioner arm is largely or completely utilized in initial adjustment for tolerances.
Furthermore, the known systems generally have a fixed chain guide or snubber on the tight strand of the chain. In view of the limited slack on the tight strand of the chain, the snubber or chain guide typically does not expand outward to take up the slack in the chain. Thus, the snubber does not provide an outward movement to take up the slack due to manufacturing tolerances.
There is therefore the need in the chain art to obtain a satisfactory take-up of slack, whether due to assembly or manufacturing tolerances inherent in the system, or due to the wear between the parts that occurs with time.
The device of the present invention is directed to that problem.


An electrostatic protection element is disposed commonly to a plurality of output circuits along a long side of an output circuit region. More preferably, the electrostatic protection element should be disposed between a Pch region and an Nch region of an output circuit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device, and more particularly to a layout of an electrostatic protection element.
2. Description of Related Art
A driver IC for driving a display panel is required to be protected from electrostatic discharge. To realize such protection from electrostatic discharge, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2005-252214 discloses a technique for providing an electrostatic protection element in such a driver IC.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2005-072607 also discloses a layout of an electrostatic protection element to be employed for a semiconductor device. The semiconductor device described in this document disposes an electrostatic protection element for each input-output pad.
In the case of the layout configuration described in the JP-A No. 2005-072607, however, the electrostatic protection element area increases if an electrostatic protection element is provided for each input-output pad, for example, in a PDP (plasma display panel) driver IC that includes many input-output pads. As a result, the chip size also increases and the semiconductor device cost increases.
In each of those PDP driver ICs, therefore, a GND-VDD (ground potential-power source Vdd potential) protection element common to a plurality of input-output pads is disposed in the protection element regions 101 at both sides of the subject chip respectively as shown in a layout in FIG. 1. Here, a circuit cell disposed in each output pad shown in FIG. 1 and used for controlling output signals is an output circuit and the output circuit is configured by, for example, a circuit element according to the Push-Pull method. Hereunder, there will be described an output circuit disposed region as an output circuit unit.
FIG. 2 shows a circuit corresponding to the layout shown in FIG. 1. In FIG. 2, each output circuit of the output circuit unit 100 shown in FIG. 1 is substituted for a basic inverter. Rn and Rp are line resistors disposed between each of GND and VDD of the output circuits and a protection element. A protection diode D1 is formed in a protection element region 101.
In order to improve the resistance to electrostatic discharge, it is important to avoid concentration of the electrostatic discharge current at a specific element.
FIG. 3A shows an example of a current path formed when electrostatic discharge is applied to an output terminal OUT with reference to the GND.
As shown clearly in FIG. 3A, there are resistors Rn and Rp disposed on lines from the output circuits GND and VDD to the anode and cathode of the protection element D1. The current path 1 does not go through the electrostatic protection element D1, so that the electrostatic discharge current flow is concentrated at the Nch transistor N1 of an output circuit. The current path 2 is provided to reduce the electrostatic discharge load applied to the Nch transistor N1 through the current path 1 by distributing the load. A Pch transistor P1 is provided on this current path 2.
In order to improve the resistance to electrostatic discharge, it is important to reduce the values of the line resistors Rn and Rp shown in FIG. 3A. Large values of the line resistors Rn and Rp reduce the current flow to the current path 2, thereby lowering the effect of the current path 2 including the electrostatic protection element D1.
FIG. 3B shows an example of a current path formed when electrostatic discharge is applied to the output terminal OUT with reference to the VDD. Similarly to FIG. 3A, it is also important to reduce the values of the line resistors Rn and Rp in FIG. 3B.
In case where an electrostatic protection element D1 is disposed at both sides of a driver IC as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 according to the conventional technique, the line resistance is not equalized between the output circuit of each input-output pad and the electrostatic protection element D1. For example, particularly in an output circuit having a large resistance value in a line up to the electrostatic protection element D1, it is impossible to obtain an electrostatic discharge effect for the electrostatic protection element D1. This is why a large resistance value appears in the current path 2 of the center output pad in the subject layout, which is farthest from any of the electrostatic protection elements D1, thereby an electrostatic discharge current is concentrated at the current path 1 and the resistance to electrostatic discharge is minimized. This has been a problem.

Semiconductor device having elongated electrostatic protection element along long side of semiconductor chip


A liquid discharge apparatus includes a nozzle, a pressure chamber, a liquid supply chamber, a liquid supply passage, and a fluid resistance changing mechanism. A liquid pressure in the pressure chamber is configured to be changed to discharge liquid from the nozzle. The liquid supply passage extends in a connecting direction to connect the liquid supply chamber and the pressure chamber. The fluid resistance changing mechanism is configured to change a fluid resistance of the liquid supply passage.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid discharge apparatus and a liquid discharge device group.
2. Discussion of the Background
As shown in FIG. 13, an inkjet apparatus of a printer includes a nozzle hole 201 through which fluid (liquid ink) is discharged, a pressure chamber 202, a supply passage 203, and a fluid supply chamber 204 which are formed in a head body 207 by means of photo-etching or the like. The inkjet apparatus further includes a diaphragm 205 to cover an upper opening of the pressure chamber 202 and an actuator 206 for moving the diaphragm 205 up and down. Liquid ink is supplied to the fluid supply chamber 204 through a supply inlet 204a and is then supplied to the pressure chamber 202 through supply passage 203 so that the pressure chamber 202 and the nozzle hole 201 are filled with the liquid ink.
To conduct printing by the inkjet apparatus, the diaphragm 205 is moved up and down by causing the actuator 206 to vibrate up and down so that the pressure of the fluid inside the pressure chamber 202 varies. As the inner pressure of the pressure chamber 202 is increased by the downward movement of the diaphragm 205, the inner fluid (liquid ink) is discharged from an end opening 201a of the nozzle hole 201. When the inner pressure of the pressure chamber 202 is increased, the inner fluid is not only discharged through the nozzle hole 201 but also flowing back into the fluid supply chamber 204 at the same time. In the inkjet apparatus, therefore, the supply passage 203 is structured to have a reduced cross-section (throttled) in a passage connecting the pressure chamber 202 and the fluid supply chamber 204 so as to provide fluid resistance to the aforementioned back flow. Generally, it is designed to make the fluid resistance in the supply passage 203 substantially equal to the fluid resistance in the nozzle hole 201.
On the other hand, as the diaphragm 205 is moved upward by the actuator 206, the diaphragm 205 operates to increase the volume of the pressure chamber 202 so as to decrease the inner pressure. During this, fluid in the nozzle hole 201 is sucked toward the pressure chamber 202. However, meniscus is formed because of the surface tension of fluid at the end opening 201a, thereby preventing air from being sacked into the pressure chamber 202. At the same time, fluid in the fluid supply chamber 204 is sucked through the supply passage 203 and is supplied into the pressure chamber 202. Inkjet apparatuses as mentioned above are disclosed, for example, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publications Nos. 2005-47165 and 2005-67047. The contents of these publications are incorporated by reference in their entirety.

Liquid discharge apparatus and liquid discharge device group capable of changing fluid resistance


A method for automatic rejection takeoff (RTO) of an aircraft monitors a plurality of sensors for an RTO event. Signals are sent to control systems of the aircraft to perform an RTO when the RTO event occurs.

Embodiments of this disclosure relate generally to aircraft, and more particularly, to a system and method to automatically initiate a rejected takeoff procedure based on predetermined airplane alert signals.
A rejected takeoff (hereinafter RTO) may be a situation in which it is decided to abort the takeoff of an aircraft. There may be many reasons for deciding to perform a RTO. In general, a RTO may be performed due to suspected or actual technical failure or flight hazard.
A RTO may be comprised of a series of maneuvers to stop the takeoff roll of an aircraft once the thrust has been raised and the takeoff has begun. Presently, an operator of an aircraft may be required to detect a specific event, for example an engine fire, by using audible and or visual cues and or alerting signals or other tactile cues available to the aircraft operator. If the event occurs below a takeoff decision speed, commonly referred to as V1, there generally is enough runway remaining to stop the aircraft and the pilot needs to initiate a RTO immediately upon detection of the RTO generating event.
Presently, an aircraft crew generally needs to detect the RTO generating event using the aforementioned alerting, process this information, and start configuring the aircraft for stopping. Historically, in-service reaction times, the result of which stopping distance is heavily dependent on, have not been as fast as what is seen in Flight Test (˜1 second), or even what is printed in the Airplane Flight Manual (˜3-4 seconds). Incidents and airline data show reaction times much longer for a crew to detect and initiate the RTO response. Delays in initiating the RTO response may increase the risk of aircraft overrun, airplane/occupant damage or injury, and the like.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a system and method that overcomes the above.


A tool includes a head portion formed on an elongated body, and one or more screw driver shanks pivotally engaged on the body. The head portion includes two engaging surfaces communicated with each other and having different sizes in order to drive objects of different sizes.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a compound tool, and more particularly to a multi-purpose wrench and screw driver combination.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Wrenches are generally provided for actuating and driving followers, such as bolts, nuts, sockets etc. However, each of the wrenches fits only one size of the followers, such that a plurality of wrenches are required when driving followers with various sizes; in addition, it is required to frequently change the wrenches when driving various followers. This is very inconvenient.
The present invention has arisen to mitigate and/or obviate the afore-described disadvantages of the conventional wrenches.


An electrolytic capacitor comprising an anode comprised of cryogenically milled anode material is described. The cryogenic milling process prepares the active anode material for anode fabrication. The capacitor further comprises a casing of first and second casing members secured to each other to provide an enclosure. A feedthrough electrically insulated from the casing and from the casing and extending there from through a glass-to-metal seal, at least one anode electrically connected within the casing, a cathode, and an electrolyte. The cathode is of a cathode active material deposited on planar faces of the first and second casing members.

As more and more medical applications are investigated and implemented to aid and assist the human body, devices needed to deliver the desired therapy are becoming increasingly more sophisticated, both functionally and in terms of their structural makeup. Modern implantable devices require power sources that are smaller in size, but powerful enough to meet the therapy requirements. For example, a cardiac defibrillator has a battery powering circuits performing such functions as, for example, the heart sensing and pacing functions. This requires electrical current of about 1 microampere to about 100 milliamperes. From time-to-time, the cardiac defibrillator may require a generally high rate, pulse discharge load component that occurs, for example, during charging of a capacitor assembly in the defibrillator for the purpose of delivering an electrical shock to the heart to treat a tachyarrhythmia, the irregular, rapid heartbeats that can be fatal if left uncorrected. This requires electrical current of about 1 ampere to about 4 amperes.
The current trend in medicine is to make cardiac defibrillators, and like implantable devices, as small and lightweight as possible without compromising their power. This, in turn, means that the components within the capacitor, particularly the anode, need to be constructed to optimum parameters as well as be free of contaminants.
Capacitor anodes typically comprise an anode active material such as tantalum, aluminum, or niobium. The anode active material is generally milled into a powdered form and pressed into a pellet. Furthermore, the anode material is generally sintered and then subjected to an anodizing or formation process before being incorporated into a capacitor. In general, the electrical performance of an electrolytic capacitor, such as energy density and leakage current, can be improved by optimally controlling the particle size, morphology, oxidation state and contamination level of the anode active material.
Current anode active material processing methods typically comprise a lengthy multi-step process that is both cumbersome and time consuming. In addition, because of the many steps, the anode active material resulting from these prior art material preparation processes is generally prone to process variability and the potential introduction of contamination which could degrade the electrical performance of the resulting capacitor.
One such prior art material preparation process is outlined in FIG. 4. This prior art anode active material preparation process consists of approximately eleven steps whereas the material preparation process of the current invention, outlined in FIG. 5, comprises only three steps. The simplified process of the present invention significantly reduces processing time and the potential for introducing contamination into the processed material. In addition, the simplified material preparation process of the present invention decreases the possibility of introducing error into the process. Furthermore, the anode material preparation process of the present invention improves material consistency, which as a result, improves the electrical performance of the capacitor.
What is needed, therefore, is a simplified, less cumbersome material preparation process that provides an anode active material with more consistent properties. In addition, what is needed is a simplified material preparation process that is less prone to processing errors and the potential of contaminating the material.

Cryogenic grinding of tantalum for use in capacitor manufacture


Self-aligned double patterning processes to produce metal route between and connecting conductive lines are disclosed. Embodiments include forming a hard mask over a dielectric layer; forming a patterning template including plural parallel linear elements on the hard mask, wherein said hard mask is exposed between adjacent parallel linear elements; forming a block mask covering a portion of said adjacent parallel linear elements and spaces therebetween; etching exposed portions of said hard mask through said block mask and said patterning template defining plural parallel lines; removing said block mask and said patterning template; forming a cut mask above said hard mask to define an opening perpendicular to and connecting two adjacent parallel lines; etching said hard mask through said cut mask and removing the cut mask; etching recesses in the dielectric layer through said hard mask; removing the hard mask; and filling said recesses with a conductive material.

Photolithography is a basic process used in manufacturing integrated circuits. In summary, photolithography involves forming a layer of light or radiation-sensitive material, such as photoresist, above a layer of material or a substrate. The radiation-sensitive material is selectively exposed to a light generated by a light source (such as a deep ultraviolet or extreme ultraviolet source) to transfer a pattern defined by a mask to the radiation-sensitive material. The exposed layer of radiation-sensitive material is developed to define a patterned mask layer. Various process operations, such as etching or ion implantation processes, may then be performed on the underlying layer of material or substrate through the patterned mask layer.
An objective of integrated circuit fabrication is to faithfully reproduce the original circuit design on the integrated circuit product. Historically, the feature sizes and pitches employed in integrated circuit products were such that a desired pattern could be formed using a single patterned photoresist masking layer. However, in recent years, device dimensions and pitches have been reduced to the point where existing photolithography tools, e.g., 193 nm wavelength immersion photolithography tools, cannot form a single patterned mask layer with all of the features of the overall target pattern. Accordingly, designers have resorted to techniques that involve performing multiple exposures to define a single target pattern in a layer of material. One such technique is generally referred to as multiple patterning, e.g., double patterning. In general, double patterning is an exposure method that involves splitting (i.e., dividing or separating) a dense overall target circuit pattern into two separate, less-dense patterns. The simplified, less-dense patterns are then printed separately on a wafer utilizing two separate masks (where one of the masks is utilized to image one of the less-dense patterns, and the other mask is utilized to image the other less-dense pattern). This technique effectively lowers the complexity of the photolithography process, improving the achievable resolution and enabling the printing of far smaller features that would otherwise be impossible using existing photolithography tools. Litho-etch-litho-etch (LELE) is one such multiple patterning technique. As illustrated in FIG. 1A, the pattern cannot be formed with a single mask, but rather is broken into two patterns 101 and 103. Each pattern is assigned a different color, where design rules are satisfied within each color. However, LELE requires careful alignment between the two masks.
A SADP process has been developed to overcome the alignment issues. For SADP, a pattern of mandrels is formed on a substrate, a spacer material is deposited on side surfaces of the mandrels, and the mandrels are removed. A block mask may be used to isolate portions not to be etched. The resulting pattern formed by the spacers has twice as many elements as the mandrel pattern. Therefore, SADP is an attractive solution for manufacturing next-generation devices, particularly metal routing lines on such next-generation devices, due to better overlay control that is possible when using an SADP process. Metal lines that are defined by mandrel patterns are often called mandrel metals while other metal lines are called non-mandrel metals. Mandrel metals and non-mandrel metals are often referred by two color metal lines. In SADP technology, two color metal lines are always separated by either spacer material or block mask so that they cannot overlap. In another word, metal stitching is not possible in conventional SADP technology.
In placement and route technology, a metal stub route that connects metal lines of two abutting cells is an efficient technique to improve the metal routing efficiency and chip scaling, as well as circuit performance. In double patterning technology, such as LELE for 20 nm design, or triple patterning, such as LELELE for 10 nm design, shown by patterns 107, 109, and 111 in FIG. 1C, a metal stub route requires a stitch to resolve color conflict between adjacent lines. However, 7 nm designs require SADP technology, but a metal stub route is not an option for SADP technology because stitching is not permitted in a SADP process.
A need therefore exists for SADP methodology enabling the formation of a metal stub route between adjacent metal lines.

Self-aligned double patterning process for metal routing


IDT electrodes are arranged on a piezoelectric substrate along a propagation direction of a surface acoustic wave whereas reflectors are each interposed between a respective pair of IDT electrodes, the reflectors each including four or more electrode fingers extended perpendicularly to the propagation direction. An electrode-finger pitch ‘a’ of the reflector is progressively decreased from the opposite ends of the reflector toward the center thereof. Frequencies allowed to pass through a pass band may be controlled by varying the electrode-finger pitch. Thus is provided a surface acoustic wave device featuring a wide-band transmission performance.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a surface acoustic wave device and a communication apparatus, such as a cellular phone, employing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Surface acoustic wave devices incorporating SAW (Surface Acoustic Wave) filters have been used in a variety of communication apparatuses.
As the modern communication apparatuses have become more compact, adapted for higher-frequency operations, and more functional, there arises an increasing demand for widening the pass bandwidth of the SAW filter. For instance, a high-performance wide-band filter having an effective pass bandwidth of not less than 80 MHz (a fractional bandwidth of about 4% or more) is desired as a filter for use in a cellular phone operating in a transmission band of 1.9 GHz. It is noted here that the "fractional bandwidth" means a value given by dividing the effective pass bandwidth by the center frequency of the passband.
For achieving such a wide-band transmission, there has been proposed a double-mode SAW resonator filter which includes three IDT (Inter Digital Transducer) electrodes formed on a piezoelectric substrate and utilizes a first-order and third-order longitudinal modes.
FIG. 22 is a plan view showing an electrode configuration of a conventional resonator-type SAW filter. IDT electrodes 202, 203, 204 arranged on a piezoelectric substrate 201 each comprise a pair of comb electrodes opposing to each other. A surface acoustic wave is generated by applying an electric field to the pair of comb electrodes. A signal is inputted to the central IDT electrode 203 via an input terminal 210 connected to one of the comb electrodes thereof, thereby causing propagation of an excited surface acoustic wave to the IDT electrodes 202, 204 disposed on the opposite sides of the IDT electrode 203. The signal is transmitted from a respective one of the comb electrodes constituting the individual IDT electrodes 202, 204 to an output terminal 213 via IDT electrodes 206, 208 and an IDT electrode 207, so that the output terminal provides an output. Thus, the resonator-type electrode patterns may be interconnected in two-stage cascade connection fashion so as to achieve an increased amount of out-of-band attenuation as filter characteristics. In the figure, reference numerals 205, 209 each represent a reflector, whereas a reference numeral 211 represents a ground terminal.
Likewise to FIG. 22, FIG. 23 is a plan view showing an electrode configuration of a conventional SAW filter. The filter includes IDT electrodes 102, 103, 104 and a reflector 107 formed on a piezoelectric substrate 101. In the figure, reference numerals 105, 106 each represent an inter-electrode portion defined between adjoining IDT electrodes, a reference numeral 108 representing an inter-electrode portion defined between the IDT electrode 103, 104 and the reflector 107, a reference numeral 111 representing an input terminal, a reference numeral 112 representing a ground terminal, a reference numeral 113 representing an output terminal.
The surface acoustic wave is excited by inputting a signal to the input terminal 111 connected to the IDT electrode 102. The surface acoustic wave is propagated to the IDT electrodes 103, 104 on the opposite sides of the IDT electrode 102, so that the signal is outputted from the output terminal 113 connected to the IDT electrodes 103, 104. The surface acoustic wave is reflected by the reflectors 107 on the opposite ends of the filter, thereby forming a standing wave.
The mode of the standing wave includes a first-order mode and a higher-order mode (third-order mode) because of the presence of the three IDT electrodes 102, 103, 104. The pass characteristics of the filter depend upon resonances generated in these modes. Hence, the filter may be broadened in the passband by controlling a distance between the resonant frequencies occurring in these modes.
Conventionally, the distance between the resonant frequencies is controlled as follows. While all the IDT electrodes 102, 103, 104 are so configured as to have the same center-to-center distance (pitch L) between respective pairs of adjoining electrode fingers, the distance between the resonant frequencies is controlled by controlling a distance 'd' between adjoining IDT electrodes.
According to the aforementioned control method, the conventional double-mode SAW resonator filter employing a LiTaO3 substrate as the piezoelectric substrate thereof can achieve a fractional bandwidth of about 0.40% (see, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 1-231417) or, at most, of about 2% (see, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 4-40705). Although the conventional filter has achieved the maximum fractional bandwidth of 3.7% (see, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 7-58581), temperature variations must be taken into consideration when the filter is in actual operations. Furthermore, the filter is prone to frequency variations due to the variations in the configuration of the formed electrodes. Accordingly, it is impracticable to apply the conventional double-mode SAW filter to the communication apparatuses, such as the cellular phones, which require a broad pass bandwidth.
In addition, the following attempt has been made to broaden the passband and to reduce the insertion loss. A narrow electrode-finger pitch portion (the inter-electrode portion 105, 106 between the adjoining IDT electrodes shown in FIG. 23) is provided between the respective ends of the adjoining IDT electrodes, thereby reducing radiation loss into a bulk wave, the loss occurring at place between the IDT electrodes. In this state, a resonant mode is conditioned such that the filter may achieve a broader pass bandwidth and a reduced insertion loss (see, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-009587 and Published Japanese Translation of PCT International Publication for Patent Application No. 2002-528987).
However, the piezoelectric substrate encounters a pyroelectric effect caused by temperature fluctuations during the fabrication process, so that the electric charges concentrate on the narrow pitch portion between the IDT electrodes. The narrow pitch portion may encounter electric discharge caused by potential difference between the electrode fingers and hence, the IDT electrode may be damaged.
It is an object of the invention to provide a surface acoustic wave device having excellent filter characteristics featured by a low insertion loss and a broad passband, as well as to provide a communication apparatus using the same.

Surface acoustic wave device and communication apparatus using the same


A method of visualizing the deposition of an additive from a personal care composition onto substrates such as hair, skin mimic and fabric through the use of a flow cell device.

Measuring and visualizing particle deposition onto substrates is very important for a variety of industries. Medical techniques have been developed to assess foreign particle deposition on lung tissues, and to evaluate risks of blockages to blood vessels. Methods have been developed for determining deposition rates of charged particles onto substrates for the purpose of measuring electrostatic attraction. Computer simulations have also been used in order to observe particle deposition as a means of measuring air filter efficiency. These techniques generally provide quantitative data to describe their results. Interpreting this data typically requires either specialized training in the relevant field, or some secondary processing to communicate trends and effects. Therefore, these techniques do not provide an efficient means for communicating benefits or detriments based on particle deposition onto substrates. Also, none of these techniques provide an environment where particle deposition may be observed as various additives are introduced into a system.
Flow cell units are known (see U.S. Pat. No. 4,974,952), and are often used to introduce various drugs and additives into a fluid environment to analyze their effects. Generally, flow cell units are applied to an array of biological research applications. Flow cells are commonly used in flow cytometer configurations. Such devices may be used to analyze several thousand particles per second, and can actively separate and isolate particles having specified properties. Flow cytometry is most commonly associated with cellular biological applications such as fluorescence-activated cell sorting. However, the technology has also been broadly applied to medical and bioengineering experimentation as well.
Attempts have been made to use flow cells to visualize particle deposition on substrates. Previous attempts to apply the technology to particle-substrate visualization have used flow cell DIC microscopy to visualize coacervate interaction with hair fibers. J. Cosmet. Sci., 58, 637-650 (November/December 2007). Coacervate phases are important to aid in deposition of conditioning particles to hair fibers, and flow cell DIC microscopy is useful for visualizing deposition efficiency of various personal care compositions on the hair substrate.
However, previous flow cell designs position the hair fiber between two slides, through which a liquid solution is caused to flow. This configuration results in an inefficient system, in that the liquid solution cannot flow around the entire hair fiber because the fiber is "sandwiched" between the two flow cell slides, being in contact with both. Therefore, the liquid solution can only interact with the edges of the substrate which are not in contact with the slides. Accordingly, during analysis, only the edges of the visible substrate are exposed to the liquid solution, and visualization suffers. Furthermore, "sandwiching" often causes additives to deposit onto the surface of the slides, as there is insufficient spacing to allow for some particles to pass through the system. Therefore, deposition onto the substrate becomes indistinguishable from other intervening additives.
Based on the foregoing, there is a need for a flow cell apparatus which provides a means for visual analysis of particle-substrate interaction, whereby a greater surface area of the substrate is exposed for analysis.

Method of using a flow cell apparatus for visualizing additive deposition on a substrate


A metal coated plastic and method of preparation thereof use a poly-diamine-quinone polymer as a binder, whereby a metal coating adheres to and is immobilized on a plastic surface. The poly-diamine-quinone includes the formula: ##STR1## wherein R is alkyl, monocyclic, cycloalkyl, monocyclic heterocyclic, aromatic, siloxyl, silyl and the alkyl, alkoxy, carboxyl and amino derivatives thereof, and n is about 70-700. The method of preparation includes coating a plastic substrate with a poly-diamine-quinone polymer, applying a metal coating to the poly-diamine-quinone polymer coated plastic, and curing the metal coated plastic. A further method is disclosed for imparting an electrical conductance to the metal coated plastic of the invention.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of metallization of plastics, especially to a generic method for preparing metal coated plastics, using inherently metal binding poly-diamine-quinone polymers as a binder, for direct immobilization of powdered metals on plastic surfaces forming a metal coated plastic composite, which subsequently can be rendered electrically conducting.
2. Prior Art
In the field of metallization of plastics, many techniques are known to deposit metal atoms onto plastic surfaces, thereby rendering the metal atoms immobile thereon. One technique involves vacuum deposition of metal atoms on plastic surfaces, wherein a thin coating of metal is deposited by condensation on a cool plastic surface in a vacuum. Typically a high vacuum is required, such as 0.1 micron mercury or better. It is also necessary to heat the metal atoms to be deposited to high temperatures.
Another technique involves plasma cathode sputtering of metal atoms onto a glass, plastic, metal or other surfaces, wherein metal atoms are ejected from the surface of a plasma cathode as the result of heavy ion impact and are thereby deposited on a target surface. High temperatures and high vacuum pressure are not required in this technique.
A further technique to deposit metal atoms on a plastic surface involves electroless plating, wherein a metal coating is deposited by immersion of a metal or nonmetal surface in a bath containing a chemical reducing agent. Usually the plastic surface is first sensitized with a strong reducing agent spread over the surface. Then a catalytic amount of a noble metal in a bath is precipitated by reduction onto the sensitized surface.
However, these foregoing techniques, i.e., vacuum deposition, cathode sputtering and electroless plating, have to be tailored to suit specific applications depending upon the metal as well as the plastic chosen. The present invention provides a generic procedure to deposit metal atoms onto plastic surfaces that can be applied to most plastics and nearly all metals and their alloys except alkali and alkaline earth metals chosen without tailoring the process to the particular species involved.
The present invention incorporates, by reference, the use of a particular family of polymers that have very strong inherent affinity towards all metals and their alloys, known as poly-diamine-quinone-polymers (PAQ), which are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,831,107, 4,882,413, and 4,981,946, as a binder to immobilize metal atoms on plastic surfaces.
The PAQ polymers are prepared by condensing various aliphatic and aromatic polyamines with different quinones. Depending upon the characteristics of the ingredients these polymers vary from infusible and intractable ones to those that are tacky, flexible, or brittle. Some can be used as adhesives and coatings. They are also capable of forming fibers from melt as well as solution. Most are curable with heat and chemicals. Before curing they are soluble in lower alcohols such as methanol, ethanol, etc., acetone and DMSO but insoluble in water and ethyl ether. They can be applied by dipping, spraying, brushing and melt coating. Once cured, they are insoluble in solvents and impervious to water, salt water, boiling and autoclaving. They are non-wettable by water. They can displace water from surfaces of metals, including dripping wet rusted steel surfaces.
The present invention provides a generic method of applying metal coatings to plastic surfaces that is applicable to most plastics and nearly all metals and their alloys including gold and platinum and excepting alkali and alkaline earth metals and mercury, using a poly-diamine-quinone polymer as an adhesive binder, which offers distinct advantages over prior techniques of deposition of metal coatings onto plastic surfaces. The present invention is easy to prepare and is more economical to produce in large quantities.
The present invention further provides a method for imparting an electrical conductance very easily to the metal coated plastic product produced by the method of this invention. All of the deposited metals are electrically conducting to varying degrees. Some, like nickel, conduct with practically no resistance, that is, no discernable voltage drop when a potential of 30 volts is applied. Others show greater resistance. However these can be made electrically conducting by known techniques for imparting electrical conductance. One technique of imparting an electrical conductance to a substrate is by immersing substrate into copper-plating baths containing copper sulfate solutions and derivatives thereof.
The present invention is applicable to, but not limited to, applications where the metal coated plastic can be used as a decorative surface and as a stable, abrasion resistant, no flake, polishable surface. Such applications include various plastics used to simulate metal, such as automobile bumper design or the like and decorative jewelry design. Other applications where an electrically conductive surface is required may also employ this invention, for example, the preparation of printed circuit boards.

Method for metallization of plastics using poly-diamine-quinone polymers as a binder


An integrated circuit with a matched transistor pair with a matching resistance heater coupled to each transistor of the matched transistor pair. A method for forming a matching resistance heater. A method for operating an SOI integrated circuit containing a matched transistor pair with a matching resistance heater coupled to each transistor of the matched transistor pair.

Many circuits such as current mirrors, input pairs of operational amplifiers and comparators require matched circuit components. The mismatch between transistors in these types of devices gets larger and larger as these types of devices get smaller and smaller.
A circuit diagram of a conventional 3 bit flash analog-to-digital converter (ADC) is shown in FIG. 1. The 3-bit flash ADC employs a resistor chain with 2N=8 resistors 1002 (N=number of bits) and 2N−1=7 comparators 1004. The reference voltage 1010 for each comparator 1004 is one least significant bit (LSB) lower than the reference voltage 1008 for the comparator immediately above it 1006. Each comparator produces a "1" when its analog input 1012 is higher than the reference voltage 1010 and produces a "0" when its analog input is lower than the reference voltage. For example, if the voltage of the analog input signal 1018 lies between the reference voltage on comparator C3 1014 and comparator C4 1016, comparators C1 1004 through C3 1014 produce "1" outputs and comparators C4 1016 through C7 1020 produce "0" outputs. The point where the code changes from "1"s to "0"s is the point where the input signal becomes smaller than the respective comparator reference voltage levels. An error may occur when there is an offset voltage between the reference voltage input 1010 and the analog input 1012 of a comparator 1004. When this occurs the comparator may output the wrong value if the offset voltage adds or subtracts sufficient voltage from the analog input signal to either raise it above or reduce it below the reference voltage.
SOI transistors are especially sensitive to variation due to heating effects because the buried oxide (BOX) upon which SOI transistors are constructed is an excellent thermal insulator. The threshold voltage (vt) of a typical transistor may change by as much as 1 mV per 1 degree change in temperature.

Method to match SOI transistors using a local heater element


Approaches for a non-volatile, solid-state storage system that is capable of supporting high bandwidth and/or random read/write access. The storage system may include a chassis having a bus slot and a disk bay, a master card mounted in the bus slot, and a flash memory card stacked in the disk bay and cabled to the master card. The master card enables one or more flash memory cards to be communicatively coupled to a single PCI Express bus. The master card may split a multi-lane PCI Express bus into a plurality of lanes, where one or more of the flash memory cards communicate over each of the plurality of lanes. Alternately, the master card may includes active circuitry for processing, switching, routing, reformatting, and/or converting the PCI Express bus into one or more busses for a plurality of flash memory cards. The stacked flash memory card is not in an enclosure.

Processing nodes may be used to perform a variety of computational work. The composition of a processing node may include one or more of the following: one or more processors, memory (such as Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) for example), one or more chips providing connectivity to the processors (such as Northbridge chips and/or Southbridge chips for example), one or more disk bays enabled to hold a respective disk (such as a 2.5″ or 3.5″ AT-compatible or SAT Compatible disk for example), peripherals (such as LEDs, microphones, speakers, and DVD drives), peripheral interfaces (such as USB slots), Input/Output (I/O) connections (such as Ethernet or RS-232 connections), and peripheral busses (such as a PCI bus and a PCI Express bus).
Some disk storage interfaces, such as the AT, ATA, SATA for example, are restrictive in bandwidth and/or capabilities. For example, AT and/or SATA disk interfaces are designed for block based transfers and are not optimized for random access.

Non-volatile solid-state storage system supporting high bandwidth and random access


A wrench hammer set, comprising a handle rod, one end of said handle rod is linked to a combination tool head that serves as an adjustable wrench and a hammer; the other end of said handle rod is linked to a rod-shaped tool set; a handle cover covering the rear half of said handle rod, to serve as a handle of a hand tool set, inside said handle cover may be arranged an assortment of sleeve sockets; with said construction, tools of various functions are combined to become a hand tool, to fully achieve the purposes of minimized space and increased functions.

The invention is related to a wrench hammer set, or more specifically, a wrench hammer set with the combination of an adjustable wrench, a hammer, sleeve sockets, screwdrivers, etc., to enable multiple functions in a wrench hammer set.
Using various different hand tools has become a regular job in assembling and disassembling processes, a number of hand tools with a same function but with different specifications are required for various sizes. Therefore, the portability of hand tools has always been an objective for improvement by researchers, the most simple solution is to be able to incorporate all necessary hand tools in a tool box, but the capacity of a tool box is limited, if many hand tools are designed as individual pieces with single functions, the variety of hand tools that can be put in a tool box will be quite limited, and in case each hand tool involves a handle, it will occupy a much larger space, but if the solution is aimed at increasing the cubic measurements and space of a tool box, it will not only fail to really solve the problem, but will also increase the burden of carrying it. Therefore, current solutions are aimed at the design of wrench hammer sets, with the hope to include more sets of tools with different functions on a same hand tool in order to save the space, so that with the cubic measurements of a conventional single piece of single-function hand tool, various tool functions may be achieved, so that it will be convenient and fast to carry, operate, use or accommodate the tools.

Chien-Min Li, Ta-Li City, Taichung Hsien


The present invention relates to a radar emitter recognition system and method for classifying incoming emitters into their functional roles as disclosed by their electronic signatures and the context within which the radar transmissions are received. An electronic support system provides incoming data, including unknown attribute information, to a neural network which has been synthesized or trained to calculate a network solution indicative of an emitter's classification within a range of attributes. Similarly the electronic support system provides incoming data, including unknown context data, to a fuzzy logic system that has been provided with possibility distributions to classify the emitter as originating from one of several strategic contexts. The resultant categorizations from the neural network and the fuzzy logic system are combined in a classifier to yield an improved recognition of the emitter under observation. This system and method of using a neural network and fuzzy logic is also applicable to other recognition problems in a number of fields.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a radar emitter recognition system and method using a neural network and a fuzzy logic technology for classifying incoming emitters into their functional roles based on operational and physical attributes detected in electronic signatures and the context within which the transmissions were received.
2. Description of the Related Art
Reconnaissance aircraft often include electronic sensor systems capable of intercepting electromagnetic radiation in frequency spectrums typically occupied by offensive and defensive military weapon systems. The radio wave receivers, signal processors and computers in such systems combine to classify the receptions into strategic information used in identifying, not only the sites where the intercepted receptions were originated, but for subsequent missions, specific targeting information. Systems that can accurately classify new sites on the basis that they exhibit similar radar transmission features as previously sensed sites also improves the military's overall command and control, and specifically aids in threat assessment which often proves vital to a mission's success.
The sensor systems available today are faced with identifying a wide variety of disparate electromagnetic transmissions, often emanating from radar sites. A number of variables such as a site's location, terrain, clustering of sites, transmission frequencies, modulation techniques, continuous vs. pulsed transmissions, differing pulse widths, varying power levels, and transmitting antenna radiation patterns make reliable automatic identification of operational and physical characteristics difficult.
The sensing detection systems include wide band receiving antennas, preprocessors, pulse storage buffers and digital signal processors supplying input data to sundry classification schemes. The preprocessors are designed to filter out and retain salient signal features from a transmission's electronic signature. Once such salient features are distilled, pattern recognition techniques use these features to determine a radar site's operational and functional specification. It is common for homing missiles to include such systems in structuring their mission, and to ultimately select a target emitter's electronic signature.
A neural network is an organized arrangement of processing elements which operate in a parallel fashion to solve particular recognition tasks Reference in this regard can be had to Lippmann, Richard P., "An Introduction to Computing with Neural Nets", IEEE ASSP Magazine, April 1987. Conventional neural networks use processing components which typically deal with discrete data that represent the elements from the data base under observation, more particularly in this invention, the features of an emitter's electronic signature. A neural network also contains several functions referred to as layers, such as an input layer, an output layer and one or more hidden layers, each having at least one input node. The nodes and layers cooperate to produce output signals that represent the product of the input signals multiplied by a weight and summing the respective products from each output node. Individual weights are determined during a learning phase which essentially synthesizes the learning patterns to be subsequently recognized. In the most general way the neural network consolidates a multitude of data into a single datum by taking the inner product of a weighted vector and an input vector and comparing the two against a preestablished criterion.
Fuzzy logic systems relate to processes capable of extending conventional Boolean logic principles to handle the more general case of partial truth values, for example as supplied by sensor signals, using algorithms based on rules of inference rather than deterministic mathematical models, which for some problem solving presents a formidable or impossible task. These rules typically follow the form of the familiar mathematical notions of intersection, union and complement. A fuzzy-based classifier compares the variable under observation to a preestablished possibility function, based on known characteristics of the context class, and determines tile variable's similarity to the known context class.
It is known to use neural networks in applications involving signal classification. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,945,494 (Penz et al.) discloses an application using neural networks to cluster a plurality of radar signals into classes and a second neural net to identify these classes as known emitter types. Penz et al. does not disclose the utilization of a fuzzy logic paradigm to improve on the accuracy of the classification, and further utilizes two rather than one neural network to cluster the attributes received from an avionic sensor system.
The following U.S. Patents also disclose the use of neural networks in pattern recognition schemes to classify stock market signals, seismic data, radar, sonar, constituents of exhaled breath and two-dimensional images. See U.S. Pat. No. 5,402,520 Schnitta and U.S. Pat. No. 5,248,873 Allen et al. Neither of these patents disclose the use of neural networks combined with fuzzy logic as a construct of the classification solution.
A number of U.S. Patents do disclose recognition systems which classify input signals using both neural networks and fuzzy logic systems: U.S. Pat. No. 5,361,628 Marko et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,268,835 Miyagaki et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,204,718 Morita, U.S. Pat. No. 5,179,624 Amano et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,130,936 Shepard et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,037,867 Murphy et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,046,019 Basehore, U.S. Reg. No. H1415 Merryman and U.S. Pat. No. 5,309,921 Kirsner et al. Each of the cited patents differs from the present invention in one or more of the following respects: the manner in which the neural network and fuzzy logic cooperate, the type of neural network employed and the fuzzy logic algorithms used to ascertain the respective degrees of membership in the class under observation. Furthermore, none of these patents employ a probability distance metric which, in accordance with an aspect of the present invention, dramatically improves the classification of emitter-based incoming features.
Presently known systems and methods simply do not combine measurements having both quantitative attribute and qualitative contextual characteristics to determine a functional recognition, as is disclosed by the teachings of this invention.

System and method for functional recognition of emitters


Many military land vehicles are not designed to withstand extreme forces concomitant exploding mines. A vehicle's capacity to protect its occupants is inventively enhanced by structurally augmenting the vehicle, in lower structural portions closely related to the vehicle's cabin, with both elastomeric and rigid (non-elastomeric) materials. An elastomeric layer and a rigid layer (typically embodied as a metal or composite sheet or plate) are added to the vehicle in each of seven locations, viz., the four wheel wells (left-front, right-front, left-rear, right-rear), the two floorboards (left and right), and the intervening underside area. At each wheel well and floorboard location, the elastomer is sandwiched between the vehicle's existing rigid structure and the rigid member so as to form a tri-layer material system. At the intervening underside location, an elastomer-coated rigid member is attached with the elastomer face-down. The seven material systems are energy-dissipative and impact-deflective both locally and globally.

The present invention relates to wheeled transportation vehicles, more particularly to methods and devices for protecting passengers of such vehicles from harm associated with deleterious events such as mine explosions and severe collisions.
It is desirable to protect passengers of a motor vehicle from death or serious bodily injury that they may incur when their motor vehicle encounters highly destructive forces such as associated with explosions and collisions. Passenger protection has been a concern for both military and commercial vehicles, the former being particular vulnerable when riding over land mines or otherwise being subjected to explosive forces.
Some current approaches for affording mine and/or crash protection are based on providing additional structural protection in the form of armor made of higher strength and hardened metals such as high hard steel. Further, the automotive industry is conducting crashworthiness tests for investigating various designs of bodies that can absorb energy through large plastic deformations. The use of metallic foams is also being explored by auto manufacturers in some of the "high-end" vehicles. To date, the passenger protection methodologies have proven to be excessive in terms of additional weight and/or additional expense.
AM General Corporation manufactures the "High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle" (abbreviated "HMMWV" and popularly referred to as "HUMVEE"®), a highly mobile four-wheel-drive U.S. military vehicle that provides a common light tactical vehicle capability. The HMMWV entered U.S. Army service in 1985, replacing the quarter-ton jeep and other vehicles. The HMMWV can be configured in a variety of vehicular modes, e.g., troop carrier, armament carrier, ambulance, scout vehicle, etc. Although the HMMWV military vehicles serve their missions well, they are notoriously vulnerable to enemy attack, particularly those implementing land mines and other explosive capabilities.

Mine and collision protection for passenger vehicle

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy